Ratchet History (Contains spoilers from Tools of Destruction to A Crack in Time)

[last_lombax]

Character history- Ratchet's story is a long one and believe it or not he hadn't always wanted to be a hero. He was orphaned in the Solana galaxy on the planet Veldin since he was a new born. The local populous had to have taken care of him for a time until he was old enough to live on his own, or rebellious enough to. He was around 16 when his first real adventure started. He had been constructing a ship for some time, trying to get off the planet. He was using the Gadgetron HelpDesk to help him build it. Once he had constructed almost all of it the HelpDesk informed him he needed a robotic ignition system to start the ship and of course he didn't have one. As luck would have it though, moments later he watched a shooting star crash into Kyzil Plateau not far from his garage. Ratchet set out to see exactly what had landed and found an unconscious Clank. He took him home and was surprised when he awoke when he wasn't looking. Clank introduced himself and asked if Ratchet knew where to find Captain Qwark. He had to show him an infobot, which contained Chairman Drek's plans to destroy the planet Novalis. In exchange for Ratchet helping him find Captain Qwark, Clank told him he was equipped with a robotic ignition system and would turn his ship on for him. So Ratchet agreed and decided to just come along for the adventure.

The two headed for Novalis but while entering the atmosphere something went wrong. The two crashed into the planet, the ship completely destroyed. So the two set out of find a new ship. They met the Plumber for the first time and were able to get another infobot from him showing Skid McMarx and his agent being shot down over Aridia. They eventually found the Chairman of the planet, who gave them access to his Courier Ship and gave them the coordinates to planet Kerwan's capital; Metropolis. There they were sure they would find Captain Qwark.

The two headed for Kerwan and found a training course Captain Qwark had set up. Clank mistook a robot of Qwark for the real thing, which make Ratchet laugh. They completed the course and were supposed to have gotten a Swingshot gadget from Helga but she said they defiled the course so it cost them 1,000 bolts. They met with Big Al, a local mechanic who had done a commercial with Captain Qwark several months back and he gave Clank a helipack upgrade and the coordinates to the planet Eudora. After several more adventures, including saving Skid, entering a hover-board tournament in his place, and saving Eudora from complete deforestation, they were finally able to see Captain Qwark after bribing his bodyguard. Qwark told them they would speak about Drek's evil at his hideout on Umbris. Qwark forced them to go through a deathcourse, which they survived, and ask them to stand on a platform before he would come out and speak to them. Ratchet felt something wasn't right but Clank pulled him onto the platform, trusting Qwark completely.

Qwark betrayed them and told him he had been working for Drek. He left them to die at the hands of a Blargian Snagglebeast. They pair defeated the monster and Ratchet quickly became bitter and cold towards Clank, as well as obsessed with revenge against Captain Qwark. They two flew to Batalia to save it from Drek's forces, though Ratchet swore to get back at Qwark one day. Clank tried to convince Ratchet Drek was the bigger threat but the Lombax wouldn't listen.

Ratchet did eventually come to his senses when he learned Drek was constructing a PlanetBuster Maximus on the ice planet Hoven. The pair destroyed the PlanetBuster. They then headed for Drek's Gemlik Moonbase. It was there Drek forced Qwark to battle Ratchet inside a battleship. Ratchet dispatched Qwark, finally getting his revenge by making the once hero crashland on the planet Oltanis. It was then they discovered Drek's plan to destroy Veldin and put his newly constructed planet in it's place. They fought Drek on Veldin and defeated him. They then used his own Deplanetizer to destroy the newly constructed world. Clank was damaged due to saving Ratchet from falling into a deep canyon. They landed safely thanks to Clank and they became friends. They become instant celebrities and enjoyed the limelight for several months before it dwindled and they went off on their next adventure.

It was almost a year after the incidents with Drek that Ratchet and Clank appeared on the show Behind the Heroes. They told about the aftermath and fame of their adventure and how things had been slowing down. It was shortly after they were teleported onto a ship heading for the Bogon galaxy. A Mr. Fizzwidget needed their help. Clank was offered an accounting job while Ratchet was trained to go after a phantom thief who had stolen an experimental prototype creature from Megacorp. Ratchet accepted the mission happily and Clank was glad to take his accounting position. Ratchet infiltrated the thief's ship. The thief got away with the prototype though, leaving Ratchet to escape before the ship exploded. The thief then hired Thugs-4-less to protect her while she tried to find a way to destroy the prototype. Ratchet was able to dispatch the thugs on his next few missions so the thief kidnapped Clank from their apartment in Megaopolis. Ratchet was able to save Clank but was furious that someone had hurt his friend. The two again teamed up to find the thief and save the prototype.

Ratchet and Clank confronted the thief on Siberius and defeated her. They were able to reclaim the experiment and returned it to Mr. Fizzwidget. Fizzwidget then "accidentally" ejected the duo out of his ship and down into a series of caverns. They two made it out only to be confronted by the thief who demanded the prototype creature back. The two informed her they didn't have it. She then fell off of her hoverboard and was exposed as Angela Cross, another Lombax and employee of Megacorp. She warned Ratchet that if they didn't get the experiment back it would be the end of the galaxy. On planet Dobbo, Ratchet and Clank discovered Angela was right as the experiments may seem cute and cuddly most of the time, they could transform into evil versions of themselves and could eat almost anything. The defeated the monsters and tried to convince Mr. Fizzwidget to destroy the experiment but their efforts were in vain. It was then the duo discovered an advertisement for Protopets, the dubbed name for the experiment, as they were about to be released for massive sale. To make matters worse, Thugs-4-less broke their contract with Angela and began working for Fizzwidget to "protect him".

On planet Boldan, the two began looking for Fizzwidget as he was giving out the Protopets there. They battled their way to him but it didn't end well. They were framed for attempted murder and arrested by Thugs-4-less. The two were then thrown into jail on planet Aranos. They were luckily freed by one of Clank's admirers, a female robot, they headed for the Thugs-4-less HQ to free Angela who had also been captured. They fought through much of the Thugs-4-less numbers and vanquished the leader of the organization to finally free Angela. They headed for Angela's base next to retrieve an invention of hers that could stop the Protopets and revert them to harmless creatures. They got the device and headed for Megacorp HQ.

