I think its safe to say that I am pretty much caught up now over the last three months. I would actually say, one more chapter and we would call it even. What's shocked me however is I have had no reviews at all yet ever since I upload the last chapter of this. Its probably because I'm uploading too quickly. And I also want to thank you guys for 10 THAOUSAND VIEWS FOR ONE FOR ALL! I can't thank you guys enough for your support. And I'm telling you this MobileStudio Pro is a FUCKING GODSEND. I've never gotten this much work done in the shortest amount of time I've had today. So thank you once again and lets get moving on this story shall we...
If you're enjoying the story so far, feel free to review, favorite or follow, and please know that any feedback is much appreciated.
Disclaimer:
Ratchet and Clank, associated characters, locations, weapons, etc. belong to Insomniac Games. Some real world companies and organizations belong to their respective owners, etc. I only own the right to some characters and some weapons and events introduced in this story.
Meanwhile on the Deplanitizer…
"I can't believe this! This was suppose to be an easy job. But not only are six million bolts down the drain. I have to explain to my troops how they couldn't even kill one, single, ranger!" Drek then pointed to Dr. Nefarious. "And you. Your suppose to understand how they think! How could you not see this coming!?" he then looked towards his bodyguard Victor Von Ion. "And Victor. OOOOH. Do you know how many candidates you beat out for your position!? I could've hired the ZEEZLER BROTHERS! ITS ENOUGH TO MAKE ME WANNA VAPORIZE SOMEONE!" he said as he banged on his desk. "I'm putting our project on hold and I am calling all troops and warbots to the Deplanitizer until the heat dies down. AAH!" Drek then banged his head directly on the counter, surprisingly not suffering any injury from it whatsoever.
Nefarious stood up. "Now before we make any rash decisions, I wonder if you would permit me to…troubleshoot this for you." Nefarious spoke.
Chairman Drek sighed in frustration. "Go on." he permitted.
"The answer is simple. How do you defeat a group of heroes?"
"Oh oh oh!" Victor yelled as he stood up. "Well lots of ways really. Knives. Chains. Guns. An enormous rock!?" this caused both Nefarious and Drek to look at him. "Rock?"
"The answer is from within. If we keep fighting them with muscle. But if we were able to turn one of them against them. But of course we would need a weak link. A sad simpleton who would believe anything we tell him. A corruptible moron." He then stepped beside Drek, embraced him with one hand as their two head connected, then brought up a picture of Captain Qwark and presented their guinea pig. "But whooo? Whoooooo?" as he presented his face to his master, he saw that he wasn't getting it. "Whoo?" he then saw him raise and eyebrow. He then snapped his finger as he pointed towards the image of Qwark and just like that, a lightbulb popped in the Chairman's head.
Allero City, Hall of Heroes
Planet Kerwan
4:45pm local time
Meatloaf and Waffles
Once the group landed on a landing pad right outside the Hall of Heroes, they started walking through the entrance and entered the museum part of the headquarters. As they walked down the hallway, Ratchet decided to meet up with the rangers while Jordan, Sophia and Clank decided to meet up with Elaris. They first check the supply closet-I mean, the "Galactic Ranger Intelligence Center". And saw that there was no one to be found. So they decided to search more of the facility. They walked to their right and up a flight of stairs. They then walked down another hallway and started hearing two voices. As they got closer and closer they saw that they were coming from the "Armory" as it was labeled on the wall. Once they walked in, they saw two figures. And the saw that one of them was Elaris. "Hello Elaris." Clank said.
"Oh. Hi Clank." Elaris said as she turned around.
"Al?" Jordan questioned, who turned around to reveal that it was indeed Big Al from Pokitaru. "What are you doing here?" he asked.
"I was just helping Elaris here with the design of a new weapon for you."
"Nice. May I see it."
"Not yet. We're still working out the finishing touches." Elaris and Al turned away from the three and focused their eyes and ears on the weapon itself. After hearing the sound of various tools fine tuning and polishing for ten seconds, they finally turned around and revealed the weapon to the group. "And voila!" Al said.
"A Crossbow?" Jordan questioned. Not sounding too convinced by the new weapon, knowing how simplistic a Crossbow was.
"This is not just any Crossbow. This thing can scan enemies vital points and will shoot a bolt made out of complete Plasma."
"Okay. Now you got my attention. But do you have a name for this weapon?" Jordan said.
