Disclaimer: I do not own Ratchet & Clank, or any of its associated characters and lore. That right belongs to Insomniac Games.
[R&K]
Ratchet & Kit
[R&K]
Two Children Who Need Guidance
[R&K]
The Great Clock, Breegus System, Polaris Galaxy
At the exact center of the universe, give or take fifty feet, was where an extraordinary construct was located. Although many would have trouble defining it between a space station, or a massive device, none who knew of it could disagree that it was key to the universe's existence. Of course, to the Zoni, a race of energy beings in metallic shells who resided there, the Great Clock, as it had been referred to in recent years, was most of all their home away from their native dimension.
However, the lone cleaner robot titled the Clock's Junior Caretaker and commonly nicknamed Sigmund had noticed that his boss had been spending too much in the sectors attributed to the Solana Galaxy. Although Sigmund respected his friend's privacy and understood that earlier in the year, he had performed a secret experiment that was of importance to the Clock's future, Sigmund could feel that the leader of the Zoni, Orvus, had taken his time to observe the Solana Galaxy when he did not have to frequently and with much worry on his face.
Therefore, moving past his natural shyness, Sigmund eventually hovered his grey/orange body to the Quartu Planet Room where Orvus was observing a representation of the industrialized planet with a saddened expression. After clearing his mechanical throat, Sigmund finally asked with concern in his voice. "Sir, may I ask what's been troubling you lately? You've been acting, well, pretty it out there for most of this year."
Possessing a visible mouth, blueish green eyes, a larger body than most of his hive-minded kind, and a pointed head piece imprinted with a time-related sigil where a typical Zoni would have a pair of antennae on their head, Orvus turned to Sigmund unsurely before ultimately sighing in dismay and replying. "My child has finally had what they would term a cruel wakeup call, old friend."
Orvus's words made Sigmund alert with worry. "Your child?! Oh, no! Did some con artist swindle them of their money! I-!" Before he could continue, though, Sigmund fully processed what Orvus just said which aroused a new mix of surprise and confusion to take hold. "Wait a minute. You have a child? When did that happen?!"
Showing a small smile at Sigmund's ever reactive personality, Orvus answered. "Truth be told, Sigmund, my personal project I underwent not so long ago was to create a new Zoni that would become my heir. The process was difficult, but, well, let's just say that my instincts told me to place my child not in a shell of Zoni design as it traditionally should have been, but in a robot factory much farther away from here."
Showing a questioning look at the representation of Quartu, Sigmund asked while pointing at it. "On Quartu in the Solana Galaxy?" At Orvus's nod, he added. "Well, I suppose Solana is a bit safer than Polaris has been these days, but last I recalled the factories on Quartu are all owned by the Blarg, and that they aren't very nice folks."
Looking down at the floor sadly, Orvus said. "Unfortunately true, Sigmund. What makes it worse is that the one responsible for my child's physical form is just as power mad as any tyrant, and always intended for my child to be a specialized weapon of his, nothing more or less." Turning back to Quartu's image, he then added. "And now that she realizes it, my remarkable and smart little girl is trapped."
Feeling empathy for both Orvus and his daughter, Sigmund said. "Can I ask what's her name, sir?"
"I designated her XJ-0461, but hearing the words of the one kind being around her, I have to admit that I made a mistake referring to her as if she were a disposable machine. No offense, Sigmund."
Showing a small smile, the cleaner bot replied. "Hey, it's no trouble, sir! That's why I'm called Sigmund nowadays, right?"
Orvus was about to reply to that, when he instantly turned back to the projection of Quartu in shock. While the Senior Caretaker looked on with intense focus, Sigmund's apprehensions returned in force.
"Sir, is there something wrong now?!" He asked with emphasis on the last word.
Fortunately, Orvus turned back to Sigmund with the largest smile the latter had seen from the former in what felt like a lifetime as the Zoni answered calmly. "Do not fret, Sigmund. My daughter's luck is changing even as I speak, and I believe that soon, the universe itself will know her by the name she now prefers to go by."
[R&K]
Kyzil Plateau Fairgrounds, Planet Veldin, Solana Galaxy
With few large bodies of water, the planet Veldin had rocky terrain and deserts that nearly covered the surface entirely. While far from being a major population center, Veldin kept a sizable population of farmers, criminals, and others that might as well have lived on the planet to be as reclusive as possible from the rest of the Solana Galaxy, if not the entire universe itself.