They fought their way into Megacorp HQ and it was there the female robot appeared to reveal the entire plan was in fact Captain Qwark's plan to gain his fame back. He created the Protopets to devastate the galaxy so he could come in and save everyone. Fizzwidget appeared and destroyed the robot right in front of Ratchet and Clank. And in a surprising twist it turned out Fizzwidget was actually Qwark in disguise the entire time. Qwark took Angela's Helix-O-Morph, the device she was going to use to fix the Protopets) and fired it at his own pet. Unfortunately the device had the opposite effect and made the Protopet even bigger and more evil. It ate Qwark and turned on the others. Ratchet and Clank were able to defeat it and saved Qwark from being digested. Clank then realized the Helix-O-Morphs batteries were in backwards, which had caused the affect. They fixed the device and the galaxy was saved. Then the real Mr. Fizzwidget appeared, having been locked in a closet the entire time by Qwark. He rewarded Ratchet and Clank for their service and Qwark was forced to work in the Megacorp Testing Facility. It was an end of their second adventure but it wouldn't be their last.

It was only a few months after all of the Protopet business that Ratchet and Clank had settled down in Megaopolis. They were watching the Holo-Vision, specifically an episode of Secret Agent Clank a hit television show starting Clank while Ratchet was forced to play his driver. It was then a special news bulletin came on. It showed that Veldin was under attack by creatures known as Tyhrranoids. Ratchet and Clank hurried back to the Solana galaxy using a warp engine Ratchet had made out of Blargian scrap metal. They arrived in time and Ratchet was mistaken as a Galactic Ranger and promoted to Sergeant. The Tyhrranoids were rumored to be under the employ of Dr. Nefarious, an evil robot genius with quests for galactic domination. Once the Tyhrranoids were beaten back, the President contacted them to find the only man who had faced Nefarious and lived and thought he might be on planet Florana living as the Florana tree beast. After watching an episode of Nature's Mysteries about the creature the two took off to the planet. They were able to transverse the Path of Death and found the tree beast and realized it was actually Captain Qwark. Apparently he had lost his memory while on the planet trying to save the jungle fauna and now thought he was a monkey. They took Qwark and his one eyed monkey companion Skrunch to the Starship Phoenix, captained by Sasha Phyronix. She had been ordered to assist Ratchet and Clank in their endeavors. They put Qwark into his new monkey habitat for now until they could find a way to help him.

They two then went to meet Sasha and found her talking to the President who turned out to be her father. He was on planet Marcadia and they were under attack. Dr. Nefarious interrupted the transmission to declare war on all organic life forms or "Squishies" as he called them. The transmission ended and Ratchet and Clank were sent to Marcadia to assist the president and the galactic rangers as they fought against the Tyhrranoid armies. They saved the president and helped fend off the armies. It was there they also ran into Big Al at the Laser Factories on Marcadia. He joined the crew aboard the Starship Phoenix and brought his Captain Qwark Vid-Comic issue 1. Ratchet played the game in their quarters and watching it brought back Qwark's memories. While Captain Qwark went through rehabilitation the duo were sent to participate on the show Annihilation Nation to claim the Tyhrraguise as a prize. They got their prize and returned to the Starship Phoenix to learn the President had put Qwark in charge of the battle against Nefarious. The Q-Force, which consisted of; Big Al, Helga, Skidd McMarx, Ratchet, Clank, and Sasha, were assigned their new mission to infiltrate Dr. Nefarious's base on Planet Aquatos to acquire as much information on Nefarious's plans as possible. Ratchet and Clank of course did most of the work and soon found themselves in Nefarious's office. It was there they found out Nefarious was Clank's biggest fan. Clank was able to download a star-map to the Tyhrrranoid's home planet and base, Tyhrranosis. Al was able to decipher the map and the group, mainly Ratchet and Clank again, infiltrated the base on Tyhrranosis and destroyed it after defeating the Momma Tyhrranoid. Afterwards Nefarious sent the Q-Force a message, outraged that they infiltrated his base but confident they could not stop him. Al was able to trace the message to the planet Daxx.

When Ratchet landed, he led Al to a computer terminal where he found the data for Dr. Nefarious's new secret weapon; The Biobliterator. They had no idea exactly what it did however. Clank discovered a transport ship that had just left for the Obani Gemini moons the day before. Ratchet, Clank, and Skidd went to investigate the moons, finding the first two guarded and the third surrounded by an Omega Class Disintegration Shield. This made it impossible the the three of them to get inside. It was then Ratchet got a distress call from the galactic rangers who needed his help in Blackwater City against the Tyhrranoids. Ratchet and Clank went to Blackwater City and helped defend the galactic ranger's base from attack. It was there they also discovered a music video by Courtney Gears, a robot pop-star. The lyrics to the video led the two to believe she may have been working for Nefarious. So the two returned to Annihalation Nation since it was Gears who was giving out the prize for the next winner. They beat the challenge of course and Courtney was shocked to see Clank. He asked her where Nefarious was and she said she would tell him if he could get her a part on his show. He agreed to the deal and they headed for the studio. Ratchet was left in Clank's trailer and was wondering where Clank was when he was ambushed by Tyhrranoids. The Lombax was able to fight off the ambush and through the Tyhrranoid forces back to his ship. He found Clank there but he was acting strange. When he asked where Nefarious was, Clank stated he was on a starship called the Leviathan.

It was then Skidd contacted the two, saying he had gotten the shield down around the third moon and to hurry. It turned out to be Courtney Gear's hideout. Skidd had been lured in by the pop-star and they were forced to watch her use the Biobliterator on him, which turned out to be a machine that transformed Squishies into robots. They confronted Courtney Gears on her music video set and defeated her. It was then Clank again acted strangely when he said; "One disposable pop-star, disposed." Ratchet asked if he was okay and he said yes. They then got a transmission from Sasha saying they had tracked the Leviathan to Zeldrin Starport. They left robot Skidd with Sasha and the others to see if they could find a way to reverse the transformation while Ratchet, Clank, and Qwark went off to the Starport to infiltrate Nefarious's ship.

