Alright, so before we begin the story today, I have a few things to say.
First off, why is the chapter early? Well, that's because I turned 18 yesterday morning! So my weekend is gonna be pretty busy, too busy to upload something and give it the time it deserves.
Secondly, I thought that today would be the best day to upload something as today marks my
Then there's another point. Someone attempted to flame this story not once but twice. If y'all want a good laugh take a look below, here's what they wrote.
Attempt number 1:
"Lol don't worry.
No one would want to steal a s*** Gary Sue OC that magically knows what everything and everyone is and pulls s*** from his a** from no where to solve problems. Just saying.
PS you're just regurgitating stuff from the game (this goes for your other stories btw) and adding insignificant pieces to it to barely change it. It's like chewing on a piece of gum, spitting it back out, and expecting it to look better. Learn to write dude, because what you're doing isn't it.
Lol have a good day sir."
Attempt number 2:
"Lol.
Upset that someone used your character.
Yes. Because someone would want an oversold piece of s*** Gary-Stu your character is, right? Someone who magically has answers to everything and kills the suspension in the story. Your so called OC is ruining the stories he's in, like he's the main character. The way you put him in the spotlight, hell, he should be. Not to mention you're literally just regurgitating s*** from the games word for word. It's pathetic. That's not a story. And that's not how you become a better writer. If you want to settle for mediocrity then stay the path you're on with flat, overpowered and unnecessary OCs and no unique story line. Go ahead.
And have a good day."
Personally I find it rather cute that this person put so much time into writing two reviews for a story they don't like. But since this is another one of those 'guest reviewer troll wannabes' they're bound to come back and see how I react. Well, dear guest reviewer (because you obviously don't have the stones to come at me with a real account), your argument is invalid. Allow me to point out that the very first story I posted on this website, which also contained Hypernova in an even stronger form, rose to become the tenth most reviewed story in this entire archive. Since 'research' seems not to be in your dictionary (the correct term you are referring to is 'mary sue' by the way, funny how you make the same mistake twice, lmao) that's tenth out of roughly 1000 stories. True Heroes may have only a small amount of reviews by comparison but the visitor counts do not lie, so I presume I succeeded in coming up with an appealing plot in both cases. TLDR, guest reviewer troll wannabe, do your research and at least have the guts to get a real account. Because your writing style gives a clear indication of your IQ I bet you'll come back for more, so allow me to make a statement for all people considering to flame this story: save yourself the time and effort, you're not gonna bring me down.
Considering the fact that I follow the original plot, if you're going to criticize that go ahead and criticize the various other stories on this website that do the same thing, yet are all immensely popular. An example would be the long-running series by my good friend RevenantReaper337, whose stories have risen to the number one and number nine spot in the archive, so that's another invalid argument. Regarding the unique storyline, bravo, again no research, if you would have looked past that big mouth of yours, dear guest reviewer, you would have seen the various plot changes I have made.
Despite literally trying to be rude, the guest reviewer does have a point in the fact that an overpowered character generally makes a story less enjoyable. So, for all of you that feel the same way, I'll explain some stuff.
I actually wanted to wait with this and explain it in the story after the Deplanetizer, but it seems now is as good a time as any. First off, every ability Hypernova has wasn't sucked out of my thumb but can be backed up by science. I shall explain some of his abilities and why they bring big downsides with them.
First off, immortality. Yes, Hypernova is immortal. So, how does this work? Simple, using the knowledge of Biology he has figured out a way to upgrade his immune system greatly, up to the point where disease and age are reduced to an absolute minimum. The downside of this, however, is that he is afraid to grow attached to people. Making acquaintances only means growing attached to people that he will inevitably lose. Every time he looks at his friends he cannot do so without a pang of hurt, knowing that his time with them is extremely limited and that he will outlive them.
Next is invincibility. I'm not entirely happy with the way this power is portrayed myself, but in Epilogue I explained it with the armor consisting of element 150, nicknamed Indestructum, of which the atoms would have an immensely strong bond with each other that could only be weakened by the presence of another element, 149. The classic Superman Vs. Kryptonite situation I have since realized, and something I'm not happy with. Especially since this is one of the few things about this OC that a scientist can call bullsh*t on since elements of this size are not stable. Therefore in True Heroes his armor is actually rather weak. It's a personal shield tanking the damage at the cost of energy, which I'll get to now.
