So, you all might be surprised to see this story so early. Allow me to explain.
Last Saturday my good friend and fellow writer Amberdiamondswords informed me that this very story, along with those of a few other writers and a lot of her own stories had been stolen by a Wattpad user, who had then made some small but horrendously bad edits in an attempt to cover it up. Any attempt to get in touch with this user would result in getting blocked followed by a friend of the thief verbally attacking you even if you'd show solid evidence. People who rightfully pointed out that a story belonged to Swords for example would repeatedly get chewed out almost immediately by friends of the thief.
Fortunately someone managed to convince the thief to delete the stolen content, and the thief even posted an apology note where he/she explains the situation and apologizes for their behaviour.
So all ended well in the end. Thank goodness, because I was so worked up over the fact that someone had stolen Hypernova that I could not sleep out of pure anger. Now both I and my characters can sleep well again.
To celebrate the good ending of this story, here's the next chapter early. No worries, there will still be an update on Saturday.
I'm actually thinking of giving the former thief a few tips for writing a story, here's hoping they'll get the hang of it so they'll never have to make the jump to theft again to get recognition. Though I'm not their friend after all of this, oh no, I still feel kinda bad for them. However, that's not what you're all here for, let's get to the reviews, and then into the story!
bajy: "Love this chapter!
it was great!
what will happen next?
looking forward to reading more soon!"
Thank you! And wait no longer as I've got a bunch of chapters incoming! Enjoy!
DragonMan2000: "look forward to your next chapter"
Thank you! Here's hoping this chapter lives up to your expectations.
rst64tlc: "So you brought bck an old planet from ps2 era, nice touch. I like a story the goes back to the orignals.
Also I have a question that's been on my mind for a while: How is the final going to play out? If you adding PS2/PS4 and Movie elements into this, how will it play out? each of the three had different final bosses (well two of them with one of them in a floating robot in space above a star and by himself)."
Yeah, I don't like how the PS4 game looks absolutely insane but lacks the sheer size of the very first two games. GC was probably the biggest game in the series. So I decided to add some of those missing worlds here. Also, it was not until I looked up the PS4's version of the Batalia infobot for reference that I noticed the striking similarities between the shown planets and the sprites from Deadlocked, a nice and subtle reference that I completely missed at first. I can't say how the final boss fight is going to play out but I'll reveal the following: after the finale of True Heroes, the story is only getting started. After this we're moving on to a prediction of mine of what the second rebooted game could be like. Trust me however that the ending to this storyline will be so spectacular that it will blow your minds. I'll leave a tiny hint for you all so you can get an idea of the atmosphere of that scene, the music I'll be listening to when writing that is 'L'Impeto Oscuro' from the game 'Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance'. Don't judge it until you've heard it, it's spectacular!
Max Chronicle: "Alright, introducing my review of this chapter... excellent!
And now with Angela in the picture Hypernova has TWO lombaxes to defend. Good luck.
Coming up next: The Siege Of Starwatch coming to you live from FanFic.
(Sorry, noticed all the Deadlocked planets and thought I'd go for it.)
Glad to hear chapter 11 will be up soon enough and that it's going to be doozy. (Pumps fist.)
Max out.
P.S. Yeah, Ratchet. I'd be afraid of water too, (eyes two Sharkagators) but for com-pleet-ly dif-fer-ent reasons. (Grabs Praetorian Omniwrench) Wish me luck."
Thank you! And yeah, he'll have a lot on his mind. Especially since I greatly nerfed him in this story. No time travel for him, if either Lombax dies, it's game over for good. He also runs out of power earlier. And yes, it'll be the battle of the week, right here, in full 12K HD, at Guardian Enterprises! (I went for it too) And the chapter is actually up a lot sooner than expected! Bonus!
