It took them some time to get to planet Rilgar, not that they were surprised by this point since their ship seemed to be one of the more slower ones, though when they reached their destination Ratchet, Starswirl, and Autumn quickly discovered that Blackwater City was a massive place that was full of buildings, plus a sewer system that seemed to be infected with Amoeboids, green slime creatures that were hostile towards everything and everyone, so they had an idea of what to expect during their time in the city, in addition to the locals that might not like them either. Unfortunately Ratchet found that they had to land some distance from the city, on some rocks he assumed were the outskirts, though there were some platforms leading right in the direction of their true destination, and there happened to be a landing pad for him to use, so he targeted that area and let the ship touch down in no time, causing him and his siblings to jump out before Clank joined them. This was a stroke of good luck for them, as they had been chasing both Captain Qwark and Chairman Drek since they saw the message that told them about the attack on Novalis, but this was the first time they had a true idea as to where either person might be and it just so happened to be Qwark, the one Clank happened to be looking for, so if they could find him they would be one step closer to ending his mission and focusing on their adventure. While he thought about that Autumn found another weapon in the Vendor for them to claim, another glove weapon known as the Mine Glove, designed to be used in combination with the Taunter or with all sorts of curves to lay traps for enemies, though she claimed it since there might be a time where such a weapon might be needed, but once that was done they stared at the city and knew that it would be an interesting place to explore, once they were done with their mission.
"Okay, let's get in there so we can win the Hoverboard Championship and speak with Captain Qwark," Ratchet said, as while he really wanted to be more casual while he and his siblings were here, since this city was supposed to be the life of the party, especially since Skid was rumored to have been born in this place or called it home in his later years, he knew that right now they needed to focus on the mission and nothing else.
"With any luck he won't be called off planet before we get up there," Autumn added, though she moved over a very short walkway and a floating metallic boat before jumping up onto a raise rocky area that had a structure on it, where Ratchet and Starswirl joined her as she activated the button on the ground and opened the door that was in front of them, which revealed that some of the locals were wearing suits that likely helped with fighting the Amoeboids and a tank that seemed out of place.
"And if not, we'll likely find an Infobot telling us where he went," Starswirl finished, where he loosed a bit of magic that was in the shape of a ball of energy and let it slam into the tank, blowing it apart since it turned it's turret towards them the moment the door was opened, while Ratchet knocked down the exterminator that got in their way, something that was followed by Autumn stealing the armor for a moment as she used her magic to inspect it and carefully break it apart for a few seconds, "Got something on your mind?"
"I want to see if I can issue an update to the helmets that these guys are using." Autumn replied, taking a moment to break the helmet apart with her magic, something that never got old and was incredibly helpful in some instances, before using a bit more to push some pieces into place and move others out of the way, something that was followed by her snapping it all back together without leaving anything behind, to which she tapped into the controls of the helmet and sent out what she hoped was the update she had mentioned.
Ratchet hoped that Autumn's tinkering worked like a charm, since it meant they would have less enemies to worry about and could get through the city a lot quicker, though he knew that time would tell as he focused on what they had to do to get to the outermost section of Blackwater City, where they quickly discovered that they had to glide over to the next boat before repeating the movement to reach the next building, one that had a button to open the door. On the other side of the door they found a number of exterminators fighting a pair of Amoeboids, which happened to give Ratchet, Starswirl, and Autumn some information on their enemies, as the slime creatures came in three sizes, a small one that was just as tall as Clank, a tall one that was twice as tall as the small ones, and a large one that was nearly as tall as the exterminators, where the large ones could split into two medium foes and the mediums did the same to make smaller ones. That meant they were going to be far more annoying than all of the other enemies they had faced so far, since killing a big one made it turn into smaller ones, though the good thing was that none of the exterminators seemed interested in them, though that did open the way for the siblings to move in and find openings to hit all of the Amoeboids, allowing their new friends to clear this area and opened the way for them to move forward. While they did that one of the exterminators mentioned the new software update that really cleared things up and meant that Autumn's tampering had worked, though it also meant that the various exterminators wouldn't harm the citizens of Blackwater City and would focus on clearing out the terrible Amoeboids, before trying to figure out where all of them had come from, as someone must have made them and it meant someone might be attempting to bring the city down, even if it would fail in due time.
On the other side of the building they found an opening that held a button, one that raised a bridge of sorts for them to walk on and happened to bring them right over to where a large group of exterminators were resting, though it appeared that they were waiting for the elevator and took it when it arrived, a small one that could only take three to five at a time, though one of them mentioned that they weren't heading into the city, as there were too many of them inside Blackwater City, rather they were heading down into the sewers with a special access code.
