Tools: Cobalia
Starlight gently pulled herself out of whatever dream she had having a few seconds ago, one that she couldn't remember at all at the moment, and opened her eyes, to which she found herself in what appeared to be some sort of jungle area. It reminded her of Florana, back when she and her family had started the search for Captain Qwark, though as she sat up as gently pulled out her tablet and scanned some of the local plants. It quickly dawned on her that they had crash landed on a planet that they knew nothing about, as none of the plants she scanned were in her systems, which only confirmed that they were somewhere in the Polaris Galaxy. She let out a sigh as she wondered whether or not Angela and Sunset would even be able to follow them to this sector, though she was sure that, with some tinkering, the rest of their family would be with them soon enough.
The moment she thought about ships, namely the Hyperion, she looked around and found the ship they had stolen was lodged into a rock wall, though it was surprisingly intact by he looks of it.
"Clank! Starlight!" Ratchet said, appearing to the right of where Starlight had been sitting, to which she turned her head and noticed Clank was sitting right next to her, "Are you guys okay?"
"Considering what happened, I'd say we're both fine," Starlight replied, to which she stood up as Ratchet helped Clank onto his feet, though at the same time she had her scanners work on the ship for a moment, "It seems that the ship must have run out of fuel while it was on autopilot... which means that this isn't the planet that it was supposed to have landed on."
"Not to mention that Angela and Sunset will be heading for the coordinates the ship was heading to," Clank threw in, causing the two of them to nod their agreement, "Though that does beg the question... where are we?"
"Beats me," Ratchet answered, shrugging for a moment before pointing off in the distance, "but there just so happens to be a spaceport near our location. I was able to salvage a small map of the immediate area and that port is the only thing that's listed on it, which means this planet is either underdeveloped or not a lot of people want to live here."
"Then that is where we shall go," Starlight said, agreeing that the spaceport was likely their best bet to get off of this planet and figure out why Tachyon hated the Lombaxes so much.
The only path forward brought them to a group of little reptilian creatures, ones that actually resembled small dinosaurs, though despite the large pack that they appeared to travel in, no doubt for their own safety, each one of them turned hostile the moment Ratchet and Starlight approached them. The good news was that the small creatures were easy to deal with, as they only needed on hit from either their hand held weapons or their Combusters, though that was shortly before they encountered a giant centipede that spat explosive balls of acid at them. The larger creature proved to be a little more difficult to take down, which was understandable considering the hard shell the creatures had evolved with, but in the end the group was moving forward once again.
Though the terrain was different than what they were used to, as they had only gone on one adventure through a jungle before, the path they were following was rather straightforward, making it relatively easy for the experienced trio to traverse. They still had to fight more of the small reptiles and the large centipedes, but so far they weren't seeing anything that could remotely give them the slightest bit of trouble. After some time the ease of their journey was disturbed when a massive creature reared up out of a deep pit, though Starlight took the moment to scan the new creature, where she found that it resembled a large fish that hovered in midair, with a large part of the underside of its body glowing blue and the top side being stone brown.
The creature didn't actually attack them, but rather it seemed to stare at them for a few seconds before making its escape, to which the trio looked at each other before they bothered to move forward.
"Okay, what in the name of the Maker was that?" Ratchet asked, though his tone of voice indicated that he was actually a little bit worried, which was understandable considering they had no idea if the creature was actually a friendly creature or a hostile one.
"I... I have no idea," Starlight admitted, though right now she was wishing that Sunset was here, because her godly nature would have likely either scared the creature off or made it submit to Sunset's power, kind of like what happened with Razor, "Come on, we had better get moving before it changes its mind and attacks us."
The trio continued along the path they had been following, though when Starlight noticed one of the reptiles hanging out on a ledge, all by itself, she levitated herself up there and investigated, to which she returned with a cache of raritanium crystals they could use to upgrade their weapons later on. They continued to follow the path they had been following, to which they fought their way through the groups of enemies that were waiting for them, moved through the small abandoned buildings that they happened to find, and then jumped down into an area that reminded them of one of the planets that Vox had them fight on for his amusement.
