Rise of the Uniposers
Ratchet and Clank set out to find Angela Cross, now confirmed a Lombax from news reports, and their first clue was at the Agorian Battleplex. On the way, Valkyries attacked them, but Max Apogee's ship, believed to stow Angela, came with a battalion and saved Aphelion. Mac, the guide, took them to a room called the Secret of the Battleplex. There, Ratchet and Clank find a device delivered by Angela, which allowed Ratchet to control people's minds. Lombax co-ordinates were etched on the side of it, reading that it was made in the Woldgon Galaxy, therefore, they began to go there, but someone following them…
Chapter 2: Woldgon's Woes
"Now entering the Woldgon Galaxy," said Aphelion, coming out of the warp and lazily drifting in space. Clank had already got bored on the trip and turned on the Holo-vision to watch "Robochef", which annoyed Ratchet greatly, but he still dealt with it lightly, and began to fiddle with a broken Personal Hygienator, which had caused Qwark to fall to shame. Even now, Ratchet wondered where Qwark was, and heard that he was roaming around the universe, visiting planets.
"Good," replied Ratchet, chucking the Personal Hygienator away, straight into Clank's face.
"HEY!" yelled Clank, who heard Ratchet whisper "Sorry", and he then picked up the Personal Hygienator and placed it in the airlock.
"Don't!" Ratchet pulled it back out before Clank pressed the "Eject" button, and carefully threw it into the back among all the other junk. He noticed that they were many planets that Ratchet had never seen before, and was amazed at how different they were to the planets occupying the Solana, Bogon and Polaris galaxies. There was one that looked like it was made exactly out of bricks, and one that looked like a type of candy.
"Why exactly are we looking for Angela?" asked Clank, distracting Ratchet's view of the new area they had entered. Ratchet rolled his eyes because he had told Clank the answer many times before, but he still seemed to keep asking for the reason why they were searching for Angela.
"We are searching for Angela because she will help us find the Lombaxes," babbled Ratchet, causing Clank to cross his arms and shake his head in disbelief. "Why do you keep asking?"
"I keep asking because I don't believe you." Ratchet had reached down into the door of the console, and managed to open it and look at all the circuitry to make sure everything was running according to plan. Still looking inside, he began to speak Clank again.
"Well, believe it or not, that's the reason," said Ratchet, emerging his head from inside the door and sitting back up on the chair. Clank still shook his head however, making Ratchet frustrated, but he managed to keep his cool. Ratchet noticed that Eddie, the "Robochef", was currently making a metal chicken dish, which reminded him of the one that he had seen in the Thugs-4-Less Prison advertisement.
"Why do you even watch this show?" asked Ratchet, making some hand movements with his right hand, while his left one was holding the steering wheel steady.
"You may not know, but I have a hidden passion for cooking," said Clank, folding his arms and trying to keep focus on the recipe being given.
"I remember doing some cooking back home on Veldin, while I was still a child. It was so disgusting that I've never wanted to handle food that wasn't mine to this day," said Ratchet, with both hands on the steering wheel, staring at some of the new planets appearing. "It was awful…I can remember all the muddy food and sharp blades, not to mention the jar of squished up Horny Toads!"
"Squish them up real good!" yelled a woman's masculine voice.
"Stop it, it's all over my face!" screamed a young boy's voice.
"HAHAHA! You too wimpy to cook!" chanted a crowd of voices fit for a bully.
A slicing sound appeared in Ratchet's mind, and it appeared a gigantic knife being held high, before slamming down.
"Ratchet, snap out it!" Ratchet was startled by Clank's voice, and suddenly reconnected with the world, and he realised that during his flashback, he had curled up on the seat and sucked his thumb. Slowly, he came back up, and didn't bother to talk to Clank and just let him watch Robochef while he steered Aphelion. He looked at the tracking device on his belt, and saw that it had picked up a sort of signal, but it was too far out of range to get an accurate reading.
"Clank, the tracking device has picked something up, but it's too far away," said Ratchet, taking it off his belt and passing it too him. Clank caught it and saw that it was switching between the Polaris and Woldgon galaxies, and agreed with Ratchet on not bothering to follow it's path. "I suggest we keep going to find out where this Mindrol thing was made." Clank nodded and saw that Robochef had ended, and after quick check of the other channels, he turned it off.
"So where do you want to check for clues?" asked Clank, wanting to do something because of Robochef ending.
