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How could he? WHY would he?! That's not the Captain Qwark I know! That's not the hero I want to be!

"Agh!" The air left my lungs when I hit the ground and it hurts so bad. I tried gasping for air, but it felt like none of it would come through. I wanted to cry.

"Ratchet!" Clank cried out, running to me. Lucky him, he doesn't have lungs. He watches me with such worried eyes, before looking away with an angry glare. "Qwark! How could you!" He scolded the captain while holding my hand and placing a hand on my forehead. It was comforting, but... It still hurt. Everywhere, because of the fall and because of Qwark.

"Don't act so surprised." Qwark stood above us on the platform we had fallen from, but I could not see him. My vision was pretty hazy and I just couldn't concentrate on much else but trying to learn to breathe again. "It was always about this. It was always about me."

I could somewhat see Clank open his mouth for a bit, but could not say anything. He tightened his grip around my hand. He was pretty silent for awhile. "After all this time, you are just going to abandon us? After all we have done to you? What about Al, and Helga? Do they mean nothing to you?"

"Of course they do." Qwark snorted, from what I could hear. I was finally able to breathe somewhat, although it still hurt badly. Even though Clank didn't look at me, he began to pet my head as I let out weak whimpers. "You've all helped me get this far, but you're getting in my way. I can't afford that." From what I could see, he took out some monitor thingy and pressed something on it, I assumed. "I've missed my baby, though. I might as well go and pay them a visit while I'm at it."

"What are you going to do to them!" Clank cried out, sounding angry and worried at the same time.

"They may as well come with me and witness my glorious role in person. I always liked those two better, anyway. They don't question things like you do." Those words seemed to hurt Clank, as he hunched back slightly in his place, his hand shaking a little bit as he held on to me. I was finally able to see Qwark much clearer now and I could see the smug grin on his face; he had little to no remorse. "It was nice knowing you, though. No hard feelings, right?" He shrugged as he pressed something on the monitor and then a loud growl filled the whole cave. What... What was it...?

"Captain!" Clank cried out, sounding desperate, but still angry. "You seriously are not going to-!"

"Bye. Clank." Qwark emphasized both work in a very annoying way and with that, he walked off. I had no clue where he went, but what I understood, he was going to leave the planet with the other and lea-

He... He was leaving us behind...?

"Ratchet!" Clank called out to me and I looked at him in shock, not really understanding how Qwark could do this to us. He was supposed to be the hero... "Ratchet, please, can you move?" Another roar followed.

"I-it hurts..." I complained. I couldn't move, I... I was frozen...

"Oh, no..." Clank looked away from in panic, not really sure what to do.

"W-what it is...?" I asked nervously, still not being able to spot what he saw.

"It's alright." He smiled in complete panic. "Just... Just stay here and... I'll be back for you. I'll protect you." He let go of my hand and stood up, which made me shiver.

"W-where you going? C-Clank?!" I tried to reach him, but I was paralyzed, especially when I saw what Clank ran towards to.

"RAAAAAAAAAAWRGH!" The loud roar made the ground grumble, even more so when a huge, green monster shot fire at Clank, while he tried his best to dodge the attacks as he was shooting the beast. He was trying to get the monster to move away from me!

"C-Clank...!" I tried to cry out, but my whole body was shivering, preventing me from using my voice properly. W-why can't I get up!

The monster followed Clank around pretty eagerly, but he managed to avoid his attacks just barely. It was difficult to see much from my spot anymore, although it did look like he was leading it to a bridge, maybe...? I could see lava flow next to the bridge and- W-wait... Why did I only notice it now that there was lava around us?!

Not long after, the beast stepped onto the bridge and it collapsed, the monster falling into the lava as well. Yes! That was pretty eas-

"RUAAAARGH!" It growled as it jumped back on the ground, lava dripping everywhere and Clank trying his best to avoid any dropping on him, tripping in the progress.

