The morning approached.
Ratchet was still lying in the large double bed where he and Rivet had spent the nights. Only now did the lombax realize that he was only covered by his bathrobe, which brought a smile to his face. The hero finally got to his feet, put his bathrobe back on and walked out of the bedroom. In the living room, Ratchet spotted the rebel, who had apparently gotten up earlier, sitting at the table. She sipped her coffee calmly before her blue eyes met his green ones and a gentle smile spread across Rivet's face.
"Good morning," Rivet said to him as her boyfriend approached. With a kiss on her cheek, Ratchet greeted Rivet before walking towards the kitchen. "So, how did you sleep," the orange one asked with a grin as he prepared his own coffee, to which the rebel also grinned ammused, "Oh, I think you know what my answer is!" The humming machine had finished brewing the coffee, so Ratchet now sat down with Rivet and took her with his left arm, "Any idea how Clank and Kit's...*trip* went?"
"I wish I knew myself. Neither of them have talked about it yet," both of them had to chuckle at that, before you went back to your coffee and thought about what you could do today, "Do you want me to take you somewhere today?"
"That would be...", but before Rivet could answer, the doorbell rang.
Ratchet stood up questioningly and went to the door. He hadn't really expected visitors, as he had told his friends that the lombax was going on vacation with his girlfriend and didn't wanted to be disturbed. When he opened the front door, he immediately wished he had kept it closed, "Qwark?"
"Good morning, Ratchet! Can I come in," not even waiting for an answer, the hero in green stepped inside, leaving a stunned lombax behind. Rivet, on the other hand, he could hear loudly as she caught sight of the captain.
"ARE YOU CRAZY? I'M IN A BATHROOM," came from the white lombax, surprised and annoyed, before she fled into the bedroom. Ratchet smacked his hand against his forehead. Proof once again that Qwark was running his head through a wall and not paying attention to important details. The lombax then approached the table again, where the captain had already sat down and was waiting for his orange friend. "What do you want, Qwark," Ratchet took the cup again and looked patiently at the man from Kerwan. "This time, my little friend...it's important," the captain's new tone came unexpectedly as he placed both hands on the table, "We've received a distress signal, from a transporter. On a mysterious planet, a crew of vendors has been attacked...by strange monsters!"
"Monsters? Maybe the Tyhrranoids, and are the people all right," The lombax listened intently to Qwark, who shook his head sadly.
"They're all dead... killed by that thing!"
The hero in green pulled out a small holographic device which, when activated, showed a small image of the creature responsible for the murder. Everything was there, the head bent backwards, the eyeless face with the sharp teeth, the long tail with the spike and the dark hue of the beast. "Do you also feel like it's staring at you," Qwark said quietly to himself as Ratchet stared at the strange alien, "What...is that?"
"We don't know yet, but we need you and Clank back," the giant then began to grin heroically again, "I'm bringing the old Q-Force back! Helga has already said yes, and we're getting reinforcements from a special unit that knows all about parasites! Please, Ratchet. The fate of the universe could be at stake again."
"What's that? I've never seen anything like this."
Rivet's voice had risen from behind the lombax, as she looked at the hologram. She also had Clank and Kit in tow, who were also staring at the creature and going over the captain's words again, "So... you need Ratchet's help to fight those things?"
"Ratchet and Clank, actually," the big one added, before a cheeky grin appeared on Rivet's face again, "So this lombax here isn't going on a monster-infested planet without me! Where's my fun then?"
"And I thought you were worried about me," the orange one admitted with a laugh and then stood up, "Qwark, if these parasites could really be a danger, then we're in. All four of us!"
"Count on us, Captain," Kit added, moving closer to Clank. Qwark was happy and then stood up with a heroic pose, "And so the Q-Force is reunited... plus new members! Now then friends, let's show this thing not to mess with Captain Qwark!"
"...The two lombaxes would like to put some clothes on first," the silver robot interjected, followed by a giggle. And so it was decided. The lombaxes joined the Q-Force and would travel from Megalopolis to the unknown planet today. A team had already been chosen to help them and the heroes were determined to face the impending threat.
It all passed quickly.