They met Qwark at the starport and headed infiltrated the Leviathan. Once on the ship they fought their way through waves of enemies to finally reach the bridge where Nefarious was waiting. It was all a trap for the Q-Force. Nefarious activated the self-destruct on the ship and teleported away with Lawrence. The Q-Force returned the ship except Qwark. Ratchet wanted to wait for him but Clank launched the ship and they thought Qwark had died aboard the exploding ship. They help a funeral for Qwark following the incident but soon after Metropolis was under attack by the Tyhrranoids. Ratchet and Clank went to help but it was during the battle Nefarious unleashed the Biobliterator which began to turn citizens and the Tyhrranoids into robots. Ratchet was able to escape the devices beam and remained organic though. Ratchet fought his way to a hover train line where he found Nefarious, Lawrence, and the real Clank. It turned out that Clank had been swapped for an evil double named Klunk. Ratchet was able to defeat Klunk and freed Clank. The two reunited and flew to Zeldrin to search the wreckage of the Leviathan, hoping to find what Qwark had stayed behind for.

On Zeldrin they discovered an encrypted disk entitled The Master Plan and a recording that showed Qwark was alive when the cruiser went down. The duo decided to not tell the crew until they found Qwark and why he had not reported back after the crash. After the duo played a comic-vid with the location of Qwark's hideout in it, the two went to the Thran Asteroid belt and battled their way through Qwark themed security bots and Megacorp Ninja Lawn Gnomes until they found Captain Qwark himself. Qwark had abandoned the fight against Nefarious in favor of living comfortably and safely in his hideout. Ratchet insulted Qwark, calling him a pathetic coward and left in disgust. They were on their way back to the Phoenix when they received a gargled message from Sasha stating the ship itself was under attack. The duo battled through Nefarious's minions and saved the ship. Once everyone was freed and they had regained the ship, Al informed Ratchet he had decrypted the Master Plan disk and it contained all of Nefarious's battle plans and stated his next target was Veldin. The Biobliterator was on planet Koros at the recharging station however and Ratchet and Clank decided to attack before Nefarious could harm anyone else. They attacked the installation and Clank destroyed the Biobliterator with an Ion Cannon.

Unfortunately there was a second and improved Biobliterator being built on Planet Mylon and ti was guarded by an entire army of robotic Tyhrranoids. The Q-Force launched an assault, Ratchet and Clank leading it of course. They battled through the army and their defenses until they reached the device. Nefarious and Lawrence teleported to the launch site but Ratchet and Clank followed thanks to a galactic ranger dropship. They followed Nefarious to the launch site where Ratchet challenged him to a fight to end this. After a short battle Nefarious fell to his knees and begged for mercy. It was a rouse and he used the detraction as a chance to run. Ratchet gave chance and thanks to the help from the galactic rangers, he defeated Nefarious. The evil doctor and Lawrence then teleported inside the Biobliterator, which turned into a giant robot. Ratchet and Clank were able to use a ship to fight the robot and Captain Qwark arrived just in time to help in his own ship. They fought the Biobliterator and won. Just before it self-destructed Nefarious and Lawrence teleported away, only because Nefarious didn't state a destination they ended up trapped on an asteroid in space, floating away from the planet. In the very end; Ratchet, Clank, and the G-Force all went to the premiere of the newest Secret Agent Clank movie and Ratchet got a kiss on the cheek from Sasha. All seemed to have ended well.

Ratchet had been promoted to Captain of the starship Phoenix and it had been some time since his ordeals with Dr. Nefarious. He was 18 around this time and heroes had begun to go missing; kidnapped and forced to compete on the leading Holo-Vision program DreadZone in the lawless Shadow Sector of the Solana Galaxy. It was the brainchild of the insane media magnate Gleeman Vox, and was watched by trillions of sentient beings throughout the sector. Unfortunately for Ratchet, Clank, and Big Al, Ratchet was known as a hero for stopping Nefarious. And so they were kidnapped to participate on the show.

Ratchet woke up to find himself stuffed into the Dreadzone armor, which unfortunately again didn't have a tail hole. All three of them were outfitted with Dreadzone collars as well, which had two functions; an electroshock function for discipline, and a self-destruct function for termination should they refuse to fight or try to escape. Ratchet then began to compete, completing any and all challenges they put before him. He was forced to earn points and raise up the ranks of the gladiators with his two war bots Al salvages; Merc and Green. They were dubbed Team Darkstar by the Dreadzone announcers and reporters. Of course as the trials went on, they reporters continued to give false stories and claims, dragging Ratchet's name through the mud in an attempt to make people despise him. This, unfortunately, backfired as it made him extremely popular as he continued to win challenged. He was forced to fight several gladiators as he rose up the ranks. The top gladiator was one Ace Hardlight himself, a hero from Ratchet's youth and someone Ratchet had seen as a role model. No one back home knew what happened to the man, only he had disappeared one day.

After some snooping by Al and Clank, they were able to get the schematics for the Dreadzone collars and Al found a way to take them off. Unfortunately, Ace showed up and shot Al, nearly killing him. He forced them to put the collars back on and told Ratchet he looked forward to their fight. Ratchet accepted the challenge, mostly due to how enraged he was at losing a friend. He fought his way through more challenged until he was finally able to fight Hardlight himself. They fought and Ratchet come out on top, even with Hardlight using regenerative potions, a force-field, and minions. Just before falling unconscious, Ace begged Ratchet to not let Vox corrupt him has he had himself. Ratchet did just that and turned down Vox's offer to be Captain of the Gladiators. For his punishment he was sent to one final trial, one that was supposed to be impossible to defeat. He faced ghosts of all the minions he had defeated over the course of his stay on the show. Once he made it out, him, Clank, and the revived cyborg-Al made a plan to break all the other gladiators out and to escape. Vox found out and used it as a chance to do one final show. He set the stadium to self-destruct and if Ratchet couldn't deactivate it, everyone would die; fans and gladiators alike. Ratchet succeeded in deactivating the bombs and terminating the lockdown, which allowed everyone to escape. Ratchet fought Vox himself for one final showdown and defeated him. He and his friends escaped, leaving Vox to die when the stadium exploded. They were happy to finally be free and with all the collars removed, everyone was able to return home.

