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Submitted by Tornado Dragon

SHORT VERSION:
After Chairman Drek gets New Quartu assembled from the harvested parts of the destroyed planets, Dr. Nefarious turns on him and sends him off to New Quartu before making preparations to use the Deplanetizer on the planet Umbris. This will have catastrophic consequences because, due to its core being made of highly volatile melluvium, blowing it up will start a chain reaction that will wipe out the entire Solana Galaxy.

Ratchet, Clank, and the rest of the Galactic Rangers eventually figure out his plan and create one of their own that first sees Ratchet and Clank infiltrate the Deplanetizer, enter the inner core, and disconnect its stabilizer as well as disable all other weapons. As the panicked Blarg flee, Ratchet does battle with the traitorous Captain Qwark, but he soon talks to and convinces Qwark that he isn’t a true villain, and Qwark apologizes for his betrayal. Suddenly, Nefarious appears and attacks them both while also activating the Deplanetizer, but he misses his target when the other Rangers fly in and use multiple mag-boosters fitted to their ships to magnetize the station towards them and pull it away from Umbris. This causes the weapon’s ray to strike and destroy New Quartu instead, taking Drek with it, and the Rangers then pull the station down towards Umbris’ atmosphere to burn it up. The angered Nefarious takes out a Rip You a New One (RYNO) Gun to kill Qwark with, but Ratchet whacks the gun into his face with his Omniwrench, causing some of its energy to hit Nefarious, and the blow also sends Nefarious into the Deplanetizer’s core, where he seemingly disintegrates. Ratchet, Clank, and Qwark then get back onto the Rangers’ mothership using a teleporter before the station is destroyed.

The Galactic Rangers return to Aleero City to a hero’s welcome, and Qwark is shown to have been kept on the team, but he has been demoted all the way back down to Private. Ratchet returns to his old job at Grim’s garage on Veldin, and Clank soon decides to stay with him. Ratchet tells him that he hasn’t left the Rangers; if they ever need his help, he will answer their call. In a mid-credits scene, Nefarious emerges alive from the Deplanetizer’s wreckage on Umbris, but in his iconic robotic form, thanks to his repairbots forcing this conversion onto him.

LONG VERSION:
As the Galactic Rangers are conducting an assault on Drek Industries on Quartu, Ratchet, Clank, and Cora take refuge in a computer room from a bunch of Zerkon robots. Clank checks out the computer and discovers the plans for the Deplanetizer, as well as how Drek is assembling the best landmasses from each destroyed planet in an attempt to create a new planet for the Blarg to inhabit (since Quartu is choked with pollution from their heavy industrial practices). Meanwhile, Captain Qwark enters Chairman Drek’s office, but when he tries to arrest him, his top robot Victor disarms him. In a ploy devised by Drek and Dr. Nefarious to destroy the Galactic Rangers from within by turning a weak link in the group against them, Drek starts to manipulate Qwark into siding with him after pointing out how Ratchet’s new popularity has eclipsed his own and offers to boost his image with help from his P.R. team. Qwark accepts, but only after getting a promise from Drek that the other Rangers will not be harmed. Qwark then reunites with the rest of the Rangers and helps them catch Drek’s robot assistant Zed as Drek and all of the other Blargs evacuate the planet, and they scare him into confessing that Drek’s next target is Novalis, which – unlike the other obliterated worlds – is populated.

As Novalis is completely evacuated upon the Deplanetizer’s arrival, Qwark secretly deactivates all of the weapons on the Rangers’ attack ships just as their mothership approaches the Deplanetizer. As they head out in the attack ships, Qwark tells the others that he is going into the Deplanetizer first to try to “reason” with Drek. The Blarg fleet then fly out to face the Rangers, who soon realize that their weapons systems aren’t operational and retreat back to the mothership. However, Ratchet decides to turn around and go back, not wanting to leave Qwark to face the Blarg alone, and he manages to get into the Deplanetizer. Meanwhile, Victor orders a Blarg to conduct a complete holo-scan of the mothership and discovers that Clank is on the bridge, so he teleports himself to the ship’s hull, breaks in, and chases after Clank. During the pursuit, Clank sees Victor cowering from water and realizes that he isn’t waterproof, so he finds and gets hold of a Thundersmack gun (capable of creating rainstorms) and fires a shot above Victor’s head, and the subsequent rainstorm soaks Victor and rusts him solid. Zed then gets Clank’s attention and tells him that he wishes to join his side now.

