Ratchet and Clank: Family of Heroes

by Blackdrag-rose

Rift Apart: Torren IV

As they traveled to Torren IV Rivet shared all the stories she knew with Autumn and Clank, allowing them to understand that the Fixer was a being of importance in her dimension, even if most people couldn't confirm his existence since the Vullards didn't want everyone else to know of his existence. The pair had to admit that what she was sharing with them made both of them more eager to see if the stories were true, because there was one tale of where the Fixer actually mended a broken world with his powers, putting it back to normal before stopping what triggered it's destruction in the first place. Once they actually saved the dimensions, and didn't have to worry about everything falling apart on them, Autumn promised that she would help Rivet put her Blizar Prime back together, though while it wouldn't bring the fallen back they could fix the problem they discovered in the other dimension they had been to. That seemed to put a smile on Rivet's face, even though she was worried about what they might find on Torren IV, as she also claimed that Pirates loved to frequent this part of the galaxy and there was a chance that Pierre might try to stop them from visiting the Fixer.

Clank was silent for the majority of the trip to Torren IV, though he did tell Autumn the news that Gary was the son of the Plumber, which meant explaining a couple of things to Rivet so she understood who they were referring to, even though she said nothing about that as she reached the atmosphere of their destination.

"You know, in the grand scheme of things, this should be the most straightforward mission possible." Clank remarked, as it sure seemed that way, just fly down, locate some Vullards, get directions to the Fixer, and then repair the Phase Quartz so they could return to Zurkie's and meet up with the others.

"Listen, I'm not sure how things go in your dimension, other than what you've told and shown me, but if there's one thing I've learned over the years it's that improvisation is very important." Rivet replied, taking a moment to snap her fingers as she said that, meaning it was a skill she must have learned while working all on her own, before she turned her eyes back to the area she was planning on setting them down in, "Trust me on this, things never go according to plan... especially in this part of the galaxy, away from the majority of the patrol paths the Troopers use."

"Well, you won't have to worry about that, as we're skilled at improvising as we go." Autumn stated, which was the truth, as she and her siblings usually had plans in mind and, when things went sideways, they modified them accordingly to ensure either they would survive the danger or overcome an enemy's plans.

Rivet chuckled, as she had a feeling that was the case, before touching down on the outskirts of the area, allowing them to climb out of the ship and stretch for a moment, though once they were done the sisters started to head down the path in front of them. All three of them were hoping that the Fixer actually existed, that this wasn't a wasted trip, and that he could repair the Phase Quartz, because it would put them one step closer to saving the dimensions from the danger that was now coming their way, or at least Gary confirmed Kaden's suspicions on the matter. As they discovered that the bridge was out of order, which would have brought them to the town that was in front of them, some toads and crabs attacked them, which caused the sisters to open fire on their new foes for a few seconds, as they weren't anything to be worried about. Rivet told them that the broken bridge had to be due to a Pirate raid, in fact she was sure of it after everything Pierre had done in the past, before she and Autumn used two Swingshots and a magnetic wall to reach the edge of town.

What they discovered was that every Vullard in the area seemed to be closing up shop, meaning they must have found yet another threat in the nearby area and had to be preparing for their arrival, though while neither sister was surprised to find Ms. Zurkon here, in fact it meant more weapons, they did find one Vullard at the edge of the town to talk to.

"New tourists?!" the Vullard remarked, where Autumn and Clank noted that he spoke differently than the ones in their own dimension, in fact that seemed to be a common trend that they were discovering, where he focused his full attention on the trio, who found a large chasm in front of them, a path to their left, and, more importantly, a massive robot that looked like it was being worked on, "Welcome to the 'jewel' of our galaxy. Please, enjoy yourselves... did you know that Molonoth means paradise in Junkish?"

"Is that so? Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but we're not tourists. We're looking for the Fixer." Rivet replied, as while she knew that many of the Vullards were hoping that they were here to buy some items, to earn money to buy other things, the scene in town, with everyone closing their doors or windows, meant they didn't have a lot of time, "He's here, right?"

