Chapter 1:

AN: Ok well this is my first fanfiction story and well, don't expect much I really should be studying at the moment but this idea popped into my head I had a strange desire to write… That and I am at home sick today and I needed something to do. Well I have decided not to make each chapter too long because, no offence to people who do it, long chapters bore the hell outta me. If you wish, I could make each chapter longer but I'm not even sure if people are going to read this so… yeah… This is about Ratchet after the fourth instalment in the series. I don't think it really has much to do with the others so don't go crazy if two pieces of information clash with each other. Remember, I'm new at this Ratchet has been called up by an army of another galaxy. Here he is basically unknown in this galaxy and he is not sure why he has been drafted. Oh also, Clank isn't in this one. It would probably waste time coming up with an excuse for him not being there but, to be honest, I don't really like Clank. Sorry to all you Clank fans. I am not sure what genre it falls into so I'll leave it on general. Here we go…

Ratchet faced the alarm clock blazing in his ear and slapped it off with his hand. He forced his sleep deprived eyes open and starred lazily at his uniform handing outside his wardrobe. He tore off the covers castrating him and swung his legs off the bed. He slowly rose and reached out, stretching his muscles. They were still sore from yesterday and rubbed them gently with his opposite hands.

Ratchet walked across the room passing the spare bed that had been empty since he had arrived there, and removed his clothes from their hangers. He put them on, starting to feel more awake, slipped his boots on and decided to head down to breakfast.

Ratchet locked the door behind him and walked down the well lit, metal corridor that headed towards the cafeteria. He passed several lifeless rooms. Although there were still plenty of people here due to it being such a large and important base, it was still too vacant for Ratchets taste during the last few days. Almost the entire base had gone on a mission to a plane Ratchet hadn't heard of. It was nothing extremely important, more like an exercise for familiarity of the battle field and confidence, he was told but still, nonetheless, it was some form of action. Ratchet thrived for it. He dipped his head and softly sighed before opening the large door and entering the hall.

It was a large room. Big enough to fit three hundred people but currently, there were only about thirty. Ratchet headed towards the centre of the room where breakfast was being served. He grabbed a plate and stacked it full of pancakes. Ratchet took his plate and approached some of the plusian cadets nearby who had already started eating. Ratchet hadn't had any real friends here. He had been here for almost two weeks, Ratchet thinks, but when he seems to get along with some, they are shipped away and never heard from again. "Hey, can I sit here?" he asked the oldest looking cadet guzzling down his bacon as if it was going to disappear.

The purple plusian, looking slightly older than Ratchet, looked up at him with his beady eyes, "Sure, grab a seat," and patted the chair next to him.

Ratchet pulled out the seat and sat down, placing his tray out in front of him on the table. There were four of them sitting down at the table now. A young male sitting across from him nodded and smiled at Ratchet when he sat down. Ratchet returned the nod and smiled back. The other pulsian, a young female looked at Ratchet, tiling her head with a puzzled look on her face. Ratchet wasn't sure what was wrong but ignored it and picked up his knife and fork, getting ready to eat. He was first interrupted by the first pulsian he had spoken to. He swallowed the bulky mush of food cramped into his mouth and released a satisfying belch. He threw his knife and fork onto the now empty plate and turned to look at Ratchet. He stuck out his hand in a welcoming manner, "Hi I'm Fenal. This is Handa and Dina" he point to the other two, he examined Ratchets face rather rudely and casually asked him, "Who are you and where are you from?"

"I'm Ratchet from planet Veldin," Ratchet said but was surprised when the young female Dina jumped a little from her seat, almost knocking Ratchet's pancakes from the table.

"The Ratchet?" she whispered in disbelief. She started rummaging frantically in her bag beside her chair. She grabbed a magazine and slammed it on the table. It was a copy of 'Heroes of our time' and on the front cover was Ratchet accepting an award of some kind. Dina pushed the magazine in front of Ratchet, again almost assaulting his pancakes again. "Please, oh please will you sign it for me?" She whipped out a pen and rammed it in his face without taking her eyes of him for a second, completely ignoring the smirks of Handa.

Ratchet looked rather embarrassed as the other two just watched them covering their mouths with their hands as if it prevented Ratchet from hearing them snickering away. He sighed and agreed to give her his autograph by removing the pen from her shaking hand and signing 'Ratchet' on the front page. Ratchet was usually bombarded by fans but he never really got used to it. He still smiles awkwardly at the fans and gets on with his life. As soon as Ratchet finished writing, Dina ripped the magazine away from him as soon as Ratchet lifted the pen from it and gazed at it, starry eyed. The one that hadn't spoken yet, Handa, shook his head and lightly thumped Dina in the shoulder. "I'm sorry dude," he apologised to Ratchet, ignoring Dina's returning punch, "My sister's a bit weird". Handa pointed his index finger to his brain and swirled it around in circles indicating Dina was crazy.

