//------------------------------// // R/C: Kalebo III // Story: Ratchet and Clank: The Starlight of Solana // by Blackdrag-rose //------------------------------// Both Starlight and Sunset hated being right most of the time, because when they followed Ratchet's ship down to Gadgetron Headquarters they spotted a large amount of Chairman Drek's ships hovering in the air above Gadgetron. It didn't take them long to guess what was happening, because many of the ships had their guns trained on the buildings below them and started firing at anything that wasn't on their side. They had joked that Drek didn't have the balls to attack Gadgetron, not with the defenses that they both contributed to building over the last few months, but seeing the Blarg launching a full scale attack against their employer and colleagues angered them. Even Ratchet, who wasn't employed with the company, was angered by the sight before them, to which he wished that either of their ships had weapons to fire back at them... which they didn't at the moment. Clank, on the other hand, was disgusted by what his maker was doing, so much so that he wished that Sunset's feral side would emerge for an hour or two and decimate the Blarg that were attacking Gadgetron. As both ships drew closer to the planet's surface Clank's reading finished, to which he noticed something odd that he was sure he must have misread. "Are Gadgetron's shields and cannons supposed to be turned off?" Clank asked over the intercom, wondering if either Sunset or Starlight knew the answer to the question. "No... why do you ask?" Starlight replied, though by the tone of her voice she knew that something was up if Clank had mentioned the shields being offline. "Because my readings indicate that both the shields and their primary cannons have been turned off," Clank replied, reviewing the scans that he was looking at, trying to figure out what was happening, "And, to make matters worse, the secondary weapons are either offline or malfunctioning." Both Sunset and Starlight were silent for a moment, glancing at each other while they used their tablets to quickly convey a set of questions and answers to each other. A few minutes later they came to the same conclusion, one that they both agreed on because there was only one way that something, like an attack on Gadgetron Headquarters, could happen. "The only way that this could be possible is if one of our own betrayed us," Starlight finally replied, though in her head she was already thinking back to Professor Nora and wondering if she was behind this attack, "The only people with the codes necessary to turn off the shields, not to mention the primary cannons and secondary weapons, are Sunset, myself, the Department Heads, and Mr. Gadget himself. One of the Department Heads must have betrayed us... though figuring out which one of them did so will have to wait until we're done with this invasion." As the ships landed on the landing pad Ratchet took stock of the current situation, worried about the sheer number of enemies that were currently attacking Gadgetron, while they were unable to fight back. He knew that Drek had to be desperate to defeat them if he was attacking the manufacturer of the galaxy's weapons, all because his soldiers couldn't take out a group of combat trained civilians. With Gadgetron currently under attack he knew that there wouldn't be any new weapons for purchase, though when they exited their ships and approached the vendor he breathed a sigh of relief when he discovered that they could still restock their ammo before beginning to repel the invaders. He also noted that the eerie eyes that Sunset had on the moon base were back, but this time she didn't appear like she was going to assume a feral position and attack their enemies... though he decided to wait and see if he was right or not. Though after a few seconds, during which both he and Starlight pulled out their weapons so they could get underway, he noticed that Sunset had yet to pull out any of her weapons. "Time to teach Chairman Drek a lesson," Sunset commented, pulling out the hilt of her blade sword and extending the blade, her eyes barely leaving the trio of soldiers that were guarding the deactivated electric gate, to prevent her and her family from providing aid to Gadgetron. Sunset walked forward, but as she did so Ratchet noticed that she wasn't gathering her magical energy like she had done on the previous they had visited, as if she wasn't going to use any of her spells this time. He cast a look at Starlight, wondering if she knew something about what their sister was doing, but by the look on her face it was clear that she was more focused on figuring out who was behind lowering the shields and deactivating the weapons. He gulped as he wondered what destruction his sister would rain down on their enemies before they caught up... and the damage that she would cause to the buildings themselves. He turned back to Sunset and watched as she disappeared from where she was standing, only to reappear in front of one of the soldiers as if she had been aided by a gust of wind. She immediately struck the soldier in the chest with her sword, but before anything else happened a ripple effect occurred and the wind sliced the other two soldiers