P.S. I actually realized it'd leave me with a brilliant opportunity if I'd give Ratchet a phobia after his painful close call on Rilgar. There's a big reason behind it, trust me. Also, it's kinda adding insult to injury that there's a whole achievement in the PS4 game dedicated to having Ratchet get eaten by a shark on Pokitaru. Here's hoping that doesn't happen to our favorite Lombax. Also, I'm surprised nobody seems to have noticed the short story I uploaded, Torn Souls, that was set in the Epilogue universe and revolves around 'Simyone'. And it's canon this time, don't go waste any more Zurkons on me please! XD
Batalia was a distant world orbiting a silver star. It's distance from it's star left the surface at a reasonable -7 degrees Celsius, the salt preventing Batalia from freezing over fully and leaving some lakes of water among the sheets of ice covering the planet.
"Ratchet! Good to see you, rookie!" Brax radioed as he spotted Ratchet's Star Jumper entering the atmosphere. "Get to the Starwatch Defense Cannon and show these Blarg who they're messing with."
"Copy that, Brax. We're going planetside." Ratchet replied. His ship had to make a second turn to land to avoid some enemy fire however, the seven Blargian Dreadnought-class warships encircling the area proving to be alert and armed.
"Ratchet, come in! I'm engaging hostiles inside the city and I need backup!" Cora radioed as the ship touched down.
Angela immediately shivered as the ship's cockpit window opened up. "Hey, uh, is there something I can do?" she asked. "I'm not that much of a fighter, you see."
Ratchet nodded. "We got this. Just stay here, we'll be back soon."
Hypernova jumped down from the wing. "I disagree, this combat situation could be some excellent training."
"Are you insane?"
"Relax, Ratchet. Wait here, I see a Gadgetron vendor up ahead, I'll get her some armor."
True to his word, Hypernova flew over to a nearby ice platform that had several settlements on it. He flew back a few seconds later, and projected a blue grid onto Angela before the armor was teleported over her skin. "This here is the Gadgetron Praetorian 7 armor. I've quickly altered the design a little to support your ears and tail, and improve overall effectiveness a little with personal shielding. The armor itself consists of fine layers of Trillium and Raritanium, providing a 60% damage reduction. You also have a personal shield on your back that can take a few hits before it needs to recharge, so use it wisely. Sadly, rebreathers were out of stock, so keep an eye out for areas where you won't be able to breathe such as in space or underwater. For offense they had nothing available, the Batalian military issued for all Gadgetron weapon transfers to be halted until the situation has been dealt with, they want to prevent the enemy from acquiring any kind of weapons. Therefore I'll entrust you with some of my personal favorites."
A bulky, orange, two-handed weapon formed in her hands. "This little beauty is the Predator Launcher. Let it charge up and it'll lock on to targets automatically before launching a swarm of deadly missiles. For other threats, here's a standard issue Ranger Combustor." he said, handing her a Combustor. "Now, I managed to spy some Blarg recon drones up ahead that are easy to deal with, go ahead and train your aim on those."
The bridge to the platform with the vendor had been destroyed however, thus Hypernova used his energy to create a bridge. They walked across before it flickered out of existence again.
Equipping her Combustor, Angela attempted to take a shot, only for it to miss it's target completely.
Ratchet stepped forward. "Your pose is wrong." he said. He took her right hand. "Here. Keep it steady. Deep breaths and you'll be okay. Fear is your greatest enemy here, keep a clear head and you'll do better. Try to support your right hand by placing your left hand under the barrel, and use your left hand to fine-tune your aim."
"O-okay." she replied. Ratchet took a step back and let her try again. This time she hit her target. "There we go!" Ratchet said. She smiled.
As a team they proceeded to take out the remaining Recon drones before meeting up with Cora in front of a small warehouse.
"Good to see you guys and did you bring your girlfriend with you or something?" Cora asked, eyeing Angela. The remark made both Lombaxes blush a bit "Not funny." Angela said.
"Not cool, Cora." Ratchet said. "Now can we get to work? This place is cold enough as is."
Cora nodded. "The Blarg have besieged the fort, we'll need to push through their defenses. They haven't touched Starwatch yet to avoid it blowing up in their faces, so we still have a chance.
They moved to a bridge leading to a small island. As they wanted to run across however, Clank noticed something. "Look out!"
They all halted immediately, and a missile slammed into the bridge.
