Everyone was pleased that they had brought an end to the 'Protopet Invasion' on Planet Damosel, as the news was already referring to the incident by that name, but instead of taking a break and celebrating they focused on making sure that they were ready for whatever waited for them on Grelbin. This was one of the few planets that Angela actually had any previous experience with, which was understandable considering that it was her home world and that she likely spent most of her time in the labs when she was working for Megacorp. Starlight noticed that Angela likely spent the weeks leading up to her theft of the Protopet planning out her entire plan and researching all the necessary chemicals that would allow her to dispose of it.
She was also sure that Angela was annoyed, because all of her planning was ruined thanks to Mr. Fizzwidget cloning the Protopet and leaving the clone in place of the original one... which they knew had to be in the Headquarters somewhere.
"So, what can you tell us about your home world Angela?" Ratchet asked, knowing that Angela could likely tell them something important about the planet that they were heading towards, "What can we expect to find on the planet's surface?"
"Well, Grelbin's an icy planet and is well known for its massive ice planes," Angela replied, leaning her head back for a moment as she remembered bits and pieces of her home world, "I guess that you could say that its similar to Tabora, where Megacorp left a mining facility behind after they started digging for Moonstones and other valuable gemstones. They were forced to back off for some time when the leviathans that called the ice planes home attacked them, though their solution to that problem was to create another genetically modified race... only this one I didn't help create.
Megacorp created a race of creatures they referred to as Y.E.T.I.'s, though whatever its name stands for I have no idea, and they released them on Grelbin with the express purpose of eradicating the leviathans. From what I could gather from the archives was that there was a error or glitch when they were made, so instead of hunting down the large leviathans they turned to protecting them and the Moonstones that Megacorp wanted to harvest. I believe its easy to say that Megacorp was forced to leave the planet alone entirely, though it gave me the perfect place to settle down and not worry about other people bothering me all the time.
Not that it really mattered anyway, considering that I spent most of my time in the genetic department and was working on fixing the Protopet... and, as a personal side project, I might have spent some time researching for some way to restore the Y.E.T.I.'s to their original function."
Ratchet nodded and looked over at Starlight for a moment, who had been taking notes on what Angela had told them and was beginning her own research on the creatures that they had been told about. They needed to be as prepared as they possibly could for when they reached their destination, because if Megacorp had been forced off of the planet then they would need every advantage they could get. Ratchet then looked back at Sunset, who had taken to looking at her own tablet as if she was working on something as well, though whatever that something was he had absolutely no idea. He was sure that she might be working on something that was linked to Searing, which would make sense considering that all of them were annoyed with the creature whenever she showed up.
He also knew that Searing was linked to the golden bracelet that his sister wore all the time, though it seemed that the multiple layers of magic that both Sunset and Starlight had used seemed to work wonders on keeping the demon trapped. He wondered what it would take for them to be rid of Searing, once and for all anyway, though even as he thought about it he realized that the options available were none existent, so it was better to leave the demon alone for now.
When they finally reached Grelbin Ratchet landed their ship just outside the mining facility that had been left behind, though as they touched down he noticed that something had crossed Angela's face. It was clear that she must have had systems in place to inform her about anything that might have happened while she was away, so he had to wonder what was making her more annoyed at the moment. Or, after a few seconds of thought, he decided that it might be news from Ivan that she was looking at, which could also explain why she was more annoyed than usual.
"Is something wrong?" Ratchet asked, letting Starlight and Sunset out so they could see if Megacorp had any additional weapons available for purchase, though he assumed that there wouldn't be any.
"The robots guarding the part of the facility that connects to my place have gone haywire," Angela growled, before she let out a sigh and turned to Ratchet for a moment, "Usually you'd be able to teleport inside the facility, walk along a path without being shot at, and then come out the other side and approach the door in about ten minutes. Now we have no choice but to find the missing fragment of the Hypnomatic and make the device... otherwise we won't be able to get into Megacorp Headquarters and fix the Protopet problem."
"Then we had better get started with our search," Clank commented, allowing himself to be latched on Ratchet's back as he spoke, "because there is no telling how long it will be before Megacorp tries to attack another planet with those little blue monsters."
"Which was why I wanted to get my hands on the original Protopet," Angela explained as she and Ratchet walked up to the weapon vendor, where they started restocking all of the ammunition they spent on Damosel, "I could have bought the galaxy enough time and perfected the Protopet's design, but you know how that song and dance went by now. All we can do now is get the Helix-o-Morph, my old Megacorp ID Card, and then we can begin planning our assault on the Headquarters... though I honestly hate saying that I'm basically declaring war on the people who hired me. It just feels... wrong."
Ratchet nodded his understanding to Angela as they restocked their weapons, though that got him thinking about what could have happened if either Starlight or Sunset had been forced to stop Gadgetron from doing something stupid like this. Suffice to say that he figured the main Headquarters would have been destroyed if his sisters had to do what Angela was going through, or the entirety of Kalebo III if they had to go further than what Angela was doing.
