//------------------------------//
// Time: Battleplex, Zanifar 
// Story: Ratchet and Clank: Family of Heroes 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

Following their departure from Lumos, which gave the group a feeling of accomplishment since they were closer to the end of this adventure, Ratchet got a call from Qwark, who was being forced into the Agorian arena and was calling in backup, to which he sighed and told their friend that they'd be there soon enough.

"I guess he failed to convince them to join us in fighting Nefarious' forces." Angela commented, because that was the only reason Qwark would bother to contact them, due to the fact that he was in danger or felt that he was in danger, but, at the same time, she knew that they found useful items in the arena and this might be a benefit to them.

"Yeah, but we'll see what's going on anyway." Ratchet said, as he was interested in what they might discover, since there might be a chance that the Agorians could have something that might aid them in the near future, which the others also agreed with as he directed Aphelion over to their new destination.

The Agorian Battleplex was a massive starship that had a dock for customers and gladiators to enter through, it had all sorts of communication devices on top of it, and seemed to have an impressive power source to power everything inside it, but Ratchet, Autumn, and Angela were focused on their main objective. It appeared that they would be taking part in a series of battles to ensure Qwark remained safe, and obtain a few items that would help them out in their quest to save the galaxy from Nefarious and his allies, hence why they docked with the ship and used the elevator to enter the lobby. They also had the privilege to tow an Agorian to the Battleplex, as his competitor didn't want him to compete and they found that no ships came out to harm them, meaning even the Agorians knew not to mess with them, allowing the stranded one to enter the massive starship with ease. In addition to that they found a number of Terachnoids wandering around, as if they were the ones in charge of everything on this ship, though there were a number of arcade machines in the lobby, though Ratchet paid them no mind as he and the others approached the center of the lobby, where a hologram of a Terachnoid greeted them.

Welcome, welcome, welcome, to Open Fight Night at the Battleplex! the Terachnoid stated, showing that he had to be an announcer or speaker for the Agorians, or whatever his reasoning was for being here, before he fully focused on them for a few seconds, You like to fight? You like to mix it up? The three of you look like a bunch of mixer-uppers. What's your names?

"I'm Ratchet, this is Autumn, and this is Angela." Ratchet replied, knowing that if he used their last names the Terachnoid or the surrounding Agorians might figure out who they were, even though the figure was smart enough to figure out that he was keeping that part quite for now.

It's nice to meet all of you. the Terachnoid said, not that it mattered in the grand scheme of things, as Ratchet had a feeling that they wouldn't be here for too long and would be gone once they had everything that might help them tackle whatever Nefarious was planning, I'm Mac. You have to excuse the hologram. Folks around here have a tendency to throw things. Take a look around. If you need anything, Mac's your guy!

Autumn chatted with him for a time before she joined the others as they headed into the arena at long last, though right before that she found a new weapon in the Vendor, the Groovitron Glove, another gadget turned into a weapon after the initial success. With that in hand they headed into the arena and faced whatever the Agorians had to throw at them this time around, even though it seemed like the race had no idea that they had crushed their attack force on Lumos, where it became clear that they first had to deal with five waves of enemies, small little robots, a number of junk bots, and a couple of Agorian warriors. The arena itself was located in the middle of a pool of molten lava, why they had no idea, but Autumn was able to figure out that the Battleplex had been outfitted to make sure the area section survived having this inside it, or else it would have sheared the ship in half. The second challenge added hazards they avoided with ease, the third had the three of them throwing bombs back at the Agorians who launched them at the group, and the fourth dealt with several of the platforms sinking into the lava, causing them to get off of them before it happened.

