Chapter 1

Ratchet's POV

"Thrusters?"

"Check."

"Ion ducts?"

"Check."

"Everything seems to be in working order," my best friend Clank replied looking up from the tablet in his hands. He had been helping me fix a ship that a friend asked me to repair for him. I couldn't do it without Clank though as he had more knowledge of ships in his circuits than I had in my whole body.

I was excited to finally try it out. Since the Solaris galaxy didn't need saving for a while now, it was good to finally get back to doing what I do best.

"Ratchet, are you sure that you have fixed it properly?" Clank questioned me, always being my voice of reason when it came to mechanics.

"Yes Clank, I'm positive this time it will work," I said as I started the ignition.

"Remember what happened last time you said that?" Clank argued with my reasoning.

"Yes, Clank. Stop being such a worry wart!" I replied as the engine to the ship turned over and the thrusters ignited, "See?"

The thrusters remained on for a minimum of 7 seconds but quickly turned off and the ship came falling to the floor of my garage. A few pieces went flying in various directions on top of that.

"Why does this always happen to me?" I exclaimed in frustration. This was the fourth time I had tried to start the thing and failed. I honestly began to question my abilities to build a ship.

"Perhaps, it is best that I do the building from now on while you tell me what I need," Clank replied as he picked up one of the bolts that had flown off. At the same time a screw had finished coming lose and popped Clank in the head. This made my mood turn around for Clank made the funniest face, I had ever seen him make.

"Yeah, perhaps," I replied through chuckles also throwing a spring in his direction. Much to my amazement, he caught it.

The moment was interrupted when the pad Clank had been carrying, beeped.

"I'm sorry Ratchet, but it appears that I'm needed at the Defense Center to repair some broken security bots," Clank explained to me the nature of the call.

"It's okay buddy," I replied, "You go where you're needed. But if you need me, you know where to find me."

Clank sauntered off in the direction of the door. He turned around to look at me as if he wanted me to tell him not to go.

"Go you bucket of bolts!" I replied as I pushed him out the door.

"Ratchet, please be careful," Clank warned me, "For some reason, I feel something bad is going to happen."

"Relax, will you?" I replied kneeling down to get to eye level with my robot companion, "I'll make sure to give you a call if something does happen."

He just looked between the buildings adjacent to my place, and then back to me. He seemed genuinely worried but also seemed appeased at my proposition.

His pad then rang again.

"Alright, I'll go," Clank finally stated.

"Alright," I replied, "See you when you get done."

Clank activated his wings and a new thruster pack he had installed and flew off to the defense center.

I returned to the mess indoors and decided to pick it up.

"Golly, I've got a lot of cleaning up to do," I thought out loud. I then proceeded to use the rest of my day to clean.

Dr. Nefarious' POV

"Great! That little bot brain took the bait!" Lawrence, my trusty butler cried out.

"Good! That means the squishy is in there all alone," I exclaimed, "General, are you ready to show us your stuff?"

"Ready and waiting for your signal," someone in the shadows stated. I could hear the sound of the man's weapon charging up.

Then he quickly exited the ship. I had so much built up excitement that I let out a laugh.

"Soon Lawrence, we will have my greatest enemy in our grasp to do whatever we want with him," I stated.

"Don't forget, there is someone who wants to experiment on him," Lawrence reminded me.

"Which is going to make my job much more fun!" I added a giddy excitement came over me.

I let out another maniacal laugh. Now all I had to do was wait for the general to complete his task.