Ratchet reaches the Deplanetizer’s control center, but Drek appears and captures him. He then takes him towards an escape pod so he can shoot him away from the Deplanetizer, wanting him to live so he can see his failure, and along the way, Ratchet spots Qwark buddying up with a Blarg and realizes that he has joined the enemy. Ratchet is shot into space just as the Deplanetizer blows away Novalis, and after Qwark gets over his shock over what just occurred, he suddenly notices Dr. Nefarious walking outside of the room he is in and reacts with disbelief, since he thought Nefarious lost his life during a prison escape.

The dejected Ratchet exiles himself back to Grim’s garage on Veldin and disposes of all of his Galactic Rangers merchandise. Grim soon talks to him, telling him that his protosuit has been beeping non-stop and the Rangers keep asking him through it to come back, but Ratchet replies that he will shut it off tomorrow morning. He then tells Grim that all he wanted was to do something big and get himself noticed, and Grim informs him that, to be a hero, you don’t need to do big things; just the right things. Some time later, Clank shows up at the garage, and Ratchet tells him that he isn’t returning to the Rangers and that he was right when he earlier told him that fame is overrated, especially when you get famous for causing a complete disaster. Clank replies that it was not a complete disaster because Novalis’ citizens were successfully evacuated and no one was injured or killed, but Ratchet responds that he needs to take full responsibility for the loss of their home world. Clank insightfully tells Ratchet that blaming himself and taking responsibility are two different things, and if he truly wants to be accountable, he will endeavor to make things right the next time. He explains that Drek has one more planet left on his hit list, and with Qwark having defected, the Rangers need him more than ever, and Clank gladly offers him his assistance once again. Just then, the Rangers land in their mothership, and Ratchet apologizes to them for giving up so quickly. As Elaris begins to talk of a new idea she came up with on how they can stop Drek, the others initially seem set on ignoring her again and doing another big assault like usual, but this time Ratchet gives her (and Clank) a chance to speak. She suggests to them that they knock the Deplanetizer off-course, though she admits to not having any idea right now on how to do it. Ratchet then looks at the mag-booster on his personal ship and says he might have an idea.

After Drek has New Quartu created from the parts he harvested, Qwark confronts him over how he went back on his word to not harm any of the Rangers as well as how he found out that he is collaborating with Nefarious, and warns him that Nefarious is not a man to be trusted. Nefarious then enters the room, and moments later he mocks Qwark for betraying his colleagues to satisfy his cravings for popularity and material gain before he and Drek dismiss him. Suddenly, Nefarious betrays Drek by transforming him into a sheep with a Sheepinator gun before declaring that he is usurping control from him, then he puts him into an escape pod and sends him to New Quartu. Back on Veldin, the Rangers are preparing their attack ships when Elaris suddenly summons them inside the mothership for an emergency meeting. She and Clank tell them that they discovered that Umbris is the final target, which is very bad because its core is made up of pure melluvium, a highly volatile element. If the planet were to be blown up, it would result in a chain reaction that will wipe out the entire Solana Galaxy. Zed then interjects to add – to their surprise – that destroying Umbris was Nefarious’ idea.