"How about that planet down there?" Clank shrugged, so Ratchet decided to check Aphelion's database for a description, and was surprised to see a video pop up to tell them about it, with pictures showing the scene they were describing.
Ever wanted to battle nature in a huge jungle? Well, get your sense of adventure at the planet Grokley. It is completely inhabited by War Groks, hence the name, but if you are afraid then this planet is not for you! There are plenty of dangerous traps that you could face while exploring, including the Pop Cave, where once you enter, you end up in an entirely different place on the planet (I heard that monsters like to hang around there for a feed). There is also the Forests of Silence, where you have to battle your frustration to get out before you starve, and there is even the Sludge River. Make your way through the mud and fog, while trying to stay alive by avoiding the poisonous lizards. Once a year, there is a survival contest, so if don't feel up to exploring alone, instead you will have a crowd cheering for you as you get ripped apart. So if you have the heart, visit Grokley and see if you reason with DEATH.
Ratchet stared blankly at the screen as the video ended, and was shocked at some of the pictures they showed. "Well, that was pleasant." Clank laughed weakly as he stared horrified as well. Some of the pictures shown were a skeleton's arm reached out as War Groks ripped it apart, with a crowd cheering behind them, and one was a person being poisoned by a lizard.
"Are we going to go there, anyway?" asked Clank curiously, feeling slightly ill after watching the video.
"Well, I don't think that brick planet back there isn't going to give much clues, so I guess we could, but we should really be very cautious," said Ratchet, starting to steer Aphelion to the right, towards Grokley, which he guessed looked as sickly green on the surface than it did in the atmosphere, because he couldn't really tell. He heard a faint warping sound and looked behind him quickly, before turning to Clank.
"Although, right now, we have to deal with this ship that has seemed to follow us to this galaxy. I though at first that it was just like us, visiting the galaxy, but it's tailing us," said Ratchet, who boosted Aphelion engines slightly, but not all the way because they were right near Grokley and Ratchet had a thirst for battling. "Hopefully this battle won't be as bad as some of those we fought when trying to stop Nefarious from using the Great Clock. I've been trying to forget about them by giving myself a cooler attitude."
The ship that was following them was a black colour, so black that it blended in with the galaxy. It could only be distinguished with a fat lime green stripe running down the middle of it, like a conveyor belt. It looked something like the Star Explorer given to them by Abercrombie Fizzwidget, except the wings were curved back, and it's body looked kind of like a ramp, with it's point facing the front, except it was a tiny bit more circular, like a cross between the Star Explorer and Aphelion.
"I'm not sure if getting attention by dogfighting is a good idea. Maybe, this is a good time to test how the Mindrol works," said Clank, looking around for it and the instruction manual to it. Ratchet sighed, once again not getting any fun due to Clank, and helped him search for the Mindrol. Eventually after much searching from just on his chair, he wanted to search the entire ship.
"Aphelion, orbit around Grokley until I find the Mindrol," said Ratchet, before immediately jumping out of his seat and crawling towards the trunk at the back.
"You are lucky I didn't decide to turn the floor to a lava temperature," said Aphelion, keeping at a steady pace around Grokley. Ratchet ignored her and opened the trunk, and saw that it was full of items that Ratchet and Clank had collected on their adventures. There was the Persuader, the Infiltrator, the Hacker and even the Decrypter from when Tachyon took over Polaris.
Ratchet finally found an instruction manual along with the Mindrol, and it showed him a diagram that told him it had a targeting feature with it and a feature to actually control the target himself instead of using the controller. Following the manual's instructions, he pressed a button on the top-left of the controller and a screen slid out of the top of it, just behind where the rhombus was and it showed a small radar.
The was only one blip coming from the radar centre, where Aphelion was, and this was coming from behind them, obviously meaning that it was tracking the ship following them. He pressed a button with a weird symbol etched on it, and it zoomed down on the blip, searching for the nearest target to take control of. Suddenly, his eyes were filled with a green colour, blocking his vision, until it quickly disappeared and found out he was in an entirely different place.
The inside of the ship was black too, and the seat felt familiar to Ratchet, and he then realised that it was a different model of the Star Explorer. The interior had a pair of pink, fluffy dice hanging from the top, and Ratchet looked behind him to see that there was a lot of girly products there, and didn't bother to see every thing in detail, completely missing the photos of Cronk and Zephyr.