Once more Ratchet found that Autumn's inventions and updates seemed to work wonders for them, as making sure the exterminators could differentiate from innocents and enemies, so they didn't attack him and his siblings while they stood there, waiting for their turn with the elevator, though while they stood there she messed with some blueprints again, as messing with the armor likely gave her some ideas for the future, no doubt to help keep them safe if there was anything after Drek's downfall. After a few minutes the exterminators were gone and had made sure that the elevator had been set back to heading into the city, allowing Ratchet, Starswirl, and Autumn to head up into the outermost section of the city so they could deal with some of the remaining enemies, where they joined the exterminators in breaking down and taking out all of the Amoeboids that were in the area, earning some nods from their new allies before they continued to hunt for any additional slime creatures. Of course the siblings made sure to check the area and collect any Bolts that were on the ground, left from the destruction of the Amoeboids, before finding a taxi that took them to the downtown section of Skid's city, where they joined all of the exterminators in clearing out the force of Amoeboids that were assaulting the area, while Ratchet found that the nearby tank ignored them and focused on the enemies the others happened to be fighting at the moment, which he was happy to see since it meant they didn't have to worry about it turning on them. With the area now cleared of enemies the exterminators headed over towards an opening that likely lead into a section of the massive sewer system that existed below the city, showing that they were totally planning a massive invasion on the sewer system so they could clear out the Amoeboids and protect the citizens of the city from the danger they were in, even though everyone seemed to be in their houses right now.
Before following them down into the sewers, to see if they needed assistance, Ratchet spotted someone off to their right who was the same species as Skid and his agent, so a Rilgarian, who appeared to be wearing a red visor over his eyes, with a dark gray shirt, black pants with a black trench coat, a yellow belt, and a black strap going from his left shoulder over to the right side of his waist, though he seemed rather shady looking as he glanced around, like he was worried that some officers might be coming to get him, before glancing at them.
"RYNO for your robot... trade ya." the shady individual said, where he glanced at Clank for a moment before speaking his mind, though while Ratchet knew that Clank was a rare robot he wasn't about to trade in their friend, as he considered the little robot more than just their Robotic Ignition System at this point, but before he could say anything Autumn stepped up and asked to see the weapon, just to verify that it existed, causing the Rilgarian to pull out a square shaped nine barreled rocket launcher that looked like it could really do some damage, which was when Autumn snapped her magic into the area around him and chained him to the ground while catching the weapon.
"You, sir, are under arrest for stealing and attempting to sell a RYNO on the black market," Autumn stated, as this was the weapon she had created the blueprints for, which Gadgetron decided not to make since there were flaws in the design, all of which Autumn had found and fixed in her copy of the schematic, and while they were at Drek's research station Fred had, unknowingly or knowingly, handed over everything the Blarg had on the weapon, as an attachment for the boots that Ratchet was wearing, meaning the Blarg had created a Gadgetron weapon and they were lucky to have taken it before it could be sold to someone else, "you'll be spilling your guts to the officials in no time, so expect a lengthy prison sentence for trying to do this."
The Shady Salesman, as Ratchet decided to call him, said nothing as he admitted defeat and remained there, allowing the siblings to wait in the area as Autumn made her modifications to the powerful weapon, even if she didn't intend on firing it at all and was mostly making it ready in case one of them needed to wield it at some point in the future, before finding the authorities were quick to arrive and accepted the criminal they had just caught, and while that happened Autumn made sure to send Wendell Lumos, the boss of Gadgetron, an update on the RYNO while making sure he filed away the updated plans for the weapon. She was just covering her bases by making sure he was aware of the fact that they had claimed the weapon, even if she wasn't planning on using it, save for only the most dire of situations anyway, and once she was done they headed through the opening that the exterminators had gone through and found that all sorts of slime rested on the walls, meaning the Amoeboids had been slain by those that were hunting them, even though it looked like the rest of the exterminators were moving deeper into the sewers to make sure no nests were forming. The elevator they found brought the siblings up into an area that had a number of electrical fences blocking the way forward, though Ratchet discovered a fair number of exterminators were trapped up here as well and there were a few Amoeboids scattered around as well, to which he and Autumn moved forward, pressing the buttons that happened to be on the ground to power down the fence in front of them at the time, while Starswirl teleported above them and glanced down at the path they were forming, that way he could press some of the untouched buttons to free the rest of the exterminators. Starswirl also had to admit what he knew Ratchet had admitted earlier, Autumn's ability to rapidly study items and make corrections, such as figuring out the error in the exterminator suit and sending an update to fix it, made things much more simple for them, in fact he knew that some of those they had passed by were using Pyrociters, showing them to be fans of Autumn's work, and it only made him wonder what the future held for his sister and her career.
