Jak, Daxter, and Pinkie spent a few minutes staring at the ruined hut that they and Samos used to live in, remembering some of their fonder memories as they took in everything that they could see from the level they were on. They all remembered the days they spent running around the village, either helping the villagers with whatever tasks they had for them or outright adventuring when Samos told them to take a break. Those were the days, where they joked over what Pinkie's last name was, and the fact that she hated her middle name and changed her first name, but that just made Pinkie glad that she had done so all those years ago. Pinkie silently wished that she and the others could head back to the timeline they had come from and go back to the simple life they had left behind... but she knew that fate wouldn't let that happen.
At the same time Pinkie noticed that there was one pathway that could allow them to reach the hut, but from what she could tell she knew that it would take some time to reach the pillar in question, to which she sighed and pulled herself up from where she had been sitting.
"Well, I think its time that we depart from this area," Pinkie commented, to which she noticed that Jak was nodding at her, while at the same time Daxter and Raven returned to the shoulders that they usually rode on, "besides, were supposed to be meeting the Shadow at long last, so things should be getting interesting."
"You would have thought that we would have met the Shadow earlier," Daxter said, though at the same time he held onto Jak's shoulder as they made their way back to the security door, "but at least we can finally see who the leader of the Underground movement is."
Jak and Raven remained quiet for the moment, to which Pinkie knew that her brother was thinking about who the leader of the Underground was, while Raven was likely keeping his eyes peeled for anything that might want to kill them before they left Dead Town. It didn't take them long to reach the security door and cross back into Haven City, where they climbed back into their zoomer and headed towards the hideout. Jak made sure that the Krimzon Guards didn't chase them, because if they learned that the Shadow had moved to their hideout then he was sure that they would be under attack in a matter of minutes.
When they reached the hideout they climbed out of the zoomer and headed down the stairs, though when they walked into the lower level they noticed that Torn was waiting for them... though he was smirking at them, as if he was actually pleased with them.
"The Shadow's decided it's time to meet you," Torn said, which brought some small smiles to the faces of Jak, Pinkie, and the two ottsels that were riding on their shoulders.
"Why is that place in the old ruins so important to you?" Jak asked, though he phrased the word 'you' to indicate the Underground movement and not Torn or the Shadow as a single person.
"There's a powerful energy force at the old house," Torn explained, which immediately told the group that someone must have told him a little bit about who had once lived in the house, or he was guessing at things he knew nothing about, "The Metalheads are drawn to it."
"No kidding, I could feel something powerful while we were there," Raven commented, which told Jak and Pinkie that the shifting into his hybrid form had made him forget to mention the energy force he had noticed, though they weren't mad at him at the moment.
"We also used to know the guy that lived there," Jak said, remembering Samos and everything that the old sage had done for him and Pinkie, which made him wonder if the old man had survived the ride through the Rift.
"So you're the new recruits that keep getting into trouble," a voice behind Torn said, to which the man moved out of the way so Jak and Pinkie could finally meet the leader of the Underground, "I am known as the Shadow, to most of our agents and to our enemy, but you may call me Samos, if you prefer to use an actual name. And who might you be?"
Jak was surprised to find that they were looking upon a younger version of Samos, one who was dressed in a dark red shirt, a brown belt of some kind, and some green pants. His white facial hair and sideburns were much shorter than what they remembered, and the log held above his head was covered with thick growth that was a mix of plant life and hair, but the log seemed younger as well. There was no bird hanging around this Samos' head, rather there was a small egg that happened to be partly buried inside the log, which was no doubt where the bird had come from. The only other thing that Jak noticed, that was different between the two versions of Samos, was that the Shadow didn't carry a staff, which meant that he would acquire one in time.
Before Daxter could say anything, and piss off the Shadow, Raven wrapped his hands around the ottsel's mouth and dragged him to a corner, leaving Pinkie and Jak to approach the leader of the Underground.
"My name is Jak, and this is my sister Pinkie Pie," Jak said, taking a moment for him and Pinkie to shake hands with the Shadow, especially since it was odd for them to see a friendly side of Samos, before he beckoned to the two ottsels, "Those are our friends Daxter and Raven. Daxter is the one with the orange fur, while Raven is the one with the dark purple fur."
"Its a pleasure to meet all of you," the Shadow replied, though once the introductions were done, and Daxter got the point that he wasn't supposed to do anything stupid, he turned to the table to begin telling them about what he had in mind for them to do, "We've got a Baron to overthrow, a child heir to protect, an invasion of Metal Heads to stop, and a city to save... though what I need you to do first, before we get serious in our campaign, is head into Haven Forest and root out some Metal Head scouts that have been sighted there. That forest is my source of power, but I can't protect it much longer, so I want you to chase the scouts down and destroy them. Good luck, and welcome to the fight."
"We'll send word once the deed is done," Jak promised, to which he and Pinkie turned to leave the hideout, carrying with them one pissed off Daxter and a pleased Raven.
