I should really stop making these promises about my deadlines. I always seem to underestimate the time I need, and especially how much I actually plan on writing, and yet, I never learn.
But hey, better late than never, right?
"I still think you were being more than a little paranoid to assume that they'd steal any of your possessions beside the Dimensionator, Ratchet." Clank comments as they make their way back to the lobby, now finally having finished his inventory check after a monotonous ten minutes. "I believe it's illegal to do that across nearly all law enforcement institutions."
"Hey, you saw how much Wells hates me, I wouldn't put it past her if she decided to steal one of my guns just to get back at me." He replies as he walks through the halls, escorted by Jacks, the same officer that brought him to the evidence room.
"I would." Clank argues. "She simply seems like someone who is very passionate about her job. And you really only have yourself to blame for the hostility between you two, since you're the one who constantly provokes her."
Ratchet scoffs. "Seriously? I bet you think I should start giving Thugs-4-Less some slack then, too, huh? I mean, they're passionate about their jobs, and it's also my fault they always try to kill me since I provoke them by stepping in to stop them from helping the bad guys." He retorts.
"You know as well as I do that's an unfair and flatly inaccurate comparison to make, Ratchet." Clank chides him.
"Wait, who's trying to kill you?" The officer asks with surprised concern, looking back down at him with a similarly shocked expression.
"Just some mercenary goons, but also a little bit of everybody, honestly." He replies nonchalantly with a wave of his hand. "I've yet to visit a new galaxy without getting shot at by someone, including you guys. It gets really annoying sometimes, but not as annoying as Chief Wells calling me a stupid kid every single time I see her." He pouts as he crosses his arms.
Jacks simply looks at him with distress at how indifferently he answered that. "I—"
"Just promise me that you'll at least try to be amicable with her, okay?" Clank asks, cutting him off. "If you really want to establish yourself in this dimension, then it is best to try and make friends, not enemies."
"'Friend' is a strong word." Ratchet points out with a raised finger.
"Acquaintance, then." Clank says with a roll of his optics. "The point is to not have your father and I worry about you ending up in yet more trouble because you can't help but insult someone who is simply trying to do their job, even if they are a little abrasive about how they go about it."
The mention of his father seemed to do the trick, as after a brief moment of thought, Ratchet concedes with a sigh instead of rebutting with another argument. "Fine."
Clank returns a nod. "Good."
"Just don't expect me to try and be best friends or anything with her, alright?" Ratchet clarifies.
"As long as you don't get yourself arrested once again, then I'm satisfied." He reassures him.
Jacks once again tries to ask what the hell he meant by being annoyed by constantly getting shot at, but as they enter the lobby once more, Ratchet simply gives him a quick salute as a farewell before walking away to search for his father among the dozens of Lombaxes in the lobby.
After a few moments, along with Clank's help, they spot him sitting on a bench nearby with Chief Wells, and appeared to be in the midst an engaging conversation. Ratchet found it mildly curious, as he didn't think they were exactly buddy-buddy with each other by the way she coldly dismissed them before leaving yesterday, and yet, here she was, giving him her full attention as he speaks about whatever it is he's talking about.
He and Clank walk over to them, and as they get closer, they start to make out what they're saying over the bustling noise of the rest of the lobby.
"And after that, our commander forced him to wash his entire ship with only a toothbrush." Kaden says as he mimes holding one himself for emphasis, much to Wells' amusement by the way she stifled a small snicker. "From the thrusters to the windshield, he had to scrub that fighter so clean that our commander could see his reflection, or else he'd dump a bucket of mud all over it and tell him to try again until he got it right."
"And how long was he at it?" Wells asks.
"About eight hours, and four failed checks, if I remember correctly." Kaden says as he looks up to recall the details. "I thought it was a bit too harsh, even despite how he went off on our commander like that, but you couldn't deny it got results. From that point on, he never once complained or argued back whenever we were ordered to clean our ships, and you know he made sure to never to cross our commander again."
