Here we are with chapter two of Man Vs Machine. I really dont have much to say, since it is really late and my hands are really cramped up from typing all this. But I will say that I am expecting a really fat check to come into the mail at any time now and I am looking forward to it. If you want to keep up with my daily struggles in life, do watch my Typecasts I make on my deviant art and you will keep up to date on that. Now, lets begin with the reviews.
Review Replies:
GrimlockX4: Thank you for your support, it is very much appreciated and I do hope that you get those stories out soon. I'm really looking forward to reading them.
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Demer Howor- Thank you for your support and am happy to answer any questions you may have.
- The reason he forgot about his machete is because since he had it on him so much and has wore it for so long, to him it felt like it wasn't there at all and once he noticed it on his right leg, that's when he remembered about it.
- The reason he left Clank behind is because since he was unconscious, Jordan thought that he would have to repair him somehow and since he didn't know anything about robotics, it would be pointless to carry around a robotic corpse. Now did he know that he would wake up, no. But he went with his gut and considered the robot to be broken. So that's why he left him.
- Now your right about what you said about the last one. But I can explain that. Now Jordan didn't exactly break into the house. He just entered without permission since the garage was open at the time. I could rant on about how there is a difference between breaking in and entering without permission. But its late, so I'm just going to get straight to the point how he was addressed when he first found Grim. Since it was a long day and Grim just wanted to be done with customers, he actually did try to turn him away. But that's when Jordan introduced the gun and that's when he ended up locking him in the closet. I feel like I should've explained Jordan's first confrontation better. But now that you sent that review, I don't have to. So thank you for your little rant.
And finally, I would like to thank Blaze1992 for following One For All Redux. Your support is very much appreciated
Alright, now that that's over with, time to move on with the story. I hope you all enjoy.
If your enjoying the story so far, feel free to review, favorite or follow, and please know that any feedback is much appreciated.
Disclaimer:
Ratchet and Clank, associated characters, locations, weapons, etc. belong to Insomniac Games. Some real world companies and organizations belong to their respective owners, etc. I only own the right to some characters and some weapons and events introduced in this story.
Kyzil Plateau
Planet Veldin
2:35pm local time
Battle of Veldin
After five minutes of flying through space twenty times the speed of light. They finally reached planet Veldin. Once they flew through the atmosphere and through the various clouds that hovered over the desolate planet, he saw that the whole planet was completely infested with Tyhrranoids. Shooting at robots known as the Galactic Rangers. And from the looks of it, the Galactic Rangers looked like they were being wiped out. "This doesn't look good." Ratchet said.
"We should find a spot to land if we are going to help them out."
"Yeah but I want to park somewhere close to the garage. How about….Here! This looks like a good spot." Ratchet started landing the ship down to a clear spot where there were no Tyhrranoids located in the area. However there was only one problem with the spot. Coincidentally it just so happened to be located right outside of the orphanage that Sophia was raised in. But Ratchet and Clank didn't know about it, and at the moment didn't care about it. But once the ship was completely still on the ground, Ratchet opened the cockpit of the ship and he and Clank jumped out of the ship, but not before telling Sophia what to do. "You should probably stay in the ship. Without Jordan around to protect you, I really don't want to deal with two people to guard during combat. So stay here okay?"
"Okay." Sophia said.
"Good girl." Ratchet said before he jumped out of the ship and closed the cockpit.
Ratchet then put Clank on his back and started walking down the plateau. After walking twenty feet from the ship, he noticed robots standing beside a ledge. Once Ratchet approached the robots, Clank got off his back and used his scanner to confirm that these men, or robots were indeed the Galactic Rangers. "These must be the Galactic Rangers." Clank said.
"Hey look, it's the new sergeant." one of the rangers said.
"I'm afraid you have the wrong guy." Ratchet said. The rangers however ignored him and still accepted them as their new sergeant. "Here sarge, you can have my gun." one of the rangers threw Ratchet a weapon and Ratchet saw the engraving on the side that said "Shock Blaster" on the side. But as he got the weapon, a third Ranger run out from a corner with a message. "There's too many of them! We're all gonna die!"
