//------------------------------// // R/C: Aridia // Story: Ratchet and Clank: The Starlight of Solana // by Blackdrag-rose //------------------------------// As Ratchet, his sisters, and Clank flew towards Planet Aridia, which Clank told them would be a long flight, Sunset and Starlight declared that they were going to rest before they arrived at their destination. Ratchet yawned with the mere mention of getting some sleep, as he was already tired from having to deal with the crash on Novalis, which told him that he needed to improve his skills some more, and the trek through Kerwan. He hadn't gotten the chance to actually get some decent sleep between leaving Veldin and starting their adventure, but knew that there had to be someone flying the ship and kept his hands on the steering wheel. "Ratchet, why do you not rest as well?" Clank asked, waiting a few minutes to be sure that his sisters were asleep before asking the question, "You have been pushing yourself to your limits since we left Veldin, and you look like you're about to faint from what you did on both Novalis and Kerwan. You need to rest before you do anything else." "I need to focus on flying this ship," Ratchet told the robot, glancing at Clank for a moment before turning his attention to the controls once more, "I don't want to suddenly crash when we reach Aridia, otherwise we would need someone to come rescue us." "I am equipped with the capability to use the ship's auto pilot function, should the actual pilot require rest from time to time," Clank told him, causing the Lombax to look at him once more, "Rest assured that I will get the four of us to Aridia safely. You need not worry about something happening to us along the way." "If you say so Clank," Ratchet replied, sighing as he released the controls for a moment, noting that the ship stayed on the course even as he removed his hands from the wheel, "Just make sure that you wake us the instant we arrive at our destination. We've got a celebrity and his agent to save, not to mention uncovering some gadgets that will help us down the road." Clank watched Ratchet stretch his arms for a moment before leaning back in his seat, just enough to let him relax and sleep without disturbing his sisters at all, before his companions were all asleep. Once he was the last one awake he turned his attention to the controls, checking them to be sure that they were headed for Aridia and that nothing would get in the way of the auto pilot. He was certain that they would reach their destination safely, giving his companions the opportunity to get some well deserved sleep before their arrival. -------------------------------------- Clank let his companions sleep until the moment that the ship entered Aridia's atmosphere, to which he merely turned to Ratchet and proceeded to wake him up. "Ratchet, we have arrived at our destination," Clank said, loud enough to wake the lombax up, including his sisters as well, "The ship is in the process of landing as we speak." "Good, then we can scan the area for Skid and his agent before we land," Ratchet replied, straightening his chair while his sisters woke up from their rest, while Clank started to scan the area around the landing pad they were heading for, "We'll find Skid, find his agent, and recover whatever gadget Sunset's sure is waiting for us, before we make our way to Eudora and confront that lieutenant that's following Chairman Drek's orders." "Finding Skid should be easy," Starlight commented, yawning as she sat up in her chair, while Sunset followed suit and stretched her arms, "locating his agent and that gadget will likely prove to be a challenge, but we'll worry about that as we search the surrounding area." "So how are we going to do this?" Sunset asked, rubbing her eyes for a moment before staring at the map that Clank brought up, "It looks like we have three paths to choose from; one that appears to be to the immediate left of the landing pad, while the second and third start on the opposite path, only to diverge some distance away. One of those two paths is likely going to lead to the top of that tower, while the other might lead whoever takes it to the base of that large cannon over there. Now the question is, who takes which path?" "I'll take the one on the left of the ship," Starlight spoke up immediately, as she reasoned that Skid might be hiding near the landing pad in the hopes of finding someone that could help him, "I'll leave the two of you to fight over the remaining two objectives." Before either Ratchet or Sunset could make a comment the ship landing on the landing pad, to which Clank powered down the systems and popped the lid, allowing Starlight to leap out of the ship and run towards the objective that she wanted to take. Ratchet and Sunset looked at each other for a moment before getting out of the ship and heading over to the Gadgetron Vendor, while Clank remained attached to Ratchet's back. They spotted Starlight holding the latest Gadgetron weapon, the Pyrocitor, for a moment before she dashed in the direction she wanted to take, to which the two remaining siblings sighed and bought their own copy of the weapon. With their new weapons in hand the two siblings headed towards the tower, leaving Starlight to deal with whatever she found in the direction she was heading. ------- As Starlight trotted down the path she had decided to pick, before her siblings could voice their own opinions on her choice, she eventually spotted something - and someone - around the corner she came to. It was a green skinned person that had three fingers on each hand, wore what appeared to be a hippy shirt and shorts, had his feet tucked into some sandals, and was wearing a visor