"Nnnnghh…..," Ratchet groaned as he came to. He was lying on his front in rain-soaked soil. Mud clung to him as he slowly pressed himself up in a push-up fashion. His senses returned as he rolled over to a sitting position. He felt water droplets pelting him. He brought a weak hand to his face, touching some mud, which he removed with a single wipe. He stood, wriggling his tail like a dog. "What happened?" he asked nothing.
Then, it came back to him. The argument with Qwark, the ambush, and the wallop he got out of surprise that sent him flying.
He jolted at the sudden sound of thunder.
He looked around. He was under a thick cluster of trees. The rain must have been hard to penetrate such a canopy.
It was dark. Very dark. It took him long to finally get used to the darkness. He was accustomed to it lately.
No signs of brawls could be seen, because of the high-standing trees. He must have gone far.
The lombax checked himself by making a few easy poses. Nothing…just a throbbing headache that could be tolerated. He looked around and was surprised to see his wrench a few feet away from him. He pulled it out if the ground and checked his wrist. His watch was there safely.
"Alright….," he spoke to the air, "…time to get back."
But he stopped, because he saw something in his peripheral vision.
He looked, "?"
Nothing.
He raised an eyebrow and stepped closer. He saw something in his peripheral vision again……and again it disappeared.
Despite the coldness, Ratchet was beginning to sweat.
And ever so suddenly, a tall, dark figure ran on his right.
Ratchet gasped, jumped back, summoned courage, and yelled, "Hey!" He followed in pursuit.
The figure was always four steps ahead, its features difficult to describe. Its shape, however, looked hauntingly familiar.
With a one-second whoosh, the figure turned into a blur and went straight up. Ratchet stopped, his dirty Charge Boots gathering up mud. "How the…?"
A kick to the back sent him stumbling forward.
He quickly reacted by reaching a blind free hand out, grabbing a tree branch. He straightened himself and spun around.
And he saw it……… Not it--him.
The tall, lean body. The green dome with the gear, pump, and satellite. The sharp claws. The red coating the forearms and legs. The similar red on the groin, above the face, and the red sphere in the centre of the chest. And those emotionless…semi-circled red eyes…. "It's been a while, eh, Ratchet?"
Ratchet frowned, "I knew you were still alive…"
"You use the term too loosely, squishy!" Nefarious cackled. He gestured with a blue palm on his chest, "I'm not…….alive."
"Right; people need a heart to be alive," Ratchet burned two holes into the robot's eyes with his stare.
"HA!" Nefarious pointed. "Don't tell me that our time apart has made you fall prey to stupid clichés!"
"The only thing I've fallen pray to is the disturbing thought that you where still out there…planning your next attack."
"That's not all I've been doing, Ratchet!" Nefarious would have grinned if he could. "I've grown stronger! WATCH!" That said, he squatted, and jumped up…up…up….until he landed on a branch with unnatural balance.
Ratchet starred in awe. He then rubbed his eye with his free hand on account of a troublesome raindrop. He replaced his wrench with his Swingshot. The hook fired loudly, swung around a branch, and stopped with a CLINK!.
Ratchet shot up, narrowing his eyes to a squint to prevent his eyes being irritated by canopy-penetrating rain. When the gadget led him to the selected branch, the line unwrapped and the hook returned to normal. Ratchet landed on a lower branch…exactly at Nefarious' level. He leaned his left arm against the branch for support while the other still held the Swingshot.
"You're looking a little sleepy there," Nefarious commented, humoured. "Maybe, you should just rest while I get down to business."
Ratchet uttered amidst the rain-pelting, "I have enough in me…"
"You really are a better challenge than Qwark, aren't you?"
"I do have a question though." Ratchet ignored the comment. He paused and said. "Why are you here? Florana of all places?"
"Why should you care?" Nefarious narrowed his glowing eyes. "You should be trying to stop me, right?"
"….."
"I'll take that as a 'yes'." He turned, and jumped from branch to branch with great finesse.
Ratchet clenched his jaw and fired the Swingshot's hook. It caught onto a branch somewhere and the lombax flew towards it. He repeated the process again, always ending up a few branches behind Nefarious, who jumped and jumped to no known end.
Ratchet landed on a branch, kept balance, equipped his Decimator, and let loose a single missile. It was about to hit Nefarious, when the robot suddenly--and all too quickly to see--turned a sharp right. The missile flew and exploded, creating a small fire which was quickly put out by the seeping rain.
