//------------------------------//
// Renegade: Explanation and Easy Tasks 
// Story: Jak and Daxter: Children of Eco 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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"Pinkamena... what exactly is going on here?" the Shadow asked, his gaze shifting between all of the Metal Heads that were walking around the area that surrounded the great tree he had been standing in front of, where he noticed something odd about all of them, "Why are there still Metal Heads in Haven Forest, when I asked you and Jak to take care of them? And why, for the love of the Precursors, do they all have blue skull gems, instead of the yellow ones the rest of their kind has?"

"The reason we have blue skull gems is because we're different from the hive that is currently attacking Haven City," a voice replied, to which Stalker emerged from the shadows and nodded her head towards Pinkamena, who immediately returned the gesture, "The Leader of the Metal Heads sought to create a new breed of warriors that were much smarter than what he was used to commanding, so he could end the war with Haven a lot faster than what he had originally planned. In doing so he gave rise to a new hive that could challenge his own, the Neo Metal Heads that bare a blue skull gem, which represents our intelligence... and Raven was the first one of this new hive to be created.

The Leader sought to create the ultimate killing machine, one that had the power to take on multiple foes and had the intellect to follow orders without being discovered by their enemies... but in doing so Raven noticed the wrongs that his race was committing and silently vowed to stop his father, before he destroyed Haven City. At some point, after the rest of us were born, Raven defected from his father's hive and took us with him, ensuring that we would flee, come up with a true plan of attack, and then get back at the main hive before they wiped out your city. On the way to our new hideout we were attacked by a group of Metal Heads, so Raven stayed behind and took them on in our stead... to which he disappeared without a trace.

I watched over Haven Forest, killing the Metal Heads that Raven's father sent to spy on the city, and I occasionally caught a glimpse of a purple furred ottsel that was always with Pinkamena... to which I recently discovered had been our leader the entire time."

"And besides, the reason Jak and I didn't kill them is because they are on our side," Pinkamena added, causing the Shadow to look over at her once more, though she could tell that he was having a tough time accepting what he was hearing, "They have been doing their best to disrupt whatever operations the original hive has in place, but with their lower numbers they have to pick and choose which fights to take on and which ones they have to put aside for the moment."

"So you are telling me that the Underground movement, the organization I started, actually had another group of allies that I knew nothing about?" the Shadow asked, to which by Pinkamena and Stalker nodded their heads, though that was followed by Raven doing the same thing in his dragon form, "I'm going to have to tell the others the news and see how they'll react... though Vin is going to throw a fit of some kind when he realizes that we have Metal Head allies, as well as verification that his scanners have been working perfectly. He's spotted your group many times over the last couple of days, though now I am beginning to see why the scanners kept going off... we're going to have to figure out a way around that, so we can keep track of real enemies."

"Vex might be able to help him with that, provided you can get him into the city and to wherever Vin is located," Stalker commented, to which the scientist Metal Head glanced up from what he was doing, which appeared to be taking the armor off the dead Krimzon Guards and seeing if he couldn't modify them for the Neo Metal Heads that didn't wear armor.

"I'll see what I can do, but for now I must speak with the plants and see what they have to tell me." the Shadow said, to which the group gave him some room as he sat back on the ground, brought the Life Seed over to him, and closed his eyes so he could focus on the task at hand.

Pinkamena and Raven waited nearby, taking the moment to rest from all of the excitement that they had been through lately, while Stalker and her team searched the forest for any signs of the Krimzon Guard. Pinkamena had to wonder how the Baron had even discovered that the Shadow was coming out here to begin with, as she was sure that the Shadow had bumped up his safety procedures before leaving the hideout. In the end, however, she didn't worry about it took much, as it could have simply been that the Baron had been watching the location of the hideout and had spotted the Shadow as he was leaving, to which he could have ordered some guards to follow him... which would have brought them to what they had seen earlier.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Stalker returned and revealed that there were no enemies in the immediate area, though that was soon followed by a shaken Shadow opening his eyes and getting back onto his feet, where he waved off any attempts to aid him for now.

"The Life Seed gave me a terrible vision." the Shadow said, causing everyone in the immediate area, be they Pinkamena or the Neo Metal heads, to stop what they were doing and turn towards him, "The Baron... the Baron is planning to destroy the Precursor Stone. He aims to crack it open somehow, but if he does shatter the Stone the energy released will be beyond comprehension! It will destroy the world and more, ending all life! The plants are crying out for protection! Pinkamena, we must stop the Baron before he can finish this terrible mission he has set in motion... before he destroys the entire world."

"Then we had best hurry back into the city and keep up the good work," Pinkamena replied, to which Raven reverted back to his ottsel form and climbed onto her shoulder, though as she turned to leave she glanced back at the Shadow, "Are you sure that you'll be fine here, without me to keep you company?"

"The Neo Metal Heads will be more than enough for now," the Shadow said, sounding oddly confident in himself, which meant that he must have seen something more in his vision than what he had told Pinkamena, "besides, there is something I wanted to ask the second in command... and we might be able to turn the tide against the main hive."

