Following close behind Rivet, Ratchet made sure to not fall in the gaps between the rocks while navigating through the cave. Each step and jump they took echoed throughout as it accompanied the sounds of water dripping from the stalactites above.

"Deja vu…" Ratchet said, flinching as droplets fell on him. "Clank, isn't this where—"

"The Plumber flushed himself down the interplanetary transportation gizmo? Yes, it is. Also, where the Dimensionator was originally supposed to be."

With flashbacks of the Plumber's contraption as well as the questionable water that it splashed around, Ratchet shuddered. "It was just a giant toilet." Clank shook with laughter on Ratchet's back as the Lombax displayed his discomfort.

At the top of the cave's path, they eventually reached a large vault secured by a weirdly shaped bolt crank. Ratchet scratched his head as he wondered how Rivet usually opened it. But immediately, his question was answered as she walked up to the mechanism and began twisting the base with her hammer.

The door lifted up with each crank, eventually opening enough for the party to enter. Though initially pitch black, lights automatically turned on as they walked inside, revealing gadgets littered about the hideout, a few posters, a large set of TV screens, and a bed.

"Hey, nice digs," Ratchet said, looking up at the high ceiling decorated with hanging lamps. "I was worried for a second that you actually just lived in a cave."

"Well technically it's still a part of the cave." Rivet turned to the back wall, putting her hand up to her chin with a reflective expression. "Oh thank goodness, the Morts fixed that wall."

Clank raised his hand. "I was going to make a comment about that earlier, but we were already in your dimension by the time I remembered."

"Well, home sweet home, I guess. Brings back memories, right, Bo—Clank?"

"'Memories' is a peculiar word, considering the events that took place then."

Rivet bit her lip, scratching her cheek as she looked at Clank. "Heh. Again, sorry about that."

"I am merely teasing," Clank said, literally waving off her concerns with his remaining arm.

Ears perked and head tilted, Ratchet looked back and forth between the two. "What happe—"

"I'll explain later!" Rivet exclaimed. "Er, go ahead and put Clank on that table. You and...Kit just sit back and relax. There's a TV over by the couch, so make yourselves at home."

As Ratchet set Clank on the workbench, Rivet grabbed a set of power tools from across the room and crouched under the table to plug them in. After coming back out, she froze. Her mouth hung open before she cursed under her breath.

"Okay, I'd like to apologize ahead of time. I know that I dragged you guys here, but it just hit me now that since the portal is closed for today, you'll have to stay here. And, I've never really had anyone over before...so there's nothing for you guys to sleep on."

Ratchet shrugged. "I don't mind, the couch seems fine enough."

"I rest easily when sitting like this," Clank said, pointing to the collapsed position he was in. Kit nodded as well in agreement.

Shoulders relaxed, Rivet exhaled a breath of relief. "Phew, well if that's alright with you guys for now. I'll be more prepared next time."

Ratchet's stomach growled again. With a sheepish smile, he blushed as he covered his arms over it in embarrassment.

"Oh! Let me get you some food!" Rivet dashed to the fridge in the corner of the room and pulled it open, shaking the whole container from the sheer speed and force of her arm.

"I can just—"

"It's okay! Let's see here." She buried her head into the fridge as she rummaged through it. "No, that's expired. This tastes terrible, not worth buying. Nope, not that one. Okay, how about...aha!"

"Here we go!" Slamming the fridge shut, Rivet ran back to Ratchet and plopped a carryout box on the table as she handed him a fork. "Leftovers from Zurkie's...hope you don't mind."

Before his stomach could make a fool out of him again, Ratchet grabbed the fork and began stuffing the contents of the box into his mouth. "Pfhank 'ou."

The male Lombax sloppily devoured the mess of carbs, causing sauce to stick around the sides of his face. Rivet chuckled at the sight, and then turned away and rummaged through the toolboxes on the table. "Alright, let's fix your legs and get you a new arm."

While she continued to set up her workspace, Ratchet left the two to their own devices and approached Kit, who silently seated herself on the couch. He sat next to her, still aggressively digging through the leftovers. Despite the noisy eater by her side, it did not distract Kit as she concentrated on Rivet, who disassembled Clank's legs and was in the process of rewiring his lower motors.

