The screen opens with a skyscraper reaching up to a blue sky with dozens of hovercars zooming past it in various directions.
"That's Kerwan." Ratchet said. "It's where Clank and I live."
"Kerwan… That's in the Solana Galaxy is it not?" Alister asked.
"Yeah." Ratchet nodded.
So Kaden sent his son to Solana. Alister thought. Sending him to another Galaxy was certainly wise, to keep him safe from Tachyon.
The screen pans down to the top of a building.
CLANK: Fuel lines?
RATCHET: Check.
Clank is stood in front of a hoverbike reading from an electronic pad. Ratchet is behind the hoverbike.
CLANK: Horizontal stabilisers?
RATCHET: Check.
Ratchet's head pops up from behind the bike.
CLANK: Ion thrusters?
Ratchet leans forward and glances to the right, looking excited.
RATCHET: Looks like we've got a tailwind. If we time it right, we can ride the slipstream of the grav-train past the c-grid traffic—
Ratchet gestures excitedly. Clank clears his throat.
"Ion thrusters are pretty important you know," said Talywn, "it would pay to check them."
"I'm sure I'm gonna." Ratchet replied, waving his hand dismissively.
"Are you always this reckless and carefree?" She asked.
"What's wrong with being carefree?" Ratchet asked, shrugging sheepishly.
"I can name a few things." Said Clank.
"Hey." Ratchet glared at him, not at all seriously. Most of the others laughed.
RATCHET: Launch the mag-grappler onto that pedway overpass and slingshot right up to—
Clank gives Ratchet a deadpan stare.
CLANK: Ratchet.
RATCHET: The thrusters are fine Clank. (He waves his hand dismissively) See.
Ratchet attempts to start the bike but the thruster blows out.
Everyone laughs and Ratchet can't help but blush in embarrassment.
Clank glares at him.
RATCHET: Don't worry, it's probably just a fused ion duct.
Ratchet goes over to check the thrusters. Clank rolls his eyes and looks back down at his screen. He taps a few buttons and it rises up and spins around.
CLANK: Incoming message from Captain Qwark.
"Finally." Qwark said, dramatically. "It's about time I got some screen time."
"Quite literally." Clank gestured to the screen on the screen and did his signature laugh. Nefarious groaned but Ratchet smiled. Over the years he'd come to appreciate Clank's sense of humour.
On the screen is the logo of the Planetary Defence Centre. Qwark pops up looking scared.
CAPTAIN QWARK: Ratchet? Clank? I've got a bit of a situation over here at the Planetary Defence Centre.
Ratchet tighten's up the hoverbike using his wrench but pauses and turns around to watch.
CAPTAIN QWARK: Nothing I can't handle mind you, just a few… Thousand… Heavily armed robotic commandos but I figured hey! If you're in the neighbourhood maybe— AH!
A laser fires from somewhere off the screen and narrowly misses Qwark as he jumps out of the way. It strikes the wall behind him. Ratchet and Clank watch on in concern.
"Aw what a shame." Nefarious sighed, disappointed Qwark wasn't disintegrated. Qwark glared at him.
CAPTAIN QWARK (offscreen): Wait! I'm too handsome to die!
"Damn right I am." Qwark said, agreeing with his future self. He was grinning but it was obviously forced. Everyone could tell he was worried about his future self. Everyone, bar Nefarious and Lawrence, was worried too. Qwark may irritate Ratchet and Clank a lot of the time but they would never wish him dead or anything.
The video cuts out and Clank places the electronic pad inside the opening in his chest. He taps one of his fingers against his chin thoughtfully.
CLANK: Hmm… Heavily armed robotic commandos?
Clank walks over to the hoverbike. Ratchet grabs his hand and helps him onto the back.
RATCHET: When aren't they heavily armed?
Ratchet laughs. "Good point me."
"You know, lightly armed robotic commandos would have more manoeuvrability." Talwyn mused.
"Let's not give the bad guys ideas." Ratchet joked, making her laugh.
Ratchet pushes a few buttons and the bike starts up.
CLANK: Are you sure this is functioning properly?
RATCHET: You worry too much.
The bike hovers off the ground and over the roof.
RATCHET: Planetary Defence Centre, here we—
The thrusters give out and the hoverbike plummets towards the ground with both Ratchet and Clank screaming.
Ratchet made a point of avoiding Clank's gaze as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"I swear, your recklessness will definitely get us killed one day." Clank sighed, sounding more defeated than angry.
"Ah come on, I'm not that bad." Ratchet said. Most of the room glared at him causing him to shrink in on himself.
RATCHET: Clank! Hit the auxiliary thrusters!
The auxiliary thrusters kick in just in time for Ratchet to pull up. The two sail over a train and through an underpass.
RATCHET: Woohoo! (He glances back at Clank) You alright?
CLANK: Watch out!
Clank points in front of them. Ratchet turns around and steers the hoverbike up just in time to miss a building. Ratchet weaves through a garden, hitting a few lamposts.
"Kids these days," Grumbled Zephyr, "back in my day we had cars that ran on the ground and didn't go faster than twenty cubits an hour."
"Oh yeah." Kronk said. "Well in my day we didn't even have cars, we had to use our legs to get around."
"Oh yeah well…" And so the two began another of their never-ending arguments.
Ratchet could tell just by the look on Talwyn's face this was a regular occurrence.
"Do you actually have a licence?" She asked him.
"Of course." He replied. "I'm actually a very good driver… ninety percent of the time."
CLANK: Where are you going?
RATCHET: It's a shortcut, trust me.
Ratchet flies up towards a divide between two buildings.
CLANK: Ratchet! Look out!
The two fly inside.
