(AN: A bit late I know, but hey, at least it's here!
Anyway, we got a bit of a longie this time, since we're gunna finish up the East Arena! Yeahhhh!
Let's continue our story...)
Yada yada yada, copyright's. You get the drill.
When Ratchet woke up, yawning and opening his eyes, he noted how it was still sunny outside. Despite that, it felt like the lombax has been sleeping for hours.
"What's even goin' on with this universe?" Ratchet sleepily muttered to himself. He saw that Ico and Yorda were soon waking up, while Clank opened his glowing lime green eyes.
"Well rise and shine everyone. Hope you had a nice rest cause we're moving on." said Ratchet as he got off the couch. "By the way, Ico, is your arm feeling any better?"
Ico touched his arm gently. "Yes. It does feel slightly better. Do not worry about me, I will be fine."
"That is good that you recovered, Ico." Clank observed. "But I must advise you to take heed the next time you swing your sword. It wouldn't be good if you hurt yourself again.
"I understand." Ico said, nodding. The four looked around the East Palace.
"So… where do we go to now?" asked the robot. The horned boy pointed to a rope on the other side of the room.
"I will cut down the rope right there." He said. Ico ran over to it, running up the steps and climbing on a stone slab. He swung his sword at a rope holding a door and the rope broke apart, the door falling underneath the ground, allowing access for the four. Ico ran down the steps and towards Yorda, Ratchet, and Clank.
"You didn't hurt yourself when your swung your sword just now, did you, Ico?" asked Clank.
"No, I did not." He replied.
"That's good. Now let's head to that door you just opened." Ratchet said. He ran to the newly opened door as Clank followed behind the lombax. Ico took Yorda's hand and followed the two.
Even before entering the room, Ratchet, Clank, Ico, and Yorda could hear the sounds of running water. They could see water rushing down the stone slide in front of them, meaning they wouldn't be able to cross normally.
"How are we going to get across this?" Clank asked. Ratchet noticed various stone ledges on the wall, and remembering the various places he climbed in the Solana and Bogon galaxies, knew that something were able to sidle across it.
"That of course." Ratchet said, pointing out the stone ledges.
"You're right. But… how is Yorda going to get across? And me as well?" asked Clank.
"Ooh…" Ratchet said, closing his eyes as he snapped. "Right. Didn't think about that."
"I will go across them." Ico said. He walked up to the ledge closest to him, jumped, and climbed up on it. He began to slide against the wall.
"Take care of her OK?" The horned boy called out. Ratchet and Clank nodded before looking at the pale girl, who simply looked at the ground. Ratchet found himself getting bored at the lack of conversation, and attempted to start some small talk with the princess.
"So, uh… how's the weather like over here?"
As Ico dropped down to the ledge underneath him, he kept his prayers to the gods that Yorda wouldn't be caught by the shadow creatures. Though admittedly, he knew Ratchet would be strong enough to take on the biggest shadow creatures that the queen could conjure up.
"Ratchet could take on anyone…" The tan boy thought as the mark over his shirt blew in the wind. He looked at the lombax, the creature that he's never heard of before, who seems to be attempting to talk to Yorda. Unlike himself, who had a hard time talking to people in his village due to the way they treated him, Ratchet seemed to be someone anyone could talk to, much like the more bigger boys in Toksa Village.
"I wish I could be as strong as Ratchet…"
However, a voice in Ico's mind told him that he was as strong as Ratchet in a way. It made the horned boy realize that he's gotten this far, gotten through multiple near death experiences, and has been hurt in many ways since the day he was born, and yet, he still survived.
But what was it that made Ico strong?
Was it the will to move on forward and escape the castle?
Or was it the special mark he wore, made by the Village Elder's wife that supposedly, according to the Elder, was a "special mark not worn by any sacrifice sent to the Castle in the Mist"?
"Yes… perhaps I am actually as strong as Ratchet…"
However, Ico found himself too deep into his thoughts, and almost slipped off the edge. Yelping, he got his balance up and jumped, holding onto the ledge with the tips of his fingers. He slid to the right of the stone ledge until he landed on the ground.
