Ratchet and Clank: The Starlight of Solana

by Blackdrag-rose

Interlude: The Invico-Vault

Sunset was slow to wake up, as her senses seemed to be completely dormant at the moment, but despite that she managed to open her eyes a bit and get a glance at the area she was in. She could make out the form of a hospital bed and the various machines, all beeping and running their various systems, that happened to be resting around her. She also noticed that she was hooked up to many of them, which told her that something had to have happened before she and her siblings confronted Chairman Drek, but her memory was a little fuzzy at the moment. She glanced outside the room she was resting in and spotted the familiar setting of Veldin outside the hospital, which brought a smile to her face as she discovered that they had succeeded in stopping the madman.

They had saved Veldin, and countless other worlds, from being destroyed in what was likely the worst money making scheme that she had ever seen. She still reflected on how he could have terraformed a barren world into what he desired, but she knew that it would have been impossible to make Drek see what he was doing was wrong.

"I see you finally decided to wake up," a voice said, causing her to slowly turn her head to her left and spot Ratchet standing there, "Here, let's get this off of you."

She waited a few minutes while Ratchet slowly removed all of the machines from her body, though at one point she noticed a doctor had come in to try and stop him, before giving in and helping her brother. Once most of the machines were no longer attached to her, though there was one that the doctor wanted her to keep on at the moment, the doctor placed a container of water near Sunset before leaving the two of them alone.

"How... how long was I out for this time?" Sunset weakly asked, coughing a bit before drinking some of the water the doctor had left behind.

"A few days," Ratchet replied, pulling a chair over and taking a seat, before noticing that Sunset was looking for someone else that wasn't present at the moment, "The reason that Starlight's not here with me is because she got a call from Gadgetron, where they claimed that they managed to pinpoint Professor Nora's exact location... on Pokitaru if you can believe it. I guess she had a vacation house that she was planning on using to hide herself before she disappeared completely, but she should have known that our sister would have tracked her down in the end."

"Serves... her right," Sunset said, remembering that Professor Nora had been the reason the defenses at Gadgetron had been deactivated when they arrived to acquire one of the Hologuises, "What... what happened to Drek... and his planet?"

Instead of answering her right away Ratchet remained silent, as if he was thinking about what he should tell her and what he should leave until Starlight was back. The hesitation told Sunset enough about what had happened; her feral side had, somehow, escaped and went on a rampage, no doubt destroying both Drek and his planet in the process. Starlight had been convinced that her feral nature had been a one time thing, but Sunset had felt the beast residing deep within her despite what her sister said. She was sure that the beast was just another part of her, one that she was sure that would be with her until the day she died, because Sunset was certain that it represented her natural instincts.

"You turned into a hollow and slew Drek before he could destroy Veldin," another voice said, though Sunset was surprised to see Starlight walking into her room, because of what Ratchet had told her, "I have the video of what happened if you want to see how badly your alter ego beat Drek, though something tells me that you'll want to wait until you've recovered from your ordeal."

"I think I'll wait until I've been discharged from the hospital," Sunset replied, leaning her head back against the pillow for a second, wondering how such a transformation had been possible, "too much excitement might be bad for me... though its a shame that we never figured out what was behind that locked door on Quartu. I'm sure that Drek was keeping something special hidden behind that door, but all we needed was the Codebot that went to it and we could have figured out what he was hiding."

Ratchet, again, remained silent, but this time he was recalling the Codebot that he had discovered thanks to Clank suggesting that he take a swim through the fleet's water tanks. He had to wonder if that robot he had found was actually the key to the door that Sunset had mentioned, but until he knew for sure he didn't want to excite his sister. Truth be told he had no idea what door she was even talking about, though he figured that if he or Starlight ask where it was on Quartu, the location of it, then they could take a detour and see if they found anything that might point them to where Drek hid the robot that opened it up.

Or, he silently reflected, he and Starlight could see if the Codebot he had found was the one that opened the door and, if it was, then they could see if there was anything that Drek was hiding from them.

