"Wonder what Clank and Ema are up to." Hilda wondered as she, Ratchet, and Ben made their way to Maktar Resort to take out the jamming array Thugs-4-Less had set up.
"I'm sure they are enjoying themselves," Ben said. "We'll give them a call later."
"So, Twilight, anything new on your end?" Ratchet called.
"Not much, Daddy. But seeing all the new weapons and gadgets is getting the creative juices flowing!"
"And I must say, the spas at Yeedil are HEAVENLY!" Rarity called on the other end.
"A lot of the kids are talking about this new thing Megacorp is coming up with." Rainbow chimed in. "From what I've heard, it sounds perfect for Fluttershy!"
When they got close to the Resort, however, Ratchet discovered that the Thugs were waiting for them and ambushed the trio when they flew towards an asteroid field, to which he grinned as he altered his course for a moment, where Ben and Hilda found that he was luring them into a dangerous area before he opened fire, though it meant that those that followed him in had to avoid his blasts and the asteroids to survive.
This allowed Ratchet to prove that he was the better pilot as he flew around the asteroids, using every one of them for cover. Ben found some Raritanium inside one of the floating pieces of space ice that Ratchet used as cover before he took down one of the ships that were trying to take him down.
"Raritanium, grab it!"
"Already did!" Hilda said, using the ship's tractor beam to bring in the Raritanium.
After a few waves of enemies were wiped out, the trio were able to touch down on the resort, where they found that there was no need for any of them to worry about oxygen, as there seemed to be an atmosphere of sorts being created for everyone that happened to be here, be they visitors or employees, to which they stood there for a moment as each of them looked out at the station.
"So this is Maktar Resort...seems like a nice place," Ratchet remarked.
Hilda looked around. "Seems we've got two paths to take. There also looks like a third, but the bridge is out."
"I say we take the path that leads us to the jamming array," Ben suggested.
The three restocked their ammo at a nearby Vendor and went down the right path, making their way for the ship that would take them to the jamming array ship.
After dealing with some puzzles requiring the use of the Tractor Beam, they made it to the ship and flew to where the Thugs set up the jamming array some time ago, a small spherical rock, either a very small moon or a decent-sized asteroid, that had all sorts of machinery and several towers resting all over the place, though before they left the ship the trio made sure to activate their O2 Masks.
Once they did that the trio started to explore the jamming array, finding that the ship had landed in front of one of the power towers, to which Hilda opened fire on all of the ankle biters she found near the structure as Ratchet used a Bolt Crank, showing them that the Bogon Galaxy had reverse engineered Lombax technology as well, which raised the tower up so they could access it's power rods.
With the tower risen all it took was one of them to attack it with their weapons, like Ratchet whacking it with his Omniwrench or Hilda striking it with her Titan Wrench, which caused a chain reaction that quickly tore the transponder apart, though the trio received a notification that there were five more targets for them to take out, no doubt from someone who worked at Megacorp and had been tasked with identifying how many transponders they had to break.
As such they resumed exploring the rest of the jamming array. Tracking down the rest of the transponders proved to be an easy task, as all they had to do was follow the green beams that were coming from each one, take out the guardians that happened to be guarding them, and then quickly use a nearby Bolt Crank to open the weakness of each target, allowing them to break them down and weaken the jamming array until it was totally offline, allowing them to return to the resort, the mission complete.
"Good work, kiddos!" Mr. Fizzwidget praised from the holodisplay in the ship once the trio returned to it. "You're proving to be invaluable in this underwear."
Ben snorted. "He's so goofy!"
"Shush!" Hilda said, covering Ben's mouth. "Sorry about him, Mr. Fizzwidget."
"Ah, no problem, Hinda!" Fizzwidget waved off. "Anywho, it appears the Thief is now under the protection of Thugs-4-Less, but I may have found a way for you to insinuate their operation."
"Is it dangerous?" Ratchet asked with an anticipating smirk.
"No, no, no... er, well, uh, actually yes it is." Mr. Fizzwidget replied awkwardly.
"We could use a bit more challenge." Ben grinned.
"Take a look at this." Mr. Fizzwidget stated, where his image disappeared and they witnessed a commercial.
"The wind in your hair, the sun on your skin, the bugs in your teeth, we are the Desert Riders."
"Before I became a Desert Rider, I didn't fit in anywheres. I had low self-esteem, bad breath, and a thing for ladies undergarments." A heavyset Desert Rider said. "But these guys understand me. They really do."
"Yeah, I'm just here for the bake sales." A more buff Desert Rider said before burping into his fist. "Oh, yeah, yeah I also make these cute gloves for all the guys."
"So if you've got what it takes, use this temporary membership to enter the most grueling Hoverbike race in the galaxy, win it and become one of us. Desert Riders, number one leisure choice of Thugs-4-Less."
"Sounds like a fun community," Ben noted.
"Desert Riders all use Megacorp bikes, so I just had to pull a few strings," Fizzwidget explained. "Contract me as soon as you get more indignation; Fizzwidget out."
With that done, and there was no other information for them to gain from Mr. Fizzwidget, the trio waited for a few moments before they landed on the docking area that the ship had been resting in before their arrival, where a walkway formed that allowed them to return to the heart of the outside area of the resort so they could head down the other path.
After taking out several more enemies, the trio found another ship, much like the one that took them over to the jamming array, that took them over to another part of the resort.'