"N-no...!" I tried to call out, watching helplessly as Clank tried to get away. Growling to myself, I forced myself on my stomach, trying hopelessly to reach out to him, even though I knew I could do little to nothing at this point.

I was just... I was just so weak and... Scared... What could we do at this point? Qwark betrayed us and abandoned us to fight off a monster that cares nothing about the lava that surrounds us! We're just.. We're just doomed...

Doomed.

My ears perked up at the realization that I just had. I looked at my hand with hope. The Glove of Doom. Maybe I could use it to help Clank?

I made the hand gesture that Al had taught me since it didn't require me to move the rest of my body so much and I was able to drop a ball from the glove, which rolled forward for a short while before four small robots formed from it and began to look around as if they were dogs. "Whoa." I blinked in awe and the robots looked at me, as if they were waiting for orders. There was no time to be amazed! "Go! Destroy that stupid monster!" I pointed at the growling beast and the robots turned to face it, sprinting towards it with amazing speed. They hurled themselves at the beast and exploded, which distracted the monster as it turned around with a loud growl, trying to search for whoever, or whatever just hurt it. Clank took this opportunity to get on his feet and take distance, beginning to shoot it again, gaining its attention.

I threw another ball, four more robots forming and running towards the beast, making it confused again. Yes! I could do something at least to help Clank out! Thanks little guys, I really appreciate your help!

Clank was able to trick the creature onto another bridge, making it fall into the lava again, which did seem to hurt him a bit. It was getting slightly slower, although angrier. Just as I was about to release another doom ball, I could hear a few faint clicks coming from Clank's direction. I looked over in fear; he ran out of ammo from his blaster. Just as he was about to change his weapon, the monster was able to slam him, sending him and the weapons flying in the air. "C-Clank!" I shouted, watching him land on the ground, his weapons dropping nowhere near him. He had no protection...!

Panicking, I threw two balls and thankfully, there were now eight robots that wanted to have a go at the creature. They exploded into it one by one, but this time, it was able to turn around soon enough to spot where they were coming from. I could feel a chill run down my spine as it was clearly staring right at me, obviously pretty angry and wanting me dead.

I-I can't even move my hand...

"Ratchet!" Clank yelled, filled with panic. He got up, from what I could see with my side vision, running towards the beast, but he would never make it here. He was too far away and the beast was s-so, so close.

Shaking all over, I forced myself up, stumbling around as I was somehow able to get on my feet to run away, although I was almost hit by a few fireballs that I was being fired with. There was one more bridge up ahead. Maybe if I fooled him to follow me over it...

"Ratchet, watch out!" I could hear Clank call out in panic and I turn my head around to look behind me, causing me to trip over my own feet as a fire ball lands just beside me. I turn around completely, and can only watch the monster get closer to me, my eyes growing as wide as they possibly can. O-oh sh-

"GRAAAH!" Something hits the monster from the back and as it turns around in anger, Clank backs away with one of his weapons in hand. The monster begins to follow him, but I can't allow that! I have to get to the bridge!

Still shaking like mad, I am somehow able to get on my feet again and I run over the bridge, throwing two more balls as I make harsh turn, then watching as the small robots run towards the creature and explode on him, taking turns. It turns to face me and begins to move in my direction once more, while I take stressed steps backwards, hoping it will stay down with the bridge. My feet crumble under me and I stare at the monster get closer and closer, stepping on the bridge that falls under it. The monster growls in agony, flailing its arms around as it tries in vain to escape from sinking into the lava. I watch with wide eyes as its whole body sinks into the burning hot liquid, its head soon disappearing from sight. For what feels like forever, I stare at the bubbles that formed in the lava, not even noticing when Clank had ran over to me. Only when he placed his hand on my shoulder, calling my name, I looked at him with shock.

