I sat down and wrote this for 3+ hours straight. This idea came to me out of nowhere a few days ago, and only now I've finally decided to act upon it. The three names of the OC characters in this are random, no significance behind it. Enjoy!

There it was again, the nagging feeling that he was forgetting something important.

Everyone felt that way on occasion, sure, but for Ratchet, it was nearly a daily basis, and it was driving him crazy. Did he finish his to-do list in the garage yesterday? Absolutely. Money was important, so he made it his personal goal to complete the checklist before turning in each day. Had he forgotten to reinstall those gears in Mr. Jensen's ship? ...No, he'd triple-checked that one. After the previous incident, his friends never let him live it down, so there's no way he'd forget.

"Ratchet! Time to wake up!"

Speaking of which…

The Lombax groggily rolled out of bed and stretched, mentally preparing himself for his daily rounds. His small group of friends had come to give him a wake-up call. They had an unusually long list of jobs to do today, and while he had insisted that he didn't need it and that he would be up and about before they even arrived, it seemed Alice's makeshift alarm clock was well-needed. Damn, now he was going to owe Damerys 50 bolts from that stupid bet.

Ratchet eventually made it outside, where the rest of his group had been waiting. Notably, the sun was beating down a bit harder than normal, indicating yet another drearily hot day on Veldin.

"Heya. Beautiful weather we got for the 20-something-odd jobs we've got lined up today, right?" Ratchet started off casually only to back up a second later when Alice marched right up to him, her finger pointing at him accusatorily.

"You slept in! Again! And that's 33 jobs today, to be exact!"

Great. He glanced over to the two Fongoid boys who stood and smirked nearby. "I, uh, I don't suppose the customers have formed a nice, single-file line outside the garage for us?" Neal avoided his gaze entirely, wiping his glasses on the front of his shirt, while Damerys simply grinned. "I'll take that as a 'no', then?"

"Oh, I'm sure they've all got flowers and chocolates for us, too!"

"Ugh…"

Ratchet had tried to leave Veldin on numerous occasions. Two years ago, he had been so close to leaving, too. But without a robotic ignition system to start his ship, well… he had to kiss that plan goodbye.

Whenever he thought back to that moment, however, he found that odd feeling again. He must have forgotten something pretty crucial at that time to still be dwelling on it 2 years later. He only hoped he could remember what it was, and soon.

Shortly after that failed attempt, he resigned himself to try saving up even more money, going so far as to pick up smaller side jobs. In the process, he'd met Damerys, Alice, and Neal, a group of Fongoid siblings who'd taken an interest in his mechanic work. They'd meet up several times throughout the week, and Ratchet began looking forward to seeing them. He could only imagine that this was what it felt like to have a family, and it was a true blessing. Eventually, they all began working together, with the hopes of exploring the galaxy someday.

Alice, the eldest, had a caring side that was often overshadowed by her nagging, and like a mother hen, she herded the boys around to keep them in line. Damerys was perhaps the closest to Ratchet, and the two often wandered off to pull pranks or stargaze and dream about the future. Neal, the quiet-but-inquisitive youngest, was polite, loved reading, and did his best to help Alice with her work when he was able.

Yes, this was the closest Ratchet had to family, but he still felt like something was missing. He tried not to think about it too much, lest he start slacking on the job and inciting Alice's rage.

So close, yet so far…. He shook his head and pulled his harness on, and the four made their way to the garage on the cliffs nearby to start working.

"...Clank-?"

Ratchet nearly dropped the wrench in his hand as his mind stuttered to a complete halt. Eyes frozen wide open in shock, he slowly turned his head to where Neal stood.

"W...What did you say?"

He was met with a perplexed face as the smaller Fongoid adjusted his glasses after a moment's pause. "...I said, did you hear that 'clank' noise just now?"

Ratchet stared for a couple seconds more before remembering where he was. "...Huh? Oh! Oh yeah! Yeah, that's… it's the um… the thingy…"

"It's the hydro coils snapping against the base," Damerys cut in, wearing a look of concern. "Dude, what's with you today?"

Ratchet stared down at his lap, unsure himself of what just happened. Maybe the heat was making him space out more than usual.

"I'm… I think I'll go sit for a second. Is that okay?"

"Take a 10, I'll cover for ya."

It was the strangest thing. He could normally shake off being stunned momentarily, but that time… that time was different. Like he had been slapped in the face, or fell off the bed while being in REM sleep. He brushed a hand over his ears and sighed. What a conundrum. He couldn't recall himself being this troubled in his lifetime, not ever. Nearby, some customers who were waiting in line were having a quiet conversation that, if he were trying hard enough, he could listen in, but he had found no interest in doing so.

At least, he hadn't intended to eavesdrop until he heard one of them say "Ah, but the XJ-0461 model is so last year!"

XJ-0461… now that sounded familiar. But that could've just been a random model number for a vehicle. And since he was well attuned to his mechanics, he may have just subconsciously remembered it for no apparent reason.