Situated in the Kyzil Plateau where most of Veldin's populace resided, the Starship Phoenix, described by many Solana politicians, soldiers, and engineers as the pride of the Galactic Government's space fleet, had landed in the local spaceport to undertake an assignment that Veldin rarely experienced compared to most planets in the galaxy, an officer recruitment drive for the Galactic Rangers. It was not outright conscription, as that was always an unpopular move, but in times where dreaded supercriminals were still at large and independent heroes that could oppose them were spread too far, the capital authorities of Marcadia had issued a kind of event from planet to planet where anyone fit and willing could demonstrate their combat skills for official military personal to witness and evaluate.
As far as recruitment methods go, it was a mixed blessing as not every world had much voluntary participants, but there was the rare occasion when an exceptional individual would become a soldier and lead the Rangers, a military force primarily comprised of eccentric warbots, on the ground level of planetary conflicts as much as in spaceship battles.
All the same, while the Phoenix's commanding officer, Captain Sasha Phyronix, was monitoring the tryouts from behind the scenes at the local settlement's fairgrounds alongside four Galactic Rangers, she was a bit disheartened to see that absolutely no one had come to sign up for the tryouts, and it was close to the starting point of the event as well. It seemed that Sasha's superiors in the military had chosen a planet for her to recruit from where everyone did not find military service an attractive career path. All the same, Sasha supposed that they could not be blamed for that line of thinking as it was an occupational hazard as some would say.
A blue-eyed young Cazar from Marcadia, Sasha had dark brown fur and a tail to match with her feline features, and wore a small golden headband that went along with her lilac and dark purple uniform with golden highlights. As many onlookers had commented before, she dressed like a princess as much as a military official, which Sasha had mixed opinions over. While she recognized that she looked the look, had the leadership skills to match, and did have something of a royal fantasy growing up as a child even before her father became Galactic President, Sasha also knew that there were limits to how much power a person can realistically as well as morally obtain, and that it was sometimes best that the individual in question put limits on themselves for their own good as much as everyone else's.
The Rangers by Sasha's side, like the rest of their model type, were dark green in color with singular orange eyes placed on their torsos and laser blasters in place of left hands, and they seemed just as disappointed by the lack of applicants to their tryouts as she was as their body language suggested. Exhaling tiredly, Sasha was about to call the day a bust when one of the Rangers received a notification on his tablet and in a high-pitched robotic voice attributed to all Rangers informed them excitably.
"We have a someone signing up for the tryouts, after all!"
With a perked-up expression, Sasha turned to the Ranger. "All right then! Better one late than none showing up ever. What's their story?"
Taking a closer look at their tablets, which was admittedly hard since they all lacked a left hand, one of the Rangers responded. "The signup's name is Ratchet, a local mechanic armed with a Gadgetron Bomb Glove and OmniWrench 8000. He's just about in the same age group as you, Captain Sasha, although I don't recognize his species name."
"Well, according to what I'm seeing, Lombaxes hail from the Polaris Galaxy, so the kid here is a long way from home to say the least." Another Ranger piped up.
"On that note, if he's the last of his kind as far as anyone knows, wouldn't it be bad if he got killed in the line of duty?" The first Ranger commented unsurely, which was something Sasha had to consider as well while the last Ranger looked over a screen to display the Lombax in question ready for the tryout to commence.
"I'm more concerned that he came over here without a shirt."
At that last comment, Sasha had her curious eyes focus on the auditionee and she was a bit surprised to see how much he resembled a Cazar, but with yellow fur and two large pointy ears with brown stripes that went together with his large green eyes. Additionally, as the last Ranger said, the only clothes he wore were a brown cap-like helmet on his head that matched his gloves, a pair of blue pants kept up by a belt, and a chest harness that was the closest thing he had for a shirt.
"Uh, Captain?" One of the Rangers said to Sasha, even though her mind was elsewhere. "Why do you look like you're about to start drooling?"
