READ THIS FIRST!!! DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER UNLESS YOU HAVE RE-READ MY FIRST THREE CHAPTERSI've made a few changes to the story (and added a few things) so you really need to read the first three chapters first. Okay? Okay? …I mean it…
Don't read yet…
…you better not be reading this…
…THAT'S IT! (RYNO's whoever just read this…unless, you're reading this because you've already re-read the first three chapters again. In that case, I give you a million dollars and a free car!)
A/N: So, you thought I was done, eh? Well…so did I. Nonetheless, I'm back and ready to continue this story.
Disclaimer: (Watches a SWAT team of lawyers descend from the ground) AH! I do not own Ratchet and Clank; I do not own Ratchet and Clank, I DO NOT OWN RATCHET AND CLAAAANK! (Lawyers groan and go away) (Sighs) Well, you heard me. I don't own 'em! Only my OC's
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Recap:
"DROID!" Nefarious said, "Alert all available troops that the Lombax is here! Send ALL men to EXTERMINATE them!" The droid immediately replied by running towards a room on the far right and through a door. "This time, Lombax, you WILL NOT BEAT ME!"
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Ratchet starred in amazement at the town and its citizens. Although not particularly impressive in terms of technology, there were crowds of busy Silver striped Lombaxes roaming about. Short ones, tall ones, fat ones, skinny ones, rich and poor, all were walking around, busy with their own affairs. There were street markets, where vendors sold fruits, vegetables, and, surprisingly, weaponry. One-story houses made of metal could be seen in the distance, along with farmland. The path they were walking on was simply made of dirt, and some of the natives were carrying carts full of different goodies to sell.
"Whoa…" Ratchet said in awe. "I've…never seen so many Lombaxes in one place!"
Lilly looked behind her and smiled at Ratchet's starring. "You act like you rarely see any other kind of Lombax."
"Um…" Ratchet started rubbing the back of his head. Lilly stopped, as did Clank, and they both looked at Ratchet. "Well, the truth is…until now, I've only seen one, before now."
"Huh? What about your parents?" Lilly asked.
Ratchet looked at the ground, sadness creeping its way into his mood.
"You know, Ratchet, I do not recall you ever telling me about your family," Clank said.
"That's because…I'm an orphan," Ratchet answered sadly. Both Lilly's and Clank's eyes were wide open. "You see, I was raised by mechanics when I was a child. They said that they found me in a basket in front of their house. My 'father' taught me everything I know. How to survive in Veldin, how to fix machinery…everything…" Ratchet sighed as he remembered what he said next, "But one day, when I was ten, they just…disappeared."
"Oh my gosh…that's terrible," Lilly said, shocked.
"How did you survive?" Clank asked.
"I told you," Ratchet began, "my fake parents taught me what I needed to know to survive on Veldin. It was almost as if they were setting me up for the day they left…"
BOOM!
A nearby explosion snapped Ratchet out of his thoughts. He quickly turned around to face where the explosion came from. The once docile crowd was now running around, screaming, trying to get away to safety. Ratchet looked at what was causing all the commotion…
…and wished he didn't. Standing there, a little different in that his armor was thicker, but still the same, was a DZ Striker from Dreadzone!
"No way…it's impossible," Ratchet gasped. A couple of Executioners followed the robot, reeking havoc on the small town.
Clank also was starring in shock. "Ratchet…is that a-"
"Yes Clank," Ratchet answered, "that's a Dreadzone robot." The DZ striker took notice of Ratchet right about this time. "Clank, get on my back, NOW!" Clank hopped on Ratchet's back as he equipped his Dual Vipers.
Lilly, although confused, pulled out a Plasma Coil from her storage cube around her waist, and equipped an Agents of Dread glove.
Ratchet ran up to the robot, showering the DZ Striker with a storm of Dual Viper bullets. However, the robot did something unexpected… Instead of turning into a pile of Ash, it ran up towards Ratchet, jumped over said Lombax, and landed behind him with his laser pistol equipped.
"What the, I don't remember them being able to do that!" Ratchet exclaimed. The robot started strafing, shooting several shots from his gun. Ratchet jumped, flipped, and strafed around several shots. Suddenly, the Executioner came, grabbed Ratchet, and pulled him into a bear hug. (Ew?)
As Ratchet struggled, the DZ striker hovered towards Ratchet. He then did another unexpected thing; missile launchers opened up from plates on his chest.
BOOOOOM!
