//------------------------------//
// Arsenal: Phoenix, The Call 
// Story: Ratchet and Clank: The Starlight of Solana 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

Ratchet stretched as he, and the rest of his family, waited for the dropship to return to the Phoenix, because Starlight had told him something disturbing once they had finished off the Tyhrranoid forces that called Tyhrranosis home. Starlight, having used the Core to stop Searing back on Yeedil, was attuned to the power that their sister's demon could command whenever she was released into the universe. He had been told that something had happened to Sunset on Kavu Island, because she had felt the sinister energy of Searing surface for a few minutes before the island was completely wiped off the face of the map. The fact that Searing had taken over, despite all of their preparations, made Ratchet and the others worry that they wouldn't be able to keep the demon contained with what they had at the moment.

Qwark was also missing among the assembled members of the Q Force, which only told Ratchet that he was, in some way, shape, or form, responsible for what had happened to his sister.

"Are you sure that Searing's been released?" Sasha asked, for the third time since Ratchet and his family had returned to the Phoenix, with what would have been news of their success if their moods hadn't turned sour before they had even left the enemy planet.

"Starlight is convinced that she's taken over and is walking the universe again," Ratchet replied, noticing that both Angela and Starlight were carrying the two Cores that they had recovered so far, intending to seal the demon away the moment the dropship returned to the Phoenix, "and, considering everything that we've already been through, I'm willing to believe her at the moment. Besides, Qwark is missing and that generally means that he's done something that has pissed Sunset off, resulting in what we might be dealing with once the dropship returns."

Sasha clearly didn't like the fact that Searing might be arriving soon, thanks to what she had seen when Yeedil was struck by her power, but it was also clear to her that it was best to let Ratchet and his family deal with the demon. She opened her mouth to say something to them, mainly to distract them from what was coming their way, but then the dock door opened and the dropship entered the Phoenix at last. They all waited as the ship came to a stop and the door to the outside closed, though that was before the dropship's door lowered into place and they saw Qwark standing there with a smile on his face.

"Greeting comrades!" Qwark said as he stepped off the ship, as if he had solved their problems with Nefarious while Ratchet and his family had been finishing off the Tyhrranoid leader, "With the utter obliteration of Kavu Island, and broadcasted specifically for Nefarious to see, I have effectively ended the war with my old enemy without having to actually fight him! No need to thank me, its all in a day's work for the galaxy's greatest superhero!"

"Galaxy's greatest superhero my flank!" a second voice in the dropship declared, something that Ratchet had hoped that he would never have to hear again, "All you did was hit a poor mare over the head while she had no access to her magic, and then told me to go blow an island up so you could bring an end to a fight that you won't finish yourself."

Ratchet watched as Sunset appeared behind Qwark, but thanks to the hollowed voice he had heard he knew that his sister was currently possessed by the demon, despite the fact that she was still in her pony form. Truth be told Ratchet was expecting to find Searing, in the form she had worn when she nearly destroyed Yeedil, standing behind the insane captain, but he was glad that the demon was still mostly trapped. They could use the Cores they had already obtained to make sure that Searing was put back where she belonged, all without causing massive damage to Sunset's body while they were at it.

"Seriously, if anyone is getting credit for scaring off Nefarious it would be me," Searing said, staring at Qwark as she got off the ship, "though we'll have to wait and see if this little plan of yours even works. Too bad I won't be around to see it. Isn't that right Starlight?"

That was when Ratchet noticed that Starlight wasn't playing around this time, because the moment Searing mentioned her she was in front of the demon and had both Cores at the ready. Rainbow colored chains surged out of nowhere and wrapped around Searing's legs and chest, though this time was somewhat different than what they were used to. Searing just stood there and let it all happen to her, as if she didn't care and had enjoyed the amount of time she had been given thanks to Qwark, though Starlight wasn't taking any chances. Once she was sure that Generosity and Honesty had a firm grip on the demon, and that the chains wouldn't break anytime soon, Starlight ignited her magic and the two of them vanished.

Ratchet knew that they would be on the Hyperion at the moment, locking Searing in the cell that had been designed for this, so he turned to Qwark, who seemed pleased that he might have ended the war between them and Nefarious.

"You are such an idiot Qwark," Ratchet said, shaking his head as he faced the captain, "Nefarious is a villain that is likely so bent on revenge that the destruction of a single island won't be enough to stop him form whatever else he's got planned."

"Oh you're just trying to scare the other Galactic Rangers," Qwark commented, waving him off as if what he was saying was unimportant at the moment, "Soon we will be receiving word that Nefarious has surrendered and that the entire assault on the Solana Galaxy is over... then you can admit to how wrong you are."

