A groan left the Lombax as he felt his body ache in protest, slowly sitting up...he felt...different. He opened his eyes, blinking rapidly before looking up and seeing...the sun? Where was he? He looked around and saw nothing but rocky desert for miles. Did he get blasted to a different planet? A different dimension? How? He was confused. "Ratchet?" A voice asked, making him turn his head and seeing Clank, who was looking at him oddly.
"Hey buddy, what happened?" He asked as he stood, he felt stiff. "I am unsure," Clank said as he looked around, "however, I do know we are not on Aurora anymore." Ratchet nodded as he looked around as well. It looked like Veldin now that it was brought to his attention. He still wasn't sure though. "Also, you look older." Ratchet rose a brow and turned toward Clank, confused. "What do you mean older?" That was a new one if Clank was playing a trick on him. "My scans show that you are now fifteen years older." Ratchet's eyes widened, his right eyebrow twitching. That meant he was thirty-eight years old! He was going to ignore that for the moment.
"That is so weird." Ratchet said as he knelt down to Clank. "Are you okay? Nothing broken?" He asked Clank to make sure nothing was wrong. "I am alright, nothing has been harmed." Ratchet nodded before standing once more. "Alright, get on my back buddy, we need to find out where we are." Clank nodded. "I actually know where we are. It really is Veldin, the scans show that we are on Veldin." That made Ratchet feel a bit better, it was a planet he knew. Now just to find a familiar place so he could get to the garage. They wandered around, Ratchet trying to find a familiar landmark but nothing popped out; however there was a lot of Blarg wreckage and destroyed towns. What happened to Veldin?
He looked at his ring, glad it was still with him...he hoped Rilena was okay. "RJ! Ragar! Be careful!" A female shouted, making Ratchet stiffen and look around. That voice was somewhat familiar! He noticed a small destroyed town and ran that way, there was a ton of wreckage but he could at least see if there was anyone familiar he saw. He looked through a hole in the destroyed Blarg ships, Clank hopping down to see as well. At first he was shocked, a young Lombax looking exactly like him was shifting through some wreckage with another young Lombax.
They were both seemingly the same age, beside him who looked similar in body style to Ratchet. He had the same ears and markings like Ratchet, except he had blue eyes. His fur was pale gray-blue with dark gray-blue stripes but he had odd facial markings. They almost matched Rilena's, he even had a tuft of hair that was the exact same shade and color of black as Rilena's own hair. "There you two are!" A young girl said as she rounded the corner of the wreckage the two boys were at. She looked exactly like Rilena, even the same fur color, except she had Lombax markings on her ears. Her ears were a dark gray-blue with the markings being a lighter color, she even had the same tail as Rilena...the only odd part was the hair color matched the marking color of Ratchet's fur. "Mommy was looking for you two." The little girl had to be no older than five!
The young Lombax who looked exactly like Ratchet jumped down, followed by the young Lombax that was about his age. "Riley we're fine, where's mom?" The copy of Ratchet asked, making the young girl smile. "Right here you two." Riley looked over her shoulder, smiling. "Mommy!" She said happily, making Ratchet look through the hole and his eyes widened. It was Rilena...then...then those kids were… "Ratchet Junior, Ragar, what have I told you two about playing at the wreckage sights?" Rilena scolded the two lightly, hands on her hips.
Ratchet Junior, whom Ratchet guessed was the miniature him, gave a sheepish smile. "Aw, come on mom, we're careful when we're here." He said softly, yet she raised a brow. "That's not the point, RJ." She muttered, before looking at Ragar, who looked like Ratchet but had her colors and facial markings. "And I expected more out of you Ragar, with you claiming to be the more sensible child." She stated, he hunched his head down. "Sorry mom." He said softly and she kept her stern stance...before she sighed and deflated. "Look, kids, I know it's not easy staying at base camp, having to stay under supervision but you know we do that to stay off the radar." She said softly before she walked over and ruffled RJ's and Ragar's head.
