Map:

"I can't tell where the heck we are!"

It has been a few hours that the duo found themselves lost in the vast forest on an unnamed planet. The planet had recently been found just outside of the Solana Galaxy. Ratchet and Clank were contacted about a month after to help a small group of researchers build a camp to study the new wildlife and fauna.

Or, at least, that was the plan.

"I thought that they had a holomap ready!"

Clank sighed and unattached himself from Ratchets back. The moment his feet made contact with the damp dirt, he looked up towards the satellite and interfaced with it. In the background he could hear Ratchet grumble about their situation.

"There is a map for this area. However, the map is unfinished. This particular place is not yet added to the map."

Ratchet grimaced and, as if it could change anything, looked back at his nav-unit. It beeped pathetically at him. "That's just grate. We're lost."

"We are not lost, Ratchet. We simply need to get to a spot that is on the map so that we can get back to the camp. It can not be that hard to do so."

"Not that hard? Clank, buddy, it is never 'not hard' for us."

This caused Clank to chuckle. "Yes, I suppose that is true. What we need to do is retrace our steps."

The lombax groned but agreed with his diminutive friend. "Yeah, yeah, I know pal. Let's get going."

For the next few hours the duo stretched through the forest. The terrain went from calm flat ground to rocky and uneven footholds. Ratchet complained silently about everything. The map, the forest, the heat, the camp, and even the scientists. It sounded like buzzing.

Clank, who had eventually claimed back onto Ratchets back, groaned. "Ratchet, is it necessary for you to complain?"

"No," Ratchet answered. "But it makes me feel better."

"You do not usually complain, though."

A full on growl escaped Ratchet as he looked up a particularly steep hill. "No, but I normally have something to hit too. Did we go down this hill?"

"No, we did not. I thought that you wished for some peace and quiet."

"Yeah, but right now, this peace and quiet is killing me."

The two made it to the top of the hill and saw the glorious sight of the camp. The scientists were still there; no one seemed to realise that they were gone.

Ratchet walked into the camp and soon found his way to his and Clank's tent. He fell onto his sleeping bag and grounded in appreciation.

"I'm so tired."

"Ratchet."

"Yeah Clank?"

"The holo-map now shows the area that we got lost."

For a few moments the tent was quite.

"Son of a Quark!"

Sing:

"Im walking on sunshine! Wooooh!"

It was that time of day yet again. The time Ratchet finally found his way out of the garage and into a nice steaming shower to wash all of the gunk and soot off of his fur.

Today, it seemed to be more so, however, with the added additions of Cronk, Zephyr, and Talwyn.

From what he could understand over their call, the guy Tal usually went to to keep up the aging worbots maintenance was in the hospital with a busted gallbladder. She made sure the man was alright but understood that he was unable to work for a time.

Unfortunately, this happened around the same time that Cronk's head once again popped off.

Now, normally, this would be much of a problem because Talwyn had rudimentary knowledge about how to fix him. The problem was that some of the internal parts of his neck had also popped off, something that hadn't happened before, making Talwyn worry to the point of calling Ratchet for help.

Racking his fingers in his fur with his heavy shampoo, he scrubbed at the parts of his fur that was dyed by oil.

"I'm walking on sunshine, and man it feels good!"

Ratchet agreed without hesitation. It was an honor to work with Cronk and listen to Zephyr blab on the side. It was even better to hear Tal in the background while she gripped a Cronk to stop moving.

The fix itself was somewhat stressful. In order to put certain parts in place, you had to have a very steady hand. One that was far steadier than his own. In other words, Clanks. The space was squished between the two of them and the stress level skyrocketed.

Ratchet was happy to finally have the hot water pelt his back and drench him, head to toe.

"Yeah, it feels good!"

Now, Ratchet was never one to like music. He more… tolerated it. It was Clank that like it. However, every once in a while, he found himself with some song stuck in the back of his head that just wouldn't go away.

So he would sing, off key mind you, in the shower. With each bad note, the song would wash away with the grime of the day.

Seeing all of the black sludge off him and in the water, Ratchet turned the shower faucet off and quickly got dried and dressed and exited the bathroom in a plume of steam. Refreshed.