[R&K]
Holding his OmniWrench firmly in his right hand and momentarily studying the Bomb Glove that covered his left, Ratchet felt more than ready for the tryouts. While he had long subsided his formative ambitions of becoming a famous hero like Captain Quantum and Ace Hardlight among others in favor of simply exploring the universe, looking for better opportunities than just residing on Veldin for the rest of his life, and maybe find more of his own kind, Ratchet's spacecraft that he had been working on for a long time lacked a robotic ignition system to start it up, and upon finally learning that an awesome looking star cruiser with wings at the back had landed recently for Galactic Ranger officer tryouts, he figured that he could accomplish multiple goals with the passing of one test.
Granted, while he had a hunch that military service would be dangerous, and he never really grow interested in being attached to others as a result of his lonely, orphaned childhood, Ratchet also suspected that he would manage well from his own experiences of fighting the native horny toads and the occasional bully combined with his own adaptiveness with mechanics. After the events of the test, Ratchet figured that the most he would need to worry about is finding out if piloting licenses were a genuine thing or not.
Back on the task at hand, upon reaching the fairgrounds and formally signing up, Ratchet began to hear a female voice on a loud speaker say aloud. "Hello, recruit. Captain Sasha here. Show the Galactic Rangers how quick you are on your feet by jumping over these obstacles."
Putting aside his curiosity over the officer's identity, Ratchet smirked before jumping over the first obstacle, acrobatically doing it again over the taller second, and then jumping a third time to get his hands on the top of a ladder-like wall before standing on his own two feet once more. Making his way forward, Ratchet then saw two hovering platforms that he had to jump on one at a time even as they moved sideways. Upon doing so, Ratchet was then presented with six pairs of crates.
"You're doing good, recruit." Sasha complimented the Lombax's efforts and then added. "Now show us how well you can bash these crates!"
With his OmniWrench in hand, Ratchet then proceeded to slam it on two crates at a time before they were all gone, and he heard Sasha's voice again.
"Pretty good, hotshot! And seeing as how you already have the Bomb Glove, be ready to blow stuff up!"
With the Bomb Glove in hand, Ratchet then threw out consecutive bombs to destroy three gates blocking his path with horny toads, jumping obstacles like lava pits, and a small hovering, robotic test dummy equipped with a flamethrower known as a Pyrocitor on a platform doing the same thing as well. Once on the moving platform, Ratchet then made his way to the final challenge.
"Come on, Ratchet, you can do this." He told himself affirmatively before arriving.
"Now for the final challenge!" Sasha's voice announced as Ratchet entered a makeshift arena-like area. "Do your best against both test dummies and horny toads alike, and you will have passed the combat portion of becoming a Ranger officer!"
"Combat portion?" Ratchet wondered in surprise. "There's more?"
However, he had to save his questions as both the toads and dummies showed up to give him trouble, but using his natural hitting skills with his OmniWrench and his Bomb Glove's explosives, Ratchet was able to get rid of his enemies in a short amount of time. Following that, another platform took him to the end of the fairgrounds where some of his neighbors of various species kindly applauded him as he made his way to four saluting Rangers and the one he suspected was Captain Sasha.
And upon noticing her, Ratchet felt his fur tinge with red at the sight. While not a Lombax, she was still by far the most beautiful female he had seen in person. The fact that she was smiling approvingly at him made his day even better.
"Greetings, Mister Ratchet." The Cazar said to him with her hand out for a shake. "Captain Sasha Phyronix of the Starship Phoenix."
Quickly putting his weapons on his belt, Ratchet eagerly accepted the handshake as he said. "Nice to meet you, Captain!" Thinking over her last name, however, made him ask curiously. "Wait, you wouldn't happen to be, well, you know?"
Sasha shook her head in amusement as she responded. "You have a way with words, but yes, I'm President Phyronix's daughter."
"Wow, small universe, Captain." Ratchet remarked in a stumped kind of way, even as he tried to make light of it.
Sasha smiled kindly at the Lombax before clearing her throat to say. "Anyway, I need you to come with me onboard the Phoenix for an interview, and should things turn out all right, we'll see how it pans out."
Ratchet's excitement dimmed a bit at the news, but hid his worries well enough with a confident grin. "Okay then, lead the way, Captain."
It was then Sasha's turn to look a bit embarrassed as she said. "Still, before we head over, perhaps we can check to see if, well, if you don't mind, I was thinking-."
