It was rather tense making their way to Batalia but soon the family landed and leaped out of the cockpit, where the commando from the Infobot was nearby.
"At attention, you deserting maggots! The next time you soldiers try to go AWOL I'll shoot you myself!"
"Hey, we ain't your soldiers!" Rainbow snapped. "We came here to help you out since your group ditched you!"
The commando nodded. "Alright, appreciate it. You see those bombers? If you don't get to the turrets and knock those ships out of the sky, this whole planet's gonna be rubble! Meet me at the city entrance!"
"Aye-Aye!" Pinkie said, giving a salute.
"Is that our only mission here?" Clank asked curiously.
Twilight checked her map. "According to the uplink, there's also one of his soldiers in some trouble along the grind rails just outside the city. How about half of us go handle them while the other half see about that turret?"
Nodding, they split into two groups; Ratchet, Clank, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity went to find the soldier while Ben, Hilda, Twilight, Pinkie, and Rainbow went to meet the commando at the city entrance.
Hilda acted as the Tank for her group, standing in the front and standing guard for the rest of her team, who provided covering fire and support. Twilight had managed to tweak the RYNO to have a much larger ammo capacity, now holding 200 rocket volleys in stock that could be replenished at any Gadgetron kiosk.
Speaking of which, everyone had quickly gotten the Devestator rocket launcher before splitting up. While they didn't have the destructive capability of the RYNO, they were more than effective in blasting apart Blarg troopers and their tanks.
Before the group even realized it, she had made it to the fortress where the commando was waiting.
"Blasted thing, it won't budge! I've tried everything I know short of nuclear weaponry." He then put a finger to his chin. "Hmmm... no, never mind."
"Oh well, we tried." Ben said as he pretended to turn around to leave, only to be stopped by Hilda.
"Come on, I can get over there lickety-split!" Rainbow boasted as she flew over and used her Omniwrench on the bolt crank, extending the bridge. "All clear!"
The commando nodded in approval. "You all have shown bravery by making it this far and for that, I reward you."
The commando handed an Infobot to the group as they made their way through the fortress and over to the turret. Twilight, Rainbow, and Pinkie decided to watch the Infobot while Hilda and Ben went to town on the Blarg troops in their way.
"Hello once again fellow Blarg, I hope this message finds you well! As many of you know, our home planet is no longer habitable. We've abandoned our factories, our laboratories, and our happy lives because of the encroaching pollution, leaving much behind." Drek said on the Infobot recording. "Fortunately, the nearby planets will supply us with all we need to create our new home, which is nearing completion! Once our scientists locate the ideal orbit, our new world will be perfect! So reserve your space now, prime locations are filling up fast. Good day!
"Drek really won't stop until he's made his perfect world." Twilight frowned.
"That big dumb meanie! He can just find an empty planet and set up shop there, can't he?" Pinkie pointed out.
"I don't think he cares about that." Rainbow frowned.
When they finally made it to the turret, they found a familiar face waiting there.
"Hey, I know you fellas."
"Look, the Plumber's back!"
The Plumber rolled his eyes. "Very funny."
"What are you doing here, Mister?" Pinkie asked as she bounced over.
"Maintenance, what else? I help fix this planet's useless air defenses."
"Uh, yeah, I think you might need to hurry up." Rainbow pointed out worriedly.
"The turret works fine, ya silly little filly! It's the locals. They haven't got the skilled manpower to use it!"
"Well, let the Big Mama handle the big guns," Hilda smirked as she made her way over to the turret.
The Plumber chuckled. "Good on ya. Better hurry while there's still some planet to save."
At first, it was mostly mechanical, just controlling the turret and taking out the bombers. However, as Hilda continued taking out the ships, a slow grin began to spread over her face. She surprised herself by laughing as she saw the last bomber explode, spinning down in a massive fireball toward the surface.
"Man, that felt GREAT!"
"Ma, you were AWESOME!" Rainbow cheered.
"Hehehehehe~! They got blown up REAL good!" Pinkie giggled impishly.
"Well, you sure got a big appetite...for destruction." The Plumber chuckled as he tossed something to Hilda. "Here, take this."
