Ratchet and Alister:

The Blue Orb

I DO NOT RATCHET AND CLANK, INSOMNIAC GAMES DOES!

Chapter 16 Rest:

Azimuth stopped his wrench an inch from Drake's face. He stood there, staring at the bird in shock. Mixed emotions raced through his body seeing this creature around again. Anger. Rage. Surpriseness. How could he turn up? He told him never to appear ever again!

Ratchet's wide emerald eyes shot back and forth between Alister and Drake. He was so confused right now. The General was just as still as a frozen waterfall, and Drake had come from no-where all of a sudden. How was that? Had he been following them all the time since landing on Planet Lumos?

Silence surrounded the atmosphere around the three of them. All they could hear was Drake's heavy breathing and water dripping some where near by. A few minutes past before the elder bird cleared his throat. "I-if you p-put your wrench down, c-could w-we talk?" He shuttered, scared.

Alister narrowed his eyes down to a slit. "How do I know if I can trust you?" He said in a harsh tone. He wasn't sure why this creature was trying to talk to them, after what he done to Kaden's son. Making him almost die. But then this old bird did save him and Kaden when they were younger.

FLASHBACK

"Come on you two! You're so slow!" I chuckle towards my two best friends, Kaden and Drake. Ha! The only reason why I am so fast on hoverboots is because I would practice everyday. You need to be really good on your hoverboots to join the Praetorian Guard...well the fighting part of the guard. That's what I want to do when I get older, to join the Lombax Preatorian Guard like my father!

"You know I'm not quick at flying!" Drake said back to me, shouting. I must admit for a bird his size, he's quite great at flying as quick as he is right now. I think this is the faster I've ever seen him go! And he's only 2ft tall and 15 years old!

"Well maybe if you slow down a bit, we could catch up with ya!" Kaden added. This Lombax is fabulous at hoverbooting! He's my 1st best friend, but about 2 years younger than me. Kaden is 14 years old, which makes me 16!

"Nah, there is no way I'm slowing down! You'll just have to catch up to me!" I yelled, and swing my head over my shoulder for a few minutes before turning it back.

In a split second, Kaden flew right next to my side and made a wink at me. But I just point and laugh. And then all of a sudden Drake shouts out to both of us in a worrying voice. "Guy, your heading straight for a cliff!"

Me and Kaden skid to a hault just in time. Our tails literally hung off the edge of the drop. We are so lucky, if Drake did not yell out, I'm sure we both would of been dead at this point of time.

"Man, thanks." Kaden huffs and puts his hands on his hips.

"Yeah, we owe you big time for that! I mean it." I reply, patting our bird friend's feathery shoulder.

END FLASHBACK

Everyone stared at Alister as he slowly lowered his wrench until it touched the ground. "We owe you big time." He quietly whispered to himself. He glanced back at Drake and saw how badly damaged his wing was from the blast.

A knot appeared in his stomach; blood dripped off of his normally bright orange feathers which were now a dark red-orange. It looked like he had been bitten by some tetramites as well. Guiltyness struck him. "Alright." The elder whispered in the same tone again.

Ratchet was surprised to hear that reply coming from Alister's mouth. He thought the General would of killed the bird from appearing. He could remember what Azimuth said to his old friend. Leave and never come back! Alister's voice echoed in his mind. On the other hand, Drake was terribly hurt from these past couple of weeks.

The younger Lombax knelt in front of the shorter creature, and pulled out a small amount of Nanotech. He smashed the orb in his hands and started smoothing in the blue liquid on the bird.

While this happened, Alister noticed that when the Nanotech liquid touched Ratchet's hands, his tail tip glowed a faint light blue. He rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times, and then the glow disappeared. Hmm, must of been my imagination.

Once Ratchet finished his treatment on Drake, the bird streached out his wings to uncramp them. He hadn't been flying for a few days, and it was good to move them around without any pain in the way. "Thank you." He said greatfully, and did a little bow.

The Lombax put a half smile on his face. Then got up and stood by Alister's side, calmly. A twitch in his chest showed that he was not comfortable around the bird. He still hasn't really forgave him, and he properly wouldn't anyway. For Christ's sake, he almost killed him!

An awkward silence filled the air again. Oh man, was it annoying. Alister quickly thought of something before anything else happened; this was a good time to get back to their little 'mission'. "I believe the Tetramites have settled down for the night. Let's settle down too, seeing as we are all tired."

He pulled out another glow stick and snapped it to make a make-do fire. At least they'll have a little warmth over night and not freeze. He leaned against a wall and sat down. A quiet sigh escaped his throat.

Kaden's son did the same thing as Alister, he slid down a wall and sat down beside the other. His legs were killing him, his chest was aching, what next? Okay, he must admit he was cold and could use more warmth from that flare. But not a lot of heat was exposed.

Drake quickly fell asleep in no time. You could tell he hadn't slept in days, as the purple colour around his eyes had darkened. Now this was a perfect time to snuggle up close the Azimuth. Ratchet slid under the general's arm and moved in closer to share their warmth together.

Alister jumped slightly when the younger positioned himself next to him. But then he settled down as Ratchet drifted of to sleep. He smiled at the lad. He liked to see him safe, healthy and happy. The sight of him even gave his heart a warm feeling. However, being really close to him made his head turn hot, rapidly.

There was nothing else to say really. So Alister's own eyes closed. He needed to get a lot of rest if he was to protect Ratchet from any type of danger. Who knows what'll be planned for them along the path. He just hoped that everything will turn out alright in the future. But he was wrong.

OH MAN, THAT WAS LONG! *Clears throat* Erm, sorry it took a while for me to upload it, but I finally got there! This chapter didn't have much speech in it because I wanted to show that it was very awkward for Ratchet and Alister to see Drake again. Anyway, I hope you...kinda, liked this chapter.