During their time waiting for the next tournament to start Ratchet, Autumn, and Starswirl found that Dallas and Juanita really didn't like them, as they clearly thought of the siblings as criminal masterminds and that the galaxy was better off with them trapped in DreadZone, a mistake since they were close to beating Vox's game. There was some sad news, however, as the announcers informed the and the other viewers that Agent Bizzaro, Plasma Woman, and Orange Comet, all upcoming heroes that sprouted after Drek's defeat, were dead, just like most of the other heroes they had learned about. Their next foe was going to be one of the most dangerous Exterminators in all of DreadZone, the Eviscerator, who didn't talk and when he was asked questions he would eviscerate a drone that had the answer he picked out, though they were usually yes and no answers, likely to save Bolts. There wasn't much else for them to learn before the big event, other than the fact that the only ones rooting for their death seemed to be the pair of announcers and Vox himself, especially since everyone who sat in the stands enjoyed having them around and the viewers at home clearly enjoyed a change of pace.
Clank was also able to make contact with one of Ace's allies, a female tech droid who seemed to like him, and they were in the process of working on a way to deactivate DreadZone, as in turning off all the blast collars, wrecking the surveillance system, and making it so the heroes could go free, all of them to be exact. As it turned out fighting Eviscerator would give them the time they needed to do all sorts of things with Ace's information, especially since most of the cameras actually went down during a big arena fight, so they were banking on the siblings putting on a show before clashing with the next Exterminator. With that information in hand the siblings got ready, checking their armor to be sure nothing was wrong or broken, making sure their weapons were fully stocked and prepared for the battle ahead of them, and Autumn even took a moment to check the Vendor, finding a weapon known as the Harbinger available. Supposedly it was the RYNO for all of DreadZone, a powerful weapon that didn't have all of the regulations and checks to be sure it wouldn't exploded when it was fired at the user's enemies, so she ran a quick check on the weapon, as she only bought one since she was the one who carried all of the RYNO weapons, and made it far more stable than it had been beforehand.
Once that was done they walked over to the transport ship and took it to the Battledome, as it was time for them to start their part of the operation so they could get ready for the final stages of their stay in DreadZone, because Vox had no idea what was coming his way and would be surprised by what would happen in the near future.
Due to what can only be described as miraculous luck, Ratchet and his siblings have made it all the way to the Vindicator Tournament! Dallas declared, speaking as the shuttle carrying the trio entered the area that the Battledome was in, all while the siblings were curious if they'd start all the way at the very beginning or start on the Tower of Power, given what they had done in the past so far, But, before they earn the right to rise to the rank of Vindicator, they'll have to survive the Battledome's deadliest challenges yet and then take on the Eviscerator!
Ratchet and his siblings discovered that they were starting in the first section of the Battledome, going through a bout of cycling weapons as the gladiators rushed at them, though the real fun part was that all three of them were set to different weapons, like Ratchet would have the Leviathan Flail, Autumn would have the Arbiter, and Starswirl would have access to the Hunter Mine Launcher. It was almost unfair for the enemies that were coming at them, as three different weapons meant that there was no real way for them to get close to any of the siblings, meaning they were able to smash all waves of enemies and move onto the next part of the challenge. From there they were moved to the top of the Tower of Power as they were charged with surviving an onslaught of bomb drops from all of the dropships, the dreadnoughts according to Dallas, though Autumn weaved her magic through the air and smashed their flying enemies before they could do anything to them, while Starswirl focused on breaking the bombs and Ratchet tore down the gladiators. Sure enough they found that both Dallas and Juanita were calling foul on all three of them, that this just destroyed the purpose of the challenge, only for the viewers to call for them to shut up so they could watch the siblings, showing Vox that his team was losing their popularity among the people of the Shadow Sector.
Once that was done the announcers informed everyone that the siblings would now be facing the Eviscerator, a lot sooner than what Ratchet, Autumn, and Starswirl were expecting, as they were thinking that they might have another challenge or two before this point, before the large twin bladed Exterminator flew down and attacked them. As such they opened fire on him as he tried to strike one of them with his sharpened blades, which seemed to be his only weapons and what he was known for, before he pulled back and brought his arms close to each other for a second, causing them to pause for a brief moment. Sure enough he did something new, he fired a beam of green energy at them and Starswirl weaved some of his magic into the space in front of them, making a mirror that reflected the attack back into their foe's chest, causing the Eviscerator to dust off his chest before rushing at them again. The other other thing he did was throw up a shield that protected him from harm as he called forth some gladiators, the ones who shared his species, though they didn't stand a chance against the siblings and their weapons, forcing the Exterminator to land and fight them once more.
As it turned out he also had a missile launching attack, small rockets designed to take the siblings down, but, in the end, it didn't help him all that much as Ratchet delivered the finishing blow and took him down, allowing them to ascend to the rank of Vindicator, turning the main color of their armor golden yellow while unlocking the planets of Stygia and Maraxus, the last two before the final tournament.
Following that they tackled the Dread Challenges for this tournament, as the fans wanted more and they were more than willing to do so, as it allowed Clank, Al, and their new helper to do more work without being discovered, where they found that the first one was called Higher Ground. What it looked like was a new way to get up to the top of the Tower of Power, this time using energy grind rails and platforms before having to ascend the tower the old fashioned way, fighting enemies and blasting dropships out of the way, and when they reached the top a wave of enemies fell before their might. Once that challenge was complete Ratchet turned his attention to the final challenge, the Corkscrew, which was just them facing a number of gladiators and enemies as they activated spheres, which would move the energy grind rails into position so they could progress to the next stage of the challenge. Starswirl found that it was rather easy to do, because either he or Autumn would fight by Ratchet's side as the other focused on activating the orbs, allowing them to move forward without wasting too much time, though at the end of the line they faced another round of gladiators, which were easy to take out and they were successful in no time.
With the challenges done they returned to their suite and found that Clank was successful, he, Al, and their assistant had deactivated Clank's collar, while finding that Ace was smiling as he leaned against one of the walls, meaning he had taken out the cameras and Vox had no idea what was going on, to which they worked to nullify all of their collars and then make it look like they were still active so they could finally bring an end to Vox's terrible plans.