"Ratchet! Are you alright! What on earth were you thinking! You could have...! You... Ugh..." He fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around me, hugging me tightly. "I am going t blow a circuit one of these days because of you..." He let out a soft chuckle, soon pulling away from and quickly inspecting our surroundings. "Let's leave this place, Ratchet. I spotted an exit." He stood up, holding out a hand for me, which I took while still shaking. He helped me back on my feet, leading me into a much safer spot with a calm pace. It felt like my knees were jelly, so I couldn't move fast at all.

There was some kind of a room, or maybe a garage in the cave, so once we were well inside and far away from the lava, I let go of Clank's hand and sat down with a loud thud. He turned to look at me in worry, placing his hand carefully on my forehead. "Are you alright...? Are you hurt anywhere...?" I was, but I shook my head, looking down at the floor. "I see." It sounded like he didn't really believe me, but there was little to do about it, though. We had nothing left. "There is a ship in here. Judging by the symbol on the side of it, it would appear to belong to Qwark. Hmm. Why would he leave it behind though?" I could hear Clank walking away from me, probably going to take a look at the ship. Qwark's ship. I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists. Qwark. "Could it be nonfunctional? But it looks-"

"Aaaargh!" Something in me just snapped and I stood up angrily, grabbed my wrench and threw it on the floor. It bounced once with a heavy klang-sound and I clenched my fists tightly, pressing them against my temples. I was just so fed up and angry over this all. "I hate you! I hate you I hate you IhateyouIHATEYOU!" I cried out, while crying. I stomped over to my wrench and took a strong hold of it with both of my hands, hitting the ground repeatedly with it. Between my growls and sobs, I yelled at him. That... That traitor! "You were supposed to be a hero! I looked up to you!" Everything just disappeared from around me. There was nothing but the hurt inside of me. Why was it like this? A man who was supposed to save people, was siding with a guy who cared little to nothing if he killed others in his way... Was he always like that after all? Was he always so selfish and rotten? I can't believe it!

"Ratchet-"

"I HATE YOU!" Before I knew what I was doing, I swung my wrench towards the voice that had called me and not too long after, my ears sunk nearly far enough to touch my back. I dropped my wrench on the ground as I watched Clank stagger backwards from the impact that was caused by me. "C-Clank, n-no! I-I'm sorry...! I'I-m so, so, SO sorry! I-I d-didn't mean to hit you!" I panicked, beginning to shiver again while I tried to see if I made any actual damage to him. "I-I'm just r-really mad a-and I just c-couldn't control myself a-and-"

"RATCHET." Clank raised his voice a bit as he slowly turned to look at me straight in the eyes (as his head had turned due to the hit) and oddly... I couldn't really see anger in his gaze. It was... Calm. Worried, too, sure, but mostly calm. "Take a deep breath now. Just calm down." He placed his hand on my cheek, wiping some of the tears that he possibly could. I took deep breaths and pushed his hand away as I used the back of my gloves to wipe my face. Not much else to use for it anyway. I still couldn't hold back some of my sobs, though... "I... Understand. What Qwark did, it... It is not easy on either of us. I always believed him to have the best intentions on the behalf of everyone. Of course he was egoistic and quite... Narcissistic, but he would still aid those in need in the name of being a hero." He explained and I watched him silently, noticing the light in his eyes dim. "I would never have assumed him to choose his own arrogant wishes over the lives of innocents... I suppose I should have seen it coming, but I was completely oblivious to it..." He looked down with a guilty look on his face, which I didn't really understand. He wasn't blaming himself, was he...?

"Y-you... It's not your fault, though." I pointed out and he gave me a weak smile.