"He most definitely is... great guy, one of the best, and he's single in case any of you are interested." the Vullard said, which earned him three frowns as Rivet, Autumn, and Clank stared at him, as they couldn't believe that he was trying to set one or more of them up with the figure they were looking for, "What can he do for you?"

"We were told that he could fix Phase Quartz. That true?" Autumn asked, because if the Fixer turned out to be a lie, and that he couldn't do as the stories claimed, there was no reason for them to stay here, since it meant they would have to track down another piece of the material they needed to power the Dimensionator.

"He most certainly can... Phase Quartz, blaze quartz, any quartz, anything!" the Vullard stated, where it sounded like he had rehearsed part of his statement in case anyone arrived and happened to be looking for the figure in question, though after saying that he turned and beckoned to the giant robot that was clearly offline, "But, uh, we've been having a lot of problems with Pirates lately and asked him if he was willing to help us out... because, as you can see, he's a big guy and incredibly powerful... but after a few days of totally crushing them he just, well... broke."

"Autumn, perhaps you could fix him?" Clank inquired, which would be wonderful if that was the case, since she was one of the most skilled weapon, device, and even robot designer in their dimension, the best in every field she worked in, so this seemed to be a good turn of events for them.

The Vullard informed them that to move forward they would need a Hurlshot, one of which just so happened to be in the smelting pits off to the left, though the sisters returned to Ms. Zurkon and purchased a few new weapons, two old classics as Autumn discovered, the Buzz Blades and the Glove of Doom, allowing them to upgrade both before starting to make their way over to the path they needed to take.

"So, I have to ask: after this are you guys and Ratchet going to head to the dimension the Lombaxes are in?" River asked, as it had been bugging her since she discovered that the Dimensionator existed, especially when she learned that there were other members of her kind out there, and it caused her to ask a question that had been on her mind for some time, all while carefully climbing up some stone platforms to start their newest mission.

"Maybe. It all depends on Ratchet... you have to remember that he's had his parents, his wife, and even an uncle figure to learn from, but not the person who mattered the most." Autumn replied, taking a moment to blast the crabs and wasps that were in front of her and her sister right now, as it seemed like they and some toads were coming to hurt them, so she beat them to it and caused Rivet to join in a second later, "He's been so focused on finding you, and making sure you were okay, that I don't think he's even considered tracking down the other Lombaxes... however, after spending some time with you, he'll likely agree that it's time to find the others as well. Time, as they say, will tell."

Rivet nodded as she turned her guns on another critter and wiped out more of the enemies that were coming at them, as Molonoth Gulch had more foes than she thought, before they reached what appeared to be the edge of the area, finding that to move forward they had to use a series of grind rails. It was humorous that they were doing this again, though both sisters said nothing as Rivet jumped onto the rail and Autumn followed after her, finding that they were racing across the other side of the chasm, heading in the opposite direction of the Fixer. This time around the sisters had to avoid carts full of junk, either stalled on the various tracks or coming their way from one of the other destinations, though for some odd reason parts of the tracks were removed, as if the Vullards were reinventing every system that existed in this place, but at the moment they either jumped over gaps or moved to another rail. While they did that Rivet explained why the Hurlshot might be located inside a smelting pit, as they apparently fractured the spines of those who used them and had, rather quickly, been recalled so they could be destroyed, so she was expecting Autumn to work on it as soon as they found it, as she didn't want to experience such a thing.

The end of the path came to a pipe that allowed them to slide down onto a pile of moving junk, granting them a chance to use a Swingshot and reach the smelting pit that happened to hold the Hurlshot, a silver container that was suspended just above a pit of acid that would likely destroy it, but before they could move Pirates started to attack the settlement.

"Avast, ahoy, yo-ho yo-ho. Our time has finally come!" one of the Pirates sang, where a pair of ships arrived and several members of the crew stepped off into the area that the sisters were interested in right now, though what interested both Autumn and Clank was that these guys loved to sing, as opposed to the dancing of the pirates in their dimension.

