Deadlocked: Orxon
Ratchet and Starlight watched as the rest of the contestants teleported down to the planet below them and attempted whatever course Vox had planned for them, though at the same time they realized that every course was meant to break whoever was assigned to it, as Starlight noticed that there were obstacles designed to slow down or even kill the contestant that was on the planet at the moment. It was pretty clear that Vox had each course designed to use each and every weakness that a contestant might have, which both Ratchet and Starlight considered unfair. The man was basically making sure that no one could reach Ace Hardlight, not unless they were seriously skilled enough to overcome everything that could mean their end.
The strangest thing was that they hadn't seen Ace at all over the course of their stay in Dreadzone; not on the commercials that played between contestants, no announcements from him about the various heroes he might have to fight, and not even a hint that he was lingering around the station, watching his soon to be enemies. It was as if Vox had given the man the freedom to leave the station whenever he wanted, so long as he returned when someone made it to the tournament he was in charge of.
"Hey Starlight," Ratchet said, causing his sister to look away from the screen they had been staring at for the last hour, "what do you think Ace Hardlight does in his spare time?"
"He's likely researching anyone he believes to be a threat to his reign over Dreadzone." Starlight answered, letting out a small sigh as she turned back to the screen, where the contestant they were watching finished off his course, "I mean, that is what I would be doing if I was in his shoes at the moment, making sure that I knew anything and everything about anyone that could be a serious challenge to me. I would imagine that if he was doing something like that he would be looking into our past, as we are the ones to fight him and not Sunset, though either way he wouldn't like what he found out."
"That's very true," Ratchet said, recalling how their first adventure turned out and how the people of Solana reacted to their victory over Chairman Drek, along with everything else that happened since they first left Veldin, "Still, I don't think he'll like his chances at taking on either of us in the arena... when we reach him anyway."
Starlight nodded and went back to watching the other contestants run their courses, though while she did that Ratchet continued to think about what Ace might be doing in his spare time. Everything he had seen about the man so far, thanks to the various commercials he had seen and notes that were available to the public, indicated that he enjoyed fighting in Dreadzone. Vox must have abducted him back at the beginning of Dreadzone's existence, as there appeared to be no other Head Exterminator in the entire history of the station. He guessed that Ace must have worn one of the collars that was wrapped around his neck at the moment, something that was likely either still around his neck or had been removed when he joined Vox's side.
Ratchet honestly didn't care too much about Ace at the moment, as he was just another obstacle that was preventing him and Starlight from rescuing their sister and leaving the station behind.
They remained stationed at planet Shaar for the rest of the afternoon, letting the remainder of the contestants finish their various courses and claim their victories over Dreadzone. During that time Ratchet and Starlight went over what they would do when they arrived back at the station, which was when they would start focusing their efforts on coming up with a plan to save Sunset. They were both sure that Clank and Al would be happy to join them in their planning, though they would their planning much more seriously once all of the guards were focused on watching Sunset tomorrow.
They both noticed that the guards were whispering to each other while the ship made its way back to the Dreadzone Station, though by the worried expression they were all wearing Ratchet could determine that they were already focused on what tomorrow would bring. The guards were scared of Sunset, which he knew that they should be at this point, and it almost appeared that some of them were trying to back out of their assignments to avoid dealing with their sister. Some of them had seen what she had done to Kronos, as they had been present when she destroyed the course and Shellshock, while the others had seen it on the holoscreen when Vox aired it for all to see. None of the guards wanted anything to do with Sunset, even if it was merely watching her as she was transported to Orxon, which Ratchet knew would force Vox to think outside the box.
He would find it amusing if Vox was forced to ask Ace Hardlight to take some time out of his busy schedule and help escort Sunset to Orxon, which was sure to piss off the Head Exterminator to no end. It would also be amusing to watch Ace standing around the Dreadzone ship, keeping his eyes on Sunset the entire time while silently praying that she didn't end him and escape from Vox's clutches. Ratchet knew that it was too much to ask for at the moment, but he let a smile appear on his face while he thought about something like that happening in the future.