Energy. As you all may have noticed, Hypernova seems to have a large amount of energy at his disposal that he can use in many ways. This conversion of energy into solid objects can actually happen because, as Einstein proved, mass and energy are linked. This also means however, that with his immense energy storage, Hypernova weighs a ton, enough to disturb a celestial body. To combat this he constantly has to use energy to avoid his armor from collapsing in on him and cause a catastrophe. This means that he is a walking time bomb, if he runs out of energy, not only he but people in a large radius will die, because as the armor collapses in on itself there is another factor that comes into play. For emergency moments he has a built-in Hydrogen storage and a small fusion reactor called a 'tokamak'. Those reactors have been made in real-life and contain the heat using magnetism. As the armor collapses however, it becomes hot enough for the hydrogen to trigger a nuclear explosion. This means that his biggest downside is conserving energy. He has enough power to cause immense destruction, but doing so would deal massive collateral damage. I'm actually thinking of making a game later in my life in which you play as Hypernova and are basically OP as living heck, with the challenge being not letting all of that power get to your head. It's definitely a concept that needs more work but for now it supports my point: the cost of his energy storage is being a living bomb and constantly having to stay sharp to avoid that power getting to his head. As you saw in the chapter 'Trains, Bombs and Upgrades' he cannot always stop himself.
He also has an irrational fear of losing the people important to him. If you want to take out Hypernova, don't go after the man himself but to the people he cares about, and you'll destroy him. But if you are hellbent on destroying him, just keep shooting and his shield will fail, but as I said earlier, it will trigger a massive detonation.
Lastly, he is absolutely obsessed with bringing his dead relatives back, which will backfire on him later, just like all of his powers do, which is another point of this character: every ability of his will either backfire on him or be misused at some point during the story.
But in the end, am I happy with this character? Despite the amount of thought put into developing his abilities, I'm still not entirely happy with the result, and the nerf hammer is still hanging over Hypernova's head.
But the biggest part about Hypernova is the message. A wise man once said, 'if a young scientist says that something is possible, they are most certainly right, but if an old and respected scientist says that something is impossible, they are most definitely wrong'. Hypernova is the result of me trying to come up with a character that seems to be impossible but, if you look closer, instead proves the wonderful properties that the universe that we live in has. He can exist out there. Secondly it's me trying to break through with a character that breaks the taboo that every character must have at least a few obvious weaknesses. It's a gaming cliché, that bad guys have this obvious weak point, which is even more unrealistic in my opinion. A villain that wants to take down Hypernova has to do in-depth research and come up with a solid plan, dig through everything they can find to find something to use, because let's face it, no self-respecting hero would walk around with his weak points obviously visible and exploitable without at least trying to cover them up for their own safety. In Hypernova's case, he certainly thought this through and came up with as much counters to possible exploits as possible as well as trying to hide his weaknesses as best as he possibly can.
Anyhow, did I expect something like this to happen? Yes, I did. I knew what I was doing when I uploaded a story containing an overpowered character. In the end, am I a bad writer? I doubt it, simply because I've managed to make reading about an overpowered character enjoyable enough for it to be ranked tenth on the most reviewed list. That was the challenge I went for with this character, see if I could make a character that seems impossible (but is not) and still make it enjoyable, or at least to some extent.
So what does this all mean? I'm still not happy with the character and some scenes in this story, and Hypernova's sheer power is actually a thorn in my side because of the challenge of making it enjoyable. With every chapter I need to keep the usage of his powers realistic (if he has that much power at his disposal it would be stupid of him to not use it to protect his friends and allies) and still not make it too pressurized in the chapters. Hypernova's not the main character, this is Ratchet and Clank's story. Perhaps the biggest eyecatcher that I'm not happy with is that this character indeed seems to kill off a lot of suspension that the element of mortality brings with it.
Thus, I'm not gonna spoil what happens, but that's why the Deplanetizer chapter is going to be a relief for me. Thankfully it's only a few chapters away.
So what am I going to do? Right now, nothing. The chapters up ahead have been thought up in such a way that Hypernova's powers aren't too pressurized whilst keeping the focus on the true main characters, or at least one of them. After that I'll try my best to not let his powers outweigh the other characters until we reach the Deplanetizer.
Maybe I'll rewrite these stories one day with a version of Hypernova that is developed even further, but that's something for the future. Right now, I think you've all read more than enough author's notes and are probably wondering when I'm going to get to the story that you're here for. So, TLDR: have faith, reader. There's much more to Hypernova than I'm revealing. I have not played all the cards yet.
And everything will go down when the Deplanetizer gets into the picture.
