Ratchet finds that the portal makes his skin tingle in an odd way. But as they pass through, it goes as quickly as it comes, and the portal shuts quietly behind them. Ratchet's breath hitches as he finds himself looking at the metal walls of the city in front of him, able to hear the normal hustle and bustle of a large civilization like this. But this time, it was Lombaxes making all those noises, just out of sight.
This was really happening.
Ratchet shakes his head, steeling his nerves. "Let's go, Clank."
They start walking toward the large gates they see, and as they get closer, they could see ships flying in and out of the city, and Ratchet noted that they look very much like Aphelion, but sleeker. He dimly realizes that they probably should have brought her here with them, thinking she would've been excited to reunite with her creators. Well, at least he can use this trip to see if they're worth visiting again or—
"Halt!" A voice calls out to them.
They look up and see a Lombax guard looking down onto them from atop the gates, with yellow fur like Ratchet, but interestingly, with dark brown stripes that appear in a slightly more jagged pattern than his own. He appears to be wearing blue armor reminiscent of Alister's, but it was simpler. In fact, it looked more like a standard uniform since it didn't look battle-ready by any means. In fact, he didn't look very battle-ready, with a little chubbiness about his features.
He held an OmniWrench in his hand, but it wasn't of the Praetorian variety like Alister's, just a standard one-handed model like Ratchet's, although he thought his own looked better.
"Identification." He says in a gruff voice.
Ratchet only stares back up at him, in awe over seeing another living Lombax. He is suddenly nudged by Clank, and he snaps out of his daze to answer him.
"Er, I'm Ratchet!" He calls out excitedly. "And this is Clank, my friend!"
"Hell kinda name is that?" Ratchet hears him mutter, even from this distance, making him frown slightly. "Love the enthusiasm, Ratchet, but what's your ID number?" The guard reiterates tiredly.
"Uh… I don't have one of those." Ratchet says, confused.
He rolls his eyes. "Very funny. Stop joking around and give me your number, kid. You know I can't let you in without it." The guard says impatiently.
"Wha—Hey! I'm no kid!" Ratchet yells up at him.
"Really? Cause you look like one, shorty. How old are you?"
"I'm 20!"
He scoffs. "Sure you are, kid."
Ratchet throws his arms up at the man as he looks down at Clank, gauging for his opinion on this. Clank only shrugs.
"Well, back where I'm from, I ain't a kid, alright?" Ratchet calls up to him.
The guard laughs. "And where is that? Your tree fort?"
"No, the other dimension!" Ratchet says, angered by the guard's insult.
The guard looks at him, unimpressed. "Say what now?"
"I'm from the last dimension! I got here with the Dimensionator, see?" He produces the device and holds it up for the guard to get a better look of it. Maybe now he'll apologize and—
"Nice try, punk." The guard says, shaking his head. "If you actually paid attention to your history class, you'd know it looks nothing like that."
"I must say, you seem to be rather unprofessional!" Clank pipes up. "And this device looks different because the original was destroyed, and I had to make repairs—"
"Yeah, yeah." The guard cuts him off, waving his hand. "Just run off with your little toys now before you give me a headache. And don't come back until you're ready to give me your number, kid."
"Hey, we're being—" Ratchet calls before the guard steps away, out of sight. "…serious." He slumps and looks over at Clank. "Can you believe this? Me, a kid?"
"Well, while I must admit you do act like one sometimes," Clank says to his chagrin, "That guard didn't appear to be a nice person. But what do you propose to do now? We don't have an identification number to gain access to the city."
Ratchet holsters the Dimensionator once more and looks onto the wall going off in either direction. "We find another way inside." He says, walking along it.
"Er, are you sure this is wise?" Clank asks. "It would hardly be a good first impression if you were arrested by the authorities."
"What other choice do we have, Clank? They won't listen to some kid." He repeats in a mocking tone of the guard.
Clank eyes him curiously. "You really are disgruntled by his comment, aren't you?"
"Of course I am! I didn't save three galaxies and time itself just to be insulted by some guy who probably sits on his ass all day!" He fumes. "I swear, if everyone else ends up being like that guy, then I'm leaving."
Ratchet starts to tap on the metal wall with his Wrench, looking for some sort of hollow spot. With walls this thick, there must be some kind of shaft or vent. Whether or not it's big enough to enter, he'll cross that bridge when he gets to it. He continues like this for a few minutes, trying to find an optimal place to sneak in.
In the meantime, Clank tries to convince Ratchet to just return to the guard and try to explain everything, to which he adamantly refuses, claiming that someone rude as him won't listen to reason.
