Facets, Book 1: What Is And What Should Never Be

Chapter 6: Facing The Music

"Sometimes you've got to experience the ugly inside yourself to discover the beauty inside yourself." —Dean Bokhari

Ratchet dodged as his sinister counterpart lunged at him, slashing with his knife. They both rolled and recovered, rising to their feet and standing a few yards apart. Gritting his teeth, Ratchet managed to get hold of his omniwrench from behind his back, and charged at his counterpart, his fury driving him to an extreme. The two met as knife struck hard against omniwrench, with a loud metallic clang. The knife scraped along the handle of Ratchet's weapon towards his hands. Realizing the danger, Ratchet turned and, raising his left leg, struck his counterpart hard with a roundhouse kick, sending him stumbling to the side and grunting. With a quick recovery, the dark lombax jumped up, twisting in the air with his knife raised, and letting out a sharp yell, came down hard and slicing at Ratchet's left side, the knife grazing Ratchet's thigh as he yelped in pain. He landed and went down on one knee, using his free hand to brace his body from the momentum.

Ratchet pulled back and his counterpart raised his head, a wide grin on his face. Chaos swirled around them as the fire fight between the tharpods and Vorn's crew continued. The evil Ratchet stood and tossed the knife around in his hand. "You're sloppy. I expected better from a mirror image of me." He shrugged, laughing at Ratchet. "Well, a cracked mirror anyway."

Ratchet grasped his side, knowing that the wound was bleeding, but that it wasn't a critical wound. He grimaced at his dark counterpart. "If being a flawed reflection of you is how you see me, then I'm proud of that, because you are a pathetic reflection of me. A freak!"

His counterpart's grin turned to a frown, and his eyes glared hard and angry at Ratchet. The two lombaxes charged again at each other. Ratchet's counterpart swinging his knife left and right, trying to land a hit on Ratchet, who dodged again and again while trying and failing to land his own hits with his omniwrench. Ratchet was nearly hit, seeing the blade slash within inches of his neck. Performing a few backflips, he landed several yards away from his dark counterpart. They both stopped to catch their breath.

Ratchet reached over his shoulder and behind his back to stow his omniwrench, then bent over and placed his hands on his knees, breathing hard. He took a moment to glance at the continuing firefight around him and his counterpart, and at Clank and Orvus, who were keeping a discreet distance from the two of them, watching with concern.

Ratchet straightened up and pulled off his gauntlets. "Alright, 'Ratchet', let's see how you deal with MY right hand!" Ratchet raised his hand in front of him, and extended his claws. His counterpart removed his own gauntlets and bared his own claws, grit his teeth, and again charged at Ratchet.

The two met and swung aggressively at each other, swiping and clawing at their clothing and exposed fur. Each landed several slashes and punches. It was, for Clank, the continuation of an amazing battle, between two very different versions of Ratchet...one his close friend, the other a deadly enemy.

Ratchet finally managed to get the drop on his counterpart, and slashed hard across his cheek with the claws of his right hand, and then followed up with a left-handed uppercut, which caused his counterpart to stumble backwards and fall to the floor.

The dark lombax looked up at Ratchet with a sneer and, with his right wrist, wiped the blood trickling from the wounds on his cheek. Now it was Ratchet's turn to throw him a snide smile. Holding up his right hand again and, in a mocking gesture (copying his counterpart's earlier action), he blew on the fingers as if he were blowing the smoke away from the muzzle of a blaster. "I rest my case".

Ratchet's counterpart sat up, and then slowly got back on his feet, and raised his knife in his right hand. With his left hand, he waved Ratchet on, encouraging him to attack.