After Dreadzone, Ratchet and Clank went on a much needed vacation on the tropical planet Pokitaru. However, while they were relaxing on the beach the duo met a young girl named Luna. She wanted a picture of Ratchet and learn more about her because she was doing a report on heroes for school. Ratchet agreed to do a little showing off for her but shortly after he was done she was kidnapped by robots. After chasing after the robots and fighting them, they got away with Luna. Clank did stumble upon an artifact he said might have been a Technomite artifact. Ratchet denied the existance of the Technomites, saying they were just a fairytale. They duo set off to rescue Luna and traced the artifact to the planet Ryllus. After some advice from Captain Qwark, who had followed them there looking for his lost family, they fought their way into an ancient building. They found a Technomite map room and found the coordinates to Kalidon.

Ratchet met a Skyboarder on Kalidon, who gave the two a shrinking ray for beating him in a race. They entered the building on Kalidon and defeated a monster named Mungo in order to save Luna. The duo finally found her but it seemed she had turned on them. Ratchet was knocked out by robots and taken to a space station for testing and experiments. Ratchet was under for quite some time and during that time he was trapped in a rather horrible dream. He had to explore through a nightmarish world and several locations from his previous adventures. He was chasing after Klunk, who was trying to comfort him through a door that vanished. Soon Ratchet made it through the dream and had to evade attacks from a Giant Clank. Once done, two doors appeared before him. One was Klunk, beckoning him to to follow and the other had the real Clank, apologizing to Ratchet for not realizing something was strange about Luna. He tried to comfort Clank who grabbed him and pulled him through the door. It was then he awoke in the Medical Outpost Omega. It was then Ratchet discovered while he was asleep the robots had taken various samples of his DNA. He was infuriated by this news and swore to stop them.

The duo went on to destroy the space station they were on and soon found out Luna was actually a robot piloted by Technomites being led by Emperor Otto. Luna had been bait to lure Ratchet into a trap so they could gain his DNA. The two arrived on Dayni Moon and disabled Luna is a final fight. However Technomites had gotten into Clank and disabled him. Using the shrink ray, Ratchet shrank down and went inside Clank to kill the Technomites and repair Clank's systems. Soon after they discovered Otto's goals, to create an army of Ratchet clones so he could use them to kidnap intelligent beings so Otto could steal their intelligence. On planet Quodrona, Ratchet and Clank fought their way through the army of clones and thanks to a confused Qwark (who had been tricked by Faux-Families.com into thinking Otto was his Dad) neutralized Otto by having Qwark's monkey's intelligence forced inside his brain. So the evil plot was stopped and the two returned home.

About a year had passed and Ratchet and Clank had been having a somewhat ordinary life back on Kerwan in Metropolis. The two were working on Ratchet's new rocket sled when Qwark sent them a distress call from the Planetary Defense Center, telling them there were a few thousand heavily armed robotic commandos attacking. The duo tried to ride the rocket sled to the Defense Center but crashed part of the way there. They continued on foot, fighting through an army who were all looking for him. It wasn't confirmed until they reached the defense center that Ratchet was their target. Ratchet ran until he was cornered and a warship chased them. The warship was being piloted by Emperor Percival Tachyon, crown Prince of the Cragmites and ruler of the Polaris galaxy. He revealed that Ratchet was the last Lombax in the universe and asked him to let him kill him and he would leave Kerwan alone. Ratchet pretended to agree and threw Clank over Tachyon's head and ran under him. He smacked one of the legs of the Emperor's walking throne and caused him to crash. He ran into the warship and stole it. They left Kerwan and the auto-pilot system kicked in. Once it did, Ratchet fell into cryostasis while Clank was knocked out with a punching glove on a spring. They then were carried to the Polaris Galaxy by the ship.

It ran out of fuel and both crash landed on the planet Cobalia. Ratchet woke up first and woke Clank up, afraid his friend was hurt. The two traveled through the swamps until they reached a small spaceport and Gelatonium plant. They met a Smuggler there and he offered them a deal, if they could get the plant working again he would get them off the planet. Getting the plant working again was easy and they met up again with the Smuggler. He gave them a ride to Stratus City but a bio-scan gave away Ratchet and the Smuggler ejected them out of the ship to save himself. They landed safely in the city but were forced to battle their way through it, defeating Drophyd soldiers and robots. They eventually made it to a platform that over looked the city and Clank was given a new modification for wings by the Zoni, though Ratchet couldn't see them. He just thought Clank had been modifying himself in private again. He and Clank flew into the Hall of Knowledge, which Tachyon had sealed off after labeling knowledge contraband. They passed through the traps in the Hall of Knowledge and accessed the map room. It was here they got the coordinates for Fastoon, a Lombax planet. Tachyon's forced were trying to get in so they quickly downloaded the coordinates and took off in the Hall's escape pod.

The two landed on the devastated Lombax home world. Ratchet had no idea why there were no Lombaxes on the planet and Clank informed him that the planet had been deserted for years. They found an old ship named Aphelion, crashed and nonoperational. The Gadgetron HelpDesk informed Ratchet the ship was missing around six parts to get her started. Ratchet and Clank explored the area. Ratchet was able to find five of the pieces but one was in an old Raritanium mine that he couldn't fit in. He sent Clank in to find it and waited outside for his return. Once they had all the pieces Ratchet went to work on fixing the ship. After a few hours, he finally did it and gained his own Lombax ship. During their exploration of Fastoon, they received a holo-vite from a Steven Qwarkanopolis about the Imperial Fight Festival on planet Mukow.