He looked around the console, knowing much of it from when he piloted the Star Explorer, and finally found the comlink. Quickly, he checked in front of him and saw Aphelion smoothly orbiting around Grokley, with the ship Ratchet was in on her tail. He turned on the comlink, and saw that it's camera was broken, so he was only allowed to speak into it.
"Clank! This is Ratchet, Firstly…am I a girl?" asked Ratchet wildly, trying not to look at the body he was occupying.
"Clank here. Judging by your voice, yes, you are a girl. But your voice sounds a bit familiar..." responded Clank, finding Ratchet's transmission.
"Okay. Now secondly, is it legal to take other people's bodies to do your bidding?" asked Ratchet again, still in a wild voice.
"Who knows and who cares?" asked Clank, being oddly laid-back and reckless. "So, who is the person piloting the ship, and are there any passengers?"
"Well, I am completely alone, and I don't really want to look at myself, otherwise I might throw up from hideousness or something. Do I have to?"
"No, you don't."
"So do I get to blow up the ship now or something?"
"I think it would be more safer to dock it somewhere. Who knows? It could be just a helpless traveller following ships to see if they'll lead them to adventure."
"Aww," said Ratchet, finally obeying Clank. He grabbed the steering and saw that his arms were definitely feminine, and looked a little familiar, but he just didn't care and so he started looking for a place to dock the ship. Clank was sitting on his seat, understanding that there must have been something wrong with the camera, and he reluctantly looked over to Ratchet's body, which was sitting limp with his tongue lolling out.
"Hey, how about that ship over there that's coming into view?" asked Ratchet, looking to his left, and Clank had no idea where it was, but after little effort, he found it as well. Both he and Ratchet could only see the deactivated engine on the back of it, but Clank was just able to the entrance to the hangar, and saw that it was open to docking. "I can't see if it's hangar is open. Can you?"
"Yes, I can just see, and it's hangar is wide open," said Clank, looking over the body of Ratchet and not caring that he was virtually temporarily dead. "You should be able to get in there, and if there is any resistance, it would be up to the pilot to survive." Ratchet nodded, not remembering that Clank couldn't see him, and turned to the left towards the gigantic ship.
"Docking there right now," said Ratchet, as he perfectly piloted the ship beside the bigger one, not bothering at all to look at it's texture and entered through the blue energy field, passing through easily, and the field allowed him to breathe in space. He landed the ship easily, and hopped out the same way he did while in the Star Explorer, and then realised that the black ship wasn't his.
"Clank…" began Ratchet as he read a sign above the main door to the inside of the huge ship. "We are in that ship that saved us. It was the Apogee Spaceship." He was reading a sign on top of the door that said "Entrance to the Apogee Spaceship", and guessed that Max Apogee, Talwyn's father, had saved them but didn't want to be found. "There are no other ships in the hangar. I'm going to go and check around!"
"Don't, Ratchet!" yelled Clank, sighing at Ratchet's recklessness. "If you are found, then wouldn't it be strange if you were speaking as the person you've occupied? They might think you're an intruder or impostor and that would mean trouble. Just come back and let them deal with the situation they are in." Ratchet sighed once again, but was thinking of some of the possible consequences, and he didn't want to be caught in a serious adventure like last time.
"Fine, I'll leave…" said Ratchet, before noticing that he didn't have the Mindrol. Doubtfully, he walked back to the black ship and looked inside, and to his surprise the Mindrol was sitting on the opposite seat, with Ratchet having ignored it the whole time. He reached over the side, feeling the metal push into his stomach until he finally grabbed it and stood back up straight.
"It's good to see your body without your tongue hanging out the side," said Clank, sitting next to Ratchet in Aphelion. Ratchet didn't even realise that he had accidentally pressed the same button and returned to his body until Clank spoke. Ratchet ignored Clank's compliment and looked over to the left to the see that it was in fact the ship that saved them from the Valkyries.
"Angela has got to be in there. Let's go," said Ratchet, grabbing the steering wheel, but in the corner of his eye he could see that Clank wasn't too happy. "What's wrong?" Clank folded his arms and thought for a while, leaving them in awkward silence.
"I'm still not totally convinced. The ship seems to know who we are, and the engines are off, so they may have powered down so no-one could track them. There are no other ships, and you only saw one sign, which could mean that it was placed there as a forgery." Ratchet sighed as Clank cautiousness, but since the Great Clock, he could see why, and decided to agree with him.