"The Captain figured you were due for a shirt, Future Sarge!" One of the Rangers happily informed the Lombax.
"Don't tell him that so bluntly, you idiot!" Another Ranger snapped at the first while Ratchet stared at Sasha in surprise.
"Look, on the bright side, I-432." A third Ranger was apparently telling the second. "At least the future Sergeant doesn't know about how Captain Sasha was staring at his-."
"Don't say that either, U-627!" The last of the Rangers interrupted while both felines avoided eye contact with their sheepish smiles on their faces.
[R&K]
Bridge of the Deplanetizer, Quartu Orbit
Situated above a barren, rocky world home to several large factories, a large space station was close to being declared finished after a long time of constructing it in space. Glossy white in color all over, the station had the appearance of a disk surrounded by six platforms used to enable it to move faster than light as well as empower the superlaser located at the station's bottom with an orange-colored glass dome at the top of the station. And once it was fully primed for action, the Solana Galaxy, if not the whole universe itself, will never be the same again.
Onboard the station itself, numerous armed robots buzzed about the entire place undergoing defensive and maintenance tasks alike. All such robots shared the same color scheme as the station itself with three eye stalks placed underneath their transparent domes, but to the leading robot among all the rest, his Troopers were all second rate compared to himself or the weapon of destruction he architected alongside secret partners that the galaxy was not meant to learn about yet.
Thinking about his "allies" made the leading robot, whose body was adorned with orange lights and a much smaller cranial dome while being taller than most organic sentients in existence, figuratively boil in frustration. While it was his scientific genius and imperial charisma that transformed a laser platform, which was the best that the feeble reptilians could ever hope to achieve with their limited vision, into the space station it he commanded right then, the corporate dictator that the robotic leader associated himself with was devious enough to have the superlaser keyed to an access code that only the former knew and could transmit electronically without fear of it being scanned by the Troopers onboard.
'For if I did attempt it, then the little midget would allow the Deplanetizer to self-destruct, and while I would survive, the most powerful weapon ever created will be out of my grasp.' The brooding robot thought to himself in anger. Of course, he did have to admit that his puny "colleague" was far cleverer than he gave him credit for, which almost made their inevitable clash a somewhat tragic event. "Almost, anyway." The skeletal-like robot muttered to himself in amusement.
Having arrived on the bridge of the Deplanetizer, as the space station was christened, the leading robot then made ready for his broadcasted address to the Troopers onboard via his communicator.
"My loyalists, hear the words of your beloved Emperor. Starting here and now, we shall commence the greatest campaign of conquest in our history with the mightiest weapon of all time in our arsenal to boot. Take heart, my Troopers, for this galaxy will be mine at last. And no Blarg, Ranger, or "hero" will stand in my way!"
With scathing emphasis on the word "hero", the Emperor then allowed a moment of applause from his Troopers to pass before ordering via the communicator. "Star Cracker Chamber, energize the artificial supernova!"
"It shall be done, Emperor Nefarious!" A jovial yet devout voice reported.
In only a matter of moments, the central power source from within the Deplanetizer, a dwarf star created through Nefarious's own scientific efforts, had been formed, stabilized, and rendering the space station fully operational from the lights to the superlaser. Nefarious allowed himself another round of applause from his Troopers until he noticed a black-colored minifighter leave the planet, Quartu, that they were orbiting, followed by receiving a transmission from the planet marked urgent.
"Shall we answer it, O Master of us all?" One of his Troopers inquired.
Feeling suspicious, Nefarious permitted it with a nod which allowed the image of a reptilian with black hair, bright blue eyes, and a serious facial expression in a black business suit to appear on a nearby telescreen.
Adopting a neutral expression, Nefarious said. "Chairman Drek, I wasn't expecting to hear from you so soon. May I ask what's troubling you?"
Exhaling from what appeared to be past anger, Drek answered. "Due to the incompetence of my fellow Blarg, I didn't learn about this until now, Emperor, but we had an apparent "accident" at Plant Z332. All systems were shut down from a small explosion that surprisingly, only claimed one injury, and yet, my people can't find a trace of a certain creation of yours. To top it off, I believe you noticed one of my minifighters leaving Quartu very fast, so I believe you know where I'm getting at."
