Atlas

What happened? Where was he? What was this splitting headache about? Was… Was he laying on a rock?

The thruster of a ship zooming past assaulted Ratchet's ears. Ship? That's right! He was finally able to get his ship started thanks to Clank! But then…?

"Clank?... Where are you?"

A muffled reply came from underneath him. So, that wasn't a rock.

He sat up to give Clank a chance to crawl out. The little bot tried but a small shower of sparks shot from his left knee as he did and he crumpled back to the ground.

"Take it easy! I think the crash damaged your leg." Ratchet cringed at the sight. "Here, let me take a look."

Clank, however, brushed him off, "There is no time. We must find a way off this planet."

"Relax, I told ya I'll get you to the rangers, and I will."

"I am afraid it is already too late for that. The blargians have begun their assault on Novalis." Clank's explanation made Ratchet pause.

"Assault? What are you talking about?" He turned to look outside from under their downed ship to see complete chaos unfolding in front of him. Fighter jets zipped to and fro, lasers blasting apart buildings, plants, machines, everything. The screeching of sirens pierced his ears with an even fainter hint of… Screaming?

Amidst the pandemonium, high in the bluest sky he had ever seen, a warship serenely hovered in place over glistening walls and rooftops. A large holo screen showed a pint-sized blarg smiling in a condescending manner.

"Greetings, citizens of," the feed cut to a still image of the planet Novalis before jumping back to the blargian, "I am Chairman Alonzo Drek, representing the blarg and Drek industries. You see, we blarg have run into a small problem."

"Our home planet has become so polluted, poisonous, and overpopulated that we are no longer able to safely dwell there.

But Drek industries has a solution! We have begun constructing a pristinely cultivated new world using only the most beautiful locales in the galaxy.

Many of you may be wondering what this means for you. By using our highly sophisticated technology, which you could never possibly understand, we will be extracting our choice plot of planet from yours and adding it to our new one!

Unfortunately this drastic change in mass will cause your planet to spin out of orbit into the sun where it will explode into a flaming ball of gas but, of course, sacrifices must be made."

"Thank you for your cooperation." He seemed to finish before scowling back the camera. "And if you don't like it then you can take your whiny, sniveling, snot-nosed population, form a line behind me and kiss my a— We're still live? Cut the feed, you idiot!"

The dumbstruck look on Ratchet's face matched the horror in Clank's optics. What in Solana did he stumble into?

"I tried to warn you earlier, the blarg are plotting to destroy the planets of this solar system. We are on their present target." Clank explained, sounding much calmer than Ratchet was comfortable with.

A thousand thoughts raced through his head within a few seconds. "Then we're hosed! No way I'm gonna be able to patch the ship in time to bail."

"Perhaps," Clank started, "we could procure a ship left behind by one of the citizens." He looked to Ratchet for affirmation but all the lombax could offer was a shrug. It was the only plan they had and it was flimsy at best.

"Then we better get moving." Ratchet huffed as he yanked his omniwrench from the crashed ship and strapped the tool onto its magnetic perch. And after checking to make sure no blargian ships were on their way to finish the job, he dashed out.

Clank managed to stand to follow him but only got a few steps outside the ship before collapsing again. Ratchet was looking back at him expectantly. "Clank, come on!"

"My leg is damaged. I cannot keep up in this condition."

Oh, he forgot. Okay there was no way they would get to a ship in time like this. He contemplated if he could carry Clank but if they ran into trouble he'd never be able to fight like that. Then he noticed something, a small hexagonal magnet on the robot's back. It was just like the one on his wrench. "Wait…"

Before Clank could ask what he was planning, Ratchet tossed him up over his shoulder and onto his back.

His hex-mount clicked into Ratchet's magnetic harness.

"There! Don't worry, it's a stronger hold than you'd think." Ratchet grinned. "It'll work until we can get your leg fixed anyway."

Curious, Clank tested the hold with a small wiggle. Once he was satisfied he pulled his limbs against his body looking like a metallic backpack for the lombax.

"This arrangement feels rather… embarrassing."

"You got any better ideas?"

"Well, no, but—"

"Just hang in there 'til we find a ship and get out of here."

Ratchet didn't give him a chance to argue.

It was weird, he had to admit, to have Clank on his back instead of his wrench.

Though there were bigger things to focus on. Like how to get to the main city from on top of a cliff.

As if Clank could read his mind, "Ratchet, there is an elevator down into the Tobruk crater just ahead."

Sure enough there was a small platform hovering by the cliffside. Ratchet hesitantly tested the dingy thing with a foot before stepping onto it fully. It immediately descended. Looking out over the lush green field below Ratchet could see two yellow robots guarding the city entrance while a few more smaller bots patrolled the field. Didn't look like there was any way to sneak past them, he had to be ready to fight.

The elevator brought them down just out of sight of one of the smaller robots.

