Full disclosure: I came up with this listicle on the fly while I listened to “What The Future Holds” by Steps. It reminds me so much of my freakish dream from years ago. It’s my first favourite song in years, despite the lyrics having dark undertones. This song is a stark contrast to their previous songs which didn’t tackle serious issues. I’m not sure how Steps went from a cheesy, happy-go-lucky song like “5, 6, 7, 8” to a dark song like “What The Future Holds”. I don’t think I remember listening to a song THIS good in such a VERY long time. When the world needed Steps the most, it returned.
What it means to dream a dream. Everyone dreams during the day and night and everybody’s dreams are different from each other. Not to mention, the dreams our minds conjure for us differs every day. While my dreams aren’t as weird as a certain Lombax’s dreams from Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters, my dreams vary from one another whether they are bizarre, frightening or not. The hardest thing about dreams is I tend to forget about a dream the instant I woke up. This is why I forget about most of my dreams. However, not all of them are centred around video games. Here is a list of them I still vaguely remembered and stood out to me the most:
Ratchet & Clank
Speaking of the freakish dream, let’s kick off the listicle with the most recent video game-related dream from recent memory.
The dream diary/journal log is currently in writing development hell or it’s shelved. It also doubles as a song fanfiction.
Within the dream, I woke up to find myself somehow transformed into Ratchet as I started to get my bearings. Not only did I soon learn my physical appearance have changed, so did my attire and my voice. As I stir, I spotted Clank who stood by my side, concerned for me. I initially wanted to tell him who I really am but I decided to play along because I didn’t want to complicate things. It took me a while to maintain my composure from the shock. When he helped me to my feet, we agreed and I strapped him to my back before we explored the post-apocalyptic city. While we travelled around the city, I soon found out that it’s my homecity. Unfortunately, our journey is cut short when we soon find ourselves being chased by gigantic robots as we run for our lives. While we are being pursued, Clank became suspicious of me over time due to the sudden change in my mannerisms and why I didn’t attack the robots head on.
Just think of the situation similar to the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series and the film, Nine Lives.
According to the AuntyFlo website and the CheckMyDream website, if a robot (or in my case, robots) is chasing me in my dream, this means I’m worried about the future. This pretty much sums up “What The Future Holds” by Steps all right.
I swear if my mind is trying to tell me something.
Paralysed, I cannot run” – “What The Future Holds“ by Steps
The commissioned fanart (the background is actually a photo I took of the Central Library in Manchester) above by AshMichelleSims shows Ratchet, who is accompanied by Clank, sprinting down the corridor filled with arches. On the left side of them are a row of pillars. While they’re being hunted down by the larger-than-life robots, Clank is holding Ratchet’s OmniWrench while the Lombax in question is looking back in dread, fearing for his life.
Ratchet & Clank x Iconoclasts
If I recall correctly, Mina and I were fighting against a giant machine in Iconoclasts. It’s the second boss in the game. This is what I get for playing it before bedtime at the time. Alongside the Ratchet & Clank x Shantae crossover, this is another dream which is going to be included in the second issue of the Byte Zine. It would’ve included my Ratchet & Clank x Iconoclasts and Ratchet & Clank x Shantae dream snippets but I’m not sure what happened to the zine nowadays, considering I haven’t heard an update from its Twitter account in such a long time. Unfortunately, the dream snippets are only exclusive to the zine.
The first snippet revolves around a skirmish between Ratchet (and Clank), Robin, Mina and Elro. In order to ward off the wanted sinners, the dynamic duo used everything they had at their disposal. They couldn’t utilise their overpowered, space-age arsenal lest One Concern becomes suspicious of them. Sadly, Ratchet and Clank are at the mercy of Robin, Mina and Elro whilst Robin pins the Lombax to the floor and the barrel of Mina’s shotgun touches his right cheek.
The second snippet concerns Ratchet (and Clank) locked in combat with Robin, parrying and blocking each other’s attacks and swings with their comically oversized wrenches. The snippet also doubles as an alternate battle scene. The wrench duel ends in Ratchet and Clank’s favour as the Lombax delivers a sweeping kick to disarm Robin before he points his OmniWrench at her, who is defenseless on the floor.
As time passed, I wrote a “director’s cut”/extended version of one of the snippets to celebrate the first anniversary of Iconoclasts back in 28th January 2019. Just think of it as a dream journal/diary log. At the time of writing the “director’s cut”/extended version, I imagined Robin to be treated as a boss but if this story is in Robin’s perspective, Ratchet and Clank will serve as bosses (The first time Ratchet is a boss to face off against is in Everybody’s Golf 4 and the second time he is a boss, along with Clank, is in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale). In my headcanon, I tend to picture Ratchet and Robin as rivals (similar to Ratchet and Clank and Jak and Daxter are rivals) instead of a romantic couple.
