Following their arrival at the Ublik Passage the family and their allies received a shocking transmission, the capital of the entire galaxy, that being Meridian City on planet Igliak, was under attack by the Cragmite armada, which Aphelion was able to confirm not a few seconds after the transmission arrived.
"How?" Rusty Pete asked, where he let out a hiccup once more as they stared at the scene that was unfolding on Igliak, an invasion of a race that hadn't been in this universe for a long time, though Autumn wasn't too surprised that Pete had no idea what was going on, since he was drunk and had Slag's head with him, "He should still... hic... be on Reepor."
"It's the Dimensionator. Not only can it open doors to other dimensions, it allows one to move around the dimension that they're already in." Ratchet commented, as he had been thinking about this and already understood it, where he felt it was due to the fact that his father worked on it and was the one left behind with it, at least according to Tachyon, though most of his family understood what he was saying, "Tachyon can move the Cragmite armada wherever he wants, whenever he wants to do... no one is safe while the Dimensionator is in his grasp, and knowing how much he despises the Lombaxes he'll likely attack the other dimensions to find the rest of our kind, once he proves the might of his army."
"We had best get to Meridian City... if we stop the assault we might be able to convince Tachyon that this isn't the right path for him to talk," Autumn said, though as she started to move, so she could get back to the Helios, she paused as she thought about what she had just told the others, who were getting ready to depart for an assault on their enemies, "at least, he should consider such a thing... given that he's an idiot, well, we might have to take him out the hard way."
The others didn't have anything to say as the Resistance leaders agreed on assaulting the Cragmites, while saving the people of the city, so while the family departed first it wasn't long before their allies followed after them, allowing everyone to get to the planet in question, and, as Aphelion landed, they found Tachyon informing the people of Igliak of his conditions, which Ratchet ignored as he climbed out of the ship.
Ratchet, a quarter of the city has already been decimated by Cragmite Drop Ships... now you see why the Lombaxes had to use the Dimensionator to banish them. Aphelion commented, showing that she had scanned the city upon their arrival and had information to share with the family, even if she was speaking to Ratchet, since his father had been her pilot at one point in time, before she was downed on Fastoon.
"Yeah, but they haven't faced heroes like us before." Ratchet remarked, where he and the others quickly stocked up their weapons, making sure they had all the ammunition they needed and upgrades that were available, before waging war on the invaders that were attacking Meridian City, while the Resistance and the pirates attacked the ships.
In the following moments they had their first encounter with the Cragmites, a hideous race that looked like a cross between a reptilian creature and an insect, based on some of their characteristics, plus some of the adult ones seemed capable of using personal warp devices to move short distances to avoid damage. Such a thing didn't stop them from opening fire on all of their enemies, quickly wiping out the first wave of enemies as Autumn used the RYNO 4 on some of the ships in the air, allowing her to cut down on the amount of foes that were in their way, even though there were plenty more for the others to take out. Starswirl, sensing no dimensional energy in the area, weaved his magic and zapped some of his enemies, blasting them into submission so Ratchet and the others could finish them off, while some of his magic blasted them into oblivion, choosing to save those spells for the greater enemies. They also discovered that some of the commandos were mixed into the Cragmite army, survivors of Reepor or more that Tachyon called in after his forces were devastated, no one knew, but it didn't make a difference as the family opened fire on their enemies and heard that Qwark was attacking another part of the city, cutting into the enemy army to prove that he was a hero.
Ratchet found that when the Cragmites had the element of surprise they were a threat, but with the combined forces of his family and Talwyn's group he discovered that their enemies didn't seem to understand what was going on, meaning it must have been some time since they fought anyone. While they fought, however, there were other screens where they learned that Tachyon actually wasn't trying to wipe everyone out, he was tearing down the rest of the Resistance, at least those he hadn't imprisoned so far, and that he wished for the people of Meridian City to stay indoors. Of course they knew it was because he wanted people to rule over and didn't want a dead planet, typical of rulers and tyrants, but Autumn had to admit that it was nice to see that he was interested in keeping certain people safe, so he wasn't a total idiot. Other than that they paid no attention to the screens or their messages as everyone opened fire on the Cragmites or commandos, as it seemed like that was all Tachyon had to throw at them, and while it was interesting to see both forces work together it still meant nothing to Ratchet, his siblings, and their large family.
Eventually they reached a point where Ratchet had to move forward with the Gyro-Cycle, where Autumn called in Aphelion so she and everyone else could follow after him from the air, allowing them to wage war with the drop ships while he used one of his father's devices. Aphelion was happy to wage war on the Cragmites once more, and with experienced gunners she was a force of destruction as they laid waste to the attackers that happened to be in the air, allowing Angela to keep track of where Ratchet was going, just in case he reached an area where some of them could land and join him. Sadly they found that he had to use Clank's new wings for a time as well, navigating his way through the civilian vessels that were in the middle of fleeing from the ongoing invasion, though Sasha monitored the transmissions that Tachyon was sending out to all of Meridian City. She was looking for a message of him retreating, since their alliance was tearing his armada apart, which had to annoy him, meaning he had to withdraw at some point and fight them on a planet that he had an advantage on, or at least that would be the smart thing to do in this situation.
