Ratchet and Clank: Family of Heroes

by Blackdrag-rose

Interlude: Growing Up

After the untimely pirate attack on the colony, and the timely assault of the horde of Horny Toads the morning after, the siblings spent the next day or two waiting for the arrival of their membership cards from Gadgetron and the Guild that none of them had known about until the second assault, since it would allow them to get started on their work protecting Brooke and the rest of the colony from whatever dangers might be waiting to attack this place, because with the three membership cards from the Guild all three of them would be allowed to earn Bolts for any enemies they took down. Of course Autumn had a number of schematics to work on while they were waiting, as some of the more senior members of Gadgetron actually sent her a copy of whatever they happened to be working on at the time, mostly to test her skills and confirm what the worker had seen when he came to Veldin earlier, where she found that some were weapon plans that they wanted to build at some point in the future, when they had the technology to do so, or gadgets that could make ordinary life easier. Even if she found no errors or flaws with what she was sent she found ways to improve upon what was presented to her, something that came as a surprise to the people she worked with, though as she did that Ratchet found Mayor Brooke coming to the shed he and his siblings lived in, with what appeared to be the food delivery she promised them, which would keep them going until they were ready to purchase things on their own. Such a thing reminded him that all of the colonists apologized for what happened after the pirate assault, where they pretty much exiled the three of them to this part of the colony, but after he thought about it for some time, all while focusing on his necklace to keep himself calm, he determined that such a thing was fine, as it allowed Starswirl and Autumn to practice their magic in peace, without having to worry about freaking out any of the colonists, before he turned his head and focused on the Mayor once more.

The reason Ratchet assumed it was the food delivery was because there were two humanoid Helper Bots walking behind Brooke, even though it was possible that one might be the food they were expecting and the other could be something else entirely, to make up for what happened to them after the pirate assault, but for now he focused on what was going on right now as the Mayor came to a stop in front of him while both of her Helper Bots set the containers down near him, which was followed by them leaving without saying a single word.

"As we promised, the first of the food shipments to help you guys settle into your new home," Brooke said, though she had a feeling that nothing she did would convince the siblings to move back into the colony, but this was the best for them and for the others, as it allowed the siblings to do whatever they wanted without drawing too much attention to them while also giving them a good route to get to the rest of the colony, so if more assaults happened they could quickly reach where an attack was happening, before she pulled out an envelope and held it out towards Ratchet, "though this arrived earlier, and I know you guys have been eager to get your hands on them."

"Gadgetron must really want Autumn on their team if they sped up the process this much," Ratchet replied, where he took the envelope and opened it, finding three membership cards for Gadgetron, one for him, Starswirl, and Autumn, while also finding three cards that belonged to the Guild, so they could get Bolts for every enemy they took down, before discovering a set of Bolt Cards, which would allow them to manage their accounts and purchase things, where he knew it was a tad bit complicated and would take some time getting used to, but this was good news, "not to mention Starswirl and I are going to be her combat weapon testers, so Gadgetron can understand how each weapon and gadget fares on the battlefield... or that's the plan, not that I'm expecting to be involved in so many fights."

"Still, you three have done well, and you are only six years old," Brooke pointed out, as she found herself thinking about all of the supposed abilities of the Lombaxes once more, be it combat related or technology focused, and the powers that she had seen when Starswirl and Autumn took to the battlefield, meaning the three of them could be fine heroes if they ever decided to do such a thing, something that brought a smile to Ratchet's face, as he appreciated someone saying that he and his siblings had done well in some regard, before she beckoned to the second container, "the others also wanted to apologize to you, but some of them are still scared about the powers your siblings have, so I volunteered to bring it to you guys... it contains some new clothing that the others think you might like, to replace what you've been wearing for some time, but if you don't like it you'll have a way to buy new things."

Ratchet nodded his head to that, because with the Gadgetron Card, the Guild Card, and the Bolt Card he and his siblings would be able to gather Bolts and buy things to improve their living situation, as he knew that there were a great number of things that they needed to purchase and get used to, as in all of the essentials, but for now he was going to tell both of his siblings the good news about the arrival of the cards and then see what was inside the clothing container, as he really wasn't expecting any of the colonists to buy stuff for them, though it was a nice gesture. Brooke, seeing that he wanted some time alone with his siblings, bid him farewell before heading for the colony, allowing Ratchet to turn his attention to the shed and called for Starswirl and Autumn to join him, where his siblings emerged from the shed not a few seconds later, both showing interest in what he was calling them out for, before discovering the second container that Brooke and her Helper Bots had brought to them. Of course both of his siblings were surprised to find that clothing had come from all of the colonists, especially after what happened once the pirate raid was over, where Ratchet found what appeared to be a dark green pair of pants, a decent belt, some gloves that a mechanic could wear, and what seemed like a harness that went over one's chest, with an odd hexagon on the back, meaning that something could be attached to it and be worn like a backpack, though he didn't see any shirts that interested him. Autumn found a pair of blue shorts that needed a hole cut into them so her tail could fit through, unlike the pair Ratchet found that came with the opening in place, and a faded red shirt, where she shrugged and figured she could buy something more fitting later, while Starswirl found a blue shirt that went with a dark gray pair of pants, though none of them found any shoes to go with their new attire, something for later they suspected, though Autumn found matching gloves so each of them could have a set.

