Life on Veldin is not and never has been easy. Apart from the dangerous fauna, the inhabitants of this planet also had to deal with other threats, such as sandstorms or floating islands losing their magnetic properties and fall. It made each day special in its own way.
But nobody expected an army of the undead.
A few days after Clyde's death, the Scorn came to the Kyzil Plateau and its town. Once representatives of the Eliksni race, and now living zombies that can only rob, murder and destroy.
Members of various Guilds tried to deal with the invaders, but ended up with only huge losses. Now this whole area is under the control of one of the Scorn Chieftain, who lives here as lord and master.
However, he did not know that the hooded avenger had come to the town.
Three years. Three goddamn years since Grim lost his family. Killed by monsters. It was, and still is, a difficult time for old Fongoid. At first, he refused to believe that his adopted son and grandson had fallen in battle, but in the end he accepted it with great difficulty.
Since the Scorn landed in Kyzil, the man was notoriously visited by them and "asked nicely", which apparently means putting a barrel of a gun to his head, to build, repair and upgrade their vehicles. Initially, Grim refused to do any work, but when the invaders began to execute civilians to start working, he agreed. And that's how he spent the last three years.
The old Fongoid was currently working on his old project. A gift that was supposed to be given to his grandson on his eighteenth birthday. It hurt him that he wouldn't be able to give it, but he wouldn't stop working on it. For the memory of his family.
Few minutes later, two Scorn thugs and one captain entered the workshop. The largest of them approached Grim, grabbed him by his clothes, and then threw him to the ground.
"Build. For us. Only! You. Do something. Other," the Scorn captain said in broken Basic language.
The old man got to his feet and then glared at the three.
"You don't come to me with your gear, so I'm working on my own so I don't get out of practice," Grim explained. What he said was actually a lie, as it was unlikely that his skills would deteriorate.
Apparently, him talking back did not please his "guests" and before the man could react, he felt something hit him in the face, making him land on the floor again. Then he saw one of the thugs pick up an wrench and swing it. Grim quickly covered himself and was hit in the hands. The others joined their companion and started hitting Fongoid as well.
After a few minutes, everything was hurting him. Arms, legs, just everything. Once he would have taken such hits and only shrugged his shoulders, but now that he is old, Grim had a different endurance limit. All he could see now was the thug picking up a gun and pointing it at him. Maybe that's good. I'll meet the others, he thought. So he closed his eyes and waited for a sweet death.
Except she didn't come. Not for him. There was a loud boom in the hangar, followed by a crash to the ground. The old man opened his eyes and saw that said thug was lying on the ground without his head. The other Scorn were surprised by this and looked towards the gate from where the projectile had come.
A figure stands in the doorway. They were wearing a long coat with a hood that completely covered their body and there was nothing but two green dots under the hood.
The captain and his sidekick roared in anger. Someone dared to oppose them! They can't let it go unpunished.
"Who are you!? Speak!" shouted the leader.
The figure then raised its right hand, and a flaming scythe appeared in it.
"Revenge." was all the character said. Then, in the blink of an eye, they moved forward and swung their weapon. The blade of the scythe reached both of the Scorn and decapitated them, killing them instantly.
It was very, very fast, thought Grim, who had just seen the grim reaper wannabe killing the undead Eliksni. Then he saw how two dark puffs of smoke escaped from their bodies, which then began to fly towards the person with the scythe. The figure drew a different weapon from under his cloak, a revolver, with a casing dark as night and the barrel which emitted green smoke. The two puffs then absorbed itself into the weapon, causing it to glow green.
Whatever it was, it was releasing a very evil and dark aura.
After a moment, the hooded figure approached Grim and helped him get up. The man thanked his rescuer, who only took off their hood, revealing who was under the clothes.
"Ratchet…" Fongoid said surprised. In front of him stood his presumed dead grandson. Without thinking for a long time, the man embraced the boy and hugged him tightly. "You're alive!"
Lombax stood like a statue. He hadn't felt someone else's warmth in so long that he forgot what to do in such a situation. So he decided to do nothing. After a few minutes, the old man let go of the young man and looked at him.
"Goddess tits, how do you look like! You're skinny like a skeleton, you smell like shit, not to mention all those scars!" Grim shouted. "What happened to you, kid?"
Ratchet moved away from his grandfather. After so many years of being in a cell, any physical contact is a huge amount of pain for the boy. Next thing Lombax did was to tell the old man what happened to him and where he was, but he didn't mention meeting the Tenno, the Drifter, or what he had done in the House of Salvation stronghold. This shook Fongoid greatly. To think that someone so young had to go through all that. He felt sorry now knowing what the boy had experienced. The old man then told what had happened in the last three years. As soon as he mentioned the Scorn Chieftain, he saw Ratchet clench his fists and growl. Then, without any words, the boy left the garage, got on the dead captain's motorcycle and drove it to Kyzil. Grim didn't even have time to stop his grandson, but he wasn't going to let him do something stupid. So he got behind the controls of his landspeeder and set off.
