Inspired by the previews I (finally) saw for Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and a long conversation I had with Tatsurou over in Fim:Fiction.

It should be a given that this is an AU of the Ratchet & Clank setting, following an analogue of the new female Lombax in Ratchet's place in this particular universe. Which is sort of a merger between the original and reimagined timelines, with some other variations and fun stuff tossed in as well.

For one thing, Captain Copernicus Leslie Qwark is at least somewhat more competent and at least a little bit less of a self-aggrandizing, narcissistic asshole than most of his other dimensional counterparts. Meaning that, rather than having been driven into supervillainy and madness by Qwark's behavior towards him, Dr. Nefarious is still a member of the Galactic Rangers!

For now, any way.

Some story beats are going to remain the same, while others are going to be very different. So sit back, take a gander, and hopefully enjoy the show!

WIDGET & CLANK

Lombax Bebop

Location: Kyzil Plateau, Planet Veldin, Solana Galaxy.

Time: 11:52 AM, Tuesday...

Not for the first time, Widget reflected on how grateful she was that she had such light colored fur as she scavenged for parts under the hot summer sun as it beat mercilessly down on the Kyzil Plateau. Light fur meant she could use less water to keep cool while also remaining more active during the time of the day when most of her rival 'salvage rats' had to conserve their energy or risk overheating. Not that she and the other scavengers actually fought over the parts they found all that often.

Okay, maybe once or twice…

Possibly a few more times than that…

Certainly not more than a dozen times, if even that much!

This year, anyway.

And not much at all since Grim helped her get her salvager's license!

Honestly, getting caught trying to steal from the scrapyard behind Grimroth's garage was the best thing that ever happened to her. Sure, she had resented being placed under his watchful eye at first after being sentenced to community service and remanded to his care, but three squares a day, a safe place to sleep, and what he had taught her over the past couple of years?

That meant a lot.

It really did.

Case in point was when, after making sure she had legal protections as a licensed salvager, he also pointed out the natural advantages she had over the few salvage rats who couldn't care less if the law was now on her side.

Which basically amounted to the fact that she was comfortable under the sun during the hottest parts of the day when all the worst offenders were trying to beat the heat under whatever shade they could find. During the summer, that meant two to three hours of safe salvaging before she would return to her other job at Grim's place.

She had also learned what a lot of the parts she brought in were actually for, and how much they were really worth once fixed up! Oh, and definitely how to fix them up properly before she turned them in, so she could get the best price!

And Grim even let her use part of his lot to build her own ship from the parts she didn't turn in! How cool was that?

Sure, it was small. Basically a compact two-seat snub-fighter that might make it to the next system over before needing refueling. Assuming she managed to find a robotic ignition system.

Which, looking at the time, didn't look likely to happen today either.

Little Tony would be active soon, and if she wanted to avoid the horrifically misnamed Cazar, she had best beat feat back to the garage.

Little Tony had gotten intolerable ever since he found that stupid sword with the extending blade and the searchlight in its crossguard…

-o-

"You okay Widget?" Grimroth Razz asked as his charge limped back in, scuffed up and empty handed from yet another fight.

"I swear, if Little Tony calls me a 'Thunderbrat ho' just one more time, I… I… I don't know what I'll do! Probably something horrible! Preferably to him!"

"This is the second time this month he's caught you out," Grimroth stated as he looked her over. "You need some way to defend yourself if you insist on going out salvaging, no matter what time of day it is."

"I think he has it out for me!"

"That, or he has a crush."

"WHAT!?"

"Kid, he's a Cazar, and apparently a throwback example of one at that. Battle is how they prove themselves to potential mates, and you used to beat him up pretty badly before he hit his growth spurt. He probably has the hots for you."

"HE TRIED TO STAB ME WITH THAT STUPID SWORD HE FOUND LAST MONTH!"

"Okay, maybe he just wants to kill you. I give it fifty-fifty odds either way."

"One: Ew. Two: Also ew. I don't suppose the parts we need to fix Mr. Micron's ejector seat came in today? I could use some work that I can actually get a sense of accomplishment from."

"Dropped off not more than an hour ago. I only opened the crate to make sure they sent the right parts this time. I figured you might need some stress relief."

"Thank's, Grim! You're the best!"

"When you're done, come into my office. I got a couple of things for you that I think you'll like."

"Sure thing, Grim!" And with that, the white furred Lombax turned her attention to finally fixing Mr. Micron's ejector seat...

-o-

"So, what'cha got for me?" Widget asked as she walked into Grimroth's office.

"Couple of things, as I said. First is this," the large Fongoid stated as he tossed a glove to his charge.

