******PLEASE READ AUTHOR'S NOTES AT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER
Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time fanfic
Genre: romance, adventure, some mystery, humor
Warnings: Slash, yaoi, boy/boy (you get the picture), the rating is T, cussing, violence
Pairing: Ratchet/Alister, Lawrence/Dr. Nefarious, ?/?
Hope you all enjoy!
Only Time Will Tell
Ch. 26- The End is Here
The ship went at a fast pace to try to get to the Great Clock as soon as possible. Even this, however, did not seem fast enough. Alister was gripping the wheel tightly and Ratchet had his hands clenched.
"Can we go any faster," the younger asked.
"Ratchet, if we pick up any more speed, the chances of us crashing into a meteor or satellite will increase drastically."
"I know but…" Ratchet cut himself off as he clenched his hands tighter.
Azimuth had one hand let go of the wheel. It went over to one of the younger's hands and, after some work, got his fingers loosened so their fingers could intertwine.
"I know you are worried about Clank but we are no good to him dead." A thumb started to rub over what could be reached of the other's hand. "We'll get there. He will be okay. I have faith."
Ratchet nodded before a small smile formed. "Yeah, you're right. Clank's tough." He looked over at the general. "Thank you."
The elder's eyes glanced at the other. "You're welcome Ratchet."
No more words were said as their fingers stayed intertwined and sped to the Great Clock. The trip was much shorter than usual because of the extra speed, but they did finally arrive. The ship was landed in the same spot as last time. The Lombaxes exited the ship. They saw Clank and Sigmund by the entrance.
"Clank!"
Ratchet ran over to the two robots. Alister caught up with the younger. What they saw was a wounded Clank and Sigmund holding him carefully. Clank turned his head to see the two Lombaxes.
"Hello Ratchet." Clank greeted weakly.
"Clank! Are you going to be okay? What happened?"
The tiny white robot shook his head. "There is no time to explain. The figure is in there. You must stop him. I will let you in."
Fingers moved but a hand grabbed them. Sigmund held Clank's hand before saying, "Let me." He then let go of the smaller robot's hand to press the necessary keys to unlock the door.
Once unlocked, Ratchet turned towards the robots, "We'll be back soon."
"We are going with you," Clank responded.
"What? But you're hurt."
The robot shook his head once more, "I have to. I have to help shut off the Great Clock."
Ratchet still looked worried but suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked back at Alister. They exchanged glances for a moment before Ratchet turned back to Clank and nodded.
"Okay. Let's go."
When entering, Clank realized that the two Lombaxes were closer than he thought, especially sincee they could communicate with just glances. Maybe there was nothing to fear with the general.
The four of them entered the large room and there was quite a scene displayed. In the center of the room was a large rectangular machine with a ton of wires connecting to all the natural mechanisms of the Great Clock.
On the machine, the power cores could be seen going in a large circle. The disturbing part was that at the very center on the machine was a robot girl with wires going in and out of every part of her body.
Ratchet's eyes widened. He recognized that girl. He pulled on the elder's sleeve.
"I've met that girl. She was the one girl that got that pervert away from me at the Geld Corp celebration."
Azimuth nodded, "Yes, I remember her."
"You dirty liar! We had a deal!"
The Lombaxes turned their heads to see Mr. Geld tied up by the wall to the right. Next to him were Dr. Nefarious and Lawrence, who were also tied up.
The younger Lombax then made a realization. 'Wait. Lawrence beat us again? How?! We were fucking speeding!'
"You should know better than to trust me." The figure was seen by the lever in the center of the room.
Mr. Geld glared, "I didn't have a choice!"
"Why? To get back the precious robot girl you created? How pathetic."
"We had a deal. I gave you the power core and kept my mouth shut. Her being a part of the machine was not a part of the arrangement. You were supposed to give her back."
"Sorry Mr. Geld, but I cannot remove her from the machine. The metal she is made of is extremely rare and the best energy conductor for this situation."
"She's going to die! Please see reason!" Mr. Geld pleaded in hopes of convincing the figure otherwise. The eyes from both Lombaxes widened in surprise. This explained some things.
"Unfortunately, sacrifices must be made, but to become so attached to a machine that you created," the figure then turned his head to look the two tied up robots, "Is pathetic."
"That's enough!" Ratchet yelled.
All the heads in the room turned towards the Lombaxes. The figure turned away from his 'prisoners' and faced the two Lombaxes.
"Well, well. I was wondering when you both would show up. If I am to change time itself, then I may as well have an audience."
Ratchet glared. He then took out his wrench. The younger Lombax was pissed.
"Now, do you really want to do that? And here I was thinking of giving some answers."
"Bull shit!" Finger clenched around the exposed wrench, but then, a hand was once again felt on the younger's shoulder which belonged to Alister.
