The Ratchet and Kim Possible Chronicles: Another Sitch in Time - Chapitre 11

Much time later, Kim and Ratchet arrived at the Bernilius Sector. Aphelion: "Now entering Bernilius Sector."

Immediately afterwards, Azimuth contacted them. Azimuth: "Ratchet, come in. I just picked up on a looping transmission on one of the emergency frequencies, tell me what you or the girl make of this."

He played the transmission to them, it produced a strange noise. Ratchet: "I don't believe it! That's a distress call with Clank's signature!" Kim: "Aphelion, can you track the source of that distress call?" Aphelion: "The origin appears to be planet Vapedia." Kim: "Let's head over there now!"

They made their way towards the planet as fast as they could. Azimuth: "Just think. By tonight, your friend will be safe and the clock will be ours." Kim: "Azimuth, hold on for a moment. We need to…"

Just then, they were interrupted by Carina, who was just directly in front of them in her ship. Carina: "Bonjour, Monsieur Lombax." Kim: "Huh? Hey, you're one of those Valkyries that tried to kill us a while back." Carina: "That is right, Mademoiselle, I can see that you kiddies picked up on our signal." Kim: "What? You sent out that signal? Unbelievable!" Carina: "Yes, and unfortunately, this is as far as you will go."

Kim was indeed greatly agitated as was Ratchet. Kim: "(grunt) She so won't get away with this! I'll take on the second controls." Ratchet: "Yes! Let's finish her!" Carina: "You both will pay for what you did to Libra!"

She was beyond infuriated with them destroying her comrade, Libra.

They started out with chipping her down the same way that they did with her former. However, this had proven to be more difficult than the last one. Her shield was also not so easy to be brought down. It did not go down the same way that the other one did. However, they did manage to find a way to deactivate it. Kim and Ratchet worked together on shooting her down. The Valkyries under her command made it much more time-consuming to bring her down, but they were able to manage them just fine. Their persistence and teamwork eventually paid off as they were able to triumph against her in the end. Carina: "No! This is impossible! Valkyries! Do not let them reach the citadel! They must not interfere with Nefarious' plan to…"

She then let out a devastating scream before her ship blew up, destroying her as well. Kim: "Yes! We did it, Ratchet!" Ratchet: "Yeah…we did…Aphelion, give us a status report on Clank's transmission." Aphelion: "The coordinates appear to be accurate, but the signal has weakened by 72.3%." Kim: "Clank is out there, alright, but he's in trouble." Ratchet: "I know that, Kim. Hold on, pal, we're coming."

They continued on their way towards Vapedia. Kim: "I'm worried about him. I just hope he's OK. Also, I hope that Rufus is OK, too." Ratchet: "So do I. I'm worried about both of them. Let's get over there before it's too late."

They arrived on the planet's surface. The entire area consisted of many floating landscapes. They landed their ship on one of the floating landscapes. When they got out, they saw Azimuth waiting for them. Azimuth: "Ah, good, you both have arrived. Clank's distress call terminated somewhere inside the citadel. This calls for a classic smash and grab." Ratchet: "Oh, I am so there." Kim: "This is it, Ratchet. We'll finally be able to reunite with Clank." Ratchet: "I know, I can't wait. Let's do it!"

They rushed towards the citadel as fast as they could. As soon as they got near the massive structure, they were immediately assaulted by the Valkyries. Kim: "The Valkyries!" Ratchet: "It begins here."

They fought against the vicious robot women. As they kept onward towards the citadel, more and more of those women tenaciously came at them. But the group was able to persist against them, not letting even one of them or one group of them, for that matter, stand in their way. The fight through was a seemingly never ending cycle of fighting through those vicious women as they came in droves.

Soon enough, just before they were about to enter the citadel, they ran into Cassiopeia. She was atop a floating turret, awaiting their arrival. Cassiopeia: "Well, well, well, if it isn't the galaxy's favorite Lombaxes and their scrawny red-headed chimp? Come to rescue your little friend?" Kim: "Oh, no, not another one of you annoying, oversized harpies!" Azimuth: "Our quarrel isn't with you, Cassiopeia! Hand over Clank and we'll cause no more trouble."

Cassiopeia laughed out loud. Cassiopeia: "Cause no more trouble? Carina and Libra are dead thanks to you!" Kim: "Uh, that wasn't on us. It was either kill or be killed, so we really didn't have a choice there. They pretty much signed away their own lives."