They then stopped as the creature from earlier rose out of the water that surrounded them and proceeded to attack them, though its attacks included firing balls of energy at them, swimming over their heads and releasing the same balls on them, or straight up trying to bite them in half. Ratchet and Starlight resorted to using the weapons that they had at the moment, because Starlight, having tried to grab one of the balls with her magic and failing at the task, knew that there were some things that could only be resolved with her weapons. They spent some time dodging the creature's attacks, while studying its movements at the same time, before using their weapons to deliver a load of blows on their enemy.
After a few intense minutes of fighting the creature started to swell up like a balloon, though that was promptly followed by it exploding, to which it rained several pieces of raritanium and left behind a glowing blue sphere of energy... which oddly enough entered Ratchet's inventory the moment he drew close to it.
"Congratulations," Ratchet's nav unit spoke up, to which they all listened to what the unit had to tell them, though Starlight appeared to be a little annoyed that her tablet hadn't mentioned anything at all, "You have collected a Leviathan Soul. These are valuable in the Polaris Galaxy, and can be traded for bolts."
"So that was a Leviathan?" Starlight commented, a small smile appearing on her face, to which she opened her tablet and turned to the page that contained the information she had already obtained on the creature, to which she added the name to the list, "I wonder if we can find someone who will take the soul from us?"
"Oh, I'm sure we'll find someone to do that at some point," Ratchet replied, to which he and Starlight made their way out of the area they were in and entered the 'Cobalia Starport', just in time to hear an announcement go off about a Lombax 'invading' the star sector, "I got to hand it to Tachyon, he's a lot faster at updating his subjects than any other villain we've fought. Do you think anyone in the Polaris Galaxy even knows what a Lombax looks like?"
"Not likely," Clank commented, though at the same time Starlight nodded her head in agreement, "Considering how long the rest of them have been gone for its likely that almost no one knows what they look like, save for the three of us, Angela, Sunset, Sasha, Qwark, and a few others."
"If anyone asks, tell them I'm a Cazar," Ratchet said, remembering how much he and Sunset had looked identical because of how close their species were, which led to several people thinking they were boyfriend and girlfriend, "I doubt anyone will be able to tell the difference."
The trio walked into the starport and passed by several of the robotic citizens, who didn't seem to interested in the fact that they had come from the jungle area of the region. They looked around for a moment, taking in the sights that were around them, including the large factory that they suspected they were going to have to run through at some point, before noticing that there was something that resembled a weapon vendor nearby. When they approached it, however, they discovered that it was actually a remote uplink that connected to the main network, while noticing that a screen popped up as they walked up to it.
"Welcome to Grummel-net's Weapon Shop," a gruff voice said, though both Ratchet and Starlight suspected that the voice came through one of the speakers the vendor had, "Here you can buy ammo, upgrade your weapon, or purchase new tools of destruction. Go ahead, name your poison."
"Quick question; do you take Gadgetron bolt cards, or do we need to sign up for Grummel-Net bolt cards?" Starlight asked, because if they couldn't use the bolts they had earned over the years then they were dead in the water, until Sunset found them and obliterated Tachyon once she found out what he was responsible for.
"Gadgetron?" the voice replied in surprise, telling Ratchet and Starlight that this was either a branch of the company that didn't get many customers asking that question or they were in trouble without their funds, "Huh, I honestly didn't think anyone in the Polaris galaxy would know that name."
"So is that a yes or a no?" Starlight asked again, though there was a sense of urgency in her voice, because they had no idea how long it would take Tachyon to track the ship's location and find them.
"Look lady, Grummel-Net is the Polaris branch of Gadgetron," the voice replied, though instead of sounding annoyed the voice actually sounded happy that it got to correct something for once, "While regulations dictate we can't sell or deliver Solana weaponry to Polaris systems without written approval from someone named Orvus, that doesn't mean you can't use your account in the Polaris systems. So go ahead, insert your cards and let's do some business... you'll even get all of the discounts and whatnot that are associated with your account."
