Chapter 2: First Impressions

The two creatures had been following Ratchet and Clank without them knowing. Ratchet did feel as if someone was watching him, and was on high alert because he was on a new planet, but every time he scanned the barren plains around him, he saw nothing.

"Clank, how far away are we from Aphelion?" Ratchet asked Clank.

"Closer than we were when you asked five minutes ago. What is wrong Ratchet?" Clank asked.

"I don't know, I have this feeling as if something is watching us." Ratchet replied.

Clank nodded his head in agreement "Yes, it does seem as if this trek has been…"

"NO! Don't say to easy!" Ratchet interrupted. Clank gazed at Ratchet questioningly.

"People say 'to easy' and bad things happen. I swear, whenever I agree with you, we always end up on some planet where we don't know where we are, what we're going to run into, how we're going to get home." Ratchet exhaled impatiently through his nose, and then whipped his head around, thinking he heard grass rustle.

"Oh, really?" Clank questioned.

"What about the time Dr. Nefarious started attacking Veldin, did you do that because I told you so, or did you go off because you wanted to save the planet you grew up on?"

Ratchet glared at Clank. His little buddy would really get on his never sometimes; since Clank never forgot anything unless his CPU was erased clean by somebody or something else, but those incidents were few and far between.

"And what about the time we went to the Bogon Galaxy? You didn't even attempt to go back home, didn't even ask for my consent. When we first met, I was merely asking for help, but you had to go on an adventure didn't you? And again…"

"Okay, okay" Ratchet interrupted.

"Point made."

Clank smiled in satisfaction, but the beeping on Ratchet's nav-unit had caught them both by surprise. Ratchet check it, and then handed it to Clank. Clank's eyes narrowed in concentration, then widened in surprise.
"Ratchet, have you been modifying Aphelion?" Clank asked. Ratchet shook his head.

"Well, unless she grew mechanical legs and is walking away from us, someone is stealing our ship!"

Ratchet shared a quick glance with Clank, and then started sprinting towards Aphelion's location. Ratchet hadn't taken two strides before the ground in-front of his feet had quickly turned to thick, slippery ice.

"WHOA!" He cried out in surprise as he flailed his arms, attempting to regain his balance. Clank calmly walked over to him, ready to help Ratchet. A gust of wind came out of nowhere and caused Ratchet to fall hard on his bottom, and Clank to fly several yards away. Ratchet got up, brandishing his omni-wrench in his left hand, his constructo-pistol in his right. Clank quickly got up, and had taken Ratchet's constructo-shotgun, standing at Ratchet's back.

The two stood there, waiting for whatever had attacked them to make another move. When nothing happened for a minute, the two started to relax. As Clank lowered the shotgun, something black knocked into him, slashing at Ratchet with an extension of its body that looked like a tendril. Ratchet jumped up to avoid the attack, and then was tackled by something purple in the opposite direction. Ratchet and the purple thing landed on the ground hard, Ratchet on his back and under the purple thing.

Ratchet looked up and saw purple eyes staring into him, and he got the weird feeling as if this creature was attempting to read his mind. He saw his chance to attack.

"Eat this you purpled eyed monster!" Ratchet fired his constructo-pistol right into the creature's chest, causing it to wince in pain and spin off Ratchet. Ratchet quickly stood up and threw his wrench at the creature in a comet-strike. The creature ducked, under the wrench, and then spun on a dime and caught it between its jaws, turning to face Ratchet again.

Ratchet eyes went wide, holstered his consructo-pistol and then pulled out the warmonger, making sure to lock onto the creature. Now being farther away from it, Ratchet saw that it had the basic body of a large lizard, and its body was purple with a faded yellow on its chest and stomach. Its tail ended in a gold spade, and two gold horns grew from the top of its head. It had two wings on its back, yellow skin over the bones and orange where the membranes were.

The creature stood up on its hind legs, being about two feet taller than Ratchet. It pointed behind him with one wing.

"Right, like I'm going to fall for that one." Ratchet told the monster in-front of him. His warmonger gave a beep, confirming the lock-on. Ratchet smiled as his finger brushed the trigger. "Ratchet, don't." Ratchet turn around, and saw Clank's head in the jaws of a creature similar to the one in-front of him. This one was black, and had three silver horns growing out of the sides of its head. The membranes of the wings were a dark violet, and the claws on its wings seemed quite sharp. Its tail was twice as long as the purple ones and Ratchet guessed that was what it slashed at him with. It was slimmer and more stream line than the purple one, suggesting that it was a female. It was confirmed when Ratchet saw its swollen belly; it was pregnant, almost to term.

The darker creature growled and started applying pressure in its jaws.

"Wait!" Cried Ratchet.

The darker creature stopped applying pressure but didn't stop growling and looked at Ratchet. Ratchet turned around to face the purple creature again. Looking it dead in the eye, he squatted and placed his warmonger on the ground. Holding his left hand up in surrender, he removed his constructo-pistol from his belt, and placed it on the ground and then held up his right hand. He backed up a few paces and stood there, admitting defeat. The purple creature cocked its head to one side, dropped back on all fours, and then dropped the wrench in its mouth.

"Smart move" it said. Its voice was lighter than Ratchet was expecting, sounding much like his own.

"What are you?" Ratchet asked.

"My mate has your companion in her jaws; I'll ask the questions, you'll answer them." The purple creature snapped.

"Can I at least get your names?" Ratchet pressed.

The purple creature swayed from side to side, as if thinking deeply.

"My name is Spyro, my mate is Cynder, and we're dragons."

Ratchet looked at the creature, the dragon, and his jaw slowly dropped in disbelieve.

"I've never thought dragons existed. I thought they were only the stuff of legend."

"Never heard that one before." Spyro muttered sarcastically.

"Now, what are you?" Spyro asked Ratchet.

"I'm a Lombax." Ratchet replied.

Spyro's eyes seemed to widen, and Cynder stopped growling.

"You're a what?" Spyro asked.

"I said, I'm a Lombax." Ratchet repeated.

Spyro gazed at Ratchet for a moment and then said to Cynder "Drop him, right now."

Cynder quickly did so, and looked at Clank.

"Sorry about that" she said "not my best first impression."

Clank dusted himself off, and walked over to Ratchet after picking up the shotgun.

"Come" Spyro told Ratchet "We'll get you cleaned up, feed, and then we can talk." Spyro started walking in the direction the sun was setting.

"Wait" Ratchet called. Spyro paused and looked back.

"Where are we going?" Ratchet asked.

"Home" Ratchet said with a smile. On that note, Cynder did a short sprint to walk alongside him, and Ratchet shared a glance with Clank. Clank only shrugged in response. Ratchet picked up his weapons, holstered them, and then started following the two dragons, hoping that these two creatures of legend were the key to getting home. Little did he know, they were the key to so much more.