Hello everyone! I'm super sorry I've taken so long to update! But between writers block, babysitting and a very tragic death in the family, I've had troubles finding much time to write :/ Sorry!
Thank you so much to all of you who've been reading, PMing, reviewing, faving and following this story! The support really helps me write!
Disclaimer's on my prof.!
Sorry for any spelling issues! Spellcheck isn't too fond of me x_x
Enjoy reading, please!
When Ratchet woke, it was to the sounds of people in the streets outside, oddly busy, it seemed. With a groan, he sat up, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand and stretching his other arm upward.
"What in the...?"
Clank, who had woken from recharge at the sound of Ratchet's own waking, jumped up onto the nearby windowsill, peering out of the partially opened window.
"I believe the festival has begun, Ratchet. That, or it is about to begin."
Ratchet frowned slightly to himself, standing and moving over, squinting slightly in the bright light of the early morning sun. He was rather surprised to see people milling about the streets so early. Many Lombax were setting up vendor stalls, and Ratchet could smell the many mingling scents of food being prepared to be sold. Children ran around, laughing and playing, dressed in clothing that was...Different, from the usual attire he saw others dress in usually.
"Huh..."
Ratchet and Clank looked up when the door opened, and Kaden walked in, expression cheerful as he set down a parcel on the now empty bed.
"Morning, you two! Sleep well? I hope so because we've got a big day ahead of us!"
Ratchet turned to fully face the older Lombax, brows furrowed.
"What do you mean?"
Kaden gave a surprised laugh.
"Are you kidding? You've been looking out the window! Today's the first day of the festival! C'mon, today's a day for fun, not sleeping in!" He grabbed at Ratchet's arm, pulling him over to the bed. "Look, your mom and I even got you some clothes for it!"
Ratchet wrinkled his nose as he looked at the package.
"I'm...Pretty sure I can pick out my own clothing..."
Kaden blinked, then a look of realization flashed over his face.
"Oh! No, no, I didn't mean it like that!" He laughed. "The Festival of Us celebrates our race's past, and therefore most like to dress in some of the clothing our ancestors would wear. It's all part of the fun, yeah?"
With a grin, the man patted the package on the bed.
"Go ahead and get dressed, I'll be waiting downstairs."
Ratchet and Clank watched as the tall Lombax strode out, a slight bounce in his step. Then, the teen and robot looked at one another blankly.
A long silence...
"Was he...Skipping?"
Clank only shrugged, jumping down from the windowsill and going over before jumping up onto the bed to look at the parcel curiously. Ratchet smiled, then, pulling at the string that tied the package shut, he opened the box.
"Woah..."
There, inside the package, was a pair of loose fitting pants of a dark brown with a slit cut out for a Lombax's tail. There was also a sleeveless, high-collared shirt that had light weight plating covering it and one shoulder-guard. A pair of silver arm-guards had simple, decorative engravings and looked to be sized for his upper arms. A strange silver clip was at the bottom of the package, and testing a theory, Ratchet found it fitted along the outside of his ear, about three inches up and down the warm, furry appendage.
"Nice..!" Ratchet laughed out breathlessly. His ancestors, apparently, had style.
"Clank, go make sure my dad doesn't knock anything over in his excitement, yeah?"
The little mech nodded.
"Very well."
When Ratchet came down, he was surprised to find only Kaden in the kitchen, his mother no where in sight.
"Where's-?"
"Your mother?" Kaden interjected, smiling as he crossed his arms. "She's helping set up the race route, there's going to be a small ship race tomorrow. And as the most experienced pilot in the city, she got roped into the set up."
Ratchet froze.
"Wait...Mom's a pilot?"
Kaden laughed.
"Of course! What else would she do all day? Sure she can cook and clean, but your mom isn't some boring house wife, she's got too much energy for that." He moved over, patting away the wrinkles from the teen's shirt. "Now c'mon, we can get some breakfast on the way."
"Where are we going?"
Clank, who waited by the kitchen's doorway, piped up.
"I have been informed that we are going to surprise General Azimuth while he is on his patrol of the city square."
Ratchet's silently mouthed an 'ah' of understanding, nodding.
"Cool, sounds like fun." He said, grinning lopsidedly.
Kaden chuckled.
"Well don't get your hopes up. Alister isn't one who's easy to surprise."
Ratchet smirked in return.
"You've never seen me in action."
Alister wasn't sure if he liked patrolling the city square during the festival. While it was only until the afternoon, he did rather enjoy watching others as they went about, celebrating and such.
A few children ran past, narrowly avoiding the General. Alister chuckled.
"Be careful!" He called after them, earning a few little giggles from the little ones.
