Daxter walked the path toward the town that Big Macintosh told him. He said that he would find "somepony" who may be able to help him out of his predicament. Big Mac at first offered Daxter to stay till morning, but he refused. Partly because he barely knew him and didnt want to impose, but mostly because he was hellbent on getting home. Along the walk Daxter took in the sights and scenery. It was nothing like the mechanized, war torn, depressed Streets of Haven, or the decrepit ruin of Ghost Town. Daxter continued his walk down the dirt road, his mind eventually turning to past events in his life.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"WAAAAAAAAHHHH!"
"Forget the rat, the Baron wants him." Said the man surrounded by hulking, red individuals. "Don't worry Jak, I'll save you before you know it!" Daxter screamed back to his know unconscious companion. He continued his run along the catwalks and without really thinking, made a leap at a Krimzon Guard, hitting his face and tackling him to the ground. Daxter got back up, briefly noticing a short, old man before continuing his run.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Those two years Daxter spent looking for Jak were all but a haze. He hardly scraped by on his own, and the only vivid memories of that time he spent on his own was working for Osmo. The night began taking its toll on Daxter. He regretted not accepting Big Mac's offer to stay over. He soon became very tired, and decided that he would continue his walk in the morning. He looked at a nearby tree, deciding that he would sleep in it for the night. He scurried his way up the tree and onto a branch. He threw the heart into his lap and leaned against the tree trunk, letting his arms dangle at his sides.
He stared straight for at least 10 minutes, his mind racing with questions and worry. He questioned why the Rift Rider dumped him off here, of all places, and if he would ever get back home. His mind wondered and wondered, until eventually he dozed off.
Canterlot Castle, roughly after midnight
Princess Luna was swamped. She had been observing the cosmos merely an hour earlier, until something fell out of the sky seemingly out of nowhere. She was dealing with the nightmares of frightened ponies and fillies, soothing them so that they may know peaceful slumber. "Whatever that thing was..." Luna said to herself, "it's certainly caused quite a stir." She continued her duty of banishing the nightmares of her subjects until she was satisfied that all in Ponyville was calm again. She weaved in and out of the ponies dreams, their fears and worries seemingly nonexistent in the realm of their minds. Luna was on her way back to her physical being, that is, until she could feel the strain of another's nightmares. "Strange, I'm sure that was everypony." Luna said, her voice angelic in the realm of dreams. She made her way toward the troubled spirit's dreams.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once Luna entered the beings dream she noticed right off the bat she wasn't dealing with a regular ponies dream. Most ponies had nightmares about being mauled by Timber Wolves or being eaten by a dragon, but this ponies nightmare took place in an open room, a prison of some sort. At the center was a platform with a strange machine hanging over an even stranger creature strapped to a chair. She briefly noticed a quite stalky man leaving the room, clearly in an angered state, followed by a man who was a head shorter than him, and noticeably scrawnier. She floated over to the being strapped to the chair. He had abnormally large ears like the men who just left the room, and had long hair that was green at its roots, but faded blonde at the end. She stared at him for awhile longer before a platform rose from the darkness below carrying an orange rodent. "Ding ding, third floor. Body chains, roach food, torture devices." Luna was beyond confused at this point, she didnt know what to make of what was happening in front of her. The rodent jumped on top of the imprisoned man, asking "Hey buddy, you seen any heroes around here?" He looked at the man and said, in shock "WHOA! What'd they do to you?" The man laid there, not responding.
"Jak, it's me...Daxter!" This time the man glanced at the rodent, but then closed his eyes once again. "That's a fine hello!" Daxter responded irritably to the man. "I've been crawling around in this place risking my tail, literately, to save you! I've been looking for you for two years! Say something! Just this once!!" Daxter pleaded. What followed next even threw Princess Luna off guard.
"I'm gonna kill Praxis!"
"Shhhhhh! Right know we gotta get you outta here." Daxter said. Jak began breathing very heavily. "Just let me figure out how to open the security locks for your chair so..." Daxter was cut off as Jak broke the locks himself, but not as himself. Luna looked on in horror at the monster that stood before her. It's skin and hair went to a nasty shade of grey and purple, it's eyes black and remorseless. Purple streaks shot in all different directions around its body, and it had claws the same dark color as its eyes. "Or ahh... You could do it..." Daxter said, his voice carrying a hint of fear. The monster moved closer to Daxter, murder being the one and prime thing Luna could see in its eyes. "Jak? Easy now. Easy buddy. It's, it's your old pal Daxter remember?"
