Clank had been suspicious of Ratchet's latest project since day one when he came back from the Metropolis Library on Kerwan, came all the way back to Veldin with books, actual books, about the mind and brains in general. Despite wanting to ask why not looking such subjects up on the holo-net, though, now that Clank thought about it, finding it on Ratchet's search history would have been just as suspicious since the Lombax had a terrible habit of forgetting to delete his search history half the time. Instead he went for the casual curiosity approach. However, upon asking why the sudden interest in such a subject, Ratchet replied with a vague answer, along with that it was all still in 'it's just an idea' phase. Or at least it was at the time Clank had asked.
The project has since taken off beyond the 'just an idea' phase, but uncharacteristically it was the first time Ratchet that meticulously placed the project under a tarp and requested that Clank never go anywhere near it or ever take a peek. Clank only agreed on account of never wanting to betray his best friend's trust.
It wasn't until something in the garage exploded that Clank decided he absolutely had to step in. For upon investigating to make sure his Lombax companion was unharmed, he came upon the sight of several neural devices on Ratchet's head that reminded him too much of Klunk's ultimate plan to control the Lombax and send him to prison.
"Ratchet…What exactly is all of this?" Clank asked sternly, hands on nonexistent hips of his rectangular frame.
"Your birthday present." Ratchet relented, ears drooping. He knew he wouldn't be able to worm around and out of it otherwise. Their equal concern for each other was too great, especially after the Great Clock incident and more so when they lost Cronk and Zephyr. "I was hoping to keep it a surprise until then…but you can already see how that went, huh?"
Clank blinked at that. "My…birthday present? I do not understand. My birthday is not for a few more months?" His tone was genuinely shocked and curious.
"I wanted to get a head start so you wouldn't worry as much the closer the day got and…well you know how I am sometimes when I work on a project too hard, I just didn't want that happening so close to your birthday that I'd sleep through it." Ratchet replied sheepishly.
"Yes, I am all too aware of your habits whenever you work on a project. Hence why whatever caused the explosion a few moments ago and the fact that you are wearing neural devices of all things, are very good enough reasons that I must insist on helping you finish this particular project regardless that it was meant to be my birthday present. And to make sure you finish it without blowing up." Clank added that last part for the sake of his own sanity. He did not want to even imagine picking up scattered pieces of a dead Lombax that was foolish enough to be blown to smithereens. Gross, there it was anyway.
"In what little defense I have, that explosion wasn't anywhere near me, in fact it came from a somehow armed Constructo Bomb Glove and a Terra Coagulator falling on top of it…damn, now I need to get new ones of both of those." Ratchet replied easily, going over to get the broom to sweep at the explosion site that was miraculously in a corner all on its own and away from a lot of everything else.
Clank didn't bat an optic lid that Ratchet had a Terra Coagulator, sometimes even the most seemingly useless of devices had their uses. The Constructo Bomb Glove rang a bell and some hunch within him told him there would be a little more irony to it, but for now, one more question he had to ask.
"So what was your project on exactly that involved neural science?"
"I wanted to show you a memory." Ratchet said simply at first, before glancing at his little robot companion to gauge his reaction.
"A memory?" Clank's tone sounded genuinely curious again.
"Yeah, it still eats at me because I wasn't able to fulfill something you asked me to do. Even though we've discussed it at least twice and I know you don't fault me for some factors that were beyond my control. But I wanted to show you anyway in case you were able to see something I couldn't since it has to do with the Zoni." Ack, he rambled, he started that slowly at first but then sped up enough that it sounded more like an excuse.
While in reality, Clank was just taking it in and piecing together what was said and came to a very logical conclusion.
"This has to do with your theory that my father teleported out of Dr. Nefarious' clutches rather than perishing, doesn't it?"
Ratchet merely nodded with a somber look on his face.
"Ratchet, you know I took your word for it back when we talked about it on Gimlick Valley…" Clank started sympathetically, mimicking a sigh before he even spoke.
"I know, but I still wanted to show you… in case you could read Zoni magic coordinates or something so we could keep a lookout for him. I mean, Nefarious had clearly tortured him with the Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler. There's still a chance that when he teleported it still hit him at a vulnerable point in the teleporting process, and wherever he went, he could've been hit hard enough to lose his memory, you never know, and it would explain why he didn't come back and it took a year for the Zoni to notice and decide to snatch you away…!" Ratchet stopped his second bout of rambling only when he felt Clank's hand grip his and give a sympathetic squeeze.
"I agree with you that it is certainly possible that he might have been hit during the teleportation process. I however do have my own theory… I believe he may have escaped to the Zoni dimension to recuperate if he really was already at his limit, and that dimension is vastly different in terms of how much time passes in it. Therefore a few days for him might be any number of years for us, and of course we're too far away from any sort of contact with the Clock so there's no way to know for certain of if he ever returns without our knowing. Regardless, if he hasn't returned yet and somehow did not go to the Zoni dimension with the possible chance of having amnesia, then if and when we do wind up on another adventure, we will keep an eye out for him together."
