//------------------------------//
// Interlude: Changes 
// Story: Ratchet and Clank: Family of Heroes 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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With Drek's twisted planet taken care of, and the Deplanetizer platform was utterly destroyed, Ratchet and his siblings started to head for their shed so they could get some well deserved sleep, though not even a few moments later all three of them changed course and headed for the heart of the colony, something that surprised Clank since he figured that the plan was to head home, but he remained silent as he waited to see what was going on. Ratchet, Starswirl, and Autumn quickly made their way to the colony and found that it had been attacked by Drek's forces upon their arrival on Veldin, as they could see that the orphanage was damaged, some of the buildings had burning roofs, and there were some blast holes that told them that a fight had gone on, before a smile graced their faces before they even drew their weapons. They quickly found Mayor Brook standing over some fallen Blarg, who had been restrained so she could hand them out to whoever came to collect them, while most of the adults seemed to be fine, save for some cuts and bruises from whatever fight had taken place, though it told them that they didn't have to worry about anything, as the adults had everything under control. In the next few moments Brook noticed them and rushed over to where they were standing, where she threw her arms over each of them, showing that she had been worried about them, especially since the Blarg had set up shop right outside their home and formed the path Ratchet and his siblings had followed earlier, before she pulled back and smiled.

"Thank the Maker you three are alright," Brook said, confirming that she had been worried about them, might have been since the day they disappeared from Veldin and started to explore the galaxy, and that meant she might have some choice words for them once again, as sometimes she lectured people when they did something she didn't approve of, but this time around she didn't seem to be in the mood for that, "We saw you fighting the Blarg as you tracked down Drek... where in the galaxy did you learn how to fight like that?"

"We've had a lot of practice, taking down Drek's forces," Ratchet replied, which was basically the truth of the matter, as the vast majority of their enemies had been those who were in Drek's pocket or created by his scientists, who would now be out of a job and likely imprisoned if they had a hand in damaging the planets of the galaxy, before he focused on the rest of the colony, "Is anyone hurt?"

"No, we managed to get by with only minor injuries. I assume they were toying with us while they waited for you to arrive, and we captured some," Brook stated, though as she said that she noticed that all three of the siblings, including the little robot that Ratchet had on his back at the moment, one they likely found during their adventure and convinced to join up with them, seemed tired and exhausted, both physically and magically in the case of Starswirl and Autumn, to which she sighed and beckoned to their shed, "Go on, go home and get some rest. We'll take care of the Blarg and round them up so the authorities can arrest them when they arrive... and Drek, if he's still around."

The siblings chuckled for a moment before doing exactly that, they wished Brook farewell for now before heading back to their shed, where Ratchet told Clank that they wanted to make sure the colonists were safe and sound, since they had no idea what the Blarg had done before their arrival, before heading home, where their new friend informed them that he understood and said nothing more on the matter. When they reached their shed Clank found that it was enough for three people of Ratchet's size, maybe four if his friends really pushed it, with dividers set up so everyone had a 'room' of sorts so they could sleep with ease and not have to worry about anyone peeping on them, though he could tell that the siblings did want a more realistic house, one with actual rooms for them to rest in. The last time he had been here he hadn't given his friends enough time to get anything they wanted before leaving for Novalis, though while each of them seemed to have all sorts of items the shed really didn't look like a home, it looked like a place that a ship could have been stored in and they altered it into what he was seeing right now, but even then he was sure Ratchet, Autumn, and Starswirl would figure out a way to make this place even better. In the end, however, Clank had no desire for a room or even a corner of the place that they called home, rather he sat outside Ratchet's compartment and sat down in front of it, where he could slip into his rest mode and get some rest as well, since he had been powering their ships since the start of their adventure and really hadn't had a chance to pause, even on Oltanis he just stared out and watched the storm, waiting for his friends to return with a bit of news before they left the planet.

As he did that Ratchet and his siblings did the same thing, they returned to their compartments and set their weapons down, where Clank found that all of them truly seemed exhausted from everything that had happened since they started their adventure to save the galaxy, though Autumn also put her gadgets on a shelf, which her brothers did as well, before she pulled the curtain over her room and closed it so she could get some sleep, where Clank found that the same was true for Ratchet and Starswirl, they blocked off their sides as well, before he slipped into his rest mode while wondering what the future might have for them.

