RC AND NM
Chapter 2: In the Borough and a Sandy Romp
"Alright guys, we've arrived at the metropolis," said Ratchet as he carefully piloted the courier ship gifted to them by the chairman of planet Novalis towards a landing pad.
Earlier on, the group had agreed to go to planet Kerwan first to search for Captain Qwark before taking a detour to planet Aridia. The ship soon landed and everyone disembarked to marvel at where they are.
The Metropolis is a sprawling cityscape which is characterized by towering skyscrapers adorned with lush green vegetation, with busy skyways crisscrossing through the air. The skyscrapers reach such heights that peering down from the top reveals nothing but a thick blanket of fog, obscuring the view below. These impressive structures are crowned with bronze caps topped by elegant spires, and one doesn't need to look too far to see numerous flying cars forming up the skyway traffic.
"Man, I heard of the metropolis being one of the major cities in the Solana Galaxy but being here in the flesh is a whole new experience," said Naruto as he looked around in awe of the place.
"Me too, Novalis didn't really give us the feeling of being in a city unlike here in Kerwan," Ratchet was in agreement.
"Please remember that we need to go to Al's Roboshack and inquire the whereabouts of Captain Qwark," Clank pointed out to the duo.
"We know, you won't stop reminding us about it,"
The trio made their way from the landing pad and through a small tunnel before reaching a junction where the path splits into two to different areas. They also came upon a Gadgetron Vendor and went to check for new weapons that could be of use to them.
The segmented pieces of the vendor separated out to form the menu screens hovering before them and one of them displayed the familiar Gadgetron tradesman who smiled upon seeing them.
[Hi there, you two. I got some new weapons in stock that might be just to your liking!] said the tradesman amiably.
Naruto crossed his arms "We're listening,"
The vendor had one of the screens display a weapon.
[After constantly running out of stock, I was able to save you this…the Blaster! Simply point it more or less at the bad guys and mow 'em down!]
Then he displayed the next one
[And here this here is the Powerplay; a submachine gun with the special feature of generating a frontal energy shield when holding it in Aim Mode but will require time to recharge after a deployment]
"I'll take the Blaster, pretty sure you'll have the Powerplay then," said Ratchet.
Naruto nodded in affirmation "You're right about that, especially since I often take on the vanguard role in battles,"
With that said, the tradesman sold the available weapons to the duo as they marveled at the new weapons in their hands and were satisfied with it before he closed the Gadgetron Vendor for the day.
Deciding to take the right path, the trio made their through the grassy path and went down an escalator before crossing a skybride when a Blarg commander armed with a Robomutt appeared before them and seemed rather aggressive.
"Targets have been located, get em!" the Blarg commander started firing his blaster and the Robomutt charged to attack the trio.
"Whoa!" Ratchet flipped sides to evade the incoming shots whilst Naruto rolled to the side and saw the Robomutt pounce at him but he managed to kick it away from him then he dashed towards it and sliced into pieces with his Gunslash. Meanwhile, Ratchet took out his new blaster and shot at the Blarg commander and successfully took him down.
"What was that all about?" asked Ratchet confusedly.
"No doubt Chairman Drek has sent them after us, we've become targets," said Clank with concern.
Naruto kicked at the scraps of the Robomutt with a frown "Guess we need to be on our guard even more than before,"
They moved on and continued to encounter more Blarg commanders and Robomutts along the way and were even attacked by a Blarg commander piloting a fighter helicopter that opened fire on them. Naruto was swift to position himself in front of Ratchet and Clank whilst holding the Powerplay in Aim Mode to deploy the energy shield which deflected the incoming shots then returned fire to shoot the helicopter down, sending it plummeting to the ground below.
Descending along another escalator and defeating more Blargian enemies along the way, the group finally reached their destination which is Al's Roboshack and went inside to find said person behind his workbench in a room full of robot parts of varying sizes and brands.
"Ratchet, that's the man we saw on the infobot. Remember? He knows Captain Qwark!" Clank pointed out eagerly.
"Hey, you're that robot guy right?" Ratchet inquired.
Al turned to face the group "Actually, I build robots. I myself am not a robot guy per se," he chuckled nasally.
