CHAPTER 2

The thief's ship was already well on its way into deep space. Perks of the lab's escape hatch leading directly to the hangar bay. Also perks of the hatch door locking right behind her, otherwise that Lombax would have followed her.

A Lombax…

The thief shook her head and pressed a few buttons on the ship's dashboard. The crackle of static greeted her at first, but within seconds the other end of the channel was open and the face of the Goons-4-Less's head of operations greeted her.

"Goons-4-Less: if it ain't broke, we'll break it," he said with a smug grin.

"Uh huh…" the thief trailed off. "I'm in the market for some extra security."

The Goon's grin only grew wider.

"You bring the cash, we'll bring the thrash!"

"Good," she said. "I need your best men to meet me at these coordinates."

She immediately sent him the coordinates for the planet she wanted to meet them on, and wired a large sum of bolts for good measure.

0oooooooooooooooooooo0

Ratchet slid down the metal shaft and popped out the other end, landing firmly on his feet. He equipped his Lancer and immediately blasted the group of Pyro MSRs waiting for him until they were all nothing but piles of smoldering scrap metal. The Lombax turned and found a way back into the ship itself via an open observation room. The glass door had just been left wide open apparently.

Ratchet leapt inside and busted open all the bolt crates in the room before proceeding to head towards the elevator shaft ahead. The elevator platform itself finally came down, bringing with it more MSR robots that swiftly met their end via a Gravity Bomb in their faces.

He rode the elevator up to the next room, which was a zig-zaggy hallway that was so small it required Ratchet to switch to his Omni-Wrench in order to safely engage with the enemy. The Sharpie MSR was easy to deal with considering all he needed to do was duck and smash one side of his Omni-Wrench into its abdomen multiple times to damage vital parts. The Pyro MSR required a bit more strategy, so Ratchet opted to simply chuck his Omni-Wrench at its middle multiple times, backing away as his weapon would then return to him for another throw, until the robot finally keeled over dead.

The hallway led into a larger room where Ratchet was able to use his Lancer a bit more to destroy several MSR robots, and then when only the BladeBalls were left he opted to switch back to his Omni-Wrench and use that to beat the bolts out of every single one until they stopped moving.

Ratchet moved onto the next room, in which he had to jump up a staircase because apparently no one in either Solana or Bogon could ever be bothered to make stairs small enough for a 4'9 tall Lombax to easily walk up or down without jumping. There were two sets of doors on either side at the opposite end of the room.

The one on the right literally blew open, sending pieces of door flying everywhere, and from the small chamber burst two Pyro MSR robots that were quickly cut down with the Lancer.

"So much for their surprise attack," Ratchet said with an amused snort.

Ratchet made his way to the set of doors on the left, since that chamber on the right didn't lead anywhere, it was just a tiny room. The doors slid open, revealing… a platform so small that its drop-off was only a few feet ahead.

Great.

Ratchet's ears twitched. Did he hear something?

"Uhm, Ratchet…" Clank spoke up.

The Lombax turned and found two Sharpie MSRs approaching them.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me," he muttered. "I've killed how many of you now, and you're still coming after us?!"

Ratchet decided at this point wasting his ammo on these two random Sharpie MSRs was not worth it. He stuck his tongue out at them and then turned on his heel and ran. The Lombax pushed off the edge of the deck, spreading his arms and legs to slow his fall a bit.

"Wooooohooo!"

The wind rushed past his ears so fast it was almost deafening.

He slammed his finger against the button on his glove, internally crossing his fingers that his and Clank's ship got the signal. The Lombax grinned triumphantly as he saw it speed towards their position, moving down slightly to account for their rapid descent. Ratchet landed with a loud, pained "oof!" in the cockpit, and the windshield immediately closed above them, sealing the duo inside.

Clank climbed into his own seat first, and had to dodge and duck under Ratchet's feet while the Lombax situated himself and managed to sit properly in the pilot's seat.

"Well, that sure was… something," Ratchet said with a nervous chuckle.

"Yes," Clank replied, rubbing his head, "and I would rather we never do it again."

"Can't make any promises there."

Ratchet opened a comm-link with Fizzwidget.

"Ratchet and Clank checking in, sir," the Lombax greeted.

"Incredulous!" Fizzwidget exclaimed. "I didn't expect to hear from you again— uh, so soon…"

The two Galactic Rangers shared a puzzled look with one another before Clank turned to Fizzwidget again and said, "There were unfortunately some complications with the mission. The thief managed to escape with the Experiment, and we now have no clues as to where they are headed next."

