//------------------------------//
// Arsenal: Holostar 
// Story: Ratchet and Clank: The Starlight of Solana 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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The journey to Holostar Studios was purposely slow this time around, because there were questions that Angela wanted to answer before they reached their destination. She was curious about this mysterious Maul that had invaded Annihilation Nation, destroyed the robot known as Scorpio that she was supposed to fight, and challenged her to battle with a weapon that looked like the one she had been given. She had actually been impressed by the skill that her odd opponent had, despite the fact that she had beaten him with the greatest of ease, and knew that one day he would return when he had a new weapon and was more skilled with his chosen weapon. So while they traveled to their destination she contacted Al and had him search for anything that he could find on Maul, while making sure to keep it a secret from Qwark.

She was beginning to suspect that Qwark was trying to piss off Sunset in any way he could think of, which meant that he was still trying to unleash Searing's power in an effort to destroy Nefarious before he could put his master plan into action. She also took into consideration what the man had done in the Bogon Galaxy, posing as her boss and becoming the mastermind behind an entire plot to destroy Sunset's golden bracelet. Sure, Qwark was acting stupid at the moment, but she seriously wondered if he was merely acting in an effort to hide what he was actually planning. She didn't want a repeat of what happened to Yeedil in the Solana Galaxy, which she was sure that Ratchet and his family wanted to steer clear of if they could help it.

Somehow she had the feeling that they hadn't seen the last of Searing, but she seriously hoped that she was just overthinking everything and that the demon would stay locked up... until they could find a way to permanently destroy her. Though, even as Angela thought about that, she had no idea whether or not Searing could even be destroyed, considering that she was essentially a piece of Sunset's soul. She wondered what would happen if the demon was truly destroyed, if it would harm Sunset in some way or if she would be able to ignore the demon's destruction.

"Something on your mind Angela?" Ratchet asked, walking into the area that Angela had been sitting in, staring at her tablet the entire time as she slowly turned her focus from Maul to Searing.

"Oh, just seeing what I can find on my mysterious opponent," Angela replied, noticing that wasn't an update from Al yet, which meant that Maul was harder to find than she was originally thinking, "So far I haven't been able to find anything on him, but I've contacted Al and he's agreed to help me gather some information on him... without letting Qwark know what's going on."

"Good. The less Qwark knows the better off we'll be," Ratchet commented, taking a seat next to Angela, while looking out of the window and staring at the worlds that they passed, "He's been trying to get Sunset to destroy planets and cause untold destruction on those that he wants to keep intact, so I'd rather not tell him anything that would give him an idea to try again."

"And the better off Sunset will be without him breathing down her neck all the time," Angela said, closing her tablet as she looked out the window, "I wish we had left him on Florana, to live with the savages that we ended up fighting, because our lives would be a lot easier without him involved all the time. A part of me wishes that he had died with the quake that almost destroyed Yeedil, but we'll have to live with the hand that fate has dealt us at the moment."

Ratchet nodded his head and the two of them remained silent for the remainder of their journey to Holostar Studios, choosing to remain in the room they were in while the rest of their family, mainly Clank and Starlight, focused on the next episode that they would be filming upon arrival.





When they arrived at the studios Clank immediately began to prepare for the next piece of the show that he would be acting in, though it was quickly discovered that the ship that Ratchet was supposed to be flying for the scene was broken. Clank assumed that Ratchet had sabotaged the ship shortly after their arrival, though considering that the producer changed the buttons all the time, in some vain attempt to get Ratchet off the show considering his low popularity. What Ratchet was doing was essentially removing himself from the major scenes of the show, allowing him to slip into the background considering that the producer didn't like him at all.

Despite that happening Clank managed to get through his rehearsal without delay, while Starlight watched over him when Courtney Gears arrived to prepare for her own role in the show.

Because of the fact that the ship Ratchet was supposed to drive for the scene was broken, and no one could actually claim that Ratchet had been the one to break it, Clank had to glide into the area that he would be running through. When he landed he found his character surrounded by at least ten of Maximillian's security robots, all of which were armed and fully prepared to fight whoever intruded on their master's property. That was, of course, when Starlight's character burst out of the ceiling and crushed one of the robots with ease, before jumping up and coming to a stop beside Clank.