Now, there is one last thing I have to say before we get to the reviews and then the story: I'm thankful. Thank you to all of you that read my stories despite Hypernova. When I uploaded my very first chapter I thought 'Well, here goes. I'm probably not gonna get any kind of attention with such a character anyway', but here we are, over 200 reviews and over 3000 visitors later, and I'm immensely thankful for every single one of them. The fact that you people are still here regardless of an overpowered character is one of the biggest compliments I can get as a writer.
But I've rambled on for far too long. Proceed, dear reader, I won't be holding you up for longer.
bajy: "Love this chapter!
it was great!
and I can see it, Ratchet x Angela!
Qwark... I always never liked him, he is okay WHEN he is being REAL honest and modest, but otherwise, as one of his enemies has said, he's the galaxy's biggest joke...
Important ranger business my left foot!
But don't worry I won't spoil, I'm not really like that
anyways, I wonder what will happen next?
looking forward to reading more soon!"
Thank you! As for your assumption regarding those two characters, I won't be spoiling that part. Qwark... he's not evil but rather foolish. I like the touch they gave him in the re-imagening, making him a villain yet still be relate-able. But with all of that careless acting in the movie and game I'm surprised nobody calls him out on it, or perhaps it only underlines the point Elaris makes further. Who knows? Anyhow, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter just as much as the previous ones.
Max Chronicle: "(Reads ratings) Yep... 12K HD, it blew up my flipping mind. I going to give this chapter a capital Spiz rating and a bonus positive review because of it's early release. (Yes!)
Now, about Torn Souls... I read it, very much enjoyed it, but here's the killer.
a) I didn't leave a review and
b) I didn't favorite it.
WHAT THE FRIDGE?!
(Must of forgot too, I'm not sure :(, immediately favs it)
And yes, I won't send any Zurkons your way. In fact, I'd say they taught you the errors of your ways. Excellent.
Here to another great chapter, TWG!
Max out.
P.S. Yoohoo, Mr. Zurkon enjoys watching stupid aliens be killed."
Thanks! And about Torn Souls, I was wondering if you had seen it as it stayed so eerily quiet over there, but then again that's what I get for uploading a story that can only truly be understood and appreciated by the group of people that still read the Epilogue series. Oh, well. As for those Zurkons, uh... *eyes the pile of scrap behind him* yeah... mission accomplished? Anyhow, thank you once again, here's hoping this chapter lives up to your expectations.
The hatch in the back of the ship slowly opening up, Ratchet and Cora skillfully flew their spacecrafts into the Phoenix Mothership before parking them next to Brax' Star Jumper.
They quickly headed to the bridge, where they found Elaris sitting at a table. Various equipment was scattered about, the infobot lying motionless on the table with a lamp pointed at it to help Elaris see.
Elaris turned to Ratchet, Clank, Cora and Angela as they approached her. Elaris slowly shook her head. "I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do. The damage is too severe."
"Let me look." Hypernova tiredly said. "Ratchet, I'd like to have your help here too. What's wrong with the little guy?"
"It as a ruptured power core, and that's something I can't replace."
"Nanotech, perhaps?"
"Infobots are specifically designed to carry no blueprint information that the nanobots can use." Clank said. "Nanotech would be blind."
Hypernova sighed. "I'm really going to regret this." he said, calling on his powers once more and using them to repair the damage done to the small power core. The second the power core began to come back online however, Hypernova fell backwards. Ratchet hurried over to him. "Are you okay?"
"Power. Can't speak."
Ratchet nodded. "Elaris, can you fly the Phoenix closer to the nearest star?"
"Sure, but why?"
"If I throw Hypernova out the airlock near a star he'll recharge much faster."
"Excellent." Hypernova said, carefully using as few words as possible. Ratchet tried to pick him up only to realize how heavily he had underestimated the weight of the hero in white. "Dense alloy. Forget it." said hero mumbled.
Elaris flew the ship to the nearest star regardless. "Guys, the light's gonna be intense for a few moments." Elaris warned before deactivating the luminosity compensators on the front windows. Immediately a blast of light shined through, giving Hypernova a jump start. He quickly got back up and reactivated the compensators to block out the harsh light. "Thank you." he said. "It's only 1%, but it's enough to keep me going for now. I'm going outside to recharge further, we'll regroup on Kerwan."
Sure enough, Hypernova shot out of the airlock, right at the surface of the star. He flew closer and closer until he was hovering over the corona.
