Chapter 1: A New Home
Silver City. It was six months after the Megacorp scandal and nothing had changed inside the city, except that the streets were free to its people instead of being taken over by Thugs-4-Less. The skies were cloudy, and mostly a mix of orange and grey, and since the problem with Megacorp (which somehow weaseled its way out of trouble) an apartment building had been finished where a construction site was which the famous Ratchet had grinded on.
A tiny Worm-droid rode the elevator from the underground highway along with a group of other people who came from the highway. One was a tall green man with antennas poking out of his short black hair, and he wore denim clothes with a brown belt, his whole body covered with a long black coat. He was holding a magenta umbrella by his side which attracted attention, but he ensured the others that he lost his umbrella and had to use his sister's.
The Worm-droid eyed him off the most because he was standing alone because everyone was creeped out by the umbrella and moved away. The Worm-droid looked like a normal worm, but was a little bigger and had metallic black skin, with a fleshy hole surrounded with green pincers for a mouth (with tiny eyes above it), and had lime green stripes swirling over its body. The man with the magenta umbrella noticed the little droid looking at him and he smiled before looking back into space, waiting for the elevator to rise.
The Worm-droid looked around the elevator and it's occupants in awe, wondering what it would be like to be a humanoid, and be able to walk around the world. His eyes were suddenly filled with light and an orange sky came into his view, and soon he realised the elevator had arrived at the surface, and everyone, including the man he eyed off, started walking to the waiting Hovertaxi to take them to the city.
Tiny wheels popped out of the Worm-droid's underside and he skidded off the pale blue elevator behind the other people of many species, and skidded along the ground, quickly jumping into the just before it took off. He accidentally landed in the lap of the same man that he had been attracted to, and quickly rode off the smirking person, sitting down next to an occupied seat.
The Worm-droid squished in between the other person on the adjacent seat and watched as the taxi started moving and he jumped onto the back of it, looking at a crowd of people who patiently waited for another taxi to quickly and arrive, and four more of the people he had seen on the elevator sat in their respective places and rode off out of sight. The Worm-droid turned back around and the face of a Markazian baby looking at him, giggling.
"I see your baby is attracted to that little Worm-droid that's making his way home." The man who was placing his magenta umbrella in front of him spoke to a Markazian with long auburn hair who was holding her baby in front of her, but was staring blankly at the city. She was distracted by the man she had never met before, and looked at him, and then noticed that he was staring behind her.
"I see." She spoke with a soft voice which was still easily audible as she turned to see her baby trying to grab the Worm-droid. "Kyra, stop it." She pulled her baby to the other side, causing Kyra to get fascinated with the passing buildings as they moved through the inner city and buildings. The woman smiled as Kyra started drooling in awe, and quickly wiped her mouth, before turning back to the man.
"I wonder why this Worm-droid looks different to most of them." The man spoke once again. His voice was deep and dark, but still a gentle and friendly tone to it. "Most of them are usually red in colour, but this one seems black with a little lime green." The woman nodded and looked at the Worm-droid, and was struck with the same question as the man she recently met.
"Maybe worm-droid different." Both the man and the woman were distracted by a belchy voice, and they turned to the front to see a female blue Tyhrranoid grabbing onto the top of the seat to see the Worm-droid, as she had been listening to the conversation. The man was surprised to see a friendly Tyhrranoid, and one that was able to speak a little of their language.
"You speak our language?" asked the man, putting his finger near the Worm-droid and waiting for it to crawl onto his finger, and then turning his body to the front.
"Little bit. Still learner." The Tyhrranoid spoke again, and although she spoke badly, both of the others were able to understand her. The Tyhrranoid was completely naked like most Tyhrranoids, except she wore a small green skirt and a straw hat with a pink flower attached. The unnamed woman was wearing a tight orange dress running down to the knees, and had a cute white hat which she wasn't wearing at the time, revealing her short shoulder-length fiery hair. Her eyes were a little thin, and it looked like she was sneering at everything, but that was actually her friendly expression.
"So…where are you two ladies headed?" asked the man, trying to gain a small opportunity. The Worm-droid AI told it that he was obviously trying to pick up these two women, no matter if they were different species.
"Well," began the mother of Kyra. "I am heading to the Clock Tower, because I hear there is a political debate going on with a man trying to win ownership of the galaxy. I don't even know who the Galactic President of the Bogon Galaxy is! That tells you how much I know of this galaxy, because I was born in Polaris, but raised in Solana!"
