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// All 4 One: Polar Sea 
// Story: Ratchet and Clank: Family of Heroes 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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As the group used the pod to return to Magnus they discovered something troubling, Ephemeris was returning and their new vessel happened to be flying near it, so the massive ship tried to snatch them and ended up hitting the backside of the pod, sending them down into another section of the planet, an icy area to be exact. It was actually quite annoying that none of Croid's machines had noticed it coming, alerting him or anyone else to it's presence so they could delay whatever they were doing, but they were going to have to deal with it. Starswirl used his magic to make sure their vessel didn't suffer as it crashed into the frozen wastes that they had been sent to, while at the same time Autumn used hers to make sure none of them suffered any whiplash from their pod crashing into the ice. Once both of them were sure things had settled down, and nothing was happening to the area that was around them, Virtuous found the pair withdrawing their magic so they could open the hatch and head outside.

Sure enough they were in a massive frozen area, which appeared to be in the middle of one of Magnus' seas based on what they had seen from space, before Virtuous spotted what looked like more collector structures, like what they had seen a few times during their adventure.

"We might have been derailed by Ephemeris, but I'm willing to bet there's a rail station for us to use around here... we just have to find it." Virtuous remarked, though at the same time he noted that Autumn tried to contact the warbots and she mostly got static, with a few words from the pair, meaning there had to be some interference with this place, since Cronk and Zephyr had been able to contact them all over Magnus.

It appeared that the area they had landed on was one of the outer edges of the entire area they had landed in, though to move forward they had to use one of the launchpads that propelled them over a small gap, just like what Autumn had seen in the past, where she and the others accessed it without delay. Qwark discovered that it launched them over to a curved path that seemed like a pipe of some kind, in how it was shaped, so they slid down it for a time, avoiding the bombs that had been placed along the way, either to carve out the area or deter something. At the end of the path they got a chance to see one of the bouncer minions holding down the lid of a large creature container, where the beast inside it broke out and just left before anyone had a chance to see what it was, even though after that they found a barrier being created around them, no doubt originally meant for the creature. As such the four of them combined their weapons and wiped out the minions that were coming to do them harm, as there was nothing new for anyone to worry about, even the boss minion was simply melted by their combined might, allowing Autumn and the others to move forward.

After that they used another launchpad and slid down the frozen path in front of them, where they found that the bombs definitely were active and blasted new holes for them to avoid, a little bit of a challenge for everyone, before spotting the large gorilla monster that looked like it was part reptile, as it was moving through the area as well. Autumn identified it as a Grungoth, a native creature to the polar regions of Ebaro, not that they were surprised to find that it was from one of the other planets of Polaris, since all of the planets these creatures were from were in this galaxy. So far it didn't look like they would have to worry about the Grungoth, though at the same time everyone kept an eye on it, just in case it happened to come over and attack them, even though it did pound on an ice wall and the group avoided the snowballs that rolled down the path. After that their path switched from ice to an actual frozen over pipe that was still spewing fire into the air, though Autumn and the others avoided the flames as well as they jumped from one section of pipe to another, as several ended in dead ends, making them wonder why someone bothered placing them like this, before eventually reaching the end of the line near some ice sheets in the water.

On the other side of the area Qwark spotted a large minion who seemed to be destroying the ice sheets, why they had no idea, other than it helped simulate the natural habitat of the Grungoth, though when it turned on them the group tore into it with their weapons, avoiding it's attacks in the process, despite the fact that they tore it down in moments.

"Clearly these robots weren't designed for combat... oh well, at least it was an interesting change of pace." Autumn said, as she was always interested in new enemies, since fighting the same ones repeatedly got boring after a while, though once all of her studies were done, and she had some fragments for later, she and the others got moving once more.

The launchpad on the small piece of land in front of them sent the group all the way up to a new area that had a couple of minions that were guarding the path forward, ones that could be broken by hitting the green section of their head, just like during their training in the first structure they had woken up in. Other than that there weren't too many enemies for them to worry about, as the group blasted their way through all of the remaining minions that happened to be in their way, before finding a second launchpad that sent them onto another icy slide area. This time around they had to dodge some icicles that were falling from the ceiling, in addition to everything else they had seen so far during these segments, and reached the end in no time at all, allowing them to break a few crates before jumping over some floating ice to reach an ice wall. Before they could even pause, to take a break and regain themselves, part of the wall melted and one of the larger minions burst through it, where it looked like it had been designed to use flamethrowers to torch ice and modify an area for the Grungoth.

The Scorch minion torched the ground and made it so that they couldn't get near it, intending on keeping them at a fair distance so they would be forced to use their weapons, though because they were pressed for time Autumn and Starswirl combined their magic into a blast that tore the minion apart.

"And this is why you don't anger people like them." Virtuous commented, as he remembered how his other side had acted before discovering that Autumn and Starswirl existed, and the fact that he had enraged them to some degree, but now he was pleased to be on their side, especially since it meant he wouldn't have to worry about being the target of their powers at any point in time.