Hypernova sighed. "I'm going to save some energy but you're all not going to like this."
"Like what?" Cora asked before Hypernova suddenly lifted her off the ground and threw her across the gap. Overcoming the initial surprise, Cora used the momentum to kick a Blarg in the face upon landing. Ratchet managed to get across with Clank's help before he caught Angela as Hypernova threw her his way.
"I got you." he said.
"Thanks."
Hypernova then crossed the gap himself, firing an energy-grappling hook at the cliff to his right and swinging across.
Up ahead, there was a small canyon. "The bridge is out, that bolt crank down there seems to be linked to the system." Cora said, pointing at the bolt crank five meters below.
Ratchet nodded and jumped down, only for a small army of recon drones to pop out of nowhere while three Warbots came flying in. Hypernova quickly created a barrier around the bolt crank, and while Ratchet worked on the bridge, Cora and Angela got to work on dispatching the robots trying to break the barrier.
As soon as Ratchet had finished, Hypernova fired the energy-grapple at a Warbot, successfully catching. "Come here!" He yelled before pulling it closer and finishing the Warbot off with a roundhouse kick to the head, destroying some crucial wiring between the processor and power core.
Ratchet, meanwhile, had dropped a few Fusion Grenades for crowd control. Cora was dueling one of the two remaining Warbots while the last one was focusing on Angela. She barely stepped out of the way in time before switching to her Predator Launcher and firing a barrage of missiles.
Ratchet ran at the wall of the small canyon and jumped off it, getting a little boost from Clank and gaining enough momentum to reach the flying Warbot. Ratchet immediately brought his wrench down on the Warbot's head with as much power as possible.
"Toasted." Cora said. She moved to the bridge, only to back off as a tank was suddenly teleported in. "What the hell?!"
"This one's mine." Hypernova said, charging forward and downright tearing the turret off the chassis.
"Damn, did you see that, Brax?" Cora said.
"See what?"
"This guy just pulled a Lectrus."
"A what now?" Hypernova asked.
Brax burst out laughing. "Tearing a vehicle apart with your hands. Respect, man."
Hypernova saluted the aircraft flying past, pursuing a few Blarg saucers dumb enough to try a surprise attack.
"This is just a message for all Blarg down there." Drek's voice came through a communication channel. "Failure to destroy Starwatch will result in automatic dismissal from Drek Industries."
"Someone's pissed." Cora said.
"Is there something wrong with that?" Clank asked. Cora chuckled. "No, I love seeing my enemies frustrated. It means I'm doing well at my job. Let's move before these idiots figure out how to break Starwatch."
Moving across the bridge, the only way up ahead seemed to be a path leading downhill through a small canyon on their left. The only problem was that it was covered in ice.
"Rookies first." Cora said, eyeing Ratchet.
Ratchet carefully stepped onto the ice, only to lose his balance immediately and slide all the way down. "I am guessing ice is not a Lombax' natural habitat." Clank remarked.
"Very funny." Ratchet said, slowly getting up and stepping off the ice. He found himself below another bridge, and some Blarg were currently trying to destroy the bolt crank controlling the bridge. Up ahead Ratchet saw a pathway to the right leading up to one end of the bridge, while the other end of the bridge ended right in front of the fortress.
Turning around when he heard a loud yelp, he saw Angela sliding his way, and he could see a laughing Cora in the distance... but also Hypernova sneaking up behind her.
As he helped Angela get up, he saw Hypernova give Cora a little push, resulting in her stepping forward to compensate, only to fall and slide all the way down as well, followed by Hypernova himself who didn't even try to stay upright.
Ignoring the angry comment Cora threw his way, Hypernova threw a flashbang at the bolt crank. He snatched Angela's Combustor. "It's high noon." he mumbled as he took one second to take aim, before taking out all ten Blarg with exactly ten shots in a span of less than five seconds.
"Apologies for snatching your weapon like that, I had to think fast." he said, giving Angela her weapon back. Said Lombax shook her head. "Showoff."
