//------------------------------//
// Renegade: Rescue 
// Story: Jak and Daxter: Children of Eco 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

	When Pinkie appeared on the other side of the warp gate she found that the coast was clear of anyone that might interfere with her operation, to which she looked around the room she was in. There were several cells that lined the wall on her left, a door that went to another location on her right, and a decent sized vent on the left wall that might serve as an exit for them. After taking stock of her surroundings, which Ashelin had taught her to do, she turned her head towards the middle of the room and found that it was pretty much an abyss... save for the walkway that connected to a torture chair of some kind. That was when she noticed that Jak was resting on the chair, which had converted itself into a table form for the experiments, and that his body was a bit buffer than she remembered, though his hair seemed to be a bit longer in the back and he seemed at least two years older than when she had last seen him... which made sense after she thought about it.

It pained her to see her brother like this, but from what she could tell his chest was moving and that meant that he was alive... she just needed to find Daxter, undo the bindings that were keeping her brother down, and then get them all out of the Fortress before the Krimzon Guard knew what was happening.

"Ding ding," a voice said, to which Daxter appeared from the abyss, where he was riding some sort of contraption he must have acquired some time ago, though behind him stood Raven and the two of them hoped off the machine once it reached a certain height, though Daxter landed on Jak while Raven landed on the walkway with a pile of clothes in his hands, "third floor; body chains, roach food, torture devices. Whoa, what did they do to you Jak?"

"I'm going to kill Praxis!" Jak snapped out, his eyes snapping open as he stared at Daxter, though at the same time he wasn't sure if he was seeing reality or what his mind wanted him to see.

"There's no need to shout at the moment," Daxter said, covering Jak's mouth for a few seconds as he gestured to Pinkie, "I managed to find Pinkie while I was searching for you. Just give me a few seconds and I'll have these bindings..."

Dark Eco flared all over Jak's body as his rage awakened within him, causing both his skin color and his hair to turn grey, though his hair grew out much longer and took on the appearance of spikes. The only other changes that happened to his body were the fact that his nails had turned into black claws, his eyes turned into black pits, and there was some purple sparks coming off of his body every now and then. If Pinkie didn't know any better she would hazard a guess that this was the Dark Warrior program that someone had been trying to complete, but she hated seeing her brother like this.

"..removed." Daxter finished, to which he shook his head for a few seconds as Jak started to focus on someone else, namely his own sister, "Jak! Stop! That's Pinkie Pie, your sister!"

Jak walked towards Pinkie and raised one of his clawed hands into the air, as if he was intending to strike her down for being in his way, but all she did was touch his chest with her right hand, which stopped him in his tracks for a moment. Pinkie remembered that Samos had once said that both she and Jak were capable of channeling the four Eco colors, which they proved in their quest to stop Gol and Maia, but now that she was much older, and more mature, she had to wonder if that meant that they could do the same for Dark Eco. She touched the Dark Eco crystal on her Eco Blade for a moment and felt a tiny amount of the Dark Eco inside her brother start to separate, though a few seconds later it lashed out at Pinkie and forced her to yank her hand off of her brother's chest.

She waved her hand for a few seconds, to get rid of the tingling feeling that had surged through her body, but she smiled a bit as she noticed her brother return to them.

"P... Pinkie!?" Jak said, taking a few steps back as his body returned to normal, or what would pass for normal when he wasn't possessed by a Dark Eco fueled rage, "Wh... what are you doing here?"

"She and her friend Raven came to help me bust you out of here," Daxter explained, to which he collected the clothing from Raven and approached Jak, who seemed surprised to see him as well, "I also brought you some new clothes to wear, after I found your old ones in the trash during the time I spent searching for you, but they should fit you like a glove."

Jak nodded and moved behind Pinkie, who walked over to the torture chair to give her brother some privacy before they started moving, but she kept rubbing her hand the entire time. She knew that Dark Eco was dangerous and was sure that she had infected herself with it when she tired to calm her brother down, though she guessed that she would have to wait and see what happened next. When she heard Jak cough she turned around and found that Daxter had managed to salvage the ring that her brother wore on his chest, as well as his shoulder pad. His tunic was dark blue colored, which she felt was appropriate because of what had happened to him, and his pants were white colored, though it seemed that Daxter had managed to acquire a pair of boots and a pair of gloves that fit her brother perfectly.

She had to admit, her brother looked like quite the fighter in his new clothing, but before she said anything she shook her head and refocused on her mission to get them all out of the Fortress.

