//------------------------------//
// Time: Quantos 
// Story: Ratchet and Clank: The Starlight of Solana 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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	Clank had no idea what was going on around him, not after the Zoni had appeared above him and his friends after they had acquired the Dimensionator before their foe had used it to end all of creation. His sensors indicated that he was in an unknown area, suspended in midair by something, and indicated that two people were currently standing around him, which were identified as Dr. Nefarious and Lawrence. A few seconds later his sensors indicated that three more people entered the room that he was in, but he somehow doubted that it was Ratchet, Starlight, and Angela.

"Sire does not remember," a trio of voices said, though the tone made his sensors register them as the Zoni that had helped him and Ratchet in their last adventure, "You must fix."

"I know that!" Nefarious replied, not even sounding angry that the Zoni were commanding him around, while at the same time something activated and said it was running a scan, "Let's see... favorite color is green... favorite number is eighty-three billion and four point seven..."

"Access denied," a computerized voice said, though it was clear that it had interrupted Nefarious, which was followed by a small alarm that indicated that something was shutting down, "Neural safeguard activated."

"Not again," Nefarious exclaimed, his tone indicating that he was annoyed about something, "Every time I think I'm making progress with a different sequence his systems keep locking me out... I can't fix him at this rate."

"And it seems that this was the last potential combination you could have come up with," Lawrence added, showing his boss the list of combinations that had been made before they started work, "Perhaps Clank's systems don't want you to fix him."

"Lawrence... wake Clank up," Nefarious said, as the moment Lawrence had suggested that Clank's systems might not want HIM to fix him, and restore him to his previous state before the Zoni had grabbed him, he knew how to get around that.

"As you wish sir," Lawrence replied, to which he tapped a few keys and disengaged all of the systems that were currently running at the moment, though that was followed by Clank carefully being lowered onto the machine that he had been floating above.

Clank awoke in a strange circular room with all sorts of machines and devices that he was unfamiliar with, though he was shocked to find both Lawrence and Nefarious standing nearby. The trio of Zoni that he had heard were floating nearby as well, though they almost looked concerned for his well being, leading him to wonder if they were the trio that had grabbed him earlier. He checked his systems himself, as he wondered what was wrong with him, but he found nothing in his initial scan, leaving him to gently pull himself onto the floor and test his body... where he found that there was nothing wrong with him.

"It is good to see you again Clank," Nefarious stated, though Clank's systems detected that he had lost the tones he had used back when he was trying to takeover the Solana Galaxy, "I trust you had a pleasant nap?"

"As good as it can be when I'm abducted and awaken in a place that's unfamiliar to me," Clank replied, glaring at the Doctor for a moment, while at the same time noticing that his body had been upgraded quite a bit since the last time they had crossed paths, "So tell me, what evil plan are you setting in motion this time?"

"Clank, I haven't seen you or your family for about six years," Nefarious said, not even showing signs that he had been shocked by what Clank had said, rather he seemed to have been expecting him to make such a claim, "and the first thing that you think, when we see each other again, is that I'm up to no good? Honestly, I don't blame you for thinking that... but your wrong."

"And you expect me to believe that you actually turned over a new leaf?" Clank asked, noting that Lawrence was as quiet as the last time they had encountered the butler, "What could possibly make someone like you have a change of heart?"

Nefarious stared at Clank, knowing that it would be a tough argument to explain why he had changed, but then he let out a sigh and tapped on his chest piece for a moment, which opened up a small bit. What he revealed was his mechanical heart, the core of his being, though the one thing he couldn't fix, in all the time he had, was the claw marks that had been burned above his heart.

"Our God of Destruction changed by mind," Nefarious answered, giving Clank thirty seconds to see what he was showing him before sealing his heart container back up, though before he said anymore he heard something shatter near where they were standing, "Lawrence, I thought we had the anomaly contained!"

"We did sir," Lawrence said, though he tapped a few buttons and found the problem, "but it seems that the rest of the Zoni are being harassed by the Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler."

"Impossible!" Nefarious declared, telling Clank that something had to be wrong if Nefarious was upset, "I decommissioned the project and scrapped the prototype weeks ago... I even destroyed it to be sure that it couldn't be used against the Zoni!"

"Indeed you did sir," Lawrence said, to which he tapped a few more buttons on his tablet before he showed something to his boss, "but it appears that the time-space anomaly has been pulling in troops from another timeline... one where you planned on betraying the Zoni and seizing control of the facility. It also happens to be the same timeline where Sunset Shimmer doesn't exist..."