"And this is?"

"A bomb glove. I know it's not much, especially compared to similar weapons available these days, but it'll give you some range and maybe discourage some of the troublemakers. I got some targets and dummies out back so you can get used to using it. First couple of reloads are prepaid, but after that, you're on your own."

"Thanks, Grim!" Widget's grin from her gift practically lit up the room. "What's the other thing?"

"Something my brother, Felton, sent me. I can't believe he actually found one on Poketaru," Grim said as he reached behind his desk and pulled out an object to hand to Widget.

"It's a hammer."

"A mallet, actually," Grim corrected. "Specifically a Lombax Omnimallet. I know Lombaxes usually go for Omniwrenches as far as versitools go, but an Omnimallet aint a bad find either. Felton thought that you might like it, so he sent it over."

"Wow…" Widget held her new mallet and looked it over with reverence…

She was going to hit so many things with it!

-o-

"Are you sure you wouldn't like a mag booster installed, Mr. Micron?" Widget asked the elderly Tharpod as he looked over the ship he had brought in for service. She had fixed the ejector seat the other day, and had been resisting the urge to try to make improvements or add features. And, to be honest, had Mr. Micron been even a day later picking his ship up, she probably would have gone ahead and installed it anyway. "It really wouldn't be any trouble to install it. You have space for one under the cockpit…"

"No, thank you," Mr. Micron waived off the eager young Lombax. "And thank you for not going ahead and installing it anyway. I know how hard it can be for you Lombaxes to leave a machine well enough alone without trying to modify it somehow."

"People keep saying that," Widget stated in an annoyed tone, "but I've never even seen another Lombax in anything but old holovid records. Nobody I've ever asked seems to know where they are now, or if I'm the only one left."

"Eh, I'm sure they're still around somewhere, Wingding…"

"It's Widget."

"Point is, Lombaxes are kind of hard to kill. A bit like the Cazar, in some respects at least. I really doubt that you're the last one. Maybe the only one around here, but hardly the last, I would think."

"Well, thanks for that, at least," the young Lombax said, taking comfort in the reassurance that she was probably not the last of her race.

"Anytime, Gidget!"

"IT'S WIDGET! WID-GET! Double-yu, aye, dee, gee, ee, tee! WIDGET! It's on my paperwork and everything! OW!" The aggravated Lombax rubbed her head from where Mr. Micron had whapped it with his cane.

"I'm not deaf, you know."

"Could have fooled me… OW! Stop that!"

-o-

"Hey, Grim," Widget called out as she reentered the hangar, still rubbing her sore head.

"Yeah, Widget?"

"Any chance I can install the mag booster I found in my ship?"

"Sure, why not," Grimroth shrugged noncommittally. "Just keep in mind that each new system you try to cram into that thing is going to take space away from something else. You might want to do a complete teardown and rebuild the whole thing larger from the ground up."

"Eh, maybe. I just want to try it out. I can't even clear the gravity well without a robotic ignition system anyway, so it's not like I can go far."

"Then what do ya need the mag booster for then?"

"I was thinking that I could go out farther into the wastes, turn the thing on, and haul back whatever I pick up."

"In that thing? Widget, you'll be lucky if you don't pull your own ship right out of the sky if you try something like that."

"Maybe we could do some calibration and testing with the scrap in your yard first?"

"Sure, I can help you out with that once you've got the thing installed, but I'm telling you that you're more likely to end up pulling yourself down rather than picking anything up. Where're ya going to put it?"

"I was thinking under the cockpit? Swap out the launcher, since I don't have missiles for it anyway."

"Oh thank god…" Grimroth mumbled under his breath.

"What was that?"

"I said good idea!"

"Uhuh," Widget responded, not quite believing him.

"Anyway, I got something you may be interested in."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, some bot fresh off a ship dropped off a lot of flyers at the town hall. Here, take a look." With that, the large Fongoid handed over a flyer.

"The Galactic Rangers are going to be holding tryouts here!? On Veldin!?"

"That's what it says, alright. I figure I can leave you off the schedule for the day and you can go over and see what you can do. Should be fun, and at least you can say that you tried, even if you don't make it in."

"I'll pass whatever course they set up with flying colors! You'll see!"

"I bet I will, kid, but even if you do, you might still get rejected for whatever reason."

"What? Why?"

"Any number of reasons, really, but the big one that might hold you back is your juvie record. You've been keeping your nose clean for the most part since you came under my care, so they might take that into account and give you a chance anyway. All I'm saying is don't be surprised if they bring it up, okay?"

