Ratchet

Ratchet is a lombax; very famous and successful as an intergalactic hero, along with his best friend Clank (who is usually seen on Ratchet's back). He and his robotic companion are often at the scene of galactic chaos led on by notorious supervillians such as Dr Nefarious, Emperor Tachyon and the like!
Biography

"You traitor! Do you think this is some kind of GAME?!
~Ratchet shouting at Ace during their first encounter.

Ratchet had a rough start to life, much like Ace did.
During tough times in his early life, his mother tried to flee a big war in the Polaris galaxy, involving the evil emperor Tachyon and the Lombaxes. Unfortunately, she was killed by tachyons forces. His father, Kaden, was there to find her... but luckily Ratchet was safe and sound. And  so Kaden took Ratchet and sent him to another galaxy, to a safe place away from the raging war in the Polaris galaxy.
Ratchet was saved but was left orphaned from that point on after being left without his father. His father sent him to Planet Veldin, a planet similar to Fastoon and from there, Ratchet was brought up in the care of a local orphanage.

Ratchet grew up on Veldin, completely unknown to where he hadcame from, and who his true parents were... the only thing he knew about himself, was that he was a lombax. 'Ratchet' isn't even his true name, but a name that one of his caregivers of Veldin gave him, but he didn't mind it. He wasn't really inspired to be a hero at this early time of his life. He often watched Holovision shows and saw famous heroes on TV, such as Captain Qwark and even Ace Hardlight and the Sonic 7. He became fond of them, and even had posters on his room walls with some of the heroes. But he cared more about building vehicles and gadgets, and was surprisingly good at it for his age.

He became independent as he grew, and was already living alone when he was around 15 years old. There weren't much dangers on Veldin during these days, so it was nothing unusual. He began building his own Spaceship at this age, and it wasn't long until he finally met Clank. Clank helps him finish off his Spaceship and this is when Ratchet's road to becoming a hero begins...

An Intergalactic Hero

From that day on, Ratchet and Clank helped each other on their quest to stop Drek, at first though Ratchet didn't care much about being a hero and he and Clank didn't get along well during part of their quest - at least until he becomes inspired and enjoys fighting evil alongside Clank. Even up until the point in which they defeat Chairman Drek! Saving the Solana Galaxy and his home planet, Veldin.
Ratchet was now famous and well liked, and he never looked back at being an ordinary citizen again. He and Clank went on many adventures from then on, saving the Bogon Galaxy from the protopet invasion with the help of Angela Cross, saving the Solana galaxy again after defeating Dr Nefarious, after Qwark's attempt failed. And then eventually... he is captured by DreadZone bots without much of a warning...

Imprisoned at DreadZone...

Ratchet is captured, along with Clank and one of his other friends, Big Al. Ratchet at first, doesn't seem to mind the DreadZone challenges, as he found them to be very fun and somewhat easy. But Clank reminds him that they're prisoners, and that many other heroes have been killed here. After Ratchet sees a newscast about last seasons hero deaths, he is somewhat stunned to see that Ace Hardlight was the 5 time grand champion and that he was responsible for the many hero deaths. Ratchet remembers that Ace was once a famous hero that disappeared years ago when he was still a kid, but finds it a bit hard to believe that a hero would kill others for fame and money. Ace comes out of nowhere, and tells Ratchet and Clank that he doesn't kill heroes for money, but for fun. This angers Ratchet and he argues with Ace, which only causes Ace to smirk and give threats, leaving Ratchet standing there, still angered and puzzled about why Ace had chosen to be the way he is. Ratchet spends more time at DreadZone and is quick to become a big hit, earning lots of dreadpoints and becoming very popular, even more than Ace Hardlight ever was at DreadZone. he even manages to destroy the other Exterminators, who Ace was the Captain of at that time. But after he defeats the Eviscerator, he rushes back to Clank and Al, as they finally found a way to remove the deadlock collars! But their hype is short lived once Ace caught Al taking off Clanks collar and he shoots him! Al seemed to be dead instantly, after he let off a scream of pain. Ratchet is shocked to see this and he tries to grab a nearby weapon to fire back at Ace, but Ace had the deadlock collar remote and he uses it to deliver a very painful shock around Ratchet's neck, causing the Lombax to gasp in agony, luckily not killing him. He gives a death threat to Ace Hardlight, who Ace simply laughs off and leaves the scene. And now, Ratchet was furious...

Ratchet was now near the top of the leaderboard though, after going through more challenges and was loved by many fans, all except Vox, Dallas and Juanita, who still supported Hardlight and always slandered Ratchet and Clank on Vox news, hoping to drown down Ratchets popularity. They tried all they could to slander, bash and flame Ratchet's name on the Holovision channel with lies and speculations, but their efforts fail and Ratchet still remains popular, while Ace quickly becomes even more unpopular with fans. Ace is now very frustrated, and it was time for Ratchet to come face to face with him, at the battledome...

A Fight for Justice

Ratchet and Ace finally come face to face, and it's a fierce fight. Hardlight spits out many arrogant and ruthless insults and taunts during the fight, while Ratchet remains silent and calm, focusing on fighting Ace, and getting revenge for him 'killing' Al. And finally after a long fight he manages to defeat Ace, after breaking some of his armor and realizing that Ace had a weakness against the Ice mods on some of his weapons. Ace refuses to give up though and even after he beats him, Ace still tries to get back onto his feet. Ratchet tells Ace to stay down and not embarrass himself, Ace argues back and then Ratchet finally tells him "You were a hero once, Ace..." this causes Ace to suddenly think back to when he was still in the Sonic 7, and he realizes... he has made a lot of mistakes. Before Ratchet leaves the battledome to be taken by the DreadZone bots, Ace tells him "Ratchet... Don't let Vox do, what he did to me... You're the real hero now..." Ratchet thinks about what he said, and he seemed to be feeling down after the fight, even though Ace had done many bad things at DreadZone... but he did once look up to him as a child.
And from then on, Ratchet had not only helped the other heroes escape DreadZone and finally put an end to Gleeman Vox, he also helped Ace by changing his life for the good, by finally defeating him and snapping him out of his murderous ways... and also allowing Ace to finally be thrown out of DreadZone by Vox, though Ratchet wasn't sure if Ace was still alive after that fight, as Vox news made up stories about his death on Holovision, which seemed somewhat odd to Ratchet, as he didn't think Ace was dying the last time he saw him.

And that is the last time Ratchet ever encounters him. Though later in his adventures he hears rumors about Hardlight being at the Zordoom Prison in the Polaris Galaxy, after he had to go there to help break out some of his new friends, imprisoned under the unfair laws of Emperor Tachyon.

Trivia
Ratchet's role in 'The Fallen Star' is rather limited, I have to say. This is really only due to the fact that this story follows along the lines of Ace's life story - not Ratchet's. And so, the only scenes where Ratchet and Clank are present is when they are at DreadZone.
But even then, Ratchet plays a very important part in getting Ace's life back on track. And so, he is not forgotten that easily... perhaps one day the lombax and verpardi will cross paths again?


Return to Characters
Return to Home