Chess
Sitting by the window Ratchet stared at the board leaning on his palm waiting for Clanks move. The expanse of space providing an excellent backdrop for the game at hand.
The game was only two moves in and Ratchet already was annoyed with the slow calculating moves his friend took.
As if reading his mind Clank let out a hmm as he placed the piece after nearly three minutes of deliberating.
Smirking Ratchet made a move after only 5 seconds of eyeing the board.
"I believe you should take more time before deciding on a move Ratchet."
"I know what I'm doing Clank this is a game of minds, I can see what you're next move is before you even decide what it is" A hint of arrogance in his voice as he spoke.
"I believe you lack the whole mind part necessary to win the game fur ball." Clank spoke back in his best impression of Nefarious that made Ratchet laugh before he stopped abruptly realising that Clank had checkmated him.
In four moves.
For five seconds the only sound on the space ship were the sounds of Ratchets tail swishing and the hum of engines.
Cutting the silence with a laugh Clank spoke again.
"You lose my dim witted friend."
With a sigh the Lombax stood up, he stared at his friend with a look of anger as he picked up the chess board and smashed it over his head splitting the board in two.
Walking off in a concussed daze Ratchet cursed the inventors of chess as he made his way to the cockpit leaving Clank in a mess of wood and porcelain chess pieces.
"That's the 6th board this month."
Prototype
Ratchet stood in wait the near the garage door, one ear pressed against the office door he could hear the static of the ancient holo player hum in the near silent night, Grimm's deep snoring giving Ratchet the cue to leave.
Tip toeing outside with a suspicious pair of underwear his tail stood stiff and his ears stood up as he heard a break in Grimm's snoring, when the snoring returned he let out a shaky breath he hadn't known he'd been holding in.
Throwing the underwear onto a crate he flipped a switch on the underwear with a hesitant finger, a barely audible hum ten times stronger thanks to the Lombax's amazing hearing hurt his head a little but was bearable.
This was the last test of the prototype stage before Ratchet would be sending it off to "Jim's industrial lines" for production.
The owner of the factory Jim had taken a liking to Ratchet's enthusiasm over his invention, saying in passing he had known a similar looking Lombax about 15 years ago pass through with a child.
Ratchet wanted to press further on it but didn't trust his own emotions.
Adrenaline coursed through the lombax as he picked up a long metal pole that had been lying around, steadily growing more soot covered with every test.
Closing his eyes as he did so with shaky skinny arms, Ratchet touched the ordinary looking underwear with the pipe, a loud hiss followed by what felt like ten thousand volts of electricity went straight through Ratchet for a split second, just enough for him to let out a loud yelp and for all his fur to stand up on edge, the smell of it burning present.
He was just thankful that they hadn't malfunctioned or shocked him when he was doing the comfort tests.
Fist pumping the air he made his way over to the underwear to pick them up before forgetting to turn it off giving himself another shock, earning another yelp.
After turning it off he held them with a smile, now he could finally save up enough and get off this dustball.
All from an anti-creep pair of underwear
He still didn't know what he wanted to do, maybe do some mechanic work on Kerwan, hey maybe he'd get to work on the Ranger ships.
It surely bet wishing upon every star and half crying to sleep for an easy way off Veldin.
Going to sleep that night came easy enough, crashing onto the bed fully clothed.
The first thing Grimm took note of when he woke up at the crack of dawn was the horrible smell.
It smelt like burning fur.
It smelt like that one time Ratchet had been working on fixing an old barbeque he had found last year, promising to fix it up so they could give customers a meal for a few bolts extra.
Only to end up with him sprinting to the water reservoir only ten metres away holding his ass and yelping all the way, the end of his tail alight and covered in soot, giving him the appearance of a little devil.
Grimm thought the similarities were uncanny.
Following the stench and dirty boot prints he found Ratchet curled into a soot covered ball, his tail up by his face like a housecat.
Anyone would've found it cute, Grimm would've if the little shit hadn't stunk out the entire shop.
Hoisting him up by the scruff of his neck and onto his shoulder Grimm took note of how light he was, boy needed to eat more.
Ratchet groggily opened his eyes and yawned before realising what has happening
It was too late.
The cold water stunning him awake took his breath away, and to make things worse he had run out of clean underwear so he resorted to wearing an earlier prototype of the stunderwear that had malfunctioned in water.
Pain.
Rain.
Ratchet eyed the approaching storm with wide eyes, Clank finding him perched against the window sill, his tail swishing back and forth as he stared at the large cloud about to plunge the Plateau in rain and darkness.
Announcing his presence with a mechanical cough Clank watched as Ratchet half jumped before turning around, his ears downwards and a lopsided grin on his face.
A plead.
"No"
A whine escaped the teen.
"C'mon Clank a little rain isn't going to kill me, you're waterproof as well."
"Last time this happened Ratchet, you not only managed to nearly get struck by lightning but got a bad cold as well, Lombaxes aren't built for playing in the rain."
Rolling his eyes Ratchet side stepped around Clank as he glanced out the open garage door at the oncoming storm. His legs restless and his tail swishing about.
"I'll let you pick the movies on movie night for a month when we move into the apartment, aaand I won't get sick and sneeze all over you again."
Glancing up at his young friend Clank considered the proposition, looking at the childish expression on Ratchets face, he was happy which made Clank happy.
"Fine, but if you go back on your movie proposition I'll lock you inside every time the holo news says there's a chance of rain"
Glee lit up Ratchet's face as he ran into the rain laughing as he did so.
Rain was a rarity on Veldin, so were Lombaxes.