A Little Post-Battle R&R

A/N: Good day everyone! I am back with a brand new little short story, and this time, it is centered in the Ratchet and Clank franchise, of which I have unashamedly been a fan of for years! Taking place immediately after the events of Rift Apart, his little ficlet was birthed from my impulsive desire to see both our lombax heroes talk and have a bit of a deeper conversation regarding their lives and their thoughts about certain things, but I won't bore you with the details here because that is what the story is for! As stated in the intro, this story has a setting immediately after the events of Rift Apart, so be wary of spoilers! Without further ado, let's begin!

Ratchet allowed himself a small smile as he walked down the streets of Megalopolis, OmniWrench in hand. Emperor Nefarious's attack on the city earlier that day had certainly taken its toll, but the ingenuity of the Morts combined with the physicality of the Goons-4-Less and the transports of the pirates had repaired the damage at an unprecedented rate. In fact, most of the infrastructure had either been renovated or replaced by nightfall, with almost everything looking good as new despite the near interdimensional catastrophe that had occurred less than twenty-four hours earlier.

Taking a deep breath, Ratchet took a moment to wipe his brow and admire the night sky above. Being hero didn't often give him time to slow down and take it easy, but when it did, he always found time to gaze up at the night sky. The young Lombax was always entranced by the lights of distant planets and stars against the black void of space, and although the horizon here in Megalopolis was nothing like the view back on Veldin, it was still plenty gorgeous.

After pausing for a few more moments to enjoy his serenity, Ratchet turned his gaze from the sky and continued in the direction which he had been going. He had just come from chatting with Al, who had decided to see about supplying Kit with some of the same upgrades he given to Clank in the past. Kit had been a bit nervous at first about accepting his offer, but a bit of reassurance from Clank had swayed her, and so Ratchet had hung around for a while to catch up with Al as he worked on Kit, as it had seemed like years since the two of them had last seen each other.

Al had been attending a sales pitch about offering a new line of electronics at his Roboshack when he had heard about Dr. Nefarious crashing the hero parade. Knowing that his technical expertise would be an effective asset against the mad doctor's plans, Al had caught the next shuttle into the city, helping out wherever he could to contain the dimensional rifts that had opened up. He had also been there during the battle earlier that day, but each of his attempts to reach out to the heroes had been thwarted by brigades of Nefarious Troopers, leaving him unable to contact Ratchet and Clank until the battle was over.

After getting up to speed and filling Al in on the details of their latest adventure, Ratchet had politely excused himself from the group, as he could only get so far in his tale without Al rapid firing questions about interdimensional physics at him. While Ratchet would have certainly been able to provide satisfactory answers to his friend, he found Clank and Kit to be much better suited to the task, as Al had a tendency to 'nerd out' when it came to such topics. As Ratchet left the garage where Al's lab in Megalopolis was located, he could hear Al, Kit, and Clank continue their enthusiastic discussion.

"Tell me everything, you two! Spare me no details on how uncertainty manifests itself within subspace! I'm sure its form is incomprehensible!"

"Actually Al, you'd be quite surprised to learn that personal consciousness has a dramatic effect on dimensionality," came Clank's voice. "Though my personal form was composed solely of astral constitute during my time in subspace, I was personally enthralled by how my possibilities took on my own form…"

Ratchet tuned their conversation out as he shut the door to the garage behind him. Had he listened to even a few more seconds of that conversation, his head would've likely exploded.

With Kit and Clank likely to be occupied for the next few hours or so with Al's incessant geekiness, Ratchet decided to go find Rivet, who had temporarily separated from their group earlier that evening in order to help the Morts with a few building reparations.

Knowing that most of the work had to have been finished by now, Ratchet hefted his OmniWrench to his shoulder and started in the direction of Rivet's starship, figuring that to be the most likely place to find her. Kicking on his Hoverboots, Ratchet lifted off the ground and zoomed toward the shipyards, his long ears flapping as he enjoyed the breeze across his facial fur.

After only a few minutes of flying, Ratchet saw the Megalopolis transportation district come into view. All around, rows upon rows of starships all sat on their own landing pads, their owners likely coming from other planets for work or for food. Scanning ahead as he flew over the ships, Ratchet finally found what he was looking for and swooped down to land. Sharing a large landing pad, two royal shuttles of the former Emperor Nefarious sat quietly, surrounded only by a few crates of supplies here and there at the edges of the pad. Sitting on top of one of the crates, Ratchet spied a female Lombax scrolling intently through a data pad, still yet unaware of his presence.

