Chapter 17: Hubris

Kryantixx Galaxy

Planet Evukar

"Ratchet, there is too much disturbance for me to land" Aphelion notified her pilot as they approached the coordinates.

"Prepare us for a HALO jump then" Ratchet replied hurriedly. He and Clank were thrust from the cockpit of his ship and started making their descent onto the rock moon below. And what he saw terrified him. A large being seemingly made of energy rose from the middle of a large platform. It was white in the center, but seemed to be tinged in red along the outlines. He could hear it roaring even from way up in the sky.

Ratchet used the propulsion from his hoverboots to help guide him through his dive. The sky was filled with stray plasma blasts from Maa'jer's soldiers and the energy blasts from the large creature on the platform. Twisting and turning, Ratchet struggled to calculate how far he was from the ground as the lack of any features made depth perception a challenge. However, as he got closer, the various scattered soldiers helped him to dial in his landing, and he flipped his feet forward to use his hoverboots to help slow his descent.

The lombax pulled out his dual Omniblasters and hit the ground running just a klick south from the platform. Various other Agani soldiers were also scattered around the platform, firing their weapons at the large, spectral beast. In return, the spirit shot balls of pure energy in every direction, vaporizing those that they touched. He vaulted himself over the trajectory of one such bit of energy, his fur tingling with a mix of electricity and adrenaline.

The lombax landed on the moon's surface once more, the ball of energy exploding behind him with a zap and boom. After the dust settled and the light faded, he saw her. Just a few paces in front of him, laying on the ground in a crumpled heap. Ratchet's voice caught in his throat. No… Ratchet fought back tears as he kicked it into high gear, reaching Talwyn in just a few long jumps.

"Talwyn!" He yelled as he rolled her over and jostled her. To his immense relief he heard her moan and her eyes fluttered open. His eyes still darted all over her body, looking for any signs of injuries. They widened some when he saw a very nasty burn on her arm. But he found solace in the fact that she otherwise seemed unharmed.

"R-Ratchet?" She asked slightly confused, rubbing her head. "Ratchet!" she said once more as the ringing left her ears and she regained full consciousness. "That thing is Erus' daughter!" She said, pointing to the spirit. "He forced her to fulfill some sort of prophecy!"

"Yeah, he told us about it, this entire galaxy is toast!" Ratchet yelled to his friend "We need to get out of here!"

"R-Ratchet!" the small robot on his back cried out "watch out!" The lombax and his friend both jumped out of the way just in time to avoid a blaster shot.

"Not. So. Fast" A very angry Maa'jer said with a steely gaze. "You filthy, disgusting marukar! You ruined everything!"

Ratchet narrowed his eyes at Maa'jer as he stumbled out onto the platform. He put two and two together and figured that this was the alien who had kidnapped Talwyn. Ratchet stepped in front of Talwyn, his blasters at the ready.

"Now I wouldn't say that, I've always thought Tal was the life of the party," the lombax said with a steely gaze. Talwyn slowly stood up behind Ratchet and leveled her own blaster.

"Be careful, Ratchet," she whispered to her friend, "He wants to level this whole galaxy." Ratchet gave a slight nod to let her know she heard him, but didn't dare take his eyes off of the dangerous individual in front of them. Maa'jer let out a loud, guttural growl as he advanced towards the reunited trio.

"You lied to me! You were never Erus' daughter! Now you'll pay!" He said as he drew a remote from his robe and pressed it with a flourish. Ratchet and Talwyn stumbled slightly as the platform beneath them shook. The dais in the center of the arena split in two and opened, allowing a large machine to rise up from the depths of Maa'jer's base. "You will be the first to witness the might of my power!" he said as he laughed maniacally.

Ratchet and Talwyn turned to face the Spirit as they heard a bloodcurdling roar emit from its machine that Maa'jer had activated was sucking the energy from it, powering it up. The Spirit appeared to be in pain, somehow, as its cries began to get more high pitched.

"I don't know what that thing does, but I'm guessing it's no good!" Ratchet yelled as he and Talwyn both advanced on a still laughing Maa'jer. A platoon of his soldiers appeared up over the stairs to surround him and to hold off the Spirit's attacks. Talwyn and Ratchet continued their march forward, dispatching enemies left and right. Ratchet tossed Talwyn his blasters when he saw that hers had run out of ammo, and pulled out his Peacemaker to provide some more explosive firepower. The drone of the machine ever present in the air as it continued to power up with the Spirit's energy.

