Ratchet and Clank: The Starlight of Solana

by Blackdrag-rose

Commando: Barlow

After Ratchet and his sisters had told Clank everything that had happened since they had parted, telling him about the planets they had already visited before coming to this planet, before mentioning that there was another location they needed to check out. Starlight had told him that the Desert Riders might have some connection to Thugs-4-Less, though she also suggested that it might be in their best interests to infiltrate the group and see if they could find anything that connected to the Thief. Clank didn't really understand how the Thief had discovered that Ratchet and his sisters had been coming to the flying laboratory, but he did understand that they were hot on their enemy's trail.

Once they were all caught up on what they were doing, and their weapons were restocked, they climbed into their ship and set the course for Planet Barlow.

As they moved towards their next destination Sunset and Starlight shared their notes on what was going at the moment, to which they discussed the possibility that the Thief might not be a male as Ratchet assumed he was. Starlight happened to be looking at one of the pictures that Megacorp had provided them in the beginning of their quest, though as she looked at it she could determine that the Thief had to be female. Ratchet didn't seem to mind the fact that his sisters might be right, though Sunset and Starlight had to wonder what she truly looked like if it was a female lurking under the mask that their enemy wore all the time.

During the flight to Barlow Starlight also took the opportunity to ask her sister something that had been bothering her, something that related to the bracelet that she wore all the time.

"Are you aware that there's a crack in your bracelet?" Starlight asked, wondering if her sister had even noticed the small crack, though all the scans that she had run indicated that magic was definitely slowly leaking from the piece of jewelry.

"Its easy to miss such a simple thing," Sunset commented, pulling her arm up and staring at the bracelet for a moment, though she turned it around and looked at the crack that she had noticed before Mr. Fizzwidget called upon them, "I've been aware of it for the last three weeks, though I haven't really noticed any side effects that would be associated with it."

"Including the magic that's leaking from it?" Starlight inquired, pulling out her scans and showing her sister, who eagerly looked at them as Clank looked at them in the rear view mirror, "Sunset, I don't need to remind you of the last two times your magic went out of control... which might actually happen if we don't do something about the leak in the metal."

Sunset knew what her sister was talking about before she even opened the next few pages of the reports that she had given her; she was referring to the hollow inside of her. In truth it wasn't the same thing as the one that the people of Old Earth recorded, but considering that they had nothing else to call the creature she had become, besides a monster anyway, they had agreed to refer to it as a hollow. The creature had been the result of her potent powers mixing with her unstable emotions when dealing with their enemies in the Solana Galaxy, though even now she could feel the creature inside of her... just waiting for the chance to come out and cause havoc once more.

She could understand where Starlight was coming from as she looked at the report, she was worried that the constant leak of her magic might awaken the creature inside of her once more... which would only result in more destruction.

"So then we use some magic to patch it up and pretend the crack never happened." Sunset said, energy wrapping around her left hand for a moment, "Shouldn't be too hard."

"My magic should be better to repair the crack," Starlight replied, her horn lighting up as a swirl of energy appeared around her, "Wouldn't your magic weaken the metal and make it fail faster?"

"Actually, according to my own scans, it might be better to use Sunset's magic first and then bind yours on top of it," Clank commented, staring at the bracelet the entire time, "The combined abilities of the two of you might be able to keep it together for a longer period of time, rather than having only one of you work on it at any given moment."

What Clank didn't tell either of them was that he was certain that Starlight's magic had been the catalyst that had weakened Sunset's bracelet back on Umbris, when she first used Dark Magic. She had surrounded Sunset with her magic, though he suspected that, once the magic had completely covered her body, the bracelet had soaked some of it in and the binding had weakened. He wasn't an expert in the use of magic and what the two of them could do with it, but he did know that if they pressed more of Starlight's magic against the weakened bracelet it might only worsen the situation... if not completely shatter the piece of jewelry altogether.

Unfortunately they all knew what would happen if Sunset's inner creature, which was also held back by the bracelet, were to merge with her completely... they could say farewell to whatever enemy they were fighting at the very least.

Sunset sighed and extended her arm out, to which she wrapped her magic around the bracelet and tied it as tight as she could, making sure to keep all of the leaking magic contained inside the bracelet. The moment she was done with that Starlight moved her own energy over to the metal, wrapping her magic over what had already been created and binding it all together. Once she was finished she ran a scan on the bracelet, checking to see if their work had actually done anything or if they were simply wasting their time, though she breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed that the leak had stopped.

With the task of binding the bracelet completed they returned to their scans and poured over their maps of the planet they were heading towards, hoping to have a decent amount of information on where their target was located before they reached their destination.

---

When they finally reached their destination both Starlight and Sunset noticed that there were several rotting signs that indicated that this place used to house a Gadgetron building. They also noticed that, of the few buildings that were still intact, only one of them had any power to it, which they assumed would have something interesting that Mr. Gadget might have forgotten about. When they exited their ship they approached the weapon vendor and noticed that there was yet another weapon available for purchase, something called the Seeker Gun. While Ratchet and Starlight checked out the newest Megacorp weapon, amazed that another had come out so soon, Sunset approached the vendor and acquired every weapon that she hadn't picked up, much to their amazement.