"Not to worry! I just received an emission which may illubricate the matter."

The screen went black and Ratchet looked at Clank, brows furrowed in confusion. "He got a what that can do what?"

"I believe he is sending us a transmission he received," Clank clarified.

The both of them looked at the screen and sure enough, it was a transmission. Apparently it was security footage captured by a Megacorp store camera. In this footage, the thief approached a desk occupied by a shorter alien in a plain suit with a very ugly tie.

With the thief were… oh no…

"Do you have any maps for this quadrant of the galaxy?"

Goons-4-Less.

"Oh, you bet!" the alien exclaimed excitedly. He then proceeded to reach under the desk and toss a number of maps of all different kinds onto the table, listing them off as he did so. "We got galactic maps, 3D maps, fold-outs, cut-outs, maps to the stars and their homes!"

The thief grasped one map in the middle and pulled— this action caused all the maps on top to topple onto the floor. This thief was no magician, that was for sure.

"Sorry about that," the thief said, not seeming all that apologetic. They patted their pockets and then said, "Hmm, seems I forgot my wallet."

The thief turned to the Goon to their right.

"Could you, you know… take care of this?"

"You betcha," the Goon replied in a surfer dude accent. As the thief then began to walk away, both Goons approached the desk, where the alien then began to cower as they towered over him. One Goon grabbed him by the neck and picked him up like a ragdoll before throwing him hard against a big red button on the wall.

Cracking bones could be heard with the impact, along with an ominous automated announcement from the store speakers.

"Perimeter defenses deactivated."

The Goons followed the thief out of the store.

The alien employee lifted a trembling hand and gasped, "You forgot your change," before slumping back onto the floor, seemingly unconscious if not dead.

The recording then ended and Fizzwidget's face appeared on the screen once more.

"That fruitage was sent automatically to my office as soon as the defenses were deactivated," the CEO explained. "Attached to the emission were coordinates. I'll send them to you now."

"Got it! We'll head there ASAP," Ratchet told him.

0oooooooooooooooooooo0

Upon hopping out of the Star Explorer, Ratchet was immediately greeted by a light rain and a very strong odor that made the Lombax want to hurl. The dark sky reminded him of Quartu but this place felt… a lot more desolate. The dirt was wet, to the point of almost being mud, and the surrounding cliffs towered high in the sky. There were metal ruins scattered across the ground, mostly covered by muck, the only one not stuck in the dirt being a metal arch-way to the right that led to a path.

The only thing that looked new and wasn't run down was the big giant Megacorp store on the other side of the swamp.

"Ugh, I'm equipping my O2 mask," Ratchet said, doing so as he spoke. "This place smells like Tyhrranoid farts."

Clank ventured to the edge of the landing platform and looked around. He then turned to Ratchet.

"It appears there are two paths here," the little robot explained. "One or both of them may lead to the Megacorp outlet store."

Ratchet equipped his Omni-Wrench and twirled it.

"From the map Fizzwidget gave us, it looked like it was the path to the left that led to the store," he replied. "So that's probably our best bet."

With their path more or less decided, Clank secured himself once more on Ratchet's back and the Lombax made his way to the Megacorp vendor to get some ammo and see if any new weapons were available. Considering the state of the surrounding ruins, he was surprised this vendor was functioning at all, let alone properly.

There were two weapons available for purchase: the Chopper, and the Blitz Gun. The Chopper was essentially an armband that, if one swung their arm, it launched sharp chainsaw-like disks that could cut through most metals like butter. The Blitz Gun was like a double barreled shotgun, but rather than blasting enemies with shrapnel, it blasted them with tendrils of electricity.

Both weapons, while they sounded pretty good, were way too expensive.

Ratchet left the vendor in mild disappointment, and so proceeded to venture down the winding path ahead. When he reached the bottom, he found that there was a small gap with some swamp water in it. The yellowish-green color was too strong for Ratchet to tell how deep the water actually was, and it looked like he could easily make the jump to the next section of land, a small area surrounded by a bit of swamp water and tall, cliff-like rocks that acted as a wall.

So, Ratchet took a few steps back and got a running start. He leapt and easily landed on the other side in a low crouch.

It was then that three snail like creatures, each with a single eyeball protruding from the thin eyestalk protruding from their faces and equipped with four crab-like claws also attached to the body by thin tendrils, burst from some swamp water on the other side of the small landmass.