Once the ship came to a stop they found that it had brought them to an area that was a sheer wall, one that required them to jump onto the ledge that rested in front of them and climb over to the left, to climb up a few more ledges to reach what had to be the next part of the path they were following, to which they took turns doing that before reaching the upper part of the wall.
"Ugh! I'm down for exercise but do you think it's easy hauling this jelly belly and big booty?" Hilda complained as she slapped her belly and rear for emphasis.
"Hey, maybe the arena will give us a giant chocolate statue as a reward." Ben joked playfully, Ratchet rolling his eyes at that.
After wiping out several more thugs, the trio arrived at the arena's back entrance, finding that it took them a few seconds before reaching their destination. Quickly restocking on ammo, they stepped into the arena.
"Is everyone ready for tonight's Mega Battle?" The announcer asked. "Introducing, from nowhere, in particular, these guys!"
"Hey! I resent that!" Ben complained.
"Well, we are non-entities in this galaxy..." Ratchet huffed with his hands on his hips.
"If they can make it past all of our gladiators, they'll take home this brand new Electrolyzer. If they can't make it past our gladiators, they'll receive a consolation prize."
Ben gulped nervously when he saw the 'consolation prize' basically amounted to an early grave. Hilda and Ratchet patted him on the back as they readied their weapons.
"Let the games begin!"
"That Electrolyzer looks like it's similar to the Trespasser from our previous adventure," Twilight noted. "See if you guys can nab it! Might come in handy!"
"You read our mind, Twi." Ratchet grinned.
"We're watching you on the TV now! Hi Daddies and Mommy!" Pinkie chimed in.
"Kick some tail!" Rainbow cheered.
From what the trio could see the enemies happened to be some of the sphere bots they fought on the Thief's ship, the security bots, both of them to be exact, and some humanoids who had green skin and were covered by decent-looking armor, and they came out of the containers in groups of between three to six, which seemed to depend on which type of foe was picked for each device.
Other than that there wasn't much for them to worry about, as the combination of their prior adventuring experience and their commando training had turned Ratchet, Ben, and Hilda into skilled combatants, to the point where their enemies found next to no gaps in their defenses and were taken out in due time, eventually allowing Ratchet to gain the Electrolyzer.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, the first and, uh, well, only, winner of the Gladiator Games, these guys!" The announcer said. "You're now eligible for our championship series, come back and fight again for big cash prizes!"
"BRING ON CHAINBLADE!" Ratchet declared.
"You were oogling that guy earlier." Hilda chuckled. "We'll let you handle this one."
Chainblade himself jumped into the arena, smirking as he readied his large swords, which doubled as extending blades. The big swordsman happened to be a challenge for Ratchet, the two dancing around each other in a deadly dance of blades and guns but eventually, Chainblade was beaten as he fell to his knees and collapsed unconscious.
"Damn! That guy was hardcore!" Hilda said. "Ben and I call dibs on the B2 Brawler!"
Turns out, the B2 Brawler was an easier challenge since it only targeted one person at a time and had to pick who was more of a threat, even the attack that allowed it to sink to the ground and spin its legs proved to be easy to dodge, not to mention it moved slowly in this form, so they were able to take it down as well.
After those two battles, the trio faced a few more challenges, earning a fair number of Bolts in the process while putting on a show for everyone who happened to be watching, before Ratchet came to a decision, as he exited the arena and his friends followed him outside, finding that they were on the end of the middle path they had seen earlier.
"Looks like we can head on back to the ship now." Ben noted.
One thing they discovered was that to move forward Ratchet had to use the Electrolyzer, which was a hacking device as Twilight had deduced earlier, something that allowed him to bypass whatever defenses the terminal had and use it to extend a bridge, allowing them to step onto the transparent walkway and let it carry them to another platform, one that had another terminal on it for Ratchet to hack through, along with something else.
"Hey, this would make a nice souvenir for Clank and Ema," Ratchet noted.
Ben and Hilda looked at each other and shrugged, figuring that since there was a picture-taking machine nearby, and it was on the way back to where their ship happened to be resting, they might as well take a couple of seconds to take a picture or two before departing for Barlow so they could see what was up with the Desert Riders, as it was the only lead they had right now.
The three all took turns posing for their picture, before the image suddenly distorted and revealed the Thief's head over the person's who had used it last, only for it to turn into a live feed to a chamber of some kind, their target standing there with Clank in the background, tied down to a chair of some kind.
"You have no idea what you're involved in. Return to your own galaxy immediately, or this will happen to you!" The Thief declared as she slammed a button next to her...only for nothing to happen. "...or, this will happen to you."
She pressed the button again and Clank was shocked, knocking him out
"Farewell."
The message cut, leaving Ratchet growling in anger as Ben and Hilda looked equally ticked off.
"Oh no she didn't!" Hilda snapped.
Ratchet hacked into the next terminal and opened the way back to their ship, as they were heading to Endako to save their friend, while Ben claimed the photos for later. Once that was done the three of them climbed into their ship and blasted off for Endako with all the haste they could muster.
"Oh no, Clank's been kidnapped!" Fluttershy gasped as the Mane 6 saw the Thief's message from their private comm device.
"She's totally gonna get it when they save him!" Rainbow growled.
"Ma, Pa, hurry..." Applejack whispered worriedly.
Looks like our heroes have to take a detour back to Megalopolis to rescue Clank and also retrieve Ema. Things are really heating up now!