I'm (finally) back!
But before I say anything, the reviews:
zenith88
"Another great chapter, i love it and can't wait for more."
I could bet the sequel is a crossover with Sonic since the two games fit good together and Sonic has a lot of couples it would just fit nice, but that's just an suggestion ;)
Aaaaand... nope. Sorry, the sequel is not a crossover with Sonic, though I might do a Sonic/RaC crossover in the furure.
As for the sequel, guess again.
Even better, let's make this a little contest. If someone guesses correctly with what game the sequel will form a crossover, I'll name a planet/OC/location/weapon/vehicle/gadget after their username.

destiny:
"Each chapter just gets better. I'm still curious as to how Hipernova drought Angela back to life."
Yeah, that part is shrouded in mystery for now, and it will stay this way until it is finally revealed in a later chapter. Don't worry though, it'll be revealed in time.

vengarl22:
"Hmm this story is getting a little hard to read but nonetheless still pretty good- cheers"
Yeah, I noticed that the story is getting harder to read. That's why I have scrolled trough all previous chapters and improved as much as I could. This meant, however, that I had to update all chapters. I'm not sure if takes that as an 'update', but if it did, I'm terribly sorry if I spammed my follower's inboxes with 'Update: Epilogue', or something like that.
I hope this chapter is better to read.
And now, without further ado, please enjoy chapter 8: Friendship & Fun.

Ratchet opened his room's door, and he immediatly noticed the paper on the floor. He picked it up, and started to read.
"M-hm. Okay.", he muttered whilst reading. When he was done reading, he threw the note in the trash bin. He sat down on the couch, and tried to find a solution to a big problem: what to do.

Eventually he got up, picked a book from the shelf, put a stretcher on the balcony, put his sunglasses on, sat down, and started to read, the warm sun shining on Ratchet's golden fur. After a while he closed his book, and his eyes too, and relaxed, enjoying the sun and the sound of the birds singing in the trees. Ratchet noticed that the amount of light penetrating his eyelids lowered, and he opened his eyes. Angela was sitting on the end of the stretcher, and she was staring down the mountain.

"What an amazing view, isn't it?", Ratchet asked. Angela nodded, her gaze still fixated on the waterfall in the distance."

"Angela."

She turned around

"Yes, Ratchet?"

"Why haven't you got yourself a seat? I'm sure that there are at least three stretchers in that closet."

She sighed. "I didn't have the energy to drag one of those heavy things all the way here."

Ratchet put away his book. "Then I'll get one for you."

When he came back he found Angela on his stretcher, eyes closed. He parked hers next to his. "Here ya go."

When Angela didn't move, he asked with a worried voice: "Angela?"

"Hrm?"
"Your seat's here."
"It was here already, Ratchet."
"Huh?"

Then Ratchet understood what she meant. "Aww, I parked that one on the perfect spot."
She playfully stuck out her tongue. "If you want it, then you'll have to push me off, this place is just too good.

Instead of the playful push she was hoping for, she got something better: Ratchet lay down on the stretcher he just parked next to her. "Fine with me, but..."

She opened one eye. "But what?"
He grinned. "You let me buy you a drink."
Angela smiled. "Deal."

Ratchet laid his hands behind his head and drifted into a deep sleep. When he woke up, an hour later, Angela was gone. Ratchet yawned, got up, and walked back into the hotel room. Immediatly he noticed something.

"Something smells really good here...", Ratchet thought, silently sniffing, trying to fully examine the smell filling the room. He found the source in the kitchen, it came from whatever Angela was cooking. He accidently sneaked up behind her (it was not his intention to scare her).

"Smells good!", Ratchet complimented.

Angela gasped and jumped a bit. She sighed. "Sorry, but I'm used to being alone when cooking, y'know, on Grelbin."

"I understand, it isn't surprising for someone not used to company to jump at sudden noises. And I apologize if I sneaked up on you."

She smiled. "It's fine, Ratchet."
Ratchet glanced over her shoulder. "What are you cooking?"

Angela tapped him on the nose with her left index finger.
"Uh-uh, no peeking 'til I'm done, boy."

Ratchet chuckled. He took a few plates, knives and forks and put them down on the table. When he put down the last knive, Angela came walking in, holding a pan. She put it on the table with a sigh, and sat down. "Aaahhh, sitting down feels soooo good after standing behind a stove for so long."

Ratchet smiled. "Take your rest, Angela."

