Chapter III:

Clank hopped off of Ratchet, who was still unconscious, and onto the dashboard to look out of the window. As the dust cloud formed by the crash settled, Clank saw what looked like a jungle planet. Not one that he was familiar with however. The trees around the ship were oddly shaped, and the leaves on top were a shade of maroon. There appeared to be no civilization in sight. All appeared to be deserted. As Clank continued to look at his surroundings he noticed a second ship. Soara's ship. It looked just as battered as Ratchet and Clank's ship. The wing was missing from the left side, and the engine was smoking. At first, Clank thought Soara might not have survived the crash, until the top of her ship opened up, and she climbed out. Soara landed clumsily on her feet, and surveyed her surroundings. Clank jumped off of the dashboard so not to be seen by Soara. What should he do? It was obvious that he wouldn't be able to take off. The ship was too badly damaged from the battle. Maybe the ship's blasters were still working. But there was a slim chance that they were. Plus, Soara was so close, Clank would risk taking Ratchet and himself out as well. Clank only had one other option. He first opened the ship's side door, then unstrapped Ratchet from his seat, and dragged him off the ship. He continued to drag Ratchet until they made it into a thick group of trees, not far from the crash sight.
Clank poked his head out from behind the tree he and Ratchet were hiding behind. Soara had found their ship. She had her deactivated elctro-sword in her hands as she searched the ship, inside and out, for it's occupants. Ratchet gave a small groan as he started to regain his consciousness. Clank put his hand over Ratchet's mouth to hush him. Soara, realizing that Ratchet and Clank were no longer in their ship, had expanded her search around the forest, her sword in both hands, ready to strike. Ratchet slowly stood up, rubbing is head. "What is going-" He began, but Clank hushed him, putting his finger to his mouth. He gestured in Soara's direction, who was still searching for them. Understanding, Ratchet pulled out his blaster with one hand, and grabbed Clank's arm with the other. As Ratchet pulled him upward, Clank shot his arms and legs inside his body, and attached himself to Ratchet's back. Facing Soara's direction, Ratchet slowly edged backwards, keeping a tight grip on his blaster. Soara had her eyes to the ground. She seemed to be looking at something intently. Ratchet's heart jumped. She was looking at their footprints! "Uff!" Ratchet thought to himself. "This just never ends!" Clank suddenly poked Ratchet in the back. Ratchet turned to see what Clank wanted. He was pointing at another tree, one suitable for climbing. Understanding the gesture, Ratchet made for the tree, and jumped up to the lowest branch. He then started climbing up each branch until he and Clank were out of sight.
Following the trail that Clank had made while dragging Ratchet into the group of trees in front of her, Soara pulled out her own blaster, so she had her electro-sword in her right hand, and her blaster in her left. She followed the trail until she got to the spot Clank had first hid behind.
Soara held her blaster in front of her, ready to fire. Realizing no one was there, Soara relaxed her hand again, then, noticing the second part of the trail, continued to follow it. "Hang in there, Clank." Ratchet whispered softly. "Wait for it." Soara had reached the end of the trail, and was right under Ratchet's tree. "Wait for it." Ratchet repeated. Seeing no other part of the trail, Soara instinctively looked up into the tree. "Now!' Ratchet jumped out of the tree in Soara's direction, who, startled by Ratchet's shout, raised her blaster to him. Before Ratchet hit the ground, he kicked Soara's blaster out of her hand, then, landing gracefully in front of her, kicked her in the side, knocking her back. Instead of falling over, Soara landed on one hand, pushed herself up, and flipped over, so she did a one-handed cart-wheel. Facing Ratchet, she then activated her electro-sword as Ratchet pulled out his omniwrench. "You really are quite a sport, Lombax!" Soara jeered. "I will be quite bored once I have finished with you."
"Sorry!" Said Ratchet. "Not gonna happen!" He lunged at Soara, and swung his wrench. Soara blocked it, causing a flash of sparks around them. Soara bent down and swept Ratchet's legs out from under him. Ratchet fell, taking care to land on his side so not to squish Clank. Soara made to jab her electro-sword into Ratchet's side, but he rolled out of the way just in time. He could actually feel the electricity from the sword as it penetrated the ground. Soara pulled her sword out of the ground while Ratchet got back up on his feet. With a roar of rage, Soara flipped the switch on the hilt of her sword, so the sparks around the blade grew stronger, and the humming noise grew louder. She did a front flip, landed right in front of Ratchet, and struck. As Ratchet blocked this attack, he could feel the electricity from the sword shock his body, so his fur actually stood on end. Soara pushed down on Ratchet's wrench with her sword. Ratchet felt his knees buckling, but kept himself up. Though his body was telling him otherwise, Ratchet refused to let go of his wrench, even as he felt the electricity continue to course through his body. He could not give up, even though his entire body was in agony, and he could feel himself weakening, he could not let Soara win!
"Don't move!" Came an unfamiliar voice. Soara eased off Ratchet, who fell on his knees, breathing heavily, and shaking violently, relieved that the electric currents were leaving him. Surrounding Soara and Ratchet were about fifteen robot pirates, all with blasters pointing at them. Soara glared, and made to throw her electro-sword at their leader. "I wouldn't do that, missy!" Said the leader. "Fifteen shots will penetrate your pretty skin before your stroke fell!" Soara slowly lowered her sword and deactivated it, still glaring at the pirates. The group formed a tight circle. Three of them grabbed ahold of Soara and took her sword out of her hand, who punched, and kicked as hard as she could. One of the pirates holding her put a large knife to her neck, and she stopped struggling. Three more pirates grabbed ahold of Ratchet, who was still too weak to fight back. "Search 'em!" Commanded the leader. His followers obeyed. The pirates that weren't holding Ratchet and Soara started rummaging through their pockets, and Soara's backpack. "What kind of robot is this?" Said one of the pirates, holding Clank by one leg. "This thing is to small even to be a service bot!" Ratchet struggled to get free, but was still too weak. "Let him go!" He commanded. "He's mine!" The pirates laughed at Ratchet. The one holding Clank stuffed him into a large brown sack. "Anything good, lads?" Asked the pirate leader. "Not yet sir." Replied one pirate, rummaging his hand through Soara's bag. "Just some gravity cells, a couple of grenades, some blaster ammo, and a- OUCH!" The pirate removed his hand from Soara's bag. What looked like a bear-trapped had attached itself to the pirates hand. Soara snorted with laughter, rolling her eyes. The pirate captain walked over to her, and slapped her across the face. Soara gave a short shout as the metal hand made contact with her face. She struggled against the pirates holding her, until then one with then knife to her throat tightened his grip. "You'll pay for that one, missy." Said the captain, as his follower struggled to get the bear-trap off of him. "No on makes a fool out of my crew."
"Oh, you don't need me to do that." Said Soara. "They look pretty foolish on their own." She watched as the one with the bear-trap smacked himself in the face, and toppled over. "Very funny, girly." Said the captain. "We'll see how witty you are when we're through with you. Take 'em back to our ship, mates!" The pirates all laughed as they force Ratchet and Soara through the forest. Though the one with the knife kept tightening his grip around Soara's neck, she kept struggling to break free. The pirates holding Ratchet were half dragging him. He didn't know what was going to happen to them, but he knew that if he didn't regain his strength soon, he and Clank would die on the miserable planet surrounded by pirates. And Ratchet would never see Talwyn again.