RATCHET: Woah! See, what did I—
Suddenly, Ratchet notices a large ship blocking their path out of the passage.
RATCHET: Uh oh.
CLANK: Oh no.
Ratchet covered his eyes, worried he was about to see himself die. "If I survive this I swear to never drive recklessly again."
"You can't die," Qwark said, sounding genuinely concerned.
"You're worried about me?" Ratchet asked, surprised.
"Of course, if you die whose gonna save me from those robotically armed commandos."
"Right." Ratchet sighed. As usual he was only worried about himself.
Ratchet attempts to brake but they are too close and end up slamming into the ship. The hoverbike smashes into the pieces and the two are sent falling to the ground screaming. They land on a platform. Ratchet grabs onto the wreck of the hoverbike and uses it to lift himself up. He laughs sheepishly.
"From now, well after this future event I suppose, I will be the one doing the driving." Clank said.
"Oh come on, we're alive aren't we." Said Ratchet.
"How is it you're this recklessly dumb and I still haven't killed you yet." Nefarious complained.
"Cause you're even more stupid?" Ratchet suggested making everyone else laugh. Nefarious gave Lawrence a harsh glare for laughing as well.
RATCHET: Well, looks like we're going on foot.
Clank pushes a piece of wreckage off himself.
RATCHET: At least I can try out my new nav unit.
Ratchet stands up and grips the green band on his belt, the nav unit, which begins blinking. Clank hops on his back and the two look around to assess the situation. Above them, ships are attacking various parts of the city and numerous buildings are on fire.
GADGETRON HELP DESK: Welcome back customer 91802. If you are looking to combat a massive deadly space armada the Gadgetron Help Desk will be happy to assist.
"Are those common problems in Solana?" Talwyn asked.
"Well… Yeah pretty much. Can't tell you the number of lunatics we've had to stop from destroying the galaxy. In fact two of them are in this room." Ratchet replied.
Nefarious just rolled his eyes while Qwark had the decency to look ashamed. He'd actually worked hard to be redeemed for all the bad stuff he'd done but it was still hard to think about sometimes. But he was still the biggest celebrity in the whole galaxy so it'd take more than that to crush his ego.
Meanwhile, Alister was still thinking about what Ratchet had said about saving the galaxy multiple times. You're boy is a true hero Kaden, you would have been so proud of him…
Ratchet runs across a glass bridge towards a small plaza with a statue of Qwark. When they get there, two drophyds with strong pincers are waiting for them.
Talwyn stiffened at what she saw. The drophyds are the servants of emperor Tachyon, the cragmite who has oppressed almost her entire galaxy. Ratchet noticed her change in demeanour and placed a hand gently on her elbow to get her attention.
"Hey, are you okay?"
She flinched slightly, not expecting the contact, but didn't pull away.
"Yeah," she said. "Some day, the resistance will defeat Tachyon and his forces." She clenched her fists.
"Who?" Ratchet asked.
"Who cares?" Nefarious complained, thus ending the conversation.
Alister was doing everything he could to calm the raging storm inside him at seeing drophyd's again. Since moving to the Vela Sector of the Polaris galaxy after his exile he'd not had much contact with Tachyon or his troops. He sometimes thought about returning to the Cerullean Sector but as much as he hated to admit it he was a coward in that regard. He couldn't face going back after his failure. Part of him was also scared of Tachyon. He'd slaughtered thousands of Lombaxes, including his best friend.
If only I had known his son was still alive…
Ratchet stops dead in his tracks. He and Clank barely have time to think when they attack them. Ratchet equips his combuster and fires at the drophyds. His shots crack the tanks their heads are in. They attempt to strike with their pincers but Ratchet flips out of the way and fires multiple rounds with his combuster. The fired up bullets strike through their armour causing it to explode. The two orange fish-headed creatures are sent flying and land just by the statue of Qwark, flopping around helplessly.
"Nice work there rookie." Said Zephyr.
"Thanks." Ratchet grinned.
Ratchet runs towards the path right of the statue but comes face to face with a group of tesladrones. He takes out his omniwrench and slashes at them with expert precision and skill, taking out most of them in one swing. One of them manages to shock him causing him to recoil and hiss in pain.
Aside from Nefarious, who was happy at seeing one of his enemies being injured, and Lawrence, everyone became very worried about Ratchet.
He destroys it with his omniwrench. Ratchet notices three Drophyds standing at the entrance to the building in front of him with their backs turned. He overhears another speaking through their coms.
DROPHYD: The Lombax is somewhere in this city, bring back his head for the emperor.
Alister narrowed his eyes at the screen. So Tachyon was after Ratchet.
If only I had know… No, there is no excuse. I should have been there to protect the boy. Not for the first time Alister felt himself consumed with shame.
Ratchet notices some crates of bolts and nanotech just to the side of the building. He sneaks over quietly and jumps, slamming his omniwrench down and breaking all the boxes. He quickly grabs the bolts and adsorbs the nanotech. Unfortunately, the sound of the crates breaking has attracted the attention of the drophyds and Ratchet finds himself under fire. Unable to get out of the way in time he is shot in the chest twice.
"Thank god I just got that nanotech right?" Ratchet said, trying to sound light.
"This is no laughing matter Ratchet." Clank admonished. "I know we do heroic things nearly every week but that doesn't mean I'm not worried about you."
"I know pal." Ratchet admitted. "I worry about you too."
He immediately takes out his combuster and begins shooting back, jumping around to dodge the drophyds' fire. One of them is quickly destroyed but the other two manage to only be hit in the helmet. Thinking on his feet, Ratchet swaps the gun for his omniwrench and, just like with the crates, bought it down on top of the drophyds smashing their tanks and sending the fish-heads rolling across the ground.
