The escape pod flies through the Fastoon atmosphere and over the destroyed ruins of a city. It rights itself and proceeds to descend.

GADGETRON HELPDESK: You are now entering Fastoon, touching down in five, four (the escape pod drops onto the ground) Oops, three two one.

The group laughed.

"Amateur…" Nefarious criticised Tachyon. "My computers would never miscalculate something as simple as a landing time."

"Providing they don't get stuck in a soap opera?" Ratchet teased. The laughter increased and Nefarious glared darkly at Ratchet.

Just you wait you pathetic squishy… I'm going to take everything you care about, when I reverse time you will lose to all the villains you've ever defeated. See how you like it!

The escape pod opens and Ratchet hops out. He looks like he barely notices anything around him, he sees a slingshot over a canyon to the city and hurries to get there.

CLANK: It looks like something terrible happened here.

In the present, Ratchet stared at the screen with dread pooling in his stomach. He had known… deep down. He could be a little oblivious sometimes but he wasn't stupid. He had seen the signs that something terrible had happened to his people. That didn't mean he was ready to face it though.

Ratchet slingshots over and finally looks around at the city, only to realise it is abandoned and ruined. Clank hops off his back, sensing his friend's confusion.

RATCHET: What…? Where is everyone?

CLANK: I tried to tell you Ratchet, the database said this planet was deserted ages ago.

"That's all?" Talywn said, her voice quivering slightly in anger. After everything Tachyon did to Fastoon… He'd just written in the records that it had been deserted. Like it was nothing but a footnote in his grand scheme. She clenched her fists. How dare that whiny runt devastate a whole planet and just let the whole universe forget about it.

"I was so close…" Ratchet lamented. Abandoned was not an answer. Only more questions. Why was it abandoned? Why was it in ruins? Was this planet where he was from originally or were there other Lombax planets? Why was he abandoned on Veldin as a baby? Did something happen to his family or did they just… Not… Ratchet snapped out of his spiral feeling a cold metal hand on his arm. He looked down into the robotic green orbs that constituted his best friend's eyes. Somehow he was able to convey worry with those eyes. Ratchet smiled sadly at Clank. Normally he would feel embarrassed to show this much emotion but right now he didn't care. He just needed to keep feeling his best friend's hand on his arm.

Ratchet looks around at everything and suddenly, his eyes lock on a crashed ship a few metres away.

RATCHET: Clank, you see that? It's an old ship.

Ratchet runs over.

Ratchet in the cinema began to feel hope. This ship could provide more answers. He knew his future self could fix it. His ears twitched in anticipation.

CLANK: Very old, it would seem.

Ratchet slows down as he gets closer and approaches slowly. He places his hands on the side of the ship and strokes it gently. He's eyes narrow with determination and he slams his hands down on the ship.

RATCHET: We have to fix her.

Clank walks up behind him.

CLANK: Ratchet, we must be practical, Tachyon will find the pod's flight codes. He will be here any minute.

RATCHET: Clank… please… I need to fix her.

Everyone in the room could feel, even through a screen, how much this meant to Ratchet.

CLANK: Oh… Very well.

Ratchet turns and looks at the ship solemnly. Clank walks over slowly and hops on Ratchet's back. He still looks apprehensive but doesn't protest.

"I'm sorry Ratchet." Clank said, startling the Lombax. "I know you want to know more about your people."

"I need to know more about myself." Ratchet interjected.

"I just… worry." Clank finished lamely. It didn't sound like a good enough reason but how could he properly convey just how afraid he was for his best friend.

"Thanks for looking out for me pal but we'll be fine. We're heroes right?"

Clank sighed. Being heroes didn't make them invincible. Sometimes he wondered if Ratchet knew that.

Ratchet uses his Gadgetron Helpdesk to scan the spacecraft.

GADGETRON HELPDESK: A virtual diagnostic of this spacecraft confirms six missing components necessary for intergalactic travel. Happy hunting!

Ratchet decides it would be best to check in the buildings first so he runs over to the one on the right. Outside, milling around are nanophytes, scavengers that scrounge on abandoned civilisations.

Talwyn explained as much to Ratchet. He clenched his fists in frustration. The hope that this planet was not completely abandoned, or would yield some answers, was dwindling.