Ratchet starred.
Nefarious landed on a branch in front of him, much closer than where he dodged, "You missed."
"H-How'd you do that….?" Ratchet was in utter disbelief.
"Dodge? Simple, I just COULD! HAH!" he shot a hologram.
Ratchet gasped. He back-flipped, dodged the translucent doppelganger, and fired his quickly equipped Swingshot. It hit the branch Nefarious was on. Ratchet's feet met a lower branch, and he pulled. The higher branch snapped, but nothing fell with it.
The lombax starred, "….."
"Boo," Nefarious suddenly hung in front of him like a bat.
Ratchet nearly lost his balance. He hastily gained it, "H-How?"
"Not 'how', but 'when'," Nefarious' voice sounded from the right. When Ratchet looked, the scientist was leaning against a branch casually with his right leg overlapping his left. "As in 'when will Dr. Nefarious attack?'."
"Care to educate me?" Ratchet replied in a sarcastic tone.
"You'll have to catch me first! Hahahahaaa!" and he took to the air, dodging every branch in his way.
"Man, that laugh really bugs me," Ratchet resumed chase with his Swingshot.
However, before he could fire it a second time, Nefarious immediately dived down below. Ratchet stopped above him and starred.
The robot landed on his feet. He looked up and gestured the 'bring it' gesture.
Ratchet growled and dived. He equipped his Nitro Eruptor and let the bomb fall ahead of him.
It only took Nefarious a swishing blur to the side to dodge the projectile.
BOOOOOOM!
Ratchet already had his eyes shielded with his weapon so he wouldn't be temporarily blinded. He grunted in annoyance, knowing that Nefarious had escaped the attack.
When he was sure it was safe to look, he twirled his body so that he'd land on his feet right in a small crater.
One second passed.
A clap of thunder sounded and was ignored. It was followed by lightning.
Then, the sound of trees snapping and wood twisting sounded. The lombax's ears perked up. It took him half a second realise that the explosion had an affect on the environment.
Surrounding trees were falling.
One of them was heading straight for him.
He used his Charge Boots to escape. He soon found himself blurring down some sort of pathway. The trees had been manipulated to let something big pass. The locals had probably done it for there own reasons.
The reason Ratchet didn't stop was because Nefarious was flying/hovering ahead, laughing his mechanical head off to the point of letting out a few non-intimidating coughs.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhaaaaa--KAFF!-KAFF!--Eh HAhaHAhaHAHAHAHAAAAAaaaa--KAFF!--aaaaa!"
"What's so funny?.!" Ratchet yelled as he kept his pace.
"It makes me laugh, the way you try so hard. Not even QWARK was this dedicated!"
"That just makes me a better hero!"
"That just makes you someone with no life! HA!" Nefarious hurled a blue plasma ball over his shoulder.
"!.!.!.!" Ratchet screeched to a stop, and barely avoided the projectile.
BLAAAM!
He jumped over the blue wave and resumed chase.
And that was when Nefarious swooped straight up again.
"NNnnngh!" Ratchet stopped, equipped his Swingshot, and was about to fire when he was kicked square in the butt by a bionic foot. He stumbled forwards, twirled around, and gasped.
Nefarious was standing right there, as if he hadn't jumped at all.
"W-What's going on here….?" Ratchet rubbed his head absentmindedly.
"You really wanna know?" Nefarious folded his arms in front of his chest.
Another clap of thunder, followed by lightning.
"How can you be so fast?.?"
"I already told you; I've been--"
"Don't give me any of that nonsense!"
"Tsk tsk tsk," the robot waved a finger. "Temper temper…."
"RAAAGH!" Ratchet leapt at him, using his Swingshot as a boxing glove.
Nefarious side-stepped, grabbed Ratchet's swinging arm, and kicked him right in the stomach.
"Oof!" Ratchet winced. He screwed his eyes closed in pain as he was forced to lean over. Both hands--the attacking one released--clutched his stomach.
He was then pushed in the head, causing him to stumble backwards awkwardly, and fall rear end-first into the mud.
Nefarious starred at him seriously. Both his fists were clenched. This lasted for one second before he lost it, and leaned against a tree for support, "Hahahaha!" he wiped an imaginary tear from his eye, "Hilarious."
