"I saw him. I really saw him! And that little bot called him by his name! I swear!" said Cayde-6.

The man was currently at the apartment of his close friend, Petra Venj, and was talking about the events of the previous day. The woman was saddened and surprised to find out what her nephew had done, but she was also happy to know that the boy was alive and well.

She was also annoyed that instead of informing her of his visit, Cayde broke into her apartment while she was in her underwear, resulting in a close encounter between an Exo and a hot frying pan.

Either way, the woman could see that her friend still blamed himself for what had happened in the Prison of the Elders. There wasn't a day that Cayde didn't curse himself. Petra had helped him put himself back together, of course, but the guilt remained.

Back to what Exo said. The current agent of Awoken Queen took her friend's word for it and offered help, which earned a firm hug from the mechanical man.

All that was left now was to try to predict where their nephew would go.

After landing in Metropolis on the planet Kerwan, Ratchet and Clank began their search for Captain Qwark. Walking around the city, they asked citizens about the whereabouts of the famous Guardian and avoided the local officers.

After thirty minutes of gathering information, the guys were directed to one person, a female robot named Helga, who runs the local obstacle course. The woman said she would be happy to share what she knew about Qwark, if Ratchet could get through her obstacle course. The 18-year-old handled the challenge with no problems, commenting that he had to run up the mountain in his underwear at the Iron Temple, and that it was a real challenge. Despite being annoyed by this comment, Helga kept her word and reported that the local robot shop had recently been doing an ad with the Guardian. The guys thanked for the information and went there.

After a few minutes, our heroes saw the sign of the "Big Al's Roboshack" store, where Qwark allegedly made an advertisement earlier. The guys went inside and saw that the only other person besides them was a man standing behind the counter.

"Welcome to Big Al's Roboshack! I am Big Al and I will help you with any problem. Of a robotic nature, of course."

Big Al is a chubby humanoid with yellow short fur, three fingers on his hands, short pointed ears, and short, spiky red hair. His attire consists of green-ish yellow glasses, a lab coat, and a green T-shirt with the Captain Qwark logo on it.

Our heroes went to the counter, in Clank's case he jumped on the counter and they decided to talk.

"Hi. We have a few questions about Captain Qwark. Will you help us with this?" Ratchet asked.

"Sure. What do you want to know? As president of Qwark's fan club, I know everything about him. So ask away."

Lombax and the bot looked at each other for a moment, then returned their gaze to Al.

"Okay…So, do you know where he is now? We have information about one of his business partners and we wanted to share it with him," said Ratchet.

Al thought about his answer for a moment before finally informing the boys that he had not had contact with the captain since they made the advertisement for the store. This did not please our heroes. When Al saw their displeased expressions, he told them that on the planet Eudora, the Blargs were carrying out a logging operation and that maybe one of them knew where Qwark was. Our heroes liked the news and thanked the shop owner. They were about to leave the building when they were called by Al.

"Wait guys!"

Lombax and the bot were surprised by this and approached the counter again and asked what was going on.

"I know you didn't get what you specifically wanted, but I have something for you as a…compensation," Al said. He then went to one of the crates and took out three propellers, which he then placed on the counter and pointed at Clank. "I have recognized that your bot is a new Blargian mecha model that combines Sentry-bot and Warbot features. Although it is a fresh model, the additions to the previous versions should fit. That's why I have a Heli-pack here that will allow you to float in the air. The cost is a thousand credits. Interested?"

Both Lombax and the robot originally wanted to decline this upgrade, but eventually decided to purchase it. After a few minutes of tinkering, Clank received the mentioned propellers.

"Ratchet, do I look cool now?" the bot asked.

"Hehe, yeah, pal. You look cool." The boy replied, then placed the robot on his back. They were about to leave again when Ratchet saw something out of the corner of his eye. "Hey, what is it?"

Al looked where Lombax was pointing. He saw that a young adult was pointing to a rather interesting upgrade module. So he took the thing and put it on the table. "This is the Lombaxian Sword Core. It allows the Omniwrenches to add an energy blade to them and transform into a sword. I got it from an old Lombax who said to have fought in the war many years ago. I heard he recently passed away of old age."

Ratchet watched the upgrade with great interest. Not only will this upgrade his Omniwrench, it's also a piece of equipment belonging to his race. He felt he must have it.

"How much does it cost?" Lombax asked

"Ten thousand credits. Including installation cost.

"How much?! This is daylight robbery!"

"Look at it from my perspective. I doubt I'll find a buyer for it, and since I see you're interested in it, I'm willing to sell it to you. I probably still give you a smaller cost than it's actually worth anyway," explained Al.

"You just said no one would buy it! I'm practically making room for something else on those shelves!"