When they see Ratchet coming they ready their big clubs and charge. Ratchet takes out his combuster and begins shooting at them. They screech as they are dispatched. Ratchet runs into the building only to find more nanophytes inside. One of them strikes him with a bomb, blasting him to the floor. He shakes all over, ruffling his fur and climbs back to his feet.

The people in the theatre all laughed.

"You're just like a giant kitty aren't ya?" Said Qwark. Ratchet rolled his eyes and turned his head away to hide his blush.

"Well, you are not incorrect." Alister said. "Lombaxes are a feline race."

"Well, that's good to know." Ratchet said. "All those years of teasing for being like a cat and it turns out it's the truth."

He throws a couple of his fusion grenades and the nanophytes are blasted.

"Those things go down pretty easy." Ratchet observed.

"Ah, they're basically pests." Said Talwyn. "Annoying, and often large in number, but pretty weak."

Inside the room is a large pool of water. Ratchet walks to the edge and looks into it, he can see it is a pipe running down and away from the building. He leaps into the water and Clank activates his hydro pack, allowing Ratchet to breathe as he dives and begins swimming through the pipe. Inside, Ratchet sees there is a grate covering the bottom semi-circle of the pipe and both sides are surrounded by mines. Ratchet swims gracefully around the mines and along the pipe. He swims through a second half-grated section and comes out in a giant pool. All around are rock formations and plants.

Alister's heart clenched as he watched. It was… both heartbreaking and solastalgic. He knew those caves. He and Kaden used to hoverboot in them all the time. They were beautiful and well maintained. The pipes helped bring water into the city. Now, on the screen, they had become so overgrown with plant life. The metal looked rusted from being left uncared for.

This was all because of him.

He squeezed the palms of his hands against his eyes in frustration. His beautiful home was a wasteland. The caves he played in as a boy were crumbling and overgrown.

If it was the last thing he did, he would go back in time and make it right. Tachyon would never build his army and attack their home. Their people would be fine. Kaden and his beautiful wife would be able to raise Ratchet and watch their son grow into the fine young man he obviously was.

He swims to the surface and finds himself in a large cavern tunnel. There's some flat land just in front so he swims over but there are nanophytes with clubs. As soon as Ratchet mounts the platform they spot him. The strike with their clubs but Ratchet dodges easily and bashes them away with his omniwrench. He runs forwards towards another pool and dives in. This one is exactly like the first one but filled with mines. There aren't to many though so it's easy to avoid them. He swims around the corner and sees the water becomes more shallow. He stands up and looks around. Next to him is a ledge with a piece of a spacecraft on it. It's one of the flight components! Ratchet grins happily and clambers onto the ledge. He grabs the flight component and beams it into his gadgetron storage. He cries out in delight, fist pumping in the air.

Ratchet blushed. It was a little embarrassing having a room full of people watch his private moments of celebration.

He hops back in the water and swims around the corner where he finds a ledge with a chest on it. He hops up and opens the chest, it's full of raritanium. He puts all of it away in his storage gauge then hops back in the water and swims back the way he came. He easily slips though all the pools and pipes and quickly returns to the opening in the building at the ruins. He jumps out of the water and runs out of the building. He looks around and is drawn to the giant sculpture like rubble in front of him. A mountain of dirt and gears.

"What is that anyway?" Ratchet asked. The Ratchet on the screen was forced to explore the ruins alone, with no one to ask about it. He, however, had the advantage of having another Lombax in the theatre.

"There was once a spire there, it connected power cables from plants to the rest of the city. Now, as you can see, it has been covered by rubble." Ratchet wanted to ask more but Alister sounded so heartbroken he just couldn't.

He hops up onto the first one and runs around it like a winding staircase to get to the top. He climbs up to the second gear and finds two nanophytes, he hits them as hard as he can with the omniwrench, sending them over the side. He keeps going and eventually gets to the top of the spire. He looks up and sees there's one more gear he can scale. He leaps up and latches onto it with his hands then heaves himself up. Once up there, he sees another of the flight components. He jumps and cries out happily and stores it away in his storage gauge. He also finds another raritanium chest. A broken line hangs down from the top of the structure to the roof of another building. Ratchet hooks his omniwrench over it and glides down to the roof where he's pleased to find several crates of bolts. Once he's collected them all he jumps over the edge, right by a nanophyte nest. The nanophytes begin to jump out and attack him. Ratchet takes out his shock ravager and strikes them twice till they explode but more just come from the nest to take their place. It seems never ending until Ratchet strikes the nest itself, blowing it up. Next to the nest is a large pipe jutting out of the rockface. Ratchet approaches the pipe, Clank scans it and realises that it is an old raritainium mine. The two look at the only opening, much too small for Ratchet to squeeze through.

