Authors' Note: This is a co-written fic between ITman496 and Lomcat93. It stars Aphelion and Aero, ITman496's OC. FYI, Aphelion is in her red form; she got whacked by Clank's Chronoscepter so she could revert to her old form. =) R&R please.

-ITman: This is my first fic! Yay!

-Lomcat: Not for me! lol

-ITman: I can't wait to see the feedback!

-Lomcat: I hope it's not too harsh...

Disclaimer: Neither ITman496 nor Lomcat93 own any aspect of Ratchet and Clank; the games belong to Insomniac Games. ITman496 is the sole owner of Aero. Lomcat93 owns nothing.

Half-Breed

Chapter 1: Mystery

The weather on Veldin was scorching hot. Every living thing was hiding in their homes, trying to take advantage of what little shade there was. That is, every creature except one. A young human boy, who looked to be around 8 years old, trudged tiredly through the dry, sandy mountains. He sat on a rock near a thin, scraggly tree, looking miserable and lonely.

'How did I get here?' he thought sadly, 'Where is here? I don't see anyone." He looked around desperately, feeling helpless.

----

Meanwhile, an ancient, red space ship hovered outside a small metal house about 15 miles away. Her vision sensors kept glancing over at the house, as if it expected something to appear at its doorstep.

'Where is that Lombax?' she thought disdainfully, 'He never shows up on time!'

Tired of waiting, the ship revved her engine. The loud roar echoed through the area. Nothing happened; it was as if no one was paying attention to the ship. With a grumpy "humph", the ship lifted off the ground, gaining altitude at an alarming rate. Once she was clear of any obstacles, she engaged her afterburners and sped off into the distance.

----

The young boy was still sitting on the rock. He looked uncomfortable, as he was shifting his weight constantly. After a few minutes of moving around, he finally decided to lay on the rock. He gazed thoughtfully at the sky above him, still wondering how he'd gotten there.

He knew one thing for sure; even though he was lonely, he was glad that he'd escaped his home planet. Had he not, then he would have certainly been dead...

----

Twenty minutes had passed since Aphelion had angrily blasted off. She was beginning to regret it; she was starting to get lonely as she soared through the Veldin sky. As she flew over a barren mountain range, her vision sensors swept the ground curiously. There was nothing on the ground; the animals that usually scurried around the mountains were most likely hiding from the sun.

'Even the wildlife has left me alone,' she thought miserably.

As she thought about turning around, her sensors picked up a small, nearly motionless life form. She focused on it for a second, trying to think of what to do. After a few seconds of thought, she tilted her nose toward the ground, planning an immediate landing.

----

The young human continued to stare hopelessly at the sky. He didn't know what to do; he was stuck in an odd desert with creatures he'd never seen before. He didn't know whether to be thankful or terrified about ending up here. He sighed, and shut his eyes, tired of seeing the unfamiliar desert. As he did so, Aphelion shot through the sky, in clear view of the human to notice her, had his eyes not been tightly shut. He thought he had heard something, but figured it was another animal and sighed sadly. He would give anything to just have someone or something to talk to...

----

Aphelion had all her sensors focused on the small life form, wondering what the creature was. She had never seen anything like it. It only had a small patch of fur on his head, and the rest of it was covered in skin, and it appeared to have some form of fabric clothing on. She thoroughly searched every sector of her memory banks, and found nothing. This was an unknown life form, a concept rare to the Lombaxian fighter. She soon throttled back on her engines as to be quiet, and glided to a silent landing.

Aphelion floated silently on the ground toward the small life form, behind the thin tree, knowing that the cover was dismal, but it would have to do. She sat there, observing the creature.

The small child tossed and turned, trying to find a comfortable position, before sighing loudly and giving up, rolling off of the stone and sitting in its small shadow, hugging his knees against his chest and resting his head between them. He was at a right angle to the ship, just 20 feet away. He started to realize just how alone he was. He thought about how he would starve to death, or die out here. The child closed his eyes, tears starting to form, falling to the hot, dry sand below.

If Aphelion had a heart, it would have cracked at the sight of this. She did not know who or what the creature was, but it was quite obvious it was a small child, and it was sad. She was a smart ship, and judging by the fact that she did not even know what this creature was, chances are that it was the only one left, much like Ratchet.

'Could it be lonely? Is that why its sad?' she thought. She wanted to come out and comfort it, but she was not ready too. She could accidentally scare the creature away. Instead, she just stayed back, observing, waiting for the right moment...

The small child made a small, sad sounding whine, more tears starting to drop. He thought he was going to be stranded here, with no idea about what was going on, or any idea of where he was. He rolled onto his side, struggling to stay in the shadow of the rock he was pressed against, knowing he would die of dehydration if he was in the sun for too long. But at the rate he was crying, chances are that he would die of it anyway...

Aphelion could not take it any longer. She had seen enough, she knew that the young creature was obviously in need of some form of comforting. She slowly and silently came out, floating within view of the small life form.