Pinkamena and Raven grinned, as they weren't expecting this sort of reaction out of the Shadow and were pleased to find that he was so accepting of them now, before Pinkamena started walking away from the great tree. She quickly made her way back to the entrance of the forest and rode the platform back to the ruined temple, where she used the warp gate to move herself and Raven back to the security door. Once they were back inside the city their communicator sprung to life once more and revealed that Jak had won the Class 2 race while they were outside the city, as well as dropped a large metallic box on some eggs that belonged to the main Metal Head hive.

They also learned that Kor wanted to speak with them, meaning both Jak and Pinkamena, and that they should meet back up at the Power Station... to which Pinkamena climbed into the zoomer she had taken and moved through the city.





When she and Raven arrived at the Power Station, and parked their zommer on the lower level so someone else could use it, they found that Jak and Daxter were already waiting for them beside the entrance. Jak and Pinkamena smiled at each other, as they were both pleased with the progress they had made while they were in two different locations, before they opened the door and headed inside. Once they were passed the entrance they spotted Vin running around the room, which wasn't new to them, and that Kor happened to be standing in the middle of the room... and that there was a very sad looking crocadog laying on the ground nearby.

"I can't believe it! We were so close!" Kor commented, though it appeared that he had been saving something special and was only now saying it, meaning that Jak and Pinkamena were the people he wanted to talk to at the moment, "The Baron stole the Precursor Stone right out from under us... and after all of our planning and hard work, Torn has betrayed the cause!"

"Torn meant well." Jak replied, knowing that the man, who was pretty much the face of the Underground since not a lot of people knew who the Shadow was, had done everything in his power to prevent the Baron from killing one of his own daughters as well as try and prevent him from acquiring the powerful Stone, "He was protecting one of our own."

"We must get that Stone back!" Kor insisted, though his tone told Pinkamena that he believed that they weren't working hard enough and that they should have already gotten it back, which annoyed her a little bit.

"Don't worry Kor," Pinkamena said, though she was only speaking up to prevent Daxter from saying or doing anything stupid, which was something that they didn't need at the moment, "we're working on it!"

"I've underestimated this Baron, and now it appears he has taken both the boy and the girl as well!" Kor stated, to which he gestured over to the crocadog, which told the group that the poor guy was likely missing the kids that had been taking care of him, "Think, what will the Baron's next move be?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know what I would do if I had something as powerful as the Precursor Stone," Daxter commented, though his eyes revealed that he was thinking of something naughty, which both Jak and Pinkamena had come to expect from their friend... though there were times where he was being serious, yet this wasn't one of those times.

"I want you to go out to the Drill Platform again." Kor said, gesturing to the warp gate that was resting in the back of the room, indicating that it had been prepared the moment he arrived in the Power Station, "If you can destroy the main control tower there, it should temporarily stop the Baron's use of Eco to harm us."

Jak and Pinkamena looked at each other for a few seconds, as they were both sure that there was more to what Kor was saying, hidden beneath what he was actually telling them, but they decided that now wasn't the time to be trying to tear apart what the elderly man was saying. They both turned towards the warp gate and jumped through it, to which they appeared on the Drill Platform not a few seconds later, where Pinkamena immediately spotted a Titan Suit waiting for them. It was clear that Kor had been expecting only one of them to show up, if he was the one that had actually ordered the machine be placed here by the Underground, but they weren't too upset over that... as it gave Jak a chance to use the machine and gave Pinkamena a chance to stretch her legs a bit.

Once Jak was inside the machine, and had practiced the controls, he approached the door by the warp gate and punched it down, to which he and Pinkamena rode the elevator they found to another that was below them. As the doors opened they found a few lasers firing from one wall and hitting a pipe on the other wall, to which they carefully timed their movements for when the lasers were off. Jak then proceeded to punch down the door in front of them, allowing them to enter the next room, where he then discovered that he had to be careful, least the Titan Suit, and him as the pilot, fell towards the ground below them.

Pinkamena spotted a Metal Head, one with a yellow gem, walking on the walkway that Jak would need to be on, so she pulled out one of her guns and put a shot right through its chest, allowing it to fall off the walkway and drop down towards the massive drill that was below them. She then beckoned for Jak to move the Titan Suit onto the platform that was near where the Metal Head had been roaming, though once he was in place she made her way up onto the walkway and kicked the switch that was up there, moving Jak up to her level. Jak then broke down the next door that was in their way and moved forward, to which they had to jump over some platforms and time their jumps when a walkway was on fire, before they could reach the end of that room.

Once they were through the room they came upon an area that would have normally required that Jak get out of the Titan Suit, shoot both the Metal Heads that were patrolling the area in front of him, flip the switches by shoot them, and then getting back into the Titan Suit so he could move forward. With Pinkamena there to help him, however, she was the one that eliminated the enemies that were in front of them and flipped the switches that were in their path, allowing her brother to move the suit across the path they were on. The moment they were on the other side of that obstacle they followed the path in front of them, avoiding the lasers that were firing at the walls, before they entered a chamber that had a pathway that occasionally had flames rising out of them... to which they careful made their way across the room before they were on the other side.

