Version 2 Author's Notes:

Since I changed Ratchet & Clank's intro chapter, I changed their flashback in this chapter as well. Check it out if you like.


Chapter #6: The Heroes Unite

A few minutes later, the Animal Alliance leaders (Tortimer, Tom Nook, Copper, Booker, and Blathers) and their eight new companions were in the museum's main lobby. Blathers pressed the secret basement's "doorbell", and the clock moved away. The newcomers were impressed by the secret passage.

Sonic whistled and said, "Pretty clever."

"I never would've thought that was there," Spike remarked with a shake of his head.

Clank said to Copper, "I presume that no enemies have stumbled upon this hideout yet?"

The dog responded, "Yup; it's the safest place in the entire town, which is why we're bringing you here to talk."

All eight of them followed the Allies into the basement in a single file. When the animals took their seats, the gang followed suit. But just as Ratchet was sitting down, he noticed two young raccoons snoozing in sleeping bags next to the fireplace. "Who are those two?" he asked Tom Nook, jerking his thumb at them.

The shopkeeper replied, "Those are my sons, Timmy and Tommy."

"You're married, then?"

He quickly shook his head. "Oh, no. I adopted them when they were very young. They're also my pupils at my shop."

"May I inquire as to why they are here?" asked Clank.

"I took them here before I went out on our mission; you know, just in case Big Boss found out that I'm an agent. He would capture them if he did. Let's leave them be."

With that explained, Tortimer briefed the gang on what the Animal Alliance knew about Big Boss's history in Animal Crossing. When he finished, Clank asked, "Do we have identification on this man? If 'Big Boss' is really his alias, we need to know his characteristics. Big Boss might not even be a he."

The mayor shook his head sadly. "We don't know what he looks like at all. Anybody who's ever seen 'im is in his dungeon."

"So much for identification," mumbled Ratchet.

"What about those robots we saw?" Tails asked a bit timidly. "Are they Big Boss's minions? They're an interesting make."

Blathers took over on the subject of robots and debriefed the group on the known models (which were discussed in the intro). After covering them on this, he explained how they functioned as an army. "The robots are programmed to only perform their duties, and they take orders from only Big Boss and anyone he calls allies, us excluded. They're told to arrest no one unless they're causing trouble for the town, and they must have a warrant for an arrest, much like our original police force."

"In other words," Copper cut in, "they won't bother us animals unless we cause trouble."

"Like trespassing and espionage?" guessed Ratchet.

Tom Nook nodded. "You got it. So now you know what position we're in. We have to be extra careful about what we do and that we don't give away the identities of our operatives. We also have to careful about what we tell to animals that aren't members."

Tortimer continued for Nook. "That's why we brought the eight of you here; we wanna know what each of ya are doin' here. We didn't send any messengers askin' fer help, and we're cut off from the rest of the world." He turned to Spike and Jimmy. "Let's start with you two."

Shifting in his red armchair, Spike said, "Okay. Well, like we told Copper, we got warped here by accident."

Jimmy butted in, "You see, we know this professor who has a machine that can warp you anywhere you want. It's summer at our home, so Spike and I wanted to go to a beach resort on the other side of our country."

"Our friend Natalie helped us get the portal ready. I guess she put in the wrong coordinates, and we ended up here," Spike finished.

Tom Nook nodded his head; the story seemed to check out. "Hmm, very interesting. Well, if we can contact your friends and let them know about your mistake, we can send you back home. In the meantime, I think you'd better stay with us."

Shrugging, the older boy replied, "I don't mind at all."

"Maybe we can help you beat Big Boss while we're waiting!" piped up Jimmy.

Tortimer cocked one eyebrow, uncertain of letting two innocent humans fight a dangerous war that wasn't theirs. Copper noticed and told him, "I told you before that they're good with their Stun Clubs, Tortimer. They could make great allies."

"He's right," Tom agreed. Then to Spike and Jimmy he asked, "Where did you learn to fight like that?!"

"We both needed to fight fierce if we were going to accomplish our missions, saving the world and all," replied Spike with a shrug.

"Savin' the world?!" exclaimed the mayor.

Copper's eyes were wide with surprise. "You guys never said anything about that!"

With a knowing grin, Sonic said to Spike, "Lemme guess…you stopped evil, super-smart monkeys before they could take over the world."

The teen's jaw dropped. "How did you know?!"

"Lucky guess. Tails told me about your cousin chasing Porter."

Jimmy blushed in embarrassment. "Heh heh heh. I guess that was a mistake."

"Porter's forgiven you already, kid," Tortimer assured him. "Don't worry about it."

With Spike and Jimmy's story settled, Tom Nook said, "Now, what about our two sea creature friends?"

