Lost Time

by ACleverName8

Kaden lost everything when Tachyon attacked. His wife, his son, his best friend. Almost his life, too. He should be thankful he's still alive, but an unfortunate set of circumstances has left him separated from his son, who is stranded in another dimension, all alone. He swears that he will reunite with him one day, but when will that day come? (AU)

18. Chapter 13 - A Small Favor - Part II

Well, look at that, I broke my record for longest chapter yet again. Guess this 'small favor' isn't so small after all, huh?

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Kaden and Clank were once again sitting on a bench, next to the only other one around them. They were situated atop a small balcony that acted as an observation/control area for the much larger training room in front of them, accessible by a small lift that led down to the primary training floor, which was controlled by a large console in front of them. The rest of the room was admittedly a little bleak, as the entirety of the walls, floors, and ceiling were nothing but metal broken up only by their seams and an array of what Kaden recognized to be solid-light emitters.

Below them was a group of a couple dozen or so recruits milling about, consisting of a healthy mixture of colors and genders, all donning the blue uniforms of the City Guard. Like Kaden and Clank, they were waiting for Chief Wells to arrive, who was presently in the middle of getting Ratchet geared up in the armory.

But while the recruits are having conversations amongst themselves to pass the time, Kaden is instead taking the opportunity to have a peek through Ratchet's Arsenal for himself, still having it after Wells tossed it to him.

And even at a first glance, his quick once-over of his inventory was definitely… enlightening, to say the least.

"I thought she was exaggerating when she told me how many guns he has..." He mutters in disbelief as he scrolls through the nigh-endless list of weaponry on the holodisplay. "I don't know what Julie would do if she had her hands on this thing!"

"Well, Ratchet does say it is his pride and joy." Clank explains with a small shrug. "He first started accumulating weapons during our first adventure together, and he's never stopped since. He always insists that he must collect at least a dozen more every time we go on a new adventure, too. Or when he hears that Gadgetron is issuing a new sale. Or when Megacorp does so as well. Or… if it's simply been around a month since he's acquired a new gun." Clank says as he places a hand on his chin while Kaden looks at him, dumbfounded.

"And he's been shopping around a lot more ever since we retired, too. Hmm… I guess I never really truly grasped his fixation for collecting weaponry until now." He muses to himself.

"…Huh." Is all Kaden could reply to that statement, returning his attention back to the Arsenal. Out of all the nephews she could have claimed for herself, Julie picked the right one for sure.

He continues to scroll through the list for another minute or so, but then suddenly stops as he sees a particular entry in the inventory. He slowly brings a finger to it, but hesitates for a few seconds before tapping on it to manifest the device into his hands.

He freezes as he suddenly finds himself holding the Dimensionator in his grip, a breath catching in his throat as a surge of emotions invade him.

It felt familiar in his hands, yet simultaneously alien to him. He's spent a good portion of his life working with this device in the Interdimensional Division with Mags, becoming so acquainted with it that he was named its Keeper, a title that he still technically holds today.

But on the other hand, he's never had the chance to even look at one ever since he sealed it inside of that facility on Rykan V in the midst of the Great Exodus, and spending nearly every single day since then doing everything he can to get it back.

Two entire decades he's spent fighting the Council tooth and nail for that chance, even getting thrown in prison for trying to build a Dimensionator of his own behind their backs. So many failed schemes and plans to convince them to listen to his plea, and so many nights agonizing over his constant failure to save his son.

So much of his life has been swallowed in an unending pursuit to get a Dimensionator just like this one, so much so that the thought of actually succeeding was nothing short of a fever dream.

And yet, despite all that effort and all that time, here he was, holding one in his hands at the mere press of a button.

But now, he doesn't even need it anymore, now that Ratchet is here. So, for all intents and purposes, this hunk of metal was borderline useless to him now. It was like the punchline of a cruel joke.

"Erm… Are you alright, Kaden?" Clank asks worriedly as he looks to him with a concerned expression, sensing his sudden change of attitude.

Kaden shakes his head, snapping out of his thoughts to give him a small, wry smile. "Erm, yeah, sorry." He answers, looking back to gaze at it in his hands once more. "It just feels… ironic to be able to hold this thing again after all these years, is all. I wish for the opportunity for nearly half my life, but it's only after I get my son back that it's finally granted." He explains with a sort of sardonic amusement in his tone as he idly fiddles with the knobs and dials that he knew so well. "The universe sure can be cruel, sometimes."

Clank can't help but give a small smile. "You know, there's someone I knew that had a saying: The universe has a wonderful sense of humor, but the trick is learning how to take the joke."

Kaden exhales a dry laugh through his nose. "I think your friend and I have different definitions of 'wonderful', then."

"Well, I suppose he did seem to be quite optimistic, even in situations where it might not have appeared to be the most fitting reaction to have, but I still believe his words ring true nonetheless." Clank says with a shrug. "It doesn't do yourself any good to let the bad things in life drag you down, after all. And sometimes, there is nothing you can do but recognize the absurd unfairness of your situation and laugh to help you move on."

Kaden regards him for a moment before giving a small smile. "Well, when you put it like that, I guess I can see where he's coming from."

"Indeed." Clank affirms with a nod. "Why, I remember after our most recent adventure, Ratchet and I had to take back the Dimensionator after it was stolen yet again, and after it was all said and done, it simply fell apart in our hands as Ratchet was considering to travel here to meet the rest of you." Clank says amusedly. "And all we could do was share a good laugh over our bad luck."

And as he chuckles at the memory, Kaden can't help but smile along. "Well, I'm glad you went ahead and repaired this thing so that he could, Clank." He states, lifting the device in his hands for emphasis. "I can't imagine how hard it must have been for you to pull it off, and I genuinely can't thank you enough. If it wasn't for you, I don't think I'd ever get the chance to see my son again." He says while affectionately resting a hand on his shoulder.

Clank gives a proud smile. "Thank you, Kaden. It wasn't easy to repair the Dimensionator by any means, but I managed. I've had to deal with much more complicated contraptions before, believe it or not."

Kaden initially finds that statement a little curious, since the Dimensionator was the pinnacle of Lombax ingenuity at one point, and among the most advanced devices he's ever encountered. But then, he recalls Ratchet's memory he watched last night, the one where he first met Alister, and their conversation about the Great Clock.

And more importantly, what they were saying about Clank.

"I… do believe you, actually." Kaden says as he returns the Dimensionator back to Ratchet's Arsenal, finding it a little cumbersome to be comfortably held for any longer. "And I actually had something I wanted to ask you, too."

Clank tilts his head. "Oh? What is it?"

He scratches the back of his head, searching for the right words to say. "Well… you see, Ratchet's memories about Tachyon weren't the only ones I recorded from him." He begins. "He told me a little about Alister, and he let me record his memory of their first meeting together. But… there was something about their conversation that puzzled me."

Clank grows a little restless at the mention of Alister, feeling a little apprehensive about what Kaden was going to ask. "Erm… And what is it, exactly?"

"Well… they were talking about you." He explains. "And about how you're connected to the Great Clock and the Zoni. I know it must sound crazy, but… is that true?"

Clank looks away from him, visibly uncomfortable with the question by the way he nervously twiddled his metallic digits. A strange reaction, Kaden thought, and it only served to reinforce his initial thought that there was something a little peculiar about this whole Great Clock situation.

"How much has Ratchet told you about Alister?" Clank finally asks, with a palpable apprehensiveness in his tone.

Kaden gives him a confused look. "What?"

"You say that you and Ratchet have spoken about Alister. How much has he told you?" Clank clarifies.

Kaden gives him a strange look, unsure of what that has to do with his question about him and the Zoni, but he answers him anyway. "Not much, to be honest. Just about how they met, and the fact that he died. Ratchet did seem a little shaken up about it, though, so I didn't press him any further."

"I see." Clank mutters with a small nod, looking away in thought. "And… What of his demise has he shared?"

Kaden furrows his brow. "What does that have to do with—"

"I am simply making sure I do not say anything that Ratchet is not comfortable sharing with you as well." He explains. "You've seen for yourself how deeply affected he is from his time with Alister, and it is a subject that must be tread with caution. So, again, what has he told you specifically?" He reiterates.

"Erm… almost nothing." Kaden replies, made more than a little uneased by his reasoning. Why did this seem like such a taboo topic for them? "All he said was that he 'sacrificed himself to save the universe'. Do you know what he meant by that?"

Clank gives a small sigh, but nods. "I do, and he is technically not wrong in saying that. But… if that's really all he said to you, then I'm afraid I can't elaborate any further." He says with a shrug. "I'm sorry."

"Wait, what? Not even my question about you and the Zoni?" Kaden asks with surprised doubt.

"No." He answers with a shake of his head.

Kaden opens his mouth to object, but Clank cuts him off with a raised finger before he could even speak. "I know you must be even more confused, but I assure you that my shrewdness on this subject is not out of malevolence, but for Ratchet's sake." He says in a calming, yet firm tone. "He is my partner, but most importantly, my best friend, and I must do everything I can to protect him both physically and emotionally. And if that includes denying to answer your questions, then so be it."

"I… I don't understand, though," Kaden states with concern, "Ratchet's not here, and if it's a touchy subject with him, then I'll just make sure not to say anything to him. And if you're telling me that he's hurting from whatever happened, then as his father, I want—no, need to know why, so why you don't just tell me what's going on?"

"It's not as simple as that." Clank sighs. "Because the truth is, I'm not just holding my tongue for Ratchet's sake. I'm also doing it for yours as well."

Kaden doesn't immediately respond, opting instead to simply stare at him in pure bewilderment.

Just what the hell happened between Alister and the Great Clock? Why does Clank feel the need to protect him from that information? And most of all, why is Ratchet so distraught over it like he says?

