Nova's eyes flutter open as the sun shines through the window, and barely audible music reaches her ears. The first thing she notices is the garage's ceiling. How'd I get back to...oh yeah, my body's still in the Timekeeper. This is my mind. What confirms her observations is the clicking of a strange looking holo game controller, in the hands of a lombax long gone. On the screen is some sort of black board, with colored notes flying toward the bottom of the screen. Ratchet's hand dances across the keys, and the music continues as he hits the notes. Guess he's gotten a lot of practice here, she thinks. The music is turned low, as not to disturb the once sleeping markazian.

"That looks fun, you're good at that." Nova says, the sleep still muddling her voice as she sits up straight.

Ratchet's ear flicks at the voice and he pauses the game. "Look who's finally up. Slept like the dead, ya did. Told ya you needed the rest."

The woman rubs the crust from her eyes, softly nodding in agreement. "Yeah, you were right. I do feel a lot better now."

"Speaking of rest, you wanna play Nova?" He holds out the controller to her.

"Sure, I'll try it." Nova takes it, and remembers her first experience with holo games. She notes that the design for this controller seems to resemble that of an instrument, one with five colored buttons at the neck and a small grey bar at the base, as well as a metal bar next to it. "What is this one, anyway? The music sounds cool."

"This one's an old favorite of mine. Sorry if I woke you though."

"No, you're fine. I could barely hear it when I woke up. Turn it up, actually. I'd love to play this song."

He does so, and figures that playing for the first time on 'expert' might not be fun. "You might want to change the difficulty first, Nova. This one's pretty complex, and it's not a short song either."

Nova fiddles with the controls, finding the menu options, and changes it to 'normal'. Ratchet explains the controls as quickly as he can as she does so. "Okay, so the buttons up here pick the note, and the strum bar plays it. Just press it in time with the notes. Normal only uses the first 4 colors."

"Sounds good. It's this song, right?" she asks herself. The song is highlighted in the list, and a few seconds of guitar fills the room. "Yeah, this one. Let's do it." A button click, and the song begins.

The board appears, but seems to move quite a bit slower than it did when Ratchet played. Nova figures this is a good thing, since the notes before were quick enough to make one question how the lombax hit most of them. The in-game drumsticks click as Nova stretches her fingers over the keys, repeating his instruction to cement the concept in her mind. "Match the color and strum."

She stumbles a bit at first, but it comes to her eventually. A few of the notes are soured, but this is to be expected. The lyrics are inspiring, in a way, and the note patterns are fun. As Nova focuses more on the music itself, instead of her button timing, it seems to flow better.

"Don't think about it too hard, Nova." Ratchet takes note of her focus, but there's a bit more of a softness to it now. It's not as harsh as her training focus, but there's just as much dedication in her eyes. The lombax smiles, thankful that he could find something fun for her to do. He thinks back to the good old days, when he and Clank would play hologames through the night in between projects.

Nova doesn't answer him verbally, nodding her head in response instead. The song continues, and while she doesn't know the lyrics, she quietly hums along to the melody.

She's completely immersed in the game, and for just a few moments, Nova allows herself to forget about it all. Forget about the bakery, about Nefarious and his time limit, the training, the newsies, rejecting Saros. The past and it's stress doesn't matter, but what does matter is whatever calm, peaceful place the man onscreen is singing about. The promise of rest, of paradise. Her mind wanders as the lyrics fade out, trying to imagine what lies in store in that promised land the singer mentioned. Would Clank go there with me, after the fight's over? The words return, and Nova could swear Ratchet was humming along too. It seems like the song is winding down to a close…

Then it returns full force, with more energy than before. The sudden shift in tone and speed launches the markazian back into reality as she scrambles to make up for the notes she missed. Her hands burn, not used to the frantic movements, and the fact that this song must be twice as long as anything she's heard before now. "Jeez, how long is this song anyway?"

Ratchet shrugs. "Eh, you're about halfway at this point."

"Halfway?" Her eyes widen, but never leave the screen. There's no time for them to. "Well, I'm in this too far now, let's see it through."

Nova fights through the discomfort, getting back into the rhythm. At this point, she refuses to let the game win. The guitar finally settles into what seems to be the final stretch of the notes, and the final cord rings out in the room. As the virtual crowd cheers and the score is revealed, there's a smile on her face. She turns back to Ratchet, who nods in approval.

