"Nope, nothing else," Qwark said as he looked up from inspecting a medical bed. "All that happened was a small struggle and then the ventilation shaft thingy."
Sasha heaved a heavy sigh. She organized a search right after being informed about Ratchet's escape. Al was continually punching digits into an electronic device in his hand, his finger moving a mile a second. Skidd sat on the bed Ratchet occupied. Skrunch, garbed in his 'uniform', stood on Qwark's left shoulder. Helga was also present, folding her arms annoyingly.
"So, you heard a scream?" Sasha wanted to make sure of their statement. "That's all?"
"Yeah," Qwark nodded at her. "We then came here to find the place trashed."
"There was some sort of struggle," Al muttered as he continued pressing buttons.
"That 'n Clank went after 'im," Skidd finished.
"I see," Sasha answered. She noticed Al, "Al, what are you doing?"
"Remember that shot I have Ratchet when he was unconscious?" the techno-genius asked without looking.
Skidd flinched, covering his left arm as if he was the one with the shot.
"Yeah?" Qwark nodded his costumed head.
"That was a camera that will lodge itself behind Ratchet's eye and connect with the optic nerve," Al finished pressing buttons. "It'll be able to see what he sees and project the images to this device," he showed the triangular thing off with a grin. "It monitors his body status as well. I'll also be able to talk to him with this," he held up a headset attached to a microphone. He put them on and attached the wire to the device.
"Let's see," Sasha walked to his left side and craned her neck.
Qwark and Skidd did the same. The former stood behind, given a perfect view by his height. The same for Skrunch. Skidd stood on Al's right side. Helga poked her head and just got a view from between Al's and Sasha's head.
The device Al was talking about was rectangle in shape, like every other device he owned. Half of its face was dedicated to numbered buttons; the other was dedicated to a screen. Al adjusted the volume or frequency from a knob on the bottom left. He straightened his headphones and spoke, "Ratchet…..come in."
"AL!" Ratchet screamed as he crawled through a vent. He wasn't concerned about the voice in his head. "Get outta there! Nefarious'll destroy you!"
"Ratchet, you gotta calm down. Your heart rate is off the charts!" Al's voice said. "You could suffer from an attack!"
The lombax closed his eyes as the light from some room shined in. It was cold and metal. Whether he was chasing or being chased by Nefarious, he had forgotten. His mind was a jumble.
"Just trust me on this!" Al's voice exclaimed.
"Nnngh!"
The screen displayed the blurry image if the vent. Status bars with numbers and symbols were on the left side of the screen.
"Just let me see what you see!" Al called. "It's necessary if you want to get through this!"
Qwark, Helga and Skidd were silent. Skrunch leaned against Qwark's head. Sasha bit her lip.
"Trust me."
Ratchet took deep breaths. After a third one, he opened his bright green eyes. He looked left to right.
The camera showed perfectly coloured images of the ventilation system. The status bars highered or lowered to regular levels. Nothing happened.
Al smiled. "See? There's nothing--"
"HAAAH!" Nefarious was suddenly onscreen, hurling a fist straight towards Ratchet's face.
"DAAAH!" Al screamed from the surprise, loud volume, and just pure terror. He jumped back as the gadget in his hand crackled with dancing sparks.
The other viewers jumped back.
"Rrrgh!" Al pulled the headphones off as the entire device exploded. He panted.
"What just happened?.!" Sasha exclaimed.
"I dunno!" Al exclaimed. He removed his glasses and polished them with some cloth. "Nefarious may not be there, but Ratchet actually believes he's fighting him…… And Nefarious is winning…"
WHUMP! Ratchet fell from the vent and into his quarters. The monitors were still on, but so were the screensavers. Other than that, it was dark. However, Ratchet's vision managed to pull through.
He was cut is some places by the scalpel. They were minor, but they still hurt.
"BONSAI!" Nefarious dived into the room from the vent.
"!" Ratchet rolled to the side.
Nefarious twirled his body and landed in an agile crouch. His head turned in Ratchet's direction.
