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Chapter 2: The search for the Florana tree beast… or man.

The trio of heroes were flying through space in the Solona Galaxy, on their way to the Florana swamp planet to find the mysterious Florana tree beast. And to see if he's the one that might've defeated the notorious Dr. Nefarious, that attacked Ratchet's home planet of Veldin.

Sure they feel that they can beat the doctor themselves, after all, Ratchet defeated the Supreme Executive Chairman Drek, Angela herself in her Unknown thief costume, the Thugs-4-less mercenary group alongside herself, (Before, and after her capture that is.) and even the main protopet that they were able to cure. And Angela was able to beat Ratchet a few times when they sparred back in their apartment on Endako. Making her almost as skilled as he is. But they couldn't just disobey the President's request like that. After all, they might need all the help they can get.

For now though, they were flying to the Planet of Florana to find the tree beast, as they were armed with the weapons from the Galactic Rangers, and Ratchet's first adventure with Clank. Including the Golden Weapons that Ratchet got from the Gemlik base that they fought Qwark on to end Ratchet's Vandetta against him. Which they plan to use to defend each other from whatever hazards that Florana could send their way, as well as what the tree beast itself would do to them, once they're there.

"So Ratchet, how long has Veldin been your home?" Angela asked, making conversation with Ratchet.

"For as long as I can remember from my childhood. I don't know how I got there though, I was a baby at the time." Ratchet said casually. "It got pretty lonely, but I had some friends on Veldin. Sadly though, they were from other home planets, and none of them were interested in helping me out of Veldin." He said glumly.

"I'm sorry Ratchet. It must've been rough on Veldin." She said sadly.

"Don't worry, it was boring and dangerous, but I lived. And I've gotten stronger out of it. That's something to be proud of." He said, smiling at her.

"After all, it is said that 'whatever doesn't kill us, makes us stronger.' And Ratchet was the strongest friend I've ever had from our journey." Clank said happily. "Even if it had some turbulent moments, Ratchet always came through for me." Clank said.

That had Angela smiling at them, feeling that they're great heroes, since they stayed together as friends regardless of their arguments back in their first adventure in the Solona Galaxy. And that had her admiring the strength of their friendship.

She was glad to be their friend, and she hoped that their friendship will strengthen like with Ratchet and Clank's.

"By the way, what was it like on Grelbin?" Ratchet asked, having been there himself, and fought against a bunch of dangerous yeti's.

"It was somewhat like you living on Veldin. Only without the loneliness since I kept in touch with Megacorp. And it had its fun and dangerous moments." She responded.

"Oh. And I guess they usually protect you from the yetis and the other creatures of that place?" Ratchet asked curiously.

"Nope. Most of the time, I protect myself." She said casually with her hands behind her head. Much to Ratchet's and Clank's surprise. Which had them figuring out that her tough and no nonsense attitude could've been from her experience of dealing with the Yetis that Ratchet himself faced off against when they went to Grelbin to meet her there to get her ID badge.

Which was a hard job, since they were large beasts, they fought in numbers, and they were strong creatures that he had to face for the moonstones, to give to the guru to help him get through to Angela, and to have him hand Ratchet a hypno-matic part. (Not to mention a ton of Bolts for all the moonstones collected afterwards.) Which made collecting them only barely worth it for him. So to hear about her having to defend herself from them, had him admiring her a bit more.

Even though he also felt sorry for her as he cringed at what she might've went through on Grelbin. "Geez. It must've been rough over there."

"Yes. It was a bit rough at some moments, and there was some days where I thought I might die there. But I'm alive still. And thank the stars that I am, since without me, the Bogon Galaxy might've been screwed." She said relieved that she's still alive. "That is, if neither of you were there. And if the protopet was made anyway."

"Well, that's a relief." He said with a sigh. "And that's good too. Because if that happened, we would never became friends."

Angela felt touched about what Ratchet has said, causing her to smile at him as she softly punched his shoulder. "Thanks Ratchet. It's nice to be your friend too."

"No problem." He said rubbing the shoulder that she punched.

After that, they were now not too far from Florana as they saw the planet in their sight. Now they prepared their weapons for firing when they touch down on the planet.

They now flew on the planet as they searched for the location to land in to begin their search for that Tree Beast that they should look for. And they found one in the jamboo nabla forest, near some pyramids where a conveniently placed landing pad was put. Which they proceeded to use to land his ship.

Now they were on land as they got their stuff packed with them for their trek on their first planet together. With both of them armed, with one of them armed with the Gold weapon, being the blaster.

