Qwark paced impatiently, as Skidd tried to make contact.

"Ratchet, come in! Clank, Rivet...Kit," the champ couldn't even make contact with the help of Big Al, because they couldn't reach the four stranded heroes, "Damn it, nobody's answering!"

"Keep trying. We can't let them down," the big inventor next to him tuned in some frequencies to maybe get through the planet after all. Meanwhile, the green masked hero approached his comrades-in-arms, but next to him appeared Helga, who was beside herself with rage, "ARGH, why didn't you send me down? We could have taken Ratchet with us. Oh, I'll break the ribs of the special-idiots who left without them!"

"Now keep calm before we kill each other!"

Colonel Sevenfold intervened again, "A few good men have died on this mission! We'll save the lombaxes and the rest of the group, I promise!"

"Your mission? You brought in one of those things," came back Qwark, 'I have a lot of daring in me, and well thought out ideas, but this one seems a bit TOO risky."

"That's our job. That's how we find out if there's more, or that the only ones were," Sevenfold stepped away from the squad again, but the gray one turned to the team one last time, "I'll take any responsibility if Ratchet and Clank don't make it."

And with that, the colonel left. The Q-Force, on the other hand, refused to believe the gray one's words. "Oh come on! Ratchet has survived so much. He'll make it too," Skidd tried to keep in touch after he had cheered up, while the rest of the team went back into position. Qwark, on the other hand, left his post to check on Brax. The ranger had been badly injured since the mission and was still close to Elaris, who had been chosen to research the alien. Once in the lab, the giant entered, where the bandaged soldier was already being observed by Cora.

"At least that thing didn't hit my best side," Brax joked to himself, which only made his colleague grin.

"Despite the burn, you're fine. Good to hear," Qwark strode towards the protection troops, who first welcomed the captain: "Are you all right, Brax?"

"Yeah...I'll live...just got a nice scar on the side of my body from now on," the taller one was supported by Cora as they both left the lab and made their way to the sleeping quarters, "I'll take him somewhere comfortable for now and make sure he doesn't die." Nodding, Qwark let the two of them go before he turned his attention back to Elaris. There was a large glass box in front of the blue one, where the snake-like creature was crawling inside. Still smeared with blood and beige, it hissed at the two aliens, who flinched briefly.

"Seriously. That thing still scares me when I think that it left Ratchet stranded on this planet," Qwark looked into the baby's eyeless face, which revealed its second mouth, and the researcher fumbled with her tablet again, "I still can't find any genetic code from our galaxy that could point to its origin." Elaris went back to work, and so did Qwark, who had to go back to the crew, "We're still trying to rescue Ratchet and Clank. The signal is the only problem." So they went their separate ways again. The four heroes and the Special Force squad are still stuck on the planet, and any attempt to make contact fails.

Now only time could tell what would happen next.

By now it was evening. The sun had set and only the stars were still shining in the sky. Ratchet and Rivet were still following their new ally from Earth, who seemed to show no signs of weariness. The orange lombax, on the other hand, yawned loudly to himself and then stopped, "We should...camp for the night."

"Oh. Sorry, I thought you might not need a break," Eric stopped now as well and gathered up the wood nearby, "Let's make a fire and rest for the night."

"I can't turn a blind eye when there are these monsters around," the rebel leaned on her hammer. But Rivet did a poor job of showing that she wasn't tired, because the white lombax also had to yawn and scratch her sleepy eyes. Ratchet briefly helped the human with the fire until it lit up and turned his attention back to his beloved, "Do you want me to protect you?"

"Hehe, more like I'll protect you," she teased the orange one with a laugh before he responded with a kiss. Eric, who had started the fire, looked at the moment for a moment before he sat down: "Ah, I see. You're a couple."

"Well spotted, Sherlock," Rivet joked again, finally sitting down opposite the human with Ratchet.

"So... I haven't had a chance to ask: what species are you exactly?"

Ratchet and Rivet put Clank and Kit down, who immediately sat next to each other, holding hands. "Well...we're lombaxes. Are there any aliens in your galaxy," The hero looked with interest at the dark-skinned man, who puffed slightly, "Where I come from, the galaxy is called the milky way. Our technology is not yet ready to create a hyperspace to visit other planets in a short time. We use hypersleep..."

"Sounds uncomfortable," the rebel admitted, leaning slightly against the hero and continuing to listen to the human, "From Earth, for example, it took seven years to get here, but more to you now, please." Ratchet nodded briefly before starting again, "So...I'm the last of my kind in this universe. The others have disappeared...and Rivet here comes from another dimension, where we also met."

"Other dimensions," Eric raised his eyebrows in amazement, and Clank had something to say again, "The Dimensionator helped. It allowed us to travel to this dimension and many more." For a brief moment, the group was quiet again. The fire warmed everyone sitting nearby, who stared slightly at the flame.

