//------------------------------//
// Commando: Yeedil 
// Story: Ratchet and Clank: The Starlight of Solana 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

Ratchet, his siblings, and Angela returned to Damosel without delay, though when they arrived they were glad to find that there were no more Protopets or security robots in the city. Starlight and Angela had taken some scans before their arrival, to be sure that they had dealt with all of their enemies the last time they had visited the city. They were happy to announce that there was nothing else for them to kill in the areas they had previously visited, so they climbed into the taxi and took off for the building where they had left the man and his sock puppet. Oddly enough the man was still standing there, as if he hadn't moved since they had departed from the planet, though he was definitely happy to see them.

Ratchet had the feeling that he was happy to have their bolts in payment for making the Hypnomatic for them, ten thousand bolts to be exact, but thanks to the amount of bolts Starlight received from her Gadgetron weapons they had more than enough to purchase the completed gadget. Once the Hypnomatic had been handed over the man and his puppet hopped into the taxi and took off, locking them in the room and revealing a gate that had a robot on the other side. Oddly enough Ratchet noticed that the robot had a receiver on its head, which told him that it had to be the type of robot that could be controlled by the device he was holding.

He pointed the device at the robot and took control of it, to which he moved it out of the area it had been sitting in and tested the controls that came with it. He was surprised to find that the robot had guns attached to its arms, so while he moved the robot around he fired at the walls a few times as he searched for something to release them from the area they were in. It was fortunate that they had gotten rid of all of the enemies that had been in the city, because there wasn't anything that could destroy the robot as he pressed the button and opened the door that was connected to the area he was in.

"Okay, this is definitely a keeper," Ratchet said, stashing the gadget away as he pulled out his wrench again, "So, shall we get underway and begin our journey to Yeedil? Or is there anything else we have to do before we head there?"

"No, we had better head to Yeedil and get this nightmare over with," Angela replied, a smile appearing on her face as they climbed into the empty taxi, "I'm eager to fix the Protopet and stop Megacorp from unleashing chaos across the entirety of the Bogon Galaxy."

Ratchet could actually understand what Angela was saying this time, because it was the same feeling that he and his sisters had felt when they were nearing the end of their last adventure, before they confronted Chairman Drek. It was almost hard to believe that they were near the end of another adventure, though it made him wonder what he, Sunset, and Starlight were going to do once they had saved the day once again. As the taxi moved towards their ship he cast a glance at his sisters, though the looks on their faces told him that they were thinking the same thing that he was. They were all curious as to what their futures held once they were done with this Protopet business, leading him to wonder if there was any hope for a future between him and Angela.

He sighed as they reached their ship, because at the moment he had to focus on getting them to Yeedil... and then they had to begin the assault on the facility where the main Protopet was behind held.





When they reached Planet Yeedil, and landed their ship outside the Protopet Facility, Ratchet to admit that the size of the facility made him start to wonder about their chances of actually finding where the main Protopet was being held, but then he remembered that Angela was with them. If anyone knew where Megacorp was keeping their target it had to be Angela, who had received some information from Ivan the moment they neared the planet. None of them bothered to restock their ammunition, considering that they had done that before they had departed from Grelbin so they could start the assault much faster.

As they walked across the bridge that connected the landing pad to the weapon vendor each of them drew their handheld weapons, mainly to have something in their hands before an enemy or two found them.

"It appears that we'll need to use the Hypnomatic first," Starlight commented, pointing to a lone robot out in the middle of a platform to their left, before pointing the top of her staff at the multilayered shields that rested behind a gap in front of them, "I've got the feeling that those shields will come down if we can get that robot to the switch that controls them, which means that this is all up to you Ratchet."

Ratchet wasn't expecting to be the first one to do something, considering that both of his sisters could use magic and would likely strike any enemies down from afar, but he was glad at the same time. He set his wrench down beside him for a moment and pulled out the Hypnomatic once more, to which he carefully aimed it across the gap at the robot that was resting on a platform. He was sure that he was going to meet some enemies once he had assumed control of the robot, that was a given considering what they were about to do, but he wasn't about to back out of their mission. Angela was depending on the three of them to get her to the main Protopet so she could fix it with her Helix-o-Morph, which was why he took a deep breath for a moment before pulling the trigger on the gadget.

He seized control of the lone robot that was all by itself, to which his Helpdesk informed him that it was a receiver one that allowed him to hypnotize other robots so he could progress further. He did so and seized the robot on the next platform, where he pressed the button to lower the barrier in front of him and started firing at the Protopets that had been left on the other side. The instant the way was clear he passed onto another robot and rained fire down upon the robots that were designed to guard the platform, blowing the two enemies to pieces before they could even react to what was happening. He then seized the robot that was on the outside of the mass barriers that they had spotted, to which he moved his way through the gauntlet of sentries and Protopets that had been left to guard to facility's entrance.