of some kind. She recognized the person from the various posters that she had seen Ratchet looking at from time to time, so she grinned as she approached the celebrity. "Skid McMarx!" Starlight called out, getting the attention of the celebrity as she approached him, "My family and I saw your distress call on Aridia's infobot." "Hey there little filly," Skid replied, seeming completely relaxed, despite the situation that he was in, "Did you see that epic space battle I was in?" "Of course I did!" Starlight remarked, glancing around them for a moment, "So, what happened?" "My agent and I were ambushed," Skid told her, rubbing the back of his head for a few seconds, "He kept telling me that they were fireworks, but who's laughing now? Actually, seeing how we were both shot down, I'm not laughing either. I'm sure that my agent is fine, but I'm actually having getting back to my ship, due to my sprained ankle and the local Sand Sharks." "Then let me clear the way for you!" Starlight exclaimed, pulling out her new Pyrocitor as she turned towards the area that the sharks were in, "I'll be back before you know it." The first area she walked into, which had been vacant of almost all life except for a green pod like thing, was swarming with sharks in a matter of seconds as they pulled themselves out of the sand. She turned her weapon on the sharks and pressed the lever, releasing a gout of flames that torched her targets and burned them to a crisp, to which she discovered that the pod like creatures spat out more of the sharks. As she used the weapon to burn the sharks around her, and get closer to the pods, she ignited her horn and picked up some of the burning patches of sand, to which she threw a fireball at the pods from afar. When the pod creature died, and the sharks around it were dead, she waited to be sure that no more of them were in the area, but after a few seconds she figured out that the pods were the key and focused on hunting them all down. She determined that wiping the pods out would make it possible for her to make a path that Skid could easily traverse, so that they could get to his ship without any problems. She moved around what appeared to be a rock column of some kind, burning the sharks that appeared in her way, before she levitated herself up to the top and found two more of the pods waiting for her. She then repeated her process of burning the sharks and using the flaming remains to form a fireball and blow the other creatures to pieces. One of the sharks got close to biting her, but she managed to pull herself back in time and snapped her Blaster out, putting a blast in the shark's head and opening the way forward. While she thought about how close she had come to getting hit she spotted an area off to the side that had another pod creature and a few more sharks, but considering that they were out of the way she didn't think that she needed to remove them. The final area she walked to had two more of the pod creatures, though as she started counting the fins she noticed that there were plenty of sharks roaming around in the sand. The instant she touched the sand the sharks burst out and came at her, forcing her to turn her new weapon on them and burn them to cinders. As she did so she kept her eyes on the pod creatures, waiting for enough cinders to gather around her before turning them into a fireball and burning the closest pod in seconds. With one down she turned her attention to the sharks, keeping them in her sight as she slowly prepared another fireball that would end this fight. Once she had charred the last pod creature, not counting the one that was out of the way, she returned to Skid and beckoned for him to follow her to his ship. "You have my thanks little filly," Skid remarked, opening his ship for a moment before looking for something, "Before you go, I have something that I want to give you... just let me find it." Starlight was excited to be meeting an actual celebrity, though she wondered how excited she would be when they eventually found Captain Qwark. She was surprised that Skid was even going to give her a reward for what she had done, though it made her wonder what the celebrity was going to be giving her. A few minutes passed, during which she watched Skid dig around the ship, before he pulled himself out of the ship and held a board out to her, one that looked different than the ones that most hoverboarders used. "This here is a Z3000 Deluxe Hoverboard," Skid told her, slipping the board into her pack before standing once more, "It isn't much, but its the only thing I can offer you in thanks for getting me back to my ship." "But i can't use it." Starlight stated, knowing that the board was made for someone with two legs and not four, though she had an idea of what she could do with it anyway. "I'm sure that you'll find a use for it," Skid remarked, opening the other side of his ship before sitting down, "I'll see you later little filly." Starlight stared at the celebrity for a moment, wondering if he was going to wait for a tow company or something, before she signed and headed back to her ship. Before she got very far she turned back to the celebrity and decided that it would be best if he at least knew her name, in the off chance that they saw each other in the future. "Its Starlight Glimmer," Starlight commented, causing Skid to look up at her for a moment, "My name is Starlight Glimmer, not 'little filly'. I'll see you around Skid." "Alright, I'll see you on the flip side," Skidreplied, a smile appearing on his face for a moment, "Starlight Glimmer." Starlight smiled and nodded her head for a moment, before heading towards the ship, knowing exactly what to do with the hoverboard