Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart,
Dimensional Warriors.
Prologue.
Earth, June, 8th, 2021.
Alex slowly looked over his face in the mirror. A gaunt face looked back at him.
"I need to shave," He mused as he ran a hand through his thin beard. Looking around at the rest stops vacant stalls made him sigh as he ran a hand through his wavy black hair.
"Gotta get back on the road." He said aloud, trying to make himself feel better about going on this trip alone. Taking out his phone he looked at his map and saw that he was still a few hours away from the nearest motel. Letting out another sigh he pocketed his phone and went back to his car. As he did so a small flash of purple caught his eye. Looking over to the source he saw a hand sized chunk of amethyst sitting on the side walk next to his car. Looking around he didn't see anyone else at the rest stop and shrugged as he went to pick up the hunk of crystal.
"Must be my lucky day." he said putting the gem in his pocket. He stopped however as he felt the air around him begin to distort. Hearing a hoosh behind him, Alex spun around grabbing his gun on his hip as he did so. He looked at the weirdness before him and was speechless.
"What the fuck is this?" He didn't make a move towards the window he guess as he began to see things going on through the strange portal. Feeling a tug in his jeans he saw that the gem n his pocket had begone glowing, the same purple as the portal before him. With one hand still on his gun he grabbed the gem with the other and took ito ut of his pocket. Starring at it did little, it stilled glowed. Shaking his head just to see of he was dreaming the glow and portal still remained.
"What the hell is all of this?" He felt the gem tug on him as it pulsed along with the portal. Now he was curious. Alex walked closer to the portal , crystal still held out. He put his gun away in his thigh holster and was amazed as the crystal got brighter.
"Ouch!" He screamed as the crystal shocked him, his instincts kicking in as he let it go and pulled his gun out as well. He starred at it as it began to crackle with energy shooting off little sparks every now and then. He slowly began to back up but stopped as a bolt of energy lanced towards him, rooting him in place as it struck his body.
"What voodoo shit is this!?" he screamed internally as he began to slowly float in the air, the amethyst doing the same. Suddenly there was a sound like glass breaking as the crystal rushed through the portal dragging Alex along with it. His scream was cut off as the portal closed behind him on earth, leaving behind his car but not much else to say what had happened to him.
Corson V, June, 18th, 2021.
Alex continued to scream as he was flung through the portal at an alarming speed. His screams stopped in his throat however as he was greeted by cold, wet cement underneath him. He layed there felling every bone in his body ache as he slowly picked himself up from the cold, hard ground. As his eyes adjusted to their new surroundings he couldn't help but kneel there in awe of what was before him.
"Wow, neon paradise." He muttered as he got to his shaky legs and looked around. To his right was a stair way leading further into this strange new world, to his left was a pile of junk, and immediately in front of him was a railing and a long drop off. He only dared to glance at the railing fro his safe space, instead he decided to look through the pile of junk, seeing if he could find a crutch of some sort as his old football injury began to act up.
"Damn it's cold here." He said as he began to shiver, his left leg throbbing as he finally found an I beam level amidst the junk. It was a little beat up and worn looking, almost like it had been used to fight with at some point. He pushed the thought from his mind however as he braced his poor leg with the level and fished through his pocket's.
"Great, no phone, no wallet." He sighed as his hand grasped onto what he assumed was the crystal that started this whole mess. Pulling from his pocket he looked it over. It didn't look out of the ordinary at all, just like an inert purple rock. He dropped it however as it began to glow once more, bracing his injured leg and raising the I beam bar to attack the crystal if necessary. He was even more surprised when the I beam quickly reconfigured itself from an actual leveling tool into a sharp single edged blade fit for battle. He dropped the now lethal weapon and stepped back from both of the strange items.
"What the hell is going on here?" He asked to himself as the crystal flashed once more. Alex scooped the I beam sword back up and held it up to the crystal as it began to levitate. Suddenly it flashed once more and flew at Alex wrapping itself around his hand and weapon. He screamed and tried to rub it off with his other hand but it was no use. With yet another flash the strange crystal had now fused itself to both Alex's right hand and his weapon, coating both in a strange crystalline metal, a purple glowing glove now attached to Alex's hand and the same glow permeating his weapon as well.
"Why me?" He asked as he studied his new attire. Not getting any answer's just standing around he once more studied his surrounding's and gave a sigh.
"No use in just standing around." He thought. He pushed through his legs pain and looked at his cloth's, seeing that there was nowhere to really stow his weapon he simply sat the flat back end of the I beam blade on his shoulder and rubbed his temple with his other hand.