"I guess…" Widget grumbled, then perked up. "Hey, can I log onto the holonet for a few hours?"

"Sure, I guess. I'm still not unlocking the parental controls though."

"Whatever. That shouldn't affect my research anyway."

"What do you want to look up?"

"I was thinking that it wouldn't hurt to try to find out what kind of new recruit the Rangers are looking for."

"Knock yourself out, kid. Just don't forget to head off for bed before it gets too late. You still have a shift tomorrow, after all."

"Fine, whatever!" Widget rolled her eyes as she started to head for Grim's office to use his terminal. "And thanks, Grim! You're the best!"

-o-

Grimroth Razz climbed into Widget's custom built pod-fighter for the first time and settled into the passenger seat beside her. "Kind of surprised you went with such a large cockpit, what with how tight space is for everything else you crammed into this thing."

"Well, it's mostly a testbed vehicle to see if I can get things up and running, Grim," the white Lombax said distractedly as she double checked her tiny ship's instruments and adjusted some settings to account for her passenger's mass. "If I ever do get a robotic ignition system, I probably will go ahead and strip this one for parts and build something a bit bigger, but until then I figured I'd use this one for systems tests, passenger runs, and I guess towing now. Assuming the Mag Boosters work like I think they will."

"Heh. Lots of plans in that furry white head of yours, Widget," the large Fongoid chuckled.

"Well, considering that I've yet to come across a wreck that hasn't already had its robotic ignition system ripped out or ruined, my best bet for getting one is to order one myself. Which is a lot more bolts I gotta earn somehow. I mean, salvage and garage work is okay, don't get me wrong, but if I want to raise enough bolts for one of those any time soon, then I need a force multiplier." Widget patted the control console. "And this baby is going to do just that!"

"If the mag booster works right," Grimroth reminded her. "And if the weight of the scrap you try to pick up with it doesn't pull you out of the sky."

"It'll be fine," Widget assured her mentor. "You'll see…"

"Huh. Surprisingly comfortable rise for a first time build," Grimroth commented as he watched the ground slowly drop beneath them.

"I don't know why you're surprised, Grim, given that you helped me calibrate everything."

"Doesn't change the fact that this is a first-time build, Widget. Now ease on over the eastern scrap piiiIIIIIIEEEEE!" Grimroth screamed as the tiny pod-fighter zipped out from over his scrapyard, towards and then into the colony proper.

"Whoa! Thrust control's a bit more sensitive than I thought!" Widget banked hard right, then immediately hard left, followed by a dip and a rise as she dodged both buildings and traffic. Even so, they heard a small thump before the tiny ship cleared the city and flew out over the Kyzil Plateau. "Eh, I was getting tired of looking at that billboard anyway…"

"SLOW DOWN!"

"How? My foot is barely touching the pedal as it is!"

"WE'RE GONNA DIE!"

"You worry too much!"

"I'M NEVER GOING TO FIND OUT HOW LANCE WILL REACT TO DISCOVERING THAT HIS EVIL TWIN IS STALKING JANICE!"

"Seriously!? Grim, that show's going to rot your mind. You should watch something more cultured and mentally stimulating. Like Annihilation Nation."

"Where have you been watching that?" Grimroth asked, shocked out of his mind-numbing terror even as the colony disappeared over the horizon behind them. "I know I left the filter settings locked on my holonet terminal."

"Gogo managed to find a terminal on one of her runs, and I helped her get it working again."

"She's six years younger than you!"

"And ten times more bloody minded, just going by her holovid game history. She's Kylyuded1147 if you want to check out her streams."

"I'm going to have to talk with her folks."

"Just so you know, Bogot is Kylyuded1144, and Brenda is Crushubad1337."

"Of course they are," Grim sighed. "Forgot they worked at the Agorian Battleplex back in Polaris for a while. And we're finally slowing down."

"I took my foot completely off the pedal. This area looks safe enough, so I'm just going to land and we can take a look at the accelerator and find out what went wrong."

"Fine by me. Where are we, anyway?"

"Um… According to the nav system, we're currently in F Sector, by the old raritanium mine."

"Nope! Not landing here! Keep going!"

"We keep going much farther and we'll end up over the Tygil Sea instead."

"I don't care! It'll still be safer than setting down in F Sector!"

"If you insist…"

And with that, the tiny pod-fighter shot off once again.

-o-

"Widget!" Grimroth called out as he banged on the door of the smaller hangar his charge was living in. "You up yet? The fairgrounds will be opening up soon! Didn't you want to get an earl… Oof!"

"Sorry, Grim!" Widget called out as she dashed from the now open door of her hangar and into the rear door of the larger one as she awkwardly tried to put her vest on while carrying everything else she needed. "Gotta run!"

