"I have brought the requested robot!" Ratchet announced overdramatically as he entered the shooting range, Circuit still in his left arm. The shooting range was a fairly large room, with targets on one side and a large rack of weapons on the other. Of course, shooting wasn't the only thing people could do in there. There was also an option to test your skills in hitting moving objects by summoning a target robot. It would move around the room, so people could see how fast they could react to the robot's movement. Then there was a new feature that Talwyn had installed just a few months ago. It was a program where you could upload a hologram of someone into the room. This helped people with memorizing their real opponent's attacks and patterns. If shot or hot enough times, the hologram will break from its field and return to the database.

"Heh, how do I know that that's not Clank?" Talwyn asked, playing with the hologram database. She was looking through different holograms that they had registered. Qwark, Doctor Nefarious, different alien species, even Ratchet and Clank had their own holograms. Ratchet had once tried to fight Clank's hologram, but he couldn't hit it. It had felt too real to him. "You want me to prove that this isn't Clank? Alright," Ratchet thrusted Circuit over his head, which made her laugh. Talwyn gave in, Clank hated it when Ratchet held him over his head. So if this robot was Clank, it would have been scolding Ratchet, not laughing in amusement. "Alright, I believe you. It's Circuit," she said, folding her arms and smiling. "Ratchet said that you wanted to see me fire a gun," Circuit said after Ratchet put her down. "That's right. It's nothing bad, I just want to see what skills you have," Talwyn' replied. "Skills? Give this little girl a pencil and paper and she'll blow your mind," Ratchet commented "Now come on Circuit, let's show Talwyn what you can do." "Oh, okay," Circuit agreed, not expecting them to want to see it that fast. Ratchet led her out of the range's control room and out into the range itself.

Circuit immediately spotted the large rack or weapons. Blasters, bombs, gloves, swords, she had never seen so many weapons. "How many weapons do you guys need?" She asked. "When you're constantly saving the universe, a lot," Ratchet replied. "I never knew that there were so many guns and stuff like these," the little robot said, trying to get a look at all of them. "Yeah, well, technology has advanced in many different and destructive ways. Now then, let's pick you out a weapon-" "Ooh! Ooh! Can I use this one?" Circuit pulled a giant metal wrench off the rack and stumbled backwards. It was much heavier than she had expected it to be. She lost her balance and fell onto her bottom. Ratchet laughed "No, you can't use a weapon that you can't lift. Besides, this is mine actually. It's my main weapon, my Omniwrench." "This is yours? You carry a big wrench around with you?" "Yes, I do. And it's saved many lives, including mine," Ratchet said, removing the Omniwrench from Circuit's hands. "You will be using this," he handed her a smaller blaster, which was about the size of her arm. She hesitated at first, but she took it into her right hand "This is your standard blaster, I got it on Kerwan a while back. I think that this should work for you just fine. Come over here, we'll get you set up with a target. And keep your finger off the trigger please. I don't want you to shoot me or yourself in the foot."

Ratchet led her to the shooter's position, the place where the shooter stands so they can blast away at their target. Circuit placed her little feet in the right spot, Ratchet placed a hand on her shoulder as he got down on one knee. "Alright, you see that white paper with the black rings on it?" "Yeah." "That's what you're going to shoot at. And your goal is to hit the very center of it-" "Like this?" She held the gun up and fired, the force of the blast nearly knocked her off of her feet. The plasma bullet soared across the room and grazed the very edge of the target paper, then hit the wall. "...I missed," Circuit said, her shoulder's lowering. "Well yeah, you don't just go into it like that. Look," he grabbed her hands while the gun was still in them. "Lift it to about this level, keep it there...good, now relax your shoulders like you're doing now. Now focus and...fire!" She pulled the trigger, but she still missed, putting half a hole on the edge of the paper. "That's okay, practice makes perfect. Try it again." Another shot, this one pierced the very edge of the target. After a few more shots, she was hitting the target more often, but none near the middle.

