Here we are with chapter 22. Not much to say today but did you guys see the two new videos for the Ratchet and Clank movie. It was mostly a remix kinda thing were in one video it pretty much just shows small cuts of footage that consists of probably every single time your gonna hear the names Ratchet and Clank, and the second one was about the Sheepinator. I just wanted to mention this, I mean I thought it was kinda interesting, at least I got to see some new footage. And I also want to thank The White Guardian for following my profile, your support is much appreciated.
Review Replies:
The White Guardian- I do realize that it is my job to write the plot of the story. And I'm not saying from the last review reply that it is your fault. I know it is my fault and the reason I didn't add these parts was because I forgot. But I'm am aware that making the story is my job. And you are right about smolg, I believe it is a gas giant.
With all that out of the way now, I will let you guys read on.
If your enjoying the story so far, feel free to review, favorite, or follow, and please know that any feedback is much appreciated.
Disclaimer:
Ratchet and Clank, associated characters, weapons, locations, etc. belong to insomniac games. some real world companies and organizations belong to their respective owners, etc. I only own the right to some characters and some weapons and events introduced in the story.
As the group flew to the cloudy, white planet called Smolg, Jordan felt his face, or more importantly, his nose, and he was reminded of the fact that it was still broken. Jordan then opened the glove box of the ship and saw a small mirror inside it. Jordan grabbed it and handed it to Sophia, then asked her to hold it in front of his face while he got to work on his nose. "What are you going to do?" Sophia asked.
"Simple, I'm just gonna push it back into place."
"Is it gonna hurt?"
"Yes, it'll probably hurt a lot."
"Should you really try to do this?" Ratchet asked as they flew past a nebula.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm saying what if you screw it up and make it even worse."
"Well... That's a risk I'm willing to take." as Jordan looked at his own reflection, grabbed held his nose, took a deep breath, and started pushing it to the left.
A horrible creaking sound came from his nose, as if he was breaking a couple of bones in there, when Jordan suddenly pushed it back into place with a lot of force. He looked at his own reflection, and his nose looked good as new. "See, nothing to it."
"Well good job I guess." Ratchet said. "We're still a long way from Smolg, perhaps you can kill some time by searching for more news on the Protopet."
Jordan reached for the little knobs next to the monitor and slowly turned it, browsing through the channels their ship was able to pick up before selecting a channel that was about to broadcast an episode of 'Behind The Hero'. "Perhaps it'll feature anything interesting." Jordan thought.
"And now, Behind The Hero brings you the conclusion of our series on Captain Qwark." the video showed a picture of the alien boy from the Protopet commercial shot on Boldan, apparently eating a bowl of cereal with milk. and on the side of the box containing the cereal was a picture of Captain Qwark. "The fugitive superhero has been missing for almost six weeks." the video now shows Qwark, but this time with half of his body being devoured by a large creature. "Did he die heroically?"
The video then shows another alien boy, who looks more like a teenager, and is dressed up as Qwark while he is holding a Captain Qwark action figure. "Was he the victim of an overzealous fan?"
Then the image showed Qwark's silhouette flying the same tour shuttle as the group had used in their first adventure. "Or is he still out there somewhere? The galaxy may never know. But stay tuned for more baseless speculation and crackpot theories on Behind The Hero."
Since nobody was quite in the mood for 'baseless speculation', Jordan turned off the holovision screen and frowned.
"That's strange."
"Well, no more Qwark." Ratchet said with a slight hint of relief in his voice.
"How could someone like him disappear from the Solana Galaxy like that. This is all very strange."
"Well it doesn't matter. Qwarks gone and that all that matters."
"Good. He was mean and good riddance to him." Sophia said
"Indeed. But now, it's almost time for 'Robochef.'" Clank said as he turned the holovision on again and switched to the channel that would broadcast Robochef.
Megacorp Distribution facility
Planet Smolg
2:05pm Local Time
A Strange Disappearance
As the group landed on a landing pad in the upper atmosphere of the cloudy planet Smolg, they saw the distribution facility in the distance and knew this would be the first step in their plan to bring an end to this Protopet madness once and for all. As they climbed out of their Star Explorer, they took in their surroundings. There was no land in sight, something that was actually quite unusual.
Before heading to the distribution center, they made a quick stop at a nearby Megacorp vendor to restock on ammo. This time, however, next to ammo, something else was bought. Whilst browsing through the many items on display, something caught Jordan's eye, and he decided to buy the weapon for the price of 20,000 bolts, which meant he only had 10,000 left.
