It took the trio a few minutes to reach the entrance of Fire Canyon, where they found a few more Precursor Orbs hanging around the area before they found the zoomer, though they immediately found Keira standing beside the vehicle. As Jak and Pinkie approached their friend they both noticed that there was what appeared to be a sidecar of sorts on the left side of the zoomer, which meant that Keira had been working on it while they had been gathering Power Cells. It looked like she was putting the finishing touches on the additional piece as they arrived, so they didn't bother to say anything until she was done with her work.
After a minute or two Keira pulled herself away from her work and turned towards them, though she was smiling happily, telling them that she was either pleased with her work or with the work they had put into gathering the necessary Power Cells.
"I'm glad that you guys managed to find some additional Power Cells," Keira said, patting the sidecar for a moment, "I was able to make some quick modifications to the zoomer so it could handle a sidecar, allowing all three of you to cross at once instead of leaving someone behind. The additional cells will cover the necessary expansion of the heat shield, meaning that both parts of the zoomer will be able to handle at least five hundred degrees before they start coming apart."
"I hope you have a plan to cool us down," Daxter replied, staring at the flames that they would soon be driving through, "because I would hate for the zoomer to fall apart and cook all three of us in an instant."
"You have nothing to worry about," Keira assured him, pointing at a blue floating ball in the air, some distance away from where they were currently standing, "I've released several blue coolant balloons throughout the canyon, which will be able to cool down the zoomer once you fly through them and burst them open. I also sent a Scout Fly out into the canyon and spotted several Precursor structures that dip into the lava of Fire Canyon, but they haven't been melted yet. You can use those as jumps to get out of the heat for a time, so between the coolant balloons and the jumps you won't have to worry about anything burning you or breaking the zoomer."
"Sweet!" Pinkie exclaimed, excited to see what the zoomer could do with the jumps, though she knew that Jak was as excited as she was, "What should we do when we reach the other side?"
"Just head into the Blue Sage's lab and turn on the teleport gate he has," Keira replied, stepping out of the way so Pinkie and Jak could climb onto the zoomer, "once its active my father and I will teleport over to you. Then, when we're together again, we'll plan our next steps in our quest to reach Gol Acheron."
"We'll see you once we're on the other side," Jak promised, taking control of the main part of the zoomer, while Pinkie settled into the sidecar and Daxter joined her, so he didn't go flying when they left the zoomer platform.
As Jak pulled out of the zoomer's platform he discovered a crate of Precursor Orbs placed between two jagged rocks, so he ran over the crate and collected them, though he had to be careful to avoid the massive amount of Dark Eco crates that were in his way. He rammed through a coolant balloon and continued forward, smashing through a Scout Fly crate and freeing the poor creature while also using one of the structures Keira had pointed out to get some air. Jak followed the path, making sure that they didn't stay over the open lava for longer than what was necessary, while collecting all of the Scout Flies and orbs that happened to be scattered throughout the canyon. He would have questioned why the Scout Flies had even been trapped in the Fire Canyon without burning to pieces, but he decided that now wasn't the time and focused on steering the zoomer.
Thanks to the few Blue Eco vents that were scattered throughout the canyon, again causing Jak to wonder how they hadn't broken apart as well, they managed to reach the end of the canyon without too much happening. Along the way they had managed to grab every orb that happened to be stashed away in the metallic crates, though when they freed the last Scout Fly Pinkie had caught the Power Cell it let out as they passed under it, meaning they wouldn't have to go back for it at all. At the end of the Fire Canyon they found a place to store the zoomer, which also happened to have a Power Cell waiting for them, though they weren't about to complain about their luck.
Once they parked the zoomer in the area they had discovered, and climbed out of their seats, they made their way into the outer area of Rock Village and entered the Blue Sage's hut, which looked like some papers had been scattered around like the Sage had been in a hurry to get somewhere.
"Sh... shouldn't the Blue Sage be around here somewhere?" Pinkie asked, worried that something might have happened to the Sage, as he wasn't present at the moment to explain the condition of his hut.
"Perhaps Samos knows something about this," Jak stated, to which he pushed the button and activated the warp gate, though before anything happened they all stepped back to give Keira and Samos room for when they entered the hut.
