Rise of the Uniposers
Ratchet learns that Tehctar is really a disguise, and if he shows his true form to him, bandits can track and kill him. And clone of the Galactic President, the Scarzare, tells Tehctar he has a 48-hour deadline to show his true identity or he will do it for him. They decide to prepare for a battle against the Scarzare so Tehctar will be safe, and they head to Mernasia where they find supplies. And with 45 hours to go, the race against time continues…
Chapter 10: A New Companion
Tehctar had located an interactive electronic board which would allow him to tell everyone the detailed plan without being confused. It was being sold by another Vullard on a moon of Grokley named Lavarti, and apparently the Vullard's name was "S678A23R945A65" or "Sara" for short, and she sold all sorts of useful gadgets she picks up or buys.
Arv found out that his memory chip was still in place, because he remembered that Sara was his girlfriend on Rought, who ran away with another Vullard because she thought he was crazy for trying to go adventuring. He told Tehctar the story and he excitedly told Arv that this was his chance to win her back.
He said that in her profile, she broke up with a Vullard after he tried to kill a Battery Bot and then decided to open up a little shop somewhere he would never find her. Arv's emotional chip turned to "happy" and he excited wanted to go there. He fired up the engines and set the ship to auto-pilot, then walked into the dining room where he told them that they were approaching Lavarti.
They all said "okay", as they were busy. Ratchet was polishing his gun, while Talwyn was reading a magazine, and Clank was playing galactic chess with Qwark. Tehctar felt a little bored, so he thought of something to do, but couldn't think of anything. He then asked Ratchet if he wanted to train his hand-to-hand combat. Ratchet agreed, as long he could use his wrench and Tehctar could use whatever he wanted. He took off his coat, revealed a black T-shirt and purple shorts and then picked up a lead pipe and sparred with Ratchet.
Talwyn put down her magazine and watched Ratchet gaining Tehctar's upper hand, before he delivered a blow which disarmed Ratchet, and he chased him as he crawled on the ground the pick his wrench and blocked a blow to Ratchet's head. She told Clank this was getting a little brutal, and wondered what would happen if one of them was hurt, then they would never be able to defeat the Scarzare.
Tehctar turned to the offensive side and began swinging wildly at Ratchet before accidentally knocking the wrench up out of Ratchet's hands and bounced along the ground before falling in the open trapdoor (because Arv was doing some checking down there) and landed on Arv's head and ricocheted off into the boiler, where it melted to nothing.
Ratchet was extremely as he watched his treasured weapon fall to pieces, and now he would need another one, making their preparations even longer. Talwyn comforted Ratchet while Qwark and Clank said they were going to check if everything was alright in the cockpit.
Clank saw that a ship was tailing them, but just following instead of attacking. He told Tehctar and he guessed that it was working for the Scarzare and was tracking their movements, but Clank asked him what he would do if he attacked an innocent traveller. Tehctar agreed that it would be wrong, so he let the ship follow them, and see if tries to attack them once they get to Lavarti.
Arv came back out of the engine room and told Tehctar that he found a tub of red paint, which could be used to repaint Aphelion. He put on a spacesuit and began to climb up the ladder to Aphelion with the tub and began to paint it.
Ratchet sat on the couch with Talwyn and she asked him if he wanted to play a board game with Clank and Qwark. He needed something to cheer him up, so he agreed and Talwyn got Qwark and Clank and asked what board game they should play. Clank suggested they played Solanian Monopoly, and Ratchet said he's never played it, and was excited to start playing.
While Clank got the board ready, Tehctar heard a BING! BING! BING! repeatedly sounding throughout the Unipose again and jumped back down the tunnel, ran to cockpit and slowly put the ship a stop. He saw that the ship that was following them had stopped just behind them, like they were waiting.
Tehctar decided to finish painting Aphelion before going down to Lavarti. He told the others this, and they agreed and they went back to their game, where they chose their characters. Out of Ratchet, Clank, Qwark, Nefarious, Sasha and Lawrence, Ratchet, Clank and Qwark chose themselves, while Talwyn chose Lawrence for a laugh.
By the time Tehctar finished painting the Aphelion, Talwyn was winning, because she had a monopoly of two dark blues (Kerwan and Marcadia) with headquarters, and was stealing everyone's money. Ratchet was stuck with Zeldrin Starport, Blarg Technical Station, DreadZone Station and Holostar Studios, which only got his 2,000 bolts when someone else landed on any of them, and he had one yellow (Orxon) and one brown (Veldin) planet.
Qwark was following closely behind Talwyn with a monopoly of three greens (Pokitaru, Tyhrranosis and Aquatos) with two factories on each. Clank, however, was the worst player, because he had only one orange (Aridia), two yellows (Rilgar and Boltaire) and two blues (Metalis and Shaar).