Both Lombaxes were enjoying their lunch, when Ratchet suddenly spoke. "Hey, Angela."

"Yes?"

"What do you want to do?"

"I don't know, any suggestions?"

"Erm... We could go diving?"

She stared at him. "Oh! Oh, I didn't mean freediving!", Ratchet reassured.
He noticed that Angela relaxed a bit. "Really, don't let that tunnel haunt you. Okay, you almost drowned in a maintenance tunnel, so what? I almost drowned in a sewer pipe for crying out loud."

Angela laughed at first, but then the word 'drowning' caught up to her, and next to the nightmare of her drowning, she feared she would now also see Ratchet struggling for air in her dreams.

Ratchet noticed the look of distress on her face. "Angela, you really shouldn't worry about running out of air down there for two reasons: one, we'll go scuba diving; Two, I'll be by your side."

He enveloped her hands with his own. "I'll be with you the entire time. Promised."
Angela sighed, and finally the uneasy feeling bugging her left her mind, allowing her to relax.
"Okay.", she finally whispered.

Ratchet walked into the lobby and looked around. "Now where was that Terachnoid again..."
Then he saw the guy he was looking for, sitting behind a desk with 'Info and renting' on it.

Ratchet walked up to him. "Erm, hi! I was wondering if I could rent two scuba gears?"
The Terachnoid, happy that someone finally spoke to him, quickly replied: "Yes, sir. I must say you have excellent timing, we've just recieved a few pairs. That'll be forty bolts per scuba gear per day, how long do you want to have them?"
"Erm... just make it one day, if nessecary I'll come back tomorrow and rent them again."
"Very well, Sir. That will be eighty bolts then."

Ratchet paid the Terachnoid, and recieved two diving goggles, two pairs of flippers, two refillable oxygen tanks, and two mouthpieces, the mouthpieces connected to one tank each with a flexible, yet strong plastic hose.
"Thanks a lot!", Ratchet said, happy.

He then walked back to his and Angela's room, where, as soon as he entered, both Lombaxes ran to their bedrooms to change clothing, a small competition running: who was done first?

Ratchet won. He was wearing a black wetsuit, though the legs were orange, and the suit didn't cover his arms. He sat down on the couch, and closed his eyes.

two minutes later he heard a click coming from Angela's door. He stood up and turned around.

Angela was wearing a suit similar to Ratchet's, exept this one had green where Ratchet had orange, and her suit was designed to be worn by females. Like Ratchet, her feet and arms weren't covered, and she left her trademark Lombax gloves on. Her golden, striped hair wasn't in it's usual ponytail, instead it freely rolled down her back. Combine that with her smile, and she was absolutely stunning.

Ratchet answered with a smile of his own. "C'mon, Angela. Let's go.", Ratchet said in his calm, gentle tone. She nodded.

...

A light breeze welcomed Angela when the door of the cable car slid open to reveal the beach. Ratchet laid an arm around her waist. "You'll see it will be fun."

She smiled at him. "Having you with me helps a lot already."
"Angela, you're one of my dearest friends, and based off the fact that we get along so well, I think we'll be friends 'til the end."
"I hope so, Ratchet. I hope so."

If it wouldn't surely kill her, Angela would have gasped at the incredible sight: the coral was everywhere, and in many diffrent colors: red, orange, green, blue, all welcomed her. Exotic fish swam around her, only to flee quickly when she moved. She looked at Ratchet, who was amazed by a large fish. It was swimming right in front of him. When he brought his hand near it, it quickly swam away. She needed all of her willpower to not burst into a laughter at his annoyed look.

Angela turned around, and saw a turtle. It stared at her with it's blank expression, and then slowly swam away. Angela followed it into a cave. It should have been dark in there, but instead, a ray of light coming from the ceiling lit up the entire room. How? The walls of the cave had crystals everywhere, the light bounced back and forth, fully illuminating the cave. Because of the mouthpiece, all Angela could say was "Wrmph!", while she tried to say "Wow!"

She checked her air supply: three minutes remaining. She swam out of the cave.

And then life threw another wave of bad luck at her.

She growled at the sudden pain in her left foot. "Really? Why do you have to cramp up while I'm swimming?! I can't believe this!"

She started to massage her foot, trying to get that awful feeling to leave, but with no success. She checked her air supply again, and in shock she saw 'One minute remaining.'
"Argh, why does this always happen to me?!"

