The journey to Orxon was uneventful, though Sunset took the opportunity to relax in her seat and get some rest in before they arrived at the polluted world that Chairman Drek left behind. Starlight had been right about her feeling tired after testing her magic like she had done, but she understood that the reason she wasn't tired on Gaspar was because the bracelet had done all of the work for her. She had pretty much burned through her store of magic, as small as it actually was, and had no idea how to wield the power of her bracelet, so she had felt drained after her tests. She was determined to overcome that problem in the future, but for the moment she was resting so that she could be prepared for whatever they found on the almost deserted planet.
Starlight, on the other hand, was busy studying the images she had of the carnage her sister had left on Pokitaru, not to mention the readings that Clank had taken on Gaspar. She was trying to determine just how powerful her sister's awakening magical abilities were, though the destruction of Chairman Drek's compound still troubled her. Her sister barely knew how to use magic, so she shouldn't have been able to pull off that level of power, but the bracelet had given her the ability to do so. She needed to figure out the secrets of that golden bracelet and fast, before it gave Sunset the power to do something like she had done on Gaspar.
When they arrived on Orxon, where Clank continued to frown at the toxic air around them, Starlight closed her tablet and shook her sister for a few seconds, to which Sunset yawned and stretched her arms as she woke up.
"So, did anything happen while I was out?" Sunset asked, engaging her O2 Mask as her siblings did the same, before Ratchet opened the hatch and they started climbing out.
"Nope, you didn't miss anything." Starlight replied, looking around the environment with a hint of anger in her eyes, "We had an uneventful flight."
"Just looking at this planet is making me annoyed," Ratchet commented, his voice echoing the feelings that were racing through Starlight's body, "He did this to his own planet, yet instead of trying to fix his home he decides that its better to tear other planets apart and build another home for his people. Who knows how long that planet will last before it looks exactly like this one, polluted and filled with toxic air... and then the process we're trying to stop will begin again."
Clank had to admit it, but he hadn't been sure that Ratchet even cared about the other planets and that he merely wanted to get back at both Captain Qwark and Chairman Drek for what they did to his family. Now he was seeing another side of his companion that he didn't know even existed, a serious and calculated side that he assumed had been hidden while his sisters had become the stars of Gadgetron. Ratchet knew the serious nature of what they were dealing with, as Drek had a legion of soldiers at his command and a plan to tear every planet to pieces. Clank let a smile appear on his face for a moment, because now that he knew that all three of his companions definitely had their minds set on bringing Chairman Drek down.
"Then we had better stop Chairman Drek and fast," Clank said, climbing onto Ratchet's back as the siblings approached the edge of the landing pad, "before this becomes the fate of every planet that he touches."
They approached a platform that was near their ship, where they collected the bolts that dropped from the crates, but then they looked out over the distance that rested between them and the path they needed to take. Ratchet could easily glide down to the platform that would take them into the rest of the compound, but he knew that his sisters would have a tougher time following him. Sunset had the hoverboard, so he wasn't concerned about her, though when he thought about Starlight he wondered how far those stairs of hers could take her before they started to fail. Before he could say anything to either of them, so that they could form a plan on how to get down there together, Sunset pulled out her hoverboard and flew down to the ledge that Ratchet was staring at.
Ratchet chuckled as he and Starlight followed their older sister, though when the magical stairs appeared he didn't bother to use Clank's hoverpack as the two of them walked down to where Sunset was standing.
On the same platform that they landed on they found a creature that looked like one of the mutants that they found in Drek's Research Station, though behind it stood a force field. Ratchet beckoned to Starlight, who engaged her magic and levitated the creature into the air, before she pressed it against the field and destroyed it in a matter of seconds. With the field down, and the way forward open, the three of them advanced into the next area, but before they could reach that area they found a pair of birds that attacked them. Sunset's sword leapt into her hand and she cut them out of the air without a hint of hesitation, sheathing her blade as the two bodies hit the ground, opening the way forward once more.
As they crossed a small gap Starlight pulled out her Devastator and loosed a missile at a small blue creature, blowing it to pieces as the three creatures in the area around them woke up. As she trained her weapon on another target she spotted a minion sphere roll towards one of the other creatures, to which the little robots emerged from their home and wrecked havoc on the two creatures that she was facing. The last creature, the one that was the furthest from the next force field, received a missile to the face and was cut down in seconds, allowing them to open the way around the force field.
"I am so glad that you enjoy that Glove of Doom," Starlight commented, as they approached another weapon vendor and made sure that they were well stocked on ammo, "maybe I can customize it at some point in the future."
"I can't help it that your weapons are so good," Ratchet admitted, his eyes lingering on his sister's weapon icon, recalling the one weapon she had worked on and had taken some time ago, "So... um... do you mind if I use the RYNO? Maybe just this one time?"