"I see…" Wells comments with a nod as she rests her hand on her chin. "So, you're saying that I should start punishing my officers with that, too. Yeah, I think that's a perfect for when they decide to start slacking off!" She says with a devious smile.
Kaden raises an eyebrow. "Actually, didn't I just say that I thought it was too harsh for a Praetorian soldier, much less a City Guard?"
She shrugs. "Yes, but you also said it got results, which is why we're having this conversation in the first place. And don't worry, I'm not going to make them scrub our cruisers with a toothbrush, I don't think I'll have enough time to spare to make them do that, anyway. I'll give them some big, extra-stiff hairbrushes instead."
Kaden opens his mouth with a raised finger to counter her argument, but after a moment of reluctance, he simply gives a small sigh before lowering it. "Well, I guess I can't say you're worse than our commander was, at least."
"Oh, I wouldn't say that, if they decide to keep being stupid afterwards, then I'll break out the toothbrush." Wells follows up in a determined tone.
"That wasn't supposed to be a challenge." Kaden replies with a certain fearfulness in his voice.
"Well, if I don't take it as one, then how am I supposed to improve myself as a leader?" She replies pointedly.
"Oh, I have a suggestion." Ratchet comments as he walks up to them, surprising them with his sudden appearance. "Maybe you could be a little nicer and try not being such a—"
He is cut off by Clank none-too-subtly giving a sound as if clearing his throat, sternly gazing at him with crossed arms.
"What were we just talking about, Ratchet?" He asks in a chiding tone.
He gives a small groan as both Kaden and Wells look at him expectantly, with the former wearing an expression of apprehensiveness while the latter glares at him with an angry grimace.
"I could try not being such a what?" She asks in a deadly tone as she crosses her arms.
"You could try not being such a… erm…"
Ratchet quickly tries to turn his would-be insult around into a compliment, but finding one of those for her of all people was proving to be a daunting task for him. And as the seconds drag on, her eyebrow slowly raises while Kaden visibly braces himself for his answer.
However, Ratchet decides to abandon his current course of action and simply waves his hand as if it'll dispel the tension that's befallen onto them. "Um, never mind, just forget I said anything. What were you guys talking about anyway?" He quickly asks, trying to change the topic.
She glares at him with an incredulous gaze while Kaden and Clank watch with bated breath, both ready to intervene if she decides to escalate this situation into something violent.
But thankfully, all she does is roll her eyes with an annoyed look before speaking up to answer his question.
"I was just getting some advice from your father, is all." She replies in an audibly calmer tone. "Maybe he can teach you some manners too, while he's at it."
Ratchet tilts his head while his companions instead breathe an internal sigh of relief at the dodged bullet.
"Advice?" Ratchet repeats. "What kind of advice?"
"Well," Kaden explains, "As you know, I was a General in the Praetorian Guard. Chief Wells here asked me for some tips to better command her men since she's in the middle of restructuring the City Guard, and apparently, her men are doing… less than ideal in training." He says, making sure to be careful with his wording.
"That's putting it lightly." She states with her usual disgruntlement. "The fact that you were able to give my guys the runaround in your stupid chase is a stain on our department that I fully intend to wash off." She says as she points towards Ratchet.
He shrugs. "Well, to be fair, I doubt your guys would've caught me even if they didn't suck. I'm not one of the most popular heroes in my dimension for nothing, after all." He says with a proud smile.
"What are you—Oh. Right. I guess you did say that in your interrogation yesterday." She grumbles. "Which… is he actually right?" She asks Kaden. "Especially the bit about Tachyon? I know you already said so yesterday, but after meeting with the Council and everything, is it really true?"
He gives a hesitant nod. "I'm afraid so. We even used a MemoReader on him, and… well… we watched it for ourselves. Tachyon's gone for good, thanks to him." He says while gesturing towards Ratchet.
Her eyes widen slightly as she looks back to him, who confirms it with a proud nod. "That's… Huh." She comments with mild astonishment, Ratchet noting this is the first time she's looked at him without some shade of anger.
"I guess I'm not just a stupid punk now, huh?" He asks smugly as he crosses his arms haughtily.
