> Jak and Daxter: Heirs of Mar
>  by Blackdrag-rose
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> Prelude: Start of an Adventure
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Twilight yawned for a moment as she stretched her arms and walked out of the makeshift workshop that she and Keira had been working in since the sun rose, where she stood by part of the wooden railing that prevented one from falling over the edge and taking a dip in the water that surrounded the wide pillar of earth that the house she, Keira, and the others lived in, and stared at the sun for a time, even though her focus was less on whatever might be inside the water and more on the project that was inside the room she had just emerged from, as she was sure that, with a few more tweaks, they could finally finish it and move onto something else. The house in question belonged to Samos the Sage, or the Green Sage as some of the residents of Sandover Village, the small village that she and the others called home, called him, and he was a master of understanding and channeling Green Eco, one of the five types of Eco that existed and flowed throughout the entire world, and most of the residents of this place were Humans, bipedal creatures who walked on two legs, had two arms, and had a pair of pointed ears, though Twilight was one of three individuals who were different from the rest of the villagers, even if she had no idea why. The reason for that thought was because her legs ended in hooves, instead of feet like what Keira and the others had, her skin was a light grayish orchid color, while the others were fair-skinned and didn't have any odd colors, even though she was sure that her skin was also like fur in some cases, she had a horse tail coming out of her spine, which a friend of hers teased her about and said it was more like a pony's tail than what she was thinking, which shared the same colors as her hair, or mane as her friend said, which was a deep sapphire blue with moderate purple and raspberry stripes, and her head was different from Keira's as well, as her face was pushed out a little, like a muzzle, and she had pony ears, instead of pointed ears. Daxter just loved to tease her and her sisters, Starlight Glimmer and Cozy Glow, about their strange appearances, as they, according to him, looked like a cross between a Human and a pony, and all three of them had last names that didn't match up, as hers was Sparkle, but for the most part she didn't let that get to her as she stared out at the water she had been staring at and turned her focus back to the project she and Keira had been working on, despite the fact that she knew something was going to distract her at some point in the very near future.

She was, of course, wearing a light blue shirt that had no sleeves and was rather short, as it showed off her midriff, and a purple pair of cargo pants that stopped at her knees, though given the shape of her hooves it was hard for them to come up with some shoes or footwear for her to wear, so she and her sisters went without shoes for the time being, and she had white wrappings around her wrists, mostly because she and Keira worked with machines and these allowed her to make sure her arms weren't harmed in the process, and she had a modified pair of aviator goggles around her neck, as it didn't fit with her ears all that well and she had to modify the strap to fit much better. She, Starlight, Cozy, and Keira all had slim builds, which went with their more beach-like attire, minimalist attire to be exact due to the climate of the area they called home, as Sandover Village was located near a nice beach, with an eerie forest nearby, a dark island not too far from where their houses rested, and a smaller island that was some distance from the village and was used for training, even if the last one could only be accessed by a special teleportation device that rested in Samos' hut, but even as she thought about it she wasn't all that bothered by her attire. Starlight and Cozy wore similar clothing to what she had, even though Starlight's shirt was more of a cyan color and her cargo pants happened to be a light gray, with both cut the same as what Twilight was wearing, while Cozy's shirt was light green and the cargo pants being more of a pale color, and they were just fine with their attire as well, so for the most part the three of them focused on whatever they spent their days doing, even though she had this odd desire to read books and there weren't a whole lot of them in Sandover Village, as while Samos had one or two the only other individual who had some was their Uncle, an explorer who wanted to see the world that was beyond the village and either make a map of everything or write a book about everything he saw. The thing was that she, Starlight, and Cozy knew that there was no way they were related to the man in question, as he was pure Human and he had nothing odd about him, like hooves or a tail, but there was the chance that he was related to Jak, the fourth and final member of their little family, as Keira was a friend to all four of them, just like Daxter was a friend as well, but that didn't stop the four of them from seeing each other as family, even if it was possible that they weren't actually related to each other in the grand scheme of things.

As she thought about that, however, she thought about the earliest thing she remembered and that was a time when she, Starlight, Cozy, and Jak, with her and her sisters being four while Jak was five at the time, were in an odd city, surrounded by a tall wall that was either made out of stone or metal, and that they were wandering around with a small odd creature that followed Jak, before meeting an elderly man who helped keep them safe and there was another old man who had a wooden cane who became their protector, even though one of her weirder memories happened to be of the four of them seeing double, as there was a time where she was sure that she had seen a more mature and adult version of herself, Jak, Starlight, and Cozy, though that was around the time Twilight heard a voice speak.

"Are you thinking about that city again?" a voice asked, something that caused Twilight to pause for a second, and only a second, because she had heard her own voice behind her and it was followed by her turning around to see Keira standing in the doorway that Twilight had walked through a few moments ago, who was wearing a whitish lavender shirt, which also showed off her midriff, that had a red trim, her cargo pants were part purple and part pink, bandages on her arms and legs that were covered by her brown gloves and her sandals, with a purple choker around her neck and blue goggles that were in front of that, while her hair was half blue and half green.

That was the other thing that Twilight and Keira shared, besides their love of inventing new things to help the rest of the residents of Sandover Village, and the other villages that rested across the continent, as both of them had the same voice and it had shocked and surprised everyone that they knew when they realized that the pair had the same voice, so much so that Daxter loved to mention that they could have been sisters, though after about ten years of living with it, making Twilight and her sisters fourteen, the same as Keira, with Jak being fifteen, everyone had gotten used to the weirdness of the situation and didn't bat an eye when they heard either Twilight or Keira speak, though they made sure to announce themselves, just so everyone else knew who was talking.

"Sort of... its hard not to, given that it seems to be important with how many times I've seen it over the years," Twilight replied, as that was the truth of the matter, she, Jak, Starlight, and even Cozy had recurring dreams about the city and an event that none of them could really explain in great detail, as in odd creatures eventually attacking it at one point and the odd energy ring that the, as in her and the rest of her family, disappeared through at one point in time, before she sighed for a moment as she focused on something else, because there was something else for them to talk about and it was far more exciting for the two of them, "So, is there anything else we need to do on the A-Grav Zoomer, or do you think we're ready to show Jak and the others what we've been working on?"

"The heat shield still needs some work, but I'm sure that it'll be done by the end of the day," Keira said, though she smiled as she said that, because she and Twilight enjoyed working on machines and studying things that they discovered, and it was even true for some of the various Precursor statues and structures they could see, with the Precursors supposedly being an ancient race that created their world, not to mention created the types of Eco that everyone knew about, and so many other things which were scattered throughout the continent and the rest of the world, but before they could say anything else they heard the sound of either Starlight or Cozy walking down the ramp that let someone walk up from the area they were standing in and head to the upper part of the house.

As the pair expected two individuals walked down the ramp in question, one having a light grayish heliotrope color to her skin or fur, while her tail and hair colors were a mix of moderate and light purple colors with light grayish aquamarine strips, though she had moderate sapphire blue colored eyes, as opposed to Twilight's moderate violet eyes or the green eyes Keira had, while the other girl had a pinkish gray color to her body and her hair, which had been cut short to match the styles that her sisters, Jak, and even Keira had, was a light grayish arctic blue that had some lighter bits mixed into it, while her eyes were more of a moderate scarlet.

"I thought I heard you two talking, since it was the same voice asking itself questions," the first girl, Starlight Glimmer, said, referring once more to the fact that Twilight and Keira shared the same voice, though like the pair she and Cozy Glow, who was standing behind her at the moment and seemed to be staring out at the rest of the village as they came to a stop, had gotten used to this and were no longer shocked whenever they heard the pair talk to each other, just like Jak and Daxter were the same way as well, not to mention the rest of their rather small village, before she thought of something that she wanted to tell Twilight and Keira, "Samos actually gave us the day off for once, so we can rest and recover from all of the training that we've been going through lately, as in practicing our punches and kicks while tapping into our magic for some additional defenses, so we were thinking of finding Jak and Daxter so we could tell them the news, before they bothered Samos and possibly make him change his mind... or, to be more exact, stop Daxter from annoying him."

What Starlight was talking about was the fact that she, Twilight, and Cozy had access to another type of power that Daxter loved to refer to as 'magic', since it wasn't like what someone could do with the types of Eco that were in their world, and for the most part they had discovered how to create personal shields, lift items into the air and move them accordingly, and a few other things that were rather interesting when they thought about it, though they could also tap into the power of the types of Eco, hence why Samos insisted that the three of them join Jak in his combat training on Geyser Rock and gave them a low amount of breaks, hence why Starlight was eager to tell their brother the news.

"Really? He must have been impressed with what we've done recently," Twilight commented, as she was surprised by this piece of news as well, since everyone knew that Samos was strict with nearly everyone he talked to or taught, even if the latter was very little since he was only focused on their little group, despite the fact that the only individual who he wasn't strict with was his daughter, Keira, as he usually let her do whatever she wanted with her tinkering and it had lead to some crazy things in the past, like a 'mech' warrior that should have allowed her to fight and just fell apart, without blowing up in the process, when she tried to use it, though while he let her work with Keira, as their experiments and machines were all interesting and exciting when one worked, Twilight was usually split between training with Jak and her sisters or working with Keira in her workshop.

"Twilight, I know what you're thinking, and I can handle the work on my own," Keira said, as she knew that Twilight had to be thinking about their work on the A-Grav Zoomer, since it was the first thing she asked her when she emerged from her room, which contained their workshop, since she considered it hers and Twilight's, and the work that needed to be done so it would be completed at long last, so it could get someone from Sandover Village and let them get to Rock Village, the next settlement that rested on this continent, before she rested a hand on Twilight's shoulder for a moment, "so go, have some fun with your siblings before my father either changes his mind or calls you back early for whatever training he might have in mind for all of you."

Twilight nodded and it wasn't long before she, Starlight, and Cozy left the area that Samos' hut was located on and headed into the village, which involved walking over a short bridge that was connected to a small pillar of earth that had a second bridge that was connected to the village itself, where they glanced at the buildings for a moment and recalled who called which one home, as there was a tall building that had an inactive windmill and was the home of their Mayor, there was a house that had a bunch of fishing supplies inside and around it, meaning it was the Fisherman's house, and next to that one rested a house with maps and other exploration gear, meaning it was their Uncle's place, not to mention a house which had a slightly larger opening and a massive stone inside it, making it the Sculptor's house, and another that had a number of bird cages inside it, which was the Birdwatcher's place. They didn't get too far into the village before noticing that there were two individuals standing on the dock that was near the Fisherman's place, where both of them were boys and the sisters focused on them as they walked around the house to reach where they were standing, where the first one they noticed was their brother, who was wearing a blue tunic, off-white colored pants, and had a metal plate that rested on his left shoulder, why they never really figured out and he only said it 'felt right', with a steel ring resting in front of his chest that was held in place by three leather strips, one of which was thick enough to keep the plate in place, and while he also had a bracer on his left arm and nothing on his right, save for bandages, he also wore sandals, though his hair was a mix of yellow and green and looked similar to flames. That was Jak, their brother, though standing near him, wearing a red tunic and a off-white pair of pants, was Daxter, who had short orange colored hair that ended in red tips, like it was flames for some odd reason, even though the sisters suspected that he was just replicating Jak, and he stood just as tall as the rest of the group, or thereabouts anyway, and he had buck teeth, which he really didn't like, even though there was next to nothing he could do to get over them or fix them, not that anyone teased him about his teeth. Resting near the pair was a vessel that the sisters were sort of familiar with, a wooden boat that had part of the front covered in metal, to protect it from being damaged, which was connected to three metallic feet so it could skid over water and came equipped with a fan that was just as tall as one of them, as this was a speedboat and it was designed to move over fast distances fast, or as fast as Keira and Twilight could get it with the technology they had access to, making the three of them wonder what the pair was planning, even if they had an idea of what the pair might be thinking of doing.

"Hey brother, hey Daxter, you'll never guess what Samos told us earlier," Cozy said, where she and her sisters stopped in front of the pair after walking down the wooden dock and the steps that lead to the area that the pair had been standing in, for who knew how long, and her statement caused the pair to glance at each other for a moment as they considered all of the things that the old Sage could have said and why all three of them would have been a little happy right now, before they shrugged for a second and it caused her to inform them of what was going on, "He told us that we could take the day off and we decided to come tell you guys the good news... oh, and he repeated his warning to us, that we weren't allowed to go to Misty Island, not until he said we were ready to face its dangers."

"Oh, we're going to Misty Island, and I managed to convince the Fisherman to let us take his boat out for a while, as long as we return it in one piece," Jak stated, as he was feeling adventurous right now and he had the feeling this would be more exciting than running around the beach, or studying the Precursor structures, or doing whatever else his sisters might be thinking of at the moment, before he noticed that Daxter seemed worried about something, no doubt thinking about the dangers that rested on the island in question, which was when he smiled for a moment, "Come on Daxter, we've got three magic users who will be coming with us, as there's no way any of them would just let us head to the island on our own, so we won't have to worry about Lurkers or whatever Samos said is on the island."

"Yeah, you're right Jak." Daxter said, where at first he seemed nervous about what they were thinking of doing, even if the sisters hadn't even agreed with what their brother had said and were still coming to terms with the fact that he had said that in the first place, before he nodded his head and stopped shaking in his shoes, as while he was normally worried and could be a little cowardly at times, which was understandable given some of the dangers that existed outside the village, he felt much better with the thought that one or all of the sisters would likely jump aboard the boat and join them, just to make sure they weren't harmed during their possibly short visit to Misty Island.

Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy barely had time to register what Jak and Daxter had said before the pair climbed onto the boat and started up the large fan, to which they jumped onto the vessel before it could move away from the dock and sat down for a moment, where they mostly sighed for a moment, as they thought that Jak was smarter than this and would have understood Samos' warnings, before Twilight glanced over to the house she and the majority of the group lived in, as she knew that either Keira would see them leaving the village and understood that they were heading to Misty Island, against her father's wishes, or Samos himself would be staring out one of his window openings and would see them as the boat traveled over the water. It felt wrong, going against the wishes of the wisest person in the village, who was possibly one of the smartest individuals in the world as well, but Twilight and her sisters were hoping that he'd be willing to listen to them when they returned and said that they mostly went along to keep Jak and Daxter safe, even though they really hadn't had a chance to test any of their magical powers against the Lurkers and any other enemies that threatened the village, so she really had no idea how useful the three of them would be. As the boat moved, however, Daxter was the only one who wasn't sitting down at the moment and seemed to be stumbling around the area that Jak and his sisters were sitting in for a few moments, before eventually coming to rest near the side of the boat and heaved up his breakfast over the side, as he was one of the few people in Sandover Village who got seasick easily, as they weren't even going that fast and the boat wasn't rocking as much as it would have been if the Fisherman had been the one steering the vessel, though what they heard next was just a surprise, as Daxter fell over the edge of the boat and fell into the water. That caused the siblings to take a moment and sigh, or three of them did and Jak just rolled his eyes for a few seconds, before Jak reached out for a few seconds and pulled their friend back onto the boat, though since none of them had thought about the possibility of someone falling into the water none of them had a towel to offer Daxter, so all he could do was sit near the fan and hope to dry off before they reached Misty Island, since shivering and sneezing might alert potential enemies of their presence, but even as that happened Twilight was hopeful that they would find or hear something interesting so they could return to Samos and not be scolded as badly for going against his wishes like this.

It took a few moments for the boat to reach the small wooden dock that had been built on the edge of the island, a basic one based on what they had seen in the past, though as they approached it Jak powered down the fan and they silently came to a stop near the dock, where he and his sisters made sure that everything was fine and that no one had noticed them approach the island in the first place, before they climbed out of the boat and started to explore the area that was around the dock, even though something that helped Daxter's nerves was the fact that it didn't appear that there were any enemies for them to worry about. Misty Island was a place of scattered rock formations, with skeletons of a number of creatures and animals that no one really knew about or could explain the existence of, despite the fact that Twilight and Keira believed that they were ancient and revealed clues of the past, possibly during the time that the Precursors walked their world, and it also had a few places where the water was more relevant than the rocks and stones and there were a few wooden bridges that allowed someone to access the higher points of the island or cross over the watery area, as the latter was what the group had done when they reached the wooden section in question. Their exploration brought them to a Precursor Door, a circular gate make out of a bronze-like metal that went into pretty much every Precursor object and relic that the ancient and mysterious race had made, though they instantly hid themselves behind some large rocks as they found something interesting, a decent sized group of primitave bipedal creatures with magenta fur, a darker version of the same color for their manes, with spurs with their jawlines, metallic bracers near their wrists, and thick metal collars around their necks, like they were slaves or something, while standing near them were another set of creatures who were like the first set, only each of the second set had blue fur and were wearing bone armor over their bodies, with the former being Babaks, according to what Twilight and the others knew from their Uncle's books, with the latter set being called Bone Armor Lurkers. Before they could come to terms with what they were seeing right now, as it appeared that there had to be at least ten to fifteen enemies between them and the Precursor Door, that was when a surge of energy happened in the area that was in front of the door and two figures appeared before the group, one being a blue robed figure who had a grayish blue coloration to his skin, as they were positive it was a male, who had three stone weights that might keep him from flying too high, while he possessed the same yellow eyes of the Lurkers and Babaks, with a red glove over his right hand, while the other figure was female who had a slender and youthful body, like she was slightly older than the sisters were, and she was wearing a bunch of Precursor gear on her head, arms, legs, and body, even though her chest was cut to show off her midriff, though her hair was similar to the other figure's hair and she didn't seem to need the weights that he was held down by, but she did seem just as dark as her partner was.

"Continue your search for artifacts and Eco." the male said, though it was in that moment that the group discovered that he had a heavily distorted voice, nearly raspy based on what the group was hearing right now, making them wonder what could have happened to have caused such a thing, even though he had raised his right hand and held it out while he took a moment to address the Lurkers and Babaks that were in front of him and his partner, but it also looked like he had to take a few seconds to recover his breath before he continued speaking to his force, "If the locals possess Precursor items, you know what to do to them."

"Deal harshly with anybody who strays from the village, as we will attack it in due time," the female added, who seemed to have more of a sadistic personality than the male, even though the group suspected that she was someone that calculated everything and anything that could happen, though even as she said that she flexed her right hand for a moment and a bit of dark mist surrounded her hand as she did that, creating what appeared to be a ball of shadows for a few seconds, but that just told the group that she had to be tampering with Dark Eco, something that Samos told them to stay away from, least something terrible happen to them, before she dismissed it and turned towards her forces again, "oh, and if anyone from that family crosses your path, either eradicate them on the spot, or capture them so I can do it myself!"

The siblings and Daxter glanced at each other for a moment, not liking the way the lady said that, since it seemed that she was familiar with a particular family and wanted to crush them at some point in time, before they pulled back as silently as they could and retraced their steps back to where the dock was located, as no not alert the force of their presence, even though Jak headed over some of the stone platforms that happened to lead to another Precursor Door, one that just so happened to be connected to a large arena of sorts, which the other door was connected to, and there were some small platforms resting between the area they were in, which had a closed area in the center of the arena, and a platform that was slightly above the first area, only to discover that there was a massive hole in the floor that had a bunch of darkness inside it and a small artifact resting nearby.

"Oh come on, can we please get out of here? This place gives me the creeps!" Daxter stated, as he really didn't like the look of this place, especially after seeing the Lurkers that were resting on the other side of the first Precursor Door and the pair that commanded them to assault the village, even though he honestly didn't care enough to call each type of foe by what Twilight and Starlight called them, as it was far easier for him to refer to them as Lurkers and nothing else, though that was around the time that he tripped on the bronze canister, as he hadn't been paying attention to where he was going, and it brought a frown to his face in the process, "Stupid Precursor junk! I'm always tripping over everything they left behind, not that any of it is useful to us."

"Don't let Keira catch you saying that, as you'll get a lecture from her," Jak commented, as while he could see that Twilight was slightly offended by that statement, since she didn't view the Precursor artifacts and metal as 'junk', mentioning Keira kept his sister from saying anything about what Daxter had said, especially since she could get a little loud whenever she got excited about something, but in that moment he glanced at the hole that was right in front of them and stared at it for a few moments, as he was curious as to what it might be, even though he had a fairly good idea what it might be, "Hey, do any of you know what this dark ooze might be?"

"I'm fairly sure this is a vat of Dark Eco... I mean, it has the same overall consistency of the other Eco types," Cozy said, due to the fact that she had studied the tomes that Samos had given her and her sisters, even though the three of them were the only ones that could accurately talk about what was inside those books, since Jak didn't have their level of knowledge on the subject, though for a moment she frowned as she stared down at the Eco that was below them, which was when Daxter, for some reason, just tossed the canister he was holding over to Jak as he approached the vat and frowned at the mass she was staring at, "only, I've never seen this much Eco in the same place, especially Dark Eco for that matter, so we might have figured out a reason why those two and their forces have set up a base on Misty Island."

In that moment, before someone could say anything else, Jak made a noise that suggested that he was interested in what he was holding and they glanced towards him for a moment, finding that the canister was glowing red right now, though it was also in that moment that they found that one of the Bone Armor Lurkers had followed them over to this area, which either meant they had made some noise and it followed them, something that was plausible given the hooves that three of them had, or it was out on patrol and it happened to come across them, but as it raised its bone club, to strike one or more of them to the group, Jak hurled the canister at it and blew it up, revealing that the canister was a bomb, though it also packed enough force to knock all of them onto their backs and send Daxter flying into the vat. The siblings wanted to shout out Daxter's name when that happened, since they were concerned for their friend due to the fact that there was no telling what Dark Eco would do to him, but they remained silent since they had no idea if the two mystery people were in the area or not, not to mention their forces for that matter, so all each of them could do was stare at the bottom of the vat and wonder how they were going to explain this to Samos when they got back to Sandover Village, since he was bound to notice Daxter's sudden disappearance, even if they didn't see eye to eye all the time. A few moments later something burst out of the vat of Dark Eco and bounced off the ground once, before coming to a stop so they could figure out what was going on at the moment, which was when they found that it was a two foot ten inch tall creature, which came up to their knees roughly, which had orange fur and a yellow underbelly, even though it looked more like a cross between a weasel and an otter based on what the siblings were seeing, but what was interesting was that it seemed to be wearing Daxter's gloves on its hands and his goggles on its head, scaled down to fit it perfectly. It was in that moment that Twilight wished she had thought to bring her sketchbook with her, as this would have been interesting to sketch and she could have had a decent image of the two mystery figures for when they were lectured by Samos, since at this point she was sure that their teacher was going to have words for them when Jak finally decided to head back to the village, though after what they had just seen she, Starlight, and Cozy was sure that he would do the right thing and leave Misty Island, before something else happened to one of them.

"Man that stung." a voice said, where the group paused for a moment when they heard Daxter's voice again and it seemed to be coming from the odd creature that was in front of them, who picked itself up and appeared to be annoyed about something, as it turned around and walked over to where the siblings were standing, showing that it had what looked like an annoyed look on its face, before it stopped for a moment as it noticed that all of them were staring at it with a variety of expressions on their faces, surprise on Jak's, interest on Twilight's, a mix of interest and amusement on Starlight's, and a bit of concern on Cozy's face, 'What? Why are you guys looking at me like that?"

"Daxter... you're an Ottsel!" Twilight replied, as that was the name that she was going to come up for this race, due to the fact that his new form was a mix of an otter and a weasel and it only made sense for the names to be combined to make a brand new name as well, even though the rest of her siblings glanced at each other for a moment, mostly because each of them felt that there might be a better name for what they were seeing right now, before deciding that now wasn't the time to argue with her about what she had just said, especially since they had no idea how many more dangers rested around the area that they were in.

Daxter, for the most part, took one moment to glance down at himself, finding that he had new fuzzy ears, fur in place of skin, and a tail which rendered pants unwearable for the most part, before he took the only reasonable route for one to take when life did something like this to them, he started to throw himself at the ground and scream, like he was throwing a fit or something, which was when Starlight caught him with her magic and sealed him inside a sphere of energy that she placed a specific spell on for a time, to keep all sound inside the sphere while letting none out, since the screaming would attract all sorts of creatures to their location, before the siblings left the area and brought Daxter with them, as it was time for them to face the music and see if Samos could help them, or figure out what they needed to do to fix what had just happened to one of their best friends.
> Precursor: Mastering the Basics
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"And that's what happened during our visit to Misty Island." Twilight finished, as the moment she and her siblings, along with a transformed Daxter, had returned to Sandover Village they had spotted Samos staring at them from the walkway that was around his house, or around the upper part that the door to his area rested in anyway, and he had beckoned for them to come up to his part of the house, which had a bunch of plants scattered around the room, a metallic ring that was the size of one of their chests, a Warp Gate as Samos called it, and a hidden bed that Twilight and the others had never seen, meaning it was well hidden and would only be shown to whoever Samos wanted to show it to, even though the moment they came to a stop in his room he had proclaimed 'what in green tarnation were you thinking?', prompting her to reveal what she and the others had done after hearing that they had the day off.

Samos the Sage, whose last name was Hagai based on when Twilight heard him talk to the other Sages the last time they had been in Sandover Village, was a stout Human with a stubby body, though his arms and legs were gaunt, with large hands and feet even though he was wearing wooden stumps below his feet that were stilts, with a long white beard that went with his white mustache, not to mention the long white hair he had that happened to be wrapped around a log, one that was resting on top of his head, something she assumed was due to the fact that he was the Sage of Green Eco and a log could be a connection to nature. He was wearing a plain green tunic with an orange belt, though in addition to that he also had a pair of glasses in front of his eyes and a wooden staff that many assumed was an item that allowed him to tap into the type of Eco he was connected to, though for the most part it seemed to be more of a walking stick at this point at time and he almost never used it for anything else, which made it hard for Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy to get a grasp of his actual powers, since being a Sage was a big deal in their world and each of them, of which there were four right now, were seen as important figures in the villages. In addition to all of that there was a small bluebird flying around the area that Samos was standing in, like the Sage had raised it and it just stayed near him, no matter what happened, which made all of them wonder if the Red, Blue, and Yellow Sages, real names unknown, had animals that stayed near them no matter what, but that was something they would worry about for the future, since they had no idea when they would meet the other Sages and possibly learn more about Eco from them, hence why they were focused on the here and now, which meant telling their mentor about their brief visit to Misty Island. Daxter, of course, was understandably upset about this entire situation, as he had been forced into a body he wasn't familiar with, and he seemed to be in the middle of blaming what had just happened, be it the Lurker that had surprised them while they were staring at the vat of Dark Eco, none of the sisters thinking to use their magic to protect them from what was coming their way, be it the Lurker or the explosion that came from Jak throwing the canister, Jak for even suggesting that they go to Misty Island in the first place, and, as a rather interesting final person to blame, he blamed the two mystery figures who were in command of the Lurkers for what had happened to him.

Of course, since Samos had no idea who they were talking about, Starlight and Cozy described who they had seen during their visit to the island and Twilight pulled out some papers to roughly sketch who they had seen, something that didn't do much to tell their mentor who they had spotted, even though it did worry him that someone was putting together an army for some unknown reason, hence why he was going to have to ask the other Sages what they knew about the situation he had been presented with, before he sighed for a moment as he considered what he was going to do next, given what the siblings had done and what they had discovered while disobeying his wishes.

"I am disappointed in all five of you, for disobeying me and going to the one place I told you not to go to, not until I felt that you were ready," Samos stated, which was what the siblings were expecting at this point, because no matter what all four of them did it was hard to actually please their mentor, even though Twilight and Starlight were his star students and both Cozy and Jak were at the back of the pack, even if Cozy was between her sisters and their brother, before he focused on what they had done when they were on Misty Island and what they had discovered, where he could tell that Daxter didn't seem to be paying attention to what he was talking about, "despite the fact that you discovered a mysterious pair and the fact that they are building an army... though while I fear for the village, I have to wonder if they are planning something more sinister than just gathering artifacts and Eco."

"Look old man, are you gonna keep yapping, or are you gonna help them get me out of this mess?!" Daxter stated, as due to his new size and form he couldn't do anything he was just to doing before this point in time, not without riding on Jak's shoulder or being carried by one of his sisters, or at least those were his thoughts on what he could do to get around from place to place, and it was already starting to get on his nerves, even if he had only been stuck in this form for about thirty minutes to an hour, which was too much considering that he liked his old form much better than what he had right now, especially with the fact that he was missing pants.

"I'm thinking that I'll keep yapping... not that it matters, since I can't turn you back anyway," Samos replied, something that caused many of them to mentally sigh as they heard that, as they were hoping that with him being a Sage he would have an idea of what needed to be done to revert what happened to Daxter, while at the same time Daxter seemed ready to blow a fuse or something, in part due to the fact that he and Samos never saw eye to eye and the fact that all of this was just annoying to him, since this wasn't what he was expecting when they decided to go to Misty Island, "however, there is one who might have a chance at returning you to your previous form: a man by the name of Gol Acheron, who happens to be the Sage of Dark Eco, due to all of his studies on it. Now, some time ago he moved to the north, father than what I and the other three Sages believed he would do, and none of us have spoken to him in ages, where normally I would suggest sending you through the Warp Gate and drop you off in the Yellow Sage's place, since he's supposedly the closest to the area Gol was last seen in, but neither he or the other two Sages have seen fit to turn their ends on for quite some time, so that option is out... meaning that the only other way north is through Fire Canyon, but, since its fires and volcanic soil are hot enough to melt Precursor metal, you won't be able to walk through it."

"But maybe they can fly over it," Keira said, where she walked into the room that Jak, Twilight, and the others had been in since the group returned from Misty Island and what happened to Daxter, which still surprised her when she took a few moments to think about it, but for now her focus was on the group and the problem that her father had stated, which she found to be a lucky coincidence given what she and Twilight had been working on before Starlight and Cozy found out that they were being given the day off, something that had been taken away after the group went to the island and came back with the news that they had shared with her father, and her friend understood what she was saying, "Twilight and I have been working on an A-Grav Zoomer, something that will allow people to fly over areas and over great distances, and the part of it that we've been focusing on for the last couple of days just so happens to be a heat shield so it can fly over all of the volcanic areas of the continent, starting with Fire Canyon... however, based on our calculations, before Twilight joined Jak and the others in heading to Misty Island, we're going to need about twenty Power Cells to power the shield so one or two of them can get to Rock Village."

"Maybe we can ask some of the villagers if they'll be willing to trade those for something? Like services or some of those Precursor Orbs we see everywhere." Cozy commented, because as soon as Keira had mentioned the fact that they had to acquire a certain number of Power Cells to power the heat shield and move forward, to reach the next village, she quickly came up with a few ideas about how they could go about gathering the artifacts in question, even though to get a decent number of them they would need to head into the Forbidden Jungle, something that Samos would either have to approve of or deny, despite the fact that she was sure that they would try to return to Misty Island at some point, just to make sure to pick up whatever either of those mysterious figures or their forces left behind.

"Yeah, that could work. I mean, most of the villagers have a Power Cell or two stashed away somewhere, so trading some Precursor Orbs or doing tasks for them sounds like the best course of action," Keira replied, where the siblings and Daxter weren't all that surprised by what she was saying at the moment, especially since she had started thinking about how they were going to go about collecting the artifacts in question, something that Twilight had done the moment they started to talk about flying over Fire Canyon and the heat that was in that area, before both of them thought of the same thing once more, even though it was Keira who spoke up, "and I'm willing to bet that there are more Power Cells scattered all over the wilds, like in Forbidden Jungle or Sentinel Beach, just waiting for a group of brave adventurers to find them."

"Sadly, we don't have any 'brave adventurers' at the moment," Samos stated, something that the siblings figured was on its way after hearing what Keira had to say, as while the four of them had done well in learning whatever he threw at them during his lessons, or most of them did anyway, they were still lacking in terms of actual combat experience, despite the fact that he seemed to like sending all four of them to Geyser Rock, for survival training, every now and then in the past, which brought about the supposed day off that Jak had basically ruined by suggesting Misty Island, "Before the lot of you do anything else, you better head through the Warp Gate and head to Geyser Rock for some practice... now get in there, before I turn all of you into ferns as punishment for disobeying me!"

The siblings, deciding that it was best if they didn't get on Samos' bad side more than they already had, walked over to the area that the Warp Gate was resting in and jumped through it, allowing its power to wash over them as they were moved from one place to another, where it didn't take them long to reappear at their destination, which just so happened to be a grassy area that rested between two small sandy beaches, though in addition to those areas there were a number of palm trees and a number of scattered rocks, including a path forward that was just a set of smooth stone, like someone had come here long before Jak and his sisters came here for the first time, though something followed them and Twilight smiled for a moment as she noticed it.

"What in the world is this thing?" Daxter asked, though at the same time he remained on his perch on Jak's left shoulder, because at this point he wouldn't be able to keep up with his friend and the girls if they went running off, so this allowed him to ride along with them, even if it was annoying to some degree, and see whatever it was that they came across, but right now he was referring to the odd teal shaped pod device that had followed them through the Warp Gate, which had an odd purple center, something on top, and what appeared to be some antenna, because this was the first time he and the majority of the group had seen it.

"Its a Communicator, something Keira and I designed earlier," Twilight replied, but even as she said that she was happy to see that the device was fully operational, it was floating around them like it was supposed to, and based on what she was seeing right now it sure looked like everything that they had put into the device seemed to be operating perfectly, though this would be a good time to test and make sure it worked as it was supposed to, because if it was a failure she and Keira would have to break and work on it some more, "its supposed to allow someone to see what another is doing and talk to whoever is out in the field, basically allowing Keira and Samos to keep an eye on us and give us any helpful hints that they might want to share, or pointers on how to deal with something... plus its supposed to shrink down when its not in use, to store itself inside Jak's backpack, meaning we won't have to worry about it being a target for our enemies to break, as that would be a pain if we had to fix it after a Lurker broke it."

"It sounds useful," Jak commented, though he wasn't sure how useful that would be in the grand scheme of things, since he had both Twilight and Starlight with him and Cozy, which meant if he found something that stumped or confused him he could ask one of his sisters what was going on at the moment, and after taking a moment to think about it he was sure Cozy could do the same thing if she really wanted to, as she was nearly as smart as her sisters were, but that was all he said about the Communicator as they started to walk away from the large rock that the other Warp Gate, the side that allowed them to access Geyser Rock, was resting in front of thanks to a wooden and metal structure Samos had set up at some point in the past, making him wonder if the Sage was responsible for the smooth steps and whatnot that were all over this small island, before shaking his head as he moved forward.

Resting near the Warp Gate, and in front of the path they would be following, were a couple of wooden chests that Jak and his sisters knew hadn't been here the last time, ones that were easily smashed with a quick punch, kick, and even a small magical blast from Twilight, Starlight, or Cozy, though everything that was inside them were just bits of Green Eco, the type that allows people to heal themselves and do some other things, or at least those who could channel the powers of all four types of Eco that were in the world, as it was hard to find someone capable of channeling Dark Eco, given its nature to twist everything it touched. As it turned out all four of the siblings were capable of doing just that, channeling Eco, though for the most part they knew that Green Eco was confirmed, given who their mentor was, which made them wonder if they could do the same thing with the other three types, being Red, Blue, and Yellow, even if they felt that Dark Eco was out of their reach given that there wasn't a whole lot of it near the surface, unlike the other types that were more in abundance, but instead of worrying about something like that, and wasting time that they really didn't have, they moved further down the path and started to explore the rest of Geyser Rock. What was beyond the chests rested a number of Precursor Orbs, which were egg shaped Precursor objects that had an orange-red sheen and were usually used as a form of currency in their world, given the fact that they were incredibly common, though they had some runes or writing on them that all of the scholars didn't really understand, but after staring at them for a few seconds the siblings made sure to collect the few Orbs that were in front of them, something that lead to Twilight realizing something as she had them stop and focused on Jak's pack for a moment, as there was one spell she had come up with that didn't seem to have much practical use, given how few things most people had, and sure enough the pack glowed green for a moment before the glow faded. She then explained that she had tried something new, a spell that she designed that was supposed to let them store a vast amount of items inside the container in question without the material of the container bursting, so basically they could store all of the Precursor Orbs and Power Cells inside it without having to carry them in their hands all the time, but right now there was no way for them to tell if this was going to work or not, or at least not until they had gathered a good amount of Orbs and Power Cells anyway.

From what they could tell there were six Precursor Orbs resting on the stones leading to the area that was the start of the training obstacle course that Samos had constructed, complete with straw training dummies which looked like Lurkers and came with a number of sharp wooden stakes in what appeared to be traps, hazards to prepare themselves for what the future might hold, and that was when the siblings nodded their heads before engaging the training dummies, where Jak lashed out with his leg and struck one, Twilight punched another in the chest while hurling a small blast into one that was up above them, as some had been set up on the ledges of the area, Starlight struck one with a punch and kick combo as she blasted another, and Cozy just focused on punching a few targets, before they jumped over to a section that lone Power Cell happened to be resting in the air above, which Jak claimed... though that also prompted Daxter, for some odd reason, to dance for a moment, like he was incredibly happy for them to have collected it, before he stopped as he finally noticed that the group was staring at him.

"What? Why are you guys looking at me like that?" Daxter asked, almost like he was offended that they were staring at him in the first place, even though they were sure that he had done the dance mostly because of the fact that they had found one of the twenty Power Cells that Keira said they needed for the heat shield, which was followed by him returning to how he had been standing earlier, including jumping back up onto Jak's shoulder pad, something that informed Twilight of just how high Ottsels could jump and that she needed to test this out at some point in the future, before reaching the area that Gol Acheron lived in.

"We're just surprised that you started dancing after finding the first Power Cell, that's all." Cozy remarked, though what her friend was doing didn't really stop her from lashing out at the targets, as she had been the one to continue punching and kicking the various targets Samos had placed around the part of Geyser Rock that they were standing in, before she took a moment to land nearby and glanced at the next part of the path they would be following, which was when she spotted yet another odd item that she was sure belonged to either Twilight or Keira, "Hey, Twilight, is there something else that you or Keira have been working on, besides that A-Grav Zoomer and the Communicator you showed us earlier? I'm only asking due to the fact that there are some odd metallic boxes with red squares on their sides."

"No way. Keira, did you finish work on the Scout Flies?" Twilight inquired, where she and the others jumped over a break in the ground, which had some stakes inside it, and landed near the area the box was in, something that was followed by her taking a moment to notice that there were seven of them resting on some raised stone platforms, which lead nowhere based on what they could see, and it wasn't long before she had Jak jump into the air and perform the dive attack, though all it was was Jak jumping into the air and then spinning around so that his head was facing the ground, all so he could lash out with his fists and use the force to break the container, revealing a robotic fly that buzzed in the air for a moment after it was freed from the box.

"Yeah, I finished them last night, just after you and the others went to bed," Keira said, confirming Twilight's thoughts on the matter while making the rest of the group wonder what in the world they were talking about, even though it wasn't all that long before the Communicator came out to see what Twilight was looking at, something that left Jak, Daxter, Starlight, and Cozy waiting for one of them to explain themselves about the odd mechanical creature they had discovered inside the box Jak had smashed, "Once you guys returned from Misty Island, and I went over the number of Power Cells needed for the heat shield, I sent out these guys in groups of seven so they could search the other regions and secure however many Power Cells they could find, to return them to you and make the journey that much easier... however, given that Geyser Rock is so far from where the Lurkers are usually seen, it looks like the boxes are our fault, as it looks like there might be a line of code or something that made them all box themselves up when a Power Cell was found, instead of that one leaving with the artifact so the other six could find some more, so you're going to have to free all seven in each region to figure out which one has the Power Cell... sorry, I thought I had something great going on."

"Don't worry about it Keira, you and Twilight are working with new technology and there are bound to be some hiccups as you try new things," Starlight stated, though as she said that Cozy and Jak climbed around the rocky area that the rest of the boxes rested in and started to smash the boxes the remaining six Scout Flies were resting in, where it didn't take them all that long to free the remaining six and figure out that Keira was telling the truth, as the seventh Scout Fly happened to holding onto a Power Cell, one that it released as soon as Jak freed it, before she smiled for a moment as she witnessed what was going on, "however, maybe we should be happy about this little mishap, as the Lurkers will be looking for the Scout Flies that recovered the Power Cells, not boxes that they would have hidden themselves inside once one had been located, so you might have just prevented them from getting their hands on several Precursor artifacts."

That seemed to make Keira happy as the Communicator disappeared once more, disappearing for the time being, where the group headed to the left of the area that they found the first Power Cell in and followed the training dummies deeper into the island, even though each of them practiced a few more moves by jumping and spinning to kick something a few times, before Daxter spotted a set of stone steps that lead down to a beach, which just so happened to have a number of Precursor Orbs down there for them to collect, before they retraced their steps and returned to the path they had been in the middle of walking down. It was in that moment that Cozy pointed out some glowing blue spheres of energy that were floating just above the ground, in the middle of part of the path they were following, where Starlight explained to the rest of the group that this was Blue Eco, which just so happened to contain the energy of motion, as opposed to the life energy of Green Eco, even though this was mostly for Jak and Daxter, since neither of them had paid all that much attention to the lessons that Samos had given them in the past, which was followed by Samos commenting that 'at least someone paid attention to him', which was due to many heeding his wisdom and then ignoring him. Jak found that when he channeled Blue Eco through his body he was able to run faster, was able to pull in the couple of Precursor Orbs which were resting around him to where he was standing, smash apart the wooden chests without touching them, and even power old bits of Precursor technology, something that was added by Starlight after the bit of Eco ran out, even though her brother seemed pleased by this and continued down the path that they were following, where Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy joined him as he beat up more of the training dummies, even though each of them were starting to prove that they were ready for what the Lurkers and their masters might throw at them in the near future. From there it wasn't long before they found a path that rested on top of a straight cliff, with another one to their left, before they stopped for a moment as two things jumped out at them, the first being the large Precursor Door that seemed to be the way forward, to the end of the course Samos had constructed for them, while the second was a short wooden bridge that lead to a lone pillar of earth that had a mechanical vent in the center of the ground, one that seemed to be constantly spewing Blue Eco out into the world, either to be taken by some adventurers or to be reabsorbed into the area that was around the vent, to which the siblings walked over to the vent and made sure to collect the Precursor Orbs that were in their way before raising their hands to access the power of the vent, something that surprised the sisters as they felt a rush of energy flow through their bodies, even though this did confirm that each of them could channel Blue Eco and made them wonder about Red and Yellow.

With that done the siblings turned around and rushed back to where the Precursor Door rested, where the power that was inside all of them energized the ancient machinery and caused it to open before their eyes, allowing them to find another Power Cell behind it, something that seemed totally unlikely and made Cozy take a moment and wonder if this had been set up by Samos, since he always seemed to know far more than he let on, which Jak claimed before they jumped down into the small lake-like area that was in front of them, which contained one of the geysers that gave this place its name and a few rafts for them to stand on. Fortunately everyone landed on the rafts and didn't fall into the water, which would have meant they would have had to spend some time drying off before doing anything else, something that would have totally annoyed Daxter due to the fur and having to dry off a little differently than his friends would have, before they collected all of the Precursor Orbs that were in front of them and made their way to dry land once more, where it was easy for them to find three dark metal posts sticking out of the ground, forming a path up to the area a short bridge rested in, so what they did was take turns climbing onto the first post and then jump up to the next one, even though they did have to do what Jak called a double jump, where Twilight was of the opinion that it was due to their exposure to Eco or something that allowed them to jump once and then do a second jump while they were in the air, like they were jumping on air. With the double jump under their belts, as Jak insisted on making sure each of his sisters knew how to use the move as well, so they didn't depend on their magic for everything, least they run out of power at the wrong moment and be stuck without any means to defend themselves, so Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy had a number of Jak's skills in addition to what they naturally had, so they were able to replicate his movements with ease and followed after him, as since he was the elder sibling, by a year to be exact, which he seemed to be happy with. Of course, while he was waiting for them to catch up with him, he took a few seconds to jump on a small metal post and collected a few more Precursor Orbs that were above it, though as soon as all three of his sisters were with him once more he walked forward and headed up the bridge that was in front of them, one that brought them to another short metal pillar and it was followed by Starlight collecting the Orbs this time around like her brother had done, and from there they followed the rest of the path as it brought them to an area that had two more of the metallic posts for them to jump on, which also seemed to have the rest of the Precursor Orbs for the island, as by the time Jak reached the top Twilight was sure that they had collected fifty in total, which wasn't enough for them to trade for any of the Power Cells that the villagers had, before his sisters caught up with him and found a Power Cell near a bit of Blue Eco and a small single person platform that would take them back down to the Warp Gate.

As such they collected the Power Cell and powered up the platform, where they took turns riding it back down to the start of this small island and stood near the Warp Gate, allowing them to determine that they had done well in gathering four Power Cells, meaning they needed sixteen more to power Keira's heat shield, which was around the time that the gate was reactivated so they could jump through and return to Samos' hut, where they found that Keira was no longer in the area, no doubt making sure the A-Grave Zoomer was ready for action, to which Jak and his sisters turned towards Samos, since he likely had something to tell them before they left the house and really started their adventure.

"The four of you did well against the dangers of Geyser Rock... maybe you'll be able to overcome the trials that are waiting for you beyond this village," Samos said, even though the group suspected that he didn't want to refer to what they were about to do as an 'adventure', like he had something against the idea or something, but at the very least he seemed happy with what he and Keira had seen while the siblings were running around the training course he had created, but that was when he seemed to think of something else and turned towards them, mostly because he seemed to want to stop Daxter before he said anything foolish or annoyed someone, "oh, and while you're out 'adventuring', why don't you head over to Sentinel Beach and make yourselves useful by clearing some rocks that have gotten in my Green Eco collectors... maybe you'll find some Power Cells along the way... also, I would suggest exploring the Forbidden Jungle as well, so take that as me giving you permission, instead of running off and disobeying me once more."

Jak and his sisters nodded their heads and left the room that they had teleported to, as it was best to leave Samos to his meditation and whatever else he did when they weren't in the middle of a lesson, before they headed back over the pair of bridges and returned to Sandover Village, which was followed by them stopping as all four of them and Daxter glanced to the left and right paths that lead out of the place they called home, one heading to Sentinel Beach while the other went in the direction of the Forbidden Jungle, even though it was clear that Jak was thinking of something at the moment and the others were interested in what he had to tell them. His suggestion was to talk to their Uncle and the rest of the villagers for a few moments, just to figure out if anyone needed help and which of them were willing to trade one of their Power Cells for some Precursor Orbs, which would give them an idea of how many to collect for each trade in the future, though their Uncle said that they had caught him at an 'inopportune' moment, as it appeared that he had been planning on leaving the village yesterday and it appeared that he was missing all of his Precursor Orbs, not that any of them had any idea where he kept them, though he instantly blamed their friend, who he called the 'little annoying miserably ugly one', for stealing them for fun and spending them on whatever he wanted, which annoyed Daxter a bit, before he offered a trade for one of his Power Cells, ninety for one, even though he only had the one right now. Interestingly enough the Mayor had the same idea for a trade when they came to him, even though he also revealed that the reason the windmill was without power was due to the Eco Beam from the temple in the jungle being interrupted, meaning that if they made a trade with him and restored the connection they could gain two more Power Cells from their Mayor, even though each of them wondered why he was so interested in being elected as Mayor again, as there was next to no one in the village that cared about the office, so he happened to be the only one and it seemed to be a cover for what he wanted the Precursor Orbs for, but they left him to his devices as they sought out the rest of the villagers, even though it appeared that the Fisherman was somewhere in the Forbidden Jungle, based on what the Mayor told them as they left his house. From there they checked in with the Sculptor and found that he was sad because his Muse, the small creature that inspired him to do his sculpting, had actually run away and he suspected it had gone to Misty Island for some reason, something that caused them to inform him that they would find a way to get back to the island and see if they could find it, along with stopping the Lurkers from doing whatever mission their dark masters wanted to them to do, while the old Birdwatcher near the far informed them of a Flut Flut egg that had no mother, due to Lurkers capturing said mother earlier, and that she'd give them a Power Cell for their valor, if they helped her out in saving the egg.

"Okay, here's what we're going to do... we're going to split up and tackle two areas at the same time," Jak said, which was a total surprise to his sisters and Daxter, since all four of them expected them to tackle Sentinel Beach, the Forbidden Jungle, and Misty Island together, though before Twilight, Starlight, or Cozy could say anything he raised a hand to stop them from arguing the point and he wanted to make sure each of them had closed their mouths before he bothered to say anything else to them, "listen, whoever those mysterious figures were said that they were looking for artifacts and Eco, for whatever plan they've been working towards, and these recent problems our village has been going through seems to be due to the Lurkers that the pair are gathering into an army, so I figured that we could split up, into teams of two, and tackle Sentinel Beach and the Forbidden Jungle at the same time, before regrouping to tackle the danger of Misty Island together... give our enemies no chance to call for reinforcements."

Twilight and Starlight glanced at each other for a moment as Cozy focused on the areas that they were thinking of taking on in the near future, where everyone was clearly thinking about what Jak said and determined that it made sense, as this would allow them to clear out two areas at the same time, make it impossible for the Lurkers to get any reinforcements if they had plans in place to do such a thing, and gather both Precursor Orbs and Power Cells that much quicker, to which all of them agreed with his proposal and started forming their plan of attack for what they were about to do, along with who would be going to which area and face the dangers that were in that particular region.
> Precursor: Into the Jungle
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What the siblings decided was that Jak and Twilight would tackle the Forbidden Jungle and that Starlight and Cozy would do the same for Sentinel Beach, though the first thing they did was collect every Precursor Orb they walked by and made sure to free the Scout Flies that they passed by, the first box resting inside the Fisherman's house, the second being hidden in one of the Mayor's side rooms in his house, where they found a third one resting under the bridge that lead to the Sculptor's place, and they found the fourth one resting near the path that lead to Sentinel Beach, or at least it was off to the left of the lantern path that would take them to Samos' Green Eco collectors rested. From there the siblings quickly separated into two small groups, exactly as Jak described earlier, and they went their separate ways for a time, where jak and Twilight headed over in the direction of the Farmer's hut, as that was what most of the villagers called the man who herded yakows and grew most of the crops that everyone enjoyed in their daily lives, even though lately he seemed to be losing sleep and every so often Samos, one of the other villagers, or even one of the siblings would notice that he was sleeping during the day and would be startled if someone approached him. As they walked over to the farm area they quickly found out that one of the other boxes that contained the Scout Flies rested in the Farmer's hut, one that was smashed and the little robot that had been trapped inside was freed, before they walked over to where the resident of the village they were interested in speaking to rested, as he was sitting on a barrel of hay and seemed to be sleeping at the moment, which made sense given what they knew about him and how dedicated he was to his job, though at the same time there were a few brown furred creatures happened to be grazing outside the pen that the Farmer had put them in at some point in the past, even though the pair knew that the yakows should be resting inside the pen, meaning the Lurkers either caused what they were seeing or it was due to the Farmer being asleep at the moment, hence the reason that they wanted over to where he was sitting and let Daxter jump down so he could shake the man for a moment.

Sure enough, not even a few seconds after Daxter made contact with the Farmer, the individual that they had decided to talk to for a few moments stirred and started to move like crazy, like he had been in the middle of a dream involving either the yakows that were roaming around this part of Sandover Village, which was lower than the others and happened to be near a beach that had some rocks and the odd Precursor Oracle that Twilight stared at every now and then, though it did take him a few moments to settle down before realizing that he wasn't dreaming.

"Gotta milk those yakows, gotta milk those yakows..." the Farmer said, as his movements had definitely been the ones he went through whenever he moved one of the couple of yakows into an area to be milked, though as he noticed who was in front of him, even if he might not recognize Daxter, which was for the best since most of the villagers were like their Uncle in regards to their friend, he settled down and just stared at them for a few seconds, as if he was trying to figure out who was standing in front of him, before he smiled, "Oh! It's you two! Oh, I'm just restin' my tired bones, as I've been tryin' to get those ornery yakows back into the pen all day! Some strange creatures tried to steal 'em earlier, and I chased 'em off! You think you can help an old man and try to get 'em back into the corral?"

"Don't worry, we'll take care of them," Twilight replied, as while she knew that herding yakows wasn't important, since she, Jak, and their siblings were focused on gathering Power Cells and stopping the Lurkers, before making their way north so they could figure out how to help Daxter, she did know that the Farmer had a Power Cell, one he didn't seem to care for, and that if they did this task he might offer it to them as a reward, hence the reason that she and Jak moved out to find all five of the yakows and herd them back to the pen, to earn an easy Power Cell before moving into the Forbidden Jungle, so they could search it for enemies and artifacts.

What they discovered was that there were five yakows scattered around the rest of the farm and that they were hard to move from the areas they were grazing in, as for the most part the beasts of burden, as they were mostly called by most of the villagers and all of the residents of the other villages, just ignored them and continued with eating the grass or walking around the area that they had been standing in, to which the pair took a step backwards for a moment and considered all of their options, something that was followed by Twilight suggesting that Jak hit the yakow in the back with a swift kick or a swift punch. Both her brother and Daxter glanced at each other for a moment, as if they were considering what she just said and why she would even suggest such a thing, before Jak shrugged and walked over to one of the roaming yakows for a few seconds, where he swiftly kicked it in the rear and the beast shuddered for a moment before walking forward, which was where he pulled on one of the horns and directed it back to the pen it was supposed to be resting in, but even as that happened Twilight frowned for a few seconds as she realized that this might not work out all that much and thought about a few other ideas that might work better than what her brother was doing at the moment. A few seconds later she came up with a good idea on what to do, instead of just whacking a yakow and then pull it by the horns when it cooperated with one of them, where she channeled a small bit of her magical power as she walked over to one of the other yakows, which was when she stopped beside it and applied a little shock to the beast, just enough to prod it along while doing no harm to it, as the Farmer would be annoyed if something happened to the couple of yakows he watched over and tended to, and it wasn't long before she returned the second to the pen and let it stand near the one Jak had moved. As soon as they knew about the little trick Twilight walked over to each of the remaining yakows and gave them a little shock as well, where Jak would take the reins and direct them to the pen once each of them started moving, and it only took the pair about two to three minutes to make sure all five of the yakows were back in the pen, as well as taking a moment to find the wooden gate that went to the pen, which happened to be resting on a ledge nearby, and reattached it to the pen, which was when they informed the Farmer about their progress and he, upon thanking them and saying that they had done a good job in helping him out, rewarded them with a Power Cell.

With that claimed and stored away the siblings then took a moment to climb up the path that would allow them to see the entrance of Fire Canyon and collected a number of Precursor Orbs that were resting along the way, before doubling back to jump up onto the ledge that was above where the wooden gate had been located, which was just across from the hut the Farmer lived in, and discovered one of the sort of rare Precursor Caches, vert-like objects that contained a number of Precursor Orbs inside them and could only be opened by channeling Blue Eco through their bodies, like the door they had opened earlier. Fortunately there was a pillar of earth nearby that just so happened to have a pair of Blue Eco clusters for one of them to absorb for a few seconds, which was what Jak did and Twilight watched as the theory was proven, as the power he was channeling opened the cache as soon as he approached it, where they waited for the lid to rise into the air and come to a stop, revealing the Precursor Orbs in a straight vertical line between the lid and the base of the cache, even though it didn't take the pair long to snatch all of the now freed Orbs, which left the lid just floating an inch or two above the rest of the container, to signify that it had been claimed by someone. From there they jumped down and walked over to the couple of stones that rested near the cliff wall that separated Sandover Village from the Forbidden Jungle, save for a hole in part of it that allowed people to go from one area to another, where they jumped up onto the main path they were interested in and the Jak jumped up to the highest point of the rock he and his sister were standing on, where he found yet another Scout Fly box, the sixth, and three Precursor Orbs, so he collected the Orbs and then smashed open the box that they had been resting around, meaning they needed to find one more to collect the Power Cell they supposedly found as each of them were exploring the village. Once that was done the pair discovered that there was one move they needed to use to reach the next stone that was a fair distance in front of them, as all four of the siblings were capable of doing a roll forward that allowed them to jump greater distances than the double jump, making it a roll jump in Twilight's books, but at the same time Twilight could always conjure small purple square with her magic to form a path for them, just in case they failed a jump enough times, even though she followed Jak's lead as he leapt over the first gap, landed on the rock that was in front of them, and then did so again to reach the next pillar that was beyond the first one, before turning to his left so he could reach a small platform that had a bridge that lead to the Precursor Oracle.

As Twilight followed him they found a fair number of Precursor Orbs for them to collect and the seventh Scout Fly box, the latter having another Power Cell for them to collect, before they walked up the short wooden bridge and focused on what they were doing at the moment, which was approaching the Oracle, which was a Human sized Precursor artifact that had an insectoid face, two large bug-like eyes that had to be made out of some sort of glass, a hollow Precursor Orb-shaped nose where the nose should be, and an odd proboscis that was attached to the face, even though both Jak and Twilight knew that it had to be waiting for something, given the fact that no one knew much about them, save for the fact it had two Power Cells floating behind the glass of its eyes.

Who awakens the Oracle? a rather booming voice declared, something that had to be coming from the Oracle which was in front of them, even though the reason it said that was due to the fact that Daxter jumped over to it and raised his left hand in an attempt to awaken it, so the fact that it started talking caused him to retreat to the area that was behind Jak and Twilight, putting them between him and the Oracle without delay, before both of them noticed that the Oracle was rather silent for some odd reason, Wait, two of you have the light within. From before time, I have watched and waited for the true hero to return. Present to me one hundred and twenty Precursor Orbs for each power cell I contain.

Jak and Twilight glanced at each other for a few seconds, as neither of them were expecting the Oracle to come to life just like that, meaning it had either responded to Daxter's attempt to awaken it or it felt them approach it and woke up just a few seconds after they came to a stop in front of it, but at the very least they had a good understanding of what the old Precursor wanted for its Power Cells, something that meant they would have to scour the nearby regions near the village and gather all of the Precursor Orbs that were scattered around them, which might give them enough Orbs for both of the Oracle's Power Cells and what the residents of the village had. Once they were done with the Oracle, and Daxter was back on his perch once more, the pair headed back over to where the hole in the cliff wall rested and Twilight took a moment to think about all of the Orbs that she and Jak had found inside Sandover Village, where she suspected that they had found all of them in the process, before they headed through the opening and found a familiar set of stone steps that lead up to the entrance of the jungle itself, which just so happened to have a wooden bridge, with a few missing planks, that crossed over to the first part of the area they would be exploring, and had a few Orbs resting just above the wood. As they took a few moments to cross over the slowly collapsing bridge, which rested above a river that came from a small waterfall, one that came from a river from the inside of the jungle, Twilight paused for a moment as she noticed the large Precursor structure that was at the heart of the region, a temple or something that had to have some Power Cells and a number of Precursor Orbs for them to collect, though one thing that was missing was the Blue Eco beam that came from the temple, the one that powered the windmill of their village, confirming the Mayor's story about what was going on, not that either of them thought he had been lying since they knew the beam was gone by just looking at the house. Of course the jungle was also filled with dangers that they would have to take out, as there were long red scaled snakes who coiled out of the trees they had been in and swayed in the air for a bit, some thick green vines that had spikes on them, which both Jak and Twilight knew hadn't been here the last time they were in the jungle, an odd green furred Lurker that looked similar to a frog and hopped around like one, which Twilight was going to call a Hopper, and some poisonous eels inside the river that was to their left, though though they also found a swinging log trap in front of them and some wooden stakes to jump over, no doubt left behind by their enemies.

The first thing the siblings did was head down the path that was resting directly in front of them, where they found a few stone pillars to their right that happened to have a few Orbs above them and formed a path that ended with a Scout Fly box, which would also allow someone to get beyond the traps, so while Jak jumped along the side path, and headed for the end of it, Twilight carefully crossed over the areas that the couple of traps were located in and blasted the Hopper in its side with a small bit of her magical power, just to see if it had any effect, and sure enough it hit one of the pillars her brother was jumping on and took it out. She paused for a moment as the Hopper burst into puff of dark smoke and left behind a few bits of Green Eco, something that informed her that the dark masters of the Lurkers must have taken some time to experiment with the types of Eco and managed to create more aggressive versions of the creatures that called the jungle home, meaning it was possible that Starlight and Cozy would find the same thing in Sentinel Beach, but for now this told her and Jak that they might not have to hold back when dealing with some of their enemies, because if the next few groups of foes did what the Hopper had just done they could adapt their strategies for everything else that was inside the jungle, even if the red snakes could either be ignored or just punched in the face to make them retreat. Jak then revealed that he had recovered the first Scout Fly of this region and that he was ready to move forward, which was pretty much a dead end that had an odd metal device on the floor, one Twilight suspected went to the Blue Eco beam they had been told about earlier, and another set of stone pillars that just went in a circle and happened to have some Precursor Orbs above them, but if they backtracked a tiny bit, and stopped near the swinging log trap, they could use another set of pillars to get over the river that was resting nearby and access part of the temple's exterior, which was great since she was sure that she had seen a wooden and metallic machine in this area, one that had to be what they were looking for. Along the way Jak picked up a few more Precursor Orbs, along with locating a second metallic device for later and punching a red snake in the face so it would leave the area, before they walked around the outside of the temple and found a few Lurkers just standing around, minding their own business, even though their business happened to be making sure the machine that his sister had spotted consumed the Blue Eco and stored it so it could be transported to wherever the mysterious pair had told their minions to put everything that they eventually stole from the village and the temple.

What was interesting was that the two Lurkers didn't even seem to notice their arrival, so Jak walked over to one and took it out with a swift kick to the side of the head, which knocked it to the floor, while Twilight punched the other Lurker in the stomach and let it crumple to the ground, even if she also blasted a Hopper with a bit of magic as well, before they took a moment to climb onto the moving pistons that were at the back of the machine and used them to reach the top part of the contraption, where both of them found five more Precursor Orbs to collect and Twilight found that her thoughts had been correct, the Lurkers were stealing the power of the temple, though as she readied herself to break the mirror that was redirecting the beam Jak stepped into the Eco and empowered himself, all so he would walk up a nearby ramp and opened a Precursor Door for a Power Cell that was behind it. Once he was done with what, and had returned to the area that the machine rested in, Twilight smashed the mirror and the beam flew off into the distance, or at least that's what it would have done had the first metallic device rise out of the ground, revealing itself to be a mirror and revealed what the others had to be as well, before she focused on looking through it and bounced the beam to a brand new location, one that just so happened to be the one at the dead end they had found a few moments ago, though with that done Jak took a second to smash another Scout Fly box and freed the robot inside it, the second by Twilight's count, before they headed back over to the mirror they had passed by a few moments ago. The reason they were doing it this way, instead of just jumping over the side of the area that the machine was resting on right now, which Twilight was planning on tearing apart with her magic so she could get at the Eco that was stored inside it, was because it was safer to go around the rest of the jungle, and it would allow them to follow the path that the mirrors created with the reflected Blue Eco beam, so she and Jak retraced their steps and came to a stop by the next device, where Jak redirected it to the third one in the sequence, which was the other one that he and Twilight had walked by to find the machine that was interrupting it, to which he nodded and Twilight headed up to where it was located, reflecting the beam to the next mirror, which rested down part of the other path that they hadn't taken yet, meaning it would be guarded by their enemies and would have more Precursor Orbs for them to acquire. From there the siblings returned to the first bridge of the jungle they had jumped over and jumped over the river that was in the way for a moment, something that was followed by them picking up a few more Orbs that were resting along the path and avoided a vine that was trying to smack them when they got close, but as they approached the bridge that the Orbs brought them to, which would allow them to access the area that the next mirror was located in, Jak found a set of stone steps that lead down to the bottom of a waterfall and spotted the Fisherman standing down there with a net and a basket.

The Fisherman was a stout Human who had a large build, due to all the work he put into the ruined fishing boat that he used to use to head out onto the water between their village and Misty Island, to catch fish much easier than just using all of the streams, where his skin was tanned and he had a blue beard, with the center of it being gray, though his attire was a light shirt and a brown vest, an orange belt, no shoes to speak of, blue gloves with white wrappings around his hands, a red bandana, and a dark red pair of shorts, and the pair noticed that he had an anchor tattoo on his right arm, but both of them could see that he seemed disappointed about something.

"So, what do you have in the basket?" Daxter asked, where he climbed off of Jak's shoulder when he and Twilight stopped in front of where the Fisherman was standing at the moment, which just so happened to be a small bridge that he must have set up at some point in the past, after his boat had been broken by one of the dangerous yellow scaled Lurker fish that swam in the waters between Sandover Village and Misty Island, though those fish were incredibly dangerous and had been that way for a long time, but none of that stopped him from approaching the basket to see what was inside it, only to find total darkness, as no fish were inside it.

"Nothin' to talk about." the Fisherman replied, showing that he wasn't too happy about what had happened to him and the fact that he was unable to catch fish at this point in time, which was just sad when one considered that this was basically his specialty and that the village depended on him doing his job so no one starved, even if his fish was only part of what all of the residents ate, before he growled as he glanced out in the direction of the open water again, which caused the pair and Daxter to follow his gaze for a moment, "Them monsters patrolin' the ocean took a bite out of me fishin' rig, and now they're goblin' up me catch! No matter what I try, I can't seem to catch a single fish in this river... and using a tiny net isn't helpin' me at all!"

"What if we added a little magic to the mix?" Twilight inquired, because based on everything she had read about the art of fishing, which wasn't a lot since there was only one book on it in the entire village and it seemed incomplete, she knew that Jak could easily take on whatever challenges the fish of the river were throwing at the Fisherman, and even if he didn't give them a Power Cell as a reward for helping him out, like the Farmer had done earlier, this would help stock up the village for whatever the future held for them, especially since they had no idea what the Lurkers and their mysterious leaders were planning at the moment.

It only took a few seconds for the Fisherman to agree and Jak picked up the small net as they waited for the fish to come down towards them, where Twilight focused her power for a moment and readied herself as she did that, applying a small spell to the net so that any fish her brother caught would be teleported right into the basket, prompting the Fisherman to take off the lid so he could see what the pair was going to be doing, which was when they found that there were two types of good fish, a small green one and a large yellow one, though they had to avoid the purple poisonous eels, as catching one of them would poison the entire catch. What Twilight did was channel her magic to make sure the fish didn't swim by the net or the bridge, meaning they would be heading towards her brother thanks to what she was doing, though the main thing she focused on was the poisonous eels, where when one of them appeared she bounced it out of the water with a small bit of her magic and it sailed over their heads for a moment, allowing the eel to land in the water behind them and, more importantly, not poison the entire catch, which would have freaked out the Fisherman if they wasted good fish, but with her method they didn't have to worry about that at all. The Fisherman was overjoyed by what Jak and Twilight were doing at the moment, the former making sure to snatch each fish with the net he was holding onto, by targeting the green and yellow fish before any of them managed to get away from his grasp, while the latter continued to focus her magic as she redirected all of the poisonous eels that were coming their way, of which there were a fair number of them based on what they were seeing at the moment, but even then her power was more than enough to move the eels without getting exhausted at all, something that always impressed Jak since he wasn't sure what sort of limits his sisters had, as Starlight and Cozy seemed to be sort of similar to Twilight in that regard. In the end it didn't take them long to acquire the amount of fish that the Fisherman wanted them to collect, which happened to be two hundred pounds of good fish, as that would keep the village going for a few weeks and give him time to either master fishing in a river or rebuild the fishing boat so he could return to the water near the village, and in thanks for their efforts he gave the siblings two things, the first being the one Power Cell that he happened to be carrying while the second was his permission to use his speedboat whenever they and their siblings wanted to, meaning that they now had a way to get to Misty Island.

With that done the siblings headed up the stone steps and returned to the side of the bridge that they were near, which was followed by Jak and Twilight jumping over each of the three gaps as they headed over to where the next mirror rested, where the area in question happened to have a few Precursor drums that formed a set of points for them to jump up and get up to the highest object in question, and there were a few Precursor Orbs for them to collect, with a few beyond where one could normally jump, where Twilight smiled for a moment and gathered the highest ones with her magic, just so they didn't have to come back here at one point in the near future. From there Jak found a small jump contraption, which was a cloth between two sticks that were attached to the ground, which allowed him to jump up into the area that the Blue Eco beam was heading to, though while Jak redirected the beam over to what appeared to be the entrance of the jungle area, near the very first waterfall, Twilight jumped up a few stone pillars, after avoiding a swinging log trap and zapping a lone Hopper into a vine that was near her, and collected all of the Precursor Orbs that were in the way, even though that ended with her smashing one of the remaining Scout Fly boxes and freed the robot which had been resting inside it. After that they had two options, the first being heading over another bridge, one that would take them to an area that was across from the temple's entrance, while the second would be them walking down a side stone path, just like the one Jak found to locate the Fisherman, and it would bring them to a river that seemed to connect to where the Fisherman was standing, though in the end it only took a few seconds for them to decide on what to do and that was carefully jump down the new set of steps, while ignoring the couple of jump platforms, so they could reach the ground that was near the river. What was down there were two Lurkers that seemed to be in the middle of staring at a few yellow crates, ones that had a sinister marking on their sides that had to mean that Dark Eco was inside them, so what Jak and Twilight did was lash out at their enemies, Jak punching one of the pair in the face while Twilight dodged the attack and kicked hers in the stomach before knocking it to the ground, but as they did that both of the siblings found that one of the Scout Fly boxes rested nearby and there was a Precursor Cache in the middle of the area as well, though for now they walked down the rest of the river and headed for what appeared to be an opening below where the Blue Eco machine rested.

What they found near the opening was another Scout Fly box, a few clusters of Blue Eco, and a pillar of earth beyond the opening that had a Power Cell above it, so what they did was have Jak collect a few bits of the floating Eco and rushed over to where the platform was located, even though Twilight noticed a jump pad nearby, something that needed Blue Eco to access it and would allow someone to ascend to great heights if they used one of them, before she watched as Jak also found a few Precursor Orbs that were around the platform and collected them, before doubling back to where she was standing so they could smash the first Scout Fly box and then returned to where the Cache rested, allowing them to gather all of the Orbs that were inside it and break apart the next Scout Fly box, giving them five for this region. With that done Jak and Twilight headed back up to where the bridge rested, the one that they hadn't picked yet, and then walked over it after climbing up to the side of it that they had been near earlier, though as both of them moved forward they had to take a moment to avoid the swinging log traps and some wooden stake traps, before arriving in an area that had thee Lurkers and a Blue Eco vent, not to mention a short curved post that had a blue lightning mark on it, just like the Precursor Doors they and their siblings had opened so far, but first they needed to deal with the enemies that were in front of them, before doing anything else. Of course they also found a few Precursor Orbs resting nearby, just before the area that the Lurkers were standing in, so what Jak did was jump down into the area and dodged an incoming punch so he could punch his foe in the chest and knock it to the ground, while at the same time Twilight did something interesting and let both of the other two charge at her, even though she jumped backwards and let them punch each other, meaning she didn't have to waste any energy or magic to take them down, and sure enough they were knocked out cold by the attacks that they threw at each other, allowing the siblings to focus on something else. Jak walked over to where the vent rested and empowered his body for a few seconds, to which he returned to where Twilight was standing and they watched as the post lit up for a few seconds, something that was followed by several Precursor walkway pieces bursting out of the river and ground that was below them, the area they had walked through a few moments ago, before the couple of pieces settled into a pathway for them to use and jump over to the entrance of the temple, even though the three vines that were in front of the door did seem to be at the ready for any and all intruders, not that it mattered since Jak and Twilight walked around them and the door opened once it felt the last bits of the Blue Eco Jak had been channeling.

On the other side of the door the siblings and Daxter found that there were two paths to take, the one to the right being a jump contraption that would let someone explore part of the temple's outer wall while the right one was a small platform that needed a bit of Blue Eco to power it, to which Jak used the nearby jump contraption and reached his target area, where Twilight watched him for a moment as he carefully walked forward and collected a few Precursor Orbs, along with the sound of a box being broken not a few seconds later, only for him to return a few seconds later with one of the two remaining Scout Flies, which meant it had been a Scout Fly box he had broken open. With that done Twilight opened one of the chests that were near the lone jump contraption and found some bits of Blue Eco inside it, something that allowed her to power up the platform so the two of them could ride it up to the next part of the temple's exterior, which was where she and Jak found two more chests and noticed that one of them contained another bit of Blue Eco, enough for them to power another platform and move even higher as they headed towards the top of the temple, where an odd Precursor device rested, one no one could even identify at this point in time. As it turned out the platform they jumped onto was connected to a second one that powered up at the same time as the first one, meaning they got two for the price of one, before they found that it brought them to an area that had a Blue Eco vent, the last of the Scout Fly boxes, and a jump pad that would allow both of them to access the upper part of the temple, to which Jak smashed the container that was nearby and collected the Power Cell that the Scout Flies of the Forbidden Jungle had collected, before he and Twilight walked through the vent and allowed the Eco to flow through their bodies for a time, something that let them brace themselves and jump high into the air when they tried to use the jump pad, and sure enough they were able to reach an area that a Lurker, oddly enough, was just standing in and was just kicked over the edge, where it hit the ground with a thud and just stayed there as it breathed in and out. While the two of them were sure that it should have fallen, given the height, Twilight was sure that parts of its body were in shock at the moment and decided to continue moving forward, where they took a few seconds to collect a couple of Precursor Orbs and then used the jump contraption near the edge to get up to the next part of the temple they would be exploring, which was where a number of platforms were resting, some near each other, and just a bit of Blue Eco caused them to move once more, shifting in a spiral formation around the central pillar of the temple, and it wasn't long before Jak and Twilight jumped onto the first one and only switched when it was time to jump onto the next one in the line they were following.

As such it only took them a minute or two to reach the highest point of the temple, where they were beneath the artifact that Twilight was vastly interested in, and they happened to located another Power Cell for their efforts, though when they claimed it the floor shook for a moment as Daxter, in a spur of happiness for them acquiring so many Power Cells in such a short period of time, before it lowered into the ground and took the trio deeper into the temple, as in they were standing on a platform, and something told Twilight that they would have to fight their way through something before being able to leave the temple, though it wasn't long before the platform to come to a stop and reveal that they were inside the depths of the structure, with three tunnels to pick from with two being locked. What they discovered was that there was a sealed Eco vent near the edge of the platform, which had to open at some point in the future, and a jump pad in part of the only tunnel they had access to, not to mention some moving platforms and a few vines that seemed to be in the way, which did allow them to pick up a number of Precursor Orbs along the way, before they turned around the corner and noticed that there was a massive Precursor machine of some kind that had a blue colored core, which rested between two ramps, ones that happened to wrap around the device and went from the bottom to the top and then back down, and there was one of the sealed vents near it. In the following seconds Jak walked up to the top of the machine and found a Power Cell up there, but when he stepped onto the top of the machine it sunk for a moment and their view of the core disappeared, which was also at the same time that the sealed vent became active and started spewing Blue Eco from it, not to mention the fact that Keira spoke to them, where she revealed that Blue Eco vents all over the part of the continent they called home, which counted the village and the two provinces they were taking care of, were becoming active once more, meaning they might have made their quest that much easier in the future, to which the pair and Daxter smiled for a moment as they walked through the vent and used the Blue Eco to grab some Precursor Orbs that were in front of them open a few doors that were in their way, and then returned to the jump pad that could be used now, which only gave them more Orbs to collect for the future. As soon as that was done Twilight opened the door that was in front of the platform and found that it also contained a tunnel, which she and Jak had been expecting based on what they had seen so far, even though they did have to be mindful of the small platform that spun forward and came to a stop every now and then and did have to use another jump platform to get some more Precursor Orbs to add to their collection, before traversing the rest of the walkways and a few more moving platforms before they came to a stop for a moment, as what they were seeing was beyond what they were expecting to find in this area.

There was a massive plant monster, like Dark Eco had tainted Green Eco to the point to create something like this, and it was plugged into a number of Eco slots, like it was feeding on all of the types of Eco that were in this area, though that was when they jumped over the platform that was in front of them and entered the combat arena it was resting in, where the blue faced plant monster just stared at them for a couple of seconds as they reached its domain before growling as it tried to bite down on one of them, something that Jak and Twilight just avoided by moving out of the way, and while it did that they found a small green creature, like a plant beetle of some kind that produced spikes and took them away after a few seconds, walking towards them. What happened was that neither of the siblings let the creature get close to them and the moment the spikes disappeared Twilight kicked it and blasted it into a wall, something that, interestingly enough, caused the monster to pause as it raised two of its vines and formed leaf-like platforms for someone to walk on as it bared its chin to both of them, where Jak jumped up the leaves for a moment and then punched the underside of the monster's head for a moment, causing it to stagger as he was knocked backwards, even though Jak didn't take any damage from it. For a few seconds the siblings did nothing as they watched what the monster was doing, while Daxter half cowered inside the pack that Jak was wearing while he watched what was going on, before it resumed battling them and tried to bite them all over again, and this time around it sent out two more of the plant insects, which marched towards the pair and tried to bring them down by stabbing them with their spikes, or at least that seemed to be their plan right now and it was a total failure since they dodged the attacks that were coming their way and knocked them out. After that the monster bared it chin and created a walkway up to it, just like it had done a few moments ago, to which Jak sighed as Twilight just blasted their foe in the chin with a slightly more powerful blast of magic, causing it to stagger and growl at her, like it was angry with her for some odd reason even though this was mostly its fault that it was so bad at fighting and should be using its vines against her and Jak, but not a few seconds after that it seemed to reset and sent out three more plant insects to take them down, where the pair sighed as they quickly took down the minions of the monster and then, when the path was exposed, that was when Twilight punched it in the chin and backed off as soon as she had attacked it.

A few seconds later the monster collapsed in front of them, like it was dead or something, and it spat out a Power Cell as its vines were pulled out of every piece of machinery that was in this chamber, and Twilight was sure of that after looking around the chamber for a few seconds, though as that happened they found that there was a jump pad which seemed to be the way to exit the temple itself and Jak found a few Precursor Orbs inside the monster's mouth, meaning it must have eaten a few or something, before Twilight discovered that the monster had been feeding on a Blue Eco vent, which would give them a way to power the pad that would allow them to leave the temple.

"That was an... interesting fight." Jak said, as while he was sure that he and his siblings hadn't faced something like this in the past, otherwise he would have remembered it and Daxter would have either not been there or wiped his memory of what he had seen, he did have to admit that this had been a rather interesting fight between them and the monster, even if it had been rather easy in the grand scheme of things and they had emerged without taking any damage from it, but at the same time he had to wonder if Samos knew about it and if he would be happy when he heard that it had been taken out, despite the fact that he was likely going to show them the same expression he always showed them.

"To be honest, it was kind of disappointing... it could have done better, given what it was," Twilight replied, as she felt that the monster must have only just been created, like in the last couple of days or something since it didn't seem to have a good sense for fighting whatever enemies came into this chamber, before she sighed for a moment as she pulled out her sketchbook and quickly added a picture of the monster to it, when it was in its full glory anyway, which was followed by the pair of items being returned to her pack and she nodded to her brother, as she was ready to get out of here and see what else needed to be done, even if she was sure that they had found most of the Power Cells in this province.

With the monster defeated, and the way was cleared, Jak and Twilight gathered some Blue Eco from the nearby vent and used it to launch themselves through the tunnel it was connected to, one that allowed them to quickly leave the temple and let them land in the area that the couple of Precursor posts rested in, meaning they were just beyond where they had found the Fisherman in and retraced their steps back to the entrance of the Forbidden Jungle, where it was easy to find that the beam they had been reflecting did come to a stop at the beach and that all one of them had to do was redirect it back up to the mirror that rested on the cliff wall between Sandover Village and the Forbidden Jungle, something that was followed by Twilight peeking through the opening and found that the windmill was moving once more. As such the last thing the two of them did was walk back to the Mayor's house and found that he was overly excited about the power being restored to the windmill, which meant that the rest of the village had power, despite the fact that not many of the other villagers actually used the type of power he used, but he was happy and that was good for them, as he reached into his top hat and withdrew a Power Cell for them to take, where Twilight did so before she and Jak headed over to the entrance of Sentinel Beach, even though they knew that Starlight and Cozy had likely cleared out any enemies that were there and were just wrapping things up, so the four of them could regroup and head to Misty Island once more.
> Precursor: Searching the Beach
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After Jak made the comment about splitting up so they could tackle multiple areas at the same time, and he and Twilight headed off in the direct of the Forbidden Jungle, leaving Starlight and Cozy along for a few seconds as they realized that, in the midst of all that, Daxter was staying with Jak and Twilight, instead of jumping over to one of them so he could be safe from the dangers of the jungle, given what they had seen in the past before he had been transformed into an Ottsel, but for the most part they weren't all that worried about their siblings and knew that they would be able to come out on top, hence why the pair focused on the path that was in front of them as they walked out of Sandover Village.

"So, all we have to do is search the beach, find that Flut Flut egg for the Birdwatcher, and open Samos's Eco collectors, even though that last one might just be breaking rocks," Cozy commented, though she had to smile while she said that, as it sure seemed like she and Starlight had gotten lucky after their brother made his announcement about what they should do for the next couple of minutes, even though both she and Starlight had to be thinking about making a return visit to Misty Island so they could collect everything that's there and disrupt the forces that called it home, "sounds like we might have gotten the easier task this time around."

"Its hard to say if you are right or wrong, but we shouldn't be overconfident," Starlight replied, as while she did agree with part of what her sister was saying, given that exploring the beach and tackling the dangers seemed better than taking on all of the dangers that rested inside the Forbidden Jungle, she wanted to be sure that both she and Cozy didn't walk into a trap or a cluster of enemies that might take them out, meaning that she was being a little overcautious since neither Jak or Twilight were with them, though as she said that they stepped down into the area that served as the entrance for Sentinel Beach and glanced at the small lanterns for a few seconds, before glancing out at the rest of the beach, "especially since we have no idea what sort of enemies might be waiting for us as we explore the beach."

Cozy said nothing in response to that, as she knew that Starlight was right and that being overconfident would lead to one or more of them being hurt in the process, though it was in that moment the pair found that there were some bits of Blue Eco resting near the beach's entrance, where she took a second to absorb it and the flow of energy allowed her to smash apart a wooden chest that was in front of them, to get some small bits of Green Eco, before she found and smashed yet another chest and discovered that there were a fair number of them resting around a Scout Fly box, even though it took only a few seconds for the Blue Eco that was coursing through her body to smash the containers apart. That allowed her to claim the first of the seven Scout Flies which were scattered around Sentinel Beach, where she wished Keira or Twilight had thought to put a tracker or something inside the little robots to help them track them down a little faster, though as she did that both she and Starlight noticed a few things, like the first being a spinning gear made out of wood and had a few platforms for them to jump on, meaning it was a moving conveyor belt that would allow them to reach the top of the grassy area that was between the beach and the cliff that was to their right, though there was also an odd stone tower near the beach, one both of them were sure hadn't been there the last time they came to the beach, which was a long time ago they silently admitted to themselves. In addition to all of that there was a red colored crab moving around part of the beach, which had a conch shell on top of it that had a few markings on the shell, like dark Precursor markings or maybe just markings that the Lurkers used to communicate with each other, the latter meaning it would be a Lurker Crab if Twilight had seen it and taken a moment to study it, though for the most part the shell of the creature was able to resist their punches and kicks, but, when it raised its shell to pinch one of them with its pincers, that was when Starlight lashed out with her leg and the attack knocked the Lurker Crab to the side, leaving a bit of Dark and Green Eco behind, even if those bits vanished. That just told the sisters that they might not have to hold back when dealing with any enemies that were in this area, though as that happened they made sure to collect a few Precursor Orbs that were resting nearby and headed for the beach, as the pair agreed that dealing with whatever was on the upper grassy area would come later, once they were sure that the part of the beach they were currently exploring, even though they did find a small pit in the sand that happened to have a blue snake creature resting inside it and only emerged once Starlight and Cozy got close to its home.

For the most part they ignored the Sand Worm, as they were sort of common in the past and they were easily avoided as both Starlight and Cozy walked around its pit, even though there was a second one near the first one, but they collected a few Precursor Orbs as they headed to the main part of the beach, where they found a number of metallic boxes, ones that were harder than a Scout Fly's box based on what they were seeing at the moment, and there was a large pelican flying in the air above this part of the beach, though the things that they found to be interesting was that there just so happened to be a cannon on top of the stone tower and it was firing down upon this area every so often. What it loosed was a number of small gray colored sacks that had a fuse sticking out of their tops, which had been sealed by rope, and that made the sisters wonder if there was gunpowder inside them or something, a new type of material that the Red Sage had found in one of his studies and repurposed it for making explosives, to help with large stones that happened to be blocking a path or something, but for the most part it seemed that the Lurkers that were in control of the cannon were more interested in just firing at whatever they wanted, even though it wasn't long before they focused on Starlight and Cozy. Neither of the sisters were worried about that, as they could avoid the explosive sacks thanks to their training and, at the same time, use a bit of their magic to snatch a sack out of the air and deposit it near one of the metallic containers that rested around this part of the beach, basically allowing them to free the Precursor Orbs that were inside them, though as all six containers were blown open Cozy found a Power Cell sitting out in the open, near the area they were standing in, and moved to take it for their collection, which for some reason caused the pelican to swoop down and gobble it up, before flying off to a very small perch that rested near their location, even if she or Starlight would have to swim a little to get to the small pillar of earth it had built its nest on. Based on the direction the pelican was facing, which was towards the higher grassy section of the beach, Starlight determined that if one of them were to punch the annoying pelican, in the side or something, it might spit up the Power Cell and the force of such a thing would cause it to fly up to the area that was near a set of stone steps that lead right up to the grassy area, and along the way whoever did that would be able to acquire a few more Precursor Orbs for their efforts, so they could afford the Power Cells that their Uncle and the Mayor wanted to trade for, since those ones were ninety Orbs apiece.

As Cozy moved over to where the pelican was resting, however, she noticed Starlight going for another Power Cell, as both of them could see that there was one resting just behind one of the Sand Worm pits and that it was incredibly easy for her to get to, meaning they could add another one to the pile already, before she headed over to the pillar that the bird was resting on and collected some Precursor Orbs along the way, which was followed by her getting into position as she took a moment to make sure Starlight was doing the same thing, as the instant she noticed that her sister was ready Cozy got up and made her move against the pelican.

"Pesky bird... this will teach you not to steal things that don't belong to you." Cozy commented, keeping her voice low for a few moments as she approached the pelican, as she didn't want it to fly off before she had a chance to strike it, but sure enough it just seemed to ignore her, as if it didn't know that she was there in the first place, allowing Cozy to quickly punch it in the side with all of her physical strength, hard enough for the pelican to stagger for a moment as it coughed up the Power Cell and it went flying over to the area that Starlight was standing in, which caused the bird to remain still for a few seconds before taking to the air, as if it wanted the Power Cell.

Cozy grinned for a moment as Starlight walked over to the area that the Power Cell landed in, as it had landed nearby and hadn't actually landed in the area she had been thinking it would land in, something that caused the pelican to pause in the air for a moment as it stared at her and the Power Cell, the latter being stored away inside a pack that Starlight had on her back, before the pelican turned around and just flew off into the distance, leaving Sentinel Beach in the process, which meant they wouldn't have to deal with it again for the foreseeable future, to which Cozy took a moment to gather all of the Precursor Orbs that were in the water around the pillar of earth the nest had been built on. Of course one of the things she had to ignore for now was one of the Precursor Caches that they knew were scattered around the continent, a name that Twilight had given them at some point in the past, but while she wanted to open it and get her hands on the Orbs that were inside it, to add them to their collection for the trading they would be doing later, the only bits of Blue Eco were back at the start of Sentinel Beach and sure was sure that it would run out if she or Starlight tried to run over to where this lone pillar stood, making her wish that a Blue Eco vent was open, even though there wasn't one right now. While she did that, and made sure to check out the waterfall that rested near where the pelican had been resting, because it seemed to be a good area to hide stuff in and she found a few Orbs over there, Starlight walked along the upper grassy area that was up where the pelican's Power Cell landed and found some Lurkers waiting for them, though each of them were shaped to be more like puppies, meaning they would be called Lurker Puppies if Twilight was with them, and that meant that the pair of mysterious figures must have made new minions to cause havoc in the villages and provinces of the continent, but for the most part she didn't have to do much to take each of them out, as a small magical shock seemed to be more than enough to take one of them down, meaning a punch or a kick would suffice as well. While she did that Starlight noticed the five Green Eco collectors that Samos had told them about, the ones that he wanted them to clear out so they could function like what Keira had designed them to do, because she just so happened to be the one to make them and so far the balloon shaped devices seemed to be functioning just fine, save for some rocks that were resting on top of the Green Eco vents that the balloons were above, but for now she decided to come back once she and Cozy had checked out the rest of this part of the beach, hence why she jumped down and landed near her sister, which allowed her to break a Scout Fly box and free another one from its container.

What they found in the immediate area near the second Scout Fly box were a few Lurker Crabs, who were lurking around the area and seemed to be guarding a cave that happened to have some large logs sticking through the ground, ones that, if they hit them hard enough and in the right manner, would rise up into the ceiling and would allow them to access some areas that were just out of reach, though for now they focused on avoiding the pincers of the couple of Lurker Crabs and blasted their foes in return, before heading over to the part of the beach that had three stone structures that seemed to be out of place, or maybe had no purpose in the grand scheme of things, and there were a fair number of pigeons resting on the stone platforms in question.

"You know, if Daxter were here, I'm sure that he'd spout some nonsense about messing with the birds for kicks, just due to the fact that he never liked them all that much," Starlight commented, as she, Cozy, Twilight, and Jak had spent a great deal of time with their friend and most of them knew his mannerisms, not to mention all of his habits and when he would do something terrible or say something that would just cause them to pause for a time, though Daxter was one of the oddest individuals in the village, in their opinion anyway, even though he was of the opinion that Starlight, Cozy, and Twilight were the odd ones, but they never figured out why he didn't like pigeons.

"True... and, now that we've said it, we'll likely do it just for fun," Cozy said, because that seemed to be the case whenever Daxter wasn't around and one of them talked about whatever he would have done, it usually caused them to do what he would have done or follow whatever he would have suggested, and sure enough Starlight, despite herself, nodded not a few seconds later and they moved out of the area that they had been standing in, where they headed for the three stone structures, as there were a number of Precursor Orbs resting around the area, along with the possibility of a Scout Fly box and a Power Cell, or at least that was they were hoping for right now.

The first structure happened to have a number of pigeons in front of it and the sisters made sure the birds went flying off to another one, before they climbed up the couple of stone steps that were in front of them and headed up to the highest point of the one Starlight had picked out, which just so happened to be where a Scout Fly box rested and was smashed not a few seconds later, freeing the third little robot in the process, though as soon as that was done they followed the group of pigeons over to the second structure and found that it had a Power Cell where the first had a Scout Fly, and the third had a few Precursor Orbs for them to collect... but when they messed with the pigeons again, just to make sure they were no longer in the area, something that caused the most unexpected result as the birds caused part of the cliff near the Eco collectors to collapse for some reason.

"Okay, I wasn't expecting that to happen," Cozy stated, because while she and Starlight were assuming the pigeons to do nothing harmful, since it was just a flock of birds and not a pack of Lurkers, it appeared that the mass flock caused a great deal of rocks to collapse and might have revealed something for them to look at soon, and she could see that Starlight was just as shocked as she was, even though from where they were standing they could see a pair of Precursor carvings in the side of the cliff, no doubt carved by someone in the past as a form of worship for the beings that shaped the world so long ago and everything else they had learned so far.

"Neither was I, though we ought to check out what happened at some point," Starlight added, as she had to agree with her sister for a moment, though for the most part there wasn't much they could do right now since the path leading up to the stone tower didn't seem to be operational, as none of the jump pads had power and it appeared that there was only one Blue Eco vent that was sealed at the moment, so all she and Cozy could do for the time being was head up to the area that the Green Eco collectors rested in, to remove the couple of stones from the Eco collectors and see what else might have occurred when the pigeons flew through the area.

The first thing they did was explore the backsides of the three structures and found that while two of them had no Orbs or Scout Fly boxes for them, which was a little surprising given what they had seen so far, they did find a few Orbs below the one that had the last Scout Fly box they had found, which was followed by Starlight and Cozy heading down into the cave they which rested below the part of Sentinel Beach they would be exploring soon enough and discovered a few more Orbs to be added to their collection, before they stood below the logs that were sticking through the ceiling and stared at them for a few seconds. What the sisters did next was take a moment and crouched where they were standing, like they were trying to sneak around and not draw attention from any potential enemies that were still on this side of the beach, like the pair of Lurkers that were standing near the stone structures and hadn't engaged either Starlight or Cozy as they walked through the area earlier, though as soon as both of them were ready they pushed themselves off the ground and loosed a simple punch at the logs that were above them, though their attacks were more than enough to push the logs up through the ceiling a little and the pair landed in the water once more. That was the uppercut technique that Jak had developed at one point in the past, mostly because he was bored and wanted to see if he could create anything all of them could use, or just one of them if it didn't work for his sisters, but all three of them had learned how to do the technique after he made it and now both Starlight and Cozy were using it to push the logs up through the ceiling so they could use them to get over to whatever they might form a path to, be it more Precursor Orbs or maybe even a Scout Fly box to help them find one of the other Power Cells, though they made sure to hit the logs one or two more times to make sure they were in position for what they would be doing next. Once Starlight was sure that both of the logs were locked into place, and that only took her a few moments based on everything that she could see from the underside of the area, she and Cozy headed over to the spot that the two Lurkers were standing in and she blasted one of them in the chest as her sister dodged a punch that had been sent her way and then kicked her target in the side, knocking her foe to the ground in seconds as it joined Starlight's foe, where they paused for a moment as they stared at the still inactive Eco vent, which they were guessing was linked to Blue Eco since those were the most common in the world, just to make sure nothing had activated it and then rode one of the small wooden platforms up to the area that held Samos' Eco collectors.

The modified watermill, which was linked to a windmill, brought them up to the section that held the Eco collectors and it was easy to find that the tops of the logs did form makeshift platforms for them to reach a small walkway on the cliff wall and a small earth pillar that was near the edge of the area, where Cozy found a few Precursor Orbs resting on top of the pillar and that there was a Scout Fly box further above the set, the fourth one to be exact, while the fifth one and a couple of Orbs rested on the wall Starlight was exploring, meaning all they had to do was find the last two and another Power Cell would be theirs for the taking. With those two places taken care of the sisters regrouped near the Eco collectors and just did what came naturally to them, where Starlight blasted and smashed a few of the rocks and Cozy just broke them with a swift kick, allowing her to break them apart with ease, though in doing so the Green Eco that was coming out of the vents moved through the air and poured into the collectors that were resting above them, something that allowed the balloons to enlarge and float up into the air once more, restoring them to their former glory within seconds, even though they were still tethered to the ground. Stepping into the bits of Green Eco that were escaping the vents allowed them to tap into the power of this type and it would have healed whatever wounds the sisters might have had, if they had been hurt before this point anyway, though for the most part this allowed Samos to continue his studies on the type and do everything that one of the Sages did with the type of Eco that they were connected to, like how the Red Sage would focus on Red Eco, the Blue Sage would focus on Blue Eco, and the Yellow Sage would focus on Yellow Eco, even though the same would be true for Gol, the Dark Sage they guessed, given his knowledge of Dark Eco. The sisters made sure that all five of the vents had no more rocks inside them and nothing else was blocking them, which included clearing out the rubble from the rocks that had plugged up the vents before their arrival, though after a few moments they stepped back and determined that their work in this part of the area was done, though that was when they found one of the Communicators floating around the air and seemed to be staring at them for a few moments, meaning that Keira had created more than one, which both of them knew made sense given that Twilight had been working with her in the past and that they must have made more than one of them before this adventure started.

"Well, I see that you two got around to unblocking my Eco collectors," Samos said, where he sounded the same as always, not that Starlight or Cozy were expecting anything different when they noticed the Communicator emerge from the pack and expand into its true form for a time, though as he started talking the sisters stopped moving and just listened to what he had to say, because there was no telling if he had more information for them or if that was all he had to say right now, as both of them were sure that they would listen to what Jak and Twilight did when they regrouped, "I would congratulate you for your efforts, but then Daxter would hear about it and complain for the next week that he didn't get anything like that during the time he spent with you... so keep up the good work, and keep finding those Power Cells."

Starlight and Cozy glanced at each other for a few seconds as the Communicator returned to the pack, leaving them to do whatever it was that they wanted to do next, which was collect the Power Cell that sprung out of one of the vents when the rocks had been broken and walked over to the fallen rubble that contained the one that came from the pigeons flying and doing whatever it was that they had done, before they glanced out at the stone tower and found something interesting, as the Blue Eco vent had suddenly become active while both of them were dealing with the rocks that were stuck in the five vents that were now spewing Green Eco into Samos' Eco collectors.

"Did we do something to cause that to happen?" Cozy inquired, because while she assumed the answer was a firm 'no', as she was sure that neither of them had done anything that would have caused the Eco vent to suddenly become active and start spewing Eco into the area it was in, which would allow them to open the Precursor Cache that was on the pillar that the pelican had built its nest on and use the jump pads to reach the stone tower, just to clear out the area and take down the couple of Lurkers that had to be manning the cannon that was on top of the structure, but she figured that she would ask the question anyway, just to see what Starlight had to say about it.

"No, I'm sure that this was due to Jak and Twilight doing something, as I recall Keira mentioning that there was a pipeline that lead to the temple inside the Forbidden Jungle," Starlight replied, though what she was referring to was an ancient system of pipes, or at least that was what many assumed they were when they stared at the various vents that rested all over the continent, that the types of Eco flowed out of, be it Red, Blue, Green, or even Yellow Eco, though the reason Dark Eco wasn't part of the set was due to the fact that no one knew if a Dark Eco vent existed or not, and based on the fact that the sealed vent was now unsealed, and the Eco was flowing out of it, she had to assume that Jak and Twilight must have found the switch the sealed Blue Eco vents were connected to, "Come on, let's go check it out and see if we can get to the stone tower at last, as I'm sure we'll find some Precursor Orbs and maybe a Power Cell for our efforts."

Cozy nodded her head and the next thing they did was make their way over to the edge of the area they were in, where a waterwheel happened to rest nearby and it didn't take either of them long to ride a platform down to the part of the beach that the vent rested near, to which the sisters stepped through the Blue Eco vent for a few seconds and empowered their bodies in the process, before they walked onto the first teleport pad and launched themselves into the air, where both of them found themselves just above the next pillar and were able to land on it without delay, where all they found was a lone wooden chest and another jump pad. Since there was nothing on the first stone pillar for them to break apart of even collect, like what they had found throughout the rest of Sentinel Beach, the sisters jumped over to the next stone pillar and found a few Precursor Orbs resting near another Blue Eco vent, one that also had a metallic chest near it, so all the sisters did was quickly pick up all three of the Orbs that were resting around them and then took a moment to refresh the Blue Eco that was coursing through their bodies so they could access the next jump pad. From there Starlight discovered that the third pillar was identical to the second one, minus the missing vent, so after collecting another three Orbs she followed Cozy as she launched herself over to where the stone tower rested, where they found that that two Lurkers were loosing a bunch of explosives at the beach and didn't seem to be doing much at the moment, though when the sisters landed their enemies turned and rushed at them without delay, showing that they wanted to take down any intruders and return to whatever they were doing, where Starlight dodged a few punches that were coming her way and then kicked her foe right in the chest before sending it down into the water with a blast of magic, while Cozy pretty much just threw a punch and knocked her foe down, which caused a Power Cell to fall out of the cannon for some odd reason, not that it seemed to do anything to the weapon. With the Lurkers taken care of, and they made sure that all of the barrels were emptied of Green Eco, which was just odd when both of them considered what was going on right now, Cozy approached the cannon for a moment and started to move it, where she found that she could move the barrel of the weapon up and down, as well as move it side to side so she could target other places besides the beach, which was where Starlight assisted her in figuring out which angles she needed to use so she could hit the couple of metallic boxes they had passed as they headed for the area they were now standing in.

As such it didn't take her long to loose an explosive sack and it landed on the closest box, blowing it open not even a few seconds later, before Cozy focused on the second one and repeated what she had done with Starlight's help, though once both of the boxes had been blown open, and the Precursor Orbs had been freed, Starlight took a moment to use some of her magic and formed some steps in the air for both her and Cozy to use, where they headed to the nearest Blue Eco vent and empowered themselves, all so they could use a jump pad and launch themselves over to where the pelican's nest was resting, which was followed by the Precursor Cache being opened so they could get at the Orbs inside it. From there they walked back over to the rock fragment that fell when the pigeons flew through the area that the Eco collectors were in, to which Starlight and Cozy climbed up the couple of rocks that were in that area and found that there was a walkway that seemed to wrap around part of the cliff, which happened to have a few wooden chests for the sisters to break and some Orbs for them to collect, even though they were keeping their eyes open for anything that might be remotely dangerous, despite the fact that the Lurkers had been taken care of and the cannon had been silenced. Another thing they found was that there was a bit of Blue Eco resting near a gap in the walkway they were following and that there was a Scout Fly box just beyond it, where Starlight accessed the Eco that was in front of them and channeled its power through her body as she smashed the box by approaching it and gathered the little robot with ease, though fortunately the chest next to it did have another bit of Blue Eco inside it and that allowed her to make her way down the rest of the path she was following, even though Cozy was walking ahead of her and kicked the couple of Lurker Puppies that were trying to bite her, meaning her sister didn't have to worry about enemies at all. As Starlight and Cozy approached the end of the walkway they found out two things, the first being that there was another Precursor Cache resting in the middle of this section of the path they had been following for the last minute or two, where the Blue Eco that Starlight was channeling allowed her to open it up and was when they grabbed the Orbs that were freed from its container, before they focused on the second item, which just so happened to be a light blue egg, about as tall as they and their siblings were, resting in a nest that was near the edge of the walkway, which had to be the Flut Flut egg the Birdwatcher had told them about.

Interestingly enough they heard the lady in question and glanced over the edge of the area the egg was resting on, only to discover that the Birdwatcher was standing near the bottom of the edge and that she had taken a moment to gather some hay so no harm came to the egg she wanted them to save from any and all Lurkers who were wandering around Sentinel Beach, to which Starlight and Cozy channeled their magical powers for a moment and carefully lifted the egg into the air and moved it over the edge, so it could be lowered onto the pile of hay, and once that was done they jumped down to the area the Birdwatcher was standing in so they could make sure the egg was just fine, but as the sisters did that they found Jak and Twilight walking over to the area that the egg was now resting in.

"Well, would you look at that, you actually did this thing!" Daxter remarked, as if he couldn't believe that the sisters would have taken the time to seek out the egg the Birdwatcher had told them about and move it so she could study it in greater detail, not to mention move it to an area that it could hatch in and be safe in, given that its guardian was missing due to what the Lurkers had done before they started their quest, though it was in the following moments that the egg actually shuddered for a few seconds, causing the group to stop for a time, before the top of the egg shattered.

What they found was a tall bird-like creature, one that was just a little bit taller than Jak and his sisters, which had a blue tip to its feathers, a yellow colored body that was mostly on its back, while it had a pale underbelly and an orange beak, though based on what Twilight and Starlight knew an adult Flut Flut was a graceful and deadly predator, meaning that the Lurkers who captured this one's mother had suffered a pair bit to capture her, which told Starlight why there weren't all that many enemies roaming around the beach, but before anyone said anything the infant Flut Flut, who was already very strong based the species as a whole, started saying 'momma' a few times as it flapped its wings, just to get out of the egg, and landed in front of Daxter, who it pecked at for a moment, which only annoyed Daxter.

"Awe, isn't that cute?" the Birdwatcher said, as she found this to be incredibly humorous, even though it was also sad due to the fact that the infant's mother wasn't around to actually tend to her child, thanks to the Lurkers that had attacked the beach earlier, villains that she knew Cozy and Starlight had run off so they could reach the egg in the first place, and it was easy for her to see that the siblings found some amusement in this as well, especially when they took in the fact that their friend was at the center of this entire thing, "It thinks you're its mama."

"I'm not your mom!" Daxter stated, speaking to the newly hatched bird for a few seconds, even though the siblings could see that he was in the middle of groaning at the moment, because he couldn't believe that this was happening to him right now, that he had lost his Human form due to falling into a vat of Dark Eco, which he still blamed his friends for since three of them had magic to defend themselves with, and now an infant Flut Flut was assuming that he was its mother, which he didn't even want to deal with at the moment, hence why he was gesturing to his body in the hopes that it would figure out what he was trying to say, "You see any feathers here?!"

"Oh, love at first sight! Ah..." the Birdwatcher remarked, as it was rather special to see such a thing between a Flut Flut and someone that wasn't of the same species, though as she said that the little chick glanced at the others for a moment and it amazed her once more, as Jak and his sisters seemed to be just fine in the Flut Flut's mind, as it let Jak pet her peak for a few seconds as Twilight and Starlight glanced over it to be sure no harm had been done to it, while Cozy did what Jak was doing, before she pulled out a Power Cell and called for everyone to focus on her once more, "You have done well, as you have shown valor to save this chick, and so I'm giving you a Power Cell for your good deed... and don't worry, I'll take this little chick back to the village with me, so Samos can see what you've done, and, more importantly, so we can create an area to take care of her."

Jak and Twilight, knowing that neither Starlight or Cozy needed their help at this point, rounded up Daxter and decided to escort the Birdwatcher and the infant Flut Flut back to the edge of Sandover Village, not that they were needed since all of the enemies that had been assaulting Sentinel Beach had been defeated at this point, leaving Starlight and Cozy to clean up the rest of the wooden chests, pick up whatever Precursor Orbs were still scattered around the beach, and find the last of the Scout Fly boxes, so they could make sure they had everything that might be in this area and regroup with the rest of their siblings, even if that would lead them to Misty Island once more. The area the Birdwatcher had been standing in just so happened to be the grassy area that was near the start of Sentinel Beach, which the sisters had ignored after starting their search of this area, since they had been planning on coming back here at some point, but this worked out for them as they walked around the raised area that had a small windmill nearby and a small bridge that would take them to where the last of the Scout Fly boxes rested, as well as a few more Precursor Orbs to collect, hence the reason they walked over to where the items were resting in. Sure enough when they smashed the Scout Fly box it released the Power Cell that was inside it and they added it to their collection without delay, where the sisters paused for a few seconds as Starlight took a moment to count up the Orbs that they had picked up so far, as she was positive that they had picked up everything that had been on the beach, which was a hundred and fifty by her count, though as soon as the count was done she and Cozy headed back towards Sandover Village, as it was time for them to regroup with their siblings, see how many Power Cells all of them had collected and whether or not they needed to return to Misty Island, though given who their siblings were they were sure that they would be heading back to the island soon. As such the two of them headed back to the entrance of the beach and decided that their destination would be the Fisherman's house, since that had to be where they would find Jak and Twilight, given what the Sculptor wanted them to do for a Power Cell, and sure enough the sisters discovered that the pair were exactly where they suspected they would be, as they were standing near the speedboat, but at the same time it was easy for them to discover that the Blue Eco beam that powered the village was reconnected to the Mayor's windmill and that their village had power again.

"It seems you two were successful," Starlight commented, because unsealing the Blue Eco vents and redirecting the Blue Eco beam back to the village were good signs that Jak and Twilight had done well during their trek through the jungle, and it almost made it seem like she and Cozy had done nothing in the grand scheme of things, but, even as she thought about that, neither she or her sister were disappointed by what they had done, because stopping the Lurkers and saving what looked like the last Flut Flut egg, that the Birdwatcher was aware of anyway, meant they were putting a stop to whatever plans the mysterious figures had planned for the continent and the various villages, "we've managed to find eight Power Cells during our time exploring Sentinel Beach, and a fair number of Precursor Orbs."

"Same for us, we also found eight Power Cells and a number of Orbs," Twilight said, though she was happy with what they had done, in teams of two no less, and it made her wonder what they could do when they headed over to Misty Island, to truly explore it for once and take down the Lurkers that had to be left behind for the eventual assault on the village, not to mention recover any Power Cells that might be resting all over the island, but even as she thought about that she knew the four of them must have recovered at least twenty Power Cells, so if they wanted to they could head to Fire Canyon, but she knew Jak's thoughts on the matter, before she turned towards their sisters, "the only Power Cells we haven't picked up yet are our Uncle's, the Mayor's, and the two the Oracle has in it's eyes, which cost one hundred and twenty Orbs apiece, so we figured that we'd get those after clearing out Misty Island."

Cozy nodded her head as Twilight said that, as she understood that they had gathered a good number of Power Cells and that it was now time for them to head to the island that had set this adventure in motion, to disrupt the Lurker's plans for the area and save the village from the imminent attack that the mysterious figures commanded their forces to undertake in the near future, to which the four of them climbed into the speedboat and got underway, as they were eager to take on whatever dangers were scattered throughout the island and recover some more Power Cells and Orbs for their quest, and once that was done it would be time to move to the north at long last.
> Precursor: Return to Misty Island
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"This place is still scary... oh, why did we come here, especially after what happened the last time?!" Daxter moaned, as he was the only one out of the group that didn't like the fact that they were back on Misty Island, even though at the moment Jak was silently bringing the speedboat to the dock and making sure that no noise was cast out into the areas of the dark island, so none of the Lurkers or Armored Lurkers, as Jak personally called them, would notice them and come running to beat them into the ground, before they were ready to fight back to be exact, though as he did that he noticed that Daxter was shaking a little, due to his fear of this place.

"To stop an assault on Sandover Village, of course," Cozy remarked, not that she was surprised by the fact that their friend was shaking at the moment, given that he was the most cowardly of all of them, but at the very least having all four of them here with him meant he wouldn't have to worry about any harm coming to him as they explored the island, since she, Jak, and their sisters would be focusing on the enemies that were scattered throughout this place, not to mention anything else they might have prepared for the assault their dark and mysterious masters ordered them to do, before she glanced out at the part of the island that was in front of them right now, "not to mention recover any Power Cells and Precursor Orbs that are here, including finding the Sculptor's muse and bringing her home, before something terrible happens to her... once we accomplish those tasks, and we're sure that all of the Scout Flies and everything else have been collected, we can leave and likely never come back."

Daxter looked like he wanted to say something to that, maybe say something to convince Cozy and the others that they should leave the island and never come back, before he sighed and took his position on Jak's shoulder again, showing that he was waiting for them to get moving so he would sit back and watch what was going to happen next, which caused Jak and his sisters to glance out the part of the island that was in front of them and make sure the speedboat would be safe, even though they suspected that the Lurkers wouldn't be able to use this, before climbing onto the dock and moved into the island for real. One thing they discovered immediately was the fact that there was a stone pillar nearby that just so happened to have a Power Cell on it, one that they would be able to acquire at some point in the near future since there had to be a path that would lead them right to it, so what Jak and his sisters did was walk off the dock and advance into the island, where they took in the darker soil and sand once more, along with the dying trees and a number of creature bones that only made Twilight and Starlight, and Keira for that matter, wonder what they might have belonged to before being left in this state. What they did was head for a set of stone steps that formed a pathway that would bring them to the area that contained the left and right paths they had used during their rule breaking visit to the island, which resulted in Daxter being turned into an Ottsel, but it was in that moment that Jak discovered a seesaw of some kind resting nearby, which seemed to be made out of wood and happened to be attached to some curved bones that were partly buried in the dirt, with a heavy stone on one side, where he tilted his head for a moment and glanced back at his sisters for a moment, as he gestured to it and made a motion that suggested it was supposed to be a device that would boost someone's height if that person caused the rock to fly into the air for a moment. Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy actually agreed with him when each of them took a moment to study the contraption in question, though at the same time they discovered that it was actually a worthless thing for them to use, even if they could get some Precursor Orbs, as Jak could jump from the highest point of the seesaw and the double jump allowed him to reach and quickly collect all three of the Orbs that were in front of him, so when he landed his sisters followed him up the steps and collected the couple of Orbs that happened to be resting in their way, before they stared out at the path that would lead them deeper into Misty Island.

That was when they found one of the Armored Lurkers, the type with bone armor, patrolling the area that was just in front of them and it seemed to be ready for a fight, just like everything else that had to be scattered throughout the island, but this time around Jak and his sisters were actually more confident in their skills, due to each of them clearing out an area before coming here, even if they had done so in pairs, and that was when Jak rushed forward and punched the Armored Lurker in the chest without delay, right between the pair of bones that formed its chest piece, before rolling to the side as Cozy kicked it in the side of the head and knocked it to the ground, even though that was when Twilight and Starlight, who had the same idea, blasted the lone Lurker that was rushing towards them, as they apparently missed an enemy and both reacted at nearly the same time.

"Either I hit that Armored Lurker in the right spot, or these bones are softer than we originally thought," Jak remarked, but as he said that he picked himself up and stood up near his sisters as they stared at the bone armor that their foe had been wearing, as each of them had been expecting the armor to be incredibly hard and to protect the wearer from any and all attacks that came at them, though the fact that Jak was able to break apart the chest piece like it was nothing, as there just so happened to be a number of bone fragments near the fallen foe, which Twilight was in the middle of collecting so she could study them later on, just to see what was going on.

"Well, I don't care... oh, and I found the muse." Daxter commented, as while he understood that Jak and his sisters might be interested in what they had just discovered after fighting the first foe of the island, given who they were and everything he knew about them, he had turned his attention to another part of this place and found something that he knew all of his friends were looking for, since they were making sure everyone in Sandover Village was helped out in whatever ways they could assist them in, like helping the Fisherman get his fish, assisting the Birdwatcher in saving the Flut Flut, or, what was more relevant to their current situation, finding the Sculptor's muse and return it to him.

Jak and his sisters glanced in the direction that Daxter was looking in and found a cat-like creature that had a face that was different from a cat's, as it had pointed ears, large green eyes, and a small mouth and nose that went with its small beard, though most of its body was a very pale brown, some parts being pure white, with a dark brown trim and its back had a rather flashy golden coloration to it, making it different from most creatures they had seen, and, interestingly enough, it also had a green sheen, sometimes referred to as an aura by the Sculptor, though for the moment it was just resting on a rock near the intersection of the two paths they had used earlier. Truthfully, it was odd for them to have found the muse so quickly, given the size of Misty Island and the dangers that they knew were all over this island, or the ones they thought were here anyway, but none of them were going to complain about it since they could cross off one of their tasks and then move on to the next part of the island, after determining if they wanted to go for the watery area to their left or head over all of the bones to their right, not that it mattered in the long run since both paths eventually came to a total stop at the circular arena, which they still had no idea why the Precursors had built something like that in the first place, making it just one more of the ancient race's mysteries. At first nothing happened, since they were waiting to see what the muse did as it finally noticed them, before it turned to the side and rushed away from where the siblings were standing, where it started to head up some of the nearby bones, a skull or maybe the spine, and it wasn't long before Jak and Cozy followed after it, leaving Twilight and Starlight behind as they studied the rest of the starting area that they were in, mostly because it sure looking like the muse might be taking a path that wrapped around this section of the island and would be back to where they were standing. What Jak and Cozy found was that there was an Armored Lurker in their way, so the former loosed a punch into their foe's chest while the latter knocked it over the edge with a kick to the head, pushing it off the path they and the muse were following, though they were also picking up Precursor Orbs as well, not that they were surprised by the Orbs at all, before the muse reached an area where it just jumped the gap and caused them to either do the roll jump to get across or just punch out the bone pillar that was nearby, to crack the rib and cause it to fall for a new walkway, and in the end it was the latter option, even though Twilight and Starlight placed their palms on their faces as the part of the tall bone shattered and fell into place to form a walkway.

After the rib bone became a walkway the pair found another Armored Lurker waiting in their path, who ignored the muse for the most part, so all they did was replicate what they had done to the last one they encountered and made sure to pick up some Precursor Orbs that were in their path, before the muse brought them to a small body of dark water, like mud or something, and there was a purple skinned Lurker resting inside it, like a frog or something, but Jak and Cozy jumped over its pool of water as they focused on the muse, even though this might end in Twilight and Starlight ensnaring it whenever it reached the area the sisters were standing in. They did pass by another stone and bone seesaw, which was just odd to see given everything else that was scattered across Misty Island, and a few more clusters of Precursor Orbs that both of them picked up along the way, before finding a Scout Fly box and smashed it, freeing the little robot and starting to count for this island, even though the muse did tilt its head whenever they stopped and resumed running the moment either one of them started following after it again, meaning catching the muse might be harder than what all four of them might have been thinking when the Sculptor asked them to do this. A few moments later, however, Jak actually surprised Cozy for a moment as he dropped over the edge of the bone they were walking on and left her to follow the muse, but his plan had been to get ahead of the creature they were following and catch it without giving it a chance to realize it might have been outplayed, and sure enough the muse ran right into his arms when it glanced back to make sure Cozy was following it, which she had been doing since Jak jumped over the edge of the bone, but both of them smiled as Jak held it up, while at the same time Twilight and Starlight clapped for a few seconds to show that they approved of the tactic, even though Daxter didn't seem to approve of the muse and grabbed onto its back before stuffing it into Jak's pack and then wiped his head as he returned to Jak's shoulder, causing Twilight to sigh as she made sure it was fine in the enchanted pack, even though it was fine when she peered into it for a few seconds. It was like Daxter was worried that they would take a liking to the muse and decide to keep it around or something, even though none of them really wanted the creature with them, but instead of actually saying anything about what he had just done, and wasting more time, the siblings just focused on clearing out the rest of the area and making sure they had all of the Precursor Orbs and any Scout Flies whose boxes had been stuck in this place, even though they found that the Mud Lurker, as Twilight decided to call the purple one that was in the mud, could be taken down with a single blast or punch to the head.

Instead of heading to the right, and jumping over some of the stone platforms and possibly breaking some more bones in the process, the siblings headed to the left of the starting area, where they quickly found the watery area they had passed through not all that long ago, due to their previous unauthorized visit to the island, but this time around the four of them stopped when they noticed that there was now a large metallic ship of some kind rested in the middle of the long wooden bridge, which had been broken into two smaller fragments and were now attached to the ship, not to mention a third one that seemed to be heading up to the highest point of the island, though what interested all of them was the Lurkers that were sitting below what appeared to be a hot air balloon of some kind, ones that had what could have been bombs or just some dangerous orbs resting in front and behind the area the Lurkers were sitting in. It was in that moment that Twilight found something interesting, resting near their side of the bridge, but closer to the ground, was a rather small Precursor structure, one that had a blue dome in the middle of the round device, which just so happened to have a familiar device resting above the dome, a vehicle that was the same size as her or one of her siblings, more in the horizontal sense, as if one of them was laying on their back or something, and it had a propeller on the front of it, even though it was made out of red scrap metal and had three stabilizer fins on the backside, though while this had been created for a single person to ride it, given that this was fairly new to her and Keira, they made sure there was a place for a second person to sit, and at the same time made sure the second person didn't effect the overall performance of the vehicle. This vehicle was Keira's A-Grav Zoomer, the same one that she and Twilight had poured some time and effort into, and she made sure that Cozy, Starlight, and Jak knew what this was as soon as they laid eyes on it, which was followed by Jak climbing onto the vehicle and checked it out for a few moments, to see what all of the controls were like and how it should handle, before Twilight took her position on the back of the zoomer and wrapped her arms around her brother's stomach area, mostly since she and Keira had forgotten to do anything for the second person, which might be crossed off if this test run didn't work out like their thoughts were, to which Starlight and Cozy stood still as they watched as Jak took the zoomer out onto the water and started to investigate the area that was in front of them.

One thing the pair of siblings noticed as they headed out onto the water was that there were a few other rocks that had a bit of wooden platforms on them, and around both of them for that matter, though they would have to check it out in the near future due to the number of Precursor Orbs that rested above the platforms and a Power Cell that would require Jak to jump off the edge of the platforms, or more accurately use the zoomer to jump over the edge, but for now he focused on the Lurkers who were riding around the area, lowering themselves close to the water for a time and then, when they reached the end of whatever path they were following, they took to the air for a time. He felt that this was useless for the Lurkers to do, as it didn't seem like their methods seemed to be working all that much and that they were wasting most of their time, but he wasn't about to complain about what their foes were doing as he figured out what he needed to do as he moved the zoomer around this area, as in the moment one of the Lurkers reached his level he drove right through it, where it appeared that these particular Lurkers might be made out of Eco due to the fact that the one he took down had been reduced to a bit of Green Eco. Twilight took notice of what her brother was doing and noted that the propellers were just fine, as if they had taken no damage from what Jak had done, before she nodded as they moved again, only to take down the remaining three Balloon Lurkers that were in this side of the area he was traveling through, even though there were two more in the other section of the area, but before heading over there Jak drove under the bridge that connected the pair of rocks together and picked up every Precursor Orbs that were in front of him, before riding up the platforms he and Twilight had noticed, even if he was taking a few moments to make sure the Orbs were picked up, so none of them would have to worry about them in the future. Doing that also allowed them to free another Scout Fly, as a box happened to be near one of the edges near the Power Cell they had spotted earlier, though once the box was broken, and the Orbs that had been near it were collected, Jak was able to return to where the platforms rested and reached the Power Cell he was after, allowing Twilight to grab it out of the air before he landed just above the water once more, even though he was rather impressed by how well the zoomer handled, even if it needed a few alterations to make it better, before he headed over to the other side of the area to get at the Balloon Lurkers and put a stop to whatever they were planning, or whatever their mysterious leaders had told them to do.

There were two more Balloon Lurkers resting in the other part of the area he could explore and he targeted them without delay, as taking them out would hopefully put a stop to the planned assault on Sandover Village, where he rammed right through both of his targets and took them out, where Twilight noticed that a Power Cell appeared in the middle of the ship that Starlight and Cozy were standing near, as in the underside of the ship in question, but before they did that Jak made sure to investigate the large skeleton that rested nearby, of a fish or something aquatic in nature, though he did find a few Precursor Orbs for his efforts, and once those Orbs were claimed he returned to the ship and claimed the Power Cell that had revealed itself, before returning to the trans-pad that the zoomer had been resting above earlier.

"Well, that should please Samos, since you just took care of the potential threat to the village," Cozy remarked, though at the same time she and Starlight could see that Twilight was very pleased with how the A-Grav Zoomer operated when the controls were in Jak's hands, where they suspected this might have been the first time it had been properly tested out in the field, though Keira would likely be happy with what the pair had done as well, but before anyone could say anything else a glow emitted from the dome and the siblings watched as the zoomer vanished within seconds, heading back to the trans-pad that just so happened to rest inside Keira's workshop, meaning she could do some maintenance on the vehicle before they needed to use it to travel over Fire Canyon in the very near future.

"Yeah, and we got a few Power Cells for our efforts," Jak replied, as finding a bunch of Precursor Orbs, a Scout Fly, and two Power Cells meant testing out the A-Grav Zoomer like that had allowed them to get a few more artifacts for their quest to reach Gol's hidden home or village, wherever he happened to be living at the moment, and that wasn't counting taking out those that were planning on assaulting the village, to which he shifted his gaze for a second and found that a Lurker was laying on the wooden bridge that would allow them to reach the top of the ship, one that looked like Starlight and Cozy had taken it out with either a punch, a kick, or even a simple magical blast to the chest, but that meant they wouldn't have to worry about one enemy while moving forward.

Neither Starlight or Cozy were worried about the Lurker that was laying on the bridge, rather they followed Jak and he and Twilight moved over the bridge and headed over towards the top of the ship, where they avoided a Dark Eco box that was in the way and bypassed some chests as they found just a normal Lurker guarding the upper part of the ship, who had no idea that they were there in the first place, how none of the group really knew since each of them had been busy in some manner in this part of the island, but that was just followed by Starlight kicking it in the side of the head before it noticed any of them, opening the way for them to investigate the rest of the ship. One of the things that Twilight and Starlight were able to find were a number of vents with steam or smoke coming out of them, meaning the Lurkers must have been given a steam powered ship by their superiors, since the species didn't seem capable of creating something like this on their own, but after a few moments of studying the ship the siblings picked up the couple of Precursor Orbs that were nearby and then climbed up onto an outlet of some kind that happened to have a Scout Fly box on top of it, the third to be exact, though from there they jumped over to another part of the roof and Cozy blasted the Lurker that was walking around for its patrol. From there they carefully climbed up the couple of platforms that were in front of them and found that it let the four of them collect a few more Precursor Orbs, not to mention another Power Cell for some odd reason, though once it was safe with all of the others they had collected so far the siblings glanced at the wooden platforms that were in front of them, which seemed to form a path above the watery area that was now below them and appeared to lead right to the top of the area that the Dark Eco vat was located in, though it had its own dangers as there were a number of logs rolling all the way down to where the top of the ship rested, with a few bouncing for some odd reason. As soon as they spotted that little piece of information, and took a few moments to study what was in front of them, Jak jumped down onto the wooden walkway that was in front of them and started moving forward without delay, where it only took his sisters a few seconds to follow after him and watch what he intended on doing, as he rolled forward to avoid the bouncing log that was coming his way while his sisters did whatever they wanted when it came at them, as Cozy replicated his movements since it had worked out quite well, Starlight paused to let it bounce over her head before walking once more, and Twilight just used a bit of magic to either blast the bouncing logs to pieces or just move them behind her, with the latter being the best option in her mind and was the more commonly used one.

As they followed the wooden path forward they found a few side sections that were circular shaped, some having a Dark Eco box for them to avoid, another having a chest full of Green Eco, and one had the fourth Scout Fly box, though as they did that they also found a couple of Precursor Orbs for them to collect, before they reached the highest point of the path and were able to jump off of the walkway, where Twilight found a few machines up here, ones she would have to take a moment to study at some point, before they found a cannon commanded by two Lurkers off to the left of the machine that was moving the logs, with the Lurkers falling as soon as the siblings approached them due to Jak hitting one and the other being struck in the chest by Cozy's punch. Once the pair of enemies were taken care of the siblings glanced down at the arena that was near the Dark Eco pit, on a lower level anyway, and found that there were a number of metallic boxes scattered all over the place, resting near the walls in question, to which they turned towards the cannon and found that it also had a Power Cell for them to take, though as Jak claimed it Cozy took control of the weapon and Starlight assisted her in targeting the boxes that were below them, allowing her to fire a number of explosive sacks down into the arena so she could blow open the metallic boxes and free the Precursor Orbs that were trapped inside them. While that happened they got a comment from Samos, as he was actually impressed by what they had done, in stopping the Lurkers from blowing open the Dark Eco Silo that happened to be resting down in the middle of the arena, which told Twilight that the vat they had been standing near during their previous visit to this island had to be a way to relieve the pressure from the Silo, so it didn't blow up and flood the region in Dark Eco, and taking care of the Lurkers meant that it wouldn't be hounded by all of the explosives that the Lurkers were using on it from this area, but before the Communicator disappeared Samos had one more thing to say, and that was for Daxter to wipe the grin off his face, causing their Ottsel friend to frown for a moment, as the one time they actually got a comment like that he wasn't allowed to enjoy it. The moment they were sure that all of the metallic boxes were blown open, and that there weren't anymore for them to worry about, the siblings headed back down the wooden walkway that had brought them to this area and continued following the bridges that were connected to the odd ship that they had been on top of earlier, where they were able to find a couple of wooden chests in front of the dirt path that would lead back to where they had seen the mysterious pair before finding their way to the Dark Eco Silo's open vat, though there was a Precursor Cache for them to worry about later and a couple of enemies as well.

From what they could see there were three Lurkers and an Armored Lurker standing between them and the next part of the island, where Jak dodged an attack and spun around to deal damage to the more imposing foe, the Armored Lurker of course, with a spin kick, while Twilight blocked a punch with a magical shield and then kicked her opponent in the face not a few seconds later, Starlight just dodged what was coming her way and punched her Lurker in the side of the head, and Cozy just jumped into the air and landed on the Lurker's outstretched arm as it tried to knock her into the ground, before she kicked it in the side of the head and knocked it to the ground. As soon as those enemies were taken care of the four of them moved forward and walked up the path that was in front of them, where a large rib happened to be resting above a larger pool of mud, on a raised section of stone which was above the mud to be exact, and there was a raised section of stone near them as well, meaning if they smashed the other side of the bone they could form a walkway to use, something that would allow all four of them to walk under a large rib cage and head towards one of the Precursor Doors that rested on top of the Dark Eco Silo. Another thing they discovered was that there were two of the Mud Lurkers resting inside the pool of mud, though instead of letting neither of their foes do whatever they were planning on doing, which was annoying the siblings and spit poison at them, Twilight and Starlight loosed a pair of blasts into the space in front of them and took out both of their enemies, allowing Jak and Cozy to jump up to the first stone pillar and then roll jumped over to the next one, to which they smashed the bone down and created a path for them to run over as Cozy rushed by with a bit of Blue Eco coursing through her body, more than enough to open the Precursor Cache and claim the Orbs that were inside the ancient container. After that was done the siblings quickly walked over the fallen rib and found that there happened to be two side paths for them to check out, one to their left that happened to have a few Precursor Orbs for them to collect and add to their temporary collection, while they found a bone seesaw to their right that Starlight used, something that let her get up to a higher point that an Armored Lurker and a normal Lurker were resting in, to which she made sure the armored foe hit the unarmored foe and knocked one to the ground, before kicking the other to the ground so she could pick up all of the Orbs that were nearby and, more importantly, the fifth Scout Fly box, freeing another little robot before returning to her siblings so they could move forward once more.

With those areas cleared out they took turns jumping over a small stone that was above the next mud pool before coming to a stop as they noticed three of the Armored Lurkers standing near the Precursor Door that would allow them to enter the Dark Eco Silo's arena, though resting on the other side of the mud pool was a cluster of Red Eco, the type that Twilight knew could empower the user's strength and power, and Cozy showed off its power by grabbing it as she rushed forward and lashed out at the Armored Lurkers without wasting a single second, the first one falling with a powerful punch to the chest, the second collapsed as she spun around and kicked it in the side of the head, and the third one fell after receiving a kick to its back as she avoided its attack and knocked it backwards. With that done, and her siblings had a good idea of the power that the Red Eco possessed, they made sure to gather the couple of Orbs that were resting nearby and then found that the Precursor Door opened without one of them having Blue Eco coursing through their bodies, which was a surprise and it meant that the figures that were leading the Lurkers didn't want them to be using all of their Eco to open the doors all the time, but after thinking about that they walked into the arena and prepared themselves for whatever was going to come their way, since they knew something had to be coming at them. Sure enough the Lurkers had something planned for them, which was also a surprise given that many assumed the creatures weren't intelligent enough to come up with all of these machines and plans, as a number of ordinary and armored Lurkers jumped down into the arena that they were now standing in, as they were now near the circular indent that was in the center of the Silo, which had to be the sealed opening that the Lurkers were trying to blow open, and rushed towards Jak and his sisters as Daxter did his best to hide behind Jak's head. It was hard for them to count just how many enemies were rushing towards them, even though Twilight did suspect that there were about twenty enemies for them to fight, to which she and her siblings burst out into the open area of the arena and attacked the enemies that were coming at them with everything they had, as each of them dodged the incoming punches and club swings to the best of their abilities, lashed out with their feet or fists when an opening was shown to them, gathered any Red Eco that their foes foolishly dropped while they were chasing them, and three of them made sure to loose a magical blast or two to take down the Armored Lurkers that tried to either smash someone into one of the walls, into the hands of another Lurker, or just into the ground, all while Daxter did his best to remain hidden and not draw attention to himself, which seemed to be working to his benefit.

It took the siblings a few minutes to overcome the swarm of enemies that were rushing at them, and they felt that taking out the cannon before coming down here had been the smart move, as it could have been used against all of them if those Lurkers were still in control of it, but once the rest of the Lurkers fell the siblings stood their ground as they waited to see if there was anything else they would have to fight, as Jak and Twilight were thinking about the twisted plant monster they had fought inside the jungle's temple, but what happened was that no more Lurkers came out to fight them, either due to there being no more to be thrown at them or the rest were too scared to do anything else, and it was followed by a set of four oval shaped Precursor steps emerging from the ground to form a set of steps up to where the vat rested, which just so happened to be where a Power Cell rested.

"Well, I wasn't expecting that to happen, but it was a nice change of pace," Jak commented, as for the most part all four of them had fought smaller groups of enemies, one or two at a time for the most part, and fighting so many enemies, even if it would have been bad in any other situation or location, had been a little refreshing for him, since it crippled the assault force that the figures had been sending at the village, and for the most part it seemed that his sisters agreed with what he was saying at the moment, even though they were in the middle of climbing up to where the vat rested, which was when they collected the Orbs along the way, "and I'm guessing that one of the Lurkers dropped this Power Cell earlier, not that I'm complaining given everything that we've seen so far."

"Now the Mayor and the other villagers won't have to worry about an assault happening," Starlight said, though she had to agree with Jak, this had been a nice change of pace and it made her wonder what else her brother and Twilight had fought inside the jungle or the temple they had explored earlier, not that it mattered in the grand scheme of things since she was sure one of them would tell her and Cozy what they had done in the Forbidden Jungle, though Samos had to be pleased by what they had just done, even though protecting the Dark Eco Silo had been far more important than dealing with a force of Lurkers that decided to ambush them, "though now I guess its time for us to see what's on the other side of the second Precursor Door and make our way back to the speedboat, since I'm sure we've mostly done everything we can do on this island and that, by the time we return to the dock, we'll have found the remaining Power Cells, Precursor Orbs, and the last two Scout Fly boxes."

The siblings nodded their heads to that, as everyone had to agree with what had just been said, even if Daxter didn't care for the most part, before the four of them headed back down into the arena of the Silo and found that the second door was just like the first one, it opened as someone walked up to it, allowing them to see the couple of stone pillars that were between them and the area that the dock rested in, which they had used Twilight and Starlight's small platforms to jump over the last time they were here, before they focused on the couple of ribs that were in front of them, at least two from what they could see, which would form walkways for them in due time. The first thing they did was jump over to the first of the stone pillars and found that there were two Armored Lurkers waiting for someone to come and annoy them, so it was only a matter of seconds before they tried to smash the siblings into the ground, even though it failed as all four of them dodged the incoming attacks and then delivered their own punches or kicks to the Lurkers, taking them down in seconds and allowed them to open the way back to the Precursor Door, but that didn't stop Jak from smashing part of the rib that was behind where he and his sisters were standing, creating a walkway back to the arena. From there they discovered two small paths they could take, even though they met back up with each other in due time, and the only reason the siblings bothered to split up was so they could recover any of the scattered Precursor Orbs and take down any enemies that were in this area, which were a lone Armored Lurker and a Mud Lurker, so it didn't take them all that long to reach the rib bone that was near the first split in the path that they had taken, near where they found the muse, but instead of focusing on all of the Blue Eco clusters that were around this part of the island, and there were a fair number, they jumped up a taller stone pillar and found that it lead to an opening that allowed them to stare out at the watery section of the island that they had explored earlier. The opening, which was guarded by a Lurker that Cozy kicked over the edge of the small area it was protecting, had a few Precursor Orbs for them to collect and, more importantly, had a Scout Fly box for them to break, as it was the sixth of the seven and they made sure to free the little robot without delay, before returning to the path that had been near the opening and found another side path that had a few Orbs and the last of the seven Scout Fly boxes, so Jak jumped over a few collapsing stones, leaving the others behind for a few seconds, and freed the robot after claiming the set of Orbs, allowing him to gain yet another Power Cell for his efforts.

Once that was done the siblings returned to the start of the Blue Eco trail and Starlight followed it, gathering the Blue Eco for a time as she recalled the first Power Cell they had seen earlier, when they docked the ship, and found a few Precursor Orbs along the way, before she located a small single person platform that she empowered with the Eco and used it to get over to the long pillar, allowing her to claim the artifact they had seen earlier, though when she returned to her siblings, who had smashed the last rib bone into a walkway, it didn't take them all that long to return to the speedboat and headed back to Sandover Village at long last... even though Twilight was sure that she caught a glimpse of the two figures they had seen earlier when she glanced back at the island, as they vanished no less, and knew they would have to deal with them at some point in the near future.

As they headed back to the village, however, Twilight counted the Precursor Orbs they had gathered so far and found that there were five hundred and fifty Orbs in their possession, which was more than enough for them to trade for the Power Cell that the Mayor wanted to trade for, the one their Uncle happened to have, and the two that the Precursor Oracle had in its eyes, and based on how much they wanted for their Cells, from what they had been told so far, she was positive that they would end up with one hundred and thirty Orbs for whoever was in Rock Village, even if they would find some more as one or two of them used the zoomer to cross over Fire Canyon. The first thing they did when the speedboat returned to the Fisherman's dock was head over to the Sculptor's house, where Jak made sure to pull out the muse before they did so, where they found that the man who had asked them to recover the muse was overjoyed to see that they had saved her from Misty Island and, in addition to handing over the only Power Cell he had, he even said that he would sculpt a statue for them at some point in the future, once this adventure of theirs was over, showing the siblings that the residents of the village had to know about what they were doing, in part anyway. From there they headed over to the Mayor's house and found that he was still overjoyed by Jak and Twilight restoring the Blue Eco beam to his house, thus restoring power to the rest of the village as well, and it didn't take them long to trade the ninety Precursor Orbs for the second Power Cell he had in his possession, even though he claimed it would help his reelection campaign, not that anyone was running against him and made them take a moment to wonder what he actually wanted them for, before they headed outside so they could get on with what they were doing at the moment. Their Uncle was pleased to see the four of them again, even though the same couldn't be said for Daxter since he didn't seem to like his Ottsel form all that much, as he might be seeing him as a rat or something, and he was happy that they had the ninety Orbs that would allow them to trade for his Power Cell, but as soon as he had the Orbs he wished them farewell as he continued his preparations for whatever venture he was in the middle of preparing for, to which the siblings glanced at each other and figured that they would figure out what their Uncle was up to later on, when he returned from his venture, before they left the house and headed for the cliff that the Oracle happened to be resting on.

The interesting thing was that the Oracle seemed to think that they were worthy and believed that the Orbs were a gift of some kind, which caused the siblings to take a moment and wonder if there was some sort of grand destiny for them that the Oracles knew about, before deciding that now wasn't the time for them to be worrying about something like that and started to head over to the entrance to Fire Canyon, as it was about time for someone to use the zoomer to get over this volcanic area and reach the village the Blue Sage called home, so they could focus on the next leg of their journey as they sought out Gol so he could fix Daxter and return him to normal, even though all four of them suspected that their quest was far from over and they were eager to see what was waiting for them in Rock Village.
> Precursor: Trouble in Rock Village
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With all of the villagers helped out, and Jak and his sisters were sure of that after making a quick check of the houses after gathering both of the Power Cells from the Oracle, they headed over to the Farmer's house and started to climb the set of stone platforms that formed the path that would bring them to Fire Canyon, or at least this side of the canyon to be exact, though it didn't take the group to long to reach the end of the path in question and found Keira standing near another trans-pad, one that happened to have the A-Grav Zoomer resting above it, and when they approached her Twilight took a moment to draw out the Power Cells they needed and handed them over without delay.

"You know, when I said we needed twenty Power Cells to power the heat shield, I honestly wasn't expecting you guys to recover them all so quickly... I'm impressed by what you were able to do." Keira stated, her tone revealing that, while her father might not share her opinion on the siblings, even though he was happy with them saving the Dark Eco Silo from the Lurkers, she was actually amazed that they had gathered the number they needed and even got some extra for what they might find in Rock Village, even if they were hoping that nothing was wrong in the Blue Sage's village, before she took the Power Cells from Twilight and worked on the zoomer for a few more seconds, only to pull herself away from the vehicle a few seconds later, "There, the heat shield should be fully operational, though since this is still experimental, like most of the gadgets we've made, you should be careful when you use it, as the heat shield is designed to protect the zoomer and whoever is riding it until it reaches five hundred degrees, so try to keep her cool... also, flying over open lava will definitely heat you up fast, and if you hit five hundred degrees, the max it can take, well, the heat shield will fail and, according to all of our calculations, the zoomer will explode... basically, it will be over for you if that happens."

"Over?! Like burning molten metal over?!" Daxter exclaimed, where it sounded like he wasn't paying attention to what was being said at the moment, though the mention of the zoomer exploding and being unable to get them to Rock Village, the end of what Keira was telling them, was what caught his attention, causing the siblings to shake their heads for a moment as they remained silent and listened to everything that Keira might have to tell them, as it was possible that there was one or two more things for them to learn before Jak climbed onto the zoomer and one of his sisters climbed onto the backside to make some more notes on how it operated, to help Twilight and Keira improve the vehicle for the future, be it for part of this adventure or something that the future held for them.

"Yeah, that's what I mean... remember, Fire Canyon can get pretty hot, given its volcanic soil, so be sure to keep an eye out for jumps that will keep you off the hot ground." Keira continued, where it was easy for them to tell that the first part of her comment was directed towards Daxter, especially due to his remark about the zoomer exploding if it reached the max limit of the heat shield, while the second part of her comment was for the siblings, since she had no idea who was going to be driving the zoomer and who might be sitting on the backside of the vehicle, before she focused on something that she hadn't told the group yet, "I've also released several blue cooling balloons into the canyon, which will allow you to drop the shield's temperature in a matter of seconds, so keep an eye out for them as well... oh, and before I forget, father wanted me to tell you to activate the Warp Gate in the Blue Sage's lab, that way he and I, and whoever might be left behind, due to the fact that the zoomer can only hold two people at the most, so we can use our Warp Gate to teleport over to you and help you out with the next leg of our journey."

The siblings nodded their heads to that, as it made sense to activate the Warp Gate in the Blue Sage's lab so Keira, Samos, and whoever was left behind could catch up with them, before Keira took a step back and walked away from the zoomer as Jak approached it, since he seemed to be the one that it was designed for and the backseat was designed for the sisters to join him, even if only one of them could do that at a time, to which Starlight climbed onto the vehicle as well and made sure she could see everything that was in front of them, so she could take excellent notes on what was in front of them, as it would help Keira and Twilight out, where Twilight, Cozy, and Keira wished them well before Jak moved out of the safety zone and entered Fire Canyon for real. The canyon itself was somewhat thin from what he and Starlight could tell, more in the sense that the distance between the two rock walls had to be around ten Jak's standing shoulder to shoulder, maybe closer to fifteen based on what they could see, though as they left the safe area they could see the volcanic soil that was in front of them, with a few rocks resting in their way, meaning each of them would be obstacles for them to overcome and it was a good challenge for Jak to overcome, but he was more interested in getting to the end of the canyon. One thing they discovered was that there were a few metallic boxes resting along the way, though how hey weren't melting under all of the intense heat was a mystery, given the volcanic soil's nature to melt Precursor metal, but that told Starlight that Samos might have lied to make them seek out Power Cells, not that it mattered since Keira didn't have the materials to make a zoomer out of Precursor scraps, as what she had made was the best she could do, but the other thing they had to keep an eye out for were the clusters of Dark Eco boxes, as the clusters had eight of the dangerous boxes arranged in a square, as it would make them easier for someone to accidentally hit and do damage to their vehicles, even if the zoomer was about the only air based vehicle and it had a lot of work that needed to be done to it before it was as good as Keira wanted it to be. Starlight, deciding to make herself useful and not just sit behind Jak the entire time, loosed a small magical blast at the clusters of Dark Eco boxes and blew them apart so her brother didn't have to worry about them, though what caused both of them to pause for a moment was the fact that there was a Lurker just beyond the first two clusters of Dark Eco boxes, a simple Lurker walking on the volcanic soil like it was nothing, meaning that Samos had either lied to them, and this was a pretty good piece of evidence to suggest such a thing, or the canyon's heat had died down for now and that was why the Lurker was able to do what it was doing.

In the end the pair decided not to worry about it as Jak rammed into the Lurker and knocked it into one of the walls, while also breaking a Scout Fly box, which wasn't made from the same material as the zoomer or the other metallic boxes they had seen so far, something that really made Starlight wonder about the potency of the canyon's heat, before they found a Precursor ramp beyond the Lurker, which had a Blue Eco vent resting nearby, and discovered that both of the objects had no damage to them, as neither were in the process of melting under the heat, so all Jak did was use the ramp to launch the zoomer into the air and fly through the blue cloth balloon that released a burst of cooling mist on the zoomer, which helped keep the heat shield meter at a moderate level. From there Jak moved forward and found a few more rock that he had to avoid and a cluster of Dark Eco boxes for Starlight to blast apart from afar, wiping it out before they reached where the cluster had been resting, though there was a small bit of open lava he had no choice but to move over and found that it did next to nothing to the zoomer, or at least that was according to the meter that was linked to the heat shield, and it wasn't long before they reached a rock walkway which connected this part of the canyon to the next one, which allowed him to smash another metallic box and claim the Precursor Orbs that had been inside it. Once that was done they found that there was a much wider section of open lava and that there was a Scout Fly box on the other side of it, one that had a pair of Lurkers walking near it, so what happened next was that Jak sped over the lava and smashed into the box, freeing the little robot that was trapped inside it, while Starlight loosed a pair of blasts into the Lurkers that were in their way and knocked them into the walls of the canyon in a matter of seconds, allowing Jak to continue forward without having to take a moment to deal with the Lurkers, which was good since he had to focus on another section of exposed lava, one that he flew over not a few seconds later. After that he flew through a cooling balloon as Starlight loosed another blast into the air and took out another cluster of Dark Eco boxes, which was just surprising since she knew that Dark Eco being found on the surface was nearly unheard of, save for the vats like what they found near Misty Island's Silo, but at the very least blowing up the boxes and clusters meant that neither of the mysterious figures could get their hands on the sinister Eco that they were apparently seeking, which was a score in her book, before she focused on what Jak was doing as he avoided a third Lurker, who Starlight blasted in the side as they flew by where it was standing, and headed for a Precursor structure that was longer than the last one they had flown over earlier.

As Jak moved around the area he made sure to smash through two more of the cooling balloons, once more assisting the heat shield in keeping below the five hundred degree mark that Keira had told him and his sisters about, he took a second or two to turn around a curved section of the path, to avoid an open lava pit, and smashed through the third Scout Fly box that happened to be in the way, with Starlight making sure to grab the little robot in the process, before he passed through a Blue Eco vent and found that it could empower the zoomer as well, increasing the speed past its limits, or at least that was his thoughts on the matter, and that slowing down just a little seemed to get rid of it, which Starlight made a note of as he avoided some spikes that burst out of the lava and caused him to fly around the side of them. That was followed by him noticing a curve in the path which had a Scout Fly box, a few wooden chests that weren't burning at all, which caused Starlight to make a note of it and the lack of potency in Fire Canyon's volcanic soil, a metallic box that had some Precursor Orbs inside it, and another Scout Fly box at the end of the curve, allowing them to collect a few Orbs and two more Scout Flies, the fourth and fifth based on what they had collected so far, meaning that there were two more of them to find and one of them had to have a Power Cell for them, even though Jak was more focused on what was in front of him while his sister made sure to keep an eye out for Dark Eco boxes. After that he smashed through a metallic box, to get the Orbs that were inside it, and followed the twists of the path he happened to be following at the moment, which included avoiding all of the rising rocks that came out of the lava patches and bursting through a few cooling balloons as well, before Starlight found a cluster of Dark Eco boxes to blast apart before they reached it, which her brother nodded to when he saw it, all so she knew he was pleased with what she had done, before she loosed a few more blasts into the space in front of them, as there were more clusters of boxes, sometimes eight and sometimes just two on top of each other, that needed to be taken down so they didn't get hurt while they were doing this. From there Jak was able to figure out where the cooling balloons were resting and flew around a rock to get at the sixth Scout Fly box so Starlight could grab the little robot when it was no longer trapped inside the box, though he also ignored the couple of Lurkers that were wandering around this area, again making them question the potency of the volcanic soil that rested throughout the entirety of Fire Canyon and if they really needed the heat shield in the first place, before he flew through another cooling balloon and smashed the seventh Scout Fly box that was just beyond it, allowing Starlight to claim a Power Cell along the way.

With that done he made sure to smash apart the metallic box that was in front of them and that seemed to give them the rest of the Orbs that were scattered throughout Fire Canyon, though what was interesting was that they found another trans-pad at the end of the canyon, resting in front of a raised section of earth that had to head down into Rock Village, so what he did was come to a stop of the pad in question, which also just so happened to give them another Power Cell, as in they got two more over the course of their ride through one of the most dangerous locations near Sandover Village, which was when he and Starlight climbed off the zoomer and started to head towards the next village... where the short path in between the stone walls of the canyon brought them to the edge of Rock Village, a place that was more of a port village as they stared at it, and the stone structures in front of where they were standing had to be hollowed out to act as homes for the villagers, even though the roofs happened to be on fire at the moment.

"Well, it sure seems like the Lurkers have been busy... more so than they were in Sandover Village," Starlight said, as they knew that the Lurkers had done next to nothing to their home village, at least the area that they called home, but it was all of the surrounding regions that their enemies had assaulted in an attempt to mess with those that the mysterious figures wanted them to attack, but based on what they were seeing at the moment, and that included some burning boulders that were scattered around the village, to which she sighed for a second as she noticed the hut that was in front of them, one that looked very similar to Samos' hut, "Come on, let's open the Warp Gate and see what Samos has to say about what's going on at the moment, even though I'm sure he'll have us head out and take the fight to the Lurkers again, which I am totally fine with at this point."

Jak took a moment to think about that, as it was odd to see that Rock Village was under assault and on fire, with a bunch of boulders that seemed to be scattered all over the place, but in the end he agreed with what Starlight had said and walked with her as she headed over to the Blue Sage's hut, where they found a number of books, which seemed to be in pristine condition and would no doubt either be read by Twilight or Starlight in the near future, or possibly both, along with a few machines that Jak had no idea what they did, given that he wasn't into technology like two of his sisters were or like how Keira was, before they found the button that activated the Warp Gate and pressed it, where they stepped back as Samos eventually jumped through the gate, even though he fell on his face and caused Daxter to mentally snicker for a moment, though Keira, Twilight, and Cozy helped him up after each of them passed through the gate.


"Thank you girls... I don't think I'll ever get used to the tingling sensation of the Warp Gates." Samos commented, as he was one of the few people in the world that didn't agree with any of the various feelings that came with the gates he and the other Eco Sages were in possession of, why Jak, Twilight, Starlight, Cozy, and Keira weren't entirely sure about, but none of them felt like asking the question, before he nodded to those that had helped him up for a moment and then glanced at the wrecked nature of the hut, as it sure looked like someone had thrown a few papers around before leaving and never returning to tend to the village and his studies, "Based on this mess, it looks like the Blue Sage might have thrown a party in the last couple of days..."

"Not to mention the fact that parts of Rock Village are on fire at the moment." Starlight remarked, referring to what both she and Jak had seen when they first entered the edge of this village and had a chance to look at the place that the Blue Sage called home, though that caused both Twilight and Cozy to raise their eyebrows for a moment as they heard it, as it interested them in what they might discover when they left the hut and headed down into the village, especially since all of this was technically new to them, as this also marked the first time they had left Sandover Village, not counting when they went into the regions that were near their home anyway.

"It must have been one heck of a party!" Samos replied in kind, apparently under the impression that the Blue Sage must have thrown a party or something recently and didn't invite him to the event, as it would have explained why he, the Red Sage, and the Yellow Sage hadn't spoken to him for a quite some time, but even as he said that Twilight appeared to be in the middle of studying his words and motions, as she suspected that he understood what was going on in the hut and had decided not to worry all of them as to what might be going on, but instead of worrying about it she decided to keep quiet and focus on taking out the Lurkers that were in the middle of bothering Rock Village and the surrounding regions, which, if her memory of the continent was correct, happened to be the Precursor Basin, Boggy Swamp, and the 'Lost' Precursor City, even though the last region was resting off the coast of this village and couldn't be considered 'lost' in her books, even if some explorers disagreed with her.

"No, what she means is that Rock Village is being bombarded with flaming boulders!" Keira stated, where she had taken a moment to look at the nearby telescope and discovered that the Blue Sage must have been focused on something before his sudden disappearance, as there was an interesting machine resting on the other side of the village, near the bottom of the cliff that the entrance to Boggy Swamp rested in, and sure enough there happened to be a large humanoid creature in armor that seemed to be the one that was throwing the boulders down at the village, to which she turned towards the rest of the group for a moment, "And, based on what I was able to see, it looked like the Blue Sage was working on a levitation machine to move them... assuming it's operational, and given who we're talking about right now I think its safe to say that he perfected it before disappearing, we're going to need some more Power Cells to fuel it, more than what you guys were able to find so far."

"We'd better take a look at his notes, to figure out how many you'll need, and take a look at the surrounding regions, just to see what the Lurkers are up to." Samos said, meaning that he and Keira were going to do what they had done after the siblings had returned from Misty Island the first time, where the former would be working on a machine while the latter sat in a hut and observed what was going on from the safety of a Sage's domain, something that would tick Daxter off just a tad bit, before he turned his head for a moment and glanced at the siblings for a few seconds, meaning that he wanted to tell them something, "Jak, girls, go check on the villagers, see what's happened since that monster showed up, and then  use Keira's Communicator to give us an update on the situation... we should be ready to give you the same at that point... oh, and take the fur ball with you!"

Daxter remained silent as he heard that, deciding that it was best if he didn't talk back to Samos at the moment, to which Jak and his sisters headed outside the hut and started to make their way over to the set of rock pillars that would let them enter the village, but before they did that Twilight found a Scout Fly box resting behind the Blue Sage's hut and made sure to smash it open so she could collect it, even if there were six more scattered all over Rock Village and they would keep an eye out for each of them, since one of them had to have a Power Cell for them, before she rejoined her siblings as each of them jumped on the rock pillars. That allowed them to collect a few Precursor Orbs for their actions and discovered the second Scout Fly box, one that was broken within seconds of them finding it, before they started to make their way over to what appeared to be the marketplace, or the heart of the village to be more exact, which was where they found some of the flaming boulders resting on top of some wagons, or just resting on the ground in some cases, even though they did see a Precursor Oracle to their right and they approached it, something that came with it telling them to 'beware the dark light', as it had 'twisted' one of their fates, which meant it had to be referring to Daxter. That comment made the siblings take a moment to think about it, given what each of them knew about the Oracles and what the ancient creations said to those that activated them, which was uncommon based on what Twilight recalled and they seemed to be the only ones at the moment who had done anything with the Oracles, even though Daxter was assuming that it meant that he must have been a warrior of the light and that falling into Dark Eco had ruined whatever his destiny was, before sighing and letting them move forward once more. From there they headed over to what appeared to be a young lady's workplace, as there were a number of barrels and a wagon near her, though since she was preoccupied with something Jak walked around a flaming boulder that was nearby and smashed another Scout Fly box that was behind a large rock pillar, and picked up a few Orbs in the process, before finding a bit of Blue Eco and wondered what it could give him and his sisters access to, as there had to be a Precursor Cache resting nearby and sure enough there was one resting near a boulder that was near the Oracle, to which he grinned for a moment as they noticed another bit of Blue Eco nearby, so while Starlight smashed the fourth Scout Fly box Jak gathered the bits of Blue Eco and rushed over to where the Cache rested, allowing him to open it and claim the Orbs that were resting inside it, before he regrouped with his sisters and approached the lady who seemed to be in the middle of studying something or writing something down, even though that was when she turned around and noticed that they were standing on the other side of her wagon, or maybe it was a workbench of some kind, to which she smiled for a moment.

"Oh, hello there, I was busy with my research... though the four of you look like a couple of capable heroes." the lady said, where the mention of research interested Twilight, and Starlight for that matter, but that was when they noticed that the lady had a rather curvy body, similar to someone who lived in Sandover Village, and her attire was split so it showed off her midriff for some reason, though she had brown pants and light brown leggings, with a short green vest over her short white vest, and she had a helmet on that had a light attached to it, which covered her red colored hair, before she took a moment to gesture to herself, "I am the Geologist, so named by the rest of my fellow villagers due to my love of the great outdoors and the various creatures we share this world with, and I just so happen to have a research project going on at this very moment, one that I think you guys might be able to help me out with."

"Hey, we're the ones on a big quest here! We ask you for help!" Daxter stated, his tone revealing that he wasn't too happy right now, more in the sense that Samos didn't respect him all that much and the Oracles seemed to be talking about his old fate would have been, had he not fallen into the Dark Eco vat of Misty Island's Silo, though for the most part none of the siblings were annoyed by what they had heard so far, because if the Geologist, as the other villagers decided to name her in the past, was asking for help, and it sure seemed like she was in her own way, they might be able to get a Power Cell out of helping her with whatever she needed help with.

"Well, perhaps we can help each other out?" the Geologist inquired, showing the siblings that, while she might not care for Daxter's attitude right now, she was willing to cooperate with them in some manner, even though she had no idea what sort of quest they were on and didn't seem to be in the mood to figure out what they were up to, rather she knew all four of them were heroes and seemed to be more interested in asking for their help, "I've been studying the burrowing habits of Lightning Moles in the Precursor Basin next to our village for years, but recently those awful Lurkers have been seen in the basin and they've been scaring the moles to the surface... and, since the Lightning Moles are just as blind as bats are, none of them can find their way back underground! If you could herd them back into their burrowing tunnels, we might just save their lives, and I just so happen to have a Power Cell that says you can do it."

"Yeah, lightning moles..." Daxter said, though it was easy for the siblings, who were more familiar with his tactics than the residents of the other villages, to know that their friend might be thinking of a way to twist this to their advantage and get a few more Power Cells so they could bring this adventure, or quest as he called it, to an end so he could return to his old form and stop riding on Jak's shoulder, even though it sure looked like he might be enjoying his little perch, even if he was missing some of the old comforts of his previous form, namely pants as he continued to mention to them whenever he got a chance to talk about how bad this form was for him and what he was missing, "We care about their safety and well-being... maybe we'll do it for two Power Cells!"

"Daxter! Don't be rude," Cozy stated, as while she and her siblings understood why he would say something like that, due to what they had just thought about a few seconds ago, it didn't excuse the fact that their friend was trying to rob the lady and get more Power Cells than what they had truly earned, and sure enough it looked like the Geologist might be a little annoyed about what Daxter had said, or maybe she was lost in thought about something and barely heard what he had just said, before she, her sisters, and Jak focused on the Geologist, "Don't worry, we'll deal with the Lurkers and save the Lightning Moles, so you have a deal for the Power Cell you mentioned earlier."

"Actually, I do have a second Power Cell, one that I would be willing to part with for ninety Precursor Orbs, so I can fix up or replace some of my research equipment." the Geologist spoke up, where the siblings watched as she gestured to a few barrels that were resting nearby, which had to have whatever equipment she had brought to this area and confirmed that some of them had to be broken due to something that had happened in the past, no doubt due to the Lurkers, though it was in that moment that Daxter seemed to be pleased, as if hearing that the lady had a second Power Cell had been good for him to hear, before they focused on the Geologist again, "How does that sound?"

It was easy for the siblings to agree to make a trade for the second Power Cell at some point, as they wanted to check in with the other villagers that were still here before they did anything else, something that the Geologist seemed to nod her head to when she heard them tell her that, hence why she went back to her studies as they crossed the stone bridge that would lead them into the large marketplace of Rock Village, where it was easy to see that there were two paths for them to pick from and two villagers for them to talk to for a few moments, just to understand what each of them wanted for the Power Cells that they were in possession of, if Sandover Village was anything to go by, though one thing that they found to be interesting was that one of the villagers had armor on and the other seemed to be wearing a barrel, though Jak walked over to the armored figure since he might have some information for them, on the large monster.

"Oh, my aching head." the armored Human moaned, showing that he must have been hurt in some manner before the siblings had arrived in Rock Village, meaning he must have fought the monster at some point and had lost, where Jak and his sisters came to that conclusion based on the fact that he had a busted chain link, a chink in his chest piece, and he had a visor that seemed to be marred in some manner, even though he had a small amount of green hair, not to mention a red cape that seemed to be cut in places, where it looked like he must have been a good fighter and that this monster had been too much for him to take down.

"What's the matter tough guy?" Cozy asked, mostly because it would allow the person to know that someone had some interest in what might have happened to him and, if they were lucky, he would have a few tips or tricks for them to use in the future, when it came time for her and her siblings to take down the imposing creature that was assaulting the village with all of the flaming boulders that they had seen so far, but even as she thought about that she noticed that nothing was going on right now, meaning the monster might be taking a break from its assault, even though the large boulder was still in the way and they needed to move it so they could move forward.

"Oh sure, I was tough once... maybe even the toughest of them all!" the figure, a Warrior the siblings guessed, replied, as he pushed himself to his feet for a moment and seemed to pose as the siblings stared at him, where they were slightly surprised by what they were seeing and some had even raised their eyebrows towards the Warrior, even though Daxter was the one that did that the most, before he sighed for a moment as he waved his hand towards the pavilion that he and the siblings, along with the barrel wearing person, happened to be standing in, almost as if he had a boast or something that he wanted to tell them, making Jak wonder if this was a mistake, "I single-handedly defended this village from those horrid creatures, the Lurkers, for almost a year, then out of nowhere that horrible monster arrived and commenced the boulder bombardment! So, full of valor, with my armor shining in the sun, I climbed the hill to take him on... but in the end he pounded me like one tenderizes a yakow steak."

"Have you tried attacking him with your melodrama? Because it's killing me!" Daxter inquired, because everything that the Warrior had said seemed to be full of drama and boasting, something that he could possibly get behind as long as none of the drama was involved, as he preferred making claims about things he had done, in an attempt to impress his friends or even Keira, as he had given up on impressing Samos and the latest events that caused Samos to talk to them just ticked him off, since he, for the most part, wasn't allowed to enjoy any praise the Sage gave them, even though he had done next to nothing since his transformation into an Ottsel.

"After my last stunning failure, the monster sealed the passageway to his roost with a thirty-ton boulder, leaving no way for anyone to challenge him again." the Warrior stated, identifying that the monster was male, not that it mattered in the grand scheme of things, while at the same time he glanced through once of the openings in the pavilion and stared up at the path that lead to the monster's roost, no doubt recalling what happened the last time he fought it, since the previous expression returned in full force, before he thought of something else as he stared at the boulder, "So our Sage, a master of Blue Eco, and a mechanical genius, devised a machine that would be capable of lifting the boulder out of the way... but, alas, he disappeared before we had a chance to turn it on, and, as luck would have it, he took all of his Power Cells with him as well. At least I was able to pull enough pontoons out of our bridge to prevent that monster from coming down here to do me any additional harm."

"Oh, well, that's good and everything, but... well, we're going to need you to put them back." Twilight said, because now that the Warrior had mentioned it she could see that there were some wooden platforms that seemed to form a path over to the levitation machine and the entrance to Boggy Swamp, with a missing section that had to be what the Warrior was talking about, though Jak and her sisters stared at the person that was in front of them as Daxter frowned, as it looked like they might have to put up a few Orbs to get him to put the sections back, if what they had experienced since the start of this adventure was any indication.

"Oh sure, and seal my doom?!" the Warrior declared, getting back on his feet for a few moments, as he had sat down after telling them about the missing pieces of the bridge that he had pulled out to make sure the monster didn't attack him, not that it helped since the monster could probably hit him from where it was standing, though he paused for a few seconds as he focused on the frowns that were being directed at him, as at this point the siblings and Daxter didn't approve of his motives for breaking the bridge and keeping the pontoons bundled up, before he sighed for a moment as he took a few seconds to think about something, "All right, fine. Bring me ninety Precursor Orbs and I'll let the pontoons loose, and I'll even throw in my only Power Cell to sweeten the deal... but I'm not going to fight that monster again!"

"That's fine, as we were planning on taking him down at some point." Jak stated, as that was the truth of the matter, due to the fact that one they had cleared out the three regions that were near Rock Village, and made sure to gather every Power Cell and Precursor Orb that were in the Precursor Basin, Boggy Swamp, and the Lost Precursor City, they would tackle the monster that was attacking the village with boulders and put a stop to that, allowing the residents of the village to go on with their lives and stop worrying about being squished by flaming boulders that were raining down from the sky, but at least his words seemed to please the Warrior, in the sense that he wouldn't have to fight the monster again, as he seemed utterly terrified of it at this point.

"Oh no, not another hero... much less a group of heroes!" the nearby name in the barrel stated, as he happened to be over on the other side of the opening that lead down to where part of the wooden bridge rested, save for the missing parts the Warrior was responsible for pulling out, where they found that he was wearing a blue shirt that was cut short, had a pair of glasses in front of his eyes, a blue frayed hat with a playing card attached to it, and had short purple hair, but he seemed annoyed by what Jak had said and seemed to be waiting for the group to walk over to him, which caused him to gesture to the Warrior they had been talking to since arriving in the pavilion, "I lost my shorts on this so-called hero's big fight against our uninvited guest, the monster that's up there... trust me on this, the smart money's on the monster... though, truth be told, that wager pretty much tapped me out! So's, I got a proposal for you: if you bring me ninety Orbs to get me back on my feet, and out of this embarrassing barrel, and I'll give you a Power Cell in return for helping me... and, if you're game, I do have one more bet online, my big comeback! If you can beat the record time while racing through Dead Man's Gorge in the Precursor Basin, which many have failed to do in the past, I'll get a pretty payoff in the process, and I'll give you guys another Power Cell!"

The siblings agreed to what the Gambler, as that seemed to be who this person was in their eyes, was saying and left the area that he and the Warrior happened to be standing in, even though Cozy walked down the part of the wooden walkway that had been broken and smashed another Scout Fly box, the fifth one by her count, while Jak and her sisters walked over to a corner that seemed to have a few platforms that formed a path over to the entrance of the Precursor City, where they found the sixth Scout Fly box and freed the little robot that was inside it, leaving them with one more that was over by the entrance to Boggy Swamp, to which they sighed for a moment, as it seemed like it would be impossible to clear out Rock Village right now, to which they headed over to the Precursor Basin, only to discover that it was a zoomer area, due to a trans-pad resting in front of them and an interesting cliff in front of them.

"Hey guys, we've figured out that you'll need forty-five Power Cells to power the levitation machine," Keira said, where the siblings and Daxter turned towards the Communicator that was now flying around them at the moment, meaning that she and Samos must have finished studying all of the Blue Sage's notes and might have studied the other notes that would tell them what was happening to the other regions of Rock Village, but they remained silent as they waited for her to tell them everything that had been discovered so far, "Apparently the Blue Sage was able to figure out and write down a few things, before his rather sudden disappearance: there's some Dark Eco plants inside the Precursor Basin that father wants you to deal with, so I've already sent the A-Grav Zoomer over to the entrance of that region, there's a group or army of Lurkers with a dirigible over in Boggy Swamp, pulling at a Precursor artifact that's stuck in the mud for some reason, and the Blue Sage had some notes about trying to bring one of the lost city's chamber up to the surface, so I'm sure that if you discover a way to bring one to the surface he'll be overjoyed when he come's home."

"Well, that's good to know, especially since the three villagers that are here seem to be safe, for the most part, since it does look like the local Warrior is suffering from being beaten by the monster," Jak replied, to which he sighed for a moment as he glanced at the zoomer that was in front of him and the city that was off the coast of the village, because he had a good idea of who should go where this time around, before eventually regrouping so they could tackle the Lurkers and dangers that were inside the swamp, as that one might require all four of them, like how Misty Island required all of them to take on the various dangers it possessed, before he stood up and focused on what he was going to do next, "Okay, Starlight and I will take the zoomer and head into the Precursor Basin, to deal with the Dark Eco plants and whatever else might be in that region, while Twilight and Cozy can tackle the dangers that might be inside the Lost Precursor City, since I'm sure one of them wants to see it up close so she can prepare some notes for when the Blue Sage comes back... once both of those regions have been cleared out we can regroup and tackle Boggy Swamp, and the Lurkers that are trying to gather more Precursor artifacts, before dealing with the monster and heading to the Red Sage's lab."

Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy nodded their heads in agreement to what Jak was saying, as it sounded like a good plan and it would give Keira more information on the zoomer and what it was capable of, before they split into the two groups that their brother had mentioned and prepared themselves for everything that would be thrown at them, even though each of them were interested in getting to the monster and taking it out so they could save Rock Village from its attacks, before focusing on what might be happening in the area the Red Sage called home, which they would deal with in the very near future, after assisting the residents of this village, and they braced themselves for whatever might be waiting for them in the regions they were heading towards.
> Precursor: Riding Through the Basin
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jak and Starlight stared at the high nearly wall-like Precursor ramp that was just beyond where the trans-pad rested, with the A-Grav Zoomer resting above it, for a few moments as they recalled everything they had learned since arriving in Rock Village earlier, as in the fact that there was a Dark Eco plant located somewhere in the area, there were Lurkers messing with the Lightning Moles that called the Precursor Basin home, and there was a race that one of the village's residents, one that just so happened to be a Gambler from what they had their siblings had seen, who had challenged them to win a race in an area he called Dead Man's Gorge, and that wasn't counting anything else that might be inside this region, like the Scout Flies and any other obstacles that might net them some Power Cells.

"You ready for this?" Jak asked, though even as he said that he jumped down into the area that the zoomer rested in and approached the machine, where he found that it was the exact same as the last time he had used it, meaning that even if Keira had a chance to go over everything Starlight and Twilight had found, and he suspected that she had taken some time to go over their notes before coming through the Warp Gate with her father so they and their siblings could catch up with them, she likely hadn't had a chance to modify the vehicle without taking it out of commission, and sure enough it only took him a few seconds to climb onto the body of the zoomer and ready himself for what he was going to do next, which was the moment he glanced over at Starlight for a few seconds.

"Yeah, I'm ready to watch you tackle whatever challenges are waiting for us, while I blast any Dark Eco boxes that might have been placed by the Lurkers," Starlight replied, as that was what they had done when they crossed over Fire Caynon, which she felt could be named Lukewarm or Tepid Canyon based on how low the heat of the soil actually was, and she felt that it had worked out quite well, especially since she could take note of what was going on around her and report back to Keira or Twilight, the former being for the zoomer and the latter being for the journal she was keeping on everything they did while they were on this adventure, though after she answered Jak's question she climbed onto the back of the zoomer and braced herself as Daxter remained on his perch, both of them waiting for Jak to make the first move.

Jak, as soon as his sister and Daxter were ready, activated the zoomer and flew towards the ramp, where they found that it was easy for the vehicle to head up the side of the ramp and easily reached the top of what would have prevented both of their sisters from following after them, unless they used their magic anyway, and one thing they found was that there were a few circular indents on the ramp that seemed to be full of lights, for when it was nighttime he guessed, though he knew that there was a good bit of Precursor metal in the ramp, so if anyone figured out how to tap into that metal this would be a good place to harvest some. Another thing they noted was that there was a curved bridge of sorts over the opening that was made out of Precursor metal and had a light in the center of it, but that just so happened to be when he and Starlight found a red furred creature, which resembled a squirrel and not a mole, which was resting near what appeared to be a large Precursor structure, even though there was a massive one that seemed to be resting in the middle of the region and none of them were sure what the large one was supposed to be, before they noticed that the squirrel creature had dark eyes and two large front teeth that likely helped while they were digging underground. There were a few other structures that were of Precursor make, as in some tunnels that had a circular opening for them to fly through, a sectioned off area which had a white racing flag that had to indicate it was Dead Man's Gorge, and, based on some of the sounds they were hearing, it appeared that there were a few pistons moving, machines that pushed a section of itself out and back in, but for what purpose he and his sisters really had no idea, as even Keira and Samos were a little confounded by what the pistons were supposed to do, though Samos suspected that they were connected to the various stores of Eco that were scattered throughout their world and the vents they were linked to, meaning they might help distribute the types of Eco all over the world. Sure enough they found that there were a few wooden chests that the Lurkers must have dropped, containing a bit of Green Eco for them to collect or ignore, a number of metallic boxes, which had to have Precursor Orbs inside them due to what they had seen so far, and a few Dark Eco boxes, the type of container that Starlight would take great pleasure in blowing up with a blast every now and then, since it would allow Jak to focus on tracking down the various Power Cells and all of the Precursor Orbs that were inside the basin, not to mention any of the Scout Flies that had been sent here to find and recover a Power Cell.

Interestingly the blind Lightning Mole that was near the entrance of the basin seemed to sense them coming towards it, as Jak decided to see what needed to be done so he could move it towards the barrow, which appeared to be the holes in the ground that rested off to the left of where the first of the Lightning Moles happened to be resting, where Starlight thought about it and determined that it had to be due to their slightly larger ears and the fact that being blind must have given the species a boost to their other senses, as the one her brother was heading after seemed to hear the propellers that were attached to the zoomer and moved away from them accordingly. Based on what Starlight could see there had to be four Lightning Moles scattered throughout this section of the basin, two to the right of the first Precursor structure while the other two were to the left of the structure, which she pointed out to Jak and her brother nodded his head as he noticed all four of their targets, where he carefully followed after one of them by coming from the right side of the area, which had a ramp that would lead up to where the thin bridge was located, where he and Starlight noticed that his target shifted for a moment and moved away from them. That caused Jak to nod as he followed the mole at a slow pace and made sure that it scurried away whenever he approached the area it was standing in, before it came to a stop and seemed to shift its head in their direction, listening to the sounds that the zoomer made so it would know if it was safe or if it was still in danger of being attacked, though as they did that Daxter glanced at Starlight for a moment and motioned for a wall to be put up, as he was thinking about some of the magical mirror walls that she and Twilight had used in the past, which were similar to the barriers they used, but she shook her head to that, as summoning one of those, in front of a blind creature that had no of seeing it coming, would be fatal and rather dangerous, especially since the Geologist wanted them to save the couple of Lightning Moles, not harm them in the process of saving them from the Lurkers. That caused Daxter to huff as he focused on scanning the area and keeping an eye out for anything that Jak or Starlight might have missed while they targeted the boxes, chests, or the moles that were scattered around the Precursor Basin, even though he did spot a purple Lurker that had a pair of small leathery wings on its back, a pouch attached to a belt that it was wearing, which was odd since it wasn't wearing any pants, and it appeared to be sleeping at the moment, which changed when Jak got close with the zoomer, only it stared at them from afar once it came to a stop a few seconds later.

Instead of saying anything as he saw that, however, Daxter remained silent as Jak continued to move the Lightning Mole over to the hole that he had spotted and was currently pushing the blind creature to, with Starlight making sure to silently take out any Dark Eco boxes that were around them, mostly so she didn't scare the moles away and force Jak to change up his tactics once the moles had settled down, and it wasn't long before they actually made some progress as the creature he had been pushing through this section of the basin found the edge of the hole it had emerged from and jumped back into its home, removing one of them while leaving three more for Jak to deal with.

"Well, that's one down, though it might take some to make the other three do the same thing," Jak commented, as while he was getting the hang of how the zoomer operated, as it appeared that Keira and Twilight had made it with him in mind, the Lightning Moles seemed to be more like a test of his patience and were to show him that there were times where he might have to go slow, but even as he thought about that he knew that he was going to make sure the remaining three moles were returned to their home and were no longer in danger of being bothered by the Lurkers that had to be in this region, before he paused for a moment as he glanced back at Daxter and Starlight, "Have you guys noticed anything odd while I was following that mole around?"

"There is that purple Lurker over there, which I'm sure Keira or Twilight would call a Robber," Daxter replied, deciding that he might as well point out the potential threat to his friend, even though he was sure that Starlight had noticed it as well and had let him speak first, though for the most part the Robber Lurker hadn't moved since it came to a stop, meaning it was watching them while they were resting above the Lightning Mole's home and might be in the middle of trying to come up with an idea on what to do with the three of them, though since Lurkers weren't all that smart, save for being able to use all of the various machines their mysterious bosses built for them and their own various wooden contraptions, this wasn't bad for them, as it gave them the perfect opportunity to take it down, "besides, its carrying a pouch on its belt, so maybe it might have a Power Cell for us to grab, though they always travel in packs and I'm sure there's a few more in the other section of this Precursor junk filled place."

"Well, Daxter's not wrong, the Robber Lurkers always travel in packs of three to five, so we'll have to keep an eye out for the rest of its pack," Starlight added, her statement confirming Daxter's statement in a matter of seconds, though she was a little surprised that their friend even remembered that particular lesson, given his lack of attention towards most of the other lessons the siblings had been given over the years, which was part of the reason that Samos was displeased with him all the time and made sure that if there was some praise involved, like when they saved Misty Island's Dark Eco Silo from what all of the Lurkers were doing to it, that Daxter's fun was quickly cut short, before she focused on what she had to say before Jak flew off to another part of the Precursor Basin, "though from what I can tell there isn't a lot of Dark Eco boxes in this part of the region, but, at the same time, I suspect that there's more Dark Eco in the other part of the basin, where we might be able to find the Dark Eco plants that Samos wants us to deal with, so once we're done with helping out the Lightning Moles I would suggest continuing our exploration of the rest of the basin."

Jak took a moment to think about what his sister and Daxter had just said, as it was nice to know about the pack of Robber Lurkers that were scattered throughout the Precursor Basin, even if they had no idea how many were actually inside this region, and that they had a good idea as to where the Dark Eco plants might be resting, though from there he powered up the zoomer and headed over to the area that housed the start of the race course, as that was where a second Lightning Mole rested, not to mention that it showed them a few Precursor Orbs and a metallic box that rested inside the circular shaped tunnel that lead to the other area of the basin, something he would follow in due time. For now, however, he took some time to carefully follow his target as he redirected the Lightning Mole back towards the hole that the first one had jumped into after it reached its destination, once more leaving Daxter and Starlight to keep an eye out for enemies for any boxes that he needed to break so he could get the Precursor Orbs and Scout Flies that had to be scattered throughout this region, all while the mole he was chasing scurried away from him whenever he got close to it, just like what happened with the first one, and sure enough it eventually reached the hole and returned to the underground home that it and the rest of the moles had been forced out of earlier. Once he got the second Lightning Mole into the hole Jak headed over to the other side of this part of the region, as there were two entrances resting between this section of the region and the other section, so what he was doing was heading over to the second opening he and the others had spotted, where he found the other two Lightning Moles minding their own business in the grassy area, even if they were resting near a thin piece of earth that was connected to a Precursor pillar, though he had to carefully maneuver the zoomer around the pillar so he could chase the two moles back to the hole, even though they scattered and went in two different directions, forcing him to sigh for a moment, as he had been hopeful that he would have been able to get them at the same time, before taking some time to repeat the tactic he used against the other two Lightning Moles. Of course that gave Starlight some time to see what else was inside this section of the region so she could tell him whatever he might have missed, though after he got the third one into the hole he turned around and headed back to where the last mole was resting, where he carefully directed it through this part of the basin, which had next to no dangers since Starlight was wiping out the Dark Eco boxes that were in his way, and it jumped back into the hole as well, prompting Daxter to state that they should head back to the Geologist at some point to get the Power Cell she promised them for herding the Lightning Moles into their hole, though at the same time he seemed happier about something, almost like he was thinking about the Geologist's body, given who he was, or something else that neither Jak or Starlight knew about and decided not to ask about for now.

Once the Lightning Moles were taken care of, and they were sure of that due to Starlight's count, Jak headed over to where the first of the Robber Lurkers had been resting earlier, based on what Daxter told him, and found a Scout Fly box resting between it had been earlier and the the first Precursor structure of the basin, as in the first non bridge structure, and that was when Starlight collected the little robot when the box was smashed, though Jak focused on the Robber Lurker as she did that and chased after it, where it actually fled from them and caused him to fly after it as it seemed to fly around this structure in a perfect circle and then, when it reached its starting position, it curved to the left and did another circle over a small body of water that was in this area. It was rather interesting to see that the Robber Lurker did two movements like that, like it was creating the figure of an eight in the air or something, or at least it looked that way to Starlight as she took a moment to think about where they were and what was around them as her brother chased after his target, though due to the lack of creativity, since both she and Daxter would have forced a would be hero to follow them all over this area and not stay in the same place all the time, it didn't take Jak long to ram into the backside of the Robber Lurker and knock it out, leaving a bit of Green and Dark Eco behind, but no Power Cell, meaning that they would have to track down the rest of the pack and take them out as well to get their hands on what the Lurkers must have stolen. What was good about Jak following the Robber Lurker was that he was able to collect some more Precursor Orbs along the way, adding to what they had gathered so far, while at the same time Starlight informed him and Daxter of an odd purple oval that rested above the pillar Jak had flown around a few moments ago, one that had to be important in some manner, but suggested that they focus on the tasks that they knew about and then come back for it when there was nothing else to accomplish or collect, something that both Jak and Daxter actually agreed with. Fortunately Starlight had also spotted a second Robber Lurker as Jak chased the first one down, who happened to be resting below the arched walkway that was near the purple oval she had spotted a few moments ago, giving Jak a good idea as to where he needed to go, and sure enough the creature moved the moment he started to chase it, only it turned around a corner and headed up the ramp that was on this side of the section of the basin, leading Jak towards a pair of Dark Eco boxes, which Starlight quickly blew up with a small burst of her magic, and some metallic boxes, ones he smashed through to get the Orbs that were inside them.

As they followed the Robber Lurker over the upper portion of this section of the basin Jak and Starlight discovered a good number of Precursor Orbs for them to collect, be they above the path their target was following or in the air nearby, which would require a jump to get to, and some clusters of Dark Eco boxes, arranged in the square formation like what they had seen back in Fire Canyon, so Starlight loosed a few blasts and blew the containers up before Jak neared them, though as their target rounded another corner Jak smashed into a Scout Fly box, the second of the seven for this particular region, and also made sure to clear out the last of the metallic boxes, something that allowed him to freely chase his target and not have any obstacles to worry about. Sure enough it didn't take Jak too much time to get closer to the Robber Lurker and hit its backside, knocking it out like he did the first one, though it didn't have the Power Cell they were looking for, which he figured would be the case since it appeared that the last ones seemed to have what he and his sisters happened to be in the middle of looking for, as in the Scout Flies and now the Lurkers, but he wasn't about to let this discovery bother him all that much as he turned the zoomer and headed to another area to clear out, as in the pillar that the purple oval was in, as it was interesting and it might have something for them to collect. What they discovered when Jak approached the top of the pillar that the purple oval was resting above, which looked more like a ring now that they had a chance to study it, was that there was a Scout Fly box, the third based on Starlight's count, resting near it and Jak slowly drove into it without even activating the ring, to which he backed away as the little robot was freed and then launched them off the edge of the area to get a few more Precursor Orbs for the future, though when the zoomer landed he flew over to the area that contained the upper part of the ramp that allowed them to enter this area, before turning to the left so he could head over to the circular tunnel that lead into the other section of this region. As he did that Starlight found a metallic box that Jak smashed apart so the Orbs that were inside it could be recovered, along with a few Orbs that were just resting in the middle of the tunnel, before they noticed that the other half of the region seemed to be slightly larger than what they had seen so far and there was a raised section that seemed to be made out of Precursor structures, ones that seemed to form a pathway of some kind that would allow them to access part of the cliff that was opposite of where the opening was located, which did have a Scout Fly box on top of it and some Precursor Orbs lead the way to it, so that was what Jak did, he flew over all of the Orbs, smashed any metallic boxes that were in his way, and broke the next Scout Fly box, giving them four of them and left three for them to find.

Interestingly enough using the hole that was in the middle of the structure that Jak flew up, to get at the fourth Scout Fly box, he and Starlight found another box, housing another Scout Fly, on the ground below the opening, so Jak just moved into the opening and let the zoomer land on the box, smashing it and freeing the fifth little robot, before he turned around and found that there was a Robber Lurker in front of them, though beyond it rested a patch of sinister dark plants which had to be the Dark Eco plants they learned about earlier, meaning they had found what Samos wanted them to deal with at some point in the near future. What Jak did first was follow after the Robber Lurker that woke up and started to flee as it heard them coming towards where it had been resting, where it headed towards a little hill that Jak figured he could jump off of if he came from the tunnel he used to access this area, even though Starlight made sure to break apart every Dark Eco box that happened to be in their way, before their target headed up the ramp that lead up to the hole that was on top of the structure, before heading down into the hill and then, in an odd twist that they weren't expecting, flew forward so it could fly around the rest of the structure and then head back to where it rested. From there, as it turned out, it was a very simple task for Jak to follow after the Robber Lurker that he was chasing, since it followed the same pattern and didn't try to do something different to make him ram into a wall or something, once more showing him and the others the limited intelligence of the Lurkers, and due to that Starlight was able to watch as Jak rammed into the back of his target and, just like the other two he had taken out, knocked it down without delay, though it didn't have a Power Cell for them and that informed them that there had to be one more somewhere in this region, which they would find in due time. Once that was done Jak headed over to the small hill that they had spotted earlier and flew off of it rather quickly, allowing them to pick up all of the Orbs that were in the air and landed in the center of the Dark Eco plants, which just remained still and didn't explode or anything, like what the boxes did, so he flew over to where a Green Eco vent rested, one he was only just now noticing since he had been preoccupied by chasing the Robber Lurker, something that was followed by Jak empowering the zoomer with the power of Green Eco, figuring that if he could do it with Blue Eco, like what happened back during the trek through Fire Canyon, that he could do it with the other types of Eco.

What he and Starlight quickly discovered was that if he flew over some of the Dark Eco plants, while Green Eco coursed through the zoomer, he was able to purify the darkness that was inside every plant he flew over and actually caused them to sink back into the ground, meaning that whoever used the Dark Eco had caused the various plants to mature and grow out of the earth before they were supposed to, allowing him to return the plants to their former glory in the process, and he found that he only had the Green Eco for a few moments, so when it ran out he just flew back up to the vent and took in the power once more, allowing Starlight to watch as he purified the plants and drove the Dark Eco out of them, which eventually ended with there being no plants left, save for a lone flower that sprung up once the sinister ones had been taken care of, which spat out a Power Cell for them to take.

"I must say, you two, just like Twilight and Cozy, keep on impressing me!" Samos declared, where the Communicator came out for a moment as they noticed that there were no more Dark Eco plants for either of them to worry about, as Jak had beaten the sinister plants back and purified this area, but for the most part the group remained silent as Daxter nabbed the Power Cell that had been inside the lone flower and added it to the pack that everyone seemed to be storing things in, even if it seemed like Twilight had enchanted all of their packs so they'd be tied together, or at least that was his thoughts on the matter, before they focused on the Communicator and what Samos was saying, "But, when I think about it, maybe it's just because I've got low expectations... okay, your moment of gloating is over. Get on with your adventure!"

"You know, for once I'd like him to say that we 'impressed him' and let us enjoy it!" Daxter exclaimed, because he seemed to be the only one among the group who actually cared about getting a chance to gloat about Samos saying that he might be impressed by what he had seen them do, even though Jak and Starlight decided not to tell him that this was due to the fact that their friend did nothing except ride on Jak's shoulder and watch what he and his siblings did, so if he wanted a bit of praise he was going to have to put in the work to earn it, something he may never do since he was more inclined to be lazy, but it never stopped him from complaining every now and then about things.

"You know the rules, Daxter, put in the work and Samos might say that he's impressed by what you've done... without even saying that your moment is over." Starlight replied, to which Jak nodded his head for a moment, showing that he agreed with what his sister was saying right now, though for the most part they were pausing for a few seconds so they could just stare out at the rest of the Precursor Basin and take in what was around them, a curved path that lead to the cliff, a couple of pillars that looked like they could jump across, a Power Cell resting in the middle of the air, and a small body of water that was slightly larger than what they had seen in the first section of this region, "though with the Dark Eco plants taken care of, and the Lightning Moles being saved, I think we're near the end of everything that needs to be done before we can leave this place with no regrets."

Jak said nothing to that, as he agreed with what Starlight had to say, before he resumed moving through this section of the region they were exploring and headed towards the other opening that would take them back to the start of the basin, as he suspected that the last of the Robber Lurkers were over in that area, and as he flew over the water he gathered a few more Precursor Orbs that were added to their collection, before he, Starlight, and Daxter noticed the last of the Robber Lurkers resting off to the side, something that caused him to turn the zoomer in that direction and rush towards it, which was when his target woke up, made a noise that suggested it was surprised, and rushed off as it flew around the pillars in a circle formation and included the water as well. This time around the Robber Lurker was smarter than the ones that had come before it, as the curves and turns forced Jak to either slow down or make an odd turn to do the same thing, where Starlight made a note of what she was seeing at the moment and knew that Twilight would be interested in hearing about this when they regrouped in the pavilion, though while this happened Jak took a moment to smash a pair of metallic boxes that were off to the side, to lure the Robber Lurker into a false sense of security, and then chased it again, this time being able to ram into it before it had a chance to figure out what he had done, which resulted in the Power Cell they had been looking for falling to the ground so Starlight could pick it up as they flew up to it. Once that was done Jak headed over to the other tunnel that lead into this section of the region and collected a few more Precursor Orbs for his efforts, which was when he turned around as soon as that was done and headed back over to where the ramp near the Dark Eco plants had been resting, as he felt that it was now time for them to check out what was up on the path that was attached to the cliff, though the first thing he found were a few more Orbs that he and Starlight collected, before having to jump over a small gap between the structure they were flying above and the next one that was in the path. Fortunately Keira added a button that, when it was pressed, allowed the zoomer to basically 'kick' off the air that was below it to give the vehicle a boost and let it jump over gaps, a rather small boost when he activated it, but it was more than enough for Jak to get them over the gap and land on the next structure, as well as smash a metallic box that happened to be in the way, before flying up yet another ramp and leapt over to where the part of the path that was attached to the cliff was resting, which allowed them to collect some more Orbs along the way and find the sixth Scout Fly box, leaving one more for them to find and smash to get at the Power Cell that they had found.

From there Jak and Starlight found that the next thing that had to be done was go at a good speed and jump along the top of the three pillars that happened to be resting between them and the next part of the path Jak was following, where they found that Jak was able to make his way across the pillars, which allowed him to smash through some metallic boxes and a few wooden chests, before reaching the lowest part of the path, where he paused for a moment since he expected that to fail and have to redo it, even though that allowed them to find and smash the final Scout Fly box, granting them another Power Cell, and after Starlight collected it Jak raced off the part of the path he had come to a stop on, picked up a few Orbs along the way, and leapt into the air so Daxter could grab the Power Cell that was in the air.

"That's another one for the collection," Daxter commented, where he took a moment to slip the Power Cell into the pack it and all of the other ones had been stashed inside since this quest, or whatever the siblings were calling it since he liked the term 'quest' more, before he returned to Jak's left shoulder for a moment and thought about what they had done so far, even though he had no control over what the siblings did and was mostly just along for the ride, until they found Gol and got the Sage to reverse what happened to him, no matter how long it took them to convince the man to fix this mess and return him to his previous form, as he wasn't a fan of his Ottsel form and wanted out of it as soon as possible, especially since he was sure Twilight might want to study his new form and wanted to avoid that.

"Yeah, and I think I know where another one might be resting," Starlight spoke up, because she had been thinking about all of the Power Cells that they had been able to recover so far and had an idea as to where they might find another one, and it was clear that Jak seemed to have the same idea that she had since he flew off the water that the zoomer was resting above and headed for the first section of this region, as he was heading over to where they had found the purple ring so they could see what was up with it and figure out if it would give them a Power Cell, even though the last thing he wanted to check out was the race that was inside Dead Man's Gorge, to beat the challenge and give the Gambler a payday, which should earn them one more Power Cell in the process.

It didn't take Jak all that long to return to where the purple ring was resting and headed up the path that would bring them up to it, where he and Starlight nodded as he flew through it and landed on the ground near a smaller pool of water, but, at the same time, they discovered that another ring of the same color was resting in front of the second tunnel, which was the one that Jak had used to get to the ring faster, though that didn't stop him from flying through it and discovering that it also disappeared and a new one formed on the other side of the short tunnel, which told Starlight that this was either a race designed by the Precursors or it was a simple task of following whoever happened to be the leader, even though the ring was the 'leader' in this instance. Jak seemed to have the same idea as he followed the rings as they quickly lead him over the nearby hill, under the walkway that was attached to where the last Scout Fly box rested, and then did a weaving path through the pillars that were in this area, eventually bringing him back to the underside of the ringed structure that had a hole right in the middle of it, before it curved near the area that the Dark Eco plants had been in and headed over to the first tunnel that lead back to the start of this region, even though he was sure that Starlight was making a good note of every turn and twist he was forced to make as he followed the rings. After emerging from the tunnel Jak turned to the right and followed the rings as they lead him over the small bit of water that was over there, where it caused them to head over to the ramp that lead up to where the purple rings started and then sent them over the first bridge of the entire region, even though he had to jump off it at one point to pass through yet another ring, before he headed through the first tunnel once more and found that the next ring was actually on top of the structure that had the hole in the middle of its top, only it seemed to be positioned in a way that meant they weren't going into the hole. As such Jak followed it and passed right through the ring, only to find that it moved to an area that would require him to jump off the walkway that was in front of them, to which Starlight and Daxter braced themselves once more as Jak caused the zoomer to jump into the air and they passed through the purple ring, though that was followed by them discovering that no more rings showed up and it ended with a Power Cell bursting out of the final ring and landed on the ground near where they landed, so Starlight grabbed it as Jak moved to the side, even though her brother was smiling as he did that, as chasing the rings had been interesting and it was good practice for the race the Gambler wanted them to win, even though they now realized that they had next to no idea what time they were supposed to beat.

As they moved out of the area that the Power Cell had landed in, however, Starlight glanced around the rest of this section of the basin and discovered something they had missed, as there happened to be a blue ring resting near where the sixth Scout Fly box had been resting, up on the path that was attached to the cliff, where Jak nodded, as he knew what Starlight was thinking at the moment and agreed with it, to which he carefully headed back up the ramp and crossed over the thin curved path once more, including jumping over the couple of gaps, before coming to a stop in front of the blue ring, as it was time to see if it was the same as the purple one or if it was different. What they quickly discovered was that, after Jak flew right through the blue ring, the next one appeared near the pillars that were near the seventh Scout Fly box location and that, once he passed through it, another showed up in front of the opening that he used to come back to this section of the region, with the next couple rings being on the other side of the tunnel and around the arch that was below the thin walkway that was connected to the pillar the first purple ring had been resting above earlier, before he and Starlight were caught off guard a little by one of the next locations the blue colored rings appeared in. The next one happened to be right around the corner from where the arch was located, almost like they might be headed back to the second section of this region, but what actually happened was that the next one was in the air above the pool of water, as if one was supposed to head up to the location of the first purple ring and then jump for it, but Jak discovered that the look of this one was just to throw someone off, as all he had to do was fly at a large rock and use it as a jump pad to get up to where the blue ring rested, knocking it down in a matter of seconds. From there the next couple of rings actually lead them back down to the trans-pad and the area that would allow them to return to Rock Village, so Jak had to be a little careful as he flew down to where the rings were resting and followed each of his targets as they lead him right back up into the basin, before they headed through the first tunnel once more and discovered that the next ring was up in the air, using the small hill that was near the Dark Eco plants, the hill that they had used to get some Precursor Orbs earlier, and it didn't take Jak long to reach the ring and pass through it, where it was followed by another one that wrapped around the purified area and headed over to the structure with the hole in it, allowing him to fly through the underside once more.

From there he followed the rings as they caused him to fly over the body of water that was in this section of the region, an easy task for him at this point, before he had to weave through all of the rock pillars he had used to reach the area the last Scout Fly box had rested in, and then crossed over to the start of the ramp once more, where Starlight seemed curious as to where it was taking them this time, even though it caused them to follow the thin path, jump over a few gaps, and then reach the cliff path once more, only for them to jump off the cliff to reach the next one that was in the air, even though it caused a Power Cell to be spat out and Starlight claimed it without delay. With that done Jak headed back over to the start of this region and turned when he reached his destination, the area that the Gambler's race was resting in, where he and Starlight found that there was a small stopwatch resting nearby and there was a timer of some kind attached to one of the walls, showing them that Jak had to beat a record of forty-five seconds to earn them a Power Cell from the man, but it also told them that this was going to be incredibly short in the grand scheme of things, which was fine with them since this was the last thing they needed to do before leaving the basin at long last. Once Jak was ready he rushed forward and started following the path that was in front of him, where Starlight found that there were a number of moving pistons in this part of the basin, which Jak dodged by flying away from them, and a few Lurkers, targets that she blasted in addition to all of the Dark Eco clusters that happened to be in the way, meaning her brother would be able to focus on following the path as Daxter held onto the stopwatch that was keeping track of how long it took them to get from the start to the end, even if he suspected this would be a short race, given the record they had seen on the timer. There were also bits of Blue Eco that boosted their speed and allowed them to get up to a tunnel of sorts, even though Starlight could see that they were in the middle of navigating their way through the upper reaches of the Precursor Basin, as in they happened to be above all of the tunnels that were in this region, though eventually they had to drop down into a lower section and it allowed them to head forward, entering an area that looked like it would be near the Lightning Mole hole, though Jak wasted no time in getting around the Lurkers that were in front of them and reached what appeared to be the end of the path, where not a few seconds after passing through the flag Daxter paused the stopwatch and revealed that he had shaved eight seconds off the record, which meant they must have succeeded in completing the Gambler's request.

Once that was done Jak returned the zoomer to the trans-pad so he and Starlight could climb off of the vehicle, allowing them a few seconds to stretch their arms and legs since they hadn't moved since they got on it earlier, before heading into Rock Village once more, though instead of heading for the Gambler, to give him the good news about the race, they took a moment to stop by the Geologist's camp so they could give her the good news about the Lightning Moles and get the first Power Cell she had on her, as they would trade for her other one once Twilight and Cozy were done exploring the Lost Precursor City and claimed all the Orbs that were inside it, as that would allow them to trade for the Power Cells that the Warrior, Geologist, and Gambler had on them at the moment. The Geologist was, as they expected, overjoyed to hear that they had saved the four Lightning Moles that had been above ground in the Precursor Basin and made sure to take out all of the Lurkers that were in the area, just to make sure the moles were safer than they had been earlier, to which she took a moment to nod her head and pulled out one of the two Power Cells she had in her possession, even though them saving the moles meant she could get back to her research, even if she needed better equipment to do just that, which was a not so subtle clue for the siblings that the Geologist needed Precursor Orbs, though they wished her well for now, as both of them wanted to make sure Twilight and Cozy were fine before they did anything else. When they headed back into the pavilion Daxter tossed the stopwatch over to the Gambler and showed him that they had beaten the record that had been in Dead Man's Gorge, something that caused him to nearly jump for joy as he revealed that this was going to be a good payday for him and, true to his word, he handed over one of the two Power Cells he had on him, adding another one to their collection, before Jak and Starlight walked away from him and the Warrior so they could sit near the set of wooden platforms that lead to the Lost Precursor City, as this would give them a few moments of rest before their siblings came out and informed them of their success, so all they had to do was wait and see what Twilight and Cozy had done since all four of them had split up to take out two regions at the same time, and they were sure that Samos was likely pleased by whatever their sisters had done.

The moment they regrouped, however, both Jak and Starlight knew that they would head over to Boggy Swamp and take a look at what the Lurkers were up to, since Samos and the Blue Sage appeared to be worried about their motives, though it would take all four of them to deal with the dangers of the swamp, that much they knew without actually heading over to the region in question, and then, once that was done, they could deal with the monster that was attacking Rock Village and push on towards the Red Sage's domain, something that made the siblings smile for a moment as they waited for Twilight and Cozy to emerge from the city and rejoin them for what was coming their way in the near future.
> Precursor: Delving into the Lost City
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After splitting up from Jak and Starlight, who were taking Daxter with them as they explored the Precursor Basin, Twilight and Cozy stood at the edge of Rock Village's pavilion and took a moment to stare at the wooden pontoons that formed the path that would allow them to reach the uppermost portion of the Precursor City, though one thing both of them agreed on was the fact that it had to be underwater, as there was a single structure above the water and all it appeared to be was just an entrance, meaning they would have to get over there and figure out how they were going to descend into the depths, to face whatever foes were down there and recover everything that was inside it.

"You ready to head into the city and see what it has to throw at us?" Twilight asked, though at the same time she glanced at the water for a moment and noticed one of the large Lurker Sharks lurking in the depths, though due to the pontoons that were in front of her and her sister they didn't have to worry about one of the sharks rushing up to try and eat one of them, and even if there had been no pontoons in the first place she could form small walkways for them to use to get over to the Precursor structure that was in front of them, while Cozy could either blast the sharks or wait till one jumped out at them and just punch it, so neither of them were bothered by the fact that there were Lurker Sharks in the water.

"Yeah, I'm eager to collect some Power Cells, gather the Precursor Orbs that are down there, and take down any Lurkers we might find along the way," Cozy replied, because she knew that they would find those three things while they carefully explored the region that was waiting for them to access the structure, and that wasn't counting any Scout Flies that might be down there as well, since she was sure that Keira might have found a way to get the little robots down into the city so they could look for more Power Cells, before she braced herself for what they were about to do, especially since neither of them had any idea what the Lurker Sharks were going to do as they made their way over the pontoons.

Twilight nodded and then, at the same time, the two of them jumped off the edge of the pavilion's food area, as that was where they had been standing, and landed on the first of the pontoons, which was followed by them rushing over the rest of the pontoons and headed for the Precursor structure that was their current destination, which had a few Orbs resting in the air above the wood and was collected by the pair, though what they discovered was that none of the Lurker Sharks did anything towards them, so the sisters were allowed to reach the structure with ease and came to a stop after jumping into the opening that was in front of them. What they discovered was that there happened to be a platform resting right in the middle of the structure, one that was clearly attached to a circular pipe and was surrounded by water, so the pipe made it so that the water didn't flood the city, and Twilight noticed that there were three half circle shaped glass windows of some kind, but for the most part it didn't seem like the windows were all that important and she decided to ignore it for now, which Cozy agreed with as they jumped over to the platform and activated the button that was in the middle of it, only for it to sink into the tunnel and take them down into part of the ancient Precursor City. Interestingly enough the tunnel the platform was attached to happened to be a mix of glass and metal, allowing them to see that there was a decent sized city beneath the water, one that was hard for them to determine the size of from where the sisters were standing, before it came to a stop in what appeared to be a chamber, which was followed by the pair stepping off the platform and headed for the door that was in front of them, which actually opened when they approached it and didn't need Blue Eco, though on the other side the sisters found that there were a pair of heated pipes on either side of the tunnel that would allow the two of them to enter the main portion of the city, not to mention some electrified water that was beneath the walkway, a danger that they would have to be careful of in the near future. Fortunately they were able to reach the end of the short walkway and opened the door that was in front of them, which revealed a massive chamber that had some water near the bottom, which seemed to switch between being electrified or not, a few moving platforms, some heated pipes, and had an opening on the other side that would no doubt be the way forward, not to mention some enemies for them to take down, so what the sisters did was jump onto some of the platforms and used them to access the parts of this chamber, just like a lone platform that had a few Orbs and a wooden chest.

At the end of that walkway, however, Twilight and Cozy found another platform that allowed them to head down to the depths of this chamber, where they found a platform that had a large button on it, though off to the side rested another platform that had a Lurker walking around one of the Scout Fly boxes, though while it looked like it had some armor on its body, to protect it from harm, the sisters discovered that there were two purple Lurkers, one being the lower half and the other being the upper half, making it a Double Lurker, based on what the pair was seeing right now, and it reminded them of what they had seen back on Geyser Rock, as in the training dummies Samos had prepared for them. What happened next was that the pair jumped over to where their new foe was waiting and lashed out at the enemy pair, where Twilight used a small amount of magic to blast the pair and separated them, so Cozy could spin around and kick one in the side of the head as Twilight punched the other one, which opened the way for them to smash open the Scout Fly box and free the little robot in the process, before Cozy jumped back over to where the button rested and smashed it into the floor, which caused them to wonder what was going to happen next. A number of platforms emerged from the water, square shaped ones to be exact, which formed a path around the edge of the chamber and seemed to stop at an opening that another button was resting in, not to mention a Precursor Cache, to which Twilight had her sister wait as she jumped over to the path and followed it towards the end, where she collected the Precursor Orbs that were along the way and found a bit of Blue Eco along the way, something that she grabbed and made her way to the end, opening the Cache in seconds and let her pick up some more Orbs to add to their collection. The moment she did that, and she was sure there was nothing else for her to worry about, she reactivated the platforms and headed back to where Cozy happened to be standing, which was when they used the lone platform to get back up to the highest point of the chamber, even though they jumped over to an area that a new type of foe was waiting in, a purple skinned Lurker that looked like a puffer fish, making it a Puffer Lurker that could inflate and deflate whenever it wanted to, even though it had its limits like everything else, so all the sisters had to do was cause it to follow them and then deflate after a time, allowing Cozy to uppercut the Puffer Lurker and quickly take it down, allowing Twilight to collect all of the Orbs that were near them, before she and Cozy regrouped at the pair of platforms that would let them reach the opening and head deeper into the city.

What they discovered was that the opening had another short tunnel for them to cross over, one that happened to have a hole in the middle of it, but what they did was used the roll jump to cross over the gap and grabbed the Orbs that were in the way, allowing them to reach a small chamber that had one of the Double Lurkers in the depths of it, even though it wasn't as large as the previous one, in fact it was just as tall as the part of the structure that served as the opening, so all they had to do was drop down into the area their foe was standing in, separate them into two Lurkers, and then knock out their targets in seconds. Once that was done they returned to where the tunnel was located and found that there were a pair of floating platforms in front of them, made out of blue metal, or maybe that color came from the lights or whatever was inside the contraptions, where Cozy stepped on one of them and they found out something interesting, the other one started to rotate around it in a circular manner, allowing her to move the second platform into position between her and the area that the second Scout Fly box was resting in so she could jump to it easily, before using it to get the trio of Orbs that were near a wall, which was followed by her heading over to the next tunnel and jumped off the platforms. After a few moments the platforms returned to where they had started, meaning that if someone didn't use this type of platform for a time, after moving them from where they started, they would return to their starting point in due time, something that Twilight wrote down before crossing over to where Cozy was standing, even though her sister punched a Lurker right in the face and knocked it down into the area the Double Lurkers had been wandering around. Once the sisters were back together they faced the heated pipes that were in front of them and jumped over all three of them, while at the same time picking up the couple of Orbs that were in their way, before opening the door that was at the end of the tunnel and found a massive chamber that had a number of pipes that were attached to something on the chamber's left side, which just so happened to be where three machines, one being red colored, the next being green, and the third being blue, rested and two of them had Scout Flies inside them for some odd reason, while the last one had a Power Cell inside it, though it was in that moment when they noticed that the pipes lead to three different sections of the chamber, and there were a couple of machines or structures that the Precursors had made in this chamber, including a pair of platforms for them to use, so it would take them some time to clear out this area and move into the next area, wherever it was resting.

From where Twilight and Cozy were standing they could see that there were a number of Precursor Orbs scattered all over the chamber and another Cache off to the right of where the opening they were standing in front of was located, were one of the Puffer Lurkers happened to be flying around the air above it, though after taking all of that in the sisters moved out to tackle the enemies that were in this area and gather everything that was inside this chamber, even though they started with Cozy using the platforms to get to the middle of the chamber and then jumping off so it would reset and let Twilight do the same thing she had done, even if she stopped at where the three containers were resting. Once the sisters were on the platform that the three buttons were resting on, and had a chance to look at them in greater detail, Cozy smashed the green one without delay and they watched as the Scout Fly that was inside the container was consumed by a bit of power, no doubt a Precursor teleportation device based on what Twilight had seen so far, and it moved the Scout Fly over to the pillar that was in the middle of the chamber, though that didn't stop her from using the rotating pads to get over to where the Scout Fly had ended up and collected the third one of this region. The interesting thing that Twilight noticed was that when Cozy activated the button for the green machine the buttons for the red and blue ones sank into the floor so they couldn't activate them at the same time, though now that Cozy had the Scout Fly she noticed that the green button was stuck in the floor, meaning it was likely locked into place and wouldn't be able to be pulled out until something, like one of the Orbs for example, replaced the Scout Fly, though once that was done Cozy returned to where she was standing and, just to make sure everything worked as intended, Twilight activated the blue button, which moved another Scout Fly over to a platform that was literally a jump away from where she was standing, if she used her magical steps to get over to the area it was now resting in. Once the blue button was taken care of, and Twilight had returned to where the red one was resting, Cozy pressed it and the sisters watched as the Power Cell moved through a pipe that deposited it at the end of a path that just so happened to include some platforms that moved in and out of the wall, meaning one of them would have to time their movements correctly if they wanted to get to the end of the path and claim the Power Cell that had just been freed from the container it had been locked inside, to which Cozy nodded her head and walked over to the edge of their platform, to ready herself for the course that was between her and the Power Cell.

Once the moving platforms started to shift Cozy carefully moved forward and jumped onto the structures, which she and Twilight found out were rectangular shaped interestingly enough, though it quickly brought her to a another platform that was attached to the wall and didn't move, which just so happened to be where she found the fifth Scout Fly and freed it from the box it was trapped inside, before carefully jumping up the rest of the platforms as they lead her towards where the Power Cell rested, which turned out to be rather easy for her to do thanks to the fact that she was able to time all of her jumps and overcame the obstacles, earning her another Power Cell for her efforts. As soon as that was done, and the Power Cell was put into her pack so it could be put with the rest they had recovered so far, Cozy jumped down the couple of rectangular platforms and returned to where Twilight was standing, who was in the middle of jotting down everything that was inside this chamber, before they used the pair of rotating platforms to get over to where some Blue Eco rested and started to gather up all of the Precursor Orbs that were scattered throughout the chamber, and that included heading over to the area that the Cache was located in, even though that would require them to beat up the Puffer Lurker that was guarding it. Of course it took Twilight and Cozy a few moments to wait for the Puffer Lurker to deflate so its defenses were down, even though one of them could just blast it and knock it out in the process, but this way their fighting skills didn't rust and would make Jak happy, as he was of the opinion that they should focus equally on both melee combat and on mastering their magic, though once this foe was taken care of Cozy jumped down into the lower walkway once more and collected some bits of Blue Eco, where she quickly made her way back up to where Twilight was standing and used the Eco she was channeling through her body to open the Cache that was in front of them. That, of course, gave them more Orbs to add to their collection and, at the same time, Twilight made sure to smash the nearby Scout Fly box, giving them six of the seven that they were looking for, which made them wonder if the city was much smaller than they and the Blue Sage originally thought it would be, though as soon as that was done, and the sisters were sure that there was nothing left for them to worry about, they headed back over to the entrance of this chamber and jumped down onto a walkway that had a short tunnel that would allow them to move deeper into the city.

Of course the sisters stopped for a moment when they noticed that the next chamber they would be passing through was small, sort of like the one that they had passed through to get to the massive one that both of them were now leaving, and it was full of Dark Eco, meaning this had to be a vat for a Dark Eco Silo or something, which wasn't good if it was true since there were Lurkers inside the lost city, but for now what they focused on were the circular rotating platforms that rested between them and the opening that would allow them to head deeper into the city, and resting above the central platform was a Power Cell for them to collect at some point. The only thing the sisters had to be worried about was that the outer platforms, that moved around in a ring formation around the central one, had a pattern that involved some shifting like they were dropping whatever was on top of them into the Dark Eco that was below them, so what the sisters did was have Cozy move forward while Twilight stood back, mostly since the latter had more magical power and could catch Cozy if she accidentally fell towards the Dark Eco, as there was no telling what would happen to her or her sisters, and she collected the couple of Orbs that were above the ring platforms, just to make sure they were out of the way. As soon as she picked up the last of the Precursor Orbs that were inside this chamber, and she was sure that nothing had been left behind, she jumped over to where the Power Cell was resting, grabbed it without delay, and then made her way over to the opening that would allow them to get deeper into the city and see what else it had to throw at them, which was when Twilight did the same thing and jumped over the platforms to reach the area that her sister was standing in, allowing them to store all of the Orbs and the new Power Cell inside a pack before turning towards the chamber that was in front of them, where it was easy for them to find three blue skinned Lurkers that were wearing what appeared to be an odd contraption around their bodies that happened to have spikes attached to them, and they were in the middle of spinning around the chamber and seemed to be getting dizzy in the process, so Twilight decided to call them Spinning Lurkers and took a moment to think about how they were going to take these foes down. The answer, as it turned out, was to jump into the air above one of their foes and then perform the dive attack on top of their target, allowing them to bypass the ring the Spinning Lurkers were wearing and take them down with ease, though at the same time Twilight found that blasting one of them worked as well as using the dive attack, but once all three of the Spinning Lurkers were taken care of, and the Orbs that were in this chamber had been collected, the sisters paused near a small pool of water in the middle of the chamber and found that there were two paths for them to take, one leading right to what appeared to be a dead end while the other seemed to go even deeper into the city.

"So, we can either head deeper into the city, or head to what seems to be a dead end and hope it has a Power Cell for us to add to the collection." Cozy commented, though even as she said that she knew exactly where they were going first, as Twilight seemed to be staring at the chamber that was to the right of the one that held all the Dark Eco, where they could see a bunch of ancient Precursor boxes floating on top of what they guessed was water, which was due to the fact that neither of them could actually see any water from where they were currently standing, before she chuckled for a moment as she took a step forward, "Shall we see what's in this chamber?"

Twilight nodded her head as they walked over to the tunnel that they were picking out, as it happened to be the one that lead to the chamber that held all of the odd boxes, though instead of swimming through the water that was between this side of the tunnel and the other side she just formed some platforms for her and Cozy to jump across, allowing them to see that there were some little machines in the water that seemed to swirl the water into small whirlpools, which both of them knew would have stalled them in some manner if they had swam through the pool in question, before they stepped off the platforms Twilight created and stopped as they took a look at the chamber they had picked out. The first thing they found was that there was a moving platform between where they were standing and the main part of this chamber, which had a heated pipe serving as the heart of the area it was supposed to move through and happened to have a few Orbs for them to collect, though below the platform rested a rectangular shaped pool of Dark Eco, another one that looked more like a vat and it made them wonder where the Dark Eco Silo was located, but what they did was just jump onto the metallic platform and headed across it, making sure to jump to the other side when it moved in that direction and proceeded to pick up the Orbs that were above the pipe. There was also a Puffer Lurker coming towards the area that they were in, like it was going to knock them off the platform and drop them into the Dark Eco pool that was below them, but instead of that happening Cozy loosed a small burst of magic into the air and stunned her target in the air, where she kicked it in the side of its head and knocked it into the ground, allowing Twilight to catch up to her as she stared out at the area that was right in front of them, where they found that the number of boxes, of which there were thirteen, happened to be resting in an electrified pool of water, and that there was a locked door on the other side of the chamber. Twilight paused for a second or two as she studied what was in front of them, as it looked like the boxes had sections that were below the water, why she had no idea since no one understood the Precursors and most of their structures, though that was when Cozy jumped over to one and it started to glow blue when she landed on it, along with a musical note of some kind being played for a second or two, but that inspired Twilight and she jumped over to another box, repeating what her sister had done, before they nodded to each other and started moving over the remaining boxes.

A few moments later, when the sisters came to a stop on the last one, which was right in front of the locked door, Twilight and Cozy watched as the door unlocked and revealed a small chamber that happened to have a Power Cell inside it, along with a small walkway for one of them to jump down onto and enter the area in question, to which Twilight jumped down onto the provided platform and walked into the room, where she claimed the Power Cell and returned to where her sister was standing, something that was followed by them heading back towards the area the three Spinning Lurkers had been in so they could move deeper into the city. Once they returned to the chamber that was just beyond the small Dark Eco vat that had contained a Power Cell a few moments ago, the sisters turned towards the next tunnel and stared at the chamber it would bring them to, another one that was one of the larger types, and there happened to be a small platform right in the middle of the tunnel, so Twilight formed a few steps for them to use to get to the platform and then a few more to get over to the next chamber they would be exploring, where it was easy for the sisters to find one of the Double Lurkers just walking around and didn't seem to notice them at first. What they discovered was that there was a large button nearby, a few platforms resting below some electrified water that would no doubt rise when the button was activated, a locked door that was on the same level as the walkway that the platforms lead to, and a glass tunnel that happened to be on the right and seemed to lead deeper than they already were, though there was a Power Cell in this area for them to collect and they intended on picking it up before heading down the glass tunnel, though that was when the Double Lurker noticed the two of them and rushed over to where they were standing, where Twilight sighed as she blasted it to separate them, leading to Cozy punching the first in the face and kicking the second into the ground. With those enemies taken care of, and both of them were sure that there were no more foes for them to worry about, Cozy activated the button and pushed the three platforms that happened to be resting in the water up to their level, forming a path up to where the Power Cell rested, and Twilight was the one who did that, as she jumped up each of them to reach the area the artifact was resting in, where she found that it was on a rather short timer and that she barely made it up to the end, allowing her to walk over to the Power Cell and claim it, before pressing another button which rested near her and revealed the three platforms once more, as it allowed her to get down to where her sister was waiting and they turned towards the glass tunnel without delay, because it was time to check out the area it would bring them to.

What they quickly discovered was that the tunnel was almost entirely surrounded by glass and that they couldn't simply walk down the tunnel, rather Twilight and Cozy were forced to slide down the tunnel with their hooves resting against the floor, where they had to twist and turn to direct themselves and made sure to avoid all of the heated pipes that happened to be sticking out of the floor and went back down in another section, while making sure to collect the various Precursor Orbs that were in their way, but one interesting thing they discovered was that there were a few Dark Eco boxes that had to be blown up, which the sisters took turns doing, and that their slides allowed them to break any and metallic boxes that might be in their way, before coming to a stop in yet another decent sized chamber.

"Interesting, this chamber has a room or pod that looks like it might be able to be dislodged," Twilight commented, as she was looking at the capsule sized object that was in front of them, which looked like it was as big as Samos' hut or the Blue Sage's hut, though there were a number of interesting pillars, about the size of her and Cozy, or maybe just a little smaller, that had four spikes that seemed to be holding a blue orb between them, but before she could focus on figuring out what sort of purpose the orbs served she noticed a Blue Eco vent off to the side and put two and two together, that they had to use Blue Eco to power the Power Spheres, or whatever the Precursors called them when they made this place, though she also noticed a few Spinning Lurkers resting inside this chamber.

"Yeah, but we have some enemies to take out first," Cozy responded, because she was more interested in taking out every enemy that was resting inside this chamber, even if the Spinning Lurkers would be more of a nuisance than a threat to the two of them, and had next to no interest in figuring out if this pod could be disconnected or not, even though she felt that they might find a Power Cell for their efforts, if they succeeded in causing the pod to leave this part of the city anyway, but for now she noticed one of the Spinning Lurkers coming their way and jumped into the air to avoid its attack, only to use the dive attack and smash it into the ground.

Twilight nodded and they separated from each other for a moment, where the sisters spread out and focused on fighting their enemies first, since she agreed that taking out the Lurkers would provide both of them with some peace and quiet so she could work on figuring everything in this chamber out, though what they discovered was that three of the Spinning Lurkers were down on the level that the opening of the pod was in, even if said opening happened to be locked, and that using the dive attack allowed both of them to take out their targets in a matter of seconds, even though Twilight loosed a blast through the air and blasted another Spinning Lurker that was wandering around the top of the ring that was near the top of the pod. With the four enemies taken care of the next thing they did was take a moment to walk around the decent sized chamber and picked up the couple of Precursor Orbs that were scattered around it, even though Cozy noticed that Twilight had paused for a few seconds and was staring at the other opening that would allow them to get even deeper into the city, which was more like a lab or storage area in Twilight's mind, and they found that there was yet another chamber on the other side of the tunnel she was looking at, one that seemed to be a steam filled area to some degree, which she was interested in exploring in the very near future. Once she did that, and took her first glance notes on the matter, both she and Cozy regrouped near the Blue Eco vents and gathered some power into their bodies, allowing them to channel it into the five blue Precursor Sphere devices that were scattered around the chamber, two being on platforms that were on a level between the floor and the ring, two resting on the ring, and the last one rested in front of the pod's opening, which just happened to be the first one both of them approached before splitting, though once all five Precursor Spheres were powered the pod's door opened and they discovered a button that was in the middle of it. A few moments later Twilight and Cozy climbed into the pod, mostly so both of them could see whatever area of the city it brought them to, or maybe it would take them outside the underwater city, and hit the button that was in the middle of the structure, which caused the door to close not even a few seconds later and the sisters felt the pod shift as it moved out of the chamber it had been in, like it was heading to the surface or something, to which they braced themselves as they waited for it to come to a stop so they could see where in the world it had brought them.

When the pod came to a stop a few moments later both Twilight and Cozy remained still for a few seconds, just to be sure it wasn't going to move again, before the door opened and revealed that they were above water again, as they could see the pavilion that the Warrior and the Gambler were resting in, waiting for someone to come and trade for the Power Cells that were in their possession, and to their right rested some rocks that formed a few stepping stones, which seemed to reach the top of the pod, but before they did anything the Communicator, or their version of the device, emerged from a pack and floated around them for a few moments.

"I'm impressed guys, you managed to raise a piece of the underwater ruins to the surface!" Keira said, confirming that she must have been watching the city for signs of them doing something, to either confirm or deny the Blue Sage's thoughts on if a section of the city, or ruins as Keira called it and Twilight was thinking of running with at this point, and that she was excited by what she had seen them do, though at the same time it seemed like she was either using the Communicator to see where they were or happened to be using the telescope in the hunt to focus on them, "It seems that we can use Eco in ways that we've never seen before or even dreamed of... oh, and before I forget, a Power Cell surfaced with the pod and its currently resting on top of the structure, so one of you should climb up there and claim it, before heading back into the ruins to complete your search of the area."

Twilight and Cozy said nothing to that as they headed outside and Twilight used her platforms so they didn't have to get in the water, mostly because she didn't want a Lurker Shark coming after them, before they climbed the rocks and gathered a couple Precursor Orbs that were in their way, before Cozy jumped onto the top of the pod and grabbed the Power Cell, which must have been resting in the air above the pod when they were back in the ruins, though once that was done the sisters returned to the pod's interior and quickly pressed the button once more, where the door closed and the pod sunk into the water once more, returning them to the chamber that they had been in previously, which gave them a quick way out once they were done exploring the ruins. Once they were back inside the ruins the sisters headed over to the second tunnel and found that it, of course, had electrified water that Twilight just negated by forming a few platforms for her and Cozy to jump across, allowing them to reach the chamber that was on the other side of the tunnel, before they found a few steam pipes that seemed to be coming out into this chamber and that they had some lids on top of them, which would let them ride the lids up to where the seventh and final Scout Fly box rested, which was what Cozy did as Twilight noticed that there was another glass tunnel in this area, which had to lead to the deepest point of the ruins, the Dark Eco Silo based on all of the vats they had seen so far, but she waited for Cozy to smash open the box and free the last of the Scout Flies, as it gave them another Power Cell to add to the collection. Not even a few moments later the sisters gathered in front of the glass tunnel's opening and started to slide down it like they had done earlier, when they found the first one, where both of them made sure to pick up the Precursor Orbs that were in their way, jump over the heated pipes that were resting in the middle of the passage, smash through some metallic boxes for the Orbs that were inside it, and also made sure to break all of the wooden chests that happened to be in the way, as while they didn't need the healing energies of the Green Eco it was a good idea to take the bits with them, before eventually reaching what appeared to be the end of the line once more, only this time they paused as they stared at the massive pool of Dark Eco that was resting in front of them. As it turned out the glass tunnel ended in a ledge the overlooked the silo, one that happened to have a button of some kind in the middle of it, though there was a Power Cell above it and that meant they would case the Eco to rise after claiming the Power Cell in question, which both of them knew was incredibly dangerous, but there was a curved path that seemed to lead all the way to the top of the silo, so they didn't have to worry about there not being an exit.

"The things we'll do for Power Cells..." Cozy commented, mostly because she and her siblings seemed to do a number of tasks and challenges to gather all of the necessary Power Cells that they needed to move further north, and some of them could be seen as foolish or downright insane in some cases, where this one was definitely one of the more dangerous and insane instances, because if one of them fell into the Dark Eco there was no telling what all of it would do to the sister who had such an unfortunate thing happen, especially since they knew what happened to Daxter and had no idea what would happen to someone like them or Starlight, since all three of them were different from the other Humans of this world, but even as she said that she braced herself for what was coming next.

In the following moments the sisters jumped over the gap and landed on the device that the Power Cell was resting above, where neither of them stopped as Twilight claimed the artifact and they jumped over to a Blue Eco vent that empowered them once more, something that was followed by both of them using a jump pad to launch themselves into the air so they could reach the curved path, though once they landed on what appeared to be the path's starting point the sisters started moving forward without delay and made sure to gather the Precursor Orbs that were in front of them, as they knew that there would be no coming back to this area once they reached the top. Of course that was when they head the sound of something happening below them, where Twilight took a second to notice that a large door had dropped and was blocking the opening that was connected to the glass tunnel, meaning that the Precursors had made sure that the Dark Eco of this silo wouldn't spill out into the rest of the ruins, which was when she noticed the Dark Eco rising from where they had seen it when they first entered this chamber and it was heading towards the area that she and Cozy were in, hence why both of them continued moving along the curved path. The weirdest thing about the path they were following wasn't the couple of gaps that both of them had to jump over, something that could slow them down a little, was the fact that there happened to be a few Lurkers wandering around parts of the pathways that would take them to the top of the chamber, or to a point anyway, and it was odd that none of them had fallen onto the device that the Power Cell had been resting above before the pair had arrived, but neither Twilight or Cozy stopped as one of them blasted the Lurkers that were in front of them so their progress wasn't stopped, even though they did have to contend with a few platforms that happened to be moving out of the walls and back into them a few moments later, which they easily overcame. At the end of the first section of the curved path they found another Blue Eco vent and another jump pad, to which the sisters quickly empowered their bodies and used the pad to jump up to the next section, basically repeating what they had done a few moments ago, where they found out something interesting as they ran and jumped along the path, the Dark Eco was rising at an alarming rate and it worried both of them a tad bit, but once both of them reached what appeared to be the top of the second section of the curved path, due to the Blue Eco vent resting at the end, a large jump pad lowered into place right in the middle of this chamber and the sisters wasted no time in empowering themselves and then launched themselves into the air, where it took them no time to reach a small chamber and land around the opening both of them had been launched through, an opening that locked itself in the closed position once they were both through it, meaning neither of them would have to worry about the Dark Eco catching them.

What they discovered was that there was one more Power Cell resting near a closed door, one that revealed that the small chamber was near the first glass tunnel and the chamber the moving pod was in, so they claimed it and slide back down to where the pod rested, something that allowed Twilight and Cozy to return to the surface and use Twilight's platforms to cross over to where the wooden pontoons rested, which was followed by them heading back to the pavilion and quickly found that Jak, Starlight, and Daxter were waiting for them in the eating area, meaning they must have finished clearing the Precursor Basin of everything that had been inside it.

"It seems like you two had some good luck down there," Jak said, as he could tell that Twilight and Cozy must have done well during their trek through the Precursor City, given that neither of them looked like they had been hurt since the last time they had seen each other, and Starlight felt the same way, but at the same time all of them knew that there was one more region of this village that they needed to check out before bothering to visit the levitation machine the Blue Sage had built, though one thing he did notice was that both of his sisters had to huff for a moment, making him wonder if he might be wrong in his thoughts, "unless I'm wrong and you guys ran into trouble."

"No, we did fine... just had to run out of a Dark Eco Silo, that's all." Cozy remarked, though instead of letting either of their siblings ask what in the world she was talking about, since Samos had told them nothing about a silo being located inside the city they had come out of, both she and Twilight were more interested in heading over to the Warrior and making sure he restored the bridge to its former glory, as it was a requirement for them at this point, and once they dealt with Boggy Swamp they would come back and trade some Orbs for the remaining Power Cells that the Gambler and Geologist had, and maybe the Oracle as well.

Instead of saying anything else the siblings headed over to where the Warrior rested and traded him the ninety Orbs that he wanted, which was followed by him releasing the rest of the pontoons to restore order to the bridge, even though they headed down to the path in question and jumped over the newly restored sections of wood, allowing them to claim what had to be the last Orbs of Rock Village and, more importantly, smash the final Scout Fly box of the village, earning them yet one more Power Cell for their efforts, though once that was done, and all four of them were sure there was nothing else for them to do right now, they turned towards the entrance of Boggy Swamp and headed inside, as it was time for them to deal with the Lurkers in this region and then deal with the monster once this place was cleared out.
> Precursor: Danger in the Swamp
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first thing Jak and his sisters discovered as they entered Boggy Swamp was the fact that the entrance was a circle and that it didn't matter which side of it they took since both ended in the same area, so all four of them just walked around the left side and bypassed the pillar that was in the way, allowing them to focus on whatever was inside the swamp, in addition to the Lurkers that they had been told about and the various contraptions that were being used to haul up a Precursor artifact from the mud, something they were going to stop since it was the right thing to do, especially since the Blue Sage had a feeling it would happen and Samos agreed with his fellow Sage's notes on the matter. After that they discovered a tall rock that happened to be in the middle of the first area of the region that they were going to be tackling, one that had a few wooden chests on it, had some wooden walkways attached to it, and what appeared to be a cave of some kind to the right of the pillar, even though there were a few Precursor Orbs resting on top of the rock, though that was followed by the entire group, including Daxter for that matter, spotting a small red-orange furred rat creature which happened to be over to the left of the rock. The interesting thing about the rat was that it seemed to resemble a Lurker, in terms of the lower part of its jaw and a collar that looked a lot like what nearly every type of Lurker wore, meaning it was either a Swamp Rat or a Lurker Rat, though it was also incredibly weak, more so than the rest of the various enemies they had faced so far, as when it rushed over to bite one of them Jak just kicked it in the side of its head and knocked it into the mud, which he and his sisters had to walk through for the most part, which none of them were happy with and knew that once they were done in this region they could return to Rock Village and clean their hooves and shoes in the water. After that Cozy approached some of the wooden chests that were done on their level and smashed them open, where they found a pair of yellow Eco clusters in both of them, something Twilight knew to be Yellow Eco based on everything they had seen so far, to which Jak grabbed one of the clusters and empowered himself for a time, allowing him to fire yellow bursts of power, fireballs to be exact, which had enough power to break apart the metallic boxes that were in front of them, freeing a number of Precursor Orbs for the siblings to collect, even though it also put a smile on Jak's face as they watched what the Yellow Eco did.

"Oh yeah, I could get used to using Yellow Eco," Jak commented, as it was mostly in the sense that it allowed him to be on a level that matched what his sisters could do when they fought enemies, due to all three of them being capable of using a bit of magic to blast foes backwards or take them out in a matter of seconds, even though the same thing was that he did need a bit of Yellow Eco to be on Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy's level, though he did make sure to break all six boxes that rested in front of the log that seemed to be the path forward, even if one of his fireballs locked onto a Lurker Rat that was off to his right and blasted it into the rock wall.

"I had no idea Yellow Eco would let you launch fireballs like that," Daxter added, even though the sisters weren't surprised by that statement, as he had the least amount of knowledge in regards to the types of Eco that existed in their world, due to the fact that he almost never paid attention to Samos' lessons on the manner, and their friend wondered why Samos was so annoyed with him, even if there was more to the matter than just sleeping through his lessons or ignoring them altogether, but for the most part the sisters decided to say nothing to his comment and let him imagine what he could do with this type of Eco, when he got his previous form back anyway.

What the siblings did after Jak blew up the couple of metallic boxes that were in front of the log, which happened to have a bunch of thorns and vines wrapped around it, to make sure they stayed on the log and didn't stray from the path, was use the nearby pole that was attached to the side of the rock pillar and spun around it for a few seconds, as when one of them latched onto one of the poles they could swing forward and eventually whoever did it found themselves spinning, which allowed them to use the momentum to propel themselves through the air and get higher than they normally could, as it let Cozy get up on top of the rock pillar. There she found a few Precursor Orbs to collect and a few more wooden chests to break apart, even if the chests only had clusters of Yellow Eco inside them, to which she jumped down to where the rest of her siblings were waiting for her and they focused on the path that would allow the four of them to get deeper into the swamp, which just so happened to have a Scout Fly box along the way, so what happened next was that Jak jumped from where they were standing and used a rock to get onto the log, before smashing the box apart to free the little robot that was trapped inside it. From there they discovered an area that had a wooden path for them to walk on, as it was above a bunch of darker looking mud, making all of them wonder if there was some Dark Eco lurking below the surface or if it was just deeper than what they were expecting it to be, though another thing they discovered was a mass of red skinned bats that were flying around part of the other side of the area they were in, Swamp Bats since they didn't look anything like the Lurker Rats they had seen so far, and, of course, Twilight and Cozy noticed some Dark Eco boxes that needed to be wiped out at some point, just to make heading through this area easier for them. The more interesting thing was that there was a Blue Eco vat on the other side of the area they were in and it was resting near a jump pad, making them wonder where it might take them, though before moving forward Jak empowered himself with a bit of Yellow Eco, as a cluster had been in front of where he and his sisters had been standing and he started to loose fireballs into the air as he targeted the Swamp Bats, which was when he used his goggles to make sure all of his shots hit something, and that included hitting a lone foe that had been standing on the wooden walkway, which happened to be a Lurker Rat who was taken down in a single hit, and once all of their foes had been taken care of the siblings started to move once more.

As they headed over to the Blue Eco vent Starlight made sure to pick up the couple of Precursor Orbs that were off to the side of the walkway, adding to their collection once more, before the four of them accessed the vent and empowered their bodies with the Blue Eco, something that allowed them to use the jump pad as they launched themselves through the air and headed over to the area it seemed to be connected to, which was over a wall and over a bunch of thorns, before they dropped into a side area that had a pair of Lurker Rats, a Scout Fly box, and another vent with a jump pad, so Twilight and Cozy knocked the rats out with a quick kick to the side of their heads and Jak freed the little robot, something that caused them to jump back to the main path not even a few seconds later.

From there they found a few spike walls, which were sharpened bits of wood with the tips looking like spikes, that were in the process of bursting out of the ground and formed a barrier that was supposed to keep them from moving forward, or at least that seemed to be the case, but there were three sections of spike walls and they moved up in a pattern and they also sunk back into the ground after a point, so all the sibling had to do was wait for one section to sink into the ground and then jumped over the spikes, allowing them to press onward once more, even though they paused for a moment as they noticed a small earthen hut of some kind that Swamp Rats seemed to call home. It appeared to be a Swamp Rat nest, as more rats seemed to be coming out of the structure whenever the siblings seemed to be near it, and every rat seemed to be annoyed with them for some reason, meaning the Lurkers or their mysterious figures had ordered them to attack everyone that invaded Boggy Swamp, but there was a bit of Yellow Eco nearby for Jak to empower himself with and that was followed by him and his sisters loosing a volley of fireballs and magical blasts, where the latter could also be fireballs if Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy wanted them to be that way, that rushed through the air and smashed into the area that the Swamp Rats were coming from, blasting all of their enemies into the walls and knocked down the nest as well, breaking it so no more enemies could come out and attack them. After that Jak and his sisters approached another wooden walkway, one that seemed to be split in half and had a pole that they had to use to get over a patch of thorny vines, though it was easy to do that and they found another type of foe lurking in the new section of the swamp that they were entering, as it happened to be a Lurker that was mixed with a toad and had purple skin, along with a collar like the others they had seen in the past, and it seemed to lash out with its tongue, though Starlight stopped that as she raised a barrier in front of them and let the tongue hit her magic, which surprised the creature and opened the way for Jak to kick it in the side of the head, knocking it out so they could move forward, even though Twilight made a note of the Lurker Toad as well, which gave all of them three types of enemies to keep an eye out for at this point. With the new foe being defeated the siblings found that there were two paths for them to take, one being over another set of spike walls while the other was off to their left, as it was a cave that seemed to lead to another part of this region, though what they decided to do was head over the spikes first, as there happened to be a tether for the Lurker's dirigible in front of them, though it was being guarded by a bunch of Lurker Rats, who were coming out of two nests, but there was a bit of Yellow Eco off to the right that allowed Jak to blast open a rock that had been resting on top of a Yellow Eco vent, which was followed by him and his sisters loosing a storm of blasts on their enemies, wiping out the Lurker Rats and their nests in a matter of seconds.

With the four of them working together they were able to take care of all of the Lurker Rats and both of their nests, which allowed Twilight to see that there were two thin platforms of equal height between where they were currently standing at the moment and the wider platform that the tether was resting on, even if it was tied to a massive boulder, and above the thin platforms rested a few Precursor Orbs for them to collect, which Cozy went after and found that when she stepped on one of the thin ones it sunk while the other rose at the same time, so she purposely sunk one to allow the other to rise up to the point where she could collect all of the Orbs, but once that was done Jak loosed one more blast and quickly blasted the boulder to pieces, freeing a Power Cell in the process.

"It seems that the dirigible is held down by four tethers, and with this one breaking we've got three more to take down to stop the Lurkers from getting more Precursor junk," Daxter stated, though even as he said that Jak claimed the Power Cell and added it to their collection, where he could see that Twilight was already putting two and two together, because if one of the tethers dropped a Power Cell, and there were three more tethers for them to break apart, that meant three more Power Cells for them to claim and add to their collection, before she shrugged for a moment and resumed sitting on Jak's shoulder as he focused on the area the siblings were standing in, "Well, good luck hunting down the rest of the tethers, as I'm sure they won't be as easy to find and break as this one was, given the lengths the Lurkers are going through to collect more bits of Precursor junk."

Twilight decided to say nothing to that, and her siblings could see that she really didn't like Daxter using the term 'junk' all the time when he talked about Precursor artifacts, save for the Orbs since those were the only ones he liked, which just so happened to be when Jak started to move once more and headed over to the cave they had walked by, where they found two sets of spike walls in their way and simply waited for them to lower back into the ground so they could move forward, even though there was a bit of Yellow Eco that allowed him to fire upon the Swamp Rat nest that was near the cave's other exit, while his sisters blasted the three Dark Eco boxes that were in the way. Once they destroyed the nest and took out all of the Swamp Rats the siblings discovered that the nest had been built on a Blue Eco vent and that there happened to be a jump pad just outside this cave, to which they empowered their bodies and then used the jump pad, once more allowing them to launch themselves over another wall that was covered in thorny vines, or in part anyway, and landed in an area that had another nest inside it, but due to there being a bit of Yellow Eco Jak was able to join his sisters in blasting the rats as they emerged from the lone nest, even though Cozy also smashed a Scout Fly box and claimed the third one before she did anything else. The moment they cleared out the small area they had discovered, and they were sure there were no rats coming out of another area to attack them, the siblings found that the nest had, once more, been built on top of a Blue Eco vent and it empowered their bodies so they could use the nearby jump pad to leave this part of the region, which was when they used one of the spinning poles that rested near a mass of thorny vines and launched themselves over the mass that was resting in their way, which allowed them to see that there was another area with dark mud and it had a wooden walkway that would allow them to make their way through this part of the region. Interestingly enough there was a bit of Blue Eco resting nearby and a bit of Yellow Eco near it, where Jak tapped into the Yellow Eco for a moment and blasted the couple of metallic boxes that were in the mud, allowing Starlight to take a moment to channel the Blue Eco and collected all of the Orbs that had been freed, before they jumped over to the next part of the walkway and carefully followed it, even if they had to take turns using the spinning poles to continue forward, which also earned them a few Precursor Orbs in the process, while also smashing a number of wooden chests that happened to be in the way as well.

At the end of the wooden path, which happened to be a platform that was higher than the others and had four chests for them to break, the siblings found one of the tethers resting in front of them and a bit of Yellow Eco happened to be resting inside some of the chests, to which Cozy stepped forward and combined her magical power with the power of the Yellow Eco to quickly blast apart the boulder that the Lurkers had tied the rope tether to, freeing another Power Cell in seconds as they watched the dirigible in the air shake for a moment, which made sense due to losing a second tether, which was the moment that Jak claimed the Power Cell and they moved forward once more. From there they discovered that there just so happened to be a mass of Swamp Bats around the corner, not to mention a Yellow Eco vat, to which the sisters waited for a moment to allow their brother to empower himself before they opened fire on their targets and blasted the bats out of the air, though once that was done they turned to the right and started to blast a number of metallic boxes with their Eco fireballs so they could free the Precursor Orbs that were inside them, and that included the ones that were resting off in the mud, near a wooden platform for them to jump on, so the siblings made sure to take those ones out as they broke the ones near the cave they discovered as well. One thing they discovered was that there was a Scout Fly box, the fourth one to be exact, and they made sure to break it to free the little robot that happened to be inside it, though once that was done they discovered that there just so happened to be a set of spike walls nearby, behind where the mass of Swamp Bats had been flying, but due to the side path that allowed them to get to the Scout Fly box they just bypassed it once more and headed for the cave, as it seemed to be the way forward and they were eager to see if there was anything else for them to worry about, other than the three types of enemies they had discovered so far. It was in that moment that they found yet another boulder resting on either a vent or a jump pad, so Jak channeled a bit of Yellow Eco and blasted it apart while his sisters loosed a burst of magic at the Dark Eco boxes that were resting on a wall that seemed to be the way forward, but in the end they found a jump pad under the boulder and it made all four of them wonder where it might take them this time, hence the reason that they gathered a bit of Blue Eco that was resting nearby and channeled it so they could launch over to whatever part of this region that it would lead them to, even though they were expecting a fight based on the fact that the other jump pads had brought them to areas that enemies were lurking in.

Sure enough the same was true for the area the latest jump pad sent them to, as it actually brought them to the area that the Precursor artifact the Lurkers were trying to pull out of the mud was located and they could see that a bunch of wood platforms had been built in a rectangle shaped arena, but as soon as they landed in the center of the area a good number of Lurkers and Lurker Rats dropped down into the area around the siblings and rushed at them, intending on taking them down so they could return to pulling the Precursor artifact out of the area it happened to be resting in, where Twilight took a second to look through an opening and found that it looked like an arm for some reason. From what they could tell there were about ten actual Lurkers and about twenty Lurker Rats rushing down to where the four of them were standing, which was when Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy switched between blasting the furthest foes with a bit of magical energy while at the same time kicking and punching the Lurkers that came at them, while Jak, for the most part, punched and kicked the foes that were in front of him, choosing not to worry about the Yellow Eco that was nearby as he dodged the incoming attacks as well, while Daxter braced himself so he wouldn't be seen as a target. One thing Jak considered was how lucky they were that there were none of the Armored Lurkers or any of the other stronger Lurkers that they might have fought in the other regions, otherwise this would have been far harder than what they were experiencing at the moment, though that didn't stop him from punching a few Lurkers in the face and tripping up some Swamp Rats so he would take them out not a few moments later, and he could see that his sisters seemed to be doing the same thing for the most part, even if they added blasts of magic to their fights, something he was grateful for since it allowed them to stem the tide of enemies and make sure they weren't overwhelmed by the number of foes that tried to bring them down. Once the last foe fell to the ground, and everyone was sure that there were no more trying to come down here, the siblings sighed as the last Lurker that fell also dropped a Power Cell for them to collect, something that they did without delay, before they stared at the massive Precursor arm that was in the mud, which actually moved a little as the dirigible tried to pull it out, but for the most part it didn't look like they had to worry about the Lurkers were making any progress in this manner, though once they claimed the Power Cell the siblings gathered a bit of Blue Eco and used the nearby jump pad to return to the main path once more, so they could resume hunting down the last two tethers.

What they discovered was that there happened to be a jump pad on the other side of the wall the few Dark Eco boxes had been resting on and took a bit of Blue Eco that was resting nearby to launch themselves to the next side area, while also claiming a few Precursor Orbs along the way, before they found themselves in a small area that had a pair of Swamp Rats wandering around the area, including a nest that needed to be smashed, so what Jak did as his sisters dealt with the few enemies that were near them was gather some Yellow Eco and blew up the boulder that served as the third tether, which earned them another Power Cell and it wasn't long before the nest was destroyed, allowing them to gather some Blue Eco and returning to the main path once more. When they returned to the main path Jak found one of the Lurker Toads, one that happened to be caming towards the area the jump pad they landed on was located in, but Starlight stopped its attack with her barrier and opened the way for Jak to punch the toad in the face, knocking it out like all of the other enemies they had faced so far, before they followed the rest of the path and noticed two things, the first being that there were a number of wooden platforms that were resting above the ground, which seemed to form a path of some kind and required them to go a bit further to reach the start of it, while the other thing was that there were a number of metallic boxes that had to be smashed to get at the Orbs that were inside them. In fact the fifth Scout Fly box was resting above where the siblings were standing at the moment, meaning they only had two more to hunt down and smash once they figured out how to get up to where this one rested, and there happened to be a few Swamp Rats standing between them and the next part of the swamp, meaning a nest or two had to be somewhere in the surrounding area, though as they rounded a corner another thing jumped out at them, the Flut Flut was standing on a trans-pad that happened to be near a massive pool of dark mud, but none of them had been expecting to see it again, given that it was recently hatched and shouldn't be out in the field as an ally. Twilight suspected that the egg might have been resting on the cliff they had found it in for a long period of time, instead of a few days like they originally thought, and it allowed the Flut Flut to grow a little more before hatching, but even as she thought about what she and her siblings were seeing at the moment she realized that she was going to have to ask the Birdwatcher about the Flut Fluts, as her knowledge on the matter was superior to what Twilight had on the matter, a fact she aimed to correct at some point in the future, before they noticed something interesting, the Flut Flut had some bracers on its legs and a saddle on its back, meaning that Samos and the Birdwatcher felt that it was appropriate to send it out into the field.

"Um, Keira, why is the Flut Flut here? Isn't she, you know, too young for this sort of thing?" Twilight asked, as she knew that they were being watched at the moment and knew that if she asked Keira a question she was likely to respond in a matter of seconds, unless she was buried in studying the Blue Sage's notes and looking over the levitation machine that would let them tackle the monster that happened to be throwing boulders at Rock Village, though as she said that all of them stared at the bird that was standing on the trans-pad and seemed to be waiting for something to happen, even though it did see them and seemed to chirp when it noticed them.

"According to my father and the Birdwatcher, most Flut Fluts get into fights and long journeys at a young age," Keira said, showing that Twilight's thoughts had been correct and that she had some information to share with them, where they took a moment to glance at each other since none of this was what they were expecting to hear, given that each of them had been thinking the Flut Flut had been peaceful creatures and only fought the Lurkers, but if they engaged any dangerous creatures that threatened them it made sense that they would be more like mounts or warrior companions, "so we put a few bits of gear on her, just to protect her from harm, and a saddle for one of you to sit on, so if you get on her back you can help her learn how to fight some of the enemies that are in the swamp."

The siblings simply shrugged when they heard that and watched as the Communicator returned to their pack, where Jak walked over to the trans-pad that the Flut Flut was resting on and climbed onto her back, where the bird chirped and took a moment to ready herself, to which Jak headed out and found that the mud didn't stop the Flut Flut at all, though for the most part he found that there were a number of large gaps between all of the wooden platforms and put together he was seeing, where he headed up the step section and eventually reached the area that was above his sisters, who watched him and the Flut Flut for a few seconds. After he started to navigate the upper reaches of the area Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy took a moment to empower themselves with Yellow Eco from the nearby vent and loosed a bunch of blasts at the various metallic boxes that had been along the way down to where they found the trans-pad, allowing them to collect all of the Orbs that were inside them, before also turning around to blast apart both of the Swamp Rat nests that were across from where the vent rested, leaving Jak to break a box and collect the fifth Scout Fly of this region. Of course, as they did that, Cozy noticed that part of the wooden path their brother would be following happened to have another Scout Fly box along it, the sixth, and it also had a Power Cell to be added to their collection, in addition to all of the Orbs that were resting just above the wood, and she made sure Twilight and Starlight knew about it as well, so the moment they were done breaking the two Swamp Rat nests the sisters came to a stop and watched as Jak and the Flut Flut moved around the platforms that were above them, reaching the area that the Scout Fly box was in and the area that the Power Cell was in, allowing him to pick up both of his targets, before he returned the Flut Flut to the trans-pad and climbed off her back, where he rubbed her beak for a moment and she chirped afterwords, before he left her behind and rejoined his sisters. From there the four of them regrouped near the edge of the area that seemed to be the way forward, where they found a number of Dark Eco boxes that the sisters fired upon without delay, though the only hazard they had to worry about in this area were a pair of spike walls, which seemed to be separating the rest of Boggy Swamp from a small dock area that seemed out of place in their eyes, given that there was no one who called the swamp home, to their knowledge, and when they turned a corner all four of them realized that they were wrong in that regard.

There was a figure, a male Human based on what they could see, who appeared to be slouched in front of a hut that had a bunch of flies swarming around it, though he had a hat of some kind covering his eyes, a tattered white shirt that had part of it covered by a dirty green colored overalls, or at least that was what the item in question looked like, and he had buck teeth as well, though he had a blue pouch of some kind in his left hand and seemed distracted by something, due to the fact that he seemed sad about whatever might have happened before they arrived in this area, before he glanced up for a moment and noticed them coming his way.

"Howdy, friends! Enjoyin' my beautiful swamp?" the individual said, where his speech seemed slurred and he appeared to be a hillbilly, or at least that was what the siblings determined based on what they were seeing and what they had heard so far, though that was followed by him swinging his arms around as he gestured to the rest of the swamp, which made all of them wonder if he truly owned the swamp or if the villagers of Rock Village let him believe that, so they didn't have to deal with him, "I own these here parts... everything that doesn't sink into the mud, that is!"

"Judging by the smell that's coming from you, I'd wager your bathtub sank in the mud long ago." Daxter stated, because he and the siblings could tell that this guy smelled worse than anything they had encountered in the past, meaning he didn't have anything that would allow him to clean his body, though even if he had a bathtub inside his hut they were sure that he would have no idea how to operate it in the first place, but everyone remained silent as they waited for the Hillbilly to say something, though Twilight had to wonder if this guy might have been called 'Boggy' at one point, meaning the name of the swamp would have been 'Boggy's Swamp' at one point if she was right.

"What's a bathtub?" the Hillbilly asked, his tone revealing that he was serious about the question, where Twilight just stood still and resisted the urge to magically pull him out of the swamp so he could be cleaned, not to mention educated in all of the technology that was just outside the swamp, before the Hillbilly leaned back once more and lifted his container for a moment, where he shook it and found that it happened to be empty, before he seemed to talk to them once more, even if he didn't look in their direction for a few seconds, "Anyway, I got bigger problems now. Seems some nasty Lurker varmints are grousin' abouts snatchin' everything they can get their grubby little paws on. And scared away my pet hip-hog, Farthy. He's been missin' for nigh on to a coon's age! Now I've been puttin' out his favorite snack, but those ornery Swamp Rats keeps stealin' 'em! If you could keep them pesky critters away long enough, I just know Farthy would smell them vittles  and come back! Will you help me out?"

As it turned out his task was really simple, all they had to do was stand near the hut the Hillbilly called home and used the bits of Yellow Eco that were provided to them, where they were unsure of where he was even getting the Eco since there was no vent near his hut, before loosing fireballs into the open space that was in front of them, as there were a number of muffin-like treats resting near them and they were drawing out more Swamp Rats, where it wasn't long before the Hillbilly could see that the rats were under fire from the group and that none of them were missing, as they split the area into four sections and each one took one section, and, more importantly in his eyes, all of the treats would be safe for his hip-hog when it came back. While the siblings found that there were a lot of enemies for them to take out, between thirty to forty Swamp Rats from what they were seeing, each of them happened to be ready for the challenge and lashed out at the rats as they emerged from the swamp, blasting each and every one of them into the wooden posts or the tree trunks that were scattered throughout this section of Boggy Swamp, though no one let up and soon the Swamp Rats turned around and fled back to the holes that brought them to the surface, allowing the four of them to stop what they were doing, which was when a pig sized dog creature, which seemed to be a mix of a dog and maybe a hippo in Twilight's eyes, returned and took a few seconds to devour the snacks. This creature was apparently Farthy, what the Hillbilly was looking for, and he took a moment to toss a Power Cell to them as their reward for helping him out with finding his pet, though all of them knew that he had no idea what in the world the artifact had been or what it could be used for, as he was far more interested in the fact that his pet was back, so Jak collected it and they headed over to the nearby wall that seemed to be the continuation of what they had seen so far, though each of the siblings suspected that they would find the final tether soon and be done with the Lurkers, since it seemed like they might be heading back towards the start of the swamp. On the other side of the short wall Jak and his sisters found a small cave that had a Swamp Rat nest inside it, which had a few wooden chests right in front of it, though to the right rested a few Yellow Eco clusters that were surrounded by spike walls, which blocked the way forward by the looks of it, though that didn't stop them from letting Jak empower himself before they loosed a burst of fireballs and blew up the nest in seconds, before the sisters did the same to some Dark Eco boxes that happened to be on the other side of the spike walls, something that including blasting two normal Lurkers into the ground, breaking a few metallic boxes, and a Scout Fly box as well.

