Tools: Rykan V
When everyone was back on the Hyperion, and they departed from the pirate base on Planet Ardolis, they gathered in the lounge area of the starship and focused their efforts on the artifact that had been given to them. Talwyn admitted that she was surprised that Captain Slag had handed over the artifact without fighting for it, but when Ratchet explained that the captain had realized his options were either try to fight or be destroyed by Sunset, who he had assumed was on the ship with them, it was rather easy decision to make. Ratchet wasn't about to correct the pirate captain, not when the mere mention of Sunset's name allowed them to overcome obstacles that would waste their time, so Talwyn dropped the issue and turned towards the artifact.
It turned out that only a Lombax was able to open the artifact, as when Cronk or Zephyr tried to open the artifact it did nothing, but when Ratchet touched the artifact for a second it opened up and revealed that it held the coordinates for someplace on Rykan V. With the location of the supposed Lombax Secret in their possession the group quickly decided to head to the coordinates and see what they found, while being fully prepared for some sort of assault when they landed. During the flight, however, Starlight pulled out her tablet and opened one of the older files she had saved on the device, back when she, Sunset, and Angela had first started working on the Hyperion.
"What are you doing Starlight?" Talwyn asked, leaning over to look at the tablet's screen, only to find out that Starlight was in the process of assembling what appeared to be another pony.
"Oh, just creating a hologram for Aphelion," Starlight replied, carefully selecting the form of a pegasus as her starting point, "I figured that at some point she's going to want to be here, planning our missions with us or giving us some advice on what to do, instead of hanging out in the docking bay all the time. This will allow her to explore the ship and take her mind off of what happened in the past, as well as give her the opportunity to meet the AI that Angela, Sunset, and I created so long ago."
"I've been meaning to ask about them," Talwyn said, lifting her head for a moment, just in time to see the blue winged unicorn walking by the lounge area, "Who are they?"
"Well, the one you just saw was Luna," Starlight answered, selecting a nice red color for Aphelion's design, "the white one is called Celestia, though she usually hangs out in the room we kept the Cores in, but I think she's at the bridge at the moment. The pink AI goes by the name of Cadence and she generally spends her time making sure the systems are operating without any errors, though there are times where she and Twilight, the lavender AI, will get together and hang out. When Searing was a problem we saw four spirits, in the form of these four AI, descend for the sky and save Sunset from herself, though she seemed to be at peace with them around and we designed them to run the ship when we aren't using it."
"Sunset also told us, after getting the third Core, that the AI reminded her of four ponies she could barely make out in her memories," Angela added, remembering how sad Sunset had been around that period of time, "As far as I've been able to figure out Sunset and Starlight came from a completely different world than Ratchet, though for some reason they all ended up on the same ship that landed on Veldin. Somehow they lost all their memories of their home world, though Sunset was starting to remember bits and pieces with the help of the Cores we had collected."
Speaking of memories Starlight was beginning to remember more of her home world, thanks to Talwyn's voice reminding her of someone important in her past life, but she hadn't mentioned it to anyone yet. She wanted to speak with Sunset about it, as she had more experienced with this sort of thing, before mentioning it to Ratchet, Clank, and Angela. There was something about her past that she wanted to know, though her memories were slow to resurface and it annoyed her, but a benefit was that she was sure that she knew more magic than what she currently used at the moment.
"Okay, I guess I can understand the reason behind the AI's," Talwyn said, shaking her head for a few seconds, "though why does Aphelion need a hologram that mimics them?"
"Well, its easier than downloading a whole new body type and starting from scratch," Starlight commented, adding a main and tail to the hologram she was creating, knowing that it would take some time to add it to the ship's systems when they had some free time, "besides, it certainly made me and Sunset feel more at home with ponies walking around the Hyperion... even if there were only four more of them."
Ratchet, who had been silent the entire time, looked over at Clank, who had his own tablet out and was modifying his own 'pony', though he was beginning to wonder what was up with the sudden desire to add additional holograms to the ship. Angela hadn't made one yet and he wasn't about to make one, but he decided that it was best for his sister to do what she wanted to do and leave it at that. Besides, he knew that Sunset had enjoyed having the AI around when she was questioning her existence some number of years ago, so he wasn't about to question the addition of another hologram.
He leaned back in his chair as Starlight and Talwyn continued to talk with each other, wondering what they were going to find when they finally reached Rykan V... and what enemies they were going to encounter.
