Before I get to the chapter, time to reply to reviews! (Don't you just love it when I make you wait?)

To pyrocajun2707: My mistake on the roboshack thing. I was thinking of the place where you get the thruster pack, and about Lawrence and Nefarious, let's just say that they weren't to far from Daxx in the first place ;-).

To Mr. D 91: Once again, my mistake with the roboshack. I haven't played the 1st game in ages.

To RatchetSly: Do make sure to read the rest of the story if you get the chance. And hurry with you're other fic! I'd like to see what Ratchet and Clank story you'll write.

Thanks to everyone for their encouragement!

Now that that's over, on the Ch. 9!


"Great, now I'm lost. This can't get any worse," thought Ratchet. He had been running through the thick forest for hours, and every minute that passed increased the chances that he would never see any of his friends again.

It was then that he noticed something. Had he been any farther away, he would have missed it; an artificial-looking path cut through the thick foliage of the jungle, leading to a large clearing with an dark, familiar shape in the center.

Ratchet sprinted as fast as he could down the path, completely ignoring the flaura cutting at his legs. He knew he had to get there fast. If the ship was still there, that meant that he could still prevent T-34 from escaping, but it didn't necissarily mean that everyone at the camp was safe.

He erased the thought from his mind and replaced it with wondering which weapon he would use on the doppleganger.

He finally arrived at the landing site and, to his dismay, discovered it abandoned.

The bad thoughts came back, more vivid then ever.

With effort, he pushed them aside and found his weapon case. He pulled out his Liquid Nitrogen Gun, Splitter Rifle, and Shock Cannon. Unfortunately, his Omnywrench was missing, so he had to replace it with a metal rod that he found in the ship's cargo hold.

He decided to search around the camp for any sign of where everyone had disappeared to. After about a minute, he found what he was looking for, and more; behind the ship lay Clank and Helga, along with sets of footprints and drag-marks.

He immediately ran over to inspect Clank. The only problem was that his power cell had been shorted-out. It would need to be replaced before Clank could be reactivated.

Satisfied that the two robots would be okay, he focused on the tracks, which, like in every cliched mystery holovid he'd ever seen, led into the forest.

"No surprise there," he said to himself, equiping his Splitter Rifle and making his way into the dense jungle.


T-34 carried his unconscious prisoners through the jungle. Though a small issue had arisen, he had dealt with it easily enough. He had expected more of the famed 'Q-Force', but, like its moronic leader, it was nothing but an over-hyped waste of space. Even Ratchet had not lived up to his reputation, putting up no fight whatsoever.

Being impatient at the moment, he decide to simply do-away with the rest of the organics. One of them being trapped here for the rest of his life would be satisfying enough.

He dropped his captives unceremoniously onto the jungle floor and began to shape-shift into one of the planets indigionous predators; a quadrpedal beast with short, matted grey hair, four three-inch-long claws on each foot, and a mouth filled with needle-like teeth.

The Cazar stirred groggily when she hit the ground and looked up at the beast. She quickly stood up, backing away, and drawing an emergency laser pistol with her good arm.

"Stay back!" she shouted trying to sound threatening, though knowing that the weapon she held was woefully innadiquate for the situation didn't help.

T-34 knew that the weapon wasn't even a mild threat to him, and began to advance on her, growling.

She pulled the weapon's trigger several times, and the pistol emitted thin, yet blazing hot, beams of light. Each was right on target, yet T-34 only opened small holes in his body, allowing the lasers to pass right through.

Suddenly, a bright beam of energy sliced throught the air, impacting on T-34's back, passing straight through him, and finally stopping at the ground, melting it, and leaving a patch of molten glass.

The shape shifter howled in pain and reverted to his normal form.


Ratchet looked at his target through the scope of his Splitter Rifle, gritting his teeth in spite. His first shot had been a direct hit, blowing a huge hole in the target, which promptly changed back to its origional form. Its a good thing he had arrived when he did; it looked like it was about to attack Sasha.

He pulled the trigger again; another direct hit, this one splattering the amorphous being all over the clearing. Sasha looked in the direction of the beam he had fired and smiled, as if she had realized he was there. It wouldn't surprise him if she did; he was the only other person on this planet.

He put away his Splitter Rifle and equipped his Shock Cannon, sprinting to meet the enimy head-on.


A second shot sounded, and Sasha's captor seemed to explode, sending a spray of shining particles in every direction. Looking past the glittering droplets, she saw a familiar figure. Just a silhouette, no details, but its unique shape made it rather obvious as to who it was.

A wide smile of relief crossed her face.

When she snapped back to the matter at hand, the shimmering drops had already begun to re-form into a single mass. She took the chance to try to get away from her captor, and began to run from the clearing. Unfortunately, her injured ankle wouldn't allow it, and gave under her weight, sending her to the ground with a painful thud.

By now, T-34 had fully re-constructed himself.

"Where do you think you are going?" it said, eyeing her menacingly.

She reached for her pistol again, but the hostile quickly struck her hand with a tentacle, sending the weapon skidding 15 feet away. It once again snaked around her neck, lifting her completely off the ground. It slammed her against a nearby tree, knocking the wind out of her, and sending a wave of pain through her injured arm.

Regaining her bearings, she struggled to pull the appendage from her throat and looked up; T-34 was now holding a self-formed spike only inches frome her face.

Without a word, it pulled the weapon back, and Sasha braced herself for the strike...

VOOOOOOOM!