At the mentioning of him and Patrick, SpongeBob perked up and cried, "That's us!"

Patrick cocked his head like a puppy and said, "Us?"

"Yes, you two," said Nook. "Why did you leave the sea?"

SpongeBob explained, "Patrick and I sometimes take a walk on the beach. We saw him," he pointed at Booker, "and we wanted to help. Then the robot attacked us, and…well, you guys came."

"…I see."

"Did that robot work for Plankton?"

"No, it worked fer Big Boss," Tortimer replied with a puzzled look. "Who's Plankton, though?"

"He tries to steal a secret formula from my boss, Mr. Krabs. One time he did get it, and he took control of everybody's minds with his special helmets. But Patrick and I stopped him!"

The other strangers look at the pair in surprise; they certainly didn't look like heroes. Jimmy spoke for them. "Wow, pretty cool for sea creatures."

Blathers nodded in agreement. "Very impressive. Now, what about you, Ratchet and Clank? I know that you crashed, but you never told me why. A system failure on your ship?"

Ratchet's face turned a little red. "Well, not exactly…"


Flashback in Solana Galaxy

In the vastness of outer space, Ratchet and Clank were cruising in their red starfighter, quite bored. They had just finished their latest adventure, and now they wanted to have a small vacation, even though it was likely that it would get rudely interrupted…as usual.

The duo sat in their seats silently, both contemplating possible vacation spots. Finally Clank turned to Ratchet and said, "Ratchet, do you want to visit Planet Pokitaru?"

"Nah, I'm sick of their beaches and resorts," replied the Lombax. "In fact, I'm bored with every planet in this system!"

So Clank decided to think outside the box…or more like outside the galaxy. After a few minutes of calculating, his eyes turned yellow and had a light bulb icon in their centers. "How about the Bogon Galaxy?" he asked.

Only a second after he said that, Ratchet's face lit up. "Hey, I've got an idea! Why don't we visit the Bogon Galaxy?!"

"That is what I said!"

Ignoring that last comment, Ratchet added, "Let's drop in on my old employer Abercrombie Fizzwidget." Then he began to punch in a few numbers and push buttons. "Fasten your seat belt. I'm engaging the gravimetric warp drive."

The robot's eyes brightened a few watts. "…The one you built from Blargian scrap metal?"

"The same."

Clank hurriedly strapped into his seat. But when he finished, he double-checked of the coordinates in the autopilot. "Ratchet, I think you made a miscalculation."

But the Lombax wasn't listening, and began pulling the lever that would start the warp drive.

"Ratchet, wait!"

But it was too late. The ship fired up its engines and rocketed into space at lightning speed, with its pilots screaming in terror.

ZOOM!

After what seemed like an hour, the crazy ride ended. Despite his seat belt, Clank was upside down in his seat, and Ratchet had flown out of his seat and into the back of the cockpit. Groaning, the Lombax and the robot repositioned themselves and looked at the ship's surroundings.

None of the stars looked familiar…

"This doesn't look good," Ratchet muttered.

After unclipping the seat belts, Clank went over to the ship computer and pressed some buttons next to the galactic map. "Oh dear," he moaned. "The journey has taxed the gravimetric warp drive. It has been disabled beyond any repair available to us at this moment."

The Lombax blinked in slight confusion as this sank in. "You mean…we're stuck here? …Wherever 'here' is?"

"I am afraid so. Our normal engines can function properly, but warping at light speed is out of the question." The robot checked the coordinates. "And this is not our system or Bogon. This is the Milky Way Galaxy."

Ratchet snorted at the name. "Never heard of it."

"The humans originated from this galaxy, from the planet Earth. That is the only planet in the galaxy with civilization."

His face contorted into a frown. "Humans? …You mean, people like Captain Qwark?"

"He is a variation of their species, yes. But these humans have four fingers and a thumb."

"And let's hope a higher IQ," grumbled the Lombax. "So, where do we go from here?"

"…I…am not sure. The computer has some information on the galaxy, but not much. I am surprised that the computer actually recognized the coordinates; much of this galaxy has not been mapped out for us."

"So, we're stuck in a virtually unexplored galaxy with hardly any people, and those people might be morons," Ratchet growled. "…Perfect…just perfect. This wasn't my idea of a vacation."

"It was not mine either," Clank concurred with a sigh. He looked through the cockpit window, hoping for some kind of miracle. And he got it; he spotted something huge and spherical not far from them. "Perhaps we can land there," he said and pointed at the object for Ratchet.

The object was a planet; it was mostly blue with green and brown areas on it. Immediately Ratchet brightened. There was a landing place! And maybe civilization!