Cassiopeia was greatly enraged as she growled out loud. Cassiopeia: "Why you snarky little…! Well no matter. We've gotten what we need from the caretaker and now his time has come. Valkyries, destroy the Lombaxes and the pretty little girl!" Ratchet: "Oh, it is so on!"

Cassiopeia flew off on her hover turret. Azimuth: "She's going to kill Clank! I'm going after her!"

Azimuth rushed off after Cassiopeia. Ratchet: "General, wait!"

Kim grabbed on to Ratchet by his wrist before he had the chance to rush off. Kim: "Ratchet! This way! We have to keep going!" Ratchet: "Yeah, you're right. Let's go."

They ran off towards the direct path. Everywhere, the Valkyries came at them almost indefinitely, attacking them constantly. The entire run through consisted of this. As they kept going further, they soon ran into the citadel's training course. There, Cassiopeia was awaiting their arrival. Cassiopeia: "Aw, you poor dears. You wandered into our training course. No organic being has ever survived. Farewell, at least you'll both take solace in the fact that you died together."

She departed from the room, the doors sealed shut and they were locked in. The room itself consisted on shock emitters below the floor that they were standing on. In the center of the room was a machine that dispersed bombs that can easily shatter the floor if they were allowed to blow up. Kim and Ratchet worked frantically and collectively to catch the bombs and toss them back into the machine. Once again, Kim's Centurion Armor was really put to good use for this.

As they continued on, they could listen in on Cassiopeia conversing with Dr. Nefarious via a transmitter. Dr. Nefarious: "Cassie? What is the status to Unnecessarily Evil Initiative Omega-91?" Cassiopeia: "In motion, my love. Those annoying creatures are trapped in an overly elaborate death scenario designed to torture them into a slow and painful doom." Dr. Nefarious: "That's Unnecessarily Evil Initiative Omega-96! I said 91! Does NO ONE read my memos!?" Cassiopeia: "Stop yelling at me! Our merit says we need to COMMUNICATE!" Dr. Nefarious: "(grunt) This coming from someone who does nothing but text me while I'm at work? You are smothering me! Now get it done!" Kim: "Geez, sounds like they have one rough relationship." Ratchet: "No kidding, I can't tell who to feel sorry for more."

They were eventually able to destroy the machine and shut down the shock emitters. Kim: "Call that a death trap? I've played lacrosse games more lethal than that."

The second door opened up, they ran through it and continued on through the citadel. To be expected, they were bombarded by more of the Valkyries. Although, from what was heard on the transmitters, the women were not doing very well against the group, including Azimuth; they were pretty much plowing through the lot of them.

Shortly afterwards, they ran into yet another overly elaborate death scenario. Cassiopeia had also been waiting for them there as well. Cassiopeia: "Still alive? Well, let's see how you 2 survive a silo of deadly nerve toxin."

She departed as they were sealed in. A machine within the center of the room emitted the deadly nerve toxin. On the floor were switches needed to shut off the machine, but they were shifted around the room as the floor consisted of 3 rotating platforms. Cassiopeia happily mocked them. Cassiopeia: "Don't forget to hold yer breaths!" Ratchet: "Kim! We have to clear out this toxin!" Kim: "Nough said."

Both of them rushed around the room diligently to reach the switches. They persisted without hesitating as they scrambled to shut off the machine. They managed to reach all of the switches. Dr. Nefarious: "Unacceptable! They should be smoldering squishy carcasses by now!" Cassiopeia: "Don't treat me like one of your subordinates! I'm not Courtney Gears!" Dr. Nefarious: "Nag, nag, nag! Change the channel, will ya? This is why office romances never work out!" Kim: "They're really going all out on each other." Ratchet: "Tell me about it, even this toxin is a lot less lethal than their arguing."

This scenario consisted of 3 phases, each one harder than the last. They were eventually able to clear the second death trap. The machine was destroyed and the second door opened for them. They exited out of it.

As they were rushing through, Azimuth contacted them again. Azimuth: "Ratchet, come in. I've been through 3 buildings and still no sign of Clank. They must have moved him into Cassiopeia's quarters." Ratchet: "We're tracking her right now, just hold off the rest of them." Kim: "We'll find him, Azimuth. I know we will." Azimuth: "I'm sorry, you 2. I should have known the Valkyries faked that distress call. It was foolish of me to suggest the assault." Kim: "We were all fooled, Azimuth. It happens to the best of us, really." Ratchet: "Kim's right. Besides, right now, all that matters is Clank." Kim: "We won't rest until we've found him. Count on it." Azimuth: "Huh! I hate to admit it, but I'm glad that you're here to support us, miss. You have a lot of spirit, for a human." Kim: "Uh, gee, thanks. Always a pleasure, old timer." Azimuth: "Alright, that's enough patting you on the back, little lady. Now get to it."

