Alright, I have returned! And with a whole mass of chapters, too! From now on I'll be updating this story every weekend, or at least I plan to.
I'm very glad to see that the popularity of this story is increasing - this story has more views monthly than all of my other stories! I'm absolutely flattered!
Alright, it's been long enough as is, let's get to the story, people!
But first, allow me to reply to the reviews.
rst64tlc: "The Great W-_ ...he knows... I will wait for the next chapter"
Yes, but what does he know exactly?... And wait no more, the chapter's here!
bajy: "I was definitely not expecting this at all
I LOVE THIS STORY!
its awesome!
Doing great so far!
everything in each of these chapters so far is totally sweet! Awesomely radical dude!
what will happen next?
looking forward to reading more soon!
P.s. I LOVE THE WEAPON DEMONSTRATIONS SCENE IN THE MOVIE! ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS! XD XD XD XD XD"
Hey, new reviewer! Thank you so much! And wait no longer, the chapter's here!
P.S. I love that scene too! It's a shame it's not in the game, but then again, in the game Ratchet is already experienced with weaponry when he gets to that point so I had to improvise to get this scene out right yet still have it make sense.
As they entered orbit, Hypernova and Ratchet noticed the large, bulky vessels hovering over the planet.
The color scheme and building style confirmed their suspicion without even having looked at the large emblem on the hull.
"There's no way a fleet that large can be up to any good. My guess is Drek's gonna attack another planet." Hypernova said.
"If they managed to wreak that much havoc with only one dreadship back in Aleero City, I don't wanna know what chaos an entire fleet can bring." Ratchet said, eyes focused on the planet up ahead.
"But someone else is gonna find out eventually unless we break these things ASAP. Ratchet, as soon as you land this thing I'm going back up to destroy that fleet. You go get a jetpack."
"Got it." Ratchet said as they entered the atmosphere. Thankfully, the class-J Star Jumper was equipped with a state-of-the-art Proton Barrier that protected the ship from the heat, allowing them to blast through the sky with several kilometers per second without risking the hull.
Finding no clear landing site, Ratchet decided to stop the ship whilst hovering over a large tree, one that he would recognize. And even if he would forget it his armor would point him in the right direction.
While Ratchet climbed down to the ground using the vines, Hypernova set sail for orbit of this distant, unknown world, glancing over his shoulder as he blasted out of the atmosphere and catching a last glimpse of the young Lombax as Ratchet disappeared in the mass of green far below.
"Be safe out there, young one." he mumbled as the atmosphere faded out of existence around him. Were it not for the fact that he wanted to save energy in case things went south on Ratchet's end, Hypernova would've flown much faster. Instead, he let physics guide him through the cosmos, already having planned a trajectory that would intersect with that of the orbiting fleet in roughly an hour.
Meanwhile Ratchet was running from branch to branch, avoiding the ground for as long as possible. Who knew what kinds of traps the Blarg had set up down there, or worse, what native creatures could be preying on him.
Using his Swingshot occasionally to traverse branch-less areas, Ratchet soon began to see the first signs of civilization.
Built between the trees was a huge complex. Steel tunnels connected the steel cabins built into the treetops and an elevator in the middle of the complex lead down to ground level.
However, unless you used a metal bridge, there was no way to reach the elevator without getting wet as there was marshland underneath.
"This place is a swamp." Ratchet muttered to himself. "Lord knows what they installed in there to keep intruders away."
Ratchet got his answer when he noticed a shimmering of grey under the surface of the water. Looking closer, he saw the skeletal remains of a native creature, barely holding together as it flowed in the water. Upon focusing even more, Ratchet noticed that one of the creature's legs had a harpoon in it. The poor creature must have thought of drinking the water, fell in by accident, mistaken for an intruder, and shot, and then drowned to death.
Immediately memories of Rilgar entered Ratchet's mind and a wave of fear hit him.
Taking a few breaths to suppress the nauseous feeling growing inside, Ratchet sat down and got up again when he felt better. As soon as he saw the skeleton again however, he felt sick again.
Then it hit him. He had a phobia of water.
But he had to move. Using his Swingshot, Ratchet climbed along the branches until finally reaching the top of the complex.
By prying an air vent open with his OmniWrench, Ratchet gained access to the facility.
Dropping out of the air vents, Ratchet found himself in a laboratory. It was deserted.
Sneaking through the complex, he found out that the upper tier of the facility consisted of laboratories only.
Not risking the elevators with their cameras, Ratchet pried open the doors of an elevator and climbed down the elevator shaft.
Hugging the wall to avoid the elevator as it moved past, Ratchet pried open another set of doors and jumped through with feline grace.
However, he was unaware of the pair of emerald eyes keeping a close eye on him. They had been since they had spotted Ratchet when he was about to enter the complex, and their owner had been on Ratchet's tail ever since.
Finding himself in the uppermost level of a large, underground warehouse, Ratchet sneaked along the catwalks, keeping a low profile to avoid the guardbots on patrol.
