Clank: Veldin
On the planet Quartu, warbots rolled off the assembly line, ready to serve Chairman Drek's war effort. However, the main computer for the assembly line malfunctioned, producing a robot only a tenth of the size. It fell off the assembly line before shutting down.
Clank got up, confused about his surroundings. He saw a nearby Infobot, unaware of the warbot observing him. The infobot showed his recording, and it horrified Clank. He took the infobot, and stored it in his compartment chest…Only to see the warbot was directly in front of him. The warbot went to grab him, but he ran between its legs, sliding down a secondary assembly line chute. He slid into a Blargian warfighter. Quickly acting, he activated the autolaunch function, and flew off the planet. Two more fighters took off in pursuit.
Meanwhile, on the nearby planet of Veldin, Summer was looking over what could be the closest thing to Veldin Holonews, The Veldin Hunting Tips Weekly. It wasn't a very creative name, but it did help her get the jump on bounties when it came to hunting the local fauna. Meanwhile, she could see Ratchet, out of the corner of her eye, still tinkering with that hunk of junk he called a 'spaceship'. For the past two months, he's been saving up his bolts to purchase enough parts to build one. Frankly, she was concerned if it was worthy of planetary travel, let alone space.
As she saw a panel on the bottom of the ship fall out, much to Ratchet's annoyance. She sighed, heading outside.
"Still think it's going to work?"
"It will, mom," Ratchet confidently replied, going under the ship, "Once I get this panel back into place, you'll be able to start searching for Remnant."
Summer gave a sad smile. Even after nine years, Ratchet still felt indebted to Summer for adopting him.
Which reminded Summer that she needed to go check up on Nana. It's been a few months since their last visit.
Ratchet hammered the panel back into place with his omniwrench, before getting out from under. As he stood back up, he tapped the Gadgetron watch on his wrist.
"Final step: attach robotic ignition system," Ratchet groaned, "Thank you for using HelpDesk technology."
"Welp," Ratchet cracked his knuckles, "Looks like I'll be improvising."
Summer raised an eyebrow, "Ratchet…"
"Look, it'll be fine. Bypassing the system shouldn't be too hard."
"Ratchet, even if, and it's a big if, you managed to do that, you'll likely do one of four things."
"Oh," Ratchet popped a hood panel of the ship, "What's that?"
"You'll somehow succeed, and can take the ship off the ground."
"That's the idea."
"Nothing will happen."
"Most likely."
"You'll end up breaking it, making it just dead weight."
"A…valid point."
"Or you'll likely cause it to explode."
Ratchet froze. "Also possible. But, I've got Aura now, so I should be fine."
Summer groaned. When Ratchet gets like this, it was frankly better to stand back and let him fumble on his own. Hopefully he won't damage the front yard too much. As she was about to sit down, her GadgetScroll pinged. Frankly, it was a nightmare to modify her Scroll to link to Gadgetron, but it was worth it for sentimentality. Reading the notification, she sighed.
"Well, at least that investment will start to pay back."
Above Veldin's orbit, Clank is attempting to dodge the Blargian fighters, however he wasn't programmed for fighter controls. Eventually, one of them got a hit on his engine, and he began to spiral down to Veldin. He attempted to hit the automatic ejection sequence, but it wasn't functioning.
"Oh, dear."
On Veldin, Ratchet and Summer heard a roaring sound, as a ship flew over their heads, crashing further into the plateau. The impact caused Summer to fall off her chair.
"What just happened," she yelled as she ran outside. She saw the smoke trail above their heads. "Nevermind, I think I can put it together."
"Think it has a RIS?"
"Ratchet, shouldn't you be more concerned about survivors?"
"Nah, it looked like no one was in it. So, in other words, finders keepers!"
Ratchet ran ahead, leaving a spluttering Summer.
"Uupatah, you little brat!" Summer ran back inside, and got her armor. Obviously she didn't need it, per say, but it was stylish. She put on a silver vambrace on her left arm, and greaves on her feet, before turning to the remade Sundered Rose. Unfortunately, her theory that she'd have to rebuild it from scratch was true. Its normal golden bronze colors were replaced with silver and red, which, while it does match her outfit more closely, it did have a bittersweet feeling.
Sundered teleported to her hand, and she ran out, quickly throwing her axe far into the air to catch up.
Meanwhile, as Ratchet ran along the rocks, he came across groups of Horny Toads. On his left hand, a mini black hole, outlined in dark blue, opened up. His wrench was sucked in, and a Blaster Pistol came out, which he caught. He quickly fired on the toads, disposing of them.