"…nerd,"
Naruto spoke up to steer everyone into the main subject "The reason we're here is because we saw the informercial with you and Captain Qwark, so we came here to ask if you could tell us where we can find him,"
Al hummed in thought "Your logic is quite commendable; however I haven't seen Captain Qwark since we shot that commercial," then he took a look at Clank and wondered about something "Say, do you run on standard XP-18 sisterboards?"
"Version 7.66," Clank proclaimed with pride.
Al smiled in response "Back at ya! I may be able to help you out after all. How does a Heli-Pack upgrade sound?"
"An upgrade?" Ratchet quirked an eyebrow in response.
"Natch. Since he's a seven-six-six, I could have the little guy up and flying in no time! Of course, I'll just need my fee for service which is 1,000 bolts,"
Naruto hummed in thought "Hmmm, it might be of help to us along the way. I say go for it,"
"Alright man, you got yourself a deal," said Ratchet.
"Okay, this won't hurt a bit," Al suddenly leaned over to grab Clank before he could react and started modifying him "annnnd…done!" he placed Clank on the workbench with the robot displaying his new upgrade with a large propeller protruding from the top of his head and two smaller ones from his arms.
"Ratchet, Naruto, am I cool now?" Clank inquired.
Naruto smiled lightly "I can say you're more functional than before,"
"Yeah, you're the man!" said Ratchet rather sarcastically.
Al took note of the sarcasm and was about to retort…
*Crash*
There was the sound of crashing and a loud roar in the backroom, confusing everyone except Al who seemed distressed.
"Oh no, not again!" Al ran inside the backroom, the trio looked at each other and their curiosity got the better of them to inside the backroom, there they came upon a rather interesting scene.
Al was wielding an electric baton and trying to stun what appears to be a quadrupedal robot designed to resemble a lion about the size of a canine reaching up to Naruto and Ratchet's waist. The robot has a color scheme of mostly black body while donning white armor, giving it a majestic appearance which caught Naruto's attention.
"Why do you keep doing this?! it's about the fifteenth time that you are wrecking my shack! Sometimes I regret ever buying you!"
*Growls* the robot appears to be just as displeased, leering at Al and his electric baton.
"Whoa, looks like he's not housebroken," Ratchet commented, then he got nervous when the robot started glaring at him now "Uh, I guess he heard that,"
"You were being rather rude," Clank pointed out to the Lombax.
Naruto quickly stepped forward, approaching slowly and cautiously which caught the robot's attention and started growling at him too "Easy now, just calm down. No one's your enemy here,"
The robot still remained wary and became even more aggressive when it saw Ratchet bring out his Blaster, Naruto took note and immediately called out.
"Ratchet, put away the blaster and back up. Seeing weapons makes it aggressive, same goes for your baton Al," Naruto called out in warning.
"But he might attack me," Al protested.
"Which he would if you show yourself as a threat, now put the weapons away and let me handle this," Naruto pointed out to them.
"Are you sure of this?" Clank inquired with concern.
"If Naruto says so, then I have no reason not to trust him," said Ratchet, putting away the Blaster but still prepared to help should things go awry.
The robot watched the stranger approach it calmy with his hands out to show that he's not a threat to it unlike the fat one that likes to shock it out of paranoia. But for some reason, it couldn't help but feel something resonate with this stranger, like they had known each other for a long time in spite of this being their first encounter with each other. Looking at Naruto's outstretched palm, the robot leaned forward and its snout pressed against it. Then at that moment, something just…clicked. The robot felt at ease and viewed him not as a threat but as a friend.
Al was shocked to see the robot being so friendly with someone it had just met "Astounding, I never would have thought that it would act this way…,"
Ratchet smirked "Naruto is not someone you can so easily predict, that's how it's always been with him,"
"How interesting," said Clank.
Naruto turned towards Al with the robot now standing next to him "My guess is that the robot is different from others, I can tell it has a high level of sentience which was why it had been acting up until now. Did you really create it?"
"Actually, I bought it," said Al.
"What do you mean bought it?" Ratchet inquired.
"It was during a Vid-Comic convention over at Planet Rilgar, a shady salesman sold it to me at an affordable price, saying that he got it from a faraway galaxy where an extinct species with great supremacy in technology once lived and that it's truly rare. It was only when I got back home that I learned he ripped me off,"
"An extinct species, huh…," Ratchet muttered thoughtfully.