Clank opens his mouth in an attempt to elaborate more on his statement as Kaden continues to gawk at him with incredulity, but he is cut off as they hear the doors to the training room open loudly.

They both look over while all conversation amongst the City Guard recruits instantly silence as Chief Wells appears in the door frame, accompanied by Ratchet, who is now also wearing a blue uniform like the rest of them, complete with a blaster on his belt and an Omniwrench mounted on his back. But curiously, he was also missing his signature aviator cap, which was the likely cause for the expression of disgruntlement that he wore on his face.

"Alright, everybody line up!" She orders them, carrying a clipboard in her hand. "And I want to hear a roll call, too! I want to make sure everybody's here for this, and if I find out someone decided they're too good for training today, then their ass is grass! Understood?!"

A resounding "Yes, ma'am!" is heard as the recruits scramble to position themselves in a line while Wells and Ratchet walk to the front of the group.

Getting over the initial shock of the sudden interruption, Kaden turns back to Clank to demand just what the hell he's talking about, but he seemed to be one step ahead of him, beginning to speak as soon as he looked over.

"Again, I can sense your mind must be racing with questions and possible accusations, but this is neither the time nor the place for this conversation." Clank tells him firmly as the recruits can be heard beginning to recite their names. "And besides… I'm not the one you should talk to. Ratchet is the one who needs to tell you, not me. It'll be easier for the both of you that way."

As much as Kaden wants to sit here and attempt to pry answers from him… he unfortunately had to agree. Whatever this was, it was definitely a grave matter to both Clank and his son. And if slaying Tachyon—The bane of their species, previously-thought killer of his father, and the entire reason he's had to live the life he had—was nothing more than 'just another day on the job' to Ratchet by the casual way he discusses it, then he couldn't imagine what it takes to make him as shaken up as he is by the Great Clock.

He gives a long, conceding sigh before giving a small nod. "Alright. But I want to get to the bottom of this, though, you hear me?" He tells Clank while pointing a finger at him.

"I understand." Clank assures him. "But… I just want you to promise me one more thing."

Kaden gives a small frown. "What is it now?"

Clank reaches over, and to his surprise, grips his hand in comforting gesture while looking right at him.

"Please do not say anything about this to Ratchet for today." He says earnestly. "When we were retrieving his Arsenal earlier, he was more than enthusiastic to tell me about how excited he is to be able to finally spend time with his father. He wants today to be a day filled with memories that the two of you can both look back on fondly. You even heard it yourself when you proposed this training idea, after all." He says as he gestures to Ratchet and the group of City Guard recruits, who were about halfway through their roll call.

"But if you bring up this business with Alister and the Great Clock, then it's going to ruin all of that for him, and you as well." Clank says as he gives Kaden's hand a firm squeeze. "So, please, if you really want to help your son, then the best way to do that is to just focus on spending some quality time with him today. Okay?"

Kaden stares at him, and at the genuine, caring look he wore about his robotic features. He then turns his head to look back down at all the recruits, and right at Ratchet, who stood next to Chief Wells with an almost bored expression as he idly picks at parts of his uniform, uncomfortable wearing something other than his usual attire.

But as he looks up to brush down the fur on the top of his rarely-naked head, Ratchet catches Kaden staring at him, seemingly just now noticing their presence on the observation balcony. The boredom on his face instantly vanishes as he instead returns a smile accompanied with a wave, as if he was a child in the middle of a play noticing his parents in the crowd. In fact, looking at him now, he almost did look like a child with how he was a little shorter than every other Lombax around him, wearing clothes that looked so out of place on him that it may as well have been a costume instead of a professional uniform.

But what really sold it, Kaden thought, was the pure happiness that illuminated his face. It didn't look like the face of an experienced hero who has gone toe-to-toe with a genocidal maniac, brushing with death far too casually. It didn't look like the face of a lonely Lombax who grew up all alone, living a childhood filled with ridicule and bullying for being different. It didn't look like the face of a disturbed soul, plagued by some kind of traumatic event that neither he nor his partner wished to speak about.

It looked like the face of a child who was happy to see his father. A wide grin on his lips, eyes lit up with joy, and a hand waving in delight. All because he was simply there, watching him.

Despite all the unease, confusion, and anger that his talk with Clank had afflicted him with, Kaden couldn't help but grin right along as he gladly returns the wave.

"You're right." He says as he continues to gaze at Ratchet, who puts his hand down with an awkward smile after Wells subtly gives him a questioning look before rolling her eyes, returning her attention back to her clipboard. "I suppose we've both had enough pain after everything that happened yesterday, too."

"I'm glad to hear it." Clank merrily states, letting go of his hand before his optics widen in realization of what he said. "Erm, about you deciding to spend time with Ratchet, that is, and not about having to recount all your past grief yesterday." He awkwardly corrects himself.

Kaden gives a small chuckle. "Don't worry, I know what you mean. And… I'm sorry for being a little short with you back there." He says with a small sigh. "I can see you're just trying to look out for my son, even if I don't understand why or how just yet. And even though it's making me more than a little concerned that you even have to do that… I'm glad you're doing it anyway." He says while giving him a sincere smile. "I'm grateful he has a friend like you in his life, Clank"

Clank smiles in return. "And I'm grateful I have a friend like him as well."

And with that, they return their attention back to the recruits on the training floor, just in time to watch as the last one gives his name before Chief Wells checks it off her clipboard. Having gone through everyone, she looks over her entire list once more, and after spotting a missing checkmark, begins to shake her head.

"Goddammit." She mutters while looking up to the recruits, arms crossed. "Does anyone know where Jones is?"

Before any of them could answer, the doors to the training room fly open, and a female City Guard recruit freezes in the doorway for a moment upon seeing everyone looking back at her with surprise. But then, she promptly snaps out of her daze and runs to the end of the line, right past an agitated Wells and an amused Ratchet, stifling a snicker.

In only a few seconds, she plants herself right next to the last recruit in line and gives a firm salute.

"Officer Jones, reporting for duty, Chief!" She calls out anxiously. "I'm sorry I'm late!" She hastily adds.

"And why the hell are you late?" Wells asks angrily. "I made the announcement ten minutes ago; didn't you hear it?!"

"I did, but… I just wanted to finish the episode of 'Vance and Janet' that was playing in the breakroom, and I lost track of time!" She explains with embarrassment.

"'Vance and Janet'?" Ratchet mutters quietly to himself, wondering why the name sounded so familiar until his eyes widen in realization. "Wait, is that a soap opera?!" He asks her worriedly.

"Erm… yeah?" She answers, confused. "Nearly everyone's heard of it."

He groans. "I thought I was safe from that stupid show when I came here!" He laments in dismay.

Wells ignores his comment as she instead buries her face in her hand, rubbing her eyes. "I asked for them to simply exist within a room in ten minutes." She states with a cold fury behind her words. "The bar couldn't be any lower, and yet, I'm still disappointed!"

"I'm sorry Chief, it won't happen again!" Jones apologizes once more with palpable fear in her voice.

"You're damn right it won't happen again!" She points to her before waving her finger across the whole group. "In fact, a lot of things aren't going to happen again, because there's going to be a whole lot of new changes around here!"

She throws her arm carrying the clipboard straight out to her side, practically slapping Ratchet in the chest with it as he grabs it out of sheer surprise.

"For far too long, the City Guard has been a laughing stock, with our officers getting much too comfortable and complacent with the lack of life-threatening danger we face in our city on a day-to-day basis." She announces, beginning to pace before them with her hands clasped behind her back while Ratchet awkwardly stands behind her with the clipboard in his hands, unsure of what to do with it.

"I will admit that we are fortunate to have the Praetorian Guard and our multitude of planetary defenses. Because of them, we get to live peacefully, not having to worry about being invaded by any more genocidal little pipsqueaks, their armies of walking tuna cans, or any other freaks that otherwise want nothing more than to take us out for one reason or another. And for that, we should truly be thankful."

She stops pacing and turns back to the recruits. "But do you know what those defenses don't stop? Wannabe graffiti artists, cat burglars, muggers, carjackers, drug dealers, murderers, and all the other low-rate wannabe criminals that are apt to run loose through our streets, terrorizing the average citizen simply going about their lives. And that is why you are here. Not so you can sit on your ass all day on gate duty, or to sit back and enjoy the ride while you're out on patrol, or to catch up on your shitty soap operas instead of showing up for training." She finishes while glaring at Jones, who shrinks under her gaze.

"You are here to serve and protect our citizens!" Wells declares as she slams a fist down into her palm, focusing back onto the rest of the group. "They depend on us because we are their first line of defense from total chaos, which is why I expect nothing but perfection from my officers! If we are to be peacekeepers, then we must be in peak condition to maintain that peace for as long as this city stands!"

She takes a moment to look over the line of recruits, checking to make sure she still has their attention, and feeling satisfied she does, returns back to pacing.

"Now, I know what you're probably thinking: 'But Chief, you're just exaggerating! There hasn't been any crime more serious than the occasional teen joyride through the city for weeks! All this extra training is unnecessary!'" She speaks in a mocking tone while waving her hand around.

She stops and turns back to the recruits once again. "And to that, I say bullshit. We are being proactive in our training, preparing us for any and all situations that may arise so that we can come in and swiftly neutralize any threat to our citizens." She says firmly, a scowl beginning to creep onto her face.

"Situations like having a stupid kid break in through the walls, running and flying all over the city, disrupting traffic and causing chaos, all the while we practically have an army of officers chasing after him while doing nothing to stop him!" She yells at the recruits, who visibly shrink back a little from the outburst while Ratchet can't help but smirk with satisfaction at seeing how much he managed to get under her skin. "Situations like that are exactly why we have training, you dumbasses!"