"Cmon guys. Where's your confidence? Where's your bravery? If we don't do something about these Tyhrranoids, this planet is going to be nothing but dust." Ratchet said, trying to promote confidence in the robots souls. That is, if they have one.
"There's not enough men to take on every creature on this planet sarge."
"You don't need anymore men. Just leave them to me." Ratchet then set Clank back on his back and walked past the rangers. The robots followed the Lombax around the corner and they all saw their first group of enemies. Ratchet saw five little Tyhrranoids, all unarmed guarding the whole area. All of the rangers coward in fear, but Ratchet wasn't scared at all and used his new weapon to blow them away. Ratchet fired the weapon twice and was able to riddle all of the creatures with a total of sixteen bullets, completely ravaging the bodies. Ratchet then started moving up and the rangers followed, gaining slight confidence knowing that they had a battle ready sergeant behind their backs (or in front). Ratchet and the rangers started moving along a ledge and saw he had to cross a two foot gap. Ratchet and the robots were able to jump the gap and walked across the rest of the ledge. They then started walking up a small hillside and saw two more galactic rangers trying to fight two Tyhrranoids. But this time, they were on two mechanical walkers with blasters for hands. And the Tyhrranoids controlled where it went, and who to fire on. So while the two creatures were focused on the two rangers, Ratchet sneaked up behind them and fired his new shotgun four times at the two enemies, Completely riddling them with bullets and destroying the two mechs. Ratchet then approached the two Rangers and they saw him and three other rangers behind him. "Thanks alot sarge. But were pinned down by that enemy vehicle. Someone's gotta take it out." the first robot said.
"And let me guess. That someone is me?" Ratchet said.
"We got a volunteer. Here sarge take this." the second ranger said. The robot then tossed Ratchet another weapon and Ratchet looked on the side of it and saw the engraving of the gun titled "Nitro Launcher". "We'll cover you. From back there." the second danger finished. Both the rangers then fled back with the rest of the Rangers and left the Lombax to do all the dirty work. Ratchet looked towards the tunnel the two robots they were hiding behind and saw a ship firing a nonstop barrage of bullets right towards the entrance. But Ratchet saw the ship moving side to side, causing the bullets to fly in a zig zag pattern. Seeing this, Ratchet knew there was an opportunity in this somewhere. So Ratchet waited for the ship to move all the way to the right and once it did, Ratchet quickly ran in front of the entrance and fired one bomb directly at the ship. The explosive hit the ship dead on and the explosion happened to be so powerful, that it blew the entire ship and its driver to bits. The whole tunnel was now clear and the Lombax and rangers moved in.
One they reached the end of the tunnel, Ratchet saw a large hole located right underneath the ship. Ratchet and the rangers jumped right into the hole and saw a small tunnel dug out that led into the outside world. Ratchet walked through the small tunnel and saw that it led straight into the entrance of a small building. But in the center of the building, on a medium sized column was another Tyhrranoid, trying to destroy two Galactic Rangers trying to fight him off. Ratchet however quickly came to the rescue and shot one bomb up towards the creature. The bomb ended up landing directly on the enemies mechanical legs and completely blew them to bits. The Tyhrranoids then tumbled off of the column and directly in front of the Lombax. Ratchet saw the creature look up at him with fright, but decided to leave him with the Rangers instead. Who immediately blew the creature to bits and avenged the many lives that those psychopathic beasts destroyed. Ratchet then saw the entrance to the building and walked right through it, with the Rangers following him. They all then started walking up a hill and not only saw a mix of seven unarmed Tyhrranoids, and three armed ones. Ratchet saw a very familiar house behind it. With a roof riddled with holes. And the entrance was clearly blown open. "My garage!" Ratchet yelled, getting the attention of all the Tyhrranoids. Ratchet was now in so much anger he couldn't describe it. In order to get to his garage, he would have to clear these guys out. And he will make sure these ones die a slow and painful death. Ratchet equipped his Shock Blaster and saw all the unarmed Tyhrranoids run towards him. Ratchet waited, and waited, and waited. Once they were in point blank range, Ratchet fired his blaster, completely blowing three of the creatures to bits. Ratchet then did the same with the three other Tyhrranoids and blew them away as well. Now he just had to focus on three more and he equipped his Nitro Launcher to complete this task. Ratchet walked up to the two creatures and avoided three shots that they fired at him. But he was able to dodge them and shoot two bombs at them, blowing them to bits.
