Ratchet and Clank: Family of Heroes

by Blackdrag-rose

Deadlocked: Valix Belt

Ratchet, Autumn, and Starswirl said nothing as they waited for the transport ship to reach their new destination, which was an asteroid belt known as the Valix Belt, so at least everyone knew why it was called that, though this time around it would be him and Starswirl tackling whatever obstacles were in their way. Clank wasn't able to find out too much about the area, only that it was a purchase Vox made a few years ago, under very sketchy circumstances based on what he was seeing, so it was possible that he threatened the owner into signing it away, before killing them anyway. Of course the fact that this was going to be taking place in an asteroid belt worried them, as there was no telling what Vox might have done, especially due to the fact that parts of this sector were darker than what they were used to. Other than that there wasn't much for them to think about this time around, so they simply rested in the ship and waited for it to reach their next destination, just like they did when they were transported to the other planets Vox had set his courses on.

It took a while for the transport ship to reach the Valix Belt, though when it came to a stop Ratchet and his brother walked over to the teleporter and warped down to whatever the start of the course was, while Autumn stayed behind to watch and wait for her turn to come up.

We're live, today, from the Valix Asteroid Belt, home of the legendary Gamma Energy Beam! Dallas stated, speaking as they teleported down to what seemed to be the start of this course, the outskirts of the entire area based on what they were seeing, This famous space beacon was purchased several years ago by Gleeman Vox. Now, instead of guiding ships through deadly asteroids, it's the centerpiece of DreadZone's hottest new battlecourse! And just for fun, we've gone ahead and turned the beacon off. Can Team Darkstar turn it back on, or will hundreds of ships crash blindly into the asteroids, hm. Either way, it's gonna be a great show!

"And I hate him even more now." Ratchet commented, as he couldn't believe that Vox would buy, or steal, the lighthouse that all sorts of people used in this sector, so they could safely navigate the asteroids without the fear of running into one and being destroyed, which just gave him another reason to take Vox down.

"Well, just focus on the gladiators... we'll get to him in due time." Starswirl said, where he walked over to the Vendor for a moment, allowing him to see if there were any new weapons to be added to their arsenal, even though he was sad to say that nothing new had been added, so he pulled back and joined Ratchet.

Once that was done they stepped forward as they pulled their weapons out, finding flying gladiators and ground snappers waiting for them, even though beyond them the brothers could see a number of buildings that were connected to the few control stations that had been built onto the asteroids that were around them. None of the gladiators lasted against their might, which they were used to seeing after everything they had been through since Vox captured them, before using the Grind Cable to get over to another part of the facility, even though they seemed to be following the outskirts before being able to reach their destination. That brought them to a repeat of what had happened so far, just more gladiators and the smaller snappers that joined them in battle, allowing the brothers to smash through them before heading to the next part of the course, barely slowing down despite the enemies Vox was throwing at them in an attempt to take them down. Right now it looked like this course was just a copy and paste, the same groups of enemies were lined up after every instance of the Grind Cable, plus with a few of the heavy gladiators added in for fun, but since there was no real challenge yet neither brother was worried about what was in front of them.

Ratchet and Starswirl also found a number of floating platforms had been added to the area, either by the people who had owned this place before Vox or they had been added by the villain they were trying to take down, before finding that some of the flying saucer enemies had shown up, which Starswirl took down with a burst of magical blasts, opening the way for his brother to move forward. It brought them to an area that was near one of the structures, which was heavily guarded by enemies and caused them to open fire on the gladiators when they dropped down into the area they were in, though as that happened Starswirl weaved his magic around the area and blasted the dropships, preventing more from being added to what his brother was currently facing. From there Ratchet pushed into the structure and found that it had a control node for them to turn, which had one of the hoverships stored inside it, so by turning it they would be able to use it and wipe out more of their enemies as they focused on their main mission in this place, or at least that seemed to be what they were supposed to do. As such he tore into the guards that were already in there and Starswirl joined him as he made sure the way they had come from was secure, just in case Vox tried to box them in and overwhelm them, but the rest of the area was clear and allowed Ratchet to claim the node for Team Darkstar.