"Hey, you're getting good at this," Ratchet said, somewhat proud of Circuit. She was getting really good really fast, faster than he had expected. He placed a hand on her head after she fired the next shot, with also hit the target "I'm gonna go talk to Talwyn. You keep shooting, alright?" "W-wait, how long are you going to be out of the room?" Circuit asked, putting her blaster down. Ratchet shrugged "I dunno, I'll just be in the other room." "But I shoot better when you are with me," she said a bit shyly. "Don't worry, I'll be right over there. Call me if you need me...or if you shoot yourself in the foot." Circuit nodded, carefully pointing the gun away from her foot. Ratchet left her and entered the range's control room, where he saw Talwyn giving him some sort of look.

"...What?"

"How long have you known her?"

"Who? Circuit?"

"Yeah."

"Um, I've known her for...about six days."

"Six days?!" Talwyn exclaimed with surprise in her voice. "What? What's wrong with six days?" Ratchet asked, holding up his hands as some sort of shouting defense maneuver. "Ratchet, this robot adores you! And you've only known her for six days? If I were a random person, I would have guessed that you've known each other for months, even years!" "Well, I did take her in when she had nowhere to go. She was scared and I couldn't just ignore her. I guess she realized how much I cared for her," Ratchet said, watching Circuit through the window. "You treat her like she's your child or something-" Talwyn began, but the Lombax quickly interrupted her. "Whoa whoa whoa! Let me just stop you right there. Look, I do like Circuit, she's really nice and has a sense of adventure like me, which I respect. But, I don't really treat her like my child. Sure, I took her in, fixed her up a little-" "And fed her, and took her for a ride on your Bombsled which you added a seat to just so she could ride on it, you took her to the beach, and I hear that you hold her hand like she's child. Still think that you don't treat her like your own?" Tawlyn said, crossing her arms. Ratchet shook his head "Okay, one: no, I do not treat her like my own. And two: how did you know all of that?" "What? You think that Clank didn't say anything to me when you got here?"

'Imma kill him!' Ratchet thought to himself. He decided to change the fatherly/not-fatherly subject and back to just the Circuit shooting subject. "So, what do you think? She seems like she's getting pretty good." Talwyn rolled her eyes at the attempt of subject change, but she went with it anyway "Yeah, she's a pretty good shot. Should we move on to the moving target?" "I dunno, do you think she's ready for that?" Ratchet asked, somewhat concerned. "You tell me robo-daddy," Talwyn replied, smiling at him as she tapped on the database controls. This brought an unamused look on Ratchet's face "...Send out the moving target." The Markazian laughed as she set up the moving target. Circuit was taking a break from shooting at the moment, sitting on the floor with the blaster right next to her. "Let's get her by surprise, test her reaction time," Talwyn said. Ratchet nodded in agreement. After a few clicks, she pressed a certain button, and the sound of a metal door was heard.

Circuit laid back a little, putting most of her weight on her palms as they pressed against the floor. Shooting was more tiring than she thought. She had come close to hitting the center of the target a few times, but she missed it by a few centimeters each time. She looked left and right, wondering when Ratchet was going to come back. The little robot didn't know why, but she felt more comfortable shooting when he was there supervising her, giving pointers on how to approve her aim if she needed them.

As she sat on the ground, a weird noise started to fill the room. She perked up at the sudden noise, what was it? It almost sounded like it was something opening, a door perhaps. Circuit looked around to find the source of the sound, a bit worried. When she decided to go and find Ratchet to see if he could find the source, a fairly tall robot wheeled into the shooting range. It's eyes shining blue, but it had no emotion in them. It wheeled towards her, making her give a little scream. She quickly grabbed her gun and started shooting at it, not even taking time to aim. She was terrified, like she had been in a situation like this before and it didn't end well. A large robot, no emotion on its face, coming straight towards her, it felt all too familiar for her liking. So she just kept shooting, hoping that the strange robot wouldn't get her.

