//------------------------------//
// All 4 One: Igliak 
// Story: Ratchet and Clank: Family of Heroes 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

Following the end of their second adventure in Polaris a few things happened, the first being that Ratchet and his family moved to a new house in the main city, because the next villain they were interested in, the one wrecking the barriers that existed between dimensions, should reveal themselves in due time. Many of the citizens of Polaris were happy for that, due to the fact that they stopped Tachyon and even brought down a number of villains in their quest for the Great Clock, though not many knew that such a thing had been the end goal of their enemies, rather they knew that they had stopped Nefarious' plans. Of course news spread of their deeds, which ended up making the lesser villains simply give up and change their lives so they didn't get wrecked by Ratchet, Autumn, and Starswirl, much less everyone else, though in addition to them moving into Polaris the people found that Alister returned with his head held high. Sure, he was still annoyed at his part in allowing Tachyon to destroy Fastoon, but Kaden and Millie convinced him not to blame himself for everything, especially given the information Aphelion had obtained, while Ratchet's parents also revealed themselves to the universe, even if they kept their home a secret.

In addition to that Qwark, against all odds, was elected as the Galactic of Solana, Bogon, and Polaris, where Autumn was sure that someone was trying to ruin him and offered to point him in the right direction so he understood the nature of his office, something that the man was grateful for.

Ratchet found that, while they were searching for Nefarious, the public adored Virtuous, which was interesting since he looked a lot like the evil doctor, save for the color scheme, but since he couldn't tell the rest of the universe that he was the other half of Nefarious he simply let them have their rumors. He was well loved by Polaris' people, as he had spent a great deal of time tending to their needs and saving them from danger, showing that he was totally Nefarious' polar opposite, and he even treated Lawrence far better than his other half did, hence why the butler changed teams shortly after his boss was split in half. Virtuous also had plans to make new troopers that would help keep the planets of Polaris safe, ones that had a different design from the troopers Ratchet and the others had seen during their previous adventure, though his first steps involved seizing most of Nefarious' assets, his bank accounts and his bases, cutting into the evil deeds that he was able to do while keeping the people safe. Even Virtuous was surprised by how well he had been received by the public, especially when he took his own form into consideration, but he wasn't about to complain about this turn of events as he waved at them whenever the opportunity presented itself.

While that was going on Autumn continued to make new weapon, gadget, and armor plans, either for heroes like the rest of the heroes who started after Qwark's defeat all those years ago, or were trying to follow in his footsteps, the Rangers that protected parts of Solana, and everyone else. Starswirl, as they expected, went back to his studies in the Great Clock, as he had so much more to learn about his magic, the power of time and space, and whatever else he was researching, plus they knew that it would come in handy if another crack in reality appeared, as he might find a way to use magic without setting off a chain reaction. Such a thing lead him to share his theory on why they were seeing the various cracks in reality, as he was sure that either he or Autumn, at some point in the future, would use their magic near one of them, as it would explain why only they, for the most part, were seeing the cracks. He was positive that was why the cracks seemed to appear for them over the years, it was responding to their magical energies, though the ones with Rivet were caused by whoever was still messing with the barrier between dimensions, hence why he was helping Kaden and the others in their efforts to find the offender and stop them.

Of course Autumn and Starswirl noticed how their brother looked from time to time, as while he was happy to have both of his parents back, something none of them had thought possible given the Dimensionator's current state, he was sad due to the lack of it feeling complete. He was trying to hide his pain by smiling and waving as he did everything in his own power to make the universe a better place for everyone, but they knew the truth of the matter, that every time he thought he was getting closer to saving Rivet, or being able to rush to her side, something was thrown at him to stop him. He had to be frustrated with this turn of events, that his hope had been restored after learning that his sister was fine, only to find that they were unable to use the Dimensionator, meaning fixing it was possible, least they tear the entirety of the known dimensions apart. He was desperate to go to her side, that was true, but he wasn't stupid enough to even dare to do such a thing with the barrier between dimensions in the state his father claimed it was in, and since Alister informed him that Kaden wasn't a liar that meant he was dead serious about this topic.

It was for that reason that she and Starswirl were focused on tracking down the one responsible for wrecking the barrier between dimensions so their brother could finally be reunited with his sister, even though they were sure that it would be sometime before the villain in question would be found, so they just had to be patient and wait for them to show up.





By the time a year had passed since the family went deeper into Polaris, to track down Clank and the Great Clock, Autumn and Starswirl joined Qwark on the planet of Igliak, in the city of Luminopolis, as he wanted some backup for something, to which they landed on the Star Explorer, since Aphelion was with Ratchet.

"Let's see here: 'In conclusion, I humbly accept this reward for subduing the insidious and dangerous light-eating Z'Grute, against near-impossible odds'." Qwark finished, as he had been preparing a speech during their journey to the location he had been invited to, because Autumn had helped him tap into some untapped potential and, despite being the President of the known universe, he still made time to beat up villains, and occasionally monsters, though he never remembered his battles against the latter category, "How's that sound?"

