(Miss Sofie, thank you so much for letting me write these two beans again! ;P
I wrote this couple a while ago, though I'm really glad I was given the chance to write them again! It's a lovely couple that I'm always happy to see, and… well, I can't say anymore than a thank you to SofieSpangenberg of Deviantart for letting me write her character and ship! Since I already wrote her character having a game night, I decided to do something else for this short story.
Thank you to all those who volunteered their characters, and I hope you enjoy! :D )
Disclaimer: I do not own Ratchet and Clank or any of its characters. Donna the Lombax belongs to SofieSpangenberg of Deviantart. This just in: two Lombaxes dove off the side of a building and I crave excitement.
To the Beat of My Heart
Ronna (DonnaxRatchet)
The frigid air whipped her ears back and forth and tore at the exposed part of her body, but the free fall from two hundred feet in the air was worth it.
"WHOOO!"
The ground in front of her rose to meet her. The greenery and silvers of the surrounding area rapidly disappeared as she fell. The whistling sound that rang in her ears heightened, and a whine echoed in her skull as her body reached the maximum speed it could fall.
The wicked grin on her face grew.
Her head turned. Ratchet was close to her, the other yellow-furred Lombax falling around the same speed she was.
Huh, she would have thought that backflip he'd did would have slowed him up for a second.
"READY DONNA?!"
The ground was close.
Very close-
"TRY ME HERO!"
Her wrist flicked out. A hoverboard materialized beneath her feet, and as she felt her body go vertical as inertia swung the board under her.
Then the thruster kicked in.
The resounding crack of air echoed out of the construction yard, and both Lombaxes blasted forward on their boards. The curved sheet of metal, a crescent-shaped slate that had been haphazardly formed before the construction team had given up, acted as a ramp. The Lombaxes flew upward, and both of them smirked at each other as they fell to the main construction site.
The race was on.
The entire construction yard had been abandoned a few years earlier due to lack of bolts to finish the project. For now though, it was a makeshift hoverboard course for two Lombaxes that had nasty competitive streaks.
Equipment and half-finished building parts lay scattered throughout the lot, and huge cranes, wrecking balls, and lifts towered over the foundations of the skyscraper. Tools and shredders dotted the lot, and warped metal beams jutted out at all the right angles.
It was perfect.
Donna felt the board shake as the lifts powered up and her board smacked against the ground. She heard a smack next to her, and she whipped her head to the side as she stuck up her tongue. "COME ON SLOWPOKE!" she roared over the wind. "I THOUGHT YOU WERE THE GREATEST HOVERBOARDER ON THIS SIDE OF THE GALAXY?!"
Ratchet leaned down, and his board jetted forward.
As the two of them rounded the first corner of the makeshift track, he inched his way ahead of Donna. Everything slowed, and the two Lombaxes rode their boards neck-and-neck up the side of a curved sheet of metal. The second their boards touched the dirt, Ratchet pulled ahead of Donna.
He swerved, and Donna reeled as she slowed to not crash into Ratchet.
He straightened and gave a cocky, two-fingered salute back. "HAD TO STEAL THAT TITLE FROM SOMEONE SWEETHEART!"
Her eyes were so silted they were almost closed. "OH, IT'S ON 'SWEETHEART!'"
Their hoverboards shot forward as the dirt turned to smooth titanium. They barreled around the next set of curves and turns, their ears whipping around like flags. Back. Forth. Back. And forth.
Then came an upturned pipe.
It laid against some of the support beams for the unfinished building, and led up to the middle levels of the unfinished building. A bent in the pipe allowed access for a smooth slip into the giant tube.
Donna lowered herself just as Ratchet did, and as the two sped tail-to-tail into the entrance.
As darkness consumed their vision, Donna blasted in front of Ratchet and rode her board up the side of the pipe, flipping herself upside-down.
In the light of the hoverboards, Ratchet grinned at Donna, and the blue-haired Lombax winked back slyly at Ratchet as their race was temporarily forgotten.
After all, it was almost impossible to shoot up a vertical pipe without a little help from thrusters and a little space.
They kicked the extra thrusters on their boards. Blinding green and blue light erupted from the backs of their boards.
And then they spiraled up the pipe.
