Again I am quite late with the next chapter, but I am still on time. But since it's 11.43 P.M. as I'm writing this and since my eyes are not quite happy about me still being awake this late, I will just reply to the reviews and end the author's notes there.
Reviews:
Max Chronicle: "(Two seconds later, Ratchet screams at his pal dashes off with the pictures, laughing his signature laugh we all know and love)
Anyway, you said you had a surprise for the Ratchet/Sasha chapter. I was surprised...so you succeeded.
Gift Wrapping, YESSS!
Thanks for using my ideas though...laughed at them all, ESPECIALLY the gifts Clank got everyone *ahem* Qwark *ahem*
Still on time ands we all have three days left. Almost there.
Max out"
Yeah, that's probably what would've happened a few seconds later. And those ideas were brilliant, so I was more than happy to use them. And yes, almost there. I can't believe that I've almost done it: one new chapter every day for more than a week!
Oneshot 14
Days Until Christmas Eve: 2
Gift-Wrapping
Ratchet sat down on the couch with a sigh. "Finally, we're back home!"
Clank pulled him back up. "Do not relax yet, there is one more thing we have to do first."
"What?"
"I do not know much about Christmas, but judging by the presents that are already underneath the Christmas tree, we need to wrap them in colorful paper first."
Ratchet groaned. "Gift-wrapping, yes."
Then he grinned sheepishly. "Will do that later."
Clank's eyes narrowed. "No, you will do it now."
"Alright, alright, I was just kidding, pal!"
While Clank cleared the table, Ratchet got gift paper and tape. Clank pulled the bags with the presents he bought over to a chair. He sat down, but then he noticed Ratchet sitting down across from him. "Don't!"
Ratchet raised a brow in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"This way, you'll see the gift I bought for you!"
Ratchet's eyes widened in realisation. "Clank's gift... I FORGOT TO BUY A GIFT FOR CLANK!"
"I see you understand my point?" Clank said, noticing Ratchet's widened eyes.
"Uuuuh... yeah! Sure! Happy gift-wrapping!" Ratchet said, storming out of the room. Clank tilted his head in confusion. "What was that about?"
He shrugged it off and started to wrap the gifts he bought. Meanwhile, Ratchet was in the garage, walking back and forth. "How could I forget to buy a gift for Clank?!" He kept mentally yelling at himself.
Clank, in the meantime, was having quite a lot of trouble with wrapping his gifts. He was used to his small, robotic, three-fingered hands instead of his organic, large, five-fingered ones. Ratchet's games were easy to wrap since they were roughly rectangular, but Qwark's 'Number #1 Hero' mug was a lot of trouble.
Ratchet's ears perked up at the sound of a loud yelp. He ran towards Clank... only to find the grey Lombax wrapped in a few meters of tape. Clank stared at Ratchet with wide eyes. "Erm... I am a bit stuck."
Ratchet burst out laughing. "Yeah, Clank. 'Stick around', ahaha!"
"Ratchet! This is not funny!"
"It is, actually, but I'll cut you loose nevertheless."
"You better!"
Ratchet cut through the tape, but there were still a few meters worth of tape stuck to Clank. "Okay... you are going to feel this for a sec."
"Oh, no..."
Ratchet carefully pulled the tape off clank. The tape glued to Clank's clothing didn't hurt, of course, but the tape sticking to his fur was much harder to remove.
Ratchet used a wet towel to weaken the glue then carefully pulled the tape off Clank. In a few minutes Clank was tape-free again. "Alright, at last all of the glue is gone. However, how did you get stuck like that in the first place?"
"I honestly do not know." Clank replied. Ratchet walked off again so Clank could finish wrapping his gifts. While Ratchet was once again walking back and forth in the garage, scolding himself and asking himself how he could possibly forget Clank out of all people, suddenly, his cell phone started to ring. "Hello?"
"Mr. Ratchet? It's professor Xeras. Unfortunately we haven't quite found a way to reverse the process permanently. We did, however, create a special holo-watch. It isn't just a cool gadget, it also allows Clank to turn robotic or organic at any time. And no, he will not transform back if he takes off the watch. It's a temporary solution, but we managed to get it finished in time for Christmas. Professor Nucleus is already on his way to deliver the gadget personally."
Ratchet suddenly had an idea. "Great! However, he can't land in front of my house. Tell him to land at the parking garage of the appartment block. I'll meet him there."
"I've sent him the message. Merry Christmas!"
"Merry Christmas to you too, and thanks."
Ratchet ended the call, grabbed his coat, and ran out of the appartment. "Ratchet, I didn't say you needed to-"
Ratchet closed the door behind him. "...leave the appartment."
Clank rolled his eyes and got back to work.
Ratchet ran to the parking garage and arrived just in time to see Professor Nucleus land. After recieving the 'morph-watch' as the professor called it he ran back to his and Clank's appartment, startling Clank when he came running in. "Where did you run off to?!"
"Just went for a walk, no problems." Ratchet replied, holding the watch behind his back.
"Hmm. Well, I am done wrapping gifts. Your turn."
Clank stood up and Ratchet sat down. While Clank was making something to eat, Ratchet quickly gift-wrapped the 'morph-watch'. "Ooh, he's going to love that one..." Ratchet thought.
{A few minutes later...}
"Clank?"
"Yes?" Clank said, poking his head around the corner.
"...I'm a bit stuck." Ratchet said, who was almost completely covered in tape... and lying on the floor.
Clank facepalmed. "Here we go again..."
As you can see, gift-wrapping is not quite easy for neither Ratchet nor Clank, and even though it is probably unforgivable that Ratchet forgot Clank out of all people, he did manage to find an interesting gift for the soon-no-longer-a-Lombax!
Also, sorry to everyone that this chapter is so short. I had very little time to write today. Also, I seem to have made a miscalculation: tomorrow's one-shot was supposed to be 'Christmas Eve', but tomorrow it's the 23rd, not the 24th of December. That's why this one-shot took place on the exact same day as 'Christmas shopping'.
The problem is that, due to the miscalculation, I have no idea what to write tomorrow! I have officially ran out of ideas for one-shots, so I'm currently working overtime to come up with a good idea. If any of you have a good idea, please let me know!
Also, tomorrow, I will probably spend the entire day writing. I have to finish tomorrow's chapter of Winter Special and I have to start working on the next chapter of Epilogue, which needs to be done by Christmas. And since Epilogue's next chapter is going to be a long one... I'm probably going to need the entire day.