"Really?" asked the man, shifting his attention away from the Tyhrranoid. "I'm going to the Clock Tower to see the political debate as well!" The woman scoffed in disbelief, and was staring at the man, wondering if he was romantic.
"Me going Clock Tower," said the Tyhrranoid, making the man wonder the odds of three passengers on a Hovertaxi going to the same place.
"I heard that…" the woman began to say before the man stopped listening, waiting for a chance to speak again. He waited anxiously, but the two women kept chatting away and never let him get a sound in. The Worm-droid looked at the man who looked embarrassed, and then checked his internal processing. Soon, a readout popped out saying "Idiot Level – High", and the Worm-droid changed into "laugh mode".
"Hey!" yelled the man to the Worm-droid, which was literally rolling on the floor laughing, but it didn't even shift the two women's attention. The whole ride to the Clock Tower took forever to the man, but too short to the two chatty women, but the Worm-droid had not sense of impatience. The three people with nothing in common (except the same destination) left the taxi, but the Worm-droid stayed and made a weird, whirring noise indicating that he was happy when the man waved to him as the taxi rode off again with three new passengers.
It took a few hours until a passenger finally stopped off at the apartment building which was just a construction site six months earlier. The Worm-droid hopped off the taxi and raced towards the door, and then waited patiently for the passenger to enter the building. The Worm-droid followed and then saw that the passenger was checking into a room and waited on the sofa nearby for them to go up the elevator.
Finally, after a few minutes reading the cover of Reader's Digested someone had left out, the passenger grabbed their keycard and moved toward the elevator. The Worm-droid quickly popped its wheels out again and then quickly raced to the elevator. However, its speed was too fast and it hit the elevator door just before it was opened, and then slowly crawled through.
The person inside the elevator commanded it to go to the 9th floor, but the Worm-droid only needed to go to the 6th floor. He quickly moved backwards and then drove towards the wall and then sped up it, slowing down on the button with the number "6" and jumped over to hit it just before he fell to the ground. The elevator stopped, jumping the Worm-droid up enough so it could flip over and get back on its wheels.
The door opened and a Blarg entered, and the Worm-droid quickly rode out the elevator and raced the hallways, passing many doors and even an open one with a kissing couple, and then reached one with a sign on it. It said "Weapons Designing Facility – No Entry". The Worm-droid stood in front of it and soon, a camera popped out above it and scanned the Worm-droid, before disappearing and the door opened, allowing the Worm-droid to go through. The first thing it saw was a black office chair with a velvet cushion underneath, and sitting upon it was Angela Cross.
Angela was sitting at a desk at the back of the tiny apartment, with a door leading to the bathroom next to it. She was holding a Holo-pen and a metallic ruler, and was drawing up a design for a new weapon. On the left wall was a mirror on a table with drawers filled with make-up and jewellery, a Holo-vision and a tiny kitchen desk, and finally a closet containing one thing, Angela's thief costume. There was a silver couch in the middle of the room facing the Holo-vision, and on the back wall was giant window looking out to the blue sea, covered by an orange sky, trailing off to grey in the distance.
Angela turned to the opening door, and smiled as she saw her pet Worm-droid wheeling into the apartment, dancing around in joy. She then turned to the window to the left of her and looked out, staring at the peaceful blue sea, and then noticing a tiny green island raised high above sea level which looked like an oasis missing its desert, bearing palm trees and even a hot spring.
Angela had been living in the apartment for over five months, just after her adventure with Ratchet and Clank. Megacorp had noticed that her being employed there was giving Megacorp a bad name, as no-one in the Bogon Galaxy knew of Captain Qwark and immediately blamed the closest person there, which was Angela. But since Abercrombie Fizzwidget (CEO of Megacorp) was kind and didn't want one of his best scientists to leave, he placed her officially under a permanent sick leave and she secretly worked for them at her home, designing new weapons for the facility on Todano.
She had found her new job designing weapons and tools at home a change, but due to her amazing imagination and knowledge, she was doing very well and Fizzwidget had even given her a raise. However, she found her home on Grelbin constantly under attack from Y.E. and Arctic Leviathans that she decided to move to Silver City, closer to Todano and on her first day there she bought a Worm-droid from a weird old lady at a shady market.
