Please take the time to read this author's note in its entirety!
I had previously written this piece on another account (if I remember right, the name of it was Hyena With A Pen). However, due to the fact that I haven't been active on that account in years, I decided it was time for a fresh start. Thus, I deleted everything from my old account, including the previous version of this story, and have decided to rewrite this entirely. I feel I have grown as an artist/writer, and therefor can do this more justice than I did five or six years ago.
That being said, thank you so much for taking the time to click here and read this fic! I will update as often as I can, although it may be slightly sporadic due to personal and work life coming first, so please be patient. Enjoy, friends!
Love always,
~The Cyber Hyena
Time is relative. What is a matter of hours on one planet could be months or even years on another. No two planets experience time the exact same way. Time only bears significance to those who care to observe its flow.
In the vacuum of space, time is even less significant. Seconds, minutes, hours, all lost in an ever-expanding ocean of the cosmos. There was no way of knowing exactly how long the Lombax, Ratchet, and his robot companion, Clank, had been wandering through the stars. It felt like an eternity, but for all either one of them knew, it had only been a few minutes. The two of them had just left the Great Clock, and Ratchet had assured his partner he knew exactly where he was going, but Clank felt otherwise.
After a while, the little robot turned to face Ratchet and asked, "Are you sure you know where you are going?"
In response, Ratchet simply chuckled and said, "I've told you a hundred times, I know exactly where we're going..." As Clank turned back toward the window to gaze at a passing comet, Ratchet lowered his gaze and muttered under his breath, "I think..."
Clank sighed and said, "You know, we can always stop and ask someone for directions."
"Even if we needed to, there's no one around to actually ask. We passed the last space depot a while ago." He was right. It seemed for the moment, they were wandering aimlessly through deep space. Not another soul was to be found anywhere near their location. At this point, Clank had begun to worry – it was only a matter of time before they ran out of fuel and would be at the mercy of fate to send a passing ship their way, and even then it could be a dicy situation."Don't worry so much, buddy. This is just...a...scenic route, that's all."
"Where is it we are even trying to go anyway?"
The Lombax fell silent. Admittedly, he wasn't entirely sure. Should they go back to the Apogee Space Station, to Talwyn and her warbot companions? Should they return to Kerwan and try to maintain their normal lives, or at least as normal as two intergalactic heroes could have? He still had a lot to process, after what had happened with the Cragmites and Tachyon, and then what happened at the Great Clock. He wanted to try to find a way to reach the rest of his kind – there had to have been another way, somehow – but he knew their friends would begin to worry if they didn't hear from the them soon.
Finally, he sighed and admitted, "I'm not sure, pal. I...I got a lot to think about right now, and..."
As Ratchet's voice trailed off, Clank simply nodded and said, "I understand." Ratchet turned his attention to him and smiled softly. "Thanks, Clank," he said, his voice just barely louder than a whisper. "You just take it easy. Maybe power down and recharge for a little bit. I'll figure something out, okay?"
"Alright," Clank said, nodding as Ratchet turned his attention forward once again. Staring out at the stars as they passed by, the robot's eyes slowly shut. Eventually, he slipped off to sleep.
When Clank's eyes fluttered open, he looked around, finding himself in an infinite abyss. In the darkness, he couldn't even tell for certain if his feet were touching ground or if he were somehow suspended in the air. He looked around, calmly at first, for there was a certain sense of ease in the air, but there was also a hint of uncertainty and fear that eventually caused him to look frantically around. He called out for anyone to hear him, but the only response was the echo of his own voice. After a few minutes of this, he fell silent. If he had a heart, it would be pounding rapidly in his chest.
Suddenly, a bright light appeared behind him, and he felt a familiar presence. He turned around to find one of the Zoni floating before him. "Hello," he said simply as the creature slowly approached. As it drew closer to him, another appeared, and another shortly after that. The three slowly drifted in a circle around him as they spoke to him.
"Sire is in danger!" they collectively said, they voices marked with an unusual tone of urgency. "You must find her!"
His gaze rapidly switched between the three in his confusion. "What?" He gasped. "Who must I find?"
"The Tigress." As they spoke the mysterious name, the glow of their bodies intensified. "Find the Tigress! Only she can help you!" They progressively began circling him faster as they spoke to him.
"But I do not know this 'Tigress.' How am I supposed to find her?"
"Travel to the jungle at the edge of Phylax," the three said as they slowly rose into the air, still circling around him. "You will find her in the wilds there." The glow of their bodies grew brighter still, soon engulfing him in blinding light.