CLANK: Ratchet, the entrance to this raritanium mine is too small for the both of us, perhaps I should investigate.

Clank steps down from Ratchet's back and hops up into the shaft entrance. He looks back at Ratchet who nods at him confidently. Clank smiles and slides through.

Ratchet grinned and patted the top of Clank's head. He trusted his best friend no matter what. Whenever Clank went on a solo mission, Ratchet had complete faith in his abilities and never doubted he'd be fine.

Once inside, he gets down and walks into a large rocky cavern with strange plants growing from the dead soil. Suddenly, three of the Zoni appear and float down in front of Clank. He steps back in alarm.

ZONI: Do not be afraid. We are here to help you destroy it.

CLANK: Um, destroy what?

ZONI: We have a lot to show you.

The Zoni fly up and gesture to a large door at the end of the cavern. Suddenly, the Zoni all fall slowly to the floor in front of Clank and stay still with their heads bowed and their eyes closed, almost as though they're asleep.

Clank watched the screen thoughtfully, maybe he'd get to learn something more about the Zoni and how they were connected to him. He looked over at Sigmund. The robot obviously knew the truth but had so far been hesitant to provide too many details.

Ratchet noticed Clank looking at Sigmund but in one of his rare acts of maturity decided to stay quiet for the time being.

Clank looks at them curiously, then notices a small icon flashing in his peripheral vision that he has never seen in his programming before. He opens it and suddenly he can see he has the ability to control the Zoni with various commands. He has to mentally select the one he wants. Clank is perplexed by this new ability but decides it's best he think about it once he's gotten out of the mine.

"Hey this is great pal, we might be able to learn more about your Zoni powers." Ratchet said excitedly.

"I suppose it would be nice to have a better understanding." Clank mused. "I still do not fully understand how I could possibly be connected to these creatures."

"Well, your father was a great Zoni sir." Sigmund jumped in. "He was responsible for constructing the greatest piece of engineering in the entire universe, the Great Clock."

"WHAT?!" Alister and Nefarious cried. The device they were both searching for and Clank's mysterious father had constructed it. His father was Orvus, they both realised. Neither knew how it could be possible but it didn't matter. What did was that they finally had a way to reach their goal, finally, a link to the Great Clock. Nefarious knew Clank had a connection to Orvus but to think he was his son…

Nefarious delighted in the prospect of kidnapping Clank but as Alister looked at him and his best friend's son laughing together he felt a twinge of guilt. He knew he'd still do whatever was necessary, once time was rewritten everything would be okay again. But still… The thought of betraying Ratchet left a bad taste in his mouth.

He looks around for a way to open the door and sees there's a round electronic pad on the floor. He runs over to stand on it. The pad lights up and the door opens. Clank steps off the pad but once he's gone the door closes again. He'll need to be quick. He looks back at the Zoni and decides on the spot it might be best to bring them with him. He selects the follow command and the Zoni awaken and rush to stand beside him. He discovers as he moves around the room they follow him obediently. He stands on the pad again then hurries to get through the door. He and the Zoni make it through just as it slams down behind them. Clank sees he is in another cavern with a giant door and a keypad but this one is much further from the door, not enough time to run over.

ZONI: You have the power to slow time.

"I… What?" Clank said, shocked.

"Wow, that is so cool!" Ratchet cried. "You're Zoni powers are incredible. Just imagine the kind of fun we're going to have now we know you can control time."

Clank watched his friend nervously. Something told him this wouldn't be as simple, or fun, as Ratchet thought.

