• Published 7th May 2016
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Ratchet and Clank: The Starlight of Solana - Blackdrag-rose



Starlight Glimmer and Sunset Shimmer grow up alongside Ratchet on Veldin, where they begin an epic journey to save the galaxy.

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R/C: Quartu; Factory

When the pair of ships landed back on Quartu, without any resistance from the factory below them, Ratchet and his sisters climbed out of their ships and approached the vendor. Their plan was simple; they were going to engage their Hologuises, sneak into the factory and, after what they knew was going to be a long gauntlet of enemies, steal whatever information there was on what Chairman Drek was doing. As Ratchet and Starlight restocked their weapons they noticed that Sunset had her tablet up, almost in the manner as if she was reading a book of some kind. Ratchet could tell that Starlight knew what was going on, though that meant that he and Clank were both confused as to what Sunset was doing at the moment.

Clank, having no relation to Sunset, found it easy to approach the Cazar and speak his mind, if only so he and Ratchet could figure out what was going on.

"What are you doing?" Clank asked, though when he moved his head to get a better angle to read the tablet he found that Sunset seemed to be researching additional spells.

"I'm studying before we go inside the factory," Sunset replied, though she eyed a spell that used the wind to create a whirlwind that tossed enemies into the air, "I may not be able to use these spells just yet, but with some time and practice I should be able to use each of these to aid us on whatever adventure we're on in the future."

"Assuming that there's another adventure after defeating Chairman Drek," Clank commented, not understanding why Sunset wanted to go on another adventure after this one, but decided not to press the issue.

Sunset noticed that Clank didn't say anything else, but she turned her attention back to her tablet and continued reading up on the spell that she had been researching, wondering how powerful the spell could be. After a few minutes of waiting for her siblings to finish restocking their ammo she noticed them moving towards the entrance of the factory, so she shut down her tablet and followed them. They were fortunate that the robots in the factory were unaware of the fact that the one guarding the entrance were already dead, otherwise Sunset knew that they would have found more standing waiting for them.

"Well, let's see if these work like they're supposed to,"Ratchet commented, pulling out his Hologuise and activating the button, to which he noticed that his body changed to match the appearance of the robots patrolling the factory.

He looked to his right and noticed another robot standing next to him, one that had a pink band around its left arm that immediately identified that it was Starlight standing next to him. He turned his head around and stared at Sunset, who was staring down at her own Hologuise in confusion before she pressed the button again... only nothing happened to her. Starlight turned to watch Sunset try again, but when the same result happened both she and Ratchet took their guises off, to which Starlight took Sunset's Hologuise and ran a check on its systems. She was trying to figure out what was wrong with the device, because hers and Ratchet's had worked without something like this happening to them.

"I don't understand what's going on," Starlight growled in frustration, as all of her scans had found nothing wrong with Sunset's Hologuise, "According to these scans the device should work just fine, but every time you press it nothing seems to happen... almost as if something else is preventing the gadget from working."

Sunset sighed as she stared at the entrance of the factory, wondering exactly what they were going to do now that one of them was unable to use the Hologuise. Based on their scans from their last visit to Quartu, to destroy the battle mechs, the factory was large and would take some time for them to fully explore. She determined that not being able to disguise herself may actually be a blessing, because that would give her the freedom to scout ahead with her magic whenever she was able to and, in the process, plan out their attacks so that the sentries didn't know what was happening.

"Let's not worry about that right now," Sunset said, accepting her Hologuise from her sister and stashing it with the rest of her gadgets, "This does, in a way, give us the ability to scout ahead and properly plan out our attacks without the sentries discovering what we are actually up to. I can use my magic to scout ahead and bring back information that we can use to our advantage; whether that's however many enemies there might be, the patrol routes of those enemies, or whatever obstacles there might be in our way."

Ratchet and Starlight shared a look with each other, as if they were actually worried about what was doing to be in their way, before they sighed and engaged their disguises. Once their robot disguises were on again the trio approached the entrance of the factory, to which Sunset remained to the side where she wouldn't be seen by whoever was on the other side of the door. When the door opened they were greeted by a force field that was operated by a robot on the other side, to which Ratchet waved his robotic arm at the guard and watched as the field collapsed on itself.