With the Scout Fly box being the seventh one they were able to claim one more Power Cell as they picked up the Orbs that had been freed as well, before they found another area full of dark mud and Jak used the last bits of Yellow Eco to break a few more metallic boxes that were off in the distance, which was when he and his sisters moved forward and followed the wooden path that was in front of them, before they reached an area that happened to have a vent that was spewing a bit of Yellow Eco into the area and used it to blast apart the final tether, which was in front of them, something that caused a snapping sound to be heard as the dirigible's rope around the Precursor arm broke and the vessel in question flew off due to the wind, which would no doubt annoy the mysterious figures when they heard the news.

"Good work everyone, your Uncle would be proud of you all." Samos stated, though even as he said that the group heard a slight hesitation when he mentioned the one who looked after them, despite the fact that their explorer Uncle barely did anything like that and they were usually in Samos' presence, making them wonder if the Sage had been about to mention their parents or something, figures that none of them knew about and almost never thought about, before it seemed like he was focusing on something else, no doubt the artifact that must have fallen back into the mud and might have sunk in a matter of seconds, "From what I could see, that was a giant arm from a Precursor Robot, which is one of the rarest and the most dangerous Precursor artifacts in the entire world... truth be told, I've never seen one of those, even a fragment like an arm, in such good condition, and I honestly can't begin to imagine what the Lurkers wanted it for, even if its possible it might have been destined for that pair you saw on Misty Island, but its good that you stopped their operations."

Daxter frowned for a moment, mostly because he was sure that Samos would have told them not to savor his compliment or something, just like what happened in the past, but this time he was surprised and that meant the Sage might be a tad bit troubled by everything that they were discovering over the course of this adventure, though instead of taunting Samos into saying something, like he normally did, Daxter remained silent and allowed the siblings to collect the fourth and final Power Cell from the tethers, not to mention a number of Precursor Orbs that were in this area, before they headed into a cave that had a Swamp Rat nest on top of a Yellow Eco vent. Of course the sisters blasted the Swamp Rats as Jak headed back to the Yellow Eco vent and returned with the power coursing through his body, allowing him to break the nest as his sisters took care of the Dark Eco boxes, to which they headed for the exit and broke a metallic box or two to pick up the rest of the Orbs that were in this region, along with making sure they didn't have to return in the future, before making their way back to the swamp's entrance at long last, as it was time to return to the Gambler, Geologist, and Oracle for the rest of the Power Cells that were in Rock Village. Based on Twilight's estimates she and her siblings should have roughly seven hundred and forty Orbs in their collection right now, which was more than enough for them to gather the four Cells that remained, since the Geologist and Gambler wanted ninety for their Power Cells and the Precursor Oracle wanted one hundred and twenty per Cell he had, so if her count was right, and she was sure of that fact, she knew that they could gain the rest of the Power Cells and wouldn't have to worry about coming back here if they needed more for whatever she and her siblings needed to power in the Red Sage's domain. The Gambler was overjoyed to have the ninety Precursor Orbs in his possession, claiming that they would go a long way to him earning his way out of the barrel he was stuck in, despite the fact that Jak beat his record earlier, and handed over his Power Cell without delay, while they found that the Geologist was happy to have some additional funds to repair her equipment and replace anything that might have been broken, or just buy something new that she needed for her next study, and made sure to hand over the Power Cell that was part of their trade, which put a smile on Daxter's face as it was stored inside the pack the siblings were storing all of them inside, until Keira needed them for whatever she was working on.

Once those two were helped out the siblings approached the Oracle and traded a good portion of their Orbs for both of its Power Cells, where it seemed pleased by their offering, as that was what it called the Orbs that were given to it, but in the end the siblings claimed two more Power Cells, the last in Rock Village based on what they could see, to which they took a moment to sit down in the food area and take a small break as they called Keira down so she could check out the levitation machine and make sure it was ready for the Power Cells, as one it was ready they were going to tackle the monster that was attacking the village and put an end to its rampage, and then head north to see what else they had to do before they reached Gol's location and got Daxter the help he needed so he could revert back to his previous form.
> Precursor: Klaaw of the Mountain Pass
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With the residents of Rock Village assisted, and the siblings were sure that they were leaving nothing behind, Jak and his sisters got up from where they were sitting and walked over to the pontoons that would bring them to where Keira was working, as she happened to be focused on the Blue Sage's levitation machine and the various notes he made on what he had created, before his sudden disappearance anyway, and from what they could see it appeared that she was making good progress with the machine, meaning that it was only a matter of time before they were able to lift the boulder and get it out of the way, so they could tackle the monster that was bombarding the village.

"I'm impressed, you guys did a great job assisting the residents of Rock Village," Keira remarked, as she spotted the four of them the moment they started walking and jumping across the pontoons, to reach the machine that had a central power unit, a pair of barrels on either side of the device that seemed to be filled with coolant, a better version than what she had used in her cooling balloons and made her wonder if she could replicate what the Blue Sage had made, and a few orbs in front of the main sphere that happened to be where the levitation beam would be fired from when she targeted the item that this device was made for, the massive boulder that was in their way, "I made sure to read the Blue Sage's notes, and it looks like that he made this machine after seeing one of you levitate some boxes with your magic, even though it took him some time to reach this point and he disappeared before he was able to turn it on, but thanks to the Power Cells you guys have gathered we should be able to lift the boulder so you can get up to where Klaaw is resting."

"Klaaw? Is that the monster's name?" Jak asked, because this was the first time he and his sisters had heard someone refer to the beast by something other than 'monster' or 'creature', which made him wonder if the villagers knew the name or if it was another thing that the Blue Sage knew and didn't tell anyone, why he had no idea, but at the very least Twilight did seem interested in the levitation machine and less on the monster's name, even though she did write it down for later, so her notes would be correct for when they faced the boulder throwing creature that seemed to be blocking the way north, meaning they might have to fight him to get to the Red Sage's hut.

"Yeah, that's what the Blue Sage and the villagers call him, even if the villagers have been calling him a monster recently, as to suggest a change in his habits," Keira replied, something that didn't even phase the siblings when they heard it, as at this point they were sure that the mysterious figures they had seen on Misty Island were responsible for Klaaw's changes and whatnot, or maybe the Blue Sage hadn't noticed that the creature had been aggressive towards them and it was more of a failure on his part, though that was when Keira tapped the machine for a moment and smiled towards the siblings as they stopped near where she was standing, even if she was on some platforms that were above them, "but, thanks to the number of Power Cells you guys recovered during your adventure, we should have more than enough power to lift that massive boulder out of the way and open the path for you guys."

"Hey, Keira, do you think we can make a helmet or something to link one of us up to the device, to use it like an amplifier for our levitation spell?" Twilight asked, because she had been thinking about the fact that the Blue Sage had actually built this machine thanks to what she and her sisters had done in the past, likely during one of his visits to Sandover Village so he could chat with Samos about whatever it was that might be bothering him at the time, and if this had been constructed due to what the three of them had done in the past she had to wonder if the Blue Sage intended for them to it with their magical power, as if he intended for it to be an amplifier and repurposed it to be just a levitation device to move any and all boulders that might be thrown at the village he lived on the outskirts of.

Keira raised her eyebrow for a moment and took a few seconds to consider what she had seen in the Blue Sage's notes, as they were intensive and went into great detail about what he intended the device to be used for, though that was around the time that she moved down the wooden steps and seemed to focus on something else for a few seconds, causing the siblings to pause for a moment, before she returned with a metallic helmet of some kind that looked like it was sized to fit Twilight, Starlight, or Cozy's head, like the Blue Sage had taken their measurements recently and made the helm so that it would fit on their heads. Once she had the bluish metallic helm in her hand, Keira found some cables that seemed to link it to the device and beckoned for one of the sisters to come up to where she was standing, where Twilight did so, since it was her idea to ask the question in the first place, and they linked the cables to the helmet in no time, something that was due to the notes she had studied earlier, which was when Twilight slipped it on her head and braced herself, as a small bit of electricity coursed through it, before she snapped open her eyes and focused on what she was doing. A few moments later she raised her right hand and focused on the flaming boulder that was blocking the path that would let them reach the area that Klaaw happened to call home, to which Keira, Jak, Starlight, and Cozy watched as a mass of Twilight's grayish orchid colored magical aura wrapped around the boulder for a few seconds and then, without wasting a single moment, she shifted her hand and lifted the boulder from where it was resting, something that impressed her siblings and Keira, as they hadn't been expecting this to work to that degree, and, at the same time, Twilight didn't seem all that bothered by the strain of what she was doing. In fact she seemed just as surprised as her siblings and Keira, though what shocked her was that, just to test herself and see if there was any strain from what she was doing, she moved the boulder around in the air for a few moments and quickly found that the massive boulder was now like a toy to her, though not a few moments later she raised her other hand for a few seconds and removed the helmet from where it was resting, though instead of feeling a backlash from what she was doing, since she and Keira were using the Blue Sage's device as an amplifier for her power, she felt nothing and just paused for a few seconds, as she was expecting some backlash from this, but it looked like using the helmet and using the device as an amplifier had boosted her power for an undetermined amount of time... the other option was that Twilight had a hidden reserve of magical potential and this had tapped into it, boosting her power, maybe unlocking part of her true potential.

The last thing Twilight did with the boulder was slam it right into Klaaw's chest, as the monster happened to be watching what they were doing from his perch and might have been stunned by what he was seeing, knocking the massive monster backwards and pushing him away from the area he had been standing in, where Starlight and Cozy took a moment to see if they could do the same thing with the helmet, so when Twilight set the boulder down her sisters did the same thing she did and it caused Jak, Daxter, and Keira to stare at them in surprise, though it wasn't long before Jak smiled as his sisters finished experimenting with the boulder and dropped it into the water.

"Well, I'd say this was a good thing, as now each of you are stronger than you were earlier," Jak commented, though he was still surprised by what they had discovered and the fact that his sisters must have had magical reserves inside their bodies, ones that had been unlocked by using the helmet Keira had either found or crafted in record time, even though he felt she had found it in the Blue Sage's place, and this would allow them to tackle whatever was standing in their way in the future, which was Klaaw at the moment, if the monster still wanted to fight them after seeing Twilight's display and being struck by the boulder she had been manipulating.

"The Sages aren't going to believe this when we tell them what you guys did," Keira remarked, as she knew that her father would be feeling that way right now, since he had to be watching them and might have been shocked by what the sisters had done, before she smiled for a moment as she glanced at the path that had been restored to its former glory, as the way to the Red Sage's resting place had been opened and it was time for the siblings to resume their adventure north, all to find Gol and gain an audience with him, which was when she reached into a pack that was resting nearby and pulled out a set of collars, which seemed to be as thick as one of her fingers, causing the siblings to glance at her for a moment, even if one of them understood what they were seeing, "oh, and before I forget, I made sure to put the finishing touches on the temperature regulating collars Twilight and I were working on, so when you get to the Red Sage's hut, in Volcanic Crater, the heat won't make three of you collapse."

The siblings glanced at each other for a moment before accepting the collars, where Keira and Twilight made sure to help Jak, Starlight, and Cozy put them on, before they headed up to the area that they had seen Klaaw in, so they could glance out over the area that Rock Village rested in, though before they reached Klaaw's perch the sisters took a few moments to raise their hands and Jak watched as the rest of the boulders that were stuck in the sides of Rock Village just lifted into the air and either dropped into the water or were pulled over to where the group was standing and dropped on the other side of the perch, where a large pool of lava rested and they found Klaaw standing knee deep in the lava, meaning he had to be a lava monster of some kind. Twilight found that to be rather odd, since he wasn't a rocky monster or filled with lava, like one would expect to find when they glanced at the area that was in front of them, though based on the fact that Klaaw was no doubt one of the mysterious pair's minions and was furthering their goals towards taking down whatever village he had been assigned to, Rock Village obviously, that meant he was either modified by their experiments or his armor had been changed in some manner to make sure he survived standing in the lava, something that she and her siblings weren't even worried by as they jumped down onto three rock platforms that were floating on top of the lava, even though there were a bunch of rock spikes sticking out of the rest of the area as well. What they discovered, in addition to all of the rock spikes, was the fact that there were a number of Precursor structures behind where Klaaw was standing, though before they had a chance to focus on the ancient items, which weren't melting under the intensity of the lava, their foe raised his right arm and they found out something interesting, the machine gauntlet that he was wearing over that arm and hand happened to give him the ability to create boulders, possibly merging Green Eco with Dark Eco in some manner, or maybe just Green by itself, which he hurled straight at them with the intent of smashing them into the ground. Not even a few seconds later Jak found a small shimmering barrier, or a wall of magic to be exact, resting in between where he was standing and where the boulder was resting, where Twilight smiled for a moment as she forced the boulders coming towards her and Jak back into the lava as Starlight and Cozy, the latter not having as much experience as her sisters and observed their movements on how to channel this spell, but for the most part none of them were hurt by what their foe was doing and in the end all four of them stood there when Klaaw stopped firing boulders in their direction, clearly debating what tactic he was going to use against the siblings next.

Klaaw, interestingly enough, dived down into the lava and seemed to disappear for a few seconds, while the last boulder dropped some Blue Eco for Jak to pick up if he wanted, before their foe reappeared on the other section of this area, which put some distance between him and then, to which Jak empowered his body and they found that just channeling the Blue Eco through his body was enough to cause all of the Precursor platforms to burst out of where they were resting and took a few seconds to form a path that would take them to where some Yellow Eco rested, though since it was located a short bit away from Klaaw that meant they were supposed to fire at him and inflict damage that way. What they found was that when Jak started to run down the new path Klaaw started to launch more boulders at him, ones that happened to roll all the way down the Precursor walkway that had been formed, though his sisters lashed out with their empowered magic for a moment and found that they could now blast the boulders apart if they wanted, as Cozy went a little overboard as both Twilight and Starlight formed slanted walls to knock their targets back into the lava, but it was nice to know that they could smash the boulders into smaller rocks if they really wanted to do that. As such they allowed Jak to reach the end without having to worry about any of the boulders, to which he gathered the Yellow Eco that was in front of him and, just like what he and his sisters had done earlier, loosed a bunch of fireballs towards Klaaw as he raised his hands and started to form a massive boulder above his head, a rather interesting tactic in Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy's eyes, though ultimately none of his preparations mattered as Jak's attacks slammed into his chest over the course of a few seconds and seemed to knock him backwards every time a fireball hit him, though it wasn't long before one of them realized that this just caused Klaaw's body to shake and not get knocked backwards, before the last fireball caused him to stall and the boulder struck his head for a moment. Interestingly enough the attack caused Klaaw to fall into the lava for a few moments, which might do a bit of damage to him if the siblings were lucky, before the boulder somehow bounced over to where they were standing and started to chase them down the Precursor walkway that allowed them to lash out at their foe, which was followed by them returning to the start of this area and stood on the three rock platforms once more, where they watched and waited for a time, to see what happened next, before Klaaw burst out of the lava in front of them once more, in the distance that had been used to fire boulders at them before Blue Eco was dropped, and they resumed what they had done when the battle had started between the four siblings and their foe.

Instead of changing up his attack pattern, like the siblings had thought he would have done in light of what he was facing, Klaaw continued to bombard the area they were standing in and the sisters continued to protect themselves and Jak with their magic, before eventually forcing their foe to back off and use the provided Blue Eco to restore the Precursor walkway so they could move forward, even if it had a few parts missing, and it wasn't long before Jak dropped another boulder on their foe's head, but when the third round started the four of them were surprised that Klaaw repeated his movements once more and just sighed as each of them repeated their movements as well, eventually leading to the monster falling into the lava for a third time and never came back up, even though a Power Cell landed in front of them.

"Great work guys, the people of Rock Village are going to be breathing a collective sigh of relief when they hear that they won't have to worry about Klaww bombarding their homes anymore," Keira commented, her tone revealing that she was happy with what they had done, while at the same time eight circular rock platforms emerged from the lava and formed a path forward, meaning Twilight and Starlight wouldn't have to form walkways for them to get to the start of the next area that was in front of them, though before they moved the siblings listened to what Keira had to say, "but I'm afraid that you won't have time to celebrate your victory, as my scans of the next region indicate that the Lurkers have rigged the entirety of Mountain Pass with a bunch of explosives, like they're planning on collapsing the entire place to prevent us from going further north, so one or two of you will have to use the zoomer to race them to wherever they placed the detonator and take it out... oh, and once that's done, you'll need to find the Red Sage's hut and activate his Warp Gate, that way the rest of us can teleport over to you and see what else we have to do before moving forward."

This time around Jak and Cozy decided that they would ride the zoomer to the next area, as she was the only one to not experience the zoomer since Twilight and Starlight had ridden with Jak earlier, to which the sisters nodded their heads as the pair headed across the new platforms, while claiming Klaaw's Power Cell at the same time, before Jak and Cozy found a few Lurkers, who were riding what appeared to be some sort of wooden flying machine, flew down to where they were standing and headed off into Mountain Pass, no doubt to check and make sure the explosives were in the right spots for when the passage was blown apart. Once they saw that Jak and Cozy quickly climbed onto the zoomer and flew after the Lurkers, where they headed over the grassy landscape and bypassed some trees as Jak focused on their targets, leaving Cozy to focus on any Dark Eco boxes that might be in their way, ones that were arranged in square clusters this time and were blown apart with her magic, which did put a bit of a smile on her face, though Jak made sure to use the ramps that happened to be in their way to get some air and catch up with his targets, which also earned them a few Precursor Orbs at the same time. One thing they discovered was that there were a few Human sized cylinders lining their path that had red shaped sticks wrapped around the sides, which appeared to be the bombs that the Lurkers were planning on detonating at some point, though at the same time there were a few Blue Eco vents that Jak used to catch up with their targets, and, of course, Cozy spotted a Scout Fly box that happened to line up with a ramp and what appeared to be a side path, which she pointed out to her brother and Jak nodded his head as he smashed through the box and flew up into the passage that should allow them to get around the Lurkers and put them ahead of their goes. What actually happened was that the side path came out right behind the flying pests, meaning that it was worthless for them to use it again in the future, but it did let them return to the main path and Jak smashed another Scout Fly box so Cozy could collect the second little robot, only for him to find two more ramps that allowed him to collect a number of Orbs to add to their collection, before it brought them to a more open area which required some care in navigating around the trees and a few ledges, least they fall off the edge, even though Cozy found the third Scout Fly box and made sure it was smashed as well, even though Jak was more focused on the Lurkers that were flying away from them.

Not a few moments later the Lurkers brought Jak and Cozy to an area that had a massive gap between the side they were in and the side that would take them down into the mountain that contained the Red Sage's domain, where Cozy found a ramp that would allow them to leap over to the other side and a path that would allow one to come back here, though Jak did make sure to get the Orbs that were in front of the zoomer as he leapt into the air and followed the Lurkers as they headed for the detonator for the explosives, and when he landed on the other side of the gap he smashed into a fourth Scout Fly box and continued moving forward. While he did that, however, Cozy noticed that there was a massive boulder on the left side of the area Jak was flying through and a locked Eco vent in the middle of the area, which was either linked to Red or Yellow Eco, which were the types that they hadn't found a vent for yet or a device that could activate the rest of the vents across the continent, but for now she focused on what Jak was doing as he actually pulled ahead of the Lurkers, who sounded surprised by what was going on, and headed into the cave that rested in front of them, where he smashed a metallic box in the process. It was easy to see that the Lurkers were planning on collapsing part of the mountain itself, due to where the various explosives were resting and how many there were, though as Cozy noticed each of the containers, so Twilight would know where everything was located when she went to write down everything in a journal or something, Jak followed a curved path and gathered some Orbs along the way, even though it was mostly to see what the Lurkers might be doing and found that they were still coming after them, before he returned to the main path and continued flying down the rest of the cave that was in front of him and Cozy. After the curve they found the fifth Scout Fly box and smashed it to pieces, before locating a small tunnel that had a few Blue Eco vents, which was odd since there were about three or four in a row with a couple of metallic boxes, ones Jak had no choice but to smash since they were in the way, and then he found the sixth Scout Fly box and a ramp which allowed them to jump over some Dark Eco boxes, ones that Cozy blew up to get ride of them as she picked up a few more Orbs as well, before Jak landed and smashed through one more metallic box, which was when they found the last of the Scout Fly boxes, which they ignored so they could focus on the purple Lurker that happened to be standing in front of a wooden box of some kind, the detonator, and not a few seconds later Jak drove right into it to prevent the explosives from going off, something they would have to move in the future.

Once that was done Jak turned around and made sure to claim the seventh Scout Fly for the Power Cell it had, in addition to another one that the detonator Lurker had, before he flew over to a trans-pad so he and Cozy could dismount and head up the path behind it, which happened to be made up of a lot of gray stone and a wave of heat, the latter being confirmed when they turned a corner and found that they were in the center of a volcano, which made sense due to this place being called Volcanic Crater, and that there was a decent about of lava in the center of the area, even though that was where the Red Sage built his metallic heat resistant hut, to which the pair carefully made their way over the wooden bridge that was connected to the hut and found the door that allowed them to enter a rather wrecked looking interior, including a button that activated the Warp Gate... which was promptly followed by Samos, Keira, Twilight, and Starlight teleporting over from the Blue Sage's hut.

"Ow! I'm always wondering if I'm losing body parts when I use these things!" Samos stated, once more showing his dislike for the Warp Gates that rested between his hut and the domains of the other three Sages, since the siblings were sure Gol didn't have one, and even if he did Samos sure didn't want them to know about it, but instead of landing on his knees, on his rear, or even on his face, he had, in some odd twist of events, emerged from the Warp Gate upside down, something that caused all of them to pause for a moment before helping him back onto his feet, which was promptly followed by him noticing the mess that was all over the room they were standing in, which also surprised Keira, Twilight, and Starlight as they took a moment to stare at the mess, "Holy yakow! The Red Sage's lab looks even worse than what we found when we arrived in the Blue's lab!"

"Well it definitely looks as though there's been a struggle here." Keira remarked, where she looked down at the ruined lab and the trashed furniture that was around them, including a few scorch marks that make her wonder if the Red Sage used his staff to fend off an attacker, as her father had said that the Red Sage's staff was capable of loosing bursts of Eco power that mimicked Yellow Eco's fireballs, which might have been invented by the Sage in question, though as she said that she found that she wasn't the only one that noticed something odd, as Twilight was staring at a scorch mark that looked more like the magical blasts that she and her sisters used, or possibly a powerful fireball. 

"I'd hardly call it 'struggle'... would you call it a struggle, dear sister?" a voice said, to which everyone paused for a moment as they heard someone else speak, something that was followed by them glancing at the ceiling of the hut and found the odd male figure from Misty Island floating in the air, who happened to chuckle for a moment at the mention of a 'struggle', even though Samos seemed interested in what they were seeing right now, no doubt due to seeing the real thing and not having to rely on Twilight's sketch of the figure in question, making the sisters and Jak wonder if he might know the figure that was in front of them or not.

"Certainly not. The Red Sage gave up with so little effort... it wasn't fun at all." another voice replied, where the mysterious female that the siblings had seen with the male on Misty Island floated down to the right of the first figure, though she did seem a little more interested in her nails and left hand for a few moments, before she focused on everyone that was right in front of her, though it sure looked like she was focusing on one person in particular, Samos to be exact, which made the siblings and Keira what was going on and it made each of them keep their guards up in case another fight broke out, given that the lady just admitted to doing something to the Red Sage.

"Gol? Is that you? You've finally gone off the deep end, eh?" Samos inquired, though this came as a shock to the rest of the group, as they weren't expecting the mysterious pair that the siblings and Daxter had seen on Misty Island to be the Dark Eco Sage and his sister that they were looking for, to figure out how to reverse the transformation that Daxter suffered not all that long ago, since it had only been a few hours since Jak, Daxter, Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy went to the island, which had been against Samos' desires, before he focused on the pair for real, "And Maia, I told you two that excessive exposure to Dark Eco would have an impact on your appearances, and possibly your minds as well... why does no one every listen to me when I talk about this? Now, what have you two done with the Blue and Red Sages?!"

"Hold on a minute... are you telling me that these two are Gol and Maia?!" Daxter exclaimed, apparently deciding that this was more important than asking about the whereabouts of the missing Sages, even though Twilight was sure the Yellow Sage was missing as well since no one had heard from him for some time as well, and his lab was further beyond where the Red Sage had set up the hut they were currently standing in, before he dropped to the ground and gripped the sides of his head for a moment, as if now realizing that there was no way for him to get help with his situation at this point, not if the guy they were looking for was the guy trying to take over the continent, "I'm doomed! I'm going to be stuck in this furry form for the rest of my life!"

"Wait... that annoying voice!" Maia said, where her tone shifted to one that seemed to be annoyed by something, not that Keira was all that surprised by that due to the fact that most of the villagers in Sandover Village had been annoyed by all of the things Daxter had done, before falling into Misty Island's Dark Eco vat anyway, but even as she thought about that she also realized something at the same time as the siblings that were standing near her and her father, when they were much younger, probably when Jak and his sisters were six and she was two, Daxter caused a pair to move out of the village due to everything he did over the course of four to six months, if her memory was right, "You?! You're that annoying boy who kept breaking into our house, generally during the most inappropriate moments, and eventually drove Gol and I to move to the north... granted it was also in part due to our research into the mysteries of Dark Eco, even if Samos disagreed with what we were doing, but you were definitely a cause of us making that decision!"

As Maia said that, and glared at Daxter for a few moments, the sisters found that she seemed to be getting ready to loose one of her Dark Eco powers on their friend and it was in that moment that Twilight raised a hand as a transparent wall just appeared between them and the Dark Eco Sages, because at this point she figured that with whatever power Maia had she must have learned everything her brother had discovered over the years, meaning they had two Dark Sages instead of the one they had known about and that meant there was no knowing what was going to happen next, something that caused both Gol and Maia to pause for a few seconds as they stared at the group, before they both formed what appeared to be glasses made out of Eco and placed them over their eyes not a few seconds later.

"What the... what did you three do? Your magical signatures are far stronger than they had been the last time we took the time to study you... granted its been a few years, but this is shocking," Gol commented, something that caused the group to raise their eyebrows for a moment as they heard that, even though Twilight was more interested in everything that he and his sister might have to say on the matter, especially once someone told them how they unlocked the change in their magical powers, and lowered the wall as Maia lowered her arms, something that was prompted by them floating down to where the group was standing at the moment, "Fascinating... we know the three of you were capable of firing blasts from your hands, and forming small walls and platforms, but this is different... Twilight, these Eco Lens are showing us a drastic increase in your power, by a multiple of ten at the very least, and Starlight is either a nine or nearly a ten as well, with Cozy being at least a seven... possibly even a eight if she's lucky... its like something was limiting part of your powers and it only just loosened to allow such a drastic increase in power."

"Not only that, but the annoying one has had a drastic change as well... falling into that vat didn't cause a mutation, rather it allowed his body to evolve," Maia added, as while she had been interested in Twilight and her sisters, which also made Twilight more interested in what she, Starlight, and Cozy were capable of, she also raised her hand to stop Samos and the rest of the group from saying anything about what she had just revealed to them, no doubt due to knowing that someone would tell her that she was wrong about something, "and Samos, before you go on and on about how we're 'obsessed and that we're blindly tampering with things we shouldn't tamper with', these Lens are capable of revealing so much to us, like seeing one's cells and being able to determine a number of things at a glance: aging, energy generation, Eco metabolism, and so on... and, based on what I'm seeing, this miserable child has had those factors increased beyond the normal limits of a Human, save for Jak anyway... especially since his sisters don't fit the normal either... and there's no telling what else he might be capable of, as we'd need to do more than just a quick glance."

"You're talking as if his body was naturally keyed for this sort of evolution, and that falling into that Dark Eco vat allowed it to happen to him, rather than his descendants, say, five hundred years or so in the future," Twilight said, showing that she was following their logic on the matter and that she understood it, which Keira and Starlight, at the very least, were doing as well, even if Samos was having a hard time seeing such a thing happen to Daxter, though that brought a smile to her face for a moment as she glanced at Daxter, who frowned for a moment as he took in everything he had learned, as while it sounded like he might have gained some sort of power, that power was slumbering inside his body and there no way of knowing how to awaken it, "Daxter, at some point we need to do some tests and see what sort of skills you might have, as this is an opportunity that we simply cannot pass up!"

"This proves that our studies are right, Dark Eco is the key to unlocking the mysteries of our world," Gol stated, which just showed the group that he and Maia might have been more interested in what they had seen while they were studying the sisters and Daxter, though at the same time both he and his sister seemed to have an idea about something as they took a moment to glance at Twilight and then nodded to each other, before floating back up towards the ceiling of the hut, as if they were going to leave the Red Sage's lab and return to wherever it was that they were working in, since that happened to be one of the mysteries none of them knew the answer to, "Come, dear sister, its time for us to return to the Citadel and put the finishing touches on the Precursor Robot, so we can open the Silos at long last and access the vast stores of Dark Eco stored within... oh, and Twilight, we'll be back for you before then, since we wouldn't want anything to happen to one of our like minded researchers."

Samos paled when they heard that, even though Twilight was surprised that they would be coming for her at one point in the near future and that the Dark Eco Sages determined that she was like them in some manner, the latter confusing her for a moment since she didn't care about flooding the world with Dark Eco, but before anyone could react the pair used their powers and teleported out of the Red Sage's hut, to which Samos declared that the siblings should do what they did in the past, explore the regions, take out the Lurkers, and recover Power Cells, while he and Keira worked on figuring out where exactly the Citadel rested and how many Power Cells were needed to move forward, where the siblings nodded not a few seconds later and headed out, to help whoever was near the Red Sage's hut and then split up once they figured out how many regions were near this point.
> Precursor: Problems on the Mountain
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first thing that Jak and his sisters did was, instead of heading into the rest of the lava filled crater that was around them, head back to the passage that would allow them to head back to Mountain Pass if one of them wanted to do so, though the only reason Jak was doing this was because he recalled hearing a sound over here and, sure enough, they found the first Scout Fly box of this area resting nearby, which they smashed and recovered the little robot that had been trapped inside it, before they headed back to the hut's opening and crossed the bridge to cross over to the rest of the crater, as there was a cave nearby and they felt that they might as well explore it. What they discovered were a couple of Precursor Orbs resting near the opening of the cave and, more importantly, the second Scout Fly box, before the siblings came to a stop for a moment as each of them noticed what was at the end of the cave's passage, as there was a massive blue gemstone, roughly about the size of the Red Sage's hut, though standing in front of the stone were two Humans that were in the middle of digging it out, or at least one of them was digging and the other seemed to be watching, either due to taking a break or just not wanting to get his hands dirty at all. One of the figures was short and plump, with muddy clothing that was typical of a miner, while he had a blue colored mustache that looked like the ends had green tips and he had some sort of metallic helmet on that had a light attached to it, either a candle or a torch of some kind, though that was when Twilight noticed he was wearing a pot on his head, not the best protection in her mind, while the other figure was a taller and thinner looking individual, with an even dirtier pair of clothing than his partner was wearing, and he had a bird cage on his head, with a small yellow bird inside it, and it was easy for them to see that one of the individuals was carrying a shovel and explosives while the other carried a pickaxe that looked unused. For the most part it looked like neither of the figures even noticed them standing there, just watching what they were doing and taking in the size of the gemstone they were trying to dig out, before eventually noticing that there were a few more shadows in this area and then realized that the siblings were standing there, something that caused the shorter one to walk over and declare that there was nothing for them to see and that they were going to be leaving soon as well, only for his partner to reveal the truth of the matter, that this was a 'priceless' gem.

What the siblings discovered, over the course of a few moments of talking with the miners, were the names of the pair, as the short one was called Gordy and the tall one was Willard, with the bird having no name apparently, before discovering an interesting piece of information from them, that they were in possession of four Power Cells and that Gordy didn't care for them all that much, however he was interested in the gemstone they were digging out and he did like Precursor Orbs, something which lead to Jak asking if he would be willing to make a trade with them, ninety Orbs for a Power Cell, which was the standard trade amount, something that caused Gordy to agree and informed them that they had twelve more years of digging to figure out how to transport the gem, so the Power Cells would be here whenever the siblings wanted to claim them... which also allowed them to see that Willard was doing all of the work and Gordy was just the boss, leading to the siblings leaving so they could search the rest of the region.

Once they were done talking to the pair of miners, who went back to their tasks, the siblings left the area and headed to the right of the cave, from the direction of exiting it to be exact, and found a few more Precursor Orbs that brought them down to yet another Precursor Oracle, who told them to 'seek the pure light, for the answers resided within it', which did make the group wonder if there was a sixth type of Eco, even though Twilight made sure to inform them, as they took a moment to smash the third Scout Fly box resting near the Oracle's position, that Light Eco was just a myth and that there was no evidence of it existing in the first place. Even Samos, one of the most respected Sages, didn't believe in Light Eco at all, so the only reason such a thing existed was because Dark Eco was believed to be one of the darkest and evilest types in the world and that there had to be a polar opposite, one that shined a light on the darkness and countered it, but at this moment there was nothing in the world, save for the Precursor Oracles, that even made reference to Light Eco, and those were sketchy at best, despite what they just heard from the one they had talked to, though once Twilight explained all of the reasoning behind the decision Jak left the area the Oracle was in and resumed exploring the rest of the crater with his sisters following after him. From there they headed over to an area that seemed to have a pair of trolley tracks that had a number of carts riding on top of the metal, which was resting on a number of earth pillars and must have been made by the Red Sage at one point, even though the carts appeared to have a leveled top so someone could stand on them and use one of them to reach one of the other regions of this place, though from what they could see there might be two paths to clear out, one to the left of the tracks and one to the right, with the latter heading over a bunch of lava and would be far more dangerous to all of them, but that was when Twilight pointed out a gondola that was resting nearby and they took a moment to follow the rope path the wooden contraption was attached to, complete with a piston device that happened to be the power source, where they found that it lead to the highest point of the mountain, or part of it, and they could have sworn that they saw snow up there. Based on what she was seeing it appeared that either Keira needed to fix it or they had to find some Power Cells from the local area, something that prompted Jak and Daxter to turn around and head back into the cave the miners were in, to which the sisters followed him and found that he was trading over the majority of their Precursor Orbs to the pair, earning them the four Power Cells they had, much to Gordy's annoyance, no doubt since he had no desire to talk to them or something, before they returned to the gondola and the Communicator appeared, which caused them to pause once more.

"Hey guys, I just finished repairing the gondola... seems that Gol, Maia, and the Red Sage caused something to disconnect during their struggle and all I had to do was reattach it to repair the machine," Keira said, confirming Twilight's thoughts on the matter, that they didn't need to get some Power Cells to power it up, even though it had been a viable idea at the time, but this just meant that none of them had to return to where Gordy and Willard were mining, rather they would have to come back when they had enough for both of the Oracle's Power Cells, where they remained silent for a time as Keira spoke up once more, "Also, my father and I were able to figure out what the Red Sage had discovered before he vanished, as there is a group of Lurkers up in Snowy Mountain trying to excavate some frozen Dark Eco stores, frozen walls that just so happen to have a bunch of Dark Eco containers trapped inside them, and there's another group inside Spider Cave, looking for Dark Eco crystals to harvest for Gol and Maia, so my father wants you guys to take both groups out and, at the same time, destroy any of the crystals you find inside the cave... and, by my calculations, we'll need seventy-two Power Cells so power the zoomer's heat shield so it can withstand the heat of the Lava Tubes, which happens to be the quickest way for us to get to Gol and Maia's Citadel, if my readings are correct."

"Don't worry, we'll take care of the two groups and gather the Power Cells," Jak replied, to which the Communicator quickly returned to their pack and the four of them stood there for a moment, as now they knew the names of the regions and an idea of what was happening right now, or at least what the Lurkers were trying to do in the name of Gol and Maia, though he knew that his sisters were also thinking about things and it was when he decided on what they might do before heading for the Citadel that their main targets were doing their work in, "How about this: Twilight and I can tackle Snowy Mountain, and deal with the Lurkers going after the Dark Eco stores, while Starlight and Cozy, you two can see what's lurking inside the Spider Cave and take down the minions that are trying to get their hands on those crystals."

His sisters glanced at each other for a moment, where it was easy for him to see that none of them were disappointed in what he had said and they quickly agreed with his suggestion, to which he and Twilight climbed onto the wooden lift that was connected to the series of ropes, where the press of a button allowed them to head all the way up towards the top of this area, leaving Starlight and Cozy to make their way across the rest of the rock pillars and finish off everything that was in Volcanic Crater, minus the Oracle's two Power Cells, before heading into Spider Cave, to which the siblings and Daxter focused on the area they were heading towards, since they knew the others would be able to handle whatever was inside the region Jak suggested that they check out.

"Are you worried about what we discovered?" Jak asked, figuring that he could take some of the time and talk with Twilight before they reached the end of the path and entered Snowy Mountain, even though it appeared that this was going to be a rather short trip since the gondola was moving a little faster than what he thought, but even as he said that he could tell that his sister knew what he was referring to, the fact that Gol and Maia said that they would be sure to come get her just before the Dark Eco took over the world and wiped out everything that it touched, or at least that was according to what Samos told him, his sisters, and Keira all the time when he brought up the subject, and he wanted to see if she was maybe worried or terrified of the prospect of being kidnapped by the pair of Dark Eco Sages.

"Of the possible end of the world? Of course. Of being kidnapped by Gol and Maia, as a potential research partner, not as much as you might think I should be," Twilight replied, showing Jak that she was more worried about the possible end of the world if Gol and Maia got their way and that she wasn't all too worried about herself at this point, especially since she could fight back and might have a better chance to defend herself since neither of the Dark Sages seemed to know that much about the magic that she, Starlight, and Cozy wielded, before she sighed as the gondola came to a stop, giving them a chance to see what was in front of them, "Come on, let's get to work and worry about this later... those Lurkers aren't going to stop themselves, after all."

Jak nodded as they stared out at the area that was in front of them, as Snowy Mountain lived up to its name due to all of the snow that littered the ground and sides of the mountain that he and his sister could see, not to mention the fact that a cave rested beyond where the gondola came to a stop, there happened to be a cylinder shaped object in the ground, one that had a shield of some kind around its base and part of its upper form, and a small snow boulder rolled down beyond a gap they would be jumping over, so they would have to be careful about traps being in this area as well, before they got off the gondola and stepped down into the snow. Twilight took a moment to gather their surroundings and nodded as she checked the temperature regulator that she and Jak were wearing, which would help them with the cold of the mountain, and discovered that they were working quite well at the moment and seemed to be doing their job, though finding some jackets or something would be best, as she knew the regulators had a certain period of time they could be used for and if they were still on the mountain when the devices deactivated they would feel the full force of the icy wind. One thing the siblings discovered was that there was a Lurker slumbering in the snow near the gondola, one who had blue skin and had a beast pelt on its head, which wasn't what Twilight was expecting to find and meant that they couldn't take the attire from the Lurkers who called this place home, though that didn't stop Jak from punching their foe in the face and knocked it onto its back, where Twilight took a moment to study it before labeling it as a Snow Lurker, due to its skin coloration and the fact that it had been sleeping in the snow, and she even blasted another one as it sprung out of the thick snow. Based on what they could see there were a number of Snow Lurkers slumbering in the snow and the sound of battle drew them out into the open, as the siblings found that there were at least ten of them in total, but that didn't stop them from punching and kicking their foes into the ground, allowing them to focus on the shield cylinder, where Twilight took a look at it and determined that one of them would have to crouch down and perform the high jump to get over the highest point of the shield, to land on top of the device, though at the same time she wondered if she could form some steps to get up over it as well, something she would have to try out at some point in the near future.

As such Jak performed the technique in question and got over the shield wall, allowing him to grab some Orbs at the same time no less, before landing on top of the device, which just seemed to deactivate it entirely, before they headed over to the gap that was in front of him and discovered that there was a Scout Fly box, the first of Snowy Mountain, which Jak took a moment to smash as Twilight roll jumped over to the other side of the gap, picking up some Orbs as well, even though it didn't take him long to catch up with her as they took in what was around them, as there was a Lurker shaped foe just walking around near their location, though it was made entirely out of ice, so it was like Gol and Maia had found a way to empower the ice to move on its own, even though this seemed more natural than anything else. As such Twilight decided on calling it an Ice Monster, since it clearly wasn't a Lurker based on the normal one that was wandering nearby, and when it noticed them it encased its body in a number of spikes before rushing at them, only to slam into the shimmering shield that Twilight created not a few seconds later, causing the creature to stagger and lose its spikes, which put a few small holes in the barrier and told Twilight that she needed to work on this spell, before Jak lashed out with a punch and quickly smashed their foe to pieces. With the Ice Monster down Twilight kicked the nearby Lurker in the side of the head, taking it out in seconds, before she and Jak started to climb up the ramp that was to the left of the cave, which allowed them to see that there was a path heading downwards, though for now both of them carefully avoided the rolling snow boulders that were coming their way and collected the various Precursor Orbs they found, along with two shield cylinders, where Jak just used the high jump to get over the barrier while Twilight used her steps to do the same thing, allowing them to collect a few more Orbs and deactivate two more devices, though what purpose they served Twilight was still trying to figure out as she and Jak continued moving forward. At the end of the ramp the siblings discovered a few things, off to their left rested a Lurker in charge of a device that appeared to be drilling into an icy wall, the ones Samos discovered earlier, though off to their right rested a Red Eco vent, which was interesting to see, and beyond that rested a large fortress which appeared to be made out of wood and metal, and came equipped with a gate that they were going to have to lower at some point, as Twilight wasn't sure she could teleport inside there while having no idea what the interior looked like, so finding a switch or a button to lower the gate was added to their list of things to do in this region.

What they did was take a moment to empower themselves with the Red Eco that was coming out of the nearby vent and walked over to the other side of the snow boulder path, where it was easy to find a pair of Lurkers, a small rabbit that did look like a rabbit had been merged with a Lurker and the Ice Monster, so a Snow Bunny in Twilight's eyes, and one more foe that was sitting on the machine that was trying to smash through the ice to get at the Dark Eco canisters that they had been tasked with acquiring, though it didn't take their foes long to notice that they were walking towards them and rushed over towards the siblings. Jak dodged an incoming attack and punched the Lurker that was coming at him in the face, while Twilight kicked her first foe in the side of the face and blasted the Snow Bunny with a very small magical blast, but as soon as that was done, and all three of their foes were taken care of, which was actually four since Twilight found a third Lurker off to the side and just kicked it into the nearby wall, the heavily armed Lurker that was on top of the ram jumped down to where they were standing and lifted a wooden shield to defend itself, even though it might be possible it was using it as both a weapon and a shield, but that was when Jak rushed forward and punched his way through the shield, which had to be due to the Red Eco, and he punched the Trooper Lurker into a different wall to knock it out. Once that was done, and they were sure the stronger looking foe wasn't getting back up, Twilight took a moment to channel her magic and quickly crushed the machine the Trooper Lurker had been sitting on until their arrival, making sure that nothing was left for their foes to use to get at the Dark Eco canisters that were trapped in the ice, but once that was done they headed back to the snow boulder ramp and walked down it for a few moments, before turning down the path to the left and started to pick up all of the Orbs that were in their way as they drew closer to the fortress. Along the way they had to jump down a few steps made out of stone and found a few foes, a Lurker and a Snow Bunny, and simply punched them in the face to knock them out, allowing the siblings to access the bridge that was in front of them, even though it had a number of missing planks that they would have to jump over and some ice that they needed to be careful of, though staring at that allowed Jak and Twilight to see that there was a path heading down to where a few Snow Lurkers were standing, including a Scout Fly box, a Red Eco vent, and a path leading to another Trooper Lurker, who was far away from the others.

Jak proceeded to head down the side path and dropped down into the area that the Snow Lurkers were wandering around in and spun around so he could kick the two of them into the ground with ease, while Twilight followed after him and took a moment to blast the Snow Bunny and another Snow Lurker that emerged from the thick snow, which was when both of them empowered their bodies with Red Eco, from a nearby vent, and crossed over a few snow covered steps that just so happened to bring them to where the Trooper Lurker was working on another ice covered wall, to which they took down the pair of Lurkers that were guarding it and then smashed through the Trooper's defenses, with Twilight making sure to smash the ram to pieces as well. Once that was done they headed back up the path and reached the ice covered bridge that would allow them to reach the fortress, where Jak smashed the second Scout Fly box as they moved through the area it was in, but so far neither of them had seen a button or switch to access, not that they were expecting it to be easy to find in the first place, where decided to head to the left of the bridge, after collecting some Precursor Orbs along the way, and tackle the couple of Lurkers and Snow Bunnies that happened to be outside the main gate, which was when both of them found a decent number of shield cylinders they needed to power down. One thing that Twilight noticed as they moved to the left of the gate was that there was an Ice Monster off to the right, along with some steps that happened to head to a higher point and a moving Precursor platform that might go to the same area, not to mention some trees that seemed like they might be hiding a cave from their view, something they would have to check later, before turning her attention to the foes that were in front of them as she and Jak punched and kicked their way through the couple of Lurkers and the pair of Snow Bunnies, and as soon as they cleared out an area they either used the high jump or Twilight's platforms to get above the shields to power the cylinders down, even though neither of them really had any idea why they were doing it, they just felt that it was the right thing to do. The only thing they had to worry about was the fact that the ground was also covered in ice and it made them slide around a little, something both of them got used to rather easily and even used it against any enemies that were around the outside of the fortress, before discovering that there was another bridge, missing a couple of planks, which lead over to a pillar of earth that was also covered in ice, while also having a few shield cylinders and one or two Lurkers guarding the area, not to mention a Snow Bunny or two.

With the area that the two shield cylinders were resting in cleared out, and they were sure of that, the siblings jumped over the next bridge, which rested to the left of the end of the area, and found a cave that another shield cylinder rested in and, more importantly, a moving Precursor platform that brought them to an area which happened to have a massive amount of Snow Bunnies jumping all over the place, a number of Dark Eco boxes, and a Red Eco vent that the siblings used a few seconds later, empowering their bodies as they lashed out at the enemies that were in front of them and the boxes that were resting near them, where Jak and Twilight found that they were able to smash their way through the Dark Eco boxes without taking any damage and reached the highest point of the area, which earned them a Power Cell. After clearing out the cave of enemies and Dark Eco boxes, where the latter was just to ruin Gol and Maia's plans by depriving them of more Dark Eco, the siblings headed up through the small passage that was near where the Power Cell had been resting, picked up a few more Precursor Orbs, and then found an opening which dropped them down near the front of the fortress, over on the side that lead back to the start of this region, to which they crossed over the bridge and headed off to the right this time around. While they did that Twilight was able to see that her observations were correct, there were two paths for her and Jak to take, both of which seemed to lead to the same area from where they happened to be standing, though the first thing they did was tackle the Ice Monster that burst out of the snow near one of the shield cylinders, where they repeated what Twilight had done the first time, focus her power into a shield that would tank the incoming attack and, once their foe hit it and was stalled, Jak would lash out with his fist and smash the creature to pieces, which was exactly what happened when the creature tried to rush one of them into the ground. Once the Ice Monster was beaten Twilight jumped over the nearby barrier and turned off the machine that she and Jak had been skating towards, the siblings headed over to the area that a few Precursor platforms were moving in and smashed open the third Scout Fly box that was over there, adding it to the list of the ones they had saved so far, before taking out the four Snow Lurkers that had been slumbering in the snow, using their fists or their feet, or hooves in Twilight's case, to knock them into the walls or the ground, which was followed by them using the platforms to access the area that they were connected to, including a few Precursor Orbs that were resting near some of the ice the pair of platforms were floating against.

When they reached the upper level the siblings found that there were a few shield cylinders, where Twilight had to wonder what sort of name the Precursors gave them in the past, a number of Precursor Orbs, a couple of wooden chests, a bridge that was connected to a new area, some metallic boxes they couldn't break, a Red Eco vent that seemed to be out of place, if there weren't any Trooper Lurkers in the area, and some transparent ice that they had to skate on, to which Jak watched as a smile appeared on Twilight's face as she looked down and stared straight through the ice, where he did the same as Daxter followed his lead, to which they focused on what Twilight was looking at.

"Twilight, is that what I think it is?" Jak asked, as there was a large Precursor structure under where they were standing at the moment, one that he had only seen one of in the past and that was back in the temple in the Forbidden Jungle, which happened to be where they found the switch for all of the Blue Eco vents that were scattered throughout the continent, so since this one seemed to have yellow energy dancing around it's open center, similar to what they had seen previously, he had to assume that this structure was the switch that would activate the Yellow Eco vents and allow the four of them to go back into Mountain Pass to blast the one rock boulder apart to see what it was hiding.

"I'm positive that its the switch to active the Yellow Eco vents," Twilight replied, where she noticed a path resting near the structure which appeared to be connected to the small cave she had spotted earlier, meaning that if she and Jak went into the cave they would be able to access the ancient structure and open all of the Yellow Eco vents, or at least the ones that hadn't been sealed off in the past, which should boost their chances of overcoming Gol and Maia's plans, how she wasn't entire sure right now since they had no idea what the Citadel looked like, but finding this was a stroke of good luck and it made her wonder what else she and Jak might discover while they were exploring Snowy Mountain, even if Daxter was the only one who didn't seem all that interested in what they were doing.

As soon as the siblings were done talking Jak punched the Lurkers that were nearby, both normal and Snow based, right in the face and kicked them in the chest to take them out, while at the same time Twilight blasted the Snow Bunnies and took a moment to punch a Lurker into a wall, and once those foes were taken down they went to work turning off the couple of shield cylinders that were in this area, something that, when the last one was deactivated, produced a Power Cell that Jak grabbed to add to the collection, before they turned a corner near the bridge and found a third Trooper Lurker and a small group of Lurkers, three to be exact, guarding it. The Lurkers definitely weren't happy to see them and rushed over to the area that the siblings were standing in, where Twilight blocked an attack with a bit of magic and then blasted her foe right in the chest while Jak spun around and knocked both of his targets down as well, opening the way for the Trooper Lurker to jump off its machine and walk towards them with its shield raised, but, like the last two times they fought these foes, it was a simple matter to smash through the shield with a Red Eco empowered punch and then a kick finished it off, which allowed Twilight to crush the machine in question, though not before a Power Cell was ejected from it, meaning there were only three Trooper Lurkers in Snowy Mountain and they wouldn't have to worry about running into another one as they finished off the rest of the region. With the Power Cell gained Jak looked over the ledge of the area they were in and found that the side path that Twilight had spotted, which would also lead someone up here, happened to have a Scout Fly box and he carefully traversed the path to reach the area it was resting in, allowing him to free the fourth little robot from its box and then return to where his sister was standing, who smiled and nodded her head, as she was pleased by what they were doing at the moment, before they turned their attention to the bridge that happened to be resting nearby and found that it was like the others in this place, it was missing some planks. On the other side of the bridge, after navigating the couple of gaps that were in the way, Jak, Twilight, and Daxter found one of the trans-pads resting below them and that Keira had sent the Flut Flut to them, meaning it should be able to help them make their way through the region and figure out where a button or switch for the fortress gate was located, and unfortunately it was impossible for two of them to ride on the bird's back, since it was built for a single rider and not two, to which Jak stepped to the side and beckoned for his sister to take the reins this time, to which Twilight nodded and climbed onto the Flut Flut's back.

Interestingly enough it didn't buck her off or anything, rather it let out a few sad chirps, like it wanted Jak to ride it into the area that was in front of it, rather it just refused to move and caused Twilight to sigh as she switched with her brother, as she had the feeling that this was due to the bird seeing Daxter as it's 'mother' and likely thought Jak was the father, or at least that was what she felt the Birdwatcher would say if she witnessed this, to which Jak made sure the Flut Flut was okay with this setup and it let out a happy chirp once more, where it walked off the trans-pad and showed both of them that it was ready for a new adventure. Twilight watched as Jak moved it over to a Precursor button that was nearby and it, when pressed into the ground, activated a number of Precursor platforms that floating above the massive gap that was in front of them, meaning the Flut Flut was here to help them navigate this part of Snowy Mountain, to which he raced off not even a few seconds later and Twilight watched as he and the Flut Flut jumped over the gaps between the platforms, collecting a number of Precursor Orbs along the way, and once he was gone Twilight sighed and retraced her steps so she could stare at the large gate that prevented her and her brother from entering the fortress. A few minutes later she smiled as the gate started to lower into the ground, opening the way for them to actually get inside the structure that had to have the rest of the Scout Flies, Orbs, and Power Cells of this place, save for the cave that went to the Yellow Eco switch, to which she took another few seconds to see if anything else happened and noticed Jak riding a Precursor platform up to the area that was in front of the fortress, something that caused her to move from where she had been standing and climbed down the side path and walked over to where her brother was standing, who informed her that he had found a good number of Orbs during the little adventure he and the Flut Flut had been on and, more importantly, it ended in him finding the button that lowered the gate, not to mention a Power Cell that was added to their collection. Jak did mention that there was a trans-pad at the end of the path that he let the Flut Flut rest in, so it could be teleported out of here and returned to the Birdwatcher, so Twilight didn't have to wonder about that at all, though once he was done explaining what he had seen to his sister, and she had a chance to write a note of it down, the siblings turned towards the interior of the fortress and walked over the top of the gate that was now resting in the ground, as it was time to see what else was in this area and what else they could claim.

The first thing that Jak and Twilight discovered was the fact that there was a metallic structure opposite of where the gate was located, there were a number of machines that the Trooper Lurkers had used on the ice walls, and number of small wooden platforms that would allow them to navigate around part of the area, and a tall wooden tower that might be an observation area for the Lurkers, though there were three Precursor Caches resting in front of them, just below the center of the tower, but for now they needed to find some Blue Eco to access them, hence the reason both of them turned their attention to the Snow Lurkers that burst out of the snow and rushed over to take both of them down. The six enemies that came at them didn't do much to either Jak or Twilight, as both of them dodged the incoming attacks with some ease and retaliated with their own attacks, kicking and punching them in the face in the process, and Twilight even blasted one in the chest to knock it out, before they discovered that every foe was taken care of and proceeded to climb up the steps that were attached to the wooden tower and found some Precursor Orbs along the way, which were collected and added to their collection. At the very top of the structure, where a scout could look out at everything that was around the fortress and see any enemies coming their way, they found a few more Orbs, a Scout Fly box that happened to be the fifth one of the set, and a bit of Blue Eco that would allow one of them to jump down and open the Caches up, so what happened was that Jak smashed open the Scout Fly box and freed the little robot that had been trapped inside it, while Twilight gathered the bit of Blue Eco and jumped down to where the Caches rested, using her platforms to safely do so, before opening the containers and found that each of them, as she expected, had a number of Orbs inside them and she quickly collected all of them, before heading back up to where her brother was waiting for her. As soon as the siblings were back together they walked over the nearby path, near the top of the tower, and found that it lead to a bunch of platforms that rested on the walls of the fortress, which would allow them to reach the metallic one and, eventually, the area that a Power Cell rested in, hence the reason they carefully walked over the platforms, collected a few Precursor Orbs along the way, and used a few moving platforms and some spin poles to progress through the area, even though they had to be careful due to some of the sections having ice on top of them.

Eventually Jak reached the end of the part of the path they had been following and noticed a button that, when activated, moved a platform into position that would allow him and Twilight to bypass the first half of the set if they fell down during their attempt to clear out the second half of the path, though before doing that Twilight jumped up to the highest point of the metallic base and found the sixth Scout Fly box resting on top of it, to which she smashed it and freed the little robot, which was around the time that Jak started moving over the obstacle course that was resting in front of him and headed for the Power Cell's resting place, something that didn't take him too long to do and added another Power Cell to what they and their siblings had collected so far. From there they headed over to the small cave Twilight had seen behind the couple of trees and found that it was almost entirely covered in ice, there were Precursor machines moving in and out and a platform or two moving from place to place, so what the siblings did was have one of them move forward at a time, or at least until a certain point, and Twilight jumped over the first gap, mostly since Jak had tackled a challenge on his own and had left her behind for a time, though she remained careful as she skated towards the machine and passed it the monent it moved back into the wall it was attached to, before jumping over to the platform that rested near it. From there she let the platform bring her to the next part of the course and jumped up after avoiding another ancient mahcine piston, as she was sure that these were pistons, similar to the ones found in Dead Man's Gorge, save for the shape since these ones had a curved shape to them, before crossing a few ice covered sections to reach the area that happened to be near where the second platform was located. Once she reached the second platform, and successfully navigated all of the obstacles that were in her way, she jumped to a ledge that brought her right to the Yellow Eco machine and beckoned for Jak to come if he wanted to, where her brother tackled the obstacles that she had moved through and eventually came to a stop as soon as he was near her again, to which they collected the rest of the Precursor Orbs that were in the area and walked up the sides of the machine, allowing them to step right onto the top and claim another Power Cell, which also pressed the top of the device into the ground and activated the Yellow Eco vents across the continent, confirmed by Keira when she took a moment to tell them the good news with the Communicator, which brought a smile to their faces for a moment, before both of them used a slide to get down to where the cave entrance was and left the area.

From there they headed back to the start of the region so they could access the small cave they had ignored earlier, where it was easy for Jak and Twilight to see that it had a number of Orbs for them to collect, a Yellow Eco vent that they took a few seconds to empower themselves with, the seventh Scout Fly box that produced a Power Cell for them, a few metallic boxes that were blasted apart with the fireballs, and even a metallic box which was frozen into one of the walls was blown up as well, earning them another Power Cell for their efforts, which put a smile on their faces as they returned to the gondola and headed back down to Volcanic Crater, as they were curious if Starlight and Cozy had completed clearing out Spider Cave as well, and if they did there was one more area for them to check out before heading to the Lava Tubes and taking the fight to Gol and Maia at long last.
> Precursor: Lurkers in the Cave
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

While Jak and Twilight headed up to Snowy Mountain, to deal with the Lurkers that were up there, Starlight and Cozy did the same thing on their end, where they carefully jumped over the couple of rock pillars that were in front of them and found a Scout Fly box, the fourth of Volcanic Crater, which happened to rest on top of the last pillar that was near the first of the two trolley tracks that were in this area, where Cozy smashed it to pieces and freed the little robot that was trapped inside, just like they had done while exploring the other regions of the continent, before jumping over to the stone platform the tracks were on and waited for a cart to come their way. Not a few moments later a cart rolled down part of the track and came towards the sisters, where they took a moment to wonder how in the world they were moving since none of the carts had any sort of equipment attached to them that would allow such a thing to happen in the first place, before jumping onto the cart and just stood still as it moved along the track it was attached to, one that happened to be missing a few planks that did nothing to stop the carts, and it allowed them to pick up a number of Precursor Orbs for their efforts, which were added to their collection like everything else they had collected so far. Instead of jumping over to the next track and a cart that lined up with them, like one would have expected them to do, the sisters remained on the cart as it headed back to the area the pillars were resting near, as there happened to be another Scout Fly box over there and they were planning on collecting it as well, before heading over to Spider Cave and clearing it out like the other regions of the continent, and it wasn't long before they reached their destination, to which Starlight smashed it to pieces as well and freed the fifth Scout Fly, which had to mean the sixth and seventh were near the entrance to Spider Cave. Of course that meant that both of them had to wait for another cart to come their way, so they could get over to the other tracks, as there were actually three tracks and not the two they originally thought they had seen, but the wait was short and they were able to get onto a cart without delay, even if it meant that Starlight and Cozy had to wait for a few moments so their cart lined up with one from the next track so they could get at some Precursor Orbs and then, at some point, jump over to the last track, which was where they would find the entrance to their destination.

"So, Gol and Maia are going to be looking to kidnap Twilight at some point," Starlight commented, referring to what they had seen and learned when the pair of Dark Sages invaded the Red Sage's lab earlier, to talk to them and revealed a bit of what happened to Daxter, though she was still coming to terms with the fact that the person they had been looking for, to fix their friend's condition and possibly reverse it, was actually the villain that they needed to bring down to save the world, even though it was possible that they might be able to talk some sense into both of them, despite the fact that she didn't think such a thing was all that realistic, "should we be worried about her safety?"

"No, I'm sure Twilight will be able to defend herself against the Dark Sages when they try to kidnap her, if they try it before we reach the Citadel anyway," Cozy replied, because she had faith in her sister's abilities, especially since tampering with the Blue Sage's machine had allowed the three of them to boost their magical powers to new heights, but she could also see why Starlight would be a little worried about Twilight, as both Gol and Maia had been able to overwhelm both the Blue and Red Sages, and possibly the Yellow Sage as well, so it was possible that they would have the power to do the same to Twilight when they came for her, provided all four of them weren't together anyway, which was when the cart returned to the point where both of them could jump over to the third track and they did so without delay, "however, we should focus on clearing out Spider Cave and get to the Citadel, as that way we can ensure Twilight remains safe by being with her, Jak, and Daxter in case Gol and Maia show up."

Starlight nodded as they reached the entrance of Spider Cave and found that there was one of the Scout Fly boxes outside it, the sixth for Volcanic Crater, so while she climbed off the cart and smashed the box, to free the little robot, Cozy stayed on it for a few more moments and that was followed by Starlight hearing the sound of something breaking, meaning that the seventh Scout Fly box had been found and it gave them a Power Cell, something that was confirmed when her sister returned to where she was standing and quickly showed her the artifact in question, which they stored inside their pack before facing the stone pillars that lead down towards the entrance of Spider Cave. One thing the sisters found out in the next few moments, before walking and jumping down all of the rock pillars that were in front of them, was a small metallic box that rested on a thick rock pillar on the other side of the tracks that had brought them over to this area, one that was out of reach and likely required them to blast it open with some Yellow Eco, based on everything that they had seen during their previous ventures so far, so both of them headed down the rock pillars and readied themselves for whatever sort of enemies and obstacles that would be inside the region they were heading towards. Not a few moments later they found a few clusters of blue crystals, similar to what both Gordy and Willard were mining, save for these being a lighter color, that were glowing at the moment and seemed to be lighting up the region the sisters would be exploring, which Starlight took note of and found a loose one that snapped off of the cluster it was attached to, something she wrapped up for later since she knew Twilight and Keira would be interested in studying this sort of thing, before she and Cozy focused on the rest of the area that was in front of them as they moved forward once more. After seeing the crystals the sisters found out what was in the next section of the cave, where it was easy to locate a number of long wooden support beams that seemed to be positioned in such a way to hold up the ceiling of this section of the region, before they noticed that there were a good number of large red colored centipede creatures, complete with long sharp legs that allowed each of them to move along the length of the beams, chewing into the wooden beams at the moment, where one of them pulled its face off the beam and roared for a moment, revealing that these were Lurker Centipedes, given the same yellow eyes that the other types of Lurkers possessed, metallic collars, and spurs on their jawlines, which was followed by it returning to its feast, even if the sisters knew they had to be looking for something at the same time.

"Great, Lurker Centipedes... what will Gol and Maia think of next?" Starlight inquired, though that was mostly due to the fact that these creatures had to be the results of the experiments the Dark Sages had done in the past, to understand all of the things that Dark Eco could do, but at the same time she made sure to make a few notes about what she and Cozy were seeing right now, since Twilight would be interested in hearing about these creatures and the fact that they were in the middle of eating the support beams that were holding the ceiling up, though it was in that moment both of them took a step forward and discovered that there was a lot of Dark Eco in this area, a massive pool which would be dangerous if one of them fell into it.

Cozy, on the other hand, said nothing to that as they noticed a smaller creature, a black furred spider that had red tips on its legs and a red Dark Eco hazard symbol on its back, descend into the area they were standing in and spat a dark ball of energy at them, where Starlight used a bit of magic to counter the attack as Cozy jumped into the air and smashed the Lurker Spider into the ground, as it was in that moment that they noticed it had a collar around its neck and the same odd jawline that the other types of Lurkers possessed, though at least this informed them that there were two types of foes for them to keep in mind as they explored the rest of this region. One thing they discovered as they moved forward was that there were a few small stone circles that had webbing on them, meaning each of the circles seemed to be jump pads for whoever moved through this region, to get over the Dark Eco pit and gaps, though as the sisters did that they noticed a few Lurker Spiders scattered throughout the rest of the cavern they were in and make sure to take out those that got near them, as in Starlight blasted the next one with a bit of magic and it collapsed in a matter of seconds. After that it only took both of them a few moments to reach a ledge that required them to roll jump over a gap and then double jump over the second one, before using the high jump technique to get up to a level that was above them, which brought them close to where a Yellow Eco vent was resting, and a wooden beam with one of the Lurker Centipedes chewing away on it, but that was when they noticed that there were a number of Yellow Eco vents and that there happened to be a second one nearby, one that had a few Orbs and the first Scout Fly box of the area, the latter being smashed by Cozy as Starlight took out a Lurker Spider that came down to attack her. Once that was done the sisters separated from each other and stood on two of the Yellow Eco vents, allowing their bodies to be empowered by it as they focused on the various support beams that were in danger at the moment, something that was followed by them loosing a number of fireballs into the air as both of them focused on different beams, where the Lurker Centipedes shrieked when they were hit for the first time and fled for a moment, heading into the wooden structures they had been chewing on, before emerging a few seconds later to crawl down the sides of the beams, which just ensured that the sisters could blast them apart from where they were standing and free the structures from what had been happening to them before their arrival.

Truthfully this challenge seemed to be rather easy for the pair, as the Lurker Centipedes were rather easy to hit from the area that they were standing in and one thing both Starlight and Cozy noticed was that each of their targets dropped a few Precursor Orbs when they were blown apart, either meaning they had devoured some before eating the wood or they just happened to have some on them before this point in time, but that wasn't all they gained since defeating the last of the Lurker Centipedes caused a Power Cell to fall in the center of the cavern, something both of them would claim later, once they were near the bottom of the cavern again. Another thing both of them noticed was that there was a massive crystal cluster resting on a wooden platform near the top of the cavern, which had to be one of the Dark Eco crystals Samos had told them about due to the dark purple coloration it had, but to reach it normally one would have to traverse a number of moving platforms that were around the area it happened to be resting in, not to mention a Power Cell that seemed to be the prize for reaching the end of the platforms, but to make things a little easier Starlight loosed a blast into the air and it smashed into the side of the Dark Eco crystal, blowing it to pieces in seconds. From there she and Cozy regrouped near a couple of moving platforms and jumped on them to move forward, allowing the platforms to bring them closer to where the path leading to the Power Cell rested, even though Cozy did find a side area that had a few Orbs for her to collect and regrouped with her sister not a few moments later, allowing them to carefully use the path the platforms used, or rather one of them jumped along the platforms and the other loosed a few magical blasts into the air to take down any Lurker Spiders that dropped down to bother them. Eventually Cozy reached the Power Cell and grabbed it, adding another to the collection they were gathering, before she regrouped with Starlight once more, who found another Scout Fly box and took a moment to free the second little robot from its resting place, which was when they headed for an opening that brought them to another large Dark Eco pond, complete with a few moving platforms, a Dark Eco crystal that rested up on a ledge, a side path that had a few metallic boxes that needed Yellow Eco to bust them open, and what appeared to be a second tunnel that they suspected had to be the way forward, or at least in the direction they were heading in, since Spider Cave likely had two or three branches for them to explore.

As it turned out there happened to be another Scout Fly box in this area, so while Cozy smashed the third container open and freed the little robot inside it, like they had done in the past, Starlight just blasted the Dark Eco crystal and blew it to pieces in a matter of seconds, though Cozy also found a bit of water beyond another small pool of Dark Eco and used the roll jump to get over it, only to blow up a Dark Eco crystal that was at the bottom of the water, which was when she met up with Starlight near the second tunnel and started to head down it, even though it quickly became clear that it was much darker in the cavern it brought them to. Fortunately there happened to be a crystal cluster nearby that, when struck, since Cozy originally thought it was an enemy with the shadow it cast, lit up and caused parts of the area to light up, though one thing they noticed was that the glow faded with time and that they would have to be fast while exploring this cavern, not that it mattered in the grand scheme of things since Starlight had a solution, in the form of a glowing white ball that just floated above their heads, which happened to be a spell she had been working on with Twilight and this seemed like the best chance she had to test it out in the field. Cozy agreed, since it meant they didn't have to worry about the crystals and the light they gave off, so the sisters were able to move forward and carefully followed the path that was in front of them, while at the same time keeping their guard up since they knew there had to be enemies in this cavern, and sure enough it didn't take them long to figure out that they were right as a Lurker Spider dropped down from the ceiling, remained there as it hung on its thread, and spat at them like the rest of its type had done since they entered Spider Cave, to which both of the sisters dodged the attack and Starlight blasted it into the wall, leaving Cozy to clean up the couple of eggs their foe had dropped before more enemies burst out of them. From there the sisters followed a thin wooden path, sort of like the one that rested in Boggy Swamp, and had to be mindful of the gaps that were in the walkway, a few ledges that they had to jump up to, and some sections that were attached to devices that would cause them to fall and drop whoever was on top of them into the darkness, before resetting a few moments later, but the trap platforms didn't work on the sisters as they navigated their way around them and reached an area that had another part of the wooden walkway that they had to jump up to move forward, not to mention a side cavern which housed another Dark Eco crystal that Cozy blew up from where they were standing.

With that done she jumped up to where Starlight was waiting for her, which was resting near the fourth Scout Fly box that her sister smashed open within seconds, and they moved forward once more, this time waiting on a spinning contraption to bring a wooden platform over to the edge of the walkway that they were currently standing on, something that took no time for them to overcome and were able to jump over to a new part of the path they were following, though while they did that both Starlight and Cozy noticed some carvings on one of the pillars in the middle of the cavern and suspected that it was the Lurkers that had made them, or the pillar was made of metal and it was Precursor related, as it was hard for the two of them to tell without getting closer, which was hard without creating any platforms. As such they took note of where they found the artifact or carvings for later on, so Twilight would have an idea where it was located, before continuing on with their exploration, even though the next platform had an even thinner section that required them to go one at a time and jump a gap before waiting for a small lift to come down so the sisters could use it to get up to the higher point of the walkway, which brought them to another spinning contraption and two drop traps, the latter Starlight and Cozy jumping over them with ease to get to the moving platform, where they waited for a few moments before crossing over to the next part of the path. It was then that they found another lift to take them even higher in this cavern, making both of the sisters take a moment to wonder how tall this section of Spider Cave was and if there was something they might have missed at this point, before they accessed the lift and rode it up to the highest point it brought them to, which happened to be yet another spinning contraption that allowed the sisters to reach a structure that had a Power Cell at the highest point, even if Cozy had to spin around for a moment upon landing on the lower level of the wooden structure, to knock out two small Spider Lurkers and opened the way for them to jump up to where the Power Cell rested. With that claimed, and a few Orbs were picked up as well, both Starlight and Cozy stepped onto the nearby lift, which had a set of three Orbs on top of it, and it took them downwards for a few moments, allowing them to return to the start of the darkened section of this region not even a few seconds later, to which they climbed off of it once it came to a stop and retraced their steps so they could get back to the main cavern once more, to find the next tunnel they needed to take.

Of course one thing they did was pause for a moment and empower themselves with Yellow Eco, or at least Starlight did it, and doubled back to blast the couple of metallic boxes they had left behind, just to get at the Orbs that were inside them, before she and Cozy descended down into the massive cavern and walked over to the various wooden beams, collecting all of the Precursor Orbs that were scattered around the area, both placed before their arrival and from when they took down the Lurker Centipedes earlier, and Cozy made sure to pick up the Power Cell that came from beating the creatures that had been chewing on the beams, before Starlight located the fifth Scout Fly box resting near the tunnel that would let them access the other portion of this region. There was a Lurker Spider guarding the tunnel in question, who couldn't do a thing against Cozy's punch and Starlight's magical blast, before they doubled back for some more Yellow Eco to blast open the couple of metallic boxes that rested in the tunnel that was taking them towards another pool of Dark Eco, which just so happened to be where another Dark Eco crystal rested and Starlight blasted it apart with a magical blast, though as the crystal shattered in the following explosion, like all of the other crystals they had smashed so far, this one flung a Power Cell out of the smoke and Cozy caught it, adding one more to the number the two of them had recovered so far, meaning they only had to smash five Dark Eco crystals and no more than that. From there the sisters used a set of web platforms to cross over the rest of the pool that was in front of them and found a little vent opening that seemed to be sealed, making them wonder what they needed to do to open it or if it might be an exit of some sort, like what Jak and Twilight had found in the Forbidden Jungle, according to what they told Starlight and Cozy earlier, but for now there was no telling what to do with it and just used a web pad that was beyond the vent to get to a walkway that had a few gaps in it, where they found a new type of Lurker waiting for them, or rather it was drilling into the wall and happened to be ignoring the direction both of them were coming from. This type of Lurker seemed to be wearing yellow-green colored armor over their body, which could be either made out of metal or leather, while it's hands were gripping a massive drill that was digging into the wall it was facing, and it had some goggles over its eyes and a pair of gloves over its hands, but it pretty much looked like the rest of the Lurkers they had seen in the past, with the odd mouth and the metallic collar around its neck, before they labeled it as a Driller Lurker and found that there was a gap between them and it, something that, when it spotted them and started to walk over towards the sisters, caused it to stop for a few seconds and then throw its drill down at the wooden walkway in frustration when it realized that it couldn't hit one of them from where it was standing.

That was followed by Cozy dashing forward, as in jumping over the gap and landing near the Lurker in question, and then kicked the Driller Lurker in the back of the head, knocking it right into the nearby rock wall and taking it out in a matter of seconds, though once that was done Starlight joined her and they continued along the walkway, not to mention jump over another gap in the wood, before they stopped and stared at the area that was in front of them right now, as there was a massive metallic creation halfway trapped in stone, though the familiar beak or nose structure revealed that this had to be a Precursor Robot, giving them an idea of what Gol and Maia were working on inside their Citadel, and right now it looked like the various Lurkers were in the middle of excavating it. Giving the Dark Sages a second robot would be a bad idea, due to what they wanted to use the first one for, though stopping the Lurkers was what the sisters were going to be doing as soon as both of them reached the lowest part of the wooden walkway, though as Starlight and Cozy walked down to the area in question one of them noticed that there was a lot of Dark Eco under the walkway and, more importantly, there was a set of three web pads that lead right to a small tunnel that had a Yellow Eco vent, a bunch of Spider Lurker eggs, and a number of metallic boxes, something that drew them to the vent since this seemed to be what the vent they had spotted just a few moments ago was connected to. Sure enough, when the sisters gathered the Yellow Eco into their bodies and started to move forward, small Lurker Spiders burst out of the eggs and out of small openings before rushing at the sisters in an attempt to take them down, to eat them since the spiders were different from the rest of the Lurkers, but that didn't stop Starlight and Cozy from opening fire on their enemies and the metallic boxes, though the latter were a secondary goal since there happened to be a Power Cell in this area as well, something they were planning on collecting before heading over to where the Precursor Robot rested. At the end of the tunnel, which was easy to get to given that two of them were firing upon their enemies and forced them to retreat into all of their hiding places, Cozy quickly collected the Power Cell as Starlight threw up a barrier in the main part of the tunnel and sealed the openings so the two of them could access the bit of Blue Eco that rested nearby and stepped onto the jump pad that was just in front of where the Precursor artifact had been resting, where they jumped through the air and returned to the tunnel that contained the vent that they had walked by earlier, confirming their thoughts before they headed back to the robot's resting place.

Once they returned to where the Precursor Robot rested the sisters headed up a ramp that the Lurkers had set up earlier and started to deal with the various Driller Lurkers that were in this area, as there happened to be one resting near a pair of spinning drills that rested in the middle of the walkway, even though they collected a few Orbs along the way, and just stood there for a moment as it noticed that they were standing there, causing it to throw a fit when it couldn't reach them and lowered its defenses for a few seconds, leading to Starlight blasting it in the side with a magical blast and caused it to fall to the ground for a time, allowing them to move forward once more. From there the sisters found another foe working on some of the stone that was covering part of the robot and drew it over to them once more, even though it ended with a gap and caused it to open its guard so Cozy could punch it in the face and knock it out, though once that was done she and Starlight took a moment to find a few Orbs resting on the rock structure to the left and collected them, before find a bunch of Yellow Eco clusters nearby, above the various sections of the walkway and opened fire on a few targets not a moment later, which were metallic boxes and a few Driller Lurkers, which would allow them to fully explore the rest of this section of Spider Cave. One obstacle that the sisters had to avoid were what appeared to be cylindrical furnaces, which they could see came in pairs, that were blowing fire out into the air in short bursts with short pauses following the bursts, though the first thing Starlight and Cozy did was turn to their left and head down the path that had a number of floating Precursor Orbs above them, which had been contained inside metallic boxes before both of them blasted them open, and they took a moment to collect the Orbs that were over there before ignoring the lift that was over there, mostly because there was another part of the level they were on that needed to be explored and they found a lift that took them down to where a good number of Orbs were resting, something they were getting used to at this point, which was followed by them taking a moment to wait for the lift to come back down before using it to head up to the level they had been on earlier, to break a few more metallic boxes, collect a number of Orbs, and then free the sixth Scout Fly. From there they used the lift to head up to the next level that was above them, where they found a new wooden walkway that had a few Lurkers, both the first normal type they had seen at the start of this adventure and a pair of Drillers as well, guarding the area, but along the way Cozy noticed that there were a number of swinging poles to the left of where the Precursor Robot rested and it seemed to lead the way up to a Power Cell, something she and Starlight would collect at some point, since they were focused on just clearing out the area and collecting the Orbs that were in front of them.

On the highest level they found a few drop traps, a spinning contraption, and some spinning poles, so the sisters split up for a time and moved along the two paths that were in front of them, collecting the Precursor Orbs that were along their paths, before Starlight found that she had to carefully navigate some spinning poles to get to the highest point of the large Precursor Robot and found a Power Cell up there, while Cozy walked along the path that was below her sister and found the seventh Scout Fly box, allowing her to free the robot and collect another Power Cell for their efforts, before they took a few moments to climb down to the area that contained the large number of spinning poles. What they discovered was that there was a jump pad resting below the spinning poles and it had a bit of Blue Eco near it, before Starlight and Cozy found a number of Precursor Orbs resting along the path, not to mention a few more bits of Blue Eco, so what happened next was that Cozy jumped down into the lower area that the jump pad rested in and used it to launch herself up to the poles, which she proceeded to use to collect all of the Precursor Orbs that were resting along the way and draw the other bits of Blue Eco into her body, before she came to a stop as she reached the point that the Power Cell rested in. With that done she used the power that was inside her body and powered up a small platform which rested near her, one that brought her back down to where Starlight was standing and they started to retrace their steps back to the start of this region, as at this point there didn't seem to be anything else for either of them to collect, in terms of Power Cells or Precursor Orbs, but that was when they remembered the one odd metallic box just outside the Spider Cave and Starlight determined that one of them could take a moment to gather some Yellow Eco later and rush towards the area it rested in, as there should be more than enough time for someone to get a single shot off if her calculations were correct. When the sisters returned to the entrance of the cave, however, Cozy made her way up to the closest Yellow Eco vent and took a moment to empower her body for what they would be doing next, though once she was ready, and Starlight replicated Twilight's platforms to make sure the descent was safe so she didn't break her legs by jumping off the edge, Cozy quickly descended to the area that her sister was standing in and together they headed up the rock pillars that they had used to get down here some time ago, but when they reached the edge of Spider Cave Cozy blasted open the metallic box and they found that it just so happened to contain another Power Cell, one that they claimed without delay.

From there the sisters headed back to the Red Sage's hut, as they were curious if Jak and Twilight were done with Snowy Mountain, and found that the gondola was back down in this area, meaning their siblings had to be here somewhere, but that was when they noticed the pair emerging from the passage that would take them back to Mountain Pass, which did make them interested in what sort of reason could have driven them to head back into that area, hence the reason that they walked over to where Jak and Twilight were standing, noticing that neither Samos or Keira were inside the hut and determined that they must have gone back to Sandover Village for a time, before focusing on their siblings for a moment, who seemed interested in what they had done as well.

"I thought you guys were going to explore Snowy Mountains," Cozy commented, referring to what Jak had told said before they separated from each other some time ago, where she understood his reasoning for wanting their sister to come with him and not head into Spider Cave, even though it was nice to see that Twilight was just fine and that Gol and Maia hadn't kidnapped her, which would have given them even more motivation to storm the Citadel and wreck the place, which made her and Starlight wonder if their siblings had managed to clear out the region Jak wanted them to explore, which was very likely given what they had done in the past.

"Indeed we did, and we cleared it of Power Cells, Precursor Orbs, and Scout Flies, and we found the Yellow Eco switch at the same time," Twilight replied, though she understood where Cozy was coming from, as she and Starlight likely thought she and Jak would be standing near the gondola or even the entrance to the Lava Tubes once they completed clearing out Snowy Mountain, instead of coming from Mountain Pass, before she took a moment to lift the Power Cell she and Jak had claimed just a few moments ago, "a switch that activated all of the sealed Yellow Eco vents throughout the world, and one of the vents in question, according to Jak, was back in Mountain Pass, so we took a moment to use the zoomer and flew back to the area it was resting in, where we took in some Yellow Eco and blasted open the boulder that had sealed off a short path that brought us to another Power Cell."

"That's good to hear, and we've cleared Spider Cave in the same manner that you guys did with the region you tackled a few minutes ago," Starlight said, though even as she said that she suspected that they had more than enough Power Cells at this point in time, as they were likely above eighty at this point and that meant Keira could empower the heat shield on the zoomer once more, causing her to glance back at the hut that they had walked by to reach this point and took a few seconds to tilt her head as she thought about something, "I guess all we can do now is retrieve the Oracle's Power Cells, which will clear out the rest of Volcanic Crater, and then tell Keira we got the Power Cells she wanted us to grab, despite the fact that she and Samos aren't inside the hut right now."

Jak and Twilight nodded their heads, as they had noticed the same thing and assumed that Samos and Keira must have returned to Sandover Village to get ready for the last push of this adventure, since once they reached the Citadel that the Dark Sages were working in there would be no turning back, and it would allow Keira to work on the zoomer before they acquired the Power Cells she needed to boost the power of the heat shield, before the four of them moved forward and headed over towards the area that the Oracle was resting in, but they were stopped when they heard the sound of the Warp Gate being used and found that Keira was now inside the Red Sage's hut, minus her father, and she had a worried look on her face, which informed them that something bad had happened.

"Guys, I've got bad news... its father, Gol and Maia have captured him," Keira stated, confirming the suspicions that all four of the siblings and Daxter had when they noticed the worried look on her face, though that was around the time that Jak moved forward to comfort her for a few moments, just so she didn't break down or something, while Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy turned their heads a little and focused on the area the Lava Tubes rested in, as it seemed like it was time to head down it and invade the Citadel, before Keira glanced up and found that all of them were calm and collected, which came as a surprise to her, "How can you be so calm at a time like this, especially when all four of the Sages have been kidnapped and there are rumors of a Lurker army gathering to take over the rest of the continent?"

"Because we're heroes... okay, these four are the heroes, but the point stands," Daxter replied, as while the idea of using the zoomer to fly through the Lava Tubes didn't sit well with him, and neither did facing Gol and Maia if they were able to overpower and imprison all four of the Sages, he knew that Jak, Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy were more than prepared for whatever was inside the Citadel and that was why they were so calm, as this was totally normal for them at this point in time and he was getting used to seeing them fight the enemies that were around them, "besides, we were going to save the other three Sages anyway, so adding Samos to the list really doesn't change things for us at all... though we still need to traverse the Lava Tubes, and we have all the Power Cells you asked for."

Keira nodded and took the pack that contained all of the Power Cells they had collected so far, but before she jumped into the Warp Gate again, to power up the zoomer's heat shield, Jak had her stop for a moment as he walked over to where the Oracle rested and paused for a few seconds, where he returned a few moments later with the last two Power Cells from Volcanic Crater, meaning that there was nothing more for them to collect in this region and that it was time for him and his siblings to focus on the Lava Tubes, to which Keira moved through the Warp Gate and went to work on the heat shield for a time, with the siblings heading for the entrance of the passage north. After riding the carts for a few moments the four of them came to a stop at the edge of what appeared to be the start of the Lava Tubes, an area that was similar to what they had found in Fire Canyon, only this place was much more intense and each of them had to wipe some sweat off of their foreheads as Twilight checked each of their temperature regulators to make sure they could handle the heat that was in this area, because this region was much hotter than what they had seen in Fire Canyon and the ground was cracked in so many places that meant a normal zoomer would melt in a matter of moments. Jak determined that he and Twilight could do this, more in the sense that having a magic user with him to deal with any Dark Eco related hazards was useful and less in the sense that having her with him meant that Gol and Maia would be unable to kidnap her if she happened to be more of a moving target, though Starlight and Cozy didn't seem to mind the idea, since they knew that they would be able to join them and tackle the Citadel as a family, especially since they had no idea what might be waiting for them in that region or what sort of traps the Dark Sages might have set up for them. Not a few moments later the siblings watched as Keira sent the zoomer over to where they were standing, or the trans-pad that was below to on a whole piece of ground, and quickly used the Communicator to inform them that it would now withstand eight hundred degrees now, but they would have to hit the cooling balloons along the way to make sure the heat shield didn't break apart and the zoomer didn't melt at the wrong point, though once she relayed the message she made sure to mention switching on the Warp Gate that might be on the other side of the Lava Tubes, as they had no way of knowing if one even existed, before she had the Communicator return to the bag it was usually contained inside.

With that done Jak and Twilight climbed onto the zoomer and raced forward as Starlight and Cozy returned to the hut that was resting nearby, to wait for them to find out if there was another Warp Gate or not, where they made sure to follow the path that would bring them to Gol and Maia's Citadel and discovered that there was a thinner path Jak had to fly over to, due to gaps appearing on either side of the rock path, so to make sure he could focus on the path, and not fall over one of the sides, Twilight did something she and the others hadn't done before this point, she weaved her magic through the air and snatched all of the Precursor Orbs that rested along the way, just so Jak didn't have to worry about them. Jak, on the other hand, focused on smashing through the metallic boxes that were in the way, bursting through the cooling balloons to make sure the heat shield didn't overheat, and jumped over the gaps that happened to be in their way while avoiding any open lava pits, as the pits in question would really put some pressure on the zoomer, though he made sure to hit the pair of Scout Fly boxes that were in the way, even though Twilight also intended on yanking the first and second one over to them in the chance that Jak took a different route than what the box was on, even though he smashed through the first one and kept moving to ensure the heat shield stayed up. From there they flew through an area that had three Yellow Eco vents and found that there was a machine that seemed to be drilling into the middle of the section of the Lava Tubes that they were entering, an area that had a much of metal that Gol and Maia must have prepared a long time ago, before they fell to Dark Eco anyway, and they knew that Keira would want to look at this place at some point, before they noticed that the heads of the drill were more of a spherical shape, which didn't seem to be all that effective based on what they were seeing, but both had to wonder if this had been designed to help power the Precursor Robot or something. Either way that didn't stop the siblings from opening fire on the drill and pretty much blew apart all five of the spheres that were attached to it, though as the last one fell a nearby gate opened up and revealed the path that would take them to the next part of the region they were in at the moment, so what Jak did was pause as Twilight grabbed all of the cooling balloons with her magic and lined them up so he could fly through all of them, something that reset the gauge of the heat shield within a few seconds before he jumped through the opening and continued down the path that was in front of them.

After Jak moved through the opening Twilight noticed that there were a few hazards in their way, one of which happened to be a pair of metallic spheres that were hanging from the ceiling of the tunnel and were resting between them and the three metallic paths the zoomer would have to fly on after jumping over a small gap, though Jak took the one that was on the right and crossed over another path so he could smash into the third Scout Fly box, freeing the robot so it could be claimed by Twilight as he focused on making sure they didn't fall off the metallic platforms that would allow them to reach the Citadel's entrance. It didn't take them all that long before Jak brought them to an area that had a large number of Dark Eco containers moving from one side of the tunnel to another, which both Jak and Twilight assumed had to be sending the containers to the area that Gol and Maia lived and worked in since they moved out of Sandover Village, to supply the pair of Dark Sages with a decent amount of Dark Eco for their experiments, though thanks to the Yellow Eco vent that was in front of them meant that they could either blow up the containers, to deprive the Dark Sages of the substance they were in desperate need of, or Jak could curve around each moving crate and they could fire on some of the spiked spheres that were in this section of the tunnel. Jak focused on blasting his way through the crates while Twilight did the same on some of the spiked spheres that were in their way, before they located the fourth Scout Fly box and smashed it to pieces, similar to what they had done to others they had found so far, which was followed by Jak flying forward to tackle the rest of the area, even if he had to smash through some cooling balloons to make sure the zoomer didn't overheat at all. At the end of this area, before they reached a descending section of the tunnel, Twilight found a fifth Scout Fly box and blasted it with a bit of Yellow Eco, so she could grab the little robot with her magic a few seconds later, before her brother leapt into the air and they soared for a few seconds, allowing them to fly over some of the metallic fragments of the path they were heading down, which brought them to another area with spiked spheres, cooling balloons, and the sixth Scout Fly box, though the reason it was odd was due to the fact that it was close to the previous one, so Jak flew through it and let Twilight collect the little robot as he moved forward through the tunnel that was in front of them. That was followed by Jak dodging the Dark Eco crates as Twilight fired upon the various spiked spheres that were resting in their way, clearing the way for her brother to fly forward without having to worry about too many hazards, even though they grabbed the seventh Scout Fly box that was along the way as well, allowing them to claim the Power Cell the robots had collected earlier.

After that they used the ramp that were resting in front of them and jumped into the air, allowing the zoomer to soar over a decent sized gap and land outside a massive Precursor Door that both of them suspected that had to be the entrance to Gol and Maia's Citadel, due to a Warp Gate that had to belong to the Yellow Sage, so Jak made sure to park the zoomer on top of the trans-pad and collected yet another Power Cell for their efforts, even if they might not need them anymore, to which Twilight climbed off and activated the Warp Gate that was what they were looking for, something that was followed by Starlight, Cozy, and Keira jumping through it a few moments later, even though the siblings nodded to each other and faced the Precursor Door, as it was time for them to face whatever challenges Gol and Maia had in store for them, before facing the Dark Sages themselves for the fate of their world.
> Precursor: Tackling the Citadel
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The moment Jak, Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy were ready to move forward, and enter the Citadel that Gol and Maia worked in, the four of them moved forward and found that the Precursor Door opened without anyone needing any Blue Eco this time around, which was good since there was none on this side of the structure, to which the siblings moved up the steps and entered the short tunnel that was revealed to them once the door had opened itself, where they found a few glowing panels on either side of them and kept their guards up as they pushed through a second door... one that lead them to a massive chamber, which just so happened to have a number of platforms and wooden paths, not to mention a massive Precursor Robot that had a bunch of metallic alterations added to it, which was protected by a Dark Eco barrier, no doubt to prevent any harm from coming to it.

"I knew that it was only a matter of time until you four showed up!" a voice stated, where the siblings watched as a metallic cage floated down to where they were standing, which was near the edge of a circular platform, and found Samos waiting inside it, though there were a number of Dark Eco bars keeping him trapped inside the cage so he couldn't do much to aid the siblings in their mission, or even free himself for that matter, which was understandable given that Gol and Maia went through a lot of effort to capture him and the other Sages and that they didn't want their captives to escape before they completed their plans to awaken the Precursor Robot, which was when Samos started talking again, "Are you four ready for the greatest challenge of your entire lives?"

"As ready as we can be, given everything we've done to reach this point," Jak replied, though at the same time his sisters nodded their heads to show that they agreed with him, while Daxter remained silent since there wasn't much he could do at this point in time and was leaving everything in the lands of his friends, to which the four of them glanced around part of the massive chamber they were in and noticed a few more metallic cages that seemed to be on a level that was above where they were currently standing, ones that were either larger or thinner than Samos' cage, which had to be where the three other Sages were being held captive, before he focused on Samos again, "Is the situation as bad as all of us assumed when we heard what Gol and Maia were planning?"

"I'm afraid so!" Samos stated, where he took a moment to raise his staff and carefully beckoned to the rest of the massive chamber that they were standing in right now, even if he was focused on the three Sages that understood and channeled the other three types of Eco that were common in their world, but one thing Jak and his sisters noticed was that the pair of Dark Sages were nowhere to be seen, meaning they were either still working on the robot or they were carefully watching what was going on right now, before making themselves known to the siblings, "As you know, Gol and Maia kidnapped the other Sages so they could drain their energies to power this abominable machine, and then, when I returned to my hut so I could prepare myself for what we might find inside this Citadel, they ambushed me and imprisoned me as well, though I did put up quite the fight, given that Keira must have discovered my now ruined hut... also, you should free the Blue, Red, and Yellow Sages first, as they have been here the longest and, if they aren't freed soon, I'm afraid that they might perish if too much time passes. Also, the Dark Sages have set up a barrier around their modified Precursor Robot, a barrier that is powered by the same type of Eco that they studied, which will require the power of the other three Sages mixed with my own to even bring it down, especially given how strong our foes are, but you four will have to be quick, as this robot is just as Gol and Maia said, it is the only thing that can open the Dark Eco Silos and, more importantly, there is no telling when they'll return to power their monstrosity up and bring ruin to our world... so hop to it!"

The siblings nodded their heads, even though Samos didn't have time to say anything else as the cage was moved to what looked like a higher position inside the Citadel, near the ceiling to be exact, to which they stepped forward and started to see what this place had in store for them, even though Cozy smashed a Scout Fly box that was resting nearby, as none of them had been expecting to find any of the little robots in this place and it just meant Keira either found this place earlier and forgot to tell them about it, which was unlikely, or Gol and Maia snatched the little robots and scattered them around the Citadel, just to toy with the siblings when they arrived to save the Sages. One thing the siblings discovered, as each of them jumped over to a spinning platform that wasn't attached to anything at the moment, was that there were a number of basic Lurkers just walking around some of the wooden walkways that were scattered throughout the Citadel, but there weren't any large group of enemies for them to deal with and they jumped over to the path on their right, where it wasn't long before Cozy kicked a lone Lurker in the face, knocking it into one of the support beams that seemed to be holding up all of the wooden walkways, a metallic one that meant they wouldn't have to worry about something breaking on accident, before they continued moving forward, only to stop at the peak of this part of the walkway. The reason for them stopping at the top of the first walkway was because there was a metallic button resting right in front of a gap that connected to a walkway that moved away from the twisted Precursor Robot's resting place, even though the other walkway had another button on it, though when Jak pressed it into the ground they watched as a number of square shaped Precursor platforms emerged from the depths and fit into place between the two walkways, meaning it was like a bridge of some kind for him and his sisters to use to reach the other side, even though Twilight had to raise her eyebrow for a moment as she found that each of them had colors on top of them, as some had a red square on top, a few had a blue coloration, others had a green color, some had a yellow coloration, and some had nothing. When Jak stepped on the bare square platform that was in front of him both he and his sisters watched as it and the other bare platforms fell back into the depths of the Citadel in seconds of Jak walking on it, causing him to quickly jump over to another one that had a blue color, causing those ones to fall as well, before he jumped to a green one and then crossed over to the other walkway, causing the platforms he hadn't touched to fall into the depths, meaning that only one of them could cross the platform riddled bridges at a time, meaning he and Daxter could watch as Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy did what he just did a few moments later.

Once the four siblings were back together they walked down the walkway each of them had crossed to and Jak punched a Lurker that was in front of them right in the face, knocking it right into the wooden ground before they noticed the first of the three paths that would eventually allow them to access the areas that the Sages were being held in, though this path had a bunch of fragmented platforms that seemed to lead the way forward, as while each of them were circular in nature the first one in front of them seemed to have been cut into fourths and two of them, in a diagonal sense, had been pulled out at some point in the past, even though they were likely moved to another part of the Citadel, something that caused Daxter to scratch his head for a moment as he and the siblings stared at the platforms.

"Out of curiosity, why did Gol and Maia feel the need to install these platforms in their Citadel?" Daxter asked, because that was something that had been bothering him since they entered this place and talked with Samos for a few moments, who he had decided to ignore in favor of getting the siblings closer to taking down the Dark Sages before they ruined the world they called home, but now he decided that it was time to voice his question before Jak and his sisters moved further into the Citadel and were preoccupied by whatever traps Gol and Maia might have set up for them, where he noticed that they had paused for a moment while they stared at the area in question, "I mean, thanks to all of the Dark Eco that they have access to, they were able to give themselves the power to fly through the air and teleport from place to place, so why did they feel the need to install all of these platforms, which can be rather hard for novice adventurers to navigate through, in the first place... especially since most of them don't seem to be connected to anything!"

"Hm, this is a guess on my part, but I have two ideas: the first being that the arrangement of the platforms helps channel all of the Eco energy from the Sages to the Precursor Robot," Twilight replied, as the question had piqued her interest and she was willing to explore it for a few moments, though she had to be quick about responding to Daxter's question so they could continue exploring the Citadel and determine which path they wanted to tackle first, even though since they were near the Red Sage they might tackle this one first and then focus on the other two paths at some point in the future, which was when she focused on the question once more, "the other idea, which is the more logical option of the two, is that Gol and Maia designed the inside of their Citadel with the express purpose of using the Sages and tampering with the Dark Eco barrier as steps to activate the twisted Precursor Robot... meaning that, if the latter idea is right, we'll be doing some of the hard work for them, so they won't have to expand their own power to do so."

"You know, this is one of those times where I hope that your wrong about what's going on," Starlight commented, as she, Jak, Cozy, Keira, and Daxter had a good amount of experience when it came to Twilight and her speaking her mind on all of the things that she studied, more in the sense that the majority of her more dangerous opinions on things seem to be the way things go, so if her sister said that Gol and Maia might be using them to free the Sages, who will then fire at the Dark Eco barrier to bring it down, there was a seventy-five percent chance that she was right, at the very least, with a ninety-five percent chance of her being right at the max, hence the reason that each of them were silently hoping that this was one of the rare moments where Twilight was wrong about what they were looking at.

Twilight shrugged for a moment, as while she shared Starlight's sentiments about her response, because this happened to be one of those rare times where she wished she was wrong about thoughts on the matter, she had the feeling that this was one of those times where she hit the nail on the head and that the Dark Sages were using them to enlist the aid of the other Sages to lower the Dark Eco barrier, though since there was nothing they could do about this, since if they stood still and did nothing three of the four Sages would die, they crossed over the gap that was in front of them and landed on one of the halves of the spinning platform. Starlight jumped over to another walkway, one which rested to the left of the area her siblings were standing in, and smashed the second Scout Fly box to free the little robot that had been trapped inside it, while at the same time Jak leapt over to a new pair of sectioned platforms, these ones being on two different levels, as the first was on their level and the other was above them, while moving in a different pattern than the fragments they had just been standing on, so he had to double jump to reach the second part of this particular platform, though while he did that his sisters followed after him. From there they noticed something interesting, there were a number of platforms that had fragments missing, as one was split up like the one Jak happened to be standing on at the moment, while another was just half a circle and a third was three-fourths of a whole platform, though eventually the couple of fragmented platforms lead to a somewhat thick metallic walkway that went from one side of the tunnel they were following to the other side, which had one of the buttons in the middle of it and the third Scout Fly box, the latter of which was smashed to pieces and they freed the little robot that had been trapped inside it, before they focused on the area that rested in front of them, as each of them were interested in what they were about to tackle next. It was in that moment Cozy activated the button and they watched as a large number of square platforms raised from the depths of the Citadel, forming a pathway for them to take and use to access the next part of the area that Gol and Maia worked in, but from what they could see there was a number of missing sections and whoever went forward first would have to be careful, since stepping on a single color would cause all of the other platforms that shared that color to fall into the depths not a few moments later, so instead of the siblings tackling it at the same time, given the platform spell Twilight could use and Starlight could likely replicate it, Cozy decided to step forward and see just how bad this area actually was.

Cozy carefully jumped forward and picked the color she wanted to land on, knowing that all of them would drop as soon as she did that, but it did allow her to discover that they were close to the other end of the path the platforms connected to, which was interesting and meant she wouldn't have to wait for the others to catch up with her, before she jumped over to the next color and made sure to pick up all of the Precursor Orbs that were in her path, even though there were one or two that had to be missed and would be picked up by her siblings when they tackled this path, and then crossed over to the end of the path, allowing the remaining platforms to fall and her to take a small break by a Precursor Door as Jak and their sisters did what she had just done. It didn't take Jak, Starlight, and Twilight all that long to cross over the platforms so each of them could reach the area that she was standing in, where her thoughts had been correct and Starlight had used her magic to claim the Precursor Orbs that were resting above the square shaped platforms, though as soon as all four of them were together once more they turned towards the Precursor Door and approached it not a few seconds later, where it opened without needing any Blue Eco and they discovered that it held a tunnel that would take them to the next section of the Citadel, or at least in the direction that Jak had picked out earlier. One thing they discovered was that a Yellow Eco vent rested in front of them and that there were a number of metallic boxes resting along the entirety of the tunnel, which meant there were some more Orbs for them to pick up and add to their collection, which was when Jak and Cozy took a few seconds to empower their bodies with the Yellow Eco as Twiight and Starlight kept their eyes open for any traps that might have been placed in this tunnel, even though they noticed a few fireballs rushing through the air and smashed into all of the metallic boxes that rested between the Precursor Door they had walked through and the opening that would let them access the next section of this area. It was in that moment, when the siblings reached what appeared to be the one-fourth mark of the tunnel, that they noticed three machines that seemed to be in the middle of gathering Eco and turning it into the Snow Bunnies Jak and Twilight had encountered on Snowy Mountain, only these ones didn't have the icy color and, instead, they had a blue coloration, meaning they were just Bunnies or Citadel Bunnies, and there were a lot of them gathering near the opening, even though a few of them got in the way of Jak and Cozy's fireballs and were blasted into a wall not even a few seconds later.

Fortunately there happened to be a Red Eco vent just beyond the opening they were heading towards and Cozy took in its power not a few seconds later, allowing her to smash the power sources of all three machines to pieces and power down all of the devices, while her siblings took care of the rest of the Citadel Bunnies, which just so happened to be when the door to their left opened and revealed a few moving platforms that they carefully jumped across, before reaching an area that one of the cages was resting in, one of the larger ones due to the fact that the red skinned individual inside it had a plump and round body, while he wore a metallic set of clothing over his body, which had a pair of tubes that carried Red Eco from one part of his body to another, before they smashed the nearby power source and powered down the Dark Eco beams that were surrounding the Red Sage.

"You've finally come to rescue me!" the Red Sage commented, showing that he had seen the bars of his cage fall and that he knew the group was standing behind him, hence the reason that he turned around to look at them, even if he liked to chuckle while he did so, which revealed that he had a white mustache and what looked like a modified miner hat resting on top of his head, which sort of made sense due to the area his hut rested in, before he seemed to focus on the siblings and what was important, to him anyway, "Do you know how long I've been in here, trapped inside this cage? What took the four of you so long? Either way, I would like to know the names of my rescuers."

"This one's Jak, and these are his sisters Twilight Sparkle, Starlight Glimmer, and Cozy Glow," Daxter replied, speaking just before the rest of the group could even say anything, though he surprised them by not mentioning himself first, like he did in the past, rather he introduced all four of the siblings and made sure to beckon to each of them in turn, just so the Red Sage knew who each name belonged to, even though they were sure that all of the Sages knew who the siblings were, due to the fact that Samos happened to have several meetings with the other Sages in Sandover Village, before he focused on the here and now as he beckoned to himself as well, "oh, and I'm Daxter."

"The five of you are real heroes, no matter what you or anyone else might think!" the Red Sage stated, though that was the moment he raised a hand to his chin for a few seconds, even though he seemed to be touching a small white beard, as he started to turn around so he could stare at the Dark Eco barrier and the Precursor Robot that rested behind it, where it did look like he might be studying what was going on at the moment and whatever he might have overheard when they talked with Samos a few minutes ago, "You've got to stop Gol and Maia from launching their robot and opening the Dark Eco Silo that they're interested in! Here, I'll use my Eco power to start breaking open the barrier, so when you free the other Sages we can break it apart and get at the robot itself!"

The siblings barely had a chance to say anything as the Red Sage started to channel whatever power remained within his body and fired a beam of Red Eco energy at the Dark Eco barrier, where they knew he would need his full concentration to do what he was doing, so they grabbed the Power Cell that had been powering his cage and added it to their collection, to which they gathered some Blue Eco that was nearby and used it to power a platform that allowed them to descend back to the walkway that was in front of the path that had brought them to the resting place of the Red Sage's cage, which was when they started moving forward once more. From there the siblings quickly walked over to where Starlight had found a Scout Fly box earlier, the second one that had been smashed open, and used the button that was resting beyond where the container had been resting to reveal another set of small square platforms that they needed to take one at a time, as it was easier that way, hence the reason that Twilight crossed over it this time around and carefully jumped over a few gaps that were beyond the end so she could kick a Lurker in the back of the head and knock it out, as it had been guarding yet another button, one that seemed to lead over to where a new path rested, which might bring them to the where the Blue Sage's cage was resting. Instead of doing anything else Twilight remained still and watched as her siblings crossed over the small bridge that she had jumped over a few moments ago, though at least none of them had to worry about any Orbs to collect along the way, though once everyone was back together she activated the next button and revealed a larger set of platforms that formed the way forward, to which she paused for a moment to plan out her course before jumping over to the first of the colored platforms she picked out, leaving Jak, Starlight, Cozy, and Daxter to watch as she carefully crossed this section of the Citadel and came to a stop on the other side, so she could wait for them to catch up and use her magic to catch whoever fell into the depths, even if she was sure that such a thing wouldn't happen at all. Fortunately she didn't have to do that and it was only a matter of time until all four of them were standing on the other side of the gap that the platforms had formed a bridge over, and they made sure that all of the Precursor Orbs that had been resting above all of the small square shaped platforms had been collected, before they headed through the Precursor Door that was resting in front of them, so they could see what sort of challenge and traps would be waiting for them this time around, despite the fact that the path to the Red Sage had been easy for the most part, which did make everyone a little nervous about what else they might find inside Gol and Maia's Citadel, and Daxter was even included in that count, despite the fact that he was the only one doing nothing except sitting on Jak's shoulder.

On the other side of the Precursor Door they discovered a massive chamber that had a vast open pit, one that seemed to be as deep as the depths of the main chamber that the robot was resting in, though fortunately for them there happened to be a few platforms and metallic pillars which might form a makeshift walkway of sorts to the highest point of this area, or at least that was what the siblings assumed based on what they were seeing right now, and the first thing they did was take turns jumping over to a circular platform that was moving in front of the edge of the section that the Precursor Door happened to be resting in, as while there might be room for two of them to stand on it at a time it was safer for someone to lead the way and let the others see what sort of tactics worked. This time around Twilight stepped forward and jumped over to the first platform with ease, where she let it move through the air and bring her close to where a second one, even though she discovered that the second one was moving from the level her platform was on and stopped when it was close to the top of the square shaped structure that rotated every now and then, or at least a part of it moved with the rest of it staying still, given the post between the two that moved with the upper section, though when the vertical platform came to a stop for a moment she jumped over to the top of the square box and braced herself. The box seemed to move after five seconds or so, the highest being ten by her count, so the wait between it rotating meant it had to be powering something that was inside the Citadel, possibly some of the machines that were in this section of it to be exact, but Twilight made a note of this place, to come back to it later for a more thorough investigation and study, given that she might not be able to ask the Dark Sages about this place in the very near future, before jumping over to another moving platform, even though she had to brace herself against the moving top of the box for a few seconds before doing that and landing on top of the smaller platform when it stopped near her location. From there she found that the next square headed pillar had a device that fired beams of energy, which weren't Eco based due to everything she was seeing, that struck the top of the square, to which she wondered if this place was a foundry, a place where people went to make things by heating them up and using a hammer and some tools to make other shapes, depending on one's need, but the moment the beam was gone, for the next few moments anyway, Twilight jumped onto the top of the square structure and braced herself as it rotated to a new position, and then she dropped down to a platform that was behind it, which was when she jumped back onto the top of the square platform and beckoned for the others to follow her.

As Jak, Starlight, and Cozy started to follow in her footsteps, or hoofsteps as Daxter loved to say, Twilight jumped over to a larger circular platform, one that seemed to be missing the center piece of it, meaning one of the three smaller ones she had just passed over had to be the piece in question, and waited for a few seconds as she watched another platform move over to an area that was close to where she was standing, one that she jumped over to and landed on with ease, where it brought her over to an area that a Blue Eco vent rested in and had some Precursor structures resting near it, ones that she was sure they had never seen before and it made her interested in what these might have been used for by the ancient race that Samos and the Sages tried to study. Fortunately there was a wooden walkway for her to jump to and she did so without delay, where she studied the Precursor structures for a few moments and then tapped into the Blue Eco that was resting near her position, something that allowed her to power up the structures, where the tops that were attached to the platform actually separated from the structures and raised into the air not a few seconds later, forming a path that would let her access the walkway that was at the top of this area, which seemed to be heading for another Precursor Door that had to be where the exit rested. Ascending the path the platforms created allowed her to collect a number of Orbs, thanks to the Blue Eco that was coursing through her body, another small bit of Blue Eco to top her off, and smash a Scout Fly box, the fourth of the seven, before jumping over to a number of small square shaped platforms that were moving along a set path that had two of the heated beams firing down at the platforms, beams that she was going to have to avoid just so she could reach the end of this area, and it didn't take her long to reach the end of the path, which allowed her to find that there was a Precursor Cache near a doorway which had to be the exit, and since she still had a bit of Blue Eco inside her it was incredibly easy for her to open the Cache and claim the Precursor Orbs that were inside it. While she did that Jak and their sisters continued along the path that Twilight had taken to reach the exit, so all she had to do was wait for a couple of moments and her siblings joined her, to which they opened the door she had stopped at and discovered that they had, in fact, reached the location of one of the Sages, as there happened to be a lanky blue skinned individual who had a couple of metallic components on his body, like the helmet with tubes on his head, or the bracer on his left arm, and it appeared that he had a blue electric-like mustache on his face, based on what they were seeing from the backside.

Instead of wasting more time the siblings made sure to smash the machine that rested nearby and the Dark Eco bars fell in a matter of seconds, just like what happened when they found and freed the Red Sage from his cage earlier, which was when they gathered near the edge of the area and waited for the Sage to say something, even though Cozy made sure to grab the Power Cell that had been powering the Blue Sage's cage, adding it to the collection as well, which was followed by the Sage noticing the bars were down, meaning he must have been lost in thought before their arrival, and he tapped his wooden staff, which had a few metallic components attached to it, and turned around so he could determine what was going on, something that brought a smile to his face when he noticed them standing nearby.

"Good work, fellows!" the Blue Sage stated, his tone revealing that he was pleased with what they had done so far, both in reaching the Citadel and freeing two of the four Sages from their cages, since he could see the Red Sage's beam and that meant he was the second one to be freed from his cage, even though Twilight could tell that he was more of a energetic person and it made sense when they thought about the type of Eco that he had access to and studied, hence the nature of his skin, before he seemed to think about something for a few seconds as he stared at the four of them, five if one were to count Daxter, "Old Samos was right about you!"

"Really? What makes you say that?" Jak inquired, because it was odd for them to hear something like that, especially since it took him and his sisters a lot of effort to even gain any praise from Samos, especially since the Green Sage seemed to be thinking the 'tough love' approach was best for them, though at the same time he guessed it made sense considering the fact that Samos might tell the other three Sages more about his feelings on the him and his sisters, not to mention all of the progress they happened to be making, so he was curious as to why the Blue Sage would say something like this and he could see that his sisters seemed to share his sentiments.

"Sorry, I can't say anything." the Blue Sage replied, almost as if he was trying to apologize for even saying that to begin with and didn't want them to waste too much time thinking about whatever Samos had told him and the other Sages, which did cause them to wonder what in the world Samos might have told the others in the past, before he focused on the area that was in front of them and seemed to snap back to reality, though out of everything they had seen so far the only odd thing about this was that he seemed to be noticing the Precursor Robot first the first time, making the wonder if he had actually been asleep until the cage had been powered down, "Great piles of Precursor metal! That insidious mechanical creation must not be allowed to wreak its terrible havoc on our world! I will try to actuate the shield door by eliciting a conduit of energy between myself and the vast portal below!"

"Twilight, you speak... um... nerd. What did he say?" Daxter asked, though it was in that moment that two things happened at the same time, Twilight sighed as the Blue Sage raised his staff and loosed a burst of Blue Eco that quickly slammed into the Dark Eco barrier that was resting around the massive robot, showing that he must have seen what the Red Sage was doing and happened to be replicating it before their eyes, though at the same time Daxter could tell that what he had said must have annoyed Twilight in some manner and he hoped that it wouldn't come to bite him in the rear later, if they beat Gol and Maia and saved the world from their dark plans.

"Basically, in the simplest of terms, he's going to try opening the barrier by blasting it with his Eco Powers,in the form of a blue Eco beam," Twilight said, as that was the core idea of what the Blue Sage had just told her and her siblings, even if it had gone right over Daxter's head, though even as she said that it sure looked like the Sage in question seemed happy by the fact that she understood what he had said and informed the rest of her group as to what was going on at right now, so he could turn his full attention to the Dark Eco barrier and join what the Red Sage was doing, to which she shook her head and turned towards the nearby platform, "Come on, we still have one more path to check out, before we focus on finding a path that will lead us up to where Gol and Maia put Samos' cage in."

With the Blue Sage free to fire upon the Dark Eco barrier and join the Red Sage's assault, even though he seemed to be in the middle of changing the frequency to better match what his colleague was doing, Twilight took a moment to use a bit of Blue Eco that was resting nearby to power up a Precursor platform, just like they found near the Red Sage, and used it to get back to the main walkway that was resting near the massive Precursor Robot so she could access another set of small square platforms with the colors on top of them, which allowed her to get over to a part of the wooden walkway that was close to the start of the Citadel, where she paused and waited for Jak, Starlight, and Cozy to catch up. Once they were back together Jak jumped over to the next fragmented platform, a three-fourths one to be exact, and found that the next set of platforms that needed to be crossed just so happened to have two halves of the same whole, even if neither of them were synced up with each other and spun in different directions, though while one happened to be on their level the other was on a higher level, which was around the time that Starlight pointed out that there was a set of platforms near what looked like the end of the path that would bring them to the Yellow Sage's cage, one they would have to explore once they freed the Sage in question. Using the couple of platforms allowed the siblings to reach a new tunnel, which was identical to the others they had walked through, and move towards whatever challenges were waiting for them this time around, only for them to stop after they passed through a Precursor Door, one that brought them to a massive portion of the Citadel, one that was far larger than the one that rested between them and the Blue Sage's resting place, though this time around the four of them noticed that there was only one way to move forward and that was by using the nearby Blue Eco vent, as in using its power to restore the power to the various jump platforms that were in front of them until they reached the end of the path. It was in that moment that Jak empowered his body and unlocked a nearby Precursor Cache, grabbing every Orb that rested inside it, along with smashing the fifth Scout Fly box so he could free the little robot that was resting inside it, though while he did that Starlight quickly accessed the Blue Eco vent and launched herself into the air as she started to move forward, allowing Jak, Twilight, Cozy, and Daxter to watch what she was doing and the path she was taking, which allowed her to collect a number of Precursor Orbs that rested between her and her destination, not to mention finding a few more bits of Blue Eco, which seemed to wander into this area, to keep her going to the very end.

Interestingly enough she found another Cache resting in front of a Precursor Door, where the latter had to be the exit for this area, based on what Starlight and her siblings had seen so far, to which she quickly used what was left of her Blue Eco to unlock the Cache and started to collect the Orbs that were resting inside it, since she turned around to watch what her siblings did as they crossed the platforms and headed for where she was standing... where they found a stout man, who had yellow colored skin and had some plating over his body, waiting inside the cage that the path had brought them to, though he wore a tank on his back and carried a long weapon in his hands, a gun based on what they recalled him calling it in the past, before Jak smashed the power course and the bars disappeared.

"Who would have thought that I would live to see the day when I needed to be rescued by a boy, his sisters, and their pet muskrat!" the Yellow Sage commented, though as he spoke the siblings got the feeling that he wasn't happy about being put in this cage, nor was he all that grateful towards them, in fact he almost seemed like Samos in that regard, but he also reminded them of what happened when they encountered the hillbilly inside Boggy Swamp, making them wonder if there was a connection between the two or if it was just a coincidence, before he sighed as he shifted his stance and focused on the Dark Eco barrier, "I'm going give Gol and Maia a little payback for these embarrassment... then, once we take care of them, we'll see about cooking up some muskrat stew."

The siblings said nothing to that as the Yellow Sage fired a beam of Yellow Eco down at the barrier, matching what the Red and Blue Sages were doing, though before they could move from the area they were standing in they noticed a new set of platforms rising out of the depths and came to a stop when they were in position, giving them a way up to where Samos' cage rested, though once that was done the siblings turned to the right of where the Yellow Sage's cage was location and focused on the other set of moving platforms that they had seen earlier, to which Twilight jumped along the fragmented platforms that were near the Sage and found the sixth Scout Fly box resting there, allowing her to free the little robot as Jak powered up a platform for them to return to the main walkway again. Instead of heading back over to the walkway in question the siblings found that it brought them down to a wooden platform below them and it had a button to cause one of the set of colored platforms to rise up, to create a path for them to jump along before reaching the main walkway, but as Jak did that he noticed that the new set of platforms had six of them in total, set in a diagonal manner, and that he and his siblings were pretty close to the part of the Citadel that the new path rested in, as the set of six platforms was on the other side of the wooden walkway that was right behind the Precursor Robot's backside, though it didn't take them long to reach their destination and stare up at the new path. A few seconds later Jak started to ascend the new path and quickly found that, in order to actually make their way up the platforms with any sense of speed, they were going to have to take turns and perform the double jump to reach the next one in line, with Cozy performing the high jump to verify the types of jumps to go from one platform to another, before they reached a number of platforms that had been cut in half and put in places where they were close to their other half, where it looked like they had to carefully jump up six more platforms so they could reach a wooden walkway that seemed to be a resting place, in addition to the only place that would allow them to reach the rest of the path that would bring them to where Samos was located. As such Jak was the first one to jump up every platform, even if he had to be careful and take his time with these particular obstacles, but as soon as he reached the top of this section of the Citadel he beckoned for one of his sisters, who were patiently waiting on the last of the circle platforms, to do what he had just done and it was Cozy who followed after him first, followed by Twilight once Cozy was done, with Starlight bringing up the rear, before they stared at the upper part of the Citadel and found that there were a number of moving metallic pieces, some having platforms of a diagonal nature while others had a more flat area for them to jump to, which seemed to lead the way up to Samos' location.

While they carefully jumped along this new path, where Twilight found that it had to be providing power to the robot so it would be ready for Gol and Maia's plan, the siblings determined that this part of the Citadel was actually rather easy, even if sometimes they had to wait for their platform to line up with another one, before quickly reaching the end of the path and jumped up to a wooden walkway that curved around a large Precursor structure that the robot would move through when it was ready, and what they did was jump over the gaps and collect what appeared to be the rest of the Orbs they would find on this adventure, including a Power Cell that came from the last Scout Fly box of this region, before they found the power source of Samos' cage, resting near a Precursor Door, and smashed it, which gave them one more Power Cell, for a total of a hundred and one if Twilight's calculations were right.

"I must say, the five of you did rather well to clear this place, and your teamwork seems to be improving," a voice said, not that the siblings were all that surprised to see Samos fly up to where they were standing and face them, even though they could see that his expression really hadn't changed all that much, but at the very least he seemed pleased by everything they had done since this adventure started, before he raised his hand to his chin for a moment as he focused on them and all the obstacles they had overcome to reach this point, "Perhaps I've been underestimating all of you this entire time... maybe you do have what it takes to be heroes!"

Daxter looked like he wanted to say something, anything to be exact, so he could counter what Samos said or start a small conversation with the Green Sage, but in the end he decided that it was best to just take the compliment and not give the Sage a reason to bash him and the siblings like he usually did, mostly by saying something about how his opinions of them weren't that high or something, and he could tell that the siblings were surprised by his restraint, though he wanted to get this adventure over with and that meant dealing with the robot, before figuring out how to defeat Gol and Maia before the Dark Sages destroyed the world.

"Anyway, I'm going to combine my own Eco power with the rest of the Sages, so we can open the barrier," Samos stated, as it was time for them to get ready for a battle that would determine the fate of their world, for if they won this battle the Sages would likely write tales of their deeds that would be lost in the years to follow, while if Gol and Maia were the victors the world would be destroyed and twisted into who knew what, though it was in that moment that he glanced down at the robot for a few seconds, "I'm sure that one or two of you have figured this out by now, but the Dark Eco barrier is linked to the Precursor Robot and as long as it remains up, like how you found it when you entered this place, you won't be able to do any damage to Gol and Maia's creation, much less destroy it, so the other Sages and I will have to stay down here and keep channeling our energies at it, to give you a chance of breaking, and possibly, destroying the robot... all I can say is good luck, as you're going to need it."

The moment Samos flew down and struck the barrier with his own Eco powers, adding a burst of Green Eco to the mix and joining what the other Sages were doing, Gol and Maia suddenly appeared in the air near the area the siblings were in and flew down to the Precursor Robot, where they slipped through the barrier as soon as it opened and quickly opened up the side of its head so they could enter what had to be the command center for it, though as soon as they were inside it they moved up through the massive pipe that the siblings were standing on, heading for the Dark Eco Silo so they could enact their terrible plan, and they prepared themselves for the greatest battle of their lives.
> Precursor: Showdown
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jak, Twilight, Starlight, Cozy, and Daxter waited for a few moments before the Precursor Door opened and revealed what was inside the massive circular tube to them, as it was a massive platform with a button in the middle of it, to which they stepped forward and walked over to where the button was located, with Daxter jumping down onto it and caused the large platform to start moving towards the top of the passage, where he returned to Jak's shoulder and waited for them to reach the top so they could see what was going on, especially since they had no idea where the Dark Eco Silo was located and would find it the moment they spotted Gol and Maia's robot. It took about a minute or two for them to reach the very top of the passage and everyone braced themselves as that happened, where they found that there were a number of wooden chests resting near the area in front of them, possibly the north given where the entrance to the Citadel rested, there was a large open area that rested around where they were now standing, something that meant they must be on top of the Citadel and they could tell that it was incredibly high up based on everything they could see, and, interestingly enough, there was a large structure to their left, one that looked like it was a door of some kind. This door seemed unlike anything they had seen in the past, though for now they focused on their main objective and turned their heads towards the area that was resting beyond the chests and the center of the massive platform, where they discovered a massive pillar off in the distance which had four smaller pillars surrounding it, each having a device on top that seemed to be capable to channeling Eco into the closed tips, or at least it was capable of that by Twilight's reckoning, though it also had the seemingly massive Precursor Robot baring down on top of the Silo's seal, as it appeared that Gol and Maia were firing a beam of Blue Eco at it, using the power in an attempt to persuade the door to open, or at least she knew how the Blue Sage would phrase this. The Blue Eco beam was coming from the head of the robot, as there was a path over the robot's right eye that was an addition from the Dark Sages, there was a contraption that replaced it's left arm and hand, a piece the siblings likely stopped them from obtaining back in Boggy Swamp, as in the arm the Lurkers had been working to pull out of the muck, it appeared that it also had something attached to it's right hand, not to mention there might be another addition to its back, though the last one was hard to tell if it was there or not.

The siblings stood there for a few seconds, as they were staring at the robot and what it happened to be doing right now, as it was hard for each of them to imagine that this was the end of their adventure, a showdown with Gol and Maia for the fate of their world, on top of a large Precursor Silo that contained all of the Dark Eco of their world inside it, or at least that was what the Dark Sages claimed, before the siblings sighed for a moment as they readied themselves, even though they found out that there was only a small platform in front of them, meaning Twilight would need to use her magic and form some platforms for her and the others to follow after Jak once he started heading down to the robot.

"So, anyone having second thoughts?" Daxter asked, mostly because this sight was enough to make someone like him, as he wasn't a fighter and had done nothing to help the siblings fight all of the enemies they had faced since he fell into a vat of Dark Eco, want to back off and run into a corner for the next couple of moments, though as he asked that question he found that none of the siblings were backing down and each of them were getting ready for their battle with the pair of Dark Sages, causing him to sigh for a moment as he braced himself on Jak's shoulder, "Right, I thought so. Come then, let's charge down there and teach them a lesson they won't soon forget!"

Jak and his sisters chuckled for a moment as they opened the wooden chests and found some bits of Blue Eco inside two or three of them, giving him the power to activate the platform that was in front of them, while at the same time finding a number of Green Eco clusters so they would have a bit of protection in case Gol and Maia got a lucky hit on one of them, before he stepped onto the platform and channeled his power through it, allowing it to take him and Daxter down to the top of the Silo, while Twilight formed a number of magical platforms for her and the others to follow him on, even though it didn't take them all that long to reach their destination and stare up at the robot's face.

"Gol! Maia! You have to stop this madness!" Twilight shouted, hoping that the Dark Sages would pause and listen to her for a few moments, maybe even see the light given that they wanted to claim her once they opened the Silo and had access to all of the Dark Eco they could possibly want, though while she did that she could tell that her siblings were ready for a fight and that it depended on what the Dark Sages decided to do once she was done talking to them, hence the reason she was focused on them and ready to fall back into her battle stance if the pair refused to see reason, "Releasing all of the Silo's Dark Eco in this manner will destroy the world as we know it... surely we can find a better way to do this!"

"Once we have the key to creation itself, you'll see things our way," Maia stated, where her voice came from the inside of the robot's head, which was understandable given that she and her brother were resting inside that part of it as they used its power to tear open the Silo and access the dangerous Eco that was resting inside it, though it was in that moment that the power of the Blue Eco beam intensified as she and Gol focused their efforts on breaking into the Silo so they could get at the Dark Eco at long last.

Twilight sighed as she and her siblings scattered and rushed over to the clusters of Yellow Eco that happened to be resting around the seal that the Dark Sages were trying to break through, where each of them took a moment to empower their bodies as they spun around and focused on the robot's eye, where the beam was coming from, and quickly loosed a volley of Yellow Eco fireballs into the air, where Daxter found that their attacks rushed through the air, coiling around each other in the process, before slamming into the eye that was firing the Blue Eco beam at the Silo's seal and blasted that part of the robot to pieces. What was interesting about that sequence of events was that he and the others watched as the robot actually roared, as if the machine was in pain over losing its eye or something, even if the piece hadn't been its original eye in the first place, while at the same time it was knocked backwards a little and it floated in the air near the Silo, which just so happened to be the moment where the machine that was attached to the robot's back emerged and shifted into what looked like a cannon of some kind, almost like Gol and Maia were planning on blowing them away, though the part about this that none of them liked was that the Silo's seal was starting to open, revealing the mass of Dark Eco that was resting inside the structure. In the following moment, just as the Dark Sages fired something into the air, a thick disc shaped item that seemed to be gathering power for something, Twilight, instead of heading over to a nearby Blue Eco vent so she and her siblings could use it to empower themselves and access a nearby jump pad, which would likely get them above this device before it detonated, crouched where she was standing and placed her hands on either side of the Silo's seal, where she decided to try something she had never done before and opened herself up to her magic, which she sent into the Silo as she sought out something, anything really, to slow the opening of the seal, to buy Jak and her sisters some time so they could break the Precursor Robot. Starlight, seeing what Twilight was doing, rushed over to where she was standing not a few seconds later and together with Cozy, who happened to be standing nearby, they channeled their magical energies for a couple of moments and a dome flared to life between where the four of them were standing and where Gol and Maia had launched the explosive to, something that triggered the device and caused an explosion to rock the top of the Silo, or at least the sections of it that their foes had access to, and when the smoke disappeared the siblings emerged unharmed, even though shielding themselves from the blast did take a decent chunk of their magic reserves.

"Wait... you can shield yourselves from Eco explosions?" Gol asked, though while one would have assumed he would have been angry, since what the sisters had done just a few moments ago had prevented any of them from taking damage from the explosion that had been fired at them, he was more interested in what the sisters were capable of doing, as they had done something to themselves since the last time he and Maia had studied all three of them and their magical powers, as the last time they did it was the last time they were in Sandover Village, a few years ago, though that didn't stop them from being surprised by the fact that Twilight, Starlight, and even Cozy's magical abilities had developed so much in such a short period of time, which made him and his sister what in the world the sisters had done to gain this power, "Since when could you do such a thing with your magic?"

"Maybe we'll tell you two... provided you calm down and stop trying to destroy the world!" Daxter stated, figuring that they could appeal to the researcher side of the Dark Sages, as he and Jak knew that all five of the Sages, six counting Maia, had an interest in the magical powers that Twilight and her sisters were capable of wielding, especially when one took a couple of seconds to realize that the Blue Sage had designed his levitation machine based on the levitation spell the sisters used and had been made to use his type of Eco to do what the sisters could do, but even as he said that he had the feeling that Gol and Maia might not listen to someone like him, hence the whisper to the siblings, "Guys, be ready to attack the robot in the next couple of seconds, as I have the feeling we're not going to get through to them... and Twilight, could you move from where you're resting, because you're making yourself vulnerable to their attacks."

"I know that, its just that the Silo's seal was opening and it seems that I might be able to keep it closed, or at least prevent it from opening any further," Twilight replied, keeping her voice down so only her siblings and Daxter could hear her, since she didn't want Gol and Maia to figure out what she was doing and purposely target her with their attacks, at least for the time being anyway, though her magic was doing far more than seeping into the top of the Silo and was keeping the seal from opening, because based on what she could tell it sure felt like her magic was delving deeper into the structure that was the Silo and was giving her an understanding of it, "just focus on the Precursor Robot and I'll focus on making sure this doesn't open anymore than it already has."

Just as Jak and her sisters nodded their heads, to show that they understood what was going on, Gol and Maia shifted their robot's stance and loosed a number of Green Eco bursts through the air, where they slipped through the cracks in the seal and disappeared inside, something that was followed by thin wisps rushing back out through the opening and expanded as they landed on top of the Silo, where the siblings discovered that the Dark Sages had created hulking monsters that had black colored skin, almost like the night, with white spikes growing all over their bodies, as in on their arms, legs, and backs based on what they were seeing, and they seemed to move like the various Lurkers did. Based on what Twilight noticed, as she raised her head for a few seconds to see what was going on, there were a grand total of ten Dark Lurkers rushing over to where Jak, Starlight, and Cozy were standing, no doubt to take each of them down before they could ruin Gol and Maia's plans for the Dark Eco Silo, though fortunately it appeared that there might have been a leak or something in the robot, as they noticed that a few bits of Yellow Eco dropped out of the robot's chest, where the bursts of Green Eco came from, and it was in the following moments that the siblings empowered themselves for what was coming next. The lumbering Dark Lurkers must have had a bit of Blue and Red Eco mixed into their makeup, as they were faster than the normal Lurkers the siblings had fought during their adventure and one was able to reach the area Twilight was resting in within a few seconds, where it raised its large fist and prepared to smash her into the ground, where she debated between shielding herself and ruining what her magic was doing or taking the blow, but that was when Cozy rushed forward and kicked the arm into the air, redirecting the attack, though while she did that she flipped backwards and loosed a fireball into the air and struck one of the other Dark Lurkers in the chest, blasting it to pieces and revealing that these creatures had to be weaker than the rest of the creatures they had faced in the past, at least in terms of their defenses anyway. Her first opponent took a few steps backwards as she did that, so when Cozy landed she spun around and loosed a fireball at her target, blasting it into the ground, while at the same time Jak dodged the incoming punches and fist swings that the couple of Dark Lurkers were sending his way, even though Daxter jumped on top of one of them and distracted it so Jak could punch it in the face and then blast the other two down seconds later, allowing his friend to return to his shoulder, before they noticed that a few more fireballs rushed out to smash the other Dark Lurkers into the ground as Starlight used her magic to defend herself and used a small magical blast to knock out the other foe.

Once the ten Dark Lurkers were done for, and the siblings were sure of that as Twilight remained in her crouching position to study the Silo and keep the seal from opening more than it already had done, they turned towards the robot for a few seconds and waited to see what Gol and Maia were planning on throwing at them next, since there had to be more to the modified Precursor Robot than what they had seen so far, though it was followed by another Blue Eco bomb being loosed at them, something that Starlight and Cozy defended against by raising another barrier between them and the explosion, and when the smoke cleared they continued to stare at the robot. In the following moments the Precursor Robot raised its right hand and pointed towards the platform the siblings were standing on, where the metallic contraption that the Dark Sages had attached to it seemed to power up for a few seconds before firing a few blasts of Red Eco into the air, which just rained down on the platform and rested above the metal, just like the small bits of Yellow Eco they were using against Gol and Maia, though not a few moments later one of the spheres exploded and a ring of red energy moved out from where it happened to be resting, so that meant that they either had to dodge five of those attacks by either jumping or using a bit of magic to protect themselves from what their foes were doing. Starlight focused on making sure she, Twilight, and Cozy were safe from the rings, by keeping a barrier up around them, while Cozy used a bit of her power to knock the couple bits of Yellow Eco into the air so Jak could collect them and loose a few fireballs towards the Precursor Robot, which struck the weapon that was attached to it's right arm and caused a chain reaction that tore apart both the arm and the weapon that had fired the spheres down to where they were standing, even though it was also followed by Jak and his sisters hearing the robot roar in pain once more. Twilight still felt that such a thing was odd, as in why would the Precursors design one of their creations to feel pain like this, when one of it's arms or legs was blown clean off, before realizing that the only way anyone would even understand the reasoning behind the decision would be if they managed to find out what happened to the Precursors and if they left anything behind for researchers to study and record for the future generations to read, but that was when Gol and Maia got the robot under control as they fired another Blue Eco bomb down on them, which was just blocked by Starlight and Cozy once more, even if it weakened their magical reserves to do so.

One thing that Twilight noticed, even if most of her attention was on keeping the seal from opening all the way and what was inside the Silo itself, she noticed that the four pillars that surrounded her and her siblings seemed to be opening while the fight progressed, where it didn't take her long to determine that there had to be some sort of mechanism resting deep inside the structure that was waking up, in response to all of the Eco types that Gol and Maia were using, and three of the four were currently open, meaning if the Dark Sages used the last of the four types, Yellow Eco, maybe they would figure out what sort of defense mechanism was attached to this structure. In the following moments the robot raised it's left arm and pointed the cannon that had been attached to it at the siblings, where each of them could see that a decent amount of power was being gathered inside the front of the weapon, though it wasn't long before the Dark Sages fired a large ball of Yellow Eco, a large fireball that was easily three times bigger than the ones the siblings could fire with the type of Eco in question, that raced towards the area they were standing in, intending on blowing them off the top of the Silo and open the way for them to continue opening it up. Cozy rushed over to where some of the Yellow Eco bits were resting and took one into herself, where she spun around and combined it with her own magic not a few seconds later, something that was followed by her loosing her own large fireball into Gol and Maia's attack, cancelling it out as Starlight made sure she, Jak, and Twilight were safe from the explosion, which had to shock the Dark Sages since they weren't used to seeing stuff like this in the first place, but she was just fine with that as Jak and Starlight loosed a couple of Yellow Eco fireballs that quickly raced through the air and smashed into the cannon that fired the large fireball, weakening it like they did to the rest of the components that had been added to the Precursor Robot since the moment Gol and Maia discovered it and started their work on it. Of course that was followed by the cannon exploding due to the damage the siblings did to it, where it roared in pain once more and stared at them as it seemed to shake its right hand at them, given it was now missing its left hand, though it appeared that the only weapon the Dark Sages might have left was the Blue Eco bomb launcher that was on the robot's back, though in the following moment Twilight smiled as the fourth and final pillar opened up, because with their opponents using the final type of Eco the Silo's hidden defense mechanism was activating, even if she had prevented the seal from breaking, and she stood up and recalled her magic so she could see what in the world was going to happen in the next couple of seconds.

Not a few moments later each of the four pillars lit up with a different type of Eco, the closest to the robot being Blue Eco, while the next ones were Yellow, Green, and then Red Eco, if one were to go in a clockwise motion from where the first bit of Eco rested, before the four pillars fired a beam of energy made from their respective type of Eco into the space that was just above the center of the Silo's seal, where the four types of Eco gathered into a single mass that had a silver coloration to it and seemed to be glowing with a pure light, making the siblings remember what some of the Oracles had told them about 'seeking the pure light' and had them wonder if this was what they had been talking about.

"Light Eco?! It actually exists?!" Gol exclaimed, his tone revealing that this was the sixth type of Eco, the mythical Light Eco that no one knew anything about since finding it on the surface and below ground was pretty much impossible, or at least it was at this point in time, while also informing the siblings that he and Maia might be worried about this turn of events, especially given the rarity of this particular type of Eco, though it didn't look like he or his sister were doing anything, as in they were transfixed by the fact that Light Eco existed and that they were currently staring at it.

In the following moments the siblings gathered near each other as Twilight formed a few magical platforms for them, as this allowed Jak, Starlight, and Cozy to climb up them and jump through the mass of Light Eco, which she replicated after they were done, before they landed and showed Gol and Maia that the four of them were now had a silver sheen to their bodies and the immediate area around them seemed to have the same coloration as well, before they raised their hands towards the robot as they released the temporary power that had been bestowed upon them for this battle, which caused them to loose a blast of power that shattered the robot's body, as it exploded seconds later, and the arms and legs blew up a few seconds after that, leaving the head as the only thing that was intact, which landed on top of the Silo, just behind where the siblings were standing as the Light Eco faded from their bodies.

"Do you realize what you've done?!" Gol exclaimed, where he and Maia pulled themselves out of the robot's head a couple of moments after it landed on top of the Silo, even though it was clear that they were torn between being upset that all of their plans had been ruined with the destruction of the robot, which must have taken them a couple of years to make into the form Jak and his sisters had fought, or being overwhelmed by the fact that they had, in an odd manner, discovered the existence of Light Eco and proved that it was incredibly powerful, at least when it was wielded by the four individuals that were standing in front of them, where Twilight did notice that some of the darkness was clearing from Gol and Maia's eyes as the main Dark Sage talked to them, meaning the Light Eco must have purified them in some manner, possible letting them return to what Samos and the other Sages knew, "Without the Dark Eco, which we worked hard to gain access to, we will never be able to complete our research, meaning that we will never learn the secrets of our world, or creation for that matter... in fact, we won't be able to help your friend at all!"

"Its not that bad, we can still study him," Maia stated, as while she didn't care for Daxter all that much, given their history, his new form was interesting to her and her brother and it would give them some insight into the secrets of evolution, as that was what they had called what happened to him back in the Red Sage's lab, though she did have to agree with what her brother had said, that without the Dark Eco they would be unable to do anything and their research would be stalled until they found a source of the Eco they were used to channeling during their studies.

"What we did was stop you from destroying the world," Twilight replied, though while she said that she knew Daxter must have given up on being restored to his previous form at some point in time, no doubt due to the fact that Gol and Maia had claimed it was evolution and not a mutation of some kind, and while she thought about that she noticed Samos and the other Sages had found a platform and were using it to come over to where they were standing, before she glanced at both of the Dark Sages that were in front of her and her siblings, as there was something she needed to tell them before they did anything else, "however, while I was using my magic to stop the Silo's seal from opening, to stop the vast amount of Dark Eco from rushing out and twisting our world into something else, I think I found something that might be able to help all of us in some way."

"Twilight, the magical powers that you and your sisters have access to are both fascinating and confounding at the same time, in equal measures," Gol stated, because it was one thing to take in the fact that the three of them were capable of using their magic to summon shields, generate barriers to negate Eco explosions, create platforms to move around, and even hurl blasts that were nearly identical to Yellow Eco fireballs, and that wasn't counting anything else they might have figured out how to do since the last time he and Maia studied them, while it was another to understand that each of them might be capable of using their magic to study the works of the Precursors and gain a level of knowledge on them, just like Twilight apparently did to the Silo, to keep the seal from opening, before he sighed for a moment, "but you've made me interested in whatever you might have found... so, um, lead the way I guess."

Twilight nodded her head and beckoned for the Dark Sages to follow her, where she took a few seconds to lift the head of the robot with her magic, once more surprising Gol and Maia, in addition to the rest of the Sages, and positioned it on the platform so it wasn't in their way, before she formed a number of platforms for them to use as she walked down the side of the Silo's structure, causing her siblings, Keira, and the Sages to follow after her while the Dark Sages floated just behind the group, who were marveling at the fact that the siblings were able to convince Gol and Maia to stop their plans, for now anyway... though it took them a few minutes to reach what appeared to be an indent on the side of the structure that was the Dark Eco Silo, a little workshop of sorts, with all sorts of indentations and markings that had Precursor runes written all over the place, causing Gol and Maia to raise their eyebrows for a moment.

"Based on what I was feeling with my magic, this place seemed important in some manner, and I suspect that you two will know we're looking at," Twilight commented, where she and the others got out of the way for a few seconds, even though Keira and the Sages were interested in what they were looking at, so Gol and Maia could float over to the indentations and study them in greater detail, but at the same time she could tell that one of the markings was similar to the heat gauge for the zoomer's heat shield, only it was approaching the highest rune, before she focused on the Dark Sages as they focused on what they were studying, "this area is very interesting, isn't it?"

"This... is a pressure gauge..." Gol replied, this time speaking slowly as he and Maia stared at some of the indents that were in front of them, showing the group that they understood what they were looking at and maybe, just maybe, why Samos had been so insistent on making sure no one tried to open the Silos in the manner that they had just tried to do, though at the same time there was a bit of shock in his voice, making the siblings wonder what in the world the Dark Sages might be discovering and what they might share with everyone, "and from the looks of these Precursor runes, which we studied so we could understand them, the Silo is... well, its under a lot of pressure... an incredibly high and unsafe amount. If we had succeeded in opening the seal all the way..."

"You would have released all of that Dark Eco into the world, letting it flood everything we know and love," Samos stated, though it appeared that he had been correct in thinking and believing that opening the Silo with a Precursor Robot would have brought about the end of the world, as it sure looked like Gol and Maia were confirming his thoughts on the matter, due to the expressions that were on their faces and what the pressure gauge was revealing to the pair, even though none of them were all that surprised by the fact that Twilight and Keira were interested in learning what the Dark Sages knew, as being able to read and understand the Precursor language was something both of them wanted to do, "rather than being able to perform any experiments with Dark Eco, like you've been planning for some time, you would have caused the end of everything, including yourselves."

"Sadly, now that we know how bad things are, you're actually right, as once we ascended to these forms we studied our bodies for a time," Maia said, though she seemed a little sad about something and it was hard to see if it was due to what they had discovered, as in she and Gol could have killed the entire world if their plan had been successful, or if it was due to the results of the studies the two of them had done after gaining their new bodies, though Daxter thought what they were seeing was odd and out of character, making him wonder if the Light Eco had done more to the Dark Sages that just blow their robot into a number of pieces, "Gol and I... well, we lack the genetic markers to evolve via the Dark Eco... which is why we were so interested in what happened to Daxter when we encountered each other in the Red Sage's lab earlier... though without those markers we would have perished in the flood as well..."

"Hey, um, what's that?" Daxter asked, because while he didn't want to interrupt Gol and Maia, least they become annoyed with him or something, there was a machine or device in this area that seemed different from what everyone had seen so far, hence the reason he was looking over at an area that had a number Precursor jars, which were three times the size of a Precursor Orb, that seemed to be resting on a conveyor belt, though above one of the jars rested what appeared to be a small pipe that could move up and down, though instead of the Dark Sages responding Twilight walked forward and took a moment to tap something, which made them interested in what they might discover next.

What happened next was that the pipe moved for a moment and shifted until its top was resting near the jar that was just below it, where the jar's lid had moved out of the way to allow the top of the pipe to rest against it, before they watched as it was filled with a decent amount of Dark Eco, which Gol and Maia realized must have been drawn out of the Silo, though once the jar was filled the flow from the pipe was cut off not even a few seconds later and the pipe moved into it's upper position, allowing the top of the jar to seal itself before the conveyor belt moved and the jar moved down the path a little, which was around the time that Twilight stopped touching the part of the wall she had tapped and everything stopped in their tracks, allowing her to pick up the jar.

"A safe way to study Dark Eco, provided by the Precursors," Twilight replied, where she walked over to Gol and Maia and handed over the jar that now contained a decent amount of Dark Eco inside it, something that surprised the Sages, both the ones that had been kidnapped and the Dark Sages, before she smiled for a moment as she looked at the workshop her magic had found while she kept the seal from opening and understood what they could do with it, and based on what she could see it looked like Gol and Maia had figured out what was going on, "apparently they knew someone would try to study Dark Eco at some point, so they made this Silo and left a way to safely draw out this type of Eco, so now you two can continue your studies without having to break the seal."

Gol and Maia stood there for a few moments, clearly taken aback by the fact that they missed something like this during all of the times they studied the Silo's structure as they planned out how to break the seal, before deciding that there were a few things both of them needed to do and swiftly apologized to the Sages, confirming that the Light Eco had helped them out in its own way, where Samos and the others accepted the apology, and welcomed the pair back with open arms, which was when they used the platform the Blue Sage was powering to get back up to the top of the Citadel, so they could make their descent back down to the Warp Gate and head back home, before Daxter remembered something else that they had seen and wanted to inquire about before leaving this place.

"Hey, what's inside that large Precursor Door?" Daxter asked, because it was the only thing that they had seen that hadn't been explained to him and the siblings, though he knew that if they left this place, without figuring out what was behind or inside the large door, Twilight and Keira would likely return at some point in the future and open it so they could see what was waiting on the other side, but even as he said that he could see that most of the others glanced up to where the door rested and seemed to be thinking the same thing, even though the question was more for Gol and Maia, since they knew more about this place than everyone else did and would be able to answer the question with ease.

"Truthfully, we have no idea... we sort of focused on the Silo once we discovered what's inside it," Maia replied, though at the same time they paused for a moment as the platform reached the top of the Citadel and everyone walked off of it not even a few seconds later, where she and her brother shifted their stances and focused on the door that Daxter wanted to know about, even though she had to search her memories for a moment to figure out what they had determined about it, before they became obsessed with the Silo, "All we know is that there are one hundred indents that look like Power Cells can fit inside them, though we never bothered to find that many to see what was inside... it will take some time to get that many to figure out what the Precursors locked on the other side of the door."

"Or we can check it out now, since we have a hundred Power Cells... we overdid saving the other provinces, since we had far more than what we needed," Cozy spoke up, where the Sages seemed like they had been ready to say something to the rest of the group, probably about how they could help recover any Power Cells to assist them in opening the door, before everyone went silent for a moment as each of them realized that they could open the door and see what was inside it, to which she, Starlight, and Twilight walked over to the door and started to pull out the Power Cells, as they were interested in seeing what was on the other side of the massive Precursor Door.

Over the next couple of moments Samos, Keira, Jak, Daxter, and the rest of the Sages watched as the sisters weaved their magic through the air and slipped the Power Cells into the one hundred slots that they could see, where four of the Cells rested in the center of the door, like the four main directional points, with the remaining ninety-six resting in three rings around them, each having different sizes than the last, before they stopped and took a step back, where they found that they had found one hundred and one Power Cells, as there was one left over in the pack, which was when everyone heard a clicking sound a few moments later. It was in that moment that the Precursor Door split in half and opened so they could see what the Precursors had left in this area, though what they discovered on the other side of the door was a massive ring-shaped object that was made out of Precursor metal, complete with a number of objects resting near it, before they noticed another metallic item that looked like a vehicle of some kind, where part of it seemed to be made from more of the Precursor metal and the rest was made from normal metal, but it was clear that the two were connected to each other and to understand what these were would require them moving the ring and vessel somewhere else. The sisters froze for a moment as they stared at the pair of artifacts, as all three of them had the same memories of a seemingly foreign world or city and one memory involved the ring, or at least Twilight was sure of that while Starlight and Cozy tilted their heads for a moment, while they could tell that Samos, out of everyone here, was the only one worried about what they had found on the other side of the Precursor Door, meaning that it had to be important and that they really needed to get it back to the hut that they called home, since it seemed like the best place to study it, even though Twilight had the feeling that this was going to be the start of something much bigger than the adventure she and her siblings had just finished.
> Interlude: Time Passes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With the modified Precursor Robot destroyed, the Dark Eco Silo saved and a safer way to harness the Eco inside it had been revealed, and the large door on top of the Citadel had been opened, Samos decided that it was time to everyone to head home and get some rest, due to the fact that he and the other three Sages were exhausted from their ordeals, given that all of them had been kidnapped and had their powers drained, while Gol and Maia figured that they would need to reshape the inside of the Citadel, since they no longer needed the docking area for the robot or any of the other side sections that Jak and his sisters had seen during their adventure through the place. Keira was still surprised that Daxter didn't try to channel some of the Light Eco that the siblings had wielded, since that could have been the only time such a substance was available for them to use, but he simply brushed it off and informed her that stopping the robot and saving the world had been far more important at the time, even though it only prompted Gol, Maia, and Twilight to restate their interest in studying him and his new form, allowing the Dark Sages to learn that they called it his 'Ottsel' form, given what Twilight had called it back when he first fell into the Dark Eco vat. Of course the Dark Sages were a little disappointed that he, out of all the people in the continent they knew about, had been the one to evolve due to the Dark Eco, especially since they lacked some of the markers that Daxter had, but at the very least they knew that this was an opportunity to study something totally new, to see what sort of abilities or traits he had unlocked due to his evolution, and Twilight was more than willing to show them that she was interested in that sort of thing as well, something that made Daxter gulp since he knew this wasn't going to be a pleasant experience for him, especially if Twilight was involved in the process. The only good thing about the situation was that Twilight would be assisting Gol and Maia, so maybe he wouldn't have to worry about the extremes happening at all, but he guessed time would tell and focused on what he was going to do when they returned to Sandover Village, since there was nothing else they needed to do and could take some time off at long last, to recover from this adventure and prepare for the task of hauling the ring and the vessel down to Keira's workshop, so she could figure out how to get them to work and what sort of purpose they served.

Once they reached the bottom of the Citadel, which took a few minutes given how the inside had been set up, the group took a moment to use the Warp Gate and returned to the various huts and labs that they called home, as in the Red Sage returned to his house in Volcanic Crater, the Yellow Sage stayed outside the Citadel since part of his lab had been taken in by Gol and Maia, something they needed to fix as well, the Blue Sage headed back to Rock Village, and Samos returned to Sandover Village with his daughter and the heroic siblings who had saved the world from total destruction, which meant that the Sculptor would finally get his wish to make a statue of them, to capture their good deeds for future generations, even though it was mostly because of the fact that they saved his muse from danger.

Upon their return to Sandover Village the siblings discovered that it was nighttime, something they hadn't noticed during the battle with Gol and Maia's twisted Precursor Robot, as they had been preoccupied by trying to stop them from forcing open the Silo's seal, so what they did was have a quick bite to eat, since they hadn't eaten anything for a long time, before they headed to their beds and slipped into them so they could have a good night's sleep at long last, to recover from their adventure and prepare for whatever the future had for them, as none of them really knew what was going to happen now that they discovered the odd pair of Precursor artifacts. Twilight found that her dreams were full of the same thing, as in she visited the odd city that seemed to plague her dreams and continued to take it in, mostly because it was unlike any of the other settlements she and her siblings had seen, though one of the oddest things about these dreams, in her opinion anyway, was the fact that she was positive that the dreams, or maybe they were more like memories, they seemed to be from the perspective of a young child, where she saw the young versions of Jak, Starlight, and Cozy near her, and, at the same time, there were four adult beings that happened to be in most of her dreams. One of the adults reminded her of Jak, even though he seemed a little buffer and maybe angrier, there was someone who looked like an older version of her, another who looked like Starlight, and another that seemed to be Cozy, but due to how foggy some of her dreams were it was hard to tell how many of them were in each dream, rather all she knew was that the dreams seemed less like dreams and were more like memories, as she was positive that she wouldn't dream of something like this, not without seeing such a city in the first place, so they had to be slumbering memories that were slowly awakening. There was one thing clear to her as she relived those memories again, even if she was viewing these for the thousandth time, possibly more given how frequent these things were, and that was the fact that she and her siblings were constantly in danger, meaning they had to be in the middle of a rather dangerous adventure or mission of some kind, something that did make her wonder what the future would hold for her, her siblings, Keira, Samos, and Daxter, though as she thought about that she continued delving into her dreams and wondered what else they would show her, even if the meaning of said dreams would become known to her at some point in the future.

After that night Twilight and her siblings spent the next week carefully moving the Precursor Ring, as Keira called it, down from where it had been resting and moved it through Gol and Maia's Citadel, where both of the Dark Sages came and gave them some help since they were eager to see what in the world this pair of artifacts were supposed to do, and by making sure they reached their destination without suffering any damage they knew that Keira would be able to run her tests on both artifacts, to quickly determine what they had discovered and what sort of mystery the Precursors left for those that were able to open the large Precursor Door that required a hundred Power Cells to open. Of course Keira had tried to pry out one of the Power Cells from where it and the other ninety-nine were resting, though what she found was that all one of them were stuck in the slots that they had been put into, so it was impossible for her or the siblings to pull them out, even though she suspected either Twilight or the Dark Sages would find a way to pull them out of the door and use them for something else, as she knew that Gol and Maia could use them to power some of their machines, though as soon as that conclusion was reached Keira turned her attention to helping the siblings by directing them along the path that would allow them to safely move the Precursor Ring to Sandover Village. Instead of heading through the Lava Tubes, and risking damage to the ring or the rider, as all of them were convinced that the vehicle was something that a lot of people could ride on since it seemed to have enough room for about four or five people, six if they were lucky, so what they did was go around one of the side paths that Daxter would have complained about when Jak and his sisters first entered the area that was the Lava Tubes, as Keira had only suggested that route because it was the fastest of what was available, which meant enlisting the aid of the Yellow Sage as well, who was more than willing to help them out, especially since there was a path that cut through another part of the mountain the Red Sage lived in, one that had a number of metallic gates to, as he put it, control the flow of lava. Fortunately there was a path above all of the lava that he had carved out a long time ago and used to get provisions, for those who happened to be living near his hut, the Yellow Sage since they were neighbors in a sense, and for himself, and it was wide enough so they didn't have to worry about inflicting any damage to the ring and the rider along the way, which pleased Keira since she wanted everything intact, though it took them a day or two to actually reach the end of that passage and come out near Rock Village, where they were able to take a break and rest up for the next leg of their journey.

They also discovered that the Blue Sage, knowing that the Precursor Ring and rider would be arriving at some point, had joined forces with the Fisherman from Sandover Village and put together a decent sized ship that would be able to carry the pair to its final destination, even though they had to spend another day going around the part of the coast that rested between the two villages, mostly due to the speed of the ship and the fact that they didn't want the weight of the ring to suddenly shift, in the sense that it could cause them to sink along the way, though in the end they were able to reach their final destination and the sisters used their magic to lift the Precursor Ring up to Keira's workshop, positioning it near the right edge of Samos' hut, if one happened to be looking at it from the village itself, and made sure to lift the rider up to her workshop once the ring was in place.

Once the Precursor Ring and the rider were in place, and everyone had a good nights sleep after all the hard work that had been put into moving it into position, the Sages gathered together and threw a celebration party, something that just so happened to be a combination of celebrating their hard work in moving the ring to Sandover Village, the hard work they put into saving the provinces of the continent and saving the world, and the fact that their birthday had come up during the days they spent moving the artifacts to Sandover Village, making Jak and Daxter sixteen, Twilight and her sisters were fifteen, and Keira turned twelve, though for the most part they ignored the whole age part of the event and just relaxed as they enjoyed the celebration. There weren't any presents to be given, none of the siblings or Keira really needed anything and even if they did the Sages knew they would find something to make or use as the item in question, but Gol and Maia did set up a date where they and Twilight would get together and experiment, because they were interested in discovering what sort of limits the sisters had and, more importantly, they were hoping to take a closer look at Daxter, to see if they might have missed something or if being near the sisters and Jak might lead to him awakening some sort of power, maybe even leading to a way to revert him back to his prior form and keep the powers, even though that idea was likely one of the more impossible ones, not unless they found a Precursor and asked them about the possibility. Of course Daxter was still on the fence about all of this, given who would be performing the experiments and studies, but there wasn't much he could do since he figured that Twilight would stop him from running or the Dark Sages would intercept him if he tried to run away from them, so he just accepted it and focused on the celebration, mostly because it was more fun than listening to everything that the trio was talking about, even though he did notice that the rest of the Sages were discussing the fact that they might have found four more Sages to join their ranks, as in Jak and his sisters, as each of them could channel Eco in the same manner that Samos and the others could do, or at least that was their thoughts at the moment. In fact each of them praised Keira as well, knowing that without her inventions, which they also made sure Twilight got some credit for as well since she had assisted Keira in making several of the machines that had been used during the adventure, while taking a moment to wonder what else she might be able to make in the future, since most of the Sages realized that her devices might be important at some point in time.

In addition to all of that Jak and his sisters spent some of their free time practicing their melee attacks, as in the various fist leg attacks they had access to, mostly in an attempt to pull Twilight away from all of the studies that she happened to be burying herself in since the moment the adventure ended and they brought the Precursor Ring back to Samos' hut, which included the time that she spent with Gol and Maia, though he trusted the Dark Sages to not take her down the dark path that they had fallen down some time ago and had only been brought back from thanks to the Light Eco that they had used against them and their Precursor Robot. Based on what Jak could tell it didn't look like Daxter's evolution might have done anything for him at the moment, as he had no access to any of the powers and abilities that the three researchers knew he should have, and the reason Twilight was even included in that count was because she studied the notes that the pair of Dark Sages had written in the past, allowing her to catch up and understand what they knew, before they focused most of their attention on Daxter and what had happened to him, resulting in what Jak suspected when he noticed the frown on his friend's face when he left the area the researchers were currently working in. This also presented the sisters with the chance to practice using their magic as well, even though they did that inside the Citadel and not in Sandover Village, which was where they showed off what they were now capable of and, more importantly, Twilight also informed the Sages, as the rest of the Sages were there as well, how they were able to unlock a greater amount of power and do things that surprised Gol and Maia to no end, especially since it blew all of their thoughts on their abilities out of the water, though the Blue Sage was surprised that they had used his levitation machine and the helmet he had designed to unlock said abilities, which just made him wonder what else they might be able to unlock next, given the fact that he had several more idea for machines that were based on everything the sisters had done in the past and during their adventure, something that worried Daxter given what he had seen, but he couldn't stop it and said nothing. Of course one of the interesting things was that the three sisters had more magical reserves and it took them a lot longer to reach a fatigued state, where by experimenting with all of the components of the Citadel, mostly to rearrange it to be more suited for visitors and whatnot, Gol and Maia found that Twilight's new power was far stronger than they initially assumed when they scanned her and her sisters back in the Red Sage's hut, Starlight's happened to be a close second to her sister's, and Cozy, while having the weakest amount of magic inside her body, was still quite powerful and the Dark Sages determined that she would catch up to her sisters in the future.

Other than that the siblings spent their time helping Keira with whatever she needed, since she was spending her time on the Precursor Ring and the rider that came with it, making sure both artifacts were just fine and that no damage had been done to them, something she didn't have to worry about since the sisters had done everything in their power to ensure nothing bad happened to either artifact, though at one point she did have them and Jak set up a ramp near Samos' hut, as it involved attaching a number of wooden planks to the side of the area that the house had been built on, something that Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy focused on while Jak and Daxter either nailed them into place or wrapped rope around them to keep them in place, before eventually asking the sisters to move the ring out to the end of the new ramp, where they discovered it just floated in the air and waited for something to happen.





It took Keira another week of studying the Precursor Ring and the rider, from the day they brought it back to her father's hut and set it up inside part of her workshop, even if it had been too large to fit inside her room, before she informed Jak, Daxter, Twilight, Starlight, Cozy, and her father that she was done with her work and that the part of artifacts were ready, meaning she must have figured out what sort of use they had for the ancient beings who shaped their world, to which the siblings made sure they were well rested before the morning of their venture happened, something Daxter replicated as well while Samos made sure to inform the other Sages about what they were going to do, even if they were busy right now and wouldn't be able to witness what might happen next, hence why it was only them and no one else as they gathered just outside the hut and focused on the large ring.

"Today's the big day, everyone," Samos said, where he emerged from his hut, after making sure none of the other Sages would be able to come and witness whatever was going to happen when the Precursor Ring was activated, though he did find that Jak and Keira were standing next to each other while they and the sisters were waiting for him to come back from his venture, where he took a moment to think about the fact that Jak had spent a decent amount of time helping Keira in her workshop and they might have developed feelings for each other, before focusing on the matter at hand as he took a moment to focus on the Precursor Ring and the rider they would be climbing on soon, "I hope all of you are prepared... for whatever might happen today."

"After what happened during our first adventure, I'm positive that we're ready for anything," Jak confidently replied, as he was referring to him and his sisters, something that also included Daxter since he seemed ready to try helping them with whatever might be coming their way once the Precursor Ring was activated and they used the rider to do whatever it was supposed to do, though both he and Keira were smiling right now, mostly because he was sure that, at some point, they might form a relationship of some kind once they were done testing out these artifacts and returned to their simple lives for the foreseeable future.

One thing Twilight noticed, as Jak responded to the statement, was that Samos seemed preoccupied by something, like he might know something about the Precursor Ring and what might happen next, or maybe he was disappointed in what Jak had said in his response, like he thought that her brother, her sisters, and herself might not be ready for whatever was on the other side of the large ring, but before she could even say anything, and ask Samos if something was bothering him right now, Keira seemed to shift her stance for a few seconds and that caused everyone to focus on her, since that meant she might have something to say before they activated the pair of artifacts.

"I think I've figured out most of this machine." Keira commented, where she stared at the control panel that was attached to the front of the sitting area of the rider, as there happened to be a number of interesting pieces attached to it, some of which happened to be Precursor artifacts they hadn't seen before this point, as one seemed to be a red gem with some Precursor metal around it while another seemed to be an egg-shaped item that almost resembled an Orb, which was the moment she remembered that Daxter had a small pack containing the rest of the Orbs they had found during their quest to reach the Citadel, while the other parts of the panel seemed to be machines she had never seen before, screens that displayed some sort of information that was currently lost to her, "After everything I've seen, I'm positive that the rider is supposed to interact with the Precursor Ring... somehow, anyway, as I have been unable to actually test anything before today, so we'll be able to figure out what both artifacts do at the same time. I just hope we didn't break either of the artifacts when we moved them to the lab."

"Easy for you to day, Twilight and her sisters did all the heavy lifting!" Daxter stated, even though he had helped them put together the ramp that was in front of them, as there were some spaces where someone of his size worked best and that had allowed them to put this together in record time, so it was more a combination of what the sisters did, what Jak was able to do, and what effort he added to the mix, but after he said that everyone started to climb aboard the rider, which meant it was time for them to see what it did and if everything was junk, hence the reason he raised his hand to touch the odd egg-shaped artifact, all while sitting between Jak and Keira.

"Daxter! Don't touch anything!" Samos snapped, preventing Daxter from touching the egg-shaped artifact that he just so happened to be reaching for at the moment, who frowned for a moment when he heard that and pulled back so he could cross his arms once more, though even as that happened Twilight and her sisters noticed something interesting, because while it looked like Samos was annoyed with Daxter, which was perfectly normal given everything that had happened over the years, they also had to wonder if he might be afraid of whatever was coming up once they activated the rider that they were now sitting on, or at least that was what they thought at the moment, "Though the Precursors vanished long ago, for reasons we still do not understand, the artifacts they left behind can still do great harm!"

"We know, we did just take one down." Cozy remarked, referring to the modified Precursor Robot that Gol and Maia had made so they could get inside the Dark Eco Silo, not that it mattered since Twilight had figured out how to keep the seal of the structure from breaking and determined where a workshop to safely the Dark Eco rested, something that shocked the Dark Sages when they discovered the existence of such a place, but she figured that if they could do something like that, even if they had been aided by the mythical Light Eco and confirmed the existence of the sixth type of Eco, they could do it again if something bad happened with the Precursor Ring.

"Or they could do great good for our world... if you figure out how to use them." Keira admitted, as there were a number of Precursor artifacts out there and could be used for the betterment of their world, especially if someone figured out how they operated and wasn't focused on causing destruction or ruling everything that was around them, before she thought about something as everyone made sure they were positioned well on the rider, which forced Daxter to get up and take a seat on Jak's shoulder again, so the sisters could sit between Jak and her father, "Even you have to admit that what Gol and Maia are doing, by researching Dark Eco in the plasma state, has great potential for everyone, especially since they found out that it has the power to enhance the other four types of Eco that exist in the world, to amazing effects based on what Twilight's told me... that's as long as all of their experiments are under controlled conditions, of course."

"I've had some experience with such things." Samos stated, as if he were talking about the Precursor artifacts and not all of the research that Gol and Maia were currently doing, where he mentally reflected on it and knew that Keira was right, Gol and Maia were making strides with the workshop the Precursors left on the side of the Silo, and that was from two weeks of work so far, so while their research was still in its infancy, and they had only scratched the surface of what was possible with Dark Eco, he knew that their work might eventually benefit everyone, before he focused on what was in front of them and stared at the artifacts on the panel, almost as if he didn't want something specific to happen.

Jak paused for a moment as Samos said that, mostly to see if there was anything else he might have to say on the matter or if he wanted them to stop for a few more minutes, before activating the rider, but since he said nothing else, and they were sure that he was keeping his mouth closed, Jak reached forward and pressed the gleaming gemstone artifact, which seemed to act like a button of some kind since he felt it go into the panel a little bit, and it caused the egg-shaped artifact to pop open, revealing a spherical core with rings and orbs around it, items that seemed to be moving around as Twilight and Keira stared at them for a few seconds, while at the same time Daxter exclaimed that he 'still got it', even if he disliked most Precursor artifacts they came across.

"Interesting. It appears to be reading out some preset coordinates." Twilight commented, to which Keira nodded her head, to show that she agreed with Twilight's assessment on what they were seeing right now and that they could read the runes that were on the various pieces of the egg-shaped artifact, something that they had learned in record time thanks to what Gol and Maia had learned about the ancient language of the ancient Precursors, which only made both of them curious as to what the artifact was actually trying to tell them, before it slammed shut not a few seconds later and the device that was attached to the back of the rider started to move, causing them to brace themselves.

What happened next was that the four directional pieces of the device behind the rider loosed purple energy bolts at the Precursor Ring's top section and it opened up what appeared to be some sort of portal or something, like what they could see inside the center of the Warp Gates the Sages possessed, which caused part of the ramp to break away as every small object that was attached to the ring floated out of their holding places and started to float around the larger artifact, like all of them were stabilizing the rift that was opening before their eyes, even though it caused Samos to grip both his staff and the rail that was in front of him, something the rest of the group did as well. Of course that was when the sky darkened in a matter of seconds as a bunch of odd metallic monsters, ones that the sisters recognized from their odd dreams, flew out as a voice declared that the 'last rift gate' had been opened at long last, before a hulking monster, which appeared to be made out of metal, flesh, and had an odd head with a gleaming yellow stone in the forehead position, emerged from the rift and roared for a moment, even though Samos did make a nearly quiet remark about this being 'how it happened', or at least that was what the sisters assumed, even though they were more focused on what they were seeing. Not even a few seconds later the monster declared that someone couldn't hide from him, as it was male based on it's voice and it made mention of a boy, which could be anyone since they had no idea who the monster was looking for, but that caused Daxter to look at the controls of the rider as he openly wondered what each of them did and if they might be able to find a way to close the Precursor Ring before something else happened, where the sisters, Keira, and Jak helped him in his search, due to the fact that this left them as sitting ducks. It was Jak who did something as he pushed the controls forward, despite the fact that he had no idea what any of this was supposed to do with the rift opened, which caused the rider to fly forward not even a few moments later and they braced themselves as it raced up the ramp and flew right into the rift, right under the monster's body so they didn't intercept it, causing them to enter what appeared to be a massive tunnel of some kind, a light purple one to be exact, and for the most part no one could do anything as they moved through the space they had entered, even though Keira wondered what in the world that monster had been, since it was entirely new to them, while Samos told everyone to hold on as they flew towards what appeared to be the end of the tunnel.

As it turned out fate wouldn't allow them to reach the end intact, as not a few moments later a bolt of lightning, no doubt from the energy that was all around the rider, struck the rider and blew it to pieces, scattering everyone in the process, as Jak and Daxter were able to continue forward like nothing had happened to them besides being propelled forward, Keira and Samos seemed to be cast backwards from where the vessel had been resting, and the sisters were scattered to the sides and separated, which was the last time Twilight saw Starlight and Cozy as she fell through the veil of the tunnel and seemed to exit the passage entirely. What happened next was that she seemed to be falling out of the sky above an oddly familiar city, one that happened to be the same one from all of her dreams based on what she was able to tell, before she weaved her magic around her to make sure she didn't sustain any damage, forming a barrier around her, even though it was followed by the orb hitting the ground in what appeared to be a forest that was unlike what she had seen in the past, as it wasn't the Forbidden Jungle, and she did hit her head on the dome for a moment, but for the most part she was safe and she could rest before seeing where in the world she was located... even though she had the feeling that it would take her some time before she was able to found out what happened to Starlight, Cozy, Jak, Daxter, Keira, and Samos, and that this had to be the start of a strange and exciting adventure.
> Interlude: New Discoveries
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight moaned for a moment as she rubbed her head, as hitting her own barrier hadn't been part of the plan and this just made her think of how to better use that particular spell in the future, before she paused as she glanced around the area she had flown down towards after being ejected from the rift she and the others had been flying through earlier, though she could tell that there was no one else in her immediate area, as in her siblings, Jak, Daxter, Keira, or even Samos, meaning that for the time being she was going to be on her own for some time, which was when she determined that she needed to figure out where she was and go from there. As she discovered earlier she happened to be resting in a forest, or at least it sure looked like one, which happened to have a body of water to her right and in front of her rested a ramp that lead up to a large tree that she knew Samos would have loved to sit in front of and communicate with, even though there were some metallic structures that formed a wall to protect the tree, even if the wall was meager since it came up to her knees, while it also looked like the tree might be growing on top of a somewhat buried structure, before she glanced at the large stone wall that rested behind where she was sitting. What interested her about the stone wall was that there was a dome made of Eco energy attached to it and seemed to cover an entire city, though right now she had no idea how large the area could be due to the fact that she saw no opening that would allow her to enter the city, meaning she would have to get up and investigate the rest of the forest she was in, since it might give her an idea of how large the city was, even though the fact that the wall pretty much went from her right to her left told her it might be a large location, not that it helped her out since it would make finding an entrance that much harder. Of course it was even possible that there was no entrance to the city in this forest, something that would force her to make her way all the way around the exterior of the wall until she found one of the openings or gates, whichever seemed to be the one that everyone used, though it did make her wonder if those odd monsters were still around and if she needed to worry about them, especially the hulking one that had to be a leader or one of the stronger members of the race, something she could figure out if they still existed and charged at her, to which Twilight picked herself up and started to move from the area she had landed in, as it was time to investigate this area and see what there was to discover.

From what she could tell there happened to be an opening, like a passage between two rock cliffs or sides of a mountain, that was resting on the other side of the body of water that she had landed near, but to get over there she would have to either form a number of magical platforms or just swim over the distance, so for now she decided to focus on exploring the area that was near the tree, though as she did that, and started to walk over to the path in question, she heard a new noise which made her stop in her tracks for a moment as she waited to see what it was, as she was sure that it wasn't one of the Lurkers or the other creatures she and her siblings had seen, so this might be brand new and she was interested in seeing if her thoughts were right or not. It was in that moment that she found several of the odd metallic creatures, as in the same creatures that had flown through the rift when Jak activated the rider, jump down into the area she was in and gave her a good chance to look at them before they made their move, where she found that these ones seemed to stand near her height and seemed to resemble praying mantis, though their bodies were covered in what she assumed was a set of armor, they had red colored skin which she would see between the pieces of armor, and they had a yellow gem in the center of their heads, something she was still confused by. There were ten of them in total, based on what she could see, and each of them seemed interested in jumping around the area she was in and lashing out with their claws, even if they stayed away from her and seemed to be studying her, like they were determining if she was a threat to them or not, before they heard a roar not a few seconds later and all of them stalled as it happened, before another creature burst out of part of the upper section of this forest, near the large tree to be exact, and landed between Twilight and the group of monsters that were in front of her. The newcomer was a large beast, one that was easily the same height as Twilight, even though she was positive that it was actually close to twice her total height, who seemed to be more of a quadruped, while the others were bipedal, and each of its four legs ended in a set of four deadly looking claws, which looked like they could cut through most types of metal, it had a thick tail that looked like it could smash anything it fought into the ground with a simple swing, which had a few sharp looking spikes on it that looked like they were as long as her hands, it had a fierce looking head that had a bunch of razor sharp teeth inside it's mouth, it had scales instead of metallic plating, red colored scales to be exact, and it had a pair of large leathery wings that belonged to a creature of myth and legend.

Twilight's eyes widened for a moment as she gazed upon the dragon that was in front of her, a creature that Samos had told her and her siblings about and claimed that they were either extinct or they didn't exist in the first place, just like the Precursors he and the other Sages had been researching before they activated the artifacts that had been locked behind that large door that needed all those Power Cells, though the sound of something clicking, one of the mantis creatures, brought her back to reality as she stared at them and the dragon, wondering what in the world was going to happen next and if she needed to raise a barrier to protect herself from potential harm. One of the mantis monsters jumped into the air and raced over to where the dragon was standing, intending on cutting into it's scales and doing some damage, but it was in the following moment that the large beast raised its front claws and used one to slice the mantis in half, something that surprised Twilight since she figured they might have been on the same side, even though she spied a red gemstone in the dragon's forehead, which was followed by the other nine creatures jumping into the air as they moved to the sides to try something else, given that a frontal assault seemed impossible for them. Not a few seconds later Twilight threw herself to the side as the beast spun around and used its tail to knock several of its foes into the ground, one of them being hit by the spikes and falling to the ground in defeat, before she noticed that another one rushed over to the larger beast's side and lashed out at the dragon with its claw, something that ended up breaking its claw in half, which actually surprised her as she watched what was going on, leading to the dragon smashing the mantis into the ground with one of its back legs, before focusing on the other enemies that were still jumping around it, even though there were four down in total, as one that had been struck by the tail had collapsed and the third one had gotten up, even though it limped away from where it had landed. Of the six remaining enemies Twilight decided to move and weaved her magic through the air as she latched onto the legs of her targets, surprising the mantis creatures in the process as she hurled them at one of the rock walls so they would be out of the way, leading to the dragon lifting its claws to cut down the remaining three foes that rushed at it while their allies were locked against the wall, dropping their pieces to the ground in a matter of seconds, before the beast turned and faced the area that Twilight was standing in, even though it seemed like it was focused on the three creatures she had moved out of the way.

"Hold them still for a moment," a voice said, something that surprised Twilight for a second since it sounded like she had company and caused her to glance around the area she was standing in, believing that someone else was here and they were watching her and the dragon deal with these creatures, though that was when she noticed that the dragon seemed to be smiling, or at least that was what she assumed it was doing at the moment, before it took a deep breath and loosed a burst of flames into the space that was in front of him, where the flames raced towards the three mantis she had been holding against the wall and stopped when they were crispy, causing Twilight to withdraw her magic and release the three bodies so she could figure out what was going on, which was followed by the flames fading as the dragon huffed and took a moment to look at her, "You know, besides the hesitation you showed when these guys appeared, you do seem like you would be capable in a fight, especially with your unique power... not that it mattered in the long run, as those fools never stood a chance, given who they were up against."

"Thanks... I guess." Twilight replied, though she wasn't sure what to think about this situation, as it appeared that the odd metallic beasts that had emerged from the rift were still around and were causing trouble, there was a new city and it had an Eco Dome surrounding it, which required some serious power based on the theories Gol and Maia talked about before the Precursor Ring had been activated, or Rift Gate as the large monster had called it, and there was a dragon in front of her that seemed just as dangerous as Samos told her and her siblings, even if he believed them to be more of a myth and that none of them existed, but this would prove him wrong, if they ever saw each other again, "So, what are you exactly? I mean, you look like a dragon, but none of the stories make a mention of one looking like you, especially with that gem in the middle of your forehead..."

"Actually, I'm a Metal Head," the dragon stated, where Twilight tilted her head for a moment and the beast was enveloped by a dark mist, one that reminded her of Dark Eco and everything she had seen, with her siblings no less, during their first adventure to save the world, before she watched as the massive form shrunk down into something more reasonable, or at least that was her opinion on the matter, though not a few moments later the mist cleared and she discovered that the creature had transformed into a much smaller form, an Ottsel that seemed similar to Daxter, only this one had a red tint to its body, like the red gemstone in its forehead, which was no longer visible and might have been converted into the red pendant that was around its neck, "the name's Alvin, and I'm a Metal Head who can change his body and switch between three forms, as in the dragon form you saw, this one, and a hybrid form between the two... though something tells me you have no idea what I'm even talking about."

"Sorry, but I have no idea what these 'Metal Heads' you are talking about are, nor do I know what sort of powers they have access to, save for what you just showed me," Twilight admitted, as while she would have liked to tell the creature, Alvin as he called himself, that she knew something about his race, the truth of the matter was that she had no idea what those mantis creatures were and figured that the key to understanding them happened to be with Alvin, meaning if they stayed here and chatted she might gain an idea of what she was going up against and figure out some of their weaknesses, just in case she had to fight them again.

"I see... well, now I wish Simon and Theodore hadn't taken different routes to get here, as I'm not the best one to explain things to you," Alvin remarked, informing Twilight that there had to be two more Metal Heads like him, ones that had the power to become dragons and Ottsels, depending on the situation they were in, or at least that was Twilight's thoughts on the matter since she had no idea what the other two looked like, before he sighed and took a seat for a moment, to which he beckoned for Twilight to do the same for a time, "Listen, Simon is the smartest of the three of us, so if you want to ask all sorts of questions, and expect to get accurate answers, you should wait for him to join us... which might take a couple of days, given that I have no idea which path he took to reach Haven City, so I'll be the only one of us for some time, as odd as that sounds to me. Anyway, I'm a Metal Head, which according to my brother are, well, bio-something creatures that have metallic exoskeletons, which cover the fleshly parts of our bodies, and each of us have a gemstone, a 'Skull Gem' as the residents of Haven City call them for some odd reason, somewhere on our bodies, be it on our foreheads, chest, or the back, though most of our kind have yellow colored gems, with my brothers and I being the only ones with different colors, like how you can see mine is red, Simon's gem is blue, and Theodore's happens to be green. I'm not familiar on all of the specifics of our race, once again that's where my brother and his knowledge would come in handy, though I do knew that the Great One, sometimes known as the King of the Metal Heads, has been trying to bring down Haven City and wipe it from the face of the world, as he's searching for something and doesn't want to share what that something is with those who have a greater level of intelligence than what a normal member of the Hive has, as my brothers and I are on another level than the other Metal Heads... but, well, we decided not to stick around and figured that the ruler of Haven City would do wonders with the information we had, provided he's willing to see us."

"Well, I can't help you with that, given that I have no idea who the ruler of the city is," Twilight said, because while it looked like the Metal Heads were the enemies of Haven City, and those that happened to be guarding the city in question, it was easy for her to tell that Alvin and his brothers might be planning on bringing down their kind and saving the day, showing the residents that not every Metal Head was evil and wanted to bring about the deaths of the Humans that were near the location they lived in, even if this was mostly information she believed to be true and it could easily be false, but when she started to open her mouth, to say something else, she paused as she heard a twig snap, which caused Alvin to shift in his seat as they glanced in the direction of the great tree.

"What do we have here?" a voice asked, where they found that there was a third individual who had only just arrived, so that meant everything Alvin had told Twilight was kept between them, who happened to be a lean Human who seemed to be roughly as tall as most of the people that had been living in Sandover Village, who had been around six feet to be exact, though he was wearing a blue tunic over his chest, had some armor plating on his arms, a scarf which wrapped around his neck, a brown pair of pants, boots that seemed like a guard's or something, and a device in front of his face that seemed to be attached to something on his back, though his brown-red hair was done up in a dreadlock fashion and he had some odd tattoos on his face, "Who are you two? What happened to the Metal Heads?"

"I'm Twilight, and that's Alvin... and we have no idea what happened to this group of Metal Heads," Twilight replied, as she decided that, since neither of them really knew the man in question, it was best to conceal the truth for now and then try to gain his trust before revealing things to him, where it looked like Alvin might be sharing her opinions on the matter and remained silent as she spoke up, though it looked like this person was a guard of some kind, given that he had a pair of interesting weapons in his hands, as they seemed to be miniature versions of the gun-staff the Yellow Sage used, and had a curved knife or dagger in a holder attached to his leg, 'We kind of stumbled on this area and found them like this, so I'm afraid that we can't tell you anything about what might have happened to them, other than the fact that they might have had a disagreement with someone and tore each other apart."

"Is that so?" the man asked, where it looked like he was thinking about something that might have happened recently, due to the fact that he seemed to tilt his head just a tiny bit, almost like he hadn't done it in the first place, but Twilight kept her guard up since it was clear that he was holding onto both of his guns, as those where what those weapons had to be, even if it was odd to see them when none of the residents of the villages had them when they activated the Rift Gate, before he focused on the attire that Twilight was wearing, her Sandover attire to be exact, "Also, what are you wearing? That sort of attire, as I've been told, went out of style about three hundred years ago."

"Really? I had no idea that was the case." Twilight replied, though that piece of information was interesting, the Rift Gate had sent her roughly three hundred years into the future and dropped her outside a settlement that was surrounded by a Eco Dome and was called Haven City, which told her that the Precursors had artifacts that were capable of messing with time, and possibly space for that matter since she had no idea where in the world this city was located, something she was going to have to figure out at some point in the future, though she could also tell that the man and Alvin were looking at her, meaning they were curious about what else she might have to say, "Well, like I said, I stumbled on this place after I fell out of the sky, so there's nothing I can tell you about what might have happened to the Metal Heads, and this has been my attire for a long time, so I'm not familiar with what the residents of Haven City wear."

"It seems like it's a good thing I found you, and not the Krimzon Guard, as they would just capture you and take you two to one of the Baron's research centers... to be tested on," the man said, where Twilight assumed that when he said the word 'crimson' it was with a k and not with a c, an interesting decision based on what she knew, but based on what the man had just told her it seemed like it would be a bad thing if she had been found out by the force that guarded Haven City, as she suspected that the experiments the man had been talking about might be similar to what Gol and Maia would have done in the past, only she was imagining that it would be far more painful than anything the Dark Sages would do, before the man sighed and took a step back, "Give me a second, I need to report this to my superior."

"So, you can use some odd power and you fell from the sky... interesting." Alvin remarked, because this was interesting for him to discover, even though the latter was the part he was focused on since it explained why she had suddenly appeared inside this place and landed between where he had been resting and the area that the other Metal Heads had been in, but he suspected that Twilight was telling the truth, even though he made sure the man had gotten up and walked away from the area they were resting in before he said anything, as he was positive Twilight might have more to say and wanted to keep it between them for the time being.

"I can use magic, just like my sisters can, and yes, the latter is true, even if the Rift Gate disappeared," Twilight replied, as she decided that Alvin, despite the fact that they had only just met and neither of them really knew each other, deserved to know part of the truth that she was putting together, mostly since she knew he would have likely taken her down if they had fought each other after the Metal Heads had been taken out, due to his rather powerful body, his deadly claws, and his strong tail, as it looked like he had been built for war and he didn't like what the Great One of the Metal Heads had in store for him and his brothers, hence why they left the Hive she guessed, "You and I are in the same boat, Alvin, because we're both missing our siblings right now and we have no idea where they've gone, as you said that Simon and Theodore took different paths to get to Haven City, to divide up the group that was following you, but since neither of them have revealed themselves yet I'm going to assume that they were distracted and might have taken on another form to prevent their enemies from finding them, so it might take some time before you can meet up with them again. Now, this might be a long shot, but maybe if we travel together, and tackle whatever enemies come our way, we can find my sisters, Starlight and Cozy, and my brother Jak with his Ottsel, Daxter, while at the same time looking for your brothers, so that way we're all back together and no one's missing."

"Ottsel? Is that what this creature is called? I had no idea... but I like the plan you've come up with," Alvin remarked, which informed Twilight that he and his brothers, if Simon and Theodore really shared the same powers he had, had next to no idea what the name of the hybrid creature they could take on was, though he seemed pleased by what he had discovered by just talking to her, before he looked at her for a moment and thought about something that was bugging him, like how they would be traveling from this point forward, "So, how are we going to go about this? I'm assuming that, since your own brother has an Ottsel you would have come up with a way to do the same thing that they did before you came to Haven City and ended up in this forest."

Twilight smiled for a moment and gave Alvin a rundown on what she had seen when Jak and Daxter moved around, as in the latter sat on the former's left shoulder and usually did nothing while the former fought their enemies, where she could see that Alvin raised an eyebrow as he considered Daxter to be incredibly lazy since he would have lashed out at enemies from such a position, since they wouldn't be expecting one of their targets to lash out at them from that perch, where she took a few moments to consider how to modify her attire to do such a thing as well, though for now she didn't have such a thing and would have to figure out something in the future, which was when the man returned.

"My superior, after hearing a bit of what I've discovered, expressed an interest in seeing if you'll join our organization, the Underground, which opposes Baron Praxis," the man said, something that seemed to interest Alvin when they head it, due to the fact that he had been planning on coming to Haven City with his brothers and giving the ruler some information on how to deal with the eventual Metal Head assault or invasion, but if there was a civil war of sorts it seemed like it was best if he kept his mouth shut and waited until he knew what was going on in the city, giving him time to track down both of his brothers and figure out what in the world was going on, before the man sighed for a moment, "I'll have to change out my single seater zoomer for a larger one that can seat two people, but that won't take too long... though the drive between this forest and our hideout will give me the time to tell you about the organization and let you determine whether or not you want to join us."

Twilight was excited by the mention of the zoomer, because she and Keira had created the first generation of the vehicle and had to wonder if someone had found their plans and improved upon them over time or if someone had created new versions of the zoomer, if the Metal Heads that swarmed out of the Rift Gate tore Samos' hut to pieces and buried what all of them had left behind, to which she got up and followed after the man, Torn as he called himself, and Alvin jumped up to her left shoulder, giving him a chance to see what she had been talking about when she detailed what Jak and Daxter did during their first adventure. What she discovered as they followed after their new acquaintance was that there was a path behind the large tree, a tunnel carved through the stone that brought them to an area that appeared to be the entrance of the forest, one that had a bunch of stones and ledges lined up in a way that someone could either climb or jump up them, which lead the way to an arch that was either of Precursor make or someone replicated it, though Twilight, having studied the works of the Precursors, realized that it was the latter and had to admit that however made the area, which had a lone platform near the arch, had done a good job carving out the area, before she and Torn stepped on the platform and let it take them to whatever area rested at the end of it's path. A few moments later, after passing through what appeared to be a tunnel that was carved through a mountain, they reached a point that allowed her to stare out at a temple, as that was due to all of the structures that were resting around the area, all of Precursor make and it really made her take a moment to wonder what sort of knowledge or artifacts might be lurking in this place, even though her experience with the Rift Gate told her to be careful with anything that was found in this area, even though they didn't head to the temple and stopped at an earthen path that held a platform leading to the temple, including a small gap they needed to jump over that had one of the Warp Gates on the other side of it, to which Torn jumped over the gap and Twilight did the same, before he jumped through the device and headed to a new area, something that she replicated a few seconds later. The area the Warp Gate brought them to was a ledge of some kind that rested near the base of the massive wall, which seemed to form a massive perimeter around the entirety of Haven City, where she found a decent sized opening that seemed to have a locked door blocking their way, something that unlocked a few seconds after Torn approached it, allowing them to enter a chamber that ten people, at least, could stand in, before the door closed behind them and locked as the one in front of them started to unlock so they could enter the city.

A few moments later the door opened and Twilight found that they were allowed to enter the city, which seemed to be in an area that reminded her of the farm back in Sandover Village, due to all of the plants and vegetables that were growing out of the ground nearby and seemed to be in the middle of being watered, though stretched out in front of her was the massive city that was called Haven City, something she would have to see more of before she came to a decision if this was a good place to live or not, though she felt that the large castle that seemed to be in the middle of the city, at the top of a tower of sorts and seemed to be spinning in some sense, or at least that was what it looked like from the area that she and Alvin were standing in. Not a few moments later Torn walked down the ramp that was right in front of where the door was located, where Twilight found that there was a vehicle that looked like the A-Grav Zoomer down at the bottom of the ramp, though resting nearby was a rectangular shaped device which seemed to be another type of zoomer, one that could seat two individuals, so either one of the Underground agents had been in the area and his superior allowed them to switch their vehicles with each other, or one just so happened to be resting nearby and Torn had forgotten about it as he talked to Twilight and Alvin. Torn climbed into the vehicle and powered it up, making sure it was ready to leave, before nodding as glanced back at the door, where it didn't take Twilight long to join him, though while she was doing that she found a cloak of some kind inside the vehicle and wrapped it over her, hiding most of her unique features as Alvin rested between her and Torn, where the latter sighed as he lifted the vehicle into the air, higher than what Twilight had seen back when she and her siblings used Keira's zoomer, before leaving the area and headed into the city itself, something that was followed by Torn speaking a little about things the Underground did. From what she gathered Baron Praxis had been, well, not the best boss in the world before his ill-fated assault on the Metal Head Nest, which happened to be where the boss of the creatures rested, meaning it was the home of Alvin and his brothers, which resulted in them losing a bunch of guards and the Baron lost a part of the right side of his head, replacing it with metal, but after the assault he seemed to become much colder and more of a tyrant, especially with the rise of the Underground happening at the same time, so he lashed out at his own citizens by having the Krimzon Guard assault areas Torn's allies supposedly rested in and arrested anyone who resisted, sometimes even putting them down in the process, and that wasn't counting the slavery that was enforced upon the Lurkers, who, according to Torn, were more intelligent than they were three hundred years ago, or at least some were smarter like Humans and others were like what Twilight remembered.

While Torn talked Twilight stole a glance at Alvin, who gave her a slight movement with his head, the 'no' fashion anyway, before she focused on what was in front of them and ignored some of the red colored vehicles that were in the air, as they happened to be the vehicles of the Krimzon Guard, though the gesture was all Twilight needed to see, as it meant that her new companion wasn't interested in helping Baron Praxis and that any information he had would be handed over to one of two people, the leader of the Underground being the first while the new leader of the city would be the second, just in case the organization's leader didn't take the city's throne once they overthrew Baron Praxis... though as they listened to what Torn had to say Twilight noticed that they flew through a marketplace, by the central tower, through another half of the market, quickly navigated around an area that was full of electricity and made her want to study it, before reaching an area that seemed like the poor section, before coming to a stop at a dead end.

"So what do you say?" Torn asked, though at the same time he powered down the vehicle he had been driving and took a moment to step onto the ground that was outside what Twilight assumed was one of the hideouts for the Underground, and he even made sure that the zoomer was resting just above the ground, before he stopped by what looked like a door made out of stone, one that happened to have a symbol on it that seemed to indicate that the Underground planned on taking down the Baron and restoring peace to the city, and turned around to look at Twilight once more, where it was easy for her to determine what he was asking her.

"It seems like you need all the help you can get... so count me in," Twilight replied, as she had seen and heard a bunch of things that made her dislike the Baron, especially since it seemed like he was punishing his citizens when there were next to no members of the Underground in the areas the Krimzon Guards assaulted, and that wasn't counting the fact that the Baron had slave labor in the form of Lurkers, apparently depriving them of their basic rights, or at least she assumed they had more rights after what happened to them in the past, before she thought about something as she glanced down at her body and her attire, "I'm probably going to need some new attire, to help me blend in and not be stopped every time someone sees my Sandover clothing, and possibly spend some time seeing if I can make an illusion spell to hide my true form for a time, but once I've covered those two problems, and made sure my body fights like its supposed to, I should be ready to tackle the Baron and his Krimzon Guard."

Torn said nothing to that, as he had been thinking about whether or not Twilight was going to join them, but the thought about training would allow him to see just she was capable of and if her little critter had anything to offer the organization, which was unlikely, and he beckoned for her to follow him, as he suspected that this was going to be rather interesting and he was sure that some of his allies would think the same thing when they found out what he had discovered earlier, especially when he considered the test that he had in mind for their new recruit.
> Interlude: Training and Developments
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first thing Torn did was open the door to the hideout, after making sure none of the Krimzon Guards were anywhere near this particular dead end, and beckoned for Twilight to follow him after the Human-sized stone door moved out of the way, revealing a set of stairs that went underground, which she supposed was appropriate due to the name of the group she was now joining, before stopping in what appeared to be a decent sized room that seemed to be about the same size of Samos' room, the part of the hut that held his Warp Gate, hidden bed, and all of the plants he worked with, only this place had a pair of bunk beds, one on either side of the bottom of the stairs, with a table in the middle of the room that had some papers on it, some maps on some of the walls, and a number of crates that likely held weapons, given what little she knew about the organization.

"It isn't much, but this is our base of operations... one of them, anyway," Torn remarked, his tone revealing that there were a number of locations that seemed to be under the control of the Underground and his superior had made sure they had enough spaces to use in case one of the hideouts was found and destroyed, and this one even had a furnace so whoever was here could keep warm, something he really didn't think about whenever he was in this area, before he noticed that they weren't alone, as there was another member of the organization down here and they were turning to look at the door Torn had walked through,"Tess, we have some new recruits."

Tess, as Torn called her, and Twilight could tell it was a lady based on the rather slender build to her body and the mounds on her chest, which made her look more attractive than what she was used to seeing three hundred years ago, though she had light blond colored hair that was cut short, to her shoulders to be exact, blue colored eyes, and fair skin, with the same pointed ears that all Humans had, where she noticed that Tess was wearing a green jacket that was low-cut and designed to show off her midriff, with both of its the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, had a pair of blue shorts, and came complete with a pair of boots that had brown cloth or something over her legs, like armor, but while she seemed cold at first it did look like Tess might be much friendlier than Torn was.

"Torn, as you sure they're here to join us?" Tess asked, where she walked up to where Twilight and Alvin were standing for a moment and studied them for a few moments, something that made her wonder if the lady was worried that she might not be cut out for the fight she was thinking of joining, though she guessed that either her attire or her body made Tess think that she wasn't ready for everything and everything that was going to be thrown at her in the future, since she was sure Torn would have her do missions while she looked for her siblings, "No offense, but you look like the Krimzon Guard would knock you down and arrest you if you tried to do anything to them... or be executed outright, given how some like to do that when they find people resisting the laws Baron Praxis passed a while back."

"I appreciate the concern, but its unnecessary," Twilight replied, speaking before Torn had a chance to say something, due to the fact that she had this and she could tell that he wasn't the only one that was interested in what she might have to tell Tess, as Alvin seemed eager to hear what she had to say as well, to which she focused on the lady that was in front of her and took a moment to realize that she had to be around her age at the very least, as in either fifteen, sixteen, or even seventeen, an odd thing due to the fact that they were rebelling against the Baron, "I'll have you know that I fought beside my brother Jak and our sisters, Starlight Shimmer and Cozy Glow, against some dangers that were threatening our home and the rest of the area we lived in, and we were hailed as heroes thanks to our efforts... in fact, we the four of us were on our way to Haven City when we got... separated... and Alvin was separated from his brothers, Simon and Theodore, as well, so we decided to stick together and find our siblings at the same time, and help you take down the Baron, after finding out everything he had done to his citizens."

"And, if you don't believe her, then why not spar with her for a few moments?" Alvin added, because while he hadn't seen Twilight in battle, other than using her magic to hold those Metal Heads against the wall so he could burn them to a crisp within a few moments, he suspected that, based on everything he had heard her say, Twilight had the power to back up a number of her claims and would be a viable ally in the Underground's war against the Baron, while at the same time he noticed that Torn and Tess were looking at each other, no doubt wondering if they should take his suggestion or use one of their own tests to see what Twilight was capable of, which was followed by Torn sighing for a moment as he focused on him and Twilight once more.

"A small combat test sounds good, though we'll have to move since this place isn't large enough for it," Torn said, where it was easy to hear that he wasn't too pleased with having to move to a new location for the two to have a match with each other, even though it didn't take him long to figure out where they could go and, even if it would be a totally untrue fact on their part, he had the perfect excuse if someone rounded the corner and noticed what they were doing, hence the reason he headed for the stairs once more, "We'll train outside, that way I can keep an eye on the movements of the Krimzon Guards and stop you two if one or more of them get close to where this hideout is located."

Twilight said nothing to that as she and Tess followed up the stairs and headed outside the hideout, back to the dead end that Torn had brought her to a few moments ago, where she watched as Torn walked over to the turn that allowed him to keep an eye on the rest of the city and watch the match between the pair, even though it was hard to tell if he was even interested in this or if he thought it was annoying, where it was hard to tell which option it had to be, before she and Tess shifted their stances for a moment as they stared at each other, the air shifting as they readied themselves for a mock battle between them. Not a few moments later Tess started the sparing match by running at Twilight and threw a fist right at her, which was where Twilight found that her speed was nothing to laugh at and that Tess was good at hiding her true abilities or expressions, as she had to winch for a moment as she blocked the incoming attack with her own punch, due to it being a little stronger than what she originally believed Tess was capable of, before she went on the defensive due to the speed of the punches and kicks that were coming her way, but even as she thought about that she knew Tess had to be a skilled member of the Underground and that they would find a use for all her skills, even the ones that she hadn't been shown yet. Interestingly enough Tess seemed to realized that they were getting nowhere if she was the one going on the offensive, pushing Twilight into a corner so she couldn't fight back, even though she wasn't using her magic just yet since she wanted to keep it a surprise for later, and seemed to slow down a little while giving Twilight more openings to work with, inviting her to lash out and try to knock her to the ground, though while it was most certainly a trap there was really nothing she could do and advanced on Tess, who seemed to switch to being defensive rather easily, making Twilight take a moment to wonder who had trained her, and possibly Torn for that matter, especially since her opponent dodged the first punch that came her way. Torn, despite the fact that he didn't seem all that interested in their fight, did glance their way every now and then as they exchanged a number of punches and dodges, which was around the time that Twilight added a few of the techniques she, Jak, and their sisters mastered before their first adventure started, as she lashed out with her hooves and kicked at her opponent, who almost got hit by the attack and had to keep her guard up for the next couple of moments, as Twilight went on the offensive and even spun around with the spin kick, which surprised Tess for a second as she dodged it as well, though while all of that happened Torn did nothing as he observed the pair.

After a few more moments of doing that, however, Tess seemed to get even more serious and lashed out at Twilight with the intent of pushing her back and knocking her out before the same, in a fashion, could be done to her, though that was when both she and Torn noticed something interesting as she threw a stronger punch at Twilight, a shimmering barrier appeared between her and her target, where she noticed that the power seemed to be coming from her opponent, before Twilight applied a little bit of pressure and knocked Tess backwards as the barrier exploded out in her direction, where it wasn't long before Twilight rushed out of the area she had been standing in and knocked Tess to the ground, with one of her fists raised to show she was ready for whatever her opponent had in store for her next.

"That's enough," Torn said, as while he knew that Tess could go on and would probably overpower Twilight again, just like how most of the fight had gone, even though he realized that Twilight wasn't a beginner and her fighting style needed a bit of work before she could match a Krimzon Guard, he decided that enough was enough, that this sparing match was over and he had seen enough, but even then the one thing he hadn't considered was the odd skill that had been used to knock Tess backwards and turn the tide of the battle in Twilight's favor, a power unlike anything he had seen in the past and it was easy for him to see Tess was thinking the same thing, "though I have to ask... what was that power?"

"You might not believe me, but its magic... and, as far as I know, only Starlight, Cozy, and I can use it," Twilight answered, though at the same time she climbed off of Tess and held out a hand to help her up, something that surprised the lady in question, despite the fact that Tess accepted the gesture anyway, before she focused on Torn and what she had said, as there was a good reason as to why she had revealed that particular piece of information to him and his ally, since it would give them an idea of what she was capable of and left them to imagine what else she could do, even though she really had no idea if this would work or not, "So far we can only make barriers, loose blasts, and even levitate things, but if I were to train with my magic, and experiment with it, I might be able to do more, something I could pass onto my sisters when we eventually meet up in the future."

"I see... well, we'll have to keep an eye out for them," Torn remarked, because he figured that if her sisters were as strong as Twilight was when it came to wielding the magical energies she had access to, something he really couldn't deny after having seen it with his own eyes, then he and the rest of the Underground would have to keep an eye out for them, to see if they would join the group in their war against Baron Praxis, before he removed himself from where he was standing, as he noticed that no Krimzon Guards happened to be coming their way, and headed back to the entrance of their hideout not even a few seconds later, causing the stone door to open as he beckoned for Tess and Twilight, plus Alvin, to follow him for a couple of moments.

Twilight followed him and Tess down the stairs once more and discovered something interesting, she had passed the little test, even though it was mostly due to her magic and the fact that they weren't going to turn away the help, especially due to the fact that her siblings were out there and having two more like her, with a skilled warrior in the form of Jak, would be a boon to the Underground, meaning from this point forward she was a member of the Underground and that both Torn and Tess would help her settle in before sending her out on a mission, which every single member of the group did, just like what happened when she first met Torn. Another thing she discovered was that there was a secret passage in one of the walls that allowed someone to enter one of the tall buildings, which were a bunch of houses resting side by side with a somewhat decent wall between the residences, though this served as a normal residence for one of their members and so far the Baron and his goons hadn't caught onto the fact that multiple people entered this house, as they had witnessed it themselves in the past, which meant the Krimzon guard could do so as well, hence why they changed their tactics and did everything in their power to keep their members safe. For now the house, which happened to have three bedrooms, even if they weren't all that big in the grand scheme of things due to space being a bit of an issue, was where Tess lived and, for the time being, Torn was sticking Twilight with her, to oversee her training and outfit her with some new attire before they sent her out into the field for her first mission, even though there were no reading materials since the Baron used most of the city's resources to fight the Metal Heads, something that made her a little sad since she was hoping for new books to have been written by this point in time, though Tess mentioned she could always get one of the pads that the operators of the various sections of Haven City used and, if she did get one, it would allow her to tap into a bunch of information, both a digital library and possible reports that were sent to the Baron. Another thing Twilight got, in addition to her own room for the time being, was a new set of attire that would replace her Sandover clothing, where she found that what Tess had to share with her happened to be nearly identical to what the lady was wearing, meaning a blue shirt that showed off her midriff and a blue pair of shorts that matched Tess' shorts, though given her legs she couldn't wear boots or shoes, but she did have to modify a few bits of the clothing to allow her tail to slip through without being harmed, though in the end Twilight glanced down at herself and found that she looked like a native of Haven City, minus the pony parts that would no doubt cause many to glance at her without delay.

After that Twilight spent the rest of her first day in Haven City in Tess' workshop, the area that the Underground kept their couple of vehicles inside, where she studied the various types of zoomers that existed inside this place, as while the round thin ones looked identical to her and Keira's A-Grav Zoomer, and seemed to operate the same despite the function that let them fly just above the ground and higher in the air, it was the other vehicles, the ones that could sit two people and were much larger than their invention, that held her attention as she took in their forms for a time, even though there were a number of other zoomers that only the Krimzon Guard used, where one of them seemed to be a thin one that could fire small blasts at the rider's target, while a second type was a much larger and more sturdy creation. Such a thing interested her, as she and Keira hadn't designed the zoomer to have a weapon attached to it, but that meant whoever had found all of their plans must have discovered a way to incorporate part of the Krimzon Guards' weapons into the vehicles, or maybe they had modified the plans and the vehicles in question to allow a gun to be added to them in the first place, but for now this allowed her to understand each and every new zoomer that was inside Haven City, something that would go well into the night and would no doubt cause her to fall asleep while she studied them. At the same time she thought about every spell she and her sisters used or thought about and wondered if there was one she might be able to use to hide herself, or at least hide her true form without showing off her hooves, ears, or tail to the residents of the city, though the best she could come up with was a spell that was designed to make her seem like an ordinary citizen, which she decided was more of an illusion spell and less of a combat spell, but it would take her some time to figure out the specifics of the spell and, more importantly, how much of her mana it would take to fuel it for an extended amount of time, which she was fine with since it gave her something to do. While all of that happened Tess also asked her what she was, due to the fact that she had never seen anyone like her before and she knew the same would be said for everyone in Haven City, as Twilight was the only one that had hooves instead of feet, pony-like ears, and a tail that matched the ears, not to mention the muzzle as well, where Twilight informed her that she was, to the best of her knowledge, a hybrid between a Human and a pony, due to that being what Daxter called her and her sisters, though she had no idea who her parents were and that made it hard for them to figure anything out about one of the species that she, Starlight, and Cozy belonged to.

When morning arrived she found that there wasn't much for breakfast, save for porridge and some crackers, due to Baron Praxis taking most of the good stuff for himself, based on everything Torn told Tess about what was inside the Palace that their foe lived in, meaning he was living the high life while his citizens had much less, which was enough to make sure they could go through their days and not starve until dinner, so she and Alvin shared what Tess gave them, making sure both of them had energy for the day, while hearing that the Underground also stole food and made sure the citizens had enough to get by, which was nice to hear after everything she had learned so far. Once they were done eating, and the dishes were put in the sink that Tess showed Twilight, the pair headed for the hidden tunnel after Tess made sure the door was locked, even though such a thing wouldn't stop any of the Krimzon Guards bursting into this house if they felt like searching it, and she made sure to seal the entrance so no one would find it if the place was invaded, before she, Twilight, and Alvin headed for the hideout that Torn seemed to call home, since he didn't dare show himself at his own place in case the Guards came after him, even though Twilight was sure he entered it in the shadows so no one could see him.

"The Baron is hurting the people who call the Slums, which is the part of the city we're located in, home, as I just received word from one of my informants that he's turned off the water valve," Torn commented, where he paused for a moment and spoke up the instant Twilight and Alvin walked in behind Tess, even though he had been pacing for a few seconds as he thought about everything he had been told just a couple of minutes ago, because while it might be too soon for Twilight to be given her first mission for the Underground, and see if she was able to actually help them, this did seem to be a good test of some of the other skills a member of this group needed, especially since the other members had more important missions and he couldn't spare anyone else right now, "now, its easy to fix this problem... however, one needs to navigate the Pumping Station before they can reach the area that the valve is resting in, so Twilight, Tess will be transporting you over to the door that allows one to go from Haven City and enter the Pumping Station... think of this as a test of the rest of your skills, as in your ability to move around the field and complete objectives."

Twilight said nothing to that and nodded her head to show that she understood what Torn was telling her, as she figured that he wouldn't just let her sit around and do whatever she wanted, hence why she followed Tess outside and discovered Torn must have prepared the vehicle they would be using ahead of time, allowing the two of them to climb into the seats as Alvin remained on her shoulder, allowing Tess to power up the vehicle and head out into Haven City, though this just so happened to give Twilight a chance to see if the residents of the city noticed her, be they the innocent civilians or the evil guards they had to worry about. The reason behind that decision was because she wanted to see if she needed to work on her illusion spell, to hide her true self while around everyone else and from the guards, though what Twilight, Tess, and Alvin discovered as they carefully flew through the city, apparently in traffic according to Tess, was that none of the people that were at their height seemed to care about them and no one focused on her, which was just weird since she stood out like a sore thumb, and even the three guards they passed didn't seem to mind their presence, meaning she didn't have to work on the spell for the purpose she had originally planned on. Still, that didn't mean she couldn't work on it anyway, just to see if it worked or not and, if the latter was the way things went, how she could change it so the spell would be usable anyway, something that she made a mental note of for later as she focused on where Tess was taking her and the fact that the Baron seemed to be tormenting his own people so he could rat out the Underground, to break them so he could turn his full attention back to the Metal Heads, but based on everything she had seen so far it sure seemed like it would be best if the Underground dethroned Baron Praxis and did whatever it was that they wanted to do with the city, something she was sure Torn or his boss would tell her about once they got close to their objective. While she did that she would take her time and look for her siblings, as she was sure that Starlight, Cozy, and Jak would have appeared in this city at some point, either landing in different parts of the city at the same time she did or further down the line, like a few weeks or months in the future, and that also extended to Keira, Samos, and Daxter, as she was sure they were here in this city as well and that she would have to figure out where they had gone as well, but for now she focused on helping the Underground in their mission to topple the Baron.

What she discovered was that the district of the city that the door to the outside was located in was mostly full of water, as in a steady amount that could make it more like a lake in a sense, and there happened to be a number of houses that were on stilts or posts which allowed them to be above the water, but she had the feeling that this might also be a cheap part of the city, before Twilight focused on where they were going and discovered the oval shaped opening that would let her and Alvin head outside, since she was sure Tess would be staying inside the city, or maybe she would join them and study their skills from a safe distance. Not a few moments later the zoomer came to a stop above the wooden walkway that lead to the oval opening and Tess made sure they came to a stop above some planks, allowing her to power down the vehicle and climb out, something that Twilight did as she and Alvin glanced out at the rest of this district, where she did spot a larger building that seemed to be at the end of one of the wooden paths that rested throughout this area, though that was when Tess informed her that this place was called the 'Water Slums', so it was just a watery version of the Slums they had been in earlier.

"Based on our scans, we've determined that there are no enemies guarding the valve," Tess commented, where she took a moment to open the door that was in front of them so she and Twilight could enter the smaller chamber that rested right in the middle of Haven City and what was outside the wall, though not a few moments later the door closed while the one that was right in front of them unlocked, meaning it was starting to open while the other one returned to being locked for the time being, where she refocused on what she had to tell Twilight, before sending her on her way, "like Torn said, this is going to a test of your other skills and how you deal with a path that is full of twist and turns... or at least that's how I'm sure he would explain things to you. I'll stand near the doorway and let you tackle the course to where the valve rests, so I can see your skills for myself."

Twilight nodded her head for a second and braced herself as the door opened, revealing that the Pumping Station was set up on a small island, or a number of small patches of land that would be considered an island, where she found a decent number of machines had been built at some point in the past and were likely designed to move water through a bunch of devices that would purify it and make it drinkable for everyone who lived inside the city, or at least inside the Slums that the Underground rested in, since she was sure there were more stations for the other districts, so the Baron could turn off access to the water for one district and not worry about his part of the city. As she walked away from Tess she found that the only way forward, which didn't include swimming through some of the water and potentially encountering one of the dangerous Lurker Sharks in the process, as she had no idea if they still existed or not, happened to be a pair of moving metallic pistons that would allow her to jump up onto the top of the structure they were next to, even though she did spot a pipe at this end and noticed that it seemed to go through most of this place, meaning if she followed it for a time it could lead her right to the valve. At the top of the structure Twilight found something interesting that must have escaped all of the scans that had been done on this place, as there were two small reptilian creatures with yellow colored skin and blue strips on what appeared to be their backs, since they seemed to be bipedal and stood roughly at Daxter's height, though instead of lashing out at them, like Torn or Tess might think she would, Twilight readied her magic and knocked both of her foes out, using a spell designed to put people and creatures in a sleeping state, one that was pretty much useless in combat. Alvin then informed her that these were Glubs, creatures that were pretty much like Yakows to the Humans of the city, meaning they were captured and turned into cages for the future, either as breeding stock or as food, which did make her wonder if the Underground could use a few of these to supply themselves with a somewhat decent supply of food, something that she would come back to once she did what she had come here to do, hence the reason she walked over to the edge of the structure and found that she would need to jump over a small gap and land on a section of earth that had been modified to be flat and serve as the path forward, something she easily jumped over since it was like when she and her siblings tackled Geyser Rock.

From there she found that there was a long metallic platform resting between her and the next part of the path, one that seemed to be coming out of the other raised piece of earth and wasn't connected to where she was standing right now, so she jumped over to the metallic item and landed on it with ease, allowing her to walk over to the end and jump up to the next area, where she gripped the edge of the ledge and pulled herself up onto the top of the pillar, where she was able to catch a glimpse of a quadrupedal creature that had red skin, two of them to be exact, running off in the distance, meaning she wouldn't be able to figure out what in the world they were until later, when she found them again. After that she found another part of the metallic pipe attached to this pillar and happened to be connected to a new structure, even though the pipe in this case was square shaped and seemed to rotate every now and then, while there was a third pipe that went over to the other section of the island, one that seemed to have less metal resting over it and appeared to be far more natural, before she quickly noticed that there was an electrical device moving from one end of the third pipe to the other end, like it was designed to shock intruders and knock them out so the Krimzon Guards could come and arrest whoever dared to go against the Baron's orders, or collect some food in a Glub was shocked by it. After taking in the area they were in Twilight quickly headed over the rotating pipe and jumped once to avoid being caught by the rotation, which would have dropped her onto a small beach of some kind, before pausing as the electric device reached her end of the third pipe and headed back to the other side, where the moment it reached the end she moved once more and rushed over towards the end of the pipe, making sure to jump over the device when it came back at her, allowing her to touch down on the platform that was on the other side of the end of the third pipe and she paused for a moment as she glanced around her area to see if she could find the smaller pipe. During that couple of seconds she realized that there was a flaw with this test, as without Tess watching her every move and decision, since she could tell the lady was back at the entrance and hadn't moved at all, meaning that this was less of a test and was more about seeing whether or not she was capable of following the orders she was given in the future, or maybe this would be one of those times where her thoughts were wrong and just reaching the end was enough to pass whatever test Torn had in mind for her, to which she used the pair of moving pistons to rise up to another part of the path and jumped over to the next ledge.

After that she found another pipe and some more metallic platforms for her to use to get around this area, breaking her thoughts about how this area looked, where one of them had two electric devices that she had to jump over so she could reach the next platform, though as she reached another spinning square pipe, and found a pair of pistons off to the side of the structure it happened to be connected to, Twilight spotted a pair of Ottsels standing near the area that the pistons were resting in, where one happened to have a blue tint to their body and the other had a green tint, even though both of them looked similar to Alvin did.

"Simon! Theodore! There you guys are!" Alvin called out, where his statement confirmed Twilight's thoughts on the matter, that they had to be Alvin's missing brothers, especially with the pendants they were wearing and their fur colors, though at the same time it appeared that Simon had a small pair of glasses in front of his eyes, which she hoped were for his Ottsel form and didn't mean he had poor eyesight, while Theodore seemed to have a little more fat than his brothers, where she wouldn't call him fat at all, though Alvin's statement caused the pair to turn towards him and her, to which Twilight quickly crossed over to the other side of the pipe and dropped down to where they were standing.

"Alvin?! We were starting to worry about you, when you didn't make it to the section of the wall that we decided to make our rendezvous point," the blue furred Ottsel replied, though he sounded happy to see his brother again, while Theodore, who Twilight assumed had to be the last one with green tinted fur, had a smile on his face as they stared at their brother, something that was followed by Alvin jumping off her shoulder for a moment as he rushed up to his siblings and hugged both of them not a few seconds later, which brought a smile to her face as well, before they noticed her standing there not a few seconds later and raised their guards almost immediately, "Alvin, who is this? And can we trust her?"

"The name's Twilight Sparkle, and we sort of... helped each other yesterday," Twilight answered, where she quickly figured out that Simon had to be the smarter brother, Alvin had to be the leader, and Theodore was likely the warrior, or at least this was her take on having only just met two of them and having spent only a day, if that, with the last one, but if Simon and Theodore were anything like Alvin, especially when she considered his transformed state, they would try to head into the city and tell the baron what they knew about the plans of the Metal Head leader, even though Alvin would likely tell his brothers the truth and they would have to spend some time determining what they were going to do now that their plan had been foiled, before she refocused on explaining herself, "and by that I mean that he was assaulted by some of the Metal Heads that had been chasing you, where I assisted him in taking care of them... and we agreed to join forces until we found both of you, in addition to my own siblings, two sisters by the name of Starlight Glimmer and Cozy Glow, with our brother Jak as well, plus Daxter, our Ottsel friend who is almost always by Jak's side, so that's two birds with one stone if we happen upon my brother at some point."

Simon and Theodora glanced at each other for a moment, where one was clearly debating whether or not to believe what she had said, even though the third didn't seem to mind having a new ally, before they pulled Alvin away for a few seconds and held a private discussion with their brother, no doubt about her and their own mission, something that she was totally fine with as she proceeded along the rest of the path and found a way up a metallic walkway that lead right to the valve she had been told to turn, though as Twilight walked towards it, however, the three odd Ottsels joined her and Alvin told her that his brothers needed time to think about things, but for now they were going to be joining her in her quest... so the moment the valve was turned, and water would be flowing back into the Slums, they headed back to Tess, as Twilight had the feeling that things were going to get more exciting in the near future.
> Interlude: Unexpected Discovery
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tess and Torn, as Twilight discovered, where surprised by the discovery of Simon and Theodore, even though one liked the fact that they had two new friends and the other didn't seem to care for this discovery at all, given that the latter was a little preoccupied by planning out the Underground's moves against the Baron, even though there was a bit of good news from all of this and that was the fact that none of the citizens of Haven City, being the residents and the Guards, seemed to take notice of Twilight's true nature, meaning she could just walk around and not care about being spotted at all, even though they were all sure that would change the moment she did something that upset Baron Praxis. Truthfully, after everything she had discovered so far, and she was sure that there was more she hadn't found out yet she had only been in the city for a day or two, she honestly didn't care for the Baron's oppressive rules and was more then willing to do anything to upset his rule over Haven City, even though that was when she learned that the Baron lead a coup to expel the previous King and had succeeded, much to the dismay of the residents of the city, meaning that the residents had been forced to change from one type of rule to another and that none of them really cared for the current rule, even if many didn't want to speak out due to the Krimzon Guards taking down anyone that spoke out. That was why the Underground existed, to fight the Baron and his corrupted followers, which included the Captain of the Guard, an evil individual who was ruthless and enjoyed watching the suffering of others while he worked, whose name happened to be Errol, someone that Twilight was going to have to keep an eye out for in the future, as Torn knew that if he spotted her while she was out in the city he would stop at nothing to take her down and ship her to the prison, or one of the other Krimzon Guard facilities, meaning that if someone was taken into such a place it would be hard for them to leave. In that moment Torn seemed to have an idea of what the Underground could do with the Ottsel brothers and that, as Twilight learned, was to use them as a new type of spy, since they were much smaller than everyone else in the city and, if someone happened to be focused on whatever was around them at the time, he was sure that each of them would go unnoticed and would be able to leave the area they were sent to with whatever information they were tasked with collecting, meaning they could gain some vital information without leaving a trace for the Baron or his lackeys to follow.

Interestingly enough Alvin, Simon, and Theodore weren't annoyed by the idea, rather they seemed eager to help out, due to everything they had discovered in the short time they had been inside Haven City, since all of them were in Twilight's position right now, and she had the feeling that the brothers would be able to handle themselves, given their true forms and whatever their middle forms looked like, since she had been told that there were three forms they could use and she had seen two of them, which really made her wonder what the third form looked like since Alvin had told her it was more of a hybrid form, but she was sure that she would find out in due time, even though this was something that they kept to themselves since the brothers didn't trust the Underground with their secret just yet.

Once Torn had an 'official' labeling for the Ottsel brothers, for the Underground anyway, Twilight found that the next few days were filled with her not really doing much, save for using a device that Tess gave her to read anything and everything that they had access to, as in history tomes, research notes, and a number of books that held a bunch of new subjects for her to read up on, meaning that while she had some time off she used it to expand her knowledge on everything that had happened over the last three hundred or so years, even if some of them were completely made up based on everything she had read so far. Her new companions, meaning Alvin, Simon, and Theodore, joined her from time to time since Torn hadn't given them any missions yet, meaning they were still in the recruitment stages of the rebellion and weren't ready for spies to go into the Krimzon Guard facilities, but while Alvin and Theodore enjoyed several of the items she had pulled up, as in the action related stories, Simon seemed interested in expanding his own knowledge and joined her in seeing what Tess' tablet had to offer them, as the device was a black rectangular item and had a glass screen, though that didn't stop them from reading everything that had been offered to them. Torn didn't seem to mind the fact that she was just hanging out in Tess' place for the time being, rather it was like he expected her to do that in the first place since he didn't have any missions to offer her, even though he also gave her no thanks for fixing the valve, meaning he was going to be like Samos in the fact that he was a 'tough audience', as he liked to call himself, and that it would take something special for him to congratulate her, meaning she would have to work hard and do something truly impressive, just like what she, Jak, Starlight, and Cozy did during their first adventure. Of course Twilight found nothing that would help them taken down the Baron inside the tablet, not that she was planning on finding something in there anyway, so she spent her free time reading up on studies and everything that had come before this point in time, along with thinking up new ways to use her magic, for when she went on a mission for the Underground or when she got into a fight with someone, be they a Krimzon Guard or her training partners, which was a great way for her to pass some of the time and improve her skills as Alvin and his brothers watched her, taking in the new type of power that she was wielding, since they were still surprised by what she was capable of.

That allowed Alvin, Simon, and Theodore to understand why she was so eager to find both of her sisters and her brother, as both Starlight and Cozy were getting on her level of magical might, even if Cozy was the weakest of the three, while Jak was capable of channeling the four types of Eco that were the most common in the world, something that she and both of her sisters were also capable of, even though Twilight also hid the fact that they had channeled Light Eco for a few seconds during their fight with Gol and Maia, since she wasn't sure if it existed in Haven City or not, though for the most part it did look like the Ottsel brothers were fine with everything she told them.

It took some time, but eventually Torn started to give her missions as he had Tess and some of the other members, who were indistinguishable from each other since they wore the same green sweater, the same beige pants, and the same red bandana that covered half of their faces, meaning their uniforms had been designed to make it harder for the Krimzon Guard to figure out who was who, heading out and keep to the shadows as they started to recruit more members for the Underground, as they needed to expand a bit before they even attempted to go after some of the higher ranked items on the list of things that needed to be taken down to knock the Baron off his throne. The missions were rather simple, as he wanted her to use her powers to disrupt the Krimzon Guard so the rest of their forces, those who had been assigned to other missions that weren't recruitment, could fulfill whatever missions they had been given, meaning she was just one of the support members right now and she was fine with that, as she had to start somewhere and this seemed to be the best place for her, though Torn also forked over a Red Security Pass, something that would allow her to get into two sections of Haven City that he had flown her through, those being the Industrial Section and the Port. The reason was so she didn't have to rely on anyone else to ferry her from place to place, which she was thankful for and found that there was no form of identification attached to it, as most of the Security Passes in Haven City showed a picture and some information of the one who carried the item in question, but since she was part of the Underground it made sense not to have a picture or some of her information on it, so it wouldn't be given to the Baron or Errol, or whoever else was part of the evil force that had control of the city, so this was the best for her and for her new friends. Twilight was positive that once this rebellion reached it's end, and she had been reunited with all of her siblings, plus Keira and Samos, they could obtain true passes with their information written on them, if they wanted to become citizens of Haven City, though as she and the Ottsels left the hideout, and quickly discovered one of the two seater zoomers resting nearby, her thoughts turned to what she had to do for the Underground and let her magic wash over her for a moment, revealing one of her disguises she had created in the last two weeks, a seemingly ordinary lady with short brown hair and some mechanic clothing, like what both she and Keira would have worn when they were working on the zoomers.

Once that was done she climbed into the driver seat as the Ottsel brothers took their position in the other seat, where she made sure everyone was ready before turning on the vehicle and headed out into the city, making it look like she might be going out on a pleasant drive or something like that, though her first destination was the outside of the Fortress that Torn had told her about, where she made the guards outside think that she was just following traffic and wasn't up to anything as she weaved her magic through the air for a few seconds, using a spell that should jack the control of the pair of turrets that were outside the structure. She supposed that the turrets were to deter anyone from acting out, even though she felt such a thing was bad since they were stuck in the ground and didn't come up until the guards were chasing people down, as in lawbreakers or those that the Baron felt were in league with the Underground, though for right now this was her first diversion as the turrets sprung out of their holding areas for a moment, which surprised the couple Krimzon Guards that were leaving the Fortress, due to a change in shift happening between the Baron's forces, and they ducked under cover as the turrets opened fire on everything that was around them. Her magic made it so they would miss her, the citizens, and just about everyone else, as this was more to annoy the guards and not actually hurt anyone, though as she did that she made sure to leave the area as well, to not arouse suspicion with the guards, where Alvin, Simon, and Theodore chuckled for a moment as they observed the chaos that she was causing, which would allow the other members of their faction to do whatever missions Torn had for them, even though Twilight suspected that acquiring supplies, food and weapons to be exact, had to be their priority right now and stealing from the Krimzon Guards while they were distracted was Torn's plan as he searched for Twilight's siblings. As soon as they got back together, and had a chance to go over everything that had happened since they entered the Rift Gate, which she would tell the Ottsel brothers about later, since she didn't want that fact to be revealed just yet, she was sure that Torn would have all four of them start to truly assist the Underground and take the fight to the Baron's forces, eventually overthrowing him and his evil followers, even though she had to wonder if some of the guards are only doing this for safety or something, since this future world seemed to have a money system, which Tess was taking care of without leaving any tracks that might lead to the Underground.

From there Twilight focused on several sections of the Slums and repeated what she did outside the Fortress, finding the locations of the slumbering turrets and made the devices go crazy for a time, just to mess with any Krimzon Guards that happened to be in the area she was targeting, and sure enough she, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore carefully watched as both the guards and the residents were spooked whenever she messed with one of the turrets, though they had to agree that this was the best thing they could do without dealing any damage to the walls or the houses that were around them, due to Torn making sure she didn't damage the city they were fighting to liberate.

This went on for some time, Torn would allow her and the Ottsels to relax for a time, which lead to Alvin and his brothers practicing with their arms, legs, and tails while they were stuck in their smallest form so they didn't get stuck or lazy during their time off, even though they were itching to get back out there and transform into their true forms for a time, but due to Torn not sending them outside the Eco Dome, to the Pumping Station or the forest Twilight had landed in, there was nothing they could do and the brothers had to be patient until an opportunity presented itself to them, all while Twilight kept reading and sparred with Tess from time to time, to keep her own skills from getting rusty. When the six month date rolled by, however, Torn informed Twilight that he had something for her to do, not as an assignment, rather they had a contact in the Arena section of the city, where zoomer races were held, who might have come up with a new weapon and that one should be located inside a building that was known as the Gun Course, as it allowed one to practice with their weapons and see if they needed to improve, where she would be looking for an experimental weapon that was known as the Scatter Gun, as the contact wanted someone to test it out and see if there were any problems with it, before seeing if it could be added to what the Krimzon Guards used in battle. While some would be worried about arming their enemies with brand new weapons and new types of ammunition, something that Twilight could sort of agree with, doing this would also allow the Underground to have access to these new types of weapons, especially when they got around to sending a couple of members to steal a bunch of gear when Twilight distracted them with her powers, even though it was odd that the Baron hadn't caught onto their actions yet, and putting the Underground on an even level with the Krimzon Guard, in terms of weapons anyway. While she headed up the stairs and left the hideout, however, Twilight determined that taking some time to train with these new weapons meant that whenever a final product was created, since she had no idea how far along in the process it happened to be, she would be able to claim one at some point and add it to her arsenal, which would give her something else to use against whoever her enemies might be, though the first thing she would do after she found her siblings was likely show them how to operate this new type of weapon, hence why she was so interested in the 'mission' she had been given, learning everything there was to know about it and what it was capable of.

As such Twilight focused on taking her position in the driver seat and waited for her friends to take their position in the other seat, where she powered up the zoomer and quickly left the area that the hideout was hidden in, allowing them to head into the Industrial section of Haven City not a few moments later, even though there were a number of vehicles and that meant traffic was upon them, to which they patiently waited for the zoomers to move as Twilight followed the line to her destination, even though she knew that if this had been a real mission, with a time limit, she could have just switched to the lowest height the zoomers could fly in and bypass everyone, though once more the few Krimzon Guards that flew by didn't seem to care about her odd features, simply ignoring her as they moved forward.

"Twilight, are you sure your siblings said they were heading to Haven City?" Alvin asked, because that had been something that was bothering him and his brothers since each of them joined her in her quest to locate her missing siblings, despite the fact that it had only taken him a day or two to locate his own brothers and reunite with them, though when he took a moment to think about how long it had been since they found Twilight, and these months had been some of the best due to the fact that they weren't stuck inside the Metal Head Hive anymore and didn't have to listen to the Leader ordering all of them around like soldiers and servants, he started to wonder if Starlight and the others actually existed, "I'm not saying that you're a liar or anything, but it has been six months since we started looking for Starlight, Cozy, and Jak, and during our time with the Underground none of us have found anything that suggests they're living inside the city, or even on the outskirts for that matter."

"They have to be here, somewhere," Twilight replied, though even as she said that she didn't blame Alvin for asking the question in the first place, since she and the Underground had been looking for six months and hadn't discovered where any of her siblings might be hiding, since both Starlight and Cozy would have learned the same magic she knew and could have hidden themselves with ease, to which she sighed for a moment as she focused on all of the traffic that was right in front of them, even though her mind drifted back to the Rift Gate and the Rift Rider, "We traveled to Haven City together, but we were separated on the way here and I ended up in the forest, with no idea where the others might have ended up, though I'm sure they would have seen the city and would have headed for it, since Haven City is the only city for miles in each direction... it is hard to imagine that they would have gone elsewhere, so I'm hoping that we find a clue or something soon, as I'm starting to worry about all of them, including Daxter and the others."

Alvin and his brothers didn't say anything to that as they flew down the streets of Haven City, though Twilight felt bad due to the fact that she hadn't explained everything to her new friends, as she really had no idea how they would react to the news that she, her siblings, and the others she was in the middle of looking for were actually from the past and that they had traveled to the future by using an unknown set of Precursor artifacts, which may or may not have been the reason the Metal Heads had invaded the continent and lead to everything that had happened over the last three hundred years or so, as it sure felt like part of this was their fault. As she thought about everything, however, she noticed that she had arrived in the part of the city that happened to be their destination and made sure to stop before flying by where the Gun Course was located, where she found that there wasn't a lot of parking, if any at all, in front of the building, which seemed more like a wall of some kind, before parking near a single seater zoomer and climbed out of it, where Alvin sat on her shoulder as Simon and Theodore walked behind her hooves as she headed for the doorway, even though she entered a decent sized square shaped chamber that had two openings and what appeared to be a rack that she wasn't sure what function it had to serve. From what she could see it appeared that the rack might be able to determine what sort of course the pair of doors would lead someone to, like a novice course, an intermediate course, and an expert course, as that would be Torn's way of labeling things and telling trainees what they would be expecting, but based on what she was seeing right now it sure looked like someone was already running the course, meaning all she could do for the time being was take a look at the building she was in and see if she or the Ottsels could find the weapon she was supposed to be testing, though she did find a number of Krimzon Guard crates that seemed to hold a bunch of ammunition for the guns that the guards used all the time, or at least their current guns anyway, since they were more like what Torn carried. Not a few moments later she heard one of the doors open and glanced at them for a moment, finding that it happened to be the one that was opposite of the building's entrance, though that was when Twilight stopped for a few seconds as Starlight stepped through the now open doorway, wearing a light blue low cut shirt, much like what she was wearing right now, and a pair of shorts that she knew would make people assume her sister worked somewhere in the Port, which might be true since she had no idea what Starlight had been doing for the last six months.

While she was overjoyed to see her sister again, who paused as soon as she stepped out of the course she had tackled and noticed that Twilight was standing in the building she was in, Twilight noticed that her sister was carrying a weapon, which had to be a gun, which seemed to be about the length of her arm from the elbow to the tip of her middle finger, though it seemed to have a few exhaust vents, a few circles on it for some reason, a lever that might be for pumping more of the ammunition into it, and there seemed to be a red device attached to the top of it, something that she had to assume was the container for whatever it fired at the user's targets.

"Twilight? Thank the Precursors that you're alright." Starlight said, though before she did anything else she placed the odd weapon on a rack for a moment, where Twilight could see that it seemed to be overheating right now, as there was smoke coming from it and that had to mean that it wasn't designed as well as it could be, before they rushed over to each other and embraced not a few seconds later, leaving Alvin and his brothers to jump over to some boxes as the pair did that, as they were quite pleased that she had found one of her siblings, though they would have been happier had they been of some help to her, before they separated for a moment, "I take it you know about the time displacement and everything else that's been going on in the city?"

"Yes, three hundred years and everyone was separated when the Rift Rider blew up," Twilight replied, knowing that what she and Starlight were talking about would lead Alvin and his brothers to ask what in the world they were discussing, due to her not saying anything to them about it, which might cause some trust issues between them in the future, but for now she was focused on figuring out what had happened to Starlight and if she had any idea what happened to Cozy, Jak, and the rest of their group, before she sighed for a moment as she recalled what she had gone through after exiting the time tunnel and landing outside the city, "I was thrown out of the Time Tunnel the Rift Gate had created and I landed in Haven Forest, just outside the Eco Dome to be exact, and had to fight off some Metal Heads with some help, though that lead me to meeting one of the Underground's members and joined up with them, so I've been lending them my magic in exchange for the aid in finding you, Cozy, and the others. What about you?"

"Fell right into the Port, hit the water so hard that I would have broken an arm or a leg had it not been for me using some of my magic to form a barrier around me," Starlight stated, where she took a second to recall that day as well, because it had been one of the strangest days of her life and she was sure the same was true for the others, even though she took notice of the three Ottsels that were nearby and figured that she would have to ask about them later on, which was when she refocused on Twilight and everything that she had to tell her, "after I sank beneath the water I quickly teleported back to the surface and landed on one of the walkways I had seen from the surface, though while I did that I ended up bumping into a large warrior, a Wastelander to be exact, and he brought me to Krew... whose a real scumbag, worse than anyone we knew before using the Rift Gate, and I've only stayed with him and Sig so I could use his resources to find you and the others, but I've spent the last six months looking for ghosts."

"Hm, it almost seems like someone is trying to hide us from each other, or at least from the Krimzon Guard," Twilight said, as when she thought about the situation for a moment it sure seemed like someone was working with the various security systems and was making it so that no one knew that Twilight and Starlight existed, meaning that they and Cozy, at the very least, were some of the most shadowy figures in the city, possibly extending to Jak and the others, which made her take a few seconds to wonder if the Underground's electronic expert, the genius that was supposedly helping them while staying hidden from her and near every member of the organization, was behind it or not, "Anyway, you are the first one I've been able to find, just like I'm the first one for you, but I haven't heard or seen any signs of the others yet, so I have no idea as to where Cozy, Jak, or the others might be."

"At least you're safe," Starlight commented, as that was the truth of the matter, that she was happy to see that at least one of her siblings was just fine, even though they had no idea what had happened to the others, even though Twilight just so happened to be a member of the Underground, which meant that the two of them would be interacting with each other a lot more in the future, since she knew that her 'boss' was an informant that gave information to the rebellion, whenever it suited him anyway, and it didn't look like Twilight knew about that fact yet, meaning she was likely going to have to explain some things to her before they were separated, but she was hoping Sig would understand and convince Krew that it might be to their benefit if she stayed close to Twilight, before she focused on something else, "So, who are the Ottsels that have been following you?"

"Oh, right, allow me to introduce Alvin, Simon, and Theodore, three brothers I met and assisted shortly after my arrival in Haven Forest," Twilight replied, though this time around she was planning on telling Starlight everything, even if it might cause her companions to question her and make them wonder why she would be revealing their truth to someone, since none of them had tried to do that since they entered the city and started to observe the Baron's movements and what his guards had done to the civilians, before she returned to the topic they were talking about, "just don't let their size fool you, as they're actually a new breed of Metal Heads that are capable of thinking for themselves and creating their own views on events and people, and they disagree with what the Leader of their race is doing, so they came to Haven City to hand over some information to the Baron... but after hearing about everything he's done, well, that plan has been put on hold until we figure out who they can trust with the information they have."

"Twilight, can you please explain what in the world is going on?" Alvin asked, because while he had an idea as to why she was revealing their secret to Starlight, while not revealing it to the Underground that she was allied with, parts of what the sisters had talked about went right over his head and it made him lost when he considered everything that was going on at the moment, but even as he thought about that he was positive that Simon had been keeping track of everything that had been mentioned so far and would have a greater understanding of everything they had talked about since meeting each other in the Gun Course.

"It appears that Twilight, Starlight, their siblings, and the rest of their group came from the past, given the 'three hundred year' comment and the mention of this 'Rift Gate'," Simon remarked, as he had been listening to what had been said and several of the terms that had been mentioned had interested him to some degree, meaning he would have to ask about them at a later date, and he understood why Alvin might be either worried or troubled by what was going on, even though Theodore didn't seem to care all that much, not that he was surprised by such a thing, "and she trusts her sister enough to reveal our true identities to her, so we shouldn't have to worry about this Knew learning that information, though I have the feeling that we'll have to go back to the forest and show off our true forms to her at some point... I think we should wait before we do that, so that way we can locate Jak and Cozy first."

"Like I said, I haven't seen or heard anything since I landed in this place," Starlight spoke up, though that was around the time that she noticed that the gun she had been training with had finally cooled down and allowed her to pick it up once more, giving her something else to focus on while she talked with Twilight and her new friends, to which she sighed as she glanced at the weapon for a few seconds, which caused her sister to glance her way and focus on the gun, "and, like I said earlier, I've been helping Krew with a number of things, to gain access to his network so I could search for you and the rest of the others, and he wanted me to test this Morph Gun out... truthfully, this version is a piece of trash and it overheats in no time, almost like when we used the A-Grav Zoomer to cross over Fire Canyon, though I know if I had fired one or two more shots with it in the practice course it would have broken under the heat."

Twilight sighed for a moment as she glanced at the weapon and wondered if it was possible to find the blueprints for this 'Morph Gun', as Starlight called it, because if she had access to that she might be able to figure out how to fix the problem and send that news to whoever had made the blueprints or gun in the first place, though while she stared at that, due to her interest in the weapon Torn wanted her to learn about, both she and Starlight started to come up with a plan of sorts, one that would allow them to travel around Haven City like they had done in the past, before activating the Rift Gate and using the Rift Rider, and focus on the search for Cozy, Jak, Daxter, Keira, and Samos. Starlight decided not to both taking Twilight and the Ottsel brothers to the place that Krew owned, mostly because she didn't want to show the man that she had found one of her siblings just yet, in the off chance that he tried to force more work on her for 'using his resources to find her siblings', basically paying him back for what she had used so far, but even then, with Twilight being a member of the Underground movement, she knew she would come into contact with Krew at some point in time, so for now the two of them would pool their resources and resume looking for the rest of the group, even though they had the feeling that it would take some time before they found someone else. As such Twilight resolved to meet or talk with Vin at one point, or at least that was supposed to be the name of the genius who was helping the Underground while working for the Baron as a spy of some sort, mostly an informant, because she was sure that he might be able to help them out in locating where the rest of their siblings were located, though given that he happened to be one of the more mysterious members of the rebellion, save for the Shadow, the leader of Torn and everyone else, she knew that it was going to be some time before she even got around to making that happen. Once they figured out where Cozy and Jak were, along with Daxter since he had to be near Jak, they would focus on locating Keira and Samos, the remaining members of their group, and then figure out what they were going to do after that happened, since there happened to be a war going on between the Baron and the Metal Heads, plus the Underground trying to overthrow Baron Praxis so they could put the true ruler on the throne to restore hope, or something like that, but for now they had to focus on locating their siblings and everyone else, then they could worry about whatever the future held for all of them.
> Interlude: Studying the City
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After Twilight and Starlight encountered each other they made sure to spend every other day doing something to make up for lost time, be it comparing their notes on everything that had happened to them or to the city as a whole, their couple of encounters with the Krimzon Guards, or discussing everything both of them had seen when they used the Rift Gate, since it seemed to be important to what happened to them and they agreed on one thing, there had to be another one in this time period, somewhere anyway, though with the Rift Rider destroyed them would need to rebuild it before even trying to find the gate itself, hence they they focused on learning whatever they could about the gate. For the most part Alvin, Simon, and Theodore had no idea what to contribute to that particular topic and usually remained silent whenever they discussed the Rift Gate, even though it was clear that Simon was interested in the fact that the Precursors had the power to travel through time, in addition to everything he had discovered about the ancient race, which made the sisters interested in what he had discovered over the years and invited him to join those particular conversations, since having another voice meant that they would have some better discussions. Whenever that happened Alvin either did what Daxter would do, ignore them and just sit around waiting for something interesting to occur in the nearby area, or he would simply stare outside and focus on all of the Krimzon Guards that were wandering around whatever section of Haven City the sisters met up in, which was usually away from the Port and was more in the Slums, something that allowed Starlight to be as far away from Krew as she could, since it appeared that she didn't like him all that much, while Theodore mostly just watched the outside of the buildings and occasionally trained with Alvin, just to make sure their bodies were ready for anything, not that Twilight was thinking of even sending them into battle while they were in their Ottsel forms. Simon then informed her and Starlight that, due to the Eco Dome that protected the city from the rest of the Metal Heads and anyone else that served as the Baron's enemies, in case he had more enemies than just the Metal Heads and the members of the Underground, that they were unable to actually transform into their true forms and their hybrid forms, meaning that while they were inside Haven City they were stuck in their Ottsel forms and could only change when they were outside the Eco Dome, interesting information that the sisters kept in mind for later.

Speaking about the Metal Heads for a time made the sisters wonder if they ought to label the Ottsel brothers as their own species, something that was due to the vast differences between them and the rest of the seemingly mindless brutes who were in the middle of attacking Haven City, or at least the outside of the city anyway, hence why Starlight came up with the idea to call the three brothers 'Neo Metal Heads', neo being a word to describe new and they were a new type of being in a sense, something that Simon did agree with when he and his brothers heard it, but they also planned on applying the new name to any additional Metal Heads that were like the Ottsels, because if the Leader created three of them both she and Twilight knew it was a matter of time until more were made. The problem of there being additional Neo Metal Heads was that some might turn out to be polar opposites of Alvin and his brothers, as they might join the Leader of the Hive and just continue the assaults on Haven City, possibly by transforming into another form and slipping in to cause some damage from this side of the city's walls, which could even bring down the Eco Dome if they were incredibly lucky, or maybe these hypothetical Neo Metal Heads might be like the brothers and ditch the Leader for a more peaceful existence, even if that would likely draw them into defending Haven City from the Leader and his forces, like Alvin and his brothers were doing at the moment. Alvin informed them that, to the best of his knowledge and the vast knowledge that Simon possessed, it was unlikely that the Leader would make more Neo Metal Heads after they, who happened to be the first three successful ones in his long line of experiments, or whatever he had done to ensure all three of them had been born, ran away from the Hive and even killed the other Metal Heads in battle, but there was always the chance that he might be wrong about such a thing and that the Leader could be making new allies for his cause, this time making sure to twist all of them into willing allies, which would be unfortunate for them if such a thing happened. Of course this was something that they would keep to themselves, as they definitely didn't want Krew to get his hands on everything they were talking about, even though Twilight wasn't sure why Starlight disliked the person in question and was told that she would find out at a later date, nor did the brothers want the Underground to learn of this truth either, as each of them felt that sharing it with the Shadow would be best, that way he could figure out how to tell his forces the news that they had friendly Metal Heads that were taking the fight to their former allies.

While Twilight did feel a little bad about lying and hiding the truth from the Underground, given that Torn and Tess had brought her in and made sure she had a place to stay, some food to eat, and even new clothing, but given that they were still hiding stuff from her, something that she was positive on given the years she spent learning from Samos, but once she figured out what sort of secrets they were hiding, which would take some time given that she knew next to nothing about her new friends, she was sure that Alvin and his brothers would share the secret of their identities with those that they were helping out, which would be a long day when it finally arrived.

In addition to all of the times that they talked with each other, about whatever topics they felt like discussing at the time, Starlight made sure to set aside some days so she could show Twilight, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore how to properly use the Morph Gun, even though one of them would be using it while the others just sat there and watched what the pair was doing, though fortunately the weapon had a safety mode so no shots could be fired, mostly for intimidation purposes, as these were intended to end up in the hands of the Krimzon Guards at one point, but since Twilight nearly dropped the gun on the ground the first time she held it both she and Starlight were pleased to have the safety feature. Once she finally got used to the Morph Gun's weight, which took some time since she wasn't used to holding or carrying something like this in her hands or on her back, as these seemed to come with holders on one's back for when they were walking, even though she was sure the guards would have a different attachment since they almost always seemed to be carrying their weapons in their hands, that was when Starlight finally got around to teaching her how to move with the gun and the movements that allowed one to wield the full power of the gun's first form, the Red Eco 'Scatter Gun' as it was called by the individual who created it. Twilight was still surprised by the fact that the Morph Gun used Eco as ammunition, something that didn't seem to be the best way to use the ancient power, or at least that was her opinion on the matter, and she was even more surprised to hear that, while the Scatter Gun required a lot of work to reach the final stage where it could be produced in mass quantities, the individual who made the Morph Gun had three total mods, as they were called, for the weapon, the first being the Scatter Mod, the second being the Yellow Eco 'Blaster' Mod, and the last being the Blue Eco 'Vulcan' Mod, which made her and Starlight wonder what the other two weapon types would do. Of course Starlight heard a rumor that there was a fourth mod, the Dark Eco 'Peace Maker' Mod, in the works as well and that the individual didn't want many to know about their work, though the only reason she knew about the rumor was due to Krew and his love of weapons, an odd obsession to have at this point in time, but there would be no way for them to know about the fourth mod until the one that was working on it and the others completed their work on the weapons that would be given to the members of the Krimzon Guard, even though some would be seized for the Underground at some point, before she refocused on the lesson she was giving Twilight and stopped talking about the mods she knew about.

As Twilight fired the Scatter Gun for the first time she determined that it might not be for her, as the thing was harsh on her arms and hands, something Starlight agreed with and determined that something was either wrong with how it had been made or a component was in the wrong spot, or maybe there was another aspect that they hadn't considered yet, but that just meant that they had to be careful as they trained with the gun, just to make sure neither of their arms were dislodged or damaged in some manner, especially since Green Eco was rarer in this time period and came in small cube shaped containers that were supposed to heal whoever happened to be injured, an interesting discovery based on what Twilight had figured out about this strange time period.

While learning how to wield the Morph Gun, even if only the Scatter Mod was available, Twilight spent some of the other days trying to figure out how to contact Vin and speak with him, without the Baron knowing that the Underground had an informant inside the forces that were keeping the city safe, or at least it was seen that way if one asked a guard when they were off duty, but for the most part it didn't look like she was going to have any luck in that field, as Vin was a hard guy to contact and she wondered if that was actually his name or just his alias, because it was possible that it might be a false name to avoid drawing suspicion to himself. Even asking Torn about Vin didn't give Twilight much to go on, as he seemed unwilling to share that information with her or the Ottsel brothers, saying that he was one of the few informants that the Underground had and, based on his particular set of skills, that he might be the most valuable one of them all, though that wasn't counting their informant in the Port, who Torn decided not to name right now since he knew that Twilight still had to prove herself worthy of the high ranking information, or at least that seemed to be his thought process, to which she just sighed and quickly dropped the issue since it didn't appear she was making any progress. Still, that didn't stop Twilight from trying to figure out a way to get into contact with Vin and see if she could convince him to help her locate the rest of her family, not to mention the rest of their group since she had no idea where Keira and Samos had landed, though one thing she determined after some time was that there was a building inside the Industrial Section and it seemed to be very important to the power of the city, like someone used it to make sure the Eco Dome and the shield it produced were just fine, to ensure no enemies entered the city and started attacking the civilians. The interesting thing was that the building was unlocked and that there was no one inside it, as Twilight went in to investigate the structure after a few weeks of just seeing it while she moved between the Slums and the Port, though there was a bunch of machines and based on what she was seeing it looked like everything in there was tied to the other sections of the city, given that a few machines seemed to give readings about what was going on and one even had a reading about a flow of Eco from outside the city, to a location called the 'Strip Mine', which informed her that either the Baron or whoever had built the city had constructed a way to pump Eco into the city and power the Eco Dome.

Another thing she discovered was that there happened to be an open communication window between this location and the Strip Mine, where it looked like some of the Underground members came by and discussed things with someone, no doubt on Torn's orders so he could figure out what needed to be done inside the city, though she felt it was odd that her allies would have left the window open, since she figured it would require a password or code to let Vin know that he was speaking to someone from the Underground, hence why she walked over to the terminal and tapped a few buttons as Alvin and his brothers looked around the 'Power Station', as that was the name by the door. Twilight assumed that Alvin had found the name of this place, which was rather interesting and confirmed her thoughts on the matter, before turning her focus back to the terminal and noticed that someone had sent her a message, one that seemed to be asking who she was and how she came by this discussion panel, to which she quickly sent off her reply and made sure to inform whoever she was now conversing with that whoever he had been talking with previously had left the window up for anyone to see, even if the Krimzon Guards didn't seem to care about this place. Of course she wasn't expecting the incoming reply to be that whoever she was speaking with to assume that she was part of the Underground, without her saying anything for that matter, but instead of worrying whoever was on the other end she confirmed that she was part of the rebellion, while also making sure to reveal that Torn hadn't sent her to the Power Station, rather she had come on her own and her curiosity had been the reason for her coming here in the first place, though she also made sure the other individual knew that she felt like there should be a lock on the window for when someone was done and that a code was needed to make sure the line between the other speaker and the Underground was still secure. Sure enough the figure agreed with her idea about having a code to keep this line safe, though they had to keep it simple since the Baron would assume it was complicated and most of the Underground didn't seem to be all that smart, as the person on the other side was worried that the rest of their forces might forget a complicated code, to which they came up with a rather simple code that would ensure the continued safety of this communication window and make it so the Baron or the Krimzon Guard wouldn't be able to see it at all, not without cracking the code.

What surprised her was the fact that she was conversing with Vin, as the person that she was conversing with determined that she was deserved to know his identity and that he knew who she was, not that such a thing surprised Twilight since it was obvious that someone was hiding her and Starlight from Baron Praxis and Krew, with Vin being the only one that had the skills to do so, which was when she made sure to thank him for his help in keeping a low profile, even if the residents of the city didn't seem to care about her unique body, while asking about Cozy and anyone else that might have appeared rather suddenly, since she was looking for Keira and the others while seeing if there were any possible enemies that could have entered Haven City at some point. Interestingly enough Vin informed her that there were three strange readings on the same day, roughly around the time that Twilight and Starlight appeared in their respective locations, as she knew that it had been about seven months now, one month after reuniting with one of her sisters, which meant that Cozy had to be somewhere inside the city, if all three of them landed roughly at the same time, and that she, Starlight, and the Ottsels that knew their secrets needed to step up the pace since there was no telling where Cozy had landed and how much danger she was in. In addition to all of that Vin revealed something else that she found to be interesting, there were a few records of two rather faint signatures that had been caught about two years before the three he mentioned, meaning Keira and her father must have landed around the same time and had been separated from each other thanks to what happened to the Rift Rider, since she figured that if it was Jak and Daxter that landed she or Starlight would have found them by now, so all of this told her that her brother and Daxter hadn't landed yet and that it would be some time before it occurred, but at the same time she made sure to keep this to herself and Alvin, since she wasn't about to share that information with Vin, who didn't seem like he wanted to know why she was interested in those events. Either way she thanked him for what he was able to share with her and wrote down the code they had agreed on so it could be shared with Torn and the rest of the Underground, before logging off and locked the communication window for later, something that was followed by her and the Ottsels leaving the Power Station and headed back towards the Slums, to tell her superior what she had done with Vin, by accident since she wasn't planning on conversing with him like that, and hoped that he would just roll his eyes and move on to more important business.

Torn didn't seem all that bothered by her discovering Vin in the manner that she had, even though they hadn't seen each other face to face, and made sure to pass on the code to those who would be handling the Power Station, along with new instructions that they were to make sure they did what Twilight did to ensure that their ally stayed safe without the Baron finding out about what was going on, before assigning her to go cause another distraction, which seemed to be his favorite thing for her to do since her magic allowed her to excel at that and ensure the Underground was able to obtain a lot more gear when she did it.

