Clank moved onward, Chronoscepter in hand. The various security puzzles and the like proved little to no challenge for Clank's advanced brain. However, he moved through it in a halfhearted way. The puzzles didn't really hold his attention, nor did the enemies he had to deal with. Even Sigmund's antics barely registered for him.
"Sir?" Sigmund finally asked worriedly. "Are you alright?"
"Do you need to ask, Sigmund?" Clank replied. "Orvus - my father - is..."
"Well, he might not be dead, sir," Sigmund replied.
"Excuse me?" Clank asked, his eyes lifting in shock. "The program echo of him said that it would only activate in...certain circumstances. Doesn't that mean he's...dead?"
"Well, it could also mean he had to perform an Emergency Temporal Shift to some unknown future date," Sigmund explained. "He can do that, you know. All the fail-safes' activations mean is that Orvus isn't currently in existence at this point in this temporal continuum."
"So...he might still be alive, but so far in the future that I'll never meet him?" Clank asked.
"Or he might pop back into existence tomorrow!" Sigmund countered. "You just need to stay positive!"
Clank thought about that as he stepped forward into a large, open area. As he thought, a large mechanical contrivance floated by, releasing powerful blasts of sonic energy.
"Look out!" Sigmund shouted. "It's the Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler!"
"It is no threat," Clank murmured as he hurled a Time Bomb straight at it.
"Are you sure?" Sigmund asked worriedly as the mechanical creation slowed in the time field.
Clank smirked as he extended his blaster arm and charged it. "I'm...positive," he confirmed as he fired.
The blast punched right through the glass shield covering the delicate circuitry of Nefarious' device, causing the whole thing to spiral out of control and explode.
"One Hypersonic Brainwave Scrambler...scrambled," Clank offered, before giving his classic chuckle.
"Nice one, sir!" Sigmund praised as the pair continued onward.
Meanwhile...
"Now entering Vela Sector," Aphelion spoke up as they reached the region of space they were headed for. "Qwark has sent a message stating that Azimuth lives in an abandoned mining robot in the Molonoth fields of Torren IV."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Ratchet demanded. "Set course!"
"Is...is Qwark doing okay?" Twilight asked Aphelion worriedly.
"He's doing great," Aphelion responded. "He's looking into ways to counteract Nefarious so you can get to Clank - wherever he is - unmolested."
"He's learned to be quite the team player," Ratchet murmured as he guided Aphelion into the atmosphere. "...proud of him."
Aphelion came in for easy landing amongst the stone pillars of the world. "Qwark's last message states that Alister Azimuth supposedly lives in the ruins of Vulgram Pass," Aphelion informed them.
"Any idea where that might be?" Twilight asked.
"Unfortunately, no," Aphelion replied. "But once you find it, I'll be able to meet you there."
"Alright," Ratchet agreed. "Let's see if a local can guide us."
The dry, rocky terrain posed no real problem for the pair as they made their way through. Ratchet was naturally adapted for such terrain - both from what Lombaxes were adapted to, and his life on Veldin - and the hot sun over flat rocks created thermals so strong Twilight had to consciously spill air almost constantly to keep from soaring up to where the air was too thin.
After climbing for a time, they encountered what was presumably a native. The being was short and squat, wearing so much equipment and carrying such a large pack that it was hard to tell if it was organic, robotic, or some sort of fusion of the two. "Greetings, Outsiders," it greeted warmly, its voice half synthesized as it passed through a grille on its face mask. "What brings you to Molonoth?"
"We're looking for Volgrom Pass," Ratchet replied quickly.
"Volgrom Pass?" the creature asked, shocked. "Surely peaceful adventurers such as yourselves-" He paused as Twilight giggled. "What?"
Twilight smirked up at Ratchet. "He called us peaceful!" she gasped out between giggles.
The native stared at them for a time. "It is just beyond the Hollow to the East. Ask the Guardian for entry. Please don't kill us."
"Not that unpeaceful!" Twilight complained, pouting.
Chuckling, Ratchet led the way east.
After making their way past a few robotic enemies who fell too fast to their arsenal to be clearly identified beyond their Nav Units recognition of them as hostile, the pair found their way to a massive metal head, empty on the inside but still able to turn to speak to them. "Halt, outsiders! What business have you in the Hollow?"
"We're looking for Volgrom Pass!" Ratchet called back.
The head seemed to grow pensive. "Volgrom Pass?" its voice echoed. "Where the exile dwells? It is beyond this Hollow, but we do not grant entrance to outsiders. They must find it for themselves."
As the head became inactive, Ratchet sighed and led the way away, seeking another path.
"Ratchet, Twilight," Aphelion called over the comms. "Qwark informs me he is attempting to make contact with the Agoreans, who - apparently - hate Nefarious."
