Raindrops - II

Disclaimer: I do not own Ratchet and Clank or any of its characters. And yes, the majority of these stories will take place on rainy days, partly because sitting at home while it's softly raining outside is a calming setting for me and the goal of this collection (atm) is to be as calming as possible.

Raindrops

II

As Ratchet's finger tapped the empty hotel level, the Lombax grinned.

Clank sat next to him, studying the little game with his usual intensity. "Hm... if you were to build another cuisine restaurant, you would be able to earn more coins at a ten percent increase."

Ratchet rolled his eyes as he tapped the "Cuisine" option. Little construction workers popped into existence, tiny 8-bit Terachnoids carrying little phaser guns that zapped at different parts of the floor level.

A "59 MIN" symbol popped up on the screen.

"Aw man. Clank-"

"You are able to use the Raritanium option and still hold enough leftover Raritanium for more upgrades later on."

Ratchet looked to the ceiling, relieved, as he tapped the "Rush" button. "Oh thank Orvus, I didn't want to wait that long."

"You know the waiting period will only grow longer with each new floor level."

The Lombax sighed as he lifted a different Terachnoid to the fourth floor by 8-bit elevator. The frown grew onto his face as his tail twitched under the huge blanket. "Why must this wholesome game make me wait to continue?"

Clank smiled as he playfully elbowed Ratchet. "'Wholesome?' Why, I never thought I would see the day my adrenaline-seeking Lombax companion settle for something so calming."

Ratchet smirked as he hooked his arm around Clank and crushed the robot against his side. "You know," he said over Clank's laugh, "sometimes a Lombax just needs a couch, a tablet, his friend, and a wholesome little game to take his mind off of stuff."

Clank leaned into his friend and pulled the blanket closer up his body as he turned his attention back to the tablet on Ratchet's lap. "Do you really enjoy it that much?" Clank asked as he glanced up at Ratchet's face.

"Yeah." Ratchet lifted another Terachnoid up to the third floor. "It's really nice to have simple things, you know? Simple moments like this? It's just us and some pixelated Terachnoids in 'Tiny Terachnos,' and the only thing we need to worry about is whether the shops need more stuff in them."

The robot patted his friend as the Lombax half-laughed. Ratchet leaned over, pushing Clank to the robot's right as Ratchet wrapped an arm around him. He balanced the tablet in front of them, the game easily visible.

"I'll go jump off a cliff with a hoverboard tomorrow," Ratchet joked as Clank mimicked rolling his eyes. "But for right now, it's you, me-" A ding sounded from the game. "Annnnd... apparently some guy named Hector."

Clank reached under the blanket and grabbed his stylus. He moved to tap at the tablet, a gleeful shine on his optics. "Well, we will need to make sure this 'Hector' is taken care of. Let us see his statistics, shall we?"

As Ratchet bumped his forehead on the top of Clank's head and gave the little robot a squeeze, the Lombax looked back to the game. "Alright, next floor level is your choice, pal."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Tiny Terachnos" is a play off of the phone and iPad app "Tiny Tower," a game that I had discovered a long time ago when I had first gotten my iPad. It's still going today (something I'm surprised at), and it's basically a simple phone game with 8-bit people. It's oddly charming to me and I can't pin down why, but I got the strongest urge to play it a few days ago when I was going through some stuff. It inspired me to write this. I couldn't help but picture Ratchet and Clank, both creatures having gone through a lot, just sit together and play a simple tablet game to pass the time and relax together. So yeah, that's how this came about. Not canon, maybe OOC, but something that made me feel a little better after I wrote it.

I hope you guys enjoyed, and I'll see you in the next drabble. :)

XD