Ratchet and Clank: Family of Heroes

by Blackdrag-rose

Rift Apart: Battle for Sargasso

Rivet paused for a moment to watch as Ratchet, Starswirl, and Clank climbed into the other royal starship and blasted off for Ardolis, knowing that they would be able to find Pierre, hopefully without having to go through all of the Pirates on the planet, before climbing into her own ship, where Autumn and Kit were waiting, and taking off.

"Are you sure we should leave without doing the challenges in the arena?" Kit asked, as she knew about it thanks to what Autumn told her while they were waiting for Rivet to enter the ship, so she was speaking of the prizes they might earn if they stayed behind to tackle whatever Zurkon Jr. had in store for them, "We should gather as many resources as we can."

"If my planet wasn't under attack, I'd consider it." Rivet replied, because while she knew that Kit meant well, otherwise she was sure her brothers wouldn't have brought her along with them on their mission, her focus was on Sargasso and the fact that it was in immediate danger.

"Given that we have no idea how long it will take for Ratchet and the others to complete their task, we might have time for the challenges once Sargasso is secure." Autumn said, as it seemed like a worthwhile compromise to her, focusing on the main task right now before worrying about anything else that was going on, and her sister, plus their new companion, just nodded their heads to show that they agreed.

As they flew to Sargasso, however, they had many new things to either talk about or items to ponder, like the fact that the Emperor already knew how to wield and use the Dimensionator, meaning he must have uncovered some information about it at some point in time and committed it to memory. Kit was unsure of what to make of that fact, because she and Gary knew that all of the information related to the dimensional device was locked away in the Archives on Savali, so either their foe was smarter than they gave him credit for or there was a lost deposit of Lombax artifacts he had found and studied in case he found the Dimensionator. Rivet, on the other hand, focused on the fact that Kit was clearly Clank's dimensional counterpart and that the two of them were destined, in some way, to team up to save the day, even though it was clear to Autumn that both of them were still awkward about the idea, as if nervous about working together with new people. It was easy for her to tell that both Rivet and Kit were worried that this might be temporary, that they would only be together until the downfall of the Emperor, or that they would stop being allies before that point in time, but she had to hope that they would learn to be teammates for real, like Rivet had learned from her and Kit had learned from Ratchet and Starswirl.

Thanks to Rivet flying much faster than before, showing her desire to save her planet, they were able to reach Sargasso in no time at all, where they found a large red and black warship with several smaller, but still imposing, gunships launching an assault on the planet, confirming that the Emperor was now able to move his forces with ease.

"The Morts are under attack." Kit remarked, where she found that some Morts wanted to be peaceful about this, despite being attacked for no real reason, other than harboring Rivet and hiding her existence from the Emperor, and offered the Troopers some lemonade, where the Troopers declared that the Emperor despised lemonade since nothing should be sour and sweet, apparently.

"No one messes with the Morts! Come on, sis." Rivet stated, making sure to land the ship near an area that was currently under attack, an area that Ms. Zurkon was in since they had told her about the attack before leaving Zurkie's, meaning she might have more weapons for them to obtain, something that brought a smile to her face, "Wow... what is that?"

"The Blackhole Storm, a machine gun style weapon that literally punches chunks out of enemies." Autumn replied, where she purchased a pair of the new weapon and made sure to acquire all of the available upgrades Ms. Zurkon had right now, though she knew there weren't a lot of toys left to obtain, though she did grab the new and improved Bouncer to add to their arsenals.

Rivet looked at the new weapons for a moment before they engaged the enemies that were waiting nearby, firing on the Troopers that were bothering the Morts in this section of the swamp as she found out what the new weapon was actually capable of, as she liked the Blackhole Storm. While they did that, however, more dimensional rifts opened and Troopers poured out of them, confirming that the Emperor had more control over it than Dr. Nefarious did, or they had combined their knowledge on the item together to do this, though the sisters opened fire on their enemies without pause. Kit made a note of the amount of ships in the air, the ones that had attacked the Archives on Savali when the brothers came after Rivet, Autumn, and Clank called them and informed them about the schematics. The fact that he and Dr. Nefarious were doing that was a bad thing overall, as Autumn could tell that the dimensional cracks were getting worse as time went on, a side effect of not repairing the dimensional barrier and then using the Dimensionator without concern for the rest of the dimensions.

