Ratchet and Clank: Family of Heroes

by Blackdrag-rose


R/C: Gaspar, Orxon

Ratchet found that the lower area of their new ship definitely had enough space for two of them to sleep at any time while the third sibling could sit up with Clank in the cockpit, which was great since everyone wanted to be ready for whatever the future held for them, though he insisted on stopping a few hours after leaving Batalia, meaning they were halfway to either Gaspar or Orxon, which happened to be the two planets they had acquired Infobots for earlier, and right now he and his siblings were focused on Gaspar. According to the Infobot what they were looking for was one of the helmets that Drek had his scientists working on, one that had a neural interface that allowed the user to interact with certain things, like bombers and flyers, hence why Drek wanted more pilots so he could lay waste to all of the planets that he either didn't want or those who opposed his quest to build the perfect planet for his people. There was also slim a chance he and his siblings might find a scientist or two on the planet, who might be able to give them more information on Drek's location or a planet that might be under assault, hence their decision to head to Gaspar and not Orxon, the latter being a practically empty world since Drek and the Blarg left it so they could build a new world for themselves, but given all of the poison and toxic in the air none of them, save for Clank, could survive on Orxon, so they were also looking for gadgets that might help them out in that regard. Ratchet also insisted on them resting for a few hours, that way everyone would be ready for what would be waiting for them on the planet in question, though Autumn mentioned an interest in acquiring one of the Pilot's Helmets, as that was what they were looking for, so she could use her power to break it apart, study it, and possibly improve it, through the use of the spell Starswirl had used in the past, the duplication spell that gave them their weapons in the first place.

Despite the stop and everything it didn't take them too long to reach their destination, where they found that Gaspar was a planet covered in lava, with vents blowing hot air into the atmosphere and volcanoes scattered everywhere, though one thing they discovered was that there was a weapon's depot in the area that the coordinates lead them to, which meant it was one of the areas that Drek had to be getting his weapons from, to which Ratchet landed on the landing pad before he and his siblings climbed out, with Clank attaching to his back.

"Well, the Walloper is in stock now," Autumn commented, where she bought and produced the weapon in question, which turned out to be a metallic glove that fit over her right hand and seemed to be the size of a boxing glove, though that was when Ratchet watched as she punched the air a few times, something that caused a blue aura to surround the weapon as it was used and even caused her to move forward somewhat faster than before, before she stopped and walked over to a lift that would take them towards the depot, "Come on, we've got fools to wreck and stuff to find."

Ratchet nodded as he purchased his own Walloper before he and Starswirl joined Autumn on the lift, where they headed down to an area that happened to have a number of Sandshark sized metallic critters who seemed to be eager to chomp anything and everything that was an intruder, to which he and Autumn used their new weapons to punch their way right through the group of Chompers that were in front of them, while Starswirl blasted the dispenser and the soldier that were near an oddly placed turret. The only reason it was weird was because it just felt out of place, especially given the metallic gate that rested to their right, so it didn't make much sense for there to be something that could smash through one of the depot's defenses resting in front of the gate in question, though that didn't stop Ratchet from climbing into the weapon in question and firing upon the gate, blasting it to pieces and opening the way for them to advance further through this part of the planet. On the other side of the ruined gate the siblings found what appeared to be a black sphere bot of some kind, which seemed similar to the mines that had been scattered around Qwark's course, though Autumn found that she was more than able to slice her target apart with her blade, either meaning her weapon was far stronger than it had been just before Qwark's betrayal or the Seekerbot was weaker than what they initially believed, given that it seemed to be a mobile explosive that locked onto enemies. Of course there were several more Seekerbots further beyond the first one, which her siblings opened fire on as soon as they spotted them, though none of them were surprised to find a number of Blarg, as in the soldiers, protecting the path that was on the other side of the ruined gate, a path that lead right to a building that had to be where they would discover one of the Pilot's Helmets, maybe more if they were lucky, plus there was a turret nearby for them to use to blast open the gate.