Smirking, Ratchet gave a slight boost to his altitude, letting the boots propel him a couple extra feet into the air. The noise of the sudden burst of fuel caused the preoccupied female to look up from what she was reading, and Ratchet seized the opportunity by stopping the thrusters after gaining enough height. Without the boots to keep him aloft, Ratchet quickly fell back to the ground, but not before performing two nearly perfect backflips and landing gracefully on his feet. Raising his hands up in presentation of his trick, he flashed her a playfully cocky smile, which she chuckled at before setting the data pad down and leaning back against a crate stacked behind her.

"Not bad," the Rivet said with a coy smile of her own as she crossed her arms. "But I've had that little maneuver mastered for a while now, so you're going to have to take it up a notch if you want to impress me."

"Oh, is that right?" Ratchet replied. "Well, I guess we'll just have to race sometime, just so we know who's really got the edge."

Taking a moment to prop his OmniWrench against the crate, Ratchet leapt up to sit on the crate adjacent to Rivet's, letting out a sigh of relief as he got the chance to rest his legs after the long day.

"Where'd Kit and Clank get off to?" Rivet asked as she scooted over to give Ratchet some room to stretch.

"Clank's getting Kit fixed up by a buddy of ours. Ol' Al is giving her a complete overhaul of some of the gear we've used in our previous adventures."

"Al, huh?" Rivet said, picking up the data pad once again. "Is that the same Al from all of these action reports I've been reading about you and Clank?"

Ratchet raised his eyebrows in surprise, and he confusedly eyed the data pad before he finally understood what Rivet was saying.

"Oh, I see," he said amiably. "You've been checking out some of the misadventures we've had over here in our dimension, right?"

"Well," Rivet said with a shrug. "I had to see if your life was just as exciting as mine was, and from what I've read so far, I'd say you've blown my expectations out of the water!"

Ratchet's ears sheepishly flopped as Rivet scrolled through accounts of his heroism on the data pad.

"Well, sometimes those reports like to exaggerate what really happened…"

Rivet teasingly raised an eyebrow at him.

"Hmmmm," she mused. "So, is this report 'exaggerating' when it says that you were…"

Rivet cleared her throat and dropped the pitch of her voice in an imitation of a news anchor.

"'…kidnapped and forced to compete in an illegal gladiator tournament where you not only defeated every other gladiator and completed a death course that was deemed impossible mathematically, but also managed to topple the evil media empire that was behind it while simultaneously freeing all of the other enslaved heroes?'"

"Well, when you put it that way…"

"And did you not also stop a full-blown Cragmite invasion by banishing their evil emperor to another dimension? The same evil emperor that not even the Lombaxes could defeat?"

"I definitely had help for both of those times, but yeah, I guess those are somewhat accurate accounts of what happened."

Rivet gave a light chuckle and shook her head in exasperation.

"I don't get you, Ratchet. I mean, I really don't get you. All this time you were hesitant to find the Lombaxes because you thought you wouldn't measure up to their standards? Give me a break!"

For emphasis, Rivet started scrolling quickly down the reports on the data pad, showcasing the sheer number of times that Ratchet had helped save the universe.

"Rivet, I appreciate it, but after everything that's happened, I'm not nervous anymore—"

"I'm serious!" Rivet said, her voice suddenly taking a tone that Ratchet had not expected. Her whole demeanor suddenly stiffened, leaving the male Lombax quite taken aback at the abrupt change in her mood.

"Ratchet, if anything, the Lombaxes should be worried about measuring up to your standards!" Rivet continued, hopping off the crate and beginning to pace as her voice suddenly grew louder and more emotional. Ratchet raised his eyebrows in surprise, too stunned to speak. He had only seen Rivet act like this once before, and it had been after the argument she and Kit had back at Zordoom Prison. And because Ratchet knew how level-headed Rivet usually was, he could tell that whatever was bothering her now was not a matter to be taken lightly.

"Look! Just look at how many villains you've thwarted…how many lives you've saved! I've lost track of how many times you've stopped your dimension's Nefarious in here. Just think of how different things could have been if you'd been there to stop my Nefarious when he first came to power!"

Oh. So that was what this was about.

Ratchet's addled features immediately softened as he began to understand why Rivet was so upset.

"Rivet—"

"All the people, all the Morts, the monks, everyone! You take down your Nefarious almost every other week, and meanwhile I couldn't even stop mine at all! Just think about how much better it would've been if you'd been there instead of me!"