"It will be a few days until the doctor discharges you from the hospital, now that your awake." Starlight commented, pulling out her tablet and opening the map of the area of Quartu they had explored, "With Ratchet's new ship, the one we found at the moon base, we can easily return to Quartu and see if we can't find this door... and determine where the Codebot for it is located. Or we could wait until your discharged from the hospital and go there together, though it depends on what you want to do Sunset."

"Its right there, by the scientist who helped us in getting rid of those battle mechs," Sunset replied, pointing her finger at the area on the map for a second, giving her sister enough time to circle it before lowering her hand, "You'll feel something pulling you towards the door when you get close to it, because when we were there I felt some sort of energy behind that door. With Drek's minions no longer protecting the planet you guys should be able to find the door in no time... you shouldn't miss it, not when the keyhole is an eight sided object."

"Rest up while we're gone Sunset," Starlight commented, putting her tablet away as she looked at her sister, "Wouldn't want you to hurt yourself by doing activities that you aren't ready for yet."

"You got me there," Sunset replied, a small smile appearing on her face as she looked at her siblings, "Remember, be careful while you explore that arena area... there's no telling what dangerous parts are still lining the ground after we trashed those mechs."

Ratchet smiled just a bit, once again confirming that no matter what happened to them his sisters would remain who they actually were and wouldn't give into what had happened to them. With Sunset bidding them farewell for the moment Ratchet and Starlight left the room so they could go find Clank, who had been running scans on the ship they had taken from the moon base so they could replicate what they found on other ships. They would need his help in getting back to Quartu, though Ratchet was sure that the little robot would enjoy some time away from his work.

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"Explain to me why we came back to Quartu." Clank commented, reattaching himself to Ratchet's back after landing the ship in the requested destination.

Clank was fine with being interrupted from his work, as nearly everyone in the galaxy was interrupted whenever they were working, but he still didn't understand why Ratchet and Starlight wanted to go back to Quartu. Chairman Drek was defeated and every factory he had owned had been shut down after his death, including the one on this planet, so he was curious as to why they were here to begin with. From what he had heard Sunset was awake in the hospital, though instead of being by her side Ratchet and Starlight wanted to explore something that their sister had found but could not open the last time they were here.

"Think of this as Drek's Last Secret," Ratchet replied, not bothering to pause at the vendor considering that there was no need for weapons at the moment, and even if there were some enemies left he'd just let Starlight take care of them with her magic, "Sunset's sure that there is something locked behind that door, though according to her the only way to open it is with a Codebot... like the one we found on Drek's fleet."

"That doesn't explain why we had to drop everything and come straight here," Clank returned, knowing that they could have come back to the planet a few days or a week from now.

"Mr. Gadget told me that he's been talking to the new Head Scientist of the Blarg," Starlight replied, though she activated her magic and formed a bridge over the gap that they could have used their Swingshots on, but didn't want to bother with that at the moment, "Apparently the two of them are supposed to be in the middle of determining what to do with the factories that Drek used to produce his war bots, which means either their destruction or being turned over to Gadgetron for production of additional weapons. I saw the list of places that were confirmed for being torn apart in the future and this factory was on the list, so the reason that we came here now was because in a week this entire place will likely be ripped to pieces.

And don't worry Clank, I told Mr. Gadget that the machine that made you was located on this planet and he said that he'd try to have it relocated someplace else."

"I... I see the reason behind your decision now," Clank said, admitting defeat once again, something that he was becoming familiar with these days, "and it will be good to get my mother away from this place."

Ratchet held up a hand as they approached the door that Sunset had marked on Starlight's map, the one that had the eight sided lock that they had been told about. Clank jumped onto the floor and stared at the door, but while the three of them stared at it Ratchet reached into his pack and pulled out the Codebot that he had found while exploring Drek's fleet. He rotated the little robot around for a moment, to line it up with the lock that was on the door, before he gently slid it into place and, upon hearing a clicking sound, backed up. The three of them waited a few seconds before the door split in half and moved into the walls around it, opening the way for them to discover whatever Drek had been hiding.