The sheer amount of light pouring out of the blazing fireball was immense, enough to recharge Hypernova in a couple of hours.
Fifteen minutes later however he set sail for Kerwan, where the Ranger mothership was currently landing behind the Hall of Heroes.
Elaris and Clank headed to her office immediately, taking the jetpack Ratchet acquired with them to replicate it for the other Rangers.
Meanwhile, aside from assisting Elaris Clank kept a close eye on the infobot Ratchet found, that could wake up any second now.
Qwark had returned from his 'urgent Ranger business' and was currently in his quarters, coming up with a plan of attack for Skorg City, Quartu.
Shortly after, Hypernova landed outside the Hall of Heroes and requested for Ratchet and Angela to meet up with him in an hour at the indoor training center. Said two Lombaxes used the sixty minutes at their disposal to their advantage by going out for lunch.
"I'm starving, you?" Ratchet asked as they stepped onto an air taxi.
"Yeah." she said. "I haven't eaten since yesterday."
Because Ratchet wasn't quite familiar with the continent-sized city they were in, they decided to just head to the nearest shopping center and buy a holo-map of the city. Said map turned out to be a downloadable feature that was quickly integrated into Ratchet's Quick-Select, allowing him to open up an interactive map at will.
"Hmm... maybe that place?" Ratchet asked, pointing at a restaurant downtown. The map's handy interactive feature involved a life feed showing the amount of unoccupied tables and waiting times at partnered restaurants. The restaurant in question seemed to have a lot of free tables and a short waiting time. Ratchet decided to look up the menu, another handy feature of the interactive map.
Both Lombaxes liked the list of offered dishes, and off they went.
It was a short walk, the restaurant only being a few blocks away. Both Lombaxes used the time they had to admire the city during the ten minute journey to the restaurant.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" she asked, taking in the huge buildings everywhere.
"I know, right?" Ratchet replied as they reached the restaurant.
They sat down at an empty table and ordered, and soon enough, they were eating. "So... where did you come from?" Ratchet asked.
"I... I can't remember." she lied. "What about you?"
"Veldin." Ratchet said. "I've been living there all my life. I was raised by a mechanic there, Grimroth Razz. He practically found me at his doorstep one night when I was but an infant. And when I say 'practically', I mean that I was inside a crashed escape pod that slammed into the ground in front of his garage one night." Ratchet said. He sighed. "No name, no message, nothing. He didn't know who I was and neither did I. Grim's become my mentor and close friend."
"Don't you ever wonder..."
"If, and if so, where there are any relatives of mine? Of course I do."
"How do you cope with the fact that there are so many mysteries about yourself?"
Ratchet shrugged. "The past already happened. We can only learn from it, but we can't change it. What happened, happened. So then why should I waste my time trying to figure out something that I can't change even if I wanted to when there are better things I could be doing?"
"Good point."
Ratchet nodded. "That, and... Hypernova knows more than he's telling me, but he's keeping it all a secret."
"What?"
"Yeah. According to him I'd be in danger or something if I knew the truth."
"Then what the hell happened?" Angela mumbled, staring at the golden buildings making up Aleero City.
A few minutes later they had finished eating. Ratchet paid for the food before they headed back to the Hall of Heroes.
"You're late." Hypernova remarked as the two Lombaxes met up with him.
"Sorry, we got held up in traffic." Ratchet apologized.
"Eh, it's no problem. As long as you two come back in one piece, that is."
They entered the training room. Ratchet frowned when he saw that it was in fact nothing more than a rectangular room with a blue color and a white, grid-like pattern.
As if he could read Ratchet's mind, Hypernova spoke up. "Don't judge this room until you've seen it in action."
Suddenly, the entire room began to change, and they found themselves in the middle of a ruined city.
The buildings had a design that neither Lombax had ever seen before, with various symbols carved into the rocks that the buildings consisted of.
They were in a small square that had been devastated, it was as if a huge knife had carved through the rock underneath their feet. The rest of the city was in a similar state.
"Where are we?" Ratchet asked.
Hypernova didn't respond at first. "Let's say, an old memory of mine. Point is, it's a battlefield, and the same thing that happened to this city will happen to Aleero City if we're not prepared. So view it as some mental stimulation to try your best."
A double-ended wrench consisting of cyan energy formed in his hands. "Okay, I'm gonna teach you two some combat tricks from the old Lombax Praetorian Guard. They mostly revolve around meelee combat, but you'll be surprised by the chaos you can create with only a wrench if done right. Alright, the first thing to do is to go stand like this."