"Great, now I have to deal with this," Nefarious said, his hand touching his forehead for a few seconds, before he turned to Clank, who was slightly confused as to what was going on, "or maybe this is fates way of telling me that only you can fix yourself. Clank, Lawrence and I are going to deal with this anomaly, like I should have done when I first found it, though you should make your way through the facility and find Sigmund... he'll help you out the rest of the way."

Clank decided that now wasn't the time to be questioning what was going on as he followed the pathway that was in front of him, which he was forced off of when a large machine, which emitted sonic waves, chased some Zoni through the area and shattered the walkway he was on. He maneuvered his way around the path that he was on, finding that there were some crazed robots attacking both the Zoni and the strange facility he had found himself in, though at the same time he noticed Nefarious shooting at the robots from afar. After a few more seconds he came across a hologram of a strange robot, one that resembled a cross between a gumball machine and a popcorn maker with manipulator arms, that appeared next to a walkway just as it collapsed.

Clank had to assume that this was Sigmund, considering the robot was asking him to head into the air ducts, where he entered a room that allowed him to calibrate his systems back to what they had been before the Zoni had grabbed him. From that point he had to follow the path that the hologram pointed out to him, where he passed by machines that held holograms of planets, which made him wonder where he was. As he followed Sigmund's path he encountered the Hypersonic weapon that Lawrence had mentioned, which lead him to moving through what he could only describe as distorted time, though he also encountered a room where time moved back and forth with pauses between each change.

He eventually came to a ledge that was overlooking what he assumed was the heart of the facility, causing him to be amazed by the sheer size of the place he was in.

"Wh... what is this place?" Clank asked, though it was actually directed at himself, because he assumed that he was the only one around at the moment.

"The Great Clock," a voice behind him said, which turned out to be Lawrence, though he was accompanied by the robot from the holograms he had seen, "or, as Dr. Nefarious would call it, a 'marvel of science and sorcery'."

"It was engineered by the brightest Zoni in all of recorded history," the other robot added, though he was waving his arms around in excitement for some reason, "and it was constructed in the exact center of the universe... give or take fifty feet."

"It is also burning in several places," Clank pointed out, though when he thought about who was doing the damage he remembered that Nefarious had mentioned something called the time-space anomaly, but he figured that he would be informed what that was at some point.

"I can brief you on everything that is going on sir," the robot said, to which he turned to Lawrence for a second, as if the two of them knew something that Clank didn't know, "I shall send you and Nefarious my reports, as per your request."

"Then I shall leave Clank, and the Great Clock, in your hands," Lawrence commented, to which he waved to Clank a little bit, "Take all the time that you need... and do have some fun."

Clank was confused by everything that was going on, though as Lawrence teleported out of the area he seriously hoped that Sigmund had some answers for him... otherwise he was going to be terribly lost before he figured out how to get back to Ratchet and the others. He only hoped that his friends were having better luck on their end... wherever they were at the moment.





Ratchet was not having a good day, not when he, Starlight, Qwark, Searing, and Sunset were all stranded on a planet that they didn't even know the name of. Sure, they had managed to avoid all of the mercenaries that roamed the Breegus Sector, where they were supposed to find a clue as to the whereabouts of Clank, but that had come to an end when some sort of energy washed over Aphelion and caused them to crash. Unfortunately the ship that Searing and Sunset had been flying in, which had an autopilot that they could interact with since they couldn't steer with hooves, had also crashed as well... and it was floating above Aphelion in the strange blue light that was preventing the two ships from colliding with the cliff wall, which would destroy both of them.

Ratchet considered himself fortunate that he had asked Angela to stay behind with the Hyperion, so they could scout out the Breegus Sector before giving her the go ahead to follow them, otherwise they would all be stranded... and he seriously didn't want to go back to work on the large starship.

"No wonder I wasn't affected by the anomaly," Starlight said, as she finished analyzing the energy that was around both of the ships, "its temporal energy... the same energy that the Zoni used when they took Clank, and the same energy I'm still starting to learn."

Starlight had explained, when they were fighting Ysmir, why she hadn't been affected by the time ability that their opponent had used, to which she determined that part of her unique magic was related to time. That was why when Ysmir had slowed Ratchet and Angela down, as they had been the closest to her at the time, Starlight was able to see what was happening as clear as day and stop her family from being hurt. She did, however, admit that she was still a novice at this sort of thing, which was why she couldn't stop their ships from nearly crashing until the anomaly had saved them.