"It's decent, given that many in Polaris don't care for fancy words." Autumn replied, where she had outfitted the ship with all sorts of upgrades so it was actually larger on the inside than it was on the outside, so they could fit someone like Qwark inside it without breaking the glass or ruining parts of the ship, before she faced the area in front of them.

"However, aren't you worried that accepting a reward for something you didn't do will make you seem deceitful in the eyes of the public?" Starswirl inquired, as while they knew Qwark had improved over the years, due to interacting with them, their family, and helping take down some of their enemies, he still stuck to some of his core ideals and one was that he always had to be the hero.

"Actually, he's not lying." a voice said, where they found Virtuous standing by a lamppost, meaning he must have heard of their visit to Luminopolis and decided to pay them a visit, secretly since there weren't any reporters hounding them right now, while Lawrence appeared to be elsewhere, though he opened a video of the battle in question, "His late night fights against evil are, surprising, truthful and the public adores him for every monster and villain he puts away with his own two hands... I still don't fully understand the people of Polaris, but I'm not about to argue with them."

"Still, you'd think he'd be a lot more subtle with his traps... the podium is right in front of the Z'Grute's mouth." Autumn commented, referring to the massive monster that was in front of them, frozen in stasis after Qwark apparently beat it up, with nothing more than his small gun based on the fight video, and the fact that a shoddy podium was right in front of it's open mouth, something they knew to be Nefarious' handiwork.

Their reasoning for this being something that the evil doctor would do is because the award was called the 'Intergalactic Tool of Justice' award, and since he hated Qwark, with every fiber of his robotic body, this trap screamed that it was what he had spent his time working towards, especially with the cloak and dagger feel of the invite, not to mention the fact that Autumn could see Nefarious hiding behind the stands.

"Now then, let's begin." Qwark said, where he showed off his new found intelligence, as he had spotted Nefarious out of the corner of his eye as well and, due to the lessons he had gained from Ratchet's siblings, knew not to engage Nefarious just yet, all while the others gathered nearby, allowing him to clap his hands, "House lights!"

In that moment Nefarious emerged in what had to be the smallest hover carrier ever created, as it was built for a single person and seemed to be equipped with a weapon of some unknown kind, and he pulled out a microphone that he was no doubt going to use to speak to them.

"Why hello Mister President!" Nefarious declared, where he seemed pleased to see the lot of them, even though they had been expecting this from the very beginning, in fact most of them knew not to even call Nefarious out since he'd throw a tantrum if they attacked him too early, "So nice of you to accept my invitation!"

"Nefarious, I know we blew up the last station, but I was expecting you to have made something bigger than this in the year you've had." Starswirl stated, where he shifted his stance for a moment as he summoned his staff, while Autumn did the same with her new wrench-staff, as she created her own after seeing Alister's in action and had modified it to make it a better weapon for combat.

"Wow, your hysterical... let's see if you can crack jokes from the inside of the digestive track of the Z'Grute! LAWRENCE!" Nefarious shouted, where he paused for a few moments, clearly expecting something to happen when he called out his butler's name, before remembering that Lawrence was no longer in his employment, causing him to sigh for a moment as he activated the saucer's main weapon.

Sure enough it was a device that roused the Z'Grute from the cryosleep it had been stuck in, causing Qwark to move out of the way before it could eat him, and, just as Autumn predicted, it devoured the energy of Nefarious' saucer, causing him to warp off the planet as he left the heroes to fight the revived monster.

"It's time to get serious." Virtuous stated, where they watched as the Z'Grute started to move away from the arena that Nefarious had brought them to and started to snack on several of the nearby power sources, causing him to shift his own stance for a moment as his arm blade opened and extended, revealing the hilt of a katana, "Nefarious had plans to make a melee weapon for himself, utilizing his own arm blades to make either razor sharp blades that cut through metal or an odd chainsaw to mow his way through his enemies... I opted for this."

"Nice to see you have a new toy... it just so happens that I have one as well." Qwark said, where he stepped forward and removed his President attire, which stored themselves in a container Autumn had made for him, before he brought the sides of his fists together, like he was holding a tube, and pulled them apart, revealing the long handle of a long weapon, which had a large metallic hammer head on it, "I had Autumn whip me up something special, since I've been training to be a true hero of the universe... but I'll tell you about it later, for we have a Z'Grute to stop!"

With their melee weapons at the ready the group of four headed down the path in front of them, jumping over fallen bits of metal that the Z'Grute discarded after eating the power inside each item, making sure to break any crates that might be in the way, even though they heard that Kip and Pepper, from a talk show, were commentating over the scene Nefarious had created. Autumn also make sure to give both Qwark and Virtuous their own Swingshot, which could be used to tether to someone else, mostly to ensure no one fell into the abyss or anything, which they used to navigate the city, before they found an area that had a large light bulb that the Z'Grute broke. Such a thing dropped a few Lumenoids, little electric ray critters, that weren't too happy about being used as energy sources and attacked the group accordingly as the Z'Grute just wandered off, though they wiped out the small group of foes before moving further along the path, as there seemed to be only one for them to follow right now, as odd as it sounded. In addition to that there were odd switches that needed to be activated by performing the ground slam attack on top of them, hitting the head of their weapons on top of them, but the pair proved to be nothing before the group as they used an energy walkway to move forward.

