Alright, I'm back at last! Sorry for the delay, I was... uh... battling a surprise invasion of aliens! Totally has nothing to do with me recently having purchased Undertale...
Anyhow, I'm back! My test week went surprisingly well, and I also passed the Cambridge Exam! In fact, on a scale of 1-10, I scored 9.8!
Moving on, let me reply to the reviews.
Max Chronicle: "Another day, another chapter. And good luck to you on all your tests.
Meanwhile, I'll go check out those videos for myself. (As long as there is no man... er, lombax-eating sharks involved, they should be cool.)
I'll be back for the next chapter though; count on it.
Max out."
Thank you! Hope you enjoy(ed) the videos, and I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well.
Jadzia Ezri Dax: "Again, wonderfully written chapter! This is such an amazing story! It's fantastic!
P. S. I decided that my OC for Zoniborn was just too difficult to redesign, so I'll see if I can make a new Zoniborn OC or something.
P. S. S. Live long and prosper! Lol! :)"
Thank you! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter just as much.
P.S. Alright, just let me know when you've come up with a new OC.
P.S.S. Same to you!
Now, without further ado, enjoy chapter three of True Heroes.
Ratchet landed the ship on a landing pad not too far from where Skidd had been standing when he had called his uncle.
"Alright, where should we look first?" Ratchet said. "I think the Sports Shack, I mean, Skidd knows the layout of that thing which would give him an advantage, while running out into the fields would be suicide."
"A fair point." Clank said. "However, in the video Skidd was running that way." Clank said, pointing at a passage heading out into the rocky fields. "True, but that was about an hour ago, he could be anywhere by now. Besides, we could use the Sports Shack as a vantage point."
"Clever." Clank said. "I could use my infrared scanners to detect Skidd, that platform up there would be the optimal vantage point." Clank said, pointing at the Sports Shack's uppermost level.
Clank hopped onto Ratchet's back. Ratchet immediately walked over to a nearby Gadgetron Venor and, now having enough bolts, purchased the Pyrocitor.
"Yeah! Now get out there and set the world on fire!" the vendor yelled as Ratchet walked away. "Okay, Gadgetron pushing me to 'set the world on fire' is a bit concerning if you ask me." Ratchet mumbled.
As Ratchet jumped across a narrow stream of quicksand, a few creatures popped out of the sand. They were red in color, with two legs, a shark-like fin on their back, and a large maw with a concerning amount of sharp teeth.
"What are these things?" Ratchet said to Clank as he used the Pyrocitor against them, the miniature flamethrower proving to be very effective against the scary but weak creatures. "They are Sandsharks, predators native to Aridia. Their bite is poisonous, but their bones are hollow to enhance movement speed, though this also means that they are very fragile. Try using your wrench."
As Ratchet crossed another stream of quicksand, he noticed a bulky looking robot up ahead. The robot had a flamethrower instead of a right hand, and the flamethrower was attached to a large, red tank that the robot wore on his back that presumably carried fuel for the flamethrower.
The robot was standing on a circular, metal platform, and was fighting off a bunch of Sandsharks. Ratchet decided to use Clank's advice and threw his wrench at the Sandsharks. Suddenly, a female, robot voice spoke through speakers standing on various support struts around the area. "Attention future consumer. The McMarx Sports Shack appreciates your excitement. However, you are now trespassing in a restricted area. Have a nice day!"
"Nice." Ratchet mumbled. "Am I detecting sarcasm?" Clank asked with a smile. "Yep, I'm helping out one of their workers and this is the thanks I get."
After the last Sandshark was finally dead, Ratchet let his wrench rest on his shoulder. He turned to the robot. "No worries."
In response however, the robot aimed it's flamethrower at Ratchet. The Lombax' eyes widened and he rolled out of the way just in time. "The hell?!"
The robot kept firing at Ratchet. Ratchet growled and returned fire quite literally, the Pyrocitor melting away the robot's circuitry and causing it to collapse like a puppet without strings. Ratchet headed to an elevator that would take him up to the next level of the Sports Shack. However, two of those flamethrower-robots dropped down from above, landing in front of Ratchet. "Oh, great, more of them!"
Clank hummed in thought as Ratchet took cover behind a boulder. The tank these constructobots are wearing contains methane gas, detonating it would be, shall we say, 'effective'."
