Epilogue


Elaris fiddled with her bright blue Ranger pin some more as she followed Ratchet out into the lobby of the Presidential Tower. "Do I look alright?" she asked him, an anxious look on her face- she'd opted to wear a lavender-coloured suit today (as she had never been a dress kind of person and never would be), but she was still nervous as heck. What if she put her pin on upside down? What if the washer didn't get all last week's meatloaf stains out? What if she was a laughingstock? What if-

"You look great, Elaris! You're gonna knock 'em dead!" Ratchet told her, interrupting her rampant train of thought. He was dressed in a new suit of armour he'd purchased a few days ago (she seemed to remember him calling it "Blackstar Armour"). He gave her a smile and took her hand in his, squeezing it briefly before releasing. "And if anyone says otherwise, I'll personally see to it they get knocked dead whether they like it or not!"

Elaris chuckled softly in amusement, and then held out her elbow to him. "Shall we?" Ratchet's smile widened, and he looped his arm around hers.

"Heck yeah!"

And then, with arm and arm, Ratchet and Elaris stepped as one out of the Tower's lobby. Except the scene outside wasn't anything like he was expecting. Instead of the rest of their team all standing attention in a line, instead of President Phyronix off to the side with a medal for each of them in hand, instead of a crowd of happy spectators, cheering and whooping… instead of all that, there was just a wide expanse of desert opening up ahead. And Elaris was no longer next to him- cold, empty air now occupied the place where she stood previously only seconds earlier. Far away, an ominous shattering sound echoed off the mountains splashed across the horizon and reached the thoroughly confused Lombax's ears. Cracks appeared in the crust beneath the sand, spreading out into thick, black branches. The sand started to spill into the cracks, never to be seen again.

And then, in a flash of light, he was falling. Falling to what would have been his death, as massive pieces of machinery that once made up the Deplanetiser fell with him. He felt a little metal hand grab his, and Ratchet looked over to see Clank falling with him. A bright aqua-coloured shield surrounded the duo as they plummeted. And then Clank's body started disintegrating into ash. "No no no- Clank!" The shield surrounding the feline and what remained of his friend flickered out of existence, and as soon as Ratchet hit the ground, all went black.

"Clank!" Ratchet clawed his way out of bed, his legs getting tangled up in the sheets and causing him to comically face-plant on the floor, while his feet were still partially on the bed. A clanking of metal feet softly hitting the wooden floor could be heard as Ratchet struggled to free his feet from their prison in the blankets.

"Ratchet!" Clank clambered onto the bed and pulled the sheets back, freeing the Lombax's paws. He then hopped off and helped the feline to sit up, noting the dried tear-stains in Ratchet's fur. "Are you alright? What happened-"

Ratchet unexpectedly pulled the defect into a hug, murmuring something along the lines of "You're okay."

For a short moment, Clank returned the hug. But then he pulled away from the Lombax, intent on getting to root of what was going on. "What happened?" he asked firmly, making it perfectly clear that there was no room for worming around the issue. He wanted an answer.

Ratchet sighed tiredly, rubbing his now-closed eyes with his fingers. "Can we talk about it outside? It's too… stuffy in here." Clank nodded- if it would make his friend more comfortable to discuss it outside, then that would be where they'd discuss it. Soon enough, Ratchet was sitting on the apartment balcony, tail curled around the railing, and his hands also hanging on to prevent him from falling. Clank leaned his back against one of the beams supporting the rail, waiting for the Lombax to speak. The defect really was quite grateful that the Galactic President offered to let them stay in an apartment in the Marcadian capital for the time being- after the final battle against Nefarious, Ratchet had been hesitant to return home to Veldin. Clank did have a bit of an idea on why, but he would rather not make any assumptions- he wanted to know from the feline himself.

"I don't think I can go back, Clank," Ratchet explained after a long moment of silence. The Lombax stared up at the blank night sky as he spoke- there were far too many streetlights on at the moment to see any stars. "Not for a little while, anyway…" He was quiet for a minute, and then went on, "Besides, with Qwark, Cora, and Brax still missing, the galaxy needs us a lot more than ever. Nefarious wasn't the only threat out there… which means we'll have to fight again… soon, probably."

"At least the worst is now over," Clank said softly, "and we have some time for respite before then."

"I don't think the worst is over yet," Ratchet told him. "If anything… it's only just begun."


Meanwhile... somewhere on Veldin...

Percival pushed aside the last piece of debris with every ounce of strength they had, and smiled when the metal tumbled down the side of the "hill"- which was all that remained of the Deplanetiser. They smirked as they spotted the heavily damaged face of a very much out-of-commission Dr. Nefarious.

"You wanna know the greatest thing about not having to pick sides?" Percival asked, taking the doctor's face in their hands and carefully examining it. "It means I can do whatever I want… manipulate whoever I want… so long as it benefits me."

The End…?