//------------------------------//
// R/C: Oltanis 
// Story: Ratchet and Clank: Family of Heroes 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Despite the fact that they didn't have to fly too far, since Gemlik Base was hanging up in the asteroid field that was close to where Oltanis rested, Ratchet found that the speed of the new ship happened to be everything they needed, as it would let them get from one side of the galaxy to another in record time, possibly hours instead of a day, and it allowed him to land on the landing pad that was right in the middle of the city that Drek's forces had been assaulting while they dealt with Qwark, but based on what they were seeing it was also in the middle of a massive storm.

"Clank, I'm afraid that you'll have to sit this one out," Ratchet said, as while their ship was able to slip through the storm, with no harm coming to it since he was sure that it had been outfitted with some sort of device or coating that protected it from the storms that this planet experienced, or at least that was his thoughts on the matter since he wasn't an expert in the art of science like Autumn was, he knew that Clank wasn't outfitted with the same defenses and that meant that the lightning would likely shock him into submission.

"I agree. I would not want to endanger you by riding on your back during this." Clank replied, where he waited for Ratchet to land the ship before he walked over to the ramp and tapped a button, allowing the ramp to descend so the siblings could head out and see what they could do to aid the people of Oltanis, where he found that Ratchet, Starswirl, and Autumn took a moment to ready their melee weapons before heading over to the ramp, "I will keep the ship safe while you three explore the city."

Ratchet nodded as he and his siblings walked down the ramp and stepped out onto the landing pad, where they found that the city was definitely in the middle of a massive lightning storm, one that didn't seem like it would end anytime soon, which wasn't counting the fact that all of the generators were either stolen or damaged by the Blarg's assault, though not a few seconds later the siblings approached a Vendor and found that a new weapon was available, the Tesla Claw, one that was able to loose a beam of electrical energy, which they claimed without delay. With that done Ratchet and his siblings stepped onto a metallic pad and let it take them down into what appeared to be the former center of the city, which had a golden statue in the middle, a metallic walkway to their left, a path across from where the pad ended up, and a taxi off to their right that seemed to head into the upper part of the ruined city. As such the first thing all of them did was head over to the taxi and climbed onto it, where it took them over to where they wanted to explore first and Ratchet found that they flew over a large body of water that seemed to cut through the entire city, like the city was built on an ocean or something like that, and sure enough there were all sorts of ships attacking Oltanis right now, which told them that some of Drek's forces were still present. Once the taxi came to a stop the siblings discovered that they would be following a path that had been built into the city at one point in time, though it appeared that there were a number of gun turrets, small white zap robots, and a number of scouter ships that had search lights attached to them, meaning that if the last ones found one of them they would be fired upon, though such a thing didn't stop Ratchet or his siblings from firing upon the enemies that were in front of them.

"Drek's certainly done some damage to this place," Autumn commented, where she used the Devastator to blast a scout out of the air, opening the way for her brothers to take down all of the turrets that had been attached to the ground, but all of this just made her angry, seeing everything that Drek had done to the planets he either wanted a piece of or those he felt were garbage in comparison to the others, but it wasn't enough to actually call forth her twisted form.

"We'll get to him in due time, we just have to be patient," Starswirl replied, though he understood his sister's feeling on the matter, because he didn't like Drek at this point in time and he was getting tired of seeing all the destruction that the Blarg had caused to every planet they found an Infobot for, but as that happened he and Ratchet smashed their way though the group of zap robots that happened to be in front of them, including a few spawners that had been left out to make more of them, in case the maximum number of little robots decreased.

With the first set of enemies taken care of the siblings found an area that had a Swingshot target above it, one of the ones that pulled someone to it, and as such they used their gadget to reach the next area that they had to clear of enemies, an area that had a pair of turrets firing at whoever came to their area and a few little robots, though this time around Autumn summoned a few small fireballs before firing them at her targets, clearing out the area so that her brothers could catch up with her and continue moving forward. Starswirl found that there was a ledge ladder in front of them, so they had to use a few outcroppings to reach an upper area that seemed to head deeper into the ruined section of Gorda City, where he and his siblings found three scout ships flying through the area and an idea came to mind as he lifted his staff towards the sky for a moment, calling on his magic as he connected with a small portion of the storm, knowing that if he drew in too much power he could really ruin this part of the city, more than it already was. Ratchet and Autumn watched as he tapped into a new power and sent three lightning bolts down from the storm, blasting the scout ships out of the air with ease, allowing them to move forward without having to worry about dodging those enemies for a time, where it didn't take them long to find that there was a fourth scout ship flying around another section of the path and it was followed by Autumn blasting it with the Devastator, allowing them to continue forward. After that it became clear that to move forward they would have to use their Swingshots on another target, this one attached to a moving vehicle, which was big enough for all of them to stand on and seemed to be going around in a circle, so they had to be patient and fire at the target once it came into view, allowing them to land on the vehicle and move around a destroyed generator before using another Swingshot target that brought Ratchet and his siblings into the next building that was along the path they were following.

