The moment Ratchet's red ship touched down, the cockpit's lid opened, and the driver jumped out. The lombax was wearing his chest belt, pilot's cap, and green trousers. His bare feet were unaffected by whatever he stepped on. One gloved hand held nothing; the other……..the trademark wrench. In short, Ratchet was wearing the same clothes he was in his first adventure.
He began to run from his ship; he had landed in the same place as when he first visited this planet. He was hoping to find a dropship. And he did.
"Sarge, glad to see you," a ranger, who was standing by the open door-ramp, greeted. "We've got tyhrranoids attacking the--"
"I know," Ratchet interrupted. He looked in the ranger's eye and asked, "Care to take me there?"
"Sure thing, sir," the ranger stepped aside, allowing Ratchet to pass. The lombax walked up the door-ramp and was followed by the nervous green robot. The ramp closed, and the vessel hovered and sped off towards the Presidential Palace.
The ship was set on autopilot. The only ones inside were Ratchet and the ranger. They sat on opposite benches and were facing one another. They sat in silence for a few seconds.
"……"
"……"
"……"
"……."
"……"
"…How many?" Ratchet asked.
There was a pause before the ranger answered. It was as if he didn't know that he was being spoken to. "Not much. We don't have an estimate."
"What kinds?"
"Mechs, saucers, three-eyed, and one-eyed."
"Pfffft," Ratchet rolled his still blood-shot eyes, "simple."
"I'll offer assistance," the ranger's electronic voice said, "…along with three other comrades."
"No need."
The ranger leaned his head to the side, "Why not?"
"I can handle it."
"Are you sure?"
Ratchet's lips curved upwards. "Look who you're talking to," he jabbed a gloved thumb at himself. "I saved Bogon once and Solana twice."
"But Clank isn't even with--"
"I said I can handle it," Ratchet pressed. He allowed a smirk, "Since when did you guys want to help?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh…nothing," Ratchet held his hands up and close his eyes. He then waved a hand, "Forget about it."
"……………………..'Kay, sir."
"Good."
A few seconds passed.
"We're at the Palace," the ranger said, standing up. "Are you sure you don't need help?"
Ratchet had already equipped his wrench and was waiting for the door-ramp to open all the way. "Yup. Pull back and return on my command. I'll keep in touch via holo-screen."
"Sure thing, Sarge." The ranger uttered. He hesitated before saying, "G-Good luck."
Ratchet didn't hear it though, because he was already unleashing a warcry.
"NRAAAAAGH!"
CRUSH!
An unsuspecting, one-eyed tyhrranoid was crushed underneath Ratchet's hyper-strike.
The lombax regained his footing and observed the area.
The ranger dropship had just flown out of view, meaning he was alone with several tyhrranoids, which were all starring at him with their organic eyes. There wasn't enough for an army; there was enough to form a deadly squadron. The Presidential Palace wasn't so badly damaged.
"Hmm," Ratchet smirked as he crouched, "looks like Nefarious is using the same flunkies."
"Raaaaagh!" a three-eyed tyhrranoid fired his gun.
Ratchet side-stepped to the left, shortening the distance between him and another three-eye.
"Rrrrrgh!" it swung.
Ratchet jumped over the weapon, landed in the alien's head, and hopped to another with his wrench swinging downwards.
SKKKKKKT!
Another tyhrranoid was struck right in the head. It fell over, bleeding green blood.
Ratchet didn't smile, nor did he grimace. He just starred with a plain face……as if he did it several times a day.
He threw his wrench behind him in a comet-strike.
THROP!
He managed to trip the tyhrranoid which's head he had jumped off.
ZAAAAAAAAP! ZAAAAAAAAP! ZAAAAAAAAAP! ZAAAAAAAAAP!
Two mechs were firing red lasers at him. Ratchet side rolled, and came up to block.
CLANG!
The blasts from the first tyhrranoid that attacked were deflected back to it.
The tyhrranoid's three eyes widened before it was hit by six balls of plasma.
ZAAAAAAAAP! ZAAAAAAAAP!
