Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart,
Dimensional Warriors.
Chapter 2.
Corson V, June, 19th, 2021.
Alex was still woozy from his phantom dash but he had to tough it out.
"I can't stop now." He thought. "I've gotta get back home." His thoughts were interrupted however when the elevator stopped at the top of the their destination. Ratchet looked out over the ground they would have to cover and frowned.
"There's a lot of gaps along the way." He looked at Alex and cringed.
"Are you going to be ok?" Alex nodded as he steadied himself.
"I can see a few paths through that won't require me to use the phantom dash all that much." He clapped a hand on Ratchet's shoulder and smiled.
"Lets go get that blimp." He then took off leaving Ratchet stare and smile as Alex vaulted over a nearby gap and kept up his momentum.
"I gotta see if he can teach some this parkour of his." He came back to reality as he heard Alex's voice.
"Ratchet, you coming bud?" He nodded.
"Yeah be right there." Ratchet took off using his phantom dash and magne glove to traverse the treacherous territory between the tower and their starting location. Once the two had made it Alex took his time recuperating while Ratchet went and upgraded his gear, spent some raritainuim as well. Alex got his nerves under control and joined Ratchet in upgrading his Shatterbomb. He even decided to grab a new weapon,
"Mr Fungi." He looked at the new glove and smiled.
"Sure why not." He looked at his glove and wondered if all of the cash he had collected was possibly stored in it. Just as he thought this however his vision was obscured by a screen.
"GA!" He rubbed at his eyes trying to get the screen to disappear, he felt Ratchet take his arm however and give him a pat on the shoulder.
"Calm down, bud." Alex did as he was told.
"Good now take a deep breath, and think about closing the screen." Again he did as he was told and was grateful to finally have his sight back. He let out a sigh of relief.
"Thanks Ratchet."
"No problem." Alex looked at his gauntlet and had an idea.
"Here's hoping this works." He thought about opening his screen this time however he rerouted it form his eyes to his gauntlet. Opening them he was greeted with his normal sight and to his pleasant surprise he found a holographic screen hovering above his wrist.
"YES!" He quickly scrolled through his list of items and was happy to see the he had just enough credits saved up from fighting goons to buy his new weapon. After making his purchase and tuning up his own gear, the two entered the elevator to the day spa. Phantom's voice came over the elevators speaker's startling Alex and Ratchet.
"Awesome you guys are almost there." Ratchet looked around.
"Wait you can see us?" Alex was curious as well.
"Where are you?" Phantom chuckled while Ratchet was skeptical.
"Is our starship ready?" He asked as Skidd just continued.
"Don't worry you two, I'll get your ship, but first we gotta take care these goons at the day spa." The two refugees finally made it to the top of the lift and both stood in awe at just the shear number of goons here. Suddenly Skidd appeared out of nowhere startling both of them.
"Now here's the deal." He pointed to the blimp.
"You two keep the goons busy while I go over and hack the blimp." He gave them a thumbs up and cloaked himself once more. Alex pulled out his Colt and sighed as he holstered it.
"Can't believe this thing is useless here." He then checked his Shatterbomb and saw that he had two left meaning he'd need to find some ammunition for it soon. His Mr. Fungi however was full of ammo, and he always had his sword. Ratchet meanwhile was doing the same. He had a full pack of ammunition for his Enforcer and his Burst Pistol. Grabbing the latter he looked over to Alex.
"You ready?" Alex pulled out his sword and Mr Fungi glove.
"As I'll ever be." Ratchet nodded.
"Ok, lets go be a pain in the ass." The two strode out onto the central platform and Ratchet set things off by shooting the nearest goon in a mech suit. At once blaster fire erupted all over, Alex chucking a Fungi into the mix while he danced around the central platform dodging fire and slashing anything that stupidly got close. Ratchet meanwhile had hopped to a nearby platform and put his pistol to good use felling several enemies in a hail of blaster fire. He hopped over to a more stable section of the spa and took cover behind a raised bar while he reloaded his pistol. Looking over he saw Alex duking it out with a pair of spiked ball mechs. He was about to rush them while they were occupied but he had been side swiped by another goon.