While in the town, Ratchet saw how much the guilds lost their power. Once the rulers of this place, and now only those who want to survive the next day. He didn't blame them, nor did he think they were cowards. Everyone has the right to survive.
Currently, young Lombax was standing on the roof of one of the buildings and watching the whole area. Through Tenno's memories, Ratchet learned how to use his Void power to become invisible and how to teleport short distances.
This helped him determine enemy forces and where his target was. He learned that the local Chieftain had taken the local town hall and turned it into his fortress. It looked impenetrable from the outside, but there is no such place, there are always backdoors.
Feeling that his energy reserves were running out, Ratchet jumped off the roof and quickly hid in the shadows at the back of the building. After a short while, he felt his Void energy was full again, so he became invisible and headed towards the town hall. It took him a few minutes, but he managed to find an open window that led to where the Scorn stored their loot. Once inside, Ratchet saw that apart from the undead Eliksni, there were also townspeople inside. Each of them acted as if they were drugged.
Lombax managed to capture one civilian, and wanting to see if they could be brought back to their senses, the boy hit his prey, only to see that no matter what, they were still affected by this strange effect. Not wanting to have someone here to alert the others, Ratchet snapped his victim's neck and then hid the body in an empty chest. Did he feel bad about killing a civilian? Yes. Did it move him in any way or make him change his plan of action? Absolutely not.
After a few minutes of hiding and reconnaissance, the boy discovered the location of his target. A huge, two and a half meter undead Eliksni clad in armor made of yellow scrap sat on his throne, also made of scrap metal, in the former hall where speeches were given. In front of the big Scorn was a large number of his subordinates and intoxicated civilians. Everyone stood in smaller groups, watching the two villagers fight to the death in a tiny arena.
Ratchet was currently above them all, sitting on a metal beam. The whole sight made him want to storm in here and murder everyone, but he knew he had to do it smart. So he went to the nearby armory to see if there was anything that would help him. He managed to find the mercenaries' explosives, which, if he remembered correctly from their explanation, make very large explosions. So he started walking around the building and planting bombs.
When the last charge was planted, Lombax left the building and stood in front of it and pressed the fuse. Instantly, the building exploded, killing everyone inside, the Scorn, and the civilians alike. Despite this, however, the Chieftain somehow managed to survive and run out of the building, straight towards the standing Lombax.
"You! You do it?!" exclaimed the undead Eliksni. In response, Ratchet drew his black revolver and pointed it at his opponent. Annoyed by this act, the Scorn drew a large fire torch and charged at Lombax.
The fight between these two could be described in few words: magic, bullying, long-lasting suffering. Every time the Chief made a swing, Ratchet teleported away from him and fired his gun. Each bullet that hit caused immense pain in the undead Eliksni's body, as if they were being destroyed from within. The whole duel lasted from five to eight minutes and it ended with Lombax winning. The citizens of Kyzil watched all this. When they saw that the leader of their oppressors was dead, they did not spare a moment and began to attack the still living Scorn themselves. Grim saw it all too. He was proud of what he saw, but also felt uneasy. Why? Because every time he looked at his grandson, he felt only a dark, unpleasant darkness.
He hoped it was just a temporary aura.
It's been a week since the Scorn were eradicated from Kyzil. The townspeople began to live again, and so did the guilds. The bodies of the inhabitants who were inside the ruins of the town hall were buried, and Eliksni's corpses were burned and thrown into the abyss. Nobody blamed Ratchet for the deaths of these people, because everyone knew there was no help for them.
As for the young adult, he spent that time researching where the Scorn leaders might be. During his earlier reconnaissance, he had overheard that these Barons had been hired by someone. For what sick purpose, he didn't know.
Ratchet was currently gathering supplies for the trip. He knew he would find no more information in Kyzil, so he decided to go to Novalis where maybe someone will be able to give him some clues. Of course, Grim objected completely, arguing that his grandson had just returned and should rest, to which Lombax replied with a firm no.
The young man was about to start packing his stuff to the Eliksni's ship he had stolen from the Eramis fortress, when suddenly he saw something falling from the sky. The mysterious object crashed into a nearby field, scaring nearby wild life. Although part of his soul was calling for him to go for revenge as soon as possible, the other, the more adventurous one, told him to check what it was. Listening to his second self, the boy went to the field.
Once there, Ratchet saw that the object was actually a crashed mini-fighter. It was heavily damaged. Lombax decided to check if anyone was inside, so he summoned his omniwrench and opened the hatch. Inside there was a small, measuring 61 cm, robot. Its casing is in gray metal color, has an antenna on its head, and its eyes are large and round.
