At Damas' insistence, Jak, Daxter, Shining, and Sig were all brought to his tower room. "While I did approve you sparing him, Jak," he began, "unfortunately, you did not complete the challenge...and as a result, have failed to earn your third battle medallion."
Jak nodded in understanding. "I thought that might be the case," he admitted, noticing Sig glancing back and forth between them in confusion. "I accept the consequences."
Nodding, Damas turned to Sig. "But you! I'm disappointed in your showing in the arena. I expected better of you. Your time in Haven City has made you soft! However, your years of service as our spy have earned you a chance at redemption."
Sig nodded in understanding, surprised that Jak showed no reaction to his being outed as Damas' spy. "By your command," he agreed formally.
"There is a nest of Metalpedes not too far from here," Damas explained. "They have been harassing our artifact carriers for some time. I want you to drive into the nest and take out all the creatures you find inside." He glanced briefly at Jak, who nodded. "My sons will accompany you, to make sure you don't screw it up," Damas concluded.
"Wait, sons?" Sig gasped out, stunned.
"We'll explain later," Shining informed him.
"I'd wish you luck," Damas finished, "but luck won't help you. You've got all the help you need." He smirked towards Shining and Daxter. "Now get moving!"
Once out of the city in the Gila Stomper - a massive buggy with a separate gun turret that Sig sat in - Sig started to ask questions. "Okay, how can you be Damas' kids?" he demanded as Jak drove towards the Metalpede nest. "I mean, his son couldn't be more than seven by now-"
"Precursor time travel bootstrap paradox," Daxter explained. "We used a rift ring to send Jak and Shining's younger selves back in time to Sandover Village eons ago, so they could come back to the present with me in tow to stop the Metalhead Leader and send themselves back in time...since we needed two Jaks, one who was strong enough to clear the trials and beat the Leader, and one who was still pure enough to unlock the Precursor Stone and release the Precursor inside."
Sig was silent for a time. "Uh...can I just say 'crazy voodoo hyper-tech mumbo jumbo' and leave it at that?"
"Sure thing, Sig," Jak replied. "It's about time you were read in on this anyway. I would have read you in back in Haven, but having us exiled was the only way to get in contact with Dad without putting Haven and Spargus at war."
As Jak pulled up before the Metalpede nest - which was sealed off with what looked like Metalhead eggs - Sig shook his head, lifting his Peacemaker. "And here I thought I was good at this spy game..." he mumbled, shaking his head as he took aim. "You arranged your own exile so you could meet King Damas away from watchful eyes? Who do you have in your pocket, Veger?"
"Nope," Jak replied as Sig took the shot, blasting the nest open. "Praxus."
"Ashelin?" Sig asked in confusion as he took his seat.
"Her father," Shining corrected.
Sig lost his balance, falling into his seat. "You have the Baron in your pocket, and you're playing with this spy game?"
"I have to if I want to unite Spargus and Haven with Dad as King," Jak replied as he drove into the nest.
Sig shook his head, grabbing hold of the gun controls as he opened fire on the small creatures that crawled out of the ground to attack. "Okay, I think I'd rather be in the 'not need to know' group. I don't think I can take much more of that."
"Alright," Jak replied, driving deeper into the nest and letting Sig target the glowing egg capsules. "We'll just take care of the big picture, and leave the smaller missions for you."
"That's what I'm good at," Sig confirmed. "But why did Damas think we didn't need luck-"
At that moment, Shining telekinetically ripped one of the egg canisters from its moorings, hurling it at another to destroy both.
"...better question," Sig corrected. "Why did you need me along for this?"
"Your scintillating conversation?" Daxter suggested teasingly.
"I'll take it," Sig allowed.
Working quickly, it wasn't long before all the egg canisters were destroyed, and the whole nest filled with a glowing green gas. "Let's get out of here!" Sig called out, covering his mouth to keep from breathing in too much.
"Way ahead of you!" Jak confirmed, gunning the engine to get out.
Once back at Spargus, Jak, Shining, and Daxter parted ways from Sig. As they did, their communicator beeped. "Jak, it's Ashelin," the familiar voice alerted him in a transmitted message. "I'm glad you're still alive. I see Damas still keeps tabs on his old beacons."
"You never read her in on the plan, did you?" Shining asked teasingly.
"Think I should have?" Jak asked curiously.
"Listen, I've got to see you immediately," the message continued. "By the time you get this, I'll have landed by the oasis, but I won't be able to stay long. Please, come find us."
"Us?" all three asked in unison, stunned. Deciding it bore investigating, all three hopped into the Sand Shark, deciding to keep a lower profile for this.
Jak took the shortest route possible to the oasis, blasting anything that got in their way and using the generated turbo energy to get there even faster. When they arrived at the oasis...two familiar figures awaited them.
"Keira?" Jak gasped in shock, leaping out of the sand buggy and running to her. The two embraced, holding each other close.
