Alright, here I am with a new story! So I came up with this idea when the movie first was announced, I wondered what would happen if I'd do both an OC insert and rewrite at once, and True Heroes was born.
So, this story is basically an OC insert while I also rewrite the story itself to some extent, it mainly follows the storyline of the PS4 game although since some cutscenes are extended in the movie I'm making this story kind of a mix between the PS4 game and the movie. Add to that, I'll be adding a few new parts to the plot, and not just because there's another character in the story.
Anyhow, I'm really excited to start this story, and I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. Also, to the fans of the Epilogue series: don't worry, I'm not quitting that one, although I'll take a break from Epilogue so I can focus more on this story after Epilogue 2 ends. I can assure everyone though that that series will not be put on an indefinite hiatus and will actually continue again fairly soon after.
For now, once again, I hope you all enjoy this new story!
It was a warm morning on planet Veldin, the rising sun promising even more heat to come. Among the rocks of the Kyzil Plateau stood a garage ran by one of the most respected engineers on Veldin, Grimroth Razz. And his assistant engineer Ratchet of course.
Ratchet was unusual, he was different from most other people. That is because Ratchet was a Lombax. Ratchet had golden fur with brown stripes, a striped tail and large ears, as well as green eyes, and he was wearing a brown shirt, leather gloves, a leather pilot's cap, brown boots and green pants.
What was so odd about Ratchet being a Lombax is that Lombaxes were considered very rare, and why Ratchet didn't know. In fact, the only Lombax he knew he could only see in the mirror, himself. He had never known his parents, hell, he had never known his family, or even another member of his species for that matter. Grimroth had found Ratchet when he was a baby, in an escape pod that came falling from the sky one fateful night. He had raised Ratchet, taught him everything he knew about engineering, and now Ratchet helped him run the garage.
However, Ratchet had a dream. Although he had a knack for technology, his dream was joining the Galactic Rangers, a team of elite heroes tasked with keeping the Solana galaxy safe. It had been Ratchet's dream ever since he was a kid. And today, that dream might just become a reality.
A few days earlier it was announced that the Galactic Rangers were looking for a new recruit, and that they would come to Veldin first, followed by Novalis, Rilgar, Kalebo III...
Anyhow, didn't matter, what mattered is that this could be Ratchet's chance, and thus Ratchet was very excited. He tried to stay as quiet as possible as he sneaked behind a crate and picked up a poster of the Galactic Rangers. He stared at the poster for a moment, realizing that he could be this close to becoming one of them.
But in order to join them, he'd have to go to the tryouts first. He sneaked towards the door of the garage, hoping that he hadn't woken up Grimroth.
Nope. The moment he stepped around the crate he ran straight into Grimroth, who had been standing there with his arms crossed.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Despite Ratchet's pleas, he still had his tasks to do. The first thing on the list was Mr. Micron's ship. The irony was that yesterday afternoon the ship had been in mint condition.
Grim sighed as he thought back at what happened. When the client, Mr. Micron, came, Ratchet had created this entire show with spotlights and everything, ergo completely unnecessary. What was even worse is that Ratchet had given the ship upgrades that Mr. Micron had never asked for, which meant that they'd be in a tough position: if they'd give away those upgrades for free it'd cost them big time, but they couldn't possibly charge Mr. Micron for stuff he had never even asked for in the first place.
But it got worse when Ratchet decided to show off some of the upgrades, namely the mag-booster. The bad thing was that it was basically a giant magnet, and since nearly everything in a garage is metallic, Ratchet and Mr. Micron suddenly found themselves chased by tons of metal parts. Needless to say the ship didn't survive that journey. What's worse, Mr. Micron had not enjoyed the ride, and he enjoyed the ejector seat at the end even less. So, a pissed off client and a wrecked ship. When Ratchet had told Grim what happened, Grim had nearly exploded. "Ratchet, what am I gonna do with you?! Adding unnecessary components, scaring the living daylights out of a client, and even wrecking the ship! Perhaps you should dream less and use your head more often!"
Grim had sighed. "You're a good engineer, but you really need to pay more attention."
Grim shook his head. Although he was still a bit mad at Ratchet, if he'd prevent him from pursuing his dreams he'd never forgive himself. Grim could come across as a bit rough, but he had a good heart.
Then he had an idea. "Ratchet, no leaving the garage until you help fix Mr. Micron's ship. Now get on that bolt crank." Grim said, pointing at a bolt crank in the back of the garage.