"Perhaps. I may not be guilty for his actions, but not noticing them is something I cannot really forgive myself." He said, looking back up at me, now much more worried. "Right now, Qwark is working for Drek and the others have possibly been taken away. There is no telling what will happen to them, but at this moment, you and I are the only ones who know what Qwark is really up to. I do not know how easy it will be to contact the president now and whether or not we can receive more help, so we are the only ones to go up against them." His tone grew more and more serious the further he explained on. It was making me nervous, yet I knew that this was as serious as he was putting it. "I know this is very difficult on you, considering you are but a child and I will not blame you for your tantrums, tears or frights. Still, I want to make sure you are up for this. We only have each other right now and I have no foresight on what could possibly happen to us from now on. I am... Sorry to lecture you like this, at a moment such as this no less..." He placed his hand on my head, lightly petting me. "...but I want you to understand how serious this is. If you feel in any way that you are not capable of this, I will not force you. We will figure out what to do with you so you will be safe. But if you are to go through with this..." His gaze dropped down on the wrench that lay on the ground. He picked it up, holding it in front of me. "You need to be strong and brave. We both need to be. No matter what comes in our way, we cannot let another Blargian Snagglebeast surprise us like that."

"Is that what the monster was...?" I asked, a bit surprised it had an actual name.

Clank nodded. "It is hard to say what else awaits us in the future, but we must make sure there will not be another danger to surprise us like that." The glow in his eyes darkened. "I am very proud of what you did. You were frightened, but you pulled through. It was a rather close call on the case of both of us, so if you are not up for something like that or perhaps even worse, this might be the last chance to turn away..." I swallowed nervously, watching him in silence for a little while. Hearing Clank talk in such way was pretty freaky, but it's not like I didn't get him. He was right.

My gaze dropped down onto my wrench, but all I could do was to stare at it. "You're... Giving me options? You're not saying I can't go...?" I shyly looked back up to him.

He shook his head with a weak smile. "I think you have proven yourself to be capable of many things. You get afraid and you get hurt, so I worry. I do not wish anything bad to happen to you, but by this point... I doubt I can do this alone."

I stare at him in surprise and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little bit flattered by his words. After another silent moment, I look at the wrench again and take a hold of it, then giving Clank a slightly shaky smile. "Thanks. For believing in me." He let go of the wrench and I calmly placed it on my back to hang from the magnet. "I'll... Do my best not to lose myself like this again..." I grinned nervously, to which he chuckled.

"You are free to let out some steam if you see it fit. Despite your situation at the beginning of the battle with the Snagglebeast, you made it through and only lost it when the fight was over." Clank patted my shoulder, giving me a rather proud smile, I think. "That is the beginning of a good hero if I ever saw one." He stated, turning away to head towards the ship to probably see if it was working or not. I stood behind, watching after him in surprise. My head was a complete mess right now.

I was still very mad at Qwark for betraying us and I would definitely get back at him for what he did. He would not get away with almost getting us killed. I was also scared, because I had never come across monsters like that, but... Clank didn't scold me for being afraid. He was not angry at me for my... Moment. It made me kind of happy, which just made my head even messier.

"Ratchet." Clank then called out and I looked around to spot him, then noticing he was up in the ship. "The ship is still functional. We can use it to leave this place and hopefully find out where Drek and Qwark are." He explained, giving me then a very comforting smile. "There might be a long way ahead of us, so if you want, you are free to open your heart about this whole matter. I would not want this whole ordeal to burden you."

I gave him a happy grin before bolting towards the ship and hopping towards the cockpit, causing Clank to quickly grab my hands in panic as my leap was just a little bit short. "Let's find those bastards and show them what we've got!" I let out a small snarl as I thought about them, but tried my best to hold on to my grin.

"Watch your language, or I will let go." Clank threatened, narrowing his eyes a little, but I could still see he was joking. I hoped anyway.

"You wouldn't, though." I stuck out my tongue and he leered, pulling me up in to the ship.

He closed the hatch and started the ship once we took our seats and not too long after, we were flying away from the headquarters as there really wasn't anything else we could do there. We wondered what was the next thing we should do, as we had no clues or no crew to help us forward, but that wasn't going to stop us from teaching a lesson to those villains. We would find them, no matter what.