With that done, and all of them had changed into their new attire and nodded, Ratchet moved the clothing box into part of the living area of their shed, so it was out of the way, while his siblings moved the food container inside as well and made sure to transfer what had been delivered into their fridge so none of it went bad, otherwise they would have a hard time surviving until either the next shipment arrived or they had enough Bolts to buy food on their own, though that lead to the next important thing in Ratchet's eyes. In that moment he drew out the envelope and quickly handed his siblings their set of cards, which put a smile on their faces since it meant all of them could get to work defending the colony from the rest of the threats that were out there, even though the colonists were outfitted with their own Bomb Gloves as well, a decision that was made when they realized that they couldn't rely on the siblings to save them all the time, so this was in case they were attacked while Ratchet and his siblings were doing something else. With that done Autumn got to work making some modifications to their wrenches, as while Ratchet was perfectly find with his wrench, especially since it likely came from his parents and he didn't feel like breaking it apart, she knew that Starswirl seemed to prefer using longer weapons and that caused her to make a schematic that showed his wrench becoming a wrench-staff combination, though the head would be much smaller than before, growing and opening when he used it on a Bolt Crank, while extending the handle to the point where it looked like a walking staff. As for herself, well, she hadn't totally decided on what she wanted to do, but one of her ideas was to add a feature to her wrench so the pieces of the head could be linked together, forming a guard in her eyes, before a blade could extend from an area that was hidden inside the handle, though time would tell if she stuck to that idea or if she changed it to something else, as there were all sorts of melee weapons out there for her to pick from and she knew that a decision would be made in due time.

While they were doing that, however, it appeared that some of the pirates decided to return for another raid and caused the siblings to depart immediately, especially since facing these enemies wasn't something the colonists could do after all of the things they had been through this week, and when they arrived Ratchet switched to his Bomb Glove and hurled a bomb right into the face of the pirate he had picked out, pushing him backwards while the rest turned their attention on him and his siblings. That was what they wanted, as it meant that they wouldn't have to worry about Brooke or the rest of the colonists being hurt by the pirates, which caused Starswirl to weave his magic through the air and yanked a number of pirates off of their vehicles before slamming them into the ground, allowing him to spin his newly modified weapon and smack his foes upside their heads, all while tossing a bomb over to one of the pirates and blew it up, likely annoying the rest of the pirates in the process. Autumn focused on dodging the incoming attacks as she found that some pirates had a few interesting weapons, one looking like a blaster of some kind, so while she took down her targets, hitting them with her yet to be modified wrench and some of her magic, yanking them around with her telekinesis so they could be in the way of her weapon, before claiming all of the new weapons for herself, as she was sure that this might inspire her to make all sorts of new tools for Gadgetron, who would be grateful for her hard work. This time around the siblings only let one of the pirates go, hopefully sending a message to the others that Veldin wasn't worth the damages they were suffering right now, if they were smart enough to do something like that, before Autumn started to dismantle what was left over from all of their enemies and vehicles, figuring that all of it would be useful in some manner, all while the colonists cheered for the three of them, showing their gratitude towards Ratchet and his siblings saving them from the assault.

Ratchet, of course, took a moment to check his Bolt Card and found that he did have some money inside his account, all from the pirates they had taken out, though when his siblings came over the three of them discovered that their amounts were exactly the same, something that made him realize they were going to have to read up on the Guild rules, which both of his siblings agreed with once they checked their accounts, though with that done they returned to their shed as each of them focused on what the future held for them.

After the downfall of the pirates Ratchet and his siblings found a package addressed to them when Autumn went into the colony just after the sun rose, as she decided to do it before breakfast, though inside it happened to be three items none of them were expecting, uplinks that connected them to the Gadgetron Helpdesk and could be attached to their gloves if they wanted to do so, though they were basically what the spokesperson used before offering them the contract that they had signed earlier. Such a thing gave Autumn more freedom while she created her schematics, not to mention chatting with anyone she needed to talk to, and would aid Ratchet and Starswirl in purchasing what they needed, though they were clients 91802, 91803, and 91804 respectively, since they had their own accounts and everything, though there was a lot of stuff for them to learn about and they knew that having the Helpdesk uplinks would be useful for the future, with all of the features these were supposed to have. As such Autumn uploaded all of her schematics to her official Gadgetron account and got to work figuring out what needed to be done to make sure everything that was on the site was ready to be made, be it the gadgets or weapons, while Ratchet focused on buying the essential stuff and keeping an eye on the colony from where their home rested, just in case more troublemakers showed up, leaving Starswirl to make a list of tomes that he had his eyes on, as there were a number of books on magical theory, all from Old Earth, he wanted to look at and buying them was the only way he could get his hands on them. Ratchet understood why his brother was so interested in the books, as he knew there was a chance that he might prove or disprove the theories that the inhabitants of Old Earth used and wrote about, not to mention learn more spells in the process, though Old Earth no longer existed since some force destroyed it, but the information that had survived it's destruction was scattered around the galaxy, possibly even the other ones when he thought about what Brooke told him at one point, but that was a thought for another time.