"I know it's hard, you both love building things and tinkering with things like your father." She kissed their foreheads. They smiled at her affections, glad she was too angry at them. "But I need you two to stay in my sights...I can't lose you like I lost your father." Rilena said softly, eyes watery and the two boys felt a wall of guilt hit them. Their mom was overprotective because she didn't want to lose them. Clank looked at Ratchet. "Ratchet, I think we-WHOA!" The wreckage gave way under Clank. "CLANK!" Ratchet reached forward but lost his footing, tumbling down into the group's sight and kicking up a bit of dust around them. Riley gasped and jumped behind her two brothers, while Rilena tensed as she brought out a sword, the two boys bringing out a gun of some sort. "Who are you?!" RJ shouted, green eyes stern and harsh as Ragar leveled his sniper at Ratchet's head.
Ratchet coughed as Clank tried to dispel the dust, before he looked up as the dust settled a bit. Rilena's eyes widened, she dropped her sword and fell to her knees. "Wha...how...how are…?" Rilena stuttered, tears gathering but she kept them back. She didn't know what to think, seeing the green eyes that were always in her mind staring right at her. RJ looked at his mom, before looking back at Ratchet...he didn't know who the man was. He had never had the chance to meet his father, none of them have. "Who are you?!" RJ demanded once more, switching his combustor to the devastator. "Ratchet? Clank?" Rilena asked, both confused, cautious and wary...she thought she was seeing things.
Ratchet nodded slowly, groaning as he shifted to sit properly. "Hi Rilena." He didn't really know what else to say. RJ growled and moved closer, gun still poised at Ratchet. "Hands on your head!" RJ demanded, yet Rilena moved. "RJ, stop, he won't hurt us." RJ looked unconvinced as he glanced at his mom, before looking back at Ratchet. "Who is he mom?" If their mother knew who this man was, maybe they could get answers? "RJ, Ragar, Riley, this...this is Ratchet. Your father." She said softly as Clank walked forward.
"What?!" The kids all exclaimed in shock, yet even the surprise in their mother's eyes told them she didn't know what was going on either. "How is that possible?" RJ asked as he raised a brow, keeping his eyes on Ratchet. "Dad died fifthteen years ago!" Ragar stated as well, trembling a bit as he huddled closer to his brother, keeping Riley behind him. "Wait, what?!" Ratchet exclaimed in confusion...he had been deemed dead for the past fifthteen years!
Guess that explains why he was fifthteen years older.
"What is going on?" Rilena and Ratchet said at the same time, before looking at each other in surprise. "You two are still on the same wavelength it seems." Clank said softly as Riley looked over from behind her brother's, when suddenly a small robot jumped off her own back and ran over. "Ah, Clink!" It looked like a small robotic dragon and, like Clank, made a clinking sound when it moved. Probably how she got the name. It stopped before Clank and made a weird sound, before going back to Riley and hopping back on her back, turning into a small backpack.
"What was that?" Ratchet asked as he tilted his head, an action RJ mimicked as he had been confused as to why Clink moved. "Riley's robot pet, I made him four years ago from some scrapped raritanium." Rilena explained, before she looked at Ratchet and walked over. Ratchet stood at that point as well. She stopped in front of him and reached her hands up, letting her hands cup his face; he leaned into her palms. "It's really me Rilena." He said softly, bringing one hand up to cup her face as well; she felt the metal of his ring on her cheek. She smiled softly. "I had to make sure." She hugged him tightly, glad to have him back and he hugged her just as tightly in return. He was back.
A few hours later, RJ, Ragar, Riley, Ratchet, Clank and Rilena were heading back to what they called Base Camp, which was, once more, an underground facility. The door to the facility was at the garage that Grim used to own but was now abandoned and run down. However Ratchet did take notice that some things looked like they had been fixed up recently. Once they walked in, Rilena pressed a button and it closed the garage door to the area, plunging them into darkness before Clink turned on its lights from its eyes.
RJ hurried over to the lights and brought the lever down before pushing it up, which turned the lights in the garage on. They flickered a bit before they brightened as they lit the place up. "What's the last thing you remember?" Rilena asked him as the two boys began working on the code to open the door that led to the underground facility. "The battle on Aurora, then me and Clank being thrown off a cliff and then...the feeling of being sucked into something." Ratchet explained, rubbing his head.