Description
How could he? WHY would he?! That's not the Captain Qwark I know! That's not the hero I want to be!

"Agh!" The air left my lungs when I hit the ground and it hurts so bad. I tried gasping for air, but it felt like none of it would come through. I wanted to cry.

"Ratchet!" Clank cried out, running to me. Lucky him, he doesn't have lungs. He watches me with such worried eyes, before looking away with an angry glare. "Qwark! How could you!" He scolded the captain while holding my hand and placing a hand on my forehead. It was comforting, but... It still hurt. Everywhere, because of the fall and because of Qwark.

"Don't act so surprised." Qwark stood above us on the platform we had fallen from, but I could not see him. My vision was pretty hazy and I just couldn't concentrate on much else but trying to learn to breathe again. "It was always about this. It was always about me."

I could somewhat see Clank open his mouth for a bit, but could not say anything. He tightened his grip around my hand. He was pretty silent for awhile. "After all this time, you are just going to abandon us? After all we have done to you? What about Al, and Helga? Do they mean nothing to you?"

"Of course they do." Qwark snorted, from what I could hear. I was finally able to breathe somewhat, although it still hurt badly. Even though Clank didn't look at me, he began to pet my head as I let out weak whimpers. "You've all helped me get this far, but you're getting in my way. I can't afford that." From what I could see, he took out some monitor thingy and pressed something on it, I assumed. "I've missed my baby, though. I might as well go and pay them a visit while I'm at it."

"What are you going to do to them!" Clank cried out, sounding angry and worried at the same time.

"They may as well come with me and witness my glorious role in person. I always liked those two better, anyway. They don't question things like you do." Those words seemed to hurt Clank, as he hunched back slightly in his place, his hand shaking a little bit as he held on to me. I was finally able to see Qwark much clearer now and I could see the smug grin on his face; he had little to no remorse. "It was nice knowing you, though. No hard feelings, right?" He shrugged as he pressed something on the monitor and then a loud growl filled the whole cave. What... What was it...?

"Captain!" Clank cried out, sounding desperate, but still angry. "You seriously are not going to-!"

"Bye. Clank." Qwark emphasized both work in a very annoying way and with that, he walked off. I had no clue where he went, but what I understood, he was going to leave the planet with the other and lea-

He... He was leaving us behind...?

"Ratchet!" Clank called out to me and I looked at him in shock, not really understanding how Qwark could do this to us. He was supposed to be the hero... "Ratchet, please, can you move?" Another roar followed.

"I-it hurts..." I complained. I couldn't move, I... I was frozen...

"Oh, no..." Clank looked away from in panic, not really sure what to do.

"W-what it is...?" I asked nervously, still not being able to spot what he saw.

"It's alright." He smiled in complete panic. "Just... Just stay here and... I'll be back for you. I'll protect you." He let go of my hand and stood up, which made me shiver.

"W-where you going? C-Clank?!" I tried to reach him, but I was paralyzed, especially when I saw what Clank ran towards to.

"RAAAAAAAAAAWRGH!" The loud roar made the ground grumble, even more so when a huge, green monster shot fire at Clank, while he tried his best to dodge the attacks as he was shooting the beast. He was trying to get the monster to move away from me!

"C-Clank...!" I tried to cry out, but my whole body was shivering, preventing me from using my voice properly. W-why can't I get up!

The monster followed Clank around pretty eagerly, but he managed to avoid his attacks just barely. It was difficult to see much from my spot anymore, although it did look like he was leading it to a bridge, maybe...? I could see lava flow next to the bridge and- W-wait... Why did I only notice it now that there was lava around us?!

Not long after, the beast stepped onto the bridge and it collapsed, the monster falling into the lava as well. Yes! That was pretty eas-

"RUAAAARGH!" It growled as it jumped back on the ground, lava dripping everywhere and Clank trying his best to avoid any dropping on him, tripping in the progress.

