Time Travel - Chapter 1

Request for airlombax
I DO NOT OWN RATCHET AND CLANK, INSOMNIAC GAMES DO!


Time Travel


Glass was shattered everywhere. Wires were hanging dangerously from the ceiling. Pipes were cracked and full of splits. However, even with all of this damage in the Great Clock, the universe was luckily in one piece.

The elder Lombax was the one who almost caused the destruction of the universe, however the son of his deceased best friend got the message through to him that the Clock was not a time machine. Unfortunately, this message was given a little too late.

General Alister Azimuth sacrificed himself to save the universe just in time without causing a rip in space. This caused great grief for a certain golden Lombax, known as Ratchet. He didn't realize how alone he felt without another Lombax in his life until Azimuth was taken away. He didn't know how much it would have stung, but now that he was gone, he felt the pain.

It had been a few days since this incident happened, but Ratchet was still feeling the same. Sadness. Emptiness. Loneness. Those three emotions circled around his body.

He helped his robot friend, Clank, out with the cleaning around the Great Clock. The Zoni were busy repairing glass floors, broken pipes and the snapped wires. Sigmund was making sure everything was flowing okay throughout the universe - checking for time paradoxes.

At this time, the golden Lombax was moving heavy pipes into the right place so the Zoni could fix them easily and put them where they belonged. As the hours went by, the Lombax got more and more tired. He wiped the sweat off his forehead.

Clank noticed these actions, so he walked over to his friend. "Ratchet, go and take a break. You have been working for three days without stopping for a decent amount of time." He ordered, but concern ran through his voice.

"Are you sure? I mean there is still so much to do."

The robot placed his fists on his sides. "Yes, Ratchet. You need it."

The Lombax stared at Clank for a second. "Okay." He replied back slowly. He put down the pipe he was holding, and walked out of the room.

Ratchet stepped down the corridor lazily. Nothing in his sight interested him. The same colours were seen: blue and gold. Most things were broken, so the technology was useless to look at.

The younger turned to the right and carried on walking. He stopped. Emerald eyes widened at the sight before him. A time portal was spotted in the hallway. Ratchet stepped in front of the portal, trying to guess what was on the other side.

From what he could make out, it looked like the time portal was on a desert type planet on the other side. Many people were walking around. The people seemed to have a similar shape structure to himself, but where better built and taller.

Ratchet knew he shouldn't go and get into trouble, but the portal seemed to have him in a trance as he slowly lifted his hand to it. He made the same actions when Tachyon granted him access to the Lombax dimension, however this time was different; this time he walked through completely.

The first thing that the golden Lombax saw was a blinding light. He had to cover his eyes with his hand for a few minutes. Once his vision cleared up and got use to the light, he removed his hand away from his face.

His breath stopped in his throat as he glanced at the sight around him. He seemed to end up on Planet Fastoon, but it looked different. This time the buildings weren't destroyed and in ruins. Many Lombaxes were seen walking around. Ratchet blinked like he thought he was in a dream.

He pinched his arm, and pain was felt. Okay, so maybe he wasn't dreaming.

Was he in the Lombax dimension? Or has he gone back in time?

The younger was standing in the town centre of planet Fastoon, staring at his surroundings, taking in all the detail. Slowly, his feet started to move as he wanted to look around the place. He wasn't paying attention on where he was walking, instead he stared in awe at all the buildings and seeing so many Lombaxes at once.

The Lombaxes had different fur colours, going from golden, like his, to white, like Alister's. There were even some grey Lombaxes along with red or black ones. There was the occasional blue or cream furred Lombax. They also had unique stripe patterns and colours, some nothing like his own.

Ratchet hadn't been concentrating on where he was walking, which resulted in bumping into someone. "Oh, sorry about that." He looked up at the figure's face and his eyes widened in shock.

Standing in front of him was a male, about his age, that looked like the same Lombax in Alister's pocket watch. He had dark golden fur with orange-brown stripes going over his ears, cheeks, arms and tail in sets of three. He was slightly taller than Ratchet by a few inches. The male had the same shade of eye colour as Ratchet as he stared at the other. It was Kaden.

The male Lombax smiled. "Ah, there's no problem. Happens all the time." He chuckled. Kaden was about to move on when Ratchet grabbed his shirt sleeve slightly. The other looked at the younger with a raised eyebrow to show his confusion. "Yes?"

"D-Don't you recognise me?"

"Nope. The first time I've seen you around here. You've just come to Fastoon recently or something?" Kaden asked. What a strange person.

