Chapter 1- I Can't Believe Him
"Ha ha. My Blargian snagglebeast devours your mutant swamp fly. Oh yeah, I bet you didn't see that-" Ratchet flopped back into the couch as he watched Clank make his next move. "Hey, err what are you doing?"
Ratchet yelped in surprise at Clanks illegal move. "Check. And mate"
"What! Tha- that's cheating!" Ratchet pleaded.
"On the contrary. The rules clearly state that the Blargian snagglebeast has an allergic reaction to swamp flies that lasts two turns" Clanks attention was suddenly diverted. "Ohh it is on again" Clank grabbed the TV remote, changing the channel. Ratchet watched in 'overwhelming excitement' as Clank did his classic good guy beats bad guy skit before he came out with a trademark pun. His eyes widened in horror as he saw himself standing in that chauffeur outfit. It was so embarrassing, that hat did not match his fur. The video ended. "That was terrific"
"Yeah, change the channel" Ratchet sighed.
"Err, but the man said to stay tuned" Clank pleaded. Ratchet snatched the remote from his robotic comrade, flicking to a different channel. The channel was displaying a news report from the Solana galaxy, the headline reading 'Veldin under Assault'. Ratchets rage piled up as he watched the report of Veldin being under attack by some new unknown threat. The destruction, the chaos, the death. As it ended Ratchet knew exactly what he had to do. "We're going home".
Angela strode along the busy streets of Megapolis, principle city of the Bogon planet of Endako. She had not been here since she was invited back to Clank's apartment after she had helped Ratchet solve the Protopet incident. Angela approached the door to Clank's apartment; she tapped her hand against the door, patiently waiting for someone to respond. No response. She tapped on the door again. And a third time. Why would Ratchet call her over and then not even bother to answer? Angela quickly lost her patience- kicking the door with the steel tip of her boot, the door slid open in response.
She snuck stealthy inside, the door closing shut behind her. "Hello, Ratchet. Clank" She called out, still no response. Angela looked over the edge of the sofa, no Ratchet asleep with the TV still on. The sharp sound of an engine starting emanated from outside. Angela glanced out the window to see a large moving red blob, it was Ratchets ship. The craft rose into the sky as it launched out of the city. "I can't believe him. I can't believe he would call me over and then abandon me like this!" Angela yelled into the empty apartment.
Angela dropped onto the sofa as she contemplated the situation. "Right. I am going after him" Angela pulled her communicator from her belt, typing out the code. After a few seconds the black square was replaced with the round blue form of Mr. Abercrombie Fizzwidgit, head of Megacorp. "Oh hello Miss Cross. Look if you are calling about that raise I promised you I will make sure talk to the Financial Department and make sure you have it next month."
"No sir" she interrupted him, but she would have to remember about that raise for later. "I was actually calling about Ratchet. I was supposed to meet him here at Clank's apartment but he's just left without a word. I was wondering if you had any idea where he might have gone?"
"Ratchet?" Abercrombie Fizzwidgit noticed the anger Angela was working hard to suppress. "I suppose so let me see" Fizzwidgit typed a series of commands into his console. "Hmm. The Megacorp traffic sensors just detected a silhouette matching Ratchet's fighter heading towards the Solana Galaxy. His last trajectory indicated the planet called Veldin".
"Veldin? I've never heard of it" Angela spoke.
"Its Ratchet home planet. Perhaps an emergency in his personal life has occurred?"
"Something has definitely happened, and I am going to find out what. Thank you Mr. Fizzwidgit"
"Just make sure that you are back for work on Monday"
She nodded "Angela Cross, out". The screen snapped off. Angela headed for the door, her usually long stride lengthening with the added urgency of the situation. There is no way Ratchet was going to stand her up, and then run off to another planet without telling her, one way or another. She was going to find him.
The thick snow of Greblin coated Angela's ship in a thin white layer. She was quick to land her ship and return to her nice, warm home. As the door swung open Angela was greeted by her jumping, chirping ball of blue fur. She stormed past the protopet towards her room. But her protopet still begged for attention as it hobbled after her entering her room, screaming for attention as she rummaged through her closet. Out of the back she drew out an old blaster.
"Perfect" She smirked to herself. She'd seen what kind of weapons that were considered 'Standard issue' to Megacorp. As such she felt it would be better to have at least some kind of armament when tracking a commando, just in case. She packed the rest of her clothes and supplies into her bag and turned for the door. There was only one last thing before she left. She loaded her luggage into her ship before she walked down to the floating monument near the weird hippie camp. "Err hello?" She cautiously approached the hippie.