The DZ Striker exploded, having met the blast from Lilly's Plasma Coil. The executioner grabbed his wrench with his free hand and started shooting plasma blasts at Lilly. Lilly gracefully flipped and dodged all of the blasts, not getting a single scratch. When suddenly...
WHACK! …the other Executioner ran up and smacked Lilly in mid air with the broad side of its wrench.
"Ouch…" Lilly groaned, her face in the dirt. She looked up and saw that both Executioners were standing above Lilly, holding their wrenches in the air. They were about to bring their wrenches down on Lilly. Lilly waited for her imminent doom.
ZAAAAAAAAAAAAP!
Lilly looked up and saw that Ratchet had equipped his Telsa Barrier, which caused the Executioner holding him to be zapped and accidentally swing his wrench into his comrade. The other Executioner now clutched its chest, the other one's wrench wedged in. It stepped back a few more steps, sparked, then simply fell to the ground.
The other one whipped around to face the Lombaxes…
…only to meet Ratchet's Shock Cannon Blast.
The robot fell, unmoving and decapitated. Ratchet was sure he had destroyed the robot, and was about to walk away. Then:
"OUCH!" Ratchet fell, clutching his now bleeding leg. Nanotech immediately healed it, but it still felt sore. Ratchet turned around and saw the Executioner, with an 'eye' in the center of his chest, holding his still glowing wrench. "No way…" Ratchet muttered as he stood up. He looked to his side and saw the other one also standing up! They both slowly started walking towards Ratchet.
"Ratchet, my sensors tell me that these Dreadzone bots are not the same as those we fought before," Clank chirped from Ratchet's back.
"You think!?" Ratchet spat. "How are they still able to fight?"
"My sensors indicate that these machines not only have back up power generators, and backup computer processors, but an extra optical sensor in the chest for when the robot is decapitated."
"You mean, even if I damage them, they can still keep going?" Ratchet asked.
"I'm afraid so," Clank said gloomily. Ratchet watched them walking towards Ratchet, wrenches at the ready. Then, the sides of their chests opened and revealed missile launchers. Plasma cannons then popped out of their arms and shoulders.
Ratchet's ears drooped. "Now that's just not fair!" The robots were about to unleash total destruction on Ratchet, when suddenly…
"HIYA!" The robots turned just in time to be blasted by Lilly's Splitter rifle. I pierced both robots through the chest, making the headless one now blind, and made them stumble back.
Ratchet took this moment to equip both his Rynocerator AND his Supernova in both of his hands. He then ran up, stopped a few feet in front of them, and then…
FLAAAAAAAAAAAAASH! VROOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The Rynocerator turned the first into ash, and the second one blew him to bits with an energy blast from above. Ratchet put away both weapons, satisfied that they were NOT coming back.
"WHAT THE HECK WERE THOSE THINGS!?" Lilly screeched after putting away her weapons.
"Dreadzone bots," Ratchet answered. Clank hopped off Ratchet's back and turned to face Lilly. "They're the robots we had to fight when me and Clank-"
"Clank and I," Clank corrected.
Ratchet glared. "Okay, CLANK AND I were captured by Gleeman Vox."
"Oh…I didn't know," Lilly responded. "Dang, for you to take out robots like that, in swarms-"
"That is the point," Clank interrupted, "those were not the robots we fought. They have some how changed."
"Yeah, they weren't nearly that tough before!" Ratchet exclaimed. "My question is; how did Nefarious get the blueprints for them?" Suddenly, everyone heard a rumbling sound. They all turned their attention towards the hills…only to see a twenty Executioners, thirty DZ Strikers, some robot swarmers, and forty robot zombies all heading towards the Lombaxes. If that weren't bad enough, several drop ships, filled with both Dreadzone bots AND Nefarious' robotic troopers, were following from the air. And the piece de' resistance…one HUNDRED tanks equipped with plasma cannons followed behind the ground troops.
Both Lilly's and Ratchet's ears dropped. "You have GOT to be kidding me!" they exclaimed in unison. Clank sighed and hopped back on Ratchet's back.
Several Executioners ran up, shooting missiles from their opened chest while swinging their wrenches. Ratchet and Lilly ran opposite directions, Ratchet equipping his Megaturret Glove, and Lilly equipping her Agents of Dread Glove. Ratchet ran around, dropping off Megaturrets along the way. As soon as they sprouted up, they began shooting their payload at the robots.
