Ratchet and Clank: The Starlight of Solana

by Blackdrag-rose

Arsenal: Florana

Sunset stretched her legs after she hopped out of the ship that her family used to go from their large starship and descend to whatever planet they were visiting, though it was quickly forgotten as she gently pulled out the first Core that they had discovered. Even as she looked at its gleaming and reflective surface she had to wonder what secrets that it might hold, what truth it was waiting to give back to her after the golden bracelet had stolen everything from her. Truthfully she was thankful that the bracelet was gone, as she, Ratchet, and Starlight had originally assumed that it had been cursed considering that she could never remove it, but she also missed being a cazar. She knew that Starlight was fine with being a pony, due to the fact that she had been born that way and didn't have any magical enchantments messing with her body, so she knew that she could grow to love her body.

She almost wished that she had been born a pony, like her sister did, so that she wouldn't be conflicted over what she might discover about herself, but also knew that it wasn't worth crying over.

"You excited to see what that Core holds for you?" Ratchet asked, as everyone had followed Sunset to the room that was designed to hold the Cores, where they found Luna waiting for the return of both Honesty and Generosity.

"I am... and I'm also afraid at the same time." Sunset replied, shaking her head as she stared at the Core, once again wondering if her past self had been someone that she was going to dislike, "Ratchet, these memories are going to change who I am... and there's nothing we can do to stop them from doing so."

"Look, just remember everything we've been through and those memories won't hurt you," Ratchet commented, though he knew he was doing the worst possible job of trying to cheer his sister up, "Besides, you and Starlight set up safeguards in the off chance that something bad actually came from remembering who you used to be, so I'm confident that you'll emerge unharmed."

Sunset knew what Ratchet was afraid of her finding, because it was the same thing that she was afraid of finding; that she might not be as good as she made herself out to be. She always wondered if her old memories would show her as the hero that was conquering the forces of evil, like she and her family were doing at the moment, or if they would reveal her to be the villain that was receiving a defeat. She let out a sigh as she walked into the room that the Cores would be stored in, gently removing Honesty and placing it back where she had taken it from. She waited a second or two, to which Luna nodded to her, before she withdrew Generosity and set it into the slot that had been carved out for it.

With that deed done Sunset walked into the small chamber to the left of the Cores, which was designed to keep her and her magic contained in the off chance that something happened when she recovered her old memories, and watched as the glass door sealed itself behind her.

"Don't worry Sunset, I'm sure that the Cores will ensure that nothing bad will happen to you." Starlight said, staring at her sister through the glass, hating that Sunset had to be in a magical cell of sorts when she wanted to do this, "We'll check up on you once we figure out who the President wants us to find... and retrieve that person of course."

Sunset nodded and watched her family depart from the room, leaving her alone with the two Cores that they had uncovered and the hologram of Luna, which did nothing to set her mind at ease. She sighed again and laid down on the bed they had put in the cell, knowing that it was better to get this over with and not prolong it because her nerves got the better of her. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to drift, where she opened herself to the magic of the Cores and started to receive a piece of the memories that had been stolen from her.

---

Starlight sighed as she, Ratchet, and Angela climbed out of the small ship once they had arrived at Florana, though it was because she was worried for her sister and not for the fact that she had discovered that the person they were looking for was the disgraced Captain Qwark. They all knew that Sunset wasn't a fan of the former captain, so it wasn't hard for them to imagine what she or her demonic side would do when they discovered that he was well within striking range. That was also considering that Searing even existed anymore, as there had been no sign of her since Honesty had summoned the spirits of those ponies a year ago, almost as if she had been cleansed from Sunset completely.

The three of them walked up to the weapon vendor and restocked their ammunition from fighting the invasion on Veldin, as well as picking up the newest weapons that were available; the N60 Storm, a blaster that was designed after the Lancer, and the Plasma Whip. Starlight and Angela also collected their own copy of the weapons that Ratchet had picked up back on Veldin, as the Galactic Rangers only gave him the weapons and no one else. Angela, after spending a second with her new weapons, spotted some flying bugs blocking their path and swung the whip at them, easily removing them from where they were flying and opening the path for them.

"Oh I am going to like this already," Angela said, pulling out the N60 Storm for a moment, as if wondering how powerful it was as well, "Let's do this and find Qwark... though after everything that's happened I can't believe that we're looking for him."

This time Angela took charge of what they did, as she leapt across the wooden planks that were between their platform and the next one, before following the road that lead them to the building that they had landed their ship near. Together the three of them encountered the natives, mask wearing savages that threw boomerangs at them, and used their new weapons to get rid of them. As they reached the end of the walkway they also encountered a swamp creature of sorts, though it didn't take to kindly to them trespassing in its territory at all. A combined nitro barrage from them three of them was enough to remove the creature so they could move on, granting them the ability to move into the building itself.

