Chapter Text
“Well... what do you suppose we do now?” The small robot in the passenger seat asks the lombax driver nonchalantly.
Right now they were aimlessly cruising through the stars, finally getting a chance to breathe from the ordeal they just walked away from at The Great Clock. Between fighting Nefarious, followed by his father’s former best friend, only to watch him die attempting to undo a mistake everyone warned him not to make. Apparently, that had been a reoccurring theme with Alister...
“Eh, I don’t know... Maybe we could just go home and relax for a change? Kick back with a holofilm or something?”
“That sounds more than fine by me.” Clank responds, following his statement with a chuckle.
All seemed to be fine and well, but Ratchet sees something gleam in the distance. He squints and moves to somehow peer at a better angle. It seemed like a tiny red shine on a floating rock. “Clank, do you see that?” Ratchet asks hesitantly.
“See what, Ratchet?”
“There’s something shining on that rock...”
The lombax flies closer, and as they approach the object they see that it appears to be a planet fragment. The hover around slowly as Ratchet gazes over the surface. As he turns to see the area behind a lone dead tree, he sees something that temporarily makes his heart drop into his stomach.
Percival Tachyon’s crown.
The robot next to him immediately looks at Ratchet with concern. The lombax’s wide eyes give away his unease.
Ratchet then snickers, hissing his next words in aggravation. “Well, I don’t see any sign of him. Let’s hope he’s dead.”
“He could have been picked up by space pirates, or—“
“Let’s assume he’s dead.”
“But Ratchet, there are no signs of remains—“
“Clank.” The lombax turns to his best friend, eyes full of pain. “Let me believe he’s dead.”
The robot looks down, unsure of the best way to respond. After some hesitation, he finally does. “I just don’t want the truth to be more painful for you than it has to be.”
The lombax sighs, dragging his hands down his face. He opens his eyes, and they’re drawn to the jewel on that damned crown yet again.
“Let’s just... let’s just get out of here.” With a heavy exhale, the lombax readjusts his grip on Aphelion’s handles...
... Just in time for a wormhole to open right in front of them. “Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding—“
He can’t finish his statement, as they’re both now screaming in terror as they’re ripped through the space anomaly. They see red indicator lights as the only illumination, showing that everything of Aphelion’s is offline. This scenario feels all too familiar... but the chances that they’ll be saved by a stream of frozen time is much less likely now.
They see through the rapidly spinning windshield that they’re nosediving towards a tropical planet, and they brace themselves as much as they can before the ship begins tumbling around even harder. They can feel the impact of metal being torn from metal as they fall through layer after layer of thick, dense trees. Eventually, the motion comes to an abrupt stop as the ship freezes while upside-down, cockpit flying open and ejecting the duo from their seats. They land hard on their backs on the dirt and grass, facing upward at the mangled ship hanging over them. They pause, amazed that they’re alive—until they hear the metal groaning of the ship slowly slipping from its place. Ratchet grabs Clank’s hand and tosses him the other way, and immediately proceeds to roll just in time to avoid being crushed by the hunk of metal crashing to the ground.
The duo slowly get to their feet, dusting themselves off.
“That... was WAY too close.” Ratchet remarks. Clank however seems preoccupied. He seems to be... scanning the area... ?
“Clank ? ”
The robot jumps and whips around to face Ratchet, frantically scrambling away from whatever he was doing. This seems slightly suspicious, but Ratchet lets it slide for now.
“Are there any Zoni left in the vessel?” the lombax asks.
“There are two left, which is not enough to repair damage of this scale.” Clank informs.
Ratchet facepalms in aggravation. “Can you establish any contact?”
“Unfortunately, I cannot. I’ve sent out a distress signal, however we seem to be in uncharted territory.”
“What makes you say that?” Ratchet asks.
Clank responds, tone slightly sheepish. “If there were any form of advanced civilization here, we would be able to at least detect them. Even fongoids’ technology appears on these sensors.”
“Great... so we’re completely stranded on a totally remote planet, with no way to contact anyone, and no ship. Lovely!” The lombax throws his hands up in frustration.
“Ratchet, I’m sure we will find some way to get home. We’ve faced more monumental tasks than this before." The robot says, doing his best to encourage his friend.
“Yeah, I know, Clank.” The lombax huffs. He walks around, gathering various wood and plant debris before unceremoniously throwing it all into a pile on the ground and shooting it with his combuster, starting a fire. He then reaches into his pocket and throws out a Mr. Zurkon capsule. The flying robot unfurls, and starts hovering around in circles.Clank is confused by this.
“Why did you—“
“I’m tired. I’m gonna take a nap. If something tries to mess with us, he’ll start shooting and the blaster-fire will wake me up.”
Clank folds his arms, unimpressed with his companion’s apathy. However, he may as well get some rest. They were both definitely in need of it.
They both lay on the ground and end up falling asleep by the warmth of the fire, the hovering robot circling them like a guard dog while they did.