"Let us plunder like mad, and go break bad, for the Fixer is all but done!" another continued, confirming that they loved to sing, which was either the favorite pass time of this breed of Pirates or it was a requirement of their captain, either option was possible right now.

"Look here mateys, this looks useful. In fact I've a notion it be crucial." a third added, though this one was pointing right at the Hurlshot that the sisters were here for, meaning they either knew about the item in question or they thought it might sell well if they got their hands on it.

"It seems that fate has brought us together again, ma petite Rivet." Pierre said, while at the same time ignoring Autumn as his ship came to a stop above them and he took off his hat so he could bow a little towards her, either because he liked her or this was his way of showing respect to someone he saw as his rival.

"Listen Pierre, as much as I've love to appease 'fate' by kicking your butt with my sister, we've got a task to complete and we need that Hurlshot." Rivet stated, though as she said that both she and Autumn got ready, as they could see that the Pirates that were around them weren't too happy with her choice of words, despite the fact that it was true, she usually beat him and his crew, so she was trying to save them a beating.

Unfortunately Pierre didn't see it that way as he put his hat back on and ordered his crew to attack them, something that caused his ship to take off so they could likely plunder another part of the area they were in, though neither sister was even surprised as they opened fire on the Pirates. This gave Rivet a chance to see the Glove of Doom in action, seeing the Agents, the small biting robots that were deployed when an orb was thrown, as each group of four circled around each of the targets that their owners were fighting, allowing them to bite on their heels before knocking them down. Once again she had to admit that her sister's weapons were wonderful, each had a unique or powerful ability that made battle easier for both of them, as the Agents were able to get around the shields that some of the Pirates used and tore them down in a matter of moments, much to Pierre's annoyance. With that done, and they were sure that all of their enemies were done for for the time being, Rivet used a Hammercrank to lower the Hurlshot down to their position, allowing Autumn to look at it for a moment and discovered that it was an orange sphere that could be integrated into their gloves.

It didn't take her all that long to figure out what the problem was, there was some coding that was messed up and she was able to fit it, allowing her to carefully copy it with her magic, since she and Clank found no rifts nearby, and once both of them had the item they used it on the nearby Hurlshot target, a yellow Swingshot. Rivet found herself being impressed by her sister once more, something that was becoming more common as they found more things for Autumn to work on, as she wasn't expecting her to actually fix the problem in such a short period of time, but her spine survived using the new device. In fact, despite the fact that they had to spin around at high speeds for a few seconds, their bodies survived using the Hurlshot with no harm to their spines, meaning her sister had been successful, just as she claimed, and as they safely landed on a tip of the broken mesa, a flat surface far above where the smelting pits had been, the sisters found even more Pirates to do battle with. As such they opened fire on their enemies, blasting those that were on the ground that they had landed on or those that were on all of the smaller ships, reminding Autumn of the transports that Slag's crew used back on the planets they either owned or attacked.

The larger ships, on the other hand, were totally new to Autumn and Clank, as neither of them had seen ships that looked a lot like the pirates ships of old, or at least the Old Earth version, though while they tore down the Pirates Rivet explained that they were likely here looking for buried treasure, giving that Torren IV was a junk planet.

Sure enough Pierre was annoyed with both of them, as in Rivet's constant interfering with his plans, even though she was positive that it was the other way around since he kept arriving unannounced on the planets she had work on, and he felt the same way about Autumn, she was just an annoying figure like Rivet. That fact, alone, was enough to convince him that they had been telling the truth about the pair being related, which was the weakest excuse imaginable, though the sisters paid him no mind at all as they tore through all of the Pirates in their way and launched themselves over to a second ship, surprising the crew. Of course the Pirates and their smaller bladed robots tried to take them down, only to fail thanks to their empowered arsenals, though as the last of this ship's crew fell Pierre had another of the larger robots emerge from the cargo hold to attack the sisters with everything he had. The only difference between the first one and this one was the fact that this one was called 'Wee' Roger, as in he wasn't any stronger or tankier than Pierre's partner in the arena, so Rivet and Autumn were able to tear him down in no time at all, though Autumn had the idea to turn the ship against their foes, to clear the skies of Pirates so they could focus on the Fixer.