"I'll settle for an explanation later, but I do have one question," Jak said, his voice sounding angry, which was due to the experiments he had undergone, before he pointed at Raven, "Who is he and where is there another ottsel in our group?"

"My name is Raven," the dark furred ottsel replied, causing Jak to turn towards him for a moment, "and Pinkie saved me from death a few years ago. I decided to stick around and have some adventures with her, as she needed a companion when the two of you were missing and was trying to find you with her... limited... resources."

Pinkie was grateful that Raven didn't mention that she was, technically, the adopted daughter of Baron Praxis, the same man that Jak had just declared that he was going to kill a few minutes ago. That would have brought on a tide of questions that she wasn't ready to answer, not yet anyway, though she was equally glad that the ottsel hadn't said anything about Ashelin either. She would be sure to tell Jak everything that had happened since the last time they saw each other, but at the moment they needed to get out of the Fortress before the guards found and captured them.

"Jak, its not worth questioning at the moment," Daxter said, to which he climbed onto Jak's shoulder and took his rightful spot on the shoulder pad, where he smiled as Raven did the same thing with Pinkie, "besides, its Pinkie Pie... best not to question how she was able to find another ottsel and befriend him."

"Okay, your right Daxter," Jak replied, letting out a sigh as he looked around the room for a few seconds, though it was clear that he was confused about something, "So... how are we going to get out of here?"

Pinkie smiled and beckoned for Jak to follow, to which she led the way towards the large air vent she had noticed earlier, where they climbed up the crates that had been in front of it and left the area that Jak had been trapped in for the last two years. As they entered the next room they heard an computer voice mention something about a prisoner escape that was in process, telling Pinkie that someone already knew what was going on. A few seconds later they climbed up another group of crates and made their way through the opening they discovered near the ceiling, where they entered an area that had some moving cranes. Daxter pointed out some Krimzon Guard crates that were laying around for them to open, which Jak managed to grab a health pack and some Dark Eco... which separated into two halves and entered both him and Pinkie.

"Huh... I guess I suddenly have the power to absorb Dark Eco now," Pinkie commented, to which she assumed that her attempt to help her brother out had actually given her a new ability that she could use, making her wonder if she was going to have a dark form like Jak's.

"And it seems that your natural fluffed up hair has gone straight," Jak added, moving a strand of hair out of the way, causing Pinkie to realize that she had missed something, "Come on, we'll go over this once we're out of here."

They carefully made their way across the cranes that were in front of them and jumped onto a new platform, where they discovered that Jak could actually jump a little higher than normal, before they came across one of the prison guards. The guard turned to look at them as Pinkie dropped to the ground and kicked his feet out from below, before slamming his head into the ground with enough force to knock him out without doing any lasting damage to him. Jak moved forward and attacked the next guard that was aiming at them, though he kicked his target into the abyss that was to the right of where he was standing, but Pinkie made no comment on the action.

The duo then approached the spin pole that was hanging in front of them and took turns to reach the platform above them, to which they jumped onto a crane for a few seconds before jumping over to another area, where they took out a pair of guards with only their fists. As they progressed forward, and crossed over a gap that required them to use a roll jump, Jak asked why Pinkie was carrying around a weapon if she wasn't going to use it, to which Pinkie replied that fists were more than enough at the moment. After they jumped over the second gap they walked into a room where the guards that were on the level below them opened fire on them, to which they had to duck and weave their way through the entirety of the room before they reached a grate on the opposite side of where they entered.

The moment they reached the grate Jak jumped into the air and slammed down on it with his fist, to which he broke through it and allowed them to drop down to a level where the guards weren't waiting for them. They then moved into a dead end where they found two guards that were standing over another grate, though when they spoke about 'collecting their bribes this week' Pinkie growled and slammed her fist into the chest of one before kicking the other into the wall. As she made sure that neither of them would be getting up for some time, long enough for them to get out of the Fortress, she couldn't believe that there were corrupt members of the Krimzon Guard, which only made her worry about everyone else that was in the guard.

Once the guards had been taken care of they broke open the grate and rode down into the area below them, where they landed in some water for a few seconds, before they climbed onto a platform that rested in front of them. A moment later Raven pointed out an exit above them, to which they climbed up some crates that were in front of them and used the oddly placed door that they found at the top of their climb... where they were allowed to exit the Fortress and enter the district of the city known as the Slums. As they walked away from the Fortress, and kept themselves from cheering until they were somewhere safe, they encountered an elderly man that was carrying a walking stick, though he had a long white beard and some sort of head piece on his forehead.