Jordan showed the weapon to the group. It was a slim metal weapon that glowed in a brilliant green color, with a scope on top of it. If the scope wasn't enough, the long, slim barrel gave away that it was a high-damage ranged weapon. "What is that." Ratchet said, sounding surprised.
"It's called... the Pulse Rifle." Jordan replied, clearly looking on the right side of the gun where it's name had been engraved in the metal.
"Well that's definitely going to come in handy."
"Indeed, it will."
With a new weapon, they turned to the task at hand.
As they turned around, they saw that the only way to the gigantic Megacorp carrier in the distance was by another green jump pad, and nobody was really keen on flying a long distance through the air above a seemingly endless void.
But, galaxy in danger, so they had no choice. Ratchet went first, and was launched at the Megacorp vessel, landing without any cuts and bruises.
But now it was Jordan's turn. "What am I getting myself into." Jordan said to himself. Noticing that this gap was longer than the previous one, Jordan decided to do a running start. He ran full speed to the jump pad and jumped as high as he could. He was thrown fifty feet into the air and he was lifted towards the platform, but he was also falling at a higher speed. Luckily, he was able to break his fall by bending his knees at the perfect moment.
Taking in their surroundings, the Megacorp ship turned out to be much larger than expected. The place was huge, with a seemingly endless maze of crates neatly stacked on top of each other to form huge walls. There was one opening into this maze however, in the form of a purple forcefield. A glowing button on the ground gave a good indication of how to deactivate it, but this also raised some red flags. Why put up a forcefield if you place a way to deactivate it outside of it and not on the inside of it?
Clearly it was designed to keep something inside rather than keeping someone outside, and whatever it was, it couldn't be good. They were proven right when a pink-purple crab-like creature came running at the forcefield at full speed, slamming into it with a loud 'clank!'
"What in the world is that?!" Ratchet wondered out loud.
"Eh... let's not go introduce ourselves to that thing, okay?" Jordan replied, looking at the two heads of the creature snapping at the group with loud growls. Ratchet nodded and equipped his MiniNuke, while Jordan equipped his Bomb Glove and as soon as they pressed the button on the floor to deactivate the forcefield, two explosive projectiles were thrown at the unfortunate creature, blowing it to smithereens.
They walked through where the forcefield had been, and to their left, they noticed a crate that was smaller than the rest, one they could climb on with ease. However, when they were about to climb up, Sophia, who had been sitting on Jordan's shoulders, had noticed something.
Two small purple creatures with big mouths were mindlessly walking around on top of the crate, seemingly unaware of the presence of the group of heroes. Jordan and Ratchet both equipped their Heavy Lancers, climbed onto the crate and as soon as they could, fired at the creatures. Ratchet immediately killed the first one with a single shot, but this of course would not go unnoticed by the other creature, which charged at Jordan. The Human was unable to land a hit on the creature due to it's speed, and it was getting closer fast. Once it seemed like it was going to bite him, three different beams shot out from Jordan's shoulder and turned the creature into a sheep.
Jordan glanced over his shoulder and saw that this was Sophia's doing as she was holding the Sheepinator. "Thanks Sophia." Jordan said.
"Your welcome." She replied.
The group continued their journey to the other side of the Megacorp ship. The way ahead was by a small drop into a lower area, and then up a staircase of crates. However, as soon as they had dropped down, two large containers opened up and four of those pink-purple crabs came charging out. Ratchet and Jordan immediately equipped their MiniNuke and Bomb Glove respectively and both fired two bombs. Two crabs were killed immediately, but the other two suffered only minor injuries.
Ratchet then equipped the Lava Gun and started firing back and forth, sending waves of lava at the crabs that melted right through their armor and eliminated them. The group then climbed up the crates and saw that there were opened crates scattered throughout the next area. Jordan did not want to take any chances and equipped his Blitz Cannon. As they walked into the area, they saw three mutant crabs and Jordan told Ratchet to equip his Heavy Lancer this time. As the crabs approached them, Jordan got closer and started filling the crabs with buckshot while Ratchet fired a barrage of plasma bullets. Soon all three of the crabs were gone and they continued through the maze of crates. They climbed over another crate, and ran into a small problem.