"Oh…" Ruby cooed, "Is that Ratchet's Semblance?"
"Yes, Miss Rose. Ratchet's Semblance, as he called it, is Requip. It allows him to quickly store items in a pocket dimension, giving him easy access to any equipment."
"So cool."
"What are the limitations?" Oobleck questioned.
"Nothing massive, so a truck can't be sucked in. He also discovered sucking in people, be they organic or robot, is not a good idea."
"Why?" Yang questioned.
"He accidentally did it to Summer. She was only in there for a moment, but, when he pulled her out, she was out of Aura, and was freezing. Any drones I could send to investigate were instantly destroyed. My working theory was that no sentient beings could inhabit the pocket realm, though that theory was broken with…certain weapons that Ratchet would use. As of now, I'm not sure why it isn't safe inside it."
Ratchet her a flipping sound, and saw Sundered flying above him. It glowed, and Summer was attached to it.
"Keep up!" She cheered as she was falling down.
"Hey, no fair!"
Summer cackled as the two raced towards the crash site, terrifying the local toad population. As Summer, currently cheating by teleporting with her axe, got near to it first, she saw three Blargian Electriods about to enter. They noticed her, and immediately turned around to attack. Their cannons shoot out a short ranged electric wire, preventing close quarters.
Not a problem for a veteran huntress. She stayed out of range as she threw her axe into one of them. As it fell to the ground, she teleported to it, then took out the second one. Summer switched to rifle mode to take out the final one, but it was faster. Raising its arm, it prepared to zap Summer, only to get a bolt to the back. Ratchet stood there, a smug grin on his face.
"Hah hah," Summer mockingly exclaimed, "Come on."
"Face it, without me, you would've been zapped, and I would've gotten here with not even a scratch."
"Well, I did get here first."
"By flying past the rest of them. I think I fought five of those robots just on the way here!"
The two chuckled as they neared the crash site. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to recover. A few spare parts Ratchet could use.
"Hey, mom!" Ratchet said, finding a small robot, clearly in standby mode, if the turtled up form was any indication. "Might have been wrong about survivors."
Summer, picking up what parts she could, approached. "Is it damaged?"
Ratchet rotated the robot around. "Hmm, not that I can see."
"Well, let's get back home. Once we find a way to fix it, we can see if it'll pilot the ship. We can take him to his destination as a thank you."
Ratchet nodded, and the two headed back to the garage.
Two hours later, Clank awakened. He surveyed the area, and saw Ratchet working on a panel for his ship, while Summer was inside said ship.
Summer was currently working on the wiring. Ratchet was adamant on finding a way to bypass the RIS, just in case the robot doesn't have one installed.
"Interesting." Not Ratchet spoke up.
"AH!" Ratchet exclaimed in fright, falling off his bolt crate. At the same time, Summer, in fright, lurched her head forward, smacking her head against the ship, and giving herself a massive headache.
"You're quite handy with your wrench." Clank complimented.
Ratchet dusted his clothes, while Summer groaned herself out of the ship.
"You bet," Ratchet replied, "I built that ship with it."
Clank looked at the two, then back to the ship.
"Hmmm," turning back to the two, "Currently, I am in search of someone who could be of assistance in saving the solar system," Clank turned to their garage, "Do you know where I might find that fellow?"
Clank pointed at a poster hanging on the wall, depicting the celebrity hero Captain Qwark. Ratchet originally found himself idolizing the man, but, in recent years, he found Qwark more…shallow, compared to his mother. Sure, he was a hero of galactic proportions, but seemed to care more about the fame of it, rather than the purpose for being one. He kept it there mainly to cover up a scrappage in the wall.
"Well," Summer replied, "He's on the radio every week, but, beyond that, no."
"Hey," Ratchet added, "What did you mean by 'saving the solar system'?"
Clank's chest compartment opened, and the Infobot came out. It displayed its contents.
The video detailed Chairman Drek, leader of the Blarg, giving a speech to Novalis. He explained how his homeworld had become uninhabitable, and his solution to save it. He detailed how they were going to rip a piece of Novalis from the planet, to add to the Blarg's new homeworld. Unfortunately, the sudden loss of mass would send their planet spiraling to their sun, but Drek seems uncaring of their plight. Especially after he thought the camera cut, where he pretty much ordered the entire population to kiss his ass. Both mother and son concluded that, given his plans, he was going to do this to many more worlds.
"The people on those planets are hosed," Ratchet exclaimed, "I'm not sure how much help we can bring. Like I said, we don't know where he is."