The general looked at the figure. "Why take that little girl? Even if the metal is rare, wouldn't it have been easier to just find the metal instead of using a girl as the conductor?"
If the face of the figure could be seen, a smirk would be present. He answered, "Perhaps, but I like a challenged," He laughed slightly, "She was quite easy to reprogram. She actually made a good ally before being experimented on. After all, the girl did help me threaten Dr. Nefarious and his butler. She is talented with those knives of hers."
This made the Lombaxes uneasy. He reprogramed a little robot girl and made her threaten others. Sure, it was the evil Dr. Nefarious, but the whole situation seemed messed up.
Azimuth pulled himself back together before changing the subject. "What is it that you want to accomplish?"
"I want to fix a mistake," the figure answered, "A dear friend of mine did not listen to me and made a mistake. I plan to fix everything and then take what belongs to me." The figure turned his head to look as the yellow Lombax, "Even if it means I must destroy something dear to him."
Alister noticed the figure looking at Ratchet. He got the other's attention back. "Take off the hood, and the mask."
The figure smiled secretly. "As you wish."
The figure moved his hands into his hood. A silver mask fell to the floor soon after. Fingers then gripped the sides of the hood and moved it back. What the Lombaxes saw made both of their eyes widen.
"K-Kaden?" Alister stammered in shock. "I thought you were dead!"
This was a huge shock to both Ratchet and Alister. Kaden's death had been assumed and accepted by the two of them. Then there's the thought of Kaden being behind everything; the stealing of power cores, the kidnapping of a little girl, and the destruction of the Obani Moons and Planet Aquatos.
Alister's expression turned sad. "Kaden. Why did you do everything you did? You stole power cores and destroyed planets. This isn't you."
Kaden glared, "Are you stupid? I did it for you! For US! Look at me!" he pointed to his eyes, "You know my normal eye color isn't yellow. I'm poisoned. It's a poison that kills slowly and makes on lose its mind."
'Oh, that explains a lot.' Ratchet thought to himself.
"I also did all of this because of your mistake. I warned you but you didn't listen to me."
"Kaden, I'm sorr…"
"Silence! I will fix everything and then I will have you Alister."
Azimuth's eyes widened, "… What?"
"I care about you and have for a long time."
"You have a wife!"
"Had a wife," Kaden corrected, "And even though I cared about her, she was not the one I wanted to be with. If homosexuality had not been so frowned upon then I would have gone after you from the beginning."
The general stood there in shock once more. He would have never expected any of this.
Ratchet glared, "Are you done? I would really appreciate it if you would stop hitting on my boyfriend."
"I'll have to make sure I kill you, you little brat."
"I'd like to see you try that."
Alister just slapped his forehead. He has heard of the saying 'like father, like son' before, but this was ridiculous, for both comebacks and interests.
"Sorry Kaden, but I care about Ratchet and I don't plan on changing that," Azimuth responded.
"We shall see. For now though, let's get this show started."
Kaden snapped his fingers and a group of 20 ninja robots dropped from the ceiling. The then grabbed the lever and pulled it. The machine activated and the power cores glowed more brightly than usual. The robots ran towards the Lombaxes once the machine turned on.
A fight was going to begin. Ratchet already had his wrench out. Alister took his own wrench out. The fight then truly began.
The younger ran towards one and knocked it up in the air; which it ended up landing on two others.
The general started shooting electric blasts. He got rid of two before having to dodge attacks. These robots were no match for the white Lombax for he took down several in a short amount of time.
After some fighting, Ratchet and Azimuth were back to back while fighting. They were surrounded but that didn't mean it was a problem.
"Hey Alister?" Ratchet asked before tripping a ninja.
Alister put his wrench to one of the ninja bot's chests to electrocute it enough to make it pass out. "Yes?"
"While fighting, I thought of that one general guy, General Freeway. Whatever happened to him?"
Planet Aquatos
A planet that was once water is now a planet full of ice. A robot with a green uniform could be seen in this ice. This robot's name is General Freeway.
"Mumble, mumble, mumble, mumble!" Translation- "I'm going to get those God damn Lombaxes if it's the last thing I do!"
Great Clock
"Hm," Azimuth thought, "You know, I have no idea what happened to him."
As the fight continued, Dr. Nefarious had been working on the ropes around his writes. He had finally succeeded in loosening the rope enough to free his hands. The doctor quickly did the same thing to his feet.
Once his feet were free, he scooted by Lawrence to do the same for him. Getting the feet free was easy but the hands proved to be more of a challenge.
The Great Clock was producing much energy. Wind was starting to blow and even the ground began to shake a little.
"Sir, there is not much time. You must leave."
"Not without you Lawrence."