This worried Autumn more than she was willing to admit, because with the rate that the barrier was degrading she was almost positive that the Dimensional Cataclysm would be triggered before they actually recovered the Dimensionator, a fact that she didn't want to think about since that was the ultimate disaster. Kit, being more attuned to this than Rivet was, had to agree with Autumn, the circumstances were escalating at a rather alarming rate, where she informed them that it might be in their best interest to speak with Gary, if he was even aware of the ongoing threat. Rivet quickly told her that as soon as Sargasso was safe, and they didn't have to worry about it being destroyed, she'd set a course for Savali, since she had to agree that talking with the Prophet, who pointed Ratchet and Starswirl in the right direction, might be the best for all of them right now. Autumn and Kit were fine with the plan, as for right now they were focused on the Troopers that were coming out of the couple of dimensional rifts that the Emperor had set up for them earlier, before exterminating all of them and causing all of the rifts to close so they could check in on the pair of Morts near the edge of the area.

"Rivet, I'm sorry that you and your friends had to come save us again." one Mort said, while most of the others in the area seemed to be cheering for her timely arrival, letting Autumn see that they truly loved her and were willing to aid her in all of her various ventures, before she beckoned to the Seekerpede the sisters had downed not that long ago, "We tried to hold our own for once, even managed to fix up and restore the downed Seekerpede, but, well... it's stuck in some sort of dimensional thingamajiggers is preventing it from taking off."

"First off, none of this is your fault, as the Emperor hates me and wants to punish my friends as punishment. Second, I'd like to reintroduce Autumn, she's actually my sister and I've got two brothers." Rivet replied, where she smiled as she and the others found that the Morts were surprised by her statement, though Autumn was glad to hear it since it meant Rivet had fully embraced her, Ratchet, and Starswirl as her family, "And third, leave that anomaly to Kit... we just have to get to it for her to work on it."

Sure enough the Morts understood the situation as Autumn quickly explained it, she and Starswirl were sworn siblings of Ratchet, who was, in fact, Rivet's twin brother, while also mentioning that the reason they were separated was because a villain attacked their home planet, ending up with them in two different dimensions. In addition to that the Morts were happy to meet Kit for the first time and were already treating her like part of the family, not that Autumn was surprised by that after what she had learned about them earlier, before they raised some short pointed magnetic strips for them to run on as they followed Maynard. Apparently the Helperbot would lead the way to where the Seekerpede had been stationed before being trapped by the dimensional anomaly they had been shown, though as Rivet and Autumn jumped off of the last magnetic platform they landed in an area where a large group of toads that were being assaulted by some Troopers who were enjoying themselves. At the same time they heard the Assistant informing the residents of Sargasso that the Emperor sent his warmest greetings, with a subtle hit of condescending derision, especially to Rivet and Autumn, which told the sisters that he knew they were here and were fighting against his forces.

Even with the concerning number of rifts opening, to dispense more Troopers for them to fight, the sisters tore through all of them before heading up a ramp, only to find that the Emperor had sent down two hologram displays, one for him and one for Dr. Nefarious.

Rivet, Autumn, it is a bit tasteless of you two to disrupt my welcome wagon. Emperor Nefarious remarked, sounding as if he was faking being annoyed with them, as Autumn could tell he thought this was more like a game, while they found that Dr. Nefarious was standing still, like a loyal minion or follower, which had to be annoying him right now, I hope you don't mind that we watch from a distance... I'm just so exhausted from eliminating your allies, and the Doctor is still in the middle of recovering from his earlier battle with you.

"A lot of talk for a hologram." Rivet replied, as she wasn't too pleased with the Emperor right now, in fact with the theft of the Dimensionator he became even worse in her eyes, since he didn't care about anything other than himself, and she was sure that Gary would say the barrier was getting closer to collapsing.

Why would we waste our energy fighting? Emperor Nefarious inquired, though at this point Autumn could tell that he was mocking them, he didn't see any of them as a legitimate threat to him or his empire, like this was a game to him, one he likely assumed he was winning right now, Soon you and your rebels will be nothing more than a memory, along with this sludgy excuse for a planet.