Rilena was listening intently. "Then everything went blue, then white...and then I lost consciousness. When I woke up, I was here on Veldin." He explained. Rilena hummed a bit, that was new...unless the Zoni were somehow involved. "Unless the Zoni were involved, I don't know how that happened. Plus, since a few years ago, all Zoni are believed to be dead." She explained, shocking Ratchet and Clank. "They're all gone?!" Ratchet said in surprise, how was that possible?!
Rilena nodded, even as RJ gave a triumphant cry of victory, opening the door. "Mom, got it opened!" Ragar said as he turned to smile at their mother. "Good job boys." Rilena said with a fond smile herself, before looking back at Ratchet. "Contact the others, let them know we're bringing a guest. Leon will be happy to see him." Ratchet grabbed her shoulders. "Leon's alive?!" He couldn't believe his best friend survived. Rilena nodded, pulling his hands off her shoulders, interlacing her fingers with his. "We were surprised ourselves, however Razor found him and dragged him back to the ship to evacuate Aurora." She explained as the two boys went over to a computer to contact those below.
"Fifteen years ago, Aurora was destroyed after you had gone missing, we began evacuating everyone as the planet began collapsing in on itself." She sighed sadly. That was her home after all, had been for so many years and she had lost it. "We found several dead and wounded, Leon was alive but had lost both of his legs. We searched for you until the planet could no longer contain itself and then we left." She shook her head a bit. "I was heartbroken, we had lost more than half the rebels, I lost you and no one knew what to do next." She gave him a watery, sad smile. "After I lost you, I lost Clark when we escaped to Kerwan to stay with Qwark and the Galactic Rangers but Drek attacked there as well." That was the first time she had seen Qwark truly angry and fighting like an actual soldier.
"As the years progressed, a lot of stuff happened. We've lost ten planets and Veldin, along with a lot of other planets are still around, having pleaded and made a treaty with Drek but we don't know how long that will last." She leaned her head against Ratchet's chest, even as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "Clark was destroyed on Kerwan, Qwark and the Galactic Rangers lost their home. Those who still wish to fight came here to Veldin and have helped us try and keep the Blarg back." Rilena explained further.
She lifted her head up, nuzzling under his chin; he nuzzled her head back. She explained the kids were born a month after the attack on Aurora, explained that Qwark and everyone else has helped her raise them. She explained how the other planets forged treaties with Drek, due to their resources and were considered safe havens from the Blarg. General Zigas was still around but his fleet was smaller due to the constant attacks and he couldn't protect them as he once did. He still brought them resources when Drek wasn't supervising the planet.
The Lombaxes were much smaller in number now, only thirty remained, including her children, Ratchet and Leon; they all resided in the underground facility. She explained that the Rebels were much bigger but were only able to protect Veldin as they didn't really have a ship to take them to other planets to free them. They wanted to free the other planets from Drek's control but couldn't. The Galactic Rangers had a ship but they seldom left.
So much had changed.
"Mom, Uncle Leon is expecting us." Ratchet Junior said as he walked over, before looking up at his father. "Uncle Leon was right," He said, making Ratchet look at his son, "I do look exactly like you." He said with a smile, making Ratchet smile and kneel down to his son. "That you do my boy," He rubbed RJ's head, making his son chuckle, "that you do." Clank smiled. "I will call you mini-Ratchet." He teased and Ratchet Junior laughed more. "Mom was right, you are funny Clank." He said before Riley walked over, holding Ragar's hand.
"Mister Qwark said food was ready." Riley said softly, hiding a little behind her brother, Ragar. RJ smiled and walked over to his sister, picking her up. "Riley, it's okay. This is dad, no need to be scared." RJ said softly, looking up at their father. Ratchet smiled as he stood, allowing Riley to look him over fully. He looked exactly as mom described him, as well as looking exactly like older brother Ratchet Junior. She nodded, hiding her face in her brother's neck, making him laugh.
