During the flight to Novalis, which was somewhat close to where Veldin was, the first thing Ratchet and his siblings did was take a moment to glance back at the planet they had been stuck on, since this just so happened to be the first time they had seen it from this angle, before Ratchet found that the little robot wanted him to pull his attention back to the controls and he did so without delay, just so they didn't hit an asteroid or something and ruin their adventure before it even started, despite the fact that he was sure that his siblings could break such a rock with their magic. After that Ratchet, Starswirl, and Autumn took some time to come up with names for the little robot, such as Silver, due to the coloration of his body, Clank, based on the sound his feet made when he walked, X-Jay, which were the first two letters of his designation changed to be more like a name, and a few others that didn't seem to stick at all, at least until the little robot decided to pick one so they would stop with the distraction and let Ratchet focus on piloting the ship. As it turned out he went with 'Clank', as it was unique and he was sure he would grow into it, in a manner of speaking, causing the siblings to acknowledge his decision before focusing on what might happen when they reached Novalis, since it looked like Chairman Drek would be attacking the planet when they arrived and it meant the three of them, four counting Clank, would have to be ready for whatever disaster might be waiting for all of them. Other than that Autumn turned her focus to working on one of her weapon schematics, which interested the newly named Clank since he wasn't expecting to learn such a thing about her, while Starswirl pulled out one of his books and continued his studies, in case he learned something new that might help them out during their adventure, another thing Clank wanted to ask about since this was something he hadn't encountered before.
Ratchet explained that Starswirl was a unicorn, hence why he could use magic, something he didn't bother to question since it was beyond everything he knew, and the colonists back on Veldin claimed that Autumn was one as well, though her horn and some of her features were different from her brother's, so while Clank was welcome to investigate the magic that his siblings used he also warned him that he might not get anywhere at all, before turning his attention back on what he was doing to make sure they arrived at their destination safely.
"There, Novalis straight ahead!" Autumn stated, as not even ten minutes later she found the dark green planet with green colored landmasses, making the former water and oceans, in front of them and it caused everyone to smile, as it meant they had reached their destination and she even had a destination for Ratchet to focus on, taken from the Infobot that had been in Clank's storage compartment, though later she intended to think about the vastness of space and that they knew next to nothing about the rest of their galaxy.
"Yes, now be sure to remember to extend the landing gear, after we breach the atmosphere," Clank commented, which was common sense to those who piloted every variety of space craft that was in existence, or at least he assumed so since his knowledge on the subject was limited at best and would need to consult someone to learn more about everything that was in this galaxy, before he noticed that Ratchet was sweating, as if he realized that something had gone wrong with the ship he had put so much work into.
"Yeah... about that..." Ratchet said, where he revealed that he had messed up when they left Veldin, as he had been far too excited by the fact he and his siblings were leaving the world they had been stuck on that he actually forgot to raise the landing gear, meaning that it was likely shot or totally gone, though that was when they heard something and Clank took a second to confirm their fears, that the broken landing gear had been torn out and opened the way for the ship to be torn apart by their reentry, which was enough cause for them to panic.
In that moment, before anyone could panic over Ratchet's mistake, Starswirl made his move and weaved his magic around all four of them within seconds, where he waited for a few seconds before teleporting them out of the ship, dropping them on a loading platform that was on a cliff that overlooked the rest of the crater-like area that they had been heading for, all while the ship they had been in, which no longer held any of their belongings and no one was inside it, crashed into part of the mountain wall that rested nearby, smashing it to pieces.
"Well, there goes our ship... I knew I missed something," Ratchet said, though he was annoyed with himself, as he should have known to raise the landing gear before they breached the atmosphere of Veldin, especially since their plan had been to fly around as much of their galaxy as possible before getting homesick and returning to their shed, or stopping Drek if that became a thing, before he and his siblings glanced over the rest of the sunken area that was in front of them, where it looked like a whole bunch of ships were attacking the planet, "Anyway, it doesn't look like we'll be leaving the same way we entered... which means finding another ship and convincing the locals to give it up."
"Not to mention finding some clues for when we find Captain Qwark," Autumn remarked, where she glanced at the area all of them were in and found three paths for them to take, one that went into the waterworks to their right, one that seemed to head into the caves behind them, and a lift that headed down into the more open area, which seemed to be where the attacking forces were focusing on at the moment, before she spotted a Gadgetron Vendor nearby, a blue cube that used a hologram to display what was available right now, "So, what should we do now?"
"I would suggest seeing what's in the waterworks, in case anyone is in need of help, before striking down Drek's forces and seeing what we can learn from it," Starswirl suggested, because for some reason he knew that someone was inside the waterworks, though how he knew that he really had no idea, and given the message they had been show it sounded like Drek wanted anything and everything from all of the planets that he planned on attacking, to make his world perfect, and it seemed like a sewer system might be one of those things.