Ratchet began turning the bolt crank, lowering Mr. Micron's ship to the ground. Grimroth walked over to a computer to see the results of the scan he had performed the evening before. He sighed. "You really did a number this time, kid. Avionics: fried. CPU: fried. Even the gosh-darn gravity coils, fried!"
Grim shook his head. "Let's see if the software still works." he said as he began to type. "Alright. Ratchet, do you see a light blinking on the left wing?"
"Yep, it's working."
"Hmm. What about the right wing?"
"It works."
"This thing might just be spaceworthy after all. One more to the right."
"Right afterburner light checks out." Ratchet said. "So, are we good?"
"Yep, we're good. The news says the tryouts are being held at the fairgrounds." Grim said as he grabbed his tools and got to work on reattaching the right engine. "Show 'em what you got, kid." Grim said as Ratchet left.
Because it was rather quiet, Grimroth turned on the radio, just in time for the news.
"Rise and shine, Kyzil Plateau!" the radio blared. "It's eight A.M. and it's gonna be a hot one today! Our first story is a sad one, folks. Last night, at approximately 8:30 P.M. planet Tenemule fell to what appears to be a class seven supernova..."
"Another planet?" Grim mumbled to himself.
"...but top-know-it-all's are skeptical. This is the sixth planet we've lost..."
Grim sighed. "That's what I meant. What's happenin' to planets these days?"
Ratchet couldn't help but run all the way to the fairgrounds, he was so excited! He could finally become a ranger!
He used his OmniWrench to whack any Horned Toad out of his way as he climbed up a small formation of rocks before continuing down the path leading to the fairgrounds.
Upon arrival, he couldn't help but gasp in awe. Up ahead was an obstacle course, the logo of the Ranger proudly hanging above the entrance. There was also a robotic lookalike of Qwark present, but Ratchet didn't really pay attention to what the robot was saying.
For a moment, he paused. Once he stepped further there was no going back. Was he really going to do this?
That's when a few words from the Qwarkbot got through to him. "Do you have what it takes to be a Ranger?"
Ratchet grinned. "Yeah!" he yelled as he charged forth.
"I spy another contestant! Good luck, future ranger!" the Qwarkbot yelled after Ratchet.
Suddenly, a female voice spoke from speakers placed all across the course. "Hey there, recruit! Cora Veralux here. Show us how quick you can be on your feet by jumping over these obstacles."
Up ahead were two fences that Ratchet had to jump over. He did so with feline grace, the two fences proving no challenge to him. He climbed up a small ladder to the next part of the course.
Up ahead was a deep gap with two platforms providing a way across, but the platforms were moving from side to side.
"A good ranger is always mindful of their surroundings. Hop across these moving platforms!" Cora continued.
Ratchet took a deep breath and jumped. He made the first jump, but made a slight miscalculation on his second jump. Luckily he could grab the edge of the platform and pull himself up. Making sure not to make the same mistake twice, Ratchet made the last jump with ease.
"That was pretty good. You could be the recruit we've been looking for. Keep moving to the next part of the course." Cora said.
"Cora Veralux just complimented me. Cool!" Ratchet said to himself, unable to stop smiling. He dropped down from the ledge he was standing on into a rectangular room with six teleporters.
"Hey, recruit! I'm Brax Lectrus, and my specialty is brute force. Bash these crates!" a male voice said. Suddenly, six stacks of two crates stacked on top of each other spawned in. Ratchet immediately performed a Hyper-Strike on the three stacks closest to him before taking out two more stacks with a Comet-Strike.
After finishing off the last stack with two swings of his wrench, Brax spoke again. "Hey, that was pretty good! Next step: blow stuff up!"
A forcefield preventing Ratchet from continuing deactivated, and Ratchet walked on to a Gadgetron vendor.
"Now, because it'd look weird if we'd be giving away free weapons, we're afraid you'll have to pay a small fee of 100 bolts for a Fusion Grenade." Brax said.
Ratchet sighed. "Thank goodness I brought my saved money with me." he mumbled as he purchased a Fusion Grenade. He noticed that the gate up ahead had the symbol of the Fusion Grenade on it. Out of curiosity, Ratchet threw a bomb.
The gate was blown apart, allowing Ratchet to continue. Up ahead a few Horned Toads had found their way into the course. Ratchet grinned, they would make excellent practice for his Fusion Grenade.
After the Horned Toads had been dealt with, Ratchet broke a golden ammunition crate that spawned in to his right before blowing up another gate.
After climbing up a small ledge, he froze. Up ahead were two small gaps filled with lava.
Ratchet took a deep breath and sprinted. He jumped, and luckily, he landed in between the two gaps. After destroying yet another gate with the Fusion Grenade, Ratchet jumped again before continuing.