Once they had restocked their ammunition, and checked to be sure that they were fully prepared, the group walked into the icy planes in front of them, though it wasn't long before they found something that caught their attention. There was what appeared to be a small camp site of sorts not far from where they landed their ship, though it was surrounded by floating crystals that seemed to something. Starlight and Sunset knew that the crystals did something, thanks to their exposure to their cousins on Tabora, so they had to wonder what impressive feats these Moonstones were capable of performing. They also noticed that the same old man from the desert planet was also here, though he was standing beside a icy boulder that was blocking one of the entrances that connected to the mining facility.
As they approached the boulder the man turned towards them, to which everyone, including Angela, had to wonder if he would say anything that would aid them in their quest to find the missing Hypnomatic fragment.
"Violence is not the answer," the old man said, beckoning to their weapons and then pointing to the boulder, which clearly meant that they couldn't force their way through the boulder with their weapons, "I, however, am able to move the rock. But for me to do that the forces of the universe must align..."
Starlight sighed and ignited her magic, wrapping several strands around the boulder before she tore it free from where it was resting and chucked it into the icy planes around them. The old man shook his head and stared at them, as if he was annoyed with them and was making no effort to show them his emotions, though Ratchet wondered if there was something else he was going to tell them.
"...I have also found a piece of something called a Hypnomatic," the old man told them, as he made his way back to the chair that was in the middle of the camp site, "You may have it in exchange for some Moonstones. Twenty-five to be exact."
Angela sighed and beckoned everyone to follow her into the entrance that Starlight had opened for them, though when they were inside the building it became clear that only Ratchet would be able to progress through this part.
"Look, I know there aren't a lot of Moonstones around where we landed the ship," Angela explained, pulling up her own map of the area and pointing to an area that was currently blocked off, "so we'll have to go through this area and unlock the walkways that will give us access to the rest of the ice planes. Ratchet, seeing how you're the only one with a gilder you'll have to go through this by yourself and meet us on the other end... we'll start collecting Moonstones and keep in contact with you until you come back."
Ratchet looked back at his sisters for a moment, wondering if Angela even knew about the fact that Starlight had the ability to levitate herself without straining her body at all, but decided that it wasn't worth mentioning. Starlight nodded to him as she pointed a hoof to her communicator, which led Ratchet to smile as he approached the launch pad that would allow him to activate the glider. He knew that Starlight would likely be joining him further in the facility, so they could get done with this task as quickly as possible, and that would leave Sunset to collect Moonstones with Angela. It was for the best, because they all knew what would happen to Sunset if she used too much of her magic after just recovering from her last dance with Searing.
Ratchet sighed as he got the glider ready; they needed to figure out how to stop Searing and give Sunset control once more... without seriously harming their sister in the process. He then leapt forward and extended the glider's wings, allowing him to sail forward as he began the trek through the underground mining facility. As he moved away from the opening he heard the sound of magic activating and knew that Starlight was following him to the end of the passage, where they could begin the search for the button or lever that would allow them to access the rest of the ice planes.
Angela, on the other hand, turned to face Sunset with a look on her face, as if she expected her to suddenly activate her magic and follow after her siblings.
"Are you going to follow them or not?" Angela asked, wondering why she had bothered to make a plan if Starlight was going to ignore it in the end.
"Nope... we're going hunting for Moonstones," Sunset replied, drawing her sword as she turned back to the teleport pad that had brought them into the facility, "Let them have their fun."
Angela sighed as she followed Sunset outside, though she knew that they could at least collect a few of the Moonstones before Ratchet and Starlight activated the walkways.
Ratchet let out a sigh of relief as both he and Starlight landed at the end of the passage they had flown through, because there had been some hazards that he wasn't expecting to find along the way. He had managed to avoid all of the falling ice spikes and stay above the lava, though he knew that if he was in trouble his sister would have saved him in the end. The way forward was, unfortunately, blocked by a circular steel door, which the two of them knew that Starlight could bypass on her own, but then Ratchet noticed a hacking terminal and used the Infiltrator on it. Once the door was unlocked and out of their way the two of them pulled out their weapons and carefully walked forward, not knowing if there were enemies nearby or not.
It didn't take them long to figure out what their enemies were, as the robots that Angela had mentioned earlier turned towards them and started firing at them before they even had a chance to take stock of how many there were. Starlight snapped a shield into existence before the attacks could hit them, to which she and Ratchet returned fire the moment the robots were done trying to hit them. The pair of robots that were in front of them fell within seconds, though the instant they fell four more arrived in the room, from their spawn chambers, and continued the attack. That was when Ratchet switched to the Plasma Coil and tore the robots to pieces with one of the charges, though as their pieces were discarded he waited to be sure that there were no more coming to fight them.
When he noticed that the robots weren't coming to fight them anymore, and that they were alone for the moment, he beckoned to Starlight and the two of them moved into the next room. That was when they discovered that there was a larger group of robots that wanted them dead, because the moment they walked into the next chamber the robots turned and fired at them. This time Starlight didn't summon a shield as they ducked behind two mine carts, where they waited for a few seconds before popping their heads out of their hiding spots and returning fire at the closest enemies. More enemies appeared in the chamber as some of the robots were taken care of, just like in the last chamber, though the two of them had been expecting this and used their ammunition accordingly.