Ratchet agreed with the idea and found that Clank was staring at the back of his harness, possibly the odd hexagon, so he figured that Clank knew about what he had done after his ship crashed into Veldin and shifted his stance so Clank could jump up onto his back, transforming into the smaller backpack form so he could move without making them worry about him, though once that was done the siblings turned towards the Vendor, as a new weapon or two might be useful since it looked like they would be dealing with enemies soon. Autumn discovered that the Pyrociter, basically a flamethrower that held a decent bit of power, something she built after witnessing a spell Starswirl used in the past and she had sort of used a few times as well, was available and that their discounts were definitely in play for the weapons and ammunition, so they had enough Bolts for Ratchet to buy one without actually having to worry about making a dent in their savings, and even she and Starswirl purchased one each. Clank inquired why they felt the need to buy such a weapon when they had magic to aid them, accepting it more quickly than Ratchet had, though Ratchet informed him that it was just in case either of his siblings burned through their magical energy, something that caused the little robot to nod his head before they headed inside the metallic entrance of the waterworks at long last, finding a steam of water leading to a drain in front of them, not to mention a few rock platforms that lead to a doorway. Of course the fighting going on caused some of the stalactites to fall and create a few more areas to jump on, which they used without delay and then jumped on a pair of pistons to reach the doorway, finding a small square shaped chamber with a pair of small bird shared robots, Peckbots anyway, though the pair were taken down with a single hit of their melee weapons and it allowed them to ransack the stack of crates that was resting near them, before heading up through a set of stairs to reach a slightly smaller chamber.
Inside it stood two large robots that had bird heads, so Birdbots, who took two hits to take down, meaning they were more durable than the enemies they had faced so far, before they used a piston to reach a short hallway that lead to a far larger chamber, which didn't have any foes for them to take down and proved to be rather easy to cross, especially with Starswirl using his magic to form walkways over the gaps that allowed water to move through this area, before using another pair of pistons to reach a metallic path that lead to a set of doors, which brought them to what appeared to be a high point that overlooked all of the crater.
"Someone's actually up here?" Autumn inquired, because on the other side of the second door they found a person who had gray skin and seemed to be dressed up as a plumber, though she, along with Starswirl, realized that the figure in front of them was different than the people they had seen on Veldin, but what that something was she had no idea, while both of her siblings nodded their heads for a moment, because when they decided to check this place out none of them had suspected that someone would actually be up here.
"What's that?" the plumber asked, where he straightened himself for a moment, as he had been working on the machine that was in front of him, before turning around to look at them, allowing them to see that he had a brown mustache and a short brown beard, while at the same time he stared at all three of them for a few seconds, something that lead to him actually pulling out a few pieces of paper, "I was only expecting two of you to show up... the other two are a nice surprise, given how everything's been going lately, though it means the script has changed... that's going to cause some problems down the line... oh, and she's fine, my dear Lombax."
"She is?!" Ratchet said, though as he said that he reached up to his neck for a moment and touched the necklace again, as he instantly had an idea as to who the plumber was talking about, causing Starswirl and Autumn to remember what all of them had been told, that Ratchet landed in a pod designed for two individuals, himself and a sister, though they only now knew the gender of his missing sibling thanks to the person in front of them, which caused him to glance up for a moment as he considered something, "Wait, you know where she is? Tell me... please."
"I'm afraid I can't do that, son. I may be the Plumber, but there are certain things you aren't ready to know," the figure, or the Plumber as he called himself, replied, something that clearly devastated Ratchet, as this was the first person they had found that knew something, anything, about his missing sibling and he was refusing to say anything on the matter, only that she was fine, wherever she was at the moment, which did give him a glimmer of hope, "I'm sorry that I cannot be of more help, but right now none of you are ready for the answers that you want... you'll be ready in no time, once all is said and done."