"Android 18, I wasn't expecting to see you here." Clank commented, slipping into his Secret Agent Clank persona as he attacked the other robots, "To what do I own the pleasure of your company to?"

"Professor Darkstar's unleashed a new creature to kill you with," Starlight replied, crushing another robot with her hooves as she moved onto the ones that were surrounding her, "I knew you would need help getting to the creature, so I figured that I would help you out and get rid of the new creature at the same time."

Clank nodded and the two of them charged through the host of 'enemies' that were standing in front of them, leaping over what was supposed to be a simulator for rush hour traffic, and tore through an electric fence that served only to slow them. That was before they tore through a second group of the ninja robots and traversed a gap that was blocking their path, to which they opened the path in front of them and reached the end of the obstacle course that had been designed for them. Once they had reached the end of the path Starlight bid Clank farewell, allowing him the chance to change into his larger form as he tracked down the monster he had been told about.

Facing the Terror of Talos, the large four armed creature that was supposed to be his opponent, was actually quite easy in Clank's book, but that was because he had dealt with finding ways to stop Searing from escaping and destroying everything. Whenever the monster was on the ground Clank would beat it into submission, though when it was in the air he smashed the larger ninja robots that came to fight him. When the first cycle was over he fought the Terror again, though this time the ninja robots insisted on bothering him the entire time, so he swiftly brought an end to them before finally bringing the Terror to the ground in defeat.

Once the Terror of Talos was defeat, and was laying on the ground, Clank shrunk to his original form and received the praise of Courtney Gears' character, the lovely Baroness as the producer called her. The two of them spent some time together, thanks to what the script demanded of them, before the producer declared the day of shooting complete and started packing everything away. Once they were alone, and there weren't any cameras in the immediate area, Courtney Gears let loose a stream of electricity and shocked Clank until he was offline.

The moment the deed was done she brought up a communicator and spoke to Nefarious, who indicated that he desired to speak with Clank before the music star did anything else.





"...where am I?" Clank asked as his body slowly powered back up, recovering from the shock he had suffered and allowing him to focus on his immediate surroundings, "Is someone there?"

"Agent Clank!" Nefarious said eagerly, allowing Clank to see that the villain he and his friends were fighting against was sitting in front of him, with Courtney Gears sitting on the side of the desk he was sitting it, "it is an honor to finally make your acquaintance!  I have been following your exploits ever since your first mission, when you defeated the mind stealing snot beasts from Dimension X!"

"I believe there has been a misunderstanding," Clank said, wondering why Nefarious even believed that he was actually Secret Agent Clank, when it was clear that the entire thing was a show and that he did other things besides what the show revealed, "Secret Agent Clank is merely a fictional character I play on the holo..."

"LIES!" Nefarious declared rather angrily, as if the very thought of Clank not being anything more than the character he played upset the robot doctor, "You are a hero to robots across the galaxy, and yet you deny your own destiny. I will say this only once, Agent Clank; join me and help me bring an end to the squishies, or deny your destiny and follow your beloved squishies into oblivion!"

Clank had the feeling that Nefarious was referring to his plans on the destruction that he told Qwark about, though based on the named weapons they found little on, back when they raided Daxx, he had to wonder what the weapons were designed to do. Clearly one of them had the ability to unleash some form of destruction, otherwise the doctor wouldn't be trying to persuade him to change sides before he moved forward with his plans.

"No," Clank said, crossing his arms as he stared at the doctor, silently wondering what his 'punishment' would be now that he was declining the villain's invitation to join his side.

"Very well then," Nefarious replied, returning to his desk and taking a seat across from Clank, to which he pressed a button and the door to the room they were in opened slightly, "You are free to go."

"...just like that?" Clank asked, because to be honest he expected that he would have been kept here until Nefarious had moved forward with his plans, and not allowed to leave the moment he declined the offer.

"But of course," Nefarious commented, beckoning for Clank to leave, to which Courtney Gears held the door open for him, "I told you that I had plans for you and your squishy friends... and I wouldn't want you to miss any of the destruction that I promised all of you. Oh, and tell your 'allies' about my star cruiser, the Leviathan, and maybe we can do lunch in the future."

Clank was confused by what was happening at the moment, though he took the opportunity to leave the robot doctor and music star behind, because he didn't want them to change their minds and decide to keep them until they were ready to unleash whatever destruction Nefarious was planning. He had some information to give Ratchet and the others, but first he had to find his way back to wherever Ratchet and the others were at the moment.





