//------------------------------// // Arsenal: Koros // Story: Ratchet and Clank: Family of Heroes // by Blackdrag-rose //------------------------------// The trip to Koros gave Sasha an idea of what Ratchet, Clank, Angela, Autumn, and Starswirl did before reaching the planet they happened to be heading towards, either the ship was on autopilot or Ratchet would be there to make sure nothing surprised them, while the others had other things that needed to be done. Starswirl was making sure his spells and mana were at the ready, or at least that was what he claimed he was doing, which meant he had to be planning on using some serious power when they reached their destination, at least in the defensive manner she hoped. Angela and Clank were in the middle of coming up with a plan of attack for when they arrived, even though Nefarious had limited the ability of the officials to learn more about the planet, meaning it was definitely one of his strongholds, which they should have known from the beginning. Autumn, on the other hand, did something different, she took Sasha's measurements and tapped in a few notes into whatever she was working on, before she discovered that the Kirin was making a set of armor for her that matched what Ratchet and the others were wearing. In no time Sasha found that she was as outfitted as the family was, with the best armor that had been created so far and all of the weapons that Autumn had developed so far, save for the RY3NO, due to the fact that she and Gadgetron had agreed to only make a single copy of each weapon, just to keep the balance of power with their weapons. "We've found that the Biobliterator is still on Koros, meaning it must have just returned from an attack," Angela said, due to the fact that she and Clank had been discussing things before speaking to Ratchet and the others, all while they stopped in the space beyond the planet, to keep the starship safe, "not to mention the fact that Nefarious will have posted an army to make sure it stays safe from potential attackers... since we have his data disc, well, he'll be expecting us to make an attempt on his device." "Given its size we won't be able to take out the device with most of our weapons, and I'm not sure if you two have enough power to take it down," Ratchet added, speaking to Autumn and Starswirl for a moment, as they knew that the pair was powerful and it was hard to know if their enhanced power would be enough to tear the device apart, "however, we might find something on the planet that might help us out. I'm speaking from experience, mind you." The rest of his family knew what he was talking about, as during some of their missions they ended up finding something useful that allowed them to progress, be it a gadget or even a weapon, while Sasha had a feeling she understood what he was referring to, since she wasn't as experienced as they were. Once that was done they climbed into the Star Explorer and flew down to the planet that was below them, finding that all sorts of ships were flying around the base that Nefarious had set up to guard his device, each having enemy soldiers on them. As they did that, however, Clank informed them that he might have found a weapon capable of dealing with the Biobliterator in one blast, due to the fact that the base had a massive ion cannon that seemed to be targeting asteroids that strayed too close to the planet's surface. Such a thing was all Ratchet and the others needed to know, where Ratchet touched down on the outskirts of what appeared to be a city of some kind before they climbed out and got ready for whatever this planet had to throw at them, since it had to be much tougher given that Nefarious intended for it to be a place of safety for the Biobliterator. What they discovered was that their enemies were Drones, small yellow robots that hovered from planet to place and had a blast for their right hand, where Autumn recalled that these guys came in droves and they would have to be careful, as there might be a massive number of them waiting for intruders. Sure enough, after checking the Vendor and found that it had no new weapons for them to purchase, the family found that there was a large number of Drones in front of them, to which they opened fire immediately, once one of their foes spotted them and loosed a blast at them. For the time being both Autumn and Starswirl kept their magic at the ready, not using it until it was absolutely necessary, while spotting one of the large war bots guarding part of the path, something that Autumn opened fire on as soon as she noticed it, allowing the others to move on as she broke it. From there they found their way to the center of the city, a common area based on what they were seeing, which had a large force of Drones guarding the area and zeroed in on them as soon as they walked into it, not that the family or Sasha were expecting anything different from what they had seen so far. As Ratchet and the others blasted and smashed their way through the force of Drones that were in front of them, and they could see that Nefarious had set up quite a number of them to guard this area, Autumn and Starswirl sensed something coming and blasted the air in question, dropping a humanoid creature to the ground, which was followed by the figure laughing as it picked himself up. "My master told me not to underestimate you two, yet your reactions are better than I originally thought," a voice said, a male one based on what they were hearing, though it was clear that he was talking to Autumn and Starswirl while likely ignoring Ratchet and the others, where they found a humanoid figure emerging from the smoke, a blue skinned person who had a pair of white horns on either side of his head, a crystal on his forehead and the palms of his hands, no shirt as he wore some black baggy pants, "I am M-73, an android created with the sole purpose of taking down you two, Starswirl and Autumn Blaze." "Which means Nefarious thinks he can counter our magic... how cute." Autumn remarked, where she turned towards the android in question, which would have been an