The bot had a large jaw sporting rows of razor sharp metal teeth, but only came up to Ratchet's knees in height.

He laughed half heartedly. "You gotta be kidding me."

The little ankle-biter turned, eyes burning a fierce red, and screeched at him. A few dozen more like it charged from across the field to their ally.

"Be careful. These robots a—" but Clank wasn't able to finish his statement as Ratchet knocked the first bot away with a single wrench swing. The rest were just as quickly handled.

Ratchet's smirk was back again. "Heh, please, the horned toads on Veldin put up a better fight than these guys."

"No, Ratchet, they were only a distraction." Clank pulled himself into his own body as much as he could. The two yellow robots stared over at the metal carnage. They held up arms that were basically canons, took aim, and a hailstorm of bombs was quickly launched the duo's way. Ratchet yelped as he dove out of the way. One exploded dangerously close to his legs, it grazed him with an intense heat he only ever imagined could be made by a volcano.

With a speed he didn't know he could manage he scrambled back behind a small boulder for cover, thanking whatever higher being had kept him from being blown to bits. Clank squirmed again. "Are you alright?" There was a hint of concern in his voice.

In the moment, Ratchet didn't realize how fast his heart was beating but Clank could feel it like a drum against his back.

"They've got bomb launchers!"

"Yes, they are model 8004 grenade-bots, they are programmed to eliminate their targets by any means necessary."

Great to know. He clenched the wrench tight. How the heck was he supposed to deal with this? He could leg it and hope to get lucky again. Nah, too risky with how awkward his movement was with Clank on his back.

"They are coming this way." Clank's uncomfortably calm voice alerted him. Sure enough he could hear jetpacks closing in on them. Oh good, they fly too.

They were getting closer. He had to do something! Fight back somehow! An idea came to him. Probably stupid but it was his only shot. He only hoped he could pull it off.

The robots were nearly on top of them.

"Ratchet!"

He rounded the corner.

"What are you doing, Ratchet?"

And flung his wrench like a boomerang at one of the bots.

It smacked into them with enough force to stun them and make the other pause. Ratchet grabbed the wrench mid-fall with a leap that brought him within striking distance of his enemy, and brought it down on the bot's weaponized arm, severing it.

The launcher clattered to the ground below as he landed.

Disarmed, the bot hovered over him, ready to crash down on him while the other readied another flurry of bombs. As his foe smashed down he rolled out of the way and let the bombs do the rest of the work.

One down.

The other bot had started to retreat. No way he'd let it get reinforcements. He swiped the severed bomb launcher into his shaky hands and fired a round into the air. One blast was all it took to bring the bot back to the ground. That was his cue to charge forward and smash his foe's head in with another wrench strike.

It took him a minute to realize, but he had won!

"That was rather impressive. I did not know the Galactic Rangers trained their mechanics to fight so intuitively." Clank's words stirred something in Ratchet. He guessed maybe it was pride but under the lingering anxiety he couldn't be sure.

Either way he did it. "Yeah! Uh, thanks."

He inspected the launcher on his arm, "I think I can still use this."

"Anything so that we do not have to be rained on by bombs again." And Clank was right back to his stuffy self.

…

Another bomb knocked one of the launcher bots to the ground. The other three tried in vain to peg the tiny orange lombax that had been terrorizing their small platoon. Ratchet glared at them from the other side of the bridge.

A wrench smashed into one of them, taking their head with it as the blunt tool swung back around to its wielder. The last two bots were dealt with swiftly after two well aimed bomb shots

Really it was quite exciting to watch. Clank only wished he didn't have to experience the action up close and personal… And backwards.

"Incoming blargian ships!" He announced to Ratchet, who was preoccupied with the robots.

His warning came too late. Missiles rained down and turned the bridge in front of them to swiss cheese.

That didn't stop Ratchet from blazing across after. Through the gaping holes Clank could see the water below rushing under the bridge. Oh he hoped it was stable enough to hold them but the ominous creaking that followed every step Ratchet took was not a promising sign. In spite of that, they made it across with the bridge still intact. Thank goodness.

Ahead of them, more of the smaller robots charged at them down the narrow path alongside the river. In a flash they were gone, as one blast of a bomb was enough to take out all of them. There was a maniacal giggle, the only sound he had heard from Ratchet in a while.

"You see that, Clank?" Ratchet was beaming as he looked over his shoulder at the bot strapped to his back. "Took'em all out in one shot!"

Clank was starting to feel that the lombax was having a bit too much fun but could not complain about it. Disturbing as it was... Still, they had to stay on track. "Please focus on getting to a ship. Reinforcements will be here soon."

"Don't worry, I'm on it!" Ratchet broke into a sprint through the cleared path.

Something else pinged Clank's radar.