Pierre, whether or not he heard her remark on the matter, somehow convinced his crew to fire upon the ship that they had taken over, where it sure seemed like the Pirates of this dimension weren't supposed to do such a thing, causing the sisters to take Clank's suggestion and jump overboard, gliding down to the town while avoiding the destruction of the ship that was above the chasm.

With that done, and the Hurlshot in their possession, Rivet and Autumn restocked their ammunition before using a nearby yellow Swingshot to launch themselves across the chasm so they could finally fix the Fixer, all while Pierre growled as he realized that they were still alive. More crabs and wasps tried to take them down, showing that they would be traveling by an area the wildlife called home, though they did find that more and more Pirates were gathering in the area that was in the middle of where they were and where the Fixer rested. Autumn had to note that their enemies were foolish, because it was clear that the Fixer was offline, meaning he was unable to fight back, they really should have attacked him first to be sure he was dealt with, just in case someone got around to reactivating him or fixing his systems, but decided to keep that thought to herself. Once they cleared out the rest of the wildlife in the immediate area, where Rivet, Autumn, and Clank agreed on that matter, the sisters used a pair of Hurlshot targets to reach the edge of the chasm that the Pirates had put a number of their forces in to stop them from reaching the Fixer's location.

As they tore into the Pirates, however, Pierre made several remarks about them, like how Clank was a 'sassy backpack' or how would he be able to go without his greatest foe, or how Autumn was a 'smart aleck unicorn', even though she was a kirin and had told Rivet as such after she learned to trust her. Pierre went on to talk about how great the Fixer was, that he fired beams of energy from his eye and that he could crush anything with his bare hands, where Rivet asked him if he had used his words to put down the Fixer, only to discover that even the Pirates had no idea what had happened. Autumn did know what Rivet was doing, she had figured that if the Pirates had been linked to the downfall of the Fixer they might gain some sort of information from Pierre by forcing him to talk in the most roundabout way possible, but while it didn't work out she was grateful that her sister had tried to get her more information for later. Eventually the other tank Pirate tried to take them down with the remainder of the crew that came with him, where the sisters dodged his attacks and lashed out at him, knocking him down and blasting him apart like all the rest, before using a few Hurlshot targets and a short grind rail to reach their destination.

The moment they reached the main switch, a Hammercrank that was linked to the Fixer's systems, Autumn found that the Pirates were pulling back for now, meaning they had to be quick to restore the massive robot and get the Phase Quartz, all while searching for a way to end this without any additional problems.

"So, I'm guessing you need him online to fix him?" Rivet asked, as she really had no idea what went into repairing robots, due to her fast dislike of them and the Emperor that most of them served, either willingly or not, though at the same time she slammed her hammer into the slot and started to turn it, since Clank was silent on the matter.

"Depending on what broke, reactivating him might be..." Autumn started to say, though as she said that she turned for a moment and found that the crank was pretty much activated, not that she was even surprised since Rivet seemed to act a lot like her brother, without thinking about her actions.

In the next moment the Fixer's eye came online and he started to move before their eyes, pushing through the metallic bits of scaffolding that were in front of him, scattering metal everywhere as he stepped out into the chasm, which was just confirmation that he was massive since he was taller than the entire area.

"Hey, excuse me! Are you, um, okay?" Rivet shouted, because if he was fine that meant they could move on and get off this planet after dealing with Pierre, who might flee now that the Fixer had been restored, though if he was still broken, well, Autumn could look at him and see what was wrong.

"No... I am broken, as is everything... nothing can be fixed." the Fixer replied, where it sounded like he was saddened by something, instead of being damaged from the attacks that happened in the past, though in that moment they all found three more large Pirate ships coming their way, causing him to fire a beam of red energy that struck the middle ship and tore it apart in seconds, causing the others to flee as he glanced at Rivet and Autumn, "NOTHING!"