"Alright kids," Rilena said fondly, "let's head down." They all nodded, stepping onto the teleporter and being transported down. Moment they appeared on the platform, they stepped off and Ratchet's eyes were wide. It was literally an underground city, not the circular facility they had on Aurora...he guessed that was because of how many people were here. It seemed like an underground ravine with no opening above them. There were houses lining the walls and electrical bridges connected one side to another.
He couldn't even see the bottom but the blue light told him a power core was down there that powered everything underground. He saw multiple teleporters, most likely to quickly get from one place to another. In the center of everything, below most of the facilities above them was a large, metallic, circular platform where a white and red Lombax stood. Half of his body seemed to be made of metal and he held a holographic tablet in hand, scrolling through it as he checked things off, looking at his watch and sighed.
"Where are they?" He asked himself, when RJ grinned. "Uncle Leon!" He called out, making him jump and turn around, smiling. "Kids, there you are!" He greeted with a smile, before RJ let Riley go so he and Ragar could tackle Leon in a hug. "Oof!" Leon grunted, making Riley laugh with the others, even Ratchet let off a chuckle. "Kids, I'm not as young as I once was." He muttered with a grin, rubbing their heads. "Leon has helped me raise them the most, wanted them to have a father figure." Rilena explained as Riley hurried over.
Ratchet looked wary. "You and him aren't...you know…?" He let it hang and Rilena seemed confused, before she realized what he meant. "What? No!" She exclaimed, waving her hands about. "No, no, no; he just wanted them to have a male to look up to. He and I are not together." She sighed. "Besides, he has a wife of his own, however they don't have any kids. As a result, he spoils mine." Rilena explained, turning to Leon as RJ and Ragar finally let him go, stepping back.
"And where's my niece?" He teased, making her hurry toward him. "Uncle Leon, Uncle Leon, hi!" She greeted, smiling at him brightly and he chuckled, kneeling to her. "There she is." He rubbed her head, making her smile as he purposefully messed her hair up. "Leon, I spent hours working on her hair." Rilena scolded, frowning at him as she crossed her arms. He chuckled, standing up. "Sorry Rilena, I just can't…!" His eyes widened as he stopped talking upon seeing Ratchet.
"I...I can't believe it." He walked forward, looking Ratchet up and down, like he couldn't believe who he was seeing. "Ratchet?" He asked and Ratchet nodded, smiling at his best friend. "Hey Leon, good to see you." Leon gave a watery smile and pulled the missing Lombax into a tight hug, careful to not crush him with his robotic strength. "It's good to see you Ratchet, welcome home." He said softly, pulling back to smile more brightly at his friend as he wiped his eyes.
"How are the others?" Rilena asked Leon as Ratchet Junior came over with his siblings. "Hey mom?" Ratchet Junior asked, grabbing her attention before Leon could answer. "Can we go see Elaris? She said she had a new game for us to try." He asked and Rilena nodded, blue eyes gentle. "Yes, just be careful and use the teleporter at home, okay?" She told them and they nodded, heading off. She watched them until they were inside their house, then she relaxed.
Leon gave her a small smile. "Ease up on them Rilena," He suggested, making her look at him, "Junior and Ragar are teenagers, they know what they're doing. Plus, they're really protective of their little sister, no one would dare to harm them either. Especially with me and Qwark threatening to punish someone should the thought even occur." He explained, making her sigh. She knew it was true but they were her kids, she tried not to be overprotective but they were all she had.
"I still worry, they can be reckless at times." Leon scoffed, making Ratchet feel a little left out on his children's lives. "They got their recklessness from you, Ratchet. I swear, they inherited it." Rilena stated, making Ratchet scoff himself, shaking his head fondly. "Well," Leon began, handing the holographic tablet to Rilena, "I overlooked everything we need to go over in the next meeting. Qwark will be glad to know that the training arena will need to be redone." She nodded, looking through everything.