"Hello my child. Your arrival is fortuitous. With your assistance by the gathering of moon-"
She shook her hands "No that's not why I'm here. I just need you to feed my protopet while I'm away" She threw him a key; he snatched it out of the air in midflight. "Very well child. And do not fear your pet is...in...good...hands" He slowly drifted into his usual chanting. She returned to her ship "Maybe it wasn't such a good idea" She thought to herself as she left, but now wasn't the time.
Her ship emerged out of hyperspace; Angela activated the galaxy map in search of Veldin. She found it poised against the systems inner star. When she approached the orange ball of dust floating in the abyss of space she noticed the surprisingly large number of ships orbiting the planet- perhaps Veldin was considered a trading hub in the Solana galaxy? It didn't matter, Ratchet was on that planet, and she wasn't going to lose him now.
As her ship entered the atmosphere she suddenly came under heavy ground fire from anti-air missiles and batteries. "Frak" Angela cursed as flaming red icons and symbols flashed on the dashboard of her craft, each trying to divert her attention to one particular problem within the ship. The nose of the craft flared on reentry as Angela did her best to avoid the incoming fire while keeping the delicate fighter in one piece. "Warning. Take evasive action" the computer screamed in a useless attempt to save itself before the engines could take a direct hit. Flames sputtered from the engines as her ship sunk towards the surface. The ground rushed up to meet her, the air around her blazed red hot singeing her fur, and then. Nothing.
The world was swirling and blurred. Angela rose on her giddy feet; she crashed back down again in seconds. She clutched her bloodied side as she tried again to get to her feet. She was standing on desert plain, the world around her was a barren war torn wasteland. She took a step forward as she felt around her belt, she still had her blaster. Behind her lay the wreckage of her ship. Why had they shot her down? The only weapons on board were the small laser cannons that would barely make a dent in a military fighter. Perhaps this was some kind of military installation that didn't warrant unexpected visitors.
She stepped forward, hoping to find Ratchet somewhere on this rock. She took three steps before she noticed another ship heading towards her, the array of cannons attached to the hull of the ship told her immediately that they weren't here on a rescue mission. She ducked behind a rock for what merger cover it could offer. The ship swooped in towards her position. The craft idled over the plateau; the rear cargo door hissed open, multi-eyed creatures leapt out of the back. They slammed into the ground, their feet being buried in the dry sands. Each wielded a different variant of a weapon of alien technology not seen in the Bogon galaxy.
The aliens scanned the area, one of them peered towards Angela's hiding place. She fell to the dirt as the creatures took interest in her hiding spot; slowly with each step they came closer. Twelve feet, ten feet. They were right on top of her. She gripped her blaster, finger resting on the trigger. She could sense the creatures behind the rock as she rose above it and fired. The plasma shot flew towards the first creature; the round splashed across its face, the creature recoiling backwards, rubbing its burnt flesh in pain. The other two aliens were unphased by their companion's pain as the leader stepped forward and smacked its weapon across Angela's jaw. She glided through the air, only coming to a painful stop when she crashed into a rock face.
Her vision swirled and burned as she saw the alien's approach, their rifles raised. She bolted her eyes shut, ready to die. The sound of gunfire rattled through the empty canyon. But Angela felt no pain. She dared to slowly open an eye. A dead alien lay at her feet; the others quickly being driven back by green armed robots. The final alien fell in battle as a glint of hope shone in Angela's eyes; she longed to see the face of her saviors.
She rose shakily to her feet still clutching her side as she approached the robots that saved her life, returning her blaster to its holster. They were large green robots armed with plasma cannon on their right arm. "Thank you" She approached the robots, her hand held at arms length.
"Look out, it's armed! Run for it!" the lead robot screamed, the entire squad throwing themselves behind cover. Angela looked down at her belt to see her blaster fastened in place.
"Wait. Uggh-" Her words were sharply silenced as she collapsed to the ground in horrible pain.
The robots peaked over their cover, weapons raised as they stared at the unconscious body lying on the plateau. They cautiously approached her. "What do you think Thirty-eight?"
The droid knelt over her, rolling Angela on to her back. "She's hurt. I'm surprised she survived a crash like that. Get her on the ship and bring her back to the Phoenix. Call in a crew to retrieve her ship" Between them the Galactic Rangers lifted Angela into the back of the Dropship which had swooped down onto the plateau. The hatch sealed as the ship rose into the sky. Below the battle still raged- the killing, the explosions. Angela was safe, for now.
Pain throbbed through her head as Angela regained consciousness. She was covered in the sterile white sheets of a hospital ward. She was surrounded by bleeping machines and snow white walls. At the end of her bed she saw a rounded person perched over a computer wearing a soiled white lab coat. She rose onto her elbows "Hello" was all she could shakily muster before she crashed back down on the bed. The man turned towards her, surprised.
