Conversations in a Railway

I own nothing...I never do... :(

This little musing was really just for fun, but it did bring about some better questions ^.^ Sorry if my spelling and grammar is wrong; its late and I'm sleepy-.- The story takes place in A4O on the railway ride to Uzo city. Enjoy.

The plumber slowly disappeared from view as the platform moved further down the pipe. Soon the railway turned a corner and the cheery alien was gone from view completely.

"Wow," sighed Ratchet, "Wonder what that meant?"

"Crazy medddeling fool; he's cryptic even when he's not giving advice!" Nefarious's voice echoed throughout the dimly lit tunnel, making Ratchet's ears twitch.

"Hey, could you at least try and keep your voice down a little? We are in an enclosed space, it's not like we're gonna have problems hearing you."

Nefarious harrumphed, but was quiet.

Observing this, Clank ever so slightly cocked his head to the side. It was an interesting development; usually Nefarious would just yell louder when Ratchet ordered him around, but the Dr seemed to be, in a way, listening the Ratchet. looking around him, the small robot seemed to sprout what he would usually associate under the category of "a relatively devious idea."

"It seems as if we might be here for a while." mused Clank. "I propose we figure out something to pass the time."

"OH, I know! We can talk about my movie: My Blaster Runs Hot!" exclaimed Qwark. "Come on, I know you want to hear all the details." The large man waggled his eyebrows, as if there was some secret really worth knowing.

Nefarious, placing a hand to his mechanical brow, mumbled: " I could have just put a bomb under his desk, but nooooooo I just HAD to get creative..."

Clank let out a diplomatic yet monotone cough. "As interesting as that sounds, I was thinking about a little...Q and A."

This, it had seemed, to get his companions attention.

"What kind of Q and A?" asked the Dr warily.

"It's simple really; mostly just passing questions and guess at what the future may hold; that is to say, if we survive this."

Raising a questioning eyebrow at his best friend, Ratchet nodded. "Alright, I'm game. Could be...interesting."

"Sounds like fun! Is there a prize at the end?" squealed Qwark as he sat down cross -legged on the ground. Clank turned to Nefarious, who was leaning coolly against a pole with his arms crossed against his chest. The evil robot rolled his eyes.

"Fine, but no inquiring about my future evil doings!"

The Lombax flinched at Nefarious's voice. "Hey, what did I say about yelling!"

"You can take your complaints and shove them up your squishy little a-"

"OK, whose going first?" asked Qwark quickly, interrupting the villain's retort.

"I think you should go Clank, since it was your idea." Ratchet seethed, still glaring at Nefarious.

"This question has been wracking my sister board for a while now, but Qwark; who is carrying out your presidential duties while you are absent?"

Qwark let out a laugh and slapped Clank on the back, nearly sending the poor bot sprawling onto the platform.

"Why, my vice president of course! Who else?"

Clank was dreading the answer to his next question, but went on regardless. "Who is...?"

"Skrunch of course!"

The robot sighed, while Ratchet face-palmed. Nefarious shook his head.

"Even if I had just rigged his desk, I would have only gotten the space monkey. How can somebody so stupid be some impossibly hard to kill?"

"I'll go next then, if nobody minds." continued Qwark. There was long silence that indicated they did not, so Qwark went on.

"Dr. Nefarious what are you planning to do with the R.Y.N.O VI schematics once we have found all of them?" It was a surprisingly conscious question coming from such an unconscious guy, but the effect it had was nonetheless unexpected. Clank had been expecting an argument(or worse) pertaining Nefarious's objection to reveal his future evil-doings. Instead, however, the Dr narrowed his eyes dangerously at the President.

"That was almost a very inconvenient question, Qwark, but it is fortunate for you that when this whole debacle blows over I intend not to put the R.Y.N.O VI to my diabolical uses."

Ratchet piped in soon enough. "Why with that thing you'd be almost impossible to beat! Not to say that me and Clank couldn't still wipe the floor with you, it would just be a lot more fu-I mean challenging."

Nefarious glared at the Lombax, who raised both hands up in surrender. "Just saying." he added, as if that would disarm the situation.

"The reasoning behind my not using the R.Y.N.O VI is simply the fact that it isn't mine."

