//------------------------------// // Clank: Aridia // Story: The Sparkle in his Eye // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// As they hopped out of their ship on Planet Aridia, Ratchet once again checked the Help Desk minimap. "Alright, it looks like we've got...two civilians located in different locations, and a tower that might have something useful in it." "I think you and Clank should take the tower, Daddy," Twilight pointed out. "I still haven't mastered the magic steps Clank and I discussed, so I'd probably hold you back in a climb." Before Ratchet could speak up, Clank added his two bolts. "That would be an appropriate distribution of labor. It would appear that one of the civilians' beacons is a good distance from the tower, while the other is much closer. Twilight, you should take the much more distant civilian while we take the tower, and we'll meet up to investigate the second civilian beacon." Ratchet shrugged helplessly. "Not a bad idea," he admitted. Kneeling down, he rested his hand on Twilight's neck. "Just be careful, okay?" Twilight nuzzled into his arm. "Don't worry, Daddy. I'll be fine." With that, they turned and headed their separate ways. As Twilight approached the first beacon - which, as it turned out, was quite close to where they'd landed their ship - she gasped in joy. "Skid McMarx! I saw your distress beacon on the infobot!" "In the flesh, little lady!" Skid said, completely relaxed despite his situation. "You get a load of that epic space battle I was in?" "Yeah, I saw," Twilight agreed. "You okay? What happened?" "My agent and I got ambushed on the way to glide board practice," Skid informed her. "He must be that other beacon we picked up!" Twilight fretted. "I hope he's okay." "Ah, he's fine," Skid reassured her. "But I've had a little trouble getting back to my ship, due to my sprained ankle..." His voice trailed off, his eyes on a pair of Sandsharks passing by. Without missing a beat, Twilight whipped her blaster out and shot the two Sandsharks without even pausing to look and aim, both clean hits. Levitating her weapon to her mouth, she blew away the smoke. "I'm afraid I don't know healing magic," she admitted, "and I don't have any spare nanotech..." "Heck, if you can take out all the Sandsharks as easily as you did those two, I'll be just fine!" he said eagerly. "Heck, I'll even throw in a spare glide board for you!" "Autographed?" Twilight gasped eagerly. "Sure!" Skid agreed readily. "Let me just find a pen." He turned to look around in his crashed pod. As he did so, Twilight eagerly spun and charged out towards where the Sandsharks were congregating, hunting down every last one. While the mud pits would have been a point of concern for most, her lightweight frame, widespread weight, and low center of gravity let her run right across the top of the pits with only the smallest application of magic on her hooves. Between telekinetically flinging the Sandsharks around, tossing bombs at them, potshots with her blaster, and torching them with her Pyrocitor, she had them all dead - or hiding deep underground in terror - in under two minutes, after which she then rushed back to Skid. "All done!" she said happily. "Dude, you work fast!" Skid said happily, capping his pen. "Here you are, little lady. One autographed glide board, as promised." He tossed her the signed board. Twilight eagerly caught it in her magic, grinning from ear to ear. "This is so great!" she squealed happily, bouncing from hoof to hoof. She then glanced at the glide board from a few different angles before trying to climb aboard, only to fall off and flat on her face. "How do you use this thing?" she demanded in frustration. "Naw, naw girl," Skid said, taking out another board. "Like this. Here, watch. It'd take too long to explain." Holding the board out, he pointed the hover units forward and threw the board in front of him, hopping onto it as it came level with the ground, riding it around in a small circle. "See? Now you try. Just tilt the board in the direction you want it to go while maintaining balance. Don't wanna wipeout, ya know?" Nodding, Twilight got back to her hooves. Throwing the board forward with her magic, she leaped onto it. However, before she could get her balance, the front of the board tipped downward causing it to shoot forward. "Whoa!" she screamed out. She started to push back. "No!" Skid called out, gliding his board to keep up with her. "Don't fight it, run with it!" He showed what he meant, using slight pressures of one foot or another to angle the board, while using his arms to maintain his balance. Watching, Twilight did what she could to imitate his actions, mantling her wings slightly to help her maintain balance. Once she was balanced on the board, she found it much easier to control, with slight shifts of her weight forward or back being all it took to accelerate or decelerate, and the shifting of her feathers letting her turn much easier than Skid could. "Now you're gettin the hang of it!" Skid said happily. "Now try a jump off this sand hill!" Putting actions to words, he shot up the hill. "Wahooo!" he called out as he cleared the top, bending his knees, grabbing