"Rivet, comparing my Nefarious to yours isn't exactly fair—"

"But that's the thing!" Rivet cut him off again. She was no longer even looking at Ratchet as she continued to vent, so absorbed with her own ranting that her eyes darted around frenetically. Her pacing had grown steadily more erratic as well.

"What if the only reason the Nefarious from my universe became so powerful was because I didn't stop him when he first tried to take over? What if he's only stronger because I LET him get stronger? What if I was too weak to stop him from growing into the monster he became?!"

Her voice distinctively broke with emotion in that moment, causing a deep pang in Ratchet's chest that compelled him to take action.

"Rivet! Hey!"

Ratchet leapt down from his crate and grasped Rivet by her shoulders, gently holding her in one place while turning her to face him. Her eyes flitted around for a few moments, looking anywhere but his, but she eventually met his gaze. From her anguished expression, it was all too obvious to Ratchet that this issue had been eating away at her for a while now, likely from the first moment Rivet had learned of his victories his own Nefarious numerous times before. The small flicker of inferiority must have slowly been building as the two of them had worked together more and more, and now that she had seen everything else that he and Clank had accomplished, the flood gates had opened wide.

Looking at her now, Ratchet could see just how horribly Rivet was tearing herself up over this. Her ears had drooped almost to the point of being flat against her head, her jaw was clenched so tightly that Ratchet thought she might hurt herself, and her eyes…

…she had managed to hold back tears by sheer willpower alone, but Ratchet could see how close they were. Her eyes held a glassiness that he could see his own clear reflection in, and he felt his heart break inside his chest at just how scared and afflicted Rivet looked just now.

"You gotta stop beating yourself up," he said sincerely. "A second ago, you were standing here building me up like I'm some kind of superstar, and then now you're turning around and dragging yourself through the dirt like we are two totally different people. Did you already forget who it was that managed to fix The Fixer of all people? Or who single-handedly rescued Clank, Kit, and I from Zordoom Prison back on Viceron?"

Rivet's eyes looked away as Ratchet spoke, but he could see it in her gaze that she was at least listening to what he had to say. At the sight, he felt emboldened to continue.

"Or even better yet," he said with a soft smile. "Who's the one that personally defeated Emperor Nefarious today? It wasn't me that cracked a hammer across his face so hard that it shattered, was it?"

She raised her eyes up to meet his again, and her ears twitched in contemplation at his speech, and for the briefest of moments, Ratchet thought he had broken through to her, as she seemed to contemplate his verbal encouragement. But after a spell, his hope was shattered as she shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut.

"The Nefarious of my universe had never been defeated until you showed up in our dimension. We only stopped him today because you were there, Ratchet."

Rivet then pushed past him and leaned back against the crate she'd been sitting on moments before, though this time she let herself slide tiredly down onto the ground and into a rough sitting position. She avoided Ratchet's eye the whole time, choosing instead to stare at her mechanical arm as she somberly flexed her metallic fingers. Her ears hung low again, and she bowed her head.

Ratchet watched her for a moment, thinking about what she'd said. Then his gaze shifted to the data pad still in her hand, and after a brief consideration, he joined her on the ground, leaning his back against the crate adjacent to hers like before. Neither of them spoke or looked at each other for almost half a minute, then Ratchet broke the silence.

"I don't suppose you read about the run-in that Clank and I had with the Technomites, did you?"

Rivet said nothing in response, but Ratchet saw her nod her head almost imperceptibly.

"The reports probably mention something about how the Technomites kidnapped me, stole my DNA, and used it to make a clone army composed entirely of Ratchets, right?

Rivet gave a hollow shrug in response.

"Well, the report was right about that, but it left out a few key details about everything that happened, especially about how they extracted my DNA."

Rivet's head tilted slightly back towards Ratchet as he spoke, indicating that she was listening.

"That day, all I really remember were a couple of medical bots stabbing and prodding me, and then nothing but horrible nightmares. To say that it was torture was the understatement of the century. What they did to me was so grievous, in fact, that I almost didn't survive."

Rivet then completely turned to look at him, the reality of Ratchet's brush with death settling in her mind as he continued his story.

"I was really close to biting it, but then Clank showed up and rescued me from their lab. He not only prevented them from killing me completely, but he also brought me back from the brink of death."

He could tell that he had her full attention now.