"W'afs up?" Ratchet asked, chewing through the last bite he took.

"I was just wondering how similar our builds could be. We are counterparts, right?" Kit said.

"Maybe? Clank was a sentry-bot though."

"So he is not a warbot after all..."

Kit's head dipped down as she stared at the floor in contemplation. Swallowing, Ratchet placed his meal on the table as he too thought to himself. If Clank was created as a sentry-bot while Kit was a warbot, what made them so certain that they were direct counterparts? Sure, they looked somewhat similar, but did that necessarily mean that they were the same people? Were they ultimately tied to the same fate? Did they have to be?

The more he thought about it, the more he realized how convoluted the situation was. Orvus, the Great Clock, the Zoni, did all of that apply to Kit as well? That wouldn't make sense, would it? Maybe they weren't actually counterparts. And if they weren't, then maybe Kit and Rivet weren't meant to be partners like him and Clank.

Or maybe we're misunderstanding what 'counterpart' means.

"No..." Ratchet said, his thoughts creating more uncertainty than ever. "But, he was defective."

"Defective?"

"In the best way possible, obviously. He was supposed to be thrown out for not matching the same model as all the other bots." Pride swelled in Ratchet as he watched his partner get repaired. Now wiser and evermore confident, Clank had come a long way from his initial naive, hopelessly optimistic mindset. If it wasn't for him, there was a chance Ratchet might've never left Veldin. If it wasn't for him, they would've never saved the galaxies so many times.

If it wasn't for him, they wouldn't have ever been able to meet Rivet and Kit.

"But look at him now, he's an inter-dimensional hero." He turned to Kit, kneeling off the couch to match her height. "And so are you."

Kit's blue eyes shined bright as she looked up to the male Lombax, a subtle smile on her face. "Thank you, Ratchet." Then her smile turned into a smirk. "Also, you have sauce all over your face."

Standing back up, the fur couldn't hide the red underneath this time as Ratchet's cheeks flamed from within. "Uhh, Rivet? Got any napkins?"

"Top of the fridge," Rivet said without turning, her concentration already preoccupied. Sparks flew out of Clank's legs as he giggled uncontrollably, then stopped as he stared wide eyed at the unamused Lombax. "You are sensitive."

"My apologies," Clank said.

Ratchet walked across the room towards the fridge, passing by Rivet's bed. Next to the bed was a nightstand with a portrait on top. Normally, he wasn't one to snoop, not one to invade a friend's privacy, but it was as if he had no choice. There was some force that compelled him to swerve his head to the picture, a curiosity stronger than any impulse prior. He wanted to know who this Lombax was. He wanted to understand her story.

In the picture was Rivet, and next to her was Captain Quantum as well as two other people beaming at the camera. Ratchet traced his eyes over her, smiling in amusement at how her left hand fingers formed a V-shape over the short one-eyed figure, imitating large ears. But, as he looked to her right, where there was usually a yellow, robotic arm instead was...a normal one.

A prickling sensation ran down Ratchet's right arm, getting more intense the longer he stared at the picture. As he turned to face the rest of the room, the numerous spare robotic arms became apparent, highlighted in yellow on the shelves and other workbenches.

She must've been in such pain.

His stomach twisted and his arm throbbed; the desire to eat anymore disappeared. Ratchet grabbed a napkin from atop the fridge and wiped his face. When all remains of food had been cleaned off, he sat on the couch again, this time his attention fixated on Rivet.

The female Lombax held up multiple metallic joints, linked together by a set of bolts. "Silver, right? You're gonna have to help me figure out the exact shade to match with the rest of you."

Clank looked over to Ratchet. "What do you think?"

Distracted, after a brief pause that Ratchet hoped no one noticed, he replied, "Makes sense to me. Unless, you wanna try something new?"

Nodding, Clank pointed his left hand at Rivet's bionic arm. "I would like to try some of the paint that you use for that."

Rivet grinned from ear to ear and bolted to a nearby cabinet, returning with a can of yellow paint as well as multiple primers. Kit too clapped her metallic arms together as she watched with glee.

"Hmm, so all this time you've been jealous of my fur color," Ratchet said. "I should've seen this coming, yellow does look pretty good, doesn't it?"