"I thought you were focusing on using only magic," Ratchet commented, pointing his Seeker Gun at the path they would be taking, grinning as he looked at the enemies that were unaware that they were even standing there.

"Its time to take a break and focus on something else," Sunset replied, checking the scope on her new Pulse Rifle for a moment, "In time I won't need to use weapons to defend myself, but I'm far from that day and I should really learn to use the other weapons that are at my disposal. Besides, its about time I helped out instead of focusing on my magic... they are plenty of other days where I can practice my skills."

Before either Starlight or Ratchet could make a comment on what she was saying, or even understand that she was giving up magic for the moment, she cycled to the new Seeker Gun and pointed it at the tunnel they would be heading down. She then loosed a charge from the weapon, sending out a bit of metal, one that she assumed had to be the seeker, that tore into the two wild mutt creatures that were running around the tunnel. Once they were down for the count she beckoned her siblings forward and they walked into the tunnel, following it around a bend before they spotted three warriors standing in the middle of the ruins in front of them.

Walking behind them was a brutish and ugly looking purple creature, but before they were spotted by their enemies she beckoned for Ratchet to pull out his rifle and take the creature out. Ratchet smiled and acquired the creature in his scopes, following it for a few seconds before pulling the trigger and taking it out with a loud crack from his rifle. The warriors turned towards them as the creature died, though as they did so Starlight charged forward and loosed a Gravity Bomb charge, blowing the three of them backwards as Sunset threw several Chopper stars to finish them off.

As the trio of enemies fell to the ground two more charged out of the rubble, to which they met their end as Ratchet appeared beside Sunset and put some holes in them with his Lancer. When they were sure that there were no more in their immediate area they continued into the small building in front of them, to which they were ambushed by another duo of enemies. Starlight took great pleasure in getting rid of them with her Seeker Gun, before they noticed that the area in front of them was crawling with the wild mutts they had seen earlier. Ratchet pointed at the warrior that was riding one of the ugly creatures for a moment, though he leveled his rifle with it and put a shot right through its head, removing it from the equation before it could reach them.

Starlight and Sunset grinned as they pulled out more Chopper stars and threw them into the air, sending them at the mutts that were waiting for them and cutting many of them down with ease. Ratchet took out the warrior that was coming down the hill, the same one that he had knocked off the ugly creature from before, before bashing one of the mutts in the head with his wrench. The instant the area was clear they walked up the hill the warrior came down and stopped at the base of the bridge that was waiting before them, to which they spotted a host of warriors coming their way.

Starlight grinned as she cycled back to the Gravity Bomb, leveling the weapon with the group of enemies and loosing a charge that separated them into two smaller groups of enemies. The moment that happened Ratchet and Sunset were on top of them, allowing their Seeker ammo to tear into them as they either slew them where they stood or knocked them off the bridge and made them fall to their deaths. They broke through the group of enemies that were coming towards them, stopping to make sure that they were all dead in one form or another, before they turned their attention to the enemies that were standing before them.

That happened to be three more of the ugly creatures that was guarded by one of the warriors, so the three of them switched to their rifles and put a shot in each of the creatures heads. The warrior came at them, but Sunset switched to her sword and parried the attack that was coming their way, before she blocked three more attacks and put the warrior out if his misery. They approached the bridge that would allow them to move forward, to which Ratchet put down the next annoying ugly creature that was blocking the way as his sisters tore the other two soldiers to pieces.

They entered the next building and noticed that there was a camp area sitting right below them, but instead of attacking immediately they took a moment to relax before they moved on. It gave Starlight time to consider if they were going on the right track, though when she did find out that they were on the right path they prepared their weapons and leapt down into the camp area.

"Invaders!" one of the warriors shouted, drawing his sword as the three of them dropped down on him and his friends, but all his shouting earned him was a blast in the head from Ratchet's Lancer.

The three of them wasted no time in clearing the immediate camp area of the warriors that had been camping there, though as they crossed through the next ruined building they came to an area that was crawling with warriors and a few of the ugly creatures. Ratchet pulled out his rifle again and started by taking out the creatures, while his sisters moved forward and used their weapons to shoot down every warrior that came their way. It took them a few minutes to clear the warriors and their beasts out of the way, though once they were all finished off the gate in front of them lowered and allowed them to move into the area.

When they walked into the area, which clearly looked like an arena of some kind, the gate closed behind them and the bridge in front of them opened up... which was followed by more of the warriors coming their way with what appeared to be the rest of their army.

Ratchet smiled and pulled out the rest of his Chopper stars, to which his sisters did the same thing and together the three of them fought against the tide of enemies with the stars. Several of their enemies managed to make it through the storm of stars that they had thrown at them, to which Sunset slammed into them with her sword and took them out one at a time. One of the warriors, wearing less armor than the other ones, challenged her to a one on one and drew his sword accordingly, though she was in no mood to play around. She slammed her sword into the warrior's own and forced him backwards, to which she continued to overpower the man until she had him backed up against the gap where the bridge used to be.