"Alright." Ratchet said as he threw a Fusion Grenade over the boulder he was crouching behind. A massive explosion followed, and when Ratchet carefully got up, all that was left of the constructobots were a few dented metal parts. Moving on, Ratchet got onto the elevator. The robotic voice spoke again. "Attention future consumer. We thank you for your interest in the McMarx sports shack. However, your refusal to leave has forces us to activate the constructobots. Have a nice day!"
Clank frowned as Ratchet got off the elevator. "I am detecting a familiar signature... I believe there is a gadget from Drek industries nearby."
"Where?"
"Near the area we decided to use as a vantage point. Go left here."
Ratchet used his SwingShot to swing across a few still unfinished floors, traversing the Sports Shack as a familiar voice spoke. "Hey, Skidd here! You know, you can act cool and look cool but unless you don't sound cool, you won't be cool! So sign up for one of my cool-seminars, where you'll learn to look, sound and even smell cool, like me! Haha!"
At last, Ratchet reached a large, circular room. The room was like a huge indoor pool with a narrow path heading to a platform in the center. "Alright, Clank, where's the gadget?"
Clank noticed a pedestal next to Ratchet, but it was empty. "It should be right here, but it seems to have been knocked off it's pedestal. It seems to have fallen into the water."
Ratchet rolled his eyes. "Great." he said as he jumped into the water. He took a deep breath and dove into the depths. He immediately noticed that the pool was in fact a water storage for the Sports Shack, the large fan at the bottom keeping the water in motion. Thankfully the bottom was quite far away otherwise the current would've dragged Ratchet along. He noticed a platform below him with a bolt crank on it, and a door right next to it. The problem was that he couldn't possibly turn the bolt crank while swimming. He then noticed the gadget he was looking for. It was blue and bulky, basically a miniature storage tank with a handle. Ratchet resurfaced, took a deep breath, and dove towards the gadget. Unfortunately Ratchet wasn't good at holding his breath, he could stay under for about 15 seconds. While that was surprisingly little, Ratchet had been living on Veldin, a backwater planet. In fact the only swimming lessons he'd had were just in case he'd ever fall into the water, not because he'd swim very often. That is, on Veldin he wouldn't swim often.
Thankfully Ratchet managed to resurface in time, climbing back on dry land with a sour expression. "Great, now my fur is soaked and my clothes are wet."
"At least you have acquired a new gadget." Clank said.
"Yes, but, what is it?"
Clank zoomed in on the pedestal that was supposed to hold the gadget. 'Portable Hydrodisplacer, miniature Hydroharvester prototype', it read. "Ratchet, you are holding a Portable Hydrodisplacer. You can use it to move various fluids as long as there is a pump with a compatible connector."
"Got it." Ratchet said as he pressed the front of the gadget against a pump. Immediately the Hydrodisplacer was filled with a swimming pool worth of water, and the water level in the room dropped significantly, lowering just enough for Ratchet to turn the bolt crank. Ratchet dropped down into the water and swam to the platform. As he turned the bolt crank the door opened ever so slightly until it was open at last. Walking out the door, Ratchet used the filled Hydrodisplacer to fill an empty basin up ahead so he could swim across. Thankfully the Hydrodisplacer wasn't as heavy as a whole swimming pool when filled, otherwise Ratchet wouldn't have been able to lift it.
Once Ratchet climbed out of the water, he noticed that he was standing exactly where he wanted to be, on the highest level of the Sports Shack. Clank got down from Ratchet's back and began to scan the area in infrared. Immediately an area slightly to the left of him caught his interest. "Ratchet, there seems to be someone hiding from hostile gunfire over there." Clank said, pointing at a small area near an excavation site.
"Alright." Ratchet said. "We better be quick then."
Fortunately there was an elevator nearby that brought the duo back to where they had first entered the sports shack. Instead of going left however, this time they went right. Ratchet ran across a conveyor belt to a platform where a constructobot was welding some plating together.
Upon noticing the Lombax, the robot attempted to incinerate him with a blast of fire, but before he could do so the robot was knocked off the platform by a wrench and sent falling into the quicksand, where the sand short-circuited the robot's motherboard. Ratchet watched as the robot sank into the sand.
"That sinking feeling." Ratchet said as he walked on. After climbing up to the next platform, Ratchet had to run across a conveyor even faster as a constructobot started to fire small waves of... well... fire at the Lombax. Fortunately the constructobot could aim as well as it could think, so Ratchet got through unharmed before slamming the constructobot to bits with his OmniWrench. As he moved on to an elevator that would take him to the bottom of the excavation site, the elevator already came up with a constructobot on it, one that was quickly knocked out cold before Ratchet stepped onto the elevator.