When they finally arrived at the Dreadzone Station they returned to where Clank and Al were waiting for them, though both of them had smile on their faces the entire time. They were quite pleased that they were one step closer to reaching the end of their stay in Dreadzone, while at the same time they knew that Vox had to be fuming in anger. They all decided to start going over their plan when Sunset started her assault on the course that was waiting on Orxon, as everyone would be watching her and not paying too much attention to what was going on inside the station.
When the next morning came about Ratchet and Starlight teleported to where the contestants that had cleared the first tournament were allowed to gather, for about ten or fifteen minutes before they were told to return to their holding areas. There they found some rather interesting news; that all of the guards that rode the Dreadzone ship were refusing to ride with Sunset on the way to Orxon and that Vox had no choice but to ask Ace Hardlight to fill in for them. Not soon after their arrival in the common area everyone turned towards one of the buildings and watched as the Head Exterminator exited the building, before making his way over to where the ship was currently landing.
Ratchet knew that Ace would be heading to PX-17, the planet that Sunset was being held at the moment, and that their only hope at figuring out where that planet was located would be to sneak aboard one night and check the systems themselves. Hacking was out of the question, as both he and Starlight were sure that Vox had people looking for outside or inside hackers at any given moment and didn't want to expose what they were doing before they were ready. All they had to do was get a message to Sunset that their collars had been removed and they were both sure that Sunset would escape, but without the ability to give her that message they were forced to bide their time and wait for a better opportunity to present itself.
Ratchet let out a sigh as Ace teleported onto the ship and took off for Orxon, because he knew that Sunset would be able to take care of herself until she was able to escape from where she was being held.
Sunset sighed as she looked up at Ace Hardlight, the Head Exterminator that worked under Vox and exterminated whoever managed to reach where him in the final tournament. The man seemed to be staring at her the entire time with a look on his face that told her that he was undecided about her, almost as if he couldn't believe the amount of power that she commanded. It honestly didn't matter to her, not when all she had to do was overcome whatever was waiting for her at her destination, which was the planet Orxon. She didn't know what to make of the fact that she was returning to this one planet after her first adventure, whether she should be happy to be back or disappointed, but in the end she knew it didn't matter.
Eve, of course, was sitting on Sunset's left, keeping her eyes on Ace as well, as if she didn't trust the Exterminator to stay where he was during the entire flight.
"So... you are the Goddess of Destruction," Ace commented, taking in everything that was Sunset Shimmer, including the specially crafted armor that Eve had made for her, "I saw what you did on Kronos... and I must say that I am definitely impressed by your abilities. I would hate to face you in the arena."
"You wont have to." Sunset replied, turning her full attention to Ace, "Ratchet and Starlight will be the ones that you should worry about, as I am pretty sure that Vox wouldn't allow the two of us to fight each other."
"Agreed... and you would destroy me in a matter of seconds anyway," Ace said, a small smile appearing on his face for a second, "but I didn't come here to chat with you. I came here to warn you about the enemies that might be coming after you when you reach Orxon. I heard a rumor that two more of the residents of PX-17 are going to be appearing during your visit to Orxon, a pair of uniquely skillful twins that are called Sniper and Spy. Unfortunately I have never seen them fight before, so I cannot offer you any insight to their abilities."
"That may be true, but their names speak volumes," Sunset stated with a smile, "Now I am eager to see what they are capable of... and if they can stand against what is coming their way."
Ace seemed concerned about what Sunset had said, though he didn't say anything to her as he leaned back in the chair he had claimed and stared at her the entire time. He seemed curious about her powers, something that she couldn't fault him for, though at the same time he also respected that she could easily end his existence in a matter of seconds. He accepted the fact that she could beat him in seconds, something that other people chose to ignore all the time, which meant that she liked him more than the other villains she had come across. The strangest thing was that Ace wasn't presenting himself as the enemy, rather he was presenting himself as an unsuspected ally that might be able to help her in the future.
