Clank: Novalis


"Alright, approaching Novalis." Ratchet commented.

"Any landing spots?"

"Hmm, scanners aren't picking up any safe spots, mom. We'll have to find somewhere to manually la-" Ratchet stopped himself, only to slowly shrink into his seat. Summer recognized that act well.

Ratchet forgot something obvious, and likely important. Summer raised an eyebrow condescendingly.

"Ratchet…"

"Nooothing…"

"Ratchet…are we about to die."

"Not…yet."

Summer groaned, "What did you forget this time?"

Clank, who was monitoring the instrument panel, piped up. "It appears the landing gears aren't functioning."

"Functioning in what way?"

"They appear to have been torn off upon reentry."

Summer looked at the still shrinking form of Ratchet.

"Look, it's not too bad, we just need to-"

As they entered Novalis's atmosphere, the heat from reentry caused several panels to dislodge.

"I'm not an expert on this type of spacecraft," Clank declared, "But I do believe we are crashing."

Summer could easily tell that was the case when the ship started spinning uncontrollably.

"Ratchet!"

"Look, it's not my fault! Clank here got us excited!"

"I fail to see how I could have been responsible for breaking the landing gear!"

"Not the point!"

As they began hurtling towards the ground, Ratchet hit the ejector, and, just before impacting a cliff, they were sent flying out. Summer used Sundered to get her to the ground safely. Unfortunately, Ratchet simply impacted the ground, his Aura tanking the blow.

"Uhg," Ratchet groaned, "Clank? Where are you?"

"Hmm right hrrr."

"Yikes!" Ratchet jumped up, revealing an annoyed Clank, "Sorry about that."

Clank dusted himself off.

"From one trapped planet to another," Summer muttered, "I'd say it's a marked improvement, but…"

The currently under siege city answered her question.

"Well," Ratchet comments, "We aren't leaving the way we came."

"Perhaps we can procure a ship from one of the inhabitants."

"If there are any left, and we can afford it."

"I'm sure," Summer replied, "They'd be willing to offer us a ride for saving the city."

"A logical conclusion." Clank said.

Summer looked over the cliffside, to the carnage the Blargian forces were inflicting. Turning her head, there was another path, leading to a large building up the hill.

"Alright, here's the game plan: Ratchet, you take Clank up to that building behind us. I'll head down into the city."

"Oh, come on!" Ratchet complained, "I'd miss all the action."

"I am certain that we shall encounter sufficient resistance up to the water plant." Clank retorted.

"You know what that is-you know, never mind, you probably have scanners or whatever."

"That I do. Not to mention, Summer is clearly the more experienced warrior of the two."

Ratchet grumbled while Summer merely snorted.

"Be careful, son."

"I will, mom."

Summer smiled, taking the lift down to the ground. Peckbots and Blargian assault troops littered the plains leading up to the city. Summer fought through the soldiers, switching between axe and rifle form in ruthless efficiency. As she neared a hill heading to a tower, which overlooked a bridge crossing the river, several assault troops came out, and opened fire. Summer threw her axe up above the bridge, bypassing them completely.

However, as she landed, a Blargian bomber fired missiles at the bridge, sending her flying back off. As assault troopers hovered down using jet packs, she threw her axe at one of them, hitting it in the fuel tank. The robot was sent flying into a second one, killing both. In the explosion, Summer summoned herself back to her axe, relanding on the bridge.

And all before she fell back into the water from the Blargian bomber. The third robot's eyes widened in fear, and it wisely ran away…only to get an axe into its backside.

'Hey,' Summer though, summoning her axe, 'You're the one who invaded an innocent planet…well, I hope it's innocent.'

Summer smiled as she continued forward, taking out more Peckbots and robots. As she neared a clearing, three troopers hovered down with a Blargian dropship. Summer fired her gun into the head of the middle one, threw her axe at the shoulder, teleported to it, then as she pulled it out of the robot, fired at the third and final one.

The dropship's hanger door began to ope-

WHAM

Sundered Rose impacted the door, stopping it, and briefly moving it back. Summer narrowed her eyes as the door began to open, much slower this time. She summoned her axe back just before it could go out of her sight. Standing at the top of the ramp was an elderly man, and an infobot. The man was clearly terrified.

"Don't hurt me!" the man cried out as he descended the ramp, "Don't hurt me! What are you? Mercenaries? Torturies? Assassins?"

Summer did a double take.

'Wait, what? Why would I be here to assassinate him? Doesn't he-' Summer's eyes widened in horror, 'Oh, crap, he's likely the leader of this planet, and was being held prisoner…and I just terrified him by nearly impaling him with my axe!'