He's quick on his feet. Alister thought, smiling, impressed.
Talwyn was also impressed. Seeing the lombax show off his strength and agility in battle was very impressive. Maybe even a bit attractive. She blushed at the thought.
He rushes through the building towards the bridge on the other side but another drophyd is waiting for him, this one using thrusters to hover. Ratchet takes out the combuster again and begins to fire. The flying drophyd is a trickier target and a close shot forces Ratchet to dive behind some rubble. He flicks out the sight on his gun and takes a deep breath. He rushes out into the open, looks through the sight and aims it at the drophyd's head then unleashes rapid fire. The drophyd explodes and falls to the ground, smashing into pieces. Ratchet dashes across the bridge, taking out some tesladrones. Suddenly, a drop ship hovers over the other end of the bridge and drops some more drophyds with pincers. He wastes no time in shooting them with his combuster from a distance. He knows he's beginning to run low on nanotech.
Everyone, bar the obvious, still feels worried for Ratchet despite his obvious skill for fighting. Clank knew better than most he was far from invincible and always worried one day they would encounter a villain stronger than them. That being said, he couldn't just ask Ratchet to give up hero work, or do that himself for that matter. Helping people was just who they were.
At the other end of the bridge is a jump pad. Ratchet gets on and uses the pad to propel him to a higher level of the building.
"You just have those lying about your city?" Talwyn asks.
"Makes it easier for people to get around, Kerwan's built on multiple levels." Ratchet explained.
"They are a pretty fun mode of transportation." Qwark added.
When he gets there a giant enforcer is there, fortunately it does not notice him and jumps away.
"That's lucky, it doesn't look like you have a lot of your weapons on you at the moment." Clank said.
"Well I'm sure future me didn't know there was going to be an invasion that day." Ratchet said. He then seemed to suddenly remember there was a pretty girl sat next to him. "Not that I couldn't have taken him."
"Uh huh, sure." Said Talwyn, seeming more amused than anything.
Nefarious turned away looking disgusted.
The drophyd that was hovering in the air behind it does notice him though and Ratchet finds himself under fire again. He jumps to the side and shoots the drophyd down with his combuster. Right behind it are two more drophyds. Ratchet presses the trigger on his combuster but hears the unfortunate click indicating it's out of ammo.
Ratchet, Talwyn and Clank all sucked in a breath.
"Ah you can beat 'em, right?" Asked Kronk.
"Huh…" Ratchet hummed, absorbed in the screen. "Oh right yeah, of course." But he was clearly trying to sound more confident than he felt.
He looks at the gun in horror and doesn't even see the shots coming that hit him, forcing him to use more nanotech. He dashes back to hide behind the side of the building. He presses his back against the wall of the building and breathes deeply. He checks his supply and is shaken to see he only has three nanotech machines left.
"Ratchet…" Clank said, worried. Ratchet patted his friend's back comfortingly.
"Don't worry pal, we've been in way tougher spots right?" There was no hint of exaggeration in his voice making a lot of people wonder just what kind of life the lombax and robot were leading.
He looks around and sees quite close to him are some crates, one of which, is a gadgetron ammo crate. If he's lucky enough, it'll have some more shots for his combuster. He watches the drophyds carefully and slips out from his hiding spot. He uses his omniwrench to slash the crates and almost cries with relief when he sees the combuster ammo. He immediately equips it and with catlike grace dashes right in between the two drophyds firing to the left and right and taking them both out.
"Amazing, you're very skilled." Alister said. Ratchet blushed at the praise. There was something special about being praised by another lombax, especially one who had apparently known his father. "Just as skilled as your father." Alister gave Ratchet a proud smile. "You know he once won the gold cup at the Agorian Battleplex."
"Really?" Talwyn asked, sounding impressed. She'd heard about the Agorian Battleplex, it was supposed to be one of the toughest fighting arenas in the Polaris Galaxy. When she was a little girl she had use to tell her father she would win a tournament at the Battleplex someday. How long had it been since she'd had dreams like that? The only thing she'd dreamed of lately was defeating Tachyon and seeing her father again.
He spots another jump pad in the corner of the platform. He goes to hop on but out of the corner of his eye he spots some more crates, one of which contains nanotech. He dashes over and slashes all of them, collecting the bolts and nanotech, bringing him up to eight nanotech machines. He hops on the jump pad and it sends him to yet another platform, this one on the building opposite. He arrives just as another drop ship drops four drophyds. These ones are just walking around on the ground and Ratchet decides it's probably for the best he saves his combuster ammo for the hovering drophyds. He slashes the drophyds like his life depends on it and manages to take them all out before they can even try to shoot him.
"See," Ratchet said to Clank with a smug grin, "I told you we had nothing to worry about."
"Arrogance can lead to downfall Ratchet." Clank warned.
"Relax. Just how many invading forces have we taken out? This one'll be no different."
Clank narrowed his eyes, uncomfortable with how casual Ratchet was acting. It was like he had no sense of self-preservation.
Alister was also worried. Having seen Tachyon's destruction of his home world he knew Ratchet was in more danger than he realised. This was no ordinary invading force, it was an invading force led by someone who had plenty of experience killing lombaxes.
There's quite a few crates in the area that he makes sure to smash for extra bolts and nanotech. He looks around a sees a grind rail attached to the building. He equips his grind boots and leaps onto the rail. It doesn't take long for him to notice the rail is about to end, forcing him to jump onto the rail next to him.
"Alright, I love a good grind rail." Ratchet said, pumping his fist.
"You call that grind railing?" Zepher said. "We used to do it with one foot in the air back in my day."
"Oh yeah? Well in my day we use to do it with two feet in the air." Kronk added, challengingly.
