Jak groaned as he slowly awoke, his body surrounded by water as energy flowed through his head. His eyes slowly fluttered open, and he found himself staring up at Damas. "Nnng...hey Dad..." he mumbled, not fully awake.
The energy flowing through his head shifted. "Dad?" Seem asked, their voice surprised.
"I trust you will be keeping that to yourself?" Damas demanded, his voice stern as he gripped his weapon tight.
"This young man has done what the Precursors proclaimed impossible," Seem replied. "He wielded Light and Dark Eco combined, without losing himself to Dark Corruption...and lived. As far as I am concerned, the only one who claims the loyalty of my Order more than he is the Precursors themselves."
Damas stared at Seem for a time. "Very well," he replied at last, kneeling down beside Jak. "How are you holding up, son?"
"My whole body feels like an abscessed tooth," Jak groaned out. "...except for my teeth, oddly enough. They feel great. Even the one that was missing..." He shifted his tongue around in his mouth. "...which is back somehow..."
"The six colors of Eco are the power of creation," Seem explained. "Light and Dark are not meant to be combined, not without the other four colors to balance them."
"Speaking of, you were completely out of ammo when Shining and Daxter brought you back in," Damas explained. "The shells were all there, but they were empty."
"That would explain it," Seem replied. "And why your life energy is so low. You burned out your own Green Eco and the Eco in your ammunition to stabilize wielding your Light and Dark Eco together. Until you learn to better control your new Eco abilities, however, I suggest you keep such transformations to a minimum." Seem finally pulled their hands away, letting Jak sit up. "It doesn't do much good for all the signs to be there for a savior if they get themselves killed before saving the world."
"Right," Jak agreed, pushing himself out of the water. "I'll be more careful...what about Keira?"
"She's just fine," Damas told him. "Daxter said that she went back with Ashelin to Haven after using her Green Eco Powers alongside Daxter's Light Eco to replenish you somewhat. Once they realized something of what you did, they knew they needed someone who knew about Dark and Light Eco to help you...which meant Seem."
"Don't make a habit of needing my help, though," Seem snapped. "You're only the best option until you break. We don't have time to put you back together every time."
"I...guess it's time to visit the Precursor statue again, then," Jak mused slowly sitting up. "The Precursors spoke to me from there, and gave Shining and I access to Light Eco. Maybe they'll be able to help me with this."
"Shining and Daxter are waiting for you below," Damas replied. As Jak started to go, however, he seized his son's arm. "But before you go, I want your word that you won't use your Eco Powers for anything but solving puzzles until you've met with the Precursors and they've helped you handle this new twist to your abilities."
Jak stared up at his father, then nodded. "Okay, Dad," he replied firmly, returning the arm grip. "I have no intention of coming back in pieces."
"Good!" Damas insisted firmly. "I only have two sons, and only one of them looks to be giving me grandkids anytime soon."
Groaning, Jak buried his face in his hands. "Shoulda seen that coming..." he muttered, turning to leave even as Damas laughed.
At the bottom of the elevator out of Damas' tower, Shining and Daxter greeted Jak warmly. Both quickly embraced him, followed by firmly ordering, "Don't do that again!"
Jak managed to laugh it off, returning the embrace. "Alright guys," he said softly. "Let's go get the Dune Hopper so the Precursors can give me a check up. I think I've worried everyone enough as is."
"Speaking of which," Shining replied, reaching into his saddlebags. "Keira and Ashelin brought a couple of things for you." When he lifted his head out of his saddlebags, he levitated over the Jetboard and the Mar Medallion Jak's younger self had given him. "You also dropped this when you fainted."
Jak chuckled as he took both. "I'll be sure to hang onto these this time-"
"And I'm driving!" Daxter insisted.
"How are you going to reach the pedals?" Jak countered.
"...Shining's driving!" Daxter shot back, pouting, making Jak laugh.
The trip to the Precursor Temple proved uneventful, mostly because Shining surrounded the Dune Hopper with a glowing shield that repelled anything that impacted against it. Once there, the trio made their way to the first large room, where Jak had used his abilities and weapons to take out a circle of attack drones. As they entered the chamber, the Mar Medallion began to glow, reacting with a sealed door. When Jak held it before the door, the door opened. "Huh," he muttered. "Think we'll be getting a new power too, bro?"
"Maybe," Shining admitted.
