//------------------------------// // All 4 One: Uzo City // Story: Ratchet and Clank: Family of Heroes // by Blackdrag-rose //------------------------------// It took some time for the rail system to leave the frozen wasteland that their pod had crashed into and arrive at their next destination, though it did give Cronk time to translate the text he had purchased so they could understand the fate of Toranux better, so they didn't have to rely on Croid's information. Apparently there was a race that lived on Toranux that were called the 'Loki', evil energy spirits that, according to the text and the one who wrote it, sought the end of all living things, meaning they would bring about the end of the universe. The hero of the tale, the Cragmite called Bagogg, crashed into the planet with his ship and ended up spending years in hiding, repairing his ship so he could eventually return to his home world, Reepor, and when he accomplished his goal he returned to Toranux and destroyed it with a class three planet smasher. Autumn had some ideas on what might be going on now, after hearing that information, and it made her wonder if Croid had figured out a connection between the planetary shards, the tale itself, and the critters that called Magnus home, but for the time being she decided to shelve her thoughts. Her reasoning for that was because the ruins of Uzo City were approaching them, their platform was reaching the end of it's path, and once it stopped they disembarked from it and stepped onto a ruined walkway as they readied their weapons, as it was only a matter of time until minions attacked them, especially since the Steward announced their arrival for the entire city to hear. "You know, if we get the chance to break her, I'm taking it." Autumn remarked, as the Steward was more annoying than all of them previous thought, even if she was possibly the easiest target to trick into believing whatever they wanted, even if she eventually figured it out, usually too late to stop the group from completing their tasks. The others said nothing as a Vendor appeared in front of them and they took a few seconds to double check everything, to be sure their weapons were empowered and they had all of the sixth tier weapons Autumn had created, while hearing the Steward mention that they came from the Polar Sea, naming where they had been earlier. With that done they walked by a lone Tharpod, who seemed surprised to see them in a place like this, while Zephyr informed them that their destination, Vilerog Plateau, was just beyond the city, meaning that they would have to fight through an army to get to Ephemeris and it's dark master. The first thing that they had to do was insert one of the small energy beings into a nearby socket so that a bridge could extend, though upon walking into the next area a beacon of sorts was sent down and seemed to be calling in all sorts of minions to their exact location. As such Starswirl raised his hand and crushed it with his magic as Autumn and the others laid waste to everything else that came along with the beacon, because none of them wanted to have a swarm of enemies zeroing in on where they were positioned, even with magic on their side. After extinguishing the first group of enemies the four of them continued down the path, jumping over gaps and using a spinning Swingshot to launch themselves over to the next section of the city, passing by some sentries that they smashed before using another type of Swingshot to launch themselves up into the air and land on another platform. From there it was a simple matter to use the Glob Lobber to lower a barrier to connect one of the small energy beings into it, calling up more spinning devices for everyone to use to make their way through Uzo City, which was totally ruined, just like what was in Croid's holo-diaries. After that they found a series of Swingshot targets that they had to use, as in several spinning ones, a few normal ones, and even some of the ones that propelled them up towards another gadget for them to use, before they ended up outside a barrier that was easy to bring down by hitting a target above them. On the other side they found more minions to deal with, as in far more than what they were used to since there were beacons calling in even more foes to face, where this time Starswirl focused on wiping out all of the beacons so Autumn, Qwark, and Virtuous could deal with the rest of the approaching enemies. It was in moments like this that Qwark was glad to have fully upgraded weapons, as they tore through the attacking group of minions and opened the way for them to move further into Uzo City, extending another bridge to using a Swingshot to ride down to another section of the city. After that they used a set of pipes to reach the next area that they would be fighting the minions in, breaking a pair of the bomb dispensing minions and a shield minion that happened to be in the middle of the ruined building, before heading to their right and continued breaking the enemies who dared to fight them. No one was surprised to find that the more they explored of Uzo City the more minions came to destroy them, as each force they encountered seemed larger than the last, hence why they were happy to have the ammunition pads to restock between each wave, otherwise they would have had to fall back on Autumn and Starswirl's magic. It also gave them multiple chances to confirm what had been in the various holo-diaries, homes and businesses had been ruined by Spog's attack on the city, fueling their desire to break every single minion that