OH MY GOSH IT'S 5:14am! D:
I need sleep. Last chapter I started at 11 and finished at 2... This chapter, 11 start, 5:14 finsih :/ I get distracted way too eaasily
Anyway, I will sleep now. Enjoy it if you can! :)
"Ratchet!" She had pulled me into a hug before I even knew what was going on. It was a long and fairly tight hug, not unlike the ones we used to share and I gave a quick prayer hoping she wouldn't go too far in front of Talwyn. Then again, we hadn't seen each other in about half a year, I was probably presumed dead after Tachyon invaded Metropolis, so a long hug wasn't too bad. She eventually let go of me and took a step back, still smiling. I had almost forgotten about that smile…
"Where have you guy been? Nearly half a years passed with you been presumed dead, and all of a sudden you're back on Veldin!" The Cazar beamed. Had it really been that long? Surely someone from polaris would've found their way here...
"It's a long story. A very, long story." Was all I answered with, and the curiosity in her eyes fired up, but tamed not a second afterwards.
"Well you'll have to fill me in on it over dinner tonight. I could give a guess that it involved saving a galaxy?" she smirked. We knew each other well, though anyone could guess what I get up to out of this galaxy, especially with a name like Dr. Nefarious involved.
"Twice actually. One of them was that maniacal robot who insisted on killing every 'squishy.'" She gave me a surprised look.
"Nefarious was causing more trouble, in another galaxy? You'll definitely have to fill me in on that." I gave her nod and after a little bit of awkward silence, Sasha took the lead in the conversation again, with the most obvious start to it.
"Who's this, Ratchet?" She gave me the slightest sly grin. I knew this would happen eventually if we came back to Solana. May as well get it over and done with I thought.
"Talwyn, meet Sasha Phyronix, the mayor of Metropolis. Sasha, this is Talwyn Apogee. She's helped me save the galaxy and exeterea." The two women exchanged a quick handshake aided by a hello, and that was that. I let out a silent sigh of relief.
"How did the mission go?" Sasha finally asked. The reason she came here wasn't just to catch up, though we did need to have some free time to share stories about recent events.
"On our part, super. We got in, and as you may have seen, destroyed the ship. And obviously gotten out in time. But I can't say the same thing for the rangers. They haven't contacted me since the moment before we blew the sip up. I don't think they got Varl…" The Cazar pursed her lips in thought at this. To be honest I didn't really like the idea of being hunted by an assassin of sorts. Especially being hunted by a nutcase like Varl…
"I'll talk to the president this afternoon and ask him about a galaxy-wide alert for the man. Don't worry Ratchet, from here on you wont have to lift a finger." I smiled just at the thought of not needing to save an entire galaxy again. Well technically if Varl got me, I wouldn't be the one stopping him from bringing the Cragmites back. Qwark would have to step it up a bit… No. I bet Kid Nova would do a better job than Qwark, even though the man in green would show up when the cameras arrived.
"That would be great, though I will still protect myself from assassin's just in case they shop up."
"You've always got your wrench handy, I'm sure you'll be fine. But after dinner, I'll be sending you to your apartment for a much needed break."
"Believe it or not, after we ended up here we actually tried doing that. I guess trouble just likes to find me, doesn't it?"
"And if not, you go looking after trouble." She responded with a laugh, and we all joined in a bit.
"Anyway, I should head off now as I have meeting to attend, as well as a phone call that needs to be made to the galactic president."
"Right. But before you go, details on dinner would be nice to know, seeing as that's tonight's plans." I asked the young mayor before she turned around.
"8 o'clock. Stars of Galaxies, you know that one right?" She asked, and my answer would be yes. That's was where Sasha and I got really close after the whole Biobliterator incident, only to be shut down a month later when she decided her career was more important than our relationship, though I guess it worked out for the both of us in the long run.
"Yeah, of course I know the one." I answered her question in a tone that really said 'Why that one?' Talwyn gave me a questioning look, and Sasha gave me a slight smile like she knew what she was doing. Then the mood was gone as she said her goodbyes and we waved her off as she walked over to the dropship. Just before she stepped up onto the ramp another question came to me, probably a much more important question as I didn't want to have to hijack another barely space worthy ship.
"Wait, Sasha! Do you have a ship for us? Otherwise we're sorta stranded here." I shouted to the Cazar, who didn't reply until she was safely in the dropship.