Sunset wondered how her brother could ask Starlight if he could use the RYNO, after all the headache and annoyances she endured to get the weapon to begin with, but then her sister surprised her. Starlight merely chuckled to herself as she tapped the weapon icon, to which the RYNO appeared before her and she levitated it into her brother's hand. Ratchet looked at the massive rocket launcher he was holding now, as if he couldn't believe that she was simply handing it over to him for the moment without even asking why he wanted it.
"Go right ahead," Starlight said, catching something flying in the distance to the left of where they were standing, until she noticed that it was one of Drek's ships that was left behind to protect the madman's secrets, "and it seems like we have someone for you to use it on."
Ratchet spotted the airship and turned the massive weapon on the enemy, to which he pressed the trigger and loosed nine missiles that tore the ship to pieces before it could even move out of the way. Ratchet was pushed back for a moment, but he looked down at the weapon he was holding and grinned as he imagined the pain he could inflict on Chairman Drek with it. With the way clear they advanced up the path on their left, where they collected any bolts that they found before they entered the building that the path brought them to. They spotted another one of Drek's soldiers blocking their path, but Ratchet allowed Sunset to approach the enemy and cut him down with her sword.
They quickly made their way through the small building, getting rid of a few more of Drek's soldiers and a couple more of the mutants, before they were on the other side of the building. Once they were outside they took down the soldier that was standing in their way, including the four birds that were flying around him, with one set of missiles from the RYNO. Starlight had to admit that giving the weapon to Ratchet for the moment was a good idea, because it gave her a chance to truly study the weapon while it was in use and determine what she could do for the next model she was currently making. Another airship appeared in their path, but it was torn to shreds by another grouping of RYNO missiles and allowed the three of them to move on.
The next area they came to had a lot of the red mutated creatures sleeping everywhere, but this time both Sunset and Starlight moved to the side and allowed their brother to step forward. Ratchet grinned as he pressed the trigger and moved forward, raining a hail of missiles upon the mutants that were in his way, blowing them to pieces and tearing down the barrier that they soon came to. While that was happening Starlight continued to take notes, nodding every now and then when she noticed that the prototype was living up to the specifications she had built into the weapon. Ratchet barely paused as he leapt over the gap that rested behind the barrier, where the weapon tore down the two mutants that were sleeping in front of a set of platforms.
They came to a set of gas containers, protected by a duo of soldiers, but instead of using the RYNO to remove them Ratchet moved out of the way as Starlight loosed two Devastator missiles, blowing them apart as they moved towards the next building. They came to a elevator pad that took them into the building, where they passed through a doorway and entered an area that had breathable air, allowing them to disengage their O2 Masks for a few moments. In the middle of the room they found what appeared to be a vendor, though it had the symbol for nanotech on the front of it and they approached it without wasting a second.
"What do you suppose this is?" Ratchet asked, while Clank removed himself from his back and looked at the machine as well, almost as if he was studying it.
"It is a nanotech dispenser," Clank replied, wondering how he had the file for the machine in his memory banks, but decided not to question it at the moment, "This machine sells Premium and Ultra Nanotech, which are specially designed drinks that increase the nanotech of whoever drinks them... useful for making sure that you don't do down in the middle of a touch fight."
Ratchet and his sisters shared a look between themselves for a moment, wondering if it was worth the bolts to buy a pair of them for each of them as they usually didn't take a hit, before they each sighed and went ahead with the purchase. Clank, on the other hand, insisted that they let him fiddle with the machine, where they discovered that he had somehow hacked into the machine and had made the purchases free. Ratchet would have said that it was unfair of his companion to do that, but considering that the bolts would have done to Chairman Drek and his evil plans, which none of them agreed with, he decided that it was fair that they robbed their enemy... again.
With the nanotech drinks downed, and their nanotech raised quite a bit, the three of them turned around and backtracked to the vendor that Ratchet had asked for the RYNO at, as they decided to retrace their steps instead of gliding over the gap once more. Once they returned to the vendor they turned towards the other path, where they found a mutant that was sleeping above another group of mutants. Ratchet, eager to get off the planet, turned on the RYNO and started blowing the mutants to pieces, before turning it on the mutants that were resting before a metal rail. He spotted an Infobot floating behind the second group of mutants, but the moment the missiles hit the ground it moved out of the way and flew to some other area in the compound.
"Okay, that's enough of that," Starlight said, levitating the RYNO out of her brother's hands before he accidentally blew the Infobot to pieces, or the rail system for that matter, "I think you've had enough fun with this for now."
"Yeah... I think I might have gone overboard," Ratchet admitted, rubbing the back of his head for a moment, "but you did a good job designing that weapon. I can't wait to see what you do if Mr. Gadget commissions you to make a second RYNO weapon."