The four heroes were already back on Megalopolis. The civilians of the city all stood around the brave soldiers who had signed up for the mission. A line of galactic rangers and special forces formed fifty fighters ready to face the parasites. They walked towards a large ship after Qwark had finished a speech to the citizens of the city, and so the lombaxes found themselves on the large cruiser piercing the atmosphere. In the meeting room, Ratchet looked around for familiar faces until he met one particular group that gave him a smile.
"HEY GUYS!"
"Say...is that Ratchet? Indeed...HEY MAN," there stood three familiar faces from the Galactic Rangers, who had been talking to Skidd and Helga. They were Brax Lectrus, Cora Veralux and Elaris. Big Al was also present. The orange lombax approached the gang with Rivet and offered Brax his fist, which he immediately accepted, "Long time no see, guys. How's it going?"
"Pretty good, actually. I'm just getting old, hehe...hey you found a second lombax," the rangers all stared at the rebel, who felt a little underwhelmed at first, but then felt her lover's arm around her, "This is Rivet...my girlfriend. She's from another dimension."
"H...Hi," the white lombax lady smiled shyly before the gang greeted her too, "Welcome to the team, Rivet. Here's to a successful mission."
"And if you want some wrestling practice, come see me. The only rule: no wimps," the big robot lady Helga then offered her hand to the rebel, before a siren drew the soldiers' attention, "Everyone please gather in the control center!" The rangers and special forces all walked in front of a small stage where Qwark and another man who looked like a general stood. This man was gray, wore a thick mustache and held a cigarette in front of his mouth. Plus all the medals pinned to his chest.
"Good to see everyone here! I'll introduce myself first," the moustache bearer took a step forward, "My name is Colonel Sevenfold, and I'm the head of the Special Force!" At the appointment, the top five of the unit who led their twenty-five troops stepped forward, "These are my soldiers! We're happy to be working with the Galactic Rangers and the hero Ratchet and Clank. Would you two please come up to me and Qwark?" The orange lombax walked up with Clank in tow, but first he gave Rivet a reassuring smile. The smaller one now stood between the two leaders, where Qwark then had the word, "A few days ago we received a distress call from a food transporter. The crew are now all dead..."
There was a brief moment of silence before the colonel activated something, "This is our culprit!" A larger version of the hologram shown to the lombax presented itself to the crew, "This...thing is not yet known to us. All we know is that it is not alone and has murdered the entire crew of the suppliers."
"I...can't identify a species," Clank was also at a loss. The creature had no data on his hard drive and was a mystery even to the little robot. "What is of paramount importance is to find the nest of these monsters, and put down the threat. A sample is desired so that we can become more cohesive with the species of these aliens. Alright that's all for today," and with that, the troops went their separate ways again.
Ratchet approached Rivet again, who immediately felt the orange lombax's hand on hers, "Have you ever seen anything like this in your dimension?"
"No...not that I know of," the lombaxes walked back to their quarters.
This room, which had been set up for Ratchet, gave him a kind of nostalgia.
It resembled the quarters he once had on the Phoenix, and his girlfriend seemed to like it too. "Look. They've prepared suits for us," there were special uniforms for the mission on the bed. All dark blue and shades of gray, plus a helmet for space missions. Without hesitation, the two lombaxes changed so that they had a feel for the equipment, "It's nice."
"Yes... a bit tight, but hopefully it will do," the rebel looked at herself in a mirror. She had rarely worn suits like this back then, so this was her first suit of her own. The orange lombax put his hands on her shoulders and whispered something in her ear from behind.
"Can I just say you look hot in it?"
"Ratchet...there are forty-eight other aliens on the ship. They'll hear us," Rivet said with a laugh, which also made her counterpart laugh, "I suggest we get to know this...Special Force first." And so the two lombaxes walked towards the exit. They walked towards the common room, where the food was being served and Clank and Kit had also moved there. The five new faces were also sitting on a table, all talking to each other.
One was a broad guy with pink skin. His hair was short and blond with a flat nose and two tusks jutting forward from his chin. He also seemed to have an arrogant aura on him as he laughed at one of his colleagues. Sitting next to him was another broad colossus, but he was bald and looked like he was made entirely of metal. This one was also humanoid, and seemed to be the reasonable one.
