Here we are with chapter 25, and I have to say this loud and proud, 3 MORE CHAPTERS TO GO IN THIS STORY. Yep, this story is starting to come to an end, but don't worry, there's still more to come. I gotta say though I think coming down with a minor cold. But that's not stopping from putting this chapter up and putting it out for you guys.

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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.

Angela's House

Planet Grelbin

6:00pm Local Time

Home Sweet Home

After landing on a landing pad next to a factory, not too far from Angela's home, the group stocked up on ammo and got ready to face whatever danger may lie ahead on this barren, cold planet. There were only two possibilities: a ramp that led down into the frozen wastelands, or an elevator that led into the facility. Deciding that the factory was obviously safer, the group stepped into the elevator and let it take them deep underground. As they stepped out of the elevator, they found themselves on a platform in a large, rectangular room, with acid on the floor far below. What caught their interest however, is the platform on the other side of the room, where a robot was pacing back and forth. It had a glowing blue ball instead of legs, a body made of orange metal, two blasters for hands, and a small head.

"Well, how do you plan on getting past this?" Ratchet asked. It took a while for Jordan to come up with an answer, but something popped into his head at last. "What about that Hypnomatic thing we got, perhaps we could use it on that robot over there. Who knows, it may be able to create a bridge for us or something."

"It's worth a shot, I guess." Ratchet said as he equipped the Hypnomatic. The satellite dish on the Hypnomatic started to rotate, and the robot on the other side of the room responded immediately. The screen on the Hypnomatic came to life, showing the world from the robot's perspective."

Using a small joystick, Ratchet began to control the robot. He made the robot turn around, and began to make the robot move down the hallway. Everything went well, until the robot was stopped by a forcefield. On the other side of the forcefield stood another robot, identical in design to the one Ratchet was controlling. A button on the Hypnomatic started to glow, and because Ratchet was short on options, he pressed it. Immediately the perspective changed, and Ratchet was now controlling the robot on the other side of the forcefield, the robot he had been controlling exploding spectacularly.

Ratchet made the bot look to its left and saw another hallway, but longer, with five other robots patrolling the hallway. Ratchet decided to try out yet another button, and immediately the blasters the robot had for hands came to life, sending a barrage of bullets at the enemy robots and completely destroying three of them. Of course this would not go unnoticed by the surviving two robots, who opened fire immediately. Ratchet forced the robot he was controlling to take cover, and as soon as the enemies held their fire, he got out of cover and opened fire once again, taking out the last two robots.

Ratchet then noticed a strange green button on the floor up ahead. He made the robot step on it, and suddenly a few platforms came hovering down from above where the group was standing. Ratchet disabled the Hypnomatic, and together they jumped from platform to platform.

Soon they had reached a higher level of the factory, only to find another forcefield blocking the way. Luckily, a robot was standing behind it, the large satellite dish on it's head indicating that Ratchet could take control of it, and thus Ratchet equipped the Hynomatic again, and took control of the robot.

Ratchet made the robot go down a small elevator behind it, and saw another forcefield, but one that was, unfortunately, being guarded by three enemy robots. Ratchet was able to defeat them, but not before taking a lucky shot in the head and chest.

Ratchet took control of a robot patrolling on the other side of the forcefield, and steered it down a long hallway, one that was being guarded by six robots. Ratchet made quick work of three of them without taking a single hit, but then the surviving bots opened fire, hitting Ratchet's robot in the chest two times.

Luckily, Ratchet was able to dodge the fire with a few well-timed jumps, and took out the last three robots, before continuing down the hallway. Once he reached the end, he looked to his left and saw another robot behind yet another forcefield, and thus he took control of the next robot.

The hallway up ahead turned out to have four robots on patrol this time. Ratchet shot down two of them, then took cover as the remaining two opened fire. The moment the enemies stopped firing, Ratchet got out of cover and killed the last two robots, before walking down the hallway.

He found himself in a large, rectangular room. He could see water below him, and a higher level of the facility above him that he could not reach. Luckily, he hadn't come all the way for nothing, as there was another button on the floor. The moment the robot touched it, the level of the water below the robot began to rise, and fast.

Within seconds the hallway had been flooded, and apparently the robot was not waterproof, the screen of the Hypnomatic suddenly showing static. Apparently the robot had electrified the water for a second, damaging various circuits, the one for the forcefields being one of them. The forcefield in front of the group flickered and faded, and they could proceed. Luckily, the group saw that they could swim through the now flooded tunnels, and use the water level to reach the next level of the facility. Clank gave Jordan Jordan and Sophia's O2 masks, and Jordan followed Ratchet into the water.

