Chapter Seven: Me on the Menu

(Note from the author: Sorry I made the Veldin arrival scene too short. Right here, I shall tell a recap about the scene in full detail.)

Ratchet led Pupuru up to his bedroom, carrying their heavy bags full of weapons, food, and medical supplies. Once they stepped in, they received a blast of bright moonlight beaming through the nearby window. "Wow!" Ratchet spoke up, looking out at the beautiful view. "Only such cold air can give us a brightly-shining moon! I've seen it enough times on Earth, but this is the first time viewing at such a thing on MY planet!"

Ratchet plopped himself down onto his bed, not bothering to think about any termites or bedbugs that might be scurrying around it. Suddenly, he sniffed the air around him; something was new here like the aroma of lavender. "That's strange," he chuckled. "I don't recall walking in here to smell the air of Wisconsin."

"I wish we can go there sometime," Pupuru replied as he laid her sleeping bag onto the floor. "I hear the fields are so beautiful."

"That sounds like a great idea. We can go there once the mission is complete."

After a short while, Pupuru spoke again to Ratchet very softly: "Ratchet?"

"Yes, Pupuru?" Ratchet replied quietly.

"Do you love me?"

Stunned, Ratchet answered: "Of course I do. It's very obvious."

"Yet I seem to feel something strange. It feels as if something very heavy is coming back to haunt me."

"Don't pay attention to what you hear villains say. They're only lies; they're trying to give you illusions. Just remember, Pupuru, we're with you. You can always count on us."

That was the last thing that was said before the room became very quiet. The only thing that was heard was the wind and snow blowing against the window. Ratchet could not keep himself awake; no danger was coming yet, and he soon became a little cranky. He turned and saw that Pupuru had fallen asleep on her mat. He tried to say something to her, but his eyes forced themselves shut tight.

About a half-hour later, he was suddenly awakened by the noise of thudding footsteps. He woke up to see Mr. Grimm standing over him and pointing a pistol at him. "You!" Ratchet said. "You caught me by surprise!"

"Walk out quietly and remember I am right behind you," Mr. Grimm replied, ignoring what Ratchet said.

The commotion woke up Pupuru from her sleep. "Ratchet?" she whimpered. "What's going on?"

"We can't reason with him, Pupuru," Ratchet replied to her. "We've got to obey him… for now anyway…" He made sure not to let Mr. Grimm hear that last part.

Mr. Grimm pushed Ratchet and Pupuru out of the house and out into the freezing air of the raging blizzard. They were bothered very much by the cold, but not Grimm; he was too eager to get on with his plan, he ignored the foul air.

"You represent everything I hate, Ratchet!" Mr. Grimm said as he pushed his two captives up a hill. "You are honest…hard-working…successful! While I am the evil nature of man, personified!"

"Listen very hard, Pupuru," Ratchet whispered to his human companion. "When I tell you to run, you better run. Make sure you're safe at my house; I'll catch up with you later."

"But Ratchet…" Pupuru whispered in reply, "…I can't go without you. How am I to know that you're safe?"

"Just do as I say," Ratchet said sternly. "That is an order."

"Shut up, you two!" Grimm barked in interruption. "This is where we meet the big head!"

Mr. Grimm looked up at the gray sky, waiting patiently for something to arrive. Lightning began to flash strongly as the figure of a giant purple head appeared. "I am here!" the Polygon Man exclaimed. "It is time to put the greatest part of the plan into action!"

"It's about time you got here!" Mr. Grimm replied. "This male Lombax is worthy enough to be my greatest meal! After him, bring me his female friend Angela Cross; after that, I demand you to take me to the dimension where all remaining Lombaxes live!"

"No!" Ratchet thought furiously. "It mustn't come to happen!" Quickly, he twirled and tripped Mr. Grimm with his Lombax tail. "RUN!" he shouted, taking off with Pupuru back to the house.

"You bungling fool!" the Polygon Man exclaimed. "Don't let them get away!"

Mr. Grimm got back up from the snow and reached into his pocket to take out a sharp scythe. "Every being must have its end," he thought. "And the end begins here and now!" With that, he threw his scythe directly at Ratchet.