"Look, we're not going anywhere until we either figure out how to repair Aphelion, or find another pair of ships," Ratchet finally said, though as he said that he was slightly annoyed that they had, foolishly, chosen to leave most of their weapons back on the Hyperion.

"Oh, you mean we get to take a leisurely stroll through the jungle?" Qwark said, to which he drew his blaster and proceeded to follow the only available path that was open to him, to which the others made sure to keep him in their sights.

The group carefully made their way into the lush forest that surrounded them, though they could tell that most of the wildlife was peaceful towards them, as far as they could tell. The path that Qwark was following was mostly straightforward and well traveled, though it was clear that he was expecting it to have some degree of safety. The trees were tall and tropical, the sky blue and cloudless, and the sun shone brightly, allowing them to enjoy the scenery for the first time in a really long time, which was a nice change of pace. The first walkway they came to had a small group of tiny purple creatures standing around it, though they were easily put down with a single shot from the new blasters that Starlight had picked up before they came this way.

Sunset, the only one who didn't have a blaster, was fine with using the blades above her wings to deal damage to her foes, proclaiming that she didn't need all of the 'fancy' guns that Starlight had created... while admitting that using the RYNO weapon would have been pretty sweet if she magic like her sister.

After they crossed the ruined walkway they encountered more of the tiny purple creatures, though that eventually ended when they stopped at a river that clearly had a bridge... though all they had to do was turn the crank on the other side of the river. Starlight levitated her staff over to the bolt crank and started turning the mechanism, saying that they never knew whether or not they might need it in the future for some reason, though Ratchet assumed that she didn't want to waste magic on more magical steps. Once they were on the other side of the river Qwark charged at the ruins that were blocking their way and quite literally kicked the wall down, allowing them to enter the ruins that they would have to pass through, which made Starlight a little annoyed with Qwark's destruction of history.

When they all were inside the ruin they spotted more of the blue light keeping a bunch of stones and pillars frozen in time at the moment, though in a way that resembled a walkway for them to use.

"Something is seriously wrong with this planet," Ratchet commented, though he held a hand up before Starlight could say anything, "and I don't mean on the scale that Fastoon was when the Dimensionator was active... I just mean that something unnatural is happening."

While everyone was on agreement on that topic, that something was definitely happening to the planet, they picked their own paths to get over the wall in front of them; Ratchet used the way provided by the blue light, Starlight and Searing floated over it with their magic, and Sunset flew over it... though a few seconds later Qwark decided to smash it down and meet back up with them. That also meant that they had to take down some strange purple creatures that resembled the ones they had put down earlier, only more grown up, but in the end they were no match for five skilled combatants.

Once the next bridge was up everyone gathered around the weapon vendor, where Starlight purchased four of the new Constructo Bombs, which was the newest generation of the Bomb Glove that was available, only this one could be modified with special modifications that you either had to buy or earn by doing certain tasks. The moment everyone had their new weapons, and understood how to use it, Qwark kicked down another section of the ruins and allowed them to test the bombs on the enemies that were waiting for them. Not a few seconds later they ran into a strange purple skinned alien, one that was dressed up in a homespun garb, though it took only one look to understand why she had been running towards them.

"Help!" she cried out, coming to a stop in front of the group, to which she actually smiled for a bit when she looked at them, "Please help me! My children are in danger!"

"What seems to be the problem, citizen?" Qwark asked formally, easily dropping into his hero persona once more, which was understandable considering he had been using it for most of his life and then perfected it upon joining the Heroes Association.

"Zyphoids!" the woman explained, gesturing to the fungus like creatures the group had been fighting so far, "We were fishing near the river when they attacked!"

"Qwark, stay here and keep her safe," Ratchet ordered, to which he turned to the rest of the group as Qwark saluted him, "Starlight and Searing, you two should head to the right and make sure that the kid is safe. Sunset and I will head to the left and rescue the others."

The Zypholids that Starlight and Searing encountered were being spawned by a plant of some kind, though with both of their magic combined they were able to save the child that was hiding along the path that Ratchet had suggested that they head down, though when they returned to the mother they found that Qwark had saved a second child... which had been in front of the group the entire time. Ratchet and Sunset noticed that the child they were after would require moving around a puzzle like area, until Sunset flapped her wings and flew over to where the child was standing. She then let him climb onto her back, while suggesting that he not touch the blades that were attached to her wings, before she returned him to his mother, who was extremely thankful to have them all back... though before they moved on Sunset flew back into the area she had been in and returned with a weapon mod she had noticed.