Ratchet said that they should leave their game for when they get back, and now they had to decide who's going down to Lavarti. Talwyn and Qwark said that they wouldn't go, because they helped Ratchet on Mernasia. Tehctar and Clank volunteered to go and Tehctar told Ratchet that Arv is going too, because he knows the dealer down there.
Ratchet created a quiver and placed his "Modifigun" inside, and then equipped the Windy Barrier, just in case he needed it. Tehctar grabbed a water bag and stuffed it down the side of his shirt, and followed Ratchet, Clank and Arv, who had already started climbing. Tehctar threw his Communication Crystal down to Talwyn and told her to pull the red switch down when he gave her the command. She ran to the cockpit and sat in the seat waiting until they were ready.
Tehctar sat in the front with Ratchet while Clank and Arv sat in the back. Tehctar told Talwyn to release the claws as Ratchet's boosted up the engines. The claws loosened and Aphelion drifted upwards and rocketed towards Lavarti. Clank told Tehctar that the white ship was still following them, and Tehctar thought that if they looked like they were going to go to Grokley, and hid themselves behind the moon and land, it could throw them off the track.
Ratchet then aimed the ship towards Grokley, slowly moving out of the ship's sight behind Lavarti, and then made a 180° manouevre into the tiny atmosphere of the lava moon. They landed on the nearest piece of ground and Ratchet gave Tehctar an O2 Mask to breathe in, as they exited the ship and suddenly, sweat started dripping from Tehctar and Ratchet's skin.
They carefully waddled across the narrow path, separating them from life and death, as they grew tired from the heat and narrowness, and Ratchet's vision started to blur. He could see two paths, but then it changed to one path leading to a hunk of rock with a Vullard and a small building containing all sorts of junk.
Tehctar saw that Ratchet was losing his balance and Tehctar held him in place while Clank slapped some sense into him. Ratchet thanked them and managed to crawl to the smouldering rock, before being pulled back by Tehctar. He told him to look, and then Ratchet saw that part of the narrow path sank into the lava and there was a huge gap between them and the store.
The Vullard at the end turned away and grabbed four blue boards with lava trapped inside a lava-proof glass on the bottom. The boards were like hoverboards except these bent diagonally upwards at the ends. She tossed them together over to the heroes and Arv caught them and gave them to the others. After Tehctar studied the boards, he deduced that they could ride across to the other side on them.
Arv decided that he would be the guinea pig who would test it out and threw the board on the lava, and leaped onto it, and sank for a bit before rising up again and floating on the molten lava. He shifted his weight forward and the board responded, sliding along the lava at a fast speed until they moved to dry land. Tehctar, Clank and Ratchet followed him across.
Sara asked them what she could do for them, and asked if she had any interactive electronic boards, and she said that she had one left and was selling it for 500 bolts. They all forgot that they had no bolts left, and Tehctar only had a 100 he found on the wasteland. Sara told them not to worry, because there were many crates all over the moon that nobody had claimed, and she told them that they could take the bolts from them.
Ratchet asked her if she had a wrench he could borrow, and she said that a tall man in purple skin gave her an Omniwrench 20k the other day. He asked her what a Omniwrench 20k could do, and she said that it functioned like a normal wrench, except it had a kinetic tether and could function like a Swingshot. She told him he could keep it as he, Clank and Tehctar rode off on their Lavaboards smash the crates, but Arv was kept behind by Sara.
"I've waited for so long on this moon for you to come and return to me! I was stupid to think that you were crazy to go adventuring." Arv turned around to meet the eyes of Sara, who was dropping metal tears. "I didn't realise that the jerk I ran away with tried to kill an innocent Battery Bot!"
"Sara, why did you have to leave me? You would have been much better off travelling with me instead of staying on Rought with that jerkface?"
"I'M SORRY! I'M SO SO SORRY!" she cried. "I love you, Arv. Please forgive me!"
Arv leaned in and gave her a kiss, which created sparks and crackles flying out of their mouths.
"Will you come with me?" he asked.
"Will you stay with me?" she asked.
Arv decided that he would stay with Sara on Lavarti, and Tehctar will claim the Unipose as his own ship. He held Sara's hands as Tehctar came back carrying crates on his back and his belt showing that he had found 250 bolts. He threw the crates on the ground and the bolts rushed inside of his belt, changing the total to 300 bolts. Arv told him that he was staying and that the Unipose was his.
Tehctar was happy and sad at the same time, and wished that Arv could come with them, but told him that it was his life and hoped that he would be happy on Lavarti with Sara. He said that he guessed that Arv didn't need a new flight manouevrability chip anymore, which reminded Sara that she was going to give him one, just in case he ever needed it. She softly placed the chip in Tehctar's hands and he installed it in Arv as Ratchet and Clank rode back with a total of 1100 bolts altogether and Sara gave them the board, and then said that a Lavaboard was 100 bolts each, and so they spent their bolts on four of them, leaving 500 bolts. Tehctar told Ratchet that he could keep the rest of them for the armor and weapons he wanted.