Now, with their weapons in hand, they trekked along the platform's walkway as well as jumped over some gaps that led to one of the pyramid buildings, all while shooting at the Floranian blood flies that flew over the ooze, all of which looked like fire wasps, while also taking down the boxes for more Bolts, but not before coming across the weapon Vender that had two buyable weapons, one of which was a plasma whip. Which Ratchet proceeded to buy, feeling that it's not a bad start for their search for the beast.

Once they entered the room in the pyramid, they ended up getting ambushed by some swamp warriors with triple blade glaives that they threw like boomerangs, which gave Angela a cut on her left arm when she tried to dodge. But she ignored the pain as she and Ratchet fired back at them with their Nitro Launcher, and the other weapon being the Tesla claw.

As she fired the Coil, she could see at that moment why Ratchet enjoyed firing that weapon at his enemies. It was devastating and it had a long reach to medium range enemies while always leaving them stunned and unable to attack back at her due to getting shocked by the green electric beam that it shoots out. All while Ratchet launched his Nitro Launcher at the enemies to destroy them, or weaken them for her to finish off. While the ones that got too close, ended up getting taken down by Ratchet swinging his recently bought whip.

She wondered if it's possible that the Coil could upgrade the same way if she takes down more enemies with it. While Ratchet fired out the bombs from the Nitro Launcher to clear the room, and to have it evolve like the Shock Cannon did. After all, the Nitro Launcher's upgraded form could be useful in the future. All while they also looked around in the room, and saw that the pyramid place looked pretty abandoned. Like there was those that used to live here in Florana before they moved, letting the swamp take over the place.

"Are you alright Angela?" Ratchet asked after they took down all of the warriors, and was done looking around, noticing her cut on her arm.

"I'll be fine. It's just a cut, it'll heal." Angela said trying not to have Ratchet concerned for her.

"If you say so." He said, before he then thought about the weapon Venders that he bought the Plasma whip from, as he felt that the Whip is a useful tool for longer range melee combat, that he feels he's gonna dominate in.

Even though he wonders which other weapons that he's gonna buy from the other Venders that they'll both come across sometime in the future. Especially since they left the room in the pyramid, and came across another weapon vender, where they decided to spend some Bolts to refill their ammo for their weapons.

Including Ammo for the Plasma Whip, much to both of their dismay, since it made no sense that each swing of the whip would waste ammo for it, considering it's a 'melee weapon' not a gun.

Right now though, they had the Golden weapons, the two weapons that they got from the Rangers, and the whip.

Which Ratchet still put to good use against the fire wasps that they came across more of when they exited the pyramid they were in to another walk way. Which they were prepared to glide to.

At least until it was during their crate breaking for more Bolts to use to buy, when Angela accidentally dropped to a lower floor when she used the plasma whip on the boxes. Ratchet ended up being startled when he heard her yelling and saw that she was gone. "Angela?! Where are you?!" He loudly asked, scared.

"I'm okay!" She yelled back, as she climbed to the lower floor of the pyramid after being able to grab the ledge before she could fall into the ooze, where she came across a Titanium Bolt. "Hey Ratchet? Can you come down here?!"

Ratchet ended up doing just that with Clank's help, where he came across her, and the Titanium Bolt. "Woah! You found a Special Titanium Bolt?! Nice!" Ratchet said happily, having collected some of those himself.

"So what are they used for?" She asked, wondering why they made him happy.

"Weapon modding. A guy named Slim Cognito helped me mod my weapons in exchange for them." He responded.

"So that's where you got those mods for your weapons. I always wondered how you were able to install those mods, and whether you had help or not!" She said, having got her answers to her questions that she felt at this point, didn't feel important to have answered. "And I believe, you plan to collect this too?"

"Uh-huh. Who knows what I'll receive in exchange, whether it'd be the weapon mods, or even the more Golden versions like the ones in our pockets, either way, it's gonna be so cool!" He said excitedly, wondering what else they're gonna get as he collected the Bolt itself. "Let's get more of these from here on out."

"Works for me." She said smiling, also feeling excited about what rewards they're gonna get, as they continued on through the swamp.

Where they had to fight more warriors that they saw were natives to the Nabla forest. Which was a section in Florana's planet that they were in, and they felt that the tree beast was in too. Which they hoped, wouldn't be too hard to search for.

Both Angela and Ratchet kept on going through the path that they know could lead to the Tree beast while continuing to blast and whip the nabla warriors and the Florana blood flies that gets in their way on their way to the tree beast. And right now, with the Nitro Launcher and the Tesla Claw, as well as the Gold weapons, none of them stood a chance against them both.