Ratchet infiltrated the Imperial Fight Festival with a cheap disguise given to him by Qwark, which consisted of purple framed fake glasses and a fake mustache. He fought his way through rounds of enemies and then Crushto, the current Arena champion. Qwark gave them an infobot as a reward that detailed Tachyon's search for the Lombax Secret, the weapon used by the Lombax's in The Great War to defeat the Cragmites. It included coordinates to the Apogee Space Station in the Nundac Asteroid Ring. Knowing they needed to get whatever the secret was being Tachyon, the two headed off to the space station. Unfortunately they couldn't land directly inside so they were forced to hit the asteroid ring first. There they met the Smuggler again who traded them the launch codes for the escape pod inside for some Leviathan souls. Once inside, the two fought their way through a large number of automated defenses while hearing the two warbots who had taken over the station talk to them over the intercom. When they made it to the final door, it was locked shut. Unknown to Ratchet the Zoni upgraded Clank again with a Geo-laser. He was able to break into the main control room of the station where he met Cronk, Zephyr, and Talwyn. It wasn't until Zephyr said to put the Lombax in his place that Talwyn realized Ratchet really was a Lombax. Ratchet and Clank shared their story with Talwyn and learned her father was a famous explorer and studier of Lombax history. He even once had a Lombax artifact but space pirates raided the station and took it. Max Apogee went after them but was never seen again. It was them Clank remembered someone mentioning pirates on the planet Ardolis. So the five set off for the pirate base on Ardolis.

Ratchet and Clank found the Pirate base and battled their way through robot pirates to make it to the treasure room. Once inside they found the artifact but didn't have enough time to grab it before Captain Slag and Rusty Pete appeared. Slag smelled something, a scent he hadn't detected in a long time; Lombax. Ratchet and Clank were about to be discovered then Talwyn appeared with a smokebomb and grabbed the artifact herself. They escaped and Talwyn radioed them to meet her outside the Pirate Radio station tower. The two made their way their, fighting through even more pirates and some much more powerful ones. They eventually made it to the meeting spot where Ratchet found Talwyn having trouble opening the artifact. When he questioned her about it she tossed it to him and it opened simply by his touch. It was a map to Rykan V. The two traveled to Rykan V to find Tachyon was already there with his armies.

Ratchet, Clank, Cronk, and Zephyr preformed a HALO jump down into the starport on Rykan V and had to battle their way through wave after wave to at first gain entry to Rykan V's elevator to their Gelatonium plant. They again had to do battle, destroying soldier after soldier and then destroy the defense canons by the elevator before they could proceed further. Once inside Ratchet found out the secret was hidden on an island inside the lava fields. But he had no way to get there. Not until he found the Smuggler again and bought a Gyro-Cycle off of him. He used it to traverse the tubes and facilities Tachyon had built to mind the Gelatonium. Ratchet and Clank made it to the room that was locked with Lombax inscribed on the door. It opened at Ratchet's touch but there was nothing inside besides an old Holo-vid player. When they played it, it described testing of a device called the Dimensionator. It turned out the Lombax Secret was of all things, a hat. It also stated the testing lab was on a planet called Sargasso. So the group traveled to Sargasso.

Once they landed on Sargasso they knew they were looking for a facility run by the Center for Advanced Lombax Research as stated in the Holo-vid. They ran into the Smuggler again who pointed out incapacitated Robo-Wing platforms and offered to trade his Decrypter for more leviathan souls. So after collected them, they returned to the Smuggler and were able to trade for it. Ratchet used the Decrypter to get the pads working again and the two flew to the research facility with the Zoni's guidance again, though Ratchet still couldn't see them. Once they found the facility underground they didn't find the Dimensionator but instead they ran into the Plumber. He knew they were looking for a device that could vaporize an entire species and he told them there was no such device. But he then hinted what they were looking for wasn't there. He then left them with a 3 and 3/4ths Centicubit Hexagonal Washer before flushing himself down a gigantic toilet. It was then Clank began to wonder if the Cragmites were ever vaporized at all, maybe they were just simply moved. Qwark then contacted the heroes on their way back to Aphelion though Clank was worried about Talwyn since she had said in an earlier transmission she and the others were spotted and said to keep radio silence. Ratchet was sure she was fine and headed back to planet Mukow.

After returning the the Imperial Fight Festival and again completing in more challenges, Qwark gave the heroes an info-bot about IRIS, a Supercomputer said to have an IQ of 300 billion. She was once the search engine for the Polaris Galaxy but then Pirates sealed her away for their own use. Ratchet was also given a Pirate Hologuise as a reward. The duo then headed off to Kreeli Comet to see if IRIS knew where the Dimensionator was. They sneaked passed robot pirate guards and battled through even more on their way to IRIS but finally they made it. Ratchet sent Clank inside to repair her since she wasn't on when they arrived. After a quick patch job, Ratchet learned of the Dimensionator and Tachyon's origins. He then found out the Dimensionator was in Kerchu City on planet Jasindu. IRIS shut down due to insignificant power and Ratchet wanted to go to Kerchu city but Clank told him the Zoni said Talwyn was in trouble and at Zordoom Prison. Ratchet grew angry that Clank wasn't listening to him and made a crack that he wished he'd listen to his real friends and not his imaginary ones. The two continued to argue in the ship until Qwark interrupted them. He drew them the schematics of the prison, in crayon and poorly no less.

They traveled to Zordoom prison and using the plans Qwark gave them they were able to get inside the prison and free Talwyn from her cell. They then had to split up, she went off to free Cronk and Zephyr while Ratchet and Clank went back to their ship and dealt with a majority of the prison's defenses. They did manage to escape and Talwyn mentioned owing Ratchet one. The duo then headed off for Kerchu City to find it already under attack by Pirates. They fought their way through the city, through Kerchu defenders and Pirates alike until the fought a Kerchu piloting a giant mech. They finally found the Dimensionator but Slag found them and had Rusty Pete hold Clank hostage. He took the Dimensionator and fled to his home base in the Ublik Passage. Clank sent a message to Talwyn asking for assistance but Ratchet didn't want to wait and assaulted the pirate base on his own. They battled through hordes of pirates and finally found Captain Slag and the Dimensionator. The duo battled Slag and dispatched him as well, leaving nothing but his head. Ratchet was then named the new Captain but he wanted the Dimensionator instead. Clank wanted the machine destroyed but Ratchet refused and started arguing with Clank about the Zoni again when Qwark appeared and took the Dimensionator. He then got into an escape pod and said he was going to throw the device into a black hole. Rusty Pete said the escape pod would only go to the nearest viable planet, which happened to be the Cragmite Home world, Reepor.