Al continued with his story "At first I wanted to toss it into the trash can but my curiosity got the better of me to take a look at its core and realized that the salesman was right after all. It contained heavily encrypted data that it almost discouraged me who takes pride in his data analysis skills, so far what I could decrypt was its structure which gave me ideas of how to repair it, the potential arsenal of weaponry, equipment, armors and so much more. But the only thing I couldn't decrypt were its origins, those were locked up too tight that it's almost like it doesn't want me to know,"
"But do you at least know what it is and its name?" asked Clank.
"Well, all I could find out is that it's a biomechanical lifeform called a Zoid and its name is Liger,"
"Liger…," Naruto looked down at the aforementioned Zoid who stared back at him. Unbeknownst to everyone, the symbol on the techpack on Naruto's back was glowing faintly for a moment before fading away.
"By the way, can you three do me a favor and take Liger with you?" Al suggested.
"Why's that?" asked Ratchet confusedly.
"Ever since I repaired it, Liger hardly lets anyone come close to it including me. He even attacked Captain Qwark when he tried to approach him. Seeing how he's so calm around Naruto, he can go with and my shop won't get torn down every time. And also, I'm still decrypting the data I extracted and would be able to learn more of its potential,"
"So, what can Liger do as of now?" asked Naruto curiously.
Al handed over a techpad to Naruto who activated a 3d Holoscreen to display Liger before them.
"Right now, Liger is currently equipped with the Zero Armor which comes with a Double-Barreled Shock Cannon mounted to the chest, a High-Density Beam Gun attached to the tail, Ion Boosters and Downforce Stabilizers for enhanced agility. That's what I know of it so far, I'm sure more will be discovered while you're out there,"
Nodding understanding, Naruto put the techpad away "Thanks Al, we'll be sure to make it up to you down the line," then he turned to Liger "Guess we'll be companions from now on,"
*Growl* Liger growled, seemingly agreeing with Naruto's statement.
Afterwards the group with the new addition found their way out of the Roboshack through the backdoor into an open concrete area with large stack boxes which they needed to traverse, Ratchet and Clank discovered that they could use the Heli-pack feature to boost the former's jump and glide through the air, Naruto simply utilized the energy in his body to get across with the same going for Liger with use of its Ion Boosters and razor-sharp claws to get around. They continued on their way when they were attacked by more Blarg commanders and Robomutts.
"Tch, these guys again," Naruto wielded his Gunslash in one hand and Powerplay in the other before dashing with Liger running next to him, surprising him further when he saw the claws on its front legs glow with yellow energy before slicing through the Robomutts with ease like a knife through butter then it spun around while angling the tip of its tail to aim at some of the Blarg commanders and began shooting at them with its beam gun.
Not wanting to fall behind, Naruto snapped back into focus "Additional Bullet!" he rushed at a Blarg commander and sent him flying with a kick then followed up with three gunshots from his Gunslash. He quickly rolled to the side to evade a rocket fired him to lay prone on the ground before returning fire with the Raptor to take him down.
"Whoa, I didn't know that he could do that," Ratchet inquired after defeating the remaining enemies.
"Well, Al did say that Liger would reveal more about itself once in combat," said Naruto as he flicked open the chamber of his Gunslash and reloaded his bullets before flicking it closed, Liger approached them apparently pleased at being able to fight after all this time "Let's keep moving before anymore show up,"
Resuming their exploration, the group made their way to a Grav-Train station and decided to hitch a ride on one of the trains in order to get around but they soon found out that they weren't the only ones with the same idea. Turns out that the Blargs were using the Grav-Trains to get around as they're currently attacking the group.
Naruto and Ratchet equipped the Powerplay and Blaster respectively started shooting at the Blarg Commanders with Liger providing them support with the Beam Gun on the tip of its tail while they jumped across the platforms in the carts to get closer to the red freight train, they were almost at the front when two Blargian Helicopters appears and began shooting at them.
"Aiming Shot!" Naruto held the Gunslash in both hands as he channeled energy into it and fired a powerful shot, destroying the rotors which sent the helicopter plummeting to the nonvisible ground below. Liger on the other hand roared as it aimed its Shock Cannons at the second helicopter and fired, inflicting a lot of damage to make its flight stabilize. Ratchet seized this opportunity to equip his Bomb Glove and throw a bomb at it to finish the helicopter off and share the same fate as the first one.
