AN: This is told from Ratchet's point of view.

I was chilling out on my couch, with Clank at my side, an ice-cold beer in my hand, and the news on the T.V. playing. Ahhh, life was good…. But maybe a bit boring.

Nothing had really happened since the death of Allister. We had taken up a more domestic life, with little, er, adventure. We wanted to find the Lombaxes and all, but we didn't even know where to start. So, until then, we were just going to relax and enjoy ourselves. I was still a bit antsy, anyways, and ready for something to happen.

I had taken up a new life as an engineer, making new things and selling them. Mainly ships and guns, and I was quite proud of a few of the models. One of the guns shot out a mini Qwark, which attacked the enemy, and it had become a best-seller at Gadgetron. I think I've created about 27 new weapons, including a Bubble Gun, pie-shooter, and, my personal favorite, a model Secret Agent Clank defense robot. Clank's popularity doubled in size among the bounty hunters across the galaxy.

But all that's another story. This is the story of the Ginginator.

The words on the screen were in bold, capitalized, and large font. They began my first adventure in months, and brought perhaps my greatest adversary into my knowledge. Perhaps not my most, violent, sociopathic enemy, but the most powerful one nonetheless. He didn't want to destroy the galaxy, or the universe, or even do as much as disrupt the space-time continuum. No. He just wanted me. Wanted me, a soldier, perhaps the best of them, to be defeated by him.

These words did all that: "NEW ANHILATION NATION CHAMPION! CRUSHES LAST CHAMPIONS RECORD!"

These words hit me harder than a blow from a Rynocerator. Made me angry and hopeful at the same time. Made me angry that all the time I had spent getting that record had just been put to waste, and hopeful that I could finally do something worth-while again. No more slouching around meaninglessly, finally going to have a little adventure, finally a little competition. Obviously, I was going to have to regain my record, and doing so would definitely be a challenge.

"Beating the Qwarktastic Day in exactly 2:17 minutes! Unbelievable!" the announcer stated.

In under 2 minutes 17 seconds. Possible.

"Without even a single weapon!"

Okay, with my bare hands, I'd say it's possible.

"Without moving at all!"

What?

"Without even touching any of his opponents!" the Announcer concluded.

Was their some kind of malfunction, or what? That just didn't even make sense! Did they make some sort of drastic modifications to the rules? Whatever it was, I could duplicate whatever he did. Of course I could. I'm the world's greatest warrior, anything he could do, I could do better.

"Oooh, look there he is! Quick, switch the cameras to him!" the announcer squealed, obviously starstruck.

The Ginginator had a deep, hearty voice, filled with triumph. "My name is Ginginator. Not exactly my real name, but the alias I am choosing to be acknowledged as, and I expect you all to refer to me as it. But I am here because I am a superior life-form. Far superior to all others, including the small, tiny, miniscule, short, weak, meager, weapon-reliant, self-centered, so-called engineer named Ratchet."

I was fine until then. Until he insulted my height. Then I got furious. I crushed my still half-full beer right in my hands, and slammed it to the ground. I just wanted to kill that idiot.

"Ratchet, calm down!" Clank pleaded, finally saying something.

"Oh yes, little Ratchet, have I enraged you?"He asked, to which the answer was obviously yes. "Have I humiliated you? If so, let's see if you can regain your precious dignity. I challenge you to a duel. Tomorrow, here, at this arena, at exactly 3 o'clock. Come, or admit that I am better than you." The Ginginator finished out this challenge with cockiness in his voice, and nothing but pleasure in his mind.

"Ratchet, just let him win. There's no point in trying to be so superior."

The Lombax shrugged him off and grabbed his keys for Aphelion.

An:I suppose it is time for some information on who the Ginginator really is. The Ginginator's powers will not be explained right now. This is told in the third person.

Calling Ratchet little was a bit of a lie for him, considering that he himself was shorter. He had long, blonde hair with red tips and hazel eyes. He had quite a few freckles and paper white skin. He was indeed the epitome of all that was a ginger, and that was perhaps where his alias came from. Anyhow, he had snow-white teeth, and quite obviously brushed them a lot.

He didn't look the least bit threatening, due to his minute stature and great hygiene. Plus, humans weren't exactly known for their fighting abilities, and he was certainly human.

But he was extremely threatening, dangerous, and, most of all, spontaneous. His own experiences had made him that way. He had fought in several different inter-galactic wars, including Universe War 18, the most gruesome war in all of history, with over 74 trillion people dying. A seasoned veteran, he had been diagnosed with a serious case of post-traumatic stress disorder, and several broke, never to come quite back to their original strength, bones.. But the worst had yet to come for him.

After being diagnosed, he, with the rest of his remaining army mates, began to travel back to Earth. While traveling, they encountered a mighty worm-hole, which began to tear the entire ship apart. He narrowly escaped on an escape pod, but the hole left him with extraordinary powers.

He made it back home fairly easily, but his new powers quickly became apparent. He was hospitalized, and was supposed to never get out. Supposed to. He remained in the hospital for mere days, until he got bored, and killed almost everyone in the hospital. Now considered a complete madman, there was no question that people should just let him be. He found the nearest ship, killed the person using it, and began to travel the galaxy. He generally didn't kill those who agreed to cooperate with him, but then, once again, he got bored. He needed fulfillment. He wasn't certain what it was. Perhaps all he needed was a challenge. Yes, that was it, something he could not accomplish with ease. No matter how hard he tried, he found few. But when he did find them, it filled him to the brim with the upmost joy, felt his heart beat, his adrenaline pump. He loved it. It was euphoria to him. It became a hobby for him to scour the galaxy, looking for the greatest warriors known to man, solely to kill them.