The fifth challenge, as it turned out, was against a massive creature known as a War Grok, a gorilla looking beast that was quite fierce and rather deadly, and it also looked like it hadn't been fed recently, though it was the battle that Qwark was forced to join them on. Ratchet had a feeling that trying to feed it, with food or whatever Autumn might come up with in the span of a few minutes, would be a bad idea and simply focused on fighting the beast, with his sister and Angela doing their best while flanking the massive creature. While they did that Qwark decided to appeal to the masses as he spoke on his time as a member of Florana's native tribe, how he was dubbed 'He With Mighty Pecs Who Hath Delivered Us Serenity' by the natives, complete with a bird routine for some reason, and, in a strange twist of fate or decision, he offered himself to ensure the group survived. Somehow, against all odds, the Agorians were moved by his words, saying that Qwark had honored them, no doubt because Agorians loved to name things and Qwark mentioned that they could name something in his honor, and in the end he escaped with the War Grok, which they weren't about to question.

In the end Ratchet, Autumn, and Angela walked out with a bunch of bolts, a new Constructo mod, a security card, and the newly empowered Negotiator, meaning they now had the key to the base that was on Zanifar, to which the group left and flew over to the planet in question, which was an icy world that Aphelion claimed had a temporal signature on it.

"That's likely Clank's doing." Autumn remarked, as Clank and Starswirl said that they would do something that would allow them to go back in time, to the day of Orvus' visit to Nefarious' base, and it seemed like the pair had been successful, they just had to be careful as they explored the base.

"Good, then we can get this over with and figure out whatever Nefarious is planning." Angela said, because that was what they didn't know, what the villain was planning, but if the Great Clock was involved she had a few ideas on what he might be thinking, especially after seeing what happened with the Dimensionator.

Ratchet nodded as they started to move forward and wiped out a fungus monster that was near the landing platform, or the one he had picked out to avoid getting in trouble with both the facility or the time portal, before crossing a gap that allowed them to fire on a trooper and enter the first of many buildings. On the inside they found several additional robots and one of the moving turret troopers, where Ratchet, Autumn, and Angela opened fire on their enemies without delay, all while Autumn stopped at the Vendor and discovered a new weapon, the Cryomine Glove. Such a thing allowed them to freeze their foes in their tracks, making them that much easier to tear through, and with the three of them armed with the weapon in question the next couple of groups really didn't stand a chance against their might. It was almost laughable as the group tore through each and every trooper or saucer that was supposed to be guarding this place from invaders, as three new weapons, copied and spread to each of them, allowed them to decimate their foes with ease, though Ratchet kept his guard up since they had no idea what sort of traps Nefarious might have installed in this place.

It took them some time to track down anything new, which was a force field containing some Fongoids, who informed the group that they had witnessed Nefarious' crash on their world and decided to help him, seeing his arrival as a sign from Orvus that he trusted them with technology again, only to be betrayed in due time.

"Something's not right about this... the Fongoids say Nefarious betrayed them, but this place seems like it was designed to protect them from the other races." Autumn remarked, in fact the huts that the Fongoids used were safely behind several of the structures, untouched by the various metallic structures, and when she looked at the race in question they seemed far too happy for being imprisoned for so long, making her wonder if they were acting.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Ratchet said, as he had spent more than enough time with his siblings to know when there was something wrong, especially since Autumn and Starswirl were tied to forces beyond his understanding, and he could see why his sister thought such a thing, which only worried him.

Angela had nothing to add to the comment, save for nodding her head to show that she agreed with them, before they found their way to what appeared to be another area that the Omnisoaker would be useful in, so she and Autumn left it to Ratchet, since he could do this in no time. Ratchet found a way to open the way to an area that had a thick vine for them to grind on, as weird as that sounded, and once the way was open he beckoned for the others to join him, where the three of them started to grind along it, avoiding the red thorns along the way. It brought them to a platform that had a couple of hoverboot pads for them to use, something that really made them wonder what in the world was going on, because there was no way Nefarious would know it was important to put this stuff in, but they kept it in mind as they tore through a few troopers that were posted this far out. After that they reached what appeared to be a security station and quickly used the security pass they picked up from Mac in the Battleplex, finding that it allowed them to enter the structure and turn off the fences that were keeping the Fongoids safe, and while the tribe cheered the group realized that they were acting, almost as if Nefarious had changed, or if they knew a different Nefarious than the one they dealt with.