"N-no...!" I tried to call out, watching helplessly as Clank tried to get away. Growling to myself, I forced myself on my stomach, trying hopelessly to reach out to him, even though I knew I could do little to nothing at this point.

I was just... I was just so weak and... Scared... What could we do at this point? Qwark betrayed us and abandoned us to fight off a monster that cares nothing about the lava that surrounds us! We're just.. We're just doomed...

Doomed.

My ears perked up at the realization that I just had. I looked at my hand with hope. The Glove of Doom. Maybe I could use it to help Clank?

I made the hand gesture that Al had taught me since it didn't require me to move the rest of my body so much and I was able to drop a ball from the glove, which rolled forward for a short while before four small robots formed from it and began to look around as if they were dogs. "Whoa." I blinked in awe and the robots looked at me, as if they were waiting for orders. There was no time to be amazed! "Go! Destroy that stupid monster!" I pointed at the growling beast and the robots turned to face it, sprinting towards it with amazing speed. They hurled themselves at the beast and exploded, which distracted the monster as it turned around with a loud growl, trying to search for whoever, or whatever just hurt it. Clank took this opportunity to get on his feet and take distance, beginning to shoot it again, gaining its attention.

I threw another ball, four more robots forming and running towards the beast, making it confused again. Yes! I could do something at least to help Clank out! Thanks little guys, I really appreciate your help!

Clank was able to trick the creature onto another bridge, making it fall into the lava again, which did seem to hurt him a bit. It was getting slightly slower, although angrier. Just as I was about to release another doom ball, I could hear a few faint clicks coming from Clank's direction. I looked over in fear; he ran out of ammo from his blaster. Just as he was about to change his weapon, the monster was able to slam him, sending him and the weapons flying in the air. "C-Clank!" I shouted, watching him land on the ground, his weapons dropping nowhere near him. He had no protection...!

Panicking, I threw two balls and thankfully, there were now eight robots that wanted to have a go at the creature. They exploded into it one by one, but this time, it was able to turn around soon enough to spot where they were coming from. I could feel a chill run down my spine as it was clearly staring right at me, obviously pretty angry and wanting me dead.

I-I can't even move my hand...

"Ratchet!" Clank yelled, filled with panic. He got up, from what I could see with my side vision, running towards the beast, but he would never make it here. He was too far away and the beast was s-so, so close.

Shaking all over, I forced myself up, stumbling around as I was somehow able to get on my feet to run away, although I was almost hit by a few fireballs that I was being fired with. There was one more bridge up ahead. Maybe if I fooled him to follow me over it...

"Ratchet, watch out!" I could hear Clank call out in panic and I turn my head around to look behind me, causing me to trip over my own feet as a fire ball lands just beside me. I turn around completely, and can only watch the monster get closer to me, my eyes growing as wide as they possibly can. O-oh sh-

"GRAAAH!" Something hits the monster from the back and as it turns around in anger, Clank backs away with one of his weapons in hand. The monster begins to follow him, but I can't allow that! I have to get to the bridge!

Still shaking like mad, I am somehow able to get on my feet again and I run over the bridge, throwing two more balls as I make harsh turn, then watching as the small robots run towards the creature and explode on him, taking turns. It turns to face me and begins to move in my direction once more, while I take stressed steps backwards, hoping it will stay down with the bridge. My feet crumble under me and I stare at the monster get closer and closer, stepping on the bridge that falls under it. The monster growls in agony, flailing its arms around as it tries in vain to escape from sinking into the lava. I watch with wide eyes as its whole body sinks into the burning hot liquid, its head soon disappearing from sight. For what feels like forever, I stare at the bubbles that formed in the lava, not even noticing when Clank had ran over to me. Only when he placed his hand on my shoulder, calling my name, I looked at him with shock.