The group said nothing for a moment as they made sure to put out the flames before moving forward, jumping over some pieces of ice so they could make their way towards the rail system that they hoped was out there, even though there were a few minions on a few pieces of ice for them to fire at. No one was even surprised when more minions came at them the moment they reached a larger piece of ground to fight on, to which they faced the four directions and laid into every foe that dared to come at them, which they were getting used to after everything they had been through. The large amount of minions meant they had to be getting closer to where the rail system was located, or at least they hoped so since they had no desire to stay in this part of Magnus for any extended length of time. The moving ice also proved to be interesting, as it meant they had to be careful when jumping from place to place, least one or more of them fell into the freezing water that was around them, but it proved to be nothing too serious as they tore through some more minions and kept an eye out for the rail system they were looking for.

Even moving through some of the more dangerous areas, fragile ice fields that would break if hit too hard, proved to be a challenge as they focused on making sure that their ground remained in one piece, so Starswirl used his magic to make it happen while Autumn, Qwark, and Virtuous focused on wiping out their foes. Eventually they ran into another Scorch minion, who just dropped down out of nowhere, causing the group to sigh as they tore it apart with their weapons, mostly because using magic all of the time would just tire two of them out if they did it too much. In the end, however, they took it down and progressed further through the area that the minions had prepared for the Grungoths, even though that meant they had to use some drifting ice and protect it from the smaller bomb minions and whatever else decided to attack them, which was why they were grateful for an ammunition station before jumping onto it. As they did that, however, Autumn and the others discovered that their large floating section of ice broke apart over time, causing everyone to get closer than before to avoid falling into the water, though other than that there wasn't much for them to worry about as they wiped all of the bomb minions out.

During that ride they also discovered that there were more than one Grungoth in this place, as there were four watching them from some icy ridges, three being bluish in color while the fourth was more of a reddish one with spikes, an alpha of sorts, before one of the blue ones swung down onto the solid group they were on and attacked them. The Grungoth leapt up into the air and slammed down on other sections of the makeshift arena that they happened to be fighting in, causing all four of them to carefully follow it before firing, hitting it whenever it decided to pause for a moment. It fought more like a monkey, a large one anyway, though in the end the four of them blasted it into the water and it drifted away from where the platform was resting, only to discover that they weren't done yet, as the other two blues dropped down to right them, even if it was one at a time. The alpha dropped down after the other three had been defeated and were knocked into the icy cold water, which they were used to no doubt, but other than being a Grungoth there was no real difference between it and the other three that had been beaten, allowing the group to deal with it in no time at all.

As they crossed over to the more solid ground one of the Vendors burst out of the sky and landed in front of them, where Autumn was pleased to hear that Cronk and Zephyr were able to reestablish their communication link as they used some of their resources to empower their weapons further... only to find that the rail system was nearby and that the platform had been knocked off by one of the Grungoths.

"You know, I'd say something dramatic about dying in a frozen wasteland, but there's hardly any point with you two and your magical powers." Qwark commented, though as he said that Autumn and Starswirl stepped forward, the latter lifting the platform back onto the track while the former used her knowledge to see what sort of problems needed to be taken care of this time around.

"Qwark, are you wishing that I wasn't here? It seems like you're wishing Nefarious was here." Virtuous remarked, because he could tell that there was something up with the large man that was aiding the siblings in fighting their way through the dangers of Magnus, where he suspected that Qwark might have been wishing for his rival to be here so they could bond with each other during this journey.

"Maybe at the beginning, but I've grown to like you, Virtuous, and I'd say our bond is stronger than whatever Nefarious and I had in the past." Qwark replied, showing Autumn and Starswirl that he was oddly mature about all of this, given the past events that they had experienced with the man in question, before he picked up an odd wrench that was resting near the tracks, which seemed somewhat important.

"You know, I had my doubts about you, but hanging with the siblings has done wonders for you." a voice said, where the siblings found that the Plumber was standing nearby, looking exactly like what they remembered from the last time both of them had encountered him, before he held his hand out to Qwark, who put two and two together quickly as he handed over the wrench, "Normally I wouldn't be here, since I work on pipe and toilet related problems, but home office sent me to fill in for the guy who normally works on these sorts of things."

"Ratchet is going to freak when he hears that you were here. Is there anything you can do or say for our brother?" Autumn asked, even though she had a feeling that the Plumber would remain neutral and let everything play out so they focused on the adventure they were currently on, which would only annoy Ratchet even more.

"Do? No, there's nothing I can do for him... but tell him to endure the pain for a little longer." the Plumber replied, almost as if he was focused on something else as he quickly fixed the broken versa-fuse that was in front of him, as if he had the power to see into the future, or whatever it was that made him so unique among the races of the vast universe, "It's almost time for IT to happen..."

As Autumn opened her mouth to ask what he meant, as it sounded important, the Plumber smiled and said that they had a one way trip to Uzo City, which was followed by the platform departing from this end of the track, moving towards one of their final destinations of this adventure and, more importantly, the true villain that was waiting for them.