//------------------------------//
// Nexus: Yerek 
// Story: Ratchet and Clank: Family of Heroes 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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It took some time for the Thugs to reach their destination, though when they did so Ratchet and his siblings found that the crates they had stowed themselves away in were dropped into the portion of the planet that they were supposed to be in, and once all of them came to a stop they opened the lids.

"So, this is Yerek." Ratchet commented, looking at the ruined and abandoned city that they had been dropped in, all while the Thug ships continued deeper into the area that Vendra was directing them to, causing him to sigh as the others took a moment to dust themselves off as they studied the area, "Talwyn's not going to believe this."

As Autumn and Starswirl studied the area, especially the gaps in the ground that looked like the earth had collapsed under the weight of something at some point in the past, Ratchet walked to a clear area and quickly tapped the center of his chest armor, calling Talwyn so they could make their report, and sure enough a hologram of her appeared in front of them.

Ratchet! Thank goodness you guys are alright... we discovered the wreckage of the Nebulox Seven, thanks to Cronk and Zephyr informing us of the attack, but didn't find you guys. Talwyn stated, where everyone could see the two warbots off in the back, no doubt describing the attack to the authorities, even though it was easy for them to tell that she was pleased her warbots had gotten out before disaster had struck them, before she noticed something, Your nav units indicate that you guys are in the Zarkov Sector.

"Yeah, Vendra and Neftin hired Thugs-4-Less and we hitched a ride to Yerek." Ratchet explained, which he knew to be one of the Alpha-9 disaster class destinations in the entire universe, abandoned and haunted according to what his siblings had told him before they even took on this assignment, "Look, we don't know what they're up to, but we're going to figure it out and see if we can't stop them, maybe even reason with Vendra to stop this madness... she had multiple chances to hurt us during the Nebulox's destruction, but didn't take them, meaning we might be able to convince her to stop her plans and turn herself, and her brother, in."

Talwyn didn't seem convinced with his reasoning, but said nothing as she wished them well, since the Prog siblings were incredibly dangerous, and then disconnected the link so they could start their adventure on Yerek, though Autumn made a comment about the sector being abandoned twenty years ago. Starswirl guessed that Vendra and Neftin were behind all of the news that was linked to this planet, to have a private area so they could do whatever it was they were planning, but for right now they should get moving, since there was no telling when the Prog siblings would discover their existence on this planet. Autumn was sure that this was Meero, which was said to be where the pair were found and raised before they turned to their life of crime, but after clearing all that up the three of them crossed over the couple of rock pillars in front of them, allowing them to enter the city as they readied their weapons. As they reached a flat walkway to walk on Autumn stopped them as nether energy caused part of the path to collapse, even though it registered as an earthquake, which was something Yerek didn't have, so the damage they had found had to have been caused by the Prog siblings.

When it happened again they were forced to carefully glide down to a sewer entrance, where Autumn had upgraded their basic suits so she and Starswirl could do so without using their magic, before finding large chunks of Raritanium in part of the sewer pipe, which they smashed as she collected the material for later, to upgrade their new weapons. On the other side of the busted pipe Ratchet found a Terachnoid being bullied by some Thugs, to which he and his siblings lashed out at them before they were able to do anything to the figure, who, of course, ran and hid as they fought their foes. Finding one on Yerek reminded them that a few members of his race had been abducted by Vendra and Neftin, even though the news only focused on Pollyx since most of his work force had been left alone, so they were eager as to who he was and if it was possible to assist him. Autumn was particularly interested in the Grav-Tether that the Thugs had mentioned, since new gadgets were interesting to learn about and allowed her to focus on something else for a time, though when they approached the Terachnoid he practically handed over the device, as he was a fan of Autumn's and wanted to see her in her element.

By that he meant outfitting each member of her family with the Grav-Tether before they even left the area that they were in, to which Autumn chuckled as she handed one over to Ratchet and Starswirl as she explained how they worked, just so they understood, before she used the device to create the stream of gravity that moved them from one point to another, even if it ended with them being back at their starting point.

As another tremor shook the area, dragging the rock pillars down into the depths, the Terachnoid informed them that the last time he saw Pollyx was when he was making his way to the Azeril Caverns, which was great information to have since they really had no leads, causing Autumn to download a map of this place. She thought it was best to have some idea as to where Vendra and Neftin might have gone, which Ratchet agreed with as Starswirl used the new device to set up a path to another section of Meero, the direct center of the city by the looks of it. From there she found that they had two options, as there was a outpost off to their left that might be worth looking into, since none of them had any idea where Vendra or her brother had wandered off to, or they could take the main route to their right and head through the sewers. As Ratchet thought about it, however, Autumn also found a Vendor and activated it without delay, allowing her to find two weapons were available for purchase, the first being the Temporal Repulsor, a shotgun weapon powered by quantum energy, while the second was the Nightmare Box, a device that scared and attracted enemies below blowing up.