When they finally reached the location of Rykan V, without being harassed by anyone, Ratchet and Clank took Aphelion out of the Hyperion and flew towards the surface, while Talwyn, Cronk, and Zephyr followed in their ship. Angela and Starlight, on the other hand, used the smaller ship they used to use for their adventures and followed the other two ships towards the planet's surface, though they were all prepared for what was coming their way.
"Uh oh." Zephyr said over the communicators, indicating that he had noticed something bad on the planet's surface, "We're picking up multiple hostiles in the spaceport! You rookies got the stones for a HALO jump?"
Clank immediately questioned what 'stones' were and if he had them, to which Ratchet replied that it was something that he would tell Clank later, when they weren't in immediate danger, and that the robot most certainly didn't have them. Once that was established Ratchet made sure that Aphelion would fly around the area until an area was cleared for her to land, which she assured him wouldn't be a problem, before ejecting him and Clank so they could perform the jump. As they descended towards the spaceport they spotted the two war bots jumping out of Talwyn's ship, with her staying inside so she could land the ship, though after a few more seconds he spotted Angela and Starlight following them as well.
As they all flew down to the ground Ratchet heard Talwyn mention something about keeping the two war bots safe because they hadn't seen actual combat in quite some time, which made him wonder why she hadn't mentioned that before hand, as Starlight could have worked on them a bit before they came down here.
Once they landed Starlight tossed out a Nano-Swarmer hive and let them go to town on the enemies that were standing in front of her, while Ratchet and the others opened fire on the other robotic enemies that were in front of them. Ratchet watched as the dropships let off a large number of enemies for them to fight, which was to be expected considering the amount of power that Tachyon was up against, though Starlight would occasionally grab one of the ships and smash it into another one to destroy them both. As they fought Ratchet noticed that there were some more ships moving into a part of the spaceport that they couldn't get to at the moment, which meant that their enemies were waiting for them in large numbers.
After some time one of the war bots charged forward, slapped what appeared to be an explosive charge on the gate in front of them, and then stepped back as he opened fire on their enemies. After another minute of fighting Tachyon's forces, and crushing them, Cronk and Zephyr activated the bomb that had been placed and blew open the path, allowing them to move forward. Oddly enough there was a weapon vendor in front of them, but neither Ratchet or Starlight were willing to complain about it considering that it allowed them to restock their weapons for the second part of their assault.
As they battled the robotic members of Tachyon's forces, who were the easiest to take care of, they noticed that there were some of the rolling tanks moving towards them. Ratchet, Starlight, Cronk, and Zephyr opened fire on the enemies that were in front of them, while Angela moved behind them and carved up the ones she was able to get at with her lightsaber. They also noticed that there were four special cannons waiting for them, hiding behind energy barriers that only lowered when someone was close to them, but they focused on the enemies that were coming their way.
Starlight, eager to see what the hidden cannons could do, approached them while the others focused on their enemies, though the one on the bottom right opened up and fired a large energy charge at her. Before it could hit her, and damage her nanotech levels, Starlight's horn glowed as she caught the attack in the middle of the air and sent it flying back towards the cannon that discharged it, but she also empowered it. The moment it came into contact with the cannon, before it could raise its shield no less, the cannon shook for a few seconds before exploding, sending pieces everywhere as the other three turned their focus on Starlight. She was eager to return the cannon fire back at them, effectively tearing the remaining cannons to pieces and opening the way forward, though before doing so she helped the others take out the rest of Tachyon's forces.
"Tachyon should be scared at this point," Ratchet commented, as he and the rest of the group rode the elevator to the spaceport, "we already had enough firepower to take his soldiers out, without the new RYNO or Sunset's abilities, but now Starlight's developing a destructive magical nature as well."
"I'm more at home with my weapons than my magic," Starlight replied, though she couldn't stop herself from grinning, "but I guess my training with Sunset finally paid off."
When they entered the spaceport they heard Talwyn mention that she actually couldn't land anywhere, so she was going to find the area they were searching for from the air while they searched on the ground. They quickly restocked their weapons as they searched the surrounding area, though at the same time Starlight noticed Red standing near a strange device on the ground, with another strange gadget of sorts sitting next to him.
"Well hey there, friends," Red said as they approached him, once again sounding happy to see them after their last encounter, "You picked a dangerous time to come to Rykan V. Ol' Percival has shut down the spaceport until he gets his paws on the Lombax Secret."
