Stepping out of the teleporter, Sigmund escorts the two of them through the Great Clock. This time, Nova has the chance to learn all about the place from Sigmund, and she listens with quiet interest as the two robots talk back and forth on the puzzles they once solved in these halls. The path ends with the mnemonic station, and Sigmund stands beside it to open the doors to the glass cylinder. He types on his computer, and Clank stands by him to look at the monitor.

"Alright, Nova. I'll open it up for you. Clank and I will be here monitoring you from the outside, and we'll pull you out in a bit."

The glass walls spin apart, and Nova takes a deep breath as she looks back to the two caretakers. "Wish me luck, Clank."

Clank smiles, waving to Nova with a request. "Good luck, and give Ratchet my regards."

Nova nods and steps into the station, watching as the walls close around her. For a moment, she looks back at Clank and Sigmund as they give her a thumbs up, and Sigmund presses a button. Some unseen force lifts her into the air, and this calming feeling washes over her. Allowing the sensation to carry her into sleep, she closes her eyes.

…

The first thing that reaches Nova's ears is the ambiance of the forest. She opens her eyes, and she's standing in a patch of grass surrounded by dense trees and vines, and there's not a cloud in the sky. It's so calming, so familiar, but things feel a bit off. There's bolts on the ground, and random trinkets float about in the air. Looking down at herself, her clothing is her own training outfit, and there's no makeup.

"So I guess this is my mind, but some of this stuff seems new. I guess Ratchet must be in here somewhere, then." Studying the items around her, she notices a hologame controller, a groovitron, various tools, and...

"Wait, is that..underwear?"

Upon closer inspection, the material looks crisp and clean. Nova sees tiny lightning bolts stitched into the waistband, and electrodes stretching over the front. In a moment of curiosity, she touches the cloth. Her fingers barely scrape it, but the item shocks her hand heartily, and Nova pulls her hand back out of reflex as she squeals in pain. "Okay..I probably don't want to know what that's for."

The hard blush disappears as Nova's ears bring her to the edge of the vines. In the distance, Nova could swear she hears the clicking of tools, like..a ratchet? Her hands graze over the vines, and she tilts her head to the edge of the plants as if listening through a door. Sure enough, it confirms what her ears told her. "That must be him. Okay, Nova, let's do this. It's not that hard. You're technically just.. talking to yourself. I think."

Nova rips the plants away, and the world completely changes. In the sky, there's a space station orbiting the 'planet' she's on, and the place seems to be made of different biomes. The dense forest opens up to a larger clearing, replaced by desert sand. The garage seems a bit newer, yet there's a few stubborn vines growing along the walls. in the distance, there's a sparkling ocean, from Pokitaru, Nova guesses. I really should vacation there someday. I'd love to see it for real. The sands have plants from Quantos and desert cacti alike, and more floating objects appear. This time, there's an omniwrench, ammo crates and nanotech orbs, as well as smaller objects like crystals, Elder Talia's teapot, and a small statuette of a man wearing a green spandex suit. Is that what Captain Qwark looked like?

Aphelion is parked outside, and someone's under her, muttering to themselves. Nova slowly walks closer to inspect the stranger in action. The tool clicks away, and a gloved hand throws out small bits of debris and bolts alike. The ratchet is moved to a nearby pile of tools, replaced by another, different tool. Plasma flickers under the ship, and Nova watches, finally gathering the courage to speak. "Uh, excuse me?"

There's a thud and a yelp of surprise and pain, and Nova stutters from the embarrassment of startling him. "Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean to spook you. I'm looking for Ratchet."

The tool he was using is put into the pile, and the bench shifts as a pair of large, striped ears moves from under the ship. His face comes into full view, and he makes eye contact with her with a blink. "Oh, it's you. I didn't expect ya here so soon."