"Not bad for your first time, kid. Practice at home and you'll be a pro in no time."

The controller is gently placed on the couch cushion next to her, leaving the game on the score screen. "Thanks. So, what now, Ratchet?" Nova's excitement returns as she turns her hands into finger guns, pointing them at imaginary targets. "Could you show me some cool moves for the outside world? New weapons trai-"

"Nope, don't even think about it. Not today."

Nova stops dead in her tracks. "What? Why not?"

"Because I want business to be the last thing on your mind, just for today. You have to let yourself rest, or you're gonna burn yourself out."

"But what about the time limit? Or if Nefarious doesn't keep his word?"

"Don't worry about that, Nova. I know Nefarious, and he'll stick to his word. For dramatic effect if nothing else."

At least that's a constant, she thinks. Something I can count on. "That's..good to hear, I guess. So, what are we gonna be up to today?"

"Why don't you pick something this time? Something that makes you happy, and not weapons or gadget related."

Nova glances over to the kitchen, a smile spreading across her face. "Clank did say that you weren't that much of a baker. Maybe I could teach you something instead."

…

"Ratchet, what are you doing with that mug?"

"Melting the butter?"

"The recipe asks for softened butter, not melted. Don't nuke the butter in the microwave."

"Will that screw them up or something?"

"Not exactly. It'll taste the same, but the cookies will have a different consistency. They'll be flatter, not fluffy and cake-like."

"Huh, that explains a lot."

...

Nova slowly stirs the mix, recalling the first time she showed Clank the recipe, how he comforted her when she thought of her parents, how he treated the book with such care. Ratchet watches as a bit of a dreamy grin spreads on her face.

"What's that look for, Nova?"

"Hm?"

"I know that look. You thinkin' of someone?"

"I was thinking of Clank and I baking. This is the first recipe I showed him."

Golden ears flick at her words, and a teasing grin spreads. "You know, you sure do talk about Clank a lot."

"Well, yeah. He's one of the last friends I've got. I want to learn how to be a hero, not just to avenge my family, but to protect the friends I have left." Nova responds, not even looking at Ratchet as she drops the last of the cookie batter onto the trays.

"What about that other guy you told off? What's his name, anyway?"

"Other guy?" Nova pops the spoon in her mouth, finishing off the dough on it as she hums to herself to find the connection. She finds it, and tosses the spoon in the sink. "Oh, right! That's Saros. He asked to date me, but I turned him down. He's got a crush on me, I think, but I can't worry about boys right now."

A raised eyebrow to compliment his smirk. "But you certainly worry for Clank a lot, don't you?"

"Course I do." The pry completely flies over Nova's head as she opens the oven and places the tray inside. "He saved my life, I don't know where I'd be without him."

"Same here. Known him since I was..15? No, 17...Around that time anyway. Been so long I don't really remember. I do remember that pulling him out of that wreckage was the best thing I ever did, though. If it wasn't for him, I would have died with the rest of Veldin when Drek tried to destroy those planets."

Nova thinks about it, and suddenly pipes up, having remembered to pass on Clank's word. "Oh, yeah! He told me to tell you hello. He talks about you all the time; all good things of course! He really misses you. I wish there was a way he could see you again. Maybe if I can research paranormal stuff. Maybe you can do that kind of stuff?"

"What kind of stuff?"

"You know, like on those ghost shows, with the voice boxes and throwing stuff. Messing with electronics. And the possession thing I talked about."

As soon as the words come out of her mouth, a lightbulb goes off in the lombax's head. I never thought about doing that. Worth a shot, though, he thinks. Before he can continue the subject, the oven timer chimes out.

"Oh, they're done! Let's pull them out." The markazian walks over to the oven, using a nearby mitt to remove the tray. "Once these cool, we can do something else, I guess. What's something fun you used to do, Ratchet?"

"Well, there's an entire library of hologames here. I'd show you the hoverboots and swingshot, but that's a bit too close to training for comfort."

"What?" Nova groans in disappointment. "Come on, that sounds cool, though."

"Tomorrow, I promise. For now, let's stick to the ground, Nova."