Clank is amazed by this. Just like controlling the Zoni though, he seems to already know how to do this. Almost like it's been in his programming since he was built. He stands on the pad to open the door then slows down time. Clank moves forward and finds that, while a bit sluggish, the slowing of time hasn't had much of an effect on him or the Zoni. He runs towards the door and they made it through in plenty of time. In the next room are a set of three keypads. One is right in front of him but the other two are across a cavern. It's too far to jump. Clank opens the Zoni commands in his vision and selects the one that says levitate. The three Zoni's hands glow and Clank is lifted into the air on a wave of white energy. It only lasts for a minute or so, then the Zoni need to rest. Clank runs over the first keypad, levitates across the gorge and runs on the other two so they are all glowing blue and the door in front of Clank. Behind it is a metal corridor. Every few seconds, two sets of two large pressers shoot out from the walls and slam together, presumably for crushing ore from the mine. Clank stands in front of it. It's too fast to run through normally so he slows down time. Once the first set has slammed, Clank runs forward. He waits for the second one. Once it does, he jumps through, narrowly avoiding being crushed.

Ratchet tensed ever so slightly. Seeing his best friend almost turned into a metal sandwich was nerve wracking.

On the other side is a second corridor down the right with more crushers but a nanophyte is milling about. Clank is struck by its club. He goes to hit it with his fist which seems to hurt it but suddenly the Zoni rush forward and fire beams of energy at the nanophyte. It cries out and dies. Clank slows time again and runs through the crushers. On the other side is a nanotech crate. Clank opens it and refreshes his nanotech. It's lower than Ratchet's, only five. He turns to his right and sees more crushers but these are across a cavern. He thinks he can make it levitating but it's going to be close. He takes a running jump, has the Zoni levitate him once he's airborne and just barely manages to touch down on the other side before they are exhausted. Clank nearly stumbles off but he rights himself and goes towards the crushers.

"That was incredible sir!" Sigmund cried, watching the screen with stars in his eyes. "You already fully understand how to command the Zoni and slow down time and you put all those skills to use so masterfully. No doubt you're going to be an amazing senior caretaker."

"Senior caretaker?" Clank asked.

"Well… Now that your father has… Gone missing, you'll have to take over his position. It's what he intended." Sigmund said.

"Take over my father's position?" Clank said.

"Woah now hold on, let's stop and think about this for a second." Ratchet interrupted.

"Not exactly your forte." Said Nefarious.

"And yet I've stopped every single one of your evil plans." Ratchet came back at him. "Every single one."

"That will soon be rectified." Nefarious mumbled to himself.

They are also over a cavern, fortunately they crush in quick succession. He times it so as soon as the first two have slammed together he has slowed down time and levitated into the air. With the time slowed, the levitation is less taxing on the Zoni and he easily makes it to the other side. He is now in a large room with several spiked conveyer belts, probably for transporting ore. There are two nanophyte in this room, they immediately throw explosives at Clank. The Zoni retaliate. Clank attempts to attack too but is blasted back, losing half his nanotech.

"Clank!" Ratchet cries. He feels frustrated there's nothing he can do. It's his instinct to jump into a fight to protect his friends but this is a video, he can't do anything from behind the screen.

"I will be fine Ratchet." Clank reassures.

"Yeah, you're right." Ratchet nods, trying to convince himself. He knew Clank was capable of looking after himself, he just… Worried anyway.

He then has a brilliant idea. He slows down time. With the nanophytes moving in slow motion and Clank relatively fine, he runs up and gives them several precise punches that eventually take them out.

"That was genius pal." Ratchet said excitedly. "Using your time powers to fight bad guys, so cool."

Were he an organic, with blood, Clank was certain he'd be blushing. Normally, other people idolised Ratchet and told him how cool he was so it meant a lot that Ratchet was impressed by him.

He turns to the conveyer belts and sees they are moving too quickly to run across as they are. He slows time again and runs across each to the door on the other side, being careful to avoid the spikes. The next room is filled with the remains of an elevator. Clank notices a light in his peripheral indicating another command is available. He opens it and sees he can order the Zoni to manipulate, whatever that means. He selects it and the Zoni use their power to restore the elevator to its unbroken state. So manipulate means to fix things. Or, Clank suspects, reverse time on them so they are restored to a previous state. Clank notices some raretanium in the walls and some old bolt crates lying around, he smashes both and collects what was inside. He runs onto the elevator and it takes him up the wall of the cave. At the top are more nanophytes and raretanium deposits. Clank uses slowed time punches and the Zoni shoot energy to destroy the nanophytes and Clank smashes all the raretanium into pieces small enough to store in his electronic storage unit.

"We're going to be able to make some major upgrades to our weapons." Ratchet said. Clank laughed along happily.