She then raises a hand. "If Pyle kept up on his regular physical training in between shoving his face full of donuts, he would've been in actual shape to catch him right from the get-go instead of getting winded after thirty seconds!" Wells states angrily, raising a finger to begin counting.

"If our officers actually cared about their firearms training, they would've been able to neutralize him with a single shot instead of giving the city an impromptu fireworks show from all the stunbolts that flew right past him and went into the sky!" She says, raising another finger.

"And if they had remembered our tactical procedures, they would've known to communicate better so that they could cut him off ahead of his path instead of just following him in one giant group, as if it'd scare the kid into stopping if he thought they were just one big animal!" She finishes with a third finger before throwing the hand in front of her.

"Three ways we could've ended yesterday's chase just like that before it could get out of hand like it did, all of which could've been done if they actually cared about their jobs as City Guard officers and put in the effort to make sure they could perform effectively! But did they do any of that? No, they didn't! And because of that, what little dignity this department had left just flew out the window along with any remaining trust the public had in our abilities to keep them safe, which is something I will not let happen again." She finishes in a deadly tone, emphasizing by pointing a finger downwards.

Once again, she looks across the line of recruits, letting her words hang in the air long enough for them to know she meant business, even more so than she usually does. She also utilizes the moment to take a breath to regain some of her composure, admittedly getting more than a little heated after having to recall precisely how badly her men screwed up yesterday.

"And so, that brings us here today." She states, exhaling while returning her hands to behind her back. "As you know, I've since instituted new policies to better prepare you all so that an incident like yesterday does not happen again, but with how poorly you've been performing—along with the way none of you can stop whining about it—I realized that I needed to give you all a little more…"

She clasps her hands with raised index fingers and brings them to her lips while inhaling a breath. "Incentive." She finishes, bringing them down. "So, as you've already noticed, I decided to invite a special guest to join us today."

She then turns and gestures towards Ratchet, still standing beside her with the clipboard in his hands, arms crossed impatiently from having to hear her drone on for the past few minutes.

But, upon noticing the attention suddenly transferring to him, he quickly shifts into a more professional posture, putting his hands on his hips with a smile as if he was at another heroic photoshoot.

"Some of you may already recognize him, but for those who don't, let me introduce you to Ratchet." Wells states. "AKA, the stupid, annoying little bastard responsible for yesterday's chase." She says bitterly.

And as the recruits display varying levels of shock and confusion at the reveal, Ratchet instead frowns at her as his proud posture falters with a slump.

"Would it kill you to use my name at least once without following it up with an insult?" He asks her annoyedly.

"Shut up." She sharply replies before turning back to the recruits, prompting him to give a small groan. "Now, I know what you're all thinking, and, yes, I can't believe I'm doing this either. But, I have reasonable confidence that this isn't a terrible idea, despite the fact that he's a criminal—"

"Pardoned criminal." Ratchet corrects her, pointing at her with the clipboard in his hand.

"I'm sorry, was I talking to you?" Wells snaps at him. "No? Then shut the hell up until I do, punk."

Ratchet rolls his eyes as she focuses back to the mildly confused recruits. "As I was saying—I don't think that this is a horrible idea, even if he's starting to give me second thoughts with his smart mouth. Because, lucky for us, when he decided to run all over the city like a lunatic, he was just trying to be an arrogant little show-off with his stunt instead of trying to actually kill people. And, yes, I do mean lucky, because let me paint you a picture of the reality we narrowly avoided yesterday." She says with a raised finger.

"Imagine if the next person that slips through the walls was just like Ratchet here, except for the fact that they were out for blood. Do you know what we'd have? We'd have a murderer running all over the city, taking potshots at every man, woman, and child they pass, and based on your performance, they'd be free to go on killing for as long as they please until more competent soldiers from the Praetorian Guard show up to put them down. And do you know where you'd be in that scenario? Doubled over right behind them, gasping for breath with an empty gun from failing to catch or even shoot the intruder after they've murdered over a dozen innocent Lombaxes, all because you were incapable to stop them." She states in a cold tone.

"Now answer me this; Would you want all that blood on your hands, all because you couldn't be asked to put in a little effort on your training?"

After a few moments of silence, she raises her eyebrows expectantly while leaning forward slightly, prompting the recruits meekly shake their heads as a few mumbled 'no's are heard in response.

"I thought not. So, to help you achieve the lofty goal of becoming worthy officers of the City Guard, I enlisted Ratchet's help here to set an example. He'll be running with you through the training exercise today, and his score, or the highest one otherwise, will become the new target. If you can be on par with him, then that will tell me that you are willing to do what it takes to protect our city and to prevent anything like yesterday from ever happening again."

She then points to them. "But, if you can't manage to exceed that score by the end of the month, then I will have the personal honor to boot your ass off the force myself. Literally. Am I understood?" She asks firmly.

The recruits respond with a salute and a resounding "Yes, ma'am!" that echoes through the large room.

"Good." Wells affirms with a nod. "Now, I understand that Ratchet here may have had a slight edge in running away with the equipment he had on him, so to level the playing field, I have given him the same exact standard-issue gear that you all are equipped with right now, too, including the basic stunbolt blaster, an Omniwrench, and of course, a City Guard uniform." She says as she gestures to Ratchet once more. "So, I don't want to hear any excuses if he beats you all, alright?"

"Did you really have to take my hat, though?" Ratchet asks with more than a little irritation. "It's not like I have a pair of Hoverboots stashed in there or anything!"

"Yes, I did." She replies pointedly. "The only headwear our officers are allowed to wear is the standard-issue assault helmet, as outlined in our uniform codes. And, unfortunately for you, those won't be necessary for this training."

He crosses his arms. "Well… I think your codes are stupid, then." He grumbles.

"Really? You do? I am just so devastated to hear that, then." Wells says in a dramatically apologetic tone, placing a hand on her chest in mock sympathy. "If it makes you feel any better, always remember that you're completely free to join the City Guard and spend the next decade crawling your way to the top to become Chief like I did, where you can change the codes in whichever way you see fit, including letting officers wear all the hats they want. In fact, you can even let them put little rainbow stickers on their helmets and guns while you're at it, too!" She says with a sarcastic joyfulness and plastic smile that made Ratchet scowl at her.

"I'm good." He says flatly.

"Then suck it up, buttercup." She states harshly, turning away from him, to which he gives her a childish sneer as soon as her back is turned, in plain view of all the recruits who were unsure what to make of the exchange. There weren't many who could backtalk to the Chief like that without fearing for their lives, after all. Especially if they were a criminal who pissed her off as much as he did.

"Now, before we begin, are there any questions?" Wells asks.

Nearly every recruit raises their hand.

She sighs. "Questions that don't involve why Ratchet is here and not in a jail cell?" She clarifies. "Because I'm afraid I do not have the time nor patience to explain it to you all."

Slowly, all their hands lower back down, to which she nods in satisfaction.

"Go ahead and prepare yourselves while I get the program up and running, then." Wells says while she snatches her clipboard out of Ratchet's hand as she walks past him and to the lift to the observation balcony.

She steps onto it, and, with her hands behind her back, turns around to face the rest of the recruits. "Good luck." She states as she presses the button, activating the lift to bring her to the observation balcony, leaving Ratchet and the rest of the recruits down on the training floor.

Some of them start doing various stretches in anticipation for the imminent training course, but the majority of them simply stare at Ratchet in bewilderment as he stands there, looking around.

"So, uh, where's the starting line?" He asks them. "Or… where's the course, even?" He asks as he thumbs to the empty room before them.

"Why… are you even here?" One recruit asks him in bafflement. "Aren't you just a kid?"

Ratchet frowns. "For the love of—No, I'm not!" He corrects him. "I am twenty years old, okay? Not a kid!"

"But aren't you still a criminal?" Another asks. "I saw them bring you in for interrogation yesterday myself!"

"Didn't you hear me a minute ago? I got pardoned by the Council of… Lombax Research or whatever their stupidly long name is." He explains with a wave of his hand. "So no, I'm not a criminal, either."

"You met with the Council?!" Another repeats in surprise. "And they just let you go?"

"Yeah, but, man, they were assholes about it. I can see why my dad hates them so much."

"But why did they let you go?!" One more asks.

"It's a long story." He replies. "But the short answer is that I did something so awesome that they really had no choice but to pardon me as congratulations. They even clapped for me and everything." He explains amusedly.

And as the recruits stare at him utterly stupefied, Chief Wells, meanwhile, reaches the observation balcony, where Kaden and Clank were still sitting on the bench, the former of which gives her an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

"That was an amazing speech, Chief Wells." Kaden tells her, clearly impressed. "With leadership like that, I don't doubt that you'd make it far in the Praetorian Guard if you were to join."

Wells makes no effort to suppress her proud smile. "I'm flattered to hear that, Kaden, but I've got to thank you for those pointers you gave me earlier. I realized that I needed to slap some cold, hard truths into their faces and remind them why they're here if I want them to improve." She says as she walks over to the console that controls the training room. "Like you said, if they don't have the drive, then no amount of training's going to help, right?"

He returns a small smile and a nod. "Right."

"If I may," Clank speaks up, "How exactly does this training course work? I don't see any platforms or such in the training room in front of us." He asks curiously.

"That's because I've got to turn it on first." Wells replies as she starts interacting with the console, typing away and pressing buttons on the screen.

"How exactly do you 'turn on' a training course?" He inquires with a tilted head.

"Like this." She states as she presses a button.

Suddenly, the previously empty room in front of them glows bright for a moment as a series of geometric platforms materialize out of thin air one by one, each of which was slightly transparent as it glowed with a blue hue and a small hum, save for a few that glowed red instead. Whatever parts of the course that weren't on the holographic platforms were still clearly marked by yellow boundary lines to show participants exactly where the path was.

