Diecisiete

Many of the Blargian soldiers went down in just a matter of minutes, and the survivours eventually decided that they were much more likely to get away with their lives intact if they made a hasty retreat. And with this thought in mind, the remaining Blarg scrambled and scurried away from the battlefield and out of what little remained of the space pirates' compound. Ratchet stood in the middle of all that destruction, partially bent over and panting heavily. He turned his head towards Sachari, who was still tightly clutching her Versa-Mallet and poised in a battle stance. Em'al and the other Aez'ear warriors swiftly approached Captain Slag and Rusty Pete, their weapons up and ready to fire. Elaris and Angela watched uncertainly from afar, and started to approach them.

The two pirates where the only ones left standing at the moment. At least on this planet. Slag's eyes met Ratchet's, and the pirate let out a low growl of contempt. "Ye just can't stay out of people's ways, can ye, Lombax? No, ye'all have to go from bein' a mere nuisance to bein' in my way. The lot of ye should've stayed on Grelbin where ye belonged! This won't be the last ye'll see of us! We will be yer reckoning!" He nudged Rusty Pete's shoulder with his own. "Pete, the smoke bomb. Now!" Slag hissed as the Aez'ear warriors deactivated the safeties on their weapons as one.

"Aye aye, cap'n!"

Before anyone could do anything, Pete had already thrown down the smoke bomb, covering both himself and Slag in a giant cloud of smoke. When the cloud had finally dissipated after about ten to fifteen seconds, both pirates were nowhere to be seen.

Sometime later…

The mayor had thanked Ratchet, Clank, and their companions profusely for their help, presenting them with medals and the like. Sachari took the guy to the side afterwards and tore into him about his treatment of Em'al. And when he had the audacity to say he could treat the kid as he very well pleased, the Lombax just about snapped and she slapped him across the face. Not once. Not twice. But thrice.

"Ey'az," Sachari growled, "you are the most despicable person I have ever met. I used to think my father was horrible, but I see now that he was nothing in comparison to the monster you are."

"I think it's time you left," Ey'az snarled at her her in anger. But his petty, puny frustration couldn't even come close to the raging hot fury boiling in Sachari's chest. After the fight, while Sachari and Em'al had been hanging out in the armoury, working on repairing the damage done to her armour, he finally told her what had happened to cause his exile.

And after getting her to swear to secrecy on the matter, he also had told her, "I'm actually kinda glad they kicked me out. Because if they didn't, I wouldn't have met Cronk and Zephyr. I wouldn't have gotten Scrap. They're my real family."

"Yeah, I guess we should," Sachari replied, smirking and crossing her arms as she glared at Ey'az with daggers in her eyes. "Have a wonderfully awful week, Mister Butthead. It was nice knowin' ya. NOT." And with that, she and her fellow companions left the Aez'ear village. On the way back to their ship, Em'al offered to let them stay at his family's place for the night- after all, the sun was beginning to set, and the Aez'ear explained that it really wouldn't be safe for them all to be wandering around the swamp when darkness finally fell.

So they stayed the night. Zephyr, of course, cooked them all dinner and smothered them all with questions like, "What's a 'Drek?'" "How did you manage to build such tiny robots?" and "Which one of you whippersnappers ate my stash of Sargassian pine nuts when I wasn't looking?"

After dinner, everyone went to bed- there wasn't enough furniture for everyone to sleep on though, so some of them had to sleep on the quilts Zephyr laid out on the living room floor for them. Ratchet was peacefully curled up in a ball on one of these quilts- arms crossed and tucked next to his legs, and chin resting on said arms. Clank sat a few feet away on his own quilt, unable to power down. He knew he should rest, but he couldn't. His decryption program was just moments away from finally unlocking the holographic message he and Ratchet received at the start of their adventure.

The program had been a fickle thing from the start- every time Clank came close to finally decrypting it in its entirety, the code would adapt. It would adapt and lock him out, and so he'd have to start over. Again and again and again. And, just as Clank started to put in the last line of code, the one that would finally unlock the secrets that lay within, the program decided to lock him out yet again.

The defect groaned in frustration.

However, his irritation at the predicament was quickly forgotten when a soft whimper emanated a ways away. Clank looked up and saw that, although Ratchet was still obviously asleep, the feline had a tense expression on his face. His closed eyelids were slightly scrunched, his teeth gritted, and his normally floppy, fluffy ears stiff. His tail flopped back and forth, as if to emphasise his current subconscious anxiety.

"Ratchet," Clank addressed quietly, so as to not wake anyone else. He stood up and walked over to the Lombax, who was now twitching anxiously in his sleep. "Are you alright?" The defect nudged Ratchet's head with a cautious little hand.

Ratchet jerked awake with a yelp, scrambling back a bit. In a few seconds he remembered where he was and why, and so his stiff form relaxed a bit. The feline locked eyes on Clank, who was now looking back at him with worry. "Clank? What're you still doing up?"

"I was attempting yet again to decrypt that message we had received with the map," Clank explained, sitting down beside Ratchet.

"I wonder what happened to Brax," Ratchet murmured, settling himself into a sitting position. He tucked his legs underneath his arms again and settled his chin on the aforementioned limbs. "Do you think the space pirates might've killed him…?"

"I do not know," Clank replied solemnly. "Ratchet… I am beginning to think we have been looking at this wrong."

"What'd ya mean?" The Lombax regarded him with a curious look.

"In our journey to search for the Rangers, we have already obtained several new allies," Clank told him. "Elaris, Angela, Sachari, and quite possibly even Em'al, assuming he does not change his mind about joining us in the morning. Perhaps even Scrap." The defect looked up at Ratchet, his bright green luminous gaze steady as ever. "Ratchet, we do not need the Galactic Rangers. We already have a team. And besides… the more time we spend trying to search for the Rangers, the closer Drek becomes to reaching his goal, whatever that may be. He must be stopped while we still have time. Once that is done… we will resume our search for the Rangers."

Ratchet thought this over for a moment and then nodded slowly in agreement. "You're right, Clank."

"You… agree with me?" Clank asked, now looking surprised.

"Clank, the clock's ticking," Ratchet said. "And it's like you said, we've already got a perfectly good team right here. We don't need the Rangers. Not right now, anyway."

"I am pleasantly surprised, Ratchet," Clank told the Lombax, now smiling.

"Now don't you start gettin' all mushy on me," Ratchet replied, laughing softly. "Anyways, I guess I better go back to sleep… or try to."

Clank nodded, giving the feline a pat on the arm. "Yes, that you should. I will be nearby if you need me, Ratchet," the defect promised. "I am not going anywhere."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you thought we were friends," Ratchet commented, looking somewhat surprised- albeit pleasantly.

"Are we not friends?"

The Lombax considered his response for a short moment, and finally said as he smiled down at Clank, "Yeah... we're friends."

Clank's own smile widened at this revelation. "I am quite pleased to hear that."

The aforementioned feline curled up into his usual sleeping position and closed his eyes, still smiling. "'Night, Clank."

"Goodnight, Ratchet."