"Alright, I'll overlook everything at the Command Center, let me know if anything else comes up." Leon nodded at Rilena's words, before Leon looked at Ratchet. "Ratchet, want me to give you a tour? I'll bring you back to Rilena when she's done." Ratchet looked hesitant as he looked at his wife, she smiled at him. "I'll see you when dinner rolls around." She kissed him, he returned before she broke apart, smiled at him and walked off. She brought up a video call on the tablet to the Command Center where some others were at.
"Conner, hey. Yes, I've returned. Can you let everyone know to turn on the Command Center's general energy output terminal? I need to look over some things." She said as she stepped onto a teleporter and was off to the Command Center. Leon shook his head, she was still a workaholic. "Well, follow me buddy." He said to Ratchet, who nodded and followed his friend. They took a teleporter to the right side of the underground city, popping up near several shops and even what seemed like the largest cafeteria in the world. "As we have so many people here, we made the cafeteria one of the largest facilities here." Leon explained, smiling.
He looked at the other shops. "The few Lombaxes we still have work in inventions for our weapons, engineering or research." Looking down below to another facility on the other side, Ratchet saw several of his race working on what looked like an electrical, circular core; all writing down notes or at computers typing away. "My own wife works there, the cream colored Lombax." Ratchet saw a cream colored Lombax with white markings, she was wearing a large white coat and her hair was also white in color, pulled into a ponytail with her bangs parted to one side.
"She adores the kids, they call her Aunt Karla." Leon said with a smile to Ratchet, who smiled in turn. "Glad you have someone who makes you happy, Leon. I remember fifteen years ago you were still looking for a woman." Leon rolled his eyes, shoving Ratchet's shoulder playfully, making Ratchet laugh. "Hush you." He said fondly, making Ratchet grin at him. Ratchet and Leon had always been close, acting like brothers; it always reminded others of Kaden and Azimuth.
Since Ratchet was Kaden's son and Leon was distantly related to Azimuth, some said the past was repeating itself but Leon made sure he was nothing like Azimuth. "Let's head in, got some people who might want to see you again." Ratchet nodded, following Leon into the cafeteria. "And there we were, surrounded by Blarg's every-which-way, back-to-back with one another," Ratchet already wanted to roll his eyes at Qwark's voice. He still seemed like an over dramatic storyteller. Oh was he in for a surprise when he sees them.
"Then, Rilena came swooping in on her ship, shooting the Blargian ships in the sky, telling us to take care of those on the ground." Right, Rilena had a ship at one point. It must've been destroyed. "Still surprised she survived it crashing into the Blargian battleship." That was Elaris! Wait...what?! "Calm yourself Ratchet," Leon whispered to him as they stopped at the entrance, seeing how Ratchet's eyes darkened with concern. "She lived, that's all that matters." He said soothingly, making Ratchet take a deep breath to calm down.
When Ratchet saw the original four members of the Galactic Rangers, his heart stopped...they all looked...so different now. Elaris looked relatively unchanged but now she had metal horn-like pieces in place of the horn look-a-likes on her head. She had a scar here or there on her face and covering the exposed parts of her arms; she wore actual bullet-proof armor as well. Cora had metallic legs from the knee down, one looked freshly repaired. She had a metal plate around the left side of her neck; he guessed it covered a portion of her shoulder as well.
Brax had one metal arm and one metal leg, covered in protective armor, unlike his friends but that was because he was an up-front fighter. On his other hand was a glove that looked similar to his robotic arm. As Ratchet looked over at Qwark, his eyes widened and turned sorrowful. He no longer looked the same. Qwark used to have a funny 'look-at-me-I'm-awesome' kind of attitude...but now, he seemed like a weary warrior. Someone who took things more seriously and wouldn't allow mistakes.
While Ratchet would've been glad Qwark had changed...he didn't want it like this. Qwark was blind in his right eye with a scar running through it. Both of his arms were robotic with multiple scars covering the exposed parts of his shoulders and face; even one of his legs were robotic from the knee down...he was so different from how Ratchet knew him. "What...what happened to them all?" Ratchet asked Leon as they stopped at the entrance.