"Fine…so should we go to Grokley, then?" asked Ratchet sarcastically, as Grokley would be orders of magnitude more dangerous than the "Apogee Spaceship".
"All right," said Clank, making Ratchet go wide-eyed and his mouth twitch in shock. Clank didn't notice this and so Ratchet shrugged and grabbed the steering wheel, pushing to the right towards Grokley.
Ratchet was still amazed to see the sight of breaking through the atmosphere, busting through the sickly clouds and facing the muddy surface of Grokley. He looked far across the surface, slowing Aphelion to a snail's pace as he basked in the amazing view. Towards the left was what looked like a huge pond of muddy sludge, and south of it was a huge forest, near some cliffs, which led to small villages of what looked like shelters made of bark, and could hear the roars of War Groks below. Near it was a cave, seemingly leading nowhere, but he remembered about what was said on the video.
"This is obviously amazing!" yelled Ratchet, but Clank didn't care as much. Finally, Ratchet boosted Aphelion's engines to an average and smooth speed, and he then began to looked for somewhere to land. "Can you see anywhere we land?" Clank sat himself up and looked around, before seeing a giant tree stump, perfectly cut for landing on. Clank wondered about the environmental damage, but shrugged it off.
"How about over there?" asked Clank, pointing over to the tree stump. Ratchet looked over and nodded, even though Clank wasn't paying attention, and he turned Aphelion to the right and angled out, drifting smoothly towards the tree stump, until he finally floated above it and turned the engine off, still leaving Aphelion floating. Ratchet jumped out on the left side and felt his feet touch the rough, but pleasant, wooden floor, however, we wasn't going to feel it for long.
"Isn't this great? Everything feels smooth and nice, even though the sky is green," said Ratchet, looking up at the some of the dangerous birdlife attacking each other. He looked away in disgust and turned around to see Clank sitting in his seat unhappily. "What's the matter?" Clank wasn't listening, and after saying his name a few times, getting louder each time, he finally realised what Ratchet asked him.
"I was just doing a check on the planet, and I found that with a population of 200 and not a very big space on the surface, a War Grok could turn up any moment now." Clank tapped his foot a few times on the air while he had his legs crossed, and Ratchet shook his head at Clank stubbornness.
"Come on, no War Grok is going to…" Ratchet trailed off as in the distance, behind Aphelion he saw a War Grok charging towards them, looking vicious and hungry. "Clank…fire up Aphelion's engines before we become a two course meal." Clank wondered what Ratchet was staring at, and then turned around to face the War Grok getting closer and closer. Clank was too shocked to start the engines, and eventually Ratchet noticed that Clank wasn't doing anything.
"COME ON!" yelled Ratchet, sidling back towards Aphelion and jumping in, keeping his eye on the War Grok the whole time. Clank managed to snap out of his fear and boosted the engines to maximum power, and only when Ratchet turned around to grab the steering wheel, he realised that the War Grok was the one that he had fought in the Agorian Battleplex when looking for Clank.
"Why isn't Aphelion moving?" asked Clank, and Ratchet then realised that they hadn't moved at all, and he turned around to see the War Grok grabbing the back of Aphelion like a toy, deciding not to destroy it as it could provide it entertainment. Ratchet tried blowing some more exhaust on the War Grok, trying to get it to let go, but once the tickling got too annoying, it blocked the engines with one of it's hands.
"Snowball! Let them go! I will give the cookies I baked to Gwenda!" Ratchet heard the pathetic voice, and then banged his head on the steering wheel, realising that he would have to face the miserable sap named Captain Cornelius Leslie Qwark. Ratchet forced himself to turn around, and he was able to see, just past Snowball's body, Captain Qwark, looking very much the same, except with a pouch around his body, like a sash, running up to Snowball.
"Come on, let go of the friendly travellers…pretty please…please, please, please…I'll tell Josie!" Despite Qwark's pleading, Snowball kept holding on to Aphelion tightly and wouldn't let go. Suddenly, Snowball decided to play with Aphelion by running around the area holding Aphelion like a toy spaceship. Qwark smiled at Snowball's playfulness, but at the same time wanted him to let go, even though he hadn't realised that Ratchet and Clank were in Aphelion, because of the different paint job.
