As the trio arrived on Gemlik Moonbase, Clank looked around. "I do not see Drek's ship," he mused. "We must have missed him."
"If he was ever here," Twilight commented, the faceplate of her helmet down to protect her in the vacuum. The overall appearance was that of a war helm not unlike that of the magnetically powered sympathetic supervillain of her favorite comic book, save air tight. "He was ordering his troops here. There's no guarantee he actually was here. He doesn't strike me as the type to dirty his own hands." She flushed. "Well, at least not based on what I've read in stories."
"That doesn't do us any good when it comes to catching up with him," Ratchet growled. "We need a faster ship."
"Perhaps this space station will supply the ship we'll need," Clank offered.
"We're going to pay for it, right?" Twilight asked worriedly.
Ratchet and Clank shared a credulous glance. "Sure," Ratchet said at last. "If there's anyone in charge of the ship, we'll pay for it."
"If not," Clank offered, "we'll leave an IOU."
Twilight smiled. "Alright. Let's go!"
Heading into the base, it quickly became clear that some areas of the base were sealed off by force fields. However, the new Devastator and Visibomb Guns the Gadgetron vendor provided them - two more weapons of Twilight's design that were just now ready for testing - proved most effective at taking down targets at such great range, and they were more than able to take out the force field generating towers as they went.
Other than that, the enemies and obstacles they encountered proved to be no trouble for the trio. The robotic ducks were easily dispatched with fireballs, the Power Gauntlet, or any other small arms fire. The Blargian troops were just as easily dealt with, and Twilight was able to telekinetically manipulate the turrets the other troops attempted to control. While she wasn't able to turn the turrets enough to take out the ones controlling the other turrets, she was able to lock them at angles that allowed the three of them to pass safely and take them out from behind. The only other real hostile they encountered were the occasional jet fighter. However, Twilight was able to spot them before entering their assault range, and a well steered Visibomb took them down without any danger to the traveling trio.
When they had to cross over a ventilation duct over rising and lowering hazardous liquids, Twilight discovered that her gravity realignment spell was only so effective when applied to suspended surfaces. "At some point, I want to take a look at those magneboots," Twilight commented to Ratchet. "They have got to be easier than this, especially if I can convert them to hoof boots."
"When we finish dealing with Drek and get back to Veldin to rest, they're all yours!" Ratchet promised, stabilizing her with a hand on her shoulders.
Later on, when three turret guards were completely protected by the building they were in and completely covering the path the trio had to go through, Twilight paused, glancing around for an advantage. Spying a nearby glass lamp, she broke it, levitated the shards, and then sent them through the slits in the turret shields the guns shot through to take down the Blarg guards. Ratchet bumped his closed fist against her hoof in praise for good thinking.
Twilight winced as they rode the next elevator - which flipped over halfway down - as her gravity spell struggled to kick in. It did not agree with actively rotating surfaces. She was quite relieved when they were able to leap down from the ceiling to the floor shortly after stepping out of the elevator. She didn't even mind being instantly swarmed by hostiles, especially as they were easily dealt with once she and Ratchet went back to back.
Taking the next elevator out, they spotted Captain Qwark. Ratchet and Twilight's eyes both narrowed at the sight of him, and he flinched back at their glares. Leaping into a large star fighter, he flew off.
"We have to go after him," Ratchet growled.
"There appears to be ships available in there," Clank stated, pointing into a nearby hanger.
"Right! We'll both take one!" Twilight proclaimed, rushing to leap into one as Ratchet claimed another. While Ratchet needed Clank to activate his, Twilight's magic running through her Pilot's Helmet was able to override the Robotic Ignition protocol in hers.
As the two of them pursued Qwark, the Captain attempted to communicate with them over an open comms, but neither of them responded at first. "I'm doing this for your own good," he warned. "You have no idea what you're getting into."
When Ratchet took out the first engine of the craft, Qwark continued. "You don't have what it takes to stop Drek! He'll eat you both alive!"
As Twilight took out the second, Qwark pleaded with her. "You don't really want to do this...do you, Twilight?" Twilight said nothing in response.
When Ratchet took out the third engine, Qwark turned on the ship's shields and called for back up, which Ratchet and Twilight took out quickly. As soon as the shield went down, Twilight immediately took out the fourth engine.
"Now come on you two!" Qwark begged. "Don't you think you're overreacting just a bit?"
"You and Drek need to be stopped," Ratchet replied calmly. "That's all we're doing here."
As the ship took more and more damage, Qwark tried to plead one last time with Twilight. "Twilight, please...I...I never meant to hurt you."
"I believe you," Twilight replied over the comms. "...that's why what you did hurt so much." With that, she fired the last missile, making the ship crash to the planet below. Neither Ratchet nor Twilight spotted the escape pod launching free before the crash.
Coming back in for a landing on the base, Ratchet immediately noticed Twilight staggering about. "You okay?" he asked, rushing to her side.
"Just a little dizzy," she muttered, her horn sparking faintly. "Think...think I'll need to rest a few hours...overdid it controlling that fighter..."
"I believe we have found our new ship," Clank pointed out, gesturing to a much more advanced model ship than what they'd been using, much more streamlined with a more powerful engine.
An infobot came out of the ship, sharing with them the situation on the Planet Oltanis below.
"Twilight, you'll rest in the ship while Clank and I explore Oltanis, see what we can do and what we can find in terms of clues to Drek's location," Ratchet instructed. "With luck, you'll be fully recovered by the time we get back...but no tinkering in the meantime."
"Alright," Twilight agreed, slumping into the back seat of the new ship.