Up ahead was a platform with a robot on it. The robot had a flamethrower for his left arm, and it's one eye was already glaring at Ratchet, daring him to come closer.
Another voice spoke. "We've armed these test dummies with Gadgetron Flamethrowers! Our lawyers are totally cool with this." a voice said that Ratchet recognized as the leader of the rangers, Captain Qwark himself.
Ratchet stepped forward and immediately the test dummy opened fire. However, the robot's weapon had a short range, and thus Ratchet could easily throw a bomb at the robot's face. Ratchet stepped onto the platform, and immediately it began to move, taking the Lombax to a small arena.
"Now our contestant must face their final challenge: survive a brutal onslaught of enemies, and you might just be the galaxy's next Galactic Ranger!" Qwark said.
"Or maybe an intern." Qwark muttered afterwards.
Ratchet shook his head and grabbed his Fusion Grenade as a forcefield formed behind him. Immediately the six teleporters got to work, teleporting in a small army of flamethrower-wielding robots.
Ratchet quickly got to work with his Fusion Grenade, but after a few waves, along with the robots, some... intruders were teleported in.
"Uh-oh! Looks like some angry toads." Ratchet said to himself as he threw a bomb at the creatures.
After two more waves, the teleporters stopped. "Excellent job, recruit! Come see me after the show." Qwark said.
"Sweet!" Ratchet said as he crossed a bridge and headed on to a large stage up ahead, and just in time for the show too!
"Laaaadies, and gentlemen! Please welcome, the savior of Solana, Captaaaain Qwark!"
As Qwark's name was said, a golden globe in the center of the stage opened up, and slowly but surely Captain Qwark himself came into view, an elevator bringing him up and slowly bringing him into view for a dramatic effect. Qwark was striking a pose, and when the elevator stopped, he smiled at the crowd.
Suddenly, there was an explosion of fire, but Qwark came somersaulting out of the flames like he did this every day. "Hellooo Veldin!" Qwark said as he ran forward.
"Hello captain!" Ratchet yelled back as the crowd went crazy.
As Qwark lifted up his right leg, a chair was quickly shoved on stage and slided his way, passing underneath Qwark's foot with perfect timing.
"He's on fire again." Brax mumbled to Cora. They were standing on the side of the stage, letting their captain have his moment.
"I know." Cora said with a sigh. She equipped a cryoshot, took a few steps forward and fired an icy mist at Qwark's back, extinguishing the flames. Cora then rolled her eyes and walked back to Brax.
"I'm gonna be real with you folks for a moment." Qwark said as he frowned. "When President Phyronix advised us to recruit a new Ranger I knew just where to go! Now, you may be thinking, do I have what it takes? After all, you may not have stopped Dr. Nefarious from devastating Aleero City!" Qwark continued as an image of a beaten up green man was projected onto the golden globe behind him.
Qwark continued. "You may not have stopped Neftin Prog from rendering the entire population of Aridia colour blind! Twice!"
An image of a bulky man that was almost too big for the camera was projected onto the globe, followed by an image of Qwark, Brax and Cora heroically posing on top of a cliff. "After all," Qwark continued, "You may not have these massive muscles, or this god-like pectoral region, but, if you have heart, then you have what it takes!"
Ratchet didn't listen to the rest of Qwark's story, someone else took his attention. While Cora and Brax were standing on the right end of the stage, there was also someone standing on the left end of the stage. Someone Ratchet had never seen before.
The person was wearing white armour complete with gloves, helmet, kneecaps, elbow guards and shoulder guards. His face was hidden by glass that was only transparent from inside, from outside it was black. Where the glass met the rest of the helmet there was a narrow blue line. The shoulder guards, elbow guards and kneecaps were blue, and there were two blue bands running across the man's chest, where the lines crossed there was an emblem of a blue planet. His boots and the back of his hands were also blue, and he had a blue belt.
He was just standing there with his arms crossed, watching Qwark. He was no Ranger, Ratchet had never seen him on any poster, and everyone knew the four rangers: Qwark, Cora, Brax, and Elaris. So who was this man, and what was he doing there?
Ratchet noticed Qwark was finishing. "Alright, all contestants, follow Brax. We will evaluate your efforts, one person at a time."
Ratchet and a handful of other people followed Brax to a building in the back of the fairgrounds, where they had to form a line. After waiting for fifteen minutes, it was Ratchet's turn at last.
The door slid open, and Qwark yelled "Next!"