It all came to an end when he encountered some red colored robotic commandos, which he blew to pieces before they could tear his robot to pieces, and pressed the button that they had been guarding, bringing up two Swingshot targets that would allow him and the others to cross the gap... not to mention lowering the barriers that had been put in their way.

"That was more fun than I thought it would be," Ratchet commented, putting away the Hypnomatic for a moment before he collected his wrench, to which he turned to the others, "So, shall we begin our assault?"

In response to the question Sunset swung over the gap, to which she was swiftly followed by Angela and Starlight, leaving Ratchet to chuckle for a few seconds before crossing the gap himself. They walked forward for a few seconds, looking for enemies, before the containers on either side of them opened and revealed that each of them had a tank. The two tanks moved out of their containers and started firing at them, to which the group backed up as Starlight threw up a shield between them and the tanks. A moment passed before everyone, excluding Sunset, had a weapon at the ready, so they charged forward as the shield fell and started firing at the tanks, making sure to dodge the attacks that were coming their way.

Once the tanks had been taken care of they climbed onto the platform they had been guarding and found two more tanks waiting for them, but this time Sunset seized control of one of them while Starlight took control of the other, to which they forced the two of them to destroy each other. With the way clear for the moment they quickly crossed the gap in front of them and looked at the large open area that would likely lead them inside the facility, though before they could investigate the front door they noticed several of the doors on either side of them opening. A large group of robotic commandos marched out of their holding areas and started firing at them, to which the group separated from each other and took the fight to their enemies.

Ratchet and Angela fought side by side, firing their weapons at whoever got close to them while using their handheld weapons to smash anyone that got passed their barrage of missiles. Starlight teleported to the area near the main door and loosed rockets at the tank that showed up, though she also fired at the enemies that tried to attack her from behind. Sunset, on the other hand, used her sword to sever the arms and legs off of her robotic enemies, though she also punched and kicked several of them away before they could touch her so she could cut them to pieces. Eventually the area was cleared of enemies, though when they gathered in front of the main door they noticed that it wasn't opening, leading them to wonder if they were missing something.

That was moments before Angela smacked her head, as if she had remembered something that was related to the door that they happened to be standing in front of.

"The door's switch is that way," Angela said, pointing at a passage that had opened seconds after the last enemy had been taken care of, "though I'm certain that we'll need the Hypnomatic once more."

Ratchet nodded as they followed Angela for a bit, making sure to put his weapon away and pull out the gadget that they would need, though he was pleased to find that there was another area for him to fight through with the robots. He seized control of the robot and moved forward, to which he used the guns on his robot to tear the robotic commando that was patrolling the area to pieces. The doors all around the area opened and twelve more robotic commandos marched out to face him, opening fire the instant they spotted his robot. Ratchet had to use some of his skills to move the robot around and avoid the incoming fire, which he and the others were protected from thanks to Starlight's shield, all while making sure to return fire so he could clear the area.

It took some time to clear the area of the robotic commandos, but the moment they were all taken care of Ratchet moved his robot forward and pressed the button that they had come for, to which he pulled out of the robot and the four of them moved to the now opened door that would give them access to the facility itself. They took turns with the teleport pad, slipping inside the facility so they could begin their search for the main Protopet so they could bring an end to the nightmare that Megacorp was trying to unleash upon the Bogon Galaxy. When they all appeared on the other side they accessed the weapon vendor and took a few seconds to gather all the ammunition that they had spent, knowing that they would need it later on.

During that time Sunset watched the area in front of them, keeping an eye out for any enemies that might attack her siblings or Angela while they were distracted, but in the end nothing came at them as everyone finished with their weapons.

They walked through the passage that was in front of them and attacked the four robotic commandos that got in their way, blowing them up with some well placed Minirocket Tube missiles as they moved into the next area. They carefully walked out onto the circular platform that was in front of them and noticed the raised platform that was in the middle of it, though the moment they walked up it the area started to fill with more flying commandos. Ratchet was actually surprised by the sheer number of enemies that were filling the chamber, both where they were currently standing and further along in the facility, because it made him pause for a second and wonder if someone had been expecting their arrival ahead of time.

He, Angela, and Starlight cycled to their Plasma Coils and started loosing charges at every enemy that came their way, either blasting them before they could reach the floor around them or blowing them into pieces the instant they tried to fire at them. Sunset, on the other hand, teleported over to where the other group of enemies were standing, the ones hiding behind some barricades of some kind, and used some of her magic to blow them to pieces while also using her sword against those that she was really close to. The fight went on like that for several minutes, confirming Ratchet's belief that someone had sent this up for all of them, before they managed to clear out the entirety of the area's enemies.