and who would benefit from having it. ------------- Ratchet and Sunset followed the same path for a few minutes, either blasting or burning their enemies as they approached the tower, where they discovered the area that separated into two different paths. Once they had reached that point, and discovered that there wasn't any enemies in the area, they quickly determined who would be taking which path. Clank, knowing that this conversation was going to be coming up in advance, suggested that he and Ratchet take the tower, as Sunset didn't have something to prevent her from falling or give her the ability to glide. In the end Sunset determined that Clank was right and let Ratchet head forward, using his swingshot to access the tower, while she headed to the right, to see if she could find Skid's agent. "Are you worried about your sisters this time?" Clank asked, trying to engage Ratchet in conversation while they swung around the area, looking for the gadget that Sunset had been convinced would be here somewhere. "No, not really," Ratchet replied, landing on a platform and opening some of the nearby crates, collecting the bolts that he found, "Starlight is, as you have already discovered, one of Gadgetron's best weapon designers and she has quite a habit of making weapons that blow her enemies to pieces. Sunset, on the other hand, is also an apprentice with Gadgetron, but her field of expertise is that of the gadgets themselves, such as this Swingshot. When the three of us are separated from each other we can hold our own, and even overcome what's troubling us from time to time, until one of the others arrives to provide support. Together, however, we are definitely a force to be reckoned with." "You are exaggerating," Clank commented, detecting that his companion was telling him something that wasn't quite the whole truth. "Yeah, I was," Ratchet admitted, touching another platform as he looked around for the next target that would allow him to progress even further, all while not even attempting to hide the fact that he had exaggerated in his telling, "Clank, we've only just started our adventure, but I can tell you that my sisters and I will not allow Chairman Drek to get away with his plans. If Sunset is correct in believing that this gadget is necessary to our overall goal, and I'm willing to bet that she's right, then we had better collect it and get underway." Clank would have said more, but then Ratchet reached a chamber with a seemingly endless pit, so he remained quiet while Ratchet went from target to target. The two of them swung around the chamber, going from one side to the other before wrapping around the border, to which they crossed the chamber again and landed at what had to be the peak of the tower. He then walked into the middle of another chamber, where he found what appeared to be a hand held gadget with a few points sticking out of the front of it. He realized that he had no idea what the item he had found was, so he tapped his Gadgetron Help Desk and took a scan of the gadget, hoping that it was something that they had information on. That was when he discovered that this was a Trespasser, something that would allow him and his sisters to bypass the Invinco-Locks that were scattered across the galaxy. He had no idea if Sunset had actually worked on the gadget or not, but at the moment he approached the nearby activation pad and worked his way through the lock that had been placed at the end of the tower. With the way back to the tower's entrance revealed he and Clank began their descent back down to the beginning of the tower, so that they would return to the ship and meet up with his sisters. They both had to admit it; they were excited to see what Sunset and Starlight found on their respective paths. -------------- Sunset sighed as she stepped down the path that she had been left with, understanding why she had been assigned with this path while Ratchet took the tower. Clank allowed her brother to do more than she would do on her own, so she was determined to make something that could equal what the little robot was, though she knew that she may not get the chance to do so until they were done with Chairman Drek. Her mind already had several ideas on what she could make, and what she could use as a base if she could find the pieces intact, though she knew that when she and her siblings set out for the next planet she would have enough time to start making her plans. One of the construction robots leapt onto the walkway she was walking on and pointed its flamethrower at her, to which she sighed and put her own weapon away, pulling out her blade and letting the blade extend. As the robot's flames came at her she leapt over them and swung her sword at the robot's arm, severing its weapon before she threw it off the walkway, allowing it to sink into the mud. With the enemy dead she found that three more of them were currently standing in her way, to which she retracted her blade and pulled out her Blaster. With her weapon in hand she charged at the construction robots, either blasting them to pieces or doing enough damage to push them off the edge, where they'd sink into the mud. When she reached the elevator she rode it all the way down to the bottom of the tower, to which she found a few sharks that swam around in the sand and a few more construction robots blocking her way. She started blasting her way through her enemies, tossing the sharks aside as she focused on the robots, breaking them into pieces and opening the way forward. Every time she destroyed one of the robots, and the area around her was clear, she would kneel beside whatever was left of the robot and search for pieces that she could use. She