Ratchet walked in. There was a desk in the middle of the room, with a comfortable looking chair behind it and a wooden chair in front of it. Ratchet guessed the comfortable chair wasn't his, so he sat down on the wooden chair.
His theory was proven correct when Qwark sat down across from him, behind the desk.
"I'll just get straight to the point." Qwark said as he leaned forward. "You don't have what it takes."
Ratchet's world collapsed. His ears lowered immediately. He was denied by the Rangers?
"But... I have heart..." he tried.
Qwark sat back and placed his feet on the desk. "Yes, but unfortunately for you that heart is encased in a weak muscle-less mass of inexperience."
"Oh, give him a break, Qwark. Do you really have to insult all of the possible recruits?" a voice said behind Ratchet. Ratchet glanced over his shoulder. Cora, Brax, and the mystery man from earlier were standing behind him. Cora and Brax were holding tablets, while the mystery man was leaning against the wall, arms crossed.
"That's enough out of you." Qwark said. "This isn't your conversation, so stay out of it."
The man shrugged. "Whatever, Qwark. This may not be my conversation, but it's still my galaxy. Phyronix is right, the Rangers need a new recruit, but they'll never get one if you keep up this attitude. Plus, you're giving the Rangers a bad name."
"I am giving the Rangers a bad name? What are you doing here anyway, you're not even a Ranger!"
"Anything regarding the galaxy's safety has my undivided attention."
"Whatever." Qwark said. He turned to Ratchet. "Anyhow, there's also your history to consider."
"Got a long line of citations here." Cora said. "Possession of an illegal gravity repulsor..."
"Operation of a black market accelerator." Brax added.
"Willful disruption of the space-time continuum?" Cora said, barely able to believe what she was reading.
"That is a funny story." Ratchet tried to lighten the mood, but it didn't quite work.
Qwark got his feet off his desk, leaned forward and slammed his hand on his desk. "You're dangerous, unpredictable and a loose cannon!"
Qwark got up and leaned forward, getting in Ratchet's face. "That's my shtick!"
"Qwark, back off." the mystery man said.
"No, you back off. Stop telling me what to do or I'll kick you out."
To Ratchet's surprise, the man started to laugh. "Right. I wish you luck with that."
Qwark growled. He turned back to Ratchet. "Out."
Ratchet quickly got up, and within seconds Qwark had pushed him out the door.
"Wait!" Ratchet said, turning around. "Just gimme a chance!"
"Sorry, no time, galaxy in jeopardy! Get back out there, and remember: you can do anything!" Qwark yelled as Ratchet began to walk away.
"As long as you're me." Qwark added with a chuckle before he barked "Next!"
When Ratchet came walking into the garage, Grim got up from underneath the ship. "Well, how did it go? Are you off to save the galaxy?"
Ratchet's lowered ears and sad face gave a pretty clear indication of the answer. "You're right, Grim." Ratchet said as he passed by Grimroth. "I should dream less."
Ratchet equipped his Swingshot and used it to pull himself up to his bedroom on the second floor of the garage.
Grim shook his head and got back to work. As much as he could use Ratchet's help, he knew that Ratchet needed a moment alone, so Grim just sighed and got back to work.
Meanwhile, on the polluted and cloudy planet called Quartu, something was going on that would change the universe forever.
"Dr. Nefarious!" Chairman Alonzo Drek said as he and his second in command, Victor von Ion, walked (or in Drek's case, hovered, he was on a vehicle) through the door. "The mad scientist who made all of this possible!"
"'Mad' suggests cognitive impairment." a scratchy voice said from within the shadows. The owner of the voice turned around and walked into the light, an evil smile present on his face. "I'm more of a vengeful scientist. I trust you're here to meet the troops?"
Actually, that was an understatement, Drek couldn't wait to meet the troops. The 'vengeful' scientist lead them to the production lines at the heart of the factory, where Drek's army of warbots was being built. It was one large conveyor belt that ran from machine to machine, each of those machines providing a crucial component for the warbots before the warbot moved on to the next machine for the next component.
Lastly, they were activated, and were asked to state their prime objective. "Destroy Galactic Rangers!" each of them barked before they received a Combustor.
"My brilliant creation, AHAHAHAHA!" the scientist cried out just as lightning struck the facility.
"REPAIR DRONE!" the scientist yelled immediately when the lights went out.
Once the power supply had been fixed the factory was up and running again, but something was different. The shock had added one line of code to the computer systems, one that would terminate itself afterwards. Among the bulky warbots, one smaller robot was being assembled, one with two eyes rather than the one eye it's siblings possessed.