"We- "Al was stopped by Elaris.
"I call it the Plasma Striker."
"Have you tested the weapon yet?" Clank asked.
"Weeeell not exactly."
"Than I would like to volunteer to be its first user." Jordan said.
"Well that right can only go to a Galactic Ranger." Elaris then approached Al's ear and talked more quietly. "But since you are working for us and we are paying you 3 points over minimum wage."
"What?" Jordan said.
"Yes! You can test it out. Just go by the shooting range and give us the results." Elaris handed Jordan the weapon and Jordan walked out of the room, with the little Lombax following right behind him. The only problem was,
Jordan had no idea where the shooting range was.
So the Human decided to go on a little journey. He first started with the floor he was on and right off the bat. On the third door on the right, he found a room that was labeled "Shooting Range" and walked right into it. He saw that the room had to have been the size of a warehouse as he looked five hundred feet above him, and five hundred feet in front of him. But the only thing dividing him and the rest of the room was the control bay. Jordan approached the first set of controls and saw the different settings and scenarios he can set up. Jordan decided to go with the basic stationary targets and he pushed the button to set up a one minute stationary trial. Then pushed the big red button to start it.
The targets slowly popping up and Jordan aimed down the scope of the crossbow. He saw the strange reticle show up. It was a simple crosshair, but red spots started to appear over the targets chest. Jordan knew these must be the vital spots that Elaris was talking about and decided to aim for them. He aimed at the first one five feet away from him, held his breath, and pulled the trigger. The bolt shot out of the gun three times faster than a normal cross bow bolt and pierced the wooden target, going all the way through it and hitting the wall behind it.
Now Jordan had to know how to reload it and he saw a little pump on the handle of the weapon. He quickly pulled it back, then pushed it forward, causing a bolt to magically appear on the barrel of the weapon. He quickly aimed towards the next one and shot it directly in the head, then shot the next one in the groin. Why the vital spot was down there the Human had no idea. After one minute, the alarm went off and the trial was over. Jordan's tests were now complete and if Jordan were to give the weapon a rating he would give it….
A perfect 10 in performance.
Once his tests were done, he heard a noise from behind him and looked to see it was Ratchet. "Where'd you get that?" Ratchet asked.
"Its from Elaris. I was just testing it and now I must go back to her with the results." As Jordan was about to leave the room, Ratchet blocked him with his body. "Uh, excuse me please." Jordan asked.
"We need to talk."
"Well let it out then."
"I mean in private."
"Oh. Okay." as the duo walked out the door, the little Lombax and Robot followed them. "You two stay there." he said, causing them to halt. Once Ratchet and Jordan were outside the room, they gathered two feet away from the entrance and talked. "So what's this about?"
"Its about Sophia."
"What about her?"
"Its about her safety."
"I told you. As long as she is with me, she is safe and sound."
"I know that but. If you going to have her around. I seriously suggest that you teach her how to defend her."
"She's just a little girl Ratchet."
"I'm not saying she is going to be fighting with us or anything like that. I'm just saying if it ever gets to that point."
"I still don't know about this."
"Please Jordan. Its for the best that you teach her."
Jordan sighed, sounding defeated. "Alright. I'll teach her."
"Alright buddy. You know, if you need me to give her any important pointers? Maybe I can- "
"I think I can do this alone."
"Alright, whatever you say. I'm just going to go to the rangers and see if there's any important business I need to take care of."
"Alright." Ratchet started walking off towards the main conference room, leaving the Human in the hallway. Jordan then walked back into the range and Jordan started to teach the little Lombax everything he knew about combat. But he wanted to do this in privacy. "Clank. You think you could go give Elaris the results of this weapon?" Jordan said as he handed the bow out to the little Robot.
"Sure thing Jordan." Once Jordan handed Clank the weapon, he immediately fell to the floor because of the weight of the weapon. "Oh." Jordan said in shock. He then picked Clank up and placed the weapon in his compartment. "There you go. Now off you go." Jordan said as he kept nudging Clank towards the door and once he was in range, Jordan slammed the door quickly shut. "Shouldn't we follow him?" Sophia suggested.
"No." Jordan quickly answered.
"Then why did you close the door?"
Jordan sighed. "Because I want to talk to you about something."
"Is it about the orphanage?"
"No."
"Then what is it?"
"Ratchet suggested that I start teaching you how to defend yourself."