dared to cross their path, even though everyone kept an eye out for more beacons so Starswirl could break all of them, just to keep their fights to a minimum. There was even a Scorch minion that broke down a weakened wall to fight Autumn, Starswirl, and both of their friends, where they lashed out at it with their weapons, pushing it backward while it tried to do any sort of damage to them, which ended in the siblings, Qwark, and Virtuous breaking the minion into pieces so they could use the path it had made for them. Such a thing brought them to an area where someone had to use the Reflector to keep them safe while one of the others used their weapons to take out the sentries that were watching parts of the path, including the enemy powering the ion turret, which likely meant Nevo knew about them and copied Croid's design. After that two of them powered up two more sphere devices and powered the platform that they happened to be on, taking them up to another area that was overrun by minions, though what was more important was the sixth and final Croid lab off to the side. As such the group wasted no time in waging war on the minions that were in front of them, doing everything in their power to clear out the area that the lab was in, mostly to give them access to the last RYNO VI piece without being worried about enemies closing in on the area they were in. Once the last of the minions fell, and they were sure that no one were coming to bother them, the four of them walked over to the lab and entered it, as it was time for them to see what sort of tests Croid had placed for those seeking the RYNO VI, a weapon he clearly stole from Gadgetron somehow. This lab seemed to involve using the Orb-o-Matic to link power towers and use platforms to move throughout the place, a reminder of the forest they had crossed through some time ago, while also messing with a few power pylons to power up some devices so the group could reach the end, earning the last piece in no time. After that they were warped into an area that instantly outfitted everyone with their own RYNO VI Protosuit, where Croid revealed how he got the plans, the Smuggler sold him the plans and he modified it as such, before he revealed that the best part was that the immense power of the Protosuit was multiplied when others were in use, meaning they could mow down enemies in no time with the RYNO VI. As such they fought off the waves of enemies that were thrown at them, just to give them a field test of the weapon, and Autumn found that they could fire rockets with ease, the shells were fine after a foe hit them, and, sure enough, the base power was far more that the RYNO V. Combining the four RYNO VI's unleashed pure devastation on the enemies coming at them, they spun around in the air and released a number of rockets that just wiped out everything and everyone around where all four of them were standing. Qwark and Virtuous glanced at Autumn for a moment, now utterly worried about what the RYNO VII might do when it was unleashed upon the universe, especially when they considered that she was also making one more after that. With the weapon in hand they returned to Uzo City and made their way through a series of ion turrets, utilizing the four Reflectors they found on Phonica Moon, before reaching a platform that ended up being covered by minions, which was the perfect moment for Starswirl to shroud the area in his own barrier as they unleashed their RYNO VI's... causing them to walk away from a wreckage caused by the massive destructive power of Autumn's weapon. "I would like to restate my earlier point: stay away from the Dimensionator!" Virtuous said, as while he knew that Autumn wouldn't do such a thing, since she wanted to help her brother out, he dreaded to wonder what might happen if she made a weapon with the power of the Lombax's legendary weapon. Autumn chuckled for a moment as they boarded the last of the rail system platforms, as they had to launch themselves from one to another to move forward, before using a Swingshot to propel themselves over to the outskirts of Uzo City, a fact that allowed them to start walking towards Vilerog Plateau and Ephemeris, only to find Suzie and two of her friends standing on a nearby cliff. "Suzie? What are you three doing here?" Starswirl asked, as he wasn't expecting her and some of her friends to appear in the area near Ephemeris, and if they knew the way he was curious as to why she didn't offer to show them the path, given that they were working to free Magnus from the Master's dark grasp. "Leading an assault on the enemy base." Suzie replied, almost too sweetly for someone her age, causing Autumn and her brother to sigh for a moment, as they remembered being her age and dreaming of adventure, either on Veldin or on one of the other planets, and with Clank's arrival all three of them got their wish. "Trust me, we understand how you feel, but you're too young to mess with Ephemeris... but how about you guys guard this spot for us?" Autumn inquired, as Suzie was smart, far more than she ought to be for a child her age, which meant she was either a genius or the ordeal had forced her to grow up too much, but what they were about to do was too much for someone like her and her friends to deal with. In the end Suzie agreed with joy and the girls backed off, causing the group to chuckle a little as they glanced at the area in front of them and prepared themselves for the end of this adventure, as it was time to meet the Master and bring an end to their dark plans for Magnus and the rest of the universe.