Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart,
Dimensional Warriors.
Chapter 9.
Outer Space, June, 22th, 2021.
3:00 P.M.
Rivet set the auto pilot and leaned back in her chair, glancing over at Alex with a cocky grin on her face.
"So.." Alex asked as he opened his eyes and saw her giving him a big grin. He smiled as he brought his chair back into alignment with the cockpit and simply yawned. Bringing his hazy mind back to the present Alex gave his neck a crack and smiled.
"I have several questions." He said as Rivet got up and stretched, her tail giving a pleasurable pop, the goofy grin on her face making Alex snicker. She spotted his chuckle and puffed her cheeks out as they heated up, meanwhile she tried to keep her ego intact as she reached over and grabbed a small bottle of nano solution.
"So what do you want to know?" She asked as she hit a button on her suit causing it to practically melt off of her body, leaving nothing but her underwear, this skin tight spandex did little to hide her lithe figure and left nothing to the imagination. It did however leave Alex speechless for a second as he just stared, feeling like a creep for every second he spent gawking at his female companion. She noticed the silence and glanced his way. Seeing him ogling her made her flush again but the smirk on her face let Alex know that at least she wasn't angry.
"What's the matter?" She asked dumping the nano solution on her fur made her shiver from the cold liquid metal.
"Cat got your tongue?" She asked breaking Alex out of his stupor and causing him to groan as a smirk made it's way across his red face.
"That was horrible." He commented as Rivets new space suit began to configure itself to her body. She smiled as she grabbed another bottle and handed it to Alex. Alex gave the bottle a weary look, but took it and not seeing a button on his own cloths he just dumped the bottle onto his current clothing. His own cloths instead of melting however obsorbed the nano solution and his gear began to reconfigure itself as his jacket, pants, and combat boots began to form more rigid and durable plates for a space suit. Pretty soon his suit was done and he gave himself a look over.
"Not bad." Rivet let out a whistle as Alex just smirked.
"Yeah well." He cleared his throat and just sat back down feeling flustered. Rivet heard his heart began to slow down, but getting a good look at his face she felt bad now.
"So stupid! Why would you look at her? Sure she's beautiful, sexy even, but that's no excuse!"
He was visibly angry and she felt horrible for making him that distraught. She let out a chuckle to try and lighten the mood.
"Hey uh sorry for that back there." Alex shook his head and forced his anger down.
"No, your fine… uh I-I was out of line." He gave a false chuckle as the computer gave a chime.
"Do you think you could forgive me?" He asked. Rivet however was to focused on the carnage outside their ship.
"NO!" She screamed as she got up and held a hand to her mouth. Alex completely understood but looking outside didn't help his already soured mood.
"Oh no..." The two stared into the void of space as where once a thriving industrial planet once was, there now drifted a broken and fragmented ball of rock. Neither one spoke as they slowly drifted closer to what remained of the planets shattered surface. As the ship found an intact landing pad the two steeled themselves.
"What happened?" Rivet asked as the craft finally landed, letting the two get a good up and close and personal look at the devastation before them.
"Good god." Alex exclaimed as the door to the shuttle opened, causing a vacuum to rush in and fill the cockpit with the strangling, cold, and dark, grasp of space. The two starred and pondered. Alex shook his head as he began to hear a piercing noise make itself at home in his ear.
"Gah!' He slapped the side of his helmet, and the ringing subsided. Rivet glanced his way and looked worried.
"Everything ok?" Alex just huffed and smirked, trying to keep his nerves at bay with false bravado.
"Yeah, just a some interference, feedback maybe." Rivet didn't by it but she didn't want to push Alex. She nodded and the two slowly got off the ship, Alex took some time to get used to zero gravity.
"Damn that's trippy." He flailed around as his mag boots kept him solidly stuck to the ground. Rivet came over and took his hand.
"Relax, and let your boots do all the thinking for you." She said as she helped guide Alex to a nearby, and miraculously, still mostly, intact platform. The two of them saw a strange floating amethyst that Alex instantly recognized. He raised his right hand and saw the crystal in his gauntlet began to glow softly.
"Don't you dare pull anything." He glared at the gem as it dimmed once more. Rivet snickered as she went over and studied the giant jewel before them.
"This is the phase quartz." She then pulled out a scanner and snarled. She showed Alex exactly what they were looking for. It was small, much smaller than the monster before them.
"Except it isn't pure." She said as she stood back and looked around there surroundings. Alex let his anger flare up as he kicked a lump of rock. The thunk of metal caught Rivets ears as she looked back at Alex. He stood there and looked out over the rubble of the once glorious planet.