Not even the large swamp monsters with tentacles were a match for them, despite towering over them and spitting out acidic saliva at their direction. But they dodged it and kept peppering the monster with the Golden blaster fire, and the Nitro bombs until it got taken down in seconds.

Where it was when the Nitro Launcher ended up glowing in Ratchet's hands, before getting upgraded. Much to Ratchet's excitement since the upgraded weapons become more useful and devastating to him when they upgrade in his hands. Not to mention more fun to use against his enemies, like when he used the Bouncer gun in its evolved form to easily clear a room of enemies with. (Including the aforementioned Yetis from Grelbin.)

"Hell yeah! With this thing fully upgraded, Dr. Nefarious is screwed!" He said excitedly. Feeling stoked to fight Dr. Nefarious himself, should this 'hero' that defeated him be either dead, or unable to fight.

"Easy there Ratchet. Don't get too cocky when fighting him. Trust me, learned it the hard way on Siberius." She said, having underestimated Ratchet herself when they fought, only to get beaten by him, due to his weapons, and skill. "And I still feel a little tingle from that shock mod on that Lancer."

Ratchet felt embarrassed at the reminder of their fight on Siberius. "Hey sorry, Angela. I didn't know that you were not a villain at the time."

"Eh, no problem. I guess I should've just told you outright, and as soon as I could, on why I stole the Protopet instead of trying to scare you away, or killing both of you too. But I guessed that you wouldn't believe me." She said.

"Considering that you kidnapped me, I'm certain that he wouldn't have believed you." Clank said.

Which had Angela also feeling embarrassed about having kidnapped Clank from his Apartment in Endako. "And I'm really sorry I did that. At the time, I thought that Ratchet would be scared away by my threat to make him leave by using you. I didn't think he'd be that determined to save you regardless."

"Well, that's what friends are for." Clank said.

"And we forgive you. After all, you were just trying to protect the Galaxy from Megacorp's biggest mistake, mostly caused by that arrogant hero wannabe." Ratchet then said, referring to Qwark. "Even if you were being a little villainous, especially at Oozla."

"Well… I guess I was taking my anger out on Megacorp for rushing the Protopet's release date. I guess I was hoping to run them out of business at the time." She said ashamed of her actions. "But considering how powerful Megacorp was in the Bogon Galaxy, it would've been close to impossible to do it that way. And I didn't think about that at the time. And I'm sorry."

"And like we said, we forgive you. You didn't think that one through in terms of how we'd view you for doing that. But Megacorp was hardly better, at least while Qwark was in charge. So nobody's perfect in Bogon." Ratchet said.

"That's reassuring. I guess." Angela said, still feeling regretful about attacking the other employees of Megacorp, but she didn't dwell on that too much, since they still had a job to do.

So they continued onwards through the swamp, while continuing to blast the blood flies, Nabla native warriors, and the Swamp Monsters that continued to fight them by popping out of the water to spit their acid at them. But like with the others, they was no match for both of them.

Then they were at another pyramid, where they were gonna enter it when Ratchet found something that caught his eye. A yellow box, that had an orange fire symbol on it like it had some sort of fire weapon inside, or had some red hot Bolts inside it too, neither Lombax knew. All they knew, was that it had something inside it that should justify the fire motif that it showed on the crate. But what?

"Any ideas Angela?" Ratchet asked.

"None whatsoever. It must be some sort of fire weapon." Angela responded. "Or it could be a fire Power-up?" She then said, going off video game logic that she's sure, would be fictional.

Little did she know, she was gonna see how correct she was gonna be.

"Only one way to find out." Ratchet then said, before he then gave the box a little thwack with his wrench.

Which caused the box to suddenly explode in a fiery ball that engulfed Ratchet and Clank, as Angela covered her eyes. When she turned back around after the explosion was done, she tried to call out Ratchet's and Clank's name in panic, only to keep her mouth open in shock at what she saw.

Clank was okay and unmarked since he was on Ratchet's back. While Ratchet himself had fiery orange colored armor, with yellow glowing highlights all over his body, as well as his helmet, which covered even his entire face, giving him the intimidating and badass space soldier look on him. And he was also on fire all over his armor while holding a pair of flaming wrenches.

Which is a fact that is not lost on him. "AAAHH! I'm on fire! I'm on fire! Put it out! Put it out! Put it out!" He yelled out in alarm at his burning looks as he jumped and ran around, as well as stop, drop, and rolled around. At least until he quickly realized that he's on fire, but he isn't in pain from the fire on his armor. "Wha? I'm burning, but I'm not turning to ashes." He said.