"It's amazing the raretanium in the mine hadn't been stolen by Tachyon or other scavengers." Talwyn said thoughtfully. Alister wasn't surprised, once he'd stolen their technology and unleashed it in a violent slaughter on Fastoon, Tachyon had no interest whatsoever in Fastoon.

Clank sees there is another broken elevator and attempts to have the Zoni prepare it. They try as hard as they can but the pieces are too large and the Zoni collapse from exhaustion, the pieces falling back to the floor uselessly. Clank wonders what to do now, going back is impossible. They need more power. He looks around and finds something surprising in the corner of the room. More Zoni. There's five of them, sitting with their eyes shut and their heads down. What are they all doing here? Clank realises it's best he worries about it later and uses the follow command to wake them up. With all eight Zoni working together, they have no trouble putting the elevator back together. At the top of this elevator is a large door, with no keypad to open it. Clank wonders if the Zoni can also break objects apart as well as fix them. He selects manipulate and the Zoni use their power to unscrew the door bolts causing the whole thing to fall down. Inside there are more crates and conveyer belts. He smashes the crates and slows down time to get across the conveyer belts. The first two are easy but he has to wait for some spikes to pass to get on the third. He barely makes it before fall over the side. There is a gap between two conveyer belts and he has to levitate across with time still slowed. He lands safely, shy of the spikes. He speeds up time again and hops off onto the ledge. There are more nanophytes. Clank hits them with his fist and the Zoni fire energy blasts. One of them hits it's bomb next to Clank blowing him sideways. Clank gets up, dazed but unharmed.

Ratchet breathed a sigh of relief.

The Zoni finish off the enemies. Clank sees two keypads but not a third. There is a pile of junk. He uses manipulate to get the Zoni to move it. Underneath is the third keypad. Clank runs across all of them and the door opens. Clank walks into the next room but before he can look around the Zoni fly in front of him. They fire energy at him and suddenly Clank experiences images projected into his mind. A sun rises over planet Reepor. The Zoni show Clank a city on the planet.

Alister and Talwyn and even Kronk and Zepher shivered when they saw planet Reepor. This did not go unnoticed by the others.

"You okay?" Ratchet asked Talwyn.

"I wasn't born yet, when the great war happened… But I've heard the stories. Cragmites are the monsters parents tell their children about. Scary campfire stories you know?"

"What are cragmites?"

"Cragmites are pure evil. The worst, foulest, most horrible beings in the galaxy." Zepher said.

"We used to fight against them back in our heyday." Kronk bragged. "Still, there were times when we could do nothing. When we'd get the news they'd slaughtered another civilisation in the Polaris galaxy."

"If the cragmites won the great war, they'd have brought the entire galaxy under their rule, killing or enslaving all other species. They'd force people to build machines and weapons and use them to conquer other galaxies until the whole universe fell under their control." Alister said, grimly.

ZONI: They will return.

Cragmites pop out of the caverns. One jumps right into Clank's field of vision as a bright light overtakes it.

"No." Alister whispered. After everything, the cragmites couldn't return. They'd destroy Polaris, enslave its people and then do the same to countless other galaxies. There would be endless destruction and suffering and it would be all his fault.

He blinks serval times, finding himself back in the cave and the Zoni gone. Clank shakes his head to clear it and sees one of the flight components at his feet. He picks it up and stores it. There is more raretanium around. Clank grabs it and then gets on the elevator at the end of the cavern. He finds himself in front of the pipe he entered through and crawls back out. He shows Ratchet the component he found.

RATCHET: Good job pal. Let's go get the rest.

He puts Clank on his back and runs off to check further into the city. At the centre was a large spire of debris, cogs and sand. Ratchet jumps on to the first cog then hoists himself onto the second. There are some nanophytes milling around, Ratchet knocks them off the side with his omniwrench. He jumps and flips on to the top of the spire and sees another of the flight components. He puts it in his storage unit. That's three down.

"Well that was easy." Talwyn said.

"It's nice when it's easy, usually it's anything but." Ratchet deadpanned. The truth was, he wouldn't have it any other way. Yes his adventures were tough and there were so moments he felt afraid, horrified, desperate, angry, it wasn't all fun and games. Despite that, he loved being a hero.

