One day in Metropolis, a large group of sophisticated alien-like creatures all talk amongst each other as they approach the entrance of the famous Hall of Heroes, all dressed in formal clothing. "This will be simply marvelous!" "I cannot wait to see the inside of this building..." The famous Galactic Ranger homebase was, only for one evening, open to the most distinguished guests of the galaxy for a tour and celebration for being constructed 40 years ago. These guests included President Phyronix, the Mayor of Metropolis, Dallas Wanamaker and Juanita Alvaro as well as many others. Despite many of the guests arriving to the event on time, there were a few latecomers. These guests were none other than Ratchet, Clank and a little female robot named Isabelle. As the trio enter the building, Ratchet looks around the interior and soon makes a curious expression. "Where's Xennah? She was meant to be here by now..." Clank and Isabelle scan the surroundings and soon notice that many of the guests at the event were in formal wear and hiding their faces behind masks and helmets. "I fear that it may be difficult to find her..." Ratchet lowers his ears a bit as he continues to look around, worriedly. Isabelle makes a sympathetic expression and gently places a hand on Ratchet's arm. "Do not worry, Ratchet. I'm sure we will find her..." Clank nods in response. "Indeed. Perhaps we should split up... these disguises should help us." Ratchet nods in agreement also and heads towards the nearby dancefloor. Ratchet, as well as Clank and Isabelle, were all dressed in formal attire for the event and had followed the dress code as being 'in disguise'. The young lombax, as a result, was wearing a black tuxedo with a white shirt and a blue tie. His ears were also tied back as well as his tail being hidden underneath a cloak, in order to be hide his 'Lombaxness' from reporters. Due to the formal wear dress code, Ratchet also wore a monocle and a black top hat. With his disguise at hand, Ratchet subtly pushes through the large crowd and continues his search for Xennah. Before he could reach the nearby dancefloor, however, Ratchet notices a young female nearby. She was wearing a black long-sleeved dress, a black cloak, black heeled shoes and her hair was tied back into a bun. She was also wearing a silver-gemmed tiara. Ratchet notices the young female sat on a bench with her head in her hands, sighing sadly. It looked as though she was expecting a dance but had been left alone. Ratchet lowers his ears and thinks to himself as he notices the young female being surrounded by other guests, who all seemed happy with another. "Poor girl... I better cheer her up somehow." Ratchet walks over to the young female and stands in front of her. He then kneels down on one knee and smirks in a friendly manner. He then speaks in a lower toned voice and holds his hand out to the female. "Who would leave such a beautiful girl like you all by yourself~?" The young female gasps and looks up at Ratchet, blushing a bit from the compliment. She then smiles a bit and places her hand into his. "W-who are you, Sir?" Ratchet gulps a bit, knowing that he can't give away his true identity. If he did, the reporters would be all over him and he didn't want them to ruin his evening. "Uh, I am... J-Jack. Yeah, Jack! Jack Boltworth from... Metropolis!" As he lied, the young female smiles a bit, unbeknowist to Ratchet's lie. "I am Lucy, Lucy Lowbolt and I am from Metropolis also..." Ratchet continues to smirk as he stands up and gently pulls the young female off the bench by her hand. "Lucy, huh? A beautiful name for a beautiful lady such as yourself~" The young female giggles in a shy manner and smirks a bit at Ratchet. "Well, you are quite handsome yourself, Jack~" Ratchet smirks as he leads Lucy, by the hand, to the dancefloor. Lucy gulps a bit from being in the middle of the dancefloor and holds onto Ratchet, not able to dance very well. "Are you alright, Lucy?" "Y-yes... it's just... I am not very good at dancing." Ratchet chuckles a bit as he takes the young female's hands into his own. He then leans in close to her and whispers. "It's alright, neither am I~" Lucy smiles as she begins to feel more comfortable. She takes Ratchet's hands and slowly dances with him, in time to the music. Ratchet looks into Lucy's eyes and smiles softly as he notices their unusual colour. They were a dark blue hue and had a small amount of green pigment. "Wow, Lucy... your eyes, I've never seen any quite like them before." Lucy giggles shyly once again and feels a blush appear on her cheeks. "T-thank you, Jack... I must admit that I have not seen eyes like yours before either..." Ratchet chuckles shyly as she returns the compliment and continues to dance with Lucy, feeling a blush appear on his muzzle. --------------------- Meanwhile at a nearby position, Clank and Isabelle both make curious expressions as they notice Ratchet dancing with the young female. "Who is that?" "I am not sure. I will run my Bioscan code..." Clank watches as Isabelle presses a button on her chestplate. She then makes a small 'hmm' sound before turning back to Clank, a shocked expression on her face. "I do not believe it..." "What is it?" "That girl... She's--!" Clank makes a shocked expression also and gets up, ready to head over to their position as he hears the name. "I had better tell Ratchet..." Before he could start running, however, Clank makes a curious expression as Isabelle pulls him back. He looks back and notices Isabelle smiling a bit. "We do not want to ruin their dance..." Clank smiles and nods. "I understand. How about we have a listen to their conversation? Hehehe." Isabelle giggles and nods. She watches as Clank takes out a small communicator and presses a variety of buttons. After a short amount of time, the two robots hear slightly distorted voices coming from it. "I believe I have hacked into Ratchet's communicator. We should be able to hear them now..." ------------------------ "By the way... why are you by yourself, Lucy?" The young female sighs sadly as she looks down a bit. "I... I was waiting for someone but he never arrived." "Oh? Who is he?" Lucy smiles a bit as she whispers to Ratchet. "I know this is gonna sound weird