Everyday, she stayed in her home working on new weapons, one which was rumoured to be taken in as a main weapon for an elite squad of soldiers. However, once the sky finally started getting orange and her Worm-droid (affectionately named Wormy) finally made its way home, she would stop her work and go for a jog through the city, but today she was too busy working on a new masterpiece that she couldn't be bothered to go for a jog.
After working hard, her heart was being pounded by a hammer controlled by a blacksmith, and she could barely stand up. Finally she slumped over to the tiny kitchen and poured a cup of coffee into a sky blue mug that said "Angela" in big googly letters. She picked up the kettle and uncontrollably shook it as she moved it over her mug and then tried to pour it, but much of the coffee spilled on the desk and her hand, burning it, so she quickly put it down and ran to the tap.
After running cold water over her hand, she noticed that her eyes were bloodshot and her hair was frizzier than an afro, and then decided that she should jog outside after all. Quickly, she grabbed her comb off her make-up table and combed her yellow, furry hair, and then drank the little bit of coffee that managed to get into the mug, before running into her bathroom and changing into a red tank top and white shorts.
Angela picked up her Holo-player and put the headphones to her ears, before turning it on and playing her favourite Courtney Gears song, and then opened the door to the apartment and ran out through the hallway towards the elevator on the left. She entered and saw that no-one was inside, and then pressed a button, telling it to go to the ground floor, and then heard a little robotic squeak.
She looked down and saw that Wormy had entered the elevator as well to join her jog, and before she could smile the elevator stopped and the door opened. There was a handsome Novalian at the reception desk, who was currently dating Angela and was talking a tiny Factory Robot from Notak who had retired and was now deciding to live in Silver City, and had a tiny suitcase next to him. He couldn't understand what the robot was saying, but thankfully had a translator so he could answer its questions.
"Hey, Angela! Bit late for your jog aren't you?" he yelled as he saw her emerging from the elevator, and the Factory Robot turned to her as well and showed no signs of emotion. The man heard Angela say "Hey, Chet! I'm close to a breakthrough!" while still running, and he smiled at her as she exited the door. Chet then turned back to the Factory Robot who was quickly checking through his suitcase.
Angela shut the door, and then immediately turned, standing on the wide marble path gazing out at the still orange sky, and hoped that it wouldn't turn grey soon. She saw a Terachnoid getting into a Hovertaxi and leaving, then started jogging forward and then turned to the left and ran down a narrow marble path that wasn't visible to Wormy when he came from the taxi he was in.
Angela jogged uncontrollably down the sloping path, but didn't fight the momentum and instead worked with it until she reached the part where it turned level. Wormy had a built-in Holo-player that only he could hear and then turned it on, playing a song that gave him momentum. He danced around, jumping on the small white marble wall running along the sides, but still kept up with Angela as they eventually left the island and ran along the water.
Angela stopped and picked up Wormy, checking the song that was playing inside him, and then uploaded it quickly to her Holo-player and played it with him. They continued running and dancing around peacefully, glad that they alone and nothing was embarrassing them. Unfortunately the song stopped very quickly, so she continued with her less energising Courtney Gears songs. Soon after, a robotic skinny woman came jogging her way, and she stopped at the sight of Angela.
"Angela!" she yelled, and Angela realised that her friend, Doris, was jogging as well and saw her nearby. She stopped her Holo-player and walked over to her robotic friend.
"Hey, Doris! I haven't seen you ages!" Angela noticed that Doris' black hair had been cut shorter, and was now tied into a bun. Doris was wearing a cold blue tank top like Angela and had white silk shorts, and was wearing a pedometer on the side of her body. They kept jogging in the spot as they talked. "I see you have got a new haircut!"
"Yeah, I did!" She said, her voice clunking a little. "Excuse me, I've got to get a voice motor repair soon. So, how is Wormy?" She bent down to the Wormy who was still dancing to his music, and didn't notice Doris face, which to him was scary. Her orange eyes moved back up with her body as she lifted up to look at Angela again.
"He's fine. For some reason, he's been really enjoying himself lately," said Angela, stopping her jogging and trying to catch her breath. "I don't know why he's different to all the other Worm-droids I've seen. Maybe he's special like me!" Doris smiled, and then checked the time. "Yeah, it getting a bit late isn't, Doris? I better run!" Doris started to move again and waved to Angela as she ran off. It was good to be in Silver City, but her opinion would change very quickly…