Starlight beckoned with her hand for a second and Sunset leapt out of her hiding place, to which she threw her sword right into the robot's chest and knocked it into the wall. The three of them entered the first area as Sunset tore the robot to pieces, making as little noise as possible in case the sentries had noise detectors installed in their bodies. They waited a few seconds, to be absolutely sure that nothing was coming after them, before Sunset moved close to the area above where they were standing and looked at the guard that was walking around. She waited until the robot's back was turned before leaping up onto the platform and calling upon her magic, conjuring a trio of icy spears that she used to pin the robot to the wall.

Once she was sure that the robot was down she turned back to the area below her and beckoned for her siblings to join her, to which they disengaged their disguises and leapt up to where she was standing.

"Okay, I'll admit that this was a good plan," Ratchet remarked, noting the ruined robot that was pinned to the wall by spears made of ice for a moment, "So that's what we'll be doing throughout the entire factory?"

"Unless you'd like to try a full frontal assault on the guards." Starlight stated, a smile appearing on her face as she realized what advantage Sunset had been speaking of, "Personally, this is a much safer plan of action than attacking with brute force... and it will give Sunset some time to actually practice some of the spells she picked up."

Ratchet rolled his eyes for a moment before turning to Sunset, nodding to his sister so she could see what was ahead of them before they bothered engaging their disguises again. Sunset leapt up to the next platform for a moment, spotting a robot that currently had its back turned, but before she could do anything it started to turn around and she jumped backwards to avoid being seen. She sighed for a moment before beckoning for Ratchet to use the Visibomb Gun, to which her brother aimed at the doorway she had walked trough and loosed a missile into the passage. A few seconds later there was an explosion, to which Ratchet nodded and the three of them leapt into the passage, before they quickly crossed the path that rested before them and stopped where the robot had been.

They encountered another door, one that they all assumed had another robot standing behind another force field, so Sunset moved into position and waited for her siblings to see what was waiting for them. When the door opened, on the other hand, they found that there was no barrier preventing them from moving forward and no sentry waiting on the other side. Sunset frowned as they walked forward, but as she spotted a conveyor belt she held up a hand and stopped her siblings from moving out into the open area. She could tell that there was some sort of trap that was designed to make them leave their disguises, but she needed one other piece of information before they did anything else.

Sunset slowed her breath as she focused her magic, closing her eyes for a moment as a amber sphere of magic appeared between her and her siblings, giving her sight once more. Sunset used this 'seeing eye' and sent it along the path that they were going to have to take in a few minutes, spotting two robots that were walking around the next platform with one that was walking above them. It was definitely a trap of sorts, one that she immediately knew the answer to without having to think about it so much, though she decided to use the eye a little more and sent it flying up to the platform far above the one with the two robots. There she found a few more robots patrolling what appeared to be their way into the main area of the factory, though she had a few ideas on how to remove them.

Once she had gotten enough information on what was in front of them she severed her link to the eye and felt it shatter as if it was made of glass, where she let out a sigh as she opened her eyes and looked at her siblings.

"What was that spell?" Ratchet asked, mainly because he was constantly being surprised by every new spell that his sisters showed him, which gave him the desire to know exactly what extraordinary feats they were capable of performing.

"Its a spell called Second Sight," Sunset replied, taking a few deep breaths to regain herself, as the cost to use the spell was more than what she assumed it had been, "It gives the user the ability to scout wherever they want, such as allowing me to look at the area in front of us and see what might be waiting for us."

"That's... amazing!" Ratchet said, as he had never heard of such a spell before, though he knew that the combination of his sisters' knowledge on magic would create something greater than this.

"So, what did you find?" Starlight asked, getting back to the matter at hand before Ratchet made them forget why they were infiltrating the factory to begin with.

"There are two robots on the platform that's the next one we'll be landing on," Sunset replied, recalling everything that she had seen with the spell with ease, "and above them is another robot that's just patrolling a walkway. And above them are three more robots that are standing guard over what I assume is the entrance we're looking for. We should be able to use the Visibomb Gun a few times and easily take out the first two sentries... and then whoever else you feel like taking out before we continue walking."