What little amazement she had instantly falls off her face as she instead begins to scowl at him. "Oh, I don't think so." She states irritably while pointing at him. "Intergalactic hero or not, it doesn't change the fact that you are hands-down the biggest pain in the ass I've had to deal with, what with you running around all over the city like a hooligan yesterday, causing me all sorts of headaches as I try to fix it! And don't pat yourself on the back too hard when it comes to outclassing my men, because I easily beat over half of them out on our training course by a mile, which is exactly the problem I'm trying to fix, no thanks to you!"
"What do you mean? I think you should be thanking me if anything!" Ratchet argues, unintimidated by her attitude. "If I didn't show up to run circles around your guys, you wouldn't have known just how badly they suck at being officers!"
She scoffs. "You want me to say thank you for being a goddamn nuisance? You're lucky you're not one of my men, because arrogance like that is rewarded with something alright, but it sure as hell isn't a 'thank you'!"
Ratchet begins to frown as he crosses his arms, and upon seeing this, Clank attempts to intervene.
"Ratchet, don't—"
"And I'm glad I'm not one of your men, because I can tell having to spend a day with you is a worse punishment than anything you could possibly come up with." He counters. "Honestly, you're harder to put up with than Captain Qwark, and that guy tried to kill me! Twice!"
"Why do I even try?" Clank mutters as he facepalms from the sheer disappointment that Ratchet's promise to be nice lasted all but a minute.
Kaden, however, suddenly turns away for a moment, an inkling of an idea popping into his head as Wells begins to seethe next to him.
"Do you really wanna test that theory, punk?" Wells bites back. "Because I've learned a lot of techniques from your dad here about how to deal with unruly little bastards like you, and I can't wait to try them out!"
He slaps a hand onto his face before dragging it down with a groan. "My name is Ratchet!" He clarifies yet again. "Not 'punk', not 'delinquent', not 'little bastard'! Call me Ratchet!"
"I wish I could, but that would imply that I actually have enough respect for you to do that, so I think I'll just stick with calling you a punk instead, punk."
"What do you mean you don't respect me? I literally just said that I killed Tachyon!" Ratchet argues back as he throws his hands up indignantly.
"And right now, you are slaughtering my patience for putting up with you and your bullshit! I swear, I am this close from just standing up right now to strangle you until you start seeing that dirty Cragmite's face again, punk!" She tells him, emphasizing with an almost nonexistent gap between two of her fingers.
"Oh, I'd like to see you try, Chief!" Ratchet bites back with crossed arms as he glares at her. "Oh wait, my bad! That makes it sound like I actually have some respect for you, according to your stupid logic!" He says in a mockingly apologetic tone as his eyes widen slightly while placing a hand on his chin. "So, I guess what I meant to say was that I'd like to see you try, you pretentious, grouchy, stuck-up bi—"
"Wait a second." Kaden suddenly speaks up, cutting Ratchet off as Wells appears moments away from murdering him right where he stood. "That's not a half-bad idea, actually."
"Wait, what?" Ratchet asks in surprise, and a slight bit of fear.
"Are you really giving me permission to choke out your son?" Wells asks with hopeful enthusiasm, looking poised to take him down at his confirmation.
"No, not at all." Kaden quickly shuts her down. "Even if he does somewhat deserve it." He adds, shooting Ratchet a disapproving look.
He looks away with a huff, crossing his arms. "She started it." He grumbles.
"No, you did, which is exactly the problem we were discussing earlier." Clank corrects him in a firmly disappointed tone. "Just why do you never listen to me?"
Ratchet grumbles something under his breath as he pouts, but Kaden simply shakes his head before continuing with what he was saying.
"I was actually referring to what you said earlier, about you two spending the day together. I think it's a good idea."
"Wait, what?" They all ask as they look back at him with surprised confusion.
"Why do you think that's a good idea, Kaden?" Clank asks him with doubt, as if he just proposed lighting a match in the middle of a Gelatonium factory, which wasn't an unlike comparison to make against the clear disaster that would surely unfold from having them together for more than five minutes.