The trio waited for a few seconds, wondering what was taking the others so long, though the first person to come through the warp gate was Samos' bird, the one that lived inside the log that he wore on his head. A few seconds later Samos came out as well, though he landed flat on his face, much to the amusement of Daxter, who was smacked on the head by Samos' staff the moment he picked himself up. Keira appeared behind him, though she was more graceful than her father was and landed on her feet, as if she had been secretly practicing with the gate to Geyser Rock.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to that teleporter tingling sensation," Samos grunted, taking a moment to wipe off any dirt that had gotten on his clothes, before noticing that many of the items in the Blue Sage's hut were either sparking or were severely damaged, "Hey! Did the Blue Sage throw a party without inviting me?"
Pinkie, at the mention of a party, would have assumed that the other Sages would have invited Samos, as they were as thick as thieves at this point in time, so she immediately knew that something fishy had happened in the Blue Sage's hut... something that Samos definitely didn't know about.
"Oh my!" Keira gasped, pointing out the window she happened to be looking through, no doubt pointing at Rock Village at the moment, "Rock Village is on fire!"
"You mean that's not normal?" Daxter asked, staring out the window and seeing what Keira was talking about, though a few seconds later he noticed that everyone was glaring at him, "What?"
"Daxter... the village is being bombarded by flaming boulders," Keira stated, moving the telescope so she could see the creature that was responsible for the destruction, before noticing something near the creature's location, "It seems that the Blue Sage was working on some sort of levitation device to clear the way to that creature's resting place, though if we're running with the assumption that the machine is operational we're going to need some more Power Cells to activate it."
"Jak, Pinkie," Samos said, gathering the attention of the young heroes, to which he pointed at the village with his staff, "Take the furball and go check on the villagers. They're bound to have some helpful tips on where to find more Power Cells and will likely offer one in exchange for some orbs. We'll see if we can't find the Blue Sages notes that are connected to that machine."
"Okie Dokie Lokie," Pinkie replied, to which she and Jak saluted Samos before collecting Daxter and heading into the village, where they found a Scout Fly before they even entered the central part of the village.
It didn't take them long to find someone that needed their help, as they spotted a geologist standing near the entrance of some sort of Precursor area, though she appeared to be worried about something. Before any of them could ask what was bothering her, however, she turned towards them and beckoned them over, indicating that she had something she wanted to tell them.
"The three of you look like capable young fellows," the lady said, a smile appearing on her face as she beckoned to the area she was standing near, "I've got a research project going on at the moment and I was hoping you would be able to help me. I've been studying the burrowing habits of the Lightning Moles in the Precursor Basin next to our village for years, but now those awful Lurkers have scared them to the surface. Seeing how they are as blind as bats they can't find their way back underground, so if you can herd them back into their burrows you might just save their lives. I have a Power Cell that says you can do it... and I'll even offer a second one if you'll exchange ninety orbs to help fund my research equipment."
Jak, deciding to wait until they had checked on the other villagers before making any commitments regarding trading orbs, agreed that they would be able to help with herding the Lightning Moles back into their holes, but made no comment on the trade. Instead he, Pinkie, and Daxter made their way towards the only other people in the village at the moment, someone wearing a barrel over their body and some sort of warrior that was crying. What they discovered was that the warrior had tried to fight the monster that was currently hurling boulders at the village, but was beaten quite easily, to which the man undid the bridge leading to the Blue Sage's machine and proclaimed that he would only remake the bridge if he was given ninety Precursor Orbs.
The other man, who they determined was a gambler of sorts, exclaimed his outrage that he lost almost all of his money on the warrior, before whispering that the money was on the monster. The man promised that, if they beat the high score in a race inside the Precursor Basin, he would give them a Power Cell as a reward, as well as a second one if they traded him ninety orbs. Once they had spoken with the two villagers Daxter told them that he had found another Precursor Oracle, who would trade the two Power Cells it had for one hundred and twenty apiece.
"So," Pinkie said, looking at the map of the area, something that the geologist was okay with them looking at so they could figure out what to do first, "should we check out that ancient Precursor city that's just outside the village, or should we venture into the Basin and see what else we find in there?"
"Let's head into the Basin," Daxter commented, glaring at the sunken city for a few moments, "It should be a relaxing ride, where we can collect a few Power Cells, gather a fair number of orbs, and save some Lightning Moles from the Lurkers. Should be fun."
Pinkie smiled as the three of them headed towards the Basin, because they would be able to at least do some good for everyone by making sure that the area was clear of Lurkers and Dark Eco... and then they would be one step closer to the end of their quest.