Starlight smiled a bit and slipped the two cards, her bolt card and Gadgetron ID, into the indicated slots, her earlier worry disappearing with the knowledge that they could actually buy weapons and upgrade them without having to worry about delegating their resources between the two of them.
"Well what do you know, its Starlight Glimmer," the voice spoke up, though it sounded like whoever was speaking was in awe, which was what Starlight had noticed in people when she started introducing herself a few years back, "Normally I would ask what you were doing out here, in the Polaris Galaxy, but I can hazard a guess... I'll just send a message to the proper people and let them know you and your brother have been spotted. So, what can I interest you in today?"
As it turned out Grummel-Net actually had two of her weapons available for purchase at the moment; the Plasma Beasts and the Tornado Launcher. Ratchet, already knowing that his sister had a habit of creating powerful weapons, asked what they both did, so he could hear it for himself while showing the person in control of the vendor what his sister was capable of. As it turned out the Tornado Launcher, as the name indicated, would launch a tornado disc which which the user could remotely guide around an area to destroy their enemies. The Plasma Beasts, on the other hand, would lie in wait until anything designated as 'hostile' entered their range, at which point they would launch themselves at the target and burst into toxic goo... which made them excellent for getting past shields and taking down groups.
Once they had the weapons in had the two of them opened up the upgrade menu and made sure to get everything they might need for the future, which was all of the upgrades that were currently available to them at the moment.
"So, how much did that put us back?" Starlight finally asked, once she and Ratchet were finally one upgrading their weapons, though she was concerned that they could have gone overboard.
"You haven't lost a lot, not with all of your discounts and the interest rates on raritanium," the vendor replied, though it almost sounded like it had something else to tell them before they left, "We've also got a few of your combat gadgets approved, so make sure you stop by the other vendor before you go off world again... and make sure to keep an eye out for the armor vendor, they work with us as well."
The group thanked the vendor for his time, and his help with the upgrades, before they made their way to the factory entrance, where they found a blue skinned and lizard faced person, dressed up in a nearly complete pirate outfit, arguing with what appeared to be a huge headed and eyed parrot.
"Don't you lay this on me, you worthless sack of Kerchu sweat!" the pirate was saying, pointing what appeared to be a sword at the parrot while keeping his voice at a level that wouldn't draw too much attention to them, "You were supposed to watch the gel gauge!"
"AWK!" the parrot replied, though it also rolled its eyes at the pirate, as if it either didn't care or had heard the same line so many times that it had stopped caring, "Blame the parrot! Always blame the parrot!"
"Is something wrong?" Starlight asked, though at this point she had the feeling that she and Ratchet were going to be roped into something that would help them get off of this planet.
"AWK!" the parrot shouted, pointing one of its wings at Starlight for a few seconds, before moving it back towards Ratchet and Clank, "Imperial spies! Hide the bodies! AWK!"
"How cute, he thinks we're allied with Emperor Tachyon," Starlight said, though she used her magic to grab a small pole that she kept with her at all times, to which she flicked it and allowed it to unfold into her staff, complete with pulsing electricity between the two jagged points on the top, "Allow me to clarify the situation... we are not Imperial Spies, though I guess you could say that we're on a 'rebel' type of side in this conflict."
The parrot stared at her for some time, as if it was trying to determine whether she was going to attack it or not, before finally letting out another 'AWK' and settling on the pirate's shoulder, where it did the who bird wants a cracker and got one to much on.
"No need to be so hostile, little lady," the pirate said, waving a hand towards the parrot for a moment, so Starlight and Ratchet would know who he was talking about, "He don't mean no harm. We're just a couple of smugglers... my partner just happens to be a tad bit paranoid when it comes to meeting new people."
"Glad we cleared that up," Starlight replied, flicking the staff and returning it to its pole form, to which she put it away before turning her full attention to the pair, "My name is Starlight Glimmer, and this is my brother Ratchet and his friend Clank..."
"Wait... you mean the three of you are the ones commonly associated with Sunset Shimmer?" the smuggler asked, surprising the trio with the fact that he already knew their sister, "The God of Destruction for this universe?"
"Yeah, that's our sister," Ratchet said, scratching the back of his head for a moment, because he was used to people either associating them with Starlight's job or Sunset's immense magical abilities.