Ratchet, Clank, Cronk, and Zephyr preformed a HALO jump down onto the planet's surface where they knew the escape pod had landed. They battled their way through Tachyon's armies and took control of two air defense canons, using them to destroy the force field around the citadel. Ratchet Clank and Talwyn went for the citadel and had to split up when their way was blocked by another force field. Clank used the Geo-laser to blast a way in and they took the main elevator up to a platform where they found Tachyon wearing the Dimensionator and Qwark held beneath one of the legs of his walking throne. Tachyon was able to summon the Cragmites from their exile using the Dimensionator. Ratchet nearly fell off the platform as it was falling apart and was knocked unconscious. When he awoke, Clank was gone and he was alone, somewhere below ground and there were Cragmite warriors around. He made his way back to Aphelion, believing Clank was dead and regretting his decision to not destroy the Dimensionator when he had the chance. That was when Clank flew down with his robo-wings and they made up. Then they received a distress call from Meridian City, the only free City in Polaris and it's capital. Tachyon was invading with his Cragmite forced. So the duo sped off to help them while Talwyn and Zephyr tried to repair Cronk.

Ratchet helped the city fight off Tachyon's forced and after flying through a traffic tunnel, found Captain Qwark cowering in a closet. He was able to talk some sense into the hero but none of them knew where Tachyon was going to go next. Clank said he was heading to Fastoon to summon more Cragmites due to his visions from the Zoni. Ratchet willingly agreed, believing Clank about the Zoni finally. So he met back up with Cronk, Zephyr, and Talwyn and headed off to Fastoon. Ratchet, Clank, Cronk and Zephyr preformed another HALO jump to the planet's surface and fought off more of Tachyon's army. They were able to disable anti-air canons which allowed Talwyn to land. They then fought their way to the Court of Azimuth, which was where the Lombaxes had made their final stand. Talwyn was able to hack the shields around the court and they went inside. It was here Tachyon told them that when he attacked and overran the Lombaxes with their own technology they fled their dimension, hoping he would leave the rest of Polaris untouched. Ratchet refused to believe him but Tachyon opened a portal to the Lombax dimension. He offered Ratchet a chance to leave and to rejoin his race. Ratchet turned him down, saying no one would be safe as long as Tachyon had the Dimensionator. The portal closed and Tachyon attacked. The four attacked Tachyon until the Dimensionator malfuncationed and ceased to work. Tachyon hit it, only to have a portal open and be sucked through. Ratchet made a crack about warmhole devices being dangerous before him and Clank were dragged into the dimensional void with Tachyon. They fought the insane Emperor and defeated him. He claimed Ratchet couldn't kill him because only he knew his true purpose and name. Tachyon fell into the void as the dimension began to collapse. Someone had broken off of the Dimensionator and it seemed they were doomed until Clank pulled out the Washer the Plumber had given them. They activated the Dimensionator one last time and returned to Fastoon.

Later Qwark, Rusty Pete, Talwyn, Cronk, Zephyr, Clank, and Ratchet were all relaxing at the Apogee space station. Ratchet was sulking, wondering if Tachyon was telling the truth about him and his father. Clank tried to comfort Ratchet, saying his purpose had been filled. He had vanquished Tachyon, something even the Lombaxes couldn't do. It was then the Zoni appeared through a dimensional rift and mind-melded with Clank, stating it was time for him to learn of who he was and who he would become. They were taking him through the portal when Ratchet tried to stop them but the portal rejected him and threw him back down to the ground. And in a flash Clank vanished and it broke Ratchet's heart.

One year later, Ratchet finally found a clue to Clank's whereabouts. Using the IRIS super computer he learned there was a pirate named Captain Darkwater who knew about the Zoni. So Ratchet and Talwyn flew to the pirate fleet on planet Merdegraw. They they encountered Rusty Pete, who still had Slag's head. They were caught by the pirates and the two had to battle through them all until finally being caught and thrown into a cannon. Pete donned Slag's head and pretended to be him. He told the pirates to launch Ratchet and Talwyn towards Hoolefar Island, stating that is where they would find exactly what they were looking for. The pair were launched out of the cannon. Ratchet fell unconscious and when he awoke he saw Clank for a moment before his friend floated off as he called his name. Talwyn landed soon after and the two began exploring the island. Ratchet was sure Pete sent them there for a reason and soon enough they discovered a little village. They were greeted by the Mayor, Barnabus Worley. The Mayor told them they had a beacon to keep in contact with the outside world but it was disabled by someone a few nights ago. Ratchet was able to restart the wind turbines but couldn't reinstate power to the beacon without a bolt that had been stolen. It turned out the Smuggler was there on the island and just so happened to have one. Ratchet bought it off of him and returned to the beacon and was able to power it up.

After they fixed it, the Mayor showed Ratchet the Obsidian Eye, a device that was said could let one see into the Zoni dimension. But the eye wouldn't work without it's power source, a Fulcrum Star, which was with Darkwater's body in Morrow Caverns. Darkwater wrote in his journal he had cursed his body, binding his spirit to it so that if anyone tries to take the star, he would be able to defend it. Pete arrived soon after and told them that Darkwater's ship was in Morrow Caverns and told them he would take them there. They arrived and Talwyn unfortunately was trapped behind an old door. Ratchet promised her he would be back to get her and that they would leave his place together. After traversing the rest of the cave and all it's trapped, Ratchet found the ship and Darkwater's disembodies head. Inside was a map though he didn't get a chance to look at it. Pete slammed Slag's head on Darkwater's body and we was revived but it turned out the curse was true as Darkwater now also inhabited the body. The two argued until they decided to join forces and to plunder Hoolefar island. Darkwater's crew began to raise from the dead as well and Ratchet was forced to fight them off as he made his way back to the barge. He was able to blow up the old door thanks to Pete giving him back some of his weapons and helped Talwyn escape with him. They returned to the island to help defend it from the pirates.