Lilly threw out two Agent containers, which immediately sprouted into the loveable robotic machines of death we all know and love! The air-born ones immediately began shooting lasers at the incoming DZ Strikers and Troopers. Amazingly, several of them managed to evade the blasts. The ground ones, however, were posing a bigger problem for the death machines. They were going Kamikaze, trying to touch members of the robot swarm in order to send them into a nuclear blast of doom.
The DZ Strikers, in order to escape the Agents of Dread on the ground, hovered into the air and used their guns to activate their bomb and make them blow up out of range. The Troopers weren't so lucky. Since their AI wasn't upgraded like the Dreadzone bots, they suffered the blasts of the explosion happy mini robots.
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Meanwhile, Ratchet had his Silencer equipped, and was blasting away at an Executioner and Trooper that were trying to blow him to bits. The Executioner had his arm and both shoulder plasma cannons equipped, and was blasting away at the Lombax. Ratchet dodged every shot, but the Executioner did likewise with his.
"Alright, this is getting ridiculous!" Ratchet cried, irritated. Suddenly, five more Executioners touched down and started shooting rockets from their chest, while another two took their wrenches and started running towards Ratchet. Ratchet dodged the missiles, but one of the Executioners struck him in the ankle with one of the robot's wrench swings. Ratchet fell belly first, but quickly rolled out of the way of a wrench swing aimed right at his head. He quickly jumped up, equipped his Shock Cannon, and blasted the giant metallic brute right in the chest. When he landed, he equipped both his Nitro Erupter and B11 Vaporizer in both of his hands. He then ran up, jumped behind the several Executioners (and Trooper) and fired both bombs at the horde.
BOOOOOOOM! BOOOOOOM!
Ratchet couldn't help but smile as he saw robot parts fly everywhere. However, when the smoke cleared…his expression changed from happy to shock. Only the Trooper had exploded, and the seven Executioners were STILL working. A lot of their armor was missing, but nonetheless, they worked.
"I don't know WHO built these things…but we could sure use him…her…whoever or whatever he/she is," Ratchet said, kind of stumbling on hid words at the end. They were about to attack, when:
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOOOOOOOOOM!
All seven Executioners exploded suddenly. Ratchet was at first confused…until he noticed the Megaturrets that had teleported behind the Executioners.
"Wow…perfect timing," Ratchet said, amused how the seemingly invincible robots were dismantled by a few gunshots from the smallest, portable turrets in the galaxy.
"I need some help over here!" Lilly cried as she was using an N90 Hurricane to try to batter off some DZ Strikers and a few Executioners. Ratchet started to run to help, when a plasma blast nearly annihilated the Lombax.
"WHOA!" Ratchet cried as he screeched to a halt. He turned his head to see that the tanks had finally caught up with the rest of the party. "Oh great…more fun," Ratchet groaned. He took out his Stalker Mine launcher and began to fire the lethal heat seeking orbs of death. They immediately locked onto the enemy machines, and started floating towards the tanks rapidly, beeping along the way.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOOOOM!
The mines hitting their target didn't cause the explosions; a DZ Striker used its blaster to set off one of the mines, which in turn set off the rest of them.
"UGH! DO THESE THIGNS EVER GIVE UP!?" Ratchet cried as he threw his hands up in the air. He took out his Rift Inducer, and fire several shots to get rid of any other ground troops. Thankfully, they all disappeared in the vortex immediately.
"Why didn't I think of that earlier?" Ratchet asked himself. He shrugged, pulled out his Shock Blaster, and ran up to take care of the tanks. The tanks immediately fired on the approaching Lombax, releasing their orange plasma bolts of death. Ratchet dodged, all the while charging up his Shock Cannon. When it started emitting white energy out of the barrel, Ratchet made sure that he was in the way of multiple tanks. Sure enough, three more tanks came towards the Lombax. Ratchet grinned.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
Ratchet released the trigger, spun around while shooting, and decimated the three tanks.
"Finally, that must be all of the-" Ratchet turned around and saw twenty of the robot zombies, and three more Executioners standing behind him. In addition, a drop ship was readying its missile launcher as it dropped off more robotic Troops.
"This is really ridiculous…" Ratchet groaned.
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Lilly wasn't having much luck neither. The rest of the zombie horde, and some extra ones that had come, were all attacking her at once. She had her Nitro Erupter equipped, and was shooting bomb after bomb to drive back the ever-increasing amount of zombies.
"Man, this is getting old!" she cried, blasting six or seven with a single shot. She was slowly backing up further…further…and further. Until…
CLICK ,CLICK, CLICK.