"Because I figure that Ratchet could maybe help Chief Wells here train the recruits." He proposes.
"Wait, what?!" Both of them exclaim in shock.
"Why would I help her?!" Ratchet asks as he throws his arms to her.
"Why would I put up with him?!" She adds, returning the gesture.
He raises a placating hand to calm them both down. "I know, I know, but I think it'll be perfect for the both of you."
"How in the hell would that be 'perfect' for me?" Wells asks in disbelief.
"Same here!" Ratchet agrees.
"I know he's being more than a little difficult with you, but it'll be great practice." Kaden explains to Wells. "It's inevitable that you're going to end up with someone as cocky as him, and believe me, there is not enough discipline in the world to get it completely out of their system."
"And why are you so sure of that?" She asks with some doubt.
"Because I was one of those men, once upon a time." Kaden answers, pointing to himself. "And you're going to have to do what my commander did, which is to learn how to at least tolerate their nonsense to keep a cool head. And I can't think of a better way for you to get a feel for it than to have Ratchet here stick around for a while. And, with his skills, since he's going to be out on the course with your men, it'll act as extra motivation for them if he manages to beat them by a landslide. After all, it'll be embarrassing for them if they get outperformed by who they think is a kid, right?"
As he talks, her shocked surprise softens, and she instead looks away to ponder over his reasoning. "I… suppose that's not the worst idea I've ever heard." She comments. "But I'm still not sure if I like—"
"You also get full reign to yell at him all you want as part of his training, too." He follows up. "It's only a part of the process, right?"
"…Alright." She concedes with a small nod.
"But why do I have to do it?" Ratchet asks in disbelief.
"It's because I saw for myself just how experienced you are out in the field from your memories and by the stories you've told me. And by the sound of it, you enjoy doing those kinds of things, right?"
"Well, yeah, but it's not like I'm also constantly being yelled at by some jerk who thinks she's better than me while I'm out saving the galaxy." He says bitterly as he gives a side-eye to Wells, who returns a scowl.
"True, but if you do this, then you get to show off and let the City Guard see for themselves that you're not just a dumb kid like you're always complaining about." He offers.
"That is a good point, Ratchet." Clank adds. "Isn't that the reason you decided to run all over the city instead of simply stopping for that guard yesterday?"
"Wait, seriously? That's why I've had to deal with you and this huge mess you made?" Wells asks him in an annoyed disbelief. "Because you were butthurt about Pyle calling you a kid?"
Ratchet frowns. "Hey, do you know what it feels like to save the galaxy again and again by risking your life every five minutes, only for some chubby guy to make fun of you because you're apparently on the shorter side of your species you've never met before? Because if not, then I guarantee you'd feel bitter about it, too."
"Unbelievable." She mutters bitterly as she shakes her head.
"So… is that a yes, then?" Kaden asks with a raised eyebrow. "This is a great opportunity to get it out of your system, you know."
Ratchet crosses his arms as he mulls over his proposal. He had to admit that the prospect of being able to shove it in Wells' face that he can kick ass despite being a constant pain in hers was very tempting, even if she was going to be yelling at him some more as he does it. And the chance to see what these guys' training course was like sounded like fun, too. He always enjoyed the challenge of Helga's courses, especially when she made them extra dangerous, and he currently held the record above the rest of the Galactic Rangers.
But he also had to realize that this course was probably going to be something run-of-the-mill, seeing as though that it's just for a police force and isn't run by a sadist who considers fatalities a natural part of the training process.
At least, he didn't think Wells was a sadist, but it wouldn't surprise him if she was.
Even then, though, it still sounded like a fun time to shoot some guns and run through a few obstacles to flaunt his skills as an intergalactic hero.
However, as much as he liked the idea, there was something that was stopping him from saying yes.
He sighs. "Didn't you say we have plans after this?" He asks Kaden. "I mean, today's supposed to be for us to spend time together, right? I don't want to do this training thing if it's going to get in the way of that." He says earnestly. "I want to hang out with my dad, not some grouchy lady and a bunch of sloppy recruits."
