Hey there, guys. So I had published this story on Wattpad, so if you would like, you can go check it out there; it's my first published fanfic. I first wrote this story out on paper a couple times before, and the title of this on paper was initially "The Orphaned Kid and the Mechanic" before renaming it to "The Fox and the Mechanic" as I published it over on Wattpad (similar to "The Fox and the Hound").
This fanfic is essentially a "prologue" of a "Ratchet and Clank" AU I came up with called "Ratchet and Clank SYNC," basically the same "Ratchet and Clank" we know except this AU features a certain character from "Sonic the Hedgehog" and we can all guess who, judging by the title of this fanfic. I'm not too sure about bringing this AU of mine to life or not, since I'm still an amateur writer, and if you're not too fond of the "Ratchet and Clank" AU title here and want to help come up with a better name for it, feel free to leave a review!
Anyways, enjoy my first fanfic!
And also, SPOILERS for the real "Ratchet and Clank!" Do not read this if you haven't played, beaten, or seen it.
Two familiar characters are strolling on the silver metal bridge to where they are heading to: the small garage up ahead, the home of the young now-hero of the Solana Galaxy, Ratchet.
Ratchet and his robot pal Clank were chuckling, chatting, and conversing about the epic adventure they just had. That was all new to him. For years, he longed for adventures and was very eager to go on one. He enjoyed his life on Veldin. A tad boring for many people on here, but life was at least enjoyable for the young Lombax. Eventually, that life grew restless and boring for him that it fully provoked his eagerness to explore everywhere and have a life of adventure. Now that Clank came along after crashing into his life (literally), he was certainly able to make that a reality.
"I'm telling you, Clank," Ratchet said with delight, "that was such an awesome experience! Now that's what I call an adventure!"
"Indeed it was," replied Clank, still dragging his broken left arm.
"I knew I really need you some time in the future." But then Ratchet's grin turned into a frown that is a sign of guilt and remorse. "Although...I'm really sorry for being harsh to you earlier," as he still thought about how he berated his newfound friend after being led into a ridiculous trap set up by his former idol Captain Qwark on Umbris. His heart luckily has been changed as he felt it drop when an Infobot showed the duo the chaos being caused in Gorda City.
"It is alright, Ratchet. I forgive you," Clank reassured him. "At least we had showed Chairman Drek who is boss."
True, the duo was on an epic adventure...to stop the leader of the vicious species, the Blarg, and the mastermind behind the destruction of planets throughout the Solana Galaxy: Chairman Drek. All he wanted was a new planet for him and his species to dwell on. His original planet, Orxon, became polluted, overpopulated, and poisonous that he, along with the rest of his race, was no longer able to dwell there. Therefore, Drek came up with the perfect solution: construct a new planet using many desirable pieces from various other planets.
Luckily, a defect robot escaped from the robot factory on planet Quartu and unintentionally crashed on the dry, desert planet Veldin where he was found by the lone young Lombax Ratchet. With that, the robot, whom Ratchet called Clank, teamed up with him to find a certain someone who can help the newly-formed duo stop the havoc throughout Solana, only to later turn his back on them and tear apart the duo's alliance.
Eventually, the duo gradually began to be on good terms to stop the crisis of the Solana Galaxy from the malicious Blarg leader, up to the final chapter where they finally managed to defeat Chairman Drek from attempting to rid Veldin and the rest of his sinister deeds. The duo then used the Deplanetizer, the destructive weapon Drek intended to use to destroy planets, to disassemble the planet Drek built using various other planet pieces, which nearly knocked them off the course. To their luck, Clank held both of themselves onto the ledge. However, though, the little robot couldn't pull themselves back up and hold on any longer, as his arm was broken from the impact. Subsequently, he and Ratchet fell to their presumed deaths. They were about to hit the ground with a thud...when Clank thrusted Ratchet out of the way in his Thrusterpack form in the nick of time. They were lucky that they survived and saved the planet and primarily the entire Solana Galaxy, but Clank quickly became desperate when he noticed his broken arm. Ratchet became concerned, but quickly assured him that he will be fine, and shortly left him out in the opening. Still desperate, Clank was about to wander off with the broken arm of his when someone-a certain someone-called him over to fix his arm. Jumping for joy inside like a dog being adopted and accepted into a new family, the little robot, without hesitation, joined his newfound friend and stayed with him for the rest of his lifetime.
Ratchet was brought back to reality from everything that has happened. It was just marvelous. he let out a hearty laugh. "Yeah right!" as he and Clank both laughed together once more. It was just all too good to let go of.
The duo was almost there to the garage anyway. They'll talk more about their novel adventure for the rest of the night. As they say, the night is still young.
Out of nowhere, Ratchet stopped to his ears perking up to the sound of a bush rustling. Knitting his eyebrows, he cautiously turned around to where the sound came from. Clank noticed his friend stopped and looking behind.
"What is wrong, Ratchet?" he asked cautiously.
"I think something's following us," Ratchet replied slightly quietly.