Meanwhile, Hypernova reached the fleet. Summoning his powers, he grabbed the largest ship and began to tear it in half.
Four minutes and a lot of determination later, the ship was in two pieces.
Hypernova did the same to a smaller mothership, but something was off.
"Why is there nobody on these ships?" Hypernova thought. "This fleet is ready to leave, but has no crew whatsoever..."
That's when he realized what was going on. "It's a setup!" he yelled. Activating his powers, he charged right back the way he came.
As Ratchet sneaked through the warehouse, all of a sudden, his ears were nearly blown off. "INTRUDER LOCATED!" the computer running the facility blared through speakers embedded in the walls.
Immediately hundreds of guardbots raised into view. They had been hiding everywhere in the facility.
It had been a trap.
Ratchet immediately got behind cover as gunfire rained down on where he had been standing mere seconds earlier. Making a run for it, he found that the elevator shafts had been blocked by the elevators themselves, and they refused to move.
Suddenly, an air vent came falling out of the roof behind Ratchet with a loud 'CLANG'. Turning around, Ratchet saw a fur-covered hand sticking out of the ceiling.
Without options, Ratchet took the hand and he was pulled up to the air vent, to the point where he could grab the edge and pull himself up.
Ratchet couldn't get a good sight of who had come to his aid as the stranger was already moving. He could vaguely make out their moving shape in the dark vent systems.
Following the stranger through the vents, intense light was suddenly blasted into his face as the stranger kicked out a panel in front of them.
When Ratchet's eyes had readjusted to the intense light, the stranger was gone. Crawling further, Ratchet flinched when he saw that the only way out was a drop into the water underneath the facility.
Seeing a shadow move in the murky water, he knew that whoever had saved him was down there, either waiting for him or in need of help.
Swallowing his fear, he shifted his weight and fell into the water.
Immediately fear took partial control of his mind as he kicked around in panic. Two hands grabbed his shoulders. Turning around, the stranger was hovering in the water in front of him. Ratchet couldn't make out any facial features save for the stranger's eyes, which were brilliant green and sparkling a bit in the few light managing to penetrate the muddy water.
The stranger pressed their left index finger against their lips, telling Ratchet to stay quiet.
Soon enough Ratchet could see a number of dark outlines through the water. The figures looked around, then went back inside. Immediately both Ratchet and the stranger went to get some fresh air, before Ratchet was pulled back underwater immediately.
The stranger swam off, Ratchet following. Soon enough they had reached the edge of the small lake. Ratchet could see the harpoon guns embedded in the ground, but to his surprise, none reacted to their presence in any way.
The stranger had a head start as they sprinted into the forest. Soon enough however, the stranger stopped.
Finally Ratchet could get a good look at them. And it shocked him.
"No way, a-a-are you-"
The stranger dove forward and pinned Ratchet against the ground. "Now you answer my questions. Who are you, and what are you doing here?!"
"My name is Ratchet." he truthfully replied, "And I'm here on behalf of the Galactic Rangers."
The figure suddenly collapsed on top of Ratchet. "Oh, thank god."
From this close there was absolutely no doubt, though Ratchet still couldn't quite believe it. Here he was, meters from another Lombax.
A female member of his own species.
She had green eyes, green fur with no stripes, and shoulder-length green hair. Her clothing had the exact same tint of green. She quickly got up, grabbed Ratchet's arm, and pulled him into the forest.
Ten minutes later Hypernova landed where they had been. He picked up a golden hair left in the dirt, then stared at the trail of footprints leading into the forest. "Oh, hell no." he growled before storming into the forest.
The female Lombax quickly shoved Ratchet into a cavern before rolling a boulder before the exit. Before Ratchet could speak up she quickly grabbed a sharp rock and pressed it against his neck, driving him up against the wall. She carefully drilled the rock deeper and deeper into Ratchet's skin, the male Lombax barely daring to breathe, before a fine trail of blood began to seep out of the wound.
"No flickering..." she whispered. She immediately stepped back, leaving Ratchet to press a hand over his throat. "What was that about?"
"Just a hologuise check."
"A what?"
"Checking for an electronic hologram disguise." she clarified. "Wait here for a moment, I'll be right back." she said before leaving the cave, only to return ten minutes later with soaked fur.
Ratchet immediately noticed that it had changed color. Instead of green, her fur color was now sandy gold in color, and her hair and stripes were the same shade of brown. Her head was also soaked, likely having used water to wash the camouflage away.
Her apparel had also changed. She was wearing brown boots over olive-green pants, along with a green shirt and brown gloves. A red bandanna also hung around her neck.
"Who are you?" Ratchet asked, keeping his hands ready to pull out any weapon in the span of a second.
She sat down. "Please, keep your weapons away. There are already so very few of us."
"Few of us?"
Her eyes widened slightly. "Didn't you know?"
"I did notice."
"You don't know why?"
"No."
She sighed, her ears lowering a bit. "I wish I knew. Right now it's as if I was abandoned. I hope you don't feel the same way."
"Sorry." Ratchet said. "Never knew of any family."