What they found was a massive amount of crates that held a fairly large amount of bolts, which they could easily add to their accounts before they departed from Quartu. In the middle of all the crates, however, Starlight found what she suspected that Sunset had felt when they passed by the Vault the first time; a shimmering purple crystal. She couldn't feel whatever Sunset had felt, but with that one glance she could tell that the crystal had to be important for Drek to have hidden it away like this. Then, as she stared at it some more, her eyes widened as she realized exactly what she was looking at, because she knew that Sunset would want to see it as well.

She gently picked up the crystal with her magic and turned to her brother, knowing that both he and Clank would be confused as to what this crystal was.

"Sunset's going to want to see this," Starlight said, a smile appearing on her face, "she is going to freak out when she discovers what Drek was keeping in here."

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When the three of them returned to Veldin, and entered the hospital, they found that Sunset was sitting straight up in her bed and that she was reading something on her tablet. Ratchet suspected that his sister either had another idea for an interesting gadget or she was reading a report that Gadgetron had sent her. Her ears perked up the moment the door opened, so when she spotted her siblings and Clank enter her room she powered down her tablet and set it to the side.

"Isn't it a little early to be heading back into work?" Ratchet asked, wondering if his sister was already trying to push herself after just waking up.

"I was reviewing something that Mr. Gadget had sent me," Sunset replied, a smile appearing on her face as she felt something else resting in the room with them, "You found what was inside the blocked off room, didn't you?"

"Yes, and you won't believe what Drek was hiding," Starlight happily answered, pulling out the shimmering crystal and gently deposited it in front of her sister, "Trust me, I was shocked to see this sitting in that locked Vault."

Sunset stared down at the crystal for a few seconds, her eyes widening as she realized what her siblings had found inside the chamber she had pointed out. She had heard rumors of six of these crystals being discovered on some unnamed planet on the outskirts of their galaxy, but shortly after their discovery they had all disappeared. Some claimed that it had been a hoax by the person that had discovered the seemingly barren world, while others claimed that the crystals had been stolen shortly after being revealed. She had been sure that the six of them had been stolen and sold on the Black Market, never to be seen again unless the person who bought them revealed that they had them.

She never expected that she would be laying her eyes on one of the six crystals, much less even having the opportunity to hold one in her hands for a few minutes.

"One down," Starlight commented, to which both she and Sunset grinned for a few seconds, "Five to go."

Author's Note:

There will be one more interlude chapter between the end of the first game and the start of the second game; an interview chapter. If you wish to ask the characters a question, feel free to do so.

Comments

[Night_Moon60606]

the First Star has been discovered, the battle lines r drawn. but my mind is not at rest, for Questions linger on...

[Aria Blitz]

I'm tempted to say that the shimmering crystal is a piece of raritanium, but I could be wrong in that regard.

7377546 If I can ask, but what are you referring to when you mention the 'First Star' and battle lines?
I'm also sure that you could email the author with questions and he'll likely address them in the following chapter.

[Night_Moon60606]

7377766

the Giving Star is always true, providing what u need for u
the Laughing Star is never still, providing all the best of will
the Star of Truth sees through all lies, its Noble Heart just never dies
the Honour Star flies swift and sure, that vital bonds may yet endure
Compassion's Star may run and hide, but with gentle healing will provide
the Final Star shall not appear, until the other Stars draw near...

[Aria Blitz]

7377790 Oh... OH, the Elements of Harmony. I get you now.
But doesn't the purple color mean that Drek had Rarity's Element?

[Night_Moon60606]

7377830 the might of avarice and greed will call the Star in time of need, to counteract the Taking Light, the Giving Star will do what's right...

[Aria Blitz]

7377857 Ah... so maybe the elements will be discovered based on the opposite of what the villain is; Drek's greed to Generosity as it were...
That alone makes me wonder what's coming next.

[Vigilant of Stendarr]

Huh... so there was something hidden in the Invico-Vault... and its a shining crystal that hasn't been named yet.
Things are getting somewhat interesting now that we're leaving the first game behind.

7377870 That seems to be the logical answer.

[Sonata Blaze]

Hmm... a shimmering gemstone... raritanium maybe?