When this smaller robot was activated, it had a vision. It saw images of Qwark, Cora, Brax, Elaris, and lastly the Galactic Ranger home base, the Hall of Heroes flash by before one big word showed up.
'TERMINATE'
The robot's eyes turned on in an evil red colour... before the robot blinked as if it had something in his eye. Immediately his eyes became brilliant green rather than blood red. When the robot realized what it had just been tasked with, it could say only one thing.
"Oh, my..."
"STATE YOUR PRIME OB-"
The robot realized it was standing next to a machine. The machine was holding a Combustor in a large, silver claw, but it's green eye was currently looking around, as if it was searching for something.
The small robot waved his hand. "Hello!" he said as the eye noticed him.
"DEFECT DETECTED! PREPARE FOR IMMEDIATE DESTRUCTION! IN THREE... TWO..."
The small robot quickly got out of there, but he had not gone unnoticed. "Ooh, a defect!" Drek said as he watched the robot run off. "Go play, Victor."
Immediately the huge, bulky and mean-looking warbot that had been standing next to Drek jumped forward.
Meanwhile, the small robot ran across the catwalks before using a conveniently placed bomb to blow up an air vent.
The robot dove into the air vents. When it dropped down into a large room, it noticed a robot ahead of him. It was small with green eyes and it had a large plate above it's head.
The defect picked up the small robot and put it down near a ledge. The defect then jumped onto the smaller robot, a Springbot, and was launched into the air. After landing on top of the ledge, it grabbed a bomb, blew up another air vent, and dove in.
He soon found himself on another catwalk. He began to ran, but suddenly, the wall behind him exploded and a titanic machine came storming out. "There you are!" the warbot that, according to the defect's database, was Drek's second in command, Victor von Ion.
"Oh, my." the defect said to himself as he ran on. Victor activated his proton-cutter and attempted to cut the defect in two, but the defect jumped over the attack.
"Quit your running, you useless piece of scrap!" Victor yelled.
Victor tried several more times, but every time the defect dodged his attacks, something that made Victor angrier by the second.
The defect rolled under a pipe in an attempt to lose Victor, but Victor carved through the pipes with his Razor Blades. The defect ran on, but Victor was faster.
"Get back here and let's settle this. Warbot to warbot!" Victor yelled.
When Victor was about to catch him though, the defect rolled under another pipe. Victor grinned as he activated his razor blades and cut through the pipes.
Bad move.
As it turned out, the pipes were conveying water to the assembly line. And Victor wasn't waterproof.
"Oh, no! Water!" the defect could hear him say from behind the jet of water spraying from the broken pipes.
Using the moment to his advantage, the defect destroyed another air vent and dove in.
The defect found himself in a room with another robot. A Powerbot.
The defect threw the Powerbot at a Static Charging Station, or SCS for short, and the Powerbot got to work immediately, charging up the SCS which in turn opened the door. Up ahead was a room with a ledge on the left and a ledge on the right, ones that were too high for the defect to reach. Not without help. What's more, the ledge on the right had a bridge leading to another air vent, although the bridge was out.
Therefore the defect used a conveniently placed Springbot to scale the ledge on his left. He noticed another SCS to his left. He dropped down from the ledge and grabbed a Powerbot that had been teleported into the room, before using the Springbot to get back up. He threw the Powerbot at the SCS, and the Powerbot got to work. A door to the defect's right opened up. He walked in and noticed a shiny, green button. He pressed the button, and heard a hissing noise coming from outside. When he got out of the room, he noticed that the bridge had been extended. He dropped down from the ledge and moved the Springbot to the other side of the room, used it to climb the other ledge, grabbed a bomb to his right and then ran across the bridge. He threw the bomb at another air vent, destroying it.
"That was not so hard." the defect said to himself as he dove into the vent.
The air vent led to another catwalk. The defect began to run immediately, but after a few steps, he heard a loud smack behind him. The defect glanced over his shoulder.
Victor von Ion had dropped down onto the catwalk, and was already in pursuit. The defect ran for his life.
"You think you can run from ME?!"
"Not that brute again!" the defect said to himself.
Victor began to use his proton-cutters again, but once again the defect dodged his attacks.
"Get back here, you miserable DEFECT!"
Victor then decided to try something else. He grabbed his Negotiator, a heat-seeking rocket launcher, and fired at the defect.
The defect jumped aside just in time. Victor then decided to shoot a few rockets overhead. "Try outrunning this!"
Where the rockets slammed into the catwalk, they started a fire. However, the defect was able to run around them.
"I'm gonna rip you apart, sprocket by sprocket!"
