So guys I've got to put a little note here, I just found how how tall Ratchet and Rivet are, They're both around 5 feet tall. So with this being said Alex is also that height, I however assumed Lombax's were slightly shorter than that, so going forward Alex, Ratchet, and Rivet will be at eye level with each other.
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart,
Dimensional Warriors.
Chapter 7.
Scarstu Debris Field, June, 22th, 2021.
1:43 P.M.
Out in the arena Rivet and Alex mopped up the last of the goons for the fourth time. Upon completion of this battle the two were given yet another small break. Alex had to sit down and take some deep breaths, looking over he saw that Rivet was a little winded to.
"Ha finally something that made you break a sweat." Rivet noticed his gaze and smirked.
"So still can't keep your eyes to yourself?" Alex fumbled a little but his stammering came to a haul as Rivet gave a stretch making sure to swish her tail about, just a little bit, might as well tease him in front of a whole audience. She stopped however when she remembered just where they were. Quickly regaining her composure she cleared her throat and gave Alex an awkward giggle as Zurkon Jr. once more came out to referee.
"Ladies and Gentlemen! The time has come for tonight's final preformence!" The crowd went absolutely wild, the scoreboard in the corner of the arena tallying how many kills Alex and Rivet had. Rivet with her bigger arsenal and vast experience was winning by a landslide, but Alex wasn't feeling to put off by his measly score of 142 compared to her 420.
"Now put your hands, fins, and robot appendages together for the one, the only, Francois, The Crusher!" Alex had to do a double take as the behemoth of a robot was dropped into the arena via a portal. He glanced over at Rivet who had a confidant smirk on her face. She in turn caught his eye and saw that he was less enthused.
"Cheer up, this is our last match." She smiled but saw that Alex was genuinely nervous about this fight. Letting out a sigh and smiling to herself she clapped a hand on his shoulder.
"Remember what I said?" Alex thought about it.
"Follow your lead?" Rivet nodded.
"Exactly."
"LET THE CARNAGE BEGIN!" Zurkon Jr. rang the battle bell. At once Francois sprang to life, his crimson eyes tracking his two targets. Alex jumped as flames shot out of the arena floor, but Rivet kept a level head. Francois bellowed out a maniacle laugh as he let loose with a flurry of bombs. This attack scattered Rivet and Alex, with the former having ended up on the other side of the arena.
"Divide and conquer?" Alex shouted over the explosives, Rivet heard him and nodded, pulling out her War Monger.
"Hey asshole over here!" Alex shouted as he puled out a shatterbomb, checking his ammo he was almost out of bombs. Tossing one at the hulking brute he then switched over to the Topperary Sprinkler and set a micro turret out on the field, and just for good measure he grabbed a Mr. Fungi and tossed out one of those as well. All of this manages to get the Francois's attention but he wasn't stupid. He saw the lombax aim for his position and held up a hand as she fired off her rocket. The arena shook with the blast from the rocket connecting with the armor on Francois's arm. Alex saw Rivet go for a reload and took this as his time to distract the brute even further.
"Hey big guy how much is Pierre paying you?" Francois ignored the jabs and let loose with a barrage of bomb's and bullets. Alex quickly scrambled around the arena avoiding the first few solvos of bombs but one of those little bundles of joy found there mark sending him through the air and rolling to a top.
"Uh, fuck." He spit up some blood as he tasted copper. Looking around he saw Rivet had finished her reload.
"Awesome." He looked around and saw a health box in the corner. He crawled over to it and shot it with his shotgun. He lay there as he felt the nanites do there job. He was back up on his feet in a few seconds but his mind was still reeling from the blast. Glancing around he saw that his vision was still blurry and he shook his head to clear it.
"Alex could use some help!" Rivet shouted causing Alex to glance her way seeing her limp as Francois barreled down on her. He immediately pulled out his revolver and let off four shots, his new upgrade to his gun causing his bullets to explode on impact,. This had the desired effect of blasting the behemoth off of his feet, and staggering him as Rivet hit a health box. She flashed him a thumbs up and ducked under a swing from the giants now broken arm. Alex had to take a deep breath but he put his revolver away and pulled out his sword.