Sure enough they found a number of scout ships, four to be exact, so Ratchet let Starswirl and Autumn blast them out of the air as he collected some Bolts from the nearby crates, which brought them to an area that had a few pipes that they had to use to reach a lone turret and where another Swingshot target happened to be moving through, so Ratchet used his Blaster to take the target down before they used the gadget to move forward, even if they had to use it again to reach another moving platform. From there Ratchet and his siblings rode around a little more before swinging over to a third Swingshot target that was circling a decent sized platform, one that they jumped down to as soon as they crossed over to the moving platform in question, though they found that there was a single scout ship and a few zap robots blocking the way forward, so they glanced at each other before taking down their foes. The other thing they had to worry about and deal with were a few turrets that popped out around the structure they were fighting on, something the siblings were able to do with ease, though once all of the enemies had been cleared out, and each of them were sure of that, Ratchet found a ledge ladder leading up to the top of the pillar that happened to be in the center of the structure, so they took turns climbing up the side of it for a time, which would give them a good view over this portion of the city and see if they could see anything else before returning to their ship. What Autumn discovered, however, was that there was a weapon resting in the center of the pillar's peak, a gun that kind of looked like the Taunter had been mixed with something else, though she knew what it was within a matter of seconds, it was the Morph-o-ray, a gun designed to turn enemies into chickens in a few seconds, or at least that was what the tech was supposed to do.

"Hey, Starswirl, do you think you or Autumn could make a spell similar to this?" Ratchet inquired, as he knew that if such a thing was said there was a good chance that his brother would consider it and likely do something about it, to the point where he would likely add a spell to his growing arsenal, making him more dangerous for whatever they might face in the future, though he made sure to listen to his sister's explanation of the weapon in question.

"Hm, it should be possible, but I would have to experiment with some of the enemies to figure it out," Starswirl replied, as he figured that it was Ratchet's attempt to lighten the mood and made him and Autumn stop thinking about Qwark, even if blowing the corrupt Captain out of the air was supposed to give them closure, something he wasn't sure they had gotten during that space battle.

Ratchet nodded, happy to have done something, anything really, to help one of his siblings not worry about Qwark, as he knew that neither Starswirl or Autumn had an item like his necklace to aid them in calming down, though with the newest weapon added to their arsenal he found a short grind rail nearby and used it to return to the landing pad their ship was on, where it wasn't long before his siblings landed behind him. Once that was done they headed back over to the platform that had brought them down to where the statue rested and used it once more, before heading down a path that looked like it was heading into the main part of Gorda City, given the ruined path that rested all around them, and it gave Ratchet a chance to test the Morph-o-ray out, as he turned two zap robots into normal sized chickens in a second as the beam the weapon fired hit his targets. Autumn explained that it was that way because the zap robots didn't have a lot of mass, due to their small size, so the process was essentially instant for them, while if this was used on one of the Blarg, for example, it would take somewhat longer since Drek's forces were taller than the zap robots and had more mass to work with, so it might be best to use the new weapon to clear out smaller enemies and save their ammunition for the rest. Ratchet took a moment to think about that idea, especially when he knew that there were a lot of smaller enemies attacking the city, and found that he agreed with what his sister had suggested, to which her magic washed over it and she made two copies of it, giving one to Starswirl so he could study the method of it transforming mass into something else, to make spells similar to what the weapon could do, while she carried the second.

As they moved forward Autumn also made sure to copy the Suck Cannon, just so they each had one, even if it seemed to be one of the lesser used weapons in their arsenal, though after that they found an area that happened to have a device that enemies popped out of, robots that seemed to be able to shoot beams of electrical energy, just like the Tesla Claw as she thought about it. Of course she and her brothers were able to jump over the attacks that the Plasmabots used to try and take them down, allowing them to deal some damage to their foes before taking the four robots down, though while Ratchet and Starswirl moved forward Autumn discovered a familiar icon on their back, one that revealed that these robots were another creation of Drek's, meaning they didn't have to go easy on them. After that they found a bomber ship that was loosing bombs on the path that happened to be the one they were following right now, why they had no idea since it seemed to be doing nothing to further the goal that Drek gave it, but Starswirl crushed it with some of his magic and they continued further down the path, where each of them kept their eyes open for anything else that might be useful in their quest to take down Drek. The next group of enemies happened to be more Plasmabots with a few zap robots mixed in, all to be a distraction, but Ratchet and his siblings wasted no time in blasting their way through them as well, as none of them had any patience for Drek's followers and would tear apart his army accordingly, before breaking through another group of Plasmabots that had a bomber ship guarding this section of the city and used a grind rail to travel to a new section of Gorda City, even if it involved smashing a few more Plasmabots when they reached the platform below the end, meaning they had no way back and could only continue forward, without using magic anyway.