Sara gave Ratchet and Tehctar some cooling packs to strap around their torso and legs and sent them on their way. Once Tehctar finished fixing Arv, he joined Ratchet, who gave him the board to carry, and they began walking back to Aphelion, and then Ratchet noticed that Arv wasn't with them, and Tehctar told him that he was staying with his girlfriend. He felt a little sad, but continued to walk back to Aphelion, which was in sight now.
Ratchet heard a falling sound, and told Clank and Tehctar about it. They looked around and Clank saw a white ship with smoke coming out of it's engine, floating towards the lava. Ratchet, Clank, and Tehctar watched as the damaged ship skimmed across the surface of the lava, before nose-diving suddenly and it started to sink into the boiling substance.
Ratchet grabbed the Lavaboard and threw it on the lava, jumping onto it with a daredevil leap and rode as fast as he could towards the cockpit of the ship. Without looking, he opened the hatch and grabbed the figure inside it, carrying them back to land.
The stopping of the Lavaboard jerked the figure out of Ratchet hand's and they fell on the ground hard. He heard a familiar voice yell at him, and turned around to met the former Mayor of Metropolis, Sasha Phyronix.
"SASHA?" exclaimed Ratchet. "What are you doing here?"
"I was following you," she responded in an angry tone. "Because my father was kidnapped by the VA and I heard you were fighting against them so I tried to find you and then meet you on the planet you were going too."
"Well, we though-"
"But then you tricked me into going to a planet filled with flesh-eating War Groks and I managed to escape in time, only to realise that there was a War Grok on the bottom of my ship and it tore a hole in my engine!"
Ratchet looked guilty, and then looked at Clank who looked at Tehctar who just said "Oops…". Ratchet asked Sasha if she wanted to join them and she agreed, as long as they don't trick her again. He told her that Tehctar is really a disguise because the clone of her father, nicknamed "the Scarzare", had helped a bunch of bandits track him, so he put on a Holo-Guise, and even if his real name is mentioned by him, then the bandits will be able to kill him easily, because they are overpowered.
Sasha got up and began to follow them to Aphelion, where Tehctar told Talwyn and Qwark that Arv was staying behind, and the former Mayor of Metropolis, Sasha Phyronix was joining them. They started up Aphelion and flew out of Lavarti as Arv and Sara watched, and then began to start their new life.
The claws on the top of the Unipose, grabbed the Aphelion, and Ratchet opened the hole in the floor, and ushered Sasha down first, before following her into the ship. Talwyn and Qwark greeted Sasha, and Talwyn asked her how she knew Ratchet. He heard this and walked away from them.
Sasha told her that she helped him defeat Dr. Nefarious when he tried to turn everyone into a robot, and that they "kinda sorta hadda" relationship. Talwyn kept a smile on her, and once Sasha was gone, it turned into a frown. Tehctar went to the cockpit to try and locate a place where they could upgrade the ships, while Ratchet, Talwyn, Clank and Qwark continued their Solanian Monopoly game.
30 minutes later, Qwark had taken the lead because manage to take all of Talwyn's bolts, so she had to downgrade her headquarters to factories. A rumbling sound shook the Unipose, tipping it to the left and sent Ratchet, Talwyn and Sasha into the wall, and tipped over their board game, while Qwark and Clank managed to hold on to their seats while Tehctar stabilised the ship and leveled it back.
"Are you okay," Ratchet asked to Talwyn and Sasha.
"Yeah," replied Sasha.
"No, I think I broke my leg," cried Talwyn.
Ratchet grabbed her arms and carried her to the nearby beds and laid her on one of them. He said he'd be back soon, and ran to the cockpit with Clank. He saw Tehctar standing up desperately trying to keep the ship in one piece, and he told them that they were being attack by two orange ships with wide wing spans.
Ratchet told him to keep the Unipose in place while he fights the ships with Aphelion. He ran back to the dining room and told Qwark and Sasha to help Talwyn while he and Clank go up into Aphelion. They climbed their way up and entered the ship, telling Tehctar through the Communication Crystal to loosen the claws.
He complied and Ratchet boosted the engines, and flew straight past the bandits and, according to Ratchet's plan, they followed him so the Unipose would be safe from any attacks. He lured them down to planet Grokley where many War Groks tried to grab the overpassing ships, and Snowball successfully grabbed one and pulled it apart.