Ratchet followed the same path Donna took, and the two Lombaxes ascended, Donna always slightly ahead of Ratchet and upside-down in his vision. It only took a second for them to blast up the pipe, but the gorgeous explosion of green and blue light bathed the two of them in a technicolor paradise.
Donna whipped herself down to the beam at the entrance of the pipe and eased on the thruster. With a hop, her board landed squarely on the metal beam, barely fitting in between the width of the construction material.
Ratchet mimicked her, and suddenly he was right behind her.
The two rode the beam. If they made one wrong move, they'd plummet twenty stories to the floor of the site.
Donna felt fear shoot through her as a support beam, something that rose up and blocked the rest of the horizontal path. If she hit it at the speeds she was going, she'd seriously hurt herself. If she slowed, she'd lose her balance. If she tried to hop somewhere else, she'd fall to the bottom levels of the building. The closest support beams parallel to her were too far away for her to jump to.
"DONNA! BE CAREFUL!"
The vertical beam zoomed toward her, and in that spilt second, she reacted.
Her left hand whipped out and latched onto the beam. Her knees curved as her board left the metal support. She guided it, drawing it around the beam. Her hand held on tight, but not tight enough to prevent swiveling.
The second her board touched the other side of the support beam, her hand released its grip from the support.
She whooped in surprise and relief as her board stabilized.
Ratchet mimicked her actions and whipped around the support beam.
As Donna chanced a glance back at Ratchet, his worried expression melted into one of relief once they were around the beam.
Then came the drop.
Donna saw the end of the beams in front of her. "THE DROP'S COMING RATCHET!" she hollered as her words were swallowed by the wind. "GET READY!"
"BE CAREFUL!"
The beams turned, the corner of the unfinished building just in their way of a twenty-story drop.
The two Lombaxes bent their knees. Their boards sped up the slightest bit. With a deep breath of air, they put their faith in fate.
The second before she crashed into the corner, Donna jumped from the beam she was on out the opening.
The wind whistled in her ears as she hooked her board out from under her and spread out her arms and legs. Worry filled her chest as she glanced to her left, but it was dashed away the second she saw Ratchet diving next to her.
"WE'RE ALMOST AT THE END HOTSHOT!" An evil grin spread on her face as the ground rushed up beneath them.
Ratchet laughed. "GET READY TO LOSE SWEETHEART!"
Two cranes, facing the opposite of each other, lay at the bottom. The one facing the building was extended upwards, and the two Lombaxes rode down the enormous tool, Ratchet in the lead. They hopped the small gap between the cranes, and they flew down the lowered second crane.
The moment their boards hit the dirt, they hit the thrusters.
It was a straight bolt to the finish line. Their ships sat just outside the entrance of the lot, an elaborate and enormous archway acting as the only way to get in.
That was their finish line.
And it was coming up fast.
They were neck-and-neck. Their boards whined under their feet as they picked up speed.
Donna's eyes began to water as the wind nipped at them. Her heart raced as adrenaline shot through her.
Ratchet inched ahead of her.
She bit her lip and crouched. She pulled ahead.
The finish line was there-
Ratchet-
Donna-
Ratchet-
The trees near the entrance lost all their leaves as the two Lombaxes blasted through the archway.
Donna snapped up and screeched to a halt, and Ratchet cut almost all power to his thruster before slowing down. Their legs stumbled to the ground, and it took a moment for them to reorient themselves. They breathed deeply as the adrenaline from the race rushed through their bodies, Ratchet gently laying his hands on his knees as he sucked in air.
They stayed quiet for a moment before Donna elbowed Ratchet's arm as he straightened.
"I got ya Ratchet," she said as her hand fell to her hip. She shuffled the hoverboard under her arm and smirked at the other Lombax as he kicked up his hoverboard.
A smile spread across his face as he pressed a little button on the front edge of his hoverboard. "I wouldn't be so sure of yourself Don," he teased. A little hologram, taken from the small recording device set up at the entrance of the archway, beamed up from the hoverboard.
Two blurs shot across one end of the hologram to the other. Then the footage slowed. The two Lombaxes inched across the hologram…
Both crossed the finish line at the same time.
The furious expression that crossed Donna's face would have made an Ameboid balk in terror.