Across from him sat a bird-like man. His head bore a beak and his whole body was covered in feathers that hid behind his armor. His eyes remained white and pupil-less as he continued to listen to the pink man. Sitting next to the bird were twins, one red and one green. With three fingers on each hand and sharp teeth, they laughed at the crew's jokes and lastly, the only woman at the table, whose fingers resembled tentacles and also wore only a dark green ponytail on her head.
"Is there a seat available here," Ratchet approached these strange faces, who briefly interrupted the conversation and looked at the lombax. The twins, on the other hand, became jittery with excitement, "Y...You are Ratchet?! we're your biggest fans!" They spat out the sentence in sync before the iron man in the group shook his head with a laugh, "Yeah, sit down. It's an honor to work with you."
"Oh, no problem, and you can call me by my first name. This is Rivet, my girlfriend. And Cla...," he had actually been expecting his best friend, but he was sitting with Kit at a table for two further away. The hero didn't want to interfere, "So you're some kind of unit trained for cases like this?"
"Little guy. We're the best at our job," came from the pink man with the tusks, "Call me Tusk! As long as you stay behind my back, nothing will happen to you!"
"Now the show-off is coming out again," said the woman in front of him, which made the troops laugh. Then the soldier introduced herself, "Ducky is my name. The two twins are Bille and Jean and this mockingbird here..."
" Don't call me that! Songbird, Kenny Songbird," the bird-like man introduced himself. Only the man of iron was missing, "And I'm Sergeant Metallica...but Adrian will do." With that, the gang of newcomers had introduced themselves, who could then pepper the lombax with words: "So... it's really cool to have a real hero with us! Let's all hope the mission goes well."
"It'll be a success, since I'll be handling everything again," Tusk wore a cocky grin, but Rivet couldn't stare at it anymore: "Pretty cocky here, huh?
"Little one... I've been on so many of these missions. I don't mind this thing with the long head," a threatening tension could be felt between the female lombax and the soldier before Ducky intervened, "Stop being such an ass, Tusk! Have some respect for the lombaxes. They're intergalactic heroes for a reason."
"Whatever...I'm off to crack," the pink man backed away from the gang, who just slapped their hands over their faces in shame, "Sorry, he's always like this."
"Sure, Tusk's an ass...but if push comes to shove, he'll be there for us," Adrian defended his colleague a little before handing two cups over to the lombaxes, "Let's forget this, okay?"
"No problem," the rest of the evening between the lombaxes and the Special Force passed easily. Ratchet and Rivet talked about their adventures, the soldiers talked about theirs and this went on until late at night. The ship was still on its way, and at this rate the heroes would soon land on the planet, where the battle against the aliens was imminent.
But they were not the only ones who were now ready.
His clicking filled the room as he saw his equipment. Everything the Yautja needed for the hunt was there, and they were also there for his companions. He grabbed the first bracer and fastened it to his right arm. On examination, the blade he would use for close combat popped out immediately, before he attached the second bracer to his left forearm. On this he pressed a few buttons that operated his technology and had a self-destruct mechanism. This was only necessary for the greatest emergency, so that nothing remained of their enemies. The young hunter then reached for his spear, which he extended briefly and then drew together again. He strapped it around his back until he reached for the shoulder cannon. This was then mounted and tested. Three red dots pointed to the wall opposite him, giving him the signal that the weapon was ready. And now the hunter came to his final piece of equipment, his helmet.
He put it on his face, whereupon a short stream of air came out and the device was then attached to his face. His comrades-in-arms also had their helmets on, one of which looked like a Cyclops and the other had smaller slits as a visor. His helmet, on the other hand, resembled the standard helmet of his planet, which every hunter had. The three youngbloods then strode out of the armory to three capsules that they would launch into space. The capsule would then immediately set course for the planet where the snakes had awakened, and then the Yautja were on their own. The young hunter climbed in, followed by his fellow hunters, before the hatches were closed and all three were shot out of the ship together. The engines fired and the youngbloods were on their way to the planet.
They would win or die!