"Skye, wake up."
"Huh?"
"WAKE UP!"
Skye felt Ratchet's skinny finger poking her in the gut, and she twitched crazily. "What the HELL are you doing?" she yelled, rubbing her reddened hip and glaring at the blonde Lombax.
"Sorry, it was the only way I could think of," Ratchet replied sheepishly. He crossed his arms. "Kalidon… I was captured here once- not very fun."
"Well, once we find Tachyon and Nefarious, we can put an end to this and the Tower won't be in danger."
"What is it about this tower, anyway?" Ratchet asked, turning his head towards a tall structure.
Skye's face became serious. "According to ancient lore, the tower is the highest point in the universe, give or take five feet, therefore a power node capable of controlling entire planets. If one goes up there, he could rule ALL the worlds. The only thing that is needed to activate it is the Sapphire of Solana. That'll stay safe though."
"Why is that?" Clank asked.
"I was given a task to protect it. I've worn it around my neck since I-" She reached up to grab the stone, but the necklace, she realized, was stolen. "Oh, shit," she groaned.
"Lemme guess," Ratchet said. "Tachyon took it."
"Great! Just great! I let my guard down for one minute and by the next one it's gone. Man, I should have hidden it better!" Skye began to yell angrily at herself, thumping her head against the side of the ship. "What is wrong with me?"
"Skye," Ratchet replied, "there's nothing wrong with you. Everyone makes mistakes. Even… even Clank."
Clank narrowed his eyes. "Hey! What are you talking about, Mr. 'It's probably just a misprint' Klutzy!"
"I told you, it wasn't my fault that we went the wrong direction. The exit sign was out of my range of vision."
Skye took the Blitz Cannon out of the cargo area. "Uh, guys. We need to get inside now."
Neither of them seemed to be paying attention. She fired a few shots into the air. "Shut up!"
Ceasing their bickering, the boys looked at her. "Alright, alright. Quit being so impatient."
Skye aimed a laser at the door and fired, creating an opening. "Let's go!"
They followed Skye through the makeshift entrance and turned the corner. Running through this building wasn't going to be a cakewalk.
Ratchet yanked Skye back so she wouldn't go too far ahead. "What do you expect us to do?"
"We need to head for the control room in the main tower."
"Huh?"
"The main tower has a control room where a high pitched radio signal is being sent off. Since the coordinates were coded for this planet, he's likely to be hiding some sort of control to a weapon of mass destruction."
Clank looked at her. "Since when have you been able to hear signals that high?"
"During my time on my home planet I was trained to hear very well. It's usually natural with Lombaxes, though studies show that survivors of the Great War have damaged audio perception. I'm not surprised with Ratchet- he hasn't had formal training."
"Does listening to loud music count?"
"That depends on the frequency and the volume." Skye looked at them. "We need to get to the tower anyway. Watch my back guys- I'll guide ahead."
"What about traps?" Clank asked.
"I'm not called 'Quicksilver Queen' for nothing." She noticed a crevice in the wall. "Ratchet, you better duck."
As Ratchet and Skye were side-by-side ahead, Clank noticed something rather odd about Skye. Her balance was a little bit off. Strange, didn't she say her ears were great?
Maybe it was because she didn't have the distinctive tail that she was moving side to side a little bit…
Clank also remembered what she had said the night before. The wormhole device was built for two way travel… but…
Was there something about the device that she was hiding? It's location, perhaps?
Clank pondered in his mind as he caught up with the Lombax pair that was locked in battle with cannon-bearing robotic commandos. Aiming a small plasma rifle, he shot at the taller, more heavily built robots until the trio had successfully removed the commandos from the hallway.
Skye looked at the boys. "Well, the command room is in here. Hopefully there'll be a self-destruct button…"
She accessed the scanning pad to open the room. Taking out a card from a commando, she scanned the code and unlocked the door, only to find another lock. "Great… the only way to get through this is a bypass code."
Clank looked at her and smiled. "Need a hand?"
"Thanks."
Ratchet kicked down the door to the room. "You two are through!"
Skye looked at him. "They aren't here."
"Surprise!"
Before they could say anything, Nefarious jumped from the shadows. "Well, well, well… what have we here? A little relationship?"
"Enough Nefarious!" Ratchet yelled. "I didn't come all this way to have you piss me off. I sent you hurtling away on an asteroid, I watched the ship crash into your space station. Heck, I teamed up with you to get us out of your own machine. This is the last thing I need."
"Apart from a bath?" Tachyon's crackling voice asked.
The panel below Ratchet fell open, and he plunged into a tank of cold liquid. He struggled and kicked, his wet fur heavily flattened against him. "What are you up to this time?"
A loud noise abruptly hissed into the chamber as the trapdoor Ratchet fell through was closed over with a pane of plexiglass. Over a small intercom in the tank, Tachyon cackled. "The noise you are hearing is Carbon Monoxide hissing through the vents. One way or another, you'll suffocate, and your sweet little apprentice will have to watch you die."