Autumn and her brothers found a few more Seekerbots waiting for them, which they smashed to pieces, before arriving at the turret that allowed them to smash their way through the next metallic gate, something that revealed a lift that allowed them to enter the main facility that was on this planet, where a number of Chompers were waiting for them, even though a fair number of them fell thanks to the Pyrociter in Ratchet's hands, allowing them to head inside. Of course there were a fair number of Seekerbots as well, which were taken out with the combined power of Ratchet and Starswirl, though as her brothers did that Autumn scanned the walls and found all sorts of parts, robotic and otherwise, lining the walls, to which she grinned for a moment as she tapped into her power and replicated another of Starswirl's spells, opening a portal of some kind to a storage space that she could store components inside. As such it became a matter of her brothers taking out all of the enemies that happened to be guarding the facility that they had discovered, with Autumn taking her time in claiming Drek's leftover materials so they could be used against him and his forces at some point in time, though she did blast a soldier that got too close to her before catching up to her brothers, who happened to be at the end of a passage that had a number of tanks inside it. Her magic washed over all of the tanks and shattered them into piles of metal, which she claimed like the rest of the materials she had claimed so far, though when they reached a larger chamber, one that had a lot of soldiers ready to do battle with them, Autumn chuckled before loosing a volley from the RYNO, wiping out all of their enemies so her brothers could move forward with ease, which also reminded Ratchet that his sister was also very dangerous, more in the weapons department and less in the magical aspect, before he returned his focus to the rest of their enemies as he and Starswirl continued to move through the facility.

After that chamber, and Ratchet used a turret to smash through yet another metallic gate that was in their way, Autumn quickly discovered the testing area that was shown on the Infobot that brought them to this planet, including a ship that was used by the Blarg to test the Pilot's Helmet, before she found an intact helmet resting near the test ship, though after a few seconds of searching it didn't look like the Blarg had left anything else for them to take, to which Autumn weaved a bit of her magic over the helmet and created two more, showing Starswirl that she had mastered the duplication spell in a short period of time.

"Well, our primary mission on this planet is complete. Shall we go, or should we deal with the bombers that are currently refueling nearby?" Ratchet asked, because there was no telling what might happen if they allowed a number of bombers to depart from this planet at some point in time, though that was when he watched as Starswirl glanced out at the area all of their potential targets were resting in and gathered his magic for a few seconds, sending small missiles made out of magical energy at the bombers and took them all out, causing him to sigh, "Okay, never mind. Guess we're heading over to Orxon and seeing what we might find in Drek's former backyard."

Autumn chuckled for a moment as she, Ratchet, and Starswirl made their way back to their new ship, which was easy due to all of the enemies being taken care of thanks to their actions, and when they reached it Ratchet and Clank returned to the pilot's area while Autumn and Starswirl returned to the lower section, though once everyone was in place Ratchet set a course for Orxon, so they could see what was waiting for all of them on Drek's twisted home planet, and what they were going to do once the ship reached their next destination.


It took a bit of time for them to reach Orxon, though upon their descend to the planet's surface, or the landing pad that the Infobot was leading Ratchet to, Clank confirmed what Drek had said about this world, that it was far too polluted for him and the Blarg to call it home anymore, where Starswirl weaved his magic around their ship to create a pocket of air, though he targeted most of the breathable air when it made it, that way no one would be harmed when Clank climbed out to go exploring for gadgets.

"I will try to make this as quick as possible." Clank stated, as he knew that there wasn't much the siblings could do during this visit to Orxon, and even with Starswirl's powers he suspected the transformed unicorn wouldn't be able to hold the spell in a protective bubble around his head, Autumn's head, and Ratchet's head for the length of time it would take for all of them to explore this planet and discover whatever Drek left behind, to which he headed for the ramp and departed from the ship as the siblings watched him head out into the poisonous environment.

"At least we'll be able to get some rest before we head to whatever planet is next," Ratchet commented, though he was a little happy he had convinced Clank to take his Guild Card before he departed from the ship, that way any enemies he had to fight would contribute to one of their bank accounts, to give them more Bolts to use against Drek and his followers, to which he turned towards his siblings for a moment once the ramp had been closed and none of them had to worry about the poison for the time being.

