A/N: I wrote this when I was freaking out about doing an oral presentation.
*Shudders* My kryptonite...
Anyway, even though Ratchet's crazy courageous in battle, I can just imagine him being nervous when it comes to presenting awards and public speaking, and that's where this little one-shot came from.
ONE MORE THING.
RATCHET AND CLANK: FULL FRONTAL ASSAULT.
GOOGLE IT.
You won't be sorry. ;)
The lombax groaned and screwed up yet another piece of paper, adding it to the ever-growing pile.
It was three o'clock in the morning and he had to have the speech done and be at the awards ceremony by nine.
"Qwark... What can I say about Qwark..." Ratchet muttered to himself.
He flipped to a clean page in his notebook and began to write in a messy scrawl.
President Qwark is unique.
No.
competent... ish.
No.
a president
No.
This time he let out a growl and let his head drop on the table.
"Ouch." He mumbled.
He could hear his robotic counterpart enter the room. "How're doing, pal?"
"I am fine, Ratchet, how are you?"
Ratchet let out an irritable moan and Clank found the answer sufficient.
"What have you written down so far?" He asked as he sat himself next to his friend.
The lombax passed the notebook across to Clank, his head still on the table.
The little robot read over it. "Ah. I see you've captured Qwark's... urm-"
"It's crap."
"Well, yes. I guess that is a... cruder way to put it."
Ratchet sat up. "Can you help me?"
"I can only do my best."
The lombax wiped the sweat from his brow while his other hand shook around the piece of creased paper he was holding. He knew he had no reason to get worked up over a little speech, but he just couldn't help it.
"You will be fine, Ratchet." Clank said, giving his friend a look of reassurance.
Ratchet smiled unconvincingly. "Yeah, I hope so pal."
There was applause and he knew it was his time to go up; that's when he froze. Clank gave him a push and the lombax stumbled out on stage, smiling gawkily. Ratchet stood on his toes to pull the microphone down to his level. "Ladies and gentleman, President Qwark-"
Qwark strutted out from the other side of the stage and pushed Ratchet out of the way, who shot him a quizzical look but was glad to be able to quickly scurry out of the public eye. A nearby stage hand walked over to the lombax. "By the way, kid, Qwark just likes people to say his name... Probably should have told you earlier."
Ratchet's eye twitched and he split the paper in his hands into two.
Clank came up from behind him. "Ratchet?"
"Qwark didn't want a speech; he just likes people saying his name." He said through gritted teeth.
"Oh."
"I had two hours sleep because we stayed up to write a speech that I didn't even need. I'm going to bed." Ratchet dropped the ripped paper and left the facility, fists clenched.
The little robot shrugged and followed his exhausted friend.