"Your Star Explorer is behind me!" She shouted over the faint hum of the dropships thrusters, then the hatch closed and the ship took off, revealing my old Star Explorer. I had it fitted with a custom scoop nose, as well as a custom paintjob nicknamed 'Silent Strike.' The ship brought back so many memories of old adventures, as well as testing out the Gravimetric Warp Drive I had concocted out of blargian scrap metal. Good times… Though I'd trade this for Aphelion any day.
"Nice ride," Talwyn commented as we neared the ship, "Where did you get it from?"
"Back during my megacorp days. I got it for free when I was trying to steal the Protopet back, though it looks much better with the scooped nose I equipped it with, rather than the standard."
The Star Explorer started up like a charm without falter, and soon enough we were exiting the Freys planet's atmosphere and heading toward the opposite side of the galaxy to Kerwan. Our apartment should still belong to us, and have all our things in it.
Before long, Talwyn had found the reclining button on her seat and decided to take a small nap through the 4 hour ride. Clank had told me he was still going through all his files after the Virus attacked him, making sure that everything was safe and intact. So with both of them each in a sort of slumber, it was me who was left alone in my thoughts of later tonight, as well as the past.
As much as I couldn't wait to have a casual conversation with Sasha again, I was dreading it as I knew that all the stories were going to come out later that night. And not just the latest ones… I never had told talwyn about how Sasha and I dated, even if it was only briefly. Thinking back on it now, I'm surprised we were still on good terms after the yelling that occurred that night. Though I know that since then I had faced worse… Dreadzone being the first and Varl being the latest in the whole line of bad and annoying things to happen to me. Even Drek was up there from when he tried to destroy Veldin. Though in another sense, I'm glad that happened because I wouldn't be where I am now without that...
Through the lengthy ride I found myself thinking about a lot of things; What would life be like if I never met Clank? How much longer would it have taken me to get off the planet. Would I be this experienced in blowing stuff up? For that last one I had guessed no. I also found myself wondering what I would be doing if I wasn't an intergalactic hero. What if there was an alternate universe where Qwark was me and I was Qwark… No, that's going too far.
By the second hour, I had gone through many different possibilities of what could've happened, what would've happened if that happened and so on, by my thoughts were redirected as I thought about Alister. What if he hadn't died that fateful day… One things for certain I wouldn't be in the Solana Galaxy right now, fending off the mentally insane. I wouldn't be feeling this way. I wouldn't be pushing the truth away… I wouldn't be distracting myself.
No, I can't be thinking like this. As soon as the whole Varl situation is over, I'll do something. Go back to Polaris maybe? Do… Well, something. Not for the first time during his death, I pushed those thoughts away, replacing them with mechanics and other electronic equipment. Was Aphelion alright? How are Cronk and Zephyr doing? How many units has my Stunderwear sold since I left Solana? How was Angela? And what was tonight going to end up like?
It was now official. After 3 hours of flying, I had finally gone in a full circle of thoughts. And still one hour to go, and the other two were both in a peaceful slumber. Oh how I missed Aphelions autopilot mode for simple trips like this. It would've made everything a whole lot easier… Not to mention Aphelion was faster.
Eventually, the planet that was once a small dot turned into a bigger one, and a bigger one until we were so close it took up the whole view. The vast cities spread out amounts the land were visible only as a mush of greens, golds and silvers, though soon after entering the planets atmosphere, I could recognise them as separate buildings and towers.
Eventually I gained my bearings as I realised we were in the older part of the city, which was also my first ever glimpse of metropolis in real life. From there, it was a short 10 minute ride to the newer section where my apartment and other various things were stored. I quickly recognised some buildings that hadn't been destroyed by Tachyon, and other buildings I didn't recognise which I assumed were in place of the ones his army did manage to destroy. From there it all went downhill.
As we came across our apartment, there was something on the roof. Something horrible. Somethings green.
"WELCOME HOME CADETS!" Was plastered in massive, green Qwark like writing snf there would be no doubt that he was waiting for us in our apartment. I groaned, but landed on the roof anyway, in our designated parking space. Talwyn quickly awoke after I tapped her on the shoulder.
"We're here" I almost whispered as if not to wake her up whilst trying to. It took her a short while to actually wake up though, and for the first minute there was just incomprehensible moans being emitted from the Markazian. Eventually though, she spoke properly, and the first question was;
"How long was I out?"
"Four hours. But you won't believe who's waiting for us downstairs…"
"Who? she looked up in excitement at the prospect of meeting someone new, though the answer she wanted is not the one she'd be getting, at all.
"Captain Qwark." And with that she gave a purposeful groan.
"So why did you wake me up then?" She said before slouching back into her seat.
So thats that. I hope its not too crappy :P