Chapter seven: Battle's End

"A BOMB!" Skidd shrieked.

Angela nodded furiously. "It was meant for Ratchet when he was supposed to show up! The timer started as soon as you came into the room!"

Skidd ran around Angela and started untying the knots keeping her bound to the chair. Seeing this, Angela's eyes widened. "Skidd! What're you doing! Get out of here! There's not enough time to free me!" Tears started coming to her eyes, realizing that Skidd could get killed for her sake.

Although Skidd was afraid that he may end up getting killed for real this time, he vigorously shook his head. "There's like, no way I'm leaving you to die, Angela! If you have to die, we're going together!"

Skidd was surprised at the words that came out of his own mouth. Not only was he willing to risk his life to save Angela, but he was willing to die with her if necessary? As he continued to frantically work on the ropes, Skidd's mind raced. Why was he willing to do all of this for Angela?

"It's gotta be love, man." Skidd thought. "I don't like, understand it. I've never felt for any woman like how I feel for Angela."

Within seconds, Skidd had freed Angela. He quickly took her hand in his. "Like, come on! We need to find Ratchet and Sasha before the bomb goes off, man!"

"Ratchet's here!"

"Yeah, dude! The little guy came here to avenge me, but now he and his girlfriend are totally wiping out the other thugs!"

(Meanwhile)

Sasha picked off a few thugs with her Tesla Claw as Ratchet struck several more with a swing of his wrench. The two lovers had been fighting thugs ever since they split up with Skidd, and they were wiping the floor with anyone that came at them. Most of the thugs had been alerted that someone was fighting their boss, and were on their way to help him. However, that meant that they had to cross paths with Ratchet and Sasha.

And, of course, that usually meant that they got blasted.

"These guys are easier to whack than bugs." Sasha remarked as she kicked a thug in the head. "If I had known this, I would have gone into battle a lot more."

"You get used to it." Ratchet said, swinging his wrench again. "Just be careful you don't let your guard down because these guys can overpower you if you're not paying attention."

"I'll keep that in mind." Sasha nodded as she fired her Tesla Claw again, taking out a few more thugs. She pulled out a Mini-Turret and threw it. Once it touched the ground, the Mini-Turret started shooting in random directions, mowing down a few more thugs.

Sasha turned and saw a couple more thugs sneaking up on Ratchet from behind while he was attacking a few others. Thinking quickly, Sasha whipped out a Spitting Hydra and fired a bolt, which traveled between both of the thugs, taking both of them out at once.

Ratchet turned just in time to see his would-be attackers collapse to the ground. He smirked at Sasha. "Looks like you were right, Sasha." He remarked. "You DID end up saving my neck."

"I told you, didn't I?" Sasha asked with a sly smirk.

A few more swings from Ratchet's wrench and the remaining thugs were down for the count. The two lovers stood amongst the fallen bodies triumphantly.

"Well, that's that." Ratchet said. "Come on, Sasha. Let's go see if we can help Skidd finish off the leader."

The two were about to continue on when they heard a pair of loud footsteps running in their direction. The two turned and prepared for another fight, expecting more thugs to come around the corner.

Imagine their surprise when Skidd and Angela came running around the corner, holding hands and looking frantic.

"Skidd!" Ratchet said as he lowered his weapon. "Why're you so freaked out. You saved Angela, didn't you?"

"Someone set us up the bomb, dude!" Skidd shouted.

"What! There was a bomb in the office!" Sasha asked.

Angela nodded. "Yes! And we're running out of time!"

"Come on!" Ratchet said as he and everyone else ran down the hallway, not really sure as to what they were going to do.

"We need to get back to the elevator, man!" Skidd shouted.

"We'll never make it if we take the elevator!" Sasha replied. "We need a faster way out!"

"But we're on the top floor!" Angela shouted as Skidd pulled her along. "How else can we get out!"

As the four saw an approaching window, an idea suddenly popped into Ratchet's head. He quickly turned to his girlfriend, whom was right beside him. "Sasha, are you wearing Gravity Boots?"

Sasha nodded. "It's mandatory for all Galactic Rangers to wear a pair at all times!" She replied.

"Skidd! How about you!"

"Yeah, man! I'm wearing my pair! Why?"

Ratchet narrowed his eyes at the window. "We're going out!"

Skidd suddenly caught on to what Ratchet was getting at. He quickly looked at the female lombax holding his hand. "Angela, get on my back!"

Still unsure of what was going to happen, Angela nodded and jumped onto Skidd's back as he ran. Due to her light weight, Skidd had no problem maintaining speed. The Rilgarian then pulled out his Heavy Lancer and shot out the window, providing an opening.

"Here we go, everyone!" Ratchet shouted. "Get ready!"

