Upon learning that Talwyn was currently being held in Zordoom Prison, one of the most nasty places in the entire section of the galaxy they were in, Ratchet, Angela, and Starlight sat down and began to go over what they knew and how they were supposed to get inside so they could save their friend... along with Cronk and Zephyr, who had likely been captured at the same time. It as at that time that they discovered that Qwark had managed to swipe the blueprints for the prison, which was why he had been called out as the spy in the first place, though he seemed pleased with himself. With the plans in hand they began going over them, planning out how they could infiltrate the prison, find out where Talwyn was being held, and then rescue her before something happened to them.
At the same time Angela decided that it was time to ask Starlight about the new abilities that she was using, because she was surprised to find that the unicorn could create copies of herself, that might actually be able to take damage until she sent them away, and was able to copy one of Sunset's attacks.
"I don't know how I learned those skills," Starlight admitted, while at the same time she was seeing if there was anything on the outside of the prison that could be hit to damage the inside, to make their take easier, "one of them just came naturally to me... but Sunset's destructive power, I must have learned that by watching her closely and memorizing what she did. I guess in the heat of the battle with Ysmir I simply recalled one of Sunset's more powerful moves and used it without thinking."
"I think that's the last we'll be seeing of her," Qwark commented, causing everyone to turn towards him for a few seconds, "What? She shattered into a thousand pieces and left no evidence that she was even there to begin with. I think its safe to assume that Starlight's new powers have scared Ysmir off, which means we won't have to worry about her showing her borrowed face ever again."
Starlight, however, was unconvinced that Ysmir was truly gone, because their opponent had seemed so real while they were fighting her, which meant that she had chosen to retreat before they had really bested her. She still found it odd that Ysmir's abilities looked like magic, and could be labeled as magic depending on who they asked, but she never felt a single ounce of her opponent's power while they were fighting. She didn't recall seeing any of the runes that Sunset had used to bind her power when she had stared at Ysmir's body, which meant that even if their opponent had borrowed Sunset's voice and face she wasn't actually their sister. Despite those facts she couldn't deny that there was something off about Ysmir, but now that she had seemed to disappear from the galaxy Starlight decided that it was time to put her in the past once more.
With that decision made she returned her attention to the plans that everyone else was going over, to which she picked up a pointer with her magic and started pointing at key points that Qwark had missed out on mentioning. From what she could tell there was one way into the prison that didn't involve going through the front door, though they were going to have to move around the exterior of the prison before they reached the opening. Ratchet smiled as he and Angela pointed out areas on the inside of the prison, connecting to the entrance that Starlight had spotted and stringing them together in such a way that made it seem like one person had come up with the plan.
The moment they came to an agreement on what they needed to do, and how they were going to get inside the prison, the group sat back and relaxed until the end of their flight, because they knew that there wouldn't be any time for it once they started their assault on the prison and its wardens.
When they arrived at the prison they immediately spotted a weapon vendor, with the new Negotiator rocket launcher weapon available, so Ratchet, Starlight, and Angela picked one up and upgraded them, though Qwark decided not join in after a few seconds of indecision, which meant that he didn't want to be the odd man out. Once they all had their new weapons they moved towards the rail system that needed to be fixed, where they dealt with the small roller enemies that came at them... along with a pair of fish controlled robots that had an invisibility module added to them, which would have made it impossible to see them if their outline wasn't visible. It was easy to take out the enemies that were in front of them, to which Ratchet accessed the terminal that was in front of them and hacked into it with the device that Red had given them back on Sargasso.
The moment he finished hacking into the device the section of the rail moved into place, allowing them to climb onto the entire course and begin their advance towards the entrance of the prison they were heading towards. As they made their way towards their destination they heard the prison announcers call out various announcements for the inmates, likely calling various inmates forward for whatever their punishment was. The group ignored the majority of the announcements, as the names that were stated meant nothing to them, but then they heard one name that made them all do a double take.
"Inmate #510D, Hardlight, Ace," the announcer said through he speakers, "please report to the mess hall for KP."
"Wait, Ace is here?" Ratchet said, tapping his communicator so he could speak to Angela while they were on the rail system, "I thought you were the only Jedi that had come to this galaxy?"
"I sent Ace to the Polaris system to investigate the rumors I heard about Tachyon," Angela replied, sounding pissed off that it had taken her so long to realize that Ace hadn't been maintaining radio silence the entire time, which at the same time it was clear what she was planning on doing once they entered the prison, "Had I known that he had been captured I would have come to his rescue a lot sooner... but at least we'll be able to save him and Talwyn at the same time."