"Ha ha squishy you are all mine!" Ratchet just snarled as he pulled out his Enforcer and blasted the goon to smithereens. An explosion rocked the spa causing Ratchet to look over at Alex who now had his shatterbomb glove out, and a pile of now dead goons stacking up over on his end.
"Damn." Ratchet soon got to work on his own pile of goons his Enforcer making quick work of a half dozen of them. Alex meanwhile was sweating, dodging a spike ball gave him the opening he was looking for, his hand and sword darting forward and severing the limb of the mech. Thinking fast Alex jabbed his sword into the spa floor and grabbed the limb of his foe. Swinging it around he was able to turn a direct hit from the mech into a graze to his ribs, not letting that stop him however he kept his momentum going and smashed the spike into said mech. This left the goon stunned and aforded Alex the time to heave the improvised mace into the air and bring it down on his foes head, shattering the cockpit and splattering alien viscera all over the spa floor.
"Ok." Alex let out a sigh of fatigue as he looked around for his next target. He was caught by surprise however when he went to put the limb down and instead of it leaving his grasp it glowed purple and faded from view.
"Ok going to check that out later." He grabbed his sword and through himself into yet another group of foes, using his last shatterbomb to blow them into scrap metal. He found himself standing back to back with Ratchet as he to was now fighting a small army.
"How yeah holding up?" The lombax asked. Alex smirked.
"I'm alive, that's a start." Ratchet smiled.
"That's good to hear I guess." He blocked a hit form another mace unit and ducked underneath another swing. Alex took advantage of his reflex and swung his sword over his allies head, making contact with the mechs torso, cleaving it in half. A kick from his boot sent the upper torso into the spa's burning hot soup. The pilot didn't fair so well even in its temperature controlled cockpit, as a crack was heard followed by the shrill screams of the fish pilot. The two surveyed their surrounding and it looked like they had finally fought off all of the goons in the spa. Ratchet put a hand on Alex's shoulder.
"Looks like we got them all." That let Alex relax as his sword faded into his gauntlet.
"Oh thank God." He fell to his feet exhausted, but alive. Ratchet chuckled as he looked around and saw the blimp, now it was broadcasting a message from the resistance. Skidd was standing nearby and smiled as he watched the hijacked blimp drift off through the city. Ratchet came over and Alex followed.
"So about our ship?" Skidd chuckled as he handed Ratchet a small flash drive looking device.
"Here you go buddy. A deal's a deal." Ratchet looked at the device and opened it's id folder.
"That there is Glitch, she'll be able to help you get to your ship." Alex looked at the little holographic spider and smiled.
"Hello there Glitch." He said with a wave. The small A.I. gave him a look of curiosity but hen waved back. Ratchet smiled as he thought of finally reuniting with Clank and put the small A.I. in his pocket.
"Thanks Skidd." He said to which Phantom just smiled.
"Don't worry about it Ratchet." He paused as once more the name came to him, along with a strange sense of familiarity. He looked out over Nefarious City and scowled.
"There's still a lot to be done." His demeanor changed at once from happy to serious. He fixed Ratchet and Alex with a look of pure determination.
"Listen you two. That statue down there of Nefarious will get you to his tower, from there you'll be able to get a ship that will take you wherever you need to go." He gave then both a salute before plunging over the edge of the building.
"Skidd!" Ratchet yelled as he reached out for his friend. Alex just on pure instinct grabbed Ratchet by his tail to keep him from going over.
"Wow!" He yelled as Ratchet looked for his friend only to be bloan back by the exhaust of two sentry goons that had grabbed Skidd as he fell.
"Don't worry you two, this is all apart of the plan." He then gave them once more salute.
"See you two later!" He was then whisked away by the two goons who both regarded Ratchet and Alex with suspicion. Ratchet looked on as his friend was taken and sighed as Alex let go of his tail.
"Thanks." He said as he got his emotions under control. Alex placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled.
"Don't worry if he's anything like us then he'll be fine." Ratchet gave him a nod as he looked down towards the statue.
"Come on let's go." He looked around for the fastest way down and smiled as he saw a nearby bolt crank. Alex however looked as Ratchet used his wrench to pull a section of piping into place.