Then Rivet broke the silence, "Why did you breed these things? And why are you using your own people to do it?"

No one had expected the question, but you could see from Eric's face that he couldn't find an excuse, "You're clever. Okay...we weren't looking for them...Mr. Weyland wanted a new bio-weapon." The heroes looked at the human in shock, but he immediately continued, "I was never in favor of it! But I didn't have much of a word to say to the businessmen, and before we knew it, everything went out of control...Mr. Iron and I got separated and I hid for a long time." Ratchet and Rivet were about ready to get up and attack the human before they heard his part of the story, "So...everything comes from the company here? The aliens, the experiments, and the weird temple in the middle of the..."

"You...found a temple?"

This suddenly took the four of them by surprise. Eric knew about the temples, "...They're here again."

"You know the hunters too," Rivet said in surprise as the human started up again, "This isn't the first time they've been here. It is an ancient rivalry that we humans have researched. Each time there are three who appear. It must be some kind of test or something. At the end, the survivors return and they won't be seen again for a long time." The heroes were surprised again. So it was between the creatures fighting each other after all, rather than mere hunting. Eric went over the fire again before standing up, " All right then. You should get some rest. I'll take over the night watch."

"Oh no, I..." but the orange lombax didn't get any further, as the human insisted, "It's okay. Sleep through it. If there are any problems, I'll wake you immediately." And Eric sat down away from the lombaxes, who were leaning against the tree. Rivet snuggled closer to her boyfriend, who was slightly surprised by the gesture. Clank and Kit had immediately gone into sleep mode, so that only the lombaxes were awake for a moment. "Maybe I wouldn't mind some protection after all. Just to look tougher in front of those things," the rebel admitted, blushing, to which Ratchet laughingly wrapped his arm around her, "No problem." The two lovers moved closer and gave each other one last kiss before closing their eyes.

"Good night, Rivet," and the heroes fell asleep.

The next morning finally dawned.

Ratchet was still asleep with Rivet, leaning against the tree behind them, when his nose caught a scent. There was something delicious about it, and when his eyes finally opened in the sunshine, he stared directly at the source of the smell. In front of him, the human was roasting a rat-like creature of the forest over the fire, who also then caught sight of the male lombax, "Ah, good morning." He turned the rat over a little before Eric put it down on a large leaf from the fire, "I hope it's well done."

"Tell me... have you slept at all?" came back the lombax, who took a closer look at the breakfast, "Aren't you tired?"

"Oh, I'm fine. Better wake up your girlfriend, eat and then we'll go on." The dark-skinned human just looked at the meal he had prepared with a slight smile. Clank and Kit got to their feet and noticed the grilled rat, "Oh, someone's been busy."

"Thanks, I just hope it tastes good," came from Eric, who accepted the compliment from the yellow one. "It looks good," but Kit wasn't finished, "Maybe a little more spice next time, but we're in the jungle too, so it's not that bad."

"Hehe, I'll remember that, thanks," the human then stood up straight again, "I'll clean my hands first and try to contact Mr. Iron." Nodding, the friends agreed with Eric, who disappeared behind the trees. Rivet's snub nose twitched at the smell until her blue eyes opened and her friends were sitting in front of a grilled rat, "What...is that?"

"Breakfast...I think," came a laugh from Ratchet, who took a leg and nibbled on it, "Not bad...should do for now." The rebel then joined her friends and tried some of the meat, which admittedly wasn't bad, "Did you make this?"

"No, that was Eric. He'd hardly slept," Kit sat down next to her best friend, who was immediately joined by Clank. The orange hero continued to eat comfortably until Rivet suddenly nudged her friend with her elbow.

"Say... isn't this guy weird for you?"

The lombax raised his eyebrow questioningly. What was Rivet trying to say? "What do you mean," he asked his girlfriend, who then looked suspiciously at the food, "The guy pulls an all-nighter and doesn't look tired, he can kill a rat that big and he generally holds back his emotions... that screams suspicious." The other three were now also thinking. Rivet sounded a bit strange, but the rebel wasn't entirely wrong. The human had done all these things and didn't look tired, "Maybe... humans don't need sleep."

"If we need sleep, so do they," Ratchet's snow-white friend countered, "I'll keep an eye on him, no matter what you say."

"Rivet," Clank spoke up now, "Maybe it's not wise to suspect the only expert here. He can take us to a communicator if we save his friend, remember. Granted, I agree with you...but now would be a bad time for that."

"Clank's right...now let's eat so we can regain our strength," Ratchet gently put his arm around Rivet, gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and took some of the meat again. Defeated, the rebel followed her boyfriend's movement and then continued eating, but she stuck to her word. Rivet found the person who called himself Eric strange and suspicious. She would keep an eye on him if anything happened and if Ratchet, Clank or Kit came to harm... "No..." the rebel whispered to herself. She couldn't think about that now.

But still, there was more to this man than met the eye.