Ratchet gave out a yawn as he stretched, drawing in a quick breath as he did so. The wounds on his side threatening to open once again. The waking-up lombax scratched the back of his right ear, eyes still closed. Then he shook his head, opening them right up as he remembered what had happened the night before. Sasha had found him, taken him to the Starship Phoenix, and given him food. After not seeing her for so many years? Not exchanging a single word? He was surprised she even remembered him. Ratchet looked to his side, noticing that the nightstand no longer had the food tray placed onto it, but what appeared to be a new outfit. He quickly sat up straight, now fully awake. Was this for him?
It was folded neatly, a metallic gray with glowing neon highlights designed throughout. Ratchet couldn't control himself as he reached out an ungloved hand. He gently picked up the top part of the outfit, feeling the fabric beneath his fingers. It was soft, but tough. Like it wouldn't chafe, but it would protect.
The particular color pattern was quick to remind the lombax of his teenage years. More specifically, his old bright green Aegis Mark V armor set. That thing was his favorite back in the day, Ratchet let out of soft chuckle at the memory. His ears sung down a bit, realizing how much time has gone by.
Suddenly, his ears swooped back up at the sound of a knock at his door, or… doors.
Must be Sash. Ratchet thought, then he paused. Sash? Am I really going back to giving her a nickname?
He quickly shook his head as another knock was heard from the door. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" Ratchet called, lazily getting out of bed and walking towards the door. He was barefoot, his feet dirty and in terrible shape, along with the rest of his matted fur. The dry blood on his stomach and chest weren't exactly a good look either. All he really had on was an old pair of dark blue sweatpants. He yawned, putting a hand over his mouth as the doors swung open. Sure enough, it was Sasha. She wore a bright smile on her face, holding a helmet in her hand along with a pair of heavy duty boots in the other.
"Good morning!" The Cazar announced, "Mind if I come in?"
Ratchet tried to sneak a closer look at the items before responding. "Yeah, sure- come in!" He stepped aside, making room for her. Sasha nodded, tail swinging behind her as she walked over towards his bed.
"You look like you're feeling better." The Cazar noted, setting the boots down onto the floor and helmet onto his nightstand. "I've been in such a rush these days, I can't believe I forgot to bring these along with the actual armor." She looked over to his bed, seeing the blood stains Ratchet had rubbed off onto the sheets in his sleep. Ratchet followed behind her and she began to take them off the mattress.
"Oh, that's okay, Sasha!" Ratchet shook his head at her. "I can do that myself-" The lombax fretted, not wanting to feel babied.
"It's alright, Ratchet." Sasha was quick to respond. "It's my ship, I need to be taking care of it." Ratchet found it pointless to argue as Sasha brought up a new topic. "I hope you'll like the new armor I've picked out for you." She looked over towards the mentioned piece as she spoke, continuing to take the sheets off. "The color scheme reminded me of the old armor you used to wear." She finished taking off the pillow sheet as she chuckled. "You were so excited when you finally had enough bolts for it."
The memories were crystal clear in Ratchet's head, and he couldn't help but let out a small chuckle back. "Heh, yeah. I miss that thing."
"What happened to it?" Sasha asked, finishing up with the bed sheets and wrapping them in her hands.
"Ah, y'know," Ratchet said, putting a hand on the back of his neck. "the years come and go and, so does the armor." There was a trace of sadness in his voice.
"I know how that is." Sasha replied, sounding thoughtful. "Anyhow," She started again. "I'll take these over to the laundry room. Would you meet me at the cafeteria? It won't take me long." She pointed over at the armor she had dropped off. "You can change into those so you aren't heading out in old sweatpants."
"Right." Ratchet said, reminded of his appearance.
Sasha began to head out as Ratchet couldn't wait to try on his new outfit.
"By the way," Sasha said right before exiting. "You can probably take those bandages off now!" The doors shut behind her.
Ratchet shook his head once she was out of sight. Always telling him what to do. Neverminding that, the lombax clasped his hands together as he eyed the green and silver besides his bed.
Rivet clasped her hands together. "First things first!" The younger Lombax was clicking away at the controls of her ship, with Clank sitting right across in the passenger seat. The two were parked just outside her hideout. "We're going to need some clues."
"What sort of clues are we looking for?" Clank wondered.
"Starting simple," Rivet explained. "where did you last see Ratchet?" The tone of her voice sounded a bit more desperate than she had anticipated. Clank gave her a look.
"Well," the robot began, putting a digit onto his chin and he looked down in thought. "I am not quite sure where it was. We were being thrown from dimension to dimension."
Rivet tightened her grip on the steering wheel. "So he's in a different dimension." Rivet sighed. "Great."
Clank nodded.
"This… is going to be trickier than I thought." the lombax stated. "Well, what dimension do you guys live in?" Hopeful that any clues there can lead them closer to where he might be.
"Erm… I do not know of the name. But we live in the Solana Galaxy."
"That's in our dimension too!" Rivet exclaimed, then an idea came to mind. "Wait- what year?"
"Year?" Clank questioned. "5376?"
"The past!" Rivet exclaimed. "It's 5399! That explains so much!"
Clank was taken aback by the information. 5399? He was 23 years into the future! "I… it does?" The robot questioned. "How could I have ended up here? Rifts are not known for time travel…"
"Not yet they aren't. "Rivet answered. She pointed to an appearing rift that was much too far to impact them. "What is really known about these things? The universe itself doesn't know, and everyone is confused." She buckled up her seat belt. "And that's why it's up to us to find out!"