"After that little scare, Clank and I tracked down the cloning factory that the Technomites had built and shut it down. We had to fight our way through an army of clone Ratchets in order to do so, and I gotta admit, it was quite the experience fighting an army that all had my face. The Technomites had copied all of my moves too, so all the clones had my fighting style. They even made some of them bigger and faster than me! I was completely outmatched."

"But then…how'd you beat them?" Rivet asked, her curiosity momentarily making her forget her own troubles. "How did you face down an entire army of clones when they had all your moves and skills?"

"That's just it," Ratchet said with a smile. "The Technomites forgot about the single most important secret to my strength when they cloned me, and that was why we were able to beat them. It's also how I've managed to pull through against every other villain I've come up against."

Rivet raised her eyebrows in anticipation to hear what he said next.

"The reason the other Ratchets couldn't beat me…the same reason why I'm such a hit in this universe…was because I'm just not half as good without my best buddy at my side."

There was a moment of silence, then Ratchet spoke again.

"Every battle I've fought, every planet I've saved, every villain I've bested…all of it wouldn't have been possible without Clank. We've saved each other's skin more times than I can count, it's thanks to him that I can sit here and go on and on about the adventures we've had together."

Rivet's eyes left his as the words began to sink in.

"Being able to solve problems and beat up bad guys on your own is great," Ratchet continued. "But it's nothing compared to what you're capable of when you've got someone to watch your back."

Rivet remained silent, still deep in thought over Ratchet's words. Then she looked at him and spoke for the first time since the beginning of Ratchet's tale.

"Is it?" she said, her voice still scratchy from her outburst before. "Does being a part of a team really make you that much better? How much better can you really become?"

Ratchet allowed himself a small smile.

"How about becoming good enough to bring back the dead?"

Rivet looked at him.

"But…you didn't actually die from the Technomite cloning procedure, right?"

"Yeah, but that's not the time I'm talking about," Ratchet said. "During our adventure at the Great Clock, I…died. I mean, really died, Rivet. I was gone."

Her mouth fell slightly agape.

"Had Clank not been there, that would have been where my story ends, but do you know what he did? He used the Clock to rewind time and save me. He. Reversed. Time. And all for the sole purpose of keeping me alive."

Rivet sat speechless, but Ratchet could tell that she was still hesitant to believe him.

"But you know what, don't even take it from me. You've seen it yourself! Remember your final battle with Emperor Nefarious today? How far do you think you would've made it without Kit there to support you? I know that I certainly would've been toast if I'd been in your boots!"

Rivet's eyes drifted for a moment, likely remembering the circumstances of her victory today, and when her ears began to lift once more with her smile, Ratchet felt his heart skip a beat with relief.

"You know, you really missed an opportunity just now," Rivet said softly, her voice finally regaining some of its color. "You could have just as easily suggested the possibility that you might just be a little bit better than me, but you didn't. So now, I know that these reports really are exaggerated!"

Her lightly joking manner was relieving to hear, and Ratchet smiled broadly as her personality returned.

"Honestly Rivet, you're probably even more capable than I am. You'd been fighting against your own Nefarious for who knows how long, and you had been doing it all by yourself! I mean, sure, you had other resistance members and the Morts to help you out, but you didn't have a partner like I did, and yet you still held your own!"

Rivet gave a small laugh, which was music to Ratchet's ears.

"Ok, now you're just buttering me up," she said, lightening the mood even further. "Luckily for you, I'm a sucker for flattery."

"Ha! I'll have to keep that in mind!"

The two of them shared a laugh, then Rivet's voice lowered once more, though this time the aura of despair was not present as it had been before.

"Hey…thank you, Ratchet," she said sincerely. "I don't know why I got so emotional all of a sudden, but just reading about all your adventures and heroics made me feel like I just couldn't compete. I mean, if you thought you couldn't measure up to Lombax standards, then what chance did I have?"

Ratchet nodded understandingly as Rivet continued.

"But you're right, if today has taught me anything, it's that I'm really at my best when I've got someone watching my back. Every time I've messed up or made a mistake, I've had some help to fall back on, and I gotta admit, it feels nice."

"It does, doesn't it?" Ratchet said. "And listen, just because you're at your best with Kit doesn't mean that you're worthless without her. There are going to be times when she might be needed elsewhere, and you'll have to push forward on your own. It'll be scary, believe me, but I've seen you in action, Rivet, and when the time comes for you to really show what you're made of…"

Ratchet reached out and gently took Rivet's organic hand in his. Her slightly smaller fingers curled naturally around his, and despite their gloves, Ratchet could still feel the warmth coming from her.

