Stories Between New Friends
(Ratchet and Clank's tales Part 1)
Meanwhile back at the Autobot base, Ratchet, Clank, Talwyn, and Star Fox were sitting around a campfire getting to know more about each other. Optimus, Bumblebee, Silverbolt, and Ironhide were present while Prime ordered Magnus and the other Autobots to return to base. Captain Qwark, President Phyronix and Sasha returned to Solaris to prepare for possible Decepticon invasions on multiple planets. General Peppy did the same on Corneria after returning to the Lylat System.
"So, Ratchet, what's your story? How did you become a hero in three separate galaxies?" Asked Fox.
"And how did you and your pal meet?" Asked Slippy.
Ratchet and Clank looked at each other then back at Star Fox.
"Well, it's a long and rather funny story." The Lombax said.
"I was just a mechanic on my homeworld Veldin. When suddenly my buddy Clank here crash landed." Ratchet explained.
"Indeed. I was the result of a faulty malfunction in a war bot factory on the planet Quartu. It was there I learned that a corrupt businessman named Drek was destroying planets to create a new homeworld for his people, the Blarg since the original became too polluted and uninhabitable." Clank added. "So I escaped on a ship to find help and that's when I met Ratchet."
"After that, we fought Drek's forces across Solaris before seeking Qwark's help. But then we were betrayed by him when we found out he was helping Drek the whole time by being his paid spokesperson for his new planet." Ratchet explained. "He tried to kill us but failed and we later got our revenge."
"Wait so this dumbass superhero was actually a supervillain?!" Asked a shocked Falco.
"Yeah, but he's cool now. He's learned his lesson." Said Ratchet.
"Though it would not be the last time he became a threat to us. But we will get to that later." Explained Clank.
"We then went after Drek, where we found out it was he who polluted his own planet just to make a profit of making and selling new worlds for his people, again and again." Ratchet continued.
"Bastard!" Falco said.
"Darn tootin!" Agreed Ironhide.
"Despicable!" Krystal added.
Bumblebee bleeped in agreement.
"He tried to use a weapon called a Deplanetizer to destroy Veldin but we stopped him and the bastard got a taste of his own medicine when we launched him to his artificial world and fired the Deplanetizer on him which also destroyed the artificial planet." Ratchet said.
"A mechanic and a defect saving the galaxy together. Who would have thought?" Fox remarked with a smile.
"Yeah, since then we were inseparable and went on countless adventures and mishaps." Ratchet said.
"Our next adventure took us to the Bogan galaxy. Where we were tasked by Abercrombie Fizzwidget, founder and owner of Megacorp, to retrieve a biological experiment from a thief in return for employment in the company." Clank said.
"And so I was trained as a commando. I became proficient in martial arts, heavy weaponry, survival skills, stealth, and ehh, ballroom dancing and origami." Ratchet added.
"And so we eventually retrieved the experiment and confronted the thief while fighting hired criminals called Thugs 4 Less along the way. The thief turned out to be a female Lombax named Angela Cross who used to work for Megacorp as a scientist and stole the experiment because it turned out to be a danger to the galaxy as it was capable of going on a destructive rampage. It was revealed that Megacorp intended to mass produce the experiment and release them into the galaxy as Protopets." Clank continued.
"After that, we stopped the Thugs after Megacorp bought them out and they kidnapped Angela. And we set off to stop Fizzwidget. Turns out he was actually Quark in disguise who planned to unleash the Protopets just so he could vanquish them and frame us for the crimes to restore his dumbass hero reputation. We stopped him and tamed the Protopet while Angela freed the real Mr Fizzwidget. Angela then tamed the rest of the Protopets with a broadcast signal and the Bogan galaxy was saved." Ratchet explained.
"Genetically engineered pets? That's never a good idea." Slippy said.
"And I'm sort of surprised you met another of your kind, Ratchet." Krystal said.
"Yeah. After that we celebrated at Clank's apartment and Quark became a test subject for Megacorp's Crotchetizer as punishment for his crimes." Ratchet laughed at that last part as did Star Fox and Iron Hide, Bumblebee, and Silverbolt. Optimus just smiled softly.
"So whatever happened to this Lombax chick? Did you two even..?" Falco asked.
"Yeah, we actually had a relationship for a good while." Ratchet replied but then his smile faded. "But then she disappeared more than three years ago. She was running from a tyrant and just seemed to vanish from the face of the universe."
Everyone looked sad. Clank placed his metal hand on his friend's shoulder. Talwyn looked sad as well as envious. While she was happy she and Ratchet are currently in a good relationship, she can't help but feel bad for her boyfriend. Optimus on the other hand looked down in great sadness as well as he knew exactly what that's like. Krystal sensed this and slightly looked over to him before looking back at Ratchet.
"We are sorry for your loss, Ratchet." Optimus said. "But I hope you will see her again one day."
"Thanks Prime." Ratchet replied with a smile.