Maybe he didn't expect her to be awake already. "Oh, nice to see your awake".
"Where am I? How long was I out?" Angela asked through quivering lips.
"You are aboard the starship Phoenix. You were rescued by the Galactic Rangers and brought here for medical treatment. You were in pretty bad shape, I had to perform some minor surgery and since then you've been asleep for a few days. I'm Al"
"Well then thank you, Al. I'm Angela" A weak smile grew across her face as she stared at what she could consider the person who she owed her life. Her stomach growled. 'I must have been out for ages' she thought to herself. "Excuse me, but you wouldn't have anything to eat would you?"
"I'll ask someone to bring you something from the mess hall" He waddled back over to his computer as he resumed typing in random commands with lightning speed. Angela lowered her head down onto her pillow, she didn't know where she was or if Ratchet was even ok. But now was not the time to worry about that. As she drifted into sleep she saw the frozen ice fields of Greblin, the empty halls of Megacorp HQ, the beautiful lights of the Maktar resort. Her galaxy was in the past, but not forgotten.
"Miss Angela, Miss Angela" She heard a silky voice call out her name in her head. Again it repeated "Miss Angela". She opened her eyes as she stared into the brown eyes of another furry girl. She wore a tight purple military uniform with a small golden headdress holding back her long purple hair. She held a tray of soup between her hands with a kind smile across her face. "Hi. I thought you might be hungry" She held the soup towards Angela.
"Thank you" She graciously took the soup as she tasted it the sweet liquid danced across her tongue.
"Good isn't it" Angela nodded approvingly as her visitor sat at the end of her bed. "I'm Sasha, Captain of the Phoenix".
"Nice to meet you" She raised her hand as Sasha shook it gently. "Err. What's the phoenix?"
"Let me show you, if you're up for it?" Angela admired Sasha's concern; even though she was a complete stranger and could have potentially been dangerous she had let her aboard her ship and personally came down to meet her.
This kind of compassion was rare these days "Yeah I'm up for it."
"Ok then. I took the liberty of having your clothes cleaned and repaired" She gestured to the neat pile of clothes at the side of the bed.
"Thanks"
"I'll give you some privacy and be back in a minute" She rose from her seat as she walked to Al's side and whispered something to him before they both strolled out of the medical bay. Angela lifted the white covers off of herself as her furry feet touched the frozen metal floor. As she shed the hospital robe as she took hold of her blue jumpsuit. As she lifted the clothes up her body she froze as she saw the extent of Al's surgery. A large scar was engraved along the left side of her torso, as she lightly ran her finger over the scar she hissed in pain. She zipped up her suit, sitting back down on her bed, lost in her thoughts. Why did this happen? Where is Ratchet? Did he make it out of the attack? Her train of thought was quickly broken by a knock at the door. "Come in"
As the door swung open Sasha stepped in the med bay. "Ready?"
Angela lowered her head to the ground. "Yeah"
She rose to her feet as she followed Sasha out of the room. She followed her through the bowels of the ship as Sasha pointed out important areas of the vessel. They entered the hanger, Angela stood frozen at the sight of her ship in ruins at the far end of the hanger. "The rangers brought the wreckage of your ship on board. We've analyzed its systems and it's going to take about a week to repair. Come on I'll show you the bridge" Angela and Sasha continued their tour without another word.
They stepped through the doors to the bridge; Angela was dumb struck by the size of the bridge and the abundance of technology. "The Phoenix is the pride of the galactic fleet. The aliens that attacked you are the Tyrannoids. We are currently engaged in a war with their leader Dr. Nefarious"
"Nefarious? What kind of name is that?"
"What can I say, the script writers got lazy" As she shrugged her shoulders.
The remainder of the week passedrelatively slowly. Angela occupied her time pacing the ship looking for something to occupy her attention. If only Ratchet were here, he would have been able to fix her ship in matter of minutes. "I wouldn't trust those robots to mow my lawn, let alone fix my ship" She pondered to herself.
But the long week was nearly over and she could finally restart her search for Ratchet. She wanted to say thank you and goodbye to Sasha before she left. Ever since she came here Sasha had been a loyal and supportive friend, even though she had only known her a week she still considered her as much of a friend as Ratchet or Mr. Fizzwidgit.
Angela stepped onto the bridge; there was a sense of tension in the air. "Come in gentlemen. We've been expecting you" A voice echoed around the room. She leant on the bridge railing, peering down at Sasha, Al and Helga surrounding the computer terminal at the far left of the bridge. "What's going on?" Angela questioned.
"One of our teams have boarded Dr. Naferious's flagship. We're listening to their progress over the COM" Sasha turned to answer.