Sargasso needs to Sargass-go! Dr. Nefarious added, as if he was the one with all the humor right now, though such a thing caused him and his new partner in crime to chuckle over his poorly made joke, though it told Autumn more than she needed to know, the pair of robot rulers were planning on destroying this planet.

With the first conversation done, as they all agreed that more hologram devices were scattered around the path they would be taking, Rivet used a nearby Hammercrank to raise some more vertical platforms for them to use, which she and Autumn did so without delay so they could move forward. Such a thing lead them to an area that was being set on fire, with several of the Troopers taunting both the wildlife and the Morts with incarceration, even though it seemed more like incineration at the moment, though the sisters were happy to see some enemy ships had been downed by the wildlife. As they clashed with some of the Troopers, however, Kit spotted another set of holograms and found that the two evil robots were talking while watching Rivet and Autumn tear through the Troopers with their weapons, as the Doctor informed the Emperor that most, if not all of their weapons, were made by Autumn. He also understood why Rivet was giving his new master so much trouble, as he had seen the same skills and stubbornness in her twin brother, Ratchet, who hailed from his dimension and caused him to tell the Emperor that the twins had been separated due to an attack on their home planet, causing Kit to frown, as it wasn't good that their enemy knew the connection between Rivet and Ratchet.

What worried them was the fact that Dr. Nefarious mentioned that there were big expansive plans for Sargasso, which had to mean that he and the Emperor were planning on blowing the planet up, even though Kit said it was just a way for the Emperor to instill fear into those who dared to challenge his rule.

As they made their way to where a Grunthor was tearing down the Troopers that dared to wake it from it's slumber, even if they had to use their Rift Tethers to get across a gap to reach it, only to find that the Troopers detonated themselves on top of the Grunthor, killing themselves and the creature in an instant. One thing that really worried them was the number of ships that were attacking Sargasso, as there were hundreds of small fighter ships, several gunships, and a single large command ship, even though Kit knew the Emperor had dozens of warships in his army. Rivet was still amazed by the fact that all of Sargasso was fighting back, as in the critters who usually gave her a hard time were now fighting to preserve their way of life and not conform to the dark rule of the Emperor, while at the same time ignoring her and Autumn, which was good since they could focus on the Troopers. The bad thing about this was that their enemies could clear out more of Sargasso by gathering in a single defensive area and firing at their targets as they came towards them, though that meant the sisters would be zeroing in on them as well and made sure to tear through the Troopers who dared to stand in their way.

Even the Juggernaut guarding the path to another of the buildings that the Morts had set up in the past went down due to the power that Rivet and Autumn brought to bare against it, allowing them to approach the anomaly that was preventing the modified Seekerpede from leaving.

"So, you ready to crack this anomaly wide open?" Rivet asked, as she had the feeling that Kit could do the same that Clank did a few times during their adventure together, interact with the anomalies and clean them up so they disappeared, to allow them to do whatever they needed to do next.

Kit nodded her head as she disengaged from Rivet's back and approached the anomaly, where she raised her right hand for a moment and braced herself for what was going to happen next, as she had read about this in the past and was ready for the tests that were inside the large anomaly.

---

A few seconds later Kit, or at least a projection of herself, appeared inside the anomaly, where she found that it was just as Gary had told her, after his first meeting with Clank in the first anomaly that appeared on Sargasso, a place that looked a lot more like a mechanical construct of some kind.

"Kit! You're alright!" a voice exclaimed, where she found Gary's projection floating nearby, just like he usually did during her time on Savali, though as he regained himself he glanced around, no doubt expecting to see someone else standing in the spot she was now standing in, "Where's Clank?"

"He has rejoined Ratchet, who is on his way to Ardolis with Starswirl." Kit replied, though she wasn't upset by the fact that her mentor was looking for Clank, as he had been helping him clear the anomalies that appeared in his path, though now it was her turn to do so and help bring some form of stability to the growing madness they were experiencing with the barrier between dimensions, "I am traveling with Rivet and Autumn, now, and we are on Sargasso, fighting off the forces of the Emperor."