Sunset wondered what the look on Vox's face would be if she managed to recruit Ace to her side and destroy the prison that he trapped both herself and anyone else inside. She assumed that it would be a look of shock and horror, but she knew that Ace wouldn't suddenly change sides unless something drastic happened.
When the ship arrived at her destination Sunset pulled herself up and approached the teleport pad, to which she teleported down to the planet's surface and waited for Dallas to explain what she needed to do... before someone decided to derail her progress.
"We're here on the beautiful Blargian home world of Orxon," Dallas called out from his floating platform, "overlooking a massive raitanium mining facility. Each week challengers navigate their way through the facility with one goal in mind; destroy it! Dreadzone would like to... um... thank the people of Orxon for donating a new mining facility every week."
Sunset knew that the people of Orxon weren't donating the facility's to Dreadzone, as the only people that had called the planet home were the Blarg and, as memory served, they had settled on a new planet that was far away from this one. The facility immediately reminded her of Chairman Drek, which only made her want to wipe the mining facility off the face of Orxon and leave the memory where it belonged. Despite the fact that the air was still full of toxic chemicals, something that both she and Starlight had considered fixing before their adventure in the Bogon Galaxy, she could still breath just fine, which she guessed was due to either Searing or Hatred wanting to keep her alive... or maybe the both of them were working together.
She walked down the ramp that connected to the area she had teleported into, with her arms crossed behind her back once more, and frowned at the little robots that were charging at her, as they were easily to deal with. She didn't bother striking them down with her magic, as she merely crushed them with her hooves and kicked them into the walls around her, all while ignoring the enemies that spawned behind her. Once the smaller enemies were dealt with, and reduced to scrap metal, she turned back towards the gladiators that were behind her and flashed behind one of them, to which she crushed its helmet with a swift kick of her hooves. She then repeated the process with the others that came at her, making sure that they were all dealt with before she approached the two barriers that were in front of her.
She approached the one on her left and placed her hand on the barrier she had chosen, to which she worked her magic and tore the entire thing to pieces, allowing her to walk forward once more.
A pair of gladiators dropped down into the area in front of her, with the intent on stopping her where she was standing at the moment, while two more appeared on the edge of the platform above them. Sunset shook her head as she slammed the side of her leg into the two sniper like gladiators, cracking their suits in half, before she returned to the other two and broke them with a swift kick to their chests. With the enemies taken care of she tore the next barrier into pieces and moved forward to see what else was waiting for her, where she spotted a Landstalker that was guarded by two more gladiators. She let out a sigh as she flashed behind the top of the tank and tapped the barrier with her hand, shattering the shield that was keeping the vehicle safe, before causing the machine to explode as she applied her energy to it.
Once the turret was taken care of she cleaned the area of her enemies and moved through the next barrier, repeating the process multiple times before she reached the end of the path she had chosen. The moment she completed a full loop around the entire underground area, and returned to where she started, the drill started up and Dallas declared that her first challenge was complete. He then explained that she was supposed to head to the area above her, fight her way through the enemies that were waiting for her, and capture six nodes so she could move forward.
She leapt up to the area that she was supposed to be on and looked at all of the enemies that she was supposed to fight her way through, taking in how many gladiators she needed to deal with before she could move forward. As she looked at all of them she could tell that they were also looking at her, informing her that they knew of her history and abilities, leaving her with a small smile on her face as she gazed upon the fools that would soon lose their lives. Before she actually did anything, or even moved forward for that matter, something flew passed her head and collided with the gladiator that was standing the closest to where she was standing, slaying the person before they could defend themselves.
Sunset turned around and found a confusing sight as Ratchet, without his helmet on, landed beside her with a smile on his face as he leveled his weapon with another enemy and took them out.