"I'll tell you anything! Here, take my infobot, it's all I've got left."

"Look, sir," Summer tried to plead, "I'm completely sorry for what just happened. I thought you were working for Chairman Drek."

"Wait, you aren't working for Drek?"

"I just killed his men." Summer deadpanned.

"But you did it so ruthlessly."

Summer winces, "Okay, in fairness, they tried to kill me first."

"So…you aren't going to torture me?"

"Wha-?! No! I would like to know what's on this infobot, though."

At her words, the infobot showed its message.

It detailed a cheesy commercial featuring Qwark, detailing Big Al's Robo Shack, complete with the classic line 'If he can't fix it, it's not broke' and ending with a classic cheesy pun. All located at Metropolis, on the planet Kerwan.


"Reminds me of the commercials Pyrrha would tell us about." Yang states.

"I'm sorry," Clank questions, "Who is Pyrrha?"

"Pyrrha Nikos is a celebrity here on Remnant," Weiss replies, "She has her own cereal, training equipment, brands, you name it."

"And her current occupation?"

"She's training to be a Huntress like us. So, in a way, she's like Captain Qwark." Ruby replied. Then Clank did something that put Ruby off.

One of his eyes twitched.

"How would you describe her?"

"She's," Blake answered, "Honestly one of the kindest people at Beacon."

"And one of the toughest," Yang snarkily adds, "But, yeah, kindest is doing a disservice. If there's even a slight chance she's responsible for causing you problems, she'll apologize."

"...Then she is nothing like Captain Qwark."

"Really?"

"Yes…you'll understand soon enough."


Summer took in the information as she spoke to herself. "Well, it's a lead on Qwark's location. But, without a ship-"

"A ship?" the man exclaimed, "Well, as planetary chairman I could arrange for you to borrow my courier ship?"

"Wait, really? But," Summer turned to the still under attacked city, "I haven't even stopped the attack, or anything like that."

"Look, I'm not blind. I can clearly tell that you won't be able to save the entire city in an afternoon-"

'Though I could certainly try.' Summer thinks.

"-so we'll need someone like Captain Qwark to save us. My ship is the fastest on Novalis, so it should get you to Kerwan quickly."

"It," Summer rubs her shoulder, "Really doesn't feel right to leave you all to this fight."

"The best thing you can do is get Captain Qwark to help us."

Summer would've rolled her eyes, but that'd be looking a gift horse in the mouth. As she headed back, she stepped on the platform, going back up to their original spot. Above her, she could see a green, more robust ship begin to descend onto the nearby landing pad.

'Must be the Chairman's ship.'

As she stepped off the platform, a splashing sound came from the entrance to the water plant. Stepping out of the water was a portly man, blueish greenish in skin tone, and dressed like a mechanic.

"Ah, hello," the man exclaimed, "Don't mind me, just passing through on my way to the evac ships."

"Uh," Summer thumbed at her new ship, "Need a ride?"

"No, no, I have enough bolts to get myself off," as the man passed her, he whispered, "By the way, good job on the boy."

"Wait, what?"

But, too late, the man stepped on the platform, and headed down towards the city. The entire exchange left her with one question.

'What just happened?'


Several Minutes Earlier

Ratchet and Clank watch as Summer cuts through Drek's forces, her most recent feat being the bridge.

Ratchet sighed, "Okay, I can see why you consider her better than me. Now, let's see about that water plant."

Clank jumped onto Ratchet's back, magnetically attaching to his suit's backpack socket, before turtling up. Before they went ahead, Ratchet bought a bomb glove. When Clank saw Ratchet Requip his blaster, he questioned it.

"Oh, that's my Semblance."

"Semblance?"

"Yeah, it's something unique to my mom's world. Apparently, every person's soul can be used as a shield, what she calls Aura."

"Every person?"

"Yep, even robots, so long as they are smart enough."

"Hmm, interesting."

"You're telling me."

As they were having this discussion, Ratchet climbed up into the water plant. It was rather easy going through Drek's forces. Blaster for Peckbots, bombs for robots, and his wrench for anything that got close. As they neared the top, they entered a room, with a rather…large man working on some of the pipes, so he assumed he was a plumber.

"Dadblast-it!" The Plumber exclaimed.

"Is everything alright?" Ratchet asked as Clank got off his back.

"What?" The Plumber exclaimed, turning around, "That's not in the script."

"Uh, what?"

"Nevermind that, shouldn't you be on one of them escape transports?"

