Author's Note: THE NEW MOVIE AND GAME IS AMAZIIIIIIIIING!

Okay. Just had to get that out.

Thanks to Max Chronicle, The White Guardian, Flowerstar, and Writerbax for the requests for "No Worries Today"; "New Girl"; "Somewhere, Somehow"; "Recording Session"; "So...What Now?"; and "Nightmare", respectively!

As a side note, "Somewhere, Somehow" takes place after Tools of Destruction, and "So...What Now?" takes place after RnC 3. Also, I usually stick with canon with my stories, but "Nightmare" takes place in an AU where Alister found Ratchet when he was still little and raised him ^^ Ratchet is about seven years old during the story.

And lastly, "Auto-Hack" was inspired by the new PS4 game. You can skip some of the Trespasser puzzles and choose Auto-Hack to have it solved for you. Well, this is my little headcanon on what the auto-hack really is ^-^

I hope you all enjoy! Thank you all so much for the reviews and favs and follows! :)

No Worries Today

"Grim, really, stop stressing!"

"I'll 'stop stressing' when all the ships on this lot are done," Grimroth snapped back.

Ratchet rolled his eyes, jumping back into the engine. There was a clang from Grim as he dropped his toolbox and ducked beneath another car, muttering to himself.

Ratchet smiled, then opened his mouth and began to sing loudly, not caring one bit that some of the clients were giving him funny looks. "Have no worries, today~"

Grim glared. "Ratchet."

"Sunshine's comin' our way~"

"Ratchet!"

"Keep those eyes shining bright,

as you wait for the light~"

An oily towel was balled up and thrown at him, but he dodged it. He threw his hands up grandly and did a spin. "Oh dear, have no worries todaaaaay!~"

Grim shook his head. "Dang kid."

"What was that? Encore, you say? Haaave no worries, today~"

New Girl

Kaden noticed the pretty, light-furred Lombax first. She was squinting at a paper in her hands, glancing around herself and reading the names above the classroom doors.

Kaden yanked Alister's arm, pulling him after him. "Let's see who the new girl is!"

"Kaden-" Alister protested, not one to leap head-first into social interaction. But it was too late.

Kaden waved a hand in front of the paper she was holding to get her attention. She looked up at him curiously, but he met her glance with a large grin. "Hey, you're new here, right?" Kaden asked.

"Yeah."

"Do you have a name?"

"Meredith."

"I'm Kaden. This is Alister." Kaden threw an arm around his friend's shoulder, pulling him down to his height. "He may usually look grumpy, but that's just his default expression. Don't be intimidated." Alister smacked him in the back of the head with an unamused look.

Meredith stifled a giggle at the boy's shenanigans. Kaden ducked away to her side, rubbing his head ruefully but grinning widely. He decided it was worth it. "Need any help getting around?" he offered.

Auto-Hack

Clank glanced over Ratchet's shoulder as the Lombax clicked away at the Trespasser. It appeared he was simply spinning each level aimlessly, hoping it would randomly unlock.

"...Are you in need of assistance?"

"No! No, I got this..."

Ratchet shut off each level, starting with the lowest one and making his way back up. But barriers blocked the last few levels, and he humphed thoughtfully to himself, starting over.

"Perhaps if you-"

"Hey! No, no hints this time!"

Clank fell silent, watching.

Click, click...click-click. Brrrr. Click. Click-click.

"..."

"..."

Ratchet looked over his shoulder with a weary half-smile. Clank knew the expression well. Ratchet folded his arms and spun around so Clank could reach the gadget. In a short series of clicks, it was unlocked. Ratchet snatched the Trespasser back, ignoring Clank's proud grin. "I'll get it next time. You just watch!"

Ratchet's ears fell back when Clank stifled a skeptical giggle. "Of course."

Recording Session

Ratchet rolled his eyes behind his script, reclining on the couch in the recording booth. Qwark was blundering with his lines, readjusting his glasses and squinting at his script. (Like the reason he was doing so poorly was because he couldn't see.)

