Gosh! I can't believe I'm still going! I didn't think I'd get this far! But I almost can't stop writing!
Chapter VI
The sun was starting to peak back into the forest where Ratchet and Soara slept. Clank had not taken his eyes off of Soara for eight hours. A couple of times though, he had started to doze off where he sat, but quickly shook himself awake. Though the sun was already over the horizon, there were dark clouds forming over the jungle, causing the sky to be overcast. Soara stirred, rustling her pile of leaves. Clank jumped to his feet, as if thinking Soara was about to attack him. Soara sat up and yawned, stretching her arms. She then stood up and brushed the leaves off of herself. She saw Clank staring at her, as if she might lunge. "Howdy." She said to him, giving Clank a mock salute. "Guess we should probably get going. You want to wake Sleeping Beauty over there?" She said, indicating Ratchet, who was slumped against his tree, snoring loudly, his mouth wide open. Still looking at Soara, Clank started to shake Ratchet, who mumbled a little in his sleep. Soara chuckled. "Ratchet." Said Clank impatiently. "It is time to wake up." Ratchet rolled over so that he was no longer sleeping against the tree, crossed his arms, and laid his head on them, using them as a pillow. "Just five more minutes, Talwyn." Ratchet mumbled in his sleep. Clank rolled his eyes, giving up. "Hang on." Said Soara, smiling. "Let me try." She picked up her electro-sword, switched it to the lowest voltage, walked over to Ratchet, and poked him with the tip of her sword. The shock caused Ratchet to give a shout of surprise, and sit up straight, now completely awake. "Who's Talwyn?" Soara asked, crouching down next to Ratchet. "What?" Said Ratchet, confused. Clank interrupted though. "Pardon me." He said. "But perhaps it would be better if we continued to get off of this planet." Soara stood up. "Right." She agreed. "I think we should head East."
"No." Said Ratchet, disagreeingly, getting to his feet. "The trees thin out more to the North. If their is any civilization on this dump, they would more than likely have a settlement over there." Soara gave another mock salute. "Whatever you say, chief." She said. "Lead the way"
Rolling his eyes, Ratchet picked up Clank, and attached him to his back. "Kid's got a bit of an attitude on her." He said quietly so only Clank could hear, walking in front of Soara, who followed close behind. "Now who does she remind you of?" Said Clank, looking behind him, to see Ratchet. "Uh, Qwark?" Said Ratchet. "I meant you." Said Clank, still looking behind him at Ratchet. "But do not forget that it was your idea to let her tag along."
"You know." Soara began, glaring at Clank. "We Aqory (Soara's species) may have good hearing, but I am close enough to you, that I don't need to use it." Ratchet and Clank fell silent.
As they walked on, the clouds above them grew darker, and there were flashes of lightening. "I believe it is going to rain." Said Clank, looking up. Soara gave Clank a fake look of surprise. "Wow! Really?" She Said sarcastically. "I was wondering what was with all the thunder."
"Well, I don't know about the two of you." Said Ratchet, ignoring Soara. "But I don't really feel like getting soaked at the moment. Why don't we take shelter under that group of trees over there?"
"We can't rest now!" Soara protested. "It's not even noon yet."
"Alright." Said Ratchet, heading for the trees he had indicated. "You keep going. Let us know how that goes." Like a large bucket had been dumped down on top of them, big drops of rains began to fall down. Soara glared at Ratchet, as he sat down under a large friut tree, and took Clank off his back. Now soaking wet, Soara followed.
"You hungry?" Ratchet asked Soara, pulling out his omniwrench. He threw his wrench up into the tree. As it came back down, bringing several pieces of the fruit with it, Ratchet grabbed his wrench with one hand, and a plump red juicy-looking piece of fruit with the other. He the tossed the fruit to Soara, who caught it with both hands. She smiled, as Ratchet picked up another piece of fruit off the ground and took a large bite out of it. "Thanks." Said Soara, before taking a bite out of her own fruit.
As the rain continued to pour, Ratchet, Clank, and Soara remained under the shelter of the trees, enjoying their fruit. "So, Soara." Said Ratchet, his mouth full of fruit. "You seem like a jungle-smart kind of girl. You get stranded on strange planets often?" Soara scoffed. "Very funny." She said. "In Echelon, we are trained to adapt to our surroundings. "Adapt or die" is what Telther would tell me as a girl. I've been doing things like this since I could walk. Training often had us using only a blaster and our brains as tools."
"Oh right." Said Ratchet. "You Aqory must have super good brains as well as your hearing."
"Maybe. Aqory brains could rival with Lombax brains."
"Well, I don't know. We Lombaxes are pretty smart."
"Oh I bet you are." Said Soara, tossing the core of her fruit behind her. The rain was now lightly falling around them, and the splashing became quieter. "Looks like we're reaching the peak of the storm." Said Soara, washing the fruit juice off of her hands with the rain water dripping from the tree she was under. "We should keep going now." She Ratchet and Clank stood up and stretched. "Think we should take some of this fruit with us?" Ratchet asked. "Good idea." Said Soara, agreeing. "Wanna do that neat little trick with your wrench again?"
"Wait." Said Clank, looking into the sky. "Do you hear that?" Soara did. There was a humming noise over the sound of the rain. "What is that?" She said, she and Ratchet looking into the sky too. Ratchet saw the source of the noise first. Over the top of the trees, a pirate ship was flying in their direction. The ship belonged to the pirates who has attacked Ratchet, Clank and Soara found day before. "They found us!" Ratchet shouted, grabbing Clank and putting him on his back. "Come on, we gotta get out of here!" He and Soara ran in the opposite direction of the pirate ship, which was gaining on them.