"Well, I wouldn't know where to find them, anyway. We kinda just arrived."

"More accurately," Clank added, "We crashed."

Ratchet gave Clank the stink eye for that.

"Well," the Plumber responded, "You better hurry. The escape transports are taking all the rich folks off this galdarn planet."

"So why aren't you going?"

"Socioeconomic disparity."

"I understood part of one of those words."

"He doesn't have enough bolts." Clank translates.

"Precisely. Working people like us have to wait for Captain Qwark to save us."

"Iiii wouldn't know," Ratchet glances out the window, "My mom could probably do some damage. But, since I doubt she wants to go full murder happy…how much for a ticket?"

"Wait, what?"

"Well, I'm sure my mom could find us a ride off this planet so, unless you're bunking with us, how much does it cost to get you on an escape ship?"

The Plumber was looking at Ratchet with intrigue. "About 500 bolts."

"Phew, that's easy." Ratchet paid the bolts, "Now, you should probably get moving."

"You know," the Plumber said softly, "You're a lot nicer than the OG."

"What?"

"Don't worry about it." The Plumber then ran towards the nearby sewer pipe. "Geronimo!"

"Did he just slide down a sewer pipe!?" Ratchet cried out.

Clank merely shrugged his shoulders as the infobot played its message.

The message detailed an SOS from a pilot, as he and his, frankly apathetic, co-pilot were taking missile fire from the planet Aridia. One of the missiles hit their ship, causing them to plummet towards the planet. Just before a missile heading for the cockpit could hit, they ejected, ending the message.

"Did you see that guy on the left," Ratchet exclaimed, "That was Skidd McMarx."

"Does he know Captain Qwark?"

"If they did a commercial together, maybe. But, personally, I doubt it. He's a Pro Hoverboarder, always going off about how cool he is. Though, not without merit. He's currently Solana's top racer, having beaten Sandra Rayolds during the Pokitaru Grand Prix."

"Sounds like you are a fan."

"More of the sport than Skidd. Though that's the most freaked out I've seen him. When we get back, if we don't have a lead on Qwark, we should go help him."

Ratchet headed towards the sewer pipe the Plumber dove into.

"We aren't going down there, are we?"

"Relax," Ratchet sucked up his wrench, "I came prepared."

He Requipped a board.

"You have a hoverboard?"

"Kinda. It's one of those kickstart boards. Luckily, since it's downward, we should be able to easily get some traction."

Ratchet tossed the board into the air, jumping after it. He hits it just as the board hits the water. Ratchet slid down the pipeline, quickly covering all the ground they went through to get to the top. As they neared the entrance/exit, he kicked up, sliding on the grass as he unequipped the board, and Requipped his wrench.

"That's new." Clank comments.

"What?" Ratchet replies, turning around to see the much bigger ship now on the landing pad…with Summer leaning against it.

"So," she says, "How was your day?"

"Well, nothing much. Just helped a strange guy get a ride off this planet, and found another infobot. Looks like Skidd McMarx is in trouble on Aridia. You?"

"Besides fighting through Drek's forces, I ended up rescuing Novalis's Chairman. He offered this ship as a reward. And I got my own infobot. Qwark once filmed a commercial on Kerwan." Summer showed them the infobot.

"Then, if we want to find Captain Qwark," Clank exclaimed, "We should get to Metropolis."

"Hold on there, little robot. It was only a commercial. We don't even know if the ones in it have any idea where he is right now."

"So," Ratchet mutters, "We've got two options. Kerwan, or Aridia. Any ideas?"

"I still suggest we go to Kerwan."

"And I say we go to Aridia. Skidd could use a rescue."

Ratchet juggled the two options in his head.

"I…hate to say it, mom, but going to Metropolis might be the better option. Saving Skidd would be the right thing to do, but," he looked at the burning city, "The right thing to do right now would be to get Captain Qwark. We could use as many heroes as we can get. And if Al filmed a commercial with Qwark, then, legally speaking, he'd have his contact information, or at least be able to contact someone who knows Qwark."

Summer sighed. She didn't like it, but she could see the logic. As they got into their ship, a thought occurred to her.

"Son," she said as the two did preflight checks, "This 'strange guy'...did he have a mustache, and a mechanic's uniform?"

"Yeah. You saw him, too?"

"Came out of the plant just moments before you did. Somehow he knew I raised you. Well, at least, based on the context."

"Just add another layer to that guy's mystery."

Summer nodded as Ratchet piloted the ship upward.

Next stop, Metropolis.


Author's Notes: As always, leave a review, fav/follow, and I'll see you all next time.