the side of his board, and flipping sideways through the air a full 1080 degrees before catching the sand at the bottom of his jump. A sudden urgent desire to outdo him filled Twilight, and her wings felt like they sparked with lightning. Leaning forward, she shot up the hill as fast as her board could go - which, with her much smaller weight and air resistance profile, was much faster than Skid went - and shot off the top of the hill like a rocket. "Eeeeyahhh!" she screamed out, her wings tilting as she went into a drill like spin as she shot forward, flipping a total of eleven times before she came down to the sand, leaning back far enough that the board tipped up to balance on one hoverjet, her wings gripping the sides as she spun like a top as she rocketed across the ground before coming to a complete stop, bracing one hoof on the sand to steady herself. Skid, for his part, had been so busy staring at the amazing trick he'd just seen that he slammed bodily into the next sand hill. "Oomph!" he gasped out, falling onto his butt. "Are you okay?" Twilight asked, using the glide board to shoot up beside him. "I'm okay!" he said happily. At that moment, his glide board - which had shot out from under his feet when he wiped out - came down front first on his stomach. "...less okay!" he whined. Twilight quickly levitated him back into his pod. "You should get some rest," she said worriedly. "You shouldn't have been doing so much on a sprained ankle, let alone after taking a glide board to the gut." "Yeah...right...my ankle..." Skid said nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "Guess I went overboard giving you your lessons...but girl, you're a natural on the glide board!" He grinned winningly at her. "If you get an agent, I'm gonna have some serious competition on the professional circuit." Twilight blushed in pleasure. "Well, I'm going to go meet up with my Daddy and let your agent know you're okay!" She turned to go. "Hey kid!" Skid called out, making her turn back. "I didn't catch your name!" She turned and smiled back happily. "I'm Twilight Sparkle!" He stared at that smile for a few minutes. "Say...don't mean to sound weird, but how old are you?" Twilight blinked, then giggled. "I'm six years old. Why?" "Oh, no reason. No reason..." Skid lay back in his pod, watching as she zoomed off on her new glide board. "Dang it Skid," he muttered after a while. "Why the heck did the perfect dame hafta be 19 years too young?" He punched his pod in frustration, wincing as he then cradled his hand. As Ratchet and Clank left the tower to approach the second beacon, Ratchet glanced around worriedly. "What is wrong, Ratchet?" Clank inquired. "Well, we said we'd meet up at the second beacon," Ratchet explained, "but the only way to the second beacon is through the tower, which Twilight wasn't sure of her ability to climb. Admittedly, the swingshot did most of the climbing work, but..." "You are worried about her getting lost or not catching up?" Clank offered. "Yeah, something like-" "Wahoo!" Twilight called out, shooting over the huge mudpit - and Ratchet and Clank's heads - on her glide board, her wings spread for even more air, coming in for a landing some distance away, spinning and nearly colliding with Skid's agent. "Hey, watch where you're going!" he yelled out as Ratchet and Clank rushed over to catch up. "Hey, where'd you get that glide board, anyway?" Ratchet gasped as he got a closer look at the board Twilight was riding. "That's a Z3000! You can't even buy those yet! How'd you get it, Twi?" Twilight beamed happily. "Skid gave it to me after I cleared out some Sandsharks for him!" she said happily, boosting up a nearby hill and into a triple flip to show off her moves, the board, and the signature. "Gave me lessons in how to use it, too!" she said happily. "What?" the agent demanded. "Giving away company property and unscheduled lessons? I am so renegotiating my contract with that idiot. He might not even be my client when I'm through with him!" He looked closer at Twilight's maneuvers on the board. "Hmm...you seem to be pretty good on the glide board, miss. How would you like to be my next big star?" "M-me?" Twilight asked in shock. "Yup!" he confirmed. "I'm always on the lookout for new talent, and you certainly know your way around the glide board. Course, I can't promote a novice, so you'll need to have at least one victory under your belt. Bring me the trophy from winning the Blackwater City glide board competition , and I'll sign you right away." Twilight gasped happily. "Can I Daddy?" Twilight begged. "Please, please, please!!!" "We have no time for trivial matters-" Clank began. "As soon as we find navigation coordinates in an infobot," Ratchet promised. "Yes!" Twilight cheered happily, bouncing around Ratchet. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!" "Ratchet, we do not have time for this!" Clank pointed out. "Clank, if we get the coordinates, it'll be because there's trouble there, likely connected to what Drek is up to," Ratchet pointed out. "If we end up there anyway..." Clank sighed. "A valid point." Twilight, for her part, ignored the conversation as she continued to bounce happily.