that were flying around her to pieces. As she landed on the walkway she turned towards the next section of the bridge and found some bomb spheres waiting in their way, but before she could do anything a Visibomb missile flew into the middle of them and blew all six of the to pieces. She glanced back and found that Ratchet had the gun responsible for the destruction in his hands, though she smiled and nodded as she turned to the soldiers that trained their guns on her. Another trio of soldiers appeared in their way, though this time Sunset stopped in her tracks as her siblings used their Devastators to remove the soldiers and open the way for them to enter the building. When they walked inside the building they discovered that the way to Mr. Gadget's office was sealed off by an electric wall, one that both Sunset and Starlight knew would be hard to penetrate with their arsenal of weapons. Sunset wondered if her magic could penetrate the field, but considering everything that had already happened with her new powers she wasn't willing to risk more damage to the buildings. "Damn it all," Starlight nearly shouted, pounding her hoof on the electric field for a moment in vain, "One of the Department Heads has to have betrayed us, because only one of them has the capabilities to activate this barrier... we'll have to go the long way around." They turned towards the path on the right of the buildings entrance, as the left took them away from their true destination, and found a massive amount of robotic mutts waiting for them. Above them floated another one of the soldiers, but as he trained his gun on their location Sunset's sword pierced his chest and knocked him to the ground. As the mutts looked at them Ratchet moved forward and pulled out his Pyrocitor, before turning the weapon on and burning their enemies to cinders. Once the mutts had been dealt with the three of them walked into the next building, where Sunset grabbed her sword before they passed through the door. Sunset and Starlight were expecting the testing room to be offline due to the attack, but when they were all inside the room the doors closed and trapped them inside they knew something was up. When the doors opened and the testing robots came out with their holding area they knew that something was wrong, because they weren't supposed to attack employees at all. They started throwing bombs at the three of them, to which they had to dodge for a few seconds before they pulled out their own Bomb Gloves and returned fire on the testing robots. It took them a few minutes to get rid of the endless waves of testing robots that called this testing room home, but when they finally cleared out their enemies the doors opened and allowed them to move forward. Sunset growled as she glanced around them, her mind working as she wondered if she and Starlight were correct in their assumptions... though she also agreed that they had to wait until they were done saving Gadgetron before they could figure out who the traitor was. "Okay, now I believe you guys," Ratchet commented, glancing around the testing room for a moment as they started walking towards the ladder that would allow them to move forward, "Someone besides Chairman Drek is trying to get rid of us." Sunset and Starlight merely nodded their heads as they climbed the ladder, Sunset using her magic to simply leap to the top while Starlight floated herself up there as Ratchet climbed. When they reached the top they found another group of soldiers waiting for them, though as they started firing their missiles at them Sunset merely shrugged and Starlight snapped a shield to protect them. Ratchet pulled out the Visibomb and turned to a corner, using the angles to get a well place missile into the middle of their enemies and take them out without them seeing it coming. Once they had dealt with the group of soldiers Sunset turned her attention to the small gap that they had to cross, where the electric field was also deactivated at the moment. Starlight assembled a small walkway for them to use, so that way they didn't have to waste time using their other tools and gadgets in crossing the gap. Inside the next building they found a group of eight bomb spheres, though as they activated the self destruct sequence Ratchet pulled out his Walloper and smashed through them as if they were made of paper. The three of them took a moment to gather themselves as they stood outside the second testing room that had been built around the Headquarters, just in case this one was also a trap. When they walked in the doors slammed shut and the testing robots, this time equipped with the Walloper, poured into the room to attack them, just like the robots in the previous testing room had done. Sunset, not wanting to waste time on the robots, slammed her hands together and took a breath, before she unleashed a force of wind that pushed all of them backwards. It gave her siblings time to whip out their Devastators again and start loosing missiles, tearing into the downed robots before they even had a chance to pick themselves back up. The moment all of the robots had been dealt with, rather quickly Clank mentally added, the doors opened and they walked out of the second testing room. They walked out onto the balcony area