"Whoa, wasn't expecting a reaction like that," Ratchet said, watching Circuit shoot randomly at the robot. "She looks terrified, she does know that these robots don't attack you, right?" Talwyn asked. "No, I don't think she knows that. But it's weird, she reacted so badly towards it without even checking if it's hostile or not." "Who knows? Maybe robots used to attack her all the time in her uh...previous life." "Yeah...previous life," Ratchet said, now drifting into thought. Now he was more curious than ever. Did robots actually attack her in her previous life? No, that's stupid, Ratchet thought, who would want to attack her? Unless Nefarious-

'There I go again!' Ratchet said to himself 'Talking about Nefarious creating Circuit! He did not. He could not.' But still...there was something Ratchet could do to make sure. He had to admit, this idea was kind of cruel, but Circuit wouldn't be in any danger. It couldn't truly hurt her. He nodded to himself, then he turned to Talwyn.

"Tal, do we have Doctor Nefarious in our hologram database?" Ratchet asked. The Markazian checked the holograms in the database "...Yes, we do. Right here with his ugly metal face. Why?" "Because...I want to try something."

Circuit was still shooting at the robot, occasionally hearing the sound of metal bullets hit metal. 'Please go away!' She said to herself. After a few seconds, her wish came true. The robot scurried away, back through that it had came from. Circuit couldn't believe it, she managed to scare it away. That was her goal anyway, she didn't have any intentions on killing it.

Circuit was about to go back to shooting her target when something she did not expect happen. A few peculiar green particles flew from several different parts of the room. they were beautiful, like little pieces of sparkling glass. She stood there, watching the particles fly around the room. Then, the particles came together in the center of the room, forming some kind of vortex. They kept spinning and spinning until, eventually, they started linking themselves together. Circuit became even more curious. What were these particles making? By the looks of it shape, they were trying to form a person. Someone tall, with somewhat thin arms and legs, what looked like sharp claws, and a tall head. The figure started to gain color: blue, silver, green, red. Finally, the figure became fully formed, and it jumped to the ground. Circuit looked at its face, silver with...with black and red eyes...and a large...large green head-

Something clicked in Circuit, random memories began flashing before her mind, so quickly is made her dizzy. A thick wave of terror washed over and drowned her.

"Let me see! Let me see!" Yelled a distinctly familiar high voice. A much taller figure formed above, the the face or details could not be made out. It looked closely, then turned sharply to look at the other figures "What the-IDIOTS! You got the eye color wrong!" The tall figure grabbed one of the smaller ones and thrusted it forward "Does THAT look green to you?!"

"I'm sorry sir! So sorry! But..." the voice drifted off.

"But what?!"

"B-b-but...I uh...I don't think that the eye color is the only thing we got wrong..."

"What? What are you...oh...ohhh...NO!"

"I've about had enough of you...kill her!"

"No! Leave me alone! No! NO! AHHHHHHH!"

The familiar yet unfamiliar face spotted Circuit, then started walking towards her. Circuit held up her gun, her mechanical heart pumping at an unhealthy level. "Get away from me! Get away from me!" She pulled the trigger multiple times, but her pressured shots kept missing, soaring over the blue and silver robot's shoulders and head. Ratchet and Talwyn were watching, completely caught off-guard by her reaction to the hologram. The little robot gave a frustrated and scared groan as the robot got even closer, now holding out his hand to grab her. She saw the shard claws reaching for her torso. "STAY AWAY!" She grasped her gun as hard as could, until the most unexpected thing happened. Upon her tight, frightened grip, the gun began to glow. It began to glow white with a purple tint. Until the gun;s form began to grow. It kept growing until it was about twice its size. The glow faded away, only to reveal a beautiful gold surface. Ratchet and Talwyn were staring at the whole scene, paralyzed by both amazement and confusion. Ratchet was especially amazed, he managed to say three things "What the f-"

Circuit looked away as she pulled the trigger on the Gold Blaster. It fired on large shot, which went right through the robot's torso. Little green cracks formed all over the robot, then it shattered into shards like glass, which turned back into the little particles and flew back into the database.