"You mean like how to use a blaster?"
"Yeah, something like that."
"But I've never used one before."
"Don't worry, I'll teach you."
"Ummm. Okay then." Jordan equipped his Combustor and handed it to the little Lombax. "Here." he said as Sophia grabbed it.
"Its heavy." She said as she held it in her hand.
"You'll get use to it. Now I gotta find a chair for you to stand on." Jordan started looking around for a chair or a little stand for Sophia to stand on, seeing that she was too short to appear over the counter. Jordan ended up finding a chair in the large room and set it by the large red button. Sophia then got up on the chair and Jordan started a scenario. Once the Human pressed the large button. The targets started to come up. Luckily there was a training scenario and the targets wont go down unless they were shot at. This was the perfect scenario for the little Lombax. "Alright. Begin." Jordan said. Sophia then aimed the barrel of the blaster towards the first 3 metered target. But Jordan repositioned her arms so she wasn't so stretched out. The Lombax then fired, causing the recoil to throw her off balance and fall right off the chair. Luckily the Human was behind her and caught her. "AAAH!" she screamed.
"Its okay, I got you." Jordan said. He then repositioned the chair and set her back on her own two feet. He then looked towards the bullet hole and saw it completely miss and hit two inches to the right of the target. "Aim slightly to the left." Jordan said. Sophia fired and since Jordan was standing directly behind her, he was able to use his body to help her stabilize her position and she didn't fall back like last time. Jordan saw that this time she fired one foot from the left of the target. "Aim more to the right this time." he instructed. And since she was having a hard time with aiming, Jordan decided to give a little pointer. "Oh and here's a little tip for you. Since you're having a hard time stabilizing your aim. Trying slowly breathing in and out." Jordan then slowly inhaled and slowly exhaled close to her ear to show her what he was talking about. She then started mimicking the Human's breathing and aimed at the target in front of her. She then fired, hitting the target directly in the stomach and knocking it down. "I got it!" she said with excitement.
"Good job. Now see if you can hit that target way over there." Jordan pointed to the next target ten meters away from them. Sophia got into position and aimed at the target. She pulled the trigger and missed slightly to the right of it. "Aim a little more to the left." he said. Sophia aimed, then pulled the trigger once again, hitting the target directly in the chest and knocking it down. "Nice. Now were gonna try this one more time." The next target popped up and Sophia quickly aimed towards the target. But this time, she hit it directly in the groin, but still was able to knock it down. "Nice shot 'hon."
"Thank you."
"Alright. That's enough training for now."
"Do you really think I'm gonna shoot someone?"
"Oh no no no. I'm actually thinking about shooting monsters or insects or something like that. Someday we'll graduate you to people. But I hope it doesn't come to that."
"Me too." Sophia saying that made Jordan rub her head, knowing how cute she was when she said that. "Alright. Lets go see what Elaris and Clank are up to." Jordan and Sophia walked out from the shooting range and walked all the way down to Elaris's office. Once they were inside, they saw that she was knee deep in something important. "Interesting." she said.
"What is it?" Jordan asked.
"I'm running the destroyed planets through a simulation. And it looks like each one is missing either a famous land mass or water source."
"You think Drek is maybe using them for building a whole new planet or something like that?" Jordan suggested.
"Building a planet? That's impossible."
"Trust me. Everything that I've been seeing and considering impossible, turns out to actually be possible."
"Elaris. You might want to see this." Clank pulled out an infobot from his compartment and showed it to the group. Jordan knew this must've been the same infobot the plumber gave them and they looked at the message. And as it turns out, this video was some kind of infomercial regarding Drek's plans. And it turns out that he was indeed trying to build a new planet. "Oh my god." Elaris said. "That explains everything! I have to get this to the rangers immediately!"
"We will we will. Bur first we have to worry about our assault on Drek." Jordan said.
"How are we gonna do that?" Sophia asked.
"I just so happened to draw up a full proof and neatly organized plan." Elaris then showed her holo schematics and fully drawn up plan to the group, getting all their thoughts on it. "I believe this could work." Clank said.
"You said it. I'm sold." just as Jordan said that, a mop and broom were knocked down from their shelves. Jordan and the three looked to see it was Sophia who caused the noise. "Sorry." she said.
"Its no big deal." Elaris said.
"So, this is really your office?" Jordan asked.
"Yes, it is."