Once the group got close enough to the open window, they all made a leap of faith out of it. Ratchet, Sasha and Skidd, with Angela on his back, started a free-fall towards the ground hundreds of feet below.

"Gravity Boots, activate!" Ratchet, Sasha and Skidd shouted at almost the same time (although Skidd threw in a 'dude' at the end).

Almost instantly, the Gravity Boots on the feet of Ratchet, Sasha and Skidd took effect. The three were pulled towards the outside wall of the building, where they made contact. And because she was on Skidd's back, Angela was now safe from falling to her death.

The three started running down the side of the base at different speeds. Ratchet and Sasha were pretty close together as Skidd brought up the rear. Angela held onto Skidd for dear life, but knew that they were going to make it now.

Once they got close enough to the ground, the three jumped and fell the rest of the way, landing safely on his or her feet. Once they were on the ground, Angela got off Skidd's back.

"Come on!" Ratchet said. "Our taxi's still waiting for us!"

The four quickly ran over to the floating, yellow cab at the edge of the platform they were on. It took a bit of effort, but all four of the mismatched figures managed to step onto the taxi, which quickly started flying off towards the spot where Ratchet and Sasha had parked.

Skidd was the first to look back at the Thugs-4-Less base. He watched as flames erupted from every window on the top floor. It wasn't enough to bring the entire building down, but the damage was done. Skidd knew that if they had taken the elevator, the explosion would have broken the cable and sent everyone down the shaft, probably to their doom. As insane as it sounded, walking down the wall was actually the safer way in that situation.

Everyone stood in silence, watching the base. The only sound any of them made was the deep breathing coming from each of them. After a few seconds, Ratchet broke the ice. "Okay, Skidd. I think you owe us a few explanations."

"Shoot, little dude." Skidd looked down at his friend.

"Why didn't you call us and let us know you survived the crash in the first place?" Ratchet asked. "Everyone's been so upset."

"Well, I would have, man. Except that it's kinda hard to make a call when the videophone was destroyed in the wreck and stuff."

Ratchet shrugged. "Okay. I guess that's a good reason."

"I have a question as well, Skidd." Sasha added. "How'd you get into the base?"

"Oh, that's totally easy, Sasha." Skidd replied with a smile. "The front door was almost completely unguarded!"

Ratchet and Sasha stood in silence for a few seconds before the latter smacked the former upside the head.

"On a lighter note, it's great to see you again, Ratchet." Angela said before rubbing her head. "I just wish that it could have been a better situation."

"Hey, it's not your fault. That big loser just made a really stupid mistake in taking you to get to me." Ratchet replied.

Angela nodded. "Well, even though your reason for coming was to avenge Skidd here, I'm glad you and your girlfriend came. In taking out the rest of the thugs, you most likely prevented Skidd from having a tougher fight against the leader."

"Don't mention it, Angela."

Soon, the taxi arrived at the spot where Ratchet had parked his ship. He and Sasha got off, but Skidd and Angela remained on the taxi.

"You coming, Skidd?" Sasha asked.

"Uh, not at the moment, dudes." Skidd replied. "I sorta had to take Angela's ship to come here, and I like, parked at a different part of the city."

Ratchet nodded. "Okay. You wanna go with Angela back to her home planet and we'll pick you up there, then."

"Sounds like a plan, man." Skidd said as he pressed a few keys on the taxi keypad, typing in the destination. "Catch ya later!"

With that, Skidd and Angela flew off. Once they had gone far enough away from Ratchet and Sasha, Angela surprised Skidd by throwing her arms around him.

"A-Angela? W-What-" Skidd started to say.

"I just wanted to thank you for doing what you did back there." Angela said softly and with a smile on her face. "I never thought anyone would actually be willing to die for me if necessary."

"Believe me, Angela." Skidd replied. "To me, you're worth me risking my neck."

Angela's eyes widened slightly, then pulled away from hugging Skidd. "You mean that?"

"Well…Yeah." Skidd said. "I'm not exactly the bravest person out there, but man, during the entire time I was in the base, the only thing I could like, think of was you."

Skidd and Angela were now no longer paying attention to what was going on around them. They were simply staring into each other's eyes.

"You're real sweet, Skidd." Angela said with a smile (which Skidd thought looked beautiful). "Ratchet was never like this the last time I saw him."

Skidd swallowed hard. It was now or never. "Well, actually there's like, one more thing."

"Yes?" Angela asked hopefully.

"I know we haven't like, known each other for very long, Angela." Skidd said. "But, the entire time I was with you, I like, felt some totally wicked feelings I had never felt before. At first, I didn't think too much of it, but as the time went on, the feeling was like, getting so much stronger. And now, after all this, I like, finally understand what that feeling is."

Angela held her breath.

"I-I think I like…Love you, Angela."