Shaking his head with a soft, happy sigh, Alister returned to watching the festival as it slowly came to life. When a vendor offered a meat-filled pastry, he took it with a grateful look and word of thanks. An up side to the job was getting free food at festivals (though he ensured to never take too much).
He looked around once more. Where were Kaden and Ratchet? Alister had been sure that his friend would be excited about bringing Ratchet to his first festival...
A sound came from behind him, out of place in the crowds, and Alister quickly turned. He frowned when he saw nothing unusual. Odd, he'd thought he'd heard-
Alister yelped when Ratchet suddenly lept from the crowd, lips curled to reveal sharp teeth in a fake, rather amusing snarl. The youth then laughed.
"Hah! Got'cha!" He looked over his shoulder. "See? Told you I could surprise him!"
Alister turned, frowning as Kaden chuckled, the slightly shorter Lombax approaching with Clank at his side.
"I guess so. Looks like you're losing your hearing and sight with age, Alister."
The General scowled.
"And you have too much fun with the festival for one your age." He replied curtly before turning back to Ratchet, smiling and ignoring the indignant look Kaden sent. Taking in Ratchet's clothing, the white-furred Lombax couldn't help but smile. For once, the teen seemed to be dressed, not as a soldier...But as a young Lombax.
"I see Kaden got you some festival clothing." Alister commented. Ratchet smiled shyly.
"Yeah. What'cha think? Do I look like a normal Lombax?"
Alister and Kaden frowned. 'Normal'? Why did the teen care about fitting in? The two men jumped slightly when Clank spoke up.
"In true honesty, Ratchet, I don't believe you could ever be completely 'normal'. You are too unique for that."
Ratchet scratched the back of his head sheepishly, smiling at his small friend.
"Is that even a compliment?"
Clank only chuckled, and Ratchet rolled his eyes. Smiling, Kaden patted his son's shoulder.
"Why don't you and Clank look around while I talk to Alister? Then we can head to where your mother is."
Ratchet nodded.
"Sure." He looked at the little mecha by his feet. "C'mon Clank."
As the two friends went to look at the nearby stalls around the square, Kaden turned to Alister.
"So, you almost finished? You've been out here since two or so, right?"
Alister leaned on his staff, sighing.
"Yes, I have. I'm free to go in half a standard hour, if you all don't mind waiting. What were you and Amira planning to do with Ratchet today?"
"Well first I'm taking Ratchet and Clank to see Amira race, we're not going anywhere without her. If I tried, she'd have my head, y'know..."
Alister chuckled, nodding.
"Oh yes, I'm certain your name would be nothing but mud to her if you and Ratchet enjoyed the festival without her."
Kaden nodded, crossing his arms and smiling wryly.
"Yeah."
"Hey dad!"
Alister and Kaden looked over to Ratchet. The young Lombax sprinted over, Clank on his heels, and both stopped once reaching the two older men. Kaden chuckled, raising a brow.
"What's up?"
The teen Lombax before him shifted on his feet, looking a bit awkward, perhaps even embarrassed.
"I...Uh...Okay, this is probably going to sound really stupid, but...Clank and I kinda need help reading all the signs and stuff in these stalls." Ratchet rubbed the back of his head, tail lashing about, showing how he despised feeling so naive. "I know that I probably sound like an idiot for asking, I just can't-...I don't know the Lombax language, so..."
For likely the hundredth time within the past few weeks, both Kaden and Alister felt sadness, guilt and even anger stab at their chests. Sadness for the poor child who knew nothing of his own kind, guilt for neither of them or anyone else of their kind being their for the boy, and anger for the twisted fate that had thus far guided Ratchet's life.
And here before them the youth stood, seeming none-too fazed, only embarrassed, by how little he knew of his own species. How could anyone, young or old, accept the cards their life had dealt them so easily when fate had thrown nothing at them other than pain, sorrow and hardship?
Kaden managed to offer a smile to Ratchet, who was glancing time and again at a specific stall that was selling ship parts and blueprints.
"Sure, no problem, we've got half an hour until Alister's ready to go. C'mon."
Ratchet grinned, leading the way towards the stall that held his curiosity. Kaden glanced back at Alister, the two friends sharing a look. This would likely become a topic in a later discussion they would have.
"How come mom never told me she's a pilot?" Ratchet asked as he, Clank, Kaden and Alister made their way through the crowded streets. Kaden grinned while Alister chuckled.
"Your mother and I have a rule: no talking about our jobs at home. If we did, we'd talk nothing but mechanics every hour of every day."
Ratchet sent his father a disbelieving look, and Alister's expression was one of dry amusement as he glanced at his godson.
"He isn't exaggerating. I've seen it and heard it myself."
Ratchet flashed a grin, rolling his shoulders (and slightly disturbing Clank, who was on his back in travel backpack mode, though the little robot didn't mind).