It wasn't long until he heard of Ratchet. It was from a villager, a nice, welcoming person who invited him into her house for some sleep in the night. When he asked about the strongest of the strong, she immediately told him about Ratchet, a Lombax with unbelievable abilities. She stated that he could never beat him, no matter how great The Ginginator was. As he left, the woman revealed her name to be Angela Cross.

The Ginginator researched who this Ratchet was, and began to devise a plan to lure him into a trap. He thought about Ratchet's egocentricity and realized that Ratchet could not let himself be second.

AN: End of background information. Back to Ratchet's POV.

The ride to Station Q9 was a quick one. I was there in less than a few hours, and it was a good chance to test out my new experimental warp drive.

Clank was not amused. "Ratchet, this is not a good idea. I sensed extraordinary psychic abilities within that man. He must have some secret, extraordinary talents. I must advise against it."

I was thoughtful until responding. "It might not be the best of ideas, but I have to do it. It's necessary for me to…. have a meaning. I have to be the best."

Clank was still wary, but decided to not argue any farther.

"Come on, it's 50 after 3. We've only got ten minutes left."

We landed on the station, and were greeted with about 20 reporters who flooded us with questions about how it felt to not be the best anymore. I kept walking, religiously ignoring the countless questions. The Ginginator was already waiting at the floor of the arena.

"Right this way!" exclaimed the all-too familiar voice of Captain Qwark. Of all the celebrities to choose from, they naturally had to choose him, possibly the most annoying humanoid life-form I had ever encountered. Ugh. "The showdown of the century! The clash of the titans! The biggest collision of forces since the Cragmites and the Lombaxes!" Qwark was already milking the theatrics, and I was already tired of it. Reluctantly, I allowed him to escort me down to the center stage, where I finally came eye to eye with the Ginginator. His cold, almost lifeless eyes.

I was ready.

"On your mark, get set, go!" Qwark was already filling up the arena with his voice, as the more than willing announcer.

I quickly had Clank hand him his mini-turret glove, which I strategically used to place a mini-turret near the Ginginator. It began shooting at him almost immediately, but the Ginginator didn't even take his eyes off of me.

The bullets stopped mid-way in their tracks, and began to turn. They turned towards me, and shot at me at a lightning-fast pace.

Woah! What was happening? I had seen a lot, but nothing like that! I flipped quickly to the right, and got Clank to hand me my suck cannon. I sucked the bullets up, but didn't know what to do from there. Shooting them back could have a similar result to the last trial, so he allowed his adversary to make the next move. It became apparent that The Ginginator wasn't messing around when he flung hot lava, stragiht from the surrounding environment, using an unexplained and un-seeable force, at me with a belligerent look in his eyes.

Ack! I sucked this up as well, but still had no idea what to do. He had no perceivable weaknesses from here, so I began to advance on him, rolling whenever this fiend hurled something at me.

I was within twenty feet of him, him still not having had moved a step, when my fur darkened, and shadows surrounded me. Slowly, I turned my head up, to see a cascade of falling rocks showering down. I was too petrified for a few seconds, scared out of my wits and unable to come up with any ideas. By the time I had gotten that ability back, it was too late. He had defeated me, and I surely wasn't the best any longer.

The small rocks fell down, spaced out almost evenly, in a pattern that was nearly impossible to avoid. Ironically, I was simply too large to fit through any of the cracks, and the rocks were just too solid and there were too many of them for me to shoot all of them away. But wait, I had one last, however miniscule, chance.

I jumped up, and made contact with one of the rocks, and curled my body up, just barely fitting between the cracks. I made a perpendicular angle with rock, and pushed off with all the force I could find.

It was a rough journey, with several rocks scraping past me, and I got a few scratches, but I made it either way. Closing in on The Ginginator, I raised my wrench, and swung down mightily.

Bang! I felt good, solid contact, and felt him stagger back a little bit. Maybe one or two steps, but moving nonetheless. I got ready for another swing, when I began to feel an uncanny pressure form around my body. I felt suffocated and isolated, as if the very life force I had was being sucked out of my body. I felt myself drop my wrench and drop to my knees, my very essence and spirit all being stripped out of me.

Sounds echoed around me. "Bow down before your master." "Ooh, it seems like that Lombax is getting burnt!"Obviously Qwark. There were tons of gasps and cheers, this sudden explosion of emotion at my demise.

Death. It was scary, it really was. As the inevitable just continued to creep in on me, I began to lose my integrity. I felt myself dying, on both the inside and the outside. I hated it. It all couldn't end this way. The Lombax race had to live on. I couldn't be the last. I needed to find them. I needed to fulfill my destiny. I tilted my head up just enough to see The Ginginator, my killer. I felt myself get back some integrity, enough to stay on my knees and not crumple to the ground. I scouted around with my hand momentarily, eventually feeling my fingers make contact with the cold metal of my wrench. My fingers clenched around it, and I slid them forward, falling to the ground simultaneously. My fingers released, and black-ness filled me up completely. I heard the wrench as it slowly slid across the floor, barely making contact with his feet.

It did just enough to break his concentration and temporarily release me. With all my remaining energy, I staggered to my feet, and lunged forward, tackling him to the ground. I collapsed right onto him, no energy left. But what I couldn't finish, Clank could. He punched the physically weak and old Ginginator several times, until he passed out, leaving me and Clank as the winner.

Epilogue

Extensive studies were done on The Ginginator, leading to extreme advancements in psychic sciences. For slightly less than a month after his defeat, he was kept in extremely secure prisons, where his abilities were greatly numbed. At the conclusion of the studies, he was hung, rightfully.