After making their way through all of the electrical fences, and freeing the exterminators so they could terminate the rest of the Amoeboids in the area, Ratchet and his siblings passed by two more tanks, which seemed to be getting ready to join what was happening in the sewers, before using an elevator to reach an area that seemed to be where one signed up for the Hoverboard Championship, along with a slim green skinned Rilgarian, a female one to be exact who happened to be wearing a purple suit, standing under a floating display for the races.
"This must be where we sign up for the championship." Starswirl commented, as some of the area looked like it was ready for the sport, given some banners and signs that indicated it was for the race they had learned about earlier, which meant that Captain Qwark had to be somewhere nearby, where he spotted a glass door that looked like it lead somewhere, only it had no button on this side to use, so he figured that he could teleport over to the other side and unlock it.
"That's right! I'm Starlene, and welcome to the Hovercon Intergalactic Hoverboard Competition!" the Rilgarian replied, her tone revealing that she was happy to see some newcomers for the sport, even if they seemed like they had no idea what was going on, simply because of how they looked around the area, though she figured that it was due to this being their first time visiting a competition like this, "Captain Qwark's giving away a brand new Platinum Zoomerator to the winner of this competition!"
"Hm, perhaps that is the proof Skid's agent asked us to present to him." Clank stated, reminding the siblings of what they had learned back on Aridia, as while he didn't care much for the sport and the prize that came with it, since he felt both of them were a waste of their time, he did know that Ratchet, at the very least, was interested in the sport and he was fine with allowing him to spend some of their precious time racing, since it meant they could speak with Captain Qwark at long last and let him know about Drek's quest.
"Wait, you guys know Skid McMarx?" Starlene asked, where she stared at the four of them for a time as the siblings quickly nodded their heads to confirm that they were telling the truth, something that caused her to smile for a moment, likely thinking about the fact that they might be skilled enough to take the championship, to which she beckoned to a pad that would teleport one of them over to the start of the race, "Well, now I'm interested in seeing what skills you have."
Ratchet smiled as he pulled out the board Skid had given them earlier and stepped onto the pad as his siblings remained in the area they had found Starlene in, where it wasn't long before they found their brother on the screen and watched as his follow racers felt they could win since this was Ratchet's first race, causing a pair of smiles to appear on their faces as he started to overcome them when the race started, kept pace with the first place holder, and then, just before they hit the finish line, he pulled ahead and claimed first place, much to Starlene's shock as Ratchet returned to them.
Hi folks, Captain Qwark here. It is my distinct pleasure to introduce this year's Hovercon Intergalactic Champions! Let's give it up for newcomers... the screens stated, revealing a recording from Captain Qwark and not the man himself, meaning they had either missed him or he was resting somewhere else, before it cut to a picture of Ratchet with Clank looking out at the track they were on and said their names, in a bored robotic tone, and then cut back to the Captain, as he had more to say for them to hear, Today's winners will take home a brand new professional grade Model T-15 Platinum Zoomerator! Manufactured by Gadgetron, this hoverboard drive delivers more lift, speed and maneuverability than any other anti-grav device on the market! Well folks, that's all the time we have. Tonight, remember to set your Infobots to the Qwark Classic Channel for tonight's episode of Dogfight Over Death Canyon, starring yours truly. Thank you and have a Qwarktastic day!
"Is... is that it?" Ratchet asked, where he and his siblings stared up at the screen as they watched the recording, though he did accept the prize for winning the race from Starlene, which happened to be a tube shaped gadget of some kind, but it was easy for anyone to tell that he and the others were kind of disappointed in the fact that Qwark didn't bother to come to personally deliver the prize, but figured that, as a galactic hero, something must have come up, "I get it, he's busy... still, it would have been nice to talk to him for a few moments, ask him questions about how he became a hero, before letting him go about his business."
"You guys really wanted to met him, huh?" Starlene commented, as she had been watching them after delivering the prize for the race and noticed that all of them seemed a little disappointed in not being able to meet Captain Qwark, it was even true for the small robot, though as she said that she glanced over at Starswirl for a few seconds as an idea came to mind, given her vastly limited knowledge of Unicorns and their powers, "Tell you what, I can help you guys out... I just need a little something from you guys."