After that Twilight spent the next couple of months in a sort of repeating state, she would get up at the same time Tess did every single day, they would share breakfast with Alvin and his brothers, before heading through a secret tunnel to get to where Torn resided so he could order them around, which usually ended with Twilight either patrolling an area of the city, which was rather boring in her opinion since it meant she either had to slowing fly around that section and hide herself to make the guards lose sight of where she went, or just lurk in the shadows and just stare at anything Torn wanted to keep an eye on, like the Krimzon Guards, Krew, or the one odd Lurker that seemed intelligent enough to speak and run his own shop in part of the Market District. The last one kept catching Twilight by surprise for the first couple of weeks, because it was odd for her to see a Lurker who had a greater level of intelligence than what she and her siblings were used to seeing, even if what they knew was from three hundred years ago, though it appeared that he was tolerated by the guards, due to the fact that she noticed many of them stayed away from the small part of the city that his shop was located in, but for the most part there were other things for her to worry about and staring at an intelligent Lurker wasn't important in the grand scheme of things, hence why he was at the back of Twilight's mind as she focused on the rest of the city. While she did that there were two individuals that she kept her eyes on whenever she and the Ottsel brothers were in the same area that the pair were in, one being a Human that was roughly about Torn's height and had orange-red colored hair, though he wore a uniform that was mostly a gray suit with a yellow trim in certain places, like on the outsides of the arms and legs, while he also had a mask that could cover his face, one that had red colored eyes and silts near his mouth area, before she noticed that his right shoulder plate had the word 'Commander' written in Precursor text, meaning that he had to be Errol, the one who served as the Baron's right hand. The other figure was a lady who had a slim body and stood at six feet tall, while also having a robust figure to boot, where Twilight noticed that she had short red colored hair that was done up in a deadlock fashion, if she was recalling the hair style correctly, and the couple of tattoos on her face meant that she had to be one of the Krimzon Guards, given Errol was wearing the same set, though while the lady had a heavy duty set of attire on it had also been modified to be more revealing, since she could see the lady's stomach area and part of the left leg of her pants had a rectangular hole in it, making it more revealing in some manner, plus she had a number of straps and holsters for her weapons, at least one gun from what she could tell.

Based on all of that Twilight had to determine that the lady was either a lower ranking member of the Krimzon Guard, who might be working her way up to Errol's position, or she didn't care about which of the various ranks she was in and wanted to focus her efforts on bringing down the Metal Heads and the Underground, so she would have to keep an eye on her in the future as she drove overhead and continued on her way, heading for a better spot to hang out in for some time before she bothered heading out to see if there were any additional things she needed to observe between now and when Torn wanted her to return to the hideout, to inform him of everything she had seen today.

Torn ended up informing her that it was never a good thing if Errol was out and about, given that he was ruthless and just loved the attention of the citizens, due to his status as the greatest zoomer racer in all of Haven City, hence why Twilight and everyone in the Underground steered clear of him for the most part, save for the days where Torn wanted someone to keep an eye on what he was doing, but all Twilight discovered was that he seemed to like walking through the Market sections of the city or heading to Hip Hog Heaven Saloon, Knew's place of business based on what Starlight had told her at one point, where she had to assume he was buying drinks and relaxing for the most part. Other than that she found that nothing major happened whenever she followed Errol or the lady, the latter coming out of the base of the Palace's large structure a few times, something that told her the figure was either more important than what she assumed or she was one of the Baron's elite guards, even though the act of her leaving the Baron's side, if the latter was true, meant that all of the times she had seen her in the city had been during whatever time off she had to have, though since Torn didn't seem to care about her Twilight decided to do the same thing. As such Twilight went through her days and weeks basically doing the same thing, either patrolling part of Haven City and seeing what the Krimzon Guards were up to or keeping an eye on Errol, just in the off chance that the Commander did something interesting that might undermine the Baron's forces, while keeping her eyes out for signs of Cozy, Jak, and the others, because if some of them had arrived before her and Starlight it meant they had been hiding in this place for a long period of time and that they had to be making it hard for someone to find them, keeping a low profile to be exact, though before she knew it a few months had gone by and put her on the date of when she and Starlight landed in Haven City. She still felt that spending a year inside the city, while helping Torn and the Underground expand, had been interesting in some cases and it allowed her to master a good number of her abilities, as in magical spells and physical attacks, though being unable to find anyone else from her group, not from a lack of trying since she spent a great deal of time trying to locate the rest of her siblings and the others, really annoyed her and she was sure Starlight was feeling the same way, to which she sighed and continued her drive through the section of the Market District that happened to be near the entrance to Haven Forest and the Precursor Temple that she had landed in, where it seemed to be the same as every other day and nothing important seemed to be happening.

Of course that was when a ripple appeared in the sky and something came flying out of what seemed to be a slight tunnel opening, as in the tunnel that the Rift Gate used to bring everyone to this time period, to which she focused on it as Alvin and his brothers did the same thing, showing that they were interested in what they were seeing, before determining that whoever had emerged from the tunnel had landed in the Industrial section of the city and she pulled out to go see who it was, even though she was sure it was Jak and Daxter, though given her distance by the time she reached the area that she had traced the energy to she found that no one was there, save for a handlebar that seemed to be part of the Rift Rider, to which she sighed for a moment as she parked her zoomer.

"Either they got away before the guards investigated the area, or they were captured," Twilight remarked, because those seemed to be the only two options that could explain what had happened in this part of the city, where she felt like taking a moment to curse the fact that she had been on the other side of the city, but even then something bothered her, as the lack of Krimzon Guards in this area meant that they must have known something was coming and had already dealt with it before anyone got scared, though the citizens who were around her didn't seem all that interested in what had occurred and went about their day as if nothing special had happened.

Alvin and his brothers didn't have anything to say to that, even though they were surprised by the fact that whoever had landed in this part of the city had disappeared so soon after exiting the Time Tunnel that Twilight had told them about in the past, something that meant the guards must have been waiting for another odd energy surge to happen, like what Vin had found when Twilight, Starlight, and the others had arrived in this time period, since it had to be the Precursor powers interacting with the Eco Dome to allow them safe passage, though for now there wasn't much she could do besides just returning to her mission and thinking about what had happened. What interested Twilight in the following days was that there were rumors of another Ottsel running around Haven City and that he seemed busy, meaning it had to be Daxter and that Jak had landed with him, with Jak being the one that was missing right now, and sure enough Starlight heard the same information that she had learned, even though it was hard to say if it was actually the truth or if someone had made up a lie to pull them out into the open so they could be captured, so for now they needed to keep their heads down and gather information on what was going on. As time went by, and there was no change in her missions from Torn, both she and the Ottsel brothers heard a number of additional rumors about Daxter, since Twilight was positive that was who they were hearing about, where some of the more popular ones seemed to be about him being an exterminator and that he was dealing with some sort of infestation, though for the most part every time she tried to get close to him he seemed to slip away and disappear, leaving her to return to her mission and wait for another rumor to emerge, even though she had the feeling that all of the rumors would be the same thing. She did think it would be funny if it was true, because at one point she recalled Samos saying that Daxter could have taken up the role of Sandover's exterminator and dealt with the rat problem, or whatever problem he and the Mayor had been aware of, though Daxter likely disliked the rumors and was either on his way to correct them or just ignore them as he looked for someone he could trust, like her and Starlight, but for now all she could really do was keep moving forward and spend her days keeping her ears open for any new rumors as her eyes kept watch for Daxter, to pull him to safety before the Krimzon Guards found him and captured him, as that had to be what happened to Jak.

What surprised Twilight was that by following the pattern she had established with Starlight and the Underground, which was what had gotten her through the first year of her stay in Haven City, another year had gone by and placed them at two years in the city, despite the fact that she was surprised by the fact that neither Baron Praxis or the Metal Head Leader had made any progress in their war and it make her wonder if it was ever going to escalate, since this seemed to be taking too long in her mind, but at the very least it allowed the Underground to grow and expand for what the future held, meaning they would be roughly prepared for whatever the future held for them. Once that day came and gone, with no new events happening at all, Twilight started to count down on the days as she and Starlight approached their third year in Haven City, where the first one had been rather eventful and the second had been rather boring, so it made them wonder if the third would be even better than the first one, or more eventful to be more exact, all while keeping an eye out for Daxter and the rest of their group, since she refused to admit that Cozy and the others weren't inside the city, given what Vin had told her in the past. Eventually she had Alvin and his brothers invade the Fortress by using some of the various vents that were on the outside of the building, even though it was on Torn's orders since he wanted more information as to what was inside it and if they needed to launch an offensive against the structure, which would mostly be Twilight and those he trusted, but during their venture they actually came across Daxter and found that he was definitely an exterminator, though while he did that he was looking for a way to free Jak, as it appeared Twilight's brother was somewhere inside the fortress and that he had to be careful, as the Baron and Errol had been inside the structure too much recently, meaning he needed to silent and not draw attention to himself, least they find him and capture him. As such Twilight made sure he stayed in contact with her and shared any information he found with her, which she might share with Torn if they found anything useful for the Underground, though one thing he discovered was that Errol occasionally spoke with someone called 'Count Veger' in one of the sections of the fortress, even though he felt like the man was more of a Vegan, showing he hadn't really grown up all that much, but for the most part he and Errol spoke about something called the 'Dark Warrior Program' and that it used Dark Eco for some purpose, even though the Count wanted to use Light Eco, which Torn revealed was impossible to find inside or around the city, so at the end of the day it was a fool's dream that Veger was chasing.

Still, the discovery that Jak was inside the Fortress, no doubt trapped in one of the cells that Torn knew about and told her that each of them were designed to hold some of the city's dangerous criminals, which made her wonder how in the world he could have known that, before revealing that Vin might be able to help them out in freeing Jak from his cell, because he recalled there being a Warp Gate inside one of the Fortress' rooms and there was another one inside the Power Station, so a connection between them could be opened and she could jump into the structure, though leaving would be a problem since Vin wouldn't be able to open the connection again without revealing that he was part of the Underground, showing Twilight that Torn wasn't fully committed to helping her out, not at the cost of their spy. As such Twilight, Starlight, Daxter, and Alvin and his brothers spent their time making a map of the Fortress, since they didn't want to access the official one in case the Baron had eyes on it, and prepared a bundle of equipment for Jak, containing a blue tunic and some pants that were off-white colored, basically his old attire remade in a modern fashion, and it even came with new shoes and a pair of gloves, making him look sort of like some of the other people in the city, though he would still stand out since he was one of the more unique people in the world. All of their preparations lasted until the date of Twilight and Starlight's third year in Haven City, which would put them at the same age as Jak since he had spent two years, alone, inside the city, before Vin revealed that he was ready to send them into the Fortress and cease communications with them for some time, as he did have his own job to do and didn't want the Underground to jeopardize his standing with the Baron, to which the pair and their Ottsel friends regrouped in the Power Station and waited for the Warp Gate to activate, though the moment it was open they jumped through it and braced themselves, as they had no idea what was going to happen next.
> Renegade: Prison Break
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After jumping through the Warp Gate that was inside the Power Station, and waiting for a few seconds to travel to the other gate that served as the exit, Twilight and Starlight found themselves in a square shaped chamber that was definitely inside the Fortress, given all of the metal that was around them, there were some boxes that rested near a vent, one that had a missing cover for some reason, and there were a couple of metallic doors that didn't seem like they would be opening soon, though that was before they noticed a massive square shaped chasm of some kind and it had a number of doors that had to be prison cells, meaning whoever was captured were placed underground for some reason, plus a chair that rested below a device that was in the middle of the ceiling, which they would worry about later.

"I was wondering when you guys would show up," a voice said, where Daxter rose up on a metallic platform, one that had to be for transporting prisoners up and down the chasm, which meant it was large enough for all of them, before he came to a stop at the top of the opening and beckoned for Twilight, Starlight, and the Ottsel brothers to join him, since none of them had any idea how long it would be before someone came into this area and found them, so their best option was to find Jak, arm him with his new clothing, and get out, before he grew serious for a moment, "come on, we don't have a lot of time... one of the guards I crawled by to reach where they stored these things mentioned that the Baron and Errol were coming by in the next couple of minutes."

"No doubt to discuss their Dark Warrior Program," Starlight commented, to which she sighed for a moment, because if the pair came to this chamber they would be forced to wait until they left the area, possibly the entire Fortress as well, before being able to leave, though that was when she and the others stepped onto the platform that Daxter had found and had moved to this area, before she nodded her head for a moment, to indicate that everyone was ready to move forward and see if they could find Jak, since the one of the major reasons they had done this was because their friend claimed to know where Jak was, hence why they came to aid him in freeing Jak, who likely had a bone to pick with the Baron after forcefully being trapped inside this place for two whole years.

Once they were all on the platform, and Daxter made sure of it, he activated the controls and they slowly flew down into the depths of the chasm that was below the chair platform, where they found that it rested on a thin pillar that seemed to go all the way down into the depths of the chasm, no doubt to the bottom level based on what they were seeing, though the speed he was using right now was to ensure that they made no noise that might alert others to the present of several intruders, plus they didn't want to alert the Baron or Errol to the fact that someone might be nearby and could hear what they were talking about. Neither Twilight or Starlight carried weapons on them, due to the fact that neither Torn or Krew seemed to trust them with the Morph Gun yet, even though they had lost track of where it was in the testing process, due to finding out about Jak and Daxter's arrival in Haven City and the former disappearing rather suddenly, though both of them knew that if they got into a fight they would be able to defend themselves with their magic and the various combat skills they had learned over the years, even though they were hoping to get out of here without drawing any attention to them, which may or may not be possible since they had no idea how skilled the guards were at responding to any alerts that might sound in this place. That wasn't counting the fact that they had Alvin, Simon, and Theodore with them, who had some skills in their Ottsel forms and would be able to defend themselves with ease, if they needed to anyway, but for now each of them remained silent as they headed down into the chasm and passed by a number of cells, ones that seemed to be empty, meaning either no one had committed enough crimes to be sentenced to this area or they had been cleared out not all that long ago, which worried them since Daxter had said that Jak was down here and this made all of them wonder if he had been moved before their arrival. A few moments later they stopped in front of a cell that had a number outside it, one that seemed to indicate that this was cell number fifty-seven, even if there seemed to be enough for there to be over a hundred, possibly two hundred, cells in this area, though as soon as they came to a stop Twilight and Starlight stepped up for a moment and glanced through the bars that were in front of them, where they expected to find Jak resting inside a cell that he didn't even deserve, for whatever crimes had been placed upon him, and only to found nothing on the other side of the bars, even though the nearby bed did make it look like someone had been here recently.

"Daxter, the cell is empty," Starlight quietly said, as she wanted to keep her voice down in case someone walked into the upper part of this section of the Fortress, once more to keep themselves safe from danger until they figured out where Jak was being kept, though even as she said that Twilight and her Ottsel friends glanced at the remaining cells that they could see and wondered if one of them held Jak, something that didn't make a lot of sense since there was no reason to move him so randomly, not unless Baron Praxis knew someone was coming for him and this was a trap, which would mean Vin would be a double agent for him and that seemed unlikely.

"I don't understand, he was here when I sent you that message," Daxter remarked, keeping his voice low as well, but even as he said that he had to wonder where in the world Jak had been taken this time around, because he had spent two years crawling around this place, and he was not kidding when he thought about that, and this was the only prison area that he knew about, save for the cells that rested near the chair's pillar, meaning Jak was either up near where the Warp Gate was located or he had been released from his cell at long last, to which he sighed for a moment as he raised a hand to touch the terminal that was in front of him.

Twilight quickly raised a hand and stopped him, as she heard someone up near the chair and Starlight heard it as well, so them moving up back towards the upper part of the chasm would reveal themselves to whoever was up there, which just so happened to be the last thing they wanted right now, before a pair of voices spoke up, ones that belonged to the Baron and Errol, according to Daxter anyway, which was when Twilight engaged her magic and wrapped a barrier around them, just in case someone looked down into the chasm and noticed them on the platform, so with the magic up they would be able to listen to what was going on and maybe learn more about this top secret project. Of course that was when everyone heard the sound of Jak demanding to be let go, confirming that he had been moved before their arrival and that he must have been in one of the cells they noticed earlier, before a computerized voice stated that whatever it was supposed to do was starting and it was followed by Jak growling in pain as a mass of darkness was forced into his body, where Twilight and the others found that the machine that was in the center of the chamber seemed to be some sort of surgical device that had the power to transfer energy, or Eco to be exact, into someone's body of altering them, revealing that the program the pair were working on thrived on the power of Dark Eco and that they were trying to create a 'Dark Warrior' from Eco, likely derived from Gol and Maia's research. This time Starlight stopped Daxter from doing anything, because while she wanted to go up there and stop what was going on, as it hurt to hear their brother in pain like this, using the lift now would reveal their hand to the Baron and Errol, no doubt leading to their own imprisonment and unwilling participation in the program that they were now listening to, which might cripple her and Twilight and have unknown effects on Daxter and the Ottsel brothers, to which their friend nodded his head and remained silent as they listened to what was going on right now, even if they would be ready to move the moment the pair left the area, or even the Fortress, before moving to Jak's side to free him from his bindings and get out of here, even though it still left Cozy's location up in the air. Twilight was sure that, once they were outside this structure again, they would be able to find their missing sibling and reunite with her, turning the full force of their group against the Baron and the Metal Head Leader, even though they would be figuring out a way to head back into the past and return to the time period they had been living in previously, despite the dreams that she recalled in great detail, which had been silent since she came to Haven City.

Eventually, after what felt like an hour or so, they heard the sound of the machine stopping the process that Jak was being forced through and that it seemed to be in the middle of retracting into the standby phase, though at the same time Errol and the Baron stopped moving as they waited to hear what the machine had to say, since there seemed to be something special that they were waiting for to determine whether or not this Dark Warrior Program was a success or not, though all of them were thankful that Jak was no longer growling in pain and had returned to being silent, where they hoped that the machine hadn't killed him, otherwise that would set Twilight and Starlight off.

Dark Eco injection cycle complete. the machine stated, where it sure sounded like it had been designed to have a female voice, not that such a thing really mattered in the grand scheme of things since what they had heard meant that there had to be a number of previous instances where Baron Praxis and Errol dragged Jak out of his cell and strapped him down so they could inject who knows how much Dark Eco into his body, which, given his powers to absorb and use the other four types of Eco, could have all sorts of disastrous effects on him, though that was when the group listened to what else the machine had to say, Bio readings nominal and unchanged.

"Nothing, just like the last couple of subjects!" the Baron huffed, his tone revealing that he was annoyed by the failure of his Dark Warrior Program and that he wasn't able to get what he was looking for, was was something Twilight and the rest of the group were happy with since they had the feeling that him not getting a Dark Warrior was a good thing, despite the fact that he was clearly experimenting on anyone that was brought to the Fortress and matched whatever criteria he was using for the program, though from where they were standing it seemed that he shifted his stance for a moment, like he might be beckoning to Jak for a second or two, "I was informed that this one would be different, especially after everything Gol and Maia wrote about him in that journal we discovered... you shouldn't have let that the rodent get away, as he might have been the key to solving this problem, though I still find it hard to believe that we haven't located the other two girls that the insane Dark Sages spoke of, as it would have been a boon to compare what the Dark Eco did to them to what we discovered when we experimented on their sister."

"Still, this one seems to be surprisingly resilient to your experiments, Baron Praxis," Errol replied, where the group froze as they heard what was going on, as they now knew what happened to Cozy and she had been trapped inside one of the cells that rested around them, for three years based on everything Twilight and Starlight were able to figure out from Vin, but for right now everyone remained silent as they listened to what was going on, as it seemed like the pair were staying near Jak and not leaving like they were supposed to, meaning it might be some time before they were able to move up the top of this chamber and climbed off the lift, "I hate to admit it, but it seems like the Dark Warrior Program, aided by the notes of two of the most insane individuals in our history, is an utter failure, despite one or two subjects showing some promise in becoming what you wanted... before their untimely demise."

"You, the one spoken of in high regards by the insane Dark Sages, you, at the very least, should be dead from all the Dark Eco that has been pumped into your body!" the Baron shouted, where the group had the feeling that he was holding Jak's head for the moment as he said that statement, his tone revealing that he was upset over Jak not performing to whatever specifications he had for this program and that he had to be getting frustrated over his constant failures, before the group heard the sound of him growling for a moment as he dropped Jak's head back and let it rest against the seat that he was now strapped to, even though they heard Jak moan for a few seconds after that.

"What do we do now?" Errol asked, though this time around he seemed a little worried about something, which made a bit of sense due to the fact that Haven City was under attack from the Metal Heads, even though Twilight and Starlight knew that there hadn't been any massive movements from the Baron's true enemies that were outside the walls, or at least that was what they assumed since Torn and Krew had said nothing to them about the enemy that was trying to breach the Eco Dome and enter the city, where everyone was interested in Errol's tone and listened to what else he had to say about the situation he and the Baron were in, "I've received word that the Metal Head armies have gotten bolder and that they have been attacking anyone and everything that enters their area... without a new weapon, one capable of turning the tide of this war in an instant, my men won't be able to hold them off forever!"

"I will not be remembered as the man who lost this city to those vile creatures!" the Baron declared, where the group was a little surprised to hear what Errol had to say, that the Metal Heads were getting bolder and that they were preparing for the next stage of this war, something that Baron Praxis seemed unprepared for and had no plans to stop them, though it seemed like he had advanced on the area Errol had been standing in while he said that statement, who backed up a little as that happened, before he revealed something to the group, even if he had no idea they were listening to what he and Errol were talking about, "Move forward with the final plan... and finish off this 'thing' tonight!"

Based on what happened next Errol seemed to nod his head and agreed with what his boss was saying, before stopping by Jak's location and appeared to tell him that he would be back later to either kill him or drop him into the chasm to end his existence, which was followed by him walking behind the Baron for a few moments as they headed through the door that they had used to enter this chamber in the first place, though they waited for a few moments to be sure that neither of them returned to this section of the Fortress before activating the lift and headed up to where Jak rested, where it only took Twilight a few seconds to lower her barrier after determining that they were alone.

"Ding ding, third floor: body chains, roach food, torture devices." Daxter jokingly said, where the lift came to a stop at the top of the chasm and he made sure to position them near the chair that Jak was resting in, where he waved a hand at both Twilight and Starlight as they glanced at him, knowing that neither of them approved of his statement given what they had seen and learned so far, to which he sighed for a moment as he jumped off the lift and landed on Jak's body, which caused him to pause for a moment as he noticed that Jak was no longer scrawny, as he seemed more like a warrior and less like a noddle, if one were to use Daxter's terminology, "Though on a more serious note, what in the world did they do to you for the last two years? Come on Jak, it's time to wake up and get out of here, before the Baron..."

"I'm going to kill Praxis!" Jak snapped, his tone showing that he was definitely angry over what had happened to him and that the brother Twilight and Starlight were used to would need to get over his brand new anger, though that happened to be when both of them noticed that Jak's hair was longer and it appeared that he had grown a goatee as well, a small one anyway, but the look of anger in his eyes showed them that it was best if they unlocked his bindings and tried to convince him that they weren't a trick or something, hence the reason that Daxter jumped over to one of his legs for a moment to look at the metallic bindings.

It was in that moment that Jak unleashed a brand new skill or power, his body taking on a grayish hue as his hair followed suit a few seconds later, though the surge of power shattered the bindings and allowed him to climb off the chair, which was when Twilight and Starlight noticed that his fingernails had lengthened to look like claws of some sort and that a dark coloration had replaced his normal colored eyes, making him look more like a darker version of himself, a Dark Jak, where he lumbered towards them for a few moments, even though everyone backed up towards the Warp Gate as he did that, to put some distance between him and them, but as he raised his right hand, to rush at them and claw one of them down, a change washed over him as the darkness receded and he staggered for a few seconds, returning him to the form they had seen before Dark Jak emerged from it's hiding place.

"Jak, are you alright?" Starlight asked, though she had the feeling that the answer was a 'no', especially after everything the Baron and Errol must have put him through for the last two years and all of the injections he must have endured, but she felt the need to ask the question as Alvin and his brothers made sure no one was on the other side of the door that rested nearby, leaving Daxter to move the clothing over to Jak as she used her magic to summon a magical wall she and Twilight couldn't see through, giving their brother some privacy so he could put on some new clothing and set aside the terrible prison attire, which looked like rags in some places, that he had been forced to wear.

"Not really... though I feel better now that I've see you guys again," Jak replied, where he glanced at the three Ottsels that were with his sisters and Daxter for a few seconds, just before the magical wall was thrown up, and knew that one of them must have found the Ottsels after landing in this time period, since he had figured that his had to be the future, or at least he assumed it was despite the fact that this could be another world that was similar to their own, before deciding that they could talk about the newcomers later, once they were out of this building and headed outside, since he figured his sisters had a plan to escape, before he paused as he finished putting on the new clothing, "We need to free Cozy as well, as she's resting in one of the nearby cells and has been trapped in this place for the same amount of time that I have been stuck in my cell, plus another year since she was here when I arrived."

It pained Twilight and Starlight to hear that not only had Cozy landed in Haven City at the same time that they did, based on what their brother had said, but she had been trapped inside the Fortress for three long years while both of them were able to spend it in relative peace and quiet, save for the days that each of them were assigned missions to mess with the Krimzon Guards in some manner, before Twilight sighed and walked over to where the five more advanced cages rested so she could investigate which one held Cozy and then break her out of her cell, giving Jak a few more moments to make sure he was ready to leave as Alvin and his brothers made sure the door remained closed. As she walked over to the five cages, however, Twilight discovered that one of them seemed to be dented, as there were fist marks on the metallic door, and the barred part that allowed one to stare inside it had been broken open at one point, leaving a hole for someone to peer inside and see who was locked in it, not to mention giving them a new opening to toss whatever food the prisoners received to the one that rested on the other side of the door, something that made her hope Cozy wasn't inside it, as this would mean something terrible must have happened to her over the years. A few seconds later she heard something stir as she approached the door, which stopped her as Jak, Starlight, Daxter, and the others listened to what was going on, due to all of them being interested in what was going on as well while keeping their guards up, before the door shuddered as whoever or whatever was on the other side struck it with a charge, weakening the already weakened metal in the process and left a new dent that would worry the Baron or whoever was in charge of this part of the Fortress, before the prisoner smashed into the door again and sent it flying out of the frame that it was contained in, where the door flew into the large chasm and clanked a few times before hitting the bottom. While the group hoped that no one else heard that, as in Baron Praxis or Errol, or even anyone who was supposed to be keeping track of the prisoners that were inside the various cells, each of them kept quiet as the figure that called the cell home walked out, though that was when they found that Cozy had been trapped inside it and they were glad to see her again, only to pause as they noticed something odd as she stepped into the light, her hands had light gray scales covering both of them and her fingers looked like reptilian claws, or more like the dragon claws of Alvin's true form, and some of the scales reached the halfway point between her hands and elbows, while her legs had patches of scales on them and her tail had taken on a shadowy flame like appearance, just like her hair as the group noticed, and while her eyes had taken on a blood red coloration her teeth had become sharp, something that made her look like a predator or something.

Based on what they were seeing Cozy had been forced to wear the same prisoner attire that the rest of the prisoners wore while they were in this place, though hers was torn in the middle, revealing her stomach area to anyone and everyone that was around her, and parts of it were torn, either from her tearing at it or it being ruined whenever she acted up, and there were some metallic shackles on her wrists and the ankle area, but all of them were stunned by her form, as it looked like three years of Dark Eco injections had messed with her more than what had happened to Jak and the rest of the subjects that had been tested on, though them stopping was due to the fact that Cozy was looking at them with an odd look in her eyes. In the following moments, before the group had time to react, Cozy rushed forward and zeroed in on where Twilight was standing, as she happened to be alone since Starlight and Jak were still on the central pillar and Alvin's group was by the door, where Twilight found that she had enough time to raise a small shield to block what was coming next and that was when her sister, or Dark Cozy as they could call it in the future, struck it with her head and smashed through it like it had been a paper wall or something, stunning her for a moment as she came to understand that overpowering their twisted sister might not be possible right now. Cozy seized that opportunity, likely following whatever instincts this form gave her, and swung her right hand through the air with a speed that was as fast as the speed that allowed her to reach the area that Twilight was standing in, where her claws easily tore through the side of her body and she was sure that a few drops of her blood had landed on the floor, though it was rather painful and she was sure that part of it had to be due to the Dark Eco that had been injected into her sister's body, in addition to this being one of the worst pains she had experienced, but she could deal with a bit of Dark Eco poisoning as she tried to overcome her sister and her intense speed. Of course there wasn't much she could do in the grand scheme of things, as her sister was so much faster than she had been the last time they had seen each other, and she was sure that her power was far stronger as well, and sure enough that was followed by Cozy slipping by her wounded side and quickly raked her left hand against Twilight's back, causing her to stagger forward as she felt the material of her shirt break in the back and that she likely had three or four gashes in her back, where she weaved her magic through the air and did her best to stop her wounds from bleeding too much, showing everyone that was watching them that she was unwilling to attack her sister.

Of course the same couldn't be said for Cozy, who seemed to be in a Dark Eco induced haze or something, causing her to attack friend and foe alike as she rushed through the air and appeared in front of Twilight once more, where this time she actually drew forward and tore into Twilight's shoulder with her teeth, tearing through the fabric and her skin in seconds as blood was drawn once more, though that was when Starlight used her magic to force Cozy backwards as Jak grabbed onto her arms, doing his best to restrain their crazed sister, who stalled for a moment as she seemed to take notice of the fact that she had blood in her mouth.

"B... Blood...?" Cozy inquired, her voice sounding like it was either rough from being trapped in a beast-like state for all this time, as in growling and roaring at whoever dared to approach the cell that she had been trapped inside, or due to the fact that she hadn't spoken for three years and this was the first time she had said something to anyone, which was followed by Twilight noticing that the predator look in her eyes started to fade a little and that her sister was either fighting the dark influence or it was receding on it's own, before she stared right at Twilight for a time, like she believed that this was just another mirage or something, "Tw... Twilight?"

"Hey sis, we're here to bust you and Jak out of this terrible place." Twilight stated, hoping that the mention of Jak and the rest of their group would be more than enough to shock her sister back to reality so they could reunite with each other for a few seconds, before actually heading through the nearby vent since that seemed to be the best direction to head in, and she could tell that Cozy was slowly looking around this chamber so she could see the area she had been stuck in, before noticing Jak, Daxter, and Starlight standing nearby, which seemed to make the darkness recede even more and meant that she must have stuck the nail on the head.

Cozy seemed to break through the darkness after that, where Jak had to let her go as a mass of shadows surged all over her body for a few moments and this was to make sure he didn't get hurt by anything, though when all of that died down he and the others watched as Cozy emerged from it, back in her normal state to be exact, and they found that she had none of the Dark Eco related aspects that she had possessed a few moments ago, where she staggered for a couple of seconds, like she wasn't used to her normal form or something, before steadying herself for a few more seconds as she took in the area that was around her, only to pause when she noticed the blood on her hands and Twilight's condition, to which she quickly put two and two together.

"By the Precursors... Twilight, I'm so sorry! I... I didn't mean to do this..." Cozy frantically said, where it was easy for Twilight and the others to see that she was absolutely terrified by what she had done to her, meaning she either knew about the times where the feral side took over, like she was a passenger in her own body at times, or it was as simple as her putting the blood on her hands and in her mouth to the wounds that were on Twilight's body, which terrified her more than any of the enemies, traps, and events they had encountered in the past, something that told them that their sister was going to be traumatized by what she had done and what the Baron had done to her.

"Cozy, its okay... I don't blame you for this, rather I'm blaming the Baron for what he did to you," Twilight replied, as she wanted her sister to know that she wasn't going to pass any sort of blame on her for the wounds that had been dealt to her body, as it was the Baron's fault for injecting Cozy with so much Dark Eco that she became a feral version of the sister that she knew and attacked anyone that got close to her, be they friendly or an enemy, before she winced for a moment as the cuts on her side ached, though she was trying her best to keep the wounds in check and not bleed out, which would be even worse given everything that they had seen so far, "though we ought to get moving before the Baron or Errol come back to this chamber... and maybe we'll find some of the Green Eco healing boxes that the Krimzon Guards use to treat all of their wounds as we leave this place."

Cozy looked like she wanted to say something, especially after all the damage she did to Twilight's body over the last few moments before Jak and Starlight had stopped her in her tracks, before she nodded and followed Jak as he headed for the open vent that was nearby, which was when Starlight helped Twilight move over to the vent as the three Ottsels followed after them not a few seconds later, where they climbed up the boxes that were in front of them and carefully entered the vent, with Jak leading the way, not that he knew where he was going and that was why Daxter, who had returned to his usual place on his shoulder, directed him forward, even though he was looking for some healing packs. Based on what he discovered there were a number of small ducts for someone to pass through, if they went through the effort to dismantle the fans that happened to be in the way, before he found a large opening, much like the one he had climbed through, that lead into a chamber of some kind, one that had a locked door, a few shelves that seemed totally empty, and what seemed to be a path near the ceiling, where he had to jump up some boxes and a ledge to reach another square shaped opening, which seemed to lead deeper into the Fortress. Once he was sure that there were no guards in the area, even though he and Cozy wanted to smash a couple of them into the ground, he beckoned for the others to follow him and retraced his steps a little to help Starlight move Twilight up to where the opening was located, though it sure looked like the strain of what they were doing might be causing some havoc on her wounds, as he was sure that the cuts on her side were a little worse than when Dark Cozy had dealt them to her, and that was despite the spells Twilight was using to keep them in line, at least until they found some healing materials or a Green Eco vent, even though he had the feeling that the latter didn't exist in this time period. Fortunately there happened to be a pair of boxes on the other side of the opening he had found, even though they were now in a larger chamber that seemed like the perfect place for some Krimzon Guards to patrol in, and there was even a lift of some kind that was moving between two points, giving them a way forward, before Jak came to a stop near the boxes and pulled them open, finding that the first one just so happened to have a container of Green Eco inside it, with a plus sign on the six sides, where Twilight smiled for a moment as she noticed it and they accessed the energy that was inside it as she weaved it through the air, sealing her wounds in seconds, even though she now had dark gray scars where she had been struck.

Twilight took a few seconds to make sure everything was in order, and that none of her wounds were going to act up after being healed by all that Green Eco, though once she determined each of them were fine she noticed that Cozy had a look of relief on her face, to which she embraced her sister for a moment and did her best to make her understand that those wounds weren't her fault, that the only one she had to blame was the Baron for tormenting her for the last three years, something that seemed to work for the time being even though she knew that Cozy was going to be traumatized by what happened today, for some time anyway, before Jak opened the other box and they found a few bits of Dark Eco inside it, where one third was absorbed by Jak, the second third went into Cozy's body, and the final third, to their surprise, went to Twilight a few seconds later.

Of course all of them were surprised by that and determined that the scars might be the reason behind that happening to her, but instead of worrying about it everyone started moving forward and jumped over all of the metallic platforms that were between them and the moving one Jak had noticed earlier, where the moving platform brought them up to a lone walkway that seemed connected to nothing, save for the wall that had a higher walkway that seemed to be the direction they had to move in, to which Jak used the High Jump skill to reach the point in question, where they found that it just so happened to be even better than they recalled. Once that was done he turned around as Twilight replicated the technique and pulled herself up to where he was currently standing, mostly because he wanted to make sure nothing bad happened to her, though while that happened he found that Alvin and his brothers had taken up their positions on the shoulders of his sisters, with Alvin resting on Twilight's, Simon taking up a position on Starlight's, and Theodore doing his best to make sure Cozy was just fine as he took his position as well, even though he suspected that they would lash out at whoever tried to attack them, if the group didn't lash out first. As Twilight did that she found a Krimzon Guard patrolling part of the area that they were in, so while her sisters jumped up to where they were standing she rushed forward, passing several person sized terminals while she did that, before kicking her target in the back and sent him flying into the opening that was right in front of him, which was foolish of him to stand in front of such an area in the first place, though to be sure no alarm was raised she weaved a light sleeping spell around him to knock her target out, something that allowed Jak to move forward as Starlight and Cozy followed him, where he jumped up onto a raised part of the path and crossed over a small moving platform to reach another Krimzon Guard. Starlight watched as Jak punched his target into the nearby wall and made sure to knock him out, since most of the people who joined the Krimzon Guard seemed to be male, before he used the nearby spinning pole to reach the upper part of the section of the Fortress and reached another moving platform, which seemed to have no purpose when she and Twilight stared at them, though that was when they found an opening near one end of the platform and discovered that it contained the path that should allow them to leave this place, but first they had to deal with two more guards who were patrolling this place and noticed the group not a few seconds later.

Cozy was the first one to react as she rushed forward and kicked one of the guards in the side of his body, which knocked him away from his partner and forced him to collide with the wall, though while she froze due to the speed she had moved to reach her target, which Twilight suspected was due to the overexposure to Dark Eco, Starlight lashed out with her magic before the other guard could react, blasting him into the other wall and knocking him out in a few seconds, which allowed Jak and Twilight to catch up with them and found that there was a decent sized gap between where they were standing at the moment and the next part of the path. As such Jak did the Roll Jump technique and crossed the gap with ease, which was followed by his sisters following his movements as he scouted out the area beyond it, only to find a second gap that all of them jumped over so they could move forward, reaching a hallway that was slightly larger than what they had been expecting to find, especially since there were a few terminals lining the walls, before Twilight noticed that there were a fair number of holes in the floor, wide enough for a blast from a Krimzon Guard gun to slip through, and the moment one of them stepped onto it a guard called out to the others. Not even a few seconds later a barrage of blasts rushed up from the floor that was below them, a hallway to be exact, as a number of guards opened fire on them, forcing Twilight and Starlight to weave their magic through the air and make barriers around them and the others as Jak started to move forward, as he was heading for the other end of this area and was using their magic as a cover as his sisters followed after him, though at the same time Cozy could hear that the guards were annoyed that none of their shots were hitting them, even though they had great aim for the most part, before he found a grate on the other end of this area and proceeded to jump into the air and use the Dive Attack to smash it to pieces, opening the way for his sisters to join him. Fortunately it didn't lead them to where those guards were located, meaning they had to be in a new passage or something and moved forward to prevent the previous group of enemies from catching up with them, though now the alarm was sounding due to the red light and a siren of some kind sounding, which was when they found a small gap in front of them and jumped over it, entering a new passage that had two more guards standing near a grate, where Twilight knocked both of them into the wall with a shove of her magic and opened the way for Jak to smash the obstacle to pieces, allowing everyone to drop down to another level so they could get out of the Fortress.

What the group discovered was that they had to grind down a metallic ramp and jumped off the end to land in a decent sized chamber that seemed to be a trash room, based on the smell, and they landed on some metallic boxes, though that was when Starlight found an opening for them to jump up to and everyone moved forward without delay, as it was only a matter of time until someone tried to search this area, where they discovered that this was an actual door that happened to head outside, to which Jak jumped outside and landed in the streets of Haven City, even though he waited for Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy to follow after him before they breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay, we're outside at last," Twilight remarked, to which she started to move forward and headed away from where the Fortress was located, as she and Starlight knew that it was only a matter of time until the guards came out and started to investigate the area they were currently standing in, as now it was time for them to carefully head back to the hideout so she could tell Torn the good news and get Jak and Cozy, and possibly Starlight, in on the Underground's operations so they could bring down Baron Praxis and all of his allies, before dealing with the Metal Head Leader and making sure Haven City was safe from any additional dangers, which was when she lowered her voice so only her siblings could hear her, "we'll be heading to the faction that helped me out when I landed in this city, even if I ended up in the forest that's outside the Eco Dome, so we can take the fight to the Baron..."

"Twilight? Is that you?" a voice asked, where Twilight paused for a moment as an elderly man stepped out of a doorway in front of her and her siblings, where she found that he was wearing a blue robe with a white scarf or neck protector, with a skullcap over his forehead to either cover his bald head or protect it, though he had an interesting set of facial hair on both sides of his head, which was white colored for the most part, and he had a walking staff that he used whenever he moved from place to place, though it didn't take her long to figure out who he was, as she had seen him a couple of times around the hideout while she was looking for Jak and the others, though while the old man did that Alvin and his brothers paused for a moment as they braced their heads, like they were feeling something nearby, but for the most part it was too faint and passed with ease.

"Kor? I wasn't expecting to see you outside, well, the place we usually meet in," Twilight said, choosing her words carefully as she spoke, just so no one understood that she was referring to the Underground's hideout and tried to follow them to where it was located, though at the same time the only thing she knew about the elderly member of the rebellion was that he happened to be tasked with keeping an eye on four individuals that seemed important to the Shadow, where she saw the four little individuals standing in the shadows behind Kor, a Human boy and three pony girls, sisters who looked like miniature versions of her, Starlight, and Cozy, though this was the first time she had seen the younger versions of herself and her siblings, and she noted what happened to the Ottsel brothers, but figured she would be able to ask about it at a later date, when they had time to talk about this event.

Kor started to open his mouth, so he could say something to Twilight, though that was when he heard the familiar sound of the guards approaching and turned around for a moment, which allowed him, Twilight's group, and all of his charges to see that there was a force of Krimzon Guards approaching this part of the city, which meant that they either had bad luck and arrived in the part of Haven City that was being visited by a force of guards as they searched for rebels, which made sense when everyone thought about it, or they had already tracked them down and where here to punish them for even trying to steal some of the prisoners that had been trapped inside the Fortress.

"By order of his eminence, the Grand Protector of Haven City, Baron Praxis, everyone in this section is hereby under arrest for suspicion of harboring Underground fugitives. Surrender and die!" the head guard stated, while at the same time the rest of his companions fanned out and made sure to have their weapons pointed at everyone that was near Jak's group, which freaked out the civilians that were standing nearby, though at the same time Twilight suspected that this guard had to be one of Errol's henchmen or something, since he seemed too eager to inflict harm upon those he was supposed to protect from the Metal Heads, which just ticked off all of them.

The power inside Jak flared to life for a moment, as Twilight could see the strands of Dark Eco emitting from his hands as he lashed out and punched the head guard right in the face, breaking part of his helmet in the process as he sent him into a wall that was nearby, either meaning that Dark Jak was incredibly easy for him to trigger or he was just angry over having been held captive for two years and was forced to be part of the Baron's Dark Warrior Project, something his sisters didn't even need to think about as they joined him and fought the rest of the guards that happened to be coming at them, since there were at least ten more coming at them. Twilight and Starlight used their magic for a moment to stop the couple of blasts that happened to be coming their way, surprising the guards in the process, though while Twilight lashed out with a few punches and kicks, since she didn't want to spend too much of her magic right now, Starlight called one of the guns of the fallen guards over to her and used it more like a staff, hitting the guards in front of them and blocking their attacks as each of them tried to knock her to the ground, even though that was what happened to her targets as she knocked them out with her attacks. Cozy, on the other hand, didn't seem to want to fight at all, which was understandable since her Dark Form was incredibly powerful and just attacked whoever was nearby, given that she lashed out at and wounded her own sister earlier, so for the most part the guards seemed to ignore her and advanced on an elderly pair of citizens that were near one of the walls, though that was when she growled as that happened and darkness surrounded her as she rushed forward, transforming into her Dark Form in seconds as she grabbed onto the back of a guard's helmet and turned so she could hurl him into the opposing wall, giving the elderly pair time to flee before something happened to them, though that was when the other guard smacked her with the edge of his gun and found that it did little damage to her, which was the moment that she spun around and kicked him right into the wall the elderly pair had been forced against a few moments ago, dealing enough damage to knock her target out in a couple of seconds. This informed Twilight that Cozy's Dark Form was on a hair trigger, if she felt threatened or if someone innocent was in danger it would spring to life with little warning and attack whoever the aggressor was, like the guards for example, while the downside was that her sister was instantly pushed to the sidelines as her inner monster surged to the surface and it was possible that she would lash out at anyone who was near her, though that was when Jak was forced into his own Dark Form, as it was still in an uncontrollable state, and stood in front of Cozy for a few seconds as they stared at each other, something that eventually lead to the pair being able to revert back to their original forms.

In that moment Kor thanked them, after being sure that there were no more guards in the area, and told Twilight that they might be able to use the rest of her siblings in their battle against the Baron, even though he did announce that he had to escort the kids to safety and walked away before any additional guards came for them, to which Twilight sighed for a few seconds as she and Starlight lead Jak and Cozy out into Haven City, as this wasn't what she had been expecting when she learned where her siblings had been trapped, and she had the feeling that things were going to get much more serious in the near future.
> Renegade: First Tasks
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first thing that Twilight and the others had to do was find some zoomers, a pair to be exact since there were no four person seaters among the ones she had seen so far, save for the possibility of the larger vehicles that the guards used to fly around the city, though she quickly crushed that idea when Cozy opened her mouth, as taking one of those would alert the Krimzon Guards to their exact location and draw a number of them to where they were located, so she found a blue one to take as Starlight found a brown one, both being the two seaters she was looking for, and Jak joined her as Cozy sat next to their sister, before they moved into the air and joined the traffic near this side of the Fortress as a Krimzon Guard zoomer entered the area and informed everyone that this area was restricted, not that the four of them cared.

"You and Starlight are surprisingly good at this," Jak commented, as from what he could tell it sure looked like the couple of zoomers his sisters had chosen were similar to what Keira made so long ago, though they were modified to some degree to fit the city and the residents that called it home, where he wondered what the citizens would think if they knew the truth behind what was going on inside the Fortress, as that was what Twilight and Starlight had called the structure he and Cozy had been locked away in for a long time, Cozy being trapped in there for three years and he was stuck in his cell for two years, both of them only being taken out for injections.

"Well, we've had three years of practice, so we got the hang of it," Twilight replied, though she was thankful that there was some traffic in front of them, as it allowed her to think about everything she had seen inside the building her siblings had been trapped inside, especially when she considered Cozy's Dark Form and the sheer power it possessed, power that let her smash through a magical barrier, even a weak one at that, and how it shoved her sister to the side so the beast could take over, something that was going to be bad in the future since it was on a hair trigger and came out whenever she got into a fight with someone, not to mention the fact that Cozy seemed terrified of her new power and what it made her do to her own family, causing her to rub the scars on her right side for a few seconds.

"This power that's been forced upon us... it's hard to control, and I can feel rage burning inside me," Jak said, as he noticed Twilight rubbing her wound for a moment and knew what she had to be thinking about, even though he could tell that she was doing her best not to apply to much pressure to her back and touch the cuts that were on her back, while Alvin, who he and Cozy needed to be introduced to at some point, along with his brothers, did his best not to mess with the marks on her shoulder, from being bitten, before he sighed for a moment, "I can only imagine what Cozy's going through, since she was in that place for a year more than I was, but her power does seem to be more along the lines of what the Baron was looking for... I'm glad my own Dark Form was able to stop her from rampaging, but there's no telling how long I can keep that up before something bad happens."

"Simon, Theodore, and I will do our best to help you keep her in check, until we find some way to fix this," Alvin remarked, but even as he said that he knew that if it did some to him and his brothers stopping Cozy from going on a rampage, like what had happened inside the Fortress, they needed to be outside the city and away from everything that prevented them from wielding their true power, as he suspected that their true forms would be able to deal with her power, at least that was his hopes on the matter and he wasn't in a hurry to test out his theory, before he focused on what they were doing at the moment, "but first, we have to reach the Underground and see if they'll take you guys into their ranks, since they need more members for their rebellion, so we can focus on taking down the Baron and, at the same time, hopefully find a way to heal her to the point where she can gain control over this power."

Twilight nodded her head to that and took the time to explain some of the things she and Starlight had discovered during their years in Haven City, which she was sure her sister was doing with Cozy, which included the Underground movement that was in open rebellion against Baron Praxis, the Metal Heads that were in the middle of attacking the city and seemed to be taking their time in breaking through the Eco Dome, or Shield Wall as some people called it, though she did recall the fact that Errol had mentioned that their enemies were pressing the attack and made her wonder what was happening on the outside of the city, and made sure to introduce Alvin to Jak while explaining how she had met the Ottsel brothers three years ago, even if she left out a number of things. She trusted her brother, but for right now the secret that Alvin and both of his brothers carried was theirs to reveal and right now it seemed like they were keeping quiet, while she also kept the fact that she was a member of the Underground a secret, even though it wouldn't stay that way for long since Torn might say something once he was introduced to Jak and Cozy, and she noticed that Jak was thinking about things so he could put it all together in his head, no doubt like she and Starlight did before they activated the Rift Gate and came to this place, to which she focused on the traffic for the next few moments. It was hard to wrap one's head around everything that Jak was learning at the moment, since he had two years of information to learn in a short period of time and catch up to what she and Starlight had learned during their stay in the city, though Daxter remained silent as they flew through the city, which was a first and was likely him just getting used to being in Jak's presence again, but she was sure that, in time, Jak and Cozy would understand everything there was to know about the city and what was going on right now, with them explaining the things they didn't understand at all. While Twilight did that she noticed that there were no additional guards heading back to the exit she and her siblings emerged from when they left the Fortress, meaning she and Starlight could lower some of their defenses for a time as they focused on moving towards where the Underground was located, though one thing that bothered her was the fact that she had been right, that all of those memories she had passed off as dreams had been the truth of things, that both she and her siblings had been born in Haven City, apparently got lost since they were with Kor, a caretaker assigned by the Shadow, which had to mean they would find another Rift Gate in this time period and send their younger selves back to Sandover Village, though she shelved that thought for now and determined that she would come back to it at a later date, when she had the time to properly think about it.

Not a few moments later she carefully signaled for Starlight to follow her as she descended to the area that the hideout was located in and made sure both zoomers were parked a little distance away from the dead end, though as she walked around the corner she found Tess and Torn standing outside the hideout, where Tess had decided to play the 'bad girl' this time around and Torn was his usual self, where the fact that they were outside their base informed her that Kor had to have sent word ahead of them, to ready the pair for new recruits and Twilight's return, though Jak stepped forward so he could get started in figuring out how they were going to bring down the Baron.

"We're looking for someone called 'Torn', as we helped a guy named Kor earlier and he directed us to this area, saying that we'd be good recruits for the Underground," Jak stated, because at this point he knew that one of his sisters would have taken a moment to throw up a magical barrier around the entrance of this area, one of the transparent ones, to ensure that no sensitive information was leaked to the rest of the city or the Krimzon Guard, before he focused on the pair that Twilight had brought them to see, where he suspected that there was more to this than what was being said, and figured he'd get the truth in due time, "Um, I'm assuming you're the one we're looking for?"

"Maybe this guy's a mute?" Daxter commented, speaking before anyone else had the chance to speak, meaning he just cut off Torn before he could say anything and Twilight had to groan for a moment when she heard that statement, which went over the heads of everyone for the most part as they stared at Tess and Torn, who seemed to be studying Jak and Cozy for a few seconds, since they had heard several tales and stories about them from Twilight while she was looking for both of them, even though she was sure that Cozy's appearance wasn't what either of them were expecting since she still had her prisoner attire on and likely wouldn't be taking it off until they passed whatever was coming next.

"I'm not a mute... new faces just make me nervous," Torn stated, though while that was the truth, as Twilight had seen the same thing roughly when she first met him in the forest outside the city, and she had to earn his trust enough to wipe out the expression for some time, this statement told her that he didn't think much of Daxter and likely assumed he was more of a pet or something, instead of what he had seen in Alvin and his brothers, before he focused on the other part of Jak's earlier statement, about the Underground and new recruits, "and yes, we received word from Kor that you were on your way to our hideout and that he believed you four would be good additions to the Underground... but, before we allow you to join us, there are two things I need to make clear: first, no one meets the Shadow without his permission, so don't even think about him... the second is that you'll need to clear a test for us before you officially join the Underground, and I have just the thing for you to prove yourselves, as one of the Baron's banners rests on top of a ruined tower in Dead Town, so I want you to claim it from where the Krimzon Guards left it... do that, then we'll talk."

Jak raised his eyebrow for a moment before nodding his head to show Torn that he understood the trial that he was set in place for them, something that caused both Torn and Tess to back off and stare at the group as Twilight opened her shield so they could return to the zoomers, though once everyone was ready to go, and Jak took control of his zoomer to learn how to drive one of them, Twilight pointed them in the direction of the Door Lock that served as a barrier between the rest of Haven City and Dead Town, a section of the city that resided outside the Eco Dome and had fallen in the past, or at least that was what Twilight had learned from her reading. Thanks to her directions it didn't take them all that long to retrace a section of the path they took to reach the outside of the Underground's hideout and come to a stop outside the Door Lock, where they parked both of their zoomers and walked over to where the structure rested, where Jak found that he had to jump down into a hole and approached the door as his sisters followed him as the lock came undone and allowed them to walk inside it, allowing the others to see what the inside of this structure was before it quickly locked once everyone was inside it. Not a few moments later the door opened and they discovered what Dead Town looked like, as there happened to be a number of ruined buildings, which kind of matched what was inside the Slums, only a little better in some cases, in front of them and there was a bunch of darkened water that seemed like it might be toxic, though in addition to all of that Twilight found a few enemies for them to deal with, the green-yellow skinned Glubs and the red skinned Znorkle, who she had seen back at the Pumping Station, so they didn't have to worry about these foes giving them a hard time as they made their way through this area. As one of the Glubs moved towards them Twilight paused for a few second as Jak approached it and lightly kicked it, knocking it out in seconds, though the reason she did that was because she wanted to see what sort of reaction Cozy had to these enemies, only to find that her sister was just fine and that there were no strand of Dark Eco coming from her, either meaning that she had used up her power for now or her Dark Form knew these enemies weren't a threat and didn't feel the need to take over Cozy's body, meaning they were able to move forward without having to worry about her going berserk again, even though she was holding back just to make sure it didn't activate anyway, showing that she had to be terrified of her power, something they would have to deal with at some point in the future.

With that done the group moved forward once more and jumped over a small gap between the section of earth that they had been walking on and the one that was in front of them, where Twilight and Starlight loosed a weak blast to knock out both of the Glubs that were in their way, allowing Jak to make his way over to some circular rubble platforms that floated right on top of the water, which let him and his sisters cross over to where a Znorkle was walking around and Cozy took a moment to surprise them as she stepped forward and kicked the creature into the water, even though that wouldn't hurt it since it was likely immune to the toxic water. Twilight quickly noted that there were no changes to her sister's body this time around and that she seemed totally in control, despite what they had been thinking about before reaching this point, which was when Jak jumped onto a thin stone bridge that was to their right, one that must have been an arch before this section of the city had been reduced to rubble, and found two more Znorkles resting between them and some fallen wall pieces that seemed to form a path up to the next level, a path that lead right to the large ruined tower Torn had told them about earlier. Knocking both of the enemies out was simple for the group, Jak and Cozy just kicked them into the water as Twilight and Starlight observed what was going on, before they climbed up the makeshift steps that were in front of them and started to walk along the roof part it brought them to, even though it didn't take the siblings long to reach a ruined building and made their way through the second story they had been brought to, where Jak let Twilight and Starlight use their magic to knock out two Glubs that were blocking part of the way forward, before finding some Krimzon Guard crates nearby and smashed them for the supplies that were inside them, where both held more health boxes and he pocketed them for later, just in case any of them were harmed or Twilight's scars acted up. Once the boxes were broken the siblings turned around a corner and found a path leading forward, one that happened to be along another roof that was just the bare studs and happened to have six more Glubs for them to keep an eye on, one in front of them and five more standing near the end of the path, so Starlight weaved her magic through the air and knocked their enemies out, allowing them to safely make their way across the path and end up where the five enemies had been standing, only to climb some ruined steps that brought them to a stone bridge that was connected to the side of the ruined tower that was their destination, to which Jak moved forward and crossed over to the other side.

Due to the fact that the bridge collapsed his sisters used their magic to create platforms for them to use to follow him, as it appeared each part collapsed after someone walked on them, so this meant he could focus on clearing the path while either Twilight or Starlight maintained the platforms that allowed them to follow him, though thanks to their brother's skill he was able to reach the end of the path in no time and they gathered near the red flag that had been placed here, though the moment Jak yanked it right out of the ruined floor the ground started to crumble as they were dropped into a lower area, one that had some flexible cloth for them to jump on and a rail of some kind for them to grind on, where Twilight used her magic to form some discs below their hooves... and when they reached the end, which was in front of Torn, who was standing off to the side to watch their actions, the ruined tower collapsed in the distance.

"Yeah, I'd say you guys are in." Torn commented, where he did seem surprised by the fact that they were able to bring the enter tower down like that, and even Twilight was surprised since this place wasn't all that old and shouldn't be anywhere close to what they had just seen, though that expression changed to a smirk as he realized what he could do with the four of them and what the Underground could do with them being members, which was when he beckoned for the siblings to follow him for a time and he collected the banner, something that he left near the entrance for this area so he could come back for it at a later time, to not arouse suspicion with the guards.

As it turned out Torn had brought a single seater zoomer to the area outside the Door Lock the siblings had used to get to Dead Town, one that allowed him to leave before they were ready to depart as each of them climbed into their vehicles as well, though Twilight had the feeling that he was heading back to the hideout so either he or Tess could ensure the front door to the hideout possessed some information on the four of them, though thanks to there being less traffic now they were able to reach their destination in no time, where Jak was the first one to move towards the stone door, which had the emblem of the Underground on it, and discovered that it opened as they approached it, which made them interested in what else Torn might have in store for them.

"The Baron has turned off all water to the Slums again... he's willing to sacrifice the people he's supposed to be protecting, just to destroy the Underground." Torn remarked, speaking the moment they entered the hideout, where they found that he was pacing near the central table and stopped anyone from moving towards the water pipe that was inside this place, one that he and Tess were still trying to work on after all this time, though he did notice that Twilight had to resist the urge to groan and bring her hand to her face, as this was just a repeat of what happened when she first joined the group and started her long search for her siblings, before he focused on the group once more, "Honestly, I'm not all that surprised by this, because I've seen his evil time and time again in the past, when I was serving as the Captain the Krimzon Guard... that evil is what drove me to quit and join the Underground."

"Wait, you were a Krimzon Guard? That explains so much, and yet so little at the same time," Starlight inquired, because it was something that none of them were expecting to hear when they talked to Torn for whatever else he had in mind for all of them to do, though at the same time she could tell that Twilight was surprised by the information as well, given that she had spent more time with Torn and Tess, so this meant her new friends had kept some things from her, even though the same was true for them keeping a few secrets from the commanding officer of the Underground, since they weren't all that sure who to trust with the information they had gained, and she also noticed that Jak was holding onto Cozy, more to keep herself in check after hearing this news.

"Yes, and one of my old contacts tells me that the valve to turn the water back on is located outside the city, in an area that is called the Pumping Station," Torn said, where Twilight knew that he was only giving this information to her siblings and not to her, otherwise he would have pointed to her in some manner and would have said something to inform the others that she had been part of the Underground for a long time, even though it could be easy for Jak and Cozy to put that bit of information together on their own, before he gestured to her anyway, "Twilight happened to go through the same mission when she first joined the Underground, so you should be able to use her expertise to find the valve in no time... while you do that, I'll be speaking with the rest of my informants and fellow rebels, to plan our next move against the Baron, Errol, and all of their corrupt Krimzon Guards."

"Wait, you've been a member of the Underground the entire time?" Cozy asked, though she did her best to keep the beast that was inside her from lashing out at Torn, as she was still at the early stages of getting used to her Dark Form and all of the power it possessed, especially when hearing that the figure that was in front of her had been a member of the group of guards that had arrested her and trapped her inside that building for three whole years, but she felt that the news that Twilight was part of the Underground, the force that opposed the Baron, had an effect on her inner darkness and might be calming it a little, allowing her to hold it back on her own this time.

"Yeah, I've been with them for three years, helping them get themselves rooted in the Slums and aiding them with my own powers from time to time, but we've never done anything big," Twilight explained, where she lead the others outside the hideout before Daxter did something that might make Torn think less of him for some reason, which was pretty easy to do in the grand scheme of things, and focused on the zoomers that were patiently waiting for them to get back on them, but she wanted to finish her explanation before they did anything else, even though she could see that Cozy had calmed down and there was no signs of her Dark Form coming out for the foreseeable future, "so they know that you, Starlight, and I can use magic, as I've shown them a few of my spells over the years, but for the most part I've been a hidden operative for the rebels, causing distractions with my magic and disappearing before the guards find me, all so the others can obtain more supplies for the rebellion... though, to be honest, now that we're all together again, which was a reason I joined them since they said they'd do everything in their power to help find you guys, I have the feeling that we'll be doing more than running through ruined areas and turning valves."

Jak thought about that for a moment, while Twilight powered up her zoomer and lead the way to the Door Lock that would take them out to the location of the valve that needed to be turned, as it sounded like she was implying that the war Baron Praxis was involved in had been more in a stalemate and not in a tug of war like Errol seemed to say back in the Fortress, as if something or someone was waiting for the four of them to be out in the field or something, making him wonder if he and his siblings were supposed to participate in this war, even though he would willingly take down the Baron and replace him so they could focus on the Metal Heads... though when they walked through the Door Lock, and entered the Pumping Station, everyone paused for a moment as they spotted three red skinned creatures who had metal bits on them and what looked like a yellow gem in their skulls.

"Metal Heads... Swipers, to be exact." Alvin commented, where he and his brothers looked at them, because if it had been just the three of them, and not the siblings, they would have transformed into their true forms and engaged these foes in battle, all to ensure the Leader of the Metal Heads didn't know where they were hiding, but with the power that Jak and his siblings possessed he knew that none of them had to do anything for a time, so right now he, Simon, and Theodore stood on the shoulders of their new friends before thinking of something, "We know about them since we encountered a few of them before meeting Twilight, but we mostly ran from them and made sure they were lost, so we have no idea how strong they might be..."

One of the Swipers noticed them and rushed over at the area they were standing in, where Jak spun around and kicked it in the side of the head, knocking it to the ground for a few seconds, though when it tried to get back up he punched it with his right fist and knocked it out, or maybe it was killed since it went down and the Skull Gem seemed to slid out a couple of seconds later, but before he could figure everything out Cozy, her Dark Form wrapped around her once more, swung her left arm and sliced her foe apart before crushing the second into the ground, hard enough for it to faint instantly, but while she did that both of their gems fell and Twilight collected them, even though she was keeping an eye on Cozy, whose Dark Form seemed to think there were more Metal Heads in the area. To a degree her sister was right, given that Alvin and his brothers had a secret they hadn't told anyone else yet, though based on what she could tell she seemed to be focusing in on the areas that any other enemies were resting in, to which she jumped onto the moving piston and let it bring her up to the area a water tank rested in, an area that held a pair of Glubs who started to move towards the area she was in, where she weaved her magic through the air and knocked them out as Jak and Starlight used the pistons to catch up with her as Cozy just jumped up and glared at the fallen Glubs for a few seconds. The growl that sounded from her stomach not even a few moments later informed Twilight of what was going on and had her siblings follow her for a moment, though while she followed the path she had used the last time she had been here, allowing Jak to kick or punch any Glubs and Znorkles that were in their way, while Starlight knocked them out with a few blasts of her magic, she considered what her sister was doing, as she was likely tearing into the couple of Glubs she had knocked out, either due to the Baron making sure those who watched over her didn't give her anything to eat recently or the fact that transforming between her two forms drained a lot of energy and left her weak, even though she felt the former was more accurate. Not feeding the prisoners seemed like something the Baron or Errol would do, to starve those that had been sentenced to imprisonment inside the Fortress and force them to either behave or do whatever it was that they wanted them to do, though given the fact that Cozy didn't have any signs of starvation, like her ribs showing or anything, that meant she had likely missed a meal or two recently and she was only now taking care of it, even if her Dark Form was doing it for her, which was actually nice and strange at the same time when she thought about it.

After dealing with the enemies that were in front of them the siblings reached the first of the moving contraptions Twilight had seen and crossed during her previous visits to this place, as Torn had sent her here more than a few times and usually it was to deal with the valve, to which they waited for a few seconds and moved once the rotating walkway stopped for a few seconds, allowing the three of them to cross the distance with ease and noticed that there was a Swiper standing on the platform that happened to be at the end of their path, who Twilight stunned with a bolt of her magic so Jak could hit it with a well placed punch. With their foe defeated, and his Skull Gem added to the collection, something they weren't sure if they needed or not, Jak started to head over the next metal path and found that all he had to do this time was jump over an electrified device that moved from one end of this tube to the other end, though he did find three Glubs and a Swiper guarding this area, as they were standing around a pair of pistons that seemed to be the path forward, something that Twilight confirmed when she caught up with him, once more reminding him that she had been part of the Underground and had likely been sent here a few times in the past. Of course that was when Cozy caught up with them and spotted the Swiper that was in front of Jak, where she rushed over the gap and smashed her target into the wall, crushing the Swiper before it could do anything to her siblings, leaving Starlight to sweep aside the Glubs with a bit of her magic before they used the pistons to reach another part of the Pumping Station, even if they were mostly following Twilight's lead for now, and this time Cozy caught up with them a few seconds later as she finished off her target, once more adding a Skull Gem to their growing pile. From there Twilight spotted two more Znorkle and a Swiper protecting the next metal walkway that they had to cross over so they could reach the valve, though this time Jak kicked the Metal Head in the side of the head as Cozy finished it off with a quick swipe of her clawed hands, while Starlight and Twilight lashed out at both of the Znorkles with a quick kick that knocked them off the ledge they were standing on and dropped them into the water below, so they wouldn't have to worry about either foe anymore, which was when the siblings rushed over the metallic walkway in front of them and avoided the pair of moving electric devices that happened to be attached to it.

After that they headed towards the area that Twilight had found Simon and Theodore in, during her first visit to this place, though in order for her and her siblings to reach that area they had to take out a few more Glubs, knock out the pair of Swipers that were in their way, send the lone Znorkle flying into the water, and crossed the rotating walkway that rested between two platforms, before finally reaching the metallic ramp that would bring them right to the valve, even though to reach it Cozy had to cut down a pair of Swipers and collect their Skull Gems as the others came to a stop in front of the device Torn had sent them to fix. What was interesting was that Daxter did nothing foolish as Jak simply hit the edge of the valve and it moved all on it's own, quickly restoring the Pumping Station to it's former glory, something that surprised all of them since Twilight and her sisters were used to him doing foolish things and Twilight had told the Ottsel brothers about a few of those things, but it meant that he might be learning to not be the 'comic relief' of their group and was being serious about things, though that was followed by Cozy reverting back to her normal form, meaning her darkness was retreating for a time and would likely be back when they either found more Metal Heads or were surrounded by Krimzon Guards, as those seemed to be the keys to activating it right now. With their task done, and Twilight assured her siblings that there were no other valves that needed to be switched to restore sending water to the Slums, Jak and his sisters retraced their steps back to the Door Lock so they could head back into Haven City, even though it did take them a few minutes to reach their destination before the four of them and their Ottsel friends entered the city once more, where Starlight pulled out her map of the city and recalled something as she looked at this section, a large hut that she claimed might hold a device that might help them, or more specifically Jak and Cozy, out. As such Twilight followed after her sister as they used both of their zoomers to reach the building in question, which was rather close to where the Door Lock was located and it took the siblings a few seconds to park their vehicles near the walkway, where they climbed out and walked over to where the door rested, even though Twilight made sure there were no Krimzon Guards in the area before they entered it, though that was when they found a Precursor Oracle resting at the back of the building, surrounded by candles, and it's eyes lit up as they walked into the single room structure.

Greetings, Great Warriors, the Oracle spoke up, something that Jak and his sisters were used to thanks to the amount of times they had heard the various Precursor devices talk to them about things, usually asking for Orbs to exchange them for Power Cells, and whatever wisdom they might have to share with the four of them, to which they remained silent as Daxter mentally huffed as he thought about not being noticed by an Oracle again and the Ottsel brothers tilted their heads for a moment as they stared at the device, I sense that there is a great rage burning within two of you, which will, in time, destroy you with it's madness... only the last power of the Precursors can save you two now. Destroy our enemies, those creatures that you call the 'Metal Heads', and bring me twenty-five of their Skull Gems, as I will teach you both how to use and control these new powers.

Jak looked at his sisters for a moment, as they knew that it might be worth gathering enough Skull Gems so they could let Cozy tame her inner power and not be swept aside by it every time they encountered their enemies, though since Twilight claimed that they didn't have enough of the items in question Jak headed outside and they followed him so they could use the zoomers and return to the Underground's hideout, as it was time to see what else Torn had for them to do while they figured out how they were going to strike at the Baron's plans and bring order back to the city, before dealing with the Metal Heads and whatever their Leader was planning.
> Renegade: Explosions and Delivery
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

On the way back to the Underground's hideout, where Jak took the wheel once more, Twilight thought about what they had just learned from the Oracle that was resting within the Water Slums, as they were called by the inhabitants of Haven City, where she and her siblings had learned that it possessed a power that would allow it to grant both Jak and Cozy control over their Dark Forms, something Cozy desperately needed since her inner darkness kept pushing her to the side whenever they got into a fight and she was sure it was building inside her body, churning as it waited for another chance to strike at those who tortured her for three years, probably without giving Cozy time to rest. This was, of course, the first time she had heard of the Precursors having enemies of some kind, and she was sure that Samos would be surprised when he learned this as well, but it was interesting to hear that the Precursors had developed a method to allow those affected by vast amounts of Dark Eco to gain some power over their new abilities and possible transformations, especially since that power was needed right now, with how strong and terrifying Cozy's Dark Form was. It had smashed through a weak magical shield like it wasn't even there in the first place, it's speed made her think that it had either tapped into a bit of Blue Eco or it had just boosted Cozy's original speed, and the sheer bloodlust and rage which drove it to attack anything and everything that it deemed to be an enemy, though she knew that the initial meeting with her sister's Dark Form could have been terrifying if Baron Praxis or Errol had set her loose on the Underground, especially since she couldn't tell the difference between her own siblings and those she wanted to tear apart. Just thinking about that made her scars ache again, reminding her of where Cozy's Dark Form had wounded her and how painful it had been, a constant reminder that she likely had Dark Eco injected into her body during the fight in question, even though such a thing told her that they needed to enlist the aid of the Oracle to make sure neither Jak or Cozy fell down that dark path, coming to a dark place which could turn them against everyone they knew and those they might be fighting for, and the sooner they did it the better, since there was no telling when one of them might break and unleash their power on their enemies again, and that wasn't counting the small amount of Dark Eco lingering in her own body, which had remained silent since they had broken out of the Fortress.

Twilight wasn't sure if the wounds she had been dealt had injected enough Dark Eco into her body to do anything, such as poisoning her or slowing her down, or driving her mad like what happened to Gol and Maia until they smashed their robot and revealed the truth to them, but at the moment she was fine and nothing she had done so far, by fighting or using her magic, had caused it to stir, to which she focused on what they were doing as Jak parked near the hideout and walked into the dead end as the door opened, allowing them to walk down to where Torn was pacing as he stared at a map, one that seemed to detail what might be inside the Fortress.

"It seems that you were successful in your mission... the Slums' water is flowing once more," Torn commented, where the siblings, Daxter, and the brothers could tell he might be pleased with what they had done in the Pumping Station, or that was what they assumed on the matter since even Twilight had a hard time reading him, though a smirk appeared on his face as he considered something and focused on the group that was standing near the bottom of the stairs, listening to all that he had to tell them, "I'd love to see the heads roll when the Baron finds out about this... and by that I mean who might be fired after our foe hears the news."

"Unless he sees reason and keeps them around, to keep the Krimzon Guard at full power," Jak replied, because while part of him shared Torn's sentiments on this, especially since it might given them some additional allies who might scorn their former boss for firing them after something like this and seek out those that were fighting the Baron, before he took a few seconds to think about a piece of information that Twilight had mentioned while she and Starlight were explaining this war to him and Cozy, as there was a member of the Underground that none of them had met so far and it interested him, just like he was sure it interested his siblings, "Out of curiosity, when does someone get to meet the Shadow?"

"That, I'm afraid, is up to the Shadow, and he doesn't meet with new recruits... not unless they show that they're far above the rest of the Underground," Torn admitted, meaning that they wouldn't be meeting with the leader of this faction for a long time, possibly never given what he had just said, but, even as everyone considered that, this also meant that if they did something that put them at the forefront of the war, against either the Leader of the Metal Heads or Baron Praxis, that could grant them an audience with the Shadow and possibly be sent on greater missions, before Torn waved a hand for a moment and drew their attention to him once more, "I do have another mission for all of you, as we've identified an area of the Fortress that a bunch of ammunition, to be shipped out for the guards who have been assigned to take us down, has been moved to, creating an ammunition dump that might have a number of Krimzon Guard patrols and an obstacle or two to protect it, but we know it is vulnerable and we're sending you in to destroy it... if you do, we'll deal a body blow to the Baron, and you might be able to swipe some information while you're there."

"Torn, with all due respect, are you sure that it is a good idea to send Cozy back there, after just escaping from her cell and the darkness she endured?" Twilight asked, as while she understood that wiping out the ammunition supplies would save a number of lives, for the members of the Underground, she felt sending her sister back there, to the place she had been tortured in for the last three years, might do more damage to Cozy than anything that they had encountered so far, since it had only been an hour or two, in rough estimates, since they escaped from the Fortress, before she glanced at Cozy for a few seconds, "I'm not saying she can't handle it, I'm just worried that going back there, so soon after being freed, might cause some backlash to her and might make her hyperventilate or go into shock."

Jak, Starlight, and the Ottsels knew what she was doing, Twilight was trying to get around the fact that Cozy's Dark Form might take over her body if she entered the Fortress and walked through it, leading to a rampage against the Krimzon Guard and might possibly make them fight their sister again, all while not telling Torn about her sister's condition, since it might expel her from the Underground or label her as a liability for those she worked with, which was the three of them and their Ottsels, but instead of saying anything they waited to see what Torn might have to say on this matter and if he would be buying Twilight's statements on the matter.

"Based on what the others have said, it seems like she'll be just fine if she goes inside the Fortress, so its either that or she can stay here and wait for a new mission to come up," Torn stated, where his tone revealed that, even if he believed what Twilight had told him, it wasn't going to change the fact that he was sending her as part of this mission, as four heads were better than three in his mind, due to him not really counting Alvin and the other Ottsels as members of the Underground, even though having them as spies came in handy from time to time, before he gestured towards a bundle that happened to be resting on a nearby bed, one to the right of the siblings, "My associate left that for Cozy, as I had to send her out on her own mission while you were gone, so it will be some time before you see her again, though she felt that this would be better than the rags the Baron left her in."

Cozy and her siblings discovered that the outfit was basically a 'sports bra', according to what Starlight had to say, and a pair of shorts for her to wear, both of which were light gray colored and she wasn't bothered by the color at all as she put them on, after moving behind some containers to give herself from privacy as both of her sisters used their magic to hide her for a few seconds, though when she emerged she had to admit that not wearing rags felt so much better, to which she followed her siblings as they headed outside the hideout and used the zoomers to get back to the Fortress, only this time Twilight brought them to the front entrance, which was actually unlocked and people could just wander inside, which was why Cozy stepped forward first as they climbed out of their vehicles.

"I know you guys might be worried about me, and truthfully part of me is terrified to do this, but I'll tackle the Fortress with you and not be the weak link," Cozy stated, though even as she said that she knew her inner darkness was looking for an excuse to surge outwards and tear down whatever got in their way, just like it had done since she had been rescued from her cell, and she was determined to do everything in her power to make sure she wasn't the weak link of the group, due to the fact that if they fought together they might be able to acquire enough Skull Gems to give her and Jak control over their Dark Forms, especially her own since it was incredibly strong.

Twilight nodded her head and walked through the door that was in front of them, where she and the others found out that the chamber they entered seemed to be square shaped with some terminals that rested on the other side of the area, not to mention two paths that seemed to head deeper into the Fortress, one to their left and one opposite of where they were standing right now, even though one of them seemed to be inaccessible due to an electrified barrier, but what stopped all of them was a large Human sized machine that had what appeared to be a spinning roller with spikes attached to it, which was a tank based on what Twilight knew, though it seemed to either be offline or resting, to which they carefully explored this area as the main door closed behind them. The odd thing was that the tank also had guns on top of it, around the part that had to be it's head and scanner, meaning that it could fire upon whoever it deemed to be an enemy of the Baron, or at least that was what the four of them thought about, though when Jak stepped through the opening that was to the left of the entrance, however, they watched as the tank came to life and focused on them, since all four of the siblings just so happened to be standing near each other, while it claimed that they were 'unauthorized to be here' or something, but that just meant it would come after them. Jak, Twilight, and Starlight knew that anyone else would be worried about this new piece of information and would no doubt run for it once the tank came at them, but instead of doing that they waited for a few seconds and Cozy burst into action, raising her now clawed hands as her Dark side took over once more, stalling the machine in the process with one hand before she threw a punch forward and smashed through the spiked roller that was it's main weapon, breaking it in the process, which was when she swung her arm and hurled it at a wall with grates, which seemed to be blocking the way forward, if they didn't use the couple of thin metal platforms that lined the other section of this small room. The damage she caused to the tank prevented it from doing all that much and it didn't take Cozy long to remove her right hand from the tank, even though she proceeded to push it over the edge so it would fall into the depths of this area, to which they started to move forward and found that Dark Cozy was still in control, meaning it knew that they were in enemy territory and that this was the place Cozy had been trapped in for three years, or at least that was Twilight's assumptions on the matter since it was hard to tell what a feral beast like this would do, even though it did seem like it did knew not to hurt Cozy's family and friends since it seemed to ignore them for the most part.

From there they entered a section of the Fortress that had a winding path and had four circular turrets along the way, and it was easy to see that these weapons were carefully moving in place to find enemies that shouldn't be here so they could open fire on them, to which Twilight and Starlight weaved their magic through the air and created a pair of magical walls on both their left and their right, walls that would prevent any attacks from hitting anyone as they progressed towards the next part of this structure, even though the path did bring them to an area that had a crate that would allow them to use a pole to get up to the second level of the room to the right. From there they found that there were two pillars in the room and both of them had four small platforms, for a single person to be exact, which were rotating and formed a path that lead right to an electrified barrier, though that was when Starlight found a pair of nodes in the middle of both pillars which had power coursing through the upper part the devices, but that didn't stop her from smashing the pair to pieces with a bolt of her magic, which caused the barrier to fall and open the way for them to progress deeper into this place. As such that was what the siblings did, as each of them carefully jumped over several of the platforms and passed through the now open doorway, discovering a short hallway that brought them to an area which had a few moving platforms that were the only way for them to cross the gap that was in front of them, making them wonder what the Baron or his predecessor had been thinking when they created this place, but instead of worrying about that the siblings took turns traversing this area and Jak found a pair of Krimzon Guards on the other side, where he spun around and struck them with a kick, which opened the way for Twilight to blast both of them as she and the others caught up with him. Of course that forced them to turn around as they followed the path and use another set of moving platforms, maybe made of the same ones they had just used a few moments ago, before Cozy spotted two more Krimzon Guards on the other side and jumped over the gap, not to mention the platforms as well, before smashing one of her targets into a terminal that he was standing near and crushed the machine in seconds, even though she bashed the second into the floor and then tossed him into his partner, taking both of her targets out in a matter of seconds, to which she turned for a moment and beckoned for the others to catch up with her, which was rather odd and Twilight hoped it was a sign that Cozy was gaining some control over her Dark Form, even if that might be unlikely given that it hadn't been a day since they escaped from this place.

After that they jumped over a few more platforms and found three more guards patrolling the area, where Jak, Twilight, and Starlight wasted no time in punching and kicking them into the ground, even though that was followed by the siblings finding a section of the hallway they were following that had a set of spike traps, which was odd since that meant anyone who worked in this place had to worry about getting hurt on one of them, but instead of focusing on such a thing the four of them navigated over the spike traps and reached the other side in no time, even though Cozy jumped over them before the others and smashed a guard into a wall, allowing her siblings to catch up with her. Of course there was more than just a single guard in this area, as they found another one near the one Cozy had taken out and two more resting on the other side of a second spike trap area, though Cozy smashed her foe into the ground with a growl as Jak and the others crossed over the next obstacle and struck their own foes down, where Twilight used her magic to prevent any blasts from hitting her or her siblings so Jak and Starlight could take their opponents down, which was around the time that Cozy caught up with them so they could move forward once more. Starlight found one of the breakable grates in the floor not a couple of seconds later, once all of their enemies had been taken care of, and Jak wasted no time in smashing it to pieces like he had done when they were leaving the Fortress, even though he discovered that it allowed them to drop down into a small area that was connected to a pair of conveyor belts, ones that brought them to some moving platforms and some crates that formed a path for them to ascend, to which he waited for a few seconds and made sure his sisters followed him before he started to move again. The interesting thing they discovered was another crate from the Krimzon Guards, where Twilight opened it and found some more healing containers inside it, to which she carefully pocketed it inside her own pack, just like she had been doing to the rest of the boxes they had discovered so far, before they found some more conveyor belts that brought them to a metallic door that opened as one of them approached it, though on the other side they found what they were looking for, as there were a number of barrels and crates that were marked as ammunition and bared the mark of the Krimzon Guards on the sides, meaning they had found the stockpile, and, interestingly enough, they found a pair of Security Passes, Red ones, that could be given to Jak and Cozy.

"Sweet, those are Security Passes... we'll need them to get through certain check points throughout the city," Daxter said, his statement mostly for Jak and Cozy since they were the only ones that might have no idea what in the world these items were, especially since Twilight and Starlight seemed happy to have something like this for the two of them and pocketed both of the passes before they did anything else, but as he opened his mouth to say something else, since they had found the ammunition Torn wanted them to blow up to weaken the Krimzon Guard, there was a sound that seemed to be more like a Metal Head than a person.

In that moment Jak made a motion for everyone to be quiet, since this might be something they could tell Torn about, and they walked over to a nearby grate that allowed them to stare down at a room that was below them, where they found a pair of guards who seemed to be guarding a massive number of metallic barrels, Eco barrels to be exact, and that was the moment that they found a tunnel of some kind that looked like it had been broken open at some point in the past, with a pair of quadrupedal Metal Heads, Grunts according to what Simon whispered to them, and what was interesting what that Cozy's Dark Form seemed to be keeping still, waiting to see if a fight was on their hands or not.

"These barrels are the latest shipment of Eco... the Baron says take them and get out!" one of the guards stated, which was the guard that happened to be right in front of the two Grunts, while the other seemed to be guarding the barrels until he and his partner had completed his job, though what was interesting was that the two Grunts tilted their heads and made a noise that seemed to be them either communicating or growling in some manner, even if it caused both guards to shift for a moment and raise their weapons, but it didn't last that long and the Grunts started to haul the barrels into the tunnel they had emerged from, making it look like the two forces were trading right now.

"I don't know whether to be interested in what's going on, or be worried by the fact that the Metal Heads have a way to get into the city," Twilight commented, keeping her voice low as she and the others pulled away from the metallic grate that they had been using to spy on the guards and walked away from where it rested, though she had to admit that it was good that Cozy's Dark Form had keep itself in check, instead of lashing out at the grate and killing both of the Grunts, as it gave them a chance to learn some potentially valuable information that could be handed to Torn, and then the Shadow at some point, before sighing for a moment as she focused on the ammunition, "well, let's take care of the ammunition and then get out of here... we can think about this once we're..."

Before she could utter the word 'safe', and finish her comment, they heard another sound and discovered that there was a security tank in this area as well, either to protect the ammunition or it was something that would be shipped out with the rest of the ammunition, one that activated once it realized they were there and turned to face them, though that was when Jak tapped Cozy's shoulder and she sprung into action, smashing the spinning section of the tank before lifting it and using it like it was a mace. Her siblings, on the other hand, headed for an exit that happened to be in this area as Cozy went on a rampage, using the tank to smash up everything that was around her, breaking the ammunition containers and damaging the main cooling system for whatever main weapon the Baron had been building, a missile of some kind, but once she was done they rushed out through the opening that was located on the other side of the room, which allowed them to jump out of the Fortress and land on a nearby roof, something that was swiftly followed by an explosion partly bursting out of the opening in question, meaning the mission was successful.

"There... ammunition destroyed..." Cozy said, her form reverting back to her normal state once more, though this time she had the feeling that her Dark Form had expanded a lot of energy to smash both of those tanks and break the ammunition chamber like it did, but she was fine with that since it meant her darkness might not come back for a time, since it had it's fill of destruction and battle, which was when Starlight walked over to her and gave her some aid, so she could lean on her as Jak and Twilight went out to find their zoomers, so they could get back to the Underground and report their success to Torn, before finding out what their next mission might be.

Fortunately it didn't take the pair long to return with their zoomers, where Cozy discovered that Twilight had made a spell to disguise herself and anyone she used it on, something that she generally didn't use since no one in the city seemed to care about what she looked like or any of her unique aspects, but the only reason she used it now was because they had to return to the Fortress' exterior and retrieve their vehicles before the Krimzon Guard arrived, which allowed Starlight and Cozy to climb into the zoomers before they took off, even though it didn't take them long to reach the hideout and head down so they could speak to Torn again, who was cleaning one of his daggers as they soon discovered.

"The Demolition Family has returned!" Daxter declared, announcing their return to Torn, where Twilight noticed that there was a pause in the man's motions as he shook his head for a few seconds, as if he couldn't tolerate Daxter at all, be it what he said or just his personality entirely, before he returned to checking out his dagger, either cleaning it from when he used it last or preparing it for a private mission that the Shadow had given him, which was when Daxter got around to speaking about their mission, "One barbecued ammo dump, served up hot, just as you ordered!"

"Torn, we saw something odd while we were inside the Fortress, searching for the ammunition," Twilight said, deciding to get to the point and not focus on Daxter's comment, even though he did mention that they had destroyed the stockpile of ammunition that would have been used against them at some point in the future and it would have told Torn that their mission was complete, while at the same time noticing that Jak remained standing while Starlight and Cozy sat nearby, all to let Cozy regain some energy before another mission was handed to them, "we saw some of the Baron's guards giving barrels filled with Eco to a pair of Metal Heads!"

"Really?" Torn inquired, to which he lowered his dagger for a moment and turned to face them, where it was clear that he was surprised and interested in that piece of information, meaning that he had to be thinking that sending them into the Fortress had been a good idea, as it gave them something that no one in the Underground knew, and based on Twilight's magical powers the guards would have no idea that someone had observed them while they were giving the barrels to the Metal Heads, "The Shadow will be very interested to hear this information."

"This isn't the point where you reveal that you were the Shadow the entire time and that you like tricking recruits like this, to hide your identity, right?" Alvin asked, because while he and the rest of the group, save for Jak and Cozy, knew that Torn was pretty much the second in command of the Underground, since he seemed to be the only one that knew the identity of the rebellion's true leader, but he had to admit that it would have been a great way to keep suspicion off himself and it would keep everyone looking for someone that didn't exist, especially since it seemed like Torn might have some beef with the Baron and Errol.

"You aren't the first recruit to ask me that, but no, I'm not the Shadow," Torn replied, though this time his tone suggested that he was amused by the idea of people asking him if he was the true leader of the Underground, the infamous Shadow, even if the reality of the situation was different than what they were thinking about, but that was when Alvin shrugged and said nothing more, showing that he had gotten the comment off his chest and that he wasn't going to pursue it anymore, even though he was sure someone else would have something to say before they discovered what their next mission was and where they had to go next.

"You know, thanks to certain individuals, your gigs have been easier than stealing grass from a sleeping Yakow." Daxter stated, using an old statement from when they lived in Sandover, even though most people would have assumed they had read up on the village in question and just copied what had been written about it, even though Twilight and Starlight knew that there were a number of Yakows near the farming section of the city, near the Door Lock that lead to the forest that Twilight had landed in so long ago, but for the most part everyone remained silent as they waited to see what Torn did in response to Daxter's comment.

"Oh, you guys want to start proving yourselves?" Torn commented, where Twilight had the feeling that, even if Daxter had kept his mouth shut, he was going to give them a harder mission than the last couple they had tackled so far, something that interested her a little since it wasn't everyday that she got something hard to do, especially since it seemed like Torn had been waiting for her to find her siblings before doing this, to which Torn beckoned to the stairs for a moment, as if he was suggesting that their new mission was resting right outside the hideout, which they must have missed before entering this hideout, "One of our 'suppliers' needs his payment delivered... a bag of Eco Ore, which is very rare and very valuable. I had prepared a zoomer to deliver it, but now one of you can take it, as it is parked near the entrance to our hideout, and drive it to the Hip Hog Heaven Saloon in South Town, or the Port if you prefer, where you'll be delivering it to someone called Krew... trust me, he'll be there. Oh, and I'm sure you don't need to be told this, but don't let the Baron's patrols stop you. By the way, when you get there, pump Krew for information, on the Baron's movements or this latest development, as he's wired into the city and may know what our enemies are up to, though he'll likely ask for something to be done before handing over that information, so just make sure his 'jobs' aren't the type that would endanger the city."

In that moment the group informed Torn that he could count on them, even if Twilight would send him an update in the near future, once Krew's shipment had been delivered and he handed over whatever information he had on the matter, before they headed outside and found that there was a single seater zoomer resting nearby, one that had a box resting on the backside of it, which had to contain the Eco Ore, where Twilight raised an eyebrow for a moment as she weaved some of her magic around the vehicle and created an illusion that it was a two seater this time, and when Jak climbed onto it he and the others found that the magic disguised him like an ordinary citizen. Once that was done the others used one of the two seater zoomers they had used earlier while Twilight climbed onto the back of her brother's vehicle, so she could make sure the illusion stayed up, though once everyone was ready they moved out from where the hideout was located, where they headed for the border between the Slums and the Industrial Section, something that allowed Jak to watch as a red barrier fell when he and Cozy approached it, where he realized that it had been one of the security walls that required the citizens to have a pass with the corresponding color, like how both Twilight and Starlight had the Red Pass long before this day happened. It didn't take them long to reach the border between the two areas of the city, to which they entered the Industrial Section and Twilight had Jak head up one of the metallic ramps that lead to a second level of traffic, even if there were no zoomers were up there, before they spotted a number of Krimzon Guard vehicles guarding part of the area, like a roadblock of some kind, but that was when Twilight weaved her magic through the air and created an illusion of someone using a single seater zoomer and happened to be moving through this area, on the lower level, where her siblings noticed that it looked like a member of the Underground. Sure enough the group of guards started firing on the illusion and also moved in accordance to what Twilight had her magic do, giving Jak and the others a chance to move through the area with ease and continue making their way towards the southern section of Haven City, meaning that they were able to spend a decent amount of time in peace before she chuckled and dismissed the zoomer illusion the guards had been chasing since they entered this area, and sure enough it seemed like the guards were pissed as they searched, in vain, for the one they had been waiting for.

As such they were able to enter the Port with ease, without the Krimzon Guards catching up since they were searching for nothing at this point, to which Jak lead the way across this section of the city and headed for the Hip Hop Haven Saloon, as this particular vehicle came equipped with a beacon that showed whoever drove it the direction that they needed to go in to deliver the Eco Ore, and it didn't take him long to find their destination, a bar or something which rested in an indent in part of the wall that was a few minutes from the border between the Industrial Section and the Port, to which he came to a stop a few moments later and claimed the box as Starlight stopped behind him... though when they entered the Saloon he and his sisters found two figures, one being an obese man that was using a floating circular chair to get around while the other was a hardened warrior with an interesting weapon and equally interesting armor.

"Krew, the Underground sent us with your payment for the information you supplied them," Starlight said, speaking the moment she and her siblings entered the Saloon, where her statement reminded Twilight that her sister had been picked up by someone in this room, which she hoped was the warrior and not the obese man, while Jak and Cozy remained silent as they waited to see what in the world happened next, though the one that acted first happened to be the obese man, as he turned at the mention of his name and floated over to the entrance.

"That's good eh, because a piece of rare Eco Ore is worth more than ten of your lives! Mmm, and of course, I'd be forced to collect... slowly..." the man, Krew, replied, informing the group that what they had shipped was a rare and pricey item, one that Torn had likely stolen from the Baron at some point in time, which was when Jak handed over the package and Knew focused on it for a time, even if he handed it over to the other figure so it could be placed behind the counter, even if it was likely that he was going to focus on it later, before he stared at them, "Ah, Starlight, it is good that you returned at long last, and judging by their appearances, it seems that you were able to locate your missing siblings... and it seems that the Underground will take anyone with a pulse these days. And what do we have here, four odd creatures... must be the Shadow's mascot of the month? Ooh, but their fur is soft, it would go well with my silk suits, eh."

"Listen, we did you a favor by keeping the Krimzon Guards from getting this Eco Ore shipment," Jak said, even though that had been rather easy due to the fact that Twilight had created those illusions to distract their enemies for a time, which he admitted had been a great plan and he was surprised by how well it had worked out in the end, but he decided not to say anything about magic, since that was something his sisters could mention to whoever they trusted, and in this age it was hard to know who to trust and who not to trust, before he turned his focus to the other part of their mission, "maybe you can help us out by telling us why the Baron is giving Eco to the Metal Heads?"

"Questions like that can get someone killed... however, maybe an exchange is in order: Sig, give Starlight and her friends the bonus I talked about earlier," Krew stated, speaking to his warrior bodyguard for a moment, as that seemed to be the man's role for the most part, though it did give them a name to work with as the armored figure returned from where he had set down the Eco Ore container, though it did look like he was carrying something in his hands, a crate that happened to have four Scatter Guns resting inside it, meaning that whoever had made them had figured out the problems and had fixed them to mass produce the weapon, to which Jak and his sisters took one each, "If you want to see what those babies can do, try the gun course that's located on the other side of the Port... if you show me some skill with that hardware, I'll hire you for a job or two, eh? Then we can discuss sharing information."

Jak nodded for a moment, as it sure seemed like a decent trade in his mind, he and his siblings got a new weapon to add to their growing arsenal and might get some jobs from Krew, which would eventually grant them the information Torn had sent them to acquire, to which he and his sisters placed their new guns on their back, finding that each of them came with a strap that allowed them to place the weapons in that area, before they headed outside and headed for the gun course, as it was time to see what these things could do before discovering what sort of jobs Krew wanted them to do in exchange for the information the four of them were looking for.
> Renegade: Krew's Jobs
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

What Jak and Cozy discovered was that the gun course had a fair amount of ammunition inside it that could be taken and used by anyone that wanted to practice with a weapon, though the first thing they did was patiently wait as Starlight gave them instructions on how to properly hold their new Scatter Guns, just for now anyway, and showed them how to wield it in battle, even though she did explain that the reason she knew all of this was because she had been found by Sig and he brought her to the Saloon, to assist him in working for Krew despite the fact that she got nowhere with it, and that such a thing had lead to her learning how to use this weapon, information that she was now passing to her siblings so they could use these weapons in battle.

"I don't understand why I need to do this, especially with my Dark Form being a thing," Cozy commented, though while she had kept quiet during Starlight's lesson on how to wield this weapon, just so Jak could understand everything their sister knew, and Twilight got a reminder since it seemed like it had been some time since she used a Scatter Gun, she was a little curious as to why she even needed to train with this new weapon, much less carry one on her body since her Dark Form had a habit of fully taking over her body to wreck their enemies.

"You never know, we might encounter an enemy that your Dark Form doesn't want to fight, or maybe it'll get tired of what it's doing and take a break," Twilight replied, as there were a few things that would lead to such a thing happening, which would leave her sister in a vulnerable state since she would be used to her other side taking over, before she considered Cozy's statement for a time as she made sure her own Scatter Gun was ready for whatever job Krew had for them, since it seemed like he might have something in store for them, "better to have the weapon and some skills for when your other side doesn't want to come out, as it might happen at some point so it can conserve it's strength, than to reach a moment where you would be expecting it to take over and have nothing happen, exposing yourself to our enemies."

"And, since this place is basically a safe haven, you won't have to worry about changing into your Dark Form while we're practicing with our weapons," Starlight said, adding something else to what Twilight had to say, though even as she said it she knew that the Scatter Gun had been modified so that all of the problems she discovered in the past had been taken care of, which meant none of them would have to worry about anything bad happening while using their weapons, but it was in that moment that Jak emerged from the course and discovered that he had beaten the three thousand point score that Krew seemed interested in seeing if they could beat it or not, though that opened the way for him to tackle the next score if he wanted to, the Bronze score that was eight thousand points, before Twilight got up and headed into the course not a few seconds later.

Cozy said nothing to that as her siblings tackled the course that would allow them to learn how to wield their new Scatter Guns, even though she focused on the basics of how to hold and fire the weapon, before she discovered that Twilight was able to do better than Jak did, thanks to some of the additional training she had with it, since both she and Starlight had an advantage over her and their brother, and Starlight had the best score of them all, as she beat the Bronze score, though when she tackled it, and faced off against the fake Metal Heads, cutouts that were detailed to match the actual thing, she found that her Dark Form was silent and that she was able to fire at her targets with ease, even avoid all of the civilian cutouts the owner had put here, and soon enough she succeeded in beating the basic score, allowing them to return to the Saloon with their heads held high.

"That was some excellent shooting!" Krew commented, where the obese figure spoke up the moment the siblings entered the Saloon, finding that there were a number of seats that didn't have anyone sitting in them, a bunch of booze, a ring of some kind in the direct center of everything, and who knew what else behind the scenes, where they discovered that both of his legs were small and gaunt, he had light green clothing, a bald head with facial features that looked pig-like, and he rested in a cradle shaped device that allowed him to float around the place, which came with a light for when it was night out, or at least that was Twilight's assumptions, before he spoke up once more, "Have any of you thought about switching professions and becoming Wastelanders, hmm?"

"To be honest, this is the first time I've heard the term, so all I can say is that none of us have considered it." Jak replied, as that was the truth, even though Starlight knew Krew more than any of them and might be the only one that knew what the obese man was talking about, something he and the others would have to ask about at some point in the near future, like as soon as they weren't near Krew or the Saloon, but based on everything he had seen from the individuals in Haven City there had to be more to the man's statement and he suspected that they would be hearing more from him before he got to the jobs he wanted them to do for the information he might have on the Baron's dealings with the Metal Heads, maybe even with their Leader if they were lucky.

"Wastelanders find items for me outside the city walls, eh, meaning any artifact or weapon that is worth possessing comes through my hands first." Krew stated, even though the siblings were sure that the Wastelanders did more than that, since it seemed odd for an entire faction of people to just work for the obese man, not counting those that actually worked for him in the Saloon, despite the fact that his employees were either taking a break or hadn't arrived yet, before he chuckled for a moment as he thought of something that might make them eager to get his jobs done, "Work for me and I'll throw you some of the sweeter items your way, hmm?"

"That sounds like a good deal to me, and it will give us an advantage over the Metal Heads and the Krimzon Guards, once we have some of the sweeter items," Starlight remarked, though even as she said that she knew that Krew was going to use those weapon upgrades to ensure they completed whatever jobs he had in mind, which she suspected would be more like disrupting the Krimzon Guard operations that messed with his business or collect something like the Eco Ore they had brought to him earlier, but she was hoping he didn't make them do anything outrageous that might lead to them being exiled to the desert, especially since there were enemies to deal with.

"Sig will show you the ropes, so do what he says... and try not to get him killed." Krew said, to which he floated away from the opening of the Saloon and seemed to head for the middle of the room they were in, or maybe his destination was the counter that contained all of the bottles, though it was also when Jak and his sisters watched as the other man walked up to where they were standing, allowing them to see that part of his armor was either made to mimic the heads of the Metal Heads or it was made from those he had slain and repurposed, where either could be true since none of them really knew what a Wastelander did, save for what Krew told them.

"So the four of you want to be Wastelanders, huh? Well, we'll see what each of you are made of when we get out there and start tracking our targets." Sig stated, where his tone revealed that he had to be very confident in his skills and that he had no tolerance for anyone that couldn't hold their own in battle, or at least that was what Jak, Twilight, and Cozy assumed, as Starlight had said nothing about either of the individuals that they had met and were learning about them the more they walked with them, before they waited for Sig to say something else, "Krew wants some new trophies to put butts in chairs at the Hip Hog, so I'm heading out to the Pumping Station to hunt down and bag him five nasty Metal Heads, as some of our scanners have discovered a new type of Metal Head prowling the area... also, don't wet your fur or get cold feet, chili peppers, cause we're rollin' with the Peace Maker!"

The 'Peace Maker' happened to be the staff-gun weapon that he was carrying, one that seemed rather dangerous if what Jak and his sisters knew based on everything they had learned about the Scatter Gun earlier, making Twilight wonder just what the weapon could do and was thankful that Sig wanted them to come with him on this mission, even if it was to see just how well they did in an actual fight, since it would give her and the others a chance to see just how powerful it was and if there was a way for them to get their hands on a Peace Maker mod.

"That's a nice weapon you have there." Theodore commented, as he and his brothers had been rather silent since Twilight and Starlight broke their siblings out of the Fortress, leaving the conversations to them, their siblings, or Alvin, though right now he was interested in the weapon that Sig was carrying and wasn't afraid to mention it, especially since Daxter seemed to like it as well and appeared to be more than willing to let someone else ask the question he was thinking of, like he was a little afraid of Sig or something, "Where did you obtain such a weapon?"

"Don't bother asking him that, he doesn't like to talk about it." Krew said, meaning that the story was either something he wasn't proud of, like a warrior's sin or something, or it was an embarrassing tale he didn't want anyone to know, or maybe it was stolen and he was worried about newcomers sending the guards after him, before he seemed to think about what his bodyguard had said and focused on the siblings once more, who were patiently waiting for this conversation to end so they could leave the Hip Hog at long last, "Sig needs someone to watch his back while he tracks the Metal Heads, eh, and you four have been nominated to be his aids for the duration of his mission."

"We'll meet at the start of the Pumping Station, on the other side of the Door Lock." Sig stated, where he started to move towards the door of this structure, even though he paused for a few seconds as he stopped and stared at Jak, with Twilight and her sisters behind him as their Ottsels remained on their shoulders, where it was possible that he was sizing them up once more before he left the Hip Hog and headed out for the area that some new Metal Heads had been located in, due to whatever scanners Krew happened to have, before he shifted his stance to make them focus on him again, just in case one of them was focused on something else, "Listen cherries, don't you leave me dangling in the wind out there!"

As the siblings nodded their heads, which caused Sig to leave the Hip Hog as Krew went back to what he had been doing earlier, Twilight noticed that there were a few stuffed heads of some Metal Heads that Sig must have killed for his boss, to attract customers in some manner, though instead of wasting time inside this building they followed after Sig and found that he was already riding off in one of the two seater zoomers, mostly since it seemed large enough for someone like him and gave him someplace to put his weapon while he was traveling through the city. Interestingly enough the guards didn't even attempt to pull him over, either meaning they knew how dangerous he was and were staying away from him or they only reacted when someone broke the law of Haven City, where Starlight informed them that the latter was the most likely of the two options, before the siblings found some vehicles to use, as their zoomers had been taken earlier by someone, no doubt when they were talking with Krew, to which they sighed and just found two more two seaters to use, which was followed by Jak leading the way back to the Pumping Station. Once more the siblings found that there were no enemies coming at them as they carefully traveled through the Port, the Industrial Section, and the Slums once more, meaning that they would be able to truly rest and relax a little whenever this happened, to give them some time to ready themselves for whatever their next mission was, though they focused on traveling over to the Door Lock that would allow them to reach the Pumping Station, as it looked like Sig was going to reach it before them and it would give him some time to scout out part of the area in case there was more than the couple of Metal Heads Krew's scanners had spotted. Based on the heads that were inside the Hip Hog, which was still odd and the Ottsel brothers were weirded out by that, which made sense due to what they happened to be hiding, though Starlight knew that if they found Swipers and Grunts during this mission then Krew wouldn't be able to have any new trophies, since those were two of the types he already had and that meant Sig was looking for something special to attract more customers to the Hip Hog, even if there were other things he could be doing with his time, or at least that was what the siblings were thinking at the moment, even though they focused on the task Krew had given them as they headed for their destination.

It took them some time to reach their destination, given that the Door Lock for the Pumping Station was on the other side of Haven City, but in the end Jak found Sig's zoomer and landed in the water near it so they could climb out and walk over to where the Door Lock rested, though this time around he and Starlight, at the very least, pulled out their Scatter Guns as Twilight waited to see what was on the other side, with Cozy keeping hers on her back since she had the feeling that she might not need it at all, even though her siblings were hoping that the weapon might cause her Dark Form to remain silent for a time, though once the door opened they found Sig sort of hiding behind some thin trees, no doubt scouting part of this place out while he waited for them to arrive.

"Hello, cherries. Are you ready to hunt down a few Metal Heads?" Sig asked, where his tone make it seem like he knew the areas that the targets were in, which was possible since Krew's scanners might have recorded the last area they had been in and he likely possessed that information, though that was followed by Jak nodding his head and his sisters followed his motion, as they were as ready as they could be right now, given that this was their first time out in the field with their new weapons and that this would allow each of them to see where they needed to improve, to which he gestured to his back for a moment before grabbing his Peace Maker, "Follow me, stick close, and watch my six. It's gonna be fun!"

As soon as Sig was ready to go he approached the first set of pistons that were in front of them, which had four Znorkle wandering around the area in question, and opened fire on their first couple of enemies, revealing that his weapon had a much smaller projectile that didn't do a whole lot of damage, even though one shot seemed to severely weaken the one he hit, though that was when Jak, Starlight, and Twilight opened fire on the remaining three and discovered something as that happened, the Scatter mod was slightly weaker than what they were expecting, as it was as powerful as one of Sig's blasts, but it did knock their foes backwards and open the way for someone, namely Cozy, to rush in and punch or kick their foes into the ground, in her normal form anyway. In addition to those enemies there were two new Metal Heads that were wandering around the pistons as well, bipedal ones that carried their own metallic staff that appeared to have a bolt of lightning as the design for the bottom part of it, though as Sig fired at one, and the siblings fired at the second as Cozy remained in control of herself, he revealed that both he and the Krimzon Guards called these types 'Juice Goons', due to their weapons that fired bits of electricity at whoever their targets were, though as they took both of their enemies down, and Twilight magically collected the Skull Gems for later, Alvin informed her that Sig was correct in the name, meaning that even the Metal Head Leader didn't have a good name for this type. From there they used the pistons to get up to the water tank that had a few Glubs resting near it, who Twilight moved off to the side with her magic since none of them seemed to be all that aggressive and might be sleeping, before Sig stopped in his tracks and stared to do something interesting as he had the siblings stand behind him, he knelt for a moment and primed his weapon, where they watched as the head of his Peace Maker started to gather energy around it and formed a sphere within a matter of seconds, before Sig stood up and fired at the tank that was in their way, blowing it to pieces and raining metal down on the area they were standing in, even if Twilight and Starlight used a bit of their magic to move the pieces out of their way.

From what the siblings could tell the Peace Maker mod had to be one that channeled the power of Dark Eco, or at least it sure seemed that way when they thought about what the colors might do to such a weapon, but even then the blast was a reminder of how dangerous it was and why it was a good idea not to be on Sig's bad side, though once everything was said and done Sig moved through the wreckage of the tank and stepped onto a metallic walkway that was behind it, where the siblings followed after him and found that there were a pair of Juice Goons blocking the way, along with the fact that part of the beach that was further ahead of them had a number of the new type of Metal Head as well. Normally anyone would be a little surprised by what they were seeing at the moment, though it was in that moment that Dark Cozy surged to the surface and burst over to where their enemies were resting right now, taking care of those who were roaming the beach as Jak grabbed onto a bridge segment that was raised above the walkway and forced it to lower so Sig could make his way through the Pumping Station, even though Twilight and Starlight punched some Znorkles that jumped up onto the area they were passing through. Sig, of course, did seem slightly worried about having someone like Cozy with them, now that he knew about her dark secret and her other form, but for right now he was focused on tracking down their targets and knocking them out, or killing them for their heads since they were after trophies, before he came to a stop after he crossed the bridge and pointed out what they were looking for, a Metal Head that walked on four spider-like limbs, had a decent sized body, and had what appeared to be a blaster of some kind on it's right arm, where he revealed that Krew had a name for this type as well, that being 'Spyder Gunner'. Alvin and his brothers, on the other hand, made sure the siblings knew that the Leader referred to these as Crab Heads, why they had no idea, though for right now Theodore rested on Jak's other shoulder since bracing himself for Dark Cozy's jumps was hard and sometimes it was best to let go and catch up with her later, though that was when Sig braced himself once more and started to charge a slightly different version of the blast he had used earlier, this one intended to paralyze, and likely kill, whatever he was targeting, which happened to be the Crab Head that was wandering on an area that was slightly above them.

As such Jak, Twilight, and Starlight guarded Sig as he charged his Peace Maker for a few moments, which included blasting, punching, and kicking a couple of Znorkle that came over to where they were standing, though to be honest they were no treat to any of them and it was only a matter of time until Sig lifted his weapon once the charging was complete, where he loosed the blast he had prepared and it took out his target, who staggered off the ledge it was walking on and fell into the water, something that caused Sig to chuckle for a moment before he headed down the ramp that was nearby so he could head to over to where Dark Cozy was waiting. One thing they were able to do was collect the Skull Gems that Dark Cozy had racked up, since it appeared that Sig didn't seem to care about them all that much, before they stopped at the start of a few metallic steps and Sig pointed out another Crab Head that was up above them, to which he started to charge up his weapon again and left the siblings to take down the Znorkles that were coming out of the water to hurt them, even though Dark Cozy was more interested in making sure there were no Metal Heads in the area, though their combined efforts let Sig fire and take down another target. From there the siblings and Sig quickly moved up the metallic sections that were in front of them and found two more Juice Goons protecting the next part of the walkway they were following, to which Jak and Twilight punch and blasted one while Starlight made sure to bring down it's partner, though while they did that Dark Cozy moved forward for a few seconds and lowered the next section of the walkway, allowing them to reach the area that gave Sig a good view of where the next Crab Head was resting and was followed by Jak and his siblings getting ready for another round of Znorkles coming their way. This time around Dark Cozy joined in the fun as Sig prepared his weapon, to fire upon the next target that they had to take down, which meant that none of the Znorkles were able to do anything as the siblings took each and every one of them out as they jumped up onto the part of the walkway that they were on, just to make sure Sig had all the time to charge his weapon, and it wasn't long before he loosed another blast through the air and knocked out the third Crab Head that he had been sent to take out and collect as trophies, before he started to move as his target hit part of the edge and landed in the water.

What was interesting was that some of the machinery that was in this part of the Pumping Station was active and formed a walkway down to another beach-like area, one Sig was focused on and happened to be where he could fire upon the next Crab Head as more Znorkles emerged from the water in an attempt to take them down, no doubt because they saw Jak, his siblings, and Sig as intruders or something, and there were a few Juice Goons to take out, giving them a few more Skull Gems to collect, though it wasn't long before Sig loosed another blast and the fourth Crab Head fell into the water as well, floating back to the surface after a few moments. With that one down they jumped over some stones that were in the bit of water in front of them and entered the area that was below one of the metallic walkways they had traversed earlier, the last time they were here, which was around the time that Sig pointed out their last target, the fifth and final Crab Head that he needed to take out, but that was when they discovered that his Peace Maker was jammed when he started to charge up his final shot, leaving Jak and his siblings to guard him for a few moments so he could make sure everything was ready for the final attack of this mission. This time around their enemies were mostly just the Juice Goons, who were ready to attack anyone that was in this area and was followed by Jak, Twilight, and Starlight lashing out at them with their Scatter Guns and their own attacks, while Dark Cozy went to town and struck down every Metal Head that dared to challenge her, which lined the ground with a number of Skull Gems for them to collect once the battle was over, though thanks to what the four of them were doing Sig was able to fix his weapon and start charging it once more, all while making sure the Crab Head didn't wander off to another part of the Pumping Station, before he found where it was located and loosed the blast he had been charging. The siblings watched as the Crab Head took the attack head on and shuddered for a moment, which all of the others had done for a few seconds, before it fell off the ledge it had been standing on and struck the water that was near it, making them wonder how Sig was going to recover each of his targets since they had landed in an area that didn't seem all that accessible, since there were no boats in the area, but they were sure that he would figure out something so he could get Krew's trophies.

"Boom! Home team five, Metal Heads nothing!" Sig stated, his tone revealing that he was pleased with what they had done since they entered the Pumping Station and started to hunt down the Metal Heads Krew was after, though even as he said that he noticed Dark Cozy standing off to the side for a moment and watched as she reverted back to her base form not a few moments later, before he shifted his stance and glanced at Starlight for a moment, "You were going to tell me that she could do that, right?"

"We were hoping that having a weapon would make her Dark Form stay away, but that failed," Starlight replied, though as she said that both she and her siblings counted themselves lucky that Sig had remained calm and didn't fire at Cozy while her Dark Form was in control, otherwise she was sure that part of the Pumping Station could have been wrecked until one of them had been brought down or the siblings stepped in to stop them from doing anything to each other, which was the moment that she sighed, "though we did get enough Skull Gems from these enemies to get the number the Oracle asked for, so we might be able to help her out."

"Well, good luck with that," Sig said, where he pulled some items out of a small pack he was carrying and set them near his weapon, meaning he was likely going to start cleaning it or something before he went out and collect the Crab Heads that were now floating around the areas that he had dropped them into, which was when he turned a bit for a few seconds and focused on Cozy once more, likely making sure she wasn't about to go on a rampage or something, even though he turned to face all of them once more, "Tell Krew we got 'em all cooked and canned. I'm gonna clean Peace Maker and pick up the trophies... oh, and for the record, the four of you did good, even if you're a bunch of rookies."

Starlight nodded as her siblings helped Cozy for a moment, since she was still recovering from her change into her Dark Form and the rampage it had gone on, before they headed for the Door Lock and entered Haven City once more, to which they headed for the building that the Precursor Oracle was resting in and found that no one was around it, though when Twilight offered the Skull Gems to it the construct loosed a pair of Dark Eco beams at Jak and Cozy, who shuddered for a few seconds as it likely gave them some control over their Dark Forms, even if it seemed to be happy about them dealing with some of the Metal Heads, before they dropped to the ground. Twilight and Starlight found that neither Jak or Cozy were harmed by what had happened and neither seemed to display any new powers, so it make them wonder if they had been cheated or something, before Twilight figured that they would determine what had happened the next time a bunch of Metal Heads showed up or a number of guards assaulted them, though once that was done they returned to the pair of zoomers and climbed back into them so they could return to the Portal, all to give Krew the good news and hoped that he was in the mood to give them what Torn wanted. As such they flew through the city and Twilight noticed that Cozy spent her time looking at her arms, no doubt wondering what the Oracle might have done to her, and decided she would wait for her sister to say something about what they had just seen, to which she focused on what the Krimzon Guards might be doing and found that they were just patrolling the city like normal, doing nothing special in the grand scheme of things, so they were able to get to the Port and land outside the Hip Hog. Inside the building in question they found Krew floating like normal, either due to boredom or maybe it allowed him to tap into Haven City, like Torn had told them earlier, where they found that no one was inside the Hip Hog, meaning that it might also be due to a lack of customers, but that was when he noticed them and started to float over to where they were standing, meaning it was time for them to tell him that Sig had completed his mission and would be back soon.

"Sig's taken down the Metal Heads your scanners picked up and he'll be back with the trophies soon." Starlight said, due to the fact that she knew it was better to get this out of the way and then see if there was anything else he wanted them to do before handing over the information they were after, while at the same time she noticed that Twilight was making sure to prevent eavesdropping with her magic, just so everyone that was outside the Hip Hog didn't hear something that could ruin what they were doing right now.

"The four of you are turning out to be quite useful, eh?" Krew stated, his tone revealing that he was pleased with them and that he was equally pleased with Sig, even though he was likely expecting them to do this and was only being nice to make sure they stuck around for now, but the siblings remained silent as they waited for him to say something else, since there was a number of items they wanted to learn about before heading back to Torn, "Hmm, I have another task for the four of you... the sewers used to be a fabulous smuggling route for me, before the Baron installed those annoying security devices of his, and I need someone to go down and shoot every sentry gun in the sewers, eh. Do this for me and I'll be sure to give you a sweet weapon upgrade if you succeed."

"Sure, we can do that... but maybe you can sweeten the pot by, I don't know, telling us why the Baron is even making such a deal with the Leader of the Metal Heads." Jak replied, as while he knew that he could be aggressive in this situation, and it could come back to bite all of them at some point in the future, this seemed to be the best course of action, agree to the job, and it's rewards, while seeing if there was anything he might be willing to tell them about the deal they discovered in the Fortress, something they would hand over to Torn as soon as they learned the information. 

"Bah, all I know is that the Baron cut a desperate deal with the Metal Head Leader, after one of the failed raids on the Hive that they call home." Krew stated, where this time it sounded like he didn't care about the information and felt that giving them this particular piece would make them want to work for him in the future, even if Jak might do more work just for the various weapon upgrades the obese man had access to, all to give them an advantage over their enemies, "Metal Heads, as you know, need Eco to survive and continue their species, so the Baron supplies them with regular shipments, even if it means taking it away from the city... in return, the Metal Head Leader agreed to attack the city just enough to satisfy the Baron's continued rule."

"And now I hate him even more," Cozy commented, as she had many reasons to hate the Baron, the greatest being all the years she spent locked up inside the Fortress, spending three years being tormented and having Dark Eco injected into her body, and she could tell that her siblings and their Ottsels agreed with her, discovering that the Baron was doing this just made him that much more evil in their eyes, even though that might be too easy to do at this point, before she sighed and stared at Krew, "but how long can such a deal last?"

"No one knows, but the Baron is running short on Eco, eh? And the Metal Heads are short on patience!" Krew stated, even though part of what he was saying made the siblings think that he was referring to himself as well, that he might be one of the people in the world that were short on patience, but that was the moment that he thought about something else as he started to float away from them, even though the movement was a little slow, "Baron Praxis needs this war to keep himself in power, otherwise the city would seek out the true rulers and put them on the throne... wherever those little brats are."

Jak said nothing to that, rather he informed Krew that they would do the job and got directions to where the Sewers was located, or at least the Door Lock that lead to it, and was slightly surprised to find that it was near the border between the Slums and the Industrial Section, to which they headed outside and used their zoomers to depart from the Port, where it took them a few minutes to make their way through the Industrial Section, and traffic for that matter since it seemed to be getting close to nighttime, before they reached the downwards ramp that lead to a Door Lock, which was what they were looking for. Once they discovered it's location Jak and his sisters climbed out of their vehicles and headed down the ramp, where the door opened and revealed a square shaped elevator that they stepped on not a few seconds later, even though it lowered down the shaft it was in for a few moments and another door opened to allow them to step out into a metallic tunnel that had to be the start of the Sewers, though it was kind of dark based on what they were seeing at the moment and Twilight summoned a light to make sure they could see everything that was around them. Of course that didn't matter at all since there was a switch in the floor that turned on the lights which had been installed inside this place, causing her to cancel her magic for a moment, though there were a couple of Znorkles in front of them and the siblings knocked all of them out with a burst volley of their Scatter Guns, allowing them to use a smaller platform to access another tunnel, even though the second one had a turret, about half the height of a Human, at the end of it and it locked onto them when they stepped into the tunnel it was protecting. Twilight and Starlight formed a series of temporary barriers between their side of the tunnel and the side that the sentry gun was on, which allowed Jak to safely make his way over to it and smash it to pieces with a burst of his Scatter Mod, opening the way for his sisters to catch up with him as Starlight revealed something interesting, she had been given a more modern version of their Communicator by someone called the Mechanic, who they might be able to meet by working with Krew some more, and it allowed the obese man to inform them that his scans said there were four sentry guns inside the Sewers, meaning there were three more left.

From there they started crossing the area that was in front of them and used some pipes to move out of the tunnel, even though as Jak moved in front of a chained opening, to prevent things from being flushed into the main part of the Sewer no doubt, one of the Grunts rushed forward and was caught by the chains, causing it to growl for a few seconds, but that was when Cozy flicked her hand and knocked it back into a portal that moved it to the main tunnel they were in, confusing the Metal Head in question, before she blasted it into a wall with her gun, something that caused Twilight to smile since it did look like appeasing the Oracle might have helped her sister out. Cozy seemed pleased with this information and made sure to catch up with Jak as they entered a new tunnel, this time all four of them firing on the enemies, a few Znorkles and a few Glubs, before finding an area to light up and discovered three Grunts inside a small chamber, with another tunnel on the other side to move forward, though instead of Dark Cozy making an appearance the siblings punched, kicked, and blasted the three Metal Heads into the walls, using both magic and their new weapons to be exact, to clear the area before moving once more, adding more Skull Gems to the collection in case they needed them for anything else. After that they reached a small area that had two Znorkle just wandering around, who Twilight knocked into a wall with a small burst of wind magic, which allowed her siblings to walk up the ramp and find the second sentry gun resting at the edge of the new area, one that had a thin path that lead to it, though this time Cozy rushed at the weapon, avoiding the energy bullets that it fired at her, and then smashed it into the ground with ease. Starlight was also pleased with what was going on, as it did seem like nothing was wrong with Cozy now, though once their sister returned to their side they entered the tunnel that was to their left and followed it for a few moments, which was around the time that they walked along a metallic walkway that cracked and shattered below them, dropping them into a large chamber which happened to have a large number of Grunts wandering around the other side of it.

In that moment Jak, sensing something building within him as he noticed Cozy trying to hold her own darkness back, let his Dark Form out as he rushed forward, which prompted Starlight to raise a barrier around herself and her sisters, which was when they watched as he gathered a bit of Dark Eco into his right palm and jumped into the air as the Grunts rushed over to him, even though they paused as he rushed back down and slammed his attack right into the ground, releasing a wave of dark energy that struck everything around him and tore down the Metal Heads in seconds, with Starlight's barrier just shuddering for a few seconds before returning to normal.

"So that's the Dark Bomb, that the Oracle gave us... awesome." Cozy commented, revealing that, while the Oracle had said nothing about this to Twilight and Starlight, it revealed that information to Jak and Cozy while it fired that beam into their chests, which was when they watched as Jak reverted back to his base form, meaning it expanded one's entire supply of Dark Eco, or close to it, making them wonder what in the world would happen when Cozy did it, before he focused on the path that was leading to a tunnel that would let them get to the next sentry gun.

After climbing up the couple of thin platforms the siblings found a few Glubs waiting for them and a single blast from one of their Scatter Gun's took all six of them out, allowing them to reach an opening that revealed where the third sentry gun was resting, to which Jak, Cozy, and Starlight distracted it as Twilight moved over to where it was located and blasted it with a burst of her magic, opening the way for them to move passed the wreckage of the weapon and search for the last of the weapons the Baron had installed in this area. That brought them to a tunnel that had two Grunts guarding the end of it, or at least that was where they found those enemies after leaving the third destroyed weapon behind, though a few punches and kicks were more than enough to take down the pair of Metal Heads that had appeared in front of them, before they found an area that had the fourth and final sentry gun at the end of it, so three of them distracted it while Starlight blasted it with a burst of her magic, breaking it apart like all the others. Once they had completed their task they found that the Communicator came out and Krew informed them that he was pleased with their actions, where each of them figured that this might allow him to use the smuggling routes again at some point in the future, and that the weapon mod they were being given as a reward could be found inside one of the crates that rested inside the Gun Course, meaning each of them could train with the new weapon if it was an Eco Mod they were being given. As soon as the message was delivered, and the device disappeared, they headed through the nearby tunnel and found that it happened to be something that brought them back to the entrance of the Sewers, above the first room anyway, and they had to take out a couple of Znorkles and a pair of Grunts before doing that, which was easy to do given everything that this place had sent at them since they came down here to take care of the sentry guns, making them wonder what sort of challenges Torn and Krew might have for all of them in the future as they jumped down to the entrance and used the elevator to rise back to the surface.

Once they were back in the Industrial Section the siblings used their zoomers to head back to the Port, where it took them no time to reach the Gun Course and park outside it, even though none of the guards seemed interested in them at all, to which they quickly entered the building and found a lone Krimzon Guard crate in the middle of it, one that held four mods for their weapons, one that added a double barrel to the front of the Morph Gun and used a Yellow Eco cylinder, instead of the Red Eco cartridge they were used to, where they found that this was the 'Blaster' Mod and they took turns testing out this new weapon, all to be ready for whatever mission was up next.
> Renegade: Meeting the Mechanic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Instead of heading back to the Hip Hog, to see if Krew needed anything done that might earn them a few more mods for their new weapons, Jak and his sisters collected their two seater zoomers and headed back through the Industrial Section once more, as it was time for them to return to the Underground and give Torn the information they had been able to pull from Krew earlier, if he didn't know it already since there was a chance that their Communicator could have heard it and let their superior know what in the world was going on... and sure enough, when they returned to the hideout, they found him pacing around the table he was usually standing near, even though he stopped when the door opened and the four of them entered the hideout.

"We're back, and we learned something interesting from Krew," Twilight stated, something that caused Torn to raise one of his eyebrows for a moment as he turned towards them, meaning he was interested in what they might have learned in the time they had been gone, even though it did look like he might have discovered something as well, or at least that was what Jak and his siblings thought since he was a hard individual to read at times, "based on what he said, Baron Praxis has made a desperate deal with the Leader of the Metal Heads, giving his own enemy regular shipments of Eco in exchange for his forces to assault Haven City, to justify his continued rule over the city... and, if it weren't for the war, the citizens of this place would no doubt put the true ruler back on the throne."

"I knew the situation was bad, but this just makes matters worse," Torn commented, not that the siblings were at all taken by surprise by that statement or the annoyance that flashed across the man's face for a few seconds, due to the fact that he had worked for the Baron at one point and it seemed like the current Praxis might not be the same one he worked for all those years ago, even if they had no idea how long it had been since he left the Krimzon Guard, before he focused on them once more, "and, to add to the list of bad things happening, one of the Baron's mining operations is under attack by a large force of Metal Heads... the only reason I'm mentioning this is because the foreman just so happens to be one of the Underground's best informants! His name is Vin, and he's just valuable enough to save, so what I need you to do is go back to the Industrial Section and head to the Power Station, as there's a Warp Gate there that will take you to the mining operation, the Strip Mine as we call it, so you can rescue Vin and get him out of there before the Metal Heads figure out where he's hiding."

"Don't worry, we'll find Vin and make sure to pull him out of the Strip Mine before our enemies get to him," Starlight said, though she suspected that there was another reason to saving Vin, other than the fact that he was an informant for Torn and the rest of the Underground, something that Twilight seemed to agree with while Jak and Cozy, plus their Ottsels, just stood there and waited for them to get all of the information before heading out to see what was going on in Vin's area, which seemed to be crawling with Metal Heads.

"Whatever deal the Baron made with the Metal Heads, the city's Eco is almost completely gone, and his time is starting to run out." Torn stated, giving them another piece of information to chew on while they were out in the field, where none of them complained about the missions they were being given since they knew there were more members of the rebellion and all of them had to be working to bring down the Baron, before he sighed for a moment, "If we don't get the kid back on the throne soon, there may not be a city left to defend... plus, if you rescue Vin, he might be able to solve our little Eco problem and buy us some more time to bring the Baron down."

Jak and his sisters nodded their heads for a moment, as while it seemed odd to help someone that was working for Baron Praxis, not to mention giving some information to the Krimzon Guard, Twilight knew that Vin could be trusted and that was more than enough for her to want to help him, not counting everything he had done for her and Starlight since they had landed in the parts of the city they had appeared in, to which they headed out through the hidden door and powered up their zoomers before moving out once more. Once more the four of them found that none of the Krimzon Guards cared about them, confirming that they had to do something that involved breaking the law before such a thing happened, but this allowed Twilight to direct them to where the Power Station was located, allowing Jak and Cozy to find that it was near the border between the Industrial Section and the Port, not to mention rested on the upper level that they had used when delivering Krew's cargo to him. As such it didn't take them long to reach it and park their vehicles near it, though Twilight made sure that no one was around them, as in the guards, before opening the door and discovered that no one was inside the Power Station, which she was fine with since it allowed her to access one of the nearby terminals and make sure the commands for the Warp Gate were set to the Strip Mine, while Starlight made sure to lock the door to give them a barrier in case the guards came to investigate who was using this place. A few moments later, after both of them were sure that things were ready, they nodded and Jak rushed through the Warp Gate that rested near the other side of the room, which was followed by Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy doing the same thing, though it didn't take all that long for them to reappear in the Strip Mine, a rocky area that had a bunch of machinery, a dark cloudy sky that seemed to be due to smoke from the machines, and there was a section of the mine that happened to have some metallic containers that were transporting whatever was inside them to another part of this area, but even as they took in all of that the siblings also noticed that a small pool of Dark Eco resting nearby, with what appeared to be large thick weeds growing out of it, or at least until Simon informed them that they were looking at some eggs.

While they learned that information Jak stared at the Ottsel brothers for a moment, as he was starting to feel that it was a very strange they would know something like that, regardless of whether or not they studied Metal Heads, as Twilight said that was how Alvin and his brothers knew this information and he was starting to believe that there was more to the three Ottsels than what he had seen so far, but for now he was going to focus on helping out the Underground and gathering a few more weapons from Krew. As they moved forward, however, the siblings discovered a new type of Metal Head, which was becoming more frequent the more they headed out to tackle all of the missions they were given, that was roughly a little taller than their ankles and seemed to resemble scorpions, so called Stingers due to their scorpion-like tail, but what they discovered was that a single attack was enough to take their new foe out, as in a single punch knocked it out and let Twilight pick up another Skull Gem as they followed the path that was behind where they found their foe. One thing they discovered was that the pool of Dark Eco wasn't a pool, as there was a thin river attached to it and it seemed to head over to what was resting behind where the first Stinger had been located, including a small pool off to the left of the Warp Gate that had brought them here, though instead of worrying about either of those areas, since they knew not to touch them, the siblings turned to the left after passing where their first foe had been standing and readied their weapons for the rest of the Metal Heads Torn had told them about. That was when they discovered that, in addition to some conveyor belts to move gear around for the workers and cart off any rubble that needed to be moved out of the way, there were a number of enemies coming right for them as they turned around the corner, a large number of Stingers that burst out of the dirt and rushed at them, a fair number of Grunts that were lumbering towards them, and a second new type of Metal Head, a shocker to Jak and his sisters since they weren't expecting to see a second one so soon, which happened to be a wasp-like Metal Head, meaning they would refer to this type as a Wasp, or Wasps since there were a few flying through the air and placed themselves in their way.

As such Jak, Twilight, and Starlight opened fire on the Metal Heads that were in front of them as they moved forward, with the sisters also throwing bolts of magic out as well when an opening revealed itself, though none of them were surprised by the fact that Dark Cozy surged to life once more and assumed control over Cozy's body once more, where she rushed right at the enemies that were in front of them and started to tear into the Metal Heads, carving her way to the center of their foes, who seemed to be shifting and converging on her location. It was in that moment that Jak discovered what Dark Cozy was up to, as he noticed the darkness that was inside the palm of her right hand, and as soon as he noticed it so did both of his sisters take notice of what was going on, to which all three of them stopped what they were doing and a barrier sprung up around them not a few seconds later, just in time to watch Dark Cozy jump into the air and slam down like Jak had done, releasing a violent wave of dark energy that tore apart the Metal Heads with ease and even temporarily sent a shock through the conveyor belt in the process. The siblings just stood there for a moment, as while they knew that Dark Cozy was strong this was far beyond what they were expecting to witness, because while the Precursor Oracle might have given their sister more control over the Dark Eco that was resting inside her body, which had been the whole point of their visits to it's building, giving her this Dark Bomb attack as well, as Twilight was going to call it, might have nullified what they had gone through earlier and might suggest they needed more of the Oracle's power to keep Dark Cozy in check. There was one downside to this, however, and that was the fact that while Dark Jak expanded most of Jak's Dark Eco supply, and reverted him back to normal after the Dark Bomb was done, but from what they could tell Dark Cozy had only lost a chunk of her power, where Twilight suspected that her attack was a mixture of Dark Eco and magic, a terrifying combination to be sure, and this only made her wonder what could have happened if she or Starlight had been injected with that much Dark Eco, or even a portion of it, before deciding that it was best if she didn't think about it as they collected the mass of Skull Gems and moved forward again.

Of course, even though she decided that, her mind still wandered to the fact that she could absorb Dark Eco, a 'gift' from when Dark Cozy had struck her inside the Fortress, and she suspected that there might be a small pool of it inside her, just waiting for something to happen no doubt, before she shook her head and pushed her thoughts of the darkness to the side for a time, as they needed to focus on what was in front of them and not worry about Dark Eco, even though it was easy to see that Dark Cozy was scanning the area for enemies. With the force of enemies dealt with the siblings followed the conveyor belt over to the gap between dirt piles and found a path that seemed to lead over to one of the structures that should bring them over to the lone building, where Vin had to be holed up based on everything they had seen so far, and it didn't take Starlight all that long to find a conveyor belt that was arranged as a ramp for them to use, or two with a platform between them. That allowed them to stop at the top of the building that was across from the lone structure, even though it gave the four of them a chance to see that there were some odd machines scattered around this place and each of them seemed to be pumping Eco out of the ground, Eco Wells no doubt, before they jumped onto the first container that moved in front of them and used it to reach their destination, something that caused Dark Cozy to vanish and allow Cozy to take over again, even though she staggered for a few seconds and Jak helped her out. At the same time there were a few Wasps that came into the area and tried to fire at them from afar, something that prompted Starlight to fire at them while Twilight blocked the incoming blasts with her magic and collected the fallen Skull Gems as well, though it wasn't long before their ride reached the edge of the platform in front of the lone building, where they found that there were no Metal Heads in this area, save for the Wasps that had been taken down, and that there was a Warp Gate nearby, which was a tad bit interesting as they approached the door and pressed the button on the side.

As the siblings opened the door, however, they caught a glimpse of someone inside the small building before a few blasts came their way and they heard someone shout 'stay back' at them, though to be absolutely sure nothing happened both Twilight and Starlight formed a barrier between them and the man in question, meaning none of the blasts would be able to hurt them, even though it did look like the individual was a bad shot and that none of the attacks got close to them, so the magic was pretty much unless, other than giving them a clear window to look at the man, where they found that he was an elderly Human with gray hair and slightly aged skin, though he wore brown overalls, a white shirt, brown mining boots, and some eyewear to protect his eyes, even if he didn't seem like the type to do manual work.

"Vin, it's Twilight, Torn sent us to get you out of here." Twilight stated, because she was hoping that the man remembered the times they conversed with each other via the messaging system in the Power Station, along with everything else they had done before she found Starlight and eventually discovered what happened to Jak and Cozy, while also banking on the fact that mentioning the second in command of the Underground might snap Vin out of wasting the bullets that were in his weapon, even though he needed a lot of work before the weapon could be used effectively, something he likely had no interest in and was only using it because of the Metal Heads.

"Oh, friendlies? Oh, thank goodness!" Vin said, where he came to a stop and layed on the machines that happened to be in front of him, as in his chest was on them and his head was now on their side of the building, before he took notice of how many people were standing near the opening, and the Ottsels as well, before he considered something as he registered the fact that he knew the name 'Twilight' from his conversations with the messaging system, "Um, where are all the Metal Heads? I know there was a force of them attacking this place."

"Gone, reduced to nothing." Cozy stated, even though she made no mention of the fact that it was her that wiped them all out and secured this area for Haven City in a matter of seconds, as she refused to acknowledge that this aided the Baron and was fine with thinking it was for the citizens of the city, but at the very least that seemed to relieve some of the stress that Vin must have been carrying for some time, given everything that had happened to this place, to which she glanced over at the Warp Gate for a few seconds, "Though we had best get out of here before another force of them attack, as I'm sure that an even greater group of Metal Heads might show up after hearing the prevoius group was wiped out..."

She never got to say the rest of her statement, as that was when Vin rushed out of the room he had been stationed in, and he only paused for a second to close and lock the door, before he dived right through the Warp Gate, heading back to the Power Station, to which the siblings shrugged and followed after him, though upon their return to the chamber they made sure to tell Vin part of Torn's reason for saving him, managing the city's Eco supply, while Twilight made sure to send Torn a notice indicating that they had rescued Vin from the Strip Mine. Torn, in his own way, was happy to hear that Vin was no longer in the range of fire and that they might be able to monitor the city's Eco supplies at long last, to make sure they had more than enough time to take down the Baron and secure the true ruler in his place, though he also informed her that he had no missions for her or her siblings at the moment, meaning anything he had must have been given to the others who were allied with the Underground, which informed them that they would have to head back to the Port and visit the Hip Hog again. Jak nodded his head, as it seemed likely that Krew might have something else for them to do, hence the reason they left Vin to his work, even if he didn't thank them for the timely assist, and used their zoomers to leave the Industrial Section again, allowing them to enjoy a short ride for a few minutes, even though it eventually ended when Jak reached the outside of the Hip Hog, to which he and Twilight landed nearby and everyone climbed off their vehicles so they could head inside and see if Sig had returned. Of course it was easy to spot the man in question, as he was sitting at the bar and might be in the middle of drinking something after all of his hard work, and there were a few more trophies on some of the walls of this large room, those being the heads of the five Crab Heads they had helped him take down earlier, though it seemed like Krew was minding his own business right now, floating above the bar area and rested near the ceiling, like he was in the middle of a conversation with someone else, before he stopped talking to whoever happened to be on the other end and shifted his seat for a second, to glance in their direction.

"I have a proposition for you, Jak." Krew stated, speaking the moment he noticed that the siblings had entered the Hip Hog, while at the same time it was easy to see that Sig seemed a little interested in what he might be sharing, even if he stayed silent for the most part, before he gestured to something for a moment, which happened to be a few racing trophies that were resting above the bar, the prizes of his champions no doubt, "Racing is the biggest sport in Haven City, and Erol just so happens to be the undisputed grand champion.... he's crazy and dangerous on the track, which makes him my kind of  guy. Only a fool would dare race against him, eh! And that's where you come in, Jak, as a client of mine is looking for a fast driver for her racing team and contacted me to find her someone to fit the role, and the first person I thought of was you, as while I might not know what sort of skills you have, in terms of racing, you did a good job getting my shipment to me in a timely manner. Here's a Security Pass to get you into the Stadium Section of the city... uh, and your contract with just a few trifles for me, though I took the liberty of signing your name to save time, hmm."

As Krew handed over four Security Passes, all of them being green, Daxter took the contract and started to read it, even if none of them knew why, even though they found that it was designed to give Krew anything and everything Jak earned while working for the person who contacted him, something that even included the rights to games, something that really shocked Daxter in the process, and that he even got the insurance claims if something happened to Jak while he was on the track, be it accidental or anything else, before he sighed and gave the papers to Twilight as Krew informed them that this was also an interview, that Jak had three minutes to get to the Stadium to be considered for the team, before wishing them luck. Due to that information they took a look at the map and found that to get over to the Stadium Section of the city they would have to get through both the Industrial Section and the Slums, before reaching their destination, though Twilight knew that if they had found a few Security Passes for the Bazaar it would have given Jak a better route and that he wouldn't have to go through the rest of the city, but since there was nothing they could do she, Starlight, and Cozy stayed silent as Jak made a mental map of his route, even though he nodded his head a few seconds later and headed outside, as there happened to be a single seater outside for him to use. Once everyone was ready Jak climbed onto the zoomer and rushed off without delay, as the moment he got on it the timer had started, according to Krew anyway, and Twilight made sure that she and her sisters used their vehicles to follow after their brother as he headed into the Industrial Section, flew through the various twists and turns that were in there, passed through the Slums, and made his way over to the border that rested between the Slums and the Stadium Section of the city, the latter being more modern, like a cross between the Slums and the Industrial Section, complete with a waterway in the middle of the area. What really stunned them was what rested right at the end of Jak's flight, the massive stadium that was in the upper left most corner of the city, where racers and citizens came to enjoy themselves while making sure to leave their worries behind, meaning this was a way to take a whole bunch of pressure off of them, before Jak landed near one of the wings of the structure and his sisters followed him not a few seconds later.

In that moment Twilight realized that Jak had gotten here within two and a half minutes, even if it broke nearly every speed rule in the city and that meant Krew must have arranged for the Krimzon Guard to ignore this specific zoomer for a short period of time when he started to use it, before he headed over to an area that seemed like a vehicle garage, since he had the feeling that they might be meeting the Mechanic that had been mentioned a few times since they started taking this fight to the Baron and his forces.

"Uh, hello? Krew said someone was looking for a new driver for their race team?" Jak inquired, speaking the moment they entered the room, as all of them agreed that the person they were looking for had to be in the vehicle garage, and if she wasn't they had the feeling she might be inside part of the Stadium to check out a vehicle upgrade or fix something that might have broken, though his thoughts were interrupted as he found a curtain and the shadow of a figure that was on the other side, appearing to work on something important and only stopped when she, as it was definitely female solely based on the shape of the body, heard him speak.

"I'm a little busy right now... though you must be Krew's new errand runners." the lady, who had to be the Mechanic, said, though at the same time that was when Jak and his sisters paused for a moment when they heard her voice, as Daxter did the same thing as well and left Alvin, Simon, and Theodore wondering what was going on, because they had been looking for this person for some time and now they knew part of what happened to her, something that brought a smile to all of their faces as they understood what was going on right now.

"You can come out, Keira, it's just us, Daxter, and some new Ottsels." Twilight replied, something that caused the lady on the other side of the curtain to stagger for a moment, especially since their voices were nearly identical, though that was followed by the figure rushing to put some items down and moved towards the curtain, where it was pulled to the side for a moment and revealed Keira, in all her glory, looking the same age as Twilight and the rest of her siblings no less, on the other side of the divider, even though they had no idea what she was working on.

"Twilight... Jak... Cozy... Starlight... Daxter..." Keira said, her tone revealing that she was overjoyed to see them again, even though they didn't need to think about that since she seemed on the verge of tearing up, as they hadn't seen each other for a long time, possibly even longer for her due to the fact that none of them knew how many years she had spent in this city and under the Baron's rule, but that was when she rushed forward and threw herself into Jak's arms, even though the opening between the wing and the garage they were in closed, making sure no one saw what was going on, "You're okay... I was so worried about you guys..."

The group spent the next five minutes calming Keira down, before she broke down on them, and then spent nearly thirty more minutes giving each other a shortened version of their stories, as in what happened since each of them left the Rift Tunnel and ended up in Haven City, even if Jak and Cozy kept most of their stories short since they didn't want to worry or terrify Keira, something that prompted her to inform them that she was stronger than she had been the last time they saw her, which lead her to inform them that she had exited the Rift Tunnel six years ago, which made sense due to their ages now being the same. What happened to her was that she ended up landing in the Scrap Yard, part of the city that was, as she later learned, forbidden to most of the city's residents and it had a whole bunch of parts for her to use, creating a new zoomer from what was scattered around her, which was when they discovered that whoever created the previous version of her vehicle had messed up badly and it had taken her quite a while to fix it, even though the codes that were on it had been from a broken Krimzon Guard vehicle, one that allowed her to enter the city and into the Baron's net. From there she could have been thrown in the Fortress for her 'crimes', but the effectiveness of her new and improved zoomer caught the eyes of those around the Baron and prompted him to offer her current position, as the 'Mechanic' as everyone seemed to call her, even though she felt that it made her more like a member of the Underground or something, despite the fact that she had more information on the Baron than anyone else in the city, and that included Krew and the other key leaders she had discovered. Of course she could have chosen to refuse the Baron's offer, but she felt that staying in the shadows and doing all she could to find the siblings was more important than staying in prison for who knew how long, hence why she spent so many years searching for them with all her new connections, but despite all that none of them showed up on her radar, something that Twilight knew was due to Vin, for some odd reason, tampering with the video evidence and hiding all of them from both the Baron and the Krimzon Guards, though Keira wasn't about to complain at this point, since now they had been reunited at last, leaving just her father as the last one that was missing.

In addition to all of that Keira also mentioned that, in addition to making all of the vehicles that were scattered throughout Haven City, hence why Twilight thought they were hers in the first place, she was also in the middle of making a prototype JET-Board on the Baron's orders, something that was supposed to aid them in their jobs, but despite everything he had her doing she hadn't had a chance to actually test it out, something that prompted Jak to offer his services, since he seemed to be her vehicle tester back when they were in Sandover Village and this was a repeat of the past. Keira was overjoyed to hear that statement and unsealed the door not a few seconds later, allowing them to follow her over to the other side of the stadium and discovered that it was definitely a massive structure with a large open area for racing and testing, hence why she remained in this place and had enough room for all five of them to sleep in peace, an offering none of them were going to refuse at this point in time, before she lead them down a ramp and revealed the item in question to Jak and his sisters. The JET-Board was an oval shaped device made of metal and the new technology that had been developed since they left Sandover Village, with two fins on the back and a bumper resting on the front, and it also possessed the ability to expand when in use and shrink when the user wanted to carry it on their back, to which Jak smiled as he activated it and used it to move across the floor, performing a few turns before finding that he was able to actually do flips and spins while he was in the air, as per Keira's instructions, before she opened the way to the training course she had built for this, all to see what sort of problems the board had and what improvements could be made. While they watched Jak test out the new item, which might become important in the future, Cozy asked Keira a few things before anything else happened, like how one was supposed to get into the Palace, which happened to be the seat of power for the ruler of Haven City, and where Baron Praxis happened to be located when he wasn't in the Fortress or enjoying the races of the city, which was followed by Keira revealing that there was an old maintenance elevator at the base of one of the Palace support towers, and that it would need to be powered for someone to use it.

Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy glanced at each other as they heard that, as it appeared that rescuing Vin had a side effect that none of them had considered, he was just the person that would be able to do what Keira had just said and Twilight made sure to learn which tower was the one Keira was talking about, before they focused on what Jak was doing and breaking for the night so they could enjoy their time with their friend, as when tomorrow came they knew that it would be back to helping the Underground and Krew out in their schemes, before eventually heading up to the Palace to spy on the Baron and see if they could get anything that might help them out in the future.
> Renegade: Underground Work
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jak, Twilight, Cozy, Starlight, Daxter, and the Ottsel brothers spent the night in Keira's place, since she stayed in the garage she worked in, due to it having a resting place for a pit crew installed and she used it all on her own to make sure no one saw what she was working on, but when morning arrived, which they discovered due to the time that Keira got up at, the siblings were able to leave the stadium before the rest of the civilians or the guards were up, even though she made sure to see them off and that they had some of the more decent food to share with themselves on their way to either Krew or the Underground's hideout. Of course Keira made sure their Communicator was outfitted to inform them when she was calling, or when she set something up for them to aid whatever she was working on, as she was definitely against what the Baron was doing and wanted to bring him down, or at least figure out how to return him to what he used to be, since this version of him was night and day from the older version, and she was sure that his medical records, which she was still working to get since they were carefully hidden and even Krew couldn't get them, would hold the key to that. At the same time the siblings made sure to tell Keira that none of them would tell anyone who she was and that they knew her, that all they had done was spend the night helping her with her vehicles, something she could confirm with logs and, to their total surprise, altered video feed, either created by her or by Vin, since they seemed to be friends in some manner and talked every now and then, but until she revealed her secret none of them would say a word to anyone else. As such they made sure to have something to eat while they carefully headed back to the Slums, since none of them wanted the guards to see what they were doing or discover the area that the Underground hideout was resting in, but based on what all of them could see the guards were either sleeping or were in the middle of changing the night guards for the day guards, which did give them a window of opportunity that none of them were willing to miss at this point.

Thanks to that fact Jak and Starlight were able to get them back to the location of the Underground hideout and as soon as they came to a stop a barrier sprung up behind the zoomers, mostly in the chance that someone had noticed something happen in the last couple of seconds, even though Twilight dispelled it not a few moments later and followed her siblings into the hideout, where they found Torn pacing around the chamber once more, even though all of them were sure he had gotten little sleep or he was irritated by something as he turned and looked at them.

"Good, you guys are back... took you longer than expected." Torn commented, referring to the fact that he expected them to return to the hideout after doing whatever Krew wanted them to do, as he had been thinking it was a simple mission or something like that, instead of being gone for the rest of the afternoon and the entire night, which meant he hoped they had a good excuse for being missing for the last couple of hours, especially since Keira had turned off their Communicator so she could do her changes to it.

"Yeah, well, the Mechanic had a lot of work for us to do so we could be considered for her racing team... or rather, for Jak to be considered for the position," Twilight replied, as that was basically the truth of the matter, they worked with Keira to make sure her vehicles were just fine and up to her standards before even daring to present one to the Baron, but it also told Torn next to nothing about what actually happened while they were in the stadium, before she shrugged as Jak and the others faced the man that was in front of them, "nothing important happened, plus Krew wanted someone to fill the open position in her racing team, hence why he signed Jak up and made sure all profits went to himself, so even if Jak won something he wouldn't get any of it... that's what took us so long to get back."

"Well, while you guys were doing that, some things have changed," Torn remarked, which made sense to the siblings when they heard it, since it was a brand new day and the Baron had taken the time to reflect on everything that had happened in the last few days, before he focused on the map once more as the siblings wondered what was going through his mind right now, especially given his earlier expression, "The Baron has sent one of my old guard comrades out to the Pumping Station and we opened a secret line so the two of us can talk in private... but there's been no word from her, since she was the only one sent out on the patrol, and after what you guys ran into out there, based on Twilight's report of your mission with Sig, I'm afraid she may need some help."

"Did you say 'she'?" Daxter inquired, because now it sounded like Torn had a crush on someone and was worried that all of the Metal Heads that were out in the Pumping Station might have done her in, which would crush him and, at the same time, demoralize the Underground once someone learned that their second in command was heartbroken or something, even though he smiled for a moment, as while some might like the fact that Torn had more emotion than what they had been originally thinking, he was more interested in who Torn's crush was.

"Don't even think about it, Daxter." Alvin stated, as he and his brothers had gotten used to Daxter's remarks and various comments since they grouped up with Twilight and Starlight, especially when it came to the opposite gender since they had seen his few glances at the lady who had been with Torn when they first joined the Underground, and knew that him hearing this must have interested him to some degree, hence why he and his brothers were stopping him before he did anything that pissed off Torn.

"Listen, this friend of mine has helped the Underground many times in the past, even if she might not totally be on board with our decisions at times, and I haven't had the chance to repay her." Torn stated, something that drew the attention of everyone once more, as they knew he was serious and this was likely someone that the Baron could use to bring down the Underground, if he managed to figure out what was going on between her and Torn, even though they focused on what else he had to tell them, "So I want you four to go back to the Pumping Station and take a look around, see if you can find her patrol vehicle or any Metal Heads that need to be taken out... also, if she's in danger, I expect you to assist her and see what sort of mission the Baron assigned her, as it might give us an idea on how to get ahead of him."

Jak, Twilight, Cozy, Starlight, and the Ottsels nodded their heads for a few seconds, to show Torn that they understood his orders, before they turned around and headed back up the stairs so they could return to the Slums, which was when they used their zoomers and departed from where the hideout was located, allowing the door to close and hide the secret that the Baron and his underlings hadn't discovered yet, something they were planning on keeping that way for as long as they could, since they knew that the moment the Baron figured out where the hideout was located he would send an army to wipe out the Underground. From there Jak headed over to the Door Lock for the Pumping Station and his sisters followed him, even if one rode with him, though since there wasn't a lot of traffic this morning they were also to reach the Water Slums and come to a stop outside the section of the wall that was their destination, to which they braced themselves for a few moments as they opened the Door Lock, since none of them had any idea what might be lurking in this area or if they would find that Torn's friend had been killed by the Metal Heads. Once they were on the other side of the Door Lock, and starting to walk around the start of the Pumping Station, the siblings found that there happened to be nothing waiting for them this time around, as Twilight noticed that there were no Glubs, Znorkles, or even Metal Heads, meaning they were either sleeping or hadn't returned after Sig's run through this area, but despite that fact all of them kept their weapons at the ready, just in case some enemies came at them from a hidden area or something. At first it seemed like nothing had changed in this area, based on everything they could see at the moment, but as they headed over to the area that Sig had found the fifth Crab Head in, however, Jak and his sisters noticed that there were some trees on the highest point of this section that looked like they might have been cracked recently, as in after they had been here with Sig, and there were a few pistons moving now, over in the area that lead right to where the valve that controlled this place was located, which made them wonder what in the world was going on in this place.

It took them a few minutes to reach the new pistons, as all they had to do was climb down the path that was nearby and then climb up the set of pistons Sig had used to reach the river that he had passed by earlier, before finding that they just so happened to bring them up to where the trees had been located, even though there were a number of ammunition crates that contained enough red and yellow cartridges to restock all of their weapons, which was when they climbed up to the highest point and found a Krimzon Guard vehicle, the larger one, resting near the edge of the area, though there were no guards around it. 

"Who the hell are you people?" a voice asked, which was when Twilight watched as the female Krimzon Guard officer she had seen in the past, with Errol no less, drop down behind them as they took a moment to investigate the zoomer, which wasn't damaged based on what she could see, though it appeared that she landed behind Jak and was ready to blast him in the head, despite the fact that one of her arms was wrapped around his neck at the moment, meaning she was ready for anything and everything.

"Easy, we don't want any trouble... Torn asked us to help you." Cozy stated, though as she said that her senses were aware of a number of enemies that were in the area, where she had no idea, and right now it was a tossup between them being ambushed or her letting her Dark Form out to play before they were attacked, while her sisters remained at the ready as well, since they knew Torn suspected that there were Metal Heads out here and they hadn't seen a single one since they had come to the Pumping Station.

"I don't need any help, regardless of what Torn says," the lady stated, but even as she said that she took a moment to look at the cracked trees that were across from where she had parked her Krimzon Guard zoomer, which was followed by Cozy, Twilight, and Starlight hearing something as they did the same thing, causing all of them to turn their attention to the trees for a few seconds as they noticed a number of Crab Heads and Juice Goons emerging from their hiding places and starting to march on the area everyone was standing in, hence why the lady let go of Jak and pointed her small gun at the group of enemies coming their way, "But it looks like you guys might need some help."

Before their enemies reached them Twilight made a quick count of what was coming their way, counting thirty, maybe up to forty, Metal Heads emerging from where they had been hiding, way more than Dark Cozy was used to fighting, even if one were to count her and the rest of their siblings, especially with a newcomer who was going to be totally surprised by what was going to happen once their foes started to attack them, before she smiled for a moment as she weaved some of her magic through the air and quickly summoned a barrier around the lady, trapping her inside it while also adding a little extra to the mix. Since this battle was going to have some surprises, especially for her siblings, she didn't want a stranger to see what was going on, so the extra bit of the spell was designed to make the lady see the four of them take down the Metal Heads with punches, kicks, and intense weapon action, something she would make sure to tell her siblings as soon as everything was over, while also obscuring the lady's vision to make sure none of their surprises were revealed to her, even if she heard the lady banging on the barrier as the Metal Heads came at them. In the following moment she nodded to Alvin and his brothers, who replied in kind and jumped off the shoulders of those they had been riding on since their departure from the Fortress, which caused Jak, Starlight, and Dark Cozy to pause for a few seconds as a dark mist started to emit from Alvin, Simon, and Theodore, something that stalled the Metal Heads in their tracks for a few seconds, as this had to be something they weren't expecting to discover, leaving her siblings to take a step back as the three Ottsels walked out between them and their enemies. Eventually the dark mist covered all three of them and shrouded them from sight for a time, even though it was followed by the sound of some bones reshaping and the mist growing larger until it was at the height Alvin had been when Twilight first found him, back in the forest, where she kept the smile on her face as Alvin and his brothers, in their glorious dragon forms, emerged from the mist and roared at the Metal Heads, who staggered backwards for a moment, before they rushed forward and started to tear apart their foes, along with frying them with a burst of their fire breath.

Jak, Daxter, Starlight, and both versions of Cozy, since Twilight was sure her sister and her Dark Form were sharing their sight right now, just stood there with a look of shock on their faces as they watched what was going on, shifting over to her for a few seconds as they revealed that they were surprised by the secret she had been keeping from them all, but for the most part she kept her eyes on the battle that was coming to an end in front of her, as the dragon brothers were tearing and burning down all of their enemies, while making sure not to torch the area, and it only took a few moments for them to take down the Metal Heads, to which they returned to their disguises and let Twilight lower her barrier a few seconds later, all leading to a very confused Krimzon Guard lady.

"What in the world was that?" the lady asked, no doubt referring to what she had seen, if Twilight's illusion spell had gone what it was supposed to do while she was trapped inside the barrier, while at the same time she glanced between the four of them, their Ottsels that were walking away from the piles of Metal Heads, and all of the defeated Metal Heads that were in front of her, something that she would have to come to terms with at some other time, even though she didn't look at all impressed by what had happened, no doubt due to wanting to fight the enemy force herself.

"Jak, Twilight, Cozy, and Starlight beat the Metal Heads for you!" Theodore stated, as he figured that Twilight had made it seem like they had done the deed and that there were no odd Metal Heads, him and his brothers, who did the deed, while at the same time the named individuals followed Twilight's lead on the matter, though while might be concerned about a lie being told they were still in the presence of Dark Cozy, so that could be explained as the reason that none of them were all that exhausted right now.

"Whatever... I don't have time for this anyway." the lady said, where she returned her weapon to it's holder and returned to her zoomer for a few seconds, though while someone would have expecting Daxter to try and make a move on her, a bad call if ever there was one since she was a member of the Krimzon Guard, the Ottsel in question remained silent, due to the fact that he and the others had learned something very important, before the lady turned around as she started up her vehicle and it started to lift off the ground, "Also, be sure to tell Torn that Baron Praxis is planning something big... and I think it has to do with that symbol."

"What is it?" Starlight asked, referring to the carved yin yang symbol that was resting in a stone that the lady had parked her vehicle near, or maybe it was an infinity sign of some kind, though even as she said that both she and Twilight took a moment to think about it, as they were both sure that they had seen it somewhere in the past, or at least read about it in some article or book, especially since they had spent three years learning about the city and the history they had missed out on since they left Sandover Village.

"It's the seal of the House of Mar, the founder of Haven City." the lady replied, almost like she wasn't concerned by what they had said, as if she was used to people having no idea what she was talking about, though that gave them some good information to share with Torn, that the Baron had to be looking for artifacts from the time period of Mar, since houses were normally named after those who founded them, in some manner anyway, before she shook her head as she took a seat in her vehicle and tossed something to Jak, "We're being sent out on suicide missions to locate artifacts from the time of his rule, since most of the areas we're being sent to are infested with Metal Heads. If curiosity's worth dying for, you can ask the blind old soothsayer in the Bazaar named Onin, as she might know something about all this, or at least I think she might have a clue... either way, here's my Bazaar access Security Pass."

"Your name's Ashelin, huh?" Jak commented, as that was the name that was on the Security Pass, which was a surprise to him since he wasn't expecting her to just give them another item like this, something that would allow them to access the rest of the city and would have made Krew's race trial all that much easier since he would have been able to cut through most of Haven City to reach the stadium, but this gave him and his siblings some information that they weren't expecting to discover while they took on this mission.

"We're even now." Ashelin stated, meaning that while she didn't need their help, as she told them, she also didn't want to be in the debt of those who were sent to aid her in some manner, even if Torn had asked Jak and his sisters to check out this area in the first place, but before anyone could say anything else Ashelin gripped the controls of her vehicle not even a few seconds later and departed from the Pumping Station without delay, leaving the siblings to whatever it was that they were going to do next.

Twilight waited for a few moments, to be sure that Ashelin was gone and that she wasn't going to come back to claim the seal that was near them, before she nodded and let Alvin, Simon, and Theodore revert back to their true forms, which was when they walked over to the pile of Metal Heads and started to devour them, as she had learned that, while they were in the middle of fleeing the Leader's Hive, the brothers ate any Metal Heads they killed, both to prevent one from following a path and to recover their energy, and this was a feast for them.

"So... Metal Heads that can turn into dragons and Ottsels..." Cozy commented, though she really wasn't sure what to make of this situation, despite the fact that her Dark Form was itching for a fight with the brothers now, given that they just so happened to be the one type of creature that cased her to instantly transform into her Dark Form and lash out at them at the same time, but for now she was able to hold it back for the time being, before she glanced over to Twilight for a few seconds as they took in the fact that she had known about this since she met the brothers, "When were you going to tell us about them and their secret?"

"When the time was right, and this seemed to be the best moment to do so," Twilight replied, even though she knew that her siblings had to feel somewhat betrayed by her hiding this information from them, but Jak seemed to understand why she had done it, as it wasn't her secret to talk about and there was no reason for her to tell them about it, before Twilight glanced back at the city for a moment as she stared at the Eco Dome, as she knew one thing that she could tell Cozy and their siblings, "we were looking for the best time for Alvin and his brothers to tell you this information, but since we were spending a good amount of time inside the city, and under the Eco Dome that protects it, they couldn't transform at all, as the barrier essentially trapped them in their Ottsel forms and they can only access their true forms outside the dome, but since I don't trust Ashelin, not yet anyway, I made sure that the barrier I used let her see nothing, so she won't be telling the Baron what happened here."

Jak nodded his head as they listened to what Twilight had to say, as it made sense to him, before determining that none of them would say anything to Torn as well, not until they were sure that the second in command of the Underground would keep a fresh mind and see the Ottsel brothers as allies, instead of potential enemies, before they found that Alvin and his brothers had finished off every Metal Head body and Twilight had made sure to claim the Skull Gems for later, but once that was done they returned to their disguises and rested on the shoulders that they usually rode on. Once that was done, and they were absolutely sure that they weren't leaving anything behind, especially since Twilight pried the seal out of the stone with her magic and tucked it away for later, they returned to the Door Lock and entered Haven City once more, to which Jak checked to see if either Torn or Krew had something that needed to be done, while at the same time Twilight made sure to tell Torn they had assisted Ashelin and that he had been right to worry since there had been a large force of Metal Heads in the area. That was when they discovered something interesting, Krew hired someone new for the Hip Hog, to pull in new customers in a different way than just showing off Metal Head trophies, so since Torn was still trying to see what was going on with the city and the Baron's forces, to determine what sort of mission to give the siblings, Jak started to head back to the Port so they could see what was going on, as it almost seemed like Torn might have sent their fellow Underground member to Krew, or something like that. Twilight suspected that, due to how long it took them to get back to Torn with the information they found, he might be sending Tess over to the Hip Hog as a new employee to quickly inform him of anything they might discover while working with Krew, or at least that was her thoughts on the matter, but instead of pitching the idea to her siblings she decided to keep it to herself and see if she was right or wrong, hence the reason she was focused on Jak maneuvering through the traffic as they headed to the Port, all while avoiding the Krimzon Guards at the same time.

It took them some time to reach the Port, which was understandable since it was on the other side of the city, from where the Pumping Station rested anyway, though it took Jak no time to return to their destination and park outside the Hip Hog, something that Starlight followed before all four of them and their Ottsels climbed out of their vehicles, though when they entered the building Twilight found Tess working behind the bar, cleaning it and preparing many of the bottles for when some customers came to have a drink or relax, if any showed up anyway, since it seemed like this place was dead most of the time and they hadn't seen a single customer so far.

"Hey sugarplum, you new here? Well whatcha got that's uh, hot and..." Daxter started to say, though that was when he and the rest of the group, namely Jak, Starlight, and Cozy, realized who was standing on the other side of the counter, staring at all of them with a smile on her face like she had never met them before, where it was a good thing that Krew wasn't in the area at the moment, as if he overheard them he was going to go crazy or something, "Wait, we've seen you before...  you're with the Underground, the girl that was with Torn!"

"My name is Tess, and Torn sent me to spy on Krew." Tess replied, taking a moment to put her fingers against the front of Daxter's mouth for a few seconds, like she was shushing him and making sure he didn't say anything else, even though it did look a lot like Daxter was staring somewhere else at the moment and he might not be paying too much attention to what the lady was saying, but Twilight had the feeling he might have found someone to impress, which was never a good thing when she recalled what happened in Sandover Village all those years ago, "Play along, and I may be able to get my hands on a few of Krew's secrets."

Daxter, in that moment, declared that he loved undercover work, which was news to the siblings since he didn't like to do any of the work, for the most part anyway, but before anyone could say anything he declared that two agents were better than one and leapt behind the counter that was between them and Tess, where he made a mental note of the fact that he found a lot of bottles and that each of them seemed to be interesting, one he felt might have real gold floating inside the liquid and one having some odd purple stuff, though he didn't seem to be drinking anything at the moment, since he had no desire to piss of Krew, who floated down to where they were standing and found that Tess had gone back to cleaning the counter after Daxter joined her.

"Ah, Jak, there you are. I need you and the talking rat to go around and make a few collections for me." Krew stated, even if part of his statement made the siblings think that the obese man was of the opinion that they should be working for him all the time and that they should be inside the Hip Hog, just like Sig was whenever he wasn't on a mission, who was absent right now, though in that moment Jak turned around and nodded his head, mostly because he was interested in what sort of items they would be collecting and this gave Tess something to report to Torn later, "Listen, I have six clients around the Port and the Industrial Section, clients that are about to make money drops for me, payments for this and that, but none of you have to worry about that. I need you to collect each of the fourteen money bags as fast as you can and take care of any guards who get curious, hmm? Get to a money bag too late, and some townie might pick it up, which will make things more difficult for everyone in the future... so get them and we have any problems."

Jak wasted no time in heading outside and, once more, found that Krew had prepared a single seater zoomer for the job he wanted one of the siblings to do, though this time around Twilight and Starlight joined him as Cozy headed out to part of the Port, as she had a plan to draw the Krimzon Guard to her, something that was followed by Jak leaving the Hip Hog as he flew out to locate the money bags Krew wanted him to find and recover, while at the same time his sisters found a single seater zoomer so they could catch up with him. The reason for that was so that either of them could lash out with their magic and use a bit of magic to knock their foes out of the way, provided some of the Krimzon Guards came at them since they figured out what Cozy was doing, as their remaining sister found the part of the Port where the majority of the guards were located and shifted into her Dark Form to start beating them up, this time apparently holding back and giving her foes an excuse to call in additional forces, removing enemies from Jak's path. They found the first money bag, a white sack with a brown rope near the top and had to be containing whatever the money system of Haven City was inside it, in the middle of the street and appeared to be heading right in the direction of the Industrial Section, just like Krew had said, and there were a few guards coming at them, with the vast majority heading over to Cozy's location based on what they were seeing at the moment, though Twilight stunned one with a small paralysis spell and Starlight made the other pause for a few seconds and turn his head in confusion, as it was a spell to confuse someone and it worked quite well. Of course she only held the confusion spell for a few seconds at most, to give them time to get by him and his partner before they heard a splash, figuring that he fell into the water that rested throughout most of the Port, before Jak focused on collecting the next money bag, as the first had been near the Gun Course and the second was near the border between this section and the Industrial Section, though as they headed into the section that was in front of them Daxter, in an odd twist, pulled out Jak's Blaster and opened fire on a Krimzon Guard vehicle that happened to be coming right towards Jak, doing enough damage to knock it to the side without exploding.

From there he did his best to help Jak and his sisters out as they headed through the Industrial Section, blasting the couple of guards that happened to be in their way and tried to stop Jak from claiming every money bag that had been dropped in the spots Krew's clients had put them in, before eventually reaching the other end of this part of the city and found that they would have to turn a corner so they could head back to the Hip Hog, even though it didn't take them long to get back over to the border between this section and the port, giving Jak enough time to retrieve the rest of the money bags and then stop outside the Hip Hog.

"You are quite the collector, Jak... I might have a use for your skills in the future, eh." Krew said, though at the same time he eyes the couple of money bags with greed in his eyes, to which he reached into a bag or something that was on his chair and tossed a few items towards Jak, who caught them and tossed over the bags that contained his payments, even though he noticed that what he had been given were weapon mods and that there were four of them in total, one for him and his sisters, before the obese man smiled for a moment, "That's a gun upgrade, one that will increase the rate of fire of your Scatter Gun and might save your lives in the future... now get going, I need my beauty sleep."

Jak said nothing as he rejoined his sisters and headed outside, where Twilight and Starlight weaved their magic for a few moments and he watched as Cozy seemed to vanish before his eyes a few seconds later, with a false version of his sister appearing elsewhere and caused the guards to case after it, even though he knew that it would disappear in due time as the real Cozy reappeared near them, before they headed over to the Gun Course to see what sort of damage they could do with these rate of fire clips, all while waiting to see what sort of mission might come their way next.
> Renegade: Power Station Problems
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jak, Twilight, Cozy, and Starlight found that the Scatter Gun, now that they were equipped with the rate of fire upgrade that Krew had rewarded them with for Jak completing his money gathering mission, did fire at a quicker pace this time around and that such a thing aided them when they ran through the course that was designed to test whoever was using this gun against the Metal Heads, even though it did make Twilight wonder if there were any other mods that could be added to all of their weapons, be they new types of weaponry, like a Blue Eco mod for example, or an upgrade like the one Krew gave them earlier. The reason she felt there might be such a mod for the Morph Gun was due to the fact that Green Eco was being used as healing devices for them, the Underground, and the Krimzon Guard, while it was clear no one had access to Light Eco at this point, in fact it was still considered a myth despite whatever Gol and Maia wrote in their journals, which she wanted once this was all over so they didn't remain in the Baron's hands, so that left Blue Eco as the last one that the designer of the weapon hadn't touched yet. Of course she also couldn't devote much time to her own thoughts since Cozy, Starlight, Jak, and even Daxter were interested in learning more about the Ottsel brothers, or more like Metal Heads since they knew the secret that they carried, though all she knew was that Alvin, Simon, and Theodore had fled the Hive three years ago and Alvin was the one that found her, while the other two had separated from him to shake of their pursuers, as the Leader wanted them dead for betraying him like that, but after seeing the Baron in action the brothers had decided not to bother approaching him with the information they had, which was void at this point since too much time had gone by and their knowledge was old. Alvin informed them that the moment they weren't under threat from the Leader or the Baron, like they currently were at the moment, he and his brothers would be more than willing to share what they knew with Jak and his siblings, especially since there might be more things for them to learn at some point, as the group fought the Metal Heads, and they were interested in seeing what the future might have for all of them, which was enough for Twilight at the moment.

While they were doing that, however, their Communicator came out and silenced them for a few seconds, which was when Jak and his sisters discovered the caller was Torn and that he wanted them to head over to the Power Station to speak with Vin about something, because he had gotten a call from the man and it sounded like he was in trouble, or had found out where the Metal Heads were heading next, to which they accepted the mission, restocked their weapons one last time, and then headed out so they could reach the Power Station... though upon their arrival they found Vin working on one of the terminals and only glanced their way when he heard the door open, before returning to what he had been doing for who knew how long.

"Hey, I wanted to thank you guys for saving my butt out there at the Strip Mine, especially with all the nasty Metal Heads that invaded the area." Vin commented, though based on what Twilight could see he was focused on making sure the Eco levels of the city were just fine and that nothing was out of order, levels that seemed nominal and steady, even though any of them could dip below that level due to the fact that the Baron was trading Eco with the Metal Heads, even though it was unlikely that Vin knew about such a thing.

"And, even though Twilight blocked your attacks with a barrier, we'd like to thank you for being such a bad shot with that gun you had." Alvin replied, where he knew that, even if Twilight or Starlight hadn't stepped in to block the shots with their magic, they would have been able to avoid the attacks with no problems and would have allowed them to get to the man with ease, while at the same time his brothers nodded their heads for a moment to show that they agreed with what he had just said, while Jak and the others remained silent for now.

"Ah, yeah, sorry about that... I'm a bit jumpy these days, what with the Metal Heads and everything." Vin stated, which the group understood the moment he said that, as if they hadn't been trained to fight their enemies and navigate the various locations of the city, thanks to their training in Sandover Village, they would likely be similar to Vin or the rest of the people who lived inside the Eco Dome, even though Vin decided to turn towards them at that moment and used one hand to do the work he had been doing up until this point, showing his skills to them.

"Jumpy? We hadn't noticed!" Daxter said, referring to the fact that Vin had just fired at them without hearing what any of them had to say, though at the same time he noticed that Alvin and his brothers had climbed off of Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy's shoulders and were now looking at the area on the other side of where Vin was standing, to which he came up with a good idea on how to freak Vin out while not revealing anything to the man in question, to which he let out a fake scream as he pointed at the brothers, "Ah, there's a Metal Head behind you!"

It was in that moment that Vin panicked as he glanced behind him, even though he also shook for a few seconds as that happened, especially since he rested with his back against the terminal that he had been working on before their arrival, but it only took him a few moments to realize that Daxter had been pulling his leg, even if it was followed by him falling to the ground after that happened, while the siblings did their best not to make any sudden movements since Vin might be angry with them for not stopping Daxter, even if the Ottsel brothers didn't seem all that annoyed by what he had done by pointing in their direction. 

"Just kidding... nice reaction time though." Daxter commented, as he wasn't expecting Vin to react that fast to his action, even if he had acted fast when the siblings came to rescue him from the Metal Heads, though he could see an annoyed look appear on Vin's face as he said that, meaning he likely didn't approve of what was going on and that this was just a waste of time, even though the group was waiting for him to get to the reason that he had called on Torn to send some aid to his location, since he seemed just fine.

"That's not funny!" Vin stated, confirming their thoughts on the manner, that he didn't approve of Daxter's actions or the fact that Jak and his sisters hid a bit of laughter at his expense, though in the following moment he got up and returned to the terminal he had been working on before their arrival and focused on why he had asked Torn to call someone to the Power Station, since he knew that these guys were skilled after what happened at the Strip Mine, which caused Jak and his sisters to pay attention to what he had to say next, "Those Metal Heads have been attacking our mining operations for a while now and we're starting to run out of Eco! I don't know if you know this or not, but Eco power keeps the city Shield Walls up, and if the shield drops... well, we can all kiss our butts goodbye!"

"We've got a few surprises for those Metal Heads." Jak commented, referring to both his and Cozy's Dark Forms, as well as the magical powers that Twilight and Starlight had access to, which seemed stronger than what he had seen during their first adventure three hundred years ago, and that wasn't counting the new addition to their arsenal, the true forms of the Ottsel brothers to be exact, which they would keep secret until it was time to reveal it to their enemies and allies, which would no doubt shock everyone else in the process.

"You guys have got to keep the Shield Walls up until the Shadow figures out what to do." Vin replied, informing them that he did believe in the Shadow and his methods, even if he worked for the Baron, meaning he was a full member of their faction and explained a few things to the siblings as they stood there, before he focused on something that happened to be on the screen he was looking at, as if he was trying to draw them over to where he was standing, or something to that effect anyway, "My readings show that there is a drop in Eco flow at the Drill Platform... probably some Metal Head eggs sucking away power. So, to help you guys out, I switched the end point of this Warp Gate, as it will allow you to go to the Drill Platform and investigate the problem, so you can destroy any and all Metal Head eggs you might find."

Jak nodded his understanding before he and his sisters, with their Ottsels in tow, walked over to the Warp Gate and moved through it once more, this time heading over to the Drill Platform and not the Strip Mine, though when they appeared on the other side of the device the four of them found that there were in a massive mechanical area that was built on top of a massive drill, even though no one had any idea why this place even existed in the first place, despite the fact that it looked like the Baron might be drilling for some deep Eco deposits to fuel the city and his deal. As they headed down the nearby ramp, which seemed to be heading for a couple of platforms that had an armored turret on top of it, that was when they discovered a new type of Metal Head, one that was as tall as the Stinger type they had seen in the Strip Mine, though these small Metal Heads seemed to be spinners and had blades that allowed them to deal damage to whoever happened to be around them, but a single Scatter Gun blast, as the siblings discovered, was more than enough to take these ones out, so they were another easy target to take care of. Theodore informed them that these were Spinners, or 'Roto Blades' as he and his brothers had heard some of the Krimzon Guards call this type of Metal Head, and there happened to be about ten more Spinners guarding the platforms that the turret was resting on, so all the siblings had to do was blast them with their weapons and knocked them all out, allowing Twilight to gather their Skull Gems as Jak quickly made his way up to where the turret rested, though he didn't get into it as he waited for Twilight and the others to catch up. Once everyone was back together Jak climbed into the turret and started to turn it so he could pinpoint the exact areas that the Metal Head eggs were resting in, leaving Twilight, Cozy, and Starlight to defend the area and make sure no enemies got in the way, where Cozy had to admit that it was weird for the Ottsel brothers to even assist them with this, since they were allowing them to kill unborn Metal Heads, but none of them were worried about that and figured that since none of them were allied with the Hive anymore it wasn't something for the three of them to worry about.

Sure enough they found that a number of flying Metal Heads, grunt sized ones to be exact who had what appeared to be jet packs of some kind on their backs, allowing them to move through the air and fire upon their foes, where Simon quickly told them that these were Strafers, given what this type were capable of, though that didn't stop them from firing on the incoming force of enemies, which had to be hatchery guards or something similar to that role, as Jak fired blasts through the air and targeted the egg clusters, where one was on part of the platform near the Warp Gate, two were on separate parts of a building that was in front of them, another was on a machine to their left, and the last was on a wall to the left as well, all of which were easy for him to hit.

After a few minutes Twilight and her sisters lowered their guns as they noticed that there were no more enemies for them to worry about, as they had blasted them with bullets and small magical blasts, while at the same time Jak blew up every Metal Head egg that happened to be in this area, one section of them breaking a hole in part of the building that was right in front of them, meaning it gave them a chance to reach the next part of the Drill Platform and continue their assault on the enemies that were in this place. With Jak being done with the turret, and he was sure that there were no more eggs in this area, he climbed out and they returned to the square shaped lift that rested in the middle of the platform, which had allowed them to get up here in the first place, before standing still as it lowered for a few seconds and returned them to the first platform they had reached, even though it continued to the very bottom of the set and allowed them to move out once more, where Jak and his sisters headed for the hole he had created so they could see what the next area looked like and if there were any additional enemies for them to worry about. During that short walk they found a diagonal conveyor belt that allowed the four of them to reach Jak's hole in the wall, where they found a Human-sized bipedal Metal Head that carried an energy shield on it's left arm, one that could be summoned and dismissed whenever it wanted, and it also had it's own blaster attached to the other arm, meaning it could fight and defend itself, though as Alvin identified it as one of the Centurion Metal Heads, who were stronger than the Grunts, but that didn't stop Dark Cozy from rushing forward not a few seconds later and punched at her foe, causing it to raise the shield for a moment. What was interesting was that the energy shield shuddered for a moment or two, showing that it was pretty strong and would negate their gun blasts if one of them fired at it, but before the Centurion could raise it's gun Dark Cozy spun around and kicked at the shield with the side of her left leg, sending her opponent right into the wall behind it and smashed it through the material, which Twilight knew was made out of metal, confirming the fact that her strength had not waned at all and that she was just as deadly as she had been when they first found her.

Of course on the other side of the new hole Jak, Twilight, and Starlight found a number of Spinners, likely between twenty to thirty of this type of Metal Head based on what they were seeing, to which they separated from each other and opened fire on them, blasting the enemies that were in the area, which appeared to be a fuel area for the entire Drill Platform due to the number of Eco barrels that were resting around them, while Dark Cozy went to town on her foe, beating the more powerful Centurion into the ground and smashing the shield apart whenever it was used, before she tore the shield arm off and then ripped out it's Skull Gem, killing it in seconds.

Such a thing only confirmed how dangerous Dark Cozy was, that she was capable of wiping out her foes with ease, due to what she had just done, and Twilight was glad that her sister's Dark Form had the ability now to see who was friendly and who was a foe, given what happened to her back in the Fortress, but right now she wasn't rampaging and seemed to focus on a single opponent at any given moment, to which she stopped beside her siblings as Starlight pointed out the path that would allow them to continue forward. Of course the path in question happened to involve climbing up some Eco barrels and walking over a few of the burners that were over on the left side of this place, which would bring them to a platform with a switch of some kind, to which they started climbing and only stopped when a burst of fire erupted from the various burners that they had to traverse to reach the end, though at the end of the second one they found the switch and struck it the moment one of them reached where it was resting. Such a thing allowed a lift to rise across a gap that was near the area they were standing in, to which they jumped over to the raised section and found a ramp heading downwards, to a group of four Spinners that Dark Cozy wiped out with a blast of her Scatter Gun, meaning her Dark Form could wield the gun and Dark Jak might be able to do the same thing, though that brought them to another switch and it raised another lift for them to use, with Twilight blasting another group of four Spinners with her own weapon, opening the way for them to walk over a slim walkway that was in front of them. One thing they should have expected was that there were a number of Strafers flying towards their location, where Jak and Starlight opened fire on them as Twilight and Dark Cozy focused on taking out a group of Spinners that were guarding the platforms that contained another square shaped lift, which was just below one of the turrets they would be using to wipe out the various clusters of Metal Head eggs, though once the couple of flying enemies were taken care of, at least for now based on what they've seen, Jak and Starlight caught up with them and Jak took control of the turret.

This time around the clusters of eggs rested on a building that was in front of them, a ledge on the building behind them, and right on top of a roof, the one that the first two clusters were attached to, so while Jak opened fire on them, just like what he had done on the first turret, Twilight, Starlight, and Dark Cozy dealt with the Strafers that were coming at them, blasting them right out of the air as they tried to defend the eggs, though another section of the next building shattered as one cluster was taken out, revealing an area that another Centurion was defending.

With this section of the Drill Platform cleared out, and Jak was sure of that after Twilight and Starlight glanced out and took a quick count of what was around them, before he climbed out of the turret and they used the lift to lower themselves to the lowest point, even though Dark Cozy burst through the air and rushed right into the side of the Centurion that was in front of them, knocking it to the side as her siblings followed after her, even though Jak and his sisters had to blast a new group of Spinners that were around the lowest point of the lift. From there they caught up with Dark Cozy and found that she had dominated the Centurion with ease, something that really made Alvin and his brothers a little nervous since those were supposed to be some of the strongest Metal Heads in the Hive, save for them, even if they weren't affiliated with the Hive anymore, and the Leader, meaning the combination of Dark Eco and magic wasn't to be underestimated and made them wonder what would happen if such an evolution happened to either Starlight or Twilight, before deciding that they could think about it later as they pressed onward. On the other side of the small building the siblings discovered a number of platforms that seemed like the type that would fall if someone walked on them for more than a few seconds, meaning only one would be able to cross at a time if they did things normally, hence the reason that Twilight and Starlight formed a few magical platforms for them and Dark Cozy as Jak tackled the path in front of him, even if it included using some pipes in the right wall to swing his way to the walkway that happened to be on the other end of this area, even though that was when they found a number of Spinners blocking the area in question. As such Twilight and her sisters opened fire on the enemies that were blocking the way, which was easy thanks to their skills with their weapons, opening the way for Jak to catch up with them as they realized that they had found the third, and apparently final, turret that would allow someone to wipe out the clusters of Metal Head eggs that were in this section of the Drill Platform, to which they rode the lift up to where the turret rested and Jak climbed in as his sisters braced themselves for the Strafers to arrive.

Sure enough their enemies came the moment they felt Jak firing upon the egg clusters, which rested on the building that was across from them, a second rested to the left of the first one, another was attached to a wall to their right, and the last one was up on a tall crane, even though the last one looked like it might break the crane at any moment, though as he did that his sisters opened fire on the Strafers, blasting them out of the air and Twilight made sure to snatch their Skull Gems for later, since there was no telling how many more the Oracle might want in exchange for giving more aid to Jak and Cozy when they eventually returned to where it rested. As Twilight expected the last cluster of eggs, the crane one to be exact, ended up shattering the upper part of the machine and the head fell down into the area they were in, smashing up part of the building and the landing that was nearby, created a bridge that they could use to reach a brand new Warp Gate, which was rather nice since it meant they wouldn't have to backtrack to the one that had brought them here, and she made sure Vin was aware of what had happened, even though the man groaned and mentioned that he would pass the blame to the Metal Heads when he eventually reported this to the Baron. That meant none of them would be involved in his report, as he wasn't the type to mention the Underground's involvement in what happened, not unless a Krimzon Guard was nearby and reported what really happened, which was unlikely since Twilight had seen none of them since their arrival, but once that was done Jak climbed out of the turret and they accessed the lift so it could head down to the lowest platform it was connected to, and there were only two Spinners at the bottom level of the structure, so all they needed was a single blast from Jak's gun to clear out their enemies. Once all of that was done Jak and his sisters walked over to the new bridge and walked across it, where Vin informed them that he had modified the code of the Warp Gate in the building to bring them back to the Power Station, even though he'd keep the code hidden in case they needed it for something else, and once all of them reached it they took turns jumping through the Warp Gate, returning to the area that Vin was now working in for the foreseeable future, though it was in that moment that Jak decided to see if Vin could help them out, and it was easy to see that his sisters knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Hey Vin, I know we just got done with taking care of the Metal Head eggs, but there's something we need to ask you," Jak said, something that caused Vin to stop what he was doing and turn towards them for a few seconds, where it looked like he was interested in what they might have to say after dealing with all of those eggs, where Twilight assumed he might be thinking that they would rather do something else and not be sent out to destroy more instances like that, hence why Jak braced himself for a few seconds, "look, we need a favor."

"Sorry, I can't help you with your Eco bill." Vin replied, which wasn't what Twilight was expecting him to say, given that they had just got done taking down a bunch of Metal Heads and wiped out a number of egg clusters that were located all over the Drill Platform, and he even waved his hand in a dismissive manner, like this wasn't something he could even help them with, despite the fact that Twilight was sure he could do something about an 'Eco bill' if someone came asking, like Torn or someone else from the Underground.

"It's not about that... we need you to switch on the access elevator in one of the Palace's support towers." Twilight stated, where she decided it was best if they got to the main reason they wanted to talk with him for a few minutes and not just leave the Power Station, even though it was possible that such a thing would happen soon, depending on Vin's answer to the favor they were asking him to do for them, though at the same time it looked like Vin might have been surprised by the real favor that she and her siblings wanted him to do for them.

"Sheesh, that's part of the old B-Zone power grid! It hasn't worked for years!" Vin said, though it looked like he might have been close to exclaiming that information out of frustration, why they had no idea since this was all news to them, but at the same time it gave Twilight an idea on what could be done to convince the man to assist them in switching on the old lift that was in the tower Keira told them about, and she could see that her siblings understood what was going through her head at the moment.

"Well, if it's too hard for you, I understand... power stuff can be tricky." Cozy replied, where she turned around for a couple of seconds and faced the door of the Power Station, mostly because it was a tactic to influence Vin's decision, but even so there was a bit of truth to that statement, she didn't know a lot about what Vin, Twilight, and Keira, at the very least, knew about and left it to her sisters to explain things to her, and by saying her statement like that she was banking on Vin doing something to show them that none of this was hard for someone like him.

"Tricky?" Vin exclaimed, this time looking a little offended by the statement, to which he started to walk all over the rest of the Power Station as he resumed talking, pressing buttons and flipping switches, all while using a lift to ride over to parts of this room and check on information that was relevant to what he was doing at the moment, but even as that happened the siblings smiled for a few seconds, as Cozy's statement had caused Vin to do what they were hoping for, now they had to wait for a few moments and see if he was successful or not, "I could route the B-Zone conduit lines through the bypass grid, shunting past the Eco rings to connect the inductor tubes in series, then back through the outer wall indicator helix and across the resonant flux routes into the number five capacitor array. Assuming the circuits in the GX75B can handle the surge, I could link the phase loop lines into the primary coils, and presto, you've got instant lift juice!"

"Vin, you're a genius!" Jak said, giving the man some praise for his efforts, even though he was sure he and Cozy would be asking Twilight and Starlight what Vin had said while he was working on the various terminals and readings in this place, as that was most of what they knew about power related items, and the rest of his group, both his sisters and their Ottsels, nodded their heads in agreement with what he had said, meaning all of them were impressed by what Vin had done over the last minute, especially since it helped them get closer to the Palace.

"Eh, actually, Mar was the genius. People say he made most of this stuff a long time ago... the Shield Wall system, the Eco Grid..." Vin replied, his tone filled with the same reverence when someone spoke about Mar, the founder of Haven City, as that was all they knew about the man and Twilight was determined to figure out more about him so they didn't get caught off guard when something interesting about him was mentioned, before Vin shook his head and focused on what else he had to tell them, before they left the Power Station, "Anyway, to get that elevator moving, you gotta find and turn on all the old B-Zone power boxes located in the city, and there are five of them! Oh, and before you say something like 'that doesn't sound so tough', just know that they are being guarded by motion sensing turbo cannons! But, if you can destroy the five cannons, and switch on the boxes that they are guarding, I can do the rest... though if you get up to the Palace, don't tell the Baron anything about me... in fact, if you talk to him, don't mention me at all!"

As Jak, Starlight, and Cozy headed outside the Power Station, to collect their zoomers and head out, Twilight made sure to get the exact locations of the B-Zone turrets, where she found that their exact positions were the same as the few turrets that were in the Slums and parts of the Industrial Section, originally designed to protect the city from attackers and were now used to put down any Underground assaults in the area they were located in, where she found that the first one was just around the corner from where they were located. As such she joined her siblings and they headed down the ramp so they could reach the area that the turret was located in, though interestingly enough when one of their zoomers reached what seemed to be the outside of the area their first target was located in the turret burst out of the container it rested in, before turning in their direction and fired at them, causing Twilight and Starlight to weave their magic through the air and form temporary barriers to block the blasts, as a turret could easily damage their zoomers and knock them right out of the air if they were unlucky. Of course that didn't stop Twilight from turning her vehicle to the side and drifted for a moment, as it was something that Keira had taught her how to do while Jak was practicing with her JET-Board, granting Jak a small opening to loose a blast from the Blaster and blow the entire turret to pieces, showing them that they must not have been maintained at all and that they were incredibly weak, allowing a single attack to break through the metal that protected the weapons, though once that was done Jak returned to sitting straight as they headed over to where the next turret was located, with Starlight stopping for a moment so Cozy could press the button that the turret had been guarding. The next one was a minute or two away and just so happened to be in a turn that was important for everyone to make when they were heading through this section of the city, though as Twilight headed for the third turret, located near the border that between the Industrial Section and the Slums, Starlight neared the second one and Cozy jumped off the zoomer, where she loosed a burst of magic, a small one since it was taking her some time to get back to what she was previously capable of, and blew the turret up before it could fire at her, before she activated the button, jumped off of it, and then landed on the zoomer as Starlight resumed following after their siblings, allowing her and Starlight to vanish before anyone realized what they had done.

When Twilight reached the third turret she loosed an icicle that smashed through the metal and blew the weapon apart in a matter of seconds, even if she paused for a few seconds to allow Jak to jump out of their zoomer and activate the button it had been guarding before their arrival, and once he returned to her Starlight and Cozy passed them so they could head over to the four turret's location, in the area the Underground hideout was in, leaving the last one, which was located near the Water Slums, for her and Jak to take out. Sure enough Starlight neared her target a few moments later and raised one of her barriers for a few seconds, allowing it to tank the incoming attack from the turret, before she blasted it with a bolt of lightning and blew the entire device to pieces, allowing Cozy a chance to quickly activate the button that was revealed with the turret's destruction, leaving just the last one for them to take out, which should allow Vin to do whatever it was that he needed to do to power up the lift Keira had told the four of them about. Twilight wasted no time in getting over to where the last turret rested, allowing Jak to jump out of the vehicle and land behind the weapon so he could break it apart, not to mention activate the button that was below it, before he jumped up to the zoomer his sister was driving and reclaimed his seat, to which Twilight and Starlight engaged an invisibility spell of sorts and disappeared before the Krimzon Guards could lock onto the area that they were in, allowing them to return to the Industrial Section and rest in a corner before revealing themselves once more. It was in the following moments that Vin informed them that, due to what they had just done, the B-zone power grid was back online and that he wished them well whenever they visited the Palace, even though he was sure that such a thing was more like a death wish than anything else and that the four of them might be heading right to their deaths, to which they dismissed the Communicator and started to head back in the direction of the Stadium Section, as the tower they had just empowered was in that area, according to Keira, and they would need to be swift before anyone realized what was going on.

None of them had any idea what they were going to find during their visit to the Palace, though Jak was banking on some sort of information that could be handed over to Torn and the Shadow, to turn the tide against the Baron in some manner,  while Twilight and the others remained silent, as they had a feeling that something terrible was going to be found as soon as they found out where the Baron was resting inside the Palace, and they were hoping that they were wrong for thinking that way, even though they braced themselves for what they were going to do and hoped this didn't ruin anything that Torn and the Underground had planned.
> Renegade: Darkness Unleashed
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It took Jak, Twilight, Cozy, and Starlight some time to reach the area that the tower they were interested in was located in, the one that had the lift that would allow them to enter the Palace and spy on the Baron, to see if Praxis had anything that could be used against him when placed in Torn's hands, or the Shadow's hands depending on what they discovered, just to turn this war on it's head and see if the citizens of Haven City did anything other than turn a blind eye to everything that might happen inside the city. Twilight and Starlight made sure to use their magic to make the guards chase illusions and not focus on them at all, allowing the four of them to reach the outside of the tower and found that it had a Door Lock attached to it, one that opened up as soon as Jak walked over to it, even though Twilight and Starlight made sure to hide both of their zoomers with some magic so they could recover them without the guards finding them, before they stepped into the small passage and found a square shaped elevator waiting for them. As such they stepped onto the lift that was in front of them and waited for a few seconds, which was followed by it moving up as it took them straight towards their true destination, which was a little fast in their opinion despite the fact that none of them were bothered by the speed at all, until it came to a stop and the siblings noticed that they were inside an equal sized chamber to the one that had been just a few moments ago, down at the base of this tower, complete with a Door Lock that opened the moment Cozy walked up to it, revealing that they were high up in the air and that they were on one side of the metallic connection cable that was linked to part of the Palace. The strangest thing, in the eyes of the siblings, was that there were a number of traps and hazards resting between this area and their destination, like the Baron had set these up to make sure no one came at him from this angle or something, but it really didn't make any sense for there to be anything like this if the lift was attached to the B-Zone power grid, to which they sighed and started to walk forward, while being careful since this place had to be somewhat dangerous.

The first thing they had to get by were a pair of rotating electrical traps, which seemed to have three points that had a bit of power arcing along the edges and were offset so that while one might have a point that was in the upward direction the next one would be further along in the rotation, meaning that a pause was required so they could get through this area without sustaining any damage, as in they would have to take turns crossing through this area before facing whatever trap might be waiting for them after this, since it was hard to tell what the Baron installed in the past. As such Jak did it first and reached the other side of the rotating electrical traps within a couple of seconds, where he found that this trap was rather easy to get around and suspected that it might be trying to lure them into a false sense of security for whatever might be ahead of them, though he patiently waited for his sisters to make their way through the first set of traps before they even thought about turning their attention to the next section of this area. That was when all of them noticed that there were a pair of electric panels placed in the middle of their path, one set right in front of them and another further ahead of them, but beyond that rested a turret, much like those that were scattered throughout both the Slums and the Industrial Section of Haven City, which just seemed out of place and appeared to be something that might not be maintained all that much, given where it was located and that no one had used this tower for a long time, before they sighed as they did what they had done before, even though this time Twilight moved forward first. Based on looking at it Twilight could tell that using a bit of her magic would be the easiest path for them to take, form a couple of platforms above the panels for them to jump on and use to cross this area, and it would overcome anything that the Baron might have placed for a surprise, hence the reason why she formed a few platforms in the air and started to move, even though she had only landed on the second one as Jak moved forward, only he was heading down a couple of metallic platforms that seemed to form a path under the pipe that all of the traps and walkways were attached to.

She watched as Jak moved down some platforms and spun around a pair of poles that were sticking out of the side of the pipe to reach the other side of the first electrical trap, something that caused Twilight to rub the back of her head as both Starlight and Cozy followed their brother's lead, before she caught up with them, though to get around the second section of this trap all they had to do was jump along the platforms on the other side of the pipe, with Starlight making sure to use her Blaster to wipe out the turret before it could fire at her and her siblings.

"Note to self, magic isn't necessary at this time," Twilight remarked, as while she had felt that using her magical platforms had been the best course of action to get over the electrical panels that had been in front of them, given that she hadn't seen either of the side paths until Jak moved, she now knew that wasting her magic in this manner would only weaken her a bit and might impact her later, since they had no idea what was going to happen when they reached the Palace itself, to which she determined not to bother with her magic until it was absolutely necessary.

Jak said nothing to that as he nodded his head and they turned to face the next section of the path they were traversing at the moment, where they found six hexagon shaped platforms, which were rather thick and the width of one of them had to be half the height of a normal Human, that appeared to have five sides that were filled with sharp spikes and one side which was bare, meaning they had to jump onto the bare one when it arrived and then jump to the next bare one before the one they were standing on switched to a spikes section or they slipped and fell down towards Haven City. These were more dangerous than the last two types of traps that were resting along this long pipe, as one wrong move could send one of them down to their deaths, or that would be the consequences if Twilight and Starlight weren't in the group, and Cozy's powers weren't even being considered in that thought, since they had no idea if she could use her Dark Form to get back up here or not, before they focused on what was in front of them and what needed to be done to reach the next turret, or at least the next section of traps to bypass. As such Cozy tackled the new trap first, stepping onto the first bare panel the moment it showed up and braced herself for what was coming next, because the moment the next one turned she moved instantly and made sure she was on the second one before the first one got a chance to shift, where she repeated that for a few moments and eventually reached her destination, before she rushed through the air and smashed the turret which rested a few steps beyond the hexagon platforms to pieces, opening the way for her siblings to catch up with her, even if they had to go one at a time and take a few moments to wait for the path to be open for them. The next obstacle, as these were more like obstacles and less like traps now that Twilight had a good chance to look at what the Baron had placed in this area, was one of the rotating electrical devices they had seen earlier, at the start of this area, and there happened to be a path of platforms off to the right that allowed all of them to make their way under the length of the pipe, though as Jak and his sisters made their way under the pipe they noticed that there were some electrical obstacles on the other pipes that connected the various towers to the Palace.

Twilight was surprised by that, as it made her wonder why the Baron would bother if the towers were connected to the old power grid and not the new one everyone else used, which meant every tower was offline at the moment, since they had only gathered enough power to juice up the lift they had used to get here, before they moved around the other side of the pipe and returned to the path once more, allowing the four of them to take a few seconds to see what else rested between them and the Palace. That was when they found another hexagon shaped device and more of the electrical panels, which were right behind the hexagon, but since Daxter pointed out a path to the right of the panels that meant the siblings could simply wait for a couple of seconds and then use the bare section of the hexagon to jump to the side that held the path in question, allowing them to avoid the electrical panels entirely, meaning no damage for anyone as they went about doing that, even if it was one at a time. When Jak reached the end of the side path, however, he jumped onto the slim path that was on top of the pipe and found that two turrets, further in front of where they were standing, became active the instant he touched the slim walkway, though they were opposite from each other and seemed to fire when they were facing this path, meaning one was firing at a time and the other was resting before they switched positions, to which he decided not to wait for his sisters to catch up with him and rushed forward, heading right for the turrets and the path that was right behind the area they were positioned in. As such Twilight, Cozy, and Starlight watched him for a few seconds as Jak finally reached his destination and threw himself at the turrets, as in he reached forward with a hand and touched the side of the turret before it could reach the upper part of it's circle, allowing him to pull himself up over the weapon and reached the path that was behind it, to which he sighed for a moment and stood up as he waited for Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy to catch up to him, even though he knew that this was nothing for his sisters. Sure enough it didn't take them long to determine who was going to tackle this obstacle first and Twilight rushed at the area that was in front of Jak, avoiding the blasts from the turrets with her reflexes and not her magic, before she reached her brother and stopped as Starlight and Cozy took their turns overcoming what appeared to be the final obstacle that rested between them and the edge of the Palace.

Once everyone was resting on the other side of the final pair of turrets, and they made sure that no one was hurt, they headed up the couple of platforms that rested nearby and reached an opening in the furthest wall of the Palace and found a ramp that lead up to a glass dome of some kind, to which Jak carefully crouched nearby as his sisters and their Ottsels did the same thing, where they found that the room below them was the throne room and that the Baron was currently inside it, standing in front of the throne, with Errol standing nearby and a projection of the Metal Head Leader's head just floated in the air near them, to which Twilight quickly cast a spell to make sure any sound they made wasn't heard by their enemies as they listened to what was going on in the room below them.

"I've told you, I will have more Eco by week's end." the Baron stated, revealing that the conversation was nearing the end and that whatever he and the Metal Head Leader had been discussing was nearly over, meaning that there wasn't all that much information for the siblings to gain from listening to the pair of leaders, even though it appeared that the Baron did a moment that looked like he might be bowing to his enemy, either out of respect or it was hollow and designed to lure his foe into a false sense of security, "We'll transport it directly to your nest, as promised."

"A deal is of no value if you can't deliver, my dear Baron." the Metal Head Leader replied, his tone revealing that he had to be growing impatient with the Baron, which was understandable considering everything that the Baron had done in the short time that they had been inside the city, though they were also sure that the Baron might be growling without him showing his foe his face for a few seconds, "I grow impatient with your puny gestures. Give me the agreed upon Eco soon, or the deal is off, and your precious city will pay the price."

Jak and his sisters glanced at each other for a few seconds, as it was hard to know if the Baron would even uphold his end of the deal or if he would betray the Metal Head Leader at the critical moment and bring an end to the war, where each of them felt that the latter was the better option for everyone, before returning their attention to what was in front of them and watched as the hologram that the Leader of the Metal Heads was using disappeared, meaning the conversation was over and they had lost a chance to gain any valuable information for the Underground, though this confirmed the fact that the Baron had a deal with his sworn enemy.

"He's toying with us!" Errol stated, his tone revealing that he was overconfident in his skills and that he believed he was far better than anyone that was inside Haven City, even though the siblings felt that such a thing was a lie and that Keira just so happened to have a leg up on him in the mechanics department, with them being better fighters, not counting the fact that three of them had access to magic, before he turned and faced the Baron for a moment, "Let me lead an assault on the Nest before it's too late! I can take him!"

"Patience, Commander... no one has ever penetrated the Metal Head Nest, you know that." the Baron replied, which was an odd thing for him to say, since they were used to him being the type to let his emotions aid him in making the various decisions that came with being the leader of Haven City, even though he did raise a hand to the metallic side of his face for a few moments, revealing that he must have been hurt in such a raid on the Metal Head Nest, resulting in the metal being put on to save his life, before he focused on Errol once more, "I have personally seen what comes of such foolish plans. No, strength is their weakness. We play helpless, we train them to eat from our hands, and then... Move forward with the plan! Tell Ashelin to up her patrols... I want the Tomb of Mar found!"

"But your daughter has not been... agreeable." Errol commented, even though that information was worth gaining, as that gave Twilight and her siblings a last name to put to Ashelin, given that she was actually the Baron's daughter, but as they learned that information the four of them quickly determined it didn't matter if she was a Praxis or not, she was working with Torn, in a sense, and clearly didn't approve of her father's plans, so they might have an ally in her and it might be a matter of time until she saw the light and abandoned the Baron.

"I'll see to that problem, one way or another." the Baron stated, even though he groaned for a moment, like he knew that Ashelin was going to be difficult when it came to her missions and that he would need to speak with her for some time to convince her to do what was necessary to protect Haven City from their enemies, but that was when he seemed to think of something else and faced Errol once more, meaning there might be something else for the siblings to learn about, just before making their escape before they left the Palace, hopefully before the Baron figured out that they were spying on him and his secret conversations, "And find those children! If you'd spend half as much time looking for the little brats as you spend flirting with that mechanic girl, we would have pinned their royal asses to a wall long ago."

"As you wish. With enough persuasion, I'm sure our spy will... you know..." Errol replied, revealing something interesting to Jak and his sisters, where it was natural to assume that someone within the Underground might be working for the Baron, even though if that was the case they were doing a terrible job trying to topple the rebellion that was currently going on at the moment, though instead of completing his statement, like they were expecting, the Commander remained silent and it seemed to inform the Baron that he would act as he was ordered to, as the pair started to leave the throne room, which meant the conversation was over and that it was time for them to leave.

As such the siblings started to head down the path that was nearby, as in away from the path that had brought them here in the first place, though as they did that all of them paused for a moment as a machine, a mechanical suit of some kind, rose up over the edge that was near them and it became clear that the Baron was sitting in the command center of it all, meaning that meeting was either a recording, and if it was it happened to be very convincing, or he knew they were there and had rushed to get into the machine so he could meet them.

"So, we have a couple of rats in the walls, do we?" the Baron stated, where he stared at all of them for a few seconds as Jak and his sisters braced themselves, because now that their foe knew they were up here he was likely going to fight them or call some of the Krimzon Guards on them, to take them down before any of them were able to leave with the information they had gained from spying on his private conversation, though that was when he grinned as he focused on them, as out of the four of them Cozy was already in the middle of shifting into her Dark Form and Jak was thinking of doing the same thing to bring him down, "Errol was wrong, the Dark Warrior program was a success... even if we had a few hiccups along the way to this point, and now that you four are here, the four Gol and Maia wrote about in their journals, we can see now see how the remaining two take to the injections and if you survive the process."

"What makes you think that we'll willing go with you, after everything you've done to our siblings?" Starlight asked, as both Jak and Cozy had been tortured during their time in the Fortress and they still bared some scars from being trapped inside their cells, not to mention the fact that Cozy was probably traumatized by what had happened over the three years she had been forced to spend inside the place, especially hurting Twilight in the process, which was the reason that she took a moment to ready her magic as she lifted her gun, as each of them were showing the Baron that none of them were going to back down and that he needed to fight them to get what he wanted.

"Oh, I know none of you would be willing to listen to what I have to say," the Baron replied, though it was in that moment he tapped one of the controls in his machine and the ground below the siblings became active with electricity, shocking all four of them until each of them collapsed to their knees, and the same applied to Daxter and the Ottsel brothers, and they found that this contained a constant stream of electricity to keep them pinned to this area, even though Twilight could see that they had stopped on top of a hidden set of electrical panels, which their foe had activated by pressing something in his mechanical suit, before he grinned as part of the machine came undone and revealed a weapon that was currently in the middle of charging a sphere of electrical energy, "This won't be enough to kill any of you, not after everything I've seen you do since you left the Fortress, but it will knock you out for a few hours, maybe half a day at most, but when you come to you'll find yourselves restrained inside the cells of the Fortress, bound and unable to do anything as we start injecting each of you with more Dark Eco... either you'll die from it, like many that came before you, or you'll turn into monsters, like what happened to that one, which we will unleash upon the Underground and the Metal Head Nest."

Twilight forced a growl out as she heard that, as it looked like the Baron was just as cold-hearted as she originally thought when she first discovered what he was capable of, and that was before seeing what he did to Jak and Cozy, the latter being twisted into a berserk beast who could only be stopped by tasting blood for the first time, though all of this information made her realize something strange, she hated the Baron, as much as it shocked her to admit such a thing, and that this emotion must have been festering inside her since she and Starlight saved Jak and Cozy from the Fortress, since her body had been poisoned by Dark Eco thanks to Dark Cozy's claws. It had been slumbering inside her, silently gathering power as she absorbed the various scattered clusters of Dark Eco they had passed by, those that weren't taken by Jak or Cozy, just waiting for a chance to unleash the power it contained on those who angered her to the point where it's power had to be called upon, and due to everything that was happening to her and her siblings at the moment it was the only thing she had access to, hence why she called upon her slumbering power to remove the electricity that was below all of them and stop the Baron's incoming attack before it could hit them. Such a thing allowed her to do exactly what she had intended, every bit of electricity that was contained inside the panels vanished as her inner Dark Eco crippled them, allowing her to use her magic to teleport her siblings behind her, just in case there were consequences that came from what she was doing, even though that was followed by her raising a hand as the Baron fired his attack, where it stopped in the space that rested in the middle of them and the sphere vanished without a trace, but while all that happened Jak and his sisters took notice of something odd, Twilight was shaking as bits of dark mist emitted from her body. The Baron paused for a moment, which meant he wasn't expecting such a thing to happen either and seemed to glance down at his suit's weapon, as if blaming it for what had happened, though that was when the wind kicked up and the dark mist flared in response to whatever was going on, causing the amount of mist to rapidly increase before it started to wrap around the area that was right in front of Twilight's position, forming a sphere that looked like it was made out of a mixture of magic and Dark Eco.

Before anyone could do anything the mystical sphere expanded a bit as Twilight held her hands forward to stop it, as if it was dangerous or something, which was when it passed by her hands and paused for a few seconds, even though it was followed by it dragging her right into the core of the sphere, before Jak or her siblings could do anything to help her, and it remained still for a couple of moments, causing everyone to stand there in shock as a light emitted from the sphere for a time, though it didn't last long as the light faded a moment later and they found Twilight floating in the air. What Jak and his sisters found to be interesting was that instead of Twilight wearing her normal clothing, which helped her in her fights with the Krimzon Guards, she was now wearing an odd dress, a purple one with a light pinkish star design that was around her waist and had no sleeves or material covering the area around her neck, while it appeared that her eyes had taken on a brilliant mulberry coloration and her sclera was a pale grayish cyan color, which matched the odd energy glasses in front of her eyes, ones that looked like they might have wings at the tips, and she had a pair of gloves and leggings, which went from her ankles to below her knees, that were a shade or two darker than her skin color. In addition to all of that Jak and his sisters found that her tail had lost most of it's colors, as it remained a dark purple, while her hair took on a fiery design, even though there happened to be a black patch near her forehead, which happened to have a crystalline horn that had the same coloration as her sclera and her new glasses, and she even had a pair of wings on her back, feathery raven wings to be exact that had a deep violet coloration to them, which appeared to be open at the moment. Jak had no idea what in the world was going on, since this was the first time that something like this had happened to Twilight, but before he could say anything he noticed that the sky had darkened, either due to the time of the day or it was being effected by the sheer power that was coursing through Twilight's body right now, where he suspected that it had to be the latter since this was unlike anything they had seen before this point in time.

The Baron was the first one to react to what was going on and swung one of the arms of his suit right at Twilight, showing that he happened to be fine with attacking someone while they were distracted by something else, but before his attack could make contact a small dark portal appeared right in front of Twilight and his fist went right into the space, which was followed by another portal opening to the side of his compartment and the metallic arm of his suit emerged from it, only it struck the side of his suit and knocked him in the side, cracking the glass of his suit, and before he had a chance to pull his arm back Twilight shifted her hand for a second and the portal closed, severing the arm in question and dropped it on the floor that was in front of her, much to everyone's surprise.

"That's new," the Baron commented, his gaze switching between the severed limb that was on the floor and the part of his mech that it had been attached to just a few seconds ago, where he found that the latter had some sparks due to what the girl in front of him had done, though she lowered her hand and seemed to smile at him for a few moments, which made him wonder what in the world had happened when the Dark Eco surged to the surface and took control of her body, but it didn't stop him from allowing a grin to appear on his face, "Your Dark Form, as you and your siblings call it, is beyond even my wildest expectations, and I..."

"Actually, the name's Midnight Sparkle, not Twilight's 'Dark Form'," Twilight, or rather Midnight, replied, which caught Jak, Cozy, and Starlight off guard for a moment, since it seemed like whatever in the world had happened to Twilight had, in an odd way, brought forth something that had been slumbering inside her body, a personality of some kind that she hadn't told anyone about, especially since Jak was sure that none of them had been told about such a thing existing, though even as he thought about that he suspected this was his sister's magic combined with Dark Eco, giving rise to something that was totally different from what they were expecting, before she shrugged for a moment, "I mean, technically you aren't wrong about labeling me like that, since that's sort of what I am, but I have a name and it's not 'Dark Form'... also, none of your machines will work against me, so you might as well surrender before I get serious."

In response to that the Baron swung the right arm of his mech and punched Midnight right in the side of her face, where it was clear that he was expecting her to be sent flying by the attack, though what he and Jak's group discovered was rather shocking, as instead of being moved by the attack, like someone would expect, she remained still and her face hadn't even been damaged by her foe, and Starlight even verified that there were no barriers being used to stop the Baron's attacks in their tracks, meaning she had to be using a trick of some kind or her claim was correct, none of the machines that their foe might use were capable of hurting her. In the following moment she stepped forward and approached her foe, which was a surprise to the Baron since she was in her spot one second and then was right in front of him not even a second later, as if her speed had picked up and he couldn't tell if her wings had moved or not, before she shifted her stance and punched his mech right in the chest, where electricity coursed through the machine and Jak could see that some damage was being done to it, even breaking it in some places based on what he and the others were seeing, before she brought her arm back and kicked her target in the weakened area, breaking the mech suit into several pieces in seconds. That did cause the compartment that the Baron was resting in to separate from the rest of the mech, allowing the suit to fall to the floor not a few seconds later, before he growled at Midnight and started to move out of this area, showing that he didn't have a hope of winning this battle and that he wasn't about to let her take him down, especially given his plans to topple the Leader of the Metal Heads, though before that could happen his vessel stopped for a moment as he noticed what was going on, Midnight had extended her hand and the darkness had grabbed onto his vessel, forming a hand of some kind to do the deed. It almost looked like she was planning on crushing him and his escape vehicle before he could do anything, which would cripple the city and the Krimzon Guard before he had a chance to deal with the city's enemies, and Jak could see that there were cracks forming in the glass of the Baron's escape vehicle, before Midnight seemed to smile and let go of his vessel, allowing it to stagger through the air as their foe retreated for the time being, though now they knew that if they faced him again, and Midnight was nearby, it would be no contest between them.

A few seconds later, after making sure the Baron was gone, Midnight landed on the floor of the area that their foe's mech had been floating above when he revealed himself to her and her siblings, before she pulled out her Morph Gun for a few seconds and stared at it, something that was followed by Jak watching as the dark mist surrounded the weapon and it just broke apart before his eyes, transforming into a bracelet that was about as thick as one's finger and happened to have a set of stones in the silver metal, a red one and a yellow one, with possibly a green one as well, before Midnight shifted her stance and focused on them.

"Are you guys alright?" Midnight asked, though as she said that she walked over to them and checked the group out, as if she was making sure none of them had sustained any permanent damage from being shocked by the electrical panels the Baron had used after they witnessed his meeting with the Metal Head Leader, which were no longer functional, before she came to a stop in the spot she had started in, allowing Jak to see that, despite the fact that this was Twilight's Dark Form, a representation of her inner Dark Eco and magic being merged together, Midnight was definitely concerned and seemed a little worried that something might have happened to them.

"Yeah, just... processing what just happened." Daxter replied, as it was one thing for Twilight and her sisters to use magic to bring down their enemies, not to mention do incredible things that seemed to defy the rules of reality, something that remained true thanks to what Midnight did to Twilight's Morph Gun a few moments ago, in fact he was sure that, out of all of them, Keira would find this particular power very useful in whatever she was working on in the Stadium, while he took a moment to notice that Alvin and his brothers had no idea how to respond to this, given that they had spent three years helping Twilight, and later Starlight, find her siblings.

"Twilight, what about you? You're alright... right?" Jak inquired, because while he knew that Dark Cozy was a little different from Cozy, with many similarities based on everything he had seen so far, it was hard to tell if Twilight had changed due to her transformation into 'Midnight Sparkle', save for the name anyway, but one thing he could see was that her power was far greater than it had been before they had been shocked by the Baron, even if it made him wonder if Twilight could have done this before this point in time.

"Of course I'm fine... and like I said, the name's Midnight Sparkle now." Midnight answered, though even as she said that it was easy for Jak, Starlight, Cozy, Daxter, and the Ottsel brothers to see that she seemed a little hurt by Jak using Twilight's name and not the one she picked out, almost like Twilight's Dark Form was on an entirely different level and saw herself as a separate entity that had switched places with the main user of their body, before she sighed and shook her head for a few seconds as she turned away, even if she beckoned for them to follow a few moments later, "anyway, we had better get out of here, before the Krimzon Guard arrive, since we have some decent information to give Torn and the Shadow, and also a punishment given how this venture turned out."

Jak said nothing to that as he and his siblings followed after Midnight, as it seemed like he might have offended her due to using Twilight's name, but even then this new being seemed to have the same intensity that his sister had and made him wonder what in the world they were going to do with someone who was capable of reforming weapons and stopping the Baron's machines from hurting her, though he had the feeling that he and his sisters would figure out what in the world they were going on do in the very near future, once Torn knew what was going on.
> Renegade: Consequences and Information
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After checking out the rest of the part of the Palace that they had access to, and discovered that there were no paths that would allow someone to enter from above, or at least none that any of them could see, Starlight found a Door Lock on the other side of the area that they were in and that it might lead them down to the entrance of the structure, as in the main one that was near the Port and the terrible statue of the Baron, though that was when they found something that would a problem for Midnight, her wings might be a problem with the doors and elevators that happened to be around the rest of the city, even if they were tucked close to her back. Midnight then used her magic to prove them wrong, as they vanished in a matter of seconds and left her in a more normal form, where she explained that it was an illusion spell and that she could bring them out whenever she wanted to, to which they passed through the Door Lock that rested in front of them and accessed the elevator that was inside it without delay, something that descended down to the depths of it's passage before coming to a stop in the edge of a large area that seemed to be the front of the Palace. There were a few terminals around the area they were in, complete with a number of flags and emblems that bared the mark of the Baron, which all of them were sorely tempted to burn just to piss off the Baron, but instead of doing that, and smoking the place, Jak and the others headed for the Door Lock that would allow them to head outside and found their information was correct, this allowed them to leave the palace and step out onto a few steps that were directly across from the Baron's stone statue, where it was easy to find that there was some traffic nearby. Another interesting thing was that the door closed as soon as all of them were outside and were clear of the door, though it was in the following moments that Midnight weaved a few bits of her magic through the air and teleported both of their zoomers over to where they were standing, in front of them to be exact, and used a bit more to hide them for a time so they could leave this area without the Krimzon Guards being able to discover where they were.

Starlight spent the flight back to the Underground's hideout, since that was where they were headed right now, thinking about what had happened when she and the others spied on their foe from above, as the information would be valuable for Torn and his superior, to help plan the war against the Baron, but everything that happened to Twilight was something else entirely, as Midnight was more like a regal being, a princess or something, and her power was far beyond what any of them had been expecting, though before she could actually figure anything out they reached the hideout and climbed out of their vehicles... and when they headed down the steps they found Torn and Kor discussing something, with the kids off to the side, who paused and glanced at the group for a moment.

"The Krimzon Guard are on high alert... what the hell did the lot of you do?!" Torn exclaimed, referring to the fact that the couple of zoomers and patrols they had seen had been looking for them, given that they had invaded part of the Palace a short while ago, even though it was clear that he honestly had no idea what they had done and just how pissed off they had made the Baron by overhearing his conversation with the Metal Head Leader, which was why they had come back in the first place, instead of laying low for a time.

"Well, we helped Vin with his Metal Head problems and restored power to one of the Palace's towers so we could head up there and get some information from listening in on his conversations," Midnight responded, showing everyone that she wasn't even worried about what Torn might have to say to her statement, since with her new magical power she would be able to take the fight to the Baron on her own if she needed to, in case they were thrown out of the Underground, before she thought about what happened a few moments ago, "though it appears that we tripped a few alarms along the way, as we had to engage the Baron for a couple of seconds before he flew off with his tail between his legs."

"What?! I didn't authorize a strike on the Baron!" Torn stated, where it was easy to see that he might be pissed off that the group went behind his back like this and assaulted the Palace without his say so, while at the same time Kor raised one of his eyebrows for a moment, no doubt because he was curious as to why they had done such a thing and what they might have learned from their efforts, while the children continued to play with each other while they let the grown ups talk and discuss everything that had happened.

"We know you didn't... we just weren't expecting to sound an alarm or two and have him come to us," Daxter said, where this time around he was totally serious about things and wasn't in a joking mood, mostly because the Baron wanted all of them to be returned to the Fortress to see what in the world happened when Twilight and Starlight had Dark Eco pumped into their bodies, even though they now had a good idea of what would happen to one of the sisters, before he focused on the important piece of their conversation, "though while we were spying on him we overheard the end of his meeting, no doubt a secret one since there were no guards in the throne room, with the Leader of the Metal Heads!"

"You saw the Metal Head Leader?" Kor inquired, though his tone revealed that if the Metal Head Leader was inside Haven City then something bad was about to happen to everyone that they were fighting to protect, which was understandable due to the fact that the one who lead the Metal Heads was massive and his power had to be far greater than any of the other foes they had faced so far, but as he said that Torn seemed to be thinking about something, no doubt the fact that the group did have some information to share with him.

"No, he was on some sort of communicator, but we heard him talking with the Baron." Starlight replied, because that was the basics of what they had seen when they were spying on their foes, even if they wished there had been more to their private conversation, all so they could hand over more incriminating evidence to Torn and the Underground, which would have been useful in gaining more support from the citizens of the city, before she focused on Torn again, "The scene we witnessed inside the Fortress and the information we recovered from Krew are accurate: the Baron is definitely bribing the Metal Heads with Eco."

"I'm afraid that it will never be enough." Kor said, informing the group that he must have seen the Metal Head armies at one point in the past, before coming to Haven City and joining the Underground, meaning that there was no amount of Eco that the Baron could offer that would cause the Metal Head Leader to stop his assault on the city, meaning he might be thinking of breaking the deal in his own manner so he could resume tearing into the Eco Dome, "Well, that explains a few things, as it appears that our good Baron's wonderful charm must have angered someone, because there's word from the wasteland that the Metal Head armies are on the move again!"

"Another problem on top of the never ending pile!" Torn remarked, something that the group understood all to well, as it appeared that when one problem was solved one or two more appeared not a few moments later, or sometime later in some cases, though that was when he sighed for a few seconds as he focused on Jak's group, despite the fact that it was easy for him to notice something different about Twilight, something he would worry about later, "Since you've stirred up the Wumpbee's nest, the lot of you get to move four of our people to new safe houses, as in you will be shuttling each of our agents to a location that they specify, and you need to move all of them without any casualties... don't screw this up, as we can't afford to lose anyone in this critical time."

Jak and his siblings nodded not a few seconds after the order was given, though the first thing they did when they headed outside was find two more two seater zoomers, as since there were four of them and four targets for them to shuttle this allowed them to move all of them at the same time and confuse the Krimzon Guards that might be looking for anyone that happened to be working with Torn and the Underground, and since Midnight and Starlight could use magic they didn't have to worry about their foes finding them. Jak took the first of the four targets, who happened to be right outside where the hideout was located, and he found that the agent in question had a bandana wrapped around his mouth to show that he was part of the Underground, so while his sisters headed out to find the other three agents he paused by his target a few seconds later and waited for him to climb into the zoomer, to which he headed out into the Slums and discovered that his passenger wanted to be dropped off near the border between this section and the Industrial Section. As he did that Starlight headed for the second agent, who happened to be in the market area that was right in front of the Fortress, on the other side of some houses to be exact, and when she picked him up she used a bit of her magic to hide themselves as a decoy was sent out, tricking the guards who had been following her into chasing the wrong target, before delivering the agent to his destination with ease, a building that rested near the Door Lock that lead to Dead Town. Cozy discovered that the third of the four agents was in front of the Water Slums, appearing to be a traveler of some kind so the guards had no idea which building he had emerged from, before finding that he wanted to be placed near one of the Fortress' walls, not the one she and her siblings had emerged from when they first exited the building in question, even though she growled a little as she stared at the building when they approached it, but for the most part she was able to deliver her passenger without delay and this would ensure he was in the last place the Baron would think to look for him.

Midnight, on the other hand, found that the fourth and final agent was near the very opening that allowed her, Jak, Cozy, and Starlight, not to mention the Ottsels, to exit the Fortress the first time, and the area he wanted to be taken to was off in the Water Slums, so what she did was make sure to use an illusion spell and confuse their pursuers, since she was sure that some Krimzon Guards had been following her and sure enough they chased after her illusion, allowing her to deliver the agent to his destination before heading back to the hideout, where she and her siblings walked down to where Torn was resting, even if Kor and the kids were gone.

"The operation was a success... you managed to move everyone while making sure the guards didn't see where they went, thanks to your skills and magic," Torn commented, to which he sighed for a moment, where it looked like he was going to forgive them for going behind his back and assaulting the Palace on their own, without approval from him or the Shadow, and quickly turned to look at them once more, even though Midnight could tell that he had decided against forgiving them, meaning he wanted to get this over with before something else happened, "Now, you mentioned that you overheard part of the Baron's conversation with the Metal Head Leader, but didn't go into it while Kor and the kids were here... can you tell me what you learned from our enemies?"

"The Metal Head Leader is growing impatient with the Baron, as he's demanded the rest of the agreed upon Eco that was promised to him in their deal," Cozy remarked, as while she had been angry at seeing their foes talking to each other, even if she had held that anger back so they didn't reveal themselves to their enemies, she had taken great care to listen to the conversation and make sure to gleam as much information as they could, all to be delivered to Torn, and later the Shadow whenever they got together and spoke to each other, "and we heard the Baron tell him that the Eco would be delivered to the Nest at the end of the week, though once the Metal Head Leader disconnected his communicator we learned that the Baron is planning on double-crossing him in some manner... he's also looking for the heir to the throne, the Tomb of Mar, and that Ashelin is the Baron's daughter... I can hazard a guess why you kept that last piece of information a secret, so I'm not going to hold it against you."

"That's... a lot to take in," Torn admitted, because while it sounded like the Baron was going to end up betraying the Metal Head Leader at some point in the very near future, based on what he had just been told, there was more information than what he was expecting and this made him wonder what the Shadow would say when they spoke to each other, though it was in that moment that he focused on something that none of the siblings had mentioned, as he had spent a minute or two thinking about this, "Also, what in the world happened to Twilight?"

"The name is Midnight Sparkle now, not Twilight Sparkle," Midnight answered, once more showing that she wanted those who knew her to call her by the name she had given herself, instead of referring to her by Twilight's name, even though she would forgive Torn for not knowing that piece of information since this was the first time she had told him this, unlike what happened when she told the Baron her name and Jak used Twilight's name, which had hurt her a little, before she focused on what to tell the man in front of them, "and the Baron was planning on shocking all of us into submission, back when he found us after we listened in on his conversation, so he could torment us and experiment on us, but that was the moment I was granted the form you are seeing right now, in addition to a pair of wings that I can't use in a place like this, and I knocked the Baron around before he fled."

"...right..." Torn slowly said, as he really had no idea what in the world was happening, though based on everything he had seen and learned from Twilight over the years, not to mention Starlight's abilities and Cozy's changes, the latter being a tad bit frightening in their own right since a berserker could have been loosed into the city if the Baron wasn't careful, he had the feeling that Twilight's magic had been combined with Dark Eco in a terrifying manner, resulting in what he was seeing at the moment, before he sighed, "Look, I'll speak to the Shadow about this and see if he has any ideas on what we should do after your stunt... however, if the Baron is sending some of the guards out to look for the Tomb of Mar, we might need to speak with Onin, a seer Ashelin pointed to me to once in the past... it might be a stretch, but she might be able to help us figure out where the Tomb rests."

"Then we'll head out and see if she's willing to help us." Jak replied, because he was interested in the Tomb of Mar, due to the fact that the Baron was interested in it and whatever might be resting inside it, even though he suspected that he and his siblings might have to tackle some sort of challenges before they were able to prove themselves to this Onin, given all of the challenges and obstacles they had overcome in the past, and it was followed by Torn nodding his head, to which he and the others headed for the stairs and headed outside once more.

Once the siblings left the Underground hideout, and they were sure that none of the Krimzon Guards knew the area that they were coming from, Jak made sure they had their two original zoomers and headed off for the Bazaar, a section of the city that was more like a general market and held pretty much everything and anything that someone might need to get through their daily lives, though to get to the area they were interested in they had to park their zoomers near one of the entrances of the Bazaar and walked down one of the paths to enter the sunken area... though their destination rested at a dead end, where they found a tent that seemed out of place, and suspected that this had to be where they would find the one called Onin.

"Cool! Check out all the dead and creepy stuff that's in this place!" Daxter stated, referring to everything that was in front of him and the siblings, as there were wooden masks, a number of cages with either liquid or stuff inside them, and a few drawers that likely contained a number of stuff, not to mention a few sacks as well, before they noticed an old lady, who had to be far older than Samos was, resting on a mat in the middle of the tent, though it appeared she was sleeping, which was when Daxter turned for a moment and proceeded to poke the red, yellow, and blue feathered parrot that happened to be hanging upside down to their left, whose eyes snapped open and bit his finger for a moment, causing him to pull his hand backwards in the process.

"Touch the goods again, rat boy, and you'll be counting with your toes!" the parrot stated, even though he did take a few seconds to squawk when he got around to mentioning the fact that Daxter might have to count with his toes, but that was when he flapped his wings for a moment, which he used as hands in some manner since he had pointed his feathers at Daxter, and flew over to the odd bowl shaped item that was on top of the old lady's head, before he landed and struck a pose for a few seconds before bothering to continue speaking, "I am Pecker! Yes, yes, I know... my mother, she was... very vindictive. I am Onin's interpreter."

Jak and his sisters had to admit that it was rather interesting for the parrot to be named 'Pecker', even though it did earn a chuckle from all of them and brought about Pecker's little excuse for why he had been given the name in the first place, as the blame could definitely be placed on a vindictive mother, before they paused for a moment as the old lady opened her eyes, revealing that she might be blind since there was no coloration to them, and spread her hands for a moment before clapping her hands together and started to rub them, where bits of Blue Eco seemed to dance through the air as everyone waited to see what was going to happen next as Onin started to move her hands.

"Onin welcomes you, blah blah blah blah blah, the usual boring salutations that everyone receives," Pecker said, showing them what he meant by being Onin's 'interpreter', meaning he either felt the movements from his bowl or there might be a mirror nearby that allowed him to see her motions so he could do his work, before he seemed to raise an eyebrow for a few seconds as he focused on the group once more, even if he didn't seem to care about it and just wanted to get this over with so he could get back to his rest, "she also says that it is good to see all of you again."

"But we've never met before," Jak replied, though in that moment he considered his statement and Onin's words, as there was a chance that his words were wrong and that it was possible they had encountered the old seer at some point in the past, and he could see that Starlight and Cozy were thinking about this as well, while Midnight seemed to be focused on all of the items that were around them, listening to the conversation and soaking in all the information she could gain over the next couple of minutes, "at least I don't think so."

"Before, after; it is all the same." Pecker stated, either not caring about what Jak had to say or felt that it was nothing in the grand scheme of things, but this was another thing that confirmed the fact that the siblings had come from the future and had likely used the Precursor Rift Gate to travel into the past for some reason, no doubt to grow into the heroes that the young kids were seeing every now and then, before he noticed that Onin was moving once more, "Onin also says that she welcomes Midnight Sparkle, along with extending the same gesture to the 'Metal Ones'... I have no idea what she means, and this is the second time this has happened since I started working for her."

"It's an honor to meet you as well, Onin," Midnight said, where this time she smiled for a moment, as while she knew that none of them had encountered the seer before this point in time, which would have allowed her to know who they were at this point in time, she was more than willing to take her knowing that she was different from Twilight, even if she shared a body with her other side, and they knew who Onin was referring to with her latter statement, before she focused on why they had come here in the first place, "Torn sent us seeking answers about the Tomb of Mar and why the Baron might be interested in discovering it's location, and was hoping that you would be able to aid us in that matter."

"Oh! Oh! Let me try!" Daxter stated, where he focused on Onin for a few moments as she moved her arms, even though it came to a stop and the old seer seemed to frown for a time, something that was mimicked by Pecker, meaning that this sort of thing had to be common for new visitors and that they simply let someone exhaust themselves before either one of them bothered to speak up, where Pecker flew over to a box that rested nearby and landed so he could be near Jak and his sisters, to patiently wait for Daxter to stop speaking, "Uh, she wants a... she wants a Yakow bone! A Yakow bladder? No, no! I got it! For many moons... she has... waited for... a juice pop? A jewel shop? Oh! Oh! I know, she's  got a hairball?! A hair lip? A hairy chest?"

"Close... but no!" Pecker replied, which meant that Daxter might have gotten close to describing part of Onin's body with his last statement, even if he was purely guessing at this point in time, before he waved one of his wing-arms and stopped any of them from saying anything else, which also happened to be when the old seer resumed moving her arms and the bits of Blue Eco danced around the area she was resting in, "Onin says that she foresaw you coming here, to seek answers about the Tomb of Mar, and that she has something to share with the lot of you..."

"Is something wrong?" Jak asked, because he and his sisters had been patiently waiting for Onin to tell them what sort of information they needed to move forward, especially since the Baron was looking for the Tomb and whatever was hidden inside it, though the rate that Onin was moving her arms and all of the bits of Eco made him wonder if she had found a bit of danger that worried her or something, even if all of his thoughts were mere guesses at this point in time and they were waiting to hear what she had to say.

"She's going on and on about mystical energy channels, evil curses, stupid 'wooh' crap. Forget all that!" Pecker stated, as he put some emphasis on the word 'wooh', like it was something specific to what they were doing or just specific to him and his beliefs, before he shook his head and focused on the group for a few seconds, which told them that he felt that it might not be necessary for them to hear every warning that Onin had to share with them, even though they were waiting to hear what he might have to share with them, "I'm gonna sum this up quickly, because now you're cutting into my siesta time. Onin wants you to recover three artifacts from the Precursor Mountain Temple.... not two, not four, but three! There is a Warp Gate, located at the northwest side of the city, that will take you to the area these artifacts are resting in, so grab them and then bring back the three items you find... only then will Onin tell you what she knows."

Midnight would have frowned at that information, since they had come to learn about the Tomb of Mar and had gained nothing by speaking to Onin, but at the same time she understood that by knowing of their coming she was able to figure out a few things to share with the four of them, meaning these three artifacts had to be important to finding the Tomb's resting place, which just so happened to be what the Baron was looking for, and Onin was entrusting this mission to them, which meant she must have a great deal of faith in their abilities. Fortunately she knew where the Warp Gate in question was located, as it just so happened to be the very one that Torn had brought Twilight to so she could enter Haven City for the first time and head to where the hideout was located, meaning they would be heading to the temple she had seen all those years ago, near Haven Forest, and it made her wonder where these artifacts were located, something they would figure out in due time as they bid Onin farewell and headed back to where their zoomers were resting. Once everyone was back in their zoomers it was only a matter of moments to reach the other side of the Bazaar section of the city, where they carefully headed through this portion of the city, to avoid drawing the attention of any Krimzon Guards that happened to be patrolling the area, and it allowed Jak, Starlight, and Cozy to see that there was a farm area just outside the Bazaar, an area that explained where some of the food came from since they had seen nothing in the other sections of Haven City, before Midnight pointed out the ramp that lead to the Door Lock she was interested in. As such they came to a stop near the ramp and carefully walked up it, with two of them keeping an eye on the guards that were behind them to be sure no one was coming to arrest them or something, but since there were no enemies coming at them Jak and his sisters were able to open the Door Lock and entered the small chamber that was on the other side, where they patiently waited for the first one to close behind them while the second one unlocked itself, revealing the slim path of earth on the other side that only had the Warp Gate that Onin had told them about.

It didn't take them long to use the Warp Gate and head to the upper path that was far above where the first Warp Gate rested, allowing Jak, Starlight, and Cozy to take a few moments to stare out at the massive temple area that Midnight had seen about three years ago, as the sheer size meant that they would have to spend some time looking for the artifacts that would allow them to find the Tomb of Mar, though before anyone could really progress Midnight quickly raised her right hand and loosed a wave of red energy, a Scatter Blast, at the Precursor cone shaped platform and caused it to flip so they had a walkway to progress to the next part of the area, which happened to have an elevator that revealed something to everyone in the group.

"It looks like there are three paths for us to take," Alvin commented, which was rather interesting, as they could see that there was a path to the left of the main path, a section in front of the path that had to be another path, and there was one more to the right of what appeared to be the end of the main path, minus a locked door that had the emblem of Mar on it, a clue if ever there was one, before he glanced at Midnight and the others, "should we split up and cover more ground, instead of tackling them one at a time?"

Jak nodded his head to that, as it had been the same idea he was thinking of the moment he laid eyes on the area that was in front of them, and he had some ideas on who might be tackling the paths that were in front of them, though he hoped his sisters agreed with his suggestions for tackling these paths, so they could recover the artifacts Onin wanted them to recover and maybe learn more about why the Baron wanted to find the Tomb of Mar so badly, though he had the feeling that things were going to get more interesting from this point forward and was interested in seeing what they might do in the near future.
> Renegade: Precursor Mountain Temple
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The first thing Jak and his sisters did was step onto the platform that was in the middle of the Precursor structure that they were currently standing in, where they waited for it to take them all the way down to the path that would bring them to the three paths that were open to them, something that would give everyone a few moments to determine what was down each path and who would be tackling which path, since they had agreed on the fact that separating for a time seemed to be the best course of action at the moment. They quickly discovered a pair of Swipers wandering around the main structure of this area, which was a large Precursor structure of some kind that seemed to be the heart of the Temple, maybe where people once gathered before Haven's walls and the Eco Dome were created, though down the path to their left stood one of the Centurions they had encountered back during their trek through the Drill Platform, but for now they focused on the pair of enemies that were right in front of them, who growled and rushed at them. As such Jak and Starlight blasted the Swipers in the face with their blasters, which opened the way for Cozy to approach their foes and kick them into the walls, giving them two more Skull Gems to add to the collection, even though they were interested in the fact that the Centurion didn't bother with them as they went by, before Midnight entered the main structure that was in front of them and stared at the circular area that she and her siblings were heading for, which happened to have a number of small Metal Heads, which looked like frogs mixed with a Metal Head, which Alvin identified as Hoppers, as they bounced around and were more of a nuisance to those they fought. Midnight stared at them for a few seconds while Jak and her sisters watched her, since she was standing right in the center of the structure and it appeared that they were interested in what she might do to her enemies, which was when she raised her right arm and swung it around as she spun in place, making a complete circle as she did that, and a circular burst of Scatter energy knocked all of the Hoppers before they could reach her, allowing her to take them out in a few seconds and left her with no damage done to her body.

"So, you can fire a Red Eco charged Scatter Blast and control it at the same time," Starlight commented, as she had taken it upon herself to be the one to study what Midnight was capable of, which was hard since her abilities were above what she had seen Twilight use, and that included herself as well, meaning that if Midnight were to rebel against everyone and go to war as a force with a single warrior, even if such a thing was highly unlikely, her power would overwhelm anyone she came across and any power that was used against her, before she let a smile appear on her face, "that's impressive, Midnight, and makes me wonder what else you might be able to do."

"I know, right? I'm excited to test the limits of my power." Midnight replied, though at the same time Jak had no idea if that was a good thing or a bad thing, as what she had done against the Baron showed just how strong she was, and everything else she did since then just showed how much power was resting inside her body, or Twilight's body since they shared the same body, though that was when she turned her head for a moment and glanced at the others for a few seconds, as she was interested in something and was sure the others were as well, "So, Jak, how should we go about dividing ourselves to search for the three artifacts Onin wants us to recover?"

"I would say that Starlight and I can tackle the area that the Centurion is guarding, while Cozy can handle the main path and you can deal with the right path," Jak replied, because that appeared to be an equal distribution of responsibility for all of them, even if there were three paths and four of them, not counting the fact that it might be possible for Alvin and his brothers to aid anyone if one of the directions overwhelmed them in some manner, but after seeing everything that Dark Cozy and Midnight were capable of, with one seeming to be a more permanent change and the other being temporary, all he could do was take Starlight with him and hope nothing terrible happened.

Midnight nodded her head and headed over to the path that Jak wanted her to tackle, while at the same time Cozy did the same thing, to which he and Starlight turned around and headed back to where the Centurion was standing, who raised its shield the instant it noticed them approaching it, no doubt waiting for someone to attack it so it could block the attack and then fire a blast in return, though what happened was that Starlight tempted their foe into focusing on her and then used one of her small barriers to block the incoming attack, allowing Jak to blast it into the nearby rock wall. This time they found that the Centurion was a little stronger than the ones they had encountered back during their trek through the Drill Platform, as it staggered after taking the first attack and fired at Jak, who rolled out of the way to avoid the blast, which let Starlight loose a short burst of icicles into its back, knocking it to the ground and granting them another Skull Gem to add to the collection, before they started to jump up the rock ledges that their foe had been guarding before they arrived in this area. At the top ledge both of them noticed that there were three of the Hoppers just jumping around, who turned a few seconds later and headed for Jak, who happened to be the first one to reach the top ledge, though that didn't stop him from blasting them in the face with a Scatter Blast and Starlight collected their Skull Gems with her magic, to which they started to jump over the couple of stones that happened to be in the middle of a small creek, even though it was easy for Daxter and Simon to see that the siblings were keeping their guards up since they had no idea what else might be waiting for them in the Mountain Temple. On the other side of the creek Jak found a path of ground for them to walk on, which lead him and Starlight to a large open area, a hole in the ground to be exact that had a button that would rise part of the path they were following, and there was a collapsed wall off to their right, which, when they jumped down into the sunken area, was followed by a massive Metal Head, which looked like a rhinoceros merged with a Metal Head, burst out of the collapsed section and charged at them, intending on taking them down before it tried to leave this area and do whatever it was supposed to be doing.

The Ram Head, where they gained the name from Simon as they stared at it, charged at whoever its target happened to be and, due to the size of the beast, Jak and Starlight were able to avoid it with ease, though once that was done it would raise itself onto its back legs and roar for a few seconds, exposing their belly area in the process, where Simon informed them that the supposed weakness of the Ram Head was rumored to be that particular area, meaning that in order to take down one of these enemies they had to hit that area and nowhere else. As such they patiently waited for their foe to turn around and focus on them once more, just like it had done a few moments ago when it burst out of the wall, before they found it charging again and repeated what they did the first time around, only this time they made sure to stay near their foe and proceeded to blast its belly when it stood up and roared at them for a few seconds, where it staggered for a few moments before touching the ground once more, showing that a single round of attacks wasn't enough to take it down, even if they were attacking its weakness. Of course such a thing didn't stop their foe from turning around and charging at them, apparently targeting Jak as it deemed him to be the more dangerous opponent, which might be true since Starlight didn't have a Dark Form or a vast amount of energy to call upon, like what happened to Cozy and Twilight, but they were able to find another chance to attack its weakness and did so without delay, weakening the Ram Head even further and pushed the ball firmly in their court, in a manner of speaking anyway. The next round of attacks, however, brought about the Ram Head's defeat and allowed them to grab its Skull Gem, before focusing on the button and activated it so a lone platform could burst out of a nearby wall, allowing them to climb up it and continue heading through this area, though at the same time they paused for a few seconds as Starlight felt the energy in the air, as she was trying to determine if Cozy or Midnight had found a Ram Head in their areas as well.

"Cozy likely found a Ram Head in the area you told her to take on, though Midnight seems to be just fine," Starlight said, even though she knew that if Midnight was in trouble than there was something here that they needed to worry about, or at least that would be her thoughts on the matter, but so far she felt that having the twisted version of Twilight around was like having a deity on their side, or something like that, before she sighed as she and Jak climbed up the platform that the button revealed and continued moving, as they hadn't found the artifact they were after and suspected it would be up at the top of this path.

From there they climbed up a pair of rock ledges and found a Centurion guarding a gap between the area that they were standing in and the area that was the next section they needed to investigate, so what they did was patiently waited for it to fire at them and simply dodged its attack, allowing Jak to fire at it in return and Starlight simply waited for an opening to blast their foe when it fired at them the second time around, though once the Centurion was taken down the pair jumped over the gap and continued moving forward. After that they walked along a path of earth that seemed to be an arch that rested between two sections of the path, even though it appeared that some Precursor platforms were currently stuck in the ground, before the siblings reached the end of the path they had been following, giving them a good view of a large Precursor metal structure in the distance that had a blue flame inside it, though that was when the ground behind them shattered and the thin path collapsed, leaving them standing on the circular section they had stopped on, while allowing the three platforms to float in the air once more. As such Jak followed the new path that was in front of them and headed up to the highest point they had access to, while Starlight stayed a few steps behind him, before finding one of the small platforms that rested upside down and needed a weapon blast to flip sides, so he hit it with his Blaster and jumped over it to reach a shifting platform that seemed to be the way forward, something that they passed over with ease and found the upper part of the creek they had walked by earlier, even though they had to blast a couple of Hoppers that jumped out of the water that was in front of them, giving them another couple of Skull Gems to add to the collection. After they took out all of the Hoppers, which there weren't that many of in the first place, Jak and Starlight jumped over the couple of rocks that were in front of them and reached the other side of the creek, which was larger up in this area, where they found five Swipers standing guard of a corner, something that prompted the siblings to open fire on their targets and make sure that none of them got close to where they were standing, before taking all of them down and rounded the corner after taking the Skull Gems, even though it brought them face to face with another Centurion.

Sure enough it only took them a few moments to bring down their new foe and press the button it was guarding, which revealed a few platforms that allowed them to climb up to the highest point of this area, which was where the pair found a number of Hoppers and a smaller structure that seemed to be at the end of the path, so they quickly blasted their foes and collected the Skull Gems before heading over to the structure, where Starlight found a raised dais in the center of the area and stopped Jak for a moment, causing Daxter to wonder what she was doing, which was when the machine that was in this area activated and a glass lens lowered from the ceiling, allowing them to take it and leave the area, all while taking a moment to wonder how the others were doing.





While Jak and Starlight were fighting the Centurion, and headed down the path Jak had picked for them, Cozy took a few seconds to gather the ammunition that rested inside the couple of Krimzon Guard crates that were around the structure that was in the center of this area, mostly not to leave anything behind, before she stared at the couple of upside down circular platforms that happened to be in front of her, which seemed to lead down to a large area that seemed to be more like an arena of some kind, minus one wall since the direction she was coming from happened to be open. Given what she had learned from watching Midnight and the others all she had to do, to get down to where the open arena rested, was pull out her Scatter Gun and blast each platform so they switched into the upper position for a time, allowing her to move down to the next one and repeat the process until she and Theodore reached the arena, where she assumed she would find a path leading to the artifact she was supposed to be looking for, whatever it was supposed to be since they had been given no information on what Onin wanted them to recover. When she reached the third platform, however, part of the rock wall that was down in front of her burst open and she watched as a Ram Head, as Theodore called it, burst through the collapsed section she had been interested in, though right now it appeared that her foe was interested in watching her for a few seconds as it debated what to do, before she grinned for a moment and shifted into her Dark Form, leading to her jumping down into the open arena and rushed at her new foe. This time around she felt something odd as she lashed out at the Ram Head, as it sure felt like she was starting to gain some control over herself whenever she did this, but even then both she and her other half were eager to fight the Ram Head, especially when it charged at her and she raised her arms to grip the sides of its head, allowing her hooves to dig into the ground and stop her in her tracks a few moments after, even if it put her close to the edge of the arena that they were currently fighting in.

Cozy growled for a few seconds as she increased her grip on the sides of the Ram Head's head and heaved it off the rough flat ground that they were fighting on, something that caused it to shudder in surprise as she lifted it into the air, before she turned and hurled it back at the wall it had burst through, burying it under a whole bunch of rubble in the process and impressed Theodore at the same time, though when it burst out of the rubble she rushed through the air and tore out her foe's Skull Gem, causing it to crumble not even a moment later.

"I don't know what impresses me more, the sheer power you command or Midnight's magical power," Theodore said, as while he would say that Cozy was the more impressive of the two, given that it appeared that she was overcoming the vast amount of Dark Eco the Baron had pumped into her body and was gaining control over her Dark Form, he also knew that Midnight's magical power was nothing to sniff at, as she had torn down the Baron's mech in seconds and it only made him wonder what else she could do with her vast powers, "but either way, that was nicely done."

"Thanks. I'm sure the others will face their own Ram Heads, but they'll come out on top like I did," Cozy replied, which was a surprise to her, as she usually didn't talk in her Dark Form and that meant she was definitely gaining more control over this power, something that her siblings would be interested in when she got around to telling them what she was capable of now, before she focused on the nearby button and activated it, which caused a pair of platforms to burst out of a wall and opened the way for her to head upwards.

As such that was what she did, she headed over to the thin Precursor platforms and jumped up them to reach the next section of this area, where it took her a second to notice a tunnel of sorts that happened to have four Swipers wandering around the place, even though none of them lasted all that long as she rushed forward and smashed one of them into the wall that was to her left, jumped over the second's head and kicked it into the ground, before turning and grabbing both of the remaining enemies by their heads so she could toss them into the other wall, something that ended with her as the victor and gave her some additional Skull Gems for later. That, in turn, brought her to the end of the path and let her see that there was a sheer diagonal wall with a number of rock ledges, which seemed to be heading over to where the artifact had to be resting, and there were a number of boulders that were the size of a Human, though the boulders didn't matter to her since she would be able to smash through them in her Dark Form, hence why she wasn't even bothered by keeping this form up as she dropped down to the start of the slope and started to tackle this challenge. Instead of moving out of the way whenever one of the boulders got near her, like someone else would do in such a situation, Cozy swung her arm and smashed her way through the rocks, even if she jumped and one came rushing at her, which had to be her Dark Form at work, while Theodore watched her break her way through the slope and left a bunch of rubble at the very bottom of the slope, even though neither of them had any idea where all of the boulders were coming from, due to the fact that there was no mountain side above where Cozy was standing, before deciding that she didn't care at all. As such Cozy continued up the slope and headed for the peak, since it was her current destination, while along the way she made sure to smash through several more boulders that seemed to be coming her way, even though it brought her to a set of platforms that were upside down, meaning she had to use her Scatter Gun to switch their orientation, before landing on one that was just a normal platform and allowed her to move forward.

Those platforms, in turn, brought her to an area that happened to have the oddest machine she had ever seen, one that had to have been made by the Precursors, and there were a lot of moving parts that made her wonder what sort of role it played in this Temple, not to mention there was an area that Jak and Starlight seemed to be making their way through, so what she did was approach the machine and found a triangular shaped gear that she assumed had to be the one of the three artifacts they were after, though when she claimed it the machine collapsed into a pile of scrap, to which she sighed and used the nearby moving platform to head back to the central temple to wait for the others.





Midnight wasted no time in heading down the path on the right, since it was the one that Jak wanted her to tackle, where she found that there were three Swipers guarding this area and that there were two diagonal pipes that happened to be coming out of the ground, where it looked like someone might be able to use Keira's JET-Board to reach a higher point, or at least that would be the common route to get up there, though as the enemies came at her she simple shifted her right hand for a few seconds and knocked her foes backwards with a burst of wind magic. Of course that wasn't all she did, as her spell was mostly designed to do no damage to her enemies, while her main attack was to channel the power of her Yellow Eco gem and summoned a couple of yellow energy blasts in the air that was in front of her, shaped like spears to be exact, which she loosed through the air and struck down her foes in a few seconds, as they were just Blaster charges that she had modified the forms of, and she snapped her fingers to collect the Skull Gems as she moved forward. Not a few moments later she found a set of raised rocks that formed the path that would bring her to the next section of the area she was exploring, which contained a number of Hoppers that wanted to stop her from moving forward, to which she switched to the Red Eco gem and loosed a wave of red energy not a few seconds later, something that wiped out every foe that was in front of her, allowing her to reach the highest point of this area and pass into the area her foes had been trying to keep her out of. That brought Midnight to a slightly sunken area that one of the Centurion happened to be guarding, as it was standing near the platforms that appeared to lead the way to the upper section of this area, to which she raised an eyebrow for a moment as she waited for her foe to fire at her first, as right now it appeared that it had raised its shield the moment it realized she was standing there, staring at it, meaning it might be feeling her power and didn't want to anger her at all, or, and this thought was more likely, it was just waiting for her to make the first move like most of these foes had done in the past, giving her a chance to study it before making a move.

Eventually the Centurion cracked and fired at her first, where Midnight smiled for a moment as the dark energy blasts just slowed down and came to a stop in front of the area she was standing in, much to the surprise of her foe and Alvin, who was waiting on her shoulder as he watched everything that happened to her, which was followed by Midnight shifting her stance for a moment as the blasts floated around her for a few seconds, meaning she had something in mind for them and was followed by her foe raising its shield. That was followed by Alvin watching as Midnight sent the blasts through a small portal she opened to the right of where she happened to be standing, where it took them only a few seconds to hit her foe's back, something that knocked the Centurion into the ground and took it out in a matter of seconds, which Alvin was impressed by, even though he would have been more impressed if Twilight had done the deed and not Midnight, but as soon as the Skull Gem was collected Midnight spread her wings and flapped them a few times as she took off, to reach the upper part of this area. As soon as she reached the top of the rock ledges, and was allowed to see what else was in this section of the Mountain Temple, Midnight discovered a moving platform that someone would have to jump over a pair of beams to get across, so all she did was fly over them and discovered that there was a massive pool of Dark Eco that rested in front of her, where she landed at the edge of a set of rock ledges so she could look out at the area in front of her, which had to be between her and the artifact she was looking for. In addition to that it was easy for her to see that there were a few Precursor cubes that rested above the Dark Eco, five of them to be exact, and used a bit of her magic to make the one that was in front of her float in the air for a few seconds, allowing her to see that it was designed to unfold as someone struck it with their fists or feet, as in it responded to being attacked, meaning the Precursors had created these to form a path to a specific location, where the artifact was resting based on what she and her siblings were doing, before she took a moment to focus on what she was going to do next.