They severed communications with him. Kim: "Geez, even when he praises me, I still get put down by him." Ratchet: "I know. I don't like how he looks down on you. You never deserved to be treated like that, not by anyone. At least, I don't believe that you do."

Kim smiled at him, he smiled back. They continued forward.

They spent a brief period of time fighting off more of the Valkyries. They soon ran into a room with a glass floor. Ratchet: "Aw, man."

Of course, Cassiopeia was there awaiting their arrival. You should know by now what that means. Cassiopeia: "Hello, my pretties. I see…" Ratchet: "Yeah, I know. Time for another death trap." Kim: "So not the drama." Cassiopeia: "Hmph! Well, let's see if you consider falling to your doom to be "so not the drama", girlie!"

They were sealed in as the floor below the glass floor opened up. The glass below them began to crack. Robots appeared continuously, threatening to blow up and shatter the glass. However, there were also Battery Bots running about as well as outlets for each of the bots. They frantically went around the entire place, tossing each of the Battery Bots into the outlets. They kept at this until they were able to override the death trap. Kim: "Like I said, so not the drama." Ratchet: "These death traps are more annoying than they are terrifying."

The next door opened for them. They proceeded further as they fought off more of the Valkyries. Just then, they were approached by Rufus. Kim: "Rufus!" Ratchet: "Whoa, I didn't expect to see you here, little guy. What's the matter? Where's Clank?"

Rufus seemed very jittery and babbled a lot as he pointed in another direction. Kim: "I think he's trying to tell us where Clank is." Ratchet: "Lead the way, Rufus."

He scampered off as they followed him. With the help of the little guy, they were able to find another room. There, they stood before Cassiopeia on a rising platform. Cassiopeia: "Ah, you guys actually made it. To be honest, I'm actually glad you both survived the training course. I wouldn't want to lose such worthy opponents to such cheap machines."

Rufus growled at her. Kim: "That's awfully self-degrading of you to call your own machines cheap." Ratchet: "Speaking of cheap machines, how much is your boyfriend paying you to do his dirty work?" Cassiopeia: "Hm, you both have such sharp tongues. Good thing you have each other because that robot of your was planning to kick up his metal feet and stay in the Great Clock forever." Kim: "What? What do you mean?" Cassiopeia: "Oh, didn't you know, girlie? He wants to leave your little friend over there. But don't worry, I'll kill all 3 of you before he even gets the chance."

As soon as they have risen on the highest point of the platform, directly below a stormy sky, a cylinder below Cassiopeia opened up, revealing an unconscious Clank within a glass tube. Ratchet: "Clank!"

Rufus gasped. Kim: "Oh, no! Clank!" Ratchet: "What did you do to him?" Cassiopeia: "Nothing compared to what I'm about to do with you!"

And so the epic fight against Cassiopeia began. She stayed on her floating turret as she fought the duo. The massive woman had shown to be quite irksome with her attacks as were her insults. However, Kim had a few nasty tricks of her own; all of which came in the form of tossing Rufus towards Cassiopeia. He would mess with her in many different ways, a lot of them involved him crawling all over her and distracting her. It was quite amusing to see her completely lose it whenever he would crawl all over her and taunt her. Cassiopeia: "Eee yah! Get this disgusting bald rat off of me!"

Kim found this to be very humorous as did Ratchet. Ratchet: "Way to go, Rufus!"

They kept at this humorous tactic throughout the fight. It was indeed helpful as it was amusing and hilarious. Cassiopeia had shown to be quite vicious during the fight, but Kim and Ratchet have proven to be very formidable against her. They were persistent as they chipped down at her constantly. They kept at this until they were able to get her floating turret to malfunction. It flew all over the place and crashed right through the glass tube that was holding Clank, knocking him out of it. She then fell from the sky as did Clank. Kim: "Clank!" Rufus: "Clank!"

Ratchet jumped off the platform and fell after him. Ratchet: "CLANK! WAKE UP!"

Clank finally came to. Ratchet utilized his hover boots and went for Clank, he managed to grab on to him and he was soon bouncing off of the structures before they both landed on to one of the floating landscapes. The 2 of them were then lying on the ground next to each other. They remained there for a good amount of time before conversing for the first time within a whole year. Clank: "Hello, Ratchet." Ratchet: "Hey, pal. How you doing?" Clank: "Fine, you?" Ratchet: "Fantastic." Kim: "Ratchet! Clank!"