Ratchet knew this would take a while. He had long memorized his own lines, and feeling bored out of his mind, now began to fold the papers up into airplanes. Had Clank not been so focused on his own script, he probably would have stopped him before he sent one flying at Nefarious at the other end of the couch.

The Doctor first looked up in surprise before scowling darkly at the grinning Lombax. "Twit," he mouthed silently.

Ratchet responded by tossing another airplane in his direction. Nefarious snatched it up and attempted to throw it back, only to do it too forcefully so that it caught the air and did a 360 right back into his face. In an angered frenzy, he ripped it in two, dropping it to the floor and trying to ignore Ratchet as he buried his head in his hands to suppress his laughter.

Clank, hearing the tearing paper, turned to look at them, trying to make sense of the scene before him.

Nefarious glared at the little robot. "Will you please control your pet?" he hissed.

Ratchet perked up at that. "Excuse me?"

"Hey, tryin' to record over here?" Qwark reminded them.

The two begrudgingly settled again, Clank sitting between Ratchet and Nefarious to deter any future spats. Though, Clank had a feeling if Qwark took much longer, it would be unavoidable.

Somewhere, Somehow

Ratchet couldn't sleep. His heart started pounding in his ears, and his stomach felt sick, and the room just felt too small.

After tossing over for the fifth time, the claustrophobia became too much, and Ratchet kicked the blanket off and stepped outside, walking down the halls of the Apogee Space Station. He wrapped his arms around himself and stared down at his bare feet before looking up at the stars through the clear dome. "You're up there somewhere, aren't you, pal?"

He almost hoped he'd see a space shuttle come falling from the sky with a little green-eyed robot inside. It wouldn't be the first time his dreams came true like a falling star delivering them right to him. What had been the chances of it happening the first time, anyway? He was sure Clank would have a precise number.

Ratchet rested a hand over his chest and was glad his heartbeat had slowed. Nights were hard lately- he either had nightmares about Clank's disappearance, or was too anxious to fall asleep at all. But the sight of the stars was comforting. Maybe he felt a little closer to Clank somehow.

Ratchet sighed. "I don't even know where to start, but...I'll find you, Clank. Just...hang in there, yeah?"

The stars twinkled back at him. Maybe he'd take that as a promise.

Myths

Elaris was already at the meeting table when Ratchet and Clank walked in. She was focused hard on something on her laptop, and Clank sat as quietly as possible. But Ratchet, oblivious, sat and drummed the table with his palms excitedly. Clank gave him a look, as though wanting to correct his rudeness but not knowing if it was his place to do so.

"Heeey, little space rat!" The loud voice came from Brax, who gave Ratchet a noogie as he sat beside him. Clank sighed, but Elaris didn't seem to mind. She met his concerned gaze with a knowing smile and a shrug.

"I thought of another one," Brax went on. "Do Lombaxes lick their noses?"

Ratchet looked at him, bewildered. "Huh?"

"Like, don't you guys have to keep 'em wet? To smell better or something?"

Ratchet attempted it out of his own curiosity, barely getting halfway to his nose. It was in his strange struggling that Cora walked in. Ratchet froze in place with his tongue sticking out, and she looked at him for a moment before, looking completly unfazed, moving to sit at the table.

"Nope," Ratchet answered. "That's just a myth."

"What about growling? Or purring?"

Ratchet made a low, bubbly growl in his throat, ears falling back a bit in an attempt to get in character.

"Dude, that's wicked!" Brax exclaimed. "And purring?" He tried to pet Ratchet teasingly, to which the young Lombax swatted his hand away.

"That one's a little out there, don't you think?" Ratchet answered, laughing. But the laugh was just a little too nervous.

So...What Now?

"Hey, sir!" the Ranger called, waving as he sprinted to the duo. "There's gonna be a victory party on the Phoenix! Wanna come?"