Gary was impressed by her actions, to do everything in her power to stop the Emperor, before he asked her if she wanted to help fix this anomaly, to which she quickly grabbed a nearby Electric Sphere and used it on a device to form a current that she and her Possibilities could use to move through this part of the anomaly. She found another one along the path and a button that lowered a platform that held another sphere, so she kept the first current up, something that allowed all of her Possibilities to hold down the button so she could collect the Gravity Sphere. Kit then discovered a Spinnergizer off to the side of the path leading to the Meta-Terminal, which was connected to a symbol that would redirect her other selves, so she powered it up and then used the Gravity Sphere to form a launch platform, one that was across from where it had been resting previously. With that done she temporarily undid the first Electric Sphere, just to cut down on the number of Possibilities going down the main path, and once she was ready Kit tossed it back into position as she stood off to the side, which allowed all of her other selves to traverse the new path before ending at the Meta-Terminal.

Once that one was fixed she and Gary moved onto the next section of the anomaly, though as they did so Gary informed her that he was proud of her, as she was a fast learner, like Clank, and her actions were worthy of being recorded as well, but before they did anything else there was something she had to ask.

"How is the dimensional barrier doing?" Kit asked, as she had a feeling it wasn't good, with the cracks they were seeing at this point, not to mention the fact that all sorts of rifts were starting to open up, she was worried that the barrier was close to breaking open, the trigger for the Dimensional Cataclysm.

"Well... I'll be honest, we're in a pickle. We're circling the drain, as more cracks and rifts are appearing, at a rather alarming rate." Gary admitted, as this was one of the rare times where he knew that telling an untruth, or outright lying, would be more harmful than telling the truth, and since Kit was traveling with Rivet and Autumn he was sure they'd be able to figure out how to stop what was coming their way, "The Dimensional Cataclysm is coming, far faster than I anticipated when the first sign showed itself."

"I'm assuming that the damage has been caused by the Emperor stealing the new Dimensionator and firing it off in a far more reckless fashion than his counterpart?" Kit commented, because she knew that Gary must have seen them lose the device to the Emperor not that long ago, as he was just like his father and usually saw most things as they happened, or at least all of the important things that helped him keep their dimension safe.

As Gary nodded his head, confirming her suspicions, Kit sighed before moving onto the next portion of the anomaly, but this time she focused on the task at hand, because there was a chance that they might be able to steal the device since the Emperor was still on Sargasso, or so she hoped. While Kit worked she found that Gary wanted to keep her mind off of the theft of the Dimensionator by conversing with her, mostly about her opinions of Ratchet, Starswirl, Autumn, Rivet, and Clank, even though she had only met most of them not that long ago and only knew a bit about each of them. Despite all that, however, Kit found that they were some of the best people she could have asked to encounter, because Ratchet and Starswirl accepted her, even her warbot side, while Rivet and Autumn trusted her to be able to do what Clank had done during his first visit to an anomaly. Gary, while not having had the pleasure to meet either Rivet or Autumn, felt that all of them were great heroes and that they were lucky to have them on their side, otherwise he was sure the Emperor would have his way with all of reality, be it one dimension or everything the Lombaxes discovered.

One thing Kit noticed was that she and Gary were still nervous about their own things, her leaving Savali and Gary trying to stand in for his father, so Kit turned the conversation to that as she worked, finding that they had many things to say on the matter, especially when Gary realized that they were doing well on their own, and when it came time to leave Gary and Kit wished each other well before she left the anomaly behind.

---

Upon Kit's return to her actual body she, Rivet, and Autumn found that the anomaly disappeared before their eyes, which allowed the modified Seekerpede to stop squirming as it moved down to where they were standing, where the Morts, the ones they had talked to earlier, thanked Kit before climbing inside and took off.

"You know, the Morts are really taking a liking to you and Clank." Rivet remarked, as while they were some of the most friendly of creatures, or among those she had encountered across her dimension so far, it seemed like they really liked the two robots she had been carrying on her back since this entire series of events started, before finding that the Morts used the beam feature to blow up a gunship, "Hey, there's another gunship nearby... want to blow it up?"

"We could be persuaded." Autumn said, though this time all three of them smiled, because the idea of wrecking another piece of Emperor Nefarious' forces meant his overall army would be weakened by some degree, to which they headed over to Ms. Zurkon, who had come over after the Juggernaut's defeat, and restocked their ammunition.