Laughing, Rivet playfully rolled her eyes while applying the primer to the arm, one careful brush stroke at a time.

"Sorry, Ratchet, but I think that Rivet and Kit wear the color better than you," Clank said, eliciting more laughter from the mentioned people.

"Har har." With nothing else to do, Ratchet instinctively checked his Comm-Link, raising the holographic screen up to his eyes.

'Signal not found. Offline.'

"Crap."

"Is something wrong?" Kit asked.

"I, uh, forgot to contact my friends...and they're in the other dimension." Tilting the screen sideways, he showed Kit the error message displayed on it.

Clanging footsteps approached from behind as Ratchet stared at the effectively useless device. "Ah, I believe that Kit and I may have figured out something for that."

Ratchet turned to meet Clank, who was finally mobile and fully intact with a new arm. "Whoa, you're looking good!"

"It feels good to be able to move on my own again." Clank flicked his right arm around, its movement fluid and precise just as if it were his original.

"That was pretty fast, Rivet," Ratchet said, giving her a thumbs up. "Thanks for taking up the job."

With a smirk on her face, Rivet watched Clank inspect his new limb. She put her hands on her hips in a cocky pose as she admired her handiwork. "No problem. I'm the one who insisted on it anyway." She then covered her mouth, stifling a yawn in the process. "You know what? I'm actually gonna take a nap for a bit. Feel free to look around, use my tools, or whatever." And just like that, as soon as Rivet flopped on her bed, she was out like a light. Sounds of faint breathing were all that reminded the remaining people in the room of her presence.

Meanwhile, the device in Ratchet's hand pulsated, its red status screen serving as a reminder of his forgotten commitments. "So you guys really thought of something for this?" He passed it to Clank, who took it with his charmingly mismatched arms.

"As Gary's apprentice, it is imperative that I understand how to solve problems like this," Kit said, peering at the device over Clank's shoulder. "It should be relatively easy compared to building the Dimensionator."

The three approached the workbench, powering up the station tools and prepping for the work ahead.

She couldn't go back to sleep.

Waking up in the middle of the night, Rivet tossed and turned around her bed as she tried so desperately to get some shut-eye. Yes, given how long she spent sleeping, her 'nap' was more like a complete slumber, but she had a lot ahead of her; she deserved the downtime. It was impossible though, because the prospects of the future, her future, kept her constantly thinking.

Responsibility. That was the one thing stopping her and Ratchet from their reunion with them. It would be so easy for them to run away from everything, to disregard and ignore the obligations they had in both of the dimensions. But they couldn't just leave, not even for a short vacation; that's not what heroes would do. Whatever awaited them on the other side of the rift was something that needed all the time in the multiverse for them to properly witness, time that would only be available after they were finished with everything.

Without a relaxed mind, there was no way she was going to be able to rest anytime soon. Rivet sat up and surveyed the remainder of her hideout, noting Clank and Kit in the corner of the room in their contracted forms as they 'recharged' for the night.

Clank. Her first encounter with him was perhaps the most unusual she had ever experienced. Lying in a puddle in the middle of Nefarious City, talking about how 'it was all because of him' right after the rifts started appearing. Then he went on to jabber about alternate dimensions, helping another Lombax, etc. It sounded like a bunch of nonsense, yet, it was ironic how despite everything, despite the grudge she held against robots her entire life, Clank ended up being the most patient and most understanding thing she had ever met.

And then there was Kit. The bulbs on the yellow robot's head dimly flashed as Rivet narrowed her eyes on her, the leftover nerves in her right shoulder tingling.

So tiny. So harmless. So...deceiving.

A wave of guilt hit Rivet as she realized what she was doing. How could she think of her robotic partner like that? Kit did come back to help her defeat the Emperor after all, and after a countless amount of sincere apologies from Kit for the 'incident', they made amends.

So why did she feel anxious each time they were about to be left alone with each other?

She pulled her eyes away, this time looking at the couch in the center of the room by the TV. A large wrench imprinted itself into the cushions as its metallic build reflected under the dimmed ceiling lights. However, the Lombax who should've been sleeping there was nowhere to be found.