"WIDGET!"

"WHAT!?"

"PANTS!"

"DAMMIT! I don't have time for this! I want a good spot when the Rangers show up!" Nevertheless, the partially dressed Lombax ran back to her hangar to finish getting dressed (picking up a few articles she had accidentally dropped during the scramble on the way out).

"I swear that girl is going to be the death of me one of these days," Grimroth chuckled under his breath.

"I HEARD THAT!" Widget called out through her still open bay door as she struggled into her pants as fast as she could, shoved her feet into her boots, pulled on her bomb glove, slung her mallet onto her back, and grabbed her scarf.

"Don't forget to double check your ammo!" Grimroth called out as the white Lombax ran by him again.

"I did that last night!" Widget yelled back, nevertheless sparing a quick glance at her glove's ammo count even as she still ran. It was, of course, still reading full at forty grenades, as she had in fact double checked last night. And the safety was still on. Weapons, clothes, and it was still early, so she was in good cheer as she ran out the front of Grimroth's Garage and made her way to the fairgrounds with plenty of time to spare.

As her stomach grumbled, Widget wondered if any of the vendors were set up yet so she could grab a quick bite before the big event kicked off…

-o-

Back in a certain small hangar, Grimroth chuckled as he turned to close Widget's door. Then he spotted something on the floor by her bed.

"Huh. I guess she's going commando today." Given that the only other things left out were some tools, with everything else either stowed away properly or in the hamper, he figured that this was a reasonable assumption to make. "I wonder how long it'll take her to notice?"

Still chuckling as he shut Widget's bay door, he went to the larger hangar to close up and make sure everything was secure before heading to the bazar to look for gravity coils.

-o-

After scarfing down a quick breakfast of highly dubious nutritional value she purchased from a vendor, Widget finally approached the section of the fairgrounds that had been set aside for the tryouts.

"Greetings, Cadets!" a highly stylized bot whose upper body was shaped to resemble Captain Qwark called out. "Welcome to the Galactic Rangers Recruitment Event! Please step onto the scan-plate and take a tag if you wish to participate, otherwise go right in and enjoy the show!"

Widget did as instructed, stepping onto the glowing blue plate as it lit up.

"I see that you are a healthy… Lombax! And that you have a fully loaded bomb glove with the safety on, and a mallet! Are these the weapons you have chosen to use for the event?"

"Ah, yes! Yes they are!"

"Excellent! If you check your tag, you will see that you are to be the first through gate five after the opening presentation is completed! Please proceed to the candidate staging area by the… stage! And wait for the opening presentation to start!"

"Will do!" Widget called out merrily, already on her way.

"Good luck, future Ranger!" the bot called back before turning back to watch for any more potential applicants.

-o-

"Hey, Gogo!" Widget called out as she spotted her friend among the small but still growing crowd of contestants waiting before the stage. "Aren't you a little young to be participating in something like this?"

"Why yes. Yes I am," the underaged Terachnoid agreed.

"But you came anyway, I see."

"But of course! I mean, the odds of them actually taking me in at my current stage of development are something like on the order of twenty septillion to one, but Doctor Nefarious is going to be here, and he always makes a point to talk with the smart and clever applicants, even if they don't make the cut! Why would I pass up an opportunity like that?"

"An opportunity to do what? Ask for advice, an autograph, to show off, or to punch him in the gut?"

"Why limit myself? I plan to do all four!"

"Do your folks know that you're here?"

"Who do you think brought me here? You don't think I made it all the way across town on my little legs this early, do you?"

"Well well well!" An unwelcome voice announced himself as tall Cazar built like a brick outhouse approached the pair. "If it isn't Brain Drain and the Thunderbrat!"

"Hello, Little Tony. And goodbye, Little Tony," Widget said in irritation as she glared at the bane of her existence for the past year. He had been so much easier to tolerate before his growth spurt and hormones had kicked in.

"Ah, don't be like that, Widget! You're looking at the next rising star of the Galactic Rangers, guaranteed! Babes like you will be fighting each other off for the chance to get up close and personal with these guns!" With that, Little Tony went through a series of bodybuilder poses, being sure to flex his arms in order to best showcase his building muscles.

Widget palmed her face in exasperation. "Oh God, Grim was right. You do think you're flirting!"

"Hey, I'll have you know that I'm in the top… one, two… Grape consent of desirable body types for a Cazar! A hot thing like you should be grateful to catch my eye!"

"That's great, Little Tony," Widget commented in dry tones that indicated that she thought it was anything but great. "It really is. Now all you need is a personality transplant and you'll be all set!"