Eventually though, the wall rings instead of thuds as his wrench taps against it, making them stop.
"Bingo." Ratchet says, readying his Wrench for a swing. He slams it into the wall, and a small rectangle folds in where the Wrench hit it, and Ratchet pries it off to reveal a passageway just a little larger than him, prompting him to give a small fist pump. He crawls into it and pushes up onto the plate on the other side, having the other half pop off easily, emerging into a small alleyway between a couple of buildings.
"Wow, for an advanced race, these guys suck at making walls." Ratchet says amusedly, stepping out of the shaft. "That was too easy."
"Hey!" He hears a familiar voice call out.
He slowly looks to his side and finds the guard from the gate standing a few yards away from him, looking very unhappy.
"You're just a real dumbass, ain't ya kid?" He asks. "Not only do you not know what a Dimensionator looks like, but you also don't know that the emergency exits have built-in sensors?"
Ratchet scowls. "I'm telling you, I'm not a kid!"
"Shut your trap. You're coming with me so your parents can pick you up and put you in timeout." The guard starts walking over to him, OmniWrench in hand.
"We should listen to him, Ratchet." Clank advises him, strapped to his back. "It is best to not make enemies of your own people."
"Yeah, what your bot said." The guard agrees, getting closer. "Just make this easy for all of us, kid."
Ratchet scowls as he starts to raise his hands in surrender. Never had he felt so disrespected! He expects this kind of treatment from Qwark, but his own people? When was the last time this guy was in a fight for his life, huh? Probably never, judging by the sloppy way he held his Wrench. Ratchet could run circles around this guy any day of the week!
He suddenly grins mischievously as that last thought gives him an idea.
"So, you think I'm a kid, huh?" Ratchet asks the guard casually, hands still raised.
The guard scoffs. "Obviously. I mean, just look at you!" He stops as he points his Wrench up and down his body.
"Then you should have no problem catching some kid, right?"
"What are you—"
Ratchet then sprints off down the alleyway with a laugh, and the guard begins yelling and chasing after him.
"Hey! We've got an intruder by the Northeast Gate making a break for it!" He hears the guard yell behind him.
As Ratchet runs down the alleyway, he runs out into the open road, and momentarily freezes as he is overwhelmed with the sight of dozens of Lombaxes, different colors, heights, and genders, some of which look at him curiously. There are children walking with their parents, businessmen reading papers on benches, and a steady flow of hovercars with even more Lombaxes inside of them.
This… this was it, his people's home! After all those years of loneliness and pondering about where his people were, he is finally here. He couldn't believe—
"Ratchet!" Clank yells at him, snapping him out of his thoughts.
"Get back here!" The guard calls out, reminding him that he is still being chased.
"Right!" Ratchet immediately runs down the sidewalk, and dodges Lombaxes who don't already jump out of the way.
"Ratchet, just what do you think you're doing?" Clank scolds him.
"If they're gonna insult me like that, they've gotta earn it!" He replies. He looks down and smiles to see that he remembered to put on his hoverboots today. Time for a little joyride.
Ratchet hops up and activates his hoverboots to start flying down the road, dodging and weaving between the hovercars driving along. He has a grin plastered in his face as he flies down the street, ignoring the few drivers who lean out and yell at him. This was some of the most fun he's had since his retired!
He takes in the sights of the buildings around him, awing at the fact that this is what Fastoon used to look like. He couldn't believe this is what he'd been missing! He felt glad that Tachyon got what was coming to him, if this is what he took away from him.
As he marvels at the skyline in between checking the road in front of him, he notices a camera drone starting to follow him. He looks at it and gives a wave before he looks back to see the guard that was chasing him stop to catch his breath.
"What's the matter?!" Ratchet calls out behind him with a laugh. "Can't catch some kid?"
"Ratchet, look out!" Clank calls out.
He returns his attention ahead of him, and sees many guards begin to line up in the road in front of him, forming an impromptu barricade as they hold their Wrenches up defensively, preparing to stop him if he doesn't first.
"Halt! You're under arrest by order of the City Guard!" One of them calls out.
"Don't think so!" Ratchet replies.
Ratchet quickly gives himself a quick boost to hop onto a car, parked in front of them, and then boosts up onto the side of the building next to them before running across the wall and passing right by them, giving them a smirk as they gawk at him in disbelief.
He flips off the wall and resumes flying down the road, giving them a wave.
"How did he do that?!" He hears one of the guards ask.
