Disclaimers: I don't own Ratchet and Clank or anyone or anything featured in the game. Anyone or anything NOT featured in the game is mine.

Thanks Nezdreg, Mr. Grae, NEMO, SLYFOXX, ninja blade and Sarge 11 for reviewing.

Sorry for the long wait.

I'd like to make things clear. Dr. Heinous stole TROOPERS, not RANGERS. Got it?

From now on, if anyone has any ideas for the story, submit them in a review or an email. Ideas aren't required, but maybe they'll make the story better. I won't take all ideas, though.

Thanks SLYFOXX for the idea. I'm still thinking about it. And thanks again, SLYFOXX for telling me that that robot thing is called a Pekbot. It's from Ratchet and Clank 1.

Okay, here's another chapter.

Chapter Fourteen: In range

Dr. Heinous' ship landed in its usual spot in Outpost X9. All the robots exited the ship. Heinous went to the wall of the crater.

"I hope I still remember how to do this," he said to himself, as he stood two feet away from the wall.

The robot banged the wall several times. After the fortieth bang, a piece of the wall rose to reveal a shiny, red button.

Heinous turned to his butler and troopers and said, "I'd grab on to something if I were you." He then punched the button.

The ground started shaking. In the centre of the outpost, two hatch covers opened outwards. When the covers touched the ground, the sound of a platform rising could be heard. A gigantic ship rose from the hole.

The ship was long and rectangular. It was covered all black and was supported by three legs; one in front and two in the back. The upper part of the front had a window with reflective glass. The ship had two long wings. Each wing stuck out from either side. There was a structure on top of the ship that resembled a shark's dorsal fin. Lastly, there were two jets at the back which took up all the space there.

Dr. Heinous stepped in front of the ship. "I present to you my cargo ship!" he said.

"Wow, sir," said Albert, "this ship is quite impressive."

"Alright. Enough wasting time." Heinous took out a remote which had only one button. The left side of the ship opened downwards, providing stairs. "It's time to start loading."

After Dr. Heinous opened the lab door, he ordered the troopers to place everything in the lab in the cargo ship. After that was done, the troopers were ordered to put the blue ship in.

After that was done, Heinous asked a trooper, "Is that everything I told you to load?" The trooper nodded. "Good. Let's go."

"Wait, sir," said Albert.

Heinous turned to his butler. "What is it, Albert?"

"Sir, I believe you have forgotten something."

"What have I forgotten?"

"Come and see, sir."

Albert led his master back inside the lab. Albert pointed to the sand shark's tank.

"Oh," said Dr. Heinous.

"What should we do with it, sir?" asked Albert.

Heinous started rubbing his chin. "Leaving it here would just be plane cruel."

"Should we release it back into the wild?"

"I don't think that that's such a good idea, Albert. The other sand sharks would never accept it as a robot and I don't know how to reverse the transformation."

"Should we give it to an animal shelter?"

"No."

"Circus?"

"Nah."

"Kill it?"

"No way."

"Eat it?"

"Albert! This is serious!"

"Sorry, sir."

After a minute of thinking, Heinous was struck by inspiration. "I know what to do."

"What, sir?"

Heinous picked up the sand shark. "I'll keep it as a pet."

"WHAT!"

"I said 'I'll keep it as a pet'."

"Are you sure, sir? Sand sharks don't make very good pets."

"What makes you say that?"

"For one thing, it's biting at you arm."

Heinous looked to see his arm being chomped on.

"Not to worry, Albert. Just a few adjustments here and there…" Heinous pulled the animal from his arm and started fiddling inside its mouth, "…and it'll behave." The shark started licking Heinous' face. "Awww. She likes me."

"She?" asked a confused Albert.

"Well, it's obviously a she, Albert. Look at the thickness of the head fin."

"Right."

"Okay, Albert, let's go."

Heinous held the sand shark like a mother holds her child. The two robots made their way to the exit for the last time. On the way out, Heinous asked Albert, "So, what do you think I should name her?"

Albert shrugged. "It's your choice, sir," he replied.

"Oh! I'll can her 'Sandy'."

"'Sandy'?"

"Yes." Heinous held Sandy to his face. "Do you like that name, Sandy?" The sand shark responded by licking the scientist's face with its metal tongue. "I'll take that as a yes."

Once outside, Heinous ordered all the troopers inside the ship. Each trooper saluted and walked in a single file line into the vessel. Albert followed and Heinous stepped inside and closed the door with the remote.