All while Angela looked on in awe at the sight of him in the inferno armor. (As well as trying not to crack up at his reactions to being in flaming armor.) "Wow. You look so cool! I wonder if this is the power up that I was talking about."

"It looks like it." Clank said. "I'm actually curious about what use this has."

"Only one way to find out." Ratchet then said as he and Angela proceeded to enter the room.

Where they suddenly saw the walk way that they walked on to a platform floating on the ooze, to suddenly rise up like a drawbridge. Trapping them both on the arena as two pairs of Nabla natives ended up ambushing them both. They were out for blood as they were ready to take down the pair of Lombaxes. Unfortunately for the natives, they were already outmatched even before the battle started.

For Angela took out her Shock Cannon and shot at some of the Nabla natives that tried to rush at her, while Ratchet fought against the other natives in hand to hand combat with his flaming omni-wrenches, and was easily winning against them as he dominated them in combat with his skills, and his surprising strength with his swings, all while they were on fire too when he hit them with his flaming wrenches.

Even as more of the natives were coming in from up above, they were no match for Ratchet's inferno armor. And Angela was no slouch either as she blasted more of them as they were unable to strike against her because of her reflexes and distance keeping, while she kept on shooting.

It looked less like a survival fight, and more like a contest of who can take down more of the natives faster. And they were both neck in neck in that contest.

Then it ended with a pair of swamp monsters that rose out of the water…

…just as soon as the Inferno power up expired, putting Ratchet back into his regular armor.

"Aw come on! And right at the best part!" Ratchet complained to no one other than the swamp monsters, as Angela tried not to laugh at the comedic timing of that happening, regardless of feeling like they have a challenge on their hands.

Thankfully for them, it wasn't an actual challenge, as she dispatched one of the monsters with a charged Shock Cannon after switching to it, while Ratchet whipped the other one with the plasma whip. Which didn't take too many of those to take the other one down.

That isn't to say that it was an easy one though, as they did get in a shot on both Ratchet and Angela. With Angela getting grazed by an acidic saliva on her right foot, while Ratchet got hit on his left shoulder when the spit grazed it. And it burned them both on where the acid hit them as they both grunted loudly in pain.

Thankfully, all the acid did was burn them, as they still had their fur and their skin intact. But they knew they better be careful during their time on Florana, lest they take the full shot of the acid, and probably melt to the floor.

After a little recovering from the acid shots, both Lombaxes kept on going as they climbed upwards with some wall-jumping. All while they made sure that they weren't too close together to where they'd splat against each other by mistake.

Not that it'll do them any good, since Ratchet reached the top first, and stayed near the edge as he had Clank off his back so he can scout ahead while he helps Angela up, just in case she grabs onto the ledge. Only for her to accidentally overshoot and jump over the ledge and onto Ratchet by mistake.

Now they were on the floor with Angela on top of Ratchet as he had his face in her chest. Much to his embarrassment and slight fear since he was sure that Angela would've been mad at that.

Only for her to get up, while pretending to not notice the fact that he had his face in her bosom. Since it was more her fault that it happened. "Sorry. Overshot the edge." She apologized with a blush on her face, as she helped him back onto his feet.

"N-No problem. Let's be more careful from here on out when we do some wall jumping." Ratchet said, trying not to nosebleed at the feeling of her chest in his face.

Angela kept that in mind as Clank ran back to them, telling them that they're getting close to a likely place where the Florana Tree Beast could be at. Which is a village that happens to have huts on the trees and some rocks.

And near the huts, was a humongous stump that had a glass dome near it, with a large door on the front. Which he believes is a 90% chance that it's where the Tree Beast is. And they're headed right for it.

Which was much to their delight since even though they didn't have any annoying or bad moments on Florana's swamp so far, they didn't have any fun moments, and they guessed that it was gonna get annoying later on. So they knew that the sooner they find the Tree Beast, the better.

So they kept on going forward, while using the vine as a zipline to get to the platform. (With Ratchet using his wrench to hold on to the vine while Angela held onto his hips.) Where they both ended up getting assaulted by another pair of Swamp Monsters and some more Nabla Natives to open the drawbridge that blocked their path forward. Which they fought more of with her Shock Cannon on both the Natives and the monsters, and with Ratchet's Nitro Launcher on the Nabla Natives to clear up the platform to make sure that they still have room on there.