"Ratchet! Are you alright! What on earth were you thinking! You could have...! You... Ugh..." He fell to his knees and wrapped his arms around me, hugging me tightly. "I am going t blow a circuit one of these days because of you..." He let out a soft chuckle, soon pulling away from and quickly inspecting our surroundings. "Let's leave this place, Ratchet. I spotted an exit." He stood up, holding out a hand for me, which I took while still shaking. He helped me back on my feet, leading me into a much safer spot with a calm pace. It felt like my knees were jelly, so I couldn't move fast at all.

There was some kind of a room, or maybe a garage in the cave, so once we were well inside and far away from the lava, I let go of Clank's hand and sat down with a loud thud. He turned to look at me in worry, placing his hand carefully on my forehead. "Are you alright...? Are you hurt anywhere...?" I was, but I shook my head, looking down at the floor. "I see." It sounded like he didn't really believe me, but there was little to do about it, though. We had nothing left. "There is a ship in here. Judging by the symbol on the side of it, it would appear to belong to Qwark. Hmm. Why would he leave it behind though?" I could hear Clank walking away from me, probably going to take a look at the ship. Qwark's ship. I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists. Qwark. "Could it be nonfunctional? But it looks-"

"Aaaargh!" Something in me just snapped and I stood up angrily, grabbed my wrench and threw it on the floor. It bounced once with a heavy klang-sound and I clenched my fists tightly, pressing them against my temples. I was just so fed up and angry over this all. "I hate you! I hate you I hate you IhateyouIHATEYOU!" I cried out, while crying. I stomped over to my wrench and took a strong hold of it with both of my hands, hitting the ground repeatedly with it. Between my growls and sobs, I yelled at him. That... That traitor! "You were supposed to be a hero! I looked up to you!" Everything just disappeared from around me. There was nothing but the hurt inside of me. Why was it like this? A man who was supposed to save people, was siding with a guy who cared little to nothing if he killed others in his way... Was he always like that after all? Was he always so selfish and rotten? I can't believe it!

"Ratchet-"

"I HATE YOU!" Before I knew what I was doing, I swung my wrench towards the voice that had called me and not too long after, my ears sunk nearly far enough to touch my back. I dropped my wrench on the ground as I watched Clank stagger backwards from the impact that was caused by me. "C-Clank, n-no! I-I'm sorry...! I'I-m so, so, SO sorry! I-I d-didn't mean to hit you!" I panicked, beginning to shiver again while I tried to see if I made any actual damage to him. "I-I'm just r-really mad a-and I just c-couldn't control myself a-and-"

"RATCHET." Clank raised his voice a bit as he slowly turned to look at me straight in the eyes (as his head had turned due to the hit) and oddly... I couldn't really see anger in his gaze. It was... Calm. Worried, too, sure, but mostly calm. "Take a deep breath now. Just calm down." He placed his hand on my cheek, wiping some of the tears that he possibly could. I took deep breaths and pushed his hand away as I used the back of my gloves to wipe my face. Not much else to use for it anyway. I still couldn't hold back some of my sobs, though... "I... Understand. What Qwark did, it... It is not easy on either of us. I always believed him to have the best intentions on the behalf of everyone. Of course he was egoistic and quite... Narcissistic, but he would still aid those in need in the name of being a hero." He explained and I watched him silently, noticing the light in his eyes dim. "I would never have assumed him to choose his own arrogant wishes over the lives of innocents... I suppose I should have seen it coming, but I was completely oblivious to it..." He looked down with a guilty look on his face, which I didn't really understand. He wasn't blaming himself, was he...?

"Y-you... It's not your fault, though." I pointed out and he gave me a weak smile.