Where is he? Rivet jumped out of her bed, getting ready to leave her hideout. If he wasn't here, he had to be outside. If he was outside, he couldn't have gone far.

Leaving the cave proved her hunch to be correct. Up the man-made path that led to the gelatonium factory was where they landed Ratchet's ship, and on the ship was where the Lombax in question sat, his figure, facing away from her, illuminated by a holographic screen.

Towards the factory, Rivet proceeded down the path until she could barely make out a female figure projected on the screen facing Ratchet.

Must be one of his friends?

"...Not much...dispatched...already cleared most of..."

Too far to properly hear the conversation, and not wanting to interrupt it, Rivet's years of experience in espionage kicked in as she creeped closer to him, finding cover behind a rock.

"I see. That's good to hear," Ratchet said. "I'm glad everything's okay over there."

"Yeah...now everyone's just waiting for the big heroes like you to come over and sign autographs. Sorry I couldn't make it to the meeting, by the way," the voice said.

"It's fine, your assistant relayed everything, didn't he?"

"Yeah, he's probably the best addition to the Defense Force yet, at least for handling my paperwork."

Ratchet gave a smile to the caller. Although it was likely meant to be warm and comforting, the pain in his eyes indicated all but that. It was strange, seeing the hotshot hero fail to genuinely smile for someone who must've been a close acquaintance. Just exactly who was this person?

"It'll be a while till we're back…" Ratchet said. "I'm actually in the other dimension right now. "

"Really? How are we even talking then?"

"Clank figured something out with a new friend of ours, maybe I'll introduce her to you someday."

"That sounds great. It's been a while since we've met up. At least, not since..."

Forced bits of laughter came out of Ratchet as his discomfort became more evident. If there was a quintessential example for what 'guilt' sounded like, this was it.

"Hey, Ratchet? I know that we're…" A large sigh came from the caller. "...But even then...I still miss you…"

Ears flopped, his smile disappeared completely. Regret and frustration were all he conveyed.

"...I'm sorry, Talwyn."

The hologram turned off, leaving Ratchet in the dark. He covered his face with his hands as he groaned into them, shaking his head.

What...what was that?

Rivet's heart pounded against her chest as she stood tightly against the rock, hugging it as to not make any noisy movement that would cue Ratchet of her presence. As she was breathing heavily, she put her organic hand up to her mouth in a desperate attempt to control herself.

I probably shouldn't have seen that, should I?

Seconds later, another transmission notification came up, lighting Ratchet's face once again with the picture of a new person wearing a lab coat and a green shirt.

"Ratchet! You let someone else fix Clank? How could you!"

A cheery smile appeared on Ratchet's face again as he playfully bantered with the new caller.

"Clank wanted her to! He meant no offense, just wanted to give her a chance!"

"Hmph. Her, huh?"

"Yeah, a new friend of mine. She's actually pretty good, built her own mechanical arm and all sorts of cool stuff."

The caller on the screen crossed his arms, tapping his finger on his arm while raising an eyebrow.

"Of course, it's nothing compared to you, heh," Ratchet said.

"Good. Well, I just wanted to give you a quick call. You gotta come visit us again, you know. Skrunch actually wanted to talk to you about hoverboarding tricks!"

"What? Since when did Skrunch even…" Confusion became laughter as Ratchet chuckled with the caller. "Nevermind, tell him to talk to Skidd, I think he's more qualified for that. But yeah, sorry I haven't been the best at keeping in touch."

"Oh, you'll do better next time. You better."

"You got it, Al. See you later."

"I'll tell the rest of the crew that you said hi. See ya."

The hologram turned off.

But compared to the last call, Ratchet's smile never faded. Instead, there was a calm, pensive look on his face as he stared up into the sky, laying on the hood of the ship with his head resting on his arms.

The entire time, Rivet watched the exchange from the rock. Curiosity, anxiety, and guilt mixed together to create the most stressful mood she was in, and that was saying something considering her experiences in battle.

Okay, Rivet, act cool. Put on your poker face, pretend you didn't even hear anything…or at least most of it.

After mentally preparing herself, Rivet closed her eyes, smoothed out her clothes, and came out from behind the rocks. As she approached the ship, Ratchet continued to stargaze, still unaware of her presence.