Soon enough, Kim was able to catch up to them. She hovered directly in front of them with the use of her hover boots, she held Rufus within the palm of her hands. Clank: "It is good to see you again, Miss Possible. And you, too, Rufus." Rufus: "Hi!" Kim: "You guys OK?" Ratchet: "Yeah, we're fine, Kim. We're just gonna…lie here for a while, OK?"

She smiled at them. She then went over towards them and kneeled down near both of their heads; more so closer to Ratchet's, though.

Later on, they returned to where they landed their ships. Ratchet, Kim and Clank sat down on the hood of Azimuth's ship. Ratchet: "We're sorry about you father, Clank. We just…couldn't act sooner." Kim: "Hm…I wonder if there really was anything we could have done."

Rufus moaned in sadness. Clank: "It is alright. You both did what you could. I assure you that Dr. Nefarious will pay for what he has done." Rufus: "Yeah!" Kim: "Well, at least you and Rufus are back with us." Rufus: "Yay!" Clank: "Yes, that is true. What matters now is that we keep the clock safe." Azimuth: "Oh, don't worry. One the past's been corrected, you will have the full support of the Lombax Praetorian Guard. The clock will be in good hands." Kim: "Oh, brother. That again, Azimuth?" Clank: "No, you do not understand. Time can not be changed. Using the clock improperly could rip the fabric of the Universe." Azimuth: "Or it could save an entire race of Lombaxes that risked their lives to save an entire galaxy." Kim: "Yeah, that sounds great and all, but it can't be done. We now know that it's far too dangerous." Azimuth: "I thought you agreed to not hold us back any longer." Kim: "And I thought you agreed to never attempt this if it's too dangerous." Azimuth: "But…but…the Lombaxes…Ratchet!" Ratchet: "Actually, I'm with Kim on this one. In fact, I've always agreed with her."

He jumped down from Azimuth's ship. Ratchet: "If there is even a chance it could destroy the Universe, then it's not worth the risk." Azimuth: "Risk? Risk is what makes us who we are! Our kind is lost without us! Think of how many the clock can save. Think of…think of your parents, Ratchet." Ratchet: "I…I can't. I want to see my parents, but…I just can't…We have to stop Nefarious before he makes the same mistake that we almost did." Kim: "Oh, I'm so there."

Kim and Clank jumped down, all 3 of them made their way back to the Aphelion. However, Ratchet stopped. Ratchet: "Oh, and by the way, General?"

He then turned his head back towards Azimuth and looked back at him with a tense look on his face. Ratchet: "Kim never held us back. She never had."

He turned back towards his ship and walked towards it. Azimuth became greatly agitated as he growled out loud. Azimuth: "You've been fraternizing with the humans for far too long!"

He got into his ship and took off. Ratchet was taken aback as he watched Azimuth fly off. Kim: "Let him go. It's probably better this way."

He was still disheartened, but he did understand the situation before him. Ratchet: "Yeah, you may be right about that. Come on, let's stop Nefarious."

As they approached Aphelion, Clank was astonished by how it looked. Clank: "Hm…I see you have made some modifications to our ship." Kim: "Actually, it was the Zoni that did this." Clank: "They…did?" Ratchet: "Yeah, they did and they've been doing an incredible job at it." Rufus: "Whooaaa…!" Ratchet: "Now then, let's get going."

They got into the ship and took off.

They were soon flying into space. Ratchet: "Kim, contact Wade."

Kim was able to do just that. Wade: "Hey, guys, what's up?"

Clank shifted himself closer to the view of the screen. Clank: "Hello again, Wade." Wade: "Clank!? Is that you!? Oh my gosh! I can't believe it!" Kim: "That's not all. Look who else is here with us."

Clank held up Rufus on the palm of his hand. Rufus: "Hi." Wade: "Whoa! Rufus is there, too!? Ron! Come over here! You have to see this!" Ron: "What? I'm coming!"

Ron appeared on the screen. Ron: "What is it, Wade?"

He became immediately became startled upon noticing Clank. Ron: "Clank!?" Clank: "Hello, Ron. It is good to see you again." Rufus: "Hi." Ron: "Rufus! Buddy! Oh! I've missed you so much!"

Rufus whimpered, as he felt the same. Clank: "Yes, Rufus has also missed you, Ron." Ron: "Oh, you guys, you just made me feel the best I've ever…hork!"