"Yes, but I won't pay the bill, if I will just give items for free." said the shopkeeper. Then he leaned against the counter. "Listen. Do something for me and I'll sell it to you for two thousand. Almost like free."

Hearing that he was supposed to do some side-quest, Lombax threw up his hands and groaned in annoyance. Why can't anything be easy in his life, he thought. Eventually, he agreed to Al's offer.

The shopkeeper informed the boys that a train with a package for him would soon arrive at the nearby station. As Al didn't like the post office here, he said that when Ratchet brings him a package, he will get the aforementioned discount on the Omniwrench module.

With this information, Lombax and his companion went to the train station, testing the received Heli-pack on the way.

After fifteen minutes, the guys arrived at the place where they found a little surprise. A couple of robots were just robbing a train! Hoping the thieves hadn't gotten to Al's package, Ratchet and Clank headed towards the robbers. When they saw our heroes, they immediately stopped their activities and entered the conductor's cabin, from where they started the vehicle. Seeing what was happening, our heroes jumped into the last car at the last second.

Being at the very back, the guys climbed onto the roof of the car and started heading to the very beginning of the train. Along the way, a few thieves tried to stop Lombax, but his marksmanship proved he is superior. He finally got to the last robot and took him out, then stopped the train at the nearest station. Knowing that the police might be swarming here in a moment, the guys quickly started looking for Al's package. Fortunately, they found it quickly, so they took it and went to the store.

The man was pleased to receive the package, the content of which turned out to be a female figure from some cartoon, and as a reward he gave the mentioned discount on the Omniwrench module and installed it. After receiving the upgrade, our heroes went to their ship and were about to take off when they suddenly received an SOS message.

"Hmmm. I wonder who it could be?" Clank asked.

"We'll find out soon enough."

Ratchet then played the message. It turned out that flying board racing champion, Skidd McMarx, and his agent were stranded on the desert planet Aridia next to the Blarg construction site. After a few seconds, the message was shutted off. Seeing this, Clank told his companion to go to Aridia to rescue Rilgarian. Ratchet, however, thought it would be a waste of time and that they should focus on finding the Scorn Barons and Qwark.

After a brief argument between them, Lombax gave up and went to Aridia, saying that he was only doing this because the planet was very close and it wouldn't take long for them to arrive.

Despite having lived on Veldin most of his life, it was now, at this very moment, that Ratchet had had enough of the sand. It's coarse, rough, irritating, and it gets everywhere. This is how Lombax would describe his current situation.

After landing on the planet, Ratchet and Clank immediately went in search of Skidd. It didn't take them long, as the lizard-like humanoid was about two minutes from the landing site.

"Hello dudes! How are you? Have you come to save me?" said the champion. The man informed the boys that his shipwreck was on the other side of the Valley. Full of sand sharks.

"I fucking hate my life, right now." Ratchet commented when he found out what he had to deal with. He then began to exterminate the mentioned sharks, which looked like tiny sharks without eyes, small body with orange skin on two legs.

After about fifteen minutes and a few bites, our heroes and Skidd reached the ship. The man was grateful for the help and said that he would have liked to give Lombax one of his flying boards, but unfortunately they were damaged. But he had something similar.

"Hold on. I don't know what model it is, but it looks and works just like my boards. I found it on the icy tundra during one of my old races."

Skidd handed Ratchet an object that also resembled a flying board. When the boy saw it, snippets of memories from the Tenno and the Drifter suddenly began to come to his mind and he was able to recognize what he was holding in his hands.

"This is K-drive. A flying board made by the Ventkids from the planet Venus. You can not only perform tricks with it, but also use it as a weapon or a shield," said Lombax.

Both Skidd and Clank were interested by this info. Skidd because this is the first time he hears about the Ventkids, and Clank because there is nothing in his database about the planet Venus. However, they decided not to ask about this knowledge.

Having received their reward for their rescue, Ratchet and Clank were about to make their way back to their ship when Skidd asked them to find his agent. Although Lombax wanted to continue searching for Qwark, he eventually agreed to find Skidd's companion. The man informed the boys that the escape capsule should land somewhere near the construction site. And that's where our heroes went.

By using the K-drive to travel, Ratchet was able to make it through the entire construction site in no time and find the agent. The Rilgarian made it clear that he was grateful for the rescue, but he was fed up with his client and wanted to break the contract. However, this did not matter to our heroes, who, after receiving the cash reward for their rescue, returned to their ship and flew towards the planet Eudora.