She kept trying to get her foot to calm down, but it was no use. Then two strong, furred arms held her, one behind her shoulders and one under her knees, and started to drag her to the surface. Angela glanced at her savior, Ratchet. He was smiling at her. If it wasn't for the mouthpiece, she would have kissed him.

After a minute they reached the surface. Ratchet started to swim to the shore, still holding her. Angela wasn't complaining, though.

Angela discarded hers and Ratchet's mouthpiece, leaving them to be pulled after them.
"Ratchet?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you."
He smiled. "You're welcome, Angela. I already said it: I'll be with you the entire time."

Ratchet didn't stop, though. He carried her all the way to the cable car.

When they entered the cable car Ratchet helped her sit down on the bench in front of the window. "You alright?"
Angela growled. "It doesn't feel good. I don't know what happened, but my foot is hurting like hell."

"Can you walk?"

"Nope, sorry."

"M-kay. Then I'll just carry you."

"All the way up the stairs?"

"Yes, why not?"

"Because it's very exausting?"

"I've handled much worse."

"Give me an example."

"Erm... the RYNO. Running around with that thing gets tiring pretty quickly, especially with a robot on your back."

Angela chuckled and relaxed a bit. The pain from her foot kept assaulting her mind though.

When the cable car reached the other station, Ratchet picked her up again. They shrugged off the awkward stares that they recieved in the lobby, and kept going. Ratchet growled silently when they reached the stairs, but when he quickly glanced at Angela, he suddenly had enough strength to carry her to the top of Veldin's highest mountain. When they finally reached their room, Angela opened the door and Ratchet stormed in, afraid to drop her, since he was getting tired. He laid her down on the couch, and immediatly prepared a bucket with warm water. He put it down in front of Angela.

"Put your foot in this, it'll help."

Angela smiled, and did as she was told. She groaned in pleasure, the water calmed the cramp immediatly. As if he was reading her mind, Ratchet added "You'll have to keep that foot in the water, though, if you want the pain to fully disappear. At least for a few hours."

Angela moaned. "Well, being stuck here for two hours is bloody entertaining. Please give me something to do!"

Ratchet grinned. "I think I have an idea."

"WOHOO!", Angela cried out as she downed more Blarg saucers.
They had been playing 'Ratchet & Clank' for a straight five hours now, and Ratchet and Angela were destroying Chairman Drek's radioactive waste dumpers in the Pokitarian skies. When the VG 14 Millennia loaded the title screen, Ratchet was surprised to see that there was a multiplayer mode.

Ratchet (playing as himself) flew over Angela and sent three missiles at a waste dumper, taking out three tanks. Angela followed him and shot down five Blargs that were chasing Ratchet. Then one started to fly backwards, while in front of her, and opened fire. She noticed that the Blarg was so focused on shooting her that he didn't look where they were going. Then she noticed that they were heading towards a tower, and a malicious grin formed on her face. She flew past the tower, almost hitting it with her wing. The Blarg wasn't that lucky, though, and slammed into it with a loud 'Thump', and exploded seconds later.

Angela took a sharp turn to the left and started to chase a dumper. She fired five missiles, and watched as the missiles took out the remaining tanks. Then something struck her from behind. The radar informed her that a Blarg ship was excellently chasing her, every move she made was perfectly copied by the Blarg pilot. What the Blarg hadn't counted on, though, was Ratchet. Ratchet came swooping in from above and fired the machine guns, destroying the Blargain pursuer, and some of his friends in the distance.

Ratchet then turned on the afterburners and caught up with Angela. He flew next to her, straight at the last Blarg dumper. "Ready?", he asked his wingmate.

"Ready. Let's kick these guys off the planet."

Two missiles were fired at the same time, and hit each other inches from the dumper's cockpit. It triggered a massive shockwave, and soon it was raining debris. One of the falling pieces of scrap hit Ratchet's right wing though, and he lost control.

"Crap.", he groaned, and activated the ejector seat.
"Ratchet!", Angela yelled and flew after him. She opened the cockpit and caught him mid-flight.

Ratchet smiled at her. "Seems like someone finally got some skills.", he teased.
She gave him a playful poke to the arm. "Seems like I am still flying, unlike someone.", she shot back.
Ratchet chuckled. "Touché."

Then he noticed the clock on the wall, but most importantly: the time it was displaying.

"Angela!", he said in surprise.

"Yes?"

"Look at the time."
Angela did as she was told, and groaned. The clock displayed '23:17'.

"I bet the restaurant's already closed.", she moaned.

"Yep."