"There has to be something we can do." He said, his voice even through their comms carried the weight of sadness with it. Rivet was about to consul him but a flash of purple caught their attention. Looking over at the floating purple rock, the two were greatly surprised to see the rock Alex had kicked had ended up bouncing off of the giant gem stone and when it did a small spark of energy was released. Suddenly in a bright flash of light the rock vanished. Both of them gave the purple stone a look.
"Did this Phase Quartz somehow become active?" Rivet wondered as she went over to it. Alex followed close behind, looking around and feeling his gauntlet begin to tug him closer to the activated phase quartz. Giving Alex a nod Rivet grabbed Alex's hand and then touched the crystal with her other one. In an instant the two were blinded by an intense purple light. When it faded they found themselves on another planet, this one however was still intact.
"Wow." Alex said as he kept his lunch down. Rivet was ecstatic.
"Another dimension." Then she thought about it.
"Hey is this your Blizar Prime?" Alex shook his head.
"Nope. We don't have this kind of tech in my universe." Rivet was even more excited now.
"Another dimension!" She let out a giddy wiggle as she looked around. As she looked around however her hair stood on end. Suddenly the ground began to shake, causing Alex to stumble, Rivet using her enhanced reflexes caught the poor earthling and he gave her a thumbs up as the quake subsided.
"Thanks." Rivet gave him a nod as she helped him back to his feet. She pulled out her scanner and was elated to see it light up, not at the quartz they just came from but there was a suitable specimen close by. In fact her scanner had two readings on it.
"What?" She looked at it and found one of the locations was at the heart of the drilling operations and the other was right over where Alex was standing. She looked from her scanner to see Alex had his helmet off and was taking deep breaths. She checked her readings again, and again. Both times they indicated that Alex had a suitable crystal on his person.
"Hey Alex, that crystal of yours." She asked as Alex looked up.
"Yes?" Rivet looked from the scanner to him and then out to the drill. She shook her head however.
"Never mind." She put her scanner away and motioned for Alex to follow her. He did as he was told but before the two could even step foot in the facility a security alarm went off.
"Indigenous Creatures Detected, Lockdown Initiated." Alex glanced around and pulled out his sword.
"Well that doesn't sound good." Rivet pulled out her Blaster Pistol.
"Nope, but nothing we can't handle." She smirked as Alex put his helmet back on.
Several groups of Toxic Crabs popped out of the ground getting between the two adventures and the Mining Facility, and they didn't waist any time, scuttling up to the two and snapping at them with their claws. Rivet lept back and shot the crab that had made it to her, while Alex batted his crabs claw aside with his blade and plunged his blade into the creatures head. Hearing more following close behind he ripped his blade from the corpse and stood his ground while Rivet peppered the oncoming pack with gun fire. Together the two made short work of this admittedly tiny fighting force. The facility lock down ended as the last crab fell and the two rushed inside. Stopping to catch their breath the two looked around.
"Wow ok this is cool." Alex said as he went over to inspect a nearby window. Rivet glanced around but her hearing picked up a strange noise. Looking around she saw a small purple glow appear next to the window Alex was starring out of.
"Look out!" She shouted as the small purple speck soon erupted in a flash of light. The blast sent Alex flying across the room and into the giant phase quartz. With yet another flash of light Alex was gone.
"Alex!" Rivet raced after her friend, touching the crystal and hopping over to the destroyed Blizar. Once she could see again she scanned around for Alex. To her horror she saw him hanging onto the end of his tether line from his gauntlet. She leapt after him, using her jet boots to slow her acceleration and catch a hold of Alex. Thinking quickly she frantically looked around and saw her target. Using her own grappling hook she yanked the both of them over to the other side of the glass on the intact Blizar Prime. She didn't slow down their momentum causing them both to hit the phase crystal and land on the now solid metal floor.
"Alex!" Rivet took off her helmet and grabbed the humans as well. Alex opened his eye's, causing Rivet to recoil as she saw that his capulary had burst, staining them a deep blood read. Her hands shook a little as Alex grasped for air, his lungs having not fared much better. She got her panic under control and looked around.
"Hold on! I'm going to go get help!" She got to her feet and reluctantly let go of Alex's hand. Hearing him gasp and choke on the floor did little to steady her nerves but she focused on finding a health box. Seeing none however her ears drooped.
"No, no, no!" Looking around she saw a computer and noticed the lock down was now in effect here as well. Thinking quickly she ran over to the monitor and began to deactivate the lock down protocol. She got lucky, and soon the door to the outside was opened. She ran over to it but stopped and looked back at Alex. What was visible of his face showed immense pain. She shook her head and ran out the door, looking for anything she could use to heal his injuries. Unfortunately some more Toxic Crabs popped out of the ground. Rivet pulled out her Warmonger and growled at the groups of creatures.
"Out of my way!" She pulled the trigger on the poor beasts, the fireball sending bit's and pieces of the crabs everywhere, as they were unceremoniously blown to bits.