"Uh oh…" she said, starring at her ammo less weapon. The zombies noticed, and started closing in on her. "Ah, oh no, I'm out of ammo! Whatever shall I do?" she fell to the ground, and covered her head with her arms. The robots were right on top of her now. One drew up its claw, about to strike her.
"SYC!" she pulled out her Nitro Erupter, which now had ammo thanks to her Gadgetron PDA, and blew the rest of the zombie horde surrounding her to pieces.
"That takes care of that," she said, dusting her hands off. She turned around…
CLUNK! …and bumped right into an Executioner.
"Ouch", she said, rubbing her head. The Executioner picked her up, and held her at eye level. "Don't suppose you're friendly…are ya'?" The robot opened up its missile launchers, shoulder cannons, and arm cannon on his free arm, and held them towards Lilly.
"Yeah…didn't think so," Lilly said, her ears dropping.
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Ratchet was shooting his Rift Inducer like a freaking lunatic, letting the vortex suck in all of the robots so he wouldn't have to spend time blasting at their tough armor. Yet, more seemed to keep appearing out of nowhere, and Ratchet continued his one-man war against the hostile robots. Unfortunately for him…
CLICK, CLICK, CLICK. "Uh oh…" Ratchet said, starring at his ammo less weapon. He improvised, and pulled out his B-11 Vaporizer, along with his own Agents of Dread glove. He shot out the mini robots, which immediately started blasting all the Dreadzone bots. He then ran up, leading the robots in swarms. Just when they were about to catch him, he's flip over them and fire his B-11 Vaporizer. The blast either destroyed, or severely damaged the group. This worked a few times, until they realized what the Lombax was doing. Therefore, they went long range, shooting blasts from their wrenches or shooting missiles from their chest.
"I am SO SICK OF THIS!" Ratchet cried, irritated. He didn't notice the zombie creeping up behind him, slowly approaching the Lombax. Suddenly, the robot zombie came up behind Ratchet and grabbed his tail, hoisting him up in the air.
Ratchet was caught off guard, and just hung there for a moment; watching the upside down robots approaching him. Finally, he just snapped.
"SON OF A QWARK, THAT'S IT!!!" Ratchet cried, furious. He kicked the robot hard in the chest, causing him to let go of Ratchet. When he landed, he pulled out his Supernova. "NO MORE MR, NICE LOMBAX! I'M GOING TO BLOW YOU INTO A MILLION PIECES!!!" Ratchet pointed his gun, pulled the trigger several times, and…
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
Ratchet watched as neon colored lasers of death rained from the heavens and took out almost all of the robots advancing towards Ratchet and Lilly. Then, he switched out his Supernova for his Rynocerator. He pulled the trigger, and…
FLAAAAAASH!
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!
Words could not describe how the explosion looked as hundreds of robots, tanks, and drop ships alike all simultaneously blew into tiny bits of shrapnel. A few DZ strikers and one lone Executioner (Not counting the one Lilly was handling) were left. They all looked towards Ratchet, processing what had just happened.
Ratchet stood there, huffing and puffing after his fit of rage. When he saw how scared the robots were, he grinned.
"Next?" Ratchet grinned maniacally, raising his weapon in preparation. The robots calculated their odds, starred at each other, then did the smartest thing possible…
…they ran.
Ratchet smirked as he watched the robots run away, screaming like girls. (How is that?) Just then, a robot's arm flew past Ratchet's head. He looked to his left and saw Lilly, holding a Decimater in her hands. The robot that was attacking now took the form of a neat, pile of ash.
"Well…that went well," Lilly said sarcastically as she dusted herself off.
"Yeah…splendid," Ratchet griped as he put away his weapon. "How did Nefarious build those things!?"
"I don't know," Lilly said, "I was hoping you could tell me Mr. 'Hero'!" Ratchet glared at her for a moment. He was NOT in a good mood. "Well, that's what you said Mr. "Big shot'," Lilly continued as she put up her hands in mock pose. "'Oh don't you worry, I'LL take care of the robots! I'LL defeat Nefarious like I did before, I'LL'…"
Ratchet shot her a deadly glance, and started to reach for his Rynocerator again…
"Of course, I mean that in the best of ways!" Lilly said hastily as she put her arms up in submission, rather than mock. She also sweat dropped.
Ratchet put away his weapon for good this time, calming down a bit. Clank hopped off Ratchet's back again, and started scanning the area.
"It appears that all robotic life forms have vacated the perimeter," Clank spoke in a simple tone.