"...we're going to have to rescue him, aren't we?" Twilight asked.
"Likely," Ratchet confirmed.
After making their way through a short obstacle course, the pair found their way past the 'Guardian' head, and were granted entrance to the Hollow. Entering, they found a city of the natives that was somewhat orderly...except for the fact that their primary power source - small critters referred to as battery bots - were racing around out of their sockets, refusing to power the city. They were informed that, until the bots were back in their sockets, entrance to Volgrom Pass was impossible.
"Can I make this quick, Daddy?" Twilight asked hopefully.
"Go right ahead," Ratchet replied.
Grinning, Twilight took to the air, focusing her magic. Locking on to each and every battery bot as she flew through the facility, she seized them all in her telekinesis before sticking each in their sockets, restoring the city to full functionality. While Twilight did that, Ratchet stopped by a Grummel-net vendor to purchase a new weapon - The Dynamo of Doom - for each of them.
With the city once more fully operational, the residents were happy to guide Ratchet and Twilight to the entrance of Volgrom Pass. Volgrom Pass itself was, at first, the same as the area before the Hollow, with nothing distinctive to mark it as different, save the occasional metal wall construction blocking the canyon path.
Before too long, the pair came to a large, abandoned mining robot. Near the head, a Lombax silhouette could be made out, and the shifting of light revealed grey fur, red stripes, lightweight armor, and a vaguely wrench-like weapon.
"Excuse me!" Ratchet shouted out, getting the figure's attention. "Hi! Do you know where I can find Alister Azimuth?"
The figure hurled an explosive device at Ratchet, only for it to be surrounded in a lavender aura and be launched right back at the figure. "How rude," Twilight grumbled as the figure raced off. Ratchet and Twilight took off in pursuit, Ratchet leaping onto a grind rail, Twilight into the air.
"You've lost the element of surprise!" the figure shouted at them as he raced ahead on some sort of hover shoes. "Killing me won't be so easy!"
"If we wanted you dead, I'd have pulled out my RYNO!" Twilight shouted back. "We just want to talk!"
"Lies!" the figure shouted back. "You're here to assassinate me! Who sent you? Vorselon? Nefarious? Figures they lack the spine to kill me themselves!"
"Considering neither of them has a spine anymore..." Ratchet pointed out jokingly as he leapt from rail to rail.
"Is this really the time for jokes, Dad?" Twilight grumbled, rolling her eyes.
"Well, reasonable discourse isn't working," Ratchet pointed out bluntly.
"Your foolish behavior will not lower my guard, as amusing as it is!" the figure shouted back.
"Look at me!" Ratchet shouted out. "I'm a Lombax!"
"The Lombaxes are gone!" the figure roared back angrily. "And I know a hologuise when I see one!"
Twilight groaned. "Aphelion!" she shouted out.
Aphelion zipped into the air over them. "Did you need me to shoot something?" she asked, lowering down to fly alongside Ratchet.
"Aphelion?" the figure gasped in shock, only to charge in. "What have you done to my brother's ship!" he roared in anger, knocking Ratchet off the grind rails and pinning him to a stone wall over a narrow rock platform to the side of the chasm...only to blink his eyes. "...Kaden? But you're...no, those are Vashiir's eyes...you're his son..." He stepped back, falling to his knees. "Forgive me. General Alister Azimuth, Four-Bolt Magistrate of the Lombax Praetorian Guard, Elder Councilman for the Center for Advanced Lombax Research." He then smiled widely as Ratchet got back to his feet. "And you, my dear boy, look just like your father..."
"Why'd you refer to Kaden as your brother?" Twilight asked, confused. "Aphelion's paperwork said he didn't have siblings."
"He didn't," Alister confirmed. "But we were very close friends...as close as brothers."
Twilight gasped happily. "Uncle!" she shouted out, glomping onto Alister.
"Umm..." Azimuth began nervously.
"Well, Great Uncle, actually," Twilight corrected. "Ratchet's my Daddy!"
The elder Lombax glanced between the two of them. "Ratchet...who did you wed?"
"My Mommy's a robot named Clank!" Twilight proclaimed happily. "But it might also be a Cazar named Sasha...or a Lombax named Angela Cross-"
"Lorna's daughter?" Alister interrupted, shocked.
"-or a Markazian named Talwyn Apogee-"
"Max's daughter?" Alister chuckled as he looked at Ratchet. "None of that explains how you sired a pony, dear boy."
"She's adopted," Ratchet explained, rolling his eyes.
Alister Azimuth chuckled. "You are...so very much your father's son."
Ratchet smiled up at him. "I...I have so many questions..."