The lombax hastily got up, his back to the work station he spent so much time on.
Nefarious began his intimidating stroll towards him.
"H-How come the Biobliterators didn't go off?" Ratchet asked as he put up his bare fists.
"Another one of my tricks. HA!" Nefarious hollered.
"You're sickening," Ratchet said. "It disgusts me to even look at you!"
"Then how about this?" Nefarious pressed a button on his watch.
FFFWWWWSHSHSHSHPP!
He was now a regular ranger.
Ratchet squinted.
"Hey, Sarge,"the 'ranger' said sarcastically. He ran forward and attempted a punch to the lombax's chest.
Ratchet side-stepped and ran to the couch.
The 'ranger' jumped to the ceiling, morphed into something else, and vaulted down.
Ratchet barely avoided the downward attack. He was more horrified to find that Nefarious had taken the form of Al.
The copy frowned behind small, green glasses, "I can't believe I helped you out on so many occasions! You're a disgrace!" he pointed a yellow finger.
Ratchet's lip quivered. It wasn't true…was it? Regardless, he was uppercut by 'Al'.
He teetered towards the wall, spun, pushed off the wall, and sped towards 'Al' with a fist. However, he wasn't there, causing Ratchet to grab the back of the sofa as not to lose balance.
THWAP!
He was his in the back of the furry head.
"Aaagh!" he fell to the ground.
"Whoops! Sorry, dude!" a surfer accented voice said from above him. "Lemme help you up."
Ratchet's entire head was grabbed by a gloved hand. The lombax unleashed a warcry, reached behind him, grabbed the person holding him, and hurled him over his head.
'Skidd' landed on his feet on the other side of the room, next to the automatic doors. He grinned at Ratchet….with a lit cigarette in his mouth.
Ratchet couldn't believe it.
'Skidd' removed the stick from his lips. He shrugged, "What? If everyone's 'hero' is doin' it, why shouldn't I? After all, all the boys 'n girls will be sayin', 'But Ratchet smokes!' to their parents. Some good example you are, dude."
"RAAAAGH! SHUT UP!" Ratchet yelled and ran with a punch.
'Skidd' put the cigarette back in his mouth and stood absolutely still. At the last second, he quickly moved to his right.
Ratchet's fist not only missed Skidd, but it also went through some of the wall and damaged the controls to the door.
He was trapped.
"Just you and me now, Ratchet."
Ratchet's eyes bugged. He quickly pulled his fist out of the wall.
'Captain Qwark' missed him by a millimetre.
"Stop doing this, Nefarious!" Ratchet barked. "Stop using my friends against me!"
"But, Ratchet," 'Qwark' spoke in Nefarious' voice, "Qwark's not your friend, is he?" he made Qwark's face grin.
"Enough! Fight me in your regular form!"
"Hmmmmm, nah!" 'Qwark' charged with a green fist raised.
Ratchet ducked the swing, and kicked him in the knee. 'Qwark' hopped on one leg before kicking at Ratchet with the injured one. Ratchet blocked with both hands, being pushed backwards.
'Qwark' grabbed Ratchet by the torso and hurled him towards the holo-vid.
The lombax slid across the table and onto the floor. His back was against the cold metal under the large holo-vid.
The sound of little feet.
He looked up.
Now, 'Clank' stood on the table. He winked a green eye and raised a small fist……which quadrupled in size. He brought the thing down.
Ratchet didn't move out of the way. Instead, he stayed where he was and tried to push the fist off of him.
'Clank' applied more pressure.
"Nnnngh!" Ratchet sweated bullets.
"You're much better than that, Ratchet," he heard 'Clank' say. "I know you are."
"Sh-Shut up!"
"Quiet, boy!" it was Helga's voice, but Nefarious hadn't changed form.
"HhHHHRAAAA-aaaa-AGH!" Ratchet managed to push the fist to the side, get up and run.
Another copy blocked his way.
Ratchet stopped. He couldn't move.
"Where do you think you're going, hotshot?" Sasha frowned at him.
"I..I…," Ratchet probably believed it.
