The ship's engined hummed lightly as it cruised through space towards Nebula G34. Scrap metal, wiring, circuitry, entire hallways in pieces, floated around the area, almost like a destroyed puzzle. Buildings torn apart in a uniform fashion, the singed edges of the pieces coming together in ones mind. (Y/n)'s eyes scanned over the former laboratory as Ratchet's ship weaved through the wreckage, like a snake in a forest. "Man, déja vú has been hitting hard lately." Ratchet said eyeing two moderately large pieces of a roof ricocheting off each other, crumbling to smaller pieces as they glided off in two different directions. Was there really anything for them to find here?

The ship slowed to a halt before Ratchet pulled up his protosuit's helmet. "There's nowhere to land, we'll have to leave the ship here in order to investigate." Ratchet said adjusting his gloves. Although the ship was at risk here there'd be less of a chance for it to smash against some random debris. "Hey, I got you your own protosuit." Ratchet pulled out a small chip and handed it to (Y/n). "Figured you'd need it considering we're going into space." Ratchet added as (Y/n) took the chip and inspected the small circuit. The burgundy Lombax held it to his Omnilance and his weapon absorbed the chip. A second later and (Y/n) was wearing his own protosuit.

"Thanks, now let's go." (Y/n) said grabbing his Omnilance. Ratchet nodded and pressed a button on the dashboard. The roof of the cockpit opened up and the two floated out into the space above the ship. (Y/n) grabbed Ratchets paw and pointed his Omnilance towards a largely intact building. The lance began to pull them towards the large building that had basically been swiss cheese by this point. (Y/n) manuevered around the floating debris with ease. Each obstacle had become nothing more than a minor inconvenience. It wasn't long before they both reached the cylindric chamber filled with destroyed screens and ripped apart wires.

The two magnetized and their boots gravitated toward the floor. A few pieces at the edge of the building suddenly crumbled away. "Come on, this place is falling apart by the second, let's get whatever we can find and get out of here." (Y/n) said walking towards the nearest console. The burgundy lombax stopped in front of the console and tapped the cracked screen attached to it. The screen stuttered to life, displaying a Drek Industries symbol occasionally glitching here and there.

"I'm surprised this thing is still working considering what happened." Ratchet said eyeing the console screen in mild surprise. "Yeah well it's probably not gonna be working in a few minutes so let's not waste any time." (Y/n) said putting his index and middle digits up to his right ear. "Clank where could we find secret information on any projects Drek had been working on?" The burgundy lombax asked scrolling through the various folders that appeared on screen after the console had loaded up.

"Drek is cunning and a strategic expert. There's probably an encrypted file with an inconspicuous name." Clank responded over the comms. (Y/n) suddenly scrolled onto a folder with a large icon reading in big bold letters "TOP SECRET". "Or it's going to be on the most conspicuous and largest folder in the lab because Drek was obviously not the brains of his operation." Ratchet joked scratching his left temple with a frown. (Y/n) smirked with a small chuckle before tapping the folder icon. The icon disappeared and several tabs appeared. One tab read Snagglebeast, the second tab read Deplanetizer, and the third tab didn't have a title.

"Snagglebeast?" (Y/n) asked raising a brow. He turned to look at Ratchet. "Certainly not one of Drek's brightest ideas. It was also an attempt at Qwark to try and get rid of me because I was stealing all his fame at the time. The beast is dead and the Deplanetizer destroyed. I doubt the first two tabs will help us with anything." Ratchet explained shrugging his shoulders. (Y/n) turned his head back towards the console and tapped the third tab. Out of nowhere the console let out a huge screeching noise and the screen exploded, launching the shattered glass at the two.

"Look out!" Ratchet tackled (Y/n) to the fround just in time for the shards to embed themselves into the wall behind the two. "Phew, you okay?" Ratchet asked turning his head to face (Y/n)'s own. "Yeah I'm fine. Just caught off gaurd." The burgundy lombax said as Ratchet stood up and offered his paw to him. (Y/n) grabbed Ratchet's paw and was pulled to his feet. "Well looks like we won't be needing the console anymore." (Y/n) said taking out his Omnilance. "Hey what are you doing?" Ratchet asked taking a cautious step forward. "Our mission is to gather intel." (Y/n) said forcing his weapon into a panel lid and forcing it open, revealing a whole mess of wires and circuits. "And the console is broken so we need to take the storage with us back to base."

(Y/n) put away his weapon and got on his paws and knees reaching in to the panel. "Are you sure any of that is going to be salvageable? If the console exploded wouldn't that mean everything else would be lost too?" Ratchet asked. Suddenly a clink sound could be heard as (Y/n)'s digits bumped into something. The burgundy lombax grabbed whatever it was and pulled as hard as he could. After a few seconds of struggling he pulled out a small black USB. There was small lettering on the small hard drive but it seemed to be in a different language.

"Hmm looks like we have something. Though I can't seem to make out what these words are." (Y/n) said eyeing the small gear like letters. Ratchet's ear twitched and he suddenly recognized the letters. "Hey, lemme see that." Ratchet said as (Y/n) handed him the hard drive. "This says "History". I recognize the letters from the shops in Aleero City. What does it mean by History though?" Ratchet asked with a raised brow turning the USB over in his paw. "Do you know of any shop keepers who could own anything with this language on it?" (Y/n) asked knowing Ratchet was more learned about the local areas of Aleero City. "I know exactly who." Ratchet said with a smirk. "Clank we're on our way back, get ready to decipher some info."