Once she had him where she wanted him, and also had him disarmed, and spun around and delivered a kick to his chest, sending him over the edge and causing him to fall to his death. As the last warrior fell the bridge restored itself, to which the three of them crossed over to the building that was standing in front of them, which they discovered had previously been a Gadgetron weapons building. Inside they discovered an old robot that had been waiting for some time for peaceful people to arrive, because the moment they entered the building it seemed to power on... and blow a fuse.

"Oh, excuse me," the robot said, smiling at them as they approached her, "I think I just blew another vacuum tube... wait a second, your the Glimmer family, aren't you?"

"That would be us," Starlight replied, returning the smile as she looked at the robot, "How did you find out about us?"

"Mr. Gadget contacted me a week ago, saying that something special was going to arrive for the three of you," the robot answered, her tone becoming serious for a moment, "He didn't know when you would arrive, but he made sure to keep this weapon under lock and key... as per the instructions you left for him in the event that it was completed and you were snatched by someone needing your help in another galaxy. Very smart of you to create a crate that could only be opened by the combined magical signatures of both yourself and your sister, Sunset Shimmer."

"No way," Starlight breathed, just as the robot laid a crate in front of the three of them, one large enough to contain a certain weapon of hers, "He managed to complete work on my project while we were training to become commandos... Sunset, help me crack this thing open."

Sunset approached the crate, with her left hand surrounded by magic, and she touched the piece of metal, to which Starlight did the same thing with her front right hoof. A few seconds passed before the crate emitted a faint unlocking sound, though once it had done that Starlight gently lifted the lid up and revealed the weapon that had been brought to them. It was a massive gun that had eight rocket launchers attached to the front of it, though where the original one of its kind had been a square this one had been assembled in a circle formation. It was more powerful than the original one as well, though Starlight was pleased to see that Mr. Gadget had followed her designs to the letter this time.

"That's... that's not what I think it is, is it?" Ratchet breathed, staring at the weapon and remembering what had happened when he had used the predecessor that his sister had made.

"Its the RYNO II," Starlight replied, a grin appearing on her face as she gently lifted the weapon up, "it might have one less silo than the original weapon, but it packs more power than its predecessor ever did. The Thief will never know what hit her once we reach her."

To prove her point she walked out the back entrance of the building and pointed the RYNO II at the group of mutts that were standing there, though once they noticed her the entire horde came at her. She smiled as she turned the weapon on, firing missile after missile until the entirety of the wild pack had been slain under the power of her weapon. She chuckled as she held the weapon, impressed that it contained the amount of power that she had specified when she had originally created the holoplans for it.

From that point on it proved to be a simple matter of crossing the gap in front of them and speaking with the Desert Rider that happened to be standing there, though Ratchet and Clank decided to go to the other path that had been waiting by their ship. Sunset and Starlight spoke with the crying man, who was frightened of the weapon that Starlight now carried, and said that all they had to do was race the others and they'd be considered one of them. It was then that they discovered that the Desert Riders used a hoverbike for their races, to which Sunset got herself situated in the seat and drove onto the track.

Starlight then spent the next half an hour watching the race that her sister was apart of, watching Sunset overtake her opponents on the track, while sometimes letting them get ahead of her, before she would pull ahead of them and win the race. Once she had won the first race, and had earned the Desert Rider helmet she was sure that she was never going to use again, the Rider they had spoken to actually received a message from his Boss. It was then they discovered that the Thugs were supposed to be meeting in a nearby system, to which Starlight started researching where the base was so that they could be prepared for when it was time to leave, before it ended with the leader proclaiming that he was going to write up one of his subordinates.

With the information in hand, and the Rider was thanked for his time, they followed the path that their brother had taken and rode the elevator down to their ship, though they made no move to search for their brother.

A few minutes later the second elevator, that was resting behind their ship, lowered to the ground and they noticed that Ratchet was coming their way. They quickly shared with him that they had the coordinates for where the Thugs were meeting, much the their brother's surprise before he smiled with a look that told him that he wanted some payback for what happened before they reached the Maktar Resort. When they were done Ratchet explained that he had found a gadget that was called a Thermanator, something that could change water to ice and back to water.

With only one lead available for them to take, and nothing else to go on, the group climbed back into the ship and began preparations for their departure... where they would take the fight to the Thugs and teach them a lesson as they searched for more clues as to where their true target was hiding.

Comments

[Sonata Blaze]

I hope that bracelet doesn't break, because if it actually releases her inner creature then everything will be wrecked... regardless of whose side she's on.

[Aria Blitz]

So, it seems that the bracelet can break... if Sunset uses her magic too much over a small period of time.

[Vigilant of Stendarr]

RYNO II

Oh Stendarr preserve us... she's made the second in the RYNO line.

[Ether Space]

I'm... actually slightly disappointed not to see that message from Thugs-4-Less acted out. It was one of my favorite parts of the game.
Oh well, there's always the internet.