Within seconds, a fully-fledged training course appeared right in front of them, taking up most of the previously empty training floor, complete with moving platforms, obstacles, and all the walls they need. On the wall opposite the observation balcony was a large holographic timer along with a score counter sitting beneath it, both of which were displaying zeros at the moment.

Down below, they could hear Ratchet mutter an amazed 'Woah…' while Clank's optics widen in a similar sentiment.

"How—"

"Solid-light emitters built into the walls, ceiling, and floor." Kaden explains as he points out the small glowing dots in between the seams of the metal panels. "Still a bit on the beta side of things, seeing how the infrastructure needed to manifest them is more than a little bulky and the fact that it can only handle basic shapes, but other than that, they're pretty versatile in certain situations like this."

"I'm assuming you're quite familiar with this technology by the sound of it, then?" Clank comments, observing it with fascination.

"Yeah, but I wasn't the one who invented it if that's what you're thinking." He tells him. "I was actually in the middle of designing a one-way door made utilizing the tech when I saw you and Ratchet on the news yesterday."

"Interesting. For what purpose, if I may ask?"

"To keep people from breaking in through the city walls' emergency exits all the time, like you two did." He explains with a smirk. "Ironic, I know."

"Finally someone's actually doing something about that!" Wells suddenly exclaims. "I've been trying to get the Council to fix that problem ever since I got promoted, mostly by telling them to get rid of the damn things!" She says as she throws her hand out in an agitated gesture while making some small configurations to the course's settings.

"I tried that. They don't listen." Kaden says annoyedly. "The exits are a 'necessary risk for the safety of our citizens', apparently." He punctuates with air quotes.

"'Necessary risk' my ass. Having to deal with kids breaking through them all the time is almost as infuriating as dealing with your son." She says while shaking her head with frustration. "The Council sure does know how to piss people off when they want to."

"Amen to that." He agrees. "Except for the part about my son, that is."

"Especially the part about your son." She counters.

And as Kaden rolls his eyes in response, she finishes initializing all the settings, and after giving a satisfied once-over, leans over and presses a button next to a small microphone on the console.

"Alright, everyone line up so we can start." She announces to them. "And remember, I want to see the best you've all got, so don't think for a second you can get away with only half-assing your run just so you can get an easier score to beat for the month."

"Are you sure?" Ratchet calls up to her as he and the other recruits start lining up at the start of the course. "I'd hate it if I had to make you kick out all of your guys next month because they couldn't come close to me!" He says with a cocky grin.

She frowns. "If what we saw yesterday was your all, then I don't think I've got too much to worry about." She tells him through the microphone.

"Oh please, yesterday was just a warmup compared to the stuff I usually do!" He retorts. "I was holding back, if anything!"

"Then let's see you put your money where your mouth is. Or anything else, really." She adds with a small shrug. "Whatever makes the most effective gag so that I wouldn't have to listen to any more of your shit."

Ratchet opens his mouth to counter back with something quite unsavory, but then remembers the talk he had with his father about trying to be a little nicer to her, and opts to just give a half-hearted thumbs-up in response.

After a minute or so, he and the recruits are all grouped up, each one lined up by the start of the course, with Ratchet finding himself last in line from stopping to gloat to Chief Wells. Not that he minded, because it let him get an idea for what to expect from the course.

And, well, it's like what they always say; best for last.

"You should all know the drill by now," She begins. "This course has three parts; You first run through some obstacles, then stop to shoot the targets, then finish off with a section using your Omniwrench. Your score is calculated by both your time and accuracy, so, obviously, get through the thing as fast as you can while hitting all the targets. Your time starts the instant you cross the start line, and ends the moment you reach the finish line. Any questions?"

She looks over the line, and luckily, there aren't, with everyone giving mixed reactions of shaking heads and 'no's.

"Good, because if you got confused by that, then I was fully prepared to fire you right here and now." She says. "Now, with that out of the way, first one up is free to start, have at it."

Ratchet looks ahead and sees the recruit in the front of the line return a thumbs up before shaking out her arms and rolling her head before getting into a running position. A moment later, she then dashes through the holographic 'START' at the front of the course, and a beep is heard. The large timer on the wall immediately begins counting, and the label changes from 'Waiting for Participant' to 'Officer Cooper, L.'.

The first part of the course was just an empty straight-away on the floor of the room, ending with five waist-high holographic walls that Officer Cooper proceeded to vault over with ease. Beyond them were another set of walls, these ones however being much higher, taking up half of the course on alternating sides, making her have to run in a serpentine pattern, quickly changing directions to get through it. Thanks to the transparent nature of the solid-light walls, she was still easily visible from Ratchet's perspective as she snaked through them.

Just beyond the walls were steps that led to a set of monkey bars, simply being a series of solid-light bars suspended in midair above a thin, red platform resting on the ground. The recruit jumps to the top of the steps and mounts the monkey bars, swinging across them with ease, taking about ten seconds to do so, the timer currently marking that it's been about a minute.

The end of the monkey bars leads to the next obstacle, another set of walls, but unlike the previous ones, these completely blocked the rest of her path, the only way forward through the small waist-high gap beneath it as it hovered above the ground. She runs right up to the first one, but gets down and rolls sideways just before she hits the wall, rolling under it before picking herself back up again.

But then, she finds herself at the wall of the training room, having to make her run a quick U-turn to face back to everyone else and continue the rest of the course, as marked by a yellow arrow marked on the floor for her.

She approaches the next obstacle, a set of narrow bars floating up slightly slightly above the ground, alternating between having a single one in the middle and having two on either side, each segment separated by a gap. But, just like the monkey bars, there is a red platform beneath them resting on the ground, making Ratchet wonder why they're even there. It's not like it'll help catch her if it's just laying on the floor, after all.

But then, he sees Cooper mount the first bar and make a visible effort to keep her balance as she tries to scamper across, looking more down than forward to make sure she's keeping one foot in front of the other. As she gets to the gap at the end of the bar, she jumps to the next one on her right, but has one foot slip off as she lands clumsily, making her stumble and place it onto the floor to keep from completely falling over.

When her foot makes contact with the red platform beneath her, it flashes yellow for moment as a beep is heard, and Ratchet sees that ten seconds have instantly been added to her time. As Cooper properly mounts the bar to continue running with more focus, Ratchet realized that the red platforms are penalty zones so that you can't just cheat and run right through obstacles like the monkey bars for a better time. Pretty neat, he thought, and definitely a lot safer than Helga's solution for that problem, which was to use a spike pit, lasers, mines, and/or advanced weapons systems.

The recruit makes two more jumps across the bars, passing through the rest of it with no further stumbles, and finds herself at a solid wall, composed of a large cube, and a ladder that led to the top of it, high off the ground. She climbs it as fast she can, taking two rungs at a time, and reaches the top, where she faces five platforms moving back and forth at varying speeds across a large gap separating her from another solid wall like the one she stood on.

She begins jumping between each platform, but rather clumsily, either stumbling for a few moments upon touching down, or just flat-out landing on all fours to ensure she doesn't fall off before picking herself up to ready herself for the next jump, with Ratchet silently criticizing her for how long she took to make each one.

But eventually, she crosses the platforms, and makes it to the other side, where as soon as she lands, the rest of the course behind her dematerializes. Just like when it first turned on, the room glows brighter for a second as more walls appear, but this time, accompanied with red targets, creating a shooting gallery with targets moving around, going behind walls, or simply standing still. Her higher position also meant that she had to aim not just straight in front and above, but also above as well, making it an added challenge in her marksmanship.

The targets were very simple, with two small, slightly tapered rectangles acting as legs and two more as arms, all of which surrounded a larger rectangle representing its torso, with a yellow dot in the center marking as a bullseye. It was all topped with a circle for the head, also with a bullseye, and two large triangles on either side to stand in for their signature ears, making them look like other Lombaxes.

Cooper turns around and takes out her blaster without skipping a beat, not seeming to give the sudden appearance of the rather extensive range a second thought. She opens fire, hitting a stationary target square in the bullseye on its chest, and Ratchet sees the target shatter like glass before the pieces quickly shrink and fade away. He looks up and sees the score counter jump to 5, the timer still ticking away. Her next shot, landing on the head of the target, also scores a 5, but a subsequent shot landing on another's arm garners her a 1, bringing her to a grand total of 11 so far.

But as she starts picking off the targets one by one as fast as she can, taking a few urgent moments to reload in between her volleys, Ratchet can't help but stare at those targets moving around on the range, their numbers dwindling by the second. Just why did they have to look so similar to Lombaxes?

As he pondered on that question, he began to realize that it only made sense for the City Guard to have it that way. Ratchet was used to basic-looking targets on courses like these because they were always for a galactic defense force, be it the Polaris Defense Force or the Galactic Rangers, because what was the alternative? They had to police an entire galaxy comprised of hundreds of thousands of different species, it's not like they could populate a shooting range with anatomically correct targets to train their soldiers with if they wanted to.

But the City Guard doesn't have that constraint. They didn't have to protect Fastoon from foreign invaders, that was the Praetorian Guard's job. The only protected a single city. A city inhabited exclusively by Lombaxes, where the only threat they'd ever have to encounter is, well, another Lombax. And if that was the case, then it was perfectly logical that they be trained to shoot at targets shaped like their own fellow species, as it was the closest analogue for the real thing they'll experience out in the field.

But, even then, seeing the recruit shatter these facsimiles of their own visage into oblivion with such a cold indifference… it couldn't help but unease him in an odd way.