By the time the Grav-Train had arrived at the next station, it was completely cleared of Blargians and the group had exited from it. Not only that, they also discovered an Infobot which was in possession of one of the Blarg Commanders, so they decided to see what it contained
There was a recorded communication between Chairman Drek and the Robot Lieutenant who appears to be leading an operation on a planet which was being rapidly deforested.
"Greetings, Executive Chairman Drek!" the lieutenant saluted in greeted.
"Dispense with the pleasantries, lieutenant. My sources tell me you're behind schedule. You must prepare this planet to be harvested for our new world!" said Drek sternly, obviously displeased with what's going on.
"Yes sir. As you can see, everything is moving along, as planned," behind the lieutenant, one could how the robots are making a total mess of things, even killing each other by mistake.
"I'm counting on you, lieutenant. And as your former commander can tell you, I don't take disappointment well,"
If robots could sweat, the lieutenant would have been doing so in gallons as he nervously responded "Yes sir! I won't fail!"
"Drek is destroying yet another planet!" said Clank with concern.
Ratchet shrugged his shoulders, having seen how the robots aren't exactly doing a good of destroying the planet "Yeah, but if that's the kind of help he's getting, I don't think we have anything to worry about,"
"You should not underestimate Chairman Drek. He is quite dangerous. We must find Captain Qwark!"
"Considering that we're not having much luck finding that guy so far, why not go to the planet and handle those guys ourselves?" Naruto suggested.
"You took the words right out of my words, Naruto. Those guys don't look so tough, what do you think?" Ratchet asked Clank.
Clank hummed thoughtfully "Hmmm…perhaps we can persuade the lieutenant to tell us where Drek is!"
"Hehehehe, now you're talking!"
"Well, I've just downloaded the coordinates to Planet Eudora. We're good to go whenever, let's see what else this city can offer us before we head out," said Naruto.
Turns out that the train station was right above the landing pad where they had parked their ship, they returned to the junction and this time took the left pathway which took them to an area where they came upon a robot closely resembling Captain Qwark excepted that it has a spring in place of legs. The Qwark robot immediately began to speak the moment it detected their presence.
{Welcome to the Captain Qwark fitness course! If you're strong enough, fast enough, and clever enough to beat my fitness challenge, you will receive a reward from my head trainer! Simply make your way to the third island to complete the course. Good luck! Qwark enterprises is not responsible for sprains, broken bones, snapped tendons, bruised egos, or accidental death incurred while taking the challenge}
Clank believing the Robot Qwark to be the real thing approached it "Excuse me, Captain, but we have more pressing issues. We urgently need your assistance,"
Everyone looked at Clank skeptically for his naivety with Ratchet deciding to be the one to break the news to him "Uh, Clank?"
"Yes?"
"Do you notice anything unusual about Captain Qwark?"
Clank looked at the robot, particularly the spring "Well, I find the fact that he has a spring where his legs should be to be quite puzzling,"
"And why do you think that is?"
"Possibly an injury occurred while battling evil?"
Naruto shook his head "I can't believe this…,"
At this point, Ratchet started laughing "This isn't the real Captain Qwark, you numbskull! It's a robot! Just like you!"
"Oh…," Clank felt rather embarrassed upon realizing the truth.
"Let's just complete this fitness challenge and get the prize," said Naruto, feeling sympathy for Clank.
"Yeah, I had my laugh for the day," said Ratchet in amusement.
The first island is a tall rocky hill with several platforms which required them to skillfully make their way to the top, Naruto was attuned to these kind of challenges and made his way to the top quickly with Liger keeping up with him thanks to emulating some of the former's moves into its own with Ratchet and Clank catching up to them. There was a zipline to the next island so Naruto used his sheathed Gunslash and Ratchet with his Omniwrench to slide across it. Surprisingly, Liger used its tail to coil around the zipline and slide after them.
Second island has a tall yellow-and-black structure with retractable platforms and walls which requires one to be cautious and have accurate timing else they end up falling off to the ground and not doubt get hurt, pretty much why that Qwark Robot issued that disclaimer earlier.
Nonetheless, the group were able to reach the top of the structure in spite of the increased difficulty to get to the next zipline which took them to the third and final island which had a sharp decrease in difficulty due to there being a few platforms raised on pillars of varying heights. There they met the aforementioned trainer who didn't exactly…welcome them nicely.
