Chapter 1: What is this Place?
"What better way to relax than to take Aphelion out for a flight, eh clank?" Ratchet asked his little robotic companion. It had been two years since the incident at the great clock. With the death of Alister Azimuth, Ratchet had tried to get out of the hero business. Over the years, he had faced many enemies, made just as many friends, but losing Alister made Ratchet feel as if he had lost everything that mattered. Alister was the only connection Ratchet had to his past and his family, and with him gone, Ratchet thought he would never learn anything about who he truly was inside.
"This is not to relax Ratchet." Clank said, knowing what Ratchet was really doing.
"We're meant to meet up with Quark, Miss Talwyn, Cronk, and Zepher, not attempting to flee back to the Solana Galaxy."
"Really?" asked Ratchet, attempting to sound surprised.
"I…uh…I had no idea." Ratchet laughed lightly, trying to end the argument between him and Clank.
"Aphelion" Clank spoke up.
"Yes co-pilot" came Aphelion's voice. She would always stay out of the arguments between the two, but would often make decisions herself if they seemed to aid others.
"We must turn around; we need to be present for Quark's inauguration." Ever since Ratchet and Clank had defeated Dr. Nefarious, Quark had been in the spot light like never before. Winning the hearts of billions with his charisma and charm, he soon became a candidate for galactic president. After several months of voting, Quark had won the campaign by a landslide. He insisted, or rather, demanded, that Ratchet and Clank be there for his inauguration.
"Fine" Ratchet exhaled, admitting defeat. He tried turning Aphelion around, but she didn't respond. The handle of his ship turned, the wings moved, and the thrusters changed their angle slightly, but Aphelion continued to fly straight.
"Uh, Aphelion, where are you going?" asked Ratchet as he attempted and failed again in trying to cause his ship to turn around.
"I don't understand" said Aphelion "a magnetic force seems to be pulling me."
"Um, Ratchet?" Clank said, his voice ringing with nervousness.
Ratchet followed Clank's gaze and found a swirling vortex, dark purple in color, several miles ahead of them. Ratchet couldn't see inside it, but he did see several asteroids get sucked into it at an alarming speed.
"Aphelion, we need to get out of here now!" Ratchet yelled, again trying to turn his ship around.
"I can't!" she yelled back "strap yourselves in; it's going to get real bumpy!"
Ratchet and Clank just buckled themselves in as the vortex grabbed Aphelion fully and dragged them into it. Aphelion bounced around wildly, knocking against asteroids and attempting to exit the vortex at the same time. After a few minutes, and Ratchet on the edge of losing his lunch, Aphelion was pushed out of the vortex just as quickly as she was pulled in. She couldn't get her thrusters working again quickly, and found herself entering a new planets atmosphere, gravity pulling her down towards its surface.
"Hold on!" Ratchet yelled as he saw Aphelion heading down, nose first. They passed through a bank of clouds, and were blinding for a few short moments.
"Clank, does your life flash before your eyes when you're about to die?" Ratchet asked his little buddy fearing the worst.
"I would not know Ratchet." Clank answered simply.
After the clouds, Ratchet saw the ground rapidly approaching. Aphelion, knowing Ratchet wouldn't survive the head-on crash, ejected her occupant's moments before impact. Clank quickly attached himself to Ratchet's vest, so they were back to back, and slowed Ratchets decent with his heli-pack. Ratchet could only watch in horror as his beloved ship skipped across the landscape just like a rock skips across the water.
The two friends landed, looking at the craters Aphelion had unwillingly created.
"Great, just great" Ratchet mumbled to himself.
Ratchet checked himself for supplies. He had his trusty Omni-wrench, his cunstructo pistol, cunstructo shotgun, and his warmonger. He had no food or water, and Clank was just as empty, no items were stored in his chest compartment. Ratchet keyed into his nav-unit, and found Aphelion was about a two hour hike away.
"Ratchet" Clank said "We must get moving. We do not know how much daylight we have, and we don't know any life-forms on this planet."
Ratchet nodded his head, and quickly set off towards Aphelion, Clank detaching himself and walking alongside him. Little did they know, that three creatures had seen the crash, one purple, one black, and the other much smaller than the first two, hovering over the two creatures heads, glowing with yellow light. As the smallest creature took off towards an unknown location with a buzz, the other two creatures began to stalk the two explorers, thinking who knows what thoughts.