//------------------------------//
// Deadlocked: Crusader Tournament 
// Story: Ratchet and Clank: Family of Heroes 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Not much happened after their return from Orxon, save for Clank and Al doing everything in their power to make sure Vox had no idea that Ace had handed them something that would ruin the station at the right moment, so Ratchet, Autumn, and Starswirl got a bit of a break as Vox's team got the tournament set up. Based on what they could discover this was going to be the Crusader Tournament, confirming that they were going to rank up again, if they survived the challenges anyway, even if it was a little odd to be tackling another qualifier, so soon after the last one. Clank explained that most contestants failed in the first day or two, so most were stuck at the Marauder rank and never reached the Avenger rank, so them beating and wrecking Shellshock had been quite the shock to those who controlled DreadZone, forcing them to move onto the next of the four tournaments. He also discovered that, to keep people interested, Vox designed the others with two qualifying planets in mind, as opposed to the three they tackled for to stop being Marauders, four once they counted the first course they were forced into, when they woke up in this dreadful place.

"So once we become Crusaders we'll have to tackle two more planets to become Vindicators, than two more after that to rank up to Liberators?" Ratchet inquired, as Ace's information had revealed the names of the ranks that were associated with the tournaments Vox had set up for those who were watching his network, not that he or his siblings cared that much, since all of them were planning on taking him down, "Four more planets and our time should be up."

"We'll be able to cripple DreadZone and arrest Vox for his crimes." Autumn said, as that was their goal whenever they had an adventure, track down the villain and throw him in jail, though she also knew that there were exceptions to that rule, due to what happened with Nefarious not that long ago, "Or just blow things up, whatever works."

"Given the current villain, the latter seems more appropriate." Starswirl remarked, where they found that Clank nodded his head to show he agreed with the statement, while Al didn't seem to have an opinion on this matter, though he felt that a number of their enemies might follow suit to avoid being captured and punished.

Clank continued to work as the siblings got the rest they needed, as when morning arrived they were called to fight in the Battledome once more, though as they passed by the Vendor Autumn found a Mini Turret Launcher and purchased it for all of them, giving them one more weapon to tear Vox's gladiators apart. Upon their arrival in the Battledome the three of them found that Dallas and Juanita were eager to see how they fared in the Crusader Tournament, where they started on the top of the Tower of Power and, interestingly enough, were forced to use their Hunter Mine Launchers. It was the worst one to force upon them as they rained hunter mines on all of their enemies, blasting the gladiators and snappers out of the way without actually slowing down, something that stunned the announcers as everyone in the crowd cheered, which was good for them since it meant Vox couldn't get rid of them. Based on what Dallas said there were five waves they had to clear out and, if they survived this and the upcoming challenges, they would be able to fight Reactor, which had many of Vox's watchers on the edge of their seats, as they had seen what happened to Shellshock and wondered if the same would happen to him.

With the challenge complete Dallas informed everyone that their collars had been charged and were on a timer, that they had four minutes to fight through some obstacles, and grind on an energy rail, to get to four control nodes to deactivate the timer, revealing that Vox might be hoping to eliminate them before they got too far.

The first thing they had to do was deal with the gladiators and snappers that showed up when the challenge started, just to cut down on the amount of time they had left, though with three of them it was easy for Ratchet to smash the device that was blocking the Bolt Crank and start to turn it, leaving their enemies to his siblings. Once the gladiators had been removed, and he was done with the node, they jumped onto part of the energy grind rail and quickly headed down to the next part of the arena they would have to fight through, as two nodes were in the center of the Battledome. Such a thing just meant that Ratchet, Autumn, and Starswirl could repeat what they had been doing so far, one focused on the node as the other two dealt with the enemies that were coming at them, reminding everyone as to why one magic user was more than though outside the Battledome, as the siblings smashed their way through their foes without breaking a sweat. As soon as the second and third node were claimed they found that no new track was available for them to use and that they had to jump over some platforms, to head back to the square platform their first turret foe had been located on, which the siblings did without delay.

Sure enough it didn't take them all that long to eliminate the gladiators and snappers that came at them, along with them actually claiming the node that was the main objective of this challenge, and once they had done that Dallas mentioned that it was time for them to make their way back to the middle of the Battledome, which the siblings did as they waited to see if Reactor was ready to fight them.

"Ratchet, eh? Hmph, you look like a squirrel wrapped in tin foil, and your siblings look like toys playing dress up." a voice said, where they found a robot that was just as tall as Shellshock standing nearby, no doubt he had been watching and, as soon as the last node was claimed, had moved over here to get things started, and inside his chest was the reactor he got his name from, "I'm gonna take my time taking you three apart! Gonna give my fans their money's worth. And, uh, try not to go crying or anything, all right? I want this to look good for the cameras."

For the beginning of the fight nothing major happened, save for the siblings firing on Reactor while he made his way over to where Ratchet was standing, though upon finding that they were faster than him he opened fire on them, loosing small bursts of energy that likely came from his reactor. One thing Ratchet and his siblings had to watch out for was that Reactor could use some of his stored energy to rush forward at damaging speeds, like a charge of some kind, though thanks to his siblings and their magic he didn't have to worry about it too much, since their magical barriers were enough to stop their foe in his tracks. He had another attack that involved him moving to one of the two long edges of the arena and fired off blue bolts of energy at whoever he was targeting, though since they weren't faster than his normal blasts they were able to avoid them with ease as they blasted into his chest and continued to damage his body, all while the crowd cheered for everyone. Other than that he didn't seem to have any other attacks to use against them, save for one where he raised both of his hands into the air and punched the ground with them together, a close ranged attack, so the siblings avoided being near him and kept on firing at him, while noting he was stupid enough to walk into their minds, before he collapsed from all the damage and stopped moving.

With Reactor's defeat, a shock to Dallas and Juanita, they ascended to the rank of Crusader, much to the joy of the fans, which turned the main color of their armor blue and gave the siblings access to two new locations, the Valix Belt and the planet of Torval. After learning that piece of information, and restocking their ammunition at a Vendor, the siblings took a moment to check out the screen and found three new challenges to tackle, the first being Zombie Attack and involved the three of them fighting off a horde of enemies with scattered weapons, forcing them to pick one up and use it before even moving onto the next one. Of course the rules didn't say anything about magic and Starswirl used lightning to tear some of his enemies apart, allowing them to survive the first challenge and discovered that the second, Heavy Metal, involved them fighting through six rounds against a swarm of heavier gladiators, like the larger ones and the leviathans, but since it was only two or three at a time they had nothing to worry about. The last challenge, Endzone, was the simplest of them all, as all they had to do was guard an energy wall and stop enemies from passing through it, so they just opened fire on all of the enemies that were coming at them, effectively giving them a way to strengthen all of their weapons for whatever the future held for them, even through everyone in the crowd was cheering for them as it happened.

Once the last of the challenges had been completed, and they were sure of that, Ratchet, Autumn, and Starswirl headed back to their suite to get some rest so they could be ready for whatever was waiting for them on the Valix Belt, all while knowing that Vox had to be angry at them and would slip up in some manner, they just had to be patient.