Jak, Shining, and Daxter sailed easily to Misty Island, deciding to find out what it was about that place that was of such significance that Samos would make a special point of saying they weren't allowed to go there when the name of the place had never been mentioned before. "So...why do you think he made that point?" Daxter asked. "Do you think it's especially dangerous?"
"Maybe it's especially scar-r-r-ry!" Jak teased, making his voice echo ominously to tease Daxter, who splashed water at him, struggling against his own sea sickness.
"Maybe something significant will happen there that will change our lives forever and Samos knew the best way to get us there was to tell us we weren't allowed to go," Shining suggested jokingly.
Jak and Daxter glanced at each other. "It...does sound like something Samos would do," Daxter pointed out, taking the joke a little too seriously.
Jak chuckled. "I'll bet you 50 Precursor Orbs that's not the case at all."
"You're on!" Daxter countered back.
"Do either of you even have 50 Precursor Orbs?" Shining asked.
"I've got 50 stashed here and there in Sandover Village," Daxter pointed out.
"And I spotted 50 back on Geyser Rock, even if I didn't collect them given what happened to our packs," Jak added.
Rolling his eyes, Shining took the wheel and steered them into the dock at the edge of Misty Island.
Once there, they saw the plain grey stone with various large bones sticking out of the stone walls. The entire place was quite grim, dark, and foreboding. Under the light of the torches, they found their way to a large amphitheater. Hiding behind a large skull, they saw a large group of Lurkers gathered, and two blue skinned beings they didn't recognize warped in in a cloud of purple.
"Continue your search for artifacts and Eco," the emaciated male gasped out, his voice echoing and raspy. "If the locals possess Precursor items, you know what to do." He then slumped over himself, as though it took that much of an effort just to speak.
The scantily clad female spoke up then, her voice much stronger. "Deal harshly with anyone who strays from the village," she snapped. "We will attack it in due time. And...if those three cross your path...eradicate them."
Hearing all this, Jak, Shining, and Daxter withdrew silently, trying to get to a safe distance.
Some distance away on the island, as they approached a deep pit filled with purplish-black liquid, Daxter spoke up. "Can we get out of here now?" he begged. "This place is giving me the creeps!"
"Don't trip on the Precursor artifact," Shining warned, pointing to a large canister covered in Precursor runes.
Daxter shrugged as he picked it up. The trio stared down into the pit. "Yeek!" Daxter shouted. "What is that dark ooze?"
"I'd guess Dark Eco," Shining offered. "It has the same overall consistency as other Eco types, with the same energy reactions taking place over it...but I've never seen so much Eco in one place..."
Daxter shuddered, tossing the canister to Jak. "Can we get out of here now?" he begged.
"Uhh..." Jak began as the canister he'd caught glowed red in his hands.
Shining and Daxter quickly turned to face him...only to scream in fear. A massive blue Lurker in bone armor had leapt down to attack them. As Daxter and Shining backed up defensively, Jak acted quickly, hurling the canister at the Lurker...only for both to explode. The explosion knocked all three of them back, knocking Daxter into the Dark Eco.
When he popped back out, he was no longer human. He now stood as high as Jak's knee, with orange and tan fur, a short tail, and round ears atop his head...though he was somehow still wearing his gloves and aviator's cap, which had shrunk somehow. "Man that stung!" he gasped out, his voice confirming it was the same person.
Shining stared. "Daxter...you're an ottsel."
"I'm a what?" Daxter asked.
"He's a what?" Jak agreed.
"Well, he looks like a cross between an otter and a weasel," Shining pointed out. "What else should I call him?"
Daxter promptly started screaming and freaking out.
"...and that's what happened," Shining finished explaining to Samos. "So was I right that you knew something was going to happen and deliberately goading us to go?"
"Are you questioning me?" Samos demanded hostilely. "Especially after so blatantly disobeying me?"
"Yes," Shining countered. "Because you instructed me during my lessons to question everything, especially you, because some of your lessons would be deliberately misleading to teach me to think for myself."
Samos glowered at him for a time. "I don't know which is worse," he grumbled. "Having Jak as the indifferent student, or you as the excessively clever one."
"So...can you help us change Daxter back?" Shining asked happily.
"Nope," Samos replied quickly. "You were right that what you found was Dark Eco, and Gol and Maia were the only ones who knew enough about it to do anything like that. However, they moved to the far north, and the teleporter gates in the villages further north run by the other sages have been turned off."
"Which means we need to get through Fire Canyon," Shining replied. "Well, on the off chance of that I suggested Jak talk to Keira about heat shielding."
"She needs some power cells for the Zoomer," Jak stated as he and Daxter came in. "She's designed it to use a heat shield that will protect us on the way across the Fire Canyon, and she mentioned that the townsfolk might have some power cells we could use."
"Which means greasing a few palms with Precursor Orbs," Daxter added. "Not how I wanted to win that bet..."
"I guess it's time to head back to Geyser Rock and grab the ones we left behind, then," Shining agreed.