Aboard the ship, the remaining pirates laughed at the sight of Ratchet and Soara running away from them. "Do not lose them this time!" Said the pirate captain. "They must pay for what they have done to out comrades! Fire the blasters at them!"
"Aye, Captain!" Said one of the other pirates. "Fire in the hole!"
Not daring to look back, Soara Ratchet ran through the jungle, away from the pirate ship. Water from the rain splashed in their faces as they pushed branches out of their path. Ratchet longed for his blaster. He hated running away, and giving his enemy the upper hand, and Soara felt the same way. Gunshots started coming from the ship's guns. Soara ducked down to avoid the fire as Ratchet ran in front of her. The ship fired at a tree in front of Ratchet and Soara, causing it to crash down in front of them. Without slowing down, Ratchet jumped, and did a front-flip over the tree, while Soara did a kind of dive, her hands landing on the tree first. She the pushed herself up and over the tree, and landed on her feet, so the whole motion was a front-hand-spring, and continued running.
Ratchet and Soara stopped running when they came to the edge of a cliff. At the bottom of this cliff was a wide, deep river. There was a flash of lightening above them, followed by a crack of thunder. "Ratchet!" Clank shouted, still on Ratchet's back. "The are catching up!" He indicated the pirate ship, now right above them. "Can you swim?" Soara asked Ratchet, shouting over the roar of the pirate ships engine. "Of course I can swim!" Said Ratchet, speaking equally as loudly. "What do you think I-AAAAHHHHH!" Soara had grabbed ahold of Ratchet and threw him off of the cliff and into the river. She the jumped off the cliff herself and dove headfirst into the water.
"This scum is getting on my nerves! Shouted the pirate captain, as he watched Ratchet and Soara disappear into the water. "Fire the plasma cannons!" His followers obeyed him, preparing to fire.
Ratchet emerged from the water first, gasping for breath, trying to stay afloat with the currents crashing into him. "Clank!" He shouted. "Are you still there?!"
"I am here, Ratchet!" Came Clank's voice from behind Ratchet's back. "But where is Soara?"
"I'm here!" Came Soara's voice. She swam up to Ratchet, who sighed in relief. Suddenly, there was a bang from the pirate ship as a plasma cannon shot out, and raced towards Ratchet, Clank and Soara. "LOOK OUT!" Soara shouted. She and Ratchet dove in opposite directions under the water. As the cannon hit the water, it created a wave underneath. The underwater wave shoved Ratchet deeper into the water, causing his to crash into the rocks below. Pushing himself up, using the rock, Ratchet kicked back for the surface. Gasping, ratchet broke the surface, coughing. Soara, who had just reemerged as well, swam back to Ratchet. "We're screwed if we don't get out of here!" She shouted. "You're right." Ratchet agreed. "Let's head for shore." Another cannon hit the river, creating another wave, which picked up Ratchet and Soara, and pushed them towards the other side of the river. Ratchet, Clank and Soara screamed as they flew through the air, and landed in the dirt. "Well." Said Soara, pushing her hair out of her face, as Ratchet coughed the water out of his lunges. "That's one way to do it." Ratchet go to his feet. The pirate moved in closer to them. There was another cliff in front of where Ratchet and Soara. It was there only way out. Soara! Start climbing!" Said Ratchet. He jumped up, grabbed ahold of one of the rocks, and started climbing. Soara followed, taking care to grab each rock that Ratchet had grabbed, and stepped where he had stepped.
When Ratchet reached the top of the cliff, he rolled over onto his back, and sighed in relief. "Um, Ratchet?" Came Clank's muffled voice from under Ratchet. "Whoops! Sorry, pal." Said Ratchet, rolling on his side. Soara peaked up from the other side of the cliff, struggling to pull herself up. "Need a little help?" Ratchet asked, still laying on his side. "No." Said Soara, trying to find something to grab. "I cam handle my-" BANG! The pirate ship below had shot a plasma cannon at the cliff. With a scream of terror, Soara vanish as a large chunk fell off of the cliff "SOARA!" Ratchet shouted, standing up, and running to the spot where she fell. He looked down to see Soara a few feet down, clinging on to a rock with only one hand. The pirate ship shot another cannon at the cliff, causing more rocks to fall of. Clank jumped off of Ratchet so he could see what was happening, while Ratchet bent down, and extended his hand to Soara. "Here! Take my hand!" He said to her. Soara stretched her free hand to Ratchet's. As another cannon crashed into the cliff, the rock that Soara was hanging onto broke off. But her scream was cut short. Instead of plummeting to the bottom, Ratchet grabbed a hold of Soara's hand, and started to pull her up. The rocks from when the last cannon hi,t fell down on top of the pirate ship. The added weight was too much for the ship. It crashed down into the river below, and sank to the bottom. The chase was finally over.
"Give me you other hand, Soara!" Said Ratchet, still struggling to pull Soara up. Soara grunted, as she swung her free hand up, Ratchet grabbed it, and pulled Soara up. He then drug her a ways, so the two of them were away from the cliff, and fell over, breathing heavily. Clank ran over aid Ratchet. "I'm fine, Clank." Said Ratchet, reassuring his best friend. "How about you, Soara?" Soara got to her feet and dusted herself off. "Why did you do that?" She asked Ratchet. "You could have been killed! You could have just left me. and you would finally be free!" Ratchet got to his own feet, and smiled. "Because I made my own choice." He said. "I chose to do good. Just like you can choose Soara, just like you can choose to leave Echelon if you truly wanted." Soara was mesmerized. "Come on." Said Ratchet. It's almost dark, we should find a place to set up a fire. Ratchet and Clank walk on, but Soara still stood there, thinking about what Ratchet had said. "Make your own decision. Do what is good." what if Ratchet was telling the truth? What if Soara could choose to be good?
Whew! This chapter took me four hours! I do hope it was worth it.