They all watch as the last target goes down, the entire shooting section having lasted for no more than two minutes before the course once again dematerializes. When it flashes back in as quickly as it previously did, Ratchet finds that the third and final section looked much more similar to the first, in that it was once again a course, but this time, with more of the shooting targets set up across the course in the middle of the path. There were also a few obstacles, but they were simple, only consisting of a few walls meant to be vaulted and hurdled or simply run around, accompanied with gaps composed of the red penalty platforms to be jumped over.

The recruit holsters her blaster and jumps onto a pole that allowed her to descend onto the main course from her platform. As soon as she touches down, she makes a dash forward, where a target stood in the middle of her path, with an Omniwrench-shaped protrusion coming out of the side of it as it spun in random intervals. She takes out her own Omniwrench from her back, and after ducking underneath an attack, she swings it with a small grunt to shatter the target, adding another five points to her score before continuing on. She takes down two more targets in her path, quickly taking them down as well, and comes to a small series of small walls, just like at the beginning of the course.

However, in between each one was a target, also equipped with wrenches, which she shatters in the midst of her vaults. She takes out the first three with no problem, but as she goes to take out the fourth one, it manages to spin and hit her square in the chest before she can attack it, sending her flopping backwards back over the wall, making some of the other recruits suck in a breath with a wince.

She quickly picks herself up, though, shaking her head for a moment before angrily eliminating with the target with a particularly forceful swing before clambering over the wall and approaching another stretch of stationary targets, taking them out one by one.

She once again snakes her way through some alternating walls once more, finding a target around nearly every corner, which she dispatches quickly, paying special attention to avoid getting clocked again, performed with a renewed vigor that was likely frustration at her slip-up earlier.

She then approaches a section that is blocked by a red penalty zone on the floor, to which she swiftly jumps over, landing while swinging her wrench down to shatter the target on the other side.

A few more jumps later, and she once again reaches the far wall of the training room, prompting her to do another U-Turn, returning back to the beginning of the course. There are more of the walls and jumps in the way on there, populated with more targets as well, but she manages to get through it with more ease than the first half, able to get through all of them without once again getting smacked by one of the targets.

Finally, she reaches the finish line, and a beep is heard as she doubles over to catch her breath before turning around to look at her time and score on the board.

"You did decent, Cooper." Chief Wells speaks up from the observation balcony. "But you could've been better. Don't slip on the beams, don't be so scared of the moving platforms, hit your shots a little better, and don't get clocked by a target next time. Got it?"

Cooper slumps a little with a sigh, but quickly straightens herself and give a salute. "Yes, ma'am." She replies.

"Good, now go ahead and stick around while you take a breather." Wells states as she presses a button on the console, resetting the course to its original state, ready for another go around. "Next!"

And so, one by one, the line for the course begins to shrink as recruit after recruit runs the gauntlet with varying levels of competence and skill, traits that the majority of them were evidently lacking, as Ratchet and Kaden were beginning to see firsthand the cause for Well's constantly stellar attitude.

One recruit caught his foot on the very first wall as he was vaulting it, slamming him facedown onto the ground. Another recruit was barely able to go across the monkey bars, only going about four rungs in before he decided to cut his losses and run across it, giving him a hefty penalty to his time. A bunch absolutely biffed it on the bars, with one particularly unfortunate victim landing right on his groin, which effectively eliminated him from the rest of the course. Another managed to fall off the moving platforms, where Ratchet was pleasantly surprised to find that a platform instantly materializes under them to catch them instead of just letting them fall back onto the ground. But the point was that they've yet to see a recruit actually pass the first section without messing up somehow.

Many of them were also iffy at best when it came to the shooting section. Some had to take a full seven seconds to reload, some accidentally dropped their blaster when taking it out, and many more were just plain bad at shooting, only hitting the bullseyes by accident or taking way too long to line up their shot. Both Kaden and Ratchet were almost impressed at just how badly they sucked; the latter of whom found it amazing that he was able to be caught at all in the first place yesterday. Wells, meanwhile, was instead seething, spending the majority of the time taking deep breaths and muttering swears as she leaned on the console, burying her face in her hands in a futile effort to convince herself that these all these mistakes weren't happening if she simply didn't see it.

But as painful as it was to watch the shooting section, the Omniwrench section was even worse, in that it was literally painful to watch. Over two thirds of the recruits weren't able to get through the course without getting clobbered at least once. In fact, the average was about three beatings per run, with the record so far being eleven. But even while they weren't getting clocked by simple spinning targets, Ratchet couldn't help but criticize the sloppy way they swung their wrenches, having no technique or finesse behind their movements at all, treating them more like big, shiny sticks than actual weapons that need mastery in order to play to their strengths.

Eventually, though, the last recruit crosses the finish line, and collapses onto his knees, gasping for breath.

"Thank you for finally finishing, Officer Baxter." Chief Wells says jadedly, rubbing her eyes while using her free hand to activate the microphone. "You're only the fourth slowest time today. Maybe next time, try actually jumping over those hurdles instead of clambering over them like an oversized slug, and you might get a chance to actually fall within average."

"I-I'm sorry, Chief!" He weakly defends himself. "I can't jump that good!"

"Yeah, I noticed that!" She snaps at him. "And you better start working on it or else I'll kick your ass out of this department so hard you'll be flying over those hurdles instead, got it?!"

"Y-Yes ma'am!" He returns fearfully with a salute.

She continues to glare at him from for a few seconds, watching him stand as stiff as a board, not daring to move or even blink, his eyes filled with pure terror. But then, much to his relief, she simply slumps will giving a sigh, hanging her head while he lets go of his bated breath and goes off to sit down with the other recruits, most of whom were still rubbing the bruises they got from the final section.

"This month is going to be a living hell." She mutters.

"Well," Kaden speaks up from behind her, still sitting on the bench with Clank. "They… could be worse, I suppose." He offers, scratching the back of his head.

"Indeed, they can." Clank pitches in, raising a finger. "You should see some of the recruits for the Galactic Rangers back in our dimension, nearly a quarter of them aren't able to even finish their training course at all. You should be proud that your officers were able to complete theirs." He tells her optimistically.

Wells turns around to look at him with complete unamusement on her features.

"Uh huh." She says dryly. "Now tell me, how did these 'Galactic Rangers' get their dumbasses into gear if they couldn't be asked to even complete their training?"

"They… didn't quite get the chance, actually." He answers, lowering his finger back down.

"Why not? Were they just fired on the spot?" Kaden asks.

"…Fired upon would be more accurate." He corrects him.

He tilts his head. "What does that mean?" He asks uneasily.

"I mean that recruits who didn't finish the course didn't finish because they… erm… perished on the course." Clank replies, awkwardly twiddling his digits. "It is a miracle that there are as many who survive it as it stands."

"Wha—Just who designs a training course that kills its participants?!" Kaden exclaims in shock.

"Someone who I can respect, that's for sure." Wells casually comments.

Kaden and Clank snap over to her in surprise, seeing as she stands at the console with a largely uninterested face.

Kaden holds up his hands. "What is wrong—"

"Hey, uh, you gonna start this thing or what?" They hear a voice call from down below.

Wells turns around and glances down below, finding Ratchet tapping his foot at the start of the course, arms crossed as he looks up to the observation balcony with a frown.

"Or did you decide to dress me up and make me wait in line for a half hour because it'd be funny?" He adds impatiently.

"You're right, that would be funny." Wells responds, talking through the microphone once more. "But it'd also be a waste of my precious time and patience to just have you leave for the day, so you're still going through the course."

With a press of a button, the course once again resets, the holographic 'FINISH' being replaced by a 'START' as the obstacle section reappears. Ratchet turns back around to face it, and begins stretching his arms and rolling his head in preparation while Kaden leans forward on his bench, interested to see his son's performance.

"You know, even after seeing all of that, are you still sure you don't want me to hold back?" Ratchet calls up over his shoulder. "I mean, I wanna at least give your guys a fighting chance at keeping their jobs."

"If they actually care about staying with the City Guard, then I'm sure they'll do whatever it takes to keep it that way." Wells replies before scanning across the crowd of recruits behind Ratchet. "Right?"

A small chorus of 'Yes, Chief's and 'Yes, ma'am's answer her back, but with a less enthusiasm than usual, most of them worn out from their own runs.

"See? Now you can go ahead and give it your all with a perfectly clear conscience." Wells reassures Ratchet. "Now, unless you have anything else to whine about, have at it."

He stares at her for a moment before looking down at the rest of the recruits, some still rubbing at their bruises, some sitting down on the floor, still breathing a little hard from the exercise, but with almost all of them looking plain exhausted.

"Okay, then…" Ratchet mutters as he turns to face the starting line while exhaling a small breath. He sure as hell was glad he didn't have to work for Wells.

Rolling his arms one last time, he poises into a running stance, clearing his mind to focus only on the course ahead, quickly running through the path in his head after having to watch everyone else's attempts. He takes a deep breath, closing his eyes, and when he opens them, he dashes forward into a sprint.

He races through the empty straightaway like greased lightning, already doing better than half of the recruits on time alone. He reaches the set of waist-high walls, and simple leaps over the first one easily, vaulting over the second, jumping over the third. But as he approaches the fourth, he instead jumps on top of it, leaps off, and lands on the fifth, surprising most of his audience.

But then, he again leaps off the fifth hurdle, towards the set of alternating walls, and catches the top of the first one, and pulls himself up in one deft movement. Now on top, he simply begins effortlessly jumping from wall to wall, entirely skipping the intended obstacle of having to snake left and right within them, giving him a massive advantage to his time.

"That clever little bastard." Wells mutters in slight awe.

Kaden can't help but grin. "He had the exact same idea as I did." He says with prideful amusement.

"Oh, I won't let it be this easy for him." Wells says as she quickly starts typing away at the console.