Once they were at the bottom of the excavation site, Ratchet grabbed his Pyrocitor again as a bunch of sandsharks popped up. After dealing with the sandsharks Ratchet began his ascent, having to battle one last constructobot and having to climb up various ladders before finally reaching the area that Clank had pointed out.
It wasn't Skidd however, though they knew they were close upon seeing who it was.
"Come on, give him up and no one gets hurt!" Ratchet could hear a Blarg yell.
"I'm tellin' ya, I don't know where he is! You know celebrities these days, they do whatever they want! We can work this out, can't we?"
"Oh, we'll work it out alright, by feeding you to the sandsharks!" the Blarg yelled back.
Ratchet ran towards the man hiding from the gunfire behind a boulder. The man noticed him. "Help! These brutes are trying to kill me! Hey, get them off my back and I'll make you famous!"
Fame or not, Ratchet had already made his decision. The three Blargian troopers, meanwhile, kept firing, until one of them saw something flying right at them. "Holy momma! GRENADE!" he yelled before the explosion sent all three Blarg flying into a wall.
A Blargian drop ship came swooping down, dropping off three more Blargian troopers. "There's more of them! Get them off my back and I'll make you famous!" the man yelled from behind the boulder.
Ratchet made quick work of one of the Blarg with his Combustor before taking cover behind a tree.
"That was impressive! Have either of you thought about a career in professional sports?" the man yelled.
As the last Blarg fell, however, a Blargian helicopter came flying down. Luckily, Ratchet's fourth shot hit the rotors, causing the helicopter to spin out of control and slam into the wall.
"Good work, kid. I think that's all of them." The man said as he came walking from behind the boulder. Ratchet walked over to him.
"Boy, am I happy to see a coupla friendly faces. I've been running from those Blarg all night!" the man said. It was a Rilgarian with green skin, no hair, three spikes on the back of his head, three fingers on each hand, purple glasses and a microphone. He was wearing a black coat over a purple shirt with Skidd's face on it, and a golden necklace, black jeans and expensive-looking black shoes. He had a short, narrow black beard running from his lower lip to his chin, his eyes were yellow with black pupils and no irises, with two black eyebrows above them. Ratchet knew this man.
"Hey, you're that famous sports agent - Don Wonderstar!"
"You got that right, kid." the man said. "Listen, I gotta big problem. I'm supposed to take Skidd McMarx to the Blackwater City Hoverboard Competition on Rilgar, and this place is crawling with Sandsharks! Skidd's gotta be near the ship - I just need someone to help clear out these Sandsharks so I can get to him. Think you can help me out?"
"No problem. Wait here, we'll take care of it."
"YOU TWO are true heroes. I mean that." he said. He gave Ratchet a purple flare. "Fire this flare when the Sandsharks are gone."
"Got it." Ratchet said. Fortunately, a conveniently placed teleporter brought Ratchet and Clank back to their ship. They hadn't been able to use it earlier because it wasn't finished yet, but apparently a Constructobot had just finished building it, for when Ratchet stepped off the teleporter, he noticed a Constructobot lying on the ground, unconscious. The teleporter suddenly activating right under it's nose must've scared the living daylights out of the Constructobot, the shock forcing it's processor to shut down and check for damage.
"Hm, I think we should check out that valley over there then." Ratchet said as he walked into the direction they hadn't went yet. After two minutes Ratchet noticed the man they were looking for standing on a rock nearby. "Ooh, man, am I happy you two dudes showed!" Skidd said. "I've been out here all night!"
"I can't believe it - Skidd McMarx!" Ratchet said, excited. "I have seen every one of your races! You pulled off a triple-nova spin at mach-two at last year's Kerwan cup!"
Skidd looked flattered. "It's always good to meet a fan, little dude." he said.
"I am Clank. This is Ratchet." Clank spoke up. "Your uncle received your infobot and asked us to assist you."
"Ooh, I was wondering if he got that." Skidd said. "My agent and I have been running from those Blarg all night. Only we ended up getting separated in the chaos, and I took a gnarly fall getting out of the Skidd McMarx Sports Shack. Hey! Think you dudes can clear out the Sandsharks so I can get to my ship?"