Ratchet smiled as he pulled out the weapon in question, to which he moved to an angle that would allow him to position his missiles with the greatest of ease. Starlight and Sunset waited in their hideout and watched as their brother loosed three missiles in rapid succession, no doubt tearing into the three sentries that Sunset had pointed out. After a few seconds Ratchet moved the weapon in the direction of the upper level and loosed another missile, as if he was testing his luck and seeing if he could actually hit something up there. Based by the look on his face it was clear that he didn't hit anything, but the lack of an alarm meant that the sentries had no idea that someone was taking out their comrades.

"I missed the second group," Ratchet said, explaining what had happened to his sisters, "but we should be able to reach our destination without having to worry about the first one that Sunset spotted."

The three of them emerged from their hiding spot and hopped onto the conveyor belt, allowing it to take them to the small platform before they leapt onto the one that had a ladder leading up to the upper area. Starlight took one look at what was in front of them, and the falling barrels of waste that the factory was producing, before letting out a sigh and engaging her magic. A set of magical stairs appeared at the edge of the platform, winding all the way to the area that rested on the other side of where the falling barrels were. Ratchet and Sunset nodded for a second, knowing that this was meant to speed things along, before the three of them ran up the set of stairs until they reached the barrier that was blocking their way.

It was then that Ratchet and Starlight reengaged their Hologuises, assuming the form of the sentry robots and approaching the barrier that they needed to deactivate. Ratchet waved his robotic arm at the sentry that controlled the barrier, waiting a few seconds as the robot took down the obstacle that was blocking their path. The instant the barrier was down Ratchet deactivated his disguise and threw out a minion sphere, to which the four little robots ran out and tore into the sentries that were patrolling the area. Starlight, seeing her brother switch forms, did the same thing and slammed her staff into the robot that was reaching for the alarm button, breaking its arms before she dragged it into her brother's sights.

With the robots removed from the picture they approached another ladder, which was smaller than the ones they would have taken to reach this level, before they climbed to the top and found a metal door. When they approached the door it opened to reveal the end of the walkway they were on, to which they discovered that they were going to have to glide down to the next platform. Sunset held up her hand for a moment as a door opened on the platform, watching as two robots walked out of the area they had been in before turning around and headed back inside as the door closed behind them.

"So, what's the plan this time?" Ratchet asked, kneeling as he watched the robots, trying to judge if he had enough time to glide down their and put on his disguise before the robots stepped out of their hiding place.

"I'm going to throw them into the abyss below us," Sunset replied, a smile appearing on her face as she realized that she could use one of her spells to great effect, "Then, once these guys are taken care of, we can move forward and see what else is waiting for us... and figure out where Chairman Drek is hiding. Starlight, I'm going to need you to teleport me into the area that the robots come out of the moment they leave it, because we're going to have on shot at this before they figure out that somethings wrong."

Starlight nodded her understanding and focused her magic on the spell that her sister requested, while Sunset merely brought her hands together and gathered her magic as she prepared her own spell. Ratchet, on the other hand, watched his sisters work their magic, knowing that there was nothing he could do at the moment to aid them in their preparations. He also knew that this day, when the two of them combined their talents for magic, had been coming the moment that Sunset discovered that she could use magic as well, though he had been expecting it to come later in their lives.

The moment the door opened again, and the robots walked outside, Starlight released her spell and Sunset disappeared for a second, only to reappear behind the pair of robots. Before the two robots could turn back around Sunset unleashed her spell, blowing out a gust of wind, identical to the one she had used previously, and knocked her targets off of the walkway, where she knew that they would be destroyed the moment they touched the ground. Once the robots were no longer in their way Sunset turned to where her siblings were standing and beckoned for them to join her, to which Ratchet descended with Clank's Helipack and Starlight with her magical stairs.

"That worked better than what I was expecting," Clank commented, having witnessed the sisters' plan before reattaching himself to Ratchet's back, "Chairman Drek has a right to fear us if this is how our plans work."