FFFWWWWSHSHSHSHPP!
She changed back to Nefarious.
"Heh…I may be evil, but I'm not that evil," he said.
"That's IT!" Ratchet leapt at him.
Nefarious caught the fist he was he was about to throw and bent Ratchet's hand at an awkward angle.
Ratchet winced as he heard his wrist crack.
Nefarious threw Ratchet to the centre of the dark room.
"How's it feel, Ratchet?" he asked. "You're finally defeated by your enemy."
"I'm not down….," Ratchet said as he weakly climbed to his feet.
"Yet."
"My friends tell me……you're not real," Ratchet spat.
Nefarious' eyes narrowed. In a second, he had Ratchet pinned over the workstation's desk. "We've already covered this, Ratchet," he said into the lombax's face. "Could you have gotten all those beatings, bruises, and scratches from someone that wasn't there?"
Ratchet glared. "I may have been bruised, but you have a single scratch!"
"What do you know?" Nefarious retorted. "I bet you're also an alcoholic! If I could smell, I'd smell Booze!"
Ratchet struggled under his hold.
"I'm the thing that keeps you up at night, the nefarious evil that haunts every dark corner of your mind," Nefarious whispered as he stepped away, getting his claws ready.
"'Every dark corner'," Ratchet repeated the words. "Only in my mind……. Only in the dark…" He looked up from the console. "My friends were right! You're not real!"
"Oh yeah?" Nefarious leaned his head to the side.
Ratchet was reaching into one of the workstation's drawers.
"What're you doing?" Nefarious inquired.
"…..," Ratchet kept fumbling.
"I'm talking to you! Answer me!"
"……."
"So, be it! HRAAAGH!" he sprinted with a claw that was determined to slice the lombax's neck.
"Have some of this!" Ratchet finally spoke. He swivelled around with a portable reading lamp. He clicked the switch and the bulb came to life.
Nefarious stopped in mid-sprint. He was twitching. He gasped at the realisation that his clawed hand was blurring, as if it was a hologram that was short-circuiting. He pulled back out of the light and his hand returned to normal.
"I knew it," Ratchet grunted. He moved towards the console.
"R-Ratchet…?" Nefarious seemed unconfident for the first time.
Without saying anything, Ratchet moved the mouse. The screensavers died, revealing bright and live footage of Metropolis, the Capital City, and Kyzil Plateau.
"Aaaagh!" Nefarious jumped further back as he began to frizzle out of existence.
"No one can fight like that…..," Ratchet began his slow walk towards the other side of the room, his bare feet scraping the tiles of the floor. "It's impossible….," he was exhausted.
"Nnngh!" Nefarious attempted to slice the lombax's body as he passed him. His claws went through the lombax like jelly.
Ratchet was at the sleeping area. Casket-like beds with translucent green glass were lined along the wall. He opened each one that was respective of his height. A small light in each one clicked to life.
"AAAGH!" Nefarious screamed. He clutched his head dome-head like it was going to explode.
"You were just too strong," Ratchet spat at him as he began to walk towards the holo-vid.
"TURN THE LIGHTS OFF! NOW!" Nefarious bellowed loudly. He followed Ratchet towards the holo-vid.
"You don't exist anymore!" Ratchet yelled back. "The real Nefarious died long ago!" he turned the holo-vid on and even changed the channel. Static was on.
"NO!" Nefarious was blurring out of the visible spectrum. "THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!"
Ratchet passed the table, the sofas, the blurring villain, and came to a stop by the main light switch besides the door.
"No………..," Nefarious faced him in the dimly lit room. "NO!"
He ran with an outstretched claw.
"Lights out, Nefarious," Ratchet responded and hit the switch.
The room immediately brightened, and Nefarious blurred out of existence completely.
Ratchet slumped down to his knees, weary.
"Ratchet?" a robotic voice called.
He looked up.
Clank was hovering down to the floor via propellers. He noticed Ratchet, and his mouth gapped as a show of gasping, "Ratchet!"
Ratchet, knowing that he was safe, allowed unconsciousness to take over his body.