The next chamber they came to had three large fans that were resting between where they were currently standing and the door they needed to pass through so they could continue onward, not to mention the four robotic commandos that were waiting for them in the middle of the chamber. Starlight grinned and summoned a walkway for them to use to get around the fans, so Ratchet wouldn't have to pull out the Dynamo, and they started walking along her path immediately, though while they did that Sunset merely grabbed the commandos out of the air and sent them into the abyss below them. When they arrived at the next part of the facility that they would need to pass through they noticed that there was quite a lot of commandos waiting all around them, though it took them a few seconds to realize that they had arrived to begin with.

The four of them repeated the process they had used previously, where Sunset got rid of the enemies that were firing from the platforms above them while the others removed the enemies that were standing in front of them. It was funny when a tank entered the mix, because Starlight turned to it and ripped it apart with her magic in a second, not wanting to waste time on it at all, before turning back to the enemies around them. Once the area had been cleared of all enemies, and they waited a couple of seconds to be sure that no more of them spawned inside the room, Ratchet approached the hacking terminal by the door and connected his Infiltrator to it. A minute later the door opened before their eyes, revealing another room for them to cross through, though this one was filled with frozen water and had quite the number of Protopets jumping around the place.

Starlight, not wanting to waste any time on the Protopets, conjured a walkway that connected where they were standing to the platform that would lead them out of the room. Once that was done they quickly walked up to the exit, where Starlight took down the walkway before turning to see what else she and her family had to deal with before the nightmare was over. Unfortunately they turned into an area that had two tanks waiting for them in the distance, which would require them to use their Swingshots to get into firing range, but then Starlight smiled as she pulled out her Pulse Rifle. Ratchet noticed this and nodded his head before pulling out his own rifle, to which the two of them shot down both of the tanks that would have gotten in their way.

Once the tanks were taken care of they used their Swingshots to cross the gap in front of them, pausing for a moment before using another target to cross to where the tanks had been sitting the entire time. They moved to their right and found an elevator lift that was currently out of commission, though Ratchet merely sighed as he pulled out the Electrolyzer and hacked through the terminal. The moment he was done with the terminal he and the others turned to the weapon vendor behind them and quickly restocked their ammunition, though once they were finished them climbed onto the elevator. They then waited as they were taken across the chamber they were in, though before they even reached the other side they knew that there was likely one or two more large fights waiting for them before they reached the main Protopet.

When they rounded the corner they found that they had been correct in their assumptions that another large fight was in store for them, because there was a large number of robotic commandos that had their guns trained on them the moment they entered the area... not to mention the tank that was blocking their way forward. Starlight had to throw up a barrier to prevent them from being hit by so many attacks, which they all knew would rapidly deplete their nanoteach, before any of them even considered returning fire. Sunset teleported up to the tank while the others dealt with the commandos, raining death upon their enemies with whatever weapon they felt like using as they cut through the waves of enemies that came at them.

It took quite a bit of time, energy, and ammunition, but in the end the four of them proved to be tougher than Megacorp's robotic army as the last commando fell to the floor in whatever pieces it had left.

"I am so glad that I didn't do this on my own," Angela commented, wiping some sweat from her forehead as they took a small break, "I'm not even sure I would have been able to make it through the front gate with all the defenses that are here."

"We have to be near where their keeping the main Protopet by now," Ratchet replied, sighing for a moment as he picked both himself and his weapon up, "Come on, the sooner we get to our goal the sooner we can get out of here."

The way forward was originally blocked by a raised bridge, but with the Swingshot in hand they lowered it into place and activated what had to be the last of the facility's defenses. A large group of twelve commandos appeared on the other side of the bridge, though they rapidly fell to the combined firepower of the weapons that the group had assembled. With the enemies cleared the group carefully walked up to the door in front of them, which Angela revealed was the door that would lead them into the Protopet Duplication Room. It was where they would find the main Protopet, where they could use the Helix-o-Morph on it and fix the nightmare that Megacorp was going to unleash upon the galaxy.

Before they could get the door open, however, a shock of electricity ran through the area and drove them all to the floor, though it reminded Sunset of the time they had been captured on Boldan. She and the others weakly looked up to see Mr. Fizzwidget appear before them, though that was before he pulled something and came undone like a costume, revealing that the mastermind behind everything was none other than Qwark himself.

"You know, you made my job much easier than I was expecting." Qwark commented, to which he beckoned to the four commandos behind him and they cuffed everyone but Sunset, who he personally picked up himself, "Now I can save the Bogon Galaxy from a disaster and return to being the superhero that I was, before four of you entered my life and turned it upside down. And all of you will become public enemy number one... and two, three, four, and five."

"You'll never get away with this Qwark!" Ratchet replied, glaring at the man as they were dragged into the Protopet Duplication Room, where the main Protopet was still hooked up to a machine, "If we can't stop the Protopets then someone else will."