"Oh yeah? Well—"
"Guys!" Talwyn cried. Both warbots shrunk down, subdued.
This one curves off around a tall building with beautiful big blue squared windows. Ratchet doesn't have time to admire the view though, he notices charged coils around the grind rail and has to jump over them to avoid being electrocuted. As he circles the building, one of the invading ships from above shoots it causing the whole thing to split and collapse into rubble. Ratchet stares with wide eyes as it falls and almost misses the break in the grind rail. He cries out a bit as he just manages to jump and land clumsily on the other side of the grind rail.
"Kids these days," Kronk sighed, shaking his head.
Unfortunately he isn't prepared to make a second jump and ends up slamming into two of the electric coils. He cries out in pain and uses up two nanotech machines healing himself.
Everyone winces. That looked like it really hurt.
"Don't worry." Ratchet assured them. "I've run into those things by accident before, it hurts but it's not hard to recover from."
Clank shook his head. Ratchet was always doing reckless things like that and the truth was it worried him like crazy.
He narrows his eyes in determination, completely focused. He jumps all the next coils and gaps that come. The grind rail comes to an end on another platform where he is to face with two more drophyds; one on the ground and one in the air. This seems like a moment for the combuster. He'd gotten pretty good at dodging their shots by now and isn't hit once but no sooner has he defeated those two that a hoard of tesladrones emerges from the building and a drop ship sends down four more drophyds.
"They just keep coming." Cried Qwark. Probably more worried about himself than Ratchet and Clank.
"Tachyon seems to have pulled his entire army in for this." Said Kronk.
"Not surprising." Said Talwyn. "He sees the lombaxes as his greatest enemies. They are the ones who vaporised the rest of the cragmites."
"Wait. What?" Asked Ratchet.
"You mean you don't know?" Talwyn said, surprised.
"Perhaps we should focus on what's happening on the screen for the moment." Alister cut in coldly. He didn't want to have to hear about what happened. He was still so wracked with guilt and right now just being near Kaden's son and seeing everything he was going to go through was just making it worse.
I have to find the clock… I have to fix this…
Ratchet takes a step back, feeling quite overwhelmed. He begins slashing the tesladrones with his omniwrench as fast as possible then takes out his combuster and blasts the drophyds. Unfortunately, he is outnumbered and can't stop himself from being hit a few times. Eventually he takes out all the drophyds and is relieved to see crates of nanotech behind where they had been. He replenishes his nanotech supply back to ten then runs through the building to the other side. Here he has to face six tesladrones, which he takes out easily with his omniwrench, and two gunships. These are much tougher, one is equiped with a laser beam and the other with a mortar missile launcher.
Talwyn shivered. She'd faced one of the imperial gunships before and almost got her arm blown off. Kronk and Zepher moved a bit closer behind her protectively. Talwyn relaxed, the two old warbots may not be as strong as they once were but they were her family and they'd always come through when she needed them. They made her feel safe.
This one fires a missile at Ratchet that he jumps and rolls out of the way. He decides to pull out his fusion grenade launcher and tosses one at the missile launching gunship. It explodes on contact disintegrating the gunship and sending the drophyd piloting it falling into the cloud layer below.
"Just how many weapons do you have anyway?" Talwyn asked.
"Don't even start." Nefarious grumbled. Having fought Ratchet and Clank in the past he was more than familiar with the frustratingly large array of weapons they had.
Ratchet is so focused on the missile launching gunship he isn't watching the other which manages to burn his foot with its laser.
Ratchet winced, feeling sympathy for his future self.
Ratchet leaps back and throws another grenade, leaving it to the same fate as the first gunship. Ratchet jumps onto a nearby jump pad which sends him to a building opposite, right into the path of an enforcer. Fortunately he lands on another jump pad which immediately propels him away and onto another higher platform. On this platform there are more tesladrones and two more gunships, both with lasers. He takes out the tesladrones easily but struggles to dodge the attacks of the gunships. He throws a grenade but is jumping out of the way of a laser and misses. He chucks another one as soon as he lands and this one hits its mark.
"Hmm…" Clank did his signature hum. "At this rate you will run out of ammo."
"Yeah, no kidding." Ratchet deadpanned. "But hey, I can take those guys with just the omniwrench."
"You sure about that?" Even Qwark sounded unsure.
"Of course." Ratchet. "It's never let me down." Ratchet sounded so assured as he spoke of his most fond weapon.
Alister couldn't help but feel warm at how the young lombax had come to favour the signature weapon of their race.
With only one gunship left it's easy enough for Ratchet to dodge its lasers and hit it with a grenade. He smashes some nearby crates and obtains more nanotech. He sees some ammo crates nearby but they only contain combuster shots, which means he's still down to only one grenade. He heads out onto a bridge leading to another building. It already has a few cracks in it and a passing ship fires a shot that blasts another hole right in front of Ratchet. He cries out as he is flown back. The bridge begins to shake and collapse. Ratchet scrambles to his feet and runs as fast as possible, the bridge collapsing just behind him as he goes.
"Ratchet!" Clank cried involuntarily.
"Don't worry pal, I know we'll get out of this." Said Ratchet, giving Clank a reassuring pat of the back.
"If you ask me, you should be the one doing all the fighting sir. I bet you'd do a much better job." Sigmund said.
"Perhaps, but Ratchet has longer legs so when we're in a hurry I'm forced to rely on him." Clank did his signature chuckle. Ratchet laughed good-naturedly.
From above, he can hear one of the drophyds speaking to the others through a ship com.
DROPHYD: Lombax identified on the sky bridge, commence aerial assault.
"That doesn't sound good." Ratchet sighed.