Once they were outside the hideout they climbed back into the zoomer and headed off towards the location of Haven Forest, though that was when Pinkie informed Jak of where it was located and revealed that she had been there multiple times in the past. As they made their way towards the forest Pinkie decided to tell Jak about everything that she had been through, the highlights anyway, though she was interrupted when Keira called them and informed them that she had left the jetboard at the security door they were heading towards. Once they knew about the jetboard they picked up the pace and carefully made their way through the city, where they focused on the task at hand.
It didn't take them too long to reach the security door that they had been heading towards, though once they climbed out of the zoomer and walked into the small room Jak smiled as he noticed the jetboard sitting nearby. Normally Jak would feel sorry for Pinkie, as there was only one jetboard, but considering that Raven had a larger form he suspected that Pinkie could ride on his back if she truly wanted to. With the jetboard in hand Jak and Pinkie jumped through the warp gate and traveled up to the cliff above them, where they spotted a platform that allowed them to travel right to the forest area that the Shadow had asked them to clear out.
When the platform stopped in the area they were supposed to be in Jak and Pinkie immediately started searching for the scouts that they were supposed to take down, while at the same time Raven told them that they looked a lot like his hybrid form, just without the ottsel bits and fur. He also informed them that the scouts were the most agile of the types of Metal Heads, while at the same time they had no aggression in them, which meant that they would run until their pursuers gave up and left them alone. Thanks to the Dark Eco that was inside the scouts Raven was able to pinpoint the exact location of the five scouts they had come to get rid of, though at the same time he mentioned that there was one more than what the Shadow told them about... to which he warned them to see what color the Skull Gems were, just in case there was another Metal Head like him.
They immediately spotted one of the scouts resting in front of a natural made ramp, to which Jak climbed onto the jetboard and headed down into the area that was in front of them, though as he approached the scout the Metal Head seemed to hear him coming, because it immediately got into the air and flew away. Jak followed after the scout, carefully following the path that the scout moved through to confuse him, but he kept his distance to ensure he knew the movements his target was going to take. After a few minutes Jak increased his speed until he was on top of his target, to which he jumped off of the jetboard and slammed into the scout, though that caused the Metal Head to collide with the ground... effectively killing it in the process.
"That was awesome!" Daxter said, though at the same time he looked over at Raven, as he and Pinkie were approaching Jak, "So, where's the other scouts were supposed to be dealing with?"
"They are all in the area ahead of us," Raven replied, though he was thankful that Daxter was looking passed his hatred towards Metal Heads and was seeing that he was an ally, "It will take some time to hunt them all down, but we should be able to clear the area of our enemies... and then see which side the sixth scout is on."
Jak nodded and followed Pinkie up the path that would take them all the way to the large tree she had seen the last time she had been here, when she was accompanying Ashelin and rescued Raven. Oddly enough there were two scouts hanging around the large tree, though Jak was fine with the challenge as he started the chase, following one of them down the path they were weaving. A minute or two later he was chasing the third scout down, as the second had fallen easily, though it appeared that he was enjoying himself, while at the same time Pinkie was looking down at the area in front of the tree and noticed the fourth one sleeping near the water.
Eventually Jak took down the third scout, to which he returned to Pinkie's side and allowed her to point out the fourth scout, where she explained that she had no idea where the final one was resting. Jak decided that it was alright, because he would take a few seconds to search for the last one when the fourth scout was taken care of, to which Pinkie watched as her brother moved around the area and started chasing his next target around. Pinkie watched him chase the scout down, twisting and turning around the area as he followed the Metal Head, before Jak slammed into his target and forced it to the ground... though instead of returning to her, like he said he was, Jak moved over some wooden rails and disappeared for a few seconds.
A few seconds later Pinkie spotted Jak chasing the fifth scout through the area, which meant that it had been hiding with the hopes of not being found by anyone, though Pinkie smiled as Jak took the scout down... to which he returned to her side and smiled at her.
"So, where's this sixth scout you were telling us about?" Daxter commented, because while he trusted Raven's abilities at this point, those that he had demonstrated anyway, there was no telling if what he had been feeling was a scout or a different Metal Head altogether.
"Right here," a voice replied, to which the group turned and watched as the sixth scout, which was the type of Metal Head that Raven had been feeling, materialize out of the shadows of the large tree.
Pinkie immediately noticed that the scout had the ability to talk, which meant that it had to be of the same set that Raven was from, though at the same time she spotted that it had sharpened claws that looked like it could cut through some of the hardest metals she knew about. The scout's skin color seemed darker than the other scouts, looking more like the color of Raven's scales, but at the same time this scout had a blue Skull Gem. Pinkie had to wonder what the significance of a blue Skull Gem meant, but so far she had determined that it meant an intelligent Metal Head that could think for itself... or himself, in Raven's case.
"Wait, I know you." the scout said, though its eyes were locked on Raven, who seemed to be staring at the scout in turn, "Your a Metal Head in a compressed form... and there are only two that have that sort of power at the moment; the first is the Leader of the Hive that's attacking Haven City, while the second is the leader of the Hive that wants something different for our kind. My Lord, it is good to see that you are alright."
Jak, Pinkie, Raven, and Daxter watched as the scout moved out of its aggressive state and bowed to them, though two of them knew that the Metal Head was focusing on Raven... while Daxter had something on his mind that he needed to get rid of before they went any further.
"WHAT?!" Daxter exclaimed.