//------------------------------// // Size: Challax // Story: Ratchet and Clank: Family of Heroes // by Blackdrag-rose //------------------------------// According to the information that Autumn had claimed from Luna's journal, and all the entries that she had gained from her hacking session, the planet they had to visit next was Challax, where a Technomite city was supposedly located and was confirmed when she looked at what they gained from Ryllus' map room. Based on what her studies discovered Challax was a desert planet, which meant this was either a lead to throw them off, and the map room was a lie, or it was hidden from sight in some manner and they would find it in no time. Given the gadgets they had recovered so far one had to wonder if they might have to use the Shrink Ray or the Polarizer in some manner to find their destination, but she was sure that it would become clear once they reached the planet. Ratchet, however, was fine with whatever information his siblings or the others could learn and made sure everyone had enough time to do that before they located the planet, though once again they found that nothing happened as they approached Challax, causing a few of them to worry. Once they were sure that the Helios wouldn't fall under attack the group took the Star Explorer down to the landing pad that Luna's journal indicated, though as they flew down it sure looked like the desert planet had nothing to offer, causing them to focus as they landed and climbed out of the ship. "Looks like you were right, Autumn, this place doesn't look very hospitable." Ratchet commented, in fact the only sign of a civilization was the landing pad that they had landed on, once more making them wonder if they had been tricked in some manner, before he glanced down at his feet and found something that looked like a hovercar, "So, shall we get the show on the road?" "Yes, but first I will smash their orbital defenses, just to cripple their sensors." Clank replied, gesturing to the left for a few seconds, where they found one of the pads that allowed him to become his Giant form, to which Ratchet nodded as he and the others waited under a barrier that his siblings created, just to make sure no one overheated while they waited for him to return. Nika paused for a moment as Clank transformed, having only heard the stories about this form, before he blasted off and took to the sky so he could smash whatever defenses had ignored them earlier, where they seemed to just relax, despite the fact that they were near one of their enemy's strongholds, and it wasn't long before he returned. Sure enough Clank found another piece of armor, an Electroshock piece, though once Autumn placed it in her collection, and he was back to his normal sense, Ratchet shrunk all of them down and they used the small hovercar to get moving. What they found was that it definitely brought them to a hidden Technomite city, which might as well be the size of a penny from what each of them were seeing, if they were looking at it from above, hence why it was so hard to see. In fact the insects were larger as well, as they seemed to be the size of ants at this point in time, though that didn't stop them from keeping their guards up as the vehicle stopped on what had to be the outskirts of the city, as there was no telling what might be waiting for them in this place. The first thing Autumn did was purchase the next available weapon, the Sniper Mine, before Ratchet shrunk down even more to bypass the door lock and allowed everyone to enter the chamber that an elevator was resting in, which brought them to what appeared to be an airport area, due to the luggage terminals. What was interesting was that there happened to be a red magnet device nearby that Autumn quickly used the Polarizer on, where they watched as it knocked the metal luggage through the hole and smashed a robot between them and a terminal, which deactivated the laser wall in front of them, allowing them to advance again. From there she used it again to take down another terminal and opened the way for the others to blast their way through the trio of enemies that were in front of them, more small yellow warriors, which meant they had to be Technomite machines, before they headed outside. Sure enough the group found more robots that seemed to be the guardians of the area, a number of small ones and a few taller figures, but none of them could stand up to the might of Ratchet, his siblings, and the others, allowing them to clear the area in no time at all. With that done Ratchet turned a Bolt Crank so Autumn could use the Polarizer, forcing a vehicle into the metal wall that was in front of them and broke it open, allowing them to enter a sandy area that looked like a good place to use some of the Mimic Plants to move forward again. By that one of them had to plant one of the Ladder Plants so someone else could climb up to the upper level, allowing them to move and plant a Bomb Plant that could be used to bring down the statue of some evil looking ruler, Otto no doubt, which created a new ramp. Such a thing allowed them to reach another Grind Lock that Ratchet quickly dealt with as the others made sure the area remained clear, and when he returned they entered yet another new area that brought them to a new elevator, this one heading upward. Of course the group was assaulted by all sorts of robotic enemies once more, though this time Autumn and Starswirl used their magic to cut down on the number of enemies by smashing carriers together, leaving the remainder of their enemies to Ratchet and the others. At the top of the elevator's path they found another zip line that seemed to head deeper into the city, or at least the more wild part for some odd reason, so once their enemies were beaten, and they were sure of that, the group carefully used it and found that they landed on some smoke stacks before crossing some leaves. Sure enough a Technomite ship moved into position to attack them, causing Autumn and Starswirl to use their magic to block the blasts that were coming at them, allowing the rest of the group to carefully move across the leaves, webs, and a number of four leaf clovers, before reaching the end. That happened to be another zip line that brought them down to an area that seemed to be an arena for them to fight the ship in, along with a number of robotic enemies, so the group took a moment to divide their attention between their enemies to focus them all down. To be honest there was nothing special or hard about this fight, they just had to avoid the incoming attacks and fire at it, and their enemies, in return, something that allowed them to quickly tear it down without putting too much effort into fighting it. Such a thing raised a bridge and let them claim another piece of armor, the helm of the Electroshock set, before they entered the building in front of them and found Luna standing there, only she was still and had an opening in the back of her head. To be honest none of them were even surprised at this point, as Luna being a robotic girl serving the Technomites made sense, though as she blasted off, after sealing the hatch, Autumn tossed a small tracker onto her before they returned to their ship and enlarged themselves once more, blasting off as they tracked down their target, all while wondering what sort of trouble Qwark might have gotten himself into now.