The sisters dodged as he fired at them, the beam tearing into the landscape behind them in the process, before finding a path forward, a cable that could be used as a grind rail that seemed to head back to the town and their ship, so they took it before he squashed them. As they traveled along the path, dodging the carts full of junk that happened to be in the way, the Fixer attacked him with either his laser beam that tore apart rock and metal with ease, use his thin pincer like hands to crush or grab anything he might be interested in, or just breaking stuff with his arms. At the same time he informed them of many things, that destruction was their natural state of being, that he noticed Clank was damaged and that he had to 'accept his brokenness', something that triggered Rivet since she told Clank that if he was 'broken' than so was she and, to be honest, she thought all of them were pretty awesome. Autumn, however, realized what was wrong with the Fixer, the assaults that he repelled had allowed him to understand that there was good and evil in the dimensions, or greed when it came to the Pirates, and it damaged his morale, meaning he must have shut himself off to think about all of this, to figure it out on his own, which meant they had interrupted his process.

It didn't take them too long to reach a Hurlshot that propelled them through the air, sending them back to the town, but as they did that Rivet and Autumn found the Fixer reaching up for them, causing Rivet to push Autumn back for a moment as she stopped the finger from crushing them, which was due to him not applying a lot of pressure, though it was more than enough to cause her to struggle as she fell to one knee.

"I am fixed!" Clank declared, as he had been silent since Rivet's comment about them and had been listening to the things that the Fixer said, revealing that he felt that he understood how to solve this situation, though as Rivet glanced back for a moment, or at least tried to since she had to prevent them from being crushed, where he silently informed his friends that he was going to improvise, "I may be different now, from what I was when I was created, but you have helped me realize that I am still Clank!"

"I... am quite relieved." the Fixer replied, where they could see the relief wash over his facial features, in fact his eye area was more expressive than what they were expecting, before he eased his grip and allowed Rivet to relax as she let go and helped Autumn onto her hooves, since she had landed right behind her sister's legs, which had stopped her from falling into the chasm below, "When the Vullards asked me to protect them from the Pirates, and the other dangers of the galaxy, it opened my eyes to a great many broken things... so very many..."

"I get it. It made you distressed." Autumn said, as she and Clank now understood what was going on with him, while it did take Rivet a few more seconds to realize everything that was going on, which was followed by the ground shifting as the Fixer changed how his hand was positioned.

"However, being able to fix another, to see that all is not lost..." the Fixer continued, shifting his stance so they could slide down the finger and come to a stop in the center of the town, something they did without delay before turning to face the massive robot as he pulled his arm back so he could stare down at them, "How can I ever repay you?"

Clank produced the fragments of the Phase Quartz, all of them since he left no shards behind on Blizar Prime, and asked if the Fixer could mend it, where they watched as he used a special purple beam made of rings that zeroed in on the shards and picked them up, causing them to fuse back together in seconds, as if it hadn't been broken in the first place. With the restored Phase Quartz in hand Clank thanked him for his aid, where the Fixer said that it was he who should be thanking all of them, as they had given an old giant robot the gift of hope, the greatest gift of all. That put smiles on their faces as the sisters restocked their ammunition once more, where Rivet thanked Clank for his timely aid, as without the power of Autumn's magic she wasn't sure she could have held out for too much longer, but this allowed them to do more than what they originally believed. The Phase Quartz was fully restored, Autumn confirmed that with a quick scan, they had saved all of the Vullards from the Pirates and Pierre, and the Fixer was back to his former self, meaning this was one of their more successful missions, especially given what they had come to do.

With the Phase Quartz in hand, and smiles on their faces, the sisters and Clank returned to their ship and set off without wasting time, as it was time for them to head for Zurkie's and meet up with their brothers, who hopefully had the newly reforged Dimensionator so they could put an end to the immediate danger and fix the dimensions.