"Oh, thank you!" the woman cried out, though the group was happy to see the joy on her face as she embraced her three children, "But the Zyphoids will be back soon. We must make haste to the village where it is safe."

"Lead the way," Ratchet replied, to which he and the rest of the group readied their weapons, or in Sunset's case showed off her blades, "We'll watch your back."

"Our deepest thanks," the woman offered sincerely, turning to lead the way to the village, which happened to be in the direction of the wall that Qwark would have tried to kick down if he had the chance, though when they reached the wall she called out, "Alphius! Open the door!"

The wall lowered a few seconds later and another member of her race, which all of their nav-comps finally identified as Fongoids, appeared behind it, though this one was carrying a staff in one of his hands.

"Enessa?" the newcomer asked, as if he was shocked to find her and the children on this side of the wall, though he regained himself in a matter of seconds, "What are you doing out here?"

"The Zyphoids are back!" the woman, Enessa, quickly explained, though at the same time she pointed at the sky with one of her fingers, "There must be something wrong with the time keeper."

"Not in front of the outsiders!" Alphius responded, though his tone indicated that whatever the 'time keeper' was it was supposed to be a heavily guarded secret that wasn't supposed to be shared with people like them, "Quickly, we must head to the village."

As Alphius and Enessa led the way to their village Ratchet and the others spread out, taking out each and every Zyphoid that decided to try and make a meal out of them or the children, though it didn't take too much time before they had reached their destination. As they walked through the city Alphius told them that it was possible to repair both of their ships, though it would require the help of the Zoni and the use of a special item that was inside their temple. The group paused by the weapon vendor to pick up the Sonic Eruptor, which was a modified frog that was attached to a gun, before they met up with Alphius at the door of the temple.

When asked if they could keep a secret Ratchet immediately said that they could, though the only one he knew that would be a problem was Qwark, as he tended to spill the beans on anything if he was captured.

"The Zoni are powerful creatures, capable of almost anything." Alphius said, though he did so in a serious tone, indicating that what he was telling them was very important, "But they are also hive-minds, and must be kept together for their energy to work. Inside the Temple is a vessel that will allow you to rescue lost Zoni and harness their bio energy. Follow me, and don't touch anything!"

They followed him inside, where he, one of the children, and Qwark stood on a trio of buttons to open the door in front of them, though he told them that only one could go inside the temple... and the group determined that Starlight was the best choice. Sunset was a little bummed out that she couldn't run through the obstacle course, as she was sure that one was inside the temple, but with Starlight having magic, and a knowledge of the Zoni energy, it was clear who was the better choice.

Starlight was able to use her magic to slip through the moving lasers that were guarding the first button, levitated herself over the spinning flames so she could reach the second one, and walked into the chamber that contained the mysterious vessel that had been mentioned a minutes or two ago. A few seconds later two of the Zoni, looking lost and forlorn, wandered into the room she was in, to which she wrapped her magic around them and guided them into the vessel. Once they were inside the vessel she cancelled her magic and returned to the rest of the group... only to find that the settlement was under attack by someone named Vorselon.

As she joined the battle she found that Qwark had already been captured, along with quite a few of the villagers, so she and the others fought their way through the villager and took out the invaders, overhearing that Nefarious was involved with this newest enemy they had encountered. Alphius lead them through the village, allowing them to take out all of the invaders that were trying to kill them, before they had to fight one last large group that was apparently blocking a sacred vault of some kind... where they found a third Zoni that floated into the vessel that Starlight was carrying.

Alphius then took them through an old teleport pad that brought them back to their ships, where Starlight held the vessel out and let the Zoni do their thing... where they combined both of the ships into one entity; giving Aphelion a bright blue color, restored the wings that had been torn off, upgraded the weapons Aphelion had, and enlarged the cockpit so at least four people could comfortably sit inside it, six at the max. With the task done the Zoni returned to the vessel and closed it behind them, while at the same time Aphelion came back online, which was a surprise for the ship for a few seconds.

With Aphelion restored the group climbed in and promised to rescue everyone that had been taken by Vorselon, to which they took off and headed towards the large starship that was leaving the planet's surface. They were sure that their new foe was going to be in for quite a surprise... and they were sure that he had some answers for everything that he had said to Ratchet before Starlight had emerged with the Zoni vessel.