"Please tell me we aren't going to be ding what I think where doing?" Ratchet continued to grin as he walked over to the yellow pipe and gave Alex a grin.
"You may want to hold onto my tail." Alex groaned and reluctantly did as he was told. One harrowing trip though the heat of the city later and Alex was sure he should have died of shock a long time ago.
"Please tell me we won't be dong that again." Ratchet just laughed.
"If I did that would more than likely be a lie." Looking around he spotted Ms, Zurkon.
"Come on we need to get restocked on ammunition and you need to get a pair of these." He pointed to his own hover boots. Several minutes later Alex was outfitted with a new pair of tech boots and ammunition while Ratchet was admiring his newest gun. Alex remembered his newest acquisition and scrolled through his inventory, seeing the mace limb, he tapped it with his finger. It materialized from his gauntlet just like his sword and shatterbombs. He grabbed it before it could hit the ground and marveled at it.
"Huh. Interesting." He quipped as Ratchet gave it a once over.
"That's new." He said studying the melee weapon. Alex handed it over to him and the lombax gave it a few experimental swings. He handed it back over to the human who put it away.
"Ok, lets go find Clank." Ratchet said as the two made their way over to the statue. Seeing as the road that lead to it would retract when they got close the two gave their gloves a look.
"Let's get this over with." Alex sighed as he braced himself for the familiar sensation of vertigo. Ratchet just grinned and powered up his glove. They made it across and thankfully Alex had very little issues with his stomach, at least he was able to keep down his lunch this time. He wobble for a bit as the dizziness subsided, and once that was over the two made their way over to the statue. A low rumbling however stopped them in their tracks.
"Oh no, what now?" Alex asked as a huge mechanical being blocked any further progress towards the statue.
"Cutting in line is against the law!" The juggernaut spoke as it fired a chest beam at the two. They barely dodged the high energy beam with Ratchet diving behind a large storage tank of some kind, meanwhile Alex had leapt to the other side of the platform taking refuge behind a wending machine, though he still felt the sensation of heat reaching his skin and the smell of burnt hair soon reached his nose. Alex looked over to make sure Ratchet was ok. The Lombax already had his Enforcer out and was taking aim at the Juggernaut.
"Same strat as last time?" He shouted across the platform. Ratchet gave him a nod.
"Divide and conquer." Alex gave a thumbs up and pulled out his shatterbomb. Alex stepped out of cover and looked at the juggernaut.
"Hey asshole?" he shouted getting the behemoths attention. He held up his shatterbomb.
"Go long!" And them hurled the explosive at the metal hulk with a baseball pitch, the impact and shock wave making the giant stumble and flail about as it regained it's center of gravity. It didn't have long to celebrate however as Ratchet soon blasted it with both barrels of his futuristic shotgun, knocking it out of the air and onto it's back. Alex took this opportunity to bring his sword to bare. As soon as he got next to it he brought his sword down on it's chest, only to look on in horror as it was barely scratched by his blade.
"Well, shit." He said as the juggernaut brought an arm around and slammed into his side. He was sent flying and crashed into a pile of boxes stacked nearby. He began to writhe in agony as his side was now severely burning with pain.
"Alex!" The lombax stopped but Alex waved him off.
"Nail that son of a bitch!" He yelled as he got to his feat and hobbled over to blue health box. Ratchet returned his full attention to the juggernaut and decided that now was the time to pull out his big gun. The Negatron Collider sprang to life and he began to charge up his shot. The tank however refused to get put on his metaphorical ass again and sent a flurry of plasma bombs his way. The sound of glass breaking caught Ratchets ears and he glanced over to see that Alex had crushed a health box under his boot.
"Ok, lets try this again." He snapped his finger's bringing his mace out now. Gripping it in both hands Alex charged at the giant while Ratchet let his weapon loose, sending a beam of particle's accelerated at astronomical velocities towards the juggernaut, who blocked the shot head on with it's huge shield like arms. Ratchet didn't let up on his trigger and Alex took this opening and brought his mace down on the unsuspecting giants arm. A crack appeared on the juggernaut's arm as it soon found itself the unwilling recipient of several million jouls of concentrated star energy.