Some tesladrones emerge from the archway in front of Ratchet. He slashes them with his omniwrench but the platform he's on crumbles and begins to fall. He leaps onto the next section of the bridge and begins running again. As he gets through the arch some drophyds are waiting to attack him. Ratchet tries to swipe at them with his omniwrench but they dodge and swipe back with their pincers. Ratchet stumbles as the bridge begins to collapse from below him. He jumps over the drophyds shoulders and runs, leaving the drophyds to fall.
"That was some quick thinking, you're very light on your feet." Alister praised.
"Thanks." Ratchet blushed.
He dodges another drophyd and makes a leap onto the entrance of the building. He pauses for a second, placing his hands on his knees and breathing deeply. The room in front of his is practically filled with tesladrones and Ratchet looks disheartened at the thought of more fighting but knows he has no choice.
The Ratchet in the present isn't any more looking forward to having to deal with all this in the future. Not that he hasn't had to face armies of invading warriors before.
Alister glared at the screen. Tachyon will send everything he has if necessary to kill Ratchet… This is all my fault.
He throws his last grenade, blowing quite a few of them up, then dashes in, combuster at the ready. He blasts all the tesladrones, taking them out in one hit but gets struck by a shot to his back. He looks around to see three drophyds, one hovering and two on the ground. He groans and begins shooting at them, being sure to run around the room as much as possible so they can't get a clear shot at him. The drophyds are all swiftly destroyed. Ratchet pauses once the danger has past to try and catch his breath again. He smashes all the crates in the room, thankfully there's enough nanotech to completely restore his supply and even some ammo crates with grenades in them. Outside the building is another grind rail. Ratchet hops on and grinds up the side of a building.
DROPHYD: This incinerator is powered and locked in, commence firing.
The biggest of the ships fires a massive laser into the building Ratchet is grinding past. It breaks apart and falls.
"They are destroying the city." Clank said, it was subtle, but there were definite notes of worry in his tone. Ratchet clenched his fist. Whoever was doing this was going to pay.
Ratchet has no time to worry about that though as he suddenly finds himself on the gravtrain rails with a train heading right for him.
DROPHYD: The Lombax has been sighted near the gravtrain. All units, move in and cut him off.
Ratchet jumps out of the way of a train onto another rail but another train is coming for him. He panics for a moment then notices a gap behind the train he just dodged and jumps back onto that rail. Another train comes down that track a second later but both the others are clear.
"Ah rush hour." Ratchet sighed dramatically.
"This is no laughing matter." Clank scolded him.
"Right, you've got to get to the planetary defence centre and hel— er, back me up." Qwark said. "Not that I can't handle it myself of course; I just figure you two could use the experience. You could learn a thing or two from a pro like me."
Ratchet and Clank just rolled their eyes. Nefarious decided to slide over behind Qwark and say 'boo' causing him to scream and jump into the air. Everyone laughed. Qwark growled angrily at his nemesis.
This time he jumps onto the opposite rail. Another train comes towards him as he goes round the corner and he jumps back onto the middle rail. Just in time as two shots from a ship destroy the other rails. Ratchet grinds until the end of the middle rail then jumps onto the platform below. He finds himself surrounded by four drophyds and begins shooting at them with his combuster. They don't move too fast so he's able to take one out with being attacked but as he's striking at two of the others, the third comes up behind him and clips him with its pincers. Ratchet cries in pain and is so distracted he takes hits from the other two as well. He finds himself set upon by all three of them, losing nanotech fast. He realises he won't be able to get out of this with just single shots and swaps his combuster for his grenade launcher. He throws one down and jumps to avoid the blast. They drophyds are blow back, their helmets cracked and leaking.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. That had been another close call.
Ratchet fires three quick shots with his combuster to destroy their armour completely. He runs to the jump pad he sees in the corner and uses it to propel himself to another platform. This one only has two drophyds, which he easily takes out with his omniwrench. He is relieved to see another nanotech crate up there and gets his nanotech supply back to at least half full. This platform also has a jump pad which propels him to a small platform on another building with another platform. Ratchet is sent flying high into the air.
CLANK: Ratchet, the Planetary Defence Centre is two hundred cubits below us, how do you propose we get down?
Ratchet lands on another platform.
RATCHET: I don't know, I'm kinda winging it right now.
Everyone turned to Alister as he began laughing.
"Just like your father." He said, smiling, caught in fond memories of their childhood.
"I still can't believe you knew him." Said Ratchet. "I have so many questions."
"I'm sure you do my boy," Alister chuckled. He smiled a bittersweet smile as he thought of his oldest friend. "Well, for now I'll tell you he was just as reckless as you. The two of us use to steal our parents ships when we were teenagers and fly to Krell Canyon on Lumos after dark to go hoverbooting in the Odin Caves." Alister laughed. "Once, he suggested we turbo boost over an eight metre gap. I was scared, not that I let him know it mind, but he attempted it without a second thought."
"Did he make it?" Ratchet asked, excitement shining in his eyes. Alister laughed again.
"Of course not. He fell into the crevice and landed in a pool of water. Broke his leg and sprained his wrist. We both got into a lot of trouble when we got back. Our punishment was to scrub out trash compactors for the Vullards for two weeks." Alister chuckled softly with a fond smile on his face. Ratchet smiled as he watched him, feeling somewhat closer to his father just from hearing Alister talk about him.
The platform begins to break apart and fall as Ratchet runs across it. Not only that but the ships in the sky keep firing at him, creating craters in the platform. Ratchet jumps the holes and dodges the attacks as best he can while still moving forward. He eventually runs into more drophyds. They're all in front of him so he unleashes rapid fire with his combuster to take them out one at a time as he moves forward. Eventually he reaches a group of five drophyds and isn't able to hit all of them in time. He runs forward and slides right under their pincers as they lunge for him, leaving them to fall with the collapsing platform.
