Twilight smiled softly as she channel surfed, listening with half an ear as Ratchet and Clank played some sort of board game that had never caught her interest.

"Ha ha!" Ratchet was saying. "My Blargian Snagglebeast devours your mutant swamp fly!"

Twilight rolled her eyes. Ratchet never was able to keep track of all the intricacies of the rules of this particular game. Twilight herself always kept a rule compendium open when she played against Clank, which was why she wasn't overfond of the game. Clank's computer brain gave him an unfair advantage. Her eyes widened as she gasped happily. "It's on again!" she cried happily.

Maktar Casino
12:31am

Clank faced off against a large yellow robot in a red business suit as he rolled the dice, yielding him further winnings. Several ladybots leaned around Clank, stroking him under the chin and otherwise acting flirtatious with the big winner, one even planting a noisy kiss on his metallic cheek.

The large yellow robot shook some ash from his cigar. "Your luck is extraordinary, sir," he mused. "But do you lose as gracefully as you win?"

"I would not know, Maximilian," Clank replied, putting emphasis on the name. "I never lose."

Maximilian's finger hovered over a red button. "Zere is a first time for everything." He pushed the button dramatically. "Agent Clank!"

Ninja bots armed with double beam sabers dropped from the ceiling as the civilians scattered. Maximilian drew a laser gun and started shooting at Clank, who performed a few ninja flips before using a drink tray to deflect the laser fire into the ninja bots in bullet time. However, one of the ninja bots' beam sabers cut the tray in half as it flew from its grip.

"You lose!" Maximilian proclaimed eagerly as Clank prepared for a new defense, his eyes sweeping around for a weapon. "So much for the famous Secret Agent-"

Maximilian's rant was cut off as the ceiling tile directly above him dropped downward, dropping the chandelier on him and electrocuting him into unconsciousness.

"Shocking," Clank murmured before looking up.

Twilight, in her half robot mask and wearing a cute sweater vest/skirt combo, hung from the ceiling. She chuckled nervously. "Hi Clank!" she said innocently.

Clank folded his arms over his tuxedo. "Sparks..." he scolded.

"I know, I know, too dangerous," Twilight replied, rolling her visible organic eye.

"Oh, I've given up trying to win that argument," Clank chided. "But it is past your bedtime."

"But that's when all the fun stuff happens!" Twilight pouted.

As the scene shifted to outside, Clank held a pouting Twilight towards Ratchet, who was dressed in a valet suit. "Care to explain, Jeeves?"

As Twilight smiled innocently up at Ratchet, he rubbed the back of his head, grinning sheepishly.

"Stay tuned for more Secret Agent Clank!" the TV announcer proclaimed.

"That was quite the episode," Clank commented happily.

"I'd say we all look pretty good there," Ratchet said happily, reaching out to tousle Twilight's mane. He didn't really mind getting sidelined in the show. It kept him out of the limelight - which given the warning Angela didn't know he overheard, was a good thing - and Twilight got to have fun being an HV star. That was just fine by him.

"Yeah, we did," Twilight said happily, going back to channel surfing.

"Don't you like watching it?" Clank asked curiously.

"Yeah, but I want to watch something else-" Twilight's words cut off as she turned to channel 64, and the group found themselves watching an on-site report of an invasion of Veldin by Tyrrhanoids, apparently masterminded by one 'Dr. Nefarious'.

As soon as the broadcast ended, Ratchet got to his feet. "We're going home."

As they worked on Ratchet's new ship - much more streamlined and built for interstellar - and intergalactic - flight, Clank expressed his concerns with the plan of action. "But Veldin is in the Solana Galaxy!" he pointed out.

With a grin, Ratchet pulled out something he'd been working on.

"Is...is that the gravimetric warp drive?" Clank asked in concern.

"The untested gravimetric warp drive?" Twilight added.

"The one you built from Blarghian scrap metal?" Clank fretted.

"The one you didn't let me help with because you wanted to do it yourself?" Twilight concluded as Ratchet threw the device into the back end of the ship for installation.

"You two coming?" he asked.

"We are doomed," Clank concluded as he and Twilight nervously climbed into the ship.

The gravimetric warp drive functioned flawlessly, getting them back to Solana in minutes.

"Woo hoo!" Ratchet yelled out as the ship spun in an aileron roll towards Veldin. "You were saying, you two?"

"I stand corrected," Clank grunted from his upside down position in the copilot's seat.

"Even monkeys fall from trees," Twilight pointed out with a groan. "I didn't want this to be your fall, Daddy."

"Well, we're coming in to Veldin now! Hang on!" Ratchet aimed the ship into the atmosphere.

Once on Veldin, the trio encountered some green armored soldiers.

