//------------------------------// // Brink: Where No Pony // Story: Sons of Damas // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// Following the old man's directions, the pair made their way to a set of wooden doors with signs showing a large robot crushing a tiny human on the path to them. "Guessing that's supposed to be the Uber-bot," Shining murmured as he stared at the sign. "Probably," Jak murmured as he turned the wheel to open the next door. Seeing several broken robots behind it, he began to move more slowly. "I'm thinking this isn't going to be easy." "I'm thinking you're right," Shining agreed. On the way, they encountered another Tiki-like Precursor Idol, which imbued the pair with Green Eco. Shining shivered as he felt the new ability inside him. "What's wrong?" Jak asked worriedly. "Isn't a new power a good thing?" "...it makes crystal structures grow," Shining explained as he finished mentally examining the 'spell' form. "For some reason, it speaks to the Dark Eco inside me." Seeing some green crystals in the ground, Jak used the Eco Construct ability to raise a crystalline platform out of the ground to let them clear the short cliff blocking their path. "Not feeling anything like that for me," he offered comfortingly. "Might be because you already activated the Light Eco inside you," Shining observed. "Or it might be something different about how my energy interacts with Eco. Either way...I think I'll let you build the crystals..." "Fair enough," Jak agreed, leading the way ahead. Atop the cliff, they came across a group of the orange tree-cutting robots which were still active. Thankfully, the tactics they'd developed from before continued to prove very effective, allowing them to get past without injury. Beyond that, Jak found that he could create a temporary green crystal pillar at any time to knock an enemy off kilter. It was only at natural formations where the created crystal platforms remained intact. It was after they'd finished dealing with the group that the Uber-Bot arrived. It was easily four times as tall as Jak standing upright, with bright yellow armor plates, glowing pylons on its shoulders, and chainsaw blades for hands. Its head glowed bright blue, and it leapt around with surprising agility. "This is going to be difficult," Jak grumbled as he tried to get a bead on the leaping robot. Seeing the shockwave created when it slammed its full weight down on the ground, he leapt over it, Shining Armor at his side. "Give it two targets!" Shining suggested, racing to the opposite side of the stone plateau they were on. As Shining ran, the bot began launching saw blades at him, though they didn't fly an intercept course. With its focus on Shining, Jak channeled Red Eco into his staff, raced up, launched an Eco Amplifier sphere, and slammed it into the bots back. It staggered, knocked out of its assault on Shining, and spun to strike at Jak with its larger sawblade, only to be stopped as that arm was seized in Shining's magic, giving Jak time to roll back out of range. While the assault hadn't slowed the robot down at all, it had managed to break off an entire armor plate, exposing the circuitry underneath to assault. Seeing this, Shining got an idea. "Jak!" he shouted out. "It turns to focus on whoever damaged it last as part of defensive tactics! Shoot the unarmored back!" "Got it!" Jak called out, tossing his staff at Shining as the Uber-Bot pursued him. Shining caught it in his magic, activated the Blaster mod, and opened fire at the bot's unprotected back. When it started to turn towards him, he threw the staff back to Jak. Eventually, enough damage was done to cause all the armor plates to fall off, and the Uber-Bot changed tactics, charging the pair with a spinning attack. Jak was able to counter this with an Eco Construct, catching the Uber-Bot in place so the pair could hit it with as much impact damage as possible. When it broke free, its blades shattered, and the light from its face and pylons turned red. It rounded on Shining and unleashed a powerful laser. In desperation, Shining conjured a shield to protect himself...but the Eco Construct ability mingled with the shield, creating a flat plane instead of a sphere, which reflected the laser back at the Uber-Bot, causing it to fall apart, leaving the Velonium Power Pod behind. "Is it damaged?" Jak asked worriedly as they approached it. "Doesn't look like it," Shining muttered, taking a few deep breaths. "You okay?" Jak asked immediately, worried at Shining's exhaustion. "I'll be fine," Shining assured him quickly. "Let's get back in the air." Making their way back, they found the old man had already retrieved their Hellcat and patched it up in a hangar just off his treehouse. Since he showed no interest in their activities beyond recharging their engine with the pod, the pair headed off into the sky in pursuit of the pirates. Seeing what looked like a pirate ship from the ocean floating in the sky, they immediately pursued it, determining it was the Pirate base, especially as it launched fighters bearing the pirate colors. Unfortunately for the pirates, Jak proved to be a far better pilot than they were, especially with Shining channeling his magic into the craft's shields. Jak focused his attention on the massive ship's lower propellers to slow it down, before then targeting the main thrusters. With the ship immobile, he then targeted the guns. Once the guns and engines were destroyed, the enemy fighters pulled back, and a hanger opened. Jak took the silent invitation and flew in. Once inside, the pirates kept their distance as Jak and Shining stomped through, following a tug they both felt in their Light Eco, assuming it was Daxter guiding them to Keira. One rather large pirate got in their way as they approached the bridge. "Well, look what we got here-" "One side!" Jak growled out angrily. Red Eco flooded into his hands. Grabbing the large pirate, he chucked him over his shoulder, slamming him bodily into several large crates of food. Stomping up to the bridge, he saw the pirate who'd snatched Keira - presumably the Captain - standing at a control console with Keira behind him. Jak immediately began stomping towards him, rage in his eyes. "Jak, don't!" Keira called out, getting between him and the pirate as Shining prevented the others from interfering. "Pheonix isn't the bad guy here!" "I'm not the bad guy?" the Captain - Pheonix, presumably - growled angrily. "What about this monster-" "I suggest you be silent before you show just how foolish you truly are," Daxter's voice suddenly echoed as he revealed himself, still in his Light Form. "After all, even you must be aware of the Sages." The sight of Daxter, glowing with Light Eco, caused several of the gathered pirates to fall back in shock and awe. A crash echoed as something fell through a window. Keira's palm met her face as she growled in anger. She rounded on the pirate nearest the broken window. "You had one job!" she snapped out. "Hang onto the Eco Seeker until we can properly activate and use it! How do you mess up that badly?" Letting his anger and Eco subside, Jak chuckled. "Okay, you're calling the shots here then, Keira." "As usual," Shining joked. "Of course," Pheonix snapped angrily. "The Sages are respected and obeyed, as is proper! What does that have to do with-" Jak channeled Eco of all six colors out of his body and into his staff, making it glow with the six colors brightly. "Get the picture?" Keira couldn't help but giggle at Pheonix' suddenly stricken expression.