//------------------------------//
// Arsenal: Metropolis 
// Story: Ratchet and Clank: The Starlight of Solana 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

	Ratchet had been expecting many things when he and Starlight told Sunset that the explosion that destroyed the Leviathan had also claimed Qwark's life. One of the things that he had been expecting was the complete and utter destruction of the Starport in a fit of rage, or the obliteration of the other ships that orbited the station. He even considered that both Sunset and Searing would have simply destroyed Zeldrin itself, much like what happened to Yeedil, or teleport to a different planet and cause some destruction. He had been expecting something, and Starlight had prepared to combat whatever was coming, but what actually happened caught the both of them by surprise.

What they got was a look of defeat that appeared on Sunset's face, as if both she and Searing couldn't believe that the man they hated was gone, though she refused to speak with either of them as she returned to the Hyperion and locked herself in the cell that kept her demon in check.

"I haven't seen her look this depressed since she learned that she wasn't a cazar." Starlight commented, remembering how devastated her sister had been when she learned the truth about herself, "I guess that, despite her hatred for Captain Qwark, both she and Searing had been looking forward to getting rid of the man... and now that has been taken away from them."

"We're just lucky that Searing hasn't gone into a rage yet," Ratchet replied, taking a seat at the bridge before setting in the coordinates for the Phoenix, "but now that both Sunset and Searing have a reason to hate Nefarious... we're going to have to be careful around her."

"You mean more than we already were?" Starlight asked, raising an eyebrow as the ship started its journey to where the Phoenix was located, "It took everything we had to keep Searing in check when she was pissed off at Qwark... but now that he's dead, and her rage will be focused on the one responsible, we might not have the ability to keep the demon contained. I'm not even sure that I'd be able to contain her rage with two of the six Cores... we really should have taken the one we found on Aquatos when we had the chance."

Ratchet hated to admit it, but when he considered everything that Searing could do when she was pissed off, and shuddered when he remembered Yeedil, he knew that his sister was right. They should have damned the consequences and taken the third Core the moment they found it, but instead they chose to play it safe and not grab it. He still hadn't called Sasha or Angela to tell them the news, because he had no idea how the rest of the team would react and had, after some debate, to simply tell them the moment they returned to the Phoenix. He silently wished that Sunset didn't have that demon trapped inside of her all the time, but at the moment there was no use wishing for something that he or Starlight couldn't change.

It didn't take them long to reach the Phoenix, where Sunset remained on board the Hyperion while Ratchet and Starlight went forward to tell their comrades what had happened.

"By the Maker, your all okay." Angela said, throwing her arms around Ratchet the moment he and Starlight entered the bridge, "We saw the Leviathan blow up from here... and we are all very happy that you, Starlight, Clank, and Sunset have returned unharmed."

"Expect for Qwark," Clank commented, turning to Sasha and Al, who were busy looking over some charts and readings they had been taking, "Is there any chance that a secondary craft might have left the Leviathan before it self destructed?"

"We've been going over the scans ever since the ship went down, but we keep reaching the same conclusion," Sasha replied, letting out a sigh, though whether it was relief or sorrow at Qwark's death none of them were able to determine, "Qwark didn't get off the ship in time... he's gone, and there's no changing that. How's Sunset taking the news?"

"She and Searing are depressed," Starlight said, looking at the star chart while she tried to determine where Nefarious was going to strike next, because they had no information on where he was planning on attacking, "The demon promised to kill Qwark after what happened on Yeedil, even going out of her way to threaten him all the time, but now... now the demon has nothing. We're just lucky that she hasn't tried to regain control yet, because an emotional Searing is the last thing we need at the moment."

"Thank the Maker for that," Sasha said, pulling up a screen that revealed a number of messages that had come to her and the crew, "We've been getting messages and reports from the other Rangers, and some citizens from the other planets, and we've managed to piece together something that might help you out; Nefarious is planning on attacking Metropolis. Al told me earlier that Metropolis was where Nefarious was defeated by Qwark in the past, so we came to the conclusion that he would want to level the city now that Qwark is dead."

Ratchet figured that Al must either have played the vid-comics that he and his family had collected while they were gone or had done some deep research into Qwark's life, though the second point was more understandable than the first one, considering that Al had been a fan of the former captain's for some time until the incident with Drek. He supposed that Nefarious would want to finish the job and destroy the one place where people still, for some strange reason, celebrated Qwark and his deeds, as if they ignored all the evil he had done. He didn't know what the destruction of Metropolis would give Nefarious, besides some bonus points with the other villains that he associated himself with, but at least it was a lead.

"Then let's go to Metropolis and stop Nefarious before he completes whatever plan he's set in motion," Ratchet said, because deep down he knew that there was something that they had missed, but it was something that they would have to worry about once they had saved the city.