of the second testing room and found four robotic mutts waiting for them, but as Sunset raised her weapon to deal with them a trio of soldiers leapt out of a ship above them and started firing at her and her siblings. Starlight threw up a shield before the missiles could reach them, though she frowned at the soldiers as Ratchet readied his Devastator once more... to which she also noticed that Sunset was doing the same. "I thought you were going to forsake weapons now that you had magic!" Starlight teased, knowing that her sister could very well change into a person who didn't need to rely on weapons, not with how potent her newfound magic actually was. "Maybe when I've built up some endurance with my magic," Sunset replied, popping out of the shield with Ratchet and firing a barrage at the soldiers, taking them out of the sky in an instant, "I can use one really powerful spell, or five or six weaker ones, before I'm out of juice and have to resort to weapons again... and I've still got a few more weak spells I can use before that happens." Once Starlight lowered the shield she and Sunset leapt across the small gap in front of them, landing on a platform that had four bomb spheres waiting for them. As his sisters moved to the platform Ratchet stayed behind, making a note of what his sisters had said and wondering just how much he didn't know about Sunset's newfound magical abilities. Sunset seemed to be restricting herself in terms of her magic at the moment, so she didn't faint like the last time she had used her powers, though Ratchet was still amazed what she could do with one well placed spell. "I'll say it again, but she scares me sometimes." Clank commented, engaging the Helipack as Ratchet jumped the gap as well. Ratchet nodded his silent agreement to Clank's statement as he approached his sisters, where they restocked their ammo before planning out their next move. They found five more of the bomb spheres waiting in front of the next deactivated barrier, to which Sunset turned to Ratchet and pointed at the Visibomb Gun he was holding. He nodded and took aim at the middle of the group of bombs, loosing the missile and sending it right into the center of the group, where it exploded and removed all of the bombs in a single instant. Once the coast was clear they engaged their Swingshots and swung over the gap, swinging into the open passageway where Ratchet landed on a rail that took him to the next platform. Sunset and Starlight teleported to him as he engaged the robotic mutts that were running around the platform, removing them from their path before they entered the third testing room. As with the last two testing rooms this one also closed its doors and loosed the testing robots, armed with the Pyrocitors this time, before they turned their weapons on them. Ratchet had his sisters protect themselves with a shield as he loosed a few minion spheres, summoning a swarm of little minions that tore their enemies to pieces. Once the area was clear, and the doors were open again, he switched to the Visibomb again and took aim at the soldiers that were waiting on the other side of the testing room. As he took out the soldiers with the Visibomb he got a glance at what was waiting for them, taking note of the group of bomb spheres and the robotic mutts that were walking on the walkway. He beckoned to his sisters, who took down the shield that was protecting them and ran towards the opening, where Starlight took hold of one of the robotic mutts and smashed it into the rest of them before crushing it in her magical hold. Sunset, on the other hand, pulled out her Walloper again and took care of the bomb spheres, smashing them to pieces before the three of them could safely move on. She did, however, notice that another Blarg ship had arrived and was letting off more soldiers, though this time it stayed in position and started firing at them. She leapt back as the ship targeted her, though as she did so a group of RYNO missiles flew through the air and tore into both the ship and the three soldiers that were flying around the area, obliterating all of them in an instant. "I was getting annoyed with them," Starlight commented, lowering the RYNO for a moment as she and Ratchet caught up with Sunset, to which Sunset raised an eyebrow at her, "What? I wanted to see if the Blarg could stand a chance against us without me using my best weapon... though I guess if I did use it we'd already be done with this invasion and be on our way back to Quartu." "It seems like we've crushed the invasion anyway," Ratchet said, turning towards the open area that stood between them and where Mr. Gadget was supposed to be waiting, "Now then, let's get our hands on the gadget we came for and see what Chairman Drek has hiding in his factory." Once the words left his mouth the doors on either side of them opened and more of the testing robots came out, each wielding one of the three weapons that the previous robots used against them. Ratchet sighed and threw out the remainder of his minion spheres, to which he and his sisters watched as the little minions surged out of their homes and decimated the robots that were trying to hurt them. When the smoke cleared they found that the entirety of the testing robots had been