There's also an old chest full of raretanium that he pockets. He sees a fallen cable leading from the top of the spire down to the roof of the raretanium mine. Ratchet jumps off the spire, hooks his omniwrench on the cable and glides down, straight into a pile of crates. Most of them break on impact. Ratchet rights himself, embarrassed. He smashes the rest of the crates and collects the bolts. He jumps down from the roof and decides to explore the buildings on the other side of the city. He runs over to a building with a grav ramp. He equips his grav boots and uses them to ascend the ramp.

GADGETRON HELPDESK: Congratulations! You have received an interstellar Holo-Vite from…

QWARK: Stefan Qwarkanopolous.

Qwark perked up when he heard his own voice. "Finally, we get some much needed screen time of yours truly." He felt it had been too long since he'd been in this. He did wonder what he'd been up to in the mean time.

"Well, this can't end well." Ratchet face-palmed, Clank nodded in agreement.

Inside the building is filled with nanophytes. Ratchet clobbers them with his wrench but there are so many they swarm him and he takes a few whacks from their bats. Eventually he destroys them all and takes the bolts from all the crates in the small building. He continues around the corner and sees one of the flight components and some more nanophytes. He takes out the shock ravager and strikes them down. He grabs the component. The drop from the balcony he's on doesn't look too bad so he leaps off and heads toward some slanted pieces of rubble that lead up to the large building overlooking the plaza. There are more nanophytes at the top. Ratchet bashes them away with his wrench. He runs along the platform that loops around the rock-face. There's a step he has to jump up and more nanophytes he quickly vanquishes. In the middle he runs into another nest. He has to keep taking out the nanophytes that spring from it then eventually he equips his fusion grenade and blasts it to pieces. He continues around the platform, up another step and kills some more nanophytes.

A tear escaped Alister's eye involuntarily. He didn't even bother to wipe it away, his mind was a million miles away, stuck in the past. He recognised all the parts of the city Ratchet was visiting but he could still picture in his mind what they had been like before. Before they were covered in rubble and dust. When there had been lombaxes milling around, laughing, chatting, hoverbooting. When the buildings had been in pristine condition. At night when the lights all across the city lit up. In his memory the city was alive and it was unimaginably painful to see it on the screen, dead.

Finally, he finds another of the flight components. There should only be one more. He suspects the best place to look will be in the building over the cavern on the other side of the plaza. He glides back down to the plaza on a fallen cable and dashes quickly to the other side. There is a large crevice, blocking access to the rest of the city. At the edge of the crevice is another nanophyte nest. He takes out his shock ravager and strikes down the ones milling about. He hits the nest three times before it finally explodes. He can see around the crevice there is another rock level with the plaza with a large building. He uses his swingshot to hook onto the side of the rocks and swing himself around on to it. Once there, he is surrounded by nanophytes and two nests.

The group began to feel a little worried, bar the obvious, nanophytes were dangerous in large numbers.

The nests begin to spit out nanophytes and Ratchet is surrounded by a hoard of them. He fends them off with his wrench but is hit by several clubs and one of the larger ones throws a bomb which blasts him onto his back.

"Ratchet." Clank said, worried. Alister clenched his fists, also feeling tense as he watched.

He gets up and gets out his shock ravager. He swings it with fluid and graceful motion, electrocuting many of then. He equips his fusion grenade and uses it to destroy the nests. The shock ravager finishes off the last of the nanophytes. There's some steps leading up to a building. The paint is peeling off it but otherwise it was in good condition. He climbs the stairs. The doors are open and inside, in the centre of the room, partially buried in a dome of sand, is the final flight component. Ratchet grabs it and adds it to the other ones. He grins happily and jumps for joy, pumping his fist in the air. He runs back outside and looks around for a way to get back. There's a jump pad just a bit further down near the edge of the cliff. Ratchet smiles in relief and goes over to it. He jumps on and it propels him back to the main plaza. He hurries over to the ship.

RATCHET: Okay, I think we have all the parts we need. Let's get to work.

Ratchet begins placing the components in the correct place within the ship's engine.

"Hopefully you'll put this one together as well as your hoverbike." Nefarious said, grinning smugly.

"I'm sure it'll get me around, much like that lovely asteroid you travelled the universe on." Ratchet bit back. Nefarious glowered darkly. The time he spent on that asteroid was torture. He hated being reminded of it. Soon he would make all of them pay, dearly.

