Remembrance
Chapter One
Disclaimer: I don't own R&C, Sly Cooper, Jak and Daxter or any other franchise in this tale. Sony does.
Well hello fellow Playstation fans, and welcome to this tale, which is sort of a homage to the PS2 era, my childhood and the gaming mascots of that console. I will explain more at the end.
One with the Show:
Ratchet and Clank were delving through the underbelly of some station, as usual, pulled out of a retirement that they had long earned. Quark had asked them to come out of retirement to look into an issue for him. They had been bored so they agreed. Knowing Quark, it could have been a major problem or a minor issue, it was minor this time. Turns out someone had gotten blackmail on Quark and he had hired them to destroy it. At least Quark had put up a sizable amount of bolts for the job. The blackmail was a composition of all the evil deeds he did, from helping Supreme Executive Chairman Drek, to the Protopet business, to the Personal Hygenator fiasco, to other things in his past that could put him away for life if the wrong people found out. They were now making their way out of the station that they had to infiltrate for the mission. What they were not expecting to find was the Plumber there. Then again, they never expected to find him, he just showed up, gave some cryptic advice and then leaves
"Plumber's back," Ratchet said upon encountering the man.
"Ah, it's you two, been a while. You caught me working on stuff as usual," The Plumber said.
"How was your vacation, sir?" Clank asked.
"Good, I needed it. Spent some time with the missus. I heard that my son helped you with all that dimension trouble," The Plumber said.
"He did, is he adopted or does he take after your wife?" Ratchet asked, trying to understand the family relationship of the man.
"He's adopted," The Plumber answered the question then changed topics. "You look like you clocked a few more light years since we last saw each other," The Plumber said, noticing that a few of Ratchet's whiskers were graying.
"Yeah, a few. They don't make them like me anymore. There was this other guy though, who looked a lot like Talwyn with longer ears, had a fuzzy sidekick and elemental powers. Eco or something," Ratchet recalled an old friend, and rival in that tournament he was pulled into against his will.
"I heard he finally retired." Plumber turned back to the pipe he was working on. "Speaking of which, word through the dimensions is that your thief friend also retired, though there are also unverified rumors that he is stuck in the past of his timeline," The Plumber let on that he knew more of other dimensions than previously, also that he had been watching Ratchet more than he thought, as Ratchet never told him of his friends from other dimensions, other than Rivet.
"Really? Then it's only me…." Ratchet got a long mournful look on his face. He remembered his friends and that weird journey they took to defeat those aliens that had brought them together. There was also that one time they were forced to fight each other for the whims of some dark god. Didn't get a chance to talk much there. He did once think of using the Dimensionator to go to the realms of his friends, but decided that it was too risky.
"Anywho, I don't got any advice for ya today, seems your adventure was not a big one. See ya in the next one, though you should see your friends, that will be an adventure." The Plumber sent them on their way.
After that meeting, Ratchet and Clank made it back to their ship, and called Quark to tell him that he was in the clear.
"Thanks Ratchet, it feels like a new dawn for me," Quark said, very grateful to be in the clear.
"You are lucky that President Phyronix pardoned you for the Drek and Hygenator business. You know you can't go back to the Bogon galaxy right?" Ratchet was candid with Quark.
"I know, I know, you guys earned your pay, it has been transferred to your account, Quark out." The vidscreen went black, and Ratchet set a course for Megalopolis on Corson V.
As they flew toward home, Ratchet got a long look on his face in lament for his friends that had retired. Clank noticed something was up with Ratchet as he flew in silence where they usually either talked or listened to the radio or had some program on the vidscreen. He was going to ask Ratchet if he was okay, but figured that Ratchet would tell what was wrong when he was ready.
Later, at Ratchet's Apartment
Ratchet looked through the trophies he's collected over the years. He walked over to one wall that he kept an audio recorder that he had used to keep his own copies of the audio from the Lorbs he had collected. He played two of them.
"Mapped my first dimension today! Pretty standard stuff, except the colors there were so vivid, like, whoa. And there were these creatures; one of them even looked like a Lombax, but he had smaller ears, a mask, and a cane, and... I think he was pulling some kind of heist? Whatever it was, it looked cool." The voice of a Lombax known as Mags would tell.
"Sly," was all Ratchet said with a mournful tone to his voice. Though there was a bit of mirth in his mind. Of all the dimensions, Mags somehow stumbled onto Sly's dimension first.
"I wonder, Clank, what do you think Sly was stealing when he was observed, either stealing back the pages of his family's book or taking down the Klaww Gang, or was it just a normal heist?" Knowing the Raccoon, it could be anything.
"Any one of those could be correct. Most probabilities say it was just a normal heist," Clank responded.
Ratchet played the other recording he had. "I know I was going to stop doing these recordings, but I can carve out some time every once in a while. 'Cause I'm a genius. Dimension 31x7. Not super different from home, but there were these creatures... One was firing a gun and spinning himself around every other second while the other hung out on his shoulder doing live commentary... I wanted to hang out with them so badly."
"Jak," he said with the same tone as the first one. Of course Daxter was doing commentary of their battles, just as he did during their shared adventure.
"Missing old friends, are you?" Clank asked, noticing Ratchet's mood.
"Yeah, it's just a hard thing to accept, being the last of an era," Ratchet moved across the room to get something to drink. "Have you been in touch with Bentley lately?"