As Wells is heard taking a deep breath to calm herself, Kaden can't help but smile at hearing his son saying he genuinely wants to bond with him.
"I'm glad you think that Ratchet, but you don't have to worry." Kaden reassures him. "We have all day to spend time with each other, and I don't think that this should take too long. Right?" He asks Wells, still sitting beside him.
She affirms with a small nod. "A round through the training program shouldn't take more than an hour. It should be more like a half-hour, but I guess that's asking too much of my officers." She finishes with a grumble. "Incompetent bastards."
"See? We'll be out of here in no time." Kaden says as he looks back to Ratchet. "And this isn't a complete disconnect from our bonding time together, either, I'm still going to be there to watch you, after all. And I can't deny that I'm a little eager to see what my son managed to pick up from his old man for myself." He says with a light chuckle.
The idea that his father was going to be there seemed to be what Ratchet needed to take him off the fence, as he gives a nod with a small smile. "Alright, then. I'll do it."
Kaden gives a smile to him as well, and turns back to Chief Wells. "Well, I'd say we're ready when you are. How soon can you get everything set up?"
"Right now, actually." She answers as she stands up from the bench they were sitting on. "I just need to finish up a few things with Jacks over there, so you'll have to wait a couple minutes."
Kaden returns a thumbs-up. "No problem, we'll be waiting right here."
With a nod, she turns away and starts to head off back towards the reception desk near the entrance, but not before shooting Ratchet a quick scowl as she passes him, to which he gives a sneer in return as she walks away. And as she does, Ratchet goes ahead and takes her seat on the bench next to his father, with Clank also hopping up right next to him.
"You know, I still don't really understand why you came up with this idea." He comments to Kaden. "Why exactly are you helping her like this?"
"It's because I owed her a favor, and she called it in so I can help her make the City Guard a better place." Kaden pointedly replies. "And even though I already gave her some advice as you were grabbing your things, I figured that having you help train her men would be an excellent way to help her even more."
"And why do you owe her?" Ratchet inquires.
"Because she didn't have to release you yesterday, you know." He replies sharply. "You could've sat in a jail cell all day until I got your pardon sorted out, but you didn't, and that's because she was nice enough to accept my request when I asked her to let you go. Not everyone would've done that, but she did, so you could stand to show a little more respect for her instead of trying to start a fight whenever you talk to her, Ratchet." He says while tapping his arm with the back of his hand in a chiding gesture. "I can't deny that I feel some embarrassment when you insult her like that."
"As do I." Clank chimes in. "Especially after I made you promise to not do that anymore."
Ratchet frowns as he crosses his arms. "Hey, I'll start showing her some respect when she starts showing me some respect instead of acting all high and mighty just because she gets to boss around a bunch of officers who can't even shoot the broad side of a freighter."
He looks back over to his father, and sees the stern look he's giving him, the disapproval being all too clear without him needing to say anything. It was something that he saw from Clank all too frequently, but something about seeing it from his actual dad made him feel a little bit guilty inside as he gazes down on the floor ahead of them.
"Sorry." He mumbles.
"Just why are you always so antagonistic to her, anyway?" Clank asks curiously.
Ratchet doesn't immediately answer his question, taking a few seconds to think before he gives a small sigh.
"I don't know…" He begins. "Maybe it's because she was the first Lombax I got to sit down and talk with in this dimension. I tried to be nice to her at first, but as I kept telling her about how I got here and what I was up to back home, she just got more and more angry at me, and kept calling me a stupid, lying kid. It just really soured my mood on the whole experience of finally meeting my people, which made me start arguing back at her, which just made her even more pissed."
"Well… you've gotta admit that your story does seem a little farfetched from an outside perspective." Kaden replies. "I mean, even I didn't initially believe you when you first said you took down Tachyon."
"Yeah, that might be true, but now she knows I was telling the truth, and she's still insulting me!" Ratchet argues. "She just has an anger problem."