"Autumn, I feel that I must repeat what Virtuous said during the last adventure: please don't weaponize the Dimensionator or make a weapon based on it." Clank remarked, as it was one thing to make normal weapons, like blasters and gloves to throw bombs, but it was another thing to weaponize quantum energy and made him worry that she'd try her hand at the device that was the key to finding Ratchet's sister.

Instead of saying anything Autumn merely chuckled as Ratchet picked the outpost path, both to eliminate potential foes, to avoid being flanked, and to see if there was anything over there, to which he and the others started to make their way over to the damaged path he had picked. Sure enough they discovered a number of Thugs guarding the area, with several of the blade spheres that had attacked the Nebulox, though there was also a surprise for them, several of the dropships also flew in and deployed more Thugs to fight them. Ratchet also discovered a few turrets along the way, where both of his siblings proved that they didn't need magic to fight back as they avoided it's blasts and took out the Thug operating it, allowing them to push through the area and discover that Pollyx had installed a number of devices that allowed one to use the Grav-Tether to move around. In addition to that they all approved of the Grav-Tether, as it was a wonderful gadget to have and the brothers could see that Autumn was already thinking of ways to incorporate it into other things, but for the time being she was focused on tearing through the Thugs and their defenses.

While they did all of that one of the Thugs informed the others that the 'Destructapalooza' was in need of contestants, a fact that informed the siblings that a new arena might be coming up in their future, and they even mentioned that it was on planet Kragg. Ratchet determined that if they found an Infobot, or something that handed over coordinates, the three of them would make a pit stop of the planet and see what they could win, since anything would be nice since they had no idea what sort of obstacles would be in their way this time around. The best thing about facing so many enemies was that it was a boon to their overall mission and, at the same time, their weapons, as when the Omniblaster reached it's third rank it split into two guns of the same size, boosting their combat power even more than before. Of course the Thugs had heard of the siblings and were likely expecting them to have lost their touch, the skills and abilities they had used during their time over in the Bogon Galaxy, only to be disappointed in the fact that they were just as dangerous as the tales claimed, allowing them to tear through the ruined area that was their outpost.

Someone out there is beating up all of our Thugs... Ratchet, is that you? Vendra asked, as she was transmitting over the frequency that their communicators were on, confirming that she knew it was the three of them that were tearing through part of Meero right now, even though Autumn was sure she was likely teasing her brother right now, Wow, you really are as tough as the stories claim... I have to say, it's kind of impressive... and kind of hot, in it's own way. Honestly, I'm happy to see that you, and your siblings, survived what happened on the prison ship... anyway, what do you think of our old planet? Nef and I grew up here, but honestly I would have preferred another galaxy, like Solana for example, as things would have been much more... interesting... sorry, I'm just imagining what I'm going to do to you when I... when we... finally corner you.

"She's definitely flirting with you... who would have known that speaking to her every now and then, over the period of six months, would have affected her so much." Autumn remarked, where she spoke up once the broadcast was over, though at the same time it was just weird when she thought about it, Vendra almost sounded like she would have preferred landing on Veldin, even if she mentioned Solana, to grow up near Ratchet, Starswirl, and herself.

"I think she was planning on being threatening and started down another path." Ratchet replied, as he had listened to what Vendra had said and that was his take on her broadcast, either she was desperate for companionship or had been drawn in by all the stories of him, turning into an obsession of sorts that had been brought to life thanks to their talks and the new adventure they were on, "Who knows, we might be able to talk her down without too much difficulty."

At the end of the path they found an ion turret and used it to break down the gates to return to the Vendor, where Ratchet found an Infobot that contained the coordinates for Kragg, along with an advertisement for a new gadget that seemed like it would be important for their adventure, a new pack for Clank. After claiming the little red robot, reminding them that the Infobots of Polaris were different from the ones in Solana and even Bogon, Ratchet and his siblings returned to the Vendor for a few seconds to restock their ammunition before heading down the sewer path to the right. What they discovered was that there was a Serathoid infestation in the sewers, which were one eyed spider creatures that dug into the walls to avoid fighting the group, even though they knew that they would engage the siblings if they felt threatened. Other than that they used a Bolt Crank to open a sewer hatch before entering what looked to be Azeril Caverns, where Clank suggested that the group should keep an eye out for Pollyx's equipment, since it should lead right to where he was working.