The Lombax equipped his Lancer and started firing. The three swamp beasts didn't stand much of a chance— the super-hot plasma bullets pierced and cooked their flesh upon impact and within a few seconds, all three of the beasts were dead.

Ratchet took a moment to tap a button on the side of his helmet while looking at the creatures in order to activate the database stored in his helmet. The helmet scanned the creatures and in moments brought up a file. They were apparently named mutant swamp beasts (a name they definitely spent hours coming up with).

The entry further explained that it was theorized that all the swamp beasts came from a bigger "Mother creature" but no one had ever seen it and lived to tell the tale.

Ratchet mentally filed all of this away and dismissed the file before continuing on his way.

He sprinted across the ground, leapt over the second small gap, and rounded the corner where he found a swarm of fireflies… with pincers. The Lombax wasted no time in switching over to his Omni-Wrench, and proceeded to swing the weapon, batting the fireflies around like it was a weird game of ancient baseball. The fireflies all went down as soon as the Omni-Wrench made contact with them— their exoskeletons instantly crumpled.

Ratchet would have stopped to scan the fireflies too, but it was when the little murder spree was over that he heard the terrified screams.

"Help! Someone help me, please!"

He immediately sprinted towards the source of the cries, which was at the end of the landmass he was currently on. He found a Megacorp employee who looked a lot like the one from the transmission struggling in the water, trying to claw his way out of the depths.

"Hang on!" Ratchet reached a hand out to grab the employee.

It was too late. The employee was suddenly yanked down into the water, and the last sound he made that Ratchet heard was a gurgling. The Lombax stared at the water in shock. Leftover ripples from the employee bobbed the water before quickly slowing and going still.

"Ratchet?" Clank asked softly, pulling his friend out of the stunned haze he was trapped in. "Are you alright?"

"If I'd just been a little faster, that employee might still be alive," Ratchet said. He shook his head. "If we hurry, maybe we'll be able to rescue someone else."

He then turned to the path ahead, which consisted of a glass bridge floating in the water leading to another piece of land. The Lombax ran and then jumped onto the bridge. He ran across it, feeling a bit uneasy at the way it tilted from his weight, and then jumped to the bit of land ahead. A mutant swamp beast sprung from a cave-like structure on the left that was partly blocked by a log, and from the right another unidentified creature, a reddish-brown thing with long floppy ears and three yellow eyes, also leapt from the depths.

Ratchet took out the floppy-eared creature first with his Omni-Wrench, since this monster was closest to him, and then immediately switched to his Lancer to pump the mutant swamp beast full of holes. Once that was done, Ratchet slowly approached the cave-like structure that the mutant swamp beast had come from.

He peered inside and all he found were more of the floppy-eared creatures chewing on the dead body of another employee. The damage they had already done was so bad that the poor guy was almost unrecognizable.

Ratchet backed away from the cave structure, sighing. He really didn't want to just leave the employee's corpse there to be eaten, but he had to keep moving if he wanted to find someone he might be able to save.

So he kept moving. He traversed a short path made up of lily pads and when he reached the section of land on the other side proceeded to mow down more of the floppy-eared creatures with his Lancer. He did take a few seconds to then scan them with his helmet and upon doing so learned they were called muckdwellers, and that as long as he didn't let them breathe on him with their poisonous gas he should be safe. Sure, he was wearing his O2 mask, but he didn't know what else the gas could do to him, or Clank for that matter, and he didn't want to know.

As he rounded another corner there were some more swamp beasts and two more muckdwellers, all of which met the same fate. To the left, there was a series of glass bridges that required, unsurprisingly, more jumping to get across. This led to a tall metal arch that had a raised platform Ratchet could only reach by jumping and grabbing the edge with his hands, where he then pulled himself up and over. He slid down the muddy slope ahead, almost losing his balance.

More muckdwellers and swamp beasts sprung from various puddles of swamp water, making their presence and their carnivorous intentions known.

Ratchet blasted the two muckdwellers closest to him with his Lancer, and then ran out of ammo. Making a noise of annoyance, the Lombax then swapped the pistol for his Gravity Bomb and aimed it at the remaining muckdwellers and swamp beasts, which were approaching very quickly.

He pulled the trigger and within moments the group of monsters were nothing more than a pile of charred corpses. He made his way across another section of lily pads, which led to a small, rectangular chunk of land.

It was there that Ratchet saw yet another screaming Megacorp employee, this one ensnared in a massive spiked tentacle. Before the Lombax could even think of trying to rescue him, however, the tentacle suddenly plunged into the water below.