"Actually, there might be a way," Clank retorted, "If you could use your ship to take me to the coordinates contained in this infobot, I might be able to gather further information there."
"You have a RIS?" Summer states.
"If you are referring to the Robotic Ignition System, I am equipped with the latest version, and can start up any ship I choose."
Ratchet's eyes widened with hope. Finally, Summer can start looking for Remnant.
"Alright then, lets make a deal. If you start our ship, I'll help you find Captain Qwark."
"We will," Summer added, "Ratchet, as a mother, I have to forbid you from going on a dangerous journey like this. However, as your mother, I know it'd be pointless. So, the next best thing would have to be coming with you."
Ratchet flinched. His ship…would be kinda tight if all three of them were in it. His mother was only four inches taller than him, but they could make it work.
Just then, four Blargian fighters began descending near their home.
"Okay!" Ratchet worriedly exclaimed, "Everyone into the ship!"
As they began piling in, Clank needing to sit between seats, Ratchet took the wheel, and they took off just as the pilots left their ships, giving them the most time to escape.
"Ratchet," Summer mentioned, "Before we leave-"
"I know. One stop."
A short distance away, Ratchet lowered the ship in front of Nana's orphanage. Nana, wondering what the commotion was, came outside, as did three other children. A freak accident last year, involving a horde of Horny Toads, left several children in Krukback without parents. While Nana was always saddened to see orphans, she was also glad to once again have a purpose.
"Oh! Ratchet, Mrs. Rose. It's so good to see you again."
"Hey, Nana." Ratchet exclaimed.
"And I see you've made a friend."
"Greetings, fellow robot. My serial number is XJ-04-OOF!"
Clank was accidentally kneed by Summer, causing him to hit the front panel with a CLANG.
"Whoop, sorry."
"No apologies necessary. This starship wasn't made for three people, even one as small as me."
"I think we'll just call you 'Clank', if that's alright."
"That'll be fine, Sir."
"You don't need to call me 'Sir'. The name's Ratchet. Ratchet Rose."
"And I'm his mother, Summer."
"Pleasure to meet you, Sirs."
"So," Nana decided to change the subject, "Are you finally going off to search for Remnant."
"Not quite, Nana," Summer replied, "There's a bit of a problem."
As they explained the situation with the Blarg, Nana narrowed her eyes on Summer.
"As Ratchet's nanny, I should warn you that this is highly irresponsible, allowing a sixteen year old to go off saving the galaxy."
"You're right," Summer sighed, "But this is Ratchet."
Nana slumped her shoulders as Ratchet giggled, rubbing the back of his head.
"I know. Just…be careful you two."
As Ratchet nodded, the cockpit closed, as Nana waved them goodbye, as did the children. As the ground got smaller and smaller, Summer's breathing actually got faster.
"Mrs. Rose," Clank exclaimed, "Are you alright?"
"Mom?"
"It's...happening. I'm finally leaving Veldin."
Ratchet gave a sad smile, place a hand over her own. "We'll find Remnant, mom. One step at a time."
Summer nodded, as blue sky quickly turned to blackness, and the entered the void of space, plotting a coarse for Novalis
Author's Notes: Welp, one down...about fifteen more to go (just for the first game).
We've gotten to see Ratchet's Semblance. It's basically a different version of Fiona's Semblance, but it can't hold entire trucks, and is apparently dangerous inside it. It's also just an excuse for why Ratchet can have a bazillion guns later down the road. Speaking of guns, he doesn't have the bomb glove at the start, but the blaster. I know that seems like a weird change, but it'll have VERY long lasting effects down the road.
He also has a slightly different opinion on helping Clank.
For his age...that's always been a discussion, the only 'canon' confirmation of his age is I think in Jak X: Combat Racing, where it's stated that he's 18 by the events of Deadlocked. Why its THERE of all places, I don't know. Regardless, since Deadlocked happened roughtly three years after R&C 1 released, everyone extrapolated that to mean he must be 15 at the start. I simply bumped that up to 16 for...reasons, further down the line.
As for what he's wearing...this might be the only time I'm taking something from the 2016 remake game. Yes, Ratchet's outfit isn't the shirtless version in the original, but the one from the 2016 game. This is more just personal preference, and the fact that having a mother might've made Ratchet a little more self modest about having a bare chest around his mother XD
As for Summer, yes, her outfit has changed from her canon outfit in Vol 9, to the cover art, because I'm THAT lazy, and I also love the picture.
As always, leave a review, fav/follow, and I'll see you all on Novalis.
