Tools: Fastoon
There was no conversation inside the escape pod, as the vessel bounced around too much for any of them to say anything without being interrupted by something. Unfortunately there were only two safety harnesses inside the pod, which would have normally meant that Clank would have had to be strapped into Ratchet's back until they stopped moving, but Starlight corrected the situation by magically sealing his feet to the floor, which she promised could be undone once they landed. The flight conditions also made it impossible for Starlight to grab her tablet and read what she had taken from the Hall of Knowledge, as she would likely break the device before she learned anything useful and decided that now wasn't the time to break something that they couldn't easily replace.
Eventually the one thing they had been waiting for, the pod's automated voice that would tell them what was happening outside the pod, finally spoke up and gave them what they had been waiting for.
"You are now entering Fastoon," the voice said, though at the same time they could feel the pod slowing down as it made its descent towards a location where it could land, "Touching down in... 5... 4..."
The second number was followed by the pod touching down on the ground, rather hard in the opinions of the people that were inside it, before it resumed speaking.
"Opps." the voice said, though at that point Ratchet didn't know if he'd rather blow the entire pod up or just let it sit where it had landed forever, "3-2-1. Welcome to Fastoon."
Ratchet and Starlight unbuckled themselves from their harnesses, and released Clank from the floor, before they exited the pod and came face to face with the reality they had been hoping to avoid... Planet Fastoon was in ruins. The once great Lombax city, the only thing the Hall of Knowledge had indicated was on this planet, was completely in ruins, almost as if a war had happened in the past.
"By the Maker," Ratchet said, looking around at all the devastation with a look of sorrow in his eyes, as he had been hoping to tell Angela some good news when she and Sunset finally met up with them, "this place looks like it was attacked from space or something."
"Considering how much hatred Tachyon has for the Lombax race, I'm willing to bet he's responsible for this," Starlight commented, though she wasn't as shocked as her brother was, considering the fact that their sister was the God of Destruction and could do this to a planet with a swing of her fist if she was really pissed off, "We've got to find a way off of this planet before Tachyon traces that pod and finds our location... but I don't see anything that could help us at the moment. This is likely the only time we'll need to use Sunset's magic for teleportation purposes and she's not here to help us!"
"I suggest that we explore the area around us," Clank spoke up, somewhat glad that he didn't have to say anything about the planet anymore, because Ratchet and Starlight had figured it out on their own, "We might be able to find something if we spread out and look around for a few minutes."
Ratchet and Starlight approached the nearby weapon vendor, where they questioned why one happened to be on a deserted planet like Fastoon, though they quickly purchased more ammunition for their existing weapons and acquired the Tornado Launcher, the newest weapon that was available. Once they were done upgrading the new weapon, and learning how to use it for future battles, Ratchet used his swingshot to cross the gap between where they landed and the area in front of them, while Starlight levitated over to him. As they looked around, trying to find anything of use to them at the moment, Ratchet's eyes eventually fell on an old red ship, one that looked not much larger than the one that was resting aboard the Hyperion at the moment, though it definitely looked much more advanced than what they had at the moment.
"Clank, Starlight, look!" Ratchet called out, grabbing the attention of his sister and his friend as he made his way over to the downed ship, "It's an old ship!"
Starlight wrapped her magic around the ship and gently removed it from the ground that it was stuck in, where she made sure to gently set it down and examined the damage the ship had sustained.
"From my scans I can tell that there are six components missing for interstellar flight," Clank said, looking over the ship while staring at the writing that appeared to be written on each of the ship's wings, "There also appears to be some Lombax writing on the ship, though I have no idea what the writing says."
"Then its a good thing I found a translation index back at the Hall of Knowledge," Starlight replied, loading up the index and scanning the writing into the tablet, which gave her what the writing said a few seconds later, "Hmm... one side says 'Aphelion', which must be the name of the ship, while the other says 'Angel', which could be part of the serial code that the ship was given. Looks like I can open the cockpit just a bit..."
Ratchet and Clank watched as Starlight gently opened the cockpit and entered the interior of the ship, though they were amazed by how skilled she was with her magic, even though they were being followed by Tachyon's forces. She looked around for a few seconds and opened what was apparently a glove compartment of some kind, to which she pulled out a few papers and scanned them as well. A minute or two passed before she climbed out of the ship and walked over to where they were standing, though they were unsure if she was mad about something or just deep in thought.
"Well, this ship was owned by someone named Kaden," Starlight said, tapping a few things on her tablet for a moment, as if she was trying to distract herself from something, "Ratchet... this was your father's ship."
"It was?" Ratchet asked, though at the same time he suddenly felt the urge to fix it and not leave it behind for when Tachyon finally arrived on the planet, while also noticing that something else was upsetting his sister, "That can't be what's bothering you though."
"Am I that easy to read?" Starlight commented, before letting out a sigh and looking up at her brother, "I managed to find a portion of Kaden's family tree, where most of the names have either been ripped off or destroyed to protect the rest of the family... but there's no mention of either myself or Sunset."