Thinking over what Drek was telling him and remembering recent events, Nefarious sighed tiredly before turning back to the Blarg with a knowing, dry look even as he rhetorically asked. "My sentimental butler helped my experimental warbot escape?"
Drek nodded at that. "My thoughts exactly. While it is too early to say for certain, I believe that this could be a problem. We'll need to deploy as many of our available resources on both our fronts to take care of it."
"Agreed, but bring me Lawrence before I continue on schedule, Chairman. It's about time he learned who exactly he employed himself under."
Drek sneered at Nefarious's request with a quick chuckle. "How very "Nefarious" of you, Emperor. I like that."
"It is in my name, after all, Chairman." Nefarious reciprocated the cruel smile before they then laughed together for the moment, already contemplating on how to make Lawrence suffer.
[R&K]
Captain's Office, The Starship Phoenix, Kyzil Spaceport, Planet Veldin
Having followed Captain Sasha to her personal office onboard the Phoenix, Ratchet's normal amazement by everything the silver-colored star cruiser had to offer was put in place by his own trepidation. In all his eagerness to join up, he never considered that he would have to answer questions in an interview with elements of a psychological evaluation added.
'Then again, since it's the Rangers, I probably should've expected this.' Ratchet thought to himself with a self-reprimand.
On the bright side, though, Sasha was kind enough to pay for Ratchet a new orange shirt and brown pair of boots for himself. And judging by the warbots' comments and how she reacted to them, Ratchet had a feeling that Sasha liked him back which boosted his self-esteem, even as he had to mentally prepare himself for the coming interview.
Taking a seat opposite Sasha's desk where she was seated, Ratchet brought himself to relax as he began to answer Sasha's questions. For a time, they were pretty basic. Mostly confirmations on the background he gave on his quick registration for the tryouts until she then asked about his juvenile record of getting into fights, obtaining illegal technologies, and the occasional property damage, which made Ratchet awkward just talking about it. Sasha, on the other hand, did not seem as bothered by Ratchet's past as he was at that moment, and he felt relieved until she then made stern eye contact with him.
"How would you best describe your personality, Mr. Ratchet?" Sasha asked in a voice that matched her stare.
That question surprised Ratchet for a bit before he ultimately answered uncomfortably. "Well, I guess I can be snarky at times, and cocky, too. Man, now that I think about it, with how much I put looking after others in the backburner just so I can look after myself, I'm probably not the stuff soldiers are made of, let along genuine heroes."
"Then why do you want to be a Ranger officer, or better yet, a hero?" The Cazar asked the Lombax with all her focus strictly on him.
Seeing that he had to be honest, Ratchet answered. "Well, as a kid, I did look up to heroes like Captain Quantum for both the things that they pulled off and the rewards that came their way for it. As I am now, though, what really keeps me going is the opportunity to explore the universe, make a new life outside of what I've known on Veldin, and, maybe if I'm lucky, find more Lombaxes aside from myself."
A moment of silence passed between them until Ratchet, embarrassed by his own confession and how he apparently wasted Sasha's time, stood up while saying. "Sorry that it came to this, Captain Phyronix, I'll be going now."
"Sasha." The Cazar responded firmly before showing a warmer smile towards the Lombax when he looked back at her in surprise. "You can just call me "Sasha" when we're together like this, Ratchet. Now get back here, you hotshot. The interview's not over until I say it is."
As he was reseating himself, Ratchet could not help but say. "Okay, but don't my faults give you a red flag or something like that?"
Sasha shrugged as she answered. "Well, personality problems are to be considered in any working environment, the military included, but I think you just need guidance, Ratchet. Plus, I have no intention of letting your talent slip right out of my hands."
Allowing a grin to form on his face, Ratchet commented. "Yeah, the whole presentation we made for the settlement's crowd would be pretty meaningless if it all happened and no on was actually accepted." Catching the frown Sasha was giving him then, he sheepishly added. "But it's your call all the same, Sasha."
Sasha's smile returned as she responded. "For the sake of argument, I'm giving you provisional officer status compared to any officially recognized sergeant. Do the right things for the right reasons, and we'll make it official, alright?"
Ratchet nodded at Sasha's offer and was about to verbally agree when a Ranger called in on a telescreen.