"Then I shall not hold you up any longer," the smuggler replied, giving them a little bow for the moment, as if he was being respectful to Sunset, even when she wasn't there at the moment, "I can't give you our names, as that would allow the authorities to track us down, but you are free to use our nicknames; I am Red, and this is Blue... and yes, I am well aware that our names are reverse of our colors."
"A pleasure to meet you," Clank stated, finding the naming situation odd, but decided that now wasn't the time to get involved with the names, "Now, what seems to be the problem?"
"The Imperials have shut down the Gelatonium plant," Red explained, using one of his hands to beckon to the factory behind them, while at the same time the parrot looked at it was well, "As a result, we can't refuel our ship. Now, I have heard stories about everything you have done, so I have a deal for you; if you can turn the plant back on, and give us a few moments to refuel our ship, we'll provide you with some transportation off of this planet... you'll need this Gelanator to pull the job off though."
"Sweet!" Starlight exclaimed, snatching the gadget the moment Red handed it over, to which she turned towards the plant in front of them and charged into the building.
Ratchet gave the smuggler a smile as he followed Starlight into the building, though the moment they walked into the first room a voice announced that they were trespassing on 'Imperial property'. Starlight spotted a gel dispenser and drained the gel from the container, though the moment her new toy was full of gel the door in front of them opened and allowed them to progress forward. That was when they spotted the large river that was filled with some green substance, likely the gel in a liquid form, though Starlight aimed her new toy at the bottom of a platform and pressed the trigger. That was immediately followed by a large square made of gel forming before their eyes, to which they used it to jump upwards and continue through the factory.
They used the gel to get to the next ledge that they needed to jump on, though when they reached the edge of the gel river Starlight aimed the gun at the ground and created a platform they could use to cross the gap. They glided down to the other side after their jump, or levitated in Starlight's case, though that was when they spotted a group of robots that seemed programmed with the purpose of eating any stray gel. The moment Starlight noticed the gel eating robots she made sure to surround any gel she laid out with her magic, to prevent it from being torn apart, though when she and Ratchet jumped to the next ledge she made sure to retract her magic.
They had to contend with some of the small reptile creatures, to which Starlight wondered how they had even gotten inside the factory to begin with, but they used the new Plasma Beasts to put them in their place. With that taken care of Ratchet climbed to the top of the gel container in front of them and turned the bolt crank that was up there, though once he was done he returned to Starlight and they walked through the door that happened to be in front of them. It didn't take them long to traverse their way through the second half of the factory, jumping over pieces of the river with the gel, jumped over another large section of the gel river, and dealt with another group of small reptiles that were in their way.
Ratchet then reconnected the walkway he had to use to climb to the top of the second gel pump, though when he reached the top he made sure to reconnect it, to which the computer voice indicated that Emperor Tachyon would be displeased once he learned that the factory was back online. With the task down the group moved on towards the exit, where Starlight emptied the gel into the nearby dispenser before they rode the nearby elevator down to the outside of the factory.
Before they returned to Red and his parrot the trio walked up to the armor vendor that happened to be outside the building, to which they found that a new set of armor, the Blackstar Armor, was available... complete with a version that had been built for Starlight's body.
"Nice armor," Red commented, eying the new armor that Ratchet and Starlight were wearing, "I'm currently heading to Stratus City, does that work for you?"
"That sounds fine," Ratchet replied, a slight smile appearing on his face for a moment, "We'll figure out what to do next once we've reached the city... and maybe we'll find a vessel as well."
Starlight had the feeling that they were going to run into Imperial forces in Stratus City, but right now it was the only place they could go at the moment, so they were going to have to make due with what was available to them... and hope that, at some point in time, Angela and Sunset managed to join them.
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Hmm... it seems like we'll be able to go a few chapters and enjoy Starlight being the focus of the story again.
But I'm missing Sunset already...