"This really feels like something out of a horror movie, aaaand not in a good way," Ratchet muttered.

"Is there ever a 'good way?'" Clank asked drily.

"… fair."

Ratchet checked the ammo count on his Gravity Bomb— 7 bombs were left total. There was a Megacorp ammo crate way to the left, but he didn't dare risk running over there to smash it open in case the tentacled creature he just saw chose that moment to strike.

Speaking of the tentacled creature, it poked a single eyestalk out, followed by two spiked tentacles.

At once Ratchet pulled the trigger multiple times, lobbing bomb after bomb at the massive monster. This creature was a lot tougher than any of the others he ran into on the way here— even as scorched pieces exoskeleton shattered everywhere and chunks of burning flesh flew, this beast was still alive and it retaliated by attempting to crush Ratchet and Clank with its tentacles.

Luckily the Lombax was faster, and was able to jump out of the way to avoid each strike, and even made his way close to the ammo crate just so that way the monster would unwittingly hit the crate instead of him.

With the ammunition now free thanks to the creature's tentacle, the Gravity Bomb immediately picked it up automatically, replenishing its count back to 8. Ratchet's mouth burst into a slightly manic grin as he began blasting the beast with a rainstorm of bombs. The monster's eyestalk snapped at one point from all the fire and shrapnel, and the eyeball itself burnt and oozing with yellow blood.

Finally, after Ratchet fired his last remaining bomb and it burst into flames upon impact with the monster, the creature gave a final screech of pain and plunged back into the swamp water, hopefully to never be seen or heard from again.

Ratchet un-equipped his Gravity Bomb and spun around before doing a silly little dance which consisted of him swinging his arms from side to side, alternating which one was in front and which one was behind him.

"Yes! Ratchet and Clank did it again!"

"Ahem," Clank cleared his throat.

"Right, sorry."

A sheepish Ratchet busted open some nearby bolt crates with his Omni-Wrench before crossing another section of lily pads that led to another piece of land. Then there was a bit more slippery, muddy ground to cover before he finally set foot on the metal platform just outside the outlet store. Ahead was another platform higher up where the doors leading inside were, and it seemed like the only way to get to that second platform was to find a battery bot and toss it into the socket next to what looked like an elevator.

"If I were a missing battery bot, where would I be…?"

A quick search of the area led to Ratchet finding one cowering behind a stack of crates. He scooped the battery bot up with his Omni-Wrench and hurled it into the power socket.

"Elevator power restored," a computer announced over some speakers lining the rocky wall to the right.

Ratchet climbed onto the elevator and nearly lost his balance as it carried him up to the second platform. He then crossed it to reach the automatic sliding doors leading into the store. Once inside, he had to deal with smacking a few fireflies around with his Omni-Wrench. After the vicious little insects were dealt with, he was able to get a good look at his surroundings.

It seemed that this part of the store alone was already heavily overgrown with vines and other unidentified plants.

It made Ratchet wonder if those ruins outside were really as old as they looked, or if it only appeared that way because of the plants practically overrunning everything. The Lombax spied a few square metal platforms he could adjust the positions of using his Omni-Wrench's kinetic tether.

Ratchet twirled his Omni-Wrench and with a smug grin and got to work. The kinetic tether crackled as the head of the Omni-Wrench detached from the handle, remaining connected via a cord of sparking light, and attached itself to a knob on the side of the first platform. He then pulled the platform down to where he could jump and grab onto the edge with his hands.

He deactivated the tether, allowing the head of his Omni-Wrench to return to the grip, and turned to the next platform before repeating the process two more times.

"Toldja that kinetic tether I got would come in handy someday," Ratchet quipped teasingly.

"I suppose you were right about that," Clank replied, a bit amused.

With a makeshift path now made, Ratchet leapt from platform to platform, slowly but surely making his way to the next section of the store, which was a bit like a loft. There were some shelves lining the opposite wall, filled to the brim with lightbulbs.

The Lombax rounded the corner to be greeted by a massive gap where there was a section of floor down below to catch someone if they fell, and the only way to get across was to protract what looked like up to three bridges.

The first one could be extended via a bolt crank that was placed in the center of the platform Ratchet was standing on, so he immediately got to work. Within moments, the bridge was fully extended. Oddly enough, while the edge was made of metal, the inner part of the bridge was made of solid light. Ratchet ran across the bridge until he got to the edge and then used the kinetic tether in his Omni-Wrench to pull the second bridge out.