Clank added, "I believe we might be in luck; that appears to be Earth itself. Its location must be recorded in our mapping systems."

The Lombax's spirits rose even more. "Let's go there and see if they have the right tools to repair our ship! I just hope this ol' starfighter can take the entrance into the atmosphere."

Luckily for them, the ship handled the entrance fairly well. But when Clank looked at the land they flew above, he became a little worried. "It is just land and small villages," he said. "There are no cities. The chances of getting a new warp drive appear to be slim."

Ratchet groaned and checked the fuel gauge. But as he looked back up, he exclaimed in surprise, "Hey! There's a factory dead ahead!" He pushed harder on the gas, eager to reach the factory for parts.

But as they got closer, Clank noticed something, and he said, "Err…Ratchet?"

But the commando didn't hear him. "I'll bet they've got tools and new parts!"

"Ratchet?"

"If I can convince 'em we aren't invading Earth, we can—"

"Ratchet!"

"What?!" yelled Ratchet angrily.

"Have you noticed that there are heavy-duty turrets on the roof of that factory?"

"Huh?!"

The Lombax finally noticed the black turrets positioned on the corners of the factory, and they swiveled around to put their markers on the intruding starfighter.

"And they are aiming right at us," Clank added with wide eyes.

"Uh…oh. Uhh…" weakly Ratchet held up one hand and parted his fingers Spock-style, "…we come in peace?"

Boom!

The turrets hit the ship's thrusters hard. The engine quit, and Ratchet and Clank found themselves losing altitude. Fast. The Lombax worked hard to control their fall, but both couldn't help but scream as they plummeted down, down towards the ocean…

Flashback Ends


As he finished the account, Ratchet glared at Clank. "If you had warned me about the turrets sooner…"

"I tried, but you were not listening!" Clank exclaimed with his hands held up.

"…Never mind."

"Don't worry, Ratchet," Tortimer tried to reassure him. "We can try to find one of those whatchamacallits ya need to git back to your galaxy. By the way, where did you git all those weapons ya have?"

Ratchet shrugged and replied. "I bought 'em with my money. Since I'm a commando in the Solana Galaxy, I need the best weapons out there."

"Whoa. First the world, then the sea, and now a galaxy!" Copper said.

The animals nodded their heads in unanimous agreement, and then Tom Nook turned to the last pair. "Sonic, Tails, it's your turn."

The blue hedgehog sat back in his chair and told them, "Our story isn't much. Tails and I like to travel around the world, and we just happened to come upon Animal Crossing."

Tails added, "We saw you guys fighting the robots and escaping on the train, and we decided to help."

With a small grin, Sonic said, "We have a habit of saving people."

"Lemme guess," Tortimer butted in with a delighted smile, "you've saved the world too?"

Sonic's grin grew wider. "Yup. Mad scientists are our specialty."

Copper leaped out of his seat and exclaimed, "Evil monkeys and crazy scientists! You guys are all heroes!"

Timmy and Tommy, although it had looked like they had been asleep, had been listening to the meeting. Upon hearing Copper's words, they leaped up out of their sleeping bags.

"Heroes?!" Tommy cried, with Timmy echoing. "Our wish came true! You've come to help us!"

The group of heroes was a bit puzzled, but they dared not disappoint the coons. Spike replied, "Uhh…well, yes, in a way."

The twins threw shouted "Hurray!" and started dancing on the floor with joy. The heroes and the adult animals looked on with amusement.

"Wow, things have really turned in our favor this time," said Blathers. "You heroes are just what we need to drive Big Boss and his goons out of our home."

Tom looked at the heroes, his tone serious but his face creased with a hopeful grin. "Will you really help us defeat Big Boss?" he asked.

The vote was unanimous.

Sonic jumped out of his chair. "I'm always game for an adventure!"

Tails was up beside him in an instant. "Yeah!"

Ratchet shrugged and smiled; his and Clank's vacation might have been ruined, but he was always up for a good battle. "Sure!"

Clank stood up on the arm of the chair again. "I accept!"

"We're in!" said Spike with a thumbs-up.

Jimmy pulled out his Monkey and thrust it up in the air. "Let's do it!" he cried.

SpongeBob got up and started hopping in place. "I'm ready!"

"Hooray!" yelled Patrick, who then added with a scratch of his head, "I think…"

Tortimer was the most delighted of all the Allies. "Y'all don't know how much this means to us. Thanks to each of ya," he said with a small tear in his eye.

Tom Nook took charge. "Well then, you can't save the world if you stay in this basement! We need to find you a nice home while you're here! In fact, I know of the perfect place! Follow me, fellows!"

The eight heroes darted up the stairs after the raccoon, eager to see what place they would be staying in.