Circuit stood there, shaking. Her heartbeat slowed down a little bit, but it was still beating very fast and very hard, so hard that it hurt her a little bit. She saw the large Gold Blaster in her hand, which she threw to the ground, making it glow and revert back into its normal form. The sudden glow frightened the little robot even more. She fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around herself. Ratchet and Talwyn rushed out of the control room. "Circuit!" Ratchet yelled as he rushed to her side. "Are you okay?" he asked, about to touch her shoulder. Instead of an answer, Circuit turned around and buried her face into Ratchet's shirt, tears, which were like brownish water, rolling down her face. "Please do not make me do that again!" She said through her sobs. "No, no, you're done. You don't have to shoot another gun," Ratchet said, taking her in his arms. He felt terrible. He didn't expect any of that to happen, he just thought that she would destroy the hologram, end of story. But no, much more happened. And the Blaster...she somehow made it upgrade into the Golden Blaster. How in the world did she do that? Though she didn't seem that she was in the mood to talk about it, he asked her anyway "Circuit...how did you make the blaster upgrade itself?" "I...I do not know," she replied, still sobbing. "Oh..." Ratchet said, with more disappointment in his voice than he intended. "I am sorry that I cannot tell you," Circuit said, looking up at him. "No, it's alright. Now calm down, calm down," he said as he felt Circuit's shaking. He looked up at Talwyn, who also had a sad face. "Come on, I'll take you to your room," Ratchet got a better grip on her and picked her up. "Can I just ask for one thing?" "Of course." "Do not let Clank see me like this." "No, no he's not going to see you...I promise."

Ratchet and Talwyn took Circuit to her quarters, making sure that neither Clank, Cronk, or Zephyr saw her. Circuit had calmed down a lot when they arrived. Ratchet asked her if she wanted him to stay there with her, but she said no. It's not that she didn't want Ratchet around her, she just didn't want him to waste his time with her. So, she picked up a book and started to read it when Ratchet looked back at her, making it look like she was doing something.

Several hours later

Circuit's door opened, and a very familiar Lombax popped in. He smiled at her "Okay then, you're not dead. I'm going to bed, you need anything?" Circuit shook her head "No, I am fine. You and Clank have a good night." "Actually, Clank isn't staying in my room. He got his own room so he can stay up late reading books, and I can't sleep with a lamp on." Circuit simply smiled and nodded, then returned to her book. A question had formed in her mind when Ratchet said that Clank won't be accompanying him to his room, leading to an embarrassing request of her's. But she looked away before she could ask, because she knew that he would say no. Ratchet walked over to her "You sure you okay?" "I am fine Ratchet, really. Just a bit tired." The Lombax stared at her for a second, then shrugged "Alright, if you say so." He walked across the room, about to leave. Circuit wanted to ask her question, but she was afraid of the answer. But, she decided that it wouldn't hurt to try.

"Um...R-Ratchet?" Circuit called out for the Lombax quietly. But with his big ears, Ratchet had no problem hearing the little robot call his name. "Yeah?" Ratchet said, stopping at the door. "I...I was wondering..." Her voice trailed off, this was more embarrassing than she had predicted it to be. Ratchet was now fully turned around "What?" Circuit shifted uncomfortably. She could feel her face starting to warm up. She was nervous about what his response would be to her request. Would he laugh? Would he say no? "Well, it is just that...if you do not mind...can I uh..." He's going to say no, turn back while you still can. "Since Clank is not...since you are..." You've only known him for a week, he is not going to say yes. "What is it?" Ratchet said, somewhat impatient. Circuit noticed how irritated he was becoming. She sighed and lowered her head slightly "I uh...uh...nevermind."

Ratchet grinned a little. Circuit was too embarrassed to ask him. It was just like the night when Clank told him that the nightstand in their room wasn't very comfortable and Ratchet offered him a spot in his bed. The look on Clank's face had made him laugh. It was a mixture of happiness and embarrassment. Ratchet nearly laughed just thinking about it. But...this time was different. Ratchet didn't laugh or tease Circuit about what she wanted. She had just been scared to tears by a hologram. And that gun that she used...how in the world did she do that? It was a complete mystery. But none of that mattered right now, it was time for bed and Circuit didn't look like she was up for sleeping in a room by herself. It had been a rough day. He gave her a look "Are you asking me if I'll let you sleep in my bed?" "Uhhh..." was all she replied with, that and a single nod. Ratchet smiled even more. He knew it. "...Alright. Come on." What? Really? You do not mind?" Circuit said, her eyes full of hope "Because I do not wish to be a burden." "No, I don't mind," Ratchet replied, walking over to the bed and picking Circuit up. then walked over to the door "And stop calling yourself a burden. Your being a burden to me is like saying that frosting a burden to cake. And I'm talking, like, cream cheese frosting, the good stuff!" "You still confuse me," she said. "You confuse me," Ratchet said, looking down at her. She laughed at him.

