Disclaimer: I do not own Ratchet and Clank or any of its characters. Disregard the last chapter's ending author's note. "Strawberry Sorbet" was meant to be the second-to-last chapter, and I forgot to change that author's note. This collection will have ten chapters total. I'm just running a tad bit behind on writing the last few chapters.

Alright, onto today's drabble!

For a Wrench and a Bolt

Finding Them (Rivet)

Chapter Summary: The Morts had always told her that she was the last of the Lombaxes. They said the Lombaxes ran away, off to a different dimension where harm couldn't befall them.

Rivet was going to find them.

It hurt being the last Lombax in the universe. It was a ghost pain, one that followed her everywhere she went. Her eyes would keep searching for anyone that looked like her—anyone, anything!—just so she wouldn't feel so alone.

Yes, technically she wasn't by herself. The Morts were more than a family to her; Rivet was accepted as one of them, and the Lombax had never been happier since the day Mort bestowed her the title of an honorary Mort.

That had been it. A moment of acceptance. A second of being with a group of people that cared so much about her that they openly welcomed and accepted her into their culture. A time when she felt like she finally found her place in the universe.

But the tiny problem was that the Morts just weren't her people.

Rivet had lost count over the years of how many times she had confused the Morts with her behavior. One time, it had been her incessant tinkering that had three different Morts wondering if she had ADHD with how much focus she poured into tinkering and nothing else. Another time was when she rejected the tools the Morts had made for her and spent all of her time crafting her own. It made them feel like she was rejecting their gifts to her when she really just felt more comfortable using tools she had made with her own hands.

There was puberty and dating and personal care and eating habits…

As much as they welcomed her and all her flaws in… they just weren't the Lombaxes.

Rivet knew that the Lombaxes would understand her. Her 'weird' behaviors wouldn't be weird amongst her kind, and searching for just one more Lombax to feel a tiny spark of kindred clouded Rivet's mind.

When she met Angela, it had been one of the best moments of her life, and Rivet had nearly cried with joy at the sight of another Lombax.

But Angela hadn't stayed. She was an ambitious woman that had as much adventuring spirit as her explorer friend, so Angela had left once she had taken care of what she had needed. It hurt like hell to see another Lombax just promptly abandon her, but Rivet knew that Angela wouldn't have been content staying around in a place she wasn't happy with.

Angela also gave her the idea to stop moping about and search for the Lombaxes on her own.

Since then, Rivet had been tearing through galactic archives and studying all she could on her specie. Any scrap of information was looked over a hundred times. Any map or indication that the Lombaxes had been at a place was studied and combed over.

At least, as much as she could. Rivet couldn't help but wonder if she was banned from visiting Savali after all the un-consented digging she had done while Gary had his back turned. The monks were a peaceful race, but there was a limit, and digging through their trash for a random scroll that could have belonged to a Lombax scholar was a good place to draw a line.

She didn't have the best luck from then on.

But she knew that somewhere, at some time, she would find and meet her people. It was only a matter of time with how hard she had been searching.

And then she met Ratchet.

He got it. He understood exactly what she had been feeling for years. He knew what it was like to desperately search for someone else that looked like you, acted like you, felt emotions like you…

Ratchet also had a Dimensionator, which really made things a lot easier on the searching thing.

"I think you know where…" he said, gently flipping the Dimensionator onto his shoulder. A grin stretched across his face, and even though Rivet was a dimension away from her home, she knew exactly where they were stopping before she got back to her dimension.

It was settled. They were going to finally find the Lombaxes. Together.

She matched his grin, a soft scoff coming from her as she crossed her arms over her chest. "About damn time…"

Song Inspo: "Bad Intentions" by Niykee Heaton.

A reminder that this collection does not include Rivatchet shipping. The ending is not a flirting segment. It is literally just two people that are excited to finally find their people.

Thank you all for reading and supporting, and I'll see y'all in the next story! :D