"You just said that most of the names were already destroyed," Clank said, wondering what the problem was, because he definitely didn't see one at the moment.
"The names might be, but not the background," Starlight replied, turning the tablet over so they could see what she was talking about, "Kaden's entire family line, from the very beginning to now, is entirely made up of Lombaxes... without a single mention of a magical unicorn or a Cazar with a golden bracelet. Heck, the only piece of information that could be of any help was the last project that your father was working on... a small ship that was designed to hold the sleeping forms of his son, a tiny unicorn, and a young Cazar."
"The ship we were found in back on Veldin," Ratchet said, remembering the day he had woke up with his sisters, back when they had been children, "Does it say who my father built the ship for?"
"No, there's only the mention of someone called Orvus." Starlight stated, though she was upset that, after all this time, that part of her world was being shattered.
"Look, it doesn't matter what my father's family tree says," Ratchet said, putting away the tablet before throwing his arms around Starlight, "you are still my sister, and so is Sunset. We'll start a new family tree with Angela and overcome what we found here today..."
"I really hate to interrupt the moment, but we had best hurry," Clank stated, driving the two of them apart for a moment, "Starlight, Ratchet and I will go out and collect the components that you need to get the ship fully operational."
Starlight looked at Clank, a little annoyed that he had ruined the moment, before letting out a sigh and jumped back into the ship, to which she started checking all of the various systems to be sure that she missed nothing. She wanted to be sure that the ship was ready to go for when her brother and Clank acquired all of the missing components, or a suitable substitute, though as she worked she discovered that most of the systems were in good condition. The only systems that weren't good were the ones with the missing components, oddly enough as she mused to herself, and soon she was making sure that everything was fine for when he components were given to her.
Occasionally she would be interrupted by Ratchet and Clank, where they would come back and hand her one of the components so she could continue working, before they went to go find another one. While retrieving the fifth flight component Ratchet opened the communicator so Starlight could hear something that was being broadcast for their channel only. It was an Interstellar Holo-Vite, one that apparently came from someone called Finnegan O'Qwarksalot, immediately telling them that Qwark was trying to tell them something. Once the message was over, and the fifth component had been acquired, Ratchet immediately handed it over to Starlight, while informing her that Clank was investigating a mine that only he could fit into at the moment.
"So, how's the ship coming along?" Ratchet asked, though it was clear by his tone that he wished there was more he could do besides stand around and do nothing, as he had cleared out all of their enemies and collected everything he could get his hands on.
"Just fine," Starlight replied, though at this point she was staring at her tablet, willing it to receive any messages from the Hyperion, because the adventure wasn't the same without Sunset around to help them out.
"I'm worried about them as well," Ratchet commented, causing Starlight to turn towards him for a moment, "We haven't heard from Angela, Sasha, or Sunset since we left Metropolis behind... and that has me worried. I know they haven't been captured, as Sunset would never allow something like that to happen, but there has to be a reason why neither of them have bothered to make contact with us."
"You don't think those strange robots that Clank sees very now and then are the cause behind our family not contacting us, do you?" Starlight asked, as she didn't have enough knowledge on the creatures to form a better opinion on them at the moment.
"I don't know," Ratchet admitted, though thinking about Angela really made him miss her, as he suspected that Starlight missed their sister just as much as he did, "but we can't dwell on the fact until we know for sure."
Starlight looked up for a moment, thinking that she heard the sound of magic happening, but then let out a sigh as she realized that her mind was playing tricks on her and that she actually hadn't heard anything yet. Ratchet, noticing her look up from her work, looked around the area as well, trying to find what Starlight had been looking for, though after a few seconds he stopped trying and returned to helping his sister while she worked. After a few more minutes of working Clank finally rejoined them and handed over the last component they needed to turn on the ship, though Starlight made sure that everything was okay before slipping it into the final slot... to which the ship sprung to life before their very eyes.
"Miserable little Drophyds!" the ship snapped angrily, though it did so in a distinctly feminine voice, while at the same time slamming shut the compartment that Starlight had been using to fix it up, "I can't believe they used Seeker Ammo! Oh what a bunch of cheats!"
"Aphelion?" Ratchet called out, concerned that Starlight's tinkering with the ship, while giving them the ability to leave the planet, might have interfered with the ship's original programming, "Are you alright?"
"Oh, a Lombax," Aphelion replied, turning to face Ratchet for a moment, though he noted that the ship sounded sad for a second or two, "I never thought that... I'd... wait a second, your Kaden's son, aren't you?"
"According to the papers we found inside you, he was my father." Ratchet said, though at the same time he was surprised that he was conversing with a ship.
"Which meant that he had to go with his emergency plan," Aphelion said, though in a manner that meant the comment was supposed to be for her and no one else, "My sensors indicated that Tachyon is still alive... and that you have no other way to leave the planet. Ratchet, son of Kaden, I will gladly aid you in your quest to do... well... whatever your here to do, though I think I can guess what that something is."
