Ratchet and Clank AU where Orvus travels to Fastoon and sees the the aftermath of Tachyon’s attack on the Lombaxes. There he finds Ratchet before he was sent to Veldin and raises him at the Great Clock. Young Ratchet was a MENACE! He used to jump on things and pretend he was a Zoni and run around playing with the machinery at the Clock so Sigmud always had to make sure he didn’t get into too much trouble. But due to that he learned more about the Zoni and Zoni tech, including how to repair things around the Clock.
When he’s old enough (Same age as he would be in game 1) Orvus sends him on a mission to escort his son XJ-0461 from the Solana galaxy to the Great Clock. Ratchet happily accepts the mission because even though Orvus and Sigmud are great and care for him, he feels like he has a bigger calling for him out there amongst the stars and wants to explore the universe. He gets to the Solana Galaxy but he took a detour to Veldin to explore. He felt the warmth of the desert planet was very familiar even though he’s never been there before and instantly liked the backwater planet. Clank crash lands the same way as the first game and they meet. Ratchet didn’t exactly know who he was supposed to look for and assumed he was looking for a Zoni like Orvus so he didn’t know he just met who he was supposed to escort back and Clank knowing what he knows about Drek’s plans was just focusing on finding Captain Qwark so he can stop Drek. Ratchet who grew up watching Qwark Holo-Vids and wanting a chance to meet someone he considered a hero agreed to help him find Qwark as long as they also look for the person he needed to find. This was their mutual agreement for traveling together.
During their time together the duo kept getting sidetracked with the events of the games. At times Ratchet randomly mentions the Great Clock, Zoni, Sigmud and Orvus and memories of growing up with them. Clank not knowing he’s a Zoni robot looks at him confused but nods along and is happy his friend had a happy childhood. One day when they were flying in their ship (Before the Future games, probably after the first game and before the second game) Clank asked Ratchet “You talk a lot about the Zoni, are you a Zoni yourself?” Ratchet gives an embarrassed chuckle and replies “I don’t know what I am, I’m just me.” but that exchange is what made them both want to learn more about his background and want to find his original family.
This AU changes a bit on how the Future games pan out. Haven’t figured that part out yet tbh. I just wanted an AU where Ratchet has some type of family since we never hear who took care of him in the PS2 games and the reimagining giving Ratchet Grimm to care for him is what made me want to explore the theme.