Midnight raised her hands and channeled her magic for a moment as she caused all of the Dark Eco to rise into the air, as in she was lifting the entire pool of Eco from where it was resting, before carefully opening a portal nearby and deposited all of it inside her storage area, where Alvin noticed that it appeared that she was capable of creating openings to a brand new space of some kind, a hidden realm that only Midnight had access to, and it appeared she was storing the Dark Eco for a later date, before she threw in the cubes as well and then closed the portal. Once that was done she flew over to the other side of the empty lake and noticed that there were a few raised sections that would allow someone to access one of the upside down platforms she had stuck earlier, which would bring whoever was in this area up to a large round platform that was in front of a large structure, which had to be where one of the artifacts rested, though that was when she found a Ram Head guarding the area, so named by Alvin, and it happened to be on the circular platform. Instead of sticking to the platform to fight the Ram Head, like Cozy and the others would have done, Midnight took off and floated in the air as she stared down at her opponent for a few seconds, where she summoned a few of Yellow Eco blasts, modified to look like a bunch of spears, and loosed them down at her opponent, blasting its armor for a few seconds and noticed that it seemed to take no damage at all, meaning it must have been outfitted with better gear than some of the other enemies they had faced since they started fighting the Metal Heads, to which she switched to her magic as she moved through the air. This time around she loosed Lightning Bolts and a few Fireballs at her target, mostly to see how it reacted and if she was able to do any damage to the Ram Head, even though one of the spells managed to make contact with the underside of her foe's body and did some decent damage in the process, to which she landed and dodged the charges that her foe used in an attempt to hurt her, where she smiled as it raised itself onto its back legs for a few seconds, which allowed her to blast the Ram Head with a number of Yellow Eco spears to the weak side and took it down.

From there she approached the metallic gate that was blocking the main structure and found that it opened as soon as the Ram Head collapsed, allowing her and Alvin to enter the inner part of it and discovered a few statues that they assumed were supposed to be the Precursors, even if they were slightly different from what Midnight was used to seeing, but that was when she discovered her prize, a crystalline object that appeared to be vibrating as it floated in the air, which made her wonder if it was supposed to reflect light and empower it in some manner, before she stored it in her pack and sighed for a moment as Alvin returned to her shoulder.

"That's all that is up here? A few enemies and a puzzle?" Midnight commented, as she was slightly taken aback by the fact that she must have been given the easiest path of the three, even though she wouldn't blame Jak for this since he had no way of knowing just how difficult each of the three paths happened to be, though at the same time she stepped outside and flared her wings so she could look around her section of the Mountain Temple, where she found that there was next to nothing in her area, to which she shook her head and flew back to the main structure that had to be where she and her siblings would meet up once they had all three of the artifacts.

Alvin could tell that she wasn't in the mood to complain about the situation, about the fact that she got the easy task and that the others might have gotten a harder path than she had gotten, though it wasn't long before Cozy rode a platform down to where they were located, returning to her basic form, before a second circular platform came down and revealed that Jak and Starlight happened to be on it, where Midnight revealed the crystal artifact she had recovered, Jak pulled out the glass lens artifact he and Starlight had found, and Cozy held out the gear that she assumed was the last one, but just before anyone could say anything the Communicator came out for a moment.

"I can't believe you guys went and did what Onin asked you to do... most people ignore her and she still gives them what they ordered or asked for," Pecker said, revealing that most of the individuals who came to ask Onin for information or an item to help them usually ignored whatever was asked of them, even though the siblings knew that recovering the three artifacts seemed to be the best option, since they knew that everything they picked up or recovered would be used at some point in the future, so these artifacts would be put to work in the near future, before they noticed he was silent for a time and suspected he was watching the old seer, "Onin says that she will search the timelines for answers about these sacred relics, and that when you come by later that she will have something to tell you."

"Then we'll go help out Torn or Krew for a time, before returning to her tent," Jak replied, informing Pecker that he and his siblings understood what he had said and that they would be doing more work for someone for a decent amount of time, to give Onin the time she needed to search for answers about the artifacts, which they handed over to Midnight once they had a chance to look at the three of them, so she could carefully store them in her storage space until they knew what sort of purpose they served, and once everything was said and done they would return to her tent to see what she had figured out about these artifacts.

Instead of saying anything Pecker disconnected the Communicator and the siblings headed back to the Warp Gate that would bring them back to the Door Lock, which would allow them to reenter Haven City and use their zoomers to traverse the city, so they could get back to Torn and the Underground, even though they were interested in what they would be asked to do this time around and knew that they were drawing closer to bringing down both the Baron and the Leader of the Metal Heads, they just had to be patient and soon it would become a reality.
> Renegade: Meeting the Shadow
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Upon returning to Haven City, and leaving the Mountain Temple behind for the time being, Jak and his sisters returned to their zoomers, which was still odd for them to do since none of the guards seemed to care about them, and headed back out into the city, this time cutting through the Bazaar and the Industrial Section to reach the Slums, as they were planning on seeing if Torn needed help and if he didn't just check out Krew or the others they had encountered, and Midnight made sure to hide her wings before climbing into the zoomer, before they reached the hideout and found Torn waiting for them, only with a frown on his face.

"Ah, good, you guys have returned," Torn commented, where it sounded like he might be happy to see them again, even if they hadn't been gone for all that long since they had gone to meet Onin and helped her out, even though his expression told them that something must have happened since they entered the Mountain Temple and sought out the artifacts that they now carried in Midnight's storage area, before he stood straight and focused on them for a time, "Did Onin give you any information that we might be able to use?"

"Not yet, as her interpreter told us that she needs time to figure something out," Jak replied, figuring that he might as well answer the question and inform Torn of the situation, that they had helped Onin and were just waiting for her to contact them again, or wait for Pecker to do that since he was the only one of the pair that could speak, before he focused on what he and his sisters had seen when they entered the hideout and stared at Torn for a few seconds, "What happened since we went to talk with Onin? It looks like you got some bad news to share with us."

"You're right about that, as our scouts have reported that there is movement in Dead Town," Torn stated, referring to the part of Haven City that Jak, Starlight, and Cozy had gone through to first join the Underground, since Twilight had been a secret member until their first test was over, something that interested them since all they knew that a few minor enemies had been lurking around that area, meaning something must have changed recently, "Metal Heads are making their way towards the Sacred Site again, just like what happened the last time we noticed them trying it."

"What happened the last time this occurred?" Cozy asked, because they were interested in what happened to the city and everything that had been done to make sure the citizens were safe, even if they new a brand new wall had been built after whatever Torn was about to tell them, where it appeared that the man was debating how much to tell them right now, as if he was worried that Midnight might go off and do something which would put the entire Underground at risk, despite the vast power she had access to.

"Well, the Metal heads broke through the old city wall." Torn answered, something that caused the group to glance at each other for a few moments as they considered what they were being told right now, as it was easy for some of them to think of an idea or consequence of what had happened, but instead of speaking they allowed Torn to finish his tale and then let them leave the hideout, since this was going to end in a mission no doubt, "We fought them with everything we had, just like we're doing right now, but after some time the Baron pulled back, leaving everyone outside the 'new barrier' to die... in fact, only the Shadow stayed behind and somehow, against all odds, stopped the attack in its tracks."

"And let me guess, you want us to go out there again?" Daxter inquired, as while he would have been worried about this sort of thing, given that Torn might be asking them to head out into a Metal Head infested area, with who knew how many still lingering out there, he was very calm about everything since they had Dark Cozy and Midnight with them, as he knew that the former would go crazy when she saw the Metal Heads and the latter would likely mess around before putting her foes down in some manner.

"You catch on fast. If you prevent the Metal Heads from reaching the Sacred Site, the Shadow will be... most grateful... he  might even ask to see the lot of you." Torn replied, which happened to be something they were interested in, as meeting the Shadow in this manner meant he was serious and might personally entrust missions to them, to bring down the Baron and his allies, before he shifted his stance for a moment, to stop them from leaving before he was done talking, which was when he placed some interesting items on the table, "Hey, before you guys face whatever is in Dead Town, here's a couple of Vulcan Barrels for your weapons... believe me, based on our readings, you guys are gonna need it, despite the skills and powers you have access to."

Jak and his sisters glanced at each other for a few seconds, as it was odd to have Torn mention something like this, that he figured they were going to need some help, like there was something out in Dead Town that they had to be worried about, before he grabbed the four circular barrel shaped items that were the Vulcan Barrels, which he suspected were the third type of weapon mod that went to their Morph Guns, and headed outside, allowing him to see that this mod created what appeared to be a minigun, a rapid firing device that would do good damage against their enemies. Of course Midnight just stared at hers for a few seconds, like she was studying the makeup of the Eco mod, before transforming it into a blue gem that she placed next to the others she had created, making her more formidable than she already was, though Jak knew giving them the Vulcan Barrels was supposed to do that, for this mission and all the future ones. Once that was done they returned to their zoomers and departed for the part of Haven City that Dead Town's Door Lock was located in, as most of them had been wondering when they would return to this place, given that they had returned to the Pumping Station, as it was one of their more popular destinations, all while wondering if this would grant them a chance to meet a new type of foe, just like what happened when they went to the Drill Platform or the Mountain Temple. Alvin and his brothers felt that it was likely that they were going to encounter some new enemies, even though they were getting close to having seen all of the types of Metal Heads they knew about, thanks to their time in the Nest, informing Jak and his sisters that the Ottsels had a few more enemies to give them information on before they reached the end of their knowledge, even though that still made them wonder what in the world they would find in Dead Town, given that there had been nothing dangerous the last time they had been here.

It didn't take them all that long to return to the Door Lock in question, to which the siblings climbed out of their zoomers and approached the small hole it was resting in, allowing the door to open before walking into the small room, though as they did that Jak, Starlight, and Cozy pulled out their Morph Guns and set them to the Scatter Mod for now, since they had no knowledge of what sort of enemies might be on the other side of the door and this allowed them to be ready for when the door was opened. The first thing they discovered, just a few moments after the door opened, was that there were four or five Stingers that burst out of the ground that was between them and the dark water that was in this place, where Jak just blasted them with a Scatter Blast and opened the way for him and his sisters to move forward, though that was when they spotted some rubble in front of them that now had a wooden platform in front of it, one that would allow them to access another part of Dead Town and just so happened to have a pair of Swipers wandering around it, one in front and one on top of it. That was when Jak switched his weapon modification and pulled out the Vulcan mod as he focused on the closest foe, with Starlight and the others standing to the side to watch what happened next, before he opened fire and found that this weapon fired at a much faster rate than the other two, as he only pressed the trigger for a few seconds and was sure he had fired five or ten bullets through the air, taking down the first Metal Head in seconds, leaving Midnight to create a bit of Blue Eco near the second Swiper and blasted it as well, opening the way for them to continue exploring the new section of this place. From there they climbed up the wooden ledges and found that there happened to be another Swiper up where the second had been resting, one that Starlight and Cozy blasted without wasting a single second, but as that happened Jak and his sisters spotted a new type of Metal Head, a fair number of them, lurking around the section of Dead Town that they were currently in, where they were Human shaped Metal Heads, in terms of size, who had slender forms and carried what appeared to be weapons that slung things at enemies, like rocks or blasts, hence why Alvin told all of them that they were called Slingers.

From what Jak, Starlight, Cozy, and Midnight could see the Slingers had decent range, as there was one that was standing on a lowered section of the next part of the path they were following and it was able to hit the edge of the stone platform they were currently standing on, even if it was a few steps away from where they were actually located, though Midnight blasted the closest one with a burst of her magically positioned Vulcan and opened the way for the others to climb down the path that a few pieces of loose stones formed.

The moment they reached where the first Slinger had been standing, and made sure to put down a Swiper that had been protecting Midnight's target, Jak jumped over the couple of stones that were near them and was followed by his sisters not a few seconds later, which was followed by all four of them firing upon the Slingers and Swipers that were guarding this part of Dead Town, a slope that lead to a ruined walkway and might bring them to a second or third story of a building that had been ruined at one point in time. Jak's reasoning for following this path was mostly because it was the only path they could take, even though there was another one that looked like they needed some sort of machine to break through it, as he wasn't counting Midnight's magical might or Cozy's cheer strength, and given that four of them were firing at their foes, or at least three of them were firing and Midnight was just floating in the air while she loosed a few bursts of her magically empowered Vulcan at any Metal Head that dared to attack them from behind, even if she seemed bored by what she was seeing at the moment. As he witnessed her do that, while he and the others tore down the defenders and reached the thin walkway that was their first destination, Jak had to wonder if Midnight might be getting bored of hanging out with them or something, as she could overpower everything and anything that was thrown at them, while whatever rage she had been using to maintain this form had to be reaching the end of whatever reserve it had, meaning if they waited for a time they would get Twilight back, who would stuff Midnight in a jar or some sort of magical seal to make sure she didn't come back out at the wrong moment, before he sighed and followed the main path they had secured. Of course he left the collection of the Skull Gems to either Midnight or Starlight, since both of them could grab the scattered gems with their magic, while he and Cozy focused on the area in front of them for a time, where it was easy to find a number of Stingers and a couple of Swipers guarding an opening, before Alvin a more buff Slinger, holding a normal gun that looked similar to Sig's, in the middle of the short tunnel, a Gunner based on what he and his brothers knew.

Cozy smashed the Gunner into the wall and dropped it as the others dealt with the rest of the enemies, mostly so none of them had to worry about it, before heading through the tunnel it had been guarding and found the rest of the path that should let them explore the rest of Dead Town, even though it appeared that the number of enemies was going down and that it was only a matter of time until the Metal Heads had been cleared out, but until then the siblings focused on taking down their enemies while keeping their guards up, just like they started doing since they started their war against both the Baron and the Leader of the Metal Heads. The rest of this part of the ruins had two more Gunners guarding it, who fell in seconds due to three people firing at them at the same time, before each of them climbed up the steps they had found a few seconds later and discovered another large room that had a few Swipers and Stingers, patrolling the area, bit it didn't take the siblings that long to clear them out and explore the couple of pillars, just to see if there was anything they might be able to claim for the war effort, before heading through a large opening and found a path on the outside of the ruined building. That seemed to be the way forward and had a few more Stingers that were blasted by Midnight using a burst of her Scatter Wave, like she had done back in the Mountain Temple, before they walked down a short walkway, making sure to be careful about the ledge, and found two more Slingers who appeared to be guarding the last part of Dead Town, but since neither of them seemed to have noticed them Midnight waved her hand and moved both of her targets over to her siblings, who proceeded to blast the pair with their weapons and collected their Skull Gems without delay. With that done, and she was sure that there were no more enemies for them to worry about in this section of Haven City, they walked up to where the pair of Slingers had been standing a few moments ago, something that was followed by them stopping when the siblings noticed something straight out of their past, like it was locked in time or something, and that was Samos' hut, even though there were a few patches that looked like it might be falling apart due to age.

"Well, that confirms it... we're in the future." Jak stated, as while he had been willing to entertain the notion that he and his sisters had been flung three hundred or so years into the future, which would mean this hut survived likely due to Samos' lingering Eco powers, the reason the Metal Heads had been so interested in it, this confirmed that his sisters hadn't been lying to him and Cozy when they were told how much time was between each of their arrivals and when they left the past, even though Daxter was conflicted as he saw this place, like he wanted them to be on another world and not be here, but there was no changing what they were seeing.

Before anyone could say anything else Midnight staggered for a moment and they watched as the Dark Eco that had given rise to her transformation pulled back, breaking due to the fact that she must have expanded too much of her energy and hadn't perfected anything yet, until Twilight was left behind a few moments later, who swayed for a few seconds and was caught by Jak, though everyone was happy that she was back and that Midnight had returned to whatever place she had come from for the foreseeable future, even though she might show herself again if they needed her. Once they were sure Twilight was fine, as it appeared that both she and Midnight might have different levels of energy, meaning while one was active the other slept in the darkness, so Twilight had been resting while Midnight expanded her power against the various foes they had faced, before Jak started to head for the Door Lock and the others followed after him, where Twilight told all of them that she also saw what Midnight had seen, so she knew everything her other side knew, so no one had to tell her what they had learned so far. Starlight considered that to be cheating in some manner, as Twilight could exhaust herself to the bone and then, if she learned how to do it, switch with Midnight for a time and let her other half either continue with whatever she was doing or go do something else for some time, basically allowing one to rest while the other worked, so in a sense the main body didn't have to stop at all, meaning Twilight might have found a way around needing to sleep or taking a break from helping the Underground, but she was determined to say nothing, mostly since she was sure Twilight either knew about it or didn't understand everything that had been uncovered. Other than that they headed through the Door Lock and returned to their zoomers, so they could make their way back through Haven City and returned to the part of the Slums that the hideout was resting in, as it was time for them to see if the Underground's scans had determined that all of the Metal Heads had been taken care of and that the mission had been completed, before Torn gave them the next mission to secure the city and bring down the Baron.

As such they parked their zoomers right outside the door that hid the Underground's hideout, where Jak made sure none of the Krimzon Guards were coming their way and found out neither he or his sisters had to worry, as there were no foes around this part of the city, before they opened the door and headed down the stairs, which was when they were caught off guard when Torn appeared right on the other side of the secondary door, as they were expecting to see him standing near the table and nowhere else.

"Our scans have indicated that you took care of the Metal Heads," Torn commented, where this time around the siblings could tell that he might have a smile or smirk on his face, as if he was happy that they had taken care of the foes that had been heading towards the Sacred Site, regardless of his thoughts on whether or not that place needed to be take down at some point to stop more Metal Heads from invading Dead Town, before he beckoned for them to follow him, "and, as a reward for your efforts, the Shadow has decided that it's time to finally meet you."

"Out of curiosity, why is that old hut in Dead Town so important to you guys?" Jak asked, though he was pleased that their efforts had finally earned them an audience with the Underground's leader, despite the fact that they had done quite a bit since he and Cozy were freed from the Fortress and had given the Shadow a bunch of information he wouldn't have been able to get through normal means, especially since this meant he didn't have to ask Krew about the deal and be taken advantage of by the obese figure.

"According to what I've been told, there's a powerful energy force inside the old house." Torn replied, where he shrugged for a moment and showed them that, while he had been told that piece of information when he asked a question that was much similar to Jak's question, he was only following orders and might not have a full understanding of why the hut was so important to the Shadow, but the information he shared with them was more than enough for now, "and, because of that, the Metal Heads are drawn to that location like flies... though it appears that they are smart enough to fall back when a plan fails, so we're given some time between their raids on Dead Town."

"Is that so?" Cozy inquired, as all of this was rather interesting for them to learn, especially since she could tell that neither Twilight or Starlight knew that particular piece of information, which made sense due to the fact that the Baron might not want the citizens to find out that he wasn't the one who stopped the first Metal Head incursion into Dead Town, before she thought about something as they started to follow Torn, "It reminded us of a place we used to live in, where a Sage used to live in a similar hut and worked on channeling his Eco powers, though it is good to know the history of that place and how it's so important to you guys."

"So, you're the new recruits who keep getting into trouble." a voice said, one that sounded like a younger version of the very person that Cozy indirectly mentioned, which was followed by the siblings pausing for a moment as they noticed the other figure that was in the hideout, while Torn moved to the side, allowing them to see that the figure was pretty much nearly identical to Samos, only this one looked younger, his hair was dark green colored and was done up in an afro style, he had a formal green waistcoat and a brown shirt, not to mention the fact that there was an egg in his hair, with a log as well, and he had a monocle over his left eye, "Welcome to our humble Underground movement. I am known to our allies and enemies as the Shadow, but you, as a reward for your various achievements in our battle against the Baron, may call me by my real name, which is Samos."

"It's an honor to meet you. I'm Jak, and this is my friend Daxter," Jak replied, to which he gestured to the others for a time, mostly to give the Shadow an idea of who was who for the future, even though most of them were surprised by what they were seeing and the fact that they had done a younger version of Samos, meaning the one who traveled through the Rift Gate with them had to be somewhere inside the city and he was thinking he might be somewhere inside the Fortress, or maybe hiding among the trees of Haven Forest, "along with my sisters Starlight, Cozy, and Twilight, who has an alter ego who goes by the name of 'Midnight', not to mention their Ottsels Simon, Theodore, and Alvin."

"I would ask what an 'Ottsel' is, and what happened to your sister, but frankly I don't have time for questions." the Shadow stated, showing that he was interested in what they had to say and that he couldn't ask anything due to the fact that they were in the middle of a rebellion, which made sense when the siblings thought about it, before he quickly walked over to the other side of the table, so he could stare at the doorway they had walked through, while Torn stood off to the side so he could listen to what sort of orders the Shadow would be giving them, "We've got a corrupt Baron to overthrow, four child heirs to protect, an invasion of Metal Heads to stop, and a city to save... personally, I'd say the schedule's pretty full, with no signs of an opening appearing anytime soon! Right now I need the lot of you to go to out to Haven Forest and root out a few Metal Heads that have appeared on our radars, as that forest is my source of power and I'm afraid that I don't have the time to go out and protect it... so I want you four to chase the Metal Heads down and destroy them. Good luck, and welcome to the fight!"

"Thanks, we'll do our best to help in whatever missions you sent our way," Starlight said, referring to both the mission they had just been given and anything else he might sent their way once this one was done, but even as she said that she took a moment to consider what they had been told, especially since Jak and the others seemed surprised by something and were hoping that either the Shadow or Torn could answer it before they left the hideout, "but I thought there was only a single heir to Haven't vacant throne, not four of them."

"We're keeping the fact that we have all four of the heirs a secret, in case the Baron tries anything... plus he's sending out parties to 'locate' the other three, so we're causing him to waste resources," Torn replied, which caused him to smirk for a few seconds, as he seemed pleased by the fact that they were able to trick their foe to this extent, even though the Baron did seem interested in only the main heir, the boy based on what Twilight and the others knew, given his brief statements to Errol after the conversation with the Metal Head Leader, before he leaned against one of the walls of the chamber that they were standing in, "Don't worry, Kor is making sure the Prince and the Princesses are safe and sound, given that the moment we dethrone the Baron they'll need to take their rightful places once more."

Jak nodded his head and turned around, showing that they were going to take care of the Metal Heads that were lurking in Haven Forest so the Shadow knew that Torn's trust in all of them was well placed, to which they returned to their zoomers and left the area that the hideout was located in, allowing Torn and the Shadow to speak about their plans for the future of their rebellion and what needed to be done before they were ready to dethrone the Baron, hence why he was focused on making his way back to the Door Lock that would bring them to the Mountain Temple... and, when they reached the Bazaar, Keira called them and informed them that she had left the JET-Board in the Door Lock, as it was ready for one of them to use it, since she only had one available right now.

"Given the information we've been given, the Shadow must have found some Scouts on the radar," Simon commented, as he had been curious as to what sort of Metal Heads the Underground had noticed while all of them were running around Dead Town earlier, even though it was strange to have multiple groups of Metal Heads attacking parts of the city, meaning the Leader was growing tired of the Baron's schemes and false promises, not to mention that they were starting to run out of time before he sent his full army at them, before Simon sighed for a moment, "Scouts happen to be the only type of Metal Head that don't fight, meaning the Leader uses them to scout out an area before sending the rest of whatever force he was planning on sending, so we'll just have to run each of them down and take them out."

No one had anything to say to that, since each of the siblings were thinking about the fact that the four children that were under Kor's care weren't just their younger selves, as they had figured that out rather quickly by seeing them for the first time when they left the Fortress, rather they appeared to be the heirs to the city itself, something that made Jak wonder if it might be possible for him and his sisters to seize the throne by revealing themselves and likely taking a test or trial, all to prove themselves to everyone else. Of course the first thing they needed to do was dethrone the Baron, who must have either killed their father, who Twilight was sure none of them had any memories of, or exiled him to some location, which meant they might never meet him or learn of what happened to him, and take down the Leader of the Metal Heads at the roughly the same time, just to make sure he didn't take advantage of the city having no one to take command of the rest of the Krimzon Guards and protect the rest of the citizens, though it appeared that their plates were going to be full for the foreseeable future, all while keeping an eye out for whatever caused their younger selves to go back in time. It was around that time that they reached the ramp leading to the Door Lock in question and parked their zoomers near the bottom of it, to which Jak and his sisters walked up the diagonal ramp and headed for the metallic door, where when it opened up they found the JET-Board leaning against one of the walls, something that Jak picked up and slipped onto his back, which was a little awkward due to his Morph Gun resting back there as well, but thanks to the smaller form of the board it was easier, so once it was in place they moved through the other side of the door and quickly used the Warp Gate to return to the upper area that was just outside the Mountain Temple, where Twilight found a familiar platform resting nearby, one that would take them right to Haven Forest. It took them a few moments to reach the forest itself, due to having to wait for the platform to move through the air, but once they reached the area in question they spread out and kept their eyes open for anything that was out of the ordinary, even though Alvin and his brothers would be able to tell them what their targets looked like the instant one of them spotted the Scouts, if their thoughts were right and that there wasn't another type of enemy in this place.

Not a few seconds later Jak spotted something off in the distance and pointed it out to his sisters, who stared at the rather slender looking Metal Head that seemed to resemble a dragon, only a small one that came up to their knees, and it had no weapons attacked to it, meaning it had to be a pacifist or something, though as they climbed done the rocks the Scout just stood there for a few more moments, no doubt watching them to see if they were a threat or something, which was when it spread its wings and started to move from the area it was in... though that was when another Scout, this one seemingly appearing from the shadows and had sharp claws, like what Alvin and his brothers had, struck it in the side and crushed it into the ground, ending it in seconds.

"Okay, now that was kinda cool," Daxter commented, as while he would normally have a hard time saying a Metal Head did something cool or interesting, minus what Alvin and his brothers did, seemingly appearing out of nowhere like that, a method that had surprised Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy since it seemed to slip through their magic, before he grew serious as the Metal Head turned towards them for a moment, which revealed that this Scout had a blue Skull Gem, instead of the normal yellow they were used to seeing on their enemies, "No way... Alvin, Simon, Theodore, this Scout is in the same boat that you guys are in."

"There are only a few individuals with different colored Skull Gems," the Scout stated, something that surprised them for a few seconds, as none of the siblings were expecting such a thing to happen in the first place, before several more Scouts stepped out of the shadows, four of them dropping the bodies of the yellow gem Scouts and two more standing still while they waited for something to happen, even though Jak and his group were focused on the main Scout, "those being us, the forces of the Neo Metal Heads, and the Crown Princes who went missing three years ago, after fleeing the Nest to reach the walls of Haven City, to bring ruin upon their father's plans."

Alvin, Simon, and Theodore wasted no time in jumping forward and shifted into their true forms, which allowed the group of odd Metal Heads, the Neo Metal Heads based on what the Scout had said, to see their imposing dragon forms, where Jak, his sisters, and Daxter just stared as the Scout and its forces actually bowed their heads towards the three brothers, the Crown Princes to be exact, and they had the feeling that they would be spending some time inside Haven Forest, all to learn what in the world was going on, before being allowed to return to Torn or whoever else needed help in bringing down the Baron.
> Renegade: Trouble in Haven City
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jak and his sisters ended up spending the rest of the day in Haven Forest, and that included doing into the night, were they were the guests of the Neo Metal Heads, who had built a temporary camp of sorts in the forest, even if that meant that all of them had to make a hidden hideaway that wouldn't be seen on the scans of everyone inside the city, meaning whatever Vin had seen must have been the result of the Scouts the Metal Head Leader had sent to see how all of the defenses were holding up and if he could break down the Eco Dome. Alvin, Simon, and Theodore were still getting used to the fact that their father was actually the Leader of the Metal Heads and the fact that he was in a war against the Baron, meaning the three of them must have fled the Nest without even understanding everything about themselves, much less their own forces, even though Jak was positive that they were definitely close to his age and Daxter's age, but one thing they figured out was that the Leader must leave the Nest for long periods of time and only came back when something important happened. Of course that meant that whoever was left in charge of the brothers, or the Crown Princes as Shade, the Scout who intercepted them earlier, referred to them as, was either terrible at their job or had been outsmarted by Simon in some manner, allowing the brothers to access sections of the Nest that they weren't ready for and, eventually, fueled their desire to flee to bring down their father, even if they had no idea the Leader was their parent. Twilight was able to tell that there must have been a number of failures in the Leader's attempts to bring down his enemies, or something important must have happened to fuel his desire to make the Neo Metal Heads, a new breed that would have replaced the rest of his forces and brought ruin to all those who opposed him, but after the brothers fled the Nest, which seemed to have fueled the desire for the rest of their kind to follow after them at a later date, and she was more than willing to learn more about Shade and her kind, given that they were just like Alvin and his brothers, or at least it looked like that, and they had been using Haven Forest as a hideout while they looked for their leaders.

Such a thing also gave the siblings a fighting force of about one hundred new allies that were going to be doing their best to take down the Metal Heads that were sent to the other important parts of the city, such as the Drill Platform and any of the other places, even if it took them a while to get to their destinations, to which Jak accepted their aid and knew that, at one point in the future, Alvin and his brothers would be used to being known as the Crown Princes, the new rulers of their kind if they beat their father, meaning the future was going to be quite interesting for all of them. Twilight knew that many would be taken aback by that information and the supposed idea of allying with those that tried to bring down their city, as people were stupid at times and would only see the Neo's in the same light as the rest of their kind, so they needed to do something to make the residents of Haven City accept that there were two types of Metal Heads and that the ones with the blue Skull Gems were allies, which would take time and effort once the Baron was taken down. There was also the fact that allying themselves with Metal Heads meant that Dark Cozy needed to understand who was an ally and who was their enemies, something that she seemed to understand since they didn't see the dark side of their sister emerge after seeing all of the Neo Metal Heads, which was a step in the right direction given that Torn, the Shadow, and everyone else would be harder to sell whenever they got around to sharing this information with them, which they would worry about later, as in when they had some time to do such a thing. One other thing that came as a surprise to Jak and his sisters was the fact that several of the Neo Metal Heads seemed capable of actually cooking some of the meat that they had on hand, or on claw given their forms, especially since everyone knew that the Metal Heads in general loved raw meat, even if Alvin and his brothers had gotten used to cooked food, but this actually displayed the intelligence of the new breed of Metal Heads and gave them an idea of what the rest of the Neo's might be able to show them.

Even with everything they were learning the siblings found that nighttime came and that it was best if they remained with the Neo Metal Heads, to which the group took up positions around the makeshift camp and got some sleep, so they would be ready for whatever the next day had to throw at them, and when morning arrived their hosts made sure to have a light meal made for them, that way they could return to Haven City with full bellies and be ready for whatever missions they might be sent on... something that became apparent when they passed through the Door Lock, as Torn had sent them a marker for Ashelin's position, inside the section of the Bazaar that they happened to be near, and sure enough they found her standing near a few Krimzon Guards, who happened to be ignoring their presence.

"How's it riding in the hood, red?" Daxter asked, because he felt like teasing her right now, even though they now knew the identity of her father, something that none of them were going to hold against the lady since she seemed much smarter than the Baron happened to be, though at the same time Jak and Starlight parked their zoomers outside the dead end the marker had brought them to, just in case something happened in the next couple of moments, where the group found that Ashelin seemed annoyed by the fact that they were here.

"The lot of you need to get out of the area, this is Krimzon Guard business!" Ashelin stated, while at the same time she had to move one of her hands for a moment and caused one of her allies to stop pointing their gun in the group's direction, a guard they had missed by the looks of things, before she faced them and thought about things for a moment, where she figured she could share a bit of information with them before returning her focus to what she and the guards were doing at the moment," One of Vin's Eco tankers is coming in from the Wasteland, but the clearance transmission sounded fishy, like the driver was scared of something... we're going to check it out, just in case the Metal Heads tried to attack it so they could steal all of the Eco the tanker had."

"Well, a mutual friend sent us, figuring that you might need some help." Jak replied, knowing that mentioning Torn was a bad idea, especially with all of the Krimzon Guards that were scattered around this area, since it might ruin her position in the guard and could take away one of the Underground's key players, where they found that Ashelin understood who he was talking about and seemed annoyed that Torn was sending them to her once more, before she focused on what she and her guards were doing right now.

Cozy was sure that Ashelin wanted to say something about the fact that she 'had it handled', or something like that, but it was in that following moment that a vehicle burst through part of a building's roof and crashed into the ground in front of them, spilling a number of Eco barrels that knocked out pretty much every Krimzon Guard that was in the area, save for Ashelin since she dodged them, and Starlight threw up a barrier to protect herself and her siblings, allowing them to see that a hatch opened and a number of Juice Goons jumped out of the tanker. It was easy for the group to see that this was a sneak attack from the Metal Heads, a clever trick since the vehicle had the codes necessary to get through the Eco Dome and could cover these enemies from the barrier that would normally stop them from entering the city, though a couple of seconds later Ashelin called out for Jak and his sisters to lend her their aid, showing that she understood that they were a decent fighting force and that it was better than fighting these enemies on her own. From what the group could tell there were fifteen enemies for them to deal with, to which Jak punched one of them before blasting two more, Twilight weaved her magic and struck her foes down, Cozy kicked her foes in the back of their heads and knocked them to the ground, and Starlight blasted her targets with both her magic and some Blaster rounds, leaving Ashelin to kick and blast her own foes, even though it looked like she might be watching them fight, to compare this to what Twilight had shown her, to hide the true forms of Alvin and his brothers from her. Given that they were working quite well together, even if this was the first time Ashelin willingly worked with them, the siblings were able to bring down the Juice Goons that were launching a sneak attack on the city, allowing Twilight to gather all of their Skull Gems with her magic as they watched Ashelin check out the vehicle for signs of the driver, even though it sure looked like whoever had been assigned to drive this vehicle might have been thrown out by the Metal Heads at some point, likely when they passed through the Eco Dome, though Cozy tapped one of the barrels and heard a hollow tone, revealing the truth to them.

"We got them all, though it seems they stole our Eco before the tanker could reach the city," Ashelin commented, where it became clear to Jak, Starlight, Cozy, Twilight, and the others that she was annoyed about this situation, meaning the Baron hadn't told her about his deal with the Metal Head Leader, which made sense given that she was his daughter and it was likely that she wouldn't agree with his methods, before she rested a foot against one of the empty barrels and forced it to roll forward, all while having a frown on her face, "I've seen reports that they're getting bolder with each passing day, but for them to launch a sneak attack, to probe us for weaknesses, changes things... the Baron will want to know of this, even if he'll be displeased with the stolen Eco. Also... thanks for the backup... I don't think I would have been able to beat all of them without taking some serious damage."

"No problem. We can't have a bunch of enemies running around the city," Starlight replied, even though it was easy for all of them to know that she was referring to the Metal Heads that had been defeated, and not the Krimzon Guard, but that was when Ashelin turned and tended to her fallen comrades, since it appeared that they might have been knocked out, to which Jak and the others returned to their zoomers and departed from the area that Torn had asked them to check out, as it was time to see what their next mission might be.

Of course all of them were surprised by the fact that the Leader of the Metal Heads was being so brazen, sending some of his forces to steal the Eco that was being transported to Haven City and use the tanker to get through the Eco Dome, but the good thing was that this would anger the Baron and might cause some of his future operations to be weaker than the previous operations they had seen so far, though that was when the Communicator came out and Jak noticed that it was from Krew, to which he stopped his vehicle in a section of the Industrial Section and waited for the other zoomer to catch up, before he accepted the call.

"Jak, this is Krew," the obese man said, as if they couldn't read the device that allowed people to communicate across long distances and needed to be told that piece of information, before getting to the reason that he was calling them, but that was just followed by the siblings keeping their mouths shut as Daxter and the Ottsel brothers doing the same, just so they could figure out what Krew wanted of them this time around, "I just talked to my racing client, the Mechanic, and she told me you were pretty good with that JET-Board of hers, so much so that she gave it to you for further testing, which is great for me, as I have a new job for you. My sources have informed me that there is a shipment of Krimzon Guard equipment, eavesdropping equipment to be exact, that just arrived in the Port, and none of us, including the Underground you work for, want those devices up and running... it's not good for business. What I want one of you to do is ride the JET-Board out into the Port and destroy every Krimzon Guard crate you can find out there, which should be blue colored based on what my sources have told me, and there's also a defense perimeter around them, so watch out, eh?"

"Alright, we'll take care of the crates," Jak replied, to which he waited for a few moments, to make sure the Communicator was deactivated for a time, until someone else called them with a new mission to give them, before he turned towards his sisters for a few seconds as he thought about the information they were given, even if Krew had no idea he had given all of them more than he had said, given who the 'Mechanic' was, "Seems Keira wants us to help the 'slimeball' out, given that she told him about my JET-Board skills... next time we see her, I'm going to have to ask her what her plan is and what we can do to help her out."

"Plus we have our magic, so we can divide and conquer our targets," Twilight added, as she had the feeling that the Baron might have made sure to have a bunch of devices arrive, so that way even if one or two fell the Krimzon Guard would be able to acquire the rest of them and take the equipment to another part of the city, meaning that if they split up when they reached the Port it would be a simple matter to wipe out the crates Krew had told them about, where she could see that her siblings were interested in what they might discover and headed out without delay.

Given their position in Haven City it didn't take them all that long to reach the Port, where they quickly found a number of blue cylindrical crates that appeared to be floating on the water, each of them surrounded by two to six red spiked orbs, mines of some sort, meaning that to get close to their targets Jak would have to use the JET-Board and maneuver himself so he avoided all of the mines, while breaking the crates, but that left Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy to figure out their own method to bring down some of the other targets. As such the first thing they did was take a moment to see where all of the 'crates' were located, as they sure looked more like altered mines or some other weapon that was being disguised so no one would lash out at them, though there was one area that happened to have way too many mines around it, like ten or twenty based on what everyone was seeing at the moment, before they returned to the part of the city that the statue of the Baron was in, allowing them to focus on their targets once more. From there Jak, after they deposited their zoomers and got the thin single seaters for his sisters, pulled out the JET-Board and threw it forward towards the ground, allowing it to enlarge into its true form as he jumped onto it, with Daxter resting by his feet, and rode down a ramp that let him touch the water that was in front of them, something that was followed by his sisters heading out with their zoomers, mostly so they could get into position before he struck his first target. Jak wasted no time in moving on top of the water and quickly struck the first of the blue devices with his new JET-Board as he avoided the couple of mines that were near it, where both he and Daxter found that he was able to smash through the crate without taking damage to Keira's new device, which was a surprise and they were sure that Keira would be pleased with this information, to which he focused on moving across the water so he could smash his way through the eavesdropping equipment and avoid the mines, even though he knew that his sisters were lucky that they didn't have to deal with this.

He meant that in the sense that none of them had to use the JET-Board to move over the water, since they could use their zoomers to separate and head out to their targets, where he noticed that Cozy, despite her magic being weaker than both of her sisters, had a plan for the devices that she happened to be hunting down right now, as she briefly called upon the power of her Dark Form and smashed her target with a short burst of power, allowing her to return to her zoomer, before it even hit the water, and headed for the next one so she could repeat the process, as each of them were taking out four of the sixteen devices. Starlight weaved her magic through the air and messed with the water for a time, causing spikes of ice to burst out from the depths and crush her targets with ease, showing Jak that magic was certainly stronger than the metal that went into making the devices they were crushing right now, though if the Baron created something that could resist magic he knew they would be in trouble, enough to cause Midnight to return no doubt, before she headed out to ensure that all of her targets were taken out. Twilight did roughly the same thing that Starlight did, only instead of using the water to make ice she focused on getting close to her targets and loosed a ball of magical energy downwards, effectively blowing away her targets with ease and even taking out some of the mines that were close to the devices, even though she went another step forward and took out the mines as well, just to make sure none of them were left for when the residents of Haven City came out to the Port, once more showing that the Baron really didn't care about his citizens. As his sisters took down their targets, breaking all of them before the Krimzon Guards even had a chance to come out and see what in the world was going on in the Port, Jak focused on moving across the water and smashed the rest of the targets he had taken, avoiding the mines that happened to be in the way with a level of skill that reflected Keira's training when they found her in the Stadium, as she had worked him hard to make sure the device worked as intended, before he found that all sixteen devices were broken and they regrouped near the Hip Hog, as it was time for them to meet with Krew and tell him that all of the eavesdropping equipment had been smashed.

As they approached the door of the Hip Hog, however, it opened before the siblings could reach it and one of the Krimzon Guards walked out, where he stared at them for a few seconds and seemed to be debating whether or not they should get involved with the four of them, something that meant the guards had to know of their combat skills and the powers each of them had access to, before the guard simply moved over to their right and let them enter the Hip Hog, choosing to not engage or annoy them in some manner, though once they were inside it was easy to determine that the guard resumed leaving the area, causing them to wonder what in the world had happened over the last minute or two.

"The Baron sent his goons to harass me as usual, eh!" Krew commented, speaking the moment the lone guard had left the Hip Hog and was no longer within earshot, or at least it sure seemed to be the case based on what Jak and his sisters could see right now, but at the same time they remained silent as they listened to what the obese man had to say, even though they still had to tell him that the job he had given them had been completed and every single piece of eavesdropping gear that was in the Port had been destroyed, "Health violations, back taxes! Everyone wants a piece of me. Ah well..."

"Lucky for you, there's plenty of pieces to go around!" Theodore replied, something that had to be his true nature speaking for a moment as he stared at the man, meaning he and his brothers might be thinking of what Krew might taste like, due to his size and whatnot, but for the most part it looked like the obese man had no idea what in the world Theodore was even talking about and seemed to think that he was agreeing with him, about the 'pieces' part anyway, before Jak stepped forward for a moment.

"We've taken out the equipment you told us about." Jak stated, deciding to get to the point and not waste any time, as he wanted to get this over with and see if there was anything else Krew needed them to do, due to the fact that Torn and the Shadow likely needed their help more than Krew did, and the only reason he was being remotely nice to him was due to the fact that the obese man likely had a few more weapon upgrades to hand over so they could be ready for whatever the future held for him and his sisters.

"Destroying that cargo in the Port was more important than you know, eh? I've got a new project going, and I don't need anyone snooping around my shipments." Krew said, something that interested the siblings a little bit, despite the fact that all of them were sure that Keira might have a plan to see what sort of shipments Krew might have, hence why they stayed silent and waited for him to tell them what he wanted them to do, as there had to be another job he needed them to do before they left the Hip Hog, "Let's just say, if everything goes as planned, I'm going to corner the market in Metal Head trophies... anyway, I have another job for the lot of you to do. An associate of mine, Brutter, works with me in the forced labor trade of Haven City."

"You mean the slave trade?" Twilight corrected, as that was what it was, there just so happened to be a fraction of the city that had creatures that served as slaves, though the information she had obtained on the matter was low, meaning she only gained enough to understand that there were slaves inside the city, despite the fact that she and her siblings hadn't seen any during their time exploring this place, meaning the rich or whoever owned them were keeping them hidden from everyone else in Haven City.

"Uh, I prefer the term 'freedom-challenged'." Krew replied, even though it was clear that he had no love for the slaves and was only talking about them due to the fact that someone likely paid him to free certain individuals or something, to which the siblings decided that the moment no one needed Krew's services they would put an end to him, since he seemed to be a danger to the city and might do more damage than good, before Krew shifted for a moment, "Lurkers are the city's low class labor, and, as it just so happens, Brutter pays me handsomely to help him free Lurkers and get them safely out of the city. Ah, it lifts my spirit to help those in need... and I need his money!"

"Give us one good reason as to why we would help you free the Lurkers." Daxter said, reminding the siblings that part of him was still pissed off about a Lurker being one of the ones who had lead to his current form, as he had gotten over the fact that Jak also happened to be one of the individuals who caused his change into an Ottsel all those years ago, and that he still didn't like the Lurkers at all, even though it was possible that such a thing might change given that they weren't the same individuals he and the others were used to dealing with.

"You like gun upgrades, eh?" Krew inquired, as he knew their current weakness, even though it was a necessary one since Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy couldn't rely on their powers all the time, not counting the fact that two of them had their own Dark Forms to fall back on if they really needed that strength, to which Daxter nodded for a moment and it caused Krew to smile in response, meaning he was going to give them some information before they left the Hip Hop again, "According to my sources, there are three Krimzon Guard transports carrying lurkers to a 'project' the Baron has outside the city. Take out the transports, and bring the three Lurkers to Brutter's trinket stand in the Bazaar... once that's done, and Brutter has given me his payment, I'll hand over another gun upgrade for your weapons."

The one thing that Krew didn't tell them was where the three Krimzon Guard transports were located, which was rather important considering everything, though as Jak and his sisters headed outside they received an update to their map, one that showed Haven City and just so happened to be something that they didn't use it all that much, thanks to what both Twilight and Starlight learned about the city, which revealed that all three of the transports were located in the area that was right in front of the Palace, or at least two were and the third was located off to the side. Given the fact that they were supposed to be freeing Lurkers from the transports, all so Krew could get some money he likely didn't need at all, the four of them split up into three groups, Jak and Twilight forming the first one, Starlight being the second, and Cozy going on her own as the third, allowing them to use the larger two seater zoomers to transport their targets to the stand that Krew's client happened to be working at, though once they had three of those zoomers they headed out to find their targets and get the show on the road. It didn't take them long to reach the area that was in front of the palace, where it was easy to see one of their targets as they entered this part of the city, as it was one of the larger Krimzon Guard vehicles and had a large metallic cage on the backside, which just so happened to have a Lurker resting inside it, with its hands gripping the bars of the prison it was in, though as Jak and Twilight readied themselves for what they were going to do Starlight and Cozy headed off to find their targets, due to the fact that the plan was to hit all three at the same time and eliminate the chance of reinforcements coming to stop them. The second of the three transports happened to be on the other side of the Baron's imposing statue, something everyone hoped would get destroyed at some point since it was an eyesore and it would show the city that the tyrannical ruler was facing the end of his rule, before Cozy found the third transport over in the farm area that happened to be near the ramp that allowed someone to go to the Mountain Temple, which was when all of them readied themselves for what was about to go down.

Jak and Twilight blasted their transport with their Blasters, figuring that the Vulcan was too much for this sort of thing, as Starlight weaved her magic through the air and used some wind to slice up her target, leaving Cozy to shift into her other form for a moment and tear the cage section of her target, something that surprised the driver of the vehicle, before she broke apart the cage so the Lurker could get on the back of her vehicle, which the other two did when they were freed, to which they headed for one of the dead ends of the Bazaar and found an odd stand that had to be Brutter's shop, which was where the Lurkers climbed off and disappeared once they walked around the backside of the stand, no doubt using a hidden tunnel or something to escape.

"Little colorful warriors, you have do great thing for Brutter and Lurker people!" a voice stated, where they found a purple furred Lurker, one of the Babaks based on what Twilight recalled from their first adventure all those years ago, who wore an old torn set of clothing that was mostly covered by his fur, which was when they noticed that he had a necklace made from fox tails around his neck and two large blue feathers that were on the sides of his head, like he was mimicking the Humans of Haven City in some manner, though what interested Twilight was the fact that he was capable of speech, or at least it was fragmented and primitive, "You great guys! Brutter not forget. Brutter pay you back. You see!"

While the group found it interesting that Brutter only cared about Daxter and the Ottsel brothers, since he had said next to nothing to Jak and his sisters, but instead of worrying about it they wished him well and headed back to the Hip Hog once more, making sure to head back with two zoomers and left the spare one behind, though upon their return to the building in question they found that Krew was pleased with their efforts and rewarded them with an ammo capacity mod for their weapons, meaning each of them would be able to carry more ammunition for each of their mods, which was followed by them leaving the area, as it was time to see what else needed to be done before bringing down the Baron and his plans.
> Renegade: Causing Disruptions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With Krew assisted, for the time being anyway, Jak and his sisters took a moment to think about who they needed to help out next and decided that it was time for them to return to the Underground's hideout, to give the Shadow the good news about the forest, even though there were still Metal Heads there, just not the type he and the rest of his forces were used to dealing with, and quickly made their way through the Industrial Section of Haven City, allowing the four of them to reach the Slums, but when they reached the dead end that was their destination, however, they found the Shadow right outside the hideout and the four kids were playing near him, which included the odd dog that had small spikes right on its back, which had to be a pet of some kind.

"Sorry it took us so long to get back, we were a little busy earlier," Jak said, where he and his sisters climbed out of both of their zoomers and walked over to where the Shadow was standing, something that caused the kids to stop what they were doing and focus on them, even though the odd dog did the same thing and made sure to stand near the younger version of Jak, before they focused on what they were going to tell the Shadow, which would be followed by him telling them what their next mission was going to be, "but we took out the Scouts that were inside Haven Forest and helped out Krew, but we haven't gained any new information from him yet."

"I figured as much... Krew isn't the easiest person to work with," the Shadow replied, informing the siblings that he knew it was hard to get information out of the obese man, especially since it cost the Underground whenever he felt in the mood to give them something, like with the Eco Ore they delivered to the Hip Hog some time ago, before he gestured to the kid and his sisters, causing the siblings to raise an eyebrow for a moment as they waited for him to tell them what sort of job he wanted them to do, "Anyway, I need you to escort the kid and his sisters over to Kor at the Power Station, because it's his job to keep a close eye on them and keep them out of danger, plus, as the leader of the rebellion, I'm just too busy to babysit right now... oh, and take their croca-dog with you."

"Out of curiosity, what's their story?" Starlight asked, gesturing to the younger versions of her and her siblings, as while all of them had an idea of what might have happened before the Baron took over the city, due to the fact that they assumed that they were the heirs to the city's throne, hearing the Shadow give them his take on the situation might give them some new information to work with and might explain some things at the same time, though he knew that Twilight was ready to gather whatever bits of information they might be learning.

"I found them just wandering the streets one day, no doubt running from someone without drawing attention to the part of the city they were in," the Shadow replied, though at the same time he gestured to the boy for a moment, where Jak and his sisters found something none of them had noticed earlier, he was wearing a necklace or amulet that bared the symbol of the House of Mar, which was rather interesting to see as they remained silent, "but that amulet around his neck means he may just be the lost heir to the city, the Prince to be exact, which means the girls would be the Princesses. You know, now that I take a moment to look at all of you, and by that I mean the kids and all of you, it would appear that you look like adult versions of them... if I wasn't so busy right now, I'd ask how such a thing is possible and what it means for us... but all of you will need to be careful and watch out for the Krimzon Guard who will be patrolling the city, as I'm sure there will be some between here and Kor's location... oh, and uh, if you happen to lose the croca-dog..."

As the croco-dog growled, to show that it didn't like the Shadow and his disapproval of it following after the heirs to Haven City, Jak and his sisters walked over to a set of guard crates that were resting nearby and handed out the ammunition that was inside it, allowing them to restock some of the bullets they had used so far, even though Twilight didn't take any due to the fact that her gun didn't exist anymore, thanks to the bracelet Midnight had created, and the ammo capacity mod Krew had given them seemed to boost her reserves, or at least that was what it seemed like. Once that was done the four of them stepped forward and beckoned for their younger selves to stand behind them, which the kids did without delay as their dog followed after them, though as soon as they left the dead end Twilight noticed a force of Krimzon Guards that just so happened to be marching on the area that the hideout was located in, meaning they either knew where the hideout was located or this was an odd coincidence in the grand scheme of things, but there was also the fact that someone could have betrayed them to join the Baron's forces. As such the siblings opened fire on the guards, who happened to be raising their weapons to attack them, one even ordering them to hand over the kids, meaning there had to be a spy or traitor that had defected to the Baron's side, where they made sure to put enough fire behind their attacks to knock their foes out, all while Twilight and Starlight made sure to use their barrier spells to protect the kids, even though it appeared the guards might be using shock weapons to knock the kids out, to make them easier to handle. None of the siblings had any idea as to what the Baron might have in mind for all four of the kids, but given everything they had seen inside the Fortress, as in what Jak and Cozy had seen while telling Twilight and Starlight about it, letting the Baron claim all the heirs to Haven City's throne would be bad, especially since none of them understood the true reason behind why they were so important, even if that would become clear in time, hence the reason why they were interested in keeping the kids safe and making sure none of the guards got their hands on them, and this gave all of them some time to think up a way to explain this to the Shadow once he wanted to talk about all of them looking like the four young kids.

Fortunately it appeared that the Shadow, or one of the members of the Underground, had prepared a zoomer for them to use, as it had more than enough space for the kids to sit in and have someone as the driver, so while Jak sat in the driver seat Twilight and Starlight went and got some single seater zoomers for themselves, leaving Cozy as the one who would be facing the guards on the ground, leaving the air to her sisters, and once they were ready to move Jak powered up the zoomer and moved forward.

Getting to the Power Station this time around proved to be somewhat harder than the last time they went to that section of the city, because there were a number of Krimzon Guard vehicles in their way and they happened to be accompanied by a number of guards that fired from the ground, once more confirming that someone had sold them out and had given some information to their enemies, even if they had no idea who in the world would do this, which was something they would have to worry about at a later date, as in after the kids were safe. Given the level of guard activity that was between them and their destination, and there were a decent amount of enemies based on what they could see, Jak left them to his sisters as he focused on navigating his way through the Industrial Section, allowing Twilight to open fire on the vehicles in front of her, Starlight to blast her targets with small bursts of magic, and Cozy went on a small rampage as she smashed a few guards into the ground and even smashed a turret that popped out to blast Jak's vehicle. One thing they discovered was that there were no special vehicles or opponents for them to worry about, as it was just the normal guards that they were used to fighting since they first emerged from the Fortress, and they made sure to just knock everyone out, instead of killing them like Krew or some of the other members of the Underground might do, though each foe would be knocked out for some time and would only come to once they were no longer in this area, with the kids being safe with Kor and the siblings no longer being in the area, or at least that was the plan. As such Jak was able to reach the area that the ramp that lead to the Power Station was located in, allowing him to land the zoomer and make sure the kids were able to get out on their own, including the croco-dog that just growled at the incoming guards, who Cozy proceeded to smash into the solid ground and knock each of them out, leaving him to make his way up the ramp and make sure the kids were following him and Daxter, though once he reached their destination he beckoned to his sisters and Twilight weaved an illusion spell into the air, hiding all of them from the guards and making them head into the Port.

With that done, and they were sure that the Krimzon Guards were no longer on their tail, Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy took a moment to quickly walk up the ramp Jak had walked up and stopped near the door, something that was followed by the spell fading from their bodies, given that it was no longer necessary for them to have it on, before the door opened and revealed that Kor was definitely inside the Power Station, while at the same time Vin seemed to be working on something at the moment, which made sense when they thought about his position in the city.

"Hey, Kor, the Shadow told us to bring the kids to you, since it's your job to watch over them." Daxter stated, though as he said that the kids stopped following Jak and his sisters as they rushed over to Kor, even if it was Young Jak who took a few seconds to hug Kor's leg, while his sisters stood near him and watched what was going on, all while the croco-dog seemed to stay near Jak's group for a time, like it was watching what was going on or something, to which they focused on Kor for a time, to see what he had to tell them.

"Thank you, I'll be sure to keep them close." Kor replied, where his words seemed to upset the croco-dog for a moment, as it growled at Kor for a few seconds for some reason, something that made the sisters wonder what sort of statement or words would cause it to not growl at whoever was talking, but that was when Jak petted the area behind its ears, to which it stopped growling and even had what appeared to be a smile on its face, which caused Kor to raise an eyebrow as he and the others saw that, "Interesting... that insufferable mutt has never cared for anyone else but the boy and his sisters, as he growls at everyone else that annoys it or threatens the kids... in fact, I just assumed it hated everyone but these four, due to all the hostility it shows to everyone else."

"It's no big deal... I'm just good with animals." Jak said, where that part was pretty much true, he had a thing that allowed him to work with animals, be they wild or tamed, even though at this point Twilight was sure that it was either due to the fact that Samos' energy had rubbed off on him or it was due to his innate Eco powers, since he and the three of them had the power to channel five of the six types of Eco, given that none of them knew if Light Eco even existed at this point, but even as he said that Jak knew that his sisters would be studying Kor for a time.

"Anyway, I hope we have enough Eco to keep the Metal Heads at bay." Kor commented, to which he turned to look at one of the screens that were around them, giving the siblings an idea as to why he was here in the Power Station, no doubt so he could keep an eye on things while Vin worked on the terminals, even though it also looked like he was deep in thought about something he had seen in the past, before he glanced at them for a few seconds, "During my travels in the deepest parts of the Wasteland I saw some of the bigger ones; awesome and terrifying creatures, not to be taken lightly, and right now we have some moving towards our location..."

"You know, we heard a rumor about a massive Metal Head that came out of a rift," Cozy said, speaking of the first time the group had seen a Metal Head, even though she made sure to make it sound like they hadn't actually seen such a beast, all to make it seem like they were from this time period and not reveal that they were actually from the past, even though she did think it was odd that Kor seemed impressed by some of the Metal Heads, while at the same time Daxter was nodding his head to agree with her, "According to the story, and the one telling it, this one was uglier than the rest of its kind, even if he didn't go into great detail about it looked like."

"I have some valuable information for you." Kor replied, though before he said that he huffed for a moment, like he took great offense to the fact that Cozy and Daxter, at the very least, felt that the massive Metal Head they had mentioned was one of the uglier ones in existence, meaning he was focused on their opinion of the massive creature and not the rest of the story, before he focused on what he needed to tell them, "The Baron is conducting an excavation at the Dig; he is still looking for that ridiculous tomb. Frankly, I don't believe the Tomb of Mar exists, given the lack of information we have on it, but you might as well go out there and disrupt his operation just in case, and by that I mean you should knock down all the scaffolding at the site... that should set him back in his plans. Here is an Air Train Pass to get you out there."

The Air Train Pass, as it turned out, was nearly identical to the Security Passes they had obtained so far and Kor made sure to inform them that the Air Train happened to be located inside the Port, no doubt the lone carrier vehicle that was resting on the opposite side of the massive Port, across from where the Hip Hog rested, to which they departed from the Power Station, leaving the kids with Kor and Vin, before heading back over to the Port, as it was time for them to see what sort of damage the Baron was up to and stop his plans for a time. What was interesting was that they discovered a number of guards running around the Port, appearing to believe that the kids were in the direction Twilight had sent her illusion in, a spell that was no longer running and made them question whatever intelligence the Krimzon Guards had, but it opened the way for them to reach the large vehicle that was waiting near one of the circular areas of the Port, where they found a door, which doubled as a ramp, opened up and allowed them to enter an area that they could sit in, and once all four of them were sitting down the door closed and the Air Train departed from the city. It took five minutes for them to reach the area that the Dig was resting in, something that Twilight calculated and found that the pilot of the Air Train had gone a bit too fast to reach this area, before the door opened and they discovered that they were in an area that appeared to be cut into a mountain side, with pipes that had to be moving Eco from one position to another, in addition to a path that looked like it might lead to a metallic door, one they assumed they wouldn't be able to unlock, to which they turned towards the large hole that had been dug into the rock wall that was near them. The Air Train had landed on a platform that seemed to be used for whoever else was sent to this place, no doubt the Krimzon Guards that were defending the area, before they found a large metallic platform that doubled as an elevator of sorts, one that brought them down to a more natural cave tunnel that made it look like the Baron had dug his way to this area so he could reach this place, before the siblings pulled out their weapons and readied themselves for whatever was waiitng for them in the depths of the Dig.

At first there was nothing in front of them to worry about, which was odd given that this was a Krimzon Guard area, and it wasn't long before they found two guards guarding a passage that lead right into a massive chamber, which happened to be where a massive mechanical drill was tearing into the ground and was held up by support beams of some kind, given the fact that they looked like rope and seemed to support the weight of the drill, but before the guards could do anything Twilight waved her hand and blasted her targets into the wall, allowing her and her siblings to enter the main chamber at last and focus on their mission. The guards, of course, opened fire on them the instant they noticed Jak and his sisters had arrived, either knowing that they would have been coming to interfere at some point or someone had warned the guards of their impending arrival ahead of time, the latter would point to Kor or Vin being the traitor to the Underground, and due to all of Vin's help it was unlikely that he would do such a thing, but for now the siblings focused on what was going on in front of them as they separated from each other, forcing their enemies to divide their attention as well. Cozy decided to go on a rampage and not worry about using her gun against any of her targets, where Jak was able to see that she embraced the power of her Dark Form and rushed through the air to slam some guards into each other, just hard enough to knock all of them to the ground and knock them out, leaving them resting on the metallic walkways that had been put up around the drill, meaning that even if the drill was destroyed no one would be hurt or killed by being too close to the device, which was followed by Jak switching his gaze to his other sisters. Starlight was in the middle of loosing small shards of ice to send her foes backwards, onto the platforms to be exact, all so they would be out of the way for what they were doing, while at the same time Twilight switched things up by loosing Blaster shots at her targets and using a wave of Scatter energy for anyone who dared to get close to her, figuring that she could use Midnight's bracelet to her advantage, though as some of the guards fired at her backside one of her other side's raven wings rushed out of her back, or out of a small black portal, and blocked the attacks so she could bring the ones that fired at her down as well.

Jak was sure that he noticed the change to Twilight's right eye for a moment, as it looked like Midnight's for a few seconds, before it returned to normal and she went about her business, to which he focused on using the JET-Board to grind on the metallic rings that the bindings were attached to, breaking all twenty-four of them in rapid succession as he switched from one set to another, before the drill spun out of control and exploded into a shower of pieces that Twilight and Starlight had to move with their magic. Once the siblings were sure the drill was totalled, and that there was nothing left for the Krimzon Guards to use, they quickly pulled out their Communicator and informed Kor of the situation, who mentioned that he was 'so proud' of them and what they had been able to do, as this might lead to them willing the war against the Baron, before it went back into their pack and the siblings headed for the Air Train, as it was time for them to return to Haven City and see what else they needed to do to disrupt what the Baron was doing. On the way back Jak and his sisters debated who to head to next, since none of them had any method that would tell them who needed help, since there was Krew, Torn, Vin, and the Shadow, but as everyone talked about who to pick Twilight noticed that the Communicator was beeping and took a look at it, which revealed that Vin had left a message asking for assistance, something that quickly informed them that Kor and the kids must have left the Power Station before this happened, otherwise Kor would have mentioned something during his brief call with them. As such they decided to head over to the Power Station and see what sort of mission Vin had for them, since it was might deal with the Strip Mine or the Drill Platform, not to mention the possibility of a number of Metal Heads to deal with, so when the Air Train came to a stop they departed from the vehicle and headed for the area that the Power Station was resting in, making sure to get some zoomers so they wouldn't have to walk through the Port or worry about any guards rushing at them for what they did at the Dig, though it appeared that none of the guards seemed to know about the destruction of the drill and left the siblings alone.

When they reached the Power Station, however, it quickly became clear that Kor and the kids had left, even taking their croco-dog with them, while Vin happened to be using the metallic platform they had seen earlier to move around the upper reaches of the building, though that just so happened to be around the time that he noticed them and landed near the doorway, as in right in the center of the building, before facing them with a worried look on his face, making them take a moment to wonder what he might have uncovered.

"Guys, we've still got trouble at the strip mine... I think the Baron set me up." Vin stated, though at the same time, despite the fact that there were no enemies in the area, he cowered for a moment as he gripped the sides of the platform he had used to ride around the building, before he bit his nails for a second or two and then ran over to one of the terminals that were around them, like he was looking for something specific, "Actually... to be perfectly honest, I think nearly everybody is trying to kill me!"

"Except for all of us, since we're on your side and your safety is important," Twilight replied, which was the truth, Vin was one of the most important members of the Underground and keeping him safe was vital to understanding everything that the Baron might be doing with the Eco that was meant for the city and the Eco Dome, Eco that he was currently feeding to his enemies and the Metal Head Leader, before she sighed for a moment as she and her siblings focused on the man who was working at the moment, "Now, what sort of trouble are you talking about?"

"Well, you know all about those Eco Wells that the Baron had us drill?" Vin inquired, as he knew that Twilight and Starlight had an idea as to what he was talking about, given what little he knew about them and their time in the city, while Jak and Cozy might be a little lost during this conversation, but he waited for one or both of the sisters to nod their heads before he started to say anything else, "According to my investigations, since I haven't seen the Eco levels go up since you saved me earlier, it appears that he never intended to pipe the Eco Wells into the city grid... when you think about it, it doesn't make any sense at all! Of course this comes with a downside, as open Eco Wells will attract more Metal Heads, so you've got to close them off! Now, since Torn wants to keep me safe, he shipped over some plasmite bombs, which are grenade shaped bombs that are incredibly dangerous, hence why he told me to use them the next time I'm sent outside the city, that should be able to destroy the Eco Wells... all you need to do is drop one of them into each of the wells, and the blast will do the rest."

"So basically we can set these inside our targets, without them blowing up, and then blow all of them up at once, by using a switch or something?" Starlight asked, as she wanted to make sure they understood what Vin was asking of them, while at the same time Alvin and his brothers made sure that Daxter didn't set off or arm the plasmite bombs that were resting inside a rectangular crate that Vin was handing over to her and her siblings, since none of them wanted to activate these earlier than intended.

"That is correct, and with the Mechanic's JET-Board is should be easy to get the bombs into position," Vin replied, where he quickly turned around and walked over to one of the terminals, which was followed by him pressing a few keys as the Warp Gate switched from the Drill Platform to the Strip Mine, before he glanced back at the group and nodded his head towards them, showing that he had done all he could do and that the way was open, to which Jak and his sisters took a moment to grab some of the plasmite bombs and then headed through the Warp Gate.

Upon their arrival in the Strip Mine, which seemed to be devoid of Metal Heads at the moment, Twilight used a bit of her magic to form some magical platforms and used them to get a good view of the area, where she found that there were a total of six Eco Wells for them to take out, as there were six beams of Eco energy that happened to be scattered all over this place, meaning six targets for her and her siblings to take out, where four were resting in the area that was to the left of the area that the Warp Gate was resting in, leaving one by Vin's former hideout and one on a section which happened to be higher than all of the others. Based on what she could see there were small ramps that seemed to allow someone to throw something, just like their plasmite bombs, into the tops of the Eco Wells and revealed why Vin would have bothered to mention the JET-Board, even if it also told them that Keira had told many of their allies about the device and explained why some of their missions would have involved it, before she came up with a plan of attack that would allow them to take care of the six Eco Wells at the same time, or at least place their plasmite bombs inside them at the very least. Her plan for right now was to have her and Starlight focus on the two Eco Wells that were the furthest away, given that both of them could use the magical platforms to move from place to place and would be useful in an area like this, while Cozy rushed all the way over to the furthest well and place her lone bomb inside it, allowing Jak to use the JET-Board to head up the ramps and throw the remaining three bombs into the other Eco Wells, as Vin had only delivered six of the ones that Torn sent his way, making Twilight wonder how many more he might have inside the Power Station. With her plan heard, and the couple of plasmite bombs were divided among them, the siblings headed out not a few seconds later and focused on making sure they were capable of throwing their bombs right into the tops of the Eco Wells that were around the Strip Mine, which was swiftly followed by each of them depositing the plasmite bombs into their targets before returning to a hill that rested just above the Warp Gate, where Daxter pulled out a detonator and pressed it, triggering the bombs that tore apart the six Eco Wells and knocked him and the other Ottsels off their feet for a moment when they felt the burst of wind that came from all six of their targets.

Once the Ottsels were ready to leave, and Twilight had confirmed that all six of the Eco Wells had been destroyed, the four of them returned to the Warp Gate and used it to return to the Power Station, though as they did so it didn't take anyone long to see that Kor had returned for some reason, where everyone hoped that he had made sure the kids were safe and sound before coming back to the Power Station, to which they focused on what they needed to do next, even though it did look like there might be another mission for them to do.

"Vin, you sure are scared of Metal Heads... its funny and sad at the same time" Theodore commented, speaking the instant he and the others returned to the Power Station, though even as he said that he was thinking of ways to help the man get over his fear of the Metal Heads, despite the fact that Simon and Starlight might have a better idea than anything he came up with, while Daxter smiled for a moment, like he was already planning on messing with Vin at some point in the future, once they were done with whatever missions were up next.

"It is good that he's this way, as I have seen what the Metal Heads do when they take a city; the destruction, the killing, the devouring..." Kor spoke up, referring to everything that happened when a city was taken down by the Metal Heads, which Twilight knew from the couple of history books, even if some accounts were more like rumors and weren't true at all, but it was still odd that the old man knew that, given that most accounts were from someone investigating a ruined city and just drawing conclusions, "The Baron's scheming will only result in this city's falling prey like all the others that came before it... we must replace Praxis before it's too late, which is why I am happy to say that all of you and your sidekicks are causing quite a stir in our fight against the Baron."

"Hey, uh, wise and whiskered, you uh, got something itching under your robes?" Daxter inquired, as while Kor was talking he and the others noticed that he happened to absentmindedly scratched at something that was beneath his robes, which was followed by Twilight thinking about what Alvin and his brothers could do, shift from one form to another, and had to wonder if the same was possible for the Leader of the Metal Heads, something that made her stare at Kor's headpiece and think about it, as there might be a chance that it resembled the Leader's headpiece and not a coincidence, before Daxter continued speaking, "They have ointment for that you know... or at least they should."

"It's just my aching bones... I am, after all, one of the oldest members of the Underground," Kor replied, his tone revealing that he didn't much care for Daxter's comment and that he was more interested in saying that it was his old body, which none of the siblings were going to argue with since they didn't want to waste time, due to the fact that there were a couple of things for them to do before they got closer to bringing down the Baron and their enemies, before Kor faced them and seemed ready to speak with them again, "Anyway, we have received word that the Baron is sending out one of his large tanker ships out to the Drill Platform to pick up a load of ill-gotten Eco, so what we need you to do is go through the Warp Gate and knock out that ship! Once that is done the Shadow will send a team to pick up the Eco later, just as soon as the coast is clear. Keep up the good work, we're counting on you!"

It seemed odd to be going back to the Drill Platform, despite the fact that they had been expecting it to happen after their first visit to the area, though thanks to Vin's quick work they were able to return to the more ruined area, the second of the two Warp Gates that were in this area, and found that a wall had either been moved or had fallen due to some additional Metal Heads attacking this place, revealing one of the turrets that happened to be connected to some rails, meaning that Twilight and Starlight would have to use their magic to move along with Jak. Cozy, on the other hand, jumped on top of the turret as Jak climbed into it, where she braced herself whenever her brother moved the weapon and repositioned her own angle, due to the fact that she was planning on firing at some of their enemies, just to make sure Jak didn't have to worry about everyone who might be challenging them, since they had the feeling that there would be Krimzon Guards coming at them once Jak started to leave the area that the turret had been resting in upon their arrival. Twilight and Starlight made sure to put some distance between where Jak was resting and where they would be moving for the foreseeable future, as this allowed Jak to focus on any incoming enemies without having to worry about hurting the two of them, though as the turret moved into position and started to travel down the rail they were, of course, assaulted by a force of flying Krimzon Guards, with some sort of hover pack or something, but that didn't stop the group from firing at their foes and knocking all of them out, leaving Twilight and Starlight to use a few bits of their magic and move their unconscious foes over to one of the ledges so when they woke up it wouldn't be down near the bottom of the drill. From what they could see there were about forty to fifty enemies who flew through the air to take all of them down, but due to the fact that four people just so happened to be firing at them, with bullets and magic to be exact, and the fact that their enemies came in small groups it allowed the siblings to take all of the guards out and let the turret head towards an electric gate that powered down so he and Cozy could slip through the opening, the latter blasting a group of ten Spinners that happened to be in front of them, which allowed them to disembark from this turret and jump into a new one that was near them.

That turret rail brought them to the area that the large tanker ship, one that was easily half the side of Haven's stadium as the siblings noticed it, was resting in, to which Jak, Starlight, Cozy, and Twilight opened fire on it as Jak focused his fire on where he assumed the power sections might be, Cozy blasted some of the turrets the ship brought out, while Twilight and Starlight struck down some of the Krimzon Guards that flew out to return fire on everyone, where their blasts caused the ship to rock with violent explosions before the entirety of the side they were facing was on fire. The siblings knew that all of the guards that were on the ship had to be running around as if every one of them were chickens with their heads cut off, given the fact that none came out to challenge them, though it seemed to pull away from them and might be heading out towards a massive Warp Gate or to an area that they couldn't reach, given that their turret was moving away from the tanker ship, but that was when they smiled as each of them noticed what was in front of them. There happened to be one more turret and rail that was set at a higher position than the other two, allowing them to use a longer rail as they fired on the other side of the tanker ship, as instead of being smart the pilot decided to turn around, so that the other side would face their attackers, and opened fire on the siblings before anyone could do anything, though Twilight and Starlight used a bit of magic to shield themselves before all four of them fired through the smoke, blasting new holes into the metal as all of the tanker's weapons were wiped out. In addition to that the siblings made sure to tear into the stronger side of their target and watched as the tanker faltered for a time, smoke rising from every section of it, before it fell out of the air and crashed into the ground, where Twilight switched to a levitation spell and headed down there to make sure whoever was still inside it were knocked out and moved somewhere safer, while at the same time making sure to move the vast stores of Eco to a location so she could send a notice of its location to the Shadow, though once that was done she returned to the others and they used the Warp Gate that was in front of them to return to the city again.

All of them were sure that there was something wrong with Kor, at the very least he sure seemed to be hiding something from everyone that was around him, and while they weren't pointing fingers or accusing him of being the hidden Leader of the Metal Heads, like Daxter would have done before his brief bout of maturity he went through, none of them were going to tell him any of their secrets and just do their best to keep him in the dark, just in case he was a traitor, all while trying to bring down their enemies and restore order to Haven City.
> Renegade: New Information
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With their work in the Power Station done, for the time being anyway, Jak, Twilight, Cozy, and Starlight headed back over to the Port to see if Krew was in the mood to hand over another job or mission to them, to which they grabbed their zoomers and departed from the area the building they had been in was resting in, even though it was easy to see that every guard, once again, didn't care about any of them and that they were able to reach their destination with ease, where they found the obese man glancing at the wall of liquor bottles his workers used to serve drinks to those who came to this place, and he turned his head a little to glance at them to show that he knew they were there.

"Hmm, years ago, when I was an art 'collector', I hit the local museum to, hm, 'borrow' a famous statue of Mar, the founder of Haven City," Krew commented, giving them a little more information about his past, not that the siblings cared since he was a criminal and this meant he stole it, no doubt to sell it to the highest bigger or something, but, at the same time, all of them were interested in why he would even speak up about this, before he continued speaking, "and resting at the top of his staff is the Ruby Key to the city, an artifact of surpassing beauty, and, of course, priceless worth, eh! Sadly, while I was smuggling the huge statue through the Sewers, the safest way to do so in the past, a grueling rainstorm flooded the whole place... the statue, and five of my best men, were swept away."

"Honestly, that's rather terrible." Jak replied, referring to the fact that Krew's actions had caused several individuals to lose their lives in a rainstorm that he likely ignored, especially since the obese man was one of the greediest people they had encountered over the course of their adventures, even if they had only been on two so far, but even as he said that both he and his sisters, plus their Ottsel friends, knew that Krew wouldn't care about the men that were taken out and likely only cared about the statue.

"Yes, it is a tragic loss... I've missed that statue ever since." Krew said, confirming their thoughts on the matter, that all he cared about was the statue of Mar and not the five men that had been taken out by the storm, not that they were even a tiny bit surprised by that fact, given his attitude towards everyone else, though he seemed to be focused on everything he was sharing with them, to make them ready for their next mission, since it appeared that they would be heading back into the Sewers to look for the statue, "The Sewers have been so full of water and Metal Heads that I can't convince anyone to go down there and retrieve the artifact, but the four of you, on the other hand, are capable of great things, and I know all of you can get the job done. Now go down there, drain the Sewers, and find that statue, regardless if its at the bottom of the water or shattered into pieces and spread out, as we're interested in the Ruby Key artifact... it will open up doors that are beyond our wildest dreams, eh!"

The siblings had no idea if that was true or not, since this was the first time that any of them had heard of the Ruby Key and what it might be capable of, leading Twilight to try and figure out a brief point of time where she would be able to take a break and read about everything they were discovering right now, but while she did that they nodded to Krew and just walked out of the Hip Hog, where it only took them a few seconds to climb into their vehicles and departed from the Port once more, to which they headed back to the Industrial Section and the entrance of the Sewers. When they returned to the downward ramp in question the siblings braced themselves as they pulled out their weapons once more, since there was no telling how many enemies might be in the Sewers this time around, and quickly used the elevator to head down to the tunnel that served as the first part of this place, where they discovered that the crates they had opened during their first visit were still open and someone hadn't restocked it, to which they carefully walked forward and started to search for a new path or something. Sure enough when they reached the area that the very first turret rested in they found something interesting, the sealed door that had been in this area had been opened and revealed a pathway that looked like someone needed a JET-Board or something to move down the path in question, to which the siblings put their weapons away as Jak used the device to head forward, while at the same time Twilight and Starlight weaved their magic into a levitation spell so they and Cozy could follow after him, just so they could see what the statue looked like. What they discovered was a brand new tunnel that was filled with pipes and a winding path that Jak followed, with his sisters following him, which happened to be a bit longer than what they had been thinking of and it brought them to a chamber that was mostly filled with water, save for the part they entered and discovered a platform on the other wall in front of them, one that had a valve that had to influence the pumps that were scattered throughout this section of the Sewers, or at least Twilight assumed this place had that function, otherwise they would never get to the statue of Mar.

Sure enough when Jak landed on the platform, and struck the valve in question, the water lowered for a few seconds as a couple of pumps in this section moved all of it to another part of the Sewers, revealing a square shaped tunnel that was partly buried under the water, to which Jak dropped down with the JET-Board and headed through it without wasting any time, where they also discovered that there were a number of turbines resting in their way, ones that were easy to avoid since each one only went out a tiny bit. The other thing they had to avoid were the couple of mines which had been placed in the Sewers by the Baron, or whoever he had assigned to protect this place from all of his enemies, before coming to a chamber that looked like one that might have been where they found one of the turrets when they first came here, even though Jak quickly found a new tunnel, one smaller than the last one, to move through and avoided the turbines that were working at the moment, leaving Twilight or Starlight to maneuver themselves and Cozy behind him. Daxter took a moment to glance at the water and found a spike type of machine that pushed out of a slot in the floor, which rushed towards the area that happened to be just below the surface of the water, meaning that when they lowered the water again they would have to avoid a new type of obstacle, allowing Jak to focus on moving across the surface of the water as he avoided every trap that happened to be in his way and kept his eyes open for the next valve he needed to turn, even though he did find a raised section of the tunnel's floor that separated the water into two sections. The other section took him a few moments to navigate before he found the area that the next valve rested in, to which he made sure to land on it and waited for his sisters to catch up with him before he forcefully turned the device with a swift kick, where they watched as the water went down by another level and then, once they were sure no more water was moving, Jak resumed moving forward and had to head down the now cleared out tunnel that he had moved through just a few seconds ago, where he found that it was all too easy for him to avoid the spike traps and navigate around them, allowing him to return to the main chamber that they had been in earlier and found another passage to travel down.

That brought them to an area that had some small spinning turbines that had to be jumped over and a few larger ones, which were circular shaped, which they curved around to avoid, along with making sure to use a ramp to get over a large turbine, before finding another valve platform in a more accessible area, which seemed to move the rest of the water and, upon returning to the main chamber, revealed another one for them to travel down... one that happened to bring them to a decent sized chamber with a massive stone statue of a regal figure, with the cape, shoulderpads, and royal looking gear that had been carved into it, before noticing something interesting.

"Shows how much Krew knows, he said that Mar's weapon was a staff, when its actually a sword," Twilight commented, as the weapon in question looked thicker and came to a point at the bottom, a sharpened point that belonged to a blade to be exact, and at the bottom of the hilt, which was pointed up towards the ceiling of this chamber, rested a crystalline item that looked a lot like a metallic key with a crystal near the top, but even as she and her siblings stared at it, which made her wonder where in the world Mar's blade had to be resting, she and Starlight dismissed their levitation spell so they could touch the ground once more, "Well, let's get the Ruby Key and get out of here."

In the next couple of seconds Daxter, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore rushed up the sides of the statue, making sure not to do anything that might damage it since Twilight was watching them with great interest, before reaching the Key's location and stared at it for a few seconds, which was when they stood around it and gripped the sides of it for a moment before they heaved and pulled it out of the area it had been resting in since the day it had been added to the statue, where Alvin made sure Twilight collected it with her magic before they returned to the group, allowing them to find a nearby platform that brought them up to the start of the Sewers, allowing all of them to leave this area. With that done Twilight handed over the Ruby Key to Starlight, since only one of them needed to deliver it to Krew and not everyone had to be there, so when they reached the surface she took one vehicle and headed for the Port, allowing Jak, Twilight, and Cozy to head out, with Cozy taking a small zoomer for herself this time, though this time around they headed for the Stadium, as Jak noticed that there was a notice from Keira and that meant that she must have something for them to do. Upon thinking about things it was possible that she might be calling them back to the Stadium for one of the races that would allow them to get closer to the Baron, given the fact that she had signed them up for her racing team, even if one person could driver for the team and had lead to his sisters pointing at Jak for the position, which he gladly accepted since he was interested in seeing the skills of the other racers that called Haven City home, especially since one of them was Errol, who he would have to face at some point in the future. As such they headed for the Stadium and came to a stop when they reached the stairs that were in front of the massive building, where each of them made sure that the guards didn't come charging at them for some reason, before entering the area that Keira was working in, where they found her on this side of the curtain and it looked like she had just wrapped up her work for today, before she smiled as she noticed the three siblings that had come to her garage, even if she might be sad that Starlight was absent.

"I'm glad you guys were able to make it here without any problems," Keira commented, as she knew that the guards were looking for them, given that they were working for both the Underground and Krew while disrupting every operation that the Baron had set in motion recently, though at the same time she knew the guards weren't all that observant, since none of them had come running when the siblings entered the Stadium Section of the city, "since you told me that you wanted to get at the Baron, which involves getting into the Palace itself, you can always try winning the Class One race, as whoever wins that gets a pass that allows them to spend an entire day inside the Palace... though to get to that race we would need to win the Class Two and Class Three races first, which is why I called you guys here, as the Class Three race is scheduled to start in the next couple of minutes."

"Good, I'll tackle the race while you guys rest and watch what happens," Jak replied, though this was good news for them, because gaining entry to the Palace would allow them to confront the Baron in a place where he might lower his guard for a time, though at the same time it gave him a chance to show off his racing skills against those who lived in the city, while his sisters honestly didn't care about the race itself since this was better left to him, something that prompted Keira to beckon for them to follow her.

Keira lead them to a side entrance of the Stadium, just to make sure the Krimzon Guards didn't see them, and made sure both Starlight and Cozy were positioned in a seating area so they could see everything, where they found that the training area Jak had used the JET-Board in had been replaced with a massive track, while Jak was escorted to the racing vehicle and was lowered into the course so he could join the couple of racers that were present... though once everyone was at the starting point the race was started and they discovered that it had five laps, but, as the sisters expected, Jak came out on top and they regrouped in the garage as Jak placed the trophy on the shelf that Keira's trophies were on.

"Seems the Class Three race was the easiest... when are they going to provide us with a challenge?" Daxter commented, speaking as soon as everyone, including Starlight since she had arrived in the middle of the race, was back inside Keira's garage and had gathered around the trophy shelves, though even he had to admit that what he and the others had seen during the first of the three races was interesting, that none of the racers seemed to have any great skill in racing, which allowed Jak to win without wasting too much effort on his part, though as he opened his mouth to say something else he noticed Ashelin walking over to them, causing the others to glance at her as well.

"Hey, you were pretty amazing out there today... none of the other racers stood a chance." Ashelin said, which wasn't what the group, or even Keira for that matter, were expecting to hear and suspected that the lady knew that she had surprised all of them in a matter of seconds, even though it meant she must have been assigned to this area before being sent out to continue looking for the Tomb of Mar, given the orders that her father had given her and what the siblings had learned during their brief visit to the Palace.

"Thanks. If there's anything I can do, with any degree of consistency and success, it's racing." Jak replied, where he smiled for a moment, as that was the truth of the matter and he could see that his siblings and Keira understood his words, even if it other might assume he was bragging about his skills, and in a way he guessed that he was doing that, but before they did anything else he had to wonder why Ashelin was here, something his sisters had to be thinking about as well, all while Keira and the others remained silent, "I take it you and Keira know each other?"

"Yeah, she was the one who arrested me when I used my makeshift zoomer... and then saved my life a few times from the Metal Heads when I went outside the Eco Dome," Keira spoke up, revealing that there had been a few close calls since her arrival in Haven City, ones that she had learned from since it looked like she remained inside the safety of the city and did everything in her power to make sure everyone else was safe from the Metal Heads, before she considered why Ashelin had come to the garage in the first place, which would no doubt interest Jak and his sisters, "in fact she usually comes by after each race to see how I'm doing, and if there's anything specific I need to complete the orders I'm given... though I'm actually fine this time around, as the latest vehicle is almost done."

"Well, I also wanted to say thanks for helping out with that tanker... you guys saved a lot of lives." Ashelin added, revealing that there was another reason for her seeking them out like this, that she had been thinking about the tanker incident and, more importantly, that she knew the truth of the matter, that without the siblings she and her unconscious forces would have been killed in a matter of moments, not to mention whoever else all of the Metal Heads killed before reinforcements were able to contain the invasion and finish their enemies off, before she heard the sound of something behind her and they noticed a few guards walking by, ignoring Jak and his sisters, "I'm sure that you guys are aware of this, but I'm nothing like my father, or rather the man that he's become after his failed assault on the Metal Head Nest... in fact, ever since I was a little girl, I've looked down at the city streets from that ridiculous Palace, and imagined what this city might be like if the previous King was still in charge. Anyway, I'm sure you know this as well, but the guards are hunting for you, though you should watch out for Errol... he's bound to be threatened after seeing your skills out there."

Jak wasn't concerned about the Baron's right hand man at this point, as with his skills and the powers of his sisters, which included Midnight if they were forced to call her out of Twilight, there was no way Errol could beat them, though instead of saying anything the group nodded their heads and Ashelin departed, even though Keira had to go back to their work and Twilight informed her siblings that the Ruby Key had been handed over to Krew, so he wouldn't be bothering them yet, but after that was done they noticed a message from the Shadow and found that he wanted them to visit Onin's tent... where it took them no time to reach their destination and found that the person in question was talking to Pecker, which was odd since they weren't expecting him to leave the Underground hideout.

"The birdbrain and I were just talking about you, Jak, and discussing your sisters as well." the Shadow said, switching who he was speaking to the moment the siblings came to a stop near the opening of the tent that Pecker and the old seer used as their home and shop, while at the same time it was easy for everyone to see that Pecker didn't like being called by such a name, even though he refrained from doing anything since the person saying it was the leader of the Underground and he needed to be ready for whatever the future held for them, "Onin has informed me that she is very proud of what all of you have done."

"What we've done?" Jak inquired, because while someone could assume that Onin was referring to something they had done recently, like escorting their younger selves to the Power Station and the safety it provided, there was a chance that she was referring to something she had seen in her visions and might have seen a future event play out, which she didn't tell anyone about since it could very well influence the future in some manner and cancel out what she had seen, since it could lead to someone being defeated by their own overconfidence, which only made him wonder what in the world she might have seen in her vision.

"What you've done, what you'll do; it's all the same." Pecker stated, as this was common for him when he translated what Onin had to say, even though this time around it was the Shadow who delivered the information to Jak and his sisters, as it was information he had given the man while he conversed with Onin earlier, and he enjoyed seeing how confused or even upset people became after hearing such a thing, as some members of this group were that way while both Starlight and Twilight seemed to be thinking about it.

"Will you please stop it with the deja-voodoo stuff! It's creepy!" Daxter stated, due to the fact that he was used to all three of Jak's sisters wielding the magical powers and doing all sorts of strange or interesting things, but what Pecker was doing was more annoying than anything else and he wasn't afraid to let the bird know it, even though Alvin and his brothers had no opinion on the matter and just wanted to hear what in the world the siblings needed to do once they were done talking with Onin and the others.

"Anyway, Onin has informed me that you four must find the Tomb of Mar, the very thing the Baron is trying to find with all of his random searching," the Shadow said, returning to the reason that they were here in the first place, stopping Daxter from doing anything he might regret, despite the fact that it seemed like he and Pecker already had a rocky friendship of some kind, likely due to their first meeting, before he focused on the task at hand, "and, according to what we've been able to determine, only the true heir of Mar can open the Tomb's seal... we believe that the young boy is the key, even though there is a slim chance that he might not be the key and that one of his sisters could open the way... we won't know until we find the Tomb's hidden entrance."

"The prophecies say that the true heir of Mar must face the ancient Oracle; he alone must circumvent the cunning tests of manhood; he alone must wield the Precursor Stone, thereby unleashing..." Pecker translated, clearly revealing what Onin had to say on the matter, just like he always did whenever she started to weave her bits of Eco through the air and moved her hands for a time, even though this time around it sure looked like he might be annoyed with the lady and quickly hung his head over the side of his perch to stare at her face, "Geez Louise, fossil lady! Stop with the snooty mystic talk already! You know that it really hurts my lips!"

"Out of curiosity, why is Mar's tomb so important?" Twilight asked, as while she understood that it had to be Mar's resting place, where his body, armor, weapons, and whatever else was buried with him had to be located, so far her studies didn't indicate that there was anything of interest inside it and it made her wonder what she might have missed, while everyone else seemed interested in what Pecker and the Shadow might have to tell her, which would give them all an idea of what they might be looking for.

"The fabled Precursor Stone is rumored to sleep within the tomb, stupid!" Pecker stated, almost as if he couldn't believe that someone like Twilight hadn't heard of what was supposed to be sealed away in the legendary tomb of the man who founded Haven City, while at the same time a frown appeared on Twilight's face as she focused on Pecker, which was the moment that Jak, Starlight, and Cozy noticed that part of her aura seemed different and the sclera of her right eye took on Midnight's coloration once more, "I added the 'stupid' part. According to the stories the Precursor Stone contains vast Eco energies, the likes of which are beyond our imagination, and it can be used for great good... or, great evil! Personally, I just love saying that last part!"

"Based on what we know, the Baron wants the Precursor Stone for himself to rule the world, but he is playing with forces he does not understand." the Shadow added, deciding to get away from Pecker's love of saying the whole 'great good and great evil' part, whenever he was talking about artifacts that could either help the city or doom it, while at the same time he noticed the odd chance in Twilight's energies and even spotted the change in her eye, reminding him of what Torn had told him, before thinking about the artifact they were all looking for.

"Okay that means we need to get to it first... but how are we supposed get this Precursor Stone?" Cozy asked, as that was the problem, because no one knew where the Tomb was located and that meant that the immensely powerful Precursor Stone was out of everyone's reach as well, though at the same time Starlight made sure Twilight calmed down and didn't transform into Midnight, as that was the last thing they needed right now, Midnight surging to the surface to strike down Pecker for his comment.

"First, the lot of you must go back to the Dig and find the Lurker totem, an important artifact to the Lurkers who happen to live in those caves." the Shadow spoke up, revealing that he and Onin must have been talking about this before they had arrived at the tent and that, through a process of elimination that would remain unknown to the siblings, the pair might have found out exactly what they were looking for, even though it might have lead to the Shadow giving missions to the higher ranking members of the Underground to find them, or at least that was what Jak thought anyway, "Onin and I have learned that a piece to the Seal of Mar is contained within its ancient carvings, and we need all three pieces of the Seal in order to get closer to finding the Tomb, so while you recover the first piece from its resting place we'll be looking for the other two pieces... once we have all of them we'll go from there."

"What about the artifacts we recovered from the Mountain Temple?" Starlight inquired, because so far they had no idea as to why they had been asked to recover the Lens, Gear, and Crystal that Onin had sent them to recover, despite the fact that Onin promised them that she would search the timelines to search for information that would reveal what all three of the artifacts were supposed to be and why they needed them, something that she hadn't revealed yet and it made them wonder if she might have found something or if she had struck out in her search, something that caused the old seer to shift her hands and Eco for a few more seconds, causing Pecker to translate her statement for them.

"Onin says that they are part of the key to finding the Tomb of Mar, but we're missing the other half of the 'key' and need to find it first," Pecker replied, something that caused Jak and his sisters to raise their eyebrows for a moment, which also included Daxter and the Ottsel brothers, because his words made it sound like Onin was implying that the artifacts from the Mountain Temple and the Seal were the two halves of the same key, that they needed both of them to move forward in their plans to find the Tomb of Mar, but they decided to say nothing to what the bird said, merely nodding their heads to show him that they understood his statement.

With that information acquired, and it gave them more to think about, the group exited the tent and returned to where the location both of their zoomers were resting in, as it was time for them to return to the Port and use the Air Train to head back to the Dig, as it was likely that something had changed in one of the walls and would reveal a path for them to use, a new one to be exact, and they were interested in seeing what sort of enemies might be waiting for them this time around, as it wouldn't be the Krimzon Guards since they had been cleared out, all while looking for any signs of the Seal fragment that was supposed to be there.
> Renegade: Search for the Seal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It took the siblings a few minutes to reach the area that the Air Train was resting in, not to mention a few more minutes for it to fly through the air and reach the structure that was right outside the Dig, giving Jak and his sisters a chance to prepare for whatever might be inside the cave this time around, though when it arrived at their destination the four of them walked out of the Air Train and headed down to where the large elevator platform rested, which quickly lowered itself once all of them were standing on it. Just like the last time they were here all four of them kept their guards up and readied their weapons, as there was no telling what sort of enemies might be lurking in this place this time around, before they found five Stingers that burst out of the sandy ground and rushed over to where they were standing, leading Twilight to wave her hand and loose a wave of red energy that knocked all of them out, where she had to admit that what Midnight had done to her Morph Gun was coming in handy and allowed her to maneuver around a battlefield with ease, before she shook her head and used a bit of magic to collect the fallen Skull Gems as the others moved forward. From there the siblings turned towards the opening that had previously brought them to the location of the drill they had destroyed the last time they were here, where they discovered that every piece of metal and wood that had been left behind by the Krimzon Guards had been repurposed into a makeshift walkway, before noticing that there were a number of houses built into the sides of the ceiling of this cavern, which had to be the Lurker village, hence why they focused on what was in front of them, as there were two Swipers in their way. Jak and Cozy wasted no time in lashing out at their foes, Jak hitting his opponent with a swift punch and then blasted it while his sister just slammed her foe into the ground and struck it several times, six by her count, before it stopped moving, something that let them discover that there was a rail leading to a new tunnel that was on a lower level in front of them, where Starlight used her powers to levitate all of them over to the area in question and dropped them in front of the opening.

She knew it would have been somewhat easier to allow Jak to use the JET-Board as she carried herself and her sisters, but none of the others complained about what she had done and each of them stood at the ready as they walked through the new tunnel, though it didn't take them long to reach a massive open area that had a bunch of contraptions, some made out of metal and some out of wood, which rested around or near the open pools of lava, and, based on what they could see, there were a few Slinger Metal Heads in this place, not to mention a couple of Swipers and Stingers, due to the fact that Cozy knocked out two of the latter before they spotted all of this.

"I had no idea the Lurkers had built a village like this, or that they would build it in such a dangerous place," Twilight said, as they were stopping for a moment to get a good look at the area that was in front of them, due to the fact that it looked like there might be a pathway of sorts on the left side of this cavern and that it would require someone to raise a decent sized platform to reach the upper levels of this place, something they didn't have to worry about given the fact that three of them had magic, "Fascinating... I'd ask Brutter about this, since he seems to be the most intelligent Lurker we've seen, but I have the feeling that he wouldn't be able to answer any question I have for him, so I'll just have to let this drop and, hopefully, come back to this at a later date... or find someone who has the information and is willing to share, even if there is a slim possibility of that happening."

While Jak and the others had to admit that it was interesting to see what the Lurkers had built, given everything they knew about the race in question, none of them were eager to waste time since this place had to be one of the hotter areas that they had traveled through during their adventures, save for the Lava Tubes anyway, hence the reason Jak started to move forward and was joined by his sisters not a few moments later, where they opened fire on the Slingers and Swipers that happened to be out in the open. There were two items in this area that everyone noticed as they started to move, the first being the couple of logs that had been turned into spinning walkways, with one side flat and the other having spikes that would damage whoever touched that side, while the second item was a Lurker balloon that was moving from one location to another, meaning that someone was either learning how to properly use the vehicle in question or the Lurker wanted to aid them in some manner, to help them get from one part of the cavern to another. Their actions didn't stop the couple of Slingers from firing at them from where they were standing, rather it seemed to provoke them into attacking, but the attacks were stopped by Twilight's magic forming a barrier at her command, allowing her to protect everyone before her siblings returned fire on their enemies, taking the Metal Heads down as Alvin and his brothers kept an eye out for danger or anything that seemed out of place, to them at the very least. Of course all of them felt that this entire area was out of place, since none of them were familiar with what sort of village the Lurkers would make if they gathered together to do such a thing, but that didn't stop them from lashing out at the enemies that were gathering around this place and knocked all of the Metal Heads off of the walkways that they happened to be standing on, even though Cozy found her way over to what appeared to be a warehouse or something and discovered that there were a number of Stingers that burst out of the ground all around her and rushed over to where she was standing, to which she grinned as she shifted into her Dark Form for a moment and loosed a Dark Bomb that wiped them all out.

Starlight had to admit that it was a good move, using up some of the Dark Eco that she had gathered inside her body since the last time she had used the Dark Bomb on some enemies, or even used her other side for a time, though once the four of them made sure their enemies were dead, and they gathered all of the Skull Gems that had been scattered around the area, they made their way over to the tower that rested nearby, as in near the warehouse Cozy had cleared out, and found that the Lurker balloon was definitely moving from this area and reached where the next part of the cave was, but since it had a pole long enough for one person there wasn't much they could do, save for allowing Jak to use the balloon to reach the other side as his sisters used magic to follow after him.

There were a few Swipers guarding the area in question, as they jumped down from where they had been resting before Jak and his sisters reached the section of the cave that seemed to be the way forward, though it didn't stop Twilight from opening fire with a few Fireballs, blasting all four of their enemies backwards and opened the way for her siblings to take all of them down, before they stared at the area they were in and noticed that there was no platform for them to use to get to a higher level, since none of them bothered with the switches they had seen so far. As such Starlight weaved some of her magic through the air and created some magical platforms for them to use so they could continue looking for the Lurker totem that held the first of the three fragments of the Seal of Mar, which the Underground had to obtain so one of them could figure out where the Tomb rested, though as soon as the siblings reached the highest platform, and were able to area that was in front of them, they paused as they noticed that there was a large lava filled area for them to traverse as they looked for the totem. Of course there was something good about everything that was in front of Jak and his sisters, as there happened to be some sort of ancient wood or heat resistant stone resting in the lava, two of them to be exact, which formed a path of sorts for them to follow, though Jak blasted three Stingers that emerged from the ground and left picking them up to either Twilight or Starlight as he leapt onto the stone that was in front of them, as it felt more like stone and less like wood, and made his way across the path in question, all while Daxter made sure to keep an eye out for enemies that might be looking to knock them off either of the stones and send them into the lava, which he'd rather not fall into if he could help it. Once he had a decent head start his sisters followed after him and started to traverse the stones that he was using to move deeper into the massive cave they were exploring, before they reached an area that happened to have two Lurker balloons, one that seemed to bring them to the middle of this section of the cave and another than would bring them to the end point of this area, so Jak just used both Lurker balloons as his sisters used magic to move forward, with a few keeping their eyes open for enemies.

That brought them to a short tunnel that seemed to bring them to the outskirts of the village, or the main center of it, and happened to be where a few platforms rested, ones that Jak and his sisters would have to navigate while using a pair of wooden wheels to get up to the highest point that they could see from the opening, though along the way Cozy struck a lone Slinger with her fist and knocked it out as Twilight weaved a protective wall in the next area, as it happened to have a number of spike balls rolling down a diagonal path, before they avoided the obstacles and found what they were looking for, a tall log that had been transformed into a totem pole, complete with an odd metallic object at the top, one that was a circle with two indents.

"So, that's the first piece of the Seal of Mar... and I'm willing to bet that the indents are where the other two pieces go, once we figure out where they're located," Daxter commented, which was probably one of the smartest things he had said in his life, and would likely be the last time such a thing happened in the first place, before he sighed as he glanced at the rest of the area that they were in, where Jak discovered a new path around the backside of the totem that lead right to something that put a smile on his face, a Warp Gate that had to link back up with Haven City, "Twilight, Starlight, you two are up, since your magic will make sure that nothing bad happens when we remove the piece from its resting place."

Neither of the sisters needed to be told that as Starlight used her magic to make sure that the totem didn't move when the first piece was yanked out of the area it was held in, so when she was ready Twilight weaved her magic through the air for a few seconds and latched onto her target, where she carefully pulled the relic from where it was resting and found that it came out with ease, meaning whoever put it there hadn't done much to hide it or attach it to the totem, before she stored it inside their pack and they headed through the Warp Gate, returning to Haven City once more, which would no doubt be when Vin or someone else had the Air Train return to the city as well, just in case they needed it later. Upon their return to the Power Station, since that seemed to be the only location for a Warp Gate that wasn't under the Baron's control, they discovered that no one was inside the structure they had appeared in and that meant Vin was either busy with something else or he was checking somewhere without having to expose himself to others, though it also meant there was no one to give them missions in this area and caused the group to leave the Power Station not a few seconds later, before heading for the Hip Hog to see what Krew, Sig, and Tess were up to. None of the Krimzon Guards cared about the four of them, which was what they were used to when they were inside the city and not assaulting one of the Baron's operations outside the walls, so Jak and his sisters were able to quickly traverse both the section of the Industrial Section that they were in and the Port in a matter of minutes, allowing them to come to a stop right outside their destination and set their zoomers near a wall, so they could use them once they were done figuring out what sort of mission they would be given next. Sure enough they found Tess working on the other side of the bar, cleaning glasses since there were next to no customers inside the Hip Hog, in fact the only one who seemed to be in inside this place was Sig, who was either taking a break and relaxing a little or he was supervising Tess, though both of them stopped what they were doing as the siblings entered the structure and walked over to where the bar rested, where it looked like Tess was starting to prepare a few energy drinks, or drinks designed to restore their energy, for the four of them.

"I hope you cherries are ready for another mission, even though it looks like you might want a break before heading out to do anything else," Sig commented, something that caused the siblings to raise their eyebrows for a moment, even though each of them were expecting to be given a brand new mission without taking a break or a day off, but as they remained silent it looked like Daxter and the Ottsel brothers climbed onto the bar as well, where Tess smiled and poured a couple of glasses for them as well, full of juice based on what Twilight could see, "Vin has informed me that a large group of Metal Heads have been spotted in Haven Forest, combat types based on what he's been able to determine, and that they have a new camouflage ability that we haven't seen before, making them harder to spot and tougher to fight... however, Vin also noticed that they were either slain or have disappeared from his radar, so since he's unable to determine what happened to them he asked me to go check it out, but given your skills and 'killer instincts' you should be able to find them and quickly eliminate them. Also, we got a message from Brutter earlier, something we recorded for you since he wanted to tell you guys about something in the Water Slums... we didn't play it and were waiting for you to arrive."

Jak raised his eyebrow for a moment as Sig pulled out a small rectangular shaped item that had to be a recorder, though as soon as it rested on the bar Sig pressed the play button and they heard Brutter's voice speak up, where he revealed a bit of interesting news, he apparently knew that the Underground was looking for the Seal of Mar and that he liked shiny things, which was followed by him revealing that he might have a fragment of the Seal and that he was gifting it to Jak and his sisters, even though they would have to go to his hut in the Water Slums to collect it. Truthfully, he wasn't expecting to hear such a thing, especially since the Shadow and Onin were in the middle of looking for the other two pieces, but it was something that they could look into and he quickly came to a decision on what they should do, as he and Cozy would head out for the Water Slums while Twilight and Starlight would head to Haven Forest to see what might have happened to the Metal Heads, even though they assumed that the Neo Metal Heads had taken the intruders down and were likely feasting right now, before determining that they could meet up in the Slums, to visit Torn and see if he had anything that needed to be done to aid the Underground. In the end Twilight determined that it was a good idea, since they had two missions and it would be easy for them to split up to tackle them, or at least one mission and one visit to the resting place of their allies, who they would need to tell the Shadow about at some point, though instead of leaving immediately the siblings finished off their drinks and then departed from the Hip Hog, after making sure Daxter and the others did the same thing, before climbing into their two zoomers so they could head out, Twilight and Starlight heading for the Mountain Temple Door Lock and the Warp Gate that was behind it, while Jak and Cozy headed for the Water Slums. As it turned out, however, Jak and Cozy noticed something odd as they headed towards their destination, there was a larger guard presence in the Slums, far more than what they were used to since there seemed to be four to five times as many enemies as what they had seen in the past, not to mention some of the larger guard zoomers that seemed to have a yellow and black coloration and not the original red color, which caused them to land outside the Water Slums and walk towards Brutter's place.

While they walked towards their destination, carefully traveling down the wooden walkway, the siblings and their Ottsels noticed something else that caused them to raise their guards, there were no civilians in this section of the city, despite the fact that they had seen many the last time they were here, and Cozy was sure that there were a few guards following them as she and Jak headed deeper into the Water Slums, before they eventually reached the end of the path they had been walking down and found a metallic object, made out of Precursor metal and shaped like a curved half of a yin yang symbol for some reason, just like the symbol on the young Prince's amulet, though the moment they took it the guards spread out and started to rush at them.

"So, they were planning on using this Seal fragment to lure us out, to crush us and claim it," Jak commented, as that had to be the situation that he and Cozy had found themselves in, though at the same time he beckoned to Theodore with his head for a moment and the other Ottsel climbed over to his other shoulder, something that allowed Cozy to shift into her Dark Form once more, where he noticed that there were a few guard carriers flying into the area and were dropping more enemies for them to fight, even if they hadn't taken anyone out yet, to which he readied his weapon as he stood beside his sister, who was waiting for him to get ready before she moved, "Cozy, smash!"

Cozy grinned as she rushed forward and started to lash out at the enemies that were in front of them, where she struck all of the guards that were blocking her way and either kicked them into the floor or sent them flying at the other guards, but as Jak followed her, and opened fire on any guards who rushed at him and even punched a few that got close to him, this allowed him to see that Cozy was, in some capacity, in control of herself and was carefully attacking her foes, leaving them in an unconscious state, meaning none of the guards had been killed and showed just how much restraint she had gained since their visit to the Oracle's building. Jak had to admit that he was impressed by his sister's skill, the fact that Cozy was in control of her other side, for the most part since there were times where it seemed like Dark Cozy had taken over during one of their fights, though he suspected that, after some additional time training herself, she would be in total control of her body and her Dark Form would no longer be a thing, unlike how it looked like Twilight and Midnight were two sides of the same coin, so much so that one overcoming the other didn't seem possible. For now, however, he focused on blasting and kicking his foes into the water that was around them, making those guards unable to do much since they had to swim over to one of the lowered sections to get back up to where he and Cozy were fighting, though this explained why there were no civilians in this area of the city, given the ambush the guards set up and failed to carry out since they exposed the trap long before they reached their destination, but for now the siblings focused on knocking their enemies down while they moved through the Water Slums, making their way back to the entrance of this area. Eventually the predictable part of this reared its head on them, some of the Krimzon Guards started to flee when they found Cozy approaching them and it weakened the amount of enemies that were coming into this area, something that allowed them to reach the border that rested between the two Slums sections of the city, where the guards stopped coming and it was followed by Cozy taking a moment to switch back into her base form as they got in their zoomer and left the area.

Upon their arrival outside the Underground's hideout, since that was where Jak wanted them and their sisters to meet up once both of their objectives were done, they found Twilight and Starlight waiting nearby, where Twilight informed them that they had been right to think that the Neo Metal Heads had killed the group of camouflage Metal Heads that had been inside Haven Forest, even though they made sure to tell Sig that it was by their hand that such a thing happened, to make sure no one discovered the existence of their allies, before Jak revealed the piece of the Seal they had recovered, to which they smiled as the piece was stored inside a pack and they headed down into the hideout... where it was easy to see that Torn was going over some papers and stopped upon their arrival.

"Ah, good, you guys have returned." Torn commented, where he seemed like he was glad that they were back, despite the fact that his face didn't express such a thing towards them, though as he said that the siblings spread out and focused on what he might tell them, since they had the feeling that a true mission was going to come their way and this would give all of them a chance to understand what sort of situation they would be in, "The Baron's been gearing up for something big, due to all of the increased Krimzon Guard movement we've been seeing lately... whatever you four have been doing lately, both in our name and in Krew's name, you've really upset him."

"Trust me, we're just getting started," Cozy remarked, where she flexed her right hand for a moment and the claws came out for a few seconds, as she was imagining what would happen the next time she and her siblings encountered more of the Krimzon Guard or their toys, though at the same time, in the corner of her eye, she noticed that Torn seemed to raise his guard for a moment, no doubt worried that her Dark Form was about to come out and run wild, before she shrugged and her hand returned to normal as she thought about something, "though something tells me that the Baron has done something specific that has caused you to be grateful that we've come back to the hideout."

"You would be correct, as he's brought in new Krimzon Guard HellCat Cruisers," Torn replied, something that caused both Jak and Cozy to think about the odd cruisers they had seen while they were traveling to the Water Slums earlier, the black and yellow ones that didn't take part in the failed ambush, while at the same time Twilight and Starlight seemed interested in what the new vehicles looked like and how dangerous they had to be, "these vehicles are making the streets dangerous for the Underground, as I've read reports that they are far more deadly than the previous generation of cruisers... in fact, we've already lost five men since they were sent out, while at least twenty to thirty have been forced into their hideouts to treat their wounds, weakening our grip on the districts of the city."

"Well, we can take them out for you, as I have a plan on what to do about them," Twilight said, where she moved some of her fingers for a moment and her siblings noticed that she seemed to be manipulating either magic or the Dark Eco that was inside her body, moving a small cylinder shaped item that was like a pencil or pen that was made from the material in question, but the fact that she had a plan on how to take them all out interested her siblings and seemed to bring a nod from Torn, which meant he was ready for whatever they needed to do to bring the HellCats down.

Twilight's plan, as it turned out, was to manipulate some of the Dark Eco she had access to and created five small cylinder shaped items that floated above her hand, showing them that her skills in controlling the power that Midnight had granted her had improved, before she had Torn tell her where all five of their targets were located and pinpointed their locations in Haven City, finding that most of them were scattered all over the Slums and none of them were near each other, which meant she could set her plan into motion with ease. The plan, as it turned out, was to put on a disguise and walk under all five of their targets, where she and her siblings could either toss the cylinders up into the backside of the HellCats and the power inside them would cause all of them to stick to the exhaust portion of the vehicles, so once all five targets had been tagged she would expand her power for a moment and detonate all of them, blowing the terrible vehicles to pieces and making the streets safer for the Underground, all without leaving a trace of tampering. She was sure that Keira had been behind making these things, given that part of her job seemed to be working as the mechanic for the Krimzon Guard, to make newer and stronger vehicles to bring down their enemies, though it also meant that she placed inside them a couple of weaknesses that someone could use to topple them, all without the Baron knowing about what she had done, but once she was done with making sure every HellCat was destroyed, which Jak and their sisters confirmed as well, they quickly regrouped at the Underground hideout and found that Torn was no longer in need of their assistance, because with all five of the vehicles blown apart, which must have been unmanned since they were empty, the Underground could deal with whatever happened next. As such the siblings returned to their zoomers and quickly departed from the Slums, just so the Krimzon Guards wouldn't link them to the destruction of their new vehicles, even if the Baron might since he seemed to dislike them, where they headed over towards the Stadium once more, just to check in with Keira and see if she had a task or something for one of them to do, or just chat for a time, but, upon their arrival, she informed them that everything was fine and slipped Jak something, which he pocketed before they headed out again.

After their short visit to the Stadium, where they found a number of posters that revealed that the next race, the Class Two race, would be sooner than they thought and meant that it might happen in the next day or two, but instead of worrying about that, not that anyone was remotely worried since Jak could overcome any lesser skilled racer and would likely have a challenge when he faced Errol, they headed back to the Bazaar and parked their zoomers outside their destination, so they could walk over to Onin's hut and see if she had any information for them, where they found Kor in the middle of talking with Onin about something.

"Expecting that little boy and his sisters to save us is folly! At their age, none of them are ready to face the Metal Heads or their terrifying Leader!" Kor exclaimed, revealing that he didn't agree with whatever he and Onin were talking about, or he and Pecker since Onin was silent and only signed things for the bird to translate, though it was in the following moments that he noticed that Pecker was oddly silent and turned towards the opening, findingthat Jak and his sisters had arrived and were now standing right in the middle of the tent's opening, "Oh, Jak, girls... we were just talking about Samos' plans for the future, and how bad some of them are."

"Onin says your voice sounds very familiar... I bet you two golden oldies go way, way back, huh?" Pecker commented, as he noticed that the seer had something to say, even though it caused her and Kor to glare at each other for a few seconds, an odd thing to have happen based on what the siblings recalled, though it didn't take the old seer long to refocus her efforts and started to sign once more, something that caused Pecker to pause for a time as he gathered what she was saying, or however he was figuring out what the seer had to say, "Onin says that it is time for the four of you to prove yourselves, Jak, as you and your sisters have passed the tests associated with the first and second fragments of the Seal, trials designed to make one show their strength and their skills, with the third test being the test of the mind. Onin also says that they were placed in such a way that they would be energized by someone, or a group of someones, who were looking for the Seal, and she always wants you to know that, despite two of you not engaging the Krimzon Guards in the Water Slums earlier, the Seal recognizes the power of those who weren't present for the trial... along with the fact that if you pass the third and final trial the last piece of the Seal will be revealed, allowing us to reforge the ancient artifact."

What they discovered was that Onin channeled her Eco powers into the space that was between her and the siblings, the latter finding that a couple of shapes appeared in the air, a blue x, a red circle, a green triangle, and a purple square, why they were shaped like that they had no idea and honestly didn't care to explore why she created the shapes that popped into existence in front of them, but what they did do was channel their own Eco powers and tapped on each symbol that appeared in their faces, though eventually the energies that were gathering produced something interesting, the third and final piece of the Seal pushed through the Eco and merged with the other two pieces, creating the complete Seal, which Jak collected with a smile on his face.

"Behold! The Seal of Mar is now complete!" Pecker exclaimed, his tone revealing that he was pleased with their actions, as it allowed Jak and his sisters to recover the missing key that would allow someone to uncover the Tomb of Mar, where one would find the legendary Precursor Stone, which they needed to keep out of the Baron's hands at all costs, since they had no idea what he wanted with it, before the bird noticed the old seer moving her hands again, meaning she had something to tell them, "Onin says the three artifacts you retrieved from the Mountain Temple are relics from an ancient Light Tower, one that happens to have old songs written about it and tell how it once shined down on the actual site of Mar's tomb! I sing one of these songs for you: From the mists of time, Mar's light would shine..."

"Woah there, iron lungs. Just tell us what we need to do," Cozy stated, mostly because Pecker's singing was terrible, which had caused Kor to let go of his walking stick for a moment and let it hit the ground, something he had to pick up once they recovered from hearing the terrible singing, though the other reason was due to the fact that even her inner Dark Form disliked the tune and wanted to shut him up before he completed the song, and she could tell that Midnight shared her opinion on the matter, given the change to Twilight's energy signature and one of her eyes, "before you make one of us shift into our Dark Forms and do something we might regret."

"Right... anyway, you must take the three artifacts to Mar's gate," Pecker replied, showing that he hadn't considered that possibility, that his singing might cause one of the three siblings to shift into their Dark Forms, since Starlight, being the fourth one of the group, didn't have such a form, which would have lead to them attacking him and ruining the tent, even if he knew Onin would come to his aid if she sensed them coming at him, before he focused on the topic at hand so they could leave this place, "from there you will be able to find the Light Tower and make it rise, so it will reveal the location of the Tomb of Mar and the legendary Precursor Stone."

Instead of saying another word, even though Starlight had noticed that Kor had left while Pecker was giving them all of the information that they needed on the Light Tower, the siblings exited the hut and headed back to where they had parked their zoomers, as it was about time that they found the Tomb of Mar and put an end to the Baron's plans, or at least that was their hope when their foe found out that someone had beaten him to the Stone, though once they reached the pair of vehicles the siblings headed out for the Mountain Temple. It only took them a few minutes to reach their destination, as it was close to where the Bazaar rested, though upon their arrival the siblings climbed out of their zoomers and walked up the ramp once more, passing through the Door Lock again before being allowed to access the Warp Gate that was on the other side, bringing them up to the level that the other one rested on, at the start of the Mountain Temple, but instead of focusing on the platform that would allow one to enter the domain of the Neo Metal Heads they focused on hitting a lone circular platform and lowered it into position. Once that was done they stepped on the larger platform and let it take them down towards the path they had walked down the first time the four of them had come here, even though they had also separated to tackle the three paths that were around their area, but that was when Jak came to a stop in front of the lone gate that was to the right of them and raised the Seal for a few seconds, where the energy inside it seemed to resonate with the power inside the gate, allowing the latter to open and reveal another path for them to take. This path happened to have a massive chasm between the area that was on other side of the opened gate and the other side of the area, or at least that was what the siblings could see, and fortunately there happened to be several metallic pillars that were linked together with thin pipes, meaning Jak could use the JET-Board to get across the area while Twilight or Starlight used their magic to levitate all three of them so they could follow after him, though it didn't take them long to reach the other side of this area and found a gate surrounded by Precursor metal, one that seemed to lead to a hidden section of the Mountain Temple, an area that had a few machines that seemed older than what was inside the city.

Twilight noticed that the machine to their left, a console of some kind, had a triangular gear shaped hole that needed to be filled, a device to their right had a holder that seemed perfect for a crystal, and in front of them stood a structure that had an eye shaped item at the top of it, perfect for the lens they had picked up earlier, to which they pulled out the artifacts Onin had them pick up earlier and spread out, where Cozy slipped the gear into the slot that was waiting for it and just so happened to activate all of the gears the console was attached to, Jak jumped across a few stones to reach the structure that seemed to be the tower and attached the lens to the eye section, and Starlight slipped the crystal right into the holder they had discovered... which was when the eye structure pushed out towards the sky, forming a large tower in seconds, before the crystal was pulled into the device and fired a beam of blue energy at the lens, which was redirected not even a few seconds later, pointing in the direction of Haven City before it faded away seconds later.

"Well I'll be a moncaw's uncle, the Light Tower actually does exist!" Pecker exclaimed, showing that he and the others must have been watching the skies after the siblings visited Onin, as if that was something they needed to watch out for, but all of this did confirm the existence of the mythical tower, which was in front of the siblings, and, more importantly, the exact location of the Tomb of Mar,  or so Jak and his sisters hoped anyway, hence why they were silent and waited for Pecker to tell them if anything else had happened when they activated the tower, "Based on what we could see, even if it was for a few seconds, the beam of light did shine somewhere inside Haven City, meaning that the Tomb of Mar was resting under our noses all along... and thanks to me, the Underground found it before the Baron could!"

Jak and his sisters glanced at each other for a moment, as Pecker was being arrogant in believing that he had played any part in discovering the existence of the Tomb, despite the fact that he did translate Onin's statements for them, but none of them said anything as they retraced their steps and headed for the zoomers, giving the Shadow and the others time to figure out where the beam of light had fired, even though the moment they figured out where the Tomb rested the four of them would rush over to it, as it was time to claim the Precursor Stone and bring an end to the Baron's plans, before they focused on bringing down the Metal Head Leader and ended the war that was raging outside the walls.
> Renegade: Trials of the Tomb
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jak, Twilight, Cozy, and Starlight didn't have to wait all that long to figure out where the beam of light had been pointing, as they got a message from Torn when they returned to the city that the beam had struck a statue of the Baron that was right in front of the main Palace support tower, breaking said statue into pieces in the process, even though the head struck the platform it had been built on and, in a stroke of luck, shattered the stone that was resting below it, revealing an ancient Door Lock that, based on what they could figure out at a glance, had to lead them to the Tomb of Mar, or so they hoped since it could be a trick to divert their attention. As such the siblings quickly activated both of their zoomers and flew over to the part of the city that the statue had been resting in, where Twilight discovered that no guards were present and that worried her a little, because that meant they had to be reporting the destruction to the Baron, who would no doubt find out about the Tomb in the next couple of seconds, meaning all they could do was head for the Tomb and grab the Stone before it fell into their foe's hands, especially since they had no idea why the Baron wanted it so badly, even though all of them knew it couldn't be good. Sure enough the siblings found that Torn's statement about the destruction was true, the head of the Baron's statue was resting right on top of the massive base it had been built on, with most of the body parts resting all over the place, meaning someone might be tasked with cleaning up the area at some point in time, before they parked their zoomers a fair distance away from the ancient Door Lock, which had been well preserved thanks to how well the wall had been built around it, and waited for Twilight to cast an invisibility spell on them so no one could see them for a time, allowing them to walk over to the Door Lock and activate it, where it opened without delay. The moment the door was open the siblings stepped inside and found an elevator platform waiting for them, an older model based on what they could see, to which they stepped onto it and let it take them down into the depths of the area it was connected to, giving them a chance to see a number of square symbols on every side of the passage they were in, before it came to a stop not a few moments later.

It was in that moment that they discovered that the Shadow was standing in the middle of a decent sized chamber, with all four of Haven's heirs standing between him and a massive Precursor door that seemed to be the barrier between them and whatever was on the other side, the Tomb if they were lucky, and sure enough Kor was present as well, which meant he had to be interested in seeing the Precursor Stone, if this was truly the area it was hidden in, before the siblings walked forward and joined their allies once more.

"You guys did it! You actually found Mar's tomb!" the Shadow happily said, his tone revealing that he was pleased with the progress they had made in discovering the existence of the legendary Tomb and, if the tales were to be believed, the place that the Precursor Stone rested in, guarded by whatever trials had been built into Mar's final resting place, though it was clear that everyone was hoping that the legendary Stone was here and that the tales about it hadn't been tall tales, given all of the obstacles the Underground had gone through to reach this point in time, especially since destroying the statue would allow the Baron to know where the Tomb was located.

"Great, what do we do now?" Jak asked, because now that they had uncovered the resting place of the Tomb, at what they felt was a rather poor time since the Baron was no doubt on his way and might end up capturing everyone here before the Stone was found, he felt that it was time to let the Shadow know that he didn't agree with the idea of sending the kids into the Tomb, as none of them were old enough to do anything and they seemed to know it, hence why their younger selves moved to stand in front of him and his sisters for a moment, as each of them appeared to be worried about what might happen in the next couple of moments, "We can't send these kids into the Tomb, as none of them are old enough to handle whatever might be on the other side of this door, nor do they have any fighting skills to overcome the trials of this Tomb... not that it matters, since I'm sure the door might prevent them from entering the Tomb anyway."

"This is the day I've long awaited; to finally hold the fabled Precursor Stone in my hands." Kor stated, where it was easy for the group to tell that he was overly interested in getting his hands on the legendary Stone that had been hidden inside this area, far too interested based on what Jak and his sisters could tell, especially since he ignored Jak's statement about not sending the kids into the Tomb, making each of them wonder if there was something off about him, once more making them think about a thought they had in the past, before they decided that now was the time for them to focus on the Tomb and the kids, as they could deal with Kor later.

"Jak... yes, you are right... we cannot send the kids into the Tomb." the Shadow replied, ignoring Kor for a moment, as the elderly figure was surprised by the thought of working to find this place and not actually make an attempt to push inside and recover the Precursor Stone, but the siblings watched as the leader of the Underground sighed as he focused on the kids for a few seconds, before glancing over to the door for a moment, "I was going to say something about the fact that the tests of manhood are sure to be fraught with peril, as expected from the legendary Tomb of Mar, and that Mar's heir, or in this case heirs, had to face them alone... but we cannot force this upon them, not until they are old enough, not to mention skilled enough, to handle the tests of manhood, so we will..."

Welcome, heirs of Mar. Finally, the Chosen Ones stand before me... enter and prove yourselves worthy to claim your ancient birthright. the Oracle of the door stated, as the ancient speaker activated while they were talking, likely due to sensing that the younger version of Jak and his sisters were present in front of it, something that caused them to pause for a moment as everyone watched what was going on, which was followed by the ancient door starting to open before them, as in it raised into the ceiling for a few seconds and revealed that the Oracle might be willing to allow the kids to face the trials, before the door paused at the halfway point, No! Four of the heirs are too young to face the tests!

In that moment the door started to close before their eyes, confirming that the Oracle wasn't about to send the younger heirs to their untimely deaths, where Jak and his sisters rushed forward and rolled under the descending stone, so they could tackle whatever the tests of manhood might be, leaving the Shadow, Kor, and the kids standing there in shock as the door closed behind them and trapped them inside the Tomb, even though Jak knew that his sisters could use their magic to teleport them outside if they needed to do such a thing, though now the Shadow likely understood that they were the adult versions of the four young heirs, thanks to the Oracle revealing their secret... and based on the fact that there were no screams of anger, or whatever an alarm might be for this place, it looked like the Oracle was allowing them to tackle the tests that their younger selves couldn't face.

"So, this is the Tomb of Mar," Cozy commented, as resting in front of them was a massive cavern that had an ancient and well preserved structure that looked like a tomb of some kind, with two braziers right in front of them, one resting to their left while the other was to their right and came complete with two odd Precursor machines, which were likely activated by tackling whatever the trials were, and from what she could see there was a massive door off on the other side of this large cavern, one that stood between them and the Precursor Stone, before she found a winding staircase that lead down to the area that was in front of the door, something they started to walk down, while Twilight made notes of what was resting all around them, "I must say, this certainly looks like an interesting place... and that's not counting whatever dangers might be waiting for us."

"And it seems like we'll have to split up to enter the area that the Precursor Stone is resting in," Twilight added, to which she gestured to the left and right sides of the cavern for a moment, as there happened to be two openings that likely lead to the devices that activated the machines that were near the entrance of this place, though as she focused on those areas they reached the bottom step and discovered that there was a tiny layer of water above the floor that had been carved into this place, before she glanced at her siblings for a second, "So, Jak, what do you say?"

"I think you and I should take the path to our left, while Starlight and Cozy tackle the right path," Jak replied, as it sounded like a good way to divide whatever tests might be in this place, especially since they had no knowledge of what the tests of manhood might be, though as he said that he reached into his pack and pulled something out, which he handed over to Twilight, who raised an eyebrow as she noticed what it was, causing her to glance up at him for a second, "Keira said you might be able to help us out."

Twilight said nothing as she looked at the deconstructed Power Cell, the last of their one hundred and one that they found during their first adventure, and the white power source that was just behind what Keira had done to it, where she had an idea as to what Jak and Keira were planning and nodded her head as she carefully stuffed it inside her pack, to which she and Jak wished Starlight and Cozy well as they headed for the opening on their left, allowing their siblings to head over to the one on the right side of the cavern, because it was time to tackle the tests and recover the Precursor Stone, before the Baron or something else interrupted them. What they discovered was that there happened to be a hallway of sorts on the other side of the opening they had picked out, which had been blocked off by a door that opened when they approached it, and found that there were a few spiders, the ones that stood around Daxter's height, in their way, where Jak kicked all three of them into the ground so they could move onward, even though they came to a stop when they turned the corner and discovered a massive chamber that had a large pool of Dark Eco in front of them, complete with a number of pillars that had spike traps attached to the top of them. It was clear that this was the first obstacle they had to overcome in this section of the Tomb, especially since it was easy to see that the pillars were arranged in an ascending manner, forming a path that lead to the next part of this chamber, which caused them to raise their eyebrows for a second, just as Daxter and Alvin did at the same time, before Jak moved forward and only jumped to the next pillar when the spikes went down, but as he moved up the pillars Twilight took a moment to study some of the statues that were around this chamber and noted what they looked like for later. Even with having to wait a few seconds before jumping Jak found that it didn't take him that long to reach the upper level that the pillars had been leading to, a platform that was attached to the wall opposite of the opening and rested near a pole he could use to spin jump up to the next part of the path, though once he paused Twilight did the same thing he did and then, after landing beside him, she used the pole and got ahead of him, where she spotted a few spiders resting between where she landed and the edge of the platform they were guarding, though she knocked both of them out with a burst of magic.

From there they found that there were moving poles and sections of the wall that were moving in and out, forming paths for a few moments and meant they would have to be careful as they moved forward, taking their time to move from one spot to another, though as Jak did that Twilight glanced around and found a few etchings in some of the stonework, of a creature that looked like it could be a Metal Head, or maybe the ancestor of the race she and her siblings knew, though the instant Jak reached the end of the platform he had landed on he found an old fashioned elevator platform, one that was attached to the wall and moved in groves, before reaching a button... one that caused the pillars to rise up to his level and gave them access to another part of the chamber, meaning they weren't done yet.

Twilight tilted her head for a moment as she caught up to her brother and then jumped along the pillars like Jak had done when they first entered this chamber, even though this time they were moving to the left and right of where they had been positioned earlier and made her take her time getting to her destination, a small platform which happened to be enough for her and Jak to stand near each other without having to worry about knocking each other into the Dark Eco, though as soon as they were done with the pillars again they focused on the next obstacle in their path. As such they had to use the couple of moving poles that were in front of them to reach a walkway that had another button and an ancient elevator pad for them to use, though tapping the button caused the pillars to stop in their original positions before they raised out of the Dark Eco once more and revealed that they were attached to a large platform of some kind, even though those pillars and the sections they were attached to lowered, revealing that they were a set of stairs as well and lead down to a hidden area that was part of this test. Once that was done they quickly used the ancient elevator to head down to the platform and jumped onto the stone that had been hidden under the Dark Eco, where Twilight entertained the idea of using part of Midnight's power to suck up all of the dark mass and add it to what she had drained earlier, to which she felt something in her head agree with her as she raised her right hand and opened the way to Midnight's hidden area, draining the pool that was around the stone and stopped once all of it was gone, allowing her to close the opening after that. She and Jak paused for a moment and glanced at each other, both figuring that Midnight had made herself known for a moment and agreed with Twilight's thoughts, before they headed down the large set of stairs that were in front of them and found a chamber that was of a decent size at the bottom of them, which had a few spiders wandering around and there was a large sphere on the other side of the area, blocking the way forward since it was being held in place by a post of some kind, though due to all of the spiders Twilight had seen so far she was sure that it had to be more like an egg of a massive spider of some kind, which none of them wanted to deal with.

Once they realized what was in front of them Jak and Twilight lashed out at the spiders, where Jak kicked or punched them while Twilight swung her right hand with Red Eco to Scatter Blast her targets into the walls that were around them, and it only took them a few seconds to wipe out their enemies, though as soon as that was done Daxter asked Twilight if it was possible for her to move the post and she waved her hand for a second, knocking the post out of the way and caused the egg to start rolling down a passage that was in front of it, to which she raised her hand and blasted part of the ceiling to collapse it, trapping whatever was in the egg in a place where it wouldn't bother them. As soon as she was done she, Jak, and Alvin glanced at Daxter for a moment, who informed them that he was being smart this time and was using the power that Twilight had to their advantage, since bothering whatever was inside that egg wasn't a good move for them, though as soon as they got over any shock they might have, due to the idea he came up with, the siblings walked forward once more, since they weren't done with this section of Mar's Tomb, and found another chamber that was smaller than the last two, or at least it looked like it, which had two small circular pillars leading the way to a square ledge. That ledge would lead them to a pole that appeared to be the start of the path, hence why they climbed onto the box shaped structure it was on top of and started to follow the path that was currently in front of them, using the poles and structures to reach the higher parts of the chamber, which eventually brought them to a section that was carved into the wall that was opposite of where the large egg had been resting, and it happened to lead to what they assumed was the exit of this area, even if that involved using a few more poles and platforms to get over to the other side of the area. Sure enough it didn't take the siblings too long to reach the other side of the chamber, as they found that studying all of the devices allowed them to figure out how to move forward, though when they reached what seemed to be the end of this section of the Tomb they discovered that it brought them to a much more important looking button, one that caused the flames that were in the main part of the massive chamber to go out and caused a beam to fire from the nearby device, the left one they had seen back when they had entered the tomb.

"Interesting, the two directions are the keys to opening the main door," Twilight commented, as she understood why the Tomb was set up in this manner, given that this had to be where the Precursor Stone was resting and the main door was a lock that needed to be opened by those seeking it, to which she smiled for a moment as she glanced over to the other side of this portion of the Tomb, as she could see where the other button rested, as she knew that it was only a matter of time until Starlight and Cozy managed to overcome whatever was in their way, "Come on, let's go wait by the main door and prepare for whatever else the Tomb might have in store for us."

Jak nodded as he and his sister stepped on a platform that appeared nearby, as one arrived once they activated the button and fired the first of the two beams that would open the larger door, and let it take them down to where their destination rested, giving them a chance to rest before their siblings reached them once more, though it would also give Twilight some time to figure out what he and Keira had thought up earlier, as it might change the tide of this war in their favor and make sure Haven City survived what was happening outside the walls.





As Jak and Twilight challenged the first trial of Mar's Tomb, and tackled whatever obstacles might be in their way, Starlight and Cozy opened the second door and started to walk down the tunnel that was on the other side, even though it looked like a number of platforms that rested at different levels, almost like stairs in a sense, which lead the way to the what had to be the first of the chambers they would be moving through to reach the end, though it didn't take them long to jump up the couple of steps and jump over a small gap to reach a door, one that opened and revealed a room that was a perfect square and had three identical doors that looked like the one they walked through.

You must not use weapons in this challenge. a voice said, which happened to be one of the Precursors, which Starlight and Cozy assumed was either the Oracle who watched over the entirety of Mar's Tomb, and not just the guardian of the front door, or it might be another one that had been set up by those who created this place all those years ago, though in the end the sisters glanced around the area and found that there was nothing happening, save for a button in the middle of the room, meaning it had to be an activator for the challenge in question.

Starlight and Cozy glanced at each other for a moment before Starlight stepped on the button, activating whatever trial or challenge was in this area and dropped a number of black colored insects that looked like beetles to the sisters, though all of them landed on their backs and remained that way for a few seconds, revealing that three of them had red markings on their underbellies, before they flipped around and started to walk around the chamber, to which both of them watched all fifteen beetles for a moment before tracking the trio down and tapped them, causing them to fly over to the door, which opened when all of them were resting on it.

"I do hope the rest of this trial isn't as easy as this chamber was," Cozy remarked, keeping her voice low so only Starlight, not to mention Simon and Theodore, could hear what she had to say about this particular trial, where she found that her sister and their companions agreed with her statement, as all three of them nodded their heads in agreement, which just meant all of them were expecting something better from the legendary Tomb of Mar, before they decided not to waste anymore time and headed towards the tunnel that was resting on the other side of the door that had been opened due to the beetle keys resting on top of it.

What they discovered was that the tunnel in front of them consisted of them having to swim under some water that was in the process of being electrified, and there was a wall of sorts in the middle of the tunnel that they could see through, as it allowed them to see that there was a turn coming up soon and, more importantly, that the watery section wasn't all that long, to which they paused for a moment and waited for the electricity to disappear before diving into the water, as while Starlight could simply teleport them to the other side of the blockade she felt that it would annoy the Oracle and that was the one thing they didn't want to do. As such Starlight went first and quickly jumped out on the other side, as the passage wasn't all that long and allowed her to get out quickly, just before another burst of electricity struck the water for a couple of seconds, and once it was done for now Cozy replicated what her sister had done, arriving at Starlight's location without delay so they could move forward and see what else they needed to overcome to conquer this particular trial, but they did find that the area to their right was just an open hole, though why it was there they had no idea. After noticing that area the sisters found another short watery area, this one without any stone walls above the section in question, though that was followed by them doing what they had done with the first small section of water, going one at a time, before walking through another opening and found that they were entering a new chamber, one that had their entrance, a lone pillar not too far from where they were standing, and another door that had to be the left one of the beetle chamber they had been in a few moments ago, meaning they were already doubling back to it. The gap between where they were standing, the lone pillar, and the second door told the sisters that there was some sort of walkway that was going to form for them to use, especially since there was a button in front of them and there was a locked one on top of the pillar, to which Starlight stepped on it and waited for a few seconds, as she and Cozy were interested in what it might do and what they needed to do so they could move through the rest of this section of the Tomb.

Not a few moments later a number of tiles raised out of the gap that was between them and the other sections of the new chamber they were currently standing in, forming a walkway between all three locations that seemed important, while at the same time possessing four different colors to them, as some were red, some were blue, others were green, and many were yellow, and once all of them came to a stop the sisters watched as a red one glowed for a second, then a green one that was two tiles away from it, followed by a yellow one that was heading in the direction of the other door. It took both Cozy and Starlight little time to figure out that this was a 'follow the leader' challenge, as in one of them had to jump onto the tiles that glowed and, more importantly, follow the pattern that was being established, no doubt set up by those who built the Tomb in the first place, to which Cozy stepped forward and jumped over the tiles that had glowed a few seconds ago, which brought her over to the pillar and the now unlocked button. Of course once she reached the pillar the tiles fell into the depths, as quickly as they had risen from the darkness no less, and it didn't take Starlight long to cross over to the pillar, as she used magical platforms since she figured that activating the first button twice might confuse the Oracle that was in charge of this section of the Tomb, though as soon as they were back together she nodded her head and Cozy took a moment to step on the unlocked button to see what the pattern of the next sequence had to be. The first one happened to be a nearby blue tile, followed by a red one only two tiles away and a green one that was near the edge of the tiled path in question, and then a yellow one that was close to the door that would allow them to leave this chamber, something she did without delay as Starlight crossed over to where she was standing, where they found a tunnel with a couple of spiders resting in front of them. As such Starlight blasted one of the spiders into a wall while Cozy just smashed them with a swing of her arm, once more demonstrating the sheer power that was inside her body thanks to what the Baron did to her with his Dark Eco experiments, but as soon as all three spiders were taken care of they turned a corner and found another lone watery area they had to swim through to move forward, to which they sighed and repeated what they had done earlier, all to reach the door that was at the end of the tunnel.

It didn't take them long to reach their destination and walk through the door, discovering that their earlier thoughts had been correct and that it brought them back to the first chamber they had walked through, to which the sisters sighed for a moment as Starlight activated the button again, causing twenty more beetles to drop from the ceiling, once more having three with red markings on their bellies, so they waited for a few seconds, giving the beetles time to stand back up before wandering around once more, even though it didn't stop her Starlight from tracking down all three of them and had them return to the door that was across from the one they entered through, revealing another tunnel when it opened, not that they were expecting anything less at this point. On the other side of the door they found yet another passage that had yet another bit of water that they needed to swim through to reach the other side, hence why they made sure to repeat what they had done in the previous sections of this part of the Tomb and reached the end in no time, even though they would have to dry their clothes at some point before meeting up with Jak and Twilight when they finished clearing whatever tests were on their side of the Tomb, before they reached another chamber that had two pillars and another door, with three buttons for them to press, one in front of them and one on each of the pillars. Of course the ones that were on the pillars were in the locked position, so they had reached another chamber that would have tiles rise from the depths, causing the sisters to sigh as Cozy stepped on the button and caused the tiles to rise without delay, where she found that the first set was a green one to her right, a green one beyond that, and then two yellow ones that lead to the pillar on their left, which she was able to move over with ease and quickly caused the button on it to unlock for the next stage. Once that was done it took her a few seconds to call the tiles back up to where she was standing and watched as the second pattern revealed itself to both her and Starlight, which was a yellow one, then a green one, followed by two red ones, and finally a blue right in front of the other pillar, before activating the final pattern as it lead her to the other door, a pattern that consisted of a pair of red tiles, a green one near the door, a red one next to the green, another green one closer to the door, and then a yellow one in front of the door.

As soon as she did that the door opened and Starlight used her magic to catch up with her, finding another tunnel with a bit of water for them to swim through, which they moved through without much delay since they were used to it, before finding that it ended in a decent sized chamber with a number of tombstones, plus a silence for some reason, which was when they tapped one of them and found that it made a certain sound, but when Cozy hit a second it produced a second sound, causing the sisters to raise their eyebrows for a moment as they stared at each other. It appeared that this was a test that involved hearing the sounds and matching them up, of which there were twelve tombstones and that let them knew there were only six sounds, so basically all the sisters had to do was tap the stones and hear what sounds came from which stone, though once they knew which one had what sound they took their positions near a pair of stones and struck them, where they resonated with each other and sunk into the floor, a sign that they were on the right path, hence why it was followed by Starlight and Cozy repeating it for the remaining sets of tombstones. Once all six sets were embedded in the ground, showing that they had completed the challenge in the manner that the builders wanted them to do, the large stone door that was resting to the left of the entrance opened and revealed one of the perches that had a large button in the middle of it, not to mention Jak and Twilight leaving the other perch that was across from them with a blue beam being fired at the front door from one of the two devices they had seen earlier, informing them of how they were supposed to open the door that rested between them and the Precursor Stone. The moment the sisters noticed that they stepped onto the button in front of them and paused for a moment as they watched the ancient Precursor device off to their left, the right of the main entrance, fire a blue beam of energy at the door that was on the other side of the Tomb, where it struck its target and not even a few seconds later the door opened before their eyes, revealing the way to where the Precursor Stone rested, to which the sisters stepped onto the platform that appeared in front of them and let it take them all the way down to the watery area they had walked through earlier, when they first entered this place.

When they regrouped with Jak and Twilight, however, no one said anything as the four of them walked over to the small set of stairs that would bring them to their true destination, a large chamber with a large statue of Mar, as it almost looked like the statue they had seen inside the sewers and had a curved walkway in front of it, which seemed to connect the left and right sides of this area together, but resting just below the statue's neck resting an indent that had a large green stone inside it, one that Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy could instantly feel the power of, no doubt due to their magic, meaning they had found the Precursor Stone.

Welcome, young warriors. Many eons have passed since our hope has burned so brightly. a voice said, which was likely coming from the statue, even if it was a Precursor voice since they recognized it in a matter of seconds, and that it spoke as soon as they entered the chamber, though at the same time it sounded like whoever was left in charge of watching this Tomb was pleased with what the four of them had done since they entered this place, but the siblings said nothing while they waited for the voice to continue speaking, Today, all of you have proven yourselves worthy to inherit Mar's legacy and claim the Precursor Stone, which comes with a grave responsibility, as eons ago the Precursors waged a terrible war with the Hora-quan... those creatures that you call the 'Metal Heads'... whose dark leader laid waste to our glorious civilization and now they scour our domain unopposed, searching for the last relics of our power. Mar had this tomb and its tests built to test whoever came in search for the Precursor Stone, and you four, with your companions, have been chosen to protect it from the Hora-quan and their terrible leader.

"And you're okay with my brothers and I protecting it as well?" Alvin asked, speaking up when he sensed a pause in what the statue had to tell them, as he wanted to be respectful to the Precursor that had been placed in this area, worrying that being disrespectful might prevent them from obtaining the Precursor Stone, something Twilight could hide with a wave of her hand and no one would be able to find it until she wanted it to be discovered, though his statement was more due to the fact that he, Simon, and Theodore were, in some manner, Metal Heads, or Hora-quan as the statue called them, and he wanted to make sure the statue meant what it had said.

You three are Hora-quan, that is true, the statue stated, showing that it knew what they were at a glance, which was a first since most individuals had no idea what they were and would be surprised when he or his brothers revealed themselves to whoever they were talking to, but at the same time they had the feeling that the speaker was thinking about what he was learning at the moment, or at least that was what all of them were thinking about, but, at the same time, all of you are different from the rest of your kind... there is Light inside you, instead of Darkness... so I will entrust the Precursor Stone to the three of you as well.

"You fools! You've brought me right to the Precursor Stone!" another familiar voice declared, to which the siblings watched as the Baron, using a mech that looked like a spider of sorts, with four legs instead of eight, flew through open air behind them and landed in front of the statue, no doubt believing that he had gained the upper hand and that they would hand over the Precursor Stone just because he told them to, though they could see that he was sitting in the middle of the main compartment that allowed him to move the mech's limbs and whatever weapons it had, "Your pitiful Underground friends were no match for my guards, and now that the Precursor Stone is mine there is nothing anyone can do to stop me... not even the dark powers you four possess will save you this time!"

"Yeah, about that... we're not scared of you or your impressive machines," Jak replied, though as he said that he glanced over to Twilight for a moment as she seemed to disappear, as she was putting his plan into action, which put a smile on his face for a second as he focused on the Baron, who wasn't focused on the Stone at all and allowed Starlight to use her magic to get over to it and pried it from where it had been resting, allowing her to return to his side with the Precursor Stone, meaning the Statue likely removed whatever bindings when she approached it and would have fought the Baron if he tried to claim it, before he pulled out a few of his ammunition capsules for a second, "You know, Twilight had a theory about our powers... I think its time we put her theory to the test."

"What are you..." the Baron stated to ask, though before he could finish his question Jak opened several Blue Eco bullets and the pure Eco that was resting inside them was absorbed into his main target's body, something that had been written down in the pages of the journals they had recovered, journals that had lead them to make the Dark Warrior Program in the first place, and that information was that all four of the children, Jak and his sisters, were capable of channeling all four types of Eco, now five since most of them had access to Dark Eco as well, meaning Jak must have regained the power to absorb and utilize the other types of Eco.

In that moment Jak burst through the air, showing that his old powers were definitely back and that Twilight's theory had been right, meaning Cozy and Starlight could likely do the same thing, though while the Baron likely assumed he was the target of what was coming, which he was, Jak's current destination was something he had spotted when they entered this place, as resting above the statue's head was a familiar blade, the same one that Mar's statue was holding and was made out of some Precursor alloy, and he took it up from where it was resting before flashing down towards the Baron and his mech, where his Eco power surrounded the weapon as he sliced through the legs and escape pod, crippling his foe's machine as his foe rolled out of it.

"Okay, that certainly wasn't part of my plan," the Baron remarked, though in that instant he turned towards the section of the curved walkway that Jak had landed on as he pulled out his broadsword, which he carried with him at all times, even if he never needed it, because based on everything that was happening right now he had the feeling that he was going to need it to defend himself, especially since his mech had been smashed to pieces in moments, before he could actually use it to bring the siblings down, to which he focused on Jak, "Maybe I was wrong about the lot of you... boys and girls wouldn't have been able to do all of this..."

Jak tilted his head for a moment before rushing at the Baron, where Praxis raised his broadsword and parried the attack that aimed at his chest, showing that Jak was being serious and that he had to take this seriously, though as he did that he also noticed that the others were standing back, making this more like a duel and less of a fight between him and all four of them, while noticing that Starlight had the Precursor Stone in her hands, so if he beat Jak he was likely going to have to face Twilight, or Midnight, and Cozy before being able to get at the relic he was after. After seeing that, and noticing that his foe was waiting for him to make a move, Praxis moved into a series of attacks that were designed to crush his foes, to knock Jak into the ground and cripple him so he could move onto the next sibling, but found that Jak avoided some of his attacks and parried others, once more reminding him of the journals and what Gol had written about him, as in the skills that Jak possessed, and realized that training with a Sage must have done this, to some degree, which made things much more difficult for him when he took things into consideration. Jak, on the other hand, realized that Praxis was under the impression that someone with a lot of experience and practice might be able to take down someone who didn't have all of those skills, especially when fighting someone who was empowering themselves with Eco powers, but despite that fact his current abilities and skills were more than enough to keep up with his foe's movements, not counting when he tapped into his Eco powers anyway, and he was thankful that his sisters were staying out of this, so he could bring the Baron down and see if he might be redeemable, even though he felt such a thing was unlikely. Of course, even as he and Praxis fought each other, Jak could feel Twilight's gaze on him, because he realized that the weapon he was wielding had to be the very one that Mar wielded back before the Tomb had been created, making it a historic artifact that had, against all odds, been kept in great condition despite no one being here to tend to it or fix it, and he was sure one of his sisters was thinking about the armor, which he knew they would worry about later as he shifted his stance and parried Praxis' incoming strike, before he knocked the broadsword out of his foe's hands and punched him in the gut, forcing him to a knee as he rested the edge of Mar's sword against Praxis' neck.

"You might be skilled in combat, but I've won the battle," Jak stated, where he could see that the Baron was considering the fact that he had been beaten, either due to overthinking this battle or simply old ages, or old wounds, getting the better of him, though in that moment he considered the information that Keira had told him when he recovered the item he gave to Twilight earlier, something that caused him to sigh for a moment, "depending on what happens next, you'll either see the start of another day or we'll make sure this Tomb becomes yours as well..."

As Praxis opened his mouth to say something, since he was worried about what Jak was saying, he paused as a bright light appeared behind him and he turned his head for a moment, finding a large sphere of what he guessed was Light Eco that was floating in the air, even though he could faintly see the familiar wings of Midnight behind Twilight, like the two might be working in unison or something, before the sphere was released and it rushed through the air towards his location, as it moved faster than what he expected it to, engulfing him in a bright light for a time... though when everything died down he staggered for a few moments, as he had expected the attack to kill him, but instead it looked like it had been designed for something else, causing him to raise a hand to his head as he moaned.

"Wh... What have you done?!" Praxis stated, as it felt like a massive migraine had come on and he was having to deal with it right now, though to be more exact it felt like a dark cloud had been lifted from his mind, all thanks to that attack, and that he was able to calmly think about everything that was going on, like most of the anger had been shrouding his eyes had been take care of, though in that moment he realized that it appeared that whatever darkness he had been inflicted with had been cured by whatever Twilight and Midnight had done to him.

"Keira found your medical files and discovered some interesting things, like the head wound that you patched up with a bit of changed Metal Head material," Twilight replied, where she landed near Jak and her sisters and faced the Baron for a few seconds, who raised a hand to the metallic dome that he had used to make sure he survived one of his failed assaults on the Metal Head Nest, hence why he told Errol that it was foolish to consider attacking that place, before her siblings just watched as the fragments of Midnight disappeared not a few seconds later, "after that she messed with the last Power Cell we found during our first adventure, trying to access the Light Eco contained inside it, and when she got as far as she could, enough to actually extract and contain the Eco in question, she handed it to Jak the last time they saw each other, who then handed it off to me so Midnight and I could use it on you... it should have severed any connection between you and the Metal Head Leader, who was either influencing your mind or had no idea that the Dark Eco changed you to the extent that the city has seen. If everything worked as intended, you should have been restored to who you had been, just before the metal was added to your skull anyway, and we should be able to ask you questions about things... something that can wait until after the Metal Heads are taken care of."

"I... you..." Praxis said, though in that moment he truly stared at the four siblings and paused when he realized something that was incredibly important, all four of them looked like grown up versions of the heirs of the city, the missing Prince and Princesses, which made sense when he considered the power Jak had shown him, the power to absorb and utilize the types of Eco that existed in their world, something that only Sages and those born with it had access to, and while neither Cozy or Starlight had demonstrated the legendary power he was sure they had access to it as well, to which he sighed and lowered his head for a moment, "I am yours to command, my King."

"For now, we need to act like nothing is wrong and that we're on opposite sides, but soon we'll unite Haven City under a single banner once more," Jak stated, informing Praxis that he needed to maintain the appearance that nothing grand had happened inside the Tomb of Mar, save for him possibly getting his tail kicked since his mech had been destroyed, which was around the time that Twilight opened a new portal and had Starlight store the Precursor Stone away, meaning no one would be able to get to it without her pulling it out, though at the same time he knew things were going to get weirder as they fought to save the rest of the city, especially with what just happened, "though first we need to break our friends out of prison, before we get the show on the road."

Praxis said nothing to that as he nodded his head and allowed the siblings, the true rulers of the city, to leave Mar's Tomb first, as he needed time to think about what had just happened and everything he had done since he fixed his head with a bit of Metal Head metal, though he knew that things were about to change in some manner and suspected that the four siblings would be able to tackle whatever the future had in store for them and their allies.
> Renegade: Return to the Prison
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once they were done inside the Tomb of Mar, and Praxis was left behind to think about what might happen the moment he returned to the surface, Jak, Twilight, Cozy, and Starlight found that the large door that protected the Tomb was open, not that anyone was remotely surprised thanks to the arrival of the Baron, and that neither the Shadow or Kor were on the other side, and their younger selves were missing as well, meaning that they had to be inside the Fortress, to be held for a time until the Baron was ready to speak with them. As such the siblings returned to the ancient lift that had brought them down to this area and waited for it to lower down to where they were standing, since it had been near the surface, and as soon as it was down here they stepped onto it and allowed it to take them to the surface, as it was time to return to the hideout for a time and see what in the world needed to happen before an assault could be launched on the Fortress, an area none of them wanted to return to, given that Jak and Cozy had been tormented in that place for a long time. The moment they returned to the surface, and the door opened for them to head outside, the four of them carefully headed outside and found that there were no guards waiting for them, just in case the Baron had ordered some to wait outside before he headed into the depths with his mech, where Twilight had to assume that the machine had been assembled inside the Tomb and was used once it was put together, to which the siblings headed over to where they left their zoomers and climbed into them once more, as they raised into the upper flight area and headed back to the Slums. It gave them some time to think about the fact that Praxis was, in a weird way, now on their side and that he might aid them in taking down the Leader of the Hora-quan, due to the fact that Twilight liked the name that the Precursor had used when it was talking to her and her siblings, but in the end she stuck to referring to their enemies as Metal Heads as well, just to make it easier for the others to understand what she was talking about.

Interestingly enough there wasn't a lot of guards wandering around the parts of the city that they flew through, which all of them were fine with since it meant they didn't have to stop and fight whoever wanted to bother them, before reaching the Slums and climbed out of their zoomers, allowing them to return to where Torn was likely waiting for anyone, be it one of his agents, the Shadow, or someone else in the Underground, to return, though they found him resting on a rectangular container that was on the right side of the chamber, with his head hanging like he was depressed about something, likely thinking about their captured allies.

"Hey Torn, we're back from the Tomb of Mar," Jak stated, not that he really needed to say such a thing since he knew the man could see them with his own eyes and that he had likely glanced up when he heard the door open, though as he said that he considered something that he was sure his siblings had been thinking about since they left the Tomb, due to his focus being on driving one of the zoomers to this part of the city, "though I am curious as to how the Baron knew that we were close to making a move on both the Tomb and the Precursor Stone, since he interrupted us before we had a chance to claim the legendary stone."

"Because its my fault..." Torn commented, something that caused Jak and his sisters to raise their eyebrows for a moment, as Torn was loyal to the Underground and knew he would do anything and everything to make sure they survived, at least to the point where both the Leader of the Metal Heads and the Baron were brought down, though as he said that he took a moment to raise his head and glanced at them, "the Baron saw the beam of light that came from the Light Tower and, realizing that we had found the Tomb of Mar, decided to threaten me with the life of his own daughter... he was willing to kill Ashelin, his own daughter, for acting against him and aiding the Underground on several occasions, meaning he knew and was keeping it a secret to use as a bargaining chip against us. I know taking the Baron down is important, but I wasn't about to risk Ashelin's life for the Underground."

"Oh, I get it... you're in love with her, aren't you?!" Daxter exclaimed, as he realized that the only reason Torn would give up the location of the Tomb of Mar, and betray the Underground at such a vital moment, was because he had to be head over heels for Ashelin, who either knew that and didn't say anything or had no idea that he had feelings for her, before he took a moment to think about what had happened inside the Tomb and knew that they couldn't tell Torn that the Baron was on their side now, which would take some time getting used to, "There's only one problem with what you did: the Precursor Stone is in the Baron's hands now!"

"I suspected as much, meaning he just broke it off and left without fighting you four," Torn replied, which informed them that he bought the lie that Daxter had told him, even though it wasn't the best lie in the world and even Daxter was caught off guard by what was going on, meaning Torn had to be messed up by what the Baron had told him earlier, which was the moment that he pulled himself to his feet and turned to face them for real, meaning them coming back might have been enough to convince him to act once more, "with the four of you, we can lead an assault on the Fortress and get both our friends and allies back, which will mean talking with Vin for a few minutes... we can worry about recovering the Precursor Stone once everyone is safe and sound. Normally an assault on the Fortress would be insane, a suicide mission for most of the Underground's most experienced members, but for you four... such a thing should be easy for you to accomplish, due to all of the powers and skills you possess."

The siblings said nothing as Torn headed through the opening and headed up to the surface, so he could make his way to the Power Station and see what Vin needed help with to open the Fortress' doors, though once he was gone they stayed in this area for a few moments, to give him some time to head through the city and grant them a bit of rest time, where Jak did find Twilight checking out the pile of guns that likely belonged to Torn, but it wasn't long before they got up and quickly left the hideout, as they figured that ten minutes was more than enough for Torn to get to Vin and tell him what was going on. It didn't take them long to reach their destination, where Twilight made sure the zoomers were positioned far away from the door in question, but as soon as it happened Vin contacted them and revealed that the door was unlocked, along with an interesting face, some of the guards had been removed on the Baron's orders, leaving those who served Errol behind, as while they were employed by Praxis they took their orders from his right hand man, as odd as it sounded, and from what Torn knew Errol's guards were worse than the rest of the Krimzon Guard, so if they fell no one would miss them. Once that was done Jak and Cozy braced themselves for what was going to happen next, since they would be returning to the building they had been stuck in for some time and tormented against their will, though before either of them could do anything Twilight walked up to the doorway without delay and seemed to take the lead this time around, which was when they and Starlight noticed that a bit of Dark Eco mist was rolling off of her body as Midnight seemed to take control, something that their sister seemed to let happen this time around, meaning she might be more in tune with her other side than they originally believed, or at least it sure seemed that way. It was still shocking to watch as their sister's attire became the dress that Midnight wore, all in a matter of seconds, along with the wings and odd horn growing out as well, and it only took ten seconds before they had switched positions on Jak and his sisters, as in Twilight was the one resting and Midnight was the one who was out in the real world, though as soon as the transformation was complete she stepped into the Fortress and started to make her way through whatever path was open to them at the moment, causing Jak, Starlight, and Cozy to follow after her, as they were curious as to what she might do while they worked towards saving their captured allies.

What they found not a few seconds later was that the passage they had moved through, when the tank followed them the first time Torn sent them to assault part of the Fortress, had collapsed after they moved through the opening, before they walked around the terminal that was in front of them and moved towards an area that had an electrical fence standing in their way, something that fell not a few seconds later, to which Midnight held a hand out to stop the others from getting too close as she listened to the voices that were ahead of them, Krimzon Guards who were talking about Errol's next race and some discussing the fact that they thought the Shadow had been caught already, confirming that their Samos was in this place as well, before she stepped out into the open and drew their attention to her.

"Hey guys, how's your health plan?" Midnight asked, almost like she was planning on toying with Errol's troops before she made her way deeper into the Fortress to find the captured members of the Underground, something that surprised Jak and his sisters as they watched what was going on at the moment, though as she did that they noticed some of the guards had a dandelion yellow color to their armor, an odd addition to be sure, but it was in the following moments that several of the guards raised their weapons and opened fire on Midnight, "Apparently it's great!"

Jak watched as something interesting happened, as the bullets that came at Midnight seemed to bend around her body for a few seconds, like they were hitting an invisible barrier or something and she was changing their trajectory, because she used those bullets to attack the enemies that were all around her, striking the Krimzon Guards with their own attacks and knocked all of them to the ground, but he did notice that hidden in the returned volley was a couple bits of Dark Eco that had been shaped to look like bullets that had been around them. It was like Midnight was using her modified Morph Gun, that bracelet of hers, to attack her foes by shaping her Eco into bullets, where it looked like she was in the mood to kill Errol's forces and he honestly couldn't blame her for doing thing a thing as he and the others followed behind her at a safe distance, as Errol had been involved in tormenting him and Cozy during their time in this place, but even then it didn't take her long to bring the guards down and open the way for them to move forward. Another thing Jak noticed, and was sure that Starlight had noticed it as well, was that any bullets that actually got close to Midnight's body, because a couple had gotten to her before the trajectory barrier had been set up, were broken down into bits of Eco and didn't hurt her at all, likely making it look like she was immortal to the guards that happened to be in front of her, which sort of made sense since it appeared that Midnight had the power to possibly influence reality to some degree. Once the area was cleared of enemies, and she was sure of that fact after glancing around for a few seconds, Midnight discovered four platforms near the curved walkway that she and her siblings were walking on and noticed that they had a red button on them, which she activated with a wave of her arm, indicating that her magic had done the deed, along with another one that rested inside the chamber that was at the end of the walkway, though once it was activated as well an electric fence fell and allowed her to advance further into this part of the Fortress. Just beyond the electric fence rested four small platforms, raised to form a path of sorts that would bring someone to the next part of this building, and on top of each one rested a circular turret, which happened to be scanning the area for enemies to blast, though as Midnight stepped forward she opened her wings for a moment and vanished, only for a single dark line to appear on each turret before they exploded as Midnight stepped out of the shadows on the other side of the area they were in.

As such Jak, Starlight, and Cozy jumped over the platforms that were in front of them, now that each of them were cleared of what had been resting on them a few moments ago, though they made sure to smash the various guard containers that were all around them and collect all of the ammunition cartridges that were inside them, because now that they had seen Jak use his old Eco powers again, something everyone had felt he had lost at some point during his torment, gathering all of these meant they could use the Eco to empower any of them, since if Jak had access to his old powers they were dure that the same could be said for Cozy. After that area they found a passage that had a curved lower area, which looked like it might have been designed for someone to use a JET-Board to navigate, or at least that seemed to be the intention of the one who created this area, to which Midnight just weaved a bit of magic through the air and formed a transparent path for the others to walk on, since she could spread her wings and just fly down this tunnel for a few seconds, as that was where another opening happened to be located, and she found two more turrets guarding the next chamber. Instead of wasting time she just moved forward, staying in the air to avoid the thin grind rail that Jak would likely use the JET-Board on to get over here, with Cozy jumping over and Starlight using magic to catch up, and used her power to catch both blasts that had been fired at her, redirecting them to blow up the turrets themselves as she stepped into the next part of the Fortress, an area that looked like it was the lower area of a chamber they had used to escape this place, after freeing Jak and Cozy from their cells, and sure enough when she stepped out into this area she heard some guns being primed as she glanced up at the ceiling, finding some guards glaring down at her. That brought a smile to her face as she used the set of powers she used earlier to redirect the incoming bullets and sent them back at the guards that were above this area, along with a few of her own bullet-like blasts as well, though it wasn't long before all of her targets had been struck down by what she had done, before she continued moving forward as Jak and her sisters caught up with her, even though she smashed two more turrets that happened to be in the way as she walked over a metallic walkway and stepped over a slight gap to reach a new door, one she and her siblings hadn't encountered yet, which brought her to a chamber that seemed to wrap around to a second door, even though it had a few spider-like robots guarding the area.

Interestingly enough the four robots were red colored, like the Krimzon Guard, meaning that the Baron or someone else was trying to create a new force to aid the guards in their mission, though the small robots seemed to beep the moment they laid eyes on Midnight and rushed to harm her, causing her to flick her finger for a moment and send them into a wall as she moved towards the other door, which brought all of them to the very chamber that Jak and Cozy had been trapped in since they arrived in Haven City, something that caused her to stand back as Jak and the others spread out to check the cells that were up here, as it looked like Vin was watching their progress and had unlocked the cells the moment they had walked into this part of the Fortress.

"Hey there, sweetheart! The Metal Head mashers have saved the day!" Daxter stated, indicating that he had found the area that Tess was being held in, which was rather odd since she was nowhere near the Tomb when the majority of their force had been captured, meaning that she must have been captured by the Krimzon Guards at some point before they found the Tomb, something that also pointed to Krew possibly working against them to some degree to keep himself safe, all so he could continue his operations without being sent to jail, be executed, or be exiled from the city.

"Samos, are you alright?" Jak asked, as while Daxter was more interested in making sure Tess was fine, which he was fine with since it kept their friend preoccupied for a time, even though he could see that Alvin and his brothers found the cell that the younger versions of himself and his sisters were resting inside, along with Kor for that matter, he turned most of his attention to the cell that he could see the Shadow inside, as the leader of the Underground waved as soon as the door opened so he could see outside.

"What took the lot of you so long? I added six rings to my trunk waiting for you to get me out of here!" a familiar voice said, one that sounded annoyed about everything that had happened to him, and sure enough Samos, as in the Green Sage the siblings were used to seeing and who had been missing since they used the Rift Gate to travel three hundred years to get to this point in time, got up from where he had been sitting and walked over to the doorway so he could leave the cell that he had been stuck in for six years, meaning he landed sooner than the siblings had, before he paused for a moment as he took in the forms of the four siblings, "Great yakow horns! What happened to all of you?"

"The short story is Dark Eco... but we'll tell you everyone once we're out of here," Starlight replied, though in that moment the nearby Warp Gate activated and was connected to whatever area Vin was sending them to, which had to be the Power Station, since it was the only place they knew of that had a Warp Gate and, more importantly, was actually inside the city's walls, to which they formed a line and everyone started to jump through the gate, even if Samos and the Shadow took a few seconds before taking their turn.

Midnight watched over everyone as they headed through the Warp Gate, just in case the Baron or Errol sent some guards to bother them while they were leaving, though for the most part it looked like they could get away with this without some enemy reinforcements coming in to bother them, though once everyone else was on the other side of the War Gate, and she was the last one inside the Fortress, Midnight waved a hand and loosed a blast of magical energy at the machine that had injected Jak and Cozy with Dark Eco since they were contained in this place, blowing the entire machine apart before she jumped through the portal. When she appeared on the other side, in the Power Station, she sighed for a second as she switched places with Twilight once more, surprising those who hadn't seen the transformation yet, though once that was done Samos and the Shadow headed back to their hideout, Tess headed back to the Hig Hog Saloon to make sure no one had noticed that she had gone missing, and Kor tended to the young heirs as Vin returned to his work, though it was when Jak came up with an idea of what to do next. His plan was simple, now that they were no longer bound to find the Tomb of Mar and the Precursor Stone, it was time for them to split up and tackle multiple objectives as they worked to bring down all those who were threatening Haven City, which was Krew and the Leader of the Metal Heads right now, so he had Cozy and Starlight head back to the Port so they could figure out what sort of mission Krew or Sig might have for them, leaving him and Twilight to focus on either the Underground or Keira, and since it appeared that nothing was going at the Stadium right now that meant it was time to head back to the Slums with Samos and the Shadow. As they split up, however, both of the groups noticed that there were a few yellow guards patrolling the streets, which had to mean that the Baron and Errol had trained some elite troops before assigning them to various parts of Haven City, but given that Praxis was on their side these guards were either part of Errol's team or Praxis was sending them to keep watch on the Metal Heads that were on the other side of the wall, that way they could plan for whatever attack might be coming their way in the near future, and when they reached the Slums it became clear that there were next to no guards in the area, safe for a few that seemed to be heading for either the area near the Stadium or the Water Slums.

Something told Jak and Twilight that something was up, as Errol had to be doing something that caused every guard that was in this part of the city to leave for now, so they quickly landed outside the hideout and made their way inside, where it took them only a second to notice that Samos and the Shadow were arguing with each other, likely that both of them had an idea on what needed to be done next, because it looked like Samos was of the opinion that they needed to focus on the Precursor Stone and the young heirs, as in knocking Praxis off the throne and putting the kids in charge of the city, while at the same time the Shadow wanted to bring down whatever plans the Baron had for them, causing the pair to stand there for a time as they waited for the Time Twins, as Twilight called them, to stop their bickering.

"Either the Baron is up to his old tricks, or someone else is in command of part of his forces," Samos stated, where both he and the Shadow turned to face the pair for a moment, showing that they were ready to talk with them and share whatever information they might have found since returning to this place, even though Torn was nowhere to be seen right now and that meant that he had to be busy tending to another part of the Underground, likely keeping an eye on what the Baron was doing and what his forces were up to, even though he had no idea that Praxis was on their side now, thanks to what Twilight and Midnight had done to him.

"We've gotten word that someone has released a few Krimzon Blast Bots into the city, which are armored bombs that are designed to seek out targets and blow them up," the Shadow added, which told Jak and Twilight that they might have been created with the sole purpose of wiping out nests of Metal Heads so the rest of the Krimzon Guard could move in after an explosion and take care of anything that survived the assault, meaning that Errol likely wanted them dead and was using some of the Baron's more powerful toys, ones that were supposed to be used against the Metal Heads, to obliterate the Underground, "and, based on our current scans, there are three of them moving towards this location."

"Let me guess, they also have defenses to protect themselves?" Jak inquired, because he was sure that the Baron wouldn't create someone like that and not give it anything to defend itself against the Metal Heads that might attack it, though as he said that he gripped the blade he had taken from Mar's Tomb, where he noticed that Twilight levitated a sheath over to him, likely the one he ignored and she took before they departed from where the Precursor Stone had been resting, which allowed him to sheath the weapon on his back, since that was the best place for it right now.

"Indeed, so you and Twilight will need to be careful when fighting them," the Shadow said, though he was pleased that Jak knew about the danger that the Blast Bots posed to the Underground and their current hideout, even if this might be the first time he or his sister would have encountered such a thing while they were out in the field, so it was more like he just figured the Baron would put defenses on a walking bomb to ensure it reached whatever its destination might be, but as he said that the siblings started to turn towards the door, causing him and Samos to open their mouths at the same time, to say one more thing before they left the hideout, "Good hunting!"

Jak, Daxter, Twilight, and Alvin paused for a second as they glanced back and found both Samos and the Shadow giving all of them a nervous smile, likely because neither version of Samos had been expecting the other to speak up at the same time, before the group nodded their heads for a moment and headed outside, as it was time to track down some Blast Bots and take them down, even though that would take some time since they had no idea how strong these metallic foes might be since this was their first time facing them. The moment the siblings were outside the hideout Alvin groaned as he tried something new, as instead of shifting into his hybrid form he focused on growing a small pair of wings from his back, like he was going to trap his transformation in a specific point, and it didn't take him long to have a small pair of leathery wings attached to his back, where he jumped off of Twilight's shoulder and took to the air, so he could get above most of the city and see where the Blast Bots were lurking, to give them an idea of which direction their targets were coming from and what sort of plan could be used to bring them down. It took him a few moments to study the city and figure out where their targets were resting, though when Alvin returned he confirmed that there were three Blast Bots that were currently in the middle of making their way through the other half of the Slums and the Industrial Section, two in the latter, as in all three of them were zeroing in on the hideout and, at the same time, were using small beams of energy to shock anything that was around them, be it citizens or zoomers, so Errol must have gone off the deep end and wanted to wipe out Samos, the Shadow, and the rest of the Underground to show the Baron that he could be trusted with more responsibility, or at least that was Twilight's opinion on the matter. Once Alvin was back in his Ottsel form Twilight suggested that they split up to make sure none of them made it to where the hideout and their allies were waiting, something that Jak agreed with and he even offered to focus on the ones coming from the Industrial Section, where he found that it wasn't something that his sister agreed with and said that she would tackle those two, though Daxter was coming with her for a time, as there was something she wanted to test before they moved on with their war with the Leader of the Metal Heads, which caused the pair to raise an eyebrow for a moment before Daxter joined Alvin, as he was interested in what Twilight wanted with him this time around and just wanted to get it over with.

Once they split up Twilight used a smaller zoomer to make her way into the Industrial Section, where they quickly spotted the first of the two Blast Bots that were heading towards the hideout, something that allowed them to discover that it was a mechanical beast that was nearly twice as tall as a human was and happened to have four gray metallic legs, covered in red plating for the most part, and it had a small turret on its head that had to be what Alvin had spoke about when he returned to Twilight and Jak a few moments ago. In that moment Twilight stopped the zoomer and drew her power out for a few seconds, making Daxter think that she was going to smite the first Blast Bot, though that was when his body glowed not a couple of moments later and he felt something awaken inside him, which might be whatever Gol and Maia had told Twilight and the others about before they used the Rift Gate to arrive in this place, though once everything was said and done she lowered her hand and beckoned for him to make the first move, since they were still out of the Blast Bot's range and would be for a few more moments. Daxter raised an eyebrow once more as he did that, as he trusted that Twilight had his back and wouldn't allow too much harm to come to him while he assaulted the Blast Bot that was approaching the area she had stopped in, which was just insane when he thought about it since he had no weapons to take down the large machine on his own, though as he thought about that fact he found a short blade made out of Dark Eco that sprouted out of his left hand not a few seconds later, to which he turned his head for a moment and decided not to tap the blade, as he had the feeling that touching it was a bad idea and suspected that Twilight would explain herself once all three of the Blast Bots were destroyed. Once he calmed down, since the sudden arrival of the blade had surprised him, Daxter took a couple of seconds to brace himself before he rushed across this area of the Industrial Section and zeroed in on where the first mechanical enemy was walking, where his small size allowed him to avoid popping up on the Blast Bot's scans and jump up onto one of the legs as it moved near his position, something that was followed by him digging the Eco blade into the metal of the limb he happened to be moving along for the next couple of seconds, all while heading up towards where he suspected this machine's brain or power source was located.

As soon as he reached his target Daxter drove the blade that was attached to his hand right into the head of the Blast Bot without delay, something that caused the machine to stagger for a moment when that happened, though Twilight watched as Daxter continued to attack the Blast Bot to the best of his ability, since neither of them had any idea how long this sort of thing would last, where it wasn't long before the mechanical creation fell to the ground and Daxter jumped off of it not a few seconds after that happened, where he made sure to reach Twilight before his target exploded... but as that occured he spotted the other one coming their way and Twilight simply waved a hand towards it, summoning a burst of icicles out of the ground that impaled the Blast Bot and caused it to explode.

"Twilight... what did you do to me?" Daxter asked, showing that he was more interested in what had happened to his hand and less by the fact that all of the Blast Bots exploded when they were destroyed, or damaged to the point where they no other options left, though as he said that he noticed that the blade seemed to shudder for a few seconds before reverting to nothing, as if the Eco had returned to his body or something, even though he was sure that she would explain what had just happened in a way that went over the heads of anyone that listened to her.

"Awakened you inner Eco powers... at least the beginner stages," Twilight replied, where she knew that Daxter would have some questions and, as such, she would provide him with the answers he wanted in due time, though at least this allowed her to confirm what Gol and Maia had told them back after their first adventure, even if the Dark Eco Sages weren't here to see that Daxter did, in fact, have Eco powers and might have some skills that none of them knew about, which they would have to delve into at some point in the future.

Twilight also knew that, in time, he might have the same mastery that she, Jak, Starlight, and Cozy had over their skills, or at least several degrees lower than what they were capable of, something that caused her to turn her attention to Jak as he rode into the area they were standing in and Daxter ran over to him, to speak about the Eco blade that she had just unlocked for him and he had used to take down the first Blast Bot that had been moving through this area, while they also learned that Jak's target had been sliced apart. By that Twilight knew that he must have opened a few Vulcan capsules to absorb the Blue Eco to boost his speed so he could cut his target down in record time, given that he wanted to make sure what happened in the Tomb wasn't a fluke and had actually happened, before she smiled as they headed for the hideout, to report their success and tell the Shadow the truth, since the Oracle of the Tomb ruined their secret, all while knowing that Starlight and Cozy definitely didn't need their help taking care of whatever Krew wanted them to do.
> Renegade: Sewer Work and Racing
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

While Jak and Twilight focused on dealing with whatever Torn or Samos and the Shadow threw at them, Starlight and Cozy used their zoomer to travel back to the Port, as it was about time for them to check in with Krew and see if the fat man had any new missions for them to do, though while they quickly made their way through the Industrial Section of Haven City the pair knew that their siblings would be able to overcome anything and everything that was placed in their path, so it allowed them to focus on what they were doing right now and whatever mission might be waiting for them. Truth be told Cozy said nothing as they headed to the Port, as she was still thinking about freeing their allies and the fact that it reminded her of her time inside one of the Fortress' prison cells, a time she would rather forget and found that it was quite hard to do so due to the fact that the Baron and Errol had been involved in her torment, which also meant it would be hard for her to forgive Jak's new ally, no matter how much he turned the war in their favor, something that caused her to growl for a few seconds, as part of her wanted to kill Praxis, regardless of which side he was on. She knew it was her darker side, the beast that shared her body and had been born from the result of all the time she spent as one of the Baron's forgotten victims, though as the darkness stirred for a moment she could feel her fingers starting to shift into her deadly claws and some of her teeth were in the early stages of becoming sharper, something that caused her to sigh for a moment as she focused on preventing the rest of the transformation from overtaking her, as now wasn't the time or place for it. A few seconds later, while Starlight paused to make sure she was feeling okay, Cozy simply nodded and found that her body was, for the time being, back to its normal state, but that event reminded her of how easy it was for her to slip into a dark rage and transform into her Dark Form, one that was different from Jak's Dark Form and Midnight, and if she was being honest she would have picked having someone like Midnight in her head, and possibly the power that came with such a thing, instead of a silent beast who held a vast and endless rage for Praxis.

Her thoughts were, thankfully, interrupted as they reached the part of the Port that the Hip Hog Saloon rested in, where Starlight parked their zoomer near the structure in question so she and Cozy could climb out of it, though when both of them entered the Hip Hog they found that Sig was sitting at one of the tables and happened to have a drink in front of him right now, which was odd since he never sat at a table or drank while he was on the job, and it quickly became apparent as to why he was doing it, as Krew was floating around part of the large room and it looked like he was asleep, to which they slipped into the seats that were opposite Sig, and Starlight made sure to use a faint barrier to prevent anything that might be said from reaching Krew, while allowing them to hear any of his movements.

"Starlight, you and your siblings are all right in my book, and since the boss is sleeping right now, which gives me a rare opportunity to take a break, I'm going to give it to you straight," Sig commented, apparently appreciating the company of the pair that were in front of him, not counting Simon and Theodore, who were keeping an eye on Krew so Starlight could lower her barrier just before he woke up, though it was clear that he wasn't drunk and that his breaks usually only let him have a light drink, so he could perform whatever tasks were asked of him, before he focused on them again as he readied himself for what he was about to say, "Listen, I've been Krew's heavy for a number of years, and to be honest there are a number of things that I have done that I'm not proud of, sins that I don't feel comfortable telling anyone about, but this time I think Krew's gotten himself, and all of us by association, into something really nasty... to be honest, I think its about time that I got out and returned to the Wasteland, before whatever he's planning rears its ugly head on us and the rest of Haven City, and I was hoping that some of you might join me."

"You're going to abandon the city, just like that?" Cozy asked, because that seemed slightly out of character to her, that Sig would just walk out on Torn, Vin, and everyone else that could use someone like him to take down the Metal Heads who were waiting on the other side of the Shield Wall, though at the same time it was interesting to hear that he was thinking of taking the four of them, as in her, Starlight, Jak, and Twilight with him, to the Wasteland, to become Wastelanders and join whatever group was lurking in the massive desert that was a fair distance from Haven City, and she could see that she wasn't the only one surprised by Sig's statement.

"Listen, Haven City has never been kind to me... in fact, they cast me out years ago, for things that I will never tell you and your siblings about, but I'm not going to leave the city yet," Sig replied, indicating that something was stopping him from abandoning Haven City and heading back out into his true home, even though it was interesting to learn that someone in the city, likely the Baron given his track record, had exiled him from this place and that it was likely due to Krew that he was able to reenter the city, before he sighed for a moment and leaned back in his seat, "but once I find what I'm looking for, well, then I'll be saying goodbye to Haven City for a long time... hopefully by the time that happens you two and both of your siblings will join me in leaving this place behind, as I know someone who might be able to help you out, in terms of keeping your Dark Eco powers in check."

Starlight had to wonder who Sig was talking about, since this was the first time she was hearing this information, but just as she was about to say something, while Cozy was about to open her mouth as well since she wanted to figure out what Sig knew, Theodore noticed Krew was stirring and that caused them to switch to another topic as Starlight dismissed her barrier without delay, where it didn't take the fat man long to wake up and glance around the room that they were in for a few seconds, before he focused on the fact that Starlight and Cozy were sitting nearby.

"Ah, good, some of you have returned... I was wondering if you had abandoned me to the Baron's whims!" Krew said, as if he was accusing them of shirking their duties or something, even though they had been busy dealing with the Baron and all of the Metal Heads that were bothering the city, though as he glanced at another part of the room, noticing that Tess was cleaning the counter as she waited for customers to enter the Hip Hog, Starlight and Cozy saw Sig shake his head for a moment while Krew wasn't looking their way, before the fat man focused on the task at hand and glanced back at them as he prepared to give them another job, "Anyway, I have another job for you and your siblings, though two should be more than enough for it: I need you to escort three of my boys through the Sewers and bring them to where you found that old statue of Mar, because I've heard stories that it might hold another secret, besides the Ruby Key, and I want my boys to... investigate it... to see if the tales are true, and I'll even reward you with the last weapon mod I have, if you get them to the statue and make sure they survive being down there."

Starlight and Cozy glanced at each other for a moment, as neither of them wanted to go down into the Sewer again, since twice was more than enough, but since it was Krew, and they wanted to be on his good side until Jak was ready to take him down, they decided that they might as well agree to his job and got up from where they were sitting, which Sig did after he finished off the rest of his drink, before they headed outside and returned to the zoomer they had used to get here, since it was time to head back into the Industrial Section. Neither of them were sure what sort of tales Krew was referring to, as there were a number of tales about Mar and the artifacts he collected, some of which they had encountered and had used to recover the Precursor Stone, though Starlight was sure that the only relic Krew might be interested in was one called the 'Heart of Mar', as it was rumored that Mar made the relic himself and hide it without revealing its purpose to anyone, so it was more of a collector's item at this point in time, but she was sure that if he knew they had Mar's sword, his actual blade, he would try to get his hands on it as well. Despite that fact, however, she also remembered that Krew thought that Mar's weapon had been a staff, something that had annoyed Twilight when they heard it since every story about the legendary figure mentioned that he carried a sword into battle, so even if Jak approached the fat man with the blade on his back she had the feeling Krew would either ignore it or deem it a fake of some kind, so she decided not to worry about what might happen when they spoke to Krew and Jak was with them. Even with her thinking about that, and Cozy focused on the fact that they were heading back to the Sewers, it didn't take her that long to get them back to where the entrance rested and park outside it, allowing her and Cozy to climb off the zoomer and start to head down the path in question, where both of them waited for the elevator door to open before heading down into the depths, even though they were hoping that the men they were told about would be present when they arrived, to get this mission started without delay. What they found a few seconds later was that there were three individuals standing near the end of the first tunnel of the Sewers, where it was easy to see that one had brown hair that was combed backwards, one had a blue helmet on and it covered most of his face, and the third one had a modified Krimzon Guard helmet on that covered his face as well, and given the scarf the first one was wearing it was clear that all of them were hiding their identities for the most part.

"Quiet, here comes pretty... boy...?" one of the men said, though he paused as he turned and stared at the sisters as they stepped through the opening so they could approach the three of them, even though they found that it was the first man who had spoken, who seemed more ready for shady work than his companions were, despite what appeared to be some explosives on their backs, meaning they might have been tasked with blowing up any debris that might be in their way, as there had to be some clogging the pipes or tunnels that were down in this foul place.

"Listen up: Krew said that we have to escort you to Mar's statue, so let us do the fighting and you can open the way when we're sure an area is clear," Starlight stated, as she could see that the men were caught off guard by the fact that the two of them were girls, meaning they were likely expecting Jak to show up and also informed them that all three of them had to know about them and their various skills, or at least the ones Krew knew about, though her statement basically meant that she and Cozy were taking the lead and that she fully expected the men to stay behind them, and she was pleased to find all three of them nodding as they stared at them, "Good, now let's get going."

The first thing they did was come to a stop at the edge of the tunnel they were starting in, as there happened to be a small elevator platform that allowed them to move down into a lower passage that had been covered by water, back when this place was flooded, though it didn't take all of them long to get down where as Starlight and Cozy stood at the front of the pack, both with their weapons out, despite the fact that Cozy could call on her Dark Form if they found too many enemies in an area, something she was waiting to see before acting. As they walked through the passage, however, they found a new type of Metal Head that happened to be walking on the ground, with four legs and moved like a spider based on what they were seeing, though the weirdest thing about it was that there seemed to be a gun attached to its head, one that was more than capable of firing at them when it noticed them approaching the area it was in, something Starlight blocked with a small shield so she could blast it and let Cozy collect the Skull Gem. Simon informed her that this type of Metal Head was known as a Hosehead, another type that happened to have a bad name, which was around the time that she noticed that there were a few more of them further head and that they seemed to be focusing on Cozy, who was avoiding them thanks to her Dark Form's innate powers, even if she wasn't in her other form and meant that she must be learning new ways to use whatever powers she had access to, and found that a Hosehead fired a beam of blue energy at her, even though the attack missed as her sister took care of it and another one that was nearby. Once she understood what sort of enemies were coming at them, likely a sneak attack by the Metal Head Leader from some unguarded section of the city, which they just so happened to be encountering at the same time as this mission unfolded, reaching a decent sized room that had a blocked tunnel on the other side from where their tunnel was located, so as she and Cozy focused on the Hoseheads that were crawling down some of the walls they made sure the men rushed at the blockage and primed some explosives to clear the way forward. Sure enough it didn't take the sisters long to make sure all of the Hoseheads were taken care of, an easy feat since there were only three or four more for them to take care of, though once all of their foes fell to the ground Starlight used a barrier to protect all of them from the explosion that opened the tunnel that would lead them deeper into the Sewers, but she suspected that the other lift they used, after finding the statue the first time around, might be locked into place, hence the roundabout path to get there.

Once the tunnel was cleared the sisters headed through it and found a path, which was on top of some pipes that lead in the direction of the ground and changed course a few seconds later, that lead to another lift for them to use, but as they walked along it Starlight found some Hoseheads in front of them and Cozy spotted a few coming up behind them, like a pincer attack of some kind, to which they separated from each other for a few moments and focused on the Hoseheads that were coming towards them, blasting and kicking them into the ground before collecting their Skull Gems, since they might come in handy helping Jak and Cozy master their Dark Forms. At the end of the path Starlight, Cozy, and Krew's men stepped onto the lift and let it take them downward for a few moments, where each of them stared out at the area as they waited to see if any Metal Heads tried to assault this section of the Sewers, only to find that no one was around and was followed by them walking off the lift once it came to a stop, allowing them to head to their left and head deeper into this place, all while the men kept their eyes and ears open as they followed behind the sisters. Of course the moment they got to a certain point of the larger passage two Hoseheads dropped down in front of Cozy with the intent of blasting her into the ground, to which she switched her weapon for her Dark Eco claws as she grasped the heads of her enemies and forced both of them into the stonework that was below them, crushing both of them in seconds as Starlight focused on the few Hoseheads that tried to attack them from behind, even though she also collected the Skull Gems that were freed as all of Krew's men stared at Cozy in shock, meaning there was a chance they hadn't been told anything about her. After those foes had been taken care of they found another area that had a few Hoseheads guarding it, which looked like they were in the middle of guarding the area from intruders or something, to which Starlight made sure the men stayed behind, which meant they would be staying with Cozy for a time, as she headed out and used her magical steps to get above the enemies that were in this area, allowing her to blast some of them with magic and others with her Scatter or Blaster mods, before she reached what appeared to be the end of this area, another blocked off section, so she doubled back to where Cozy and the men were waiting, collecting all of the Skull Gems as she did so.

Not a few moments later they reached the blockage that Starlight had found and the men set a few explosives up inside the human-sized tunnel, but when the explosion blasted the debris out of the way Cozy head something and focused her gaze on the ceiling for a moment, where she found a number of Hoseheads starting to make their way towards where they were standing, to which she beckoned for Starlight to get the men to the statue as she slipped her weapon into its holster and transformed into her Dark Form, allowing her to burst into the air and punch one of the Metal Heads in the head, also into the wall, before launching an all out assault on the enemies.

"Cozy should be able to take care of those enemies and make sure we're safe, so we should be able to find the statue and see if it has some sort of hidden secret," Starlight commented, as while she was happy to see Cozy using her Dark Form, in a way that made it seem like she was in control, she was still worried that there might come a time where she went feral again and just attacked everyone that happened to be around her, just like she had done when they freed her and Jak at the start of their adventure in Haven City, before she turned towards the statue and found that the men were walking off towards the exit path, with their explosives attached to the statue, "What are you..."

Before she even had a chance to ignite her magic and remove the explosives, as she started to do it the moment she took notice of what the men were doing, the leader of the group detonated their payload and the statue was torn to pieces in a matter of seconds, fragments being scattered around this chamber as Mar's head slide to a stop near where the tunnel she was standing near, though that was when she spotted a Precursor artifact, one that resembled the button that Jak had pressed all those years ago when they used the Rift Rider and the Rift Gate to come to Haven City, which the leader called the Heart of Mar gem and snatched it, before leaving and claiming that they would deliver it to Krew, causing her to growl for a moment as she watched that happen.

"Where are the men?" a rough voice asked, which was when she found Dark Cozy standing behind her, though she just so happened to be carrying a number of Skull Gems to add to their collection, before her sister focused on the ruined statue and the fact that no one else happened to be in this chamber, something that caused her to frown as she noticed that the statue of Mar, a stolen relic of the city, had been destroyed by the men and it made her dislike them, which was when she glanced at her sister again, "The men... they blew it up, didn't they?"

"Yeah, they did... and they found the Heart of Mar artifact, which Krew will be holding for now," Starlight replied, though at the same time she noticed that their Communicator had a message for them and it appeared that Krew had delivered on his end of the bargain, as he revealed the location of the final weapon mod, which just so happened to be inside the very building he used to deliver the Blaster Mods to them, to which they sighed as she stored the Skull Gems with the rest of them and she waited for Cozy to revert back to her normal form before heading outside, to claim the weapon mod before regrouping with Jak and Twilight.

It didn't take them all that long to return to the surface level of Haven City, especially since the Sewers had been cleared of enemies for the time being, where they climbed into their zoomer and headed for the Port once again, where it took them a few minutes to reach the Gun Course and parked outside it, finding another crate in the middle of the room that all of the courses were connected to, one that just so happened to have four Peace Maker heads inside it, meaning they were, in fact, getting the last weapon mod for their weapons.

"You know, I was worried that he might be lying, since these are the most powerful mod a Morph Gun can have," Simon said, where he and Theodore watched as the sisters picked up two of the four components and connected them to their guns without delay, making them similar to what Sig carried with him at all times, though once that was done Starlight just picked up the other two and stuffed them inside her pack for the time being, since Jak and Twilight needed their mods as well, though his words and expression told the others that he was happy that Krew hadn't cheated them, as this meant all of them would be that much deadlier for whatever the future held for them.

With the Peace Keeper mods in hand, something the sisters would wait to use since they were in a more peaceful area of Haven City, the pair headed outside without delay and returned to their zoomer, where Starlight took off and headed for the area that rested near the Stadium, as it seemed like a good place to look for Jak and Twilight, and if they weren't there it would be a simple matter to ask Keira if she knew where their siblings might be located... though when the sisters came to a stop outside the massive building, however, they found that the Class Two Race had started, meaning Jak had to be in the middle of a race and that Twilight was watching him, and sure enough they found Twilight standing at the end of the tunnel that connected the inside to the outside.

"If you're looking for Jak, he and Daxter are currently racing right now," Alvin said, speaking to the sisters as they, Alvin, and Theodore approached the area that Twilight was standing in, where they noticed that the ring had a different look to it this time around, meaning it would be unknown to any of the contestants, giving everyone an equal advantage while Errol just watched all of them before the final race, though from what all of them could see it was clear that Jak was in the lead and that none of his opponents looked like they were going to overtake him anytime soon.

"Krew had us escort some of his men into the Sewers, while you did whatever the Underground wanted you to do, but the men, well... how do I put this..." Starlight replied, speaking the moment they stopped beside Twilight, even though they did keep their voices low so no one else figured out what they were talking about, but she was stalling for now since she had no idea how Twilight, or even Midnight for that matter, would react once she revealed that the statue of Mar had been destroyed by the men they had escorted through the Sewers, "the men blew it up, snatching an artifact that the founder of the city must have placed in there for someone else to find, and now the artifact is in Krew's hands... we were also given four Peace Keeper mods as a reward for completing the mission."

"We'll recover the artifact in due time, so we can focus on other things for now," Twilight stated, though it was easy for her sisters and their Ottsels to figure out that she was annoyed that Krew had one of Mar's artifacts now, even if it wasn't one that he carried into battle or anything, but that didn't stop Starlight from pulling out one of the Peace Keeper mods out a few seconds later and handed it over to her, where she studied the device for a second before her Eco powers devoured it and added a dark purple gemstone to the bracelet Midnight had crafted for her, just like she had done to the other mods they had gotten since this adventure started, before she focused on the race as a smile appeared on her face, "but it looks like Jak is going to win the race, just like Keira and I predicted he would."

Sure enough Jak won the Class Two Race and claimed the reward, a trophy that recognized he had won the race, even if it would be added to Keira's shelves in her workshop, since he was racing for her team and everything, though once he and those that had been behind him, the second and third place holders, had their awards, or participation trophies for those he had beaten, before they regrouped in Keira's part of the Stadium and the sisters congratulated Jak on a job well done, as well as made sure he was given his Peace Keeper mod for later. Once all of them were outfitted with the last weapon mod that was available, not counting anything like ammunition capacity or rate of fire, Jak headed outside and his sisters did the same thing not a few seconds later, where they made sure to find their zoomers and checked the map of the city for a few seconds, before deciding to head back to the Hip hog and see if Krew had anything else he wanted them to do, even though he was hoping to head back to the Underground once that was done, since helping Torn and the Shadow was more important in his eyes. Once more they noticed that there were a number of yellow armored guards patrolling parts of the city, in addition to the red guards who usually wandered around and made sure the citizens were safe, or as safe as they could be since some people had been threatened by the guards the first time they left the Fortress, but, as Jak and his sisters discovered, none of the Krimzon Guards seemed to care about them and allowed them to make their way down to the Port again, even though each of them were curious as to what sort of mission Krew might have for them this time, or maybe he would have nothing and chase all of them away for the time being. Regardless of what Krew might have in store for them, after what happened with the men in the Sewers, an action that annoyed Twilight when she thought about it, they focused on making their way down towards their destination and discovered something interesting as they came to a stop outside the Hip Hog, there was another zoomer, one of the single seaters to be exact, which Twilight noticed had to belong to Errol, meaning he was likely somewhere inside the Hip Hog, enjoying some time off or waiting to ambush one of them when they checked in with Krew, to which they parked outside the building and headed inside.

When the siblings entered the Hip Hog they found Tess working at the counter, cleaning it since it looked like no one had come since Starlight and Cozy had been here, to which they stopped near her and ordered a few drinks, mostly juice since they needed a clear head for what was going to happen next, and while they did that Daxter took a moment to stand near Tess, who smiled and rubbed his chin for a few seconds, once more showing that the pair seemed into each other, despite the fact that one was an Ottsel and the other was a Human.

"Hey, back to work toots!" Krew stated, where the group mentally sighed for a moment as he moved down from the ceiling for a few seconds, as he must have noticed that Tess was taking a small break to scratch Daxter's chin, not that taking a small break was a bad thing since there was next to no one in the Hip Hog right now, even though Cozy did notice Errol in one of the booths and let out a small growl as she saw him, where she had to stop herself from lashing out at one of the men who had tormented her for three long years.

"Hey, beach ball, she is working... we're paying customers this time, see?" Daxter remarked, gesturing to the drinks and all of the credits that had been transferred to pay for them, though he knew that it came from Starlight since she was really the only one among their number who actually had a paying job before she and Twilight freed Cozy and Jak from the dark experiments the Baron and Errol had conducted on the two of them, but even then he tried to limit how much he said to Krew, since the fat man annoyed him and was likely pissing off the siblings.

"I'd watch your tone, before I decide to add a unique trophy to one of the Hip Hog's walls," Krew replied, where it was clear that he was basically threatening Daxter for no real reason, as he was annoyed at Tess for taking a small break while she worked, especially since the four of them were paying customers this time around, though as he turned away from where Daxter was resting, however, all four of the Ottsels glared at him and three of them were likely thinking about eating the fat man, before Krew focused on the siblings, "Jak, I want you to throw the championship race... just let Errol win and give the crowd a good show before he crosses the finish line."

"Sorry, but that's one thing I'm not about to do," Jak stated, where he took a sip from his drink and then set it down on the counter as he turned to face Krew, though Twilight and Starlight silently had their magic at the ready, in case a fight broke out between the far man and their brother, while Errol seemed somewhat interested in the conversation, or there was a chance that he was drunk or something, which would be funny if it were true, "Look, I understand why you would bet on him and not on us, you know he's a good racer and has won multiple championships over the years, plus if he wins you'll get all the money from those who bet on me winning... in your eyes, Errol is a win-win situation with no hope of losing at all, especially not to a newcomer whose only one the first two races needed to qualify for the big race. However, I'm going to race him in the championship, that much I know, and I intend to win it with my skills... but hey, if Errol wins it will be a good show for everyone else in the city."

Twilight knew that Jak had to be annoyed, as he loved racing and was one of the best racers she and her sisters had seen, though having someone like Krew tell him that he needed to throw the race was a step too far, as he'd rather win with his skills or lose to a racer that was better than him, that was why he was willing to face Errol in the championship, despite all of the stories that Keira had told him about the races Errol had been in, though the look on Krew's face told her that the fat man was annoyed at all of them talking back and not accepting his orders.

"You in a hurry to die?" Errol asked, his tone revealing that he was more than willing to fulfill such a thing, since it would, in his eyes, take out both an enemy on the track and remove a thorn in the side of the Krimzon Guard, despite the fact that the Baron was on their side at the moment, before he picked himself up and walked over to the counter so he could talk to Jak in a more personal manner and stare into his eyes for a few seconds, all while Jak's sisters focused on him and made sure he didn't try anything funny, "Well, we don't have to wait for the big race to see which of us is the better racer! We can do this right now, a one on one, through the city, using accelerator rings... Hit every ring from start to finish, but miss even one ring, and it's over! Keira thinks your a hotshot, but once I beat you she'll start to see that her thoughts were wrong and that I am the superior racer, and once I win the championship, assuming you even have the stomach to face me after this crushing defeat, she'll forget about you entirely."

Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy, plus all of their Ottsels, chuckled as Jak headed outside with Errol for a moment, where they could see a pair of zoomers had been readied by krew, as he must have known that such a thing would have happened as soon as he started to speak, and it wasn't long before the two of them raced off, leaving the Port and heading through the path that Errol had in mind as they headed back towards the Stadium... though not a few moments later they heard one of the Krimzon Guards outside telling another that their leader was upset over losing a 'practice race', causing Krew to frown as the sisters finished their drinks and headed out, as they knew it was best to reunite with Jak and Daxter before they did anything else.
> Renegade: Dealing with Metal Heads
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After Jak's 'practice' race with Errol, which ended in an annoyed Errol and would cause the man to be distracted for some time, the siblings regrouped in the Slums and checked in with Torn in the Underground hideout, though they found that he had no missions for them, not right now anyway since his scouts were confirming information before sending even one of them out to tackle their enemies, but he did inform the four of them that Vin seemed to be panicking in the Power Station, so it was possible that he might have a mission for someone to do while he worked to ensure that the Shield Wall stayed online and didn't fall at the worst possible moment. Since there was nothing else for them to do right now, since Krew was silent after discovering that Errol had been beaten in a practice race, the siblings headed outside and used their zoomers to head back to the Industrial Section of the city, maintaining a simple appearance so none of the Krimzon Guards came to arrest them, and it didn't take them all that long to reach their destination, to which they parked their vehicles in the area that was below the ramp that lead up to the Power Station. When they entered the structure a few moments later they did find that Vin happened to be in the middle of moving from one side of the building to another, checking the screens as he made sure all of the readings were where they needed to be so they could maintain Mar's ancient Shield Wall, which would prevent the Metal Heads from invading Haven City, and based on what the four of them could tell he had barely noticed all of them enter the structure, giving them a chance to watch him before someone stepped forward.

"Oh, hey guys... I'm guessing Torn asked you to come check on me?" Vin inquired, where he continued to work on some of the terminals as he made sure everything was fine in the city and that he hadn't done anything wrong, showing that he did see them enter the Power Station and made a note that they were standing there, observing him while he worked his magic in this place, though based on what they were seeing it didn't look like he was panicking right now, or if he had been doing so he had calmed down quite a bit, before he turned to face them for a moment, "Well, I've got some good news, which should lighten the mood in the Underground hideout a bit, and I've got a bit of bad news as well, as in the type that might need one or two of you to deal with it... first, the good news: Kor visited me a few moments ago and told me that we should have enough power to maintain the Shield Walls for some time, and I've checked the numbers three times now, so he's definitely telling the truth and isn't telling me what I want to hear."

"That is good news," Twilight said, because if the Shield Wall stayed up then none of the Metal Heads that were outside the city would be able to swarm this place and start messing with the citizens, which should give them some time to figure out a plan to deal with the leader of the Metal Heads, a real plan of some kind since they didn't have much right now, but she knew that they would have a true plan in due time and had a feeling that it would be her and her siblings fighting their way straight to the heart of the Hive, before she focused on the other bit of news, "Though I have to ask this: what's the bad news that you have for us?"

"Well, there's a cluster of Metal Head eggs in the Strip Mine, ones that flew under the radar since they didn't have the Eco signature I use to track incoming enemies," Vin replied, referring to the dark stalks that the siblings had seen way back in the early stages of the rebellion, when Torn ordered them to go and make sure he was safe, though his statement told all of them that the creatures that were inside them had grown since the first time they had been in the area and that it was likely a matter of time until they hatched, something that was incredibly bad given that a Warp Gate was resting near the small nest in question, so there was a chance that the new Metal Heads might come here if they hatched, something that clearly worried Vin, "look, some of you have to go back there and figure out a way to destroy all of them, before they hatch into a new army of creatures that will devour the rest of the Strip Mine."

"If we're talking about destroying them, I can always smash them with my claws," Cozy commented, though her siblings knew that part of her statement had to be her Dark Form speaking, the desire to cut down her foes and break the area all of the eggs were in, but at the same time she flexed her right hand for a moment as it turned into the claws she had just spoken about, as if imagining what would happen to the next couple of Metal Heads she came across, even if they were all stuck inside some eggs and wouldn't offer much of a fight, "it would be over in a few seconds, with no unnecessary tricks or movements to smash them."

"No, that won't be necessary, as there was a crane in the Strip Mine and Jak can use his JET-Board to get up to the switch that's locked it in place, which should smash the eggs with ease," Starlight countered, as while she knew that Cozy wanted to help take down their enemies, and she had done a good job of doing that in the past, it seemed like she was angry and wanted to channel her anger in a constructive manner, but doing it to break some eggs that were in a cleared section that was outside the city, and not use it against some actual enemies, might annoy her Dark Form and that was the last thing they needed right now, especially after what happened inside the Fortress, "however, we might be able to find a mission that you can use your power on, we just need to wait for Torn to finish checking in with his scouts, or wait for either Samos or the Shadow to give us something to do."

Cozy paused for a moment, since she had been itching for another fight after what happened in the Sewers, before letting out a sigh as she nodded her head and stood near the door, since there was nothing else to do besides wait for someone to tell her that there was another mission to do, though Twilight stayed with her to check Vin's calculations, not that she thought he was wrong since he happened to be one of the smarted people in the city, rather it was due to her and Jak, not to mention their Ottsels, coming to the decision that there was something about Kor that didn't seem right and it might all of them had to be careful as time went on. As such Jak and Starlight headed through the Warp Gate and headed back to the Strip Mine, where it took both of them a few seconds to reappear on the other side and glanced around the area for a few seconds as they took stock of what was going on, only to find that no Metal Heads were guarding this area, which was odd since one would have assumed the Metal Head Leader would have assigned some guards to protect the cluster of eggs that were to the right of the Warp gate they jumped out of, but this either meant the eggs were a diversion or might have been forgotten in the heat of trying to pierce the Shield Wall. One thing they both recalled was that there happened to be another path near where the Warp Gate rested, one that was across a small river of Dark Eco, a river that linked up with the area the eggs were located in, so what Jak did was deploy the JET-Board and ride across the top of the dark liquid as Starlight engaged her magic for a few seconds, forming a faint aura around her so she could float in the air and follow him as he looked for the controls that would deploy the large crate that the crane was holding onto. Of course Starlight did notice that Daxter was staring at her while they picked out their methods of transportation, as if wondering why she was letting Jak do this instead of using this spell to figure out where the controls were located, before shaking his head for as he came to the conclusion on his own, Jak wanted to have a bit of fun with the JET-Board and calling on Starlight aid was, in this instance, more of a last resort for him, which meant this was also a matter of making sure he had a mastery of Keira's device and hadn't gotten lucky when he tested it back in the Stadium, even though Jak knew there were several changes that needed to be made and knew that Keira would get around to it at some point in time.

What Jak found as he started to head up the path that lead away from where Vin had been hiding, during the first assault the Metal Heads launched on this area and caused Torn to send them to save him, was that there was a saw resting in his way, something that he just had to wait for, since it was moving from the right to the left as its head pointed towards the clouds, and once there was a big enough space he carefully used the device to get around it and started to follow the rest of the path that was rested in front of him, a long one based on what he and Starlight were seeing. The next obstacle that was in his way happened to be a short gap that he jumped over, along with a coiled drill not a few seconds later, which he noticed was digging into either the ground or the wall that was to his left, so he jumped over the gap and then repeated the movement when he approached the drill, before heading up a decent sized dirt hill that had been molded to fit this area and also happened to lead to one of the Eco Wells they had blown up some time ago, so he knew to crouch for a few seconds as he bypassed another drill and jumped on a moving platform that allowed him to jump over to where the now ruined Eco Well rested. After landing near the ruined Eco Well, and he made a circle in the area in front of it to make sure Starlight was following after him, Jak headed passed another saw and jumped onto a metallic walkway that had a yellow pipe that happened to be bent in the middle, something that served as a grind rail for him to reach another section of the path and found a few more saws waiting for him, which did seem to be more like obstacles and less like components that would dig into the stone and earth of this place as they searched for more Eco. Once he bypassed the saws he reached an open area that had two pipes that were bent and also stopped just before an area that had a ramp for him to use to turn around, without getting off the JET-Board or actually turning around on his own, and it took him no time to get over this obstacle and use the ramp to redirect himself as he headed up the conveyor belt ramp that brought him to a higher point of this area, even though he then had to jump over two more moving coiled drills to progress further along the path that was in front of him, all while Starlight noted that there were no enemies up here at all, meaning Jak could focus on using the JET-Board and nothing else.

From there he avoided another saw and used one of the two pipes that rested above the gap in front of him to reach an area that a large sunken section which had two metallic gates blocking the way, so he had to ride down into the depths for a moment and ride up the walls to get around the blockages he had found, even though he and Starlight had to wonder why this was here since it didn't seem to fit the design of the other machines Jak had passed by so far, before he reached the edge of the odd area and landed on the dirt path that would allow him to move further again. After that they found a short passage carved into the stone walls and brought Jak to another moving platform that had three pipes connecting to another part of the pathway, even though those actually lead to a middle section and forced him to jump over another gap that happened to be in his way, with the pipe connecting them broken in the middle, before he bypassed another saw and a drill to reach yet three new pipes and another new moving platform, one that brought him to a new section of the area, another ramp and a conveyor belt that brought him to a higher point of the Strip Mine. He had to wonder if he was getting closer to where the controls rested or if this was just a waste of time, as in it might cause him to stop and call for Starlight to find the console and activate the crane to smash the eggs, or maybe just use her magic to forcefully lower the massive crate and smash their target, to which he sighed for a moment as he headed up the conveyor belt, since he felt that he might as well explore the rest of this path before coming to a decision on what needed to be done next. He then had to line up two moving platforms, which wasn't all that hard to do if he was being honest with himself, and once both he and Daxter were on the other side of the small gap he glided along the path that was in front of them for a couple of seconds, before he smiled as he noticed that the crane was directly in front of him and that meant he was close to finding the controls that would allow him to mess with his target, even though he discovered something annoying, there were no terminals nearby, so he raced towards the edge of the platform and jumped into the air.

Starlight watched as Jak landed on the top of the large box that the crane was holding onto, giving him a chance to put his JET-Board away before he and Daxter braced for what was coming next, which happened to be when Jak walked onto the part of the crane that was holding onto the crate and stepped on the red button that was up there, something that let go of the crate and they watched it fall through the air, quickly falling towards the pool of Dark Eco that was near the Warp Gate and smashed the egg cluster in a matter of seconds, where Starlight floated down and noticed no eggs had survived her brother's actions, allowing them to return to the Power Station.

"Vin, you can breath easier, your task is complete," Starlight said, though the reason she didn't mention the eggs was due to the fact that she, Jak, Daxter, and Simon found that Kor was standing close to where the doorway rested, meaning that if they wanted to leave this building they would have to speak with him and listen to whatever he had to say to them, but all four of them shared Twilight's feeling that there was something off about him, something Starlight was going to blame on her connection to the Dark Eco that was inside her, and Midnight as well, so by not mentioning the eggs it might leave Kor in the dark for some time.

"I cannot believe it... we were so close to achieving our goal! The Baron stole the Precursor Stone right out from under us, after all of our hard work to obtain it," Kor commented, where the siblings noted that he seemed angrier than anything all of them had seen in the past, even though it was possible that he was referring to a different 'us' while he was talking, as if he was aligned with another group and was only using the Underground to get what he wanted, which wouldn't be much of a surprise given some of the people they knew, before he sighed for a moment, "and not only that, but we've lost all of the heirs as well, stolen by our terrible foe, and he's gotten Torn to betray the cause as well... if the men knew of Torn's betrayal, we might lose everything we worked hard to achieve."

"Torn meant well, especially since Ashelin is the next in line to govern Haven City... in case something happens to her dear old father," Cozy replied, though while there was some truth to her statement, given that Torn had acted partly because of his relationship with Ashelin and partly because of her position in the city, Jak noted something that worried him a little, he could tell that she didn't approve of allying with Praxis, after Twilight and Midnight's actions inside the Tomb of Mar, and a part of her had to be thinking about tearing down the Baron and making him pay for his crimes against them, especially due to the fact that one of her hands had shifted into claws while she said that.

"Anyway, I want you to head out to the Drill Platform again and take out the control tower there, as it should temporarily stop the Baron's use of Eco to harm us," Kor stated, showing them that there was another reason for him being here, as it was far better than him being angry over what happened earlier, though instead of saying anything else he turned around and headed outside, meaning he was done here and had been simply waiting for all of the siblings to be gathered in the same location before he told them what had been on his mind.

Jak sighed for a moment, as he wasn't entirely sure what to do with Kor right now, though he knew that the old man was a threat to their mission he would suffer, just like Krew would in due time, but before he did anything else Vin informed him that Samos had left him a message and that it was only for the eyes of him and his sisters, hence why he had waited for Kor to leave before mentioning it had arrived, and he walked away from the terminal in question not a few seconds later, allowing him to see that Samos, the one from the past, wanted them to head out to his old hut In Dead Town and recover something he had hidden there before they went through the Rift Gate, to which Twilight got up and headed outside, and she dragged Cozy with her, as it would give them something to do. Once he was sure that both of his sisters were on their way to Dead Town, leaving him and Starlight with Vin and their Ottsels, Jak took a moment to check in with Vin and found that what Kor wanted would, in fact, do harm to the Shield Wall, which was still not in the best condition it could be and such a thing meant they would weaken it even further, but Vin had a trick that Kor didn't know about, another tower that could serve the same function as the one at the Drill Platform, where some of his friends were located as they waited out the storm, meaning he could redirect the power flow to the new tower and let them destroy the old one, pulling the wool over Kor's eyes in the process. That was the gist of the situation, said in basic terms since Vin decided to use a lot of large words that went over both his head and Daxter's, something they were used to when they spoke to their ally, and it meant Starlight had to translate the meaning to them so they understood what was going on, while all Daxter understood was that this gave them the ability to fulfill Kor's order of taking down the tower, all without inflicting any harm to the Shield Wall that was protecting Haven City, and Vin informed them that by the time they reached the control room for the tower he would have everything transferred to the other one. Once they knew that information both of them jumped through the Warp Gate and appeared on the metallic platform that happened to be the start of the Drill Platform, where the path in front of them would take them back along the main path they had used to take down all of the Metal Head eggs earlier, though based on what they could see the area that they needed to focus on was the metallic doorway behind them, as it lead to another area, but for the most part there was no way to open the door.

As such the pair just stared at the door as they considered their options, as Jak could use his Eco powers to smash it down and Starlight could channel her magic into breaking it, though after a few moments a mech appeared nearby, no doubt it had been warped here by Keira since she informed them that it was supposed to be used in a test run by Twilight, but due to Dark Cozy appearing it was brought over to Jak and Starlight so they could use it, to which Jak climbed into the pilot seat and let the glass panel slid into place as he stared at the bipedal machine and took in what it was supposed to be, as he was leaving the more advanced maneuvering to his sister.

Once they were ready to go Jak turned the mech around and smashed his way through the metallic door, knocking it to the ground and opening the way for them to enter a small room that had a lift behind a security door, to which they stepped onto the lift and waited for the door to close on them, where it lowered down the shaft it was resting in and stopped a few seconds later, allowing Jak and Starlight to step out and find that they were in a chamber that had a walkway that would bring them to another metallic door, though there were some holes in the flooring which revealed that they happened to be above the large drill that was in this area. The next thing the siblings noticed was that there were pipes that did loose a small laser beam at the wall opposite the one it happened to be attached to, meaning to normally progress through this area whoever was inside Keira's mech suit would have to be patient and wait for the beams to stop firing before moving to the next part of the chamber, but with Starlight with him his sister threw up magical walls to block the lasers and allowed him to move the suit forward without wasting any time at all. As such he was able to reach the metallic door and smashed it down without delay, revealing another large chamber for them to pass through, even though this one had a larger gap in the flooring and there were only two paths to take, one being an elevator for the suit and another being a few platforms to the left of the main path, which would allow someone to jump up the platforms and reach the level that the lift would no doubt bring someone in a mech to, so Jak brought the mech to a stop as Starlight headed up to where a lever rested, one that would allow her to help her brother out. Starlight found two Metal Head Grunts hanging up on the upper level and blasted both of them with her magic, knocking them to the ground before finishing them off with her Blaster, though once that was done she struck the lever and watched as the lift raised up to where she was standing, allowing Jak to move the instant it came to a stop and in a matter of seconds he smashed his way through another metallic door, allowing them to progress even further into this place as they kept an eye open for what Kor wanted them to break, though Starlight had an idea on how to ensure that no damage was done to the city or the Shield Wall, which would please Twilight and Cozy when she told them what she and Jak had been up to.

In the next chamber Jak had to jump across a few platforms and navigate his way around some flaming vents, where he found his sister floating through the air as she followed him and helped him out whenever she noticed that he needed a bit of assistance, allowing him to make his way through this chamber and reached an area that seemed to be a square shaped tunnel with two holes in the path, ones that could be corrected with a swift hit to the levers that were resting in the path they were following, though both of them did find two more Grunts wandering around and knew both needed to be beaten next. As such Starlight weaved her magic through the air and struck both of her targets in the face, taking both of them out with her weapon like she had done to the first group of enemies, before blasting both levers to raise the lifts that formed the path forward so Jak could move, so while she collected the Skull Gems her brother moved forward and made his way towards the other end of the tunnel that had been built into this structure, even though it was odd to discover all of the odd additions whoever designed this place had added to the overall design. From there they found that they had to pass through an area with a curved walkway and just so happened to have some lasers that needed to be avoided, so that was what Jak did as he made his way towards the other side of the new chamber, even though after that he had to move the mech over some flaming vents when they weren't busy beltching flames into the air, which allowed her to reach the other end of the chamber and find an elevator that would allow them to leave this part of the Drilling Platform, to which he waited for Starlight to catch up before they stepped onto the lift and let it bring them to whatever was above them, even if they suspected that it was the chamber Kor wanted them to mess with. Sure enough not a few seconds later they found that it did bring them to their destination, which had about five Grunts messing with the machines and caused Starlight to use her magic to pull them back so Jak could smash them, though once that was done he stepped out of the mech and let it warp back to Keira's workshop, since she needed to make it better for the future, but as that happened he stopped for a moment as Starlight contacted Vin for a time, letting the two of them talk before they smashed this area with either a bit of her power or his empowered Eco powers.

Once the controls in this tower were transferred to another part of the Power Station, and Vin was sure that nothing would happen if they wrecked the place, Starlight channeled her power for a moment and created an orb of energy that floated in the center of the area Kor wanted them to take care of, where she teleported all of them back to where the Warp Gate rested, before detonating the orb and blew the top of the tower up, which would no doubt please Kor, but both of them were more interested in hearing what Twilight and Cozy were doing while they did this.





Twilight and Cozy carefully made their way through Haven City, since there was still no telling whose side the guards were on given that many reported to both the Baron and to Errol, and headed for the Door Lock that would bring them to Dead Town, as they were both curious as to what Samos wanted them to retrieve, meaning he must have sealed whatever item it was a long time ago, before they went through the Rift Gate, and the seal must have weakened to the point that he was now worried that the Metal Heads might be heading for it... though both of them pushed those thoughts to the back of their minds as Twilight landed outside the Door Lock and they headed into Dead Town, only for them to pause as Twilight let a smile appear on her face as she noticed something new.

"Um, what is that?" Cozy asked, referring to the odd mechanical device that was resting to the left of the main path that all of them had used the last two times they had been here, with the right one being the one that brought them to the ruined tower and the one in front brought them to a viewing area that wasn't connected to Samos' hut, though based on what she and Twilight could see the device looked like it might be humanoid in nature and had armor to protect it from all sorts of harm, with thickened areas that had to serve a purpose of some kind.

"Keira's latest invention: the Titan Suit," Twilight replied, though she had heard about this and knew what Keira had made it for, since it was partly supposed to allow Jak to sort of keep up with her and their sisters, while having the power to just punch through solid stone and metal walls, had a jump boost that was higher than a standard person's ability, and was, as she recalled, a study device that could take some damage and deal some in return, but even it had limits and neither her or Keira were totally sure what those limits might be right now, and her smile remained as she looked at the glass casing that the controls rested near, "oh, I've been waiting to test this out since the moment she told me about it... and I'm willing to bet there are some Metal Heads for us to take down while we're in this part of the city."

Twilight noted that Cozy's ears perked up at the mention of Metal Heads possibly being here and said nothing as she took a moment to slip into the command center of Keira's new machine, where she powered up the Titan Suit and it rose up to a standing position, allowing her sister to see the person sized area she was now rested in, with reinforced glass to keep her safe from potential harm, while Alvin stood between her stomach and the controls, as there was no room for him to stay on her shoulder, before she checked the controls to be sure they worked like Keira had designed. The first thing she did was move around for a few moments, to make sure everything was operational, before tapping the controls to punch at the empty air that was in front of her for a few seconds, though once that was done she approached a stone wall that was in front of them and punched it with the fists with the Titan Suit's metallic fists, breaking down the wall within a few seconds, though there happened to be a Metal Head prowling on the other side, in a small area that had another wall she had to break down to move forward. The Grunt in question growled when it noticed her breaking through the stone and started to make its way towards where she and Cozy were currently standing, though as Twilight expected Dark Cozy was the one to smash the Metal Head into the ground and beat it up for a few seconds before claiming the Skull Gem, just like what happened whenever they defeated one of these enemies, something that caused her to sigh as she smashed down the other wall and opened up more of the path they were following, even though two more Grunts were on the other side of the second stone wall. Twilight wasted no time in moving out of the way as her sister rushed at them and knocked both enemies to the ground, the beast inside her rising to the surface with little to no resistance from her sister, something that told Twilight that whatever had happened to Jak and Cozy when they talked with the Precursor Oracle might have worn off at long last or Cozy was angry that they had spared the Baron, even converted him back to their side with a ball of Light Eco she and Midnight had worked together to create, when she wanted him to be punished for his crimes against her, Jak, and all of the other victims that had been experimented on inside the Fortress.

Since she didn't want to get in the way of her sister's Dark Form, especially after what happened when she and Starlight freed both Cozy and Jak from the Fortress, Twilight simply let her sister fight the Grunts that were in front of them as she studied the rest of the area, not that such a thing mattered since the way became clear not a few moments later and that let her smash through another stone wall, revealing an area that had a decent sized cube of stone that could be pushed over to a ledge that lead deeper into this section of Dead Town. Fortunately the Titan Suit had been designed to do such a thing, as she gripped the sides of the stone and started to push it towards the ledge, using some of the boosters that the mech had to actually move the cube over to the steps and stopped when she reached her destination, forming a way up to the upper part of this area, and she made sure to use the booster again to jump onto the stone before jumping up to where her sister was patiently waiting, as it appeared that Dark Cozy had simply jumped up here and didn't bother with a stepping stone. Not a few moments later they found an interesting sight, there was a bipedal Metal Head near the end of the passage that would bring them closer to where Samos' hut rested, one who carried a gun in its hands and seemed to have no armor on its body, save for the shoulder pieces and some pads on its knees, though Alvin informed them that this was a Rapid Gunner, a Metal Head who fired many short blasts of energy at their targets and usually did so in a matter of seconds, hence why they had 'rapid' in the name, though Theodore jumped onto the Titan Suit as Dark Cozy went to town on the unfortunate Metal Head. Twilight found that such a thing included Dark Cozy smashing her target into the ground and into some of the walls that were around her, before sending him flying through a stone wall that looked like it might collapse with a single punch or blast from one of their weapons, collapsing the stone wall and opening the way to another area that required Twilight to move a stone close to one of the walls so she could get the Titan Suit up to the next level of this area, even though her sister seemed to frown as she watched her do that, almost as if Dark Cozy was trying to tempt her into sending the machine back to Keira and just following her through the rest of this place.

Once Twilight reached the upper level she found two more Rapid Gunners guarding the area in question, who seemed to be patrolling the area as Dark Cozy flashed through the air and smashed one into some rubble that rested near her target, where it wasn't long before the second one was smashed into a wall as Twilight sighed, to which she climbed out of the Titan Suit and sent a message to Keira that, for the most part, informed her that the suit worked as intended, but due to Dark Cozy fighting everyone there was no way she could get all the information Keira wanted, hence why it was warped back to Keira's workshop and likely sent to a new area it could be tested in. After that there wasn't much for Twilight to do as her sister and her Dark Form, as she was convinced that Cozy was venting her frustration while they were here, but she did notice that there was a pathway to a new building, even if they had to go to the right and enter what looked like an old hallway or something that connected two structures before this area had been abandoned, and Twilight found a pillar of stone that happened to be resting near a gap between the ledge they were on and the ledge that was the next area they had to pass through, something her sister smashed to form a walkway, not that either of them needed one. From there it was easy to see another Rapid Gunner guarding the next area of this place, near another pillar that could form a walkway for them to use, though as Dark Cozy smashed her target into the ground Twilight gathered her magic and moved the next pillar into place so she could move forward, as she knew her sister didn't need help and sure enough she caught up with another Skull Gem to add to the collection they were forming, before she smashed her way through a stone wall that was blocking the way and downed another pillar that allowed the two of them and their Ottsels to reach Samos' hut. As the two of them walked up the worn wooden path it became clear just how old this place was, even though they knew it had been three hundred years since the last time they had stepped into this building, and that it was only a matter of time until the building fell apart completely, especially since the earthen pillar it rested on had to be eroding as time passed, though as all of them entered Samos' old place they noticed a glowing green seed, which was about the size of one's head, floating near the ceiling, and Twilight could tell it had some Green Eco power inside it.

As she raised her hands and carefully claimed the seed, since she was sure that this was what Samos wanted them to find and retrieve, one thing she noted was that Alvin and Theodore seemed to stare at the seed like they might be in a trace or were enticed by the power that happened to be inside it, to which she weaved some of her power around it and placed a barrier around it, which would ensure that its power didn't leak out and bring more Metal Heads upon them, freeing their Ottsels from what they were doing, and sure enough their Communicator came out as she did that.

"Good work girls," Samos stated, no doubt feeling that the seed had been claimed by one of them and that told him that it was time for him to speak with them about why he wanted it, though based on the lack of sound in his area it sounded like the Shadow might have stepped out or Samos had found a quiet place to speak with them, without revealing anything else to his younger self, something that caused the sisters to remain silent as they waited to hear what he might have to say to them and if it might lead to another mission, "Before we activated the Rift Rider all those years ago, and traveled back to this place, I was nurturing that Life Seed from the Great Tree, preparing it for the day that my younger self would use it like I had done before we went into the past, and it seems that the Metal Heads are attracked to the power it contains... had I known that your magic could shield the Life Seed, from all sorts of creatures, I would have asked you to do so before our trip through the rift. Anyway, I need you two to take the Life Seed to Onin, who will prepare it for my younger self, who will use it to become... sagely."

"So we helped you become a Sage, good to know," Cozy said, where Twilight noted that she had returned to her base form as her other side returned to the darkness once more, despite the fact that she was more interested in the fact that two of them, at the very least, had helped Samon become the Sage that he was today, meaning he learned a lot from his older self before heading back in time with the younger heirs, before she chuckled for a moment, "though I'm glad Daxter didn't hear that, otherwise he would be infuriated that he never got thanked for such a thing... or not, since he's gotten over his ego a bit during our time in Haven City."

Twilight nodded as she stashed the Life Seed in the realm that Midnight had created earlier, since the seed would be safe for the time being and it could be drawn out when it was needed, though once that was done she and Cozy, with both of their Ottsels on their shoulders once more, headed back to the Door Lock so they could return to the city and make their way back to Onin's place, even though they knew that Jak and Starlight would likely catch up and join them for whatever might come after delivering the seed to the old seer.
> Renegade: Fun and Business
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once Jak and Starlight were back inside the city, and made sure Vin had everything he needed inside the Power Station, they headed out to where they parked their zoomer before pausing for a moment, as neither of them had any ideas on who had a mission for them to do while they worked to make sure the city was safe from the Metal Heads, as for right now it looked like the Underground was being silent and it didn't seem like Krew had left them any messages about returning to the Hip Hog for a quick discussion, leaving them to think about the next mission they might tackle and what sort of enemies might be in the surrounding area. Not a few moments later Starlight found a message from Twilight and discovered that both of their sisters were heading over to Onin's for a time, causing them to raise an eyebrow for a moment as they learned that piece of information, to which they climbed into the zoomer that rested nearby and headed for the section of the Bazaar that the old seer happened to live in, even though they would have to fly over to where the Palace rested and park on that side of the section, so they could walk towards the hut their sisters were heading towards. Sure enough they found both Twilight and Cozy standing near their own zoomer, with both of their Ottsels standing nearby as well, though once all four of them were back together, and Jak made sure his vehicle was parked as well, they headed down into Onin's section of the Bazaar and walked towards the hut the old seer called home, which gave them a few moments to talk about what they had done since they split up, especially since he and Starlight had dealt with the eggs Vin had told them about and tackled the tower in the Drilling Platform, with transferring the controls and whatnot to the Power Station so Vin could use them in all of his calculations and his attempts to aid the Underground. Twilight and Cozy, on the other hand, informed their siblings that they had made their way through Dead Town, going through a third path that brought them to where Samos' hut rested, and Twilight told them about her time in the Titan Suit, a mech that Keira had designed, though given that Cozy was with her, not to mention her Dark Form, she had climbed out and allowed it to be teleported to another location, explaining things to Jak as he learned what they had been up to.

Of course the more interesting part of their tale was the fact that Samos had left something called a 'Life Seed' inside the hut all those years ago, before they used the Rift Gate and Rider to come to this point in time, something that all Metal Heads were attracted to and explained why their enemies had smashed through the old wall to get to the hut, but right now the seed was safe in Twilight's storage area and they were on their way to visit Onin, who would prepare it for the Shadow, as he needed it to start becoming the Sage all four of them were used to dealing with... and sure enough, when they arrived at the hut in question, they found Pecker flapping his wings as he landed on the ground in front of them, even if it meant standing between the opening and where Onin was resting.

"Onin says 'What took you so long?', as we had to skip lunch waiting for the lot of you to show up!" Pecker snapped, where the siblings had the feeling the Onin really didn't eat anything for the most part, or if she did it was very rare that she did so, though they also suspected that such a thing wasn't the truth, that Onin had likely said something else and Pecker was just venting in their direction for some reason, though before any of them could say anything the old seer raised her head for a moment and moved her hands as a bit of Blue Eco danced over Pecker for a couple of seconds, causing him to sigh as such a thing happened, "Ugh. Okay... okay. She really says, 'Thank you for saving the Life Seed', but to be honest none of you would catch me saying that if I were in her position... give Onin the seed, and she will prepare it for Samos... ah, bird seed sounds good right now."

"Yeah, well, you won't be eating this seed anytime soon," Daxter remarked, something that caused Pecker to growl as the pair watched as Twilight carefully drew the Life Seed out of her storage area and presented it to Onin, where it floated in the space in front of her as she worked on awakening the power that the Shadow needed to become a Sage, which they knew that Daxter would have been annoyed with, that all of them had helped Samos claim his position and never took the time to thank them for it, but instead of looking like he was about to blow, from outrage, he seemed more calm than what the siblings had been expecting and it surprised them, "not after everything Twilight and Cozy went through to claim it before the Metal Heads closed in on where it rested."

"Listen tiny tail, I was leading my hundredth flock south before you had fur one between your legs!" Pecker stated, where it sounded like he might be annoyed by having someone like Daxter tell him what to do, meaning there might have been a chance that he would have wanted to eat the Life Seed, given that it was the only seed in the area and he was famished at the moment, though at the same time Daxter raised an eyebrow as they heard the words that came out of Pecker's beak, especially since none of his words were important, "Not that your fur means anything!"

"Whatever... also, my Eco powers have awakened, so there is something special about me," Daxter replied, though while one would assume that Daxter was bragging about having the powers that Gol and Maia had said would awaken at some point in time, or at least a fraction of them based on what Jak had learned, his words showed them that he actually didn't care to do such a thing and didn't seem interested in getting into a fight with Pecker, which caused the bird to pause for a moment as he understood what was going on, something that shocked him and caused the siblings to nod their heads for a few seconds, due to the fact that it showed them that Daxter was growing up at last, before he noticed that the Life Seed had lowered for a moment, "What's Onin saying now?"

"She says that you must now take the energized Life Seed to the Shadow in Haven Forest, for it will give him the power he needs to finally see the forest from the trees," Pecker stated, where Jak collected the Life Seed and quickly handed it over to Twilight, who stored it away inside her storage area, though as they did that Pecker walked over to Onin's location and started to gather whatever materials they needed for their lunch, but he did wave a wing at them, to send them on their way, so he could focus on the meal he and the old seer had skipped while they were waiting for the siblings to arrive with the ancient seed.

With the Life Seed in hand the siblings excused themselves and headed back to their zoomers, so they could make their way over to the Door Lock that would allow them to leave the city and head to Haven Forest once more, where they knew that the Shadow would be waiting for the seed and suspected that he would be standing in front of the large tree they had seen during one of their previous visits to Haven Forest, though it did make them wonder if the Neo Metal Heads would show up while they were helping the Shadow out, which would be a perfect change to tell him that the Underground had more allies. One thing all of them noticed was that some of the Krimzon Guards were missing from all of the patrols they had seen in the past, meaning either the Baron or Errol might have ordered them to move to another area or something, even if they had gotten no information from their new ally, though even then it didn't take them long to reach their next destination, the ramp that lead to the Door Lock that would allow them to head out to the forest once more, and none of the guards seemed to care about what they were doing, to which they parked their zoomers at long last. Not a couple of seconds later they emerged from the passage between the wall and quickly used the nearby Warp Gate to head up to the path that would allow them to head into the forest at long last, so once everyone was on top of the nearby cliff they used the platform that was waiting nearby, though once they were on it the siblings stood still as it moved through the air and headed for the forest, where the Shadow would be waiting for them and the Life Seed to arrive, even though they were sure that some of the Neo Metal Heads were lurking in the shadows, watching him to be sure he wasn't a threat to them and their hidden hive. A few moments later they came to a stop at the edge of the area that would allow them to head out into Haven Forest, allowing the siblings to head out and start seeing what might be lurking in this area, even though they headed down some stones and walked up a ramp that would bring them to where the Great Tree happened to be resting, as they were sure that the large tree was the one in question, and when they reached their destination it was easy to see that the Shadow was sitting in front of the large tree, likely meditating and recalling whatever his older self had told him before he came here, though he opened his eyes when they approached him.

"Your older Time Twin told us you needed the Life Seed," Jak said, where Twilight pulled out the seed and let him take it for a time, even though he ended up turning so the Shadow could take it and hold onto it for however long it took him to do whatever he was supposed to be doing in this forest, while he was using the name that his sister had come up with for the two versions of Samos they were now dealing with and would be dealing with for a period of time, even though they did think it was more appropriate to use 'Samos' and 'the Shadow' when referring to them, so using 'Time Twin' was really only for when they talked to one Samos and had to mention the other one.

"Yes, I do, for its power will allow me to speak to the plants and ask them vital questions about our future, so we can plan for whatever the Baron has planned," the Shadow replied, where he held his hands out and took the Life Seed that they had claimed from part of Dead Town earlier, even though he was still surprised to learn what his older self had left in that ancient hut and that it had attracted the Metal Heads that broke through the old city wall, before he focused on the here and now as he glanced at the tree that rested near them, "while I do that, might I ask that you four stay and watch over me until I am done asking my questions?"

As Jak informed the Shadow that they would be here, to make sure no enemies bothered him, his sisters found a couple of Krimzon Guard carriers flying into this area, though based on their communicator it was clear that they weren't here on the Baron's orders, rather it seemed like Errol had grabbed whoever he could find before sending them to the forest, but none of them were worried about such a thing since they had beaten plenty of Krimzon Guards since they started taking the fight to their enemies, after Twilight and Starlight freed him and Cozy from the Fortress. Of course there was another reason behind why none of them were remotely worried about a fight happening, as there happened to be some shadows that moved as the carriers came to a stop near the two ramps that lead up to the Great Tree, though that was when they and the Shadow watched as several Scouts and other Metal Heads rushed out of where they had been hiding, who had to be the Neo Metal Heads, before they attacked the Krimzon Guards who were getting ready to assault this part of the forest and everyone who was near the Shadow, and sure enough they found Shade leading the charge. Jak and his sisters stood near the tops of the ramps, so they could watch the fight while their allies tore down Errol's forces, though that didn't stop Alvin, Simon, and Theodore from transforming into their hybrid forms and joining the battle, due to the fact that their true forms were too much for what was going on right now, though they made sure that the Neo Metal Heads knew to knock out their targets, as Twilight and Starlight could use their magic to mess with their memories and make it seem like something else might have happened in this area, to keep all of their allies a secret for a little while longer, at least from their enemies since the Shadow was caught off guard by what he was seeing. For now it seemed like it would be some time before the Shadow asked them whatever questions were swarming around in his head right now, as he was in the middle of channeling his weak Eco powers into the Life Seed, while floating in the air, so he could speak with the tree and ask it whatever vital questions he had for it, allowing the siblings to focus on blasting their enemies or hitting some of them with their feet, hooves, or fists, which opened the way for all of the Neo Metal Heads to knock their foes out so their memories could be messed with before the siblings left this place.

Even the Krimzon Guard carriers were knocked out of the air, as Twilight yanked them to the ground and used her magic to knock out any remaining enemies aboard the pair of vehicles, though it wasn't long before she and her siblings found that there were no more foes to worry about and such a thing caused the Neo Metal Heads to cheer a little as they went back to guarding this area from invaders, even though Shade and a few others approached the area that the Shadow was in, who seemed to pull himself out of the trace he had been in, even though it had been a few minutes since he started talking to the tree, to which he landed and faced Jak for a moment.

"I have been given... confusing information," the Shadow admitted, though as he said that he glanced around the area he was standing in and noticed the couple of odd Metal Heads that were standing near Jak and his sisters, like they might be friends or something, which was also confusing and made him hope there was an answer as to why it was happening in the first place, before he focused on what he had learned from talking with the tree and the plants that were resting in this part of the forest, "Apparently I would have been given a vision of the Baron finding a way to break open the Precursor Stone, unleashing a level of destruction not seen by anyone... something that would have destroyed the world and more if it had been allowed to play out... but the plants have told me that such a fate has been, well, adverted, even though such a thing would imply that the Baron doesn't have the Precursor Stone. I have questions... especially about the Metal Heads who are standing nearby."

"Long story short, they aren't Metal Heads that report to the Leader, they're a new breed that have turned against him, just like Alvin, Simon, and Theodore did," Starlight replied, figuring that time was of the essence and that they needed to give him the basic rundown of what was going on at the moment, something Twilight agreed with as she carefully pulled the Precursor Stone out of her storage area, just long enough for the Shadow to see it before returning it to where they had stored it earlier, even though it was clear that younger version of Samos was confused, "they're Neo Metal heads, as that is the name they have chosen for themselves. In addition to that we recovered the Precursor Stone from the Tomb, though we made sure to make it seem like the Baron had taken it, because while you trust Kor we've determined that he very well might be a mole for either Praxis or the Leader of the Metal Heads, so keeping him in the dark might work to our benefit in the long run."

Due to the fact that it looked like the Shadow was still lost about everything, or was coming to terms with the fact that the Underground did, in fact, acquire the Precursor Stone and had allies in the form of a new breed of Metal Heads, Starlight decided to stay with him for a time and actually explain things to him, leaving Jak, Twilight, and Cozy to head back into the city and see if there was anything else they could do to help their allies or acquaintances, as they knew that Shade and her forces would keep the area secure until it was time for the Shadow to leave. As such it didn't take Jak and his sisters long to reach the platform that would bring them all the way back to where the Warp Gate rested, where it took them a couple of moments to reach their destination and jumped through the device to return to where the Door Lock rested, though as that happened Twilight noted that there wasn't much in their Communicator, save for a notice from Krew that seemed to be linked to Brutter, meaning he likely wanted them to help free some Lurkers so he could take more of Brutter's money from the poor Lurker, a thought that caused all three of them to pause for a few seconds. Once they got over the fact that Krew wanted them to help free more Lurkers, for free this time around by the looks of things, Jak and his sisters headed into the city and returned to their zoomers, where it wasn't long before they took to the air and made their way into the western part of the Bazaar, where Brutter's stand happened to be located, though other than helping Brutter out with his enslaved brothers, something Jak was planning on asking the Baron about since it was about time that the slavery ended, Twilight found that there was nothing else for them to do at the moment and caused her to sigh for a few seconds as they headed for the dead end section of the Bazaar they had found Brutter in the last time Krew had sent them to 'assist' him in his time of need. Based on what all three of them could see the Krimzon Guards who were in the city must have been assigned to another location or another area of Haven City, making each of them wonder which commander they were dealing with, as in the Baron or Errol, but in the end they decided that it really didn't matter since they would take down any challenges that were coming their way, be it some of the Krimzon Guard or whatever obstacles a mission might have for them to tackle.

Sure enough they found Brutter standing at his shop, or bar since it looked like someplace where someone would stop for a drink before heading home, to which the siblings came to a stop nearby and walked over to the area that the Lurker was working in, where it looked like he might be busy restocking some of his materials as he wanted for Krew to send someone to help him with his problem, though when he turned around a few seconds later a wide smile appeared on his face as he realized that Krew had sent him people who could get the job done with ease.

"It's brother Jak, sisters Twilight and Cozy, and the little orangey pals!" Brutter exclaimed, his tone revealing what they were seeing right now, he was excited by their return to his place of work and knew that they would be able to aid him in saving however many Lurkers might be in trouble this time around, where Daxter, Alvin, and Theodore waited on the shoulders they rode on and didn't jump down onto the wooden table that was in front of them, as they knew there was no time for a bit of relaxation, since once Brutter revealed his task to them they would head out to complete it, "Thank the Totem I sees you. You help Lurkers once time, you help us twos? You know big-to-do ruckus you caused at dig? I know all caves like back  of claw, and Mar's tomb no where there! Now Metal Heads find hidden Lurker village in caves! They bite, and hurt village real bad, and me Lurker brothers trapped like animals!"

"Sounds like Errol's doing, not the Baron's." Cozy remarked, though while she knew that the Baron might have enforced the trend of using Lurkers as slave workers in the city, or maybe he created it after his corruption by the Dark Eco that had been inside the metallic part of his head, they all knew that Errol loved the idea of being superior to everyone, save for the Baron, and this did seem like something he would enforce, making sure to cart off more Lurkers for whatever he wanted all of them for, "He likely sees them as animals and nothing else at this point."

"We no longer evil-lurking, bad-to-bones, dark sister! We good now. Metal Headers are bad. They is enemies." Brutter said, his tone and expression showing that he knew the history of his people, that they had once been evil and that such a thing had influenced how everyone saw them from that point, while also showing that he understood the danger that the Metal Heads posed to the city and everyone that called Haven home, or at least it sure seemed that way based on what Jak and his sisters were seeing at the moment, before Brutter held his hands up, revealing six fingers this time, like that was how many Lurkers needed to be saved this time, "Please, save six Lurker brothers quick, and Brutter will kiss you foots!"

As Jak agreed to the job, since it would please Brutter and distract Krew for a time, Twilight found that three new locations had been prepared for drop points for the Lurkers in question, which was perfect since each of them could focus on saving two Lurkers and taking them over to one of the three drop locations, and based on what she could tell two of the transport zoomers were to the south, in the farm area between here and the Port, while the other four were to the north, two in the other farm area while the last two were in the modern section near the Stadium, an area known as Main Town for some odd reason. In the end Jak decided that he could take the transports that were near the border between the Stadium and Main Town, Twilight could easily take down the ones that were in the northern farm area, and Cozy could tackle the ones in the southern farm section, something that caused him to climb out of the zoomer Twilight had been driving and claimed one that was laying off to the side, which meant they could tackle all of their targets without giving their enemies time to retaliate or move the other Lurkers off to another section of the city, and once he was ready to go he and his sisters split up once more. It didn't take Cozy too long to reach the part of Haven City that her targets were traveling through, though as soon as she discovered them she jumped out of her zoomer, leaving Theodore to drive it for some time, as she shifted into her Dark Form for a moment and smashed through the metallic cage that was keeping the first Lurker trapped, which she did without actually hurting the poor beast in question, before freeing the Lurker and let it touch the ground while she burst through the air and knocked down the second one in the same manner, and once she did that she had the Lurkers follow her to the safe zone that had been prepared for them. While she did that Twilight flew through the other farm area of Haven City and found her targets following traffic, like she had seen most of the Krimzon Guards do in the past, though instead of attacking first she studied them and found that they followed what appeared to be a circular motion path, as in neither of them went anywhere, so she wait for them to cross paths before engaging her magic and disabled both of her targets with ease, allowing her to collect the Lurkers and drop them off at the nearby safe zone... and as she did that it was easy to find Jak blasting the remaining two transports apart as well, allowing him to transport his Lurkers to the third safe zone and ensure Errol's plans failed.

Once all three of them were done with their task, which had been rather simple in the grand scheme of things, they took a moment to regroup and found that the Communicator came out to tell them something, where Brutter thanked them for saving his people, saving something about the smelly breath of a goosesnake, that they were heroes to the Lurkers, and that all of them, which included Starlight and Simon, were honorary members of the tribe now, that he and his tribe would come aid Jak and his siblings if they ever needed help, something they would keep in mind for later. Twilight was sure that they would find some way to make use of the aid of Brutter's tribe, even though it would be a nice way to make sure some people were safe in case the Shield Wall actually fell, though once the Lurker was done talking, and the link between them and him was cut, they found another message from Keira, where she wanted them and her father to meet up with her in the garage she worked in, as she felt that it was about time she told them what she had been working on since she started her job as one of Haven's best mechanics. Fortunately they didn't have to worry about tracking down Starlight, as all three of the siblings found her flying towards them on another zoomer, so they parked two of them nearby and returned to just using two vehicles as they headed for the Stadium once more, even though Jak had a feeling that the final race, the Class One race to be exact, would happen soon and it might be another reason behind why Keira wanted to see them before the announcement was made, likely to share some information with them before wishing him luck. Interestingly enough there were a large number of citizens outside the structure in question, not to mention a good number of Krimzon Guard, which made sense considering that this happened to be the final race of the season and this was the only one that the Baron had time to watch, while at the same time Errol was here and that meant that some of the guards had to be on his side, or at least here to watch their boss 'win' the race since all of them seemed to assume that Errol would win the race and take all of his enemies down, though it put a smile on Jak's face, due to him wanting a challenge and this seemed to be the best thing for him to do.

Sure enough Keira was waiting for them and beckoned for the siblings to join her as she made her way to her workshop, where they parked near the bottom of the stairs and walked up towards where their friend happened to be standing, all while making sure none of the Krimzon Guards bothered them, and when they walked into the workshop they found that Samos was inside the chamber as well, something that was followed by Keira closing the doors behind them so this could be kept a secret.

"I know you guys have been curious about what I've been working on for the last year or so, but please, don't laugh when I show my project to you," Keira said, where she walked over to the curtain that prevented everyone from seeing her secret project and moved it out of the way within a matter of seconds, to which Twilight smiled for a moment as she and the rest of the group noticed exactly what she had been working on, the Rift Rider most of them had used to travel through the Rift Gate all those years ago, even though Alvin and his brothers recognized it thanks to all the descriptions Twilight had given them, even if they thought such a thing was odd, before Keira turned to look at them again, "I've been building a replica of the Rift Rider we used to fly through the Rift Gate, using old Precursor artifacts to make it as perfect as it can be... however, I've hit a snag, as I'm missing three important artifacts to make everything work: an artifact known as the Time Map, which likely links two points of time and space together, an old energy gem called the Heart of Mar, which serves as the ignition for the entire Rift Rider, and the most important artifact, the Rift Ring itself, which has, based on all of my research, vanished without a trace."

"Well, we know that Krew has the Heart of Mar, so we'll make sure to retrieve that," Starlight remarked, though as she said that she found Twilight studying one of the walls that were near the replica Rift Rider, where Keira had left her notes on all of the artifacts she needed and the leads that she had come up with in regards to those that were missing, which meant that her statement would cause Keira to update the notes in regards to the Heart of Mar, something that was followed by her noting that their friend seemed to think that Krew might have the Time Map, or at least knew who had it, and that Vin might be able to help them find it, while the Rift Ring had a note about the Metal Heads near the picture she had drawn of the ring and it was joined by a question mark, showing her uncertainty about that particular artifact.

"While you guys do that, I'll be working with Vin to track down the Time Map and possible locations that the Rift Ring might have been hidden in," Keira stated, because right now there wasn't a whole lot for her to do, in regards to her job as one of the mechanics for Haven City to be exact, so she could devote more of her time to looking for the artifacts she needed to complete the Rift Rider, though this also meant that she could focus on tearing down Krew's network for when this war was over, since he needed to pay for his crimes at some point.

As Jak started to open his mouth, so he could say something about how impressive this was, especially with all the time that Keira must have poured into making sure this could happen, the announcer for the Stadium spoke up and revealed what they were waiting for, that the Class One Championship Race was about to begin and that all racers were to prepare themselves for the final race of the season, though while it was odd to have the previous race and the last one so close to each other Jak was ready for anything, especially since Errol would be racing against him.

"Well, its time to face Errol and win the championship," Jak said, though he was pumped for this, because after seeing how Errol had fared in their little practice race he had the feeling that he could beat Haven's champion with ease, even though all the time he spent with Twilight and Starlight made him a little cautious about the fact that Errol might have hidden his true skill in an attempt to make him overconfident in the final race, which would be an interesting plan if Errol was capable of creating such a plan in the first place, before he turned to leave the chamber.

Keira made sure to stop him for a moment and kissed him for good luck, something that had to annoy Samos a little bit, and once that was done she wished him good luck as she opened the door to her workshop, allowing all of them to head out and take their positions inside the Stadium, Keira making one final check to be sure the racing zoomer was ready for this race as Twilight and the others stood near the railing of the stands, allowing them to see the entire race and note the locations of the Krimzon Guards, and when Jak lowered himself into the ranks of the racers they found that the Baron was here as well, confirming the presence of the guards they were seeing... not to mention Errol, who growled at Jak before he pulled his mask over his face, showing that he was ready to 'put Jak in his place', as he liked to claim.

"Greetings, racers!" the Baron said, where he stood on a platform that floating through the air, allowing him to stare down at Jak, Errol, and the other racers who had gathered here today, even though Twilight noted that he was acting like nothing was wrong with him, that he was the same as before the events in the Tomb of Mar, so if her thoughts about the Leader of the Metal Heads was correct this would make him arrogant in believing that things were still working in his favor, and on his circular platform stood two guards, a last time of defense in case someone dared to attack the Baron, before he took a moment to focus on them once more, "Today your nerve and skill will be tested for our amusement. If any of you should by some small chance beat our grand champion Erol, then you will be awarded a month's supply of Eco and a short tour of the Royal Palace. Good luck, and may the best racer win! Ready! Get set!"

Twilight noticed that there was a new platform that lowered into place near their position, which had twenty barrels that had to be full of Eco, meaning the Baron must have discovered some reserves that he had been keeping from the Leader of the Metal Heads and his forces, back when he was under the control of the twisted metal that had saved his life, and it had three guards watching over them, who nodded their heads a little towards Twilight and her sisters, meaning they had to be on their side, before everyone turned their attention to the race as the Baron said 'Go'. The instant that word left his mouth, and his platform raised up so he had an aerial view of the entire track that had been designed for this race, Jak and Errol were off as the other racers did the same thing, causing all eight of them to leave the area that the startling line was in as they started to follow the path that was in front of them, even though it wasn't long before most of the citizens who were in the stands cheered, showing the sisters that they just enjoyed watching races unfold before their eyes, despite the fact that only a few truly cared who won the race. Of course Jak started in the back of the pack, either due to the fact that he was one of the last two to arrive or he wanted a challenge and allowed Errol to take first place for some time, mostly to give him a chance to see the rest of the track and get an understanding of the layout, which he had done during the last race and the first one Keira had asked him to participate in, even though it did seem like Errol was being arrogant thanks to Jak's decisions and didn't think he would be a threat to hm winning the race. As Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy expected this scene didn't last forever, rather Jak quickly started to overcome some of the racers that were in front of him and soon he was in second place, much to the surprise of the people in the stands, something that didn't stop them from cheering for Jak and Errol, even though many were surprised when Jak pulled in front of Errol, which happened near the end of the fourth lap, and he spent the rest of the race, the fifth and final lap to be exact, staying ahead of Errol and pulled further ahead of him, effectively making it impossible for Errol to overcome him and retake first place, though what was slightly amusing was that Jak had half a lap on Errol by the time he reached the finish line, much to the shock of the citizens of Haven City, who cheered their brother on for his spectacular performance.

With the victory assured, and the Palace Pass floated down into Jak's hands, the Baron started what appeared to be a short speech to the winner of the Grand Championship Race, which would have gone to Errol had Jak not been part of the race in the first place, and the Eco platform was lowered so that ti could be claimed once the speech was done, though before he even had a chance to finish his speech Errol, in an act of rage, flew his zoomer right at where Jak was standing, who just jumped out of the way and avoided the attack with ease. His actions caused Errol to fly passed him and crash right into the Eco barrels that were resting under where the Baron's platform rested, which was followed by a dark purple explosion that likely killed him, while revealing that there had been a bunch of Dark Eco inside the containers, and in the following panic from the civilians, after seeing such a thing happen, Jak rejoined his sisters before following after the Baron, as it allowed them to leave the area without being stopped by Errol's guards, as it was time to speak with him and see what needed to be done next in their war to bring down the Leader of the Metal Heads.
> Renegade: Weapons Factory
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With Errol taken care of, at least Jak and his sisters were sure that he was gone for good after driving head first into a pile of Dark Eco barrels and being right in the center of a Dark Eco explosion, they followed the Baron over to the entrance of the the Palace, or at least the one they had used when they left the structure after listening in on his secret conversation with the Leader of the Metal Heads, where he used his pass to open the door and the siblings followed after him with the guards stayed outside, to guard the structure despite the fact that there were no enemies inside the city. Jak remembered the last time they had been in the Palace, given that it had happened not that long ago, even if it was mostly due to the awakening of Midnight Sparkle, Twilight's alter ego who always seemed to be watching since he was sure he noticed instances of her when he looked at his sister, and he was sure that Midnight was lurking in the shadows, watching everything that Twilight saw as she determined whether or not her power was needed to do something, even though he was sure she was mostly keeping an eye on the Baron for signs of trickery. Cozy, on the other hand, let out a low growl, likely part of her more feral Dark Form seeping through and was likely due to the fact that she was returning to the place where Twilight had been harmed, which caused Midnight's awakening to be exact, something that caused the Baron to glance back for a moment as Starlight made sure she wasn't about to snap, because out of all four of them Cozy was the one who disliked the Baron the least, like not at all even though Jak was tolerating him while they were at war with the Metal Heads, especially when one considered how long she had been trapped inside the Fortress, but she did nothing and that meant things were just fine. Other than that nothing happened as they headed into the elevator that would bring them up to the highest point of the Palace, that it had access to anyway, which happened to be a hallway which likely connected to several rooms, an eating area, and the large chamber that contained the throne room, though everyone remained silent as they walked towards their destination, with the siblings keeping an eye on the shadows in case this was a trap.