managed to salvage a few pieces that she could use later on, mainly intact power modules, but there wasn't too much to speak of, thanks to several of the robots exploding when they died. She passed through a set of pipes and took out the two sharks that inhabited them, including the construction robot, before pulling herself around a ledge and up a set of smaller ledges that allowed her to leave the tower. She took around her, silently determining which direction she was supposed to go in, before she turned to her left and leapt over the small patch of sand that rested between her and the cannon. As she approached the cannon, to which she discovered a ramp thatrequired a pair of boots that she didn't have at the moment, she spotted someone finishing a call. "No signal what so ever!" the person exclaimed, angrily stomping his feet as he walked around, "This down time is killing me!" "Excuse me sir," Sunset said, putting away her weapons as the person turned towards her for a moment, knowing that this had to be Skid's agent, "do you require medical attention?" "Don't be so literal girl!" the man replied, waving his arms around while he spoke to her, "The problem is that I'm stranded on this backwater planet and my star client is nowhere to be found. I was Skid's agent, but I haven't seen him since our ship crashed. And an agent without a client is like a flea without a dog... say, like look like an athletic kid. If you can bring me the championship prize from the Hoverboard Races in Blackwater City I'll make you my next star!" Sunset, determining that the agent did not actually need any help, turned to leave him so she could return to the ship and see what her siblings found, before something came to mind and made her turn back to the agent for a moment. "For the record, I was asking if you sustained any injuries after you crashed," Sunset told the agent, to which he glared at her, likely because she was correcting what he had misinterpreted, "but I'll be on my way now." She left the agent along and found a transporter of some kind, one that wrapped around her and took her beneath the land, to which she came out near the ship. As she walked off of the second transporter she spotted both Ratchet and Starlight waiting near the ship, again making her wonder what they had found. She wasn't surprised to find that they were arguing over something, though as she approached she found out that it was merely who killed something first. "I told you that I killed a Sand Shark first!" Starlight told her brother, gesturing to her Pyrocitor for a moment, "I burned one of them alive the moment Skid McMarx told me that he needed help getting to his ship." "And while you were talking with Skid I killed one of those sharks myself," Ratchet replied, which Sunset knew was correct since she had seen it herself, "I'm sorry Starlight, but I got the first kill on this planet." "Ugh... fine, I give up," Starlight moaned, shaking her head as she noticed that Sunset had returned, "Oh, hey Sunset... how long have you been standing there?" "I only just got back," Sunset admitted, facing her siblings for a moment, "so, what did you guys find?" "I helped Skid McMarx get back to his ship," Starlight immediately responded, before igniting her magic and pulling out a hoverboard from her back, "and he gave me a Z3000 Deluxe Hoverboard as thanks for getting him to his destination. I also killed a bunch of sand sharks and the creatures that spawned them, so I've also earned a fair amount of bolts for getting rid the lot of them." "Oh lucky," Ratchet commented, referring to the hoverboard for a moment, before collecting himself and presenting what he had found, "I, on the other hand, found a Trespasser, a gadget that will allow us to essentially hack through any of the Invinco-Locks that we might find on our journey. I must say that you were right Sunset, there was an important gadget waiting for us on this planet... something that we likely needed to get to that lieutenant on Eudora." "Well then, both of these will likely be of some aid to us on our journey," Sunset said, a smile appearing on her face as she looked between the two items, "We had better get on our way to Eudora, otherwise we might miss that lieutenant and any information he might have on him." "Sunset, I have to apologize for not getting you anything for your birthday," Starlight suddenly said, ashamed that she had let her desire to build a powerful weapon make her forget to get her sister something for her special day, "so I want you to have the Z3000. Its going to be some time before there's a hoverboard that I can safely use without fear of falling over or hurting myself. I would have given it to Ratchet, but then he would brag about it and we'd never hear the end of it." Sunset knelt beside her sister and wrapped her arms around her, giving her a hug for even remembering to think about her birthday, even while she was busy making holo-plans. She honestly had no idea what she would do with the hoverboard, but she knew that, given time and some creative thinking, she'd be able to come up with something. She heard Ratchet moan thanks to Starlight telling them that he would brag if he had been given the board, to which she released her sister and picked up the board. With the board in hand, and all of their objectives cleared, the three of them returned to the ship, where Clank had prepared the ship for their next destination and was merely waiting for them to seat themselves before entering the code. The four of them were excited for the next planet; as there was a robot lieutenant to confront, valuable information to locate, and a lumber site to search for additional items to aid them in their quest.