6483162
Given that the ponies in these fics all have access to at least some of their repressed intellect, you have to expect a certain amount of Mary/Gary Stu in their responses. In any case, that in of itself isn't what makes such characterizations a drag; it's that everything seems to fall right into their laps without effort.
And you will notice that even though Shining guessed what Samos was doing, he was the only one, and he still doesn't have all of the answers.
Given who this is, and who he has for a sister, I'd expect Shining to be at least as intelligent. After all, he came up with a powerful shield that even Twilight has trouble replicating. That takes smarts.
6483290 no, shield spells and defensive magic just happen to be Shinings special talent, so hed naturally be better at them than a general purpose Mage like Twi. sure, Twi can do just about any spell, but a unicorn whos specialty is those types of spells will always do it better than her. Shining has admitted that Twi got all the brains in the family
6483290 i agree, plus, hes also a captain, so he must be smart. (Sorry if this comment seems drab, my tablets updating apps and its being laggy)
6483162
Keep in mind that his reasoning here is that he knows Samos because - unlike Jak - he paid attention in class.
Shining honestly needs to stop thinking like a captain following orders. I am fine with him having good memory, but questioning Samos because he told him to question every thing seems a little counterproductive for Samos to keep his mysterious ness. Then again, he is pretty much a guard through and through.
Very nice chapter, well done. I can't wait to see the antics our trio get up to!!!! Will Shining get his Cutie Mark for creating a heat shield if the tech one fails????
more please!?
6484009 not so much brute strength as raw talent at application of his strength. Twilight has a Mana pool thats several times larger than any other Unicorn of her generation, always did, even as a foal (she blew the roof off of a building about two hundred times her size, likely made of marble or similar stone, when she was only eight to ten years old!), that mana pool would grow as she did, as a mature mare, her raw power far outstrips her brother. however, in application, as i said, Twi is a general purpose Mage, a Jack of all Trades as it were. Shining specializes in defense spells, he knows them in the depth of his soul. its the kind of difference that separates the expert carver from the master craftsman.
6484007
Not necessarily smarts, more likely intelligent enough to see that Samos isn't telling them everything.
I see it like this. With a little sister like Twilight, who as a foal would have been too intelligent for her own good, Shining Armor would have to have gotten quite observant very quickly, in order to keep her out of danger. Because that's what big siblings do; they protect their little siblings. At least, they're supposed to anyway.
I don't buy into the fact that brains are just happenstance. Sure, there are plenty of families where you get a genius that pops up out of nowhere; far more common is to have really intelligent families bringing forth a natural savant like Twilight. I think the whole family is like that to be honest.
6483994
...you do realize Shining was being sarcastic when he said that line about what would happen on Misty Island, right?
6484813
it wasn't very obvious that he was being sarcastic.
6484813
6484995
Text is a very poor medium to convey sarcasm, as while part of it relies on context, the majority relies on tone and body language.
6485341
I'd meant it to be taken that way. I've added a couple of details to indicate it more strongly.
6485341
I think the fact that the island had never been mentioned before would be better evidence than what you two are talking about. This bit here makes it so that the reader can choose which version of Shining's personality they like better; the curious and observant teenager, or the person reading captain. I, personally, like the former better.
You two did bring up some good points though.
6484813 Remember a recent post about lack of proper research on the X/Octavia story that I made. Where my intent for snark and sarcasm was clear to me, but you were uncertain? This is one of those times. In a case like this its best to make it obvious, usually by putting in things like "he said sarcastically" or "as he rolled his eyes". As was stated by another, text has a VERY hard time conveying not just snarkiness, but tone in general. At least, just with speech. It's VERY easy to imply such, but you cant be subtle about it, because few, if any, will ever pick up on it then.
This is glorious, absolutely glorious.
6493815 Quite.
6483133
It is called "Lampshade Hanging". Apparently Shining is the "Genre Savvy" one.
Hm. So that's how Daxter became what he is now.
>"Man that stung!" he gasped out, his voice confirming it was the same person.
Which honestly, without magic shouldn't happen. A change in form and size should also alter the vocal cords, which in turn would change the timber and other facets of the voice. Oh well, I can't fault magic or unknown effects of eco 'energy' or whatever.
7057329
While you do have a point, this is Daxter we're talking about here. His voice was already high-pitched to begin with; any higher, and it would have been seriously annoying.
Plus, his body size might have changed the size of his vocal chords, but the relative tightness might have stayed the same. That would mean that the vibrations of the air from them would have been at the same tone and frequency level as he had when larger; giving him the same voice.
That's canon for this story anyway. Game-wise, it was likely because they were too lazy to switch out voice talent for a character that was mostly comic relief.
And thus starts the only entry I've beaten... wasn't ready for a straight sandbox when I first played the second.
"Nobody ever listens to old Samos"
- Samos
6483499
FWIW even in the current version I didn't recall thinking it was sarcasm. I might have just not thought much about it at all, and then been biased by the initial comments on the subject?