The Fight on Gaspar

"Ratchet?"

"Clank just wait." Ratchet growled as he continued to take out the robotic dogs that were coming at them from the front. There was a machine spawning what seemed to be hundreds of the things, and they just kept on coming. He had to get to it.

Clank, facing the opposite direction widened his eyes at the sight of another spawning machine- this one was spewing bombs, and they were coming in their direction. "Ratchet look behind you!" Clank warned loudly.

"Can you just shut up-" Ratchet shouted back sounding equally alarmed, not even turning to glance away from the robots he was already fighting his way through.

"Ratchet-" Clank persisted, but was cut off.

"-can you?! Leave it for one minute and let me-" 'BANG', a loud noise rang loud as a bomb slammed into Ratchet's side. Fire seared through his fur and skin, the impact knocking them both violently to the rocky ground. Clank winced as Ratchet cried out in pain at the burn, and his head smashed against the ground, and Ratchet finally turned to see what was coming for them. A whole stream of bombs was still coming in their direction. Ratchet gasped when he saw it, lifting his wrench in order to knock them away, but before he could move, another one slammed into his chest.

Another loud bang rang through his sensitive ears, and this time, they also picked up on a sickening sizzling sound as the remaining flames fed on his skin, eating through more layers than Ratchet cared to know about. He bit back another yell and quickly leapt out of the way of the next bomb, narrowly avoiding both another bad burn, and a hole in his head as one of the robotic dogs clamped it's sharp, steel jaws on the air in the spot he'd just come from.

Out came the blaster, but the bullets did nothing to knock the bombs away. They had to go. So Ratchet ran as he shot at them, still keeping excellent aim, and one by one, they blew up. Whether by his shots, or their time simply ran out, he didn't know, nor did he care. Finally, they reached metal plateau out of reach of the dogs. The horrible things retreated, and Ratchet sunk to the ground, breathless.

Clank let the lombax have the moment, and looked around. The blue light of the lamps mixed eerily with the red glow of the lava as the sun sank further into the horizon.

Ratchet was focused on getting his breath back, but the sound of his heavy breaths helped him to disguise the sharper gasps that came from pain.

Clank couldn't keep his mouth shut any longer. "Ratchet... Are you alright?"

"No." The response was simple and quiet, but it broke Clank's heart.

"...I tried to warn you Ratchet." Clank added slowly, but it turned out to be the wrong answer.

"Don't you even start Clank!" Ratchet yelled in an outburst, getting back up just to throw the little robot from his back. "You're the whole reason we're in this mess at all!"

Clank helicoptered to the ground with a thud, watching on with sad eyes as Ratchet began his search for some nanotech.

"Ratchet, I know what you are going to say- Clank began, but was shortly interrupted.

"No you don't Clank, you listen to me." Ratchet turned back to the robot with equal parts of hurt and anger. "I'm done with this- all of it. I never signed up for any of this. All I needed was for you to start my ship, all I wanted was to get the hell off of that dust pile. You start my ship, I take you somewhere. That was our deal. But now it's out of hand Clank!"

"Ratchet! You cannot blame all of this on me. I recall you wanting to come here for a helmet- this was your idea too. Besides, it is beyond all importance that we find Chairman Drek, and stop him. I warned you about the bomb, and if you had have only listened to me, you would not have gotten hurt!" Clank accused. He frown disapprovingly at Ratchet's apparent offence at the statement.