Eventually Praxis came to a stop and stared at the throne for a few moments, no doubt remembering something from his past when he wasn't the leader of Haven City and served as an advisor or something under Jak's father, giving the siblings some time to spread out and ensure that no one was in the area they were in, which allowed Cozy to find that Ashelin was here and she remained silent, allowing them to focus on Praxis and nothing else for a time, before the Baron sighed for a second as he turned to face them once more.

"As unexpected as Errol's actions were, its both relieving and annoying at the same time," Praxis said, meaning that he was conflicted by what had happened in the Stadium, given that Errol had gone made and tried to take down Jak by ramming him into the Dark Eco barrels that would have gone to the winner of the Grand Championship Race, which he assumed Jak would have either given to the Underground, hand them over to Vin to be poured into the Shield Wall, or used for some purpose like empowering one of his sisters with more dark powers, since Starlight seemed to be the only one who didn't have access to a Dark Form, "I'm somewhat relieved since he was constantly disobeying my orders, as I told him to stop the search for you four until we took care of the Metal Heads and he insisted on pulling aside guards to hunt the four of you down and drag you to the Fortress... its annoying, however, since I was hoping to remind him of his importance to the city as my right hand, and by doing this he's shown the public that my rule is breaking down, possibly to the point where I might be displaced simply due to the fact that the people don't feel safe anymore."

"Still, he got what was coming to him," Cozy remarked, as she didn't feel saddened by the death of Errol, because that had been one of the things she had been planning since she learned who had been tormenting her for the long three years she had been inside the Fortress, and she could tell that both Praxis and Ashelin didn't seem to enjoy her comment, since Errol had been a vital part to Praxis' rule over Haven City and, like he had just said, his insane stunt will cause damage to the current ruler of the city, so much so that the Council might make an attempt to dethrone the Baron before he or one of his associates did something equally insane.

"I've heard him ranting to someone, when he thinks he's alone, which started after you found the Tomb," Ashelin added, showing that she had new information to share with Jak and his sisters, even though her father likely knew about this and would have acted on it once the final race was over, though now that Errol had been done in there was no reason for them to worry about her former superior, but it did leave an opening for someone to replace him, before she considered what her father had told her about his time under the manipulating power of his metallic head piece, or at least the dark power that had infected it, "my father and I were wondering if Errol might be getting ready to betray us and join forces with the Leader of the Metal Heads, no doubt being promised power, the death of those who have annoyed him... you guys, to be exact... and likely sparing whoever he's interested in so they can be corrupted like my father was... thanks for saving him from such a fate."

"Keira... he was interested in Keira... now I'm glad he's gone," Jak said, recalling what Errol had said when they found each other in the Hip Hog Saloon, as Errol had believed that by beating him in a race Keira would change sides and love him while betraying those that were close to her, though his statement was true for multiple reasons, as Errol's death meant it deprived the Leader of the Metal Heads of an ally that might have aided him in tearing down the Shield Wall, to which he focused on the more important topic they needed to talk about, before heading out to find Krew and obtain the Heart of Mar from him, "Praxis, you mentioned something about having plans for the Precursor Stone, or something like that back in the Tomb of Mar, before you decided to fight us... do you remember what those plans were?"

"Yes, I had planned on gathered every scrap of spare Eco we could gather, as a shield of sorts, so we could slip in a device that the Precursor Stone would be attached to," Praxis replied, where he paused for a moment as he pieced together the plan he had created while he was under the influence of the being who lead the Metal Heads, though he knew that he had been influenced to make several plans that involved simply delivering the Stone to his enemy and lowering the Shield Wall to allow the Metal Heads into the city, all of which he discarded instantly as he returned to their topic, "Krew and I had, in preparation for the eventual discovery of the Precursor Stone, developed a device that should, in theory, crack open the Stone, hence why we called it the Piercer Bomb, so by attaching the Stone to it, and delivering the shipment to the Metal Head Nest, we could detonate it and wipe out the entire Nest."

"Yeah, and destroy the entire world at the same time," Twilight stated, or rather it was both her and Midnight who said the statement, given that one of her eyes was Twilight's and the other happened to be Midnight's, though that was when Jak and his sisters, along with the Ottsels, Praxis, and Ashelin watched as a rush of Dark Eco surged over her body for a couple of seconds and Midnight appeared before them, closing her wings while she was indoors while dusting off her dress a little at the same time, before she focused on the Baron once more, "We found out, by having the Green Sage speak with the Great Tree before the Championship Race, that breaking open the Precursor Stone would destroy all things, and since that point I've been going over the numbers, especially with the sheer amount of power that resides inside the precious Stone, and I have to say that your plan... is stupid and insane, since breaking it open would wipe out the Nest, Haven City, the Wasteland, and everything else that exists in this world. Sure, you would kill the Metal Heads, but you would bring an end to the rest of the world... so yeah, even though you've been cured of the dark influence of Kor, who we've been suspecting might be the Leader of the Metal Heads in disguise, that's a dumb plan and we should focus on a frontal assault on the Nest, with just us fighting our enemy."

"Yes, I was planning on dismissing the plan as well, though I'm afraid that Krew might want to set off one of the bombs in the near future, to see how destructive the weapon really is," Praxis replied, where he nodded his head for a moment and Ashelin handed over four new Security Passes, one for each of the four siblings, which happened to be black colored this time around, something that caused them to raise their eyebrows for a moment as they considered why they picked such a color for this pass, hence why they focused on the Baron not a few seconds later, while Ashelin stepped backwards for a moment and simply stared at them, "I figured that, at some point in time, you would want to head there and confront him, so I had these Black Security Passes created for all four of you... they'll let you get into the Weapons Factory, so you can find Krew, convince him to not set off the Piercer Bomb that's there, and do whatever you need to do."

Jak nodded for a moment, as he had a feeling that Praxis didn't mention the fact that the Black Security Pass wouldn't let them leave the Weapons Factory once they entered it, though with the powers his sisters possessed he knew that getting back to Haven City would be easy to do once Krew stopped messing with his toy and handed over the Heart of Mar, but as soon as everyone was ready to go, and both the Baron and Ashelin moved so they could leave to calm people down after what happened inside the Stadium earlier, he and his sisters left the chamber and used the elevator to leave the Palace once more. Once they were back on the streets, and the Palace door closed behind them, the siblings returned to where they had parked both of their zoomers and headed over to the Port, as they had an idea of where to find the Weapons Factory, but before getting on the air train, and departing from the city for a time, Starlight made a quick stop at the Hip Hog to see if Krew might be there, only to find that Tess was manning the bar and Sig was nowhere to be seen, meaning they might come across both of the figures at the peak of the Weapons Facility. After checking out the saloon the siblings headed over to their destination and parked both of their zoomers near the other side of the pillar the air train was near, where they walked over to the vehicle in question and found that it was opening as they approached it, though as Jak and his sisters entered the air train he found that the driver understood that they needed to head to the Dig and waited for all of them to be sitting down before he departed from the city, meaning Praxis had likely informed him that they would be coming by and had him get ready so they could leave at a moment's notice. As such Jak, Starlight, Cozy, and Midnight just sat on some of the seats that were inside the air train as it brought them over to where the Dig, and more importantly the Weapons Factory, rested, which was all the confirmation they needed to hear at this point in time, though each of them were getting ready for when they landed, as there was no telling what sort of dangers might be resting inside the secure building that Krew was likely resting at the end of, all while Midnight seemed to be checking the stones on her bracelet, no doubt thinking about what they might find when they reached their new destination.

When the air train came to a stop the siblings walked down the ramp and found that they were, in fact, resting outside the Dig, where they remembered that Kor had sent them here to disrupt the Baron's forces, likely to distract them so he could do whatever it was that he was up to, before Jak spotted a door that rested to the right of the platform that the air train had landed on, which happened to be at the top of a set of stairs and seemed to be what they were looking for, hence the reason that they allowed the driver of the air train to leave as they headed over to the door with their weapons ready for whatever might be waiting for them. Once the door opened Jak and his sisters noticed that there was a chamber on the other side, roughly the size of Keira's workshop, that had a circular indent in the floor and caused them to walk on top of it not a few moments later, where they discovered it was an elevator and that it lowered once they came to a stop on it, but it moved fast and only took a second or two to travel a short distance into the ground, to which Starlight had the feeling it would have been better to install a ramp and not an elevator in this area. After entering the small area the elevator had brought them to, where Jak smashed some ammunition crates and distributed what was inside it to his sisters, while only Midnight went without since she didn't need it, before they headed through the passage that happened to be in front of them and found themselves in a much larger area that had some Krimzon Guards guarding it, though these ones looked like they followed Errol given that one claimed that he was going to make them pay for killing Errol, even if the deed had been done by the fallen person these guards had been following. Instead of allowing her siblings to waste ammunition on these guys Midnight waved a hand and knocked all four guards close to each other, as if she was using the wind to knock all of them around, before she loosed a burst of Dark Eco, a Peace Maker orb, that rushed through the air and slammed into her target without wasting a single second, the power branching out to take down the other three as well, allowing all of them to move forward and find that there was an electrical wall blocking the way forward, even though Cozy found a button she could press, one that deactivated the barrier and opened the way for them to head deeper into the Weapons Facility, where she flexed her claws as they continued their search for Krew.

What they found on the other side of the deactivated electrical wall were three more of Errol's guards, or maybe they were Krew's guards at this point, but instead of firing at them Cozy rushed forward and smashed one of them into the wall, all before the other two could even react to what she had done, before she gripped the other two and pushed both of them into the ground, cracking the stone flooring and breaking part of their armor, causing all three guards to moan in pain as the siblings followed the short tunnel they had been guarding. After finding those enemies a new obstacle appeared right in front of them, a diagonal ramp that was a conveyor belt and it happened to be moving in their direction, so if they were to make their way up to the platform or area it lead to they would either need to use Starlight or Midnight's magic to get over it or, as they quickly decided on, just strike the bit red bullseye like device that was to the side of the conveyor belt, as Midnight loosed a single Blaster charge from her hand it caused the belt to change direction, allowing all of them to step onto the ramp and allowed it to bring them up to the next section of this place. The area at the end of the conveyor belt was a large chamber, with a bunch of pipes, metallic rails, and a machine or two that looked like they might be some sort of dispenser, for what none of them knew since this was the first time they were seeing them, though everyone saw a few Krimzon Guards who happened to be guarding part of the path that would bring them to where Krew was working, likely Errol's goons again, so while Jak, Starlight, and Cozy followed the main direction of the path Midnight used her magic to make sure their enemies didn't notice them until they were ready to face them. When Jak jumped down into the lowered section that was near where the first conveyor belt had ended he paused for a moment as the dispenser opened, due to his presence no doubt, before five spherical metallic objects, which were about half as tall as a normal person was when they stood at their full height, dropped out of the dispenser and started to roll around the platform in question, though all of them were red colored and seemed to be part of the Krimzon Guard, but they seemed to be targeting Jak and Cozy was the first one to strike as she leapt in front of one and smashed it into the ground, while Starlight blasted one of the other spheres as Midnight watched them take care of their new enemies.

As her siblings fought these enemies, which were quite easy to dismantle as a single attack forced the spheres to stop and taken on a bipedal stance, forming a robotic soldier of sorts, and a secondary strike allowed them to take down their foes, so only two hits meant they were successful and could move onto the next foe, where Midnight decided to call these the Roboguards, as she had a feeling that the Baron had developed them to either reduce the city's casualties or empower the Krimzon Guard by adding new allies to their ranks. Thanks to that fact, which would likely annoy the Baron since he likely had these designed to be more durable than the normal armor of the guards, something that might be due to the power that the siblings possessed, Jak and his sisters smashed the couple of Roboguards to pieces as Midnight watched over the fight, though once they were done fighting their robotic enemies, and they were sure of that, the dispenser that they had come from closed and a device on the other side of the gap that was in front of them turned a second later. Such a thing allowed a set of platforms to swing into position in front of where the siblings were standing, leading to where the couple of guards were standing and turned in their direction, so Midnight waved a hand as she dismissed her spell and knocked all of her targets backwards, avoiding dropping them into the green acid looking water or material that was in the depths of the gap between where they were standing and where her spell had been resting, which allowed her siblings to jump over all three of the platforms to reach the gear shaped wheel switch. Once all of them were near it Jak spun around for a moment and kicked it, where they watched as the platforms swung back into position and connected to the other platform it happened to be connected to, allowing the siblings to move further into the depths of this place while Midnight took her time to study the Weapons Factory and see if there was anything for her to mess with, more in the hopes of improving the stuff the Baron put in this place, leaving the fighting to her siblings since she knew that they didn't need her help yet, and if they did she was going to make her move before they even called for her to lift a finger.

When they reached the other side of the moveable path Jak, Starlight, and Cozy stepped onto a circular elevator pad that brought all of them to an area that was above where they had been walking, with Midnight flying up behind them a couple of seconds later, even though there were a few Krimzon Guards up on the upper level and they were taken down within an instant of meeting the siblings, Cozy gripping both of their heads and slamming them right into the floor, allowing Jak and Starlight to move forward as they found a new conveyor belt that had two spinning blades that were moving based on the commands they had been given some time ago. As such the siblings carefully moved forward and jumped over both blades that were in front of them, with Midnight just flying through the air as she kept up with them, before reaching what appeared to be the end of this particular conveyor belt and discovered that the next think they had to do was jump over to a diagonal belt, which was what they did without delay as they headed down to their left, something that allowed them to jump over to a stone walkway, even if they had to knock some platforms into place to jump over there. Not a couple of seconds later they found another conveyor belt that lead deeper into the Weapons Factory, one that was shaped like an upside down v of sorts, which had a platform further ahead of it and Starlight blasted it with a Blaster charge, opening the way for her siblings to jump over to it and enter the chamber that was in front of them, even though Jak blasted some of the yellow armored Krimzon Guards as Cozy smashed one into the ground, where both of their foes were knocked out in a matter of seconds as Starlight and Midnight caught up and came to a stop inside the new area. From there Jak found a new conveyor belt system that lead to the highest point of this section of the Weapon Factory, one that was segmented and meant that they were going to have to be careful when moving through this place, to which he quickly blasted the red icon that rested off to his right and changed the direction of the belt, sending it diagonally upwards now, something that allowed him to reach a platform that had another belt attached to the end of it, before spotting an icon near a larger belt that seemed to be connected to the second one he had found.

As Starlight and Cozy caught up with him, however, he watched as Starlight blasted two new platforms into position above the larger conveyor belt and allowed them to jump up onto them so they didn't have to worry about being slowed down at all, before they crossed over to another metallic platform that had two more smaller conveyor belts connecting to the top of this area, even though they were going in different directions and required them to blast the icon twice so they could reach their destination. What all of them discovered was that this definitely wasn't the highest point of the Factory, as in there was more for them to fight their way through, before they noticed that there was a dispenser nearby as it released several Roboguards to take them down, to which Midnight waved her hand and stopped several Krimzon Guards from firing down at them from one of the higher points that looked down on this place, allowing her siblings to focus on taking down the group of enemies by blasting, punching, or kicking them. This time around Midnight noticed that one of the red icons were in this area and it was protected by electricity, something that was likely linked with the dispenser and would disperse once they beat up all of the enemies that were in front of them, though as she thought about that she turned her hand and the guards she had stopped went flying into the wall far behind where they had been standing, knocking them out so her siblings wouldn't have to worry about them, allowing her to focus on watching them take down the robotic foes that were in this flat area. Once this section was cleared of enemies, and the icon had been smacked, Jak and his sisters used the new conveyor belt to reach the upper area that Midnight had cleared out and found a couple of wheel switches that controlled a single set of platforms, which they were going to have to use to move across the area in front of them if they wanted to leave this place, so Jak, Starlight, and Cozy manipulated the switches to form a path for them to use to get over to the other side of the chamber they were currently in, though thanks to Midnight clearing out every guard that had been up in this area they were able to get over to the other side without delay and saved them some ammunition at the same time, which was good since they had no idea what else was in this place.

From there they found one of the breakable floor squares and Jak smashed his way through it, allowing them to enter yet another new chamber that had a conveyor belt leading down to where an elevator rested, one that had to bring them up to where Krew and the Piercer Bomb rested, though there were three dispensers in this area and such a thing meant they would be bothered by a great deal of Roboguards, something that caused Jak and Cozy to shift into their Dark Forms not a few moments later. As soon as they did that the dispensers started sending out enemies for them to fight, where Dark Jak smashed his targets into the floor and even tossed one into a wall, Dark Cozy decided to grab one by the leg and use it like a flail of some kind, swinging it around to smash it into some of the other Roboguards as it broke apart, and once she was done with it she dropped the shattered robot and tore into another one without delay, leaving Starlight to blast her foes with either a burst of magic or one of her Blaster charges, sometimes both to take someone out. Midnight, however, didn't move as her enemies came rolling over to where she was standing, where the robots found that they couldn't roll into her and caused them to deploy into their humanoid state to try and punch her into submission, only to find that their fists also failed to do any damage to her as she shifted her hand for a moment and used small portals to sever their arms, like she had done back during their first fight with the Baron. With their combined powers the Roboguards stood no chance and it caused all the dispensers to run out of enemies to send at them, which also caused each of them to close, before the four of them walked over to the elevator as the door opened, while Jak switched out of his Dark Form as Cozy remained inside it, though once everyone was standing on top of the platform they stood still as it moved up towards the top of the shaft, which had to be the peak of the Weapons Factory and their final destination. Sure enough when the elevator stopped not a few moments later, and a door opened for them, the siblings found themselves on top of a flat circular area that Krew was definitely floating around in, looking at a massive circular metallic device that certainly resembled a bomb like he was in the middle of priming it or something, and it didn't look like he even realized any of them were there and continued his work on the large bomb, which seemed impossible to hide if Midnight was being honest.

Sure a thing allowed the siblings to step out of the elevator shaft and walk onto the platform that Krew was floating above, once more thanks to his hover chair, though since this place was outside the city's limits, and thus outside the Shield Wall, Midnight had Alvin, Simon, and Theodore hide themselves for a moment, as she had a surprise for the fat man that might grant them the Heart of Mar in next to no time, especially when one considered what the Metal Head siblings were hiding right now, and as they set their trap Krew noticed that they were there and moved over to their position.

"I knew the lot of you were special when I first met each of you, and I commend you for making it this far." Krew said, his tone revealing that he must be distracted by something right now, likely the Piercer Bomb that was behind him, while also showing that he was impressed that they had smashed their way through everything that was inside the Weapons Factory and made their way to where he was located, even though they knew that he was expecting to meet the Baron here in the near future and not all of them, "I see you're eyeing the Piercer Bomb I've developed, which I have designed it to break open the Precursor Stone in a violent display that will wipe out the Metal Head Nest and save the city, or at least that was what I was asked to do to it... if you can't tell, I just love the appearance of weapons, how they feel, even how they smell after being triggered. Ah, but my favorite weapon has to be the impossibly powerful and fabled weapon Mar built, a large gun supposedly has the power to channel the power of the Precursor Stone into a focused blast, though he died before it could be turned on... he was a fool to his end... anyway, here's another ammunition upgrade for your weapons, you just need to forget what you have seen and get back to business."

"We're not going anywhere, Krew, not until you had over the Heart of Mar," Jak stated, though he was more than willing to take all four of the new weapon mods and make sure his sisters had one as well, despite the fact that Midnight didn't need it at this point in time, before he focused on the fat man once more, finding that Krew was upset with them wanting one of the artifacts that he had ordered them to claim for him, even though they had no idea it had been inside Mar's statue and he had his men blow it up without a second thought.

"Over my dead body!" Krew replied, where he stared at the siblings for a moment, no doubt assuming that they might just attack him once he decided not to hand over the artifact in question, before he noticed something interesting, three of the four small annoying creatures happened to be missing right now and he had no idea why the sisters wouldn't have their pets with them, though that was also when he realized that the siblings were smiling, or smirking for some, which caused him to frown for a moment, "What's so funny?"

"Look behind you." Alvin said, as he and his brothers had emerged from their hiding place when Krew descended to where Jak and his sisters were standing, so they would be behind him and not in his line of sight, though once he was in place all three of them shifted into their true forms and just stood there while Krew was focused on the Piercer Bomb, which was when the fat man paused as he heard Alvin's voice and turned around to face them, coming face to face with the brothers not a few seconds later, discovering their true dragon forms.

Krew paled as he noticed the brothers standing there and even managed to get the word 'dragon' out, which came out like 'dr... dr... dragons' when he said it, before Alvin lashed out with his claw and knocked the hover chair to the ground, where Simon and Theodore moved and trapped the device on the ground for a few seconds, much to his surprise as the Heart of Mar actually fell out of his clothing and slid across the floor so Jak could pick it up, before the brothers tore him free from his hover chair and devoured the fat man, splitting him three ways, though while they did that Midnight glanced over to the Piercer Bomb for a moment and moved it to another part of her storage area, far away from the Precursor Stone, just so they didn't leave something dangerous behind.

"You certainly have everything under control," a voice said, where the siblings found that Ashelin was near the platform that they were currently standing on, flying one of the wider Krimzon Guard zoomers, as in the two seater ones, meaning she must have come to check up on them and make sure Krew handed over the artifact he had taken, among other things since the Piercer Bomb was now inside one of Midnight's storage areas, before she focused on something that she had to tell all four of them, "Vin's detected something weird with the Shield Wall and is currently checking it, though we, and by that I mean Vin, my father, and I, have the feeling that we might have been played... father never trusted Krew, so he's a little worried that the dealer might have done something stupid and is just checking to make sure everything is operating the way they were designed to, before a nasty surprise comes out and bites us."

Jak and his sisters glanced at each other before Alvin, Simon, and Theodore lowered themselves for a moment, as in they were allowing the wingless siblings to climb onto their backs like they were dragon riders, and once they were ready to go Ashelin headed towards the city with three dragons and Midnight flying after her, a strange sight to anyone who might be watching them, though it didn't take them long to reach the edge of the city and discovered that the Metal Head brothers were able to pass right through the barrier without any resistance, meaning that something bad was going to happen and that they needed to be prepared for whatever might be coming their way.
> Renegade: Disaster in Haven City
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After breaching the Shield Wall that was protecting Haven City, or should have been doing that since the siblings had done everything in their power to maintain it, even with Kor trying his absolute hardest to actively destroy it for some reason, a fact that seemed to annoy both Twilight and Midnight, Jak had Alvin, Simon, and Theodore fly into the Port so they could land near the Hip Hog Saloon, as Sig hadn't been with Krew earlier and they wanted to check in with him before seeking out any of their other allies, even though they were sure that the Shadow was scrambling to get people ready for when the rest of the Shield Wall fell. So far, based on what Jak was seeing, it seemed like everything inside the city was normal, no one was panicking or proclaiming that it was the end of the world for some reason, even though he could tell that some of the citizens were taken aback by the sudden arrival of him, his sisters, and the three dragons that three of them were currently riding on, but he was positive that the presence of a Krimzon Guard zoomer told the people they didn't have to worry about possible enemies attacking the city. There was a reason that he was having Ashelin follow him and his siblings, which wasn't due to her presence making everything easier for them as they threw through the air and headed towards their destination, rather he wanted her to have a little more to report to her father before handing over the Heart of Mar to Keira, as handing it over to her meant it would safely get to the person who needed it the most, though if Tess had something interesting for them, such as the Time Map that Krew had hidden for some reason, which wasn't an impossibility given what the fat man had been up to, she could join Ashelin and deliver whatever news or item she had to the person who needed it. Once he thought about all of that Alvin and his brothers landed outside the Hip Hog Saloon, allowing him and his sisters to climb off their backs, while Midnight landed near them, before the brothers reverted to their Ottsel forms and stretched as they quickly returned to the shoulders they usually rested on, while Ashelin parked her zoomer nearby and quickly joined them as they headed inside Krew's old place.

As Jak suspected they found Tess inside the Hip Hog, even though she was standing off to the left of the entrance and not behind the bar like she usually did, meaning this was more due to the fact that Krew was absent right now, even though the fact man was dead and wouldn't be coming back to this place, though a quick look around this place told him that Sig wasn't here, meaning he must have been sent out on another mission of some kind, to keep him busy, while Krew went to the Weapons Factory to mess with the Piercer Bomb.

"Oh, hey guys, I didn't see you come in," Tess said, where she stopped staring at the machine she had been staring at, due to the fact that she had been staring at a hack-a-mole game that Krew had installed at some point in time, probably one of his recent additions before he met his demise at the claws of Alvin, Simon, and Theodore, something that caused them to stare at the machine in question as well, while Ashelin walked inside and frowned as she noticed a few things that would have gotten Krew arrested or heavily fined by either her father or one of his tax collectors, before she turned her focus back to the machine once more, "Before he left earlier, I noticed that Krew seemed really nervous when he stuffed some sort of item inside this machine, but I have no idea what he put inside it... maybe you guys can mess around with it and see if you can free whatever he stuffed inside it?"

"Whatever the item is, Krew certainly won't be needing it anymore... he's, shall we say, not all together these days," Daxter replied, to which he stretched his arms for a moment as he jumped off of Jak's shoulder and landed on top of the game that had been placed inside this place, a game that he would replace with something else if he were in control of Krew's place, something the siblings already knew he would do without him telling them anything, before he picked up the lone mallet that was attached to the game as he stood above the sets of holes, "Stand back and let the gamer beat this game, as it looks like it might be a bit of a challenge."

As Tess proclaimed that he was an animal, more in the sense that she was impressed by him once more, Daxter focused on the two sets of holes that were in front of him as he tapped the button that would activate the game and reveal what sort of 'moles' Krew had prepared for this machine, where he found that both of them looked like the directional compass with the four points, to which he braced himself for when the game started, even though he noted that there were two screens behind him that displayed his score and how many misses he was entitled to. Jak, his sisters, the dragon brothers, and Ashelin watched as Daxter focused on the game and started to whack some odd shaped Metal Head puppets, black ones that seemed to reward ten points for being hit, meaning if he missed one he'd lose one of his life counters, before he found a second type that was red colored and had a bit of electricity around it, a bad one he ignored, and then spotted a golden one that gave him far more points than the normal ones, fifty to be exact, something that caused him to smile as he struck it and continued playing the game. As such Daxter focused on whacking the black and gold icons while making sure to ignore the red ones that would hurt his life counter, maybe even decrease his score since it was Krew had must have designed this game, though everyone else watched as he struck his targets with a level of precision that shocked a few of them as they watched him beat Krew's game, even though Tess was enjoying every moment and might actually be turned on by Daxter's ability, reminding the siblings that she was a weird one as they decided not to question her about it, before turning their focus back to their friend as Ashelin waited for them to be done with the game. Ashelin was here just to see what sort of item Krew had stashed inside the machine, before heading back to her father to tell him what she had discovered, since having three Metal Heads, dragons to be exact, was a boon to their forces and he needed to be told this piece of information, but even then she had to admit that Daxter had a bit of skill in this field and suspected that if there was a gaming station made with him in mind he would be a great gamer, though that was when he overcame what had to be the high score, fifteen hundred, and a Precursor artifact, an egg that looked like a map as it opened up, popped out of one of the holes and floated in front of them.

"Of course Krew would have the Time Map... makes me wonder what else he might have hidden away," Midnight said, to which she sighed for a moment, as now that the fat man was dead there was no way for them to figure out what he might have hidden from them and the rest of the city, or at least in terms of asking him about such a thing, meaning whatever artifacts he had recovered might be lost forever at this point in time, before Tess stepped forward and picked up the Time Map, since it landed on the floor after resting in the air for a moment, "You might as well join Ashelin and head over to Keira when you get a chance, she'll need the Time Map and the Heart of Mar for the Rift Rider she's working on... I would explain everything, but we're running short on time."

Daxter opened his mouth to say something, mostly about how he'd actually bash some Metal Heads if there were any for him to strike down, though that was when Jak and Ashelin's Communicators became active as Vin declared that they had been sabotaged and that the Shield Wall had failed, that Kor was the culprit behind the deed, meaning he must have done something in the Power Station or another part of the city to bring down the barrier, and that Metal Heads were flowing into the city, where they found two of the Grunts walking into the Hip Hog, which caused him to smile for a moment as he tapped into his own power and jumped forward, spinning around as he extended a pair of Eco Blades to cut both of them down with ease.

"Great, it seems we were right about Kor... though where's Sig? He'd be perfect in a fight like this." Daxter commented, as while he was no longer as cowardly as he had been in the past, which was a drastic change he hadn't gotten used to since he didn't have a lot of time to get used to such a thing, he knew that the Wastelander would be perfect for taking down all of the Metal Heads that might be pouring into the city at this very moment, before he considered something else while he glanced at the Metal Head brothers, "Also, we might want to track down Shade and gather her forces as well... show the rest of Haven that there are good Metal Heads in the world."

"Don't worry, we'll go gather them," Starlight replied, where the group headed outside for a moment and stared at what was going on at the moment, as there was a number of Metal Heads invading the city and running at the citizens who just so happened to be in front of them, something that caused Simon and Alvin to transform into their true forms as Midnight headed out to weave her magic and knock their enemies backwards, while Starlight climbed up onto Simon's back, as Alvin launched himself into the air as well.

"Krew sent Sig on one last mission, to unlock some secret passing in the Underport," Tess added, though she was taken aback by the fact that two of the Ottsels she had seen on the shoulders of the siblings were actually dragons, or rather she had the feeling three of them were that way, but that didn't stop her from joining Ashelin in her zoomer, as it seemed like a safe position as the Krimzon Guards rushed out to deal with the invaders, indicating that a full scale battle was unfolding inside the city, even though she knew that giving Jak that information was important.

Jak nodded as Ashelin and Tess headed off for the Palace, and hopefully the Stadium to give Keira the artifacts she needed, while explaining why she needed them, as Starlight headed for the forest so she could inform Shade's forces of what was happening, if they weren't aware of the Shield Wall going down, leaving Midnight to weave her magic and take down the enemies that were coming at the citizens, though he and Cozy headed for the area that served as the entrance that would bring them to the Underport, an area none of them had known about and he had the feeling that having one of his sisters would be more than enough for whatever was down there. Not a few moments later Vin, despite the fact that he was busy trying to do something, anything, to salvage the Shield Wall and protect the city from the Metal Heads, sent them the exact coordinates of the passage that would allow Jak and Cozy to head down into the Underport, which just so happened to be located in one of the two large pillars they knew were near the edge of the Port, near where the Air Train was resting, and it just so happened to be the one on the right, the closest one to where Krew's place rested, so they used a two-seater zoomer to fly over to their destination. Sure enough Jak found a door at Vin's coordinates and parked near it, where he and Cozy took a second to climb out of the zoomer before approaching their destination, something that caused the door to open and let them see that there was an elevator waiting on the other side of it, though once they were standing on top of the pad the door closed behind them and they started to descend into the depths again, this time heading for another location that none of them had been told about in the past. When the elevator came to a stop they found that there was a decent sized area that happened to rest on the other side of the door that appeared in front of them, revealing that it was as tall as one of the Titan Suits, of which there happened to be one inside the area in question, meaning that someone might have to swim through the Underport and that caused Cozy to growl for a moment as she shifted into her Dark Form, though at the same time Theodore climbed into the machine with Jak and Daxter, something that was followed by the machine powering up as they and Cozy walked over to another metallic door that likely lead out into the Underport.

Sure enough the area they were in filled with water and it became clear why that was not a few seconds later, as the area that rested on the other side of the door happened to be underwater, there happened to be a large spherical mine off to their left, and it looked like there was a vent of oxygen that rested off to their right, though at this point Jak wasn't worried about Cozy and what was in front of them, as she had both her magic and her Dark Form that she could use to navigate the area they were entering. As he expected his sister rushed through the water and smashed her fist into the mine that was in this area, apparently taking no damage from doing such a thing, so Jak walked over to the vent, just to be sure it did what he thought it did, before heading over to a small step and punched his way into the next chamber they had to pass through in their search to find Sig, though it didn't take Dark Cozy long to rush out and target the couple of mines that had been placed in this part of the Underport, smashing each and every one of them to pieces while Jak made his way over to the upper level of this chamber. Of course Jak found some squid-like Metal Heads that were swimming through the water, meaning they must have adapted to living underwater and might be more suited to fighting than what he assumed, and sure enough Theodore mentioned that they were referred to as 'Squid Heads', given their form and race, though the more interesting thing was that a single punch from either the Titan Suit or from Dark Cozy, meaning that neither of them had to worry about the Squid Heads doing anything too major to them. After that Jak found a hole in the floor and used it to access an area below them, meaning he had been walking on a roof of a rectangular room, before smashing another door to bits as he discovered a chamber that had a few more mines inside it, something that caused him to wait for Dark Cozy to catch up with him before she rushed into the area and smashed her way through the mines, while stopping in the vent of oxygen for a few seconds to make sure she didn't run out of air, allowing him to continue moving as he found a brand new chamber and made his way through it, leaving the mines to Dark Cozy as he dealt with the lone Squid Head that was in his way, who fell in seconds to the might of his mech.

After that he smashed his way through a metallic door and found a chamber that had four anchors that were locked into the ground, to which he punched them with the Titan Suit's fists and unlocked them, which allowed the platforms that were linked to each of them to rise up and breach the water that was above where they were walking, and once all four of them were unlocked he used a nearby platform that brought him out of the water and revealed that the new platforms formed a path that lead over to the other side of the chamber. As such he followed the path and just jumped from one platform to another, while Dark Cozy quickly burst out of the water and landed where he was heading, before he found a hole in the floor he had been moving towards and discovered that it allowed him to fall underwater once more, while also revealing a passage that would allow him to move even deeper into the Underport, all while Dark Cozy followed after him so she didn't get left behind, not that he would leave his sister in a place like this, even if she could smash her way through the walls of this place and leave with her terrifying power. From there they made their way through another door Jak just punched apart and discovered a more open area that had a single thin bridge connecting their area to the next one, with at least three Squid Heads floating through the water, to which his sister rushed towards her targets and crushed them so he could move forward without having to worry about being attacked by some sort of enemy, which allowed him to enter a new chamber that had two more Squid Heads and, more importantly, two platforms that seemed to form a way for him to jump to the other side of the chamber, as they rose up to a certain height and improved his jumps. The first thing he did was clear out the pair of Squid Heads that were in his way, taking them out without dealing any damage to the Titan Suit, before he accessed the platforms and allowed both of them to turn into pillars so he could get higher and higher, as he did see a gap in the bridge connecting where the platforms were to the next area and determined that this was a good way to move forward, before eventually jumping over the gap and safely landed on the other side, with Dark Cozy taking a moment to show off as she just swam over to where he was waiting, once again displaying the strength of her magic to him and the others.

Once they were back together Jak resumed moving and found a chamber that had an open metallic door for him to walk through, and Dark Cozy to swim through, and the instant both of them were inside it the door closed before they found that the water inside the small room started to drain before their eyes, allowing Dark to climb out of the Titan Suit as the next door opened, revealing a passage, and a gap after a right turn that he jumped over, before they found Sig, who was standing next to some strange stone object, which had part of the Ruby Key stuck inside it and part of it resting off to the side, firing at some Grunts who were trying to take him down.

"Sig! There you are!" Jak said, though as he uttered those words Sig turned and fired at their direction, where they dodged the blast that was coming at them and he made sure Dark Cozy did nothing stupid right now, since lashing out at Sig was something none of them needed right now, but after that he found a Grunt coming from a tunnel above them and quickly loosed an attack of his own to take it down before it could do anything to Sig, even though their ally was focused on doing the same thing to any of the other attackers that might be in the area.

"Get your skinny asses over here and keep shooting!" Sig stated, where it was hard to see if he was happy to see them, as he had to deal with Dark Cozy all over again, or if he was annoyed that they were here, due to the fact that he was a hard individual to read most of the time, though he growled for a moment as he fired at one of the Grunts who tried to come out and attack them, meaning he was definitely annoyed by something, "Man, was I set up! Krew sent me down here to open some old doors with that Ruby Key you guys found earlier, and when I did that these Metal Heads came streaming in from some passage outside the city walls... just like they were waiting for me! There's one!"

"I guess Krew sold out the city to Kor and the Metal Head Leader, and they must have given him a lot to betray the Baron and everyone else," Daxter commented, though as he said that Sig blasted one of the Grunts and took it out in seconds, as he was an expect shot and was capable of taking down enemies with a single blast, making them wonder how many times Sig must have received weapon modifications from Krew, since his Peace Maker was far stronger than most of their guns, before he considered something that might make Sig a tab bit happy, "Well, this should make you happy: Krew's dead, and he was killed by Alvin and his brothers... oh, and they're Neo Metal Heads and we've got a force of them attacking the evil Metal Heads who are attacking the city right now."

"Oh... you'll have to explain things to me when we get back to the surface," Sig commented, as he paused for a moment as he heard that piece of information, because he wasn't expecting something like that to happen, even though it was Jak and his sisters who had done the deed in question, though in that moment he started to move forward and blasted one more Grunt who happened to emerge from one of the tunnels, where Dark Cozy noticed it and loosed a blast of dark energy at the tunnel, causing it to collapse, "Come on, let's go."

Jak nodded and followed after Sig as he started to head down another path that was connected to this chamber, as it did look like whatever device he had used to get down here must have been destroyed before they arrived to aid him or save him from any dangers that were down here, where they walked into a rectangular chamber that had some stone cubes that looked like they needed to be pushed into two indents in the floor, to which Sig and Dark Cozy stood guard in case a few Metal Heads came at them while leaving Jak to push the cubes into place. It didn't take Jak that long to push the pair of cubes into position, where he noticed that both seemed to flash a little like they were going to blow up or something, and once they were inside both holes the stone door that was in front of them opened up, revealing a passage that had to lead to another entrance that lead down into the Underport, or back up to Haven City, to which Jak and Sig headed through the now opened door as Dark Cozy followed behind them once more. When they reached the opening that required them to make a right turn, to head down the passage in question, the wall to their left started to crack for a few seconds before it was smashed to pieces by a massive Metal Head, a massive centipede to be exact and explained why Theodore referred to it as a Metal-pede, though as Jak and Sig started to head down the passage, which would require jumping by a couple of obstacles, such as electrified points and small platforms that needed to be struck to flip around, Dark Cozy rushed forward and grabbed onto the pincers that were attached to her foe's face. Her plan was simple, she was going to use her power to stall the Metal-pede and give Jak some time to reach an area that was closer to where the exit might be located, which her brother understood without needing to be told and continued moving forward with Sig, who had been focused on her for a moment and knew that annoying her was the last thing he wanted to do, to which they left her alone as she made sure the massive Metal Head stayed in this area, while ignoring a decent sized pit behind her, since it didn't seem important to her and was sure that it wouldn't do anything to the Metal-pede if she threw it down the pit.

After a few moments Dark Cozy got the signal she was waiting for, as she had Theodore use his hybrid form to fly after Jak and Sig, that way when they reached a safe location he could fly back to her and tell her what was going on, to which she pushed her foe backwards and followed the passage that her brother had used, eventually finding an opening that lead to where Jak and Sig were waiting and was followed by her turning as the Metal-pede followed her into the chamber, only for her to smash her fist into the head of her foe, sending it down into the depths so the others didn't have to worry about it catching up with them again. In that moment she found that the area Jak and Sig had stopped in had two platforms, where one happened to have another Key Cube, as Dark Cozy was going to call it, since she was sure Twilight or Starlight would call them the same name if they were helping Jak and Sig, where Jak kicked it into position and the large door that was in their way opened up, revealing the path forward, causing them to start moving once more as each of them, even though it brought them to another chamber that had two additional Key Cubes, along with an opening that looked like something that might be used by the invading Metal Heads. As such Jak focused on moving the pair of Key Cubes into the slots that were in the ground while Dark Cozy and Sig dealt with all of the Metal Heads that came rushing out of the tunnel they had spotted not even a few seconds ago, the latter slashing at some of her enemies while smashing a few into the ground as Sig opened fire on those she didn't target in her desire to do battle, almost lust for it as Sig watched what happened and once more confirmed that it was a good idea that he was on their side. Once the door was open, and Jak started to move forward again, Dark Cozy used her power to blast the tunnel and sealed it before more Metal Heads could rush at them, allowing her and Sig to follow after Jak once more, only for the wall to the left of the opening to crack as the Metal-pede had found them and wanted to smash them into the ground, to which Dark Cozy had Theodore follow Jak and Sig as she focused on stalling the Metal-pede again, who seemed annoyed with her and gladly lashed out at her while the others continued moving towards the exit of the Underport.

Not a few moments later Dark Cozy found that the Metal-pede's anger made it stronger and it actually pushed her back as they fought each other, so much so that it pushed her down the tunnel that Jak and Sig had headed down earlier and they smashed their way through whatever obstacles had been in Jak's way, before they smashed their way through a wall and appeared above where Sig and Jak were standing, causing Dark Cozy to gather her energy for a moment and swung her right hand downward, sending some thin waves of dark energy into the head of the Metal-pede and knocked it down into the depths of the Underport, allowing her to land near Jak and noticed something.

"Where's Sig?" Dark Cozy asked, as from what she could tell their friend wasn't near Jak, nor was he standing off to their left, near the exit that would take them out into the city, causing her to wonder if Sig might have fallen for one of the traps or obstacles and was using an alternate path to reach this part of the Underport, though she did notice that there was a broken pathway behind her that must have been the one that Jak had run along a few moments ago, before she arrived with her massive foe.

"In the depths now... thanks to your actions," Daxter remarked, as Sig had stopped on the now broken bridge after both Dark Cozy and the Metal-pede had smashed through the wall that was above this area, meaning that the Metal-pede had crashed right into both the stone walkway and Sig, sending their friend down into the depths of the Underport with the large Metal Head that had been chasing them, but even though he did seem annoyed by something he knew that Sig was a strong fighter and the Metal-pede had to be injured from Dark Cozy's attack, meaning they would be seeing him again at some point in time.

Dark Cozy tilted her head for a moment as she rejoined the group, which was when they stepped into the nearby elevator that would take them up to the Port, though as that happened their Communicator came out and revealed that Vin had a piece of information to share with them and their siblings, even though he was thankful for the few Neo Metal Heads that were guarding his area, and that was that they should head over to the Stadium, as it sounded like Keira needed help with the Rift Rider, meaning she must have found where the Rift Ring had been hidden. Not a few moments later the siblings emerged from the Underport and stepped out into a raging battlefield between two forces, where the Krimzon Guard and the Neo Metal Heads, the latter having put on red colored metallic bracers to separate themselves from the rest of their kind, were fighting the Metal Heads who were assaulting the city, though as they witnessed that Theodore shifted into his true form and allowed both Jak and Dark Cozy to climb onto his back before he took off. Of course they weren't the only ones to do that, as Jak spotted Starlight and Simon off in the distance while Midnight and Alvin quickly emerged from the Industrial Section and joined them as they headed over to where the Stadium rested, finding that the city had been turned into a massive battlefield thanks to Krew betraying everyone who called Haven City home, though none of them focused on that since it looked like the combined forces of the defenders were more than enough to deal with the invaders, which allowed them to focus on reaching Keira. Sure enough they found Keira standing near the stairs of the Stadium, where it looked like she had been in the process of moving the Rift Rider before the city became a battlefield, before they found Samos and the Shadow standing nearby, weaving some of their Eco powers over the device to protect it from harm, and a very worried Brutter who happened to be nearby, though based on what they knew of Brutter it was likely that he might have called in one of the Lurker balloons, maybe two so he could have his own and escape, and as they landed Jak noticed that the Shadow bowed his head a little as he and his siblings approached Keira, as he knew the secret the four of them had been keeping, one that was now up in the air for all of their allies to know.

"We've found the Rift Ring... the only bad news is that it is likely in the heart of the Metal Head Nest, no doubt guarded by the Leader," Keira said, speaking as soon as everyone got close to where she was standing, as she knew that this was what all of her friends were waiting to hear, that she knew where the last artifact might be resting and what they needed to do to get their hands on it, where she noticed Jak share a glance with his sisters, meaning they had to be happy that she had discovered that the Rift Ring was inside the Metal Head Nest.

"Good, then let's get the Rift Rider into the air and start our assault on the Leader of the Metal Heads," Jak stated, as all of them were happy with Keira, Samos, and likely the Shadow's work in discovering where in the world the missing Rift Ring was located, even though they should have assumed that it was resting in the Nest given that Kor likely gave their younger selves to the massive Metal Head they had seen years ago, leverage for when he and his sisters invaded the Nest, though he was sure that someone might have an idea on how to get the Rift Rider to their destination.

In the following moments Brutter declared that he had called in a Lurker balloon for them to use to move the vehicle out of the city, before loudly declaring that 'Metal Headers' were coming to attack everyone, though while a number of Metal Heads were definitely rushing at them, no doubt to kill them, they were stopped in their tracks by Alvin, Simon, Theodore, and a few Neo Metal Heads who happened to be guarding this part of the city, no doubt due to Shade realizing that Keira was important to Jak and wanted to protect her. For the most part Jak and his sisters didn't do anything while the dragons tore into the incoming attackers, though there were a few Grunts that approached them and Jak used his blade to cut all of them down, even though he made sure to avoid their attacks as he did that, giving Samos and the Shadow the time they needed to lift the Rift Rider onto the platform of Brutter's Lurker balloon, make sure Keira was with them, and then depart while Jak and their allies were tearing into the Metal Heads that were attacking the Stadium. Once they were gone Jak had the Neo Metal Heads return to the main battle as he and his sisters took to the skies again, where Vin informed them that Praxis was heading to the Construction Site, an area inside the Industrial Section that none of them had been to, as there was never any need to go there, and gave them the coordinates they needed to reach the areas in question, which Jak was happy to receive since he and his sisters knew that there was a chance that Kor might go after him and right now the city needed him alive, at least until things had settled down. With that information in hand they turned towards the area that the Baron was heading to, finding that a good number of Krimzon Guards were blasting all of their enemies as they made sure to avoid hitting the Neo Metal Heads, before they found the area in question and Alvin landed near a door not a few seconds later, where he shifted back into his Ottsel form and opened the way for Simon and Theodore to replicate what he had done after Jak and Midnight moved out of the way, and once all three of them were back in their Ottsel forms the siblings headed through the door.

Not a few moments later Jak and his sisters entered the decent sized area that Praxis was standing in, glancing around like he was looking for something, though as they walked down the wooden path in front of them Kor suddenly dropped down out of nowhere and landed like his bones were made out of metal or something, once more confirming that there had to be something strange about him and Jak considered one of Twilight's more outlandish theories about the figure, after the events outside Mar's Tomb, before he carefully approached the seemingly old man.

"Kor? What are you doing here?" Jak loudly asked, something that allowed Praxis to know that they had company and did find that the Baron turned to glance at them as he heard him speak, all while the sisters stood at the ready, because if they were right things were going to get heated in some manner in the next couple of moments, though as that happened Kor got up and brushed off the front of his attire for a few seconds, as if that was important right now, before glancing at Jak and his sisters for a few seconds with a smile on his face.

"Oh, I'm sure you know... deep down in your deepest nightmares!" Kor replied, where Jak and the others found that a change washed over Kor not a few seconds later, as his teeth sharpened for a moment as he focused on Jak, though as he did that Alvin and his bothers noticed a light wave of dark energy emitting from his head jewelry, causing them to realize who had to be in front of them and neither side noticed the other until this point, but that was when Kor staggered for a moment as Jak stabbed him in the chest with Mar's sword, not that it seemed to do much to him, meaning they could only hurt him while he was in his true form, "Do you mind? I'm trying to be menacing here!"

"Well, you aren't doing a good job," Dark Cozy stated, as she was sure that if Kor had done a better job at hiding his dark side from them and their allies, instead of showing it a few times while he was having them assault the Baron's forces and his attempts to damage all of the systems that went into powering the Shield Wall, though in the following moments she swung her claws at Kor's face and discovered what Jak had discovered, that she could hurt his disguise but couldn't do any true damage to their foe.

"Plus, we figured out that you were either in league with the Metal Heads, or you were the Leader in disguise, hence why we kept most of the important things from you," Midnight commented, where she noticed that Praxis was approaching the area they were walking in and seemed to have his broadsword at the ready, like he was going to behead the false old man that was in front of him, where she wondered if such a wound would actually cripple the disguise and kill Kor, before he could transform into his true form, though before he could reach his target Kor loosed a burst of power at the ground and knocked all of them backwards as his form shattered.

"Now you see!" Kor stated, where Jak, his sisters, and the others found themselves staring at the massive form of the one who lead the Metal Heads and who lead the forces who were attacking the city at the moment, confirming that Kor was, in fact, the Leader of their enemies and that meant it was a good thing they had chosen not to let him know certain things as they worked to make the city a better place, before he landed and glared at all of them, showing that he was either upset with some of them or glad to be out of his disguise, "Without the Shield Wall disrupting my powers inside the city, I can, at long last, use my full power and unleash my full potential now! So for the last time, give me the Precursor Stone, before I reduce this pitiful city to a pile of rubble!"

"I sent it along to Mar's gun... they should be blasting open your Nest in the next couple of seconds," Praxis stated, even if he was telling Kor a complete lie since the Precursor Stone was resting inside Midnight's private storage area, though since Kor had no idea who actually had the Stone, since they had told everyone the Baron had it and they believed the lie, all he could do was believe what Praxis had said and do something about it, hence why Kor spread his wings and took off not a few seconds later, heading for the area that the legendary gun was resting in, causing them to chuckle for a moment when they realized that the lie had worked to this degree, "I was not expecting that to work as well as it did, but you had best get to the Air Train and take it to the Metal Head Nest, as I have arranged for them to take you out to the Nest... thanks to the ongoing assault, this will be our best chance to take down Kor and cripple his forces."

Jak nodded as he and his sisters headed out of the Construction Site, allowing Praxis to return to the battle and lead their combined forces against the attackers, to prevent people from being hurt while taking down enemies, leaving the four of them to head over to the Port and find the vehicle in question, where the pair of guards who were protecting it nodded as they approached and opened the door so they could enter it without delay, and once all of them were aboard the vehicle it took off and headed for the area that the Metal Head Nest rested on, as it was time to bring an end to this war, take Kor down, and use the Rift Ring before they worried about anything else.
> Renegade: Assaulting the Nest
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It took the Air Train a few minutes to reach the twisted area that the Metal Heads called home, which made sense due to the fact that it had to be a good distance from where Haven City rested, otherwise the main enemies of the city would have been constantly attacking the city instead of waiting for the Shield Wall to collapse, though when the vehicle finally arrived Jak and his sisters were able to see what sort of landscape Kor and his kind lived in, not to mention what they would have to fight their way through to get to where he was holding the Rift Ring. As the ramp opened they found that the sky was gray, there were a number of jagged spikes sticking up all over this island, or wherever the Nest was located, it looked like there might be a dark purple haze in the air, and there were a number of fortifications that looked like they had been made by those who followed Mar into this place when he built his gun near the Nest, meaning if they followed the path in front of them it should bring them to an edge of the massive structure that was off in the distance. Alvin, Simon, and Theodore glanced all over the place, as this was familiar to them, since they had lived in the Nest until they decided to betray their father, where they were happy that Kor hadn't noticed all of them while he was looking for the Precursor Stone, though all of them were sure that any entrances and exits the brothers might know about had been sealed by their father after he returned to this place, given that he knew they would be following after him and would arrive not long after he landed in the Nest, so they would have to fight their way to the edge of the Nest and then blast their way through the outer wall. That was, of course, if Kor had done nothing to Mar's gun, though even as he considered that Jak was sure that Midnight or Starlight, or maybe even both of them, would be annoyed if someone used the Stone with the weapon, since they weren't sure what the gun was supposed to do to power up the main weapon systems, but he was sure they would likely find the weapon and study it for a time before they did anything else.

Once all of them were no longer on the Air Train the guard who had been piloting it, to be sure they got there since he was doing this on Praxis' orders, quickly closed the ramp door and took off, leaving the siblings and their Ottsels standing at the edge of the Metal Head Nest, causing everyone to turn towards the path that was in front of them and noticed that a few tanks, weapons that the Krimzon Guards had used during the Baron's assault on the Nest, as in the failed one, which were totally ruined and confirmed that they were part of Praxis' failed attempt to take this place, so he could breach the lair of the Metal Heads and take Kor down.

"Welcome to the Metal Head Nest... our old home," Alvin commented, though he and his brothers were surprised that all of them had bad it back to this place, as all three of them had been assuming that one or two of them would have fallen after reaching Haven City and made him even more grateful that they had met the siblings that were with them, as it was thanks to them that they had been able to reach this point in time, to which he sighed and focused on their mission once more, "Okay, let's find the gun and get inside the Nest so we can deal with our father."

With that said, and the siblings nodded their heads in agreement to what Alvin had said, the four of them moved forward and made sure to have their weapons at the ready, where enemies were instantly upon them as a number of Mantis foes jumped down into this section of the Nest and jumped around the area in an attempt to confuse them, though instead of using his gun on them Jak focused on swinging Mar's sword at any enemies who came at him while Starlight focused on blasting her targets and Dark Cozy smashed a few into the ground. Midnight, on the other hand, didn't do much right now as they walked through the starting area of the Nest, as in she was studying what was around her and determining if her siblings needed her help or not, before she spotted a new type of Metal Head that appeared to be a spider that had the power to fly and land wherever it wanted to, an Arach-head based on Simon's comments, where she raised her hand for a moment and blasted it with a Peace Maker blast. With that done they found a dead end in front of them and a gear wheel near a wall, one that happened to raise a platform near a break in one of the walls they walked by, to which they simply turned around and used it to delve deeper into the outermost section of Kor's domain, keeping their eyes open for foes as they sought out Mar's gun, before they found another ruined area that had a number of Mantis jumping about, where Jak used his Scatter Mod to take his targets down and opened the way for his siblings to continue moving. It was clear to them that Alvin, Simon, and Theodore were holding their true selves back for now, as they wanted to surprise their father and not reveal their hand to him at the wrong moment, finding one of the Arach-heads blocking the way forward and it fell to the might of Dark Cozy as she rushed forward and smashed it right into the ground, which also allowed them to move into an area that had a number of Mantis jumping around, which seemed to be one of the more common types of enemies in this place. As such Midnight gathered a small bit of her power and swung her hand, creating a line of Scatter energy so she could blast all of her targets at the same time, and once that was done they headed down the path to their left and came to a stop as they found a massive metallic object resting nearby, one that seemed to be shaped like a weapon and just so happened to be pointing at the outside wall of the Nest.

"So, this is Mar's gun," Jak said, staring at the imposing weapon for a time as he wondered how strong it had to be, if it was empowered by the Precursor Stone's energies, though knowing Midnight he figured that the weapon wasn't going to be used at all and that they were going to find another way to breach the Nest, as given the powers his sisters had he knew it was only a matter of time until one of them used something that smashed through part of the Nest, to which he glanced at his sisters for a moment as he debated what to do.

"We're not using it, if that's what you're thinking," Midnight replied, to which she turned towards the path that lead away from where the gun rested and found that it lead to a larger area that had a few ruined tanks and other Krimzon Guard machines, not to mention a number of Mantis and a few Arach-heads who seemed to be patrolling this place, including a second new type of foe that was a massive Metal Head, one taller than Kor and seemed to be shaped like an elephant with metallic plating, a Grunt Elephant as Simon called it, who seemed to be patrolling part of the path forward in a specific route it repeated multiple times, even though it was moving rather slowly, "You know, I've been wondering what I should do with this, and it seems that using it here might be the best course of action..."

Jak watched as Midnight weaved her power through the air for a moment and a rift opened up, allowing her to withdraw the Piercer Bomb that she had stolen from the Weapons Factory earlier, where she promptly ignited the device and, as he and the others opened their mouths to question what she was going to do with it, hurled it right at the Grunt Elephant that was further down the path they needed to travel down, something that caused the bomb to explode and consumed the entire area that her target was resting in, blasting apart everything around the Metal Head. When the smoke cleared it was easy for them to see that she had knocked down the Grunt Elephant and that it was resting in a crater, while not blocking the way forward, to which Midnight smiled for a moment as Dark Cozy rushed out and started swinging her claws at the remaining enemies that were in this area, standing still as they stared at the crater, as none of them had been expecting it to happen and this meant Kor must be surprised as well. Not a few moments later Jak and Starlight joined the fight as they blasted and slashed their way through the Metal Heads that were in front of them, leaving the area that Mar's gun was in and headed for the edge of the Nest, noticing that it seemed to get darker as all of them drew closer to their destination, but that didn't bother anyone as Alvin and his brothers watched the rest of the Metal Heads fall before the might of the siblings they had joined, where they were grateful that they were on their side and not fighting them, as Alvin was sure he and his brothers would fall if any of them had faced Twilight and her sisters. Once they cleared out all of the enemies that were near Mar's gun Jak continued to move down the path in front of them and headed for the Nest, where a number of Arach-heads and Mantis happened to be resting, though Dark Cozy found a more important target in the form of another Grunt Elephant, one further along the path in front of them, and burst into the air so she could punch it in the side of the head, knocking it off its feet and sent it right into one of the nearby rock walls, before she proceeded to beat it up so that all of the electricity it produced wouldn't damage her siblings as they moved deeper into the area that was outside the Nest that Kor had to be waiting inside.

Thanks to all of that, and Dark Cozy focusing on slashing her way through the Metal Heads that were in front of them, they were able to pass through an area that had a few pools of Dark Eco before coming to a stop near the outer edge of Kor's Nest, to which Midnight stepped forward and channeled her power into the wall in question as Jak, Starlight, Dark Cozy, and all four Ottsels watched as she crushed the material that was in her way, like it was made of paper or something, and tore open a massive opening that made it look like someone had blasted their way through the wall, allowing them to walk forward and found a path that brought them to where Kor and the Rift Ring were resting.

"Finally, you foolish heroes have decided to join us, and I'm assuming that you brought the Precursor Stone." Kor said, as he seemed happy to see them, all due to the fact that he believed one of them was carrying the object that was the focus of his war on Haven City, though as he said that he waved one of his limbs and the siblings noticed that Young Jak and his sisters were resting inside a spherical magical battier, likely created by Young Twilight or Young Starlight, causing them to stare at Kor once more, "Good, things are still moving in my favor, and soon the boy will play his final part!"

"Sorry, but you aren't getting your way, Kor," Jak stated, where he and his sisters came to a stop near the ledge that just so happened to rest between the chamber that Midnight had opened the way to and the main chamber that Kor rested in, along with the Rift Ring and their younger selves, though at the same time Alvin, Simon, and Theodore jumped down from the shoulders each of them had been riding on and focused on what they were about to do, something the siblings were in the middle of doing as well, "we were trained and enhanced to take you down..."

"You four were hidden in the past on the hope that you would gain the skills to face me today, but Onin was wrong!" Kor replied, showing them that he must have talked with the old seer quite a bit while he was in his Human form, or listened to what the Shadow learned from their ally, and that he disagreed with what Onin had to say on the matter, that he would be the one to come out on top and do whatever it was that Metal Heads did when they took over an inhabited world, as the Oracle inside Mar's Tomb mentioned something about it, "Now that you've been altered with Dark Eco, Jak, the Stone will never open for you... but your younger self, on the other hand, still has the pure gift, and with his power he can unlock the true potential of the Precursor Stone and awaken the Precursor entity that sleeps inside it!"

"Seriously? The Stone is actually a Precursor?" Dark Cozy growled, which had to be the normal Cozy speaking through the power of her Dark Form, though at the same time this was a piece of information that none of them were expecting to find while they were taking Kor down, but it did mean that keeping the Stone inside Midnight's storage space was a good thing since it prevented their foe from getting his hands on it, who didn't seem to realize that the Precursor Stone was missing at the moment and was focused on being annoyed wiht them.

"No you idiot! It is the last Precursor Egg!" Kor declared, something that caused Midnight to frown, as she didn't like any of them being called idiots, regardless of who was using the term to describe one of them, though at the same time she just stood there and crossed her arms, knowing that this might be the last bit of information that Kor might give them and she wanted to hear everything he had to say before they killed him, "Mar was a clever one, covering his tracks well through all of time as he hid this last egg from me, all while building the shield and city to defend it! It has been a long and tiresome siege, but today, I will finally feed on the last Precursor life force!"

"You're forgetting one little thing, father: we have the Precursor Stone!" Alvin stated, where he and his brothers made themselves known as their energies ignited and they transformed into their larger hybrid forms, because due to the size of this chamber there was no way for any of them to really use their true dragon forms while their father was in his massive true form, though he knew that these would be perfect for what he and his brothers had in mind as they and their friends stared at Kor for a few more seconds.

"You three! I should have crushed you when you and your cursed kind when you were younger!" Kor growled, showing all of them that, despite the fact that Alvin, Simon, and Theodore were his children, the Crown Princes of the Hive and next in line in case something terrible happened to him, he didn't actually care for them and that he wished he had slain them all those years ago, back when they were babies or just a year old, not that the brothers were expecting a warm welcome or something when they finally encountered him again, to which everyone readied themselves for the battle to come, as now that their talk was over it was only a matter of time until the battle with Kor started.

As soon as they were done talking Kor, who had been hanging in the middle of the chamber thanks to come webbing or something which kept him suspended while they were talking, gathered some of his dark power and fired a blast of Dark Eco at them, one designed to blast open the ground or something like that, though Midnight waved her hand and directed it into one of the walls in the chamber behind them, since she didn't want to weaken the walls of the central chamber all of them would be fighting in for a time. Once that was done the siblings jumped down into the lower section of the area Kor wanted to stay in and lashed out at him with their powers, as in Starlight channeled a bit of her magic into blasts that either slammed into Kor's body or struck the wall behind him when he moved out of the way a little, Dark Cozy focused on rushing around the chamber and taking out any Metal Heads, Stingers to be exact, who rushed to Kor's aid, Midnight just floated in the air and used her own dark power to either cancel out Kor's or redirect them into their foe's side from time to time, leaving Jak to open a few Blue Eco bullets and down the contents so he could move fast as he focused on swinging Mar's sword at Kor's exposed limbs. Of course while the siblings did that Daxter jumped onto Alvin's back as the brothers took to the air and flew around their father, each one lashing out with their claws and tails as they looked for something to strike or damage so they could knock him to the ground, though Daxter, in an odd twist, focused on jumping over to Kor's body and summoned his own Eco blade as he hacked and slashed into their foe's backside for a time, causing the beast to growl in annoyance as it happened, almost as if Kor couldn't believe that he was doing such a thing, likely due to Daxter being seen as the weakest member of the group, or the most cowardly of them all. Since Daxter was in that position it did give him an opening to take down the webbing that was holding Kor up, something their foe realized and shook himself to try and get Daxter off of him for a few seconds, though he failed as Daxter rushed up to where the webbing was and just swung his blade at them, cutting the webbing to pieces as Kor fell from where he had been resting and slammed into the ground not a few moments later, causing him to growl as he picked himself up and faced them for real.

What was interesting was that Kor really didn't have any good moves to use against them when he struck the ground, but he did avoid falling into the central hole of the chamber, though it did give Jak several new targets to choose from, which were Kor's legs and the rest of his body, but as the fight continued, however, Midnight came to truly understand that the Metal Heads were designed to take out large armies, while a small group like theirs was more than enough to wipe out all sorts of foes, even though it could be explained that their powers were the reason for them taking out the Metal Heads in such an easy fashion. One thing they noticed, as Midnight continued to redirect Kor's incoming blasts and even cancel out others with one of her own, was that Daxter had returned to their foe's back and was slowly climbing up onto his neck as all of them faced Kor, so Alvin and his brothers made sure to keep him distracted so their friend could reach whatever his target might be, as all of them assumed that he was heading towards Kor's head in an effort to cut into his neck or even drive his blade into their foe's head, either way would weaken him so they could finish him off. Of course that meant that Dark Cozy couldn't lash out at him with all of her might, which annoyed her a little bit, though Jak used a bit of the Yellow Eco from his Blaster clip and granted him a few moments to use a couple of fireballs against their foe, which was what he did as his sisters continued their assault, each attack being designed to distract Kor right now while making sure he didn't realize that Daxter was moving up his backside, meaning he was focused on their 'destruction' and nothing else right now, which worked out in their favor quite well. Another thing Starlight noticed was that Kor wasn't even trying to shout out all sorts of phrases to distract them from their mission, like how they 'failed to protect the city' and whatnot, though she was fine with that since she was sure that if he said anything to one or more of them it would result in Midnight speaking up to criticize him or counter whatever point he might have been trying to make, so the silence was good as they lashed out at the massive Metal Head as his sons flew around his body, lashing out whenever an opening revealed itself to them, while at the same time it looked like Alvin and Theodore might be following a plan that Simon created for whenever they faced their father, where Kor kept switching from targeting his sons to targeting Jak and his sisters.

The end of the battle came when Daxter swung his Eco Blade and sliced open the back of Kor's beck, which caused him to stagger for a moment, though that was the perfect opening as Midnight weaved her power through the air, part of it being a blessing to Mar's sword so it would have all types of Eco for a few seconds while the other part would allow Jak to jump high into the air, to which he drove the Precursor blade right into Kor's head and shattered the gemstone, and when both he and Daxter landed they watched as Kor's body staggered right into the side of the Rift Ring before tearing itself apart, leaving only his head resting nearby... and as that happened, where their younger selves were freed from whatever trap Kor had stuck them in, Midnight withdrew the Precursor Stone and handed it to Young Jak, whose power caused the Stone to glow for a second before a transparent humanoid being of light blue energy emerged from it.

"A Precursor!" Jak said, his voice low as he and the others stared at the being who had been released from the Stone, who floated in the air above the artifact while his sisters and the Metal Head brothers joined them near Kor's head, where he knew that Alvin and his brothers had to be feeling the effects of helping him and his sisters kill their father, even if it had been something they agreed on a long time ago, before everyone focused on the being who seemed to be gathering his thoughts, but that was mostly due to the fact that it looked like the Precursor had a slim masculine form.

It is finished. the glowing being stated, where he beckoned to the fallen remains of Kor for a few seconds, indicating that the first thing he would be talking about would be the ancient foe of the Precursors, even though Jak and his sisters were curious as to how in the world the Metal Heads and Kor had been able to bring down the ancient Precursors, as they had decimated Kor and suspected that all of the Precursors knew to fight the Hora-quan in small groups, so they felt that there was something wrong with what they had been told, before the figure turned towards them, all while Midnight faded away and Twilight took her place again, Our ancient enemy is no more, thanks to your efforts. Take hope, brave ones, for the terrible darkness that rests inside most of you will soon be balanced by a glorious light! We will meet again.

As Jak and his sisters opened their mouths to say something, anything really, the Precursor turned around and flew into the center of the Rift Ring, where they finally noticed that the relic had been damaged by Kor's body crashing into the side of it, though before any of them could speak up they heard a familiar sound and watched as the Lurker balloon, piloted by Keira since it looked like Brutter's friends had ditched the balloon when they realized it was heading for the Metal Head Nest, passed through the opening Midnight had made and landed nearby.

"We haven't much time." Keira spoke up, speaking when the balloon reached where Jak and his sisters were standing, as she could see that the Rift Ring had suffered some damage and it would likely fall apart in no time, to which she instantly moved and rushed over to the Rift Rider so she could make the final preparations for it to be used to take them into the past, so they could do what they came to do, before taking a moment to glance at the others, "I've set the coordinates back to our village, thanks to some ancient coordinates left in the Time Map... let's go home, everyone."

"Yeah, about that... we are home." Cozy remarked, as once Kor had been slain the darkness inside her receeded and she was allowed to return to her original form, even though this time she was exhausted and it was likely due to all the power she had burned up recently, or maybe it was due to the fact that none of them had gotten any sleep for some time and, now that Kor was gone, they could finally rest and take some time to do something that wasn't saving the city from those who sought to do them harm, all while hoping that Keira would understand their situation.

"Keira, I'm afraid your Rift Rider must be used to send Young Jak and his sisters to a place where they can grow up safe from harm." Samos stated, where it did look like part of Keira had wanted to just leave this timeline and head into the past so they could return to a simplier time, though she sighed for a moment as she nodded her head, showing that she did understand what needed to be done and that the kids needed to head back in time, even though Samos also seemed to be talking to his younger self as well, especially since the Shadow was taking in what was in front of him, as in the fallen head of Haven's great and terrible foe, "They must become old enough and strong enough to complete the destiny they have fulfilled here today."

"Wait a minute! I have to take them back and watch over them, don't I?" the Shadow stated, almost as if he finally put that piece of information together on his own, even though Jak and his sisters had done their best to fill him in when Kor was no where to be seen, but in the end he didn't have all the information and this happened to be the first time he had all the pieces to the puzzle they had been keeping hidden from Kor, though as he said that Samos nodded his head as Jak and his sisters, including Keira, did the same thing, "Ah, grub roots! Talk about being in the wrong time at the right place!"

"Hey kid, you take care." Jak said, where he and his sisters helped their younger selves onto the Rift Rider, even though he and the others noticed that Keira had made sure there was enough room for the five passangers to be comfortable, and he found that their younger selves were interested in staring at them for a time, as he knew that they would remeber bits and pieces of what happened, most of it being locked away until a later date, before he considered something and nearly chuckled as he faced his younger self again, "Oh, and trust me on this: stay away from any Wumpbee nests on your ninth birthday, okay?"

As Jak said that his younger self pulled the red symbol off of his necklace and handed it to him, where he accepted it and assumed the kid realized that he might need it in the future, though Keira was worried about the Rift Rider since the Rift Ring was starting to break apart even more and it was only a matter of time until the artifact was destroyed, but one thing she considered was if the Rider would be able to make it to the past since it was a replica and not the real thing they had used to reach this point in time, which caused Samos to calm her by saying that this, in fact, happened to be the same device they would eventually find, meaning he must have sealed the Rift Ring and Rider behind the Precursor Door before heading to Sandover Village, but before Keira said anything else someone spoke up.

"Honey, the more you think about it, the more it hurts the head!" Daxter stated, as he didn't want Keira to get hurt while she overthought everything that was associated with this strange situation, even though he was sure that Twilight had an idea of what happened and could it explain it to everyone in simple terms or something, like it looked like Starlight could do as well, but in the end it looked like Keira understood what he was saying, which was an odd thing to consider, before she and her father climbed off the Lurker balloon, leaving the Shadow and the younger kids with the Rift Rider, as it was time for them to get moving.

"I'll take good care of the children!" the Shadow said, though as he said that he tapped the Heart of Mar gem, the activator for the device, just like Keira had told him on the way to the Nest, to which the Rift Rider started to lift into the air and align with the still crumbling Rift Ring, all while the younger versions of Jak, Twilight, Cozy, and Starlight waved goodbye to all of them, even though everyone knew that his promise would remain true, at least until they were old enough to head over to Misty Island and start their first adventure, "And don't worry, I'll be back in time for the celebration! Farewell!"

"Thanks, Samos. Without you..." Jak commented, as there was much he wanted to tell Samos, like thank him for everything he had done for him and his sisters over the years they spent in Sandover Village, though as he said that they watched as the Rift Rider passed through the tunnel between this point in time and the past that he and his sisters had grown up in all those years ago, and it wasn't long before the Rider disappeared entirely, meaning that none of them would see their younger selves again.

"It's funny, none of them will remember any of this," Samos replied, thinking about something else as Jak said that, though at the same time everyone watched as the Rift Ring, the rest of its ancient power spent, stalled as the tunnel faded away and left the central area of the artifact bare, allowing all of them to see the rock wall behind it, before it shattered into a pile of pieces that collapsed on the ground nearby, to which he sighed as he glanced at them for a second, "save for some nightmares for the first week or two."

"We also remember the light." Twilight added, where she assumed that it must have been the Precursor that young Jak had freed once Kor had been defeated by the older versions of themselves that they had seen in the distant past, which caused her siblings to nod their heads for a moment, though while she was annoyed with the destruction of a Precursor artifact, especially one as powerful as the Rift Ring, all of them left out a sigh of relief as this battle finally came to an end, as they could finally move on with their lives.

As such Jak, Twilight, Cozy, and Starlight walked onto the Lurker balloon as Keira and Samos joined them, all while Alvin, Simon, Theodore, and Daxter joined them, with the brothers actually treating Daxter like a warrior this time, before they used the Lurker device to lift into the air and head back towards Haven City, as it was time to do some damage control, see if the Crown Princes awakened any powers with the downfall of their evil father, and then focus on figuring out what might have happened to their own father, before worrying about whatever the future might have for them.
> Interlude: Celebration
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It took Jak, Twilight, Cozy, Starlight, their Ottsels, Keira, and Samos some time to leave the Metal Head Nest and travel back to Haven City, since the Lurker balloon was slower than one of the Krimzon Guard zoomers, though upon their return to the city everyone found that Ashelin, Torn, Brutter, Praxis, and all sorts of people waiting for them to come back with good news on what happened to the Leader of the Metal Heads, especially since the Neo Metal Heads were waiting alongside their new allies, showing the people of Haven that there were actually good Metal Heads in the world, to which Alvin, Simon, and Theodore jumped off the balloon and transformed into their true forms as they flew over the city, causing people to cheer as they watched the brothers. It was an interesting sight to behold, that the citizens of Haven City would actually work with and respect Metal Heads, given that none of the Krimzon Guard seemed to be trying to attack them, meaning Praxis must have told them what he had learned, or maybe it had been the Shadow who did it before he and everyone else left the city on the balloon, and even the Lurkers in the city, who naturally didn't like Metal Heads, seemed okay with their presence, meaning all of their efforts had given way for the people of the city to become united. Of course, as they witnessed this, Twilight came to understand that Alvin, Simon, and Theodore were likely no longer the Crown 'Princes' of their race, rather they were now the Crown 'Kings' of the Neo Metal Heads and it made her wonder if anything could be done to save the rest of their kind, as in enlighten those with yellow Skull Gems in an effort to make them either red, blue, or green, as those other colors meant they were different and much smarter than those that were made to focus solely on battle. She knew that, in time, they and the brothers would figure out if they were able to gain control over the other Metal Heads, which would be an exciting time to gain more information on their friends and their abilities, though after everything that had happened she wanted to rest up before doing anything else, even though she had a few ideas on how to gift Starlight some Dark Eco and grant her a boost to her power, similar to what happened to her and Cozy, hopefully without a Dark Form showing up.

"My Liege, it seems that you were successful in taking down the Leader of the Metal Heads," Praxis said, speaking once the balloon was on the ground and the group could climb off it, though at the same time he bowed his head and the siblings found that so many followed his lead, meaning everyone likely knew that they were, in some way, the heirs to the throne and, more importantly in their eyes, that if Praxis was doing this towards all four of them that they should follow suit, even if it was weird when the siblings thought about it, all while the brothers continued to fly around in the air, as a celebration of sorts before they rejoined the group.

"He put up a good fight, but he was no match for our powers," Jak replied, where he glanced back at the balloon for a few seconds and stared at the head of Kor, or Metal Kor he realized since it was stuck in his Metal Head form, as Daxter had wanted to take it back to Haven for two reasons, the first being a symbol to the people that the war was over and that the Leader of the Metal Heads had been defeated at long last, while the second was that he wanted to set it up inside Krew's old place, or rather his new place since Daxter has asked if it was okay to take over the saloon, hence why there was now a large glowing Ottsel, in his friend's image, standing above the bar, as a final trophy of sorts.

In that moment both Jak and Praxis raised their fists and declared that the war was over, that Haven City was safe and that the Leader of the Metal Heads was dead, something that caused the citizens and the Neo Metal Heads to cheer for their victory, even causing some of the Krimzon Guards to embrace their new allies as everyone heard the news, which caused Jak, his sisters, Keira, and Samos to climb off the balloon as Twilight lifted the head of Kor off the Lurker's device, carrying it over to the saloon so it could be set up inside it. As they walked towards Daxter's new place, while the citizens started to disperse so they could finally celebrate the end of the war with the Metal Heads, Praxis stood near Jak and quietly told him that Ashelin had asked Brutter, and several of his kind that were around his level of intelligence, to join the Krimzon Guard and have him be the Captain of that group, showing him and his sisters that more changes had been happening since they left to take on Kor, causing them to nod for a moment as they entered the Hip Hog again. Of course Daxter instantly told all of them that it was good that the races of Haven were getting along now, which seemed to be something that followed Twilight and her sisters, based on what he had seen, and jumped onto the bar as Tess took up her position behind it, due to the fact that she actually liked working in this place as she made all sorts of drinks, before declaring that the 'Naughty Ottsel' was officially open for business, he just needed to get a new sign to replace the old one. Praxis told him that a new one should be arriving in the next few days, showing that they had been busy talking over the Communicator on the way back, given that the Lurker balloon took some time to get back to the city, though he was preoccupied with the fact that he would be talking to Jak and his sisters about the fate of their father at some point in the future, something he seemed to be dreading, but for now his main focus was on celebrating their victory over the Metal Heads and their dark Leader, just like the rest of his people were doing. As they did that Jak noticed that Praxis didn't seem eager to speak about what had happened to their father, at least not right now so he could have some time to think about his actions and everything that had gone down since he took over the city, but for right now he was content to let the people celebrate their victory over the Metal Heads before getting ready for whatever the future held for them, hence why the Baron backed off and let them enjoy their victory.

Sure enough it wasn't long before the city started to celebrate, people dancing in the streets as fireworks were loosed at the sky, though while that was happening Jak, his sisters, the Metal Head brothers, and the rest of their group gathered all over the newly renamed Naughty Ottsel, where Tess made sure to pour everyone whatever they wanted, using the rest of the supplies that were from Krew's time running this place, while Daxter, using the funds that Praxis had given him, which he assumed had belonged to the now dead fat man, made sure to order supplies to restock for the future, due to the fact that he had a feeling this place would be busy in the future.

"You know, that's a nice trophy," Tess commented, where she looked across to where Kor's head rested, as Daxter had chosen to place it above the entrance of the saloon so everyone could see it when they entered the place for a drink, all to remember that the war was over and that everyone was safe for the time being, since there was no telling what the future might have in store for them and the rest of the city, and right now everyone was looking at it, either admiring the brand new trophy or recalling everything that happened during the war for the city.

"Thanks, I worked with Jak and his sisters to take him down," Daxter replied, as he was proud of his contributions to them bringing Kor down and stopping the Metal Heads from invading the rest of the city, due to the fact that once their leader fell his forces fled from the city, though Alvin and his brothers were sure that it was only a matter of time until some of the stronger Metal Heads tried something else, even though they would be flexing their powers in an attempt to claim control over the rest of their brothers and sisters, to free the rest of the normal Metal Heads and give them a chance to live a new life that wasn't full of war or suffering.

"Honestly, I'm not sure who has a bigger head: him, or you!" Pecker stated, showing that he honestly didn't believe Daxter had been of any help during the fight with Kor and was just saying this to make Tess fall even more in love with him, as the lady seemed to be madly in love with him and didn't seem to know that Daxter wasn't as grand as he claimed he might be, though as he raised his cup to sip from it, however, Onin signed for a moment and Pecker nearly dropped his glass as he stared at his boss for a moment, "What do you mean he's telling the truth?!"

"Well, he did hurt Kor while we fought him, so he's not lying," Alvin answered, where he and his brothers sat at the end of the bar, as in to the left side while Jak and Keira took the right side, leaving Samos in the middle while everyone else was scattered around Daxter's new place, though in his opinion this was nice, taking a break for the first time since they had left the Hive with the plan to bring down their father, meaning they could finally relax a little, as in truly relax, and plan for whatever the future held for them and everyone else.

"Indeed, though we must not forget those who were lost to bring down our enemy," Samos spoke up, where he had been thinking about everything that had happened since he first took the siblings through the Rift Ring all those years ago, so they could be safe in the past and he could train them, to prepare them as best as he could for the destiny he knew they would complete, and knew of the lives that had been taken from them in an attempt to save Haven and the heirs to the throne, even if many had no idea what happened to the younger heirs, to which he raised his glass and toasted to those who gave their lives to beat the Metal Heads, which Jak and the others did without delay.

"At least we stopped Kor and sent the kids back into the past," Cozy said, though while her brother and sisters might miss their younger selves, which she shared a tiny bit, her focus was more on the fact that they had saved the city from Kor and his Metal Heads, who Alvin and his brothers would worry about once this party was over and they started to worry about the future, since none of them had any idea what might happen after tonight, especially since she and Twilight needed to make sure their Dark Forms were tamed before something big happened.

"Are you sure you guys are okay?" Keira asked, mostly because she knew that being exposed to so much Dark Eco had to be bad for someone's health, even though it looked like Jak and his sisters, for the most part, could control all six types of Eco, despite the fact that Starlight was the only one who didn't have access to Dark Eco, and she was worried that the four of them might be suffering in some manner, hence why she wanted to make sure there was nothing wrong with them as they moved forward with securing the city, "Are you sure that there are no serious consequences for overusing your Dark Forms and their powers?"

"Actually, we're doing pretty good, and Midnight is sleeping for the first time since she first woke up," Twilight replied, as she understood where Keira was coming from, hence why she felt that it was important that they visit the building that the Precursor Oracle rested in, the one that had first aided them in gaining some measure of control over Jak and Cozy's Dark Forms, since there was a chance it might aid them in some manner now that Kor was defeated and the slumbering entity that had been inside the Precursor Stone had been freed from its protective casing, "Oh, Starlight, you and I should take a few hours to practice our magic on some targets... with Midnight's help we might be able to figure out a safe way to grant you the same power we have, without the negative side effects of going into a rage and everything that happened when we freed our siblings."

As everyone figured out that she was referring to Dark Eco, so Starlight could match up with her siblings, they found that the main door opened and Sig, in all his glory, stepped into the Naughty Ottsel with a look of disbelief on his face, which let all of them know that while he was glad to be alive, he was also shocked by all of the Metal Heads that were outside the bar, which made sense given that none of them had told him about the Neo Metal Heads or that there was more to Alvin, Simon, and Theodore than what everyone was seeing, even though his presence caused everyone to cheer as Jak took a moment to walk over to where their friend was standing.

"You cherries didn't think some nasty-breath, giant-sized lizard was gonna keep me from the biggest party in all of Haven City, did you? Or someone knocking said lizard into me on accident?" Sig asked, showing that, despite everything that had to be happening outside Daxter's new place, nothing had changed since the last time they saw him and that his fall in the Underport hadn't annoyed him at all, even though he might be a little sour that he couldn't join the assault on the Metal Head Nest, and was blaming Cozy for her actions in the Underport, before he considered something as he took a moment to look at all of them, "Oh, and Vin is just fine... it appears that some of your, um, unusual allies headed over to the Power Station and protected it from the Metal Heads that tried to take him out... the four of you are going to have to explain how you got some Metal Heads to defect to our side, among other things."

"Don't worry, we'll be sure to do that in no time... also, I knew you were too tough for 'em, big guy!" Daxter stated, as Sig was one of the best warriors in all of Haven City, or the best Wastelander since he was the only one of his kind inside the city, so while all of them might have been worried about him, given his fall in the Underport earlier, he knew that it was only a matter of time until Sig found his way back to the surface and rejoined them, either with wounds to show he had been in a big fight or having no wounds and appearing like he had, though it wasn't long before Tess made sure to serve Sig a drink so they could talk and plan out their future.

Sig accepted the drink as Jak pointed out Kor's head to him, set up in Krew's style, before they delved into the tale of how they first met Alvin, Simon, and Theodore, which was why Twilight started the story and Jak took a step back for now, due to the fact that she was the first one of them to encounter the brothers, and during her story they found that there were a few more arrivals, such as Torn, Ashelin, and even Vin, the latter still being nervous around Metal Heads, even though he was thankful that the Neo Metal Heads had saved his life. Of course it wasn't long before a true party started as Alvin and his brothers started to sing, an odd thing to hear and have them more information on what their friends could do, though it wasn't long before Daxter joined them and focused on dancing along to the tune, with Tess joining him and as she tried to mirror his movements, which had to be hard since she wasn't an Ottsel and didn't have Daxter's maneuverability, but it did cause the couples that were in the Naughty Ottsel to get up and dance as well. Even though none of them had a dance partner Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy joined the party not a few seconds later and just let loose for the first time since they started their quest to bring peace to Haven, by defeating the Leader of the Metal Heads, where Samos nodded while he watched all of them, showing that this was a good time to relax and let loose, since there was no telling what the future held for the city, especially since there were still Metal Heads to worry about and all sorts of enemies that might attack the city now that the Shield Wall had been knocked out by Kor's actions. As it turned out the only one who didn't come to the bar to celebrate their victory was the Baron, where Jak and his sisters knew that Praxis would be busy making sure all was fine in the city and that he had to be getting himself ready for the eventual conversation Jak wanted to have with him, to go over what had happened to their father before Praxis took over, so this gave him the time he needed to get ready for that moment and also allowed the siblings to have a well deserved break, even though they would be back in action in the very near future, hence why they were enjoying the night while it lasted, like everyone else that called Haven home.

Eventually the celebration spilled out into the rest of the city, as in the citizens must have been impressed by their party or something and were inspired to turn the entirety of Haven into a party zone, where even the Neo Metal Heads got invited to it, showing that the citizens understood that they weren't enemies and deserved to be welcomed into the city, before all of them found fireworks and all sorts of celebrations going on, which put a smile on their faces as they watched what was going on in the Port, knowing it was echoing across the rest of Haven as well.

"The four of you have saved the city and more!" Samos commented, where he followed Jak and his sisters when they took a moment to head outside and see what fruit their hard work had created, seeing the various races of the city safe from all of their enemies and enjoying themselves, without having to worry about potential threats attacking and dragging people off or something, to which he came to a stop for a moment, when he reached where the siblings were standing, and raised his staff to the stars for a few seconds, "Kor, after all these years, has finally been destroyed, and somewhere out there, an ancient race has been revived... if our foe was telling the truth anyway, since Kor is known for being a liar at times... time will tell if the Stone contained the last Precursor or if there are more of them out there."

"At least that's what it seems like, given what happened in the Nest earlier," Jak said, as the Precursor issues was one thing they were going to have to think about at some point, as Twilight and Starlight would likely be talking about it for a good bit of time before they moved to figure out what had happened to their father, which would involve the talk with Praxis in the palace, since it was the best place for such a thing, before he returned his gaze to the city that was around them and let a smile appear on his face, "though if we're being honest, we're all happy to be home again."

"Yeah, well enjoy the celebration while it lasts," Twilight stated, as while she was enjoying herself, and was happy to see all of her family and friends were enjoying this as well, she knew that there had to be something else that would endanger the city and those they had fought to protect, even Midnight had mentioned that she felt such a thing might happen in the future, once Kor was destroyed and his control over the rest of the Metal Heads had been smashed, though she was more curious as to what they could discover about the Precursors and all of her Dark Eco powers, plus what Cozy had and the potential power Starlight might gain, "we've got a lot of work to do before the next threat reveals itself to us, so we had better enjoy the rest of the night, and the celebration, before turning our focus to protecting the city."

As she said that, however, Jak, Twilight, Cozy, and Starlight sensed something in the air shift, especially since the feeling did awaken the Dark Forms of the three that had them and it caused Starlight to follow suit, which caused Samos and Sig, the latter having come out to see what they were up to or might have wanted to ask them about being Wastelanders, to glance around the area as they sought out whatever Jak and his sisters were looking for, even though they zeroed in on the area the shift was coming from and glanced at the edge of the Port, at the top of the high wall. Standing up there, far away from all of them and the citizens of Haven City, stood a humanoid figure who was wearing what appeared to be a black robe of sorts, or maybe it was a coat of some kind due to the zipper that ran down the middle of it, where it was unzipped in the lower half and revealed that the person was wearing black pants, while the upper section remained zipped, though it did look like they were wearing black gloves and black boots in addition to that. None of them could see the figure's face, as it had a hood, black like the rest of the coat it happened to be wearing, that covered its head and made it impossible to see the face of the sudden arrival in Haven City, even though it was more like the hood was pulled down to prevent them from seeing the figure's face, and it was just standing there, either observing everything that might be happening inside the city or it might be watching the four of them, why they had no idea. The only thing they could see was that the figure had to be male, based on what little they could actually see of the figure's form from this distance, though in the following moments an oval shaped tear in reality, a portal of some kind, opened near the figure and he shifted his head so he could look at the magical entity for a couple of seconds, where a second figure, who was wearing the same sort of black coat that the first had on, joined the first mysterious figure on the top of the high wall. What surprised all of them was that the newcomer, if they were seeing things right, was female due to her chest area and maybe a bit of her form that they could see under the coat, though the really interesting thing was that the hood of her coat had pointed tips, like a animal and reminded Jak of his sisters, given their pony nature and ears, meaning that whoever had joined the first figure was either someone who just wanted animal ears on their coat's hood or they were an anthropomorphic animal.

Twilight shuddered for a moment as Midnight's wings came out, while Cozy let out a feral growl and Jak felt a rush of dark power surge into him, their Dark Forms telling them that these two were dangerous and likely stood on evil's side, like Kor had been before his defeat, meaning another fight might be about to happen and they braced themselves, though as that happened the pair glanced at each other as a second portal opened directly behind the male and they both disappeared as quickly as they had appeared, causing the siblings to revert back to their normal forms again... but one thing was for sure, they needed to find their father and maybe take Sig up on his offer to see his Wastelander friend, the one that could help them, because darkness was coming for this world and they had to be ready to face it.
> Interlude: Discussions and Plans
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few days had passed since Haven City celebrated the end of the Metal Head War, which was the name given to the conflict between them and the Leader of the Metal Heads, though once morning had arrived Jak and his sisters headed out to make sure everything was alright and that nothing bad had happened, finding that most of the sober residents were heading out to resume their jobs, the drunken ones were either laying near some of the walls or had been escorted home, and the rest of the Krimzon Guard were patrolling the city with a new sense of purpose, especially with all of the Neo Metal Heads that had joined them in defending Haven. All four of them were still amazed that the guards had accepted new allies without even questioning what was going on and, with Kor's war over, some appeared to be talking to the more intelligent beings who were now working alongside them in protecting this large city from danger, though they were sure that Shade was up in the Palace with Praxis, since she was a spymaster of sorts and he could use her experience and knowledge to better secure Haven from the dangers that were outside the walls. Of course the siblings knew that the remaining Metal Heads weren't the only threat that the city faced, as there were supposedly enemies in the Wasteland, or at least Sig claimed that such a thing existed and none of them were about to call the great warrior a liar, though that wasn't the only thing they thought about, as the two shadowy beings who appeared on top of the Port's high wall made them realize that something dark might be on its way to their world, those two being scouts of sorts in their eyes. As such Jak's plan was simple, they were going to make sure Haven was safe from danger, while at the same time Vin worked to make a modified Shield Wall that would protect the city and not weaken the Neo Metal Heads while it was active, before heading to the Palace and talking to Praxis about what had happened to their father, as it might open some doors for them in the future and allow them to discuss their plans for the future, though he knew that Praxis was going to put this off for as long as he could, maybe due to the fact that, now that he had regained himself, he might be ashamed of his past actions or something, but the siblings needed to hear what he knew before bothering to make any new plans.

Based on what the siblings discovered there wasn't much happening to the city right now, even after the war with the rest of the Metal Heads, meaning they were going to spend their time patrolling Haven and making sure that everyone was fine with everything that had been going on lately, even though it quickly turned into Jak doing it on his own as Twilight took Starlight and Cozy out to the Pumping Station for some lessons in channeling Dark Eco, which he knew was mostly Midnight trying to make sure all of them had access to their own Dark Forms and whatever powers it brought. Of course he was a little nervous about such a thing, as Cozy turned into a berserker of sorts when she changed and Twilight turned into a whole new person when her dark power took over, something that made him remember the sheer power that was at Midnight's fingertips and made him wonder what sort of power Dark Starlight would have, if she was lucky enough to gain a Dark Form, as he was silently hoping that she just gained the power to channel Dark Eco and have none of the more dangerous side effects from such a thing. Of course he did consider what they had seen during the celebration, two dark figures who disappeared as quickly as they had appeared, and the fact that all of their Dark Forms had reacted in some way told him that they needed to be ready for whatever was coming next, as those two had to be scouts for whatever dark force they served, or at the very least and early warning system for the inhabitants of the area the pair appeared at, all to give their targets time to ready themselves before the main force arrived. Jak also knew there was a chance that he might be wrong about all of this and that the pair meant nothing, that they were simply curious as to what had happened to this world during the war with the Metal Heads, or whatever had caught their attention, but there was no way for him to tell which of his thoughts were correct and which ones were wrong, though the reaction from their Dark Forms was the key to understanding part of the situation, hence why he wanted to have that conversation with Praxis, before figuring out what their next move might be, he just had to be patient and wait for the Baron to set aside some time for them.

When the week came to an end, four days after the defeat of Kor and the celebration everyone had enjoyed, Jak and his sisters found themselves in the Palace, as in Praxis had invited them to join him, instead of them staying outside like when they tried to sneak around this place to get information for Torn and the Underground, meaning he finally wanted to talk with them and get the conversation out of the way, so they could focus on securing the city and moving on with their lives, hence why they were in the throne room and not the dining room, where Praxis had set up five chairs for all of them and was currently sitting in one that was alone, while the other four were closer to the throne that his was, making this seem more like a royal audience of some kind.

"Jak, Twilight, Cozy, Starlight... I am ready for whatever questions you might have for me," Praxis stated, his tone revealing that he must have come to terms with what he had done in the past, or at least what he had done while under the dark influence of Kor and the Dark Eco that had tainted his metallic headpiece, and that, after coming to such a decision, he was now ready for the conversation Jak wanted to have with him, even though he knew that the others might have a few things to ask him as well, where he watched as they took their seats in front of him, or at least three of them did as Cozy growled and stood with her back on one of the nearby pillars, showing him that she still disliked him, "I know all of you are still angry with me, after everything I put you through while I was under Kor's influence, though my only desire is that you hold back your anger for now and allow me to get this off my chest... once I'm finished I will face my crimes, regardless if it means earning your eternal hatred, forgiveness that I don't deserve, or death at your hands... I will not fight back, once all of you have come to a decision regarding my fate, as I know you'll do what's best for Haven and our world."

Cozy growled for a moment, once more showing that she might not forgive him for imprisoning her for three years, and all of the Dark Eco experiments that had been performed on her while she was trapped inside the Fortress, before huffing as she shifted her glance to another part of the throne room, showing her siblings that she was willing to listen to the story Praxis had to tell them and not just smash his head into the floor behind where he happened to be sitting, which caused her siblings to relax a little as they focused on the Baron.

"Okay, so what's the story behind our father's disappearance and our younger selves appearing on the streets, only to fall into the hands of Kor and the Underground?" Jak asked, because while they knew that the Shadow had found them first and made sure the four of them were out of harms way by moving them constantly, something that was due to what their memories told them, there was part of the story that neither he or his siblings knew about and Praxis happened to be the only one, in all of Haven City, who knew everything about the event in question, or at least it sure seemed like it based on what they had learned so far.

"As you know, this place used to be your home, where the four of you and your father lived," Praxis stated, reminding the siblings of the fact that they had once called the Palace their home, or at least it had been before they had been forced to flee and appeared on Haven's streets, with next to no one realizing who they were walking by, save for the Shadow and maybe Kor when they thought about what their memories told them, where Praxis sighed for a moment as he recalled the events that happened in the past, "and Damas, your father, used to rule from this place, even though he was loved by his people and often spent his days walking around Haven, tending to the problems of his citizens and making sure nothing was threatening the city, though to be honest I'm not sure how no one recognized you, since there were days where you walked around Haven with your father... I guess the Precursors might have lent a hand in some manner, or someone had a way to hide your identities for a long time. Either way, Damas and I had very different methods and plans for taking care of the Metal Heads that were trying to get inside the city so they could find the Precursor Stone, where I believed that my ideas were far superior to what my King wanted to do and several plans formed in my mind, one to take down those who were attacking our city and a plan to seize control of Haven so I could show everyone that my plans were worth the risk, but, as you and Keira discovered, one of my plans failed and it ended with me suffering a wound to my head. This metal casing allowed me to survive my injuries and continue living, though it fueled my desire to prove that I was right, as that was the only change I suffered in the beginning, to which I had Ashelin reassigned for a time, which angered her since she liked protecting the four of you, and proceeded with a coup that should have been quiet and easy... I should have known Damas would have made plans in case someone tried something like that, as the coup turned into a full on battle that also destroyed one of the Palace's wings."

"So, Kor influenced your desire to show our father that your plans were superior and that, in turn, caused a fight to break out between you," Starlight commented, taking a few moments to think about the information they were learning, which her siblings were also doing while Cozy looked like she might not care, even though she knew her sister wanted to hear what had happened to their father, before she pulled her attention back to the conversation they were having as she took a moment to think about something important, "What did you do to him?"

"Damas was crafty, far more than I gave him credit for if I'm being honest, and most of the city would have been on the Underground's side had I simply ended his life... something I would never do," Praxis replied, the last bit added to let Jak and his sisters to know that, even under Kor's influence, there were lines he wouldn't cross in the early stages of his dark corruption, even though he had been broken by the time they returned to the future, given his dark nature they had seen during his time experimenting on Jak and Cozy and his meeting with Kor before Midnight's awakening, "since executing him would have signed my death warrant, with a full scale rebellion and possibly death by the claws of the Metal Heads, I did the only thing possible to ensure his safety and the start of my reign over the city, I exiled Damas from the city, and all of his guards who had been captured during the coup, and sent them to the Wasteland. Of course such a thing wasn't as easy as you might think, since he was beloved by everyone who called Haven home, and to ensure the potential rebellion didn't arise with his banishment Count Veger, one of the Council members who help govern the city, spread all sorts of false rumors about Damas and made it seem like he wasn't fit to be the ruler of Haven, though I never asked Veger to do such a thing, meaning he had his own reasons for wanting the King dethroned and exiled to the Wasteland, no doubt he wanted the four of you for some dark reason. With Damas banished, and his guards were exiled with him, I turned most of my attention to finding the four of you, along with that Crocodog of yours, before something bad happened to you, as I intended on having Ashelin guard and protect all four of you so none of Haven's enemies could use you against the rest of the city, but I was forced to turn my attention to protecting Haven, as Gol and Maia were right... tracking you four down was entirely impossible and most of my focus turned to defeating the Metal Heads..."

"Wait a minute... Gol and Maia? As in Gol and Maia Acheron?" Daxter asked, as that caught him off guard, which Jak and his sisters shared since it was impossible for the two Dark Sages to be around these days, due to the fact that Praxis meant he must have talked with them before sending Damas into the Wasteland with his group of guards, especially since he man nodded his head to confirm that he was talking about those two individuals and not someone else he knew that went by those names, which caused the siblings to glance at each other for a few moments, "Impossible, they have to be two new people with the same name and not the Dark Sages we encountered in the past... unless, of course, Dark Eco is the key to eternal life or something... or they found another Precursor artifact that messed with time."

"Based on all the research Keira and I did, the Rift Ring, or Rift Gate as Kor called it, was the only one that allowed people to travel through time," Twilight commented, informing everyone that the artifact Kor's body had destroyed was the last of its kind and that there were no more for anyone to use, or at least it seemed to be the case since they knew Kor was a liar, meaning it was entirely possible that the Precursors could have made more and one of them could have been found by Gol and Maia, to catch up with the four of them, before she considered Praxis' words for a moment, "however, now that you mention that they worked with our father, I'm beginning to remember something: a couple of days were we learned a few basics of controlling Eco, from people who looked like Gol and Maia... Samos might have told them the truth about all of us, before we went through the past version of the Rift Gate, letting them know that we happened to be from the future and that we were hiding from something. If that's true, they might have figured out a way to either travel through time or gain some sort of lasting life, to make it this point in time to make sure we knew the basics of channeling Eco and the vast powers each one gives whose who wield them, lessons Samos would continue once we settled into Sandover Village... its all a loop of sorts, us heading into the past to become the heroes that save the future... I'm willing to bet they became our father's advisers on the matters of Eco, like how to use it to protect the city and everything, and when you banished him and his guards the pair went with them."

"Sometimes I forget how smart you are, and that's not counting Midnight helping you out," Praxis said, as he knew Damas was of the opinion that Twilight and Starlight were the smart ones of the four, with Jak being right behind them, where he agreed with his former friend as he listened to everything that Twilight came up with and talked about, making him take a moment to wonder if there might anyone who could rival her intellect, before he considered her words once more and what happened when he banished Damas after the failed coup, "but yes, the Royal Advisors left Haven City when Damas and his guards were sent to the Wasteland, taking most of their journals and notes with them in the process, leaving only a single journal behind, the one that prompted my darkened and twisted mind to start the Dark Warrior Program, though it also told me about the four of you and Daxter... I'm starting to wonder if it was intentional, to inform me that heroes were on their way and that I wouldn't have to worry about dealing with the Metal Heads on my own."

"Given that Sig is a Wastelander, and has expressed an interest in us learning from him... or at least he did last we talked... I wonder if he would know where our father went," Jak commented, referring to the fact that Sig claimed there might be someone in the desert who might be able to help them with their Dark Eco problems, to balance them out or something like that, meaning there had to be a city or settlement of some kind out in the Wasteland for all those Kor had Praxis exile to live in as they fought against the elements, to which he glanced at Praxis for a moment, "there must be a city of some sort in the Wasteland, with our father as the leader, that might have some massive Metal Heads roaming around the rest of the desert. Praxis, is it possible to arrange for an expedition into the Wasteland?"

"The only time we send people into the Wasteland are when we banish someone, where we give them a beacon, one that could be picked up by either the exiles or the Metal Heads," Praxis explained, showing them that, even with his darkened mind thanks to Kor's influence, he and the Council of Haven made sure to give the exiles hope for a future, to be picked up by those who lived in the Wasteland and not by the Metal Heads who called it home, but in that instant he noticed that all of the siblings seemed eager to explore a new part of the world, or new to them to be more exact, to which he sighed for a moment as he held a hand up, "Don't get any funny ideas, we still need all of you here, in case Alvin and his brothers fail to gain control over the other Metal Heads, and that's not counting the fact that someone might be messing with the robotic section of the KG, so we might be heading for a full scale battle for Haven at this rate and we cannot afford to lose any of you before such a thing happens... actually, I don't know why I'm trying to tell you four what to do, because if any of you are like your father I'll be talked into stepping down and allowing you to do this anyway."

"Right now the city is safe and sound, and with everyone guarding it we can afford to take a small break," Cozy said, as she knew that Jak was already considering every option to get them to the Wasteland, so they could track down the city Sig had no doubt found to receive his own training, though as she thought about it she glanced at the city that rested outside the Palace, looking beyond it and focusing on everything that might be outside the fallen Shield Wall, which Vin was working on to make an even better one, "though given what you just said it sounds like Veger doesn't like our family at all, no doubt because he feels like he should be in charge or something, meaning he might be thinking of a way to incriminate us so he exile us as well... maybe we can convince the Council that some sort of enemy rests in the Wasteland and that we're going out to deal with them?"

"There's the Metal Heads out there, and whoever else Sig might know about," Twilight added, because it made sense when she thought about it, as regardless of what Alvin and his brothers were capable of they would have to deal with the larger enemies in the desert at some point, before they tried to march on the city, so she and her siblings could nip the problem in the bub before it became a real problem for everyone in Haven, plus she was interested in the figure Sig that could aid them in finding balance, so they had multiple reasons to tackle the dangers of the Wasteland, and she could hear Midnight agreeing with her, "we would have to get a haircut and change our attire, plus review a few of Samos' lessons on staying in a desert, but if we complete those steps, and convince the Council of our desire to put an end to Haven's enemies, there's a good chance Veger's plans can be ruined before he even starts them... plus, if someone is messing with the KG robots, they would need a good bit of Eco and supplies to get started, so setting something up away from Haven would be the best thing to do, so we could potentially knock out multiple birds with one very well positioned stone."

"Are you honestly planning on heading out into the Wasteland to find Damas and his city?" Praxis asked, because while he knew that Haven City still had several enemies that needed to be taken out, especially since they had no idea who might have hacked into the KG robots or the factory which produced them, which was a problem that needed to be taken care of at some point in time, he also knew enough about Jak and his sisters to know that when they set their minds on a task or something there was no talking them out of it, so by giving them this information he suspected that they would head out into the Wasteland to find Damas.

"If we find our father, and convince him of your partial innocence in his banishment, we might be able to return with new allies for when the big battle happens," Jak explained, as it seemed like a good idea to him and his sisters, that they took a few days to track down their father and speak with him for a time, to convince him of a number of things before returning to the city, hopefully with some reinforcements to help take down the one who was messing with the KG robots, and they could see that Praxis was considering the idea as well, even though it would be like him admitting defeat and proving that Damas was the one who had been right, before he beckoned towards a window, "right now the city is at peace, save for an unknown being messing with the KG robots, who Vin is trying to track down at this very moment, so this is the best time for us to head out into the Wasteland... if we were in the middle of a war, well, we would have to be banished to do such a thing, which would crush the morale of everyone in Haven."

"Whether you know it or not you four are so like Damas," Praxis stated, where he would normally consider such a thing to be bad, given what he knew about their father and his own actions, but this time there was nothing more he could say as he stared into the eyes of Jak and his sisters, finding that all four of them had a look of determination in their eyes, which happened to be reflected in the eyes of Daxter and the brothers who were sitting nearby, to which he sighed for a couple of seconds as he nodded his head and admitted defeat once more, "okay, we'll do things your way, which should upset Veger and his plans, whatever they might be... but if anything happens to Haven while this expedition is happening, such as the war starting or some damage being done to the city, I'm pulling the plug and calling you four back."

Jak nodded as he heard that, as it was nice to have someone like Praxis on their side, as it meant that a Council member, if the Baron was on, was on their side, and even if he wasn't he was still in control of Haven City, even though the citizens of Haven knew that the four of them were the grown up versions of the heirs and would seize control of the city in due time, so for now having him in power meant they could focus on other things, though with the meeting over he turned some of his thoughts towards the future and the fact that they would, in due time, find their father and set things right, along with finding Gol and Maia once more.
> Interlude: Expedition Preparations
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next week was full of preparations for Jak, Twilight, Cozy, Starlight, and their Ottsel companions as they prepared for a visit to the Wasteland, though the first thing they did was outfit themselves accordingly, as in cutting their hair to a more manageable level, given that Jak and Cozy had long hair from their long stay in the Fortress and both of them cut it down, with Jak having short hair, similar to what he had back in Sandover Village, something that Cozy did as well, even though all of them knew that it wouldn't have any effect on her Dark Form's hair. Of course both Twilight and Starlight did the same thing as well, trimming their hair and making sure they were more manageable for later, though the sisters left their tails alone since none of them were overgrown, opting to focus on their hair and nothing else for the most part, where Samos nodded his head when all four of them were done with the barber, as he understood what was going on and was doing his best to make sure they were ready for their eventual visit to the Wasteland. Shortly after their conversation with Praxis in the Palace, as in an hour later, the siblings had sought out Samos to refresh their knowledge on surviving in a desert, which had prompted him and Keira to ask what in the world they were up to and caused Twilight to tell them what they planned on doing, heading out to find Damas and possibly get some allies as well, even though it did cause him to moan for a couple of seconds before agreeing to assist them, though it was more like he felt their time would be better spent assisting the city and less on something like this, but he allowed them to move on with their plan and helped them as much as he could, as he would be staying inside Haven to help the citizens out. Keira, of course, was busy fixing and updating a number of vehicles that belonged to the Freedom League, as that was the new name that the forces of Haven City came up with and lead to a brand new paint job for all the armor and vehicles in the city, going from a red or yellow color and becoming blue, but she was planning on helping them in her own way, as in upgrading Jak's JET-Board and making it better for whatever trials the siblings might find in the future.

Ashelin and Praxis, however, spent some time convincing the Council to approve the expedition into the Wasteland, as in they weren't banishing the siblings and they were just heading out to track down any potential enemies or allies for the future, especially since Vin was still unsure who was behind messing with the KG robots and was still looking into it, but based on what Jak had been told it would take some time to convince the Council to agree to the idea, especially with the likes of Veger in its ranks, who seemed to hate him and his sisters purely because of their Dark Eco abilities, even if those powers had helped them save the city from the Metal Head Leader. None of them were surprised to find that Veger was against them, given everything that Praxis told Jak and his sisters during their conversations, especially given his dislike of their dark powers and unnatural abilities, as he didn't approve of the magical powers that the sisters had access to and all of the support they currently had, but they weren't bothered by his dislike or disapproval of them as they focused on their preparations for their expedition into the Wasteland. The surprising thing was that a good portion of the Council agreed with Jak's plan, to allow the four of them to head out into the Wasteland for a time, tracking down any potential threats to Haven City and its citizens, along with seeing if they could find any potential allies that might consider joining up with the Freedom League, or just lending them some aid in keeping track of everything in the Wasteland, but they kept the fact that they were looking for Damas a secret for now, as it was hard to tell if the Council members preferred having the old king or the reign of the Praxis line, even though Praxis assured the siblings that most of Haven's Council would follow Damas in a heartbeat. Twilight considered that to be part of the reason as to why they had so many supporters on the Council, as all of them knew that they were Damas' kids, even if they were older than Veger and the others remembered, and that had to be why they had so much support for their expedition, though for now they allowed the Baron and Ashelin to do as much as they could to make sure the Council was okay with them heading out into the Wasteland for a time, while also having an emergency Communicator in case something happened to Haven City while all of them were away.

Of course none of the siblings were hoping that anything would happen while they were away, though there was a chance that something might happen since someone was messing with the KG robots, but all of them were hoping to finish their expedition in the Wasteland and be back before something else happened, hence why Jak and his sisters were making sure to do everything in their power to ready themselves for their visit to the place that people were banished to, as there was no telling what sort of dangers might be waiting in the massive desert, save for some Metal Heads based on what all of their friends and allies told them.

In addition to all of that Jak, Twilight, Cozy, and Starlight spent some time in the forest area going over their abilities when they channeled their Dark Eco powers for a time, as Twilight and Midnight had found a way to grant Starlight some Dark Eco of her own, without making her go crazy or transform into a dark entity like her sisters did when they first transformed after their exposure to the dark substance, even though part of the process involved using the journal that Praxis handed over to them after their meeting, the one left behind by Gol and Maia, which served as a good starting point for Twilight and her other side to do their work. Thanks to Midnight's powers they didn't have to worry about ruining the area that Jak had picked out for them to practice in for a time, as her ability to manipulate reality allowed her to repair any damage that was done to the surrounding area, especially since Dark Cozy was acting as their target and hitting her proved to be much harder than her siblings thought she would be, but it was good practice for Twilight and Starlight, in terms of magic, and a good sparring partner of sorts for Jak, leaving the Ottsels off to the side as they watched them practice. Of course one of the things that happened during this time was that Twilight insisted on having Daxter go through some motions as well, as he had access to some of his Eco powers and learning how to use them might be beneficial for them, though Alvin and his brothers were really the only ones who didn't have much to do while this happened, so they either spent their time flying around Haven Forest in their hybrid forms, watching the siblings in their Ottsel forms while sitting near Daxter, or resting for a time in their dragon forms, the last of which Twilight noted a slight growth to all three of them, as they were a tab bit taller than before and it was likely due to them taking control of the rest of their kind. Regardless of what everyone was in the middle of doing the siblings made sure to practice all of the skills and abilities that they had access to, preparing them for a visit to the Wasteland, even though three of them had to listen to Twilight repeating what Samos had reminded all of them about when it came to surviving in a desert, just to make sure they were ready for anything and everything that they might encounter while they were looking for Damas and his city of exiles, though they knew that Sig had already departed for his destination and Jak was hoping they would catch up with him in due time.

Not only did that happen, which was good for the siblings and boosted their chances of surviving this expedition, Alvin and his brothers did track down a group of Metal Heads who were trying to follow Kor's orders and tear down the defenders of the city, despite the fact that their Leader was dead and his order should have faded from their minds, where Jak and his sisters watched for a few moments as Alvin, Simon, and Theodore formed a triangle around the couple of Metal Heads and just stood there, causing their targets to stop in the process. What they did was tap into something they had access to, a power that likely awakened after the death of their evil father and all three of them inherited his power, though instead of asserting themselves as the new leaders of this group and forcing them to follow their lead, like Kor would have done if he was in their shoes, they wove their own Eco energies into freeing all of their fellow Metal Heads from their bonds to Kor and his dark desires, something that eventually caused their yellow Skull Gems to dim for a time. Once that happened all of them watched as a change washed over the Metal Heads, a new color washed over their Skull Gems, some taking on a red coloration, others going blue, and others taking a green color, reflecting the colors that Alvin, Simon, Theodora, and all of the Neo Metal Heads happened to have, meaning the brothers used this power to free the rest of their kind and also used it to enlighten those who survived Kor's demise, turning them into Neo Metal Heads and unlocking a new mindset in all of them. It was an interesting thing to witness and Twilight made sure to do everything in her power to document the changes for later, since it might help them convince the Council of their plans to head into the Wasteland for an expedition and stop whatever threat or enemies might be hiding out in the desert, especially since this ability allowed them to make sure all of the Metal Heads out there were given a chance to accept a new life or turn it down and be taken out before the city was threatened by them, and it also meant it gave them a chance to convince those who lived in the Wasteland that they weren't enemies and that a change was sweeping over their world, now that the Leader of the Metal Heads was dead and his hold over the rest of his kind had been broken.

In addition to making sure the siblings understood his lessons, and assisting the Freedom League with making sure Haven was safe, Samos lent his aid to Praxis and Ashelin as they worked to make sure Veger didn't do anything to stop Jak's plans for the expedition into the Wasteland, even though right now it sure seemed like the Count had decided, after seeing the amount of support they had, that messing with them wasn't the right thing to do and had stepped back for now, leaving them to their preparations while Daxter kept an eye on Veger whenever they were near him, as he didn't trust the Count and everyone agreed with him, hence why many did the same thing while making sure he never noticed them making sure he wasn't trying to ruin their efforts to protect the city.





As it turned out two weeks went by since the defeat of Kor and nothing happened to Haven City, as in no war broke out, nothing was happening with the KG robots or their factory, most of the Metal Heads who had been trying to follow Kor's orders had been enlightened by Alvin and his brothers, and the siblings were as ready as they could be for their visit to the Wasteland, they were simply waiting for the Council to come to a decision and grant them their request so they could get underway and start their new quest. Of course that meant that someone wasn't happy with what was going on right now and wanted to make sure the expedition was to their standards, which had to be Veger even though he didn't seem to be overly dangerous towards Jak's new goals, though based on everything the Baron told them it seemed like he just wanted to make sure the expedition meet certain standards and wasn't about to simply wave those away for the champions of Haven City, something one or two of the other Council members agreed with. In the end it appeared that certain things were agreed to, that the siblings would be given enough supplies that would last all of them three days, which also meant they had a limited amount of time to accomplish their goals, one of the Air Trains would be assigned to them and would deliver them to the Wasteland, a line of communication would be established between them and their pilot, that way they could call the guard in question back when they wanted to leave or he could deliver news of the expedition to Haven City, without them having to stop every time something was discovered. The only odd thing Jak and his sisters found amongst the conditions was that there was an emergency beacon, one that would tell them if something happened to the city while Jak and his sisters were exploring the Wasteland, added to the list of items they were being given, though Ashelin did take a moment to make sure a small circular beacon was slipped into Twilight's bag, one that would allow them to let Damas know that someone was in his domain and might cause him to seek them out first, as it was designed to be given to those who were exiled so they would either be picked up by the former king, who had to be living somewhere in the desert, or by the wandering Metal Heads, which was more of a death sentence for certain prisoners.

With the date set Jak and his sisters made their final preparations for their expedition, changing their attire in for new sets that were designed to help them survive in the desert, as in shirts that didn't have sleeves, shorts that were supposed to help them minimize how much heat they soaked in while they explored the Wasteland, and made sure they had eye wear in case they ran into a sandstorm or something similar, not to mention making sure their weapons at the ready for any dangers that might be lurking in the desert.

"You know, I was honestly expecting Veger to do something to stop us from heading out to the Wasteland," Cozy said, as she and her siblings did spend a good amount of time resting in the Naughty Ottsel, since it was a good place to rest after one of their lessons or training sessions, though this was after learning that the Council had finally came to a decision on the matter and was giving them their approval at long last, but all of them were expecting Veger to do something to stop this from happening, or tripping them up in some way, only to be surprised by the lack of trouble, which worried them since it made them wonder if they had missed something.

"So were we, and we had prepared several cases to counter whatever points he tried to make," Ashelin replied, where she lifted her own glass for a moment and took a sip from it, as dealing with the Council, regardless if they were on Jak's side or not, was a headache and was usually followed by her heading to this place for a quick drink before returning to her job, not that her father knew that, but in the past she had made sure that Krew wasn't around, since the fat man would hold her visits over her head for a long time and would expect something from her, but she liked the Naughty Ottsel more than the Hip Hog Saloon, which was due to the change in owners, "but he's been rather quiet and helpful, which is a surprise since he's usually hard, if not impossible, to work with, making us wonder if he might be planning something behind the scenes or something... either way, we have to be careful once you four head to the Wasteland."

"We'll be back before you know it, as we're just going to head to the Wasteland, take a look around in an effort to find any enemies or allies, and then return once that's done," Jak stated, as while he knew that everyone was worried about what might happen when he and his siblings departed from Haven City for a time, something all of them were thinking about as well and he understood that either Twilight or Starlight had several ideas on what could happen, he knew they would be gone for a short period of time and would return when they were ready to, either when their supplies ran out or they were able to find something that fulfilled their conditions for this expedition, "though something tells me that Veger will make his move while we're gone, so keep your guards up and maybe he'll be discouraged by a united front. Also, I hear that the new sector you guys have been building should be completed soon, or at least that was what Torn said the last time we saw him in this place."

What he was referring to was that the Baron, Torn, and Ashelin were in the middle of rebuilding the Water Slums, turning it into a modern looking section of Haven, such as the area outside the Stadium, which also happened to be the furthest point from the Port and would serve as an evacuation point in case something terrible occurred, like if someone attacked the city and smashed through the defenses, though there was also a new headquarters being built in that area, mostly for whatever the future held for them, since they had no idea what was happening to the KG robots.

"According to Vin and the others, it should be done soon," Ashelin stated, though as she said that, and told the siblings the news, she thought about what she had been told about the robotics division of the old KG, who were working and doing nothing to attack them right now, as if they were waiting for something to happen, hence why their foes were preparing for whatever the future held in store for Haven City, before she turned and looked at the siblings for a few seconds as she thought about something, "it seems that the KG robots are building something, what we're not sure since we can't get any closer than the edge of the area they're working in... we're sure that they're waiting for something, just like Veger is waiting for the same thing to happen."

Of course Alvin and his brothers knew that Shade and the other Scouts might be able to help them out, though for now it was something they would worry about in the future, once everyone got back from the Wasteland something Ashelin also understood since no one was saying anything at the moment, but Jak was happy to hear that the citizens were working far better than what happened when the dark Baron was in charge of everything, especially with everyone aiding the Freedom League in their actions. Once that was done the siblings went about making sure they were ready for the expedition, as in double checking all of their weapons, making sure everyone was well rested for what they were about to do, and that any additions they were bringing along were prepared, as while they were preparing Pecker decided to visit them for a time and revealed that Onin wanted him to join Jak, his sisters, and the Ottsels in their expedition to the Wasteland, though the reason why became that she wanted to have a secondary line to communicate with them, revealing that he and Onin had to share a telepathic bond of sorts. To Twilight it explained so much, as while she understood that, with time and practice, Pecker would be able to understand Onin's various movements and gestures to a degree, though to truly understand her the pair in question would have to share a telepathic bond, one transmitting their thoughts to the other, and if that was true it meant most of what Pecker did was just a show to entertain and distract those that were talking to Onin, while also explaining his reaction time since there were instances where he spoke without witnessing her movements, but it didn't look like Pecker was annoyed by revealing this fact to them. Other than that no one else was coming with them when they left for the Wasteland, as Sig was already out there, Vin was needed here to make a more improved Shield Wall, Keira had to make sure the Freedom League's vehicles were ready for anything, Torn, Ashelin, and Praxis were needed to maintain order with Shade and some of the other Neo Metal Heads, and everyone else would be busy making sure nothing upset the peace of Haven City, though none of them were surprised by that information and continued their preparations while keeping Pecker in mind for later.

When morning arrived Jak, his sisters, and the rest of their small group gathered near the blue Air Train that was going to transport them and their stuff to the Wasteland, even though it was before the hours that most people got up at, where they found everyone else had arrived to see them off and wish them luck on their expedition, though what was surprising was that Veger, of all people, was also there and stood off to the side while everyone else focused on Jak and his sisters, but when everyone pulled back he stepped forward for a moment.

"Jak, while I do not agree with the Council's decision to allow you and your dark kin to run around, without restraint, I do know when to pick my battles," Veger stated, his tone revealing that he didn't much care for any of the siblings, given their ability to tap into Dark Eco and the odd powers that came from such a thing, as Starlight had done well in mastering what Twilight and Midnight had taught her, though at the same time his words indicated that he understood when it was time to fight, when it was time to flee, and when it was time to allow something to happen, "and this is one fight that I have no hope of winning. So go, go to the Wasteland and perform your expedition... I will pray that the Precursors bless you and your sisters, and that you come back with whatever knowledge you are currently seeking."

Jak nodded his head for a moment and Veger said nothing as he departed from the area, giving them a chance to stare at the tall Human who had a slim build, who happened to be balding at the moment while he wore a blue open coat, a dark pair of pants, a tan colored shirt with a red cloth near his neck, and a pair of ordinary shoes that matched what most of the citizens wore over their feet, while he carried a tome of some kind and a Precursor control rod, though none of them knew what the rod went to. Once Veger was gone the siblings wished the others well before boarding the Air Train so they could get underway, knowing that they only had a few days to fulfill their objectives and that they were hoping to find Damas in no time, though there was always a chance that they wouldn't find him and this was a dead end, but for now they turned and watched as everyone waved at them as the door started to close, giving them a chance to wave at them as well before the door closed in front of them. Not a few seconds later the vehicle lifted into the air and headed for the Wasteland, as it was time for them to start their expedition, even though it would take an hour to reach their destination, which happened to be the fastest it could go without the ship breaking down, as any faster would break something and send them into the sea between Haven City and the Wasteland, so this gave them time to rest and prepare themselves, even though none of them were exhausted right now, causing Twilight to pull out the journal they had been given so she could check Gol and Maia's notes once more, since she was considering what to say to them as soon as they encountered the Dark Sages they had beaten during their first adventure. Jak stayed near the back section of the vehicle so he could, if he so desired, chat with the pilot while they were traveling to their destination, or at the very least he could get updates on either their journey or whatever might be happening inside Haven City, the latter being that if something happened while they were away, but before they reached the Wasteland, they could turn around and head back to the city, so they could assist with the defenses, even if it would mean rescheduling this expedition.

Starlight and Cozy remained silent as they traveled across the sea that was between Haven and the Wasteland, though all of them stirred once the pilot informed Jak that they were nearing their destination, something that caused Twilight to pull out the beacon Ashelin had given them and activated it, since it should inform Damas that visitors were coming and cause him to investigate, before the pilot landed in a decent sized flat area, near a river none of them could drink from since it was connected to the sea... though as the siblings and their companions stepped off the Air Train, and started to spread out a little to see where they had landed, their vehicle exploded in a big ball of fire.

"Veger... no doubt he's behind this," Jak growled, as while he was annoyed by the loss of their supplies, even though Gol and Maia's journal was safe and sound based on what Twilight showed him, he was more annoyed with the fact that the Count had the nerve to blow up their transport and strand them in the Wasteland for the foreseeable future, especially since he and his siblings knew that there were potential threats that might attack Haven City now that they were out of the picture, something that Veger would likely try to pin on their heads.

"He's trying to exile us, not knowing that we'd be back in due time," Twilight said, though as she said that she turned her head for a moment and found a group of at least ten people, half male and half female, walking towards them, where she and her siblings could tell that each of them looked like Sig, with less armor and just a tad bit less imposing looking from what they could see, though the main figure, who walked at the head of the pack and was far more intimidating than the others that were with him, whose armor seemed to be more royal as well, and his hair seemed to be white and only grew on the sides and back of his head, tied in locks, as he had some small spikes on his head that were arranged like a crown of some kind, meaning he had to be the ruler they had been seeking.

The Wastelanders, as that was who these people had to be, approached the siblings and the man's companions took up positions around the four of them, causing Jak, his sisters, and their companions to remain still as they investigated what had happened, though the man raised an eyebrow and Jak, in a moment of decision, produced the beacon Ashelin had given them, something that the imposing Wastelander took with his left hand, as his right held a staff with Precursors bits attached to it, before he deactivated it and pocketed the device, though as all of that happened the siblings could see that the man was interested in them, which was a good thing since he had to be Damas and meant he had to recognize three of them, given their pony features.

"We'll take them with us... though you four are lucky we showed up when we did, as there's a storm coming and this place isn't very forgiving," the ruler Wastelander stated, something that told the siblings something interesting, that the desert had a number of storms that were incredibly dangerous, possibly lethal to anyone caught in them, though as he said that his people pulled away from the wreckage, given that it was still burning and they were likely going to use the storm to put the flames out, though the guards collected the weapons the siblings had as well, just to make sure they didn't use them to attack someone or something, before the ruler turned to leave, "Come, let us return to Spargus and see what Haven City has thrown out this time."

Jak and his sisters glanced at each other for a moment, as this was the confirmation they needed that there was a city of exiles in the Wasteland, Spargus according to what the King Wastelander had just said, though as the King's guards started to move forward so, too, did the siblings, as there was so much they wanted to do and say now that they were near their father, unless someone had dethroned him again and sent him elsewhere, but for now they remained silent and walked with the group, knowing that there would be time for talking once they reached Spargus.
> Spargus: Meeting the King
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While Jak and his sisters were expecting to find a city of sorts in the Wasteland, given that Sig must have stayed in one to have survived all of his time in this place and learned the moves he showed off during the missions they joined him on back in Haven City, none of them were actually prepared for what they found when the Wastelander King and his guards, one of which was rather large for someone who lived in a desert, reached the end of their trek across the sands and approached what appeared to be a massive metallic gate, one that was sections of metal pieced together to form what they were seeing at the moment, especially since it was built between two sections of a mountain. As they approached the gate it split in half and opened before their eyes, revealing tracks that would normally be found in places like Haven City's Stadium, though Jak's eyes widened for a few seconds as they found a large circular area that contained at least eight land vehicles that had to be racers of some kind, no doubt used to traverse the vast continent the Wasteland called home, and some looked more like they were weapons of war, making him and his sisters wonder what each of them were used for. Of course there was another door, this one being rectangular in nature from what they were seeing and happened to have the longer line going up towards the sky, while also being made in a similar fashion to the main gate, even though the circular main gate was smoother than this particular gate, though none of them said anything as it opened as well and revealed the way to their main destination, something that caused their jaws to drop a little as they stared at what was in front of them. Spargus was a city that was built into one of the few mountain ranges that existed in the Wasteland, as there were one or two more if the maps were to be believed, plus a volcano in the center of the entire continent, where it looked like all of the houses were resting inside the sides of the mountains and a number of massive stones that had been in this place, plus there happened to be a palace of sorts, which kind of looked like the one in Haven City if you looked at it from a certain angle, resting on an arch above the entire city.

Of course they got a chance to see everyone who was inside the city, as there were all sorts of civilians who carried staff guns on their back, which seemed to be the weapon of choice for the people of Spargus, before the King and his guards brought them to an area that had a rather royal looking door, to which the King made sure to have his Wastelanders head out and likely resume their duties as he carried Mar's sword in his spare hand, even though the door opened not a couple of seconds later and revealed a lift... one they used to reach the inside of the palace, which had some pools of water, one of the metallic water wheels, glass windows, and a few other things that included a throne.

"There are many things I want to ask you, especially since Pecker is traveling with you and you were in possession of one of the beacons that exiles are given," the King stated, though none of them were surprised by the fact that he knew who Pecker was, because if he had been Haven's previous ruler, and everyone was positive that he was, he would know Onin and the one who spoke on her behalf, but as they considered that information the King raised Jak's sword and pulled out the ancient and well preserved Precursor blade, where he studied it for a few seconds, "not to mention the fact that you were carrying a blade only mentioned in the legends of Mar and seen on what statues of him remain, but first I must know your names. I am Damas, King of Spargus."

"I am Jak, and these are my sisters Twilight, Cozy, and Starlight, along with our Ottsel companions, Daxter, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore," Jak replied, gesturing to himself before waving a hand towards the others when he said their name, which would give their father a chance to register who he was talking to, even though he had to recognize his sisters since they were the only ones in the world who were part Human and part pony, though his sisters and their companions waved for a few seconds as he named them, just in case Damas was too focused on something else, before he considered what he could do to help them out and reached into his pouch, "also, this might help clear up somethings."

Twilight knew what Jak pulled out before she even saw it, as he had decided to pull out the medallion his younger self had given him before he and the younger selves of her, Starlight, and Cozy joined the younger version of Samos in heading into the past, where her brother gently tossed it over to their father once it was outside his pouch, though Damas had taken a few seconds to sheath the sword before such a thing happened, to which he caught the red item and stared at it for a few seconds before a look of rage appeared of his face.

"Where did you get this?" Damas asked, though his tone revealed that this might not have been a good idea at all, where it was fine to have a few blunders and this wouldn't be the first time that Jak messed something up, as it looked like showing the medallion to the King of Spargus had angered him, which made sense when they considered that they were his kids and, in his eyes, all four of them were still missing, so suddenly showing him this item would likely make him believe that they had done something to his kids and cause him to treat them harshly, especially since it looked like he was gripping both his staff and the medallion, keeping his rage in check before he did something drastic.

"I gave it to myself, just before going back to a safe point in time with my sisters so we could become the bane of the one who lead the Metal Heads," Jak replied, but after seeing Damas' initial reaction to the medallion, something he had hoped wouldn't have happened when he handed over the item in question, there was no telling what would happen if he or his sisters took the time to explain things to him, so he was hoping that either Damas would listen to him or have Twilight take over and actually go over everything that happened, in her unique way that would cause their father to understand that they were telling the truth and not lying to him, before he sighed for a moment as he noticed the angry frown on Damas' face a few seconds later, causing him to turn towards Twilight, "Can you explain the situation?"

"Gladly. As you know Baron Praxis staged a coup to take over Haven City, and in the chaos that followed we vanished with our Croca-dog," Twilight stated, giving Jak an answer while switching to talking to Damas once she was done giving Jak an idea of what she was doing, while at the same time their sisters just stood there and waited for a time, listening to what all of them were talking about as they waited for a chance to speak as well, even though that would likely happen once their father understood that they weren't lying to him, "we were found by Samos Hagai, who became the leader of a rebellion known as the Underground, and spent our days being moved from one safe location to another, out of fear that Praxis would discover and capture us. Eventually we encountered our older selves, and by that I mean the four of us, and simply watched and observed what we were capable of, silently learning several things about how to fight and use either magic or Eco, before we were captured outside the Tomb of Mar and then freed not soon after that, where the deceptive leader of the Metal Heads captured us and imprisoned all four of us in the core of his Nest, likely as a bargaining chip to obtain the Precursor Stone from our current selves, only it backfired as our foe fell in battle. With the future secure our past selves were sent a little over three hundred years into the past, to a point in time where we would be able to grow up safely and gain the basic skills we had shown ourselves, which eventually lead to us befriending Daxter, before he became an Ottsel, a mix of otter and weasel, and lead to our first quest to save the world, something that ended with us beating the villains who were threatening our world and unlocked the very Rift Ring that allowed us to travel into the past in the first place, a relic that we used to return to the future. Of course we were separated during our journey back to the future, as Starlight, Cozy, and I ended up landing a year before Jak did, where I ended up in Haven Forest and met Alvin before joining up with the rebellion, Starlight ended up in the Port and joined Sig for a time, and Cozy ended up somewhere in the city before she was grabbed by Errol, even though Jak and Cozy ended up being experimented on... long story short, Starlight and I, with all of our Ottsels, broke them out of the Fortress and eventually brought about the sequence of events that we witnessed when we were younger."

"The Rift Ring, the artifact capable of time travel... you know, that actually explains so much," Damas said, speaking once he was sure that Twilight was done explaining the sequence of events to him, even though he suspected that this was just the shortened version of the whole story, mostly to make sure he wasn't bored of her talking too much and decided to just execute her if he felt she was lying, though as he glanced at the medallion he realized that he had been getting ready to lash out at his own children, in a rage that was unusual for even him, before glancing at Jak for a moment as the pieces of the puzzle finally fit into place in his mind, "Mar... Twilight... Cozy... Starlight..."

Jak found that he barely had time to think about why Damas had referred to him as 'Mar', as not a few seconds after those words left his father's mouth Damas rushed forward and wrapped his arms around all of them, showing that he was, in his own way, happy to see them again, especially since he wasn't tearing up or anything, which could be blamed on his time in the harsh and unforgiving Wasteland, though as that happened Twilight engaged her magic and caught the ancient sword before it hit the ground, as while it was made out of Precursor alloy it was also a priceless artifact, so treating it with some respect and care was necessary when she was near it.

"My children... to be honest, I had no idea if any of you survived after the coup... I was forced into exile before I could even figure out what happened to you," Damas stated, though while he didn't show them his emotions, once more due to the time he had spent in the unforgiving Wasteland and setting up Spargus with everyone else who had been exiled with him by Praxis, but the siblings were happy to have found him and that he was open to the fact that they were actually his kids, even if they were all grown up and he had missed so many years thanks to Praxis and the Rift Ring, before he pulled back for a moment and looked over each of them, plus their companions, "though it looks like each of you have been made into fine warriors in my absence, especially since you have saved our world twice so far... but before we get into a discussion about what happened to you four, I must inform the guards that I'm talking to new exiles and allowing them to prepare for for their first visit to the Ring of Death."

"But we're not exiles," Daxter pointed out, as he and the other Ottsels had been silent the entire time Damas and their friends had been talking to each other, even though both Cozy and Starlight were keeping silent as well, either taking in all of the sights they were seeing and the information they were learning or were just waiting for a chance to speak, though he felt that what Damas had said didn't make that much sense when he considered it and hoped that he wasn't about to make an absolute fool out of himself.

"I know, but you have to consider what my people have seen: you were brought here by a drop ship, you had one of the beacons that all exiles are given, and you were stranded here, like my followers and I were," Damas replied, something that did cause the siblings to nod their heads for a moment as they listened to him talk, as it made sense when they took a moment to consider it and it wasn't long before Daxter seemed to understand where the error in his judgement was, even though it was likely that Damas was going to finish his statement so his children knew what to expect for the foreseeable future, given that it would take some time for the magic users to find a way back to Haven City, "to everyone in Spargus those clues would lead them to assume that Haven City has decided to cast you out, reducing you to mere exiles that were left to die in the Wasteland... since we 'rescued' you, however, your lives belong to Spargus and you'll have to prove your strength to me and the rest of my city, as only the strongest survive in this unforgiving Wasteland."

"And you can't show them any favoritism, even if they are your children, since it might make you look like a weak king or something in the eyes of the other exiles," Simon stated, as he understood what was going on right now and could see all of their friends had quickly come to the same thought that both he and his brothers had reached, something that caused Damas to nod his head, showing that he was somewhat pleased with them figuring out his reasoning and explanation on the matter, meaning their next conversation wouldn't be focused on him explaining himself to someone who didn't even understand what he had said.

With that done Damas used the lift to head back down to the lower level and likely talked to one of the guards who had remained outside the palace entrance, just in case he needed either of them for something, before returning to the area that served as his throne room and stood in front of his seat of power, where Jak and his sisters sat nearby and waited for him to be ready for the tale that they were about to spin, as while he might have accepted that they were his children, and their younger selves had been sent into the past, it was hard to know how he would react to their previous adventures or to the full story of what happened to Jak and Cozy.





As it turned out they spent an hour and a half talking about the past adventures the siblings had taken on, the enemies they had faced, and everything that had happened before and after each one started, allowing Damas to understand that Daxter wasn't a natural born Ottsel, rather he was once a Human before falling into a vat of Dark Eco, while Alvin and his brothers were only using this form to disguise themselves, as they were actually Neo Metal Heads, something that they let Twilight explain since she was better at that sort of thing and already had an explanation at the ready for those who had no idea what in the world a Neo Metal Head was. Damas, of course, was caught off guard by what she told him and by the knowledge she dropped on him, since he had no idea there were even good Metal Heads in the first place and only found out what their hybrid forms looked like, since there wasn't enough room inside the palace for Alvin or his brothers to show him what each of them looked like in their true forms, though for right now he was going to have to take this information with an open mind and trust that his children weren't lying to him. The other thing he had a hard time believing was that Praxis was still alive, figuring one of them, or maybe most of them, would have killed the man for his crimes against them and the city, though Jak explained that it was necessary to keep the Baron alive since it allowed them to figure out what in the world had caused them to be separated from their father, and what had happened to Damas, leading to the discovery that he, his followers, and a few important figures had been banished to the Wasteland, something that was usually seen as a death sentence for those in Haven City. Jak and his sisters only knew about Spargus' existence due to the fact that one of their friends had mentioned, in his own way, the existence of something inside the Wasteland that exiles lived in, so it was easy for them to figure out that a city had to exist in the desert, so with Praxis' information in hand they prepared for an expedition, since nothing major was happening to Haven City or the area around the city, and set out to come here so they could track down any enemies to the city, be it the remaining Metal Heads or whoever was messing with the robots of the Krimzon Guard, while looking for him.

"So right now we've been able to achieve one of our goals, find Spargus and locate you," Starlight stated, coming to an end of their tale, even if they gave him a basic rundown of everything important that happened since the Baron's attack on the Palace, though she and her siblings were fortunate that he believed them and didn't call them liars, even though it would be hard for him to have done such a thing since there were only three pony girls in this world and they happened to be the three in question, which wasn't counting their younger selves since they had been sent back in time, "though we'll figure out how to achieve the others at some point in the future... which reminds me, Praxis said that Gol and Maia were your advisors before he took over, and that they joined you in the Wasteland, despite not being exiled like everyone else, but I haven't seen or felt them since we came to Spargus."

"Yes, they joined me in exile and have served as my advisors since, but there are days where even I don't see or hear from the pair," Damas replied, though while he knew some things about Gol and Maia's past, given that they had claimed they were older than most of the people that lived in Haven City, talking to his children filled a number of holes in for him and it explained a few things to him at the same time, especially why they had been so happy to lend him their assistance in both tending to Haven City and teaching his children how to start tapping into their Eco abilities, "all I know is that they love to research ancient Precursor artifacts and their sites, like a temple that rests on the other side of the Wasteland, at the top of a mountain... but, if you found the ancient blade of Mar, and are seen using it in battle, its only a matter of time until one or both of them come to investigate the news."

"Okay, so prove ourselves to all of Spargus and maybe draw the attention of the old Sages," Cozy stated, though while she said that, and her siblings nodded their heads to confirm that such a thing was exactly what they needed to do, she had a sneaking feeling that Gol and Maia already knew that they were in the Wasteland and might already be on their way back to Spargus, but there was always a chance that she was wrong and that both of the ancient Dark Sages were staying on the other side of the Wasteland, doing whatever studies occupied their time these days.

Damas nodded and beckoned for his children to follow him for a time, where they used the lift to head back down to the streets of the city, though before they did that he made sure to inform them that his guards would be keeping their guns and he would be holding onto Mar's sword for now, as the first test was easy and was a test of their basic skills, though if they survived that he would ensure that all of them were armed for the next challenge, to which they remained silent for a time as they headed over towards the main section of Spargus, heading up a giant ramp that lead to what appeared to be the inside of a volcano... where eventually they stood on a platform in front of the stands Damas sat in, allowing them to be in full view of everyone in the observer stands.

"Hail all citizens of Spargus! Welcome to the Arena of Death, where we get to watch other people wet themselves in fear as they fight to earn their place among us!" Pecker declared, as Damas had told them that he intended for Pecker to be one of his advisors, during this period of time where Gol and Maia were missing, and it appeared that one of the guards must have been told so they could spread the word, as none of the citizens appeared to be surprised by a talking bird speaking in the area that Damas sat in and cheered as he called out to them, "Today these halls will test some newcomers, Jak his sisters, and their talking animals, for the right to live among us! Let the games begin!"

What Jak, Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy discovered was that the first thing they had to do was use a circular platform that lowered down to what appeared to be an obstacle course of some kind, one that also seemed to have a number of blue spheres that seemed to head deeper into the area that was clearly designed for training and not for fighting, but all four of them quickly noticed that one wrong move meant falling into the lava below them, hence they Jak stood at the front of the line as he moved forward, leaving his sisters to follow after him. At first it seemed like a rather simple obstacle course, as they found that the first couple of steps seemed to be a reminder of how to do simple jumps and the short thin bridge just beyond them served as a way to learn how to roll, something everyone remembered how to do while simply doing it while showing all of the citizens of Spargus what they were capable of, even though some jumps and a few rolls wouldn't help them earn the respect of their father's people. One interesting thing they discovered were a number of dummies that had been placed in their way, which seemed to look like a potential threat in part of the Wasteland, something Damas would have to tell them about once they returned to the Palace, but for now Jak used his fist to smash the first one before using the ladder to move up to the next part of the course, leaving the ones that were in front of them to his sisters, showing all of the watchers that they worked well as a team, though if there were any enemies that needed to be taken down they would do much better in displaying their strength to the people of Spargus. Not a few moments later they reached a gap that required the double jump to cross over and then an area that needed them to use the high jump, though right now none of the sisters were bothering with their magic since it didn't seem necessary to show off that skill to the citizens of Spargus yet, before they reached a moving platform and took turns jumping over to it and moving deeper into this course, even though that brought them to an area that had a weak section in the floor that Jak smashed by jumping and spinning so he could break it with his fist, the dive attack skill, which allowed them to collect the last of the spheres, leading to one of the platforms to rise out of the lava and cool off in seconds, like Gol and Maia's work, something that allowed them to return to the area in front of their father's observer platform.

In that moment Damas called for the Arena of Death to be formatted as he tossed them their guns, causing a few citizens to raise their eyebrows as they noticed that Twilight didn't get a gun at all, before ensuring that Jak claimed Mar's blade as well, which was returned to his back as a number of citizens started to talk among themselves, no doubt since this was an odd thing to see and they were eager to see what the four of them were capable of, to which Jak and his sisters turned for a few seconds and jumped down onto the new platforms that were in front of them, as it appeared that they would be fighting close to the lava and might be standing on a sinkable platform. This lone platform had four containers resting just a tiny bit above it, ones that opened when Jak and his sisters jumped onto it, where they found a number of male warriors who wore a harness over their chests, which had small spikes in certain parts of it, wielding weapons that looked like a mix of axe and gun, or just wicked blades of some lesser metal, though Jak remembered their father telling them that some of his people captured the reckless and wild Marauders who traveled the Wasteland and tried to harass all of Spargus, who he believed came from a place known as the Icelands. They didn't have a whole lot of information on this place, and they would have to ask Vin or someone else for help researching it, but they were captives and Damas was, in a way, giving all of them a chance to fight for their lives, as any who survived being in the Arena of Death could attempt to join the city and become part of a greater unit, so each of them would be facing them with a desire to save their lives, meaning Jak and his sisters would have to fight with all their might, or most of their basic strength, to prove themselves. As such they split up and faced the four directions, Jak facing the north, Twilight taking the east, Cozy taking the south, and Starlight moving to defend the west side, so when the Marauders jumped down into this arena the siblings started dodging the attacks that were coming their way and used a couple of Scatter Blasts to knock their foes backwards, though Jak also used Mar's blade whenever someone got close to him, showing the people of Spargus that he was skilled with a weapon as well while all of his sisters focused on taking their enemies down.

It wasn't long before all four of them felt something or someone set their sights on them, as if an Eco Sage might actually be in this area, though it had an interesting effect on them as Jak shifted into his Dark Jak form, Cozy roared as she turned into her monstrous Dark Form, Twilight closed her eyes as Midnight took over and spread her wings again, and Starlight's body took on a darker sheen as black runic markings appeared on her arms, legs, and chest, indicating what her own Dark Form looked like, to which they totally wrecked the remaining Marauders in seconds, causing Damas to beckon for some shadowy figure to back off... though as the siblings used the lift to head back up to the platform, and shifted back into their base forms, Twilight noted that the figure in question appeared to be female and was wearing Precursor armor over her chest, who disappeared not a few seconds later.

"The four of you fought bravely and, as a result, have earned your first Battle Amulet," Damas proclaimed, speaking one all of them were standing on the platform in front of him once more, even though he was wearing his expressionless face as his people focused on his words, despite the fact that Jak and his sisters were sure that he was proud of them for taking down this challenge like it was nothing, before beckoning to the pedestal in front of them, where a circular device made of Precursor metal rested, and pulled out another device, "if you win two more Arena fights, which will take place after you have done more for Spargus and made a bit of a name for yourselves, you will receive the other pieces of the Amulet and gain your citizenship here. Also, here is a Gate Pass that will allow you to freely enter and leave Spargus, but beware, there are is no true refuge outside our walls."

The siblings nodded for a moment as Damas removed himself from the throne he sat in when watching fights in this large Arena and headed back to the Palace, no doubt meaning for them to explore the city and help his people out, though once he was gone, and Pecker had followed him, they headed over to the left of where they were standing and started to use one of the two curved paths to leave the Arena, finding that the fat Wastelander happened to be leaning off to their right, his back to the wall, and that he glanced at them as they approached him.

"Those were some sweet moves in the arena, kids, but none of you would have survived on your own," the fat man said, where Jak cast a glance at Alvin and his brothers for a moment, mostly because he wanted to make sure none of the three disguised Neo Metal Heads even considered munching on one of Spargus' citizens, before he glanced at the man while his sisters came to a stop behind him, none of them particularly happy to be called 'kids' at this point in time, though the man also sized them up for a few seconds, "You four must be from the Big Smoke, eh?"

"If you mean Haven, then yes... if not, then no." Cozy remarked, though she already didn't like the man in front of them for some odd reason, he just seemed like someone who would be annoying and possibly a hinderance to their mission, but as the man growled and reached to grab onto her she growled in return, hers more feral as some of her Dark Form's facial features came to the surface, causing him to back off and let her return to normal, even though Twilight was worried that she might be having a negative side effect to whatever that lady did to them.

"Anyway, the name's Kleiver and I'm in charge of the city... as the Quartermaster, in charge of supplies," the man said, as he had noticed that all four of the siblings looked like they were ready to say or do something if he meant that he was the one ruling over the King, or something like that, hence why he quickly corrected himself, though Jak was fine with knowing what sort of position the fat man, or Kleiver, held in the city, since him speaking with them meant he must have something for them to do for all of Spargus, "anyway, I have a job for you lot: I want you to ride my Leaper Lizard here and round up six of the red robent buggers who have been raiding my storerooms lately... do that, and I might let you lot ride one of my racing vehicles... that is, if Damas ever lets you leave the city."

As Jak agreed to the job, since it would be a good first step to them proving themselves to all of Spargus, Starlight quietly asked Twilight if Kleiver had seen Damas toss them the Gate Pass or not, to which her sister shrugged and just assumed that Kleiver was used to using a certain pattern with those who were saved from the desert, before Kleiver tossed Jak the reins to a dark grey skinned lizard creature, one that reminded the siblings of the Flut Flut bird a little bit, and walked off to do whatever it was he did for their father, leaving them to look towards the future of assisting Spargus and fulfilling their objectives while waiting for someone from Haven to make contact with them at some point.
> Spargus: Taking in the City
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once Kleiver had walked away from where the Leaper Lizard was standing, and the siblings were sure that he was gone, Jak jumped onto the lizard with Daxter on his shoulder and then headed out into Spargus with Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy following after him, even if they had to run to do so, though this did give them a chance to see what the rest of Spargus was like and if there was anyone who might be in need of some help, even though everyone knew that there was a chance that some of the citizens might flock to the more well known Wastelanders to help them out, or maybe just do it themselves and not rely on newcomers who haven't proven themselves yet. The city itself was rather interesting, since it was built into one of the mountain ranges that rested in the Wasteland and was designed to have a few gates to make sure the dangerous winds didn't get anywhere near anyone, though it was safe to assume that the high rocky walls were designed to shield them and gave everyone time to get inside their houses before the storms reached this place, even though they were sure that their father had put in a few more additions to make this place sustainable, despite the harsh existence that had been forced on all of them. Twilight was sure that an Eco Dome would have done this place wonders, to help keep people safe from all of the dangers that existed in the Wastelands, though she also knew that out here there wasn't a whole lot of Eco in the desert, or at least all of Vin's findings pointed at such a thing being the reality of this situation, though there should be a number of artifacts scattered around this place, so making such a dome wasn't realistic, not unless there was a hidden stash under the sands that was just waiting to be unlocked. While she thought about that Cozy was able to find three more Leaper Lizards for them to use to follow after Jak, to which the four of them headed out together and started to track down the critters that were sneaking into the storeroom and eating some of Kleiver's supplies, critters that had to be the red skinned rat critters who scurried away once one of them got close, which meant that each of them would have to chase these critters before allowing the Leaper Lizards to eat them, slurping them down like they were drinking water.

While the siblings were doing that Starlight discovered what appeared to be an Eco Vent in a part of Spargus that seemed to have a water pump that was drawing liquid out from below the streets of the city, though the existence of such a vent told her and the others something interesting, one of the six types had to have an activation switch, like what they found in the Forbidden Jungle all those years ago, resting somewhere in the entirety of the Wasteland, which also caused the group to wonder which type the vent was connected to, since they had no idea if Light or Dark Eco were like the others and could be activated in such a way. Other than that one of the small rat critters actually ran away from them, far more than the rest of the critters they were after, and it lead them over to the other side of Spargus, as in the area near the sea they had seen earlier, giving everyone a chance to see what appeared to be a bazaar of sorts that contained all sorts of fruits and vegetables that were grown somewhere else in the city, though they were happy to see just what their father had done in his time in the Wasteland, turning an area into a functioning place for his people to live. In addition to the bazaar the four of them found that there was another section to the city, more houses to accommodate any additional exiles that Praxis or Veger decided to throw away, the former likely under Kor's dark influence and the latter just getting rid of opposition to his goals, though based on everything that was inside the city the siblings felt that everyone who might have been expelled from Haven City, or at least the vast majority of them, were still here and had to be waiting for something. Cozy also found a rocky outcrop near the bazaar that happened to have an old turret positioned on top of it, one that had to be a form of protection for Spargus and was likely kept up to date in case it was needed for something, though it was pointing out at the sea and not the Wasteland, meaning it was possible that Spargus was assaulted from the sea and this might be used to blast apart whoever tried to use the sea to attack the Wastelanders, but after that they found something more interesting than the turret, as there was an odd blackened device resting near the edge of this part of Spargus.

The reason that it was so interesting was because the female monk, and some of her lesser monks who wore less clothing or even nothing over their chests if they were male, were standing near the device in question, which appeared to be some sort of metallic arm that was forged of some dark material from another world, to which Cozy snagged the last of the six rats that Kleiver wanted them to take out, which they figured out due to the fat man calling them not a few seconds after it was done, his words stating that he might be grateful for their aid and that he would be waiting in the garage when they wanted to speak with him, to which Jak and his sisters climbed off their lizards and approached the monk.

"The Arena revealed much to me, Dark Ones... hatred shrouds your eyes, waiting to consume you," the female monk said, speaking once the siblings got close to where she and her monks were currently working, though her words meant that she might be able to peer into the hearts of those who wielded the powers of the various types of Eco, possibly just Dark Eco based on what they had seen earlier, even though it did look like she was using her right hand to make signs in rapid succession to the device that was in front of them.

"We know, it happens to those who cannot control the power of Dark Eco," Jak replied, referring to what he and Cozy had seen during their time inside the Fortress, before Twilight and Starlight saved them from Errol eliminating them, or trying to anyway since he had the feeling that Cozy would have killed Errol while she was trapped inside her feral and aggressive Dark Form, as those who came before them lost themselves to the dark fury of Dark Eco, either becoming beasts and were slain by the former Krimzon Guards or just perished from the experiments.

"Sadly, it will destroy you, just like these Precursors destroyed themselves," the monk stated, where she beckoned to the machine that was in front of them for a few seconds, something that surprised Jak and his sisters for a moment, even if it did cause Twilight, with Midnight mixed in since one of Twilight's eyes had her other side's color to them, to grin as both of them wondered what sort of secrets this twisted artifact might have for them, though it appeared that none of the monks had noticed everything that was going on behind them at the moment.

"This was made by the Precursors? Doesn't look like any Precursor artifacts we've seen," Twilight said, though as she said that, and her siblings nodded their heads in agreement, she and Midnight went to work as she raised her right hand for a moment and called forth some of her Dark Eco, allowing the power of her other side to access part of the device in front of her and actually extracted one of the spikes that happened to be attached to the dark artifact, something that pulsed with dark energy based on what she was seeing, while also confusing the monk and her group, since they weren't expecting to see something like this happen, without it bothering the device, "fascinating... we could learn so much from this, though if we found more dark artifacts I could learn even more in a quicker time frame."

"Indeed, artifacts like this are made by the Precursors, but they are abominations," the monk replied, where she stared at Twilight for a moment, likely wondering how in the world this was possible and being worried that her recklessness might do something to their world in the near future, before casting a glance at Jak and his remaining sisters, who shrugged as she did that and she found that all of their critters did the same thing, to which she resisted the urge to sigh as she gazed at the twisted artifact her monks were studying right now, "one also fell on the Great Volcano, not that long ago in fact, and we sent an expedition to investigate the area it crashed in... but none of my monks returned."

"Well, if we're ever in the area, you can be sure that we'll either track them down and convince them to return to Spargus, or we'll bring you word of what their fate might have been," Starlight stated, because that was what her brother had to be thinking about right now, that helping the monk out would show the people of Spargus, not to mention the monk, that all of them were trustworthy and were worthy of being citizens of this city, meaning they might be able to join the respect of this monk and, if they were lucky, they might be able to gain some information from her about the artifacts and anything else she might know about.

"...it would seem that I was wrong, the Arena didn't reveal everything about you," the monk said, something that came as a surprise to both herself, even though she didn't show it due to her training, and to those that followed her, which caused her to take a moment to wonder if it was possible that she was totally wrong about the siblings and their connection to all of the things that she knew, though she glanced at all of them in turn once more, studying each of them in greater detail for a time, "the dark rage and hate in all four of you is great, even though each of you have different levels of darkness, but it does seem that something has created a balance of sorts inside all of you... I cannot speak for the feral one, as she was able to turn quickly and with too much ease... but you aren't slaves to the darkness inside you, like I incorrectly assumed back in the Arena. Perhaps... perhaps the remaking of this world can be postponed, maybe even stopped."

"What do you mean, 'remaking'?" Jak asked, as it sounded like the monk knew something about the future of their world, far more than what he and his sisters knew about it, and he was sure that if they could befriend her, or earn her respect to the point where she might be comfortable sharing this information with them, though as he asked the question Twilight made a sound that suggested that she had discovered something or had done something that caused a chain reaction in the device, sometimes it was hard to tell which one she meant, before finding that one of the claw arms had extended for a moment and a screen had appeared between the four directional prongs.

The monk watched as Jak and his sisters stood side by side for a moment as they channeled their own Eco powers into the device, Dark Eco to be exact, and witnessed something interesting for the next couple of moments, together the siblings were able to connect with the machine in a way that one or two would never be able to do, the symbols moving across the screen in rapid succession as she caught an ancient dialect that seemed to be repeating a message of some kind, though it didn't take the siblings long to disconnect their energies from the device, causing the screen to change before it produced a solid Dark Eco Crystal, which Twilight nabbed before the screen reformed.

"Those are solid Eco crystals... it has been passed down that they power the greatest of Precursor technologies," the monk said, where she stared at the apple sized crystal that Twilight was holding in her hand right now, her words revealing that it contained a great deal of power and made the siblings wonder when they might find their first a Light Eco Crystal, but as all of them stared at the crystal the monk glanced at the screen once more and found that the message she had seen was replaying a few more times, hence why she made some signs with her right hand again, "It would appear that, in this case, my eyes were not deceived... it is speaking in an ancient dialect, the earliest of Precursor forms... mentioning claiming and remaking this world, all while picking up a powerful signal..."

In that moment Twilight and Starlight sensed something as they weaved their magic into the area in front of them, which formed a cylindrical barrier between them and the twisted artifact, where it actually moved like a worm of some kind and launched itself into the air, though thanks to what both of the sisters had done there was nowhere for it to go before they watched as the device exploded, the barrier taking every bit of damage so that no one in Spargus, be they Wastelanders or any of the monks, were harmed by this event.

"Darkness alone cannot cave us, heroes... I'd say something about staying away from us and our business, but something tells me we'll cross paths again," the monk stated, where it didn't look like she was happy to have the sisters summon a barrier around the device, though it was possible that she was hiding her emotions again and didn't want them to know if she was pleased with their actions or not, before she beckoned to her monks and they started to depart from where the device had landed, leaving the Dark Eco Crystal in Twilight's care even though she had been worried about them taking it from the fallen device, to which Jak, his sisters, and their Ottsels shrugged as the monks disappeared.

With that done, and the Dark Eco Crystal was stored inside the pocket dimension Midnight had created earlier, the siblings remained in the bazaar section of Spargus for a time and made sure that everyone was fine after seeing the device blow up, as they found that some of the Wastelanders had been surprised by the event and this allowed them to make sure all of them were unharmed, though eventually they found that no one had been harmed and left the area, using their lizards to head over to the other side of the city and approach the garage, where each of them climbed off their mounts as soon as they arrived at their destination, finding Kleiver standing on the other side of the door.

"Well, if it isn't the newbies. I was wondering when you would show up," Kleiver said, even though they knew that he had been waiting for all of them to show up, meaning he did know that Damas gave them a Gate Key and had only pretended to be an idiot when he talked with them earlier, which wasn't a smart move on his part since it made all of them think he wasn't worthy to be the Quartermaster of Spargus, before he found that Jak and his sisters take a moment to glance at the vehicles that were around them right now.

"You've got some nice rides here," Jak replied, deciding to keep the conversation with Kleiver to a minimum, as he didn't want to waste too much of his time on the fat Wastelander and whatever schemes he was thinking about, though such a thing did make him wonder what sort of position Kleiver held back when he, Damas, and the rest of Spargus were living in Haven City, as he was used to a position of power and it seemed like being the Commander of the Krimzon Guard might be the correct answer.

"You like what you see, eh?" Kleiver asked, where he walked over to one of the vehicles, which appeared to be the runt of the litter and seemed to be the only vehicle without any weapons attached to it, meaning it had to be more of a scouting vehicle so whoever Damas sent out could study whatever problems their father found out about and reported back to him with whatever news they might have found, before he stopped and tapped one of the wheels on the smaller vehicle for a few moments as he glanced back at the siblings, "We use these babies to make runs into the deepest parts of the deserts to retrieve all sorts of artifacts, before the Marauders claim them... tough wheels for tough work."

"We can see that. Now, you said something about letting us use one of them?" Alvin inquired, where everyone agreed with part of what Kleiver had said, that one needed tough vehicles to stand up to the toughness of the Wasteland, though they were interested in learning whether or not the fat Wastelander had been telling them the truth, where Jak was fine with using the runt vehicle for racing or for whatever their father asked them to do, but he waited for the man to either confirm or deny what Alvin had just said.

"I did, didn't I? But not one of those," Kleiver stated, where he was referring to the larger and more impressive vehicles that were in the garage right now, meaning that whenever someone came to him he started them out with the runt of the litter and worked them up to one of the better vehicles, like he made sure that the person in question could handle what he was dishing out, before he quickly tapped the side of the runt vehicle again, which seemed to be mostly a single seater with an engine and an empty frame, so it was literally just a race car, "none of you are ready for the big boys yet... rather, you can use this for your missions."

"Works for me," Jak said, as he knew how to fight and if it came to him fighting enemies with his weapons he would be able to do such a thing, in case Marauders tried to attack him and his siblings while they were outside the walls of Spargus, and he would pity anyone who dared to enrage any of his sisters, though as he glanced at the vehicle he knew that it could be upgraded with all sorts of additions, if their father wanted all of the vehicles to be offensive, but, as that thought crossed his mind, he knew that this had to be a training vehicle to make sure everyone in Spargus knew how to operation all of the basics, before moving onto one of the tougher rides.

"Care to wager something on a little race? If you win, I'll let you four use that little vehicle until the day you all die," Kleiver inquired, apparently assuming that they would agree to his race and take whatever bet he might have in store for them, though right now all of them were focused on the small vehicle that was in front of them, meaning the fat Wastelander, in a sense, was just talking to himself and didn't seem to understand the fact that the siblings were ignoring him for the most part, while their Ottsels were listening to his words in case he said something stupid, "if I win, however, I'm going to take one of your sisters and make her into..."

In that moment Cozy, or rather Dark Cozy since she seemed to sense that Kleiver was going to say something stupid and anger all of them in the process, rushed over to where Kleiver was standing and grabbed him by the front of his armor, or the strap that connected his shoulder piece to the rest of his attire, where she lifted the fat man up into the air as he just stared down into her darkened eyes, finding a feral beast staring back at him as fear washed over him, though while none of them said anything Kleiver understood the unspoken statement, that messing with the siblings and trying to claim one was going to cost him far too much. A few seconds passed before Kleiver nodded his head and Dark Cozy slammed him into the ground for a moment, light enough to avoid crippling him while making sure he felt her power, but Jak and both of his sisters found that the feral beast they were used to seeing didn't roar or do anything else to Kleiver as she walked away from where he was resting, showing that their sister was still trying to gain far more control over her darker side, before she came to a stop and reverted back to her base form. With that done, and Twilight making sure that their sister was fine after the sudden transformation, Jak climbed into the single seater vehicle as Starlight used her magic to levitate for some time, where they headed outside so one could practice with the runt of the litter while the other watched over him, not to mention observe the race when it went down, though Twilight was sure that their father already knew about this event, as he was the King and likely had eyes scattered all over Spargus, and might be on his way to check out what was going on at the moment. Sure enough not a few moments later, before Kleiver was able to leave the garage area, Damas and Pecker appeared after the door opened, where he glanced at them for a moment, taking in what Twilight was doing with Cozy at the moment, before switching to pulling Kleiver over to the side and talking to him for a time, though as he did that, and it looked like they had some time before Jak and Starlight returned, Twilight formed a magical eye with her magic and sent it out to observe what Jak was doing, finding that he was in the middle of practicing his driving with a Wastelander vehicle, as it would prepare him for Kleiver's race, if he still wanted to take him on anyway, while Starlight floated in the air and made sure nothing happened to her brother while he was doing that.

Not a few minutes later Kleiver, who had been let go and seemed to be annoyed by being chewed out by his King, took his vehicle, the one that was slightly more armored than the one Jak had been allowed to use and actually had guns attached to it, and drove outside, where he and a number of metallic patchwork vehicles closed in on Jak as they guided him to the area that was to the left of where Spargus' main gate was located, the race course no doubt, meaning that he was going to race them so Kleiver could feel better... but in the end Jak claimed first place, much to Kleiver's annoyance, and returned to Spargus without delay, only to park the vehicle when he and Starlight noticed that their father had come to speak with all of them about something.

"It would seem that you and Pecker were telling the truth, you have good vehicle skills," Damas said, his tone revealing that he had to be pleased with what he had seen on Twilight's spell, something that was new to him since he wasn't sure to all of the new spells that his daughters were capable of using, which he would learn more about as time passed no doubt, to which he glanced at the main gate for a moment and it told them that he had to be thinking about Kleiver, which caused him to speak once more, "Kleiver told me that one of you attacked him and another ran off with one of the vehicles... to which I told him that life gambling was illegal in Spargus and that such a thing can bring a harsh punishment on those who try to do it, plus I knew he was lying about you stealing the vehicle... it was a good reminder that I have trusted eyes that watch over my city and, more importantly, that I am not blind to what happens inside my city. Now, normally I would have a punishment ready for even attempting to life gamble, but, due to Kleiver being somewhat important to the functionality of Spargus, I sentenced him to lose some of his rations for the next week... he hates it when I do that."

"Don't worry, we won't go looking for fights with him... wouldn't want to annoy the rest of Spargus," Jak spoke up, though he was happy to hear that Kleiver had been punished for trying to force them to gamble with their lives, just to use one of the vehicles that were in the garage, and he meant what he said, neither him or his sisters would pick fights with Kleiver, as it would no doubt annoy their father as well, before he considered the other part of what their father had said, "but yes, all of us are skilled drivers, though I am the current champion of Haven City, as I raced and beat the previous champion, Errol, in the Class One Race not that long ago... even though he drove into a number of Dark Eco barrels and we're positive that he perished in the explosion."

"I see. Also, Cozy, you need to do better to control your other side," Damas said, as while he understood that Kleiver had been lying about most of what he had said, and that his children were telling the truth on this matter, he did know that his Quartermaster had been right about one thing and he was right to be worried about it, as he had seen how dangerous Cozy's Dark Form was and, if Jak and the others were correct in what they told him previously, which he was sure of, she was the most unstable of the four.

"I'll do my best." Cozy replied, though her tone revealed that she knew he was angry with her, giving into her anger when confronted by what Kleiver was going to do to her or her sisters, even though he was happy that she stood up for them in some manner, which her siblings could see a tiny bit of when they faced their father, and that, despite this misstep, she would do anything and everything to make sure she didn't have such a thing happen to her again, given the danger that her Dark Form posed to those that were around her.

"Good. Anyway, I have a mission for one of you, and that is to head out and collect a number of artifacts that have surfaced after the recent storm," Damas replied, referring to the brief sandstorm that had moved through the Wasteland while all of them were talking in his Palace not that long ago, something they had missed during their discussion, though this did tell his children that there was another reason for him and the Wastelanders to watch all of the storms that happened to this desert, especially when the mention of artifacts caught Twilight's attention, "just so you know, these random and very dangerous storms churn all of the sand in the desert, causing artifacts to be pulled to the surface so they can be claimed by either us or the Marauders, mostly us to since my gatherers usually beat the Marauders, and it seems that another one might be getting ready to form in our immediate area... so, I want one of you to head out with this vehicle and claim all of the artifacts you can find, though be warned that the storms can tear the flesh from bone."

"Well, then we won't be caught," Twilight stated, something that caused Jak to nod his head in agreement for a couple of seconds, leading to her jumping onto the top of the vehicle as Jak climbed back into the driver seat, leaving Starlight and Cozy in the garage with their father and Pecker, though as they headed out she discovered something interesting, there were a number of Marauder vehicles moving around outside Spargus' gate, meaning they were hunting for artifacts as the moment, to which she beckoned for Jak to move forward as she weaved her magic through both the air and around them, as a defensive barrier would keep them safe, even if it didn't touch the ground, and her power could detect where their targets were located.

As such Jak followed Twilight's path, something he could see thanks to her summoning magical beacons of sorts, all while she used her power to smash the Marauder vehicles, though it looked like Midnight was aiding her and used her power to collect the remains of the vehicles so they could be repurposed into additional vehicles for them, that way she, Starlight, and Cozy could drive after Jak whenever he went out on missions, while they discovered that each artifact was half buried in the sand and might be covered with the next storm, hence why the siblings collected them as they raced the remaining Marauders and beat them to the punch of every artifact in what had to be record time, before safely returning to Spargus and closing the gate behind them.

"And that is why no one in Haven City dares to underestimate them, their magic and Jak's powers," Pecker stated, because he wasn't even surprised by the fact that Jak and Twilight were able to make fools of the Marauders who were outside the city, though at the same time he and Damas found that the collected artifacts had been arranged ahead of time, thanks to either Twilight or Midnight working their magic over them, before he found something interesting among the artifacts that were resting near the gate, something that drew the attention of Damas and the siblings, "By the Precursors... Jak, Twilight, what you recovered are fragments of the armor that Mar once wore in his battles for our world, all in the distant past, and these are the bracers that once rested over his arms and backs of his hands... no one knows where his leg guards, the pad that rested over his shoulder, or his chest piece went, though now we know where two parts are, the bracers and his old blade that you now carry."

"Honestly, they feel like they were made for me," Jak commented, as Damas had handed the bracers over to him while all of them were listening to Pecker talk about the artifacts as Twilight made sure the couple of Wastelanders who came for the rest of their haul treated the remaining artifacts with care, otherwise they would have her and Midnight on their tails, before he slipped them onto his arms and found that they seemed to match his body, far more than what he expected to find, meaning either he and Mar shared a similar body shape or they might have been made for him, maybe reshaped not too long after Mar's disappearance.

"Oh, by the way, Seem wanted to talk with you, once you were done with your next mission," Damas said, something that caused Jak and his sisters to raise their eyebrows for a moment as the Ottsels glanced at each other, as none of them had any idea who the person he was talking to was and were simply waiting for Damas to tell them what was going on so they could prepare for whatever might be coming next, where their father realized that they had no idea who he was talking about and could use some assistance, "I'm referring to the one who stands as the leader of the monks who dedicate their entire lives to protecting our world from the more dangerous Precursor artifacts, as in the Dark Eco ones... I'm told that you did something in the bazaar earlier and that the desire to speak with you was born from it."

Jak nodded as he and his sisters headed towards the nearby door so they could head back into Spargus, as it seemed that it was time for them to speak with Seem again and see what she wanted, or maybe it was 'them' since all of them were sure that the monk in question didn't care which pronouns people used whenever they were talked to, though they had a feeling it would be an interesting discussion for all of them and might enlighten the group as to what the 'remaking' of this world might mean and what sort of dangers their world faced.
> Spargus: Dealing with Seem
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Upon entering Spargus once more, and finding that many of the citizens were in the middle of heading indoors to ready themselves for the storm that was coming towards the city, Jak and his sisters found that the female monk they had seen earlier, Seem according to what Damas had told them, was standing next to some Leaper Lizards with some of her monks, who were tending to their mounts at the moment, either meaning they were going to head out, a reckless decision and was likely the incorrect one, or they were preparing for a race.

"I take it Damas delivered my message?" Seem asked, her voice calm and collected, meaning she must have gotten over what she and the other monks had seen when Twilight and Midnight used their magic on the Dark Precursor device they had seen earlier, though as she said that she and her monks turned to look at Jak and his sisters, likely waiting for them to say something before they mounted their lizards and rode off, making Twilight wonder what sort of conversation Seem wanted to have with her and her siblings.

"He did, though he didn't go into great detail about why you wanted to talk with us," Jak replied, though the fact that their father mentioned the bazaar meant that Seem likely wanted to discuss the device and the Dark Eco Crystal that Twilight had claimed, not to mention stashed away in her storage area so no one could steal it from them while they were taking on all of their upcoming missions, since they knew that Damas would likely have some at some point in time, but for the time being they focused on Seem and the topic she wanted to talk about, "he also gave us a brief explanation of what you and your order do for the world, keeping it safe from the terrible dark artifacts that exist in our world."

"That is correct. We monks are sworn to discover and protect the secrets of the Precursors, along with locking away all of the dark artifacts that might case this world harm." Seem stated, likely referring to the fact that she and her monks might have been in the process of preparing the dark device they had seen in the bazaar for a journey to their temple, all so they could lock it away with the rest of the twisted Precursor artifacts they had been collecting for a long time, likely since the day this order had been created, making the siblings wonder what else the monks might have locked away, "the Dark Eco Crystal from the Dark Satellite, for example, is one such artifact we would like to recover, as in your possession it might prove to be far too dangerous for one or more of you... plus, I would prefer that it doesn't fall into the wrong hands, like someone wishing to do our world harm."

"I understand where you are coming from, especially given that these four were trained by a Sage, but I'm pretty sure the Dark Eco Crystal is safe with us," Daxter remarked, because he knew that with the combined power of Jak, Twilight, Cozy, Starlight, and all of their Dark Forms there was nothing that would stop them or overwhelm them, and if there was he had a feeling that such a thing would cause them to develop new powers or something, which wasn't taking into account their friends, as in Alvin, Simon, and Theodore, whose true forms would likely smash everyone that dared to fight them, if such a thing was necessary.

"Perhaps it might be safe in your hands, stored in that odd storage area you have, but are any of you safe while its in your possession?" Seem inquired, as if implying that simply holding onto the Dark Eco Crystal in this manner would affect all of them in some manner, even if Midnight's storage area was like a separate realm or something, something that caused the majority of them to come to a decision on what else she might be referring to, before the monk considered something for a few seconds and focused on them once more, "One or more of you might find your Dark Forms harder to control with the crystal in your possession... though I have an easy solution for all of us: one of you will use a Leaper Lizard to race my monks through the city, and I'll wager one of the Light Eco Crystals in my possession against the Dark Eco Crystal that you have, as the winner will end up with both crystals."

"So if we win, the Light will balance the Dark, and if you win it'll be under control anyway," Twilight said, showing that she did understand what Seem was talking about, while at the same time Jak and the others nodded their heads as Jak walked over to where the Leaper Lizards happened to be standing, showing that he was ready for another race, though this time around his sisters could use their powers to float through the air and watch over them while they moved through the city, likely following a set of rings or something, before she glanced towards Seem, "oh, and you had best get ready to hand over that Light Eco Crystal, Seem, as no one can outrace our brother."

Seem stood there for a moment as she listened to what Twilight had to say, as she had a feeling that Jak might have bitten off more than he could chew this time around, though she moved away from where the starting line was and headed for the area that served as the end of the line, while Jak noticed his sisters were aided by Starlight's magic for a moment, as in all three of them floated up in the air, before he joined the three monks that were in front of him and they paused in place for a couple of seconds. Once everyone was ready to get started another lone monk, who was standing nearby, waved a hand and the race started as the other monks started moving not a few seconds after that happened, while Jak followed after them and found that whatever path they were following could be seen thanks to a number of Eco rings that had been set up before Seem asked Damas to speak with all of them, blue colored rings that weaved around the city in a way that would test one's ability to use a Leaper Lizard. Unfortunately for the monks Jak was a great racer and he had an affinity for animals, possibly something that was tied to his family line or his ability to wield all types of Eco, since Twilight was sure all of them could actually use Light Eco despite the fact that they hadn't seen any of it since the day they faced Gol and Maia, where his skills allowed him to weave his way through his three opponents and surged right up to the front of the line, no doubt leaving three confused monks behind since they were experts at riding Leaper Lizards and he was supposed to be a newbie at this, something that put a smile on the faces of Twilight, Cozy, and Starlight. Jak eventually found that the path brought him and his opponents back to the bazaar, around some of the stalls and curved around some of the buildings as well, giving him and his sisters a chance to see that Seem was hanging off to the side, watching the race, though while she didn't appear to have any feelings on the matter they knew that she had to be surprised that Jak was in the lead and that all three of her monks were a bit behind him, and was likely silently hoping that Jak failed at the last moment so she could get her hands on the crystal they had pulled out of the Dark Satellite earlier.

As luck would have it Jak reached the end of the line before any of Seem's monks could catch up with him, allowing him to reach the final ring, which happened to be a red one to symbolize the end of the race no doubt, and pass through it, which did cause all of the monks to come to a stop since their mission was to beat him and all of them had failed to accomplish their goal, though as everyone came to a stop Seem removed herself from the area that she had been standing in and just walked over to where Jak was waiting, all while his sisters landed nearby.

"Not bad, hero. Here, the Light Eco Crystal is yours." Seem said, where she pulled out a white crystal, one that the siblings found to be far more pure than what the dark purple crystal that came from the Dark Satellite, and handed it over to Jak, who took it and looked for it for a few seconds before he handed it to Twilight, as he knew it would be safe inside the odd storage space Midnight had created, even though Seem had a feeling she would study it at some point, hence why she felt a warning was necessary, before they did something stupid with the crystals, "The two types of crystals can be combined to form great energies, so please, be careful with them."

"So what you're saying is that we can combine the two types into, say, explosives?" Starlight inquired, though that was just a sample of what she imagined the crystals were capable of, because with all of the types of spells she and Twilight were able to use it made her curious as to whether or not they could use the crystals in a similar fashion, firing off blasts with a wave of their hands, loosing beams, or just blowing stuff up to clear out whatever enemies might be in their way, and it also made her wonder if the Precursors had left information behind for them to figure out what sort of machines they had designed for both crystals.

"This isn't a game!" Seem declared, showing that she didn't much approve of the idea of using the crystals to blow stuff up, even if the siblings were thinking of using the power against their enemies, especially given what little she had told them about what was coming towards their world, something she might have to do to make them aware of the powers that all of them were dealing with and what sort of danger they would be in if they continued to hold onto both crystals, given that they tended to attract all sorts of individuals to them.

"Oh, I like you... we're going to be good friends." Midnight replied, quickly surfacing for a few moments as Jak and both of his sisters found that she had replaced Twilight for a couple of seconds, given her eye color and her wings that grew out of Twilight's back, though as that happened she appeared beside Seem for a moment and placed a hand over her shoulder, something that seemed to freak out Seem a little bit since she went still, before she disappeared and returned over to the area that her siblings were standing in.

"Okay... anyway, when you die, do be kind enough to make sure the crystals return to us." Seem said, deciding not to even think about the strangeness of what was going on right now, as she was sure that Midnight was something she didn't want to worry about or even attempt to understand the being who seemed to share a body with Twilight, and instead focused her efforts on just telling the siblings about her desire to make sure both of the crystals remained in safe hands, while her monks started to depart for their next objective.

"Don't plan on that happening, Seem, as we're kind of hard to kill." Jak stated, which was the truth of the matter, the four of them were incredibly tough to kill and all of their enemies had failed to do such a thing since they started their quest to save this world, especially when one took into consideration the fact that each of them had access to all six types of Eco, or at least five since they had no confirmation on Light Eco, and his sisters had their magic to fall back on, but even as he said that he knew there was something else he wanted to ask before seem disappeared, "Though I have to ask: why are you so obsessed with death?"

"Because of that!" Seem replied, where she pointed up into the air and the siblings followed her finger, finding a glowing purple star up in the sky, though from the area that they were standing in it sure seemed like it might be as large as the sun itself, something that might be bad if it happened to be true, before they glanced back at Seem, who seemed to be in the middle of thinking about something that they needed to know about the object in question, "The Day Star approaches, and every day it grows brighter! This planet's final trial is coming."

Daxter started to open his mouth, so he could suggest that many they used the energies of the crystals to blow up the Day Star and save their world, though before he could say anything a siren sounded and they heard one of the Wastelanders mention that it was due to the storm Damas had told them about when he sent Jak out to retrieve those artifacts earlier, to which Seem pulled away from them and headed for whatever area that her monks were heading in, while the rest of Spargus' citizens headed for their own homes, before the siblings returned to the Palace, as it was the best place for them to head to since they had no official home in this city and Damas would be pleased to see them. Sure enough he turned towards them not a few seconds after the lift came to a stop, where he showed them a hidden path that lead to the other section of the Palace, where he and his advisors slept, as there was a chamber that his bed was in and another one down the way that had been set aside for Gol and Maia, even though they had turned it into a bedroom that was combined with a laboratory, something that caused Twilight to call dibs so she could see what sort of information the Dark Sages might have left for them. Such a thing left Jak, Starlight, and Cozy to pick from some of the other rooms that were around their father's, something none of them really thought about since they were glad to have found their father and had a chance to learn from him, though once all four of them had picked out their rooms Damas had them join him for dinner, all sorts of cooked meat and berries, with a few pieces of fruit as well, giving them a chance to tell him about what happened when they talked with Seem, both near the Dark Satellite they had found her near and in front of the race that she challenged Jak to after they claimed the artifacts, before mentioning the two types of crystals. Once they were done with that Damas told them more about the Keepers of Secrets, the order of monks that Seem was the leader of, though the important fact that Jak and his sisters discovered, since they already knew about the important mission the monks were trying to fulfill, was that 'Seem' appeared to be a title that was bestowed upon the highest ranking member of the order, who discarded all personal identifiers when they accepted the position, while Twilight was sure that the title represented all the leaders of the order, as in past, present, and future, though she didn't care which pronouns someone used when talking about her, which was interesting to discover.

Eventually it came time for the siblings to turn in for the night, as they would need their rest for whatever the morning had in store for them, especially after Damas mentioned that the storm should be over by that point in time and he was sure that something would come up for them to do, to which Jak and his sisters went to sleep knowing that something would be waiting for them once morning arrived, something that would help them prove themselves to the people of Spargus and allow them to get closer to fulfilling their various objectives.





When morning arrived Jak and his sisters woke up and had a quick breakfast, as there was no telling what might happen in the desert and they needed to be ready for anything, before their father informed them that Kleiver was waiting near the vehicles in the garage, meaning he would have their next assignment while he took some time to gauge whether or not all of them were ready to tackle the second Arena challenge, to which they departed from the Palace and headed over to the garage without delay, where they found Kleiver standing in the middle of the area, though it appeared that he had calmed down after seeing Dark Cozy's anger the previous day, which was good since none of them liked an annoyed Kleiver, as it seemed to trigger their sister and no one wanted that to happen again.

"The lot of you looking for a bit of action?" Kleiver asked, though what surprised the siblings wasn't that he was asking if they wanted to go fight something, or take a vehicle out and tear down whoever was trying to mess with the city from the area that was outside the massive main gate, it was the fact that he spoke in a more cordial sense, like he was trying to be much friendlier towards Jak and his sisters, no doubt due to being lectured by Damas the previous night or after seeing the dark depths of Cozy's hatred for him, for suggesting that he take one of them for some purpose.

"We're always up for a bit of action," Starlight replied, because that was the fastest way for them to show Spargus' citizens that they were capable of handling the hazards of the desert and would make good Wastelanders, especially since all four of them had copied some of Sig's movements when he showed them how to fight like someone who lived in the desert, all to ready themselves for anything that their basic fighting skills couldn't handle, before she considered something as all of her siblings glanced at the other vehicles for a few seconds, "though what makes you say that we were looking for some action in the first place?"

"One of my guys saw you speaking to that monk, Seem, and that you appeared to be happy when someone brought up a use for something," Kleiver answered, which meant he was speaking about the fact that they had learned that combining the energies of the Dark Eco and Light Eco Crystals could produce great energies, which someone who wasn't used to the terms could assume meant explosions and whatever else one might assume when hearing those words, which was when Kleiver rubbed the back of his head for a moment, as if he was trying to figure out what he was supposed to say to make them understand what he was saying, "like, um, blowing stuff up or taking the fight to those who annoy you in some way, like those Marauders who constantly try to attack our gates."

"Well, I can't deny that we like blowing things up... namely our enemies," Cozy remarked, confirming Kleiver's words not a few seconds after they learned what he meant, especially since some of their attacks could explode in the face of those they were fighting, though it also extended to detonating things like buildings to make sure their enemies had a difficult time getting their way or attacking their allies, something they would have done to the enemies that were supposedly in the middle of getting ready to attack Haven City, though as she said that her siblings found a worried look wash over the fat man's face for a few seconds, before it disappeared a few moments later.

"Good, because the scope shows a group of Metal Heads moving through the desert not too far from here." Kleiver stated, something that caught the attention of the siblings as the fat Wastelander said that, because they knew something about these types of Metal Heads, thanks to what Kor had said about them and Sig confirmed his statements, and this was also one of the things they had come to do, figure out if Alvin, Simon, and Theodore could free the Wasteland Metal Heads and allow each of them to forge a new future, before the man beckoned to a vehicle that was about the same size as the one he let Jak use for the race, only it had guns attached to it, "I've been authorized to give you access to another vehicle, as in one that can actually fight back and deal some damage to those monsters... out of curiosity, have any of you ever laid eyes on a Wasteland Metal Head before?"

"No, but we'll take care of them in no time," Daxter replied, as he had a feeling that Kleiver was trying to have some fun at the moment, almost as if he was using them for his own amusement or something, though at the same time he found that Jak was staring at the new vehicle they were being given access to and Twilight was studying it as well, before she called on her magic and pulled out a bunch of fragments from the Marauder vehicles they had smashed yesterday during the brief artifact run, where they watched as she formed three new rides in a matter of moments, causing him to chuckle as he and the others found a look of disbelief on Kleiver's face, "trust me, you'll get used to seeing them do stuff like this, breaking all of reality's rules without anything serious happening when they do it... or at least you will, eventually."

Kleiver watched as Jak, taking the main vehicle with his talking animal, moved towards the main gate as his sisters did the same thing, even though Twilight had colored the main bodies of her three vehicles so she, Starlight, and Cozy knew which one belonged to each of them, taking the main color of their own strange bodies, before heading outside to track down the Metal Heads he had mentioned, though before he could leave Damas appeared and not a few seconds later they left Spargus as well, as he could see that Damas wanted to see what happened next with his own eyes... though it didn't take the siblings long to find a large light brown skinned dinosaur creature with a weapon strapped to its back and a Skull Gem in its head, with Jak's vehicle revealing that there were four of them in the area.

"So, those are the Metal Heads that live in the Wasteland," Jak commented, as he found that they appeared to be ready to defend themselves from those who dared to attack them or their group, though while he said that he and his sisters came to a stop with their vehicles and stared at the enemies that Kleiver wanted them to take down, to which he glanced over to Alvin and his brothers for a moment and found that the three of them were concentrating on their power, to see if they could fulfill their portion of the mission, before they opened their eyes a few seconds later, "So, can we free them from the dark grasp of Kor, or is that impossible for you guys?"

"No... something powerful is blocking us from interacting with them," Alvin replied, where Jak was able to hear him easier due to the fact that Twilight had stopped her vehicle near her brother's when they found the Metal Beasts, what Twilight would likely call these types of enemies, to which he sighed as he and his brothers jumped onto the ground and walked a few steps forward, something that allowed them to call upon their true power and shift into their true forms, where it only took a few moments before three large dragons to appear in front of the vehicles, "oh well, we'll take down three of them while you guys take care of the fourth one, which should tell Kleiver and the rest of Spargus that we're not to be taken lightly and that we deserve to be part of their city."

Jak nodded as he and his sisters watched as the dragon Metal Heads took to the air and separated, Alvin quickly pushing the closest of their targets into the ground, Simon tracked down the second one and smashed his target into a large pile of rocks, and Theodore simply landed in front of the third one as he drove his head right into the head of the Metal Head he picked out, leaving the siblings to track down the fourth Metal Beast, which was further from its pack, but instead of using the guns to take it out Starlight weaved her power through the air and trapped it with some ice for a few seconds, allowing Daxter to run up some of Twilight's magical steps. While Alvin and his brothers fought and tore into the Metal Beasts that were their targets, which showed their observers what was going on right now, since Jak was sure that Damas and Kleiver had to be some distance behind them, observing what was going to happen to the four Wasteland Metal Heads and had to be staring at this with shock in their eyes, or jaw dropped when they thought about Kleiver, while at the same time Daxter used his small size to his advantage as he called on his own power once more. In the following moments, as Alvin and his brothers tore into their Metal Beasts, Daxter landed on the back of his target and swung his Eco Blade at the weapon that was on his foe's back, choosing to take it out first and succeeded in removing the gun in a matter of seconds, with Twilight using her power to snatch it so she could study it later, before he proceeded to hack into the backside of his foe for a time, while it tried to knock him off its back and smash him into the ground, something he knew wouldn't happen since he was capable of driving his blade into the backside of his foe and turning it into a hook to stay still. Thanks to his skills, which he had learned from observing Jak and his sisters in battle, plus what Alvin and his brothers did in their Ottsel forms when all of them were in Haven City, Daxter was able to stand his ground and deal a great bit of damage to his foe in a short period of time, causing the Metal Beast to wander around the area it was in while it tried, in vain, to knock Daxter from its back so it could escape and head into the vast desert to lose all of them.

Eventually Daxter found his way to the Metal Beast's head and drove his blade into his foe's neck, causing the beast to run into one of the rock spires that was in this area and seemed to do some additional damage to the poor Metal Head, only for him to put it out of its misery as he twisted his blade a few moments later, causing it to shift its weight for a second as it hit the ground, causing a Dark Eco Crystal to fly into the sand as a circular communication device that did the same thing a few seconds later, though as Daxter pulled himself off his foe Alvin and his brothers landed nearby, licking their talons as they did so, no doubt enjoying a more filling meal since it would be wasteful to leave this much food behind.

Metal Head commander, report! a familiar voice said, where Jak and his sisters came to a stop near the set of items a few seconds later, something that allowed Twilight to claim the Dark Eco Crystal and add it to the one that had been taken from the Dark Satellite earlier, though as that happened they found a hologram of a familiar face glancing around the area they were in, one that looked strangely like Errol based on what all of them were seeing, which was impossible since they knew he had been blown to pieces by his actions at the end of Jak's race with him, though he seemed incredibly angry at the moment and that meant he might make mistakes, What's happening? If you lost that cargo, and you're still alive, I'll kill you myself. I want every Dark Eco Crystal you can find! Time is short! Did you hear me?

In that moment Twilight raised her hand, something that was followed by the hologram saying 'wait' and 'not you' before she silenced the device for now, though she planned on returning it to Keira once they were back inside Haven City, as this seemed like a perfect piece of information for them to determine who was trying to take down the city, hence why it was picked up and stored inside her pack for the time being, though with that done she and her siblings, with Alvin and both of his brothers in their Ottsel forms, headed back to Spargus, to see what their father or Kleiver had for them to do next, all while searching for a good way to contact Haven and their worried allies.
> Spargus: The Second Challenge
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With the Metal Beasts taken care of, and the siblings were sure of that, Jak turned around and headed back for Spargus, as he was interested in seeing if Damas had a way to contact Sig so they could hand over the device Twilight had collected not a few moments ago, though the first thing they had to do was tackle some Marauders who were in their way, who likely hadn't seen the true forms of Alvin and both of his brothers, allowing Twilight to collect more metal for later, be it being given to someone in Spargus or using it to make alterations to the vehicles she had made, though it didn't take them long to reach the garage and come to a stop, finding their father standing nearby, with a frightened Kleiver next to him.

"We've taken down the group of Metal Heads that your scanners spotted earlier," Jak stated, where he and his sisters took a moment to made sure each of their vehicles were placed around the garage, his in the spot Kleiver had made for it and his sisters placed theirs around the edges of this area, before they climbed out and approached the area that the door rested in, allowing them to see that Damas seemed to be thinking about something while making them wonder what had caused the fat Wastelander to be frightened of something.

"Yes, you did, and we're thankful for that... however, none of you actually did the deed," Damas replied, where he shifted his gaze towards Alvin and his brothers for a few moments, informing Jak and his sisters that their father knew about their true forms now, something Twilight hadn't explained since it would have taken too long if she added that fact into what she had told Damas after he and his guards had found them, after the vehicle they used to get to the Wasteland had been blown up by Veger's foolish actions, "When were you planning on telling me that your Ottsel companions, three of them anyway, are capable of transforming into those massive dragon forms?"

"We were planning on doing it later, but now that you know there's no reason to hide it," Twilight answered, to which Alvin and his brothers jumped off their shoulders for a few seconds and stood near the main gate of Spargus, quickly calling on their true power as they shifted back into their true forms, something that caused Kleiver to take a step backwards, which told Jak and his sisters that he had definitely seen what happened earlier, before she gestured to their companions for a few moments, "Allow me to properly introduce Alvin, Simon, and Theodore, the first of the Neo Metal Heads, which is the new breed that has come to light recently, who stand as the three Kings who rule over their new Hive, though originally all of them were the Crown Princes, sons of the Metal Head Leader... and no, they're not following their father's orders, nor are any of them seeking to destroy Spargus, as they helped bring down their father during our assault on the Nest that all of the Metal Heads called home. The Neo Metal Heads are allies of Haven City, using their new intelligence and powers to take down those who seek to bring about the end of this world, or at least the end of Haven City, though Alvin and both of his brothers are unique even among their kind, as each of them has the power to transform into dragons, as you have just seen and witnessed earlier, though they are part of why we decided to come to the Wasteland in the first place, to see if we could calm the Wasteland Metal Heads and free them from Kor's dark grasp... it hasn't worked yet, but we're hoping to free some of them, at some point anyway."

"You want to be friends with the Metal Heads? They'll kill you before you have a chance to do that," Kleiver stated, which had to be him referring to those who were out here, in the Wasteland, though while none of the siblings could fault him, as to most people it would seem that they had gone inside, or something to that effect, they also knew that things were in the middle of changing and everyone would have to get with the times, especially when Midnight was part of their group and she likely had some ideas on how to make sure things went their way.

"And yet we turned against our father, fought against his forces, and tore him down in his Nest," Alvin replied, where they found that he and his brothers were just standing there, staring at Kleiver and Damas like they were equals and not food to be eaten, or enemies to be slain, before tapping his own Skull Gem for a moment, reminding the pair that they were, in fact, Neo Metal Heads, the new breed that would take over now that their father and leader was dead, while Simon and Theodore did the same thing a few seconds later, "we are far more than simple Metal Heads, we are capable of thinking, of learning, of expressing ourselves, and so many other things... we are not the mindless killing machines that have plagued this world for a long time."

"And they are allies that none of our enemies will ever see coming." Damas said, showing that he understood what they were saying and, more importantly, that they were definitely allies of Spargus, ones he was more than willing to admit into the city, even though most of the fighting would be handled by Jak, Twilight, Cozy, and Starlight, something that caused Kleiver to pause for a moment as he heard what his King had to say on the matter, before he turned to leave and glanced at the siblings as he did so, "Come by the Palace before you do anything else, as I have something that might interest you to some degree."

Jak and his sisters glanced at each other for a few seconds as their father and Kleiver exited the garage, leaving them with the transformed Ottsels for a time, who quickly made sure to revert back to their base forms and return to the shoulders that they usually rode on, something that caused the siblings to leave the garage and head for the Palace, because there wasn't much for them to do right now, and it didn't seem like any of the citizens wanted to talk with them as they headed for the Arena, causing all four of them to raise their eyebrows as they used the lift to head back up to the Palace, finding Damas standing in front of his throne once more.

"It is time for the four of you to face your next Arena challenge... yes, you just had your first, but the second always comes quickly after one earns the first Battle Amulet," Damas stated, something that confirmed his earlier statement, Jak and his sisters were interested in facing whatever might be waiting for them in the Arena, where he turned for a moment, turning towards the edge of his throne, before pulling out four items that he tossed over to them, which looked like three cylinders that were connected by metal bits at the top and bottom, something that Jak and his sisters collected as three of them just attached them to their guns and activated a new Red Eco mod, "Those are Wave Concussor mods, a special Red Eco mod that will transform your blasts into attacks that will create rings around you, hence why it is best to aim at your feet and hooves when using this mod."

"Nice, sounds like something Keira would think up, if she was interested in weapon mods," Jak said, as he knew that Keira had a good idea on how to use the various types of Eco and it happened to be reflected in how she created the vehicles in Haven City, and she might have had a hand in the creation of Praxis' mechs when he thought about it, though as he said that Twilight studied the mod and transformed it into a gemstone that was added to the first red gem that represented the Scatter modification, something that caused Damas to raise an eyebrow as he witnessed it happen, "this is something that happened when Midnight first showed up, she transformed Twilight's Morph Gun into that bracelet and each weapon mod was turned into a gemstone, the color reflecting the type it belongs to. She's got a gemstone of four of the six Eco colors, not counting Green or Light Eco, though now that we know she can make more than one for each color we'll have to be on the lookout for new modifications that might boost our power and add a new stone to her bracelet, despite the fact that I'm sure that she'll find a way to make gemstones of the other two colors at some point."

Damas stood there for a moment, taking in the fact that Twilight was capable of turning weapon mods into gemstones of some kind, which apparently contained the same power of the mod she gained, though instead of saying anything he just nodded his head and watched as his children quickly departed from the throne room, so they could make their way over to the Arena and get ready, before he chuckled as he used a hidden tunnel, that only he and Pecker knew about, to make his way to his throne in the stands of the Arena, surprising Jak and his sisters when they discovered he had arrived ahead of them, even though he knew that some of them might already know what he had done. Based on the fact that the rest of the crowd cheered Jak and his sisters understood that they must have been told about the upcoming Arena battle while all of them were outside, dealing with the Metal Beasts, to which three of them quickly pulled out their guns and switched to the new mod as they headed down into the newly modified Arena, as this time around there were four platforms, which were arranged in a square formation, and were separated by lines that meant if one sank into the lava, like what they had seen earlier, the other three would remain up here. As such Jak took the immediate one to their left, Twilight took the one to their immediate right, Starlight took the one that was just beyond where Jak ended up, and Cozy took the last platform, leaping over to it and landing without delay, causing them to glance around the arena as several of the towers opened up and lead to them bracing themselves for what was coming next, as it was only a matter of time until each of them faced a few Marauders that had been captured by some of the other Wastelanders. Not a few moments later the battle started as their enemies jumped down into onto the platforms that Jak and his sisters were protecting at the moment, which caused Jak to lash out with one of his feet and kick one of his foes away before firing the new Wave Concussor, something that did come with some new knowledge in the fact that one had to charge a blast for a bit before firing it at the ground, loosing a ring of red energy that knocked all of Jak's enemies backwards, which caused his sisters to smile for a moment as each of them opened fire on their enemies, though Twilight found that she was able to create the rings in front of them and pick out where to drop them, a useful alteration to that power in her mind.

Of course, since she was a beast of battle, Dark Cozy surged to the surface and seemed to be in control as she lashed out at the Marauders that were around her at the moment, though as it turned out one of her eyes seemed to be their normal sister, meaning the two might actually be sharing a body right now, something that allowed Cozy to jump off her platform as it sunk a few moments later, and once it emerged she returned to her position to continue the fight... not that it really mattered in the end since all of them knocked out their foes and lead to them being allowed to return to the platform that was resting in front of their father.

"The four of you did very well." Damas stated, as while he knew that most of the challenges in the Arena were child's play to his children, after hearing what they had to tell him about their adventures, he also had to appear like they were total strangers, though throwing them a little praise every now and then would show his people that he was pleased with all of the skills that Jak and his sisters displayed in the Arena, before he gestured to the pedestal in front of them, showing them a crescent piece of Precursor make and a mod that looked like it went to the Blaster, "Here is your second Battle Amulet, and a new weapon mod, the Beam Reflector... one more Arena win, and all of you will be true Wastelanders!"

Jak smiled for a moment as Twilight collected the fragment of their medallion, allowing him and the others to attach their newest weapon mod to their guns, as it was odd for them to gain two back to back like this, making all of them take a few moments to wonder how many of them they would find out here, before they headed through the tunnels and returned to the streets of Spargus, though as Jak did that, and Twilight transformed her new mod into a yellow gemstone, he and his sisters stopped when the Communicator came out for a few seconds, which was Damas informing them that he had a mission for them and Kleiver, who was, as they expected, waiting near the vehicles.

"As you no doubt know, his Lordship has a job for us," Kleiver remarked, once more acting like he was a friend and not an enemy, no doubt terrified of what might happen to him if he decided to get on their bad sides, given that he had seen the darkness in Cozy's heart and the true forms of Alvin, Simon, and Theodore, though Jak and his sisters found that he was in the middle of messing with two vehicles, one large enough for him to ride in and one that seemed more like a four legged spider of some kind, before he paused and turned towards them for a moment, "normally I would say something about how I'm 'not a babysitter', or something to that effect, but I'm not in the mood to be lectured twice in two days, given that Damas favors the four of you and your secret weapons. As such I'm just going to tell you the mission and we'll depart as soon as I'm done fixing up my vehicle: we're to gather a number of Leaper Lizards and herd them into a waiting transport, as his Lordship wants to gather as much resources as he can gather, for whatever the future holds, especially since Seem appears to be worried about something."

"Sounds easy enough, given that we're good with animals," Jak replied, though while Daxter and the transformed brothers simply moaned, deciding not to bother replying to his comment as he talked with Kleiver, he found that Twilight and the others were looking for their own vehicles, mostly to make sure the construction was still sound and nothing was falling apart before their eyes, though since Twilight had followed Keira's style of making vehicles he knew that none of the three vehicles she and Midnight had made would be anywhere near falling apart, something that was confirmed not a couple of moments later and put a smile on his sister's face.

Once Kleiver was ready to depart from Spargus, and head into the desert so they could complete their mission, Jak and his sisters climbed into their own vehicles and followed after him as he opened the main gate, heading out into the massive Wasteland that threatened those who lived in the City of Exiles, where Jak found that Kleiver happened to be heading off in the direction of where their transport had landed, before it had been blown apart by Veger's trap, and they followed after him as he drove through whatever was in front of him. Sure enough there were a number of Marauders who seemed to be driving around, looking for people to take down so they could salvage supplies and steal things before someone from Spargus had a chance to claim whatever was left in this place, though thanks to the beacon they had been given, before they had departed from Haven to start an expedition, their father and his guards had been able to find the transport and must have salvaged it while they were busy aiding some of the people in Spargus. As such Jak and his sisters declared war on the Marauders that dared to come near them or Kleiver, even though it would take some time before they forgave the fat Wastelander for his earlier actions, firing at every enemy that dared to drive in their direction, though Twilight added a few magical blasts to the enemies that were further away from where they were driving, despite the fact that she claimed the wrecks they left behind so Midnight could continue to work on them in the 'garage' area that she had created once she laid eyes on what was behind Spargus' main gate. While they did that, however, Jak spotted what appeared to be the last pieces of the transport that had brought them to the Wasteland, partly covered by the sands that had been pushed into this area by both of the sandstorms that had occurred so far, something that seemed to be weird since they were nearly back to back when he considered what they had seen, though given their father's habit of salvaging things he knew that it would be a waste of time if he headed over to the wreckage in question, so he focused on following Kleiver, who headed straight for the river that they had seen earlier.

As it turned out he was focused on a metallic half bridge that rested nearby and used it, with a booster, to jump over the rest of the river, something that caused Jak and his sisters to follow after him not a few moments after they made sure all of the Marauders were taken care of, though once they landed they headed up the hill that was in front of them and found a massive ruin, a city of some kind that was made out of weathered stone and had a bunch of cactus scattered all over the place, to which Kleiver came to a stop at the top of the hill and they did the same around him.

"See that down there?" Kleiver inquired, where he pointed into the heart of the city and the siblings found that there was a large ring of some kind in the area that their guide was pointing in, one that appeared to have an electric fence to prevent anything from escaping, namely the Leaper Lizards, though based on what Jak and his sisters were seeing it looked like all they were here to do was track down and retrieve a number of the mounts they had seen around Spargus, which they also knew might serve as a food source given how many of them seemed to be out in the Wasteland, "That's where you lot will be directing the Leaper Lizards to, where they'll be safe while we wait for the transport to arrive and take them back to the city... and, if I deem you worthy, I might let you use the Dune Hopper."

"Consider it done." Jak stated, though once he said that Kleiver drove off, likely to take up a position that allowed him to do his part of the mission, no doubt to watch and observe them while he did none of the real work, to which he waited for a few moments, mostly to take in what was in front of him and his sisters, before he came up with an idea on how to direct some of the Leaper Lizards into the pen that had been set up a long time ago, no doubt after Spargus had been set up by their father and the first group of exiles, "Shall we get to work?"

Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy nodded their heads as they headed out, splitting the city into four sections as Jak and Daxter just drove after the Leaper Lizards that were in their section, though while it was likely that Kleiver might assume that they were going to throw Daxter at their targets, and have him direct them to the pen, the simple plan was to approach some of the lizards and move in the direction of the pen, where the Leaper Lizards stared at them for a few seconds before they followed the direction Jak wanted the pack of three to move in, eventually ending up right inside the pen. Once his part of the mission was done he found that Twilight and Starlight were doing the same thing, weaving some of their magic over a portion of the ruined city so they could create a path for their targets to use, as the lizards fled after seeing that Alvin and Simon were marching towards them, in their true form no less, so it was an intimidation tactic for them to use to get some of their targets into the pen. Cozy pretty much did the same thing in her section of the city, she used her Dark Form for a time and scared some of her targets in the direction of the pen, allowing those who managed to escape to flee, despite the fact that they would likely return at some point in the future, and sure enough it didn't take her all that long to make sure her Leaper Lizards made it to the pen her siblings were currently positioned around, though once they were inside the pen the fence became active and locked the lizards inside it. From there the siblings found that there wasn't much for them to do as they waited for the transport to arrive, though as they waited for something to happen Kleiver drove down to where the four of them were waiting and they found that he seemed impressed by what they had done, even though they had, in fact, used a method that was different from what the Wastelanders would have done had one or more of them been given this particular mission, allowing them to get the job done in a much quicker time frame than what one might be used to if they watched over people doing this sort of thing.

"I have to admit, you guys are certainly something else," Kleiver said, though he was fortunate that he had asked the driver of the transport to follow a few minutes after him, as a thick metallic vehicle, one capable of transporting multiple warriors at the same time, drove down through the streets of the city and came to a stop nearby, where some Wastelanders came out and one happened to be in the middle of something that caught the attention of Jak and his sisters, it happened to be the vehicle he had seen them staring at earlier, where the warrior in question parked it nearby and climbed out to join the group moving the Leaper Lizards onto the transport, to which he gestured to it, "and, as I said earlier, the Dune Hopper is now yours to use whenever you want... you certainly earned it."

Jak and his sisters smiled as they stared at the vehicle for a time, getting to know it while Kleiver and his team headed back to Spargus, though the interesting thing Twilight found was that it seemed to have a marker on its map, one that seemed to be linked to a mountain that was just off the coast on the other side of the Wasteland, as in it was likely close to where they were standing, to which she and her siblings nodded their heads, as it seemed like their next course of action was to check out the area that might hold Seem's temple and might give them some clues as to what was going on and what all of them could do so they could prepare for the future.
> Spargus: Exploring the Volcano
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once Jak and his sisters were done studying the Dune Hopper, and having a good idea of what it might be able to do, as its name gave them some thoughts on the matter, Jak climbed into the vehicle and started to move towards the other side of the large ruins that their father's mission had brought them and Kleiver to, even though the fat Wastelander, including those who had arrived after them to collect the Leaper Lizards, was gone at this point in time and such a thing meant that they didn't have to worry about dealing with any of them. As he did that Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy climbed into their vehicles and followed after him, finding that he was heading right towards the edge of the desert, where it looked like there were a number of rock platforms between where they were driving right now and where the lone mountain that Seem's temple had to be resting on, though based on what Twilight could see there was no easy way for any of them to reach their destination, even though there seemed to be some Marauders in this area. In response to that Jak tested out the weapon system of the Dune Hopper, where he and his sisters found that it fired grenades at the area in front of the vehicle, with a short pause in between shots since the second one was a second or two behind the first one, which took out several Marauder vehicles as he moved towards his destination, allowing Twilight to continue her gathering of metal scraps for later as he headed right for the edge of the path. Once he got close enough Jak flipped a switch and the Dune Hopper crouched low to the ground for a few seconds, something they had discovered while they were going over it earlier, before he flipped it again and both he and Daxter were launched into the air, as the Dune Hopper's name revealed the power that it had access to, as it allowed the driver to use a high jump of sorts and Jak landed on the raised platform that he had picked out, causing him to head to his left and follow the path as his sisters followed after him, as Twilight or Starlight were going to use their magic to form a few temporary walkways for them to use.

As such it didn't take him long to make his way over the large rocks that the path happened to be connected to, nor did it take his sisters long to follow after him as Twilight and Starlight took turns using their magic to form walkways for them to use, before they reached what appeared to be a curved path of sorts that had been carved into the mountain, which also had a break in the path that they discovered must have been eroded by water, given the waterfall off to their right, and all of them came to a stop in front of a wall that was made of stone pillars and braziers, which lead over to a large arch that held a tunnel behind it.

"So, this is the Precursor temple that Seem and their order reside and work in," Twilight commented, as she, Jak, and their sisters climbed out of their vehicles before walking over to the arch, allowing them to see a few new statues that had to be of the Precursors, as she noted that they were similar to what they had seen during their previous adventures and would need some time to figure out what sort of differences there were, before they found that the main area of the temple was a perfect circle and it formed a perfect cylinder, a large one to be exact, that looked like it had been carved out of the vast insides of the mountain, since the rocky peak was missing, before she spotted something, "though that right there might be a pain to deal with."

What she was referring to was a construct, one made from some Eco energy, that resembled an eye of some kind and was made of a glowing material, or had been made to resemble such a thing, though Daxter jumped onto the floor and took a moment to rush over to the area the Light Eye was guarding, as it had a door behind it that they likely needed to open so they could delve deeper into this place, but when he approached the floor before the construct it suddenly focused more than it had been doing previously and a number of spears rose out of some slots that rested in the floor, creating a new barricade, to which he turned around once he saw that and returned to Jak, though after a few moments the spears were pulled back and the Light Eye returned to normal. Such a thing told Jak that they would likely need some sort of invisibility to get by the construct, something that could be achieved when he considered all of the spells his sisters had access to, as all of their spells were interesting and he knew that Twilight might have an invisibility one, though that was when he found an odd dark statue, which could be picked up and held in his hands based on what he was seeing right now, off to the left of where they were standing, though to the right rested a path that one could traverse and climb up the side of the large chamber that he and his sisters were standing in. He already knew that their main path had to be behind the Light Eye, as it seemed odd to have something like that guarding the area if it wasn't important, though at the same time he was more interested in what might be at the peak of the temple and he could see that his sisters agreed with him, to which he just walked over to the start of the path and started to climb it, though as he started to ascend, by using some poles and some cloth platforms, Twilight spread her wings and flew up to the highest point, with Starlight following with her levitation spell and Cozy just channeled the power of her Dark Form to propel herself up the wall. Jak chuckled for a moment, as he had known that his sisters would have done something like that while he was climbing the tall wall, even though both he and Daxter noticed that Cozy's claws dug into the stone carvings, not that they needed such a reminder of her power, but that didn't stop Jak from progressing up the path that was in front of him as he followed after his sisters, where he also found a tunnel that had some steps along the way, to conserve his energy for the next stage of the climb.

As such it didn't take him long to reach the top of the path, as his sisters had followed it once they got high enough and all of them had come to a stop in an area that appeared to be an outlook of sorts, as they could gaze out at the Wasteland from this point, though when he joined them a few moments later he found that his sisters were standing near what had to be a glider of some kind, given the handles that one could hold onto and the pair of cloth wings that had been made to fix the frame, though off in the distance he found what appeared to be metallic Eco Rings, forming a path from here to an opening that lead into the volcano in the middle of the massive Wasteland.

"Seem mentioned that they lost an expedition of monks earlier, as they sent them to the volcano," Jak commented, as he recalled what the monk had told them, that a Dark Artifact had fallen on the area in question and they had sent some of their monks to find it, so it could be secured and delivered to the area that all of the Dark Artifacts were stored in, even if he knew that the space Midnight had created was far better than anything the monks had, before he considered what to do next, "and I'm willing to bet that if we head over there we'll be able to find them, and maybe a new power or two along the way, so we can make peace with Seem when we get back to Spargus."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Twilight replied, something that caused Starlight and Cozy to nod their heads in agreement, as all of them felt that their brother's plan was a good one, especially since they were eager to see what had happened to the monks Seem had mentioned earlier, hence why she leapt off the ledge and opened her wings once more, taking off as her siblings followed after her, mostly in the sense that Starlight and Cozy left Simon and Theodore turn into their true forms, even though they went the hybrid route to give themselves some space, before taking to the air, leaving Jak to chuckle for a few seconds as he quickly picked up the glider and followed his sisters.

While Twilight and her sisters could easily fly over to the volcano, and find an opening that would allow them to make their way inside it, they really just flew around as they watched Jak use the path that Seem's monks used whenever one of them used the gliders to reach their destination, where it looked like he was making a circle around the entire Wasteland before he approached the volcano, as he started by flying over the water and the ruined city, then flew over a body of water that had a few bridges and a fortress in the middle of it, followed by him heading over an area that had a number of metallic ramps and then returned to the area in front of Spargus' gate, before he used the remaining updrafts and rings to align himself with a hole in the side of the volcano. Once he did that his sisters followed after him, where Simon and Theodore had to shrink back to a smaller size and toss their riders into the hole, something that was fine due to Twilight watching her sisters with her magic, before they moved down the passage that Jak was following and found that he had crashed the glider into something since it was in a pile on the ground, but he and Daxter were fine, to which they landed near him and glanced around the area that they had landed in. Resting nearby was one of the Light Eyes, who happened to be guarding a Warp Gate that likely linked back up with the temple chamber they had been in before coming here, complete with one of the dark statues they had seen earlier, though since it didn't look like there was anything behind them the siblings just headed down the rocky path that was in front of them, but for now no one had their guns out, because this was just them looking around while they searched for the monks, despite the fact that they would pull their weapons out if enemies did show up at some point during their journey. Of course that was when Jak jumped up onto a higher part of the path, which was when some Stingers burst out of the ground in front of him and rushed over to where he was standing, where he and the sisters found that Alvin tried to use his power to free them, like they had tried with the Metal Beasts, something that lead to him using the Scatter mod to blast the trio of enemies out of his way as his sisters joined him, though it caused all of them to ready their weapons as they continued to move through the volcano.

After that they found at least fifteen more Stingers standing between where they were standing and the rock sections that happened to form the next leg of their path, where Cozy leapt into the air and charged her gun for a moment, though as she neared the ground she fired a burst of the Wave Concussor and took out all of the enemies that were in front of them, because she figured that all of the Metal Heads in the Wasteland were going to be corrupted by whatever power Alvin and his brothers had run into, back when they tried to free the Metal Beasts earlier, so until they found the one in control of all of these Metal Heads they were going to have to kill them. Of course Alvin and his brothers didn't want to do such a thing, since they had come here to free those that remained, though they agreed with her assessment of the situation and just remained still as Jak and his sisters headed up the rock sections before heading deeper into the volcano, though when all of them reached the upper part of the platforms a few seconds later they discovered something that caused them to come to a stop for a few seconds, the inside of the volcano was bigger than what they originally expected. They knew that the volcano was large, based on what they had seen when they were out driving through the Wasteland earlier, though what they were seeing right now, a number of rock platforms that seemed to form a path while there was vegetation growing all over the place, told them that they might have misjudged the sheer size of the volcano, though instead of standing still for too long Jak started walking along the path in front of them and his sisters followed after him without delay, this time with all of them having their weapons at the ready. The interesting thing was that there happened to be a single Leaper Lizard standing nearby, munching on some of leaves no less, to which they walked forward and found that it fled the instant they neared it, meaning it had to be important in some manner and caused the siblings to follow after it, even if it involved the four of them jumping over a gap with falling edges and having to take down a group of Metal Heads along the way, which was a few Mantis and a coupe of Wasps, before they leapt over another gap and landed near the Leaper Lizard that was continuing to move through the area.

In that moment Jak found that he was able to mount the Leaper Lizard and carefully moved through the lower area that it had lead them to, finding a few spherical shaped creatures that seemed to be either rolling around parts of this place or eating some of the vegetation they had seen, though they seemed to have light orange scales and had spikes resting on their backs, meaning they were Spiny Hounds and seemed to be rather dangerous, to which Jak moved around them as his sisters followed after him, as while they could fight the new enemies they didn't seem to be as aggressive as all of the Metal Heads. As such Jak ignored the couple of Spiny Hounds that were nearby and found his way to an area that seemed to hold the path that would allow all of them to head deeper into the volcano, even though the path was surrounded by a river of flowing lava, not that they were all that surprised by such a thing since they were in the middle of what appeared to be an active volcano, even if it didn't spew out into the rest of the Wasteland, though Jak focused on using the couple of rock platforms and edges that happened to be sticking out of a few rock walls as he moved deeper into the volcano, while his sisters carefully followed behind him. Eventually it brought him to an area that happened to have a ladder and the next stage of their exploration through this volcano, to which he made his way around the couple of Spiny Hounds that were in front of him and leapt off the Leaper Lizard so he could climb up the ladder, leaving his sisters to land behind him and just jump up to the area that he had been heading towards, though once all four of them were up on top of the raised section they paused for a few seconds, finding that the Leaper Lizard made a sound before heading back to where it had been resting while it waited for the monks to come back for it, showing its loyalty to those who trained it. Once the Leaper Lizard was gone, and had returned to the area they had found it in a few minutes ago, the siblings turned around and continued to follow the main path, finding that it brought them to an area that had a large rock blocking the way, with a few couple pieces of metallic mesh that looked like someone could swing from one point to another, and flumes of magma that sent spheres of lava up into the air, meaning that if someone were to head down that path, as in Daxter or the disguised Neo Metal Heads, they would have to be careful as they avoided all the obstacles in their way.

Instead of doing that, like one would expect them to do, Cozy embraced her power once more and jumped over to where the large rock happened to be resting, where she kicked it and sent it back towards where her siblings were standing, as her action was to lock it into place as a walkway for them to use, so once she landed the four of them continued deeper into the volcano as they kept their weapons at the ready, suspecting that there were more enemies waiting for them, due to what they had seen earlier. From there they found an area that required them to use the High Jump to move forward and did so without delay, even though it was followed by a number of Mantis and Wasps coming in to attack them, which was when Twilight focused on the new weapon mod they had been given, the Reflector, and summoned some yellow orbs around her for a few seconds before firing, finding that her Blaster shots did something interesting when they were under the influence of the Reflector mod, they struck her targets and then bounced off of them a few seconds later, reflecting off of all of the Metal Heads and striking something else before moving to another target. By her estimates each blast had the power to hit between three to five targets when the Reflector was used, something that interested her and her siblings as they discovered this piece of information, as it would be useful for whatever the future held for them, though after she cleared out that group of enemies they continued down the path in front of them and discovered that there happened to be a steam vent on their level and a much higher section that happened to be the way forward, plus a stone slab resting in the area that they found the vent in. As such the next thing they did was pause as Jak pushed the slab into position, even if it was easy to do so and surprised him a little once he was done with his task, though with that done they used the power of the natural steam vent to propel the slab into the air, forming a moving platform for them to use and allowed Jak to use it, since his sisters could just fly, levitate, or just jump up there, though at this point he had given up trying to make them stop using their magic, as sometimes it made things much easier on all of them, especially since Starlight found a group of Metal Heads, which were the same as the ones they had faced so far, and blasted them back with her magic, opening the way for them to progress.

After that the siblings found a ledge to jump over and discovered that it lead them right up to an area that had two of the Spiny Hounds and two of the Mantis, where Jak left them to Cozy as he found another ledge that they needed to cross and did so without delay, allowing him to find a path that had a few more Mantis waiting for them and he opened fire without delay, using a Reflector blast to knock all of them down as he descended towards the depths this time, meaning he and his sisters would be ascending and descending a few times before reaching their destination, which brought him to an area that had a pipe that seemed to lead to another stone slab, which was above him.

"Seems the monks really like setting up all sorts of tests," Starlight commented, as this appeared to be a test of some kind, like sliding down some pipes or something to get over to where the stone slab was resting, though instead of doing that, and wasting time that they might not have, she engaged her magic and carefully lifted the slab into the air before lowering it down to where she and her siblings were standing, where she quickly dropped it right on top of a steam vent that was in this area, forming another moving platform for Jak to use as he caught up with her and her sisters, "Come on, we haven't found the monks yet... they have to be here, somewhere..."

Once that was done Jak followed after his sisters as they headed up to the highest point of this section of the volcano and discovered something interesting, at the top level there rested a path that lead right to three more steam vents and that three stone slabs rested in the area near them, though there were a few enemies, two Spiny Hounds and a Wasp, which were taken out by Jak loosing a Scatter blast at them, opening the way for them to reach where the stone slabs rested, so they could move even deeper into this volcano. Of course it wasn't that easy, since the moment Jak and his sisters stepped into the area that the stone slabs rested in they found a number of Mantis burst out of the ground that was around the slabs, so what happened was that all four of them opened fire on their enemies and took out the Mantis in seconds, but as soon as that was done Jak, Starlight, and Cozy separated from Twilight and moved the three stone slabs into position, one above each steam vent, where they found that doing that sealed the left and right vents while channeling the steam into the middle one. Such a thing allowed the siblings to head even higher than before, which brought them up to where a few stone pillars rested and formed a path, even with some separations between each pillar, that appeared to be leading up to an area that had a number of dark tendrils digging into the stone, meaning they had to be getting close to where the Dark Satellite had crashed, and Seem's monks as well, so Jak and his sisters kept moving forward as they kept their eyes on the target and made sure to keep an eye out for enemies that might want a piece of them. After thinking about that, however, they came to a stop at a larger river of lava, one which had to feed the lower river they had passed by earlier, and across from where they were standing they found what appeared to be a Dark Satellite that was in the middle of infecting the area around it, as the area it had landed in was full of Dark Tendrils, given that they were connected to the Satellite, and all of them could see a ladder that lead up to where the target rested, but due to the fact that there were no sounds in this area, save for all of the natural sounds, it was unlikely that the monks were still nearby.

As such Jak glanced at all of the moving slags that were between them and the ladder before rushing forward, using two of them to reach the ladder in question, even though his sisters had their own way to get over there, but when they reached the top area everyone paused for a moment, as there happened to be a monk, their body turned to stone with their face locked in an expression of pure terror, resting in front of the Dark Satellite's heart, where Twilight found that the Tendrils seemed to be slowly moving in and out of the ground, like it was terraforming the area around it, while the monk had one of the small dark statues in its hands.

"Well, we've found Seem's monks... or what's left of them." Cozy commented, as while she expected there to be more than one monk in this area, given that the leader of the order had said that they had sent an expedition out and that generally meant more than just a single person was sent, unless that single person was like her and her siblings she guessed, this did give them some information that they could hand over to Seem the next time they crossed paths, once they returned to Spargus and resumed assisting the people who called it home.

As Twilight and Midnight studied the area they were in, once more given the dual nature of her eyes, Jak walked up to the monk statue for a moment as Daxter hopped down and stared at the dark statue, no doubt wondering if he could pry it out of the poor monk's hands, to which he grasped the dark item and tried to pull it from the monk's hands, which was far more successful than he thought as he pulled back and actually shattered the monk's hands, even though it caused him to stumble backwards and knocked the dark statue into the air. Such a thing lead to Jak jumping and catching the dark statue before it could crash on Daxter, as there was no telling what might happen to him if he was infused with more Dark Eco, though when he stood up the power of the artifact became clear as he seemed to vanish from their sight, causing the rest of the group to stand there as Twilight smiled, due to her other side's power manifesting the glasses she was had gotten used to using whenever Midnight's power was active, as they could see that Jak was invisible. A few moments later Jak let go of the artifact, which shattered when it hit the ground a second later, though this informed them that their brother had gained a new Dark Eco power, the second to be exact since Dark Bomb was the first one, which caused all of them to take a moment and wonder if this Dark Invisibility would be useful, before determining that it would for the times where none of them were with him, since there would come a time for them to separate and do multiple objectives at the same time, just like what they had done in the past. Once that was done, and Jak started to head out of the area by jumping down to the river of lava and using some of the platforms to see if there was a way out of the volcano, though as he did that, and two of his sisters followed after him, Twilight remained near the Dark Satellite as she and Midnight worked together for a time, their magic washing over the area they were in as Jak, Starlight, Cozy, and their Ottsels watched as the Dark Tendrils pulled back not a few seconds later, like everything was being reversed or something, and soon a Dark Satellite rested in front of Twilight, who simply smiled as she stored it inside Midnight's storage area, choosing to suspend it in the air, which would prevent the spread of the tendrils.

Instead of questioning that, since Jak and his sisters were used to the weirdness that came from Twilight and Midnight, as in either one of them working alone or both working together, they jumped down onto some of the moving platforms as their sister followed after them, finding a path that linked up to a tunnel that had been carved through the inside of the volcano, one that seemed to be coiled like a snake and lead to the area the glider had crashed in, something that lead to Jak using the small dark statue to turn invisible and sneak right by the Light Eye that was guarding the Warp Gate, which did cause it to vanish... though once that was done the four of them used the Warp Gate and returned to the temple, but it was followed by them taking a short break before even bothering to head deeper into the temple, as there was no telling what might be waiting for them in the depths.
> Spargus: Into the Temple
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After taking a few moments to rest after what they did inside the volcano, mostly due to the heat of the lava and magma to be exact, Jak found that Twilight was able to tell that a few hours had passed since they arrived at the temple, meaning that it was getting closer to nighttime, though after he learned that piece of information he stood up and quickly walked over to the indent in the wall that housed one of the small Dark Statues, allowing him to turn invisible for a time as his sisters stood there and watched as he likely headed over towards the area that the Light Eye was guarding. Sure enough the door behind the Eye opened and the Eye itself vanished as it realized someone had bypassed its defenses, something that caused the sisters to walk over to where Jak was standing and allowed them to discover that the path the Light Eye had been guarding was a long staircase that seemed to head down into the earth, to their right to be exact and made them wonder what else this temple might have in store for them, especially since it seemed to be a place that the Precursors were worshiped in, by the monks no doubt. On the other side of the door the siblings also found some of the spiders that they found inside Mar's Tomb, or at least ones that had been knocked out by Jak, since he had found them as soon as the door had opened, though once those foes had been taken care of they headed down the steps and kept their weapons at the ready, once more given the fact that this was a place possibly set up by the Precursors or their followers, as tests for those who came in the future, so there was no telling what sort of enemies might be waiting for them as they headed into the depths. As they headed down the stairs it was easy to find a number of spiders walking up towards where the door rested, where Cozy fired off a pair of Reflector blasts and took all of them out, or at least the ones they could see right now, though another thing the siblings discovered was that one of the walls to their left had broken a little, given that a small stream of water was entering the temple and made them wonder if Seem knew about it, though there was a slight chance that they were busy and hadn't gotten to fixing this yet.

At the end of the passage that the stairs rested in the siblings came to a stop the moment they found a decent sized area that could pass as a chamber, though the reason for all of them pausing was due to the Dark Eco vent that was resting in front of them, something none of them had been expecting to find since there were no vents like this in any of the areas they had been through in the past, making them wonder why this was here, especially given the fact that this place was linked to the Precursors, who seemed to prefer Light Eco.

"Gol and Maia likely had a hand in this, as this vent seems newer than the walls around us," Twilight commented, as that was what she could gather from looking around the chamber that she and her siblings had stopped in, mostly to see what in the world this chamber might have in store for all of them, even though it appeared that there was nothing else save for the vent in question, meaning it was just a way for someone who possessed Dark Eco to top off their powers for the next stage of the trials that rested in this place.

Jak considered that for a moment, as he had to agree that the sudden arrival of a Dark Eco vent meant that Gol and Maia, who had tried to spread Dark Eco all over the world, in a really insane way given their dark desire to tear open a Dark Eco Silo, meant they must have found a way to safely do part of their self imposed mission, before he and his sisters headed down the other tunnel that lead even deeper into the temple, as there had to be a trial of some kind waiting for them and all four of them, including Daxter and the disguised Neo Metal Heads, knew that it was only a matter of time until one of the tests revealed itself to them. Not a few seconds later, at the end of the next passage, the siblings found a larger room, in comparison to the one they had just been in away, which had a switch resting in the middle of the area, only it seemed to be guarded by a number of floating robots who seemed like they would fire at someone the moment they stepped out into the area they were in, before noticing that there were two doors in this area, one that was a normal one and one that happened to be the Seal of Mar. As such Twilight had to wonder if there was a connection between this temple and Mar's Tomb, plus everything that was associated with the legendary place in question, before Jak found his way over to another Dark Statue and used it to turn invisible, allowing him to walk out into the middle of the chamber and smash the button into the floor, causing the normal door to open not a few seconds later, though since none of the robots had reacted to his actions he used charged up the Wave Concussor and blasted them all to bits with a full charge. With that done, and he was sure that all of the enemies in this chamber had been smashed to pieces, the siblings headed for the new passage Jak had opened and found that a swarm of spiders happened to be resting in their way, to which Starlight stepped up and just used a bit of magic to form a barrier in front of them, before she created a slot in the front and fired a few Reflector blasts into the area in front of them, taking out all of the spiders in a matter of seconds, which allowed her to bring down the bit of magic she had summoned so they could move forward once more.

That brought them to a large box shaped chamber that seemed to be separated into a number of vertical sections, as the Light Eyes that were in this area summoned barricades to stop them from just walking along the sides of the chamber and bypassing the challenge altogether, though fortunately the path to their left was open and it brought them to where yet another Dark Statue happened to be resting, causing Jak and his sisters to understand what needed to be done to make their way through this part of the temple. As such Twilight weaved a temporary transparent invisibility spell over her and her sisters, that way they wouldn't run into each other or Jak while also remaining unseen by the Light Eye, though once all four of them were ready to go, with Jak being the first one to jump and grab onto the pole that was near where the first of the Dark Statues rested, as they could see that there were a few more resting further ahead of them and meant each one had a short time limit before whoever was using their power was visible again. Of course that could be negated if Jak let Twilight use her magic on him, but he wanted to do things a certain way and she wasn't about to get in his way, hence why he focused on tapping into his new power as he moved forward, swinging from pole to pole as he moved from one side of the chamber to the other, though once he reached the end of the first obstacles the Light Eye faded from existence, which told them that only one of them needed to cross to clear part of this trial, which meant whoever set this test up didn't plan for more than one person tackling the challenges. That fact didn't stop the siblings from replicating what they did with the first section of the obstacle course, doing it three more times so they could reach the other end of the chamber, which did cause the barricades to fall once everyone had completed the challenge, even though Twilight did make a note of a section of one of the walls that looked like it was breakable, meaning they might be coming back here later, though instead of any of them worrying about that they made their way over to the other passage and took it, as they knew that there had to be some sort of clue as to what Seem was talking about in this place, or at least some sort of Precursor statue that might talk to them before they made their way back to their vehicles.

Given the fact that the last couple of passages had spiders inside them the siblings found a large number of them standing in their way, not that it mattered since Twilight charged a Wave Concussor blast in front of her hand and tossed it into the crowd of spiders, blowing all of them away in the process, before they found a smaller chamber that had a sealed vent, an odd thing that caused the siblings to move on, which was followed by all of them finding that they had arrived at a rather massive chamber, with a massive Precursor statue that looked like it had three heads and three different platforms, as in three total trials overall, though they ducked behind a wall, with Twilight covering them with illusion magic, as they heard a pair of voices and found Veger and Seem in part of this chamber.

"I want no excuses!" Veger snapped, his tone revealing that he and Seem must have talked about something in the past, or at least that was what it looked like as they observed the situation, finding that the leader of the monks didn't seem to be flinching as Veger turned on them, though this was exactly what Jak and his sisters were hoping for, information to aid all of them in their plans to save both Haven and Spargus from their enemies, basically save the world from those who might seek to do harm to it, "You told me this could be done. Now make it so!"

"But we have so little time." Seem countered, something that told the siblings even more than what they were expecting to learn while they were hiding in this area, that the Day Star had either come earlier than what Seem and their followers had been expecting, which was entirely possible when Jak and his sisters thought about it, or it was right on time and they were running out of time before it, and whatever it was supposed to bring, reached their world, "The Day Star approaches! You know what it brings!"

"It is unfortunate, yes." Veger replied, his tone suggesting that he must have taken Seem's words in a way that wasn't what they had meant when they decided to speak up, as Jak could see that the ever calm monk had to be getting annoyed with Veger, something which told him and his sisters that whatever deal the pair had forged must have fallen apart, or at least had broken a little, after Seem had learned something, before Veger turned for a moment, "We will deal with that as soon as I have full access to the Catacombs. Just continue your work, and I'll figure out a way to deal with those idiots in Haven... why they sided with that freak and his sisters is beyond me, but since my trap went off they're stuck in this Wasteland and won't be able to mess with any of my plans. Once our obstacles are taken care of you'll be able to meet your makers, just like I promised."

"They have already chosen their representative, they who have Light and Darkness inside them." Seem growled, their tone revealing that they had to be getting angry with Veger, just like Jak and his sisters were at this point in time, though at the same time it was a surprise for the siblings when they heard Seem speak in their defense, like their brief encounters with them had convinced the monk that it was in their best interest to be on Jak's side and not be one of his enemies, especially given the powers that Twilight and her sisters possessed, "Besides, with the Day Star approaching, it would take them too long to turn their attention to someone else... the Four Sages are the key to saving our world, just as the Precursors said, and there's no stopping their actions from bearing fruit."

Veger looked like he wanted to say something, anything really, to counter what Seem had said, though instead of wasting time on that he huffed, turned around, and departed from the chamber by using a passage that seemed to head up to one of the higher levels of the temple, where Seem sighed for a few seconds, as if they were collecting themselves and calming down before they did something drastic, like end Veger's life in some manner for example, before they followed after the arrogant and annoying man who wrecked their transport, though the siblings remained still for a few moments, just to be sure that Veger was gone before they emerged from their hiding spot.

"I wonder what Veger meant by 'Catacombs', because they sure sounded important," Jak commented, where he made sure to keep his voice low as he and his sisters emerged from where they had been hiding, with the illusion spell fading away in the process, allowing them to move around the area and see what else they might be able to learn before heading back to Spargus, since there was a Warp Gate nearby and he suspected that it had to lead back to the temple's entrance, though at the same time he was interested in what his sisters had to say.

"I'm sure its an area we have yet to discover, though if we can get a message to our allies in Haven they can keep an eye on Veger's movements and figure it out," Starlight replied, because that seemed to be the best course of action, given that all of them were stuck in the Wasteland right now, making her wonder if they were going to run into Sig at some point, as he had a way into the city and could deliver the information that they had just discovered, and anything else they might find in the near future, before she noticed something interesting, "though it looks like the platform that's in front of the statue is glowing for some reason."

Jak, Twilight, and Cozy noticed what she was talking about as the Ottsels jumped down to the floor for a moment, which let the siblings walk up to the platform and come to a stop as soon as they reached their destination, where they confirmed that Veger and Seem were no longer in the area, allowing them to turn their full attention on whatever might happen next, as they were hopeful for more information before returning to Spargus, which was when the eyes of the statue lit up, as it meant that whatever the Precursors had left behind was ready to speak with them.

Greetings, great warriors, the statue stated, once more referring to the siblings like they were the shining stars that would save the world, which was sort of true given everything they had done to make sure their world was safe from harm, even if it made Twilight wonder about the whole 'Four Sages' thing that Seem had mentioned, though they remained silent for now as they listened to what the massive statue had to tell them, your return brings us great hope. This planet's future is at a critical juncture. The Dark Ones have found your world again, and fate hangs in the balance where the past and the future collide. To do that, you will need all the power you can muster to face this danger... step into the light and allow us to awaken your dormant powers.

Jak and his sisters stepped into the light that the Precursor statue was providing right now and closed their eyes for a few moments as they felt some sort of power wrap around them, lifting them into the air as the statue worked its power on all four of them, though Jak was the first one to land after floating in place for a short period of time, where he found that his Dark Eco, and his Dark Form for that matter, had been brought into balance by the awakening of the Light Eco inside him and whatever abilities that might have come with that. Once Jak was done, and he was feeling far better now that his Dark Eco was in balance, causing him to turn towards his sisters for a moment as Cozy started to lower down to where he and their Ottsels happened to be standing, though as her light faded he found that she was now sporting a pair of wings, ones that were nothing like the ones Midnight had even though they were feathered, he guessed like a pegasus if he thought about some of Samos' old stories, black feathers on her right and light blue on her left. Starlight followed Cozy a couple of seconds later, where Jak found that she had a horn in the middle of her forehead, like a unicorn, once more another story Samos had told them about, which also shared the her body's coloration, before she opened her eyes and Jak found that there were three rings around her eyes, as in all three of them rested in her sclera, and she carried a black staff in her right hand, which had a looped top and possessed six rings, each being a different color that represented the six Eco powers in their world, meaning her true power had to be incredible. When Twilight emerged, however, there were six of her standing in front of them, causing everyone's jaws to drop for a few moments, as there was their main sister, who had a light blue hue to her hair, eyes, and on the edges of her body, reflecting the Light Eco that had been awakened inside her, while to her right stood Midnight in all her dark glory, Twilight's Dark Eco manifested, before they found a blue skinned Twilight off to her left, with dark blue hair, and a green skinned version of her, who had light green hair, further down the line, while to Midnight's right stood a red skinned Twilight, who had dark red hair, and a yellow version with wheat colored hair down at the end of that side of the line.

The interesting fact was that all six Twilights now possessed their own wings, Midnight having raven wings while the other five had feathered wings, much like Cozy's pegasus wings, which possessed a coloration that matched their skin color, and all of them had horns as well, again the color matching their body color while the five Twilight's had unicorn horns, which were different than Midnight's once more... though once all six of them opened their eyes a light washed over them and all five of the additional Twilight's disappeared, leaving their sister behind, though she had rings around her eyes, with Light, Blue, and Green Eco resting in her left eye while Dark, Red, and Yellow Eco resided in her right eye, even though Jak was sure that all six Twilights had the rings in their eyes, likely reflecting their types of Eco.

"Geez, what sort of powers did you guys unlock?" Daxter asked, because he was sure that the Precursor statue must have awakened three slumbering goddesses, or at least that was what someone in Haven City might think if they witnessed this sort of thing, though his question was also directed towards the statue, in the sense that maybe this was to be blamed on the Precursors and what they did to the sisters, but even as he said, and considered what had happened, he realized what Seem had said was correct, as he was standing in the presence of the Four Sages, where he had to guess they were all, in their own way, Prism Sages or something, given that they could use all six types of Eco.

"I have the feeling that the next time we get into a fight, we'll find out." Alvin replied, though he was amazed by the sudden transformation Jak and his sisters had just experienced thanks to the Precursor statue, one that seemed to be dying down without saying anything else, though his brothers nodded their heads, showing that they agreed with his statement while they stared at the siblings for a few moments, where the sisters seemed to be looking over their bodies while feeling the new powers that had been awakened inside them.

Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy nodded their heads as well, showing that they also agreed with the statement, something that was followed by them heading over to where the Warp Gate rested and used it to travel back up to the temple's entrance, just like they assumed it would, before heading outside as the Ottsels returned to their usual perches, though this time Alvin and his brothers found that the sisters didn't want to use their vehicles this time around, especially since Twilight did take a moment to move hers back into her storage area before doing the same with Starlight's and Cozy's. Once that was done, and Jak was ready to go, the sisters took to the air, two of them flying with their new wings while Starlight used her levitation powers to follow after her siblings, causing Jak to chuckle for a moment as he engaged the Dune Hopper not a few seconds later and headed down the path that would bring him and Daxter back to the path that brought them to the monk's temple, all so they could quickly make their way back to Spargus. One thing Jak noticed as he did that, when his attention wasn't on jumping over the gaps and making his way over the path in question, was that it seemed to be in the process of getting dark out, meaning it had to be afternoon, though what surprised him and Daxter was that it looked like another storm was forming nearby, one that seemed larger than the last ones they had seen, making them wonder if this was common in the Wasteland, that the dangerous sandstorms raged frequently. Of course he knew that Twilight or even Starlight would ask about this sort of thing when they returned to Spargus, since their father had to know the answer, but for now his focus was on getting back to the city, before he was caught by the storm, though as he did that his sisters flew through the air and seemed to be enjoying themselves in their own way, where he noticed that Twilight paused for a few seconds and stared at the storm, no doubt noting where it was and how much time they had before it reached the walls of Spargus, before moving onward once more.

When they got back to Spargus the siblings found that all of the Wastelanders were rushing to get indoors and make sure everything was locked down, to make sure none of the dreadful sand got inside their houses or the areas that the food or livestock were stored in, though as they headed over to where the lift to the Palace was located it was easy for all of them to hear an alarm going off as everyone in the city moved, and sure enough their father was standing near his throne when they arrived in the chamber that he worked from and he happened to be holding onto a device that looked like a Security Pass that had been modified in some manner.

"Attention all people of Spargus: A large storm is heading our way! Prepare the city!" Damas stated, confirming what they had seen while they were making their way up to the Palace, that a massive storm was definitely heading for Spargus and that everyone was ensuring that everything was up to the standards that he had implemented back when they first set up this city, before he noticed them enter the throne room, relieved to see that they were safe, which caused him to quickly switch off the communicator for a few moments, "Jak, Twilight, Starlight, Cozy, and friends, I'm sure that you have news on whatever you were doing after helping Kleiver out, but now isn't the time for stories. Our scans indicate that there are four Wastelanders, who went out on other missions, that haven't reported in. I need you to go out and find them. Do whatever it takes to bring them back!"

"Send us their last known coordinates and we'll make sure to find them, or recover their bodies," Jak replied, to which the group turned around as soon as they heard what their father wanted, which made them wonder if the missing warriors might be some of his more loyal followers, back from his days ruling over Haven City, before he considered what he and his sisters had gone through and took a moment to glance back at his father as his Light Eco came to the surface, where he could see that Damas was stunned, "I'll give you a glimpse of what happened to us, but we'll tell you everything as soon as we get back."

As Damas and Pecker stared at them in shock, as the latter was almost always at their father's side, Jak and his sisters just retraced their steps back to the garage and returned to their vehicles, as Twilight returned them to where they had been resting before they went to explore the volcano and the temple, though once everyone was ready, and Daxter confirmed that they had been given the coordinates for the four missing Wastelanders, with the fifth being a location for them to be dropped off in, Jak quickly opened the main gate and headed out with his sisters a few seconds before him. At first none of them found anything that might be related to the storm, all while heading to where they faced the first Metal Beasts that Kleiver had told them about, but once they were halfway though that area the siblings discovered that the winds were, in fact, picking up and sand was starting to fly, meaning the Wastelanders that were out here were definitely in danger and if they weren't fast enough something bad would happen to them. Once they reached what appeared to be the edge of the area that the four warriors were located in Jak and his sisters separated from each other, each one taking one of the four locations, where Jak took the first one and found that his target was resting at the top of a hill that rested near where they took down the Metal Beasts, to which Daxter switched over to his shoulder not a few seconds later as he came to a stop near their target, allowing the Wastelander to climb into the vehicle before heading in the direction of the fifth icon, which he and his sisters would be heading to once they found their targets. Sure enough he found a transport, likely the same one that the Leaper Lizards had been loaded into earlier, before Kleiver gave them access to the Dune Hopper, though not a few moments later Starlight, whose target had been resting in a sunken area near the river that cut through this part of the Wasteland, drove up and weaved her magic around the transport as the warrior she assisted climbed out and headed into the waiting vehicle, though her power was to keep them safe from the sandstorm. Cozy arrived a few moments after that, revealing that she had run into some Marauders, which was insane since they should have known about the dangers of the storm, before finding that her target had been near where Starlight had been, though when she and Starlight felt a change in the magic in the air it meant that Twilight had to either be in trouble or was fighting something.

As such Jak and his sisters headed out in the direction that Twilight had gone in and quickly found out what had happened when she reached her target, that she discovered her target had been killed, holding onto a Dark Eco Crystal no less, but a Dark Satellite also floated nearby and seemed to be a danger to them, though the reality of the situation was that Midnight was in the middle of using her magic to tear it apart and store all of its components into separate containers as two other Twilights, the main one and the green one, where checking on the fallen Wastelander, no doubt to see if they could save him, before Green faded back into Twilight. Once that was done Midnight sealed the rest of the Dark Satellite in her large storage area, no doubt so she could work on it later, before she merged with Twilight once more as she caused the fallen Wastelander to float so it could be delivered to the transport, though she also salvaged some Marauder vehicles before she joined her siblings in heading back to the area that the vehicle from Spargus was resting in, that way their father could know that they found all four of them, even if one had been slain. With that done the siblings headed back to Spargus with the transport following not a few seconds behind them, almost as if the driver understood that they were safer with them and shouldn't take chances by heading out all alone, which was a smart move to make since it meant that they could open fire on any stupid Marauders that might try to get in their way and open the path that would bring them to Spargus, while the storm continued to get closer and closer to where the city rested. Even with those obstacles Jak and his sisters were able to get back to Spargus without much delay, and before the storm struck the city, to which they made sure that those who had been aboard the transport were able to enter the city easily, while leaving the fallen Wastelander for a later time, as in when the storm had passed over this part of the Wasteland and they were no longer under any danger, before they found that everyone was fine and departed for the Palace.

Once everyone was inside the Palace, and Damas was sure that everyone was accounted for, Spargus' lockdown went into effect as they waited for this storm to come to an end, though in the meantime Jak and his sisters told him and Pecker all about everything they had found in the volcano, as well as promising that they would tell Seem about their monks, though once that part of their tale was over, and the pair had an understanding on what had been discovered, Jak moved into the part about the powers that his sisters unlocked, despite the fact that he knew it was going to take a long time to convince Damas that everything was fine, which he was okay with since it meant that they could wait out the storm and not be bored out of their minds.
> Spargus: New Excitement
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

What Jak and his sisters discovered was that it took an entire day for the storm to dissipate, as in they spent the rest of the day that they spent exploring the volcano and the temple, plus the whole day following it, stuck inside Spargus as everyone waited for this storm to be over, even though Damas did reveal that it was strange for a storm to last this long, something that the siblings and their Ottsels understood since the last couple had been over in an hour or two, though this one was far longer than the others. Another thing they learned was that it was highly unusual for the Wasteland to have three storms like this, due to the fact that there had been one just after they arrived, one following him allowing them to start using the vehicles in the garage, and now this one, the strongest one that he and the rest of Spargus had experienced so far, making Twilight wonder if they might have picked a bad time to visit the Wasteland, given the fact that they had back to back storms. Damas really didn't have much to say about what was going on, other than everything he had shared with them so far, allowing them to move onto showing him and Pecker the powers that they unlocked and, at the same time, a couple of thoughts that each sister had on their new power, even though it was easy for them to see that what had happened to both Starlight and Twilight was far more shocking than what they were expecting, especially since the latter could summon five other versions of herself, though they required more testing to figure out all of the powers that each of them had just unlocked. Even Pecker was caught off guard by this turn of events, even if he was used to them finding a way to gain some unusual powers and doing what many considered to be an impossible task, such as assaulting the Metal Head Nest and taking down Kor, on his home turf no less, so he guessed that this was in the realm of what they were capable of and suspected that they would learn more about things once they had a chance to figure out how to find their way to one of the other two platforms the siblings had seen inside the temple.

Of course neither Damas or Pecker had any idea what Seem might have meant by 'Four Sages', as the only Sages that the world knew about where the ones who focused on a single Eco type, like how Samos was the Green Sage and how Gol and Maia had been the Dark Sages, though whatever the head monk had mentioned was unknown to them, meaning that the siblings either had to wait and speak with Seem, who seemed to be warming up to them, or they needed to find a way into the trials that would bring them to the other platforms and whatever information might have been left by the Precursors in the distant past.

While they waited for the storm to be over the siblings did a few things, where Jak, for the most part, either relaxed and stared out at the city, by using the large windows that were located around their father's throne, or he sparred with his father, just to see how strong he was with his staff, though neither of them were trying to seriously hurt the other, which made them wonder if another Arena challenge might be coming up and decided that such a thing would be good for their plans, since it would allow the people of Spargus to accept them. Twilight and Starlight, on the other hand, actually used a portal to travel to the storage area that Midnight had set up a long time ago, find that it seemed to be a twisted and dark version of a forest, or at least a portion of it was since she also had an area set aside for working on mechanical items, like the vehicles she had created earlier, though there also happened to be another section that housed the Dark Satellites she had obtained so far, each one looking like they had been pulled apart as she studied them. For the most part the pair was going to join Midnight in her studies of the Dark Artifacts that Seem was trying to collect, so their world didn't suffer, even though their would be much safer if Seem allowed her to take all of the dark items they were trying to keep away from all of those who sought to do their world harm, though for now she seemed content to focus on the artifacts she had claimed so far, even though she was planning on claiming one of the Dark Statues the next time they visited the temple, to add it to her growing collection. While they did that Cozy either joined Jak in his training, since it allowed her to tap into her own powers again and regain the control she once had, or just meditating over in a corner for some time, getting in tune with what had happened to her, especially when one considered the fact that she now had wings and had to get used to them whenever she fought someone, something she didn't have to do back when she and her siblings were fighting through the dangers of Haven City, though she did know that, in time, she would be more in tune with her powers than ever before, and their foes would be in great danger when it finally happened.

When the second morning came around, however, Damas and his children discovered that the storm was over, that they had weathered it and now were able to continue on with their lives, at least until the next one came and caused a repeat of what they had just experienced, to which he informed them that he needed to make sure everyone was fine, before he even considered handing them another job, though he did comment on the fact that he originally had Kleiver make sure the city's gun was ready for him to test one of them on, causing them to nod and head down to the streets, where it took all of them no time to make their way to the section of Spargus that faced the water and quickly found the fat Wastelander standing near the gun they had seen earlier.

"Isn't it time for you ankle-biters' naps?" Kleiver asked, though it was clear that this was him attempting to make a joke, or at least something to that effect since he chuckled at his own words, even though he also showed that he was older than all four of them, as his choice of words either meant someone who was shorter than them or someone who might be a tad bit younger than the speaker, but he also knew not to push his luck with them, not after everything they had shown him since arriving in Spargus.

"I mean, we just spent an entire day resting, so napping is kind of useless right now." Daxter stated, because while he and the disguised Ottsels hadn't had a lot of stuff to do while they were trapped inside the Palace, just like how everyone was stuck inside their homes during the storm, though right now he didn't want to deal with Kleiver right now and just wanted to get this over with so they could figure out what else they needed to do before their third and final round in the Arena was called, since it had to be soon based on everything he had seen, before he focused on the fat man, "The King said that you wanted to see us, something about testing a gun?"

"Aye, that I did. That gun turret used to be the only thing that stood between us and the desert's cruel kiss." Kleiver stated, where he beckoned to the stone pillar that rested nearby, to the large gun that rested on top of it to be exact, giving them enough time to glance towards it as they determined that he must have fixed it up and made it ready for a potential test, even if the storm had stopped his plans from happening and possibly forced him to dig some sand out before their father told them about this, "I'm currently the tall poppy on that baby, as I hold the highest score. The King wanted me to test you and see if you could beat my score."

"Sure, I'm game." Jak replied, to which he stepped forward as his sisters remained where Kleiver was standing, where he focused on heading over the stone bridge that was in front of him and then climbed up the ladder that lead him up to the area that the gun turret rested in, allowing him and Daxter to see just how far the opening extended and how much ocean boarded this part of the Wasteland, far more than what they originally assumed anyway, before he climbed into the seat of the weapon and readied himself for whatever test Kleiver had set up.

What Jak discovered was that a number of metallic disks were loosed out of the water and moved into the sky, meaning he would earn some points off if he missed them, to which he fired at the three colored versions of the disks that happened to be his targets, most of them being orange colored, a good bit being blue, and a few were green, with the more common color being the lower point targets and the rare ones having more points, though after a few minutes he had thrashed and beaten Kleiver's score, before he was counted out, and once that was done he climbed out and headed down to where his sisters were waiting for him.

"You walloped my score... I'm not even surprised at this point." Kleiver said, his tone showing that he had been hoping that this test would have tripped them up or something, to show that a newcomer wasn't capable of overcoming a veteran of the Wasteland, but at the same time he was showing them that he understood that his earlier thoughts about them were wrong and that he had to come to terms with the fact that they were a benefit to Spargus, before he pulled out a Light Eco Crystal and handed it to Jak, "Law of the land says that the top gunner of our city holds a special trophy, in honor of their skill, so for the time being this crystal is yours... but, if I'm being honest, I'm not sure that I'll be able to beat your score, not after what I just witnessed. Also, you might want to head over to the Arena... last I heard you'll be having a skilled foe to fight in the Arena as your final challenge."

Jak and his sisters raised their eyebrows for a moment before making their way back to the Arena, as it made sense that their father wouldn't tell them about this since it was supposed to be a surprise, and sure enough they found that the rest of the Arena had been filled with everyone from Spargus, meaning this was supposed to energize everyone before more people were sent out to do whatever missions they were given, to which they came to a stop on the main platform as they found both Damas and Pecker waiting on the throne. This time around Jak and his sisters found that there were no new weapon mods to be added to their arsenal, meaning that if they had been stripped of their weapons this must have been when they would have gained the Vulcan Barrel, though none of them were disappointed by such a thing, especially given their new powers from the temple, though once their father declared that the next round of games had started, and that they would become Wastelanders if they succeeded, the siblings descended onto the new platforms that had been set up for this event. What they discovered was that this time around the platform they would be fighting on was the exterior of a square and the two lines that connected the edges, which meant it was the inverse of what happened during their second Arena challenge, where Jak faced the north, Cozy took watch over the south, Twilight turned her gaze on the east, and the west was left to Starlight, though it wasn't long before the Marauders jumped down onto the platform and rushed over to where the siblings were standing, each wave coming from multiple directions. Jak focused on blasting his targets for a few moments, though when a lucky hit struck him he found that his new Light Eco power washed over his shoulder, the one that Daxter didn't sit on, and healed his wound in a matter of seconds, which was rather interesting as he determined that his sisters would likely call it 'Light Regeneration', though since it seemed to distract the Marauders that had been rushing at him he blasted them backwards and opened the way for him to focus on any other enemies as his sisters tore down all of the enemies that were coming at him.