Immediately everyone but Clank shuddered as they felt the cold water bite at their skin, so they dove into the depths before they could change their minds. As they entered the flooded hallways, they saw that the electrical outburst had also activated some kind of defense mechanism, for there were various lasers blocking the hallway.

However, they all knew that, at that very moment, Angela was being besieged by Protopets, and she would probably die if they didn't continue. They quickly swam past the moving lasers, but Jordan was being left behind as Ratchet activated Clank's Hydro-Pack upgrade. But Jordan was able to catch up with him and follow him down the long hallway, and after a left turn and one last hallway of lasers they reached the end. They quickly got out of the cold water, and Jordan gave his and Sophia's masks back to Clank, who stored them in his chest compartment once again. "You okay?" Jordan said over his shoulder. Sophia nodded. "Cold, very very cold, but yes, I am okay."

"Good." Jordan said, before following Ratchet down another hallway, one that was, luckily, both dry and short. They reached another elevator, though this one would take them up to, hopefully, a place on the surface closer to Angela.

As they reached the surface again, they saw a building to the left of them that stood out. It didn't look like a factory or some kind of corporate owned structure, it actually looked like some kind of residential building. However, countless Protopets were biting at the door. Jordan quickly equipped his Black Sheepinator, and after one quick sweep all fifteen Protopets had been turned into sheep. They walked up to the front door of the house and knocked on the door. "Helloooo, anybody home?!" Jordan yelled.

Just a few seconds later, the door opened up and on the other side was the person they have been looking for, their until fairly recently damsel in distress, their Lombax ally Angela Cross. "It's about time you four got here." Angela said to the group.

"Hey, nice digs." Ratchet complimented, looking at the house once again.

"Yeah. A little remnant from my previous life."

"You were reincarnated?" Clank asked. Jordan turned his head, thinking why an intelligent and logical robot like Clank would ask such a rather weird question, reincarnation was not quite logical.

"No, no. My Megacorp days." Angela quickly explained. "They've got a very... 'generous' bonus package."

"Uh right, so now that you've got your ID badge, how do we take out the Protopets?"

"Watch this." Angela pulled out a small Holovision screen out and it showed a robot girl trying to ask her mother, who was behind the camera, a question. "Mummy, where do Protopets come from?" the girl asked

"Why, they come from Megacorp dear." the robotic mother said as she appeared on the screen.

"Thats right Missus Robot!" a male narrator said as the video showed a picture of a large building, roughly triangular in shape with a titanic 'M' on it, in front of a rather sinister looking background of dark, black clouds. It didn't take a genius to figure out what corporation owned the building.

"All the Protopets in the galaxy come right from here." the video then showed a Protopet being electrocuted and spitting another Protopet out. "Your little friend is lovingly extracted from the original Protopet. Each Protopet is given a name and birth certificate that is unique." the image then showed a Protopet strapped down to a table and around it were various tools that, frankly, looked like devices that were supposed to be used to torture someone.

"Our training system helps mold your pet into a wonderful friend that you'll cherish forever. So the next time your child asks..." The little girl appeared back on screen again."Mummy, where do protopets come from?"

The Megacorp logo then appeared. "You can answer with confidence, they come from Megacorp!" the video ended.

"The factory is using the original Protopet to produce all the others!" Clank concluded out loud.

"Exactly. If we can take out the original Protopet, that'll shut 'em down, permanently. Here take this." Angela handed Jordan a card. Jordan looked at it in confusion, it didn't seem like an ID badge. Instead, it looked like a discount coupon for something called 'Groovy Lube.'

"20% off a complete service at Groovy Lube?" Jordan read.

"Oops, wrong one." Angela said, quickly snatching the card from the Human. "Here's the ID." Angela handed him another card and this time it was a card that looked like an ID badge, having her image and credentials on it. "This will deactivate the door to the Protopet duplication area. I'll meet you there."

"You sure you wanna split up?" Ratchet said worryingly, something that Jordan had expected Ratchet to ask.

"Well, Megacorps orbital defenses are nasty. With two ships there's a good chance one of us will get through."

"Good thinking. Just be careful." Ratchet said. Angela nodded and walked back into her house. However, a mere second after the door closed, they could hear her tripping over an item, followed by a loud crash.

"Right." her (slightly irritated) voice came through the door.

With a plan in mind, Ratchet and the group got on a teleporter that took them back to their ship and once they got in, Ratchet entered the coordinates to the Megacorp Headquarters and the group flew off, ready to end this madness once and for all.

Well, there's chapter 25, there's not much I really have to say here, but sorry for a short story for ya. I know that shaman or mystic guy is in here. But the only real use for him is for getting a hypnomatic part, which the group already obtained. So I'm sorry for that. But anyway, stay tuned for the second to last final chapter in this story as the group heads to Megacorp HQ and stops this protopet madness once and for all.

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