He uses the tools he's stored in his Gadgetron Weapons cache to hammer and screw everything into place. A light comes on at the centre of the ship and begins scanning from side to side. As time passes, Clank's eyes begin to droop. His head lulls forward as engine noises screech in the background.

RATCHET: Yes… Yes? Yes! It's working!

"You actually fixed that thing?" Zepher asked in disbelief.

"You don't have to sound so surprised." Said Ratchet.

"Well, you are an excellent mechanic." Clank said, sincerely. Ratchet smiled. "Though you could stand to be less reckless." He added.

From across the room they hear Alister begin laughing.

"You really are just like your father, he was the same, brilliant but always jumping into things headfirst."

Ratchet smiled shyly, it felt weird to be compared to his father so much, but a good weird.

The ship rises into the air. It hovers around animatedly as its female computerised voice begins to speak.

APHELION: Miserable little drophyds. I can't believe they used seeker ammo!

Aphelion flips her open hood down.

APHELION: Oh, what a bunch of cheats!

"Seeker ammo is the worst." Talwyn agreed.

"Unless you're the one using it." Ratchet grinned, he had his fair share of seeker weapons.

Aphelion notices Ratchet and Clank.

APHELION: Oh! A Lombax… I thought I'd never see one again. Thanks for repairing me.

"She seems nice hey." Ratchet said, elbowing Clank softly. Clank smiled at Ratchet, it was obvious he'd already decided this ship was going to be theirs. They'd had ships in the past but usually one's they'd borrowed without permission or been given temporarily by planetary authorities. It looked like this time they might gain a real ship of their own.

Ratchet and Clank look at each other then back at Aphelion.

RATCHET: What happened here?

APHELION: Tachyon carved up the city with his army of Drophyds. It was a cruel act of retaliation, if only he had known how evil the Cragmites were! Oh, if they had won the Great War, the entire universe would have fallen under their terrible rule.

"Wait, what does she mean if he knew how evil the Cragmites were? I thought he was a Cragmite?" Ratchet asked, confused.

"He is…" Alister said, avoiding everyone's gaze. "But he was born long after the Great War, when all the other Cragmites had been banished. We— The people who raised him wanted to give him a chance, to be different from the rest of his kind." Oh what fools they were. They should have killed him the minute they found that egg and when Alister went back in time that was precisely what he intended to do.

RATCHET: And, what are Drophyds?

APHELION: Unpleasant, dreadful, dreadful, dreadful little creatures from planet Zaurik. Tachyon bought their loyalty with raretanium and recruited them for his own personal army.

RACTHET: Why would Tachyon attack the lombaxes?

APHELION: I couldn't say really, probably to steal their technology. All his ships, his enforcers, even he nanotech combat armour he gave the Drophyds, are all made using stolen Lombax technology.

"Of course, it's no surprise technology that amazing would be the work of Lombaxes." Ratchet grinned smugly.

"Yes, no wonder the grummelnet weapons you bought destroyed it so easily." Clank teased.

"Tachyon stole that technology years ago. The Lombaxes would have advanced beyond it now." Said Alister, and he did not sound like he was bragging, he was dead serious.

"So our people were really great inventors huh?" Ratchet asked. Alister nodded.

"Just you wait Ratchet, when, well, soon, you'll be able to meet them and believe me they are the finest inventors in the galaxy."

Ratchet smiled happily, the thought of meeting his people and learning more about himself was just incredible.

RATCHET: Where are the Lombaxes?

APHELION: I am sorry. My memory banks seem to have been damaged in the crash. The last thing I remember was laying down suppressive fire over the Court of Azimuth.

"Court of Azimuth?" Ratchet said, turning to Alister. "They named a court after you?"

"Well, I was the one who designed it." Alister said.

"Really?" Ratchet gasped.

"You're an architect?" Clank asked, intrigued.

"Among other things, I was a Four-Bolt Magistrate of the Lombax Praetorian Guard, and an elder councilman for the Center for Advanced Lombax Research. As a council member I had many administrative duties. Our main court was destroyed when it was struck by lightening and it was my duty to design the new court." Alister stared off into space wistfully, remembering his council days with a bittersweet fondness. He had loved being on the council, getting to serve the people of Fastoon. He loved being able to walk around the city, seeing all the happy families and knowing that he was spending his days making life better for them. Yet in the end, he was the one to destroy all of it. So many deaths, the rest forced to leave their own universe. All because of his mistake.

