When Ratchet, Clank, and Twilight disembarked from Aphelion on the swampy jungle planet of Sargasso, they almost immediately caught sight of Blue Shift. "Are you following us or something?" Twilight joked.
Blue Shift shrugged. "I pay my debts, little lady," he replied softly. "I also just so happened to have business here. By the way, you'll need this decryptor here to power up these launch pads so ya can get around the planet easier." He held up a curious interface gadget, resembling a tesla coil surrounded by blue glass and strapped to a gun handle with a view screen. "Take it with my compliments." He handed it over to Twilight.
Smiling, Twilight handed over a few Leviathan souls. "Here. The price of those ought to cover your expenses at least."
"Now ya don't need to do that-"
"Being here with what we need when we need it is enough," Ratchet interrupted. "No need to bankrupt yourself in the process."
Blue Shift shook his head back and forth. "And now you know why I was never able ta pay yer father back for everything he did for me. You sound just like him."
Ratchet paused, glancing around. "Can...can you tell me anything about him?" he asked hopefully. "I...I never got a chance to know him."
Blue Shift glanced away, his eye misting as he thought to himself. After a time, he smiled. "Well, I can't really tell ya much about him beyond what ya know so far - we weren't that close - but I think I can give ya something that can give ya the answers someday." He turned to Clank. "X-327p, Y-77252p, Z-minus 37749p, 21274-11-25.13:47.54-321. Remember that. I think it'll come in handy someday...if you're at all your father's son."
"My father?" Clank asked, confused. His confusion was echoed in Ratchet and Twilight's expressions.
Blue Shift chuckled. "His fellows have already been guiding you, little bot," he replied. "Only one race could build that Geo Laser you've got there. But don't press me further. There's a reason that Plumber told me I'd know when to share this and say no more."
"The Plumber?" Twilight gasped out.
"So ya know him, too?" Blue Shift asked. "Met him a couple decades back, not long after..." Blue Shift looked away, his fists clenching. "At any rate, have fun here you three, but be careful."
"AWK! No more spoilers!" Red Shift squawked.
Accepting that directive from the bird, the trio moved on.
The Decryptor proved to be just like any of the other lock picking gadgets they had acquired over the course of their adventures, easy enough to learn to use yet difficult to master. Activating the launch pads for the Wing Pack proved to be less than challenging, though.
Once they were in the air, the Zoni once again appeared before them, guiding them along a path through the air. Since Clank was the only one who could see them clearly, he led the way, carrying Ratchet. Twilight trailed after him, following the glowing rings in the air that were clearer to her vision than the Zoni themselves were.
For some reason, the Zoni chose to guide them in a roundabout path over a good portion of the planet's surface before leading them to the cave path to the facility itself. The facility itself appeared to be another Gelatonium plant, requiring the Gelanator to progress. Once through, the trio continued along a more roundabout path.
The facility proved to just be the first in a long sequence that the trio had to get through. In one, however, Twilight noticed an unusual glow from a high platform. Spreading her wings, she flew up to investigate, only to find a Lombax weapon. Picking it up, she received a transmission from Aphelion.
"I see you've found an Alpha Disruptor," Aphelion explained. "This nano-weapon was one of the first designed by Father and his fellow scientists at the Center for Advanced Lombax Research, where the Dimensionator was made. It utilizes a controlled gravimetric charge to unleash a reality warping beam with intense destructive capacity. It was built for the war against the Cragmites, but was discarded once the Dimensionator was perfected. Not many still remain to this day-"
With a glow of her duplication spell, Twilight crafted three copies of the Alpha Disruptor. "One for me, one for Ratchet, one for Qwark, and one for me to take apart and study," she stated happily.
Aphelion was silent for a time. "It's a good thing you're a pure scientist, uninterested in profit," she stated at last. "The Galactic Economy couldn't handle you, otherwise."
Giggling, Twilight returned to Ratchet, arming him as they continued onward. Coming across a Grummel-net vendor not long after, they immediately fully upgraded the Alpha Disruptors for maximum destructive capacity.
After a long trek, the trio finally reached the actual facility they were heading for. Ratchet rushed ahead. "Come on, it's this way!" he called out.
Rushing up to a sealed portion of the facility, all three were shocked as the doors swung open to reveal The Plumber. "Oh it's you three! Almost didn't recognize you after all these years." Chuckling as he adjusted his glasses - which were new - he gestured to what looked like a giant toilet behind him. "You're all just in time. I'm about to try out my revolutionary, high speed, interplanetary transportation gizmo!" Seeing the trio's expressions, he chuckled. "I take it you were expecting something else? Say...something capable of vaporizing an entire planet of whatchamacallits?"
"Cragmites," Ratchet corrected.
"Well I hate to burst your bubble, but it doesn't exist," the Plumber replied with a shrug.
"That's because the Dimensionator doesn't vaporize things," Ratchet replied, causing Clank and Twilight to spin and face him in shock. "It's an interdimensional transportation device. The Lombaxes...my father didn't use it to vaporize the Cragmites. He used it to take the Cragmites, their armada, and their planet...and push it into another dimension that had no other forms of life."
The Plumber burst into a true belly laugh. "Well now, my boy...you're a lot smarter than I gave ya credit for. Yer right, that's exactly what the Dimensionator is, and what it's for. Scientist Lombaxes like yer old man abhorred the very idea of killing anything. So they built a weapon that won the battle without killing."
"And that's why the Lombaxes are all gone now!" Twilight gasped. "Tachyon didn't exterminate them! They used the Dimensionator to take themselves beyond his reach!"
The Plumber chuckled to himself. "You three are something else." Reaching into his device, he pulled out a golden three and three quarters cubit hexagonal washer. "This might come in handy for you someday soon." He tossed it to Clank.
"Does the Dimensionator work based on thought commands?" Ratchet asked.
"Nope!" the Plumber replied. "Voice. That's what makes it so dangerous. With enough power, it can find anything you tell it to." Shrugging his shoulders, he leapt into his transportation device, flushing himself away.
At that point, Clank's communicator buzzed. "Dad, Mom, Sis, is everything I just heard true?" Qwark demanded. "Can the Dimensionator really find anything you tell it to?"
"That's what it sounds like," Twilight replied. "But from the sound of it, even using it could threaten the very fabric of the universe...and overusing it could destroy the universe."
"Punch too many holes in a blanket and it can't keep you warm," Qwark replied. "But for now, I need you three at the arena. I think I've found another C-L-E-U-W..." He began counting on his fingers. "Four?"
"C-L-U-E," Twilight corrected absently as she and Clank turned to head back to the ship.
Ratchet, however, found himself lost in thought, staring at Twilight. "...anything I tell it to find..." he murmured thoughtfully, remembering an old promise.