Jak and Daxter: Children of Eco

by Blackdrag-rose


Renegade: Continued Destruction

When Jak and Pinkie returned to the Power Station, after having wrecked everything they could find at the Strip Mine, both the Eco wells and the few Metal Heads that came out to eat the leftover Eco, they found that Vin was, once more, waiting for them to return. At the same time they noticed that Kor had returned, which made them wonder if he was trying to be mysterious by constantly disappearing and reappearing when he had something he wanted to tell them, but they patiently waited to see what he had for them this time... or at least Jak, Pinkie, and Raven did that, as Daxter had something else in mind.

"What a brainwreck!" Daxter said, to which he jumped on the ground and stared up at Vin, which made Jak and Pinkie worry about what he was going to do next, because they already knew that he would use the knowledge of Raven's true form to his advantage if he was given the chance, "Vin sure is scared of Metal Heads."

"And for good reason." Kor commented, turning towards Daxter for a few seconds, though at the same time he tapped his staff of the floor for a moment, indicating that he wanted to tell them something about their foes, "I've seen what Metal Heads do when they take a city. The destruction. The killing. The devouring. The Baron's scheming will only result in this city's falling prey like all the others before it. We must replace Praxis before it's too late, though I am happy to say that you and your sidekicks are causing quite a stir in our fight against the Baron."

"You hear that Jak? You, Pinkie, and Raven are the sidekicks!" Daxter said, to which the others moaned for a moment, but at the same time he noticed that Kor was itching at something that rested under his robe, which made him think back to Raven and his true form, "Hey, uh, wise and whiskered. You, uh, got something itchin' under your robes? They have ointment for that you know."

Jak and Pinkie knew that Daxter had grown serious since they had arrived in this timeline, so that meant that the return of his joking nature, which they had been glad to be rid of for the most part, was a cover for something more important... to which they turned their attention to Kor and noticed something odd about the old man. They weren't sure if he was the Metal Head leader, which was insane when they thought about it, but they knew that there was more to Kor than what they were seeing. They resolved to keep their guard up around the old man, in the days following this day, because the more secrets they kept from him the better off they would be in the future.

"It's just my aching bones." Kor replied, though he appeared to be acting when he said it, which confirmed that he had to be hiding something from them, which was something that even Raven detected, "We have word that the Baron is sending out one of his large tanker ships and to the Drill Platform to pick up a load of ill gotten Eco. Go out to the Drill Platform through the warp gate and knock out that ship! The Shadow will send a team from the Underground to pick up the Eco later. Keep up the good work. We're counting on you!"

Jak and Pinkie headed through the warp gate, with Daxter and Raven following after them, and headed to the Drill Platform, where they quickly arrived at the ruined platform they had opened up the last time they were here. This time, however, they discovered a turret that could move along a rail system, though at the same time they discovered that one of them might have to sit on top of the turret. Pinkie, after a few seconds of thought, decided that sitting on the turret was a bad idea, to which she accessed the Dark Eco inside her body and shrouded herself in shadows, where she floated around the turret and held her scythe out... indicating that she would cull any enemies that came at her brother.

As Jak climbed into the turret and started down the path they were attacked by flying Krimzon Guards, though he made sure to fire at the enemies that his sister wasn't targeting, so he didn't accidentally blast her out of the sky and force Raven to transform in order to catch her. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Pinkie flying around the area and using her scythe to cut their opponents to pieces, once more displaying that the power her father had awakened had also brought out a version of his sister that he knew nothing about. When the enemies were taken care of they pressed onward, where they passed through a security door, took out a group of spinner Metal Heads, and jumped on a few platforms before arriving at a second turret.

The second turret took them down a second part of the rail system, where they found the ship that they were looking for and Jak immediately opened fire on it, to which they discovered that, while the ship's armor prevented the turret from doing too much damage, the ship's actually turrets proved to be its downfall... as every turret Jak destroyed seriously hurt the ship until it disappeared. It was then that Jak reached the end of the second line and found a third turret waiting for him, where he did the same time to the other side of the ship when it came back up to attack them... until one of the turrets exploded and took the entire ship with it. With the deed done, and Kor congratulated them on a job well done, they found another warp gate and returned to the Power Station... after Pinkie had returned to her natural form.