Ico ran towards the other side of the narrow hallway in front of him and standed on a switch, opening the door in front of him. He ran inside before the door dropped.
Entering into the new room, Ico could see that the main part of the room extended more up to the top. Once he knew this, Ico ran to his left and leaped to the other side, before ascending up the stairs. He saw two pieces of rope holding onto a bridge. Seeing as how it was the smart idea, Ico jumped and swinged his sword, cutting both pieces of rope. Instantly, the bridge fell.
"It seems that's there one part of it." Ico noted. He saw the other part of the bridge also being held onto by two pieces of rope. Running to the other side, he leaped and holding the sword out in front of him, sliced both ropes. The bridge collapsed as it finally connected.
"There we go." said Ico. He saw in front of him, another switch on the ground. Running to it, Ico stood on the switch which opened a door in front of him. He ran through the other side.
When Ico entered the room, he heard running water flowing. Most likely, this was the room where Ratchet, Clank, and Yorda were left behind. Ico saw a lever near him and pulled it, which caused the flowing water below him to stop.
Ratchet noted this and looked up, noticing the horned boy by the lever.
"Ico? Did you stop the water?" he yelled out.
"I did! Now hold on! I'm coming in a moment!"
Ico headed out to the door he went through, but stopped when he heard the lombax call out for him.
"Don't go through there! Come down here instead! It's much easier!"
Ico walked over to the ledge and noticed how far the drop was. He was sure that he wouldn't be able to survive this.
"I can't! I'll die upon impact!"
"Then let me send Clank up there!"
Ratchet grabbed the robot and swinged him in place a few times. On the fifth swing, Ratchet let go as Clank went flying up to Ico. Ico caught Clank and placed him in his arms.
"Now Ico, put me on your back, and then jump out from the railing. I'll do the rest." Clank explained. Ico nodded as he tried to figure out how to put Clank on his back, doing so by putting straps over his shoulders. He climbed onto the railing and jumped. Yorda gasped as Ico started to fall, but Clank activated his Thruster Pack and glided Ico to the ground. Ratchet could see the look of shock on Ico's face as he finally descended onto the ground.
"How did you do that?" Ico asked Clank.
"Let's just say it involves various components of my build, which allows me to use fuel for gliding. It has helped me and Ratchet in the past." Clank explained. The horned boy looked confused, clearly not understanding everything that came out of the robot's mouth.
"It's really complicated stuff. We could be here forever trying to explain it." Ratchet said suddenly.
"Oh." was the only thing that Ico said.
"Hey, speaking of which, I heard a loud noise from the other room. You didn't blow anything up did you kid?"
"That? I lowered a bridge."
"A bridge? That must lead to somewhere! C'mon, let's not waste time and have those shadow things attack us!"
Ratchet picked up Clank and placed the metallic cyborg on his back, running up the stone slope. Ico took Yorda's hand and led her up the slope after the lombax and robot.
After following Ico to the room beyond the switch on the ground, the four walked across the bridge that the tanned boy was able to get down. Upon entering the new room, Ratchet could see an elevator of sorts on the other side of the room, however, even with Clank's Thruster Pack, it seemed like he couldn't get across, especially not with having to take Ico and Yorda with the two. However, Yorda walked up towards the edge.
"Yorda! What are you doing?!" Ratchet called out. Suddenly, in front of Yorda, a stone floor appeared. The solanian almost let a scream when he saw what happened.
"C-CLANK?! DID YOU JUST SEE THAT!" Ratchet yelled, pointing towards the newly formed floor.
"Yes… I see it…" said Clank, rubbing the bottom of his robotic head. "Yorda, is this… magic?"
"Magic?"
Yorda looked at Clank, clearly not understanding what he said.
"Ratchet… this is no ordinary world… I think we've deviled into a world of fantasy…" Clank whispered to Ratchet.
"Fantasy? Like, what you said about magic and stuff?" The lombax questioned.
"I do believe so. I mean, there is no probable way that Yorda could have summoned that floor without the use of extraterrestrial forces such as magic."
"You're right… but still, it seems strange. I mean, Yorda is really fragile, yet she can use magic… Suspicious…"
"Well, suspicious as it might be, we must help these two humans."