As he expected Cozy shifted into what now appeared to be a hybrid form, as it resembled her Dark Form despite the fact that one side of her was definitely channeling Dark Eco while the other side focused on Light Eco, the latter on her left side and the former covering her right side, and her enemies fell with ease, even though she seemed to be more in control this time around, meaning whatever the Precursor statue had done to her had given her the bit of power she needed to stay in control of her Dark Form. Starlight, on the other hand, used her new staff to parry incoming attacks from the Marauders who challenged her, spinning it around like she had a lot more experience with such a thing, even though Jak and both of their sisters knew that this was the first time such a weapon had touched her hands, despite the fact that she was able to channel her Eco powers as she blasted some of her opponents backwards, usually focusing on both Red and Yellow Eco to do such a thing, leaving the other four types for whenever she needed to use them. Twilight moved around her side with a new grace that she didn't have before, likely due to the arrival of her new wings, though for right now it looked like one of her other sides was aiding her and that it happened to be Midnight, not that Jak was surprised by that, though he could see that his father and Pecker were still surprised by such a thing and knew that their allies in Haven would likely think the same thing when they witnessed this, plus the fact that she had four more versions of herself that could be called out into battle, or for whatever reason she called them to her side. Jak was sure that there might be more to Twilight's new power than what they had seen so far, besides each one having access to a different type of Eco and their various abilities, but at the moment he wasn't about to question her decisions as she and Midnight knocked their enemies off the platform and moved onto some of the other foes that they were fighting, but as that happened Jak had to wonder what sort of foe their father had prepared for all of them, or maybe for one of them since four on one would make it impossible for an enemy to win, though as he considered that Jak jumped over to one of the rising platforms and was surprised to find that Sig, of all people, happened to be in the Arena.

Normally one would assume that they were supposed to kill each other, even though Sig understood that challenging the four of them was a death sentence, even one of the four was next to impossible for someone like him, though Jak did have an idea on how they could break that rule as he beckoned for Sig to come at him as he switched his Morph Gun for Mar's sword and then lashed out at the skilled Wastelander, who noticed what he was up to and used the edge of his weapon's handle to parry the attack, even though it did seem like he understood Jak's strength and suspected that this might be a fight he might not win. Jak suspected that if he switched to just hand to hand combat he would prove to be the victor in a matter of moments, since Sig seemed to be more of a brawler and focused on his Peacemaker, as that was what he called his weapon even though the name of the weapon mod it was based on was split in half, so sticking to their main weapons, Jak's sword and Sig's staff, meant that neither of them had the upper hand and it was more fair in the eyes of Damas, and it also served as a source of entertainment for the people of Spargus. Damas found that his daughters made sure to take out all of the remaining Marauders, of which he noticed that there weren't too many more, before switching his gaze over to Jak and Sig, who clashed with each other and carefully moved around the area that they happened to be be in, where he could see what his son was up to, that he wanted an even battle that didn't end with either one using bullets to take each other out, something that caused him to mentally nod his head as he watched them clash. As he expected, however, Jak gained the upper hand in no time, something that Sig was either aware of and decided not to act on or he wasn't aware of such a thing, where he had to believe that the former had to be the correct one, though he seemed to be the only one that noticed such a thing, especially since everyone else cheered as Sig and Jak clashed with each other, but while they fought each other he noticed that nothing happened to the Precursor alloy blade his son was using, meaning Sig's chances were decreasing as time went on.

Sure enough it wasn't long before Jak knocked Sig backwards and pinned him to the floor of the platform, though instead of finishing him off, like he was another Marauder, he paused for a moment and glanced up at where Damas was resting right now, where Damas considered what was going on and knew that, as the King, he did have the final say on matters of life or death and he could see that everyone happened to be waiting for him to come to a decision, though it didn't wasn't long before he stood up and held his right thumb up. Sure enough everyone seemed overjoyed that Sig would survive and see another day, even though he would have words with him before he was allowed to leave Spargus, though as Jak took a moment to help his friend up, where Sig seemed surprised by this turn of events and was going with the flow, Damas had Pecker fly down and informed them that he wanted to see the five of them in his throne room before any of them left the city, something that was followed by the group nodding their heads as Pecker returned to his side. As such Damas quickly departed from the Arena and headed back over to the lift that would allow him to return to the Palace, to prepare for the swift arrival of both his children and Sig, especially since he would need to punish them with a mission to ensure that all of Spargus' people understood that being spared in the Arena meant he would speak to whoever he spared and, as such, he would be punishing them according to what was happening in the Wasteland. Not a few moments later, after he returned to his throne and turned so he could be standing in front of it once those he needed to talk to arrived in this room, the lift moved back down to the bottom of the passage and his children, accompanied by Sig of course, used it to reach where he was waiting, meaning they must have come as soon as he was gone and had been only a few seconds behind him, though he and Pecker said nothing as the group came to a stop in front of his throne, everyone looking like they were waiting to hear what he had to tell them.

"While I approve of your actions, Jak, it does come with some consequences," Damas stated, as he wanted to get this over with so he could return his attention to something else, such as a number of dangers that he might send his children after in the near future, though he could see that Jak and his sisters understood that this was more of a necessary event and if he could get away without punishing them he would, to which he sighed for a moment, "such as the fact that, despite all the skill that you and your sisters showed in the Arena, none of you completed the challenge and that means you have failed to earn the third fragment of your Battle Amulet."

"I understand." Jak replied, as he and his sisters really had no idea what sort of rules existed in Spargus, save for the ones that their father had mentioned so far, and he suspected that his actions in the Arena could have caused something like this to happen, though he was curious as to what their father would do and what sort of punishment he would dish out to them, something that Sig seemed to be waiting for.

"Sig, it would seem that your time in Haven City has made you soft, as I expected more from you," Damas added, as part of the reason he had chosen to allow Sig into the third Arena challenge was because he was one of the greatest warriors that Spargus had produced since it was founded, even though he had suspected that Jak and his sisters would have beat him in battle, though he honestly expected more from the warrior, who simply nodded his head and showed that he did agree with his statement, "however, your time as my spy in Haven City has earned you a chance at redemption. We have received word that there is a nest of Metal-pedes not too far from here, and that they have been harassing our artifact carriers for some time, though we have only now discovered the location of this nest. I want you to drive into the heart of the nest and take out all the creatures you find inside, and my children will accompany you... I'd say good luck, but then luck won't help you, not when you have everything you need."

Jak noted that Sig seemed surprised, that none of them reacted to him being revealed as Damas' spy, even though he did have a feeling they had suspected such a thing at one point in time, though that was when they departed from the throne room and headed for the garage, something that caused Sig to climb into one of the vehicles that was more like a tank, a vehicle called the Gila Stomper and seemed to have a machine gun on top of it, though it had more than enough room for all of them, with Jak and Sig sitting at the front while Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy remained in the area that was just below the main weapon as they departed from Spargus.

"You know, I should have known you four were Damas' kids... I mean, you guys were talking about time travel with Samos during the celebration party," Sig commented, meaning it had taken him a while to piece that puzzle together, especially since it looked like it had been his job to track down and extract their younger selves before the Metal Heads broke into Haven City, a mission that he was now unable to complete since Jak and his sisters had forged a closed loop by sending all of their younger selves back into the past, though as he said that he drove up a hill as he tracked down the location that they had been given, seemingly heading for the ruined city, "still, I'll leave all of the technical stuff to you and Keira, as I'm sure that all of the terms and definitions would go right over my head."

"You could always ask us to explain things to you," Twilight replied, though as she said that she glanced at her siblings and all of them seemed to be thinking the same thing right now, Sig had mentioned Keira and it was making them take a few moments to wonder if something had happened to Haven City while they were gone, something that was followed by all of them focusing on their mission as they faced the area that was in front of them, where it was easy to see that they were heading for the ruined city, "So Sig, has anything happened to the city since we left?"

"War broke out, that's what happened. The KG Robots launched an assault on our forces, while some possessed Metal Heads pushed us out of another section and claimed it as their own," Sig replied, his statement revealing that the event all of them had been preparing for, in addition to the expedition that brought them out here in the first place, had occurred while they were out in the Wasteland, that whoever set the war in motion had waited for Jak and his sisters to be stuck in this place, so they wouldn't interfere with the war that was currently raging in Haven City, "and, to top it all off, someone launched a missile at the support structure for the Palace, shattering it and bringing it to the ground... Haven is a war zone right now, and the Baron is doing everything in his power to keep everyone else safe."

Jak and his sisters remained silent as they heard that, as they had been expecting a war to break out at some point, since it sure seemed like the new KG Robots would have started it at some point, but this news wasn't what they wanted to hear right now, not when there wasn't an easy way for them to get back to Haven City and sort the war out, meaning they had to figure out a way to get back to the city and take some time off from hanging out in the Wasteland, though he felt that a meeting with their father might be appropriate at this point in time. As he thought about that, however, Sig came to a stop on the right side of the ruined city, revealing a number of Metal Head eggs and caused the disguised Neo Metal Heads to shake their heads again, as something was messing with their power to connect with those who lived in the Wasteland, as in the Metal Heads, and caused them to step down as Sig let Jak take control of the vehicle, while he charged up a blast of his Peace Maker mod for a few seconds, before blasting the way open. With that done Jak headed down the tunnel that was on the other side of the area that the eggs had been covering, eggs Sig had destroyed before returning to his seat in the vehicle, though while he headed down the tunnel they discovered a mass of small orange colored creatures that did look like they wanted to latch onto the vehicle and drain it dry, to which Twilight weaved her power around their ride and created a shock barrier of sorts, preventing any of the creatures from getting close to them, especially the ones that tried to come up from underground. Not a few moments later they reached what appeared to be the main chamber, which was a massive cavern that rested below the Wasteland and had a few Metal-pedes for them to worry about, or at least those Metal Heads seemed to be absent and had left their eggs behind, to which Starlight stepped up for a moment as she just raised her right hand and ripped one of them out of where it was resting, much to Sig's amazement, before she hurled it right into another one, blowing both targets up in the process, though while they focused on the main chamber Cozy took a moment to spread her wings and flew down the other passage, where Jak heard the sounds of things being ruined and suspected that his sister was taking care of business.

Once they regrouped, and confirmed that all ten eggs had been taken care of with no Metal-pedes showing up, they found a green gas was starting to fill the cavern, which Twilight easily protected them from with her magic, even if Jak knew that she and Midnight were taking samples for later, before they headed through the passage that brought them down to this cavern in the first place, allowing them to return to the surface and use the Communicator to inform Damas that the nest had been cleared, while letting him know that the Metal-pedes didn't show up, so he'd have to keep an eye out for them in the future, but with that done they traveled back to Spargus as the siblings wondered what in the world they were going to do about the war in Haven City, even though Jak knew they would figure something out in due time.
> Spargus: Back to the Temple
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

While Jak drove back to Spargus, and his sisters focused on making sure none of the Marauders were able to hit them with their bullets, Sig explained the situation in Haven City in greater detail, that it wasn't long after they lost contact with their transport that the war started, meaning that Veger had to be involved since he went out of his way to make sure they were stuck out here, and he revealed that the Baron and the others were trying their hardest to protect the city, but based on all the things Sig had seen it was like both sides had been waiting for Jak and his sisters to be disposed before launching their attack, so getting them back to Haven would turn the tide in no time.

Jak... this is Ashelin. a voice said, where the siblings found that it came from the Communicator that they carried with them at all times, just in case someone happened to give them a mission while one or more of them happened to be out in the field, or the Wasteland in this instance, though this meant that Ashelin was trying to make contact with all of them, be it from Haven City, since it seemed like there might be some interference, though there was a chance that she was near the Wasteland and her location had some problems, Due to the situation in Haven, I sent Sig out to make sure you guys made it to your destination and gave him a device to press if he found you... listen, I've got to see you immediately, and by the time you get this communication I should be landing outside the Oasis... please, come find us.

"Wait, 'us'? She must be referring to Keira," Jak commented, something that caused his sisters to nod their heads, as they knew that if Ashelin was planning on coming out to the Wasteland, to check on them and likely tell them what in the world was happening to Haven City right now, it was highly likely that Keira would have joined her in her mission and wouldn't take no for an answer, something that caused him to chuckle for a moment as he realized that he would be reuniting with his girlfriend a lot sooner than they had originally planned.

Sig, understanding that he was going to be dropped off in Spargus, said nothing as Jak returned to the garage of Spargus, allowing him to park the tank vehicle before he climbed into the Sand Shark while his sisters floated in the air nearby, so once he was ready to leave, and Sig headed into the city to speak with Damas about any potential training he could do to improve his abilities, Jak headed outside and made his way towards the area that the Oasis was located in, where Twilight told him it was near where she had found the slain Wastelander. Of course, thanks to the storm that had been forming at the time, she didn't have a lot of time to actually check out the Oasis she had spotted, even though Midnight had done in all of the enemies that had been in the area at the time, but Jak was fine with that since he was sure that it was just a few trees and a pool of drinkable water, something that made him wonder if more places like that could be added to the rest of the Wasteland, before deciding that he would think about it later, once they found Ashelin. Sure enough they found all sorts of Marauders between them and the area that Ashelin planned on landing in, something that caused Cozy to fall out of the air and smash her targets right into some of the rocks that were around them or just crush them into the ground, all while Twilight continued to gather the fallen bits of metal, for whatever she and Midnight were up to, even though Jak was of the opinion that this was just a way to keep Midnight distracted until Twilight needed her help, though he decided not to question it as he focused on moving through the Wasteland. Other than that there was nothing out here to stop the group from reaching the area that was their destination, as despite their lack of real knowledge on the landscape of this section of the Wasteland, again due to the storm that had covered part of this area, they were following Twilight as she flew above them, even though Starlight and Cozy were close to Jak and Daxter in case some additional Marauders bothered them, and she could see everything around them as she retraced the path they took when they departed from this area, after finding the last Wastelander and his Dark Eco Crystal.

Thanks to her efforts they were able to find the area that Ashelin had mentioned, a decent sized pool of water that had a mountain range protecting part of it, which had a number of palm trees around the outer edge of it, though what Jak and his sisters were interested in was the fact that there was a cruiser resting near it, a blue one that reflected the colors of the Freedom League, where they found Ashelin standing nearby and Keira happened to be sitting in the right seat, since they knew that the left seat was reserved for the pilot, where Jak came to a stop near them as his sisters landed and walked up to the Oasis.

"Keira!" Jak said, his tone revealing that he was excited to see her again, even though they weren't planning on this event happening in the first place, while at the same time his sisters were happy to see both Keira and Ashelin again, since it let them gain some information on what was happening in Haven City, as in more than what Sig had told them earlier, though after he climbed out of the Sand Shark he ran up to the cruiser as Keira climbed out of it, something that lead to the pair embracing without delay.

"She insisted on coming along, once she heard that we needed to talk," Ashelin stated, something that caused Twilight and her sisters to nod her heads in agreement, as Jak and Keira were definitely in love and it was hard for them not to show it whenever they were near each other, and this was just proof of that, though at the same time they glanced at her for a few seconds and waited for her to inform them of whatever was happening in Haven City, "I'll be brief: Veger is trying to take down both the Council and my father, to steal the power of our military for his own purposes, and he has denied our past attempts to send a transport out to find you guys... makes me glad that Damas keeps taps on the old beacons, though you would have survived even if he didn't come across the four of you. My father and I are doing everything in our power to make sure everything remains how you left it, but with Veger butting into everything our forces are suffering under, well, a divided house, as my father called it..."

"We heard that the Palace was taken out, though we did overhear Veger talking not that long ago and he mentioned that he blew up our transport to strand us here," Twilight remarked, though what Ashelin told them meant that Veger was just a pain in everyone's back and that he needed to be removed at some point in time, before she glanced up at the sky for a few seconds and knew that Ashelin was following her gaze, no doubt wondering what in the world she was looking at right now, to which she sighed, "oh, and apparently something called the Day Star is closing in on our planet, a threat that we'll be fighting at some point in the near future, so the Precursors..."

In that moment, before Twilight had a chance to finish her statement, they found a number of Marauder vehicles heading towards the Oasis and the Sand Shark, meaning they must have intercepted the message Ashelin had sent them and knew where to head, to see what sort of loot they could acquire from someone who was coming from Haven, though this was a mistake on their end as the siblings stepped forward to deal with them. Cozy happened to be the first one to step forward as she crossed the distance between them and their enemies, where she smashed her fist into one of the vehicles, stalling it in the process, before she lifted it up into the air a few seconds later and swung it into another buggy, smashing both of them to pieces as her siblings found that a number of Marauders were rushing at them on foot, either because they had seen her actions or this was how they wanted to attack them. Of course she knew that such a thing was still a wrong move in the grand scheme of things, as those who dared to approach Ashelin and Keira were stopped by Jak, who pulled out his sword as he popped a few Blue Eco bullets, downing the contents to empower himself before he rushed towards his own enemies and discovered that none of them were expecting him to do such a thing, allowing him to swing his sword and knock them out in due time, as he managed to bypass their defenses and downed each of his foes. Starlight raised a hand and crushed one of the buggies that was coming their way, while at the same time using a bit of magic to make sure none of the bullets reached where she was standing, though one Marauder dared to swing his blade at her and she parried it with her new staff, something that allowed her to flip the warrior up onto his back and knocked the wind out of him with a quick swing of the weapon in question. Twilight, however, just stood near the pair that came from Haven City and used a barrier to make sure neither of them were harmed over the course of this battle, even though she suspected that this was a waste of her magic since she could see that none of the Marauders were even getting close to where they were standing at the moment, to which she sighed as Midnight stepped out and focused on gathering the metallic pieces that Jak and their sisters left behind as they tore their enemies apart.

In the end Jak and his sisters succeeded in clearing out the Marauders, something Twilight verified by taking to the air not a few moments later and noticed that no more buggies were coming their way, though once that was done they gathered around where Ashelin and Keira were standing, who were shocked by everything they had just seen and knew that what had happened to the siblings, being stranded in the Wasteland, had actually been a good thing for them, since it would let them do good things when they returned to Haven City.

"Well, its good to see that your brief time in the Wasteland hasn't dulled your skills," Ashelin commented, though she had a smile on her face while she said that, because she knew that Jak and his sisters had been skilled before they left to seek out their father and his city, but after seeing three of them in action, while thinking about what Twilight might be capable of, she knew that they were far stronger than they had been previously and this told her that allowing them to head out for their expedition had been a good thing for those in Haven City, "so, when can I expect the four of you to return to the city, now that you've met your father?"

"Soon. First, we'll tell Damas about the situation in Haven, then we'll head to a nearby Precursor temple, as it might have something we can use to get back to Haven without Veger figuring our plans out," Jak replied, something that caused his sisters to nod their heads for a moment, as they agreed with his decision and knew that informing Damas would mean he would be able to provide some sort of interference for the rest of Spargus, at least until they were back in the city and had a chance to set up a new transport to ferry them between Haven and the Wasteland.

"I'll hold you to it... oh, and before I forget, I have something for you," Keira said, to which she turned around and leaned into the cruiser that was behind her and Ashelin, showing that she was searching for something specific, though it didn't take her long to pull herself out of the vehicle again as she turned to face them, producing the JET-Board in all its glory, a device that Jak had missed since it had been quite useful during their previous adventure, so he didn't have to rely on the magical powers of his sisters to get from place to place, "I made a few modifications while you guys were gone, as now it is capable of storing energy to perform a higher jump, almost like a jump pad, which can also be used to release small waves of power that should knock enemies to the side, or take them out if they're small enough."

"Don't worry Keira, Jak will be putting it to good use." Twilight stated, as that was the truth of the matter, that Jak would no doubt use the newly modified JET-Board while they were traveling from place to place, likely to get as much information on it as he could, just in case he found a flaw and needed to tell Keira about it, though her brother nodded his head not a few seconds later and slipped the shrunken version of the device into the space he had kept it in earlier, though with three items he was going to need to come up with a new system in the very near future.

Keira smiled as she heard that and embraced Jak once more, as she clearly missed him and didn't want to leave, but that was followed by her and Ashelin climbing into the cruiser and departing from the Wasteland, heading back to Haven so they could rejoin the defense and make sure everything was fine, though as that happened Jak and his sisters headed back towards Spargus, Jak using the Sand Shark while his sisters remained in the air, but one thing they discovered was that all of the remaining Marauders who were out there stayed away from them. They were fine with this turn of events, since the dangerous warriors had to be terrified of them by this point in time, given that all four of them smashed their way through all of the enemies without even slowing down, meaning they were able to get back to Spargus without having to pause for any foes who might want a piece of them, allowing Jak to park the Sand Shark in the space Kleiver reserved for it before all of them headed through the gate and headed into the city. Sure enough they found that all of the Wastelanders were busy doing whatever it was that all of them did, before Jak and his sisters arrived in the city, though since no one seemed to be remotely interested in them they headed for the lift and traveled up to the Palace so they could speak with their father, all so he understood what was going on right now, though based on the time of day Jak felt that it might be best if they took a bit of time to rest and then head out early in the morning. Not a few moments later they found that Damas was, in fact, in his throne room, meaning Jak had been correct to assume that their father would be here, though at the same time they found that Seem was standing nearby, meaning that they must have walked in on a progress report of some kind, which did look like it might be close to being over based on what all four of them were seeing at the moment.

"Jak, I was expecting you and your sisters to return with Sig," Damas commented, where both he and Seem noticed their return to the throne room, though neither of them seemed very annoyed by what was going on, meaning that they must have finished whatever meeting they were having just as the four of them came to a stop after using the left to reach this point in the Palace, but it was followed by their father tilting his head as Pecker flew over to them, "though it looks like you might have discovered something. Tell me, what have you discovered?"

"We received word that someone from Haven landed near the Oasis, to speak with us, and we've learned that the war for the city has started," Jak stated, as while he and his sisters were sure that Sig had told their father this piece of information earlier, given that he had returned to the city while they headed outside to speak with Ashelin, though by telling him what they knew Damas would be able to make some decisions for the future, especially since if they aided Haven, the city that all of them had called home at one point in time, it might mend the rift between them, "while we would like to continue aiding Spargus, and taking down the threats that are lurking around this massive desert, Ashelin and the others wish for us to return... so, after some rest, we're planning on heading back to the Precursor temple and hope that there is a hidden tunnel or Warp Gate connecting the two locations together."

"I can confirm that there is a connection of sorts between the Wasteland and Haven, but it is up to you to find it and pass the trials associated with it," Seem spoke up, something that caused Jak and his sisters to pause for a moment, since they weren't expecting the monk to actually speak up and say what was on their mind, or even talk with them in general since they liked to talk about the Day Star and the dangers of Dark Eco, making Twilight wonder if they had spent some time with Gol and Maia, who she and her siblings hadn't found yet, "I can, however, confirm that you have the key needed to open the way... that is all I can say on the matter."

"Even if this is the only thing you can tell us, the help is appreciated anyway," Twilight said, as that was the truth, they did appreciate Seem actually helping them in understanding that there was a path that connected Haven City to the massive Wasteland that Spargus rested in, though even as that thought crossed her mind, however, she considered something she and her siblings had learned before heading to the temple for the first time, and she could see that Jak agreed with what she was thinking at the moment, "oh, that reminds me, we found the monks you sent to the volcano earlier, so you could find and recover the Dark Satellite that fell on it... don't worry about the artifact, Midnight and I stored it inside our storage realm... but, well, all of your monks are dead."

Seem let out a sigh, like they had suspected that such a thing had been the reality of the situation, before nodding their head as they thanked Jak and his sisters for sharing the information with them, even though they made no mention of the fact that another Dark Artifact had fallen into the hands of the siblings, despite the fact that it was in the hands of Twilight and Midnight, before bidding Damas farewell for now as they left the Palace. With that done Damas and his children took some time to talk about things, as he wanted the full story and not just the notes on what was happening in his old city, or at least what they could tell him from the two conversations they had so far, but he seemed to agree that they should take some time and head back to Haven City, but with Veger in the way it was unlikely that they would be able to use the more official channels, like Sig might have done to get back out here. As such they would need to use whatever method rested in the depths of the Precursor temple, where Jak had a feeling that the seal that had been his attached to his younger self's necklace, which was in his possession again, was the key Seem had mentioned before Twilight spoke up, though he knew that they would figure out if that was true or not once he and his sisters returned to the temple and made their way down to the area that he knew the other door rested in. Damas also informed Pecker that he would be joining them for a time, as in being his eyes and ears for when they eventually returned to Haven City, as there were things he could learn while Jak and his sisters were busy, since some people talked around him like he was just another animal and had no idea he could repeat what he learned to others, causing the siblings to nod their heads in agreement, as they felt it was a good idea and would allow him to make whatever preparations he needed for the future.

Other than talking about things, and having something to eat before heading to bed, the siblings just rested for the rest of the day, though when the early hours of the morning arrived in the Wasteland Damas wished them well as Jak climbed into the Dune Hopper and headed through the main gate as his sisters flew in the air above him, where they made their way over to where the Precursor temple rested and found that they were able to make great time in their journey, since all of the Marauders were either asleep or were terrified of them, before Jak stopped outside the temple.

Once they had reached their destination Jak headed inside as his sisters landed behind him, where they headed across the floor that was right in front of them and made their way over to the main door, finding that the Light Eye that had been guarding it hadn't reappeared, meaning the security measures likely recognized them and knew not to worry about using that particular defense mechanism against them. As such they were able to walk over to the door in question and watched as it opened not a few seconds later, though as they walked down into the downwards passage on the other side they did find a couple of flying Metal Heads waiting for intruders, the Wasp type to be exact, though a single blast from their base guns were more than enough to bring them down so Jak and his sisters could continue into the depths. Not a couple of moments later they arrived at the chamber that was their main destination and quickly discovered that the path they had used not that long ago had been sealed off, to which they turned towards the circular door as Jak pulled out his seal for a few seconds, where he presented it to the door and watched as the door unlocked before their eyes, revealing another tunnel that lead to another section of this temple, to which he smiled as he pocketed the seal and started moving as his sisters followed after him. The passage in question brought them to a chamber that looked like it was partly flooded, due to all of the water that was between them and the other side of the area in question, though due to the existence of a few floating orbs in the air, which appeared to reflect the twin nature of Dark and Light Eco, Jak realized what he needed to do as he pulled out the JET-Board and headed out, as this seemed like a test of some kind and using Keira's modified device would allow them to get through this place with ease. Such a thing allowed Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy to observe as he moved all over this particular chamber, riding on top of the water, heading down some of the hidden passages, and even used the grind function to move across the metallic rails that were near the ceiling, meaning Keira had done a good job in her alterations and Jak was showing that his skills hadn't diminished at all, though with him passing through the couple of glowing symbols the door on the other side seemed to open, presenting them with a way forward.

It wasn't long before Jak finished collecting the symbols that were in the chamber and the door opened so they could head deeper into the temple, though once he was standing on the other side of the area his sisters flew after him and landed a few steps behind him as he started to move into the new passage, one that brought them right to one of the other sides of the massive statue they had seen earlier, when Veger and Seem were talking to each other, something that caused the four of them to stop on the platform in front of this side of the statue.

We meet again great warriors, but sadly your coming may be too late. the statue stated, where Twilight was sure that the statues here were basically Oracles, modified ones to fit the chamber that they were currently standing in, but she said nothing as she and her siblings remained standing there, waiting to hear what else the statue had to tell them and what sort of information it had for them, You will soon meet the seed of our downfall. It approaches quickly, and I fear we no longer have the power to resist, but through you four, we might have a chance... as such, we offer what power we have to you... behold, the pure power of light!

Jak and his sisters paused for a few moments as a wave of light washed over them, a new Light Eco power awakening in all four of them, where Twilight was excited to see what it was since she was sure that the first one was a healing power, even if she and her siblings hadn't used it yet, though that happened to be when Jak gathered this new power, causing his skin to blow with a light blue hue, before he clapped his hands and loosed a burst of energy that seemed to slow down time, as he could see that the fast moving platforms that were nearby had slowed way down. As such he rushed over to the first of the set, of which there were three of them, and jumped over to it, allowing him to make his way over the other two before he came to a stop on the edge of a path that had to lead them to the path Seem had mentioned, though as that happened he found that time resumed as he turned back and glanced at his sisters. Of course Twilight was grinning, likely figuring out what sort of power the Precursors had just given them, before she and Cozy placed their hands on Starlight's back for a moment as she snapped her right fingers, causing time to slow down like what happened when Jak tried the power, only he wasn't surprised to find that her power was far stronger since she could pull others into her Time Bubble and allowed all of them to make their way over the platforms, and once all three of them were by him again they turned their attention to the tunnel that was behind them. The tunnel brought them to another rail that was far above all of the others that Jak had used the JET-Board on earlier, so he used the device to cross the gap as his sisters used their powers to cross it, even if it brought all of them to a passage with holes in parts of the floor and another rail, but that was when they found an area that had a number of spinning blades and seemed to be another trial for the Time Freeze, the new power they had been given earlier, as that was Twilight's name for it.

With that information in hand Jak recharged his Light Eco before stopping time and caused the blades to slow down so he could move across the first set, where Twilight noticed that they happened to be standing above the chamber that had all of the poles they had spun on to reach the first side of the massive statue, and when Jak came to a stop on the other side she and her sisters started to move across it as well, after Cozy tried the new power out, showing that all three of them had also gained the power to slow time down. Once all four of them were back together Twilight summoned the power as well, while making sure that her siblings placed a hand on her back, before slowing time as well as they headed across the second rotating walkway in turns, avoiding the new blades like they were nothing and reach the other end in no time, only they came to a stop and used the Light Eco Vent to recharge their powers for a few seconds. The moment they were done Jak froze time again before heading over the third and final spinning walkway that was in front of them, where it took next to no time for his sisters to replicate what he had done as they caught up with him, though once that was done the four of them headed through the opening that was nearby and found a stone bridge that was connected to an area that held one of the circular doors. That told them everything they needed to know, they had found the way forward and this had to lead to whatever path Seem knew about, though Twilight caused the others to pause for a moment as she noticed that parts of the stone walkway appeared to be close to breaking, meaning that they had to be careful as they used it, to which Pecker, who had been silent and following behind them, flew over to the other end and came to a stop near the door that served as their final destination for the time being. As such Jak prepared himself as his sisters took to the air, as none of them had to worry about doing what he had to do, though once everyone was ready Jak gathered his power and froze time again, to which he found his sisters frozen in the air as well, or at least it seemed like it since they were stronger than him and might be messing with him, before he headed across the bridge and found that the stones started to collapse as he rushed over all of them.

Of course Jak was never in any danger, since Twilight and her sisters were watching over him, though once he reached the end of the bridge, and it had collapsed with the pieces falling into the open area below all of them, the door opened not a few seconds later before revealing a circular platform on the other side, one that they stepped onto and let it descend to the area it was connected to, meaning that they were going to find the path back to Haven City and they were eager to see what sort of tests awaited them.
> Spargus: Into the Mine
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jak, Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy found that the platform quickly reached its destination, possibly within a minute or two of them stepping onto the metallic device, though it brought them to a chamber that was pretty big, all made of Precursor metal, just like the circular tunnel the platform had traveled down, which was full of wires and other components that none of them knew about, meaning it was a treasure trove for Twilight and Midnight, before they found a floating vehicle of some kind that could only seat a single person.

"Well, this place is rather interesting." Jak commented, as that was really all he could say on the matter, since this didn't look like any of the other Precursor artifacts and areas that he and his sisters had seen in the past, though as he said that he could see that Twilight was interested in studying the vehicle that was in front of them, all while Pecker glanced around the chamber for a few moments, meaning he he to know something about this area, "Pecker, what can you tell us about what we're seeing right now?"

"According to Onin, this place resembles the catacombs that were discovered under Haven's Palace." Pecker said, where all of them weren't surprised by the fact that he was talking to Onin right now, since they had a bond and could speak to each other over great distances, though this was news to them and meant that the moment they reached Haven they would be seeing a whole bunch of changes, "My best bet is that this connects to Haven City, which is good because Onin is telling me that we must get back to the city, as it seems that the catacombs are the key to our planet's very survival and, as you might have guessed, you four are needed to turn the key!"

"Of course we are." Cozy stated, as none of them needed to be told that they were the ones that were fated to save this world from the ones that were coming to claim it, the ones connected to the Day Star, though as she said that Jak raised his seal for a few seconds and activated the vehicle that happened to be right in front of them, which seemed to be just a seat, the controls, and both the front and back sections, where they likely contained the flight system that allowed the vehicle to float and move.

A few seconds later Jak climbed into the vehicle, with Daxter and Pecker resting with him since his skills would make it a lot safer for them, and it started to move forward as he directed it down a path that was in front of him, one that seemed to head down into the depths of their world, where his sisters flew behind him and kept their eyes open for any dangers that might be connected to this place, before they discovered that the vehicle allowed Jak to ride down a passage that had all sorts of holes in the sides, not to mention metallic devices he had to avoid. Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy watched as he did just that, he took control of the vehicle and moved out of the way so he didn't hit any of the pipes or posts that were right in front of him, while at the same time avoiding the openings that would send him flying out into the depths of the chasm that this underground area was built into, showing his sisters just how skilled he truly was in the process. What interested them was that there happened to be a sphere of some kind that woke up while Jak was moving down the passage and it moved in front of the vehicle, keeping some distance between it and their brother, though since it looked like it might be a defense mechanism Jak found that his vehicle could fire green projectiles and wiped out the sphere in question, mostly to make sure nothing bad happened to him and his passengers. That wasn't the only sphere that appeared in their way, as it looked like there might be a few more ahead of them, though Twilight called on her power and snatched one, sending it right to Midnight's storage area so it could be studied and understood, but Jak eventually reached a gap in the tunnel and made sure to jump it to the best of his ability, or at least ride off the ledge of the section he had been in previously before landing on the other side and continued up the other section, no doubt getting closer and closer to Haven City, despite the fact that it was hard to tell if they were making any progress right now.

After that they passed through some sections that had lasers, which were easy to avoid since they moved in a diagonal pattern and all Jak had to do was position himself so he'd fly under the beams, before eventually reaching what appeared to be the end, another chamber that looked like the one they had found the vehicle in, though he found that the controls that would stop it were stuck and the vehicle stalled as Starlight snapped her fingers and froze them for a moment, which let them make the vehicle stop before he, Daxter, and Pecker were allowed to climb out of it, though as they did that they found a surge of light form another Precursor energy being.

All of you show promise, but your bravery will not protect you from the foes you must soon face. the Precursor stated, where Daxter knew that it was speaking to Jak and his sisters, and not he or the disguised Neo Metal Heads, even though he was curious if the Precursors even realized that he had some power of his own or if they were just ignoring him so they could focus on his friend and his sisters, before the being raised a hand towards them, Use this light power to help in  your quest. It is what little we have left to offer.

What Jak and his sisters discovered was that this third Light Eco power was a shield skill, one that surrounded them with a spherical barrier to protect them from harm, or at least it was that way for Jak since Cozy discovered she could manipulate the power and form actual shields made of Light Eco all over her body, depending on where she was attacked, Starlight did what Jak was capable of doing, and Twilight seemed to make large barriers around her, such as the one that she created a few seconds after gaining the power in question, as it covered the entire chamber. Once that was done, and the Precursor disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, the siblings found an opening to the side and discovered another platform, like the one that they had used to reach the first chamber they had been in earlier, even if it was slightly smaller and they did note the symbol was different, but once they were on it the siblings waited for a time as it shifted and rose up towards the area that it was connected to. Not a few moments later all of them discovered that the platform came to a stop in an area that looked like a quarry of some kind, or at least a rocky area that briefly reminded everyone of the Strip Mine, but once they were allowed to move the siblings walked forward as Pecker flew ahead of them, likely to either check out the area for enemies or he might be checking out where they were, in relation to Haven City and the rest of their allies. As such Jak and his sisters followed the path in front of them, which curved around to where a Light Eco Vent rested as they walked by a couple of lights that looked like they belonged in one of the mines that were scattered around Haven, though that lead them to a set of stone platforms that connected to an upper area, something they jumped up for a few moments before anyone reached a walkway. Once Jak reached the walkway he slowed down a little as his sisters landed behind him, where they glanced out at the area the Precursor passage was connected to and discovered that they had been right to think that it had brought them to a mine or something, as they were in a massive chasm that happened to be lit up, due to the vast amount of sunlight that was above them and all sorts of lights that had been set up when this place had been created, to which they paused for a few moments as they stared at the area around them.

"This looks like one of the old Eco Mines that were built in the past, no doubt when Mar constructed Haven City," Jak said, something that caused Twilight and Starlight to nod their heads in agreement, as they were the ones who the most about Haven's history and this meant that his thoughts were confirmed within moments of speaking what was on his mind, but at the same time he focused on what was around them, like the tracks and a locked metallic door that told him they might have to blow it up in some manner, "he must have carved out these old caves to get at the Eco power, so he could power the Eco Dome and keep the city safe from Kor's armies."

"Well, I'm going to fly ahead and tell Onin that we're back." Pecker stated, informing them that he suspected that they were closer to Haven City than they were a few minutes ago, meaning his bond to Onin had to be stronger when he was closer, to which the siblings nodded, as while it would have been nice to speak with him about things it was more important for all of their allies to know that they were back and make themselves ready for their arrival, "Watch your tail feathers... this is a spooky place, full of potential danger."

With Pecker departing for Haven City, to inform their allies of what was going on, Jak and his sisters found that there was a path off to the right of where they ended up, even though there was a raised metallic bridge that looked like it might need to be lowered by hitting it with either bullets or something else, though Twilight summoned her magic and loosed a lasso of magic that wrapped around the bridge in question, which she pulled down and opened the way for the others to head out and see what else might be in this mine. In that moment they discovered a new type of Metal Head, small manta ray looking creatures that appeared to be resting on the ground in front of them, and when one of them got close the pair of Manta flapped their wings and rose into the air, showing that they could move from place to place and fire at those they deemed as enemies, though a single blast from the Scatter mod was more than enough to take them down, as Jak did that to open the way forward and they took it instantly. Of course that happened to be when they found a second type of new Metal Heads that likely would be some of their enemies, small lizard like enemies that appeared to have blasters on their tails, so Metal Gekkos or something like that, where Starlight simply blasted them with the Blaster mod and took them out the enemies that were in front of them, allowing Twilight to pull down another pair of bridges so they could walk over to where the large locked door was located. As they walked over to where the door rested Jak opened fire on the couple of Manta that were in front of them, though Cozy found a path that lead downwards and they decided to take it, as while all of them knew that it would be easy for Twilight to break the door down with her magic, or Cozy to smash it down with her brute force, some of them did want to explore this mine in case there were items they could use to defend Haven and put an end to the threat that their world faced, hence why they headed down the path in question and kept their weapons at the ready, since there was no way of knowing what else might be waiting for them.

As it turned out the path was a small square shaped platform that descended once someone was on top of it, which they let Jak do as his sisters floated down above him, though such a thing didn't stop Cozy from rushing down into a pair of foes that were in their way, two Metal Head Grunts to be exact, while Starlight lowered the bridge so Jak could join their sister and move even deeper into the mine. Of course those weren't the only enemies in front of them, as they discovered more corrupted Metal Heads, or the Tainted as Twilight was starting to call them since none of their friends could overcome the power that had seized control of the Wasteland Metal heads, standing in their way and all four of them engaged them as soon as they discovered what was in their way, all while focusing on the path in front of them. With those enemies taken care of it didn't take the siblings long to reach another bridge that needed to be knocked down, which Cozy did with a swift swing of her fist, and Jak used the square platform in front of them to reach an area that was above them as his sisters just flew up to where he ended up, where a trio of Grunts were waiting for him and fell due to Twilight blasting them down as Jak reached his destination. That brought them to an area that had a couple of Manta blocking an area that was beyond where the square platform came to a stop, not that such a thing mattered since Starlight used the Light Shield to negate a few incoming blasts before allowing Jak to blast them apart, before Cozy found a few platforms sticking out of a wall and that a couple of Gekko were hanging out on a rock wall beyond that, something she didn't care about as she flew over the platforms and smashed her targets into the wall. Such a thing allowed Jak, Twilight, and Starlight to catch up with her, all while finding that there were a number of electrical posts that could form a wall to cut them off, no doubt something that might be used later on, before finding a path that was beyond a pair of posts brought them to another square platform, one that took them even deeper into the mine and another bridge that had to be lowered, which Twilight did before using a bit of her magic to knock out the Tainted that were in front of them, even though it did bring them to a circular platform that they used as soon as the area was clear of enemies.

The platform descended and brought them to an area that had another square platform, one that went even deeper into this old Eco Mine, making them wonder how deep they were going to go, before discovering a Light Eco Vent that each of them used to restock before heading down into the area that the platform lead them to, an area full of Fodder, like the few that had been inside Mar's Tomb, though Jak wasted no time in charging a blast from the Wave Concussor and blasted all of them from above. After that happened they discovered a red rodent like creature that seemed to wander around near a metallic wheel of some kind, which seemed to be a power generator that would empower this area, though while they did understand that the rodent might be the key to using the device it also meant that they would be leaving it trapped inside it, since the wheel was lower than the floor they were standing on. As such Twilight waved her hand and used her power to enchant this device, allowing a powerful gust of wind to push it and restore power to this part of the mine, though she did know that she would have to drop it eventually, so she'd keep it powered until later, as wasting one of her other sides to do this seemed foolish since they had no idea what was down here, something that caused Jak to nod as they stared out at the rest of the area, finding a couple of platforms leading towards another section of the mine. Of course there were a fair number of Fodder standing in their way, where Starlight floated above their heads and used her Wave Concussor to take all of them out, as in all of the groups so they could catch up with her, finding that the path brought them to another set of platforms that were connected to another wheel, to which Twilight waved her hand and empowered it as well, while taking the power from the other one so she only had one going at the same time. That, in turn, brought them to a set of raised walkways that lead right to yet another power wheel, making Jak and his sisters wonder just how many there were since all of them didn't seem to be connected to the rest of the mine, though no one said anything as Twilight switched the power from the previous one and brought it to this one, activating three drills that formed a path that lead across a gap and that lead to all four of them making their way forward once more.

None of the siblings were surprised to find that the path on the drills brought them to another area that had a bunch of Fodder and a power wheel that needed to be powered, so Jak just wiped out all of their enemies as Twilight quickly used her magic to open the way forward, activating some rotating platforms that brought them to yet another power wheel, to which everyone sighed as they cleared out the area and switched the power to the new area, which opened the way to an area that appeared to be what would force open the locked door, a bunch of explosives.

"Well what do you know, it was worth coming down here," Jak commented, where he approached an indent and revealed that there was another piece of Mar's ancient armor resting inside it, greaves for one's feet, where Twilight made a note of where they found this section of the set before Jak put them on, something that put a smile on their faces, even though all of them were curious as to where all of the remaining pieces might be resting, though once that was done they headed for the area that the explosives rested in.

Once that was done the siblings walked over to where a switch was located and Jak struck it, which caused a metallic claw to lower from the ceiling and grabbed onto the explosive trolley that happened to be in this section of the mine, lifting the trolley off of where it had been resting and moved it over to a set of tracks that would likely rise up and connect to the rest of the tracks they had seen earlier, to which they stood on the platform near the trolley as it shifted before heading up to the rest of the long tracks they had seen. As soon as the tracks were connected to the rest of the system the trolley started to move, causing Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy to fly forward and blast the raised sections that all of them had seen during their trek through the Eco mine, allowing Jak to keep an eye on it while blasting all of the Tainted enemies that happened to be in his way, even though there wasn't all that much left since they had taken out nearly every foe who had been in this place before he and his sisters arrived in this area. Due to that fact Jak found that it was very easy for him to get the trolley to the end of the track, allowing it to safely arrive in the area the locked door was located in and barrel right into it, which blew the entire thing to pieces and revealed a large chamber that had three more doors, where the tracks likely lead to all sorts of other locations that were scattered across Haven's vast area, though as they stepped inside Starlight turned back to the shattered door and waved a hand at the mess, restoring the shattered door to what it had been earlier, which told everyone in the group that she was making sure the Tainted weren't given another entrance into the city. With that done all of them stepped onto the circular platform that was in the middle of the chamber, which turned for a few seconds and then lowered into the floor, quickly bringing the siblings to another smaller area that had a door in front of them, one that opened as they approached it and revealed a large area that seemed to be a chamber filled with Precursor carvings and, if Twilight was right, a large intact robot.

Of course when they were halfway across the bridge something interesting happened, the door behind them closed and it caused the bridge to collapse, causing them to rush across the collapsing bridge and came to a stop right on the rock area that was in the middle of the area, allowing Jak and his sisters to glance at the other door that was right below the middle of the massive robot, a door that opened a few seconds later and revealed Veger, in all his terrible glory, standing right in front of them with his usual expression on his face.

"While Seem told me nothing about you coming, I suspected that the lot of you would use the Precursor subrails to try and enter Haven City." Veger commented, informing the siblings and all of their companions that he had predicted their arrival in this area, meaning he had been expecting something like this to happen in due time, though as he did that Twilight took a moment to make sure he wasn't paying attention before pulling out a Communicator and setting it to record, as she had a feeling that he might say something interesting that could be used against him, "Interesting aren't they? The Precursors used this very rail system to build the world countless eons ago, using Eco to shape the world we call home, and it is said that some of the rails lead deep into the planet, where the ancient ones wait to bestow unimaginable powers upon those they deem to be worthy... I will use that power to save our world, just as Mar once did!"

"Yeah, you've done a great job so far, letting our enemies destroy the Palace while you try to seize control of everything in Haven City." Jak replied, though he crossed his arms for a moment as he said that, as he saw no reason to withhold any of the information they had learned since their transport exploded after arriving in the Wasteland, especially since Veger had to know that Ashelin and Keira had departed to tell him and his sisters about the war that had started earlier, though he also felt it was necessary to show Veger that they were annoyed with him, "Besides, so far the Precursors haven't deemed you worthy of wielding the power to save the world... so far it seems like we're the ones to do it."

"Oh, you couldn't be more mistaken, dear boy." Veger stated, making it sound like he was ignoring the latter half of what Jak had said, even though Twilight was sure that a small wave of annoyance crossed his face before it was calm again, but at the same time the siblings just stared at him while they waited to hear what else he had to say, even though he took a moment to point his finger diagonally towards the ceiling, like he was pointing at the Day Star, "We're on a time clock, Jak! That light in the sky, which the monks are worried about, do you have any idea what it is? Our nightmare has found us and the end of our world is coming! I needed quick access to the catacombs below, so I attacked the Palace myself... this will be our little secret."

"Well, aren't you full of nasty surprises." Twilight remarked, though she didn't move the Communicator out of the area she was hiding it in, as she wanted to make sure she got all of Veger's transgressions recorded before he tried to deny what he told them, but at the same time she thought about the questions he had asked them and realized she could speak about what she and Midnight had learned while they studied all of the Dark Artifacts they had collected so far, "Anyway, I'm sure that the Day Star is an interplanetary ship and contains the enemies of the Precursors, those who were corrupted by Dark Eco and turned against them, and that they're coming to remake our world in their twisted image... honestly, that's what Seem appears to be hinting at whenever we talk to them, and its what I've determined from my studies of the various Dark Artifacts we've recovered so far. Tell me, how accurate am I?"

"Very, actually... and the lot of you are full of Dark Eco!" Veger snapped, showing that he was impressed by the fact that he didn't need to reveal what he knew about the Day Star to them, as Twilight could tell them what she had figured out when they were safe to do so, though he also showed them that he didn't approve of the Dark Eco that they had access to, even if the siblings and their Ottsels just stared at him with their eyebrows raised as he pointed an accusing finger at all of them for a few seconds, "You, your sisters, and your rats are abominations, twisted by Dark Eco... but I will rid the planet of this scourge soon enough. Pure light will rule the universe, and I will be the bright light that shines to every corner of the world and destroys all shadows!"

"Uh, excuse me Count Vulgar..." Daxter started to say, because that was what he did whenever they talked to Veger, as he purposely said the wrong name just to annoy the arrogant and annoying Count, especially since all of them were sure that the war was his fault and that he had, in some way, been aiding the KG Robots before they were stranded in the massive Wasteland and found Spargus, so he guessed that they had to be grateful for him aiding in finding Damas, though his sins outweighed whatever good he had done in his life.

"It's Veger... Count Veger, you cursed abomination!" Veger replied, his tone revealing that he was annoyed with Daxter and the siblings, since none of them showed him the respect he felt that he deserved, given his position on Haven's Council, as he glared at all of them for a few more moments, silently daring someone to say something so he could lash out at them again, even though he had no idea what Twilight was doing and the rest of the group was fine with that.

"Yeah, I don't care." Daxter stated, showing Veger that his comment was void in his eyes, that he really didn't care what the man had to say in response to his incomplete statement, though he considered all of the information that he had learned while listening to Twilight and Starlight speaking about everything involving Light and Dark Eco, something that Veger had no idea about, based on what he had said so far, "You do realize that its impossible to do what your proposing, right? As in the light you want to use can't bring about the total destruction of the darkness you fear... if anything, you might take out most of the darkness and the rest will withdraw to a safe place, to strike when your guard is lowered and you aren't even expecting an attack. And even if you succeed in wiping out all of the shadows, I'm sure someone will eventually want to learn about what you destroyed and it might create a darkness that's far worse than the one you destroyed... what I'm saying is that this plan of yours is stupid, and..."

"Enough! We will start the cleansing of the world with your demise! Behold! I now command the very power of the ancient ones!" Veger remarked, where he raised his scepter for a few seconds and the gemstone that rested at the top glowed for a few moments, where the light washed over the robot that was right above where he was standing and it started to break out of where it had been positioned in the past, something that caused a smile to appear on his face as he turned to face the siblings and their Ottsels, "Say your prayers, abominations, as this will be the end of..."

Twilight cut Veger off as she waved her hand at the Precursor robot and a portal to Midnight's storage area opened up in the space behind it, where chains of Eco energy burst out of it and grabbed onto the limbs of the robot, even though that did end with the arms and legs being torn off, in a way that she could fix later, and they could see the fear in Veger's eyes, especially when Midnight stepped out of Twilight's shadow and used the darkness to form a hand around the Count, only she grabbed him like she was going to squeeze the life out of him and did so for a few seconds, causing him to scream in pain as he felt some of his bones break... though that was when the explosive trolleys above him ignited and she had to let go of him, allowing him to escape in the process.

"Don't worry, we'll get him in due time," Jak stated, where his sisters nodded their heads, all while Twilight made sure that the Communicator was just fine, since it held all the information they had learned from a talkative Veger, before noticing four circular devices that looked like they might be new weapon mods, either hidden inside one of the trolleys or they had been dropped when Twilight shattered the robot and pulled the pieces into her storage area, though he found that it was a Blue Eco device as soon as he attached it to his gun, which was confirmed when Twilight gained a second blue stone for her powerful bracelet.

With that done, and Veger had escaped them for the time being, the siblings headed over to the lift that the Count must have used to get down here, not to mention used to escape their wrath, and used it to head upwards, no doubt heading up to one of the streets of Haven City, though the siblings had a feeling that none of them were going to like what they saw once they reached their destination and would no doubt give them another reason to hate Veger, who would fall the next time he decided to show his face to them.
> Spargus: Return to Haven
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It took a moment or two for the platform to come to a stop behind one of the Door Locks that had been scattered around Haven City, making the siblings wonder where in the city they would be coming out, given the fact that there had been a few doors they hadn't used in the past, though once it stopped they waited for the door to open and stepped outside as soon as the way was open, revealing a ruined version of the section of Haven that lead to where the Stadium rested, with pieces of one of the Palace's support pillars resting nearby.

"By the Precursors... Haven City looks far worse than what Ashelin and Sig told us," Cozy commented, where she could see that all of the buildings that were in this part of the city were either still on fire, which was both impressive and worrying at the same time, walls had fallen and collapsed thanks to one or more of the support pillars falling on the city, and parts of the metallic floor were busted apart, broken by the war and likely the Tainted bursting into the city.

"They knew that if we figured out how bad the situation was, we would have come running and just ignored whatever sort of consequences our actions would have caused," Jak remarked, though he was taken aback by just how ruined the city was at the moment, because if the Palace had been toppled, and they could confirm it with their own eyes even though he and his sisters knew that Ashelin, Keira, and Sig wouldn't lie to them, at least a third of the city, maybe even more, had to be gone, to which he shifted his head for a moment as he heard something move, "though it looks like the Tainted have claimed this part of the city, even though they haven't messed with it yet... we'll have to figure out what's causing them to act like they're still under Kor's control, once we've figured out what's going on inside Haven."

Twilight and Starlight nodded as they moved into the air and fired some Wave Concussor blasts down on the Stingers that were in this part of the city, due to the fact that it looked like they were the only Metal Heads messing with this area, while at the same time Jak and Cozy forced their way through everything that was in front of them, even though Daxter jumped down onto some of the Stingers and stabbed them with his Eco forged blades, though since they headed to the left of the Door Lock they were able to find a shield wall to keep the rest of Haven safe.

"Jak, girls, over here!" a voice said, where they found Samos and Keira standing behind the force field, as Twilight was able to confirm that it was actually a force field and not a shield wall, though she made sure Jak and their sisters were near the force field before setting up her own barrier to cover the direction they had come from, something that caused many of the Stingers to pause as they considered what in the world had happened, allowing the siblings to focus on the pair that was on the other side of the non magical barrier, "I sensed your energies earlier, especially the incredibly powerful magic that you three seem to be using now, and we came out to greet you and inform you of what's happened since Ashelin and Keira came back from the Wasteland... as you can see, Veger has claimed some control over the Council and has forced us into the newly renovated Water Slums, which we have to rename soon, and he's empowered all of the force fields to make sure we cannot leave. As far as we know the catacombs below the city are terribly important, as we're interested in them, the KG Robots are invested in trying to reach where they're located, and all of the corrupted Metal Heads are trying to dig to them, even though that's failing since they have a hard time damaging Precursor metal... to be honest, we need the four of you to join the fight, otherwise we might not be able to hold out for too long."

"Oh, don't worry about that, as we have a few tricks up our sleeves," Twilight replied, where she waved a hand as she used a bit of her power on the force field in front of them, where a circle appeared in front of her and her siblings as an opening formed, allowing them to move through it before she closed it and lowered her barrier, causing the Stingers to rush over to the barrier and just come to a stop when they realized that they couldn't get into their section of the city, before she grinned for a moment, "also, we have some information on Veger that might shock you. Keira, I'm going to hand over the Communicator that contains what we learned, though don't play it until I say so... Midnight and I have a plan to screw over Veger and we don't want to tip our hand early."

"Okay, and I'll switch it out for one of the other ones I made for you guys," Keira stated, where she carefully grabbed the device that Twilight was giving her and wondered what sort of information was stored inside it, information that could do considerable harm to Veger and his hold over Haven City, before making sure to have another one replace the one that she was being given, just in case they found more information that might be useful, before she considered something the siblings needed to know, "Listen, you guys need to make your way over to the Port and assist our allies there, as Veger had ordered Torn, Tess, and a number of our forces to head out there and now they're trapped in that section of the city, cut off from everyone that might be able to aid them."

"Then we'll fly over there and take care of business," Starlight said, where she beckoned for Jak to join her as Cozy spread her wings, surprising Samos in the process, since this was his first time seeing them, before Twilight did the same, which came as a shock since she only had wings when Midnight was in control, though once that was done she and Jak floated into the air and headed for the Port as Twilight and Cozy followed after them.

As the siblings flew down towards the Port, however, they were able to see all of the destruction that had been caused by Veger's attack on the Palace, as both sides of the Bazaar had been crushed, half of the Industrial Section was buried under all sorts of rubble, most of the Stadium had been smashed up by something falling on it, likely a support pillar, though all of them turned their attention to something else as they landed outside the Naughty Ottsel and headed inside Daxter's popular bar, finding Torn standing over a communication table.

"Jak, girls, boy am I glad to see the four of you," Torn said, as he noticed them as soon as they walked inside the Naughty Ottsel, given that he had cleared out most of the area and set up the table in the middle of Daxter's place, though as he turned towards them he caught a glimpse of some feathered limbs that disappeared as the siblings entered the bar, to which he figured that they had done something and would tell him about it in due time, "I'm sorry we couldn't send out another transport to retrieve you guys, but Veger..."

"Hates us, we know. Besides, it was worth it in the end," Jak replied, showing Torn that they were sort of fine with Veger's foul play during their expedition to the Wasteland, as it gave them the time they needed to find their father and gain the powers that they were now wielding, while at the same time revealing that none of them were pleased with what he had done to Haven City during their absence, causing him to grin for a moment, "we managed to find our father and learn a couple of things while we were out in the Wasteland."

"King Damas... he's alive?!" Torn asked, though his tone revealed that he was caught off guard by that information, since nearly all of Haven City assumed that the previous ruler of the city must have died in the Wasteland, along with those who had remained loyal to him and had been banished with him, due to Baron Praxis' coup while he was under the control of Kor, where this information meant that everyone who had been cast out of the city had to still be alive.

"Yep, and we've learned of a threat to our world while we were in Spargus: the Day Star," Twilight stated, informing Torn that Jak's statement was correct, they had found their father and learned something important while they were hanging out in the Wasteland, though she paused for a moment as she considered what they had learned so far and everything that she and Midnight were still learning inside the research portion of the storage realm her other side had set up after she first awakening, "basically, the literal end of our world is approaching and we need to get into the Catacombs before Veger can, since he's likely to do something stupid and dangerous if he gets there first... once we've saved the world we can focus on rebuilding Haven and uniting the two cities into a single force."

"Given your power, that's entirely possible," Torn commented, as he knew that Twilight was powerful, even more so now since all four of the siblings seemed far stronger than when he last saw them, and some of the Council members were a little terrified of Midnight, so he was sure that if the siblings pushed for uniting Haven and Spargus in some manner the Council would agree to it without delay, as to remain on their good side, though that was when the table beeped and all of them found a hologram of a Blast Bot appear above the table, "Great, more Blast Bots incoming... are you guys ready to take down some enemies?"

"Who do you think your talking to?" Cozy asked, where she pounded a fist into her other hand, showing Torn that she was more than ready for another fight to save Haven City from its enemies, before heading outside so she could spread her wings once more and track down the incoming forces that were coming from the KG section of the city, or at least what remained of the Industrial Section, causing Torn to sigh as Jak, Twilight, and Starlight headed outside as well, though they knew he was definitely glad to have them back.

As it turned out there were a number of Blast Bots marching out of the Industrial Section and were invading the Port, even if Twilight had spotted a barrier between the two locations and knew that it was to prevent Humans from entering the part of the city that the KG Robots had taken control of, though a pair happened to be walking on the bridge and two more just so happened to be walking along the path that the Gun Course rested on, though they were joined by all sorts of smaller robots, like the Grunts and Stinger replicas. Starlight and Jak headed over to the bridge, where they found Baron Praxis, in a modified Titan suit that seemed twice as large and happened to have twice as much armor as the original suits, meaning Keira had to be involved in creating it, leading a group of Freedom League fighters into battle while he hacked a Blast Bot to pieces, meaning the four Torn had noticed had to be reinforcements. As Jak landed both he and Praxis nodded to each other, the latter showing that he was pleased to have the heirs to the throne back in the city, before Jak pulled out his own blade and consumed a bit of the Eco that was in his Morph Gun, empowering his body as he rushed forward and focused on cutting down the next Blast Bot, all while Starlight loosed small lances of Dark Eco that pierced her target's form not a few seconds later and blew it apart. While they did that, and Praxis' forces joined them in facing their enemies, the other two Blast Bots found Twilight and Cozy standing in their way, where Cozy landed on top of her foe and punched it so hard that she crushed it into the ground below her, breaking its legs and body in the process as she used the Light Shield for a second to ensure she took no damage, though Twilight just snapped her fingers as her energy swarmed her target, where she safely dismantled the robot and carefully stored the pieces inside Midnight's area.

Of course such a thing didn't stop the remaining robots from running away, in fact they were programed to fight to their fullest and die for the cause, though Jak and his sisters were fine with that as each of them smashed, blasted, and fought their way through all of the enemies that were attacking the Port, and when an opened presented itself Twilight made sure all of the civilians were on the Port side of the passage that connected it to the Industrial Section before using some of her magic to seal the passage, allowing them to return to the Naughty Ottsel.

"Your Highness, it is an honor to fight beside you and your sisters," Praxis said, speaking once he climbed out of his mech and walked beside the group, while making sure the rest of his forces remained outside to make sure the situation stayed quite for a time, meaning they must have been fighting for some time and the siblings had likely arrived during a pause in the waves that the KG Robots were sending at the Port, though he smiled as he glanced at all of them, "and it seems like your ruined expedition, and unsuspected stay in the Wasteland, has done nothing to weaken you... rather, you seem far stronger than you were before you left the city."

"Ashelin, this is Torn. Jak and his sisters are back in the city." Torn stated, where it was clear that they must have walked in on a communication between the Naughty Ottsel and Freedom HQ, the area that Ashelin and everyone else were in, which caused the group to remain silent for a time, even though Jak had a few things to say to the Baron's statement, as he and the others needed to know the situation they were in, but for now it was time to say nothing as they listened to what might be said over the next couple of minutes.

Jak? Girls? I knew it wouldn't take you long to return to Haven City, Ashelin replied, something that was followed by a large hologram of her head appearing above the table, something that they were used to seeing in Haven City, though her tone told them that she was definitely happy to see them again, even if she was stuck up north and they were down south, with the rest of their allies, and it seems that your making big splashes by just arriving.

"That new KG leader is probably pissing in his..." Torn stated to say, referring to the fact that whoever was in control of the robots had been waiting until the siblings were stranded in the Wasteland before attacking the city, which told Jak and his sisters that Veger was either controlling the robots or he was aiding whoever happened to be in charge of the robots, only for him to pause when the icon in front of them shuddered for a moment, like someone was hacking into their link with the others, "Wait, someone's jamming the signal. I think..." 

In that moment Jak, his sisters, their Ottsels, and those who were standing around them watched as Ashelin's head was replaced by the one they had seen in the Wasteland, when they intercepted the Metal Beast convoy and found the small Communicator that had likely been delivered to Keira at some point, meaning Errol had come to gloat or demand that all of them surrender to his authority, especially since his head looked mostly robotic and meant he was either the one who lead the KG Robots as their commander or he was their leader.

I live! Errol stated, where he laughed as he said that, as if revealing himself to them in this manner was worthy of some laughter, not that Jak or his sisters were impressed by what they were seeing right now, as they had seen far more impressive things during their adventures, before he stopped laughing and took note of who was around him, focusing on the siblings after a few seconds, Still fighting for the weak link, eh old friends? Well, I've had a few enhancements since we last met, as you can see, ones that have removed all of my weaknesses... even the Metal Heads, despite all their power, were riddled with biological weaknesses. But me, I'm pure metal, and I have no such weaknesses... I cannot wait to take all of you down and convert Keira into my...

Torn, who had been silently listening to the madness that Errol was spewing, pulled back as Midnight appeared and raised a hand to trap Errol where he was standing, allowing Twilight and Starlight to punch him right in the face, where it looked like their fists actually made contact with his actual face, before Cozy kicked him in the side of the head and the link Errol had set up was severed as quickly as it had been forged by their enemy, even though he was sure that Errol had started to complain about the 'unfairness' of this situation, but at least this told him that the siblings weren't about to let Errol have his way.

We must unite our forces or we're though! You have to reach us as soon as possible. Samos stated, though this time around none of them were about to question what the siblings were capable of doing with their various powers, as he had stopped questioning what they could do a long time ago and their latest additions only proved that he would go mad if he tried to understand everything that they were capable of, especially after everything they discovered in the Wasteland and in whatever area that brought them back to the city.

We need you to break through the KG's defenses and link up with us before it's too late. Ashelin added, as while she understood that having Jak and his sisters back on their side, a boon for the Freedom League if ever there was one, part of her also knew she and the others didn't have a whole lot of time left before whoever lead the robots managed to break all of their defenses and bring down their section of the city, Based on what Keira has found out, and what we've seen since the war broke out, the KG Robots are growing stronger with each passing day, and that floating war factory is spitting out more robots every day.

"Don't worry about us. With our heroes back in town, we'll meet up with you in no time," Torn said, speaking to Ashelin for a moment, telling her that they would likely be reuniting with the northern group at some point in the near future, which was only possible thanks to the arrival of Jak and his sisters, to which Ashelin nodded and the communication broke up a few seconds later, to which he turned towards the others, "The first thing we need to do is break through the barrier that's between us and the Industrial Section, and to do that we've been preparing an Eco missile to blow it to pieces... but, thanks to Veger giving us next to no time to prepare for our assault, we don't have enough power to actually get the job done, not unless we find a way to get some extra Eco."

"Well, you've got four Eco Sages standing nearby, all with unique powers, so that problem is solved, though I can ensure the missile reaches its destination," Daxter stated, because up until this point he had been doing almost nothing, save for an occasional fight with some of the enemies that Jak and his sisters went up against, and with his own Eco powers he had a feeling that he could empower Torn's missile and deliver a payload that would rip the barrier to shreds and open up the way for someone to take the fight to the KG Robots.

Torn had nothing to say to that as Daxter, the least likely of the entire group, and that was saying something considering he walked with heroes and disguised dragons all the time, walked outside not a few seconds later and found out where he had set up the missile in question, just in front of where the Naughty Ottsel rested, to which Daxter hopped onto the back of the missile and pressed something before he surged forward. Upon seeing Daxter and the missile fly off Praxis took a moment to make sure the civilians and guards remained safe, as in not on the streets or bridges as the Ottsel flew around the Port, using his own Eco powers to empower the device while also tracking down a stream of Eco that seemed to lead him all over this part of the city, meaning it was a good thing the Baron had made sure everyone remained indoors while he did this, otherwise he was sure that he would have bumped into someone. Of course Daxter found that he had a few close calls as he glided over the water, raced across the metallic flooring of the Port, and avoided anything and everything that might cause the missile to blow up before he reached his destination, especially since he had to force the missile to jump between locations a few times, though it wasn't long before he found that his trail was heading right towards the area that Twilight's barrier was in. As such Twilight, who was watching Daxter with the rest of her siblings, waved a hand a few seconds later and the magic collapsed, allowing him to grin as he flew the missile right into the passage that the KG Robots had set up their force field in not that long ago, though he ensured that his weapon was angled right at his target, and made sure to double check his work, before he leapt off the missile and landed on the ground a few seconds later, to which he watched as the payload struck the central post that powered the force field and obliterated the obstacle within a matter of seconds, meaning his mission was a success.

"Nice going Daxter, you did great taking down that force field," Jax said, as he and his sisters had remained in one spot as their friend flew around the Port, though once he headed for the passage leading to the Industrial Section they moved in so no harm would come to Daxter once the payload had been delivered, finding that he was unharmed and that he had done what Torn had asked, as in tearing down what he and his sisters suspected was the first of many obstacles that were standing between them and Freedom HQ.

"Thanks, though you guys are rubbing off on me," Daxter replied, due to the fact that he wasn't one who usually went out and fought their enemies, or did something foolish like jumping onto a missile and used it to blow something up, but he had to admit that there was a certain rush and excitement to what he had done, meaning the siblings had rubbed off on him at some point in time, before he considered something for a few seconds, "I know three of you don't use that many bullets these days, thanks to your power boosts, but we might want to check in with the Gun Course and see if they have any additional ammunition for Jak, since I'm sure Torn will be sending us into the heart of the Industrial Section to tackle a number of missions to improve our chances of victory."

Jak agreed with the idea, as he had been hoping that there might be a new weapon mod they could add to their growing list of weapons, to which he and his sisters turned around as Daxter returned to his usual perch, allowing him some time to rest as they headed over to the Gun Course, though what surprised them was that they found Tess standing near the door on their left, or her right, and it appeared that she might be working on something, though he paused as she heard the sound of the main door opening.

"Daxter! You're back!" Tess happily said, where Daxter hopped down onto the floor for a moment and rushed over to the area that Tess was standing in, who caught him with a smile on her face when he jumped up to hug her, even though that ended with him being cradled like he was a baby or something, not that Tess cared about that since she was madly in love with Daxter, meaning she must have been worried when she heard about their transport blowing up and Keira must have eased her worries after both she and Ashelin returned to the city, before she transitioned into hugging him a little, which was interesting to see, "Oh, did that mean old desert burn your itty-bitty paws?"

"Hey, Tess baby. Don't crush-a the merchandise." Daxter replied, though the siblings found that he was happy to see that the love of his life, as in someone who actually loved him and didn't run off after getting used to his antics, was overjoyed to have him back in Haven City, even if there was no telling how long they would be here since the siblings would have to head back to Spargus at some point, before he pried himself free and landed on the ground, "How's biz?"

"I'm designing new guns to help out the war effort." Tess eagerly replied, where she beckoned to the weapon that was on the bench to her right, allowing Jak and his sisters to see that it was definitely a Yellow Eco modification and told them that a new weapon might be added to their arsenal, even though Twilight knew that there was no reason to collect more mods at this point, with the power they possessed, but figured that it never hurt to have an alternative in case they found some sort of foe that resisted magic.

"You make guns now?" Cozy inquired, as this was news to them, because while they had learned nothing about Tess while they were dealing with Krew and his madness, since she had worked for him as a bartender while aiding the Underground in gathering information about all of the enemies the city faced, she had started to open up once they celebrated Kor's downfall, though it was clear that she hadn't told them everything and made them wonder what other secrets she might be hiding from her friends.

"Yeah. I just finished this new gun modification." Tess stated, where she turned for a moment and picked the weapon up, something that gave them a chance to see that the new modification was a circular disc around the head of the gun and it had three prongs that seemed to form a triangle formation around the new addition, pointed away from whoever might be wielding the weapon in question, "It sports a multi-port, large-bore, gyro-burst launcher with blowback breech assist, using full-jacket, Eco-depleted, armor-piercing slugs, and a continuous kill zone scanner for tight groupings at a high-cycle rate of fire... it's a hobby."

"And let me guess, you won't let us take one unless we prove ourselves?" Twilight asked, as while she suspected that part of Tess' sudden change was due to the fact that she spent a good deal of time with Keira and likely talked about all sorts of things, something she would have to look into once they had a chance to relax and not worry about enemies trying to tear down the rest of Haven City, something that caused Tess to nod her head and confirm that such a thing was the case, all while she was sure it was more to make sure they could protect Daxter from whatever dangers they might face in the very near future.

Once that was done Jak and his sisters took turns heading through the obstacle course that Tess had designed to test all of them, to prepare them for what the future held for both them and all of their allies, where they found that it was designed for whoever tackled it to use Yellow Eco bullets and faced down whatever Tess had set up, which happened to be firing at all of the KG Robots and avoiding the civilians that were in the area, the cutouts of them anyway, and when they emerged Jak, Starlight, and Cozy earned silver rankings, while Twilight, against all odds, earned gold, putting a smile on Tess's face as she looked over their scores.

"Not bad shooting Jak... for a guy." Tess commented, showing the siblings that Tess likely believed that she could do much better with a gun than any of them could, though to be fair she had more experience with them, even though the four of them had quickly adapted to wielding guns and other weapons when they started fighting the Krimzon Guard, but, despite that fact, she held out a hand and handed over the Gyro Burster, which was what she called her mod, "Now, I want you to protect my little baby with this, or else I'll hunt you down and hurt you real bad. Okay?"

"If it weren't for the fact that I've seen what Midnight can do when she's angry, I might have been worried about such a comment, but I'll keep it in mind." Jak replied, as he wasn't intimidated by what Tess said, even though she clearly meant it and would likely find some way to get at him and his sisters if something happened to Daxter while they tackled the rest of Haven's enemies, though his statement did tell her that he'd be thinking about her threat for some time, something that put a smile on her face as she went back to her work, allow while Daxter had an excited look on his face as well, meaning he enjoyed seeing this new side of Tess.

Tess said nothing to that as she made sure the sisters had their own version of the mod, with Twilight gaining the third of her yellow gems, of which it seemed like her bracelet was only supposed to have three for the main four types of Eco that went into the Morph Guns, though she was sure that there were some light and dark gems as well, how many she couldn't tell for sure and felt that it either reflected the powers they had found, or something else they might have discovered, but she returned to her work as the siblings headed out to see what else Torn had in store for them.
> Spargus: Invading Enemy Territory
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With Tess no longer needing to worry about Daxter being safe, thanks to the skills the siblings displayed in the course she had designed for them, Jak, Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy headed outside and found that Torn wanted to speak with them, meaning he must have figured out what their next target was so they could push forward and get deeper inside the area that the KG Robots were holding, hence why they headed back over to the Naughty Ottsel without wasting a moment, as they were curious as to what he had discovered.

"Thanks to Keira's efforts, we've figured out what the next set of KG defenses that need to be eliminated are." Torn said, to which the hologram above the table shifted for a moment and revealed what appeared to be a security camera that had a gun of some kind attached to it, something that caused the siblings to stare at it for a few seconds, as each of them were curious as to what Keira and the others had discovered, before the barrier had been set up, "Back before that barrier had been set up we found super-range sniper cannons scattered around part of the Industrial Section, weapons that stopped us from moving deeper into their domain, and now that the barrier is down Keira's figured out that those cannons are still online, which we have confirmed thanks to some of our men testing the area out... though so far we haven't lost anyone to them. Jak, girls, I need the four of you to head into the newly opened section of the city, find those hidden cannons, and take them all out... though we're positive that they'll launch a counterattack, once they figure out what you guys are up to, so keep an eye on your enemies while you're out there."

Jak nodded as he and his sisters departed from the Naughty Ottsel and headed for the passage that lead to the section of the city that they needed to push through, finding that a number of smaller robots were trying to gain ground by pushing out all of the Freedom League fighters that were guarding the area, something that lead to the siblings blasting their way through each and every small enemy before heading into enemy territory, as it was time for Errol to see that they weren't to be underestimated. Of course Jak was a little surprised by how Daxter was acting these days, usually he'd complain that Torn was stealing all the credit or something, since he was the one that usually cared about that sort of thing, though now he was focused on whatever missions they were being given and they were thankful for it, since it showed them that he had matured while they were saving Haven not that long ago, before he let out a light chuckle as they smashed through a small robotic patrol that crossed paths with them. With that done the first thing they did was head up the nearby ramp, as in the one in front of them, and discovered that the sniper cannons were basically security camera that had been placed on top of a powerful gun that could extend quite a bit, thanks to the neck section it was attached to, along with finding two red metallic buttons resting on the platform and a circular device that looked like the power source for the cannon, but it was easy for them to figure out what they needed to do. All the siblings had to do was bash the metallic buttons into the ground and then, once all of them were stuck in that position, someone would have to lash out and smash the cannon's core, the circular device that rested nearby, so since the first one only had two buttons it was incredibly easy for the four of them to bring down cannon and caused it to blow up once the core was destroyed, but none of them stopped as they headed even deeper into the Industrial Section.

Sure enough the KG Robots started to converge on the area that they were standing in once they realized what they were trying to do, Something that caused Cozy to rush forward and smash up the robots that were coming towards them, as it allowed Jak and the others to safely move to where the next sniper cannon rested, where they quickly discovered that the second one was further along the path they were following at the moment. As such Jak and Starlight focused on pressing all of the buttons as Twilight stood still, using her magic to make sure the sniper cannon didn't hurt her siblings or target her at all, showing their foe that magic was far stronger than metal was, and it wasn't long before the three buttons had been activated and Starlight smashed the core to pieces, eliminating another target in the process. Once that was done all of them headed over to the sniper cannon that was resting just outside the Power Station, which was locked up right now and it made all of them wonder if Vin was okay, since no one had said anything about him since their return, meaning they would have to force their way inside at one point and see what might have happened to their friend, but that was when Jak and his sisters focused on their targets as they focused on pressing the three buttons that were scattered around this particular sniper cannon. Not a few moments later Cozy swung her fist and smashed the core to pieces, eliminating yet another target so the Freedom League didn't have to worry about them in the future, before Alvin and his brothers, who had decided to take to the skies using their hybrid forms, returned and informed the siblings that the last two targets were close by, as they just had to head along the path that rested near the Power Station and they would be there in no time, to which the four of them started moving without delay.

The fourth sniper cannon happened to have three buttons and was not even a minute away from where they found the third weapon, to which the siblings repeated the process they had used so far and smashed the newest weapon apart as soon as the core was revealed, while the fifth and final one had four buttons for them to worry about, so while Cozy tore all incoming robots apart Jak and Starlight focused on activating the devices so Twilight could eliminate the core, which did put a smile on their faces since this mission was over. With that done Jak and his sisters retraced their steps and headed back to the Port, blasting, smashing, and slashing their way through the robots that happened to be standing in their way, as they had a feeling that Torn had something else for all of them to do while the Freedom League made sure that none of their enemies pushed into the Port, hence why they were heading for the Naughty Ottsel again, though nothing stopped Jak and his sisters from reaching their destination and walking inside.

"Jak, I need you and your sisters to go into the Sewers and make your way over to the section of the city that the Tainted are currently in control of." Torn spoke up, not that the siblings were surprised by what he was saying, since it did look like both the KG Robots and the Tainted had claimed sections of Haven City, so they could launch their own assaults on those who stood in their way, which was the Freedom League right now, "We need to attack their hive from below, where they'll least expect it, and right now the Sewers are the only way in for us to enter that part of the city... to be honest, we haven't been in those old passageways since the war broke out, but none of our scouts have reported movement down there. And before any of you ask, since I know its coming, I mean they haven't come back to tell us what's going on down there, so I have to assume that something dangerous is lurking down in the Sewers."

"Which is why you're sending us to clear it out." Cozy remarked, to which she pounded her fists together, showing that she was excited about this turn of events, because if there was some sort of dangerous monster or something lurking inside the Sewers she and her siblings could take care of whatever it was in no time, though that wasn't counting dealing damage to everything that the Tainted had built in their section of the city, which appeared to be the main mission right now, one that would bring relief to the Freedom League.

As Torn nodded his head, to show them that they had understood what he meant, Jak waited for a few seconds as he took a moment to pull out a map and revealed where one of the openings into the Sewers might be located, which Twilight and Starlight memorized as he showed them this information, though once that was done the four of them headed outside and started to retrace their steps once more, heading right back into the Industrial Section. It didn't take Jak and his sisters all that long to return to where the sniper cannons had been resting, where Twilight noted another barrier that seemed to be blocking the way forward, meaning the KG Robots must have set up multiple barriers for the Freedom League to deal with, before even being allowed to get anywhere near their reinforcements, though while she could break the barrier with her magic she decided to save it for later, to see what Torn's plans were. Not a few seconds later Jak located a Door Lock and opened it, to which the four of them stepped onto the platform and allowed it to take them down to their destination, where they found themselves in a large circular chamber that didn't look like the Sewers they were used to, meaning that there was another section that they hadn't been in and it made them wonder what sort of dangers might be waiting for all of them. The first thing they found was that there were two paths, where the one on their left seemed to be locked, due to the fact that Cozy standing in front of it did nothing, hence why the siblings headed to the right of the opening they walked through after the platform came to a stop, finding a couple of pipes that were spewing small bursts of toxic gas into the air above them, even though Starlight weaved her magic into circular platforms for Jak to use, all while she and her sisters just flew over to the end of the path in question, eventually coming to another Door Lock, one that opened for them.

What interested the siblings was that on the other side of the door they found a couple of robotic Grunts that seemed to be patrolling this area, ones Cozy tore apart with her brute force, before she and her siblings rounded a corner and found a few more of them that seemed to be patrolling the next part of the Sewers they were walking through, which interested them to some degree.

"Who wants to say that the KG Robots and the Tainted are in league with each other?" Jak inquired, though he made sure to fire a few blasts of his Reflector and watched as his attacks shattered the couple of Robo-Grunts that were patrolling the Sewers right now, including breaking a wind device that would likely prevent someone from moving forward, which let him and his sisters jump up some pipes and reach a dual stream of water.

"Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised, given what we've learned so far," Starlight replied, referring to the fact that something seemed to be stopping Alvin and his brothers from freeing the remaining Metal Heads from Kor's connection, creating the Tainted that everyone was dealing with right now, and right now she was of the opinion that Errol might be behind what was happening to the other Metal Heads, meaning they could be facing a pincer attack of some kind, KG Robots from one side and the Tainted from another, before she considered something interesting, "hey, did you think that Errol might be working with the beings aboard the Day Star?"

"Would give us another reason to kill him." Twilight stated, where she entered a new tunnel and followed it down to what appeared to be a moving platform, even though a single wave of her Blaster shots tore through the Robo-Grunts that were in her way, allowing them to reach the square shaped platform and see where it took them, even though it looked like it might head deeper into this part of the Sewers, before she grinned as a number of flying robots appeared in front of them as she raised her hand, "Guess its time to try the Gyro Burster."

What happened next was that her Yellow Eco gathered and she loosed a circular device up into the air as their foes came at the platform, which started to move once everyone was on it, though that was when a number of beams burst out of it and struck everything that happened to be around the device, where Starlight used a barrier to make sure none of them were harmed by the attack and reflected them even deeper into the Sewers, taking down all sorts of robots in the process, and once the deed was done the object disappeared, allowing them to reach their destination in no time. That brought the siblings to an area that seemed to have a number of electric fences set up, defenses to slow down whoever came through this part of the Sewers, though instead of wasting too much time on them Starlight used her magic and crushed the poles that created the fences in the first place, while Cozy flew over the nearby gap and disappeared as she smashed all sorts of robots into some walls and parts of the ground, wiping out enemies before they headed for an exit. With that done they found another moving square platform and stepped onto it, where they jumped over a small beam of energy while finding a machine gun off in the distance, something that caused Starlight to weave a barrier in front of them and stopped all of the bullets from harming any of them, allowing them to reach a path that lead into another new section, an area that had a good number of metallic walls blocking the way and buttons for them to use. Of course there was some water nearby, just like almost all of the other areas they had headed through so far, though that was when Twilight noticed some brand new critters lucking just below the surface, a fish-like Metal Head that had four webbed feet and a tail that helped them move around in the water, though they had sharpened noses that looked a lot like spears, where Theodore revealed that their father had called them Saw Fish and Twilight felt that 'Spear Fish' might be more accurate.

Instead of worrying about any of the buttons that were in their way, like they would normally would do in this situation, as they would activate the gates further down this path, Starlight waved her hand and knocked the Spear Fish into the space above the surface, allowing Jak and Cozy to blast them like all of the enemies they had encountered so far, while Twilight summoned her power for a moment and dismantled the metallic barriers that were in their way, allowing her to store all of it inside Midnight's storage area, who would be happy with all of this. Such a thing allowed them to easily reach an area that had a couple of see through metallic walls, forming a cube for some reason that also had a few doors inside it, with a couple of moving platforms outside and around it while finding a pair of moving devices that seemed to have blades right on the bottom of them, like cleaners or something, though Jak said nothing as Midnight appeared and started to tear the area apart with her incredible magic, confirming his earlier thoughts on the matter. Thanks to them doing that they were able to find a button that opened a door up on the left side of the chamber that the cube had been resting in, to which Jak and his sisters headed over there and found a passage that lead to another Door Lock, though on the other side rested a large circular chamber that had a few flying robots flying around the open space, patrolling around while keeping an eye out for enemies, only for Cozy to spread her wings before flying out and smashing her targets to pieces. That allowed the siblings to walk along the path that was in front of them, seeing that they had found an area that seemed to have a pit of sorts that looked like it went on forever, or at least for a while, before discovering another Door Lock that had a platform on the other side, one that the siblings stood on and let it move towards the surface, as it was time for them to see what the Tainted had done to another part of Haven City, especially since Twilight and Midnight would likely find a way to break all of it and reverse the effects in the near future.

When the door opened, however, the siblings paused as they stared out at the Tainted's section of Haven City, which had a number of twisted plants around them, new pillars that rested in what appeared to be a river of acid, or energy that was designed to corrupt everything it happened to touch, tendrils that looked like they were digging into everything, and there happened to be a haze in the air, with a hint of Dark Eco that made them pause for a few seconds, as this was beyond what they were expecting to find in this area.

Guys, this is Ashelin. Let me say that it is good to have you back in the city. a voice said, which they knew came from their Communicator since it had come out and floated around them, though it was good to know that Ashelin was talking and it made them wonder what sort of information she had to share with them, even though they were more interested in the corrupted area that was around them, Now, you guys behind enemy lines, but I don't need to tell you guys to watch yourselves, given your powers and skills, but I do need you to take out a cache of Dark Eco near the South Port border. We have been receiving reports that the Tainted are using it to create terrible Dark Eco weapons and infect the parts of the city that they're currently living in... we've got to stop that from happening at all costs, before all of Haven is consumed by our enemies.

"So, they're terraforming the city to suit their needs, or maybe their dark desires," Twilight commented, as Ashelin's brief statement told her everything she needed to know about the situation, someone was using Dark Eco to twist and corrupt the landscape that they were seeing, though right now she would point the finger at Errol and label him as the one that was behind this happening, because if he was controlling both the KG Robots and the Tainted, like they assumed, then it made some sense for him to do this, especially if he was in league with those aboard the Day Star, meaning he could be getting a head start on the reforming of their planet.

Of course the extent of the dark terraforming informed the siblings that Errol must have waited for them to be stranded in the Wasteland, that way his plan could move without being slowed down by any interlopers, though instead of wasting a lot of time on thinking about that Jak started to navigate his way towards the Dark Eco crystal that was near them, which seemed to be drawing in power and converting it into twisted energy that would be used to corrupt everything else that was inside the city and the surrounding area. While he did that Twilight and her sisters did the reasonable thing as each of them noticed another detail, there were a lot of Tainted Metal Heads rushing towards their location, and they confirmed that Alvin and his brothers were unable to free them from Errol's dark control, which lead to Cozy channeling her power as she rushed out and smashed her targets into both the ground and the walls around them, just like she did during their previous brief battles. Starlight, on the other hand, used both her staff and her gun to deal with her enemies, showing the Tainted that none of them could reach her and that they would suffer defeat if they came at her, while Twilight sighed as her alternate selves emerged from where they had been resting, resulting in most of them rushing out and smashing into their enemies while Midnight floated above where they were fighting and studied the terraformed section of Haven City, something they were fine with since she had a greater chance of reversing this, especially since she and the other versions of Twilight would speak about it in due time. Jak found that it was incredibly easy for him to smash his way through the Dark Crystal that seemed to be messing with the city's energy, though as one fell he suspected that there were a few more targets for them to take down and he followed what seemed to be the path forward, a number of vines that seemed to be made out of nerves or something, something that required the use of his JET-Board and some pressure vents while his sisters followed the edges of the path and continued their fights, tearing down their enemies so he could focus on simply breaking the targets Ashelin wanted them to break.

While they moved through the Tainted's section of Haven City, however, Midnight made a note of the massive tendrils that were growing out of the ground, especially one that seemed to be the heart of the corruption, that being a tower that was nearly the size of the now fallen Palace, though such a thing didn't stop Jak from smashing the next couple of crystals to pieces before they eventually reached one that rested in front of a cracked wall, something that lead to the dark energy rushing into their bodies and allowed Jak to release a burst of dark energy that tore the wall apart.

"A new power... Dark Blast, if my observations are correct," Midnight commented, though while she said that she and the rest of the Twilights regrouped with the main body and disappeared as quickly as they had appeared, though this event actually opened the way for them to head back into the Port, where they found the Neo Metal Heads had been guarding the area to make sure the Tainted didn't invade the area that Torn and the others were resting in.

"Yeah, though I have the feeling that we didn't do much to slow the spread of the Tainted's corruption," Jak said, as right now it sure looked like Errol's allies might have all sorts of toys that would allow them to terraform the area around them, especially since they had no idea what was inside the tendrils Midnight had been staring at, or the tower for that matter, so there was a chance that each of them might house more objects like what he had smashed and it was possible for their enemies to use them to infect the rest of the city.

Jak, girls, Samos here. a voice said, where their Communicator came out while they were talking and revealed that Samos had something he wanted to share with the four of them, making them wonder if he was going to say something about the forest that they had helped him gain his powers in not that long ago, or at least his younger self that had been sent into the past with their younger selves, While you're near the entrance to South Haven Forest, could you please go check out reports of a Dark Eco infestation there, as Keira and I are convinced that such a thing is happening and both of us are unable to do anything about it. It seems someone is still experimenting with Dark Eco, despite what you four have done in the past, but remember, if you find infected plants, you must destroy them before they spread and consume the rest of Haven Forest, especially since Keira has discovered that there might be some ancient Precursor pillars somewhere in there, which might be linked to the catacombs... but if the Tainted have their way, and overrun the place with their dark terraforming ways, we'll never know for sure.

"We'll take care of it, then figure out what needs to be done next for the war effort," Cozy replied, though she had a feeling that she, Jak, and Starlight wouldn't be doing much once they reached where Samos wanted them to check out, given that one of the Twilights happened to be the manifestation of Green Eco, so there was a chance that she would undo whatever Keira and Samos had found previously, while they were stuck in the Wasteland, and the others nodded their heads for a few seconds before they started moving.

Sure enough the siblings headed for the area in question, which was behind them and to their left, where they found that part of the ramp that lead up to the Door Lock was half covered by the corrupted ground, once more making them take a moment and wonder how the Tainted could have done such a thing in such a short period of time, despite the fact that all of their enemies had been preparing and struck once the four of them were stranded in the vast Wasteland, but right now they focused on Samos' task. Once the door was open Jak and his sisters found that they were brought to a new section of Haven Forest, meaning someone must have used a lot of Eco power to shift what all four of them were used to seeing, as none of the rocks and trees were similar to what they had seen in the past, though as they stepped out into the open the siblings found that there were no Precursor items in the surrounding area. Of course Jak spotted a number of dark plants that were growing out of the ground, scattered all over everything that they could see right now, though right now most of them seemed to be in what he would assume were the early stages of growth, as they were small bulbs that were growing out of the ground, spreading dark tendrils into the ground so they could force more darkness into the earth and corrupt more of the massive force. Not a few seconds later Twilight came to a stop as both Midnight and Green stepped out, even though she knew that they needed to find a better name for the other four Twilights and not just call them by the color all of them represented, to which the pair weaved their powers into every inch of the forest while Jak, Starlight, and Cozy just stood there, watching what was going on right now, where Midnight withdrew all of the Dark Eco and created spheres out of what had been pumped into the area while Green used her power to heal the forest, though while this happened they found five circular platforms appear in the nearby lake and that there was a larger one in the middle of them.

As the pair finished dealing with the darkness that had been trying to claim Haven Forest, and Samos informed them that he was pleased with their efforts to make sure the Dark Eco didn't terraform anything more than what they had seen since entering the Tainted's side of the city, Jak walked over to the central platform, jumping over to do such a thing, and found a piece of Precursor armor that matched Mar's set, a shoulder piece that went with what Daxter was standing on right now, so he had a complete set of shoulder pads, though with that done they paused for a time to make sure the forest was safe, before worrying about what the future held for them.
> Spargus: Robot Wreckage
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once Midnight and Gaia were done making sure Haven Forest was safe from the darkness that had been unleashed upon it, during which Twilight actually came up with a name for the Green Eco version of herself, both of them faded back into her as she rejoined her siblings, though before they could actually leave the forest, and return to the Tainted's section of the city, their Communicator emerged for a moment and caused them to pause for a moment, even though they suspected that it was from Torn or possibly Samos.

While you were assaulting the Tainted's section, we located four critical power junctions that if destroyed could drop one of the barriers in the Industrial Section. Torn said, something that interested the siblings since they had seen the barriers in question before heading down into the Sewers, meaning Keira must have assisted him in discovering this information, or maybe it was Vin, who had to be stuck inside the Power Station, Now, I know that one of you can do this mission on your own, given your magical powers, but I've decided to give this mission to Jinx, our resident explosives expert, and I want the four of you to protect him while he's laying the charges that will wipe out those junction boxes. Do that and we'll be able to move deeper into the KG's section of the city.

"Don't worry, we'll get the job done," Jak replied, though he understood that Torn wanted to keep whatever magic all of his sisters had topped off for later, since he had no idea how much more power they had before a break was needed, and if he was being honest it sure didn't look like Twilight even needed to rest, even if she might be hiding her exhaustion from him and the others, but this plan was a good one and it appeared that his sisters agreed with him, "Come on, let's go see what sort of trouble we can get into."

Not a few moments later, when they emerged from the Door Lock that had brought them to the new section of the forest, the siblings discovered a two person seater zoomer resting down near the ramp, a thicker one to be exact, and Jinx just so happened to be sitting in the passenger seat, to which Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy took to the air as Jak climbed into the driver seat and started to head back into the Port, following the map that had been provided so he could track down all of the junction boxes. As it turned out the first of their four targets happened to be right outside the area that the barrier the Tainted had set up had been resting in, to which Jak parked the vehicle nearby and climbed out with Jinx as his sisters took a moment to land nearby, though they were joined by a number of Neo Metal Heads as the Tainted started to focus on what they were doing, and it was easy for the siblings to tell them apart given the blue armor their allies were wearing, as Torn had allowed them to join the Freedom League, which had pissed Veger off. Thanks to that Jak and his sisters didn't have to devote a good portion of their attention to defending Jinx, meaning they could focus on lashing out at the Tainted that were coming at them as a fair number of the Neo Metal Heads did the same thing, where they ripped and tore their way through the enemies that were advancing on this part of the Port, even though the Tainted ended up losing forces as the siblings slashed and blasted them into submission. Once Jinx was ready he and Jak climbed back into the zoomer and took off, allowing the sisters to take to the air as the Neo Metal Heads vacated the area as well, where the Tainted were consumed by the junction box detonating thanks to Jinx's actions, clearing this part of the Port of enemies, for the time being anyway, which allowed the defenders some time to regroup and rest before another wave came at them and tried to push into the rest of the Port.

The second junction box was still outside the Industrial Section, as it rested in the middle path that once lead to where the Palace entrance rested, a collapsed area thanks to Veger blasting the Palace so he could get at the Catacombs, though it took them no time to locate their target and the siblings assumed their positions as Jinx got to work on making sure it was ready to explode as well, where some of the Tainted crawled out through the nearby wreckage to attack them. As Jak and his sisters focused on tearing their foes apart, and making sure the Port was safe from enemies, Gaia emerged for a few seconds and weaved her power over the tunnels their enemies had dug to reach this point, sealing them up in seconds as she made sure such a thing wouldn't happen again, which put a smile on the faces of Jak and the others as Jinx finished his part of the mission, allowing them to leave as the junction box exploded. From there they actually headed into the part of the city that all of the KG Robots were coming from, where they discovered that the third of the four junction boxes just so happened to be off to the left of the main entrance to the area in question, to which Jak parked nearby and pulled his gun out as his sisters took up some positions all over the opening that lead to where Jinx was working, providing them with an extra layer of protection for when their enemies showed up. Sure enough a large number of robots started to pour into the area that they were working in, causing his sisters to open fire with either their guns or their magic, while Jak stayed a few steps away from where Jinx and the junction box rested, though he did use his blade to cleave a few robots in half as they tried to get at the person they were assisting at the moment, as some appeared to make a suicide rush through the defenses his sisters had set up and that meant the few who survived were his to take out.

With the third junction box taken care of, as Jinx made sure he and Jak moved before it exploded, they headed deeper into the Industrial Section and found that their last target rested near the barrier the siblings had seen earlier, right before they headed into the Sewers, to which they started to tear down the flying and ground robots that were coming at them, just like they had done in the past, but it wasn't long before Jinx finished his task and the junction box exploded, which caused the barrier in question to explode and scatter fragments everywhere.

Sweet Eco, you guys did it! Torn stated, his voice coming from the Communicator once more, meaning he must have been keeping an eye on a map or something that revealed the layout of the junction boxes, likely provided by Keira given her hand in keeping Haven City safe, where it was clear that he was pleased with their progress and that they were closer to reaching their allies in the northern half of the city, where Freedom HQ was located, You've opened the way for us to move deeper into KG territory!

"Nice work, Jak-y boy. Not to mention good work, ladies." Jinx spoke up, showing that he approved of what they had done as well, especially since it was his neck on the line and they had passed with flying colors in his eyes, to which he climbed into the zoomer and took the driver seat again, though he paused for a moment as he reached into a pack that Jak had spotted when he first climbed into the vehicle and pulled out four triangular shaped items, which he tossed to them as he beckoned to the new opening, "I'm gonna go see what I can scrounge up. See all of you on the flip side!"

As it turned out the items that Jinx had tossed at them was another weapon modification, again crafted by Tess, which she called the Needle Lazer, something that allowed one to fire three bits of Blue Eco that were shaped like needles and locked onto enemies in the surrounding area, though it also kept the rapid firing component of the Vulcan mod, so one could fire a burst of blue needles and tear their foes to shreds, something they would keep in mind for later, though before any of them moved out they noticed that the Communicator was still floating near them.

Guys, we've gotten word of a shipment of Eco being delivered somewhere in the Industrial Section, near your location by our estimates. Ashelin commented, meaning that Torn was either looking at something else right now or someone else had taken over the device for now, though as she spoke up Jak and his sisters glanced at each other, as it was interesting that they had just learned about the Eco shipment, meaning Keira must be hard at work doing anything and everything to boost their chances of beating their enemies, I think it's worth stealing, so I want you four to go in, find the vehicle with the Eco, and drive it back out to the Naughty Ottsel in one piece. I'm sure they'll try to stop you, but to be honest they'll have to pull out all of the stops to prevent you from driving off with the shipment.

Jak nodded his head to that, as with the powers that Twilight and her alternate selves had access to he knew that next to nothing would be able to stop them from taking the shipment in question, and even if she held back there was Starlight who could do some amazing things with her powers, though after thinking about that for a few moments they headed out and started to search the Industrial Section for clues as to where the shipment might be resting. While that happened a number of enemies rushed at them in an attempt to bring them down, something that didn't bother them all that much due to the fact that Daxter turned on them and swung his own Eco blade at those who dared to get near him, though he was joined by Alvin and his brothers as they flew around the area and used their hybrid forms to smash their way through the robots who dared to approach them. What they quickly discovered was that the Eco shipment Ashelin had told them about was resting near the next barrier, meaning it was close to the former border between the Slums and the Industrial Section of the city, inside what had been the area that the former Sewer entrance had been located in, where it looked like the robots might have sealed that entrance to make sure none of their enemies could surface in the middle of their vast territory, a good strategy based on what the siblings had seen so far. Of course there was one thing that interested them as they noticed it, there was a large sentry machine that was focused solely on where the shipment was resting, meaning Errol must have let slip that he had a shipment ready as a trap for one of them, as if he thought that such a thing was just the thing to kill one or more of them, to which Twilight approached the vehicle in question, which contained at least seven barrels filled with Eco on the back section of the vehicle, and she confirmed that with her powers, meaning that even if this was a trap they were going to take it anyway.

Sure enough when Jak climbed onto the vehicle and started to move the sentry became active and released a number of missiles that flew towards where he was located, meaning that Errol had definitely linked the two together in some way to take them down, though as he made his way back to the Port all three of his sisters took off and flew through the air above him, something that was followed by Starlight landing in the passage between the sections of the city and weaved some of her power into the space in front of her, summoning a wall of magic to protect everyone as it closed in a circular matter, so when Jak flew through the center the barrier closed a second later and the missiles ran right into it.

"Oh yeah, now that's what I'm talking about!" Daxter stated, as he had been wondering what the siblings were going to do about the missiles, even though he could see Twilight heading back to the Industrial Section and returned with a turret she had dismantled in seconds, meaning she was removing another threat to Torn's forces, something that would allow them to get closer to the next barrier and come up with a plan of attack that would allow them to smash through it as well, all so they could get closer to Freedom HQ.

With the missiles taken care of, and they were sure that Errol's forces weren't doing anything else right now, which caused Starlight to lower the barrier for the time being, they returned to the Naughty Ottsel and let the Freedom League take the Eco that they had claimed, something that would annoy their foe to no end, but they were fine with pissing off Errol with all of their actions and this seemed to be another good step in doing such a thing, though since it appeared that nothing else was happening the siblings decided to rest for a bit before tackling whatever happened next.





As it turned out they were able to rest for a few hours, meaning that the siblings got some time to rest and recover some of their energy before anything else happened, especially getting some food since it had been a while since any of them had eaten, though as Jak, his sisters, and their Ottsel companions finished a light meal, since there wasn't a whole lot left in the Port thanks to being cut off from Samos and the others, Torn walked over and his face informed them that he must have discovered something while they were resting.

"Guys, I know you'd rather be resting right now, but we just received word of a new assault on the Port." Torn said, which reminded the siblings of the assault that their enemies had launched shortly after their arrival in Haven City, something that was either timed on purpose or they had been lucky in arriving just before that happened, though right now neither of those thoughts mattered since a brand new assault was underway, "Our enemies are trying to take us out once and for all, but the strangest part about this is that we're seeing movement from both the KG and Tainted fronts... honestly, based on what we're seeing, it's like they're working together. I hate to do this to you, after everything you four have done so far, in stabilizing our position and pushing into the Industrial Section without much rest, but I'm putting you guys on the front line, as you are my go-to soldiers for this sort of situation. Stop any enemy units from reaching this place, because if we lose this battle we're pretty much history."

"Don't worry, you've got some of the greatest warriors in our world's history on your side," Daxter stated, as he knew that next to nothing could stop Jak and his sisters, especially due to the fact that they had dragons on their side and had some strange powers, before he tapped into his own powers for a moment and his Eco blade showed up, as he was getting used to being in a fight and knew that he'd be able to help the siblings out in some manner, before he glanced back to Torn for a few seconds, "none of our enemies will be able to get too far into the Port."

Torn stood there for a moment as the siblings got up and headed for the door, separating from each other as Jak headed out and joined forces with Baron Praxis, who was guarding the bridges near the massive wall, due to the fact that both the KG and the Tainted were dropping enemies down into that area, while the disguised brothers assumed their true forms as they joined all of the other Neo Metal Heads outside the Tainted's section of the city, leaving Starlight and Cozy to stand in front of the Industrial Section to face the KG, all while Twilight remained high up in the air above them, to take care of any enemies that dared to come down from above. Torn, of course, watched the situation unfold from the Naughty Ottsel, as he used a map that his table possessed, along with a few cameras and whatnot so he could see things happen, to form a real time layout of the battle that was happening just outside the bar, and thanks to some of Keira's upgrades he could see all of the fights happen as if he was fighting beside Jak, his sisters, and everyone else. All of that didn't prepare him for all that he saw, as Jak was capable of moving with a level of grace that was almost like a Wastelander's, cleaving robots apart like they were made out of butter and not metal, while Praxis used his newest mech to smash his foes into the ground and move onto the next foe, even though he wasn't ready to see Daxter actually jump onto the head of a Tainted Metal Head that tried to sneak up on Jak, who was busy fighting, before driving his Eco blade down into his foe's Skull Gem and let the crystal shatter, killing his foe in seconds and dropping its body to the ground so he could rejoin Jak. That part still weirded Torn out whenever he thought about it, Daxter, who had done next to nothing during their war against Praxis, was capable of holding his own and picking out enemies to take down in a matter of seconds, meaning he must have been watching the siblings and put his studies into action when he first accessed his inner power some time ago, but still, it was weird seeing Daxter contributing to tearing down their enemies.

While that happened Alvin and his brothers slashed and smashed their way through the Tainted, leading their forces right into the terraformed section of Haven City as they pushed their enemies backwards, showing Errol that he would have to try harder than this to bypass their defenses, if the mechanical Human was in command of the corrupted Metal Heads, as Jak and his sisters believed him to be after everything they had seen so far, and based on what Torn was seeing there was no need to post guards in the passage leading to the Tainted's section, as his allies were capable of defending the area all by themselves. After that he found Cozy, in her transformed state, smashing her way through the enemies that dared to approach her and the area that she was guarding, the passage leading into the Industrial Section, while Starlight took her time to make sure any and all civilians that happened to be outside when the alarm sounded were escorted back to the main part of the Port, even though Starlight also fired upon several groups of robots that were trying to take the area, only for them to fail due to the combined might of the two sisters. Of course the other thing Torn noticed was that Twilight did find a few transports to break apart with her powers, though it was more in the sense of she caught them with her magic and dismantled the robotic ones that were coming at the area she happened to be residing in, collecting all sorts of stuff for later, or, as Jak informed him earlier, to give Midnight something to do when she wasn't fighting their enemies, which might also extend to the other four versions of Twilight as well, but it was still odd to see her do such a thing and not even flinch as she defeated her enemies in such a way. Thanks to her fighting in the sky, taking care of the KG transports since it appeared that the Tainted weren't using any of theirs, which was understandable since Alvin and his brothers broke all of them that dared to reveal themselves, opening the way for Jak, Praxis, Cozy, Starlight, and all of their forces to defend the Port from the two forces that wanted to crush them, or one force split into two different groups, something that caused Errol's forces to eventually pull back.

Of course Torn had everyone make sure that this wasn't a trick and everyone remained on guard for some time, a couple of minutes to be exact, but once they determined that no more enemies were coming he ordered everyone to stand down and the Port returned to a sense of peace, for however long it might last, allowing the siblings to regroup near the section of this portion of the city that the Air Train used to rest in, where Torn realized that he was going to have to place one of their transports in so Jak and his sisters could head back to the Wasteland at some point.

"There, that should give Torn and the others plenty of time before another attack occurs, meaning they should have time to figure out how to move further north," Jak commented, though as he said that he started to move towards the area that Tess was working in, as he wanted to restock his ammunition before they did anything else, and there was a chance she might have another weapon modification for them, likely a Red Eco one since they hadn't found a Peace Maker mod yet, where he could see that his sisters seemed to agree with his statement, "Let's check in with Tess, get some ammunition, and then head back to Spargus, as I'm sure dad might have something for us to do."

Sure enough they found Tess working on another weapon modification, either after seeing the success of the last one she gave them or she had resumed tinkering with it after handing the last one to them, though Jak and his sisters could easily see that it looked like a Red Eco mod, meaning Jak's earlier thoughts had been proven right, even though it meant that it would be some time before they found anything for the Peace Maker section of their Morph Guns, though none of them were remotely surprised to see Tess stop working as she turned to face them.

"Daxter! My hero!" Tess stated, where she had a smile on her face as she found Daxter hugging her, as he had rushed up to her and embraced her for a few seconds, though it was more in relief that she was safe, something that was followed by Tess turning and embracing him in return as Jak and his sisters came to a stop near where she was working, all while Alvin and his brothers landed outside the Gun Course before shifting into their Ottsel forms as they rejoined the four of them and rested on their shoulders once more, "Even with Jak and his sisters helping us, this city is becoming much too dangerous for my liking... what we need is our own little place in the country. I was thinking that we could have a little pink house, with a white picket fence... oh, and a fireplace! And a big four-poster bed, for me, and a little ottsel run on the side of the house for you."

"Aw, are you worried about me, my little Tess-y-poo?" Daxter replied, which made sense in his eyes since he was taking on a more active role in dealing with their enemies, using his Eco blades to cut down whoever happened to get in his way, be they Errol's robots or the Tainted, as he had proven that he could take out both of them on his own, but the feeling was mutual since he had been worried about her and was relieved to see that she was unharmed.

"Of course, my itty-bitty whisker-puss." Tess said, as while she understood that he had grown up since she met him, due to being with Jak and his sisters almost all the time and had likely learned from them, she was sure that part of his growth was due to her influence, or at least she hoped so, but at the same time it made her worry about him more than usual and sometimes she worried that Jak would come to her with bad news, even if the possibility of that happening was none due to the powers that Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy possessed.

"You know, you guys can do this when the city's not in danger." Alvin remarked, figuring that there was a time and place for such a display, and that now wasn't an appropriate time for them to be doing such a thing, rather they could be doing this once they were done with the war for Haven City, despite the fact that Jak and his sisters didn't seem to mind Daxter and Tess doing this, especially since Daxter had finally found the love of his life, something that had caused him to mature in their eyes.

"Rumor is, you guys are the only hope we've got to reach the Catacombs!" Tess stated, though as she said that she took a moment to turn towards Jak and his sisters, while at the same time Daxter pulled away and asked the disguised brothers if they wanted a hug, before she beckoned to the northern door of the building for a few seconds, meaning she likely had a new course for them to try out, or at least that was what the siblings assumed she meant, "To prepare you for when that time comes, as we're sure that it will come soon, I've programmed the gun course to simulate some of the new enemy tactics. Want to try it out?"

Sure enough Jak and his sisters tackled the challenge, which was a Red Eco course and not a Yellow Eco one, which made sense given what the prize happened to be, though while Jak, Starlight, and Cozy were able to score decent scores they found that Twilight earned the max score for the course, convincing Daxter that she was using her powers during it, but none of them were about to call her a cheater since she had more gun skills than most of them, save for Starlight, and in the end Tess gave them the Plasmite RPG, the third and final Red Eco mod that fired plasmite grenades, causing them to smile for a moment before heading for the Air Train, as it was time to see if anyone in Spargus needed assistance before returning to the war effort.
> Spargus: Dangers in the Wasteland
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jak and his sisters spent the hour long flight to the Wasteland just resting, as they had done a lot of fighting to stabilize the situation for Torn and the others, which would give their friends all the time to figure out what needed to be done next, as all of the smaller missions would likely be given to everyone else and Torn would keep the big stuff for the siblings, when they returned to Haven City in the future, but for now Jak focused on checking out what was happening in their father's side of things and if Spargus needed assistance. While they traveled to their destination Samos spoke to them for a couple of moments, revealing that the pillar in Haven Forest had been mentioned in some of Mar's writings and that it was linked to five special artifacts, ones that, if they were able to find them and bring them back to the forest, they would be able to one of the truths of their world to whoever did such a thing. The downside to his statement was that neither he or Keira had any idea where any of the artifacts were located, so it was unlikely that they would be in Haven City, under lock and key in either the Industrial Section or the Tainted's domain, meaning the artifacts in question had to be somewhere out in the Wasteland and that it would be their job to track each of them down, recovering them so they could figure out what sort of secret was resting inside Haven Forest. Such a thing didn't stop Jak or his sisters from thinking about what Samos had told them, because Twilight and Starlight were interested in what he had revealed while Jak was considering where all of the artifacts might be located, where he figured that Seem likely held one or two of them and that they would have to convince them to part with what they had for a time, but for now his focus was on heading to the Wasteland and seeing what Spargus needed help with, while Cozy was more interesting in tracking down the Marauders and taking them down, all to make the Wasteland safer for their father and his people.

Of course it wasn't long before the Air Train reached the outer reaches of the large desert, where they quickly discovered that another storm was building off in the distance and might strike Spargus soon, meaning the alarm had to be sounding at the moment, though it also meant that someone would be sent out to recover some new artifacts from the sands, just before the storm struck the city, though when they landed Jak told the pilot to head back to Haven and contact them when he was coming back, so he and his sisters would know when it was time to head back to the city, before they headed out and walked into the garage, finding Sig preparing the Sand Shark.

"Jak, girls, we were wondering when you guys might be returning," Sig commented, where a smile appeared on his face as he said that, due to the fact that he was pleased to see them again and knew that he could send them out into the storm, as senior Wastelanders could have newbies or the indebted to Spargus do whatever task they had been given, so if he had been told to make war with the Marauders he could have the siblings do it, before he glanced through the main gate for a few seconds, "though, as you might have noticed, we've got another storm brewing... and this one is really churning the sand! Our scanners show that a few new artifacts have surfaced, especially one that has a stronger reading than what we are receiving from the others. You guys up for some rough riding?"

"Come on Sig, you know I can race with the best of them, and I'm always up for a challenge." Jak replied, because based on what they had seen he and his sisters knew that the storm was going to hit Spargus, that much was for sure, meaning they would have a limited time to obtain the artifacts that had shown up, outwit any and all Marauders who would be coming for them as well, and get back to Spargus with the loot before the storm struck the city, something his sisters understood as they nodded their heads as well.

"That's good to here. Now, get out there and bring us back some booty." Sig stated, something that lead to Jak climbing into the driver seat of the Sand Shark and making sure that everything was like he had left it, in case Kleiver was trying to screw with him or something, though before he went racing out of the gates it appeared that Sig had something else he wanted to say, or maybe it was just a reminder of the rules that came with this type of mission, "You know the drill; get to the artifacts first and they're yours to claim, Wastelander rights! Now, go get 'em!"

As Jak headed outside the main gate his sisters flew overhead, as they would be following him and taking out the various Marauders who dared to bother them, and sure enough they found a number of Marauder vehicles coming towards their bother, to which Jak drove forward as he followed the icons that were on the Sand Shark's map, even though Cozy burst into a group of enemies and smashed the vehicles to pieces, like they were made of paper or something, all while Twilight called the fragments to her. Of course her siblings expected her to just store the fragments away, in Midnight's massive storage area, but the reality of the situation was that she was using the sharpened metal bits as projectiles and saving her ammunition for later, allowing her new attacks to rip through the vehicles the Marauders were using and scatter all sorts of metallic bits for her to collect, as some did end up in Midnight's area and her siblings knew the rest would end up there at some point in time. Starlight remained near Jak and used her power to make sure no incoming bullets harmed him, just in the off chance that one of the Marauders got a lucky shot or something, but for the most part it looked like they had no chance of doing so, especially when she discovered that Jak didn't need her help at all, he was more than capable of using his own Light Eco to shield the Sand Shark as he primed the Plasmite RPG and loosed a grenade at some of his enemies, an attack that wiped them out and allowed him to move forward with ease. The path he was following happened to take all of them over to where they first found the Metal Beasts and discovered that something, Errol no doubt, was messing with all of the remaining Metal Heads who were under Kor's thumb, preventing Alvin and his brothers from being able to free them, before heading out into the area that lead to where the Oasis rested and then circled back once the scanner claimed that all of the artifacts were accounted for.

As they returned to Haven City, and raced to beat the storm there, Twilight made sure all of the artifacts were floating in a space near her and found one that looked like a cube made out of Precursor metal, looking older than some of the other artifacts they had seen so far, which also had a glowing blue orb inside it, making her wonder if it happened to be one of the five artifacts they needed for what they found in Haven Forest, though once they were inside the walls she levitated all of the items over to a waiting Wastelander before she and her siblings returned to the Palace... where they were greeted with a large hug from their father, who pulled back after a couple of seconds.

Damas informed them that nothing major had happened since they departed for the Precursor Temple, though they did have some small encounters with the Marauders, who were becoming bolder despite all of the people they were losing to the four of them, which didn't make a lot of sense and he wasn't about to worry about it, before he listened to what they had to say about the war in Haven City and the fact that there seemed to be a single villain attacking the city, Errol, while it did look like Veger might be using him to his advantage. The only thing that the siblings missed out on was speaking to Gol and Maia, as they had come to Spargus and, since Damas had no idea when his children would be returning, had departed not too long after their arrival, though one thing he did find out was that they weren't the ones who appeared on the wall of Haven City during the celebration that Jak, his sisters, and all of Haven had participated in, meaning someone else had shown up and it made them wonder who it could be. While they did that Jak explained that they were also looking for five specific artifacts for something in Haven Forest, since Samos hadn't explained everything since even he and Keira weren't sure what the pillars were supposed to do, and Twilight shared that she was sure that the cube they had recovered with all of the other artifacts had to be one of those five, though she also sent Samos and Keira a description of the cube to make sure it was one of them. Damas considered that for a moment and decided that if it truly was something that they needed, no doubt to save the world in some way, he would speak to those who cleaned the artifacts before sending them out to the parts of Spargus that they were the most useful in, meaning he would take a few moments to collect it and return it to Jak and his sisters, so for right now all they were waiting for was Samos or Keira to figure out what the item was and if they might have found the first artifact of the five they needed.

When morning arrived they discovered that the artifact was known as the Holo Cube, and that it happened to be one of the artifacts they needed for the pillars in Haven Forest, while Keira revealed that they knew what three of the others were, one was the Beam Generator, another was the precursor Prism, and the last was known as the Quantum Reflector, which made them wonder what the fifth and final artifact would be when Keira finished deciphering whatever text she was in the middle of reading, and sure enough Damas made sure that the Holo Cube ended up in their possession, even though they had no leads on the other three.

"I'm afraid that I have some bad news as well, we've received signs that the Marauders are getting ready to launch a rather massive assault on Spargus," Damas said, as while he was pleased to have helped his children take their first step towards figuring out what the object in Haven Forest did, not counting the fact that they had revealed its existence earlier, what his scouts had discovered held his attention more than what his children were doing, where he noted that they glanced at him and were curious as to what he had to say, causing a smile to appear on his face as he recalled something, "however, they have no idea what sort of warriors we have gained recently."

"Oh, I hope you're referring to us," Alvin commented, because for the most part, since they had started the expedition to the Wasteland, he and his brothers had done next to nothing and yesterday had been one of their funnest days in a long time, because it was when they could do something and not have to force everything on Jak and his sisters, so he hoped Damas was talking about him, Simon, and Theodore so they could wage total war on the Marauders and then chase them back to their stronghold.

As it turned out Damas was referring to the three of them, as they had a weapon that the Marauders had no knowledge of and he was planning on using that to his advantage, hence why he, the siblings, and Kleiver stood on the wall that allowed them to stare out at the Wasteland, from on top of the main wall anyway, and sure enough it was easy for them to spot an incoming mass of vehicles and siege machines, meaning that the Marauders wanted to take the city and driver out those who called it home. While the Marauders were coming at Spargus, however, Jak nodded and Alvin, Simon, and Theodore dropped down into the area in front of the main gate, though not a few moments later the brothers summoned their own power and transformed into their true forms, where each of them let out a roar before taking to the air as they rushed right at the incoming force of enemies, something that prompted Starlight to set up a barrier around Spargus' main gate, just in case some Marauders ignored the brothers and tried to attack their father's city. What happened next was exactly what Jak and his sisters were expecting, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore swung their claws and tore the vehicles apart, used their tails to smash some of them into the ground, and even released short bursts of their flame breaths on their enemies, doing everything in their power to knock down the Marauders and force them to retreat, something that lead to the mass of attackers to focus on them and nothing else. While that happened Twilight and Midnight used their powers to pull all of the metal to Spargus, forming a pile near the main gate so their father and his workers could sort through it later, even if Daxter knew they wanted the metal for themselves, though one of them shifted their gaze for a moment and noticed that one of the siege machines were larger than the others they had seen so far, but the reason for Twilight to glance at it was more due to the fact that she felt a Precursor artifact inside the vehicle.

Due to that information Twilight raised a hand and tore the artifact from the vehicle it was in, where it teleported over to where she and the others were standing, revealing a somewhat spherical artifact that almost looked like an amalgam of other Precursor artifacts, with a Green Eco lens in front of it, meaning the Marauders had brought them the next artifact they were looking for, the Beam Generator she expected, and with Alvin and his brothers defending Spargus it didn't take long for the remaining Marauders to flee before they were smashed by the dragons that had suddenly shown up outside the city that they had tried to take down.

"Good work. Now they'll think twice about attacking Spargus," Damas stated, showing that he was pleased with what he had seen over the last couple of minutes, while Kleiver seemed like he was shocked by everything he had witnessed, no doubt recalling his close call with the siblings when they first arrived in this city, though when Midnight beckoned to the pile of metal Damas shook his head, preferring to give the spoils to the victors of this battle, though if they could take hold of the Marauder stronghold he would gladly seize everything there.

Jak, this is Sig. their Communicator said, emerging from the pack for a few moments as they head Sig speak to them, something that made them wonder what in the world he might have discovered while the four of them were waging war on their enemies in Haven City, though as that happened Kleiver walked away while Damas listened to what they might learn from his great warrior, I heard that you and your sisters were collecting Eco Crystals, both Light and Dark types as far as I can tell, and I just so happen to know where another one is resting. Normally I wouldn't say that this would be a cakewalk, but given your powers, and the powers that Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy have, I know that hunting down some of the Tainted in the Nest will be nothing for you... in other words, we get to secure Spargus and you guys get another Eco Crystal for your collection, or for whatever you need them for.

With the Beam Generator in hand, and safely stored away with the Holo Cube, Jak headed down into the garage before he headed out in the Sand Shark, leaving his sisters to take to the air as Midnight gathered the metal and then followed after them, which was followed by Alvin and his brothers reverting to their Ottsel forms before being pulled up by the magic of Twilight a few seconds later, who place them on her shoulder and the shoulders of her sisters before they focused on the next mission that had revealed itself to all of them. Sure enough Jak and his sisters found Sig, in the Gila Stomper, waiting right outside the Nest that they had smashed their way through after he faced Jak in the Arena, something that caused Jak to switch vehicles for a moment before he headed down into the depths, following the tunnel as his sisters followed after him, even though they were curious as to what was down here. As it turned out a number of Metal-pedes had shown up in the previously cleared out Nest, and like all of the other Tainted these Metal Heads couldn't be freed from whatever dark force was forcing them to do their bidding, something that prompted Jak to open fire on one of them as his sisters spread out and found three more to take down with their powers, though there was another one in the main chamber and Jak let a grin appear on his face as Daxter had an idea spring to mind, as he had Sig hurl him right at his target, allowing Daxter to latch onto the side of his foe and make his way to the head. Daxter used his Eco blade, this time forming two of them to show that he was growing the more he used his powers, and drove them into the head of his target, right into the massive Skull Gem that he happened to be standing on, and sure enough he shattered it in no time, dropping the body to the floor and allowed him to land safely on the ground near his fallen foe, though he did find a Light Eco Crystal and claimed it so it could be added to the others they had recovered so far.

As they cleared out the main chamber Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy emerged from the other chamber and Jak chuckled as he found that they were hauling the bodies of their Metal-pede enemies outside, something that caused Sig to just stare for a few seconds before shaking his head, as he was getting used to the power that the sisters held and this just told him that messing with them wasn't a smart move at all, though as they regrouped near where Jak had parked the vehicle, just before the tunnel heading outside, their Communicator showed up again.

Jak, this is Seem. the device said, which was strange since Seem didn't like him and his sisters all that much, or at least it sure looked that way whenever they were in the area, but Jak had to guess that they were warming up to him, his sisters, Daxter, and the disguised Neo Metal Heads, otherwise they would have likely spoken to Damas and had him deliver this message upon their next visit to Spargus, Marauders have attacked one of our artifact digs and have made off with a very important item that we recovered, and we believe that they may have taken it to their stronghold.

While Jak confirmed that he and his sisters would do something about it, since he had a feeling that this had to be the next artifact they needed for Haven Forest, an idea formed in his head as she glanced at Alvin and his brothers, something that caused him to call up their father and inquire if he could spare some Wastelanders, which caused Sig to raise an eyebrow for a moment, as he was curious as to what was going to happen next. What happened next was that he had Twilight take a few seconds to store the bodies of the Metal-pedes inside her storage area before they headed outside, allowing them to make their way over to where the Marauder Stronghold rested, especially since he could climb into the Sand Shark and Sig followed after him while his sisters flew through the air, though it didn't take them long to make their way over to where the lake was located and found the structure that was their target. Jak knew that he could use some of his sisters' magic to form a walkway over to the stronghold, using some stones to do such a thing, but right now he wanted to try something else as he parked facing his target, where Sig came to a stop behind him and glanced out at the structure, with his sisters landing nearby, causing them to wait for a few minutes as they noticed that a number of Marauders were staring out at all of them, wondering what they were up to. Sure enough Damas and a force of Wastelanders drove into the area not a few minutes later, with their father driving a rather impressive and intimidating vehicle that Sig claimed was called Slam Dozer, capable of plowing through obstacles with ease and being incredibly hard to take down, though once their allies had come into this area, and parked facing the stronghold, Jak glanced at his sisters and their Ottsels disappeared, reappearing in the air above them as they expanded into their true forms, and to complete the image he made sure they gave each of them a Metal-pede, so when the brothers landed they could feast on their previous enemies.

Damas looked like he wanted to say something, likely make a comment about how this might be a bad idea or something, but a minute or two later everyone stopped as the bridges leading up to the entrance of the stronghold lowered and, in an odd display that surprised many of the Wastelanders, the Marauders rode out and promptly surrendered to them, which was just what Jak was after, as this was them using their fear of Spargus and dragons against their enemies, though while the Wastelanders did that Twilight found all of the things their foes had stolen and smiled as she pulled out an artifact that had a tubular shape with three green shards coming out of it.

"Well Seem, we were able to recover the stolen artifact," Twilight commented, speaking once she and the others were near the group from Spargus, which was Damas, Kleiver, Sig, and Seem, leaving the other Wastelanders to secure the remaining Marauders and gather any additional items before heading back to Spargus, though as she said that she glanced down at the artifact in question as she figured something out, especially since Midnight was making sure all of the special artifacts were safe and sound in her storage area, "however, is it okay if we borrowed it for a while? We've been gathering a couple of special artifacts so we can awaken some Precursor structure in Haven Forest, one that requires five artifacts and so far we have been able to find two of them."

"Am I correct in assuming that, based on your words, that his is likely the second or third artifact in the set?" Seem asked, which was interesting when Jak heard them speak, as it sounded like Seem was more than willing to allow them to take the artifact with them, no doubt as long as they promised to return it in due time, along with the other four that happened to complete the set in question, though he and his sisters nodded to confirm that their thoughts were correct, causing Seem to nod their head a little, "Very well, you may take the Precursor Prism, as well as my thanks for helping us recover the rest of what was stolen, though do make sure it and the rest of the set return to us when you're done with them."

"Actually, make it four," Kleiver stated, where he opened his pack for a moment, a large pouch he kept on his belt, before reaching in and pulling out an artifact that looked like a circular satellite of some kind, different from the dark ones they had found since coming to the desert, to which he glanced at it for a few seconds before handing it over to Jak, who took the item while Starlight seemed shocked by the gesture, "I found that a day or two ago, during one of my artifact runs... yes, even I have to do them as well... and I was planning on trading it to someone else, since it seemed unique and might have gotten me something nice, but, after everything I've seen so far, you four need it more than I do."

Jak and his sisters smiled as they accepted both the Precursor Prism and the Quantum Reflector, as their visit to the desert had been more important than any of them could have imagined, as they now had four of the five artifacts needed for the Precursor structure in Haven Forest, all gathered in one visit no less, and once they were sure that Spargus had everything under control, and the captured Marauders didn't do anything stupid before reaching the city, Jak knew they would return to Haven City and tackle whatever obstacles might be waiting for them.
> Spargus: Ruins and Explosions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jak, Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy spent another hour in the desert, assisting Damas and the Wastelanders in making sure the Marauders were taken care of, that their surrender was genuine and that they weren't lying to them, though sure enough it looked like the ones who made life difficult for their father were being truthful and remained silent as they allowed themselves to be arrested by their enemies, where many would be forced into the Arena and a limited number might be given the chance to embrace being citizens of Spargus, to aid those they had terrorized in the past. Once they were sure that Damas and Sig didn't need help with the Marauders, and it sure looked like neither of them needed them to stick around for a time, the siblings headed back to Spargus and found a message from the pilot of the Air Train, who was being sent back to the Wasteland to pick them up again, as it seemed like something might have happened in Haven and they might be needed for the war effort, which lead to Jak leaving a short message for their father as they returned to the garage and parked the Sand Shark in the spot it usually rested in. With that done they headed outside Spargus and found that the Air Train was resting right off to the side, to the left of the main gate, and Jak found that the pilot was happy to see them again, to which he waited for a couple of seconds, mostly to be sure that they were all aboard his vehicle, before he sealed the door behind them and departed from the Wasteland once more, heading back to Haven so the siblings could tackle whatever problems might be waiting for them this time around. While they did that Twilight called up their Communicator and informed both Samos and Keira that they had found four of the five artifacts for the ruins in Haven Forest, meaning that once they returned to the city one of the things that they would accomplish would be to check out the pillars and discover whatever purpose it might serve, especially since Mar wrote about it long ago, meaning it had to be of some importance, causing the pair to tell them that they would keep searching for the fifth and final artifact that would complete the set.

Once the Air Train landed in the Port an hour later, however, Jak and his sisters climbed out and found that nothing major had changed since they were last in Haven City, as in no new assaults from their enemies and no new bombing runs from the various Blast Bots, so since it looked like Torn might not need them just yet, even though he would likely want to talk with them, the siblings headed for the Door Lock leading to Haven Forest, bypassing the Tainted that were there resting in the terraformed section of the city, but when they walked into their destination they found a new structure resting in the area in front of the Door Lock.

"You know, it looks like we can press the nose, for some reason," Cozy remarked, as the stone item looked like some sort of Precursor head, with closed eyes, a metallic point on top, and a nose that looked moveable, though in that moment she shrugged, as she had no idea what to do with this sort of thing and suspected that either Twilight or Starlight might have an answer as to why this part of the Human sized stone was moveable.

Jak struck the nose and found that the eyes opened, showing a blue light to them, before the energy inside the stone took off and headed away from where they were currently standing, forming an energy ring like those they had taken out back during their first adventure, to which Jak climbed onto his JET-Board and followed the path that was in front of him, even making sure to keep the Eco trail in his line of sight, allowing his sisters to stand there and watch him while they stared at the main pillar of the ruins. While that happened Keira informed them that, based on her now completed research, they were positive that these particular ruins were the oldest known Precursor structure in all of Haven City, save for maybe the Catacombs, but the most important piece of information was that these pillars were supposed to be linked to some sort of planetary observation system, something that made Twilight wonder if they could see the stars with it, and if that was the case they could figure out what the Day Star really was. A few moments later Jak reached what seemed to be the end of this challenge, due to the red ring that appeared near them, and the stone head shattered instantly, which caused one of the five outer pillars to rise out of the water and stop after a few seconds, meaning that there were four more of these stone heads for them to find and four more challenges for Jak to tackle so the other four outer pillars could rise out of the water and form a path to the top of the large central pillar. The second stone head happened to be nearby, on the flatter area near a stone hill, the third structure happened to be on top of a raised rock across from the second head, they found the fourth one resting on a rock in the middle of some water, and the fifth one just so happened to be right on top of the hill they had found the second one near, and when each one became active Jak tackled the challenge in question, completing each of them with ease and shattering each head in the process, allowing the remaining outer pillars to rise out of the water and formed a path leading towards the peak of this area.

With that done Jak and his sisters walked over to where the pillars rested and used them to reach the highest point of this entire forest, though as they made their way up to the top of the main structure the siblings found that each of the outer ones moved up to the next one in line, making it easier on them, before finding a new device at the very top, a telescope of some kind that looked like it was made out of Precursor metal and out of a number of artifacts, something that caused Twilight to withdraw the four artifacts they had recovered so far and let them float around the device.

Approach the Astro-Viewer, time warriors, and behold, the seed of our destruction. a voice said, which they suspected was either another Oracle or might be one of the Precursors themselves, before Jak and his sisters took turns glancing at the eye piece of the telescope, or the Astro-Viewer as the voice called it, where they found that it was locked onto a large vessel that was currently moving through space, one that looked like a living parasite of some kind that happened to have an aura of pure darkness surrounding it, We Precursors built many worlds across the universe, shaping them with Eco into something good... but we were foolish. The Dark Makers were once Precursors, once our friends and allies, but their over exposure to Dark Eco changed them. They began twisting worlds, conquering life, and dark ages ensued across all we had created... now the dark ones have found your world, despite our attempts to hide it from them, and they are coming to claim it for themselves.

"Yeah, but first they'll have to take us down and walk over our dead bodies." Starlight remarked, as all of them knew that whoever their enemies were, be they the Tainted, the KG Robots, or even corrupted Precursors bent on remaking all of creation, would have a hard time bringing her and her siblings down, especially with the powers they possessed, though it was nice to know exactly what was coming towards their planet, a vessel containing what had to be either the full might of the Dark Makers or a fraction of their might.

That is their plan, as foolish as it seems. the Oracle replied, where the group glanced at each other for a few seconds, as it sounded like the Precursors knew that Jak and his sisters happened to be the best hope for this world, which was all thanks to the bits of power that they had been given so far, and the awakening of their true power, but they said nothing as they waited for the Oracle to stop explaining things to all of them, There is but one hope left. You will find a Planetary Defense System hidden deep at the core of the planet, one capable of dealing with the Dark Marker vessel... this is your only chance to save your world, by stopping your enemies before they reach your world. I hope you are more successful than many planets, whose fate has already been closed.

Jak stood there for a few seconds, taking in the fact that their true enemy wasn't Errol or Veger, even though they were all hoping to knock those two around at some point, rather it was a vessel full of corrupted Precursors and their machines, a fact that Samos and the others needed to hear as well, before he jumped down the platforms as he headed for the area of Haven Forest that the Door Lock rested in, leaving Twilight and Starlight to weave some protection spells over this section of the large forest, keeping it safe for when they found the last artifact. Once that was done the siblings headed back into the Tainted's section of Haven City and made their way back to the Naughty Ottsel, as it was time for them to speak with Torn about what had happened to the city since they departed for the Wasteland and see what sort of damage they could do to Errol's forces, before it was time to head back out to aid their father in keeping Spargus safe, though when Jak and his sisters wanted into the bar they found that Torn was talking to Jinx, who paused and glanced at them.

"Jak, girls, boy am I glad you guys showed up. We have a plan to reach Freedom HQ!" Torn stated, something that caused all of them to give him their attention, because if they could reach the rest of their forces they could do some serious and terrible harm to Errol's forces, though at the same time Jak was sure that he saw Shade, who was the leader of the Neo Metal Heads in the absence of the disguised brothers, lurking in the shadows, likely resting before heading out to do more harm to their enemies, before Torn beckoned to Jinx, "And Jinx came up with it."

"I managed to capture one of those Blast Bots... don't ask how, though I'll show you the scars later," Jinx spoke up, where he took a moment to pull his cigar out of his mouth and used one of the ash trays that were resting nearby, mostly due to the fact that he could see Daxter glaring at him, watching to see if he disrespected his bar and made it dirty in some way, and understood that the Ottsel had his own unique powers, "but I've rigged it with enough explosives that should be more than enough to take down the next barrier that's in our way and added a remote control so someone can drive it right into our destination... Torn was waiting for you to arrive, so you can drive it into the barrier and blow it sky high, so we can join up with the rest of our comrades."

Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy stood near Jak as he accepted the remote control and started up the Blast Bot, where the table that Torn stood near glowed for a moment before revealing an image of the robot in question, giving them a view of what was going on as Jak moved the weapon towards his destination, where they found that Jak could fire the blast attack of the Blast Bot if he so desired, though after seeing how many robots were standing between him and the barrier Daxter left the bar with the disguised brothers and headed for the Blast Bot... where the sisters watched as they joined the fight and used their powers to clear a path for the rigged robot, where Jak walked it right into the barrier and blew it apart.

"I knew I did the right thing by waiting for you to return... you guys are the best." Torn stated, where he climbed behind the bar and reached down into a crate that was hidden behind the bar, even though the siblings could tell that he was pleased by what the four of them and their Ottsels had done so far, before he emerged and produced four Peace Maker mods for their weapons, ones that seemed to be upgrades for their existing modifications, which the siblings took without delay as Torn kept a light smile on his face, "Now that we can link up with our northern allies, I'll give them a call and let them know the good news, before we head up there... Shade, can you and the Neo Metal Heads hold the Port while we deal with the KG Robots and Errol?"

The Neo Metal Head in question nodded her head, which made sense due to the fact that a single Metal Head was capable of tearing armies apart, which was what they were facing right now, especially since Errol hadn't figured out that they had a hard time fighting a small group, which Jak and his sisters had figured out after a few interactions with them, before she headed out to tell the others of her forces the news, giving Torn a moment to tell Ashelin and the others that they would be there in no time. Once that was done Torn and Jinx headed outside before climbing onto two single seater zoomers, all while Jak took a two seater vehicle so they could pick up Tess as well, who was waiting outside the Gun Course, though as soon as they were loaded up they headed into the Industrial Section and met up with Daxter, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore, who rejoined their companions before everyone headed for the new ruined barrier and passed into the Slums. From there it took them no time to switch from the Slums and enter the revived section of the city, which had replaced the section of Haven that had been known as the Water Slums in the past, an area known as New Haven that looked like a modern city and not like what Haven had looked like when they first emerged from the time tunnel, though the siblings focused on the journey as Torn lead them to where Ashelin and everyone else would be waiting for them. It still never ceased to amaze all of them when they stared out at the new buildings and structures, as it showed what was possible when everyone banded together and joined forces to do something, and if they could do this much in about two weeks, before the war for Haven started, it meant they could rebuild the rest of the city and outfit the remaining districts to better suit a modern age, but all of their thoughts were interrupted as Torn stopped in front of a large building, one that likely had a back opening for the cruisers and flags out front to show that it was Freedom HQ.

As such the rest of the group climbed off their zoomers and followed Torn inside, where they took a lift that brought them up to a large war room, allowing for more access to the city's systems and everything else Keira had used to gather the bits of information she had handed to them, where Jak and his sisters found Ashelin, Samos, Keira, Onin, Pecker, and Praxis in the chamber, with Tess, Jinx, and Torn joining them.

"Okay, we know what we're up against," Twilight stated, where she weaved her magic into the space in front of them and formed the image of the Dark Maker ship for everyone to see, something that caused their friends and allies to stare at it for a few moments, taking in the fact that a spaceship was literally making its way towards their world, instead of a star or whatever they assumed the Day Star might have been, "a planetary vessel that must have been designed to help build all sorts of worlds, before being twisted into the dark vessel that the Observation Platform has revealed to us, likely either the only one of its kind or the first of many in the arsenal of the Dark Makers."

"Indeed, and we have no idea how much time is left before it arrives," Samos said, though it was clear that he hadn't been expecting to face off against darkened Precursor technology, much less the possibility of running into Dark Precursors, as in the Dark Makers, when thinking about what might have happened to those who built their world, before he sighed not a second later as he considered something else, "I would say that the Catacombs are our best way to combat it, before that ship has a chance to reach our world and do whatever dark deed it was designed to commit."

"Given the quantities of Eco Crystals being moved around, I have an idea of what might happen," Keira commented, where she took control of the central table for a moment, allowing Twilight to pull her magic back as she did that, before she took a moment to bring up everything she could on the Tainted's section of the city, the Nest that Kor had ruled from, and all of the other locations that the Tainted had terraformed in the past, "Errol might be working to reactivate all of the ancient Precursor technology that is scattered around our world, especially since the Tainted seem to be moving towards sites of importance, and I have a terrible feeling that if the Dark Maker Planet Builder reaches our world, and Errol is successful in realizing his dark goal, we won't stand a chance... he'll be able to terraform the planet in moments and wipe us out before we have a chance to fight back."

Before anyone could say anything else the building seemed to shake, likely due to something hitting it and this was just a bit of recoil from tanking the hit, which caused Ashelin to seize control of the terminal and found that the KG had a couple of drop ships that were right outside their HQ, something that caused Jak and his sisters to chuckle for a moment as they headed back over to the lift and let it take them back down to the front of the building, allowing them to see that four large red colored vehicles, which looked like moving forts of some kind, were attacking them. Jak decided to try something new as he drew his blade from his back, where he took a bit of the Blue Eco from his Morph Gun and added some Light Eco to it, something that allowed him to surge towards his target, at a speed that was faster than just using Blue Eco on its own, before he swung his arm and sliced through one of the outer power nodes with just the edge of his sword, even though he made sure to get all four of them before sending his target collapsed. Cozy, however, shifted into her more berserk form and rushed through the enemies that were in front of her, clawing them to pieces before smashing the power cores like all of them were made out of paper or something, impressing the members of the Freedom League that were guarding this area of the city from the robots, and her drop ship collapsed on part of the walkway to the right of the main building that their allies were watching from. Starlight, on the other hand, didn't have to do much as she floated around her target and used a bit of her magic to simply wipe out all four of the outer power cores for her drop ship, though as she did that, which caused the third drop ship to fall down in rapid succession, Twilight raised her hand and stalled her target with a bit of her magic, before she dismantled the attacking vehicle and created a pile of metal in a matter of seconds, even though she did the same thing to the remaining robots and drop shops, cutting off the attack before it could even do a significant amount of damage to the area.

With that done the siblings turned around and headed back into Freedom HQ, taking the lift back up to where Keira and the others were waiting for them, something that was followed by them seeing just how relieved everyone was that they were on their side, especially since it made parts of this war that much easier for them to deal with, though as Jak and his sisters came to a stop they were interested in what might happen next.

"Jak, girls, you four and your Ottsels are our best warriors, and should be the ones leading the expedition into the area the Catacombs rest in." Samos stated, showing the siblings that many of their allies knew that allowing them to continue what they were doing right now, and eventually allowing them to lead the charge for the Catacombs, happened to be the best course of action for them right now, especially since it looked like no one disagreed with his words, including the rest of Haven's Council, who were watching from screens around the chamber.

"Please, please, let us not be too hasty." a familiar voice spoke up, where everyone turned their heads slightly and found that Veger, of all people, was daring to enter the HQ and he even paused for a moment when he noticed the siblings, as if he thought they might be dead or something, though after what happened inside the Eco Mine Jak knew that the man had been hoping to never see the four of them again, before he focused on the others for a few seconds, "Are you sure you want this Dark Eco freak, his tainted sisters, and their pet abominations contaminating the hallowed halls of our glorious Precursors? Especially while I hold the knowledge of how to turn on the Planetary Defense Grid, granted to be my monks and their annoying leader... I should be the one to lead this expedition."

"I figured that Seem might know such a thing... I'll be sure to ask them about that in the future." Jak said, where he knew that the monks didn't like Veger all that much, especially after what he and his sisters had seen during their first visit that awakened their true power, and due to the fact that he and his sisters were more respectful towards Seem it was likely that if one of them asked them for the information they might hand it over without question, before he glanced over to Keira for a moment and found that she and Praxis had something special in mind, "Besides, you aren't fit to lead, Veger... do we need to remind you of what happened in the Eco Mine?"

As Veger opened his mouth, to claim that nothing had happened in the Eco Mine and that the siblings were likely mental, possibly unstable and a threat to the rest of their fair city, a voice spoke up that happened to be his own, repeating what he had said when he was talking to Jak and his sisters when they tried to enter Haven City, that he had been behind the attack on the Palace, toppling it so he could access the Precursor Catacombs below their large city and use its power to destroy everything that has been touched by Dark Eco, causing him to realize that the siblings had recorded their entire conversation and had given it to the rest of their allies.

"Veger... I never liked you in the past, but now I really don't like you." Praxis stated, where it was easy for the siblings to see that everyone was angry, even outraged in some cases, with the Count, where the thin man took a step back for a second as he noticed that the Baron took a single step towards him, though to be sure he didn't run away Starlight weaved a bit of her magic over the door that lead to the lift, creating a barrier he would be unable to breach, before the Baron let out a sigh as he noticed that the Council had something they wanted to say.

We have come to a decision: Count Veger, the Grand Council of Haven City finds you guilty of treason against the city and its people, and we strip you of your title, command, and all privileges. one of the Council members stated, which caused Veger to pale for a moment as he realized that his life was pretty much over at this point in time, that nothing he did, short of saving the entire world from the threat of the Dark Makers, would allow him to save his reputation and the spot in history that he desperately desired, before the member in question beckoned to them, Normally, when we issue a sentence like this, the individual is banished to the Wasteland and given a beacon, but I don't think the Wastelanders will find any value in keeping you alive... so we'll leave the sentence to Jak, Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy, the future rulers of our fair city.

In that moment Midnight stepped out of Twilight's shadow, once more surprising Samos and the others since they weren't used to seeing this sort of thing happen, and raised her hand for a moment as a dark oval of magical energy appeared in the space behind Veger, revealing a reddish realm on the other side of what Jak had to assume was a portal of some kind, a realm that he was sure he heard a scream come from, before a mass of shadow tendrils reached out, grabbed Veger by his arms, legs, and waist, and pulled the terrified man through the gateway, something she waved her hand at and sealed as soon as the deed was done.

"I sent him to the Plane of Torment... he deserves it after everything he's done," Midnight stated, her tone showing them that she didn't like Veger and that this might be a way for her to make up for the fact that they had missed out on taking him down back in the Eco Mine, though before anyone could say anything she faded back into Twilight's shadow, knowing they didn't need her to stick around and that she would come out when she was ready to do so.

"We'll be sure to spread the word of Veger's corruption to the rest of the city, so the people know that they were betrayed by someone who was supposed to help protect them," Ashelin said, where she sweated for a moment as she and the rest of the group took in the fact that Midnight had displayed her expanded knowledge to them for a few seconds, opening a portal to an entirely new plane of existence, or one that they had no way of knowing about until something like this had happened, before she glanced at the central table for a couple of seconds, "but even with the powers that you four have access to, not to mention Daxter's skills and the forms of Alvin and his brothers, we won't be able to withstand too many more of those attacks. We need to take down that floating war factory, before they send out something we can't repel at all, the problem is that the thing is shielded and there are gate codes on every access point... Jak, why don't you and your sisters go check on Vin, at the Power Station? He and his guards haven't said anything since I first asked him if he could find the encryption key that should allow us to get inside the factory... if we get our hands on that, we can send you four up there and break Errol's forces before they have a chance to take us down."

Jak nodded as he and his sisters headed outside, allowing him to use one of the single seater zoomers as he headed back into the Industrial Section of the city, his sisters moving through the air as each of them smashed or blasted the robots that were in their way, though when they reached their destination it was easy for all of them to see that a few Neo Metal Heads, Scouts, were lurking in the shadows and seemed to be protecting the Power Station, only for Vin to emerge for a moment and hand Jak a cylindrical metallic item, the encryption key, before he headed back inside and sealed the door so he remained safe, allowing the siblings to smile as they headed back to give Ashelin the good news.
> Spargus: Assault on the Factory
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jak and his sisters wasted no time in retracing their steps back to Freedom HQ, because with the encryption key in hand, or maybe it was a decoder as Twilight stared at it, they should be able to get into the floating War Factory and deal some damage to Errol's plans for this world, so the moment Jak reached their destination he came to a stop and headed inside as Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy followed after him, allowing them to return to Torn's location before handing over the new item so they could get to work.

"It will take some time for us to figure out what's on this," Keira said, informing the siblings that the only thing they could do at the moment was rest and wait for whatever might happen while they were resting, to which she accepted the item from Jak and got to work on what might be stored inside it, where Torn, Ashelin, and Praxis moved over to her side of the chamber so they could lend her some assistance.

With that done the siblings did exactly what Samos and Keira were expecting of them, they scattered around the massive chamber and just rested, as while none of them had really been pushed to their limits it was always good to be rested and have a clearer head for the upcoming missions, or one big mission when they considered what would happen once Keira was done figuring out what was on the encryption key, though it wasn't long before Torn returned to the main table and beckoned for them to walk over to where he was standing.

"We hit the jackpot this time." Torn stated, where the siblings knew he was pleased about something and made them take a moment to wonder what in the world the device had given their allies, though it seemed to be good news of some kind and that was good enough for Jak, especially since there was no telling what was resting inside the floating War Factory, save for enemies and, hopefully, Errol, before Torn focused on his table, "because the decoder you collected from Vin helped us decipher the gate key for the main KG War Factory... that means we can get inside that infernal place now, and we need our best people on the raid."

"Well, that's why we were resting, as we'll tackle the Factory while you hold the fort," Daxter remarked, though Jak found it interesting that his friend wasn't even remotely annoyed by something like this, meaning he had definitely developed into a warrior of some kind and and him wonder if they could find some gear that could be modified to fit his body, which he would have to ask Twilight or Midnight about, since both of them seemed to be the right people to ask since he was sure the Precursors wouldn't leave something for Ottsels behind.

"Given what we've learned so far, there is a good chance that thatFfactory is doing more than just making all of the robotic foes we've been fighting so far." Samos stated, informing the siblings that, while destroying the War Factory was their main mission, one they would accomplish with flying colors no doubt, he wanted them to keep an eye out for anything else that Errol might be making and break whatever they found during their assault on Errol's base of operations.

"I want to know who's behind it all." Torn added, where he glanced at the icon that was in the middle of the air in front of him, something that had been replaced by the floating Factory once more, an area everyone wanted to take out before it did something dangerous, or doing whatever their enemies were planning at the moment, and found that the siblings had taken a moment to glance at the hologram as well, "How are so many Death Bots being made? Where are they getting the supplies and the Eco to fuel their war effort? Something about this doesn't seem right."

"Honestly, I wouldn't put it passed Veger to have betrayed us in that regard, giving supplies to the enemy and force us into a position where we hand him everything he wants," Starlight spoke up, as that seemed to be a very likely scenario, as in Veger would have used Errol and his robots to force the Council into giving him control of Haven City, or something to that effect, while working on getting into the Catacombs so he could use the slumbering weapon to take out the Day Star, and it was possible that he might not have known that Errol was working against him, if they had been allies before Midnight sent the disgraced former Count to the Plane of Torment.

Regardless of how Errol was able to maintain a constant stream of soldiers for his war efforts, where Jak had a feeling that Starlight might be right about Veger having a hand in it, Torn informed them that Keira had prepared a special cruiser for an eventual assault on the Factory, one that happened to be resting nearby, in a hanger on the backside of the building, a cruiser that Jak could use to get up into the air and launch their assault on Errol's forces, though as they departed from the room Torn had a tiny bit of pity for Errol, as he had no idea what was coming his way. As such Jak quickly made his way to the hanger in question and found a normal blue looking cruiser waiting for someone to use it, though as he climbed into it and departed from the city, heading towards where the Factory was located, Twilight and her sisters remained outside the front of the HQ for a couple of seconds, only for Alvin and his brothers to shift into their true forms before flying towards the Factory as well. Sure enough the Factory's defenses went online as soon as Jak entered the air near it, where he found a number of red triangular shaped cruisers being deployed to take him out while an army of tanks, which looked like the vehicles that had guarded the inside of the prison he and Cozy had been trapped in, moved along the large tracks that he spotted, firing at him with their cannons as he found the cruisers doing the same thing as he approached the Factory, to which he engaged the weapons of his vehicle and opened fire on his targets. While he did that Alvin, Simon, and Theodore flew through the air and swung either their sharpened claws at their enemies or used their tails to smash some into the ground, though at the same time Twilight and her sisters jumped off of their dragons and used their wings or magic to fly around the Factory, drawing the attention of some of Errol's defenses, showing Jak that the metallic fiend knew his sisters were a threat and was trying to take them down, a task he would fail to accomplish.

While that happened Jak focused on blasting apart a number of yellow devices, either scanners or detectors, that were all over the Factory's exterior, something that caused the four red towers that were on the outermost part of the Factory to open up and fire at whoever happened to be near where they were set up, where Jak looked a Blue Eco missile that tore his target apart, Cozy surged through her and smashed it to bits, Starlight crushed the one in front of her with a hand that was forged out of her magic, and Twilight dismantled her target with ease, and once all of that was done Jak found an area to land in and did so so he could head inside.

"Errol's going to have to do a lot more than that to stop us!" Daxter stated, where he rested on Jak's shoulder as he stood outside the doorway he had landed in front of, even though it looked like Keira might be recalling the cruiser to make sure it was ready for their eventual escape from this place, unless they were planning on using Twilight's magic to portal out of the Factory and return to the others, even though the sisters landed in front of them and their dragons flew towards them, switching into their Ottsel forms before landing on their shoulders.

Jak said nothing as he and his sisters stepped into the small chamber that was in front of them and used the lift that was inside it to descend into another part of the Factory, bringing them to an area that was partly exposed, due to a section of the wall missing, and allowed them to see that a number of robots were wandering around the area as they kept an eye out for anything out of the ordinary, which caused Jak to shift his stance for a moment as he drew his Precursor blade and rushed at the couple of enemies that were in front of him. In a few seconds he was able to cut down two of the robots, a Grunt and a Soldier, though as he did that the other Soldier swung its sharpened clawed hand at his backside, though the sisters raised their eyebrows for a moment as an Eco Barrier, or at least an edge of one, appeared in front of the attack and stopped it in seconds, revealing that Daxter must have developed a new power while channeling his own Eco powers, before he leapt forward and used both his hands, with blades coming out of them, to impale the robot before splitting it in half before it could stop him. With that done he returned to Jak's shoulder as Twilight and her sisters smiled, as Daxter had proved that he and Jak worked well as a team, not that the Ottsel was developing his own powers to match the power they were using, before finding another couple of robots standing in their way, even if it wasn't for long since Cozy smashed her way through them and scattered the pieces for Twilight to collect, even though Starlight could see that she was weaving a fair bit of her power around the Factory, something that would no doubt be revealed in due time. From there they headed up a conveyor belt that was arranged as a ramp of sorts, before Starlight waved her hand and released a few bits of her own magical energy into the space in front of them as she blasted the robots that were in front of them, before they found a metallic wall with some slots that happened to have a force of enemies before it and a grate off to their right that Jak just smashed his way through, since he had a feeling that they would be coming back through here at some point and would have a more realistic way to smash through the wall in question.

The grate allowed them to move down into a more open chamber that happened to have a spinning blade that was right in the middle of the path that they needed to take to move on, even though there also happened to be a vent for someone like Daxter to use to move up and over the area to find a switch to hit, but no one said anything as Alvin jumped onto the ground and shifted into a larger and bulkier version of his hybrid form within a few seconds, using his hardened scales to stall the blade before snapping it, and the other blades of the fan, with his claws, crippling the fan while opening the way for Jak and his sisters to move forward.

From there they found that there was far more to this place than what they had been thinking, especially as Jak absorbed some Eco from his surroundings, something he kind of picked up from watching his sisters and their powers, while being sure to keep it small, as he rushed through the area near the ceiling and quickly swung his blade at the flying enemies that were in this massive chamber, while his sisters moved forward. Sure enough they found a number of robots that were all focusing on Jak, causing Cozy to lash out at them with her strength, while holding back to make sure she didn't break the rest of the Factory before they had a chance to discover what secrets Errol had stored in this area, while Starlight focused her power on blasting enemies from afar, clearing the way forward so Jak could move forward, but at the same time they found that Midnight and the other Twilights emerged and jumped over the edge, leaving the Factory before spreading their wings and heading out to the exterior. As they moved forward Twilight explained that Pele, Shiva, Gaia, Bronte, and Midnight, which were the names of her alternate selves that represented her Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, and Dark Eco selves respectively, were going to be dealing with the remaining enemies that were outside the Factory and get ready for what she had in mind for Errol's fortress, something she would tell them about when they were closer to where their foe might be lurking, so she didn't ruin the surprise. Of course this happened to be the first time that her siblings knew the names of all six versions of her, because for a long time it was just her and Midnight, but this meant that they would know what to call all of them if they saw them outside in the future, though as she did that some flying robots rushed at Twilight and she waved a hand at them, causing all six of them to fall apart and become a pile of parts that she stored in the area near the grate they had passed through, so it would be safe for later.

One thing she did before they moved forward was use a bit of her magic to seal a large half sphere that seemed to be the exit of a tube their robotic enemies were using to get to this area of the Factory, meaning some would likely explode once they slammed into the now sealed exit and those who survived would be forced to move to another part of the Factory, so she was going to make sure to seal the rest of them once they discovered them, leaving her siblings to deal with the rest of the enemies that were in this place.

Her actions allowed them to reach another conveyor belt ramp that lead down into another section of the Factory, even if they had to use a moving square platform to reach the other side of the chamber that they were in, with Jak swinging his blade at the first group of enemies that were in front of him, while Daxter had a good idea as he jumped into the air and used his blades to stab one of the small flying enemies, turning it around and using the guns to blast enemies that were in the furthest away from where his friends were located. One thing Starlight found was that there happened to be a rather larger number of ammunition boxes scattered all over their path, to which she nodded to Twilight for a moment and just watched as her sister stole all of them, storing them away inside one of her pocket realms so they could be delivered to the rest of the Freedom League, all while Cozy smashed her way through the enemies that happened to be in front of her, reminding all of them that her strength was enough to overcome pure metal. Of course it wasn't long before they found a second pipe that seemed to lead to another area that one of their Ottsels could move through, though Simon shifted into his hybrid form and flew through the open space in front of Jak and his sisters, quickly finding where the switch was, or at least the one connected to the platform that would allow them to move forward and not use a lot of power on flying, and struck it with his tail. As such Jak and his sisters used the platforms, as they all discovered that there were two and not just one, to reach the next part of the Factory and found a glass wall that seemed to have some cracks in it, to which Cozy took a moment and punched her way through it, scattering all sized fragments of glass into the area in front of them before she and her siblings found another exit for the robots to use to move through the Factory, something that caused Twilight to seal it with her magic while the others smashed, blasted, and slashed their foes to pieces.

The interesting thing was that there happened to be another sphere shaped exit not a few more steps away from the area Jak and his sisters had found the second one in, though before any enemies could emerge from it Twilight sealed it as well, just to be sure that nothing came out of it, before they smashed through another grate and found that they were now on a lower level of the Factory, making them wonder just how large this place was, even if they weren't exploring the entirety of it, before seeing what the new chamber held for them. The first thing they did was let Jak hack his way through a pair of robotic Grunts, opening up the rest of the new area and allowed them to see that they had to use more moving platforms to progress through the rest of this section of the Factory, to which Twilight and her sisters used their flight abilities as Jak used the platforms, just to save time since it seemed to take a bit before the two platforms met up and allowed someone to move through this structure. What was interesting was that there were no more enemies in the area the siblings were in, even though they kept their guards up while they used a pair of conveyor belt ramps to reach another spinning fan that was blocking the way forward, this time with two fans, something that caused Theodore to replicate Alvin's earlier method, as in he used an enlarged form and his dragon scales to stop the fans before breaking each of the blades, which caused all of them to understand that simple metal didn't have much of an effect on the dragons, meaning only Precursor metal and the claws of another high powered Metal Head could hurt them. With the pair of fans taken care of the siblings quickly moved through the opening and headed deeper into the Factory once more, which brought them to another grate that Jak smashed as soon as he found it, revealing the way to an even deeper section of the Factory that seemed to lead back up to one of the higher points, before he found a rectangular shaped vehicle that seemed similar to a racer and made him take a moment to wonder if someone was supposed to ride this through the floating structure and smash through all of those metallic walls they had seen during their journey through this place.

As such Jak climbed into the vehicle as his sisters moved ahead of him a little bit, finding a switch that caused the first part of the path to snap together, and once that was done he started moving as he followed the conveyor belt and followed the ramps that seemed to be leading him through the Factory, to which he and his sisters followed the path as he smashed his way through the metallic walls they had passed by, eventually reaching the area of the Factory they had started in and just smashed right through the last barrier, allowing them to use a lift that brought them up to a new area, a large chamber that Errol just so happened to be standing on the top level of.

"I've found some new friends to help me conquer this puny little planet." Errol stated, where it was clear that he knew that they would make it this far and had been waiting for them, even though it was possible that he had been expecting them to take some sort of damage, while Jak and his sisters found that Errol had actually replaced most of whatever remained of his body with machinery, save for the remaining part of his face and hair, where it looked like he was going down the route of being intimidating, even if it didn't work on them.

"Yeah, we know that you've been talking with the Dark Makers... that's not news to us." Cozy said, because it make sense when they thought about it, even if Errol hadn't said anything to them about it, that he would turn to the darkest beings in their universe in an attempt to either right the wrongs of his life or wipe out those that opposed him, or whatever his dark desires might be, though as she said that no one really did anything as they discovered that the floor was made of glass tiles that would likely fall at some point in time.

"It seems my digital self can communicate with these poor, tortured minds quite well." Errol continued, where it sounded like he was trying to get some sort of reaction out of either all of them or just one of them, not that the siblings cared all that much since they knew that he couldn't do anything to stop even one of them, hence why Twilight was studying the rest of the chamber and found that there were four tubes linked to the top level and a Warp Gate that was likely linked to an unknown area, "Oh, they're just like you and me, freaks... well, me at least. They want a home, someone to call a friend, destruction of all Light Eco! They've volunteered to help me put this puny planet out of its misery, as I have been given the opportunity to wield a power not even the Precursors, before their destruction, could control. Don't fret, you four won't live to see what I turn this little world into... maybe a rock, or a floating puddle of slag... or maybe nothing at all! Complete oblivion! So hard to choose."

"You won't get that far, Errol, as the Dark Makers will likely betray you at some point," Jak replied, to which he took a few seconds to shift his stance while he readied his blade, where Cozy tapped into her true form and shifted into her far more powerful form, and Starlight tapped her staff on the floor as she readied herself, leaving Twilight to just tilt her head while she waited for something specific to happen, "not that you're going to get that far, since we're planning on taking you and this Factory down right now."

"You're welcome to try, but you'll need an army to beat me!" Errol stated, where he started to laugh, like he felt that he was untouchable and that nothing could beat him, as if he hadn't been watching them fight their way through Haven City or his Factory, though not even a few seconds later the Factory shook for a second, like it was being knocked out of the air or had been hit by something powerful, something that caused him to glance around the chamber as sections of the ceiling broke before his eyes.

"I sent Midnight and the others outside to form a magical circle around the Factory, one that is dismantling the Factory you have been using against Haven," Twilight spoke up, revealing what her alternate versions had done after leading the part of the floating fortress that Errol had been using to assault the city, while at the same time part of the wall to her right was pulled out of place and revealed the exterior of the Factory to everyone, something that caused Errol to take a step back as he watched it happen, even though she and her siblings took a step forward.

In that moment, as the rest of the Factory started to collapse around him, Errol jumped down into the arena that he must have prepared for a fight with Jak and his sisters, before he turned and started to run towards the exit, though Starlight did use a bit of her Dark Eco as strands and grasped both his right arm and leg, the darkness crushing his metallic limbs while she did that, to which Errol growled as he used his left hand to sever his arm and the section of his leg that had been in the same situation, allowing him to tumble through the portal, even though he also left his arm behind, which had a Light Eco Crystal for them to collect. With that done Twilight weaved her magic around them and floated them out of the Factory, as it allowed Jak and their sisters to watch as the alternate versions of her dismantled the Factory with their powers, creating a pile of metal and Eco that would be given back to the city, to rebuild and prepare for whatever the future had for them, though once the Factory was no more, a feat that was impressive when they considered Twilight's true power, they spent a few moments watching as Midnight made sure to distribute the spoils of war throughout all of Haven City. The moment all of that was said and done Twilight recalled her alternate forms and they disappeared as quickly as they had appeared, a rather useful trait in Jak's eyes, before she set them down right outside Freedom HQ, where the siblings found all sorts of people, be they civilians, guards, or even the Neo Metal Heads, cheering for them and their victory over their enemies, to which Jak, his sisters, and their Ottsels smiled and waved for a few moments. Not a few moments later they headed inside the building and returned to the command center that their friends were waiting in, as they needed to report their success, even though such a thing might not be necessary since Twilight and her other selves had dismantled the entirety of the Factory, and they found that everyone seemed pleased with their actions, along with a little afraid of Twilight now.

"Errol got away, but we took one of his limbs and eliminated the Factory," Jak commented, knowing that the latter didn't need to be said at all, given that anyone could look into the sky and figure that out for themselves, but it felt good to say it, especially after everything he and his sisters had seen since their return to Haven City, and with the structure taken out it allowed the Freedom League to focus on countering the Tainted and whatever remained of the KG Robots.

"Still, it is troubling to see what Errol is doing, and what he plans on doing to our world," Samos said, as he considered the information that Jak and his sisters had obtained while they were speaking to the insane cyborg, or whatever Errol was at this point in time, before he glanced at the table and found that Ashelin had shifted the image to glance up at the massive ship that was the Dark Star, which seemed to be Errol's goal at the moment, meaning he might be looking to awaken it before they had a chance to destroy it.

"Onin says that the Precursors and Dark Makers have fought over countless worlds, usually ending with the Dark Makers succeeding over their former allies," Pecker stated, translating what Onin was saying at the moment, where they could see that the lady was channeling her Eco powers as she moved her hands around, making Jak and his sisters take a moment to wonder what else she might have seen while they were tearing apart the Factory, "but she says that we are moving far faster than originally predicted, meaning there is a chance that we can make it before that ship gets into position, which will annoy Errol to no end."

Heroes, we require your assistance. their Communicator said, coming out the moment Seem, of all people, spoke to them, meaning that something must have happened while they were in Haven City and caused the siblings to pause for a moment as they listened to what the monk had to say, while at the same time everyone else paused as they listened to it as well, since it would likely affect what they did to the remaining enemies in the city, The monk temple is under attack. We suspect it is your enemy, the one called Errol, and that he is after the secrets of the Dark Makers that we have locked away over the years... please hurry, for if he finds what he seeks it could undo this world.

As soon as the Communicator went down Jak started to turn so he could depart, where Ashelin tossed a device that had to be another weapon mod, the Mass Inverter it was called, to him and his sisters as they departed, causing them to nod for a few seconds as they headed outside, which lead to Alvin and his brothers transforming into their true forms and taking off with the siblings on their backs, as they could get to the Wasteland far faster than a transport could and allowed Jak and his sisters to focus on preparing for what would happen once they reached the ancient monk temple.
> Spargus: Enemy Assaults
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks to the speed that Alvin, Simon, and Theodore used while in their true forms Jak and his sisters were able to reach the Wasteland in no time, probably between fifteen to thirty minutes based on what Twilight counted, and it didn't take them any additional time to reach the Precursor Temple, as once the desert appeared in the distance the brothers had shifted their course to line up with where Seem and their monks were positioned, under attack from Errol no doubt, meaning they were able to reach the temple in no time at all and landed in the open area outside the opening. With that done the siblings took a moment to climb off the backs of their friends, who shifted back into their Ottsel forms and returned to where they usually rested, before readying themselves for whatever might be inside Seem's temple, since they had no idea what sort of creatures Errol could send out to do his bidding, which was followed by them heading for the opening so they could tackle the enemies that were currently bothering their allies. Such a thing brought Jak and his sisters to the circular area that they had been in during their first visit to this place, which caused them to head up the wall to their right and use a glider to head over to the volcano, but their focus shifted to the enemies that teleported down into the area that they were standing in, as in three dark skinned humanoid creatures that had purple spikes attached to their arms and back, though it looked like the Dark Troopers, as Twilight felt like calling them, could summon barriers with something attached to their left arms and had bits of dark energy gathering around their right hands, meaning they were protecting themselves before attacking their enemies. As they faced the three Dark Troopers, however, the main door closed not a few seconds later and more enemies teleported into the chamber they were standing in, forming a ring of at least twelve around the sibling, though that caused Jak to nod his head for a moment as he drew his blade and rushed forward, drawing upon bits of the surrounding Eco to boost his abilities as he sliced through the barrier and cut his first foe down, leading to Daxter jumping over to another one and stabbing it with his Eco blades.

As that happened Cozy shifted into her battle stance and smashed her way through the barrier of her first Dark Trooper, before she turned around and jumped over another one as it tried to blast her with its grenade style attack, who she beat into the ground before picking her target up and sent it flying into another one, while the last one continued to move to where she was fighting and she rushed over to it, slamming its head into the ground. Starlight used a bit of her own power and moved slightly faster for a time, where she spun her staff around and knocked around her foes before any of them could even touch her, even though Twilight figured that she had tapped into some of the Eco that was in this area, and it took her no time to take down the enemies that were coming her way, who ended up shattering into bits of Dark Eco as they were defeated. Twilight, however, decided to test out the new weapon mod they had been given for tearing down the Factory and removing one of Haven City's threats, where she focused on the second Dark Eco gem of her bracelet before waving her hand at the four Dark Troopers that were in front of her, something that was followed by a few rings of energy emitting from around where she was standing and caused her targets to float into the air. In that moment she chuckled, allowing Jak and the others to see what she was doing, that the Mass Inverter actually released a field of anti-gravity near the one who happened to use the modification in question, causing Twilight's enemies to no longer touch the ground and just float in the air for a time, where she rushed towards them and punched each of them once before returning to where she had started, something that allowed them to see that the force of her attacks sent her targets flying. Once they left the field that she had created, or maybe it timed out since there had to be a limit as to how long such a thing could exist for after being used, the Dark Troopers broke down like she had beaten them like her siblings had done, making her wonder if the Mass Inverter allowed the user to take out enemies with a single attack, before deciding that it didn't matter right now as they focused on what else needed to do.

With the first group of Dark Troopers taken care of, and they were sure that no more were coming after them, Jak and his sisters headed through the door that would allow them to head deeper into the temple and found that a couple of Dark Troopers happened to be guarding the path, before reaching the small chamber that happened to have a Dark Eco Vent in the center of it, where each of them topped off their Dark Eco before heading into the next chamber, where they found a number of Dark Troopers waiting for enemies to show up. Jak considered a new option as he had Starlight summon one of her barriers around them, before he loosed a number of Reflector blasts at the walls and then retreated once he had done what he set out to do, allowing them to watch as the beams bounced off every wall while striking down the enemies that were guarding this part of the temple, causing them to chuckle as the barrier was dropped. With the next group of Dark Troopers taken care of Jak and his sisters found that the passage that lead to the second side of this temple massive Precursor statue had collapsed, no doubt due to the currently ongoing attack, though later they would help Seem fix it up, once they had some time to do something like that, before they moved into the area that had a cracked wall, as Jak had a feeling it was what they were looking for. Sure enough Jak and his sisters found a number of Dark Troopers guarding the chamber that all of the barricades had appeared in, when they first learned the Dark Invisibility power and practiced using it in this area, though that didn't stop them from lashing out at their enemies, while at the same time Daxter jumped at one of the Dark Troopers and sliced right through the barrier protecting his foe like it was paper, before he beat his target into the ground and opened the way for Jak and his sisters to move forward.

As Jak expected one of the walls was cracked and by channeling the power of his Dark Form into a Dark Blast, like they had figured out back in Haven City, he smashed the section to pieces and allowed them to enter a large area they had walked by some time ago, when they used the Time Freeze power to stop a bridge from collapsing so they could access a station that had a vehicle of Precursor make, to reach the Eco Mine Mar had built, so this was the lower area of where they had passed by, and sure enough all sorts of enemies were scattered around the area. This time around Jak and his sisters took an alternate route to dealing with the mass of Dark Troopers who teleported down into Seem's temple, as they separated from each other and used their Mass Inverters in four different locations, floating all of their enemies and knocked them around like they were toys, no doubt causing some annoyance to their enemy's ranks, that was if the Dark Troopers did more than grunt and groan at everything. At the very least it would annoy Errol to no end, knowing that the four of them were just toying with his minions while they fought their way through the temple, before Jak smashed through another old stone door and revealed a passage that lead back into the main chambers of Seem's temple, though a few moments later they found another vent, the Light Eco variety, and found that the door behind them closed within seconds, allowing them a chance to rest and recover some power before heading deeper into the temple. Due to the fact that none of them had to rest, since not a lot had happened since they started dealing with Errol's assault on this place, which was odd and might meant that Errol might have found what he was looking for, though what they discovered at the end of the main passage caused them to smile a little, as it was the third and final side of the massive Precursor statue, meaning that Jak was about to gain another power before they focused on stopping Errol.

Once again you stand before me, brave ones, and once again, your heroism shall be rewarded. the Oracle said, as it spoke as soon as Jak and his sisters came to a stop on the platform that was in front of it, while at the same time Daxter and his friends stood off to the side, just in case Twilight and her sisters gained even more power than what they currently had, but they remained silent as they waited to see what happened next, I give you a new Light power, one which will help you reach new places... places only in your dreams. 

Daxter was in awe as he witnessed what happened next, as when the light around Jak died down his friend had the aura of his Light Form, though this time around he had a pair of wings that looked like they were made out of tendrils that had the same aura as the rest of his body, while Twilight and Cozy remained unchanged, meaning they might not have unlocked any new powers, before they found that Starlight had six fist sized orbs floating behind her back, in a circular pattern, and each of them were a different color, representing the types of Eco in their world. At this point no one was surprised by the addition, as Starlight and her sisters were far different than everyone else and the Precursors continued to confirm that as time went by, though none of them said anything as Jak decided to test out his new power, by flapping his wings to move over to the right side of the chamber, revealing a passage that brought them back to the upper part of the area they had just passed through. From there he used his new power to move from pillar to pillar, carefully making sure to land on all of them while his sisters remained around him, just in case his power gave out at the wrong moment and caused him to fall into the depths of this area, though based on what they were seeing it looked like his power was far more stable than what they originally thought it would be, meaning he didn't need their assistance and allowed them to focus on tracking down Seem, or even Errol for that matter. What they found was that the broken pillars formed a perfect path to the edge of the temple, where they found Seem hiding in what could have been the rafters at one point in time, either before Errol's attack or before parts of the temple broke due to age, though there was a hole in the wall the monk was resting near and it just so happened to allow someone to focus on the Day Star, while off to their left rested a Warp Gate that likely returned to the entrance of the temple, though as soon as they noticed that Seem was sitting near the wall, with their body wrapped around an artifact that they were trying to hide, all four of them landed nearby and rushed to their aid.

"I... I am fine, Jak. There is no need for you or your sisters to waste energy on me," Seem stated, where the siblings could see that they must have been struck by something while defending the artifact that they were clutching, only looking up to determine who was in front of them for a few seconds, something that seemed to be followed by a brief smile appearing on their face for a few seconds, or at least that was what it looked like and might have been their imagination, before they watched as Seem shifted for a moment to get into a better position, "I'm afraid that Errol, despite our best efforts, has at long last learned how to connect with the Dark Maker ship... if he can awaken its terrifying cargo, he will unleash horrors beyond our deepest nightmares... even you four might not be able to repel them if that happens."

"Yeah, not too sure about that, given the power that the sisters possess," Daxter said, because he had seen the sisters, not to mention Jak, do incredible things with all of the powers they had unlocked so far and he suspected that Errol's plan had no chance of success, not when he considered everything that Twilight and her sisters were capable of and what the three of them might be keeping hidden from everyone else.

"Regardless of that, not all is lost." Seem continued, where Starlight was sure that the monk seemed to think that, despite the seemingly impending doom that was coming their way, Daxter might be right, which had to shock them a tiny bit, but right now they were doing their best to remain still and not do too much, which was when Seem pulled their arms back for a moment and revealed a Time Map artifact, which they allowed Jak to take, "I was able to hide the most important artifact from Errol. I was wrong about you... about all of you, Jak. You, your sisters, and your Ottsels have the balance needed to save us all and end Errol's plans."

As Jak accepted the artifact, which he planned on handing over to Twilight for safe keeping, Seem informed them that they were fine and that, after some time, they would be well enough to travel, especially since the rest of the monks were in all sorts of hidden areas that were scattered around the temple, protecting the other artifacts, so they would come out and check on them at some point, though that was when their communicator came out and caused the group to pause as they listened to what it might tell them.

Jak, we need you and your sisters to return to Spargus, as quick as you can. Damas stated, where Jak glanced over to his sisters for a moment, who focused on what their father might have to share with them, though given what happened in the temple, and how they found a force of Dark Troopers attacking Seem's place, they had a feeling that Errol was trying to distract them with something else, like an attack on their father's new domain, The scope's picking up major movement out over the water, but we've confirmed that it's not a storm, it's... something else entirely. My guess, and the guess of my Advisors, is that this is connected to those Dark Satellites that Seem and their monks have reported, the same ones that all of you have dealt with. You're the best gunner we've got Jak, and your sisters have amazing powers that will aid us in some manner, so I want you four here in case we come under fire from the one who sent those satellites down to investigate our city and its defenses.

Jak informed their father that they would be there in no time, made sure that Seem was fine with them leaving, just in the off chance that they wanted to come along, though they found that the monk stood up, despite the sheer pain that their body was in, and seemed to be entrusting themself to their care, causing Twilight to snap up a green barrier around them, to mend their wounds, before teleporting down to the opening they had landed in front of earlier, causing Seem to raise their eyebrows as they raised that Alvin and his brothers were dragons. In that moment Twilight paused and altered the barrier to be an aura around Seem before allowing them to sit on Alvin's back, though once that was done she, Starlight, and Cozy took off as Jak climbed onto Simon's back, where Daxter found that Seem was shocked by what was going on at the moment and said nothing as they headed towards Spargus with all the haste they could muster, as it sounded like the city might be trouble. Sure enough Jak and his sisters found that there was a dark cloud over the city as they neared it, as it was partly due to the time of the day and likely what their father had found, though that didn't stop them from flying over the main gate as Twilight deployed both Bronte and Pele into the city, to defend the citizens near the main gate, while the rest of them headed for the section near the turret, which was where Gaia set up a healing area with Shiva aiding her and those who came to be healed. Such a thing left her and Midnight to aid Jak, Starlight, and Cozy in making sure whatever threat their father detected didn't do damage to the city, though Alvin made sure to set Seem down in the healing area as well, just to be sure they got some attention, before the siblings found a familiar trio standing near the turret, Damas was standing next to two dark gray robed figures who had their hoods pulled back, revealing that Gol and Maia were present at long last, only they seemed surprised by what they were seeing right now.

Instead of being able to say anything, as there was so much they wanted to say to the Dark Sages, Jak made his way over to the turret and climbed into it, activating its systems as he focused on what might be coming from the sea, though they were just in time to see a large creature burst out of the air and land in the water, some distance away from where Jak and the turret were resting, which had to be some sort of dark machine from the Dark Maker ship, one that seemed like it had to be a living siege machine that was designed to weaken a planet's defenses. In that moment Cozy pointed up at the sky and they found a few more dark machines heading down towards where they were fighting, meaning that Errol knew that Jak and his sisters had to be down here and was trying to wipe them out, to stop the potential destruction of the ship he was trying to activate, though Twilight and Midnight separated from each other as both rushed into the air, targeting two of the incoming attackers so they could dismantle them, even if this time Midnight would gather the dark material for the future, since leaving this behind seemed like a really bad idea. Cozy shifted her stance for a moment as she transformed into her berserk form once more, where she burst into the air and rushed over to one of the siege machines, swinging her clawed hands at the legs of her target and sliced through the metal with ease, causing her target to stagger as it shifted to one leg, before she struck the side of its head and sent it right down into some sharp rocks, breaking it to the point where it didn't try to get up again, meaning it must have been defeated with ease. While that happened Jak opened fire on those that weren't fighting Twilight, Midnight, or Cozy, targeting the upper and lower parts of the legs to take his targets down, leaving more stuff to be collected once they were done saving the city, all while Starlight focused on the city, since she felt that her powers weren't needed in taking down the siege machines that were coming from the water.

Of course a few moments later some of the siege machines warped down and landed in the city, near the harbor to be exact, though Starlight sighed for a moment as she spun her staff, touched the Dark Eco orb that moved forward, and hit it like she was swinging at an incoming projectile, sending the orb flying through the air before it smashed into the head of the first siege machine, causing it to collapse where it stood before she focused on all of the other enemies that Errol was sending down to take them out. It didn't take Twilight long to land in part of the harbor and aid her in taking care of all the remaining enemies that were trying to burn Spargus to the ground, even though Twilight made sure to use her magic to dismantle the fallen siege machines and add the pieces to a growing pile that she and Midnight were creating, before she used her power to stall another one before shattering it into a display of pieces, surprising the Wastelanders as they took a moment to realize what she had done. While they were doing that Alvin and his brothers flew through the air and just attacked the siege machines before they had a chance to actually hit the water or the city, which would allow their foes to expand into their true form, and together they even brought one down before Jak or his sisters had a chance to target it, allowing them to focus on other enemies and not worry about this one, while Daxter stayed near Twilight and swung his Eco blades at some of his foes, taking down more Dark Troopers as the siblings focused on the siege machines that were being sent to destroy Spargus. Damas, Gol, and Maia lashed out at all of the remaining Dark Troopers that were attacking the city, doing their best to aid the siblings in their venture, though as time went by it looked like fewer and fewer enemies were being sent down to attack them, either due to Errol running low on minions to order around or he had completed his task and was cancelling whatever order he had given his forces, until eventually no more enemies remained, causing them to pause for a moment as the alternate Twilights returned to where the siblings were standing.

Based on what they could see the darkness caused by Errol's attack had disappeared, though it was getting close to night time and that meant some time needed to be devoted to rest, though Gol and Maia stood there in shock as they used the Eco Glasses of theirs to discover just how much power the siblings and their companions had access to, though there was a smile on Damas' face, meaning he was very pleased with them.

"You and your companions have done well, as I'm not sure we would have survived that assault without your aid, despite our preparations for such an attack," Damas admitted, showing that he was definitely pleased with all of them and that he knew that, just from watching the assault and doing his best to save the city, he and the Wastelanders could take care of the Dark Troopers, but the siege machines were another matter entirely and part of him was sure that Kleiver would have been overwhelmed if he had been on the turret earlier, before he reached into a pack he had brought with him and pulled out a chest piece made out of Precursor metal, "I was saving this for when you came of age, Jak, but you have proven that you are ready for it, while Gol and Maia can help your sisters figure out how to craft their own armor. And here, the third and final piece of your Battle Amulet, which when combined together form a beacon that you can use if you ever need aid, even though I suspect that it might go unused, given your powers."

Jak nodded as he assembled the completed Battle Amulet and stored it away, though after that Damas lead them back to the Palace so they could talk, eat, and get some rest before he sent them back to Haven City, though now that Errol had declared war on his city he was planning on seeing if Praxis wanted some aid retaking what was left of his previous city, all while Twilight and her sisters knew they would be answering whatever questions Gol and Maia had for them, as there had to be many bothering them and this would allow them to figure out what the Dark Sages knew, before worrying about the obstacles that awaited all of them in Haven.
> Spargus: Danger and Secrets
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With Errol's assault on Spargus stopped, and the siblings were sure of it even though their father made sure to gift them the last piece of their Battle Amulet, along with what appeared to be the last piece of Mar's ancient armor, Jak, his sisters, and their Ottsel companions followed their father back to the Palace and used the lift to head up to the area that Damas ruled from, though he brought them and the Dark Sages to the dining area, as it was time for them to eat and rest before they figured out what to do next. Jak, Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy were glad to have some time off before returning to Haven and seeing what needed to be done to take down the other part of Errol's plans, as they were sure that Samos or one of the others might have some information for them before they even reached the city, and after everything they had been through having some food was a good thing, as it allowed all of them to regain most of their energy, though as that happened Starlight dismissed her orbs, knowing they could be called again when she needed them.

"Damas has told us a great deal about your previous and current adventures," Gol said, where the siblings found that he had lost the odd echo that had been attached to his voice, back when he and Maia first tapped into all of their powers and became corrupted by the Dark Eco they were studying, something that had been fixed thanks to Jak and his sisters doing everything in their power to beat some sense into them and stop them from ending the world, before he chuckled for a few seconds, "though that didn't prepare us for seeing the four of you, not to mention your dragon allies and Daxter, tear down the Dark Maker machines that were sent to wipe out Spargus."

"Trust me, I've seen and learned enough from these four to stop being a coward," Daxter replied, as he knew that those who knew him, before Jak, his sisters, and those who came from Sandover, were used to him doing nothing and simply complaining when he disliked something that was happening, but after some time he had grown used to the idea of being a warrior and fighting when his friends faced their enemies, reading the field and picking his enemies out with more of a strategy in mind, before he glanced over to Maia, "So, ugh, Maia... we're cool, right?"

"The Dark Eco clouded my mind, turning my simple dislike into pure hatred... and my brother and I have had years to think about things," Maia stated, her voice no longer harsh, rather she seemed far more understanding than when the siblings had last seen her and her brother, which had been before using the Rift Gate to travel to the future, meaning that she and Gol had definitely learned something since the last time they saw them, before she glanced over to Daxter again, all while plates were brought out so they could eat, "but yes, we are 'cool' with each other. Frankly, we're not even surprised by the fact that the four of you are the Four Sages that Seem told us about when we first met them, as they shared that piece of information with us since we knew more about the Precursors than anyone else, but they had us promise not to tell those around us, just in case it was a false prophecy... but even then, when we considered the power a Sage possesses, we had no idea that it meant four Prism Sages, the rarest and most powerful type in the entire world... nor did we even consider that you four might awaken some incredible, and frankly broken, powers."

"How are you two still so young?" Cozy asked, because that was something that was bothering her, as Gol and Maia looked like they hadn't aged a day since the last time she and her siblings had seen them, because three hundred years had gone by since they, Daxter, Samos, and Keira left Sandover Village and it looked like the Dark Sages were the same age, which was just odd to look at and made her wonder if Dark Eco might be the secret to immortality, though if it was she was sure that she and her siblings had gained enough to unlock that ability.

"We're... not at liberty to explain that yet..." Gol explained, something that surprised the siblings, as it sounded like there had to be something special they had learned over the years and it caused them to stop aging entirely, that or maybe the pair had found a Rift Gate of some kind and used it to skip forward, but since their father trusted them it meant they could trust that the pair had a good reason for not sharing this information with them, before he sighed, "suffice to say that we found a way to skip some time and arrived in Haven some time before you four arrived in the city, allowing us to become Advisors to Damas, when he was still King, and your caretakers, with the express purpose of teaching you how to control your powers, to give you the basics you had during your first adventure... or at least that was the plan, until Baron Praxis betrayed us and banished Damas to this place. At least you were able to discover the true reason for his treachery, that he was under the influence of the Metal Head Leader and freed him from that darkness..."

"You know, there is still one thing bothering me... why did you guys appear on the high wall of the Port, but not come into the city to check on us?" Twilight asked, because while she and her siblings knew that Damas had said that Gol and Maia had been elsewhere that day, when they celebrated their victory over Kor, she realized that it didn't make sense when she thought about it, as they were the only two people who had that level of control over Dark Eco, or at least that was true during the event in question, since she and her siblings made four more, before she focused that the pair seemed a little surprised by her question, "Back when we celebrated the defeat of the Metal Head Leader we spotted two robed figures, who had been wearing black at the time, who appeared on the high wall of Haven's Port and most of us had an immediate reaction after feeling the dark power they possessed... we just assumed it was you two, as you were the only two that we could think of who might cause such a reaction."

"Interesting. So that's what happened on that day." Maia commented, where she and Gol seemed to be thinking about the information that Twilight had just shared with them, though at the same time her words revealed that they must have, in some way, noticed the arrival of the pair that Jak and his sisters had seen, even though this was the first time the siblings had mentioned how their Eco powers had reacted, before she looked up for a moment, "Gol and I were busy with one of our studies, which we'll have to show you at some point in the near future, so whoever showed up on that wall was either a curious visitor who disappeared, or maybe some sort of observation system for the Dark Makers to study their enemies, before they arrive on whatever planet they're trying to take over."

As they talked about what they were going to do next, mostly figuring out how to get armor for Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy so all of them would be ready for the future, Twilight noticed something odd, none of them had told their father about the Dark Makers, as with everything going on that had slipped their mind, but Gol and Maia knew about this threat and likely had shared that information with Damas, as he didn't seem surprised by them talking about the Dark Makers, even if that might be due to him knowing they couldn't be beaten. Another thing she noted as the evening went on was that she was sure that both Dark Sages felt different than what she had felt in the past, which might be due to the fact that they had all this time to master their abilities and discover the benefits that they might gain from such a thing, but even as she thought about that she could have sworn that Gol and Maia felt more like Daxter at this point, though that might be due to the fact that it had been some time since their last rest and she decided to focus on it later. With the conversation done they took a few moments to go over what sort of armor the siblings wanted to wear, as while Jak had Mar's armor, given that all of the pieces had been recovered during this adventure, Twilight and her sisters were still wearing their desert gear, as none of them had felt the need to replace what they were wearing, though Starlight was the first one to make a suggestion as she switched to a light gray robe that had six yin yang markings around her neck area, each one representing the six types of Eco she had access to. Cozy didn't care much about armor, even though she was like a berserker in battle, and decided to just stick to creating some darkened silver bracers for her legs and arms, which also protected both her hands and hooves based on what they were seeing, though she kept most of her desert attire on, leaving Twilight to create a robe that just so happened to be half light blue and half deep purple, representing her and Midnight, though it seemed similar to what a priestess of some kind would wear, and given her powers it could likely switch to an armored state in seconds, meaning all of them didn't have to worry about her getting hurt.

Once that was done the group talked for some more before departing for their rooms, as Damas wanted his children to be well rested for when it came time to head back to Haven City, especially since they had no idea what would be waiting for them upon their return, something that Jak agreed with even though he suspected that Twilight and Midnight would be up all night studying all of the Dark Maker stuff they had collected so far, something he decided not to think about as he and the others feel asleep and got some well deserved rest.





When morning arrived Jak and his sisters found that the Communicator emerged while they were eating breakfast, which caused Gol and Maia to glance at it while Damas stopped what he was doing, showing that the others were interested in what sort of news they would be learning, to which the siblings stopped what they were doing and turned towards their Communicator, as whatever it said would determine how fast they returned to Haven, as it had to be Samos, Keira, Torn, or anyone else from the mainland.

We have a problem. the Communicator said, where they found that Samos was the one speaking to them, which told them that he must have discovered something bad while Jak and his sisters were aiding Spargus and Seem, though at the same time all of them knew that Errol must have had a hand in whatever might be happening, retaliation for everything they had done to him so far, but the silence caused Samos to continue talking, Readings indicate that Errol has somehow alerted and raised the dark ship's shields, meaning that even if we do manage to turn on the Planetary Defense System, as I'm sure you four will find it eventually, it may not have an effect on the terrible dark ship. I have a feeling the Astro-Viewer in Haven Forest does more than just look at stars, but you must be cautious, as dark creatures have taken over the forest, so it will be a battle just to reach the artifact now.

Jak, Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy said nothing as the device returned to their packs, where they finished off the rest of their breakfast before wishing their father and his advisors a good day, not to mention to call on them if Errol sent more foes to bother the city, though once that was done, and all of them were ready to go, the siblings headed outside the Palace and quickly made their way over to an area that was open enough for three dragons, something that caused Kleiver and the rest of the Wastelanders to move out of the way as they cheered for their heroes, allowing the siblings to depart with the cheers of an entire city fueling them. Thanks to Alvin, Simon, and Theodore it wasn't long before they were able to return to Haven City, where the Freedom League and the citizens cheered as they arrived, while one spoke to a Communicator to tell Torn and the others that they were back, before they headed over to where the Tainted resided, bypassing the twisted Metal Heads and landing in front of the Door Lock that lead to Haven City, even though they did find that the number of enemies in this sector had decreased since the last time they were here. After Alvin and his brothers switched back to their disguises they opened the door and headed into the section of Haven Forest that the Astro-Viewer was resting in, where it was easy for Jak and his sisters to see that an army of Dark Troopers had taken over and had set up turrets to take down anyone who dared to come to the pillars, meaning they couldn't actually destroy it, or maybe they needed it for later, as in when the Dark Maker ship made contact with this world. In the end it didn't matter as Jak and his sisters separated from each other and spread out, spitting the forest into four sections as they focused on taking down the enemies that were in front of them, even though this would tell Errol that they were onto his movements and that they were still coming to take him out, but for now they focused on the task at hand and less on what Errol was doing.

One thing they discovered was that there were a number of dark 'flowers' growing on the rocky walls of the area, ones that seemed to be spawning small flying devices that looked like corrupted flyers that Errol had made, only more menacing and dark than what Errol had created, though Daxter jumped off of Jak's shoulder, as he rushed forward at high speeds thanks to his combined powers, and stabbed one of the flyers, destroying it before leaping over to one of the flowers and poured a bit of his power into it over a few seconds, destroying it as he did so. While they did that Cozy rushed from point to point as she targeted the Dark Troopers, crushing them into either the ground or the piles of rocks that were around her, before landing near a Dark Flower and gathered her Eco into her right fist before smashing it into her target, her strength quickly shattering the rock and tearing her true target apart, though once that was done she flashed to the side and smashed the Dark Turret that tried to fire at her backside to pieces as she moved onto another target. Starlight floated around the area of the forest she took and swung her staff at whoever tried to get close to her, the staff doing serious damage to all of the Dark Troopers, far more than Jak and the others expected, while the orbs went flying at the enemies who were in the air, smashing them apart like they were nothing, and the Dark Flowers she targeted suffered greatly as they were broken into pieces by her orbs. Twilight, on the other hand, stood there and blasted her opponents with bursts of magical energy, the other thing that the Dark Troopers were apparently weak against, while at the same time Gaia appeared, wearing a green version of Twilight's attire, and used the roots of the trees to grab some of their enemies and crushed them like they were nothing, while none of the other versions appeared, meaning that they didn't need Midnight and the others this time, even if Jak suspected that Midnight didn't want to be bothered at all.

Once all of the Dark Troopers had been dealt with, and all of their machines and allies were smashed, Jak and his sisters paused for a few seconds, just to be sure that there was nothing else for them to worry about, before making their way up to the top of the Astro-Viewer, where Twilight produced the Time Map that they had recovered from Seem earlier and gave it to Jak, who placed it on top of the telescope that the other artifacts were floating around, and once that was done, and no immediate changes were clear to them, Jak raised an eye and peered through it again.

What happened next is that Jak seemed to struggle for a bit, something that caused his sisters to grab onto his shoulders and back before discovering that he was actually being linked into one of the constructs that were aboard the Dark Maker ship, one that looked like the Titan Suit with the twisted material all over it, so what they did was carefully channel a bit of their power into him to make sure nothing bad happened to him on this side of things, leaving Jak to wreck the ship and all of the enemies that happened to get in his way. Based on what Twilight and her sisters could see their brother was doing his best to make sure everything was broken and anyone who dared to get in his way was smashed into the walls, finding that all of them were rather sturdy and that he couldn't actually break them, not without going through a lot of effort on his part, but he seemed to be enjoying the chance to actually go all out, without fearing that civilians would get caught in the crossfire, and Daxter seemed to be smiling as well. While that happened Twilight did her best to send her magic out of Jak's Dark Titan and get a better understanding of the Dark Maker ship, as it just might give them a better chance of taking out the Day Star before it reached the planet, once Seem told them had to awaken the Planetary Defense System, but for now she focused on her part of helping Jak out while she studied everything that was around the twisted Titan Suit as her brother smashed his way through the ship. After a while the siblings had to wonder if this was going to allow them to smash the shield generator that was aboard the Dark Maker ship, which would cripple the main system that Errol had activated and would allow them to use whatever weapon rested in the depths of their planet to either take the ship out or do some serious damage and repel it, though no one said anything as Jak made his way through the ship and continued to break everything that was in his way.

Eventually Jak found a heart shaped device and used some explosives that were resting throughout the ship and blew the device to pieces, knocking him out of the Dark Titan and allowing him to return to his body, causing everyone to stop what they had been doing while he was connected to the twisted robot, though the Communicator came out for a moment and Samos informed them that the shield was done, meaning that the Astro-Viewer had done wonders for their chances to bring down the Dark Maker ship. With this task completed Jak and his sisters departed from Haven Forest and made their way back over to the new district of Haven City, focusing on the Freedom League HQ and nothing else, though something interesting happened when they found that their father, true to his word, had brought Sig and a number of Wastelanders to help turn the tide against all of the remaining enemies who were bothering the city, while Damas seemed to be heading in the same direction that the siblings were heading in. As such they caught up with him and their father smiled as he just used his zoomer to fall in behind them, even though he was likely more comfortable with a Leaper Lizard or a vehicle from Spargus' garage, though once more Jak found that the remaining robots were missing, meaning they must have fled once the Factory had been taken care of and might show up when they launched their assault on the terraformed tower that was at the end of the Tainted's section of the city. Of course that meant they were able to relax a little as they drove their zoomers through what was left of Haven City, allowing Damas to see just how wrecked things were and the fact that they had been making a brand new section in the old Water Slums area, before they eventually reached their destination and found that Sig had decided to follow after them, even if he had said nothing, to which everyone climbed off their vehicles and headed inside the building, finding Samos, Keira, and the others waiting for them to arrive.

"King Damas! It is good to see that you are doing well." Ashelin said, as while she and the other residents of Haven knew that the previous king had been living out in the Wasteland, given Sig's confirmation that Spargus existed and the fact that Jak and his sisters had spent some time wandering around the city in question, this was the first time that she and the rest of their allies had seen Damas since the day he was banished from the city, causing them to bow towards the previous King of Haven as he and his children came to a stop.

"Please, there is no need for you to bow towards me... my claim to Haven's throne is no more, but my children's claim is very much alive," Damas replied, not that everyone needed the reminder that Jak and his sisters were the heirs to the city, something even the Council understood since most of them, save for Veger, had been on their side since the very start of their third adventure, and the others who didn't care for Jak or his sisters were smart enough to remain silent, least they repeat Veger's punishment, or even banishment, on them, "I've also brought Sig and a number of Wastelanders with me, for the eventual final assault on the enemies who still hold the remaining sections of Haven City, especially since it does look like you have a number of Tainted hanging out near the Port."

"Speaking of which, am I correct in assuming that you guys came up with a plan for that dark tower?" Jak asked, because due to everything he and his sisters had done so far he knew that Ashelin and the others had more than enough time to come up with a plan of sorts to take down the last of Errol's strongholds, so they could focus on finding and turning on the Planetary Defense System and blow up the Dark Maker ship, once it had time to charge and anyway, since they had no idea what sort of weapon was down there.

"We do, though we aren't giving it to you four." Torn stated, where Jak and his sisters raised their eyebrows for a moment, as it seemed weird to them since they were usually the ones heading out and doing all sorts of things to make sure their forces could overcome their enemies, but they remained silent as they listened to the plan that Ashelin, Torn, and the rest of the team had come up with, "I'm going to be piloting one of the Eco Canister vehicle, like the one you recovered not too long ago, into the heart of the Tainted's section of Haven City, which Keira and Jinx have rigged with enough explosives to take out what we suspect might be the front entrance of the tower in question, though while we do that we're also sure it will draw the attention of the remaining Tainted and KG Robots, in an attempt to try and stop us. To that end Jinx will be in the vehicle following behind me, to make sure we don't lose the explosives, and we were planning on asking either one of you or Sig to be the pilot of that vehicle, while someone else uses the gun to take down whatever enemies might show up when we start this operation... of course the rest of you are free to follow along, as once the way is open we'll be asking all of you to head in and disrupt Errol's forces."

Jak paused for a moment and then nodded his head, as he understood that this was more about them defending the Eco vehicle and making sure none of them expanded their energy too much, as they could be ready for whatever was inside the dark tower that rested at the end of the Tainted's section of Haven City, and did nothing as he and his sisters waited for Torn to get ready for his part of this mission, while Sig joined Jinx and Keira in making sure the cruiser that they would be using was ready to go. It wasn't long before Torn informed everyone that he was ready, which was followed by Keira revealing that the cruiser was ready to go, to which the group that was going to be delivering the payload to the entrance of the dark tower departed from the HQ and quickly used the lift to head down to where both vehicles were waiting, while Twilight and her sisters floated behind the cruiser that Jak climbed into, taking the gunner position. Once they were ready to go Torn activated his vehicle and took off, where Sig and the others followed after him without delay while keeping a bit of separation between them, though as they started to leave the renovated section of the city Starlight, Twilight, Cozy, and Jak noticed that flying enemies started to move into the area in an attempt to take Torn down, leading to either Jak blasting them apart or one of his sisters smashing them. It didn't take them long to reach the barrier between the Slums and the area that the HQ rested in, where they found more of the KG Robots standing in their way, leading to Jak focusing on those that were nearby while his sisters tore into the other enemies that were nearby, though not even the Tainted that showed up stood much of a chance against their combined skills, something that put a smile on Sig's face as they smashed their way through all of the enemies that tried to take Torn down.

Thanks to all of their efforts it took them little effort to deliver the payload to their intended target, where Torn guided the vehicle towards what appeared to be the base of the dark and twisted tower, making sure to line it up so he didn't miss his mark, and then jumped off the vehicle, landing off to the left side of the area they were in, as the vehicle drove right into the entrance and exploded, tearing a large hole for Jak and his sisters to use.

"Oh yeah, they're hurting real bad now." Sig stated, where he pulled the cruiser in close to where the hole was located and stood up for a moment, with a big smile on his face as he imagined what had happened to the enemies that had been on the other side of the new opening, before he pulled out four interesting devices that looked like small missiles with tips on both sides, which had to be the newest and final Dark Eco modification for their weapons, "Move and groove chill peppers, you know what to do!"

Jak nodded as he jumped forward, catching his Super Nova and attaching it to his gun as he invaded the tower, while his sisters did the same thing as they flew by Sig, though the first thing they found was that there happened to be a Light Eco Vent inside Errol's second domain, one that likely stabilized the tower and allowed it to spread it's corruption throughout the surrounding area, though they paid it no mind as they advanced into the main structure and opened fire on the army of Dark Troopers and Dark Critters that were in front of them. Based on what they could see the Dark Critters were a mass of dark energy given form, forming an upper body and a lower body that moved similar to a crab, mostly due to the four limbs they had, plus there were a number of Dark Flyers moving through the air as well, though that didn't stop Jak and his sisters, or their Ottsels for that matter, from slashing, blasting, and tearing their way through the enemies that Errol sent to defeat them. One thing they discovered was that wiping out the enemies in an area caused some changes in the rest of their environment, like platforms moving into place, though as that happened Twilight noticed a number of enemies even further away and smiled as she raised her right hand for a moment, where she released a Super Nova charge and stood still as she, her siblings, and their companions waited to see what happened next, where her attack struck a Trooper that was part of a large group and detonated in a large explosion that made them cover their eyes for a moment. Once they opened their eyes they found that an entire group of enemies had been wiped out, meaning they wouldn't have to worry about them later on, causing Jak and his sisters to continue their assault as Daxter and the brothers, in their hybrid forms, slashed and tore into some of the other enemies that attempted to take them down, showing Errol that nothing he tried was going to slow them down.

In the end their combined powers allowed them to tear through the dark tower, breaking the Dark Army that stood in their way, where Jak was sure that Errol was cowering in his metallic feet as he witnessed them advancing through his domain, and sure enough they found the damaged cyborg standing at the peak of the tower, where he looked like he was terrified of Jak and his sisters, especially at the rapid pace they were evolving their powers and skills, to the point where not even an army like this could bring them down. Instead of saying anything Twilight smiled at Errol and held her hand out, where everyone paused for a second as the tower was torn out of the ground, roots and all, something that caused Starlight to do something new, she added her power to the mix and the tower started to crumble on itself, starting from the bottom of it all and headed for where they were standing. In that moment Errol glared at them, like he wanted to stand and fight, or say something to intimidate Jak and his sisters, but the display of power was more than enough for him to consider taking another loss, especially if he planned on taking the ultimate victory over them, though Cozy rushed up to him and tore his left arm right out of its socket, dragging the still damaged limp with her as she returned to her siblings. Once she did that Errol decided to flee for real and headed through another modified Warp Gate that was at the back of the room, though as soon as he was gone Jak collected a Dark Eco Crystal and deactivated the device, allowing him and his sisters to leave the tower through an opening that was behind them, though Twilight and Starlight made sure to finish the job as they crushed the rest of the tower into a small condensed sphere.

With that Jak chuckled as they headed back down to the ground so they could regroup with their shocked friends, as that display must have shocked them as well, before heading back to the HQ and figuring out what else needed to be done for their war effort, before they launched an assault on the Catacombs and brought this war to an end, one Jak was sure they were going to win and finally bring peace to their world once the Dark Makers were no longer a threat to them and those they fought to protect.
> Spargus: Into the Ruins
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With Errol run out of the Tainted's section of Haven City, and likely retreating to the Dark Maker ship, Jak and his sisters found that all of Haven, both residents and returning Wastelanders, were preparing for war and were working together as everyone worked on vehicles and weapons, meaning that soon they would unleash their might on the remaining enemies that were between them and their final destination, the end of the vast Catacombs and the area that the Planetary Defense System rested in. While the siblings traveled around the Port, as Torn wanted to get an idea of how prepared they were for their final assault on Errol's forces, their Communicator came out and Pecker informed them that Onin had something to share with them, not to mention the fact that they would be waiting outside the Fortress, as they had moved her hut into the Slums before Veger toppled the Palace, meaning it was possible she had seen something else and wanted them to be aware of it, especially since they were getting ready for the final attack. As such Jak and his sisters bid Torn and the others farewell, allowing them to head back to whatever Praxis and Ashelin wanted them to do next, not to mention Damas for that matter, though once that was done they claimed some of the nearby zoomers and headed for the area that Pecker had stated, as talking to Onin would allow them to know more about the situation before they launched an assault on the ruined area that was above the Catacombs. Thanks to the elimination of most of Haven's enemies it took them no time to reach the section of the city that Onin had moved her hut to, where they landed nearby and found that both Praxis and Damas were standing there, with Samos standing near Onin and Pecker, meaning whatever the old seer had seen must be important, otherwise she wouldn't have had her companion call of of them to her hut.

"Jak, girls, it seems that we might have some serious problems on our hands," Samos stated, something that told Jak and his sisters that Onin must have seen something important, otherwise she wouldn't have called for all of them to come here in the first place, causing them to stand there and wonder what in the world she might have seen, even though that was when Samos turned towards Pecker and nodded his head.

"Onin says that there are strange forces at work." Pecker translated, as the moment Samos turned towards him and Onin, while at the same time the old seer started moving her hands and weaving her Eco powers as she witnessed whatever it was that had caused her to call for them, to which he glanced around the hut and determined what he needed to say to the siblings, before moving his feathers once more, "Fate has been twisted by something more powerful than anything she has ever seen in her many years; something now awakes, deep in the catacombs."

"I'm willing to bet the Precursors set up some sort of Guardian to make sure the Planetary Defense System is guarded, so it can't be misused or damaged," Daxter stated, as he had been spending far too much time with Jak and his sisters lately, due to the fact that he gained a warrior's desire for battle from Jak and Cozy while becoming more mature from Twilight and Starlight, the latter also granting him a bit of intelligence along the way, "either that, or maybe they left behind one of their artifacts so someone can follow after them... or receive instructions on how to use our planet's final weapon, which seems the most likely option, in my opinion."

"Still, to get to the Catacombs we'll need to fight our way through the ruined section of Haven City, as in the area that the Stadium used to rest in," Samos commented, though he found that he couldn't bring himself to disagree with Daxter, a first in his mind since he was used to disagreeing with the Ottsel, meaning that him hanging with the siblings had been a good thing for him and actually made him curious as to what might happen in the future, before he glanced over to both Baron Praxis and King Damas, who were considering things right now, "I believe it is time that we launch our final assault on Errol's forces, those that remain inside the ruined section of Haven City, so we can take down that Dark Maker ship and save our world from the terrible fate that is coming our way."

"Agreed, and the Council has authorized me, as my last act before we officially hand things over to our true rulers, to use all of our forces to secure the city," Baron Praxis said, where he and the others turned towards Jak and his sisters for a few seconds, who understood what was going on, that as soon as this battle was over, and their planet was safe from the vast power of the Dark Makers, Haven City would be theirs to rule over, with him and the Council aiding them, before he took a moment to bow his head a little, which the others did as well, "Jak, the time has come for you and your sisters to take your rightful place at the front of our army, as the full might of the Freedom League and the Neo Metal Heads are ready to take down Errol's forces."

"And you have the full support of Spargus, as in the Wastelanders, our Dark Sages, and myself, as well," Damas added, as he knew that this had to be the final battle for their world, the one that he had been preparing for since the day he and all of his fellow banished encountered Seem, which was also when he learned about the events that Seem knew about, but as of right now he knew that waiting in the Wasteland, and not helping, was a mistake and he was eager to follow his children into battle, especially after everything he had seen so far.

"Then let us declare war on what is left of Errol's forces," Jak stated, as while he knew that he and his sisters could take out all of their enemies in no time, and without threatening everyone else in the process, he also knew that this would allow all four of them to conserve a good portion of their energy for when they faced Errol and brought his plans to an end, as that was the endgame of this war, not to mention breaking the Dark Maker ship before it reached the planet, which seemed to be a good distance away since they had moved through their missions so quickly.

Praxis and Damas nodded as they departed from the hut and headed for the areas of the city that their forces were in, all while Jak, Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy headed over to the first area of Haven that they had appeared in after Veger tried to banish them earlier, as Jak was sure that was where they would find the way into the ruined section of the city, or one such entrance since there had to be multiple for the Tainted, and he had a feeling that he knew what would happen once they reached their destination. Sure enough they found Torn, Ashelin, and a force of soldiers, both Freedom League and those of the Neo Metal Heads, gathering outside where the HQ rested, as in behind the barrier between sections, though upon their arrival Jak and his sisters parked their zoomers and made their way up to where their friends were standing, though it was in that moment they discovered something interesting, Keira, Vin, and Tess were present as well. Of course they all knew that Tess could hold her own, given that she made weapons and had been Torn's right hand during their time in the Underground, at least before the four of them came around, though neither Keira or Vin were cut out for combat, which seemed to be why they had created what appeared to be a battle mech of some kind, sort of like what the Baron used to use against them, only these flying ones were likely stronger and sturdier than the others the siblings had torn apart in the past, meaning none of them had to worry about the pair. Once everyone was ready to go, and Jak was sure that some of the Council were present as well, showing that even they were willing to fight for their city and the fate of their world, Jak stepped forward and the barrier collapsed, and when his sisters moved the rest of this portion of their army followed not a few steps behind them, where they entered the ruined section of the city, though interestingly enough none of the Tainted showed up to battle all of the invaders.

Thanks to that Jak and his sisters were able to reach the part of this section that lead to where the Stadium rested and Jak stepped forward as Twilight let her magic wash over every fallen bit of material, where their forces watched as she made all of it lift up and start to reassemble into an open walkway that lead right into the former stadium, though since this was the first time that many of them had witnessed her power, up close and personal, all of their forces now understood how she had smashed the Factory and took it out of the sky.

Sure enough they found a whole army of Tainted on the other side of the new opening, who were surprised by what had just happened to their protection, though Jak wasted no time in charging forward as he swung his blade and cleaved one of their foes in half, something that was followed by Torn and the others rushing forward, where some of their soldiers joined him while others stood back and opened fire on their enemies, leaving Twilight to float through the air as she used her magic to fix the area into a flat walkway for them to use. Cozy, on the other hand, smiled as she rushed into some of the Tainted and cleaved them apart with her strength, reminding their allies that she was a berserker and that, in terms of power, not even the strongest of the Tainted could take her down, rather the only ones that could best her were Jak and their sisters, possibly even the Precursors if some still existed since their Eco powers would be far above hers, but for the time being she slashed and blasted her foes down as she followed Jak. Starlight followed their brother as well as she used her gun, the orbs that followed her, and the staff against her enemies, knocking the Tainted to the ground in heaps while Jak remained ahead of everyone in their army, where he and Daxter cut and blasted their foes while moving deeper into the ruined section of Haven. While they did that Torn, Tess, Ashelin, and the rest of this portion of their army blasted the enemies that were all around the area, making sure to eliminate anyone who dared to get in the way while Jak, his sisters, and their Ottsels tore through everything that was in front of them, showing the forces of Haven just how strong they had gotten since Veger tried to banish them and, more importantly, that they were fortunate to have them on their side, as a good number were sure that without the siblings they would have been unable to reach this point.

While they did that Twilight remained at the head of the army and weaved her magic all over the place, forming walkways for Jak, her sisters, and their army to use so they could progress deeper into the former Stadium, though at the same time she was also moving fragments of both the fallen structure and the fallen pillars of the Palace, where she considered what could be made in this area, as she was thinking about the future, once this war was over, though those plans would have to wait for a time as she raised a hand and crushed a flying enemy with her magic.

As they advanced through the ruined Stadium, however, Jak found a few walls that needed to be knocked down and stood back as either Cozy smashed her way through them or Twilight dismantled them with her magic, as both could open the way for them, though his focus was on blasting and slashing his foes as he followed the path that Twilight had created for their army to use during their assault, despite the fact that he could see where a few Eco Vents rested, mostly Dark and Light Eco. Eventually the path brought them to where one of the wings of the Stadium rested, one that reminded them of Keira's workshop and what had been around it, though sure enough Cozy smashed through another wall while Jak blasted some of the enemies that were in front of them and Daxter slashed at some of their foes before returning to his friend's side for whatever came at them next. As Jak reached an area that had some unsafe looking platforms Twilight waved one of her hands and the area shifted once more, forming a safer path as she studied the twisting path that the Tainted had carved out at some point in the past, though at the same time she waved her other hand and pieces of rubble lifted into the air, where she moved them over to an area that Jak wouldn't be passing by and set them down so she could continue moving things out of the way. Another thing the siblings noticed was that there happened to be areas that looked like one would need a JET-Board to cross over to another part of the area, though Twilight, once again, waved her hand and took care of that by creating a flat walkway for their forces to use, especially since Torn and the others didn't have a JET-Board and wouldn't have been able to follow Jak, Starlight, or Cozy into the rest of this area, but this allowed their forces to blast their way through the enemies that were in front of them and continue following after their true leaders.

Of course Torn and the others were surprised by the devastation that had happened to this part of the city, even if they had seen parts of it from above, but that just fueled their desire to take down Errol's forces, who should have had a slight advantage since the Tainted were supposed to be good against armies, but Jak and his sisters countered that fact and that allowed their forces to overcome everything that was in front of and around them, though it did look like the KG Robots had been fully taken out, as none of them showed up to aid the Tainted.

Thanks to their efforts Jak, his sisters, and their forces were able to reach what appeared to be a transition from a smaller area and transformed into a larger area that looked like someone might use the Wastelander vehicles to move forward, and as they entered it a number of Dark Satellites moved down into the area and seemed to focus on them, surprising the forces of Haven since this was the first time many of them had seen these things in action, though Twilight used her magic to shatter some of them. The remainder of the Dark Satellites suffered a different end as one of the walls to their left just shattered as Damas drove his large vehicle through it, smashing into one of their enemies while more sections of the wall collapsed not a few seconds later and the Wastelanders crushed the Dark Satellites with their vehicles, something that put a smile on the faces of Jak, Twilight, Starlight, Cozy, and their army. With that done Damas beckoned for them to join them and Jak climbed into their father's vehicle, taking control of both the large vehicle and their entire army as Torn and a fair number of Haven's forces joined up with those from Spargus, though while there weren't enough ground vehicles for all of them Keira had a surprise waiting, she had prepared a number of cruisers and they were ready for use, basically allowing the rest of their ground forces to take to the skies not a few moments later. In that moment Twilight summoned her magic and created what appeared to be a curved horn of some kind, one that she raised to her lips and blew out what Jak could only describe as a declaration of war, one that empowered their forces and gave them home while letting their enemies know that their doom was approaching, just in case Errol happened to be down here, before she nodded her head and it lead to Jak driving forward as everyone else followed him.

Once more Twilight moved ahead of their united army and reformed the ground to be smoother than what had been let behind after the Stadium had been destroyed and the Palace had collapsed, allowing Jak, Starlight, Cozy, and the others to focus on blasting the Dark Army that started to warp down into the area that happened to be in front of them, which did mean that they had to be close to locating the entrance to the Catacombs, something that pleased the siblings since it told them they were close to finishing this war. One thing Twilight discovered was that someone was trying to fire missiles at all of their forces, where she waved her other hand at the sky and exploded the incoming attacks before they could hit the ground, allowing Jak and their forces to smash and blast their way through every Dark Trooper and member of the Dark Army that happened to be blocking the way forward, where she had to wonder if Errol even realized that his forces were being slaughtered by those they were trying to take down. Jak also discovered that his father's vehicle was more than able to smash through tough walls with ease, as he did so and watched as Twilight grabbed onto the fragments with her magic so they didn't fall on their forces, though she also made sure to crush and dismantle any Dark Satellites that were in the area, leaving the skies clear so everyone in the cruisers could open fire on their enemies without having to worry about anyone attacking them in return. The interesting part was that there were a few earthy sections in the area that the Dark Army happened to be guarding, like they had smashed through the main wall of Haven and had formed a path outside the city, but such a thing didn't matter to most of them as Twilight and Gaia weaved their powers together and formed a more flat path for them to take, allowing them to focus on smashing their enemies and figuring out where the entrance to the Catacombs rested, since it had to be out here somewhere.

Eventually they reached an area that had a metallic tower that seemed to be powering an electrical fence nearby, a barrier to stop people from advancing deeper into the area, which told Jak that they had to be heading in the right direction as he smashed his vehicle into the structure, doing no damage to his father's vehicle as the tower collapsed and the barrier fell apart, opening the way for him, his sisters, and their army to advance even deeper into the Dark Army's section of the city, who had to be worried about their chances at this point. Based on the next couple of metallic towers and stone doors the siblings knew that Errol must have known where the Catacombs rested and, while everyone was distracted by the war for Haven, built some defenses to hide this area from those who opposed him and his allies, though as they noticed that they also learned something interesting, instead of giving them the information needed Seem had come with their forces and was working to make sure everything was ready for when they reached the Catacombs. Not a few moments later Jak and his sisters found more barriers that had more than one tower attached to them, meaning that Errol had expected to be discovered at some point and had readied his defenses accordingly, but what he wasn't expecting was for the full force of Haven and Spargus to be brought to bare against his army, especially as the Wastelanders drove over the Dark Troopers and used the guns to blast the flying enemies out of the air that was around them, meaning Jak and his sisters could rest and conserve their strength for the final battle. As Jak reached what appeared to be the end of the path, Twilight found the device that had been loosing missiles and crushed it with her magic, though it was in that moment that they found the one thing, in this entire area, that they had been looking for, the entrance to the Catacombs, which reminded Jak, his sisters, and their Ottsels of the Precursor Subrail that had lead them to the Eco Mine, and it just so happened to have a vehicle in front of it, likely dispensed for them to use.

"Looks like this is as far as we go." Damas commented, as he noticed what his children were staring at and realized what it was without having to be told anything, because this meant they were one step closer to saving their world, to which Jak climbed out of the vehicle and approached the Precursor one, with his sisters floating in the air around him as they simply waited for him to get moving, before he considered something for a second, "Jak, girls, I am proud of you. We will stay up here and secure the area, while you head down into the Catacombs and put an end to the Dark Maker ship... there will be time for celebrating later."

Jak nodded as he climbed into the vehicle and headed down the passage, with Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy following after him, though what they discovered was that the defenses, as in all of the orbs and lasers they had to avoid after they found the first subrails, were deactivated, no doubt Seem had a hand in doing that, something that allowed them to reach a large underground chamber that was a decent depth below Haven City, even though Twilight was sure that they were actually near the core and had passed through a Warp Gate of some kind without knowing. That was followed by them finding the device they were looking for, a massive Precursor structure that seemed to be built in or above the very core of their fair world, where the area in question seemed to be made out of a vast array of Precursor objects, spheres, rings, and all sorts of panels that lined the chamber, before they focused on the machine in front of them, as it was also interesting and was what they were looking for. The Planetary Defense System was a massive device that had three main components, which were two massive guns, on on their right and one on their left, a large Oracle that seemed to have been created in a more passive expression, unlike what they had seen so far, and a platform that connected all three of those objects together, a straight walkway that happened to have a device in the middle of it, one Jak assumed to be the power station for the main weapon, especially since Twilight produced the Light and Dark Eco Crystals and they were enveloped in a sphere of metal, Precursor metal to be exact. While that happened Twilight noticed something else, there happened to be a floating object below the entirety of the Planetary Defense System, one that looked like a constellation that was glowing, almost pulsing with energy, which almost seemed like a mix of Eco and Magic, though her attention was pulled back to the Oracle as they approached the edge of the platform, where Jak pulled up beside the platform and climbed out, allowing his sisters to land to his sides as each of them stared at the massive device.

As they did that, however, two ovals of dark energy, to their right and left, opened up and another surprise happened, as Gol and Maia stepped out with a light smile on their faces, though they said nothing as they turned and bowed their heads towards the Oracle, something that made them wonder just what both of the Dark Sages had been up to since they used the Rift Gate, as it seemed like they had learned some secrets and they were only now revealing what sort of secrets they had learned over the years.

Greetings, great warriors. the Oracle stated, where they found that this particular Oracle had red eyes, instead of the blue that they were used to and meant this had to be one of the first creations of the Precursors, though as they stood still Twilight watched as the device she had pulled out was encased in one more layer of metal, making it look like a Power Cell that was as big as someone;s head, You and your companions have done well to reach this point, as you have arrived with plenty of time left to save your world from the Dark Maker ship. Now, place the Eco Sphere in the receptacle, so it can begin its energy conversion and start charging this ancient weapon, which will take some time to accomplish, but, due to your actions, we have time to spare.

Jak said nothing as he took the Eco Sphere from Twilight and slipped it into the receptacle, where they watched as the two guns, which could be cannons he guessed as he looked at them, shifted and pointed at a circular device that was behind the large Oracle, likely a Warp Gate that would allow the attack to safely pass through the planet without damaging all the stuff that was between them and the Dark Maker ship, before discovering that the left was channeling Light Eco and the right was doing the same for Dark Eco, meaning it was going to combine the two and fire a beam of energy at their target once the charging was done.

"So, um, what's with the constellation soul?" Twilight asked, deciding that, since they apparently had time before having to deal with the Dark Maker ship, or at least that was what the Oracle had implied, she might as well try to ask the Oracle a few questions and get some more information on everything that was going on right now, even though the fact that Gol and Maia knew how to get down here meant they must have figured it out before and used this as a test or something, so that was something else she was going to have to ask about, even though she had no idea why she referred to the one item as a 'soul', "And that's not the only question, as I have many more that I want to ask..."

"There will be time for that later, Twilight," Gol said, where he walked up and came to a stop on the left side of the Oracle, at least from where the siblings were standing at the moment, while Maia did the same thing, only she stood on the right side, though that was when both of the Dark Sages were enveloped by a dark mist and disappeared for a few moments, only for the smoke on the left to clear first, revealing a dark gray furred Ottsel that was both dressed like Gol and looked like him, causing the group to pause for a moment.

"Once you've saved the world, anyway," Maia finished, to which Jak, his sisters, and their Ottsel companions watched as all the remaining mist cleared and another Ottsel, this one looking a lot like Maia did while having dark purple fur, appeared where Gol's sister had been standing, though interestingly enough both happened to be wearing the attire they had been wearing earlier, meaning it had shrunk with them during the transformation, though this did confirm something for them and that was the fact that Ottsels were similar to Humans, in the sense that female Ottsels had breasts, something that Twilight mentally added to her studies of the species.

In that moment a section of the Oracle's lower body, the stomach most likely, opened up like a door or gate was opening, something that was odd since this was the first time any of them had seen something like this, before they discovered that the inside of the Oracle was made up of a bunch of machinery and consoles, with three more Ottsels, these ones sharing Daxter's fur color, standing on floating platforms, one looking like a wise elder due to his robes and staff, the second one looked like he liked to surf and have fun, and the third might have been blinded in battle since he had a Precursor helm of some kind over his eyes.

We have much to explain. the elder Ottsel said, which came out as the Oracle's voice, where they discovered that he had a device in his right hand that he spoke into not a few seconds ago, meaning it distorted his voice into the voice all of them had heard from the Oracles in Seem's temple, before he lowered the device and offered them a smile, even though he knew that this had to be a lot to take in, especially since they were being told nothing right now, "And explain we will, once the Dark Maker ship and Errol have been taken care of... once that's done, we will answer your questions to the best of our ability."

While Jak and his sisters heard that, in a voice that was both old and gentle, reflecting the chubby Ottsel's position as the elder of the group, all of them sighed for a moment, as it seemed think things were getting crazy and that they had to take down Errol first, before being able to get any answers to their now growing questions, though Jak also felt sorry for Errol at this point, as with the promise of answers Twilight and Starlight would likely tear the ship apart to get at what the elder was offering them, though he knew the final battle was upon them and wondered what would happen once they clashed with Errol for the last time.
> Spargus: The Final Battle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jak, Twilight, Starlight, Cozy, and their Ottsel companions stood there for a few moments as they stared at Gol, Maia, and the three Ottsels who were standing on the circular platforms, as apparently the Precursors were Ottsels, something that just confused Daxter since he had no idea what that meant for someone like him, and not only had the Dark Sages kept quiet about this information, due to the fact that they had teleported down here, both Gol and Maia were also furry rodents as well, something that confused all of them and made them wonder what in the world was going on. Twilight already had a few ideas on the topic, though instead of voicing even one of them she decided that it would be best to wait until they had dealt with Errol and, more importantly, the Dark Maker ship that was coming towards their planet, though she was slightly curious as to whether or not the Planetary Defense System could destroy the ship or not. Of course the five Ottsels simply stood in their positions as they focused on the siblings and their companions, but made no move to talk, confirming the fact that they would answer whatever questions Jak and his sisters had once they had saved their world from the threat that was looming over their heads, though Gol and Maia looked like they wanted to say something to them and were respecting the Elder's decision on this matter, as that was what Twilight was going to call the chubby Ottsel. In fact it looked like Elder might be regretting his choice to tell them that they would answer their questions later, as there was an awkward silence as both groups simply stared at each other, even though it did give Jak and his sisters a few more moments of rest before they even worried about the Dark Maker ship that was approaching their planet.

As they thought about that, however, one of the terminals on the console that the three Precursors had been working on started to beep, meaning something must have happened to either the weapon or the ship they were aiming at, which was when all five of the Ottsels moved over to the console and glanced at their instruments for a time, which also told them that Gol and Maia now knew more about the ancient Precursor devices than what they figured they might know, something that only caused Twilight to wonder what else they might have learned.

"It would seem that Errol, spurred on by your constant success against him, has made more progress than we projected, in regards to the cargo of the Dark Maker's ship," Elder commented, meaning one of their machines had been set to scan the incoming ship and it had only now finished running the program they had activated, though Jak knew that Errol must be desperate to kill him and his sisters if he was willing to make progress in awakening the dark cargo, before he was able to reach the planet's surface, before he turned to focus on them again, "and the only way to stop him from awakening the ship's cargo, and unleashing nightmares upon this world, is to send the four of you and your companions to the ship and let you take the fight to him. We can open the way for you, but once you are up there we will have no way to contact you when the weapon is fully charged and ready to fire."

"We might be able to help with that," Twilight replied, speaking more in the sense of her and Midnight, where her other side emerged from her shadow for a moment and produced a small handheld item that looked like a cross between their Communicator and a beacon, meaning it was an alert system to let them know the progress of the weapon, where they paused for a moment as Midnight explained that very function to Elder before returning to Twilight's shadow once more, though Gol and Maia weren't surprised by this, "Now you can warn us about the weapon... whether or not we get your warning depends on us."

Elder said nothing as he accepted the device, even though he was getting used to Twilight doing things that might be odd or even impossible, before he nodded to the other Precursors and they tapped one of the buttons on the console, which caused a portal made of Eco energy to open in the spinning device behind the platform they were standing on, causing Jak and his sisters to nod their heads for a moment before jumping into the portal that had been provided, which would no doubt drop them off in a section of the Dark Maker ship. Sure enough Jak, his sisters, and their Ottsels appeared in what seemed to be the same area that Jak had been mentally sent to when he took control of that Dark Titan earlier, though a fair number of Dark Troopers happened to be standing nearby and stopped when they noticed that intruders had come to their ship, not that it mattered since the siblings were the first ones to move as Jak used his blade to cleave one in half in a matter of seconds, while Daxter leapt at another one and took it down with his Eco blades. While they did that Jak found that his sisters were blasting the remaining Dark Troopers with their magic and bullets, even if it was mostly the latter that they were using so they could conserve the former for when they found Errol, though their enemies collapsed as bits of electricity, Eco needles, and Reflector shots tore into them, displaying the strength of the weapons that the sisters had, all while showing that they didn't need to rely on their magic or abilities all the time. Even Alvin and his brothers got in on the action, shifting into their hybrid form and tearing through the Dark Troopers that were teleporting into this area to stop all of them from advancing, but due to the overwhelming power of Jak, his sisters, Daxter, and the three of them the enemies in front of them stood no chance and as soon as the area was cleared the door to their right, from the platform they had appeared on, opened, even if it was on the left side of the ship.

As they headed through the now open doorway Jak found that they were in the other section of the first chamber he had moved the Dark Titan through, only this time he and his sisters had to move across a number of rotating platforms, which formed a path to the other side of the chamber, though what happened was that Twilight and the others flew through the air and blasted any enemies that dared to get in their way as Jak made his way across the platforms, allowing him to reach a chamber that had a glass path leading down another passage.

That allowed Jak and his sisters to reach a lower section of the ship, where Twilight glanced out at the dark components it was made out of and wondered if it was possible for her and her other selves to dismantle the ship, plus the cargo, which lead her to run her hand over part of the wall as she imagined the scene in her mind as they discovered that they had to move along the edge of the room the passage had brought them to, especially since it had some poles which moved out of the walls and went back in after a few seconds. As Jak moved through this area he found that his sisters blasted the new flying enemies that came into the chamber, in an attempt to destroy them so Errol could focus on deploying whatever was inside the cargo hold of the ship, but his sisters proved to be far stronger than these foes and the flyers were torn apart in due time, allowing Jak to quickly move through the obstacles on the sides of the walls and reach a door that their enemies had been guarding, one that opened and allowed them to progress once more. The passage on the other side happened to have a few Dark Troopers guarding the way forward, where they found that it lead to another chamber of the ship and held a door leading even deeper, so Jak and Daxter sliced their way through their enemies while Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy moved into the next chamber and opened fire on the flying enemies that happened to be there, wiping out some of their enemies so he didn't have to worry about them. Jak quickly discovered something interesting about the new section of the ship, there was no true path and that he was going to have to rely on his Light Flight power to move forward, hence why he tapped into his Light Eco not a few seconds later and started to fly from platform to platform as his sisters took out any enemies that dared to get in his way, even though it did look like they might have frightened their enemies, or maybe all of them had been taken out, though he shelved that though as he focused on their mission.

Thanks to their efforts Jak was able to reach the bottom platform and discovered another passage that would take them even further into the depths of the ship, one that was also guarded by a number of flyers and Dark Troopers, while it also had a gap in the walkway he would have to glide over, so he and his sisters lashed out at the enemies that were in front of them and quickly opened the way for them to move forward. That brought them to another door, one which was guarded by what seemed to be the rest of the Dark Troopers that were aboard the ship, leading to Jak and his sisters declaring war on them as he slashed and blasted his way through those that challenged him to a fight, while Twilight and Starlight just blasted their foes into submission as Cozy tore her way through the rest of their enemies. Once all of them were taken out the door opened and they found a decent sized rectangular platform that had to be a lift that would take all of them down into the depths of the ship, or at least to another level that they would have to fight through, to which they stepped onto it and let the door close before the lift started to move downward, allowing them some time to make sure their weapons were ready and that they were prepared for whatever was on the floor they were heading towards. It didn't take them all that long to reach their next destination, where the lift came to a stop in front of a door and it opened to reveal what had to be the cargo hold of the Dark Maker ship, a massive chamber that was hollowed out, due to a vast number of massive dark machines that looked like metallic spiders of some kind, likely massive war machines that also acted as a way to make the terraforming process that much quicker, and by Twilight's count there happened to be ten of them, at the very least, a force capable of taking over a world on their own.

Of course, as they expected, the siblings found Errol standing on a platform in front of one of the Terraformers, which was to be expected since he had been messing with the cargo for some time and might have awakened one of them so far, but right now it looked like they might have arrived in time to stop him from activating any of them, so if they acted quickly this war would be over and no one would have to worry about the activation of a Terraformer, even though Errol frowned as he turned and noticed them approaching him.

"Jak, so nice of you and your sisters to join me." Errol said, almost like he had been expecting them to show up, which was understandable given the fact that his sisters were capable of so much and could have likely teleported all of them up to the ship if they wanted to, and Jak was even sure that Twilight could dismantle the entire thing if she wanted to, though as they stared at him Errol held his hands out, showing them that he had repaired all of the damage his body had taken so far, and beckoned to the Terraformers that were all around them, "Just think what I could do with the might that has been sleeping aboard this ship!"

"We've thought about it, that's why we're here to stop you." Jak stated, where he drew his blade once more as his sisters shifted their stances, that way once a fight started they would lash out at Errol and likely target the Terraformers that were in this area, since they were more important right now, though he knew that their foe had no real chance of beating them in a fight, not after everything his sisters had done to counter his assault on Haven, Spargus, and their world, but given the fact that Errol was insane, to some degree, a fight was bound to happen, "Our world isn't yours to conquer, Errol, and we'll do everything in our power to stop you."

"You don't get it, Jak... none of you understand the power you've discovered," Errol replied, something that caused Jak, his sisters, and the others to raise their eyebrows for a moment, as while keeping him talking was a good thing, since it meant he couldn't activate the Terraformers that were all around them, it sounded like he might know something important and it was the only thing that stopped them from lashing out at him with their power, even though there was a chance he was lying and they kept such a thought in mind as they let Errol talk, "By this point you must have found the Precursors, who have been resting deep in the depths of our world and are the supposed 'most powerful beings in the universe', are not, in fact, as powerful as one would assume... they are mere guardians, moving from planet to planet as each group orders the worlds they come across, only settling whenever they find a Titan World-Soul."

"Come on Errol, you know that planets don't have souls." Starlight said, though this was mostly an attempt to keep Errol talking and give the Precursors the time they needed to make sure the weapon was ready, as none of them were taking his words seriously, even if Twilight and Midnight were likely recording what he said in some manner, so they could look back at his statements and claims when they had time, when the world was no longer in danger.

"You say that because you haven't learned the true nature of our world, which I learned from the Dark Makers that gave me my task," Errol stated, where it sounded like he was sticking to his story and wasn't about to change, making them take a moment to wonder if there might be some truth to his words, something they would have to ask the Precursors later, as in after this battle was over and their world was safe from the immediate threat, though Errol chuckled as he glanced at one of the Terraformers that were near them, "in the core of our world rests a source of unimaginable power, one that, if harnessed correctly, can be used to dominate all life and create a dark realm for someone like me to rule over... all I have to do is deploy all of these machines all over the planet, where they'll interact with the ancient devices of the Precursors and cover this world in darkness, allowing me to taint the slumbering power and twist it into what I desire. Once I'm done with that, and you four have been broken, I'll do the same to the rest of the nearby planets and..."

Whatever Errol was about to say was interrupted as a beam of energy, Light and Dark Eco combined, tore through part of the cargo hold and pierced the ship, like a lance piercing an animal, though Twilight, having felt it coming and said nothing about it, raised her hand and summoned a bit of magic that made the beam reflect all around the cargo hold, energizing the walls and components before it started to fall apart, as in she switched it to dismantle Errol's ship... though while that happened Errol slipped into one of the Terraformers and deployed it, causing her to teleport them down to the Wasteland as they watched it come down towards them.

"I was hoping he wouldn't have time to activate one of them, but I guess we have no choice but to destroy one of the dark Terraformers," Jak commented, where he and his sisters readied themselves for what would happen next, as it was time for them to deal with Errol and then focus on making sure their world was at peace, or at least forge a lasting peace for the two cities that they might be ruling over at some point in the future, though while his sisters nodded he had to wonder if all of the fragments of the Dark Maker ship had been caught in the explosion that happened in the atmosphere, meaning the beam must have struck the engine or something.

Not a few seconds later the Terraformer crashed into the ground and rose to it's full height, where they found that it was just as tall as the Great Volcano and possibly just as wide, if all of the legs were extended outward, though as the siblings watched it they heard Errol's laughter as he informed them that he would be killing everyone that stood in his way before he started to take over this world, to which they sighed for a second, as there was no helping him at this point, and then rushed through the air as they targeted the Terraformer. As they neared their target Errol activated whatever weapons were aboard it, where the siblings found a number of dark purple mines with black spikes being flung at them, with the same number of spinning blade devices following behind them, though Jak did nothing as Twilight and Starlight blasted their way through the obstacles that were coming their way while Cozy smashed through her targets, pissing off Errol in the process, which was what they wanted since it took his attention off his mission. With the defenses taken care of they were able to lash out at the Terraformer's legs, where Twilight found that if they attacked from awkward angles Errol had no way of hitting them with the head of his weapon, or whatever weapon might be attached to the head, though as she thought about that Jak and Daxter pooled some of their Eco powers into Jak's blade as he slashed his way through one of the Terraformer's legs. Such a thing opened the way for her and her sisters to replicate the same thing with the remaining five legs, as while it looked like a spider it happened to be missing two legs and only had six total, where Starlight used her magic and surrounded one leg with her floating orbs, which smashed it to pieces, Twilight gathered some of her magic to set up a number of energy mines on the leg she picked out and snapped her fingers to blow it apart, while Cozy used the power of her berserker form to slash her way through her target.

With only two legs remaining, and it's balance was upset, the siblings watched as the Terraformer staggered for a couple of seconds and then crashed into the wide open area that was a fair distance from Spargus' main gate, as it seemed like Errol's first target was their father's new city, though Errol didn't seem to know that he couldn't beat them and was just determined to break them before doing anything else, hence why he seemed to press something and all of the fragments of the Terraformer shuddered for a few seconds. Jak and his sisters watched as the massive construct shuddered as the energized fragments flew over to where the dark device was resting, though that was when the Terraformer started to change before their eyes, the six legs merging into a pair of legs, more like what a Human had, while the section that they were attached to shifted and transformed into an armored chest of some kind, and it even broke apart and rearranged it's pieces to reveal a pair of arms. The siblings raised their eyebrows for a moment as the pilot section of the Terraformer, as in the head, pulled back and was likely inserted into the back of the body section, acting like a spine they guessed, before a more humanoid head emerged from the body section, though it meant that the Terraformer was becoming a construct of some kind, one that looked like it was ready for war or something, due to the fact that all of the dark components of the Terraformer's appearance had become it's armor. Based on what the siblings were seeing it looked like the Terraformer had taken on a brand new form, as it looked like it was crafted from stone and metal, instead of just twisted metal, and as the transformation was complete it's eyes snapped open, even though they suspected that Errol had to be in part of it's chest or something, before finding that the armor it had picked out was more like a dark knight of some kind, though for now it didn't look like it had any weapons and made them keep their guard up, just in case this was an attempt to make all of them lower their guard so he could surprise them.

Of course Twilight noticed that the transformed version of the Terraformer had access to a number of Eco powers, due to the fact that it clearly had an aura around it, though she and her siblings rushed forward and targeted the construct once more, as now that they had seen Errol's final hand it was time to take it out and bring an end to his attempt to take over their world, something that caused Jak to channel more of his Eco power along his blade as he targeted the right arm of Errol's dark toy. What happened next was that the Terraformer actually attacked them in return, where Jak switched his own attack to a defensive measure as he parried Errol's incoming attack, causing the air to shudder as their energies came into contact with each other, a surprise to be sure since they weren't expecting the Terraformer to be able to do this in the first place, before it actually sent him flying backwards, showing them that Errol must have been toying with them to see if the base form of his Terraformer would be able to beat them. A few seconds later Cozy flashed through the air, while the construct was distracted by knocking Jak out of the way, and lashed out with her right hand, discovering something that did make her pause for a second, the new skin of the Terraformer seemed to be stronger than what they were expecting it to be, as her claw attack really didn't seem to do anything other than leave a few very light gashes in the material, which meant playtime was definitely over. Starlight discovered that wherever her orbs hit, as she sent them into a frenzy just as Jak was knocked backwards, were followed by small craters forming around each of them, which would pass as scratches to something as large as the construct, though Twilight, having observed all of that, shimmered for a moment before she and her other selves separated, as this time around it seemed like the best course was to hit it multiple times, all while she would be looking for a better way to bring it down.

As that happened Pele dropped out of the air and punched downwards as she neared the Terraformer, where Errol raised it's right hand and used the arm to block her attack, causing the air to shudder as her fist made contact with her target not a few seconds later, while Shiva flashed around the area their foe was standing in and lashed out with a quick jab from her right leg, intending on using the force of her increased speed to knock the construct over, even though she was also using a bit of her power to try and lift one of the legs to turn things in their favor. Gaia, on the other hand, landed on the ground behind the construct and summoned vines that had, at one point in time, been growing out here, before the Wasteland became what it was today, and they turned out to be rather large vines, fueled by her Green Eco powers, which she simply wrapped around the Terraformer's neck while it was distracted, all while Bronte floated some distance away from their foe and gathered her power into a massive fireball, created from her magic and Yellow Eco powers. Thanks to the others the fireball was able to strike the chest of Errol's Terraformer and knocked it backwards, where Twilight formed a bow made out of her Light Eco and loosed a serious of Light Arrows through the air, which struck the chest of her target and she was pleased to find that some of the dark taint was cleared from the construct's chest, revealing some weak spots that must have been left behind from Bronte's attack. With the way open Midnight flew up to the Terraformer's chest and punched it several times, focusing on the craters that had been left behind by Twilight's attacks, where she smashed through part of the armor and what was below it, though while it didn't seem to do a lot of damage it was more than enough to force the Terraformer backwards and they watched as it started to fall towards the first part of the desert they had encountered a few of the Tainted in, but all of them waited, as the moment it hit the ground they were going to blast it apart and topple Errol's dark plans.

What actually happened was that the Terraformer was able to save itself using it's left leg, stalling their efforts to bring it down to the ground, before it released a burst of dark energy that slammed into Jak and knocked him into the sea, while Twilight and her other selves used their powers to form a barrier between the Terraformer and Spargus, since it looked like the attack was damaging the ground, and her sisters did the smart thing by joining her, though she had a feeling that this power had to be due to how long the machine had been resting in the Dark Maker ship, soaking in all that dark energy so it could corrupt another world.

In the following seconds the water burst outwards as Jak emerged, even though Daxter had, somehow, appeared in the barrier that Twilight and her other selves had created, where they found that Jak was channeling all six types of Eco at the same time, the left side of his body glowing with a brilliant light while his right side contained a terrible darkness, though there were markings all over his arms, legs, and chest that reflected the other four types, something that seemed to be reflected in his hair as well. A few more seconds later the sea burst open, raining water all over the place, as the rest of the group noticed that something else was emerging, a massive being that stood even taller than the Terraformer, as in it was probably a head taller than Errol's construct, before they discovered a few things about it, as it happened to have fair skin, covered by Precursor armor that looked like it was made for a warrior king, and there was a large one handed sword in his right hand, and they determined that because the face looked male. In that moment, however, Twilight's eyes widened as she realized that she, her sisters, and the others were staring at someone who resembled the statues of Mar, which meant that either the Precursors had been hiding another weapon from them or their battle with Errol had awakened something special, which had been slumbering inside the depths of their world, before they noticed that Jak had his hand out like the warrior did, meaning he had to be partly in control right now. Errol, upon seeing this happen, started to shout at them, as if it was their fault for this happening, though it was hard to make out exactly what he was trying to say, even though they did know he was mad at them once more, which gave Jak time to walk forward, even though he seemed to be walking on air and it was possible that Errol's earlier blow had knocked him out, though for now Daxter, his friends, and the sisters just stood there and watched what was about to go down.

As Errol took a step forward, and swung the right fist of the Terraformer, Jak shifted his body and the being behind him raised his left hand, forming a circular shield, also made out of Precursor metal, out of thin air as he parried the attack with ease, before bashing the arm away and swung his sword, slicing through the armored chest of the Terraformer like it was nothing before the might of his blade, even though the sisters were stunned when they found that it had severed the large machine in half, both sides falling to the ground as they realized what had happened. In that moment, as Errol emerged from his portion of the ruined machine, Midnight snapped open another portal to the Plane of Torment and they watched as tendrils reached out towards Errol, who actually damaged his arms and legs to prevent the tendrils from dragging him into the realm that was on the other side of the portal, showing them that he still felt fear, even though his form was that of a robot. Eventually, however, he failed this game of his as one of the tendrils grabbed onto his leg and tripped him, as it caused him to fall face first onto the ground and was followed by him cursing their names as the remaining tendrils came over to wrap around his arms, legs, and chest, hauling the robotic man through the portal as Twilight sentenced him to the Plane of Torment, though given his nature it was likely that he was going to tear his own body apart while he was there, so they didn't have to worry about dealing with him. Once that was done Twilight's other selves returned to her as she and the rest of her group watched as the massive being approached them, where Jak floated down to where they were resting and seemed to regain himself, like this had been a trance of some kind and he was only now leaving it, though he took a look at what was behind him and seemed unsure of how to explain what had just happened, before they watched as the massive being started to shrink before their eyes.

When the being was more their size, however, Jak and his sisters found that he was still slightly taller than they were, and a red cape appeared behind him when he came to a stop in front of them, one that totally looked like what was attached to every statue of Mar that had been in Haven City, at least before Veger and Errol ruined the city, where the siblings felt that it possessed the emblem of the House of Mar on it, which only left them with more questions than answers and made all of them wonder what they might learn during their talk with the Precursors.
> Interlude: Precursor Knowledge
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With Errol defeated, and his plans to corrupt their planet torn apart, the first thing the siblings did was watch as Twillight and Midnight gathered their powers for a time and cleaned up the mess left behind by Errol's awakened Terraformer, since both of them were sure that leaving the pieces of the machine around was a bad idea and dismantled the machine before sending all of the components into their storage area, something Midnight intended on doing with every piece of the Dark Maker ship, those that survived anyway. Starlight and Cozy, on the other hand, were standing near Jak and were making sure he was fine from his ordeal, as he had channeled his full Prism Sage power and had done something interesting, given that a powerful being was standing near them, one that made all of them, as in the siblings, Daxter, and Alvin and his brothers, wonder what in the world had happened during their battle with Errol. Of course that wasn't considering all of the things that Errol had mentioned back when they were aboard the Dark Maker ship, before the Precursors fired that beam at the ship and destroyed it, because while Jak and his sisters were sure that Errol had been lied to, as he served the Dark Makers, they had to wonder if there was some truth to what he had said and meant that they needed to talk with Elder and the rest of the Precursors. Thinking about that reminded them that Gol and Maia were also Ottsels, something they hadn't thought about all that much since they had been focused on taking down the incoming threat to their world, meaning both of them might have some additional answers for the siblings, even though Jak was sure that their father would want to have words with them as well, since this was a secret that they hadn't told Damas, before he sighed and focused on what they would be doing in the near future.

While they did that the powerful being, who Jak had interacted with in some manner, stood nearby with his back towards all of them, where it was clear that he was gazing out at the Wasteland and Spargus, why they had no idea, though they were interrupted by one of the shadowy portals opening, as in what Gol and Maia used and not what the robed figured had used, before discovering that Maia had come to inform them that they would be gathering in Haven for the party to celebrate their victory. As such Alvin and his brothers transformed into their true forms and carried Jak and his sisters on their backs, while the being jumped into the air and used his power to propel himself towards the city, which Twilight and Starlight found to be interesting, even if it was similar to what Starlight used since she didn't have a set of wings like both of her sisters, but she didn't mind that difference and did her best to keep up with them. Thanks to Alvin and his brothers it took the siblings no time at all to reach Haven City, where they discovered that everyone who called the city home, not to mention the Neo Metal Heads and their Wastelander allies, were already reacting well to the news of their victory over their enemies, as a new party was underway and it brought a smile to their faces, as they were happy to see this, though while they would have loved to join this party they focused on the conversation that would happen soon and leave this as something to do after their talk. Instead of heading for the Catacombs, however, they headed for Freedom HQ, as it did have a large chamber that they could use for their discussion and had to be where Maia meant, since there weren't a lot of vehicles that could take people down into the depths of their world, so using the building that had served as their base of operations, the main one since Torn was going to restore Daxter's bar soon, seemed to be the best thing right now and they found that no one was outside the building when they arrived.

Such a thing allowed them to land without having to worry about crushing anyone, which let the dragons return to their Ottsel forms after everyone climbed off their backs, though once that was done they headed inside and used the lift that was in front of them, which took them up to where the Council rested, even though the Council members had multiple buildings that they could meet in and they had been using another one after the war broke out, to make sure they were out of the way while assisting Praxis in keeping the city intact. Of course the lift moved passed the chamber that Jak, his sisters, and their friends had used to plan out their war against their enemies, coming to a stop two floors above it and revealed a large meeting chamber that was just as large as the previous room had been, only this one had no machines in it, save for the one that linked them to the outside world, or whoever they were talking to for that matter. Sure enough they found Praxis and Damas in this chamber, along with Samos, Keira, Tess, and Seem, though they focused on the main guests of honor, which happened to be Elder, Gol, and Maia, as it looked like the other two Precursors were likely back in the core of their planet, dealing with the machine and whatever it was connected to, meaning Elder could focus on what all of them would be talking about and not be interrupted. The siblings could guess why the majority of them were here in the first place, like Samos' Sage nature or the fact that Praxis and Damas were leaders of their own cities, even if Praxis was planning on handing everything back to them at some point, though Keira and Tess seemed like odd decisions and none of them argued with what they were seeing, as they were more interested in learning what the trio had to share with everyone that was present right now.

Of course Damas and the others turned when they noticed the door open, and some eyebrows were raised instantly as they gazed upon the figure who was following Jak and his sisters, though as they entered the chamber Daxter found that an area had been set aside for them, which happened to be where Keira and Tess were sitting near, so he jumped down and took a seat near his girlfriend while Alvin and his brothers sat near one of the walls, making sure they were out of the way while Jak and his sisters took their seats.

"Jak, Twilight Sparkle, Starlight Glimmer, Cozy Glow, Daxter, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore, you eight have done well in your quest to save this world," Elder commented, speaking the moment the group started to move towards their seats, though they could tell that he was pleased with their actions, just like how everyone else was pleased to have the Dark Maker ship out of the picture, though as that happened he noticed that the rest of the people in the chamber were still unsure of him and both of the transformed Dark Sages that were near him, "and while I know many of you would rather celebrate this momentous event, given that you have destroyed the Dark Maker ship that Errol was trying to use, I also know that a few of you have questions and would prefer to have them answered before you do anything else. I am called Eon, and I am the leader of the group that was sent to this world, though my assistants Atten and Rhonos are back in our base of operations, the Planetary Defense System, making sure everything is running smoothly for your world... and, for those of you who haven't had a chance to meet them yet, Gol and Maia have joined us as well."

"That means there are other groups of Precursors in our world, correct?" Praxis asked, as he wanted to make sure that fact was cleared before they did anything else, even though he could see that Damas was looking over at Gol and Maia, where he assumed that the King of Spargus was trying to figure out if he was annoyed that his Advisors kept this information from him or if he should be pleased that they kept the secret, like the Precursors no doubt wanted when they allowed the pair to return to the surface.

"Correct. Also, the name of our race isn't 'Precursor', rather that is what the people of this world call us, but for now it will suffice for our purposes," Eon replied, though as he spoke Twilight had a feeling that Atten was the surfer and Rhonos had to be the one with a helmet on, something she decided not to worry about since there were far more important things for them to talk about and all of them had something they wanted to ask, or at least most of them had a question or two while others, like Tess, were just here to make sure someone else was just fine.

"Okay, but why do you use the Oracles, statues, and images to talk with us?" Cozy asked, because if the Precursors had a physical form that they could use, instead of the being of pure energy that emerged from the Stone that Kor had been after for a long time, it made her wonder why none of them bothered to talk with anyone face to face, even though both Gol and Maia seemed to be able to make their own physical bodies, despite the fact that they seemed comfortable in their Ottsel forms, before she considered something, "And what about that being of pure energy we saw when Young Jak used his pure power to open the Precursor Stone?"

"The Oracles are part of our system to keep balance in this world, as in they are some of our eyes and ears, allowing those like Seem and their monks to speak with us," Eon answered, meaning that if one of the Precursors found something bad in part of the world, such as something happening in the Wasteland for example, it was likely the responsibility of the group that was in charge of that area to deal with it, like how Seem might tell Damas about something and he'd react accordingly, making the siblings wonder how many of their missions had been influenced by such a thing, "though the design of the Oracles came from the ancient Humans, when we first arrived made contact with them, and we've been using it since that day. The image, however, is also a Precursor, or at least one of the forms we take during our evolution, and it is usually the form that many associate with the term your people use, hence why it's the one we picked out and use whenever whoever we're talking to is far away from one of the Oracles, like when you were entering the Eco Mine... the reason we do things this way is because we would not be able to complete our mission if we used our real faces, hence why we fluffed up the myth and stuck to using the Oracles."

"Okay, you're a Precursor, and that means Gol and Maia are as well," Samos said, where he was piecing together what had been said so far and what it might mean for those who were like the Dark Eco Sages, even though Jak and his sisters could see that he wasn't too pleased with the fact that the race he and the Sages had been looking for, an ancient quest of sorts based on what the siblings recalled, before he beckoned to Daxter for a moment, "but tell me, does that mean that Daxter is a Precursor as well?"