"It looks like I arrived just in time," the Ratchet lookalike said, smirking at the fallen enemy that he had taken out, "So, shall we capture those nodes and blow this facility to pieces?"
Sunset stared at the lookalike for a few moments, wondering if her mind was actually playing tricks on her or if she was actually looking at her brother. She knew that Ratchet couldn't be here, not when Vox had declared that Ratchet and Starlight could let her take out a planet for them, but was willing to play along for the moment. Her thought that this wasn't the real Ratchet had some weight thrown on top of it when she noticed that the eyes of the Ratchet in front of her shifted from the green color they were into a light blue color.
"Sure." Sunset replied, turning her gaze towards one of the nodes for a moment as the lookalike started to move forward, "Say Ratchet, do you remember what we did for my thirteenth birthday?"
"Of course I do, we celebrated a job well done after taking Drek out," the lookalike said, surprise crossing his face for a moment, "Is it really important for us to be talking about this at the moment?"
"Yeah, you could say that," Sunset answered, energy wrapping around her left fist as she removed her hands from behind her back, while a small frown appeared on her face.
Before the lookalike had a chance to say anything Sunset appeared to the right of where he was standing and slammed her fist into the air, though before the magic could happen the lookalike jumped to the side. The ground cracked as her energy traveled into the area around them, causing the gladiators to run for their lives and not even bother to fight either of them. The lookalike seemed surprised that she attacked him, as she was sure that everyone else was likely surprised as well, but she already knew that he was a fake and didn't care what was running through his mind.
"What in the name of the Maker are you doing?" the lookalike demanded, keeping its weapon at the ready in case Sunset came at him again, though it was clear that he doubted that the weapon could protect him.
"Taking care of someone who isn't actually my brother," Sunset replied, magic swirling around her as she prepared her next attack, "A word of advice; if your going to impersonate someone, make sure you know everything about them before you interact with a family member. I am the eldest of the three of us, and when I turned thirteen Ratchet's present was a ship that took the three of us and Clank off of Veldin, which eventually lead us to beginning our first adventure."
"I'll have to take a note of that for my next target," the lookalike said, a light blue haze appearing around him, which remained there for a few seconds before vanishing, revealing a humanoid creature that was wearing a black suit, "I am Spy, one of the few master assassins in the universe, and I was supposed to assassinate you, but you managed to find me out with very little effort on your part."
"So, who hired you to assassinate the Goddess of Destruction?" Sunset asked, knowing that if she had an idea of who wanted her dead she could take them out in the future.
"Assassins never reveal their clients," Spy replied, bowing for a moment as he kept his eyes on Sunset, "and unfortunately telling you would be a wasted effort, as you would be dead before you left this planet."
"Oh? So where's your brother, the Sniper?" Sunset inquired, allowing a small smirk to appear on her face as a brief look of shock appeared on Spy's face, as if he was surprised that she had figured it out.
"I don't know what you are talking about," Spy answered, drawing a small dagger from its holder, as if he believed that it would be able to help him in this fight.
Sunset sighed as she dashed at Spy and swung her left leg at her enemy, who ducked under her leg and rolled to the side, though he made no effort to attack just yet. Sunset didn't mind the fact that Spy was taking his time, due to what she assumed was his arrogant nature, and she continued to advance on him while keeping an eye out for the other assassin. Judging by the name she had to assume that Sniper had to be hiding somewhere in the distance, keeping her in his sights at all times while Spy distracted her. The only place that looked like a good place for someone like him to hide was the top of the drilling facility, be it on the drill or the building itself, which she would get around to soon enough.
After a few seconds Spy slipped up and Sunset kicked him in his side, feeling the bone crack underneath his suit as the ground around them cracked just a bit. Before Spy regained himself, or even managed to get close to attacking her, Sunset spun around and planted her hoof in the middle of the man's chest, sending him backwards almost immediately. A few seconds later she flashed up to where Spy was standing and brought her leg down on him, though this time he moved to the side and allowed her attack to hit the ground. The area shook for a second or two, but when the area stabilized Sunset merely collected herself and turned her attention back to her opponent, all while she wondered why he wasn't trying anything.