Autumn nodded as she pulled out her tools and started to fiddle with the Pilot's Helmet that was in front of her, as there was one thing that needed to be done before she focused on anything else, hers needed to be resized so it could fit over her head, especially since she had a horn and that required an opening that would open and close accordingly, since her horn was a little thicker than Starswirl's, not to mention it had a different shape, all while she debated what coloration she should make it, before deciding on a flame design. The other thing she had to do was make sure the helmet was able to interact with her magic, because if that was possible she could make the same modification to Starswirl's, though for the most part there wasn't much she had to do to Ratchet's, since he didn't have magic and there were no horns on his head for them to worry about, but she did find that a slight alteration would need to be made to the ear areas, since Ratchet's were far larger than hers and Starswirl's, not to mention the placement when she thought about it. Starswirl, on the other hand, pulled out one of his tomes and continued reading from where he had left off, to see if there were any other spells or knowledge that could be put to use in their current adventure, but right now he wasn't finding much and knew that he would have to acquire more tomes once Drek was no longer a threat to the galaxy, though it allowed him to pass the time while they waited for Clank to return to the ship. Ratchet remained nearby, watching Autumn work on her helm and make all sorts of modifications so it could fit over her head, once more showing him why she was the brains of their group, as in the weapons and science since their brother was the magical one, though what was impressive was that when her helmet was complete Autumn slipped it over her head and her power interacted with it, allowing her to magically break apart the Metal Detector so she could study it in greater detail.

The interesting thing was that she was able to return it to how it had been a few moments ago, though once she was done with her helmet she made some of the same modifications to Starswirl's, mostly so it could fit over his head and horn with ease, though in the end all he could do was sit there and watch his sister work while their brother focused on his books, each gaining new tools that they might be able to turn against Drek's forces, though it was some time before he heard a tap on the side of their ship and opened the ramp as Starswirl made sure the atmosphere bubble was intact.

"You were right, Clank, you were certainly fast," Ratchet said, speaking as soon as the little robot entered the ship and let him close the ramp, something that allowed his brother to release his spell, because with their first exploration done they knew that it was time for them to head to another planet, hence why he was hoping that Clank found an Infobot while he was exploring the facility they had landed outside, otherwise they were going to have to backtrack to a planet they had been to already and that left him with no ideas on where to go.

"Yes, and I found a few things that we can put to use," Clank replied, where he pulled out a pair of metallic boots from his central storage area that he kept all of the Infobots they had found so far, though when he offered them up they seemed to activate and stick to his chest, their bases sticking to his body like how the bottom of the Grindboots stuck to the grind rails that they had seen so far.

"Magneboots, capable of allowing someone to walk on certain metallic surfaces," Autumn explained, though as she said that Ratchet walked over to Clank and helped remove the boots from his chest, meaning she was going to have to fix the pair so they didn't do something like that again, and with her modified helmet she would be able to study it and combine what Clank had found with the Grindboots they had found so far, making her wonder what else they might find that could be placed over one's feet or hooves, "Gadgetron made them, since I saw them in one of the reports, so the Blarg must have stolen them to reverse engineer them for their own purposes."

"I have also detected an area that we might want to explore later, but I also found this," Clank continued, where he made sure to produce the Infobot he had discovered and showed it to the siblings, where they watched a commercial for the resort planet Pokitaru, even though it was clear that the planet was both under attack and was being used as a dumping ground by Drek, "it would seem like an ideal place for us to relax and unwind, and to get over what has happened to all of us so far, though for now we should focus on the O2 Mask that they're offering to visitors."

"We would have to take care of the toxic waste dumping before using it as a vacation spot," Starswirl added, which was a fact that the others had chosen to either ignore or had overlooked while they were watching the Infobot, before he took a moment to think about what they had learned so far, since there wasn't much else they could do with Orxon, not without the O2 Masks that were being offered on Pokitaru.

Ratchet nodded his understanding as he and Clank returned to the cockpit once more, this time setting their course for the resort planet that was known as Pokitaru, as it was better than having no leads and would grant them a useful gadget for whatever the future had for them, especially if Autumn found a way to link it together with the Pilot's Helmet so both functions could be used, but for now their focus was on Drek's people and the damage they were currently doing to yet another planet in their galaxy.