RATCHET: Can you play this Holo-Vite we just received?

APHELION: Of course! I am equipped with an HD-47 Optical Holo-screen. Hop in.

Clank hops onto Ratchet's back. Aphelion opens the hatch to her seats. Ratchet leaps into the air, summersaults, Clank detaches and they both land comfortably in the seats of the ship. The screen in front of them shows a schematic of Aphelion with a radar scan. Ratchet plugs in his Gadgetron Helpdesk and brings up the Holo-Vite it received. The screen goes dark, then lights up and two Drophyds fall into view, both look exhausted and their eyes are spinning.

QWARK (V.O.): Mad for mayhem? Crave carnage? Adore destruction?

"Finally, the true star of the show arrives." Qwark cried, standing up and puffing out his chest with pride. Everyone else just rolled their eyes.

The two Drophyds are struck by lightening, leaving them smoking. A bomb falls from the ceiling, startling the two Drophyds, it explodes, turning them into skeletons. A television falls and crushes them.

QWARK (V.O.): Well today is your lucky day, you have been invited to participate—

The television turns on and shows a pixelated Ratchet. A giant gun-arm swings from the right of the screen and crushes Ratchet. Blood pours from his mouth.

QWARK (V.O.): Oops… I mean witness, the greatest, bloodiest, goriest battle in the universe!

Alister clenched his teeth. The image of Ratchet being crushed to death stirred a protectiveness within him. Ratchet himself wasn't worried. This was obviously a trap but he knew he could handle whatever Tachyon had to throw at him.

Ratchet's body disappears and a giant pixelated aquatic creature with cybernetic parts falls from the ceiling, cheering in victory.

QWARK (V.O.): The Imperial Fight Festival!

Emperor Tachyon's logo appears on screen.

Ratchet stared at the screen, trying to burn the image into his brain. He wanted to remember the symbol of the man who had destroyed his people's home. He would find out what happened to them and he'd make Tachyon pay.

QWARK (V.O.): Rated M for mature.

A pixelated image of the arena on Mukow appears on screen.

QWARK (V.O.): Come on down to planet Mukow and enjoy a night of entertainment without any ulterior motives or deception.

Mukow fades away to Tachyon's logo again.

QWARK (V.O.): Offer only valid for fuzzy long-eared orphans and their tiny robotic companions.

Ratchet stiffened. That wasn't far off what Nefarious had said earlier. Why was his status as an orphan suddenly so important to everyone?

"Ratchet?" Clank said worriedly.

"I'm okay pal." Ratchet smiled unconvincingly.

"You sure?" Talwyn asked. She was worried too.

"Yeah… I mean… I'll be fine because I'll find out about my family because of this right? Ever since I was a child I've wanted to know where I come from, who my family were. This is my chance. This is great." He didn't sound like he believed that. Clank looked down, he wanted to help Ratchet but he didn't know how. This wasn't a problem he could fix with some calculations and a laser arm.

Ratchet folded his arms on his knees and rested his chin on them as he stared at the screen in front of him. He began to think about his childhood again, when he'd sit at the window of his orphanage and look up at the stars, wondering if he had a family out there somewhere in the universe. Now he was finally given the chance to know the truth but… What if he didn't like it?

The screen fades to black.

CLANK: That sounded like Captain Qwark.

RATCHET: Which means it's probably a trap. But… It's our only lead. Let's go see what he's gotten himself into.

Ratchet hits a few buttons on Aphelion's console, grips her steering wheel and takes them up into the atmosphere. Soon they're gliding away from Fastoon and on their way to Mukow.

"I've heard about the imperial fight festival." Talwyn said darkly. "Tachyon uses it to keep his men happy and loyal, Drophyds enjoy violence and delight in the suffering of others. Some people volunteer for it, because they want the prize money for winning or the glory of battle but sometimes Tachyon forces prisoners into the arena, sometimes without weapons, to be slaughtered."

Ratchet felt outraged when he heard this. Tachyon truely was a monster.

Alister felt sick. Tachyon was a psychopath. And Alister was the one to give him to power to create his empire built of the suffering of millions. One day, he would hunt that monster down and kill him and if he did anything to his best friend's son then Alister would make his death slow and painful.