CH.4: Reunion pt 2
Ratchet saw Barry as he unfurled his wings and he let out a caw of sorts from his beak. His muscular torso pushes out and his red eyes look like they are about to rain blood. His clothing was tattered just from the sheer stretch of his body and he appears to wear some sort of sneer on his cruel features.
"You got this Ratchet, simple, no tougher then a fight against Dr. Nefarious and all his creations." Ratchet met him in the middle and much like a boxing match the two were able to size the other up before the fight.
"You are scared Lombax, I do not blame you, few have come up against me and lived to tell about it. Grim there, he knows full well what I am capable of yet he allows you to fight, he is either a fool or you a fool for only arming yourself with that."
"Oh, hey, he speaks...well you should know that Grim is no fool and I am here because I chose to be. So, we doing this or do you need an egg to sit on?" He grinned seeing the twitch in his eye.
"This match will be over long before you can come up with another smart comment," Barry glowers at him. Ratchet shrugs and as they are given the go ahead he rushes at him. Swinging his wrench he looks to clean his clock out but Barry jumps back a good foot or so, his wings held back.
"Why not make this fair and no flying huh?" Ratchet looks around the garage trying to gauge where he can get the most advantage.
"Very well, just know, flight or not your very strength holds no caliber to my own." Ratchet anticipates his move and as he races at him swiping with talons he dodges them using the momentum of his roll to pull him away.
This was going to be tough. In a sense this was like going back to basics without all his fancy tools he had gained since joining the Rangers. Getting up he brings his wrench up and counters an attack sending the beast back with a skid. Launching himself forward he swings the wrench in a salvo of attacks pushing the offense.
Barry is not having any of this though. Ratchet barely has time to connect a single attack before Barry is at him. His talon slices through the air causing Ratchet to hiss in pain as an attack catches his arm. Blood freely pours down and he grips at his arm feeling or rather noting the loss of feeling.
"Ratchet!" He heard Grim call out. This was bad. He wasn't sure if he could keep this up. Barry had no intention of just letting him stand there. Hurrying to a crate he disappears behind it hunkering down. He'd have to do this left handed he supposed...not too hard really.
"Heh, that is nothing, I am so going to win this." He looked over but didn't see Barry. Where did he go?
"The scent of your blood is pretty strong, so, as of now I can only sense desperate bravado on your part. You are a Ranger, pah, all I see is a Lombax who is beneath me and nothing else."
"Shows what you know!" Ratchet swung hard connecting the wrench with his face and hearing the crack of what must've been his beak. He used that chance to make a run for it. His movement was sluggish and he heard a loud piercing sound behind him. Ratchet barely turns before Barry is on him.
Thudding to the ground he watches the wrench fly from his grip. Groaning he looked up into those red shot eyes, his own eyes likely conveying some sort of fear. Barry has lost it as he begins to swipe at him again and again. Each slice of his talons cuts deep and one manages to scratch his cornea. All he can do is kick and swing hoping to get him off him but the guy has more weight then he does.
"Rex that is enough! I concede, just, let him spare Ratchet!" Ratchet wanted to tell him no, that he got this, but he could only taste his own blood and he felt his conscious self slipping.
"I knew you would see things my way, alright Barry, release the Lombax." Ratchet felt some of the weight leave his body but he still felt rather light somehow.
"Ratchet, hey, stick with me here kid! He needs medical treatment, you aren't going to let him bleed out are you?" Ratchet reaches up weakly gripping at Grim's arm.
"Hey, Grim, you look a bit blurry...why are you so far away?" He knew that he was right in front of him, but, the blurry visage wasn't helping him any discern that.
"I'm right here kid, not leaving no matter what." Ratchet was relieved to hear that. Still, he had so many regrets and one of them was letting her go.
"I am not going to lie Grim, it hurts, and yet somehow it also doesn't. I mean how messed up is that right? Problem here is...not ready to go, is Clank around?"
"Your robot companion is able to move again, I have made sure of it. Well Grim I think it is time you accompany me out of here, I believe I have settled what needed to be settled-."
"Hold up, not going to leave him like this, I refuse to! So you either heal him or so help me Barry's next opponent will be me." He sounded so far away now, strange, now he couldn't even hear him at all.
Ratchet thought he felt something in his hand and he wanted to squeeze back, but, not sure he could even tell his brain to do such a simple gesture. In the distance he notices the vehicle that Rex came in and a figure steps out of it. Ratchet figures it must be the racer that Rex had recruited to race for him. He wondered who the dope was that agreed to that.
The figure draws closer to him and he looks up trying to decipher who is under the helmet. When the helmet is removed it is only then he is taken back to that day the two had last seen each other. No way, it couldn't be, and yet standing before him even as blurred out of a visage as she was, it was Rivet, perhaps the very one he had let slip away. The one he had been left with so many what ifs, and, somehow her presence here couldn't be chalked up coincidence.
Authors note: The third part will be next chapter mixed with a bit of flashback. Rivet and Ratchet reunite and it never felt so good.