Maa'jer saw that his forces were beginning to get overrun by the two mere aliens, and reached for his own blaster, only to remember that Talwyn had stolen it off of him earlier. His laughing stopped as his eyes widened just in time for Ratchet's wrench to connect with his head in a round house swing. Maa'jer stumbled backward, holding his head with one of his arms, making sure to keep hold of the remote with his others.

"No! No! This can't be!" he yelled as he pressed another button on the remote, which the machine responded to by increasing the intensity of its high pitched whining. Its sound was matched only by the continued pained screams of the Spirit. The large cannon on the front of the machine appeared to glow bright as the charge inside was building. However, electricity started to arc off of it, adding a crackling sound to the cahcophony around them. The ground shook as the machine continued to gather and build more and more energy. Maa'jer's face of triumph at obtaining such a power quickly turned to fear as he realized that the machine was becoming supercritical. Talwyn's eyes went wide as she realized that Ratchet and Maa'jer were right in the path of the explosion.

"Ratchet! Look out!" she screamed, giving the Lombax the precious seconds he needed to dodge out of the way with the aid of his hoverboots just as the machine exploded, the shockwave knocking Ratchet, Clank, and Talwyn to the ground. Where Maa'jer once stood was now a pile of ash. The trio noticed that the spirit on the platform had also seemed to dissipate. Perhaps the explosion caused it to lose its form? Talwyn thought hopefully.

But they would not be so lucky as the large spirit in the middle of the platform reappeared this time as a mass of solid red light. It roared in anger, swatting away the rest of the soldiers as if they were gnats. Only Ratchet, Clank, and Talwyn remained on the platform, dodging and evading the beams of energy.

"This way!" Ratchet yelled, as he saw an opening in between the volleys of attacks for them to escape. But, almost sensing this plan, the spirit screamed, and slammed both fists into the platform, bringing it to life with a soft blue glow and causing a large wall of energy to surround them. "Orrr, maybe not!" he continued, backflipping to avoid another energy ball.

"Clank! Do you think you'd be able to jetpack Tal outta here?" Ratchet asked his metallic friend. But Clank just shook his head sadly.

"The electromagnetic energy in the air here is too much for my systems. I would not be able to maintain stability long enough to scale the walls surrounding us." The small robot informed Ratchet amidst the cacophony of explosions. Okay…plan…C…I think. Ratchet thought as he just started emptying clips of plasma bullets into the spirit, which seemed unfazed by them. Ratchet swore it looked like it was absorbing them.

"Ratchet! I'm empty!" Talwyn's voice snapped the lombax's attention away for a few moments as he searched for his friend among the chaos. He tossed Talwyn another weapon from his arsenal, who had similar luck when trying to strike the spirit.

"Erm, Ratchet, I do not believe your or Miss Apogee's attacks are helping." Clank pointed out from his spot on his friend's back.

"It's The Gem!" Talwyn yelled as she backflipped to avoid a large, ethereal arm from slamming down on her. "I think it did something to her when it broke! She's growing stronger with our attacks!"

"Well how the heck are we supposed to fix that!?" Ratchet yelled back to her, striking one of the phantoms with his wrench. "I mean, aren't we a little late according to what the prophecy said?" the lombax pointed out. "We need to get out of here before she destroys this whole sector!"

"No, I don't think that's it!" The markazian responded. "The prophecy mentioned a protector of this galaxy, not a weapon!" She jumped once more, avoiding a volley of spirit blasts.

"So, what, we're just supposed to not blast the thing that is blasting us?" Ratchet asked incredulously.

"Maybe!" "Both Erus and Maa'jer wanted to use The Gem for power or revenge…they corrupted it…so it broke!" Talwyn scanned the large platform, and saw the two separate halves on either side. "There! You grab that piece, and I'll get this one!"

"On it!" Ratchet responded as he jumped and dodged a flurry of attacks. He swiped up the jewel shard and tossed it to Clank to hold. "See if you can think of anything Clank!" Ratchet turned around to look for Talwyn, and saw that the spirit seemed angry that they were holding part of the gem. Its attacks seemed to increase in intensity and accuracy. Just then, Ratchet saw a large spirit blast heading for Talwyn. "T-Tal, look out!" He yelled, which allowed her to dodge it just in time. Meanwhile, Clank noticed that the gem shard seemed to react to Ratchet's concern with Talwyn, flashing ever so slightly brighter when the lombax yelled out to her.

"Hmmm…Ratchet! I believe that The Gem is meant to respond to emotions!" Clank surmised. "The hatred from Erus and Maa'jer, and the fire of your weapons, is causing the spirit to be enraged!"