Ratchet smiled slyly, thinking of something funny. He said, "Yeah, they couldn't stand up to the… 'Flash…of…DEATH'! Hahahaha!"
WHACK!
"YEOW," Ratchet cried, rubbing his head. Lilly lowered her fist as Ratchet asked, "What'd you do that for!?"
Lilly glared. "For making such a crude joke, that's why!"
Ratchet looked a little annoyed, as he grumbled, "Little miss no fun…"
"What did you say?" Lilly said menacingly, cracking her knuckles.
"Oh…nothing," Ratchet said innocently, putting his hands behind his back. Lilly glared daggers at the heroic Lombax. When they turned around, they saw all the townsfolk gathered behind them. Ratchet and Lilly starred.
"…uh…hi?"
"HOOOOOOOOOORAY!!!" the citizens cried. Hundreds of people than ran up to hoist Ratchet, Clank, and Lilly into the air, all the while cheering for their new found heroes.
"I could get used to this," Ratchet said with a smirk.
"I-I c-can n-not m-move," Clank vibrated, bouncing up and down. Lilly and Ratchet looked at the little robot and couldn't help but laugh a little. The parade continued a little longer until…
"HALT! DROP THEM!" Suddenly, the crowd dispersed, causing the two Lombaxes, and robot, to fall on their butts. An "ouch" or two later, the trio could see who it was that caused the crowd to disappear so quickly.
He was, as everyone else was, a Silver Striped Lombax. His armor looked like a grey pair of Infernox armor; minus the helmet. He was tall, around 6 ft. 5 I'd say, and carried a laser sword in his belt. He was also muscled up…very, very, VERY muscled up.
He was riding what would appear to be the cross of a horse, and a tiger. It has the horse body, but it had thick fur, stripes, and the tiger's head and tail. In addition, its leg muscles were much thicker than an actual horses'. It was about 7 ft, tall on all fours, and had big, glaring, yellow eyes. The rider was sitting on a brown saddle, which had bags attached to it as well.
"Uh…may we help you?" Ratchet asked.
The horseman glared at the tiny Lombax. "You better watch your mouth…shrimp!"
That was it; Ratchet had enough. "WHAT did you just call me?" he demanded.
"A 'shrimp', shrimp!" the horseman sneered. "I don't like you, got that? I don't like outsiders coming here, 'kay? Especially smart aleck, brown striped, short little shrimps-" He was interrupted by Ratchet shoving his Rynocerator AND his Supernova right in his face.
Ratchet glared at him…badly. "Call me 'shrimp' again and see what happens. One of my worst enemies has gathered an army of robots, whose blueprints are from another enemy who captured, tortured, and trash talked me. He sent these robots to TRY AND KILL ME!!! Therefore…I'm really not in a good mood pal! Are we clear?"
"-gulp-crystal," he said weakly. Ratchet lowered his weapons and placed them back in his storage watch. The horseman regained his senses, and continued, "The King of this land has declared that you and your friends meet him at the palace…immediately."
Lilly looked worried. "T-the King? He wants us…there…now?"
"Yes, he does," the nobleman answered. "He has requested I escort you there myself. So, if you would please follow me, I shall take you to him."
Ratchet merely sighed. He followed the 'knight', who began riding towards the palace mentioned earlier. Lilly and Clank merely followed.
All the gears in Clank's head were tuning so quickly. He wandered how Nefarious escaped, why Miss Lilly was so nervous about meeting the King, and how did Nefarious reconstruct the Dreadzone bots? The only man who knew how they were made was Gleeman Vox himself; and he was dead…
…or was he?
This question made Clank stop for a moment and think. Ratchet continued on a few more feet before he noticed his robot buddy lagging behind.
"Clank, are you coming?" Ratchet called.
Clank snapped out of it, and called, "Yes, I am coming. I just have a lot going through my mind…that is all,"
"You and me both," Ratchet said. With that said, Clank sprinted to catch up with the rest of the gang as they headed to the palace of the Great King of Nifan 3…
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A/N: Wow, I believe that is my longest chapter ever! Well, I hoped you enjoyed it. I don't know how often I'll be able to update. I'm almost literally having to battle for the computer (My mom has discovered fan fics about one of the books she reads, and she has become A-DIC-TED!!!) Any way, don't forget to read and review!
…what?
…why are you still reading…?
(remembers) Oh yeah, I forgot! (I give free car and one million dollars to whoever re-read my first three chapters before reading this one) There, all better! Now, goodbye!