After that they continued down a somewhat raised path that was guarded by a bomber ship, one that Starswirl crushed as Ratchet and Autumn opened fire on some Plasmabots who were resting on a higher point at the end of the walkway, so it took them no time to break their enemies down and move through this section of Gorda City, which eventually ended in a path that had a turret that rested near three grind rails. With the three of them it took no time for the turret to be taken out and they stepped onto the rails, though as that happened Autumn heard something open and knew that three of the Plasmabots were like following after them, hunting down enemies of Chairman Drek no doubt, though they smiled for a moment, since this provided a challenge of sorts before they reached the end of the track. As such Ratchet, Starswirl, and Autumn were happy to have staggered themselves, as one was first, another was a bit behind the first, and the third was behind both of them, that way they could jump without having to worry about getting in the way of each other, as all three of their enemies happened to be loosing beams at them at random. The only other thing that got in their way were some smaller bots that seemed to be placing mines along each of the grind rails, something Autumn and Starswirl took out with their magic, while they avoided the electrical fences and allowed all of their foes to run into them, something that ended with them reaching the end with no enemies chasing after them, even if they landed in an area that seemed to be above where Ratchet landed earlier.

What they discovered was a deaf man who seemed to be running a robotics shop of some kind, though anything they said was translated as something else, like when Ratchet mentioned Drek and the man spoke about stuff on sale, something that lead to them buying an Infobot from him that held the coordinates for Quartu, where Drek seemed to be building his own battle mechs or something, before they pressed a button and opened the way to the statue once more, to which they returned to their ship, before taking notice of the other path nearby.

After a few seconds Ratchet decided to check out a metallic ramp that seemed like it might go somewhere, even if it was large enough for a single person to use, causing Starswirl and Autumn to inform him that they would be back at the ship, which allowed him to connect with the platform that took him over to the part of the city he and his siblings hadn't explored yet, one that happened to have a number of ice covered platforms he would have to be careful of. Sure enough he found that the ice was slippery and that he had to be mindful of how he went about moving from one part of the area to the next, all while dealing with some strong gusts of wind that could push him back to the start of the particular section he happened to be on, all while finding some metallic walkways leading to the next section he had to move through. This lead Ratchet to wonder if he might convince Autumn to make a gadget that allowed one to walk on ice without slipping, which would deal with the wind problem as well, though he did have to take out a few mines that were rotating around the platforms, likely left by Drek's soldiers, and there were some electrical lines he had to jump over as well, but for the most part it looked like there was nothing else for him to worry about, as all the enemies in Gorda City had been wiped out. It was a peaceful and uneventful series of events, allowing him to think about things without having to worry about his siblings or Clank cutting into his thoughts, before he found something that nearly stopped him in his tracks, as at the end of the path he happened to be following was a rather crude looking wooden stand, with the name and emblem of Gadgetron plastered on it, but it was the person on the other side of the stand that stopped him.

"Captain Qwark?" Ratchet asked, mostly in shock, since he was sure that they had blasted him out of the air and the ship he had been in had blown up after passing through the atmosphere, before he found what appeared to be an escape pod resting in the water below them, meaning he must have pulled himself up here before setting up this stand, but he kept his wrench at his side in case the man made a move.

"Where?" Qwark demanded in surprise, like he wasn't expecting someone to recognize him or something, as if his life had been ruined to the point where he was trying to reinvent himself, and it was possible since he claimed Drek wanted them taken out and likely ordered the corrupt man to take him and his siblings out, not that Ratchet cared since he was far more interested in his former sponsor.

"Come on, Qwark, I know it's you. Now, where is Drek and where is he going next?" Ratchet inquired, because the man had to know something important, save for the fact that he had been a sponsor for the new world that was being built, due to the fact that this had to be more like him hiding and less about starting a new life, though in response to that Qwark just turned his head to his clipboard, like he was looking for something, to which Ratchet sighed, "Let me guess, you won't tell me anything until I buy something?"

"I have for you, today only, the Gadgetron PDA, the Personal Delivery Assistant," Qwark stated, holding out a gadget that looked a lot like a calculator of some kind, one Ratchet recognized from one of Autumn's numerous blueprints, where he went on about how it worked and what could be done with it, purchasing ammunition that was instantly transferred into the weapons of those who bought it, though in the end Ratchet purchased it and figured he could give it to Autumn, so she could mess with it some more, to the point where he ignored the 'Qwarktastic day' comment.

"...Qwark, you were a total idiot when we were on Umbris, as you could have arranged it for us to take turns in the 'Ring of Heroes' and could have dropped Clank while leaving us alone," Ratchet commented, figuring that he might as well talk for a bit, to give Starswirl and Autumn a few more moments to make sure everything was ready, especially since he had taken some time to think about how Drek's pawn could have twisted the three of them into tools to further his own goals, which was why he was so grateful that Qwark had been so stupid when revealing his plan, "I mean, we're only fifteen, orphans no less, and I'm sure that Drek would have seen the value in possibly creating a family of heroes or something... or maybe he would have ignored us, since we hurt his operations... I don't know, but you could have gone about that better, instead of just revealing your hand like that. Anyway, that's all I wanted to say while I was here..."

Ratchet sighed as he walked over to a metallic walkway and used the platform at the end of it to return to the area that his siblings were waiting in, where he handed Autumn the PDA as soon as he arrived and climbed into his seat, where Clank stared at him for a few seconds, likely assuming that something had happened, but no one said anything as they gathered inside the ship and departed for their next destination.