"These must be the Galactic Rangers!" Clank pointed out.

"Hey look!" one of the Rangers said, pointing to Ratchet. "It's a new sergeant!"

"What?" Ratchet asked, surprised.

"Here Sarge, you can have my gun," the second said quickly, throwing Ratchet a Shock Blaster.

"There's too many of them!" the third shouted. "We're all gonna die!"

As Ratchet led the way forward against the Tyrrhanoids - green skinned aliens with three eyes on stalks, ranging in size from the size of Twilight and Clank to as big - or bigger - than the Rangers, some in battle suits - Twilight looked up at Ratchet as she pulled out some of her heavier firepower weapons, upgraded to latest specifications from Gadgetron based on her contract, including the brand new Nitro Launcher. "These guys seem...highly ineffective. Just who was saving the galaxy before we came along?"

"Captain Qwark," Ratchet replied, blasting several enemies with his new Shock Blaster.

"Ah," Twilight mused, blasting a large group of Tyrrhanoids.

They eventually approached a large attack jet piloted by a larger Tyrrhanoid, keeping two Galactic Rangers pinned down with its weapon fire. "Boy am I glad to see you, Sarge!" the first said.

Before anyone else could say anything, Twilight had blasted the attack vehicle to smithereens. "These weapons you got in Bogon are great, Daddy!" she said happily, cradling the Heavy Bouncer and cooing to it.

"...she scares me," the Ranger said nervously.

"Be glad you aren't her target," Clank teased before chuckling to himself.

After clearing their way through several more waves of Tyrrhanoid attack troops - and assisting several Ranger groups - the trio approached a drop ship. "What's the situation?" Ratchet asked the nearest Ranger.

"The Noids have fallen back to a base in F sector," he replied. "We have orders to go in and take them out."

"F Sector?" the second Ranger demanded fearfully. "Game over! No way man! We're all gonna end up as scrap metal!" He started to walk away.

"Get back in there, trooper!" Ratchet barked out. "We've got a planet to save!"

"Sir yes sir!" the Rangers replied in unison, saluting as the trio boarded the ship.

"When did you get so military, Daddy?" Twilight asked.

"Part of the training I had," he replied.

At F Sector, Ratchet leapt out to free fall along with the Galactic Rangers, counting on Clank's helipack to slow him down once they reached ground level. Twilight, however, folded her wings and dove, picking up speed. Pulling out her new N60 Storm - a new Gadgetron improvement on the old Blasters - she took pot shots at the missiles aimed at the diving Rangers. She then spread her wings turning her downward momentum into forward, pulling out her old bomb glove to drop bombs on the Tyrrhanoids as she flew over them, clearing a path and safe landing for Ratchet and the others. By the time she pulled back to go for a second bombing run, Ratchet and the Rangers had managed to clear out the rest of the Noids, the few dropships having shot each other while trying to shoot Twilight as she sped between them.

Ratchet and Twilight each took a last shot at a Noid assault jet with their heavier weapons, knocking it out of the sky, before approaching the drop ship at the pick up point.

"Sir!" one of the Rangers said with a salute. "We have a transmission from the President!"

The transmission displayed an older male Cazar, a felinoid race somewhat similar to Lombaxes but native to the Solana Galaxy. He had tan skin and a thick dark brown coat covering most of his facial features, and an easy smile. "How are things on the front line, soldier?" he asked, but then gasped. "Is-is that Secret Agent Clank?"

Ratchet rolled his eyes in amusement. "Greetings, sir," Clank offered. "We are here to help."

"Well this is an honor!" he replied. "And I see you brought your major-domo and-" He suddenly gasped. "Sparks! What are you doing on the scene of the battle? Isn't that too dangerous?"

"Probably, President Phyronix," Twilight replied, having recognized him after keeping abreast of politics in Solana to help her get to sleep at nights, since she felt she'd grown too old to need bedtime stories...not that she refused them when Ratchet offered. She then cocked the Heavy Bouncer. "For the Noids."

Phyronix laughed happily. "You got good spunk, kid. You're going to need it." He then turned back to Clank. "Agent Clank, we must stop Doctor Nefarious! As you may know, only one man has ever faced him and survived. I've just received a top secret report on that man's whereabouts. Here, take a look."

The trio watched, somewhat dubious, as a trailer for an episode of "Nature's Mysteries" depicted some sort of large, man shaped monster in the Florana Forests.

"So...we're going to Florana to find this guy?" Twilight asked, uncertainty in her voice.

"I guess so," Ratchet allowed.

"We won't let you down, Mr. President!" Clank assured Phyronix.

With that, the trio returned to their ship, setting course for Planet Florana.