He then rushed off the screen, he was heard throwing up again. Ratchet, Kim, Clank and Rufus all had disturbed and concerned looks on their faces. Ratchet: "I take it his unusual stomach pains haven't gotten any better." Wade: "No, he's still upchucking meat cakes." Rufus: "Huh?" Clank: "Um, am I missing something here?" Wade: "Oh, right, you didn't know about what's been going on. You see, the past few days, Ron has been undergoing some bizarre stomach pains which occurred around the same time that these strange time anomalies have taken place." Ratchet: "Also, Kim has been experiencing some on and off headaches that also started around that time." Kim: "Wade looked into this and from what we were able to find, we realized that none of these occurrences could be a coincidence, so I came all the way out here to find out why all of this was happening since the source of the anomalies were traced back to somewhere around here."

Clank seemed very alarmed from hearing this. Clank: "Oh, no! All of this occurred because Dr. Nefarious damaged the Great Clock. I am sorry that you both had to go through all of what you did." Kim: "Oh, don't get all worked up about it, Clank. What could you have done to prevent it?"

Clank seemed very happy to have been reassured. Wade: "Not only that, but part of the mystery was why the time anomalies were causing their conditions in the first place." Clank: "Well, yes, there is that." Wade: "But thanks to Ratchet, we've managed to figure out a lot of why this was happening." Ron: "Whoa! Hold up! What did you just say?"

Almost instantly, Ron rushed back on to the screen. Ron: "You guys know why these anomalies have been causing KP's headaches and me to throw up meat cakes?" Wade: "That's right, Ron." Ratchet: "When Kim collapsed from one of her headache attacks, she blurted out "Tempus Simia". From there, Wade was able to find out that her headaches were caused by massive amounts of lost memories returning into her mind, memories of when the both of you traveled through time."

From that news, Ron, Clank and Rufus became immensely startled. Clank: "Miss Possible and Ron have traveled through time before!?" Kim: "I was also surprised to hear that at first, but yeah, we did. When Ratchet and I stepped through that time rift on Zanifar, I caught of brief glimpse of my younger self. Also, stepping through it felt…familiar." Ron: "But what about me? Why am I throwing up meat cakes?" Wade: "I would guess that they were something that you've been eating a lot during your time traveling episode, but as to why you've been eating them? Well, I haven't been able to figure that out." Ron: "Hm…well, I know it wasn't because I enjoyed them; I remember that they tasted horrible." Kim: "I think I may know why. I remember catching a glimpse of Ron…moving…to Norway. It…it wasn't a happy memory…"

Kim sulked upon mentioning that. Ratchet, concerned for her, placed his hand on her shoulder. Ratchet: "No, I wouldn't think it is. You and Ron are very close." Kim: "Yes…" Ron: "You know what? Now that you mention it, when I was going through all of that…grossness, I remembered living in Norway for some reason and then I remember getting angry at Shego for that and…Bueno Nacho?" Ratchet: "Oh, no, did you really have to bring up Bueno Nacho? Don't tell me that you're in the mood for Nacos again." Rufus: "Mmm, Nacos." Ron: "No way! After more than an hour of throwing up meat cakes, just the thought of eating any meat of any kind makes me…(groan) oh…oh, no…it's…it's coming up again."

Ron rushed out and was heard throwing up again. He then walked back into the screen, moaning as he was looking awfully ill. Ratchet: "Uh…yeah…I can understand that." Clank: "So, the time anomalies have been bringing back all of the meat cakes that Ron had eaten, thus causing his…stomach pains." Ratchet: "None of us could even imagine the kind of pain that you're in, Ron." Kim: "But it's safe to say that it's a lot." Ratchet: "Especially that one time when you were screaming a lot." Ron: "Uh, yeah! It felt like my stomach was going to explode!" Ratchet: "Oh, that's…not a…pleasant picture." Kim: "Uh, perhaps we should leave you guys. You need to rest, Ron." Ron: "OK, gotcha, KP." Ratchet: "Try to fell better, Ron. We'll do what we can to help you out." Ron: "Sure thing, Ratchet. A little R&R has been doing me some good." Clank: "We hope to see you soon, Ron, and do not worry; I will continue to look after Rufus." Rufus: "Bye." Ron: "Of course, Clank. I know you will. See ya, guys. Oh, and KP? Now that you're with Ratchet again, you know what it is that you have to do." Kim: "Uh…yes…of course…"

They severed communications with Wade and Ron. Kim: "Um…Ratchet?" Ratchet: "We'll talk later, right now, we have to get to Nefarious." Kim: "Uh…sure, OK…"

She began to sulk as did Ratchet. He spoke under his breath. Ratchet: "Kimberly…"