What Happened in the Morning...

The Encounter

-Planet Veldin

Kyzil Plateau

It was 7:45 AM on the dusty planet Veldin, and a 15-year-old Lombax named Ratchet marched out through his open garage door. Despite his tired expression, he gingerly placed his flight cap on his head and readied his Omniwrench, ready to explore the desert terrain. It's been over a month since he rescued his 7-year-old robot companion, Clank, at the Great Clock, which was at the exact center of the universe (give or take 50 feet) from Dr. Nefarious. Speaking of which, Ratchet noticed that the little robot was not with him. No doubt he was tired as well. Being captured by Nefarious and running for your life really drains your battery. Even though the Lombax was highly tolerable of Clank's constant snoozing, on this particular morning, he was just impatient to get going.

"Clank? Clank, c'mon! It's time to get up!" Ratchet yelled. And as if on cue, the little pint-sized robot trotted out of the garage. He wasn't really looking like his usual nerdy self: his eyes were extremely dim and his gears didn't have their cute whirring sounds.

"Ratchet, it is nearly eight o' clock in the morning. Couldn't you have let me recharge for a longer period of time?"

"Uh no. Because we have a big day ahead of us."

"Let me guess. You are going to explore Veldin again, aren't you?"

"Oh my god. How did you guess?" Ratchet asked sarcastically. Clank attempted to roll his pupil less eyes. "Well, to be more accurate, we are going to explore."

"Ratchet, this is the 223.2 time you explored Veldin. Don't you have anything else to do today? My monthly issue of Robotics Weekly just came in the mail and I want to see what Robocoprah Winfrey is up to today. Hehehehehe." Clank tried hard to stifle his giggles when he saw Ratchet trying to hide his face of defeat.

"Alright, pal. You win. I'm just going to head inside and play some vid-comics. You comin'?"

"Of course, Ratchet. You know how much I love them."

So with that, Ratchet and Clank proceeded to enter the garage, talking about how they were excited to put Captain Qwark into a tutu when suddenly Ratchet's ears perked up.

"Ratchet?" Clank asked, becoming concerned. "Is everything alright?"

"I have a feeling that something came down from the sky and I don't like it. I'm going to explore the chasm; that's where I think the ship landed."

"A ship?! Ratchet, what are you-"

Clank was interrupted by Ratchet's adrenaline kicking in and sending him off to the chasm where the ship landed. After crossing the dusty terrain, Ratchet found the chasm and looked down into it. Sure enough, there was a ship that crash-landed at the bottom. Ratchet turned on his communicator and contacted Clank.

"Clank. I was right; there is something down there. I'm gonna go and check it out."

"Ok, Ratchet but please be careful."

"Will do, Ratchet out." His communicator line went dead. And with that, Ratchet used his swingshot to launch the hook onto the side of the cliff. Success. Ratchet then hurled himself into the side of the cliff and started climbing down.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

Once Ratchet reached the bottom of the chasm, he looked into the side of the window to see who the pilot was.

He wished he hadn't.

Inside, there was a creature that looked like a Lombax. But that couldn't be possible. The only other Lombaxes he knew were General Alister Azimuth and Angela Cross but Alister sacrificed himself when he tried unsuccessfully to bring back the Lombaxes using the Great Clock. And Angela just randomly disappeared. Nonetheless, Ratchet used his Omniwrench to pop off the window and help the pilot. When he did, he couldn't believe what he saw.