As they approached the entrance of the building they were attacked by a group of four natives, which they easily removed thanks to the combined power of their weapons, before Starlight noticed another one blocking their path further ahead and simply used her magic to toss the native to the side. They then came to an area that had three glass sections on one of the walls, the one that was right next to the ladder they needed to use to climb out of the building, but before they could climb the ladder they were attacked by the natives, who used the large vines around the building to ride down into where they were standing and shattered the glass upon entering the area. The three of them then cycled to their N60 Storm's and proceeded to shoot everything that came their way, making sure that they didn't miss any of their shots, before they had cleared out the natives once more.

Once the area was clear they climbed the ladder, or levitated up it in Starlight's case, and found three more natives standing near the edge of the building, giving Starlight the ability to rapidly grab them with her magic and chuck them off the building. Since they were splitting the output of ammunition between the three of them they didn't feel the need to restock their ammunition at the vendor, so they glided down to the platform below them. Angela was able to do this because she had fixed up her boots, as they had only allowed her to stay attached to a hoverboard in the past, but now, thanks to some help from Starlight and Sunset, the boots were able to slow her falling speed, making them similar to the helipack that Ratchet had installed in Clank so long ago.

As they landed on the platform Ratchet took out the native that was standing in front of them, though as soon as the native fell another swamp creature rose out of the water and attacked them. The three of them were more than willing to put the creature down, as it allowed them to jump to the platform in front of the next building, get rid of the two natives that were standing guard outside it, and then actually enter the next building. Inside, however, they found a square arena that looked like a trap, but they decided that they had better just see what the natives had in store for them and walked into the arena, to which the bridge behind them was lifted out of position and the one in front of them lowered into place.

Ten more natives attacked them, coming all at once with the intent on not giving them enough time to gather themselves so they could eliminate the intruders, but it actually didn't work out that way. The trio loosed a few more nitro charges and soon the natives were cleared out once more, allowing them to advance across the bridge that had been lowered into place and find a pair of walls that they needed to jump between. Angela smiled and put her weapons away, before jumping onto the wall to her right and then started to bounce between the two until she came to a ladder that she used to climb to the top. Ratchet chuckled as he repeated the process, though once he reached the top they called down to Starlight, who merely levitated herself up to them once again.

Two more natives appeared as they walked towards the edge of the building, but Angela was more than willing to get rid of them and clear the way forward... though it appeared that it would require them to ride the vines down into the pit below.

"Just remember to have your weapons at the ready when you land in the pit," Angela told them, as if she was the senior adventurer and not the novice that was proving that she was skilled for this sort of thing, before throwing her weapon over the vine and sliding down towards the pit.

Ratchet smiled and followed Angela down, knowing that Starlight would likely teleport to them the moment they reached the end of the vine, though when they landed they were attacked by two more swamp creatures and a whole cluster of the flying bugs. Starlight did, in fact, teleport in the moment they landed on the platform, though she used her whip to remove the flying bugs before the three of them turned their attention to the creatures that were waiting in the water. The two creatures proved to be easy to remove, as they had been sticking close to each other the entire time they were near the platform, giving the trio the ability to use their weapons and get rid of them. Once the creatures had been dealt with the bridge in front of them lowered into place, where they removed the flying bugs that were in their way, climbed into the platform that was above the one they were standing on, and then used another vine to reach another area of the ruins they had come to investigate.

When they landed in front of the ruins they were accompanied by a monkey that wouldn't leave Clank alone, though it merely served as a diversion for a masked figure, who was a little taller than the rest of the natives, to sneak up on them and force Ratchet backwards for a few seconds.

"You trespass on sacred ground," the figure proclaimed, though the trio noticed that his voice seemed to echo as it was followed by some hooting, "Now you walk Path of Death!"

"An obstacle course... how fun." Angela commented, already walking towards the ruins as the masked figure proclaimed it to be the 'Path of Death', "At least this is more interesting than working inside a Megacorp building all day long. I swear, I'm not even sure how some scientists can stand to be trapped inside a building and not get a bit of fresh air every now and then... because I know it would eventually drive me crazy."

Ratchet and Starlight followed Angela into the ruins, though Ratchet was impressed by how well Angela was actually taking her first real outing with them. To be fair he had gone to several of the planets he and his family had visited during their journey through the Bogon Galaxy to see how skilled his girlfriend actually was, though he had to admit that she was actually as good as he was... and that was including the fact that her balance had improved now when she finally decided it was time to let her tail be free once more. Despite everything that she had done in Bogon, the result all of them knew about, Angela was proving that she had the heart of a hero, which actually only served to make Ratchet love her even more.