When they reached the end of the rail system they made sure to avoid the red spotlight in front of them, and the one behind it, as they removed the trio of roller enemies and walked up the wall that would bring them closer to the prison's entrance. At the top of the wall was another red spotlight that was protecting a bolt crank, though it was rather easy for them to activate the crank and lower a nearby elevator for them to use. They then used the elevator, and jumped over a gap, before they walked up another wall, where they had to jump over several electric obstacles and red spotlights before they reached their destination.
Once they were inside the prison they took out the group of enemies that were guarding another terminal for Ratchet to hack into, to which the bridge in front of them was put back into place and allowed them to move forward. Starlight pulled out the ancient Lombax weapon she had found on Sargasso, which she had yet to make a duplicate of for Ratchet, and targeted a large walker that was in front of them. She pulled the trigger and blew the walker to pieces, though before she put the weapon away she spotted a second walker and took it out as well, which was followed by them approaching a gap that required them to use the Swingshot to get over. They then took out the enemies that happened to be in front of them before walking into a passage that brought them to a part of the prison that they would have to glide down... after Ratchet hacked into the nearby terminal.
Before they got too much further into the prison, and really got the wardens pissed off, Angela and Qwark declared that it would be easier for them to split up at the moment, to which Ratchet waited as Starlight helped the two of them that would lead them to the mess hall, from the outside of the prison with her levitation magic, before the two siblings were alone with Clank again. The moment they were back together they jumped into the elevator shaft that they were at the top of and began their descent towards the bottom, where the defenses tried to stop them with lasers... ones that had a square opening in each layer for them to move through. The instant they landed on the bottom of the shaft they were assaulted by another group of wardens, though even with the two of them it was easy for them to take care of them.
They then made their way towards the moving cells that were in front of them, taking out the next group of enemies that stood in their way, before they approached yet one more terminal for Ratchet to hack into... where he managed to stop the line just as Talwyn's cell stopped in front of where they were standing. A few seconds later the door opened and Talwyn, equipped with all her gear, used her jetpack to exit the cell and land in front of them, with a smile on her face no less.
"Wow, a jailbreak," Talwyn commented, grinning at the two of them for a few seconds, "I'd say that you know how to impress a lady, but your already married and everything. Though I have one question; how did you know that we were here?"
"The Zoni told us that you were here," Clank answered, to which Talwyn nodded for a few seconds, "We will explain everything once we're somewhere safe... so let's go get Cronk and Zephyr before we make our way out of here."
The moment Talwyn was freed from her cell, and they made their way towards the shaft that brought them down here, they apparently tripped some alarm that made the wardens come at them, or maybe it was Angela and Qwark as Ratchet commented. When Talwyn asked where they were she learned that they were freeing Ace Hardlight, one of Angela's Jedi Knights, but she didn't bother to say much as they opened fire on the enemies coming their way. They then rode the elevator back up the shaft they had glided down, fighting all of the enemies that dropped in the defeat and capture them, but it was rather easy for them to succeed in defending themselves.
When they reached the top of the shaft, and the elevator came to a stop, they made their way back through the passageway they had moved through to reach the shaft, though they ignored the screen that had Tachyon speaking to them. When they reached the first area of the prison they had walked through, where they had restored a bridge, they found that they were going to have to make their way around a new walkway they could use. It took them a few seconds to get rid of the enemies that were in front of them, where they glided down to the circular area they needed to pass through, though they took out all the wardens that were standing in their way as they entered another shaft that had more robots waiting for them.
As it turned out Talwyn actually separated from the group as she rescued her war bots, though once they were all free Starlight attached something to them and activated her magic, teleporting them to the Hyperion. Once the trio was safely aboard the starship, and were allowed to relax, Starlight opened a channel with the ship's AI and had them hack into the prison, to which they released Talwyn's ship as well. With that done Ratchet, Clank, and Starlight made their way back to their ships, where they found Angela and Qwark standing next to Ace, who was garbed in his brown Jedi robes.
"I'm glad to see the lot of you again," Ace said, patting Ratchet on the back once they were all together again, "I hear your off to save another galaxy from another villain... room for one more?"
"I don't see why not," Ratchet replied, to which they all climbed into the two ships and made their way back to the Hyperion, where they could relax for some time as they moved to their next destination.
Ratchet knew that they needed to get to where the Dimensionator was as quickly as possible, but even then he couldn't help but wonder where Sunset was, which he was determined to find out once he and the others had finished off Tachyon... and for some reason he had the feeling that something big was coming their way.
Wonder if Sunset might launch a first strike?
Another Jedi in the fight? I almost feel sorry for their foes. Almost.
At least the group has rescued their friends.
8093452 Tachyon should be happy that he doesn't have to fight Sunset as well, otherwise he'd be dead in an instant. Though that raises the question; what does Ratchet's feeling mean?
8093435 It would be nice to see Sunset again... in all her glory anyway.
You know, I had forgotten that Ace was actually considered a hero in this story... and a Jedi to boot.