"Listen up, you lardballs! That was the most pathetic display I have ever seen on that obstacle course!" declared the trainer who turned out to be a female robot with a rather plump figure while dressed in gym clothes with the Qwark Logo on them.
"What do you mean by that?" asked Ratchet confusedly, he doesn't recall doing anything wrong when going through the fitness course. He and Naruto trained together in many physical activities by in Planet Veldin when they were growing up.
"We finished the circuit, ma'am," Clank added, not seeing any issues with their performance.
The trainer scoffed in response "Ya, but it was weak, weak, weak! When I was competing I would devour courses like that for breakfast!"
"Along with other things for lunch and dinner if your figure says anything," Naruto muttered lowly, looking at the trainer's figure with a quirked eyebrow.
"If it were up to me, you would drill, drill, drill for the rest of the day! But somehow you managed to impress that fool Captain Qwark!"
"Captain Qwark knows about us?" Clank was surprised to hear that piece of information.
"He certainly does. And worst of all, he wants me to give you a prize for that ridiculous performance!"
"Cool, what is it?" asked Ratchet curiously.
"I'm supposed to give you two Swingshots, so you can sway to and fro like little insects!"
"Sweet, let's have it then!"
"Not so fast, you two have disgraced my obstacle course and are going to pay for that in Bolts!" said the trainer as a matter-of-factly.
Naruto looked at the woman in disbelief "Are you for real? Why are you having us pay for something we rightfully earned?"
"Then you should have put more effort into it,"
"But it's a prize from the captain, you're not being fair about this," said Clank.
The trainer shrugged her shoulders like it's not her problem "Too bad, life's unfair,"
Naruto growled in anger and even Liger felt the same way as the former grumbled "What would be unfair is if I haven't shoved my Gunslash right up where the sun doesn't shine upon,"
Begrudgingly, they paid 1,000 Bolts for the trainer to hand over the Swingshots. A part of Naruto swears never to forget and find a way to make the chubby woman pay for ripping them off.
Ratchet's annoyance was replaced with satisfaction once he attached the Swingshot to his forearm "Sweet, I bet Captain Qwark uses stuff like this all the time,"
"Ha! Real men can swing without silly toys like that!" the trainer boarded a flying taxi whilst sneering at them "The four of you make me sick!" then she left in a huff.
"What's up with her?" asked Ratchet confusedly.
"Don't know and frankly don't care, what has my attention though is how does Captain Qwark know of us?" said Naruto with a small frown.
"It might be that he's aware of the situation and aiding us in his own way," said Clank.
"I don't know, it feels off somehow,"
Ratchet interjected "We can talk about it later, let's get back to the ship and decide on our next destination since we have quite a few so far,"
"Okay then…,"
After testing out their new Swingshots a few times and getting used to them, the group used a zipline which took them back to the first island. They were passing by the Qwark Robot when they heard it speak up.
{That's right fitness fans, just make it to the third island to claim your reward. And don't forget to tune in this week as I, Captain Qwark, appear in person to present the grand prize for the hoverboard championship held in Blackwater City}
"Did you guys that? Captain Qwark will be in Blackwater City which is in Planet Rilgar, we can find him there," said Clank.
"Yeah, but how exactly?" Ratchet inquired confusedly.
Naruto hummed thoughtfully then he had an idea "Do you guys remember that recording of Skid McMarx being stranded on a desert planet?"
"Yeah, what about him?"
"If we go over there and help him, he could give us a hoverboard or two as a payment which we can use to enter the hoverboard championship and win, gaining the opportunity to meet Qwark in person," Naruto explained.
Clank saw the logic in the idea and was in support of it "Quite an ingenious plan,"
"I'll say, let's head over there and find us a pro hoverboarder," Ratchet declared.
With that said, the group made their way back to the ship and set a course for Planet Aridia then took off into space.
Once they arrived at their destination, the geography of the planet pretty much spoke for itself as it's covered mostly in sand and mud with barely any vegetation.
"There's going to be a lot of ground to cover, so let's split up," Naruto suggested.
Ratchet nodded in affirmation "Clank and I will check that valley while you take a look in that Outpost over there in case he took shelter there. We can meet up in the ship afterwards,"
"Alright then, watch yourselves out there,"
"You too,"
The two duos took separate paths in search of Skid McMarx but not before reloading on ammunition from the nearby Gadgetron Vendor.