They found that there was nothing more that they needed to do in this area at the moment, to which they left the area and headed towards the Saloon, where they were sure that there was something more they needed to do for Krew... though when they arrived at their destination they found the fat man floating around the room with a happy smile on his face, indicating that he had something grand in mind.

"Years ago, when I was an art 'collector', I hit the local museum to, 'borrow' a famous statue of Mar, the founder of Haven City." Krew explained, not even bothering to look back at them while he spoke, though at the same time they knew that he had been waiting to tell them about this for some time, "In his hands, the statue held the Ruby Key to the city, an artifact of surpassing beauty... and of course, priceless worth. While smuggling the huge statue through the Sewers a grueling rainstorm flooded the whole place, where the statue and five of my best men were swept away!"

"That's terrible." Jak commented, though he was referring to the loss of life that the fat man had caused, but at the same time he already knew that Krew was talking about something else... something that would make them all hate him more than they already did.

"Yes, a tragic loss. I've missed that statue ever since!" Krew agreed, to which the group determined that the fat man assumed that they were agreeing with him, though it appeared that he didn't care less about their opinions on whether he was talking about the statue or the men he had gotten killed, "The Sewers have been so full of water and Metal Heads that I can't get anyone to go down there and retrieve the artifact. Jak and Pinkie, the two of you are special. I'm positive that the two of you can do it!"

"Jak and Pinkie?" Daxter said, though it was clear that he was annoyed about being left out, while at the same time Raven didn't seem to care about that too much, "Hey, what about Raven and I? Are we chopped liver or something?"

"Ohhh, don't I wish." Kre commented, to which he licked his fingers in front of Daxter's face for a few seconds, as if he was imagining doing something vile to Daxter before eating him, before he turned back to Jak and Pinkie, "Now, go down there, drain the Sewers, and find that statue at the bottom. Bring back the Ruby Key artifact, and it will open up doors beyond our wildest dreams."

Jak and Pinkie looked at each other for a few seconds, as they had no idea what was so special about the Ruby Key, but it was important enough for Krew to send them back into the Sewers, so they guessed that they might as well get going. They left the Saloon and climbed back into the zoomer they had grabbed after leaving the Power Station, to which they carefully maneuvered themselves back to the entrance of the Sewers and avoided pissing off the Krimzon Guards. When they entered the Sewers, and took the elevator down to the level they needed, they discovered that the lights had been switched off by someone, which was easy to fix as they touched the button that turned them back on and pressed onward once more.

They quickly came to an area that only Jak would be able to traverse, thanks to the jetboard, but then he watched as Pinkie shifted back into her shadow form and followed after him. Once she had done that they made their way through the new opening and carefully made their way over the winding pipes that they discovered, though a few seconds later Jak jumped off the jetboard and turned a valve that lowered the water. The instant the water stopped moving Jak jumped onto the jetboard and continued moving, to which he carefully avoided the mines that were in the water, and the various hazards that had been installed years ago, as he made his way through the entirety of the Sewers. He made his way towards several more valves and turned them, lowering the water until it reached a level that allowed them to walk freely... and allowed Pinkie to take her natural form as Jak climbed off his jetboard.

It didn't take them long to discover that the statue of Mar was down on the lowest level of the Sewers, though all four of them were impressed by the sheer size of the stone statue they were looking at, while at the same time they noticed how intimidating the figure looked. They noticed that there was a large red gemstone resting at the top of Mar's scepter, though after carefully examining the statue they discovered that the Ruby Key was at the top of the gemstone, to which both Daxter and Raven climbed up to the gemstone. The two of them stared at the Ruby Key for a few seconds, as if Daxter was waiting for Raven to figure out how they were supposed to release it without damaging it or the statue, before the two of them gripped the base of the key and pulled on it.

Fortunately the two of them were able to pull the Ruby Key free without damaging anything, to which Pinkie quickly shifted into her shadowy form and collected it from them, where the three of them returned to the ground and showed Jak what the Ruby Key looked like. With the artifact in hand they located a nearby elevator and rode back to the entrance, though instead of heading back to Krew they decided to head to the arena and see if Keira wanted to talk with them about something... and maybe participate in a race while they were at it. Jak was itching to show up Errol in a race, and break his concentration while he was at it, though at the same time Pinkie just wanted a few minutes to actually relax before they got serious once more.

Somehow she had the feeling that whatever they learned after meeting up with Keira might be one of the easiest missions they could have in a long time... though she kept her mouth shut so she didn't jinx them.