8093452 Tachyon's going to be wishing that he hadn't attacked the Solana Galaxy at all.
8093493 I think the big reveal is coming.
8093523 No kidding. Gonna be one short fight.
8093570 I know we stated, somewhere, that Ysmir was basically like Sunset with the Thu'um... but what if all four aspects of her were separated from each other?
And by four I mean the Dragonborn, Hatred, Searing, and Sunset herself!
I smell something fishy coming... and it reeks worse than Dagon's armpits.
8093579 That. That's genius! Especially since the author was setting up Hatred to be what Searing was in the last story, only to be cut off right after she appeared. This should be interesting...
8093588 What if Ysmir wasn't the only one of the four to come into this section of the Polaris Galaxy? I mean, Ratchet only visits this part of the universe in two of the future games (Tools and Time) so there has to be a second fragment of her somewhere.
Welcome back Ace, we have been missing your changed appearance and fate.
8093581 Indeed. I sense something fishy as well.
8093588 Its also interesting because Hatred did say something about coming back if she was ever given the chance to separate from Sunset and Searing... oh by the gods, what if Hatred replaces Tachyon?!
8093607 The scary part is how plausible that is.
8093596 Adagio brings up a good point. What if that second fragment is Hatred taking over the Cragmite empire?
8093797 Hatred was using Dark Magic when she entered the story... wait, if Hatred intends on replacing Tachyon, like we're thinking, doesn't that mean that she'll be after the Dimensionator as well?
8093800 Hatred with access to the all of the multiverse? Now THAT'S a terrifying thought.
8093804 Especially considering how she basically said that she wanted to take over the universe... what's better (or worse) than taking over one universe? And with access to the multiverse, along with the ability to summon rifts to said dimension, who knows what Hatred could call to the battle field!
8093797 I think you and Sonata hit a nail on the head... Hatred would become a walking nightmare with access to the entire multiverse.
8093812
8093824 Here's a fun thought to counter it. If she did get the Dimensionator, who knows what could slip through with the monsters she summons, like, say, heroes from other dimensions?
8093967 You don't think that the heroes that helped Sunset might come through, do you?
8094052 While not what I was thinking, that is a possibility.
8094056 What exactly were you thinking? A saiyan or something? Another god perhaps?
I'm just throwing out ideas.
8094063 I was thinking it would be fun if she started ripping OCs from their world's, like Sonata, for instance. Have them fighting armies of their monsters while Ratchet and the others take care of the big bad. Just a thought, though.
8094234 Still a scary thought when one could consider all the damage Hatred could do with the Dimensionator. But that leaves another important question; if we're right about this, and this comes to pass, what happens to Tachyon? Instant death, imprisonment, or torture?
8094259 I don't know, but I doubt it will be pleasant.
8094262 Considering that this is Hatred we're talking about, and she's powered by Dark Magic, I guess we can say that no matter which way the dice rolls Tachyon's end will be unpleasant.
8094264 the best he can hope for is a quick and painless death, which we all know won't happen.
8094279 Yeah, something tells me he won't be getting that.
8093967 Oooh, now that's an interesting idea. I approve.
8094371 the question is, does the author?
8094371
8094523 You know, I spent all day reading this thing, and I came to this conclusion; based on how many allies the author has been giving Ratchet and Starlight (the Jedi, the Heroes, improved Galactic Rangers, and who knows what else) I think its safe to say he's been planning this for some time.
8094597 Quite possible. Though, I have to ask, you did read the prequel, right?
8094656 I felt it necessary to read both of the stories, hence the reason I mentioned reading all day. I read Sunset in Skyrim, then the one with Pinkie in Jak's world, then I came here. Figured they might be connected in some way. Why do you ask?
8094669 Just making sure. Make sure to hit the DBZ one too. It's getting good.
8094698 I've got that one in my favorites list and I'm currently running through it. Though I stand by my opinion that the author has something planned for this part of the story, considering the addition of Ysmir and whatnot.
8094707 Oh no doubt. They're definitely building up to something big.
8094709 War can be the only answer. War between the forces of good and the forces of evil... though that will only happen if someone other than Tachyon get's their hands on the Dimensionator.
8094712 And if Sonata is right and Hatred is running around...
8094751 There is so much darkness across the multiverse for an aspect of Dark Magic to call upon. Think of Hatred as a successful female Sombra in a sense, with an army of nightmares and whatever else she can summon...
8094756 Huh. That is actually a really good comparison. But, just like with Sombra, there will always be heroes to push back the evil. And some of us don't shy away from the darkness.
8094762 Sort of like Jak. He embraced his darkness and conquered it (though he had help from the Light as well). Oh this is getting exciting.
Oops....