"So, we seriously are supposed to not blast at the thing blasting us!?" Ratchet yelled again. He used his hoverboots to speed over to Talwyn, who had collected the other half of the shard. She tossed him her half before dodging another attack. Ratchet paused in front of the large spirit…thing…and clumsily tried to click the two pieces back together. "Hey spirit! We're sorry! Please stop trying to kill us!" Ratchet yelled out to it.

The spirit paused, ever so briefly to look at Ratchet. For a moment the lombax thought that they had solved the puzzle, and that the rampage would stop. But instead, a large beam of energy threw him across the platform, knocking Clank off of his back and throwing the two shards to the side where they shattered into even more pieces.

"Well, there goes that plan!" Ratchet said to no one in particular. The spirit turned once more to Talwyn, focusing its attacks on her once more. While she was preoccupied on facing the spirit to track the attacks, she did not see one of the large pillars behind her start to crumble and fall. No! Ratchet thought as he clicked his hoverboots into top speed. In the blink of an eye, he sped across the dais and threw Talwyn out of the way, but not before he himself was pinned underneath some of the rubble.

A long spirit appendage swooped down and picked the markazian up, holding her tight within its grasp. Its eyes glowed bright and its mouth opened wide as it appeared that it was about shoot a beam of energy at Talwyn point blank. Ratchet struggled to claw his way out from under the rubble, but could only look on helplessly as it seemed his worst nightmare was about to come true.

"Noooooo! Stooooooop!" the lombax screamed at the top of his lungs with a raw emotion that he'd never felt before. This actually seemed to make the spirit to pause briefly, and glance at Ratchet, leaning down ever so slightly to get a better look at him. "Please, if that kid is still in there, somewhere, please don't hurt my friend. I can't lose her!"

"Ratchet!" Talwyn yelled while the spirit was distracted. "You and Clank just get out of here! Save yourselves!"

"Why?" The spirit simply asked the lombax, and ignoring the alien it held in its hand, surprising the furred hero. But it seemed that talking was working, so he kept on.

"I've lost too much already. I-If you kill her…it would kill me too." He stated, still struggling against the debris. "I care about her more than anything else. More than myself!" he continued, his eyes glistening ever so slightly. "I-I'm begging you to not hurt her." He finished. His last words surprising Talwyn, she'd never known the lombax to beg for anything, not even his own life.

All at once the entire spirit glowed brightly, bathing the trio in a blinding light. Ratchet thought for sure this was the end for them all, but that thought was proven wrong just a few seconds later when the light subsided. All of the damage and destruction around them had disappeared, with the large platform and pillars appearing as they had just moments before. Ratchet was standing on his own two feet, and he noticed Talwyn several yards away was sitting on the ground, but seemed fine.

He dashed to her, and helped her to her feet. The large angry spirit had shrunken back down to the size of the young girl who had summoned it, though it still shone brilliantly. Ratchet let go of Talwyn, and faced the spirit once more, holding his Omniwrench out in front of her protectively.

"Ratchet…Talwyn…thank you for saving me." The spirit said which confused the two aliens. "My people once watched over this galaxy, whose peoples seemed to be so rife with anger and hatred for one another. The power of the Marukar was meant to ensure that such emotions did not rule the planets. Your care for one another despite your differences cleansed the hatred that my father and Maa'jer had imbued in the Gem." At this point the spirit reached out and took Ratchet and Talwyn's hands, bringing them together.

"Your bond is strong." The spirit continued, causing Ratchet and Talwyn to look at each other. "Don't ever give up on one another, and spread your kindness across the galaxies for me." The Marukar Spirit let go of their hands and smiled before she shot up into the sky, exploding into a million particles of stardust. The heavy anger from before that choked the platform seemed to lift away. As the trio stared up at the sky, they could sense that the spirit was at peace.

Talwyn and Ratchets' gazes travelled from their still clasped hands to each other faces. Before either could say anything, Ratchet pulled Talwyn into a tight hug for the first time since they had parted several days before. Talwyn could feel his heart racing against hers. And felt what seemed to a couple of tears fall onto her shirt. Did he just… she started to think, her mind racing. He took a deep breath, and listened closely to the beating of her heart, just to make sure that this was all real, and not a dream or near-death hallucination.

"I care about you too, Ratchet" Talwyn softly said, almost as a whisper. Ratchet pulled back suddenly, about to ask her if he heard her right, but Clank, not hearing the markazian, interjected before he had an opportunity.

"I do believe that it is time for us all to go home." Ratchet nodded and the three boarded Aphelion, leaving the 3rd Moon behind. It almost seemed to glow a little brighter now in the inky blackness of space than when they both first came to it.