//------------------------------//
// Interlude: Meet the Baron 
// Story: Jak and Daxter: Children of Eco 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

	After walking for a few minutes, and giving Pinkie time to warm up to the fact that the city from her dreams was actually real, Erol brought them to a group of vehicles that he and his men used to travel through the various sections of the city. As they climbed into one of the vehicles, one that could seat two people and looked like a floating rectangle of some sort, Erol pointed at the bright red colored vehichles, the slim one that reminded her of Keira's zoomer and a triangle shaped one. He explained that the Krimson Guard, which was the name of the guards for Haven City, used the vehicles to go wherever the Baron sent them... though he also said that they occasionally chased some troublemakers through the city as well.  It was at that point that Pinkie learned that Erol was actually the commander of the Krimson Guard, which she guessed explained why he was allowed to dress so differently than the rest of the guards.

She was somewhat surprised that the Baron would send his commander out on a mission like this, especially when there was a war going on if what she heard from the other guards was correct, but then she decided not to question it as Erol powered up the vehicle they were in.

The moment the zoomer they were in was powered up Pinkie thought that they would be sticking to the ground, like the one that she and Jak had used in the past, but then she was surprised to find that there was a second mode to the vehicle that allowed them to hover some distance above the ground. It was like someone had taken Keira's designs and had upgraded them, improving them to the point that allowed something like this to be possible, yet she had to wonder what her friend would think of this if she ever got the chance to see it. Pinkie shuddered as she mentally pushed away the depressing thought that Keira might nit be around, because if she made it through the rift then she was sure the others had as well... she just had to find them.

"This is one of the two sections of the Bazaar District that resides in Haven City," Erol pointed out, beckoning to the stands where people were exchanging whatever the currency was for food or other important necessities, "though this is the Western Bazaar. The Eastern Bazaar is located on the opposite side of the Palace, which we will be arriving at shortly."

As he said this the vehicles that were following behind them, with the Krimson Guards controlling them, moved around them and continued towards the second section of the Bazaar, while Erol had them land in front of the large Palace that Pinkie had seen from a distance.

"Where are the other guards going?" Pinkie asked, though at the same time Erol jumped out of the vehicle and walked around to help her out of her seat.

"To the Fortress," Erol replied, though as he brought Pinkie to the front of the Palace a guard claimed the vehicle they had been in and drove off with it, allowing them to overhear something about a pursuit of some kind, "its our headquarters, where we store ammunition and weapons until they're needed... and there's even a prison on another level, so just in case an inmate manages to escape their cell they can't immediately arm themselves."

"Ha... have prisoners escaped before?" Pinkie inquired, because she assumed that one had escaped in the past or the Fortress had been designed in such a manner to prevent such a thing from happening.

"No, thankfully we have never had such an event occur," Erol answered, to which he helped her up the steps and tapped on the door that was in front of them, which recognized something that Pinkie heard was a pass before it opened for them, "but, as the Baron once told me, it was better to be safe than sorry."

Pinkie couldn't fault that logic, though she followed Erol into the Palace as the door shut behind them, allowing her to see that the entrance area was mostly just consoles that reminded her of the vehicle she and the others had ridden through the rift, though she had no idea what was on their screens. It didn't take them long to reach an elevator that took them upwards, no doubt bringing them into the main area of the Palace, though as Erol led the way towards where the Baron was located Pinkie heard someone talking with someone else. Based on the annoyed look that appeared on Erol's face he knew who was having the conversation, to which he held up a hand to stop Pinkie before they entered the main area of the Palace.

"Are you sure that Metal Heads are testing our defenses?" a voice said, one that Pinkie identified as a commander of sorts, which meant that it had to belong to the Baron.

"I caught a trio of them out near the pumping station," the second voice answered, though this one sounded more feminine than the first one, "don't worry, I took care of them."

"Excellent," the first voice commented, almost as if he had been expecting something like that to be the answer to his question, "Have the other guards keep a more watchful eye on the streets... the Kid is out there somewhere and he needs to be found before something harms him."