"No, unfortunately during one of our adventures the device that allowed us to talk was damaged and I haven't found the parts to fix it. Also, for unknown reasons, Daxter never picked up when I called. Knowing him, he might have just left it somewhere until he needed it." Clank looked sorrowful at the loss of contact between the dimensions.
"Blast it, could have used that to see if it was true if Sly was retired or trapped in the past.
"It's not like we could use the great clock to go back for him," Clank reminded him.
"True, the Clock is not a time machine. Azimuth nearly ruined everything with that one, and the Dimensionator has proven itself to be too dangerous to be safely used considering the various problems it has caused. Tachyon, and Emperor Nefarious, to name two." Though the only use of it he was okay with was to go see Rivet and Kit. He set his drink down and picked up a picture frame of the three of them in the aftermath of that incident.
"Do you want to go see them, Ratchet?" A voice said, Ratchet turned around to see the Plumber. He fixed the Plumber with a confused look.
"Yes, I do. How did you get in here?" Ratchet was now concerned that someone had gotten into his apartment.
"You left the door unlocked and it just slid open for me," The Plumber said. Ratchet and Clank looked at him with worry, it was still a home invasion.
"What do you want, Sir?" Clank asked.
"It's not what I want, it's what you want I am here about. How badly do you want to see them?" The Plumber asked
"Very much so," Ratchet answered truthfully.
"I can take you, even without the Dimensionator, as I know that you are hesitant to use it," The Plumber said.
"How?" Clank asked.
"In my travels throughout the universe and beyond, I have acquired methods of travel that are incomprehensible to most," The Plumber said, cryptically. A suspicion formed in Ratchet's mind.
"Who are you? Really?" Ratchet asked.
A smirk on his face, The Plumber's tone and voice cadence changed with what he said next. "I am not just a mysterious handyman who gives weird advice, I am really…" Dark purple clouds swirled around the man, and in flash, the Plumber was gone, and there before him was a floating giant crystal head. One that Ratchet hoped to never see again. It was him, the dark god that had brought various heroes together to fight to death at his whim: Polygon Man. He looked at Ratchet with his yellow eyes and smirk on his face.
"You're him, Polygon Man." Ratchet raised his trusty Omniwrench to strike at the Dark One.
"Relax, I am here to offer you a deal," Polygon Man said, hoping to placate the hero that was about to strike at him.
"A deal? With you?" Ratchet was about to refuse it outright, considering what happened the last time they saw each other.
"Have you always been here, or did you just take the form of the Plumber recently?" Clank asked as some things were starting to make more sense.
"In some ways, I have always been here," Polygon Man answered.
"It makes so much sense, you said that it had been everywhere in the universe and beyond, your son had a book you wrote about the most up to date information on the universe. All the cryptic advice over the years that proved useful." The clues were falling into place at last. He had been watching them, helping them.
"Why have you been helping us all this time?" Ratchet asked.
"An experiment of sorts, I am present in some form in the realms of heroes I pulled together," Polygon Man answered.
"And now?" Clank was also wondering the same as Ratchet.
"I have come to a realization, one that came after my defeat. My dreams of being the only mascot are foolish, so in some ways, consider this my attempt to make amends to all of you, let me reunite some of the greatest heroes in times of peace," Polygon Man sounded sincere, but both Ratchet and Clank did not trust it.
"Wait, mascot?" Ratchet was confused.
"It's nothing, don't worry about it," he shifted his eyes quicker than Ratchet could pick up on. He then changed the subject, "So, do we have a deal?"
"What do you get out of this deal?" Clank asked the real question.
"I may ask for a small favor in the future, but with the three of you united again, it won't be a problem," Polygon Man answered,
Though still suspicious of his motives, Ratchet agreed. "Deal, take us to see our friends."
"Who do you wish to see first?" Polygon Man asked.
Ratchet mulled it over a second, then he decided. "Sly," was the answer. He wanted to get to the bottom of the rumors of Sly's time adventure. Also, between the two of them, Sly was nicer of the two of them on first meeting. Though he could ask Polygon Man the question about Sly's timeline. "Is it true, Sly being stuck in the past?" Ratchet asked the dark god before him.
"He was, once. I may have already been there and retrieved him and brought him back to his time," Polygon Man said, with a smirk on his face.
"Did you reveal yourself to him?" Ratchet asked.
"No, he does not yet know, nor does he know that I am bringing you to see him. Now, shall we?" Polygon Man asked, hoping that Ratchet would trust him this time.
"Let's go then." Ratchet grabbed his trusty Omniwrench, placed Clank on his back and stood next to Polygon Man, who opened a dimensional portal to Sly's dimension, and both stepped through. The portal closed behind them.
Well there you have it everyone, the first chapter of this homage tale. I hope you enjoyed it and are looking forward to what comes next.
The reason I made the Plumber be Polygon Man was because the Plumber has always been a mysterious one that can go anywhere, even people's minds. He is basically a god, also to be honest, I was not intending this to be a mutichapter, but I couldn't figure out who Ratchet was going to be talking to at the beginning then I thought of the Polygon Man Idea and it just fell into place.
So the idea was I was looking at fanart of Sly and Ratchet taking a selfie and then the scene from a recent Splinter Cell game where Sam Fischer laments Solid Snake's retirement popped into my head and it mixed beautifully. So, hop aboard for the ride.
The Emperor is out. Peace.