Nova's taken aback by the blunt response, and shakes her head to try and process it. Ratchet rolls out from under Aphelion, brushing off his clothing and standing up straight. He's wearing a casual outfit, the one Clank described him wearing when Tachyon first showed up way back when, and the clothes she wore in her nightmare. There's quite a lot of photos in Clank's album of this outfit, so Nova assumes this particular one is a favorite. She lets out a faint gasp of fascination, taking in the situation. She's in her own mind, speaking with the man she was before.

"So you're really Ratchet? My past life?" She slowly orbits him, her eyes scanning him as he turns to follow her gaze. "And you're really here, in my mind?"

"In the flesh. Well, sort of," he says with a bit of a jovial tone as he gives a confident smile.

She stops her rounds, allowing her thoughts to filter through the similarities. He really was her height, his stripes really do match up with her scars. He looks about her age, maybe a few years older, but he carries himself with a confidence that Nova hopes she'll learn again, that she had before Nefarious attacked.

"I'm more of a projection, coming from the piece of my soul that's attached to yours. A connection to the other side."

"A connection to the spirit world," Nova sighs, and begins her excited rambling before Ratchet can continue. "Only the highest ranking elders could attain that power, and I have a direct link to it! Communing with the dead normally takes at least a year of training, and complex spells. I've only ever seen it a few times. Certainly never been a part of one. Seances don't even give the spirit a voice." She continues, gesturing toward Ratchet's body. "A physical form, even! But I guess in this case, it's technically not real. Just my brain. But still, it's...incredible. Are..Are you firm?"

Ratchet's eyes grow wide at the question, at that particular phrasing. It takes a second before the sentence even registers properly. "What?"

"You're a ghost, but are you a solid one? Is your body touchable?"

Ratchet snickers as her excited questions hit him, a bit of an immature joke reaching his mind. There's no sort of recognition of the innuendo in her eyes, and there's even a genuinely confused tone to her "What? I'm curious." Sweet Zoni, this kid must be a virgin, he thinks. "To answer your question, no, you wouldn't phase through me. I'll show ya." He offers his hand, which seems quite a bit bigger than hers. She connects with it, and that same certainly in his eyes and body language carries over to his handshake. As it ends, her eyes flick over to his ears for a moment in curiosity. There's no other species with anything like them, after all.

"Stars, there's so much to say, to ask you, sir. I have so many questions, and I don't know where to begin other than 'my name is Nova Albedo'."

"Well, for starters, Ratchet is fine. No need for formal stuff, Nova."

"Alright, si-, er, Ratchet. First off, it's a pleasure to actually meet you. Clank talks about you all the time, shows pictures, and we've watched Secret Agent Clank! It's awesome!"

Ratchet cringes a bit at that last part with a hiss, and Nova watches with quiet interest as his ears retract. "Really? Ah, geez, that's embarrassing. And you liked it?"

"'Course," she replies, a grin on her face. "It's a really neat concept, but I wonder why they cast you as just the chauffeur? You two were partners, never hero and sidekick."

Nova's words seem to melt away his embarrassment, and as the pride returns to his body language, Ratchet gives a soft grin of approval. "Truer words have never been spoken."

The rookie smiles, and her eyes leave Ratchet's for a moment, shifting back to his ears. "I, uh, hope it's not weird to ask, but, can I touch your ears? I'm really curious, they look really soft."

Ratchet raises an eyebrow, seeing the childlike wonder in her eyes. It reminds him of Tal, in a way. She absolutely loved his ears, and the memory brings out a chuckle. His eyes roll, like it's an old song and dance that he's no stranger to. "Sure, go nuts, kid. Try not to pull."

Nova's face drops into a bit more serious expression, nodding at Ratchet as thanks. A gentle hand reaches for the shell and it flicks in reflex at the contact. "Oh my stars…" Her hand glosses over it, and her intuition was right: it really is quite soft. Nova's fingers trace the stripes, and her other hand is brought to her own ear, feeling for her own scars. "Fascinating..." With that one single action, something about the whole situation feels more real somehow, as silly as it seems when this entire meeting is far from it.

Deciding that enough is enough, and not wanting to make things any weirder than they already are, Nova slowly backs away with a smile. "Thanks, Ratchet. That was really cool."