With that done the brothers climbed into the hovership and headed out into the space around the station, where Dallas informed everyone that they were going to have to clear out the area before being able to land, which was fine with them since they were planning on doing that anyway. Their targets were mostly the heavy gladiators that had been scattered all over this station, based on what the map and the blue stars were showing them, but that didn't stop Ratchet and Starswirl from firing at everything that dared to get in front of them or attack the hovership. Of course that was easier said than done in some cases, as Vox was sending a lot of enemy ships, the saucer enemies, to tear them down, though they were up for the challenge and outmaneuvered their enemies with ease, allowing them to fire the weapons and tear them apart, no doubt to Vox's dismay as he realized he was losing a lot of resources right now. One thing the brothers were able to confirm was that the Valix Belt was large and that they might be here for a while, which was fine with them since both they and their sister were trying to cut into Vox's forces so when it was time to make their move he wouldn't be able to do all that much to stop them.

Once the challenge was over Ratchet docked the hovership and they climbed out to tackle the next part of the course, that being finding and hacking into the control orbs that powered this portion of the station, or controlled how it operated, to which they restocked their weapons before moving forward. Sure enough Ratchet found more gladiators standing in front of him, though as he fired at them Starswirl weaved his magic through the air and blasted the dropships that decided to fly into the area, cutting off enemy reinforcements so they could continue to progress. When they entered the building in front of them it was easy for them to find some of the control orbs, which no one seemed to be guarding since no foes came out to stop them after all of the initial guards had been taken care of, so it was easy for them to move forward and pass through another door once all four of the control orbs had been hacked into. From there it was a simple matter for the brothers, they just had to repeat what they had done so far and not worry about being overwhelmed by enemies, not that it mattered since none of Vox's forces could put up much of a fight, and it wasn't long before they smashed through all of the guards for the second set of control orbs and claimed them.

That wasn't the end, of course, as the brothers had to fight their way to the zone Vox wanted them to end the challenge at, he seemed to think it made things better for the viewers at home, and both Ratchet and Starswirl smashed through the wave of enemies that were on the other side of the door to reach their destination. After that happened the beam that lit up the surrounding area was fired from one part of the station, bounced off a pair of mirrors, and sailed into the darkness, meaning there was more they had to do before this challenge was completed, which Dallas confirmed not a few seconds later. As such Starswirl blasted the pair of dropships out of their way so he and Ratchet could cross the swing gap that was in front of them, along with another two that descended before they could drop anyone, while his brother blasted the rest of their enemies with his weapons, opening the way for them to use the Grind Cable to move forward. That brought them to an elevator that took the brothers up to the top of a lighthouse, allowing them to stock some of their ammunition with the crates they discovered, though once that was done they used the Swingshot targets in front of them and descended to the area that was at the bottom of it.

From there it was a simple matter to use the Grind Cable to reach their final destination, tear down the gladiators that had been ordered to stop them, and find the crack that rested inside the last building that, when turned correctly, allowed the beam to line up with the main light and complete the entire course. Such a thing earned them their first Gold Medal, as in the first of two when Ratchet considered the information they had learned earlier, as well as a number of Gravity Boots for him and his siblings, which they already knew how to use and Ratchet was sure Autumn could fit into their armor without damaging anything that would alert Vox. After that the brothers tackled the Dread Challenges, finding that the first one was called Time Extension and that it was just taking the hovership through a course around the station, something that was right up Ratchet's alley given his skills with the ships and vehicles they had used so far, and it wasn't long before they claimed victory over the course. The second, and final, challenge was known as Your Land is My Land, where they had to face off against more enemies to seize more control orbs, which was rather easy given what they had seen so far and, just as Starswirl predicted, it wasn't long before their gladiators enemies had been smashed into the ground and the orbs had been hacked into.

Once they were done with both challenges, and were sure that there was nothing else that needed to be done, Ratchet and Starswirl returned to the transport ship and headed back to the suite with Autumn, even though he knew that they would be put back to work in no time and that he just had to be patient, as soon Vox would fall and he wouldn't even see it coming until it was too late.