"Nice moves there Ratchet." Qwark praised. "Exactly what I would have done."
"Right." Ratchet said sarcastically, rolling his eyes but with a fond smile on his face.
He rolls to get back on his feet and keeps running. As he reaches the end of the platform, a massive blast from one of the ships destroys the whole thing, sending Ratchet falling.
Everyone gasped in fear.
"No…" Alister whispered.
"Ratchet, Clank." Qwark cried, genuinely worried for once.
"Perhaps watching this was a good idea after all." Nefarious grinned.
"Popcorn sir?" Lawrence produced a box seemingly from thin air. Nefarious rudely snatched it from his hand.
His eyes go wide in panic but he manages to compose himself enough to spread his arms and legs and lean to the left to avoid a hovercar. He looks down to see hovercars from all directions right in his path. He leans forward to avoid two then leans to the right to avoid a truck. He pushes himself down to quickly duck under a passing hovercar.
RATCHET: They just had to invade during rush hour.
"Those are some sweet moves rookie." Kronk praised. "This can't be your first halo jump."
"Yep, I've had my fair share." Ratchet bragged. Talwyn and Clank rolled their eyes.
The Planetary Defence Centre is right below them and getting closer. At the last moment, Clank deploys his helipack, preventing Ratchet from splattering all over the ground and allowing them to glide down safely, right up to the front door.
"Thank goodness." Qwark breathed a sigh of relief. Now those two would be able to rescue him.
Clank hops off Ratchet's back now that they've arrived and the two walk up to the intercom.
RATCHET: Looks pretty quiet… Where's Qwark?
Qwark began shaking slightly, afraid something awful may have happened to his future self.
Ratchet pushes some buttons on the intercom and Qwark's voice comes through the speaker.
CAPTAIN QWARK: Greetings citizen, I'm away from my post at the Planetary Defence Centre, please enter the number that best describes your emergency.
Ratchet and Clank hear heavy mechanical footsteps and turn to see an enforcer closing in on them.
CAPTAIN QWARK (CONT'D): If you are being attacked by radioactive ameboids, please press one.
Two drop ships, a gunship and biggest of the invading ships hover up from below the platform.
CAPTAIN QWARK (CONT'D): If you have been ingested by a mutant space eel, please press two.
"Do those things happen a lot?" Talwyn asked.
"You'd be surprised how often." Ratchet sighed.
"Taking out that mutant space eel was not easy." Clank agreed.
"Ameboids are pretty easy to deal with though." Ratchet grinned.
The main ship zooms it's camera in on Ratchet, he jumps around to get out of the way. It hovers over to Clank and when over his face animates a picture of a toaster.
Clank narrowed his eyes angrily. He was far more advanced than a mere toaster.
"Take no notice pal." Ratchet said. "You're by far the smartest, most advanced robot I've ever met."
Clank smiled. Then Nefarious had to ruin the moment. "Hmph, he's a mere windup clock compared to me. I'm the most advanced robot in the univer—" Said universe thought this was the appropriate moment for Nefarious to have one of his signature breakdowns. The classic lines of Lance and Janice began to play from his twitching head.
"Oh Lance, I should have told you the truth; I was the one who drove the hovercar that killed your sister."
"I know Janice. I was the one who covered it up."
"Oh Lance…"
"Can someone fix him?" Talwyn asked, sounding irritated.
"No wait, I haven't seen this one yet." Kronk cried, but he was too late, Lawrence gave Nefarious a whack on the head.
"—verse." Nefarious looked round to see everyone looking at him oddly. "What?"
"Nothing, oh great robot." Ratchet said mockingly. Everyone else laughed while Nefarious glared at him angrily.
It then swings over to Ratchet and animates a Lombax head. The enforcer begins shooting at Ratchet. He runs forward to avoid it and the main ship fires causing a big explosion just behind him. A nearby lamppost is knocked over. Ratchet raises his head and Clank climbs to his feet. He places his finger on his chin thoughtfully.
CLANK: I believe you may be their intended target.
Ratchet stands up and looks at the enemies in front of him. He looks back at Clank.
RATCHET (sarcastic): Ya think?
"Guess it makes sense Tachyon wouldn't want any more lombaxes in the universe." Talwyn mused.
"Just who is this Tachyon?" Ratchet asked, now very intrigued.
"The last craggimite in the universe." Zepher said.
"He's a tyrant who used his army to oppress half the galaxy." Talwyn explained, voice laced with venom. Ratchet nodded, satisfied. Somehow he got the feeling his future self had yet another bad guy to defeat and galaxy to save.
Ratchet grabs Clank's hand and pulls him onto his back. He equips his grindboots and hops on the fallen lamppost. The enforcer begins shooting again but Ratchet moves too fast for it to hit him. Ratchet notices three gravtrain grind rails below him and hops onto the middle one just as a laser equiped gunship comes up behind him. He jumps out of the way as it fires it's laser on the rail. Another gunship shows up and the two target the left and right rails forcing Ratchet back onto the middle rail.
"How do you even know what's coming?" Qwark asked.
"Well I'm guessing, from what I remember from other situations like this, Clank's keeping me informed on what's going on." Ratchet explained. "Thanks for always having my back pal." He elbowed Clank in a gesture of friendship. Clank smiled and nodded.
"Of course he is. You squishies would be useless without us." Nefarious grumbled.
He grinds up round the corner and the gunships are forced to withdraw when he enters a tunnel. Not safe yet, as a gravtrain comes towards him on the track. He flips over to the track on the right where another train is coming. He jumps back to the central rail but there's another train coming so he jumps to the left rail this time. No more trains but two gunships are hovering over the left and right rails.