At the back of the ship, there were all of Heinous and Albert's belongings, safely secured by strong ropes. In the middle, there were twenty seats. Every trooper sat on one of the seats and buckled up. Heinous, still carrying Sandy, went to the front. He opened the door and was followed inside by Albert.

The cock pit was filled with buttons of all colours. There where four seats in the middle and a large computer screen at the far front.

Heinous sat down in the front left seat and placed Sandy to his right in the other seat. Albert sat behind his master and buckled his safety belt.

"Good bye, Planet Aridia," said Dr. Heinous.

Heinous grabbed the control joy stick and pressed a button. The ship began to hover above the ground. When it was high enough, the hatch covers closed and the ship's legs contracted into the ship. Heinous pointed the ship towards the sky.

"HERE WE GO!" he yelled.

The ship blasted into the sky. Albert could feel himself sink into his seat. If he was still organic, he'd have thrown up.

When the ship reached space, the pressure stopped. Heinous inputted the coordinates to Planet Horax. He then let go of the joy stick and unbuckled his safety belt after activating the auto-pilot.

"Where are you going, sir?" asked Albert.

"I'm going to start working on the pekbot so it'll make constructobots instead of troopers," replied Heinous. "Could you take care of Sandy for me?"

"With Sandy here, I'll be the one who needs to be taken care of."

Heinous sighed. "I already told you, Albert, she won't hurt you. She's an angle."

"That 'angle' tore my trousers."

"Say, Albert, why haven't you changed those rags yet?"

"I honestly don't know, sir. I'll go change them." Albert unbuckled himself and left the cock pit.

Seeing that there was no one to watch Sandy, Heinous picked his pet up and left the cock pit.

Aboard the dropship which was transporting Al, Ed, Will and Jane…

The group sat on the same bench in silence. Eleven rangers sat on the bench opposite the other. The driver, who was also a ranger, followed the direction the tracker was pointing.

This dropship was different to the others. It had the same appearance and width, but was longer.

"So what's the plan?" asked Will.

"Simple," said Ed. "Listen, rangers. Here's the plan: When Dr. Nefarious figures out that there's a ship which is in range of teleportation, he'll order Lawrence to teleport onto the ship. All the rangers in this ship have been equipped with stun guns, capable of stunning both organics and robotics. As soon as they teleport, the rangers will stun Dr. Nefarious and Lawrence. They'll be stunned for exactly two hours. Before they wake up, we transport the dropship back to the Phoenix and restrain them. Then we'll have to convince them to team up with us."

"Sounds like a plan," said Jane.

"We can't afford to screw this up," said Ed.

At the Starship Phoenix…

Skidd, Helga, Clank and Skrunch left the dropship.

"Okay, dudes," said Skidd, "the captain's waiting for you at the Bridge."

"Affirmative," said Clank. The group went to the Bridge.

As soon as the doors opened, Skrunch ran towards Qwark's chair. Qwark was sleeping (again) and was facing the door. Skrunch leapt onto the sleeping Qwark and started licking him.

"Wha…?" murmured an awoken and confused Qwark, "Skrunch? Skrunch!" Qwark gave the monkey a bone crushing hug. "You're back."

"Ah, Clank, you're finally here," said Sasha as she walked up the ramp to the right.

"Greetings, Captain," said Clank. "May I know what's happening?"

Sasha told Clank everything that was going on. Clank didn't bother asking questions, because Sasha had already answered them before they were asked.

(Author's Note: I'm not gonna tell you the conversation, because you should know by now)

The only thing Clank could ask was, "Does Ratchet know about this?"

"No. After he got better, he took his ship and left. He said he was going to the Obani Gemini," said Sasha.

"When Ratchet hears the plan, he won't like it."

"It's the only way, Clank."

"I'll be in Ratchet's quarters if you need me." With that, Clank left the Bridge.

Sasha sighed and sat in her chair to continue her report.

"Captain Sasha," called a ranger, "incoming call from the guys you sent to get the tracker."

"Patch them through," said Sasha. The screen lit up to reveal Ed's face.

Sasha sat up. "Well?" she asked.

"Good news, Captain," said Ed, "we're in range of Lawrence's teleporter."

"Good. Don't let your guard down; Nefarious is pretty dangerous."

"Got it. Ed out."

Don't just sit there, read the next chapter!