While they carefully made their way through the cavern, which was darker than they expected at one point, Autumn found another fragment of the RYNO VII and quickly summoned the rest of it to her, giving her all of the pieces at once, before she stored it away and told Ratchet she'd make the weapon later, when she was sure they needed it.

Sure enough they reached a point where the Serathoids turned aggressive, causing the siblings to turn their weapons on the critters for a time, allowing them to carefully move through an area while keeping their eyes open for additional enemies or even items that might be useful to their adventure. The interesting thing was that Azeril Caverns shook every now and then, no doubt a common occurrence on Yerek after all of Vendra and Neftin's experiments, so whenever that happened Ratchet and his siblings braced themselves for a time, only moving once things had calmed down. With the amount of Serathoids in the caverns Starswirl wasn't too surprised to find some of their nests spread out throughout this place, which they had to tear apart to make their way through the area they were in, before finding a way outside that also gave them a view of the rest of Meero, utterly destroyed based on what Ratchet could see. As they walked along the rocky path, however, the siblings discovered a Thug ship off in the distance, one they decided to follow since it might lead them to where Pollyx was being held right now, who had no idea that the three of them were even in the area, a useful benefit in the long run.

While they carefully glided through the area, and used the Grav-Tethers to move from point to point, they had to wonder what Vendra and Neftin had forced Pollyx to work on, all while carefully wiping out the groups of Thugs that were in their way as they reached another cave opening, which brought them right to Pollyx's lab.

"What are you doing here?" a voice asked, where they found that Pollyx was definitely working in the area, or wandering at the very least, and beckoned for them to follow him for a moment, so they could hide behind some large crates, meaning any of the patrolling Thugs wouldn't notice what they were doing at the moment.

"We're here to rescue you and stop the Prog Twins." Ratchet replied, keeping his voice low, just like Pollyx had done when he first noticed them, while at the same time he knew that his siblings were ensuring that their enemies didn't notice them at all, though if Vendra or Neftin arrived they all knew they would discover them instantly, "Can you tell us what was so vital to them that they abducted you from your own building?"

As Pollyx opened his mouth they heard the Thug ask him what he was doing and, to their amazement, the Terachnoid had a plan for that, he acted like multiple people were here, a book club of sorts, and even offered a book to the Thug, though as he declined and walked off, however, Pollyx ushered them into his true lab, full of his equipment.

"I've been working on a transdimensional portal device... a duplicate of the original." Pollyx answered, where he found that the siblings were as smart as the stories claimed, they instantly realized what he was talking about, the Dimensionator to be exact, before ushering Clank onto the platform of a new device he had created in his time on this planet and activated the machine that installed some new software into his body, "I understand that you have quantum software installed in your body, though I have added some special transdimensional software... should allow you to understand the nature of dimensionality better... however, back to the main point. Yerek is filled with dimensional rifts to a reality the Twins call the 'Netherverse', and the software I installed will allow you to detect the frequencies of those very rifts, allowing you, Clank, to enter them and use them in some manner, likely opening new passages that weren't there before."

There happened to be one nearby and Clank entered it, where Pollyx explained that these rifts were created by the large explosion that the Great Clock was created to maintain for the safety of the universe, before revealing that the key to all of these rifts was that Clank had to lead a Nether Beast back to the rift, which he did and caused the wall to break open in a matter of seconds, opening a way out of this place.

"So, the sector is haunted by Nethers." Ratchet remarked, as that explained some things and opened new questions for all of them to think about, though as Clank returned to his position he turned towards Pollyx, who was getting ready to leave, a good idea since the Thugs would be coming to investigate the noise of the wall collapsing, "You said they're working on a Dimensionator... where are they?"

"The Orphanage." Pollyx replied, though while he seemed interested in the fact that he had been kidnapped to work on a copy of the Lombaxes greatest invention, one that even their enemies were interested in obtaining, he also understood that, in the wrong hands, it could likely destroy the universe.

By heading through the opening they found their way back to Azeril Caverns and another rift, allowing Clank to slip inside it and, in no time at all, cause another earthquake that revealed another opening for them to use to progress, only to find a Bolt Crank that moved some Swingshots into position near the Vendor. While they carefully made their way over to the front steps of the orphanage, which was shattered like everything else in Meero, Autumn found a red recorder that was an audio one, from the days of when Vendra was a little girl, where she and Neftin were bullied by the other children, only to be punished with detention when she told a teacher about it. Such a thing was sad, that the pair were so full of hope and all of Yerek seemed to turn against them overtime, which made Ratchet understand why Vendra had mentioned wanting to grow up in Solana, no matter what planet it was, before she encountered 'Mr. Eye', whoever that was. The fact that this Mr. Eye was found in the very caverns where the Twins were found, which had to be a rift location, combined with the fact that he claimed he had plans for the pair, meant he had to be the true villain, it just screamed that someone was using the pair for their own purposes.

