Chapter 9: Hoven

Clank landed on the snowy planet of Hoven. Taking a glance around he spotted a trail that looked like it would lead into the bomb factory itself an up in the sky was a missile transport ship.

Already loaded with the missile made to destroy planets.

Clank just hoped that he would be able to stop it in time.

Ratchet wasn't sure where he was heading exactly. It was as if he was the one on autopilot and not the ship. He didn't even want to go this way, he wanted to go to Veldin. No one bothered him there, and he was basically free to do what he wanted. None of the adults made him do anything and the only time that he did get in trouble they explained to him why what he had done at that time was dangerous and why he shouldn't do it again.

A quick double beep from the ship snapped Ratchet out of his thoughts and he saw that he was approaching a snowy planet.

'Why did I fly here?' Ratchet thought as he mindlessly prepared to land.

There was a small battalion of Blarg at the factory who were determined to keep Clank from adventuring forward. Along with the native wild life that were determined to eat him.

Clank was never more thankful to be made of metal.

"Ow!"

Clank heard a cry from behind him and quickly looked back to see who it had belonged to as it was too sharp to have belonged to a Blarg.

Was there other residence of this planet?

Clank was under the impression that the only inhabitants were the Blarg (temporary) and the Anklebiters (native wildlife).

Did some of the Blarg bring their family along?

Clank had kept a look out in the direction that the cry had come from, seeing if there was any movement.

Not seeing or hearing anything Clank had begun to wonder if there was a malfunction in his auditory sensors and made a note to get it scanned once he was done here.

The Ankle biters had Ratchet surrounded and up a tree.

Pretty high up too as the creatures could jump.

Ratchet had already been bitten on the tail by one and now he kept his tail wrapped around him, refusing to look at it.

"Can't these things just leave me alone," Ratchet wined, "I came, I saw, and now I wanna leave." Ratchet was now on the verge of calling out for help as he was starting to shiver despite not feeling cold.

But was there even anyone around to hear him?

He wished that whatever force had made him land here had left him alone so that he could go back to Veldin.

"Someone." Ratchet called out in a gravelly voice that was quieter than he had hoped.

After clearing his throat he tried again but got much of the same result.

Now he was starting to get scared. What if no one found him?

He'd be a frozen, hidden, Lombax tree ornament!

'If only I had my wrench...'

Clank was sure that he was hearing a voice but he could not make out what the voice was saying.

Perhaps his auditory receptors really were malfunctioning.

The only reason Clank was going back in the direction of the yelp he had heard in the first place was because he had run out of ammo.

"Some..." a hoarse whisper called out. It was clearer than before, making Clank think that he should respond.

"Is someone there?"

"He-..." the same voice responded. Clank walked closer to the source of the voice.

"If there is someone there can you speak up?" Clank asked, hoping that he was not talking to thin air.

"Clan-..." the voice got a little louder, and Clank was sure that his name was said.

"Yes?" Clank answered questioningly, stepping closer to the source of the voice.

"Up... here..."

Clank took a step closer and Anklebiters popped up out of the snow.

"Oh dear." Clank said and started dodging the snowballs with teeth.

As Clank was dodging them he worked his way closer to the tree to look up it. He had to know who, if anyone, was up there.

Once he was finally able to look up he saw a little Lombax boy with a bloody tail tip and inadequate clothing for the cold.

"Ratchet!?" Clank was surprised to see the boy. He really did not believe that he would meet up with him here. Yet here the boy was. Stuck up a tree.

"Ah!" Clank had gotten distracted for a minute and was nearly bitten by one of the creatures. Sure he would not feel much in the way of pain but he did not like the idea of trying to remove dents.

"Ratchet, Clank called up to him as he was trying not to get teeth dents, "I have to go buy more ammunition. I know it is not ideal but please stay where you are until I get back."

Clank looked up to Ratchet to make sure that he had heard and understood him.

"I will be back as soon as I can." Clank said once he saw Ratchet nod his head.

Ratched watched Clank run off and noticed that the Anklebiters followed.

Seeing this as his chance to get out of the stupid tree, like he was going to stay up there despite what Clank had told him, he moved to make his way down.

Though he stopped and made himself as small as possible when he spotted a Blarg soldier.

Now he really wished that he had his stuff so that he would have had something to distract the Bargian with long enough for him to run away.

Would Clank even have enough ammo to fight off this Blarg?

Ratchet watched the Blargian as he walked closer to the tree he was in. The Blarg soldier seemed to be looking at something on the ground. Ratchet looked around at the ground below him, trying not to move too much in the process, and noticed something in the snow among the footprint.

Ratchet was hoping that it wasn't what he thought it was. It shouldn't be what he thought it was as Clank didn't seem to have noticed it.

Though as Ratchet carefully took a close look at the path he climbed up he realized that he was in a lot more danger than he thought.

With the way his voice was, there was no way that he was going to get Clanks attention without alerting the Bargian first.

Clank bought the ammunition, took care of the Anklebiters that had followed him, bought ammunition again, and was finally on his way back to the tree Ratchet was in.

As soon as he got to the tree Ratchet was no longer in it. Looking around, Clank saw blood in the snow and followed what appeared to be Blarg footsteps. Following the footsteps, Clank saw the Blarg the footsteps belonged to carrying Ratchet slung over his shoulder. Even though Ratchet was putting all of his strength into beating the Blargs back, the Blargian continued on as if nothing was happening.

Without hesitation Clank took aim at the Blarg's feet and fired, causing the Blargian to stumble and loosen his grip on Ratchet long enough for the boy to break free and scramble to Clank who was also running up to him.

Getting in between Ratchet and the soldier, Clank took careful aim at the Blarg's legs and hands. Even though he had shot the others more fatally he did not wish to do so in front of Ratchet.

Once the Blargian was on his knees grumbling in pain, Clank grabbed Ratchets wrist and tried to fling Ratchet in front of him so that if the Blargian was still able to move enough to shoot at them Clank would be the first one shot.

Ratchet aloud Clank to lead him though gentle nudges to safety. More out because of what he heard the Blarg soldier say to someone over his communicator then the promise of a warm ship.

What did they mean by wiping out Ratchet's existence?

How could there be more than one of him?

Date: XXXXXXXX

This universe is wrong.

I had my friend lead me to where he had found the watch.

It was a hidden cave on Veldin, and when I say hidden I mean with a hologram.

My friend was part of an archaeological team that was looking to see if there was, at one point, native life on Veldin when they found this cave.

They had tried to find out how old the things in the cave were but every method came back in error.

After looking through the items in that cave I came to the conclusion that this universe, the one we are in right now, was a product of someone manipulating time.

But why?

End of Chapter Nine

So this chapter has been written out in a notebook for... a year maybe? Maybe more?

Anyways, my head is full of Ao no Exorcist and Breath of the Wild at the moment and untill I get those out of my head I won't be able to think of this.