"Sounds like you've got a lot of friends."

Ratchet yelped, jolting as his head snapped to Rivet. "Uhh, how much did you hear?"

"Not much, why? Got something to hide?"

"Pfft. Me? Nooo…"

Rivet chortled, and, mustering the last bit of courage she had, came closer to him. "Mind if I join you?"

Ratchet nodded as he scooted to the side of the ship, allowing for Rivet to jump on board and sit next to him. The night time ambience took over as they both sat in relative silence. In the background, the gelatonium factory operated with a low hum, the gears on its exterior spinning while the pistons on the side moved in rhythm. Speedles purred while toads croaked, both sleeping with the other surrounding fauna.

In any other scenario, Rivet would have welcomed the silence. Always alone up until recently, silence was where she gathered her thoughts. Silence meant that she wasn't in the middle of a fight under constant gunfire. Silence was solitude. But silence shared with someone else, especially with Ratchet next to her, it was tearing her apart. This was the first time she was alone with another Lombax, exactly how was she supposed to talk to him? Despite deliberately putting herself into said problem, she desperately wished that Clank, or maybe Kit, were around to carry the conversation.

Twiddling her thumbs, she defaulted to the first thing she could think of to break the silence.

"Hi Ratchet, I'm Rivet! Nice to meet you!" she said, extending her left hand out to him.

Ratchet gave her a wide-eyed look, and slowly reached out his hand to shake hers.

The feeling of static shot through her arm as she felt his hand. There was something surreal about it, the close physical contact with a fellow Lombax, a race thought to have been long lost in her dimension. Never in a million light years did she think she'd ever meet another one, yet here she was, shaking hands with Ratchet.

It was electrifying.

The two promptly pulled away from each other, with Rivet staring at her hand as it laid on her lap.

"Nice to finally meet you too, uh, Rivet," Ratchet said.

Aaaand I ruined it. What the hell was I thinking with the formality?

"So..." Rivet paused, trying to think of a new topic to salvage any awkwardness that she introduced. "How are you?"

"I'm good," He yawned, stretching his arms before laying down. "Tired, but good. You?"

Uneasiness overwhelmed her in contrast to the true peaceful nature of the conversation. But despite this, Rivet chose to lie as well, mirroring Ratchet's body language. "Same, except I just woke up from a nap, so not as tired."

Great conversation skills, you bumbling buffoon.

"You deserve your rest after working hard today. Thanks for taking care of Clank, by the way."

"No prob." She played with her tuft of hair, curling it around her fingers. "I mean, I kinda kidnapped him when I found him, so…"

"Yeah, I saw. You actually passed by me and Ms. Zurkon when you guys were escaping the city."

"Really? We were that close? Damn, if only I just turned..."

"Yep, but at least everything worked out. Honestly, I can't imagine what could happen if it was anyone else but you, so I'm glad."

"If it was Phantom, he'd probably disassemble Clank for parts. Pierre would force Clank into being his mascot. And as for Quantum...no idea."

At that last mention, Ratchet sat up. "You know what? Considering who he's supposed to be a counterpart of, Quantum wasn't bad at all. Much easier to talk to, and he didn't try to kill me either." The male Lombax then put his hand on his chin, pondering. "Well, he did try to punch me for calling out his pirate disguise, but you get the idea."

"From the sounds of it, I'm getting the impression that you and Captain Qwark have a bit of a complicated history."

"'Complicated' would be underselling it. Is this about what I said earlier?"

"Kinda?...Yeah, it is." His short outburst after the earlier meeting startled her, to say the least. Given the fact that he was a hero, what could've happened between them?

"It's a weird story," Ratchet said.

"'Weird' can be interesting."

Ratchet blinked as he glanced at Rivet, who nodded, signaling for him to elaborate.

"Before I met Qwark, I only knew him as a huge celebrity, and I mean huge. He apparently saved our galaxy a bunch of times and became a renowned hero. Then, I'd see him on holo-films, commercial ads, games, radio talk shows, yeah he was also a sellout, and once I met him, an asshole."