It's been a few weeks since Rivet's incident with a balcony railing. The young girl was in the hospital all this time, where rehabilitation was carried out for her. From Doctor Nefarious, she learned that in addition to her mechanical limbs, some of her internal organs had also been changed to their mechanical versions, such as her heart and lungs, and she was even given mechanical eyes that were connected to a minicomputer in her brain. Overall, you can say that Rivet has become a cyborg. This, of course, hit the girl hard, but fortunately she was not left alone with this. Phantom and Quantum visited her from time to time, telling her about their current lives in the ranks of the Alliance. They told how this organization tries to maintain order in the Polaris Galaxy, despite the fact that the government does not support their activities. They said that there were many people from different ends of the galaxy, such as pirates, smugglers, mercenaries, bounty hunters, or soldiers who were dissatisfied with the actions of their own governments. All this made the girl want to join the Alliance even more, but she knew that Lord Wrath and her mother would not agree to it.

And speaking of the other person.

"Good morning Rayla! How are you today?" said the older Lombax, who had just entered Rivet's room with a tray full of food.

Jill Ordo from the moment she saw her daughter again, she did not leave her. The woman helped with rehabilitation, prepared food and just spent time with the young Lombax. Overall acting like a good mother.

As for Rivet, the girl was confused at first and didn't know what to do. Was she supposed to start calling Jill "Mom" like that or not? They both agreed that when the right time will come, the young one will be able to call the woman her mom. The two also agreed that Jill can call Rivet by her birth name, Rayla, but only when they were alone and to slowly get the teenager used to it.

After a few hours of talking together and doing some exercise, Jill noticed that it was already a night. So she said goodbye to her daughter and left the hospital. She decided to go for a little walk around the Alliance base, which also was a city. At one point, she saw Lord Wrath standing next to the statue, which depicted male Lombax clad in combat engineer armor and a winter jacket. The woman approached the leader of the organization and stared at the monument with him.

"You miss him, don't you?" Jill asked.

For a moment the man said nothing, just stared at the statue. Few seconds later he took off his helmet, revealing Lombax with gray fur with red stripes and tear-filled yellow eyes.

"Yeah...There isn't a day that I don't miss him."

Seeing the sadness of her companion, Jill came to him and hugged him tightly. The man returned the gesture.

"Shhh…Everything will be fine, Alister. It's not your fault. You and Kaden both knew what was at stake. His death is not your fault."

"I know, by the ancestors, I know that, but that doesn't change the fact that I still feel guilty. Sometimes I wonder if I had made some different choices, we wouldn't have lived differently," said Alister. Then he took the woman's hands in his. "Maybe we'd still be together."

Jill sighed when she heard that. When their daughter disappeared on the day of the attack on the base, the first thing the woman did was blame her now ex-husband and divorce him. It wasn't until years later that she realized she'd made a huge mistake and talked to Alister that same day. The man wasn't angry with his ex-wife and even wanted to be with her again, but the woman decided that she needed to prove her worth again in the eyes of the rest of her clan, her ancestors and herself. And has been doing so for more than a few years.

Seeing that he had raised a rather sensitive subject, the last of the Azimuth family suggested that they both should go to the cantina, where they could spend time peacefully like in the old, youthful years. The woman accepted the offer. After a few minutes they found themselves in the canteen and talked about their past adventures.

"I remember one time my ex, now dead, master told me to pick up a package for him from the port. It turned out to be the spy he wanted to interrogate. When I got there, the two rival gangs decided to raid the hangar where I was. I remember telling them that if they don't drop their weapons on the ground, I'll dismember them and then eat them alive, while also hanging them on their own guts. A couple of thugs felt my aura and passed out immediately," Alister said with a smile.

Jill laughed at the story. She read the report of this event. She really wondered who was stupid enough to raid the hangar where the young Praetorian warrior was. There seem to be a lot of them apparently. Seeing that her former lover had finished his story, she decided to tell something herself.

"Once, I was invited to the court on Marcadia, where I met a nobleman, Zacar Girard, who wanted me to find a Duke Corwin. After getting involved in political feuds with the nobility and fighting with a House of assassins and spies I discovered that Corwin had actually been dead for many years, and that his family was using his hologram for their purposes. When I returned with the body to Zacar, I saw with my own eyes how his son murdered him. The boy knew about my contract and promised to pay me for it, but he also said that a beautiful lady like me would only be wasted on the battlefield and wanted me to be his wife. Not gonna lie, I felt embarrassed but also annoyed by the behavior of this bastard, so I just kicked him in his little dick and then shot him. Same with his sister, minus the kick. So I got the money and managed to kill the nobility. Win-win situation, as they say.

Alister laughed at the story. As a member of an important military family in the Lombax Empire, he knew about the tricks of other royal families. And they always annoyed him.

The next hours were spent by the ex-married couple telling each other their adventures. Yes, they knew about them a long time ago, but there's nothing stopping both of them from telling those stories again, right?