Daxter covered his face, The monster about to make a swipe, but before it could everything faded to black around Luna meaning only one thing; the being was waking up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Daxter awoke very suddenly with a start. He looked toward the horizon and saw that daybreak was on its way. "Well guess I better get movin again." Daxter said. He got to his feet on top of the branch, and the heart fell out of his lap and plummeted to the ground below. "Whoa!" Daxter wrapped his legs around the tree and let his body fall. He swiftly grabbed the heart before it could fall to the ground. Daxter held the artifact out in front of him and stared at his reflection for a second. "I can't be carrying you around all over the place." He said to his reflection. "I need somewhere to stash this junk." He looked around and found a hollow in the tree. "Perfect." He thought to himself. He carefully placed the heart within it and buried it under some leaves. "That outta do it!" Daxter said brushing dirt off his hands."now to go find this librarian hag and..." Daxter stopped mid sentence as something grabbed him by the neck and pulled him closer to it's face. The beast was accompanied by two others that were identical. Daxters eyes widened as he recognized the monsters as Dark Makers. "Give us the Gem Precursor!" The one holding Daxter said in a mechanized like voice. "Gem?! I, I don't know what your talking about! Lemme go!" Daxter said in a choked voice. "Fool! We have ways of making you talk." One of the Dark Makers said raising its claw toward Daxters neck. "And...I...got ways of making you listen." Daxter retorted in the same choked voice. "I...said...let ME GO!" Daxters last words were accompanied by a deeper voice and a transformation into a hulking reddish purple monster that was at least 5 times his normal size. The Dark Maker let go of Daxter and took a few steps back in shock, his companions falling in line. "Time to crack some skulls!" Daxter said, rushing the first one, knocking him to the ground. Daxter dropped his fists on top of the Dark Maker, crushing him, his body dissipitating into Dark Eco. The other two made a break for it through the tree line of a forest. "Come back! I ain't done with you yet." Daxter screamed toward the Dark Makers as he pursued them. Once inside the forest, both of the Dark Makers separated, knowing that the beast could only go after one of them while the other could get away. They were mistaken. Daxter came out of the sky from a high jump and landed right on top of one of them, driving them straight into the ground. Daxter dashed toward the remaining Dark Maker, hearing a delightful crunch from his feet kicking off of the late ones body. This Dark Maker got on all for and sprinted much like Daxter was doing, but his smaller frame allowed him to maneuver around trees and make tight turns through the thicket. Daxter kept slamming sideways into the trees around the tight turns. In some cases, even uprooting them slightly. This only mad Daxter angrier causing him to move faster, and eventually tackle the Dark Maker to the ground. Daxter got back to his feet, the Dark Maker caught by the neck in his hand. "Thought you could outrun me did ya?" Daxter said smugly. "Impossible. Precursors touched by Dark Eco are meant to become Dark Makers." "Guess I'm the exception." Daxter said as he head banged the Dark Maker, crushing its skull. Daxter dropped the body and it to dissipated into Dark Eco. "Who else wants a piece?" Daxter screamed to the sky, causing some birds to fly out of the trees. Then, as if in acceptance of Daxters challenge, at least 6 wooden wolf creatures slowly crept out of the woods, snarling at Daxter. The Timber Wolves began walking circles around Daxter, not taking their eyes off of him and continuously growling. "HAHA! Isn't that cute? The pups think they can take me." Daxter said, popping his knuckles. The wolves sped up the circle they were walking around Daxter in an attempt to confuse him, but he was unfased as he went into frenzy mode, sucking all 6 of them in the tornado. When he let go 5 of the wolves were flung out in diffrent directions, some hitting trees while he had one in his hands and snapped it in two over his stubby knee. The remaining 5 got to their feet and lunged at him front to back to side. One of them grabbed Daxters most prized possession, tearing it off his back side and ripping it to shreds. Daxter was now pissed. "You little mutt! I'll pick my teeth clean with your spine!" The other 4 still sinking their teeth into Daxter's skin, he released an Eco pulse from his body that caused streaks of Dark Eco to shock them. They whimpered in agony falling to the ground from Daxter. One of them sat right at his feet, and Daxter stomped its head into nothing but sticks and twigs. "I'm unstoppable! How's it feel on this side of the food chain!?" Daxter boasted loudly. However, his boasting soon ended when he could feel the dark influence leaving him. "No! Not done yet!" But he continued to shrink down to his normal size, his reddish purple fur once again becoming a bright orange.
The Timber Wolves looked down at what their predator had been reduced to, and moved in closer. "Uh...oh." Daxter said. He took to steps back before getting on all fours and running in the different direction. "WAAAAAH!" Daxter screamed. The wolves chasing behind barking. As they got closer, they snapped their jaws at his tail, always missing it by less then a hair. Daxter continued running, without any real general direction. His adrenaline was pumping like crazy running from the beasts. He saw a tree line at the end of the thicket and said "I hope they don't chase me through there." He went through the tree line, into the open, out of the woods. And he was right. The wolves stopped immediately at the tree line and merely stared through with there yellow eyes barking, eventually fading into the darkness once again. Daxter was out of breath and became dizzy. He walked forward slightly before losing his balance and falling flat on his back unconscious.