The female Lombax sighed. "I hope you do have someone to rely on."
"Yeah. I left him in the ship for his safety, but normally I have a little robot that I nicknamed Clank with me. He's knock-out right now though. Then there's also Grim, who raised me... though it's more of a 'mentor-student' relationship. But now that I think of it, I never learned your name."
"What's yours? Ratchet was it, right?"
"Yeah."
"Angela. My name's Angela."
"Any last name?"
"Nope."
"Well, what are you doing here, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Abduction."
"What?"
"I was abducted."
"Why?"
"I don't know." she lied. "But I managed to escape the people who abducted me. I've been roaming the planet for about a week now, trying to find a way to safety."
At that moment, the rock blocking the entrance to the cave was blown up. Hypernova came walking in, his right hand having taken on the form of a huge blaster, though it was transforming back into a hand. He slowly approached Angela, bolts of electricity jumping across his armor while the static electricity in the air made their fur stand on end.
Ratchet immediately got up and ran in front of her. "Stop!"
Hypernova shoved Ratchet aside and pinned Angela's throat against the wall with his left hand before sending a shock through her body, making her yelp.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Ratchet said, getting back up.
"No flickering..." Hypernova said before letting her go. She fell to the ground, coughing.
He took a knee. "I apologize, but you must understand that the odds of encountering another Lombax are so slim that I didn't believe it was true."
"Yeah, I understand." she coughed. "Performed a similar test on your friend over there."
Hypernova noticed the trail of blood seeping through Ratchet's fur, and fired a small blast of energy containing nanobots that quickly patched up the wound, like Nanotech would.
"Young woman, where in the world did you come from?" Hypernova asked, baffled. Angela repeated her story.
Hypernova shook his head. "If you're going with us, there's no leaving. For your own safety you have to stay near us at all times. Understood?"
"As long as I can get off this hellhole of a planet, I agree with whatever terms you can think of."
Hypernova nodded. "Okay. Ratchet, did you manage to secure a jetpack?"
Ratchet showed him the jetpack that he had attached to his back in his haste. "Fantastic!" Hypernova said. "Alright, let's get off this planet and get that gear to Elaris."
Once they reached their ship, Ratchet sat down in the pilot's seat and Angela sat down in the passenger seat, the unconscious robot in her lap, while Hypernova held on to the wing."
As they flew into space however, Hypernova immediately noticed that Ratchet wasn't heading to Kerwan's sector. "Ratchet, where are we going?" he transmitted using radio waves. He got a data signal in return, and once the download was complete, his armor played the video message.
"Good evening, fellow Blarg." Drek's voice said as the Blargian logo was shown on screen inside three red hexagons. "Chairman Drek here, with the latest update on our quest for a new home!"
The Blargian logo was replaced by a map of a planetary system. Hypernova recognized the planets as Kronos, Sarathos, Maraxus, Stygia, Catacrom 4 and Orxon. "Over the next few days you may notice an increase in Blarg activity around the galaxy."
Red hexagons appeared around the planets, with the Blargian logo popping up everywhere. "While this may alert the authorities to our plan, this move is critical to securing safe passage for our harvesters."
The image was replaced by a planet being invaded by several reddish aircrafts carrying rows of large, glass tanks.
"Case in point: the Starwatch Defense Cannon on planet Batalia." Drek said as the image switched to that of a large, bulky anti-air cannon, sporting a huge, single gunbarrel with two smaller ones mounted on top of the cannon. "This surface-to-space ion cannon has been protecting the galaxy from invasions ever since we were first driven underground."
A red cross was displayed over the cannon. "With this out of commission, our glorious plan can continue! Preparations are already underway, so fear not, stay the course, et cetera, yadda yadda yadda."
The image of Starwatch was replaced by an image of rows upon rows of armed warbots. "Once we eliminate Starwatch and it's surrounding forces, we'll enter the final stages of my plan." Drek said before laughing as the video ended.
"Now you see why we're on our way to Batalia rather than Kerwan. Elaris managed to decode this message from the deep space channels an hour ago according to Clank. The Rangers are already on-site, but they need backup." Ratchet signaled.
"Clank's awake?"
"Yeah. He woke up a few minutes after takeoff."
"Hm. Well, we better hurry, those Blarg won't wait for us."
"Copy that, that's why we're heading to Batalia. I just hope we're not too late."
Alright, introducing my combination of Angela, Sasha and Talwyn! She just kinda slammed into the story now, but trust me, there's much more to this girl than you might think... I definitely have something amazing in store for her backstory indeed! I'm also adding more to Ratchet, as you can read his near-death experience has left him with a fear of water that will become more important later on.
Anyhow, I'm also deviating from the PS4/movie plot a little with the return of Planet Eudora from the original PS2 classic.
As promised, the next chapter (a rather lengthy one too) will be uploaded next weekend! Until then, please review, reviews really help keeping me motivated. I love reading the thoughts you all have on this story!
So, again, reviewers are most welcome, flamers are not.
Until next time, people!