A/N: Hi!
Not much to say except sorry about the wait... Enjoy! :)
WAIT.
There actually is a bit more to say...
For those of you who wanted to hear about Ratchet;
I know where he is, what's being done to him and what type of condition he's in... There's just not much to say about him at the moment. To describe it without giving too much away... It would be like reading about a dead cactus... Yeah.
But he will be back in very soon!

Clank narrowed his optics and scanned the town once more; not a ship in sight. He and Qwark had been looking for hours now but to no avail. It was the hottest part of the day and the little robot saw no use in dragging the spandex clad man around any longer, the heat obviously taking its toll on him, so he lead the way to what appeared to be the local pub. Apon entrance, the duo received a glance from the Blaargian bartender and two of the three pub-dwellers but nothing more, all of whom returned to their drinking, the bartender being the exception, who continued to clean the glass he was holding. Clank walked up to the bar and placed himself on a stool, Qwark slumping down next to him.
"Excuse me sir, but may I have a glass of water for my friend here, please?"
He asked politely.
The bartender looked at the robot for a moment, seemingly surprised by his manner, then proceeded to get a glass of water for Qwark. Clank pulled out some bolts and sat them on the bar. The bartender sat the glass in front of Qwark then looked at Clank, pushing the bolts back over to his side.
"Water don't cost here."
"Thank you, sir."
Clank said, pocketing the bolts once more.
"Don't mention it."
He said as picked up Qwark's drained glass, noticing the man's thirst, he went back to the tap and began to refill it.
"You two aren't from around here, what're you doing in this neck of the woods?"
He sat the glass down again and turned to Clank.
"Our ship crashed and we urgently need to get to planet Morbos."
The small robot explained.
"Morbos, huh?"
The bartender stroked his hairless chin.
"I heard that's where Dr. Nefarious set up a new base, probably just a rumour though, that guy's long gone!"
Qwark opened his mouth to retaliate but Clank shot him a hard glare and the hero thought better of it.
"Anyway,"
He continued.
"The only guy that has a ship here is that fella' over there"
He gestured to the shady character who sat in a booth in the corner, the only one who didn't turn to see Clank and Qwark enter the pub.
The bartender lowered his voice and leaned in closer to Clank.
"I wouldn't trust him though; I hear he's a smuggler. But if it's your only way to Morbos,"
He stood up straight and shrugged.
"It's your only way to Morbos."
He picked up Qwark's empty glass and began to wipe it out.
"Thank you for your assistance, sir."
Clank jumped down from the stool and headed towards the booth in the corner, Qwark remained at the bar and began to talk animatedly to the bartender who rolled his eyes at his stories.
Clank slipped into the booth opposite the smuggler.
The smuggler was blue and humanoid, a species that Clank wasn't familiar with. He had a red parrot perched on his right shoulder, what appeared to be a piece of dried wheat hanging from his mouth and he wore a black Dundee hat which cast a dark shadow over his eyes.
"Hello, sir."
Clank greeted.
"Howdy there, partner."
"I hear that you have the only ship on this planet."
The little robot got straight to the point and smuggler chuckled.
"Why yes, yes I do."
"What would it take for you to let me borrow it?"
The smuggler raised his eyebrows in surprise at Clank's forwardness.
"Borrow my ship? Now I'm afraid I can't do that, but I might be able to take you and your friend where you need to go for oh, I don't know..."
He had a sharp intake of breath.
"Monetary compensation."
"AWK! A WHOLE LOTTA' BOLTS, A WHOLE LOTTA' BOLTS, AWK!"
The parrot chimed in.
"What is the price?"
"Depends. Where do you need to go?"
"Planet Morbos."
"Fourteen thousand bolts."
The smuggler had named his price without a seconds hesitation, Clank had a feeling that no matter where he said he needed to go, the price would have been the same.
He sighed.
It was a lot of bolts, but what else was he to do?
"It is a deal."
"I assume you know the saying 'reward before consequence'?"
The smuggler held out his hand and Clank replied to the gesture by handing him a small bag of bolts.
He quickly checked the bag then shoved it in his pocket before walking out of the pub, Clank at his heels.
Qwark bid the bartender farewell before chasing the two out the door.
The smuggler pulled a small remote out of his pocket and pressed a button.
A decent sized cargo ship appeared out of nowhere right in front of them.
"We're finally leaving?"
Qwark looked over to Clank.
"Yes Captain, we are."
"FINALLY!"
He ran over to the ship and began to hop up and down.
"OH, OH, OH, SHOTGUN!"
The smuggler pressed another button and the ship unlocked, beeping twice successively, almost sounding like a yelp from a small dog.
He rolled his eyes at Qwark, who was now bobbing up and down in the passenger's side as he pocketed the remote and got in the driver's side. Clank climbed over Qwark and sat in the back with a few crates and some spare nanotech.
There were a few minutes of silence during their ascent from Tempa, but once they were in space, the silence just got awkward.
Until Qwark decided that now was the appropriate time to let Sasha know what they were up to.
"Captain, I do not think calling Miss Phyronix right now would be wise."
Qwark turned around in his seat to face Clank.
"And why would that be?"
Clank opened his mouth but no words came out. He had a very reasonable answer for Qwark but airing it in the presence of the smuggler would be foolish. He had referred to Sasha as 'Miss' over 'Mayor' for a reason.
"That's what I thought."
Qwark murmured and he began to dial her in on the Comm-unit.
"Hello and thank you for calling. Mayor Phyronix is not available at the present moment, may I take a message?"
"Yes, faithful assistant, this is-"
Qwark was cut off by The Smuggler knocking the Comm-unit out of his hands.
"WHAT'RE YOU PLAYING AT, BOY?"
He hollered.
"Wh-what?"
Qwark cowered.
"I'M A SMUGGLER, AND YOU'RE CALLING THE MAYOR OF METROPOLIS ON MY SHIP?"
"I'm sorry,"
The Comm-unit sounded.
"Did you say you were with a smuggler?"
Qwark scrambled to pick up the Comm-unit and end the call.
"Have a nice trip, feller's"
The Smuggler hit a red button and Clank and Qwark fell through the floor out of the ship.
Clank manoeuvred himself in Qwark's direction and latched onto his back.
Qwark screamed and flailed as they fell through the sky, Clank getting ready to activate his rockets for when they neared the ground; his heli-pack wouldn't be able to support Qwark's weight.
When they were a few metres away from a hard landing, Clank activated his rockets, slowing down their decent and they landed with a small thump. Clank unlatched himself from Qwark, who was patting himself all over as if to make sure he was in one piece, and narrowed his green optics as he looked around their familiar jungle-like surroundings.
"Something is not right..."
There was a rustle in the bushes and the duo moved backwards slowly until they were back to back, each in their respective battle stances.
They stayed like that for around two minutes until Clank dared speak again.
"It appears that we are in Florana."
"Oh no."
Qwark uttered.
This time the rustle was bigger and travelled around the circle of shrubs that surrounded them, not unlike the Mexican wave.
There was a single loud screech.
It was on.

A/N: Okay, so length wise, I thought that was pretty good for me! But near the end in the Smuggler's ship I got a bit of writers block... Then I got inspired again! But I still don't know if I like the end too much...
Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter! :D