"Captain Sasha, ma'am? The Phoenix's sensors just picked up a minifighter crashing down from outer space and onto Veldin's F-Sector. We tried to raise comms, but the pilot didn't answer before they crashed, so we don't know the situation exactly."
Humming to herself in thought, Sasha turned to an attentive Ratchet. "Do you have any experience going to that area in person?"
Ratchet shook his head. "Not necessarily, but it shouldn't be too different from any other place on Veldin I've been to."
Nodding in acknowledgement, Sasha replied. "Then this will be your first field test, Provisional Sergeant. Be ready for anything."
[R&K]
The F-Sector
Rumored to have been the former location of a criminal group due to the appearance of some long-destroyed towers in that location, the F-Sector on Veldin was generally ignored, but in response to the sudden crashlanding, Sasha, armed with a pistol and accompanied by both a wrench-wielding Ratchet and the four selected Rangers, had decided to make an exception.
Arriving via the Rangers' dropship, the party of six were prepared to investigate the crashed minifighter, but were dismayed to see that it apparently self-destructed sometime after its crashlanding, scattering numerous parts all over the place, and no sign of the pilot anywhere.
Grabbing the attention of her Rangers, Sasha ordered. "Everyone spread out! Keep your eyes open for the pilot if they're around, but sharpen your wits in case there's trouble."
Feeling the need to add on, even if it was unnecessary, Ratchet said unsurely. "Uh, you heard the Captain! Let's go!"
"Provisional Sarge, quick question?" One of the Rangers asked with his arm raised.
Curious, Ratchet said. "Yeah, what is it?"
"Can I report to the little robot's toilet first?"
"No!" Everyone else yelled out, with another Ranger smacking the first's back in annoyance.
"U-627, there's not a toilet in sight!" The Ranger irately scolded his comrade while Ratchet and Sasha looked visibly disgusted. "Not to mention the fact that you're not equipped with that feature in the first place!"
"Wait, we can be upgraded into toilets?" Another Ranger asked confused while the remaining Ranger yet to speak shuddered in horror.
"Eww, gross! I sincerely hope that's not in my retirement package!"
"Oh, for the love of Solana!" Ratchet groaned at the sound of their comments. Turning to Sasha, he asked. "Are they all like this?"
Sasha nodded grimly in response. "It's hard to get used to. Trust me."
Finally having enough of the discussion, the group of six then separated to survey the surrounding area, with Ratchet deciding to check one of the fallen towers, holding his OmniWrench tight in his hands as he looked around. Keeping all his senses sharp as Sasha ordered, Ratchet's eyes had trouble looking for whatever he needed to find, but with his ears, he heard scuttering nearby.
Following the sound of it to the elevated plateau nearby, Ratchet climbed his way up to find a short, well-rounded robot in yellow and black colors with blue optics and two orange light bulbs on the top of their head that could be compared to an organic lifeform's hair buns surveying the group down below them. With the robot not noticing him approaching slowly, Ratchet mustered enough of his limited social experience to friendly say to them. "Uh, hi."
Surprised by the sudden greeting, the little robot yelped in a feminine voice and found herself falling down to the ground below with Sasha and the Rangers catching notice.
"Whoa, I'm sorry!" Ratchet let out as he jumped down to the ground himself to get a better look at the shorter robot slowly standing up with everyone else arriving fast. "Are you okay from that tough landing?"
The little robot did not seem to hear his question as she commented to herself in a downcast tone of voice. "How embarrassing." Then noticing the group watching her, she straightened her posture to say. "Oh. I am sorry for somewhat stalking you all. I just did not know what to do at the time, so I observed."
Exchanging uncertain glances with her subordinates, Sasha offered a kind smile towards the mysterious robot as she said. "It's okay. Were you the pilot of that minifighter?"
The robot visibly reacted shakily at the question, but answered, nonetheless. "Well, yes. I suppose that I do not make a great pilot. There were certain troubles that happened in space."
Although both Ratchet and Sasha could tell that there was more behind the shorter robot's innocent expression than what she let on, the former held his right hand out as he said. "Well, how about we take you somewhere else than here? My name's Ratchet, this is Captain Sasha, and the rest of these guys belong to the Galactic Rangers. What's your name?"