Hypernova spread his legs a little, then moved his left feet back a step. "From this position you can easily do anything. Block, attack, run, you name it. Now, the 'guard stance' is holding your wrench in your right hand like this." Hypernova said, moving his right hand. "Let one head rest on the ground while the other extends to your shoulder, and make sure the back of your hand is facing away from you."
Two double-ended wrenches materialized in front of the two Lombaxes, and they mimicked Hypernova's pose.
"Very good. Now, you can deflect bullets with your wrench if you're fast enough, and I mean really, really fast. Hold your wrench like this." he said, holding his wrench horizontally in front of him. "Keep it close to your body but not too close, so that you can take the impact of the bullet. Now, the trick to make it spin is passing the wrench from hand to hand whilst rotating them around the wrist of the other hand. Let me give you an example by demonstrating the move in slow-motion."
They trained for several hours, Hypernova teaching them various handy moves. After they had gotten the hang of the Guardian Spin, he taught them the Comet Strike, which involved throwing your wrench at an enemy in such a way that it'd swoop right back at you. Ratchet was already familiar with the move but Angela wasn't.
After that, Hypernova caused the room to create some holographical enemies for them to defeat.
A squad of four Blarg. Two of them opened fire at them immediately while the two others tried to close in on them.
Ratchet got in front of Angela and performed an excellent Guardian Spin, the deflected bullets taking out one of the Blarg.
As soon as the enemy fire ceased, they seized the opportunity, Angela going for a Comet Strike while Ratchet engaged two Blarg with an overhead Hyper Strike, slamming his wrench against the ground with enough force to create a shockwave.
Suddenly however, one of the Blarg that Ratchet had been fighting teleported to a position behind the Lombax. "What the hell?! Blarg can't do that?!"
"But other enemies can." Hypernova said, getting a flashback of an enemy he hoped he would never see again. "This is the most important part of combat – improvising. In the end, it's your life, defend it!"
Ratchet nodded. He slammed one end of the wrench into the ground and used it to launch himself at his attacker feet-first, scoring a knock-out, before landing on his stomach on purpose and rolling out of the way of the bullets the teleported Blarg sent his way.
Meanwhile Angela had reached her opponent after trying to close the distance between them. Ramming her wrench into the ground, she launcher herself over her opponent before forcefully kicking her legs against the Blarg's neck.
As soon as he had been dealt with, she came to Ratchet's aid, who had spent the last minute dodging.
Angela went for a Hyper-Strike, mimicking Ratchet's earlier attack. The Blarg stepped out of the way and attempted to hit her with his weapon, but Ratchet was faster. He grabbed one of the heads of his wrench and went for a low sweep, making the Blarg fall over. Angela capitalized immediately by putting her foot down on the Blarg's hand whilst pinning his neck to the ground with her wrench. "Check mate."
Hypernova applauded. "Well done! But before we call it a day, there's one last opponent you two have to defeat.
The hero in white began to glow until the blinding light made it impossible to see any details. When the light faded, the two Lombaxes gasped.
A pair of silver-lined glasses rested on his nose, and a pair of calm, brown eyes greeted them from behind the slightly curved glass. His body was covered in chocolate-brown fur with darker stripes, and the fur on his head was slightly longer to resemble hair. He was wearing black jeans and a black vest over a white shirt.
"Me." Hypernova said as he grabbed a double-ended wrench from his back.
Whoo, bit of a short chapter this time but I wanted to end it on this little cliffhanger. Finally Hypernova gets a face.
Next chapter will be significantly longer, though I may upload it mid-week instead of next Saturday.
So for those that wonder, is the conclusion of the story already around the corner? In the game and movie the events after Quartu are suddenly following each other up at a rather rapid pace. I'll be adding some more stuff to the ending chapters to lengthen that part of the story up a little. Perhaps the biggest challenge for me will be explaining the power source of the Deplanetizer. For those that don't know I won't spoil it but it's not that realistic. Then again, with the time that the R&C universe is set in, I think I can come up with some sci-fi style explanation for it.
Either way, I hope to see you all in the next chapter. As always reviewers are welcome, flamers are not. If you are considering to flame this story, do everyone a favor and click the red X at the top-right corner of your screen. If there's something on your mind that you'd like to point out to me, please do so with respect. The term is 'constructive criticism', pointing out flaws in a work with respect to the author and with the goal of helping the author improve their work, which is something writers will only appreciate.
Thank you for reading, and again, hope to see you all in the next chapter.