"What is it?" Ben asked.
"It detects underground bolts. My grandfather designed it to suck up loose change on any planet in the galaxy." The Plumber said before rubbing his chin. "What a cheap old man he was."
"Ooooh! Lemme see!" Twilight squealed excitedly as Ben handed her the Metal Detector. "Hidden caches of bolts? How limiting! I can make it work better than that..."
"What? Are you gonna tweak it to magnetize the blood out of people's bodies or something?" Rainbow asked jokingly.
"Come on, Dash. I'm not THAT insane." Twilight said. "Although, I could make something to leech nanotech from enemies..."
"Come on, we should regroup with the rest of the gang." Ben said as everyone headed off.
"Bye, Mr. Plumber!" Pinkie said, waving goodbye to the Plumber as he waved back.
As Hilda's Group were helping the commando, Ratchet's group were grinding on the nearby rails, dodging mines and jumping between rails to get to where they needed to go before finding the missing soldier.
"Halt! Who are you? What are you doing?" The man fearfully asked as he aimed his gun.
"We are on a mission to save the galaxy!" Clank said, his hands raised.
"Put your hands down, you look ridiculous," Ratchet said.
"Actually, I don't care who you are. I've gotta get the heck outta here." The soldier said as he lowered his gun. "I joined the army to get money to go to college. I never knew I'd end up in a war! Go figure."
"This is a noble cause, sir." Clank pointed out.
"Noble my heinie. I just want to get home to my family." The soldier sadly said before handing an Infobot. "Here, I pulled this off a busted robot. Give me some bolts for bus fare and it's yours."
"Well, let this be a lesson to you, darling." Rarity said as she transferred some bolts to the soldier. "There are plenty of less risky job opportunities out there. Don't enlist for a job that you should know might not be the right fit for you."
"Y-Yeah, thanks..." The soldier nodded as he gave everyone the Infobot before leaving.
"Poor man..." Fluttershy sadly said.
"RD wouldn't be too much of a fan of him, she's a stickler on loyalty, that's for sure," Applejack noted.
Ratchet and Clank decided to check the Infobot, which showed coordinates for Planet Gaspar, where a demonstration of a new invention was underway.
"Greetings, Supreme Executive Chairman Drek. As you can see we're about to test our newest automated Pilot's Helmet." The Blarg Scientist on screen said. "This helmet allows pilots to control our latest hi-tech fighters using only their thoughts. Please enjoy the demonstration."
The pilot got into the ship with the helmet on and after a brief start-up, the ship went flying...in the other direction.
The scientist winced. "We still have a few minor adjustments to make."
"Whoa! If they ever get the kinks worked out of that thing, I have got to get me one of those!" Ratchet said.
"If they are working for Chairman Drek, they may know where he is." Clank pointed out.
"Twilight would certainly love to pick apart that there doo-hickey," Applejack noted.
"Well, let's make our way back. Perhaps the rest of our family has finished their side of things." Rarity suggested.
"We got coordinates for the Blarg's old homeworld of Planet Orxon," Ben said as everyone regrouped at the ship.
"And we got coordinates for Planet Gaspar, where they're making a Pilot's Helmet." Ratchet said.
"Pilot's Helmet?" Twilight asked.
"It is a device that allows pilots to control ships and other devices directly with their thoughts," Clank explained.
"Oh! You mean a neural interface that translates thought directives into remotely transmitted commands for whatever device it's interfacing with?" Twilight asked eagerly. "How does it know what form the commands should be in, or what type of commands the ship or gadget will accept? Or what wavelength to use, or-"
"Alright, alright!" Rainbow said, putting her hand over Twilight's mouth. "Enough with the geek talk! My head is spinning here!"
Ratchet chuckled. "Tell you what, we'll see if we can't get two. If we can, you can have the second to take apart and see how it works."
"Let's head to Gaspar first, we might be able to find info on Drek." Clank suggested. "After that, we should make our way to Planet Orxon."
"Sounds like a plan to me. Get along, little doggies!" Applejack said as everyone got in their ship and blasted off to Planet Gaspar.
A little short this chapter was, but I'll be sure to make the next few longer if I can.