As Ratchet is about to finish crossing the walls, now approaching the monkey bars, he suddenly sees a wall materialize right above them, preventing him from just continuing jumping across them to skip it.

"Oh, come on!" Ratchet exclaims indignantly.

"Nice try, punk, but I'm not having you get off that easy." Wells states through the microphone.

Ratchet ignores her comment as he jumps off of the last wall and down to the monkey bars, catching himself on the first rung to swing himself across the first half of it, where he's forced to go through it normally, albeit quickly.

Dismounting them, he once again begins to sprint, towards the wall with the gap, and before hitting the wall, swiftly gets down into a slide, passing under it before rolling out of it into a run. Approaching the U-turn at the wall, he doesn't attempt to turn, instead jumping onto the wall in front of him before kicking off of it to launch him down the rest of the course, now facing his slack-jawed audience of recruits along with Wells on the observation balcony, where he flashes her a quick salute and cocky smile in the midst of his run.

Wells scoffs. "Showoff. That little stunt isn't faster than just running around the corner."

"True, but it is definitely more flaunting to jump off the wall instead, so I'd be shocked if he didn't do that." Clank says.

Kaden chuckles. "He's just like a chip off the old block, then."

Ratchet gets to the balancing beams and begins to deftly run across of them with absolutely no problem, taking long strides, barely having to look down to keep himself align. He jumps to the second set with no effort, same with the third, and on the fourth, decides to spice it up a little with a flip, same with the last set, prompting some of the bars' victims to glare at him in disbelief and slight resentment, especially Mister Infertile over there, still cupping his groin with an icepack that was fetched for him.

Having arrived at the ladder, he quickly climbs to the top of it, mostly by simply jumping up and catching rungs five at a time. Now on top of the solid wall above the ground, he faces the moving platforms, which he begins jumping across with no problem, leaping off the same instant he lands, finding no problem with how much they move. He was honestly a little bored with it, really, since there are usually explosions all around him when he has to run across unsteady footing like this.

But he knows that boredom won't last for much longer as he lands on the other side, hearing the course quickly reconfigure into the shooting gallery. He reaches for the blaster on his side, spinning around his finger before taking it with a firm and steady grip, adopting relaxed shooting posture almost unconsciously, which was something Kaden didn't fail to notice.

"Everything about his stance is almost perfect." Kaden mutters. "And the way it just looks so… instinctive to him, too." He adds while gazing at him with an odd look, which Clank sees.

"Erm, is that a compliment, or a concern?" He asks worriedly.

Kaden takes a breath with a small shrug. "A little bit of both, I guess."

The course finishes materializing the various walls and barriers, all of the Lombax-shaped targets quickly appear as well, in usual randomized positions that Ratchet noticed while watching everyone else. He takes aim, and blasts one of the targets dead center on the bullseye of its head, shattering it into pieces. He snaps to another one near-instantly, dispatching it with similar precision, along with a third, and another after that. In a matter of mere seconds, Ratchet takes out four targets with perfect accuracy.

But as everyone watched his performance in captivation, Ratchet was subconsciously admiring the laser blaster he held in his hand. The grip was comfortable and ergonomic, it had a nice heft to it, and the recoil was low enough to keep it more than manageable, but powerful enough to tell him that these things would definitely do some damage if it were shot at something other than these glass-like targets.

He stops for a moment to reload, popping in another clip before aiming right at the yellow bullseye on the target's head. He distantly wondered if these things could even be called 'bullseyes', since 'Lombaxeyes' would be more accurate. In fact, now that he looks at it, they almost did look like eyes with their position on their heads. Like… the yellow eyes of a Lombax.

Yellow eyes like…

Like Alister's.

Ratchet suddenly freezes, the blaster still aimed at a target, right between its large ears, where the yellow bullseye seemed to stare right back at him. For the whole time, there was a present unease tugging at him as he was blasting away at these Lombax-shaped targets, but he couldn't quite pin it down, and tried to shrug it off as best he could. But now he knew exactly why it made him so uncomfortable to shoot at these.

The only time he ever had to remotely think of even harming another Lombax was on that day back at the Great Clock, when he begged Alister to let go of the past. That day when he refused to listen to him or Clank. That day they had to battle for the fate of the entire universe.

That day when he won that battle and killed Alister.

Ratchet no longer felt like he was just shooting at dumb, holographic replicas of Lombaxes anymore. He felt like he was shooting at the person who changed his life, someone who gave him so many answers of many of his life's questions, someone who, in another life, would be the one he'd call uncle.

Someone who's betrayed, angered, determined face sat behind his gun's sights like this target did now, both of whom stared back at him with those cold, yellow eyes.

"Hey, now's not the time to take a breather, punk." Wells' voice suddenly smashes through his thoughts. "Clock's still ticking."

Ratchet shakes his head, taking a breath before focusing back onto the target, taking aim at it, right on that yellow bullseye.

It's not Alister, he told himself.

He pulls the trigger, and it unceremoniously shatters as the others did, and he aims at another.

It's not Alister.

It's blasted an instant later, and he points to another one moving side-to-side in steady movements as a futile effort to dodge his attack.

It's not Alister.

But even as he thinks this to himself, he can't bring himself to aim at the head. He instead aims downward, at the bullseye on its chest, and pulls the trigger. He snaps over to the next target, completely ignoring anything above that little yellow dot on the chest that he now fixated on.

If he didn't see the head, he couldn't see the ears. If he didn't see the ears, he couldn't see it was a Lombax. And if it couldn't be a Lombax, then it couldn't be Alister.

He was now beginning to find himself shooting at regular, normal, perfectly unfamiliar targets now, and not at other Lombaxes. He wasn't shooting at Alister. Not again. Not ever.

And as he starts to regain the momentum he initially started off with, picking off targets one by one, Kaden and Clank both sat on the observation balcony, both of whom didn't fail to notice his odd behavior.

"Is something wrong with him?" Kaden asks Clank worriedly. "I don't think it's normal for him to just stop all of a sudden in the middle of shooting like that, right?"

"No, it isn't." Clank confirms, also looking at him with concern. "And he seems to be more discriminatory with his shooting as well. It's less carefree and relaxed than it normally is. It's as if he's… hesitating."

"Why would he hesitate to shoot some random targets on a range?" Kaden asks, looking over to him in confusion.

Clank opens his mouth to answer with an 'I don't know', but then stops himself once he makes a realization.

There's only been two times that he's seen Ratchet show this much reluctance in shooting something. One was back when Vox imprisoned him as a gladiator, and forced him to fight Ace Hardlight. But Clank couldn't find anything about this situation that would remind Ratchet of that painful era where he had to put down his childhood hero.

But then… there was the other time. The time that Ratchet's foe looked very similar to the targets he was shooting at right now.

"What? Did you figure it out?" Kaden asks him, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"Erm, yes. I think so." Clank answers.

"And?"

"I think that the cause for his behavior is that… his weapon malfunctioned, somehow." He tells him pointedly.

A lie, obviously. But what was the alternative? To tell him that his son is currently reliving the trauma of killing his best friend? Even if Clank was vague about the details, simply saying that Ratchet was currently suffering anything at all right now would worry Kaden to no end, and the last thing Ratchet needs today is for Kaden to force him to spill about everything that happened at the Great Clock. This was something that the both of them needed to be eased into.

But Kaden doesn't appear to be satisfied by his answer with the way he furrowed his brows. "How does that explain his behavior?" He asks in confusion.

"Well, perhaps he stopped because he had to try and figure out what was wrong with his gun." Clank explains in a reassuring tone. "And now he's being more careful and deliberate with his shots to try and prevent it from happening again. It wouldn't be the first time something like this has happened to him, after all. In fact, his Arsenal is currently missing his Suck Cannon because it malfunctioned, and it's currently being repaired back home."

Kaden continues to inspect Clank with an odd look, but he maintains a resolute exterior. If he managed to bluff and deflect for several months to keep the Dimensionator a secret from Ratchet, then he could be more than able to tell a white lie to his father.

And, thankfully, he seemed to be right, as Kaden gives a small nod as his tense posture relaxes, but not completely.

"If you say so." He concedes, returning his attention back to Ratchet, along with Clank, breathing an internal sigh of relief at having a dodged a bullet.

However, the targets that Ratchet was shooting at couldn't say the same thing. They look over just in time to see him shoot the last one, completing the shooting sections as the course once again reconfigures for the final section.

Ratchet uses the precious few moments to shake his head, clearing his mind as best he could. These were just dumb, simple targets. Nothing more. Don't think about it. Just run and swing the wrench. Then it's over. Easy as that.

The pole to help him descend onto the course from his platform appears in front of him, and he takes one more breath before holstering his blaster and jumping onto it, sliding down.

He jumps off about halfway down, grabbing the Omniwrench from his back as he runs toward the first target, spinning randomly with the simplified wrench attached to its figure. With a practiced ease, he swings his own into the center of its chest, and it goes down easily, easy enough to confirm his initial thoughts about these things having the consistency of hard glass.

He doesn't bother to look back as he continues unimpeded, dispatching the next several others with similar ease. He vaults over the set of hurdles with no problem, sometimes spinning his whole body for extra force in his swings towards the targets in between. Reaching the section of alternating walls, he has no problem dodging the swings meant to catch him by surprise, his reflexes being much to adept to fall for them.

He seemed to simply float through the course, not losing an iota of momentum as he plows through the targets with a sort of focused indifference, as if his body was simply going through the motions while his mind was somewhere else.

In reality, it was because it was somewhere else, trying its best to disconnect Alister's image from these targets by focusing on anything else, like the wrench in his hand. It was a standard-issue City Guard model, Wells refusing to let him use his own. It felt as sturdy as his, and even looked the same, but it felt different. Its balance a little off than what he's accustomed to, the head feeling a little light from being made of cheaper materials, the entire thing feeling impersonal like everything else standard issue.