8021257 I agree, though Red knows a lot more than he's telling. Think he knows about Beerus and his girls?
8021278 Considering the fact that he knew about Sunset's title and abilities, hence him bowing to Starlight for the brief moment, I wouldn't put it past him to have abilities that mimic Pinkie. It would be interesting if he dropped a little tidbit about them to get some reaction out of Sunset, but we won't see that until they meet up.
8021294 It would, but he won't get much of a reaction if they still can't remember their friends. Though, a thought, Sunset might just get an army of pirates to go along with her title. Isn't he a captain, or am I thinking of a different character?
8021303 I do believe your thinking of Captain Slag, the pirate that Ratchet and company will be meeting in two to three chapters. If Red, the smuggler, knew about Sunset's title, then one would think that the pirate might know it as well... though his reaction would either be mimic what happened in Tats' story, flee for his life, or do the stupid thing and attack.
8021315 Ah, right. That should be interesting. Wonder which he'll choose.
8021326 I'm betting between attacking or fleeing... though I would be pleasantly surprised if it turned out to be him giving Sunset his forces.
And I just remembered that I mentioned Pinkie earlier... because the author has a Jak and Daxter story now.
8021333 There is a track record.
I did not know about the Jak and Daxter story. Well, time to read.
8021340 Indeed, there is a track record of stupid enemies making stupid decisions around Sunset.
And the Jak and Daxter story showed up like forty minutes ago, but enjoy anyway.
8021344 I am.
8021346 I just had a thought; Sunset and Angela might not meet up with Ratchet and Starlight until they reach the planet the lombaxes used to rule over... and hit them all in the feels.
8021361 It is certainly possible. I wonder how they're doing.
8021526 Likely worried sick about the rest of their family. The last thing they heard was that they were leaving Metropolis, and Ratchet hasn't sent anything since they crashed on Cobalia.
Kind of a shame that the author didn't make an interlude chapter to show him and Angela getting married... that would have been an interesting chapter to read.
8021526 I hope the author brings them back at some point... I wonder how Tachyon will react to Angela wielding a lightsaber or Sunset's immense magical abilities.
8021531 Oh yeah... that was something that was mentioned in the last chapter. Completely forgot about that fact.
8021531 Guess it must have went off without a hitch.
8021544 Given the track record I mentioned earlier, not in the correct manner.
8021662 Yeah, and I guess it depends on how much magic Sunset decides to use against her enemies. Begs the question as to when she'll finally relearn the Thu'um and all the words she knew.
8021675 If she relearns them before Equestria.
Ah, its relaxing for the story to be just Ratchet and Starlight. That doesn't mean I hate Sunset, but she did need to take a break and let her sister deal with everything.
8021741 Well, this universe has 'Codex' fragments scattered everywhere... so one of them has to have the Elder Scrolls on it. All she has to do is find that one and she's bound to recover some of her memories.
8021754 You know, I forgot about them. I hope she does, be fun to see her shout her enemies apart.
8021777 It would be like the Kaio-Ken running gag for a while.
Sunset: Fus... RO DAH!
Enemy: Fus ro what?
-Enemy gets shouted apart, others run in fear-
Something like that I think.
8021792 Sounds about right. Though I wonder if the author will manage to swing the rest of the joke.
8021662 I guess the only thing that could have potentially been interesting is if Qwark messed something up, but considering that Sunset was likely there the whole time he was likely on his best behavior.
8021278 Of course Red knows more than he is telling. He's a smuggler, and his kind generally knows more than they are willing to tell anyone. Be funny if a character like him started to show itself in different places in the other stories, if even for a moment.
8022050 Fair point. For all we know, he could be friends with the Plumber.
8022069 Actually, that's something I hadn't considered. The Smuggler being friends with the Plumber, both of whom we know nothing save for the indirect names they gave us... oh, now that is an interesting thought.
8022088 Especially, if you'll remember, the Plumber is more blunt with his fourth wall breaking than Pinkie, and she practically takes a sledgehammer to it.
8022138 Yeah, though it remains to be seen if the smuggler does what the Plumber or Pinkie does... but at least the fourth wall will be getting a break from Pinkie.
8022158 Except she has her own story now. She's with Jak and Daxter.
8022162 Which is exactly why I said that it gets a break from her.