The first thing they did, before taking off, was have Aphelion play the message they had received from Qwark, where the moron happened to be doing a voice over invitation/advertisement for Tachyon's preferred Arena, the Imperial Fight Festival on Planet Mukow. At the end of the message they heard that the invitation was only valid for fuzzy, long eared orphans, their tiny robot companions, and pony geniuses... almost as if he knew that Angela and Sunset weren't with them at the moment. Aphelion confirmed that she had the coordinates for Planet Mukow already in her database, so the trio jumped inside, let the cockpit door close behind them, and they departed from the ruined planet with haste.
Though while the group left Fastoon behind, and got to know their new ship, they wondered if Qwark was actually going to try and help them, or whether this was a horrible trap that they were going to walk into... though they knew that the only way they were going to get anywhere would be to complete a challenge or two in the Imperial Fight Festival and not get caught.
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"Clank, Twilight, look!" Ratchet called out, grabbing the attention of his sister and his friend as he made his way over to the downed ship, "It's an old ship!"
don't you mean Starlight?
8037696 Yes
I guess I had twilight on the mind and accidentally wrote her name.
I'll fix it and hope I don't do it again... otherwise people will think I'm ripping pieces from Tats' story.
So Ratchet gains the ship he uses in the future series, while Starlight wonders about her missing family members.
When is Sunset and Angela going to return? I miss them.
Hmm... so Kaden and Orvus must have worked together at some point. Interesting.
And now we have one of my favorite characters from Tats' story. And I doubt she'll be any less of a favorite here.
8038043 Aphelion is the best ship in the game series... I mean she talks and gets some nice upgrades in the Crack in Time game.
8038077 And is a major sass. Can't forget the sass.
Wonder how the others will handle her.
8038155 Angela will likely be happy to have a functional piece of Lombax technology... though the real question lies in Sunset.
Seriously, where is the God of Destruction?
8038176 Probably ready to off a planet or two to find her siblings. But I could be wrong.
8038251 Considering who she's supposed to be mimicking at the moment, I wouldn't put that past her.
You know, I had a thought... what if she doesn't make an appearance, because she knows what her family is capable of, and is hiding someplace they would never think to look?
8038271 That could work, like a test of sorts, see how strong they really are.
8038277 You know, it would be funny if that was the case... because the only location they would never think to look for her in would be Orvus' domain; the Great Clock.
8038289 I think that's where they're going to be anyway. Cause if I remember correctly, the bad guy has taken over the Great Clock, and to catch the best fish, you need the right bait.
8038298 And if the BG (bad guy) captured Sunset, likely with help from a certain someone, then he'd have a least four of the six Cores in his possession.
8038320 He'd have all of them. I think Tachyon was the one who bought the fifth one, and Orvus probably has the last one.
8038437 Considering that Ratchet and Starlight will likely take Tachyon's Core, the final villain will still have five... unless one of those Zoni steal more than just Clank.
Things are getting interesting, though I have to wonder how the group will react to what's coming their way in the next chapter.
8038251 When isn't this version of Sunset ready to blow up a planet? She's the Destroyer... and it seems like she's fully adapted to her new responsibilities at this point.
Clank's eager to get on with their adventure and all Ratchet and Starlight want to do is talk about the family members that aren't present. Makes me wonder if we'll even be seeing Sunset in this arc or not.
This story is definitely worth keeping an eye on... especially because Sunset's involved.
8038437 I must have missed something; what is so special about these six different colored pieces of Raritanium?
8038888 We've discovered they represent the Elements of Harmony.
8038943 Oh; Generosity, Honesty, Laughter, Kindness, Loyalty, and Magic. I get it now.
But besides taming that demon it doesn't explain what use they serve in the story... unless I seriously missed something.
8038956 You kinda did.
8038959 I remember them taming Searing... oh, silly me, they help restore memories as well.
At least, I think that's what they did.
8038959 You know, despite my low level of knowledge when it comes to magic, I just had a crazy idea while rereading some of the older chapters; what if someone is trying to build a gateway!
8038997 That's actually not that farfetched. It is entirely possible, the only hiccup is they don't remember where they come from. Though it is possible Orvus has been meddling.
8039016 Aye. I remember that the Clock keeps time in order, so what if someone was able to harness the power of the Cores by using the time energy?
Maybe the two energies could create a rift or something that allows Sunset and Starlight to go home... when they're ready of course.
8039036 I imagine that's how the story will end.
8039041 I have some serious bad luck at guessing the ends of the stories I follow... so I'm going to laugh if the author has something else planned.
Also noticed that this story seems to be merged with another at some point in time, which means I'll have to rewatch or replay something to understand what's going on.
8039057 There's basically three stories running parallel to each other so far. This one, Dragon Ball Z: Daughters of Destruction, and Children of Eco.
8039069
And I literally started reading the Eco one this afternoon. Pinkie is awesome!
I'm going to have to start reading the third one, the dragon ball one... and something tells me I'll be in for quite the ride.
8039087 You have no idea.
8039088 Well then, I had better start reading before I am left in the dust.
8039122 Enjoy your read.
8039125 I will... and you have my thanks for actually helping me remember the whole Core ability thing.
8039137 No problem. It's what I'm here for.