It was a successful hit.

When Ratchet fell, his face landed into the snow, his back bleeding from the sharp scythe lodged into him. The only other thing that could be heard other than the wind was Pupuru screaming at the top of her lungs in fear. Tears pouring from her eyes, she bent down to remove the scythe from Ratchet. She turned him over to face him; his face looked dead as he was soon to be.

At first, Pupuru heard nothing from Ratchet; but then, his weary and dying voice spoke to her: "It's not too late now… I know you can change everything… Go back to the house… You can still save the universe from this invasion…"

"No!" Pupuru replied. "I'm not leaving you here!"

"You must go… Pupuru… I love you…"

As Ratchet breathed his last, Pupuru hung her head over him, crying her broken heart out. But she could not stay there forever; Mr. Grimm was coming towards her. She dropped Ratchet and quickly ran back to the house.

"Well…" Mr. Grimm thought as he picked up Ratchet's corpse. "This is my lucky day after all! I finally have my heart's desire of dinner for one. After so much time in prison, you get really tired of asylum food. It's funny…I've never had Lombax before…"

Pupuru soon made it back to Ratchet's house and forced the door behind her shut. Immediately, she ran up to Ratchet's room, tripping on the stairs in her fit. "Why did that have to be the last time I would ever see my best friend?!" she thought, her teeth gritted.

She looked out the window; at first, she saw nothing but the snowstorm. But then, her vision cleared as she saw Mr. Grimm in the distance carrying a few logs of splintered wood. Grimm used an axe to stab the logs into the ground, creating what seems like a wooden stake. He hung Ratchet's corpse onto it; from there, Grimm held up his axe and did the finishing touches to serve himself the one meal he desired.

Pupuru jerked her head away immediately; she could not bear to look anymore. She did not even want to think about the end of her friend. In a fit of confusion, she stumbled down the stairs into the main room. It was there that something seemed to change for her; she looked up and saw something shining on the kitchen counter.

Pupuru got back up to her feet and calmly walked over to it; it was a small, shiny white cube. It looked very familiar to Pupuru as her mind began to remember the last moments of her dream. But before she could dig deeper into those thoughts, she saw there was a note attached to the cube. She picked it up and read it:

"Dear Pupuru,

I know things are not the way they should be, but I know you can help to change that. As best friends, we stick together to deal with these trials and corruptions. It may be so that maybe Grimm will beat us to our victory, and so I will give you something to help change that. This here is the Time Box from your long dream. Take it and use it for good purposes. With it, you can save time and space and also explore the cosmos and dig through historical events. But more importantly, if there is a big emergency, you can use the Time Box to save lives. I know you can save the lives of many who are dying, including your dearest friends. I know you can save the universe from this invasion. I am counting on you, Pupuru.

Sincerely yours,

Ratchet"

Pupuru broke down into tears again after reading the note. This was perhaps the last memory of Ratchet she could hold. She did not think about using the Time Box at first; she was worried that it might not work as it did in the dream.

(Note from the author: In the cancelled series, I did not give a complete explanation about the Time Box. In this story, all the details will be given.)

Suddenly, Pupuru heard a loud pounding at the door. "Open up in there!" said a voice. "This is Dart Feld! If you do not open up, we'll break through!"

Pupuru quickly got up and ran over to the door. Once she opened it, she became surprised as to who had come. Dart, Neptune, and Nepgear had arrived to help Pupuru, but they did not come on time. "Pupuru!" Nepgear exclaimed. "We found you! We came here just in time!"

"I'm afraid you're all too late…" Pupuru whimpered in reply.

"What do you mean? Did something happen? Did you already win the battle?"

"You don't understand… Ratchet is dead…"

IT LOOKS LIKE TROUBLE FOR THE GROWING LEAGUE OF HEROES! WITH RATCHET DEAD, HOW WILL THEY WIN THE BATTLE AGAINST MR. GRIMM, THE POLYGON MAN, AND THE MYSTERY VILLAIN (WHO WILL COME SOON)? WE'LL HAVE TO WAIT AND SEE UNTIL NEXT TIME, WHEN THE BATTLE RAGES ON! UNTIL THEN, SEE YOU SOON!