Return to Crusade
By Sarge11
Disclaimer: Ramble ramble ramble ramble ramble. Blah blah blah blah blah.
My God! I can't believe that no one noticed or mentioned in their reviews that Ratchet is dead! Weird people. Anyway, sorry it took so long. But hey, I warned you. Chapter 11: Resurrection
jay.w.: Thanks.
Mr. D 91: I thought I explained this already.
Gamer619: Don't I always?
superdork398: Only a 9.3? That deserved a 9.7 at least.
Ratchet awoke. He felt strange; he had seen his parents again, but they were dead. As he opened and closed his eyes, he felt sick; he couldn't see. All he could see was white with big black spots. He waved his hand in front of his face but couldn't see anything. "What the-?"
"It is an after-effect of your death," said an old, scratchy voice.
"Who's there, and what are you talking about?" asked Ratchet, confused. Other than his sight, he felt fine.
Slowly, his vision cleared, and he reeled back at the sight of the unkept face of the mystic, which was only a few inches from his head.
The mystic lifted his hands and looked at Ratchet. "It is I, your good friend."
Ratchet groaned.
"I hope you have enjoyed your visit with your parents," said the mystic.
Ratchet blinked. "What?"
"You were killed in your last battle. I have kept you from dying completely and know all about your near-death-experience," explained the mystic.
Finally understanding the mystic's strange psychobabble, Ratchet thanked him and asked where he could find a ship to take him to the Phoenix.
"You will find a heavily modified ship that I found in the shed around the back," said the mystic.
"Thanks. It sounds like you have finally learned to talk with 'un-enlightened' people," Ratchet joked.
The mystic just shrugged.
They went around to the shed and, much to Ratchet's surprise, the ship was Ratchet's own Star Explorer. Ratchet turned around to thank him again but he was gone. "What the?" asked Ratchet. He knew that the mystic had followed him out; he could even see the footprints that ended right behind him, yet he was gone. There weren't even any footprints leading away from it. Ratchet scratched his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Just when you think you know a guy."
He climbed into his ship and sped away.
(Outside the Phoenix)
Ratchet felt sick. Not because he had just died, but because the Phoenix was on fire. He had to blast the hanger door open and wait for the inside to stabilize. The bridge between the hanger and the bridge was destroyed, so Ratchet had to fly through the narrow hallway to the bridge. First, he shot out a shield emitter that eliminated the vacuum inside it and moved it toward the hanger entrance. Then he disembarked and rushed into the bridge with his Quantum Whip equipped. What he saw made his blood run cold. About eighty One-Eyed Robonoids had the entire crew and eight Rangers backed up in a corner. Well, all except one. He felt something warm and thick drop on his head. He looked up and saw Angela wrapped in a cocoon with small chunks of flesh missing from various parts of her body and several scrapes, gashes, and bruises all over. She appeared to be unconscious. Ratchet froze and looked at her in horror.
Sasha's cry broke Ratchet from his trance. Even though he had the power to massacre everyone of the lot with a single swipe of his Quantum Whip, he was in such a rage that he cast the whip aside and leapt onto the noids', snarling like one who has lost his mind and frothing at the mouth, and started ripping them apart just by sheer strength. This made it easier for the noids' to get away, however, and they jumped out of the fray and reproduced.
(Author's note: When I say reproduced, I mean the robotic way. Just imagine the Protopets except as OERs instead.)
Sasha jumped out of the corner and grabbed the Quantum Whip. She swung the whip and wiped out the attackers. Including Ratchet. Everyone looked at Ratchet with absolute horror on their faces; who had stopped snarling; but the froth was still on his lips.
(Behind one-way glass looking into the medical bay)
Sasha looked through the glass at the man she had once loved; and still kind of liked.
"No, this couldn't be him. He has never been so savage before. And besides, he died. I saw it myself," Sasha thought to herself.
(In Ratchet's head)
The mystic's face appeared in the darkness. "I trust you are doing well. I see that my powers are still very much potent."
Ratchet looked confused. "What powers? What did you do to me?"
"I have given you a very dangerous power. One that I use on those I bring back to see if they are worthy to receive life," explained the mystic.
"There he goes again. Talking in psychobabble again," muttered Ratchet.
"What you have just experienced is what I call rage. It can be used for great good, or for great evil. It is acted out when you reach the boiling point of your anger. You can summon this power by thinking of things that make you angry when you need it, or it can be summoned by accident like when you get in an argument. This immense anger causes you to loose control of yourself and grants you incredible abilities. Use it wisely and we will see if you are worthy of life," said the mystic.
The mystic disappeared and Ratchet became conscious again, though still not awake. He began to have happy dreams about Angela again, as most of us do after experiencing great trauma.
What's he smiling for? Sasha asked herself.
In the vents above Ratchet's bed, a red pair of normally green eyes peered down on the sleeping Lombax.
He jumped down through the vents and landed on Ratchet, waking him.
"Clank? There you are. Why are your eyes red? Why are you pointing that Pyrocitor at my head?" Ratchet asked.
Clank's finger pulled the trigger just as Ratchet through him off. Fortunately, only Ratchet's ears were burned.
"Dang it! These ears were made to be disintegrated!" Ratchet yelled.
"What the?" Sasha yelled.
She hit a red button and an alarm sounded.
Rangers came rushing in and broke through the glass, trying to help Ratchet.
An alarm woke up Angela. She reached over to turn off her alarm but fell out of the bed before she realized that the sound was coming from all around. She smacked against the floor with a thud. Pain shot through her body. She knew that she had been healed, because the screen next to her bed clearly said, "SUBJECT AT FULLFILLED STATE OF HEALTH". She knew that overall, she was fine; she just didn't feel that way. She opened her digital map of the Phoenix and found where the alarm button was pushed. She grabbed her Lancer and headed for the room.
Sasha jumped through the glass and brought out Ratchet's Shock Cannon even though she and Ratchet hadn't finished teaching her how to shoot it. She fired one shot and hit everything except Clank.
"Sorry!" she shouted.
As she was getting ready for another shot, Angela came jumping in and shooting away with her Lancer. Because she had received the same training from Megacorp as Ratchet, she was hitting closer to Clank than Sasha was.
"Hey! He's mine!" Sasha shouted.
"No time to argue!" Angela yelled.
Despite her inner urges to argue further, she forced herself to agree with Angela.
So together they fought, side by side.
After the fighting was over, Angela went over and kissed Ratchet, much to his surprise, right in front of Sasha.
Ratchet's eyes got big, then small, and watched helplessly as Sasha towered over Angela. Angela just turned around and towered right back. They move their hands and Ratchet flinched. He thought they were going to keep fighting. Much to his surprise though, they extended their hands and shook.
"Truce?" asked Angela.
"Truce," said Sasha.
Ratchet got up and went over to both of them. "Uh, so we're all good?"
Angela smiled mischievously and said, "For the time being."
They looked down at Clank. "We'd better have Al take a look at him," Ratchet said.
"Right," Sasha said. "We'll wait until after he's fixed until we discuss our next move.
Five pages. Wow. That's a personal record. Anyway, the review policy has been repealed. I don't know, I just felt like it. Once again, I'm sorry this took so long. You know how eighth grade is. I had three essays due this week. Anyway, R&R.
-Sarge11