Ratchet set Circuit down on his bed. She scooted over near the edge of it, so when Ratchet laid down, he could have some room. The Lombax stretched and yawned as he walked towards the door again, but this time he turned off the lights. The only light source in the room were Circuit's eyes, which Ratchet used to locate his bed. He laid down, covering himself up with the soft comforter. He looked at Circuit "Need any blanket?" She shook her head "No, I am good. Look." She removed her jacket from her body, then used it like a blanket. Ratchet gave her a look "I don't think so." He took a corner of his blanket and threw it over Circuit. It went over her head and it took her a minute to find her way out of it. When she surfaced, she noticed that Ratchet was laughing at her. She smiled and rolled her eyes. Then, her face got a bit more serious. Out of nowhere, she asked "Ratchet, that thing that I destroyed at the shooting range...was that the Nefarious person you were talking about." Ratchet's laughing seized immediately when asked that question. He nodded "Yes, that was Doctor Nefarious." "I thought that I recognized him. Maybe he was the one who built me. Maybe he-" A fuzzy hand to the face stopped her "Circuit, please, I don't want to talk about this. The last thing I want to think about is if Nefarious created you. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. It doesn't matter anymore. What matters is that you're here with us now. So even if Nefarious did make you, he can't get to you now. And we're going to keep it that way." He didn't get an answer, only a few laughs. He looked amusingly confused "What's so funny?" She placed a hand on the back of Ratchet's hand, removing her face from it. "You're soft," she said in between a few giggles. "Oh my gosh, you're right. It's almost like I'm a giant cat or something," Ratchet said, gazing at his hand dramatically. Circuit covered her mouth and laughed, Ratchet laughing along with her. He just had to admit it, he loved this little robot. "Alright, come on now we're both tired, let's get some sleep," he said. "Okay," Circuit replied with a nod of her head. Ratchet smiled at her, then closed his eyes to get to sleep.

Within several minutes of darkness, Ratchet was finally ready to drift into slumber. Until felt felt some sort of disturbance on the bed. Then he felt metal on his chest, followed by faint snoring. Circuit had fallen asleep right next to him, and he meant RIGHT next to him. It was weird, some times Clank would do the exact same thing. He felt the need to turn over, but Circuit looked so comfortable. So, instead of waking her up, he simply wrapped his arms around her, holding her like a robotic teddy bear, and started doing some faint snoring himself.

Circuit had no nightmares that night.

"Sir, the commandos are ready, where shall I deploy them?" Lawrence asked as he walked into the room. "Eh, I don't know, surprise whatever planet citizens you want. Pick a peaceful one so they can't fight back though," replied Nefarious. "Planet Lumos it is," said the butler "and you want them to take the specific target?"

"Yes, I need answers. So many answers. If she's alive, I want to know why and how. And what she's told to who."

"I will deploy the commandos immediately. And what shall we do with him?"

"I'm saving him for a certain little girl. I'm sure that they'll be positively ecstatic to see each other. And then, when he has her trust, BAM! She'll be back on our side!"

"I don't recall her ever being on our-"

"SILENCE! Now go and send out those war machines, I'm getting impatient!"

"Yes sir," the butler scurried out of the room. Nefarious grabbed a TV remote and turned on the nearest screen, which had a still frame of a little purple eyed robot on a Bombsled with a certain Lombax and green eyed robot. "I'm coming for you my little accident!"

EVEN. LONGER. CHAPTER. HOLY. ORVUS.

If you are having a hard time handling the cuteness and surprising sh*t in this chapter, there's a Feels Hospital two miles from here.

So, the cuteness between Ratchet and Circuit is nearly over, and the wave of Clank and Circuit cuteness is almost here!

Make sure to leave a review (please!) while picking up your complimentary toaster!

This is Amberdiamondswords, Lordess of Diamond Swordness, pledger to Tobuscus, signing off!