Following the revealed staircase downward, Jak found that the path led to a large room with neck-deep water covering most of the floor, reminiscent of a chamber in Mar's Tomb. Various motes of light were scattered around, marked with the colors of a symbol above the door at the opposite end. "So we have to collect those to open the door," Jak mused. "Shining, can you grab them with your magic?"
Shining focused, attempting to do so, only for his magic to slip right off. "Nope," he replied. "I think they have to be collected physically. Probably set to react to Green Eco or something. You can probably grab them all with the Jetboard. I'll swim across."
"I think I'll take the dry ride," Daxter muttered, hopping to Jak's shoulder.
Chuckling, Jak hopped onto his Jetboard, zipping across the surface of the water. His skills on the board hadn't diminished, and he'd collected all the light motes by the time Shining had finished his swim, and met him at the other end as the door opened. "Too easy," Jak proclaimed smugly.
"Show off," Shining teased, shaking himself dry.
Beyond the door, a short path led to a small room with a Light Eco spring, and beyond that was the statue chamber. As they stepped onto the platform, the voice once more echoed from the statue.
"We meet again, great warriors, but sadly your coming may be too late," the statue intoned. "You will soon meet the seed of our downfall. It approaches quickly, and I fear we no longer have the power to resist. Allow us to give you what power we can, in the hopes that you might accomplish what we could not-" The statue paused, and the eyes glowed as it stared at Jak. "...the fuck did you do?" it demanded, the voice sounding stunned.
Daxter blinked. "...wow. So much for the image of aloof, jaded, all-knowing beings."
Jak blinked. "Umm...I tried to combine the Light and Dark Eco inside me...but it brought out the other four colors..."
"You have unlocked within you the powers of the Shadow of Creation," the statue intoned. "This power is great, but very dangerous, for to use it is to burn all Eco in your possession, including the Green of your very life. You must be cautious in its use. Until that power is more stabilized inside you as your Light becomes equal to your Darkness, allow us to give you some margin of safety." Light flooded into Jak and Shining. "Eco Warriors, we have given you both a new Light power...power over time itself. And for you, young Jak, we have placed a limiter on the Shadow you have created inside you. Unless the need is truly dire, the Shadow will withdraw before your life is fully burned, as you had last time."
Jak staggered against Shining, hand going to his head as he let the Eco power settle inside of him.
I like it, sounds like it would be a fun ultimate power to have
Is shadow jak a sercet to unlock cause this is the first I heard of it
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I made it up for this story. I just decided to break down what it would be in terms of game mechanics.
The game terms sound well balanced for how they work. I can't wait to see Jak use his new power!!! But wait... if he selects Keira... will he zip up to her and smother her in hugs and kisses???? Or just jump behind the nearest bit of cover with her for some Snu Snu???
When the next Jak and Daxter Story happens, you need to be the lead writer. Naughty Dog could use a writer like you; you kept the story more consistent than what they did; especially with Jak 2 and 3. Also, love your gameplay ideas; want to see those in a game.
Actually... wait until Damas learns of his future daughter-in-law. I think I should stop keepin' track of the hyperfamily. I can only track genealogy so far...
A very enjoyable chapter. Great job.
That Author's Note...
Mechanics remind me of a combination between Sand Powers from Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and Hyper Mode from Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Very cool and I like the risk/reward. However, those prerequisites would make it pretty hard to actually be able to use unless you spend your precursor orbs on infinite ammo. It's like a 15 mana card in Magic: The Gathering. Impressive and powerful, but the opportunities you'll get to use it are almost nonexistent.
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Exactly the point. It's a somewhat game breaking mechanic, but even with Precursor Orb cheats you can only really make use of it if you're really skilled, making it an awesome reward for being just that good.
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Fair enough. It's a better risk/reward than Antiform, at least. #notsalty #notsaltyatall
The part with the statue being stunned was funny. Also, not bad for a game mechanic.of Shadow Jak.
7139502 Ah, yes, the Anti-form. We're talking Kingdom Hearts, right?
i think that this "Shadow Jak" is a good technique with the limiters.
Hell, if you use it, it kills you at the same time if overdone.
Very tricky and expensive to use so it ain't something to do willy nilly everytime a big problem is present.