Until she ran out of ammo on her Shock Cannon when she used some charged shots on one of the swamp monsters, causing her to switch to the Tesla Claw again, to fight the Natives with, while Ratchet switched to his Golden Bomb Glove to take down the last of the Swamp Monsters.

Now with the draw bridge down, and after taking out more crates for the bolts, and the Shock Cannon ammo, they used another zipline to get to the platform that was in front of the huge Stump, and glass dome building, which they were prepared to enter to find the Tree Beast.

"Uh Ratchet, Angela, we've got company." Clank suddenly said as they prepared to enter the stump.

"Whuh? Where!" Ratchet asked looking around alongside Angela.

"Behind you." Clank said, sounding like his voice was muffled. Mainly because it was muffled.

"Where?!" Ratchet asked impatiently looking behind him, causing Angela to see what was muffling Clank's speech and what was behind Ratchet.

It was a one eyed chestnut brown furred Floranian monkey.

"On your back Ratchet!" Angela said, aiming her gun at the monkey.

The monkey ended up getting scared as it pointed its hands up at the sky like it was surrendering. While Ratchet then ended up turning his head enough to see that indeed, there was monkey on his back. Which he could've panicked, but he then saw that Angela had her gun pointed at it, which was a sign that she has it covered.

And he'd only make things harder for her to shoot it if he panics.

"Okay monkey, time to get off his back now, then scram, and you won't get hurt." Angela said threateningly towards the monkey.

The monkey knew better that time than to make her mad. So it did just that and ran a short distance to another figure. Which had Angela then looking at him in shock.

"Thanks Angela, it would've been so annoying to search for the beast with a monkey on my baaa-AAAAAUGH!" Ratchet then said when he too looked at the figure that Angela saw.

Which was a top heavy muscular jungle man, with a shredded bright green costume that happened to be darkened, and stitched on his right shoulder, with dark blue pants, and fur shoes, and he was wearing an admittedly intimidating metallic jungle mask that had red eyes, sharp teeth with some orcish fangs on the bottom, and the metallic feathers on the top of the mask.

It seems that they've found the Tree Beast that they were looking for.

And judging by his breathing patterns, and his calm, yet ferocious posture that he was currently using, he didn't seem thrilled that Angela pointed a gun at the monkey friend of his, or viewed them as unwanted trespassers that shouldn't have come to his property. He even seem to be furious, yet silently showing his rage in a kind of anger that ran serene, and cold.

"You all trespass on sacred ground!" The beast in the mask said, before making breathing and monkey noises. "Now all of you walk Path Of Death!"

"But sir-" Clank tried to say.

"PATH OF DEEEAATH!" The beast bellowed out loudly.

Although Ratchet and Angela didn't feel intimidated in the slightest of the Beast's wrath, they felt that it'd be better to obey the demand of the Beast's for now, as they proceeded to enter the stump's door that the Beast pointed out as the Path of Death for them to go through.

Which, was where it lived up to its name, as they had to traverse the platforms that were held up by poles that drops like inverted draw bridges that goes down when they land on them, paths littered with Nabla warrior natives, slanted paths that had rolling and bouncing boulders that tried to crush them, floors that had little fire geysers that tries to burn them, and even some pushing pistons that tried to push them into the lava, or tried to crush them flat from in between them.

All of which, while they also had to ensure that neither of them falls into the lava that was below them. And Angela had no robot buddy on her back to help her glide to the other side of any gap in the path of death like Ratchet himself does. And along the way, they saw a little tower hut that had another Titanium bolt in it. Which Ratchet ended up jumping to before collecting the bolt itself, before going back onto the Path of Death. Where their struggles continued.

They even had to fight some of the Natives that tried to ambush them on the traps themselves, and that when the natives themselves didn't end up becoming victim to those traps themselves. Much to the trio's amusement.

Nevertheless though, they had one heck of a challenge on their hands. Full of dangers, and enemies. Not to mention a ton of close calls.

Especially with the fire geysers that they had to dodge on the floors. As well as some crushing pistons that they were barely able to dodge, a couple times.

Thankfully, it wasn't a long path, as they eventually got to the end of the path after some of the close calls, to the room that had a circular arena in the center of it. Like they were about to fight something on it.

On the arena though, they saw the Beast itself as it now looked surprised at their survival. "Can… not… be!" He said in surprise.

Both of them were hurt by the path of death, but not to badly as they were merely a bit tired from the trip. "Okay! We ran through your path of death!" He said taking breaths.