Skye looked at Ratchet through the glass, and tears dripped onto her side of its surface. She looked up at the Cragmite and glowered. "You fiend! Why bother with him?"
"Quiet, fool! You have no power over me. You father made a folly… and look where we are now! Now you've made a folly by letting your best friend get hurt! How pathetic… and you'd think the apple would've fallen a little further from-"
"Shut up, Percival! You have no right to treat my race this way! Your family wasn't killed- they were banished! We banished ourselves later to the same place! The war is over, Tachyon! Stop living in the past!"
"Liar! The past is what shapes the universe! If I live off it, I will soon live off my brighter future! Imagine a new world, a new galaxy. Everything would be perfect! No war, no strife!"
Ratchet, with a slightly hazed vision, watched Skye get angrier. "What are you doing?"
"I'm not a liar! No universe is worth living in without its diversity, Tachyon! Even you knew that! Even as a council member, you had the potential, and you wasted it by living a past that you thought was better! You have no idea how well your race is living now, do you? They could be friends with the Lombaxes! Allies!"
"Our kind," Tachyon grumbled, "would never work with your inferior race!"
"And what about Ratchet's family? What about my uncle? He was your friend when no one else would be! You're a traitor, Tachyon! A TRAITOR!"
"SILENCE! Enough of you, whelp! I won't tolerate your jabber for another minute! Run away now like a good Lombax… just like your father!"
"I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP!" Skye screamed, pulling out a pulse rifle and firing. The beam hit a metal plate inches from Tachyon's forehead and bounced off the walls, eventually hitting and shattering the glass pane. The deadly gas began to enter the room.
As Skye went to attack Tachyon, Clank ran towards the tank's edge and helped a barely conscious Ratchet out of the icy water. "Are you alright?"
"Y-yeah, I'm just shaken. Th-that's all."
He heard a thud and looked over to see a bruised and beaten Lombax on the floor. He ran over to her and shook her. "Wake up!"
Tachyon's robotic throne loomed over him. "There's a saying, Lombax that if one can't live without another, they should die with them? Don't you agree?"
Ratchet looked at him. "You're not killing anyone." He looked at the Shrink Ray that hung from Skye's belt and got an idea.
Tachyon rose one of the robotic feet to crush them both. "Well, at least you get to die together… how sweet. I'll have to clean the mess up later, but, you know, universal domination is worth it." He went to put his foot down, but just as he did, there was a flash, and the Lombaxes were gone. "W-what?" Tachyon cried. "Where did they go?"
Beneath the foot of the walking throne, Ratchet grinned, happily and quietly congratulating himself on the calculation. He had lodged himself in a crevice under the robotic foot, allowing him safety and an excellent hiding spot. The downside, of course, was that one of his arms had to remain around Skye, who passed out under the rays dizzying effects. The other was straining to keep them there.
Tachyon grumbled and stared at Nefarious. "Let's get out of here. The robot's not worth it." Tachyon ejected the seat of his throne, which hovered over to Nefarious.
The villains fled towards an escape pod door. Upon opening it, they found Nefarious's female friends. Percival stared at the evil robot and raised his eyebrows. "Who the heck are THEY?"
"What? I need company, too!"
"Forget it," Tachyon said, shutting the door as the ladies giggled. "Let's get to the next planet."
Clank cantered over to the foot of the robo-throne. "I take it he can't see very well."
Ratchet crawled out from under the foot, dragging Skye out with him. "Heh. Guess I just got lucky."
"Lucky doesn't keep you alive by itself."
Skye woke slowly and stared at Ratchet. "What happened?"
"Well, you got beat up and then we were about to be crushed so I used the Shrink Ray and… You're not mad, are you?"
"…yeah, a little, but not at you."
"I take it Tachyon had relations with your uncle?" Clank asked.
"I think I punched a nerve of his a little too hard. He could read him like a book- forwards, backwards, and upside-down. He was Percival's only friend. But, there was a time when he had to tell him what happened to his race. That day, they both changed. Percival became bitterer and favored solitary work; while my uncle was busy making his dreams come true for the future generations of his kind. They grew apart and began to no longer trust each other. When it was too late- when Tachyon declared war- their emotions for each other escalated from mistrust to pure hatred."
"Sounds like a tragic movie that you watch on a Saturday night," Ratchet said.
"I know. It's harsh what kind of reality he lived in. Sometimes I almost feel sorry for him." She sighed. "But the past is the past, and we shouldn't tamper with it." With that, the white Lombax collapsed from exhaustion.
"Agreed," Ratchet said. After returning himself to normal, he picked up Skye off the floor and carried her to the door. "Clank?"
The robot turned from his position by the escape pod's air lock. "Yes?"
"Let's go. I think she's had enough for one day."