The two fought off the pirates together and had no other clues besides the map. They asked around but found that only the Smuggler could read the map. They paid him to decipher it and asked him to be their guide to Darkwater Cove, which was where Darkwater had stored all of his treasure. Ratchet was able to overcome a series of trials and gained access to the treasure room, only to be ambushed by pirate ghosts. He fought them off and ran inside the treasure room only to be dropped down a hole and Talwyn kidnapped by Slag/Darkwater. Ratchet navigated his way through the caves and returned to the ship with the Smuggler. He had him go after the pirates and boarded their ships on the way to Hollefar island again. Ratchet fought Slag/Darkwater before he ran to another ship. Ratchet freed Talwyn and the two battled their way from ship to ship, taking out pirates, and battling Slag/Darkwater two more times before finally killing both again. They got the Fulcrum star and rushed off to Hoolefar island, leaving all the pirate ships to sink. Using the Obsidian eye, Ratchet was able to the coordinates to the Breegus Nebula as well as a visual of the Zoni with Clank and seeing that it had been Dr. Nefarious that had orchestrated Clank's kidnapping by the Zoni. Glad to have some sort of clue, Ratchet headed off to the Breegus Nebula to being his search for Clank.

Ratchet was traveling to the Breegus System with Qwark in tow. Talwyn had warned Ratchet before he left that the sector was crawling with mercenaries. Unfortunately it wasn't mercenaries that got to them first. It was a massive wave of temporal energy that hit Aphelion and caused the two to crash land on planet Quantos in the Zolar forest. Ratchet and Qwark only survived thanks to Aphelion getting caught in a strange stream of blue energy that froze her in time along with several other things but not the two of them. They left Aphelion behind and headed off to explore the forest. They came across a Fongoid Mother looking for her lost children. Ratchet went out and saved all three of the children, two of them surrounded by creatures and one stuck inside ruins that were affected by the same time abnormality as Aphelion. The ruins kept breaking and fixing themselves over and over again. Ratchet got the girl and returned her to her mother. They were then lead into the Fongoid village. When they asked if they had a way to fix Aphelion the chief did know a way and took them inside the Temple of Zahn. Inside Ratchet had to overcome several traps to gain a Zoni containment device. He then caught two Zoni in the temple and was told one more could fix Aphelion. When they left the temple they found a mercenary working for Dr. Nefarious named Lord Vorselon was invading and capturing Fongoids. Vorselon mistook Ratchet for a rebel named Azimuth and captured Qwark along with the Fongoids.

Ratchet followed Vorselon's ship ship and sneaked aboard. He was able to find and rescue the Fongoids and Qwark and let them escape on a shuttle. Ratchet continued back to his ship and fought Vorselon for the first time, who kept saying he was Azimuth. Ratchet destroyed Vorselon's robotic body and returned to his ship. Qwark then told him that the mysterious General Alister Azimuth was on the planet on the planet Torren IV in the Vela sector. Ratchet left Qwark with the Fongoids for information retrieval while he went off to meet this General. On Torren IV Ratchet encountered a race called the Vullards who told him how to get to the area Alister was in. Ratchet helped them fix their factory by restoring power so he could go through and meet the General. When he found Alister he was greeted with violence as he thought Ratchet was an assassin sent by Nefarious and was not a real Lombax. Ratchet chased him along grind boot rails and soon reached his hideout where Alister cornered him before realizing who he was. He told him his name and position in the Center for Advanced Lombax Research and that Ratchet looked just like his father Kaden. It was here Alister told Ratchet about the Great Clock and that Clank had to be there if he was taken by the Zoni, who were the guardians of it clock.

Alister was convinced if they could use the clock to turn back time, they would undo Tachyon's invasion of Fastoon and save the Lombaxes. Ratchet believed him and joined Alister in his quest. Alister had failed to find the clock many of times but decided now that they had an inside man, Clank, they could use an Obsidian Eye to contact him and get the Clock's location. They headed off to Axium City to talk to the head of Pollyx Industries, a business built solely to find and study Zoni technology. They made their way to planet Terachnos and arrived in the city. Unfortunately a security code was initiated when Alister was spotted. Ratchet made his way to Pollyx square to meet up with Alister. The older Lombax called in a favor one of the employees owned him for saving his life. Together the three of them were able to magnetize and activate a service ramp that allowed Alister and Ratchet to hoverboot into the main building. They fought their way through security and finally reached the main control room. They got the coordinates of the nearest Obsidian Eye on the planet Lumos in the Korthos Sector. Nefarious contacted them and Ratchet asked what his plan was, though he got no answer. Nefarious issued an attack by a giant robot called VX-99. The two of them were able to destroy it before it took out the entire city and quickly fled the planet to the Korthos sector.

Once on Lumos, Ratchet and Alister traveled through an old mine to try and find the Obsidian eye. Part-way through Ratchet asked Alister to stop and give him straight answers about what happened to him and the Lombaxes. He wanted to know why they ran and why Alister wasn't with them. Alister turned around and yelled because he had failed him. He told him about what happened after the Great War and how he had a drive to protect the galaxy. Several years later a young inventor, Tachyon, approached them with marvelous ideas. Kaden warned Alister to not listen to Tachyon but he did anyway, giving him full access to their technology. But once he was done, Tachyon used it against the Lombaxes. Because of his mistake, Alister was not allowed to join them. Kaden didn't because he went to find Ratchet's mother but found her dead. So Kaden became the keeper of the Dimensionator and stayed behind with Ratchet. He then sent Ratchet to Solana so he would be safe but Tachyon caught up with him sometime after and killed him. Alister then promised they could fix all of it, make it so it never happened. He promised Ratchet that if he stuck with him he would have his family back.