"That is more difficult to explain," Eco said, where he raised his hand for a moment and drew upon his power for a couple of seconds, something that caused everyone to watch as the chamber to glow for a second or two before an image of the energy being Jak and his sisters had seen appeared before all of them, causing the siblings to lean forward a little while a few of the others raised their eyebrows for a few seconds, "I know some of you are familiar with what we call an Eco Spirit, which is what we call this stage of our evolution, as it happens to be the one most people associate with the name given to our race, and they are no longer bound by any rules or universal laws, meaning they are manifestations of pure Eco and can do just about anything... like how a Green Spirit, for example, can lead to the creation of new life on a planet, once the Spirit sinks into the ground and becomes part of that world. Now most don't use their powers, rather they decide to travel through space, and sometimes even time as well, mostly to learn more about our universe, the promise we made, and the dangers that plague our reality, before eventually settling in one of the unclaimed planets that they will have discovered, which usually calls other Spirits to them and they all sink into it, eventually leading to it's Eco energy awakening and, more importantly, allowing life to start growing."

Jak and his sisters watched as the energy being turned into what they assumed was a seed and observed it as it joined up with several other Spirits, all possessing the same seed shaped appearance, before Eon moved his hand and time seemed to speed up for the image of the planet they were observing, where they watched as all sorts of creatures started to grow and thrive on his imaginary world, or at least that was what they thought before discovering that he was using their world as his example, especially with Humans and Lurkers being shown.

"Eventually life forms on the world, and by that point a team of Moderators will have created the various structures and a variety of Oracles, and, in time, some people will develop a certain power," Eon continued, where he paused for a second and beckoned to several individuals that were in the room, Jak and his sisters for one, Gol and Maia for another, not to mention Samos and Keira, before ending with Daxter, who tilted his head for a moment as he realized what he was even talking about, something the others realized as well, "that's right, certain individuals unlock the power to tap into the types of Eco that exist in the world around them, and I mean the same six types that you are all used to using or seeing, and that leads to the existence of Sages. Back when all of you were in Sandover Village there were many Sages in your world, even if most had no idea what power was sleeping inside them, such as Samos and Keira for Green, Gol and Maia for Dark, the Blue, Red, and Yellow Sages for their respective types, Daxter and his bond with Light Eco, despite the lack of any being in the environment at the time, and our heroes, Jak, Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy, standing as Prism Sages, which is, by far, the rarest type of Sage in existence, able to utilize all six types of Eco and even combine them."

"I'm... a Sage?!" Daxter exclaimed, something that was swiftly followed by Eon nodding his head to confirm his statement, where he raised his hands for a moment and summoned one of his Eco blades, about the only thing he was capable of at the moment, though Jak and his sisters were pleased to find that Daxter was showing how much he had matured since all of them started to fight for Haven and Spargus, as the immature version of him would have rubbed this in Samos' face or something, but now he seemed calmer than usual, maybe his nature as a Light Sage shining through, "I... wow... I'm not sure what to say right now..."

To the siblings that was definitely a sign that Daxter had matured and, if they were right, his nature as a Light Sage had to be influencing him in some manner, even though Samos seemed surprised by this turn of events as well, while Keira and Tess seemed happy with him, before everyone turned towards Eon again, as everyone was interested in what else he had to say and what else they might learn, even though they wanted to get to the questions that Twilight and her sisters had for Eon, all while the odd figure remained standing by the closed door, likely deciding not to bother them while listening to what they were talking about.

"Don't worry, I will teach you more about your powers later... and Jak, only Mar's line has ever produced Prism Sages, but I will speak on your sisters later," Eon said, something that caused Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy to raise their eyebrows for a moment, as it made them wonder what in the world he might share with them, before he waved his hand and they took a few seconds to watch as an image of a Human Daxter appeared, like how he looked before his fall in the pool of Dark Eco, which was followed by it taking on a more Sage-like form, with robes, and ended with it transforming into an Ottsel, just like what Jak and his sisters were used to seeing, "Anyway, overtime a Sage's power will grow, regardless if they use it or if they can't, due to the Eco type not being in the environment around them, to the point where their body cannot handle all of their power, causing them to transform into a much smaller form, one with far greater control over their abilities, but it won't be to the extent that Twilight and her sisters are used to using... or the Sage might experience an event, like falling into a massive pool of Dark Eco, that will trigger the transformation into our empowered form. Those who reach this form will live for a long time, be it for a few hundred years to even a thousand, and in very rare instances even longer than that, while their power continues to grow, before eventually we reach the point where not even this form will contain our great power and causes the individual to encase themselves in pure Eco, usually in the color of the type they represent, where we sleep until our casing breaks open, leading to the cycle repeating all over again."

Eon moved his hand once more and they watched as the image of Daxter transformed into a light blue stone, which was his nature showing through, before eventually it broke open and a Spirit revealed itself, even if Eon made sure it looked like Daxter so they understood his explanation, one who drifted into a Time Tunnel and disappeared, even though it did end in the image coming to rest in a new world and had several other Spirits join him, creating a new world for the rest of the Precursors to watch over.

"But Mar's chrysalis was green... shouldn't it have been more of a random color?" Starlight asked, as that was bugging her, even though everything Eon was telling them was more than enough to break one's mind and she was sure that Praxis was having a hard time understanding all of the specifics of this conversation, meaning he likely understood part of what they were learning and might have questions later, "And what about this 'promise' you made?"

"Mar is, shall we say, unique," Eon explained, where he raised a hand and stroked his chin for a few seconds, showing that he had to think about this and collect his thoughts before revealing more information to them, or maybe it was to give all of them some time to digest what they had learned so far, even though Daxter was thinking about what they had learned so far and understood that falling into that pool of Dark Eco moved him further along the evolutionary path of the elder race of their world, "It is true that he was a Prism Sage, one so powerful that he was able to turn the tide against Kor and his dark tide, while setting up Haven City and all of his tests for one of his descendants, and his power caused the change into our Ottsel form a lot sooner than what is common for us, leading to him remaining in the shadows until that, too, was unable to contain his power, which brought about the Stone you found and unlocked. That much is true, but the reality of the situation is that he wasn't Human, or a Precursor for that matter, rather he was a physical manifestation of this world's own soul and he did everything in his power to make sure his people were safe from harm, to the point where he even followed our evolutionary path and used our Chrysalis state, the Stone, to stabilize his powers, and when you freed him he didn't travel through time and space to find another world to inhabit, rather he bonded with the rest of his World-Soul, a fact that drew the attention of the Dark Makers to Feolorath... that's the name of this planet, in case you had no idea what this world was called."

"Wait, you mean Errol was telling the truth?" Jak asked, as the mention of the 'World-Soul' reminded him of what they had learned while they were stalling Errol, back on the Dark Maker ship, though it was something they had ignored while all of them waited for the Precursors to fire their beam and take down the enemy ship, even though this information caused his sisters to focus on what Eon might say next.

"In a way, yes. Our race is one that travels across the universe, and we were approached by a race of powerful beings, who were stronger than us, that we sided with," Eon replied, something that caused him to wave his hand and they watched as a number of icons appeared before their eyes, a few being his race and seven being tall figures who seemed to shrink to the size of Humans, or more like the strange being who stood nearby, even though one of them was eventually consumed by a foul darkness and caused it to split a world in half, before ending with a world with a glowing heart, "these beings were the Titans, immensely powerful beings who brought order to our universe while looking for ways to defeat the vast darkness that threatened to invade our reality. Their leader, a being called Amun'thul, didn't force us into an agreement or force us to bend our knee, rather he asked that we lend him and his kind our aid in ordering the rest of the universe, as in continue what we had been doing for a long time, while keeping an eye out for worlds that had World-Souls, which are the nascent slumbering souls of a Titan, which we were to protect until they matured into adulthood and then repeat with all of the other worlds... to be honest, Feolorath is the only planet we've found that has a World-Soul. Based on what we were able to figure out one of the Titans betrayed the others and we lost contact with Amun'thul, though it was around that point in time that some of our kind found a tainted world, infested with a dark force the Titans called the 'Old Gods', who drove the Precursors who found that world mad and brought about the creation of the Dark Makers, not to mention the war between our two forces that cut down on the number of Precursors in the universe."

"With the destruction of the Dark Maker ship, and all the Terraformers, the balance should have been shifted back in your favor, right?" Samos asked, though at this point mostly everyone was trying to come to terms with what they had learned, that the Precursors were both Humans and Ottsels at the same time while also being somewhat weaker than the Titans, while Jak and his sisters considered the information that was being shared with them.

"That is correct, and I'm certain the other remaining Precursors will reveal themselves once they learn that we no longer have to worry about our corrupted friends," Eon said, even though he seemed a little sad about that, making Jak wonder if he might have known someone who was corrupted by this 'Old God', before the elderly Ottsel sighed and focused on the rest of their conversation, as he knew that there was more to be said and more questions to answer, even though he, Gol, and Maia knew it was only a matter of time until Twilight asked a question, "Feolorath, like I said previously, is the only planet where we discovered a slumbering World-Soul, and the installment of our structures and observational devices did cause him to awaken, not all the way mind you, and it eventually lead to him creating his own Avatar, a living being who held a fraction of his own power and followed our evolutionary path."

"Mar!" Damas exclaimed, as it made sense when he considered the stories about the legendary hero, that one day, out of nowhere, he suddenly appeared and started leading the people towards safety, all while fighting against the darkness that threatened to overwhelm them all, even though those who followed him never understood who his parents were, nor did they figure out where he came from in the first place, thinking he was from another continent, but now it made sense in a odd and strange way.

"Indeed, and while he walked this world I stood with him... we just had the artists forget about me, to capture his likeness in all the statues," Eon stated, showing them that Damas was correct in assuming who he was talking about, which was all too easy for everyone to figure out at this point in time, before the Precursor smiled for a moment, likely recalling the time he spent with the hero of this world, "I taught him about his Eco powers, as I'm positive that several Spirits decided to call this world home, long before we met the Titans anyway, while we bested both the initial force of Dark Makers and Kor's advance forces... that's how we knew that the Planetary Defense System would work. Eventually it came to an end when Mar underwent the transformation into the Chrysalis state, where we followed the plan he came up with and stored it in the depths of his Tomb, for one of his descendants to find and use with the weapon he built, and once that was done we made sure the last of our tracks were covered before locking ourselves inside the core, forming the last layer of protection for his World-Soul. Of course Gol and Maia grew to the point where they transformed into Ottsels, so we had to open one of the side paths to the outside world and ushered both of them to join us, allowing my assistants and I to train them while they waited for your eventual return, plus the other Sages you knew all evolved as well and are currently working with the rest of our kind in monitoring this world... in fact, Samos, you probably have a few more years left before you undergo this stage as well."

"Eon... when we opened the Precursor Stone, did that mean we released the missing fragment of Feolorath's soul and, at the same time, awakened him?" Twilight asked, because it sounded like the slumbering Titan had used, without knowing what he was doing, used part of his own soul to create the Avatar, to create Mar, and by using Young Jak's power to open the Stone they likely freed that fragment, something that caused her to turn towards the odd being, as now it made sense as to why he looked a lot like Mar, because he was Mar and made his last words, that they would meet again, true, even if they hadn't thought about it until this point in time.

"You set the gears in motion," Eon replied, making Twilight wonder if not using the Precursor Stone in Mar's Gun caused a change that not even the Precursors had been expecting, like maybe it was supposed to drain some of the Stone's power before allowing them to release the Spirit, but by ignoring the gun they allowed Young Jak to release a full powered Spirit into the world, one that caused Feolorath to awaken.

"I see. Well, I do have one other question." Twilight said, though there wasn't that much else for her to cover, as they had found out a lot of things, like that pretty much everyone in the world was a slumbering Precursor and were waiting for the conditions to be met so they could continue down the evolutionary path, that they had caused a Titan to wake up and also learned about his time as Mar, and a number of other things that would make anyone take a few minutes to go through all of the information, before she beckoned to herself and her sisters, "What about us? We aren't Human, nor are we like any of the other races that call this world home... so what does all of this mean to us?"

"Believe it or not, but we've been trying to find out more about you three," Maia answered, as she and Gol had been silent the entire time and had been letting Eon explain things, given that he was their elder and knew more about the various ins and outs of a Precursor's evolution, plus the promise they made to help locate and secure the other slumbering Titans in their universe, before she sighed for a moment as she considered what she was about to say, "we know that you three are nothing like the people of this world, your magic is beyond anything we have seen, and your Sage powers are unlike any that exist in our records... frankly, if you had been born on this world, you would have been considered anomalies, beings of curiosity to be exact, and we would have come to you a lot sooner. Based on what we can tell, you three come from one of the other worlds that exist in our universe, though it is hard to tell if its one that the Precursors have been to, and you were sent here to aid Jak in saving the world from the Dark Makers, or if maybe you came from another world that is not like the ones the Precursors have settled on, like a coincidence or something... what we do know, however, is that there are more energy signatures like yours that are scattered throughout our universe, so there are more like you out among the stars, but we haven't pinpointed your planet yet. The one thing we're sure of is that you three are similar to Daxter, Jak, and all of the other Sages of this world, you three will, at some point, undergo the transformation into Ottsels, like those who came before you... and to be honest, with how powerful all three of you are, we're worried about that happening, as there's no telling what might happen."

"Indeed, though we have some theories on the matter," Gol added, something that caused the siblings to pause for a few moments, as it sounded like the Precursors might be worried about what might happen if one of the sisters was allowed to ascend to the next stage, especially given all of the powers that each of them possessed, but they remained silent as they listened to what they were learning right now, "Starlight and Cozy, you two might end up just fine, with a normal body with markings to indicate all the types of Eco you have access to, and if you ever got to the Spirit stage I'm sure just one of you would be able to seed new life on a planet, without needing any other Spirits to join you... Twilight, well, we're sure that you might end up fragmenting into your six selves, meaning if you reach the next stage you'll end up creating six entities, not just a single Precursor. Other than helping you come to terms with your powers, and what the future holds for you and the rest of this world, we'll keep looking for your planet... we'll decide what to do once we've located it."

Jak sighed as they learned that, even though he wasn't expecting to hear such a thing when they decided to speak with Eon and the others, though at the very least he knew that the next thing they needed to do was figure out which planet that his sisters came from and how to get there, but first he guessed that all of them could take a break and join the party, before they even worried about what the future held for them.
> Interlude: War's Aftermath
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the conversation with Eon, Gol, and Maia, which was far more than what Jak bargained for when he decided to spend some time speaking with their new Precursor allies, Jak, his sisters, and everyone else headed outside the building they had been sitting in and discovered that the citizens of Haven City, along with those from Spargus, were happy to see them and ushered them over to the Port, as the celebration was still going strong and they wanted their heroes to join it, which would really get things started, especially given what they had seen in the past. While Jak agreed that a break was needed, after all of the challenges they had overcome to reach this point in time, he considered what Eon and the others had said and knew that part of it was right immediately, his sisters were definitely from another world, given how unique they were and how powerful their magic was, not to mention their Eco powers, though they were still similar enough to where the Precursors were certain that, at some point in time, Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy would transform into Ottsels. That was something that surprised him when he thought about what they had learned, that everyone in their world had the potential to become a Sage and transform into an Ottsel, as he had been expecting the creature that Daxter had become to be just an ordinary wild creature, even though Twilight and Midnight seemed to draw out his Eco powers and started to teach him how to use a few of his powers, despite the fact that Daxter stuck with his Eco blades. Of course Eon had offered his aid in teaching Daxter how to control his powers, since he was sure that more were on their way and that meant he might have flares soon, times where his powers acted up and resisted his control, or at least that had been the case with his sisters and their magic, but he guessed that time would reveal what might happen to his friend and the rest of their allies, even if they were focused on heading over to the Port to party.

There was also the issue of Twilight, who would become an Ottsel at some point like him, Starlight, Cozy, and even Samos, but unlike them she and her other selves were going to shattered when she reached that state, creating six Precursors in the process, something that worried him since there was no telling how her power was going to react to being separated between six individuals, even though there was a chance that each of them would retain their magical powers, giving him and the others six full powered Twilights to deal with, where he eventually sighed and decided that he would think more on this after the celebration was over and they had confirmed that peace had been achieved.

Sure enough the Port was a busy place when he, his sisters, and the others arrived, as they found Haven's citizens, all of Damas' Wastelanders, and the Neo Metal Heads partying together, as if they were one big happy family or a group of old friends who hadn't seen each other for a long time, something that put a smile on their faces as they quickly parked their zoomers outside the Naughty Ottsel and joined everyone else, causing the people to cheer and embrace them as they continued to celebrate their victory over those those threatened their world. Of course Jak found that Twilight let out all of her other selves, allowing all six of them to party and have some fun, instead of forcing Midnight and the others to stay in their private realms inside her mind, or wherever they stayed when they weren't out here, though he wasn't about to start complaining about that, since they deserved to have some fun as well, all while Starlight and Cozy started dancing as they joined the crowd, even though he smiled as he and Keira finally got a chance to have some fun and not worry about any dangers threatening them. While that happened Daxter and Tess, with the brief aid of Starlight, moved some stuff out of the Naughty Ottsel and set up what seemed to be a bar outside the actual bar, which made sense when he considered the fact that Torn hadn't cleaned it up yet, and would do so now that the war was over, though in that moment Keira recalled something she had been working on and set something down in front of Daxter, a small metallic container that contained a pair of pants, sized down to fit his body, since she knew that it had been one of the things he desired and showed that she had been working to make it a reality for him. Daxter returned not a few moments later, now sporting a pair of blue pants that resembled what some of Haven's citizens wore, specially made for him in mind since it contained a slot for his tail, and while he thanked Keira for it, showing that he was grateful, he and Tess did a little dance with each other, though it was easy for Jak to tell that his friend was very happy with this addition and wouldn't have to worry about being naked again, even though Keira informed him that she had made a pair for Alvin and his brothers.

As he thought about that, however, the sudden surge in Daxter's emotions, especially risen to some extent due to a kiss that was planted right on his lips, caused a surge of Eco power that enveloped the pair for a moment, though when the light died down Jak found another Ottsel, sharing the coloration of Eon and Daxter while possessing Tess' features, right in front of Daxter, confirming that if a transformed Precursor's power was left in the state that Daxter's was in they might end up transforming others into Ottsels, skipping the Sage stage entirely, though he chuckled as the pair embraced, as he had known that nothing would stop their love and now nothing could get between them.

"At the very least we know that becoming an Ottsel, with the aid of someone like Eon or Daxter, includes one's clothing shrinking with them," Keira commented, as she had witnessed the change as well, since she and Jak had been dancing and enjoying the celebration while being near their friend, and she noticed that Tess' attire had shrunk with her, leaving a slim female Ottsel, with her hair style, scarf, shirt, and pants, in her place, causing her to sigh for a moment as she glanced at her right hand for a few seconds, "I can't believe that such a thing is going to happen to my father one day, and possibly to us once we reach that point in time... not to mention to Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy, when their bodies finally reach the point where they cannot contain their immense power."

"We'll cross that bridge once we reach it," Jak replied, though he shared Keira's feelings on the matter, even if she hadn't spoken her mind on the fact that she was worried about what might happen to Twilight when she finally reached the point of no return, that she was going to break and become six Precursors, her and her alternate selves, and that feeling was the fact that he was also worried about her, even if the process looked safe for the most part, "for now, let's just focus on the celebration and what the immediate future holds for us, since I'm sure we'll have all sorts of things to do now that Errol and the Dark Maker ship have been taken care of."

"There's a lot that we have to clean and move, thanks to Errol and Veger's actions," Starlight commented, where she stood to their right for a moment, taking a sip of her drink as she watched the rest of their people, both Haven and Spargus alike, enjoying their time and not worrying about what the future might have in store for them, something they were leaving to those who ruled over the cities, "but I'm sure that, in time, we'll put everything back together and focus on whatever might happen next, since I'm sure there's something else we'll need to deal with before this world is at peace..."

Her words were cut off as she and Jak felt someone arrive in the area around them, something even Daxter noticed, and by turning their heads a little they found Maia, in her Human form, once more reminding them that she and Gol must have found a way to make a disguise that would allow them to look like what they had looked like before the change into their new forms, something Jak knew would likely become unusable in due time, but none of them freaked out by her arrival, as it only made them interested in what she had to say.

"I don't want to alarm you, and you are free to wait until later to check this out, but we've discovered another anomaly on our radar," Maia said, speaking softly so only they would hear her words, while at the same time Cozy and Twilight noticed her arrival and did nothing to make the citizens expect that something was wrong, before she glanced at something that was beyond where they were standing and Jak discovered Maia was looking at the right pillar, "it isn't like your sisters, or any of the other energies we've been able to track down since we started working with Eon, but it doesn't look like a new enemy has shown up... you can check it out whenever you want, as the being that made hasn't moved from the spot that it picked out."

Jak said nothing to that as he nodded his head and watched as Maia disappeared, just as quickly as she had appeared, as he turned his attention back to the party and found that no one seemed to have noticed her arrival, meaning everyone was so busy that Gol and Maia could easily slip in and mingle without being discovered, while seeing that his sisters did the same thing as Keira glanced over at the pillar in question, no doubt wondering what might be up there, especially since it was another anomaly. Such a thing made them wonder if one of the two beings who had been spying on the city not that long ago, back when they celebrated Kor's defeat, had returned to check on them and see what sort of progress they had made since their last visit, though Maia's words ruled out the possibility of it being someone from the world that his sisters had come from, which would have been too much to ask for such a thing to be the reality of the situation, to which he just sighed and decided that they would wait and see what happened when they went up there. For the most part nothing odd happened after Maia delivered the news that another anomaly had been detected, meaning Jak, his sisters, Keira, Daxter and Tess, and everyone else was able to enjoy the celebration that was taking place in the Port, as tomorrow would bring work for all of them, especially since Jak and his sisters would be working with the Precursors as well, and maybe with the now awakened Titan who had been slumbering in the depths of this world, something he wasn't going to think about since it had been explained in great detail, and he wanted to focus on the here and now. One thing he was sure of was that Maia must have come to check on the sudden flare of energy that had come from Daxter not that long ago, meaning Eon would know that his decision to start training Daxter was a good one if he was capable of accidentally turning others into Ottsels, skipping the Sage state entirely and possibly endangering others if the newly transformed had his power as well, so that meant Daxter would be training with Eon once this celebration was over.

Eventually everyone started to head home for the rest of the night, to which Jak, his sisters, and their Ottsels vanished for a moment and landed on top of the large pillar Maia pointed out, where they found something interesting, standing right in front of the edge of the pillar was a lean male figure that wasn't Human, rather it looked more like a cheetah that could stand on two legs, an anthropomorphic person like Twilight and her sisters to be exact, and he seemed to be wearing a light brown shirt with olive pants, and a pair of silver crystalline bracers, before they found that his fur was blue colored, an odd color to be sure, and he had a small pair of curved horns in front of his ears.

"Who and what are you? Why have you come to Haven City?" Twilight asked, knowing that it was something that was on all of their minds as they stared at the newcomer, someone who seemed to have a decent level of magic resting inside him, but she was sure that he was hiding a good chunk of his power, leaving enough for their radars to sense while hiding most so he didn't case panic in those who could sense him, but Jak and the others remained silent as they stared at the cheetah who was standing in front of them.

"I am called Weld, and I'm nothing like the two dark beings who arrived earlier, as I am... I am half demon, something that I despise with all my heart," the cheetah replied, something that caused the siblings to glace at each other for a moment, as this was the first time they had heard anything about 'demons', before glancing back at the figure, who seemed to have a vast hatred hidden inside him, making them wonder what might have happened to him as each of them stared into his eyes for a few seconds, even though he turned to look at the sky, where they found that he had a katana attached to part of his pants, something they had missed earlier, "Let me make one thing clear, I'm not one of the demons who have been seeking to conquer the universe... judging by the sudden look of confusion on your faces it would appear that you had no knowledge of the danger that rests beyond this galaxy. Basically, there is a threat greater than the one you just defeated, a demonic empire that has been ravaging the stars and conquering planets, subjugating those that survive the initial attack on their world and twist them into new demons to serve the empire, and there are those among the empire that would, if given the chance, make your Titan friend their toy, as the King and his seven Generals, the eight strongest demons in the entire empire, are no laughing matter... even with my power, as foul as it is, I would have a hard time beating and killing the weakest member of the Generals."

"I take it that you are looking for allies to launch an assault on this enemy?" Jak inquired, as it made sense to some degree, because it sure seemed like something bad had happened in Weld's past, possibly even before that, which made him hate the demons with every fiber of his being, even if he hid that hatred down in the depths of his body so that one could only see it when they stared into his eyes, though he had a feeling that he might have more power than he was letting on, likely a dangerous one that might consume him if he used it.

"Actually, I'm tracking down the Seekers of Darkness and making sure they aren't infecting worlds, and they seem to have an interest in people like them," Weld stated, where he beckoned to Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy for a moment, which was understandable since they weren't native to this world, though this did give them an idea of the fact that the two figures who appeared on the Port's wall, who weren't Gol and Maia, happened to be evil in some manner, which made sense as the siblings recalled what had happened when the pair showed up, "so far all they're doing is studying you three and the other missing members of your planet, through for what reason I have no idea, but I'm sure that, in time, the Seekers of Darkness will reveal their hand and the heroes of our universe will stand up to bring their plans down. Either way, it looks like things are pretty normal here, even though Xahvalan and his ally had visited this world for a short period of time, so I need to pick up the pace and track them to the next world.

"You didn't answer the question, rather you talked around it." Starlight commented, as she noticed that Weld did his best to make sure he didn't actually answer the question that Jak had asked, though given his statement she was sure that he was looking for allies to join him, to form a universal army of sorts, to launch an assault on the demons who likely took his home planet and forced the odd creature to flee, or at least that was her assumption right now, "You're following those 'Seekers of Darkness' and recruiting the people of the planets they've been to, aren't you?"

"Oh, I am building an army, though not from the people of the planets your people have gone to," Weld replied, though as he said that he turned for a moment, where he was now facing the water between Haven and the Wasteland, which was when an oval of magical energy appeared nearby and a portal broke open before their eyes, one leading to a world that looked like the land was covered in snow, though that could be anywhere in their minds, causing him to glance back at the siblings for a moment, "in fact, that's what you and the rest of your displaced are doing right now, gathering allies for the eventual invasion of your home planet... though when the time comes you'll have another ally to count on, as I won't be too far behind when the King launches his assault on your world."

Before Jak or his sisters could say anything else, to get more information from the odd individual, Weld stepped through his portal and disappeared as quickly as he had appeared not that long ago, causing them to sigh as his portal closed not a few seconds later, to which they headed down into the city and knew that it was about time for them to get some rest, as now there was one more thing that they needed to talk about when morning came, especially given everything that Eon and his assistants had done to keep this world safe.





When morning arrived Jak and his sisters found that most of the people who lived in Haven City were still sleeping at the point where they got up, while Daxter, Tess, and the other Ottsels were ready to tackle the day, even though Jak now had two on his shoulders since Tess needed a shoulder to ride on, so he had to go gently since this was her first time riding like this, though she eventually got the hang of it and allowed them to move back to where Freedom HQ rested, as that was where they would be holding all of their important meetings until they fixed up the city. Twilight was already thinking of what she and her siblings could do to modify and fix the city, referring to the damaged and destroyed sections of their city, something Jak was grateful for since he knew that his sisters were the ones doing most of the work, given the fact that their powers were far stronger than this, especially when he counted their magic, so he left that to his sisters as he took a few moments to think about what the future held for them. Of course not everyone was still asleep, as there were a fair number of citizens, be they actual citizens or any of the soldiers of the Freedom League, who hailed them as they walked over to where a couple of zoomers were resting, allowing him and his sisters to move through the city that much quicker,  even though they made sure to wave towards those who hailed them before leaving the Port. It felt nice to not have to worry about enemies attacking them, as with the downfall of both Errol's Factory and his dark terraforming Tower, where they still had to deal with the latter's corrupted area and Jak was sure that Gaia could do that on her own, there were no more enemies inside Haven City, especially since they were sure that Vin might have found a way to reform the Eco Dome that once protected the city from the dangers of the outside world, and even if he hadn't they knew that he would figure it out in due time.

Sure enough they found a good number of people inside the planning chamber of Freedom HQ, as they found Ashelin, Torn, Praxis, Samos and Keira, plus Damas and the three Precursors they had spoken to after defeating Errol, plus they could see that Feolorath was standing near them as well, no doubt having recalled his time as Mar and might be using his knowledge to aid the people of Haven, possibly Haven and Spargus, in making things better for their people, now that all of the Dark Makers have been taken care of, and as they approached the table Ashelin glanced at them before noticing a new addition to the group.

"Tess... you're an Ottsel." Ashelin stated, which revealed something to Jak and his sisters, that Eon must have take a bit of time to explain the situation to her and Torn while they were gone, that way they would understand what had happened to Tess when everyone else was present, though Jak was fine with it since it meant he wouldn't have to explain what they had been told previously, even though it was also clear that Ashelin was coming to terms with the fact that, if she were to develop Eco powers or have some event happen to her, this would be her fate as well.

"In the furry flesh!" Tess replied, where she jumped off of Jak's shoulder and landed on the console that Daxter stood on when he was in this chamber, even though it was followed by her stumbling for a moment and caused her boyfriend to jump over and help her up onto her feet once more, causing Tess to look over her new body once more as she realized just how hard the transition from no tail to having a tail was, plus the shift in size and perspective, "It'll take some time to get used to this, but I have the feeling that I'm going to enjoy being an Ottsel, especially since Daxter's offered to help me learn how to control my new body."

"Jak, did you and your sisters figure out what caused that anomaly?" Eon asked, as the last thing they needed at this point in time was another threat, right after all of the others had been taken care of for the time being, though as he did that he did glance over to Daxter as the other Ottsel helped Tess out, because it did confirm what Maia had said and informed him that his decision to start training Daxter was a smart one to make, especially since there was a chance that he might accidentally cause a transformation in someone else, like Jak or one of the sisters for example.

Jak nodded and explained the situation to the others, that there was another threat out there, a demonic empire that was conquering everything that was in their way, while also revealing the existence of Weld to their friends, before Eon made a comment about their scans indicating that there were two demonic threats in their universe, one had recently been taken out by another force, but the other was so far away from them that he never considered them an immediate threat to this world, but it was nice to know that the anomaly wasn't an immediate threat to their world.

"While you were doing that, we received a letter from Kras City," Praxis stated, something that caused the siblings to raise their eyebrows for a moment as they heard the news, as it was another city close to Haven and Spargus, one that hadn't been in Kor's warpath anyway, but based on what all four of them knew, which came from Twilight and Starlight's reading on the subject, Kras City was one that had a dark underground and had an unusual sport that seemed to be on the rise, Combat Racing it was known as, before he tapped something on the console and the information appeared right above the center of the console, "and it would appear that they want to build some new race tracks for their sport, in sections of Haven City and out in the Wasteland, with a few benefits thrown in to sweeten the deal for our side, to give us much more incentive to bargain with them, such as free access to their network for a few years, so we can watch the racing if we want to, and several invites for some of our people to take part in the races... they've even sent along a few ideas on what each of the tracks might look like, allowing you, Jak, to have the final say."

"It would seem that the lawful side of the city has heard of your exploits and have decided to try to get on your good side, given what we've learned so far," Damas said, as all of them knew, from reading up on Kras, that the city was supposed to be ruled by a shadowy network of some description, like a criminal cartel or something, while a number of lawful people stood in the light while making sure the city ran smoothly, like a puppet kingdom when Jak considered it, before he took a moment to consider everything that was inside the letter from Kras, "I'm not sure who this 'Rayn' character is, but it would seem that she might be our contact inside Kras City... of course I'm assuming that it's a female based on the name... and I'm sure we'll get a message at some point about visiting the city and observing the races."

"It won't hurt to make new contacts in the other regions of our world, plus it seems like they have some good ideas for the tracks they want to make," Jak commented, as while Praxis was preparing to step down and make him King of Haven, just like his father intended before being banished to the Wasteland and setting up Spargus, something he might have a claim to as well, he was still a racer at heart and that part of him could appreciate what was in the designs that had been sent to them, making him wonder if the letter had been truthful about the invites or not, "some of these look like they might be a little hard to make, especially since there seems to be another season starting in five months... they probably know about Twilight and her power to dismantle things, meaning they must have seen the Factory being torn apart, and are assuming she can put things together."

Twilight chuckled as she heard that, as she was positive that she could do such a thing as well, though it seemed like they would be focusing on cleaning up the rest of Haven City and the Wasteland, to make sure none of the Dark Maker stuff fell into the wrong hands, while Eon promised to continue looking for the coordinates of the world she and her sisters came from, so they could return home at some point and learn more about themselves, not to mention everything they might have forgotten, while deciding not to worry about the new information they had learned, as they would plan for that at some point in the near future.
> Interlude: The Unexpected Will
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Jak, Twilight, Starlight, Cozy, and everyone found that nothing strange or weird happened after the celebration that was held after Errol's defeat, as in there were no strangers arriving to study or talk with them, there were no black coat wearing people who disappeared when they were noticed, and, as far as Eon could tell, no dangers that might be coming from the rest of space, meaning no more threats like the Dark Makers, allowing the siblings and their allies to relax a little while all of them focused on rebuilding everything that had been ruined. It really felt weird for most of them, since they had spent so long fighting and surviving, to suddenly be at peace with everything around them, though Praxis and Damas seized the new situation by the horns and started to redirect the combined forces of their cities to fixing things in Haven City and building all sorts of new machines out in the Wasteland, such as expanding and remodeling Spargus to the point where new rivers were able to flow through the city and some ancient methods were revived to deliver power to the city. To Jak and his sisters it felt more like Sandover, and that seemed to be what their father had planned as he drew upon all of the information they had on their ancient sanctuary, since most of the records had been destroyed or lost at this point, though he had plans to make a number of modifications to the rest of his domain, to transform the Wasteland into something more akin to a thriving environment, complete with wildlife that would emerge with his work, something that was only possible thanks to Keira's machines, her knowledge of the planet's Eco, and the power of his daughters. Of course it was going to be half desert and half thriving life, so that all kinds of creatures could call the land home, and he was planning on calling it 'Sanctuary' once his work was finally complete, as he felt that 'Oasis' was too on the nose for his liking, though it would also help balance the Eco of their world, even though Feolorath, the Titan, remained with Seem and their monks as he stared up at the stars, why they had no idea.

Twilight didn't start work on fixing Haven City until two weeks had gone by, as Jak, Praxis, and Damas had sent a reply to Kras City not two days after the meeting that revealed the lawful officials were interested in creating new tracks inside the domains of Praxis and Damas, a letter containing the tracks that they had approved of, those that would be build inside both the city and in the desert section of Sanctuary, and it took those in Kras twelve days to ship out everything that would go into making the new tracks. Once everything had arrived Twilight was given the official plans for the tracks their brand new friends in Kras had accepted, seven specialized tracks that would be set up in Haven and another seven that would be out in Sanctuary, the desert section anyway, where she and her other selves glanced out at the plans and the sections of the city that needed to be modified, before surprising the workers from Kras City with their powers. By that Twilight and all of her other selves made modifications to the vast Sewer network, weaved the earth to make a track through both parts of the Forest, created a track that could safely pass through the Port and a few other sections of Haven, while disconnecting and hiding themselves away when the racing wasn't happening, a hidden track of sorts, and made a few more changes to the other areas on the list, like the island called Atoll and another on a nearby plateau. In addition to that they made sure to help set up the tracks that would be going in the desert section of the former Wasteland, which involved transforming the ruined city into a replica of Spargus, or at least in some manner, as well as one that seemed to look like a Precursor temple, not to mention a few others that Jak and everyone else agreed with creating, though that didn't stop the workers from Kras being intimidated by the sheer amount of work that Twilight was able to do by herself, as they thought that the others were copies meant to focus her powers, but they decided not to tell them the truth and continued setting up all of the tracks that had been approved.

Of course, once the tracks were done, the officials of Kras brought a team of racers that tested them out, as they raced up and down each location and made sure each were to the specifications so they could be officially labeled as tracks for the next Championship, which they were preparing for at that very moment, in both Kras and the Icelands, which interested Jak a bit, though he kept his excitement over the issue to himself as he watched them work, before the officials gave them the seal of approval and would inform them when it was time for the Championship to start.

After that it was back to business for everyone, as Keira went to work awakening her own Eco powers, thanks to the help of her father, Gaia, and Eon, so she could mold the Tainted's section of Haven into something more livable and filled it with nature, like the forest that rested nearby, though it had been hidden from Kras' officials by Twilight's magic, giving Keira all the time she needed to study the area and awaken her powers, though given that she was the daughter of two Sages, as it was then that Samos informed all of them that he had married the previous Green Sage before they had Keira and then she suddenly vanished. Jak chuckled when he heard that information, as he recalled Twilight speaking her mind at some point in time that she suspected that Keira's slumbering power, which she was certain of since her father was Samos, was just waiting for something to awaken it and now he suspected that it was due to him and his sisters tapping into powers that were beyond what a normal Sage possessed, but he was more than willing to watch them train and used it as a good chance to understand his own Green Eco powers for the future. Of course it came as no surprise to him, his sisters, and all of their Ottsels that Keira was able to unlock and develop her powers in no time, though it did take her some time to truly unlock her powers to the point where she didn't stumble, since her talent was so great given that she had two Sages as her parents, and by the end of the first month Keira was working like a true apprentice, something which Samos approved of as he made sure she moved at a reasonable pace, since arrogance had been the downfall of many Sages, just like how Gol and Maia had been beaten by the untrained versions of Jak and his sisters. Keira wasn't the only one who trained with Eon, as the Precursor elder upheld his end of the promise he made as he had Daxter join him, as his unstable power needed to be tamed before he turned someone else into an Ottsel, so he didn't have a repeat of what had happened to Tess during the celebration.

There was also the fact that it was due to how much time he spent in the presence of Jak's sisters, as Eon was positive that the world wasn't ready for the girls to be Ottsels just yet and didn't want Daxter's unstable powers to accidentally turn one or more of them into the final stage of their evolution, though that didn't stop him from teaching the siblings to control all of their powers, or at least given them some pointers for the future, while pulling Tess into the mix as well, because while she shared Daxter's coloration they had no telling which type she would bond with, so he wanted to teach her a couple of things before she did anything else.

Eventually Keira fulfilled part of her training and molded the Tainted's section of Haven into a livable place that had a fair number of trees and plants growing all over the place, providing the city with another source of food as long as they took care of them, plus she found a way to make all of the foul pools into one long stream of pure water, effectively erasing all of Errol's efforts to terraform the city into the domain of the Dark Makers, impressing both Samos and Eon in the process before she turned her attention to helping Spargus out. There were all sorts of machines and plans in her mind to help all of their allies out, making things far better for everyone if things went as she planned, and both Praxis and Damas were happy to have her along for the ride, in a manner of speaking, allowing her to use her unique abilities, along with some of her new powers, to make some vast improvements to the machines that were being set up all over Sanctuary, especially since one of them was the aqueducts that were installed all over the former desert continent. While she did that Jak found a way to tame the side of him that enjoyed fighting, meditation to be exact, something that Cozy joined him in doing every now and then, as she needed to do it so she could fully tame her berserk nature, even though the awakening of her true Sage power had done that in part as well, but Eon and Damas were more than willing to help both of them out, especially since Twilight and Starlight joined in the lesson as well, even if they didn't need this at all. Other than that Eon went slow in his lessons whenever he taught Jak and his sisters, in part to make sure none of them went mad with power and to make sure no sudden transformations took place, keeping an eye on Twilight and her sisters since he, Gol, and Maia were sure they had passed the normal levels that involved one naturally transforming from a Sage and becoming an Ottsel, though given their nature Twilight understood why Eon was being cautious, especially considering that this stage of one's life was far stronger than the others and they wanted to be ready for when it happened to her and her sisters.

Other than that nothing major happened, allowing Jak and his sisters to simply rest and relax for the first time in a while, as this time around it seemed like they would be able to actually get some peace before another threat showed up, as all of them knew that Eon's scans indicated that the other threats that existed in their universe didn't seem to know where this planet was located, meaning they could focus on securing this world and making sure all of the ordinary threats were taken care of, before even worrying about what the future held for them. It also allowed Praxis and Damas to continue their work together, without having to stop and deal with some sort of threat that involved the rest of the world, like what happened with the Dark Makers, which Torn, Ashelin, and the others were grateful for since it allowed all of them to rest as well and prepare for a normal life, or at least live a life where all of them were in the reserves of the new army that had been set up for Jak and his sisters, just in case a new threat showed up and they needed a force to fall back on, to hold the fort down while they dealt with their enemies.





The months went by with nothing important happening, allowing the siblings to get into a routine of sorts as they waited for the Kras City Grand Championship to start, as in watching it happen since most of them and their friends were fine with not participating at all, despite the invitations that had been sent previously, as Jak figured that there would be time for that next year, once he had a better understanding of the rules and had seen how some racers took to the tracks that were scattered over four different continents... though two weeks before the event was supposed to start, however, all of them got something interesting in the mail, delivered by some people from Kras.

"I take it everyone got an invitation?" Jak asked, because once the messengers from their new friends had gone outside, as he insisted he and the others needed a few moments to talk about things before anything was agreed to, he sat down and glanced at Keira, Samos, Torn, Ashelin, Sig, his sisters, and their Ottsels, which included Tess, where he pulled out the letter that had been delivered to him and set it on the table as he waited to see if everyone else got one as well, which was when Keira and the others pulled out the letters that had been delivered to them, some opened and some still sealed, showing him that those who were nearby only opened one to see what it was about.

"Looks like all of us have gotten one... to head to Kras City for the reading of Krew's will." Keira replied, though it was clear that she wasn't all too happy with the timing of this event, as she would rather be making sure everything was running at peak performance and doing other things, instead of heading to a criminal city to hear whatever Krew wanted to say to her and those she cared about, namely Jak since they had started dating at long last, something her father said nothing about even though Keira knew he approved, otherwise he would have said something.

"Truth be told, if it wasn't for who Krew was, I would have tossed the invitation away and ignored it," Torn remarked, as he knew the fat man that had been an annoyance to the people of Haven, before his eventual betrayal and death, the latter being caused by Jak and his sisters, and he could see that everyone else seemed to be thinking the same thing that he was thinking, even though no one had mentioned it yet.

"Trust me, we don't want to attend the reading either, but Krew was an arms dealer before his death," Starlight stated, as that was what all of them were focused on right now and not their own feelings on the matter, as Krew had admitted that he had been a criminal before setting up the Hip Hog Saloon, using the bar as his cover so the law couldn't get him, but it was that lifestyle that they were interested in, since he likely had ties to the shadowy underworld of Kras City and they all knew there was a chance he might have left something important behind, "and its possible that he might have left some rather dangerous weapons behind, ones that might do some serious damage to Haven and Sanctuary, which we cannot allow to fall into the wrong hands."

"I agree with that, but we have to remember that this is Krew we're talking about, and I smell a trap," Sig said, because he was one of the few who knew Krew the longest, out of all of them, especially when Jak considered the history that Sig had no desire to talk about, which had to include the fat man in some manner, meaning he had some information on Krew's past and everything he had done before his demise, "especially when they sent invitations to everyone who had some sort of connection to him, not counting Praxis or Damas... he avoided them at all costs... so this screams 'trap' to me. So, here's what we should do if we decide to honor Krew's last wishes, most of us should go and see what's going on, that way if he did set a trap all of us aren't caught by it... not to say that Twilight and her sisters could save us all if, say, a bomb went off if it was a death trap."

"I take it Damas still needs you in Spargus?" Ashelin inquired, as that would be the only reason for Sig to suggest that they do such a thing, even though she knew that with the combined forces of Haven and Spargus there was a chance for Sig to have a day off or something, a reward of some kind for his hard work, something that quickly lead to Sig nodding his head a bit to show that he still had duties in Damas' city and had only come to visit because of his work, "Then we can take care of everything else while you're gone... hopefully they don't activate any traps while we're there, since they won't be able to get everyone at the same time, but we have to be prepared for anything and everything."

"Especially since we'll be heading into a city where danger will be around every corner," Samos added, though he meant it more in the sense that, even with the powers of Twilight and her sisters, they had to worry about people trying to poison them in some way, something that everyone seemed to agree with, but before he could say anything else Daxter stepped up onto the table that they were standing around and dropped a sack on it, "Daxter, what in the name of the Precursors are you up to this time?"

"As you know, I've been training with Eon for the last couple of months," Daxter explained, where he gestured to the sack for a few seconds before he pulled something out of it, which turned out to be a small pill that appeared to be white and had no other distinguishing features, almost like it was a piece of candy or something, before he glanced at them for a few seconds and smiled, as if he had come up with a grand plan, "and the first thing he taught me was how to shape Light Eco into these small pill shaped droplets... which, if added to food or drink, will burst open and instantly purify them of any harmful substances, such as slow acting poisons for example. Meaning if they try to poison us, in any way, these will take care of the poison before we come into contact with it... granted it won't do anything for Dark Eco based poisons, as you'll end up throwing up if such a thing happens, and there are a few poisons that they won't be able to counter, but I would recommend that anyone going take a handful of these, as Tess and I have made more than enough during our training to last us our entire stay in Kras. If we need more, either of us can make more or Twilight might be able to do it without any of our enemies knowing that we have such a thing on hand."

"That's... rather convenient... do you think Eon knew that this would happen?" Cozy asked, because it seemed weird for the first lesson an awakened Ottsel would learn, if they were attuned to Light Eco anyway, would be how to make capsules of Ligh Eco that could purify all food and drink of harmful elements, even though such a thing meant Daxter and Tess could get to work using the capsules to cleanse other things at some point in time, and she could see that everyone took a few seconds to consider what she had said.

"I have my doubts he knew this would happen, but was preparing us for anything that might happen," Twilight replied, as she considered the idea as well and decided that Eon, after everything they had done to save this world from the threats it had faced, would have informed them if he knew something about what was happening in Kras City, meaning he had to be focused on the other part of the world that demanded the attention of him and the Precursors, an area Eon and all of the history material referred to as 'the Brink', or just 'Brink' depending on who one was talking to, before she returned to what they were talking about, "still, I agree with Daxter, we should divide the capsules among us and use them during our visit to Kras City... I'm certain that we'll be there for a while."

Jak said nothing as everyone divided the capsules and made sure everyone had an equal amount of them, though once all of that was done, and they had stored all of their items away, he and his sisters headed outside first, finding that the group from Kras were still waiting for them to come out, where Jak informed them of who was coming to Kras for the reading of Krew's will, while also apologizing since Sig was needed in Spargus and it was unlikely that Damas could spare him for the period of time set aside for the will. With that done Jak and Keira went to work, as in they headed to Spargus and worked on the Sank Shark, which Kleiver had gifted to him once they had saved the world from Eroll and the Dark Makers, which meant he understood that they weren't to be messed with, as he wanted it to be ready for their visit to Kras, due to the fact that part of him had to wonder if this might be more about the Championship and not any weapons he might have left behind, even though they wouldn't know that until the will was read. Twilight joined them in their work, since they made sure to work on the buggies she had created for her sisters and herself, so named Golden Oak's Fury, Stargazer's Light, and Calamity's Edge, even though everyone had sighed when Cozy named hers, as it seemed a little too aggressive to most of them and no one bothered to convince her to change, figuring it would intimidate those who dared to cross her when she rode it into battle, if she ever did such a thing. Truth be told most of them really had no idea why they picked out those names and had no explanation for the others, where Jak assumed that Twilight's had to do with a library of some kind, as the name seemed like a tree's name, Starlight's had to deal with stars and the fact that she hadn't been tainted by Dark Eco, in the same manner as Twilight and Cozy had, and Cozy's was linked to her dangerous berserker nature, but Jak didn't care why his sisters had picked these names and focused on making sure all four of their buggies were ready for when it was time to head to Kras City.

The next twelve days went by in a flash, or so it seemed to Jak and his sisters, which had to mean they were both anxious and excited for what was to come, giving them time to study the layout of the streets so they could reach the building that Krew's will would be read in, even though Jak insisted that the four of them would be a distraction so everyone else could slip in without being stopped by anyone who didn't want Krew's friends in the city, and with the powers of his sisters Jak knew they could do it with ease.

Sure enough, despite the fact that they slipped in under the cover of darkness, Jak and his sisters found some buggies that wanted to chase them through Kras City, meaning that someone definitely didn't want them here, even if they had no real plans to get involved with the Championship, though this was what they had planned for and moved accordingly, where all of them separated from each other and headed down four different roads, causing their enemies to split up accordingly and, more importantly, left the middle path to their destination wide open. Of course there was some danger to them just leaving Keira and the others without any vehicles, though that was why Twilight and Midnight had separated before they reached the city, that way while Twilight drove her buggy down one of the streets, and distracted some of their enemies in the process, Midnight could stealth her way towards their destination and hide their friends with her magic, meaning they would be at the building before their enemies knew what was going on. For the time being none of them used their guns to deal with all of the buggies that were following them, of which there had to be at least twenty, as Jak and his sister just wanted to make sure no one was around before dealing with their enemies, and sure enough, when each of them were sure that the coast was clear, they spun their buggies around, drove towards their targets, and activated a burst fire that tore through the wheels of their enemies. Such a thing sent many of them crashing into the rivers that were scattered all over the city, as they didn't want to damage the walls or buildings and have the lawful people in charge blame them for the mess, even if the lawbreakers should get blamed, though once they were sure that all of the buggies were taken out, and Midnight reported that everyone else was at the building in question, Jak and his sisters made their way to the building as well, as it was time for them to get this over with and see what Krew's will had to say.

When they arrived at the building Twilight placed a barrier around their vehicles, just to be sure that nothing happened to them while everyone was listening to Krew's will, before they headed inside and found that some of the workers were still up, who showed them right to the conference room that had been reserved for their reading, though out of all of them Jak was the only one dressed as a racer, thanks to his new mixed blue vest, with a yellow stripe going through the chest part of it, and brown pants, though resting on the table happened to be a container pull of ice and a bottle of wine, complete with more than enough cups for everyone, before the siblings took their seats around the table.

"So, who invited us here anyway? The letters didn't reveal that fact." Daxter asked, figuring that they could have a bit of a conversation before their host, or hosts since there could be more than one, arrived to read Krew's will, though as he said that he and Raven took a moment to deliver one of the fancy wine cups to everyone else, though he didn't have to worry about anyone listening in on their conversation since Twilight enchanted the room with a spell to prevent eavesdropping, and one to alert them when someone was approaching, before carefully placing one pill inside the cups, that way when all of them were served they could hide the pills by angling their cups.

"I asked some questions earlier, before you guys arrived, and found that Rayn asked for us to come... and get this, she's actually Krew's daughter." Keira replied, where she found that everyone who came to Kras City was surprised by this piece of news, as none of them expected Krew to actually have a kid, much less find someone who he could have a kid with, nor did they think that the one who sent them the first letter might be the one to call them to the city so they could figure out what was in Krew's will, but everyone remained silent as they digested that information, even though Samos had expected Daxter to say something about Rayn looking like Krew or something.

Jak opened his mouth, so he could say something about this information, before Twilight shifted in her seat and glanced at the door they had entered through not that long ago, where everyone got ready since it meant that someone was here to read Krew's will and they were sure it was Rayn, since it seemed like something she might do for her father, before they found a slim lady walking into the room, who wore a three toned olive green colored jacket and white bell bottom pants, though her dark blue hair was tied behind her head in a pleated bun with a red band and chopsticks, though she just so happened to be far more than what most of them expected, given Krew's appearance.

"Thank you for coming to Kras City," the lady said, who spoke in a friendly and professional tone, which meant she had to be Rayn, since she seemed to be someone who worked on the lawful side of things, despite who her father was, but they remained silent for a time as she walked up to the table and glanced at all of them for a few seconds, no doubt having a mental list of who was supposed to be here and who might be missing, before letting out a sigh as she noticed that Sig, of all people, was missing, before being glad to find that the bottle was untouched, "It looks like some of your acquaintances couldn't make it... ah well, it can't be helped. I am Rayn, which you might have deduced on your own. Before father died, his wishes were simple: that his will be played for his closest associates, and that we drink to his passing, as he even had a special vintage prepared for this very occasion, to toast his death."

As Rayn said that she pulled the wine bottle from the container it had been resting in, where Jak noticed that the bottle did have a racing emblem on it, before she uncorked it and started to pour it out for all of them, first herself before filling the cups that Jak and the others held out for her to fill, though they managed to make it so she didn't see the pills that were inside their cups and Jak could feel a bit of Eco move as each one burst open and faded away, before Rayn returned to the head of the table before setting aside the now empty bottle.

"Here's to old friends, and father's untimely... death..." Rayn continued, appearing to be saddened by the fact that she had lost her father, even though it was possible that she didn't know him all that well, before she raised her cup and caused everyone else to do the same thing, leading to them making a toast for a few seconds before all of them took a drink of the vintage Krew had prepared for this event, even though Jak and Twilight noticed something off about how Rayn drank from her cup, something they would have to discuss later, before they placed their cups on the table, "Now, without any further delay, here's his message to us."

In that moment, after everyone had drank some of the wine, Rayn pulled out a small device and clicked the button that was on it, where the room's lights dimmed a little and everyone watched as a hologram of Krew, still attached to his large floating weaponized chair, as Jak and his sisters recalled what happened at that point in time, appeared in front of them, in the middle of the other half of the table, before he turned and faced them, indicating that he was ready to reveal what his message was so they could get out of Kras once this was over.

Hello nearly friends and mostly enemies: if you're listening to this message, then I must be dead... oh well. Krew said, showing his usual personality to everyone that was present, that he didn't seem to care about anything other than what he had to say or what he wanted someone to do, reminding them of what they had seen back in Haven City, before they killed him for betraying the city to the Tainted and Kor, though a few seconds later his hologram started to move around the table area, similar to how he talked to people when he was alive, As all of you know, I love racing, almost as much as I love weapons... but alas, I was never able to fulfill my living dream of winning the biggest race of them all, the Kras City Grand Championship! But, even in death, I will field the greatest racing team the world has ever seen and win the biggest race on the planet... all of you are the greatest racers, the best of the best, and you will race for me.

Jak, Keira, and a few others remained seated as Cozy and a number of others declared that they would never race for the fat man, even if he was dead and there was nothing he could do to force them into such a contract, though Jak remained calm as he considered the situation they were in and found that Rayn didn't seem surprised by the sudden request, which meant she had either viewed the will before hand or knew this fact about her father and wasn't at all surprised that this was happening, before he turned towards the hologram again.

I expect that most of you are riled up by this point... so allow me to explain why the lot of you will race for me, and why you will win it. Krew continued, clearly expecting something like this to happen in the conference room and had waited a few seconds to be sure they had some time to get annoyed with him, though Jak and his sisters kept an eye on what was happening in the room while keeping their eyes on the hologram, just in case there was more to learn, before he seemed to beckon to something and Twilight assumed it was his special vintage, If all went as planned, the lot of you just had a rather touching toast in my honor... sorry to say, but I put poison in that well cared for special vintage... it is rather quite unsporting of me, really.

"Father!" Rayn stated, her facial expressions showing that she was shocked and couldn't believe that he would do such a thing to all of them, especially since she was present for the reading as well, but while that happened Twilight noticed that her face twisting to shock and her reaction to her father's words seemed to come rather quickly, making her wonder if she had practiced such a thing before they arrived in Kras, but no one said anything as they turned their attention back to the hologram that was in front of them.

This is probably where Rayn gets upset... sorry dear. Krew said, where, once again, the siblings could tell that he really didn't care about most people and saw his daughter as a means to an end, that her only reason for existing, in this case, was to gather his associates and enemies, or most of them anyway, before making all of them toast so he could force all of them to do something, Let me make one thing clear: it is a slow acting poison, otherwise all of you would have been dead by this point... but you do have enough time to participate in this year's Championship and finish the season. If you race for me, and win the biggest race in the world, my associates will provide you with the antidote to the poison and all of you can move on with your miserable lives. Simple, eh?

"How are all of you so calm?" Rayn asked, as once her father stopped talking the hologram disappeared, though she had been expecting someone to get up and try to pin her to one of the walls, given that she had aided her father in bringing all of Haven and Sanctuary's heroes to Kras City and succeeded in poisoning all of them, even if she hadn't been told about any of this before her father perished.

"This is Krew we're talking about, so we know not to get excited over him tricking us," Twilight replied, which everyone else agreed with, since they knew what the fast man was capable of and suspected that something like this would have gone down, though Daxter made no movements other than thinking about the poison, like he was worried or something, which was a show to make sure anyone watching for signs of distress found what they were looking for, "besides, we have our own reasons for coming here."

Rayn looked like she wanted to say something, anything, to what Twilight had said, though before she could do that the hologram of her father reappeared and caused everyone to glance at it, making them wonder what else he might have to say before the will was done and they could move on with their lives, especially since it now involved tackling the race that Kras held, even though Rayn continued to be upset with her fallen father.

Well, its been one minute, and by now you're either arguing about how to get out of this mess... or one of Jak's sisters, who are unbearable at times, has convinced you not to fight. Krew commented, showing them that he expected such a thing to happen, and that he knew Twilight and her sisters a little bit better than they initially thought, before he waved his fan in front of his face for a few seconds as he considered the last pieces of information he wanted to share with them, before the will was finished, My advice is to trust no one, not even those you love, win the race, and save yourself from a painful death!

"Krew wants us to race? Well, we've got the best racers in the world in this very room," Keira said, showing them that she was convinced that they would be able to beat Krew at his own game, while pretending that they had been poisoned by his trick, since she was sure that Daxter and Tess' Light Eco pills had taken care of the poison before anyone drank from their cups, save for Rayn anyway since they hadn't put one in hers, and based on what she was seeing, by looking at the faces of everyone else, Torn and the others agreed with her.

"I'm glad to hear that, since father did purchase the best mobile racing garage some time ago, the best money can buy to be exact, and, from what I've seen, it has more than enough vehicles for everyone," Rayn stated, informing them of what else Krew had purchased before Jak and his sisters brought an end to his life, not that the siblings were feeling sorry for it since he had betrayed everyone in Haven, though it was also clear that she was trying to make sure everyone knew that she was on their side and not an enemy, despite being Krew's daughter, "We're in this together, so let's get out there and honor my father's last wish."

Rayn, expecting them to want to take a few moments to think about this before they left the room, gave them some time alone so they could understand what was happening to them, though as soon as she was outside Twilight used her magic to reseal the room and prevent eavesdropping again, before they turned towards each other as they considered what had happened in the span of the last couple of minutes.

"Good news, those pills work really well against slow acting poisons, so we're in the clear," Daxter stated, knowing that all of them wanted to know if the capsules had worked as they intended or if they were something that the pills wouldn't take care of, though this brought a smile to their faces as everyone realized that no poison had entered their bodies and that they were going to have to prevent to have someone pulling their strings, before he glanced at the door, "and, despite the show she put on, Rayn isn't poisoned either... I also noticed the way she drank from her cup, Jak, and it's exactly like what Damas and Praxis were teaching you, while we were training with Eon earlier, so she's totally in on this."

While Jak wanted to disagree with Daxter, as there were times where he really wanted to do so, this happened to be one of of those times where his friend was right and he had to agree with what he said, Rayn was acting and hadn't drank any of the liquid she had poured out for them, but it also meant that they would have to make sure she had no idea that her little secret had already been revealed to Jak and his sisters while figuring out if there was something else happening that might be tied to the Championship, before they sighed and got moving, as they wanted to get started on a new adventure and see what sort of dangers they would overcome this time.
> Kras: The First Race
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jak, his sisters, and the rest of the group were escorted to the garage that their vehicles would be stored in and worked on, which also happened to be where the siblings brought their vehicles once Rayn brought them to it for the first time, an area that seemed to be located near one of the edges of the city, the eastern side to be exact, and found that it was large enough for everyone to work in, just as Rayn claimed when she revealed that her father had purchased the best garage that money could buy. It also came with two new vehicles that were created specifically for racing in the Kras City Grand Championship, a long thin one that resembled the Sand Shark to some degree, even if it appeared to be designed for speed and damage, hence why it was called the 'Road Blade', while the other one was a large buggy that was very similar to what Damas used, so it was more like a tank when it was on the race track, where they found that it was called 'the Basher'. Since there were two days before the Championship started, and they were forced to face off against those who might want Krew to fail in his quest to win this at least once, Rayn made sure that Jak and his sisters tested out the new vehicles and got used to all of the rules that would be imposed upon them once they started facing off against the other racers, be if their own friends or any of the others from the other teams. Of course it was interesting that they had no idea who else might be participating in this year's race, since they figured that Krew or his associates would have found a way to get that information before this point in time, but Jak decided that it didn't matter all that much and resolved to face their foes on the track, allowing him to focus on the new buggies and if they could get the others registered on time, since he had a feeling Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy would stick to their vehicles and not something Krew provided.

On the practice track, however, Jak found that the Road Blade was decent enough and handled pretty much like the Sand Shark, only with some new Eco weapons, designed to knock his enemies back while they raced through the tracks, as while there was some element of death involved the officials wanted to keep racers alive so each of them could return in the future, to continue to provide entertainment for everyone else while trying to get their hands on the trophy that Krew so desperately wanted them to obtain. While they did that Jak also found out that the customization options for a buggy were limited, where it seemed like some of the better things were off limits for the time being or not available at all, making him wonder if they needed to win some races before the garage owners bothered to set them up with everything else that had been ordered by Krew before his death, which he was fine with since he was used to showing off to earn the respect of all those around him and his sisters. Another thing he learned was that there were four Cups involved with this event, as in the Red Eco Cup, the Green Eco Cup, the Blue Eco Cup, and the Yellow Eco Cup, meaning they would have to beat their way through all four of them before winning the Championship itself, with the first one being the Red Eco Cup, though he was setting his sights on beating all of them and whoever happened to be racing against them, before Rayn got into the types of challenges that the team would have to tackle so they could progress towards winning everything. From what she told them there were nine challenges a racer would face during the entire Championship: there was the artifact race, a capture race, the main circuit race, a death race, the deathmatch, freeze rally, rush hour, sport hunt, and turbo dash, each having their own rules on what needed to be done to win them so the ream could move through the rankings and win the Cups that stood in their way.

Twilight was able to dig up a bit of information on each event, some of them involving drones as targets so the racers had enemies that weren't the other racers, but all of them knew that Jak would be eager to tackle all of them and see what sort of challenge they actually provided him with, especially after everything they had been through so far, though one thing that Ashelin and Torn agreed on was that anyone else who raced with Jak and his sisters would stay away from them, as in make sure none of their opponents got close to overtaking them. Their plan was simple, Jak was going to aim for first place in all races, regardless of what they were, while Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy would vary who got second, third, and fourth, leaving Ashelin and Torn to secure any of the remaining places, or just mess with their opponents as much as they could, all while those who wouldn't be racing could listen in on everything that was going on, to learn more about what was going on and see if they could figure a few things out. When Rayn was around, however, everyone was focused solely on their buggies and all of the work they were doing to prepare for the start of the Championship, mostly because she was Krew's daughter, someone none of them had trusted when he was alive and meant she had to earn their trust, before they told her anything important, and since she was in on her father's quest to get a win in this sport, to the point where he would try to poison everyone reading his will, Rayn was already in the negative points with Jak and his sisters. Despite that fact all of them made sure that Rayn understood that they were poisoned and that they were doing everything in their power to win the race for Krew so they could gain the antidote, even if none of them needed it at all thanks to Daxter and Tess' pills, where she nodded and did everything she could to aid them in getting ready for the races, since she knew this would be their first time on one of Kras' tracks and everyone needed to be prepared for anything that might happen.





As it turned out the very first race that they had to compete in was located in the Wasteland section of Sanctuary, an odd decision since Jak and his sisters were expecting it to start somewhere in Kras City, given they were hosting the entirety of the KGC, though as everyone waited for the racers to be called to the track, however, they gathered in a living area that had been part of the garage Krew had bought for them, staring at a television that was on a show that covered each and every aspect of this sport, which was called the 'G.T. Blitz Show'.

Welcome race fans to another turbo charged season of high stakes, high speed racing, the host was saying, who was a tall Human with a well-built body, which was rather odd for someone who stood in front of cameras and did nothing but talk about races, where they found he had some pronounced facial features and a blond pompadour hair style, while he wore a purple suit with an orange trim, another odd decision when the siblings thought about it, though for now they just watched and waited to see what their opinions of him were once they had some more time to understand who he was and if he annoyed them in some manner, As usual yours truly, G.T. Blitz, will give you all a pit row view of all the action as the best racers of the world swap paint in their quest to claim the Kras City Grand Championship trophy... but in the end, only one wheel jockey will claim the prize as the greatest racer in all the land! And we'll be here to cover all the thrills, chills, and spills! And, as you all know, this season's first race is going to be kicking off in the next few minutes, so stay tuned my dear viewers, and keep those engines humming!

"The first race... I'm excited for whatever the other racers have to show us." Jak commented, as Blitz made it seem like this sport had some serious contenders that would be trying to get between them and the trophy Krew wanted them to win, so they and Rayn could be given the antidote to the poison they all drank, even though he had to resist the urge to laugh, as it was so funny that Krew continued to underestimate their abilities, even though he was dead, but he remained serious as he, his sisters, and their companions stared at the screen.

"A wise man once said, 'be watchful of those in front of you, but be mindful of those behind'," Samos warned, which was just a warning for those who would be racing to be careful of the unknown racers they would be racing against for some time, as while he trusted the skills that Jak and his sisters possessed, especially after everything he had seen so far, he did know that there might be some surprises and wanted them to know where he stood.

"Don't worry, my father provided everything we need to win, and with your skills I have a feeling that we'll overcome all of the other racers in no time," Rayn said, once more showing everyone that she was confident in their skills to win this, even if she was the only one, in her mind anyway, who wasn't poisoned, though they continued to keep her in the dark about the truth as Keira and those who weren't racing continued their part of this mission, where Jak and the others nodded to show that they agreed with her, that they would win the trophy no matter what.

"Well, well... I had heard that we had some fresh wax rookies this year," a familiar voice said, where they turned towards the main door of the room and discovered that Blitz was walking into the building that they would be using as their base and home for some time, until the KGC was finished and Jak had claimed victory over everyone else, before he glanced all over the room for a moment and paused a few times as he took in who was in front of him, mostly Jak and his sisters, and the brief look of shock meant he must have been warned about their arrival and didn't believe the warning until he saw all of them with his own eyes, though he had a camera following behind him, "but I just had to see if the rumors were true... I just wasn't expecting to find the four of you in a place like this... Jak, Twilight Sparkle, Starlight Glimmer, and Cozy Glow, the four heroes who saved the world twice over and have, reportedly, defeated countless foes. I, as you no doubt know, am G.T. Blitz, and I'm the Kras City Racing Commissioner, not to mention the star of the highest syndicated sports event on the entire planet... I also came by to wish you luck, which you clearly don't need if what I've heard about you is to be believed, and to skid down a few rules: no side bets, no cheating, no rule breaks or we'll break you... and that means that you three, the ones with magic, have to race like everyone else. You in gear?"

"Sure. Whatever you say." Daxter replied, because he knew that there was no way for Blitz or the others who made sure all of the rules were followed would be able to detect when Jak or his sisters used their Eco powers, as it was an advantage that would grant them a greater chance of winning the races, just like how he knew that there was no way for anyone, save for another magic user, to detect when the sisters used their other powers, not less one of them did something massive that was seen by everyone watching the races.

"This is show business, boys and girls," Blitz continued, where it was hard to tell if he had heard Daxter's comment or if he had decided to ignore it entirely, before he glanced over to Rayn while he said that, why Jak and his sisters had no idea, as this was supposed to be the first year Rayn had been directly involved in fielding a team for the season, though it made all of them wonder if she had assisted her father before he left for Haven, back when she was far younger than she was right now, before he glanced back to all of them again, "and only the best racers can move on to the bigger and tougher events, so make me happy and make the crowd scream."

Jak nodded his understanding as he, his sisters, Ashelin, and Torn headed through the door that Blitz had come from, only they boarded a transport that would take them over to the race track that they would be using for their first race, since it was located in Sanctuary they had to use a fast transport, meaning if it had been a track in Kras City they would have just walked down to where their vehicles were waiting and climbed into their vehicles so they could get to the track, but this was fine for all of them. From what Rayn was able to learn their opponents, for the time being since more would appear in due time, once Jak and his sisters reached a certain level among the racers that were present, there was someone called Cutter, another called Shiv, and third known as Edje, so right now it looked like there were nine racers, each aiming for the first place prize of the first race of the season, though right now Jak and his sisters weren't remotely worried about who was being sent against them. The track in question was supposed to be built in Spargus itself, though since Damas didn't want a bunch of racers tearing through his city when the season started, since they didn't have the modifications that Twilight and her other selves made to Haven City, the people of Kras had okayed the building of a track in Spargus' image to be constructed in the Wasteland section of Sanctuary, along with the other ones that they and Jak had approved of in a matter of days. Because the transport was faster than what had been in Haven City, which made sense when one took a moment to consider that this event was sort of on a time schedule for when each race happened, they were able to reach the area that the starting line rested in, followed by several transports that contained the vehicles that had been picked out by the racers, though Jak wasn't worried about their vehicles since his sisters had placed protection spells on them to make sure no unauthorized people messed with them, save for those who were supposed to move them.

As they climbed into their vehicles Jak found that Cutter resembled one of the Marauders he and his sisters had faced in the past, though he wasn't wearing most of the armor and only had a helm on, Shiv was dressed like someone who lived in Spargus at one point, though he didn't recall seeing a brute man like that and assumed that he must have left the city at some point, while Edje was also male and was dressed like he was a thug, and it was possible that such a thing was true since it looked like all three of their vehicles belonged to the same group or organization, to which he turned his attention to the race and knew he would have time to think about these foes later.

Not a few moments later Jak and his sisters were speeding off, with Ashelin and Torn following after them while leaving all of their foes in their dust, something that seemed to surprise the trio as they drove down the road as well, though as that happened all four of them focused their minds and didn't bother to rely on the scanners and other weaponized devices that were in a KGC certified racer, as each was outfitted with devices that allowed one to see that they were under attack, if someone fired missiles at them from behind or other lock-on weapons. Thanks to their abilities to sense the Eco that was in their surrounding area, a useful ability to have and had to be because they were Prism Sages, as Samos could only sense Green Eco and Keira could do that as well, meaning each of them knew when attacks were coming their way, which came from the other team that was trying to push passed their allies, though to make sure that no one accused them of cheating Ashelin and Torn did try their best to hit the siblings, despite the fact that they knew it was impossible. This was mostly to put on a show for the viewers, otherwise Blitz would find his ratings tanking and he'd lash out at those who he felt were responsible, even if none of them had anything to fear from someone like him, hence why they put on a show so the announcer would be preoccupied with commenting on the races and what was happening, instead of annoying them to the point where one of them snapped. Of course they didn't stay in the top four positions all the time, as that would be far too easy and lower the rankings in the process, so occasionally either Jak or his sisters would purposely let one of the other racers take the lead before knocking them back down a couple of second later, and, since most people knew that the four of them were siblings they did what any rational group of siblings would do in this situation, they pretended to fight over first place from time to time, making it look real while Ashelin and Torn stayed out of the way, knowing that it was best if they weren't caught up in anything the siblings did.

Of course Jak was amazed by the fact that Twilight, even with her powers, was capable of molding the materials into one of the areas that the Kras officials wanted to build a track in and make it look like they had spent weeks or months on it, as it looked like this particular track was almost as old as Spargus was, meaning she was even able to age an area if she wanted to and make it look like the elements had eroded it, before he turned his attention back to the race and used the Blue Eco turbo charges he had been collecting to burst passed his sisters. That was another interesting thing about the KGC that he and his sisters had discovered, that they created several containers for their racers to use and each held the power of the five main types of Eco that existed in the world, save for Light Eco since it wasn't as common as the others and most had no idea how to use it, though Blue Eco was used for turbo boosts, Red and Yellow Eco were the weapons systems, where Red was the weapons thrown backwards and Yellow was the forward weapons, Green Eco was supposed to mend some of the damage to the racers, and Dark Eco empowered their weapons to their more dangerous forms. One thing he and his sisters had to resist doing was channeling a bit of their Dark Eco into some of their vehicles systems and empowering their weapons, instead of letting it build like the machines had been designed, though he knew that Twilight or Keira would come up with a way to explain it without drawing attention to what they had done, where Jak tuned that thought out as he focused on his driving once more. As Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy expected he shot by them not a few seconds later and took the lead of the pack again, this time with them knocking down the three racers who were trying to pass them as Ashelin and Torn replicated their movements while pretending to aim at all four of them, before Jak drove over the finish line and finished the two lap race that seemed to be the start of the KGC, followed by his sisters, Ashelin, Torn, and then the three racers who had tried to overcome them.

With that done, and Jak was sure that the race was over, he and his sisters came to a stop and climbed out of their vehicles as Ashelin and Torn stopped nearby, before all of them found that Blitz was walking over to talk with them or just speak to the cameras with them in the background, while Keira jumped down and approached them as well, though her interest at this particular moment was to make sure that the vehicles were safe, figuring that if she presented herself as a mechanic for Krew's team she would be left alone and not distract Jak by putting herself in trouble.

"You saw it here first folks... at least those of you who didn't die yawning, or switch to the bran channel!" Blitz stated, as he turned to speak to the camera to broadcast this live to everyone who was watching this sport, where he made it sound like he was bored of what he had witnessed and that, in his mind, the viewers would have been bored of it as well, meaning he was of the opinion that they had messed up and were killing the ratings or something, before he dramatically pointed at Jak for a few seconds, "An unknown driver wins his first big race... in lackluster fashion. So, tell me..."

"Why you need glasses? Because you totally need them, as that was an awesome race!" Daxter replied, because even if he knew they hadn't been in any real danger, and Eon had been training him to unlock the shield power he gave the siblings during their last quest, which he hadn't unlocked yet and knew he would in time, he did know that the race had been one of the best that the KGC must have seen, especially for an opening event race no less, before he glanced at Jak for a few seconds as he considered something, "Say, Jak, what was your last great race again?"

"When I took down Errol, may the Precursors watch over him." Jak answered, appearing to be a hardened racer, which he definitely was in the eyes of those from Haven and Spargus, while also showing respect towards his opponents and those who perished in all of the terrible accidents that happened during the events he had been in, though he had a feeling that this would annoy whoever their opponent was, since Shiv and the others had been racing for someone and he suspected it might be whoever hired all those goons to take them out.

"We're also not scared of the big name racers." Cozy stated, where she decided to show the watchers, and their enemies, that she wasn't joking, which was why she let her right hand transform into it's berserk state as she snatched what was in Blitz's hand, the microphone, and crushed it without any real resistance, causing the man to gulp for a second as she just dropped the fragments and focused on him once she was done, "Now, get that camera out of our faces... before one of us decides to grab it and ram it somewhere that will cause you to censer this show!"

Blitz, appearing to get the message that they weren't to be messed with, said nothing as he gathered his equipment and departed from the area that he had been interviewing them in, even though it wasn't much of an interview and was more like he was bashing all of them for their performance, before she growled for a moment, just for good measure since she found one of the cameras facing them, and once it was facing the opposite direction she reverted back to her base form a few seconds later as they moved into the transport containing all of their vehicles. Upon their return to the complex Rayn informed them of several things she had discovered after the race had ended and they had taken the time to speak with Blitz, the first being that there was a poll going on that revealed that eighty percent of the viewers who saw the interview had been hoping for Blitz to annoy one of them to fulfill Cozy's promise, another poll revealed that Jak and his sisters were the most popular racers right now, with Jak being the highest of that particular one, and there was another that was about who among them was the coolest and greatest of them all, even though it was evenly split between them, not to mention a report on the ratings that showed that this race had been highly viewed and meant Blitz had lied in an attempt to force all of them to do better. This meant that more racers would be gunning for them in the future, which was sort of what Jak wanted since he wanted everyone to just focus on him and his sisters, since all four of them could handle anything and everything that was thrown at them, but, at the same time, he found that Rayn understood why Cozy did such a thing, as time was of the essence for everyone that had been at the reading of her father's will and that they needed to be a little aggressive. Jak also knew that she was trying to keep them on her side and make sure none of them lashed out at her for everything that her father had done to them, as in the poisoning anyway, though he said nothing and focused on what might happen once the next race started, as based on what he knew the KGC was a fast paced event which rarely gave racers time to rest, though usually there were four to five races in a row before a day was done and they were given the night to rest.

As such he and his sisters waited for a time, as they knew that it was only a matter of time until the next couple of races started and they were eager to see what sort of challenges came at them in the near future, even though their group knew that it would take a serious challenger or a racer to make Jak excited about everything that was going on, but for now all of them focused on returning to Kras City and figuring out what the next events were while figuring out why Krew had done all of this, since there had to be another reason besides winning a trophy, something they knew they would figure out in due time and were eager to see what that other reason might be.
> Kras: New City Challenges
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After returning to the garage for a few moments, giving them not to no time to do anything other than wait and see what the next set of challenges might be, Jak and his sisters found that the next two races would be taking place in Kras City, which all of them found to be rather interesting, especially since they expected the first one to take place in this city and not in one of the other destinations, but Daxter figured that it was for Blitz and his network to showcase one of the new tracks that had been constructed recently. Rayn informed them that the first race was going to take place in the Loading Docks and was a Death Race, while the second would take place in what was called the 'Dirt Stadium' and the event was a Deathmatch, and beating those would unlock more challenges for them to tackle, such as a Freeze Rally that would take place in the track they had just raced in and one of Haven's new tracks, though she didn't want to overload them and allowed them to focus on the tracks and challenges that they had to take care of first. After that she took a few moments to explain things to all of them, so they wouldn't go into any of the races blind, as the Death Race was more for newbies, like jak and his sisters, so it would be one or more of them chasing a swarm of drones that would be deployed onto the track and their goal, for one of them at the very least, would be to destroy the enemies in front of them, meaning they would have to take down as many drones as they could to get the medal involved with the challenge, and it varied between locations. The Deathmatch, however, was all about two teams going up against each other and involved gunning down their enemies in a predetermined amount of time, though since the other team only had three racers right now they were going to use drones for that as well, that way it was easier for them to complete the challenge, since blowing the other racers up would only remove talented racers from the field and would only upset viewers.

As such Jak and his sisters readied themselves for the two events that would be taking place, where they were brought to the Loading Docks in due time and discovered that it was a decent sized area, especially since it was built so racers could race through the actual area that all sorts of vehicles loaded and unloaded things in, such as trains and sometimes even an air transport, though this time around none of them had to worry about Cutter and the rest of the team that had been sent to bring them down. Of course the siblings knew that, from the explanation of both upcoming events, Cutter's team would be moving onto the Deathmatch challenge and would no doubt be waiting for them to complete the first track that was in their way, though all of them were interested in showing their boss that Cutter and his team weren't going to do all that much for them and would no doubt bring out the other tougher racers, which was what Jak wanted. For an event like the Death Race Ashelin and Torn knew that it would be hard for either of them to take one of the drones down, mostly in the sense that Jak and his sisters would be on the field and neither wanted to get in their way, and Rayn found that such a thing was fair, for as long as one member of their team tackled the challenge it was fine in the eyes of the network, even though some of these challenges were designed for newbies to rank up before granting them access to any of the future tracks. Jak and his sisters waited for a few moments as the transport delivered them to what appeared to be the start of the Loading Docks track and Keira confirmed that the vehicles were ready for another run, though once that was done she pulled back and joined the others as they watched what the siblings would do, who just grinned at each other as they knew what was coming since it was going to be different from what had happened in the previous race.

Once everyone was ready to go, and the drones were released onto the track, Jak and his sisters paused for a few seconds as the timer counted down before racing off as soon as the countdown was over, where each of them immediately found a number of yellow racer drones in front of them and opened fire without wasting a single second, though to keep up the fact that they were playing for keeps the siblings fought for the right to take down the drones and get the upper hand in this race, basically putting on a show for Blitz and his viewers. Of course they didn't use any of their Eco powers, even if it was impossible for anyone else to detect their skills, especially since there were no other racers around them to fight for first place, so Jak, Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy essentially rained death upon the yellow drones that were in front of them and put on a show as they raced around each other, as if they were trying to get to the head of the pack. For the most part this was an incredibly easy challenge for the siblings to tackle, as it was far easier than the vast majority of the jobs they had done while trying to protect Haven City and Spargus from their enemies, though everyone did their best to look like they were taking this seriously, and they were in some sense, while they smashed their way through every drone that had been released onto the field. The interesting thing was that more and more drones were deployed as they raced around the track, giving them a chance to take in the entirety of the Loading Docks, though this meant that whatever parts went into making the drones had to be cheap and lead to those in charge of the event buying a whole lot of parts to make all of these vehicles for someone to blow up, though after taking a moment to consider that the siblings returned to blasting all of their enemies while doing their best to put on a good show for the viewers, not to mention Blitz. This also gave them a good opportunity to memorize the track they were on, since they figured that they would come back for another race at some point in the future, which one none of them knew since it looked like Rayn was only told what two or three of the next races were to give the racers time to prepare.

In the end, however, Jak ended the race with over one hundred and ten drones destroyed, as he scored one hundred and fifty by the time the Death Race was over, while Twilight came in at ninety, Starlight earned eighty-seven, and Cozy had a grand total of eighty, though since they were all on the same team it really didn't matter since one of them had gotten the gold and that was all they were after, though Rayn, once again, revealed that the ratings were good, better than the last year's ratings, meaning it was in their best interest to continue this little game of theirs.

As they were preparing for the Deathmatch race, however, Ashelin revealed that she had Keira analyze the bottle that had been used during the reading of Krew's will, finding that it did, in fact, contain Black Shade, a rare and deadly plant found in Sanctuary, back when it was known as the Wasteland, which could make a slow acting poison that would, true to Krew's words, last until the end of the race season, and she made sure to look annoyed while she said it, mostly to make Rayn think they were still poisoned. Rayn, of course, revealed that her father never did half measures and that he never, in all of her life, cut corners, meaning that if he wanted to poison someone, either to kill them or get them to do something while he was focused on something else, such a thing was going to happen in the end, so all they could do was race against the other team and beat them in every event that happened to be between them and the trophy, which just so happened to be what Jak and his sisters were planning. Once that was done Jak found that their ratings had definitely improved, even if Blitz felt they weren't worth wasting his time on since he seemed to think they were failures as racers, meaning what they were doing was working out quite well and that they should continue challenging each other while they were on the tracks, or at least he and his sisters could do that since Ashelin and Torn didn't want to get in their way, not when neither of them had any Eco powers and the siblings had all the power. Another thing they discovered was that the Dirt Stadium was just a stadium with a dirt floor, meaning everyone would be racing over dirt and earth while chasing down a swarm of drones, which would serve as their targets during the event, and it appeared that the team with the highest amount of kills would win the event, something that caused all of them to glance at each other as Ashelin and Torn silently understood that they would be dealing with the other team while the siblings collected the majority of the points needed to win.

When it came time for Jak, his sisters, and their friends to take part in the Deathmatch they walked into the transport and let it bring them over to the stadium in question, where they were carefully placed all over the arena so it would be more fair for both teams, instead of giving one of them an advantage over the other, though there were a number of tunnels and ramps scattered around the arena, meaning there were all sorts of paths for them to take, and the drones as well, so all they had to do was wait and see what happened when the event started.

A few minutes later, once everyone was assembled and ready to go, everyone waited for a few more seconds as the clock counted down before bursting forward as a number of yellow drones drove throughout the arena, scattering themselves in a matter of seconds, but Jak was fine with that as he and his sisters followed after their targets as Ashelin and Torn did the same thing to their targets. While this was more of a team challenge, or had been modified to be that way since all four of them were taking part in the KGC, Jak and his sisters followed their routine and engaged each other like they had done in the last two races, making it more of a game between them, so while they were trying to get a higher score than their opponents they were also trying to get a better score than their siblings, something that seemed to be followed by cheers from some of Kras' watchers, those who watched over the races and events. As they did all of that, however, Twilight did find Shiv coming after her and discovered that Ashelin was hot on his tail, to which she grinned for a moment as she took a moment to weave a bit of magic as Shiv opened fire on the back of her vehicle, only for him to shoot out his own tires and caused him to come to a stop as Ashelin sped by, making the viewers assume that she had fired at him first, before he had a chance to fire at Twilight. The reality of the situation was that she had created an invisible portal behind her racer and let it take in all of the bullets that Shiv fired at her, even though they burst out of the other end of the magic that she had put on the front of Ashelin's vehicle, and a quick nod to her friend had informed Ashelin that she didn't have to waste ammo on her target, so while they made it look like Ashelin had taken Shiv out the reality was totally different and there was no way for anyone to figure out that they had used magic to knock out one of their opponents for a time, allowing both her and Ashelin to return to the event at hand.

The event ended when someone got ten kills, which happened to be when Jak blasted both his tenth and eleventh target into submission, meaning he scored over the needed amount without even trying to do so, while Twilight and Starlight had managed to get seven kills each, leaving Cozy with just six, even though Ashelin and Torn ended up getting four each, even if neither of them had been trying and it was just luck on their part, much to the annoyance of their opponents, who just left the Dirt Stadium without saying a single word.

Once that was done Jak and his sisters found themselves being taking back to the first track in Spargus, where it appeared that they were going to be tackling four events today, which was more than what each of them were expecting to do in a single day, though this time around it was going to be a Freeze Rally event, meaning someone from their team, which was going to be Jak since he was the star of their team, though Rayn informed them that this would be the last one of the day and that tomorrow morning would be a tougher event. That connected to what they had been told about the sport, that it was fast paced and quick, though while they had been assuming it was a reference to the races and events it seemed like it also applied to how fast one could move through the events, especially if people scored as well as Jak and his sisters did in the events they had tackled so far, though Jak, wanting to be sure that the watchers were given a show, decided to race his sister once more and they were game for it. Rayn, instead of trying to persuade them to do something better with the time they had, explained that this event was about the fastest time and that a racer needed to hit a number of floating tokens to 'slow down the clock', as each one put a pause on the timer, even though there was a two second, a five second, and a ten second token for racers to grab, but since all four of them wanted to take part in the event there needed to be four watchers to make sure the times were right. She was sure that such a thing was possible, hence why she headed out for a bit to make sure that Jak and his sisters could do what they wanted, though not a few moments later they found that she returned to them and informed the siblings that it was okay for them to do what they wanted, so with that done they just headed down to their vehicles and waited for them to be taken back to the first track that their team had experienced, all while they knew that they would be revisiting each track a number of times before this was done.

Upon their arrival in the Spargus-like track Jak and his sisters found that there were now a number of tokens floating in the air above the sands, a blue one with the number two on it, an orange and purple that had ten on it, and a purple one with a five emblazoned upon it, all scattered around the track and making the racers who did this be smart about how each of them tackled the course, but it was all part of this particular challenge and Jak was interested in checking it out, before he and his sisters tackled whatever the next day had for them. Not a few seconds later they climbed into their vehicles, after each of them were delivered to the track, and let the clock tick down before they were supposed to head out, though once they did so each of them made sure to act like they were actually racing against each other and trying to one up the rest of their siblings, even though each of them could see that those who were observing the event seemed to be cheering them on while they did so. Driving into some of the Time-Freeze Tokens did exactly what Rayn had told them, according to what the announcer proclaimed as they raced around the track, their individual times froze when someone ran into a token, so if Jak, for example, drove into a token than his time would be paused for the specified amount of time that was on the one he broke, hence why Rayn made sure four judges were present so each sibling could have someone accurately recording what their true time was, allowing them to focus on the challenge and their personal race. Since they had been here once already all four of them knew a good route to take and, as such, each took a different route of sorts while racing against their siblings, allowing all of them to put on a show for Rayn, Blitz, and everyone who was watching the event right now, all according to their plan to make sure that whoever owned the other team didn't notice Keira looking for information, as it was the last thing they needed right now.

The interesting thing was that this was also a two lap event and that to beat the challenge one had to beat the two minute and twenty second time, such as getting one and a half minutes for example, before they discovered that it was possible to obtain a time like that, as Jak scored it with ease while his sisters were five seconds behind him, or Starlight happened to be five, Twilight was at ten, and Cozy was stuck at fifteen, even though it caused the announcers to cheer for them, which just meant that people did approve of them and their skills, despite what Blitz said.

"The first day is done and you four are already the fan favorites," Rayn commented, going over the ratings and found that, against all odds, the group her father had picked out where at the top of the rankings already, as usually the fan favorites were divided between both teams, but this time around it was all on one team and was centered around Jak and his sisters for the most part, where she was starting to understand some things now, before she glanced at the group as everyone gathered in the garage that happened to be their base, "normally most teams would be worried about the race at the start of the second day, usually because it leads to crushed dreams and sometimes even death... trust me, back when this sport started we saw the deaths of a number of racers and had to create the rules that we abide by today... but with how skilled all of you are I have the feeling that we'll be able to overcome the first of the Qualifying Events."

"And what's the first Qualifying Event?" Torn asked, because while he wasn't concerned about their chances of winning this event and adding to their wins, especially with Jak and his sisters on their team, the fact that this particular event caused so much disaster make him curious as to what in the world Krew had pulled them into, all while finding that the siblings were excited to hear the information that Rayn had to share with them, not that he was even surprised at this point, after everything he and Ashelin had seen so far.

"A Circuit Race around the Dethdrome," Rayn explained, which explained so much to the group and made it so they didn't have to waste too much time revealing why this happened to be the first Qualifying event, or what they had to do to win all the points to move forward with the rest of the KGC, meaning Jak, his sisters, and the others could spend the rest of the day resting before worrying about what might happen when it came time for the next race, "once we've won that, and I'm sure we'll pass with flying colors, more events will be opened up for us to tackle... and it will send a message to the other team that we're not to be underestimated."

Jak glanced at his sisters for a moment when Rayn wasn't focused on them, since they were the ones that would take their team further, as it sounded like she knew something about the other team and wasn't telling any of them anything right now, either because she wanted to confirm something first before speaking her mind or she was purposely keeping what she knew from them, but in the end Jak decided that they would find out what she knew in time and focused on beating the Qualifying Event that was coming up.





When morning arrived Jak, his sisters, and their friends headed out with their vehicles, after eating breakfast and making sure that Keira was sure nothing had happened to their racers overnight, where they were brought to a rather large area which happened to have a large track that did seem like it might be difficult to tackle, to some degree anyway, which was also part of Kras City, so they didn't have that far to travel before they arrived at their destination, though sure enough it took no time for them to find that Blitz was walking over to where their vehicles rested.

"You newbies are finally going to see what I've been talking about all along," Blitz stated, as if they were rookies that were in over their heads, which they certainly weren't and anyone who had been watching the show would tell him such a thing if they were face to face with him, before he glanced at them for a few seconds as he considered something, though at this point Jak and his sisters were studying him with great interest, in case he said or did something that revealed a secret to all of them, "what makes this the most watched sport in the world..."

"You mean besides the fact that this is, in fact, the only sport that is televised to the entire world?" Twilight inquired, where she made it sound like she was interested in what he might have to say, even though she and her siblings knew that there was nothing the man could say to explain things to them, especially since they knew that she was right, but she took a few seconds to pull out her notes, "Please, do explain... I'll correct your mistakes."

"It's ultimate speed and incredible danger!" Blitz replied, where he did look like he was taken aback by Twilight's words, a small victory for them and those who disagreed with everything that he said, before he coughed for a moment and put on his smile as he focused on his words, instead of being intimidated by Jak and his sisters, which had to be hard after what Cozy did the last time he was in front of them, which was why he beckoned to the track, "Welcome to the Dethdrome, one of the fastest and most dangerous tracks in the entire world... many people lost their lives in the past, chasing a sad dream that never came true... anyway, good luck out there."

"You're mostly right, which is quite a surprise... but don't talk bad about those who wanted to win this, otherwise one of my siblings might get upset," Twilight said, something that caused Blitz to take a step backward, showing that he took her threat very seriously, especially after seeing what Cozy had done and didn't want to see if the rumors about her were true, as in about her transformed state, and a quick glance from her sister caused him to flee with his camera following, though as that happened she smiled as she glanced at her tablet, seeing that their ratings had gone up again, showing them that the viewers enjoyed seeing Blitz like this.

With that done Jak and his sisters took one final look at their vehicles before climbing into them as Ashelin, Torn, and the rest of the racers drove into the starting area of the track, where they waited for a time as the announcer counted down, though once that was done everyone started heading down the road that was in front of them and started the race, once more following the routine that Jak and his sisters had established so far while keeping an eye on what Shiv and the rest of his team did. This track seemed to be built over parts of the sea that were near Kras City, especially since they and their friends traveled though tunnel that was carved through a large rock that rested out in the water, drove down a road that was winding and twisting while it had been carved out of the center of the other large rock they jumped over to, before all of them drove along the road that rested on the sides of another mountain range, keeping low to the water this time since there wasn't much height to this range. Truth be told Jak and his sisters had no idea why this was considered one of the far more dangerous tracks for the sport, save for the fact that the rules during the first few seasons had been minor and it likely caused a lot of death, though when they focused on the track each of them found that it was rather easy to follow and, thanks to the efforts of Ashelin and Torn, the siblings were able to focus on their own 'rivalry' and put on a show for all of the viewers, all while taking care of whoever passed their friends. It just showed whoever Shiv's boss was that they weren't here to play around and that everyone who was sent against them would fail in no time, just like those the four of them had faced in the past, though as Jak considered that Starlight shot out the tires of Cutter's vehicle, as he tried to pass by her, and sent him back down a few positions, even though his tire would be repaired in no time and he'd be back in the race while they dealt with the rest of his team.

Jak found that it took him and his sisters about four and a half minutes to reach the end of the second lap, which allowed them to finish the race with Jak having the fastest time of them all, though that also meant that they had won the event and were now one step closer to being able to enter the Grand Prix of the Red Eco Cup, which would bring them one step closer to the trophy Krew wanted, though Jak and his sisters kept their eyes on the future, as there was no telling what the rival team might do in response to their rising success, but it made things that much more exciting and made them eager to face whatever their rivals had in store for them.
> Kras: A New Racer
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With the first Qualifying Event of the Red Eco Cup complete, of the three that were needed before they could take on the Grand Prix, Jak and his sisters found that they were able to spend what was left of the day, which was pretty much the rest of it, to which Starlight and Cozy headed out to explore the city, and glare down anyone from the enemy team who tried to bother them, leaving Jak to spend some time with Keira as Twilight made sure things were fine with their vehicles and seeing if there were modifications that could be made to them. According to Rayn, her father had bought all sorts of things for the team, not just the garage and the starting materials that they were working with right now, though, as Jak expected, Krew made it so that whoever raced for him had to prove themselves before earning more rewards for the garage, so by winning the first of the Red Eco Cup's Qualifying Events it gave all of them more tools to work with, which Keira was happy with since it was her job to make sure their vehicles ran smoothy. Such a thing meant that if they were able to win more events, which Jak knew would happen since he and his sisters were highly skilled in the art of racing, their team would gain all sorts of additional items to make their racers that much better, though while they did that Midnight manifested while Rayn was gone and pulled some of her Dark Maker material out before getting to work, showing them that she had taken a few parts from the Marauder vehicles in the past and made a frame. From what Jak and Keira could see it looked like she was planning on making her own racer, regardless of whether or not she entered the KGC and raced with them, but they found that she was making it out of parts from the Dark Maker ship and the Terraformer,  which meant that it would be incredibly tough, especially since it took the power of a weapon that the Precursors made to take it down, but for now she was making it for fun and was hiding it from Rayn's eyes, just to keep it a surprise until she was done.

Other than that there wasn't a whole lot for them to do with their time, as it looked like those who had hired Shiv and the rest of his team were keeping an eye on everyone, especially since Starlight was sure that Krew's remaining followers were watching them as well, to make sure they stayed true to the deal that had been made, or had been forced upon them and their friends, so she and Cozy returned to the garage without too much happening and just focused on relaxing as they watched episodes of the previous KGC's that had happened, all to see what the past races and events had been like, all to learn some things from those who came before them.

Based on what Jak and his sisters could tell the previous years races were definitely more aggressive and filled with death, which explained why all of the new rules went into effect, though while they watched some of the races they found a face that seemed to be a rather good racer, especially since he smashed his way though all of his opponents and seemed to be rather skillful with a vehicle, something that caught Jak's attention and made him focus on the man for a time, just to see what sort of man he was. Razer, as Blitz called him, was a man in his late twenties, as of recording the episode that Jak and his team were watching right now, who was tall and had an average build to his body while having slick black hair that was cut short, though last time he was seen he had been wearing a red trench coat with black trimming, with yellow gloves and brown boots, and he was always smoking a cigarette when he was on camera, which had been quite often during the time he had been on the track. Supposedly after his last big win Razer had gone into retirement, likely after getting a generous payment from his boss for winning another trophy for him, including all the money that came from the event in question, so no one had heard from him for a while, though Jak suspected that if he and his sisters continued to smash Shiv's team in all of the events whoever their boss was might call in Razer to take them down, or at least attempt such a thing, even if all of them knew that it would be incredibly difficult for them to be beaten in anything. There was also a chance that Razer might not accept such a thing and stick to his grand retirement, especially since the sport had been changed since the last time he had been on the track, but based on what he had seen from a few individuals who called Kras City home he had a feeling that if Razer's boss offered him a fair payment he might come out of retirement for a time and race against them, likely until he beat them into submission and ensured that Shiv's team came out on top once more.

Rayn, of course, did everything in her power to make sure they had all the information they needed for the race, even if Jak or his sisters asked about Shiv's team and the person who had hired them, though right now she claimed that she was still looking into who had hired them, but Twilight was sure that she knew something about their rivals and hadn't told them it yet, so she was withholding information that would make this much easier on them, though for now she decided that the events were more important for the time being, and they would get the information out of Rayn when the time came, of that Twilight was sure of.





When the next day arrived the siblings found that three more events were ready for their team and their opponents, one would be taking place in Kras, another would be happening in Haven, and the third one was going to be taking place in the Icelands, which was rather interesting since they had been thinking that it would be some time before they went there, but no one said a word as Rayn explained what sort of challenges they would be facing at this point in time, to give Jak and his sisters a chance to prepare for what was coming their way. As such the group would be heading to Seaport Strip to tackle a Circuit Race, making their way to Clifftop Battlefield so they could partake in an Artifact Race, and traveling to an area that was called Icebound Citadel, located in the Icelands, so they could tackle a Death Race, all of which seemed easy to Jak and his sisters, though there was no telling what Shiv's team would do now that they had beaten them a few times. What they learned was that the Artifact Race, the only new event among the three, was that both teams had to race around an area or track and collect a number of Precursor artifacts, so the racer or team with the most artifacts would win the event, an interesting challenge in the mind of Jak and his sisters when they considered it, especially when they considered what they had tackled so far. Rayn also explained that there were rumors among the citizens of the city that Razer might be planning on making a return to the track, meaning he might be interested in seeing what the siblings were capable of and challenge them in some manner, she was just warning them in case something happened once the first event had been won, as that was part of Razer's mannerisms back when he was racing, so she wanted them to be ready for someone's arrival once the next event was won, as she knew that the siblings would be able to tackle what was coming their way.

Once breakfast was done Jak and his sisters headed out to tackle the first event of the day, where they, Ashelin, and Torn were transported over to Seaport Strip, an area that was practically next door to where the Loading Docks rested, even if it went in another direction, and since it was a Circuit Race that meant they would be completing two laps around the area, though what was interesting to the siblings as they gathered at the start of the track was that it looked like Shiv's team did look worried about their chances, which Jak and his sisters ignored as they climbed into their vehicles.

A few moments later, once the other team and their friends were ready, the announcer counted down before they were allowed to speed off and start this event, even it took no time for Jak and his sisters to take the lead over their opponents, though Ashelin and Torn continued to do their part by dealing with Shiv's team, who now seemed to have a bone to pick with them, no doubt after everything that had happened to them since this year's KGC had started, which seemed to make Blitz annoyed about something, or at least Twilight assumed such a thing when she glanced at him. Sure enough Jak and his sisters pushed to the head of the pack with ease, though what came next was that they resumed fighting over the first place position as they put on a show for everyone who happened to be watching them right now, though one thing all of them discovered was that there were a fair number of cranes lining the area that everyone was currently racing through, along with all sorts of shipping crates and even a fair number of freight trains, which they had to avoid since hitting one of them dead on was a bad idea. The addition of them ducking and weaving around this track caused the crowd to cheer for everyone who happened to be racing right now, coming from everyone but Blitz, who quickly joined in when he found the eyes of someone else turning towards him, meaning he might be putting on a show of his own or something, which was a bit of information the siblings filed away for now as they focused on the event they were currently tearing apart as Ashelin and Torn did their best to keep Shiv's team from getting close to their backsides. Of course there were a few times where Shiv or his teammates were able to bypass the pair, which made sense considering it was two against three, but those who got close to the siblings found something interesting that happened to them, as Starlight fell back for a few seconds, took a moment to apply her brakes as she shifted her wheel, and made it so she was facing their opponents for a moment or two as she found a look of surprise on her foe's faces, allowing her to blast apart their tires and send them into the sides of the track before she turned around and fell in behind Cozy.

With stunts like that, something that caused the crowds at him and those announcing for their event to cheer like made in some instances, it didn't take Jak or his sisters that long to claim victory over Shiv's team, causing him and his companions to frown and shake their heads in defeat for a time, allowing the siblings to return to the garage with another gold win and all the points that came with it... though as they made sure all four of their vehicles were ready for the next event, which had to be the Artifact Race, Keira informed them that an unexpected arrival was in their garage, where they found Razer, who was in his early thirties at this point, standing near the Road Blade.

"My, my... I finally get to meet the infamous Jak, and his equally infamous sisters," Razer commented, where he, just like all of the information said about him, happened to be smoking on a cigarette and blew out a puff of smoke off to his right, as if he didn't care about their garage or anything, though for once someone knew who they were talking to and seemed to understand that they weren't to be underestimated at all, at least in the racing sense, all while he didn't seem to care for Daxter and the other Ottsels, "your reputations precedes you, as all of us in Kras have heard of your abilities and have also seen how you tackle the tracks that are part of the KGC, and I must admit that you did well in the last event. In case the lot of you didn't know, I am called Razer, one of the greatest racers under the employ of Mizo, who just so happens to own a fair majority of Kras and the underground crime network... eventually, everyone will come to bow before Mizo, just like all of you will throw your lot in with him as well."

"You wouldn't happen to be threatening us, are you?" Twilight asked, where her siblings found that Midnight was currently switching places with their sister, as her eye color started to shift and her horn started to turn into what the Dark Eco form of their sister possessed, something that caused Razer to pause for a few seconds as he witnessed it happen, like he either had no idea that this could happen or he had heard stories about their abilities and didn't believe them until now, though Midnight held her hands out and opened her hands, as if taunting him.

"No, I'm just stating a fact," Razer quickly replied, though he maintained his cool, despite the fact that Midnight scared all who came across her, and took another hit of his cigarette, something that was a little impressive when the siblings took a moment to think about what was going on, before he blew out another puff of smoke and focused on them for a couple of seconds, like he was debating something in his mind, "Don't worry, we'll be racing against each other soon enough... and soon you'll see why I'm one of the top racers in the sport... oh, and watch your backs, as I've heard that someone, or a pair of someones, have arranged for some surprises this year."

Jak and his sisters glanced at each other for a few seconds as they listened to what Razer had to say, though the man did seem like he had enough of them, despite the fact that he insured them that they would be seeing each other again, on the track since he was coming out of retirement to take them down, though it was hard to say when he would actually show up and start racing against them, since there was no telling what his vehicles were like and if any of them needed to be outfitted or repaired before he got on the track.

"I was hoping that Razer would prove me wrong, but he has confirmed my own findings... my father and Mizo made a bet with each other before my father passed," Rayn said, as Jak and his sisters had walked into the living area of the garage, an area that Keira, Ashelin, Torn, and the others gathered in when they weren't busy, though her words did cause everyone to glance at her for a few moments, even though most of them were waiting for the next event to start so they could get it over with and move on with the KGC's Red Eco Cup, "it would seem that both of them knew that a gang war was going to happen, so either clan could have full control over the city's Underground, and instead of engaging in such a costly battle the pair decided to make a bet on the next KGC that my father joined, that the winner would take over everything and the loser would work under the winner... now I understand the reason why my father abstained from racing in Kras City for so long, he was looking for a team to win everything for him."

"Mizo thinks that Razer will be able to take us down, and I'm looking forward to showing him that such a thought is wrong and will never happen," Starlight stated, showing the others that she and her siblings didn't care what Mizo sent after all of them on the track, not after everything they had faced before this point in time, while at the same time Midnight sighed as she traded places with Twilight again, allowing her body to return to normal within a matter of seconds, something that either freaked Rayn out or she ignored it so she didn't question her reality.

With that done, and Razer giving them an idea of who they were up against, Jak and his sisters waited for a few minutes before Rayn informed them that it was time for the Artifact Race, to which they departed and allowed the transport to take them over to the area of Haven it would be held in, a battlefield placed on top of a cliff that overlooked all of the city, so it was similar to what they had seen in the Dirt Stadium earlier, a bowl shaped arena with some obstacles and paths that the teams had to race around.

Not a few minutes later Jak, his sisters, and their friends climbed into their vehicles before being placed all over the arena they would be racing in, an area that definitely had all sorts of hills and passages that one could use to make their way all over this place, and sure enough they found Shiv and his two companions getting ready as well, as it appeared that Mizo might have told Razer not to get involved with the races yet, not until he had a chance to accurately judge Jak's team for himself and the threat they posed to his operations. Once the countdown was done Jak and his sisters rushed out from the areas that each of them had started in as they headed for some of the artifacts that were placed throughout the arena both teams were racing around, as there was a blimp above the arena and it seemed whoever was up there teleported an artifact or two down to the battlefield at random intervals, so it was hard to predict if one was paying attention to what the vehicle was doing. For Jak and his sisters, however, they could sense where the artifacts were going to appear, meaning it was easy for them to head over to the areas their targets would be appearing in and grabbed their targets not a second or two after they appeared, something that caused Mizo's team to growl in annoyance as they were beat to every target that was sent down to the battlefield, even though Ashelin and Torn continued to do their best to take the trio down while the siblings did their work. As usual Jak and his sisters put on a show for the announcer and the viewers, who were cheering all of them on as they watched the newcomers tearing through Mizo's team, or Shiv's team in their minds since Mizo was likely unknown to all of the ordinary people of Kras City, but at the end of the day Jak's team won with Jak claiming ten of the artifacts, Twilight and Starlight tied with eight, Cozy found seven, and Ashelin and Torn, despite focusing on taking all of Mizo's goons down, earned four artifacts, earning them another gold medal.

Of course the interesting thing about this was that Mizo's team, despite being utterly destroyed in the events, was able to move forward in the KGC, meaning their foe had to either be throwing his money around, using his connections to make sure his team stayed near Jak's team, or, what was the most likely, once a team was introduced they were expected to go until the very end, though none of them were worried about the current racers in Mizo's team and they kept their eyes open for when Razer made his grand appearance.

An hour later, after Mizo's team had calmed down after losing another event without actually scoring too much during the event that had just ended, Jak and his sisters found that the other team weren't interested in the Death Race event that was taking place in the Icebound Citadel, which made sense when they considered that this was just someone shooting at a bunch of drones for some time, so the four of them just decided to tackle the challenge and earn more points for their team, just like Krew intended. They quickly discovered that the area they would be racing through was an abandoned fort that the Marauders had been in control of at one point in time, a citadel covered in ice and had a frozen track that all four of them had to keep an eye on, though it also told them that someone had beaten the Marauders who called the Icelands home and pushed them out, or cut them all down given how tough those warriors had been when they were bothering all of Damas' Wastelanders. Sure enough when the event started the siblings found a number of yellow drones appearing in front of them, so when they started racing it became their usual game to hunt down and take down the most targets, just like the last time this event had happened, all while all four of them followed the track as it weaved and twisted around the former citadel, taking in the sights of another land that they hadn't been to before, even though they would have to find a bit of time to explore the Icelands on foot, as Twilight was sure they might find something interesting here if they were to take a few days to wander around it. As it turned out the score required was definitely different from the last Death Race they had been involved in, as this time one needed one hundred and fifty kills to get the gold medal, which all four of them overcame in due time while also trying to outdo each other, something that the viewers seemed to be eating up, with Jak having the highest score of them all as his sisters had different scores, though for the most part they were pleased with how things were turning out and suspected that the viewers were pleased with what they were seeing.

With the Death Race done, and another gold medal had been earned in the process, Jak and his sisters returned to their garage so Rayn could figure out what the next couple of events might be while everyone rested a little, even though they were more interested in seeing Razer take to the field and make his attempt to bring them down, especially after what he said when they first encountered him, but they knew that Mizo, whoever he was, would be disappointed in Razer once his first race was over, because he was about to suffer a great losing streak and make him wish he had never come out of his retirement in the first place.
> Kras: Blitz's Show Changes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rayn eventually approached the siblings and their friends while they were resting from the day's activities, as she found out what the next day's events were and wanted all of them to be prepared for them, something that caused them to pause for a time as they glanced towards her, showing her that everyone was interested in what might be up next, causing her to look at her tablet for a moment as she read the information she had discovered during the meeting she had been in after the last events the group had cleared out. She revealed that the first event of the next set would be taking place on Mountaintop Highway, an area located in the Icelands, where they could be taking part in a Turbo Dash, before heading to Forbidden Jungle to tackle a Freeze Rally, which they knew to be part of Haven, and once that was over they would be heading to the Precursor Temple, in Sanctuary to be exact, for a Circuit Race, though she heard a rumor that there might be a fourth event scheduled and had no idea what it might be. Out of all of the events they were told about the only one that Torn asked about was the Turbo Dash, where it was revealed that they would be gathering Power Cells while racing and using the power inside to boost their vehicles down the track, so each Power Cell was a point towards winning the event, where Jak figured that using the turbo function of their vehicles had to be the key to winning this event, while the other two were rather straightforward since he and his sisters had done them already. He knew that the Circuit Race and Freeze Rally would be easy, depending on if Razer joined or if he stayed away from all four of them, but what interested him was the fact that there might be another event for them to tackle, what he had no idea, and he could see that Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy were interested in it as well, since a new event meant there might be a challenge to them and their team, though time would tell what it was and what they had to do to win the gold medal for their team.

With that done Jak, his sisters, and the rest of their team spent the rest of the day resting and figuring out their plans for all of the events that were coming up, where Ashelin stated that no one should deviate from the pattern they had been using, since it was effective and allowed them to put on a show for those who were watching, how she had no idea since she knew they were faking it, but she wasn't about to argue with the results, especially since Jak and his sisters seemed to be pissing off Blitz at the same time.

When morning arrived the group headed out and found that the Mountaintop Highway track involved racing over a large mountain range, through frozen tunnels and caverns, and likely dodging large snowballs that could flatten their vehicle as if they were nothing special, meaning it should be quite the challenge for them and that was what Jak wanted, since most of the tracks had been rather straightforward, even though they were also waiting for Razer to join the racers at some point, to see if the stories were true or not. Sure enough he and his sisters found the track looked exactly like what they had discovered during Twilight's research of the area, and there were a number of Power Cells scattered throughout the track, where she grinned for a moment as each of them readied themselves for the event, as with their powers, and both Ashelin and Torn were playing the defensive, Mizo's team would find it difficult to compete in this event and that meant all of them might fail yet another event. Not a few moments later, when everyone was sure that their vehicles were ready to go, the announcers started the countdown and the racers burst out of the area that the starting line was in once they said both 'zero' and 'go', though sure enough Jak and his sisters were able to obtain the first set of Power Cells and charged all of them with their boosts, just like the rules said, and once the charges were done the devices surged off and allowed the siblings to grab another one, all while Ashelin and Torn continued to hold Mizo's team back. As such the siblings focused on their routine, facing each other while putting on a show for the watchers that were observing the event, even though all of them could hear the cheers from those who were scattered around Mountaintop Highway, the announcers anyway, but they were sure that Blitz was annoyed with them and that he had to hide his annoyance whenever someone looked right at him, but the siblings focused on the track and continued to gather Power Cells.

Even when fighting for the first place, which wasn't a requirement of this event since it was mostly about who claimed the most powered up Power Cells, Jak and his sisters didn't do too much damage to each others vehicles, as taking too much damage would apparently knock off their current Power Cells and force them to start again, so they focused on minimum harm to each other while focusing on boosting through the track to power up all of their Power Cells, all while the crowd watching them cheered, letting them know that they approved of this event. While that happened Jak decided that this event was just as easy as the previous ones, not couldn't the fact that he and his sisters had two allies taking care of Mizo's team so they didn't interrupt their progress in this event, though it just made him all the more interested in when Razer would join the KGC and race against them, as he was a big name in the entire sport and it seemed like most of the viewers wanted to see him go up against him and his sisters. What Jak discovered was that there was a time limit associated with this event and not a lap count, though when he reached the second lap it seemed like he gained a score multiplier, which he assumed was a bonus of sorts that meant a score of one per Power Cell became two per Power Cell, and like went up to three if one managed to get to a third lap during this event, though it allowed him and his sisters to pull further ahead of Mizo's team in terms of score. By the time that the time limit was up, which seemed to be about three minutes, Jak, his siblings, and the rest of their team discovered what their scores were, as Jak scored thirty-five, Starlight ended up with two less than him, and Twilight and Cozy were at thirty-one, while Ashelin and Torn ended up at fourteen points, though that left them to find out what Mizo's team had scored, finding that they had scored less than ten across the board and all of them had looks of embarrassment on their faces.

With that done, and another gold medal earned for their team, Rayn had them return to the garage for a time, as it looked like Blitz was about to announce something and she felt it would be best if they were here to listen to it, so they had a bit of time to speak to each other about the news before heading out to the next event, though once they took their seats all of them found that the rumor was true and that Blitz was preparing to make some announcement, causing them to pause for a time as they waited to hear what was so important that he would interrupt the events.

"Welcome back to the G.T. Blitz Show!" Blitz stated, where he seemed pleased to be talking to them again, though that quickly turned to him being slightly annoyed about something while one of his cameras floated around the man for a few moments, allowing everyone to see that he wasn't too happy about something and had likely been forced into something he didn't agree with, "Sadly, the network has decided, in their infinitesimally small wisdom, to add a co-host to my show. I can't imagine anyone outshining yours truly, but alas, please give a lukewarm welcome to my new 'color' commentator as it were, Mr. Pecker."

"Thank you G.T., and hello to all you peoples out there watching." Pecker said, where he flew over from the area that must have been set aside for him, so he would be out of the way for some time while Blitz made his announcement, before he landed on a perch that was to Blitz's left, though while Jak and his sisters had known that Pecker had been planning on coming to Kras, likely to be a link to Onin in Haven, in case something happened, this made them pause as they listened to what he had to say, "I'd like to thank the network for choosing me to save this anemic little show."

"Yes, well, welcome aboard... Pecker!" Blitz replied, though it was clear that he really didn't like Pecker, which was easy to understand since no one really liked the talking bird the first time they met him, despite the fact that Jak and his sisters had grown used to his presence and considered him a friend, but it didn't take Twilight and Daxter, of all people, to figure out what was going on, even though they remained silent in the off chance that they were wrong, showing that they were waiting for Pecker to speak his mind and reveal something to their group.

"My first grand network assignment has been to investigate the rumored 'super bet' that's been placed on this year's big championship race." Pecker continued, though while he acted like he was talking to both Blitz and the viewers, which was clear by how he was acting, Jak and his sisters knew what the reality of the situation was, he was talking to them and no one else, giving them an update on what was going on while not actually reporting directly to them, as this allowed him to feed them information without being accused of being on their side, "My sources say that a high level underworld crime connection is involved, but, sadly, my sources won't return calls, some are now missing, and a few are presumed dead! But, Pecker is not so easily swayed. I will uncover the truth and report my findings right here on our show, G.T."

"Of course you will." Blitz said, where it sounded like he wanted to strangle Pecker for coming onto his show and speaking of something that wasn't the events that were going on, before he regained his composure and turned back towards the cameras he had been talking to before he was forced to acknowledge the bird's existence, "And let me just say it's going to be so great working with you."

In that moment, as the pair agreed that it would be 'great working together', meaning Blitz might try to sabotage Pecker so he could get him removed from his show, Pecker used his right wing and smacked his co-host on the back, wishing him all the luck in the world, though it also knocked his hair off course and revealed that it was actually a wig, in fact Daxter was sure that there was some sort of tattoo below the wig in question, before the show was taken offline as Blitz attempted to strangle Pecker, though they knew their friend would be fine and focused on what event was next. Thanks to what Pecker had said the group knew that someone would need to keep an eye on Blitz's show and keep an eye out for whatever new information their friend might have to share with them, to which Alvin, Simon, and Theodore decided that they would stay with Keira and those who weren't racing, as it would allow the group to divide some responsibilities between them, as Jak and his sisters could tackle the events with Ashelin and Torn helping them, while they and Keira could focus on making sure all of the vehicles were ready and get Pecker's updates. Daxter was fine with that, since he didn't want to be stuck on show watching duty, something that came as a surprise since Samos had been sure he would have been the first one offer himself up, since it involved watching television and doing nothing, but this just confirmed that he had matured and that his focus was on keeping Jak safe by watching his back, especially with his Light Eco abilities, and assisting the siblings to the best of his abilities. Other than that it didn't look like there was much on the television for them to watch, so the group focused on making sure their vehicles were ready for the next event that was coming up, which was going to be held in the Forbidden Forest of Haven City, the Freeze Rally event, something that only the siblings would be tackling since they knew that Mizo's team could get by without it and that meant there was no reason for Ashelin or Torn to be there either, so the four of them would tackle it and then they could move onto the next.

When the time came for them to move, which was about thirty minutes after Blitz's last commercial, Jak and his sisters just headed outside and climbed into the transporter that was going to carry their vehicles over to the next event, leaving the rest of their group behind to keep an eye on the television and the garage while they were gone, though it didn't take Jak and his sisters that long to reach the track that had been rapidly built in the Forbidden Jungle, a section of the forest that most weren't allowed in, or at least that was the way it was in the past.

Upon their arrival in the Forbidden Jungle, and their vehicles were placed in a line like usual, the siblings climbed into their racers once more and waited for a few seconds as the announcers counted down, though once zero was reached Jak and his sisters sped off without wasting a single second, forming routes in their minds as they tracked down where the various tokens were resting, all while resuming their sibling rivalry for the cameras, so the viewers could have some fun and not be bored out of their minds. This time around they discovered that there were fewer tokens, meaning that they actually had to fight over them so someone got a good score to win the gold, if they wanted this event to count towards one of the next Qualifying Events, otherwise they wouldn't get anywhere with their mission, though despite that fact Twilight noticed that a tunnel had been carved out of part of the forest, which was from what she and Midnight had done to make sure all of the tracks the officials of Kras wanted were built in a timely manner. There was even a gap in the track, requiring racers to jump from one part of the track, sail over a gap could drop one into the sea that rested below it, and land on the ramp of the next section of the path that had been constructed in this area, though she even found a few ancient stone structures that were long abandoned, making her wonder if any Precursor secrets were hidden inside them, protected by seals and all of the other tricks they had seen over the years, before returning her attention to the event. Jak and his sisters even drove through a tunnel that looked like it was part of a temple or ruin, another Precursor one since some of the emblems on the walls looked like what they had seen back in Mar's Tomb, the few representations of what people thought the race of powerful beings looked like, though each of them knew that they would be back here in time, to tackle an event with the rest of Mizo's team.

As the siblings expected Jak managed to beat the main time, which was one minute and forty seconds, though he actually surprised the announcers by clocking a time of one minute and sixteen seconds, with his sisters coming in behind him not a few seconds later, Twilight and Starlight both being five seconds behind him while Cozy ended up being ten seconds, due to what they had done to each other during the event, though the announcers cheered, since it seemed like breaking the records was a good way to score points as well.

With that done they were given half an hour to rest and recover from the Freeze Rally, as the next event was heading over to Sanctuary once more, to visit the Precursor Temple track, which had been built in the likeness of Seem's temple, as the one in question was a replica and not Seem's domain, so they could take part in a Circuit Race, though once that was done there was no telling if there might be another event or two before they were allowed to rest for the rest of the day, even though they had a feeling that they were getting close to the second Qualifying Event of this Cup. Of course that wasn't a lot of time and eventually the racers of their team were in the transport, heading for Sanctuary, which Jak was fine with since the quicker the KGC went the sooner he and his sisters would be able to deal with Mizo, putting Rayn in the position as ruler of Kras' criminal underground, given the bet in question, so they could focus on whatever dangers the Precursors might have discovered since the last time they spoke with Eon and his assistants, before Jak turned his attention back to the next event. The replica Precursor Temple was built on the outskirts of the revived section of Sanctuary, closer to where Spargus rested to be exact, so it had a view of the ocean that one could gaze at while they were racing, though Twilight had designed it to resemble an aqueduct that was built in the Wasteland, so they could be racing through a few bits of water as they jumped a few gaps and navigated a number of hazards, while facing off against Mizo's team and putting on a show for all of the viewers. Of course there was always the chance that Blitz might put on a show afterwards and give Pecker a chance to give them some information on the criminal aspect of Kras, more than what they had figured out so far, though at some point that might convince Rayn to open up about everything and tell them the truth, though until that point they were going to have to keep secrets from her and wait until she was ready to expose her hand to them, but for now Jak and his sisters would focus on the events and tearing Mizo's team apart.

Not a few moments later Jak, his sisters, and their friends climbed into their vehicles as Mizo's team, still the trio that they had beaten time and again so far, pulled up and got ready to face them in yet another event, though Jak found that there wasn't much to say about racing through the track, as he and his sisters showed off their sibling rivalry to the people while dealing with the other team whenever they got close, which wasn't often with Ashelin and Torn dealing with them... and at the end of it all Jak ended up with the gold medal, with his sisters after him while Mizo's team ended up in dead last, and it was followed by them gathering in the bar that came with their garage.

"Geez, Krew really thought of everything," Daxter remarked, referring to acquiring everything that someone might want in a housing area, as in everything from a living area, to beds and showers, to a bar, and pretty much anything else that one could want, before he frowned as he tasted the drink that was in front of him, as there was a serving robot that was clearly two to three versions behind, something Keira was going to have to fix at some point, for Ashelin and Torn mostly, which caused him to push the drink to the side, choosing to ignore it.

"There you are, Jak. Getting some local color?" Blitz inquired, where the man entered the location they were handing in, all to relax while Rayn figured out whether or not there was a fourth event today, before he chuckled for a moment, taking in the fact that the siblings were sitting in this part of their base of operations, as he glanced at Jak, "You certainly need it, as all of you are positively pale on screen. Listen, I just wanted to tell your group that you can earn cool gadgets performing odd jobs for the Commission and others."

"What kind of jobs and gadgets are we talking about?" Jak asked in return, because this sounded like what they had been waiting to hear, the possibility of another event taking place today, something that caused his sisters to glance up from the objects they had been focused on, as they had been mostly reading or, in Cozy's case, watching the television to see if Kras had anything interesting in the works, even though she was disappointed in her findings and kept a straight face while she turned towards Blitz.

"Good stuff! For instance, there are some dirt-forming robots that went berserk in the Kras Dirt Stadium." Blitz replied, to which he turned his head for a moment and glanced at a wall, allowing him to totally miss the look of disappointment that was on Jak, Twilight, Starlight, Cozy, and Daxter's faces, "They need to be destroyed before someone gets hurt. Hunt them all down, and you'll be rewarded."

"Sounds like it might be fun, and maybe a little dangerous." Cozy commented, trying to sound like she was excited for the event in question, as it sounded a lot like a Death Race and less like something new for them to try, so it meant that none of the racers on the other team really stood a chance, but for the most part she and her siblings stared at Blitz while they waited for him to leave so they could get the information from Rayn and take care of today's last event, before seeing if it gave them enough points for the next Qualifying Event.

"It is, but trust me, the prizes are good... and you'll certainly need them." Blitz stated, once more sounding like they had to be worried about what was coming in the future, especially since Mizo seemed eager to take them down, though right now all of them were just wondering if Razer was going to get on the track or if he was just blowing hot air, "That is, if you want to continue upgrading your car to keep up with the Joneses. The job's waiting if you want it... but, be careful, we wouldn't want to hurt one of our star up-and-coming racers."

As Blitz left the building Rayn came down and informed them, and the others who came down to see what was going on at the moment, that the fourth and final event of the day was going to be a Sport Hunt in the Dirt Stadium, which told them that they would be hunting down a number of targets while possibly racing against Mizo's team, so a renamed Death Race when everyone thought about it, though it was there and it was being recognized by the officials of the KGC, so Jak and his sisters got ready as Ashelin and Torn headed to their destination. Sure enough they were the first ones to arrive, though it wasn't long before Mizo's team arrived, which made them sure that Razer had been trying to threaten them since he had no desire to join the race at all, where the siblings sighed as they engaged their vehicles and got ready to beat the other team in yet another event, and once Blitz and the announcers finished counting down they rushed out as they sought out their targets. As it turned out their targets were large yellow vehicles that seemed to be drones in some manner, though all of them were given four minutes to hunt down as many dirt-forming robots as they could, which pretty much told them that this was a Death Race with a different name, to which Ashelin and Torn did their part as they hunted down Shiv and his teammates, preventing them from scoring as Jak, Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy focused on facing each other like they had done in the past, causing some of the announcers to cheer. One thing that made this far more interesting was what they discovered while they were tackling some of the Dirt Drones, as they found that their targets were tougher than the other drones they had faced so far, in the KGC, and it meant that racers would have a hard time taking them down, but at the same time Jak and his sisters had Eco Powers at their disposal and a tad bit of Dark Eco empowered their weapons so each of them could take their targets down, to the point where everyone was cheering for them.

In the end Jak ended up with eighteen kills, Cozy had seventeen, and both Twilight and Starlight were at fifteen, all while all of Mizo's racers only got two at most, three when they considered Shiv's score, though with that event down the siblings and their friends were able to return to the garage for a period of rest before they worried about what the next day had in store for them, which had to include the next Qualifying Event and maybe someone joining Mizo's team, as he needed it at this point, but they were willing to wait and see what tomorrow might have in store for them.
> Kras: The Second Qualifier
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When morning arrived Jak, his sisters, and the rest of their team discovered what the prize for winning Blitz's event was, as it was a large vehicle, similar to the Gila Stomper in terms of build, called the Howler 99, a vehicle that none of them were going to use since they were quite fine with their current setups and learning how to ride a new one would take some time that none of them really wanted to expand, so they focused on their breakfast as Rayn figured out what was in store for all of them today, even if she knew they would rise to the challenge.

"It seems that you've qualified for the second Qualifying Event," Rayn spoke up, speaking as she entered the living area that Jak and his sisters were in, while Ashelin, Torn, Keira, and the others glanced up from what they had been doing and took a moment to focus on her for a time, though what interested Twilight and her sisters was that she seemed to have a slight frown on her face as she read something, before glancing up at them, "and this time it'll be happening in Kras City, so you should be prepared for anything else Mizo will be gunning to take all four of you down."

"We're still waiting for Razer to uphold his end of the bargain," Jak replied, as the man in question had said he was going to race against them if they kept smashing Mizo's team into the ground, which he and his sisters had done more than enough since this year's KGC had started, though there was a chance that this might be the moment all four of them had been waiting for, that the best racer on the enemy team would step out of retirement and face them on the track, to which he let out a sigh for a moment, "but maybe our opponents let us get this far while hiding their true skills, to show us up in one of the Qualifying Events... time will tell, though I'm not holding my breath."

"After what we've seen, Shiv and the others won't last much longer," Cozy stated, as she knew that they didn't have a lot of skill between them, at least not against her and her siblings, so she was waiting for when Razer stepped out onto the track and faced their team for real, like he claimed he would when he came to their garage earlier, though she knew that even if more racers joined Mizo's team they had another one waiting in the shadows and she was sure that Midnight was silently watching them as she waited for some news to be delivered to them.

As it turned out there wasn't too much more news to be given to them, as Rayn hadn't been told everything during her last meeting with her fellow officials for the event, so the group finished their breakfast and headed to the transport, where all of their vehicles were being lined up so they could be taken to the part of Kras this Qualifying Event would take place in, to which they said nothing as they stood beside their vehicles and departed from their garage, leaving Rayn to figure out the last bits of information they needed like Keira's team watched the television for more news. What was interesting was that Shiv and the other two members of Mizo's team were present when Jak and his sisters arrived, so they remained still as the transport brought them to their portion of the start line and everyone moved their vehicles over to an area that let all of them make last minute tuneups before the next event started, to which Daxter hopped over to the device connected to Jak's vehicle as everyone got to work. While Jak, his sisters, and their friends worked on their vehicles, making sure each of them were at their peak since having a bad vehicle might bring an end to their attempt to win this year's KGC, they noticed something interesting, Shiv and the others seemed more confident than usual, meaning that something had happened since the last event yesterday, making Jak wonder if Razer was going to join the sport at last, since that would be a boost to the morale of Mizo's team. Of course there was a chance that another racer had been hired to take them down and it was what had caused the boost in morale that they were seeing right now, something that would make this interesting in a new way, but Jak kept his thoughts to himself as he worked on his vehicle for a few moments, seeing that Keira had done everything to make sure it was ready for anything that might be thrown at him, meaning there was nothing he needed to do right now, save for waiting for the event to begin.

While he waited, however, he and his sisters found Rayn walking over to where their team was getting ready for the next event, something that caused Ashelin and Torn to stop their work, even if they had been faking it since Keira had ensured all of their vehicles were in tiptop shape, as they turned to look at her for a time, as everyone was curious as to what she might have to tell them and what it might mean for this Qualifying Event, or possibly the rest of the sport since her news could be for whatever was after this event.

"I've confirmed that your ratings, Jak, have risen and that you are getting good points... in fact the same is true for the rest of our team," Rayn said, which wasn't unexpected in the eyes of Jak and his sisters, as sometimes people liked underdogs or newbies and focused on them, instead of the previous stars, hence why the people of Haven had seen Jak as a hero on the track, as it was better than watching Errol race, but they remained silent as everyone waited to hear what else Rayn had to tel them before the event started, "but we've heard some nasty rumors that a certain someone, no doubt Mizo, is throwing big money around, hiring top mercenary drivers to race against you and your sisters... they might be aware of your abilities as well, so I would be careful if I were you four."

"Good, Mizo goes bankrupt trying to beat us and we get a decent challenge," Jak replied, as while he understood that there might be a level of danger to Mizo hiring some of the best mercenaries that money could buy, to the point where he and his sisters might actually face a racer that might kill one or more of them, he also knew that it would be hard for such a person to actually get close enough to do such a thing.

"I heard that the new drivers are getting bonuses for kills, and I'm positive that they'll do anything, even cheat, to win and collect their prize," Ashelin remarked, though while some would think that she would be worried about such a thing, as it meant she and Torn had targets on their backs as well, she knew that Jak and his sisters would make sure the new drivers were focused on them and no one else, so she was confident in their ability to win the Qualifying Event and the rest of the KGC, all to show Mizo that his time was finally up, before she noticed something, "and it seems that we have some friends coming to chat with us."

The people that Ashelin was talking about, as it turned out, happened to be Razer, who was still smoking his cigarette like it was the best thing in the world, though behind him stood a humanoid robot that stood just as tall as him, whose body had a familiar red hue to it, the coloration of the Krimzon Guard to be exact, and looked like it was ready to tear down all those who opposed it, be it in a race or on the battlefield, though Ashelin and Torn paused for a moment, as they easily recognized the Death Bot that was walking towards them.

"Jak, I'm glad that you and your sisters are still racing, despite my earlier warning," Razer remarked, showing them that he had been expecting them to back off when he mentioned Mizo's name, since most knew what it meant and usually bowed their heads towards his mysterious boss, though he took another puff of his cigarette and blew out some smoke before he beckoned to the Death Bot that had come to a stop behind him, meaning he had to be another racer for Mizo's team, which they had been expecting at this point, "Have you met Mizo's newest racer yet? This is UR-86, the deadliest racer on the planet... behind me, of course... and he holds some of the highest records for kills in single event, a few of which you beat earlier, so he's looking to tear you down for multiple reasons."

"Finally, a worthy opponent... our fight will be legendary!" Jak excitedly said, as while he knew that Ashelin and Torn might be worried about UR-86's addition to Mizo's team, meaning he would have to ask them about him later, he was excited by the idea of a powerful Death Bot racing against him and his sisters, since it meant that they might have a challenge to face, for the first time since starting the KGC, though that was when Twilight tapped his shoulder and he saw a familiar light in her eyes disappear, causing him to grin as he faced Razer and UR-86, "And it just so happens that we have another racer joining our team as well."

As Razer started to open his mouth, as all he had been here to do was intimidate Jak's team, even though UR-86 seemed pleased by Jak's bravado and desire to race him, a dark circle appeared in the air nearby as what he assumed was a portal snapped open, causing the other racers to pause for a moment, before a dark and sinister looking vehicle, one that looked like a modified Road Blade, drove out of it and came to a stop nearby, which caused the portal to close as the drive came to a stop near Jak. Rayn stood there for a moment as she took in the material that went into constructing this vehicle, as it looked like it had been made out of salvaged pieces of the Dark Maker vehicles, such as their ship or the Terraformer that had been destroyed, as she had heard the stories like everyone else in Kras City and suspected that they were true, as in Jak and his sisters were capable of destroying such dangerous entities, though the material was smooth, like it had been made for this purpose and not reformed to suit a new purpose. A few seconds later, when the dark vehicle came to a stop, the driver pulled themselves out and revealed that it was a female based on how their body looked, though they wore a set of dark armor that made them look like a knight out of an old fantasy story, modeled in the likeness of the Precursors Jak noticed, though Razer was focused on the twisted horn and raven wings that the figure had, causing him to glance at the siblings for a few seconds. In that moment Midnight tapped the side of her helmet and it unfolded before their eyes, leaving her standing there with a smirk on her face, as she could see that Razer seemed a little worried and did his best to hide his emotions, while UR-86 didn't seem worried all that much, rather he seemed more excited to have another foe to take down at some point in time, though Jak was pleased to see that Mizo's top racer realized the power that Midnight had and was doing his best to not show his fear, to which Razer turned around and left while UR-86 glared at Jak, uttering a bit of jumbled words that made it seem like he was eager to face them on the track.

Once the pair wandered over to where their team was working on their vehicles, to ready themselves for the race, Ashelin and Torn revealed that UR-86 was an old Death Bot who loved to kill living things and that it didn't matter what he killed, as he had killed members of the Krimzon Guards, Metal Heads, and other machines, so they decommissioned him and set him aside, so someone must have stolen him and reprogrammed him to put that desire for carnage to use in tearing up all of the racers he faced off against, so they had to be a little careful when he was on the track.

With that information in mind the group, now heavy one more racer, climbed into their vehicles as the announcers quickly declared that the second Qualifying Event was about to start, where they would be racing through some of the streets of Kras City and facing off against a murder robot that not even Baron Praxis wanted to use against his enemies, which told all of them that either Krew must have stolen and sold him or Mizo's team had learned about him, stole him in the dead of night, and then figured out how to reprogram him into his current state. A few seconds later the countdown was done and the racers sped off without wasting even a single second, though as Jak and his sisters reached for the highest positions, showing off their rivalry once more, Midnight joined them as UR-86 tried to hunt them down and push passed them, which really added an extra layer to the event and caused those who were watching everything to cheer for them, even though Midnight tucked her wings in, almost making them look like a design on the back of her armor. Jak knew that Rayn would be surprised by this, as none of them had told her anything about Twilight's ability to manifest her other selves like this, or at least confirmed the tales of it since she could have heard of this power, but for now he focused on the event as they faced off against UR-86, who was a lone wolf and didn't seem to care about the rest of his teammates, as he attacked all those from Mizo's team and those on their team, or at least he tried to tear Jak and his sisters down, which was part of the challenge that they had wanted since Razer showed up. Of course the siblings were interested in what Midnight would do in this situation, since this was technically her first time racing and she seemed to be hanging back to stop UR-86 and the rest of Mizo's team from getting anywhere near close to the others, the Death Bot actually looking like he enjoyed the fact that someone was challenging his abilities, or at least everyone assumed that was the case given the fact that it was hard to tell what a robot was feeling, all while he continued to aim for smashing his way to first place.

When UR-86 made his move to pass by her, and Shiv's teammates did the same, Midnight flipped a switch on her vehicle and caused a pulse of dark electrical energy to race out from a weapon she had designed, an emp that was created to take out an enemy's racer for a short period of time, that way she and the others could pull ahead, so while Mizo's team came to a halt, and the Death Bot bumped into a wall thanks to her actions, Midnight continued after the others and joined in on the fun of racing for first place. Ashelin and Torn got out of her way when she approached them, as they knew not to mess with her and didn't want her dark power to be turned against them, choosing to focus on keeping UR-86 and the rest of Mizo's team contained in the back and not be involved with the madness that was ahead of them, though it didn't take all of their enemies to long before they were back on the track and were gunning for Midnight, instead of Ashelin and Torn, which was exactly what she was hoping for. Midnight smiled as that happened, as her plan had been to put a target right on her back and cause Mizo's team to focus on her, instead of the others, and so far it looked like it was working far better than what she originally planned, though when UR-86 and the rest of his comrades caught up to her she pressed a button as she turned the wheel, allowing her to spin her vehicle, which she named the 'Dark Maker', and face those coming up on her tail while using the reverse function of the buggy to drive backwards. Such a thing allowed her to focus her fire on the racers that were coming up behind her, so none of them bugged Jak and his sisters, though if one were to pass her, which was unlikely, she made sure it was UR-86 so he could add a little more drama to the race, but for the most part she simply knocked her targets backwards and found that it put them back enough for Ashelin and Torn to pass them again, allowing her to turn her vehicle forward as she continued after Twilight and the others, all while the crowd seemed to be cheering for all of them and did nothing for Mizo's team.

Even though the Circuit Race ended up being three laps, and they had UR-86 to contend with this time around, Jak and his sisters ended up in all of the important places and earned the gold medal for the Qualifying Event, much to the dismay of Shiv and the other Humans on Mizo's team, earning the team a few hours of rest as the leaders of Kras determined which events were next for the racers, hence why Jak, his sisters, and their companions returned to their garage and waited for Rayn to figure out what was coming up next.

"Why didn't you tell me we had another racer?" Rayn asked, speaking once the group had returned to the garage, though while one would assume she would be angry with them for keeping this piece of information from her, given that she was doing everything in her power to make sure they were ready for what the future held for them, she was mostly curious as to why no one had said that one of Twilight's alternate selves would be joining them.

"We weren't sure that she would be ready for when Mizo threw another racer into the mix, but she surprised us with being ready to go in a matter of hours," Jak explained, which was pretty much the truth in an odd way, that Midnight had gotten her vehicle ready in record time and it worked like a charm, showing off her intelligence and skill at the same time, before he shrugged for a few seconds as everyone gathered in their base of operations, "but you can't argue with the results that came from Midnight joining, can you?"

Rayn stood there for a few seconds before she sighed and agreed with him, that Midnight joining had good results, even if it came at the same time as UR-86 joining Mizo's team, though once that was done she turned and departed from the part of the garage that everyone would be resting in, allowing them to rest before the next couple of events started, once she had an idea of what they were anyway, though they were interested in putting Mizo's team in their place and showing the criminal lord that his team was nothing compared to their racers.
> Kras: Red Eco Cup Grand Prix
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

While Jak, Twilight, Starlight, Cozy, Midnight, and the others were relaxing, readying themselves for the next events, Rayn returned to the living area that everyone was resting in and informed them that the remaining events had been decided on, to which everyone stopped what they were doing and opened their ears so they could figure out what they would be doing next and who needed to participate in which event, since some Ashelin and Torn could aid them in and in the others it was best if it was just the siblings. What she told them was that the upcoming events were a Death Race through the Spargus track, a Turbo Dash that would take place in the Loading Docks, another Deathmatch that would bring them to a massive coliseum built in Kras which had been dedicated to Mar, and a Circuit Race that would take them through Haven's Sewers, though while there were several potential events in the Icelands she informed them that if they took gold in all four of those events they would have enough points to start the Grand Prix for the Red Eco Cup. To Jak and his sisters most of the events seemed rather straightforward, even easy in some instances when each of them thought about what they had done so far, and the extra ones were just a way to extend the Red Eco Cup for another day or two, depending on how many more there were, but since they were interested in putting an end to Mizo's plans for Kras City, by winning this for Krew as odd as it sounded to all of them, it sounded like now was the best time to move onward. Such a thing meant winning the next couple of events and tackling whatever challenges Mizo's team had in store for them, repeating what they had done since joining the KGC in the first place, though they had a feeling that if they won the first major race Razer would be forced to get off his high horse and join them on the track, which would be interesting to see since it would allow them to figure out if the tales of his skills were true or not.

When it came time for them to depart for the next event, which was odd since they were still on the same day as the second Qualifying Event of this leg of the KGC, Jak and his sisters made their way to the transport so it could take all five of them, as Midnight wanted to join them, for the Death Race event, and sure enough Mizo's team was nowhere to be seen, once more confirming that they could get by with Mizo's connections and not their actual racing skill, but they decided not to worry about that as each of them climbed into their vehicles and got ready for a fight. With just the five of them there wasn't much for anyone to worry about, as they just drove down the track and fired upon the yellow drones who showed up to provide them with points for the event, while mixing in their sibling rivalry to spice things up for the watchers, as it seemed to do wonders for their ratings and continued to trash the ratings of their opponents, as one even claimed that Shiv and the others were cowards, before UR-86 showed up anyway. The modified Death Bot seemed to do wondered for the ratings of Mizo's team, meaning those who were rooting for that team to win were happy to see one of the far more competent racers had joined the race and would be challenging Jak and his sisters, though it was possible that they were now hoping for Razer to join in on the fun and show those who opposed the current champion their place, despite the fact that Jak was hoping for a challenge when the man got on the track. Other than that there wasn't much for the siblings to even worry about, even though they continued their little rivalry while hunting down all of their targets, before the couple of announcers declared that this event was over and that all of them had, against all odds, overcome the event and won with flying colors, beating the one hundred and eighty score necessary to get the gold metal, with Jak scoring far more as he was over two hundred, Twilight and Midnight scored two hundred exactly, and Starlight and Cozy were five behind the rest of their sisters.

With the event complete the siblings returned to the garage, as it sounded like Blitz either had a new episode coming out or he might be interested in interviewing them for a time, though upon their return to their base of operations they found that it was a show and that he was talking about the competition heating up, including all sorts of wrecks as well, even if such a thing never happened during their events, before declaring that they had best watch to catch the fireworks before his screen went blank, though he walked into their living area not a few seconds later.

"It seems that you punks will have some serious competition today, and everyone is betting on which team will take the win during the Red Eco Cup Grand Prix," Blitz said, which wasn't much of a surprise to Jak or his sisters, or the rest of their team for that matter, as they figured that people would be betting on the Grand Prix and they were about to make Mizo lose a lot of money in a matter of minutes, depending on how many voted for his team winning, before Blitz growled for a few seconds as he focused on them once more, "usually the Odds Markers, those who watch over the bets and give me an idea on who the public is cheering for, would tell me that newcomers like you are bound to lose out and be forced back to the place you came from... but, being the underdogs that you are, apparently more people are rooting for you, because you bring some heat to the competition."

"That and their magic," a voice stated, where Sig stepped out of the opening that Blitz had walked through and took a few seconds to stare at the man that was beside him, who chuckled for a moment before turning around and leaving the rest of the team to prepare for the next couple of events that would be happening, though as Sig turned towards them, so he could speak with them, Twilight and Midnight sealed the room and made eavesdropping impossible, allowing everyone to speak without worrying about people figuring out what was going on, "King Damas sends his regards and wishes you well in the upcoming races... but I'm not here on his orders, rather I'm an independent racer whose joining your team, just like Kleiver will be joining up with Mizo's team later, again as a racer with no ties to Spargus. Wouldn't want to give our foes anything to chew on, would we?"

As Jak nodded, and they shook Sig's hand before taking him to the garage to see which vehicle he had brought with him, he understood that there was information that their father wanted to give them and sending Sig, under the guise of a new racer who was acting on his own, even though they suspected that Sig had a reputation of his own and his arrival would be on the news in no time, and that Kleiver was here under the guise to beat them in a race, though he was likely here to spy on Mizo's team and give them more heads up on what Razer and the others were doing. It was an interesting plan, as declaring that the pair were independent racers who weren't racing for Spargus, rather they were doing it for the thrill and for money respectively, meant that no one could accuse Damas of rigging the competition in his favor, despite the reality of the situation, though as he thought about that he and his sisters noticed that Rayn seemed happy to have Sig on their team as well, because it boosted their chances towards totally crushing Mizo's team and winning the KGC for her father, not counting the other Cups that needed to be cleared first. Seeing the selection of vehicles they had access to, which he claimed was lacking, even by Krew's standards despite all the gear Keira was working with, Sig went with the Howler 99, as it spoke to him, and not a few moments later he joined them in the transport as they headed for the Loading Docks once more, to tackle a Turbo Dash event, something that excited him since it had been a while since he had raced in a KGC, a fact they would have to ask him about at some point in time, before the siblings and their friends got ready. Sure enough Blitz made an announcement that revealed that Sig was returning to the scene, confirming that he had a racing reputation in Kras, not that anyone was surprised given the amount of years he had worked for Krew and had likely been involved in a few of these races before the bet with Mizo was made, though for now they focused on beating their opponents, getting another gold medal, and clearing out the Red Eco Cup at long last.

Facing off against Mizo's team in the Turbo Dash was even easier than it had been when it was just Jak and his sisters, as with Midnight and Sig joining them, to counter UR-86's skills, no one on Mizo's team was able to get their hands on any of the Power Cells, though despite the fact that it seemed unfair in Rayn's eyes, even if she wished for the downfall of Mizo's team, none of the other announcers and officials for the KGC seemed to care all that much, rather everyone appeared to be rather happy over this development. In fact, when she watched everyone in the higher positions, just to see if she might find someone linked to Mizo, Blitz seemed to be the only one who was outraged by what was going on and he seemed to be in a constant fight to regain himself before some of the cameras noticed, something that caused her to smirk for a few seconds as she pulled out a small recording device and made sure it was pointed at Blitz, so when UR-86 was bested again, and the rest of his team was passed by, she caught the rage that appeared on his face. When they reached the end of the event, with Jak and his sisters reaching first place and those behind it, Rayn found that each of them had scored more than twenty points each, with Sig scoring fifteen while Ashelin and Torn had ten, leaving Mizo's team with zero across the board, which was followed by a surge of rage appearing on Blitz's face, something she caught before it disappeared entirely, as it would be a good piece of information to share with the siblings and their allies. Of course Blitz was the only one feeling like that right now, as everyone else was cheering for Jak's team while some were even booing Mizo's team, which happened to be those who lost out on the bet that UR-86 could take down Jak and his sisters, something that would really infuriate the hidden criminal lord and put a smile on her face when she thought about it, all while Shiv and the others drove off with a look of shame on their faces, even if UR-86 didn't care that much.

With another gold medal earned the group took half an hour to rest, even though it wasn't necessary in the grand scheme of things, though she discovered that it was more to welcome Sig back to the team, who was happy to do everything in his power to help them 'obtain the antidote', showing that he knew her father more than she originally thought, though while Rayn was gone Jak kept his voice low as he explained things to Sig, just so he knew what he was getting into before they were called for the next event, but he was ready for anything they tackled.

Once their break was over they returned to their transport as it took them over to the Mar Coliseum so they could tackle the Deathmatch event, where everyone had four minutes to race around the massive arena and collect ten kills, focusing on all of the drones that were deployed, though the interesting thing was that Mizo's team decided not to show up for this event, meaning it was just a race between Jak, his sisters, and their friends, which still put on a show for everyone that was watching the event, even if Rayn noticed that Blitz was growing more annoyed with their success. As it turned out Jak, once more, claimed first place with a total of ten kills, while Twilight and Midnight scored nine each, Starlight and Cozy had eight kills apiece, leaving Ashelin, Torn, and Sig with five each, not that they were surprised by that since the siblings were skilled on the track and even in an arena event they were some of the greatest challengers Sig had ever seen, so he was fine with them beating him and the others to secure the gold medal. With that event done, and everyone was ready to continue the trend they were setting, Jak, his sisters, and everyone else were transported over to the next event and found that it was in Haven's Sewers, the Circuit Race to be exact, which caused them to glance at each other for a time, as they knew that Shiv and the rest of Mizo's team would be worried about their chances of beating them in a race, even with UR-86 joining forces to take all of them down. Twilight had built an opening in Haven City so that racers could be brought down into the section that the track was built in, an area that actually served no purpose and existed as a track for the KGC to use, and when the transport reached their destination it opened up and they descended into the depths of the city, allowing them to ready their vehicles for a few seconds as Mizo's team arrived a few moments later, who readied themselves for another beating, or at least Shiv's group did since UR-86 seemed to think he could still overcome them all.

Jak and the others discovered that the Circuit Race was only two laps this time around and found that the track was large, almost like the actual Sewers Krew had used in the past, and that UR-86 was far better this time around, possibly adapting to their skills and reacting accordingly, though the problem he ran into was Midnight using her emp attack on him and his comrades, allowing Ashelin, Sig, and Torn to get around them in due time, but what was hilarious in Daxter's eyes was that most of Mizo's team just gave up after that, as in they raced to make it seem like they were following their bosses' orders but didn't try to pass them. Only UR-86 tried his best to overcome them, their tricks, and their skills, as he felt that he had nothing to fear from Jak and his sisters, though he soon found that it was much harder to get anywhere with Midnight and Sig having joined the team, though soon he was facing the same problem that Shiv's group had faced so far, the inability to get anywhere near first place and the gold medal, and it wasn't long before the siblings crossed the finish line as the rest of their team followed after them. With that done they had more than enough points to participate in the Grand Prix of the Red Eco Cup, though that would happen tomorrow, an entire day being set aside for the race in question, though while Jak, his sisters, and their friends returned to the garage Midnight decided not to join them, rather she actually headed out and tackled the remaining events that were out there, just for the sake of showing everyone that she was just as skilled as the rest of her siblings, since most considered her to be another sister and she wasn't about to correct anyone. As such Daxter and the others watched as she tackled an event called Rush Hour in the Icelands, on the Timberline Track, which seemed to be crystalline caves and a frozen tundra, while the event caused one to drive into droves, green worth one point, blue worth two, and the flaming red ones were designed to harm a vehicle, but given the nature of her vehicle she smashed her way through all her targets without taking damage and scored over the two hundred points necessary to acquire the gold medal for her team.

With that done she stuck around the Icelands and dealt with two more events, she headed to the Frozen Speedway to take on a Death Race, where they watched as she scored over the five hundred points needed to totally win the event, and then she traveled back to the Icebound Citadel for a Circuit Race, where her mere presence seemed to intimidate Shiv's team, as UR-86 wasn't present, and it wasn't long before she scored the gold for that as well, earning their team the maximum points in the entire Red Eco Cup, before she returned to rest and prepare for when morning arrived.

When morning arrived Jak, his sisters, Midnight, and the rest of their team gathered in the living area of their base, eating breakfast and getting ready for the first of the four Grand Prixs they would have to get through to win the KGC entirely, all while Rayn was gathering whatever information she could before everything started, just to give them an idea of what the Grand Prix contained, even though the one thing they did know was that it would take place over three locations, but none of them knew if it was three races or three separate events. Of course not a few minutes later Rayn returned to where the group was relaxing and informed them that all four of the Grand Prixs would have three Circuit Races, so they would be facing off against Mizo's team once more and would be reaching for the first of the four trophies needed to win the entire thing so they could be given the antidote to the poison her father used on most of their team, not that she knew that they had taken care of that before reading Krew's will. One thing they were focused on was Blitz's show, as there happened to be a rerun of one of the Grand Prixs from the prior KGCs, though the locations were different every year so racers had to think on their feet and not rely on what happened the previous year, though it was interrupted by the man himself as he and Pecker appeared so they could begin their commentary on what would be happening next, which informed Sig of the fact that there was another ally in play. What was interesting was that Blitz informed them, or reminded those who were watching his show, that UR-86 has never lost the Red Eco Cup Grand Prix, in the years he's been employed by Mizo, and he claimed that the crowd was screaming for another round of him smashing everyone in his way, even though Pecker told him that most of the viewers were betting on Jak and his sisters right now, so they could move on and face Razer, a race all of them wanted to see, though Jak was eager to show UR-86 his own skills and put the robot in his place.

Once everyone was ready to go they took the transport out to the Kras City track and found that Mizo's team was waiting for them to arrive, most of them looking nervous while Jak found that UR-86 was ready for anything, to which they quickly set up their vehicles after being dropped off, all while Rayn joined the usual group she sat with when she watched Jak and his team tackle the events, but she kept her eyes on Blitz in case he showed more of the rage he had shown earlier, as that had to be a clue of some kind.

This time around UR-86 was ready for them and did his best to take them all down, even if it meant taking down each and every member of Mizo's team to do so, though once again he found his way blocked by Midnight and Sig, the latter using his weapons to blast the robot backwards before he could get too far ahead while the former made sure to trap both him and the others in her personal weapon, shutting them down for a time as it allowed everyone else to get further ahead of their opponents, causing the crowd to cheer for Jak and his team. In fact their skills allowed them to finish the three laps of the first Circuit Race without anyone from Mizo's team getting anywhere near first place, causing everyone to cheer for all of them once more as they were rewarded the points associated with their positions as Jak claimed ten points, though as soon as that was done everyone was taken over to the next location so the Grand Prix could continue, which happened to be the Spargus City track. Once more UR-86 tried his hardest to overcome all of them and get ahead of Jak, to prove that he was the better racer, and once again he found himself face to face with Midnight's abilities and weaponry that she had created to stop people from getting close to Twilight and her siblings, while Sig smashed anyone who dared to get close to him and his friends, something that allowed them to claim victory over their opponents and caused Shiv's group to frown for a moment as they realized an important fact, that they might not be able to beat the siblings. After that they headed over to the Icelands for what was called the 'Southern Tour', which involved racing all over most of the frozen continent, or at least bits and pieces of it, though this time most of them did a leisure drive through the track and found that no one on Mizo's team even attempted to get close, even UR-86 seemed tired for the time being and just wanted to get this over with, so it also gave them some time to show off the sibling rivalry for the crowd.

By the end of the Grand Prix Jak and his sisters had a better understanding of how things worked in the KGC, even if they had broken things to some degree and made off like bandits when it came to the first of the four trophies they needed to win the whole thing, and upon their return to the garage Pecker informed the public about what he had learned, that he had confirmed that someone was manipulating the entire sport, causing Blitz to curse him out before it was taken down, meaning they would have to keep an eye on him as they tackled the remaining Cups, though for now they decided to rest before the next Cup started and more dangers came their way.
> Kras: Keira's Gamble
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

While Jak, Twilight, Starlight, Cozy, and the others spent the rest of the day relaxing, after fighting hard to win the Red Eco Cup and trophy that accompanied it, Rayn informed them of another vehicle they had earned along the way, a Class 2 vehicle that looked like a cross between the Road Blade and the Howler 99, as it seemed to be more tank-like than what Jak was using right now, only it was colored a deep blue, before revealing that it was known as the 'Street Grinder', which meant that it had to be a good vehicle. Not only did they win the Street Grinder, they also earned another tank vehicle called the 'Hammer Head', one that definitely seemed more like a tank than the one Sig was currently using and might be an upgrade for him to use in the future, especially since Razer should be joining UR-86 and the rest of Mizo's team soon, or at least that was what Jak and his sisters assumed after he approached them earlier, to intimidate them into backing down or surrendering to his criminal boss, even if his plans had failed. Keira, of course, did what she did best and made sure that both vehicles were as sound as they could be, that Krew's people were giving them working vehicles that didn't need to be fixed on sort notice, all while Daxter and the disguised Neo Metal Heads watched whatever was on the television as they sought out clues, be they about Blitz or any additional racers that might end up joining Mizo's team, since he had to be looking for new recruits to take all of them down. Rayn did stare at them for a few moments after her announcement, finding that they worked like a well maintained machine that could keep an entire city safe, which confirmed the stories she had heard of this group tearing all of their enemies down to ensure their world was kept safe and sound, before she departed to get some answers as to what was coming up next, since this was the first time her father's team had gotten this far and she wanted to be ready for what the future held in store for them.

While that happened Jak noticed that Midnight was still hanging outside Twilight's body, in fact she was sitting on the couch and seemed to be enjoying the show Daxter had put it on, an adventure series of sorts that seemed to be playing while the KGC was going on, why he had no idea since most people would be watching the sport, while Twilight was at one of the tables, reading a book while trying to figure something out, likely from the Precursors since he was sure that one of his sisters had a Communicator that let them speak to Eon's group.

"So, um, how long as you two going to keep this up?" Keira asked, as she had noticed what Jak had noticed, in fact she was sure that her father, along with Starlight and Cozy, had noticed it once the Red Eco Cup was over, though this was more in the sense of how long were Twilight and Midnight going to remain separated, since it had to be putting a strain on her mana reserves, or would do so at some point in the future since they had no idea how much magical power Twilight and her sisters had in their bodies.

"Honestly, no idea." Midnight replied, as this was probably the first time, since the day she manifested due to Baron Praxis' actions, that she had spent more than a few hours in this world and she was loving it right now, so she wasn't too worried about doing anything that would weaken Twilight and cause her to return to her realm, as right now both of them were fine and she intended on making it stay that way, "Anyway, I'm having fun right now and I'll be sticking around for as long as I can... don't worry, if Twilight's in danger of collapsing from me being out here I'll make sure to return to my place for a time and let her rest."

The reason Keira asked the question was because of what Eon, Gol, and Maia had said back when they explained what was going on with their world and answered all of the questions that they had for the Precursors, that Twilight and her sisters were unknowns and that not even the powerful Ottsels knew what might happen to the sisters in the future, the only thing they knew was that they would evolve at some point in time, and by having Midnight out like this Keira was sure that it had to put a bit of a strain on her reserves, possibly cutting down her time until the transformation occurred and Twilight was split into six Ottsels. Jak understood why Keira had asked the question, since no one had any idea how much time all three of his sisters had before they were forced to undergo the transformation process, especially since Eon informed them that it didn't matter if the Sage used their power or not, as it grew over time and didn't depend on what the Sage did, but in the case of Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy none of them had any idea what might happen next, so having Midnight out like this would have to put a bit of a strain on Twilight's reserves and might speed up her transformation timeline. Twilight didn't seem to mind having her Dark Eco self out all the time, rather it seemed like she was testing herself and seeing what sort of limits she might have in terms of magical energy, as knowing one's limits was usually a good thing, so Jak guessed that he and the others were going to have to accept this and not question it too much, but he swore to himself that if he saw a change in her, like her fur starting to change color, he'd find a way to stop her before it was too late. Of course that was if the transformation was a slow one, once again due to the fact that they had no way of knowing if Twilight and her sisters would follow the usual Precursor pattern or not, but this was just his way of keeping track of things while making sure his sisters were perfectly fine, before he sighed and focused on something else.

The only thing he had to think about was the fact that they would be tackling the Green Eco Cup tomorrow, the start of it anyway since they just ended the Red Eco Cup, as he was eager to see what Mizo threw at them next, since he had to be fuming over the defeat of UR-86 and the rest of his team right now, while they worked towards claiming the trophies for the Green, Blue, and Yellow Eco Cups, to topple Mizo and hopefully put Rayn in charge of the criminal underworld, but for now he decided to rest since they could be ready for whatever happened next.





When morning arrived Rayn went to speak with the rest of Kras' officials and returned when she had news for them, that all of the events in the Green Eco Cup would be different from the ones that they had tackled in the Red Eco Cup, which was more in the sense that the events were the same, but they weren't linked to the same tracks they had been on during the previous Cup, so like how in the previous Cup Kras City might have a Death Race it might have something else, like a Circuit Race, in the new Cup. Jak was fine with this information, since it made sense when he thought about it, as the rest of the officials wanted to keep everyone on their toes and not force them to tackle the same events in the same locations, especially since it might be interesting to tackle a specific event on another track, and he could see that Sig was interested in seeing what sort of alterations the officials had for them this year, given that it had been some time since he had been involved in the KGC. Rayn went on to explain that the first Green Eco Cup event this year was a Circuit Race, as the start of all Cups involved a Circuit Race, and that they would be heading to Sanctuary to race along the Beachfront Drive track, one that would have them race through part of Canyon Run and part of the Spargus track, though she knew that the officials were still figuring out what to do for the Blue and Yellow Eco Cups, which locations they wanted to use anyway. With that information in hand Jak and his sisters made sure that their vehicles were ready, while Sig and the others had Keira check theirs out for a few moments, so they didn't burn out or something while they were racing through Sanctuary, but they all found that everything was in order and that they were ready to go, allowing all of them to rest a little while longer before they had to climb into the transport.

The only thing Jak found was that he had to switch out his Road Blade for the Street Grinder, even though he had gotten used to the first vehicle he had been using since this sport had started, and when everyone gathered at the starting line he found that Kleiver was nowhere to be seen, maybe getting his vehicle ready for when Mizo wanted him to join the racers on his team, before he focused on the track in front of him as he and his siblings climbed into their vehicles so they could get this event over with. As it turned out the Beachfront Drive track was less near the beach and more about cutting and weaving through some of the areas that Twilight had altered to make these tracks work, though sure enough Mizo's team held no candle to the power and tactics of Jak's team, where he and his sisters continued to show off their rivalry to all of the watchers as Sig and the others kept everyone else busy for the foreseeable future, much to the annoyance of Shiv and his teammates, since UR-86 didn't seem to care all that much. The interesting thing was that their opponents seemed to have a better understanding of their abilities this time, maybe because they were forced to do some homework on what all of them were capable of, and when they were nearby Shiv and his comrades tried to take them down, though that was a failure as Jak and his sisters overcame the tactics that were used against them, knocking their opponents into dead last before focusing on putting on a show for everyone else. Other than that there wasn't much else for them to think about, as a Circuit Race was easy and with the other team stuck in the back of the pack, despite their attempts to get close to the first place position, and sure enough Jak found himself in first place as his sisters came after him, earning them their first gold medal for the Green Eco Cup, much to the joy of everyone else since it put them one step closer to completing their mission in Kras.

With that done they returned to the garage for a time, as Rayn informed them that Blitz was planning on making another announcement of some kind, or maybe he just wanted to talk to the public about something, and since they were more interested in what Pecker might have to say the group gathered around their living area once more while waiting to hear what sort of information the bird had for them, and sure enough the pair appeared on the screen as Blitz did his thing, all while Pecker remained calm and collected while they talked.

"So, the rules have been changed this year," Jak commented, as based on Blitz's information it sounded like the event that had been the first Qualifying Event for the Green Eco Cup had either been changed or the rules had been modified for the racers that were present this year, even though Rayn claimed that all of the races involved with the Grand Prix, which did include the events one needed to clear to qualify for the right to participate in the main event, were Circuit Races and that this was the first time it had been changed to include an Artifact Race.

"Yeah, but we're ready for whatever they throw at us!" Daxter stated, as he had faith in Jak's abilities to clear the event that had been switched out with the Circuit Race that was usually involved with this part of the sport, not to mention that he knew Twilight and her sisters would be able to crush everyone else as well, so he wasn't too worried about them losing to Shiv's team, before he stared at the screen as Pecker spoke, since that was the reason they had bothered to come back to the garage in the first place, "Even Pecker agrees that we're going to get out of whatever is thrown at us... despite the fact that Blitz is of the opinion that we'll crash and burn at some point in time. You know, given his reactions to Pecker's work into the underground bet, and his apparent rage towards us besting Mizo's team, it makes me wonder if Blitz is, in fact, the man we're looking for."

"Eon's taught you well, Daxter... never thought I'd be saying that." Samos said, because as Daxter gave them his opinion on the man who thought they were terrible racers and would fold at some point in the near future, making everyone think for a brief period of time, he realized that there was a very real possibility that Daxter might be right about Blitz being Mizo, as it would give him a greater position of power and hide out without most realizing they had been fooled, but he hated the fact that he was even agreeing with Daxter, which he was going to have to get used to since the Ottsel was really growing thanks to his training, even if him being a Sage was hard to swallow.

Jak and his sisters nodded their heads as they thought about it, as it would make sense for Mizo to hide out in the one spot that no one would look for him in, as the announcer of a show that oversaw the sport he was trying to use to take over all of Kras, if he won Krew's bet to be exact, or maybe another position which no one suspect, like a mechanic like Keira, but they knew that Mizo loved the position of power and an announcer seemed to be the best fit for him, though for now they focused on the event Blitz had talked about. Rayn discovered that the Artifact Race was going to be taking place in a place called Atoll Arena, one of the new places created near Haven City and approved by Jak when he learned about the tracks that Kras wanted to build in the city, though given everything they had seen so far, though it was going to be identical to the last few they had done, race to the artifacts and collect whatever they could get their hands on, where Rayn expected all of them to beat up Mizo's team once more. Not a few moments later Jak, his sisters, and the rest of their team used the transport to head out to the arena in question and found that most of Mizo's team was present, save for UR-86 for some reason, meaning the robot really didn't care about the events that revolved around collecting artifacts and accumilating points to overcome all of their opponents, though since Shiv's group feared them it meant that Jak didn't have to worry about anything this time around. Sure enough the opposing team barely did anything to slow everyone done, meaning all three of them tried and failed to do anything to stop the siblings as Ashelin, Torn, and Sig smashed them, while Midnight did her part by using her weapon to disable their vehicles for a short period of time, leaving the work of collecting the rest of the artifacts to Jak and his sisters, who put forth their sibling rivalry and caused the announcers to cheer for them, just like all of the events they had cleared so far.

By the end of the event, which went on for five minutes, Jak had twenty points, Twilight claimed eighteen, Starlight and Cozy recovered a total of sixteen, and Midnight, despite her attempts to slow down the opposing team, scored fifteen on her own, while Sig's group each scored five and made sure that Shiv's group scored none at all, giving them another gold medal to add to the collection, before they headed for the Kras City track to tackle a Turbo Dash event, something they knew that they would win in due time, even if it came with a surprise as the Street Grinder, as Jak was still using the Road Blade, drove up beside Jak. What they discovered was that Keira, having gotten tired of sitting on the sidelines and simply watching Jak and his sisters, including everyone they worked with over their time in Haven and Spargus, had decided to do something different this time around and wanted to join them in racing against Mizo's team, more in the sense of saving those she cared about while proving that she was capable on the track, though putting down a villain who would only be problems in the future was something only they knew about, given that Rayn had no idea about their cure. While Jak was a little worried about her, given that she was both his girlfriend and the mechanic of their team, where he placed the former at the front of his mental list since it would only put a target on Keira's back if Mizo knew what she was to him, the rest of him knew that he had nothing to worry about, as before they arrived in Haven City, due to the Rift Rider's destruction to be exact, she had won several races on her own and made a bit of a name for herself before she became known to most of the city as 'the Mechanic'. Given that information Jak knew that he really didn't have to worry about her, because Keira was a formidable racer in her own right and she had studied what the other racers would do in any situation that came up on them, especially after having watched what Shiv and the others were up to while racing against him and his sisters, to which he nodded and got ready for the race, as Mizo's team had no idea who had joined them and it meant they would be in for quite the surprise.

While the event started Jak also knew that Samos had likely tried to talk some sense into Keira, to convince her that she didn't need to do this since they had Twilight and her sisters on the team, but he understood her reasoning and was glad to have her racing with them, even though it would likely come as a surprise to Rayn, something they would deal with as soon as all of today's events were complete, to which he turned his attention back to the race and what everyone else was doing right now. Keira showed that she had the skills to keep up with Jak and his sisters, instead of staying back with Sig's group to slow Mizo's team down, though she did make sure to fire at those who got close to them, which wasn't common thanks to the others and Midnight tearing apart their wheels, or Midnight releasing her specialized attack to weaken the team that was trying to take them down, causing many to cheer as Mizo's team was knocked down a peg once more, just like what had happened during all of the previous events. While she might not be a Prism Sage like Jak or his sisters, or as skilled as her father was since she was still learning about her powers, Keira was able to use one of her lessons to sense when someone was attacking her vehicle and react accordingly, usually resulting in her destroying the attack, be it some of the wheel seeking missiles or the grenades, before turning her attention back to the event, something that caused Jak to mentally nod his head, as she was fitting in quite well and it seemed that her gamble had paid off. When they reached the end of the event Jak still had the most points, over thirty to be exact, while his sisters were between twenty-five to thirty, and Keira, despite this being her first time on a Kras track, ended up at twenty-four points, meaning their efforts had earned them another gold medal and their ratings were now higher than what Mizo's team happened to have at this point in time.

Rayn, of course, looked like she wanted to say something, anything about this latest development, especially since their mechanic was now racing and tearing into Mizo's team with a level of skill that was similar to Jak and his sisters, but she decided not to say anything as she informed them that their next destination for the day was a Circuit Race that was going to take place on the Frozen Speedway, showing everyone that she was done with new racers showing up, she was just accepting it and moving on without reacting, to which they focused on the task at hand.

This time around the Circuit Race was five laps long, which wasn't that much longer than some of the other tracks since the Frozen Speedway was shorter than some of the other tracks they had visited so far, and even with a few more laps it became clear that Mizo's team didn't have the skills to pass them, as it looked like UR-86 was picking and choosing when to face them on the track, so Jak and his sisters remained at the head of the group with Keira following right behind them as Sig's group made sure none of their enemies even got close to them. Of course they were surprised by the fact that all of the watchers were overjoyed by what they were watching and not annoyed by Jak and his sisters dominating the track, but it was likely due to the fact that Mizo's team had destroyed anyone who dared to race them and the people were pleased to have a new racer or team to pin their hopes on, so much so that they cared more about Jak's team and less about the team they were facing off against. Keira proved that her modifications to her vehicle, so she could keep up with Jak while also navigating the frozen reaches of the Icelands, allowed her to show off all of her skills to the viewers, especially since a fair number of Haven's people knew she was a former race champion, before she became a mechanic and fielded her own team for a time, or rather those Krew sent her in an attempt to find some people for this sport, and by the end of it all she was right behind Jak in second place, much to the surprise of his sisters. It was a reminder that Keira was a talented racer and that she could hold her own on the track, especially since she was able to bypass Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy, not to mention Midnight for that matter, but all it did was cause the viewers to cheer for them as they earned yet another gold medal that was added to their collection.

After that it was back to the Dethdrome for a Death Race, again without Mizo's team since they seemed to think that their boss' money could get them around all of the rules and regulations, though that didn't stop Jak, his sisters, or Keira from getting over the hundred and sixty points needed to win the gold for the event, allowing them to return to their garage for a time to rest and plan their next move to conquer the rest of the KGC, and beat whoever Mizo sent at them, before taking the remaining trophies and dealing with the criminal underground before doing anything else.
> Kras: Kleiver's Ploy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning, after the officials went over what happened the previous day and what their plans for the future were, Rayn returned to the garage with news on the events Jak and his sisters, along with the rest of the team, would be facing first, as they would be heading to Waterfront Loop for a Freeze Rally, though after that she claimed they would be meeting the newest member of Mizo's team, which was Kleiver based on what Sig had told them, meaning he likely had something to say before he started to race against them. As such the siblings and Keira got ready for a new challenge as they boarded the transport and headed over to the next location in question, where they found that the track in question was a combination of the Kras City track and the Loading Docks, an odd decision for sure, though it didn't take them long to climb into their vehicles and move over to where the starting line was resting, nor did it take long for the announcers to start the event for the six of them. What Jak found to be funny was that Midnight and Keira seemed to be facing off against each other, why he had no idea and he wasn't about to question it since they were causing their rankings to go up and overcome what Mizo's team was resting at, though like the previous events of this type they formed a path in their minds while striking all of the tokens that were in front of them, allowing them to slow down their clocks while racing against each other, even though all of them were trying to overcome the time limit to get the gold for this event. One thing all of them agreed on was that not having to deal with Mizo's team during some of the events, as in they refused to show up and try to stop them from gaining more points to participate in the Qualifying Events and Grand Prixs, made things nice and easy, though with how bad they had been trashed so far Jak was surprised that Shiv's group was still in the running, but they would make sure to deal with Mizo's team when the time came.

After some time Jak, his sisters, Midnight, and Keira finished the Freeze Rally and won the gold metal with no problems, as without enemies it was rather easy for them to win, as when Shiv's group was present all of them had to be on their toes, in a manner of speaking, though upon their return to the garage, so Keira could make sure everything was fine before the next event started, Rayn walked in and tapped Jak's shoulder, beckoning to the doorway and the large figure that was on the other side of it.

"Hello again, ankle biters!" Kleiver stated, appearing to have reverted back to how he was when they first encountered him after their first Arena fight in Spargus, to an annoying and arrogant person that next to no one liked, even though he had changed his tune upon discovering what they and their Ottsels were capable of, but they knew that he was putting on an act for the most part, just so Mizo and everyone else had no idea that he was actually working for Jak and his sisters, so all of them could take down the other team, "That pony show, Gee-Whizz Blitz, told me I could find the lot of you here. Listen up, yabbers, you embarrassed me on the track before, but this time I aim to even the score and take you down and this is the perfect time to teach you a lesson."

"Good luck, Kleiver... you're going to need it." Keira remarked, speaking before Jak or his sisters could say anything, which showed that she was determined to aid the siblings in taking all three of the remaining trophies, while at the same time her statement surprised Rayn, since she wasn't expecting their mechanic to have such a personality or drive, though the fat Wastelander turned around after grinning at them and departed from their garage, though given what Sig had said not that long ago they knew that he was going to rain destruction on Mizo's team.

With Kleiver gone with, for the time being, Rayn revealed that they had been awarded another vehicle, showing them that they were doing well in the grand scheme of the sport, a more tank-like buggy that was called the 'Firebat', though since most of them didn't care about changing up their vehicles for a new one, especially after everything Midnight did to make hers and what Keira had put into the one she drove, it was just added to the collection in case another racer decided to join their group in the future. After that they regrouped and used the transport to return to the Clifftop Battlefield, as there was a Sport Hunt event going on, though Alvin and his brothers were surprised to find that that targets were some of the Tainted, as there were supposed to be a few pockets of Metal Heads who hadn't been freed from Kor and hadn't died after Errol's death, pockets that were dying out at a rapid pace and the brothers were always late to find them, though based on the dark mist emitting from their eyes the brothers knew that all of the Raptors involved in the Sport Hunt were tainted by those who had fallen. Sure enough Kleiver was present in the event as well, with Shiv's group joining him to try and take Jak and his sisters down, both for Mizo and for his own good, though that was when they found that none of Mizo's racers would work, despite everything their mechanic had done to them earlier, meaning their fat friend must have done a bit of work without being seen, or at least they hoped so since he wasn't the most stealthy person in the world, though it didn't seem Blitz cared, save for the flash of pure rage on his face that Rayn caught, allowing them to tackle the event while their opponents worked on their vehicles. At it turned out there were about sixty targets scattered around this part of Haven, so while Jak earned the most points overall his sisters and Keira were able to score good points as well, with none of Mizo's team getting any points at all, which was just wonderful for their team since the city was supporting them and were giving no support to the criminal aspect of the city.

Nothing major happened after the event was over, save for Rayn revealing that the next event would be a Deathmatch in the Desert Arena of Spargus, so while Jak and his sisters felt it was odd for the officials to have the same event twice in a row, given that the Sport Hunt and Deathmatch events were basically identical, so their team headed to the area that the next event was in and, once more, discovered that none of Mizo's team even wanted to be here with them, no doubt Shiv and the others had convinced Kleiver not to mess with them. As such Jak ended up scoring the ten points needed to earn the gold in no time, with Keira and Midnight scoring nine each, Twilight hit eight, and Starlight and Cozy ended up with a total of seven, meaning they definitely walked away with the win and whatever came with it, not that anything seemed to come from winning this event, save for more events and points to qualify for the Qualifying Event. After that was done Jak discovered that there happened to be another event in Spargus, a Rush Hour one, and it was being held in the Canyon Run track, so while the majority of his sisters and team stood down Midnight got in her vehicle and tackled it for them, as she seemed to enjoy smashing her way through all sorts of drones and gathering points like no one's business, putting on a show on her own that caused the watchers to cheer for her. Thanks to her own driving skills, and her Eco powers that made it impossible for the red drones to actually do any lasting harm to the vehicle she was using right now, Midnight was able to overcome the event's three hundred and forty score requirement to get the gold medal, though she knew Mizo had to be watching and was likely thinking of a way to take them down, any method that would allow his team to win the upcoming events, even if he would fail in due time, just like everyone else that dared to face Jak and his sisters over all of their adventures.

Once that was done Jak, his sisters, and their team discovered that the next event that Rayn discovered, as it looked like the officials had decided to only inform everyone of what was next by going one step at a time, so they only knew what the next or current event was and everything that was after that happened to be a mystery, where it happened to be held in Haven City, the City Outskirts track for a Circuit Race, to which they made sure to get everything ready before heading out to see what Mizo's team did this time around.

What was interesting this time around was that Shiv's group decided to try getting back at Jak, his sisters, and the rest of their team, only for them to get in the way of Kleiver as the fat Wastelander opened fire on them, so instead of tearing the tires of their vehicles apart he actually tore into the wheels of Mizo's team, causing him to curse at Shiv and the others for getting in his way. As they continued down the track Jak knew what was going on without having to be told, Kleiver was doing everything in his power to sabotage Mizo's team and it appeared that he likely didn't fire until he had one of Shiv's group in his sights, even if Mizo's people had no idea that such a thing had happened and likely assumed that they were the ones at fault for ruining his chances of taking the enemy team down. It was an interesting plan, one that could easily backfire if someone assumed the new driver was actually on the opposing side and was sabotaging the team he had been hired to help, hence why Jak was a little worried about Kleiver, who wasn't really suited for these types of missions, but he guessed that it was part of what made him successful at doing his job, as most would assume he would be a terrible spy, due to his size and whatnot, but the reality was that it made things perfect for him. No one would expect him of ruining the chances of Mizo's team winning the events, not with how he was acting and everything, though Jak knew that the fat Wastelander had to be careful, because sooner or later they were going to figure out that something was up, or not since Shiv's group didn't seem to be very smart and UR-86 didn't seem to care about the rest of his team, though he knew that time would tell and he was eager to see what happened in the future.

Sure enough the efforts of Shiv's group didn't matter in the grand scheme of things, as Jak scored first place, second and third were claimed by two of his sisters, and the others followed after him, giving no points to Mizo's team once more, no doubt causing them to be angry with each other for a time, especially since Kleiver was angry with his supposed allies as he marched away from all of them, though Jak found that Mizo's team was self destructing and soon they might not even be part of the sport, maybe cutting their ties with their boss and leaving him with nothing, which would be interesting to see if such a thing happened. With that done they returned to the Kras City track for another Death Race, something that was swiftly followed by Jak breaking the two hundred and forty score needed to get the gold medal, his sisters being ten points behind him with Keira bringing up the rear this time around, though with that event done they regrouped in their private bar and rested for a time, allowing everyone to go over everything that had happened lately and see if Blitz's show had any interesting news to add to what they had discovered so far.

I love this sport. Last year alone, racing brought in more cash than Kras City's entire yearly budget. Blitz stated, as if that was news to anyone at this point in time, as everyone knew that the man was a fan of the sport since he dedicated his life to covering all of the races and events that happened, but Jak didn't trust him, not after what they had seen so far and the fact that he seemed to dislike them, Now that's big. Believe it or not, it can get even bigger! I mean, with the right imagination. I'd like to see laws passed forcing the sport to be shown on multiple channels, maybe broadcast it in school for the kiddies.

"I know everyone has a stake in this sport, but the way Blitz talks makes me think there is more to him than what we are currently seeing," Cozy remarked, something that her siblings were thinking about right now, as while they knew that Blitz had a stake in the KGC, he was the announcer after all and his show was still popular, despite his interactions with Pecker, it was hard to tell if it was just because of his job or if there was something hidden below the surface, "One would almost think that, based on how money hungry Blitz is, that he might be Mizo in disguise."

"That would explain his reactions to Mizo's team being utterly wrecked," Rayn commented, where she pulled out the small recorder she had been carrying and showed them what she had seen during some of the previous events, which allowed Jak and his sisters to see Blitz being overly angry whenever Mizo's team were beaten in all of the races and events that had happened recently, even though that lead to them grinning for a moment, as they spotted something that she had missed when she was recording the man.

"Indeed it does... we just have to move forward and pretend we don't know what we know," Twilight said, though this was a good piece of information to obtain, that Blitz's reactions were far more than what a professional should have for a sport like this, and if Rayn was able to convince the other leaders of Kras about everything she had discovered they might be able to trap Mizo by the time the KGC was over, or at least force Blitz to apologize for his totally unprofessional behavior while everyone was racing, if he wasn't Mizo.

With that information in hand Jak, his sisters, and their team headed out for Haven once more, as there was a Circuit Race in the Forbidden Jungle for them to partake in for some time, and sure enough they noticed that Mizo's team was, for the most part, worried about their chances of success, where they found that Kleiver was using the same tactics in a different manner while they raced, making it so that Shiv's group always took the blame for getting in his way while he was trying to take down those who disgraced him in the past. Starlight had to admit that using the tactic a few times should have been a warning to Mizo and his employees, that something was off about Kleiver and his actions, yet it seemed like no one, save for their team, even realized the danger Mizo's team was in, that the fat Wastelander was actually on their side and that he was purposely gunning down Shiv's group whenever the opportunity presented itself. It even played into the placements in the Circuit Races, as Kleiver was literally right behind whoever was the last one in their group to cross the finish line, as it was either Torn or Ashelin, sometimes even Sig when he wanted to test Kleiver's abilities, and yet the crowd ate it up and chanted for more, showing them that the downfall of Mizo's team had inspired more people to cheer for them and what was going on right now. Such a thing was rather interesting and displayed just how they were changing this event just by being here, that no one seemed to notice the things that were clearly in front of them and meant they should be able to keep Mizo from figuring things out until Jak was ready to spring a trap on him, though with that done the announcers did call for a break and it meant they were likely going to be tackling more events tomorrow, since they had a system that was to ensure they didn't get tired out from racing too much.

As such Jak and his siblings returned to their garage with their team, knowing that when the next day started they might either have to do one more event or go right into the Qualifying Event for the Cup they were working through, where both options would be great since it would allow them to progress further in the KGC and would bring them one step closer to bringing down Mizo, plus stop his attempts to take over the criminal aspect of Kras City and prevent him from doing whatever he wanted with that sort of power.
> Kras: Fast Racing
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When morning of the next day arrived Jak, Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy found that they were able to relax for a time, as the officials were debating whether to start the day with the next Qualifying Event or if Jak's team should be task with another event before moving forward, though why all of them did that, and Rayn spoke with them, the siblings and their team did what they usually did when they got to this part, everyone relaxed and focused on what might be coming up next, given the fact that a Qualifying Event was coming up. What they discovered was that they could do either option, meaning they had enough points to tackle whatever was in the Qualifying Event, though what Jak found out was that the next event was a Circuit Race through the Badland Sanctuary, something he felt was more of a warmup for Blitz's show and that all of his viewers would appreciate something like that at this point in time. Rayn agreed, especially since it would allow them to wake up and make sure everyone was ready for whatever might be thrown at them in the near future, and she informed the rest of the officials so they understood what was going on, though as she did that Starlight and Cozy found that both Twilight and Midnight were still fine and there didn't seem to be any consequences of them testing their limits, even if the pair knew their magical power had weakened since the rest had started. Jak, Keira, Daxter, and Tess sat at their table and watched Jak's sisters for a moment, as they knew that Starlight and Cozy were worried that doing this might eventually cause the start of what Eon was worried about, Twilight's change into an Ottsel, though for now there was nothing they could do, since they had to focus on taking down Mizo, and once the KGC was over that was something Jak wanted to talk about with his sister.

Once Rayn got the call from the officials Jak, his sisters, Keira, and their team headed out to the Badland Sanctuary, where they found Mizo's worried team waiting for them like usual as they drove into position and waited for the announcers to declare that the event was starting, though it wasn't long before Rayn's group finished the countdown and the siblings, not to mention all of their allies, burst out and resumed putting on a show for the people that were watching Blitz's show right now, all while leaving all of Mizo's team in the dust. There wasn't much for Jak and the others to worry about, as Kleiver still got away with his ploy and did all sorts of damage to Mizo's team, which could easily be blamed on Shiv and the others, all while Daxter informed Jak that he was sure that Rayn was observing Blitz while he watched them trash Mizo's team, which would allow them to prove or disprove what she had shown them and allow them to come up with a plan of attack to let the people see who the host really was. Other than that all Jak had to worry about was dealing with the show that all of his sisters were putting on with him being at the lead of everyone, even if Keira took advantage of their 'mayhem' to reach the second place position and stay behind him, allowing them to pass the finish line as the first and second placers, leaving his sisters to claim third, fourth, and fifth with Midnight taking sixth, though that mean Sig's group got every position that was after Midnight, pushing Mizo's team right off the chart with no important places being earned. Jak found that it was a little sad that Shiv's group even bothered racing against them, even if they were being paid to do so, since it had to be harmful to their reputations as good racers, though he said nothing as he and his team headed back to their garage to wait and see what sort of news Rayn had for them about the next Qualifying Event.

While they waited Keira discovered something interesting, they had earned another vehicle, a blue painted one that was a little like some of the vehicles she had seen in Spargus, one called the Roadhog, before Rayn informed everything of what was coming up next, it was time for them to head to Glacier Alley for a Circuit race, the next Qualifying Event, though it did mean that Jak had to be on Blitz's show again... so while everyone was readying themselves on the track Jak stood near the man himself, not to mention Razer for that matter, where he hoped Mizo was letting his racer off his chain.

"Hello race fans! Welcome to another edition of the G.T. Blitz Show." Blitz stated, speaking to the cameras that were still following him around, which was just plain creepy, especially if he was actually Mizo and was trying to hide himself in plain sight, while at the same time Pecker landed nearby so he could be in the shot and meant he might have some news to share with the team, "What do you think, Pecker? Is this season great or what?"

"Yes G.T., it's really been a..." Pecker started to say, though he was cut off by the man giving him a look, which was what Jak was expecting at this point since Blitz didn't seem to care about the network assigning someone else to his show, even if that someone was a talking animal, but while it was clear that Pecker was annoyed Jak could see that he was planning on getting back at him at some point.

"Great! Well, we have two of the biggest racers in the sport today." Blitz continued, to which he quickly beckoned to both his left and right, allowing Razer and Jak to step forward so they would be in the shot when the time came, even if it was Razer being the first one being presented to the show and those who were watching, "So, Razer, tell me, how does it feel to compete in the most prestigious racing event on the planet: my show?"

"Yes, well, as you know, I'm a firm believer that our sport needs to evolve." Razer stated, where it was clear that he had a lot of practice in this, since he moved his head in a dramatic fashion and raised his hands every so often, like he was trying to put an emphasis on everything he was saying, in an attempt to drive the point home while hoping to cause his fans to support the show with more money, "We need more action, more excitement, more danger!"

"Love it! I simply love it!" Blitz said, though at this point Jak had to wonder if Razer might know who Mizo was and what he was seeing right now as a ploy to get more cash out of those who watched the show, but he said nothing as Blitz turned for a second and beckoned to him for a moment, so when the camera turned on him it meant it was his turn to shine, or at least be in the spotlight for a short period of time, "So, tell me, Jak. How does it feel to know either you or Razer will be dead by season's end? You must be really motivated to keep racing under this kind of pressure."

"Oh, my sisters and I have faced the end of the world multiple times... this is nothing." Jak replied, showing Blitz and Razer that neither of them scared him, just in case Blitz happened to be Mizo in disguise, and that even if they tried to bring him down he was more than willing to face anything and everything that was sent at him on the track, since neither had the nerve to face him in a melee fight.

Sure enough Blitz seemed a bit unnerved by what Jak had to say, though that was all he and Razer were asked, so the pair just stood there while the man talked and waited for the show to be over, giving Jak a chance to stare out at the frozen and massive icicle filled area that they would be racing in, though as it turned out Razer didn't have a vehicle and that meant it wasn't time for him to join Jak and his sisters on the track, a disappointment for sure. As such he returned to his vehicle as soon as he knew what was going on and braced himself as his sisters and their team prepared themselves, though it only took a few more moments before the announcers, joined by Blitz and Rayn, called for the Qualifying Event to start, something that caused Jak, his sisters, and everyone else on their team to surge forward and start the race, with Mizo's team lagging behind them like usual. Once more Jak found that no one on Mizo's team seemed able to bypass Sig and Kleiver, who continued to fight each other while the fat Wastelander made sure to target Mizo's team, preventing all of them from reaching Jak and his sisters, which they were fine with since it allowed them to show off their fight with each other, putting on a show for everyone watching, and all of them were sure that Blitz had to be outraged by what he and the others were watching. Thanks to their efforts Jak, his sisters, and their team totally smashed Shiv's group and gained yet another gold medal to add to everything else they had gathered so far, meaning they were able to rest for some time as Rayn spoke to the rest of the officials about what needed to be done next or what event was coming up, just like she had done in the past.

One thing they ended up doing for a time was walking down one of Haven's roads, near the Port, making them wonder if it  might be an area that they would be racing through, while ignoring Blitz's show as he talked about racing in Haven, which did cause Rayn to inform everyone that she would look into her father's things to see if she could gleam more pieces of information, when they weren't busy on the track anyway, about all of this.

Even though Blitz claimed that they would be heading back to Haven for some events, Rayn informed them that they were heading to Wastelander Isle, a small island near Sanctuary that they hadn't touched since Damas wasn't sure what to do with it, even though this could give them some ideas, for a Deathmatch event, though sure enough Jak found that none of Mizo's team were able to score any points this time around as everyone dominated them, rather easily he thought, which added another gold medal to the collection. From there it was back to the Canyon Run track for a Freeze Rally, where they found that Shiv's group stayed away from it since it wasn't an event that any of them were interested in competing in, so it allowed Jak to score the gold, Keira, Twilight, and Midnight scored the silver, and Starlight and Cozy got the bronze, but the show they put on allowed the viewers to have fun and not be bored of what they were watching. With that done Jak and his team found their way back to the Dirt Stadium in Kras, for an Artifact Race, though while Mizo's team showed up they could see that none of them seemed interested in challenging the team right now, basically allowing Jak, his sisters, and Keira to score well once more, meaning their foes were either pushing for them to qualify for the main race or maybe they had given up and accepted their fate, just racing for the sake of racing. After that they had a Circuit Race in the Western Tour track of Kras City, an event that was a mixture of tracks, starting in the Dethdrome, heading into Seaport Strip, then the Loading Docks, followed by Waterfall Loop and then the Kras City track, before ending in the Loading Docks, though due to what Shiv's team was doing they were able to have a leisure race while showing off like usual, putting on a show for those watching the event.

Once that was done they actually returned to Haven City for another event, this time heading to the Forbidden Jungle for a Death Race, where Jak got over the one hundred and forty score for the gold medal, Keira joined him, while Twilight, Cozy, and Starlight ended up ten behind them, leaving Midnight at the back of their pack for once, not that she was annoyed by this turn of events, though Rayn called for them to stop for today and the team returned to their base to wait for when all of them were called to the track again... with Twilight and Midnight merging back together, showing that they were done with part of their experiment, even though only she felt something different about her body.

"I'm going to go take a nap... being separated for that long was really exhausting," Twilight said, where Jak and her sisters glanced up for a moment, seeing that she was a little tired and suspected that it was coming from her and Midnight being in the same plane for an extended period of time, hence the reason behind their testing, but they nodded their heads and wished her a good rest, and if an event suddenly showed up Jak said he'd come talk with her before doing anything else, just to see if she and Midnight were ready.

With that done Twilight returned to her room and locked the door, where she quickly removed the racing glove from her right hand and watched as the fur on the back of her hand started to change color, turning from her normal lavender and becoming the orange coloration of an Ottsel, as she recognized it anywhere, to which she signed as she sat down on her bed and stared at it for a time, as it covered the back of her hand and started to move passed her wrist, before it stopped, though as it came to a stop she found herself wondering what the future held for her and her siblings.
> Kras: Green Eco Cup Grand Prix
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When morning arrived Rayn informed Jak, his sisters, Keira, and the rest of the team about the good news she had found out from the rest of the officials, they had gained more than enough points to qualify for the Green Eco Cup's Grand Prix, which meant another trophy was well within their grasp, though there was also one other event that could be used as a warmup for all of them, which happened to be returning to the Haven City track and tackling a Circuit Race. Jak agreed that it would be a good warmup for all of them, since no one had any idea what might happen the moment the next Grand Prix started, a fact that Rayn supported, though as soon as the conversation was over they finished their meal and wrapped up whatever each of them happened to be working on. One thing Jak noticed was that Twilight took some time to stare at her right hand, why he had no idea, though she seemed to be waiting for Rayn to leave before allowing Midnight to step out of the shadows and join them, as she had to be eager to show all of their opponents that no one could take down them, be it in battle or on the track, and he was glad to have her back on board, since he had been a little worried about her test with Twilight, about their limits and everything, but he was glad to see that they were fine. Starlight and Cozy noticed it as well, that Jak seemed worried about their sister and her alternate selves, but for the most part there was no reason for them to worry about either Twilight or Midnight, as their magical energies were normal and their Eco energies seemed fine as well, to which everyone got up from where they were sitting and headed for the garage, as it was time for them to take on the last event before the Grand Prix.

It didn't take them long to return to Haven City and make their way over to the area that the track had been constructed in not that long ago, and sure enough they found that Mizo's team was ready to race them again, even though most of them knew beating the siblings and their team was no easy matter, and sure enough when Rayn and the announcers called for the event to start Jak found that Kleiver continued his earlier ploy by attacking as his allies passed in front of him, knocking Mizo's team backwards once more. Jak, his sisters, Keira, and their team were happy to be back in Haven City, even if it was just for a race and nothing else, though despite that fact they did exactly what they had done in the past, racing like each of them were trying to get to first place and fighting like siblings would, putting on a show for everyone who happened to be watching this event, and since Rayn's information seemed to be accurate Blitz disapproved of them winning and taking down their opponents. With Kleiver playing for their team, somehow without their enemies discovering that he was trying to sabotage Mizo's team, there was no way for Shiv's group to get anywhere near Jak and his sisters, much less Keira and the rest of their companions that were racing near Sig, something that allowed them to claim first place and every position that was after it, much to the dismay of those who were trying to take them down. Thanks to all of that they scored gold on every event that happened to be part of the Green Eco Cup, just like they had done during the Red Eco Cup, though as the group got ready to head out to the first track of the Grand Prix, to take the trophy and continue with the next cup, Jak and Daxter found that Blitz wanted to speak with them and Kleiver about something, hence why they seemed to be heading over to another station for his show.

"Two of today's top contenders are joining me now," Blitz stated, once more speaking to the cameras that were floating in the air around him, where he beckoned to the pair that were standing near him, even though Jak and Kleiver made sure to look like they wanted to take each other down on the track, instead of revealing that they were working together to topple Mizo's team, "Kleiver, the muscle-bound god of track thunder, and the nimble and lightning-quick racer, Jak. So Jak, sources say there's a big bounty on you, not to mention your sisters... it looks like everyone wants you dead. Everyone but me that is, as you guys are great for our ratings!"

"The death threats and bounties don't bother us, as we're not afraid to die." Jak replied, showing the camera that he was fine with people, likely Mizo when he thought about it, making threats and putting bounties on him and his sisters, as that just meant things would be more challenging when they discovered someone who wasn't afraid of their skills, like Shiv and his group for example.

"And even then, those who do such a thing either end up submitting or dead." Daxter added, because that was how things had happened in the past, those who tried to tear Jak and his sisters down either fell before the might of the siblings or a foe might submit to his friends once they realized who they were dealing with, though that earned him a glare from Blitz, all caught on camera, and they found Kleiver moving his head a little.

"Yabbers, all of you!" Kleiver stated, showing them the persona that they had seen when they first explored Spargus, the annoying man that Raven and the others had been tempted to eat at some point, where he turned and glanced at them as he growled, putting on a show for everyone who was watching them, even if he pointed at Jak, "I'm gonna find you, not to mention that rodent of yours, out on the track, and when I do, you'll wish you'd never wedged behind a wheel!"

"You heard it here folks." Blitz said, returning to the fact that this was his show and that everyone danced to his tune, or at least he tried to make everyone do that so he could run his show, though that was when Jak noticed Pecker flying in and it meant he was likely going to interrupt whatever the man had to say, "The gauntlet's been thrown and the biggest race of the season is coming to you live as..."

"Jak, Twilight, Starlight, Cozy, and Daxter show us how they became heroes!" Pecker stated, referring to the stories that the siblings could tell to enlighten those who were watching from either their homes or some public spaces, like an inn or one of the bars, though since he cut off Blitz the man decided to call the show there and packed up his stuff so he could move over to where the first part of the Grand Prix rested.

As Jak and his sisters discovered the first part of the Green Eco Cup's Grand Prix was a Circuit Race through the Forbidden Jungle, where this time around it did look like Shiv and the rest of his team were trying their hardest to take him, any of his sisters, Keira, Midnight, or the rest of their team down, though each of them discovered that nothing had changed as Jak and everyone else surged towards the front of the line and Kleiver did his best to take down Mizo's team so they couldn't get anywhere near the siblings. As such Jak earned first place as Keira placed second, leaving the sisters to claim the next four spots as the rest of their team followed after them, though with that done they waited for a few seconds before Rayn informed them that the next Circuit Race would be taking place in Mountaintop Highway, taking them back to the Icelands once more, and sure enough Jak found the same thing happening all over again, with no one complains as they put on a show for the watchers. What he meant by that was that Kleiver fired upon Shiv's team while trying to target Jak, his sisters, or anyone else that was on their team, continuing to make it look like all the fault was on his own teammates and not that he was trying to take down Mizo's racers from the inside, and with Sig helping him out Jak and his sisters claimed the more important places in the ratings, making it impossible for anyone to beat them at this point in time. Of course they still had to deal with the third and final event of the Grand Prix, another Circuit Race through the Northern Tour track, this one set in Sanctuary by starting in the Precursor Temple, heading through the Badlands Sanctuary, then the Spargus City track for a time, before heading through the Beachfront Drive and finishing with the Canyon Run, though even with all that Jak and his sisters found that they were able to beat Mizo's team and scored first place, earning them the next trophy and would allow them to move onto the next Cup.

Of course Jak found that Blitz was walking over to them once he had claimed the trophy, something he handed over to his sisters so they could take it back to the garage before everyone rested and waited for whatever event started the Blue Eco Cup, where he and Daxter came to a stop on the platform that Blitz wanted them to stand on while they talked, since his focus was more on the show and less on every event that took place.

"And here's the lucky winner, ladies and gentlemen! Well-deserved, well-deserved indeed." Blitz said, where Jak felt that he was annoyed with him and didn't want to say anything that might be caught on the cameras, which would be shown to all the watchers and announcers, though he continued to smile as he talked to Jak, "You're showing promise out there, old boy... not to mention your sisters and the rest of your team. Tell me, what's your secret?"

"Clean air." Jak remarked, figuring that he might as well do everything in his power to annoy the man and see if he could get a reaction out of him at some point, even though he knew that Daxter was keeping an eye on Blitz's emotions while he kept an eye on everyone else that happened to be standing in the area around them, just to be sure that no one came at them while they were talking.

"Love it! I simply love it!" Blitz commented, where he laughed, almost as if he thought that Jak was telling the truth and had no idea that Jak had been messing with him, something that would likely boost the ratings of the show once people found out the host had something like that fly right over his head, though before he could say anything Daxter seemed to want to say something and brought some attention to him.

"And I'd like to give a shout out to our team members, for a..." Daxter started to say, though as he expected he found that Blitz didn't seem to care about him, just like he didn't care about the sisters since none of them were up here, meaning he felt that Jak was the one he had to be threatened by and that would blind him to the danger that was building behind him, if he was Mizo like they were beginning to suspect.

"Yeah yeah, wouldn't we all." Blitz said, his tone revealing that he didn't care about Daxter's comment all that much, which might earn him some negative marks with those who were watching his show, especially since this was an interview and he had cut off someone who was answering his question, even if Daxter did it in his own way, before he focused on Jak for a time, meaning there was something else he wanted to talk about, "Tell me Jak, you just beat one of the top racers in a bid to qualify for the Grand Championship race. Your point totals are impressive. What makes you think people won't kill you for this?"

"It's like our brother and his friend said earlier, people have tried and they will fail to kill us." Twilight answered, appearing on the platform for a moment, as she wanted to make something clear before they left for the garage, which freaked the man out since he wasn't expecting her to do such a thing, all while Midnight remained with Starlight and the others, but she had a smirk on her face, that informed people that she was telling the truth.

"Well, your team has made the people cheer, and that's good for business. Very good indeed. Until next time, this is G.T. Blitz signing off." Blitz said, deciding that he might as well turn his attention back to the cameras and get this over with so he could leave and do something else before the next Cup started, where he would be forced to do his job, though as the cameras floated away, and didn't focus on him, he glanced at the pair for a moment, "Don't take things so personally, as all of this is for the show... for the bigger powers that be. I'd be careful if I were you, as I heard that Mizo had a pretty sizable bet on this race, that you would be beaten at last... and lost."

"Well I hope he was watching." Jak remarked, because if they followed the theory that Blitz was the criminal mastermind in question, which happened to be gaining more and more traction as time passed, the look of sheer anger and annoyance that appeared on his face when he mentioned that Mizo had lost the bet was a bit of confirmation that meant he might be Mizo or he was in Mizo's pockets, either was possible at this point in time.

"Oh, I'm sure he was." Blitz stated, where he glared at them for a few seconds, like he was imagining them crashing, or at least something that involved them being killed in some manner, before he walked off and headed for wherever he waited when he wasn't filming the events and commentating on everything that happened, leaving Jak and Twilight to head back over to where their team was waiting.

As Jak and his sisters turned their attention away from Blitz being Mizo, or in his pocket, they returned to the garage and found that a new pair of vehicles were waiting for them, as well as the trophy for the Green Eco Cup, which happened to be a black Sand Shark-like racer called the 'Javelin X' and a red tank-like racer called the Anvil RTX, though with them added to their collection Jak, his sisters, Keira, and the others spent the rest of the day resting and readying themselves for the start of the next Cup, and whatever challenges it might have for their team.
> Kras: New Discovery
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When morning arrived Jak found something interesting as he and Keira, having shared a room despite Samos thinking it wasn't time for such a thing, left their room, which happened to be the fact that Twilight was already up, Midnight was off to her right, and the other four variations of his sister were hanging out around the garage, each appearing to work on their own thing while Twilight and Midnight focused on preparing for the events that would be starting soon enough, since they would be starting the Blue Eco Cup soon enough.

"Of course she's still testing her limits," Daxter said, as he could see what was going on and didn't care at this point, as he knew it was just Twilight being her normal self and experimenting with her powers to see what sort of limits she might have, though as he said that Starlight and Cozy entered the room as well, taking a moment to stare at the scene in front of them before agreeing with his statement, though Sig and everyone else said nothing about this.

When Rayn walked into the living area she paused for a few moments, finding that the stories about Twilight were true and that she was capable of splitting herself into six different selves, before informing all of them that the opening event of the Blue Eco Cup was a Circuit Race through the Eastern Tour track of Haven City, where everyone would start in the Forbidden Jungle, head over to the City Outskirts and back into the main city track, before cutting into New Haven, the Slums, and the Industrial Section, then heading into the Waterworks Circuit and finishing in the Sewer Raceway. It was an interesting track when Jak thought about it, full of twists and turns, plus potential hazards that might slow all of them down, though since it was on tracks they had been on before he had a feeling that they were going to overcome the event and then see what else the new Cup had to offer them. Rayn also informed them that she had been spending some time on her father's stuff and might have some new information to share, she just had to check out a few more things before telling them what she had found, which was fine since they needed to focus on the race, but Cozy was sure that she knew more about her father's dealings than what she had told them, even if she kept her mouth shut, since it was up to Jak to reveal that piece of information. Other than that there was nothing else for the team to do while they waited for the first event of the day to start, even though they knew that Mizo had to be getting real annoyed with everyone, since his team kept getting knocked down by Jak, his sisters, Keira, and the rest of their team, which meant he might make a mistake and reveal his hand to them, something that would bring about his own defeat in due time, they just had to be patient and see what the future held for all of them.

Once it was time for them to move out Jak and his sisters did so without delay, with Keira and the others joining them as they used the transport to head to their destination, something that allowed them to find that Shiv's group was waiting for all of them to arrive, again making everyone wonder why they were still here since this had to be damaging their former reputations as the best racers in Kras, but Jak wasn't about to argue with their decision as he climbed into his racer and his team did the same thing not a few seconds later.

What they discovered, as Jak and his sisters headed down the track that was in front of them, was that Shiv's group must have found out that Kleiver was not on their side and opened fire on him as well, causing him to growl as he blasted them in return, even though Twilight had a feeling that he was going to have to leave Kras, or at least Mizo's garage, before his former 'teammates' found and killed him for betraying their boss. Of course Sig came in and blasted their opponents while they were distracted, just like Ashelin and Torn did before he showed up to join them, though this time Kleiver openly fired on those he had been deceiving since he joined Mizo's team, blasting tires apart and doing his best to wipe out missiles or grenades that came his way, though this time around Twilight did something that was unexpected and crazy, even for her as Starlight thought about it. What she did was pull back, as they were still some distance from the finish line and that did give her some time to catch up with her siblings once she was done, allowing her to fall back to where Shiv's team rested before activating a button as she turned around and did something that only Starlight and Cozy would know about, part of her magic flared to life, unseen by the cameras, Blitz, Rayn, and those who were behind her team, as she opened fire on all of their opponents. Such a thing caused Shiv and the others to come to a screeching halt not a few moments later, sort of like what had happened when Midnight first showed up on the race track, though once she was done with them she made sure to reverse her direction and race back towards the place that she had been in before the desire to be reckless came up, where she left the defense of the back to Sig's group before retaking her position behind Jak and Keira, even if it meant rejoining the sibling rivalry to put on a show for everyone who was watching this event.

Sure enough they won the Eastern Tour Circuit Race, issuing a start to the Blue Eco Cup at long last while gaining the gold like every event that had come their way since they joined the KGC, something that put a smile on Rayn's face since she knew that nothing Mizo threw at Jak and his sisters would be able to stop them from taking the last two Cups and winning the bet her father set in stone with the other criminal lord.

With Blitz staying away from them, which Jak was fine with since he really didn't want to talk to the man who might be the criminal lord in question, the team found that their next event happened to be on the Canyon Run track, which happened to be another Circuit Race interestingly enough, and this time around Kleiver raced for their team, for real since he had, in fact, lost his fake place on Mizo's team, something everyone was fine with since it just meant Shiv and the others had not to no chance to get up to Jak and his sisters. True enough Shiv, his teammates, and UR-86 had no way of getting close to anyone, showing the watchers that Sig had seen more than enough of their abilities before hand and knew how to beat each of them, allowing him and the others to defend the middle of the pack while Jak's group continued to have fun while having their rivalry for all to see, something that eventually ended with Jak earning the gold medal while everyone else scored the same as they did in the past. With the event done Rayn walked over to where they kept their transport, so all of their vehicles could be ready for whatever challenges the day had in store for them, and revealed that they had to head back to Kras City and return to the Waterfall Loop track, to tackle a Death Race event next, where Kleiver joined the rest of the team in watching them since Shiv's group never bothered to join them in this sort of event, making it easier for Jak and his sisters to earn medals and put on a show for the watchers. This time around the siblings found that the score that they had to beat was a hundred and eighty, far less than some of the other tracks they had tackled the Death Race event on, to which they raced each other as they replicated their motions once more, putting the rivalry first while smashing the vast amount of drones that were used in this sort of event, eventually ending in Jak scoring over two hundred and fifty while his sisters ended up drawing with each other at fifteen points below him, earning another gold.

After that the siblings got some interesting news, Rayn wanted to speak with them and they returned to the chamber that they had watched Krew's will in, where it looked like she had been studying her father's will and might have found out a new piece of information, or maybe confirmation about something they had suspected since discovering Mizo's part in all of this, though she paused the video as they walked into the chamber.

"I took the liberty of going back through some of Dad's things," Rayn explained, to which she gestured to a device on the table, one that looked a lot like a decoder, expect smaller and easier to hide from those who might be looking for it, which caused him and his sisters to wonder what else they might find on the will, or the disc that it had been placed on before Krew's death, "and I found his decoder for the will and discovered that there is more on the disc... I think it might be his journal."

"Let's see what it has to say." Jak said, because there was a chance that this would give them more information on what was going on with Mizo, since the other criminal lord seemed interested in taking everyone on his team down, and that even included the bet that Rayn had told them about some time ago, though they remained silent as Rayn turned back to the will and pressed a button, revealing Krew's hologram once more.

Mizo and I both want the same things, and we'll stop at nothing to get them. Krew stated, though it was like someone else was in the room with him, someone who knew more about the situation at hand and hadn't revealed themselves, to remain safe and hidden until the time was right, but the group remained silent as they watched the recording and listened to what the fat man had said before his demise, So, I rolled the dice and made this bet with Mizo to avoid a costly gang war between us: the winner of the next Kras City Grand Championship race that I compete in will win the other's dirty business. All I have to do is field a better racing team than him, win the big race, and Mizo and his nasty clan will slink off to whatever hole they crawled out of, eh?

"And there's the confirmation that a bet between the two was made," Starlight commented, speaking once the hologram was done talking and disappeared once the recording was over, though she and her siblings were already thinking about what they had learned since they started competing in the KGC and were already coming up with ideas on what this bit of information might mean for all four of them, Keira, and everyone else on their team.

"I suspected that my father did something like this, but it's hard to accept that he made such a bet," Rayn said, where she looked at the area that Krew's hologram had been in and looked like she was annoyed with her father, though at this point Jak knew that something was up about her, especially when he considered that she had known about the poison and had drank the wine in her glass like she had been a noble, meaning she didn't drink it and wasn't poisoned at all.

"Rayn, I think it's time we came clean... you've known about this recording since before we even arrived in Kras, yet you decided to ignore it until now," Jak stated, something that caused Rayn to raise an eyebrow as she turned towards him and his sisters for a moment, finding that the sisters were a little surprised that he was bringing this up now, though she kept quite for a time as she took a seat and focused on Jak for a time, "Krew was talking like someone else was in the room with him, when he made that recording, and you were the one who brought up the information of the bet while we tackled the events that were coming at us, so it's not hard for us to assume that you knew more than you were telling us... in fact your act when Krew informed us about the poison made some of us wonder about you."

"There's also the fact that we noticed you didn't drink the poison, since you drank like a noble." Daxter added, figuring that if Jak was revealing their hand to Rayn, at long last in his eyes, he might as well inform the lady that they knew she lied to them in some manner, before he chuckled as he thought about the other piece of information he and everyone else knew about, while Rayn had no idea that they weren't poisoned at all, something he was going to let one of the others mention when they were ready to do so.

"And let me guess, none of you are poisoned." Rayn commented, where she glanced at all of them for a few seconds, as if she was looking for some sort of sign that she was right, and discovered that Jak nodded in response to her comment on the matter, causing her to let out a sigh for a few seconds as she leaned back in her chair, meaning there had to be more to the conversation for them to get through, before returning to the track, "Why am I not surprised? I told father that even involving you four was a bad idea, and that was back before his death at your hands... don't be too surprised, I've known all about the cause of his death for some time... though he was, well, convinced that he could get you to race in his name and win the KGC if you had the proper motivation to do so. Your time in Sanctuary has only proven me right, giving you all sorts of skills and abilities to get around things such as poison... I guess this is the end of us..."

"That is where you would be wrong, as we're going to take Mizo down and put this city in capable hands," Twilight said, as she and her siblings agreed on that matter, that having Rayn in control of both Krew's business and Mizo's side of things would be good for all of Kras, not just Haven and the others, causing the lady to glance up in surprise, since she figured all of them would abandon her once their hand had been revealed, "The KGC isn't won yet, and if we back out now that just means Mizo's won... so come on, let's show him that he's wrong to underestimate us."

Rayn sat there for a few moments, wondering why the siblings were so keen on taking Mizo down, before quickly coming to the decision that it was for the best if she continued to assist them in taking down their foe's team so they could win the KGC, to which they headed back down to their garage as she figured out what the next event was, which happened to be an Artifact Run in the Desert Arena, giving all of them an idea of what to do. As such Jak, his sisters, and the rest of their team headed out to see if Shiv's group was going to show up or not, where they found the enemy team were present and ready to try and stop them from gaining more gold medals, to make sure none of them reached the end of the current Cup and earned another trophy for Krew, meaning Mizo had to be desperate at this point and wanted to win his bet with the dead man. Sure enough Shiv and the others didn't stand much of a chance when they viewed the team that they had to face and take down in some way, where Jak ended up with ten points, Keira got nine artifacts, Twilight and Starlight got eight, and Cozy ended up with seven as the rest of their team scored six and below, making it another shutout for them and another defeat for Mizo's team, something that lead to Daxter noticing yet another look of rage appearing on his face before he got rid of it. With that done Rayn discovered what the next event was, which happened to be a Rush Hour that would be taking place on the Beachfront Drive track, though this time around Twilight stepped up and tackled the event on her own, where she found that the surge of magical energy returned and she put it to use keeping her powerful racer right at full health while smashing through all of the drones that were in front of her, though as that happened she fought off an itch that happened to be on her right arm, deciding to focus on winning the event and did so by passing the three hundred  score needed to win the event.

With that gold medal acquired Twilight, her siblings, and the rest of the team returned to their garage, finding that a new racer, a large red one called the Boomer, had arrived, though Twilight left the others to see to it and rest up for whatever tomorrow might bring, though once she was in her room she pulled off her right glove and watched as the patch of orange fur on her hand inched forward and quickly covered the rest of her hand, causing her fingers to shake as they shifted into an Ottsel's fingers, causing her to sigh as she covered up the new changes and rejoined her siblings as everyone waited to see what sort of challenges the next day had for them.
> Kras: Razer Joins the KGC
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

One thing Starlight noticed, when the morning of the next day arrived, was that Pele and the other variations of twilight had disappeared, save for Midnight, though that told her that Twilight must have cancelled her test for the time being and would get back to it once the KGC was over, but she was surprised to find that her sister had nothing to say on the matter as she focused on preparing for whatever events would be coming their way once Rayn got back from speaking with the officials of the sport. Another thing that both she and Cozy noticed was that there was an influx in Twilight's power, as it seemed like her power had gone up a little since the start of the KGC, why neither of them had any idea and it didn't seem like their sister felt like sharing what was going on right now, and maybe she wasn't aware of what was going on, though they would have time to speak on it once they were done with this sport. Jak, of course, noticed that something was up as well, since it was odd for his sisters to be like this, and Daxter tilted his head for a moment as he considered what they had been told after the downfall of Errol and his Dark Maker Terraformer, though neither of them said anything as Keira joined them, revealing that all of their vehicles were fine and that they were ready for whatever events were up today, even if she knew that Jak was far more interested in worthy racers, hence why he was waiting for Razer to join the fun. The rest of the team, on the other hand, didn't care what was going on with the siblings, since they knew that if something was wrong with one of the siblings they would say something and let those around them know it, so since they were keeping quite Sig and the others waited for Rayn to show up and tell them what sort of events they would be facing today.

A few moments later Rayn walked in and revealed that she had a schedule of what events they would be facing today, with the first being a visit to the Seaport Strip track so they could tackle a Turbo Dash event, where Jak, his sisters, Keira, and the rest of their team readied all of their vehicles before heading out on the transport, though sure enough Shiv's group was waiting for them to arrive and once everyone was present Rayn, once more, took her position with the rest of the announcers so they could get the event started.

Sure enough Shiv's group did their absolute best to take down Jak, his sisters, and Keira, though Sig's group did everything in their own power to make sure none of their enemies were able to get anywhere near the siblings, allowing them to take all of the Power Cells that lined the track, use the turbo power to charge them up, and fired each of them once a cell was at full power, though with how Shiv's team was being treated they didn't have to worry about being attacked by Mizo's team and could focus on their rivalry once more. By the end of the event Jak had over thirty points, Keira and Twilight had thirty, the rest of his sisters scored between twenty-five to thirty, leaving everyone else with lower scores, something they didn't care about since the main thing was to make sure Jak and his siblings scored the gold medal, so with another added to the collection they regrouped and waited for Rayn to join them with the news of what event was next on the list, even though Jak found Razer glaring at them from the stands. Rayn quickly informed Jak and his team that they would be returning to Sanctuary, so they could tackle a Circuit Race that would be taking place on the Northern Tour track, where they found out that Shiv's group was doing everything in their power to bring them down and prevent them from gaining more of the gold medals that were required to move forward, though Jak was happy to have a challenge since facing off against his sisters for the camera was proving to be less fun than he originally believed it to be. Despite their attempts, however, Jak gained the gold medal for the event, with Keira and his sisters following right behind him, much to the dismay of Shiv's group, as all of them had to be getting tired of losing to them all the time, though as they gathered near their transport they found that Rayn had good news for them, that they had qualified for the first Qualifying Event of the Blue Eco Cup, a Freeze Rally event that would be taking place on the Kras City track.

Since it was a Freeze Rally and not a Circuit Race there was no reason for Shiv's group or Sig's group to do anything, which left the event in the hands of Jak, his sisters, and Keira to race against each other and put on a show for those that were watching Blitz's show, though thanks to their skills they were able to break the gold time limit with ease and added a new gold medal to their growing collection, causing the crowd to cheer for them once more, but the interesting thing was that no new vehicles showed up, which they were fine with.

With that done the siblings and their team found that the next event was a new one, an event called 'Capture' and involved the two teams racing around an area while participating in a capture the flag style challenge, which was interesting and it made the siblings wonder if Shiv's group would be able to provide a challenge for them, or at least for Jak since he was just waiting for Razer to join the opposing team and face them at long last. They found that the Capture event would be taking place in the Dirt Stadium, where two bases were set up, one on each side of the area, and that to score points they either had to capture the Power Cell in the area that their base had been set up in or take out their enemies, where the former gave them more points than gunning down those who opposed them, though for it to be fair the officials made it so both teams would be equal to each other, so four on four, meaning Jak and his sisters took to the field on their own, to face off against Shiv's group and UR-86. Despite most of their team having to sit this event out, since some wanted to tackle it with Jak, the siblings found that Shiv's group did everything possible to score points against them and make it so Mizo's team could finally win one of the gold medals, though it didn't matter in the end as Jak and his sisters split up the moment all of the announcers called for this event to begin, making it impossible for Mizo's team to actually track them down and take even one of them down. Thanks to their Eco powers they were able to figure out where each Power Cell would end up, so they could swoop in and claim it before Mizo's team even realized what was going on, and then protected it until whoever had it claimed it inside their base, earning them a total of ten points per Power Cell captured, so it didn't take them long to gain the fifty points needed to earn the gold medal and showed Mizo that his team wasn't as hot as he originally believed, meaning he might call Razer out if they kept smashing his team into the ground.

Jak had to admit that the Capture event was rather interesting, even if he and his sisters dominated it without allowing the opposing team to score a single point against them, though since Rayn didn't have the information on what was coming up next he, Keira, and his sisters made a quick stop at their garage to make sure everything was fine with their vehicles, as while she trusted them with their racers Keira wanted to make sure everything was fine before disaster struck, though that lead to something interesting happening.

"Oh look, the grease monkeys are busy putting their toy cars together... so I can take them apart." a voice said, where they found Razer walking into the garage area that Jak and his sisters had joined Keira in, though his words caused them to stir for a moment, because it sure sounded like he was trying to tell them that he was coming out of retirement, or at least Jak hoped so since the man was supposed to be a very skilled racer and he wanted to see how well they fared against him on the track, hopefully to the point where he gave them some excitement.

"Good luck with that, Razer, as everyone we've faced have failed to take our vehicles apart." Starlight commented, though as she said that Razer stopped in front of Jak and Keira, showing them that he was focused on their brother and not on any of them, which would normally be a fatal mistake given the powers she and her siblings possessed, but the others said nothing as they watched the man.

"Oh, I know Shiv's group has failed... that's why I just came by to tell you I'm officially coming out of retirement, just for all of you, Jak." Razer replied, revealing that he was finally getting on the track and that he was no longer going to watch from the stands, like he had been doing since the moment he appeared on camera, though not a few seconds later he lifted his cigarette up and took a puff of it before letting out some smoke as he stared at Jak, "Everyone's screaming for us to swap paint, and when this is over this town won't mourn your passing, as I'll be killing all of you on the track, meaning those who bet on you will only lament how much money they lost betting on a loser."

"I'm looking forward to seeing you in action, Razer," Jak stated, because this was fantastic news in his eyes, as he had been waiting for the day when Razer joined the action and raced against them on the track, because he was supposed to be one of the best in this sport and that made him interested in what he was capable of, especially after beating UR-86 so often it became boring, and he even flashed the man a grin to show his excitement.

Razer stared at him for a few more seconds before departing as quickly as he had arrived, where they found Rayn walking in and she informed them that the next event was a Circuit Race through the Loading Docks track, though when they and their team landed near Shiv's group Jak discovered something that put a smile on his face, Razer was present and he had a vehicle that was ready to face them on the track, which caused the siblings to climb into their own vehicles as they waited for the announcers. Sure enough not a few moments later Rayn and the other announcers called for the event to start at last, causing the racers to surge forward without wasting any time at all, though this time around Twilight, Starlight, Cozy, and Keira hung back a little as Jak and Razer immediately started to engage each other for the first place position, putting on a show for those who had been waiting for them to clash with each other. It was rather interesting to witness from their position, as the pair clashed with each other by using their weapons to counter whatever the other happened to be doing at any given moment, making the pair like a mobile war zone in the eyes of Twilight and her sisters, though to be sure no one ruined the event Sig's team made sure to knock down Shiv's group, preventing them from getting anywhere near the racers that were further ahead of them. Another thing they discovered was that this Circuit Race was one of the rare ones that had three laps, instead of two, though eventually what Twilight, Starlight, Cozy, and Keira were expecting happened, Jak scored a good hit against Razer and knocked his foe backwards for a short period of time, allowing the others to pass by him and send him down the positions until even Sig's group passed by him, something that was possible since Twilight held back for a time and blasted him so everyone else could drive by him.

By the end of the event Razer was nowhere near Jak and his sisters, who earned the gold medal once more, though while everyone was cheering for their victory Cozy found that Razer simply frowned before driving over to his transport, where he likely felt that he would be victorious over them at some point in the future, since there were a number of events that were between them and the Qualifying Event, or the Grand Prix for that matter. With that done they regrouped with Rayn, who was a little surprised by the fact that they had beaten Razer in an event, even though it would be some time before any real damage was done to his reputation, before she revealed that they had earned another vehicle, a low one called the Havoc V12, though once more they focused less on the new vehicle and more on the events that were between them and the Grand Prix. After that Rayn revealed that the next event would be taking place in Sanctuary, as it was going to be on the Badlands Sanctuary track and that it was a Death Race, meaning there was no reason for them to even worry about Razer showing up, especially since Shiv's group never bothered to come to these sorts of events and it meant that Sig and the others would be watching on the sidelines, watching them claim another gold medal for the team so they could tackle whatever was after this. It took some time for the siblings to reach the end of the Death Race, though when they did Jak, as usual, had broken the gold score of a hundred and forty, as he hit a hundred and sixty while his sisters and Keira ended up scoring between a hundred and fifty to a hundred fifty-five, meaning another gold medal was theirs and it brought them one step closer to the second Qualifying Event and the Grand Prix of this Cup, not to mention the start of the final Cup the moment this one was over.

While they were waiting for news on what event was up next Jak and his sisters found that Pecker and Blitz were on again, where it looked like they were talking about Blitz's father and the fact that his father had been a racer, one who perished at some point in his career, though since there wasn't much information for them to take from the show Twilight noticed an odd thing that none of them had noticed before, the show host happened to be heterochromia, his right eye was blue and his left was green, but other than that and the information about his father there wasn't much for them to learn at this point in time. After that Rayn informed them that they would be heading to the Clifftop Battlefield for a Deathmatch, which they were fine with since it was an easy event to tackle, though the interesting thing that they discovered was that Razer wasn't done racing against them, as he joined the event and raced against them in an effort to take them down and prevent them from gaining the gold medal once again. Of course the problem was that he came alone, either meaning Shiv's team decided to stay behind and watch or they declined racing against Jak and his sisters in this sort of event, likely knowing that they would be beaten in due time, though Jak was fine with that since it allowed him to continue his fight against Mizo's top racer, even if he still managed to score the ten points needed to win the gold, with Keira and his sisters scoring between seven to nine on their own, leaving Razer with a miserable three points. With that done Razer departed as Rayn informed them that they were done for the day, which meant they would be able to rest and ready themselves for whatever the future held for all of them, though given the fact that Razer had shown up it meant that Mizo was growing desperate to defeat them and Jak wasn't afraid of facing whatever was sent their way, just like his sisters were ready for anything as well.
> Kras: Blue Eco Cup Grand Prix
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When morning arrived Jak, Keira, his sisters, and the rest of their team discovered something interesting, Rayn informed all of them that the officials were planning on bringing an end to the Blue Eco Cup today, as in they would be racing through whatever events were still left, including the second Qualifying Event, meaning Mizo likely wanted to pressure them into making a mistake so he could cut them off and bring victory to his team at long last, though he was about to find that such a thing would only lead to disaster.

"Mizo must really be worried about losing if the officials are changing things on us," Jak commented, referring to the fact all of them knew, that being that Mizo had a hand in how the KGC operated, since there was no way Shiv's group could keep racing if they kept failing to gain medals, which he and his team were taking with each event that they tackled, though he could see that Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy were thinking about things.

"Considering our skills and progress, he's got to be worried that he'll lose a lot of money if we win," Twilight said, because that seemed to be the only thing Mizo cared about, based on everything that they had discovered since coming to Kras City and joining the KGC, though at the same time none of them were planning on letting the criminal lord get away from them, as they had a feeling that he would either flee once he lost or he would try and kill everyone who came to read Krew's will, both being bad ideas.

"Which he will, since none of his goons can touch us." Daxter stated, showing that he knew next to nothing could beat Jak or his sisters in a race, even if their opponent rigged it to the point where they were supposed to lose everything, but even as he said that he continued to keep his eyes on Twilight, since he and her sisters knew that something was up with her and her other selves, something they would figure out in due time no doubt.

After Daxter made his opinion known, which everyone on the team agreed with when they considered everything they had seen since the start of the KGC, Rayn informed them of what event they would be tackling first, which would start with a Deathmatch in the Ice Pit, which she claimed was basically a Dirt Stadium area that was made out of ice, hence why it was located in the Icelands. Sure enough they found that Razer was still more than willing to confront the siblings in almost all of the events that existed in this sport, as he joined them in the Ice Pit and smiled as he climbed into his racer, replicating what Jak, Starlight, Cozy, and Twilight did as soon as they arrived, though once the announcers called for the event to start the siblings showed their domination to the cameras, meaning Jak smashed Razer out of the way while everyone took the time to collect the points needed to score yet another gold medal for the team. Despite Razer's attempts he was only one person and he was facing off against the four siblings, so by the end of this Deathmatch Jak had scored the ten points that he needed, his sisters all scored eight in total, and they made it so that Razer only managed to get one point, far less than what he was expected to gain in an event like this when Jak recalled all of the information they had on the man that tried to beat them. With that event done Rayn informed them that the next one was going to be held on the Dethdrome track, where someone would be tackling the Rush Hour race again and it wasn't long before Twilight offered to tackle it, though that caused Jak and the others to raise an eyebrow as she returned to Kras for a time and let the transport bring her over to the track in question, even though they knew that Razer and the rest of his team would be watching from the sidelines, all in an attempt to gain more information on them so they could bring down Jak, his sisters, and their team.

Of course Jak wasn't even remotely surprised by what he, Starlight, Cozy, Keira, and the rest of their team witnessed, as the red vehicles did nothing to Twilight's racer as she used her powers to made sure it remained in pristine condition and that only the drones suffered as she smashed through them, and she was able to achieve more than the score needed to win the gold medal, as she scored four hundred and eighty when all that was necessary was four hundred and sixty, though as she finished Jak was sure that Daxter was right, something was off about Twilight and they would have to figure out what was bothering her once they had some free time.

Her win allowed them to advance into the second Qualifying Event for the Blue Eco Cup, a Circuit Race on the Timberlane Track, where they found Razer and his team waiting for them to arrive before Rayn, Blitz, and the other announcers called for the event to start, as once that happened Jak and Razer surged forward while Keira, his sisters, Sig, and everyone else dealt with all of Mizo's remaining racers once more. The only reason his sisters allowed such a thing to happen was due to how many people wanted to see the pair race each other on the track, hence why Jak was always gunning for Razer during the events his opponent decided to partake in, even though he still earned the gold medals despite that fact, and it lead to a boost in ratings for the show, something that had to please the network that Blitz appeared to work for. Of course that didn't stop him from knocking Razer down a few pegs before his sisters and the rest of their team passed by him, just like what happened in the past, which was why he made sure that it occurred some time before anyone reached the finish line and brought an end to this event, something that had to be annoying Mizo, even though for right now he was fine with the fact that Blitz got annoyed whenever this happened to Razer. In addition to that one would assume that Razer had to be getting annoyed with back to back losses like this, even though he presented himself in the same manner each time they were near each other, though with the Qualifying Event done Rayn informed them that a new event in Sanctuary was up for them to tackle, which happened to be a Turbo Dash in the Spargus City track, causing them to meet up with Razer and the rest of Mizo's team once more.

No one was surprised to find that Jak, his sisters, and Keira scored all of the major positions, their team got everything else below them, and Razer's team scored nothing despite their attempts to bring down those who Mizo wanted to take down, adding yet another gold medal to their collection as Rayn nodded her head, showing that she approved of them breaking through Mizo's attempts to bring her team down and that she enjoyed seeing Razer being beaten like this. With that done she informed the team that the next event would be taking place in Kras City, this time on the Seaport Strip track and that it was a Death Race event, meaning they wouldn't have to deal with Mizo's team for a short period of time, giving Razer all the time he needed to make sure his vehicle was ready for whatever events were coming up after this Death Race came to an end and Jak had scored another gold medal. Sure enough Keira found that Jak was able to smash the required score for the gold medal, which happened to be two hundred and forty points, with his sisters scoring between ten to fifteen below him by the time the event came to an end, though with that done Rayn waited for a time before speaking to the team, as the next event following the Death Race was a return to Haven City to tackle a Freeze Rally, one that would be taking place over on the Waterworks Circuit. As such Rayn and the other announcers watched as the siblings took to the track not even a few minutes later and started to race each other, just like they had done in the past whenever one of these events came up, where they found that Jak still had the fastest time out of him and his sisters, with Twilight coming up behind him, then Cozy and Starlight, though of course each of them beat the gold medal time limit and that meant another gold medal was added to what they had collected so far.

With that done Jak and his sisters found that the next event, according to what Rayn had to say, was another Freeze Rally, this one taking place in the Icebound Citadel, which was quite a surprise when the siblings thought about it, though Keira, Sig, and the rest of the team weren't even surprised when the siblings smashed through the time limit and earned another gold medal, before Rayn found that a third Freeze Rally was up, this one on the Mountaintop Highway track, and after a bit of time the siblings were able to overcome it as well, adding yet another gold medal.

"Jak, you and your sisters, not to mention the rest of the team, have done well in getting us this far," Rayn said, as most of them were gathered in a bar and were trying to rest for a time before tackling the Grand Prix, though it was also due to the fact that she had it on good authority that Blitz would show up at some point and talk with them about something, or at least he should if he followed what he had done in the past, before she considered something, "normally I'd be saying that I would be racing with you, but after everything I've seen I know that it would be best if I stayed on the sidelines and let all of you claim the remaining trophies and gold medals."

"Razer had better bring his best, otherwise Mizo's going to lose another race." Jak replied, knowing that such a thing was what Rayn wanted of them, to tear down all of their foes and show the criminal lord that his racers wouldn't be able to do anything for him at this point in time, though neither he or his sisters were drinking anything, since they had to be ready for whatever tracks and events would be thrown at them during the Grand Prix, even if most of them would be focused on whatever the Yellow Eco Cup had to offer, but he said nothing else as Blitz walked in.

"Yes folks, we're live as I deliver a secret recorded message dropped of at our station earlier this morning." Blitz said, a fact that caused Jak and his sisters to raise their eyebrows for a moment, as they were curious as to what this might be and if it would mean anything to them, though Jak figured that the latter had to be true since Blitz was coming here, to speak with them or use them as background while he was filming his television show, and he had a smile on his face, "That's right, it's from the mysterious crime lord Mizo himself!"

Greetings fellow race lovers. the screens said, where they found a silhouette of a man speaking to a camera with the vast majority of his features hidden from everyone who might be watching right now, with a light to help him hide who he truly was, and it came complete with a voice modifier that would make it impossible to figure out who he was, though by this point in time Jak and his sisters had a few ideas on who he might be, Your perseverance this season has been... surprising... but Krew has sent you on a fool's errand. I'm prepared to forgive and forget, and spare each of your lives if you walk away right now.

"So much for the intimidating crime lord," Cozy commented, speaking once the video was done playing, as they had been expecting far more from someone like Mizo, especially after everything they had learned since they came to Kras City for the KGC, and her siblings nodded their heads in agreement, as now Mizo seemed more like a thug and less like someone that they had to be worried about, "it sounds like he's afraid that we'll win."

"Which means Mizo must be a terrible driver, if this is what he sends us," Jak added, because he knew that if Mizo was a competent racer, such as Razer or even UR-86 for example, the message he would have sent them would have been more of a threat and a promise that he would beat them on the track if they dared to race against him, before he had an idea on what he could say, especially since Blitz seemed to be filming him and his sisters right now, "hey, Blitz, do you think that you would be a better racer than the cowardly and fearful Mizo?"

"Now listen here you..." Blitz started to say, quite angrily Jak noticed when he found the man starting to reach for him with a look of anger in his eyes, before he realized that he was being filmed right now and regained himself, though the deed was done and Jak had gotten everything he wanted from it, the public had seen him slam Mizo, as he called the crime lord a coward, that his message didn't convey strength, and that he was afraid of them winning the KGC, and they had seen the reaction from Blitz, which was more like Mizo was reacting and not Blitz, "I'm sure Mizo will be waiting for your response and that this will anger him... just a word of warning, knowing what he's done in the past."

Jak grinned as Blitz retreated from the bar, because now they knew exactly who Mizo was and the smarter members of the public would know it as well, that he had been hiding in plain sight this entire time, especially since he, Daxter, his sisters, and the rest of their team knew that the silhouette resembled a bald Blitz, though no one said anything as they finished off their drinks and headed outside. With that done Rayn revealed what the events of the Blue Eco Cup's Grand Prix were, to which Jak and his sisters learned that the first one was a Circuit Race through the Sewer Raceway in Haven City, followed by another Circuit Race on the Frozen Speedway track in the Icelands, before ending with a third Circuit Race that was on the Western Tour track of Kras City, an interesting set of locations in their eyes. Sure enough Razer was ready for them the moment they found their way to the first of the three tracks, though sure enough Shiv's group proved to be no match for Sig and everyone else, all while Razer did everything in his power to try and get ahead of Jak and his sisters, not to mention Keira as well, who had studied his driving style and had the perfect strategy to overcome him, something that ended with all of them passing by Razer and scoring all the points as he scored nothing. After that they returned to the Icelands and started traversing the track that they would be racing on, even though this time it was five laps and not two, though while they raced Twilight stayed between her siblings and Razer for a long time, using her powers and vehicle abilities to ensure Razer stayed as far away from Jak, Keira, and the others, to the point where she knocked him down and allowed everyone else to pass by him. The Western Tour event proved to be much of the same, Razer tried to take all of them down and one of the siblings focused on fighting him for the majority of the race, where Twilight continued to smash him back and kept her team safe from him, to the point where she and Midnight stayed at the back until they were sure Razer submitted to them, allowing them to rejoin Jak, Starlight, Cozy, and Keira at the front, winning the trophy for the Blue Eco Cup.

With that done Blitz talked with Jak about how he owned Razer on the track, speaking in front of their base of operations this time around, though as they did that Midnight slipped into Twilight's shadow and returned to her space for the rest of the night, where Twilight headed to her room and shut the door before watching more orange fur spread up her right arm for a short period of time, only to stop when it reached her elbow, meaning she was going to have to wear a jacket from this point forward, so they could focus on what the Yellow Eco Cup had in store for her and her siblings.
> Kras: Jak's 'Secret'
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When morning arrived Jak, Starlight, and Cozy found out something interesting as they watched the end credits of Blitz's interview last time, after the end of the Blue Eco Cup, and that was the fact that Twilight was wearing a long sleeved jacket that covered her arms and reached her wrists, why they had no idea, though for right now no one said anything as she let out a yawn and joined them for breakfast. While she did that Daxter tilted his head for a moment, as he was sure that there was something different about her and couldn't quite place his finger on it, especially since Twilight and her sisters were the oddest people in the world, even though he continued to have a few ideas on what that something might be, but he kept his mouth shut as Keira and the others joined them in the living area, spreading out once more. Everyone was clearly excited, as they had made their way through three of the four Cups that were part of the KGC, bypassed all of the events that had been created for it, and had beaten all of the top racers that Mizo could send to stop them from winning everything, to the point where Jak even called Mizo a coward on television yesterday, showing everyone that he was confident in his skills and that he suspected that their foe wouldn't be able to take them down. Ashelin and the others were eager to get this over with, as while racing was fine, especially against people like Shiv and his group, there wasn't much for them to do at this point in the KGC, because they were sure that they could fall out of the light for the rest of the competition, becoming backup in case something happened to, say, Keira or one of the sisters, but the crowd seemed to enjoy their team shutting down Mizo's and it lead to them sticking around to see this competition to it's end.

"Today is the start of the Yellow Eco Cup, the last one we need to win to win my father's bet with Mizo," Rayn said, as she walked in while everyone was finishing breakfast, choosing to give them some time before bothering them with the news she had about the events they would be facing over the course of the day, though as she came to a stop she raised a hand to stop anyone from speaking about the last part of her comment, "and yes, I'm sure that Mizo will uphold his end of the bet, otherwise no one will trust his word in the future and it'll be the end of him in all sorts of businesses... unless he tries to kill all of us, once we've beaten him."

"Don't worry, we're ready for anything," Starlight replied, knowing that Jak and her sisters could defend themselves if such a thing happened once the KGC was over and done, though after what happened yesterday, with the arrival of the vastly disappointing message from Mizo, none of them were worried about him trying something like that, rather it seemed like he would hire assassins and they would hunt him down after beating them up, "though I noticed we didn't earn any new vehicles after beating the last Cup... not that we were using any of the new ones that we've obtained so far."

"Normally racers are required to use Class specific vehicles, such as 1, 2, or 3, but the rules were bent for you and the rest of the officials haven't regretted it," Rayn explained, revealing why they were allowed to get away with using their powerful buggies to tear through the enemies that were on the tracks, that Rayn's friends didn't want to annoy the siblings and let them get away with using all of the vehicles they had created some time ago, before she focused on what Starlight said, as she had an answer for it, "but there is no Class 4, rather racers are allowed to use whatever vehicles they want in the last Cup, be they from the Red, Green, or Blue Cups, which also means that no new vehicles were rewarded for overcoming the Blue Eco Cup."

Jak and his sisters glanced at each other for a moment, finding that it made sense to most of them, before Midnight joined them, coming from Twilight's room and not her shadow so they didn't freak Rayn out, even if Jak noticed she had a jacket like Twilight's on, only hers was black and Twilight's was more purple, though no one said anything as Rayn explained that the rules were pretty much the same for the last Cup, they had to tackle events, gain medals, preferably the gold ones, and tear down Mizo's team like usual. The team nodded their heads, showing that they knew what to expect and that Rayn had nothing to fear from this point forward, as they would do what they had done since the start of the KGC, before she went into what the first of the day's events would be, to give everyone an idea of what to expect and how each of them would have to prepare before it was time for them to leave for whatever continent they would be racing in. She revealed that the first event would be taking place in the Icelands, the Mountaintop Highway to be exact, and that the event was going to be a Circuit Race, not that anyone was expecting it to be something different, especially since two Cups opened with the same event and one was the odd one out, but this just meant that Razer and the others would be gunning for them even harder than before, or at least the siblings hoped so. With Rayn handing them that information the group made sure to finish off their meals before heading for the garage, where Keira did one final check on every buggy that was going out on the tracks and found that most of them were perfectly fine, save for something added to the bottom of Jak's vehicle, a device that she determined was designed to sabotage his weapons and make him an easier target on the track, meaning Mizo was going to cheat to take them down, plus this was revenge for what he said in the bar.

With the device removed, and she made sure each vehicle was safe for the future races, the team headed out and let the transport bring them to the Icelands, allowing them to set up at the starting line as Razer and the rest of his team showed up a few moments later, meaning either Mizo had been shouting at all of them for losing or none of them wanted to be here first so they could study Jak's team before another event started. Not a few minutes later, with Rayn joining them, the announcers called for the event to start and sure enough Jak found his way to first place with no problems, leaving Razer in the back with the rest of Mizo's crumpling team, as Shiv's group looked like they had admitted defeat and had no desire to race against Jak or his sisters, hence why they focused on facing off against Sig's group. UR-86, on the other hand, tried to get beyond Sig's group so he could face those who had beaten him in the past, as he seemed less interested in racing for Mizo and just wanted a true challenge that wasn't influenced by outside forces or parties, something Jak considered for the future, once they were done with the KGC, while Razer seemed to be racing to redeem himself after the humiliation he had suffered after losing so many times during the Blue Eco Cup. Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy decided to take turns falling back to where their enemies were positioned and make it so that none of Mizo's people got anywhere near them or Sig's group, though it really didn't matter since Jak placed first and gained the gold medal, Keira followed behind him, and the three of them followed after their brother with Midnight behind them, leaving Sig's group to take the places behind them and Razer's group ended up taking their usual place at the very back of the pack, earning no points.

After that they received word that Blitz was going to make a stop at the Naughty Ottsel, why they had no idea since it didn't seem to be a place that he would be interested in, where Jak decided to act like he hadn't thought anything of what he and the others had seen earlier, when he called Mizo a coward, and Keira joined him, where she revealed that the device that was attached to Jak's buggy was the same as what was used to kill Blitz's father in the past... only to learn that he didn't care about what happened to his old man, that he only cared about the ratings, and that he left in a bad mood, despite the fact that Daxter was more than happy to take his credits for his drinks.

With that done Jak and his sisters learned that the next event would be taking place on the Precursor Temple track, where it happened to be a Death Race event this time around and they discovered that the gold medal goal that they had to beat was a hundred and fifty, leading to Jak scoring over two hundred while his sisters scored between a hundred a eighty to a hundred and ninety, causing the rest of their team to nod as another gold medal was awarded to them. After that Rayn came over and informed them that the next event was going to be held in Kras, specifically the Mar Coliseum arena, and it was going to be an Artifact Race, hence why no one on their team was remotely surprised to see Razer when they walked off the transport and readied their vehicles for the event, as he still wanted to get his revenge for the humiliation they had wrought up him since he returned to the sport. Of course there was only one of him and four of them, so Jak raced against Razer and totally dominated him like the last couple of events they had tackled, where he scored all ten of the required points to earn the gold medal, Twilight and Starlight sat at nine while Cozy had eight, leaving Razer with only two points and caused him to race away with a look of annoyance on his face. Jak wasn't even surprised when he and his sisters, plus Keira and the rest of their team, learned that the first Qualifying Event of the Yellow Eco Cup was starting, as it would be taking place over on the Canyon Run track and, interestingly enough, it was a Death Race, meaning they had no reason to worry about Razer or the others showing up to bother them, allowing him and his sisters to smash through the gold goal in no time, as they needed a hundred and seventy and all four of them scored over two hundred.

After that Rayn informed them that the next event was going to be held in Kras, on the Seaport Strip track and that it was going to be another Rush Hour, to which Jak and the majority of their team stayed back as Twilight took to the field, as she must have been influenced by Midnight doing this when she first showed up, and sure enough she smashed her way right through all of the drones that were in her way, her powers keeping the vehicle from taking damage, before scoring more than the five hundred points needed to score the gold, as she ended up at five hundred and twenty.

As Jak, Starlight, Cozy, and Keira congratulated her on scoring the gold medal, leaving the rest of the team to watch as they kept an eye out for Blitz in case he waltzed into their base of operations, Rayn informed all of them that the officials had decided on the next event, it was going to be a Capture event in the Clifftop Battlefield arena, which meant that only Jak and his sisters would be able to compete in this event, since the officials wanted to try and make it fair for Mizo's team, or at least it seemed that way despite their abilities. Sure enough Razer and Shiv's group were waiting in the arena for them, just like they had done on nearly every other event they were taking part in, and once everyone was ready to go Rayn and the announcers called for the event to begin, where she watched as Jak and his sisters, once again, dominated the event for a time and ended up scoring yet another gold medal in no time, even though Razer did put up a good fight and gave it everything he had. Interestingly enough after that Rayn found that the officials were still deciding on what the next event was and it allowed everyone to take a short break before getting back in their vehicles and showing Mizo that his chances of winning the KGC were none, especially after everything he and his sisters had shown off during the last three Cups, so they gathered in one of the local bars of Kras, everyone making sure to slip one of the pills into whatever they happened to be eating or drinking, just to be on the safe side since they had no idea what Mizo would do. Rayn, of course, joined all of them and found one of the pills as Jak added it to his drink, allowing her to understand why her father's poison had no effect on all of them, though she chuckled and claimed it was something that neither her or Krew had seen coming, even if it did confirm her feelings that using poison on them had been a bad idea.

"Hello race fanatics, we're coming to you live with a breaking story!" Blitz stated, walking into the bar while everyone was trying to enjoy their time off, with a pair of cameras floating around him like Jak and his sisters expected, before he came to a stop and focused on Jak for a time, especially since one of the cameras seemed to be following his movements, as it also looked at him as well, causing the others to focus on what was happening, "Yours truly has recovered documents that prove that Jak was the cause of Krew's death... that he and his sisters left him to die in a terrible explosion. How heartless can the four of you get?"

"You need to get your facts straight, Blitz, as we didn't kill Krew," Jak replied, as while the official story was that Krew died in the explosion of one of his prototype Piercer Bombs detonating on him unexpectedly, and that he and his sisters had gone to speak with him about something important, meaning one could make the connection Blitz had made about them being responsible for Krew's death, the truth was much more simple than what one thought, "Krew was torn apart and eaten by a pack of Metal Heads, the Tainted to be exact, even though he betrayed Haven City and opened the way for Kor and his followers to invade the city... he got what was coming to him, though we had no part in killing him."

Blitz paused for a moment, clearly not expecting Jak to say something like that, rather it seemed like he was expecting the news to upset Rayn and cause a crack to appear in their team, to which he growled and departed from the bar, though Jak confirmed that the story he had mentioned was true, as Rayn was curious about it, though this meant that Mizo was trying to spread lies about them in order to try and break their team before the final Grand Prix, causing Jak to chuckle as he and the others go ready for whatever events were coming up next. With that information up in the air, and people were likely talking about the truth behind Krew's death, especially since next to no one had known about his involvement in allowing the Tainted to swarm the city at one point in the past, Rayn found that the next event was going to be held in Haven, this time in the Atoll Arena, and that it was going to be a Deathmatch, meaning Razer would be showing up to stop them from scoring more gold medals. Razer, as predicted, joined them in the arena in question and raced against them once more, all to stop Jak and his sisters from gaining yet another gold medal, but once again he failed to account for Shiv's group doing nothing to stop their opponents, so it was basically one against four and Jak was able to score the gold medal in no time at all, scoring the ten points needed to do such a thing, leading to Razer driving away in disappointment. With that done the siblings, Keira, and the rest of their team returned to the garage and waited for Rayn to inform them of what event might be up next, or whatever Mizo had in store for them, though as it turned out they had overcome all of the day's challenges and the officials of the KGC were calling everyone to rest once more, meaning tomorrow they would have more races and events to tackle.

As such Jak sighed as he and Keira took a seat nearby, allowing Twilight, Starlight, Cozy, Daxter, and the others to spread out all over their base of operations and rest for the rest of the day, as they suspected that the tomorrow things would be somewhat harder than what they experienced today, or at least Jak hoped so, and bring them one step closer to the end of the KGC and the bet between Mizo and Krew, hopefully ending with Rayn gaining control of Kras' shadowy business.
> Kras: Pecker's Surprise
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

When the morning of the second day of the Yellow Eco Cup came Jak and his sisters were ready to confront it, just like how Keira and everyone else was ready to see what else Mizo could throw at them before they claimed total victory and set a record for the most amount of gold medals claimed by one team, as not even Razer could manage something like this back when he was actively racing, though no one seemed to be in the mood to talk as they ate their morning meal and waited for Rayn to arrive with what events they would be facing today. While they waited Daxter noticed something that interested him, Twilight rubbed her right arm for a moment, like she was anxious about what the day had to offer them, which was understandable since most of them were thinking the same time at the moment, but there was also what Eon had told them after the defeat of Errol and his Dark Terraformer, as he was sure that he felt something off about her and really didn't want to think about her having started the supposed transformation into an Ottsel. Of course the problem with that thought was that no one had an idea of what would happen to Twilight and her sisters if one of them were to start such a change in their being, would it be quick and instant or would it be slow and take an undetermined amount of time, though it was the only explanation as to why her power seemed to be changing all the time, save for when Midnight and the others came out to play. Jak, of course, also took a few moments to think about it as well, especially since his sisters were considering it at the same time, though for now all of them were focused on winning the KGC and knew that the moment the sport was over, but before they returned to Eon to speak with him, they would talk with Twilight and figure out what was happening to her powers, because if she was losing them they needed to know before something bad happened to all of them.

Once everyone was done, and had a few minutes to rest up, Rayn returned to their base of operations and informed the team that the officials had decided on what the day's events would be, as they would be returning to Sanctuary to race on the Spargus City track and deal with a Rush Hour event, something that caused everyone to pause for a moment since it meant that Twilight would want to take it on by herself so the others could be ready for the following event. Sure enough it took them no time to travel over to Sanctuary, where Rayn, Blitz, and the other officials gathered in the stands that they used when watching events and the rest of the team watched from one set of stands, where Razer happened to be doing the same from another stand, though once everyone was ready Twilight drove out and started the event without wasting a single second. Daxter continued to observe her while she raced around the track, smashing into all of the drones while she used her powers to make sure no harm came to her vehicle, though even with his limited powers, thanks to his training with Tess and Eon, this confirmed that there was some fluctuation in her energies, both Magical and Eco based, which he was curious about and knew that, in time, they would figure out what was wrong with her, even though he had to wonder if this was common with the 'alicorn' form she possessed, since Starlight was a unicorn and Cozy was a pegasus, at least Samos and Eon agreed on that. He had no idea what the two meant by that, and he figured that the pair would explain a few things to them if Jak or his sisters asked the question, though for now he focused on the event as Twilight expanded a bit of her energy to ensure her victory, smashing the four hundred and fifty score needed to earn the gold, as she scored over five hundred points and gave them what they were looking for.

With that gold medal in hand Rayn informed them that they would be heading to Kras next, to tackle a Turbo Dash event that would be happening on the Dethdrome track, and sure enough Jak and his sisters found Razer's team waiting near the starting line, where the man looked like he was ready to tear them down and bring them defeat, even though that look had been on his face since they showed him up and knocked him into last place, where Jak was fine with it since he had a feeling that Razer might be better if he had some motivation. Razer, as expected by the siblings, gunned for Jak during the event, even though Twilight threw out her magic and smashed his attacks before even one of them could hit her brother, especially since weapons weren't allowed during a Turbo Dash and her spells were mostly to cancel out whatever weapons he decided to use, to the point where Midnight flipped the switch that she had installed in her racer and knocked Razer all the way back to last place, so far back that he had no way of winning. This was his punishment, since Mizo was showing everyone that he was willing to cheat to take down Krew's team, instead of playing fair and allowing the racers to use their skills to ensure whether or not they won the race, and with Razer stuck in last for cheating, which would enrage his boss to no end, Twilight and Midnight returned to their positions and continued racing with their siblings. As such it didn't take all of them long to cross the finish line, once more with Jak coming in first with Keira coming in second, and she actually tied with Cozy, with Starlight joining Twilight and Midnight in tying for third, but this meant they were able to add another gold medal to their collection and meant they would be able to continue through the Yellow Eco Cup without having to worry about being stuck because they didn't win anything.