"I am disappointed in all of you!" Drek yelled through the comms. "Must I make an example out of one of you so you understand how dire this situation is?! Do. Not. Fail. Me!"
A tank materialized in front of them followed by a team of twenty Blarg. The tank fired a grenade at Ratchet, only for said Lombax to catch it with his wrench and throw it right back the way it came, creating a hole in the tank's armor. Cora capitalized immediately, jumping forward and throwing a grenade through the hole before backflipping to safety.
Brax could see the resulting fireworks from within his Star Jumper. "Ka-boom, they're out of the park, baby! Haha!"
He flew over his teammates and dropped an explosive payload in between the Blarg, successfully eliminating more than half of them and forcing the remaining troops on the run.
Ratchet got to work on the bolt crank while Cora and Hypernova took down any Blarg stupid enough to try to attack him.
Angela was staring at him. Judging by his expression, turning the bolt crank required great effort. "It's rusted." Ratchet growled through his gritted teeth upon noticing her stare. She immediately walked over to his side and helped him push against the wrench, and sure enough it began to turn ever so slightly.
"Awesome." Hypernova said once the bridge had been restored. "You two make a good team."
"Thanks." Angela said. "I'm glad to help. Although I can't feel my face anymore, blasted cold."
"Let's get going then." Cora said. "Attention fellow Blarg. HR says I can't fire or kill you for failing to terminate the Galactic Rangers. Therefore the board and I have come up with a little employee reward. The Blarg who helps the Galactic Rangers meet their end will get an all-expenses paid trip to the third ring of Hullabash. Dancing classes, orbital dinner cruises, why, I even heard they offer cooking lessons!" Drek said through the comms.
"Does he realize we can hear him, or...?" Ratchet asked. Cora shook her head, an evil grin present on her lips. "Not until it's too late. Can't help but love it when your enemy is stupid enough to keep feeding you information."
Reaching the end of the bridge however, they met a problem. "The bridge is out, we're gonna need to find another way around." Cora said, noticing a lack of a bridge from their end to the fort.
"Hmm..." Clank said, glancing at a ramp of metal panels. "I am experiencing a sense of familiarity, though I do not understand why."
Ratchet saw it too. "Oh, I get why."
"Please explain it to me then."
"On Gaspar, when you were out cold, I used metal panels like these to get into a hideout. You must have some kind of emergency systems watching over you when you're unconscious."
"That is a reassuring thought." Clank said as Ratchet equipped the Magneboots and walked up the metal ramp.
"Not bad, Ratchet!" Cora yelled after him.
"Come on, team, push forward!" Qwark's voice came through the comms.
"Hey, where is Captain Qwark?" Ratchet asked.
"He said he had 'urgent Ranger business' to attend to." Cora replied. "Whatever that's supposed to mean."
"Huh. Well, I think it's on us then."
After a few minutes however, they could hear sudden loud noises coming from the fort. "Ratchet, come in. What's going on in there?!"
"Lots of resistance, I need backup!"
Without a second thought, Hypernova took a few steps back before jumping all the way to the fort. He immediately created a barrier around Ratchet so that he could safely turn the bolt crank that would allow Cora and Angela to follow.
Soon enough they had regrouped. "Drek's gonna throw everything he has at us. You ready, Rookie?"
"I've been ready my whole life! Let's get to it!"
Cora hadn't been joking. Aside from the amount of Blarg and Warbots already approaching their position, lots of new troops were teleported in up ahead
"I'm tired of this." Hypernova said. "Everyone, stand back. It's time to get a little less energy-efficient."
Hypernova jumped forward before slamming his fists into the ground with enough force to knock all enemies up ahead off their feet. He backflipped high into the sky, before a cyan aura formed around him. Suddenly, he began to fire a barrage of energy blasts at every hostile in sight. "JUSTICE RAINS FROM ABOVE!"
The destruction was immense, the entire courtyard was cleared in ten seconds. Hypernova fell to the ground, breathing heavily. Immediately Ratchet, Cora and Angela capitalized, dashing past him and heading to the building in the back that lead to Starwatch.
Suddenly, the building was blasted open and two tanks came rolling out.