Kaden sighs. "Well, yes, while she does have a bit of a temper, you have to also admit that it's understandable given the amount of work she's willingly putting herself through just to improve the City Guard." He says as he gestures to the building around them for emphasis. "And by doing that, she's making the city a safer place for everyone else, right?"
Ratchet tilts his head from side to side. "I mean… I guess."
"And being the hero that you are, you have to recognize and commend her effort in doing that, right?" He follows up with a raised eyebrow. "You of all people can understand that's not an easy thing to do, but she's giving it her all with a strong passion nonetheless, which happens to manifest into a bit of an attitude."
Ratchet thinks for a moment as gazes at her standing at the reception desk, talking with Jacks while filling some papers out, occasionally pointing and making various gestures, probably to better illustrate the orders she was likely giving. There was an intense vigor behind her every action, and he didn't doubt her tone reflected that intensity, either. In a way, it reminded him of Talwyn on his occasional visits to the Polaris Defense Force with the way she led her men, and she was far from being a bad leader by any means.
He sighs yet again. "Yeah… I guess you're right about that, too."
"And, knowing that she was nice enough to release you before your pardon shows that she's not as evil as you insist she is, right?"
"Yeah…" He mutters, beginning to feel a little embarrassed from his actions.
"So, do you think you can maybe appreciate all the work she's doing and be a little nicer to her from now on?" Kaden finishes. "For real this time, since Clank has apparently had this talk with you, too, by the sound of it?"
Ratchet gives a conceding nod. "I'll try."
Kaden smiles and leans to over to wrap his arm around his shoulders. "Good. But just be sure to try a little harder this time, okay?"
"Alright. But I can't promise I'll hold my tongue if she starts going off on me again." Ratchet warns.
"Ratchet, you're the one who starts the arguments between the two of you." Clank says. "I guarantee if you don't antagonize her, then neither will she."
"I agree with him." Kaden adds. "She never explodes on me because I always treat her cordially. If you do the same thing, then she won't have a reason to keep calling you names."
"Well… If you say so."
Suddenly, a loud ping is heard above them, and looking up, they see it's a speaker for the PA system, through which Chief Well's voice crackles through.
"All recruits, report to the training room in ten minutes for a special exercise." She announces. "All recruits, report to the training room in ten minutes."
They look back over to the reception desk and see her place a small phone-like device back into a cradle on the other side of the desk before she walks back to join them yet again.
"Alright, I'll lead you two back to the training room after I get Ratchet here to the armory." She tells Kaden and Clank. "But first—"
She leans down and snatches Ratchet's Arsenal off his belt, much to his unpleasant surprise.
"Hey, what the hell, I just got that back!" He tells her, standing up while reaching to take it back from her. However, she simply moves her hand outside of his grasp with a roll of her eyes.
"Quit your whining, I'm not confiscating it from you." She tells him as she tosses it back over to Kaden, who manages to catch it despite the unexpected toss. "But if you're going to be training with the City Guard, then you're going to be equipped like a City Guard, too. And, unfortunately for you, we don't arm our officers with enough weapons to single-handedly take out a small planet."
"Wait, does that mean I'm going to get a uniform and everything?" Ratchet asks.
"If it's going to be a level playing field with the other recruits, then yes. Although… I'm not sure if we even have one in your size." She says while eyeing up his short stature.
He frowns a little, but before he can reply, she turns around with a shrug. "But, if we somehow have a surplus of uniforms for overweight Lombaxes, then I'm sure we've got some extra-smalls lying around somewhere. Now, come on, armory's on the way to the training room, so all of you can follow me." She says as she starts walking away.
Kaden and Clank get off the bench before they start to follow behind her, along with Ratchet, who can't help but sulk a little bit.
"I'm not that short." He mutters.
Kaden chuckles lightly upon hearing that. "You sound just like your mother."
Ratchet quits pouting for a moment to look at him curiously. "Huh? What do you mean?"
"Well, who else did you get your height from? It's pretty clear that it wasn't from me, after all." He says amusedly, pointing it out by putting a hand to where the top of Ratchet's head stood, which rested to about midway up his own neck. "You're almost exactly as tall as she was. Well… except maybe a tiny bit taller, now that I think about it."
