Okay, so super late update. I know. Don't worry, I will finish this story since I'm now on summer break…and have been for two weeks now. Now that I have the fun out of my system, I'm ready to work! And there's gonna be a sequel to Born To Be Brave, taking place during the sequel to All 4 One, the new Ratchet and Clank game coming out titled Full Frontal Assault. The sequel to BTBB is On The Right Track. So, now that I'm done with this, let's go, you know, get this chapter going! And we're at the N.E.S.T!

/The screen fades from the image of someone looking onto the burning city with the figure of Commander Spog hovering it to static. What was that? It reminds of the destruction of the Lombaxes that's been burned inside your memory.

Clank's the first to speak, and he's as logical as always. "According to this Holo-Journal, whoever is controlling Ephemeris has a plan for these monsters. Ratchet, Arianna, I have a bad feeling about this. We must find Commander Spog at once."

Ratchet looks at the ground for a minute, and then turns back to the railway station. "Let's go." He says quickly, and the rest of you board the platform and hear the sound of it starting up.

You need to think for a second. You know you're missing something. There are pieces to this puzzle you don't have yet. But just like before, the only way to find them is to go forward.

Go forward…?

Hm. You want to move on. You really do. But there are still things getting in your way. Not even just Alister's death or the mystery of your father. You don't have your memories. You don't know who you really are or where you come from.

What about all of the people you knew before? You had friends, didn't you? And what if you had a family, or school, or just…anything? You had a life before.

Even if (and when) Nefarious tells you who your father is…you're still be bounded to the past./

Your POV:

Wow. You feel better, fighting the Wigwump like that. It's been a while since you had a big epic battle like that…actually, it's only been a couple of hours since the Z'Grute thing. Now that wasn't fun. Luminopolis must still be taking estimates of damage, and taking the number of casualties. You tried your best; you're more used to taking down the robotic enemies, not the actually organic ones. Taking down the VX-99 back in Axiom City was easier than taking down the Z'Grute. It was a lot less of a change, at least.

The railway takes you to a place where it's warm and sunny, and it has a lot of plants and dirt. It's pleasant weather, and different from the Deadgrove. You see an Apogee space pod come crashing down like a meteor and hit the ground, and then expand. You don't really need any new weapons; you've always been able to make do with what you have. And now you can actually get a little distance between you and the enemy.

You actually have one earbud in, and the other out so you can actually hear what the others are saying. Well, the others being Ratchet and Clank. Nefarious isn't the only one who's caused you grief. You can hear Cronk's voice. "Here we are. The Northern Extraterrestrial Sorting Terminal, or N.E.S.T."

"This must be where Commander Spog tags and redistributes creatures around Magnus." Hearing Zephyr's observation, you look around. It really is pretty interesting. Clank could probably recognize most of the species, and you some. You did spend time looking at different species those two years you were bored out of your fucking mind.

You wait while the others finish browsing, sitting on a log and going through your pictures. You've only got pictures of your friends; most of them are of you and Ratchet making silly faces, you've got a couple of you and Talwyn, and just Talwyn, some of Ratchet and Clank, and a few of just Clank, some of Cronk and Zephyr, and a whole group photo. You deleted all of the old photos that were on it; you feel bad. You really do. But you don't even know those people, so what's the point of keeping a reminder around, when there's no one you can be reminded of? You…do think about them. Do they miss you? Do they even wonder if you're alright?

You never care to hear the other side,

So why would you care to keep this thing alive?

You made into the memories of all your pain,

But I will not be drawn into the past again.

Because all of this is all that I can take,

And you could never understand the demons that I face,

So go ahead and bat your eyes and lie right to the world,

For everything you are,

You're just a little girl.

So go ahead and cry,

Go ahead and believe that you were right,

To keep away the dark,

To help you sleep tonight.

Who is wrong?

What is right?

"Ari," Ratchet calls. You bring your head back up. "We're done."