Clank could see the likely suspicion in Ratchet's eyes. The young Lombax has always been this suspicious since their first adventure. He knows something is up when something is up. Carefully pulling out his Omniwrench, Ratchet slowly made his way to the bush he suspected it rustled. As he go close enough, he leaped at it with a grunt, about to slam his wrench down.
"Ah!" came a yelp from the bush. There was no doubt someone was following the duo. A young yellow orange-furred child with a pair of large pointy ears on his head somewhat similar to the Lombax's, a bit of white, two bushy tails, and no attire on besides a pair of white gloves and red and white shoes ran and swiftly climbed up away from Ratchet. Looking up, the Lombax began to notice something about the child. "Huh? A child?" he began quietly. "What is a child doing here...all alone?"
Ratchet's mind began racing. Decisively, he climbed up after the child, whose face was buried in his knees and having his back turned, as if he didn't want to face him. Gingerly, the Lombax approached him and prepared to kneel down. "Hey, kid. Are you okay?"
Before he could do anything else, the child abruptly ran away from him with speed he has never seen from an organic, giving him a huge surprise. "Whoa! Hey, wait! I didn't mean to offend you!" The child continued running with Ratchet's call fading behind him.
Ratchet, with a bit of guilt, gazed up ahead to the cliff on the other side. But he cannot stop there; now that he has changed. Clank caught up to him, confused and wondering about what happened just now.
"I didn't mean to ambush him," Ratchet began. "He is just a...child." Without hesitation, he snapped out of it and turned to Clank behind him. "Clank, we gotta find go him. It's too dangerous for him to be out there alone out there."
Clank, however, was too hesitant. "Wait, but Ratchet-"
"I know," Ratchet quickly cut him off, "but he's only a lone child. He could get hurt by a Horny Toad or whatever's out there! We can't just leave him!"
"Ratchet-"
"Clank, please...! I promise I'll fix it when we come back."
"Oh, very well..." Clank reluctantly accepted to go after the runaway kid, as the duo once again set off... barely.
The duo caught up to the area where Ratchet had found Clank. To their luck, they found the kid, but came across a startling sight. A quartet of Horny Toads were approaching the child as he fearfully struggled to move. No matter how hard he tried to get away, he just couldn't move. Perhaps he was severely injured? Knowing that he was bound to get hurt, he shut his eyes tight and buried his face in his knees.
...But miraculously, he instead heard a powerful swing. He felt no presence of the hostile Horny Toads. He then heard...
"Hey, are you okay?"
It was a teen's voice. But not just any teen's voice; it was that same teen's voice.
Opening his ebony eyes, the child gradually looked up to whoever saved him, but was swiftly about to back up when he saw him. "No! Please don't hurt me... I didn't do anything, I swear!"
Ratchet slightly put his hands up in defense. "Whoa, whoa. Calm down. I promise I'm not going to hurt you."
The kid wasn't too simpleminded. He couldn't buy it, though on the inside, he could possibly have. "H...how do I know you're not...lying? You ambushed me!"
Ratchet gingerly knelt down in front of him, wondering how he could calm him down. "Hey, take it easy. It's okay. I'm sorry for what happened earlier. I promise I won't do it again."
The Lombax was about to expect him to doubt even more. Turns out, the child grew a small reassured grin on his face. He did have a point. After all, he did save him.
"What's your name, sport?" he then heard Ratchet ask.
"Miles Prower, but everyone calls me Tails." (Precisely, the child is known as Classic Tails, the past version of his modern self.)
"Nice," Ratchet replied. "Are you from around here, Tails?"
Classic Tails shook his head. "Nope."
"Well, can you at least tell me what you are?"
"...A fox."
The word repeated in Ratchet's head. A fox... Never heard of or seen one. He snapped back to reality when he heard...
"What about you?"
"Oh, I'm something called a Lombax."
"Do you know how you arrived here, Tails?" from Clank, who was not too far behind. Ratchet must've forgotten that the little robot was there with him.
Classic Tails inhaled, then he began:
"Well, you see, I'm from another universe. The last thing I remembered was me and my friend had just come back from another friend of ours' birthday party. I'd decided to take a little vacation at an island I used to stay at. I was exhausted from the event that had recently happened back there. I took a little walk in the forest when I found something so mysterious, yet so intriguing. It was an Emerald, a Chaos Emerald, or at least I thought it was. I was going to take it to my lab, but then everything went all white and sucked me into a wormhole, and then I ended up here on this planet.
"I was then found and taken into an orphanage where..." in turn, Classic Tails began to sniffle. He couldn't utter it. Tears gradually welled up in his eyes.
Ratchet noticed the child's tearstained face. "What's wrong?"
Classic Tails tried pulling himself together. "Everyone made fun of me. I was being shoved here and there, and I knew why they were making fun of me. They were pulling my tails. I couldn't believe it happened to me again. Even the caretaker was inconsiderate enough to hate me. I just knew it. So I snuck out and ran away one late night.
"I was out here for days looking for a place to stay until I found you tinkering and building your ship one day. But I didn't want to surprise you, so I hid somewhere and watched you do your thing. Then you went out to the crash site and I followed you there, and then back to your home after you found that bot. I heard you guys were teaming up to find who you were looking for. Then those guys came. They didn't look friendly. And then you left and I hid somewhere else.