"…well, I just hope I'm there to see it."

He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, and Rivet couldn't help but grin broadly as she gratefully squeezed his in return.

"I will say this, Ratchet. If there's one thing you do right as a hero, it's giving inspirational speeches."

For the next few moments, the two of them sat there and enjoyed the night sky, feeling an extended sensation of peace wash over themselves. Neither of them said anything, but Ratchet noted that just holding Rivet's hand reassured him in more ways than one. Being able to reach out and actually touch another Lombax quelled the residual loneliness that he felt at being separated from his kind, and having someone like Rivet there helped remind him that finding his race didn't have to be a bad thing, especially now that he didn't have to do it alone. Given Rivet's desire to find the Lombaxes as well, Ratchet imagined her to be feeling something similar.

"Do you ever think about them?" Rivet finally asked, echoing his thoughts. "You know, the other Lombaxes?"

"Constantly. I'm guessing you do too?"

Rivet gave a nod, then thought for a few moments.

"I always tried to think of what I'd say if I ever met another one of us, but I could never get the words right in my head. I tried and tried to craft the most charismatic introduction imaginable, but it always seemed to be just a work in progress. That is, until I met you and completely forgot everything I had come up with so far."

"Well to be fair," Ratchet said with a laugh. "I wasn't exactly oozing charm during our first interaction, but as far as introductions to other Lombaxes have gone for me, I really can't complain."

Rivet's eyes shot open in surprise, and she turned to look at Ratchet so fast that he thought she might give herself whiplash.

"Wait, you've met other Lombaxes besides me?! Are they here, in this universe!?"

Ratchet was taken aback once again by her abruptness, but he quickly composed himself.

"Oh! Sorry for not saying anything," he said with a sheepish shrug. "I thought you already knew since you've been reading up about me, but I guess you haven't read that far yet."

Rivet glanced down at the data pad sitting next to her, then let go of Ratchet's hand as she began scrolling as quickly as she could through the entries.

"I can't believe I missed it! What are their names? Are they here in Megalopolis?"

"There are only two others that I know of, but I haven't heard from one of them in years, and the other…he's not around anymore" Ratchet replied somberly, causing Rivet to pause in her scrolling and look over at him.

Realizing that things were about to steer once more into a rather sullen topic, Ratchet took a deep breath to clear his thoughts before beginning.

"His name was Alister Azimuth," he said, his voice taking on a grave tone. "He was a high-member of the Lombax Praetorian Guard during their time here in my universe, but he was exiled by the Lombaxes for having a hand in their disappearance. I first ran into him after Clank was captured by the Zoni."

"Wait…are you saying that he's the reason the Lombaxes aren't in this dimension?" Rivet asked, her interest piqued.

Ratchet nodded and told her the history of the Lombaxes in his universe: how they had fought against the Cragmites in the Great War and had banished them completely to another dimension, how Alister had felt uneasy about the universe after the war, and how he searched for a way to better safeguard it so that they could better ward off future enemies like the Cragmites.

"So, when Emperor Tachyon showed up with his promises of improving Lombax tech by thousands of years, Alister thought that he had been handed a golden opportunity, but he never knew of Tachyon's true plans. Once he had access to Lombax facilities, Tachyon laid waste to the entirety of their civilization. Fastoon was reduced to rubble in a matter of days."

Rivet said nothing, instead hanging onto every word that left Ratchet's mouth.

"The Lombaxes that survived fled using the Dimensionator, leaving Alister behind along with my father…who escaped with me and sent me to Solana to protect me from Tachyon. He tried to evade capture for as long as he could, but Tachyon caught up with him in the end…"

Ratchet's ears drooped low now, and he felt his throat dry up as he talked about his father. Rivet reached over and clasped his hand in hers once more, and after taking a few moments and giving her a grateful nod, Ratchet continued.

He then went on to tell her about the Great Clock, and how Alister had hoped to undo his mistake and save the Lombaxes from Tachyon's wrath by going back in time and fixing the past. Unfortunately, Alister had not known that the Great Clock was not designed to alter time, only to keep it, and any attempt to change the past would destroy time completely.

"By the time he realized what he had done, it was already too late. The Clock had been activated, and the timeline as we knew it was beginning to collapse. After realizing that he would be dooming all life in this timeline in his attempt to save the Lombaxes, Alister decided to sacrifice himself to stop the clock from overloading and saved the entire universe instead."