What Ratchet and his siblings discovered the following morning was that the galactic authorities, those who worked for all the Chairmen who sided against Drek, even if none of them had been able to do much in the face of Drek's forces, arrived with some ships that were more like prisoner transports, where the captured Blarg were escorted into the ships as most of their weapons and armor were confiscated. Of course they were surprised by the battle mech that was resting nearby, as Drek's suit was rather large and very powerful in it's own right, though Autumn joined them as she dismantled the suit so they could get to Drek, where Ratchet and Starswirl explained that magic had turned him into a sheep and that this wasn't a ploy, even though what they were told surprised the siblings. It appeared that Drek, fully thinking that he could beat the three of them in battle, had commanded one of his Helper Bots to fly around the areas that he would have fought them in and record everything that happened, so the bot who recorded everything caught them chaining the mech and punishing Drek with the sheep transformation he was stuck with, along with using the Deplanetizer to shatter his twisted planet and send each fragment back to the planet they came from. Given that information Ratchet sighed as he realized what this information meant, Drek had broadcast this event to every corner of the galaxy, to spread fear when he brought about the downfall of heroes who had been dealing with his forces, but in the end this meant that every planet in the Solana Galaxy would know about their deeds and that their names would no doubt be in the news for some time, as heroes that would replace Qwark as this galaxy's saviors.

The first thing that changed after that was that Brook officially made it so the siblings were welcome in the colony, and that all of the adults saw them as inhabitants of their fair colony, instead of people who were basically exiled until a better way to punish them came around, plus the others finally opened up to them again, showing excitement and interest in what all of them were capable of. After that things got weird and interesting in no time at all, as Wendell informed them that a fair number of planets wanted to hold parades, feasts, conventions, festivals, and all sorts of parties in their honor, most being the very planets that they had visited during their adventure, and they found that people like Skid and Starlene were also hanging out with them from time to time. Autumn also found that her Pollution Blitzers, all versions of it since she made sure to include every type of the machine that could be made, made her a big name as well and only boosted their status as heroes, though that was only the start of things since they knew that interviews were being planned and Wendell was likely planing some interviews, since they were going to have to do some to get back some peace and quite. People wanted to thank them for saving their planets and taking down Drek's forces, which was understandable given everything that had happened to some of the worlds they had been to, and the siblings accepted the honors that came with the events, even if it was far more than what any of them might have been expecting, even Clank was surprised after he determined what had happened in the past.

In fact, to make sure the siblings weren't swarmed when they were trying to relax, Kyzil Plateau was considered off limits to visitors and tourists, save for those who went through Wendell to get here, like interviewers for example, but the rest of the planet was open to people and it allowed some to see where the Deplanetizer had been resting before Autumn got her hands on the device.

Eventually the siblings found themselves on one of the interview shows, one that Wendell claimed was a good balance so no new scars were added to what they had gained so far and gave the audience exactly what they were looking for, while leaving some craving for more, and the opening statement of said show went over the events everyone knew about or had heard about after the fact, Drek's damage to the Solana Galaxy and the planets that called it home. Since it was their true first time on television, not counting the commercial that they had gone for Wendell back during their visit to Kalebo III, Ratchet, Starswirl, and Autumn were all nervous, even Clank was, though he was more prepared than the siblings were in some cases, before they got to the questions that people wanted to know about, the first thing being that people wanted to learn more about them, which could be checked out on the personal bios that had been published. After that came the question of actually saving the galaxy and how they felt, where Ratchet and his siblings admitted that they were still trying to wrap their heads around it since when the three of them originally left Veldin it was to see the galaxy, which eventually became saving it in due time, and Clank admitted that he set out to find heroes, like Captain Qwark, before saying that he was pleased to have played a part in stopping Drek. The other part about it was that they had been exhausted after the end of their adventure, as they had worked themselves too much and hadn't really rested as much as they should have, a fact they would take to heart for the future, in case there were more adventures after this point in time, especially since all of them had slept for a few days without doing anything interesting or exciting, besides making sure the Blarg were caught and delivered to the transport.

Eventually they came to a question that everyone was expecting, about the fact that each of them seemed to be the last of their respective species, as Ratchet was a Lombax, Starswirl was a Unicorn, and, after some researching, Clank had found out that Autumn was a Kirin, causing the siblings to glance at each other for a time as they considered how best to answer the question, especially given the fact that none of them had any answers.

"Starswirl and I have been talking about it, and we're certain that we're survivors of a planetary event that wiped out our home world... like Superman, for instance," Autumn said, because according to all of the readings she and Starswirl had run so far there were only two magical signatures in the Solana Galaxy, hers and her brother's, meaning they didn't come from this galaxy and there was no telling when they would visit the others that everyone knew about, "plus if we were able to escape the destruction of our home planet, surely others would have been able to do the same thing and escape to the other galaxies... that is our hope, that we aren't the last of our species."

"I've... been thinking about it, and I'm afraid that I don't have an answer," Ratchet admitted, though at the same time, while he spoke his mind, Clank and his siblings found that his fingers lingered on the necklace that he always wore, a reminder of the pod that rested back in their shed on Veldin, a pod that showed there was another Lombax out there, his sister, and if two of them were alive he was sure that more were in hiding as well, he just had to find them.

In the end most of the questions were things that could be answered with their bios, which made things easier for them, and those that weren't were easily answered in no time, one was even about Clank and he explained that the records that detailed his construction were corrupt, why no one knew, but after that there wasn't much else for them to answer and it allowed them to continue with the rest of their day as they waited to tackle whatever the future held for them.