Lost and Found
The power came back on. His eyes glowed green, as his vision was restored. He was staring up into red, murky sky of Umbris. From what his databases said, this was definitely the place. Muddy, hot and dry.
The power soon went back to the rest of his body. It didn't seem like anything was broken, but it would be smart to do a routine check. He sat up and examined his surroundings. He could just see Quark's base on the horizon. It would take several hours to get there on foot, now they didn't have any other mode of transport. Around him were several dead trees and large rocks sitting on the murky desert floor.
A small jolt of electric energy passed through his body. Something wasn't right. Why did he feel so...tired? He had no reason to be. And wait a minute. Clank looked around the vast open plain. Where was Ratchet?
"Ratchet?" he called out, trying to get to his feet. There was no response but the piercing echo of the wind.
"Ratchet?!" He tried to get up again. The gears in his legs wouldn't work. It was like they had shut down. He was left sitting down in the middle of nowhere, miles from help, and if he was as unlucky as he has always been then there'd probably be some kind of creature that wanted to eat him nearby.
He stopped. There were noises coming from behind a large rock. Clank took up the best fighting stance he could-if there was any good fighting stance when you can't stand up. "Clank?" A long grey tail peeped out of the rock's side with a familiar knife end.
"Jinx!" Clank exhaled, "I thought you were an enemy!"
"Sorry." Jinx moved out from her hiding place. Thankfully, she didn't seem to badly injured-just a little bit shaken. She glanced over to the headquarters in the distance. "That were we need to go?" Clank nodded. "This Quark seems a bit flashy, if you ask me." She chuckled.
"Yes...well the captain is a superhero! What do you expect?"
She looked down at the ground, her ears drooping. She mumbled something. Clank looked up at her expectantly.
"Yes?" She snapped out of it. "Oh, nothing." She stared back at the horizon.
"So where do you think Ratchet is?"
"I do not know." Clank clutched his head. "I remember freefalling in the sky, and using my Heli-Pack to bring us both down. Something must have hit me on the head on our way down."
She bent down to Clank. "Wanna help me find him?"
"I would love to-once I get the gears in my leg running again." She looked at him in concern. "Why, what happened to your leg?" Clank merely shook his head.
"I do not know. When I regained consciousness, I felt slightly tired and couldn't move them. The gears do not seem to be functioning properly." Jinx walked over to the back of him. There was a small panel on the back of Clank's head. No doubt that'd hold the main processor.
You know you want to. Jinx battered at the voice in her head. "Ugh, don't you ever shut up?"
Just a little peak...he won't see a thing...
"Hey, you already got that chance in the pod. There's no way I'm doing another stunt like that."
Go on...it won't kill him...
"Yeah, actually it might. And you know that."
Clank turned his head towards her. "Who are you talking to?"
Jinx's fur stood up on end. Did she just say that aloud? "Uh...staying in that bunker did some things to me." She mumbled in embarrassment. Clank seemed to have bought it and nodded slightly before turning back to front.
She exhaled deeply. "You see what you did! You almost gave me away!" she mentally screamed. Jinx took a quick peek at the panel on Clank's head again. "Though it wouldn't hurt to do a little tinkering..." She snapped her fingers together, creating a small jolt of white light before placing her hand over the panel. Clank began to turn back again.
"NO!" Jinx yelled. He looked at her in the corner of his eye. "I'm just looking at your circuits. I think I can fix your legs."
"You are a mechanic?" The panel fell onto the ground, revealing a small circuit board.
"Something like that." She focused her energy on her palm and put the tips of her fingers onto the circuit board. Suddenly, her pupils constricted and her eyes turned a dark reddish colour. More of the while light exited her hand and into the circuit board. Clank pulled away as he heard the gears in his legs begin to click. Jinx drew back her hand and clenched it together. The light smothered in her palm and her eye colour regained its purple glow.
Clank wiggled his feet around before leaping off the ground. "What exactly did you do?" he said while looking down at his newly functioning legs.
Jinx snapped the panel back into place."Uh...just rewired some stuff. Nothing too much."
Clank didn't reply back but mumbled something in response. He took another glance at their surroundings. "Where do you think Ratchet is?" Jinx asked.
"Hopefully he is still alive. Which seems highly likely, considering he is very hard to kill." Clank started to walk off. Jinx quickly followed behind. "He should be nearby. If I do a bio-scan on our surroundings I may be able to identify his heat signature."
"Go figure." Jinx reached around her neck, hoping to find some comfort in her hidden pendant. She frowned and began to pat around her neck. The pendant was gone. "No. No, no NO!" Her eyes widened in shock. She couldn't have lost it in the crash could she? She was sure it was on her when she fell. That would mean it fell to the surface somewhere. Which probably meant it had been crushed to pieces by the impact force. "Ugh, you can't be serious." She muttered. Thankfully Clank was too focused on his bio-scan to notice her groaning. "How on earth could you have lost that? You stupid idiot!" she thought. "You keep it hidden for twelve years from that low life Bishop but you can't stop it from coming off your stupid neck when you free fall?!"
Clank stopped walking. He was staring at a short figure walking towards them. "Ratchet?" he called out. Jinx stopped too and stared at the figure. His golden ears gleamed in the red sunlight.
"Clank! Jinx!" he shouted back, then broke into a run. Clank was off in a dash towards him. Jinx watched both of them meet up and exchange relieved greetings.
"Man, I thought that you guys were dead!" Ratchet puffed out. "Don't you ever give me a shock like that again!"
Clank smiled. "What happened when we left the pod Ratchet?" He rubbed the back of his neck. "I guess when you turned on the Heli-Pack the force was too much for you. All I remember was you being blown off my back by the wind and me crashing into some dead tree."
Ratchet stood up to Jinx. "Oh, and uh..." he pulled out a small turquoise pendant, "I think this belongs to you." Jinx stared at it in disbelief. She snatched it out of his hand. "How did you...I mean...what?"
"Oh, and here I was expecting you to be all like, 'Oh my gosh, thanks so much'!" Jinx laughed at Ratchet's girly impression of her. "Do I really sound like that?"
"Well, maybe. Just a tad bit." Ratchet laughed back. Clank watched the awkward silence between them. "Well...thanks. Really." She eventually replied back.
Ratchet looked at the distance between them and Quark's headquarters. "Well, how far do you think that is?"
"I'd give an estimate of ten miles. If we hurry, we can make it before it gets dark."
"I'm all for that." Jinx said. Ratchet began to stride towards the base with his arms pumped in the air. "WHOO! Alright! Let's do this, yeah!" Jinx and Clank exchanged glances.
"Is he always like this?" she mouthed.
"It is probably the adrenaline rushing thought his brain. He'll get grumpy after about twenty minutes." He mouthed back. Jinx giggled at his reply as they followed the keen Lombax towards their next destination.
You know, thinking back on that moment that was probably the first time I ever saw Clank smile. It was surprisingly normal...for a robot. Yep, that was a good ten mile walk. Ratchet didn't stop complaining for the next couple of hours. First I think the reality of being ejected out of an escape pod hit him. Man, I thought I'd have to carry him there.
Come to think of it, that was the last good moment we had together for a long time.
Another chapter up! Unfortunately you guys may notice that I won't be updating for long periods of time for the next couple of months, since I'm really going to be drowning in school work and exams in two weeks time. Not looking forward to that...
I'll try to get another chapter up before September, but I can't make any promises :-(