"Where are we going?" Clank asked, still trying to process everything that was verbally thrown at him.
"To find out more about these things! Come on, Bolts, buckle up!"
Ratchet buckled the bottom of his helmet under his chin, looking at his new look in the mirror. The color combo looked great on him, not to mention how well the green matched his eye color. He could see why his younger self loved to wear green so much. Ratchet leaned in closer to where his nose was almost touching the mirror. He adjusted his gloves before fluffing out the fur on his ears, making sure it no longer looked matted. Then he smiled at himself, clicking his tongue as he winked. He almost looked like he was 17 again- almost.
The cafeteria doors swayed open in front of the lombax, causing his ear fur to sway in the breeze. "About time you showed up." Sasha smiled, she had her hands on her hips and a smile on her face. "I see you've tried on the new armor." The admired his outfit.
"I sure did!" Ratchet nodded, holding out a hand as he admired the emerald color itself. "What do ya think?"
Sasha let out a little chuckle. "It looks great." The lombax smiled at her response. Sasha smiled back and the two stood there for a second, just looking at each other. Ratchet felt like he could see the universe in Sasha's eyes. They were so blue, hiding so much that had happened in the past. And for that moment, the mechanic came to realize how much he'd truly missed her. He couldn't believe she was standing right in front of him. That he was speaking to her, and he was speaking to him. He'd hate to admit it, but if this was some crazy dream he got after being knocked out by some inter-dimensional pirates, he wouldn't want to wake up.
The cazar shook her head. "So, should we go get something to eat? I need to talk to you."
"Oh, right." Ratchet was caught out of his thoughts.
The two headed over to the Phoenix's vending machines, which would fully prepare meals. Ratchet was in the mood for something sweet, deciding on the french toast. He wasn't surprised when he turned around to see Sasha getting a cup of coffee along with a protein box filled with overly healthy foods. Ratchet sighed, just like her old self. The cazar wouldn't ever sleep, she'd stay up with coffee and continuously be on missions and doing work. He didn't know how she did it. But then again, Sasha was amazing, she could do any- Ratchet stopped himself right there. There was no way he was just about to say that. The lombax brought his french toast to the table, still baffled with his thoughts and why he would ever think that.
Sasha sat in front of him, making sure the table was clean first. Ratchet tried to occupy his mind by opening the syrup container. "So." Sasha began, unwrapping a protein bar from her box. "I'll need to know more about how you ended up her."
"What, is this an interrogation?" Ratchet joked.
"Har, har." Sasha rolled her eyes. "Listen, Ratchet. We haven't seen each other in almost 20 years, we can't sweep this under the rug." She pointed her bar at him. "I told you my story, now you have to tell me yours. What happened, how did you get out of Dreadzone?" Then the bigger question came up. "And… where is Clank?"
Ratchet set the syrup container down harder than he anticipated at that name. Sasha looked down at it, and back at him. She had a confused expression written across her face, and the lombax could feel it on him, even if he wasn't looking directly at her. A moment of silence fell upon them until Ratchet muttered the words. "I don't think I'll see him again."
Sasha's face became apparent with worry. "What?" was all she could ask.
Ratchet put a palm up to his forehead, now feeling the weight of this whole situation once again. "Look, Sasha, I wasn't just fighting a bunch of deadly pirates for fun." He covered his eyes. "I was there because I really screwed up. Not only that, this is the biggest screw up I've ever made."
Sasha's ears lowered. She hadn't expected a response like this. Coming from Ratchet, that meant this had to be bad. "What happened?" She leaned in an inch or so. "Did you guys have a fight?"
Ratchet shook his head. "No," he took a deep breath before continuing. This was going to need a lot of explaining. "Nefarious returned to our dimension." The cazar's face became more serious at this, but she remained silent. "He's stolen a device called the dimensionator, which was originally a hat created by the Lombax's, but Clank modified it and turned it into a gun as a gift for me to find my family-"
Ratchet paused, seeing as this was already a lot to take in. But Sasha was on board and listening, so he continued. "Buuuut of course, Nefarious ended up stealing it to find a dimension where he- and quote-" Ratchet put up quote signs with his fingers to emphasis Nefarious's words. "Always wins."
Sasha put a hand to her chin as she continued to lean in on the table, gross protein bar forgotten.
"Aaaand…" Ratchet put a hand on the back of his neck. "I had the bright idea of shooting it."
"What's wrong with that?" The cazar asked.
Ratchet's voice was regretful. "It ended up opening up millions of portals across the universe to different dimensions, and they are impossible to avoid getting sucked into." Sasha bit her lip at this, clearing seeing his mistake.
"So…" The lombax finished up his story. "I lost Clank in one of them, and now he could be anywhere in the universe." He shook his head. "He doesn't even know where I am."
The two stayed silent for a moment, Ratchet was looking down at the table, covering his eyes. He tried his best to refrain from crying, but a single tear fell down from his cheeks and hit the table. Sasha noticed this, looking at him. She felt horrible in that moment. She got up from her seat and walked to the other side of the table. Ratchet felt her hand on his shoulder as he looked up at her, eyes red from the silent crying.
"Look, Ratchet." Sasha began. "I don't care how long it takes, but officially from now, finding Clank will be my top priority." She leaned down so they were at the same level. The cazar forced a hopeful smile onto her face as she looked into the lombax's eyes. "We'll find him, I promise. Ratchet gave a little smile back at her, and before they knew it, the two were hugging.