"This is ridiculous," said Ratchet, getting impatient with having to wait for Snowball to get tired or something to stop him from playing with Aphelion. He tapped his fingers, and then chewed some gum, while Clank waited patiently, until he finally snapped. "I can't take this anymore!" He reached into the back and grabbed the octahedron and opened the top of Aphelion, confusing Snowball and making him stop.
"Huh?" said Qwark, stopping as well after running after Snowball. Ratchet tossed the octahedron upwards and closed the top, hearing the octahedron land on it as he picked up the Mindrol. He checked that the rhombus was inside and then pressed "Start, and heard two thumps, before looking up to see two robotic legs standing on the top of Aphelion, somehow staying on.
Snowball was mesmerised as the robot floated slightly upwards, and let go of Aphelion, making it drop to the ground and start hovering above it. It reached out for the robot, and Ratchet opened the top again and pressed "Select", and watched as the robot folded back into it's ball form and plummeted towards the ground. He leaped up high to catch it and sat back down. Qwark saw the Lombax figure, and then realised that the ship was Aphelion.
"NO! LET ME COME WITH YOU!" yelled Qwark as he heard the engine roar. He held his pouch in place and ran towards Aphelion, while Ratchet was desperately to get out of here, but Clank's kindness prevented him. Ratchet didn't even bother to look, and felt Qwark's weight enter Aphelion and eventually looked back to see him squished in behind the seats.
Ratchet eventually closed the top of Aphelion, and boosted the engines. He piloted Aphelion upwards until he was level with a cliff, as high as two War Groks, and tried piloting over it so Snowball wouldn't be able to catch up with them. Unfortunately, due to Qwark slowing Ratchet and Clank down, Snowball had already shifted it's attention back to Aphelion, and began running after it and jumping, trying to grab hold.
"Come on, we have enough time to get over the cliff!" yelled Ratchet to Aphelion, who tried desperately to fly faster. Ratchet was thrown forward into the steering wheel as a loud "THOMP" was heard. He caressed his sore head and looked back, seeing that Snowball had succeeded in grabbing onto Aphelion. He hoped that they would still make is over the cliff, along Snowball to crash into the side, but he turned around and found that Aphelion was flying downwards thanks to Snowball.
"Hold on!" yelled Ratchet to both Clank and Qwark, and before the ground came too close he closed his eyes and ducked down under the seat. He felt his whole body shake, and heard crashing sounds as his head bonked the chassis of the seat and eventually, his body was thrown backwards into the console. After hearing one final crashing sound, he began to hear the roars of a War Grok.
Coughing, he slowly stood up, and turned around to look at Aphelion's console. "Aphelion, are you still alright?" he asked, seeing that outside, half of the window was buried in the ground. He looked back and saw Qwark dazed, and behind him was the back window, which was pointing out of the ground, and there was no War Grok in sight. He simply assumed that Snowball had crashed into the side of the cliff and fell down to the ground.
"I am still fully functioning," said Aphelion, checking the damage reports. "Only minimal damage to the skin. Although this isn't really damage, a lot of my paint has been scraped off. I'm not sure if it was fear or a wet dream about you that has caused a small oil leak in my internal fuel processor. No oil has been leaking outside of me, though." Ratchet smiled weakly at the "wet dream" part, and then remembered that he wanted to leave as soon as possible.
"Okay, Aphelion. Let's get out of here." Ratchet checked that Clank and Qwark were okay, and saw that they were both conscious, but were rubbing their heads in pain. He sat down and waited for Aphelion's response.
"Well, so much for clean underwear," said Qwark, in the pause after Ratchet, making both him and Clank laugh. "No, I'm serious." Ratchet and Clank's faces of laughter suddenly turned to faces of disgust as Qwark felt his bottom and shivered.
"Unfortunately, I can't do that, Ratchet," said Aphelion, finally responding to Ratchet's command earlier. Ratchet gasped in shock, and looked at the console wide-eyed.
"What do you mean?"
"After many calculations, I have figured that I am too deep in the ground to take off."
"Have you tried just blasting your way through the dirt."
"I did a check on the soil, and if I did try and blast my way through, I would only got deeper." Ratchet sighed in exhaustion.
"Fine, we'll try and pull you out." Ratchet looked at Qwark and Clank, who shook their poor, hurting heads. "Why not?" yelled Ratchet, but was only returned with cold stares. "Oh-okay, keep cool, we'll just stay here for now, then." He sat back down on the seat, facing Clank, and then began to wonder how Qwark had got on Grokley. The last time they saw him was on the Nefarious Space Station, and then he disappeared.
