First off let me say that my whole body of work has been in Google plus. I'm new to the site and this my first time sharing. That said, please enjoy. Leave your thoughts too.
Chapter One: The Gathering.
In the middle of a storm, a man apparently spawned out of nowhere. It was a barren place where he found himself. This man was confused, he had been dead but somehow he came back to life and he wanted answers. Last thing he could remember was being struck by a lightning but this instead of hurting him, made him feel better. When he woke up he noticed his surroundings. He stood up and saw someone walking around.
"Who are you and what's going on here?" He asked, raising his hand and charging it with electricity. The man he saw was armed but rather confused. Something about him implied he wasn't really hostile as he didn't try to put a fight.
"Easy there, sparky, I'm just as confused as you are. I woke up around here some seconds ago and it's not everyday that this crap happens to me. Name's Nathan Drake. And yours is...?" He said while throwing his weapons and raising hands in the air.
"Cole. Cole Macgrath. I better get moving. Are you american, or human at least?"
"Yes and yes, happily so. Say, does this place seem familiar to you?" Nate asked while picking up the desert eagle and AK-47 he had thrown away and checking the rounds.
"Not really." Cole then saw a very unearthly view on the sky, multiple moons and constellations unlike any he had witnessed before. "In fact, this doesn't even look like earth to me. What kind of mess did I get into this time?"
"I've had my fair share of bizarre adventures too, nothing like this though. Wait 'til I tell Sully about this one." But as they spoke, a man suddenly appeared behind them, with a pair of blades drawn, looking like he had seen hell. They turned around to see his face, and he wasn't happy at all.
"What world is this?" He asked, very unpleased.
"Middle of damn nowhere, for all we know." Nate replied judging from their situation. He wasn't fond of the idea of making enemies in that situation. The previous day he was on his way to hunt a treasure with Sully and now there he was, seeing people looking straight out of a videogame that Elena would play.
"I just came from the death. I would advise to not waste my time." Said the tall man impatiently. "This is no Hades, so it appears that I still live."
"You died? That makes the two of us, buddy." Replied Macgrath, charging himself with electricity while Nate stepped aside to not get caught in the middle.
"What are you? Another son of Zeus?"
"No but I'm not your enemy, that's what matters." Cole said trying to reason with the man.
"Should I believe that?"
"We wouldn't be having this chat otherwise. I'm Cole, just a conduit with bad luck. How about you?" After some hesitation, the warrior decided to cooperate.
"I am Kratos. Former god of war, Ghost of Sparta." He replied, his blades on his back.
"Well if you two are done with the talk, I'd say we should probably move. I have a compass but it won't do us any good here. I'm all for suggestions." Nate said, searching for a way out of the cold mist.
"We will figure something out. Let's check around, see what we can find." Cole suggested.
"So be it." Kratos said in agreement.
They walked along and remained in silence for a while until they heard someone, prompting them to approach him. Cole motioned them to stay back and not fight yet. When they got close, they saw a furry creature with a tail, some suit of armor and a small robot strapped to his back, wandering around just like them.
"This gets better by the minute." Nate remarked to Cole and Kratos before they proceeded to meet the person.
"Need help, little man? Asked Cole as he approached the yellow skinned creature.
"Well, yeah. Do you know what planet we are in? My name's Ratchet, by the way." He then offered his hand to Cole, who shook it casually.
"Sadly we're just as lost as you are, maybe even worse but I'm willing to bet we all stand a better chance if we stick together."
"We appreciate the help, sir." Said the robot on his behind, to their surprise.
"Oh yeah, he's Clank. He is with me."
"We figured out as much." Nathan said in a joking manner. "Alright, before getting any further we need to think, what's the last thing you remeber before getting magically warped here?"
"Clank and I were travelling through space until we found a wormhole that sucked us into this place."
"So you had a ship?" Cole asked, searching for a possible solution.
"Keyword being "had". It was nowhere to be seen when we woke up here." Clank told them. "Even then, Ratchet, according to my lectures this isn't even our dimension to begin with."
"That's bad, even worse than I thought." Cole added while coming to a conclussion.
"Then we will fight our way out. There has to be someone doing this. I will find him and kill him." Kratos planned precisely.
"I think that's an oversimplification." Ratchet said, not knowing how they would find such person in their current dilema.
"At least it's a plan. Well, part of it." Nate said after patting Kratos in the shoulder. "While we're at it, we are going to be needing a map or something because I doubt they're just going to come at us out loud." But then several footsteps, belonging to a horde, became present.
"Maybe you spoke too soon." Said Kratos, looking at the figures in the mist get closer.
"Get down!" Cole instructed. They rolled over behind a rocky formation in the ruins and looked out to see what was going on. They spotted the stalkers as a squad of purple androids. There were around twenty of them and more on their way as they were being summoned.
"Henchmen of Dr. Nefarious, maybe?" Clank suggested.
"I don't know, Clank, they look like something else entirely." Ratchet guessed while getting his combuster. The robots were all wearing body armor composed of vests and wielded some kind of plasma cannons. They seemed to be searching for something or someone, possibly them.
"So what do we do? Wait 'til they go away or just go out guns blazing and hope for the best?" Nate asked, concerned about their chances.
But before any replies, their train of thought stopped when a blonde man with some kind of weasel on his shoulder came from behind the soldiers and fired at them. If they were to guess they would have said he was some sort of pirate or wastelander. He shot a red grenades that went off splitting the horde and took out some of them. He then rolled for cover and once he had it, he morphed his gun into a yellow rifle. His bullets had a ricochet effect, making them hit his foes multiple times in few shots.