"And we haven't eaten."

"Nope. But I have an idea."

Ratchet paused the game, and got up. He walked towards the kitchen. Angela tried to get up too, but was quickly put back down by Ratchet.
"Hold on, Angela. Let your foot take it's well-deserved break."

"Whoa, I don't want to let you do everything!"

"I know something you can do."

Ratchet picked up his controller, saved the game, and pressed the 'On/Off' button. He then picked up the TV-remote and pressed the 'Menu' button. He scrolled until he finally stopped, selecting 'Holoflix'. He then handed the remote to Angela.

"Here, pick a movie while I make dinner."

Even though Ratchet was a battle-hardened trigger happy Lombax, he still made the best pancakes in the galaxy.

Or at least, according to Angela he made the best pankaces in the galaxy. From the moment she first tasted them, there was another thing she loved about Ratchet.

"Wow. These are..."

Though Angela paused to find a word that could describe the amazing flavour, to Ratchet that pause was a torture. Words cannot describe his relief when he heard his love finish her sentence with "... Amazing. Just amazing. There's no other word that can possibly describe this."

"You like it?", Ratchet asked.

"I just said I do, dummy.", Angela teased. She playfully poked his arm.

Ratchet chuckled.

The movie Angela chose was a James Bond-like movie: action-packed, but with some romantic moments. Only this movie was based on the fight against Nefarious, where two Lombaxes, one cream colored, the other grey, had to stop a maniacal cyborg scientist.

Ratchet quickly glanced at the Lombax next to him. She was paying attention to the movie. Without her noticing, he laid an arm behind her head.

A few moments later Angela noticed, and out of the corner of her eye, she could see his innocent smile. "Oh, if you want to play it this way...", she thought, and slowly but surely moved closer to Ratchet.

She almost laughed when she saw his blush, and how his innocent smile turned into a nervous grin. "And now for the grand finale..."

She slowly laid her head on his shoulder. She could feel his tension, how his heart was racing, and his faster breathing. She smiled evilly. "Haha, he's so tensed up right now."

A shiver went trough Angela's body as she felt that Ratchet tilted his head to the side, resting it on hers. She bit her lip. "Did he just do that?"

When he noticed his evil grin, she almost laughed."Heh, that's what I get."
Even though they both felt uneasy and were both blushing, they were both enjoying it as well, and both were disappointed when the credits showed up.

When the credits were also over, Ratchet leaned forward and pressed the 'off' button on the remote. Angela sat up straight, then leaned back, into the pillows. Ratchet stretched his torso and yawned. He lay down next to her, and eyed her. "You think you can sleep on your own again?"

Angela grinned. "Of course not.", she said sarcastically. She watched him carefully, trying to figure out if he was relieved or disappointed.

Ratchet sighed and got up. "Well, in that case, I'll move my pillow to the side of the bed again.", he said as he walked off towards the door.

Angela raised a brow. "What?"

Ratchet turned around. "You just said you cannot sleep on your own yet, so I'm going to make room for you."
"Or did you lie?", he added, saying it like he was going to be offended if she said yes.

Angela paused for a moment. "Erm... nope."

Ratchet smiled. "Then I'll move my pillow. Go get yours."

Angela did as she was told. When she laid her pillow next to his, Ratchet yawned. He took off his shirt, and stretched his torso.

Even though she was blushing, she admired his muscular upper body, and part of her was disappointed when Ratchet walked into his bathroom and locked the door. Angela walked back to her room, brushed her teeth, changed her clothing, and got back to Ratchet's room, where said Lombax was already in his bed, eyes closed.

She lay down on the other side of the bed, and just as she wanted to close her eyes, Ratchet muttered "Goodnight, Angela."

She smiled, closed her eyes, and muttered back "Goodnight, Ratchet."

And she drifted into a deep sleep. Ratchet didn't fall asleep though. He turned around and looked at Angela, or in his words "The Sleeping Beauty".

He stared at her, and wondered if she felt the same about him. Little did he know that she did.

He turned around again, but before he did so, he couldn't stop himself from giving Angela a light kiss on the forehead. "Sleep well, Angela. I'll protect you. I always will.", he whispered, and he finally allowed his eyes to close.

And there you go. I promised that there would be a Romance/Friendship chapter, so there it was. Ratchet even gave her a kiss!

Sadly, this will be the last 'real' romance chapter for now, the chapters from here on are more 'adventure'.

Next chapter will be posted ASAP!

- The White Guardian