"Let me guess, we'll have to pay a bribe to get the information we need?" Autumn asked, because that seemed to be what was common on the other planets, when someone had an Infobot or a useful piece of information, which might lead them to either Drek or something of importance, it usually came at a cost to them, figuring that heroes would pay any price so they could get on with their quest.
"Yes and no. Yes, you'll be offering me something to get the information you need, but no, while I'd like the Bolts there is something else I want." Starlene replied, causing them to raise their eyebrows for a moment as they heard that, because all of the other people who offered them information usually asked for Bolts to make the exchange, where she beckoned to Starswirl for a moment, which only confused them even more, "I've heard a few tales of what Unicorns can do, some of which are unreal when you think about them, and, well, I've always wanted a bigger chest..."
Starswirl stared at her for a moment, mostly to see if she was being serious about this, since they could work out a better arrangement if she changed her mind on them, but Starlene didn't back down and he sighed as he ignited his horn, as he had read some Old Earth books about this, an odd spell that no one could get to work, and he guessed he was getting a chance to test it, to which they watched as her chest shook for a few seconds before pushing out, doubling in size by the time he was done with his spell.
"Wow, that was intense..." Starlene said, where the look on her face told them that she was pleased with the spell, though Starswirl really had no idea if she was going to stay like this or go back to normal in due time, so this served as a test for all of them, and her sports attire had expanded with her chest as well, so she didn't need to replace anything, though once he was done she leaned forward and kissed his cheek, "Thanks sweetie... I'm going to have some fun later. Oh, before I forget, Captain Qwark is still here, and he's resting just beyond that glass door... if you move now, you might be able to catch him before he leaves."
Autumn and Ratchet smiled as they heard that, especially since Autumn was already using her magic to open the way to where Captain Qwark was resting, even if they were weirded out by her request, like their brother was, though what they found on the other side of the opening was a bodyguard who was standing outside a studio, but when he noticed them, and the RYNO in Autumn's magical grasp, he jumped onto a taxi and departed without delay, allowing the four of them to enter the studio Qwark was resting in.
"Well, if it isn't Ratchet, Starswirl, Autumn, and Clank." Qwark commented, speaking the moment they entered his trailer, as he had been sitting before they stepped into his resting place and had only stood up when he heard the sound of his bodyguard running away, even though at this point Autumn had put her RYNO away, before he chuckled for a moment as he looked at them, "I was wondering when you would arrive, though I was expecting you to move through the other part of the sewers, given that the doors near Starlene were locked."
"I bypassed them with magic," Starswirl replied, though this was a good thing, that the Captain knew who they were and was able to name them with ease, despite the fact that they were all famous for one thing or another, because it meant all of them could save some time and get onto Drek's plans, before he considered what the man had said and realized that his magic allowed him to bypass an area that would have been filled with Amoeboids, or total war between them and the remaining exterminators, "You were expecting us to find you?"
"Oh yes, I have been waiting for you to arrive." Qwark answered, where he turned for a moment and grabbed an Infobot that was resting nearby, one that also happened to have a message about Drek's plot to attack Novalis, before he quickly returned it to where it had been resting and glanced at them again, looking like he was trying to stop someone from even hearing what he had to say, "There's an awful plot being hatched to destroy our planets!"
"Wait, you knew about this?" Ratchet asked, as that was a shock, especially since it meant they might have wasted a good portion of their time to seeking him out if he knew about Drek's plans to harm the planets of their galaxy, though Autumn and Starswirl considered the information as well, even if Clank was pleased to hear that Qwark was aware of the threat he had learned about, since it meant they could move to the next step at last.
"I only recently learned about it, and knew that I would need help taking Drek down," Qwark replied, where he grabbed a second Infobot and held it out towards them, meaning it likely held information for them to act on in some manner, which revealed the location of a secret training ground that he used, on planet Umbris, meaning it had to be one final test for all of them to prove themselves to him, "you four are heroes in the making, I can see that talent as clear as day, and I have one last test I want to put you through before we get to work tearing Chairman Drek down."
The siblings had to admit that being 'Captains' at one point was exciting, even though none of them had considered being heroes until Qwark mentioned it, and made them excited for whatever his secret base on Umbris held for them, to which he bid them farewell as he departed for his own vehicle, leaving them to find a taxi that would return to their ship and use it to head to the new planet, though they were happy to be getting one step closer to beating Drek and bringing peace to the rest of their galaxy.