Heh, I'm getting better at updating in a timely manner... And I must thank everyone who's reviewed so far, you've taught me to love smaller fandom sections! I get actual feedback! Unfortunately, I'm a terrible pretend-cook...so accept a digital cookie if you dare. ;D

Disclaimer: Insomniac owns the characters, places...I think (almost) everything here. Willy's design, however, came from the deathtrap that is my mind.

The communications room was...not what Clank had expected, to say the least. Monitors of various sizes and shape covered the walls, a bit like a mismatched IRIS, the largest of which was connected to the comm. unit. Various scenes played over the others, most showing the dull brown of the ship or pirates, which meant they were probably just security cameras. Some...Clank wasn't so sure about, to put it simply... Behind the him, Ratchet groaned and muttered something indistinguishable. The only words that the robot could make out were 'idiots' and 'grog'...neither of which was too surprising given the circumstance, but still, he asked what the complaint was about.

"Just the usual," came a moan masquerading as an answer. "my crew's getting into the grog...again."

Puzzled, the only thing Clank could think to say was "You do not allow them to consume alcohol?"

"Are you kidding?" The lombax turned away from the screen, setting the comm unit up as he spoke. "There's no keeping these idiots away from the stuff! I swear, if there was any real trouble, I'd be the only one sober enough to handle it!"

With a bit of vague muttering about 'how they can stand the stuff...'' and 'how can robots get drunk, anyway?' he finally backed up, allowing Clank to dial the intergalactic communications number. The dark screen flickered as a link to the Phoenix was established, and Al's image appeared on said monitor.

"Oh, uh, hey Clank." The cyborg was clearly distracted by something in the background. It probably had to do with the suspiciously cyclo-simian-like noises coming from the distance... "Sorry, Qwark just got back from his press-conference... and he brought Skrunch..."

"Ah." The robot winced, he truly felt for the temporary captain of the Phoenix. "Well, I have...news..."

Did this count as good news or bad news? He was rather unsure of that himself...

Al said nothing, merely glancing over his shoulder before turning back to the screen. Clank took it as a cue to go on.

"I have found Ratchet," Al brightened at this, it was short lived though. "but he believes himself to be captain-"

From off to the side, the object of the conversation interupted with an indignant "I am captain!"

"-of the inter-galactic space pirates..."

On the other side of the line, Al shook his head wearily. "Amnesia again? Well, at least there aren't any Floranian Cyclo-monkeys involved this time..." The cyborg sighed. "Bring him back to the Phoenix. Maybe vid-comics will be the answer..."

"Al, do you seriously believe that something that worked on Captain Qwark will be the solution to this problem?"

The technology specialist shrugged. "Not really, but I'm fresh out of ideas."

From somewhere in the background, the three could hear "Hey Skidd! Have I shown you my sonic-sheep-suck-cannon?" from a distinctly Qwark-like source. An awkward silence filled the two rooms, followed by a rather distressing noise...something along the lines of "Baah-schwump", and finally: "I thought we left the sheepinator on Veldin..."

The only response to this was "You did"

Again, the conversation came to a halt; and resparked by a disbelieving lombax.

"Okay, what kind of idiot mixes transmorphing technology with a suck canon?

Al stared, "You know, I don't think vid-comics will fix this..." He said, sighing again.

Clank opened his mouth to reply, but...

"Ninety-nine bottles o' grog in me tum, ninety-nine bottles o' grog! I'll have just one more, then I'll chuck on the floor! Ninety-eight bottles o' grog in my tum! Ninety-eight bottles-"

But the unmistakable sound of grog-influenced pirates interrupted. Ratchet groaned, hand covering his face and ears flattened, as if to block the screeching out.

"Yeah, sure. We'll meet you...wherever." The lombax snapped, using the communications number to set the autopiolet, "But I have some pirates to throttle in the meantime." With that, he spun on his heel and stalked away from the commincations unit.
"You were serious about the space pirate thing, then?"

Clank nodded, "I must keep an eye on him. We will see you in a little while." He said, hastily following the enraged captain out of the room.

The pair made it to the main deck just in time to hear "Ninety-two bottles o' grog!" more clearly than they ever wanted to.

lank was sure that it would be impossible for Ratchet to get their attention; even having been exposed to explosions at close-range, the little robot was quite certain that he'd never heard anything quite as deafening as this...

Hence his confusion at the course of action his best friend took.

"Having fun boys?" The lombax practically whispered; the tone of his voice sounded almost...deadly.

"Yessum, Cap'n!"

...almost.

"Guys," He groaned, "At this rate you'll have the authorities from Polaris on our case."

There was some drunken muttering among the crowd, with one white and blue robot seeing fit to whine "But caaaaaap'n!"

Ratchet's hand found it's way up to his face, again, covering his eyes as if he were suffering from a headache. Instantly, the robot who had complained was at the lombax's side. Said lombax ignored the action.

"Listen up!" He called; the crew's attention snapped back to him. "We're going to delay our- ahem- visit to Novalis, and- Willy! Knock it off!"