"This is disappointing," Spy commented, letting out a chuckle as he straightened himself, "you fought Warhead and Shellshock with eighty-five percent of your power, yet I can tell that you've lowered your abilities since your last fight. Maybe I should tell Sniper to leave the planet and hunt down your siblings... maybe that would get you to open up and fight me for real..."
An aura that mimicked the appearance of black flames surrounded Sunset for a few seconds, though the air above them darkened at the same time. Spy looked around in concern, as nothing he had found in his research even suggested that Sunset could do this, yet she was affecting the weather with ease. Within a few seconds the aura around Sunset disappeared, though that was swiftly followed by Sunset completely disappearing from where she was standing. Before Spy could move he felt something slam into his side, to which he turned his gaze to the left and spotted Sunset standing there, with her fist connected to his side... with the same amount of energy wrapped around it.
The ground around them cracked and buckled around them, as sections of the earth rose up in jagged spires that were all different lengths, while the tunnels below them crumpled under the pressure. Fortunately Sunset had lined her target up with the front of the mining facility, as the power of her attack transferred into into the foundations of the building and caused the entire thing to crack. The earthquake that she had summoned into existence even caused the drill to crack under the pressure, while sections of the building broke apart and fell into the area around them. Sunset even went one step further as the top of the surrounding cliffs crumbled and caused the rocks to fall down towards the unfortunate gladiators that chose to stay and watch the fight.
It was a repeat of what she and Searing had done to Yeedil, though to complete the replication the ground and the building split in half, causing the two sections to separate from each other as she allowed Spy to fall to the ground.
"Behold, the cataclysm that nearly destroyed the planet Yeedil," Sunset commented, looking at the building that was falling apart in front of her, while she moved her arms behind her back once more, "This is why I lowered by power for you, so that you and your brother could actually try to fight me without being completely overpowered, but then you had to press the 'Kill my family' button."
She would have said more, but before she could continue something flew through the smoke and came at her, to which she pulled back just a bit and avoided the dagger that had been thrown at her. She turned in the direction of where the dagger came from and found another humanoid wearing a suit, though this one wasn't wearing a helmet like Spy was. This had to be Sniper, though the fact that he was standing here, before her, made her wonder what he was up to or if he was just throwing his life away. She was already growing tired of the two of them and just wanted to end the fight already, which was understandable considering that Orxon was falling apart around them.
"I... wont let you... kill my brother!" Sniper declared, leveling his rifle with Sunset's head for a moment, as if he was trying to intimidate her, though he would be disappointed.
"Fine then, you shall take his place." Sunset stated, causing a look of confusion to appear on Sniper's face for a moment, clearly telling her that he had no idea what she was saying.
Sunset flashed in front of Sniper and tapped her left pointer finger on his chest, right above him heart no less, and within seconds a hole was torn through his armor and his body, ending his life in an instant. She let out a sigh as she turned her attention back to Spy, who had picked up both his dagger and Sniper's dagger, all while getting into a defensive position. She approached the man and merely dodged all of the attacks that the man threw at her in an attempt to force her backwards, though it was clear that he was running out of area to run to as sections of the ground disappeared around him.
Eventually she backed him into a corner, which was when he stopped at a ledge that rested above a cluster of jagged spikes and forced him to turn back towards her. Spy said nothing as he threw both of his daggers at her, hoping that one of them might wound her, but Sunset merely dodged them and approached the man. The man said nothing as Sunset stepped in front of him, to which she repeated what she had done to Sniper and ended the man's life in an instant. Once the deed was done, and Spy was laying at her feet, she turned around and teleported back to the ship, knowing that she had finished off whatever she was supposed to do.