It was there that they discovered an elevator that took them up to the control tower, where they actually found a small group of beast type Metal Heads trying to tear the place apart, exactly like what they were here to do. Pinkamena wasted no time in shooting all of their enemies, allowing Jak to walk around the room and take note of where all of the items he needed to hit were located. When the last Metal Head fell, and the coast was clear, Jak moved into the back room and smashed the large computers that were in there, before walking out to where Pinkamena was and repeating the process with the two terminals that were in front of them.

Once all of the computers had been smashed, and they were sure that all of them were broken, a voice indicated that the tower was going to explode and started counting down, to which Jak climbed out of the Titan Suit and followed his sister back into the elevator. The two of them quickly made their way back through the areas that they had gone through to get to the control tower, suffering a small burn or two in the process, but they were able to make it back to the warp gate before the countdown reached zero... to which they turned towards the control tower and watched it explode.

"Another blow to the Baron my good friends!" Kor said over the communicator, which told them that he had been watching them and was quite pleased with their progress, even if both Jak and Pinkamena found it odd that Metal Heads were in the control tower, attempting to do the same thing they were sent to do, "Very soon, our fortunes will change."

With that task done, and nothing else of importance demanding attention at the moment, the two siblings did notice that there was a message from Brutter, which made them sigh as they returned to the Power Station and headed back to his stand in the other half of the Bazaar district.





When the two of them arrived at the stand they found that the nice Lurker was actually very happen to see them, which meant that they were likely going to free some more of his species from the enslavement that the Baron was enforcing upon them... which ticked Pinkamena off.

"It's brother Jak and his little orangey pal! And sister Pinkie with her blacky friend!" Brutter commented, waving the group over to his empty stand, where both Jak and Pinkamena took a seat, though at the same time Pinkamena didn't bother to correct the Lurker about her name, "Thank the totem I sees you. You help lurkers once time, you help us twos?"

"Look Brutter, we've got our own problems to deal with right now." Jak replied, though while he knew that they were eventually going to help the poor Lurker out, especially since the Baron was treating them so poorly, he also knew that there might be something more important out there that they were overlooking.

"But you know big-to-do ruckus you caused at dig?" Brutter asked, apparently knowing that Jak and Pinkamena had gone out there in search of something, which made sense considering that he knew that they had been after the Seal of Mar and gave them one of the pieces as a thank you for the last time they had saved his people, "I know all caves like back of claw, and Mar's tomb no where there! Now Metal Heads find hidden lurker village in caves! They bite, and hurt village real bad, and me lurker brothers trapped like animals!"

"Uh, hello. They are animals." Daxter said, remembering what had happened in their own timeline, back when this place had been a simple small village and not the large imposing city that it was these days.

"We no longer evil-lurking, bad-to-bones, orangey boy! We good now." Brutter said, which was certainly true, as they had separated themselves from the dark influence that had taken over them and returned to being who they were, "Metal Headers are bad. They is enemies."

"Yeah, I guess we're all in the same boat now." Jak commented, knowing that the main Metal Head hive wouldn't stop until the entire city was crushed, which was why they were the current enemy of everyone living inside the city, be they actual people or the Lurkers.

"And the ship is sinking fast, brother." Daxter added, knowing that, at some point in the future, the shield wall protecting the city was bound to come down on its own... while knowing that they may have just contributed to weakening it for the Metal Heads.

"Please, save six lurker brothers quick, and Brutter will kiss you foots!" Brutter said, holding up six fingers to illustrate the number of his species that he wanted them to save, while at the same time bending over and pretended to kiss Daxter's foot for a moment.

Fortunately Brutter had a paper that detailed the routes of all six ships that were carrying the Lurkers he wanted them to save, to which Jak and Pinkamena decided to tackle them separately so they could get it done faster. Jak's plan was to ride in on his zoomer, target the ships with his vulcan mod, and then gun down the ship that he was targeting, to which he would rescue the Lurker and take him to safely. Pinkamena's plan, on the other hand, was much more simple, as thanks to her new powers she could easily latch onto the gate that was on the Lurker's prison, pull it open, and let the creature jump onto the back of her zoomer... without the Krimzon Guard even noticing that she had stolen their prisoner.

Their plans worked flawlessly, as they were able to rescue all six Lurkers without loosing a single one of them, or getting hurt by the Krimson Guard in the process... to which they received an excited message from Brutter.

"Great smelly breath of a goosesnake! Heroes to lurker people you be." Brutter exclaimed, telling the group that he was happy for what they had done for him and his people, even though they could have easily refused to do it and were simply helping him out so they could kill some time, "Right now just see much happy thanks to you. You honorary members of Lurker tribe now. We not forget, if ever you need us, we help you!"

Jak and Pinkamena considered that having the Lurker's assistance may come in handy later on, especially since they had no idea what the Underground or Keira were planning at the moment... though as they thought about her their communicator went off, revealing that she wanted to speak with them. Jak chuckled as he and Pinkamena made their way back to the stadium, as he was sure that Keira would have thought up a way to end this nightmare... and maybe let him settle things with Errol, at long last.