Ratchet depressingly walked along the long bar that stook out of his garage. His ears lowered as he thought about what happened earlier that day. When he reached the end of the bar, he sat down on the edge, not bothering to worry about the risk of falling to his death. With a large sigh, he laid down, crossing his arms behind his head and letting his legs hang over the edge. The Lombax couldn't get his mind off of his meeting with Qwark. Rejected again. Denied access to living his dream as a Galactic Ranger. His dreams of getting of the backwater planet of Veldin and becoming a famous hero were crushed more and more with every rejection. Ratchet wondered why they wouldn't let him in, but then he remembered what Qwark had told him.
"You don't have what it takes."
Apparently, Ratchet didn't have have it takes to become a Galactic Ranger. But how would Qwark know that? He wouldn't give him a chance! If Ratchet could just show what he could do with his Omniwrench, they would let him in. But no, Qwark didn't have the time for him, and he probably never will.
Ratchet looked up at Veldin's sky. It was very clear, only a few clouds. He could see some planets out in the distance, wishing that he could go to them. But he knew that he couldn't which made him want to go more. However, after the incident with his Tharpod customer earlier, Grimroth would most likely never let Ratchet out of his sight. He wondered is the Tharpod survived that ejector seat accident...he was probably fine.
A slightly cold wind hit Ratchet, making his tail blow around a little. He had to face it, his life was kind of terrible. He had a low paying job which he was kind of bad at, a mentor who looked absolutely terrifying, a garage as a house, crushed dreams and no friends. Ratchet looked up at the stars, there were so many of them, and each one had a friend right next to it. The stars always had each others back. Ratchet wished that someone had his back.
Ratchet was about to get up and go back inside for the night, but a twitch of his ears stopped him. He sat up a little and looked around. He had definitely heard something, but what was it? Nothing in the area could have made a sound, because all there was was some Heliogrubs. So what made that noise?
His answer came in the form of a ginormous fireball.
Ratchet spotted a bright fireball in the sky. Was it a falling star or something? It looked like it was coming right for his garage, but, instead, it was going right past it. Ratchet stood up as the fireball passed. It was so bright, he had to shield his eyes from it. The fireball soared over the Veldin's surface, then it crash landed into a nearby chasm. Ratchet's eyes widened and his ears stood up.
"Whoa..."
Without thinking, Ratchet's sense of adventure took over and he raced back inside. He climbed down to the floor of his garage and ran around the place grabbing his Swingshot and his Omniwrench. He had grabbed his Omniwrench in case something hostile came out of...whatever is was. He attached his Omniwrench to his harness and he placed the Swingshot on his wrist. Then the Lombax ran out of the garage, his head full of curiosity and questions.
It was a fairly long run, but Ratchet made it to the chasm where the fireball had crashed. He could see the light from the fire, but he could also see smoke and odd blue particles. It didn't take Ratchet long to figure out that the fireball was actually a falling spaceship. And sure enough, when he looked down into the chasm, a wrecked spaceship laid there in ruin. Did the pilot even make it after such a violent landing? Only one way to find out...
Ratchet aimed his Swingshot at the cliff on the opposite side of the chasm. The claw shot across, attached to a glowing blue rope. When the claw grasped the side of the cliff, Ratchet tugged it a few time to make to that it was secure. When he confirmed that it was, he took a few quick breaths. Then he ran forward and jumped into the chasm, managing to swing around the smoke and safely onto the opposite cliff. When he reached the other side, he gave a curious look downwards to see if there were any survivors of the crash. At first, he could only see smoke, blue particles, flames and ship debris. But then he located something else. Something that was very shiny. It was lying a few feet away from the ship, and it wasn't moving. Still, Ratchet carefully made his way down into the chasm. When he planted his feet onto the ground, he retracted his Swingshot and walked over to the shiny object. When he got a good look at it, he realized that it was a tiny robot. It had a box like body, a round head with a short antennae, two short arms with three fingered hands, and two legs with two small feet. The robot's antennae wasn't glowing, so it was either unconscious..or dead. Ratchet couldn't believe that this was the pilot of the ship. What was it doing in a ship and why did it crash?
As Ratchet wondered about the robot, he hardly noticed that the surrounding area was shaking a bit. When he finally did notice, he looked around to see what was causing the shaking. Then he saw the remainder of the fallen ship, which was becoming covered in glowing cracks. And that could only mean that the ship was about to...
"Oh-no...!"
Ratchet quickly aimed his Swingshot upwards towards the top of the cliff and fired it. It almost reached the top, but he didn't have time to retract it and try again.
