"Helga," Sasha called the random-passing robot. She was at her chair in the Bridge. Three rangers and Helga where present other than herself. The one who was called approached the Phoenix's Captain.

"Vhot?" the obese one demanded.

"Where is Al?" Sasha asked. "And Agent McMarxx?"

"Hmmph!" Helga huffed and folded her bionic arms in front of her large chest. "They went off to search for thlee Biobliterators," she spoke. "Ratchet told them to, and that Dr. Nefarious is back. Even Qwark went."

"When did this happen?"

"About twenty minutes ago."

"What?.!" Sasha was outraged. "And you're telling me this now, why?" she asked with a frown.

Helga wasn't intimidated. "You were busy with your 'call'."

"I was calling Commissioner David, and asking him to investigate for me," Sasha explained. She sighed, but then asked, "Did you say Ratchet sent them?"

"Yah," Helga nodded.

"And he said Nefarious is back?"

"Mmhmm," another nod. "'E said he even fought him."

Sasha brought her hand to her chin in thought. "Thank you, Helga. That will be all."

The pigtailed one shoved off without a word.

"You," Sasha pointed at a ranger, "tell me where the last dropships were taken."

The robot stopped what he was doing and told the Marcadian, "Al and Skidd took two separate ones to Kerwan and Veldin, followed by Qwark who already had his. He went to Marcadia. And then, Ratchet ordered one for Clank, asking for it to go to Marcadia like Qwark."

"Did they take means of communication?"

"Yes. They all have personal holo-vids."

"Patch me through to all of them from my work station."

The ranger saluted, "Yes, ma'am."

Sasha sat in her seat, muttering, "Tells everyone to just up and leave without a proper plan or asking me permission…"she typed, her fingers tapping every key without a single typo.

"Connection established, Cap'n!" the ranger cackled from his work station.

"Good. Return to work," the Captain said. Her blue eyes watched as the screen was divided into four sections, each one displaying a different face with a different background. "This is Captain Sasha. Come in," she was growing tired of saying that.

"Greetings, Captain."

"Hey there, Sasha."

"Yo!"

"This is Captain Qwark speaking. How may I--?"

"Is what I heard true?" Sasha disrupted the fourth speaker's speech. "That Ratchet told all of you to go and search for Biobliterators?"

"Indubitably!" Qwark exclaimed loudly with a frown. "He kept saying that Nefarious was back, and he made me and Clank--mostly Clank--come to the Capital to search one of the three Biobliterators."

"Did any of you find them?"

"Sadly, no."

"Negative."

"Nuh uh."

"Nope."

"Ratchet was quite passionate about it," Clank droned. "I have never seen him so angry."

"This happened on Florana?"

"Correct. Ratchet says that he confronted Dr. Nefarious, and that he was told about three Biobliterators set to attack and hidden at Kyzil Plateau, Metropolis, and the Capital City."

"Did any of you actually see Nefarious?"

"I couldn't; I was here. And so was Skidd."

"Yup."

"I was talking to Clank and Qwark."

"If I saw him, we wouldn't have this problem……"

"No, Captain. Apparently, Ratchet was the only one who saw him."

"And then he told you to search…. Is that right?"

"Indeed."

"Right."

"Correctomundo!"

"Yup. Anymore questions, Coman--?"

"Ahem!"

"--err, Captain?"

"Yeah. What did Ratchet say?"

Clank spoke, "He told me he to go and check on Captain Qwark."

"Hey! I don't need to be 'checked on'!"

"And what was he going to do?"

"…………..He didn't say…… He just said that Qwark would need help and--"

"I don't need help!"

"--Qwark, please. He just announced he'd be calling his ship. I doubt he's on Florana anymore…," his voice lingered.

"So…Ratchet sent all of you to search for Biobliterators while we have no idea where he's going. That right? You have no idea where he's going?" Sasha spoke to them firmly.

"……"

"……"

"……"

"……"

No one had anything to say. Not even Qwark.

Sasha sighed, her sleepy eyes closing, "I see."

Al tried, "We can always--"

"I'll do it," Sasha interrupted. "All of you…get back to your searches. I'll talk to Ratchet and ask him some questions."

"I advise you not to offend him, Captain," Clank said sombrely. "He's rather temperamental."

"I agree."

"You said it, man."