An a thick burst of blue energy beams blasted from the trees to the right, snapping several of them, and once again blowing the shape-shifter to pieces, causing him to drop Sasha to the ground.

She sat for a second to catch her breath, clutching her throat, and looked up just as Ratchet emerged from the forest, holding his Shock Cannon.

"Leave... her... alone." He hissed through gritted teeth.

Seeing that the threat was minimal, at least for the moment, Ratchet turned to Sasha and helped her to stand.

"Good to see you again," she wheezed, still partially winded, leaning on him for support.

"You too. I would've been here sooner, but I was a little tied up," he responded, not intending the pun.

There was a short silence.

Movement to their right caught their attention; the silver drops were once again moving together, this time just outside the clearing.

"Geez, he just won't stay down, will he?" said Ratchet, somewhat frustrated. He looked at Sasha. "Can you stand?"

"I think so," she replied, using her good arm to prop herself against a tree.

"Alright. Once I finish this thing off, we can finally get out of here," he said, cautiously advancing toward the edge of the clearing and equiping his Liquid Nitrogen Gun.

A twig snapped to his right, he twisted toward it and fired his weapon,freezing and shattering half a dozen trees and revealing nothing. A bit tenser now, he scanned the treeline for signs of movement; nothing except a few leaves moving in the slight breeze.

"What, did he run away? What a wi-," THUMP.

He suddenly found himself pinned to the ground by T-34, once again the four-legged predator. The impact knocked the weapon from his hands, sending it sliding. The beast tore at Ratchet with its deadly claws, leaving deep gouges in his armor. A few claws managed to find their way through the armor, tearing flesh and lacerating muscle.

Ratchet gripped the metal pole he had taken from the drop ship's cargo hold and...

clang

clang

clang

...slammed it repeatedly into the monster's head, giving him a chance to roll away from his attacker; his left arm had been viciously slashed, was bleeding profusely, and its muscles refused to respond. Ratchet shakily came to his feet, his arm hanging limply.

T-34 turned to face the lombax and dashed at him.

Ratchet dove and barely dodged the attack, which instead impacted on a tree, snapping it off comepletly.

Ratchet's vision began to cloud; the blood-loss was starting to affect him.

The creature once again turned to face Ratchet, intent on tearing him apart.t

It took step forward and...

shhhhhhhh-craack

... was quickly encased in ice, breaking into four pieces.

Ratchet looked up, and there was Sasha, holding the Liquid Nitrogen Gun.

Ratchet gave a smile of relief, and succumbed to unconsciousness.


"Ahh, just like I remember it," said Dr. Nefarious fondly, walking around his laboratory on Daxx, examaning the vast manageri of machines and experiments.

"I hate to interrupt your trip down memory lane sir, but aren't you here to finish your 'ingenious plan?'" said Lawrence, forming quotes with his fingers.

"Wha? Oh, right," replied Nefarious. "Help me find the plans for my Biobliterator."

"But, sir, I thougt you said you weren't making another one," said Lawrence, his dissapointment evident.

"I'm not! Or, at least, not exactly. Now quit complaining and help me find the plans!"

After several hours of searching through old computer files, Nefarious found what he was looking for.

"Lawrence! Come over here!" he shouted.

"Yes sir?"

"I need you to edit this file for me."

"Can't you do that sir?"

"Don't you know anything about the Villian-Assistant chain? The assistant always does the work for the Villian!"

"Very well. What would you like me to do with the plans, sir?"

"Get rid of that, and that,"said Nefarious, pointing at various structures on the plans,"oh and that needs to go, and that does too."

"But that only leaves the central tramsmutation core."

"Exactly. It's the only part of it I really need."

The doctor then proceeded to assign several mining droids to harvest from nearby quarry in a rock formtion to the south.

"What are those for, sir?" asked Lawrence.

"You'll find out soon enough Lawrence."


Ratchet groaned, his arm throbbing with pain. It was times like this that he wished he carried small cases of Nanotech with him. His arm was no longer bleeding, however, and he was no longer lying on the ground. Instead, he opened his eyes, and was greeted by the interior of the dropship; moreover, the portholes on the side of the ship showed the starry void of space.

They had escaped.

He attempted to sit up, but was dissuaded by a gentle push.

He looked and saw Sasha, a relieved look on her face.

She bent down and kissed him softly.

"You took quite the beating down there, hotshot. How do you feel?"

"Much better," he replied, smiling, "Anything happen while I was out?"

"Freezing that thing bought us enough time to get off that planet. Qwark and the others needed adabliquid nitrogen persuasion before they woke up, though."

They shared a laugh.

"Anyway, we're on route to Marcadia now."

Ratchet glanced at the cockpit.

"Qwark isn't piloting the ship is he?" he said, thinking about the last time that he had.

"Of course not; the ship's on autopilot. You didn't actually think I'd let him drive, did I?" she asked, grinning.

"Not really, just making sure."

Silence.

"Anywa, it'll be a few hours until we reach Marcadia. We might as well get some rest while we can. It's going to be a barrage of meetings and interviews once we get there."

"Good idea," replied Ratchet.

And they slept.


Whew, FINALLY. Well, there ya go, a tiny bit of fluff for the fans. Give mechance though, this is my first story, so don't jump all over me if it isn't everything you expected it to be. Suggestions will be considered.

Anyway, sorry for the delay. School and writer's block (as well as a recentre-addiction to Halo 2 online) take their toll.

As always, REVIEW!