It was focusing on those differences that did its job in distracting himself as he continued through the course, now halfway through, not bothering to show off by jumping off the wall again in the U-Turn, but simply running around the corner like normal.

He flowed through the final stretch like water, sweeping away any and all targets in his path with efficiency, none of them even coming close to hitting Ratchet. And, before he knows it, he finds himself crossing the finish line, a beep sounding off as he crosses the holographic line, finally done with the course.

He quickly slows down to a stop, breathing a little harder than usual, but nowhere near doubling over like most of the other recruits did. He places the Omniwrench back onto his back, and then he turns around to look at the scoreboard, and there was no doubt in the fact that he beat everyone else by an absolute landslide.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen, there you have it." Wells announces from the observation balcony. "If you expect to be worthy officers of the City Guard, then I expect you to surpass Ratchet's time by the end of the month. If you can beat that, then I have no doubt you have what it takes to protect our city from whatever scourge threatens to harm its citizens. And if you can't, well, then I suggest you go ahead and get a head start on your job search."

The recruits look at Ratchet's time on the board with varying levels of dismay while others look directly at him in strange combinations of awe and resentment for having cursed them with his near-flawless score. Ratchet, on the other hand, simply places his hands on his hips and returns a proud smile.

But then, they hear the lift to the observation balcony activate, and they turn to see Wells coming down onto the training floor as well, but most of them gasp and drop their jaws as they see Kaden standing right next to her, along with Clank.

"Oh yeah, you also had another special guest watching you today." Wells declares nonchalantly, enjoying their shocked faces with sadistic amusement. "I guess it just slipped my mind. But now that you know the Keeper of the Dimensionator was here to watch your awful performances the entire time, I guess you can go ahead and use that embarrassment as a little extra motivation to do better next time. After all, I might just bring in the entire Council as an audience next week, who knows?" She states with a small shrug.

Kaden sees the smile plastered on her face with some concern. "You're enjoying this too much."

"And is that a crime?"

"No, just… a little unsettling, I guess."

And as the recruits begin muttering and asking each other why she brought the Keeper of all people to watch them, Ratchet casually strolls right along past them and towards his companions as the lift finally reaches the ground. But as he walks up to them, an idea pops into his head, and he begins to smirk.

"Hey, dad." He casually greets Kaden, making sure to say it loud enough for everyone else to hear.

"Wait, what?!" A recruit shouts. "You're the Keeper's son?!"

Ratchet turns around, enjoying the absolute disbelief on all their faces with a smug smile. "Yeah." He answers with a shrug. "Can't you see the resemblance?"

They all just simply stare at him in shock as they glance between him and his father, no one saying a word as Kaden rolls his eyes at Ratchet's effort to mess with the recruits like some child.

"What in the fuck is even happening today?!" One of them exclaims, throwing his hands up in disbelief.

"I'll tell you what's happening, you're all going to take turns running that course over and over again until your shift is over!" Wells orders them. "You can't exactly practice if you just sit on your asses like you're doing right now, can you? Now go and get in line, I set the course to automatically reset every run, so move it!" She yells as she points to the starting line.

The recruits don't even bother with a 'yes ma'am' or a salute, instead opting to instantly begin talking with each other about just what the hell has happened in the last half hour as they begin to form another line.

"So…" Ratchet speaks up, standing with Wells and his father. "I guess I'm more than just a stupid kid now, huh?" He asks her while crossing his arms smugly.

She scoffs. "What the hell makes you say that? All you did was show me that you can run good and shoot like a marksman on top of being a pain in my ass." She tells him irritably.

He slumps a little. "But didn't I get a perfect time?" He asks as he gestures to his score, still plastered on the scoreboard next to the course, now populated with a recruit running through it once more, and with noticeably more vigor this time, too.

"Near-perfect." Wells corrects him with a raised finger. "You absolutely choked when you decided to just stand around like a moron in the middle of the shooting range, you know. Hell, I think you got third on your time in that section because of it."

"Speaking of, why exactly did you stop?" Kaden speaks up with some concern. "Even Clank here said that didn't seem normal for you. Was something wrong?"

Clank raises a finger. "Erm, Kaden, I already told you—"

"I know what you said, but I just want to hear what Ratchet has to say about it." He cuts him off, looking down at him. "Am I not allowed to ask my son if anything's wrong with him?"

Clank opens his mouth to argue, but as he does. he sees an intense look in Kaden's eyes, something that sent an unspoken but fierce threat to not question his duty as a father. Knowing that it'd be pointless at best to argue with him, and disastrous at worst, Clank simply sighs while lowering his finger.

"No, I suppose not." He concedes.

"Alright, good." He states amicably with a small nod before looking back to Ratchet. "Well?"

Ratchet doesn't say anything as he looks between him and Clank with confusion and nervousness, sensing some strange tension between the two. But as Clank looks back at him, Ratchet could see an expression that he knew all too well, saying 'be careful with your words.' In any other circumstance, that usually jus translated to 'don't say the insult that I know you're thinking right now'. And, ordinarily, Ratchet would follow that advice only half the time.

But right now, he could clearly sense that it meant something more dire than simple name-calling. And if he was giving him that look right now, along with the fact that he already had noticed his sudden hiccup on the course, then Ratchet could safely assume that Clank knew full-well the reason why. Clank was always the more perceptive one of them both, after all. And if he knew it was about Alister, then he also perfectly understood the can of worms that would surely open if he told the truth to his dad.

So… it seemed like he was going to have to lie.

Luckily, that's what he was fully intending to do, anyway. The last thing he wanted to do right now is to unpack everything that happened at the Great Clock with Alister. He was not ready for that conversation yet. Not for a long while, at least.

"Erm, the thing is that… my gun jammed." Ratchet explains, putting on a smile as best he could while scratching the back of his head. "Had to take a sec to figure out what was wrong. You know how bad standard-issue stuff tends to be."

Clank breathes an internal sigh of relief as Kaden inspects Ratchet with a curious look, glancing between the two of them. Ratchet could tell that he wanted to say something, but whatever it may have been, he must have decided it wasn't worth bringing up as he gives a small sigh with a nod.

"Alright, then. If you say so."

Before Ratchet could smile, partly to reassure him, but mostly in relief, Chief Wells points to him with a skeptical look.

"Wait, are you sure about that?" She asks suspiciously. "I checked your blaster myself when I gave it to you, there shouldn't have been anything wrong with it."

"Erm, well, what can I say?" Ratchet asks with shrug. "It just couldn't shoot for some reason. Don't know why, though, because it started working just fine a minute later."

"Hang on, lemme see that." She says as she walks over to him and snatches it from his belt, much to his surprise. She begins to inspect it from all over, popping a clip out, looking at the connection pins both on it and inside the gun, and popping it back in to hear the beep confirming a successful reload before simply staring at it in her hand in thought.

She then suddenly snaps her attention over to the line of recruits near them. "McCann, you got last place, correct?" She yells over to them.

Everyone looks to one chubby-looking recruit near the end of the line, who nervously glances around him before giving a reluctant nod. "Y-Yeah?" He answers.

Wells promptly aims the blaster at him and pulls the trigger without a second thought, making the recruits around him jump away in surprise as he stiffens up and falls over onto the ground with a thud.

"Hm. Well, whatever you broke on it, it's working fine now." Wells says nonchalantly as she hands it back to a shocked Ratchet, looking at her with intimidated fear.

"Why'd you shoot that guy?!" Kaden exclaims. "You could've killed him!"

"No, I wouldn't, because these are loaded with nonlethal stunbolts, as per protocol." She corrects him, pointing back over to McCann.

They all look back over to him and see that his muscles have finally relaxed from the shock as he sits up with a painful groan, rubbing his chest where the shot landed.

"See? The only thing I'm killing here are two birds with one stone; I get to test to see if the gun's broken, and I get to teach a dumbass an extra lesson to not suck at his job."

"Why didn't you shoot Davidson, then?!" McCann cries out, pointing over to the recruit who had the icepack over his groin, now having recovered from his injury as he stands in line ahead of him. "He didn't even finish the course!"

"Seriously, dude?" Davidson asks in disbelief.

Wells crosses her arms with a frown. "You saw why he couldn't finish, McCann, and I'm not a monster. Poor guy suffered enough."

He scoffs as he stands up, still rubbing his chest. "Yeah, sure, because being a bitch who shoots her own men over nothing doesn't make you a monster." He angrily mutters under his breath.

He must not have said it quietly enough, however, as a furious scowl creeps onto Wells' face. She reaches over and takes the blaster right out of Ratchet's hand once again, and swiftly shoots him to send him collapsing to the floor once again.

"If you've got something to say to me, say it to my face!" She yells, pointing at him with the blaster. "Because if you don't, I just might mishear it as something distasteful, and I'll have no choice but to punish you by making you kiss that floor often enough to start putting the janitor out of work! Because that's exactly what just happened, right? I must have simply misunderstood what you just said, right?" She asks, leaning forward with a deadly look in her gaze.

"Y-Yeah…" He moans, managing to also give a weak thumbs-up as he lies on the floor, a recruit cautiously stepping around him as the line moves ahead without him.

"That's what I thought." Wells says a little more calmly, placing her hands on her hips. "Now, hurry up and get off your ass, and I better not hear another word out of your mouth unless it's 'yes ma'am', got it?"

He picks himself up off the ground once more, still rubbing his chest as he gives her a salute. "Yes, ma'am." He says uneasily.

"Excellent, I'm glad we've come to an agreement, then." Wells says with a satisfied nod, blaster still in hand as Kaden, Ratchet, and Clank all stare at her in mild fear.