The next area was a small drop down, but that wasn't bothering the group. What was, however, were the forcefields scattered around the area, blocking off various corners and imprisoning many mutant creatures, and if that wasn't bad enough, there was a button in the middle of the room that had to be activated, otherwise the forcefield leading to the next area would not disappear, and it was being guarded by a small army of small purple big-mouthed mutants. "So how are we going to deal with this if you're having problems shooting them?" Ratchet asked.
"I think I got an Idea. Sophia, give me that Sheepinator you have."
"Here you go." Sophia said as she handed the weapon to Jordan.
"Thank you..I'll just use this to get rid of the smaller mutants, in the meantime, could you take any enemy I miss?"
"Sounds like a plan."
Jordan and Ratchet dropped down into the pit, and immediately all mutants charged at them. While Ratchet killed two of the creatures with his Heavy Lancer, Jordan made a sweeping motion while firing the weapon and was able to turn the last three enemies into harmless sheep. They now had to deal with the mutant crabs and once Ratchet pressed on the button, he equipped his Mini Nuke, while Jordan equipped his Bomb glove. Ratchet and Jordan were able to kill four of the crabs, but the other four were becoming a problem as they were getting way too close for comfort.
Luckily, Ratchet and Jordan were able to dodge their pincer attacks and managed to run pas the mutant crabs, gaining enough distance to safely use their explosive weapons, which they used to get rid of the four monsters. With the threat gone, they went through the first forcefield on the left and saw that in the distance were seven of those smaller purple creatures. Jordan equipped the Sheepinator while Ratchet equipped his Heavy Lancer. They both walked up to the creatures and soon they were charging at Ratchet and Jordan. While Ratchet was able to take out three of the creatures, Jordan turned the other four into sheep. They then looked to their left and saw a conveyor belt with a small crate on it, and next to it was a Dynamo target, which they assumed activated the conveyor belt.
Ratchet equipped the Dynamo and activated the target, and indeed, the conveyor started to move. They quickly noticed that if they would climb onto the crate and jumped at the right timing, they could climb onto a large crate.
After successfully landing on the crate, they noticed a large, opened crate being held in the air by a sturdy cable attached to an orange drone. There was another dynamo target that, upon activation, moved the crate to the left.
Jordan made a running jump and landed in the crate, and after activating the dynamo target, Ratchet followed. As the crate moved to the right, they noticed that they could jump to a small platform of crates, and after a running jump, the group found themselves near yet another dynamo target.
This time, however, there was a slim, metal panel lying on the ground in front of them, with a glowing orange ball on top of it. They stepped onto the panel and Ratchet activated the dynamo target. Immediately an orange drone hovering above them started to move, extending it's cable and attaching it to the glowing orange ball attached to the panel. As the cable started to retract, the panel, and the group with it, were being lifted into the air, and like an elevator they were brought to a higher level of the crate maze.
They kept walking and found themselves having to drop down into yet another pit, though this drop was a lot deeper, too much to simply jump and hope for the best. What also surprised them was that there did not seem to be any enemies, but also a lack of a way out of the pit.
However, since it was their only way onward, they decided that Ratchet would lower himself first, then let Clank fly back up and help Jordan descend into the pit of crates.
As soon as Ratchet's feet touched the ground however, their assumption of the lack of enemies being a trap was proven correct when some of the crates suddenly burst open and mutants came flooding out. Ratchet wasted no time in sending Clank back up while he grabbed his MiniNuke, and a few seconds later Jordan joined the party with a Heavy Lancer.
As a team they blasted all of the mutants back to oblivion and as more and more crates opened up, a way out was opened as well, leading them deeper into the Megacorp vessel.
While Jordan took out the smaller mutants with the Sheepinator, Ratchet blasted the heavier enemies to smithereens with the Mini Nuke or put more holes in them than Swiss cheese with the Heavy Lancer.
After no mutant was still standing, they walked through what was once a wall of crates and into an area with another conveyor belt. However, this time there were two Dynamo targets, and instead of a crate, another one of those metal panels with a glowing orange ball was lying on the conveyor. Another thing worth mentioning was the orange drone conveniently hovering above the other end of the conveyor belt.
They got onto the small platform and activated the Dynamo target next to them, activating the conveyor belt. As they reached the other end of the conveyor, they activated the second Dynamo target, activating the drone, and one makeshift elevator ride later they found themselves stepping onto a small platform with an elevator, though the elevator was broken. Luckily, it could be repaired using the Electrolyzer, and thus, after a few minutes of Ratchet working on fixing the elevator, it was functional once again.