"Who's that?" Ratchet asked seeing the man in action.
"Hopefully a friend. Do what you want but I know what I'll do." Cole said before coming out of hiding to fight too. He rushed at the attackers and brought his lightning down, frying a big lot of them.
Kratos lifted the rock they were using as cover. After stopping most of their shots with it, he delivered a spartan kick, sending the boulder crashing into their foes, sending them back.
Nate pulled an AK-47 and shot those on the higher ground alongside Ratchet but to their surprise, a tank showed up to blast them.
"They've got a tank!" Nate yelled to the others as he and Ratchet jumped behind some ruins and crawled for cover.
"Not a problem!" Kratos screamed as he went for the tank, running with the boots of Hermes. all the shots he took, he absorbed them and shot back with the golden fleece. Once close, he jumped and landed on the top. With a mighty punch, he tore through the cover and removed the driver, snapping his neck while at it and throwing him aside. He alongside the others soon found out that upon destruction, the robots disolved into white sparks that they absorbed into their being, feeling renewed and empowered. He used his strength to lift and toss the tank at the troopers that aimed at him, smashing seven of them handily.
Nate tried to stay out of the fire but two of the gunners found him and shot at him repeatedly. He ran to avoid the shots but the blast still sent him flying a few feet into the air, making him drop his AK-47.
"Shit!" He spat after falling on his chest, right into the dirt and smoke. He was crawling in an attempt to reach the weapon.
The gunners zoomed in to confirm their supposed kill in the middle of the smoke but to their surprise, Nate spun around with a desert eagle in a hand and a magnum in the other and fired away at them, quickly putting slugs between their heads. This only stunned them but it gave Nate the chance to grab his AK-47 and shoot them until they crashed to the ground. They still tried to get up but Nate picked a big rock from the ground and smashed their heads, finishing them off. He then looted what was left of them, taking a blaster and a protection vest into his arsenal as well as absorbing the sparks left behind.
"Now this is an upgrade. It even tingles." He mused before resuming the fight with his new equipment.
Cole exchanged shots with the enemies, zapping them away with an electric pulse. Unlike them, he would be able to heal most of the damage and wounds sustained there but he still dodged their shots in case they could hit him in a vital area. In order to help, Ratchet threw one of his pop-up shields to block the attacks. He then gripped a bomb and threw it over his head while still ducking behind the shield. It landed next to the soldiers, blowing most of them away. The blonde man then walked next to Ratchet and got in position to take a shot at the scattered enemies.
"You should probably get down." He adviced while morphing his gun. Ratchet did as told and dropped behind one of his shields.
"Lock 'n loaded, baby!" Exclaimed the creature on the man's shoulder as they shot a disk at their attackers. It stopped in the air, floating and then quickly spinning around to shoot a lethal barrage of yellow bullets, mowing down the remaining enemies.
"Not bad." Said Ratchet with a smirk looking at what was left of their foes. But the wave didn't stop as a small fleet of assault ships went over to gun them down.
"Guys, watch out!" Nate warned them as the ships aimed for them. They ran behind the ruins of a building to get out of their sight.
"Now how do we blast those suckers?!" Asked the weasel-like creature while covering his ears from the boom of the explosions.
"This way." Said his friend as he morphed his gun yet again, into some kind of electric cannon. After charging it, he stood up and fired at one of the ships, blowing it up.
"Nice but there's still like six of those out there." Nate said as tried to shoot the remaining ones to no avail.
"Leave that to me. Let's finish this." Said Cole as he got up, more charged than before. The ships launched some missiles at them but he just shot them out of the air. Now ready, he launched a ionic storm at the enemy, completely frying them and bringing them down. The rest of the crew just stared as the ships came down in flames, scattered around the wasteland ahead of them.
"That was impressive." Ratchet said, amazed at the display. He had seen that kind of damage before but never without a weapon. Things escalated quickly.
"Yeah, you'll get used it." Cole said while recharging.
"I might be a little late on introductions but I'm Jak. This fella here is Daxter. I'm assuming you are lost too."
"Yes, we are. Nice to meet you, though, we're probably gonna need some help. I have the feeling that was the easy part." Said Ratchet, shaking hands with Jak.
"Don't know about you, guys, but I could use a drink right now." Daxter said, trying to break the ice. "Wish there was a bar somewhere around here."
"We better keep moving then, do you have any idea of where to go now?" Cole asked Ratchet.
"Those things came from over there." He replied, pointing at the direction from where the horde came. "It might be unpleasant but that's where I'm going, I'm guessing the answers await us there. Is any of you coming?"
"I do not back down in times of war and besides, does it look like we have a choice?" Kratos said, agreeing to join.
"I have to agree with him on that. I have nothing better to do so count me in." Said Cole with a smirk.
"Looks like we got ourselves into a real adventure. That's fine, this is definitely going in my diary." Nate pointed out while getting his diary to write down the events of the day.
"Jak and I are going too. You're going to be needing our skills, street smarts and extra muscle for this quest, business, venture, or whatever." Daxter said, earning a smirk from Jak.
"What the heck, I guess it's worth the shot." Jak thought out loud.
"Alright, fellas, if it's settled, let's go." Said Ratchet as he stood with his new partners, staring into the vast horizon of adventures that awaited them while walking down the path with their respective weapons at hand. They would soon meet new allies as well as foes on the way. But unbeknownst to them, the mind behind these events already had them on sight.
'It has begun.'