It wasn't long before the group reached the 'danger course', and Jak, Shining, and Daxter stepped up to face it. "Well, are you guys ready?" Jak asked softly.
"I doubt it's all that different from the arena in Spargus, or the training grounds in Haven," Shining pointed out.
"Then again, these guys know our rep, and think we won't make it," Daxter countered. "We shouldn't be too overconfident here. There's no telling what will happen."
"Then we'll just have to be careful," Jak concluded. "It's hardly the first time we've done something like this."
"True," Daxter agreed. "If there's one thing we're good at, it's arbitrary platforming challenges mixed with heavy gun play." The trio chuckled together at the little joke.
"Good luck!" Keira called out hopefully.
As they stepped into the Danger Course, they found it was to all appearances an obstacle course akin to others they'd faced, much as they'd expected. Just inside was a Blaster mod that Jak was able to equip to his staff, with a base ammo count of 60. "This should be useful," he murmured softly.
"You keep the guns this time," Shining murmured. "I have an easier time with my magic in this environment, so it's better to rely on that than weapons for me."
"And until I figure out how to use my Light abilities without pain like last time, I'm better off staying on your shoulder," Daxter added.
Stepping into the next room, the first few chambers proved identical to the shooting range in Haven, with cutouts of pirates and civilians sliding along tracks to be shot at, pirate cutouts giving points and civilian ones deducting them. Jak made his way through swiftly and skillfully, easily clearing the required number of points to pass that part of the challenge. Only the final chamber in that sequence proved to contain a new challenge, as there were two turrets at the opposite end of the room firing at the group, with several wall segments they could hide behind as they made their way to the opposite side. Only when they got close enough did the turrets stopped firing.
The next part of the challenge involved riding across conveyor belts while shooting at targets. Some targets blinked white, awarding points when they were hit. Others turned green and became platforms, allowing the group to move further along. "Hope the entire course won't be just shooting," Shining muttered. "It'd be nice to actually get to do something..."
The final segment proved to be much like the first, though leading through a simulated city rather than a metal corridor. It also included a much larger turret that fired rapidly on the group in intervals, forcing them to duck behind cover before leaping out to take down more cutouts.
With that final segment complete, the course was over, and the group made their way back to the Sanctum. Along the way, however, Daxter wound up falling into a deep hole with a surprised scream, due to not looking where he was going. "Ugh..." he grumbled, rubbing his head as he stood up. "And here I thought I was here to keep them out of trouble..." His eyes widened as he took in his surroundings.
It appeared he was in a mine of some sort, and dark purple Eco Crystals - plainly crystallized Dark Eco, but not the Dark Crystals they'd gathered from the Wasteland while in Spargus - sprang out of the dirt all around him. "Jak?" he called out worriedly. "Shining? Keira? Can...can you hear me?" Unfortunately, there was no response. "Damn...need to find my way back..."
Seeing a door nearby, he pushed it open. "After all," he mumbled, talking to himself so that bit of civilized sound could give him comfort, "doors mean men, which means buildings. Buildings mean entrances..." He froze as he heard liquid gurgling in a nearby pipe. "What the...?" Turning, he looked inside.
Before his very eyes, neon purple liquid erupted out of the pipe, soaking him completely. He could feel it trying to fill his body, trying to consume him, corrupt him, twist him. He heard its tantalizing whispers of power, of control, the mad whispers of the Dark Makers...
"No!" Daxter roared out as he pushed back, drawing on all he could of the Light Eco inside him, heedless of the pain. "I am not like them! I am not a Dark Maker! I...am...a Sage!"
The Light Eco exploded from inside him, and the Dark Eco flowing over him erupted in a coruscating rainbow as it burst into Green, Red, Blue, and Yellow Eco, dispersing into the air. When the light faded, Daxter stood changed.
His orange fur with red highlights was now white with blue highlights. His robes had vanished, as his entire body was now more stretched and streamlined. His eyes glowed a solid blue, and he could feel his Light Eco flowing through his body freely, more freely than it ever had since he had discovered the abilities, more freely than under Elder's training. His ears twitched, but they weren't ears anymore. They seemed to be...antennae, of some sort. He also did not appear to have a mouth.
"Well that's going to be inconvenient," he thought, only to hear his thought echo in the air around him. "Whoa...am I telepathic now or something? That's pretty impressive..." Looking at his arm, he tried to tap his light powers. The Blade, the Blast, and the Heal Force all came easily, and he found he could conjure spare blades and blasts into the air around him, waiting for him to command them. "Okay, this is pretty sweet." Glancing down, he noticed neither feet nor tail touched the ground. "Am I...floating?"
It was at that moment he felt the extra muscle contractions on his back. His antennae twitched, and he suddenly had an image of his back in his mind even without turning to look. Once he got over having 'magic eyes' in the back of his head, he took in the pristine white wings, the feathers full and soft...and flesh.
"...this is new..." Daxter concluded, more than a little overwhelmed. "...find the others now, figure this out later. Keira can probably figure this out. Hmm...it feels like my energy's starting to drop...why am I drawn to the Dark Eco crystal formations?"
Flapping over, he instinctively sent a burst of Light Eco into a Dark Eco crystal formation. The crystal formation burst, purifying into the four Nature Colors of Eco before combining into Light to be absorbed into him.
"...okay, still don't know what this is...but I love it!" His eyes narrowed in eagerness and he shot down the pipe, deciding to follow it to find a way out.
The liquid Dark Eco he passed over proved even easier to purify and absorb than the crystals, though at a much lower rate of return. At the other end of the pipe, Daxter found himself in what looked like a sewer, with Dark Eco mutants - lizard and spider based - running rampant. "Out of the way!" he broadcast as he palm blasted his way through both them and the doors sealing off the sections of sewer.
As he continued, he found his way to what was plainly an abandoned Dark Eco research facility. Rather than continuing to fight his way through, he took to the air, flying higher and out of range of the mutants racing through the halls. Eventually, he found his way to an elevator, taking him back up into the city. On the way there, he ran out of energy, and shifted back to his normal form.
"Ugh...what a rush..." he murmured as he rolled out of the elevator as it reached the surface...right into Jak's hands.
"You okay buddy?" Jak asked worriedly.
"Jak...I've got a lot to tell you..." Daxter mumbled. "But...out of the city...gotta keep some aces...up our sleeves..."