"The Protopet?! What made you think they were my main plan the entire time?" Qwark replied, a grin appearing on his face as he leaned Sunset against the wall for a moment, while the others were pressed against the wall on the wall near the room's entrance, "No, there's a greater threat to this galaxy that needs to be taken care of. Do the planets Gaspar, Dobbo, and Snivelak ring any bells? They should, because they were planets that were stuck by the power of a demon that doesn't care how many innocent people are hurt, so long as her target ends up dead by the end of the day."

Ratchet knew the names of the planets that Qwark mentioned well at this point, mainly because they had only visited two of them within the last week. Gaspar had been the planet where Starlight and Sunset had tested Sunset's new magical abilities, where she accidentally caused a cataclysm that reshaped everything that Chairman Drek had built. Dobbo was where Sunset had smashed the Thug Leader's mechanical fighting robot to pieces on the moon, no doubt cracking it more than any of them originally thought. And it was very hard to forget Snivelak, where Sunset and Searing had merged powers for some time to deliver a painful defeat to the Thug Leader, before completely obliterating an trace of his existence.

"But this isn't about those planets anymore," Quark said, turning to Starlight for a moment, who looked like she was about ready to unleash a storm of magical energy on their enemy, "So Starlight, who should I kill first? Maybe I should take Clank and throw him in the grinder, or maybe I should have your friend Angela drawn and quartered. Maybe I should just put my gun to Sunset's head and take her out right here and now... or maybe I could visit a certain planet that you call came from and blow it to pieces. I'm sure you'll be surprised to hear that I managed to walk away with a copy of the blueprints for something called the 'PlanetBuster Maximus'. It will be interesting to see what happens when the people of Veldin realize that none of you are there to save them..."

Starlight roared and her horn flared with magical energy, her eyes fixed on where Qwark was standing at the moment as she was filled with a rage that she had never felt before. Then she released the stored energy, to which she loosed a beam of white energy that was designed to do one thing, kill Captain Qwark for real. As the energy neared him Qwark turned around and extended his right hand towards the energy, though as Ratchet watched what was happening he noticed that the magic was bending into the palm of Qwark's hand. Starlight apparently noticed that as well, because she immediately cut off her attack and watched as the last of it's energy was absorbed into Qwark's hand... to which they watched the glove fall apart and reveal a metal gauntlet.

Sunset moaned as she regained herself, though as she noticed what was happening Qwark wrapped his right hand around her golden bracelet, causing her to look at the gauntlet he was wearing.

"Its funny how none of you noticed that Starlight's magic was the cause of this bracelet falling apart," Qwark commented, just as the gauntlet pulled itself apart and rebuilt itself around Sunset's bracelet, though once the gauntlet was off of his hand he backed away from Sunset, "and now, with the power of the attack you just launched at me, I have the power to shatter this cursed bracelet. I shall rid both the Solana and Bogon galaxies of the monster that would bring ruin to everyone, while reducing Sunset to a mere cazar once more."

The moment Qwark was near the wall to the left of Sunset the gauntlet glowed red for a moment, though it was followed by the gauntlet tearing itself to pieces as the power of Starlight's attack was transferred into the golden bracelet. Thousands of red cracks appeared all over the bracelet, on both the front and back sides of it, but for the most part it appeared that it had, somehow, survived the assault that Qwark had planned. Sunset's anger flared once more as she faced the former captain, to which her magic responded by wrapping around her, though it concentrated around the bracelet for the most part.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you Qwark!" Sunset shouted as she raised her right arm, fully intending to use the power to strike the former captain down before he had a chance to defend himself.

That was, however, until the bracelet shattered into a thousand pieces, causing her to slowly turn her head towards her now bare arm in complete disbelief. A few seconds passed as everyone looked at the missing bracelet and the golden fragments on the floor, as if none of them could believe that one of Qwark's plans had actually worked this time. That was before Sunset screamed in pain as her hands flew to her head, as now that the bracelet was destroyed Searing was trying to invade her body once again... though this time she was using her full power. She tore the chest piece of her armor off with her magic and watched as a hole slowly started to appear between her throat and chest, the telltale sign that Searing was coming.

She touched the wall behind her and was shocked when her unrestricted power blew a hole in it, where she found a set of floating platforms that would get her away from her siblings. She nearly screamed in pain as she teleported down to the top platform, but as she faced the opening she had exited through she felt her control over her body break as Searing seized control. This time she did scream as a red pillar of energy consumed her, though her last thought was that she had failed to stop the creature that was clearly much stronger than she was.

Ratchet helplessly watched all this happen before his eyes, knowing that Qwark had just released a monster that would, and could if given the opportunity, destroy everything in her path.