"Oddly enough that's why we're here as well," Angela commented, staring at the strange gadget that was leaning on the railing, knowing that Starlight was going to want to look at it.
"Well, if you're looking to explore the lava refineries, you could use this here Gyro-Cycle," Red said, indicating that he was willing to sell it to them, but the group immediately knew what was coming next, "Of course, a businessman such as myself couldn't part with it without some sort of... monetary compensation. Ya know how it works."
"So, who'd you get the Gyro-Cycle from?" Ratchet asked, staring at Red for a moment, though he spotted Blue the parrot look to the left and the right for a moment, as if he was worried about something, "Something that can cross lava sounds like it would be a very unique piece of technology."
"I bought it from a Lombax," Red replied, waving a hand as if he was dismissing who his trade partner had been, no doubt a practiced movement to keep someone's identity a secret, "He was looking to get rid of it quick and I was more than willing to take it off his hands. You know, you actually remind me of that Lombax... just a tiny bit anyway."
"This Lombax's name wouldn't happen to be Kaden, would it?" Starlight asked, though considering that they only knew the name of one other Lombax she suspected that it was a long shot to guess that it was Ratchet's father that sold the gadget to Red.
"And how do you know that name?" Red asked in return, though instead of his hands going to his weapons, like someone would have expected him to do, he simply stood there and stared at them.
"He was my father," Ratchet replied, letting out a sigh as he remembered that his father was gone and he'd never have the chance to get to know him.
Red was quiet for a time, as was his parrot for some time, though after a few minutes of internal debate he reached back to the Gyro-Cycle, gently picked it up, and handed it over to Ratchet.
"Your father and I are... I mean were... good friends," Red explained, stepping out of the way as Ratchet approached the platform the gadget was used with, "He asked me to hang onto this, knowing that I would keep it out of the hands of anyone that would misuse it, be it Tachyon or someone like him. We saved each other's lives on multiple occasions, but I was never able to repay him for the last time he saved my life... but I'm sure he'd like the fact that I was helping his son out."
Ratchet nodded and activated the Gyro-Cycle, which was followed by him shooting into the sky and heading into the Lava Refineries, though Starlight and Angela made no move to follow him, as they were planning on teleporting over once he had reached the end. Instead Starlight turned to Red, wondering if he had uncovered anything on Ysmir, the mysterious stranger they had seen in the arena.
"So, did you find out anything about Ysmir?" Starlight asked, a look of hope in her eyes, because she needed something on the fighter in case they were ever forced to fight her at some point.
"Not a lot, but I have some information," Red replied, handing over a small chip that could be inserted into her tablet, "Shortly before Tachyon left to attack your galaxy, the Solana Galaxy I mean, a mysterious warrior by the name of Ysmir appeared near one of Tachyon's outposts and destroyed it. No one is sure how she managed to tear down the outpost, without any explosives or weapons, but many people suspect that she was able to draw in the power of the nearby lightning storms and used it to blow up a very important part of the structure. There are several other mentions of her appearing on various planets across the Polaris Galaxy, either dealing with Tachyon's soldiers or erasing his outposts, and then disappearing when the job was done.
At the moment I have it on good authority that Ysmir is still in the Imperial Fight Festival on Mukow, as if she is practicing her skills against all sorts of enemies that the Emperor can send at her. Tachyon thinks that she's providing entertainment, but my sources say that all sorts of challengers are coming to fight her... be they pirates or people similar to them. The only thing I am unable to determine is where she came from, because a few weeks ago she didn't exist and then she suddenly came into being before the big invasion. I only wish that there was more I could tell you about her."
For a moment Starlight could have sworn that Red sounded like he knew something about Ysmir that he wasn't ready to tell them, but she decided not to say anything about it. As far as she could tell Ysmir was a mystery that they needed to solve... but before she could focus on trying to unravel the mystery her communicator went off, indicating that Ratchet was ready for them to teleport over. She quickly bid Red goodbye, gathered Angela and the war bots around her, and then activated her magic so they could teleport over to the island that Ratchet and Talwyn were standing on.
It was there that they discovered an ancient bunker of sorts that was littered with Lombax writing, which were no doubt instructions for someone to open the door and discover what the secret was.
"This is where the coordinates lead," Talwyn stated as the rest of the group approached, to which she gestured at the symbols and watched as Starlight stared at them.
"Any idea what they mean Starlight?" Ratchet asked, knowing that his sister had the translator ready to go and was already cracking down each and every word in front of them.