Rachet and Clank's POV
Rachet with Clank strapped to his back, took the pathway which led them into the valley and it didn't take them very long to locate Skid McMarx who was hanging around his escape pod, looking like a lost puppy at that.
"There he is, Skid McMarx!" Ratchet called out.
"The man from the infobot," Clank added.
"In the flesh, little dude! You guys get a load of that epic space battle I was in?" said Skid McMarx, his chest puffed up with pride.
"We saw you screaming for help," said Ratchet with amusement.
Now that deflated his ego and he tried to scavenge what dignity he had left "Uh, that was like a war cry. My agent and I got ambushed on the way to hoverboard practice,"
"Did he survive the crash?" Clank inquired.
Skid shrugged his shoulders "Ah, he's okay. But I've had a little trouble getting back to my ship due to my sprained ankle," he gestured to the sandsharks running by.
"Oh, come on!" Ratchet could clearly see that Skid was making excuses since he's standing upright.
"If you can take out all the sandsharks, I just might have a spare hoverboard for you!"
Ratchet mentally smirked as this is exactly what he and Naruto are aiming for "Make it two hoverboards and you got yourself a deal,"
"Alright dude, I'm rooting for ya!"
The moment they crossed over a mud stream into a wide area, multiple sandsharks came out from the ground and began attacking them in swarms. Ratchet resorted to the use of the Blaster but he also had to keep a distance and watch out for any sandshark that would attempt to attack him from behind.
"May I suggest the Pyrocitor instead? Its flames would have a greater effect on the sandsharks compared to the Blaster," Clank pointed out.
"Good idea, it should make things much easier for us," said Ratchet
Then he swapped the Blaster out for the Pyrocitor and started launching streams of flames, killing the sandsharks even more effectively. He proceeded to scour the entire valley for the sandsharks while also making sure to destroy the pods which they come from to prevent anymore.
Eventually, they were able to clear out enough of the sandsharks for Skid to 'limp' his way safely through to reach his ship which was surprisingly still intact in spite of what happened earlier. Skid reached inside and grabbed a couple of hoverboards which he tossed over to Ratchet to catch.
"Whoa, these are brand new Z-3000s! You can't even buy these in the market! Naruto's gonna love this!" said Ratchet in awe of being able to obtain such high-performance hoverboards.
"Well, I gotta bail. Catch you dudes at the hoverboard races," Skid bade them farewell before taking off in his ship and kind of abandoning his agent as well.
"Now that we got the hoverboards, let head back to the ship and wait for Naruto and Liger to return," said Ratchet as he carried the hoverboards back to the ship.
Naruto and Liger POV
Naruto and Liger made their way into the outpost when they encountered the Constructorbots which started to attack them without any warning or reason, forcing them to defend themselves and destroy the robots. Venturing further inside, Naruto took note that the pathway to his left being a linear route with many neon-gray lights on the walls that requires the usage of the Swingshot in order to traverse through it.
"Guess it was a good thing that we went to Kerwan before coming here, would have been a two-way trip otherwise," Naruto equipped the Swingshot to his right forearm before turning to Liger "I'm afraid you're going to have to wait here until I return, Liger,"
"Grrrr…," Liger wasn't too pleased to be separated from Naruto.
"Don't worry, I'll be back before you even know it,"
Naruto launched the cable towards a grapple point and proceeded to swing from one platform to another but had to be careful as there were explosive crates on some of the platforms, urging him to move quickly to avoid getting caught in the explosions. He soon found himself in a very tall cylindrical-shaped chamber with walls covered in red lights embedded in hexagonal shapes and a network of platforms extending all across it.
At the center is a device that Naruto picked up to examine and realized what it is "Whoa, it's a Trespasser! I read online that it's designed to bypass Invinco-Lock security doors, talk about lucky!" Naruto looked ahead to see one of those very same security doors, almost as if giving a tutorial of sorts "Time to test this baby out,"
Naruto inserted the Trespasser into the Invinco-Lock and learned that he has to ensure that the lasers at the receptors which in turn will open the lock. After unlocking the door, Naruto found an elevator which took him down to the lower level where he had started using the Swingshot and reunited with Liger.
"I'm back and I got something pretty useful, now let's see what else we find besides Skid McMarx," said Naruto with Liger growling in response.