The small human child's vision was blurred with tears, and all he saw of her was a red splotch with some black and gold areas. He blinked the tears out of his eyes, and then went wide eyed when he saw the ship this close to him so suddenly. He pressed himself against the rocks with a yelp of surprise, visibly shaking in fear. He quickly looked at the whole ship, but his eyes kept falling back to the 4 large guns on the wing tips. Several questions rushed through his mind, such as 'How is that thing floating?!' and 'Is that a space ship?' But the one thought that kept repeating was 'Oh... I'm so dead...'

Aphelion stayed still, trying to get the small child to calm down. The last thing she wanted was to present herself as a threat. She saw no reason to panic, but judging by what it was wearing, she could see that it was somewhat primitive compared to the other species she knew of.

'Fabric clothing... Not very good for protection from the elements, or good for protection from weapons either... All it looks like it can do is hide parts of its body, and that's about all... Poor thing...' she thought to herself.

All of these thoughts were processed in her mind in less then a second. She floated slowly over to the small thing, not wanting to scare it further. "Are you alright?"

The small child squeaked in surprise, not expecting the ship to emit the synthesized female voice it did. He starred at it, and looked in the tinted canopy. When he did not see anyone inside, he wondered if that was the ship itself talking to him. He answered the ship in a small voice. "W-who are you?"

Aphelion's nose dipped a little in sadness when she noticed the creature's fear. She decided that answering it truthfully would hopefully get it to trust her.

"My name is Aphelion. I'm a Lombax star fighter. Who are you?" she questioned, hoping to figure out who and what this creature was.

"My n-name is Aero, and I am a human..." he replied in a small voice.

Aphelion tilted to the side in thought. "A human?" Aphelion had never heard of such a thing. "What planet are you from?"

Aero answered quietly. "Earth. What planet is this?" he asked, realizing that this was not earth. His suspicions were confirmed.

"Earth?" She had never heard of the planet. She shook off her confusion briefly as she answered, "You are on planet Veldin. What galaxy is Earth in?" she asked curiously, desperately wanting to know where this planet was.

Aero sighed. He must be really far away. "The Milky Way Galaxy."

Aphelion's nose dipped down a few inches when her memory bank search produced no results. "I am sorry, I can't seem to find any data on that galaxy. You are currently in the Solana galaxy. Have you heard of it?" she asked hopefully.

Aero saddened more. "Nope... never heard of it... So, you're from this planet, aren't you?"

"No, I am from planet Fastoon, the Lombax home world."

Aero looked at the ship in front of him, taking in the sleek curves, as well as the huge thrusters on the back end. "Are you a space ship?" he asked, wanting to confirm his suspicion.

Aphelion stared at Aero for a second. 'This boy is very confused and misinformed...' she thought. "Yes, I am."

"So, you can just fly off now if you'd like?" the young boy questioned.

"Yes, I can," Aphelion answered. She was amazed at the creature's lack of knowledge.

Aero's eyes lit up in amazement, looking up at the sky, not believing that this ship floating in front of him could just take off there any moment it chose to. "Earth doesn't have space ships... well it does, but they aren't very good. They have made it to the moon, but that's about all..." he said, frowning slightly.

"Well, that's...strange." Aphelion didn't really know how to respond. Her suspicion of these 'humans' being primitive seemed to be true, but she didn't want to voice this opinion, for fear of insulting the already miserable creature.

"That, and we don't have talking computers. Well, we do, but not ones that you can actually continue a conversation with." Aero was starting to feel a little more comfortable around the strange, speech-enabled space ship. He sat up a little straighter, eager to hear what else the ship had to say.

"Well, a lot of planets in this galaxy have computers that you can converse with," Aphelion explained, careful not to brag, "I myself am a computer that can keep a conversation going. But I'm sure you've already noticed that." She paused, unsure of what else to say. After a few microseconds of thinking, she continued, "So, why are you wandering around in the mountains all by yourself?"

At this, Aero's eyes seemed to darken. Aphelion guessed he didn't want to talk about this, so she prepared to change the subject. But before she could act, Aero finally spoke up. "I'm not entirely sure how I got here, but I'm glad I'm not where I was before..." Aero paused, unable to continue. Dark memories swirled in his mind as his thoughts lingered on the subject. He whimpered slightly, as if re-living a nightmare. He slid closer to the rock and curled into a tight ball.

Aphelion pitied the poor boy. She did not understand his sudden change in emotions, but she was experienced in comforting frightened soldiers. 'Perhaps I can use the same tactics on him.' Aphelion glided slowly toward the human, trying her best not to startle him. "Maybe you'll feel better if you stand up," she advised. She turned herself so that she was parallel with the saddened boy. "Need a wing?" she offered, while tilting toward him slightly.

Aero looked up and giggled a little. He reached his hand up and took hold of the star fighter's dusty wing. As he stood up, he realized that the ship was covered in unusual symbols. Her red paint was fading badly, so the silver steel was visible in some places. 'This ship must be ancient,' he thought.

