Weekly Oneshot #13: A Lombax's Christmas Tree

The temperatures were dropping on Planet Veldin, and the cold nights had gotten even colder. Any water that dripped off of a rock or roof of a building froze in its place with the other drops, forming an small icicle. Though there was no snow around, the civilians of Planet Veldin were bundled up in their winter coats and scarves. It was that time of the year again.

December was finally here.

Seven-year-old Ratchet was well aware of the now current month. In fact, the moment that it had hit midnight, he jumped out of his bed and went over to the calendar, grabbing a stepladder so he could climb up and rip November off. Then he would quickly go back to his bed before his caretaker, Grimroth, could hear him making a bunch of noise. But that was before he crumbled up stupid November and tossed its page into the trashcan.

Like any child, Ratchet's favorite month was December because of one reason: Christmas. Though Christmas didn't really seem to be all that glorious for the young Lombax. Because he lived inside of a garage that was mainly used for storing and repairing old ships and vehicles, and because Veldin wasn't exactly a planet that had a lot of stores, Ratchet usually received a single gift from Grimroth, and it was usually a tool or something of hardware (not exactly every kid's dream present). But the young Lombax didn't really care. He was training to be a spaceship mechanic after all, so he should get familiar with tools. However, something that Ratchet wanted desperately was his own robot, but there was no way that he was getting that, they were way too expensive. The only way that the Lombax was going to get a robot was if it fell from the sky or something like that.

Besides, Ratchet wasn't too concerned about what was under the tree. In fact, what he loved about Christmas time was the tree itself. Ever since he was little, Ratchet had always been fascinated by the tree that was covered with lights and glass bulbs. The sight of it was just so breathtaking, it really was beautiful. He even loved the tree when he was a baby; he would crawl up to it and play with with the lower bulbs. But, when he got tired out from playing, he would just sit there and stare at it. Presents were great and all, but the tree was what won Ratchet over.

Ratchet opened his big greens as the morning of December 1st arrived. The very first December sun rose up into the sky; its light finding its way through any cracks or holes in Ratchet's garage space. The Lombax's ears perked up as he threw the orange comforter off of him and quickly made way for his dresser, covering himself with a white shirt and light blue overalls. Then he put on his slightly oversized brown shoes. strapping them up so he was ready to go. As he adjusted one of his shoes, his ears twitched as the sound of footsteps were heard. He then jumped up excitedly as Grimroth, who was preparing to open up shop, walked into the room. The Lombax ran over to the large alien.

"Mr. Grimroth! It's December first!"

"Really? I hadn't noticed because I was too busy finding the month of November in the trashcan," Grimroth replied, looking down at the young Lombax.

Ratchet gave an innocent look, "Yeah, sorry about that. I just got excited." He then climbed on top of a workbench and sat down on it, "So are we gonna get it today?"

"Get what?"

"You know, the tree! You always get a tree on the first day of December! Didn't you make the order to get one from Planet Eudora?"

The Lombax looked at his caretaker with hopeful eyes, waiting for him to respond. But his ears lowered when Grimroth sighed, "I knew that this was coming. I guess I better tell you now than later. Ratchet, as much as it pains me to say this...we're not getting a tree this year."

"What?!" Ratchet shouted, mortified.

"I'm sorry, but I just couldn't afford one. Trees from Eudora are very expensive, and the shipping prices are higher than ever."

"B-But we always get a tree! What's different with money this year than all of the other years?"

"Well, we didn't get as many customers as we did the other years. Less customers means less money, and less money means...no Eudora tree. Sorry, kid." Ratchet didn't say anything after that. The only thing that remained of him was a sad and tense aura surrounding his entire being. He got down off of the workbench and walked over to the nearby coat rack, reaching up and grabbing his brown coat. As he put it on, Grimroth tried to lighten things up. "Look, even though we don't have a tree, we're still gonna have Christmas. And the gift I got you is pretty darn cool if I do say so myself."

Ratchet walked over to the garage door and opened it a little, just enough for him to slip out, "I'm gonna be outside for awhile."

"Okay, well...don't stay out too long. I don't want you getting sick and then getting my customers sick. Have you ever seen a Fongoid with a cold? It's really gross."

"Yeah...I'll...I'll remember that," Ratchet said, his voice breaking.

Before Grimroth could say anything else, the young Lombax slipped under the door and ran out into the cold morning. The chilling winds hit him immediately, making him stumble a little. When he regained his balance, Ratchet quickly took shelter inside of a pile of scrap metal. He curled up into a little fluffy ball, attempting to wipe away the tears that were forming in his eyes. No tree...there was going to be no Christmas tree this year. The tree was the thing that he loved most about the Christmas season, and now that he wasn't getting one, he felt his chest hurting. He didn't understand at all. Grimroth had served a lot of customers this year, how did they not have the money to buy a tree? Whatever the reason, Ratchet felt like this was going to be the worst Christmas ever.

As Ratchet sobbed, another cold wind swept through the land, some of which found its way through the pieces of scrap metal, which made the child become a bit agitated. Stupid cold wind blowing, and stupid scrap metal for failing to block the stupid wind. Ratchet was just wanting to be mad at everything, because usually his sadness turned into anger. He smacked the side of the scrap pile, making several pieces fall down and on top of him. Ratchet covered his head as pieces of scrap rained down upon him. After making several whining sounds as he was hit several times, he uncovered himself as be thought that everything was done falling. But a tin ball rolled off of the top and came down, bonking him in the head. It didn't hurt, but he was still annoyed by it. He looked down at the ball and picked it up, preparing to flatten it into a tin pancake. But he didn't. In fact, he didn't do anything to make the ball look deformed. Instead he found himself simply staring at it. The silver surface reflected in his black pupils. It was round and shiny, just like...a glass bulb ornament.