"It's working!" Alex shouted a he backed up from the giants flailing arms, it trying in vain to block the shot. However Ratchets gun had run out of charge and had to refresh it's stores of energy. Alex once more swung at the giant, this time his mace connected with the chest, cracking the laser stored there. However this small victory was short lived as the juggernaut back handed Alex into a nearby vending machine, Alex letting out a scream as he felt shards of glass and bit's of metal make themselves at home in his back. Letting out a primal growl he pulled himself free from the confines of the broken machine and grabbed his mace from the ground.
"That's it, now I'm pissed!" A blast of double barreled vengeance crashed into the giant mech suit, causing the crack in it's laser reactor widen and blasting off a chunk of it's arm.
"Stop resisting. I'm trying to kill you as quickly as possible!" The giant bellowed as it sent a bast of energy at Ratchet hitting the lombax directly in the chest and sending him sailing through the air. Ratchet landed on all fours however and dodged another barrage of plasma fire sent his way. Looking around he saw a health crate nearby and broke it, letting the nanites go to work healing his injuries and getting him back in the fight. The giant however was not so lucky, as Alex ran up to it with his mace and slammed the giant in the chest shattering its core laser completely.
"S-t-t-top r-r-resisting squishy!" It sent a fist his way forcing Alex to jump out of the way.
"We gotta kill this guy fast." He heard a beep and pulled out his Negatron Collider, seeing that it was now fully charged again. He aimed it at the giant but was stopped when all three of them began to float in the air. They were flung through a portal and landed on the flourishing planet of Sargasso.
"Good to know you survived the trip."! The giant said. "Now die!" Ratchet sighed as he grabbed his gun from the ground and took aim once more. Alex meanwhile had rolled with the landing and found his mace lodged in the ground. He grabbed the handle and wrenched it from the earth.
"Time to end this!" He gripped his weapon tight as Ratchet pulled the trigger of his gun and sent another beam of energy at the tank, blasting it's arm off, the fractures from Alex's mace now cracking wide open and exposing the wires and metal hydraulics underneath. The tank looked at his missing arm and scowled.
"Oh ho. you'll pay for that squishy." Alex had to duck under Ratchets blast this time and took aim at the juggernauts hover system. He felt the mace impact the metal and saw the warped metal bend under the heat of the thruster holding the giant aloft but his close proximity to the giant was a deadly gamble. It was one he lost as he felt a giant hand collide with his chest. He let out a wheeze as the air was ripped from his rib cage. He was then sent sprawling to the ground and lay there, trying to regain his breath.
"Alex!" Ratchet shouted as he blasted the giant with his Enforcer. He was about to pull the trigger again but was stopped as the tree of them started to float in the air once more.
"Oh no this will not do." The giant grabbed Alex with it's remaining hand and hurled him into a different portal that had appeared across the clearing.
"No!" Ratchet through a hand up in vain as Alex was hurled into a portal he had no way of knowing where it may lead to. Ratchet and the juggernaut however where spit out onto the platform back in Nefarious city. Ratchet stowed his gun and pulled out his wrench rushing the giant and smashing his weapon into its chest, shattering it's laser core. Sparks began to dance upon the juggernauts frame as Ratchet backed away.
"N-n-no! No one i-i-s gr-g-g-reater than our beloved emperor!" It's screams were cut short as the whole platform shook from the violent explosion that soon followed. Ratchet shrouded his eye's from the light and once the dust had settled all that was left of the juggernaut was a small piece of it's laser core as well as a small pool of repair nanites. Ratchet looked around and slammed a fist into the ground.
"Dammit!" He shouted as he looked over at the control panel for the statue. He pulled out Glitch and gave a sigh. A little while later Ratchet found himself inside of Nefarious Tower. And after a run in with Dr. Nefarious and his usurped goons, Ratchet found a ship.
"Com on, come on, come on!" He got it up and running and looked at the star map for guidance.
"Sargasso." Looking at the map he steeled his nerves.
"Don't worry Alex. No one gets left behind."