As the last robot fell the next door opened, though when they walked through it they were, once again, attacked by the robots that patrolled the area, once again making them hide behind the mine carts. This time, however, they loosed charge after charge from their Plasma Coils, breaking each and every robot that came into the chamber into a pile of pieces. When they had emptied their weapons they switched back to their Minirocket Tubes and waited for more enemies to show up, though when nothing came out of the walls Starlight pressed the button that was resting behind them and opened the door in front of them.
They then took the teleport pad out of the facility, where they appeared in a chamber that had an armor vendor and another terminal that required the Infiltrator to get through. Ratchet sighed and made short work of the Infiltrator terminal, opening the door so they could return to their ship and no doubt opened the walkways that Angela had mentioned earlier. As the two of them restocked their ammunition, however, Ratchet noticed some flames moving in the distance, which was followed by them colliding with what he assumed was something breathing a stream of ice at something else.
"Is that what I think it is?" Ratchet asked Starlight, knowing that his sister was more skilled in determining what was happening than he was able to.
"It seems like Sunset's feeling much better," Starlight commented, a grin appearing on her face as she walked down the walkway beside them, "Come on, let's see how many Moonstones they've managed to recover while we were inside the facility."
They found Angela standing behind a boulder while Sunset was battling one of the leviathans that called the icy planes home, though Ratchet was impressed by how terrifying the creatures looked. The serpent creature would have scared him to his core, but considering that he had seen Searing in action he knew that it would take more to terrify him or to make him scared of something. Sunset appeared to the creature's right and loosed a stream of fire at it, to which the creature returned fire and forced their different elements to collide until Sunset backed away once more. Sunset jumped around the creature's home, looking for an opening, before she used the whip function of her sword to end the fight by taking the leviathan's head off.
Sunset smiled as she approached her siblings, handing the stone that dropped from the leviathan to Angela before turning to Ratchet and Starlight for a moment.
"I see that your feeling better," Starlight commented, her smile remaining on her face as she looked around them, taking note of the fact that the area was pretty much cleared of stones at the moment.
"That I am," Sunset replied, stretching her arms for a second before turning to Angela, "So, how many more Moonstones do we need so we can get that Hypnomatic part?"
"We're only at ten Moonstones," Angela replied, letting out a sigh as she looked at the walkways, "We had better get started... because it'll take some time to get all the stones that we need."
It took the four of them roughly an hour before they managed to recover all the Moonstones that they needed to purchase the Hypnomatic part, though the reason it took so long was because of all the Y.E.T.I.s that they encountered. Angela hadn't been kidding when she mentioned that they had overpopulated the planes after Megacorp released them, because a swarm of fifteen popped out of the ground the moment they tried to take one of the Moonstones. Sunset used her magic to combat any of the leviathans that they encountered, leaving Starlight and the others to deal with the other enemies until she was done with them.
Eventually they got the final Moonstone that they needed, so they left the planes and made the journey back to where the old man was patiently waiting for them to return.
"We've got the Moonstones you requested," Ratchet said, hoping that they could get the part they needed and build the gadget so they could get to Angela's place.
"No, you do not," the old man replied, shaking his head ever so slightly for a moment, "Existence is a lie. Sensations are illusions. Possessions are merely illusions."
"Fine, then I have an illusion of some Moonstones," Ratchet said in defeat, deciding to go with what the old man was saying, because it seemed to be the only thing that might work, "I'll trade them for a vision of that Hypnomatic part."
"You have learned much young one," the old man replied, smiling at them as he accepted the Moonstones and handed Ratchet the piece they needed, "Remember this; anger and hate are never the answer. Learn to coexist with yourselves and you will obtain... peace."
Ratchet looked at his siblings and Angela for a moment, wondering if the old man was insane or not, but after a few seconds he sighed and headed back to their ship so they could head back to Damosel. Before he could reach the ship a shimmering shield wrapped around them as Starlight lifted them all into the air, to which they turned around and floated over to where Angela's place was located. He would have asked how she knew that it was Angela's home, but considering that it was the only building in the immediate area he decided not to ask that. He had a completely different question in mind the moment they landed in front of the house and Angela went inside to recover the gadget they came for.
"Why did we need to gather the Hypnomatic part if we could just levitate up here with magic?" Ratchet asked, looking at Starlight for a moment, who was still grinning.
"We still need it for Megacorp Headquarters," Starlight replied, to which Sunset nodded for a moment, "so we'll make a quick stop at Damosel, pick up the complete Hypnomatic, and then bring an end to this nightmare."
Ratchet sighed and shook his head as they waited for Angela to return, though a few minutes later she stepped out of her house and locked the door behind her, before she turned their way and nodded to them. She had the Helix-o-Morph on hand and, as an additional bonus, her ID Card from when she worked at Megacorp, which could give them access to more parts of the building if they needed aid. With the key items in hand the group levitated back to the ship, again thanks to Starlight, before they landed near the weapon vendor and restocked their weapons.
With their main goal completed they climbed back into their ship and set off for their main destination, Planet Yeedil, though they knew that they had a quick stop to make before their arrival.