"A TIE?!" Her arms crossed, and she gritted her teeth as she rubbed a hand against her forehead. "Gah, that means no one really won, and that's just as bad as losing! We'll have to do a rematch!" She whipped around, not wanting to look at Ratchet.
Ratchet's smile softened, and as he tapped the button again to stop the hologram. He hooked the hoverboard under his arm and stepped over to Donna. His arm delicately laid itself over her shoulders, and as Donna ducked her head, Ratchet's head lowered to see a pout on her lips.
"Donna, it's okay," he said softly. "If I know you, you're going to kick my butt the next time we go hoverboarding." He kissed the top of her head. "Besides, you know what day it is…"
A frustrated sigh came from Donna as she looked up. Her eyes trailed to Ratchet, and it took a moment of internal conflict before the female Lombax deflated. Her sour expression remained.
"You're right, you're right," she said as her thumb rubbed at her eyes. Another deep breath, and then she looked to Ratchet. A ghost of a smile appeared on her face. "It is the anniversary of when we first met."
Ratchet raised an eyebrow, and his teasing grin grew. "And care to tell me what happened on that day?"
Donna grinned as she bumped her hoverboard against his chest. "I smoked you in our first hoverboard competition together."
Ratchet laughed. "Of course, the day I want to casually win a hoverboard race, this beautiful girl struts onto the course and wins the race with only minor injuries."
Her eyes rolled as a snort came from her. "Uh-huh, last I remember, you came in second with minor injuries as well, you goof."
"Oh man… the memories are rushing back…" Ratchet's arm fell from Donna's shoulder, and as he stepped off to the side, he threw out his free arm. "I asked to race you again, and you smoked me a second time! Took me like twenty tries, but I finally won against you!"
Donna crossed her arms and looked to the ground, her playful smile splitting her face. "You got lucky hotshot. Had I crossed that turn perfectly, I would have remained undefeated in our races."
"And you got so upset!" He stepped back over to the female Lombax as she rolled her eyes.
"And then you asked me out to dinner to make up for it…"
"And that's when I started to fall in love with you."
His arm hooked back over Donna's shoulders, and he pressed his lips against her forehead, squeezing her shoulder. "I love you Donna," he murmured as he rested his cheek against her hair.
She pushed his face away for a moment before she cupped his left cheek with her free hand. She pulled his face to hers, and pressed her lips to his. "I love you too Ratchet," she said as she pulled away.
"You're still pissed at me for the race, aren't you?"
"Oh, of course I am."
"I know you way too well. Might a fancy dinner make up for it?"
Donna giggled as she began walking back to their ships. "Buzz off bozo!"
Ratchet hurried next to her, laughing as he teased his girlfriend. "I'll see you tonight Don! My place, seven?!"
The smirk on her face flashed in the sunlight. "I hate you so much… Pasta, breadsticks, and some cake for desert?"
The male Lombax lazily saluted her, the goofy expression still plastered on his face. "Wouldn't have it any other way sweetheart…"
Song Inspos: Again, a large number helped me through this story (the Block hit me really hard), so the main ones were the Hex Cougar "Cheap Thrills" remix [original song by Sia], "Can't Hold Us" by Macklemore and Ray Dalton, and "Escape from the City" by Crush 40 though the Sonic Generations remix. Because gosh dangit I'm writing a race through a city structure, of course that song was blasting through my headphones.
Third story done! ^^ Once again, a thank you to Sofie for letting me play with Donna! She's fun to write, and I always have a blast writing her! You gave me a ton of awesome suggestions for this collection of fics, so I definitely had to make a lil story for you! :3 I hope to write Donna again in the future, and thank you for letting me write this spunky Lombax!
Before I end off the story, a little sidenote: if your story is shorter than some others, that doesn't mean I don't like you or your characters. I tried to give a simple plot for every story, though some of them need some more words to make them flow better. That, or I may not know your characters well enough. *shrug* The main point is, the first story started out with a crapton more words than I could have ever planned. I cannot make every story that length with the time I have, so some will be shorter than others, which is not meant to be a personal insult to you or your characters. Sometimes that's just the way the story plays out.
Nonetheless, I hope you all enjoyed, and if my schedule is correct, we have another canon character-centered ship next! I hope you all enjoyed, and I'll see you in the next story!
XD