He then used that bridge to walk to the right side of the room, where he could reach the third bridge with his kinetic tether. He protracted this bridge too, and was able to cross it to the other side of the room.

It was there he was able to enter the main part of the store: where a bunch of giant mannequins were kept in glass containers, more lightbulbs were kept on the shelves attached to the walls, and various other items decorated metal shelves that were separate from said walls. There were also a bunch of mutant swamp beasts in the middle of a vicious, violent quarrel with each other that consisted of them all maiming each other.

Over what, Ratchet had no idea. The Lombax just sprinted past them as fast as he could, making a beeline for the automatic doors on the other side of the room. Thankfully it seemed like the swamp beasts were too occupied with killing each other to even notice his presence and he was able to slip out without having to deal with them.

He stepped out onto a metal deck lined with a safety rail, and the doors slid shut behind him. He surveyed the area quickly before turning and running down the long deck. With Clank's help he was able to long jump over a collapsed section of the deck and get to the other side where another set of doors lay.

Upon reentering the store here, Ratchet found a series of platforms, of which each had to be lowered with the help of a kinetic tether. It was a very time consuming process, but he eventually made it to the other side.

He ran down a short hallway, and investigated a small room at the back.

He groaned upon seeing the grav-ramp leading up to somewhere (where exactly he had no idea).

"And now I wish we brought my magne-boots," Ratchet grumbled. "Maybe we can get pair in this galaxy and come back later to investigate."

After busting open some more bolt crates, the Lombax then back-tracked a bit and leapt up a set of poorly placed stairs into another hallway. This section was a little weird in that he had to press a button on the wall next to him to open the door on the other side of the hallway… and also avoid a bunch of moving walls that came down the hallway in an effort to make crossing it a living hell.

It was the only way to get into the next room, so all Ratchet could do was press the button again to restart the puzzle of athletics, brace himself, and rush to the end. Except he just got hit by a wall and shoved back to the start of the hallway. Once, twice, then thrice.

"Oh come on!" Ratchet growled in growing frustration.

On the third failed attempt, once the machinery had shut off, Clank asked, "May I offer a suggestion?"

"Go ahead pal," Ratchet answered— he'd take all the help he could get at this point.

"These obstacles run on a pattern, meaning it can be predicted," Clank explained. "I suggest letting the puzzle run its course a few times and memorizing its pattern to make avoiding the moving walls easier."

Ratchet hummed, rubbing his chin. Clank was right, it did seem like it ran on a pattern.

"Okay, let's try it," he said, pressing the button to activate the puzzle again.

This time Ratchet watched the puzzle play out, trying to make note of the paths each piece of wall traveled along. He did this a few more times until he was sure he had it memorized.

Now, Ratchet pressed the button for what he hoped would be the last time and made a run for it. Clank's suggestion to memorize the pattern helped him a great deal in knowing where the moving walls would be and when, allowing Ratchet to dodge and leap over them before they could ever touch him.

It was this attempt in which Ratchet finally made it into the next room and he was able to slam his fist against another button next to him, which seemed to shut off the puzzle and keep the door behind him open for good.

With this done, the Lombax then took in his surroundings. The room was wide and like every other section of the store overgrown with vines. There were huge metal crates lining the walls as well, suggesting this was where the store kept their products to later put on the shelves.

On the other side of the room, there was a thin, widescreen monitor.

Ratchet approached it, studying the screen curiously, when on the corner of his helmet visor a notification popped up.

"Looks like we've got an incoming transmission from Mr. Fizzwidget," Ratchet said, redirecting the call to the monitor while Clank slid off of his back.

The face of Fizzwidget filled the screen.

"Scratchet, Spank, are you there?"

"We copy, Mr. Fizzwidget," Ratchet replied with a slight grimace. "And it's Ratchet and Clank."

"Ah, sorry," Fizzwidget said. "My ears aren't what they used to be. Anyway, I have some new inflammation on our Experiment's wherewithal. The thief was indemnified at Megacorp's Maktar Resort! The Goons-4-Less have also towed a moon-sized jamming array into Maktar Resort's orbit."

"And you want us to destroy this jamming array?" Clank asked.

"Affirmulous!" Fizzwidget replied. "It's disconfrapulating our annual 'Galactic Gladiators' Broadcast."

He leaned over, pressing a few buttons before lifting his head to look at the duo again.

"See for yourself!"