"There," Aphelion proclaimed, "Feel better yet?"

"A little," Aero replied.

"So," Aphelion continued carefully, "Did you want to delve further into your story? You don't have to, if it makes you uncomfortable-"

"No, I'm alright. I can continue," Aero said, secretly trying to encourage himself. 'Oh, come on,' he lectured himself silently, 'Quit being scared of a stupid memory!'

"W-Well," he began shakily, "I w-was running from these bad people. They were t-trying to catch me, so they could use m-me for something..." he stopped there, glancing at Aphelion. The ship tilted her nose slightly, encouraging the boy to continue. "They know I am...special. They want to c-catch me and use my power for their own gain, and this s-scared me. So I kept running. And then suddenly, there was this bright white flash," he paused, his eyes staring at the sand with an empty look, "And now I'm here. ...I still don't know what happened."

Aphelion, who had been listening intently, found that she was just as confused as Aero looked. She and Aero remained silent for a long moment, staring blankly at each other. "Well," Aphelion finally said, "I don't know what to say. I have no idea how to explain that..." She focused on what Aero had just told her, refusing to give up. "What about the bad people? Are they human like you?"

"Yeah, they are," Aero answered, with a tinge of sadness in his tone. He felt betrayed. Weren't the government and the police supposed to be the good guys? Everyone said they were his friends, but all they did to him was try to capture him like a stray animal; like a dog fleeing from a dog catcher. A small tear formed in his right eye, running down his face and dripping onto the ground, making a silent thud as it hit the dry sand, instantly absorbed.

Aphelion saw this tear, and felt bad for the poor creature in front of her. Her thoughts always went back to what he had said, something about a 'power'. 'I wonder what he means by a special power,' she thought to herself, very curious about it. She finally decided to ask. "What do you mean when you said they wanted your power? What special power do you have?"

Aero's eyes darkened again in sadness, another tear forming. "I h-have telekinesis..." he mumbled sadly. He didn't even want telekinesis; what's the point of being 'special' if everyone tries to steal that special thing from you?

Aphelion nearly fell to the ground in shock. 'Telekinesis?! The Lombax elders said that only special lombaxes could have that! Does this mean they were lying, or that this child really is special?' she thought to herself, not asking more so as to not upset the child further.

Aero was now shifting uncomfortably, the sun beating harshly onto his small body. He tried to get into a comfortable position, but was unable to.

Aphelion noticed his uncomfortable shifting and turned to him. 'He looks like he is going to fall over any second.' she thought to herself, seeing his small frail body try to withstand direct contact with the harsh sun, after being out here without shade for most likely hours. He was dehydrated, sweating profusely, and shaking slightly from weakness. He was a pitiful sight to the star fighter.

After about 10 seconds, she could not take looking at him like this anymore, and popped her canopy open. "Here, climb in, you look like you are about to fall over." she said softly, trying to make him trust her.

Aero smiled, and sighed loudly in relief, hurriedly climbing into her cockpit, curling up in the pilot's seat. He made another small sigh and stretched, before curling up tighter, burying his head into the back of the soft seat. Aphelion's hatch closed quickly after he came in, and the soft hum of the air conditioning could be heard. Aero smiled, feeling the cool breeze hitting him. Every inch of his small body welcomed the cold air, his skin ceased to produce sweat. He lifted his small hand and ran it through his long, shiny black hair, trying to smooth it a little. He soon finished and closed his eyes, thankful for the chance to relax.

Aphelion had been silent the whole time, letting the small child settle. 'He is a cute little creature, I'll admit,' she thought to herself, internally smiling. She let her thoughts buzz around what she had learned, and they kept landing on the white flash that got him here. 'I really wonder if he stepped on a teleporter pad. But, his planet would not have any, if they don't have any other advanced technology. He surely would have mentioned teleporting to me when he was talking about his planet. I wonder what that was,' she thought, really wanting to ask.

After about 5 minutes, she could hold the question in no longer. "Are you sure you don't remember how you got here?" she asked softly, and when he shook his head 'no', she continued. "Do you remember stepping on some sort of circular pad?"

Aero looked up as he tried to remember. His deep blue eyes lit up as he began to remember something like that. "Yeah! I did, actually... But it didn't look important. All it really looked like was a big disk with some vents around the edges, some blue glowing parts, a big glowing orb in the center, and a scratchy number on it. It said 001." he said, not knowing why she had asked him about that.

Aphelion dropped a few inches in her hover. 'Oh my... Could it really be that?!' she thought to herself, alarmed. "I know what that was..." she said to the small boy.

Aero looked up at her screen. "What was it?"

END CHAPTER

Well that's the first chapter! Who knows what Aero has discovered?

Lomcat: Now, click the little review button, please; it'll only take a second. =)

ITman: Yeah... I need feedback! No... We need feedback!