"Wait! Please!" Clank begged, shielding his eyes. "I need to know more!"
As the vision faded, their voices echoed through his head.
Find the Tigress.
Find the Tigress...
"Get off my tail already!" Clank heard Ratchet snarl as he was jolted awake by a shocking blow to Aphelion. He looked around bewilderedly. Somewhere along the line, they had traveled back into one of the sectors of the Breegus System, although he couldn't tell exactly where they were, as the ship was moving too fast for him to get a good view of any landmarks. He snapped his attention to Ratchet, his teeth bared as he maneuvered the ship. "Ratchet!" the robot exclaimed.
The Lombax's ears flicked as he heard his friend speak. "Oh, uh..." he stammered, glancing at him for a brief moment. "...Hey, buddy! You, uh...you have a nice little catnap?" He smiled nervously.
"What is going on?"
Ratchet was about to speak again, but just as he opened his mouth, the ship lurched forward from another blast. "Uh...yeah, we ran into a small bit of trouble here..." the Lombax said, his voice shaking slightly. Clank crossed his arms, silently demanding further explanation from his partner. "I've been trying to shake these guys for a while now, and they just won't let up! I don't even know who the heck they are or what they want!"
Right on cue, a transmission crackled over the radio. A gruff, guttural voice snarled over the comm unit. "Attention starship signature 3371-Alpha! Surrender immediately! Disclose the location of the White Tigress, or be cast to the depths of space!"
"The...What?" Ratchet stammered. "Look, I don't know who you are, but we don't know any 'White Tigress!'"
Another shot struck the ship, and Ratchet cursed as the ship lurched forward. "Our bioscan reveals one Lombax life form on board your ship! This is your final chance – surrender the Tigress or die!"
The Tigress? Clank remembered the Zoni mentioning this name to him in his dream just minutes before. He looked back at Ratchet and said quietly, "I know that name." Ratchet instantly snapped his attention to his partner. "Ratchet, the Zoni came to me. They told me that we have to find someone known as 'the Tigress.'"
"And when was this exactly?"
The robot paused for a moment, then explained, "When I was asleep just now. They came to me in a dream... Or...in a vision... I cannot be sure exactly..."
"So you're going off pure speculation there?" Clank nodded slightly – when he thought about it, it did sound almost insane. "Then again, the Zoni mentioning it, and now these psychos... That's way too convenient to be a coincidence. There's got to be something there. Did they mention where we could find this 'Tigress?'"
"They only mentioned 'the jungle at the edge of Phylax.'"
"That's got to mean Quantos..." Ratchet muttered. "Lucky for us, it's nearby." Ratchet then smiled confidently, then sharply turned the ship around, diving underneath the black triangular warship tailing them. In the distance, the two could see the blue and green surface of the planet Quantos. Ratchet then initiated the hyperdrive, rocketing them toward the planet.
"Wrong choice, Lombax!" the pilot of the warship growled. Ratchet growled, determined to reach the planet before their pursuers could catch them. The warship behind them was considerably slower – however, what the ship lacked in speed it more than made up for in firing range. As they reached the atmosphere of the planet, the warship far behind them, another round of plasma blasts was fired at them, hitting Aphelion directly in the thrusters and all but disabling all systems of the ship. Every screen, button, and light inside flickered and dimmed, and the engines sputtered and died out.
"Aphelion, no!" Ratchet tried restarting the ship, but to no avail. Try as he might, the ship was completely unresponsive. Without any thruster power and the landing flaps offline, the two plummeted toward the planet's surface. "Damn!" He turned to face Clank, grabbing him and securing him to his back as they drew ever closer to the ground below. "Get ready to jump, pal!" Clank prepared to launch the helipack to land the two safely. Omniwrench in hand, Ratchet swiftly pried open the ship's hatch and leapt from the cockpit, the robot immediately starting his propellers.
The two watched as the ship fell to the ground in a ball of fire, a tower of black smoke and fire erupting from the twisted metal frame. They landed softly on the ground not far from where the ship had crashed. Ratchet watched her burn, ears dropping against the back of his head. "What are we going to do now?" he sighed. "How are we supposed to get around?"
"Uh... Ratchet?" The Lombax turned to face Clank. "I think we have bigger problems at the moment..." He furrowed his brow, then heard the roar of several starcruisers.