Raven shuddered for a moment, as if something was wrong, but he shook his head when Pinkie looked at him, making her wonder if his true nature was reacting to something nearby.

"Hello strangers," the elderly man softly said, walking towards them for a few seconds, though his tone indicated that he was trying to keep something a secret, "My name is Kor. May I help you?"

Jak growled for a second, though before he could do anything drastic Daxter pulled on his ear, which in turn caused the group to hear a pair of giggles that came from behind the elderly man. That was when Pinkie's eyes widened as she looked upon a young boy that reminded her of her brother when they were little, though standing next to him was a young girl that looked like her when she was younger. Her minds flashed back to the dreams she had, where she was looking through the eyes of a younger version of herself and saw a pair of individuals that looked like a grown up version of herself and Jak... which seemed to be happening right now.

That made her wonder how many of the other dreams she had, and had told Samos about, were actually memories that appeared as dark and dangerous dreams.

"Is something wrong?" the elderly man asked, though that was when he turned his head around at the sound of approaching guards, to which he beckoned the children to him as he backed them away from the guards, "Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I would move on if I were you."

"By order of His Eminence, the Grand Protector of Haven City, Baron Praxis," the unit leader said, his eyes scanning the faces of everyone in the area, which didn't sit well with Pinkie and Jak, "everyone in this section is hereby under arrest for suspicion of harboring underground fugitives. Surrender and die!"

"Ahhhh, excuse me sir," Daxter said, climbing off of Jak's shoulder for a moment so he could approach the guard, who glared down at him, "don't you mean surrender or DIE!?"

"Not in this city," Kor commented, to which he stepped away from the guards and made sure that the children were with him, before he turned to Jak and Pinkie, "Protect us for these guards and I'll introduce you to someone that can help you."

Jak and Pinkie, having now discovered that everyone in the area behind them was pretty much facing a death sentence if the guards got their hands on them, rushed towards the trio of enemies that were standing in front of them. Jak punched his way to victory, his earlier anger returning as his fist found its way into the chests of his targets, knocking them backwards so he could finish the job with strike against the wounds he had just created. At the same time Pinkie pulled out her sword and parried her foe's weapon, as she knew ahead of time that some of the guards used their guns as striking weapons, though she quickly disarmed her opponent and put the corrupt guard down.

It was at that time that 'Dark Jak', as Pinkie was mentally calling her brother's more twisted side, emerged as he finished off his opponents, to which he slammed into the reinforcements that were coming at them and ripped them to shreds, though he apparently had enough self control to not completely tear them limb from limb. Once those targets had been taken care of, and there were no more coming, Jak seemed to slip out of his new state, though at the same time Pinkie noticed that he was struggling to control himself. Kor apparently had the bright idea to wait for Jak to cool down for a few seconds before approaching the group again, though he was smiling this time, as if he had liked what he had seen.

"What the two of you did was very brave," Kor said, gesturing the the children that were standing behind him, while at the same time Pinkie sheathed her sword before it frightened them anymore than they already were, "These children are important..."

Whatever Kor was going to say next was interrupted by a Krimzon Guard cruiser flying overhead, to which the guard leaned out and told them that they were in a restricted zone before indicating for them to move along, thought that was followed by him flying away from the area and heading to his next mission.

"Now then, I believe I offered you some information for helping us." Kor said, returning to the topic at hand, while at the same time the group started walking away from the Fortress, though not fast enough to draw unwanted attention to them, "There is an Underground group waging war against Baron Praxis, and I believe that its leader, a man called the Shadow, could use fighters like the two of you. Go to the Slums and find a dead end alley near the city walls, where you should meet a man named Torn... he'll help you meet the Shadow, after you join and help his movement first."

With the information received, and Daxter claimed to know the exact location Kor had been referring to, Jak and Pinkie, along with their ottsels, separated from Kor and the two children, though Pinkie watched them disappear into a crowd before turning her attention back to her brother. She didn't like the fact that they were planning on helping the people that were upsetting the peace in the city, especially when there were Metal Heads knocking on the door of the city, but after seeing how those guards had acted, and how they accepted bribes, she honestly had no idea which side was right at the moment. Even Raven, who was sort of new to the whole war between the Underground and the Baron, seemed a little lost on what to do, which only made Pinkie conflicted on what they needed to do.

In the end Pinkie decided to follow whatever Jak wanted to do, which just so happened to be making their way to the alley Kor had told them about and see if they couldn't help the Underground... though she silently hoped that this wasn't the beginning of her nightmares all over again.