So he quickly secured the little robot in his left hand. Then the Swingshot sent him flying upwards, making him almost crash into the side of cliff. He grabbed the rocks in the cliff and looked up. He was about five feet from the top and that ship was about to blow. So, as quickly and carefully as possible Ratchet climbed up the rest of the cliff. He thought that his hand was going to slip, but a big relief came over him when he felt the top. He hoisted himself upwards, and as he did, the ship below exploded. The Lombax didn't bother throwing his legs up, he simply threw his torso onto the ground. He let out a big breath. He made it. And just in time too.
After taking a few moments to rest, Ratchet threw his legs over the edge and stood up after placing the little robot on the ground. He took a few moments to brush himself off, his clothes were now covered in dirt. When he finished cleaning himself off, he was prepared to turn around and look at the little robot he had saved,but instead, he heard:
"Interesting."
Ratchet nearly jumped out of his fur when a sudden robotic voice came from behind him. When he recovered from his miniature heart attack, he turned around and saw the little robot looking over the side of the cliff and at the now exploded ship. He tilted his head, then he looked at Ratchet.
"It appears that my ship is out of commission."
"Ya think?" Ratchet said with an eyebrow raised.
"Are you the one who rescued me from the wreckage?" The little robot asked with a curious expression.
"Yeah. I watched your ship crash and I found you in the debris. I brought us up here right before the ship exploded," Ratchet said, getting down on one knee so he could look at the robot better.
"That explosion would have surely terminated my existence. Thank you for rescuing me, sir," the little robot said, shaking hands with Ratchet.
"No problem. Oh, and there's no need to call me sir, my name's Ratchet."
"Well Ratchet, I am sorry to cut our greeting short, but I must be off."
Ratchet stood up as the robot turned around and started walking away. He noticed that the robot was limping badly, and he quickly threw his hands out, prepared to catch the robot if he fell. But, he was managing his limp walk very nicely, so Ratchet brought his arms back and watched the robot walk.
"It is only a matter of time before they come and look for me. I have important information that needs to be delivered to the proper-?" The robot trailed off as he noticed a sharp pain in his left knee. He looked down and saw that the bolt in his knee had sprung out. It was even sparking a little. Ratchet noticed it too.
"Looks like you sustained a little injury from that crash. Let me have a look." Ratchet got down on his knees and took a close look at the robot's knee. His finger was zapped a little when he tried to touch the injury. After shaking his hand to relieve the slight pain, he stood up. "Just a loose bolt. I can fix it up in no time. Come on, I'll take you to my garage." Ratchet picked up the little robot so he wouldn't have to walk on his bed knee. The robot nodded.
"Thank you, sir."
"I told you, call me Ratchet."
"Oh, right...and please to make your acquaintance...sir."
"Alright...keep still...I'm almost done..." Ratchet said quietly, sitting down on a stool and screwing on the robot's loose bolt with his screwdriver.
The robot just sat there on his workbench, lying back on his hands and watched Ratchet fix his knee. He looked around the place that he was in. It was some sort of warehouse or something. He tilted his head and looked up at Ratchet.
"What is this place that you have brought me to?"
"This is my workshop...and my house."
"Hmm..."
The little robot trailed off as he wondered why someone would want to live in their workshop. But his curiosity was put aside when a small click came from his knee. The bolt was back in place, good as new. The robot was about to say 'thank you', but Ratchet spoke before he could.
"So, what's up with the crashing spaceship? And you said that someone is coming to look for you?" Ratchet said, putting his screwdriver away in his toolbox and pointing his hand out towards the little robot.
"Yes. You see, I have just escaped from the robot factory on Planet Quartu. After my birth, I came across an infobot. It showed me important information that I must bring to the proper authorities."
"Important information? Like what?"
"That infobot showed me the plans of Chairman Drek, a Blargian who is building on a large weapon that can destroy entire planets!"
"Wait wait wait..this guy wants to destroy entire planets?! May I ask why?" Ratchet said, looking completely dumbfounded.
"He says that he wants to rebuild a new planet for his people because his original home planet was too polluted to continue inhabiting. But he needs planet parts and natural resources in order to make this new planet. To he plans on tearing every single planet in the Solana Galaxy apart so he can gather those parts and resources."
"Dude, that's just...mean!" The Lombax said, sounding a bit angry. "But this doesn't explain the whole ship crashing thing."
"Well, you see, I am a defective robot. I was not built like the others on my factory line. So of course they wanted to destroy me because I was not built properly. And the robots at the robot factory work for Chairman Drek, so once they found out that I knew the truth behind his plans, they wanted me dead immediately. I managed to escape the building and take an unoccupied ship, but one of my boosters was destroyed by a large robot with what I believed to be a Negotiator weapon. I tried to fly as far away from Quartu as possible, but my ship was soon pulled into this planet's gravitational pull, and I ended up crashing."