but... it was Ratchet. You know, the hero of the galaxy? Ratchet gulps a bit, feeling guilty about having the girl wait for him. He clears his throat and then continues to dance with Lucy, still not wanting to reveal his identity. "Well... it's his loss. He doesn't deserve you..." Lucy smiles as she rests her against Ratchet's chest. "Thank you." "Weirdly enough, I was looking for a girl myself but she didn't turn up either..." Lucy makes a curious expression as she looks up at Ratchet. "Really? Who is she? If you don't mind me asking..." "She was my friend, Xennah... I've been trying to look for her for a while." Lucy opens her eyes widely and soon pushes her hands against Ratchet, pushing him away from her. She then removes Ratchet's top hat and gasps as she recognises Ratchet through his disguise. "R-Ratchet?!" Ratchet gulps but soon notices that Lucy's cloak was slightly out of position. He soon notices a long tail hiding beneath it and removes Lucy's hairband. Lucy gasps a bit and holds her hair down, noticing that her now long ears were also sticking out. Ratchet opens his eyes widely and blushes, stepping back a bit from the young female. "X-Xennah?!" The young female, who was actually Xennah, blushes also and covers her mouth, feeling both shocked and embarrassed by the comments she had made to Ratchet throughout the evening. Ratchet bites his lip, nervously from the awkward situation and holds his hat in a shy manner before looking up at Xennah. "I... I didn't realise it was you, Xen!" Xennah, who was still feeling embarrassed about what she said before, steps back from Ratchet and lowers her ears, not wanting to show her embarrassment to him. She looks behind her as she continues to step back. "I... I have to go! I'm sorry!" Ratchet gasps and watches as Xennah pushes through the crowd and attempts to run out of the room. Ratchet reaches his hand out as he runs after her. "Xennah, wait!" ----------------------- Clank and Isabelle, who had heard the ruckus, both make sympathetic expressions as they notice both Ratchet and Xennah running out of the building. "We have to do something, Clank!" Clank nods and soon thinks of an idea. He takes out his communicator once again and rapidly begins to press buttons and type in commands. "I believe I have an idea... if I can hack into the stereo, I may be able to find and play the song that Ratchet and Xennah like. That may make them stop..." Isabelle nods and watches, worriedly, as the two lombaxes continue to push through the crowd. ------------------------ After a short while, Clank succesfully manages to hack into the stereo and all of the guests look around in confusion from the sudden change of music and begin to mutter amongst themselves. After a little while, the crowd continue to talk amongst themselves, some of them beginning to dance to the new tune. Ratchet and Xennah, however, both stop running and look over to the direction of the stereo. Xennah then turns back to Ratchet and looks at him from a distance, making a confused expression. She then walks towards Ratchet and whispers to herself as she gets closer to his position. "This is..." Ratchet also begins to walk over to Xennah and the two soon stand in front of one another before whispering: "... our favourite song." The two lombaxes look up at one another and gaze into each other's eyes as they realised that they had both said the same thing. Ratchet chuckles nervously and Xennah giggles at the same time. Ratchet then looks around before smiling and holding his hand out to Xennah. "I believe I owe you a dance, Xen..." Xennah smiles back and takes Ratchet's hand into her own before the two begin to dance together. A little while later, Xennah lowers her ears a bit as she looks up at Ratchet. "Ratchet... I'm sorry about--" "No, it was MY fault... I should have told you where I was." Xennah makes a softer expression and smiles as their eyes meet once again. She feels a blush appear on her cheeks but soon feels her ear twitch as Ratchet whispers to her. "I can't believe I didn't recognise you before... especially with your eyes, they really ARE unique." Xennah smiles and giggles as she notices Ratchet beginning to blush from his comment. He chuckles nervously and rubs a hand behind his head. "Eheh... that probably sound kinda cheesy, huh?" "No... it was really sweet of you to say. And all of those compliments before... I never realised you were so romantic." Ratchet chuckles nervously once again and begins to speak, a nervous tone present in his voice. "Well, you deserved them all... and well... you are... n-never mind." Xennah lowers her ears a bit and looks up at Ratchet, worriedly. "What is it?" Ratchet gulps before talking once again. "I uh... I've always thought that you... you were cute." Xennah smiles and wags her tail a bit from the compliment. "Aww, thanks... I've always thought that you were cute too." Ratchet smiles down at Xennah as they continue to dance together. Xennah shyly nuzzles her head into Ratchet's chest before going on her tiptoes. She gently places a kiss on Ratchet's cheek and looks away, shyly. Ratchet opens his eyes widely and blushes a bit from the kiss but he soon smirks as he looks down at her and uses a hand to turn her head to face him. Xennah blushes a darker red as she looks up, noticing Ratchet move his face closer to hers. "R-Ratchet, what are you--" Before Xennah could finish her sentence, she opens her eyes widely as she feels Ratchet's lips, pressing against hers. She closes her eyes and returns the kiss, gently wrapping her arm around Ratchet's waist. After a short while, Ratchet and Xennah pull away from each other and look into each other's eyes. Ratchet hugs Xennah close and whispers into her ear. "I love you, Xen... I ALWAYS have." Xennah smiles and rubs her nose against Ratchet's as she whispers back. "I love you too, Ratchet..." -------------- "Aww..." Isabelle coos as she watches the scene from afar with Clank. Clank smiles at the sight and turns to Isabelle, who was sat next to her. "Somehow I knew that they would both become an item, hehehe." Isabelle giggles and smiles as she looks over to Clank. "Indeed, that was a plan I had all along. I think it is safe to say that it worked out rather well."