That was plausible, right?

Ratchet suddenly had a strange ache in his chest, like he needed to go somewhere, do something, and quickly. The sense of urgency hit him harder than he expected, and he was on his feet and pacing about in an instant.

"Hey, Ratchet, Neal said you were acting strange. What's going on?" Alice appeared in his peripheral vision, and, for some bizarre reason, he couldn't bring himself to look at her.

"I'll be honest, I don't really know what's going on, myself. But for the longest time, I've been feeling like I was forgetting something important." He turned his head in her direction, looking her straight in the eyes. "It's unorthodox. It's like I've forgotten some crucial detail, and it's slowly driving me to insanity."

Alice appeared at a loss for words, before smiling lightly despite her furrowed brow. "C'mon, everyone feels that way sometimes! But this is…" she gestured with her hands, but paused and dropped them to her sides when Ratchet's expression never faltered. He turned to face her fully.

"This is anything but ordinary. I feel like my life is dependent on this one bit of information that constantly stands just out of reach." He swallowed and turned his gaze to the ground. "Not sure why, but I also feel like time is running out, and fast. So I need to resolve this mystery, right now."

Damerys and Neal joined the pair without a word, watching curiously. Ratchet looked among the faces of his three closest friends and felt comfort, but at the same time there was uneasiness. There was nothing right with this scenario, no matter how he looked at it.

"Alice… you remember when we first met, right? What year was that?"

"What? That was… probably around two years ago, year 5354. Why?"

His mind focused around the year. Why does that matter?

"What… what was the model number of the ship you were driving then?" He was almost afraid to hear the answer.

"...Weird line of questioning, but I think it was a silver B5429671." She glared at her brothers as they snickered and muttered "nerd" under their breaths. But Ratchet, as he took in this information, felt a wave of calm spread over him. His mind was clear for the first time in what felt like forever.

He finally remembered what was so important. But there was just one more thing he needed to confirm.

"Hey, so tell me then… what's my real name?" If these were truly the people he'd been close to for the past two years, surely this question would be an easy one to answer.

"Um… it's Alister, right?" Alice spoke after a moment to think.

"No no, it's Jeeves, isn't it?" Damerys chimed in.

"I was certain it was Nefarious, though," Neal added, and was able to make Ratchet laugh out loud.

"Actually, I myself don't even know my real name. I never learned it, and probably never will."

Now that his thoughts had been confirmed, he strode away from the garage, approaching the edge of the cliff side with confidence. He hadn't felt this good in so long.

"Ratchet! What do you think you're doing?!"

He glanced at the siblings and turned around to face them. Varying degrees of worry marred their faces, and he smiled sadly in return.

"You three have been my closest friends for a while now, and I'm grateful to have known you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you."

They all stood in silence, fearful of what was to come. Damerys stepped forward hesitantly.

"What's going on?"

Ratchet looked among their faces once more before closing his eyes. This was going to hurt a little bit.

"I've been sleeping in again, for far too long. It's time for me to wake up."

He tipped himself backwards and began falling.

"Thank you."

Desperate pleas and shouts filled his ears, coupled with the wind as it whistled by.

"Come back!"

"Snap out of it!"

"RATCHET ! ! !"

His eyes snapped open suddenly, his heart racing as though he'd just woken up from a bad dream. Looking around, he found himself stuck to a wall with a strange, sticky material. What on…

And there was a small warbot, hurriedly trying to pull him off. He stared numbly before finding his voice.

"...Clank?"

At his utterance, Clank startled and glanced up. "Thank goodness! I was beginning to fear you would remain in stasis for a much longer period of time!" With one last tug, Ratchet went careening face-first onto the ground. He took a moment to recompose himself and looked to Clank once again. "We must hurry. I am certain he has reached the core by now."

"How long was I out? What happened?"

"You have been unconscious for at least 20 minutes. Do you not remember the mercenary's attack?"

The gears in Ratchet's head turned, and suddenly everything came back to him. As soon as they had found what they were looking for, the mercenary - who had been hired by the town to go with them - turned around and attacked them out of nowhere. "Sweet dreams," he'd said before firing his weird guns at him. Freaking traitor, he was going to enjoy breaking in his newly polished and waxed Omniwrench on him. But for now…

"You appear to be troubled. Is something wrong?"

And there it was again, the familiar face of concern he had grown accustomed to in the presence of his group of friends. Well, the group of friends that didn't actually exist, anyways. It was all just some dream, and he was only able to decipher that mystery when he realized that the basis of the dream revolved around names that he knew. Two years worth of memories, only to find that none of it actually happened… it was more than a little heartbreaking, if he were being honest.

But the more he thought about it, the more Ratchet realized that no, those friends did truly exist; not as three, but as one. Their personalities blended together to create the one he called his best friend. And if two years of happy memories could be stuffed into the span of 20 minutes, imagine what a lifetime could bring?

"No, Clank. There is nothing wrong. Nothing wrong at all."