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Chapter Twelve
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Canal City, Planet Notak
Having been able to deal with the Thugs causing damage on Planet Oozla and at the Maktar Resort from Rivet's tip in advance, Ratchet checked with Clank and Kit before deciding on where to go next, considering the Unknown Thief had tasked Thugs-4-Less to help her kidnap his robotic friends. Thankfully, Clank reported that he and Kit would not be on Endako when the Thief would arrive, which gave Ratchet the motivation to skip straight to Notak.
A water world coated in the darkness of the night, Notak, in some ways, gave Ratchet the impression he landed on a grimmer version of Rilgar back in the Solana Galaxy, especially in the settlement of Canal City that reminded him of Blackwater City. It was not identical, of course. Even more so, it had a chemical factory owned by Megacorp instead of a Hoverboard racetrack.
All the same, Ratchet had unfortunately arrived just in time to see a dark-coated starship leave with a familiar masked person piloting it.
The male Lombax exhaled tiredly, commenting to himself, "Too late again."
"Yeah, just why," a familiar voice replied in a questioning manner.
"Ah," Ratchet yelped as he summoned his OmniWrench to swing at whoever was behind him, prompting the just as startled female Lombax to jump back in fright. Recognizing that his surprise greeter was, in fact, Rivet, whose own Star Explorer was settled not too far away, Ratchet took deep breaths just as she did before his counterpart allowed anger to contort her features in his direction.
"Would you kindly not do that, Ratchet," she demanded with mechanical finger pointing the Veldin-raised sophont on his armored chest.
"I got startled," Ratchet yelled, defensively.
In response, Rivet huffed and tersely said, "Sorry about that then."
Feeling guilty for his overreaction, Ratchet replied, "No, I'm sorry, Rivet."
Instantaneously, the Lombaxes from two separate universes swapped their agitated and guilty expressions in favor of smiling at one another as they said the same, exact word. "Sorry."
After a long moment, Ratchet eventually cleared his throat and changed the topic. "Anyway, Rivet, not to second guess you or anything, but are the Thugs getting suspicious of you?"
Rivet forced a lighthearted scoff in response. "Please, even if they were, I'm too fast and adaptable for them to keep up. I almost feel bad for those guns for hire." She then showed a smirk as she added, "Almost."
Ratchet let out a chuckle as he commented, "Right. Speaking of adaptability, you know where our mystery woman is heading off to?"
"Yep," Rivet confirmed with a nod, further saying, "a laboratory complex on Planet Siberius. No idea what those chemicals she bought are for, but probably nothing good." She then playfully tapped Ratchet's as she remarked, "Let's see who gets there first."
Seeing Rivet already racing to her Star Explorer, the male Lombax only shook his head with a good-natured smile before heading to his own. In a cosmic sort of way, it would be disappointing if their recent adventure ended so quickly, but as some people say, life goes on.
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Megacorp Testing Facility, Planet Dobbo
A largely aquatic planet dotted with small continents and islands chains with rocky mountains, Dobbo did not seem as welcoming as Pokitaru to Clank and Kit, but nonetheless, they pushed forward to get into the testing facility, which was a series of connected buildings mostly built on the water and on certain islands. Eventually, the pair of robots made it into the inner facility, where they discovered a core terminal that would surely have the intelligence they needed to find.
The bad news, however, was that this particular computer required payment as if it were a vending machine.
"Ten thousand bolts to gain access," Kit uttered in sheer annoyance at how much they were being charged and what was exactly charging them.
"In the words of our partners," Clank started to say as his yellow counterpart joined him in finishing, "this galaxy officially blows!"
The two friends shared a good laugh at the joke before Clank then inserted the necessary payment. It was very fortunate that Megacorp paid their employees well.
Soon enough, the computer showed a visual log with commentary that would give Clank and Kit what they needed to learn. "Doctor James T. Fullbladder reporting on Megacorp experiment number 13," the recording announced with a flat monotone, which gave the robotic heroes a disgusted feeling at the odd surname spoken.
Forcefully pushing the awkwardness aside, the two focused on watching and listening to how the Protopet was aggressive and carnivorous to the extreme even early on, and how its own creators recommended it to be destroyed. Shortly thereafter, the video ended, which gave the two time to think.
Clank hummed in thought as he said aloud, "Okay, according to the computer, we were the first to view that video."
Kit considered the news briefly before offering her own opinion. "Here, perhaps, but what if, uh, the scientist sent the same report to Fizzwidget, or any other Megacorp executive that might find a benefit in the Protopet's potential havoc?"
Her counterpart nodded gravely in agreement, even though what possible profit there would be in such an unconscionable attempt escaped him. He then turned back to the terminal and said, "Hopefully, we can extract some further information while we still have time."
The grey robot was about to see what other logs were hidden away, before a sudden blaster shot catapulted him away from the computer and to a nearby wall, where he promptly lost consciousness.
"Clank," Kit cried out in fear for her friend, but then suffered the same attack as well, which forced her on top of him. Fighting desperately to remain online, she caught sight of their attackers to all be Snivelakians wearing the standard garb of the Thugs-4-Less mercenary organization that was supposed to have been recently hired by the Unknown Thief.
"Nah, nah, Little Honey Tart," the leading reptilian remarked in her direction, with a wagging finger no less. "It's lights out for youse two." While Kit was losing the battle to keep herself active, she heard the Thug Leader say to his subordinates, "Boys, get word to our new employer that we've got Clank and Kit. And be sure they're moved over to Siberius for the next stage."
Kit then lost consciousness soon after hearing those orders.
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I am completely sorry that this is a shorter update for Ratcheted and Riveted, but October of 2023 is ending, and just wanted something out for the sake of argument. I suppose also that my new computer is something I have yet to gain complete mastery of, but what can you do?
In other news, I decided to slightly change my FanFictionNet poll about Ratchet/Rivet to make it sound less "duty-bound" and more optional as all romances are, cosmically-speaking. I can imagine that writing "should" instead of "could" may have driven some potential voters away.
In any event, I will work on the Siberius chapter when I get around to it next year at most. The curse of writing for more than fictional story, I guess.
See you all later!