As they reached the front of the orphanage, however, a large mech with a shield arm and a flamethrower on it's other arm dropped down to fight them, though the siblings weren't too amused as they tore it down with their weapons and noticed that the way forward involved climbing up the face of the building. The reasoning for that was because it looked like the main entrance had collapsed overtime, meaning the Twins had been flown over the building's roof and dropped into it as soon as the Thugs reached their destination, so Autumn and Starswirl held off on using their magic to make sure Vendra didn't sense them coming. Once they entered the building, which took a bit of doing, the siblings found a second audio journal that Autumn claimed for their understanding of the situation, where Mr. Eye revealed that the Twins had been in this dimension too long and wouldn't be able to survive in the Netherverse, while the Nethers wouldn't be able to survive if they came to this dimension. Such a thing told her all they needed to know about the situation, Pollyx must have been brought in to finalize the armor that the Nethers needed to wear to survive in this dimension, because if he designed the device to send someone to the Netherverse she was sure he could have made a way for them to safely traverse the weak barrier and come into this dimension.

The next recorder they discovered confirmed that the Twins were behind the sector being evacuated, giving them space to experiment on weakening the barrier between the dimensions, causing Ratchet to sigh, as he had been hoping the Twins weren't responsible for what his father was investigating, but now he knew otherwise.

They found Vendra's old room, or the one that she drew all sorts of pictures of Mr. Eye in, a terrifying Nether whose form likely scared off the bullies, for fear that it might come eat them in their sleep or something, before the ground opened up and revealed a way down into the caverns. Sure enough they found that all sorts of Serathoids were down there, causing them to open fire on the nests and the insects that came from each one, though they did their best to avoid making too much noise, because if Vendra was down here they didn't want to reveal themselves just yet. While they did so, however, a crack in the dimensions appeared nearby and Ratchet was surprised to see that it he was staring down at himself as he moved through Meero, with that odd lavender mare with the wings and horn, a pony Autumn had called her, with a pair of ghostly robots that looked like Cronk and Zephyr, but before they could remark on it it closed in seconds. Ratchet sighed for a moment, as the situation was getting worse as time passed, before pressing onward as the three of them carefully made their way through the rest of the cavern, before having Clank use another rift to open a passage deeper into where the Twins were silently working.

After that the siblings found their destination, Vendra explaining how to use the Dimensionator to Neftin, who put it on his head and activated it with the call 'Find the Nethers' as his sister boosted it's signal with her powers, causing dark cracks in reality to appear as dark purple beings, clad in special metallic armor, jumped out of them, a few to be exact, before they spotted a large figure lurking behind the largest crack, as it was unable to pass through it.

"We're getting closer... we'll have you out soon." Vendra said, speaking to Mr. Eye, almost in a sense that she was more of a servant and less of someone who was doing this for her own personal goals, even though Ratchet understood that she was seeking her family, just like he had done, and finally realized why she had been so interested in him, enough to call for him to talk with her when she was originally captured.

Mr. Eye talked in a tongue unique to the Nethers, which Autumn jotted down as they listened to him speak, while Vendra assured him that the barrier between dimensions was getting thinner by the day and that no one knew of Silox, almost as if she was a terrified child being scolded by her own parent. It was a sad sight to see, the imposing Vendra brought low by a glowing eye figure from another dimension, while Neftin said nothing, he couldn't either out of fear or a desire to keep himself hidden, and it made Ratchet want to put an end to this by snatching the Twins, taking them far away, and utilizing the Great Clock's facilities to help them recover. Eventually Mr. Eye noticed that they had uninvited guests and Neftin was the first to turn, followed by the Nethers who had emerged from the now closed rifts, but Vendra, the last to turn, looked like she was torn between ordering their demise and just giving up entirely. In the end Starswirl dared to use his magic as he summoned a thick smokescreen, covering their tracks as he and the others moved down another path, heading for the outside area of the caverns, where, fortunately for them, they found Qwark flying in with Aphelion, allowing them to jump over to their ship and fly off before their enemies had a chance to find them.

As they flew off into the depths of Meero, to shield themselves with a cloaking device for some time, Ratchet could only wonder if there was a way to save the Prog Twins from the darkness they were being tricked into releasing into this plane of existence, though he was sure he and his siblings would figure something out in due time.