"Clank and I love mechanics, but even we don't talk about them all the time." A laugh before he added. "Then again, there's lots of other stuff we always have on our minds."
"Yes, kits tend to be a bit scatterbrained." Alister teased lightly. Ratchet scowled lightly knocking his foot against the General's ankle.
"Not funny! I'd prefer talk about mechanics over tactical plans any day!"
Clank chuckled, the sound a funny little thing.
"Indeed, the life of traveling heroes does leave little time for leisure."
Ratchet nodded enthusiastically.
"See? Clank agrees with me!"
Biting back a frown (how he loathed the thought of his kit fighting), Kaden smiled, although it was a bit strained.
"I think we all could agree with you on that one."
"It looks like the race is about to start. We got here just in time."
The distraction Alister offered his friend was a welcome one, and the shorter of the two men grabbed onto Ratchet's wrist.
"C'mon, let's get in there!" He insisted, tugging Ratchet along. "Wait until you see your mother race!"
Ratchet yelped, stumbling behind his dad.
"W-woah! Hey! Sl-slow down!" He protested, though with how he was laughing, it was obvious that he didn't mind all too much.
The arena was large, with high walls that stretched out wide and vanished into the tall, looming canyons. It was easy to hear cheering and laughter past the protective barriers- obviously races were a favored activity. It wasn't all too hard to get inside (it didn't hurt that Alister, a well respected General, was with them) and Kaden pulled Ratchet and Clank into one of the maintenance rooms on the ground floor, bellow the high stands that seated a multitude of Lombax.
Inside the room, working on a small yet pristine ship that shone silver and black, was Ratchet's mother. The Lombaxian woman was dressed in a pilots suit, hair braided and twisted into a bun at the back of her head. The gloves she wore were stained with oil and grease (and a smudge had managed to get on her cheek). She looked so...So different, or at least to Ratchet. At home she seemed like a normal house wife...Yet here, in the room with a ship by her side and an opened hatch leading to the race track, Ratchet could see she was like Talwyn: a female who didn't mind getting her hands dirty and wouldn't take any scrap from anyone.
The woman smiled when she saw Kaden, Ratchet, Alister and Clank.
"Hey, glad to see you all made it on time." A sidelong glance at Kaden and Alister. "For once."
The two males both looked about at nothing in particular, feigning innocence, pretending as though they'd never been late to a thing in their lives. Amira rolled her eyes, and then her smile widened when Ratchet approached her ship, awe on his youthful face.
"This ship is high-end..!" He muttered, more to himself than anyone else. He reached forward, running his hands over the dark plates. "A smaller design and smoother metal for speed..." He glanced at his mother. "Riturnian alloy for the Hydro-Posmorphic thrusters?"
Amira grinned.
"It's a mix of Riturnian and another metal called Ysfaric, a rare alloy from-"
"Only outerrim planets, usually only those with a low oxygen level and high pressure on the surface." Ratchet interjected, smirking knowingly. On his back, Clank sighed, looking weary.
"We know of the metal very well. Ratchet many times has risked life and limb to try and find it."
A scoff from Ratchet, one ear flicking back in irritation.
"'Try and find it'? More like 'Found it'!" He turned, letting Clank get a look at the ship. "Just look at it, Clank! Imagine flying this baby around Kerwan!"
Kaden frowned slightly.
"Kerwan?"
Ratchet nodded.
"Yeah! That's where Clank and I were living."
"More precisely, the city Metropolis." Clank added as Ratchet turned back around to look over the ship more.
"Clank, Clank, can't you just see it? Catching a tailwind and surfing over the tramline, could jump the electro railings by the city square and-"
"Take another one of your 'shortcuts'?" Clank asked dryly. "If my memory serves me correctly, we nearly were captured by Tachyon due to one of your 'shortcuts'."
Ratchet lightly jostled his friend.
"Oh shut it, it was thanks to that shortcut that we survived!"
Kaden sighed.
"Every time you bring up something you've done, I swear a few of my hairs go grey..."
Ratchet grinned cheekily while Amira tried to hide her laughter behind a hand. Alister rolled his eyes, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Spare us your dramatics, Kaden. We should get to the stands, the race is about to start."
Ratchet looked severely disappointed by this, sending his mother's ship a longing glance. Amira, seeing this, smiled.
"Don't look so upset, Ratchet. Some time I'll let you give it a test drive, alright?"
Ears perking up slightly, the young Lombax beamed.
"That sounds awesome!"
Amira laughed, moving over to give her kit a one armed hug and kiss upon the brow. She also shifted to look at Clank.
"Please make sure these three stay out of trouble." She requested with a pleading look. The little mech nodded.
"Of course, Miss Amira."
The three male Lombax in the room looked properly offended.