"I can't even imagine how he must have felt," Rivet said. "You and I never knew what life was like with our own kind, but he had been with them since birth, and because of his mistake they left him behind."

Ratchet shook his head.

"Once the story got out, so many people were eager to write him off as a selfish madman who tried to sacrifice the entire universe for the sake of his kind, but I knew the truth. I knew that he really was a hero, but he was blinded by his guilt over what happened to the Lombaxes. He never wanted to hurt anyone. He only wanted to make things right."

"And he did, Ratchet," Rivet said, and Ratchet noted with some humor that it was her turn to be reassuring. "He gave up his one true desire to keep the universe safe. I have no doubt that the Lombaxes would have been proud of what he did."

"Thanks, Rivet," Ratchet said gratefully. Despite already knowing that Alister had redeemed himself that day, hearing Rivet voice her agreement made him far more at peace than he had for a while, especially when it came to Alister's death.

Suddenly shaking his head, Ratchet remembered that this whole conversation started because of the subject of Lombax introductions.

"But anyway, Alister thought that I was an assassin sent by Dr. Nefarious when I first met him, and he tried to kill me because of it. So, that makes my first meeting with you way better than with him!"

This earned a laugh from Rivet.

"Sounds like I didn't really have a lot of competition!"

Ratchet gave a nod, then a light shrug of his shoulders before hopping up off the ground

"Well, here's hoping that you don't hold first place for long!" he said, stretching his shoulders and picking up his OmniWrench.

Helping Rivet to her feet, an idea then popped into Ratchet's head.

"Say, how about we go introduce you to Al? I'm sure he's probably got Clank and Kit all cleaned up by now."

"Sounds like a plan," Rivet replied, picking her hammer up as well as she leapt up onto her feet. "You think Al might have any upgrades for this?"

Rivet flexed her mechanical arm for emphasis, and Ratchet shrugged once more.

"Al always has something up his sleeve, so I doubt we will have to twist his 'arm' to get his input."

Rivet rolled her eyes and gave Ratchet a playful shove with her elbow, but even she couldn't help but laugh a bit at Ratchet's ridiculous joke.

"You've been a hero for how long and that is your best one-liner? How is it possible that your knack for great speech-giving is rivaled only by your rancid jokes?"

"Guess I used them all up during the battle today," Ratchet replied teasingly. "Say, you got your hoverboots on?"

Rivet mischievously raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, why? Got something in mind?"

"Well, I did say that we ought to race sometime, right? After all, we gotta figure out who's got the edge between the two of us."

Ratchet then kicked on his hover boots, raising himself into the air as he did so. In response, Rivet kicked hers on as well.

"I guess you're right, Mr. hero. Just don't feel too bad when I leave you in the dust," she said, floating up to match Ratchet's height.

"Oh, is that how it is?" he replied. "Alright then, bring it on! First one to the garage wins! On three…"

The two of them adjusted their positioning in mid-air, ready to put on a burst of speed.

"One…"

Rivet suddenly took off, catching Ratchet off-guard as she blew past him and into the air.

"Hey!" Ratchet called after her, but she was already too far ahead to hear. With a shake of his head and a chuckle, Ratchet powered up his own boots and rocketed after her, a warm smile working its way up to his face and sticking there for the rest of the evening.

A/N: So! I think I should clear a few things up regarding my choices for the story. First off, full disclaimer: Deadlocked is my favorite Ratchet and Clank game! I don't know if it's the armor or the plot or the plot armor, but I just really enjoyed playing the game! Secondly, I personally consider the PSP games, and by extension: Size Matters, to be canon to the main Ratchet & Clank timeline. I know some folks might disagree with me on that one, but I personally don't see anything wrong with keeping it in. I really enjoyed those games too! Also, I know that there is certainly some ambiguity as to whether or not Angela Cross is actually a lombax, but I believe I read somewhere that she was actually confirmed to be one, so I went ahead and decided to keep her as one too.

Finally (and most importantly), this story was written with an attempt to minimize any overt romantic interest our two heroes might have with each other, that way any reader (whether they ship them together or consider them to have a more brother/sister type vibe) can enjoy the story and and their own flair to it. That's also why I didn't tag them together in the tags section.

In truth, this story was written about a year ago, but I didn't get a chance to post it until now, so I have forgotten a lot of the decision-making that went into making the story, so feel free to ask me any questions or rate my story with a review. I'd be happy to explain the writing process in any way I am able. Other than that, until next time!

-ImpulsiveWeaver