Of course that was followed by Rayn informing them that the next event of the day was another Rush Hour, this one being on the Kras City track, though most of the team took their positions on the stands as Twilight raced out and smashed all of the drones that were in her way, using a bit more of her magic while scoring all of the points needed to earn another gold medal, one she felt might unlock the next Qualifying Event, where she smashed through the five hundred and fifty points required and added another gold medal to their collection. After that Twilight and the others discovered that the win she had just gained wasn't the one that would lead to the next Qualifying Event, rather it was coming up and they had to focus on tackling a Circuit Race in the Icelands, as it would be happening on the Southern Tour track, a new one that was only available in the Yellow Eco Cup, so there was a chance that they would see it again before the KGC was over. Rayn quickly explained that this track would start on the Mountaintop Highway track, head into Glacier Alley for a time before veering off and finishing the event on the Icebound Citadel track, which made it weird that it didn't include the other tracks, but none of them were about to complain about this turn of events as they headed to the transport and let it bring them over to the continent they would be racing on for some time. Sure enough Razer and his team were waiting, not that Jak and his sisters were surprised by this point in time since the man really wanted to redeem himself and show the watchers that Jak was just lucky, but no one said anything as they climbed into their vehicles, which Keira confirmed were ready to race, and waited for the announcers to call for the event to begin, all so they could smash Mizo's top racer into the ground again as they showed Mizo that he was about to lose everything he held dear.

As Rayn expected Jak and his sisters scored the gold medal, while placing people in the silver and bronze places so that all of Mizo's team couldn't score any points, though this unlocked the second Qualifying Event, which happened to be located in the Ice Pit and was an Artifact Race, and Razer showed up in an attempt to stop them from gaining another gold medal, a futile errand at this point in time as she thought about what she had seen so far, and sure enough Jak captured the ten artifacts needed to gain the gold medal.

After that she informed the team that the next event was going to be held in Sanctuary, on the Beachfront Drive track for a Freeze Rally, meaning most of Jak's team was able to rest and relax as the siblings headed out once more, this time racing like they had a rivalry going on, which happened to be when they were alone, putting on another show for the watchers, even though Daxter could tell that Blitz seemed annoyed with them, more than he usually was, and that let them smile as they raced against each other. Rayn found that Jak came in first, Starlight was right behind him by a few seconds, Cozy was about five to ten seconds behind them, and Twilight brought up the rear this time around, earning them yet another gold medal while putting on a show that boosted ratings, even though most of them didn't care about that part of the sport, as Blitz seemed to be the only one who cared about that sort of thing, before she regrouped with the team, even though she did see Razer's team leaving. With that done she informed them that the next event was a Turbo Dash on the Precursor Temple track, hence why their opponents had headed out once Jak and his sisters finished the Freeze Rally, though once Keira and the others were ready to go they used the transport and headed out without delay, quickly making their way to the track in question, where they found Razer's team getting ready for another race, and they joined them without delay, as all of them were interested in seeing what the other team was capable of. Sure enough Starlight found that Shiv's group had no energy and stayed back, deciding not to bother her and her siblings while they raced against Razer, rather the man and his teammates, those he started with and trusted the most, focused on Sig's group, racing for not being last it looked like, and it wasn't long before she and her siblings knocked Razer out of the way, making him join Shiv's group in fighting for not being stuck in last place, where the crowd let out a gasp as the infamous racer ended up in dead last, while Jak and his sisters scored the gold once more.

With that done they retired to the bar in Kras that Blitz liked to frequent, confirming that he might not like Daxter's place at all, and found him arguing with Pecker about something, though one thing they talked about was uncles and it looked like Blitz mentioned that he had one, who kept telling his father to stop racing before something bad happened to him, to take care of the family and not worry about racing every single day, even though they knew how that tale ended, based on the information Pecker shared while on the show. Of course Keira and Rayn confirmed that Blitz had no official uncle, as none of the records mentioned such a thing, meaning he was either dead and forgotten, had done something terrible that lead to him being removed from the official records, or Blitz could be lying through his teeth and making things up, where Jak and his sisters were sure that it was the last option after they considered everything they had learned about the man since entering the KGC. Pecker even mentioned that Jak knew who his friends and family were, that he had people he could trust and rely on, so he was nothing like Blitz, as the man claimed that Jak was just like him in some manner, that both of them were always on their own, and he went on to claim that some sort of meter was going off and that they would see what he meant soon enough, before he finished off what was left of his meal and departed before someone could bug him again, like what happened in the Naughty Ottsel.

"Boy am I glad he's gone." Pecker said, where he took a moment to make sure Blitz was gone, as he headed outside to do his job and had to be talking to the cameras or one of the officials, before he flew over to where Jak and his sisters, plus all of their team, happened to be sitting, an area that would be private since the sisters had magic that made it so whatever they talked about wouldn't be shared with those who were sitting around this bar, "Jak, I have some news: Blitz received word that Mizo is planning on bringing in a surprise driver for the final race, a latch ditch effort to make sure you guys fail to win the Championship."

"So, Mizo's coming out at last... finally, I was getting tired of his terrible ploys," Cozy remarked, as her siblings agreed with her statement, just like Keira and the others agreed with her as well, meaning everyone agreed on the theory that Blitz was Mizo and that he was hiding in plain sight the entire time, which meant that if he was coming out to race them during the finale there would be no one with Pecker, giving him control over the cameras if he desired such a thing, before she turned her attention to their friend, "Good job, Pecker, this is good information."

Jak nodded his head once more as she said that, because Pecker had informed them that they were close to facing off with the man pulling the strings, the crime lord Krew made a bet with before his death, and such a thing meant that the fate of Kras City rested on what happened when they tackled the Yellow Eco Cup Grand Prix, the final race of the entire KGC, so he and the others decided to get some well deserved rest before tackling the final events and seeing what happened when Mizo finally took to the track.
> Kras: The Finale
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jak discovered something interesting when morning arrived, as Keira, Rayn, his sisters, and the rest of the team were excited for what was going to happen today, as all they had to do was face down the last of the KGC's events, tackle the Yellow Eco Cup's Grand Prix, and then deal with Mizo, since everyone in this chamber, even Samos and the disguised brothers, who had done nothing during this adventure, agreed that the mystery racer was going to be the crime lord in question, especially when one considered Jak's statement to him earlier in the week.

"Today's the big day... the final events of the Yellow Eco Cup and then the Grand Prix," Rayn said, where it was clear that she was shocked by the fact that they had been able to get this far, even though she did have faith in the abilities of Jak, Twilight, Starlight, Cozy, and everyone else on their team to obtain the remaining gold medals and pave the way for them to win the entire sport, before pulling Mizo out into the open at long last, "Jak, I pray that your luck holds for the rest of the KGC, as we'll need it if Mizo joins the final race."

"If Mizo is better than Razer, I'll gladly face him and take him down," Jak stated, as there was no beating around the bush with this fact, because without his sisters interfering with the previous times he raced Razer he knew that he could beat the best of the best on Mizo's team, meaning he had a feeling that he could face and taken down Mizo if he was the one who was going to be joining them on the track, "and even if it isn't Mizo, I'll take down whoever he sends at us."

Rayn said nothing as the team voiced their agreement, that at this point they had faith in their abilities and knew that the person Mizo sent at Jak and his sisters would be knocked into the ground at some point, to which she chuckled and told all of them that she agreed, that she had a feeling he was telling her the truth and that she had no reason to worry, before she pulled out the tablet she carried at all times, causing the others to ready themselves for the information she was going to give them. The first event of the day was going to be held in Sanctuary, on the Wasteland Isle track this time, and that it was going to be a Capture event, meaning Jak and his sisters would be tackling Razer's team once more, though as Rayn said that she knew none of them needed her to wish them well, as with the abilities of the sisters Razer was going to have a hard time winning any event he took part in. Sure enough the siblings found him and Shiv's group waiting at the isle that was their destination, with the two bases already set up before any of them arrived, though Keira made a quick check of all their vehicles before allowing everyone to leave the transport, just to be sure no devices were added, and once she was done they headed out and took their places on the other side of the arena, causing Razer to climb into his vehicle as they waited for the announcers to start this event. Not a few moments later Rayn, Blitz, and the announcers called for the event to start and caused both teams to surge forward without wasting even a single second, though this time Razer focused on gunning for the siblings while Twilight continued to counter him, since he was known for cheating now and she was sure that some of his weapons were illegal, even though it did require her to use her powers to stop him from doing anything to Jak and their sisters.

In the end, however, Razer's actions helped solidify the defeat of his team, because Shiv's group wanted nothing to do with Jak, Starlight, or even Cozy for that matter, not without someone like Razer backing them up, and as such it allowed them to score all the points needed to win the gold medal for the event, causing the man to curse as he realized his error and he raced off before anyone could stop him, not that Jak and his sisters cared since it meant they were one step closer to their target and the end of the KGC.

After that Rayn informed them that the next event would be taking place in the Icelands, on the Mountaintop Highway for a Death Race, something Jak knew would give Razer time to cool off or stoke his anger to new levels, though for now it was only he and his sisters who raced on the track in question, where they raced against each other and put on a show for the watchers, even though Jak shattered the two hundred and forty score needed for the gold, just like his sisters overcame it as well and added another gold medal to their growing collection. From there Jak, his sisters, and their team headed back to Kras City for a Circuit Race that would be taking place on the Waterfall Loop track, where they found that Razer and UR-86 were more than ready for a tough race, something that excited Jak as he raced against them, though again Twilight came in with her magic when she noticed that Razer had modified his vehicle to constantly fire off a weapon that none of them used during any of the other events, a powerful Peace Maker blast that targeted whoever happened to be in resting in first place. Of course Rayn and the officials seemed worried about such a thing, since it was illegal for something like this to happen, while Blitz seemed happy about what he was seeing, though Twilight cancelled out the attacks by combining her magic and Eco into a barrier that focused on the incoming missiles and appeared for a few seconds, to catch the blast and absorb it so nothing happened to anyone, before disappearing until another one came at them, but the frequency at which he fired them worried her, even though it should lead to him burning out his weapons system for a time. Not even a few moments after that thought came to mind she watched as Razer's racer smoked and he had to pull off to the side for a time, a fitting punishment since it prevented him from racing for the rest of this event, especially when he ended up right in last place all over again, allowing Twilight to breath a sigh of relief as she stopped using her powers for a time and they finished the race at long last.

Jak, of course, ended up in first with Keira right behind him, leaving the sisters to take third through sixth, since Midnight liked to race with them, and the rest of their team to take the remaining places, which prevented Mizo's team from scoring any points again, putting a smile on Rayn's face as Blitz looked down at them with a look of disbelief, as he was expecting Razer to win at long last, and it stayed that way for a time, allowing Pecker to get it and caused Blitz to regain himself again before he stormed off.

With that done Rayn informed them that the next events would be in Haven City, as the first was going to be a Freeze Rally in the Sewer Raceway, meaning Jak and his sisters wouldn't have to worry about Razer showing up again, though it was a nice event to have since they didn't have to stress out while tackling the track, even though it ended with Jak taking first, as usual, and his sisters ending up in random positions following him, as whoever earned second during one of these events ended up in another position during the next one. After that the next two events would be happening on the same track, an odd decision and meant there would be a period of rest between each of them, where they found it was in Haven again and that they would be on the Waterworks Circuit track, where the first one was a Circuit Race, though this time around all of them found that Razer didn't even try to cheat, either because he knew it was futile or Mizo had ordered him to stop, to just race and see if he could overcome them the normal way. Of course that didn't matter in the grand scheme of things, as Jak and his sisters overcame Razer and Shiv's group once more, pushing Mizo's team backwards once more and let their friends pull forward, something that ended with Jak claiming the gold while his sisters and Keira took the positions behind him, just like they had done in the past, making it nearly impossible for Razer and the others to score any points, which the crowd seemed to enjoy. Once that was done they waited for a time as Rayn explained that the other event was going to be a Death Race, another calm one before the siblings and their team dealt with the upcoming storm of the Grand Prix, and this time around the score they needed to beat was a hundred and thirty, an interesting and odd number that was beaten by Jak and his sisters, earning what they assumed had to be the last of the gold medals, though with that done the siblings and their team returned to their base of operations as they readied themselves for the Grand Prix.

Welcome everyone to the final race of the season! The winner here will take home all the marbles, and virtually run Kras  City when it's all over. Blitz stated, speaking to the cameras as soon as the show started, just a few moments after Jak, his sisters, and the rest of the team returned for a short period of time, where they found Pecker waiting near the man, as there was no telling what might happen next with Blitz, before he raised a hand and accepted a tablet that was handed to him, where a smile appeared on his face as he stared at the camera, Wait! This just in, there's been a later entry for the Mizo team. Sources say this mysterious wheel jockey is one of the best drivers in the world! So stay tuned for all the death and destruction!

"And there's no one coming on stage... we've got you, Mizo." Jak commented, because there was no reason for Blitz to not interview the newcomer that was joining the opposing team at the last leg of the race, and no racer he had seen was shy at all, which meant that the man wanted to keep his secret a little while longer, before he was revealed to the world, though as he said that he glanced at the others for a moment, who nodded their heads as they focused on the final Grand Prix and the end of Mizo's rule over Kras City's shadowy empire.

What Rayn discovered was that there were three Circuit Races for the Grand Prix this time, one on the Canyon Run track, the next on the Eastern Tour track, and the last one being on the Dethdrome track, though as everyone headed out they found that Blitz wasn't in his usual place, rather there was a racer joining them that looked a lot like him, causing Jak and his sisters to smile, because this was the best time to reveal his secret, though all of them climbed into their vehicles, while Rayn took her place with the announcers as Pecker took over for Blitz. What they discovered as they headed down the first of the three Circuit Races was that Blitz was far more aggressive than anyone else that Jak and his sisters had faced, during this sport anyway, and he fired upon them as they raced down the Canyon Run track, and he appeared to be a cheater as well, following Razer's attempts from one of the previous events, causing Twilight to go on the defensive once more, even if it put a strain on her magic since Midnight was doing the same with Razer. Sure enough Jak scored first place with Keira and his sisters placing behind him, knocking Blitz down to where his followers were positioned, meaning his team failed to score any points, before they moved onto the Eastern Tour track, finding that their opponents repeated themselves with the cheating and attempts to bring them down, but the sisters did everything possible to stop Blitz and Razer, which they were fine with since it meant Jak could claim first once more. After that it came down to the Dethdrome Circuit Race, as it was the final event of the KGC, where Blitz did everything and anything in his power this time around, to take them down and do some damage to their seemingly perfect season, though in the end his cheating weapons were countered again, by Twilight and Midnight stopping him and Razer, allowing Jak to score first once more, causing the crowd to cheer as Pecker declared him and his team the winners of the Championship.

Of course Blitz, enraged by his loss and what it meant to someone like him, tore off his wig and revealed that he was Mizo, he even verbally confirmed it for all to hear and even said that he never intended on honoring the bet with Krew, even to the point where he informed them that he planned on crushing Kras City as well, something that Pecker used the cameras to tell everyone watching, shattering Mizo's image instantly. In that moment he grabbed the container that Rayn had, one that contained the antidotes none of them needed, jumped into his racer, and drove off like a madman, though Jak took a moment to glance over to his sisters and found that Twilight had separated into her six selves, each channeling a bit of the Eco colors they had access to before firing a ball each that looked like Peace Makers orbs, which combined on Mizo's racer and blew him to pieces.

"There, Mizo is out of the picture and you have control of Kras' entire shadow empire," Jak said, where he glanced over to Rayn for a moment, who nodded her head in agreement, though he had a feeling that they would have plenty to discuss before he, his sisters, and his friends left Kras for their own home, hence why he beckoned for the others to follow him for a time with a smile on his face, "Come on, let's celebrate our victory!"

Sure enough they returned to their base of operations for a short period of time before heading out into the city to join the celebration, though before Twilight joined them she stayed back for a few seconds as her other selves merged with her again, to which she removed the jacket for a time and watched as the orange fur spread up the rest of her right arm and covered her shoulder, only stopping when it reached her back, to which she sighed and covered it up for the time being before she joined her siblings, knowing she had her own conversation to have once this was said and done.
> Interlude: Important Discussions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Following the celebration that was for Jak and his sisters, plus their team, overcome Mizo's obstacles and winning the rest of the KGC, Jak and Rayn held a meeting inside the very chamber that they had listened to Krew's will in, though at this point he knew that there was more to the will than just winning the Championship, as Krew had used them to rat out Mizo and take him down, to secure the rest of Kras City's criminal business for himself and for Rayn so their family could be the only one in charge of things, or at least the leader of them all. Of course they weren't the only ones inside the chamber, as Damas and Praxis, the rulers of Sanctuary and Haven respectively, had gathered as well, at Rayn's request to be more exact, while most knew that in due time Jak would take over things in Haven City, as that was part of his birthright as Damas' heir, though it wasn't important at the moment, not in Rayn's eyes. One thing Rayn expected was for Jak's sisters to be present as well, as the three of them also seemed like they would be important to any and all discussions, though as she thought about that Starlight and Cozy walked in, the former mentioning that the chamber was now protected from eavesdroppers, meaning she must have a spell to do such a thing, while Cozy sat off in a chair that happened to be to the table's right, from Rayn's seat anyway, so she could stare at the door and stop any interlopers from bothering them. It made her curious as to where the last sister might be, since she also expected Twilight to walk in and separate into all of her other selves so they could do, well, whatever it was that they might be doing, though before Starlight took a seat she walked over to Jak and whispered a few words to him, something that made Rayn curious as to what it might be and figured that it had something to do with the missing sister, which was followed by her taking her seat as well.

"Jak, as you no doubt know at this point, being Krew's daughter means I have taken over the family business, and with the death of Mizo I have taken over his business as well," Rayn said, deciding that she might as well break the silence that was hanging in the air and speak to those who had assembled in this part of Kras City, though she had to admit that after all she had seen, of Jak and his sisters, she was a little fearful of him and his potent Eco abilities, especially after seeing what his sisters were capable of, which also meant she had to respect the other leaders, otherwise he'd likely treat her badly or something to make her see the light, "allow me to be frank: I am now the main leader of the shadow sector of Kras City, as the other minor crime lords will be reporting to my people from this point forward... one could say that, with my official position, I could be considered the 'Queen' or 'Baroness' of Kras City. I'm not going to beat around the bush with all of you, as we all have things to do and people to talk with, so I'll get to the point... I, along with the other officials of this city, would like to join the coalition of cities that are currently under your banner, to join Kras with Haven and Sanctuary."

"What brought about this decision?" Damas asked, as he was curious as to why Rayn would decide on something like that, after just gaining control of everything in the shadow sector of this city, especially when he considered the fact that both he and Praxis had, and failed, to convince anyone in Kras to ally with Haven so they could deal with Kor and his Tainted, even though they both knew that a change had been made to those who wanted to rule from the shadows, they knew that the two cities had several powerful individuals protecting them.

"I'm no fool, I've seen a sample of the power that Jak and his sisters are capable of using, which confirms the stories we've heard about them... I'd rather not be on the other side of that power," Rayn admitted, as well she was supposed to be the fearless leader of the Rogue Court, as she was going to call it and needed to inform the minor crime lords once this very meeting was over, she had to admit that there were things she didn't want to tangle with and that included four people who could fight and take down a Dark Maker Terraformer, before she turned her attention to Jak again, "I'd rather be on the side who has that power, so I don't have to worry about that power being turned against me and the people of Kras if, say, one of the minor crime lords did something that greatly offended one of you... say like joining with whatever remains of the Dark Makers and started up plans to take Kras for their own goals... not that such a thing is happening, mind you, otherwise I would have said something before this point in time."

"I believe you." Jak stated, as one thing he had picked up while learning from Praxis and his father, while being with all of his sisters, was an idea of when someone was lying to him, usually because someone, usually Daxter at times, figured out when someone told them a lie, though as he considered that he noticed Daxter off to his left, sitting with Tess as the pair watched what was going on right now, before turning his attention to Rayn again, "We would be honored to have you and Kras as part of our coalition, which protects Feolorath... that's the name of our planet, which we learned from speaking to the Precursor Oracles... from the dangers that threaten it or might threaten it. However, we all know that you likely have a few terms that you want to meet before agreeing to join us officially..."

"Indeed, though I will not speak of stamping out my empire... you wouldn't be speaking to me if that was your plan," Rayn continued, because she knew that if Jak and his sisters had come here to stamp out her father and Mizo's business, a feat she knew they could likely do given what she had seen of Midnight's abilities, they would have crushed her as soon as they had taken Mizo down and proclaimed her to be an enemy of either Kras or their coalition, so since that hadn't happened it was easy for her to see that they had been planning on inviting the city to join Haven and Sanctuary, "plus it would be an exercise in futility, as some minor crime lords might survive and go on to be thorns in your side, so it would be better for us to do a little reorganization to my Shadow Empire. The only term is simple, and yet very important: legitimacy... I work to keep Kras operating smoothly and keep you in the loop of anything that happens, even possibly opening doors for you in any other lands that we might do business in, while the existing systems and rules adapt to incorporate us, to the point where we might be seen as a respectful Guild."

"That's a very big term that you're laying on the table." Praxis stated, though while one might expect them to be opposed to such a thing, and a tiny bit of him was thinking that way when he considered everything Krew was allowed to get away with before the siblings brought ruin upon him, he and Damas could see that Rayn had thought about this since the day her father had died, almost as if she knew that she would come into contact with Jak and his sisters, and had prepared for whatever happened after the Championship was over.

"It is the only card I have to play, in the face of the power that could overwhelm me," Rayn explained, as she was sure that if it wasn't for Twilight and her sisters she would have considered some other terms before offering them to Jak, but with Haven and Sanctuary having a number of Sages, the most powerful Eco wielders in the world, a potent connection to the Precursors or their important Oracles, something unheard of, and beings capable of taking down a Dark Maker machine the size of a mountain, her options were limited and her plan was to prove herself before seeing if there were more terms that could be negotiated between them, before she glanced at Jak, "What do you say, Jak?"

Jak knew that Rayn was asking for a lot, even if it was one term, but she had seen how he and his sisters operated with the rest of their team, knew that they had been striving to uniting their world to prepare for whatever the future held, a fight with a demonic empire if what Eon and that odd cheetah being had told them, a fact they hadn't told her about yet since it seemed so weird, and that to stand against them would bring death to those who opposed them, just like what happened to her father, Errol, and now Mizo, plus he could see that everyone else seemed to approve of the idea.

"I say that we have a deal... and that it will be good to work with you more in the future." Jak replied, because after all the time he, his sisters, and their team spent in Kras City, with Rayn being their link to the officials so they knew exactly what had to be done to reach all of the Grand Prix races they had tackled, even if it was all a ruse to find and take out Mizo, he knew that working with her would be good for everyone.

Damas smiled as he watched his son interact with Rayn and make sure the current terms were acceptable, which he knew they were since Jak agreed to them, as he was going to have a good future as a King, once his training was done and both he and Praxis finally retired, leaving the cities in the hands of him and his sisters, before wondering where Twilight went, as it was unlike one of his daughters to not be with the others, but he had the feeling that she'd be back in time and they would find something else to take down, to which he focused on Jak and what he had created. 





While Jak, Starlight, Cozy, and the others were busy in Kras City, speaking with Rayn about the future, Twilight returned to Haven City, by herself since she left Alvin and her brothers in the care of her siblings, where she stood on the high wall of the Port for a few moments, allowing her to think about what she was going to do next and the individuals she had to talk with about what she discovered back in Kras. A few seconds later she summoned her magic, making sure not to overdo it since her body was reacting in a way that would likely worry Eon when he discovered what was happening to her, unless he already knew and happened to be coming up with a way to help her out, as she locked onto the area that she wanted to teleport to, since she wasn't going to fly all the way over to the Catacombs entrance and fly down to the platform that Eon and the other Precursors called home. One thing she knew, from a few of the previous conversations she had with Gol and Maia, was that the previous Dark Sages were planning on creating their own observation base somewhere that would allow them to overlook Haven, or maybe Sanctuary since Eon's base was below Haven, though she still hadn't figured out why Gol or Maia wanted to do such a thing, other than moving out once they were fully trained, but she focused her mind and stopped letting it wander like before. In the following moments she vanished from where she had been standing and quickly reappeared in the depths of the planet, on the edge of the Planetary Defense System to be exact, where she held her right arm for a moment as she waited for any potential side effects from using magic, especially after everything that had happened so far, but when nothing happened she breathed a sigh of relief and walked forward a little.

Sure enough she found that Eon, Gol, and Maia were working in the central chamber of the massive metallic Oracle that had spoken to them when she and her siblings came down here, back when they were racing to destroy the Dark Maker ship Errol had activated, while the other two Ottsels, Eon's assistants, were absent, likely either checking in with the other Precursor groups or checking something out before reporting back to their boss, but since they seemed to be talking she came to a stop and decided not to interrupt, even if they were turning to look in her direction.

"Ah, Twilight, this is an unexpected surprise. We thought you would be in Kras City, with your siblings..." Eon said, though he cut himself off as he, Gol, and Maia noticed something odd, Twilight was now wearing a long sleeved jacket and just so happened to be rubbing her right arm, making it look a lot like she had done something wrong and had been called up to a supervisor's office, as some of the youngsters apparently said, where he suspected it was about the education system or something, before turning his attention back to Twilight, just like what his companions did, "What's wrong? You seem like you are distracted by something."

"I, um, wanted to talk to you, Gol, and Maia about the Ottselification Process," Twilight replied, as she didn't want to reveal her condition just yet, because she was still coming to terms with what was happening to her body and her powers, even if she was sure that Daxter and possibly Tess had noticed something off about her, even though she had to stop rubbing her arm, to avoid giving them an idea of what was happening to her, "I'm only curious since you said that my sisters and I, at some point in time, would transform into Ottsels as well."

"You have to remember that what we said was only a theory, since you three are from another world," Gol stated, as that was the key piece of information that she seemed to be forgetting, even though he could see that Maia was interested in why this conversation was happening now, since they had explained most of it after Errol's defeat, before he sighed as he thought about the information that Twilight seemed to be after, "but generally when a Sage reaches the point where their body can no longer hold their own power, like what happened to Maia and I, their body will be engulfed in a flash of light and they'll transform into an Ottsel... Daxter's light was covered by all the Dark Eco he fell into, hence why you didn't see it happen, and I suspect that the power of the change propelled him out to where you and your siblings were standing, so he wasn't stuck in the pool forever. That's it, the only way to become an Ottsel is a flash of light that issues an instant change in one's being... there is no 'process' or long winded transformation involved, as we're positive you, Starlight, and Cozy will follow what has happened to all of the Sages that came before you."

"Really? Than how do you explain this?!" Twilight asked, where she wasted no time in shifting her stance as she removed the jacket and pulled the right racing glove off of her right hand, allowing the two articles of clothing to fall to the floor and revealed that she was wearing a light blue shirt with no sleeves below her jacket, though she found that Eon, Gol, and Maia were no staring at her with shock on their faces, as they could see that her right arm had orange Ottsel fur and that her right hand was that of an Ottsel, just sized to fit her current body.

Gol and Maia moved forward immediately, directing her to sit so they could study her body and see what in the world was happening to her, as there were no records of this happening to any of the other Sages that had come before her, and the pair were referring to Eon's entire race, though they were also surprised that the changes only covered her right arm and hand right now, even if it seemed to be waiting before it spread further.

"Twilight, when did this start?" Eon asked, figuring that he might as well allow Gol and Maia to continue their work, since this was something none of them had been expecting and it was vital that they understood what going happening before their eyes, especially since it could happen to Starlight and Cozy, as both were similar to their sister and might follow in her footsteps at some point.

"About a week ago, after a day of racing and testing my limits," Twilight replied, though she focused on Eon as the former Dark Sages took notes on her altered arm, and all of the fur that had replaced her normal coloration, knowing that they would be interested in figuring out why this was happening right now, especially after everything she and her siblings had been through during their adventures, and they even took a sample of her Ottsel fur for later, "I figured that this wouldn't happen for a number of years, given what you guys told us after we helped take down Errol and his Dark Terraformer, and when it first started I thought it was just a fluke... until, well, my entire arm changed into this."

"We weren't expecting something like this to happen, since the transformation is instantaneous," Maia commented, as it was what had happened to her and her brother when they reached this point in their lives, their bodies couldn't hold their Sage powers and eventually the change washed over both of them, allowing them to awaken new powers in the end, not to mention meeting up with Eon and his attendants, before she focused on Twilight once more, who was clearly worried about what her body was going through, "the fact that this is happening to you, and you weren't instantly turned into one of us, means there's something different about you... I mean, we knew that because of the magic that you and your sisters wield in battle, but it's odd to think that such a thing is disrupting the natural process like this."

"The problem is figuring out what that difference is, since you have a few that we have discovered," Gol added, as the first of those differences was the one all of them were familiar with, Twilight and her other selves, which had caused him and his sister to make the suggestion that Twilight was going to become six Ottsels, a fact that was slowly becoming a reality, before he sighed, as this event was going to make things harder on them, "there's something we missed, something that makes you different from your sisters and the Sages that have gone through this process in the past."

"What, like I came from another world or something, and that inhabitants of two worlds were sent here?" Twilight asked, though it was more in a joking manner, since she didn't believe that such a thing given how similar she was to Starlight and Cozy, as in her mind if they were from two different worlds she would have likely appeared in her true form or maybe that of a human, before she let out a sigh as she turned towards Eon, "Please tell me you have something... anything... to tell me that doesn't make me feel like a freak..."

"Twilight, you aren't a freak... something unnatural is happening, that's all." Eon replied, though it was a surprise to see the sudden change in Twilight, that the slow transformation into an Ottsel was causing some harm to her, mentally anyway, as it made her think of herself in another light and he knew that they needed to snap her out of it, or find something else for her to consider while they worked on a way to help her out, before he considered something, "Now the three of us have found, during one of our previous studies on you and your sisters, that your energy signature is different from the energy signatures of your sisters... we originally assumed that it was due to the fact that you technically have six souls inside your body, which are the other versions of you that represent the other types of Eco. My guess is that with your unique set of circumstances, with Midnight and the others being a apart of you, the natural evolution of a Precursor has been... altered, which is the best word I can use to describe what we're seeing right now, to the point where we are seeing something new happen, something different that changes how we'll see things in the future."

"What we do know, according to what you've told us, is that these changes react to your powers," Maia said, as that was one of the things they had been able to uncover while talking to Twilight, which had, in part, pointed to them thinking that this was tied to her magic, though there were all sorts of things they didn't know and needed to test so she, Gol, and Eon could figure things out, hopefully without causing pain to Twilight's body, hence why she gathered a bit of Dark Eco above her right hand, "if that's the case, nothing should happen when I..."

Before Maia could finish her statement she and the others watched as her small sphere of Dark Eco, which she pressed into Twilight's chest to see if something would happen if she used her own Eco powers on the Equestrian that was in front of them, simply disappeared and the Ottsel fur on her arm shuddered for a few seconds, a few bits reaching for the area that her collarbone was located in, even though it stopped after that happened.

"Okay, that's... unusual, to say the least," Gol remarked, though that was an understatement right now, as Twilight's body was now reacting to the limited Eco that was in the environment and any Eco that was used on her, where the former was similar to how he, Maia, and the other Ottsels operated, their states allowed them to interact with the Eco around them, before he considered what exactly had just happened, "however, this does confirm that your body is starting to both look and behave like ours, meaning that using any of your powers, be they magical or Eco in nature, will eventually cause more changes to wash over your body... until you become an Ottsel, like all of the Sages that came before you."

"So the only way for me to slow down this transformation is to stop using my powers?" Twilight inquired, because it was starting to sound like the only way she could remain in this state, without causing the changes to spread all over her body, was to stop using her powers, something that had been with her since the day she was born, causing a look of defeat to appear on her face as she sat there, "I'm not going to beat around the bush or lie to you, I'm not sure that I'll be able to do such a thing, given that I've been using both my magic and Eco powers for a long time, to the point where they're second nature to me... the transformation is going to overwhelm me..."

"Sadly, there is nothing we can do to assist you, as any Eco used on you, be it your own or someone else's, will cause more changes to wash over you," Eon replied, though he wished that there was something he could do to help Twilight, just like how he could tell that Gol and Maia were feeling the same way right now, and he suspected that even if there was a way for them to restrict her powers, like a device of some kind, it would have to be fueled by Eco and it might just cause her to progress at a more rapid pace than what they were seeing, to which he sighed, "but based on our calculations, if you were to abstain from using both your magic and Eco powers you might have a month, maybe two, before the rest of your body starts to change and follows what has happened to your right arm... I'm afraid that your time in our Sage state is almost over, and there's nothing we can do to stop what's coming up next."

Twilight sighed as she replaced her jacket and glove, as it felt like her life was spiraling out of control since there was no way for her to stop the changes and she had no control over anything, especially with the creeping transformation, which she had Eon, Gol, and Maia promise not to tell Jak and her sisters, as she wanted to do it when she was ready to embrace her soon to be true nature, before heading back to Haven, by using a Warp Gate and not her magic, and waiting to see what the future held for her and her siblings.
> Brink: Start of a Journey
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jak and his sisters found that they didn't have a lot of time to rest after the events of Kras City, rather the day after he made the deal with Rayn, joining Kras to the rest of his coalition, Eon called for him, his sisters, Keira, Daxter, Tess, and Samos to join him and his assistants in the meeting chamber that they had spoken in previously, when they explained the nature of this world and the universe, or a portion of it anyway, to everyone, and with the urgency of his summons Jak suspected that a new quest was going to start soon. When they arrived Eon explained the situation to them, that the planet was running out of Eco, as in the four physical colors of Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow, and it was allowing all of the vast Dark Eco to act up in an area of Feolorath called 'Brink', or the Brink as some called it, starting with Eco Storms that would eventually lead to the worst possible future, a total planetary collapse that would kill pretty much everyone who called the planet home. Of course part of the problem was the awakening of the Titan who had been sleeping inside the planet, something Eon and the rest of the Precursors on this world had been preparing for, but things were moving too quickly and there wasn't much they could do, save for using their facilities to stall the incoming destruction and give the siblings time to save the world, though this time Keira needed to join them. Eon explained that a Sage's awakening allowed them to do all sorts of things that were seen as odd, sort of like what happened with Jak and his sisters, though with them, Daxter, and Tess being Sages, in a sense for two of them, Keira's awakening as a Green Sage, combined with her intense knowledge of machines, was the best combination to save the world from what was coming, especially since he was sending them in search of something called the 'Eco Core', a device that not even he and the others knew about.

Since they would be heading into the Brink, an incomplete land that was 'forgotten' by the Precursors, the popular theory many people considered, where Eon explained that it might have been left by something harming Feolorath while he slept, as it was the only thing that made sense to him, Keira went to work with Twilight and Starlight, as she had a prototype ship that would fly through the air, though she needed time to make sure it was operational before they headed for the Brink and started their quest. What she meant by 'prototype' was that the ship in question was one designed to deal with what Eon had warned them about, the Eco Storms that occasionally ravaged the Brink, which were becoming more and more common as time went on, something they could now explain, and she wanted to be sure that the vessel was ready before they left, though with Twilight and Starlight helping her they were able to enchant the inside to be larger than the frame, allowing it to carry more people than she originally intended. Of course that meant that she had to quickly redesign their weapon systems, namely the gun that had been designed to split the back in half before revealing a turret of sorts, though the new design was built for Daxter and Tess in mind, so they could fire at enemies while not being shaken by the recoil, so no accidents happened while they were out in the Brink, and it would come out of a hatch this time around, revealing less targets for any potential enemies to fire at. The other thing they had to do was find some melee weapons for when they reached their destination, as with the Eco instability none of them would be able to transform and Eon was sure that any Eco powers might be rendered useless, so Midnight and the other Twilights wouldn't be able to assist them, which also annoyed Cozy since she was too used to her Dark Form being her melee power, so most of them were being forced into a weaker state to make sure nothing bad happened to them.

Jak went with a staff that resembled the one his father carried at all times, only it had a modification that allowed it to use gun mods, while carrying Mar's sword as well, Cozy went with two Eco daggers that fit into her form so she could fly with her wings and cut her foes down, Starlight decided on a staff as well, this one pure metal and not designed to be a gun at the same time, while Twilight went with a single Eco blade and a smaller gun, allowing her to cover her bases since she was trying to follow the suggestion Eon, Gol, and Maia gave her earlier.

While they worked and got ready for their newest adventure, this one right on the heels of the last one since they wanted to get ahead of the end of the world, before things got worse than they already were, Jak changed into a set of attire that was a combination of his racing attire and what he had worn during their very first adventure, while Starlight, Cozy, and even Twilight did nothing to their clothing, showing that they were fine with what they had on and that it would suit them just fine. Keira, on the other hand, changed into a dark blue coat that had a fair number of buttons and happened to be long sleeved, showing that she might be taking a page out of Twilight's book despite the fact that hers seemed more for a pilot of a ship like what they were building, and she switched her pants for a purple set, one which was designed for more heavy duty work, as she had a feeling that she'd need it while out in the field. While they did that, however, Jak noticed an odd thing that surprised him, Twilight was sticking to avoiding her magic and any of her Eco powers, even refusing to call out her other selves for a short period of time, since this might be the last time she could speak with them before she and the rest of their group reached the Brink and headed into the unknown, but he was sure that she had her reasons, only he hoped that if she was in trouble she would tell them. Other than that nothing major happened, save for Alvin and both of his brothers sitting this adventure out as they considered the nature of the Brink, as everyone let Keira work on the ship, making sure it was airworthy and that they had everything they might possibly need for the journey into the Brink, even if she wished that they could make use of some of the powers that the sisters had used during all of their other adventures, but, despite those thoughts, she was going to do her best to make the most of what they had.

It took Keira three days to make sure everything was ready, and there were things that required a bit more tune up before she confirmed that they were ready to go, but it also gave Eon time to make sure the directions he knew were accurate, so they had a map to where the Brink started and some notes that should point them towards the Eco Core, though once all of them were ready, and Tess ensured that they had more than enough food for this quest, Jak and his sisters climbed into the airship, with Keira, Daxter, and Tess following them, before Jak started up their Hellcat and departed from Haven, as it was time to save the world once more.





It took them some time to reach what they assumed was the Brink, though it was hard to tell since they found a massive Eco Storm between them and where Eon's notes told them to go, especially when Keira consulted her map, causing Jak to fly into the dangerous storm as his sisters go ready for whatever might be waiting for them, where they discovered that it was far stronger than the estimates had been, even if it took them two days to reach this part of the world, meaning they had to brace themselves, especially since the ship rattled as Jak flew through the storm.

"Jeez, this is pretty rough," Jak commented, where he pushed through seemed to be part of the massive storm, even if he hoped that it was all of it since doing it multiple times would cause havoc on their Hellcat, though as he did that Daxter, Tess, and his sisters glanced out to make sure they were fine, since it was hard to tell what was around them with all the clouds that were covering everything.

"We have to find a place to put down, because this Eco Storm seems to be getting worse!" Keira stated, where she looked at her map and found that it was hard to tell exactly what was in front of them or what they were near right now, though one thing the sisters did was pour a bit of their energy into a shield that actually protected their Hellcat and made sure no lightning came at them, even if Twilight had sworn off her powers for some time, "Based on these readings we should be near the Brink, which means the Edge of the World should be somewhere right below us... or at least I hope so."

"Yeah, well I hope we land soon... all this crazy movement isn't helping," Daxter remarked, as the rattling of the ship wasn't good for them and their stomachs, or at least his at the moment, though he and Tess, despite not being able to use any of their own Eco powers given the state of the Brink, were equipped with their own weapons, as he carried a small dagger on his back while Tess had a prototype gun based on the Morph Gun, but she only had a few shots inside it and would need a new weapon if it ran out.

As Jak opened his mouth to reply, since he and Keira were doing everything in their power to stop such a thing, he spotted something that would complicate things, three small ships, which happened to be about the size of the Hellcat and were slightly faster, flew into the area and raced by them, though based on what they could see this was some confirmation on what they had been told, Eco Pirates patrolled parts of the Brink and it appeared that they were going to be targeted by a group of them. The information in question revealed that these individuals hunted the frontier, as the Brink was called the Final or Lost Frontier, depending on who was answering the question, and preyed upon helpless travelers, much like a few merchants or something similar, so while the Pirates were likely assuming that the Hellcat was another soon to be victim Jak and his sisters knew that they could protect it and get out of here. Since it appeared that they only had to worry about three enemies, even if more might be coming now that a target had been found, Daxter and Tess nodded as they hopped into their gunner seats and the turret hatch opened, allowing them and the guns to emerge from the Hellcat before the pair opened fire on the Pirates that were trying to take Jak down, even though they quickly found a new target coming out of the clouds a few seconds later. The new target happened to be a larger ship, red colored to be exact, that seemed to be the main hub for the enemies that were following them, to which Jak and Keira grabbed the controls, as it was designed with a second set in case Jak was distracted or there was a need for better maneuverability, like this moment, where they flew around the ship and angled themselves so Jak could fly the ship out of the area, only for the Pirates to loose grapple hooks that latched onto their wings and stopped them from getting away from their foes.

Once that was done two figures slid down the cables and landed nearby, one appearing to be a bulky male figure who did seem ready for a fight, while the other, who touched down on the left wing after his companion stopped on the right, was a slim figure who seemed to be more like a commander or captain, while also appearing to be more ready to talk, or make whatever demands he had for them.

"Terribly sorry for the inconvenience," the more Captain-like Pirate said, where it sounded like he was more cultured and less of a brute, meaning they had to be right in thinking he was the leader of the Pirates, or maybe the First Mate if they had one, though he became the target of most of the group, even though Daxter and Tess continued to do their best with the turrets so the other Pirates didn't get near them, "but please, allow us to relieve you of your Eco!"

"You want some! Fine, have some!" Twilight replied, where she quickly removed herself from the compartment and did the first thing that came to mind, she rushed over to the bulky figure as Pele pushed a bit of Red Eco into her body, enough to give her strength while not compromising her limits, allowing her to punch him in the gut before knocking him over to the more polite Pirate, who caught his friend before she destroyed the first grapple with her sword, causing her to jump over to the other wing as she faced the pair, "Now, get off our ship... before I make you!"

"Sorry, but I'm not leaving empty handed... not after seeing such a lovely treasure." the polite Pirate stated, looking over to Keira for a moment, meaning he had his eyes set on her and on no one else, while his fellow seemed to understand that messing with them was a bad idea and used a grapple hock to return to the main ship, though Jak growled as Keira and his sisters calmed him, since Eco was becoming unstable and any transformations might be harmful to him.

The same couldn't be said for Twilight, as all six of her selves were protective of Keira, as she was important to Jak and that meant she was important to all six of them, something that caused part of Midnight's power to surge towards the surface as the dark energy washed over her, causing her wings to shudder and morph as Twilight suddenly fell to her knees for a moment, her body shaking as the unstable Eco reacted to what was going on with her. Jak and the others watched as her wings, which were now a mix of her pegasus wings and Midnight's raven wings, started to distort before their eyes, bits of Eco feeding the storm as her wings disappeared entirely, though as that happened Twilight struggled to stand as pain shot through her body, even though Midnight's anger at the Pirate caused the Dark Eco to jump from her blade and puncture the fuel tank, releasing more Eco to fuel the storm as it was damaged. The Pirate, seeing that happen after an odd thing he couldn't explain, did the smart thing as he grabbed onto the other grapple and disconnected it, allowing him to return to his ship with the rest of his crew, who pulled away as they left Jak and Keira to pilot the Hellcat down to a safe place, even though the others were happy that they had managed to escape the Pirates for the time being. As they descended, and Twilight held on as best as she could, they were able to bypass the cloud layer and could finally see what everyone called the Edge of the World, the cascading waterfall that seemed to go on forever, in terms of falling towards the depths, where islands were either held up by their own weight or by what seemed to be some Precursor structures, but Keira was able to land on a rather small island, one that would allow them to go unseen by the Pirates, at least for a time, though finding resources seemed to be a problem given the size of this place.

After landing, which had been rather bumpy, Jak and Keira climbed out and made a quick check of the Hellcat, finding that there were a few dents and holes that could be fixed in no time, though finding more Green Eco for fuel, in an area with no real sources of Eco, meant they might be stuck here, and with the siblings unable to channel their powers they had no real options on what to do next, and while they did that Starlight and Cozy checked on Twilight, who was resting nearby as she recovered from her episode.

"Okay, we just need to find some Green Eco for the fuel, and luckily Twilight missed the Power Cells," Keira commented, as she was done with her inspection and found that no real damage had been done to her Hellcat, rather all the main harm had come from the Pirates, though there was the matter of the damage to the fuel container that Twilight had struck, even if it was on accident, before she sighed and turned towards the siblings, where she focused on Twilight, as her worry was far stronger than whatever anger she might have due to her stunt, "you're okay... right?"

"As fine as I can be, given our situation." Twilight replied, referring to the fact that they couldn't use their Eco powers while they were exploring the Brink, though as she said that she continued to keep her personal problems from them, as this wasn't the time for Jak, Keira, Daxter, Tess, or her sisters to worry about her changes, even though she could feel more of her fur changing as her future Ottsel nature continued to take over, little by little, and it was spreading down her back, a fact that also revealed that her wings were gone, "we'll leave you to your work as we explore this area... hopefully we'll find something to help us out."

As Keira nodded her head, and Tess remained with her to help her fix up the ship, Jak was worried about Twilight, as this was the first time he had seen her like this, trying to keep them from discovering something or even stopping them from worrying about what she had just gone through, but since she seemed unwilling to speak he simply nodded his head as he readied his staff as his siblings readied their weapons as well. What the siblings quickly discovered was that there was only a single path for them to take, one that seemed to head along the edge of this island, and that there happened to be a few red shelled Armadillos that seemed to be very aggressive, to which Jak and his sisters reacted accordingly, falling back on what they did during their first adventure, they punched and kicked their way through the enemies, this time taking their melee weapons into consideration while facing the Armadillos, though as they fell Jak found that they could collect bits of Dark Eco. One interesting thing Twilight noticed was a wall that had a Precursor door that would come out of the ground at some point, as once they were on the other side it raised up to keep all of the enemies on the island from reaching Keira, so when they returned she had a feeling it would close and allow the four of them to pass by before closing again, to which she followed Jak and her sisters as they jumped over a pair of large stones in a river, reaching another part of the island. The siblings then found a wooden bridge, a stone pillar that was just above it, and a large boulder that might fall at some point in the future, though they crossed over it and smashed their way through their enemies, finding their way to a large stone pillar that could be used as a walkway if they knocked it down in some manner, which happened to be what they did before moving forward again, allowing them to pass by a Yellow Eco vent before having to cross a pair of stone platforms to reach a massive stone that seemed to be the end.

What they discovered was that there were a fair number of Armadillos guarding the area, so the siblings had to beat all of them up, even if they didn't want to do such a thing since they were wild animals and not enemies like the Pirates, though after some time it looked like the critters got the message and departed from the area, allowing the siblings to find an odd crystal cluster off to their left.

"No way... that looks like one of the crystals we picked up back when we went looking for Damas," Starlight said, where she and her siblings walked over to where the green crystal was resting, something that Twilight stepped near and carefully pulled it from where it was resting, even though a small bit of Green Eco seemed to dance from the head sized crystal and wrapped around Twilight's right hand for a second, which didn't happen when she, Cozy, or even Jak held it, "I had no idea that the other colors could crystallize like this."

"Still, Keira said that we needed Green Eco... this should be more than enough," Cozy remarked, as the Eco Crystals always had a lot more energy than just an ordinary container, to the point where she knew that Twilight or Keira had considered ways to make a self sustaining world, if they had something that worked like this, though Daxter seemed eager to get out of here and she was eager to get back to their quest.

With the Green Eco Crystal in hand the siblings turned around and made their way back to Keira and the Hellcat, finding a good number of Armadillos in their way who actually fled after a few seconds, save for a pair that attacked the boulder so it fell and smashed the bridge, causing them to use a pole to spin and get back to the door, which opened and allowed all of them to return to Keira, who smiled as the door closed and she found that they had returned. Jak handed handed her the crystal they had discovered and Keira confirmed the thoughts that Twilight had since they discovered it, the crystal was actually drawing in Dark Eco and seemed to be converting it into Green Eco, hence the smaller crystals they had seen over were the siblings discovered it, something that caused her to smile for a moment as she turned back towards the Hellcat for a time. She and Tess went to work moving things and attaching the crystal to the ship's systems, adding a few things she had brought with them, just in the off chance they needed them, where Twilight found that it was linked to the fuel relays and that she added a power condenser plus some loop circuits to focus the flow of Eco, meaning that if this worked they could run off of the crystal for a long time. It took them a few minutes to get everything set up in their proper places, as it took a shorter period of time thanks to Tess and her smaller body allowing her to get places that Keira couldn't, or at least for the time being since she was going to become a Sage at some point and Ottsels followed Sages in the stages of evolution that Eon told them about, though once they were done they smiled and called the siblings over.

In that moment Jak discovered that the ship started just fine, that finding and adding a Green Eco Crystal to it gave them unlimited fuel, given the amount of Dark Eco that seemed to be all over the Brink, making them wonder what they could do with a Red, Blue, and Yellow Eco Crystal, though with that done he called for his sisters to climb in so they could leave and see what else the Brink had in store for them.
> Brink: Aeropa
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As everyone returned to the Hellcat, and got ready to depart after Keira and Tess made sure that all of their tools were back in their proper places, Jak and his sisters glanced up at the sky for a moment, just to make sure that everything was clear, before discovering that a large white airship, with a small number of gold and purple areas, that seemed to be under attack by the Pirates they had encountered upon entering the Brink.

"Looks like our swashbuckling friends are at it again." Jak commented, where he started to tap the controls that were in front of him and powered up the Hellcat once more, as it was time for them to show the Pirates that everything they were doing was wrong and that they were going to pay for what they had done so far, especially since he was a little annoyed that they had gotten in the way of their quest to find the Eco Core.

"We need to help that airship!" Keira stated, though she knew what Jak was doing and made sure everything was ready as well, while Daxter and Tess smiled as they returned to the turret, as once they were within range they would deploy and fire upon their enemies, while Twilight and her sisters remained silent for now, since there was nothing they could do, save for blasting some of the Pirates with magic, which they would try out if an opportunity came up.

Jak nodded as he took to the air and headed for where the large ship was located, something they learned was called the ABS Behemoth, due to a distress call for aid that Keira confirmed came from the large vessel in question, though not a few seconds later they opened fire on the Pirates, aiming for the wings since killing each of them seemed to be overkill, at least for the time being, though there were a fair number of foes for them to take out. Sure enough some of the Pirates noticed them and opened fire on them as well, pulling away from the Behemoth to attack their Hellcat, though Starlight walked over to where Daxter and Tess were standing so she had a better view of things, allowing her to send out small shields so they didn't take any extensive damage, since a repeat of what happened earlier would be bad for them, leaving Cozy and Twilight sitting there as they waited for the battle to be over. The Pirates, which Jak confirmed were good flyers, were also outclassed by him as he angled himself in a way that allowed him to break a wing of each Pirate ship, sending them down to the various small islands that were scattered around the Edge of the World, that way it would take them some time to rebuild their forces and assault anyone else seeking to explore this area. Daxter and Tess also joined him in breaking down the ships that were coming at them, though Keira also figured out that there were some drones among the fleet, in fact a vast number of the ships were drones and made sure the others had that information, so those flyers were destroyed in a matter of seconds, allowing her to activate a salvage device that was attached to their Hellcat, to collect the surviving scrap for them to use in the future, for repairs or purchases.

In the end, however, the Pirates ended up fleeing as Jak and the others tore through the ships that had been attacking the Behemoth before their arrival, though as that happened Keira found that the Behemoth was opening their docking bay for them, meaning whoever was in control of the ship wanted to thank them in person, to which they pulled into the ship and Jak powered the Hellcat down, even if it looked like the loading bay didn't have many people in it.

"That was some impressive flying, friends," a voice said, where they found a dark skinned male, who was wearing a purple tailcoat over a brown vest, with a red neckband, khaki colored pants, brown boots, and seemed to be using a cane, much like a noble person would when the group thought about it, though he did wait for them to climb out of the Hellcat before he said anything else, even if Jak and his sisters recognized the dark coloration of his skin, a sign of Dark Eco being infused into one's body, like Gol and Maia before they became Ottsels, "I am Duke Skyheed, leader of the Aeropan people, and Protector of the Sacred Eco."

"I'm Keira, and this is Jak," Keira replied, though she knew, just from the brief expressions that she caught from Jak and his sisters, that something was up with Skyheed and that withholding information would be the correct way to do things, just until they figured out if he was truly a friend or if he was secretly an enemy, before she beckoned to the others while she gave him their names, just so he knew who he was talking to, "along with his sisters Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy, plus our friends Daxter and Tess."

"A mixed crew, for such a small ship." Skyheed commented, where he was clearly thinking about the size of the ship and all of the people who had climbed out of the Hellcat, maybe thinking about whatever stories the people of the Brink might have heard about the siblings, something that would worry anyone depending on their situation, before he focused on all of them again, "Anyway, you have my thanks for taking care of those dreadful vagabonds... ever since we began looking for the Eco Core, the Pirates have increased their attacks on us. To be honest, I am surprised to find anyone out here flying solo, especially with how aggressive they have become lately."

"You're looking for the Eco Core?" Twilight asked, though while she said that she had to resist the urge to shudder, as she could feel something off about the Behemoth, what she had no idea, and it might play havoc with her body at some point, so she was hoping they got this over with and got back to their mission, but her siblings and Keira were focused on what Skyheed was saying, just to know what his answer was.

"Yes, because the Eco situation is worsening by the day and it seems to be our only hope," Skyheed replied, which made a bit of sense to the team since they knew it would fix things, though if Keira had her way they could do wonders for the rest of the world, before he sighed as he thought about something and glanced at the Hellcat for a few seconds, though it took him no time to focus on them again, "Still, it would seem that we're both enemies of the Pirates, as it seems they damaged your ship, so maybe you would consider allying with us and aiding us in our search for our salvation? Come, I will give you a tour of Aeropa, show you where you can make repairs to your ship, and maybe where you can rest before you head out to face the dangers of the Brink again."

Jak said that they would consider it, especially due to their run in with the Pirates, and Skyheed nodded, knowing that this wasn't an easy decision to make when they had only just met each other, before he informed them that the Behemoth would be reaching Aeropa, a city that was built on top of a massive piece of earth, one held up by Precursor metal, though it wasn't flattened like one would expect, so each street was on another level than the one before or after it, in about ten minutes, so it gave them time to rest and check out the ship.

"You guys felt that, right?" Jak quietly asked, speaking once he was sure that Skyheed was out of the area, since they had no desire for the Duke to hear what he had to say, and even if there were people around them he had a feeling that either Twilight or Starlight would form a barrier of some kind around them, though where was one thing he was referring to and he wanted to be sure that those who could feel it understood what this meant.

"Dark Eco... minuscule amounts, but there none the less." Twilight remarked, though it made her wonder if Aeropa would have a similar feeling to what she had felt from Skyheed's massive ship, because if it did she might be sick, since she had a feeling that a strong source of Eco energy, or even residue, might impact her awakening Ottsel nature and influence what was happening to her body.

Starlight, Cozy, Daxter, Tess, and Keira agreed with their comments, that they might have been wrong to help Skyheed out, because if their initial thoughts were correct, and he happened to be an enemy, that would mean the Pirates, in a very odd twist, were actually the good guys, though for now each of them decided to keep quiet and see what was going on before jumping to conclusions. Truth be told Jak didn't want to deal with another villain, especially so soon after dealing with Mizo in Kras City, but given that the fate of the world depended on their quest, which usually conflicted with the villain and their goals, he knew that it was only a matter of time until they clashed with whoever the villain was and tore down whatever foul plans they might have created, once he and his sisters had enough information anyway. As they did that Keira took a few moments to look over the ship again, with Tess helping her out, because they wanted to make sure everyone thought they were worried about it, and while she was she already knew that it was just fine, but this meant less questions were asked as people ignored them to do whatever their jobs were. Other than that there was nothing much they could do but wait for the Behemoth to reach their destination, though when it did Skyheed sent them the coordinates for the docking bay of his domain, allowing Jak, Keira, his sisters, and their friends to climb into the Hellcat before heading down to where the docking bay was located, giving them a good opportunity to see the mountain city in question.

When they landed in the docking bay the group climbed out, after Starlight made sure to protect it with a magical spell to prevent thieves from stealing it, before Jak lead the way as they entered the city of Aeropa, where they found that it looked like a peaceful city, with people walking around in Haven-like attire and with smiles on their faces, not to mention all sorts of tables, lights, and other things that made it look like a thriving city. Though there was only one problem with everything they were seeing right now, Dark Eco was in nearly everything around them, in minuscule amounts anyway, save for the depths based on everything Twilight felt as all of them walked down one of the streets, as the sewers likely held a massive amount of Dark Eco, something that caused her to steel herself and not be influenced by what she was feeling, since she was trying to slow down the changes. Jak, however, noticed Twilight acting weird and knew that something was up with his sister, something that Starlight and Cozy had noticed previously, even Daxter, Tess, and Keira had noticed it as well, as in the past she used her magic whenever she wanted, but right now she seemed to be holding back, in both magic and Eco, so it make her wonder if something was wrong and what that something might be. Of course part of him thought back to what Eon had told them, about Sages and the next stage of their evolution, but for now he decided to keep an eye on her while they focused on taking down whoever happened to be the villain of this adventure, so the moment something were to happen, like her collapsing for example, he could assist her.

One thing Keira told them was that she might have figured out a way to harness the bits of Dark Eco they had found back on the small island they had crashed on, using a method similar to the crystal, so it provided them with a needed boost to their melee powers, even if Twilight hesitated before allowing Keira to do the same to her, but once that was done Jak and his sisters found that their Communicator came out to speak with them.

Well, Jak! What do you think of our magnificent city? the Communicator said, where they found that Skyheed was the one talking to them, or at least leaving a message that they could think about before acting on it, though Jak and his sisters remained silent as the Duke spoke to them, just in case he revealed any useful information to them, When you're done sightseeing, come meet with me at the Eco Seeker Sanctum.

The group glanced at each other for a moment, as an Eco Seeker sounded useful and it meant they might need it for their own quest, to which they followed the map that was sent along with the message, so they knew where to go, and quickly made their way through Aeropa, passing under gates that raised as Jak, his sisters, and Keira approached them, where all of them found Daxter on his usual perch on Jak's shoulder and Tess did the same for a time, only she was on Keira's right shoulder, before they found the building in question... and found Skyheed standing next to someone who wore a set of attire that matched Skyheed's, only with a sash that made him look like a Chancellor.

"Welcome back. I trust your stay with us has been enlightening?" Skyheed inquired, speaking like he was welcoming a few old friends to a place they hadn't been to in a long time, meaning he already thought highly of them and it made Jak more than a little worried about things, while the Chancellor seemed unhappy with how the Duke was acting, why would likely be revealed in some manner.

"We're still a few answers short." Jak admitted, though he decided not to say that they hadn't been given any time to think about what was going on and everything they had learned so far, something he was mostly leaving to Twilight and Starlight since they would explain the unknown aspects to him in a matter of seconds, while at the same time the others nodded to show that they agreed with him.

"And I have questions for you as well." the Chancellor replied, where he sounded like he had some great authority over the city, which might mean he was Skyheed's equal in some manner and that it was also his responsibility to make sure those under his care were safe and sound, something that was understandable since it was what Jak did whenever he thought about Haven and Sanctuary, "For instance, why are you out here on the Brink?"

"Please forgive Chancellor Ruskin, he gets... suspicious... when people with your sort of power appear in the nick of time, or right on time in some instances," Skyheed said, as he didn't want them to be annoyed with him and his Chancellor, no doubt due to what happened with the Pirates who had been attacking his ship earlier, plus he had to know something about all of them, though if that was true they were at a major disadvantage.

"Don't worry, we understand. We're looking for a new source of Eco, same as you." Keira replied, as it seemed like telling them that piece of information might be the best thing for them right now, since it might allow them to get further along in their quest and allow them to learn more about who was friend or foe, even if the siblings were keeping their eyes and ears open for anything else.

"Such a noble pursuit, from people of your age. We might be able to assist each other." Skyheed commented, to which he glanced over to Ruskin for a moment and nodded his head, something that caused the Chancellor to pull his hands out from behind his back, where he had been keeping them since before their arrival, and revealed a box shaped device that had to be of Precursor origin, given the coloration and design, which seemed like it could open in some manner, "This is the Eco Seeker, a device said to point towards any major source of Eco... we had hoped that it would point us toward the location of the Eco Core, but we haven't been able to unlock. However, with the Four Sages of Sanctuary among us, with one of our world's most skilled machinists with them, who happens to be a Sage in training herself, I'm sure that you will have more luck with it... and even if you can't do anything with it, I would entrust it to you, after seeing your skills in the Danger Course, since you might be able to unlock it."

That raised instant red flags in Jak's mind, as this was the first time that someone knew of them and reacted accordingly, as he was cautious enough to make sure they didn't turn against him and his people, though he said nothing as Ruskin handed him the Eco Seeker, where he focused his mind and found that, after some effort, he was unable to do anything with it, save for confirming that there was too much darkness for the artifact to work. On the off chance that they might be more successful than he was, given their magical nature, he asked his sisters to check and see if the same happened when they worked with the important artifact, only to find that nothing happened when Starlight focused on her power and the same was true for Cozy, which made him doubt his idea, before turning to Twilight for a moment, who rubbed her right arm as she stared at the artifact. It was another sign that something was wrong, what he had no idea and it really made all of them worry that she was hiding a secret from them, especially with how close all of them were, though Twilight sighed and took the artifact with her left hand, showing that it was more nerves since her sisters had failed to do anything with it, before she braced herself and pressed her other hand against it as she focused on her powers. What happened was that a surge of Eco power, the same that Jak and his sisters had felt when they tried to access the artifact, surged through both of her arms and seemed to shock her body, like it was interacting with her six colors or something, before Jak quickly took the Eco Seeker before more pain was inflicted on her body, causing her to huff as she fell to her knees for a moment, where some sweat appeared on her forehead.

With that done, and none of them were able to do anything, they decided to heed Skyheed's words and headed back over to the Danger Course, while Keira held onto the Eco Seeker since it didn't do anything to her, where Jak found a new style Blaster mod for his staff and added it to it before he and his sisters made their way through the Danger Course, scoring far more than the requirement as they showed Ruskin that they were very skilled in the art of combat, even though Twilight stayed with Keira since her body was still recovering, where Skyheed called them to the chamber the Eco Seeker was kept in for some final words before they got to work.

"The three of you have proven yourselves to be very capable, even if one sister was unable to participate at this time, but she may tackle it when her health is better," Skyheed said, speaking to the group when they walked into the chamber he had called them to, while Ruskin stood nearby and simply observed them for a time, especially since Twilight and Keira stood next to each other, before he gestured to the artifact in Keira's hands, "Our ancestors warned us about Dark Eco, and how dangerous it is... with the Eco Seeker, perhaps you can find the more fair Light Eco."

In that moment the wall to their left exploded as something interesting happened, the Pirate from before, along with one of his companions, swung down on the group while they were distracted, the main one taking Keira and the Eco Seeker as his partner grabbed Twilight, before both of them touched down near the opening, where one of their ships happened to be on the other side, and jumped out of Aeropa, taking off with Keira and Twilight being held captive, as Tess had been knocked to the ground in the chaos... to which Jak picked Tess up as he, Daxter, and his sisters headed back to the Hellcat, as it was time to deal with the Pirates and see what was truly going on.
> Brink: New Information
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It didn't take Jak, Starlight, and Cozy that long to get back to the docking bay, where Daxter and Tess, who had been riding on Jak's shoulders the entire time, jumped back and prepared to use the turret once more, while Starlight joined Jak up front as Cozy remained back with the Ottsels, though once they were ready to go Jak pulled out of Aeropa and followed the energy signature of Twilight, which Starlight was tracking.

I would love to stay and chat, a voice said, where it appeared that the Pirate expected them to chase after him and he had figured out what their communication signal was, meaning he wanted to say something before he left the area that Aeropa was built in, so he could return to wherever his main ship happened to be resting, since it wasn't near Skyheed's city, at least from what they could see, but I have what I came...

"You let Keira, Twilight, and the Eco Seeker go right now, before we decide to rip out your spine and shove it where the sun doesn't shine." Jak replied, mostly because some people reacted and submitted to such a statement, like what happened when Cozy threatened Blitz back during the Championship, before they learned that he was Mizo hiding in plain sight, even if Daxter kept working on the turret.

All they got from that was that Keira told the Pirate right, that Jak would be angry and would no doubt threaten him for his deed, before the communicator went down and forced them to follow after the Pirate's ship, which seemed to be ducking into a open passage in a mountain formation, one that happened to have lava below them as they flew after their target, but it seemed that their target had no intention of surrendering to them. As they followed after their target Jak dodged a couple of flaming boulders and shot down some small Pirate drones, which were also taken down by Daxter and Tess if he were to miss one, though the main thing he noticed was that there were rings made out of Precursor metal working right now, molding the passage into whatever the Precursors wanted to create, making him wonder how much of the world was natural and how much was influenced by Eon's people. This did, however, give them an opportunity to use another tool that Keira had added to the Hellcat, as it was a grapple system that actually fired Daxter at Jak's target and he would do all sorts of damage to his target, collecting scrap and technology to either study or add to the Hellcat, which required him to get off the turret, leaving it in Tess' control, before doing his best to harm the enemy ship. Of course the Pirate moved out of the area after a bit of time and forced them to recall Daxter before following after him, finding that he headed into yet another tunnel in an attempt to lose his pursuer, though the second time Daxter actually stole a modification that could be added to the Hellcat, which was repeated on his third pass.

In the end, however, the Pirate got the better of them by luring them into an ambush near a waterfall, back near the Edge of the World to be exact, and as Jak started to move out of the way his enemies were able to shoot the engines, forcing Jak to land on another island as the Pirates flew off with Keira, Twilight, and the Eco Seeker, even though he landed in a way that tore the left wing clean off.

"I'm starting to dislike this place, and our adventure only just started," Cozy remarked, where she and the others climbed out of the Hellcat and found that there was nothing they could do to fix the ship, as Twilight and Keira were the ones that could do that, before she spotted what appeared to be a door made out of wood nearby, which her siblings spotted not a few seconds later, "though maybe we can find a few tools to fix the ship... or find another one to use to chase after them and come back when we rescue Keira and Twilight."

Jak said nothing, as he was angry over losing Keira in such a way, not to mention that Twilight seemed sick and unable to do anything to protect herself, before he opened the door and found a Scatter Mod for his gunstaff, which he collected as they moved forward, using a pair of poles and some stone platforms that were along the earthen path that happened to be on the other side of the door, one that brought them to a Precursor Oracle of some kind, as it was about Jak's size and had big blue eyes. What happened next was that it glowed before bestowing a new Red Eco power on the three of them, leaving Daxter and Tess, the latter riding on Starlight's shoulder for the time being, to watch for a few seconds before Jak and his sisters touched down on the ground, where they found that each of them were capable of shaping their Eco into a red sphere that could be left behind like a landmine and explode when necessary, doing no damage to them based on the test that Starlight ran. Cozy, on the other hand, used her new Eco Mine to blast apart a cracked boulder that was blocking part of the path, scattering rock while allowing them to move forward once more, though Starlight made a note of where this statue was since adding it to Twilight's arsenal would be good, especially since none of them were in pain and that was something she happened to be dealing with. With that done they continued to follow the path and discovered a number of yellow robots that were cutting into some trees with their saw hands, though when Jak and his sisters got close the robots turned and attacked them without even a second thought, causing the siblings to lash out with their weapons as each one crushed their opponents and opened the way for them to move forward.

After that they found an area with several more cutter robots and it proved to be a good place to use their Eco Mines, due to their enemies rushing straight at them and they collided with the mines, which the siblings detonated on top of them a few seconds later, though just beyond where Jak found the second group they discovered a metallic chest that had what looked like a jacket inside it, which Cozy collected just for the sake of it, before smashing down a pillar to open the way for them to move even deeper. Not even a few seconds later Jak and his sisters found what appeared to be blue Blast Bots, in a style that didn't look anything like those made by Errol or the few Praxis had used before they freed him from Kor's dark control, which were capable of firing beams of energy at those they perceived to be enemies, namely the siblings and the two Ottsels, causing the siblings to be careful since Jak was the only one with a gun and their tactics were far more limited this time around. As such they had to rest every now and then, after clearing an area of enemies, but after clearing out all of the robots that were nearby, including the cutter bots, Jak and his sisters had to run through a tree sized passage as a few trees were cut down, no doubt pushed into this area for processing at some point, before reaching a river that had a number of cracked boulders blocking the way forward, so they took turns blasting their way towards whatever was at the end of this path. Daxter and Tess, of course, did their best to keep an eye out for enemies and informed the siblings of any hazards, since there wasn't much they could do since both of their abilities would cause harm to their bodies, before they found their way to another area that had a few blaster bots and a passage with cutter bots working on some trees, which fell as everyone moved by them.

That eventually brought Jak and his sisters to an area that had a white electrical barrier, though they smashed through all of the blaster bots that were guarding the area and Jak tore the power generator to pieces in seconds, allowing them to enter an area that had a hut of some kind in it, something that became their destination as they climbed up to what had to be the hatch heading inside, where an elderly man with a long beard, wearing complex looking goggles, poked his head out and stopped them in their tracks.

"The three of you don't scare easily." the old man stated, informing them that he must have been watching, how none of them knew and none of them wanted to question in, since they were on a time clock given what happened to Keira and Twilight, before a look of understand appeared on the man's face for a moment, no doubt seeing something while they stared at each other, "Ah, I see. You've been touched with Dark Eco... I know it when I see it."

"Okay. Who are you?" Starlight asked, though based on the man's words it seemed like he might be a Sage, a Dark Sage based on what they had just learned from him, or maybe he was just a student of Eco and happened to study the dark color at some point in the past, before she considered another question they might want to have answered, at least before getting to the main question on their minds, "Also, what are you doing all the way out here?"

"Huh, good questions... it's two for two, I have no idea." the old man replied, where he thought about that for a moment, no doubt worried about the fact that there were things he should know but didn't remember, even if he pulled himself out of his hut and revealed that he was wearing an older machinist outfit, something that caused them to smile since it meant they might have found their answer, "Oh, and the answer is yes, I built those robots. In fact, I've already taken a look at the damage to your ship... beautiful machine by the way... and the fusion rods are shot to Shiloh, though without any juice, be it a little or a lot, you're stuck here with me... however, there is one Velonium Power Rod on this island..."

"Just tell us where it is and we'll go get it... my girlfriend and our sister were kidnapped by Pirates." Jak stated, figuring that if the man knew that they were on a time limit he might give them the information they needed without beating around the bush, like so many others did when they discussed things, something that caused the old man to gesture to one of the paths for a moment and mentioned something about the 'Uber-Bot 888'.

As it turned out the Uber-Bot 888 was the old man's most dangerous robot, which seemed like a good challenge and even came with a chest that contained an upgrade for the Blaster, though with that done the siblings headed down the path the old man told them about, even though it meant passing through a pair of wooden barriers that had been set up to keep something away from the hut and the old man. The path brought them to a smaller stream and another Precursor Totem, as that was what Starlight was going to call these objects, which granted Jak and his sisters a new Green Eco power, one that allowed them to use the small patches of green crystals on the group to make large crystalline platforms, which let the siblings find an area with more cutter bots that wanted to tear all of them down. Using that power also allowed the user to make crystalline bridges for them to walk on, giving them a way to walk over a river a lava, before finding an open area on the other side, one that seemed large enough for a large creature to rest in, and sure enough a large yellow robot jumped down into the area they were in, one that had to be the Uber-Bot, even if the old man had failed to give them an idea of what they were looking for. As it turned out the robot seemed capable of creating shockwaves by bringing both fists down on the ground and could fire saw blades from it's back, though it appeared that the key to defeating it was to throw out an Eco Mine and detonate it on top of the Uber-Bot, damaging it so the others could deal some additional damage, wrecking all of it's plating and limbs as the next couple of moments ticked by, and when it tried to flee Starlight trapped it with her magic and literally tore the Uber-Bot apart.

Jak waited for a few moments, just to be sure that the robot was destroyed and that it wouldn't put itself back together, as it was possible, though once everything was said and done he found a blue crystal in a device that had to be the piece they needed, so with that in hand they turned around before retracing their steps back to the old man's hut, where they found that their ship had been pulled into a makeshift docking bay and that it was all patched up, so Daxter and Tess took a few moments to make sure everything was fine, and the power rod and their new modifications were in place, before they all climbed in and took off.

Of course he would have said something about the old man, since it seemed unfair to leave him behind after all his hard work on their Hellcat, but he seemed to be stuck inside his hut and didn't want to come out, to which he took to the air in a matter of seconds and sought out the Pirate who stole Keira and Twilight, something that allowed him to find the rather large Pirate ship they had flown around earlier pulling out of the area. As such he targeted it immediately, which gave him a chance to use both of their new ship abilities when they found some of the smaller Pirate vessels flying around the main one, maybe a defensive measure in case they survived and came looking for revenge, though this time he focused on their true target while Daxter and Tess focused on all of the smaller ships, leaving Starlight and Cozy to watch what was going on and keep an eye out for danger. Jak's first target happened to be the massive propellers below the ship, a pair that did seem to be one of the ways that allowed the Pirate ship to move around this part of the world, though instead of totally destroying them he damaged them enough to make them stop working, leaving them intact so that the Pirates could do repairs once Keira and Twilight were safe and the Eco Seeker had been reclaimed. Once those were taken care of he took a look at the rest of the ship and opened fire on the three main thrusters that were on the backside of the ship, repeating his movements by damaging them enough to knock all of them offline, without totally destroying them, while Daxter and Tess continued to gun down all of their enemies, sending those with pilots down to the various islands while destroying all of the drones without a second thought.

With all of that done, and the turrets were wrecked by Daxter and Tess, Starlight found that the docking bay hatch for the Pirate ship was opening with no message, causing Jak to fly in as she and Cozy prepared themselves, though once he came to a stop, and they were brought up into a large docking bay with room for five ships, he powered down the Hellcat before he and his sisters jumped out with their Ottsels riding on their shoulders, before they headed into the ship and found that all of the Pirates they passed by stood off to the side, allowing them to move without obstacles... even the brute took one look at them and stepped out of the way, allowing them to see Keira standing near the Pirate Captain, though Twilight was nowhere to be seen.

"You!" Cozy growled, where she approached the Pirate Captain as her Dark Eco flared, something that caused some of her Dark Eco features to appear once more, like whenever she morphed into her battle form in the past, and since Keira and Twilight had been kidnapped she wasn't too happy with the Pirates anymore, though while she had to suffer through a bit of pain, since transforming wasn't allowed in the Brink and her anger overrode her judgement, the Captain jumped when he saw her claws and scales, before they heard the sound of a nearby window being broken.

"Oh by the Precursors! You had one job!" Keira exclaimed, something that caused Jak and his sisters to pause, as it looked like Keira must have talked with the Pirate Captain and figured out a way to make him, not to mention his crew, serve her in some manner, something Jak could agree with since sometimes she was the one with the better answers and ideas, to which she rounded on the Captain, who must have been holding onto the Eco Seeker before their arrival, an artifact that was now missing based on what they were seeing, "Phoenix, I told you to hang onto the Eco Seeker until we figured out how to unlock it and use it to find the Eco Core... how could you mess that up, especially after everyone in the Brink has heard the stories of what Jak and his sisters are capable of?"

"Seeing is believing, at times... and her rage form is more deadly than the stories claim," the Pirate Captain, Pheonix, said, showing them that while he was usually brave and fearless, good qualities to have in someone who wanted to lead a band of Pirates, he had also been caught off guard by Cozy's partial transformation and it had caused him to jump, even if such a thing meant he dropped the Eco Seeker, which was now either on one of the scattered islands or down in the water, the latter meaning it would be impossible to retrieve it without magic, "plus we have heard of the Four Sages, of what you are capable of doing... I only acted arrogant since I did not believe that you were them, but it would appear that I was wrong to think that way. You have my apologies, great ones."

"Accepted... and besides, I'd rather work with you than with Skyheed, as we figured some things out during our short time in Aeropa, which we can discuss later," Jak replied, though he was happy to see that Keira had calmed the Pirates down in the short bit of time they had been separated from each other, as right now they had two main objectives that needed to be completed before he even considered going after the legendary Eco Core, which everyone in the Brink seemed to be looking for, based on what they had learned so far, "we should focus on retrieving the Eco Seeker, since that's the key to finding the Eco Core and saving our world, but first I have to ask: where is Twilight?"

As Phoenix opened his mouth to reply, however, they heard the sound of someone groaning in pain, Twilight to be exact, coming from a room that they had walked by when looking for Keira, though Jak blamed themselves for being blinded by rage or anger for a short period of time, before they found that none of the Pirates were nearby as Starlight opened the door, revealing that Twilight was inside it and that she was sitting on the floor with her back to the door. In that moment, as Jak opened his mouth to say something, he and the others watched as something weird happened, her tail started to glow before their eyes, with the hairs becoming infused with Eco energy, before it all broke apart and surged through the hole in her pants that her tail usually poked through, just like how Starlight and Cozy had one for their own tails. Of course that was when something else happened, a fully grown Ottsel tail, one that matched what Daxter and Tess had while also being sized to fit Twilight's body, burst out of the hole in question before coming to a stop near the ground, where if she stood up Jak had a feeling it would nearly touch the floor, though it caused all of them to stand there with shock on their faces, even if Twilight seemed to breathe a sigh of relief before noticing that she had company. Phoenix, however, had no idea what was going on and silently excused himself so he could focus on the ship, that way they could figure out what in the world had happened, not to mention what he needed to be told to understand what he had witnessed, leaving Jak and his sisters to approach Twilight as Keira closed the door so they wouldn't be interrupted.

"Twilight, it's good to see that your alright," Starlight said, as there wasn't much to say in this moment, because what they had just witnessed confirmed what she and her siblings had thought during the course of the KGC, that Twilight's odd and irregular behavior could be attributed to something specific, namely the event that Eon had warned them about during their conversation, the Ottsel transformation, before she paused for a moment, "...your body is fine, right?"

"...for now..." Twilight replied, though as she glanced back she stood up and found that her body did seem better, that the sickness she felt back in Aeropa had gone away after another alteration had made itself known, where she already knew that walking was going to be weird with a brand new tail, but as she studied that Jak noticed something else, Twilight had decreased in size a little, two to three inches, before she sighed and glanced at them, "but this is only the newest change that my body has gone through..."

Jak, Starlight, Cozy, Keira, Daxter, and Tess watched as Twilight pulled off her jacket, both of her gloves, and removed her shirt for a time as well, even if the last part was positioned so it covered her chest, allowing them to see that her right arm and hand matched what an Ottsel had, while the orange fur was spreading everywhere else, covering the entirety of her back based on what they could see, meaning it was only a matter of time until the rest of her body changed and Twilight became an Ottsel fully.

"Twilight... when did this start?" Jak asked, speaking the question that was on everyone's minds right now, because while they knew that the tail was brand new, since they had just seen it replace her pony tail, the rest of the changes seemed like it had taken some time for them to become reality, though as she said that Twilight replaced her shirt, deciding not to even worry about the jacket or gloves.

"...back during the KGC, the day you told Razer and Mizo that the Championship was nothing," Twilight replied, where Jak could see that she felt terrible for keeping this secret from him and their sisters, even though he understood why she had done such a thing, since they had been focused on finding out where Mizo was and taking him out, before she looked at her right hand for a few seconds, "I didn't want to worry you guys, since we were on a mission, and when you talked with Rayn, about joining the coalition, I asked Eon about this and learned that they had no idea what was going on... I can't use magic or Eco anymore... I mean, it's not like I lost those powers, the problem is that if I were to use either one my actions would only speed up the transformation..."

Jak could see that Twilight seemed lost, that she had been so used to using her powers and now she couldn't use them, all because she was afraid of being turned into an Ottsel and not being able to help them in their quest, to which he stepped up and embraced her, promising that they would do everything in their power to help her out while they worked to save their world from the danger it faced, just like the others agreed with as they joined them for a group hug, as they weren't about to leave her to face this alone as they faced whatever the future held.
> Brink: Retrieval
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Since they were on a time clock, since they had no idea how long it would take for the unstable Eco Storm to spread out and endanger Haven, Sanctuary, and Kras, plus any other islands and continents they hadn't explored, Keira was only able to give Twilight thirty minutes to get ready for the next part of their quest, heading back down to one of the islands so she, Jak, and their sisters could recover the Eco Seeker. She wanted to give Twilight more time, especially after everything she had been through since they came to this part of the world, as her body had changed twice in a single day already and being out in the Brink was bound to influence her rapidly awakening Ottsel nature, increasing the amount of changes that she would be suffering most likely, but if they wasted too much time there was no telling what would happen. Twilight, for the most part, understood what she was saying and simply changed her clothing, putting on a blue shirt that showed off her midriff and a pair of blue shorts that had a slot for an Ottsel tail, which she had to make with a bit of her magic, while deciding not to cover up her right arm, because based on how fast she was changing she was sure that more would change in the near future and would make covering her arm up unnecessary. Keira, on the other hand, stayed in an area of the Pirate ship, so called the Phantom Blade, that had a number of crystals and devices to work with, meaning she would work on her own awakening nature as a Green Eco Sage and maybe make something to help them on their quest, though it also meant that she would be out of harms way, as it appeared that Phoenix was actually a good person, despite his first encounter with them, and Skyheed was definitely the villain.

Of course one of the things that Keira had to tell Phoenix was that Skyheed wasn't behind the changes Twilight happened to be experiencing, though as she spoke with him Jak and his sisters headed back to the Hellcat, as her readings indicated that the Eco Seeker had landed on the island they had crashed on earlier, to which he activated their ship as everyone took their places and departed before someone stopped them, allowing him to take them down to where they had crashed not even an hour ago.

"So, this is where you guys landed," Twilight commented, taking in the island in question, which had a volcano on it, while Jak flew down and landed in the makeshift loading bay that the old man she had been told about must have built for his own purposes at one point in time, though as he landed everyone climbed out and she got a good look at the hut that was on the other side of the door, before Starlight surrounded her with her magic, "Starlight, what are you doing?"

"Taking you to the Precursor Totems we found, since they gave us powers that don't harm us," Starlight replied, though as Twilight opened her mouth to complain, that more Eco was the last thing she needed at this point in time, she realized the reasoning behind why her sister wanted to do this, as it seemed like the Brink had Eco powers that were totally okay for a Sage or one in training to use, to which she simply sighed and nodded her head.

Jak said nothing as Starlight levitated herself into the air and carried Twilight with her, though none of them were used to seeing Twilight like this, something he hoped would pass in time since having her be afraid of her own powers weakened all of them, given that as a team they were nearly unbeatable and they had to get used to not having access to most of the arsenal they were used to having, before he noticed the pair move towards the Green Eco Totem, to which he said nothing for a few seconds and waited for them to rejoin him and Cozy. Sure enough he, Cozy, Daxter, and Tess discovered no new changes when Twilight was dropped onto the ground in front of them and Starlight landed nearby, where she confirmed that nothing happened when she had both Totems grant Twilight their power, meaning they might have found a way for her to slow down the transformation into an Ottsel, even though channeling these new Eco powers would also change her in due time, since it was Eco at the end of the day, but this was good enough. Twilight understood this fact and fell in with her siblings once more, while Daxter took his usual perch and Tess remained on Starlight's, as both agreed that riding on another Ottsel's shoulder seemed weird, even if Twilight wasn't a full Ottsel yet, before they made their way over to one of the metallic doors and found that it definitely headed towards the volcano, an area her siblings hadn't explored previously, even if the path seemed to have it's own hazards. The first thing that had to be done was tap into the crystals that were in the ground, in an area that was full of molten looking ground and platforms, despite the fact that each looked like no harm would come to them, to which Twilight stepped forward and used her new Eco power, which she called Eco Construct, on the crystals to raise a number of them to act as platforms so they could reach the top of this area.

Of course as Jak and his sisters climbed the area Daxter joined Jak in keeping an eye on Twilight, finding that she was a bit slower than usual, which was easily explained by the weight of her new tail, and the slight decrease in her height didn't do much to her ability to jump along the crystals and climb up to where her siblings were waiting for her, which caused them to smile as they quickly moved through the door the path had brought them to. The door lead outside and they found that they were on the outside of the volcano, on an earthen and slightly charred path that lead somewhere, though Jak was a little surprised to find another Precursor Totem resting nearby, to which they approached it and the four of them found a surge of Yellow Eco rushing into their bodies, awakening a new power that would be useful for whatever the future held in store for them. It was hard to tell what sort of power the Totem had given them, though since there happened to be a vent that was releasing what appeared to be Yellow Eco gas, or something to that effect as they stared at it, Jak approached it for a second and stepped on it, finding that nothing happened until he focused his mind and energy, allowing him to boost into the air like he had thrusters or rockets attached to his limbs, with small streams of energy coming from his hands so he could glide. It was an Eco Rocket Jump, as that seemed to be the simplest name for it, which made Twilight inform them that the new Red Eco power was more of an Eco Amplifier, causing Jak to chuckle, since it seemed like she had improved in a short period of time and might be back to her old self before they got back to the Phantom Blade, causing him to focus on their search for the Eco Seeker and any other powers that might be useful for this quest.

One thing that made traversing the area easier was the pockets of Yellow Eco gas that floated in the air, as if they moved through one with the Eco Rocket Jump ability active it allowed them to propel themselves even higher than before, though Jak found that the next part of the path seemed to be heading right into the volcano itself, meaning they had to deal with more heat than before, especially when they discovered that they needed to travel through what seemed to be the heart of the volcano. As such the siblings were very careful with this part of the path, as one wrong move would send whoever did it into the lava around them, though they also had to worry about falling rocks that seemed to be molten in nature, all of which told them that this place was a true hazard and that they really had to be careful, least something bad happen to them, before finding some spin poles that allowed them to move forward. Another thing the siblings discovered was that there were patches of ground, which were cracked and one would assume they were just damaged from the heat, which collapsed after one of them walked on top of it, so when they found one whoever stepped on it would continue and the rest would jump over whatever gap it created in a matter of seconds, even though Jak also knocked down a stone pillar so they could move forward. Such a thing allowed them to reach a few areas with patches of crystals that formed paths for them to use, allowing the siblings to smash and blast their way through the Armadillos that were in their way, a bad choice given the nature of this place, and some red robots that looked like Drill Bots, though once the siblings had smashed their way through their enemies they used their new Eco Rocket Jump to ascend to another level of the volcano, even if it meant taking out some more Armadillos before moving forward.

After that they used the Eco Construct power to form a walkway leading to some more collapsing rocks and a number of poles that seemed to lead even deeper into the volcano, making them wonder if there might be a creature of some kind in here, one they would ignore if that happened to be the case, though once thing they noticed as they moved even higher was that all of the lava below them was rising, causing Jak and his sisters to move faster, since getting caught by the lava would be terrible.

Given the trouble they were now in Twilight focused on using the Eco Construct power to form the walkways and paths for them to take, as it didn't seem to do much to her body and it was easier than having four people wiping out the enemies that were in the way, to which Jak nodded as he, Starlight, and Cozy focused on taking out the Armadillos and Drill Bots, as there happened to be a fair number of enemies in their way and they had to be dealt with. Of course they also had to take a few moments to avoid all the falling rocks and move around a fair number of fire vents, which spewed fire out of an area none of them could access, before finding their way to a set of jumps that required them to use the Eco Rocket Jump, due to a fair number of gas pockets that lingered in the air, propelling them even higher as each of them kept an eye out for the Eco Seeker, which had to be here according to Keira's readings. That brought them to another area with cracked bits of a path and some Drill Bots working on the ground, to which Twilight made her way over to a patch of crystals as the rest of her siblings dealt with the enemies that happened to turn on them a few seconds later, even if some Armadillos joined the fight for some reason and fell as quickly as the robots did, something that gave Twilight the time she needed to form a set of crystals that lead to where a familiar device rested. In that moment the siblings, this time all four of them, declared war on the enemies who turned on them once they landed on the platform that the Eco Seeker had landed on earlier, which had started out as a group of Armadillos and evolved into a set of Drill Bots, though it wasn't long before their foes were taken care of and Twilight picked up the Eco Seeker, knowing not to use Eco with it in her hands, otherwise she might be assaulted by more changes to her very being.

With that done she stashed it in Jak's pack before they used a nearby vent with the Eco Rocket Jump to launch themselves out through the opening of the volcano, allowing Jak and his sisters to glide down to where the last Precursor Totem was in before landing, to which they headed through the door and retraced their steps as they headed back to the docking bay, though as they climbed into the Hellcat, however, they discovered that the old man was sitting in the back section of their ship, like he belonged there.

"So, where are we going, sonny?" the old man asked, directing the question to Jak, since he was the pilot of the ship and he figured the others manned the other systems, even though he did pause when he glanced at Twilight, no doubt this was the first time that he had seen someone like her before, before he focused on the one he directed the question to, even if he wasn't planning on leaving anytime soon.

"Off the island. I take it you want to come with us?" Jak replied in kind, though since the old man had done them a service in repairing their ship, even though the wing had been snapped off and he had patched that up like it was never harmed in the first place, he felt that repaying him was the best thing, especially since his expertise with machines might work with Keira's and aid them in their quest to save the world, causing the man to nod his head.

In the following moments Jak took off from the island, which Twilight confirmed happened to be the same one they had crashed on when they first entered the Brink and meant twice was an odd coincidence, so she wouldn't be surprised if it happened a third time, before he pulled them into the air and headed for the Phantom Blade, where it looked like most of the damage had been repaired already, to which he docked the Hellcat and everyone climbed out as he sought out Keira and Phoenix, to give them the good news.

"This guy fixed up our ship, after your ambush gunned us down," Jak explained, though while he was neutral, since part of him was still annoyed by what had happened, he still felt that it was a good maneuver and had to wonder if Phoenix would make a good racer, especially if he was such a good pilot, before he returned to the topic at hand as everyone gathered in the area that Keira was working in, with Twilight sitting on a stool for now, "it also seemed like he wanted off the island we crashed on, twice I might add, and he's good with machines, so I figured we might need his help."

"Do you know who you are, old man?" Phoenix asked, where it was easy for Jak and his sisters to see that he was cautious and careful around the man that Jak had brought up with them, meaning that his presence was important, though if they were right about Skyheed and all the Dark Eco it might mean this guy was linked to it in some manner, but for now none of them said anything.

"Nope! This your ship?" the old man replied, where he confirmed that he still had memory issues and that it would take a long time before he remembered anything important, though Twilight did consider using her magic and Eco on him, as it would be nice to have a name to give him, before deciding that it was a bad idea, as she might suffer too much if she tried to help him out, "Nice gearing! Good coupling on the steering motivator. So, where's this little device that everyone thinks can save the world?"

Jak and his sisters glanced at each other, as no one, not even Daxter and Tess, had mentioned the Eco Seeker, especially in the presence of the old man, but somehow he knew about it and that meant they were right, he was important in some manner and it was good that they had crashed on his island, before they produced the artifact and handed it over to him, where he took it without delay.

"Well, well, well... very nice manufacturing indeed..." the old man said, where he studied the artifact with his goggles and his hands for a short period of time, either because this was the first time he had seen it or it was causing an old memory to surface, and if it was the latter he could be recalling it before speaking to them, before he sighed for a moment, "good tolerances too... top notch craftsmanship! Sadly, I can't help you."

"But you said..." Twilight started to say, though in that moment the old man tossed the artifact behind him, causing her to weave her magic around it and catch it before it struck the floor, though she only held it for a few seconds since Jak took it out of the field in question, allowing her to dismiss her magic as she huffed, just another sign that her body was changing if a simple spell was too much for her to handle.

"I know what I said, but I also know trouble when I see it," the old man replied, where he glanced at all of them for a time, no doubt reading their expressions, especially since his movements could have damaged the Eco Seeker to a point where it was unusable and they would be at square zero, with no leads on how to save the world, "...the kind of trouble I've been trying to avoid."

"You remember something?" Cozy asked, because while she wanted to throttle him, for nearly damaging the artifact that would help them save the world, any memories he recovered might be useful for allowing them to understand what had happened in the Brink, even though she was also worried about Twilight, since this was the first time her magic had been this weak and it could only mean bad things for her.

"Maybe... yes... I don't know," the old man said, where it seemed like he was sinking into his mind for a time, even though none of them had actually asked him to do something like that, but any information he had for them would be good for all of them to understand the situation, "I can see, huge warehouses filled with Eco, vast and dark... stacked as high as the  eyes could see."

"Please sir... we need to find a new source of Eco to help put the world back in balance." Keira spoke up, where she took the Eco Seeker and carefully placed it in the hands of the old man, as he was the only one who could help them right now, and he probably knew that fact, while doing her best to show him that they needed his help, otherwise everyone else who called their world home would be in grave danger, "Please, I know you can do this..."

"You are the prettiest face I've seen in some time... this is nothing but trouble, I'll tell you that right now, but for you, my dear, I'll do my best." the old man stated, though it looked like it took him a few moments to regain himself so he could tell them that piece of information, where any trouble Jak and his sisters would deal with in due time, before he faced the rest of the group as he carefully handled the artifact this time around, showing that he was working with Keira in mind and not his own desires to be left alone, "See, this whole device has a self-fusing locking mechanism so not everyone can use, or misuse, the device. If you just time the locking clock and then reverse the polarity... presto!"

What he did was fiddle with the spherical nodes on the top of the artifact, almost like he was putting in a code or sequence that it would recognize, before he turned it upside down, likely so he could meddle with the polarity section of the artifact, and then turned it around again as the artifact opened up before their eyes, revealing that the insides had contained what appeared to be a clockwork device that functioned slowly, pointing in a direction while displaying coordinates, causing the group to stare at it for a time.

"The Eco Seeker doesn't have much power left, which means it's pointing to a new energy fuel cell." Keira said, as based on what they were seeing that seemed to be the best possible answer, which made sense even though most of the Precursor artifacts didn't work this way, or at least she was sure about that since she had read nothing about artifacts requiring a source of power.

"And if we get it, we should be able to get some better readings from it." Starlight remarked, because if the artifact was on fumes, or it's last legs, delivering a new power source would allow them to figure out where the Eco Core was, or where an important piece of the puzzle happened to be resting, in case it needed more than a fuel cell to be fully repaired, and she found that they weren't the only ones staring at the coordinates.

"It's pointing directly over the Brink... dangerous, to say the least." Phoenix stated, as he recognized some of the code that had been revealed and had a faint idea of where they needed to go to find the item they needed to power the Eco Seeker, though his statement was more for the group that came from the mainlands, as while Jak and his sisters were golden back in the other lands they still had no idea what dangers were out in the Brink.

"Which is hardly the worst danger we've been in," Twilight commented, as most of their adventures seemed to be tougher than this one, or at least by this point in time anyway, but she sighed for a moment as she considered something that the rest of the group didn't talk about, even though she knew Jak and her sisters might have thought about it, "besides, if we don't do anything soon, the Eco Storm will evolve to the point where they'll spread beyond the Brink and consume the rest of the world... everyone will die if that happens."

"Agreed, we can't let that happen." Phoenix said, where he let out a sigh, as if he didn't like agreeing with those that were strangers, or maybe it was the fact that they were right and it was more because he was ashamed of his own thoughts on the matter, before he turned towards the brute of his group for a few seconds, "Klout, set a course for the coordinates, but first we need to make a detour at Far Drop, to prepare for the long voyage."

Jak, his sisters, Keira, and their Ottsels were given rooms near Phoenix's, which happened to be near the docking bay, due to them being allies and guests of his crew, plus they hadn't been used and were kept in good condition in case some new people joined them, but it allowed them to rest and relax before they arrived at their destination, as they had a feeling that they would need to be in peak condition for when they reached Far Drop.
> Brink: Far Drop
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was early morning by the time that the Phantom Blade reached the area that Far Drop was located in, where Jak and his sisters found that it was build into a rather large cavern that had been called Pirate's Cove at one point in time, at least that was what Phoenix told them, and that these days it was ruled over by a rather interesting Lurker called Barter, which reminded the siblings of Brutter, the Lurker they had assisted back in Haven and who aided them in getting the Rift Rider to where Kor had been keeping the Rift Gate. One thing they could see, even from a distance, was that the entirety of Far Drop was made out of wood, metallic scaffolding, and contained a number of wooden structures all over it, forming a small settlement that seemed to be a safe haven for smugglers and pirates, other crews in addition to Phoenix's own, so it was bound to be full of troublemakers and it might mean they would have to fight some people while they were visiting this area. Phoenix asked Jak and his sisters to head down and retrieve the supplies they needed for their journey, mostly since he was still fixing the rest of the damage that had been done to his ship, though Jak suspected that there might be some people in Far Drop that would take one look at Phoenix and get into a fight with him, but he agreed in no time, as it would give them some time to explore before returning with the supplies. After that Keira mentioned that she found another weapon mod for him to take, one that some of the pirates were okay were handing over since they didn't want Jak or his sisters coming after them, which happened to be a Vulcan mod, causing him to smile as he attached it to the top of his gunstaff, though he made sure to thank her for finding it and the person who held it previously, causing her to smile as well as she returned to her studies.

As they walked down to where their Hellcat rested, however, Jak noticed that Twilight had lost another inch or two during her rest, something she had either noticed and didn't care about or she hadn't noticed it at all, or maybe she was trying not to worry about her changes, since they were unstoppable at this point, and was focusing on their quest, to which they departed from the Phantom Blade and flew out into Far Drop, quickly finding a landing pad that wasn't being used, one Jak landed on without delay.

"So this is Far Drop... interesting." Twilight remarked, taking in the city that was around them as they left the area that Jak had landed in, as it was a somewhat fascinating place and knew that if they had the time she would have stayed for some time to study it before leaving for their quest, so maybe they would come back and give her a chance to study it before all of them headed back to Haven.

It was in that moment that they were approached by a light blue furred Lurker, who seemed to be somewhat shorter than most of his kind, the ones Jak and his sisters were used to dealing with, and seemed sort of stout, while having a pair of spurs on either side of his mouth and he a had dark blue beard, a color that was mimicked on the fur on his arms, but he was wearing a blue and yellow striped shirt, green pants, and a belt to keep everything together.

"Me Barter!" the Lurker stated, confirming that they had found the person that Phoenix had asked them to talk with, for all of the supplies he needed for the ship and their journey, though based on his words it seemed like he might be unable to speak like Brutter could, meaning he might be far less sophisticated, even if he seemed happy about his statement as he focused on them, "Big time smuggler. Me a top dog in Far Drop."

"Tough town." Jak commented, as it was unlike what they were used to, even if he and his sisters were used to dealing with all sorts of dangers and saving the day, before he noticed some odd white skinned creatures, with dark patterns and some green crystals that seemed to be growing out of their bodies, something that immediately caused him to turn back to the Lurker for a few moments, "What are those creatures?"

"Dark Eco Mutants." Barter replied, his tone revealing that he wasn't too happy about the creatures, meaning they might be disrupting whatever peace this place happened to have, though Jak and his sisters didn't need to be told much to figure out what was going to happen next, especially given everything that happened to them over the years, "They show up few months ago. Been fighting 'em big time ever since. I need strong fists to protect me goods! I pay you well."

"We only need supplies." Starlight said, where she gestured with her head to the Phantom Blade, which was still hanging near Far Drop as Phoenix and the others did their repairs, along with whatever else they might do while they waited for her and her siblings to track down Barter and get the supplies they needed for their journey, something that caused the Lurker to glance at the ship as he understood what he was being told.

"Hm, Barter has deal." Barter stated, where he gestured to the Dark Mutants for a moment as he focused on them, even if they had a good idea of what he would be asking for before he even said it, though they remained silent so they could hear whatever deal he wanted to make with them, one that might grant them the supplies they needed and allow them to move on with their quest, "You keep mutants from breaking Barter shop, Barter give you supplies!"

It was a good arrangement and the siblings agreed to help him out, causing the pair of Dark Mutants to depart before any of them could do anything to them, before Barter headed over to where his store was located, giving them some time to glance around the rest of Far Drop as they moved forward, even discovering that there happened to be a gold or bronze statue of a man none of them recognized. In that moment one of the Dark Mutants rushed by and headed over to another part of the city, meaning Jak and his sisters were going to have to hunt them down before taking them out, while they also discovered another foe that would need to be taken out, mutant silver colored fish, which looked like eels to be honest as Jak stared at them, causing them to sigh for a moment before lashing out at the Voltaic Eels, as Twilight felt that they were more electric looking in her eyes. This time around she stuck to using her weapons, as she picked them out for a reason, as she joined her siblings in attacking the Voltaic Eels that were currently in front of them, though it didn't take them that long to take them out and Twilight found some lingering tracks that belonged to the Dark Mutant they had seen, even if it was something that the others had to strain their eyes to see, making her wonder if her awakening nature was allowing her to do far more than what she used to do. From there they followed the path she found the tracks going down, where they headed across some wooden bridges and tracked down another group of Voltaic Eels that were smashed in seconds, though it was in that moment that they found a pair of Dark Mutants surging towards what appeared to be a bar, one that Starlight defended with a barrier spell, while allowing them to lash out at the pair of enemies that turned and rushed over to where they were standing.

What they discovered was that the Dark Mutants were far more durable than most enemies they had encountered, as it took between five to ten hits to take both of them down, making Jak wonder if these had been modeled in the image of Kor and the Tainted, since some Metal Heads were incredibly durable, but that didn't stop the siblings from taking down the pair of enemies and made sure that the bar was secure, before discovering two more Dark Mutants were marching on where they were standing, causing them to get ready for another bout.

"Hurry! Mutants attacking generator! Use Aeropult!" Barter said, speaking through their Communicator, which made them wonder how people kept figuring out their signature without them giving that information out, as soon as the last Dark Mutant had been taken care of, though it drew their attention to what appeared to be a metallic device that could pass as a catapult that ran on pistons and steam.

As Starlight pulled down the barrier around the bar, which was pristine, Jak spun a wheel and moved the piston that was the main part of the Aeropult into position, only to find that Twilight surrounded them in a barrier so all of them could be launched through the air and land on the ground safely, though once that happened she dismissed the spell, knowing that keeping it up for too long would drain her energy and speed up her transformation, the latter she was trying to avoid at all costs so they could focus on their mission. After landing on the metallic path that would bring them to the generator they found a few more patches of crystal, which were growing in an odd place when they considered everything about Far Drop and how it seemed to be constructed in the first place, Twilight formed the crystalline constructs so they could move even deeper into the area, allowing Cozy to reach a pair of Dark Mutants and lashed out at them instantly, stopping them from damaging Far Drop's generator as her siblings caught up with her. Sure enough she found that their earlier thoughts about the Dark Mutants were correct, these foes were tougher than anything they had faced before this point in time and even if it was four on two they still had to be careful when dealing with their enemies, though they were able to take out the pair of enemies and save Barter's generator from being destroyed, something the Lurker was definitely grateful for. With that done they determined that the only way forward was for one of them to turn a nearby wheel, one that powered down the electrical barrier that happened to be blocking the way forward, though on the other side of where it had been resting Jak and his sisters found a Precursor Totem waiting for them, which granted all four of them a new Blue Eco power, before the group focused on the fast moving machine that was blocking the way forward.

This power happened to work a lot like the Time Freeze power they had gained back in Seem's Temple, so they settled on calling it Eco Reflexes, just to go with Twilight's naming theme, even if it didn't seem impressive since her mind was on her own problems, before they slowed things down and moved across the area in front of them, before discovering an area to use the Eco Rocket Jump in, all so they could move throughout whatever was left of Far Drop.

"You know, I wish I was a Prism Sage, then I could help you guys out." Daxter commented, as during their first adventure he had sat on Jak's shoulder and did next to nothing to assist his friends in their mission to save the world, and thanks to both Twilight and Midnight helping him he had unlocked his own Eco powers, using them to good effect during their last three adventures, even if he didn't do much during the KGC, but his problem was that he was a Light Sage, so all he could do was sit and watch since his powers would only case him pain, same with Tess.

"Daxter, you and Tess are doing important work, keeping an eye on enemies while being our gunners," Starlight said, as it was easy for them to see that the two Ottsels were frustrated by their lack of ability to help fight their enemies, especially since the Light Eco would do wonders to these Dark Mutants, but with how unstable Light and Dark Eco was in the Brink, given what happened to them whenever they tried to use one of them, it was impossible for them to use either one right now, not without causing intense harm to their bodies, something both seemed to understand.

While she might not have been totally successful in cheering up both Daxter and Tess, she was able to make a smile grace their faces as she and her siblings used the Eco Rocket Jump to reach the next part of Far Drop, where they found that it brought them back to where the statue rested and they discovered a Dark Mutant that was heading for the cabbages, as they knew that thanks to Barter informing them from their Communicator. What they discovered next was that the Dark Mutant actually didn't stop at the cabbages, rather it continued onward and the siblings stopped to deal with a number of Voltaic Eels that were trying to devour one of the food stock that kept Far Drop running, or at least it sure seemed like that based on how their client acted when he informed them about the ongoing assault. The twelve Voltaic Eels were easy for them to deal with, as all the siblings had to do was follow the curved path and dealt with all of them with their weapons, as conserving ammunition and energy for the Dark Mutants seemed to be the right course of action, given how strong those enemies were and the fact that they could take a lot of damage before falling, even though they discovered that trying to conserve energy was hard since Jak and his sisters encountered some areas to use their Eco Reflexes in. At the top of the area that the cabbages were being grown in they found another Aeropult, to which Twilight surrounded them with a new barrier after Jak spun the wheel, allowing them to be thrown through the air for a time before they landed in the area that the Dark Mutant was in, back at the start to be exact, before it headed down another path and forced the siblings to follow it, finding another area to use their Eco Reflexes in.

The path in question required them to use the new ability several more times, causing Twilight to huff since this was more of a strain on her weakened power reserves, before they found five Dark Mutants and a few Voltaic Eels attacking a new building, an orphanage according to what Barter told them, to which they rushed forward and attacked their enemies as they pulled them away from the structure in question, and it took them some time to bring them all down, causing Jak and his sisters to rest for a bit before moving again. After a moment or two of resting, since they had no way of knowing if that was the last set of enemies or not, the siblings found their way to yet another Aeropult that rested nearby, where Twilight sighed as she called her power up and formed a barrier around them when Jak was done moving the launch pad into the position that would send them back into the heart of the city. When everyone landed Twilight faltered for a moment, as all of this was definitely putting a strain on her energy reserves, but she followed after Jak and her sisters as they followed the Dark Mutant towards what appeared to be a crane, which was located by where they landed the Hellcat earlier, and simply opened fire on their enemies, pulling the six targets away from the spinning machine and lashing out at them like they had done with the other groups of enemies they had faced in this area. Of course some of them were actually on the crane and had to be pulled off, though Twilight, despite her weakening nature, which had to be due to the changes her body was now going through, used her magic and yanked them off the machine so her siblings could fight all of their foes, with her doing the same to one of them, even if she had to be more careful than Jak, Starlight, and Cozy while they faced their opponents and cleared out this area of Far Drop.

Of course the main Dark Mutant that they were following, who seemed to be leading them to each group of enemies that happened to be in this city, leapt down and retreated into the city once more, causing Jak and his sisters to follow after it once more, where they found that it remained near the statue and crushed it in a bear hug when they approached it, but that was the least of their concerns as they opened fire on their target, where they found that it didn't have many skills to use against them, save for sending barrels at them and easily avoidable attacks, so in the end they brought it down like all of the other Dark Mutants they had faced so far.

"Now that we've taken care of the Dark Mutants, we should head to the Tavern... Barter should be happy to see us," Tess said, even though Jak and his sisters were taking a moment to rest since that had been a good amount of fighting and they were somewhat drained from having to deal with all of the potent Dark Mutants, even though Twilight seemed to be even worse than before, no doubt due to using her power that much, and it made her wonder if more changes had struck her while they were saving Far Drop.

Jak nodded as they got up from where they were resting and headed over to where the Tavern rested, where they found a fair number of people inside the large building, which was protected by a pair of security doors, and the siblings were able to confirm that a fair number of those that were here were pirates and smugglers, though they saw a sign that indicated no weapons were allowed and put them away, allowing them to walk over to the circular bar and found Barter waiting for them to approach him.

"You best protection money can buy." Barter said, where he chuckled for a moment as he said that, since he knew that he hadn't paid them in the same manner that someone else would have asked for, allowing him to save money while giving all of them the supplies Phantom had sent them to collect, before he focused on why they had come to his tavern, since they weren't here to spend money on drinks or whatever entertainment Far Drop had, "Supplies are already on ship... just... Barter need one more thing."

"Any change it's a bar brawl?" Cozy asked, as while they had gone through enough fighting already, and would be fighting again when they reached whatever destination was tied to the Eco Seeker's coordinates, she had a feeling that Barter was asking such a thing from them, or at least she hoped it was so they could have a bit more fun before returning to the main reason they were here.

Barter simply chuckled as he readied himself, allowing Cozy and Jak to pick up their chairs before hurling them in what had to be random directions, causing the patrons to realize that a bar brawl was happening and lashed out at those who were around them, though in the end it changed nothing as Starlight joined them in fighting and Twilight only did so when some enemies came at her... but by the time things were done the siblings were victorious, Barter had a scrap payment added to their supplies, and he promised to have these set up for whenever they came back, to which the siblings left the Tavern and headed back to the Hellcat so they could return to Keira and figure out what their next step might be.
> Brink: Research Station
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After departing from Far Drop, and leaving behind a very grateful Barter, Jak flew the Hellcat through the space between them and the Phantom Blade for a short period of time, where Daxter and Tess remained near the turret in case they came under attack, allowing his sisters to glance out at the area as he did that, or at least Starlight and Cozy did since Twilight was focused on resting and recovering her energy, but it wasn't long before they boarded the ship, finding that Keira wanted to talk with them immediately.

"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but we have a problem," Keira said, speaking once everyone was gathered in the area of the ship that she worked in, while the old man seemed to be off in his own corner, doing whatever he wanted while they talked about things, to which she held out the artifact so Jak and his sisters could see it again, "the Eco Seeker doesn't seem to have enough Light Eco to operate."

"Well, we might be in luck, as we know of an old research station used by the Aeropans." Phoenix explained, something that interested the siblings and Keira, since it sounded like their earlier thoughts on Skyheed's people might be correct, in part anyway, while the old man didn't seem to want anything to do with this conversation, before he sighed for a moment as he thought about it, "It's abandoned now, but we did pick up some faint readings for Light Eco there long ago... maybe they left some behind, before leaving the station?"

"Given the environment, let's hope we can find some there." Twilight remarked, though even if they found some she was afraid that heading into such a place might do more harm to her than good, not after what happened when she and her siblings were in Aeropa, which lead to her new tail replacing her old one, so she had a feeling more changes would come to her if she joined them there, and she likely would fight by their side in a place like that.

Jak and Phoenix nodded as they changed their course, heading towards a darker section of the Brink that made it seem like part of the Edge of the World, though upon their arrival in the area Jak found that Keira, having been given a smaller vehicle so she didn't have to be tied down by Jak using the Hellcat, headed out first and caused the others to follow her in the Hellcat, even though they found the large metallic research station and the ships that seemed to be guarding it from whoever they deemed to be enemies. While Jak fired on the ships, with Daxter and Tess gunning the others down, Keira slipped into one of the landing bays for the station and headed inside, to get a head start on looking for the Light Eco that Phoenix said was in this area, though while all of that happened they heard a yelp from Keira as her communications were cut off, causing Jak to finish off their enemies before heading for the station. Of course he was worried about her, even if he knew that she could handle herself against the smaller enemies that they usually faced, so it was more in the sense of the larger foes, hence why he sped up and flew over to where the station rested, where he found a lower landing bay and used it without wasting time, allowing them to head into an area that the Aeropans used when they launched ships into the surrounding area. With that done Starlight made sure to weave a protection spell over the Hellcat, just to be sure they didn't have a stranger climb in again, even if the old man was very helpful in figuring some things out and opening the Eco Seeker to continue their quest, though all four of them held their weapons at the ready as Daxter and Tess rested on their usual perches, allowing them to move into the first chamber of the research station.

As they opened the first door they got a brief communication from Keira, who informed them that she was fine and that she was going to try and find a way to meet up with them, having figured that Jak would come running once he heard she was in danger, though they wished her well and hoped that no enemies came at her, to which they focused on following the path that was in front of them. All around them rested machines that looked like they might be running on low power, a fair amount of webbing that indicated large spiders might be here, and a path that seemed to consist of a number of large metallic boxes mixed with some metallic poles, so all they had to do was jump across some of them and spun when using the poles to reach the other side of the large chamber that the path had brought them to. That brought them to a door that lead to a circular chamber, one that happened to have another Precursor Totem, which was interesting since all of them assumed that they had discovered all of the powers that they needed for their adventure in the Brink, plus it had a pair of Precursor tablets resting nearby, not to mention an odd looking oracle that looked more like a tiki, a button, and a door that seemed impassible. Not a few moments later the siblings did the reasonable thing and tapped into the power of the Totem, which shocked each of them with more Blue Eco as it unlocked another power inside all of them, one that had to be tied to the Tiki, where Jak walked over to the button and stepped on it, opening the door it was connected to, before he focused his energy on the Tiki and teleported to where it was standing in an instant, where they found that he had, in fact, switched places with it, allowing the door to remain open thanks to the Tiki resting on the button.

Of course that was when they discovered something interesting, Dark Mutants, these ones with red crystals, burst through some of the vents and dropped down into the chamber they were in, where Jak and his sisters lashed out at them without wasting a single second, as they knew these foes were dangerous and didn't want to give them an opening, even though the odd thing in Twilight's eyes was that part of the chamber was made of Precursor technology and not Aeropan, but as their enemies fell she groaned as she tapped into her magic and stole the tablets for later.

With the Dark Mutants taken care of Jak and his sisters moved forward, where they found that some Precursor items did serve as platforms for them to use to jump over a wall and continue deeper into this facility, where they found a decent sized contained that held what they hoped was a comatose Dark Mutant, though as they jumped over another wall they all found several containers that were smashed and the others shattered as the inhabitants climbed out before rushing over to where they were standing. As such the siblings did what they had done during their time in Far Drop, they tackled the enemies that happened to be rushing at them, fighting them exactly like they had done with the other enemies they had faced off against, while Twilight kept her guard up since she was still the weakest of the four, forcing her to pick when she could use her magic and when to hold back, not to mention when to attack and when to defend. As much as Jak and Cozy loved a challenge, and sometimes they were totally focused on what sort of fights they could get into, fighting the potent Dark Mutants happened to be one of the most challenging fights they could get into and one that required them to be far more careful than before, and when Jak dealt with his target he turned and helped Twilight, just to make sure nothing bad happened to her. It took some time for them to clear out the Dark Mutants, especially since it appeared that more were on their way from the depths of the facility, though once they were done with the rest of their enemies, and they confirmed it by waiting for a few moments, they headed for the door that their targets had been guarding and headed for the chamber that was on the other side.

What they discovered, however, was that the chamber was a perfect replica of the Dark Eco injector area that Jak and Cozy had been in before Twilight and Starlight came to the rescue, where Twilight first gained the wound that lead to Midnight coming into being, and it was easy for them to see that Jak and Cozy recalled the pain that this place brought them, which also had a number of lower cells, like someone had copied Praxis' area and put it in the Brink, something that caused Cozy to growl as her anger rose... though when she started to shift into her Dark Form, and all of them realized the pain that it would cause, Twilight rushed forward and grabbed her sister's head, focusing on using her power to calm and heal her, even if it caused pain to course through her body in return.

"Twilight?" Cozy asked, though as her own changes, which had only started when her sister made her move, so she had a few patches of scales and some of the claws had been coming out, disappeared she, Jak, Starlight, Daxter, and Tess found a shudder passing through Twilight's body as the Ottsel fur seemed to spread out even more, where it started to spread down her left arm and stopped halfway to her elbow, down the sides of her body and started to move down her legs, only to stop halfway down her thighs, or at least it did for her right leg since it continued down the rest of her left leg and her hoof shook before transforming into an Ottsel's foot.

"I'm... I'm fine..." Twilight huffed, though as she pulled her hands back, and stopped channeling his powers, she staggered for a moment as Jak rushed to catch her before something bad happened, like falling off the edge of the walkway that Cozy had started to transform on, though that was when the last piece of the puzzle fell into place as he and the others watched as she lost a few more inches of her height, "just... walking will be hard..."

Jak really had no idea what to do in this situation, since the transformation into an Ottsel was impossible to mess with, or at least Eon seemed to think so, so all he could do was help his sister steady herself before they started for the other side of the chamber, though this time his sisters, Daxter, and Tess made sure to keep an eye on Twilight, just in case she had to slow down or something bad happened. One thing about her that didn't change, however, was her mind, as Twilight spoke about the injection chamber that was behind them now, the pressing matter that Skyheed and his Chancellor knew about them and their abilities, and everything else that had been discovered so far, as this place was starting to look more like a Dark Warrior Program chamber and facility, meaning it was possible that the Aeropans might have been making an army to go to war with Praxis, once the Tainted were dealt with. Truth be told Jak didn't like the sound of it, and yet he knew that it, in some odd way, made sense when he listened to what Twilight said, as she explained it in a way that made them trust that she was telling the truth, though as that happened Jak tore apart a gearbox and forced a door to open, allowing him and his sisters to find more Tikis that seemed to be the keys to making their way through the next part of the station, or at least it sure seemed that way. As he and Starlight used their new Eco Teleport ability to move through the passage and set all of the Tikis in place, Cozy remained behind to try and help Twilight out, who found that walking with an Ottsel's foot and a pony hoof made things harder, which was odd since the transformation seemed to be totally random and affected her with no reason to what changed next, but for now she seemed to be able to follow after them without much difficulty, but she had a feeling that when battle came it would be a different story.

What worried Twilight, especially after her recent changes, was that they found a chamber full of Dark Eco, which was the moment that her body felt what happened back in Aeropa and she fell to her knees as the weakness returned all at once, causing Jak and Cozy to use the Eco Rocket Jump to ascend to the top of this chamber, giving Starlight a point to focus on as she lifted herself and Twilight up to them with her magic. A few moments later, once all four of them were at the top of the chamber, they found another Dark Mutant that smashed it's fists into the ground and caused some rocks to fall, which knocked out a metallic bridge that was in front of them, meaning they needed to use a patch of crystals to form a walkway so they could move forward, even though this time Cozy did it since having Twilight do it would only weaken her and make her body change more. At this point in time they had a better understanding of why being around so much Dark Eco made Twilight so weak, it was her awakening nature as an Ottsel, beings who were far more in tune with Eco, and the amount of Dark Eco that happened to be in the Brink that was influencing her body, especially since Eon, Gol, and Maia had said that she was destined to become six Ottsels, so this could be messing with Midnight and that affected Twilight. Jak landed on the other side of the crystalline platforms and struck the Dark Mutant who had knocked out the bridge, even though there was another one that joined the fight not a few seconds later, causing him to focus on stalling both of them as Cozy leapt over to him, while Starlight replicated their movements and turned around so she could watch Twilight, who carefully tried to make her way over the path and ended up slipping on one of the crystals, causing her sister to catch her before she fell into the depths.

After both Dark Mutants were taken care of the siblings continued forward and found themselves in an area that had yet another locked door, though instead of worrying about that they focused on the large spiders that dropped down from the ceiling and attacked them, where this time around Twilight focused on using her weapons and none of her powers, but at the same time she used her imbalance to her benefit as it caused her foes to drop their defenses so she could take them all down, without needing help this time.

With those enemies taken care of, and they were sure that the spiders weren't coming at them, a walkway raised up and it allowed them to move deeper into the station, leading to a long chamber that had a number of moving boxes that Jak and his sisters could use as platforms to reach the other side, which was what they did for the next couple of moments before they reached a door leading to another chamber. This one, having three Tikis that rested near the other side, happened to have two more Dark Mutants who wanted to fight and tear them down, though again Twilight found that she stumbled a little while fighting these enemies, something she used to her benefit since it allowed her to use her weapons on the Dark Mutant who came at her, weakening it so her siblings could take it and the other one down. With that done Jak glanced at the rest of the chamber and found that they would have to use the Eco Construct power to move around and find places to move all three of the Tikis to, or at least it sure looked that way during his first look, but upon a closer inspection of the area he found that all that needed to be done was use the power to form some walkways and reach the door that had to be their main destination. As such he and Cozy focused on channeling their power and forming walkways for them to use, allowing Starlight to follow after them while keeping an eye on Twilight, who found that it was becoming increasingly hard on her to keep up with her siblings, meaning some of the other symptoms of becoming an Ottsel were becoming known as time went by, even though she was sure that, once she was done changing, she might be stronger than before, or at least she hoped so.

Once everyone was done moving along the various platforms, even if Twilight slowed them down a little, they reached the door in question and found their way into a circular chamber that seemed important, especially with the machines on one of the walls, though Jak smiled as he found Keira working on one of them, one that seemed to have a valve or something that might help them with their current mission.

"Looks like you already found the goodies." Jak commented, where he walked up to where Keira was standing, finding that she was totally working on it and seemed to be getting close to something that might help them, while his sisters looked at the rest of the chamber, mostly because they wanted to be ready in case any of the other Dark Mutants burst into this part of the station and attacked them.

"I think this is the main control room! And these diagrams..." Keira said, though as she turned her head she found that the sisters were done with their initial search of this section of the station and were walking over to where this computer had been built, where she noticed that Jak seemed a little distracted by something, Starlight seemed interested in what was in this part of the station, Cozy looked sad about something, and Twilight appeared to be focused on the machine, before she noticed what had happened to Twilight's body, "Twilight... what happened?"

"I... gave up part of my previous form... to save my sister from the pain of remembering those three lost years... I couldn't stand seeing her in pain over it, not anymore," Twilight replied, as that was the part of the truth that she hadn't told the others after she helped save Cozy from the pain of the transformation into her Dark Form, after remembering every bit of pain and agony that such an event brought to her, even though it cost her precious time in her previous form, to the point that she was starting to regard her upcoming Ottsel form as her current form, before she focused on the machine and all of the diagrams Keira was currently staring at, "Can you fix this control panel?"

As Keira started to confirm that she could, in time, they heard a noise as an elevator rose up and brought some spiders to the area they were in, to which Jak and his sisters turned around and attacked the enemies that were coming at them, as it seemed like all of the other enemies in the station were coming to deal with them, to which Keira got to work figuring out what was wrong with this control panel and how to make it work. Of course Jak wasn't surprised to find some harder foes, the Dark Mutants, joining the spiders in the assault, though he and his sisters made sure to focus on them as well, since it would be unwise of them to simply allow any of their enemies to get near Keira, especially since they could do some bad damage to her if one managed to punch her, but for the most part none of the Dark Mutants were able to get close to her or the control panel. Thanks to their efforts they were able to hold back every foe that dared to come at them, despite the fact that there was a fair number of enemies being called up from the depths, making Jak feel that this was an alarm and they had been a security system, even if that was incredibly odd when one considered it, though they remained on guard in case more enemies came up to attack them. A few more moments after that happened the alarm switched off and the rest of the sounds seemed to die down as well, meaning they had to be linked together in some manner, though with that done, and each of them were sure that nothing else was coming their way, the siblings walked over to Keira and watched as she finished working on the control panel.

"Okay, we're good to go... we just need a little juice to get things started," Keira said, though as she said that she glanced at the red panel that was showing a Dark Eco icon, even though that meant that they didn't have the power to use the rest of this machine, where Jak and the others glanced at it as well, finding all of them recognized it and that Daxter found a small container that could hold whatever Light Eco they managed to get from this.

In that moment, before the others could stop her, Twilight raised her hand and channeled her energy for a few moments, where the screen turned from red to green in a matter of seconds, something that caused Keira to smile as she pressed a button and a faucet emerged from the machine, causing Daxter to rush over with the container and captured the small amount of liquid Light Eco that emerged from the device, which he sealed before it was corrupted by the environment, as it would set them back again. Keira was happy that they had retrieved the Light Eco that Phoenix had mentioned, even if it wasn't as much as she would have thought they would find, meaning whatever else the Aeropans have might be in one of their other facilities, before they pulled back and she took a look at Twilight, finding that no other changes had appeared, though as she thought about that one of the things she noticed was that her friend's height had been five feet five inches before all this happened, though now she was between four feet six inches and four feet ten inches. That meant she was on her way to the two feet ten inches that an Ottsel had, or two feet eleven inches in Tess' case, but Twilight didn't want to think about that as she pulled herself back and claimed that it was time for them to leave, to which they headed through a nearby door and found that it brought them to a hanger after walking down another passageway, one that happened to have a rather impressive black fighter jet inside it. As Jak claimed it, since having a second ship would be useful, Cozy flew out with her wings out, tracking down where they landed the Hellcat before returning to pick up her sisters, since Keira had joined Jak in the new ship, though once that was done both ships headed back to the Phantom Blade so they could see what else needed to be done before the Eco Seeker pointed them at the Eco Core.

Upon their return to the ship Phoenix met them in the helm of his ship and handed over the Eco Seeker once they came to a stop, where Keira took it and Daxter offered her what they had obtained, though once she added the encapsulated Light Eco to the artifact it opened and pointed to something else, the arrow spinning to point in three directions, which all of them were interested in as soon as they saw it.

"The Eco Seeker is missing three items, which it seems to be pointing to... two of them are near Far Drop, but the other is in the opposite direction and is closer to our current location." Keira stated, which was rather interesting when Jak and his sisters considered it, especially since they were all expecting the artifact to be fully functional once it got some Light Eco, to which Keira looked up and glanced at all of them, knowing that she didn't have to say anything else.

Jak had a feeling that the items in question were going to be a little hard to recover, especially after everything they went through to get the artifact and the Light Eco to power it, though he was looking forward to tackling whatever challenges he and his sisters might face next, especially since there was no telling what might be waiting in the three locations that the Eco Seeker was pointing out.
> Brink: Aeropan Barracks
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the end Jak pointed the Phantom Blade in the direction of a facility known as the Aeropan Barracks, which was located among some mountainous islands, ones that were outside the Brink when Twilight and her sisters considered what they had seen before reaching the incomplete section of the world, though given the nature of the area they were heading first they knew that enemies would be coming at them as soon as someone approached it. Once Jak reached an area that Phoenix said was good enough, since he didn't want to get too close to where the facility rested, Keira pulled him to the side and his sisters followed after him without delay, where she revealed something she found back in the research station, a Green Eco mod for Jak's gunstaff, one that was called the Lobber and was designed to launch twisted green balls out, which blew up after a few seconds. It was a grenade launcher, but the shocking thing was that it ran on Green Eco, a substance that was usually reserved for Health Packs, something that was hard to come by based on what they had seen in the ammunition boxes that were scattered around the Brink, where Daxter, Tess, and Twilight were completely shocked by this turn of events, especially since Keira was sure that it might leech energy out of enemies and use it in an explosion, where Twilight found that this was more like corrupted Green Eco and not normal Green Eco. Jak wasn't too sure about the mod but took it and added it to his gunstaff, figuring that the best way to use it might be in combination with the defensive aspect of the Eco Construct power, one they really didn't use that much and this could possibly change their ideas, but they made sure to take a few moments to empower themselves before they did anything else.

Of course Twilight didn't bother with that, since with her changes it wouldn't be long before she was Daxter's size and all of her melee power would be gone, though as an Ottsel she would be far stronger and be able to do more, or at least that was what it seemed like, and once her siblings were done they headed down to the Hellcat and headed outside, though this time around they had Keira and the Dark Sage with them, why Jak had no idea but he wasn't about to argue with Keira about things. What all of them discovered over the next few moments was that the seemingly abandoned building wasn't actually abandoned, as when they flew down to it a number of fighters attacked as soon as they got close, causing Daxter and Tess to fire upon some targets, which looked like they might belong to the Aeropans, so Skyheed's people based on what they knew, though after some time Jak found an opening. It happened to be a hanger door, interestingly enough, to which Jak flew down and slipped inside the structure, as it was time for them to figure out where the item they needed was located and then get out before they were overwhelmed by enemies, though Jak had a feeling that if such a thing were to happen Twilight would sacrifice more of her form to save all of them from danger. With that in mind he made sure to turn off the ship once they were in the loading bay of the barracks, or at least the farthest part of it, to which Jak and his sisters stepped out first and he beckoned for Keira to stay back with the Dark Sage, that way they could clear an area out before moving forward, allowing them to move into a safe area without any of them having to worry about enemies flanking them in the middle of battle.

When they walked outside the hanger, however, the siblings found that they were definitely in the right place, as there was a Precursor Totem resting near the door they walked through, where it looked like the current path was an earthen area with a number of dead looking trees, either burned or aged to the point that a single tap might break them, to which they focused on the object that was in front of them.

"You know, I've been wondering how the Precursors knew where to put these down." Tess commented, as that seemed to be something that didn't make a lot of sense when she thought about it, since there was next to no way for Eon and the rest of his kind to know where to place all of the Oracles and other objects that empowered or helped the siblings during their previous adventures.

"I mean, they travel through time and space when they become Spirits... plus they likely used those Time Rings to travel to points in the past to influence the future," Daxter remarked, something that caused the siblings to stop for a moment, as it was one of those times where the one that was usually seen as the unintelligent one, as many outside their group felt that Daxter was more like a pet and not a person, said something smart that made them stop and consider what he said, but as he said that Twilight nodded her head.

"Makes sense... especially if one considers that one of us could have decided to call this home, after becoming Spirits, and that we used our knowledge to place the items where we've found them," Twilight said, as she had thought about the odd placement of the Precursor constructs a few times in the past, she had even considered this after hearing what Eon had to say on what happened to a Sage who became an Ottsel and eventually became a Spirit, but having Daxter beat her to the punch made her wonder if there were more side effects to the transformation, "I mean, Jak could become a Spirit later in his life and might decide to come back here, to aid Feolorath in staying safe until we saved everything... or maybe it might be one of my other selves, there's no way us to know."

Jak, however, decided to say nothing, as with Twilight there was a chance that she was right and he didn't want to take the time to think about such a thing, not until he reached that point in his life anyway, before they approached the Totem and let it fill them with Green Eco energy for a few seconds, unlocking another power for the four of them to use, though once that was done they headed down the path and found their way to a structure with a locked door. Jak and Cozy tried to pry open the door with their enhanced powers, making sure not to tap into their Dark Eco since it would cause pain and force Twilight to move in to save them, at the cost of more of her pony form, though they found that it didn't budge at all, and when Starlight stepped forward her magic didn't seem to do much when she put it through the gaps. Twilight, on the other hand, didn't do anything except stare at the door as Keira and the Dark Sage joined them, where Jak stopped Keira as she tried to open the security panel, as there was a lot of Blue Eco attached to it, far more than what it needed to operate, but it didn't get them anywhere since none of them had the code needed to open the door, but Twilight did safely drain a bit of the Blue Eco, making it safe for when someone actually used whatever the code was. In that moment, however, Daxter and everyone else watched as the Dark Sage stepped forward, as if in a trance, and input a code that allowed him to open the door, where he walked inside and seemed to remain in the same state as when he put whatever the code was into the device in question, to which Jak made sure that Keira stayed with him as he and his sisters dealt with everything that might be waiting for them inside the Barracks.

On the other side of the door they discovered something that worried Jak instantly, there was a river or pool of Dark Eco in front of them and Twilight was already starting to stagger, meaning there had to be more of it nearby that they couldn't see and that they had to find a location that was a good distance away from the dark substance, where Jak wasted no time in readying his new power, forming a shield made of Green Eco around him. What the Eco Shield allowed him to do was walk over the pool of Dark Eco, or maybe it was more of a roll since the spherical shield also moved in response to what he did, though as he came to a stop he found some robotic Armadillo rolling out of the sides of the other side of the room they had entered, so while he dealt with them Cozy used the power to cross over and join him while Starlight helped their sister cross by forming a slightly raised walkway with her magic. On the other side of the door that Jak and Cozy walked up to, however, they found another reason for why Twilight would be so weak, there was a lot more Dark Eco in the pool that rested in the next chamber, where he and Cozy progressed using their Eco Shield as Starlight stayed back to help Twilight, hoping that all of the Dark Eco didn't do anything to her sister. They then found a pair of robotic soldiers, similar to the KG grunts who had been the start of the robotic line that Errol eventually took over, who emerged from a room that was off on the right side of the passage, meaning there was another security measure they had to deal with and lashed out at the pair as soon as they discovered them, finding that they weren't very sturdy and it lead to Jak and Cozy breaking them like twigs, before they used the Eco Shield and Eco Teleport to progress through the area.

Once the pair was sure that it was safe, which was hard to do in a facility that wanted them dead, they started to beckon for Starlight to join them, though as she did so, and successfully teleported herself and Twilight over with her magic, they found some Robotic Soldiers and Robotic Armadillos waiting for them, which happened to be when Starlight joined both of her siblings in dealing with their enemies as Twilight watched, since she didn't want to get in the way.

As the siblings eliminated all of the robotic enemies in the area, however, Jak noticed that there was a lot of Dark Eco that seemed to be below them, almost like a river that cut through this entire facility, meaning the proximity to it had to be the case behind Twilight's constant weakness, while also noticing that Keira and the Dark Sage must have taken another route that had sealed itself behind them, since neither of them were here. With those thoughts taken care of the siblings made their way towards another group of enemies and an area that required the use of the Eco Teleport and Eco Shield powers, so Jak and his sisters cleared out the area, with Twilight blasting one with her gun since it was there for a reason, before he and Cozy made their way across yet another open section of the river, allowing Starlight to teleport over once they found that no enemies were nearby. A few seconds later they found that this had to be a dead end, before Twilight pointed out some cracks in one of the walls and Jak used the Eco Amplifier power to blast it open, revealing the next part of the path and meant that he had knocked a door down to get deeper into the Barracks, even though they found that the noise of his actions brought a few more Robotic Soldiers to where they were standing. Of course neither of the robots stood much of a chance against them, as they would need at least ten to put up a challenge, and once both were destroyed Jak continued further with Cozy at his side, once more allowing Starlight to keep some distance as she focused on Twilight, but they did find a door and he opened it accordingly, which let them enter what appeared to be a storage room that had a few more robotic enemies waiting inside it.

Jak, Starlight, and Cozy wasted no time in dispatching their enemies as Twilight opened the nearby door, finding that it was another double security door before it brought them to another passage, one that had a pair of Robotic Solders standing in the middle of a pool of Dark Eco, so once her siblings were done with the last group Jak took care of those ones as well, before switching to his Eco Shield to move forward with Cozy. That brought them to a larger chamber that looked like had a number of security walls that had to be brought down so they could move forward, so it was a matter of teleporting and moving some Tikis around to open the way forward, something Cozy and Starlight let Jak do as both watched over Twilight for a time, who sat on the floor and rested for a moment or two. Once the way was cleared they rejoined him as he started to walk through another set of security doors, where Jak came to a stop near a pool of Dark Eco that wasn't as filled as the ones they had passed by earlier, to which Twilight beckoned to the weakened structure on the other side and told him it contained a good amount of Dark Eco, something that caused him to shoot it with his Eco Amplifier power. It took a few moments for the pool to fill up, thanks to all of the Dark Eco that was pouring out of the device he blasted based on what Twilight had said, though once that was done he used his Eco Shield to cross as Cozy followed him, leaving Starlight to use her magic to form a walkway for her and Twilight to safely cross the gap.

On the other side of the gap they found another door that lead to another chamber, full of Robotic Soldiers and a fair few Robotic Armadillos, though as Jak, Cozy, and Starlight dealt with the enemies in front of them, so they could move forward and find the item that the Eco Seeker had sent them to claim, Twilight noticed a larger robot who appeared to be more like a commander, who teleported down and started to use some Dark Eco to put some of the soldiers back together, to which she groaned as she raised a hand before shattering it with her power.

"Don't worry... I'm fine..." Twilight said, speaking before her siblings could rush over to see if something had changed after a burst of magic, though as she did that something came to mind as she stared at the fallen enemies, her mind putting all the pieces together in a way that made her shudder for a moment, something that caused her to glance at her siblings for a few seconds, "These guys aren't robots... even the commander wasn't one, despite his modifications... they're the start of Skyheed's Dark Warrior Program, Humans twisted by constant Dark Eco experiments, to the point where each one seems to be trapped in their own Dark Form, contained in armor that makes them look like robots... and they're too far gone for us to save any of them... Skyheed needs to pay for what he's done to his people."

"And we'll deal with him in due time," Jak replied, though he had remained silent while they fought the enemies, as most of their attire, while looking similar to what the people of Aeropa wore, had felt metallic without really looking like metal, so it made sense that this was the start of the Dark Warrior Program, their attire meant to protect them and made sure the foul army survived long enough to take their enemies down.

Cozy and Starlight didn't have much to say about that, as they agreed with what Jak had said, while Daxter and Tess kept silent as well, allowing the group to take one more look at what was around them before heading through a door, which brought them to an area that Keira and the Dark Sage were standing in, where it looked like they had found the item they were here to claim, a small Precursor orb that could almost be a Power Cell in size.

"We found the missing piece," Keira said, speaking when she heard the door open and found the siblings walking into the chamber that she and the Dark Sage were standing in, with the Dark Sage tending to a machine and looking like he might still be stuck in the trace, which meant his memory must be returning and that he had found a safer way for him and Keira to get down here, before she frowned, "but, well..."

"It's all my fault, Jak..." the Dark Sage commented, where it was hard to tell if he was here with them, stuck in the past, or if he was stuck between both points in time, though the group said nothing as they waited for him to speak his mind, while Twilight kept her attention on the surrounding area, just to make sure no enemies came rushing at them while they were doing this, "The memories of this place are flooding back..."

"You're the Dark Sage," Jak offered, as he figured that the old man was stuck between points in time, or maybe back with them when he considered things a little more, though either way he felt that being calm about things and giving him some time to come to terms with things might be better for them, since it would give them far more information than what they had learned from just walking through the facility, "and our theory is that you made this project."

"Yes... the Dark Warrior Program..." the Dark Sage replied, confirming that they had struck a nail on the head, even more if he continued to confirm what they had been thinking for some time, though he seemed ashamed of his past and was a bit happy to have some time to think about the things he had done, "I studied Dark Eco... thought that the plentiful corruptive energy here, in the Brink, could be used to make us stronger, protect us from the dangers of the world... but all it did was destroy everything it touched, twisting people into monsters with no control over their actions. I tried to build robots, to take this facility by force so I could stop this madness... but I failed..."

"Who commissioned the program?" Starlight asked, even though they had a feeling that it was Skyheed, given everything Twilight had felt and told them about after they departed from Aeropa, but there was always a chance that he might prove them wrong, that it was something else and that there might be another foe for them to deal with, once they dealt with all of the darkness they had seen in Skyheed's city.

"That... that would be me," Phoenix spoke up, where they discovered that the captain had followed them down and must have tracked down Keira and the others, or, as the case seemed to be, he simply retraced his steps and followed what was in his own memories to get to this chamber, where he also seemed ashamed of what had happened in the past, making all of them a little curious about things, "for Aeropa."

"I was curious as to why you were so familiar with all of the Aeropan facilities and where they were located," Twilight said, as that had been an interesting thing when she and her siblings considered it, even though it could have been explained as someone keeping an eye on what his enemies were doing, to keep himself and his crew safe from harm, but this was good information for them to gain, "please, go on..."

"I was once the commander of the Aeropan Air Forces." Phoenix explained, which made sense when they considered what they had seen when he faced off against them in the air, especially with the ambush he had planned, and caused them to think about the victories he must have gained against the enemies his people had faced, before coming to the person that stood in front of them, "I was put in charge of a secret weapons program to make a new class of warrior, because we were fighting a terrible war, and we were losing..."

"And you thought putting people in THAT chair was the right way to go about things?" Cozy angrily snapped, as while everyone else was calm about things, and even Jak didn't have a lot of problems with the two years he had spent stuck in it and experimented on, thinking about the three years she lost, the anger she had felt, and the terrifying beast that she had become, until the Precursors balanced her power and awakened her true abilities, still enraged her and her claws slowly came out again as she stared at Phoenix.

"No! I refused to do that, to my own people!" Phoenix snapped, this time staring at the darkness in Cozy without stepping down or being scared of her, not like the last time he had seen her transformation, though as she calmed down, and the pain of the Dark Eco transformation started up again, he watched as Twilight rushed to her aid once more, where he took a moment to look at something else, namely the Dark Sage, "When I learned what they were doing... turning Humans into those monsters... I tried to stop it by convincing Duke Skyheed that the project wouldn't work, that the danger was far too great, but he wouldn't hear it... and with no other option available to me, I did the next best thing: I kidnapped the Head Scientist of the project. Sorry about that, old boy, but you took a bad blow to the noggin during the scuffle, so I decided to maroon you on that island, to hide you and your work from Skyheed... only I stopped nothing, as Skyheed went on with the rest of his experiments and now everyone in Aeropa is infected with Dark Eco..."

"That might be true, but it isn't too late to save everyone," the Dark Sage replied, interrupting Phoenix for a moment, which caused them to glance at him for a moment as Twilight finished calming Cozy down and cancelled out the pain that would have struck her from her transformation, though it showed them that he must have been thinking about things since they had brought him to Phoenix's ship, to which he gestured to Jak and his sisters, "We have four Prism Sages, each in tune with their powers... even if the nature of the Brink seems to be fighting them... and you know the stories of their powers, as they are masters of Eco, capable of things that a Sage of a single type cannot hope to accomplish. I came back here to relive the past, but I am not afraid... being in their presence, witnessing their power and skills for myself, has given me the confidence and strength to face my own fears. If we can get to the Eco Core, which guides and controls all Eco, we might be able to save everyone, both those outside the Brink from the storms that threaten our world and our people before our corrupt leader drives them over the point of no return... I'm not sure about a number of things, but we have a Green Sage as well, plus whatever powers rests inside those Ottsels, and with the seven of them we should be able to stabilize the Core and save the world!"

Jak smiled as he heard that, as for the most part he and his siblings had done damage control since Sandover, even if that had caused more damage in some instances, but this meant that they might be able to save the world in a way never done since their first adventure, and his sisters seemed to agree, this was a good thing for all of them, they just had to find the other two items the Eco Seeker needed before heading for the legendary Eco Core.
> Brink: Challenges
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With everyone fully committed to taking Skyheed down, and saving the world from what was going on, Jak and his sisters headed outside, finding that they were back at the front of the Barracks, which meant they might have to rely on the Dark Sage's knowledge if another Coordinate Sphere was located in an Aeropan facility, but as everyone headed for the hanger they received a call from Klout, who revealed that the Phantom Blade was under attack. Phoenix, of course, called for the siblings to join him as they headed back to the hanger and climbed into their ships, Jak taking off in the Hellcat with Keira, his sisters, their Ottsels, and the Dark Sage resting in the back, leading to Daxter and Tess to ready the turret so they could see what in the world was going on this time around. As they took to the skies once more Jak switched open the line so they could hear whatever was being said between Phoenix and Klout, where they discovered that the Phantom Blade's engines had been shot out and that it must have been done by an automated defense system, though as Jak reached the sky they found that the three walled sections they had ignored earlier were raising sections that had large turrets on them, three per section it looked like. As such Jak, Daxter, and Tess opened fire on the turrets as Starlight focused on using her magic to create barriers so they didn't take too much damage, leaving Cozy and Twilight to sit this out as they watched, since they knew that their siblings and friends didn't need assistance in taking their enemies down, but if things got hairy Cozy would fly outside and Twilight would force herself to act.

When the third and final turret section was smashed to pieces, which was good for them since Phoenix didn't have to worry about his ship or crew being hurt, Keira discovered something that worried her a little, a missile was being launched and it was going to be targeting the Phantom Blade, to which Jak beckoned with his head and both Daxter and Tess got ready for what he had in mind. As such he tracked down where the missile was going to be launched from and deployed the Ottsels, as they jumped out of the Hellcat and glided down to where their target was resting, so when the missile few out of the silo they were on the back of it, using their smaller bodies to invade the weapon and tear into all of the pieces of machinery that were in front of them. Daxter found that training with Tess before this point in time, in both Eco and seeing her own interests, was beneficial to what they were doing as they tore into the missile and collected more bits from it, but that wasn't their main focus as they sought out the controls and devices that kept it in the air, something that actually lead to Daxter seizing control of the missile and directing it towards one of the turret stands. Such a thing caused it to bring out a number of Blue Eco mines to destroy attackers, another defense system, something that caused Jak to get near them as Twilight stepped out and raised a hand, draining the Blue Eco out of the devices so they could fall into the water, allowing the pair to drive the missile right into the dead center of their target, where they dropped off the missile and Cozy flew out to catch them.

With that done they found that the other two turret stations replaced their damaged turrets and opened fire on them once more, causing Jak to focus on them once more as Daxter and Tess readied themselves, as they had a feeling they would be riding on another missile in no time, and sure enough they found another silo readying itself, to which the pair dropped out of the Hellcat and repeated the process. Sure enough Jak found that they were able to deal a vast amount of damage to the missile, just like they had done to the first one that had been fired at the Phantom Blade, allowing them to seize it and redirect it towards one of the remaining silos, where Twilight groaned as she removed the Blue Eco mines once more, draining them like before, and it wasn't long before it blew apart the second target with Cozy returning their friends to the ship once their mission was done. Not a few moments later the remaining turret station readied another set of turrets for them to take down, something Jak focused on as his friends readied themselves for another missile ride, since the pattern seemed to be holding quite well, and not a few moments later he dropped the Ottsels into the silo so they could ride the missile for some time, where they tore the missile apart and redirected it back to the third target without wasting next to no time, blowing it apart as Cozy returned them to the Hellcat. Twilight huffed for a moment as Cozy returned with Daxter and Tess, as even draining Blue Eco from those mines seemed to take a lot out of her, though from what she could tell her body hadn't suffered any additional changes yet, but she knew they were coming as she climbed back into the ship and Jak headed back to the Phantom Blade, as there were no more targets for them to worry about.

After docking with Phoenix's ship, and everyone confirmed that nothing else was coming at them, Jak and his sisters, plus the rest of their group, waited for a time so the engines could be checked and maintenance could be done, if such a thing was needed, though only a few minutes later Klout approached them and informed them that the ship was ready to do, as the damage was minimal, like when Jak shot them down, to which Jak nodded and set a course for Far Drop.

"So, um, what did Skyheed do to her?" Phoenix asked, speaking to Keira as they flew towards the next destination that just so happened to have one of the Coordinate Spheres they needed, though he was asking because he had seen Twilight's odd changes and seemed to think that she had been experimented on by the Duke he was trying to overthrow, while not considering anything about Daxter and Tess.

"Skyheed didn't do anything. Twilight is... unique," Keira admitted, where she thought about everything that had happened to Twilight since she started transforming into an Ottsel, the next stage of a Sage's evolution, and could understand why someone like Phoenix, who had been disturbed by what had happened in the Barracks, would be worried or concerned by what had happened to someone else, especially one of the Prism Sages, "Her power is incredible, to the point where her body cannot handle it all... we're not sure what's causing it, but she seems to be the only one affected by it."

Phoenix said nothing to that as he watched Twilight weakly walk over to where her siblings were located, figuring that all of the Dark Eco she had been near in the Barracks was still bothering her, meaning that if they saved the world she might be saved as well, though Keira hated lying to him, since he was their ally and had spilled his heart to everyone earlier, but the information about a Sage's evolution was best kept a secret, so which she focused on her work and hoped that they could do something to help Twilight once this quest was over.





It took some time for them to return to Far Drop, which they were fine with since it meant they were able to get some rest before having to worry about whatever might be waiting for them in their destination, and upon their arrival near the city in question Keira elected to remain in the Phantom Blade, to track down the third and final Coordinate Sphere, but based on the signal she had no idea where Jak and his sisters might find the second one. As such Jak, his sisters, and their Ottsels climbed into the Hellcat and disembarked from the flagship, heading for Far Drop without wasting any time, finding that it was the same as when they left it earlier, in terms of appearance, and it didn't look like Barter's city had any Dark Mutants that needed to be taken care of, meaning it might be an easy mission this time around. While they flew towards the city, however, Twilight felt something that made her pause, there was an energy signature that felt like a Sage's, more like one of the physical colors, maybe Blue or Red, and it seemed to be coming from Barter's place, or at least in that general area based on what she was feeling right now. It was easy for her to blame her awakening Ottsel nature and the powers that it brought with it, because everything was different for her now, as she could see the world far more than what a Prism Sage could on their own and all of the Dark Eco made things difficult for her, though since none of them had any idea where to find the Coordinate Sphere it seemed like the best course of action.

"Guys, this might be a shot in the dark, but we should check out Barter's bar," Twilight said, speaking as Jak landed in the docking bay of Far Drop, finding that there were a larger number of ships in this part of the city, which told them that more people must be scattered around the city, though her siblings glanced at her for a moment and considered that it was the best move they could make, since Barter might have information for them.

As such Jak climbed out of the Hellcat and his sisters followed after him, where Daxter rested on his shoulder as Tess took her position on Starlight's, and as they walked away Starlight made sure to protect the ship once more before they made their way over to Barter's place again, where all of them found that there were a lot more people in Far Drop, either due to all of the Dark Mutants being taken care of or because more wanted to rest before taking off again, though no one even attempted to stop them as they reached the bar.

"So glad you back, Jak. Strange things afoot." Barter said, welcoming Jak and his sisters back to the bar, no doubt thinking another brawl was going to break out while they were visiting Far Drop, before he beckoned to a female pirate who wore a purple coat that was open and showed off her white shirt, where the bottom seemed to be tied up to show off her midriff, with red hair and a purple pirate hat, a captain's in the eyes of the siblings, who happened to be drinking and was holding onto a container with the Coordinate Sphere inside it, "Ah, you like? That a Precursor rune sphere. She good fighter, but me think you can 'persuade' her to give..."

"You seem to have something we need," Twilight said, as instead of joining her siblings at the bar, and speaking to Barter, she followed her instincts and walked over to the table that the pirate happened to be sitting at right now, who looked up as she came to a stop across from her, where she beckoned to the glass container for a moment, showing the lady what she was talking about, "that Coordinate Sphere... how much for it?"

"Oh, not much for small talk, are you?" the pirate replied in kind, asking a question to Twilight's question, though she had a cocky tone to her voice as she leaned forward and crossed her arms for a moment, like she was trying to be intimidating or something, and if it had been anyone else but her or her siblings Twilight was sure that whoever the pirate was speaking to would have backed off, before she chuckled a little, "However, money doesn't interest me right now... now if we were to bet on a fight..."

"Let me guess, the sphere against someone joining your crew?" Twilight inquired, because that seemed like something a pirate would ask for, offer someone something they needed or wanted and then beat them so they had no choice but to join the crew of the one they bet against, which caused the pirate to smile as she nodded her head a little, to which she let out a sigh, "Fine, if you win I'll join your crew, and if I win you hand over the Coordinate Sphere... and maybe join up with our crew, as I have a feeling that you don't like Skyheed."

"Your lucky it's only me in my crew right now, otherwise I might take offense... but I like your bargain." the pirate replied, to which she picked herself up and tossed the container over to Barter, who caught it and locked the bar down behind him as the other patrons started to move away, especially since she pulled out a sword and a pistol, something that interested Twilight since it just so happened to be the same weapons she had, "Tell me, who do I have the honor of fighting? Just so I know the name of who will be joining my crew."

"I am Twilight Sparkle, daughter of King Damas, and I'm one of the Four Sages... Prism, to be exact." Twilight said, though as she said that she jumped back and made sure there was enough room for the two of them, while she also pulled both of her weapons out, something that caused her foe to raise an eyebrow as she noticed that they had matching sets, even if the designs were somewhat different, "How about you?"

"Captain Naomi, the one people beg for mercy from when I rob their ships," the pirate stated, where Twilight got the bit of confirmation she needed to see that her earlier thoughts were right, blue energy danced around her arms for a moment as she tapped into her Blue Eco, something that caused her to smile for a moment as she noticed that Jak and the others were a little surprised by this development, before she focused on Twilight again, "but my title is simple, I'm known as the 'Blue Sage'... and you cannot be Twilight Sparkle, so allow me to teach you some manners."

Jak knew that this would become a problem at some point, as people were used to him being with three pony sisters, as it was the term people used to describe his sisters, since they weren't Human, but as he thought about that he and the rest of his group watched as Twilight and Naomi started to circle around the arena they would be fighting in, something that caused the patrons to move out and give them some space to fight. Once the area was cleared out, and Barter had made sure to raise his own defenses against being hurt, was when things got interesting, as Naomi focused on her power once more and rushed forward, at a speed that was far faster than the eye could follow, or at least normal eyes since Jak and his sisters tapped into their own powers for a moment to be able to see what happened next. Twilight, on the other hand, didn't need to go that far to see her opponent, as she could see the Eco in the air and in everything that was around her right now, another sign of her true nature awakening and influencing her, though she tapped into the Eco Reflexes power as well as she rushed forward not a few seconds later, were she and Naomi clashed in the middle of what was currently their arena, their blades crossing as sparks flew. For a second nothing happened, the two staring at each other as Naomi likely thought about the fact that a person smaller than her would be able to stall her weapon like this, given that she was taller than Twilight, before they separated from each other and Naomi took a chance to move herself in such a way that looked like she was going to be kicking Twilight in the side of the head, all to knock her out and bring this battle to an end before something happened to her.

Twilight, seeing the attack coming with ease, jumped backwards and swung her right hand as she levitated her gun, which was when a Human sized Eco Construct appeared in front of her, one that went flying towards her foe, who switched up her attack as she pulled her body back, before her foot made contact with the crystal, and she smashed through it with a blast from her pistol, sending that and several fragments back towards Twilight. It wasn't hard for one to figure out that it had been infused with Blue Eco, especially since a normal blast from a pistol would have done nothing, to which she left out a huff as she switched to the Eco Shield for a moment, cancelling out the incoming attack before she focused on the area that Naomi was standing in and fired upon her, intending to strike her down from a distance. What that meant was that she was using her gun this time around, to make sure she hit her target, and with her magic levitating the weapon it had to be harder for someone to track it and react to her attacks, and yet she found that Naomi was able to sense when the gun was firing upon her and moved accordingly, dodging the short burst of attacks with ease, where she understand that her foe was experienced in fighting and was using her inner powers to sense when her attacks were coming. It had to be all of the bits of Blue Eco that were inside the weapon, or maybe she was just that good and her experience was what the answer was this time around, though in that moment both of them seemed to sense what was coming and fired at the other with a barrage of pistol blasts that ended up striking each other in the middle of their arena, before Naomi decided to roll off to the side and escaped Twilight's attacks.

In that moment, as Naomi came to a stop, she raised her empty hand, having decided to sheath her gun since neither one of them seemed to be having much success with it right now, before sending out a powerful arc of blue lightning, no doubt a skill she learned at some point in time, since this was associated with Blue Eco, hence all of the machines with bits of pure blue lightning in the Blue Sage's hut back when she and her siblings living in Sandover. In that moment the lightning just struck the area in front of Twilight, who stared at it for a few seconds before it started to swirl around her, which was the moment she sent it back at Naomi without giving her time to react, where Jak found that the pirate stood still and braced herself as her body reabsorbed the Blue Eco that had been spent in the attack, though knowing his sister that must have been intentional in some manner. With that done Naomi burst out of where she had been standing on went on the attack once more, this time opting to use her fists and feet to assault Twilight, who found that her dwindling physical power was a problem once more and that Naomi was definitely pushing herself to beat her, where Twilight groaned as she called forth more of her powers to battle her foe, using a bit of Red and Yellow Eco to boost her physical damage, Blue to speed her up to catch up with Naomi, and Green to either heal her or defend herself. That allowed Twilight to overpower the incoming attack and knock her opponent backwards once more, where they lashed out at each other with their Eco powers and whatever weapon they felt like using, which happened to be their blades since both of them found that using their guns didn't seem to solve anything and slowed their fight down, causing sparks to fly as the pair danced around each other and moved around the bar, all while the patrons cheered for them.

While Jak kept a straight face, since he had faith that his sister would be able to win, he, his other sisters, and their Ottsels knew that the longer this took to resolve, and the more power Twilight brought to bare against Naomi, the more effects she would face once they stopped fighting, though sure enough he watched as his sister stumbled at one point and, as he expected, Naomi took advantage of it as she kicked Twilight in the chest and knocked her back into some tables, which broke and collapsed on top of her.

"You fight like an experienced fighter, but you ain't Twilight Sparkle," Naomi commented, where she smirked as she stared at the wreckage she had caused and the foe that wasn't beaten yet, as she had a feeling that the stranger wasn't done yet, a fact that would allow her to drill in who was the captain and who was the follower, though in that moment she felt a slight change in the air as energy seemed to gather around where her foe had fallen, "What is this?"

In that moment Starlight felt a surge of magical energy as the chairs and other fallen furniture were lifted into the air, even the ones that hadn't fallen on top of their sister, where Twilight stood up not a few seconds later and they found that there was an aura of magical and Eco energy that seemed to be mixed together, power that seemed to radiate the vibe of what a Prism Sage should have, especially since the aura seemed to be almost rainbow colored in nature. They also found a new light in her eyes, as they seemed to display a level of power that told anyone that they were dealing with a dangerous foe, though while everyone was taken aback by this display, and Naomi was surprised by the sudden change, the siblings knew what was going on, Twilight seemed to be burning through her own energy so she could secure the Coordinate Sphere the pirate had, not caring about the consequences of her actions. Twilight, now displaying the full power of a Prism Sage, or at least they assumed that was what they were seeing, staggered for a moment as she raised her hand and disappeared not a few seconds later, where Jak and his sisters found that they had to tap into their own powers for a moment to see that she struck Naomi several times, purely with her fists, before knocking her to the floor. In that moment she coughed as she used her magic to seize her foe's blade, making sure that both of them were resting in a threatening position near the her target's neck so Naomi would realize what sort of a position she was in, especially since she had her Ottsel foot right on her foe's stomach so the blades could be positioned correctly.

"Well what do you know, you are Twilight Sparkle... I yield to you." Naomi stated, showing that she knew the stories about Twilight, her powers, and what her siblings were capable of, that her earlier statement might have been to see her power and see if all of the tales were true, though with her submitting to Twilight that meant Jak and his sisters would claim the second of the three Coordinate Spheres they needed, to which she helped Naomi up, who claimed the artifact from Barter and handed it to Jak, before they heard something fall and found Twilight resting on the floor, her body twitching like she was in pain, "What's happening to her?"

Jak immediately sprung into action as he had Starlight and Cozy tap into their Green Eco, because a big wave was going to hit them and they needed to get Twilight to Keira, who might be able to stabilize their sister before something bad struck her, with Daxter and Tess, despite the pain they would be in, did their best to help her as well, allowing him to head out to the Hellcat with Naomi following after him, as she was curious about things. This was one of those times where Jak felt that breaking the rules was the reasonable thing to do, where he opened the line to the Phantom Blade and informed Keira of what was going on, in part anyway since all he had to say was that Twilight was in trouble, before he climbed into the ship and surprised Naomi by the magical space behind the pilot seat, though with that done he got moving. It took him no time to reach the bar and he found that his sisters were carrying Twilight outside, with the Ottsels on her chest as they tried to do something about her condition, where Starlight formed a magical ramp for her and Cozy to use to carry Twilight into the ship, moving her to the back section to try and stabilize her, though once the magic was gone Jak headed back to the Phantom Blade with all haste. Naomi was still in the dark about what was going on, but she remained silent as they came up on the large ship and Jak docked without wasting time, where they waited for a few moments as it brought them to the docking bay and Jak was able to turn off the Hellcat, and sure enough he found Keira and Phoenix standing nearby, likely worried about what might be happening to Twilight this time around.

Keira, seeing the state that Twilight was in, decided not to do bother pulling her to her workstation, rather they pulled her out of the ship and she tapped into her own power for a time, Naomi discovering that she was in the presence of a Green Sage, another surprise among what she had discovered since meeting Jak, before her aura returned as she joined them, as it looked like all the Sages were trying to stabilize Twilight, with Starlight focusing on Yellow and Cozy going with Red as all of them focused on Twilight. Phoenix, not having any powers to aid them with, watched as Twilight screamed in pain as the next changes finally took hold of her body, the orange fur spread down her left arm and stopped at her wrist, moving all the way down to her knee on the right leg as well, and seemed to start creeping on the middle of her stomach and the rest of her body, before heading up the back of her head once everything else stopped. Not a few moments later they watched as Twilight's pony ears shuddered and changed before their eyes, as they became thinner and taller as both moved into the position that an Ottsel's ears were in, to the point where she had a pair of Ottsel ears that made her resemble Tess a lot more, showing the siblings that it was only a matter of time before she lost her pony form and totally transformed into an Ottsel. In addition to that Jak watched as Twilight's height dropped once more, coming to a stop at four feet this time, before they were able to deal with the pain and she seemed to slip into a slumber of some kind, to rest after the pain her body had been in, causing them to withdraw their powers and huff for a few seconds, knowing that they must have been successful in helping her out, but with that done Keira picked Twilight up and carried her off to her workstation, so she and the others could keep an eye on her before they reached the location of the third Coordinate Sphere, the final piece of the puzzle before they sought out the Eco Core.

Jak had no idea if they could do anything to help Twilight at this point in time, as the transformation into an Ottsel had to be at the final hurdle, because with how intense the last few had been he was sure that the next one would either be the penultimate or even the final one, before he sighed and focused on help Keira and understanding more about Naomi, as it would kill some time before they figured out where to go next so they could find the Eco Core.
> Brink: Sector Zero
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

While Twilight was resting in the room Phoenix provided for her, as she needed it after everything she had been through since they came to this place, Jak, Starlight, Cozy, and Keira got some useful information from Naomi, where she disliked Duke Skyheed, far more than a pirate normally would, due to the fact that her crew were currently prisoners in Aeropa, hence why she had been so interested in forming a new crew to get them back. She freely admitted that there was only so much she knew about being a Sage, especially the Sage of Blue Eco, so she was more like Keira, meaning she happened to be in the training stages of her power and that it would take some time before she reached the level that the siblings were at, or at least the level that one could reach with her type, as she honestly felt that reaching Twilight's level would be next to impossible for her. Naomi then went on to explain that two of her crew, those who served as her fellow captains no less, despite them referring to her whenever decisions needed to be made, were her sisters, in bond and not in blood, Augusta, who just so happened to be the Red Sage, and Evelyn, the Yellow Sage as Daxter correctly guessed, not that it was hard since Keira was the Green Sage. Part of her mission was to track down where Skyheed was holding her crew, break them out and recover their ships, and then declare war on him once more, because they had sworn to do everything to protect their world and not put themselves above it, which made Jak and his sisters wonder if they might have come into contact with Gol and Maia at some point, since those two seemed to travel the world while Eon worked with his assistants, due to the fact that their father had them as his advisors for some time.

The funny thing was that Naomi informed them that she was a descendant of the Blue Sage from their days in Sandover, Augusta was the same for the Red Sage, and Evelyn, as the group predicted, happened to be a descendant of the Yellow Sage, though when she asked why it was funny it was Keira's turn to tell her that she was the daughter of Samos, who had been the Green Sage at the same time as the three Sages in question.

"So the stories about you coming from the past are true." Naomi remarked, though even as she said that one thing she understood was that Jak and his sisters were capable of far more than one would expect of people from the past, hence why she quickly figured out why people assumed they had been hiding in the shadows until they were ready to take down all of the enemies that stood in their way.

"Yeah, but we're most known for saving Haven, Sanctuary, and the rest of the world," Daxter said, which was the truth of the matter, that the vast majority of the people preferred to think about everything they had done since emerging from Praxis' facility a long time ago, which was just a bit of confirmation that their time in Sandover was lost to history, save for those who came from that time period, before he shrugged, "Don't worry, you'll get used to it."

"So... what's happening to Twilight? Because that's not normal." Naomi asked, showing that, while she was surprised by all the information that had been shared with her, she was worried about Twilight and the changes that were overtaking her body, which was understandable when Jak considered the sheer amount of pain she had been in earlier, like her body was breaking and reforming or something.

"...we're not totally sure..." Jak replied, as while they did have some idea what was going on, thanks to Eon's information on the matter, this was far beyond anything that he and his sisters had been expecting, so it was safe to say that Starlight and Cozy would likely be experiencing this at some point in time, even if he hoped that such a thing never happened to them, not after seeing what was happening to Twilight, "All we have been able to figure out is that she is unique, even among all of us, and that her body can no longer handle her great power... had we thought she would battle you in her current state, and draw in so much power to show you that she couldn't be beaten, one of us would have stepped in, especially given all the pain she was in earlier."

As Naomi nodded Jak glanced over to Keira for a moment, as he also shared her position on not liking to lie to their brand new allies about things, though the Precursor evolution was something that was better left unexplained, as if people knew the truth it would break the illusion that Eon and the others had been weaving, though at the same time he knew that it was only a matter of time until it was broken, especially given Twilight's transformation. While he and his sisters thought about that, and considered what to do about Twilight's condition, Keira revealed something interesting as she finished her studies of the second Coordinate Sphere and the Eco Seeker, the second sphere happened to be masking the presence of the third sphere, hence why it had been so hard for them to track it down until this point in time. She also informed them that the signal in question was weak, far more than anything they had experienced so far, which either meant the artifact was running low on Eco again or the last sphere was in danger of being lost forever, to which Jak got up and headed to the  control section of the Phantom Blade, setting a course for their next destination, an area that seemed to be back in the direction of Skyheed's research station. The problem, in Phoenix's eyes, was that it might actually be in the Vortex, part of Sector Zero, an area beyond the Brink that had been totally destroyed by the Vortex, meaning it was something Jak and the others would have to keep an eye out for when they reached whatever area happened to be their destination, even if Jak knew this was more of a mission for their Hellcat if it was inside the mass Phoenix had mentioned.

Sure enough the Eco Seeker brought them to Sector Zero, a massive dark green colored area that had twisted rock spires growing out all over the place, making Jak and his sisters wonder if this place was more like a bleeding wound and that all of this was Green Eco, like something had punctured one of the Spirits who called this place home, but they discovered that Twilight was up and ready to go, so she joined her siblings as they departed in the Hellcat.

"Hopefully when we fix the Eco Core this place gets fixed as well," Twilight commented, staring at the destruction that was all around them, no doubt caused by rampant energy of some manner at some point in the past, Eco possibly being mixed with part of Feolorath's own power, before she focused on their mission and the Vortex that happened to be in front of them, which Jak was focused on, "Keria's sure that the Coordinate Sphere is down there..."

"Of course it would be down there." Jak replied, though that was mostly due to the fact that it seemed like a good place to hide something, instead of it being the only place around here that seemed like a good hiding spot, especially since there wasn't much landmass in this place, to which he sighed as he flew over the rest of Sector Zero and zeroed in on the Vortex that was at the heart of it, "Hang on guys, this is going to be tricky."

As Jak descended into the Vortex they found that it was more like a tunnel after some time, one that was full of fragments from a number of ships that must have come here seeking treasure, or they were from whatever this place had been, just before the Vortex tore everything apart, so Jak made sure to avoid the debris while he followed the signal of the last piece of the puzzle they needed to track down the Eco Core, or whatever the Eco Seeker was pointing to. What surprised them all was that a number of ghost ships, which were transparent based on what they were seeing, appeared while they flew down the passage, something that caused Daxter and Tess to open fire on their new enemies when they were fired upon first, mostly since they wanted to be sure the ghost ships were enemies before tearing them apart. One thing they noticed was that when a ghost ship was destroyed a bunch of Green Eco was released, or a gas version of Green Eco as Twilight studied what was going on, though such a thing meant that the energy that gave them a second life should return to this font of energy, or at least it should as she watched one ship's power break out as Daxter wrecked it's form and it headed down the passage for a time before reforming. Such a thing meant that if they wanted to break the curse of this area, all to break whatever curse happened to be placed on this part of the Brink, it was either going to be after they dealt with the Eco Core or one of them was going to have to do something about the Vortex, like seize control of the energy and direct it in a more positive manner, but Twilight knew if she did that it would be the final straw in her transformation.

Despite her thoughts on the matter, and what they could do at some point in the future, Jak reached what had to be the very bottom of the Vortex and claimed the Coordinate Sphere that happened to be down there, though with it in hand he turned around and headed back to the surface with as much speed as he could muster, especially when he called ahead to tell Keira that they had been successful.

Jak, girls, I'm afraid we have some bad news, something big just appeared on the radar Keira said, though they had a feeling they knew what was going on, hence why Jak focused on getting out of the Vortex as his sisters got ready for the fight that would happen once they were no longer traveling through the passage that lead to the third Coordinate Sphere, especially when they considered what had happened since they came to the Brink, Oh no, it's the Behemoth!

"Great, and now Skyheed is here," Starlight remarked, because none of them were happy to hear that they had company, much less someone who willingly twisted his people into mutants that were supposed to be Dark Warriors, a program that was basically a total failure unless the individual in question happened to be a Sage, as anyone else either died or where driven mad with insanity, at least during Praxis' dark days until Kor's influence.

Sure enough when they burst out of the Vortex Jak and his sisters found that the Behemoth finished warping into the area and that it seemed ready to do battle with whoever happened to be in the area, even if next to no one remained in this ruined sector of the Brink, hence the reason it seemed to open fire on both their Hellcat and the Phantom Blade, showing them that Skyheed wanted to eliminate all enemies before resuming his foul quest.

"I... I don't feel many people aboard the Behemoth," Twilight commented, because if Skyheed was here she assumed that both Augusta and Evelyn would be nearby, so he could keep an eye on them and secure their powers before they tried to do anything, but she didn't feel any Sages aboard the massive ship, in fact there weren't many Eco signatures to begin with when she thought about it, meaning the Behemoth was either a massive drone or their enemy had a way to hide himself and everyone else who had Eco inside them, where she assumed the former was correct.

"Good, then we don't have to hold back." Cozy stated, where she wasted no time in tapping into her power, this time going all the way and calling all six colors to the surface for the first time in a long time, where Twilight watched as her hair and tail transformed into a rainbow flame, sort of like what happened when her sister took on her Dark Form, and the power she was channeling seemed to be that of a fully realized Prism Sage, this time without being in pain, while she also seemed to have a unicorn's horn now.

Twilight had to assume that part of what they were seeing was due to her own transformation, that Cozy didn't want her to be in any additional pain after giving so much of herself to help them, before she stepped outside and burst into the air in a matter of seconds, allowing her to focus on the Behemoth, though she found that Starlight also decided to help her out, stepping outside as she focused on her powers, this time, against all odds, manifesting the same state that her sister had right now. Jak chuckled as he saw that, as it seemed like all the pain Twilight had been in, and all the trouble Skyheed was responsible for, had convinced their sisters to do everything in their power to bring down their enemy, which seemed to also unlock the last fragments of Cozy and Starlight's powers, where Daxter and Tess found that Starlight also had her own pair of pegasus wings, the feathers having a rainbow sheen to them, like Cozy's had. As the pair headed towards the ship, so they could take down all of Skyheed's drones, Jak put the Hellcat in a hover state before climbing out so he could stand on it's left wing, allowing him to watch and see what happened, before he closed his eyes as well as he thought about what his sisters must have done, that they had fully accepted their own powers before fully manifesting their Prism natures, as it seemed like Eon had been able to only them access to a vast majority of their powers and didn't have the time to bring all of it out, otherwise they would have beaten Eon without this world's aid. In that moment Twilight found that her brother was also changing, his hair taking on a rainbow sheen as well, like he was finally embracing his powers as well, and had to wonder if this was all her fault, because she had tired to shoulder so much to make sure none of them were in pain during this adventure, though at the same time this meant they were truly the four Prism Sages everyone knew about.

Cozy focused her efforts on attacking the Behemoth, smashing into the power nodes that happened to be outside, as that would stop Skyheed in his tracks, while also flying over to some drones that were flying out to attack them, slicing them to bits with her claws, even if they were no longer dark and evil looking, they seemed more like what an angelic defender might use against their enemies. While she did that Starlight, despite not understanding how to fly with wings, flew around the ship as well as she found beams of dark energy rushing out to all of the smaller ships that were part of the graveyard that was around this sector, to which she tapped into that power and overrode whatever Skyheed was doing, reviving the armada that was resting here as an army of ships that opened fire on the Behemoth and the drones it possessed. Jak and Twilight, not to mention Daxter and Tess, stared at them in shock for a time as they witnessed what was going on right in front of them, even though Jak seemed to be keeping track of their foe and tapped his staff on the Hellcat's wing when he noticed that Skyheed was fleeing, calling his sisters back as Starlight dismissed her fleet, allowing them to return to their rest without having to worry about people like Skyheed bothering them. With that done the sisters returned to Jak, finding that when they released their powers their new alterations remained, informing Twilight that their kind likely had another state between Sage and Ottsel, the Alicorn state, meaning that the clock had started to tick for her sisters, though it would likely be a few years before they reached her level and started turning into Ottsels, unless there was another state that she skipped or something.

As soon as everyone was back on the ship, and they were sure that the Behemoth was gone, they headed back towards the Phantom Blade, so they could give Keira the last of the Coordinate Spheres and figure out what the next step in this quest was, because if Skyheed was showing up now it meant they had to be close to the Eco Core and that they had to be careful moving forward from this point forward.
> Brink: Eco Core
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Naturally Keira was surprised when Jak and his sisters returned to the Phantom Blade, along with Daxter and Tess, though all of them were taken aback by the fact that the four siblings were true Prism Sages now, something Eon must have felt all the way back in the core of their world, but given the fact that they didn't have a lot of time now, since Skyheed's arrival had to mean something, she accepted the last Coordinate Sphere and added it to the others.

"It seems to be pointing back to the research station," Phoenix said, though he clearly didn't like the idea of heading back, given his history with Skyheed and his Dark Warrior Program, even if the Eco Seeker was pointing towards that area, but, in the end, he knew that nothing he said was going to matter to the siblings, as they were going to head there and see what they might have missed, before he recalled something, "truth be told that station was built on top of some strange formations, ones that we couldn't pierce, no matter what we used on them..."

"Wouldn't put it past Skyheed to build on top of a Precursor structure," Daxter replied, as that sounded like something the dark Duke would have in mind, especially after everything they had seen during their time in the facility in question, but as he thought about that he considered part of what had been said and what they were looking for, "Is it possible that the Eco Core is somewhere below the research station?"

"It's worth a shot, though we'll need to make sure the Phantom Blade is out of danger," Jak stated, though it it was true, and they had been some distance above the Eco Core, it meant there had to be a way further into the planet to find the artifact that would help them restore the balance of Eco to the world, which meant only those with Eco power could go down there, as those without power would be in harms way.

Phoenix agreed and informed the siblings that he and his pirates would be waiting some distance away from the structure while they worked on whatever it was that might be in their way, to keep the skies clear and keep an eye out for Skyheed, but as Jak set a course for the research station, however, Twilight had a feeling she knew what was coming and informed the captain that it might be better if he and his people left the Brink. When questioned about it she told him that when it came down to it they could come up with some really bad ideas, ones that could endanger bystanders, and given the fact that the fate of their world hung in the balance this time around she knew that whatever she and her siblings did would be far more dangerous than anything that had been done before this point. Such a thing didn't stop Naomi from offering to join them, as her Blue Eco had been able to help Twilight when she needed some assistance, even if it hadn't been close to what her siblings had done, and even the Dark Sage, who revealed that his name was Tym, wanted to go with them, since Keira was planning on going for this venture, since it was part of her quest to find the Eco Core. In the end Phoenix agreed with the plan, he and his crew would be departing as soon as the Hellcat was no longer aboard his ship, leaving the Sages to track down the Eco Core and fix the world, with Daxter and Tess heading in with Jak's group, though when they reached the edge of the area Jak found that a barrier was surrounding the research structure and some bots were trying to repair a generator that powered it, to which he headed out without wasting time.

As such Jak climbed into the pilot seat of the Hellcat while everyone else who was heading to the Eco Core piled in back, in the magical aspect of their ship, before he departed from the Phantom Blade and flew over to where the facility rested, to which he and Daxter opened fire on the repair ships before any of them could complete their mission, allowing Phoenix and his crew to fall back, before Jak tore through the generator that was powering the barrier. Of course that wasn't their only target that needed to be taken down, as there were two more shield generators that needed to be taken care of and each of them happened to have hangers that deployed more repair ships, so the first thing they did was collapse the top of the hangers, preventing more enemies from flying out to reverse any damage they did to Skyheed's generators. As soon as Jak was sure that the hangers were taken care of, which Daxter confirmed as Keira nodded her head as well, he opened fire on the pair of generators as Naomi focused on making sure the flow of Blue Eco matched the destruction of the last two targets, eventually leading to the third one being destroyed and caused the barrier to fall in seconds. With that done, and all of them confirmed that nothing remained to stop them from landing in the docking bay, Jak did that and came to a stop, allowing everyone to climb out before Starlight protected their ship with another spell, just like she did whenever the group visited a new area, though with that done Keira carefully pulled out the Eco Seeker as they studied the area that was around them right now.

In the next few seconds a door opened and revealed an elevator that had to be what they were looking for, one that just so happened to take them down into the depths of the facility, which brought them into a large underground chamber of sorts, one that seemed far more modern than what Jak and his sisters were expecting of the Precursors, before spotting a massive purple geode, a crystal that looked like it was infused with Dark Eco, before they stared at the area around them for a time.

"We've done it... we've found the Eco Core." Jak commented, staring out at the area and finding that there was some sort of device around the majority of the massive stone, or at least beams of it were from what he could see, though as they came to a stop Keira rushed over to where the terminal was located, allowing everyone else to stare at the rest of the area for a time as she worked her magic on it.

"Yeah, and it's located near the heart of our planet," Keira remarked, where Jak and his sisters knew that she was referring to the other Precursor station that rested near this part of their important world, the Planetary Defense Platform, but she continued working for a few moments and thought about the fact that this happened to be where the Precursors once controlled the Eco of their world.

"But how are we going to wake it up? The terminal is long dead." Naomi asked, because while she could see that Keira was working on figuring out what the problem was, and not the power issue to be exact, there wasn't much they could do with how dark this place was, while at the same time she noticed that Twilight was huffing as she knelt on the floor, where the Dark Eco had to be messing with her.

In response to that Jak and his sisters raised their hands before sending a light stream of energy into the terminal, which caused the screen to light up not even a few moments later, allowing Keira to make sure everything was fine while the Eco Core itself started to glow as it was raised by whatever device it was being carried by, bringing it up to where they were standing and gave them a chance to stare at it for a time.

"Based on these readings the Core is comprised of two things, the first being the crystal in front of us, which draws in the Eco and reshapes it, like a processing center," Keira stated, telling Jak, his sisters, their friends, and their new companions what she was seeing and what it might mean right now, though they said nothing to that, knowing it was bad to interrupt her, especially given that they knew nothing about the device that was in front of them right now, "second, there is a prism inside the heart of the crystal, which seems to be doing the majority of the work, in pulling in and reshaping all the Eco that it was designed to draw in... however, that prism is out of alignment and it is causing a massive energy build up. Now, I'm sure I can realign the prism and bring the Eco Core back online, but the main problem seems to be the Brink itself, or the massive hole that bares that name... we can fix the immediate problem, but someone would have to come back in about a thousand years to repeat what we've done, though fixing the Brink is much harder to do."

"And you will be fixing the Core to my specifications, least I..." a voice said, where they found Skyheed walking towards the platform they were standing on, meaning he must have found a way to bypass everything the Precursors had placed in this place to protect the Eco Core from harm, before they found two female pirates standing behind him with their hands bound, one dressed more like a fighter with a red coloration while the other seemed to be a sharpshooter, who also had a yellow color to her attire, meaning he had brought Augusta and Evelyn with him, before he stopped as Jak applied his own power to the man.

"You know, we normally give people the benefit of the doubt, that there is a reason for their actions... but you, Skyheed, all of this is because of your own greed and lust for power," Jak replied, deciding not to bother fighting the man that was the main enemy of this adventure, because with the Eco Core turned back on, even with the prism out of alignment, he could do so much while being in the same location as this powerful device, rather he gestured with his staff and the Dark Eco in Skyheed's body came flooding out, rejoining what was inside the Core while leaving him weak, though it wasn't long before Twilight took a page from Midnight's book and banished him to the Plane of Torment.

"And this is why you don't mess with a Prism Sage, especially near the Eco Core," Tym remarked, showing them that he did know about their power and how dangerous they could be, though with Skyheed removed Naomi was able to rush over to Augusta and Evelyn, allowing her to untie their bindings and the metallic device that restricted their powers, hence why the pair didn't try to escape before this point, before he turned towards Jak and Keira once more, "So, how long before you do what you need to do?"

"Not long... just be ready for when the show starts." Keira stated, because if she knew Jak, and she really knew him and his sisters, this was going to be rather impressive and possibly one of the most dangerous things they might ever do, which could possibly kill all of them if they were unlucky, maybe even everyone else if they failed, but given everything that she had seen in the past she had a feeling this was going to work out well.

True to her word it didn't take her long to get the prism in alignment and make sure that all of the machines were good, as a misstep here could be disastrous for them, though once she was done everyone gathered near her before channeling a fair deal of their own Eco energies, Jak and his sisters focusing on Light and Dark Eco, with Daxter and Tess aiding them as Tym did his best to help out, while Keira, Augusta, Evelyn, and Naomi channeled their own colors to balance things out so the Eco Core could be balanced. As they did that something interesting happened, both the platform they were positioned on and the device that contained the Eco Core rose out of the ground for some reason, though it became known why as they felt all of the Dark Eco that was across the Brink being dragged into the Core, so it could be reshaped into the other colors and bring balance to this section of the world. Such a thing ended up toppling the research station in it's entirety, a fact that also came as a surprise to them as Skyheed's structure collapsed into the water around them, though after that happened Keira focused on bringing balance to the world, just like they intended when they came out here for this quest, but, as they all knew, this was only part of the equation and none of them had any real ideas on what to do about the hole in the world that would cause all of this to happen again in a thousand years. In that moment the screen in front of them beeped and Starlight activated it with her magic, where they found a message from Eon that seemed to be cutting in and out on them, no doubt due to what they were doing right now, but they were able to figure out that he had discovered that a massive meteor was heading straight for their position, one that would crack the world apart if it struck the Eco Core or one of their barriers, meaning they had to come up with a way to stop it before it struck.

As the message ended, however, Twilight launched herself into the air and stopped when she was floating above the Eco Core, where she tapped into her full power as a Prism Sage and allowed the aura to wash over her body for a few seconds, allowing the meteor to get closer and closer to their world, before she sent out her power in a burst of power that started to wrap around the incoming rock as she tried to slow it down. Keira, knowing what Twilight was up to, found some new readings that suddenly appeared on the terminal in front of them, the Eco of their world seemed to be gathering in six points, either due to her other selves coming out to help or it was all six colors gathering on their own to help her, where the latter would likely be explained by Twilight's Ottsel powers. Still, slowing down the meteor proved to be challenging for Twilight, even though she was pouring all of her power, Eco and magic combined into a single force, where Jak and both of his sisters had to wonder if Twilight was still weak from her transformations, that she wasn't at full power or something, and the meteor continued to descend towards their destination, despite her attempts to slow it. In that moment she and the others watched as it started to pierce their atmosphere, drawing ever closer to where they were working and causing all sorts of flames to dance along the edge of it, though in that moment all of the Eco readings Keira had discovered did something new, they surged through the air and wrapped around Twilight, strengthening her and restoring her to what had to be her prime as her aura intensified before their eyes.

Twilight floated there for a few seconds, no doubt taking a bit of time to realize what sort of power she possessed now, all while the meteor continued to descend without any real resistance, before she raised her hands and weaved her power into a magical ring that was designed to act less like a barrier and more like something that would slow down the meteor that was coming at them. Despite that fact, however, the meteor continued to press against her spell and even cracked it after a few seconds, though she was fine with that since most of her power was being focused into another attack, so the rune circle was more like a distraction as she prepared for what seemed to be her last effort, or maybe the one that had a greater chance of success. Not a few moments later the rune circle shattered and that seemed to be what Twilight might have been waiting for, where she raised her left hand and actually stalled the meteor, meaning her full power must have been awakened at long last, even though it seemed to send shudders throughout her entire body, something that told all of them that her hybrid state couldn't contain the power of an Ottsel. Once she was ready Twilight swung her right fist at the meteor, like she was trying to punch it, and a powerful burst of energy surged out from where she was standing, which slammed into the face of the meteor before sending shock waves throughout the massive rock, something that caused it to start breaking as pieces fell from where the massive rock rested.

In that moment everyone watched as the meteor shattered and the fragments were carefully moved by the energy that had broken it, where it looked like Twilight was using the impending disaster to fix the Brink, though she also fixed up all of the islands that were scattered around this place, including creating a new one around the Eco Core, making it easier for someone to access the device. It was a surprising and shocking display of power, with how easy it was for Twilight to move things around like she was a puppet master or something, or maybe a sculptor who was working on a piece of art, which gave them an idea as to what a newly awakened Ottsel was capable of, something that made sense in Jak's eyes as he took a moment to consider that the Spirit stage could travel through time and space with ease. After a few moments Jak and his sisters found that the meteor was gone and that nothing in the air seemed to be coming down to strike the world, while the last of the pieces fell into place and were molded to look like all of them had been there since the beginning, and the oceans washed over the new land with ease, transforming the Brink into something new. Jak knew that this was the other half of the puzzle, that fixing the Eco Core was really only part of the solution to restore Eco to their world, so with Twilight channeling her powers like this, with them doing everything in their power to assist her, they had overcome the last hurdle and had mended their planet so no one would have to worry about this in the future.

Once that was done a flash of light emitted from Twilight, as if informing them that they were free to stop channeling their powers, to which Jak, both of his sisters, their Ottsels, and Keira did just that as everyone relaxed, which was a sign for the others to follow their lead and they relaxed after channeling their energies for a long time, though after that Keira rushed over to the machine to check on the readings.

"We've done it! The prism is realigned and the Eco Core is channeling Eco again... soon we'll be seeing Eco coming from all of the vents again!" Keira said, her tone revealing that she was happy for all of them, though after all of that she felt like a fully realized Green Sage, something she would have to ask her father about, and was sure that Naomi and her sisters felt the same way, but, at the same time, it only took her a few seconds to realize what else had happened to their world, due to Twilight's actions with the large meteor, "And, thanks to Twilight filling in the hole that was known as the Brink, things should be far more stable, so the people of the future won't have to worry about fixing things again, except to come and check on the Eco Core from time to time. Twilight, you can..."

In that moment, as Keira looked up at the area that they had seen Twilight in, Jak and his sisters, plus their Ottsels and all of their new acquaintances, found Twilight floating above the Eco Core, though before anyone could say anything they also found some mist rolling off of her body, with the rest of her body transforming into an Ottsel's body while she lost the rest of her height, stopping at two feet eleven inches, which was the same as Tess. It was the end of her transformation, which made sense when they thought about what she had done to stop and reform the meteor that Eon had told them about in his message, though it was in that moment that Jak noticed something that worried him, which in turn worried Starlight, Cozy, Keira and their Ottsels, not to mention everyone else, her body seemed to be dissolving before their eyes, as in her limbs seemed to be turning into a light mist. Such a thing made them wonder if Twilight had pushed herself too far while she was messing with the meteor, and keeping them safe as well, because it was entirely possible that she might skip the Ottsel state, not to mention the Chrysalis state that happened to follow it, and go right to the Spirit state Eon had told all of them about some time ago, though as Jak's group realized that he also knew that there was nothing any of them could do at this point, except watch and wait. Twilight didn't seem to even be aware of what her body was going through, as it did look like channeling all of that power had knocked her out, though it wasn't long before the mist overtook her body and her face followed, leaving a mass of energy where she had been not a few moments ago, one that started spinning as it took on a rainbow coloration.

A few seconds later a red mass launched itself out of the swirling mass and raced towards the area they were standing in, one that slowed down and safely landed on the platform in question, where everyone turned their heads and found that someone had landed nearby, a red furred Ottsel that was dressed in Twilight's previous clothing, attire that wasn't red like her fur, where Jak and his sisters realized that Pele had been separated from their sister. Sure enough a few more bursts erupted from the swirling mass of energy, one that was blue colored, another that was green, and a third that was yellow, to which everyone watched as a blue furred Ottsel landed not far from Pele, followed by a green furred Ottsel doing the same to Pele's right, and a yellow one formed further to the right, leaving the blue one landing to the left. In that moment Jak and the others remembered what Twilight had told them in the past, that her other selves had their own names, Pele being Red Eco, Shiva controlling Blue Eco, Gaia possessing Green Eco, and Bronte being Yellow Eco, but before they could say anything another burst surged out of the swirling mass and a dark furred Ottsel, similar to Gol and Maia, landed near Jak, who looked like Midnight. After all of that a few flashes erupted from the swirling mass and they watched as it quickly reformed into a single mass, which was when Twilight, in her Ottsel glory, appeared before them, her fur looking the same as before, a Light Eco Ottsel to be exact, though she landed on the platform between her other selves, which was when all of the lights faded and everything returned to normal.

No one did anything for a few moments, just to make sure they didn't interfere with whatever was going on, though that was when Midnight and the other four Ottsels opened their eyes, only for surprise to appear on their faces as they quickly realized that they had been separated from Twilight, that what Eon had said some time ago had been proven to be true, though Twilight remained still, causing her siblings to move over to where she was resting.

"Twilight? Come on, wake up." Cozy said, as while Midnight and the others had been able to wake up and move within the first few seconds of landing on the platform, showing that they were just fine, the fact that Twilight was still laying still, like she was sleeping, worried her and the others more and more as the seconds ticked by, especially since it looked like she wasn't breathing at all, "Please, wake up... this isn't funny."

Midnight and the others stood there for a time, unwilling to admit that after everything they had been through, or what Jak and his sisters had been through, that it was their separation from Twilight that did their main self in, that she might have given her life to make sure they could live on after saving the world, and it brought tears to their eyes as they considered it, since they considered themselves to be her sisters as well. As the sisters, not to mention the newly born Ottsels, started to tear up, and Twilight's former other selves started to cry over her having given herself to separate them from her, Daxter noticed two things as Jak and Keira moved closer: the first being that Twilight still had access to all six types of Eco, while the second was that her chest was moving.

"...I'm... not dead... yet..." Twilight weakly replied, where Cozy, her siblings, and everyone else found that she was alive, that she was breathing and that she was in the process of opening her eyes, even if she seemed rather weak in doing so, which made sense when they considered what she had been through, before she moaned for a moment, "I... just need... some rest... before I do... anything..."

In that moment Jak breathed a sigh of relief as he carefully picked up Twilight, as he didn't want to inflict any harm on her while she was resting, before they headed for the area that the Hellcat was resting in, as it was time for them to return to the Phantom Blade and give Phoenix the good news, though for now Twilight closed her eyes and fell asleep as Midnight and the others followed after Jak, as it was time to bring an end to this adventure and head home.
> Interlude: Homecoming
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With the Eco Core fixed, and the Brink was repaired to make the world whole, Jak, Keira, Starlight, and Cozy lead the rest of their group back to where he had landed the Hellcat, which appeared to be safe and sound, despite all the chaos that had happened over the last couple of moments, and waited for a second as Keira opened it so his sisters could climb into their ship, where he handed over Twilight, who was fast asleep after everything she had been through. As Starlight carefully took her sister, and Cozy remained sitting nearby in case they needed to do use their Eco powers, Naomi and her sisters took a seat across from them while Tym sat in the back, allowing Daxter and Tess to sit in their chairs in case Skyheed's people still wanted a fight, though after Twilight's display they hoped the Aeropans were smart. Of course Jak and Keira made sure that the other Ottsels climbed in as well, those being Midnight and Twilight's other selves, before they did so as well, where Jak took control of the ship and departed from the new island that the Eco Core was located on, which Keira was noting down so future generations would know about, in the off chance that someone needed to come here and check on things, like in a thousand years or so. As Jak flew away from where the Eco Core rested, however, he and the others found that the rest of the Brink had been altered in a similar manner, where it was easy to see that the meteor had been turned into a new layer for the sea floor, formed islands, filled gaps that had been left by the damage that had been done, and the Eco Storm was no longer a thing based on what they could see.

In fact, according to Keira's readings, the entirety of Sector Zero seemed to have been changed as well, like Twilight had fixed it while she was repairing the world so no one had to worry about things in the near future, meaning that vortex was gone as well, which helped explain why she was so exhausted and happened to be sleeping as they headed for Phoenix's position, to give him the good news before seeing how Twilight's fixes had messed with the Aeropans.

"So... Sages become Ottsels..." Naomi commented, as she was staring at Twilight's slumbering form while Jak flew towards their destination, though while she enjoyed the feeling of being a true Sage, because her Eco powers were far stronger and both of her sisters found the same seemed to be true for them as well, even Tym and Keira appeared to have awakened as well, the end goal seemed strange to her, that when one's power grew to a certain point their form broke down and they were turned into the small creatures that were sitting nearby.

"That's the truth, though usually a Sage transforms into an Ottsel in an instant," Keira said, where she rubbed the back of her head for a moment as she said that, since she hated lying to their new companions and now one of them had to tell them exactly what was going on, which seemed to be her task for right now, since everyone else seemed focused on what they were doing, "what we were told was that an Eco user's power grows to the point where they transition into Sages, like what happened to us earlier, and from there a Sage's skills, knowledge, and power continues to grow, to the point where their form can no longer contain everything, which can take years to decades depending on the person in question, which results in the transformation into an Ottsel. From what we've been able to tell Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy, who are totally different from everyone else, have another stage to go through, that of the Alicorn state, before those forms give way for the Ottsel state... however, we were told that it was instant, so we need to have a word with the Oracles once we get back to the mainland."

"Instant transformation is fine... a painful, body breaking experience is something else entirely," Cozy remarked, though as she said that Keira noticed that Cozy was looking at her sister, imagining all the pain that she had put Twilight through over the course of this adventure, especially since she knew that Cozy had dipped into her anger several times and it had caused a change in her to make her transformation come out, and with the former nature of the Brink it would have been followed by all sorts of pain, which Twilight took care of at the cost of her own body.

"We'll figure out what will happen to us in due time, though we're hoping to gain new information before doing anything else," Starlight said, as she wanted to speak with Eon, Gol, and Maia on this matter, due to the fact that they must have figured something out in the time they had been in the unstable Brink, though she suspected she and her siblings would have to answer some questions before getting to what was on her mind.

Naomi paused for a moment as she nodded her head and focused on her sisters, as they were curious about their powers as Sages of their respective Eco colors, exactly like how Keira was interested in her own powers and Tym, who had been very silent so far, happened to be the same way as they flew towards the Phantom Blade, where Phoenix and his crew had to be curious about what had gone down after Jak and his sisters told him to leave the Brink. Jak and his sisters, on the other hand, were far more powerful than they had been previously, all thanks to their nature as Prism Sages, and while he was focused on his flying he could see that Daxter and Tess felt better as well, as both of them were Light Eco Sages and restoring the Brink had caused that element to return. In fact he could see that Starlight and Cozy seemed to know more than what both of them had before they started this adventure, something he felt might be linked to their bodies being changed as his sisters became Alicorns, using the term that Daxter used from time to time, something Eon and the rest of the Ottsels likely used as well, though something told him there might be more to this than what he was seeing, to which he focused on his flying, figuring his sisters would speak to him in due time. His thoughts then turned to Twilight and what had happened to her while she fixed the Eco Core and the Brink, her becoming an Ottsel and separating from her other selves, something that would happen to Keira, Samos, Starlight, Cozy, Naomi and her sisters, Tym, and himself once each of them were strong enough, something he wasn't looking forward to.

In the end Jak decided to put his thoughts to the side as he focused on his flying, giving Keira and the others time to make sure nothing was wrong with Twilight, who Keira said was just sleeping and that she needed her rest, before they found an interesting sight in front of them, the Behemoth had come back and it made them wonder if Skyheed's people were eager for a fight. What they discovered, however, was the inverse of what they originally thought, as Ruskin was now in charge of the Aeropans and with their work on the Eco Core, which freed them from the Dark Eco that they had been infused with, a fact that had to be part of what Twilight did when Jak thought about everything his sister had done, and that they wanted to thank the siblings for their help, both in saving the planet and freeing them from Skyheed's rule. Another thing that the group learned was that Ruskin wasn't going to be in this position for long, not because he was going to die or anything, as he had been part of his former Duke's plans and stood by as all sorts of crimes had been committed on their people, but his current plan was to unite the Aeropans, both civilized and pirates alike, under Phoenix, since he set had set the wheel in motion and his actions had convinced Ruskin to remove the ban on him and his entire crew. Phoenix, as it turned out, had been listening for Aeropan messages, just in case Skyheed got ahead of them and claimed the Eco Core before Jak's group could find it, so he was shocked by the sudden statement and it lead to both him and Ruskin talking about it while Jak made his way back to where the Phantom Blade was resting.

Once that was said and done Jak landed on Phoenix's ship and they found that the crew, now a mix of Pirates and some of the more adventurous Aeropans, were eager to thank them for everything they had done to save everything, though this did serve as a way for them to rest and recover before making the journey back to Sanctuary, Haven, Kras, and the rest of their coalition, to give Damas, Samos, and the others the good news.





It took some time for the Phantom Blade to get close to where their destination was, though once they were close enough Jak, his sisters, Keira, and their friends climbed back into the Hellcat and headed for Spargus, where it appeared that all of the leaders of their coalition happened to be gathered today, though they could see that things had changed since the last time they had been here. The Forbidden Jungle happened to have a large tree growing in the middle of it, and based on what Jak could see it wasn't doing any harm to the track that had been built for the KGC, though that was just the start of everything, as they could see that the non desert portion of Sanctuary seemed to be brimming with life, while even the desert might have some surprises for them in the future. It was as if the entire world had changed on them while Jak, his sisters, Keira, and their friends had been busy fighting to save everything they knew and loved from a build world ending disaster, which they no longer had to worry about since the Eco Storm was gone, but everywhere they looked it seemed like things had improved for the better, putting a smile on all of their faces. Naomi and her sisters, however, had chosen to stay with Phoenix and his crew for the time being, so they were back on the Phantom Blade, meaning none of them could see the looks on their faces, much less Phoenix and everyone else, as they gazed upon the transformed nature of what Jak and everyone aboard the Hellcat called home.

As they expected things got rather exciting as they flew over Sanctuary, as the people of Spargus recognized their ship and the gates opened so they could actually enter Damas' city, though Jak landed outside the city, mostly to give them a chance to stretch their legs before being welcomed home by everyone else, where he glanced back for a moment and nodded as Twilight waved for them to head in without her, hence why they climbed out of the Hellcat and headed for the gates that lead to Spargus' garage.

"Keira, it is good to see that you are safe and sound." Samos said, as he and the others had noticed that the group was on their way back and had moved to intercept them before the citizens overwhelmed them, though he was the first to step forward and embrace his daughter, who was radiating life energy, just like a Green Sage was supposed to, while Damas, Praxis, Rayn, Eon, Gol, and Maia, stood nearby as they stared at the rest of the group, "And look at you, a fully awakened Green Sage, at long last... I'm so proud of you, and I know your mother would feel the same as well."

"Jak... it looks like you and your sisters have succeeded in awakening as well," Praxis added, though while he wasn't as in tune with the Eco of their world, like a good number of people around him were, even he could see the difference between pre-Brink Jak and post-Brink Jak, as he seemed more like a king that was capable of leading their world towards whatever the future held for them, even if many might see him as a demigod at this point, while not counting how Starlight and Cozy looked right now, powerful rulers in their own right.

"Your Alicorn forms make you both look far more regal than before," Rayn commented, as Starlight had been a unicorn the last time she had seen her and Cozy had been a pegasus, though now both of them were sporting both additions, making them look a lot more like Twilight, given that the other sister had been in that state for far longer, while noticing that both Daxter and Tess had remained the same, even if their Eco energies had been strengthened with the balancing of the Eco Core that they had been looking for.

"Indeed, and I am proud of all of you... both my children and their friends," Damas stated, where he spoke the truth with ease, he was happy to see that all of them had returned from this mission and were better for it, especially since this did confirm that the Sage state for ponies was an Alicorn, meaning that Twilight had been ahead of her sisters for a time, but as he thought about that he noticed something, "but, where is your sister? She's here too... right?"

"Yeah, about that... there were some, um, complications during our time in the Brink," Jak replied, as there was no easy way for him or the others to tell Damas and the other leaders what had happened to their sister when they found the Eco Core, not to mention what happened after Eon informed them about the meteor that was used to fix their world, and he could see that the others were feeling the same way.

"Jak, what happened?" Eon asked, though even as he said that he had a faint idea as to what Jak meant, especially when he took into consideration what he and the other Ottsels had felt after he relayed the message about the meteor to them, a fact that he would have preferred to discover ahead of time and had no idea why it had been missed, but right now they needed to hear what Jak had to say on the matter.

In that moment, before anyone could say anything or explain things, Damas found six flashes coming from where Jak had landed, all having a different color to them and he was sure that they matched the Eco colors, which landed between them and Jak's group, where he and the others found six new Ottsels, all looking like Twilight, presenting themselves to those that were around them... only each one happened to be posing in some way.

"The Six Paths of Sparkle, in attendance." the yellow Ottsel said, as if it were the name of their little group, something that caused the other five to pause as Samos recognized two of them instantly, as he was positive that the normal furred Ottsel was Twilight and the dark furred one, who was similar to Gol and Maia, had to be Midnight, which told him that the others had to be Pele, Shiva, Gaia, and Bronte.

As soon as she said that the majority of the six new Ottsels got into an argument over what name they were using, as one of them made the claim that they should have gone with 'Six Paths of Eco', given their abilities and everything, where they were sure that it came from Midnight, all while Twilight chuckled for a few seconds with a smile on her face as she watched the others, as they really did act like siblings, before she found someone wrapping their arms around her, which happened to be Maia of all people.

"You're okay... thank the Spirits, we were so worried about you." Maia said, which made sense when Jak thought about it, as Twilight had been a fellow researcher and had helped the Dark Sages with their studies before they used the Rift Ring to reach this point in time, not to mention the fact that both she and her brother likely saw Twilight as a friend, someone who shared their desire to know more about everything the universe had to offer, and it looked like she had been on the verge of tears before Twilight revealed herself to them, "After Eon sent that message we felt you... slipping... and worried that you might have left us."

"What she means is that all of us, and by that I mean all the Precursors, felt the awakening of another Spirit," Eon stated, to which many of them turned towards him for a moment and he sighed as he realized that he was going to have to explain what he meant once more, which was becoming more common the more time he spent with Jak's group, especially due to the fact that Twilight and Starlight, among others, devoured knowledge with all haste, "like we said in the past, when one of us reaches the point where our bodies can no longer contain our power, we form a crystalline case around us and stay in it for a time, allowing our power to stabilize before emerging from it as Spirits... what happened in the Brink, with all the power that was being thrown around with the Eco Core and that meteor, was more than enough to make one skip the rest of the Ottsel state, pass through the Chrysalis state, and pass right into the Spirit state. That's why we were so worried, as we felt your energy signature breaking down, passing into the penultimate stage of our evolution, as binding to a planet is the last before the cycle repeats... we thought Twilight was about to disappear, before we could say anything about what we had discovered, and then, without warning, she snapped her body back together and was able to force herself to stay in the Ottsel state."

"My Chrysalis state must be incredibly short if I was about to skip it and go into the Spirit state," Twilight said, as while she did know that she had poured a lot of power into breaking the meteor and reshaping the land of the Brink to finish off the planet, to make sure nothing like this happened again, it was interesting to hear that she had skipped an evolutionary stage like that, though she refrained from chuckling and annoying Eon, "though I must say that my brief glimpse into the final stage of our evolution has granted me a great deal of knowledge... or maybe it's a small fragment, considering all that a Spirit can do... and I have much to explore, but there is one thing you should know: after becoming an Ottsel I found out that I have another set of memories, of an old life before coming to this world!"

"Oh good, we weren't the only ones, as it happened to us after we hit the Alicorn state," Starlight commented, informing everyone else that what Twilight was talking about had happened to her and Cozy as well, though they had been focused on finishing their quest and didn't want to be distracted by whatever their memories might have shown them, where now seemed like a good time to go over what had brought them here, "we might even..."

Before she could finish her statement a crack appeared in the air to their right, left of their father's group, before it quickly spread and shattered as a portal, which was about the same size as Sig, which was six feet six inches, formed near them, a hole in reality that seemed to be connected to another world, before a tall creature with random parts and a body shaped like a noodle, something that seemed chaotic to look at, fell out of the portal and hit the sand, causing him to moan, which they knew based on the voice in question.

"Traversing worlds isn't getting any easier," the odd creature said, though as he picked himself up, and started to dust off his body, he stared at the group that was in front of them and paused, but while Starlight recognized him, and Cozy had a faint idea of who this figure might be, she noticed that Twilight seemed to be a little lost, making her wonder a few things as the creature stood straight, "Ah, Starlight, there you are... and you must be Cozy Glow. I've been looking for you two for some time, though at least I'm not being attacked this time around, not like the first set of displaced I found. Now, all that needs to be done is find Twilight and we're good to go."

"Hello, um... Discord... I'm right here." Twilight replied, where Starlight raised an eyebrow for a moment, as it seemed odd for her not to know the name of the chaotic being right away, though she figured that it was either due to the memories of him still being locked away or maybe those were gone forever and there was nothing she could do to recover them, and as she thought about that there was another thought she decided not to voice right now.

"Okay... not sure what happened to you, though I have an idea on who can explain it," the being, Discord, replied, where he took a moment to stare down at the small creature that looked like Twilight had been fused with an otter and a weasel, not to mention shrunk to a much smaller size than before, though Jak had a feeling that he was referring to someone who was on the other side of the portal, instead of Eon, where he beckoned to the portal for a second, "if you'll follow me for a few moments we can return to Equus and we can visit the Tree... She'll be happy to know that I found some more of the displaced."

Jak and his sisters shared a glance for a few seconds, as this reminded them of what they had been told after beating Errol and learning the truth of their universe, or at least one of the truths to be exact, and knew that by following Discord they would start something grand, as well as get some answers as to why his sisters had been brought to this world, among other things that Jak and Daxter wanted to know, even though they were going to have to put any desire to rest on hold, at least until they were done exploring a brand new world.
> Equus: Surprising Discoveries
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

While Jak, Twilight, Cozy, and Starlight had been hoping that they would have been able to take a day or two off, after all the events that happened during their time in the Brink, it appeared that Discord, after discovering some of the displaced he had been looking for, fully intended on bringing them back to Equus, the name of the planet that Jak's sisters had come from based on what they had been able to tell, meaning that they couldn't stay here, in Spargus, not without the being forcing all of them through the portal he had made.

"Okay, so we use this portal to head back to Equus?" Daxter asked, as he wanted to make sure he understood what the chaotic being wanted from them, because while it seemed rather straightforward one look at the portal and how it had been made caused him to worry about something bad happening to them, something that caused Discord to nod his head for a few seconds, "Fine, we can do that... though if anything bad happens to us I'm blaming you."

"What can a rodent like you do? You aren't like Twilight, or Starlight and Cozy for that matter," Discord remarked, where he seemed to think that Twilight was the exception to the rule of an Ottsel possessing a vast amount of power, to which Daxter let out a sigh as he gathered his Eco powers for a moment, where he disappeared for a moment, a cut appeared on Discord's right cheek, and returned to his perch with an Eco blade falling apart.

"That's true, but I'm also a Light Sage, capable of slowing time for a certain amount of time, and other things," Daxter said, as he had grown into a warrior during his time with Jak and his sisters, to the point where he wasn't afraid of anything and this was just another example of his bravery, going so far as to show a new being that he had to rethink how he saw him, Tess, and all of the other Ottsels, before he considered something, "Oh, and you might want to wait for a moment... we've got some company coming."

Discord raised an eyebrow, as he now knew that Ottsels, as Twilight called this species, weren't to be underestimated and he was sure that the others likely had some good powers that could be used against those that annoyed them, before he found out what Daxter meant as three large dragons descended on the area they were in, even though they surrounded themselves with a dark mist before becoming three more Ottsels as each landed nearby.

"Alvin, Simon, Theodore! It's good to see you again," Cozy said, naming the three Ottsels as they approached the group, all so Discord had an idea of who was who, though as the trio walked forward all of them stopped for a moment as they laid eyes on the six Twilights that happened to be standing nearby, causing her and her sisters to sigh, as the brothers had missed all of the information that had been shared, "Don't worry, we'll tell you what happened later... once we've figured out what Discord wants from us."

"I'm taking you home so you can meet the other displaced," Discord replied, something that surprised Starlight, more in the sense that he was actually willing to share all of the information that he had with them, instead of speaking in his odd manner to make them think and make bad decisions, like when he tricked Twilight and her friends after he broke out of his prison some time ago, "not to mention the allies they have made, depending on whose there, before telling you about the..."

"Demonic threat that wants to seize control of the universe?" Jak inquired, which caused Discord to pause for a moment as he heard him speak up, where he and his sisters, plus Daxter and a few others, chuckled for a moment, while Eon joined them as well, though he could see that Discord was confused by why they were doing this in the first place, hence why he revealed their hand to the strange being, "Eon told us about it some time ago, as it lead us to unite the lands into a single fighting force so we could protect our world, stabilize it, and then prepare for the future... and then a demonic cheetah came and told us about the threat, even though he seemed like he disliked our enemies, though we haven't figured out if those robed figures are enemies or allies of some kind."

"I see. Well, we thought there was only one of them, but now it seems like there are more out there," Discord said, where he stood there for a few more seconds as he considered what they had told him, as he was surprised by the fact that they already knew about the demonic army that was threatening Equus, even though it would make things easier for him and those on the other side of the portal since they wouldn't have to explain some things to these three and the people they had brought together, "Oh well, it's time we head back to Equus... don't worry, you'll be able to return in no time, if you like this world more than your old one, especially since one of the displaced can make a much more stable portal, one that is far stronger than anything I have seen in the past."

"Wait, there's someone on Equus who can make portals?" Starlight asked, as while linking two points with magic was a lost art at this point in time, as Starswirl was the last one who did something with that type of magic, the fact that Discord told them that there was a displaced on their home world who could do such a thing, including linking two worlds together with such a spell, interested her far more than she was willing to admit, something that Twilight seemed to agree with, since it was new information for them to learn.

Discord smiled for a moment before beckoning to the crack in the air that served as his portal, where he stepped through it and disappeared as quickly as he had appeared, clearly showing them that he was willing to give them the information he had, all they had to do was follow him for a time and see what their old world had to offer, causing Starlight, Twilight, and Cozy to glance at each other before Jak and several others joined them... though it wasn't long before they stepped into the portal and let it take them to Equus.





What Jak, Twilight, Starlight, Cozy, Daxter, Keira, Tess, and Samos discovered, after stepping through the portal that had been left open for them, was that they appeared in a plains area that was between a castle resting on a mountain's side, how some of the group was unsure of, and a decent sized down known as 'Ponyville', as there happened to be a sign that revealed it's name to them. Another thing the group discovered was that there happened to be an area off to the side, one that held some arches that seemed out of place, structures that Starlight knew hadn't been here during her last visit to the town, as in before her disappearance and arrival in Jak's world with her sisters, and from what she could tell the arches were linked to other worlds, just like Discord had said. The being in question stood there for a few seconds, mostly giving them a chance to see what was going on around them and understand what they were seeing, before walking over to the town that was in front of them, all while the portal Jak and his sisters had stepped through had closed behind them, but if the chaotic being was to be believed someone could open the way back in a matter of seconds. Starlight wasn't remotely surprised to see Earth Ponies, Pegasi, Unicorns, Griffins, and a few other races walking around the town, as Ponyville was a place where all races were welcome and accepted, even though she was surprised to see Diamond Dogs walking around as well, and this gave the others a chance to see just how many races existed in their world, all while seeing a few dragons talking with some guards who seemed to be off duty at the moment.

Of course she wasn't expecting to see a few things, like Humans walking around, who didn't have long ears like the ones from Jak's world, talking with taller figures who had long ears and radiated nature energy, while some of the taller beings were dressed in red colored armor and seemed more elegant, not to mention some short beings, one being half the size of a Human, another being a fourth of a Human, while the third was a small fox creature who was standing next to a tall blue skinned figure who had curved horns on her head, a slender tail, and hooves for feet, and a number of other races they hadn't seen before.

"I take it one of the displaced is responsible for these new races being here?" Samos asked, because from what he could tell all of the foreign races had to be from another world, since they didn't look anything like what he expected from the world that Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy were from, or maybe multiple worlds since they had no idea what the other lost Equestrians had been up to since they reached their respective new homes.

"Two, actually. Rainbow and Spitfire, well, went to war with the Legion and won, and their powers are incredible," Discord replied, though as they followed him towards their destination, which seemed to either be the large castle on the outskirts of the town or the forest that was beyond it, Starlight could also see a number of what had to be demonic creatures, only they seemed to be joining in the fun and just chatting with those that were around them, "plus Rainbow has a reputation for killing demons and devouring their energy, preventing them from being reborn... it convinced a fair number of them to defect to her side, to avoid being eaten."

"Sounds like the displaced are meant to be heroes, righting wrongs and saving worlds," Jak commented, though as he and the others took a moment to process the information that had been given to them, especially since there was a demonic army out there, which was going to target this world at some point, but hearing this made him wonder if there was more to the story than what they had been told, even though he and Starlight noticed that Twilight seemed utterly amazed by what they were seeing as they walked through Ponyville.

Discord nodded his head, showing him that his thoughts were correct and that most of those had done so, even though they could tell that one of the displaced might have betrayed the notion of becoming a hero, though none of them knew what that meant, and would likely never know what it meant since Discord didn't seem to be in the mood to share what he knew with them right now, before they entered the castle and found several dragons inside it. Based on what Starlight and the others saw each one seemed to be an adult, standing at least as tall as Jak, with one purple scaled dragon with some impressive armor and who looked like someone who walked out of an ancient legend, who seemed to radiate power, that stood taller than most of the adult dragons around him. There were four other dragons in front of him, with two entering from one of the other rooms that happened to be part of the castle, though from what the group could see one dragon had red scales and seemed to be partly dressed as a warrior, a pink slender female who had mage robes on, a black scaled dragon who had to be female, who wore a set of armor that was nearly identical to the larger male, while she stood near a purple dragon who seemed to be dressed as an aviator with a nice scarf wrapped around his neck. The last two Starlight focused her attention on, as one happened to be a slender female dragon with blue scales and wore a set of silver armor, where it looked like she was a warrior of some degree, while the other happened to be a slim male dragon who had purple scales and a green chest, though he wore a light blue robe with a light grey feather design near the collar area and carried a powerful staff in his right hand.

"Spike? Ember?" Starlight asked, where the dragons turned and glanced at them for a few moment, discovering that they had new arrivals to speak with and potentially learn from, something that allowed her to see that the two dragons she was interested in were the ones that had come to mind as soon as she saw them, which allowed her to let out a sigh of relief as she realized that both of them were safe, "Oh, thank the Precursors that you guys are alright... after what happened during Twilight's experiment, as she was trying to see if dragons could interact with the magic that rests in the Tree of Harmony, I thought we had lost you two, as you disappeared in a flash of light and then we collapsed after that."

"Is that what you guys were doing? Well, it certainly had some interesting side effects," Ember remarked, though she had a smile on her face, showing them that she wasn't actually annoyed by the discovery that lead to her and Spike being sent to another world and living there for some time, meaning she must have enjoyed her time with the dragons who were in the castle with her, "But that doesn't explain how Cozy was displaced with you."

"I, um, heard tales of the power the ponies of Ponyville have and decided to use it to fuel my own schemes... basically, I was an evil child," Cozy replied, though she rubbed her arm for a moment as she remembered what she had forgotten in the moment of being displaced with the others, meaning she had been near Starlight and Twilight when they were taken out, before she sighed for a moment, "anyway, I've learned my lesson, so you don't have to worry about me turning out to be a villain in the future."

"Anyway, the spell could have worked, had Equus not sensed the impending demonic invasion and sent us to gain all sorts of skills and allies to prepare for their arrival," Spike said, something that caused Starlight to pause for a moment, as he spoke differently than what she remembered and the air around him seemed entirely new, like he had changed into an entirely new dragon over the course of his adventure, where he raised his empty hand to his chin for a moment as he took a moment to consider something, "Still, I'll have to speak with Twilight about this when she gets back from her adventure, as I think her experiment might be the missing key to completing the Awakening spell I've been working on... in fact, if we found her notes on the matter, I could complete it much faster. Of course, when she does get back, we can swap stories about our adventures, how we interacted with our new worlds, and our studies with each other, since I'm interested in what she might have discovered, especially after everything that I've learned from both Spitfire and Rainbow."

"...I... what?" Starlight asked, though this confirmed her suspicions, Spike was totally different from what she remembered, as he seemed more like a scholar and nothing like someone who disliked getting his claws dirty with studies, in fact he just so happened to sound a lot like Twilight, which was a shock since she wasn't expecting to hear something like that in the first place, before she focused on something he had said, "Spike, I know she doesn't look like what you remember, and we witnessed her changing into a new form not that long ago, but this is Twilight Sparkle, Celestia's personal student, the one who hatched you and raised you for some time, and a long list of other things that would take too long to list."

Jak and Cozy, however, noticed something odd as the conversation went on, Twilight seemed afraid of something, like she knew something and was trying to make sure it didn't become reality, a secret that she didn't want anyone else to know, though it wasn't long before Spike sighed as he considered what he had been told, though none of the dragons seemed at all surprised by what was going on right now.

"While you're right about some of those statements, this isn't Twilight... this is, in fact, Sci Twilight, so nicknamed by those on the other side of the mirror portal," Spike replied, where Jak and the others turned for a few seconds and watched as Twilight let out her own sigh and simply nodded her head, meaning that Spike was telling the truth and Starlight tilted her head for a moment, as her memories didn't match what he was saying right now, hence why Spike turned his attention to the individual they were currently talking about, "your magical signature is nearly identical to Twilight's, which makes a lot of sense considering that the people on the other side of the portal in question are the human versions of ponies... and dragons are dogs, sadly. However, your exposure to Equestrian magic left an imprint on you, changing your signature a little in the process, to tell the difference between you and our Twilight... you'll have to tell me all about what happened, just so I can record it with everything else that has happened so far."

"And here I was thinking that I could pretend to be her for a little while longer, before coming up with a way to explain the situation to everyone," Twilight stated, where she sighed for a moment as she considered the trouble she was in, since at this point Starlight now knew that she wasn't the princess that she had trained under for some time, before being pulled into the experiment in question, to which she rubbed the back of her head, "What happened to me was that I saw some abnormal readings in the magical energies of the portal that resides in my world, the one that links it to Equus, and I went to investigate, using a few of my machines and my own limited power to see what was going on... next thing I know, after I started my own experiment, a surge of magical energy shattered my machines and knocked me out, and when I woke up I was with Starlight and Cozy, despite having no memories of my old life."

"That's part of the magic that some of you got hit by, or at least that's how Spike explained it," the other purple dragon, as in the one that looked to be around Spike's age, said, which interested them since this was more information about what was going on with the displaced, though Jak, Keira, and the others remained silent as they listened to everything that was being said right now, just in case there was something that changed how they considered things, "based on what we have discovered some of the displaced end up in another world, like that Tirek fellow and both Rainbow and Spitfire, while the vast majority seem to have a few effects applied to them before they reach their destination, such as aging backwards to a more reasonable age... Spike and Ember ended up appearing on the day I hatched and grew up with me, with next to no memories of their past, save for what we make in our art lessons. Basically, as Spike told us, the Displacement spell has a few effects: the first being sent to a new world, the next being potentially losing all of your memories for a time, at least until certain conditions are met, and the last being that you might age backwards, to either being a hatchling, or a baby to use a more familiar word, or to being a few years old."

"Fascinating. Spike, you must be a genius!" Keira said, as while she had no idea what she should have been expecting from someone like him, since no one had said anything before they came here, she could tell that he was far smarter than what Starlight had been expecting to find, while Cozy tilted her head for a few seconds, no doubt thinking about something that hadn't been said yet.

"Tell us something we don't know." a voice said, where they found that someone was coming out of the room that was to their left, or to the right of where Spike's group was standing, only Jak and the others were surprised to discover that the speaker looked like a faun, according to some stories that Samos told them about, a race that Eon confirmed didn't exist on their world, though she had the clawed hands of an adult dragon and her feet looked like a dragon's, she had a dragon tail and a pair of leathery wings on her back, and she had small horns, have the size of Spike's, on her head, plus the scales on her dragon appendages were purple colored with green on the underside of her tail and parts of her wings, "I am Elora... and no, Discord didn't do this to me, rather a villain of our home planet struck me with his wild magic and it twisted my form into what you're seeing, and yet I prefer this form these days. You already know Spike and Ember, but allow me to introduce..."

Before Elora could say anything there was a shudder or something that Spike detected and they headed for the chamber that contained the map of Equestria, where Elora named the others for Jak's group, revealing that the aviator was Spyro, the black dragoness was Cynder, the pink mage was Aurora, and the red one was Flame, while mentioning that there were more members of their group, who were elsewhere right now. Not a couple of moments later they found the chamber in question and Starlight had discovered something odd, there was a purple crack in the air above a crystalline table, which seemed to be revealing a new scene to everyone as they gathered in the chamber, an area that seemed to be larger than what Starlight remembered it being, before they turned their attention to what had to be a crack in the fabric of reality, a bad sign for such. What they discovered was someone who looked a lot like Twilight, without the horn and wings, dressed in armor of some kind and seemed to be facing off against another Equestrian, another girl who seemed to be about the same age as her and seemed to have a pink color to her body, where it almost like they were in the middle of fighting to the death, or at least it sure looked like that, as it sure looked like both were either angry with each other and wanted to harm their foes. Of course that was when the scene shifted and they found another girl, again the same age as the other two, fighting alongside the pink one as she fought Twilight, where it was easy for them to see that the new girl had a dark tone to her body, much like Cynder for example, and she had a dark cerulean color to her hair, though not a few seconds later they watched as a ripple washed over the scene before the dark girl disappeared, as if she had never been there to begin with.

It seemed like they were seeing what was happening to some of the other displaced, where Jak quickly assumed that they were watching Princess Twilight fighting another displaced, though when it came to the third one he guessed what the crack had shown them was a possibility, as in one timeline where three displaced were together and another where only two of them were together. Of course that presented a problem for them and those who had been found so far, as they all assumed that Spike and his group had a fairly good idea of where in their universe the others had ended up, even if none of them could get to them or had made an attempt to retrieve them, but if this was actually happening right now, and the displaced were disappearing from their spots and appearing elsewhere in the universe, there was no telling what might be happening. As he thought about that, and it was clear that he wasn't the only one concerned by this discovery, they heard the sound of something, or rather someone, screaming as if they were in pain, where Spike informed them that it was the soul of their planet, meaning Equus was another Titan and had to be very powerful based on what they were finding out, and that she had to be reacting to the person sized crack in reality. Jak and Keira glanced at each other for a moment, as they were discovering that the young dragon was far smarter than what they originally thought, even after discovering his new nature that had surprised Starlight and the others, before they placed their trust in what he was saying, since he had a better understanding of all of this, even if he was taking notes on what they were seeing.

That was when they found that the crack they had been staring at started to glow for a moment before energy broke off of it, surging outwards as more cracks started to appear all around them, revealing more images of places that none of them had seen before and displaying scenes that were in the middle of happening at that very moment, without the people on the other side noticing at all, based on what they were seeing right now.

One of the groups they witnessed happened to be two different horned beings who had a bipedal stance, which meant all of the displaced were identical in that nature, who happened to be a male unicorn with brown fur and a female kirin, a fact that everyone learned thanks to Spike, and they were traveling with a feline creature with a robot on his back, one that did look like a backpack of sorts, or maybe it was a support bot of some kind. That image changed for a moment and showed them that another feline creature had joined the group, a female one this time around, who had a near identical fur color to the one the pair of displaced had started with, before it shuddered again as a few other creatures showed up, a rather tall figure in a green costume, a robot who seemed like a villain and had what appeared to be a robotic butler, and a good number of creatures they hadn't seen before. The interesting thing, for Keira and Twilight, happened to be the weapons that the group were using, guns that seemed capable of equally interesting and disturbing things, like throwing little robot minions at enemies, somehow using lava to burn enemies, and a large rocket launcher capable of wiping out entire groups in a matter of seconds, just to name a few, plus a rectangular item fell through a crack. Twilight found that it was plans for nanotech, where Spike came over to look at for a few seconds, since it appeared that someone on the planet he and Ember had landed on might have made a weaker version of the substance, so this would allow them to enhance their version at some point.

As he thought about that, however, the scene changed to the first feline creature standing near a female of his species, as she had blue fur, who were facing off against a pearl white robot and his robotic army, a massive one that could dwarf the armies they had seen in the past, and they were joined by a number of other beings that wanted to repel the invasion of a rather large and advanced city.

After that they watched as a number of other scenes appeared around them, one of them having a pink haired girl, who had a pair of blades on her belt and happened to be traveling with a black robed figure, one with short orange hair and a large sword on his back, and who had to be his friends, a girl who looked like she couldn't protect herself, a guy who did look like a fighter, and a guy with a white suit and glasses who might be the brains of the outfit. A few seconds later they found a new image as a second pink haired girl, whose hair was flat and straight down while the first's was fluffy, standing in an area with three others, a black haired individual who had a scar on his forehead and carried a large box on his back, a blond haired guy who seemed scared of everything, and a guy, based on his base chest, who wore a boar's head over his own head and seemed more wild. Another scene appeared with a displaced who seemed like he had been a ram, one of the more dangerous figures in Equus' history based on the fact that Spike raised an eyebrow, who seemed to be walking with some monstrous beings, like a dragon-like being who seemed to be covered in spikes, in certain places, and another who seemed to have scales that looked like they might be bombs. After that they found a scene that seemed to be a pair of displaced, a male pegasus with a gamboge coat and sapphire blue hair while the other was a female Earth Pony who had a bluish gray coat and a gray hair color, who appeared to be traveling with a pair of heroes as they walked through a tower and traveled to a land that seemed to be set up in a mountain range. One other scene revealed itself, a unicorn with an azure color to her body and two different tones of blue in her hair, who happened to be wearing what appeared to be the attire of a wizard, or sorceress maybe, traveling with a blue haired girl who carried a boomerang and seemed to be fighting some bipedal wolf creatures.

A few seconds later a new crack in reality appeared, one that showed an amber colored pony with a brilliant amaranth color to her hair, and had apple green stripes in parts of her hair, who seemed to be standing like she was a ruler of some kind and stood in an assembly consisting of nineteen platforms that were arranged in a circle from her platform, where all sorts of beings stood, like a purple bipedal cat creature, a large robot, and a number of silver haired individuals who had a staff in their right hand... but before they could do anything the female deity, who the other gods respected by bowing to her, actually turned and spotted them, where she raised her left hand and closed the cracks like they were nothing to her and her power.

"Well, at least we have an idea of what is happening to the others," Ember remarked, as the cracks had revealed what was happening to some of the displaced, though the female figure at the end had cut them off before they could see if there were any other cracks to worry or think about, even though she had to admit something to herself, that kind of power they had briefly witnessed, the power to erase the cracks and restore reality in a second, was terrifying and made her wonder what else the figure was capable of, before she noticed the look on her brother's face, "Spike, is something wrong?"

"Someone is messing with the boundaries of reality... I need to check on the portals, then we need to make sure nothing has happened to the other worlds," Spike replied, to which he turned and beckoned for everyone to follow him, though as the dragons and Elora did that without delay, showing them that his intelligence and influence had skyrocketed to a level that was beyond what Starlight had been expecting, Jak and the others made sure to do the same thing, "and the first world we'll check out is the Mirror Equus."

Twilight sighed as she heard that, as she had been hoping to avoid heading back to her true home, but with everything she and the others had discovered recently, with the cracks and the impending army, they needed to chat with their friends, as in those that were new and those that were old, before figuring out what needed to be done to prepare for whatever the future held for them.
> Equus: Canterlot High
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike lead them out to an open part of Ponyville's outskirts, one that could house a good number of people and ponies, without causing discomfort, though what they discovered in the area in question was that there were a number of arches resting in it, one that looked like an artisan of some kind created it, another one that looked like a clash of red and blue, which just so happened to have two odd emblems on it, and one more that was a crystalline mirror.

"Here we have the portal back to Korma, the planet Ember and I were sent to," Spike said, gesturing to the first arch as he stopped near it, allowing everyone else to replicate his movements without wasting time and gave them some time to take a moment to look at the other arches, a number of which were offline and seemed to be made out of simple stone, like they were placeholders for the time being, "the portal to Azeroth, where Spitfire and Rainbow spent some time fight the Legion... remind me to tell you about that, it's quite a lengthy tale and I've got a book on it... and last we have the portal that leads to Mirror Equus. Good, it looks like we won't have to reform the portals to Korma and Azeroth, though that surge of energy earlier knocked the portal to Mirror Equus out."

"Will it be hard to remake it?" Cozy asked, as she had a fair idea on how to wield magic, since her sisters had taught her all sorts of things with the arrival of her new horn, though she was still a novice when it came to this sort of thing and it was easy for her and everyone else to see that Spyro's group found something to be amusing, causing her to raise an eyebrow for a moment, "What's so funny?"

Instead of saying anything Spike started humming a tune as he gathered his magical energy, where Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy paused for a moment as they felt his energy, because it was far stronger than what they were expecting, even if he was no longer the same dragon Starlight knew, before the space between the sides of the arch shook as he raised his staff for a moment, showing he was channeling a spell of some kind, and a portal opened before their eyes when he tapped the base of his staff on the ground.

"It's easy because Spike is one of the strongest dragons in terms of magical power, second only to Malefor, the first of the purple dragons," Spyro replied, informing them that they had known that Spike was going to do something like this once he discovered what was going on with the portal, though he was happy to see that the arch had been restored to it's old glory, despite the fact that they had no idea if the spells that had been attached to it were still operational, which seemed to be what his brother was looking for, "in fact he became an Archmage at the age of twelve and a half, drawing out the staff of the first purple dragon and tamed it, and since then he's only gotten stronger... to be honest, something like this is child's play to him."

"Sadly, most of the ancient spells have been broken, and without Starswirl's journals it'll take me some time to figure out how to repair each of them," Spike said, showing everyone that he knew more than what they did, meaning his spell might have been to figure out some of the other spells and if he could fix them at the same time as setting up the portal, though as he said that he glanced at the others for a moment, "well, on the bright side, we won't have to worry about the magic of the porting turning us into dogs when we appear outside Canterlot High, which is on the other side of the portal... though I'm sure we'll cause chaos when your friends figure out that we're there."

"Yeah... they might not even realize I'm the one Sunset saved not that long ago," Twilight added, though as she said that part of her knew that, at some point in time, she was going to have to come up with a new name to replace hers, since it would get confusing if she kept using her name and Princess Twilight kept using it as well, just another thing to add to the pile of things that needed to be done she guessed, "So, since the portal is working, shall we go do something else... such as taking some time to investigate the tablet that fell through one of those cracks we saw earlier?"

"Come on sis, we might as well head back and see what your world is like, make sure everyone knows your safe, and see if anything needs fixing," Jak stated, because he was interested in seeing what sort of world his sister lived in, before she was knocked out by the magic of the Tree of Harmony, even though it was still weird for him and the others to think about the fact that Twilight came from another world, instead of the same one that Starlight and Cozy came from, "then you can see what's on that tablet... yes, I'm sure it's amazing, and yes, I'm sure you, Keira, and Spike can do wonders with it, but first we should focus on making sure your world is fine."

Twilight wanted to argue with him, that she didn't want to head back and wanted to focus her attention on learning more about Korma, because Spike and Ember had been sent to that world, for who knew how long, and both of them were far stronger than what Starlight was expecting, based on the looks on her face, especially when she considered everything that they had learned about Princess Twilight's assistant, who was a master of magic. There was no telling how much he had learned during his time with the dragons of Korma, ways to use magic that no one in this world might have considered in the past, or even those who pretended to use magic in her own world, and, despite the sheer power she possessed as a newly born Ottsel, she wanted to know everything he had learned, both about his own adventures and the magic that he had learned over the years. In addition to that she wanted to see what the Spitfire and Rainbow of this world had learned during their time fighting the Legion, since both of them must have discovered some new information and powers as well, given that they had been brought to a Titan's home and defended her for some time, so all of this was a treasure trove of information for her to acquire and spend time with, instead of worrying about returning to her home world for a time, as the others might be angry with her. Starlight and Keira shared her opinions on wanting to know more about this planet, all of the powers that had been discovered so far, and everything else that might be waiting for them, but as she glanced over to them she could see that both her sister and her friend were of the opinion of heading through this portal so they could see what was on the other side.

In the end, however, Twilight sighed as she stared at the portal, as she came to a decision on the matter and knew that if she tried to flee Jak and the others would track her down before having her go through it, to which she approached it not a few seconds later and braced herself as she stepped through the magic, allowing it to take her back to Canterlot High and the friends she had left behind some time ago.





On the other side of the portal Twilight found that they were standing outside Canterlot High, the large high school that all of her friends went to, which was where she first detected the magical energies and caused her to track down whatever in the world was going on in this city, something that lead her to do some questionable things with her technology before a certain figure ultimately stopped her and set her on the path of friendship. Now, however, the walls of the school were far taller than what she remembered, which made sense when she considered the fact that her new Ottsel form was smaller than her previous forms, though for the time being she simply walked out of the portal they had stepped through and just stared at the school as she thought about all the memories she had made in this place. She recalled her initial meetings with each of Princess Twilight's friends, back when she thought they were only seeing her as the Princess and not her own person, something that had been corrected in due time, and she even remembered where she had been standing when she first transformed into Midnight, who would no doubt stare at the same location at some point, even though she also recalled breaking the horse statue and leaving the base behind. For a moment she had to wonder if the cracks in reality might be an aftereffect of her own actions as Midnight, when she tried to tear the barrier between this world and Equus to pieces, but decided that it couldn't be that, meaning something else was messing with reality, but for now she focused on the rest of the area as she walked away from the portal.

Sure enough Jak, Starlight, Cozy, and the others joined her on this side of the portal, where they stared out at the school and the area that was surrounding it, taking in the sights and how it was so different from Haven, Spargus, Kras, and the rest of the cities they had visited during their travels, as it was so peaceful and didn't seem under the same stress that all of the other locations had been under.

"So this is your world... it's nice, in comparison to the other cities we've seen." Jak commented, though he was glad to see that nothing bad had happened to his sister's world, because when they learned that she was from another world, as in not the one that Starlight and Cozy came from, he had been worried that something might have happened to this place, but it was pristine and he could tell that some magic or energy lingered in the air.

"Stop right there." a voice said, where they found a cyan skinned girl, who was wearing dark blue pants with a white shirt that had a light blue jacket over it, walking towards them with a ball at her feet, though she had rainbow colored hair that was done up in a ponytail, to which Jak and the others discovered that she was fully Human, instead of a pony or even a hybrid of races when Jak considered their anthro forms, and near her stood four other girls, all dressed in clothing that he suspected represented them in some manner, "I don't know who you guys are, but don't think that we won't fight you to keep our world safe."

"Rainbow, we aren't here to fight them... we're here to welcome them and Twilight home!" the pink skinned girl replied, to which she appeared behind Jak and everyone else for a moment and fired a cannon, something that set up some banners and confetti in the area they were in, though Twilight wasn't even surprised by Pinkie's actions, nor was she surprised by a few of the surprised faces behind her.

"It's good to see you again, Pinkie." Twilight said, though as she said that she decided to try something that Gol and Maia had done in the past, allowing her power to wash over her form for a moment before her Human form, which she just so happened to perfectly remember, took her place, causing the newcomers to pause when they realized that Pinkie figured it out before them, before Pinkie rushed forward and hugged her, breaking the fragile illusion she had created and let the others see her true form once more, "Drat, I need to practice that some more, especially if I want to replicate what Gol and Maia used in the past, since their disguises never broke like this."

"But you're much cuter in this form," the yellow skinned girl commented, where she stepped up with the orange and cyan skinned girls, though Twilight wasn't surprised to see that Fluttershy petted her and pulled out one of her brushes to take care of her hair, causing Starlight and Cozy to snicker a little, since they weren't expecting this to happen, all while both Applejack and Rainbow stood nearby as Rarity, the white skinned girl who was dressed nice, studied her body, likely taking the time to come up with dresses and clothing for her.

"I'm not sure what happened to you, Twilight, but this form will present an interesting challenge," Rarity said, though at the same time she glanced over at the rest of the newcomers for a moment and knew that they would be difficult as well, even if she was surprised to see Starlight among their number, though she wasn't the same as what she remembered, hence why she turned back towards their friend, "though it seems you have some explaining to do."

Twilight nodded as she first introduced her friends to her siblings and friends from Feolorath, before delving into the short version of the tale of what happened, as in that she had been detecting some abnormal magical readings coming from the portal to Equus and she brought some of her machines out to figure out what in the world was going on, especially with the sudden disappearance of Sunset Shimmer, only for something to go wrong and she ended up in Jak's world, though all of her machines had ended up destroyed in the process. Since this was their first time learning about the displaced, even if they were able to figure out that the other missing person had to be one of them, Spike explained part of the situation to them, not going into the incoming invasion they were preparing for, that everyone was gathering power and allies for an event that would be happening and Sci Twilight had been one of the chosen, with Sunset being the second of this world, at least for now anyway. His explanation caused the girls of Mirror Equus to pause for a moment, firstly because they just so happened to be talking to a dragon, before even realizing that it was Spike and that he was far smarter than what anyone was expecting, causing Elora to chuckle once more, as she loved seeing others react to Spike's intelligence, since he was far more than what anyone expected. Twilight added a few more facts about her own travels, that she gained powers and eventually pushed herself to the point where she changed into her current form, though it would take some time for her to explain everything to them and what she said was the basics, without totally confusing them, and Spike made notes on what she said, just to add her knowledge to his growing library.

While they were talking a familiar sight showed up, Spike the dog rushed over to them and, after having the situation told to him, as he was smarter than a normal dog since he could talk as well, jumped for joy as he bumped into Twilight, as he was about the same size as her now, causing Daxter to chuckle a little since it reminded him of how animals reacted to his smaller size, while the others watched this happen.

"There is one downside to reconnecting the portal, now that we've had it open for some time," Spike commented, as while they had been talking part of him had been studying the marble pedestal that the horse statue had rested on at one point in time, once more displaying his knowledge and intelligence to everyone who happened to be around him, though he did find that no students were coming, meaning this had to be a day off, "one of Starswirl's enchantments was solely designed to stop Equestrian magic from seeping into this world and spreading to everyone who calls it home. The power of Equus, now that the enchantments have been broken due to the reality breaking cracks we discovered earlier, is going to spread into this world and latch onto those who call it home... meaning that it's only a matter of time until people start developing powers, and given the potency of it I wouldn't be surprised if people started to change as well, becoming more like the rest of the displaced."

"Wait, so we're going to become like Twilight?" Rainbow asked, latching onto the fact that Spike was taking about displaced and didn't pay much attention to what he had just said, while at the same time everyone else happened to be thinking on what had been said so far, especially since Spike had mentioned powers and they could tell that everyone around him had some sort of power.

"No, more like Starlight and Cozy... Sci Twilight is a special case," Spike replied, though at the same time he frowned, as he knew that if they didn't fix the enchantments on the portal soon there would be no fixing it, and he pulled out his notes for a moment, where Twilight hopped up some small platforms of her own creation and landed on his shoulder, giving her a chance to see what was in front of her, especially one that seemed to be about her, "still, that doesn't the fact that, if none of the enchantments are fixed, you all might gain powers and new forms... if I could find Starswirl's journals I might be able to do that, but they're hidden well."

"Spike... what is that?" Twilight asked, as one of the notes she found was tied to her, after all the information she had so far given him on her new form, and it seemed that he might have put some pieces together while no one was looking, where she found that it was a combination of things, the Nanotech log they found earlier, something called 'Elementium', a gem known as an 'Ion Crystal', and 'Precurium', where she assumed the last had to be Precursor metal.

"A weapon unlike no other." Spike said, though he took a moment to shift his notes and hid it once more, as he needed to work a few more things out before even thinking about worrying about that, but it had Twilight interested and she knew it had to be special, otherwise he wouldn't be so interested in hiding it from someone else, showing that he was more like her and Princess Twilight than he likely knew.

Other than that happening Twilight knew what was coming up next, Pinkie declared that they had to party and she pushed them back into the portal so they could use Ponyville for a change, since there wasn't much use partying in this city, as the people would freak out if dragons and others started partying out of nowhere, but she had a feeling that this party was going to be going for some time and that everyone was going to enjoy it, meaning they would have time to worry about the future once the party was over.
> Epilogue: A New Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Following their visit to the Mirror Equus, which might need to be renamed to Equus 2 if they didn't figure out how to fix the enchantments on the portal, Jak found that Twilight and Starlight were right, Pinkie pulled everyone into a party and totally forgot about everything that had been discussed, which also included those from Ponyville, who were used to this and had no problems with it being her other self from another world, as if it was perfectly normal. Even though this world didn't have all of the alcohol that they were used to, and a fair number of establishments based on what he was seeing, the inhabitants of Ponyville seemed to have fun when Pinkie started the party, especially when she and the Rainbooms, the other girls that they had encountered earlier, pulled out the musical instruments they used and played a few songs. Twilight informed them that the group was incomplete right now, as she wasn't too good at music and Sunset happened to be the final member, so in some sense their music did suffered as well, but right now what they had seemed to be good enough, especially since the others were fine now that they had one of their friends back. Of course when they weren't playing music Rarity came over to take Twilight's measurements before seeing what sort of designs she could come up with, while Fluttershy seemed far more interested in brushing her hair and fur, which she was fine with, especially since Daxter and Tess suffered the same fate for a time, causing the others to chuckle as well.

One thing Starlight discovered during the party was that Spike, despite being glued to his notes and journals, joined them in having fun, showing her that he had definitely changed over the years he spent in Korma, where she knew that Princess Twilight would be surprised by this when she finally returned from her own adventure, though for the time being she also joined in the fun, even though they were all stunned when Elora kissed him and revealed that they were dating, which she knew would really surprise Princess Twilight.

After the party Twilight, Starlight, Cozy, and Jak, not to mention Keira and some of the Precursors, moved between their world and Equus, allowing them to better understand the new worlds they had discovered, not to mention better figure out all of the things that the dragons of Korma were capable of, even though Twilight and Starlight were surprised to find that Spike was also a writer, as he was the one who chronicled the adventures he and his siblings went through before they returned to Equus. The tales involving Gnasty Gnorc and Ripto were interesting, the one involving the Sorceress was more outrageous, before reaching the tale of how the siblings found Cynder, Warfang, and someone called 'Malefor', who seemed to be the most revered dragon in Korma, though they moved onto a second adventure dealing with Ripto, which was followed by what had to be the most interesting one of them all, their battles with the 'Dark Master'. Twilight had to admit that it was rather nice to see how well Spike had improved over the years, as originally he started with just text in his books, but eventually he evolved his skills and was able to add drawings of figures and places to them, which looked all too real when she stared at one, as it looked more like a picture, and he even went back to the first adventure to modify it with new pictures. Truth be told she and the others were slightly intimidated by Spike's image of the Dark Master, a being so dark and evil that he actually brought about the end of his own world, where Spyro and Cynder found a way to best him and sacrificed themselves to stop the destruction of their world, which reformed into what they currently knew, so it was like a planetary reset in some manner, and the Dark Master was the only villain that Spike and his siblings, plus the rest of their friends and allies, were unable to defeat in battle.

As it turned out Malefor, a living legend on Korma who was known as the first purple dragon, among other things based on Spike's words, was the one who ultimately dealt with the Dark Master, and right now Spike's group was trying to work their way up to his level, even though it seemed impossible given that he had a thousand years of experience on them, but she trusted Spike's judgement on the matter and didn't question it at all.

The interesting thing they discovered was that Malefor was actually training them and improving their skills, even though all of their sessions either ended in him wiping the floor with them or them forcing a draw, where Jak and Cozy glanced at each other for a moment, no doubt imaging what it might be like to fight him, though given the fact that Spike and Ember, with their new brother and his girlfriend, had trouble they decided not to try their hand. Of course while they talked about that Spike was also taking the time to study a few pieces of Precurium, as Eon had heard his request for some ingots and delivered them personally, just to see what the scholarly dragon wanted them for, since this was the first time someone from another world was so interested in the metal his race used. The good part about him making such a delivery was that it gave Spike someone to ask his more detailed questions to, especially since Eon had far more experience in this field than any of the other Ottsels did, or Twilight, Daxter, and Tess for that matter, though it didn't stop Twilight from joining them to learn more for herself. Part of her reasoning was that she would learn more for when she eventually moved on from the Precursor State she was in and ascended to the next one, the Chrysalis State, and then the Spirit State, as this was all for when she had to move on, so she could help nurture a new planet and make it like Jak's, filled with ancient ruins for those who would call it home to explore and learn from.

Of course Twilight also knew that Spike was planning something, though what she had no idea, especially since he wasn't talking about it all that much right now, but this did confirm a thought she had about him, he was more like her than she originally thought, or more like Princess Twilight to be exact, and she was eager to see what he was working on, whenever he finished it anyway.





It was on their third day in Equus when something interesting happened, Spike revealed that part of his work had been on forming a new portal for them to use, one that connected to Feolorath and would allow people to travel from one world to another, where an arch made of Precurium, which appeared to be the now official name for Precursor metal, rested near all of the others that had been made so far. Keira tested it without delay, where she found that she was able to return to her home world, where Eon had helped make sure that the other side of the portal structure was somewhere safe, in part of Haven, before returning to Equus with a smile on her face, as it was instant teleportation and it happened to be safer than using a Rift Ring. Eon was surprised by this, mostly because he had been sure that something was going to go wrong at some point, but this just showed them that Spike didn't do anything without studying and double checking his notes or calculations on whatever he happened to be doing, making him curious as to what else the young dragon had planned for all of them. This allowed them to return to Feolorath and head to Haven, or one of the other cities, to make sure everyone else knew that nothing was wrong and that they hadn't been abducted by some strange creature from another world, as Discord left quite the impression on them, where Jak wanted to make sure everything was fine before worrying about any other odd events that might happen to both versions of Equus.

On the fourth day, however, Jak and his sisters found Spike standing outside the portal to Mirror Equus, studying the bits of magic that were connected to it as he continued to try and find a way to recreate the enchantments that Starswirl used to make this, but this time around he had a frown on his face as he made some notes, even though they found someone else standing nearby, one of the displaced that had been sent to Azeroth, since it was the only other portal active in this area at the moment, not to mention his siblings and Cynder.

"Spike, are you sure about this?" the newcomer asked, where they found that she was wearing a silver robe that had black lines on it and happened to have a red sash connected to it, though she had silver colored hair that looked like flames, in some manner, and two curved demonic horns on either side of her head, with colored markings on them, with a curved crystalline horn in the middle of her forehead.

"Yes, Equestrian magic has seeped into the mirror world, meaning soon we should be seeing side effects," Spike said, to which Jak and the others stopped for a moment as they listened to what he had to say, as they were expecting something like this to happen at some point in the future, like a week or two, instead of a few days after reestablishing the connection between worlds, "we should be seeing people with powers, and possibly even altered forms... we'll have to help them out either way, since it'll cause chaos either way."

Jak and his sisters said nothing as they followed the pair into the portal, where they found themselves back in front of the school that they had seen a few days ago, though this time around Spike was sampling the magic in the air and the other one, Spitfire, was observing what was going on right now, though it didn't take them long to figure out that something was odd about the world around them. Sure enough they found some of the students were shocked by what was going on at the moment, as Twilight found some people who had grown horns, others who had wings, pegasi, griffin, and even a few with leathery wings, bat ponies, and others that appeared to be totally normal, save for the hooves on their feet, so it was clear that this world had changed in some manner. In addition to that they discovered many of them had developed brand new powers, especially since no one had magical abilities, some had flames, others seemed to be messing with the wind, a few had other powers, such as Vinyl's counterpart having sound powers, and, much to their surprise, a few happened to have access to Eco, causing Jak to raise an eyebrow. Twilight realized that this was exactly like what Spike had talked about earlier, that reestablishing the connection between worlds was causing magic to flow into this place, granting powers and new forms to those who called it home, and sure enough they found Trixie trying to use her new magic on the ground, all without anything happening at all.

"Well, it looks like we have some work to do," Spike said, where he tapped his staff on the ground and a barrier wrapped around the area they were in, causing the others to glance at him for a moment, before he stepped forward and focused on everyone else that happened to be outside the school, while Twilight joined him as she headed for the ones that were showing Eco powers.

Jak found that things were changing at an odd pace for them, people were becoming all the races of Equus, or at least their other selves based on what Twilight had told him, and each one was developing their own powers, causing Spike, Spitfire, and his group to lend a hand to those who were around them, though he did learn something interesting during all of this, there was an area of Korma called the Skylands and it had an academy that specialized in training heroes.

"We created the academy to train the next generation of heroes, and improve the skills of the current generation, or that's what my father and Spike said," Cynder remarked, speaking when she saw a look on Cozy's face after Spike mentioned the Skylands, even though they understood that to fully understand everything they would have to ask him, though she did see someone in need of help, a lady who seemed to becoming a bat pony, based on the wings, as she had a mass of dark energy between her hands, something she had some knowledge on, "we then changed it when we were brought to Equus and learned the truth of what was going on, bringing the races of Equus into it, and when Spitfire and Rainbow came back with their forces we added them, and the knowledge that they brought with them, to our routine... now we're going to add all sorts of people and Eco to that list."

"You guys sure know what you're doing," Starlight commented, as it seemed like Spike and his siblings knew exactly what to do in this situation, meaning they must have spent all sorts of time tending to the citizens of the places they visited over the years, and it seemed like Spitfire was getting in on the action, as one guy had nature growing around him while a girl had a glowing light around her, not light, as she claimed, but rather the Light, whatever that meant, causing her to sigh as she realized that they had so much to learn about the other worlds and their powers.

"What can we say, we've had a lot of practice." Spyro replied, where he tended to a pair of girls that seemed to be turning into dragons, the Equestrian variety to be exact, and it looked like they were calling fire to their hands without trying to do so, and a third one rested nearby who seemed to be developing phoenix wings, along with possible talons for feet, so he knew it would take some time to calm them down.

Twilight watched as Spyro, Spike, Ember, and Cynder calmed more people down than she and her siblings could do, even Spitfire did more than them in a short period of time, before the barrier fell and Spyro told them that there was a place for them to learn how to control their new powers, so they could harness them and not fall victim to uncontrollable bursts of energy, like what just happened when their elements manifested. What they discovered was that Trixie's counterpart was the first one to follow the dragons, with Twilight's friends following suit, something that caused the others to follow, even though these were only the students of Canterlot High and they would have to check the rest of this city once they were done, allowing them to head through the portal and then head through the one that lead to Korma. It was in that moment that they gained an understanding of the other gateways that rested near the other side of the portal in question, as each one lead to another part of the world, before they found a rather impressive two story school resting off in the distance, on a floating path of land that made it seem more like an island. This was the Skylands, a set of floating islands that had been made during the last battle they had with one of Korma's villains, making them wonder who could have caused this to happen, and that there were decent sized islands for each of the elements of this world, such as fire, water, and wind as Spike explained things to them, so this would serve as the perfect place for everyone to learn about their powers and not have to worry about actually hurting people on accident.

Of course Twilight and her siblings were surprised by the amount of races assembled at the school, many taking part in a class that seemed to be learning how to fight with weapons, using methods that Ember learned in the past, and it wasn't long before they found people training others in how to use magic and all sorts of other things, like art and technology, to which the four of them smiled as they followed the new students towards the school, as it looked like things were shaping up and they were eager to face whatever the future held for them and their friends.