When Ratchet landed by the area Qwark was fighting in, as the path brought him there, they learned that Tachyon had a message for them, he was taking Fastoon so he could ravage whatever was left of the Lombaxes' legacy, to which Ratchet and Clank regrouped with the others before making their way to Fastoon.
It only took them a few minutes to travel from Igliak to Fastoon, though they were joined by their alliance and found that Tachyon had opened more portals to the dimension the Cragmites had been sent to, since he had an army gathering in the area Aphelion had crashed into when she was shot down.
"Let's take him down!" Autumn shouted, where she jumped out of Aphelion, once they were above the section of Fastoon they had landed the escape pod in a lifetime ago, allowing the others to see that she was firing on all of the missiles that were being sent up towards them, opening the way for everyone else to follow her.
As Ratchet landed Aphelion nearby he found that the Resistance waged war with Tachyon's forces in the sky, leaving them to deal with those that were on the ground, though Starswirl was pleased to find that no dimensional energy was in use at the moment, meaning he and Autumn could use magic. There were five cannons pointed up at the air, in an attempt to wipe out all of the enemies that were coming towards Tachyon's position, though if the group was being honest it really didn't matter to them, since they were more than capable of eliminating their enemies with overwhelming firepower. The cannons, on the other hand, were torn apart by Autumn's magic as she dismantled them in no time at all, allowing her to study their power for a time as she formed a few new weapons in her mind, likely for whatever adventures they might discover after this one was over. Starswirl, however, loosed spells at some of his foes and showed them that he had more skills than his weapons, something even Talwyn and her warbots understood as they followed the main group into battle, before they brought down the bridge that would allow them to move forward.
When they crossed it, however, Autumn and Starswirl cancelled their magic as another crack in reality appeared nearby, only this one produced a large robot that looked like the floating torso of someone, a bulky red figure that was a torso, two arms, and a head, and they paused as it took in the surrounding area.
"Location: Unknown. Lifeforms: Unknown." the robot declared, where it was clear that it was going over a checklist of sorts as the crack in reality closed behind it, while Ratchet could tell that the second statement had been made when some of the Cragmites showed up to defend the barriers that the group was heading towards, "Protocol: Destroy!"
What they discovered was that the robotic tank, or whatever it was, could fire off volleys of rockets at the enemies that were in front of it, and when some Cragmites backed off it fired beams of purple energy that tore through it's targets with ease, meaning there was a far more dangerous dimension out there. That thought was due to the Cragmites folding before the robot's might, as when the last one tried to flee the thing propelled itself forward with a powerful jetpack and smashed into the ground near it's target, basing the unfortunate enemy into the wall. While it was distracted Autumn and Starswirl took a moment to gather their magic as they focused on the figure, causing Ratchet and the others to back off for a time, staying in the shadows as it tore through the Cragmites and opened the way forward, in record time no less. When it had nothing to fight, save for them, the pair unleashed their spell and tore the robot apart, rapidly breaking it down into the various pieces that put it together, though Autumn did keep a few sections in one piece, to study them and maybe make some new items in the future.
Ratchet, as they moved forward, had a feeling that the robot came from his sister's dimension, given his actions on Sargasso when he saw the rift between him and Rivet, but for now he had to focus on the Cragmites and that was what he did as he and the others waged war on Tachyon's ground troops.
After that they found that Tachyon tried to intimidate them from his ship, the same one the siblings crashed a lifetime ago on Cobalia, though they ignored him as everyone navigated around the locked door and headed into the court that was on the other side. Sure enough they found more Cragmites waiting for them and opened fire on their foes without delay, finding that their foes tried to hide at times, either afraid of their strength or worried that another robot might attack the area again, but no one was about to complain as they wiped out their enemies. Talwyn and Angela headed over to some of the nearby structures and worked to open the various barricades that were in front of them, allowing the rest of their group to continue the fight, even though they had to pull back on the amount of magic used since Tachyon kept opening portals to the dimension the Cragmites had been sent to. Such a thing told Ratchet all he needed to know, their foe had to be taken down, as while he wasn't seriously hurting the barriers between dimensions, like both most of them had thought about after learning about the Dimensionator, there was no telling how much strain the barriers could take before they started to actively break, so they needed to get the weapon now, before it was too late.
With the combined power that the group possessed Ratchet found that they were able to enter the main building of the court, where Talwyn and most of the others stood outside to make sure none of the Cragmites interrupted what Ratchet was about to do, where he and his siblings walked into the building, knowing that Tachyon was watching from the second floor, waiting for them to catch up with him.
"With their city decimated by my enforcers, your kind took refuge behind these walls. They believed that if they left this dimension I would leave Polaris unscathed... they were wrong." Tachyon said, showing that he had things he wanted to tell them before the final battle started, even though there was a chance that he was going to tempt Ratchet and use take advantage of his desire to find the Lombaxes to destroy his ancient enemy, "Face it, Lombax, your kind were cowards who fled with their tails between their legs! They should have bowed to their Cragmite overlords and prayed that they would be spared, for a time anyway."