With Ratchets knowledge of the shop owners in Aleero City, there was only one easy choice when it came to who would know of a random language used on products. In a medium sized windowless hall like shop, a man was working on a small propeller attached to a model drone. The door to his shop opened and the two Lombax's walked in. "Oh Ratchet, long time no see. Who's your friend?" The man asked putting away the drone. "Hey Big Al, this is (Y/n). We were hoping if you could tell us the name of a language." Ratchet said as (Y/n) waved at the shop keeper.

"Why of course, what does the language look or sound like?" Big Al asked with a smile on his face. "It's the gears that can be found on the holocards that you sell in your shop." Ratchet responded. "Oh that language, well in reality it's just simply a written cypher. I don't know how to speak the language in it's original form but I do know the name. It's called Lombax." Big Al said almost expecting some big special effect to appear behind him.

Ratchet simply put his paw to his forehead. (Y/n) blinked, dumbfounded at the new information they just recieved. "And you didn't think to tell me about this the first time we met?" Ratchet asked restraining himself from smacking the guy with his Omniwrench. "Well you didn't ask about it, and when I remembered that it'd probably be impirtant for you to know, you ran off to save the galaxy." Big Al responded unflinching towards Ratchet's annoyed state. "Well, thank you for the info but we have something really important to get to. Bye!" (Y/n) said grabbing Ratchet's paw and dragging him out of the shop before some shit went down. "Oh well by then, come back soon." Big Al called. Not that they were likely to return anyway.

Arriving at the Hall of Heroes, Ratchet and (Y/n) quickly walked inside and searched for Elaris' lab. They found the door and it slid open upon sensing their movement. Elaris and Clank turned around to see the two walk in. "So, what are we deciphering?" Elaris asked looking down at the two due to how tall she was. (Y/n) held up the hard drive. "This USB is all that we could salvage from the wreckage. It's in Lombax and as ironic as it is, neither of us speak it fluently, let alone at all." The burgundy lombax explained as Elaris took the hard drive. "Do not worry, Elaris and I will come up with a cypher in no time for you two. After, we are done translating all the info on the drive." Clank said gesturing to himself and Elaris.

"Anything we should do to help out?" Ratchet asked. "Don't worry, we've got this. You two can go take a break, you've earned it after pulling this off." Elaris said with a smile. "We were just getting information." (Y/n) said a little confused. "Yeah, from an almost completely destroyed lab that nearly skewered us with glass." Ratchet said stifling a chuckle. "I guess you're right." They turned toward the door and walked out of the lab as it closed behind them. "Oh, and Ratchet, the thing you asked for is ready now." Clank said through the private comms. Their protosuits dematerialized and they were wearing their normal clothing. "I suppose it's back to our rooms now." (Y/n) said followed by a yawn. Ratchet smirked and grabbed (Y/n)'s paw. "Not yet it's not!" Ratchet said pulling him down the hall. "H-hey! What are you doing?!" (Y/n) asked shocked at the sudden turn in Ratchet's mood.

Ratchet dragged (Y/n) down the hall until they reached a side door to the building. "Could you at least tell me where we're going?!" They rushed through it, grinding to a halt as the door opened revealing a small round table with two chairs, a few candles, and two plates with well done steak and mashed potato's. (Y/n)'s eyes widened. "Ratchet? What's all this?" The burgundy lombax asked as he eyed the table. "It's me saying thank you for being there for me when I was under house arrest." Ratchet said going up to the chair on the right, pulling it from under the table and smiling warmly at (Y/n). (Y/n) chuckled, "I'm pretty sure being crippled and house arrest are two very different things." (Y/n) said as he walked over and sat down in the chair.

"Different circumstances same end." Ratchet retorted sitting in the chair across from (Y/n). The sun was setting and the food was still steaming. "So, shall we eat?" Ratchet asked grabbing his knife and fork. (Y/n) smiled, "We shall." The two Lombax's began digging into their food. (Y/n)'s eyed widened again. "This is surprisingly delicious. I thought this place only had meatloaf?" The burgundy lombax asked in confusion and surprise. "Well that's because I cooked it myself." Ratchet said with a confident smile. (Y/n) looked at him with a brow raised and a smirk. "... The kitchen is out of order isn't it?" The lombax asked taking another bite of the steak. "It's getting repaired next week." Ratchet said rubbing his right boot against the ground.

The two laughed with each other and continued to eat their meals. Two hours had passed, their plates were clean of food, their bellies full, and the candles almost burned out. "Thank you for this dinner. It's been a while since I've been able to do something like this with someone." (Y/n) said looking into Ratchet's eyes, his face and smile being illumunated by what little flame the candles had left. "Yeah, it was fun to be alone with you. Even if we have to get straight back to work tomorrow." Ratchet chuckled staring back at (Y/n). "You know, someday, I'm gonna take you out on a cruise through the stars." Ratchet added waving his paw in an arc towards the sky. "Hehe, I'll hold you to it." (Y/n) chuckled as their faces drew closer. The two closed the distance and shared a single kiss before rubbing their foreheads together. "I love you." (Y/n) purred. "I love you to." Ratchet responded as he took (Y/n)'s paw into his own. If only moments like this could last forever.