Pinkie glanced over at Erol and opened her mouth to ask who this Kid was, considering that he seemed important enough for the Baron to have his guards keep an eye out for him, but Erol merely shook his head as he opened the door that were in front of them. It was then that Pinkie got her first glimpse of the Baron and who he was talking to, though when she spotted the Baron she had to admit that he was more than what she expected by hearing his voice. The Baron was a very tall, and heavy-built, middle-aged human male, though he wore heavy-duty clothing and armor that bared what she assumed was a royal symbol of some kind. The upper right side of his face, along with his nose and entire cranium, were covered in some sort of metallic structure, as if he had sustained injuries to that region of his head at some point in the past. There was also a large sword attached to his belt, one that happened to be in its sheath, though Pinkie hated to think what would happen to anyone he used it against.

The person the Baron had been talking to was a slim woman that had short dreadlocked hair, which didn't reach past her shoulders at all, that was also dark red in color, though she had green eyes and pale skin. Pinkie discovered that the lady in front of her had facial tattoos placed on her forehead, neck and ears, which she assumed had to be a Krimson Guard thing considering that Erol had some on his face as well. The oddest thing Pinkie noticed was that the lady was wearing a heavy-duty long-sleeved midriff jacket, though it was the revealing sort that reminded her of Sandover Village and what she was wearing at the moment, with a pair of long heavy-duty tight-fitting pants that had sections cut out on either side of her legs. Pinkie could also tell that the lady only had a small gun as her only weapon, just like Erol did, but she had to wonder if that was something that the highest ranking members of the Krimson Guard did while they were inside the city.

The strangest thing was when the lady looked at Pinkie and Erol, and noticed that they were standing there, she seemed happy about something, but then that expression was replaced by the same stone wall expression that Pinkie had seen the rest of the Krimson Guard use, before she excused herself and left the room.

"Ah, Erol, I have been expecting your return," the Baron said, to which he picked himself off of the throne that he had been sitting on and walked towards where Pinkie and Erol were standing, "Tell me, did you find anything at the location Vin specified?"

"We found almost nothing at the area he told us to search in," Erol answered, though he knew how frustrated his men had been when they found no machines or the like around Pinkie, which in turn would only frustrate his leader to not end, "we only found this young lady laying on the ground in the area we searched."

"Is that so? Then I shall have words with Vin later," the Baron commented, sounding annoyed about having sent his guards on a wild goose chase, as they had come back empty handed, before he turned his attention to Pinkie, "I hope you can forgive a gentleman for not speaking with a lady first, but I had some... pressing matters... that I needed to have explained. I am Baron Praxis, the ruler of glorious Haven City. Who do I have the honor of addressing?"

"My name is Pinkie Pie," Pinkie answered, though while she had to wonder what 'words' the Baron was going to have with this Vin character, who she assumed Erol had mentioned earlier, she knew that he couldn't be too bad if he was being friendly towards her and was saving the city from Metal Heads.

"Considering the fact that my commander didn't find anything in the area our friend told us to search in," Praxis said, his one good eye glaring at Erol for a moment before turning back to Pinkie, "I would have to assume that this means you have some innate ability that allows you to absorb Eco and use it however you wish."

"Well, I can only use them in certain ways," Pinkie stated, remembering what she and Jak could do with the four Eco colors they had absorbed, "like Blue Eco lets me move faster and opened doors, while Red Eco increased the power of my punches and kicks, Yellow Eco allowed me to fire, well, fireballs, and Green Eco restored my health. Samos, the Sage that my brother and I were living with, could never figure out why the two of us were able to naturally absorb the pure clusters of Eco that were floating around... or much less why we could absorb all four colors instead of just one."

At first both Parxis and Erol were shocked by what Pinkie had just told them, as if absorbing pure clusters of Eco wasn't something that happened anymore, before the Baron let out a laugh. She wasn't sure what she had said that was so funny, because neither she or Erol were laughing, but she guessed that whatever she had said had amused the Baron, which might put him in a good mood.

"That is a rare ability you have," Praxis stated, a smile appearing on his face, which told Pinkie that her ability to absorb pure Eco clusters had to mean something more than what she had originally thought it meant, "one that would normally require a lot of testing to verify whether you were telling the truth or not... but at the moment we don't have time to test whether your lying to me or telling the truth. And, if your brother really does have the same ability that you have, it would be in our best interest to find him and rescue him before something terrible happens."