"That's rich, coming from the one who launched a sneak attack on Fastoon, instead of facing the Lombaxes head on, like the Cragmites did." Ratchet replied, as he had spent some time studying the information Aphelion allowed him to see and figured out that Tachyon had decided to play dirty to force his race to flee, even though his father knew it was coming at some point in time and managed to get everyone off the planet, as the 'operation' was labeled as 'success'.
"Dimensionator! Find the Lombaxes!" Tachyon shouted, where they watched as a portal tore open in front of Ratchet, all while Talwyn and the others, finding that the coast was clear, rejoined them, in time to see the portal break apart into a large number of breaks, confirming what Ratchet had discovered earlier, "Originally I believed that three stayed behind: your father, the Keeper of the Dimensionator, yourself, and an elder that has eluded me for some time, but I see that it is four, counting your precious girlfriend. I offer the two of you this one chance: join your race in exile, like the cowards you are, or stay and suffer at my hands!"
"See? Even you are terrified of us, to the point you're trying to coax us into leaving... I bet you'd do the same with Autumn and Starswirl, just to secure your rule." Ratchet stated, where he swung his wrench and smashed the crack, which caused the others to slam shut and leave the area bare once more, though in that moment he zeroed in on where Tachyon was standing and blasted him with his rocket launcher, knocking him and his walker to the ground, "I'm not about to leave you with the Dimensionator, a tool that will allow you to come after us once you're good and ready to wipe us out, so let's do this already."
As Tachyon got up he fired thin beams of purple energy from the hands of his walker, though the siblings and Angela, who joined the fight since this was her race's enemy, found that it was easy to avoid the attack and opened fire on him, only to discover that his walker really wasn't designed for battle, it was just a glorified throne for him to rule from. While they did that their foe attempted to get the Dimensionator to work so he could send them into some unknown dimension, or part of this one that no one could survive in, which only caused it to collapse shut on him, much to his annoyance as he beat it and demanded that it work. In the following moment the device opened and created a wormhole nearby that sucked him into it, causing him to screech in annoyance before disappearing, though Ratchet, Autumn, Starswirl, and Angela rushed in after him, because with the device in hand he could return with ease. When they passed through the portal between the dimensions, however, they found that they were standing on what appeared to be an asteroid that had one side, theirs to be exact, that was flattened and was large enough to be an arena, and Tachyon was definitely resting nearby.
"What have you done?! You've ruined EVERYTHING!" Tachyon screamed, showing that he thought he was superior to all of them and that he believed that this wasn't the way things should go, at least not for his war against the Lombaxes and the rest of this galaxy.
Ratchet and the others said nothing as they pulled out their Alpha Cannons, the advanced form of the Alpha Disruptor, a fact that caused Tachyon's eyes to widen before they blasted the legs of his walker, causing it to crash to the ground, and as he landed Ratchet rushed up to him to grab the fallen Dimensionator. Not a few seconds later he stuck Tachyon with his wrench, knocking him away from the damaged device, though all it did was cause the Cragmite to declare that only he 'knew their destinies' and that only he 'knew their true names', which they ignored entirely. A few seconds later he tried to rush back to Ratchet, so he could grab the Dimensionator and use it against them, but he failed as the ground around him collapsed and he fell straight down into a wormhole, which meant they had no idea what dimension he would end up in, but it wasn't theirs. With that done Ratchet confirmed that the crash dislodged something inside the Dimensionator, which just so happened to be the washer that the Plumber gave them back on Sargasso, to which he carefully slipped the item inside the device, sealed it up, and placed it on his head as she others grabbed onto him.
"Dimensionator! Take us home!" Ratchet declared, making sure to pull the handle that he had seen Tachyon pull and just stood still for a moment as the ground around them shattered as well, but before anyone could scream a portal opened in the space below them and they landed in the building they had started fighting Tachyon in.
"We did it... we actually did it! We beat the Cragmites and Tachyon!" Angela remarked, as this was a great end to the quest they had been on, they saved all of Polaris, possibly even the entire universe, from the return of the Cragmites, and she was pleased to see that everyone else was happy that they were safe.
"Not quite." Ratchet said, where he marched outside and stared at the atmosphere of Fastoon, finding that there were all sorts of Cragmite ships in the air, and without saying anything Autumn had the Resistance pull out of the fight, confusing their enemies as he gripped the handle once more and pulled it without slowing down at all, "Dimensionator! Send the Cragmites back to the dimension they came from!"
Sure enough a massive crack in reality or wormhole appeared in the space above the Cragmite armada and pulled them back into the dimension they had been banished to all those years ago, all in a matter of seconds, though once that was done they turned towards Ratchet, finding that he had gripped the pulley once more.
"Dimensionator! Find Rivet!" Ratchet stated, as this was it, the moment he had been waiting for since he learned about the artifact he was now using, though this time around, as he pulled the start up portion of the device, nothing happened for a few seconds, causing him to frown as the Dimensionator shrunk back to it's small form, "No... please, you have to work..."
Autumn and Starswirl stopped him before he did anything drastic to the device, which seemed to be broken after what he had done, though with their victory over Tachyon they agreed to return to Talwyn's and see if anything could be done to fix the Dimensionator.