Ratchet, being the only one to possess a pair of Magneboots, walked on the rail while his sisters took Starlight's magical stairs to the end of the rail, where they took out the enemies that were waiting for them. Ratchet would have complained about the arrangement, but they had determined that there might be something laying around they could use in the future, be it the Infobot they were chasing or another gadget. Once Ratchet had rejoined his sisters they took down the barrier that was standing in front of them, allowing them to Swingshot across the gap and reach another platform.
Once they landed Ratchet went on the offensive, loosing the little robots from the Glove of Doom upon their enemies while firing missiles at the ones that were further away. Starlight made notes on how her brother fought, wondering how many weapons she could make that would aid him in dispatching his enemies much faster. She knew that she could modify his current weapons to do that, but she could only take it so far at the moment and kept any weapon ideas in her tablet for the future. Sunset, on the other hand, found it strange how destructive her brother could be at times, though she had to reflex on the events of Gaspar and knew that she wasn't any better.
As they turned a corner they found another group of mutants waiting for them, but this time Sunset, having studied how her sister used her magic, waved her hand and several small fireballs flew through the air, smiting the mutants that were in front of them. Ratchet and Starlight waited for a moment, to be sure that Sunset hadn't overdone it with her magic again, but when she didn't fall over they knew that she was limiting herself to the smaller magical abilities.
They climbed a set of steps, after smashing another spinning sphere, and took out the mutants that were resting at the top, though before they turned the corner Sunset held a hand up to stop them. Once they had stopped she peeked around the corner, seeing at least two more of the mutants resting in front of another barrier with one of the blue mutants sleeping between them. She beckoned to Ratchet and indicated that he should use the minions once more, to which two spheres went forward and the eight minions tore the group of enemies to pieces. The moment the group of enemies were done for they smashed the spheres to pieces, dropping the barrier that the mutants were resting in front of and revealing what else they had to deal with.
Six more of the mutants stood in their path, with the Infobot floating above them, so they each pulled out their Devastators and started loosing missiles at their enemies. The mutants leapt up the moment they were under attack, but before any of them could even reach their targets they were all dead and the way was clear. During the fall of the mutants another airship appeared at the end of the platform, but the combined missile barrage tore the ship to pieces before it could even fire at them. They rounded the corner and found two more of the mutants waiting for them, but they were also removed from the area by the Devastator, allowing the three of them to approach the Infobot. The little robot flew up to the top of the shaft they were in, to which Starlight sighed and levitated them into the air, following after their only lead on what Drek was doing.
Once they got their hands on the Infobot they learned that Chairman Drek had finally determined the perfect location where they could move their new planet to, though the robot didn't say where that location was. Drek seemed pleased with the discovery, though made the comment that they were going to destroy the planet that was currently inhabiting their new planet's 'perfect orbit'. The picture then zoomed out to something that he called the 'PlanetBuster Maximus', which was apparently a massive bomb that was designed for the singular purpose that was the destruction of whatever planet it was dropped on.
"Okay then, its time that we pay Planet Hoven a visit," Ratchet growled, annoyed that Drek was planning on blowing up whatever planet that was occupying the orbit that he wanted his planet to have, "and destroy this 'PlanetBuster Maximus'. Then we'll find out where Drek's hiding and take him out once and for all."
Sunset, Starlight, and Clank agreed with Ratchet, so they dropped to the walkway below where they were standing and made their way back to their ship. Once they were inside, and the hatch was closed behind them, Clank set the coordinates for their next destination and Ratchet got them underway, so they could put an end to another of Drek's plans.
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Chairman Drek stood in his private study, where the table had been fixed after he had ripped it out of the floor, and stared out at the vast space around him. He had heard the report of his toxin dumpers being destroyed above Pokitaru, which had annoyed him more than he was willing to admit, but then the ball entered his court. He just received confirmation that the 'heroes' had found the Infobot containing the coordinates for Hoven, and the PlanetBuster Maximus, and he knew that they would be heading there next. It gave him and his scientists plenty of time to finish building the second planet destroying weapon, the Deplanetizer, and get everything in place.
He had also ordered Captain Qwark to take care of his mess, though in preparation for the heroes surviving Hoven, and he was fairly confident that they'd make it off that planet alive, he had given the fallen Captain a ship that would destroy the heroes. Though if the heroes died on Hoven, which he and his scientists had determined was unlikely, he had a back up plan to self destruct the ship he had given Qwark and kill the other annoyance as well. Either the heroes would survive and destroy Qwark later on, or Qwark would destroy them in combat, or they died on Hoven and he blew Qwark to pieces.
Drek smiled as he looked out at the stars around him; whichever way the dice fell he would wipe the board of all the enemies and annoyances that opposed him. And then, once they were all gone, he would continue with his plans and move the new planet into position... once the other planet was out of the picture anyway.