"Time to see what this new upgrade can do." Gripping his sword in both hands he took slow deliberate steps to the side of the arena where Francois located.
"Hey big guy," He got the robots attention. "Leave her alone." He pointed to Rivet who looked stunned.
"Come over here and fight me like a man." Alex stood his ground, his sword gripped in both hands, with the blade tip facing his opponent, ready to either attack or parry at a moment notice. His ruse worked and the giant stalked over to the left side of the arena, leaving Rivet to finish healing. She gave Alex a look of genuine concern but his face was as solid as stone, not even his fear remained. Francois gave his foe a look of curiosity.
"You face me alone, to give your woman a chance to live, admirable, foolish but admirable." Alex's only response was bring his sword to his chest, a sign of respect and fair play. Francois wasn't completely without honer. He brought a fist to his chest and nodded. The two men stared at the other neither making a move, for what seemed like ages.
Alex saw the barest movement in his opponent. Thanks to the cracked armor Francois's punch was dodged as Alex brought his blade to bare parrying the jab, and thrusting at his foe. The blade bit into the giants body and it surprised Alex to see it sink into his armored chest like it had everything else. He smirked as he felt like he now had a chance at winning this duel. Francois sent another hoot towards his foe but this to was deftly dodged and he felt another prick of pain as his enemies blade found purchase in his steely flesh. The wounds were superficial at best but what truly worried him was the fact that this alien was getting closer with each thrust.
"You fight well stranger." He spoke hoping to catch his foe off guard but Alex was focused, determined and out to win. Francois growled seeing his words have no effect. He decided to mix things up a bit. Pulling his arm back he sent a fist flying at Alex who dodged it but that left him open for Francois to aim a kick at his chest. The metal connected sending Alex tumbling back a few feet, however to his anger he saw that he was barely effected, hell he wasn't even winded.
"What are you?" He asked as Alex broke out into a run. It was then that he saw something in the humans eye's. Rage and furry. But it was controlled. It was then that Francois felt fear. Alex for his part had closed the gap between the two of them in a frightening display of speed, his adrenaline taking over now. With a flurry of strikes and slashes he cut Francois's right arm to ribbons. The robot brought his stump up and that was the mistake that sealed his fate. Alex let our a primal roar as he slid underneath the giants legs severing both of them as he swept past. With no way to move Alex rolled onto his feet and brought his sword around in a wide arc, cleaving through the robot's chest. Before his torso could hit the floor Alex brought his blade around again severing the robots head from his body and then in one swift thrust skewered it on his sword.
"Holy shit!" Zurkon Jr let the words hang in the air but was brought back to his senses when the crowd let out an outpouring of applause that shook the whole stadium. Alex let his adrenaline calm down and dispersed his sword, Francois's head falling to the ground as he regained his composure. Meanwhile Rivet was seriously conflicted.
"Holy shit that was hot!" However her fear shined through when Alex came over to her. She found herself shirking form his hand as he held it out. His eyes noticed and he pulled his hand back.
"Can't really blame her." His face formed a mask of stone as he cut off his emotions. Rivet however now felt like shit.
"Stupid, don't just stand there say something!" She held a hand out but Zurkon Jr came flying over to them.
"Our champions folks! Rivet and Alex!" He held up their hands and the crowd's cheer's rocked the arena. Rivet put on a smile for the crowd but inside she was hurting a little bit. Alex meanwhile had gotten off his adrenaline high and felt like shit now. He let out a smile as he tried to feel normal, but that had felt anything but normal. He knew how to use a sword and that was all thanks to his training but he'd never gone that far with his abilities before. The two were swept up by a small platform and sent back up to the bar but not without the fanfare deserving of two champion's.
"Rivet, Alex, Rivet, Alex!" The crowds were so enthralled with them that the cheers didn't die down unto the two were up inside the bar, and even then some spectators were still cheering them on. As the two walked off the platform Alex felt a little numb. He glanced at Rivet and flinched when she shied away from his hand again. He retracted and through on a smile.
"Uh hay, I could use a bit of fresh air." He snickered as he set off for the outside of the bar. He passed by Ratchet and Clank who where both looking at him in silent awe. He flashed them a smile and they did so in turn. Rivet held out a hand as he left. When he was gone she retracted it and scowled.
