//------------------------------// // Deadlocked: Stygia // Story: Ratchet and Clank: The Starlight of Solana // by Blackdrag-rose //------------------------------// After their success in the Vindicator Tournament, and the 'death' of the Eviscerator, Ratchet and Starlight returned to their holding area and went over which planet that they would be visiting next and which planet they were going to hand over to Sunset. Stygia, the first of the two planets, had a shield that protected the entire planet from a large number of meteors that would normally harm the world in a matter of hours. The second one, Maraxus, was supposed to be a desert like planet, something that reminded them of one of the planets that they had visited in the Bogon Galaxy, though apparently there was a large number of dust storms on the planet. They were basically having to chose between a planet that would be on the verge of destruction, if they knew Vox the way they thought they did, and something that seemed rather simple. In the end it was a rather easy decision for them to make, as both Ratchet and Starlight agreed to take on whatever Vox had for them on Stygia, leaving Sunset to tear apart her enemies on Maraxus. "It seems like Vox might be running out of tricks," Al commented, looking at him tablet, one of the things that Ace had recovered and given back to him, and reading a message from their ally, "Apparently there's a former Blargian station that Vox acquired lately... and its rumored that there is an army of undead gladiators that call the place home. Ace commented that Vox might be sending them at Sunset in the future, though I don't understand why we'd want to know what's being sent at Sunset." "He's just making sure we know what's coming," Starlight replied, a small appearing on her face for a moment, "we get to keep track on what's happening to Sunset. We also get to have a direct connection to our ally, that way when its time to put our plan into action we'll know it before Vox even knows what is coming his way." Ratchet was still concerned for Sunset, considering that they had no idea if the ghost army that was under Vox's command could be destroyed by simply being defeated in battle. For all they knew the ghost gladiators were unkillable and could regenerate endlessly, which would make Sunset mad until she reached the point where she obliterated everything around her. Ratchet had to wonder what was keeping Sunset from unleashing her true power at this point, the power that would result in her reunion with both Searing and Hatred, but he was also glad that she was holding back at the moment. There would come a time when Sunset and her other selves would finally put their differences aside, and he feared when that day finally came, but at the moment he would focus on what he and Starlight needed to deal with before they went to Stygia. As Starlight spoke with Clank and Al, while submitting which planet they wanted to take on next, Ratchet kept himself in his mind and reflected on the planets that they had already visited in the other tournaments. The planets were run under normal conditions when he and Starlight visited them, though when Sunset was there, however, there was always someone that wanted a piece of her. Warhead, Spy, Sniper, and the Demoman were all people chosen by Vox to take out Sunset, though in the end they only managed to piss her off before she obliterated them. He actually felt sorry for the people that Sunset took out, despite the fact that they tried to kill his sister, but he kept that thought to himself as Starlight continued her conversation with the others. About an hour or two after they submitted their decision on which planet they wanted to visit a ship moved into position near their holding area, which was rapidly followed by them receiving a brief message from Ace that simply stated that they should climb aboard the ship so they could depart. Ratchet and Starlight smiled, bid Clank and Al farewell for the moment, and then approached the teleport pad so they could board the ship that was currently waiting for them. When they appeared on the ship they found Ace waiting for them, who smiled as he moved to the navigation unit of the ship and put in their destination. "It takes a bit longer to reach Stygia than the other planets," Ace explained, turning back to face them once the ship was moving out of the station, "so when Vox heard that you two wanted to take on the course at Stygia he ordered me to drop what I was doing and come pick the two of you up. Thankfully I wasn't in the middle of anything important... which means that we can continue planning our eventual assault on the entire station and PX-17." "We'll be fighting soon enough, which might give you the opportunity to step into the shadows for the final phase of our plan," Starlight said, referring to the final tournament that no one has been able to reach ever since Ace had won it so long ago, "I mean, we'll have to put on a show to make it seem like we're mortal enemies, but we should be able to fool Vox long enough for him to mourn your death before sentencing the two of us to death." "Don't worry, I'll be sure to put on a show," Ace replied, pulling out his lightsaber, something that he wouldn't tell them how he acquired, but didn't extend it at all, "We should update your handheld weapons to avoid being damaged by my own weapon, if its even possible that is, but I'm sure that you guys can work around that." "By the time that Sunset's done with Maraxus, and whatever Vox throws at her, we'll be done with the changes," Starlight said, a smile appearing on her face as she and Ratchet followed Ace, "Now then, let's continue our discussing our plan before we arrive at our destination... because we're going to need to move fast once the last tournament is over." Ratchet smiled as he followed his sister, knowing that they would be able to stop whatever Vox was planning on Stygia, because he had to be planning something, and then out the finishing touches on their plan before they had to step into the Liberator Tournament. When the ship arrived at Stygia, passing through whatever meteors were in the space above the planet, Ratchet and Starlight gazed upon the power plants that kept the protective