"Now, tell us what you might know about Dr. Nefarious!" Angela said.

"Hurrrgh?" The beast asked.

"Dr. Nefarious! They said that you're the only one who was able to beat him!" Ratchet said impatiently.

"Huuuuuurrrrrgh?!" The beast asked again.

Which was much to Ratchet's and Angela's annoyance as he looked at Clank in exasperation. "I guess we've found the wrong guy." Angela said.

"Or this guy's even dumber than-" Ratchet tried to say, only for Clank and Angela to witness the one eyed monkey pulling off the mask off of the Tree Beast to show its true face. Showing that it's a man, and a very familiar one at that.

"Captain Qwark?!" Both Clank and Angela said in shock.

And in Angela's case, annoyance. After all, she still remembers that it was Qwark that caused the Protopet incident by kidnapping her boss, Fizzwidget, and forcing her to rush the Protopet out the door while disguised as Fizzwidget. Which caused the entire situation, as well as Ratchet's adventure in Bogon to happen all because of Qwark wanting to revive his reputation. And Angela still didn't like Qwark for that reason, seeing him as what Ratchet described as a hero wannabe with an ego that is bigger than his muscles.

Seeing him as the Tree Beast though, was quite a shock. And seeing that Qwark might've been the one that defeated Dr. Nefarious, was also a huge shock for her.

"Hahaha! Yeah, dumber than Captain- OOOOOF!" Ratchet then got kicked by Qwark as he got sent flying across the arena, as Qwark glared at them in anger, like he knew he was insulted by Ratchet, despite his unintelligence.

Ratchet was helped up by Angela, while Clank got back on his back like he knew a fight was coming. Which it was, as both Ratchet and Angela glared back at Quark with anger. "That's it Qwark. You had this coming for a loooong time!" He said angrily.

"And this time, we're not gonna give you mercy." Angela also said angrily.

The fight began with Qwark throwing a glaive at them, but they dodged the glaive before shooting back at Qwark with their guns. Which Qwark withstood as he kept on throwing the glaive at them, trying to throw it faster to hit them.

Which wasn't fast enough, as they continued to dodge the glaive throws from Qwark while continuing to shoot him with their weapons. With Ratchet using the Nitro Launcher to damage him, while Angela continued to use the Shock Cannon, since she seemed to enjoy shooting the gun regardless of the recoil.

Seeing that he's not winning the fight so far, Qwark brought in some Nabla Natives to help him against the trio. But they were no match for the Lombaxes as they continued to dodge and weave their glaives before shooting them down with the Shock Cannon, or the Tesla Claw.

Qwark then threw a pair of glaives which they didn't expect as they both dodged the first one, but got some cuts from the second one on their torso's and their armor. Which did expose some of their chests a bit, making them blush at the sight of some of their skin exposed through the cuts in their suits.

But they ignored the pain as they continued to fire their guns at Qwark. Who sent in more of the Natives to help him alongside the Blood flies. But like last time, the Lombaxes were too much for them.

And eventually, they were too much for Qwark, as they took him down with one well placed shot from the Shock Cannon at close range from Angela. Defeating him, but not killing him, since he was still too tough to kill.

Which they felt, was the only few good qualities that they know about Qwark, being that he was one tough son of a… whatever Ratchet can think of for Qwark.

Right now though, he was unconscious, and Ratchet and Angela was about to see if they can finish the job until Clank stopped them by going in between them and Captain Qwark. "WAIT! I'm sure that we might need him!" Clank said.

"For what?! He obviously lost it when he came here after his failure in Bogon!" Ratchet said. "I say, let's take him down and avoid another repeat of the Protopet incident!"

"I'm with you Ratchet! He still needs to pay for what he could've done to Megacorp, and the Bogon Galaxy." Angela said, agreeing with Ratchet.

"Not to mention working with Drek. I'm curious about how he'd react when he realizes he worked for a monster that profits from destroying planets?" Ratchet then said.

"I KNOW!" Clank said loudly, making both of them cringe at the sudden loud tone. "But I know he can redeem himself for what he's done!"

"Redeem!?" Ratchet asked exasperated.

"REDEEM?! He could've caused an apocalypse in Bogon! All out of a desire to revive his reputation that he doesn't deserve, even if he did defeat Nefarious! And you think that he can be redeemed, let alone redeem himself?!" Angela said, still remembering Qwark being behind the situation in Bogon.