The defect kept dodging attack after attack, but Victor was getting closer. When he was about to grab the defect, the defect rolled under another set of pipes. Victor once again carved the pipes into pieces, but got a splash of water for his trouble.
"Water! Aagh!"
Using the moment to his advantage, the defect destroyed another air vent and jumped in. He came falling out of a garbage shaft and landed in the thrash. When he got up, the head of a defective warbot was stuck on his head. The defect got it off, got out of the thrash and ran straight at an escape pod. He climbed in, but then he noticed a door opening up. Victor came running out, Negotiator already ready to strike.
The defect quickly pressed the 'launch' button, but as he escape pod flew out of the dense atmosphere of Quartu, Victor had one last surprise. He took aim at the escape pod and fired a set of rockets.
Although most of them missed due to the distance, a few managed to hit the escape pod, damaging the engines.
But the escape pod was still flying up. Victor watched it go with a glare and a growl. He would kill that defect, no matter where it would go.
Meanwhile, the defect activated the flight computer. "Computer, set coordinates for the Galactic Ranger home base."
"Destination set. We will never make it, but hey, what are you gonna do?"
The defect's eyes widened. "Oh, dear."
Ratchet had stayed in his room all day. He had just stared at the posters of the Rangers covering one of the walls of his room. When Ratchet finally got up it was night already. He shook his head and jumped out one of his windows. He landed on the scaffolding next to the garage. He walked on and sat down on the end.
He just stared up at the stars. "I'll never be a ranger." he whispered to himself as he laid back.
But then a distinct roar snapped him out of his thoughts. "Huh?" Ratchet said, getting up. A fireball was shooting through the sky. "What?!"
The fireball shot past him and slammed into the ground not too far from the garage. "Whoa..."
Ratchet quickly ran back into the garage. He got onto his Grav-Bike and got out of there, blasting off to where the fireball had landed.
Inside a huge crater in the ground was a small ship. Ratchet quickly jumped into the crater. Whilst falling, he fired Swingshot at the wall and retracted the cable.
Clinging to the wall, he looked below him. The ship was right underneath him. He began to extend the cable, carefully lowering himself to the ground.
He could hear a voice coming from the ship. "I told you we would never make it, but did you listen? No. Self-destruct active, death imminent."
"There's got to be a better way to say that." Ratchet mumbled as he pried open the ship with his wrench. There was a small, silver robot inside, and it was unconscious. Ratchet grabbed the robot, fired his Swingshot at the edge of the crater and pulled himself up. Meanwhile the ship counted down the moments to self-destruct. "Five. Four. Three. Two. One."
Ratchet pulled himself out of the crater just in time, the ship exploded violently.
Ratchet carefully laid the robot down on the ground. He grabbed a nearby Glowing Slug with his wrench and used it's green glow to see better as he inspected the robot. "No vector shell damage, sisterboard appears to be intact..."
Suddenly, the robot's green eyes opened up. The robot got up immediately, unintentionally giving Ratchet a headbutt. Ratchet barely had time to yelp in surprise before he stumbled backwards, hand over his hurting eye.
Meanwhile, the robot attempted to run off. "I must get to Aleero city!"
The robot fell due to a damaged sprocket in his left leg. "They are in danger!"
Ratchet recovered from the blow. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hey, who's in danger?"
"An army is coming. I must warn them.
"Hang on, slow down, you've been in a crash." Ratchet said. "Why don't we say I get you back to my garage, I'll run a diagnostic and have you fixed up in no time."
The robot looked up at him. "Thank you. I appreciate the assistance."
"It's no problem." Ratchet said as he helped the robot get back up. "So, what do I call you?"
"I suppose my proper designation is warbot defect B5429-"
The robot was stopped mid-sentence when he fell again due to his damaged leg.
Ratchet quickly helped him get back up. "Maybe I'll just call you Clank."
Ratchet offered the robot his hand. "My name's Ratchet."
The robot didn't shake his hand, instead, he just looked at it in confusion. "Uuh..." Ratchet muttered as he took the robot's right hand. He began to shake the robot's hand. "Up and down." Ratchet said. The robot just kept staring at him as he kept shaking. "Yeah, there you go, you're a natural!" Ratchet said.
The robot didn't stop. "Okay... you can stop now." Ratchet said, but got no response.
"Or just keep going, that's fine too." Ratchet said.
When he had finally gotten the robot to stop, Ratchet noticed a magnetized hexagon on the robot's back that was compatible with the harness Ratchet wore over his shirt. He usually attached his OmniWrench to it, but he supposed this would work too. He pointed it out to the robot, and the robot retracted his limbs. Ratchet attached the robot to his back, and indeed, it worked.