Now following the right pathway, Naruto and Liger crossed along extended metal platforms and fastmoving conveyor belts over a large mud lake which would spell the end for them should they fall into it. More Constructorbots appeared to attack but Naruto and Liger swiftly took care of them with the Powerplay and Beam Gun respectively before riding on an elevator which took them down to another construction site which is deeper within the structure and well below ground level, the tall walls keeping the lake of mud from flooding it entirely. The terrain here is largely just dirt with a stream of mud in the center.
"I'm starting to think that Skid is unlikely to be here," said Naruto after cutting down a Constructorbot and Liger killed several sandsharks that were attacking them.
Moving on, the duo managed to find their way out of the construction site and left via a bridge into a sandy terrain close to the mud lake. They came across a super cannon along with an escape pod next to it, however the person next to the pod isn't Skid McMarx but rather his agent who's trying to make a call on his phone.
"Agh, no signal whatsoever! This down time is killing me!" the agent groaned in frustration.
"Hey, you're Skid's agent," said Naruto.
"I was Skid's agent! Haven't seen him since our ship crashed, and an agent without a client is like a flea without a dog!"
"That's a weird comparison,"
The agent stopped for a moment and took a good look at Naruto "Say, you look like an athletic kid. If you can bring back the championship prize from the hoverboard races in Blackwater City, I'll make you my next star!"
"I'll think it over, I'll be on my way," said Naruto before taking his leave.
"I'll see ya later then…not like I'm going anywhere though," said the agent before focusing on his phone again.
After backtracking to the ship, Naruto and Liger met up with Ratchet and Clank.
"Hey Naruto, look what I've got for the both of us!" Ratchet presented the hoverboards with Naruto taking one of them to marvel.
"Whoa, a Z-3000! Skid really gave you the good stuff! I also came upon a Trespasser along the way and met Skid's former agent who tried to recruit me if I win in the hoverboard championship," Naruto explained.
"Really? Hmmm…," Ratchet hummed thoughtfully "I could be the next Skid McMarx!"
Clank disrupted the Lombax's fantasies "We mustn't allow any distractions and focus on the tasks at hand right now,"
Naruto nodded in agreement "Clank's not wrong, we already have several places to go,"
"Alright then, where do we go from here?" Ratchet inquired.
Naruto's Arsenal
Gunslash Zero – Phantasy Zone
Raptor – Borderlands 3
Tech Pack – Spider-man; Miles Morales
Powerplay – Borderlands 3 *New*
Swingshot *New*
Ratchet's Arsenal
Omniwrench
Bomb Glove
Pyrocitor
Blaster *New*
Swingshot *New*
Shared Gear
Trespasser *New*
Techpad *New*
Z-3000 Hoverboards *New*
Clank's Upgrades
Heli-Pack *New*
Liger's Upgrades
Zero Armor (Currently Equipped)
[Double-Barreled Shock Cannon, High-Density Beam Gun, Ion Boosters and Downforce Stabilizers]
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, the group chose to visit the metropolis in planet Kerwan to seek out Al whom they saw on that informercial with the hopes that he would known where they could find Captain Qwark but to no avail. However, it wasn't a total loss as they were able to obtain a Heli-Pack upgrade for Clank and Naruto gained a rather attached robot companion of his own called Liger with mysterious origins.
Further exploration through the city took them to the Captain Qwark fitness course which they were able to beat the challenge albeit the trainer had the gall to charge them for disgracing the course, earning Swingshots for easier traversals. Learning that Captain Qwark would be at Planet Rilgar for the hoverboard championship, the group recalled the SOS from the pro boarder Skid McMarx and figured that helping him would enable them to obtain hoverboards that they could use.
Travelling to Planet Aridia, the group split into pairs with Ratchet and Clank going to the valley and helping Skid back to his ship which he rewarded them with hoverboards while Naruto and Liger ventured into the nearby outpost and found a Trespasser which will prove useful during their travels along with locating Skid's former agent who tried to recruit him. Now Naruto and the others are contemplating on where to go next.
As you can see, I've decided to give Liger to Naruto as a robot companion but it won't be the only one as the story goes with him obtaining a few more. I made Liger smaller to that of a dog to fight alongside him, I was inspired by Torgal from Final Fantasy 16 and the Zoids reminded me of Bladewolf from Metal Gear Rising. I'll also be applying the CAS system so Liger will be utilizing various armors from its series. Be sure to read and review like always.
This is Hussbek from Ghana.
Signing out and staying alive.