"In this room a secret born," Starlight translated, her eyes scanning the symbols and the translator that was floating in her magical grasp, "to quell the angry Cragmite storm. You've traveled far but to be clear, without a tail, your quest ends here. I see, only a Lombax can open the door and learn where the secret weapon is located... its a good thing that we have two Lombaxes."
Ratchet smiled and pressed his hand against the door for a moment, though after a few seconds a voice said Welcome back, Lombax and then followed that up with I hope your long journey has been rewarding, before the door opened and allowed them to enter the bunker.
Inside the bunker they found what appeared to be an old holo-vid player, one that happened to run on some sort of film, which activated thanks to the tampering of both Cronk and Zephyr. It then played an educational documentary on a Lombax invention called The Dimensionator, which was apparently an inter-dimensional weapon that made Starlight freeze for a moment. The old holo-vid player also included coordinates for Planet Sargasso, indicating it was a testing facility for the weapon... as well as what was hopefully a taste of Lombax humor, which made Angela raise her palm to her face.
"The weapon used to vaporize the Cragmites was... a hat." Ratchet said in disbelief, not believing that the greatest minds of their race had built such a weapon, "By the Maker... that sounds so stupid."
"We can't let something like that fall into Tachyon's hands!" Starlight suddenly declared, snapping herself out of what had come over her, while at the same time causing everyone to stare at her as she ripped the holo-vid player from its resting place, "Come on, let's get to Sargasso and find that weapon... and I am not leaving clues behind for our enemy to follow us."
Everyone immediately agreed with her, because a weapon that powerful could only be rivaled by Sunset's nature as the God of Destruction... and if Tachyon got his hands on it then they were most certainly doomed.
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Hey Sonata, sounds like Ysmir's stealing your thunder.
8065675
It sure sounds like it... or at least Storm Call.
But Red says something interesting... he says that he and Kaden are friends, then changes to were friends. Was Red about to say that he was actually alive or something?
8065675
8065686 This may sound strange, but what if Ysmir really is Sunset? What if she's actually training herself to learn all of the skills that her memories have been showing her?
8065686 I think he knows EXACTLY what happened to the Lombaxes, if you catch my drift.
8065752 No, actually, you're thinking on the same lines we are. I think Sonata, Aria, and I all went "that's Sunset" at the same time.
But we're not 100% on that, the author has pulled fast ones before.
8065812 I only say that because this 'Ysmir' is using what appears to be the Thu'um... and Sunset was, in this story, the only person that knows any of the Shouts. I mean, the author basically added the Storm Call to Ysmir's Shout list.
8065816 Aye, that's what we're thinking. It's possible that the codex fragment unlocked her memory of her journey through Skyrim, which I'm certain put a knife through her heart about Searing.(still hoping for a little Searing to pop up.) If that's the case you would have hit the nail on the head about "Ysmir".
8065827 Ah. I also noticed that Starlight is assuming that Red knows something about Ysmir. Red knows more than what he's willing to tell... do you think he knows the true identity of Ysmir?
8065857 I'm almost certain of it. Why be so evasive otherwise?
8065860 Who knows. Both he and his parrot seemed evasive when talking about either Ysmir or the Lombaxes... they are definitely keeping secrets. Though Ysmir is in the fighting arena... do you think that maybe Tachyon would force Starlight and the others to fight her?
8065890 Sounds like something he would do. Would be one hell of a fight if they go through with it.
8065897 That begs the question; if Ysmir really is Sunset in disguise, would she hold back against her family, or would she stick to her character and go all out?
8065912 She'd probably hold back to keep them from recognizing her.
8066244 That makes sense. I mean Sunset can't use magic, otherwise Starlight would immediately identify her... but then again, if Sunset was in her god form then Starlight wouldn't be able to identify her with magic alone anyway.
8065812 We know that Red knows something, but the question is what that something he knows is.
Time shenanigans!
Pinkie, go home...
Okie Dokie Lokie!
Ugh
8065675 Heh.
I was wondering what had happened to the four AIs from the old ship. With the way everyone is left guessing, I would have taken it to be Metal Gear-levels of secrecy.
Tracking this entertaining story. And I'm pretty dang sure Sunset will have to deactivate her self-imposed power seal at some point... perhaps during the finale to this - or the next - adventure.
Looks can be deceiving.
Wait a moment... didn't Ratchet invent a pair of pants or something that tipped Tachyon off in the first place? Canonically?