However, the other ship was pulling off manouevres and made it impossible for the War Groks to grab it so Ratchet aimed away from all of them and hovered dangerous a few centimetres off the ground. The other ship followed him and they eventually flew into a rocky trench, which ended with a solid rock wall. Ratchet knew that Aphelion was blocking the ship's sight, so when they got close to the wall, he pulled Aphelion upwards and watched the fireworks as the ship crashed into the wall and smashed into pieces.
He landed the ship near the crash site, curious to find out who their enemy was. He ran over a rocky hill and saw an alien in orange uniform, laying in a pool of blood. Ratchet ran to the soldier's side and asked him who he worked for. His last words were "Scar…zare…" before his heart played it's last few beats.
Tehctar asked him what was going on through the Communication Crystal, and Ratchet told him that the Scarzare was attacking them now, probably to motivate Tehctar into showing his true identity. He then asked Tehctar if he could find anything like a cloaking device for a ship anywhere while they are coming back up, and he said he would.
Ratchet took off after a successful mission, and rejoined the Unipose. The first thing he did when he climbed back down was see how Talwyn was doing. She had a bandage around her right leg and was still laying, and was joyed to see Ratchet alive and well. He sat down next to her, and asked if she was okay, and she said that she was more than okay and kissed him passionately.
Disgusted by this, Sasha walked into the cockpit and sat on one of the seats, and Tehctar asked her if she was jealous about Talwyn getting all of Ratchet's care. She looked at him and gave him a stern no, but Tehctar knew she was lying because she was blushing. Sasha realised that he knew, and asked him if could find a cloaking device anywhere in the Woldgon Galaxy. He said he couldn't find anything at the moment but he knew that something would come up.
Qwark was disappointed that they never got to finish their game, but Clank remembered everything they were doing up to the point the board was tipped over. They both moved the board to the cockpit and set it up there as Ratchet and Talwyn needed privacy because they were getting really intimate.
Tehctar finally found a place where they could get a cloaking device, and called Ratchet on the Communication Crystal, and told him to come to the cockpit. Annoyed, he did so and asked him what he wanted. Tehctar said that to get a cloaking device, he'd need to win a melee contest on Aluyia.
Ratchet was extremely frustrated and asked Tehctar why he had to do everything, and everyone else just sat around doing nothing. Before anyone could respond, he pulled the switch that opened the claws and went up into the Aphelion alone, and left the Unipose. Qwark asked Tehctar what had gotten into him, and Clank said that he was probably upset because he killed a soldier who was working for an organisation, and that Ratchet probably had a change of heart, and thought that Tehctar was just using him.
Qwark and Sasha looked at Tehctar, and he said that he wasn't evil, and that his true identity was someone that Ratchet has known in the past. And to prove to them that he really wanted their help, he told them that he was going to enter the contest.
Now, they lost Ratchet and were skeptical if they were going to make it, because they only had 40 hours remaining to defeat the Scarzare…
Ratchet grinded his teeth as he turned on the grav-o-metric warp drive and decided to go to the Bogon Galaxy to let his anger out. Aphelion shook as they warped, but Ratchet didn't care and came back to his senses when he warped right in front of an asteroid.
He rebounded off of it and desperately tried to hold it together enough so that they would be able to make it to Endako. He deployed his shield to maximum power as he entered the atmosphere of the metal planet and managed to softly land just outside of Clank's apartment. He sat on the couch with a sad look on his face and decided to watch some Holo-vision.
The first thing on HV was Darla Gratch reporting a news headline. "Today, in the Woldgon Galaxy, officials report that the capital of the galaxy, Mimbia, was under attack by Tyhrranoids. How they got to this galaxy is puzzling, however these Tyhrranoids may be native to an uncharted planet due to their different skin colour and scars on their right cheeks. This suggests that they are either of the same family or have been cloned. Any assistance by citizens of the Woldgon, Solana, Bogon, Polaris and other galaxies will be gratefully rewarded. This is Darla Gratch, Channel 64 news."
Ratchet didn't feel like helping, because nobody else does, but then thought about the reward, and how he would be able to get the armor from the Woldgon Galaxy. He ran to Holophone in the apartment, and dialed a number, and someone answered.
"Hello? Mr. Fizzwidget?"
Chapter 11 Preview
Sasha's gun ran out of ammunition and three two-eyed Tyhrranoids approached her, all guns blazing. She ran away from them as they shot laser beams at her, destroying nearby rocks and other minerals. Her legs eventually grew tired, and she slowed to a stop and saw the Tyhrranoids advancing on her.
One of the Two-Eyed Tyhrranoids fired a beam straight at her, but she was pulled away at the last second by a hand that had grabbed her from inside a spaceship, and she was pulled inside. Her body laid on a chair which had a familiar smoothness to it, and she opened her eyes and realised she was inside the Star Explorer.