"Of course guys! I know he can atone for what he's done in Bogon, and with Drek. But he can't do such a thing if you guys keep treating him poorly! Give him a chance, please! I know he can do good this time! After all, both of you redeemed yourselves for what you've done in the past, in my eyes at least!" He said, feeling that anybody, even Qwark, can redeem themselves for their past.

Both Lombaxes were reluctant to let him live considering their history with Qwark. After all, Clank does acknowledge that they have a point, but they also acknowledge that Clank might not be wrong either, since he didn't even leave Ratchet's side regardless of his vendetta against Qwark, during their adventure to taking down Drek. Which resulted in Ratchet eventually feeling remorse for his vendetta, and redeeming himself by bringing his fight back to Drek, and eventually defeating him before he could destroy Veldin.

Angela on the other hand, they quickly became friends with, when they learned about what Megacorp planned to do with the Protopet after they took it back to them. And working together with her as a team, they were able to defeat Thugs-4-Less, and save Bogon from the Protopet, and Qwark's failed plan, by using her Helix-o-Morph to tame the Protopet. Which in their eyes, redeemed her for the villainous things she did before her unmasking. (Once again, remembering Oozla's footage.)

So, what's to say that Qwark isn't gonna do the same thing once he is given the chance?

Ratchet and Angela decided to lower their weapons after thinking it over for a tense few minutes. "Okay Clank. We will let him live. But it is for you." Ratchet said.

"After all, your our friend, Clank." Angela said. "But he better not try to create another Protopet incident, or whatever different disaster he could make, especially during our battle against Nefarious, or we will not give him any mercy, by the time we're done with him." Angela said.

"I understand. Thank you both." Clank said, relieved that they're being merciful and understanding.

A short time then ended up passing, before Qwark then woke up, still acting like a monkey himself as he currently remained docile while Ratchet wore the Metallic Tree Beast mask that Qwark wore before their battle. "So, like I said, Qwark has lost his mind this time. Now what?" He asked as Angela was snickering at Qwark's acting like a monkey.

"Just keep that mask on. He thinks you're his new leader. Which could make it easy for us to take him to our ship." Clank said as they all started to venture back to the Star Explorer.

"Just one problem. Where is he gonna sit?" Angela asked, noting how huge Qwark was for the Star Explorer, which was not a big starship that they rode to Florana. And Qwark was a massive top heavy guy.

Ratchet felt confused as he also started to dread what they were gonna do with Qwark. Seeing that they were gonna be forced to have Qwark ride with them in the Ship. "That's… a good question." He said awkwardly.

Suddenly, they felt a large ship approaching their current location that was near the Star Explorer. Which they saw was the Galactic Ranger's dropship that they rode on to the F-sector of Veldin. And it was going to land near their location. (And thankfully, not on their ship like last time.)

Then the door opened, showing the Galactic Rangers themselves running out of the ship in two straight single file lines. "Okay Rangers, secure the perimeter and make… sure… oh. Hello again Sergeants! Sorry we're late!" The leading Ranger said saluting them. As well as recognizing Ratchet through his mask.

"It's okay, we've got the target already so you're all good." Ratchet said, relieved that they might be taking Qwark into their ship as he had to be calmed down by Angela and his monkey.

"We could've gotten here sooner, if 'somebody' didn't take the wrong turn at Albuquerque Planet!" The leading one said, gesturing to a clumsy Ranger who stood a little ashamed.

"Well, we could've avoided that if we had a GPS to use." The clumsy one responded.

"Save your squabbles for later Rangers!" Ratchet said, defusing what could've been an argument. "Besides, we have Qwark, and he might need some therapy since he's obviously lost his marbles. So, is there a therapist bot in that ship?!" He then called out.

None of the Rangers ended up raising their hands though. "Negative sir. But we'll find a way once we return to the Phoenix. Hey! Speaking of which, our commander has heard of your success, and now she wants to speak with you. Putting her through now." He then said before showing an HD screen to Ratchet's face.

Which then showed another Cazar on the screen. Only that one was a female, and looked more thinner than the male one. Having similar brown fur, she wore a lilac captains suit that hugged her figure, at least from the upper parts, while having some golden decorations that showed her Rank. And she had ocean blue eyes.

"This is Captain Sasha Phyronix of the Starship Phoenix. The President has asked me to assist you folks." The female known as Sasha said on the screen as she saw Ratchet as he lifted his mask up, showing his face.

"Uh, hello." He said, trying to be formal to her, as both he and Qwark started to find her attractive. But the latter kept it to himself by Angela's nonverbal command.

"I see you've located Captain Qwark." She said smiling at him.