Skidd suddenly pulled out a hoverboard. Basically two circular metal pads that the hoverboarder stood on connected by a transparent, green class tube in which the fuel tank was visible. The engine ran on Hydrogen gas, a compressed tank leading the fuel into the combustion chambers in the two engines at the back, propelling the user forward. Two wings at the sides provided lift and stability. "I'll give you my hoverboard if you do." Skidd finished.
"Whoa, a real McMarx 4000?!" Ratchet said. "Consider it done."
Ratchet equipped the Pyrocitor and after Skidd had told him where his ship was located, Ratchet got to work. After jumping across another gap filled with quicksand, Sandsharks and Sandshark nests fell by the truckload. "Looks like there are still a few Sandsharks up there on the plateau, think you can take 'em out?" Skidd yelled.
Fortunately, two panels at the back of the plateau, which would become an elevator eventually, provided Ratchet with a place where he could get onto the plateau by jumping from wall to wall. As he took out the two Sandshark nests, Skidd yelled "Hey, are any of you dudes, like, hungry? 'Cause when this is over, I could go for some food. You know, like a cheeseburger, or a pizza. I think Qwark's Grub Grab still delivers this late."
Ratchet's stomach growled at the mention of food. "What was that?" Clank asked.
"Eh, that was me." Ratchet replied. "Actually, that was my stomach reminding me that I haven't eaten since breakfast this morning."
Then only one large group of Sandsharks remained, swarming the area in front of Skidd's ship, a huge rocket.
What Ratchet didn't know, however, is that he was being watched. Hiding behind a boulder in the shadow of a tree, a figure was watching Ratchet's every move. The figure grinned. "He's got talent." the figure mumbled as Ratchet took care of five Sandsharks with one swing of his wrench. The figure frowned, however, when it noticed a presence hiding in the sand below Ratchet's feet. The figure focused and pried into the Sandshark's primitive mind. Only one word was present: food. The Sandshark was planning to suddenly jump out of the sand, grab Ratchet's tail and drag him into the sand.
"How about no?" the figure thought. The figure added two words to 'food', turning it into 'rock is food'. Immediately the Sandshark shot at a rock, chomped down on it and broke all his teeth. "That should teach him." the figure thought.
Meanwhile Ratchet had cleared out all the Sandsharks. The figure watched as Ratchet received a hoverboard from Skidd before launching a flare, and a few minutes later another Rilgarian came running towards the ship. The figure watched as this second Rilgarian, which he knew to be Don Wonderstar, argued with Skidd, before showing Ratchet and Clank an infobot. Although the figure was sitting half a mile away, the figure focused on the infobot and saw what it showed.
It was a commercial of a hoverboard racing event held on planet Rilgar, and apparently the race was set to start in a matter of hours. Judging by how Ratchet's tail was behaving, the figure could tell that Ratchet was excited, likely he wanted to give the race a try.
"Rilgar it is then." the figure mumbled.
Meanwhile, Ratchet and Clank waved goodbye to Skidd as he and Don took off in their ship. "We've just saved a celebrity!" Ratchet said. "I wanna go check out that hoverboard race..."
"No." Clank said. "We must get to Aleero City."
Clank froze. "What's wrong?" Ratchet asked.
"I am detecting a strange signal. We should head back to the ship, I can strengthen the signal there."
When they were both sitting inside the ship, Clank scanned for the signal he picked up earlier. It was gone. Luckily, Clank had recorded the signal, so he started to decode it. He wanted to use the ship's communication equipment though as the signal was from another planet and thus was likely too scrambled to make out without proper equipment.
Clank's hypothesis was proven to be correct when he finished decoding the message, and only two words made it through safely. 'Amoeboid invasion'.
"Oh, no." Clank said, having found the source of the signal. "This signal was transmitted from planet Rilgar approximately two hours ago, directed at every neighboring planet, including this one. Blackwater city appears to be under attack from Amoeboids."
"We're going to Blackwater city then." Ratchet said, punching in the coordinates and flying off into deep space.
As you all can see I changed some stuff a little. For example Ratchet has to dive to obtain the Hydrodisplacer. This change is for two reasons: one, a gun lying on the floor in the middle of a room doesn't make sense at all, and two, it gives the water in the room another reason to be there aside from acting as an example for the Hydrodisplacer.
Anyhow, I hope you all won't have to wait too long for the next chapter to arrive, chapter four, in which the duo explores Blackwater City.