Ratchet had half a mind to mention Gaspar again, considering that it was there where they discovered a fraction of Sunset's destructive powers, and the fact that Chairman Drek didn't seem to care about the destruction of one of his many bases. Then he decided that it wasn't worth bringing up the past again, because he was almost certain that they would be receiving a call from their enemy anyway, though it wouldn't be the surrender that Qwark was currently hoping for. He only hoped that Qwark hadn't made the situation worse by revealing what Sunset was capable of doing to their enemy, otherwise this entire venture might get much harder on them all.





Ratchet, Clank, Angela, Clank, and Sasha had gathered in Qwark's personal quarters, while the insane captain remained on the bridge to throw around more orders to the other members of the Q Force, where Ratchet retold the story about how they defeated the leader of the Tyhrranoids. It was mainly for Sasha to know that the mission had been completed and what she missed by staying on the ship, though they were all a little annoyed that Qwark was willing to unleash Searing's power to scare away Nefarious. Now that Sasha had seen the video of what happened to Yeedil she knew exactly why Ratchet and the rest of his family got upset whenever Qwark mentioned using that power to end this threat to the galaxy, though she agreed that destroying the land itself wasn't the best course of action.

They had been wrapping up the story that Ratchet was telling when two small holograms appeared on the table in front of them, one that was definitely Nefarious and meant that the other was his butler.

"So, this is the mighty Q Force I've heard so much about?" the hologram of Nefarious proclaimed, though he sounded as if he didn't believe that they were who he was searching for, "Pathetic! I could obliterate the lot of you and they wouldn't even mention it in Supervillain Weekly. Its bad enough that they've already got headlines about a new villain taking up what is my space in the magazine... something about a villain called the 'Goddess of Destruction'. Come on, there are no pictures of this new 'villain', only rumors that she visited Tyhrranosis and destroyed Kavu Island..."

"Sir, your ranting again," the butler said, cutting into the rant so that Nefarious could get back to the reason for calling them in the first place, "but you would have done the fashion world some good if you disposed of the Q Force."

"And to think that Secret Agent Clank and Android 18 would join the squishies!" Nefarious shouted, clearly pissed off that two of his greatest heroes, or whatever they were to the mad robot, were joining the fight against him, "I guess its a good thing that I have plans for the lot of you."

"We will be sure to be ready for whatever your planning," a voice said, to which Starlight appeared behind Ratchet and the others, though when Ratchet turned around he noticed that Qwark had entered the room as well.

"Or maybe I should just ask the Goddess of Destruction to deal with you." Qwark commented, to which he smiled the moment that the hologram of Nefarious took a small step backwards, "Trust me Nefarious, you had best stop this war of yours... otherwise my friend might track you down and obliterate you where you stand. And trust me on this, they'll mention it in Supervillain Weekly."

Nefarious looked like he wanted to scream at Qwark, and likely cause him to freeze up judging from the crack in his skull that Ratchet spotted, but he seemed to think better of it. The look that followed the robot regaining himself didn't sit well with Ratchet, which told him that Qwark's plan to use Searing powers might have backfired on the captain.

"Oh just you wait Qwark," Nefarious said, his left hand turning into a fist, which he crushed for a moment as he stared at the captain, "soon I will show you, and your pathetic Q Force, the true meaning of destruction... and there is nothing you can do to stop me this time."

Once those words left Nefarious' mouth, and he indicated to the butler for a second, the transmission was cut off, leaving Ratchet to wonder if they had been talking long enough to get a trace on where it had come from. Fortunately Angela had slipped away and placed a call to Al, who was at the bridge, to which she emerged from where she had been hiding and told them that they actually had the location where the transmission came from. It had apparently come from a facility on Planet Daxx, to which they would need a new gadget to access thanks to the scans that Al had done in his spare time after completing the trace, a gadget that was called the Hypershot.

That was before Helga came into the room and declared that she happened to have a few Hypershots on hand, which they apparently needed if they wanted to assault the facility, though Ratchet and his family quickly learned that they needed to pass through one of her trials to get the gadget.

Ratchet sighed as he made his way to the training room, because he had known that Nefarious wouldn't have stopped his assault on the galaxy once he had seen Searing's power. All Qwark had did, in releasing a fraction of Searing's power, was piss off Nefarious, because the mad robot believed that he now had competition for dominating the galaxy. None of this was actually helping them at the moment, though Ratchet wished that Qwark would listen to him and his family when it came to matters revolving around Sunset and the power that was coursing through her body.

Qwark had just made their mission much harder than it needed to be, though how hard they would would soon find out when they assaulted the facility on Daxx... where Sunset would be sitting out another planet.