Leaning against their vehicle, Ashelin smirked as she watched this. "When she heard I was coming out to meet you all, she threatened to hotwire my engine to explode if I left her behind."
Shining chuckled, noticing that at this point the two lovers were oblivious to the world around them. "It's good to see you," he told Ashelin. "How are things going in Haven?"
"Not so good," Ashelin replied. "Veger's trying to seize command from my father, and popular support is swaying. If things keep going like this, he might be able to take control. And in the meantime, the soldiers aren't able to fight as well with divided authority. I'm glad Damas saved you from the desert, but-"
"Things have gotten bigger than that," Shining interrupted. "The literal end of the world is coming, and we need to stop it. The Precursors are involved-"
His words were interrupted as several brigand vehicles drove in, the drivers leaping out with blades and guns. Shining and Daxter quickly took defensive positions, trying to protect Keira. Unfortunately, the brigands seemed to be gunning specifically for her.
Jak could feel his rage building as he stared out at the brigands, Keira held close. If he left her side, they'd have a clear shot at her, and he could tell by how she was shaking that she didn't have any weapons with her. His Dark, rage driven powers weren't fast enough to protect her, and his Light powers weren't strong enough...and he didn't have time to chug ammo for a boost.
Deep in his mind, something clicked as he remembered how the different colors of Eco could combine...and he tried something desperate.
Jak seemed to vanish in thin air. Keira started to shout out to him, only for a silver blur to rip past the brigands. One found himself split down the middle, exploding into raw eco. Another found his own blade shoved through his gut as he was tossed away. The rest were smacked around like pinballs, the same silver blur smashing them about and into their vehicles, making them explode. Reinforcments arrived for the brigands, but a flash of silver light sent each buggy flying into nearby rocks, exploding into bits. Before long, they stopped coming.
Jak reappeared beside the Sand Shark, looking drained and a little confused.
"Jak!" Keira called out, racing to his side and checking up on him. "W...what was that? What did you do?" As she put her hands on his shoulders, she gasped. "Jak, your Eco's completely spent!"
Jak managed a smile. "I...guess it worked..." He slumped to the side, passed out.
Imagine there being a Predator joke with Jak's invisibility in later chapters
Holy crapbaskets!
Final Form unlocked. Level that form up by beating Metalheads so you can use Glide whenever you want.
And where is the fun in that?
Combining invisibility with hyper-speed, eh? kill them all
7126882 Giving those who don't want a long-winded explanation some slack?
7126981 Pretty sure it's only speed actually since he was a blur. Anyways, pretty sure those guys were with Vargas, the ass.
7126873
That feels like a Kingdom Hearts reference, but the eject on my PS3 stopped working and 2.5 Final Mix isn't the game stuck in there. Once I get FFX|X-2 out of there and get the disk drive replaced, I'll get back to finishing up the KH games.
...that, or I can break down and get a Slim, but I like having four USB slots, dang it!
Waaiiitttt....I thought Sandover Village was in the future, and the rift sent Jak, Daxter, and Shining back to the past. Time travel's confusing.
7127369
Other way around. Haven is future relative to Sandover.
7127304 You would be correct in that guess. Final Form is, well, the final Drive Form Sora gets in Kingdom Hearts 2. It's leveled by defeating Nobodies, and its growth ability is Glide.
And I would love to get 2.5 Final Mix, but I skipped a Playstation generation. I have the original KH2 on PS2, and a PS4 which I will get 2.8, and eventually 3 on, but it's not backwards compatible to get 1.5 or 2.5.
Huh, I never thought of that. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
Because slaughtering Metal heads is better with friends along for the ride??
So the question is will they go to Haven or Spargus to treat Jax??? And why not just hunker down behind Shining's barrier until the bad guys run out of ammo and leave themselves open???
7127467
Because Man is stupid when it comes to quickly making decisions with their loved one on the line?
now that would have been wonderful to be able to do in the game. Would have made sooo much of the third one alot fucking easier
7127304 if you have a laptop with a disk drive you might be able to swap them, some are compatible some arent
7128010
No dice. I'll have to find a compatible model, or go to the local Best Buy (Geek Squad is still a thing in my area) and spend extra money letting someone else handle it. Same with my PS2, which I think is just an out of alignment disk tray.
another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
Jak.... That was stupid. Combining the dangerously unstable Dark Eco with Light eco could have killed you.
That being said, the payoff was worth it.
7128360 geeksquad won't work on it HOWEVER iFixit has a fantastic tutorial for replacement and the drives are about 20 to 30$
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/PlayStation+3+Blu-Ray+Drive+Replacement/3633
7127725 But Shining isn't technically Man....
7130254
But it was Jack that went all "MUST SAVE, EXPERIMENTAL ECO USAGE GO!"
7130482 True.. guess he just beat Shining's initiative roll.
Shining? Shield? Dude, your magic has returned!
Oh sig, your extra firepower is always needed.
Also, what Jak did during the ambush, another useful thing for the game.