"Nnngh! It's Chairman Drek all over again!"

"I'll speak to him as I please," it was like a school principle correcting four misbehaving students. "Over and out."

"Bye."

"Err, see you later, Captain."

"Qwark out."

Three images blacked out, causing the fourth one to cover the whole screen…lingering.

"Yes?" Sasha assumed not everything that needed to be said was said.

"Uhh, Cap'n. There's something……I gotta tell you…"

"What is it?"

Ratchet guided his ship with ease. In fact, he didn't have to, because the vessel was set in autopilot. His brow was stiff from the perpetual frown. His eyes were starring right ahead…the infinite regions of space. Thanks to a new gadget Gadgetron developed, he was now dry. The voice of Darla Gratch flowed through the ship from its radio. The lombax was hoping that she would be talking about something that would contain a clue as to where Nefarious might be other than where the lombax was headed.

Seconds passed. It seemed like hours until the destination.

Ratchet tried to fight it, but he couldn't. He was tired. The unsuccessful fight wore him out. His lids grew heavier and heavier. Sleep began to triumph in a 'battle' to stay awake.

He yawned, stretching his arms (the right more than the left).

Then a beeping sounded, indicating an incoming call.

He shook off the sleep and pressed a button.

Sasha's serious face appeared, "Hello, Ratchet. Where are you headed?"

"S-Sasha," he blurted. He put on a fake smile, "What a surprise. How are you?" it was pathetic and futile.

"Nice try, hotshot," it would have fit, but she didn't smirk. She asked again, "Where are you headed?"

Ratchet yawned.

"You're looking sleepy. Maybe, you should take a break."

"I'm fine." He immediately changed to, "On Planet Florana, we--"

"I know; Qwark and Clank filled me in," she knew Ratchet was straying away. "They haven't found the Biobliterators."

"Tell them to keep searching. There's only two hours left--"

"Ratchet," Sasha held a gloved hand to the screen in order to silence him. "I just want to know where you're headed."

"I forgot the name," Ratchet said stupidly.

"Uh huh. Ooh!" a fake girly gasp. "I've downloaded the coordinates from your ship."

Ratchet sweatdropped.

"Let's cut to the chase, Ratchet. We need to talk about your obsession with--"

"Listen," it was Ratchet's turn to interrupt. "I was the only one to see Nefarious, yes. I was the only one to fight him, yes. And he was only there when I was alone, yes. If you don't believe me, look all around you; tyhrranoids are attacking per his request."

"Probably, but I'm not so sure. A special team was sent to--"

"Okay," Ratchet just wanted the conversation to end. "You do it your way…and I'll do it mine. Right now, I'm headed to a location where Nefarious might be."

"But, Ratchet--"

"Later, Sasha," the lombax sighed and turned the frequency off.

Her face disappeared.

Ratchet annoyingly exhaled through his nose. "Just…stay out of my way," it was so soft, not even he could hear it.

Now, he really needed to sleep. The destination wasn't far, so……………..the lombax let his eyes close.

"This is Sasha. I need to talk to you again."

"Yes?"

"Hm?"

"Wassup…..?"

"Hi there. This is--"

"Forget about the search," Sasha informed. "I'm sending you coordinates to a planet. Go there, and you'll find Ratchet," she typed.

"But, Captain," Al began, "…..what about the search?"

"Tell the rangers you're with to continue with out you. Ratchet is the one who needs help."

"Affirmative."

"Got it."

"Gotcha."

"Right-o."

All four of them disappeared, leaving Sasha to tell a ranger to set a course to the selected planet.

One hour later…

Ratchet stirred in his ship. His ears perked up. He stretched. He looked outside the cockpit.

He was there.

He immediately stepped out of his ship…

…and landed on hard metal.

And he looked.

"……"

The sky was similar to Veldin's. In that, there was no sky. However, a field of purple mist--probably the ozone--shielded the planet like a translucent blanket. Pterodactyls flew to and fro, some of them screaming. There was some vegetation. Large pieces of a once powerful ship littered the jaggedly rocky site. The large ship itself was there as it always had. Now, it was covered with moss in some places. The path was still visible, and robots could have still been there. Ratchet didn't care. His mind was set on returning to the giant scrapheap.

"Nefarious…..I know you're here somewhere."

He equipped his Rift Ripper and jumped.