The commissioned fanart above by Mewdokas presents Ratchet (and Clank) are engaged in a wrench duel with Robin within the One Concern headquarters. As they exchange blows, Clank constantly issues warnings to Ratchet in order to block and dodge each attack. The intergalactic duo are captured and forced to work for One Concern after they are spotted eavesdropping on them mining for Ivory. Agent Black approached them with a proposition, she offered Ratchet a job to work as a registered mechanic while patrolling the One Concern premises as a Bastion Elite soldier on the side. If they refuse, they’re sentenced to Penance. Having no choice, he assumes the alias, “Ryan Nebula”, to hide his true identity.
Ratchet & Clank x Shantae
Just like the Ratchet & Clank x Iconoclasts crossover dream, I wrote two snippets of the Ratchet & Clank x Shantae crossover dream for the second issue of the Byte Zine.
The first snippet is about Ratchet waking up in the middle of the night while Clank is in sleep mode, already retracted into his backpack form. He couldn’t sleep due to being homesick for his home dimension. So, he decided to exit Shantae’s lighthouse and seeked the high ground because of his feline likeness. Using his Swingshot gadget, he shoots himself upwards to the roof of the house and sits there. Realising something is up, Shantae woke up and left her home to see where one of her new friends went off to. As luck would have it, it didn’t take long for her to notice a Lombax-shaped shadow against a moonlight backdrop. She transformed into a monkey to scale up her home. Once she reached the rooftop, she reverted back to her half-genie form and sat next to her new pal. At first, Ratchet is taken aback by Shantae’s sudden appearance and questions her methods but he is soon relaxed at her presence. She comments that it looks like she isn’t the only one who likes the roof so much before she asks what is bothering him. During his lament, he regrets using the Dimensionator to locate his endangered species. She assures him that once they find all of the components for her uncle’s latest invention, she and her uncle will be able to send him and Clank home.
The second snippet involves Ratchet and Clank being chased by Risky Boots and her Tinkerbat pirate crew during the night after Ratchet refuses to hand over the components that made up of Uncle Mimic’s latest invention (a powerful machine capable of travelling between dimensions). When she fails to catch them, she decides enough is enough and pulls out all the stops by attempting to blast the cosmic duo to smithereens with barrages of cannonballs from her pirate ship. Using his feline instincts and agility, Ratchet seeked out every avenue by pulling off a string of parkour-esque abilities consecutively to evade attacks as the frantic nighttime chase continued until they reached Scuttle Town and it carried on from there. While he tried to avoid waves after waves of cannonballs, he performed a chain of leap of faiths across the rooftops of every building and house within the town. As he sprinted for his life whilst his heart thumps with every breath he takes, there are occasions when his gloved hands touch each rooftop for good measure as he executes consecutive sequences of front flips with typically feline grace.
Within this commissioned fanart by Shira_Hedgie, Ratchet looks up at the nighttime sky with a homesick expression, yearning to be back home in his dimension. Shantae accompanies him on the rooftop of her lighthouse to comfort him and assure him that everything will be all right in the end when they finish their massive “MacGuffin” fetch quest. While she reassures him in his time of need, Clank is inside the aforementioned lighthouse in sleep mode, completely unaware of the situation.
Ratchet & Clank x Galactic: Kids Next Door
Unlike the other dreams, this one isn’t accompanied with commissioned fanart and unlike the Ratchet & Clank x Iconoclasts and Ratchet & Clank x Shantae crossover dream snippets, the Ratchet & Clank x Galactic: Kids Next Door crossover snippet have only one snippet. This is also the dream that isn’t crossing over with another video game franchise. The dream diary/journal log is currently in writing development hell or it’s been indefinitely shelved.
As far as the plot is concerned in terms of what I can vaguely remember from the dream, the remaining members of Sector V almost barely escaped with their lives from what’s left of planet Earth. Their spaceship (made from 2×4 technology) touched down on an unknown, purple planet, which is countless light years away from their home planet. Once they arrived, Numbuhs 2, 3 and 5 were frightened and worried for their lives while Numbuh 4/Wallabee Beatles vented his frustration in relation to Nigel Uno’s shocking betrayal. Feeling a gust of wind suddenly kick up as a dropship ominously loomed as it glided across Abigail’s head. This caused Sector V to hide behind a randomly-chosen group of rocks, pebbles and boulders. They peered over their hiding spots with bated breath, anticipating what kind of aliens or robots emerge out of the unknown spacecraft. When it finally touched down, an unidentified space kitty cat, a little silver robot and a troop of militaristic robots marched out of the transportation. As they eavesdropped on the new visitors, Sector V voiced their opinions amongst themselves about the alien cat and the robots, especially when Wallabee Beatles made a remark about the space cat alien acting like a drill sergeant. Though, Numbuh 5/Abigail Lincoln saw a lot of Numbuh 1/Nigel Uno in the aforementioned space kitty in terms of leadership, strictness and how he issued the commands to his squad of robots. Unfortunately for them, the space cat and the robots heard their voices due to the extraterrestrial cat’s sensitive hearing. This caused the alien kitty and the robots to hold Sector V at gunpoint. Thus, they are captured and forced into the dropship for interrogation. When they arrived at the Starship Phoenix, despite the misunderstanding, the space kitty cat, his robot companion and his army of militaristic robots introduced themselves as Ratchet, Clank and the Galactic Rangers respectively. After they exchanged introductions, Sector V explained why they’re in outer space. In response, Ratchet growled in a primal, feral and animalistic manner while his golden yellow fur bristled due to him still being irritated by them eavesdropping on him and his robotic allies earlier but his growling hitched and cut out. He soon softened, accompanied with sympathetic, drooped ears, when he listened to the dire news regarding Sector V and the global Kids Next Door’s struggle against the Galactic Kids Next Door and the Galactic Kids Next Door planning to commit genocide on teenagers and adults (regardless of whether they are good or evil) and planets (that the Galactic Kids Next Door deemed to be “infested” with adults and teenagers) on an intergalactic scale. Thanks to the Lombax commandeering the Galactic Rangers and the Starship Phoenix as a sergeant and a captain, he, Clank and the remaining members of Sector V may have a shot at locating Nigel Uno and defeating the Galactic Kids Next Door.