Studying Ratchet's hand for a moment, the black and yellow robot cautiously said. "I have many designations, sir." Looking away depressed, she added. "A few more kind than others." Then, making eye contact with Ratchet and reciprocating his gesture, she happily said. "But Kit is my favorite."
[R&K]
Ratchet's Garage, Kyzil Plateau
Near the edge of a cliff at the Kyzil Plateau's southern end, Ratchet and Sasha had taken Kit to a cylindrical garage that served as the former's home as well as an occasional work place for himself. While neither female believed the place could really be described as a home, being a garage with limited living space, after all, it was adequate enough for the Lombax to analyze Kit for any potential damages while the four Rangers that accompanied them to the F-Sector returned to the Phoenix.
While Ratchet looked Kit over with a scanner, the Cazar let her eyes wander over the surrounding area from the small spaceship put together out of several metal plates that were colored various shades of blue to the large poster inside the garage of a blue-eyed, tanned-skinned sentient in an orange and grey costume, whose large and muscular upper body contrasted with his small and compact lower body. But even without the lightning-bolted atom logo that resembled the letter "Q" on his chest, Sasha recognized him as the galaxy's premier superhero, Captain Carl Lepton Quantum.
"You weren't kidding when you said you admired the good Captain, huh, hotshot?" She commented to the Lombax aloud.
Already done inspecting Kit, Ratchet replied with a shrug. "What can I say? He's got muscles, a great deal of fame behind his back for all the good he's done, and while the poses are a bit dorky, he sure does know a thing or two about speechcraft." Turning to Kit, he added. "You're fine by the way, Kit."
"Thank you, Ratchet. You are quite handy with your tools." Kit replied with a compliment before turning to the poster Sasha was looking at in recognition. "Do either of you know where Captain Quantum is presently? I can imagine that there might be a possibility that the galaxy will need him saving it at some point."
Catching what Kit was saying like Ratchet did, Sasha answered for the sake of argument. "From what I know about the man personally, he really comes and goes from place to place these days between his home in Metropolis on Kerwan, his team's headquarters on Umbris, and any place he's either saving or endorsing."
"You met Captain Quantum in person?" Ratchet asked intrigued. "What's he like?"
Showing a nice enough smile to him, Sasha elaborated. "He actually invited me to the Quantization Force, but my duties to the Government made me turn him down at least for now. As for Quantum himself outside of the camera's view, he's pretty decent. A bit eager to want to impress as much as he's always hungry for adventure, but he knows his limitations and always does what he can to improve himself either on his own or with his teammates by his side. I think you'll like him better as a person than you admire him as a hero."
Curious by Sasha's words, Kit asked. "Is admiration not a form of "liking" someone?"
Chuckling, Sasha said. "From what Quantum himself said to me about that, to "admire" someone is to respect a person's talents or resolve, even if they're either total strangers or your enemies, but to "like" someone means that you value the person as who they are, especially as a friend or family member."
Sharing a warm smile with Ratchet, Kit nodded towards Sasha in understanding. "He sounds exceptionally wise. I would like to meet him already."
Reciprocating the look for a moment, Sasha then exhaled before squatting down to show Kit a more serious expression up close. "Now what's really troubling you, Kit? Is there something bad going to happen somewhere, or are you being targeted by someone?"
Caught off-guard by Sasha's question, Kit looked uncertain on what to say as her tone indicated. "I, well, that is, I do not-."
"Kit." Ratchet softly interjected as he squatted down himself. "We both recognize that look you're giving. It's of someone desperate and afraid. We want to help you, but you need to tell us what's wrong, so we can."
Sighing at Ratchet's words, Kit was about to say something before a telescreen popped up from Sasha's belongings to show a Ranger reporting.
"Captain, Provisional Sarge? The Phoenix's long-range scanners are picking up no signals from the nearby planet of Novalis. Protocol dictates that we should investigate right away."
"Novalis?!" Kit exclaimed upon hearing the Ranger's report which startled both felines as they were right within immediate hearing range. Looking back toward Kit, the two noticed Kit acting more frantic than before. "Oh, no. Oh, no. I got to go now!"
"Whoa, whoa, Kit!" Ratchet exclaimed in concern with his arms gesturing for her to calm down. "What's the matter?" But Kit was already making her way to the Lombax's homemade ship outside the garage instead of responding.