"We're not done with the factory yet," Ratchet replied, his hand resting above the Hologuise button again, "There's no telling what dangers we might have to face before we reach the end of this place."

They moved onto the conveyor belt that was resting in front of them, where Ratchet and Starlight assumed their disguises as Sunset hid behind them the entire time. There wasn't enough room for all three of them, so Sunset decided to hide behind her siblings and make sure that any sentries didn't see her until it was too late. As the door in front of them opened they discovered another sentry walking around, though this time when Ratchet took off his disguise he loosed a Devastator missile right into its chest, blasting it into the wall and tearing it to pieces. Once that robot was taken care of they quickly discarded their disguises as Sunset leapt onto the platform above them, giving her a look at what rested at the end of their tunnel before letting go.

"There are three robots on the other side of the tunnel," Sunset commented, looking at her siblings for a moment while she came up a plan that would work in their favor, "unfortunately, the walkway between us and them is separated into three pieces... two conveyor sections and a stationary one in the middle of the other two. We won't be able to use the Hologuise much here, because you'll have little time to reequip your disguises before the robots are looking this way again. What we're going to have to do is take them out from afar and then cross the walkway, so I guess its time to take out the Visibomb Gun again."

Ratchet smiled and moved to the back of the room they were in, pulling out the weapon in question and taking aim at the area that they had to eventually walk through. He loosed one of the missiles and sent it flying to the other end of the tunnel, to which he landed in the middle of the two robots that were standing near the button and tore them to pieces. Before the third sentry could really figure out what was going on, or if someone was taking out its comrades, Ratchet loosed another missile and removed it from the other side of the tunnel. Once the final sentry was taken out he lowered the Visibomb Gun and nodded his head, to which the three of them began their journey to the other side of the tunnel.

It didn't take them long to cross over the three piece walkway, which both Ratchet and Starlight admitted would have been difficult to cross with the sentries watching the passageway, but when they opened the door on the other side they found a platform above them. They immediately retreated into the room they were standing in as two robots emerged from their hiding places, telling them that there were definitely a few more enemies for them to take care of. Sunset also noticed that there was another sentry on the edge of the platform, though his back had been turned so he hadn't noticed any of them before they had retreated inside the room.

Before they could plan something Starlight opened the door once more, to which she found that the single sentry was alone, so she engaged her magic and yanked the robot off the ledge, dropping it into the abyss below them.

"That's one way to get rid of an enemy." Ratchet commented, not really sure if that was completely necessary at this point.

"Let's use the Devastator and get rid of the other two," Starlight said, pulling out her rocket launcher while her brother followed suit, leaving Sunset to watch for the enemies as they took aim at the two doors on the platform.

They waited a few seconds before the doors opened again, though the moment that the robots stepped out into the open area Sunset watched as four missiles left where they were standing. Two of those missiles tore into the robot on the left side of the platform, blowing it to pieces in seconds, while the remaining two flew into the third sentry and removed it before it knew what was happening. Once the sentries had been removed, and they were sure that there was nothing else in the immediate area, the three of them engaged their Swingshots and swung to the platform above them.

When they landed on the platform they found a switch that looked like the one that had been protecting the jet fighter on Pokitaru, though Starlight merely stared at the switch as she used her magic to force it into the floor and open the door in front of them. They quickly collected all of the bolts that were laying around the platform before regrouping at the newly opened door, where they all knew that they had to be getting closer to their target. They spotted another door in the passageway, though before they reached it Ratchet and Starlight put on their disguises and continued to walk forward. It was a good thing that they did that, because there was another barrier with a sentry resting behind it, which was disabled the instant Ratchet and Starlight waved at their enemy.

The moment the barrier was down they took off their disguises and used their hand held weapons to smash the sentry to pieces, allowing Sunset to catch up with them before they moved further into the factory. When they turned a corner they found what appeared to be the heart of the factory, as they discovered the machine that produced the robots that Chairman Drek used to fight his battles. Clank, on the other hand, immediately recognized the place where he had been created and detached from Ratchet's back as they approached the machine with the working conveyor belt.