"Hey, are you two OK?" Ico asked Ratchet and Clank. The two stood up quickly and looked around the room, pretending if nothing were wrong.
"Yup, we're fine." Ratchet said.
"Yes, nothing wrong here." Clank said.
"Well, we should head on. Yorda has made the path for us."
Ico walked next to Yorda as they waited for Ratchet and Clank. The two walked towards the edge, and reached out their leg on the stone floor to make sure they wouldn't fall.
Upon seeing it was safe, Ratchet and Clank stepped on the floor as a new floor was created. As the four kept moving, new floors were created in front of them. Ratchet saw that the stone idols he and Clank saw when they first explored the castle were in front of them.
"Great, how are we going to open this?" He questioned. However, Yorda walked in front of the idols. Strange static came out of her hands and hit the idols. A noise was made as the idols lit up, then moved out of the way, allowing access for the four.
"What the? Are you the reason those idols are moved out of the way Yorda?" Ratchet asked. Yorda held her hands together as she exhaled, looking at the ground.
"Yorda, do… do you have some sort of special power?" asked Clank.
Again, Yorda gave no reply.
"I know you two wish to get answers." Ico said. "But Yorda does not understand you. I have tried to talk to her before and it does not work. It's best if you let the language barriers be."
"Language barriers?" Ratchet questioned.
"It means, even with our translators, Yorda will not understand us. Presumably because she speaks a different language. Though, unlike the one Ico speaks, her language must be something along the lines of an ancient, dead language." Clank explained
"You mean, like some of the languages on prehistoric stuff back in Solana?"
"Precisely. Due to the age, no one has made a translation for these languages."
"So when Ico said to let the language barriers be?"
"It means that we simply can't talk to her. The only way we'll be able to communicate is with our body language."
Ratchet scratched his furry chin, navigating with Ico and Yorda through the castle was becoming more difficult then it seems. Unlike his past adventures, where he went against Chairman Drek and Dr. Nefarious, and solved the Protopet incident, the castle was going to prove to be his most difficult challenge. Yet despite this, Ratchet knew he wasn't going to give up.
However, a rumbling of sorts snapped Ratchet out of his thoughts. He saw Ico by a lever.
"Something must have opened below, let's see what it is." The horned boy said as he led the pale girl to the right. The lombax and robot followed behind them, and the four got onto a platform. Upon stepping on it, the platform descended lower and let Ratchet, Clank, Ico, and Yorda onto the lower floor.
"Hey, it looks like you opened a new pair of torches, Ico." pointed out Ratchet. "Is the stick you dropped still here?"
Ico saw the brown stick lying on the ground near the large circular door just a few feet away. He ran over to it and grabbed the stick, but dropped his sword.
"Why does he need to do that?" Ratchet thought as Ico lit up the stick, running over to the two torches and lighting them up. Immediately, the stone door opened up as a blinding white light shone through the room.
Unknown to Ratchet, Clank, Ico, and Yorda, near the entrance where the lombax and robot had arrived, the light had hit a pillar with an orb inside of it that stood on top of a large stone column. The stone orb began to move as it began producing a type of magical energy. It hit the large door as one part of it began to shine.
"I think we're done here." said Clank. "Is there anywhere else we should go to?"
"Since this is the East Arena, we must go to the West Arena." Ico said.
"Do you know where that is?" asked Ratchet.
"I… I do not…"
"Well, let's find it."
After climbing out of the newly opened door, heading down the path the four arrived to the East Arena to, and after battling some of the Shadow Creatures, Ratchet, Clank, Ico, and Yorda finally reached the end of the long path. The four began to climb a ladder up, since the horned boy hadn't explored it before. Upon entered a small balcony, Clank saw a lever that hadn't been pulled.
"I have this under control." The robot said as he walked over to it.
He reached his small arms out and grabbed the lower part of the lever, pulling it down. Unbeknownst to him, a bridge that was on a lower floor from where the lombax, robot, horned boy, and pale girl were was connected. They soon realized this when they heard a bump, and Ratchet stuck his head out from the railing.
"Hey buddy, looks like you connected a bridge!" he said.
"Did I? Well, that must be useful."
"Well c'mon; let's see where that heads to."