With the whole area now clear, Ratchet ran up to his garage and saw the destruction. Broken pieces of metal everywhere, destroyed furniture and appliances. And worst of all, there was one gaping hole blown out in the back of the garage. Ratchet started staring at the whole mess for ten seconds, then started walking up to a completely destroyed Holovision. "No, not my 55 inch plasma screen Holovision! God I payed so much money for that!"
"Ratchet. I know how you feel about your home. But we must focus on the task at hand and save this planet. If Jordan were here, he would agree the same way." Clank said.
Ratchet heavily sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right. Let's go see what we could do next to save this planet." Ratchet started hearing a ship behind his garage and he saw a dropship descend from the skies and land right behind his garage. Once the back of the ship opened up, the only people on the ship were two Galactic Rangers and they approached Ratchet. "What's the situation?" Ratchet asked.
"There's a bunch of 'noids in the F sector." the first ranger said.
"F sector?" the second ranger said. "No way sarge, we'll all be scrap metal." Ratchet knew however that for what they have done to his garage, his home, and his planet. He wasn't letting any of them survive. "Get back in there trooper! We've got a planet to save."
"Sir yes sir!" both the rangers said. Ratchet and all ten rangers then got into the dropship and it flew them all the way to the F sector of the planet. But they weren't just entering it the easy way. They were entering the sector the fun way.
Halo jumping a thousand feet in the air.
Once they were above their destination, a speaker rose to life in the hangar bay of the ship. "We have reached sector F. Prepare to Halo Jump." Ratchet and the rest of the rangers got out of their seats and waited by the exit of the ship. "Prepare to jump in five….Four…..Three….Two….One…..Go!"
"I'm afraid of heights. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" one of the rangers yelled as he jumped out of the ship. After all ten rangers jumped out of the ship, Ratchet was the last one to go. Ratchet took a deep breath, ran as fast as he could, and jumped out of the ship. "Whooooooohoooooo!" he yelled with joy. But as the Lombax was falling, the Tyhrranoids somehow was able to get a hold of two aerial missile defense turrets and they were now shooting at him and the ten rangers. Ratchet saw one of the missiles fly towards the Lombax. But he was able to veer to the left and dodge the missile. Unfortunately for three of the rangers, they met a completely different fate and ended up blowing to pieces in mid air. They were now halfway from reaching the ground and Ratchet saw another missile fly towards him. Ratchet veered to the right this time and dodged the next missile. But once again, only two rangers this time were blown to pieces, only leaving five rangers left. Despite how low the odds were, Ratchet still had faith in his team and as long as they had him around, there should be nothing to worry about. The Lombax and the Galactic rangers were now twenty feet from the ground and all the robots activated the thrusters in their boots. Ratchet however just used Clanks Heli-pack and slowly hovered to the ground and started to fight with the other rangers.
...