They stepped into the elevator, and immediately it started to move, taking the group to a platform on the side of the gigantic ship. As they stepped out of the elevator and into the cool air of Smolg, Jordan took a deep breath. "Fresh air, at last! It was getting cramped down there." Jordan said.
Then Jordan noticed a grind rail in front of them. Jordan opened his mouth to inform Ratchet, but before he could say anything, Ratchet suddenly yelled "Incoming! Get down!" Ratchet and Clank immediately hit the floor.
Jordan looked up to where he was pointing and saw a red, circular object falling out of the sky and towards their position. Jordan simply stood there and watched the object fly towards them at really high speeds, but it's speed decreased as it approached the ground and stopped in front of them. Jordan was quite relieved by this, but before he checked out what it was, he walked over to Ratchet to help him up, while Sophia got off of Jordan's back to help her robot friend get up.
"Get up guys, it's not a bomb." Jordan said as he held his hand out to Ratchet, which the Lombax grabbed, and Jordan pulled him back onto his feet.
"C'mon Clank." Sophia said as she picked Clank up and set him down.
"What is this?" Ratchet asked.
"I don't-" Before Jordan could finish his sentence, the center of the capsule opened up and the only thing inside it was a television screen. Suddenly a video played and on screen was a picture of a poorly drawn happy face. "Hello." a male voice said.
"Ratchet and Clank." another voice said, sounding eerily similar to Angela's, but the voice was too brief to be sure.
"You lucky devil." the male voice spoke again.
"Angela Cross." the female voice said again, confirming the group's suspicion that it was Angela's voice. For some reason Angela didn't sound quite amused (her voice was full of frustration).
"Has just sent you: a galactic greeting!" the male voice happily spoke.
The video then showed Angela Cross, who was on a snowy planet in front of a house, presumably her home planet. "Guys! if you get this message, please meet me on my home world. Just so you know, I've found my old ID badge." Suddenly three angry Protopets appeared on top of the building behind her and start growling at her. Angela noticed them and bent forward, disappearing from view for a moment, presumably to grab something. "I'm pretty sure we can still use it to infiltrate Megacorp HQ, but you're gonna have to hurry..." Angela got up and into view once again, holding a snowball, which she threw at the rightmost Protopet at full force half a second later, launching it off the building. "Before the protopets completely overrun us." She finished, sounding frustrated again. Her expression softened. "Oh, and sorry for the balloon-a-gram, it was the only thing I could get off this p…" Angela was cut off by the screen suddenly showing the smiley face once again. "We hope you enjoyed your galactic greeting!" the male voice said, before three balloons popped out of the top of the capsule.
"That Angela is quite resourceful." Clank said as the capsule flew off.
"Yeah. She thinks of everything doesn't she?" Ratchet said, sounding a bit as if he was a bit lost in thoughts.
'Why would you care so much? There isn't really an explanation... unless my theory is true, that is.' Jordan thought.
"She also appears to be in great danger."
"Well we better go rescue her then." Ratchet immediately replied. The group walked towards the grind rail and Ratchet was the first to hop on it and ride it down to a platform in the distance. While Sophia got onto his back, Jordan mumbled to himself "Miss Cross huh, I'll have to look up more about her later."
Jordan looked at the grind rail and jumped onto it. As he rode down the long rail, he saw Ratchet and Clank waiting for them, standing next to a platform that would take them back to their ship. Once the platform had brought them back to their ship, Ratchet set the coordinates to planet Grelbin and they flew off, a bit faster than usual, something that made Jordan raise a brow.
That's it for chapter 23 and I do not want to really spoil anything but don't expect Greblin, or Grelbin. Because they wont be heading there next chapter. I originally thought the Hypnomatic had no real use to it which is why I excluded it from this chapter but I did realize it does have some use, especially on Grelbin. So I'm not going to say what planet where going to next but you will know next chapter. But do stay tuned as the group heads towards another planet in chapter 24. Were almost to the end guys. And did I mention about us hitting over 2000 views in this story last chapter. If I did than I'm sorry that I forgot. But, I will say that we have hit 4000 VIEWS ON ONE FOR ALL. So to anyone new to this story, I do want to thank you for your support, I really appreciate it and hope you like this series so far.
If your enjoying the story so far, feel free to review, favorite, or follow, and please know that any feedback is much appreciated.
Thank you for reading.