With that done the group headed outside and found the blue oval portal that seemed to head into the past, when none of the more advanced structures had been built, where Ratchet stepped through it and found that it brought them to when it was spring, right after Nefarious and Lawrence crashed on the planet.

What surprised them was that the locals were far more welcoming than their future counterparts, even inquiring if they were here to help construct a residence for the 'fallen star', with a small fence around the asteroid that the robotic pair had likely been trapped on since their defeat all those years ago. There was a bridge that would lead into Nefarious' base, but the winch was rusted shut apparently, and there was an area where they could plant some special seeds that would grow into those large vines they had seen in the present, which caused Ratchet to have a wonderful idea. He knew that a couple of already prepared patches of earth existed around the village, they were even present in the future, so if one of them planted the seeds in the designated areas they might form a path to a drill platform he had spotted in the future, an area they would find oil in. Angela agreed with the idea, in fact it made sense when she considered it, and Autumn simply followed their lead as they quickly took out the fungus monsters before planting the seeds, though once they were done the trio returned to the future and found that Ratchet had been right, a path of vines lead right to the drill platform, which caused them to smile.

One thing Autumn noticed was that there were no more enemies for them to fight, rather they were able to grind over to the drill, get the oil, return to the past, and then use it on the winch to lower the bridge, allowing the three of them to walk over to Nefarious' previous base of operations and ride an elevator up to the peak.

"Are you sure that this is going to work?" a voice asked, where they were able to tell that it was Nefarious, though by slowly opening the door in front of them, enough so it wouldn't make noise and allow them to see what in the world was going on, the group discovered the blue robot talking to a Zoni that was different from the others.

"While I'd rather not involve the Fongoids, they know what must be done: the visit to Zanifar must happen." the Zoni, who had to be Orvus, replied, where Ratchet found that he floated around the chamber, which looked like a command center for everything in the outpost, and included a cylinder chamber that looked like it might be used for studying items, while they found that Nefarious just stood there, looking outside, "Time, as I have often said, is a gift and not to be misused... sadly, the other you won't understand this for some time, if at all, while the heroes will learn that the Clock isn't a time machine and that one cannot make drastic changes to the past... isn't that right, Dr. 'Virtuous'?"

"I only picked that name because it was the only one that made sense." Nefarious, or rather Virtuous, stated, though at the same time Autumn sensed a sudden change in the temporal energy that had allowed them to return to the past, or rather it was connected to the energy and seemed to be gathering in the chamber on the other side of the door, "Okay, I'm sure that the defenses will be ready in no time, so the Fongoids will be safe from the other races... though I'm sure Ratchet and his family will find a way around them... but I'm ready to leave the mundane way."

As Ratchet and the others started to wonder what he meant Orvus seemed to call forth his temporal powers and opened a portal back to what had to be the Great Clock, before Ratchet found that Starswirl was on the other side of the portal and seemed to be pulling Orvus into the future. He wasn't sure what was going on, other than the fact that Clank assumed that his father was in danger and had sent them back in time to stop him from being harmed by Nefarious, only for them to find that his worry had been for nothing, rather it opened a can of worms they didn't understand. As they carefully left the peak of the outpost, so they could return to the portal, they understood that Virtuous was allied with Orvus and that they had convinced the Fongoids into playing along with the group arrived in the future, meaning the Great Clock wasn't in as much danger as they originally assumed. Of course none of them knew where the new Nefarious came from, as in the evil one that Alister had been fighting against for some time, but, at some point in time, Ratchet was sure that they would figure things out, after figuring out the whole time portal and the fact that they saw Starswirl on the other side.

As they returned to Aphelion, however, the group realized that they had more questions than answers and suspected that it would take some time before they figured everything out, to which Ratchet climbed into his seat as the others climbed into the back, as it was time to leave and figure out what they needed to do next.