"Kit, wait!" Sasha called out as she and Ratchet ran towards her, worried over her behavior.
Before they could reach her, however, Kit's feet and arms were changed to rocket boosters and wings respectively, which made her reach the cockpit faster and then power up the ship on her own for takeoff.
"I am sorry, Ratchet!" Kit yelled out before she was about to fly off-planet. "I promise I will return it!"
"No, Kit, no!" Ratchet exclaimed just his ship with Kit in it was already flying away. With only an equally shocked Sasha for company, he said. "Okay, I kind of figured she had the latest robotic ignition system, but a Gadegtron Thruster-Pack, too?!" Shaking his head dismissively, he then said. "But never mind that. She ran because she was scared of something, but what?"
"Whatever it was, it can't be good." Sasha spoke gravely before turning back to the hovering telescreen. "You said that Novalis has gone silent, Ranger?"
"Yes, Captain! And while I can't say I like the way that little girl left once she heard the news, it's probably something to look into."
Nodding firmly, Sasha remarked. "Then that's what we'll do." Turning back to Ratchet, she said. "Sorry, Ratchet, but you're going to have to stay here."
Shaking his head in the negative, Ratchet countered. "No way, Sasha. I'm going to Novalis with you. If Kit's going there, we'll find her."
"Ratchet, I marked you as a provisional officer which isn't the same thing as being an official officer. I promise we'll see what we can do about getting your ship back, but-."
Grabbing her by the arms, Ratchet made intense eye contact with Sasha and firmly said. "Sasha, I don't care about my pet project right now. Whatever's happening on Novalis is more than likely going to put Kit in danger, and I want to help her out of that because as crazy as it sounds since I just met her, I care about her still."
Grabbing Ratchet by his arms, Sasha showed him a proud smile as she replied. "It's not crazy at all, Ratchet. It just means you're thinking like a hero. Now let's go get her back."
[R&K]
From reading Widget & Clank: Lombax Bebop by Tangent, Rivet & Klunk by RivettheLombax, and several Ratchet & Clank stories by The Zoni Enthusiast, I felt inspired to write a more in-depth Ratchet & Clank story of my own featuring either Rivet & Kit on their own adventures modeled after everything that came before Rift Apart, their dimension merged with the main universe and thus sharing the same adventures as Ratchet & Clank, or a mix up of dimensional counterparts in the style of Widget & Clank and Rivet & Klunk.
While a poll I had on the Ratchet & Clank SpaceBattles thread favored the combined setting more, I also figured that Insomniac will eventually feature some expansion as to Rivet's background as well as how she and Kit will go about their own heroics in their native dimension, and I did not notice anyone feature Ratchet & Kit as their own heroic duo, so I decided to stick with them alongside Captain Carl Lepton Quantum and Emperor Nefarious taking the roles of Captain Copernicus Leslie Qwark and Doctor Nefarious in addition since the latter is tied to Kit while I figured the former could leave some interesting effects.
While I can imagine the Phantom potentially having the same name as Skidd McMarx and Pierre Le Fer being just as flirtatious with Talwyn Apogee among other characters like he is with Rivet, I figured that the former would best be needed in Rivet's dimension just as how the latter would be quite the outlier in Ratchet's if he took Rusty Pete's place, so do not expect either of them until the events of Rift Apart.
I considered putting the Kit portion of the introduction in the second chapter and leaving the first to Ratchet, but then I thought that there could be enough room in this for both protagonists, so there you have it. Making some scenes of Sasha and Ratchet's attraction to each other as well as making up Ranger designations based on the phrases "I told you so" and "you cannot be serious" were also fun.
Lastly, while I had seen some versions of Captain Qwark unkindly barring Ratchet or Rivet from joining his team officially on the grounds of their "past recklessness", I had not seen a depiction where Ratchet is gently turned down at least or given provisional status at most due to his original game personality flaws, which is why I had the interview portion be a psych evaluation as much as Sasha asking Ratchet the biggest question of all: why he wants to be a hero in the first place.
Thankfully, since this is Sasha and Ratchet we are talking about, things did not end badly, and the former still had high hopes for the latter which were well-founded when he decided to help Kit and the Novalians because he wanted to rather than because of what he could gain from it.