Leon sighed, rubbing the back of his neck as he thought on how to best explain it. "Well, Cora lost her legs on the battle of Kerwan, Brax got her out of there when a ship came around to evacuate everyone. Qwark lost his right arm when getting Rilena off the Blargian battleship on Kerwan, which is how Brax lost his left leg and how Cora has metal covering a portion of her neck and shoulder." Leon looked at Ratchet sadly. "The Blarg aren't weak anymore, they take a type of drug that Drek made to enhance their physical strength...and they look addicted to it." Leon muttered sourly.
Ratchet shivered at those words. "Elaris lost her horns in the battle of Oltanis, which is where I lost my left arm." He held up his arm to empathize his point. "Qwark felt horrible, he hadn't wanted her on the front lines...but when your ship gets blown out of the sky, she was lucky to have only lost her horns." Ratchet nodded, Elaris was lucky. "On Planet Batalia was where things got really bad. Brax lost his right arm, Cora nearly had lost her entire left side and Qwark lost his right leg from the knee down." He explained, making Ratchet feel sick; to know they endured all of that and still fought...that took courage.
"And that's not the worst of it." Ratchet's eyes widened, then turned fearful at the serious look on Leon's face as the white and red Lombax looked to the floor. "Ten years ago, Rilena had been kidnapped." Ratchet's eyes widened...what? "None of us had expected it. We were gathering supplies on Planet Joba, mainly medical herbs as we found out the planet was high in flora and fauna." He shook his head. "We never got the alert that the Blarg was there, yet by then it was too late. RJ and Ragar were only four, going on five years old and saw their own mother get kidnapped, she fought but they knocked her out." Leon explained.
Ratchet felt his heart crack at those words. "It was when we went to save her off Drek's ship that everything went downhill." Ratchet didn't know if he wanted to hear it. He leaned against the other door and nodded, telling Leon to continue, so Leon had them leave the doorway so they wouldn't get interrupted. "On the ship was where Qwark lost his other arm, and he nearly lost his other leg. Brax nearly lost his head and Cora was almost blown apart in her ship. When we found Rilena...she wasn't the same and her tortured condition didn't make things easier." Ratchet held a hand to his mouth to stifle any sobs that might form.
Leon hesitated at his next words, very few people knew about what Rilena actually went through, a secret she was ashamed of because, while it had been against her will, it still happened. She felt as if she should have been able to stop it. "She was held for a year and a half before we finally freed her." Leon said hesitantly, making Ratchet look at him sadly, he sensed more. "Leon...what are you not wanting to tell me?" He could sense Leon was uncomfortable about something.
Leon shifted and sighed, running a hand over his head. "Ratchet, that's for her to tell you, it's not my call. Very few of us know what all happened when Rilena was held in captivity and it's her right to tell you." Ratchet frowned in concern, it might be worse than he thought. Leon placed a comforting hand on Ratchet's shoulder. "I'm not telling you because Rilena will be needed to keep you calm, it was really bad." Leon explained softly and Ratchet took a deep breath, let it out slowly before following Leon into the cafeteria, he'd confront Rilena about it later.
As they walked in, Leon grinned. "Hey everybody, guess who Rilena found!" He called out, making Ratchet tense as everyone looked over at them. Their eyes widened and many seemed to stop breathing. "R-Ratchet?" Elaris asked as she slowly stood; RJ, Ragar and Riley beside her with some kind of odd device in their hands. "I...I can't believe it." Brax said as he dropped his cup. "Oh my god." Cora commented, eyes wide at seeing the Lombax. "Ratchet?" Qwark was unable to believe his eyes, though he never really trusted them after losing his right eye.
Aside from the Galactic Rangers, a few other Lombaxes were there, then they all ran over, exclaiming how happy they were to see him. Many asked him what happened, how he was alive, what he's been doing, how he was feeling; it was a bit mind boggling but he explained that a portal took him to this timeline. He explained he was fifteen years from the past but a portal took him further in time and even aged him up; they all explained it sounded like the Zoni but it was hard to believe since they no longer existed in this timeline.