It’s noted that Ratchet is more strict as a sergeant in contrast to how he’s portrayed in Ratchet & Clank 3.
This Galactic: Kids Next Door fanart by JankyBones is derivative from the thumbnail used for the Galactic Kids Next Door: The Sequel That Never Was video created by The Roundtable. Irrelevant to the Galactic: Kids Next Door, Mrs. Uno (She is Monty Uno’s wife, Nigel Uno’s mum and the first female Kids Next Door operative of the seventh age)’s operative codename, Numbuh 999, might be a reference to the emergency number British people dial for the ambulance or the police. Either this is a coincidence on Tom Warburton’s part or this is a deliberate reference which indicates he went out of his way to carry out a lot of research about the UK culture and heritage. This theory has been on my mind ever since I watched the final episode of Season 6 and the series finale, “OPERATION: I.N.T.E.R.V.I.E.W.S.” for the first time.
Looking back, I don’t know why my mind brought this unexpected crossover up while I was sleeping. Maybe I was thinking and obsessing about the Galactic: Kids Next Door back then. I guess the concept of Sector V and the global Kids Next Door doing battle with the Galactic Kids Next Door, evil aliens and rogue robots in outer space sounds exciting despite I’ve seen space dogfights, space operas, space gunfights and space warfare before countless times in all forms of entertainment, especially in video games. At the time of writing, I guess I was eleven days too late for the Galactic: Kids Next Door 6th anniversary today. I remember being one of the 68,493 supporters for the Greenlight Galactic: Kids Next Door series petition six years ago. It’s worth noting the Codename: Kids Next Door’s creator, Tom Warburton, and Dee Bradley Baker (one of the voice actors from the show) also signed the petition. This goes to show how much I wanted this to happen just as much as the next Codename: Kids Next Door fan. Since then, people still created numerous new petitions to this day. I’m not sure if the creator, Tom Warburton, has moved on or not. Honestly, I wish he should’ve picked a different date instead of April Fools Day back in 2015 to pitch a sci-fi spin-off/sequel series.
Conclusion
Looking back on these dreams (coupled with the dream diary/journal logs), they might as well double as fanfictions/one-shot fanfictions/short fanfictions. I won’t be lying that I wanted to stay in some of these dreams longer so I’ll know how they’ll finish. It’s annoying when a dream I liked abruptly ends the instant I wake up. Have you ever tried going back to sleep to attempt to relive the dream you enjoyed? I occasionally tried that but I couldn’t return to the dream I wanted to stay in and my brain conjures up a different dream. Obviously, I don’t want to remain in the chase dreams. Usually, dreams have meanings but said dream meanings initially never crossed my mind or I never thought about them. Occasionally, I wonder if my mind is foreshadowing the future or it’s warning me about something. As tempting as writing a dream diary/journal is, as I said earlier dreams are almost impossible to remember unless I have a notebook near me and I quickly jot down what I recalled from a dream. It’s ironic that despite I’ve played a lot of video games in my lifetime since Crash Bandicoot back in 1996, I think I didn’t dream a ton of video game-related dreams or I’ve completely forgotten most of them. There are times when I’m a video game character (for example, I somehow became Ratchet in the Ratchet & Clank and Ratchet & Clank x Iconoclasts dreams) in a couple of dreams and sometimes in some dreams, they are presented in my mind (for instance, the Ratchet & Clank x Shantae and Ratchet & Clank x Galactic: Kids Next Door dreams). I can’t remember if I had full control of myself and my actions in these dreams or not. Nevertheless, it’s kinda bittersweet to reminisce about them. Reflecting on them, I’ve noticed nearly all of the dreams featured in this listicle contained dark undertones, probably indications of my current state of my mental health. Not every dream is pleasant but that is what makes them unpredictable. You’ll never know what kind of dream comes up next.
beyondthestars 