"Come on! Don't just stand there-" Her thoughts however where interrupted by Pierre.
"Wow Mon Cheir you really know how to pick them." Rivet however glared at the robot and simply held out her hand. Pierre held his tongue and fiddled with his long coat as he pulled the signal booster and handed it over. Rivet snatched it up and stormed off towards Ratchet and Clank. The two men saw her stalking towards them anger evident in her walk and perhaps a little fear on her face as well.
"Here you go ahead and fix Clank, I'm going to go make sure Alex is ok." She handed the signal booster to the lombax who took it and watched as Rivet left. He however had a smile on his face. He'd seen that look many times when he'd made a mistake with Talwyn around.
"Well then lets get this communicator fixed." Clank nodded. Outside Rivet spotted Alex leaning against a railing staring off into space. He heard her approach but didn't stop his look out. Rivet stood next to him and rubbed an arm.
"Hey." She said as Alex just stood there. He let out a deep breath and then diverted his eyes to the ground.
"Sorry about that." His apology caught her off guard completely disarming her fear.
"For what?" She asked as he scrunched up his face in confusion glancing her way.
"Uh for what I did back in the arena." He sighed as he once more continued his look out at the stars.
"I don't quite know-" He stopped and chuckled. "Actually no, I do know what happened but I'd never really experienced it before." Rivet just stood there and listened.
"That was hyper focus episode." He stated causing Rivet's eyes to widen. She knew what those were from stories. She never thought she'd actually see one. She however let Alex continue.
"I guess I don't really know how to feel about that." He took another deep breath and smiled.
"I've never had ot fight for my life like that with my sword before. Sure back on earth I'm one of a few people that can use one for self defense but most people use guns for that." He looked off into the direction of the bar.
"Even then I'm considered a novice by most standards." He stopped and shook his head.
"Listen Rivet if I ever do that again I want you to knock me out." She did a double take.
"What? Why?" Alex fixed her with a stern look of concern.
"Because I don't want to end up hurting you or anyone else." His face was filled with fear now as she was filled with visible concern.
"I'm not going to lie Rivet I was scarred." He chuckled as he felt a tear make it's way down his face. He tried to hold it in and he was failing.
"I know it's weird, I've killed people before now but those always felt like self defense but that. That was different," He laughed again as his voice cracked slightly.
"That was vicious, evil-." He stopped however when Rivet just let out a sigh and pulled him into a hug.
"You are such an idiot you know that?" Alex flushed but he was stuck as Rivet held onto him. So he stood there and hugged her back. She let him go flashing a grin as she did so.
"You know as terrifying as that was it was also one of the most bad ass things I think I've ever seen." Alex was perplexed.
"Wait really?" He asked earning a nod from Rivet.
"Hell yes! The way you seemed to dance and glide around like a spinning blade of death." She grinned as she gave Alex a smirk.
"Not gonna lie it was kinda sexy." Alex was to flabbergasted to respond to that. Thankfully Ratchet had unintentionally came to his rescue when he and Clank exited the bar. Rivet gave him a punch to the shoulder and winked causing him to blush and shake his head.
"Yeah well I hope it doesn't happen again." He muttered under his breath as Rivet soon joined Ratchet and Clank as they shopped at Ms. Zurkons weapons shop. Stealing one last glance at the stars Alex shook his head and threw a smile on his face as he joined his friends at the weapons shop. A little while later Alex found himself strapped into Rivets ship and once more his nerves were getting the better of him. That was until he felt a metal hand on his own. Glancing over Rivet punched in the coordinates and gave Alex a soft smile.
"Don't worry, everything will be fine." Her smiled finally got Alex to relax, and he found himself squeezing her hand as the ship lifted off, the sensors in Rivet's appendage picking up the smooth contours of his hand even trough his gloves. She couldn't help but feel a little safe and comfortable knowing that someone else was here that would watch her back. She reluctantly let go of his hand and piloted the ship to the minimum safe distance and then let the auto pilot take over.
"All right next stop Blizar Prime." As Rivets ship took off through outer space a small robot that had witnessed everything began to transmit the information she had overheard to her master.