The 'Path of Death', as the masked figure called it, was a gauntlet of platforms that required them to jump from one to another, flamethrowers that were designed to either hurt them or make them fall into the burning ground around them, a few more natives that happened to get in their way, and a few boulders and wall crushers that had been built into the ruins. Once the three of them had surpassed all of that, and emerged unharmed, they arrived at the end of the path, which happened to look like a circular arena of sorts. They even found the masked figure standing in the center of the arena, though it quickly dawned on them that the man expected them to be crushed by all of the obstacles that had been put in their way.

"Can... not... be!" the masked figure said, though whether it was in awe or shock they were unable to determine.

That was before the monkey from before took of the mask and revealed Qwark, though he seemed disheveled and broken, which was added to when they noticed the fragments of the wrappings that had been wrapped around his chest after the events of Yeedil. With the mask removed Qwark pulled out his own boomerang and entered a battle stance, as if he fully intended to fight them to the death, but then Starlight let out a sigh and approached the broken man. Ratchet and Angela watched her for a moment, wondering what she was going to do, and raised their eyebrows as she pulled out her tablet and showed the former captain something. Qwark stared at whatever she was showing him for a few seconds, before something flickered in is eyes and he fell to his knees, which drove the monkey to put the mask over Starlight's head.

In the end Qwark reverted to a feral state of hooting and making monkey gestures, though as the trio walked out of the ruins Ratchet felt the need to ask his sister something.

"So what did you show him?" he asked Starlight, wondering what Qwark could have seen that would have made him stop fighting completely and submit to someone else.

"Searing," Starlight replied, not bothering to say anymore, because it was something that all of them feared considering how much destructive power Sunset's darker side could command.

When they returned to their ship, and managed to squeeze Qwark into the back of it, they received a call from another cazar, though this one was female, roughly about Angela's age, and was dressed up in a purple captain's uniform.

"This is Captain Sasha of the Starship Phoenix," she formally introduced herself, a smile appearing on her face as she stared at the three of them, "The President has asked me to assist you."

"We've managed to recover Captain Qwark," Ratchet replied, beckoning to the back seat, where the defeated former captain was sitting still, "But... he seems to think he's a monkey."

"Of course," Sasha replied, as if she had expected something like this, or had known that this would happen considering who they were working with, "Bring him to the Phoenix and we'll see what we can do. Here's the coordinates. Sasha out."

With the coordinates of the Starship Phoenix acquired Ratchet sent them to their own starship, so that the holograms could get Sunset there without harm, before they set off as well. Things were about to get interesting, that much Ratchet knew for sure.

Comments

[Crescent Glaive]

I wonder how Sasha will react to the frigate they own

That should be interesting

[Nova Blaze]

Well this should be interesting.

[Sonata Blaze]

7591013 She's likely going to freak out the moment it appears on her radars, as she might think its an enemy vessel in the off chance that Ratchet or Angela don't tell her what's coming their way.

On the other hand, Angela makes one heck of an adventurer... Ratchet's lucky that she decided to stick around.

[Aria Blitz]

And this is why Angela rocks... can't wait to see how Sasha acts when she sees the starship coming towards her own ship in the next chamber.

[Crescent Glaive]

7591369 yeah.

I think the Phoenix is a cruiser class ship and Angelas ship is a frigate. Not sure but i think so. I may be wrong but we'll see i guess

Frigates are smaller than cruisers.

[Sonata Blaze]

7591410 Yeah, I guess Angela's might be a little smaller... won't stop Sasha from thinking an enemy's coming if someone doesn't tell her that its an ally ship.

[Supertoe]

7591369
Yeah, I love how the author made Angela stick around, cause a always did like her character very much.

[Blackdrag-rose]

8491937 That's the reason I kept her in the story. Angela was one of the awesome female characters of the entire Ratchet and Clank series and I thought they wasted her on just a single game, when she could have been in more than just one. This is me changing the canon story to reflect how I think it should have gone... because Ratchet and Angela deserve each other, in my opinion.

[dvdspires]

but she also missed being a cazar

Given Sunset’s reluctance to go back to Equestria and what Celestia kept referring to in Forgotten Friendship, it seems she prefers being human in cannon.

8492001
I also agree. Having Angela as a one shot character was a waste. Both you and Tatsurou have done her justice by keeping her around.

The N60 Storm and the Plasma whip (once you built it up) were my favourite weapons in the game.