"You really think so?" the giant Cazar asked, taken aback for a moment before scowling at Widget. "Hey! Are you making fun of me again?"

"Of course not! What reason could I possibly have for making fun of you? I mean, just last week you finally learned how to count past tree!"

"That's right!" Little Tony beamed. "Wait, is tree a number? I thought it was a plant…"

Gogo grabbed Widget's hand and started pulling at her. "Quick, while he's confused, let's go over to the other side of the crowd!"

"Not that there's any rush," Widget commented idly even as she let herself be dragged along. "It's going to take him a while to figure that one out."

"Regardless, while you were distracting him, I got a good look at his tag. He's going to be the first out through gate three. I've got second out of gate seven, just after Otto Motov, so I'm assuming that course is set up to test intelligence and cleverness, while course three is probably a combat course. What number did you get?"

"I'm going to be the first at gate five."

"Probably agility, and maybe some combat or cleverness then. Good luck!"

"You too, Gogo! And I hope you have fun!"

"Oh, I will," Gogo chuckled, maniacally, "I surely will! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!" And with that, the young Terachnoid wandered off after roving vendor.

"Nice kid," Widget commented to herself. "Creepy as hell, and possibly a future supervillain, but still…" Shrugging, she turned her attention back to the stage and waited for the show to start.

-o-

"Good showing," Captain Qwark commented as he took a quick peek out at the crowd.

"Isn't it always, Captain?" Brax asked.

"You'd think so, but no. We sometimes have off years, or pick a planet where it turns out we aren't very popular with the locals for whatever reason."

"Most often due to heavy collateral damage from a recent mission, if memory serves," Dr. Nefarious pointed out dryly.

"You might be onto something, Doc," Quark agreed amiably. While he and Nefarious didn't always see eye to eye, he did hire the supergenius for a reason and the two were sort of friends after all this time.

"Hey, um… Captain?" a female voice cut in hesitantly.

"Speak more confidently, Elaris," Dr. Nefarious advised his new assistant. "If you saw something, you need to speak clearly to break through to Captain Ego here."

Captain Qwark coughed into his fist, muttering something about the color of kettles and pots before speaking louder. "All kidding aside, what did you need our attention for?"

"We got some potential problems among the applicants. Nothing too serious, mostly juvenile stuff, but they still raised red flags in the system."

"Might not be too bad," Cora stated. "After all, you guys took me and Brax in, and we both had our fair share of minor incidents and misadventures before we signed on."

"Yeah," Brax agreed. "How bad could it be? This is Veldin we're talking about here! Not much going on here but rocks, sand, more sand, rocks, even more sand, and maybe some wrecks that haven't been fully picked over yet."

"Well, going in alphabetical order, there's Gogo Nuetronic, an underaged Terachnoid with noted antiauthoritarian tendencies. But that may just be from frustration from the lack of local education opportunities."

"If she does well enough, I'll see about sponsoring her for some advanced classes," Dr. Nefarious commented, slightly intrigued. "If that calms her down then we can see about recruiting her when she's older."

"Then there's 'Little' Tony…"

"That's his name?" Cora asked.

"That's all that's listed on his records," Elaris elaborated. "Anyway, he's been in and out of juvie for theft, violent behavior, reckless endangerment, and shoplifting."

"Uh…" Brax held up a finger. "Wouldn't that fall under theft?"

"You'd think so, but apparently he actually picked up a shop at one point. He's also suspected of abusing Cazar Growth Hormone supplements, but they haven't been able to prove anything conclusively since Cazars sometimes produce metas."

"Hmmm…" Quark put a hand to his chin. "More problematic than Gogo, but he might just need some direction in his life. We'll have to see how he does in the obstacle course and the interview first of course. Not everyone is suited for hero work, and he might be a better fit for the Star Guard or the Sonic Seven."

"The Sonic Six, you mean," Dr. Nefarious corrected. "Their newest member, Ace Hardlight, went missing, but it doesn't seem like the rest of his team is looking very hard, so he probably just left on bad terms since their latest fiasco."

"And that's why I hired a supergenius like Dr. Nefarious!" Quark announced jovially. "His advanced planning and logistical skills have severely cut down on our unanticipated collateral damage since he joined!"

"I try," Dr. Nefarious grinned briefly, pretending to examine the back of his hand. "Anyway, do go on, Elaris."