He walked back into the livingroom to where his friends an guests resided and looked Cronk, who was laughing something, over with a worried glance.

"Hey, Cronk, hows the neck? Is it feeling secure?"

Cronk only answered with a short 'yep' before he chuckled some more. His elbow hit Zephyr in the side and his fellow warbot barked his own. Ratchet sent them a weird look but chose to ignore it for now. He would hear about it at some point later if they deemed it funny enough.

"Hey rookie, nice vocal cords ya' got there!"

Star:

The child looked up at the sky with wonder in his eyes. He made a tiny squeak before pointing upwards.

His father looked down and then up. There, in the sky above them was a brilliant star. He smiled and hunkered down in the boys line of sight. His wife chuckled softly.

"You like that star son?" The child made incoherent babbling sounds as his answer. "Well, that bright blue star is named after me."

"No, its not. Don't lie to him, Kaden."

Kaden sent a glare at his friend over his shoulder. He then looked back to his son with a smile. "Don't listen to your uncle Al, he doesn't know what he's talking about. Now, that star is named Kadomen. It was named after me when I helped send the cragmites to another dimension."

"No, it wasn't. That star was named over three hundred year ago after a legend from the Fongoids. You have nothing to do with it."

Kaden signed overdramatically and gave Alister a weathered look. "Spoil sport."

Many years later

Ratchet looked up into the night sky of Fastoon. The stars were bright, twinkling happily in the vacuum of space.

"Hey, Clank."

Clank stopped a few steps away from Ratchet and dropped a pieces of rubble. "Yes?"

"Did you know that that star, the really bright blue one, is named after my father?"

Star, alternative:

Big Al looked over his empty shop. It was a slow day and he was joyful for the break.

Looking high and low, he searched for customers but saw none. He smiled at this and snuck behind his counter to find an old shoe box. He tossed the lid away and glanced inside.

There was a pair of sunglass shaped like a star. The lenses had pink and purple sparkles stuck to the side so thickly that, with barely a shake, some floated off and stuck instead to his fingers.

Beside the sunglasses, there was a wig of long flowing metallic brown colored hair. It weakly shined under the fluorescent lighting.

With a giggle, Big Al donned the two and placed his hands on his hips in an exaggerated manner. He then flipped the hair and forced a pouted look.

"Dont mess with me, I am a star!

Pit:

"Common, Al. You can do it."

Alister Azimuth was the son of the General and top recruit in the Lombax Military Academy. He could fight off men and women three times his size without so much as breaking a sweat. When he looked down at the large, dark, gaping hole in the shimmering caves, however, he found himself tarified.

His best friend was leaning against his favorite wrench. His eyes were alit with mirth and his mouth was curled in a tight smile, as though he were trying not to laugh.

"This is stupid, Kaden. Why are we even here. This area is restricted."

"Yeah," Kaden counter smoothly. "That makes it more fun."

"No that makes it illegal. Lets go before we get caught."

This caused a shift in his friend. The smile stayed in place but he was no longer on the wrench and insisted on his own two feet. He went to Alister and planted a hand heavily on his shoulder.

"Com'on Al, whens the next time we can do this, huh? This place is beautiful, the launch point is just right, pit of nothingness right there, perfect!"

Alister opened his mouth to disagree but was stopped before he could get a word in.

"Okay, how about this. I go first, then you."

With a sigh, Alister lamented. Kaden was like a dog with a bone, you just couldn't get him to drop it. He watched his friend get ready. He watched him get into position. Then, he watched him go, screaming his head off in pure elation.

Well, here goes nothing.

Not minutes later, he followed. It was like a nightmare and a dream all at once. Adrenaline rush in his veins as his eyes stayed wide open. He choked it up to morbid curiosity, wanting to see the darkness that now stranded him. The wind made from free falling whipped his fur about and took his breath away.

It felt like forever in a second.

All to soon, Alister hit the ground heavily. He took huge gulps of air into his lungs as he listened to the tel-tel sound of Kaden laughing.

"Let's do it again!"

Hello

This may seem early but I had more time to write lately. I'm pretty happy about that. So, I hope you all enjoyed these.