"Why can't we do any tests?" Pinkie asked, because while she didn't like the idea of letting these people run tests on her, or whatever their tests included, she had to wonder why they didn't have time.

"Metal Heads." Erol said, causing Pinkie to turn back towards him, "We're at war with their kind at the moment, but so far they've sent scouting parties into the areas outside our walls. We know that they're trying to figure out our weaknesses, but at this exact moment we have some time before they really start attacking us... which is why we were concerned when Vin spotted the breach in the Eco Dome. He thought that we were under attack and panicked, though he'll be happy to hear that nothing bad has happened to the city."

"Besides, we have no idea what your brother looks like," Praxis added, to which he turned his gaze back to Erol, "Pinkie Pie, for now I would suggest that you remain up here, in the Palace, until we discover where your brother went... though in the meantime you'll be learning about the city from either Erol or my daughter Ashelin. Perhaps by shadowing them you'll pick up how to fight and demonstrate some of these abilities that you mentioned."

"I shall return to my duties," Erol commented, though he started walking towards the door he and Pinkie had entered through, which Pinkie knew the other lady was likely waiting behind, "There's a chase going on in the port... again..."

As Erol walked out of the chamber they were in Pinkie spotted the lady from before, who she assumed had to be Ashelin, waiting on the other side, though neither she or Erol looked at each other as the Commander of the Krimson Guard left the Palace to go do his job. A few seconds later, just as Pinkie was about to turn back to the Baron, she noticed that the lady finally left where she was standing and was walking towards her. When the two were face to face Pinkie knew that the lady was looking her over, as if she was trying to determine what to do with her while she was out in the field, before letting out a sigh.

Pinkie had the feeling that she had failed some sort of inspection that the lady had mentally gone through, but she patiently waited to see what the outcome was.

"I am Ashelin Praxis, daughter of Baron Praxis," the lady said, to which she touched the straps that were keeping her gun attached to her leg, where she pulled the straps apart and tossed the gun over to her father, who caught it seconds later, "if you are going to be shadowing me in future missions I need to know if you can hold your own in a fight... so attack me."

Pinkie glanced over at the Baron for a moment, wondering if fighting was even allowed inside the Palace, but Praxis nodded his head and stepped back, giving them some room for what they were doing. Pinkie sighed and raised her fists, wondering if she could even fight after her trip through the rift, but she guessed that she would find out soon enough. Pinkie stared at Ashelin for a few seconds, to see if she was actually going to do anything, before she charged at her and threw her fist at her, only to find that her target had simply sidestepped her swing. A few seconds later Pinkie swung her foot around and tried to catch Ashelin in the chest, but once again her sparring partner moved out of the way before she could even hit her.

Pinkie tried a few more of the moves that she had developed with Jak's help, as they were the only ones that could fight back in Sandover Village, though Ashelin seemed to know where she was aiming every time. Pinkie tired to hit her opponent's face, tried to trip her by going for her feet, and tried to hit any of her limbs in the chance that she might catch her opponent off guard... though it didn't take long for Pinkie to become exhausted from trying to successfully strike her target.

"You need some proper training if you're going to be shadowing me," Ashelin said, though Pinkie spotted the beginnings of a small smile on her face, while at the same time she collected her weapon from her father, "but I think that, in time, you'll prove to be quite the accomplished fighter."

"Indeed," the Baron commented, his smile having never left his face the entire time, though his gaze was on Pinkie the whole time, "We'll go over the specifics of our search for your brother, and how you'll shadow Ashelin or Erol in the future, later this afternoon... for now you should rest up. I can guarantee that tomorrow will be a more exciting day than today."

Pinkie, still sort of lost on what was going on, followed after Ashelin as she beckoned to her, to which she was escorted to one of the guest rooms that the Palace had... which she was apparently going to use until they had found her brother. As they walked Pinkie had to wonder what had happened to her brother and friends, because she could only wonder where they were... and if they were safe from the Metal Heads that were roaming outside the city walls.