Ratchet smiled and began to eat his breakfast while Dina protested about her being insane. Ratchet was still smiling and almost choked on his food laughing once throughout the whole meal. Him and his new 'friends' sat at the table for about an hour, talking about past experiences on the field, making jokes and just talking. Ratchet felt warm and fuzzy inside. He hadn't felt this good or accepted since he arrived on the base. From what he had learned during the conversations with then plusians, Fenal was a slightly impertinent at times without realising it but still was nice when you would catch him in the right mood. He looked like a man you wouldn't like to mess with. Handa and Dina were brother and sister. Handa was light-hearted and leisurely. Everything you would expect a soldier not to be. He seemed to be Ratchet's best friend out of the trio as he always looked on the bright side of life. Dina was young and rather innocent. She, like Handa, didn't seem to be soldier material and Ratchet sometimes caught her looking at Ratchet oddly but would look away when Ratchet would catch her. Ratchet just hoped that these friends, unlike everyone else he seemed to have gotten close to, would last for at least twenty four hours.

After saying goodbye to his friends and leaving the cafeteria, Ratchet decided to head down to the shooting range at the opposite end of the base as he did every morning. He quickly paced back to his room in order to pick up his helmet and security key. He wanted to get in some early practice because at this time in the morning, nobody was there. When he arrived, he slipped his card key into the socket, opening the door. As soon as he entered the room, he noticed he wasn't alone.

There was another person there. A species that Ratchet had never seen before. He was tall, pale in the flesh, small ears unlike Ratchets and a semi-muscular body. He didn't have any fur on his body except for a small, shortly cut, brown patch covering the top and back of his head. He was wearing an outfit similar to Ratchet and the rest of the soldiers but it was a light shade of grey. He looked like he was concentrating so hard on the range; he didn't even notice Ratchet entering. Baffled, Ratchet slowly walked up to the stall beside him on the right to watch him in action. The person stopped shooting as soon as Ratchet stood beside him but he didn't lower the gun resting on his right shoulder. "Pick up the gun Ratchet," he said calmly and softly without removing his right eye from behind the crosshairs, "I hear you're quite the sharp shooter. I'll see about that". After the last sentence, his grip on the rifle tightened and his eye squinted but still, he refused to look at Ratchet. Ratchet risked a snappy glance at his face. It was lifeless and emotionless.

Ratchet, looking bewildered, obeyed the stranger by hoisted the gun resting in the stall and cocked it just like his strange opponent had done. He started down the range. It looked like a small park area. There were small hills and trees realistically scattered around the gallery. The field was roughly sixty meters wide and 100 meters long. A large area that tested observation, reflexes and accuracy. There was a long pause as they both just stood there. Watching, waiting. For what, Ratchet was not sure. But as soon as the thought popped in his head, the first target caught the corner of Ratchet's eye. It was a holographic Tyhrranoid only about twenty meters away from him. Ratchet swivelled the large rifle towards the target but before the crosshairs even got near the target, the projection had already burst and evaporated into thin air. Ratchet didn't have time to ponder about how he had destroyed it so fast due to the next target bursting out of a nearby hedge. Ratchet swung his gun around again but before he could even set himself up, it was shot as well. Ratchet couldn't believe it. Again and again the stranger beat Ratchet to the target. Even when multiple enemies showed up, their images were dispersed within a heartbeat. He even took out the paratroopers dropping for the ceiling one hundred meters in the distance. This was crazy. Ratchet couldn't believe what he was seeing. When the final hologram had been destroyed, they both just stood there silently, neither of them daring to move a muscle. Ratchet's eyes were widened in disbelief. After a quiet minute, the stranger lowered his gun and threw it on the ground like a young child loosing interest in a toy. Ratchet removed the rifle from his shoulder but still held it firmly in his hands. He stared down at his gun, realising for the first time that he hadn't even fired the gun. He didn't have a chance too. The elite soldier walked towards the door, as if he forgot Ratchet was even there. Ratchet lifted his head, realising that he was leaving. Without thinking he yelled at him just as he was turning the corner outside the door, "Who are you?".

The stranger halted inside the door frame and turned his head half way so Ratchet could see the side of his pale face. When he spoke, his voice was chilling and haunting. Although he was whispering, the sound of his voice echoed throughout the empty shooting range, "I am the ultimate soldier. I am the ultimate being. I am Hoskins," and with that, he walked off into the vacant corridor leaving Ratchet behind standing in the room, his gun still in his grasp, completely perplexed about what had just happened in the last five minutes.

AN: Yep well there you go. Chapter one. I hope you liked it. I don't mind criticism as long as it isn't TOO harsh. I have no idea when the next chapter is going to be updated but please leave a review so I know that people are actually READING it because there is no point on writing as second chapter if nobody is. Until next time,

Sly Foxxx