Entertained by the bluntness of his feelings towards Qwark, Rivet giggled. Ratchet continued and told her about the few times Qwark tried to kill him and Clank. First was as a hired hitman for a Blargian dictator, second was when he disguised himself as Megacorp's CEO, and tried to get rid of them so he could take their credit as heroes for fixing a galaxy-wide disaster.

Rivet's eyes narrowed with each incident involving Qwark's villainy as well as his incompetence. "This sounds terrible, how the hell did he end up being the leader of your 'Q-Force' group?"

"Okay, here's what's really crazy. After we busted him for the Protopet incident, he went missing. Guess where he ended up."

"Uhh, I don't know, some tropical planet for a vacation?" Rivet guessed, throwing her hands up.

"Close, Florana, a jungle planet."

"Oh, okay, what was he doing there?"

"Somehow, and I'll never figure it out, he lost his memory and lived with a bunch of monkeys. He even believed he was one too."

Snickering, Rivet thought of how that compared to Quantum's fate in her dimension. While Qwark resorted to monkeys, Quantum became a pirate, and she never heard of him supporting any intergalactic terrorism either. The differences between the two just kept stacking.

"I don't want to scar you with the horror stories I've heard about his time with them," Ratchet said. "But yeah, the Galactic President wanted us to find him because he, just like everyone else, ate up all of Qwark's hero stories."

"If he was an escaped convict at the time, why would they even want him back?"

"Because at this time, we had our first encounter with Dr. Nefarious, and they knew Qwark had dealt with him before."

"Whoa," Rivet silently mouthed.

From the atomic wedgies in high school to the incident that would lead to Nefarious' robotic conversion, Ratchet gave a history lesson on the relationship between Qwark and the robot overlord. All of the exposition came together as he, with a sour face, described the crayon-drawn battle plans that Qwark set-up for Q-Force after regaining his memories. Each one essentially involved Ratchet in scenarios of discreet reconnaissance, direct warfare, and unsanitary blue-collar work. Meanwhile, for every plan, the other Q-Force members would say that they were supporting him...from the safety of their ship.

Rivet scoffed. "Sounds like he knows you guys are more capable than him, so he sets you up to do all the heavy-duty stuff."

"Exactly! I've kicked his butt so often that he knows what I can do, but he'll never admit it! I swear, the amount of times I've heard him say that I'd make a good 'sidekick'..." Ratchet raised his fist, shaking it up in the sky.

Then, he slowly put it down, resting both hands across his stomach. "But even then, he still helped me later on. There was a time where I...really needed some help in my life, and Clank couldn't be there, so Qwark stuck around for a bit to help me out instead. It wasn't really that useful, but I appreciated it." His expression grew more thoughtful. "He's an idiot, a coward, and an embarrassment, and there's so many times where I just want to strangle him. But, his stupidity can get so absurd that I can't help but smile. So other times...I'm sorta glad he's around. Sorta."

Any prior reservations between the two vanished as Ratchet detailed the remainder of his early adventures, majority involving Qwark's insolence, while Rivet diligently listened. He ranted; she reacted. He joked; she laughed.

Eventually, there came an end to his storytelling as Ratchet laid in peace, staring at the sky, fully embracing the stillness of night time Sargasso. There was no indication of the sector's sun rising yet, but Rivet knew that the day was approaching soon. They had to go back inside at some point.

A sinking feeling formed in the pit of her stomach; she didn't want it to be over. She wanted to talk with him more, not just about battle experiences or adventures, but about anything. Qwark. Ships. Gadgets. Dimensions… Lombaxes. Anything.

"Hey, Ratchet?" she said.

"Hmm?"

"Do...do you think we could do this again? I'd like that."

"You mean, like, chill? I don't see why not. You're kinda stuck with me and Clank until this is over."

Rivet shook her head. "Not just that. Plus, you say that as if being stuck with you guys is a bad thing." With her mechanical hand raised, she pointed straight up into the night sky. Despite being able to fly around them often, the view of the shimmering stars from far below never wore off its beauty. "I meant this, with just us."

Ratchet turned to her, his face holding nothing but the most gentle smile she had ever seen, a stark contrast to the feisty snarl he held during their fight against Nefarious' empire.

She was mesmerized.

"Yeah," he finally said. "I'd like that too."