"I wonder if those are the same gunships from earlier." Qwark said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Everyone just rolled their eyes or ignored him, not sure how that really mattered.
Ratchet jumps back to the middle rail, just narrowly missing the laser. Suddenly, trains come down all sides forcing Ratchet to quickly jump to the right rail and back to the middle one again. Once the danger has past he notices all but the right rail have been destroyed.
CLANK: Ratchet, my sensors detect structural damage to the grind rail.
He hops on and grinds up round the corner. A missile launching gun ship comes up just above Ratchet and begins firing at the grind rail in front of him, attempting to make him fall. He jumps each of the gaps with ease.
DROPHYD: All units, fall back. The emperor has him in his sight.
Ratchet comes up to where two other grind rails are next to him. The massive ship is coming up behind him.
CLANK: Ratchet, that warship is gaining on us.
"Way to point out the obvious." Nefarious deadpanned.
It wasn't easy to tell because he was a robot, but Clank seemed to pout at what he said.
"Ratchet seems to be busy watching where we were going, I probably figured he hadn't noticed the ship." He said defensively, guessing at what his future self was thinking.
"I'm sure I didn't pal, thanks for watching my back." Ratchet said, trying to defuse the situation. Clank smiled and nodded at Ratchet.
It begins to charge up the gun just behind Ratchet. He leaps to another rail. The ship fires but misses and begins charging up the gun facing the rail Ratchet is now on. It fires but Ratchet dodges once again. This continues for a while. The grind rail turns to the right but the ship stays with it. Ratchet continues to dodge the attacks almost effortlessly.
"Where did you learn to do flips like that?" Talwyn asked. Ratchet blushed and began fumbling for an answer.
"Well I— Uh, just you know, saving the galaxy all time, you pick up these kind of things."
"If I recall you were quite light on your feet even when we'd just met," Clank said, "did you go on adventures to save the galaxy before then?"
Ratchet opened his mouth but couldn't think of a response.
"Alright fine," he sighed, blushing harder. His ears drooped slightly in embarrassment. "When I was young I use to take gymnastics classes."
The others all began snickering.
"Did you do any rhythmic gymnastics as well?" Talwyn asked.
"I could definitely imagine you twirling a baton around." Qwark added, sounding dead serious. Ratchet looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him whole.
"Nonsense." Clank argued. Ratchet perked up a bit. Finally someone was sticking up for him. "Ratchet would have done much better using a ribbon than a batton." He shouldn't have got his hopes up.
"Shut up." Ratchet whined.
"Oh come on," Said Talwyn. "We're only teasing."
"I got enough of that at the orphanage." Ratchet deadpanned.
"Really?" Suddenly Talwyn wasn't laughing. It hadn't occurred to her until this point that Ratchet was an orphan and would have grown up as such. She herself still had hope that her father was out there somewhere but she still knew what it was like to grow up lonely. Of course she had Kronk and Zepher but she still felt the absence of her parents.
"Eventually I quit." Ratchet said. It took Talwyn a moment to remember they'd been talking about gymnastics.
"Well you're still very skilled." She said kindly.
"You're father would have been very proud." Alister added. Ratchet smiled, feeling a little happier.
The grind rail comes to an end and Ratchet slips off it onto a platform below. He gets up and sees he is surrounded by Drophyds. Clank hops off his back and the two stand back to back, both prepared to fight. The drophyds advance and both Ratchet and Clank back away.
"Just smash em' rookie, like you've been doing." Zepher yelled.
"They're no ordinary drophyds, they're mega drophyds, they can fire skin-melting acid from their guns." Kronk argued.
"Will you annoying twits just shut up!" Naferious screams at them. They shrink away at the volume but don't pursue their conversation.
"I notice they do this a lot." Ratchet comments.
"Yeah, I guess I've kind of gotten use to it but it's still annoying." Talwyn sighs. She can't help smiling though. Kronk and Zepher may be a pain at times but they helped raise her and took care of here these past many years. They were her family.
The ship that was chasing Ratchet hovers down and lands on the platform. The front hatch opens up and from it emerges a giant walking machine. The drophyds part to let it through.
EMPEROR TACHYON: Behold… The last lombax in the universe.
Talwyn glared at the screen with rage. The twisted cragmite was responsible for the suffering she and many others had been through over the past years.
Ratchet stared at the screen. He'd never seen a, well, whatever this guy was, before. It was obvious he held a grudge against Ratchet and he was curious as to why. He was also confused when he'd said last lombax in the universe. Surely there's no way that could be true. Granted he knew his species were rare and he'd only ever met one other before but he'd always assumed there had to be other lombaxes out there, somewhere. He turned to look at Alister and was shocked to find him actually shivering with rage.
Alister was attempting poorly to conceal a murderous rage as he watched the man who'd ruined everything he'd ever cared about confront his best friend's son.
Ratchet and Clank back up, staring in shock. At the top of the walker is a throne and sat on this throne is Tachyon, the last of the cragmites. He is wearing a white shirt with a red jacket and a sash with various badges but what stands out most is the oversized red and gold crown on his head. He chuckles.
EMPEROR TACHYON (CONT'D): Truely a pathetic specimen of the race, I'm afraid. So weak.
"Heh, we'll see." Ratchet chuckled confidently. He'd taken on way worse looking enemies than this guy.
Ratchet: And you are?
EMPEROR TACHYON (CONT'D): Emperor Percival Tachyon.
Tachyon stands on the control desk in front of him revealing his four insect like legs. He raises his sceptre proudly.
EMPEROR TACHYON (CONT'D): Crown prince of the cragmites, conquerer of space and time, and, pending the obliteration of a few insubordinate species, ruler of the universe!