destroyed, opening the final door that would allow them to make sure that Mr. Gadget was alright. As they walked forward the three of them had their weapons at the ready, in the off chance that one of the Blarg had taken the CEO of Gadgetron hostage or that some of them might be guarding him under Chairman Drek decided his fate. They found Mr. Gadget standing in the middle of a small chamber, though he had some tools around him as if he was trying to determine how to fix the shielding problem. "Mr. Gadget! Its good to see that your alright," Sunset commented, putting her weapons away as her siblings did the same, while her boss turned and looked at them. "Ah, Sunset and Starlight, I was wondering when you would arrive," Mr. Gadget said, standing up and dusting himself off as he turned to face them, "and I see that you and your brother have dealt with the invading Blarg. Good work on defending Gadgetron from Chairman Drek's assault. I have been trying to fix the defenses ever since the invasion started, but for some reason I haven't been able to repair or fix anything." "Well then, maybe we can figure out what's happening," Starlight replied, pulling out her tablet as she started running a scan on the actual defense systems, "I assume you have some ideas as to who did this?" "Better, I have a note of confession from the person responsible for this outrage!" Mr. Gadget stated, showing the note to Sunset while Starlight worked on the systems, "It seems that Chairman Drek bought out Professor Nora's loyalty and ordered her to deactivate our defenses, which she was pleased with doing according to that note. She assumed that the soldiers were going to destroy this compound and kill everyone that worked here, so she wanted to make sure I knew who was responsible for the attack before I died. I'll have to send the authorities after her once the defenses are back online... though I'll have to make sure that none of the other Department Heads have been corrupted by Chairman Drek as well." "Well then, I guess we got our answer Sunset," Starlight said, sighing for a moment because she had hoped that none of her colleagues would betray them like this, "and... done. It seems all Professor Nora did was overcharge the system and corrupt the data, making it impossible for someone to repair the system if they didn't have a replacement file on hand. She should have known that I'd be able to repair the damage she caused to the system with ease, but then again she was planning on this place being decimated by the time we came to save the day." "Its good to have our systems back online," Mr. Gadget commented, holding out three gadgets for the three of them to take, "Here, I want each of you to have your own Hologuise... so you can figure out where Chairman Drek is and end this madness beforehe does something that's not repairable." "Like blowing up a planet?" Ratchet stated, accepting the gadget and staring at it for a moment. "Especially like blowing up a planet." Mr. Gadget replied, waving his hands in a motion that would get them going, "Now, go figure out where your enemy is and do whatever you need to do to stop him... I, on the other hand, will focus on finding Professor Nora and bring her to justice for her crimes against Gadgetron." Starlight nodded before she and her siblings left where Mr. Gadget was standing, who had immediately started making calls the moment he had finished telling them what they needed to do. The moment they were away from their employer they crossed the walkways in front of the building and returned to their ships, which had been completely untouched by the invasion. Clank got the pair of ships started and set their course for Planet Quartu, where they would finally figure out where Chairman Drek was going and which planet he was planning on destroying. ------------------------------------- Chairman Drek cracked the tablet that he had been holding when his head scientist gave him the news that his top soldiers had failed to destroy both Gadgetron and the meddlesome 'heroes' that were quickly coming his way. He was annoyed that even his best underlings were getting slaughtered by combat trained civilians, who shouldn't have been aware of what was coming their way until it was too late. He glanced at the Deplanetizer that was following his fleet, knowing that it was the key to breaking the 'heroes' that were following him, before turning back to his head scientist. "Send the order to the rest of my forces and have them meet me at the requested location," Drek angrily stated, to which the scientist nodded to him, "I want every soldier in my employ waiting at the planet's surface when I arrive. Those 'heroes' will be upon us soon, so I want to be sure that we give them something that they cannot overcome... and then, when they're beaten and bloody, I'll obliterate them and their pitiful planet." He knew that he had still won in the end, but in the off chance that the rest of his army couldn't defeat the troublesome 'heroes' he had some modifications made to the suit of armor that he used whenever he went into the field. In the end he had still won this war with the lombax Ratchet, the failed warbot, the unicorn called Starlight, and the cazar named Sunset... and soon they would be a distant memory.