//------------------------------// // Brink: And Save Civilizations // Story: Sons of Damas // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// The trio joined back up with Keira as they made their way back up to meet with the Duke and the Chancellor. The Duke seemed quite pleased with the result of the Danger Course. "You have proven yourselves most admirably," he intoned warmly. "I suppose I should have expected no less of the blood of Mar." His voice then became more firm. "Our ancestors warned us of Dark Eco, and of how dangerous it is. Perhaps with this, you four may find the more fair Light Eco." He took the Eco Seeker from the Chancellor and gently tossed it to Keira, who caught and cradled the artifact gently. Daxter - having fully recovered from his stint in the sewers - was about to speak up when the wall behind the Duke and Chancellor exploded inward. "My Duke!" the Chancellor called out worriedly. "Sky Pirates!" Before the group could react, the pirate Jak had confronted on their own vessel before the crash swung down, grabbing the Eco Seeker out of Keira's hands and knocking Daxter off his perch on Jak's shoulder before anyone could react. "Hey!" Keira yelled out, racing after him, Shining hot on her heels. As he landed in the hole in the wall, he gave the group a smile and a mocking bow. "Thank you all for your kind assistance," he offered before leaping to a craft hovering outside. Keira leapt after him, only to get dragged into the cockpit before it closed on her. "KEIRA!" Jak bellowed out angrily, his body writhing as he started to lose control of his anger, and his internal Eco. "Get the Hellcat!" Daxter yelled out, racing forward. "I'll keep track of them!" I hope, he added silently. "How?" Shining called out as Daxter leapt out the hole. "You don't have-" Before their very eyes, Daxter flashed, turned into Light Daxter, then seemed to vanish in mid air, only an invisible trail of Light Eco that Jak could sense showing his passage as he pursued the Pirate craft. "That's...new," Jak murmured, stunned. "What happened?" the Duke asked, having not seen anything after the explosion. "Talk later!" Shining yelled back, dragging Jak to their Hellcat. It wasn't long before they caught up to the Pirate craft. The Pirate opened communications as soon as they caught up. "I would love to stay and chat, but I got what I came for-" "You let Keira go right now," Jak growled back, interrupting the Pirate's attempt at being cordial, "or I will hunt you down, rip out your spinal cord, and use it to perform a colonoscopy on you!" The other end was silent for a time, and then Keira's voice could barely be heard saying, "Told you so," just before the communication link was cut. A brief flash of light could be seen on the back of the Pirate craft, showing that Daxter had made contact. "Sounds like Keira might actually have a plan," Shining offered. "Hope one of us does," Jak murmured as he watched the Pirate craft fly into a tunnel through a floating island that was half filled with lava. He quickly steered to follow, dodging blazing boulders that popped out of the lava every so often. Several Pirate drones flew up behind the craft, trying to shoot Jak's ship down, but between the guns Shining shot and Daxter adding an invisible blast of Light Eco every so often, they didn't last long enough to get off a single shot. The tunnel quickly proved to be an artificial construction, rather than a natural formation as Jak had first suspected, as several metal pillars stuck out of the walls as support, and metal rings held the tunnel's shape every so often, dipping into the lava. However, given how little effect the lava had on the metal, he began to consider the possibility that it was Precursor metal. With how the planet had been restructured by Elder's people, the exact line of natural and artificial as far as their work was hard to draw. After a time, they pursued the Pirate craft into another tunnel, this one with active machinery that tried to close metal doors in front of them to cut off their pursuit. A thorough application of turbo boost and careful maneuvering allowed them to keep up, and Daxter began subtly disabling some of the Pirate craft's systems to keep it from getting too far ahead, as well as swiping a few bits of tech for their own Hellcat. Before long, it looked like they had the Pirate cornered against a waterfall...but before they could get close enough to board, a wave of other pirate craft came out of the waterfall in silence. Shots took out the engines, forcing the pair to crash land on yet another island. As Jak exited the craft, he let out a frenzied roar, Dark Eco starting to spark over his body as he could feel himself starting to change, and pain lanced through his body. "Jak!" Shining called out worriedly, rushing to his side. Jak! Daxter's voice cut through Jak's mind. It's okay. I'm still with the ship. I'll keep track of Keira. "But..." Jak began, starting to calm down as the Dark Eco faded. Don't worry, Jak. They won't even see me if I don't want them to. Didn't know I could turn invisible like this, but it's damn useful. I won't let anything happen to Keira. Now that I've got a better handle on what I can do like this, I'll make them regret kidnapping her. I'll keep her safe till you catch up. As the Eco faded completely, Jak slumped back against the craft. "O...okay Daxter..." Shiny, keep that bro of yours in check, okay? I'm not gonna be there to do it for him for a while, so that's your job till I get back to yo... The voice faded. "Guess we're out of range," Shining murmured. "Come on, Jak, let's go." Nodding, Jak got to his feet. "They're going to pay for this..."