"Hang on, I'll get us back to the garage." Ratchet said as he got to his Grav-Bike. He attempted to start it, but it wouldn't work.
Ratchet groaned in frustration. "Is there a problem?" Clank asked.
"Out of gas. I suppose we'll have to walk then."
Ratchet began to walk. He used his Swingshot to get across a small gap, before running into another problem. Up ahead, the bridge was out. What's more, the gate was closed.
Then Ratchet noticed a glistering in a crate next to him. "Nice, a Combustor!" Ratchet said as he picked up the weapon. He noticed a green button on the gate, and shot at it. The gate opened up. He noticed another green button behind the gate. Hitting that one made the bridge slide into place.
"Impressive shooting." Clank complimented.
"Thanks." Ratchet said as he crossed the bridge.
That's when he heard a voice. "Fan out and find him, he couldn't have gotten far!"
Ratchet soon noticed the owner of the voice. "Uh-oh! Blarg! What are they doing here?"
"I have information in my data banks that poses a threat to Chairman Drek. He must have tracked my position to your planet so he could get it back."
"Uh-huh." Ratchet said as he approached the Blargian trooper. The Blarg noticed him. "Hey, you! Have you seen a small silver robot?"
"Nope, sorry. Beautiful evening though, isn't it?" Ratchet said.
The Blarg nodded. "Move on, Blargian business."
Ratchet nodded and walked on. However, upon passing the Blarg, the light coming from a lantern was reflected into the Blarg's eye by Clank's head. Of course, this drew the Blarg's attention. "What the?!"
He grabbed his weapon. "The defect! You lying space rat!"
Ratchet quickly somersaulted backwards to avoid the shots. He hid behind a crate, giving himself the second he needed to grab his Combustor. He would have used his Fusion Grenade if it wasn't for the fact that the Rangers had confiscated the ammunition of the weapon.
Ratchet opened fire on the Blarg, the plasma bullets making the Blarg stumble backwards before Ratchet knocked him out cold with a swing of his wrench.
He used his Swingshot to cross a broken bridge, before sunning into more Blarg. Unfortunately, they had seen Ratchet beating up their colleague. "Terminate the Lombax!" one of them yelled as they opened fire. And thus Ratchet returned fire.
Luckily for Ratchet, he was way smarter than the Blarg, and got behind a large boulder for cover while the Blarg stayed out in the open.
After shooting down a few, a Blargian dropship swooped in and dropped off two more Blargain troopers.
Ratchet quickly grabbed his com-link, a handy tool equipped on his belt, and dialed the number of the garage.
After a few seconds, he could hear the tired voice of Grimroth. "Grimroth Razz garage service. How can I help you?"
"Grim, listen to me! It's Ratchet! I want you to lock down the garage doors and then head down into the shelter! I'll be there as soon as I can."
"Wha?"
"There's a Blargian invasion going on, Grim!"
That sure woke Grimroth up. "Copy that, Ratchet!" he said immediately.
Luckily, a few nearby ammunition crates turned out to contain Fusion Grenades, and Ratchet exploited this opportunity immediately by throwing a few bombs at the Blarg, successfully taking them down.
Ratchet ran on and used a Swingshot to cross a large gap. As he landed on the next platform however, the same dropship as before came swooping in once again, but this time it came to a stop in front of the Lombax and activated it's weaponry.
"Is that a Blarg dropship?" Ratchet asked.
"Correct, model X6Z to be exact, also known as the 'Dropship of Death'." Clank replied.
"Great." Ratchet muttered as the dropship opened fire. Ratchet was able to jump aside in time before returning fire with his Fusion Grenade. Luckily for Ratchet, he hit the cockpit window, shattering it and leaving the pilot vulnerable. Another Fusion Grenade made quick work of the pilot, resulting in the dropship spinning out of control and slamming into the plateau. Ratchet crossed another gap before dropping down from a ledge. He was almost at the garage.
But something was wrong with the garage.
"Oh, no, the Blarg are all over Grim's garage! Grim, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, kid, but I ain't opening up 'til the coast is clear."
"Just hold tight, Grim. I got this."
Ratchet hid behind a few rocks. He could hear a few Blarg speak.
"Of all the jobs Drek could have given us, we gotta look for some defect!"
"Ah, it's not that bad. We've got clean air, the heat of the sun, never had this much heat since – YOWW!"
"What? What happened?"
"I just got bitten by a mosquito! Yeesh, did you see the size of that thing?!"