Now all she had to do was wait and see what happened when Ratchet and Starlight took on the next tournament, all while imagining the fear that had to be coursing through Vox's body at the moment. Soon she would finish off the man that held the lives of her siblings in his hands, she just had to be patient and wait for the moment to reveal itself.
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People seem to enjoy pressing Sunset's buttons... and the people that Vox hired really sucked.
Seriously, the best assassins that he could hire got themselves killed by pissing her off.
Vox, I am disappointed in you right now... I expected more from your assassins.
Wouldn't it have made more sense to play a gladiator that turned out of fear? This guy is seriously not bright.
7854823 Stuff like this is why you shouldn't be arrogant in any kind of fight.
7855404 Aye. The assassins would have been better suited to attack from afar or play the part of a fearful gladiator.
At least we know that Ace is on Sunset's side... not that she knows that yet.
7855491 Ace will probably make the alliance on the trip back. He'll probably wait till Starlight and Ratchet make to him on the tournament to tell them where Sunset is.
7855916 Something tells me that he'll do what you're saying, but then put his plan into action when it comes time for his fight with Ratchet and Starlight. I mean, Vox wouldn't be expecting something like that.
That, or Ace doesn't appear in the tournament and breaks Sunset out of her cell while Ratchet and Starlight deal with Vox.
7855948 That sounds about right. Fake a loss to Starlight and Ratchet, then pass the info on to them, then sit back and watch the fireworks. I just hope it doesn't end like The Sparkle in his Eye.
7856033 I don't think Black would take the same route that Tats did. We'll be seeing something different.
7856135 I hope so. Ace's abilities would make a valuable addition to the team.
7856169 Agreed. The entire team would be glad to have someone like Ace on their side.
7856193 Especially since that would help their personnel problem immensely if I remember right about what his ability is.
7856273 Remind me, which personal problem do Ratchet and his family have... besides Searing of course.
7856292 No no, not personal, personnel. The low number of Jedi could easily be fixed with Ace's kage no bushin.
7856297
Never though about that... though Angela might have more flock to the order when people hear that Ace is joining them. Heck, I'd be willing to bet that the other heroes that survive this nightmare might follow his example and join the jedi as well.
7856306 Didn't think about that. I'd say that's a pretty safe bet. Off topic, the next villian is the return of Nefarious, isn't it?
7856326 Well, the author apparently added a list of the games he was running through (like Tats did) and it appears that the Size Matters game is up next, followed by two of the Future games.
I forget the main villain of the Size Matters game at the moment.
7856342 I think it was a whole other race of tiny creatures. Gimme a few and I'll look.
7856342 It's the Technomites. Should be interesting.
7856356 And somehow I have the sneaky feeling that Sunset might stop adventuring once Dreadzone's over with.
7856368 I don't think so. She still needs to take care of Hatred, somehow. Though I can see that as a running gag of Sunset trying to retire, and constantly having to come back and save the day.
7856374 Considering what happens part way through Size Matters... you could be onto something.
7856378 Umm, it's been awhile since I read that part of Tats' story and never played the game. Mind refreshing my memory?
7856390 Well, there's a part where Ratchet and Clank are captured. So in this story it would include Starlight in that little bit.
7856395 Oh yeah. Yeah, they're really gonna regret that, aren't they?
7856401 I imagine one of the henchmen is going to realize who Ratchet and Starlight are related to and start freaking out.
7856297 Or maybe he could create a sort of 'Clone' army so to speak.
7856884 Henchmen: Oh by the Maker... we kidnapped the siblings of the Goddess of Destruction. We are so boned!
7856930 Precisely.
The.
The main problem I’ve noticed so far is that those who are going after Sunset seem to think that they know everything about her. The simple fact is that it’s a mixture of Sunset having not shown what she’s fully capable of and not knowing what she’s capable of either.
Just thought I’d throw in my two cents.