"Alright. Anyway, the last one is Widget Razz, another one with a juvie record, although not nearly as bad of one as Little Tony's. Says here that she's currently serving out a sentence of community service, with Grimroth Razz as her assigned guardian, and that she's mostly kept her nose clean since then barring some fights. But those look like cases of self defense. There was one moving violation recorded last week, but that was deemed to be accidental due to a miscalibrated acceleration system, so no additional charges were added."

"So a Terachnoid, a Cazar, and a..?" Cora prompted.

"Oh! She's apparently something called a Lombax, another race of sophonts originally from the Polaris Galaxy. I've never seen one in person myself, but they are apparently very similar to the Cazar. Sort of."

"Supposedly most of them either went back to Polaris to fight against Emperor Tachyon, or they went into hiding when they lost the war," Dr. Nefarious exposited. "They were also among the more technologically advanced races from Polaris, despite the Terachnoids being arguably more intelligent by an order of magnitude. She could either be an invaluable recruit or trouble we shouldn't touch with an eleven and a half kilometer pole."

"I like the sound of her already!" Quark announced.

"You would!" Dr. Nefarious snarked.

"Alright, alright," Cora interrupted them. "It's almost time for the Captain's big speech, so let's just keep an eye on the potentials, see what happens, and go from there."

-o-

The gathered crowd of spectators and applicants grew silent as the time for the opening presentation drew near. Would Captain Qwark be the one speaking? Or Dr. Nefarious? Or maybe Brax or Cora? Or would they have all gotten called off to some emergency like had happened three years ago over on Oltanis? Which was hilarious in hindsight, as the Galactic Rangers had left some bots behind to run things and apparently a few of them hadn't been properly hardened against electromagnetic disruption.

Not that continuous thunderstorms were a thing that happened on Veldin, but still…

Widget's train of thought was disrupted when the onstage holodisplay platform switched over from a rotating Galactic Rangers logo to Captain Qwark's personal logo. It was him! It was really going to be him! It was…

"Ladies and Gentlemen! The Savior of Solana! CAPTAIN QWARK!" Even as the announcer spoke, the Captain himself rose out of the stage in the middle of his own logo, doing a brief pose with a devil-may-care smile before flipping off of the platform onto the stage proper as fireworks lit off behind him!

"Hello, Veldin!" Quark greeted everyone as he jogged closer to the leading edge of the stage.

"Hello, Captain!" Widget yelled back with an amateurish salute. She knew that she probably wasn't the only sophont present to do so, but in her mind she could easily imagine that the two of them were personally speaking only to each other.

"My name is Copernicus Qwark, and yes, that was an impressive wall of fire I just walked through." Illustrating this point, Cora Veralux, the youngest Ranger to have ever been recruited, walked out with an extinguisher and put out the small fire on the captain's back before walking back to rejoin her fellow Rangers as they took their place on stage in the background. Putting a leg up on a footstool that had been slid from the other side of the stage apparently just for this moment, Quark rested one arm on his now elevated knee and spoke in a lowered (but still amplified) tone. "I'm going to be real with you folks for a moment. When President Phyronix recommended I take on a new Ranger, I knew just where to go. That's right, we want YOU!"

Widget ignored the fact that the Captain's pointing hand was wandering back and forth over the crowd, being as general as possible, instead grinning like a loon with the feeling that he was speaking directly to her and her alone. "Yeah-hah!"

"I know what you're thinking," Captain Qwark continued to speak as he now walked back and forth across the length of the stage. "Do I have what it takes? After all, you may not have single handedly stopped the light eating Z'Grute from terrorizing Luminopolis! You may not have stopped Neftin Prog from rendering the entire population of Aridia color blind! Twice! After all, you may not have this chiseled jaw or god-like pectoral region…"

"I do!" Widget heard Little Tony yell out from somewhere off to her left, much to her annoyance. "I have both of those! I'm a shoe in!"

"We'll see, Citizen!" Quark jovially waved Little Tony's interruption off, then continued on as if he hadn't been interrupted. "But if you have heart, then you've got what it takes! Now check your tags and head for your assigned gates as we get these tryouts started! Oh, and nonparticipating audience members can make their way to the hoverbleachers located conveniently by the main entrance."

-o-

"Out of my way, Thunderbrat! I'm supposed to be the first one through this gate!"

"This is Gate Five, Little Tony," Widget said in exasperation. "Gate Three is over that way. On the other side of Gate Four."

"I knew that! I was just…" the frustrated giant of a Cazar sought for some witty comeback. "I was just testing you! Yeah, that was it!" And with that, he stomped off towards the correct gate.