Clank, for his part, left the promised IOU.
IOU one hyper advanced starship, to be paid by saving the galaxy.
As they landed, the heavy electromagnetic storm proved dangerous for Clank, so he stayed in the ship with Twilight as Ratchet explored the surface. Clank sat next to Twilight as she continued to sway back and forth dizzily. "Are you alright, Twilight?"
"I...I think so," she murmured. "Just a little dizzy..." Her horn sparked again. "I think I may have pushed my magic too hard controlling all the systems in the fighter like that..."
"Then you won't do that again," Clank chided. "I do not believe we actually needed two ships in that battle."
"You said...facing Qwark would get me closure," Twilight explained. "When you told Daddy...he needed to be my hero now..."
Clank was shocked. "You heard that?"
Twilight nodded. "Vaguely..." She laid her head between her hooves. "Clank...do you know any stories?"
Clank thought for a time. "Hmm..." A file suddenly popped into his memory. "I believe I do know one story," he commented. "It is called...Daring Do and the Sapphire Stone..."
As Clank began to recite the story, the Zoni who had implanted it in his mind at Orvus' instructions vanished with a quiet, "Wee!"
While Ratchet's journey through the ruins of Oltanis was difficult on his own, it was rather uneventful, save for one particular encounter at a poorly constructed Gadgetron stand. "Captain Qwark?" he asked in shock.
"Where?" Qwark demanded in surprise, looking around.
Ratchet rolled his eyes. "Qwark, I know it's you. Now where's Drek?"
Qwark glanced back at his clipboard, searching for something.
Ratchet sighed. "You aren't going to say anything unless I buy something, are you?"
"You can buy this Gadgetron PDA-"
"How much?" Ratchet interrupted.
"Umm...1000 bolts," Qwark murmured.
"Here," Ratchet replied, handing over the bolts.
"Thank you and have a Qwarktastic day!" Qwark proclaimed.
"What'd you say?" Ratchet asked absently as he examined the Personal Delivery Assistant.
"Nothing," Qwark murmured.
Ratchet turned to glower at Qwark. "So if you aren't Captain Qwark, who are you?"
"I'm Steve," Qwark replied. "...McQwark."
Ratchet shook his head. As much as he wanted to just move on, there was still so much anger inside him just now over what Qwark had done to him and Twilight. He decided now was as good a time as any to vent some of it. Maybe he'd get closure, too. "Well, Steve, can I tell you something about Captain Qwark?"
"Uh...sure," he replied.
"He was a real asshole to my daughter, built up her trust and then stabbed her in the back in the worst way I could imagine...but you know what part of it makes me the angriest?" Ratchet didn't wait for a reply before continuing. "How stupid he was in going about it! He said he had to because it was his job to deal with threats to Drek's project, but there's more ways to eliminate threats than by eliminating them!"
"Then how should I - I mean, he - have handled it?" 'Steve' asked.
"Back on Umbris, the only one of us who was truly dedicated to stopping Drek was Clank. Twilight was excited about the idea of being a hero alongside her idol, and I was just there to take care of Twilight!" Ratchet slammed his hand into the stand. "He could have just dropped Clank when he was alone on that 'circle of heroes', and claimed it had judged him unfit to be a hero! Twilight would have had three possible technobabble explanations for how the circle might have done that before Qwark or I would have been able to get a word in edgewise, and convinced herself that Clank was the bad guy, which meant Drek was somehow the good guy!"
"Would she have really done that?" 'Steve' asked, surprised.
"As brilliant as she is, she's still just an obsessive, idealistic six year old," Ratchet pointed out. "Qwark could have easily just included Twilight and I in whatever deal he has going with Drek. Seriously, I'm 16, Twilight's six, we're both orphans...a sudden super hero family probably would have brought in even better press than a lone superhero. Twilight probably would have jumped at the chance to be 'Private Qwark', and I'd have gone along with it. At that point, I didn't care about the fate of the galaxy...just her."
"You...you really think that would have worked?" Qwark asked, his voice thick with emotion.
"Not anymore," Ratchet snarled. "He's burned his bridges with us..." His voice trailed off, seeing the naked agony on 'Steve's face. "Look, just...nevermind." Turning, he headed back to his explorations.
Qwark remained where he was, emotions and Ratchet's words swirling through his mind. His eyes fell on the required recorder on all Gadgetron stands, 'to improve customer service experiences'. Reaching out, he hit the playback, focusing on a few key phrases.
"-I didn't care about the fate of the galaxy-"
"-she's just an obsessive, idealistic six year old-"
"-a sudden super hero family probably would have-"
"-super hero family-"
"-family-"
Sunk deep in his depression, Qwark suddenly grinned. He'd just had an idea...a wonderfully, horribly, awful idea...
Ratchet swung back into the ship. he found Twilight dozed off next to Clank. "She okay?" he asked, concerned.
"Just resting," Clank informed him. "I told her a story. What did you find?"
"Well, I got a Gadgetron Personal Delivery Assistant for rearming when we're away from a shop unit," he started. "I also got this Morph-O-Ray. It turns enemies into chickens."
"I believe Twilight will like that," Clank observed.
"Like it? I bet 500 bolts she's made a spell to mimic it before we catch up with Drek!" Ratchet proclaimed.
"I will take that bet," Clank agreed.
"I also got an infobot with coordinates to Planet Quartu," Ratchet continued. "Drek's apparently making some sort of super robot weapon there."
"Then we must investigate!" Clank urged.
"Punch in the coordinates, then," Ratchet instructed, handing over the infobot.