interesting feat if she wasn't sure that this was a pure machine that called itself by that title, otherwise someone would have reported someone going missing, though she loosed a burst of flames at him, something that caused them to watch as it bent inwards and was absorbed by M-73, "Great, he figured out what Zurgo was able to figure out." Ratchet and Angela knew what Autumn was referring to, there was someone in Bogon who made a device that was able to break down magic and absorb it, which meant that Nefarious had either figured it out or he was far smarter than he and the others assumed. In that moment his brother and sister glanced back at him, causing him to nod as he headed for the area that the ion cannon was resting in, Angela and Sasha following him so they could cripple Nefarious' foul plans, as he knew what was going to happen and they needed to be out of here before the battle happened. Sure enough he felt them start not a few moments later as a pillar of flame appeared once they were out of range, where Autumn, in her Nirik form, sent her foe flying with a punch, even though he was sure that the android, or whatever he was, was trying to absorb the energy of her transformation. Starswirl, on the other hand, did something Ratchet had only heard about when he talked about his studies of the various magics that existed in the universe, his so called 'Sage' form, which came with blue runes on his arms that boosted his power output, making him just as strong as Autumn's fiery Nirik form. Sure enough, as they blasted through the robotic enemies that were in front of them, the area outside the city shook for a few moments as Autumn and Starswirl clashed with M-73, where it was easy for Ratchet to figure out what was going on, without having to glance back, they were going to overload their foe and blast him to pieces, and even if he proved to be stronger than them it would boost their own power. "Nefarious must have built that back during our first adventure, in case he needed to get rid of my siblings," Ratchet said, as that seemed to be the most plausible answer for how the mechanical creature had been created in such a short period of time, since he wouldn't have been able to make such a thing within the time since their return to Solana, though as he said that he blasted some of the Drones in front of them. "Seems likely, given his ability to develop magic absorption technology," Angela remarked, where she reminded herself of what they had seen back in Bogon, Zurgo's device to be exact, which had brought about no great event, which they had been expecting after seeing it in action, all while she smashed her way through some of their enemies and blasted a few more to open the way forward, "besides, it confirms that he sees them, and us, as a threat to his plans... if he beats both Starswirl and Autumn, the biggest threats he has, his chances of success will skyrocket." "Well, I wish him good luck with that." Sasha stated, swinging her melee weapon and taking several of their enemies down in an instant as the others caught up with her, though this time around she found that she was quite happy fighting on the front lines and not hanging on the Phoenix all the time, all while her thought was about how powerful Ratchet's siblings were, in terms of magical strength. Clank said nothing as the trio moved through the rest of the defenses that were between them and the ion cannon, while at the same time the sky lit up before something crashed into a group of remaining Drones, the upper half of M-73's body, before Autumn landed nearby and heaved him up into the air so she could blast him apart. "And done." Autumn remarked, where she let out a sigh as she reverted to her base state, all while Starswirl landed near them and quickly did the same once he realized their foe had been eliminated, before noticing that she had used a decent amount of power to take her foe out. With that done they made their way through the rest of the defenses, Autumn and Starswirl allowing the others to take on all of their enemies while they rested, before reaching what appeared to be the command center, where Clank climbed off Ratchet's back and took a seat in the chair, something that gave him instant control over the massive ion cannon, which was an oversight on Nefarious' part. "What the... Agent Clank?!" a voice exclaimed, where they found that one of the screens showed Nefarious, which meant he must have found out about them either taking the ion cannon or destroying his soldier, either way it didn't matter since they were about to checkmate him, "What are you doing?!" "After all those Holo-films, there is one thing you should know by this point: you do not mess with Agent Clank!" Clank said, where he finished messing with the controls and pushed forward on the main section, where they found that the ion cannon's head moved and pointed straight at the Biobliterator, which was blown to pieces before their eyes, though as Nefarious started to rage he discovered something and deployed the communicator as he cut off the rant, "Incoming call from the Phoenix." "I know all of you want to celebrate, but I have some bad news," Al stated, as without Sasha aboard the Phoenix, and with Qwark 'dead' to pretty much everyone else, Al was essentially the next in command, not counting any of the Rangers that were aboard the ship, who were likely busy right now, "I just finished decrypting the rest of the data disc and discovered that Nefarious secretly built a second Biobliterator, a new model that is far more dangerous than the one that you guys just destroyed. I've also found that Nefarious has a master control center on Mylon and have downloaded the coordinates to your ship... but be warned, this time he knows you're on your way." Ratchet and his siblings glanced at each other for a moment, as they were surprised to find that a second Biobliterator had been built, but even if that was the case they knew that this was the end of Nefarious' plans, and all they had to do was break his machine and stop his plans so peace could be brought back to Solana.