Ratchet glared at him as he helped himself up. He replaced his Swingshot with his wrench, never breaking their eye-contact. "You really are happy tonight, aren't you?"
"The best I've had in years…," Nefarious gathered some calmness. "I should end your suffering and answer your question then."
"Shoot."
"Maybe later. Eh hehehehe…….. Ahem. Biobliterators. Three of them," he held the said number of fingers up. "Set to go off and attack Metropolis, the Capital, and Kyzil Plateau."
Ratchet's eyes winded.
"They're well-hidden, Ratchet………….. Set to go off in four hours."
"…."
"You better hurry……," SWOOOOOSH! He jumped up high, and hovered in midair while saying, "Good luck, squishy. You'll need it. AH-HAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!" he flew in some direction.
Ratchet was about to peruse, when the sound of an annoyed--and equally annoying--voice called towards him, "Hey! Where were you?.!"
Ratchet looked, "….." he sighed.
"We had to fight the mechs off without you!" Qwark finished. He was battle-scarred. His suit was torn and singed in many places. His right check was cut, his antenna was down from the ongoing rain, and his mouth was twisted in a frown. "Well?"
"Captain Qwark, do you not remember that Ratchet was struck by a--"
"I know!" the superhero ran a hand down his scarred face.
Clank appeared into view by his side…along with just one battle-scarred ranger to the other.
Qwark continued, "I thought he'd be trying to climb the hill and join in the fight, at least."
"How did you find me?" Ratchet questioned.
"We just followed the noise," Qwark answered. "What were you fighting, a monkey?"
"Worse," the lombax looked at the three sternly. "I fought against Nefarious."
Qwark's eyebrows rose, while Clank's mouth opened in shock.
"Did you manage to beat him, Sarge?" the ranger asked.
"No," the lombax shook his head. "He was…too fast."
"Are you sure?" Clank inquired. "You've been rather…..well….--"
"You've had Nefarious on the brain," Qwark concluded.
"Definitely. I felt him when he kicked me….," his gloved fists clenched, one clutching the wrench. "We've got to stop him. I should tell the others."
"Don't bother. The other two rangers were blown up in--"
"I meant Sasha, Qwark. Clank, can we get reception here?"
"Certainly. I recommend the holo-vid Al designed," the said item flew from Clank's compartment, enlarged, and hovered in Ratchet's face. Almost instantly, Al's yellow spectacled face appeared.
"Y'ello?"
"Al!" Ratchet exclaimed. "Where's Sasha?"
"Oh, hey, Ratchet. She's making a call. You can talk to me if you need to."
"Fine. Listen, I just saw Nefarious. He's going to attack three planets with new Biobliterators!"
Al's image gasped, "Are you sure?"
"Positive. I need you to split three teams up, so--" he stopped and looked at Qwark. "Is the dropship able to be called here?"
"Yes, it--" Qwark couldn't finish his sentence.
"Then make that two teams," Ratchet returned his gaze to the holo-vid, "one for Metropolis, and another for Kyzil Plateau!"
"What about the third--?"
"Qwark will be taking that one. It's the Capital."
"Okay…I'll assemble the team." A slight pause, then, "Are you one hundred percent sure that--?"
"GO!"
"Err--Right away!" the image blacked out before the holo-vid went back inside Clank's body.
"What do you mean I go to Marcadia?" Qwark demanded. "I was sent here by the Capt--err--other Captain to stay with you."
"I know it seems stupid, Qwark," Ratchet spoke above the pelting, "But, right now, I don't have time for this. Nefarious is back, and we have to do everything we can to prevent him from taking over the galaxy….especially now that he's gotten stronger."
"Oh….alright," Qwark said with a defeated sigh. "There's no point in reasoning with you, so I have to--"
"Good."
"………," Qwark lingered for a moment before signalling the ranger to follow him. The robot nodded silently and the two disappeared in the trees, no doubt trying to find another clearing for the dropship to land.
Clank and Ratchet were alone.
"Ratchet, do you think it is wise to wander in the rain wearing only pants, shoes, gloves, a cap, and a chest belt?" Clank asked, concerned as always.
"I'm fine, Clank," Ratchet allowed a small smirk. "Stop worrying."
"Okay, but what are we supposed to do?"
Ratchet gave him a serious look.
"….," Clank waited for an answer.
"We're going after Nefarious."