"Ok so found a weird glowing purple crystal, ended up sucked through a portal to god only knows where and now I have a crystal gauntlet and a cool sword from another dimension strapped to my arm." His inner monologue over he looked around and sat down, his nerves threatening to get the better of him.
"This is fan fucking tastic!" He shouted to the neon hued heavens, swinging his sword at the pile of junk in frustration. The blade passed through the junk like it was nothing, which would have impressed Alex if he was paying attention to it, but his thoughts were suddenly bombarded with one single question.
"How in the hell am I going to get home?" He failed to notice that a small box had been apart of the junk as well and with it's destruction a small swarm of nano bot's had been released. There primary objective was to find a host to bond to and keep them alive at all cost's. Their secondary to that was to survive, which necessitated their first objective. Sensing a warm body nearby the nano swarm began to invade Alex's body, slowly repairing years of damage and making themselves at home within their new human host.
Alex for his part felt a little tingly and scratched his arm as he blew a raspberry. For a fourth time that night his crystal guardian began to glow, this time however there came with it a gust of wind. Alex braced himself and gripped his blade tight. More portal's began to open up sporadically this time, all of them that Alex could see leading to places that were defiantly not earth. A strong gust of wind made Alex squint as dust was kicked up and blown into his eye. Shielding his eyes with his blade he was greatly surprised when he heard screaming as a portal opened up right in front of him. He side stepped out of the way as something came flying out of said portal and landed on the ground in front of Alex.
"What the fuck is this?" He asked out loud as he looked at what was obviously a futuristic gun of some kind. The screaming from before got louder causing Alex to yet a gain step out of the way as this time someone came through the portal. Alex stared at this weird purple robot as his curiosity began to sky rocket. His curiosity was compounded when yet another portal opened up and out popped a fuzzy creature and yet another robot. The purple robot had come to and completely ignored Alex as he shot to his feet and whooped in delight.
"HaHA! Did I do it or what!?" Suddenly he stopped and gawked at the scenery.
"Whats with all the neon?" He looked around and finally saw Alex, and was immediately puzzled.
"The hell are you supposed to be?" Ratchet after getting to his feet gave a puzzled look over to Alex but his eyes soon locked onto Dr. Nefarious. This is the part where you lose." He grabbed his wrench and ran towards the purple robot who let out a girlish scream as Clank looked over to Alex and then over to the dimensionater as it began to hum and wiggle all over the place.
"Ratchet! The Dimensionater!" His call got everyone's attention as the four individual's all gave the gun a look of horror. There was bright flash of purple light as Alex closed his eye's.
"Not again!" he shouted as he felt himself become weightless once more. His center of gravity shifted and he found himself falling again, soon to be met with yet more concrete. He gave a grunt as he hit the cold, hard pavement but this time he his adrenaline kicked in and he rapidly looked all around his surroundings.
"Still in neon paradise." He sighed as he heard screaming followed by yet another thud behind him. Turning around he was greeted with the fuzzball from before. Ratchet groaned as he got to his feet as well.
"Clank? Clank!?" he shouted as he looked around as well. He spotted Alex who gave him a soft stare, causing Ratchet to return a slight smirk.
"Uh hey, so I'm guessing your not from around her eh?" He asked as Alex nodded once more resting his sword on his shoulder.
"Nope." He smirked. "What gave it away?" He asked feeling just a little bit better, having someone to talk to at least helping him cope with his current predicament. Ratchet rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment as he looked around his surroundings once more.
"Well I've been all over the galaxy and I've not once came into contact with a species quite like you." Alex just gave a sigh as he looked around as well.
"Well I hate to be a bother but is there anyway you could I don't know get me home?" He asked as Ratchet gave him a solem look.
"I'm afraid not." He thought back to the purple light and shook his head.
"It looks like the Dimensionater blew up." Alex looked forlorned as he sat down in the rain.
"So that's it?" He asked no one as his gave fell on Ratchet.
"I'm stuck here?" He asked as the lombax simply nodded his head.
"No, luckily for you I know for a fact that Clank can help build us a new one." Alex got to his feet as soon as he heard this.
"Well then what are we waiting for let's get going!" Ratchet however held up a hand.
"Whoa slow down there buddy." He sized Alex up and smiled. "Have you ever been on an adventure before?" Alex shook his head.
"No but that's not gong to stop me from getting my ass home." He held out a hand as Ratchet gave him a curious glance.
"What do you say then fuzzball, partner's until we can get this dimensionater fixed and me sent home?" Ratchet gave off a laugh as he gripped Alex's hand feeling like he was seeing a much younger version of himself.
"Sure thing pal." He shook Alex's hand and the two set off through the neon paradise.