You smile, putting your iPod back into your pocket, and following them. You need to use those little slingshot things, but there's only four. Ratchet gestures to you, smiles, as you walk over to him, and he brings his arm around your waist and you're shot up into the air. You can feel yourself go weak at the knees when he just smiles at you like that-he really trusts and cares about you. But when you feel his warm around your waist, you feel so happy and safe and your heart skips a beat and starts to race. You wanna tell him how you feel-more than anything else in the world, you wanna tell him. You can do it; it's easy. Just say it.

Ratchet, I…

Okay, so it's not so easy. Not at all. You're scared you'll lose him if he doesn't feel the same. You don't want to ruin the only relationship you have with him. You're usually such a brave person, but when it comes to that threat, that risk…you don't wanna take it. And you don't want to do something to hurt him. Ratchet's been through way more emotional rollercoasters than you have, and you don't wanna push him into the cart of another one.

You push those thoughts out of your head as the five of you head up the cliff; you get another sense of déjà vu. You smile. "Hey, this reminds me of the last time all five of us were together. Oh yeah, that just before Nefarious shot us into space on an asteroid." You say sarcastically.

"Arianna," Clank says, in that "remember-to-keep-calm" tone.

"Yeah, I know." You say. He is right. No matter how much it pains you, you do need to cooperate with him. And God, does it pain you.

You press onward, and then you need to use the globlobber. It weighs down bluish stone, which then turns purple, and the bridge hits the ground, kicking up dust.

"Looks like the main road is blocked off. Spog's minions must be attacking that Tharpod settlement."

"There has to be another way into the N.E.S.T. We'll perform a satellite sweep of the sector. In the meantime, stay out of trouble."

You hold back the sarcastic remark about how impossible that is.

You head pass the Tharpods, who say that the minions have overrun the settlement. You come to the wall. You need to use the globlobbers again to get past it, and then use them again to release a boulder. Then, you have to release a second one, and then run like hell when it comes down the bridge. It's like you're in a temple, and you set off a booby trap.

Then you find this weird purple-blue goo on the ground. It's jiggling. "What is that?" You ask, with a confused expression. You wanna get a big stick and poke it.

Zephyr explains it. "Oh, that's not good. That's weevoid toxin. Those nasty critters fling powerful binding agents onto their prey in order to trap them." You see a little critter, the one with the big nose, get stuck in the goo, and it really grosses you out.

You need to step around it to use the globlobber to get to the switch to activate the catapult, and then you need to get Qwark out of the goo. You jump up onto the platform, and the rock falls into the net, and sends you flying.

A weevoid pops out of its shell, and damn, these things are ugly. It snarls at you, all purple and brown with nasty sharp teeth and crab claws. It only has one eye, purple with a black dot in the center.

"Yep. Just like we suspected-weevoids. Watch out for their tails-weevoids fight dirty."

The weevoid is a little tougher to fight than you'd thought it be. You stun it for a few seconds, and then it crawls back into its shell, impervious to any attack. When you get too close, it got you with its tale, and it sent you flying onto your back. You growl and get back to your feet, but that's just how the fight goes, and then you start to get frustrated-and you're not really all that pleasant when you're frustrated.

"Oh, ew, gross," You turn and you see Ratchet trapped in the toxin, and then the weevoid knocks him back.

"Ratchet!" You say, smacking the weevoid with your wrench. It takes a couple more hits from Clank and Qwark until the damn thing finally dies.

You tap the toxin with your wrench, being very careful not to hurt him, and he stumbles a bit, so you keep him steady. "You okay?" You ask.

He smiles. "Yeah, thanks."

You bro-fist, and then, continue on.

Okay, now before we get any further, I gotta know. I've got plenty of ideas how Ratchet and Arianna should become a couple, but I don't know which one to pick. Why don't you guys come up with some suggestions, and I'll give it some thought, and…then we see what happens, k?

Also, it just occurred to me that I forgot to put in the recap in the last chapter. Oh well, I suck.

See you soon!

~Mimi