"I've got this one, Rookie!" Cora yelled, jumping onto the tank and sabotaging the cannons. "You and your girlfriend take the other one."
"She's not my girlfriend, Cora!" Ratchet yelled at her.
"Ratchet!" Angela yelled, suddenly diving at him. They ended up rolling across the courtyard, a crater in the ground where he had been standing.
"Thanks for the save." he said.
"Hey, thanks to you I'm finally off that planet. It's the least I can do."
Meanwhile Hypernova got up. He suddenly dashed forward and lifted the entire tank off the ground. "NEVER touch my family!" he growled before throwing the tank through the walls of the fort. It left a large hole in the left wall, and a loud splash hinted at the tank's fate.
Inside the now destroyed building, Ratchet turned the bolt crank, opening the door and extending the bridge to Starwatch.
"Damn it!" Cora yelled as they reached the cannon. "The system is on lockdown! We need to get this thing online, and fast!"
"I believe I can get the systems back online, that is, if there were enough power for the cannon to be operated."
Hypernova growled. He spread his arms, and a stream of lightning fired out of his hands, disappearing into the cannon. "Clank, hurry, I don't know how long I can keep this up!"
Clank got to work immediately, hacking himself into the system. He immediately saw the complexity of the software, and sent a signal to the Ranger Phoenix mothership in orbit of Batalia, where Elaris was assessing the situation.
Elaris immediately understood what had to be done, and remotely helped Clank by clearing out a Blargian virus creating code errors while Clank began to calculate the password.
Ten minutes of trial and error later, Starwatch let out a low hum as all primary systems were restored.
"Alright, let's-oh snap!" Cora yelled. "Ratchet, you need to operate the cannon. We have company!" Cora yelled, running to the bridge to hold off a squad of Blarg. With Clank keeping the systems from shutting down again, Angela having little combat experience and Hypernova providing power, it came down to her to keep any enemies at bay.
Ratchet climbed into the cannon immediately. "Crap, it's a two-seater!"
Angela got in immediately. "Tell me what to do." she said.
"I've already got the primary cannons. Here's what we're going to do, I'm going to defend the cannon while it charges up. When it's done, you need to take aim at those big ships and fire. Got it?"
"How do I do that?"
"These joysticks. Left joystick is turning, right joystick is aiming. The button on the right joystick is firing." Ratchet explained as he got to work.
So did the Blarg, however. Immediately a squad of saucers encircled the defense cannon and began to charge up an attack.
"Those saucers are about to attack!" Clank informed.
Ratchet immediately began to shoot them down, using the two smaller cannons on top of Starwatch.
However, he was not fast enough. The cannon shuddered as the Blarg fired. "Hull integrity 80%" the computer systems informed.
Ratchet gritted his teeth as more and more saucers closed in. "Brax, I need help!"
"Gotcha, Rookie!" Brax yelled, swooping down from above and destroying two saucers before ejecting out of his ship. He punched right through the glass of the saucer he landed on, threw the Blarg out of the cockpit and slammed his fist down on the control panel, causing the saucer to shoot forward and ram three other saucers with destructive effect. Brax jumped off, his ship catching him in mid-air.
Ratchet then noticed the Blargian warships fire several large missiles, some heading for Brax while others were heading for Starwatch. Ratchet got rid of the ones heading for Brax then dispatched the others just in time.
That's when the Starwatch cannon gave a beep. Angela immediately got to work, taking aim and sending one of the warhips to oblivion with a large blast of energy.
Cora smiled as she roundhouse kicked a Warbot off the bridge. Those two made a great team indeed. "You're doing great, Rookie! Keep it up!"
Hypernova roared as he increased the power output tenfold, the cannon charging up faster. Ten seconds later another ship was sent down.
Then he had an idea. He suddenly stopped, and fired a blast of energy at the sky, the bolt of energy turning in mid air and slamming into Starwatch a few seconds later, powering it up further while Hypernova used the moment to charge at a nearby Warship. He blasted right through it's engines, destroying it.