Sophia saw Ratchet and Clank get out of the ship and start to leave the area, leaving the little Lombax and her pet to sit there and wait. After ten minutes of waiting, she started to get bored, really bored, extremely then started to lay on the seats of the ship and stare off into the sky. But that easily got boring after three minutes and decided to sit back up in her seat. She then started staring in the direction where Ratchet and Clank disappeared into, but saw that they weren't coming back. She then decided to look at the building placed right beside the ship and got really curious about it. She wasn't worried about her friend or anything, but wondered if the whole building was evacuated. She actually got really curious when the thought about her stuff. Sophia didn't have a lot of belonging when she was in the orphanage, but she did have one thing that was priceless to her and wondered if it was still inside the building. Sophia would have to investigate this, but first. She would have to know how to get out of the ship first. Sophia looked at the controls of the ship and pressed a small red button that would open the cockpit door. How did she know this? She simply watched Ratchet push it when they exited the ship. She then saw the cockpit open and she slowly climbed out of the ship. As she did so, she saw her protopet try to get out of the ship too. "You stay. I have to do this alone." she said to her protopet. Sarah then jumped back into the seat of the ship and stayed there. After five seconds, the cockpit slowly sealed the protopet inside the ship and the Lombax now focused on her little mission. Sophia knew if the place was still inhabited, the front door was probably not the best idea. So she decided to go through the only other entrance she could think of. She walked around the building until she reached the playgrounds fence. She then looked and saw the exact same hole she crawled through when she escaped two years ago. Luckily the staff didn't mess with the hole at all and saw that the fence didn't warp or mess up the hole.
So Sophia crawled through the hole and entered the playground. She then walked to the door and rotated the door knob and saw that the door was completely unlocked. She then opened the door and entered the cafeteria. But the whole place was pitch black. So she reached for the light switch and saw the whole building come to life. But there was no one to be found. "Hello?" she said, hearing her voice echo throughout the cafeteria. "Anybody?" she said again, still hearing no reply. The little Lombax then started walking through the cafeteria and through a door that led to the girls bedroom. "Sarah?" she said as she walked into the room. She started looking around the bedroom and saw that no one was inside their beds or in the room. But she did see a small chest where her bed was and she quickly walked over to it and opened it. And inside she saw all of her stuff, consisting of a backpack, a pair of pajamas, and a necklace. She quickly grabbed the backpack and started putting everything inside it. Once her backpack was filled with her belongings, she put it on her back and closed the chest.
But it was at that moment that she heard a rumbling sound and quickly exited the orphanage through the front door. She then ran to the ship and entered it. But as she got into the ship, she saw two more ships fly over the orphanage and drop two bombs on it, blowing the entire orphanage into pieces. The ship she was in though luckily avoided any debris from the explosion. But she completely sat there in shock. Sophia slumped in her seat and lowered her ears. Her home, her prison, but mostly her home was destroyed. Even though Sophia didn't like the place so much, it still had precious meanings to her. And now it was gone. Now the Lombax would have to find a new home, but where? As she was thinking, she felt the ship start up by itself and start flying through the sky. Once they reached their destination, the ship started to land on the ground. Sophia then looked outside the cockpit of the ship and saw Ratchet and Clank walking towards it. Ratchet then opened the cockpit and the Lombax and Robot jumped in. They didn't say anything to Sophia however, knowing that she was safe and sound while they were gone. I mean he locked the ship while he was gone, right? And the Lombax couldn't possibly understand any of the control either, so they knew she was fine. Ratchet then entered the coordinates into the dashboard of the ship and flew off. As they were flying through space, Sophia sat there and got lost in her train of thoughts. She thought about the orphanage. She thought about her Markazian friend Sarah. And most importantly, she thought about Jordan. Oh how she missed her Human companion. She really wished he would be here with them right now. And thought that Ratchet was probably thinking the same thing. But at the moment, she thought about what the Human was up to right now.
United States of America, Pennsylvania
Planet Earth
2:45pm EST
It was a nice Sunday afternoon. And today was a very special day for the Human. But right now, Jordan was sitting in his room, right beside his desk writing another journal entry. And he was writing it on one of the most beautiful machines he's ever owned. A brand new, spotless, seafoam green Hermes 3000 Typewriter.
26th of October, 2015
Well, today is a special day. It's my official one year anniversary of being in this universe. Or as many people like to call it, my birthday. This morning I was immediately welcomed with a big hug from my baby sister. Then I was treated with a well balanced breakfast and lunch. Now I am here typing this entry on my beautiful, seafoam green Hermes 3000 Typewriter. As a matter of fact my parents are inviting my whole family and some friends over to celebrate my birthday party. With everyone helping out, including my sister. So my parents told me to pretty much stay up in my room until everything is ready. But all I know is I am looking forward to what I am getting this year. I pretty much got this machine from my parents. So that just leaves my aunts and uncles and friends. But it's probably just going to be money, since I am not a kid anymore. Yep, I am a 18 year old man now. But I do hope that I do have a nice birthday party this year and that's all I pretty much have to say for now.