The blue and white robot- Willy apparently- had been tugging on Ratchet's arm, urging him head back in the direction he and Clank had come from.

"Sorry, captain; but if you have another headache, then you need to go back to your cabin...You know what happened last time..." Willy said. He spoke without slurring, unlike the other pirates, and Clank was sure he'd heard the accent somewhere before, but Willy could have just been an older- or possibly foreign- model.

Ratchet's hand was back at his side in an instant, as if the contact between fur and glove had scalded him.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He replied much too pleasantly.

It certainly didn't fool Clank; what surprised him was that the bigger bot narrowed his single eye sensor, picked the lombax up and slung him over a narrow shoulder... without getting blasted to a smoldering pile of slag.

Ratchet sighed, as the robot set off in the direction they'd just come from, leaning his hand against his cheek as he called back to the assembled crew.

"We'll be back on course soon. Nothing can slow us down, right?"

Nobody paid attention to the irritated "Well, not counting grog..." that followed.

To Willy- in the very same irritated tone- he added "I can walk on my own, you know."

With this odd little interaction having been completed, the pirates went back about their business. This consisted mainly of climbing to the top of the crow's nest (and then falling out because they couldn't stand up straight), getting into supply closets, picking up on "Ninety-one bottles 'o grog", and what looked like a very sloppy ballroom dance...

Taking note of this with a critical eye, Pete spoke up from beside Clank. "We should'a stuck tuh the needle torture. Dragonian, you know?" He asked, as though making polite conversation. "Th'se guys sure know how tuh stick a needle. They're great at 'mbroidery, too..." The one sided conversation went on for a little while, and the only thing Clank really heard was some comment or other about yakkow yarn, which was really more than he ever wanted to know...

"Tha' was Willy." Pete said out of nowhere, gesturing in the general direction the white and blue robot had disappeared into, along with his perturbed luggage. "We picked 'im up on Cobalia...long time 'go. 'Parently 'e used to be part of a three piece set an' got sep'rated from his group. Never came back fer 'im, the dirty swabs. Broke ol' Willy's heart, it did." The first mate chuckled, Clank's gaze prompting him to go on. "When 'e foun' out tha' the cap'n's memory was blank, he kinda...'dopted 'im. Bit o're protective, innit 'e?"

Clank nodded, expecting the pirate to say more, but it never came. Instead- his moment of sobriety having been spent- Pete wandered over toward the crow's nest, where his crewmates were still dropping from the sky like lemmings. So, with nothing more to do, the little titanium robot made his way back to the communications room, planning on contacting Apogee Station if he could.

When he got there, it was rather surprising to find Willy struggling with the doorknob and attempting to keep smirking lombax slung over his shoulder at the same time. Ratchet was clearly trying to make things difficult, shifting his position ever so slightly just when the android was about to get the door open. On the other hand, Clank could see where Willy wouldn't want to put him down. As the lombax had so politely pointed out earlier, he could walk; which also meant that he could run away.
Clank chuckled, the conversation he'd just had with Pete still fresh in his mind. He knew what it was like, having been responsible for the unruly lombax for the greater part of...four years now? ...Yes...it had, in fact been four years since that fateful "Interesting". Curious, it didn't feel like it had been that long... Snapping back to reality, Clank realized that Ratchet was watching him out of the corner of his eye, obviously wondering whether or not he was about to help (the still completely focused) Willy. With an apologetic smile, the small robot reached out and opened the door, much to the lone organic's disappointment.

"Thanks, little one." Willy chirped as he made a beeline toward the far corner of the room, where a hammock was set up, amongst one or two other items. Funny, he hadn't noticed that before.

"It is no problem." Clank quietly replied, ignoring the muffled "Traitor..." coming from Ratchet.

Not wishing to be impolite (precursors forbid rudeness on a pirate ship), the mech asked permission to use the comm. unit again. The answer was rather entertaining, if not reminiscent of other conversations they'd had.

"No" Answered one miffed lombax, clearly attempting to exact revenge upon the one who had betrayed him. Exasperated, Willy smacked him on the shoulder, and he revised his earlier answer to one that wasn't as likely to earn him another swat.

Chuckling quietly, Clank dialed a comm. number for the second time that day (while being careful not to tamper with the autopiolet's established coordinates), and waited as Talwyn's likeness appeared onscreen, apparently having been interrupted whilst yelling something at Cronk and Zephyr.

"-onk! Stop messing with that! Yes, I know it's broken, but it's an unstable wormhole device, so knock it off. Ze- Oh, hey Clank..."

The little robot could have rolled his eyes at the warning, but went about business as...normal? "I am sorry, Miss Talwyn, am I interrupting something?"

Talwyn groaned and gestured over her shoulder. "Just the usual insanity, here at Apogee Station...and quit it with that 'Miss Talwyn' stuff, I get that enough from versions 1.0 over there."