One mech stepped over the carcase, unleashing red.
Ratchet back-flipped.
SQUISH!
He landed on a small tyhrranoid, staining his feet with juices. He didn't care though, because he was still trying to avoid the laser fire.
He was unaware that a saucer was heading for him, until he was about three feet away.
Ratchet took advantage of that by timing correctly. He found the tyhrranoid's face with his feet, and vaulted off, causing the two-eyed thing to teeter and spin backwards clumsily.
Ratchet spun his wrench like a fan in front of him.
CLAAAAA-AAAAAAAA-AAAAAAAAA-AAAAAAAAANGGG!
The red laser fire was held off until Ratchet leaped, rolled, and stopped underneath the mech.
A saucer came and fired stupidly.
FLA-ASH! FLA-ASH! FLA-ASH! FLA-ASH! FLA-ASH!
One shot missed horribly. Ratchet stood in the right places before jumping out of the way.
KONK! THONK! C-CLANG! THWONK!
The mechs legs and laser cannons were accidentally removed. The robot and tyhrranoid fell to the ground with a KLONG!.
Ratchet grabbed a severed laser cannon and threw it at the saucer.
WHAM!
Like the other before it, the pilot tyhrranoid fell back and crashed into the previous saucer.
Ratchet raised his wrench and brought it down to the tyhrranoid's head, "YAAA-AAAAAAAAHHH!"
CRAA-AAAACK!
Instead of exploding, a sickening crack sounded. Ratchet jumped off the mech, picked up a leg and swung it with his free hand.
WHUMP!
Three advancing three-eyes were hit and knocked back.
Ratchet jumped and hyper-struck.
WHACK! THWAKK! SWIIIIK!
The tyhrranoids were rendered dead before they could so much as scream.
CHOMP!
"AAAAK!" Ratchet screamed more out of surprise than pain, because a small tyhrranoid had lodged itself in his left ankle.
POW!
It was batted away by the wrench.
ZAAAAAAAAP! ZAAAAAAAP!
Another mech was firing from one side, and tiny tyhrranoids were advancing from the other.
Ratchet side-stepped instead of attacking head-on, allowing the one-eyes to be burned.
"AAAAH!" was what they screamed.
Ratchet jumped over every laser, rolled under the robot, and thrust his wrench straight up.
"AAAAGH!"
Ratchet heard a sound of agony. It must have been the cry of the driver being impaled. He was too busy hacking at the robot to notice that green blood had leaked over the sides and was dripping on the grass.
Finally, the robot collapsed. Ratchet dove out of harm's way just in time.
The rest of the battle was pretty obvious. Ratchet would place a single blow from his wrench into a vital part of a tyhrranoid, killing it instantly.
Four three-eyed tyhrranoids aimed their guns.
SLAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH!
They stood still suddenly, their eyes widened.
SL-SL-SL-SLUMP!
Their heads rolled off their bodies after having been severed by Ratchet's wrench.
A saucer came out of nowhere, firing.
FLA-ASH! FLA-ASH!
Ratchet back-flipped, ran, jumped, and swung the flat side of his wrench.
SLAP!
He causer flew back, and--
BOOOOOM!
Exploded upon contact with two mechs and a three-eyed tyhrranoid, killing them all.
"RAAAAAGH!" a tyhrranoid fired plasma.
Ratchet deflected.
CLANG!
A comrade jointed the tyhrranoid in trying to kill the lombax.
As an alternative to deflecting, Ratchet side-flipped.
HSSSSSSSS!
Another tyhrranoid that was about to hit him in the back was melted by the plasma.
The tyhrranoids blinked slowly.
WHAM!
Ratchet ploughed into them from behind.
All three fell to the ground.
Ratchet got to his feet, and ran.
ZAAAAAAP! ZAAAAAAAAP!
The two tyhrranoids were burned by a mech's laser fire.
Ratchet ran towards it, and destroyed it with a single hyper-strike.
He looked around, silently heaving.
There were three tyhrranoids. Their three eyes looked around……….realising that they were alone.
Ratchet marched towards them.
They fired.