"Qwark," began Ratchet, getting his attention. "Would you mind telling us your "heroic" story of how you ended up in this place, because the last time we saw you was on the Nefarious Space Station?" He looked at Qwark in shock, because according to his history with Ratchet, he hadn't cared for any of his story, but he understood because of the situation they were in.
"Well, let's see," began Qwark, trying to think of a good exaggerated story. Ratchet and Clank smirked to each other, eager to hear one of Qwark's ridiculously inaccurate stories. "Well then, after the station explode, I became stuck on an asteroid with Snowball, who suddenly got a hunger for blood. With an iron fist, I managed to fend off Snowball's rage long enough for the asteroid to enter a planet's atmosphere. I soon found out that we had drifted to the Woldgon Galaxy, and that I was on Snowball's home planet of Grokley.
"The other War Groks joined his hunger and went off to scavenge for a meal. They then realised that with my awesome strength, that I would be the ideal slave to find food for them. However, I pulled through with my courageous spirit and obliterating body, and I survived for six min- err, days under their blood-thirsty law. During my time, I found this pouch, and eventually decided to escape, and that's when Snowball chased me and came across you."
"Right," said Ratchet, rolling his eyes. "So who are Gwenda and Josie?"
"Oh, them," said Qwark, rubbing the back of his head embarrassed and chuckling weakly. "Well, Gwenda is a masculine female War Grok who doesn't like Snowball and vice versa, while Josie is Snowball's girlfriend, who I may have gotten a little intimate with…" Ratchet realised what Qwark meant and felt like throwing up, but Clank was oblivious to Qwark's beating around the bush.
Clank heard the roars of War Groks getting closer and closer, and looked to Ratchet who could hear them too. Reluctantly, Ratchet opened the top to Aphelion looked around, but could see no War Groks. He decided to check the bottom of the cliff, and so he climbed out onto the rough surface, and crawl over to the peak. Looking down below, he could see a tribe of about ten-fifteen War Groks climbing up the cliff with Snowball.
"We have company!" yelled Ratchet, who got up and turned around, running towards Aphelion. He jumped on the tail of it and slid over the top and landed in his seat, impressing Clank and Qwark. He closed the top and tried boosting the engines, but they didn't seem to work because of the other half being buried in the ground. Eventually, the War Groks began to surface at the top, roaring into the air, preparing to get some food.
"!" yelled a soft voice from a distance away. Curious, Ratchet looked around, and eventually saw a figure that looked like a comet or a speeding bullet entering the atmosphere and rushing towards Aphelion. He squinted his eyes, trying to make out what the figure was, and as it slowed down, he realised it was the black ship that was following them earlier.
"Clank, it's that ship that was following us! I think whoever is inside it said my name. Could it be Angela?" Clank was able to see the ship as it got closer to Aphelion, and it eventually hovered above the War Groks distracting them as a chute on the side opened up and a grapple latched onto Aphelion. It turned away from the War Groks, trying to pull Aphelion out, and after many minutes of struggling, it eventually managed to slide out Aphelion.
"Finally!" yelled Ratchet, as the War Groks realised what was happening to their feast and tried to grab on desperately, but they were not able to reach it as it hovered with the black ship over the cliff and out of sight. Ratchet watched as Aphelion was dragged around the entire planet a few times until the black ship finally landed in between a forest and muddy river.
Aphelion hovered on the ground with it, and the grapple finally released from her side. Ratchet and Clank both opened the top, eager to find out who had saved them from the War Groks, but Qwark had no idea what was going on and decided to jump out anyway. Ratchet anxiously waited as the top of the black ship began to open, and the person who came out of it was Talwyn Apogee…
Ratchet stared at in glee, expecting her to say something awesome. "Why the hell did you take over my body while I was stuck immobile in yours?" Ratchet hopes were shattered, and he could actually imagine the glass inside of him breaking. Clank laughed but Qwark stood there confused, not getting what was going on. Talwyn smiled at Ratchet's face and then looked away in embarrassment.
"Well, SOR-RY!" said Ratchet, still amazed at Talwyn's strictness. "It was obviously suspicious having a mysterious ship following us, so we just decided to move you away, kind of." Talwyn skeptically looked at Ratchet with her arms folded, shaking her head slightly and beginning to a smile. Soon, she and Ratchet bursted into laughter, and he was surprised when Talwyn went up and hugged him, causing him to blush.