I just lost it. Full on, hysterically... lost it. my thoughts were similar to Daxter's, but more like... "BUSTED!!!" Honestly, I can see that actually being part of the game. The humor and abrupt character change would have fit in with the canon characterization, and suddenly the Precursers would find themselves doing the "You heard nothing" bit.
"Maybe, Shining admitted
1. Forgot your closing quotation mark.
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Oh I think everyone can safely agree on not using drives because of antiform. That thing can screw over your run if you aren't careful, even worse when you're in a boss fight. Never used drives again save for the Master form after I learned it lowers the chance of you triggering anti. That and grinding all the forms do take awhile with their different requirements.
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Actually, both grinding Drives and avoiding Anti is rather easy.
First, figure out good worlds where you can run back and forth from a save point to warp out, where you'll encounter a lot of the enemy types you need. Second, only activate Drives outside of battle as Anti only triggers in battle.
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Oh god, the Anti-form. There isn't enough salt to describe how much I loath that form. Unable to heal yourself, lose all your drive gauge exiting the area, let the form wear out, or deactivate it out of battle, and NO experience gain whatsoever all for the price of a slightly higher attack strength and wicked attack speed that comes with a battle style that is hard to control if you don't know what you're doing. Oh yeah, I'm really, really salty about the Anti-form. #allofthesalt
7139687 Oh yeah, completely forgot about the infinite drive glitch, teleporting out before the gauge depletes and you'll have full gauge next time you reenter a world. Didn't know about the latter though, that's quite interesting to know.
7139635 Totally agreed on that! I did NOT see that one coming.
Lol, that reaction.
"The fuck did you do?"
Yay! That was a fun chapter to read.
And man now I wish that power was actually in the game, sounds like a ton of fun, kind of like the ryno when you think about it.
7140735 Except the ryno has only two major downsides. 1) The difficulty of obtaining one. 2) Ammo is EXPENSIVE.
However it does have Rapid boss killing capabilities and can't kill you. Look at the Ryno 2! Hold the fire button on the final boss and it dies in less than thirty seconds.
It's a balanced mechanic. I don't see it as a game-breaker simply because once used, it leaves you high and dry. To my mind, a game-breaking mechanic has to be one that cheapens challenges without any risk to yourself. Of course, those also happen to be the most fun in terms of game-breaking mechanics.
Honestly, though I like the way they used the Eco Powers in Jak 3, this idea would have served better. I'm sure that Errol's second phase would have been immune simply because he was in a ship, though it would have been killer against that goddamn Precursor Robot.
Welp, I'm sold. That power is bad-ass. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
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I like Anti-form. He has a unique fighting style and I enjoy watching him move. I strongly feel he would have been a better Heartless for Sora than a regular weak Shadow.
7142638 Yeah, it was fun when I go Anti-form in an area full of Shadows/Dusks. It's really cool seeing Sora zipping around the room ripping them to shreds like that.
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The only drawback I found is that unlocking Final Form works the same as the Anti Form trigger. Just once you can unlock Final Form, random chance it will appear after any in battle Drive trigger, just like Anti Form.
7139635 Prec: "What did you do to yourself? Did a fan fiction writer do this? I bet that's what happened."
Jak: "...what?"
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I recently beat Resident Evil 4 on Pro. On my second playthrough, I used the P.R.L. 412 on Saddler.
That is a game-breaking mechanic; I did enjoy making Saddler a wuss though
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SANS! YOU NEED TO STOP BEING SO LAZY, EVEN WITH SOMETHING AS TRIVIAL AS VIDEO GAME RESEARCH! FOR I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, CLEARLY REMEMBER THAT IT'S FINAL FORM THAT LOWERS ANIT-FORM'S CHANCES, NOT MASTER!
Excuse the all-caps, but I couldn't resist being in character for that correction!
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At least Final Mix has that new Keyblade to drastically increase the chance of Anti... as one who's completed both PS2 and PS3 versions, it's FAR quicker to get Final that way.
Also, Anti may be a hindrance normally, but it's possible to kill Lingering Will using ONLY that form's attacks... there's even a video on YT! And one using Sweet Memories for the same task, for a different challenge.
Me likey! Kinda makes me wish such a game mechanic actually existed.
been playing these games lately on a ps2 emulator....all i have to say is i really wish this WAS in the game. would make huge swaths of it soo much easier
anyone else getting SUPER HOT vibes from how Tatsurou described shadow jaxs function in the author notes? at least with the whole time moves when you move bit?