When Ratchet landed in Metropolis he, and the rest of his family, found that the entire city was already under attack by Nefarious and whatever troops he had assigned the task to. He had listened to Starlight as she read off all the reports that Sasha had received, and some of the newer ones that had appeared on their trek to the planet, but even then he didn't think that their enemies would have gotten as far as they had. Several buildings were already burning, some of them were destroyed, and there were screams as people were hunted down and captured by Nefarious' minions.

"Its already started..." Ratchet said in shock as he climbed out of his ship, to which the rest of his family followed suit, "I guess the only thing we can do is find Nefarious and stop this before he puts his plan into action."

"I'll take to the skies and remove his drop ships before they can deliver any more reinforcements," Sunset said, opening her wings and touching the blades that she had attached to them, as she was in no mood to use her magic, "I'll also see if I can locate where Nefarious is hiding... just so we can get this over with."

Ratchet, Starlight, and Angela knew why Sunset wasn't too keen on using her magic at the moment, because in her emotional state, which was due to Qwark's death, one wrong move could unleash Searing and her power. They all remembered what happened on Yeedil, and the destruction they had witnessed, so they were glad that she was switching to flying and not taking such a risk. Ratchet would have preferred that Sunset stay on the Hyperion, where she wouldn't have to worry about loosing the demon upon the universe, but at this point there was nothing he could say to dissuade her. Only Starlight could stop the demon, thanks to the power of the Cores that they had recovered, so there was really nothing he could do but pray to whoever was watching that Searing remained in her cage.

"Very well," Ratchet said, turning to face Sunset for a moment, who was already ready to take off, "but please don't do anything rash. Just take out the enemy ships, find Nefarious, and then come find us once you discover where he's hiding."

Sunset stared at him for a few seconds, as if he couldn't believe that he was telling her not to do anything rash, before she flapped her wings and took off, leaving the four of them to fight their way through the host of enemies that were coming their way.

"We had best find and eliminate Nefarious before Sunset finds him," Angela commented, extending both ends of her beam sword as she pointed at the building they would have to fight their way through, "because there's no telling how long it will be before she detonates and releases Searing into the universe again. She's angry at Nefarious, so if the two of them end up meeting..."

"...then the entire planet will be put in jeopardy." Starlight finished, knowing exactly what they were hoping to avoid this time, though she let out a sigh as she pulled out her RY3NO, "Let's do this."

Ratchet and Angela followed Starlight as she began the assault on Nefarious' forces, using the RY3NO to clear out the enemies that had been waiting in the building they had landed near, while they focused on any enemies that might have followed them from behind. It was at times like this that Ratchet was glad to have one of the RYNO weapons on their side, because it appeared that the third installment of the weapon series was just as powerful as the previous two. With it Starlight smashed the enemies that had been waiting for them to pieces, though while she did that Ratchet used his weapons to shoot down several enemies that came their way and Angela cut others apart.

Ratchet even spotted a drop ship that was coming towards their location, but before Starlight could even turn her weapon on the ship it exploded into a ball of fire as Sunset destroyed it, before disappearing once more.

As they walked into the second building they found another group of Tyhrranoids that were waiting for them, though thanks to Starlight's weapon they managed to clear them out. Ratchet would have felt sorry for them, as they were quite literally destroying everything that Nefarious was currently throwing at them, but then he remembered that they were attacking the planet and decided they didn't deserve his pity. Once the second building was cleared out they accessed the weapon vendor and restocked their weapons, so that they could decimate their enemies with Starlight's RY3NO.

Before they left the building they noticed a massive orange and grey colored sphere rise into the air between where they were and another area of the city, though the three of them knew what it had to be and noticed that it happened to be charging. Angela, sensing something was amiss, sheathed her weapon, grabbed both Ratchet and Starlight by the collars of their armor, and dragged them behind a wall before the Biobliterator loosed whatever attack it was preparing. A few seconds passed before they heard the whine of a weapon powering down, to which they poked their heads out from where they were hiding and noticed that all of the organic enemies that had been standing in front of them had been replaced by robots.

With the deed done the massive sphere rose into the air and left the planet, as if turning the people in the immediate area into robots was the only reason that Nefarious had bothered to bring it to Metropolis. Ratchet looked around as Starlight laid waste to the now robotic enemies that were in front of them, as he was worried about Sunset, but he spotted her flying through the air as she searched for Nefarious. He assumed, because of the constant changes that had been forced upon her body, that she might be immune to the effects of the Biobliterator, which was one of the few times that he was glad to have Searing around.

Once the enemies in front of them had been dealt with, and they made short work of the tank that appeared in their way, they jumped up to the next walkway and attacked the robotic Tyhrranoids that were in their way. Ratchet had to keep himself from laughing as he watched Angela fight, because her weapon made short work of any enemies that came at her, as her beam sword cut through their now robotic skin like butter. Ratchet switched to his rifle and decided to take out any and all enemies that were off in the distance, while Starlight and Angela focused on the foes that were right in front of them.