That's when Ratchet crashed the party by throwing a grenade in between the two Blarg. With those two eliminated, he moved on to the garage. He threw a grenade a the group of Blarg in front of the garage before taking out the survivors with his Combustor.
"I've got you on holo-vid, there are more enemies moving in!" Grim warned.
"Incoming dropship detected." Clank said. Sure enough, another Blargian aircraft came swooping in. Repeating his earlier technique, Ratchet threw two bombs at the windscreen, and it worked too, the drop ship slamming into the ground before the enemy forces could drop down from the ship.
But then a group of warbots came running in. "Warbots!" Ratchet yelled as he took cover.
"I'm down in the shelter. Ratchet, this place is a mess! Disassembled weapons and engine parts everywhere! Didn't you tell me you were going to clean it up last week?" Grim said.
"Yeah, sorry 'bout that, got held up on a project!"
Grim sighed. He grabbed one of the books lying around, and read the cover. "A Beginner's Guide to Quantum Burst Engines?"
"Just throw that anywhere, I have it bookmarked!"
Then Grim noticed another book. "What's this? Fun With Singularities and Other Cataclysmic Events?"
"That's really more for educational purposes!" Ratchet replied as he rolled out of the way of a few plasma bullets.
"It is always good to meet a fellow academic." Clank said.
"Really I just look at the pictures and then, you know, wing it."
Finally the last warbot was destroyed, a plasma bullet hitting it's reactor core, resulting in an impressive explosion.
"Alright, Grim, coast is clear. Can you open up?" Ratchet said.
Grimroth coughed. "Ratchet, what in Zoni's name just exploded?!"
"Sorry 'bout that, Grim. Listen, get my tools ready. I just found something in the desert I need to look at." Ratchet said as he walked into the garage.
"Interesting. What kind of factory is this?" Clank asked.
"This? This is just a garage. Lived here since I was a kid. C'mon, let's get you fixed up." Ratchet said as he used his Swingshot to climb up to his room.
While Ratchet worked on Clank's leg, Clank explained Drek's plan to attack the Hall of Heroes, the home base of the Galactic Rangers, in Aleero City.
"I can totally help!" Ratchet said, excited, as he finished working on Clank's leg.
"Oh, I could not ask a civilian to get involved in something so dangerous."
Ratchet thought fast. "I'm not just a civilian. You see..." he said as he walked over to his posters of the Galactic Rangers. "The Rangers are actually my, uh... friends! Why do you think I have so many pictures of them?"
Clank scanned the images. "But why are you not in any of them?"
Ratchet had to improvise. "Well, someone had to take the pictures, right? I mean come on, I even have a ship!"
Clank got up and walked over to Ratchet. He stared down at what Ratchet was pointing at.
Mr. Micron's ship, that Grimroth had managed to repair. As Clank watched, the left engine sparked, and some plates fell off. Perhaps it wasn't quite fully repaired yet.
"Eh... it dis-assembles so it can infiltrate enemy strongholds. So, what do you say?" Ratchet quickly said.
Ratchet and Clank were flying to Planet Kerwan in Mr. Micron's ship when Ratchet noticed something. "That's strange, I'm picking up something from Novalis."
Clank began investigating the signal. "It appears to be some sort of distress signal, but it is being jammed by a Blargian signal dampener."
However, they were both so busy with the distress signal that they failed to notice the ship flying behind them.
The Blarg grinned evilly as he fired the weapons of his Blargian Saucer, completely destroying the right engine of Mr. Micron's ship.
Ratchet desperately attempted to regain control, but it was no use. With the engines failing, the gravity of the nearby planet Novalis began to pull on the ship.
"Don't worry, the computer would have told us if we were in any real danger." Ratchet said.
Ironically, that's when the computer spoke up. "Fatal crash imminent. Would you like to record your last will and testament?"
Ratchet sighed. "Admittedly, that's not superpromising."
But then the left engine exploded, and if that wasn't bad enough, they were shooting into Novalis' atmosphere with a fatal speed.
Ratchet and Clank screamed and held on to each other for dear life as they shot at the unforgiving ground.
Alright, so that was the first chapter! With 7000 words I really worked hard on this one, but I doubt the chapters ahead will be as long as this one, I usually write about 4000 words long chapters. Some chapters will definitely be longer though.
Anyhow, meet the mystery man whose-identity-will-not-yet-be-revealed! Some of you will definitely know who he is though, or what he's up to.
I hope you all enjoyed this first chapter, if so, please take a moment to review, favorite or follow. Although it's not necessary, and form of feedback is greatly appreciated. Take care everyone, and (hopefully) see you all in the next chapter!