"Anyway, some time after, my home planet, Veldin, was invaded by Tyhrranoids. By posing as an officer in the Galactic Rangers, I led the charge and eventually drove off the bad guys. And then we later found out that the invasion was set up by someone who would later become our greatest enemy, Dr Nefarious." Ratchet continued.
"Before then, only one man managed to beat him, Captain Qwark. So we formed an alliance and he formed a team answerable only to him, the Q Force." Clank added. "Later we discovered Dr Nefarious's plan was to transform all organic life into robots using a weapon called a Biobliterator." Clank said. "He used it to turn citizens and his own Tyhrranoid army into robots when he invaded Metropolis."
"Man, that's low." Falco said.
"We then had to scrap an evil twin of Clank created by Nefarious named Klunk." Ratchet said. "We eventually found and destroyed the Biobliterator, only to find out Nefarious built an even stronger one which nearly crushed us."
"And he would have succeeded but Captain Qwark came to rescue and became a true hero, allowing us to destroy the super weapon and Nefarious ended up being stranded on a distant asteroid." Clank said. "Soon after, we celebrated by attending a private screening of my movie Secret Agent Clank."
"Wait, you were in a movie!?" Asked Slippy.
"Yes, I was. One of the best too." Clank said.
"You guys should watch it, it's really great." Ratchet recommended.
"We'll consider it, thanks." Fox said with a smile.
"Not long after that, me and my pal were in charge of the Starship Phoenix. But then we heard that our universe's heroes started vanishing." Ratchet continued.
"We were then captured by robotic forces and taken to the Shadow Sector, a lawless legion of space near the edge of the Solana Galaxy." Clank added.
"It was there that I was forced to compete in a violent, bloody game show called Dreadzone, run by Gleeman Vox." Ratchet's eyes then narrowed. "Bastard put me in a collar which would blow me up whenever I misbehaved."
"And I was made Ratchet's Mission Engineer." Clank said with the same bitterness.
"That asshole!" Falco spat.
"Why I oughta - tear that guy - in two!" Bumblebee said angrily, clenching his fists.
"Fucker made me compete in many challenges and fight waves of gladiators. And I eventually became popular with the crowd. I later took down the reigning champion of that time, Ace Hardlight." Ratchet continued. "After that, Vox offered me a spot as one of his personal gladiators, but I refused. So he instead made me take part in an arena that was supposedly impossible to best. But I barely succeeded."
"Damn, you never give up, do you, Ratchet?" Fox complimented.
"Such will and determination indeed." Krystal commented.
"Yeah you showed this Vox jerk who's boss!" Slippy said.
Bumblebee bleeped in agreement.
"Meanwhile, while Ratchet was entertaining the crowd, I took the liberty of reprogramming the arena transport pod to the station's control level, where he would be able to destroy the central computer and free the captive heroes." Clank said. "But then we learned Vox wired the station with explosives, threatening to destroy the place with everyone in it."
"And after fighting through wave after wave of bad guys, I managed to blow up the station's power generators and free the prisoners and unlock the escape shuttles." Ratchet said. "But after kicking Vox's ass, he started the self-destruct sequence, planning to take us with him to oblivion."
"Fortunately the final escape shuttle came to our rescue, piloted by a friend of ours and immediately climbed aboard and flew as far as fast as we could before the station detonated, killing Vox in the process." Clank added. "And I also removed the collar from Ratchet as we escaped.
"What fantastic tales!" Krystal said.
"That was damn impressive." Falco commented.
"Very impressive indeed." Silverbolt said.
"Way to put an end to a death sport." Fox added.
"Darn tootin! Blood sports are a no no in my book." Ironhide said. "We used to have death arenas back on Cybertron."
"Indeed we did, Ironhide." Optimus said grimly. "And I had a dear friend who took part in those blood sports."
Every Autobot knew who that friend was. And it's not someone they'd think fondly of…
Suddenly, Ratchet's stomach began to growl.
"Whoo! Well I'm starving, let's pause on the storytelling and make some dinner."
"I agree, I'm famished myself." Fox said.
"Ditto." Falco said.
Ratchet and Clank and Star Fox as well as Tawlyn got up to go make their food while Optimus, Silverbolt, Ironhide and Bumblebee conversed with each other.
"These stories sure are interesting, Optimus." Silverbolt said.
"Darn tootin! Ratchet and Clank's adventures were surely wild." Ironhide added.
Bumblebee bleeped in agreement.
"I agree, my friends. And I'm sure they have more tales to share with us. I have no doubt Star Fox will have great stories as well." Optimus said as he looked at his small allies cooking their food over the campfire.
So Ratchet and Clank told everything about their first several adventures they had to their new friends. And everyone is astonished. And things might get more interesting when the heroes tell the rest. And for Star Fox to tell their stories.
Stay tuned for more stories to tell.
Note: I tried to summarize the events of the first few Ratchet and Clank games as simply as I could. Hope I did well. And hope to do so again for the rest.
MergingEmperor7, signing off.