What was interesting was that there was a sonic summoner, a device that all four of them needed to hit with their ranged weapons, all designed to be boomerangs interesting enough, that called forth a taxi for them to use, so they climbed into it and followed the Z'Grute further into the city, avoiding other vehicles and obstacles as they did so. When the Z'Grute smashed the taxi with a punch the group dropped down onto a thick grind rail, part of the city's electrical system, and just sped off to another portion of Luminopolis, stopping at a new structure with more buttons to activate. Once that task was done they were able to enter the building and discovered some odd orange colored robots that seemed interested in the Z'Grute as well, even though they used lasers to attack the group, either to knock them out or just to eliminate enemies as they completed their task. Virtuous confirmed that these weren't his and he was sure they weren't Nefarious' either, as he was sure they would have been used against them sooner, where Autumn informed everyone that she was going to take a few of them for later, to see what they were made of, claiming a downed one while the others shattered the remainder of their enemies.

Once that was done they found a Vendor, this one designed to look like a bullet casing that had pierced the ground while leaving four platforms for them to stand on and possessing a satellite on top, and they discovered the new Combuster, as well as the Friendship Through Firepower system, combining attacks equaled greater damage.

With a quick lesson under their belts, and a new weapon in hand, the group waged war on the minions that were blocking the way forward, as while it wasn't hard to deal with the robots with all of their melee weapons adding actual weapons to the equation really tipped things in their favor, far more than before. While they did so some of the minions were seen not a few moments behind the Z'Grute, confirming that they were here for it as well, or at least it sure looked like it, but, since it seemed like their paths wouldn't cross just yet, the group focused on their own enemies. Even a new type of enemy that just fired at them, with a gun of some kind, didn't stand much of a chance against the group and, since there were more than one of each type of enemy, Autumn made sure to imprison one for her collection, to be examined later on. While the group marched through the city they had to wonder who was controlling the robots, even though they knew it had to be the next villain, with Autumn and Starswirl hoping that they might find the one messing with dimensions to allow Ratchet to complete his personal task.

Eventually they found a small hover device that brought them to the area that the Z'Grute was in, where they found that the minions were fighting it, and losing at the same time, so once Autumn and the others landed they waged war on the massive beast, intending to bring it down and save Luminopolis. From what they could see the Z'Grute only had a couple of attacks, swinging it's fist down at the platform they were standing on, combining both in a ground pound, or shocking the ground to make them move, all while it stood on a pipe to fight them. When they dealt enough damage the beast took a moment to activate a power source to recharge itself, where the group blasted it's food source and blasted it backwards with the new combined abilities of their new weapons. After that, sending the beast into a wall, the group had to spring down a path and use a launcher to reach another grind rail, allowing them to flee as the Z'Grute chased them, though as they did so Autumn noticed that they were approaching Zodd Tower, which had four fusion turrets installed on it, and an idea formed in her mind that she shared with the group.

As they landed on a stable platform, separated from the Z'Grute, it appeared that the minions and the announcer also understood their plan and the beast started to climb up to a building across the city, while they made a quick stop at the Vendor to purchase the Plasmabomb Launcher, a new toy in Autumn's sixth tier arsenal.

With that done they assaulted the minions that were blocking their path, all while overhearing that someone had installed the fusion turrets in the event of Nefarious attacking the city, so while they weren't being used in their original purpose it would be nice to use them against the Z'Grute. The beast, of course, caught up with them and tired to attack them again, meaning it knew they were dangerous, especially as Starswirl crushed a minion in an instant with some of his magic, and it seemed to go down for a short bit. By that they found that the Z'Grute returned as they used a lift to head up to the top of the tower, finding that it spotted a new power source across the section of the city that they happened to be in, so while it leapt over to feast the group dealt with some minions that tried to stop them. Once the distraction was dealt with the four of them climbed into the four fusion turrets and opened fire on the Z'Grute, first blasting down it's new barrier, which was powered by the station it was feeding on, before unleashing the full might of the turrets on the beast.

The final blast sent the beast back down to the arena it had been positioned in earlier, allowing them to use a platform of magical energy to reach it's former resting place, finding that it seemed to be unconscious, but before anyone could even say anything the sky darkened as a moon sized ship, surrounded by dark clouds and possessing a red eye, appeared in the sky above them.

"That's new. Definitely not something any of our allies possess." Virtuous stated, where they found that the minions came from it, meaning it was connected to the new villain that was revealing itself to them, and there were far too many for the group to take on, or at least not without using Starswirl's magic, which would do some serious damage to the city based on the positioning of the minions.

"Then we'll beat the villain, take the ship, and study it." Autumn replied, as weather manipulation, which not perfect, was something that she and several scientists were in the middle of creating for the universe, before noticing that the minions were interested in hauling off the Z'Grute, and several of them as well.

In the next few moments the group, rendered unconscious due to some hidden gas canisters, were abducted by the rest of the minions and carted off to the new ship, even though that was their plan all along, as it would allow them to get one step closer to taking down another villain, they just had to be patient for a time.