Ratchet and Alister found a Vullard settlement was under attack by the Agoreans. The Vullards promised to lead them to the Eye if they helped defend the settlement. Alister and Ratchet fought off the invasion force and were taken to the tunnels where the eye was hidden. After scaling traps and avoiding the dangers of the caves they found the Eye. The Fulcrum star was unfortunately cracked so they knew it wouldn't work well. They contacted Clank and Ratchet asked for the Clock's location so they could come pick him up. Clank, however, pleaded with Ratchet to go to Zanifar to save his father. He promised there would be a time hole there he could use to travel back into the past and save him. The two left Lumos for Zanifar. Alister picked up Vorselon's trail and went off to distract him so Ratchet could go to Zanifar.

Ratchet went to Zanifar to find the Fongoids there were imprisoned by Dr. Nefarious. He freed them from their energy pens and found the time portal Clank had spoke of. He used it to travel back in time two years to manipulate the past so he could help the Fongoids free themselves from Nefarious's minions in the future. After a few trips back and forth he had everything he needed to enter the citadel in the past. He went back and got inside. He battled his way to where Nefarious was only to arrive too late. He watched as Clank's father warned Nefarious that the clock was not a time machine before he died. It was then Nefarious found out Clank was the key to the clock but so did Ratchet. Ratchet was discovered and he threw a grenade at Nefarious, scaring his robotic face. The affect took hold in the present and Ratchet was able to return to his time. It was then he was given a message from Vorselon, stating he had captured Alister and if he wanted the older Lombax to live, he would have to take his place.

So Ratchet made his way to the ship and fought his way through it's defenses. He soon found Vorselon and demanded to know where Alister was. The mercenary said he would only tell if Ratchet beat him. So the two fought and Ratchet once again won but Vorselon escaped before telling Ratchet where the General was. Ratchet continued his search and found Alister. He refused to just leave his friend behind and went off to deactivate the field around his cage and freed him once he did. The two them fought their way through the forces of the ship before it detonated. They escaped just in time and the self-destruct was deactivated by Vorselon.

Ratchet got a message from Alister about a distress call from planet Vapedia in the Bernilius sector. After listening to it Ratchet immediately identified it as Clank's signature. The two headed for the planet, unaware it was being faked by Dr. Nefarious. When they arrived they were welcomed by a Valkyrie assault force. The two made it into the city where the head Valkyrie was waiting. She sped off and Alister gave chase, leaving Ratchet to get into their citadel and find Clank. Ratchet fought his way through numberous Valkyrie's and made it through several death traps before taking on the leader herself. She had Clank unconscious and suspended in a holding chamber. She taunted Ratchet, telling him Clank was going to leave him for the clock and wondering why he would go through all the trouble to save him. Ratchet eventually beat her and she crashed her ride. Clank fell out, still unconscious, and Ratchet dove after him. Using his hover boots for speed, he was able to ride down a grav-ramp, catch Clank, and skid to a halt on a small island. The two were finally reunited.

Clank forgave Ratchet for not being able to save his father, Orvus, and swore Nefarious would pay. Alister promised that Clank and the Clock would have the protection of the Lombax Praetorian Guard once the past was changed. Clank than told Alister the clock was not meant to be used as a time machine and that doing so could rip apart the fabric of the reality and destroy the universe. Both turned to Ratchet and once he realized the risks were too much and too close to the Dimensionator, Ratchet agreed with Clank. Alister was disappointed and left the two and so the duo went off to stop Nefarious from reaching the clock.

The duo traveled to Nefarious's space station to stop him. They tried to use Qwark's disguise as Nurse Shannon to sneak in but once that didn't work they had to fight their way to an air-duct where Clank climbed in and scanned Dr. Nefarious for a hologuise. Ratchet then transformed into Nefarious, though he was still his Lombax height, and was able to use a defense canon to destroy Nefarious's fleet of ships, stalling him from getting to the clock. They were discovered soon after and they fought their way to the exit. But they were captured by Nefarious and his guards. Nefarious then told them his plan to rewrite history so that villains always won and heroes always lost. He then took Ratchet and Clank to his Asterpoid flinger which he reserved for if he ever needed a super ironic death. Both were strapped to an asteroid and flung into space. They landed on planet Morklon in Gimlick Valley. Luckily the Zoni Ratchet had been collecting protected the two of them from the impact. They eventually found the battle site of the fall of Gimlick Valley and Clank had a plan. He had Sigmund make another time portal for them so they could travel back in time and help the Fongoids of the valley win their fight. Ratchet again used time manipulation to save the valley and because of that, they were able to borrow the warship used in the battle in the future to get off of Morklon.

The two flew back to the Space Station and encountered Nefarious before he could leave for the Clock. He was furious that they were still alive and even more angry that Clank went from guardian of time right back to playing backpack to a Squishie. Ratchet was upset by the way Nefarious was talking about Clank and told him no matter what choice he made after it all Ratchet would back him up. But first they joined forces and took on Nefarious one more time. They battled Nefarious across the space station and eventually onto his ship. They heavily damaged Nefarious to the point that he completely shut down. The ship was on auto pilot and heading for the station. Ratchet was about to say they just needed to find Lawrence before he got away with the escape pod, only he did before he uttered the words escape pod. Ratchet was sure this was the end when Alister showed up and yelled at them to grab onto his ship. Clank jumped up on Ratchet's back and he ran, diving off the ship just in time and grabbing hold of the wing of Alister's ship. They zoomed off as the station was hit and exploded and returned to the Great Clock.

Ratchet and Clank were at the Clock and Ratchet asked if this was what Clank really wanted. Clank responded that the Clock was his duty and his home. Ratchet accepted his answer and hugged Clank one last time before offering to lead him inside. Alister was upset they still wouldn't reconsider using the Clock to save the Lombaxes. Ratchet told him the Lombaxes had only moved on and that they would find them another way but time had to say where it was. He then started walking away from Alister with Clank. He confessed he never thought of Clank as a sidekick and his friend joked saying Ratchet was the sidekick. Alister was enraged and yelled at Ratchet, telling him this was his duty and to not walk away. He yelled for him to stop and fired an electric blast at Ratchet. The Lombax turned around just in time for it to hit him in the heart. He clenched his chest, coughing weakly as his heart slowed to a stop and he fell off the platform, dead.