"I knew that voice was familiar on the comlink," said Clank once the awkward hug was over. Talwyn turned her stare from Ratchet over to Clank, and was thinking about the comlink.
"Yeah, you couldn't see me because the comlink has been screwing up lately," said Talwyn, thinking about how it was inside Ratchet's body with no mobility what-so-ever. "It was hell being inside Ratchet, having to listen in on the conversation and not being able to move at all. I can see why Ratchet didn't want to look the body he was in, because if he looked down, then he would have probably seen my cleavage."
"Well, that's good, I guess," said Ratchet, imagining what it would have been like if he looked down. Talwyn saw Ratchet's face and knew what he was doing.
"Stop thinking about it!" she yelled, making him jump and walk back in fright, causing Clank to snicker. He looked at Qwark, who had no clue of what was going on, and Ratchet and Clank quickly recounted the fate of Azimuth, and then how they began to search for Angela, and then the events that led them to Grokley.
"And that reminds me, Talwyn," said Ratchet, taking his position away from Qwark and to Talwyn. "What has been going on with Max Apogee's ship, and why are you following us."
"You must be wondering a great deal about what happened," said Talwyn, trying to remember what happened. "Well, after Hoolefar, I decided to track down my father, and thanks to that news report, I decided to look for his ship as my first clue. I got my own ship and eventually found my father's in the Woldgon Galaxy after much searching, but it was empty. I guess that my father and Angela heard the news report and abandoned the ship so they could lay low. I was just about to leave when I saw Aphelion, and so I tailed after it, and you know the rest."
"Damn," said Ratchet, sighing and pulling up a rock to sit on.
"What?" asked Talwyn with great concern, but Ratchet didn't answer her question.
"We've been looking for Angela, and we thought that she might be on the Apogee Spaceship, but unfortunately we now have no lead. Our search is done," said Ratchet, and Qwark finally understood what happened to Ratchet and Clank, and shared their sadness. Ratchet looked up and was furious to see Talwyn smirking. "Do you think this funny?" Talwyn did a motion with her hands to incidate "No, wait", before regaining her breath.
"You have a lead now," said Talwyn, causing Ratchet to stand up, his hopes regained. "While on the Spaceship, I found a crumpled up note inside a trash can. I don't have it with me, but it was in my father's handwriting and it said something about a Lombax planet in Woldgon, called Lomtaber. According to legend, it was attacked in the Great War and only two Lombaxes remain on the planet to date, one a fully grown male, and one still an egg. I'm not sure that Lombaxes hatch from eggs, but it's never been confirmed they don't. The message trailed off with no indication of him going to visit or why he wouldn't, but it would still be a place to go to look for clues!"
"I'm guessing this rules out the recreating the Lombax species thing with Angela," muttered Clank so only Ratchet could hear it, smirking naughtily. "I'm a bad bad boy." He walked cool and slowly towards Aphelion, jumping in.
Ratchet gritted his teeth at Clank's comment, but soon realised that no-one else heard, relaxing him. "Let's go to Lomtaber, then!" he yelled, running towards Aphelion and jumping in, while Talwyn and Qwark slowly walked there.
"I saw what happened to you with the War Groks. Nice job," said Talwyn to Qwark sarcastically, causing him to flush in embarrassed. Talwyn didn't expect a response from him as she smirked, and then realised that her ship was still there, waiting to be piloted. Ratchet noticed this too, and looked down to her, waiting for her to ask about it.
"Ratchet, I have a plan about my ship," said Talwyn, surprising him, because he thought that she would ask him for help. "I will dock it at my father's ship, and then you can pick me up there and then we will go to Lomtaber. How about that?" Ratchet thought the plan over and saw that there was nothing wrong with it at all, so he nodded once she turned around and watched as she jumped back in the black ship of her blasted off into the sky, with Aphelion following close behind…
Chapter 3 Preview
Simultaneously, they stepped on their silhouettes. BONG! BONG! BONG! BONG! The silhouettes all lighted up in the beautiful sun and after a dramatic pause, the pillars shook and the team desperately tried to keep on the pillar. Qwark was pushed to the side and clung for dear life until finally, the earthquake stopped and everyone opened their eyes to find them selves in a pitch black room.