And I'm back. Just a warning this may just be the last chapter that is on time... But I will be trying my hardest to keep up with everything.
Just a quick thanks to LuigiWife1551 for the reviews!
Now here's the story! Enjoy :)
I turned around to see an old blue robot staring at me who I recognised as Clanks Security Backup. He never really told me his name when we met, and he wasn't really good at his job, but his heart was in the right place. Somehow his whitened moustache had gotten bigger since we last met, even though it was made of metal. And his headgear had some logo on it that reminded me of the Zoni.. That definitely wasn't there when we last met.
"Cragmite virus?" I finally responded after looking around at the vast metal surface that was Clank. He was certainly not a small robot from this point of view.
"Yep. There's a whole bunch of 'em holed up around the core mainframe. They had almost gotten through to the hard drive when I redirected them to the air shoot. It was a brilliant idea at the time but then I realised that there was no air going through the shoot! Powers off, you see? Anyway. They'll be back soon so we better hurry a-" The guard was interrupted by what seemed to be an 'earthquake'/ My ears had suddenly exploded with the noise that was going through them. It was times like these I wish I had smaller ears…
I looked up to see where the deafening noise was coming from. It took me a while to remember I was now shrunk down to half the size of an ant, and when I did realise; I saw Tools mouth wide open.
Whilst still holding my ears as tight as I could with one hand, I snatched the shrink ray from the old bots hand and aimed it at myself, trying to remember which button to push. I think it came naturally after however many times I did it during that Technomite episode and I found myself back to normal size. 5 foot with my ears standing up, so still short.
"Ratchet!" The two shouted in shock simultaneously.
"Where did you go?"
"What the hell happened?"
"Are you alright?" I was pummeled by questions before I had even blinked.
"I'm fine guys. I was shrunk down by Clanks Security System. He's got a virus that you and I are gonna need to take care of," I pointed towards Tal, who nodded with a smile at thought of going on an adventure with me.
"Sorry bout this, Tool. I know you just got here again."
"Oh, don't worry about it. I probably should be getting back to the town meeting anyway… Hopefully it'll be ending soon. Nevertheless! I will go."
"Great. Well, thanks for the food, and we'll probably see you tomorrow sometime." I held out my hand to my old friend. He took it with a firm grasp and shook it three times with a smile.
"Great to see you again. You should know where to find me tomorrow." I nodded. The cities defence force building that his great grandfather founded 120 years ago. It was also in fact opposite an old bar built 121 years ago. Funny how these things work out, right?
"Lock up on your way out. We may be a while."
"Yeah, I got it," he waved me off. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"Tomorrow." I repeated gave him a quick wave as he walked towards the door.
"You ready?" I turned to Talwyn, who gave me another nod and with a small zip, she had shrunk down to the size of an ant. I did the same.
"You must be Miss Apogee!" The security guard exclaimed as he saw the young woman next to me, "I've heard a lot about you," she gave me a questioning look when he turned his back. I mouthed 'I dunno' and raised my shoulders.
"Come along you two! We need to get to the weapons chamber." The old guard yelled and waved his hand. We did as we were told, with Talwyn slipping her right hand into my left.
"So when did you get that?" She pointed with her free arm to the remote at my belt. The Shrink Ray.
"Oh, this? About a year after I escaped DreadZone. There was this whole incident with this race called the Technomites. Thier cities were small, so I needed to be small. This did the job well." She gave me a blank look.
"DreadZone? Technomites?"
"I haven't told you much about my life, have I?"
"Nope. Since we met its been; 'Stop Tachyon,' 'Find Clank' 'Save Clank.' So there hasn't been much casual talk."
"Good point. I'm sure during our two weeks here we'll have some time to have a chat about how many times I've saved the universe and nearly died." I said none too modestly. She just rolled her eyes before returning her attention to the surrounding view of my garage.
Up ahead, the guard was waiting for us at a hatch that led inside Clank. I had been through here before. This whole trip was going to be one big 'Deja vu' moments. I looked up at my now massive garage for the possibly the last time in a while before turning around to Talwyn.
"Ladies first," I bowed and not for the first time she rolled her eyes.
"How big is the drop?" She asked the security bot.
"Not far."
"Than I guess it will be ladies first…" She said slyly. Suddenly her hands were on my back and an instant later my face was on metal. I heard her laughter accompanied by a metallic chuckle from above. How had I fallen for that? Literally too.
A dull thud followed by metal on metal signalled the other two finally following my 'lead'. I picked myself up quickly, rubbing my now bruised face and stretching my other arm.