"They must've come from the warship," Ratchet growled, ears flattening as he crouched against a nearby tree. "We can't stay here. We've got to get out of here." After making sure Clank was still secured to his back, he slipped into the thick foliage of the jungle, moving swiftly through the bushes and undergrowth. As they pushed through the jungle, they could hear the starcruisers land and the growls and snarls of whatever was piloting them.
"Ratchet?" Clank asked as the Lombax ran. "Where exactly are we going?"
"Not really sure," he replied, panting. "But anywhere's better than here at this point. And if the Zoni are right, then this Tigress these guys are looking for is somewhere in these jungles."
"But we cannot be certain exactly where. For all we know, the Tigress is on the other side of the planet."
"I know...but we've got to try."
As they continued onward, Ratchet could swear he felt the gaze of someone watching them through the trees...following them...
The two wandered for hours with no sign of the mysterious White Tigress. They stopped in a small clearing to rest for the night, setting up camp near a gently flowing river. Not far from where they were was a cliff overlooking a lush, fertile valley where the river flowed into a placid lake. Massive hills covered in jungle overgrowth towered in the distance, filtering the golden rays of the sun as the sunset painted the sky every shade of pastel reds, oranges, and yellows, giving the sparse clouds in the sky an almost watercolored feel to them.
Ratchet had started a decent-sized fire to keep the two of them warm throughout the night. The flames offered some comfort to him, but it had been so long since he had been without a ship or his weapons, and he'd never had to rely on nature to provide for him. He hoped this wouldn't last long, and that somehow he'd get Aphelion back. He stared deeply into the red-orange flames, gripping his Omniwrench tightly in one hand as he became lost in his thoughts.
Clank walked slowly up to him and sat down beside him, looking concerned at him. Gently, he placed a hand on his partner's shoulder, causing him to flinch slightly and look back over at him. "Are you okay, Ratchet?" he asked.
He nodded in response. "Just..." he sighed. "...thinking. Did the Zoni happen to mention any actual details about the Tigress we're supposed to find?"
"No, I am afraid not," Clank replied, shaking his head. "The Zoni do tend to be somewhat...cryptic."
He had enough personal experience to know this was very true. But at the same time, he had also learned the hard way to never doubt Clank when he relayed messages to him from the Zoni. Cryptic or not, they would have to find the Tigress, if only to find out why they had been directed to do so. "What about why?" Ratchet asked. "Did they say why?"
"The only thing they said was that only she can help us. They did not say why we need her help."
Ratchet sighed, nodding and turning his gaze back to the fire and the sunset past it. "Yeah... Kinda figured that much. I got a feeling it's going to be a long night, pal." Clank tilted his head. He found himself concerned about his partner. He seemed more nervous than he usually was, though he would never willingly show it nor admit it. Ratchet once again looked down at the robot, forcing a small smile. "We'll be alright, though. You know that, right?" Clank nodded, unsure if he was saying that to assure him or for his own comfort and peace of mind. "Try to get some rest, okay? We're going to have to cover a lot of ground come morning. I'll keep an eye out for any trouble." Reluctantly, Clank lay down on his side next to his partner and shut his eyes, forcing himself to shut down and recharge for a while.
Once Ratchet was sure the robot was asleep, he turned his attention back to the cliff, watching the sunset. As his surroundings grew darker and the creatures of the night slowly came to life, his nerves grew more and more tense. With nothing more than his wrench and his own agility and wit to rely on, the two were sitting ducks for their pursuers and any number of predators that lurked the jungles at night. His ears flicked and his eyes darted at every sound that pierced the darkness, but he managed to keep calm while remaining vigilant.
Not long after nightfall, however, something caught his attention. Something rustled in the bushes at the edge of the clearing. A dimly-glowing cyan light could be seen through the leaves and vines. Baring his teeth, he slowly got to his feet, holding the Omniwrench defensively out in front of him. As the rustling came closer, he saw a dark, slender shape manifest in the shadows – a thin body with long, agile limbs, a lengthy tail with a large tuft of fur at the end, and what appeared to be a pair of large wings sprouting from its back. Crowning its head was what looked like a pair of thick spiked horns. Through the darkness, he could hear the slightest growl, almost as that of a beast stalking its prey.
He gripped the wrench tighter and gritted his teeth, preparing to attack.
Those of you who read the previous version of this story may notice some significant differences. Again, I'm rewriting the entire thing, not simply copy/pasting from the old document, so bear that in mind as we move forward with this and any future pieces.
Thanks again for stopping by and reading! If you've made it this far, congratulations! You get confetti, an invisible cookie, and a free hyena hug! (^w^)
See you all next time!
Love always,
~The Cyber Hyena