"May I ask why its in a broom closet?"
"Budget cutbacks. But I don't mind it as much as the last guy who did." Elaris them moved her chair towards an strange green alien with a large head and a smile that could be seen for miles. "Dr. Nefarious." she said.
"What? You mean the crazed guy who's working for Drek?"
"No. I'm talking about a former ranger. This place drove him crazy. Literally. He turned evil and the rangers had to put him in jail. He died in a prison escape."
"Uh. I'm afraid your mistaken. We heard him talked through a speaker on Planet Gaspar."
"No. When two witnesses were trialed, they gave a very brief description on his death."
"Maybe they were paid, and he somehow escaped through all the ruckus."
"You mean like bribery?"
"Exactly."
"You know that doesn't sound too bad. Maybe he payed them. Went low for awhile. Then was founded by Drek and he hired him….Actually. That might explain why he is producing these warbots so quickly. And the fact that they know every offensive tactic in the ranger handbook. That might just explain everything. This might be something to bring up to the Captain don't you think?"
"Agreed." Jordan said. But as they said that, they started hearing noises outside and Jordan opened the door to take a look. Suddenly, Qwark and Ratchet flew straight into the room, causing the Human to duck in shock. They all saw that they must've been testing their new jetpacks. "Woo hoo!" Ratchet yelled.
"That's the stuff." Qwark said, puffing out his chest. "Flying through the air like a majestic bird. A majestic bird that knows every fighting style. Watch the master." Qwark then flew out of the room. "Captain, Elaris and I-"
"Can't talk."
"Have some information-"
"Doing a fly by."
"Captain, if you could just come down and speak to us for three minutes." Elaris pleaded. As Qwark zoomed back into the office, the outside sprinklers activated. "Aaaaand there goes the sprinklers. But good news, You have a mop. So, there's that." Qwarks said, causing Elaris to glare at him.
"Please. If we could have just a minute to discuss our findings-"Clank said before he was interrupted once again.
"The only thing I'm interested in is finding the Hall of Heroes cafeteria. Cmon cadet, its three floors up and its meatloaf day. Meatloaf HOO!" Qwark flew through the ceiling of the room and all the way up to the cafeteria. Ratchet followed him and they whole group stood there staring as the lights flickered and soon diminished. "Do they always treat you this poorly?" Jordan asked.
"No!"
"Elaris."
"Yes." she admitted.
"That's just a shame. Why don't you ever quit? I mean I would if I was treated like this."
"Because. They kinda mean more to me, than just bosses. There like dear friends to me. There kinda like…family to me. I know they need me and I need them."
"Oh. Well I'm sorry for how they treat you. But you need to stick up for yourself. You have to show them that they need you more than ever."
"I don't know if it would exactly work. But I'll try."
"Good." as Jordan said, the speakers of the Hall of Heroes started to come alive. "All Rangers, please report to the cafeteria. I repeat, all rangers please report to the cafeteria immediately." Qwark said over the intercom.
"What is that all about?" Jordan asked.
"Every time we do an assault. We do what the rangers call a "Last Supper". In the case things don't go to plan and we all die a horrible death. This will be the only time we'll be able to have a hot meal together."
"Okay. Well cmon Sophia, we better get moving."
"Okay." Sophia followed Jordan while Clank followed behind. But as they were leaving, Jordan saw Elaris simply get back to her work. "You coming?" Jordan asked.
"You guys go ahead. I'm just gonna stay down here."
"Did they exclude you from the dinner?"
"No."
"Don't lie to me Elaris."
Elaris sighed. "Yes."
"Like I said. Show them that they need you more than you need them."
"I know. I will." As Jordan walked up the stairs, Elaris told him one last thing. "Hey Jordan." she said, catching the Human's attention. "Thank you."
Jordan nodded while he smiled to the alien. They the continued up three flights of stairs and entered the large room that was labeled "Cafeteria". Once they walked in, they saw all of the rangers sitting together and eating their nice hot meal. "Well you can go get your food Sophia. I'll get some water and take a seat." Jordan said.
"Okay." Sophia ran over to the buffet and started to stack her tray up with food. While the Human simply grabbed a glass of water and took a seat all by himself. Once Sophia reached Jordan, she sat down beside him and begun to eat. Jordan saw that she loaded her plate up with what looked like meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and surprisingly corn. All with a nice cold beverage of orange juice. Clank on the other hand simply got a quart of oil, knowing he can't eat alien food like the others. Once everyone got their meal, Ratchet decided to sit by his best friend and saw he had no food at all. "Aren't you gonna eat anything?" Ratchet asked.