"Yeah, we've got him, but… uh, he… thinks he's a monkey." Ratchet said, noting Qwark's mannerisms.

"I see." She said awkwardly. "Bring him to the Phoenix, and we'll see what we can do. Also, we have given you all some quarters in our Phoenix too, so just in case you're coming with him, feel free to visit us and check them out yourselves. I'm uploading the coordinates to your ship as we speak. Sasha out." She then said before ending the call.

"Well, we don't have anything better to do so far, other than try to strike back against Nefarious ourselves. So why don't we go to that Phoenix too?" She asked Ratchet.

"Good idea. We might need help at our current strengths. So might as well go to the Phoenix." Ratchet said to Angela. Then he turned to the leading Ranger as the other Rangers struggled to put in a resisting Qwark in the dropship with them. "Here, wear this on your face. It'll trick him into thinking you're his leader. That'll calm him down." Ratchet said, giving the mask to the leading Ranger.

"Thanks Sarge. We'll take it from here now." The Ranger said before doing just that, which calmed Qwark down before he then was put on the ship with the Rangers, before it then took off into space.

Ratchet and his friends weren't far behind when they too took off into space after collecting what's left of the bolts nearby. Now they were headed to the Phoenix.


*Time skip*

The trio entered the Phoenix through the hanger door of the Phoenix, which they saw was a beautiful looking ship from the outside. Now that they were inside, they looked around at the hanger room that they were in, and saw that it was a spacious place. And it looked amazing as well. Especially since it looked like it could fit a few more dropships inside.

"Woah. This looks awesome!" Angela said.

Then a screen of Sasha appeared in front of them. "Welcome aboard the Phoenix ladies and gentlemen. Or, lady and gentlemen." Sasha said, noting only one lady, being Angela.

"Wow!" Ratchet then said.

"Impressive isn't she? The Phoenix is the pride of the Galactic Fleet.

She is equipped with the latest in technology: including

o A Holodeck Training Suite,

o Autovenders for Armor and Guns,

o Virtual fighting arena, and firing range,

o Starfighter upgrade system, like the ones for your ship there,

And even a Gadgetron VG-9000 gaming system." Sasha said, listing off the amenities and showing images of them on the screen.

The last one had both Ratchet and Angela feeling awed at that. "A VG-9000?" He asked excitedly, yet quietly.

"Of course. It even comes with a Mavox Fireball Pro controller, VR headset, and a Zero gravity dance pad attachment." Sasha then said showing more of the images.

Ratchet and Angela felt like they died and gone to heaven at that. Both of them did feel like they were gamers in spirit, which they felt, was what they had in common and what might've fueled their friendship during their Post-Protopet incident days. Angela also admits, she was hooked at the Zero Gravity dance pad. (Which she hopes to dance with Ratchet on for the fun of it.)

"Will you marry me?" Ratchet accidentally asked. Before facepalming. "Err, no sorry! Didn't mean to ask that, forget I asked!" He said quickly as Angela also tried not to laugh at that accident.

Although she did feel a pang of jealousy at her as well.

"Well, you both do seem to feel a little wore out. That's why your quarters are prepared for you both. And, Qwark is also in the room, but don't worry, he's in a custom made cage so that he won't get in your way. Come meet me on the bridge when your both ready. Sasha out." She then said before ending the call. Leaving the Lombaxes to their devices.

*Time skip*

They were now in the quarters themselves as they were looking over a caged Qwark who was currently eating bananas alongside the one eyed monkey. Who he named Skrunch. "So, this is really the guy that defeated Nefarious? How do you think he got like this?" Ratchet asked.

"Well, the life of a Galactic superhero can be very stressful." Clank said with a giggle.

"I know. But this guy really was the guy that defeated Nefarious?" Angela then asked, feeling like she was told a joke about Captain Qwark. (And not a very funny one.)

As they saw Qwark fighting Skrunch for a banana that the latter snatched from his hand, both Ratchet and Angela had similar thoughts about the situation they were in.

"We're hosed/F#$!ed."


And done.

Here it is folks, the next chapter for R&C&A. I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

Also, I'm still wondering what to do with the gold weapons that Ratchet and Angela would be using in this fic. Whether to have them evolve, or just keep them the same. I'm leaning towards the former though.

Finally one more thing.

I hope that you enjoyed the chapter,

please give constructive criticism, just don't be rude,

And do not forget to read and review,

I hope that all of you stay safe,

and once again, I do not own Ratchet and Clank. It is created and owned by Insomniac games and Sony.

Theodore the poet signing out.