"You alright? Than was a bigger drop than he mentioned." She flicked her thumb to the bot who I could barely see in the darkness. Only his eyes illuminated the room once he shut the hatch, and it wasn't doing much good.
"Yeah. Sore arm. Bruised face. Nothing I haven't had before" She quickly kissed me on the cheek as an apology.
"I'm not trusting that guy again."
"He's not the best guard, I know. But its the thought that counts, right?"
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Hey! Ya know I can hear everything your saying!" the guard shouted at us and I couldn't help but feel a little guilty for what we just said.
"Now follow me to the weapons stronghold. It's not too far, but you won't be able to see a thing"
We followed the faint glow of his eyes through the darkness. Occasionally I would see a red flash from somewhere. Just a second of it before the blackness comes pouring back in and I think Tal was glad to be able to hold my hand.
A short minute of walking past and we found ourselves still succumbed by darkness, until the old bot ahead of us took out his flashlight. Why he didn't do that before, I had no clue, but I wasn't gonna complain. The torch switched on and illuminated the whole room just enough to see what was piled up on the shelves surrounding us. Weapons. A whole lot of them. I saw the Pyrocitor. The Multi Star. The Plasma whip. Even my old Hunter Mine Launcher. I got all giddy with excitement from seeing all the old weapons. The guard then handed us a torch each from a drawer he just opened.
"Take a couple, because you'll need it to destroy those Red Cragmites I'm sure you saw flashing around before."
'Yeah. I saw them' I thought to myself. But surely these things would not be harder than the last battle I faced against… No. He doesn't count. Nefarious is the last person I battled. I could almost hear Clank asking me how long I was going to push it away. I pushed that thought away too.
"How many weapons are here?" I asked the bot as an attempt to distract myself.
"All of 'em from your adventure following Drek, to DreadZone and even your Technomite Adventure I heard you mention earlier. Your latest ones from that Tachyon episode are still at the Apogee Space Station if I remember correctly. No Judicator I'm afraid." I almost moaned. That weapon is amazing! I even got a second one from the Agorians. But that'll be in Aphelions back seat with the rest of my most recent purchases… In the Polaris Galaxy.
I swept my torch back and forth down the shelves, looking for a few select weapons that I really wanted to try out again. It stopped when a gun metal grey weapon with a red stripe around the barrel caught my attention. The Blaster. A simple, yet effective weapon. It shot yellow bolts of energy at 10 per second. So that's one weapon I'm taking with me
The next one I stopped on was a blue weapon with 3 claws poking out of it. The Plasma Coil. This beast could take out most thugs in one shot, as well as zapping everyone else around them. My favourite weapon from the Protopet incident. Number 2 on the list had just been filled.
The next weapon on my list was the Nitro Launcher. A classic grenade launcher that was great for groups of enemies. Or breaking up parties.
A yellow and green fiery beast was next on the list. The Magma Cannon. Or as mine was called, the Vulcan Cannon. This baby was a auto targeting shotgun. Need I saw more?
The final weapon on my list was the Sniper Mine. It looked like a crossbow, with a purple tint. It could be used directly on someone, or as a trap hence where the 'mine' bit comes from. Altogether I'd estimate them at about 250,000 if I hadn't gotten a couple of them for free…
I saw that Tal had added a new gun to her belt. The Annihilator - a missile pistol. A great addition to any adventurers selection of weapons. It also reflected the fact that she too loved the Negotiator back at the station.
"So, what now?" I asked the blue robot once all my weapons were in sync with my quick select glove, a handy tool that shrinks weapons till you choose them from your glove. They then appear in your hands ready for battle. Probably one of my most used and most modded purchases from gadgetron.
"Well, now you just need to make your way up to the core mainframe and knock out any of those scum before they hack the hard drive. Otherwise… Well, you know. I'll meet you there, I've gotta do my rounds on the south side of Clank, make sure there aren't any hiding out in his feet.
"Sure…"
"Once they're all gone, I'll escort you out before the antivirus comes online. That should be better than last time, otherwise it'd be a real deja vu wouldn't it, Ratchet?" The blue robot laughed but I couldn't think of what he was referring to.
"Yeah." I replied in agreement as to not hold us up. I had a serious hunger pang which will be filled right after this. It was almost painful. At least I could slip through some tight cracks if needed.
"Anyways. Good luck you two!" The guard turned round to walk off and 'do his rounds.'
"Yeah, we'll see you soon." I said as both Talwyn and I did the same to vanquish the Cragmite virus fleeting around Clank.
So. Thoughts? And thanks for reading! :3