Ratchet laughs as he turns around once more, no longer having to dodge hovercars from the Guard shutting down the road. Up ahead, he could see another barricade preparing to stop him, but looking to his right, he sees a ladder leading up to the top of one of the buildings. He quickly boosts sideways and grabs the ladder before scurrying up onto the roof, finding no one else on top of the buildings with him. He looks over the edge and sees the guards on the road below look helplessly up at him, except for one who appears to be talking in a communicator.
"Doubt we'll find more trouble up here." He tells Clank behind him as he rests for a quick breather.
"We wouldn't have trouble if you only listened to me!" Clank chastises him. "We've only been in this dimension for maybe five minutes, and you're already making enemies!"
Ratchet scoffs. "I'm not making enemies, Clank. Just having a little fun with the authorities. There's a difference."
"And what's the difference?"
"They're not shooting at me. If they really are an enemy, I'd be dodging fire instead of hovercars."
As soon as he says that, they hear a door burst open on the rooftop across the street from them, and two guards funnel out before aim blasters at him.
"Stop running!" One guard yells out to him. "Or we will be forced to incapacitate you for your own safety!"
Clank squints at Ratchet, who tries to ignore it. "'Just a little fun', huh?"
"Oh come on, they're not going to shoot someone they think is a kid, Clank. They're only bluffing so—"
A shot whizzes by his head, making him yelp as they begin to open fire, making him start running across the roof.
"How did you miss that?!" He hears the guard yell to her partner. "He was at point blank range, standing still, and you missed him!"
"Hey, when was the last time we had to actually shoot someone, huh?" He retorts. "I don't see you hitting him, either!"
Ratchet activates his hoverboots once again and starts hopping from rooftop to rooftop, dodging the guards' lousy shots. Luckily, Ratchet recognizes them as nonlethal stun bolts as they fly past him, which makes him feel only a little better at being shot at by his own race.
"Ratchet, just surrender!" Clank tells him. "We have nothing to gain from fleeing!"
"Oh, yes we do!" Ratchet says. "Their respect!"
As he flies along an especially long rooftop, A guard suddenly bursts out from a door in front of him, Ratchet could see him ready his Wrench for a swing. however, with his all-too perfected battle reflexes, he narrowly ducks under the swing and give him a two-finger salute as he flips around before continuing his escape.
Bolts still whizzing past him, now coming from the street below, Ratchet eventually sees that the line of buildings end, and screeches to a halt. The door to the roof slams open once more, and several guards empty out onto the roof with him, all armed with blasters.
"Just stop this already!" A guard yells. "You have nowhere to run!"
Ratchet looks over the edge, and luckily sees an array of pipes far down below going between some industrial-looking buildings. Clank sees this as well, along with the grin beginning to grow on his face.
"Ratchet, don't." Clank says sternly.
Ratchet looks back to the guards, and raises his hands, prompting them to slowly walk over, still pointing their blasters.
"Alright, don't move, or we will—"
"See ya!" Ratchet says as he backflips off the roof, making the guards rush to the edge.
"Did he just kill himself?!" One asks in shock.
Ratchet switches into his Grindboots in the air, thankful he always keeps his arsenal on him, and lands onto the pipes, disdainfully aided by Clank's Helipack, grinding across them as he turns around to wave at the guards, still frozen in shock.
"Oh, yes," Clank says sourly. "Because a kid wouldn't do something so reckless like jump off a building. Flawless logic, Ratchet."
"At the very least, I want to show them I'm a kid with skills." Ratchet corrects him.
Down below, more guards appear and resume shooting at him, but Ratchet easily dodges them as he flips and jumps from pipe to pipe.
"Who taught these guys how to shoot?" Ratchet laughs, looking down at them. "They're almost as bad at shooting as they are at building—"
"Ratchet, look out!"
He looks up just in time to see that the pipes end into the wall of a large building. Not having enough time to maneuver out of the way, Ratchet bails off the pipes and down onto the ground, his fall cushioned by Clank's Helipack.
He's face to face with a wall, and looks to his right, but sees no alleys. He looks to his left and is met with the same sight. He hears running from behind, and he slowly turns with a sigh to find at least a dozen guards pointing their guns at him, with even more coming down the road.
"Just… surrender!" One guard calls out, nearly out of breath from running after him. "You've… got nowhere … to run!"
"Ratchet." Clank says angrily.
Ratchet rolls his eyes as he kneels and raises his hands into the air. "Yeah, yeah. They earned it."
As the guards move in, cautiously, Ratchet sees that the camera drone from before is still following him. It then flies a little closer to get a better look at him, and Ratchet gives it a smile and a wink, making Clank sigh as he shakes his head.