---

From that point onward Ratchet and his siblings got used to life on Kyzil Plateau, where they got to work doing everything in their power to protect the colony from some of the major threats, like pirate raids for example, fixing up the electric fence that was installed to deal with a fair number of Horny Toads that were bothering them, and any other forces that felt it was right to attack and steal from a colony that was working on a desert planet, even though Brooke was making this work for all of them. Starswirl set up an observation deck for them to use, which was located at the edge of their property and allowed one to climb up and take a look at the surrounding area that the colonists lived in, basically giving the three of them an easier way to determine whether or not Veldin was under attack, with Autumn coming up with more advanced methods to figure out such a thing, just in case a day came when they were no longer on the planet, so the colonists had a chance to prepare for an invasion without having to depend on them. Of course part of that meant that, at some point in time, they would have to find a way off planet, which was why Autumn salvaged all sorts of parts from the pirate vessels she and her siblings blew up, forming a set of schematics for a vessel that would contain four people, because technology right now made it so that the Robotic Ignition System were incredibly expensive and huge in some instances, so it would be them and a robot, but she was sure that she would find a way to make it work at some point. So for now Ratchet set his sights on protecting the colony from whatever dangers might be coming their way and knew that his siblings would do the same if something came to bother their home planet, as none of them had any idea what planet they originally came from and calling Veldin their home made them feel much better about that, something they would have to figure out at some point in the distant future.

That was what they did for a number of years, defending the colonists from pirates of all sorts, which gave them all sorts of Bolts so each of them could buy whatever they wanted, and sure enough Starswirl found a way to purchase a number of old books from Old Earth, allowing him to learn more spells when he confirmed whether or not the theories worked or if they were totally fake, though one thing he did while reading those books was create an opening that looked like a circle of magic that connected to an area full of bookshelves. Starswirl called it a 'portal', a two way gateway of sorts that he was able to make with his magic, though so far he was only able to make it to an area that he called the 'Library', as it was the area that he kept all of his books in when he finished them and it came with a list of ever book he got his hands on, but he was planning on expanding it into something bigger, so the Library would be one wing of whatever he was making his way towards, which Ratchet didn't even try to understand since it was outside his set of skills. In addition to all of that he also found something else to keep himself distracted over the years, he would do into the colony and repair things, like a real mechanic would, hence why he went ahead and bought some books on the matter so he would know how to repair all of the vessels that could enter and leave a planet, especially since he knew about Autumn's plans and agreed, he wanted to explore the galaxy at some point and this seemed to be the best thing for them. Other than that there was nothing for all of them to do, save for continuing their actions to save Mayor Brooke and all of the colonists from the major threats, him working on all of the mechanical items that were scattered throughout the colony, Starswirl continuing to work on learning new spells and adding books to his collection, and Autumn doing everything in her power to learn a few more spells while focusing on her schematics, which was an added boost for her account.

Eventually the siblings grew older, taller, and looked less like children, as they were teenagers, celebrating their fifteenth birthday, which they celebrated on the day they arrived on Veldin, when Ratchet revealed a surprise to his siblings that he soon discovered wasn't much of a surprise at all, despite all of his attempts to hide it from them, he had been working on a spaceship, following the schematics Autumn created for the four person vessel, and it was close to completion, in fact in a day or two he was sure it would be done, save for a single piece.

"The only thing I'm missing is the Robotic Ignition System," Ratchet explained, where he pulled the door of a side section open and revealed the blue colored ship he had been working on for some amount of time, which he was proud of since it had been a single person endeavor, since Starswirl had been busy with his spells and Autumn had been busy working on her schematics, to which he sighed as he stared at the four seats for a few seconds, "and, last I checked, they're still far too expensive for us to afford, even if we applied the Gadgetron discount that we have, so we're not buying one anytime soon, no matter how much we want to explore the rest of the galaxy."

Of course that wasn't counting a ship falling out of the sky, containing the object that they needed, but he wasn't about to think about such a thing and noticed that Autumn went to look at his work, no doubt checking to make sure he had been truthful in his words, that he followed her schematics to the letter and built it like she designed, while Starswirl glanced up at the sky, knowing that, in some way, change was coming to their lives and that they had to be ready for whatever might be coming.