"I was scared. I thought everything will be destroyed in a matter of time, especially when more of them came. Then you guys came back. I was so glad to see you again, and I followed you like last time. You were so incredible when you defeated that leader, but then you fell. I was going to help you, but I didn't want to surprise and alarm you or anything. And then you found me."
Ratchet and Clank were shocked by the things they heard from Classic Tails. What really concerned Ratchet was the fact that the young fox was made fun of because of his...tails? That just doesn't make any sense, or does it? He looked over to his two tails. Constantly swaying up and down, in a repetitive pattern. "You know, I doubt that you look ridiculous with those tails of yours. I mean why would those culprits make fun of you for that? This world is full of extraterrestrials you can think of."
Classic Tails gave Ratchet a confident smile. "That's what I thought so, too."
"Wait, but don't your species have two tails as well?"
"Um...apparently not. They typically have only one, and I guess I'm the only one with two instead of one."
"Wow, I'm impressed," was all Ratchet could say. There was just something peculiar about this kid that reminded so much of himself. He has such wisdom for a kid at his age, he thought, while also reminding himself that he, too, has such wisdom, in engineering since he was a child.
"Do you have anyone who looks after you? Like...I don't know, your parents maybe, so that you could find your home sooner?"
Classic Tails's face fell as he heard this. Ratchet quickly noticed it. "I should've known. You really are an orphan." The young fox gazed at the concerned Lombax in defeat. The other would've thought that the kid could be a lucky one, unlike him, but that wasn't the case. Instead, he was an orphan, perhaps an unlucky one just like him.
"You are just like me," Ratchet then said.
Classic Tails gave him a questioning look.
"I am one, too. Look, I've been alone on this planet for years. I don't know where where I came from to this day, and I've always wanted to explore somewhere to get a better sight of this whole world, right until when Clank crashed into my life."
Classic Tails felt like giggling at that. These two seemed to be best friends from the looks of it.
"...So it's best that you come stay with us for a while."
The young two-tailed fox locked his eyes on to the emerald eyes of Ratchet.
"Look, I know we just met, but I can't just leave you alone out here. You need someone to look after and accompany you." He looked back at Clank who was still watching, then turned back. Something shone in the fox's ebony eyes as he gazed up at Ratchet's innocent emerald green eyes. Green eyes that reminded him of a certain someone he knew. "Th...thank you so much!"
"Then let's go," Ratchet said. "It's getting late."
"Wait!" the duo heard Classic Tails called out. "You haven't told me your names, yet!" as he got up.
"Oh! I'm Ratchet, and this is Clank. We were actually heading to my home. C'mon."
Classic Tails felt a slightly sharp pain on his left leg., letting out a small cry as he took a step. Ratchet rushed to help him up. "Whoa, you okay there, Tails?"
Then he stared at the other's left leg. "Your leg is bleeding! I'll patch it up when we get to my home, alright?"
Classic Tails nodded, as Ratchet warmly gave him a piggyback ride. "C'mon, Clank! Let's head over to my garage!" as the three took off, with the night sky transitioning from dark red to a dark, general nighttime blue.
When they arrived at Ratchet's garage, Ratchet offered Classic Tails a seat on the couch after bringing it out and gently putting him down. "Make yourself at home. I'll get the first-aid kit."
Classic Tails patiently looked around the garage. It seemed quite small for someone like Ratchet to live in, but also fairly relaxing and calming, especially for a mechanic like him (and the young fox himself) as he also noticed tools like wrenches and screwdrivers in a toolbox. The young two-tailed fox grinned with immense fascination.
"Must be intriguing being in a mechanic's home, huh?" Ratchet returned to Classic Tails with the first-aid kit, noticing the fascinated expression on his face.
"Yeah! And besides, I know what it's like to live in a place like this."
Ratchet felt awestruck by Classic Tails's response. "Oh, well, um... That's good to hear. So you're a mechanic, too, huh?"
"Sure I am! And, well, since you're one as well, maybe we can be friends!" the young fox said cheerfully.
"Heh, why not?"
As Ratchet finished wrapping Classic Tails's left leg up with some gauze, he heard a yawn from the young fox. "Tired there, Tails?"
"Yep," as Classic Tails lied down on the couch.
Ratchet got up and brought him a pillow and a blanket. "Sleep tight, Tails."
The Lombax was about to head over to the shelf when he heard...
"Ratchet...I'm sorry for running away from you earlier."
Ratchet thought for a moment about what happened earlier and what he should say. It wasn't the young fox's fault that he ran away from him. He should be sorry for ambushing him. He knew he had to find a way to make it up to him. "Aw, don't worry about it. It's all good. I'm the one who should be sorry. Sweet dreams," as he gave him an apologetic smile.
True to his word, the Lombax really was sorry for ambushing the young fox. After all, he did have a point. Classic Tails reassuringly smiled as he drifted to sleep. Ratchet turned back to the shelf and grabbed the toolbox that was settling on there. "Okay, Clank. Let's fix that arm."
Ratchet and Clank belong to (c) Insomniac Games
Classic Tails belongs to (c) SEGA