Widget looked at the other people waiting by Gate Five (a couple of other Cazar who seemed to be embarrassed to be the same race as Little Tony, a few Tharpods, and a Markazian), and they all shrugged before going back to waiting for their gate to open…

-o-

All in all, Widget was having a blast with Course Five. There wasn't anything in it that she hadn't done in one form or another while living on Veldin. Basically climbing, jumping over, or ducking under various obstacles, getting by sections guarded by bots either by stealth or combat as directed, and occasionally pausing to repair something, sabotage something else, or aid a simulated citizen in distress (played by a bot in a dress).

So far, Widget was feeling really good about her performance and figured that she'd at least make it as far as the interview stage…

"I'd like to make an announcement!" an all too familiar voice of a certain underaged Terachnoid spoke out over the fairground speakers.

"Oh no, Gogo…" Widget groaned to herself, stopping in her tracks and palming her face in frustration. "Not in the middle of the tryouts!"

"I just learned today that Little Tony finally learned how to count past tree last week, so let's give him a big round of applause for this prestigious achievement!" There was a pause, during which the entire fairground was silent. "I would also like to take this moment to point out to Little Tony that a tree is in fact a plant and not a number. That is all."

"Yep, she's going to be a supervillain when she grows up," Widget commented to herself again. "I just know it."

Little Tony's response of "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" was heard being yelled over the continuing silence from a couple of lanes away, followed by a crash that was obviously the big Cazar beating down a section of the barrier between course three and four.

"And here we go." Turning back, Widget jogged over to where she expected Little Tony to break through the next barrier. Sure enough, the big lug burst through the obviously not reinforced enough wall between lanes four and five, stumbling for a moment before shaking his head clear and gathering his bearings for the next charge.

"I can't let you go any farther, Little Tony," Widget stated firmly, stepping in front of the giant Cazar.

"Out of my way, Thunderbrat! My beef is with Brain Drain!"

"And what are you going to do once you get to her?"

"Oh, I'm not going to hurt her or nothing. I'm just going to rip off her tiny little arms and shove them up her smarmy little mouth until she can pet those extra brains she's so proud of! Now get outa my way, before I knock you down myself!"

"Yeah, about that…" Without any further warning, Widget kicked Little Tony as hard as she could between his legs and took off running further down Course Five as if her life depended on it!

Which, judging by the scream of pain and rage behind her, it probably did.

-o-

The Galactic Rangers were already in motion from the moment Little Tony had started beating down the first barrier. Quark and Cora were moving to attempt to intercept the oversized Cazar, while Dr, Nefarious and Brax were moving directly to Gogo's current position to get the hyperintelliget idiot out of harm's way, with Elaris staying back to watch the monitors and advise the teams of any changes they needed to make to get to where they needed to be.

"Captain, Cora, be advised that Little Tony is now chasing Widgit Razz down Course Five. I think she's trying to lead him straight to where we're supposed to be."

"Copy that, Elaris," Captain Qwark acknowledged. "We'll just have to get back there first!"

"Also be advised that Little Tony is now really really mad at Widget. I'm not sure, but I think she just kicked him directly between his legs. It was either there or his upper thighs."

All the other Rangers winced in sympathetic pain before continuing on towards their respective goals.

-o-

Widget cleared the second hovering platform to the other side of the gap, then spun around and whacked it in the side as hard as she could with her Omnimallet, sending the platform off of it's programmed path.

"Hey, I'm sure we can talk this out real peaceful like," she tried to placate the big Cazar as he slid to a stop before the gap.

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!" Little Tony roared, looking around until he saw a nearby light pole and went over to start trying to rip it out of the ground to use as a bridge. With a few grunts and a couple of heaves, the pole started to come loose from the ground.

"Oh shit, he's actually doing it…" Widget turned and started running as fast as she could again, the thud of the pole hitting her side of the gap following all too soon afterwards. "This was a really bad idea!"

Running tight past some stacked boxes in one area, then hopping over and sliding under flame spewing bots in another, Widget could hear the thunder of her own heart as she raced for her life, because Little Tony wasn't stopping for anything!

Something easily as large as Little Tony suddenly stepped in front of Widget and she ducked down and slid between its legs, rolling to her feet on the other side, only to end up being grabbed and pulled in another direction by…

"Cora Veralux?"

"Yep, that's me!" the Ranger informed the panting Lombax.

"Then that must be…"

There was a thud as one massive object was stopped in its tracks by another massive object.

"Stop right there, Evil Doer!" Captain Qwark commanded firmly as if he hadn't felt Little Tony running full tilt into him at all.

"In full, high definition color, yes." Cora continued.

"RAGH!" Little Tony roared in Captain Qwark's face.

"I think that'll be enough out of you today, Little Tony." And with that, Captain Qwark one-punched the giant Cazar right into sweet sweet unconsciousness.