"Sounds like you've been through a lot in your first few hours of life. So the robots from that factory are gonna come here and check to see if you're dead or not?"
"That is correct. So I must leave this place soon before they land on this planet and find me. I must bring this information to the authorities. Do you know where I can find them?" The little robot asked Ratchet.
"Uhhhmm...actually...yeah, I do know who you can bring those plans to," Ratchet said with a certain organization in his head.
"Who?"
"The Galactic Rangers. They're basically the space military with a bunch of cool ships and armor and weapons and gadgets!" The Lombax said excitedly, his tail swishing back and forth.
"You seem fond of these Galactic Rangers," the little robot said, noticing how excited Ratchet was becoming.
Ratchet nodded, then he quickly started digging through on of his workbench drawers. When he found what he was looking for, he stood up with a smile on his face.
"I've always dreamed of becoming a Galactic Ranger. Doing big things like Captain Qwark!"
Ratchet showed the robot what he was holding. A Qwark collectors card. The little robot looked at it strangely, completely confused by the man in the picture. He was a large man in a green outfit, showing off his muscles. He gave it another strange look.
"Who is this man exactly?"
"Who is this man? What, were you born yesterday?!" Ratchet then remembered that the robot kind of was. "...Nevermind. Anyway, this is Captain Qwark leader of the Galactic Rangers. I actually saw him today for me Ranger registration, but..." The Lombax's ears lowered. "I was rejected. He said that he won't let me in because I don't have what it takes to become a Galactic Ranger..."
The robot couldn't help but notice the sadness level in Ratchet. It was strange, he had been alive for only several hours and he was already beginning to recognize emotion. It was a weird sense that he was going to have to get used to. But maybe there was something that he could do for Ratchet. The Lombax did just save him from an exploding spaceship after all. The robot owed him.
The robot took the card out of Ratchet's hand and looked at it. Then he looked up at Ratchet himself.
"Perhaps there is a way that you can get into the Galactic Ranger's ranks. If you can get me to Captain Qwark, I will report what you have done for me, and he might reconsider his earlier statement."
"You would actually do that?" Ratchet asked, his ears perking back up.
"Of course. You did just save my life after all. And I myself need to get to the Galactic Rangers so I can deliver these plans. What do you say?"
Ratchet smiled again. This little robot could change everything and make his life better. If this robot convinced Qwark to let him join the Galactic Ranger ranks, he would no longer have to live on his backwater planet home. And he wouldn't have to deal with customers who were dissatisfied with his spaceship work. He could feel it, he could feel it in his gut. Everything was going to change.
He nodded and stretched out his hand.
"It's a deal...uh...wh-what's your name by the way?" He asked, wondering why he didn't ask that earlier.
"My serial number is B5429671," the little robot said confidently.
"Okay..um...it's a deal uh...B54...uh...okay, one more time."
"B5429-oof!" The little robot was interrupted by a tin can rolling off an upper shelf of the workbench. It hit his metal head, making a little 'clank' noise.
The 'clank' noise made Ratchet's ears perk up. Then he thought of something that would make saying the robot's name much easier. He looked at the robot.
"You know what? How about I just call you 'Clank'? It'll be easier than B54..2...your serial number."
"Hmm..." The robot placed a finger on his chin. It was certainly a nice nickname for him, and it would be easier for organics to say. Besides, he really liked that name. So, the robot nodded. "I find that name to be acceptable."
"Okay then." Ratchet outstretched his hand again, and he and newly named Clank shook hands. The Lombax nodded. "It's a deal, Clank."
I managed to get some Wi-Fi at my grandma's house! But this is probably all I'm gonna post until I come back from camping. But I assure you, a new chapter of Violet Eyes AND Organic Ordeal is in the works...on my computer's notepad.
And I didn't have Clank show Ratchet the infobot because I have no idea what it would say tsince it's most likely going to be a lot different than the game's infobot message
Before you ask, no, I did not see the movie's test screening in LA, so this isn't 100% what happens. I just took footage from the movie and PS4 trailer and some screenshots and came up with what I think is gonna happen at the beginning of the movie. Seems like it's pretty accurate, but we won't know until FREAKING APRIL 29TH 2016! (Sobs) I hate waiting...I really do.
ANYWAY! I hope y'all enjoyed this. I actually had a lot of fun writing it.
Make sure to leave a review while picking up your complimentary toaster!
This is Amberdiamondswords, Lordess of Diamond Swordness, pledger to Tobuscus, signing off!