Surprised by this discovery, Ratchet decided to take the robot to the garage, where he would check if it might have something valuable in its memory.
After several hours of fiddling with the code, Lombax was tired and pissed. It's already a night, and he couldn't break into the robot's memory. Either his hacking skills are weak, or the inorganic entity has very good security. Having enough for today, the boy decided to return to his old room, which Grim kept clean and unchanged for all these years, so that he could set off for Novalis the next day.
The boy was already approaching the door when suddenly he heard something metal hit the ground and then move behind him. He quickly turned around and aimed his revolver. He saw the robot standing behind him, the same one he'd pulled out of the starfighter.
"Good evening," the robot greeted.
Ratchet was surprised to see a functioning bot. During these few hours he managed to convince himself that it was broken and incapable of functioning. Apparently he was wrong. So the boy lowered his gun, but still kept it in his hand just in case, and then greeted in his own way.
"Welcome," he said coldly
The two then stood there, staring at each other. This created a slightly awkward situation for Lombax. Fortunately, the robot quickly interrupted it.
"Question. Are you a Guardian? Or one of the Lightbearers?"
The young adult was slightly surprised by the question, but quickly replied that he was not from any of these groups. This evidently worried and saddened the robot, as it explained that it had information about its creator, the Blargian Businessman Drek, and his evil plans involving the undead Eliksni. When Ratchet heard the second part, he immediately became interested in it and said that he was planning to hunt down the Scorn Barons and their lackeys. So the two men came to a compromise. They will travel together to defeat the Barons and seek help from the Lightbearers in the process.
And so Ratchet and Clank, this is the name the Lombax gave the robot, remembering the sound the bot made when it fell to the ground earlier, entered into cooperation.
Their destination the next day? Planet Novalis.
She didn't like it, she didn't like it very much. She understands breaking into a warehouse full of ammo or resources, but sneaking into the villa of a Polaris Senate member, more specifically Senator Nefarious, to kidnap him and make him give all the information about his former corporation and the IMC? Rivet didn't sign up for that.
Fifteen-year-old now Lombax, together with her colleagues from the unit, the lizard-like humanoid Phantom and Quantum, a man with a muscular build, dark skin and red spandex jumpsuit, and a few other members of the Militia were just in the area of the aforementioned villa. Everything went smoothly. There are few guards, and the Phantom managed to disable the cameras and mechanical sentries. This mission looked like it was already complete.
But there must always be an obstacle. Quite large in this case.
"Do you hear that?" asked the Phantom.
The Militia members still outside turned to see a yellow Titan standing behind them, a two-legged, six-foot-tall mech wielding powerful weapons, in this case a semi-automatic rifle with explosive rounds.
"Intruders! Raise the alarm!" shouted the mech in a female voice. A loud howl echoed throughout the villa, signaling a burglary.
Seeing that their mission had failed, the members of the Militia began to flee. Thanks to them being smaller, they managed to avoid the robot chasing them and quickly get out of the villa and enter the city. However, that didn't stop Titan, who was still chasing them.
At one point, the mech stopped in place and then fired her rifle. The projectile hit next to Rivet and then exploded, causing Lombax to fall to the ground and pass out. Quantum and Phantom managed to return for their company and take her with them to start running towards the escape ship. However, when they got there, they saw that the members of the Militia had started to leave. Apparently, they had no intention of waiting for the others. This allowed the Titan to capture the trio and take them to the security building at the villa.
As for those members of the Militia who left their comrades, they had no remorse. While still in the atmosphere of the planet, the soldiers were getting ready to perform a hyperspace jump when suddenly their ship was hit and began to fall to the ground.
After the crash, only six members of the Militia got out of the wreck. Everyone was wondering what happened.
Little did they know that they would get an answer very soon.
"Hey, look over there," one of the soldiers said, pointing. The others looked where their companion was pointing and saw a figure standing in front of them.
In front of them stood a man. His attire consists of a gray with red stripes jumpsuit with a butt cape. His T-visor helmet completely covered his face, making it hard to tell what race he was and on his belt he has a blaster and two hilts.
"Hey! You're the one who crashed our ship!?" asked the second soldier loudly.
The mysterious figure didn't answer, but took the hilts in hand and activated them. Two blood-red plasma blades appeared in front of the Militia members. Seeing that they had an enemy in front of them, they started shooting.
The next few seconds can be safely described as one complete carnage.
The mysterious figure leaped high into the air, then dived with plasma blades aimed at the soldiers. The first two members of the Militia were impaled on blades, which quickly ended their lives. The next one lost their head, and the fourth received a blaster bullet to the head.
The two surviving soldiers began to tremble in fear. Their projectiles did not hit the enemy, but only the plasma blades that the attacker used to protect himself. Before they could react in any way, the last thing they heard was a demon-like roar and the sight of an enemy jumping towards them.