"Please help—zzt—blargian invasion —zzzt zzt—ship grounded—zzt"

The signal was not far from their location, if they could reach its source they could have a way off the planet. "I am picking up a distress signal ahead. There is a ship under attack."

Ratchet nodded. But neither one of them was prepared to see a small armada of bomb launching robots surrounding a courier ship.

"Oh dear…" Clank counted at least a dozen of them. Each one turned to them in one eerily mechanical motion.

Bombs began flying through the air. Ratchet ducked, weaved, slid, anything he could do to avoid getting hit. He had managed to get close enough to one bot to slam his wrench through it. That's when a bomb took him by surprise. It had barely missed his head but he was blown back while Clank was violently flung from his mount across the dirt.

Every robot in the vicinity turned their attention to Clank. Even with Ratchet pulling himself back up to continue the fight, the robots' focus did not shift. A very familiar sense of dread fell over him for the millionth time in the past thirty-two hours.

Nowhere to go, he squeezed his optics shut, waiting for the first bomb to explode.

It did, but not on him.

Two bots had been blown up, then two more after. Ratchet slowly closed in, a launcher on both arms, blasting away the bots two at a time. His teeth were bared in a feral snarl as he unleashed rapid fire on the last robot mercilessly.

It was reduced to nothing more than a few metal shards under the heavy fire. When the bombs stopped, Ratchet glared down at him and Clank felt, for the first time since they met, a trickle of fear in his CPU.

Then the glare disappeared, replaced by another smirk. "You okay?"

He had to admit, he was at a slight loss for words. All he could manage was a nod. Satisfied with that, Ratchet dropped one of the launchers and reached a hand down to help him up.

"Why'd they all turn on you like that? I don't get it, I was the one tearing into'em." There was nothing but confusion in Ratchet's voice.

There could have been many reasons but Clank settled on one, "It is because I possess information that poses a threat to Chairman Drek's plan. They will stop at nothing to keep me from delivering it to the authorities." It hit him then just how much trouble he had dragged Ratchet into. He wouldn't blame him if they parted ways here and now.

"Well then I'd better get you to the rangers fast!"

"Pardon?"

"Uh, duh, the whole reason we need to get out of here? Did that blast short circuit your memory or something?"

"Well I…" He paused. Ratchet had more than proved himself capable in a fight. He could handle himself just fine. It was Clank who needed the help more than anything. "Nevermind. Thank you for the assistance, Ratchet."

Before Ratchet could reply, the hatch of the courier ship opened behind him. A slim, blue skinned male novalian limped out, with many others still inside the ship peering out nervously.

"A-are they gone? All of them?" He looked around fervently. But there was not another robot in sight.

"Do not worry sir, my companion dispatched them quite handedly." Clank gestured to Ratchet, who puffed his chest with a rather hilarious grin.

The novalian let out a huge relieved sigh. "Oh! Oh thank goodness. Is there anything we can do to repay you?"

"Think we can hitch a ride?" Ratchet asked rather bluntly. "We've got some dirt on this Drek guy that might help the Galactic Rangers take him down."

A frown. The novalian shook his head. "I'm afraid our ship's at her capacity. But you're more than welcome to take one of the heavy duty cargo ships up at the water treatment plant."

Ratchet's smile waned. "Oh uh, great! Where is that?"

Clank tapped his arm, pointing up at the cliff where they had crashed. A large facility was built into the mountainside with huge windows offering the only visible look inside from the crater below. "There is an entrance not far from where we landed."

"You mean we have to walk all the way back up there?"

Clank nodded. A small bit of him felt guilty for making Ratchet hike back to where they started but, "you forget we have the elevator to take us back up."

A heavy sigh escaped Ratchet, he gestured to the mount on his back. "Fine. Come on."

They were sent off by the cheers of the evacuees they had saved. And though they weren't on board, Clank smiled to himself at the sight of the courier ship taking off into the clouds. If nothing else they had at least saved some inhabitants. It felt… It felt fulfilling.

The whole way back he listened to Ratchet bemoan their luck and how much he loathed having to trudge back "like some kind of errand boy".

Whoo! Third chapter done! Sorry this one took an age and a half. Let's just say I'm not the best at writing action sequences without visuals. Soooooo took a bit to get that to a decent and readable format.

Then there was trying to write Ratchet, who gave me the hardest time out of anything in this. Still trying to find a good balance for him between his 2002 and 2016 personality.

Oh yeah and Rift Apart released and HOLY *bleep* was it amazing! I hope everyone who was able to play it enjoyed it and if you're like me, and couldn't cause you can't snag a PS5 yet, I hope you get to enjoy the game however you wish if that means waiting until you can or watching a playthrough. I won't talk about spoilers yet and I encourage you not to either but I will ask, did you enjoy what we got?

But all that aside, thank you so much again for the kind words and reviews from chapter 2!

Song for this chapter is Atlas - Battles

Thanks for reading! Peace y'all!