On the side, Ratchet and Willy watched curiously; the mech's eye sensor widened considerably. "Blimey..." He breathed, inching toward the screen, unwittingly dragging the lombax with him.

Oblivious to this, the conversation went on.

"I believe I have good news...and...well... not bad news, but..." Clank finally said. The humanoid gave him a look, silently telling him to go on. "I have located Ratchet-" Like Al, her relief was evident on her face, but Clank didn't pause in his could-be report. "He is currently acting as captain for the space pirates."

As opposed to Al, however, the confusion was much more pronounced on Talwyn's visage. She knew their past with the pirates, after all. There was something she didn't know, though... "Um...yes. In defeating the former captain Slag, Ratchet inadvertantly became the crew's new captain..."

Talwyn gave him a skeptical look. "And he accepted?"

"I am...unsure." Was the only answer she got...and apparently it wasn't enough.

"How can you not be- ...is there someone with you?" Taken off guard by the change of topic, Clank glanced around, gaze immediately falling on Willy...and Ratchet who had pried his hand loose from the vice-like grip of a robot, and was currently giving him a dirty look.

A bit puzzled by his new acquaintance's action, Clank nodded slowly. "Er...yes. Ratchet is right here...and this is-"

"Willy?"

"Miss?"

"Huh?"

The last was spoken by both Ratchet and Clank, who were suddenly under the impression that they were intruding on something.

"But...Cronk and Zephyr...they said that you..." Talwyn seemed completely bewildered, but Willy looked relatively calm. In fact, Clank could have sworn he heard the older bot coo "Miss..."

The tranquil expression was shattered soon enough, as two familiar voices called out from the background of the other line. Wisely, Ratchet grabbed Clank's hand and made a hasty retreat, offering only "Uh...yeah. We're just gonna go and...uh...go..." as his exuse. Fortunately nobody seemed to notice.

Their scramble for freedom led the two to the ship's railing. Ratchet leaned up against it, fiddling with the omniwrench while Clank gazed through the barrier that made the ship's artificial atmosphere a possibility- up at the planet that currently hung above them. Veldin.

Having taken notice of the unusual silence, the lombax glanced at the robot and followed his gaze to the planet. They had yet to visit that one. It was just some little back-water planet, after all: boring, normal, a danger magnet. He blinked... where had that come from?

"That is planet Veldin, your homeworld" Clank spoke softly, and -despite having 'just met' the robot- it struck him as odd, that he should be talking to him like that. Wasn't that tone reserved for muttering about the Z...no, that couldn't be right...

In the shadow cast by a nearby cabin, azure eyes narrowed and- for no more than a second- glowed brightly.

In that same instant, the omniwrench clattered to the ground, it's owner having dropped it as he supported the whole of his weight on the railing before him.

They had forgotten about his headache, and he knew what came next...

Alarmed, Clank stared at the tool for a moment before his gaze turned to it's wielder. "Ratchet?"

The call went unheard, despite the fact that they were less than two cubits apart.

"Ratchet! What is the matter?"

The lombax shook his head and turned, sliding down so his back was against the railing. His head too was tilted back, resting against the wood; though both gloved hands were covering his eyes, pressed against his forehead.

"Headache..." He muttered, "It'll pass...it'll pass"

"Perhaps I should find Pete..." Clank said, placing one hand on the organic's shoulder in-what was supposed to be- a comforting gesture.

"Why?" Ratchet snarled out of nowhere, pushing the robot away. "Because your imaginary friends said so?"

A moment of confused silence (on Clank's part, anyway) passed, before: "You know," He began again, this time quieter- his ears drooping just a bit. "Just once, I wish you'd listen to your real friends instead of..."

Clank grabbed onto one of his arms and took a good look at the lombax- his normally keen green eyes were unfocused, void of the mischief they usually held. Was this 'What happened last time'?

...He was muttering something again, ears almost perpendicular to the floor. Whatever he was reciting, it couldn't be positive...and Clank almost didn't want to know what it would be, based on the last two recollections. "...where...where did they go? Wh-why did they leave me behind?"

And with several more whispered words- all but one indistinguishable- he went quiet again.

Several questions flitted through Clank's CPU at that point.

Did he remember...?

Why that of all things...?

Is this what Willy meant by 'What happened last time'...?

'Azimuth'...?

Is the length satisfying? I apologize for any errors, I resorted to using an online spellcheck, but I noticed that it wasn't exactly...reliable. I'll be able to get my hands on a decent word processor soon. :D

And Willy... He was one of the first characters I was aware of (even though he wasn't included in TOD) because at the time, I was relying solely on the internet for any info on the game. It was Wikipedia that mentioned him, and I just fell in love with the concept... Don't worry, he isn't too big a part in the story. I wouldn't take the glory away from Pete- I mean Clank. xD

One more note before I leave you hanging for now. You may note slight (maybe more) OOC-ness on Ratchet's part. My excuse is that he has amnesia, so he isn't exactly Ratchet right now... (Take a look at the chapter's title. ;D)