I must have gone back in time if he doesn't know who I am. "Oh, sorry I must of mistaken you for someone else." He finally let go of Kaden's sleeve to rub the back of his neck in a sheepish manner. "Erm, well… It's a confusing story as to why I'm here. I've been on Fastoon once before, but, er, had some trouble with a…certain person. N-Not that it matters. I just, er, wanted to make see if anything, erm, had changed." Ratchet stumbled nervously.

Kaden smirked at the other's reaction. "No need to be nervous, friend. And no-" He looked around their surroundings. "Nothing has changed much. Apart from a new building that is in progress: The Court of Azimuth."

"Does that happen to be named after Alister Azimuth?" He had always wondered that since Tachyon mentioned it two years ago before their final fight.

"Well, technically, no. It's named after his father, who was the Praetorian Guard's four bolt magistrate general. Sadly, he was killed in action a few months ago, so Alister was made the next general and decided on the name." Kaden replied, sadness filling his eyes slightly. Alister's father was a great man, he was like Kaden's second father after his own father died in a pirate raid when he was a young teenager.

"Oh." Ratchet's ears dropped a bit. "Sorry to hear that. He must of been a good man."

The dark golden Lombax smiled a little. "Yeah, he was." He chuckled. "Alister's just like him. Brave, smart, loyal, fearless. Someone for people to look up to."

He joined in with the smile, and nodded in agreement. And hummed in response.

Suddenly, both Lombaxes heard a female shout out Kaden's name. The males turned around to see a young female Lombax running in their direction.

She looked a little younger than Kaden, properly by two or three years. She had light yellow fur, with light brown stripes: like Ratchet's. The sunlight reflected off her happy, crystal blue eyes. She also had slightly smaller ears than the males, and had no tail. Her shoulder-length blond hair with brown stripes flew in the wind as she ran.

The yellow female wore a baby blue dress that came half way down her legs, and covered the top part of her arms. A black belt was wrapped around her waist. She also wore Spanish blue open shoes that matched her dress.

When the female reached the two males, Kaden lifted her up and spun around a few times as they hugged each other. He carefully put her back on the ground. "Hey, Katy. Sorry I haven't been able to see you for a few days, works been busy. I was just on my way home, until I walked into this fellow." He mentioned towards Ratchet, who waved awkwardly.

"Oh, that's not a problem, Kaden." When he gestured to the other golden Lombax near them, she smiled warmly. "I haven't seen you around these areas before. You new here?"

"Y-Yeah." Ratchet replied, shortly and quickly. He was looking at the female. It all made sense. That was his mother. He was talking to his parents. Hot pricks appeared behind his eyes, but he refused to let the tears fall in front of the two other Lombaxes.

"That's a shame you haven't been here before. It's such a wonderful place. You got a place to stay or are you just here for a day?"

Ratchet was baffled by all the question coming his way. Maybe that's where I get it from. He wondered. Snapping out of his thoughts, he glanced at Katy who still smiled kindly. "Erm, no I haven't got a place to stay, but I er-"

"Oh, you can stay around ours of the night, if you want to. We have a spare room that you can stay in." She interrupted. Her blue eyes looked at the male she was holding hands with. "Can't he?"

"Of course he can." Kaden answered, smiling too. "We wouldn't want you sleeping on the streets now."

The younger was shocked at the welcoming comments. He wasn't sure if he should or not. Clank was properly worrying about his disappearance. What if the portal didn't stay open for much longer? On the other hand, he'd get to know his parents more personally than being told stories by Alister about them. But then if he left knowing so much about them, wouldn't he be in more grief for not being able to talk to them again?

"I… I…" His vision blurred as he looked down at his feet which shuffled nervously in the ground. "I can't… I'm sorry, but I have other things that need doing. But, thank you…for the welcoming stay. I-I have to go now."

With that, Ratchet ran off back to the portal. The tears fell as he ran. The wind stinging his eyes, or was it the tears? He didn't know. He didn't care at the time. His arm was raised to his eyes to rub them before he jumped back through the time portal which closed up not long after he went through.

He sat on the floor of the Great Clock, panting heavily. The tears still ran down his cheeks. He looked to where the portal was seconds ago. Where his parents were moments ago. Wiping his face, he slowly got up as Clank walked down the corridor to see the Lombax sitting sadly on the floor.

"There you are, Ratchet. I was wondering where you had walked off to." He noticed the blood-shot emerald eyes. "Are you okay, Ratchet?" Clank asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm find, pal. Come on, we have work to do." He forced a grin on his face to show his friend he was okay.

"If you say so, Ratchet." Clank walked back to the Orvus Chamber, thinking that the Lombax was following him.

The younger glanced over his shoulder, smiling sadly. "I love you Mum and Dad. I'll see you when my own time's up." He then turned, and stepped after Clank to get back to work.