Since it was clear that the Plumber had no information for them, at least on Ratchet's missing sister, Starswirl asked why he hadn't left the planet yet and the man replied that it was due to socioeconomic disparity, meaning he didn't have the Bolts needed to leave on the transports, which was odd considering he knew where to find their missing sibling, since both Starswirl and Autumn considered Ratchet's sister to be theirs as well, before Autumn transferred the five hundred Bolts he needed into his account. Such a thing put them in his good graces and earned them something in return, an Infobot for one of the other planets in their galaxy, causing him to depart once it was in their hands, even if he headed down one of the large pipes they had passed over to get to this window filled area, before the Infobot revealed that it was for a planet that was called Aridia, Outpost X11 to be exact, and that it happened to be where Skid McMarx, a pro Hoverboarder that Ratchet knew from the news, had crashed. As they retraced their steps back to the entrance of this area, so they could see to the invading force, Ratchet informed Clank that while it was unlikely that Skid knew Captain Qwark, given that one was a hero and the other was a sport person, heading to Aridia might earn them something that would aid them in their quest to find Qwark, like a weapon or gadget, but first they needed to find a ship, and if that brought them to a planet that was of more importance than Aridia he promised Clank they could check it out first, before tending to Skid. With that done they finished retracing their steps and came to a stop near the Gadgetron Vendor for a few seconds, as they had to wait for the lift to come up so they could take it down to the battlefield that was raging below them, where a large number of Peckbots and Birdbots happened to be attacking the city that was in this area, unaware of the danger that they were in, hence why the siblings readied their weapons and assaulted their enemies.
Clank, being the newest member of the group, had to wonder who was so important to Ratchet that he would temporarily forget about Qwark and their mission, though he quickly learned why the siblings were able to beat the robots that had chased him to Veldin, not counting the magical powers that two of them had access to, as Starswirl spun his staff around while occasionally tossing bombs at his targets, Ratchet smashed any who dared to get near him as he either bombed his foes or flamed them with his new weapon, and Autumn stayed back to study their fallen enemies and how they worked, all in the name of new weapons for the future. Sure enough he found that Drek's forces weren't enough to stop Ratchet or his siblings from making their way around the town that was under attack, even if they had to be the weakest ones he had at the moment, especially when he considered all of the magical abilities that Starswirl and Autumn had, given that one seemed to be a master of multiple elements and one seemed to be good with fire, or at least he thought that was the case since Autumn had only used flames so far. Starswirl, on the other hand, took advantage of the river they happened to be fighting near and channeled some of the water into icy spears that took down several Birdbots, though that was around the time that they found a set of platforms that lead to a bridge, one that had holes in it from a ship blasting it a few times before Ratchet and his siblings reached it, but that didn't stop Starswirl from using the river to create hands of ice that he used to crush the ship in question. With that done they crossed the bridge, taking down a few more Birdbots and some of the Peckbots, before reaching another set of steps on the other side of the town that was under attack, on the other side of the river to be exact, causing the siblings to go on the offensive once more as they smashed their way through the few remaining enemies that were in front of them, making their way to a crater that happened to have a rectangular ship, and a few Birdbots, land a few seconds later.
In the following moments Ratchet, Starswirl, and Autumn smashed through the remaining enemies that were in the area, something that allowed the ship to open its main door and reveal an elderly person who was male and seemed to be one of important status, given his attire and rather impressive looking cloak, and he happened to have a cane that helped him walk, though he did seem surprised when he saw the three of them, four counting Clank since he had jumped onto the ground for a time, staring at him.
"Don't hurt me, please!" the Novalis Chairman exclaimed, showing that he was terrified of them and that he didn't want to be attacked by them, no doubt thinking that they were enemies of his planet or something, especially since he hadn't seen them fight Drek's forces and save this part of Novalis, all while an Infobot floated behind him as he stared at them, which might help them with their adventure, "What are you people? Mercenaries? Torturers? Assassins? I'll tell you anything you want to know! Here, take my infobot, it's all I got left!"
"Look, we're not working for Drek, if that's what your thinking... not that we can use your Infobot, since our ship has been destroyed and we can't leave Novalis." Ratchet replied, as he figured telling the Chairman the truth was the best course of action, because it might convince him to aid them in their adventure in some manner, even if he didn't like admitting this was all his fault since he had forgotten to raise the landing gear on their own ship, a mistake he would endeavor to never make again, if they left this planet anyway.
The Novalis Chairman, either not getting what Ratchet was saying or wanted to think him for their efforts, granted them a ship to use, a courier ship according to his words, which landed on the landing pad they had crashed near earlier, and he also handed over the Infobot before heading back into his ship, allowing them to see that the Infobot had the coordinates for Metropolis, after showing a commercial for Qwark advertising Al's Roboshack in the city in question, which meant they might have a chance to meet the Captain in Metropolis, or at least gain more information from Al. With that done Ratchet and his siblings made their way over the metallic walkway that extended as soon as the Chairman was safe, allowing them to use the lift to head up to where their new ship was waiting for them, a green ship that was slightly longer than the one Ratchet had made and was a little thicker in both directions, though it held enough room for all four of them, so Starswirl and Autumn climbed in back as Ratchet and Clank took their pilot seats, before taking off and heading for Metropolis, on the planet of Kerwan, to hopefully find Captain Qwark and give him the news.