While Ratchet and Angela were waiting for the filming to end, so that they could begin the journey to the next planet on their list, they were joined by Starlight, who informed them that Sunset had remained on the Hyperion. She wasn't needed in the filming at all at the moment, so she decided to stay behind and use her time to try and find a way to seal the demon inside of her, as if she was trying to mimic what the bracelet had been doing until it had been shattered. However, while she was telling them about what Sunset was doing, they were interrupted by a sound to their left, to which they discovered that the Tyhrranoids had come to assault the studios.

Ratchet wasn't surprised to find that they were under attack again, and neither was Angela for that matter, but they knew that they would need to get to Clank before they left the studios behind. They did, however, find two new weapons that were available for purchase, the Disk Blade Gun and the Rift Inducer, to which Ratchet eagerly obtained them and used the disks against the enemies that were coming their way. He was pleased to see them cut into the enemies that were standing there, to which he and his family began their journey through the studios in an effort to find Clank.

The first studio building they entered happened to have four enemies that were waiting for them, but thanks to the new Disk Blade Gun Ratchet and Starlight were able to clear the area out with very little effort on their part. When they opened the door they found three more sitting in front of them, to which Starlight summoned a shield to protect them against their attacks, before surrounding their enemies with her magic and throwing them into the wall behind them. As they walked out of the building they spotted at least ten more enemies standing between them and the next building they would need to enter, though that was when Ratchet decided to use the Rift Inducer.

The rift tore itself open between some of their enemies and they all watched as those foolish enough to approach it, which happened to be all ten enemies, were consumed by the rift, before it slammed shut.

"Starlight, this was one of your weapons wasn't it?" Ratchet asked, looking at the area around them in surprise, because he wasn't expecting the weapon to do that at all.

"And it performed to the specifications I gave Gadgetron," Starlight answered, telling them that she had created the weapon and that she was pleased with how it performed, "Come on, we had better find Clank and then get out of here."

Ratchet would never tell Starlight the truth, but he had the feeling that she knew that he was actually somewhat scared of the weapons that she was able to make. It was similar to how scared he was of Searing, though he was sure that the demon was more terrifying than anything that anything that his other sister could make.

When they approached the elevator that was sitting in front of the building they needed to enter Ratchet pulled out the Hacker and opened the way for them, to which they entered the next part of the studio and attacked the enemies that were waiting for them. Starlight and Angela went to town on the enemies that were waiting in front of them, allowing Ratchet to hack into the next terminal that was blocking their path while they protected him. As they moved though the next section they spotted a flying dropship that clearly belonged to their enemy, though it was quickly destroyed by something other than the three of them.

That was when Starlight noticed Sunset flying over their heads, using her rifle to take out enemies that might give them trouble and making their journey easier. Apparently she had gotten bored of staying in the Hyperion and had teleported down to where they were, though Starlight was pleased to have her back in the action again.

With Sunset taking out the tougher enemies with her rifle the group managed to get through the studio with more ease than Starlight was expecting, leading her to believe that this had been some sort of distraction for them. When they reached the end of their journey, and returned to their ship, they found Clank standing beside it, though it appeared as if he was lost in thought at the moment.

"Did something happen Clank?" Ratchet asked, while Angela, Starlight, and Sunset ensured that all of their enemies had been taken care of before they departed from the studios.

"Courtney Gears took me to speak with Nefarious... and I refused his offer to join his cause." Clank informed them, though he was still unsure of why the robot doctor continued to mention destruction when he was trying to dominate the entire galaxy, "Then he let me go, with no strings attached, and gave me the name of his star cruiser, the Leviathan he called it."

"Well then, we can check out our other lead while Sasha and Al track down his ship," Ratchet said, to which everyone climbed back into the ship, "Though I know what Qwark will want us to do when he learns of its existence."

None of them had anything to say to that remark, because they knew that Qwark would ask Sunset to blow the ship to pieces, so that they could end the war with Nefarious. While they waited for their friends to find the ship, and tell them its exact location, they decided to head to the Obani Moons, because it was the only other lead that they had at the moment. They were eager to figure out what was happening there, though they were sure that it might be a waste of their time, though they wouldn't be completely sure until they visited the moons and discovered whatever was waiting for them.