Sunset and Starlight immediately noticed that there was some damage to the machine, so they spent a few minutes running some scans on it and fixing whatever their scans found.

"That should do it," Sunset commented, standing straight as she pressed the button that would turn the machine back online, though she wondered what information it had for them.

After a few moments a message appeared on the screen; Son.

"Mom?" Clank asked in surprise, confirming his suspicions that this was the very factory he had been created in.

You have done well. appeared on the screen seconds later, to which Ratchet and his sisters smiled a bit, both for themselves and for Clank getting recognition for what they all had done.

"I tried, Mom." Clank said, happy that his mother was pleased with what they had done so far.

There is still more to do. replaced the message that had been on the screen a second later, leaving the four of them to nod their understanding to the machine.

"I know," Clank replied, though he steeled himself for whatever information his mother might have for him and his friends.

A few seconds passed before an Infobot emerged from the conveyor belt, to which Ratchet joked that Clank now had a sister... which gave him two punches from both of his sisters. As the Infobot started its video they discovered that Chairman Drek had completed his work on his new world, which the four of them agreed looked horrible and ugly at the same time. Then he mentioned that there was one problem still in their way, to which the camera moved to the planet that Drek planned on blowing up and replacing with his own world. That was when Ratchet and his sisters discovered that the planet that was the end game of this madness was their home world, which only pissed all three of them off in the process.

They even got a look at the weapon that Drek had designed to get rid of Veldin, something that he called the Deplanetizer and hailed as the most powerful laser ever created. As the Infobot finished its message it gave Clank the coordinates for Drek's fleet, where they might be able to end everything before their enemy had everything in position.

"How... how DARE HE!" Starlight shouted, her anger flaring as the eerie mist from before returned to her eyes, though it vanished seconds later, "If he thinks that he can get away with this, without us coming and kicking his flank, then he's got another thing coming."

"Don't worry... we won't let him blow Veldin to pieces," Ratchet said, grinding his teeth for a moment, before turning to the exit chute, "Come on, let's go hit that fleet of his and see if we can't take him out quickly... or, if he's not there, then figure out where on our home world he's planning on moving that laser to."

Sunset and Starlight nodded as Clank reattached himself to Ratchet's back, before the four of them slid down the exit chute and landed at the entrance of the factory. Once they landed they immediately headed to their ships, where they climbed into either the cargo ship or the hyper ship and then prepped themselves for launch. They were going to find Chairman Drek and rip him a new one, for everything he had done to them up until this point in time and for everything he had done to everyone else across the galaxy. At that point Ratchet didn't care if Starlight used that dark magic or if Sunset went feral, because both of those were bound to help them reach Chairman Drek.

He only hoped that Drek was still on the fleet and hadn't reached Veldin yet, otherwise he was sure that they'd have to waste time scouring his fleet for the information on where he was located.

----------------------------

"Those heroes have raided your factory on Quartu," the head scientist commented, reading a report as he stood in Chairman Drek's presence, who was looking out at his new world, "Apparently they accessed one of your machines and it gave them everything it had on your plans to obliterate Veldin... they'll be here in a few hours if my calculations are correct."

"They'll be meeting their deaths soon enough," Drek replied, sighing as he looked into the mirror, glancing at the soldier that was standing behind the scientist for a moment, "You, on the other hand, have provided me with everything I could have asked for, both in regards to my planet ending weapons and the improvements to my personal battle mech. You, and you alone, know everything about my battle mech, my plans, and everything that I have gone through to reach this point, and for that you have my thanks."

"Th... thank you sir!" the scientist said, not used to being thanked for his hard work in figuring out solutions for the Chairman's problems, though he liked the appreciation anyway.

"Which is why I can't leave you alive..." Drek commented, to which the soldier behind the scientist reached forward and snapped the scientist's neck before he had a chance to respond, "Can't afford to leave anything to chance at this point in time and have you tell those 'heroes' about my plans, or my weaknesses. Now then, I have to prepare for the arrival of my 'guests'... and the destruction of their pitiful mud ball planet."

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