Ratchet deflected without having to move from his straight walk.
Two of them stepped back and stopped when they reached the Palace's wall.
The other one let out a shout a charged, gun blazing, "RAAAAAAH!"
Ratchet also charged.
Shots were fired…
…and deflected.
SLIIIIIIIIINK!
Ratchet landed behind the tyhrranoid……which collapsed.
Two more…
They whimpered against the wall pathetically.
When Ratchet got closer, one tyhrranoid aimed its gun at its own head.
SSSSPLORCH!
His cranium exploded and his body collapsed. It would have rather committed suicide than be killed by the enemy.
One left…
It shivered in fear, threw its gun to the ground, yelped with its hands on its eye-stems.
THWOOK!
It was silenced by Ratchet's wrench through its heart.
It slumped to the ground, deceased.
Ratchet pulled his wrench back, and starred. He starred at everything.
The Grounds that surrounded the Palace were littered with emerald blood. Bodies of lifeless tyhrranoids, mechs, and saucers were everywhere, creating an unpleasant stench.
Ratchet was panting. He sighed and rubbed his forehead with the back of his glove. He stopped when he realised it was green instead of brown. In fact, every exposed part of his body was green.
"…..," he sighed. "Great…..now I need a shower."
A few minutes later, Ratchet stood, leaning against his wrench, observing the scene from a distance. Rangers were busy carrying the remains away. His ship was right behind him, but he wasn't in it yet. There was less blood on him, but he was far from dirt-free.
A few seconds passed.
A set of foot steppes could be heard from behind.
Ratchet glanced at the walker.
"Dude…," it was Skidd. He was starring at the Grounds. How disgusting and revolting, now that the blood had coagulated. He lifted his visor up to make sure it wasn't broken. He looked to his left…at Ratchet in surprise, "You did this?"
"Mmhmm," Ratchet didn't bother with eye-contact. He asked, "Are you the only one here?"
"Uh…yeah. Sasha got a call sayin' that you said you won the fight…so she sent me to check this place out."
Ratchet was surprised, but he let it slide. After all, Skidd was left in charge of the Phoenix once and nothing was destroyed.
"I can't believe that you did all this by yourself, bro," Skidd gestured at the bloody site.
"You should, because I've done it before."
"If you say so," Skidd yawned and put his hands behind his head.
Ratchet reached into his pocket and……lit himself a cigarette. He took a puff and relaxed, exhaling smoke fumes from his nostrils. He lowered the death stick between his figures.
Skidd starred at him now, not knowing if this was the same Ratchet. "Uhhh……..dude."
"Hmm?" Ratchet had already taken a second puff. He noticed what Skidd was gawking at him, and simpered, "What?"
"Is that a cigarette, Ratchet?"
"No, it's a dil--" Ratchet stopped himself. Rude remarks wouldn't keep Skidd away. He sighed fumes, "Yeah, Skidd…..it's a cigarette."
"How long have you been smokin'?"
Ratchet shrugged, "I'd say this marks that third week."
"…..," Skidd didn't take his eyes off the cigarette.
"I can quit any time I want."
"That's what they always say."
"………..Nanotech," Ratchet defended. "I can always use Nanotech if I mess up my lungs."
"Does anyone else know about this?"
"No."
"Not even Clank?"
"Nope," Ratchet pointed at the man from Rilgar with the cigarette between his gloved fingers, and smirked, "you're the first. Promise not to tell anyone, okay?"
"…."
"Okay?.?.?.?" this time, it was a firm question.
"Okay, dude," Skidd saddened a bit, "I won't tell….."
Ratchet smiled. "Good," smoke fumes escaped his mouth one last time, before he dropped the stick and crushed it with his wrench. "Let's go," he said, walking to his ship. "Need a ride?"
"N-No….I have the shuttle," Skidd breathed.
"Suit yourself," that said, Ratchet jumped into the cockpit, it closed and the ship hovered and flew straight up.
Skidd silently watched the rangers finish their duty. He took one look at the squished cigarette before saying to himself, "Things have changed a lot."
He walked in the shuttle's direction.