After grabbing some food, since Ratchet was hungry and thirsty, the kids eventually dragged him off, Leon following as he still wanted to spend time with Ratchet. "So...dad?" RJ began, grabbing Ratchet's attention. "Yeah son?" He questioned, making RJ, Ragar and Riley smile as it showed Ratchet was fine with being called their father, even though he hadn't been with them as he would've liked. "You build things, right?" RJ asked as they walked on the bridges and walkways to wherever their feet took them. "Sure do, one of the things us Lombaxes love to do is to tinker and build." Ratchet explained, rubbing RJ's head. "Uncle Leon," Ragar began softly, "can we show dad the ship? He might be able to make it work." The gray-blue Lombax/Leopardis asked Leon, who hummed.
"I don't see why not." He said softly, making RJ fist pump the air with a 'yes!' leaving his lips. Leon chuckled as Ratchet smiled fondly, before Ratchet felt a tug on his arm. "Hm?" He looked down, seeing Riley was holding his hand, holding her robotic dragon, Clink, in her other arm. Ratchet smiled and knelt down, even as Clank jumped off Ratchet's back to see what the little girl wanted. "What is it sweetie?" Ratchet asked his little girl, he was a little curious as to how she was around but there was no mistaking this little girl was his, she even had his eyes. "Can…" She held her dragon up closer, looking shy. "Can you...carry me daddy?" She asked and Ratchet's heart melted, nodding.
"Sure sweetie." He swooped her up onto his shoulders, making her giggle. "Up we go!" Ratchet said fondly, making Riley giggle more as she held onto the straps of his leather helmet. Clank laughed before RJ picked him up. "How long has dad had you with him, Clank?" RJ asked Clank as they continued walking, Leon escorting them to the airship chamber. "Since he was eighteen." Clank explained and RJ smiled. "Wow, you've been with him for a really long time then." He hadn't known Clank was with his father before he met their mother, that kind of surprised RJ.
Clank nodded and recounted some of the adventures he and Ratchet had to Ratchet Junior and Ragar as they listened, even Riley did as she laid her head on Ratchet's, making the father smile softly. This was what he had fought for, a family of his own. Their moment of serenity was broken as Leon's pager on his wrist went off. "Shit!" He swore, making the others look at him. "Conner, what is going on?" Leon demanded into the device, brown eyes dark. "Kyle got into the Command Center and locked the door when we left, he's stuck in there with Rilena right now!" Conner responded back, tone panicked.
Ratchet Junior growled low in his throat, green eyes dark. "How?! He knows he's not supposed to be near mom!" Ratchet Junior shouted, putting Clank down, who looked at Leon in concern. "What is going on?" Clank asked as Leon sighed. "Look in the War Room for the keys, I'm on my way." He ended the call, then looked at Ratchet and the kids. "Let's take a detour to the Command Center." They nodded and Clank jumped on RJ's back since Ratchet still had Riley on his shoulders and they hurried to the Command Center.
Alright, chapter 2 is up. Now, a few things to touch on, the reason Ratchet's age was advanced by fifteen years was due to the fact the Zoni that grabbed him thought it would be a good idea if he was older, that way he had experience and could understand his limits. Leon did survive, a miracle in and of itself but I'm adding that to the fact that Leon is generally stronger than others might think.
Also, I almost went with the idea that Leon and Rilena did hook-up, but scrapped the idea since Rilena is FAR more faithful than one might think. Just because Ratchet's gone doesn't mean she's going to look for another husband, she didn't want to do that to him. She held onto the belief that he was out there.
I described modifications done to the Galactic Rangers because, come on, after 15 Years, something is BOUND to change. Me and my brother actually acted this scene out so I could get a grasp on how Ratchet might react to the Galactic Rangers being different. As I said, I HATE the 2016 Reimagined storyline (which thank god they scrapped when it came to Rift Apart) but I like the characters, hence why they are here. I wish I could draw because I would so draw some of these scenes, because some of them are pretty cool.
Anyways, hope you all enjoy the story and if you have any questions, PM me and let me know. I'll try and explain things.