Ratchet's ears twitched as he looked around the pile of scrap. A lot of the metal was bright and shiny, shiny like the tree that he urged to have. One look at the Lombax face and anyone could tell that he had an awesome idea. He jumped up off the ground and rushed back into the garage. Grimroth had retired to his own workshop, so the Lombax was alone to work on his idea. Ratchet went over to his bed and reached under it, pulling out a large blue toolbox. He attempted to pick it up, but the box felt like that it was heavier than the Lombax himself. So he walked as he dragged the box on the ground, stopping in a large, clear area of the garage. Then he went back outside and began collecting pieces of scrap, starting by locating a long pole. Then he grouped together any tin or metal spheres that he could find. After that, metal sheets that he could cut up into small squares. What he was doing may seem weird, but Ratchet was going to get his tree, even if it meant digging through scrap.

Several hours later...

Ratchet put a swirl of glue from his hot glue gun (he got it in his stocking when he was five) on the bottom of the second to last tin ball. Then he carefully placed it on the surface on a nearly bare piece of metal sheet. After that, he pulled out a can of spray paint and gave the ball a nice blue coating. He got a tiny bit of blue paint on the green of the metal sheet, so he grabbed a different can of spray paint, shook it up, and gave a nice touch of green around the now blue spots. After that, he glued on the last two balls, making them the colors red and orange. Then be backed up and looked up at his creation. It was ready for the big spotlight, and that wasn't a metaphor or anything. Nope, Ratchet had once spent a day fixing an old spotlight that he found in the garbage; it was good for his training as a mechanic. So, the Lombax ran over to the stand where he had set up his spotlight when Grimroth entered the room. The large alien stopped when he saw Ratchet's creation.

"Um...what the heck is that?" He asked.

"Oh! Mr. Grimroth! You're just in time," Ratchet said excitingly. He jumped behind the spotlight and grabbed the sides, pointing it towards his creation. His ears perked up as he looked at his mentor, "Check this out!" Ratchet flipped on the switch and a big white light burst from the spotlight, hitting the Lombax's creations dead on. Th shiny green painted metal and tin ornaments let up, making the creation look like a shining metallic Christmas tree. Ratchet happily ran over to Grimroth and pointed at his homemade tree, "Look, Mr. Grimroth! You don't have to to buy a tree because I made a tree! I dug through the scrap pile outside and made it into this! What do you think?"

"Well...it's a very nice piece of uh...m-mechanic art," Grimroth said, not sure what to think of the creation. It did look like a tree, but it was sharp and rusted, not to mention extremely uneven when it came to metal sheet size. Then again, it was created by a seven year old Lombax, so he couldn't really expect anything perfect. So he patted Ratchet on the back, nearly knocking him over. "Nice job, kid. You're gonna make a fine mechanic when you grow up."

Ratchet giggled as he regained his balance, then he walked over to his tree. There was still one piece that needed to be put on, and that piece was currently sitting on the workbench. A gold painted, star shaped piece of metal that he had cut out himself. However, even with his stepladder, Ratchet was unable to reach the top of the tree (he was a little on the short side). So he grabbed the star and went over to Grimroth, holding it up and showing it to his mentor.

"Um, Mr. Grimroth? Can you help me with the star? I cannot reach the top..." Ratchet asked innocently.

"Yeah, yeah I can help ya," Grimroth replied, reaching down and grabbing the young Lombax by his waist. Then, with a tremendous amount of ease, he lifted the child up to the top of the the metallic tree, where Ratchet attached the star on top.

"Perfect!" He said as he was placed back in the ground. He put his hands behind his back and stared happily at his creation. Though it wasn't perfect, he thought that his scrap metal tree was absolutely wonderful. "Isn't it amazing?"

"That it is," the Lombax's caretaker said, folding his arms and nodding. After a few silent moments, Grimroth clapped his hands together, "Welp, we shouldn't have that empty space under the tree. Let's see if I can fix that."

Ratchet's ears twitched with curiosity as Grimroth walked into the other room. He shortly returned with a fairly long package that was wrapped in silver and gold wrapping paper. Ratchet swished his tail back and forth happily as he realized that that package was his Christmas present, and it was a much bigger one than all of his past gifts, which made him even more excited. Grimroth knew how eager the Lombax was to open it, but he told him that he was to wait until Christmas morning. He also assured him that nothing would happen to his present because it was being protected by his incredible tree. Ratchet sighed in disappointment that he couldn't open his present yet, but he perked up quickly when he took another look at the tree. He really did do a great job, and Grimroth was very proud. As the child went off to go watch TV in his area of the garage (most likely to watch something about that Captain Qwark guy), the mentor looked down at the single present, wondering what Ratchet would think about his brand new Omniwrench 8000.

December is officially here you guys! And you know what that means?

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Oh? You don't? Well then...I guess I'll explain. In celebration of December finally arriving and the fact that 2015 is about to get its ass out of here and making room for the year of the Ratchet and Clank Movie, all of the Weekly Oneshots this month will either be about Christmas or the season of Winter. So yeah, that should be fun. And doing a oneshot about going back to Ratchet's childhood during Christmas was, I thought, an awesome start.

Also, as you can all see, I have changed my profile picture to Clank holding a snowball. Why? Because adorableness.

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This is Amberdiamondswords, Lordess of Diamond Swordness, pledger to Tobuscus, signing off!