"Thanks, pal." Ratchet replied in relief, squeezing Clank's hand in return.
"Now let's finish cleaning up this mess so we can get to finishing that project of yours." Clank suggested in a-matter-of-factly tone.
"You're just excited you get your birthday present early aren't you?" Ratchet couldn't help but tease. Clank smirked and turned his head coyly away.
"I have no idea what you mean, I am assisting to make sure I don't have to clean up bits and pieces of your corpse from various parts of the garage." Clank then shivered at bringing up the awful imagery again, audibly even as it sounded like a mixture of his signature laugh and gagging at the disgusting thought.
"That…was oddly specific, buddy." Ratchet said simply, not liking the idea either.
"It is a fear of mine, so please, for my sake if not your own, be more careful around explosives." Clank replied, still not wanting to look Ratchet in the eye in the hopes to snuff out the awful imagery faster.
"Noted, but you know I don't make promises that I know I can't guarantee I'll be able to keep."
"Understandable considering our luck on our adventures." They both chuckled at that.
"You twit! You told me this would work!" Echoed Dr. Nefarious' voice from somewhere below Ratchet's position just outside the elevator.
"I-I don't know what's happening. We should have found it by now. He must have erased his own memory." Pollyx the Terachnoid replied uneasily still fidgeting with his tablet in hopes of something turning up.
"Time is a gift and not to be tampered with." Orvus said weakly, with no malice whatsoever, disappointment perhaps but still trying to teach a valuable lesson nonetheless.
"This is your last chance, Orvus. How do I get into the chamber?" Dr. Nefarious demanded in a low grating tone, clearly losing his patience though just able to keep his composure.
"You are making a mistake. The Clock is not a time machine." Orvus reprimanded weakly, and gently. Not enough energy to elaborate further it seemed, though the elaboration always seemed to fall on deaf ears.
Patience lost, Dr. Nefarious pointed toward the Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler, signaling it to attack Orvus again, who used the last of his energy to put up a shield as well as start up for something else.
"There is only one who will enter my chamber. And he is safe; far from you!" Orvus said darkly, though brightened briefly at knowing fully well that his son was indeed safe from Nefarious' clutches. Ironically not knowing that his hive would be desperate in terms of who they would request help from to fix Clank's brain, fizzy from the hypnosis and the jump from Apogee Station all the way to the Clock.
The light from the beam of the Brainwave Scrambler and Orvus' Zoni energy then became blinding and then quite literally he was suddenly gone in a flash, the Scrambler even stopped when it no longer detected its target.
"Where is he? Where did he go?" Dr. Nefarious panicked, pressing himself up against the mnemonic chamber tube desperately hoping the Zoni king was merely invisible.
"I don't know, sir. I'm pulling up a residual image from his data banks. We scanned it before he…dissipated." Pollyx replied tapping away at his tablet to bring the image up over the tube.
It was a perfect blue print of Clank centrally focusing on his upper half, he had angry eyes for some reason. The upper left corner had a tiny image of his whole body while the bottom right focused on how Clank's hand was designed.
"Clank?" The Ratchet in the memory of this event couldn't help but blurt out stupidly at the sight of his dear friend on the little screen. It was obvious that he was still stupefied that Clank had a dad at the time, let alone that technically the last thought before Orvus disappeared, was of his son, a little robot.
"You!" Dr. Nefarious noticed at once. Which earned Ratchet's quick thinking of throwing a Constructo Bomb to his face making that lovely scar go up the side of his domed head.
Shots were fired at the Lombax and towards a window, which Ratchet used to escape completely.
The memory ended there.
Clank continued to stare at the screen even when Ratchet started to disengage the neural devices on his head, making the screen show nothing but static.
"Thank you for showing me this, it really is a wonderful birthday present…even if it is a few months early." Clank finally said after the devices were off the Lombax, and Ratchet dared to look at him.
"You're welcome, pal. I knew you'd like it. I'm still sorry I didn't save him, I should've hit the Scrambler with the Bomb instead, and then launch another one at Nefarious' face." Ratchet's smile had fallen at the what-if factor, after all he sat there too cautious to do anything to see how things played out.
"You were being cautious, and I understand that. Besides we cannot go back in time to the same event twice, it just does not work and it is for the best given all the circumstances. Regardless, I am very grateful to see for myself that I was always on his mind." Clank smiled fondly.
"Yeah, I was still stuck on the fact that you even had a dad…Say, wanna go visit your mom on Quartu tomorrow?" Ratchet suggested immediately after thinking it.
Clank chuckled, clearly fond of the idea and nodded. His mother deserved to be updated on their adventures, and he was eager to see how she reacted to the fact that he at least met a program of his father in his subconscious.
Even after finally seeing the memory, it only served to strengthen Ratchet and Clank's theory that Orvus teleported away, and he was out there….somewhere… and only time and fate would tell if they ever ran into him during one of their adventures.