"But sir…"
"I know what I said and I will not change that!" Dr. Nefarious declared.
"Aw, isn't that sweet." The robots looked up to see Kaden with an evil grin and his lava whips ready. "But unfortunately, I must end this moment."
Before anything could be done, two small robots cam over. Sigmund threw a punch and a kick at the Lombax. Clank threw the final punch that made Kaden fly across the room. It was obvious that Clank was hurt but he was doing better.
"Sigmund, go help Mr. Geld. I will assist these two."
Sigmund nodded before going to help the human. Clank turned his attention towards Lawrence. He got behind the butler and shot a lazar from his palm to cut the rope.
"I never expected to get help from you," Dr. Nefarious commented.
"And I never expected that I would be helping you," Clank answered.
He got the ropes fully cut on the butler's wrists. The two robots stood. Sigmund and Mr. Geld met them soon after.
Before anything could be said between the group, alarms started to go off and the doors slammed shut. The alert system then notified, "Two minutes until time completion."
The Lombaxes finished off the ninjas around this time.
"Two minutes?! On shit! Alister, we have to get to that lever!"
Azimuth nodded in agreement. However, Kaden stepped in front of the lever and snapped his fingers again. Another group of ninjas showed up.
"Shit! We can't fight them and get to the lever in two minutes." Ratchet replied.
"Let us help." The Lombaxes turned to see Clank along with Sigmund, Dr. Nefarious, Lawrence, and Mr. Geld. Ratchet and Alister nodded before heading to the lever. Kaden still stood in front of the lever. He had his lava whips ready.
"I see you got help. No matter. I will finish you here and now."
They all ran at each other.
Sigmund threw Clank up in the air before doing a punch to knock one ninjas to the ground while Clank provided a kick to the head to another. Dr. Nefarious made electricity run through his hands and grabbed two from the back of the necks to cause them to black out. Lawrence had a metal rod. He knocked one from under its feet and did a half circle to knock another over the head that had been behind him previously.
Meanwhile, burnt lines could be seen where the lava whips had attempted to hit Ratchet or Alister but failed. Ratchet ended up switching to his Constructo Pistol. Close range fighting would not do in this situation. Alister shot electric blasts but Kaden was too fast. The same problem was happening for the younger with his pistol.
"One minute until time completion."
Ratchet's eyes widened, "Alister, one of us has to get to that lever. Any ideas?"
They both then jumped to avoid a whip. "One of us can distract Kaden and the other can go pull the lever."
"Good idea. How about you distract him because he has an obsession over you so it might be easier and I'll pull the lever?"
Azimuth replied, "No, out of the question. I almost died last time I pulled it. I'm not letting you chance that."
"But…!"
Kaden yelled, "No one is pulling that lever!"
He pulled his whips back before slamming them both down. Ratchet and Azimuth jumped away from the whips.
While in mid-jump, Ratchet aimed his gun and shot while Alister shot an electric blast. Both shots hit Kaden and made him fly back.
"30 seconds until time completion."
Ratchet and Azimuth landed before they both ran for the lever. However, there was so much energy that the energy field made them fly back. Regardless, the two Lombaxes stood up and tried once more to only be pushed back again.
"15 seconds until time completion."
Ratchet's eyes widened in fear, "Alister, is there anything we can do?"
The general shared the same expression as the younger. "I-I don't think there is."
The others had finished the ninjas and saw how the Lombaxes could not get through the energy field.
"This is it Sigmund. We did everything we could," Clank said with a broken tone.
Sigmund picked up Clank and hugged him. "I'm so sorry," he then pulled Clank away from the hug but still held him in the air. "Perhaps I should have told you sooner but I was too afraid. Clank, I like you a lot." In the next moment, lips were on lips and Clank's eyes widened in surprise.
While this was going on, Dr. Nefarious pulled Lawrence into an embrace. "Lawrence, I know you never gave me an answer," he back away from the embrace slightly to cup one of the butler's cheeks, "I still care about you, no matter the answer."
Sir, though my affections may not be as strong as yours, that does not mean I do not have any, for I do." Lawrence then leaned in and closed the space between them.
Ratchet and Alister faced each other.
"I don't know what to do Alister." Ratchet felt broken and like he had failed.
Azimuth then held both of Ratchet's hands. "I don't know either, but since there is not much time, there is something I must tell you before it's too late. Ratchet, I love you."
Ratchet smiled at the elder despite the situation they were in. He answered, "I love you too Alister."
Ratchet and Alister leaned towards one another until they met in a kiss.
"3…2…1"
Then, everything went white.
***Hey everyone! I hope everyone enjoyed. I forgot to mention to everyone that this is the last chapter to Part 1. I will be starting Part 2 real soon. Please, let me know what you thought of the first part. I hope to see everyone at Part 2.