"Yeah well Courtney gears didn't seem to mind" A voice resonated over the COM in a proud manly voice. Sasha slapped the palm of her hand onto her forehead in embarrassment. "What does dad see in him as a hero?" Sasha questioned herself. "Wait that's Qwark!" Angela yelped. Angela ran around to Sasha's side. "Auto destruct sequence initiated, prepare to die"
"Oh no" Al smacked a series of buttons on the terminal. "Qwark get out of there!" Al whined into the mike.
"What are you doing...?" Another voice called out, it was Ratchet.
"RATCHET!" Angela screamed at the sound of his voice. Angela was hypnotized by the transmission. With every explosion her heart stopped, upon hearing the deep breathing of her favorite lombax her heart slowed to normal.
"Good for him"
"WAIT!" The sound of the shuttles engine was drowned out by the sound of the Star Cruiser detonating behind in its wake. Ratchet's voice whispered over the COM link, reassuring them that Ratchet was alive and en-route.
"They're coming back" Sasha said enthusiastically, she walked towards the door. Angela roughly grabbed her arm and thrust her back.
"What's going on? What's Ratchet doing here?" Sasha looked over at the other members of the Q force standing frozen in silence.
"Go meet Ratchet in the hanger" The members crew disbanded, Sasha returned her attention to Angela. "Ratchet was chosen by the Galactic President, my father, to helping the war against Nefarious. After his assistance on Veldin he was assigned to my team along with the other members of Captain Qwarks team"
"Why didn't I know about this?"
"I didn't know you knew him." Angela turned from Sasha's gaze as she loosened her grip and slowly walked out of the bridge. She froze midstep. "Thank you Sasha. For everything" Were her last words before the door slid shut behind her.
Ratchet's ship touched down in the hanger, the familiar furry figure leaping out of the cockpit with a look of despair and guilt written across his features. Before she was halfway down the hanger Angela tripped in her classic clumsy way, crashing down onto the hard, metal floor.
She looked up to see her friend Sasha run forward and embrace Ratchet in a passionate kiss. Her heart shattered, she couldn't sit here and watch. It took all her strength to hold back the tears as she ran to her quarters. She moved swiftly through the ship as the sound of the door closing hit her ears she broke down, she collapsed to her knees allowing the tears to freely cascade down her cheeks. She felt betrayed by her friends. Ratchet was her lombax, and she was Sasha's. But now she never wanted to look at either of them again.
As Ratchet left the bridge shuttle his thoughts were broken by a familiar voice in the back of his head. "Hello Ratchet" He looked over his shoulder, seeing Angela leaning against the wall of the hanger.
"Angela! What are you doing here?" Ratchet jumped back in surprise.
"Looking for you. Remember?" Ratchet stared into open air, casting his mind back in hopes of finding the topic of Angela's question. His mind suddenly jump started as he realized why Angela was here.
"I'm so sorry but Veldin was-"
"I don't want to know Ratchet. I can't believe you would abandon me, run off to another galaxy and find yourself another girl. My girl" She turned and stomped down the steps towards her waiting ship, barely holding back the tears of pain.
"Who, Sasha? No she's not-"
"No Ratchet. Don't come after me" Angela climbed onto the wing of her black painted ship, she took one last look at her former friend. Angela took her seat in the pilots chair as the engine sprang to life and the ship rose into the air. She brought it about before it shot clear of the Phoenix. Back in the hanger Ratchet stood, devastated as he collapsed to his knees in pain. Angela had left him. Forever.
Angela lowered her ship onto the landing pad, scurrying back into her house. The door swung open, she was greeted by a happy chirping blue ball. At least the hippie had remembered to feed my Protopet. She strode past it, completely ignoring it as she walked into her room and collapsed onto her bed. She curled up into a ball; yearning to sleep the tears of pain began to free flow again. "I gave him my trust and he betrayed me. I gave him my trust and he betrayed me" She repeated in her head, her pride kept telling her she was right. She lifted her top to see the scar that was a memory of her attempt to help her friend, which only led to his betrayal. "Ratchet is the bad guy" She drifted to sleep with tears in her eyes; she continued to imagine his long puffy tail, his strong muscular arms. The large blue puppy dog eyes that made her fall in love with him. But those eyes were full of hurt.
Ratchet lay awake in his bunk aboard the phoenix his thoughts fixed on the female lombax that not only was stuck in his mind, but also in his heart. Tears flowed freely from his eyes. Angela had broken his heart; she had left as quickly as she came. "She betrayed me. She betrayed me" But the more he heard it, the more he missed her. He missed her quirky attitude, her long ponytail. Even her clumsiness that made her all the more adorable. It was no use, she was lost to him. Forever.