After the Galactic Rangers reach Umbris’ airspace, Elaris goes over the plan: She will have Ratchet don a new device she created, the Hologuise, that will make him look and sound like Qwark, and he and Clank will use it to infiltrate the Deplanetizer. Once inside, Ratchet and Clank will make their way to the inner core, where Ratchet will expose and disconnect the station’s stabilizer and Clank will hack into the mainframe and disable all of the Blarg’s other weapons, which will leave the station completely vulnerable. Ratchet and Clank pull off their tasks, but a station-wide warning is triggered once they are finished, sending all of the Blarg into a fit of panic. One of the Blarg catches Nefarious as he is attempting to leave in an escape pod to avoid the impending blast radius and warns him that the Rangers have infiltrated the station and are trying to shut down the Deplanetizer, so Nefarious decides to stay and deal with the Rangers himself. After Ratchet tells the other Rangers to move in for the next stage of their attack, he and Clank are suddenly confronted by Qwark and a gunfight soon ensues, and though Ratchet tells him that Nefarious is tricking him into destroying the entire galaxy, Qwark won’t listen. When Qwark creates a tornado through using a Tornado Launcher gun, Ratchet pleads with Qwark to understand that he is no villain like Nefarious, and he knows deep down that what he is doing is wrong. Qwark is then hit in the face with Ratchet’s trading card of him, and Ratchet lastly states that, if Umbris is destroyed, everyone – them included – will die, and he asks Qwark if that is how he wants to be remembered. Accepting that Ratchet is right, Qwark destroys the tornado and remorsefully apologizes.

Nefarious then appears above them, and Qwark tells Ratchet to arrest him for his crimes, prompting Nefarious to lace into Qwark for the “real crime” he committed against him by treating him unfairly back when he was a Ranger (in a manner similar to what Elaris has endured up until now). He then starts shooting at both him and Ratchet, and he soon blasts Qwark’s rocket pack and sends him to the ground dazed. Seconds later, Nefarious gets the Deplanetizer online, but thankfully, the other Rangers have already flown in (just after all of the Blarg have fled the station) and used multiple mag-boosters fitted to each of their ships to magnetize the station towards them and pull it away from Umbris. Therefore, when Nefarious fires the weapon, it strikes and obliterates New Quartu, taking Drek with it. The Rangers then pull the station down into Umbris’ atmosphere so it will burn up on entry and Elaris tells Ratchet to get out, but Nefarious makes ready to disintegrate Qwark with a RYNO (Rip You a New One) gun over his plan getting ruined. Just as he is about to fire, Ratchet comes to the rescue and whacks the RYNO gun into Nefarious’ face with his trademark Omniwrench, and the energy from the gun makes contact with Nefarious’ body. The force of the blow also sends him over the edge of the platform he is on and down into the core, where he apparently disintegrates. Ratchet, Clank, and Qwark then make haste to the bridge and use one of Drek’s teleporters to escape back to the Rangers’ mothership before the station is destroyed. When Qwark asks Ratchet how many planets he will have to save before he can be called a hero again, Ratchet replies with the advice Grim gave him about heroism. Qwark returns Ratchet’s trading card back to him, and after he leaves the room, Clank asks Ratchet if they will be going to join the other Rangers. Ratchet replies that he needs to leave to keep a promise to a friend, but assures Clank that they will run into each other again someday. They then say their goodbyes.

The Galactic Rangers return to Aleero City on Kerwan to a hero’s welcome. We see that Qwark has been kept on the team, but he has been demoted all the way down to Private, and he soon embarks on a galaxy-wide tour promoting an apologetic autobiography. Ratchet returns to Grim’s garage to help him give proton scrubs to every ship on the Kyzil Plateau for the summer months (and we see that Zed has stayed with Grim to serve as his assistant). One day, Ratchet is paid an unexpected visit from Clank, who has decided that he wants to stay with him for a while, and Ratchet gladly accepts his company. He also tells Clank that he is not retired from the Galactic Rangers; if they ever need his help, he will answer their call.

In a mid-credits scene, Nefarious emerges out of the wreckage of the Deplanetizer on Umbris, but in his iconic robotic form due to a bunch of his repairbots forcing this conversion onto him, and he laughs maniacally. After the credits, the Plumber is frustrated that the audience is still here and orders everyone to go home.