"I think she gives Helga a run for her money." Ratchet mutters to Clank.

"Indeed." Clank agrees.

"I don't know who you're talking about, but I'll go ahead and take it as a compliment." Wells says as she turns back around to face them. "Because you surely aren't insulting me right now, are you?" She accuses with a raised eyebrow, raising the blaster in her hand.

Ratchet shakes his head while holding up his hands. "Nope, not at all!" He hastily reassures her. "That was a one-hundred percent genuine compliment!"

"Well, I'm flattered." She tells him flatly, holstering the blaster before turning to Kaden. "But also, I really am thankful for your help, Kaden. I'll be sure to take your advice to heart. Thanks to you, I'm positive that I can get the City Guard up and ready to go in no time flat." She states with a confident smile.

"Erm, yes, of course, it's my pleasure." He answers, snapping out of his shock of what just transpired in front of them. "And I have complete confidence in your abilities to fulfill that goal as well. Especially after seeing… that."

He motions back to McCann, glancing over to Wells with unease as he waits in line. She points to her own eyes, then to his own in a 'I'm watching you' gesture, making him nervously snap back to facing forward with stiffer posture.

"I'm giving him two weeks tops before he quits." She says, lowering the blaster with an amused smirk. "But I think everyone else has a shot to beat that time if they really put in the work, coupled with a little tough love. Which, again, thank you for all the advice." Wells says to Kaden, reaching out to give him a handshake.

"Again, it was no trouble at all." He reassures her as he takes her hand. "I'm just glad I was able to actually fulfill that favor I gave you, honestly. Plus, it was nice reminiscing about my good old days back with the Praetorians, so I can't deny I enjoyed our little talk together earlier."

And as she lets go with a nod, Ratchet none-too-subtly clears his throat from beside them, making them both turn to face him, Wells raising an eyebrow.

"What?" She asks irritably.

"Well…" Ratchet says with some hesitance, "Don't you think I deserve a little credit for helping you, too? I mean, I didn't have to agree this, after all." He suggests, scratching the back of his head.

And as she gives him an annoyed frown, Kaden can't help but smile a little. "You can't deny that he does raise a good point, Chief Wells."

She gives him a quick glance of disbelief, and looks back to Ratchet, who shrugs with an awkward smile. She doesn't say anything for a few seconds, but then sighs, rubbing her eyes for a moment before taking a deep breath and looking right at him.

"Ever since you showed up yesterday, you have been a constant thorn in my side, being nothing short of a wretched little bastard the entire time, from humiliating my men, to causing me all kinds of insane paperwork, and the fact that you just don't know when to shut your mouth. I must have thought about strangling you more than a few dozen times since I met you, and the day when I am allowed to do that with no repercussions is the day where I can say I can die happy." She says sternly, making Ratchet begin to scowl as Kaden sighs while hanging his head.

"But," She continues, dropping her tone down to something that could be called amicable, "I can't deny that you were, for once, not as big of a pain in the ass as you usually are to me. In fact, I might go so far as to say that you have been useful. So, Ratchet, on behalf of the City Guard, I humbly thank you for your help and service that you provided us today." She thanks him in a surprisingly genuine fashion. "Your contribution to the future of this department will be greatly appreciated."

She then holds her hand out, which causes Ratchet to look back at her in utter surprise. She gives him a nod before subtly motioning back to her hand with her head, reassuring him that yes, she was actually doing this.

Ratchet beams with a proud smile, and takes her hand into a firm handshake before she lets go with a firm nod.

"There. Happy now?" She asks.

"Yeah, mostly by the fact that you actually used my name without calling me a punk afterward." He says.

"Ratchet." Clank chides from beside him, crossing his arms.

"And, I'm grateful for the acknowledgement, too, Chief Wells." Ratchet follows up, prompting Clank to give a satisfied nod. "It means a lot, coming from you."

"Glad to hear it." She states with little enthusiasm.

"Well," Kaden speaks up, "Now that we've gotten that out of the way, I'm sure you won't mind if we go ahead and take off, right?" He asks her.

She shakes her head. "Not at all. I can take it from here."

"Great." He says with a smile before looking over to Ratchet. "So, you ready for that little activity, now that we're finished with this little pit stop?"

"Sure am." Ratchet happily states. "But… there's actually one more thing I wanted to ask."

He tilts his head. "Erm, what is it?"

Ratchet looks back to Wells. "Do you think that as an extra thanks, I could, I don't know, keep the uniform as a souvenir, maybe?" He asks with a hopeful shrug, gesturing to himself. "I mean, like you said yourself, there's practically no one in my size, so it's not like it'll be a huge deal if I take it, right?"

In response, she simply stares at him for a few seconds, not saying anything, seeming to be thinking of her answer. But then, she chuckles as she places a hand on his shoulder with a small smile.

"Absolutely not." She tells him pleasantly. "Uniforms are reserved for officers of the City Guard, and the day I put a badge on you is the day that hell will freeze over. So, go back to the armory and put it back before you leave, or I'll have you charged with theft of property, punk. Understood?" She asks kindly.

Ratchet slumps in defeat, but nods his head with a slight frown. "Yeah, loud and clear." He grumbles.

"Good." She says as she gives his shoulder a quick pat before turning around to walk away. "And hopefully, this'll be the last time I'll ever have to deal with you again. Until next time, which will hopefully be never." She says over her back as she walks over to the lift to the observation balcony to overlook the recruits' training.

Ratchet shakes his head in disbelief as he and his companions turn around to make their way out of the training room, while Kaden can't help but grin with amusement.

"Well, you two seem to have made a lot of progress today." He says with a small laugh. "Good job, I'm proud of you."

"Considering that she just said she hopes we never meet again, I think you have a funny idea of 'progress'." Ratchet comments with air quotes.

"She thanked you, Ratchet." Kaden says with a roll of his eyes. "An hour ago, she was about to murder you, so yeah, that is progress."

"And I couldn't help but notice you actually referred to her as 'Chief Wells' with genuine respect, as well." Clank adds. "You two are well on your way to becoming friends, I am sure of it."

"Yeah, sure we are." Ratchet scoffs as they walk out the door and into the hall. "If I start to ever call her my friend, then go ahead and shoot me, because I'll be too far gone to save from insanity at that point. You'd be putting me out of my misery."

"Sure, because the idea of you becoming amicable with her is clearly a fate worse than death." Kaden sarcastically replies. "Now, if you're done being a drama queen, I'll let you go ahead and change in the armory. Me and Clank will be waiting in the lobby, and when you get back, we'll get going on that activity I have planned." He states with a smile.

Despite his father's light jab, Ratchet happily returns a smile as well. "I'm looking forward to it. But are you going to say what it actually is yet?"

"Nope." He states with a shake of his head. "You'll just have to wait and see."

"Is this thing really going to be worth all the hype, then?"

Kaden shrugs. "Hopefully. But even if it wasn't, what are you going to do? Disown me as your father for not thinking of something cool enough for you?" He asks with some amusement.

Ratchet gives a small laugh. "No, I guess not."

"That's what I thought." He says with a grin as he takes a hand and ruffles the fur on the top of his naked head.

"Ah, hey! Stop that!" Ratchet protests as he bats his hand away. Kaden chuckles as he then begins straightening his fur back down on his head with an annoyed look.

"Hey, when's the next time I'm going to be able to do that if you're always wearing that hat all the time?" He asks innocently. "And besides, I'm your dad. How could I not do that if I had the opportunity right there in front of me?"

"So, ruining your son's fur is just your fatherly duty, then?" Ratchet retorts, crossing his arms as he finishes rubbing down his head's fur.

"Oh, calm down, I didn't ruin it." He states incredulously before glancing to the top of his head, where the grin falls from his face as he begins squint his eyes with a peculiar look. "Well, actually, it looks like you missed a spot."

"Huh? I did?" Ratchet asks as he looks up, running his hands through his fur once more. "Where is it?"

Kaden smirks. "Right here."

He then once again furiously ruffles the top of his head, this time with the sole objective to mess it up as much as he possibly can before Ratchet can yank his arm away from him with another protesting cry. Kaden laughs in jubilation, patting Ratchet's back as he hopelessly attempts to remedy the damage done to his fur in the vigorous assault.

And as he promises to wear his hat as often as he possibly can from this point on to prevent this from happening again, Clank, walking behind them, wears a content smile on his robotic features.

He knew they were both withholding something from the other, something that will be incredibly difficult for the both of them to process. Ratchet needs to tell his father that he'll be unable to stay with him in this dimension forever, and Kaden needs to find out about what happened with Alister and the Great Clock. Neither was a conversation they were going to enjoy having, and they both dreaded the moment that they would inevitably have to confront each other.

But, even knowing that, here they were, bonding and sharing a delightful moment over such a small thing like ruffling his fur.

Clank was also worried about the day they had to talk with each other, there was no doubt about it. But mostly, he was worried about the consequences that would entail, and how it will affect their relationship with each other.

But as Kaden laughed while affectionately taking his son into a side-hug as they walked, coupled with the smile that Ratchet was failing to suppress amid his firm statements that it wasn't funny, Clank began to feel a little less apprehensive.

Because at the end of the day, no matter what happens, they were still father and son. And if twenty years apart couldn't do anything to stifle their love for each other, then he couldn't fathom anything that would.

---

I can't believe this entire story only started out as a self-indulgent prompt for Ratchet to meet his father just so I could get it out of my system. I never originally intended to even think of publishing it for other people, either, because who would even bother themselves to even read something that I wrote?

And yet, six months, 100,000 words, and more than a few dedicated readers later, here I am. Life can be kinda funny sometimes, huh?

Thanks for sticking with me and this fic thus far, and hopefully, you'll stick around for the next 100,000 words, too. Until next time!