"No."
"Why not?"
"Not hungry." the Human lied, knowing he was starving to death.
"You sure."
"I'm positive."
"Okay. Suite yourself." Ratchet and the rest of the ranger proceeded to eat their meals. But with every chew and gulp of their meal. Jordan's stomach started growling and growling. Sophia noticed this and offered the Human a piece of her meatloaf. "Here Jordan. Have a bite." Sophia said as she held the piece towards his mouth with her fork.
"I'm good Sophia."
"I heard your stomach growling."
"I said I'm good Sophia."
"Cmon just take a little bit." Sophia and Jordan then started fighting over the small piece of meatloaf. Jordan was rather annoyed at this point. In fact, their little argument got so out of hand that Jordan lifted his hand and swatted the fork right out of the little Lombax's hand. Sophia gasped by this as she saw the Humans look in his eyes. Sophia was feared by it and this caused Jordan to slowly sigh. He then picked up Sophia and set her on his lap. "Look Sophia. I know you want to help me. But please, lay off a little bit. I can take care of myself. More than anything. I should be taking more care of you than you should of me."
"If you say so."
"Good." Jordan said as he rubbed her noggin. After sitting there for three more minutes. Jordan saw that all of the rangers were done and they all walked out of the cafeteria. Qwark then instructed all of them to meet up in the conference room and Jordan followed the entire group. Once he was inside, he saw that there were only six seats. Three on the left, and three on the right. He knew Sophia would have to sit on his lap, but he didn't mind. Once they all entered the room and took their seats. They all just waited for Elaris, who arrived mere seconds after sitting down. Once Qwark prepared the PowerPoint presentation, Jordan and the group saw not only the poorly drawn presentation, but the poorly thought out plan that Qwark came up with. "Alright team! Our plan of attack is simple. We halo drop into Skorg City. Fire a whole mess of bullets and take Drek into custody to be home just in time for waffles." the team cheered. Except for Jordan, Elaris, Clank, and Sophia. "Wait? That's our plan?" Elaris said.
"Yes, it is." Qwark answered.
"Sounds mediocre if you ask me." Jordan said.
"Yeah I don't like it." Sophia agreed.
"Pardon me captain but Chairman Drek is cunning. He will be prepared for our attack." Clank said.
"Look I think its beyond adorable that you decided to do all this homework. But big heroes do big things." Qwark said as he winked to Ratchet.
"You're wrong!" Jordan said, slamming his hands on the desk and standing up. "They do the right things!" he pointed to Qwark.
"Okay, who invited him here?" Qwark said, causing the Human to growl.
"I know time is of the essence but would it be worth taking five minutes to review our plan. We have holo-schematics, a full workup of the warbots-"
"Does anyone feel like we should've shot something by now?" Brax said. "Cause it feels like we should've shot something by now."
"Thank you." Cora agreed.
"Lets take a vote. All rangers in favor of kicking in Dreks door with a massive arsenal and restoring peace to a galaxy in turmoil say 'aye'?"
"AYE!" Cora, Brax, and Ratchet said with their hands raised.
"All those in favor of nerding it up here with some pie charts say 'nay'?"
"NAY!" Jordan, Clank, Elaris and Sophia said. It was now four against three. Now they had to listen to their plan. "HA! Four against three! Now you'll have to listen to our plan!" Jordan exclaimed.
"Uhh," Qwark hesitated, trying to figure out away out of this situation. "You two don't count." he said, pointing to Jordan and Sophia.
"WHAT?!" Jordan yelled in anger.
"HEY!" Sophia followed.
"Motion passes. We attack Drek Industries tonight."
"Uuuuh, great." Jordan said with frustration.
Well that's it for that chapter. Don't expect anything for awhile since I have to write the next chapter of Man Vs Machine. And I apologizes if there hasn't been any real action in that story and since their all short. But trust me as we get farther into the story, it'll all be worth the wait. Just please be patient with me. So I hope you enjoy this chapter and get ready for the next chapter of whatever story is next. This is MedicineMan426 signing off.
If you're enjoying the story so far, feel free to review, favorite or follow, and please know that any feedback is much appreciated.
Thank you for reading.