"Wait, really?" He asks in mild awe.
"Yep." He confirms with a smile. "She always complained about how short she was, too, ever since I met her. Called it her most unattractive feature, but I thought otherwise. It just made it easier to cuddle her whenever we hugged, and how she'd be able to bury her face into my chest while I rest my chin on top of her head, right between her ears. She'd tell me about how she was able to hear my heartbeat, and how much it relaxed her if she was having a rough day. I don't think she ever minded her height in those moments."
He gives a longing sigh as Ratchet can see the nostalgia wash over his features, his eyes lost in a faraway look as a warm smile rests on his lips. There was also a slight tint of melancholy present in his gaze as well, but not enough to overpower the pure blissfulness of the memory. And upon seeing this, Ratchet couldn't help but smile along as well, getting to hear a snippet of his family's normal life, even if he never had the chance to meet his mother.
"But that didn't stop me from making fun of her about it from time to time, though." Kaden continues. "She hated it." He says lovingly, recalling her pouty face that always followed his teasing, sometimes accompanied with a small punch to the shoulder if she was in an especially unamused mood for his jabs. They never did hurt, obviously, but it never failed to bring a smile to his face, including now, over twenty years later.
Ratchet, however, frowns a little instead. "Aren't you supposed to say that you reassured her that she's still pretty and shouldn't care about being short, or something like that? And not about how you made fun of her?"
"Nah." Kaden replies with a small shake of his head. "She could've picked any other Lombax in the universe to marry, but she knew what she was getting into when she chose me; A soldier who might never return home, an inventor that was apt to accidently blow himself up, and a smartass who liked to make far too many short jokes for his own good." He says with a telltale smirk as he looks back down to Ratchet.
He squints at him in return. "…You're going to make fun of my height too, aren't you?"
"Hey, if your mother never got a pass, then neither should you." He says innocently.
Ratchet groans as they continue to follow Wells through the City Guard. "Well, thanks for the heads-up, I guess." He mutters with zero enthusiasm. "It's more warning than I usually get from every bad guy that calls me a pipsqueak."
Kaden pats his shoulder with a chuckle. "Anytime, Ratchet. Anytime."
I was actually planning on having the whole 'Ratchet gets to show off in front of the City Guard' for a little while now, and originally had it hinted pretty blatantly in the last chapter in my first draft.
But as the weeks between updates dragged on, I chickened out at the last second and wrote it so that I could plausibly give myself an out to have Ratchet and Kaden leave immediately after he gets his stuff. I figured that people wanted to see more of Ratchet and Kaden after having to wait so long for an update, and that having a segment with a bigger focus on a dumb little OC of mine would be seen as more of an annoying distraction than anything else.
But, to my surprise, people seemed to enjoy Chief Wells more than I thought they would, and some even said how'd they'd actually like to see Ratchet help train the City Guard, too. I've gotta admit that I felt flattered that people actually cared about this character I initially created as a throwaway plot device, and it convinced me to actually go ahead with my original plan, so here we are.
That brings me to my next point, which is that I also wanted to say that I do read all the comments I manage to get, and I enjoy every single one of them, whether they're a few words or a few paragraphs, and I thank those that have done so already. Sorry if I haven't been responding to them, I admittedly suck at finding the right words for those kinds of things, but I'll make sure to get into the habit of doing that from this point on. It'd be the least I can do if someone actually liked my fun little story about these space cats enough to say so, after all.
Sappy nonsense aside, though, fingers crossed I get the next part up sooner than these last two. I actually had to split this thing up because it was getting too damn long, so I've got over half of it done already, which is approximately 100% more progress than I usually have done when I make these promises I never seem to keep.
And also, I plan on going back and updating the rest of the chapters soon so I can finally fix all of these goddamn typos mistakes that have been plaguing me on every one of my rereads, so if for whatever reason you see an update where there's no new chapter, well, that's why.
Until next time!