"Perhaps. I may not be guilty for his actions, but not noticing them is something I cannot really forgive myself." He said, looking back up at me, now much more worried. "Right now, Qwark is working for Drek and the others have possibly been taken away. There is no telling what will happen to them, but at this moment, you and I are the only ones who know what Qwark is really up to. I do not know how easy it will be to contact the president now and whether or not we can receive more help, so we are the only ones to go up against them." His tone grew more and more serious the further he explained on. It was making me nervous, yet I knew that this was as serious as he was putting it. "I know this is very difficult on you, considering you are but a child and I will not blame you for your tantrums, tears or frights. Still, I want to make sure you are up for this. We only have each other right now and I have no foresight on what could possibly happen to us from now on. I am... Sorry to lecture you like this, at a moment such as this no less..." He placed his hand on my head, lightly petting me. "...but I want you to understand how serious this is. If you feel in any way that you are not capable of this, I will not force you. We will figure out what to do with you so you will be safe. But if you are to go through with this..." His gaze dropped down on the wrench that lay on the ground. He picked it up, holding it in front of me. "You need to be strong and brave. We both need to be. No matter what comes in our way, we cannot let another Blargian Snagglebeast surprise us like that."

"Is that what the monster was...?" I asked, a bit surprised it had an actual name.

Clank nodded. "It is hard to say what else awaits us in the future, but we must make sure there will not be another danger to surprise us like that." The glow in his eyes darkened. "I am very proud of what you did. You were frightened, but you pulled through. It was a rather close call on the case of both of us, so if you are not up for something like that or perhaps even worse, this might be the last chance to turn away..." I swallowed nervously, watching him in silence for a little while. Hearing Clank talk in such way was pretty freaky, but it's not like I didn't get him. He was right.

My gaze dropped down onto my wrench, but all I could do was to stare at it. "You're... Giving me options? You're not saying I can't go...?" I shyly looked back up to him.

He shook his head with a weak smile. "I think you have proven yourself to be capable of many things. You get afraid and you get hurt, so I worry. I do not wish anything bad to happen to you, but by this point... I doubt I can do this alone."

I stare at him in surprise and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little bit flattered by his words. After another silent moment, I look at the wrench again and take a hold of it, then giving Clank a slightly shaky smile. "Thanks. For believing in me." He let go of the wrench and I calmly placed it on my back to hang from the magnet. "I'll... Do my best not to lose myself like this again..." I grinned nervously, to which he chuckled.

"You are free to let out some steam if you see it fit. Despite your situation at the beginning of the battle with the Snagglebeast, you made it through and only lost it when the fight was over." Clank patted my shoulder, giving me a rather proud smile, I think. "That is the beginning of a good hero if I ever saw one." He stated, turning away to head towards the ship to probably see if it was working or not. I stood behind, watching after him in surprise. My head was a complete mess right now.

I was still very mad at Qwark for betraying us and I would definitely get back at him for what he did. He would not get away with almost getting us killed. I was also scared, because I had never come across monsters like that, but... Clank didn't scold me for being afraid. He was not angry at me for my... Moment. It made me kind of happy, which just made my head even messier.

"Ratchet." Clank then called out and I looked around to spot him, then noticing he was up in the ship. "The ship is still functional. We can use it to leave this place and hopefully find out where Drek and Qwark are." He explained, giving me then a very comforting smile. "There might be a long way ahead of us, so if you want, you are free to open your heart about this whole matter. I would not want this whole ordeal to burden you."

I gave him a happy grin before bolting towards the ship and hopping towards the cockpit, causing Clank to quickly grab my hands in panic as my leap was just a little bit short. "Let's find those bastards and show them what we've got!" I let out a small snarl as I thought about them, but tried my best to hold on to my grin.

"Watch your language, or I will let go." Clank threatened, narrowing his eyes a little, but I could still see he was joking. I hoped anyway.

"You wouldn't, though." I stuck out my tongue and he leered, pulling me up in to the ship.

He closed the hatch and started the ship once we took our seats and not too long after, we were flying away from the headquarters as there really wasn't anything else we could do there. We wondered what was the next thing we should do, as we had no clues or no crew to help us forward, but that wasn't going to stop us from teaching a lesson to those villains. We would find them, no matter what.