Fresh tears started coming to Angela's eyes. Suddenly, without warning, she pulled Skidd in and pressed her lips against his. Skidd was taken aback by this sudden action from the female lombax, but quickly recovered and kissed Angela back, wrapping his arms around her.

The two kissed for what seemed like forever, but finally broke away. It was then that they realized that they had arrived back at Angela's ship. They also noticed a very familiar alien with a sock puppet standing aside, staring at them with wide eyes.

"Man. A Rilgarian kissing a lombax. Now I've seen everything." The ventriloquist said as he turned and walked away.

"And here I was thinking that the strangest thing we ever saw was those Thyrranoids doing the cha-cha wearing underwear on their heads." The puppet added.

"Dude, Thyrranoids don't HAVE heads."

"Exactly."

Skidd and Angela, in the meantime, had stepped off the taxi.

"Skidd, you have no IDEA how long I've been waiting to hear a guy say those words to me." Angela said. "And I'm really glad that it turned out to be you saying them!"

"R-Really? Why's that, man?"

"Because while I was in the base back there, the only thing I could hope was that it would be you to come save me. However, once the leader told me that I was sitting on an active bomb, I quickly hoped that you wouldn't show." Angela explained. "Because then, you wouldn't put yourself in harm's way for me. I realized that once you actually showed, I had loved you as well."

"Well, let's just put that whole thing behind us, man." Skidd said. "The last thing I wanna think about right now is those bogus dudes back there."

"You and me both Skidd." Angela said. A short silence followed before Angela spoke again. "How do you think this will work, Skidd? I mean, you're a Rilgarian and I'm a lombax. At least Ratchet and Sasha look sorta alike. You and I, however, don't look anything alike."

"We'll make it work, man." Skidd assured. "The only thing I'm worried about is how we'll be like, able to solve this problem of like, living in two different galaxies."

"Don't worry, Skidd." Angela replied with a smile. "I know how we can fix that."

(Space)

Three ships left Damosel's orbit at almost the same time.

On the first ship were Ratchet and Sasha. The male lombax flew the ship through space, a smirk clearly visible on his face.

"You seem awfully pleasant, Ratchet." Sasha remarked. "And, if I remember, that's the exact opposite of what you looked like going into orbit."

"What's NOT to be happy about?" Ratchet asked. "Skidd's alive, Sasha! And he just went through a situation where he normally would have been scared stiff about. You have no idea how proud of him I am right now!"

"Yes, I do." Sasha nodded. "I am extremely proud of him myself. The way he apparently handled things back there are unlike anything else he's ever done while on the Phoenix, you know."

"Yeah." Ratchet nodded. "I guess Skidd's been just full of surprises lately."

"Hey, thanks for the compliments, dudes."

Ratchet and Sasha quickly looked at the video screen, where Skidd was calling in from the second ship. He wasn't flying the ship, so that obviously meant Angela was at the controls.

"Listen, Ratchet." Skidd said. "There's been a change of plans. You and Sasha go ahead back to the Phoenix. I'll meet up with you after I help Angela pack, man."

"Okay. That sounds like a-" Ratchet said before something dawned on him. "Pack? Pack for what?"

Angela's head suddenly came in from the side of the screen. "Isn't it obvious, Ratchet?" She asked. "I'm coming back to the ship with you."

"You're coming back with us?" Sasha asked, surprised.

Angela nodded. "Yep. Hey, I think my skills with mechanics could come in handy." She let out a light chuckle. "Besides, how do you expect Skidd and I to date each other if we're in two different galaxies?"

"Oh, well I guess that makes…" Ratchet said before pausing for a few seconds. "…Wait. Date! You mean to tell us that you guys are-"

"In love, dude!" Both Skidd and Angela said at the same time before they both started laughing.

"Well, if that's the case, we'd be glad to have you aboard, Angela." Sasha nodded.

"Thanks, Sasha!" Angela replied. "I guess we'll meet you back at the ship, then!"

"Yeah! Catch ya there, dudes!" Skidd chimed in before the screen cut off, ending the conversation.

Ratchet sat back in stunned silence. Sasha noticed this and looked at him with concern. "You okay, Ratchet?"

Ratchet nodded, then smiled. "Yeah. I guess it's just surprising that Skidd has more surprises than we thought."

"Well, let's get back to the Phoenix. I'm sure Skidd has quite the story to tell when he gets back himself."

Ratchet again nodded. "Got it. Here we go!"

With that, Ratchet's ship zoomed off in one direction while Angela's went in another, making a quick pit stop at Grelbin.

Meanwhile, in the third ship, two distinctive figures were having a very complex conversation themselves.

"Say, if you were given another gig, what kinda role would you like to have?" The shorter, fatter Desert Rider asked his buddy.

"Well, if I'm being completely honest, I wouldn't mind doing a scene with that Edwina chick from the first game." The taller biker replied. "She was cute."