With that done they used a Hurlshot to get over to the structure that was below the gunship, where they found a grind rail that cut through the building to reach the top, even though the Emperor and the Doctor had a few things to say while they did so, making them wonder how many hologram pads had been deployed. Apparently they believed that Rivet, Autumn, and the Morts should be embarrassed by the fact that they were using one of his Seekerpedes against him, though at the same time Autumn used she could actually use her magic since she'd love to dismantle one and reshape it into something far deadlier than what they fought earlier. The Emperor clearly viewed this as a show and wanted to see just how far Rivet would go before he eventually broke her spirit, showing them that he felt there was no way for anyone to beat him, even if his forces were the ones perishing in the face of the skills that Rivet, Autumn, and their brothers possessed, something he wasn't even concerned with. The sisters, however, showed him that they weren't to be underestimated as they used the nearby Hurlshot to launch themselves over to the gunship's deck, where Rivet and Autumn opened fire on the Troopers that were guarding it without delay, surprising them in the process even though they were told to expect them.

What disappointed Autumn was that whoever designed the ship left the power source wide open, even if it was in some sort of protective casing, especially since there was a Hammercrank in front of it, so once the rest of the Troopers were taken out Rivet inserted her hammer and caused the core to tear itself apart, without harming them in the process.

Splendid. What a show! Emperor Nefarious said, clearly showing them that he saw this as more of a game and less of a serious assault, because if it was the latter he would have brought a lot more to this battle, before the Doctor showed him something and a smile appeared on his face, Let's make things more interesting, shall we? All Cruisers, activate your Destruct-o Beams!

Planetary devastation... FINALLY! Doctor Nefarious exclaimed, confirming what the sisters had considered earlier, the surprise was that the two mad robots were going to blow up all of Sargasso in an attempt to punish Rivet, or even take her out of the picture entirely.

Autumn noticed that there were four more Cruisers that were between them and the main battleship, which were starting to power up their main weapons, to which she decided to break the rule that she and Starswirl had when it came to magic and dimensional rifts, she teleported down to a cliff near the ships and threw up several barriers in the air, stalling each of the four beams in the process. Rivet, while surprised by her sister's sudden usage of magic, since she hadn't used any of it since they started adventuring together, decided not to question it as she climbed on Trudi's back and took off, using her new ability to spit fire to tear through one ship's core. As her target when down the Emperor had his forces engage their barriers to protect them from harm, which were some of the hardest to crack in this galaxy, though the Morts happened to have the answer, gelatonium bombs, something that Autumn noted were incredibly potent in her dimension and that these were likely the same. Sure enough Trudi reached down and grabbed onto the first one, as there were some clamps that could be used for her talons to wrap around, and when she hurled it at a Cruiser the bomb detonated with more than enough force to tear apart the ship that was below the shield, confirming that they were incredibly powerful and were the key to saving Sargasso.

The third Cruiser didn't last much longer as a second bomb was thrown at it, where the Morts used the Seekerpede and it's beam to protect Trudi, Rivet, and Kit from the attackers, allowing them to find one more bomb and hurled it at the last of the ships, which just so happened to fly right into the side of the warship, causing a chain reaction that caused part of it to explode as it crashed into another part of the swamp.

Autumn breathed a sigh of relief, as powerful four shields had been a strain, since she had to empower them to the point that they could stop the beams in their tracks, and when one Cruiser fell she incorporated the power of that one's shield into the other three, while making sure not to go overboard. Her worry had been that if she used too much magic near so many dimensional cracks, which were still spreading as Emperor Nefarious used the Dimensionator, that she'd cause far more harm than good, especially after what she and Rivet had witnessed during their time on Blizar Prime. Once Rivet, Kit, and Trudi had down the last of the Cruisers, not to mention the downfall of the warship, Autumn released her power and smiled as she found that the Morts were cheering for their success, one that would severely harm the Emperor's ratings if it was ever known to the rest of his empire. The moment she was sure everything was fine, and there were no side effects from what she had done, Autumn found that Rivet had flown back to the ship and Trudi dropped her off, though before anyone could do anything the Emperor appeared, said something, and used the Dimensionator below Rivet's feet, sending her to who knew where.

Sure enough Autumn teleported back to the ship in time for the Emperor to disappear, though a few moments later she found a few cracks appearing as Rivet burst out of a pocket dimension, which sealed itself behind her, though after that her sister beckoned for her to join them as they took off, as they could talk at Zurkie's once Ratchet, Starswirl, and Clank were done tracking down Quantum.