"My heroes," Widget panted gratefully. Then fainted dead away.

-o-

When Widget finally came to, the first thing she noticed was the fabric of the fairground's medical pavilion tent above her head.

"Hey, Kid," Grimroth spoke from the seat beside the cot she was on. "You gave us a bit of a scare for a moment there. We thought Little Tony might have gotten a hit on you after all, but Doc Nefarious says that you just had an adrenalin crash. Still took years offa my life with that stunt though. What were you thinking?"

"That I couldn't let Little Tony get to Gogo, even if she did deliberately go out of her way to provoke him."

"And that attitude right there is why the others and I would like to welcome you to the Galactic Rangers!" Captain Qwark announced. "Sorry, the pavilion walls aren't really soundproof, being cloth and all, and I couldn't resist the opening."

"You mean it? I'm in?"

"Indeed you are, Widget Razz!," Qwark confirmed. "All that's left to be done is to get your guardian's permission, then both of your signatures, and we can take you straight to the Hall of Heroes on Kerwan for your official orientation and training!"

Widget looked at Grimroth Razz, the large Fongoid who had been her guardian, mentor, and even her father figure for the past few years, with hope and excitement in her eyes.

"Haha," Grimroth laughed merrily. "Don't worry, Widget, I'll sign the moment we finish going over the paperwork together. I may miss you when you're gone, but if there's one last bit of wisdom I can pass on before handing you over to another's care, it's to always go over any paperwork before signing anything. Always!"

"You're the best, Grim!" Widget quickly sat up and hugged him. "I'll miss you too. I may be a Galactic Ranger now, but Veldin will always be my home! I'll be back someday, you'll see! And I'll make you proud!"

"You already have, Widget. You already have…"

-o-

PLANETARY LEXICON

Veldin

Galaxy: Solana Galaxy

Population: Sparse, varied races.

Spaceport: Kyzil Plateau (food, lodging, fuel, & maintenance available)

Major Imports: Water, basic goods

Major Exports: scrap metals, artifacts from wrecked ships and the ruins of previous settlements, one Lombax.

Veldin is a mostly arid world, with a few scattered bodies of water that could be classified as either large seas or small oceans. There are ruins of previous settlements, mining ventures, and wrecked or abandoned ships, as well as a few currently abandoned fortifications that sometimes get used by one faction or another as bases of operations.

Kyzil Plateau is the location of a relatively recent colony established by refugees from the Polaris Galaxy, including Fongoids, Markazians, Teracnoids, Tharpods, and at least one very young Lombax. There are also a few Cazar, a race local to the Solana Galaxy, living here, as well as various other races of indeterminate origin. Due in part to the challenging environment (and lack of infrastructure anyone cares about), the Galactic Rangers occasionally hold tryouts at the Kyzil Plateau Fairgrounds.

Grimroth's Garage can be found on the outskirts of the Kyzil Plateau colony, relatively close to the fairgrounds. Small ships can be serviced and refueled here, and there is a scrapyard (and smaller hangar) located behind the main hangar. Widget bunks in the smaller hangar, within the safety of Grimrith Garage's security perimeter, and this is where she stores and works on her custom compact pod-fighter (now with Mag Boosters!)

Grimroth's Garage is one of several maintenance and refueling stations available at the Kyzil Plateau Space Port. A couple of vending machines in the main hangar offer snacks and beverages, but any real food or proper lodging should really be sought further into the colony proper.

Locally, the only wildlife large and aggressive enough on the Kyzil Plateau to be considered to be dangerous to anyone are horney toads, which can be found in brown, blue, and grey varieties. Horney toads aren't really all that big or dangerous on their own, but can be problematic in groups. Other general threats include electroids, old, malfunctioning garage bots, and abandoned raider bots from failed space pirate incursions.

Other issues include "salvage rats," who are various individuals who basically make their living looking for wrecks and ruins to salvage parts from for sale to a scrapyard. Some of whom are not particular about causing the wrecks and ruins the scavenge from, or even just taking their loot from other salvage rats. Veldin is also occasionally visited by hoverbike gangs who sometimes hold races in the canyons, and it's not unheard of for an old warbot to be found wandering around, attacking anyone it comes across, presumably left on Veldin during some raid or other..

A particularly dangerous location on Veldin is F-Sector, which originated as a raritanium mine (now played out), and has occasionally serves as a fortified base for various groups, both legal and otherwise (mostly otherwise). Even disregarding the possible presence of any occupying sophonts, the local flora, fauna, and abandoned bots are all cause to exercise caution when traveling through F Sector.