As Jordan was finishing up the last touches of his journal entry. He started to hear some footsteps and stopped typing. Jordan then looked towards Adam and saw the protopet hide under the bed. He then turned his chair a hundred and eighty degrees and was now facing the door. Once the door opened, Jordan saw that it was only his sister Anna. "Everythings ready. You can come down now."
"Okay. I'll be down in a minute." Jordan said. Anna then walked out of Jordan's room and the Human got out of the chair and stepped away from his typewriter. Jordan then went to his bed where his protopet use to be and pulled him out from underneath the bed. "Alright, you just stay here and I will come up here with some food and cake when I'm ready okay?" Jordan told his protopet. Adam in return made a high pitched clicking sound and Jordan knew that adam was confirming what he just told him. "Good boy." Jordan said, messing up the creatures little hair it had. Jordan then walked out the door of his room, walked downstairs, and saw that everybody was waiting for him. "Surprise!" everyone yelled. Jordan started walking down the rest of the stairs and entered the living room. Once Jordan was in the living room, he started looking at all of the invited guests. His aunts, his uncles, his parents, his grandparents, and some of his friends that he really didn't like to mention, and finally, his little sister. Everyone then sat at the dining table and they all started eating their dinner. Jordan decided to have a cheeseburger with fries, macaroni and cheese, and an ice tea. While everyone was talking amongst themselves, Jordan and Anna both ate their meals. And once the Human was done, he stocked up on seconds and started walking up the stairs, with Anna following him. Once Jordan walked into his room, he saw that Adam was nowhere to be found, which was a good thing in keeping the pet hidden. "Adam." he called out, seeing the protopet emerge from under his bed and hop on top of it. "There you are. Well heres your dinner. But make it quick, I don't wanna be gone for too long." Jordan set the plate down on his bed and the protopet immediately started devouring the whole meal. In fact, due to the pets sharp and gleaming incisors, he was able to eat the entire dish in just four bites. Jordan then held a glass of ice tea over the protopet and it immediately opened its mouth. Jordan then poured the entire drink into its mouth and it swallowed the whole thing in just five seconds. Adam then started licking the plate until Jordan took it away from him. "I'll be back with cake in a little bit." Jordan said before he and Anna left the room.
They both walked down the stairs and saw that people were now starting to take the party outside. And located right outside their house were two empty chairs. Jordan and Anna quickly walked over to the chairs and sat in them "Alright guys, it's almost time for cake!" Jordan's mother announced. Jordan then walked back into the dining room and saw his mother and father start preparing the cake. Once they all set all eighteen candles on the cake, they started lighting them up. Once all eighteen candles were lit, Jordan's mother and father brought the cake from the kitchen and onto the dining table in front of the Human. Jordan looked at the cake and saw that it was a square shape, two feet long and two feet wide. In the center of the cake was a typewriter, completely designed in red frosting. And inside the typewriter was a piece of paper made with white frosting. And the paper read "Happy Birthday Jordan" on it. Once everyone was gathered around the Human, Jordan's mother shut off the lights and the whole family started singing to him. "Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Jordan. Happy birthday to you." once everyone was done signing to the Human, Jordan closed his eyes and made his wish. Now Jordan didn't really believe in wishes coming true. But hey, it's like praying, what do you risk?
'I wish I could see Ratchet, Clank, and Sophia right now.' he said in his head. Jordan then blew out the candles and everyone clapped for him once he did. "Wanna get the presents now while I pass out the cake?" Jordan's mother said to him.