It wasn't long before they encountered another drop ship, though this one was accompanied by two flying enemies, but before they could point their weapons at them the ship exploded, to which they watched Sunset spin around and cut the two enemies apart with her wing blades before disappearing again.

"Oddly convenient that she appears whenever a drop ship appears in our way," Angela commented, watching Sunset disappear before turning to Ratchet and Starlight, "Does that mean she's already found Nefarious and is helping us get to him faster... or does that mean that she has no idea where he is and merely wishes to help us out?"

"No idea." Ratchet replied, letting out a sigh as they moved forwards once again, "Though it hardly matters at the moment... as long as she's safe I can be happy if she doesn't locate Nefarious."

They came to a section where they would have to climb up a metallic walkway and go around the side of a building, but then Starlight ignited her magic and summoned a walkway for them to use. She merely wrapped it around the building, in the fashion on the one that they would have had to walk on, and they continued forward, shooting down the enemies they would have had to fight if they had followed the other path. Once they had reached the other side of the building they noticed a laser beam that required the gadget they found back on Marcadia, to which Ratchet pulled it out and used the energy field to attach the beam to the nearby pointer. The moment that was done he accessed a bolt crank and turned it all the way around, before he could bounce the beam into a hole in the wall and allowed the bridge in front of them to connect to the platform in front of them.

It was there that they found Nefarious standing on a train, near the front of it to be exact, so the three of them quietly approached him so they could get the drop on their target.

"So good of you to join me." Nefarious commented, just as a energy sphere wrapped around the entire train, which happened to depart from where it had been waiting the moment the trio had boarded it, "No doubt you were expecting me to surrender the moment you approached me, or to immediately fight you for control over this pathetic planet. No... I came to Metropolis so I could destroy this pathetic city, and you have delivered the weapon of my vengeance to me. So sit back, relax for a moment, and witness true destruction!"

With that said Nefarious teleported out of the area, but that was followed by Starlight discovering that he had merely been a hologram that had been designed to lure them to this location. Nefarious had actually trapped them and separated them from the rest of the city, leading her to wonder what the villain's true plan was for the city. She could try to teleport off of the train and see what would happen, but she assumed that their enemy had taken that into consideration and had designed it to keep them inside, which would be possible considering that he had access to one of the Cores for some unknown amount of time.

As she looked around for something to deactivate the barrier, and free them so they could stop Nefarious, Angela looked around for Sunset, as if she was concerned about something else entirely.

"I sense a disturbance in the Force..." Angela commented, more to herself than to the others, though that only worried her more than she had previously been.





Sunset was tired of searching for Nefarious from the skies, because he had actually made it difficult for someone to find him from the air, as if he had been expecting her to do this. Sure, she had helped her family with several of the drop ships that had been in their way, but even then she just wanted to find her target so she could bring this fight to an end. She didn't expect Nefarious to suddenly jump out of nowhere and start shouting to get her attention, but then again villains were idiots at times and usually did something like that when they thought they were winning. That thought reminded her of Drek and Qwark, and the idiotic mistakes they had made when they thought they were winning, but that only pissed her off even more.

That was before she spotted something trying to get her attention from below, though as she zeroed in on what it was she noticed Nefarious beckoning for her to come to him.

"I'm the one who killed Captain Qwark!" Nefarious loudly declared, as if he was trying to piss her off more than she already was, "Come on, Sunset Shimmer, doesn't that make you mad at me... or killing the man that you failed to kill time and time again?"

Sunset growled as she flapped her wings even harder than she had done in the past, soaring through the air as she headed right at Nefarious and focused solely on the robotic villain. That was seconds before there was a blinding light that erupted from behind Nefarious, causing her to lose her sight for a moment as she crashed on the platform that he was standing on. Sunset then struggled to figure out where she was and where her target was, while trying to recover her sight, but then she felt something pierce her chest, though she felt no blood pouring out of her.

That was before her entire body began to shake, as if it was violently reacting to whatever Nefarious had done to her while she tried to find where he was standing.

"Just a little serum that I developed back on Aquatos," Nefarious explained to her, though she heard the sound of him backing up, "I managed to harness the power of the Core I had recovered, to some degree anyway, and developed something that should unlock the full potential within someone like you, but this is the first time I've had the opportunity to test it. Go ahead, unleash your true power... Searing!"

Sunset screamed as the serum tore through her body, weakening her hold on the demon's power as she felt her body cracking under the power that was threatening to overwhelm her. She could feel her hooves cracking as Searing pushed her claws to the surface, her chest burning as the hollow hole threatened to open one again, and every other feeling that came with the transformation. She could feel the demon seizing control of her body and mind, all while imagining the horror that Nefarious had just unleashed on the rest of the universe.

The last thing she remembered was the energy within her expanding as she was consumed by a pillar of energy, just like what happened back on Yeedil so long ago.