RATCHET: You're name's Percival?
Both Ratchet and Clank laugh.
The real Ratchet and Clank laughed along with their TV selves, as did Talwyn, Kronk, Zepher, Sigmund and Qwark. Lawrence and Nefarious looked uninterested and Alister was still too full of grief and rage to take amusement in anything related to Tachyon.
"Tachyon's wiped out whole planets and enslaved whole sectors and the first thing you do is laugh at him." Talwyn chuckled. She realised that Ratchet probably didn't know who Tachyon was or any of the awful things he'd done but still, the irony was there.
Ratchet stopped laughing at what she said. If this guy had destroyed and enslaved planets then he'd definitely need to be stopped. As much as he liked to joke around and be as carefree as possible he did take his saving the universe stuff very seriously.
EMPEROR TACHYON: Emperor! See the crown (He taps his crown with his fist)? See the sceptre (He waves his sceptre)? The giant walking throne (He jumps up and down, causing the throne to shake) and the legion of loyal robotic commandos (He gestures to the drophyds with his sceptre)? Emperor!
Ratchet shrinks down and he and Clank cover their ears due to how loud Tachyon's shouts are.
"Hard to believe someone capable of such childish temper tantrums can actually be one of the most tyrannical rulers in the Polaris history." Talwyn sighed.
It's all my fault… Alister thought, lowering his head and pinching the bridge of his nose. His ears dropped as his former rage was replaced by shame. If I had only listened and not given him our technology he wouldn't have been able to build the weapons he needed to destroy us and oppress the galaxy.
After Tachyon stops Ratchet slowly looks back up and puts his hands down again.
EMPEROR TACHYON: Not that a treacherous furball like you could—
Tachyon cuts himself off as Clank steps in front of Ratchet protectively.
Ratchet smiled unconsciously as he watched. He always appreciated how much his best friend cared for him. He knew Clank would defend him against any threat if he had to and that he'd do the same for him.
EMPEROR TACHYON (CONT'D): What's this?
Tachyon laughs.
EMPEROR TACHYON (CONT'D): Such a primitive robot companion (He waves his hand dismissively). And your kind used to be such renowned engineers… (He chuckles).
Ratchet scowled. No one dared insult his best pal.
"As if that moronic squishie would be capable of building such an advanced robot." Said Nefarious. "It's a shame really, you have so much potential but you waste it playing sidekick to this pathetic long-eared orphan."
Ratchet's face turned red from anger and embarrassment. Was the entire point of this to remind him that he knew next to nothing about where he came from or who he really was? More importantly, he was going to grind Nefarious into nuts and bolts for insulting Clank like that.
"It is alright Ratchet." Clank placed a hand on his friend's arm.
"No it isn't, I can't just let him talk to my best pal that way."
"I understand but I suspect you would not be able to attack him here."
"Quite correct." Everyone turned to see Scar had teleported in behind them. "No violence allowed in here, anyone who does will face electrifying consequences." She flashed her blue lightening for emphasis. She disappeared once again and Ratchet reluctantly let it go and went back to watching the TV.
Ratchet rubs his chin thoughtfully.
RATCHET: Oh I'd be careful if I were you. He's got poso-morphic blaster cannons in each fingertip.
Clank mimes shooting at the drophyds with his fingers. They all go wide-eyed in fear and one even disappears down into its suit.
Ratchet laughed. "We have to upgrade you with that when we get back home."
Clank nodded looking smug, he liked the idea of having some deadly weapons installed.
Tachyon hums in amusement.
EMPEROR TACHYON: My gripe is not with the people of this archaic planet but with you! Surrender your deathbot (Tachyon gestures to Clank. Ratchet and Clank share a look). And simply allow us to kill you, no one else need be harmed.
"No!" Alister cried. Everyone jumped a little and turned to him. He suddenly became aware of himself and shrank back a bit. "Sorry." He mumbled.
Ratchet spreads his arms casually, placing his omniwrench near Clank.
RATCHET: Fair enough.
Clank grabs the onmiwrench.
RATCHET: Here you go.
Ratchet flings the omniwrench round sending Clank over Tachyon's shoulder. Tachyon turns and watches as Clank lands on the opening hatch of Tachyon's ship.
Ratchet and Clank did a fist bump as everyone looked on in awe of their teamwork. They didn't even need to communicate verbally throughout that. It was obvious how close the two were by how in sync they were.
Tachyon turns back and glares at Ratchet who runs underneath his throne and strikes it in one of its leg joints. Tachyon wails as his walking throne wobbles. Ratchet runs over to the entrance ramp to the ship and looks back. Off screen, Tachyon's throne can be heard collapsing causing Ratchet to wince.
"You should have killed him then." Alister growled, looking angrily at Ratchet. "Why are you just escaping? You had the chance to kill him!"
"Woah!" Said, Ratchet, holding his hands up in front of him. "Hang on, this is the future remember. Besides," Ratchet places a hand of his chin, "I doubt my future self was prepared for a major battle that day, I probably don't have many weapons or nanotech on me. Also, he has lots of commandos attacking the city, if I know myself, then I bet I also think it's a good idea to get away from there since it's me he's after."
Alister still looked upset but he sighed and relented. He could understand Ratchet's logic. He still didn't like the idea of Tachyon still being allowed to live though.
He grins before running into the spaceship as Clank starts it up. The two take off with tachyon's forces firing at them as they go.
"Off on another adventure then." Ratchet grinned, placing his hands behind his head. Clank just watched the screen silently. He would have been as excited at Ratchet normally but he had a bad feeling about this. Something was telling him this adventure would be a bit different to their others, a bit more personal.