Ratchet leaned against his wrench with a grin and a raised eyebrow. "And will this 'party' be an actual party this time, or another battle?" The Ranger scratched his head sheepishly, and Ratchet laughed. "We'll come, yeah?" He looked at Clank, who nodded in agreement.

"We would be honored," Clank insisted.

"Great! See you there, sirs!" The Ranger gave them a thumbs up, then sprinted off to catch-up with the others.

Ratchet started after them towards the ship as well, when Clank nudged his ankle and cleared his throat. Ratchet turned around, and immediately stood straighter and stretched his mouth into a shy grin.

"Hi, Ratchet," Sasha said. "I won't be able to stay for the party, so I wanted to say good-bye."

"O...oh," Ratchet stammered. "Right. Great. Er! Not great! Ha ha! That's not what I...meant...uugh..." Ratchet slapped a hand to his face, squeezing his eyes shut so he wouldn't have to look at her. "I wish you could stay," he murmured, voice muffled.

Sasha smiled. "Me too." A gentle hand touched his arm, lowering his hand from his face. She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "I'll keep in touch."

Ratchet's ears burned under his fur, but he nodded with a bashful smile. "Yeah. Me too."

"Perhaps we could all attend the premier of Secret Agent Clank," Clank offered.

"That's a great idea," Sasha said. Ratchet nodded in agreement, but froze when someone far behind Sasha caught his eye. President Phyronix was watching them, eyes steely and jaw set.

Ratchet's ears fell behind his head. "Y-yeah! Great idea! Look at this robot, he's just full of 'em," Ratchet interrupted loudly, ruffling Clank's head and pushing a little too hard. "Yeah, we'll see you then! Bye!"

Ratchet snatched up Clank's hand and swung him onto his back, quickly retreating back to the ship. Clank shrugged at Sasha from his back, just as confused as she was.

Nightmare (AU)

Alister awoke when he felt the gentle tug on his tail.

"Uncle Alister?"

He looked over his shoulder at the little Lombax standing beside the bed. He was in his blue one-piece pajamas with orange and gray spaceships printed about, and he was holding his stuffed robot toy. "Ratchet? What are you doing up?" he murmured sluggishly.

Ratchet made little designs in the rug with his bare toes, hugging his robot stuffie tighter. "I had a bad dream..."

Alister turned all the way around, eyes softening. He spread a welcoming arm, and Ratchet climbed up the bed and into his embrace.

Alister stroked his head. "Now, what was it about? Only if you want to talk about it, of course."

Ratchet sniffed and nodded. Alister let him go, and he sat cross-legged on the bed in front of him and set his stuffed toy down to free his hands. The kid could be quite the storyteller, and soon, his arms were flailing as he spoke.

"Well, there was this weird, green light outside. I went out to see what it was, and there was a crashed ship! And these bad aliens came out, and wanted to get us! So I ran back here, but I couldn't find you! I barely got inside, and when I looked back, I could see the green light right out the door. They were right there! They were gonna come in, and...and...I don't know what! Maybe dissect our brains!" He held his head, sticking his tongue out and crossing his eyes. "O-or take us back to their ship and-"

"All right, all right," Alister interrupted, trying his hardest not to laugh at the lively gestures. "It was only a dream. No one's here to get us, or...dissect our brains, or anything like that."

"I know, but..." Ratchet gripped at his ankles and feet, looking down. "I was scared when I couldn't find you..."

Alister's eyes widened in understanding, but Ratchet continued before he could answer.

"I-I was yelling for you, but you didn't come. I was all by myself, and...and..." He sniffed loudly, wiping his nose on his arm.

Alister pulled him back into a hug, holding him tight. "I'm right here," he said gently.

Ratchet buried his head in his chest, wrapping his arms around him as far as they would go. "W-what if there were bad aliens?" he asked.

"Then I'd be right here to protect you," Alister said.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

Big green eyes peeked up at him. "I love you, Uncle Alister."

Alister smiled and ruffled his head. "I love you, too. You can tell, because I'm letting you get snot all over me."

Ratchet giggled.