"Yeah, sure." Jordan said. While Jordan's mother sliced and passed out the cake, Anna handed Jordan all of his presents. Which mostly consisted of envelopes. Jordan knew however that he would mostly get money for his birthday, but how would he feel if he got a dollhouse for his birthday instead. So the Human accepted these gifts and started opening them. As Jordan was opening the first envelope, he saw a bright blue light right outside of his house. And it was blinding him. Jordan knew it couldn't be the sun, due to the fact that it was two o'clock, and the blue light could only be seen through the window and was not striking any mirrors, factoring out a reflection. And Jordan was so blinded from the light that he actually got up and started to investigate this distraction. Once Jordan walked outside, he saw the blue dot on the left side of the yard, and he saw it start to grow bigger, and bigger, and bigger until it was the size of Jordan. Everyone else saw this and started walking outside. Once everyone was outside, they were completely mesmerized by the light, except Jordan. "Ratchet." Jordan quietly said to himself.
Jordan immediately ran into the house, up the stairs, and bashed the door open into his room. Jordan then grabbed his ALICE military backpack and started packing up his backpack with all of his essential survival equipment, including his typewriter. Once everything was packed up. Jordan approached Adam, who was sitting on the bed looking at him in confusion. "Alright Adam, listen closely. I'm going to be leaving for Ratchet and Clank. While I'm gone I want you to obey Anna and do what she says okay?" Jordan said to the protopet. Adam made his clicking noises once again, but this time they were lower in tone, sounding like Jordan was going to leave Adam behind. He is, but he will come back for him and he wanted to make sure Adam knew that. "Dont worry, I'll be back one day. Don't you worry about that." Jordan rubbed Adams head then rushed downstairs, through the dining room, and back outside. Jordan saw that the portal was still open and he started approaching it. But as he stepped closer to the portal, he felt something grab his arm and he saw that it was his sister. "Is this it?" Anna said.
"Yes, it is. Now you make sure you take care of Adam for me and make sure nothing bad happens to him okay?"
"Okay Jordan, whatever you say."
"Good." Jordan said as he kissed her on her left cheek. Jordan then started walking closer and closer to the portal and as he was about to reach his hand inside it, he heard his mother call out to him. "Jordan get away from there!" she yelled.
"Look I'll explain later! But for now! Goodbye!" Jordan then took a deep breath and jumped right into the portal. "JORDAN!" his mother screamed, but he didn't hear it and everything went black.
Meanwhile in the Solana Galaxy
Presidential Compound
Planet Marcadia
6:15pm local time
After saving the president of the galaxy from certain death, Ratchet knew that Jordan would've loved this and decided to use his little teleportation device again. After further examination, Ratchet discovered that the batteries were installed backwards. So Ratchet put the batteries in the correct way and tried using the device again. Ratchet pulled the trigger of the gun and saw the two cylinders on the sides start spinning at a rapid pace. After five seconds of waiting, Ratchet saw the barrel of the gun illuminate a bright blue glow and quickly shoot a portal out of it. Everyone, except for one ranger saw the portal get bigger, and bigger, and bigger. And once the portal reached its limit, something shot out of the portal and instantly caused it to disappear. And what they saw was a Markazian figure, with a large black backpack walk out from the portal and look directly towards the Lombax. "Jordan!" Ratchet yelled.
"Look out." the unaware ranger yelled, seeing the unknown figure. The ranger then shot an ion blast towards the figure and the Human looked towards the yell. But he was too late to dodge the small fireball coming right towards him and it struck him dead center in the chest. Jordan felt the blast and put a hand to his heart. Jordan then started to breathe heavily and after five heavy breaths, he fell to the ground.
Everything went black once again.
Well that's it for chapter 2. Like I said, its late. So I'm not gonna have much to say here. But I will write one more chapter of this, then I will move onto One For All. But don't expect anything major. The next chapter is going to be very short. In fact it maybe one of the shortest pieces I've ever written. But I just wanted to get that out. Now I'm gonna go to bed and work on my trashpile of homework I have to do. But do expect a Typecast in the coming week or so.
If your enjoying the story so far, feel free to review, favorite or follow, and please know that any feedback is much appreciated.
Thank you for reading