shield up, though they were both wondering if Vox had sabotaged them in order to make their Battle Course more interesting. Considering everything he had done to the previous planets that were under his control, and all of the vile things he had done for the sake of his show, they wouldn't put it passed him to do it again. One of the power stations had to be offline, increasing the danger that the planet was in, so they kept their ears open as they came to a stop above the start of the course. "Planet Stygia, a beautiful world with pink sand beaches, friendly service, and giant meteor storms pumbling the surface!" they heard the announcer declare, likely from whatever safe area that he and his companion were currently sitting in, "We're live from the Tempest Control Station, thousands of feet from the ground, where powerful meteor shields protect the people below... but not today, because we turned them off! Can Team Darkstar destroy the jamming devices and save Stygia? Only time will tell, as the fate of an entire planet rests in their hands... and hooves." "And now there's one more reason to hate Vox," Ratchet commented as he got his weapons in order, though he let out a sigh as he and Starlight approached the teleport pad, "Come on Starlight, let's show Vox that we are not to be underestimated or messed with." The moment the two of them stepped through the teleport pad they expected to appear next to a weapon vendor before they started the course, but instead they immediately started inside a Landstalker. Ratchet grinned as he took control of the vehicle and started gunning down the smaller enemies that were in front of them, allowing Starlight to aim at the power generators that were powering the barriers that were blocking their path. Once the first barrier was taken care of they were assaulted by a large number of enemies; three of the larger robot gladiators, two of the dropships, at least ten of the spinning blade enemies that flew through the air, and two large missile launchers. It took them a few minutes to deal with all of the enemies that were coming their way, and drop the second barrier that was behind them all, though they were then attacked by a group of four larger robots, two more dropships, and another pair of missile launchers. By the time they dropped the third barrier they knew that Vox was trying to kill them for real, because the amount of enemies was easily double what any normal contestant would face. As they passed through where the third barrier had been standing they were surprised to find at least five dropships in the area, dropping off gladiators before turning to fire missiles at them, a good twenty gladiators attacking from both the land and air, and six of the larger robots. At the end of the madness they also found a turret waiting for then, though Starlight protected them with a shield as she loosed an EMP at the turret, to which they tore it to pieces the moment the shield was down. Now that they were at their first objective they immediately started to target the jamming devices that were stationed around the area, though as they did so they were attacked by dropships and larger robots, forcing them to change their target for a moment before the enemies were taken care of. Though the moment they had destroyed the jamming devices, and only the devices, one of the announcers cried out that they had somehow damaged the station and that they had to manually turn it on themselves. Both Ratchet and Starlight moaned at the fact that Dreadzone was blaming them for what they had done to the station, but they were used to it and decided to just go with it. Once they were outside the Landstalker they accessed the jump pad and landed on one of the platforms that they needed to access, to which they opened fire on the gladiators that were standing there. The instant they captured the first node they were attacked by the spinning enemies that flew around, though the low number of enemies allowed them to quickly clear the area. They then repeated the same process on the second, third, and fourth platforms, where they landed on the platform, attacked the enemies that were waiting for them, and then captured the node that they had been protecting. When they had the node they attacked the flying enemies that came at them before progressing onto the next platform, until they had all four of the nodes under their control. They paused for a moment to listen for the announcer, to which they learned that the final step in turning the shields back on involved hacking the control orbs that rested around the shield's core, though oddly enough they were restricted to using the flying vehicle that was given to them and a robotic helper that would hack the orbs for them... provided they keep him alive the entire time. It was an easy challenge, as all they had to do was fly around the area and blow up any offending dropships that were in the area, as well as takeout everything that Vox could throw at them and their helper. That was when they learned that Dreadzone was launching an all out offensive on the shield's core and that they had to defend it at all costs, though that was when Starlight decided that enough was enough. The core had three openings for enemies to attack them from, but Starlight summoned her magic and placed two magical shields around two of the openings, basically forcing their enemies to come through the one available opening, like a bottleneck of sorts. It was amusing to see the gladiators actually circle around the core and come to the only available opening, as Starlight had expected some of them to attack the shields before moving on. Eventually the Dreadzone gladiators were taken care of and the shield was back online, saving the people of Stygia and showing Vox that they were not to be messed with. Ratchet and Starlight were sure that Vox had to be fuming in rage at the moment, which brought a smile to their faces as they accessed the teleport pad and went back to Ace's ship. All they had to do now was put the finishing touches on their master plan for the downfall of Dreadzone and wait for Sunset to deal with whatever was on Maraxus... and that included the ghost gladiators that might be coming to fight her in the future.