"So let me get this right; you are an evil, diabolical mastermind who has tried to conquer to universe twice now, but you refuse to use somebody else's schematics?" questioned Clank. Nefarious waved the comment off.

"Eh, it's a matter of principle. Everything I set upon the universe I have invented and designed myself. I want no one else's name but mine mentioned when I conquer the omiverse."

Clank had to admit, as narcissistic as the reasoning sounded, it told of an underlying depth to Nefarious that he had not foreseen. An evil man, such as Nefarious claimed to be, would stop at nothing to get from point A to point B. So what type of villain sets principles? It was an interesting enigma, one that the small bot wouldn't mind delving into a bit deeper.

"What about the Great Clock? That wasn't yours." rebuked Ratchet.

"The only time I ever went back on that rule; not that it did me any good in the end. Nothing like a crushing defeat and this infernal scar to remind me not to stray from my virtues." His withering glare caused Ratchet to have a sudden keen interest in the floor.

"Wait, Ratchet, you gave him that scar? How?" asked Qwark. Ratchet sighed, and flashed Qwark a look before relating the events that had given Nefarious his wicked scar. The Dr growled at its recollection from his memory banks.

"Why?" asked Qwark after all was said and done. Ratchet looked offended.

"What do you mean why? Qwark, he's evil!"

"Well not right now! Did you ever stop to consider that we might be in this position, working with Neffy for the greater good? Eh? I bet you didn't! Now you have to consider his feelings about the matter and how it has affected his life. I say apologize."

"What? No! Qwark, I gave him the scar while trying to save my best friend, why would I care how it affected him or not! Just so long as I got my pal back I didn't care what i had to do!" Ratchet suddenly turned to Clank, his indignant expression softened.

"It was hell without you pal, I don't care who knows it."

To the groups combined surprise, the platform jerked, sputtered, and came to an abrupt stop.

"Oh look, the copious amount of bromance in here has broken the track." commented Nefarious.

Qwark groaned."Another problem? This will have to be fixed for my presidential retreat/ water park."

Ratchet peeked over the edge and then dared to lean over and under.

"Seems like something's obstructing the tracks." he grunted. "I'll be right back." The Lombax, under the close observation of his peers, carefully eased his way onto the railway's bottom about a yard down. Underneath the tracks were simple enough; an ionized rail with a platform fitted to follow it. There he could see the problem; a hunk of metal had somehow attached itself to said rail line.

"Yup, something is defiantly stuck down here." he attempted to pull it out, but to no avail.

"Ratchet, do you require assistance?" asked clank from above. Without giving him time to reply, the robot leapt down. He examined the cause of their problem carefully.

"Hm...Qwark, do you think you are strong enough to lift up this platform?" he called up

"Sure thing little buddy."

Within moments Qwark had half the platform upon his back, the hunk of junk metal now completely exposed. Clank reached in and grasped it, but still it would not budge.

"Move over you twits." The demolition duo jumped; they had not known Nefarious was behind them. Surprise aside, they moved out of the way, just in time, as it so happened, not to get hit with a massive column of flame from a pyroblaster. The flames dissipated as quickly as they had arrived, leaving nothing but the smoldering remains of the junk metal and a red hot rail.

"There, problem solved." The Dr was already boarding the platform, which Qwark had gently slid off his back. Ratchet hauled himself and Clank up just as the rail started to work again, sending them on their way. For a while, there a pregnant silence between the group, each one left to his own introspective thoughts. Finally a long awaited question came about. It was not unexpected that Ratchet was the one to ask it.

"What are we going to do when this is over? I mean, do we just go back to normal or will things...change?"

The silence that followed etched the question into everyone's mind; what was going to happen? How can you kill somebody that had saved your life?

"Pah, you three morons can think about this till the universe ends, but I'm going back to what I do best: being evil." said Nefarious Just as the others were going to respond, the dimly lit tunnel gave way to an expansive city-scape. Or what seemed to be a city at one time. Now it was mostly deserted and ruined; the metals structures rotting away and the holoscreens flickering on and off at uneven intervals. In the hazy distance they could see the impending, dark figure of Ephemeris, bringing the thoughts to an entirely different subject; the one at hand.

"Come on, we have a planet to save." smiled Ratchet

"Again." added Clank

And with that, they were off.

FIN