He charged at another, a huge sword of energy forming in his hands as he slashed the ship's engines to bits.
Bouncing off the ship before it could begin to fall, he charged at another, while Angela took aim at one of the other two ships. "We have just enough energy for one blast." she said.
Ratchet nodded. "Make it count."
She bit her lip and carefully aimed the barrel before pressing the fire button.
The beam of energy tore through the warship like a heated knife through butter.
They quickly got out of there as the systems went on lockdown again thanks to a lack of power.
Hypernova was starting to run out of energy as he destroyed the warship. Fortunately, Brax noticed what was going on. "Over here!" he yelled as he flew past. Hypernova let himself fall, firing a grappling hook of energy at just the right time to send him on a near-perfect trajectory. He smashed through the cockpit of the remaining warship, and shrugged off the enemy fire sent his way mere seconds later as he ran for the power core. Upon reaching it, he didn't destroy it.
Instead, he tore the reactor core open and began to drain it of it's energy, gaining more energy himself whilst causing the ship to fall prey to Batalia's gravity and unintentionally set sail for the rocks and ice below.
Hypernova got out just in time as the warship slammed into the ice and exploded. He landed ungracefully on an island due to a lack of power.
Brax made another pass, and allowed Ratchet to latch on using his Swing-Shot. He quickly grabbed Angela and Clank before he flew off. Brax intentionally flew over Hypernova to allow Ratchet to let go. Ratchet quickly wrapped his left arm around Angela's waist while pressing his right hand against the back of her head as the horizontal velocity made them roll a few feet upon landing. Even though she had no helmet yet, Ratchet's fast action prevented Angela from getting a concussion.
To avoid Ratchet from breaking his back, Clank had detached himself before landing, and had landed using his Heli-Pack.
Ratchet ran over to Hypernova. "You okay?"
"Yeah... yeah... just let me recharge." said hero responded, not moving an inch.
Ratchet looked around and saw that they were back on the first island again. He decided to explore a little, and wandered into a few abandoned buildings before he noticed a strange looking rail passing by.
Equipping his Grindboots, he decided to give them a spin as he leapt onto the rail.
Immediately he shot off. Ratchet let out a yell of excitement as he jumped over a few obstacles before passing through a tunnel in a large rock.
He had left the island by now, and was moving along the coastline. "Great job, Rookie! I'm hearing reports that the rest of Drek's fleet is retreating!" Brax radioed. "Elaris, confirm!"
"Copy that, Brax. All remaining forces are turning tail toward Quartu. You guys did great today."
Meanwhile Ratchet backflipped to another railing close by, barely managing to make the jump. He wobbled dangerously for a few moments before regaining his balance.
"Woo-hoo!" he yelled as he began to build up speed. Suddenly, the rail arched downwards at a rather steep angle, and Ratchet built up more and more speed as he blasted through an icy cavern before getting launched off the abruptly ending rail and landing uncomfortably on a conveniently built platform.
He took a few deep breaths to get his nerves back under control before deciding to have a look around. It appeared to be an old docking location for large vessels, likely ones that had the nearby fort Krontos as their destination.
That's when Ratchet noticed something slammed into the metal however. Carefully picking it up, Ratchet found an infobot. It was charred and dented, likely it had barely managed to escape the destruction of it's previous owner's spacecraft.
Due to the infobot model however, Ratchet soon came to the conclusion that it must have been Blargian.
However, when Ratchet tried to get the infobot to play it's recorded message, he found out that the poor robot was only barely alive.
Ratchet informed Brax, who came flying over and helped Ratchet get back to the others. Brax took the infobot and left the atmosphere, heading to the Phoenix Mothership where hopefully Elaris would be able to save the little robot.
Ratchet and Cora's Star Jumpers soon followed, Hypernova holding on to the wing of Ratchet's spacecraft.
Aaaand there we go, folks!
Next few chapters are going to be set on Kerwan as the Rangers figure out their attack plan. (And I think most of you know how that ends up)
Like I said earlier, next chapter will be up on Saturday, after which the regular schedule of one chapter per weekend will kick back in.