The first thing that happened to Jak and Pinkie, after the Council of Haven City decided that it was a good idea to banish them during a period of time when the city actually needed them, was a group of Freedom League soldiers walking up to where they were standing. They were under orders to make sure that Jak and Pinkie were taken outside the city by the time the first rays of the following morning hit the city, which meant that they were to be detained until a transport could be arranged to take them out to the Wastelands. What that meant was that Jak and Pinkie had to hand over their Morph Guns, which were then stripped of all the mods that Krew had given them during the brief time they worked under him, before allowing the soldiers to remove any other weapons and gadgets they were wearing.
Keira, who happened to be watching all of this happen, insisted that her prototype jetboard be returned to her so she could continue making a newer version for the war effort, when in reality Jak knew that she was going to modify it for him when she had time.
One of the funny things that the soldiers tried to do was remove Pinkie's Dark Eco Crystal bracelet, the one that her actual weapon was contained in thanks to her Dark Eco transformation, as whenever they tried to remove the bracelet it would turn into Eco and reform around Pinkie's wrist. After a minute Pinkie decided to just hand the weapon over, allowing it to take the form of her Eco Blade, though as the soldiers grabbed onto it, however, it morphed back into Eco and resumed its position. At that point Pinkie apologized for annoying the guards, as she had already tried and failed to remove it herself, but she also promised that she wouldn't use it while they were on the transport... to which the soldiers finally let out a sigh of defeat and carried on with their search.
The instant all of their gadgets were confiscated, and their weapons taken and torn apart so they could be reused by someone else in the city, Jak and Pinkie were put in a holding cell near the area that they had used a transport to reach the Dig, when they had been helping the Underground. It wasn't long before the soldiers, including Ashelin and Count Veger, arrived to escort the 'heroes' to the transport, though as they walked Jak and Pinkie could hear the sounds of the people of Haven City booing at them. It truly pained them to see that the people who once believed in them had been so easily swayed to Veger's side, allowing their banishment to come about... but they accepted their fate as they, along with Daxter, Raven, and Pecker, climbed into the transport behind their escort and departed from the city.
It took them a decent amount of hours to reach their intended destination, how many hours neither Jak or Pinkie knew because no one was allowed to talk, as Veger had ruled out that notion the moment the transport departed from Haven City. Before long the two siblings could hear the sound of the transport lowering to the ground, meaning that they had arrived in the Wasteland, before finally coming to a stop, though that was followed by the door opening before their eyes. What rested in front of them was a vast sandy area that appeared to have a very low amount of places to rest in the shade, a few cactus' that may or may not have any water left in them, and nothing in sight that would suggest that a city even existed out here.
As jak and Pinkie were escorted off the transport, however, they both had to wonder if they were going to meet their end out here, as they were both positive that Samos' training would only help them for so long... and Pinkie couldn't pull random things out of her hair anymore, meaning that cheating the Wasteland was impossible.
"By order of the Grand Council of Haven City, for heinous acts and crimes against the people, you are hereby banished to the wasteland for life." Veger intoned, though at the same time he closed the book he was carrying with a smug smile on his face, one that made Jak want to punch him in the face.
"This is a death sentence, Veger." Ashelin said, as she already knew that Veger had no idea there could be a city of exiles out here, but at the same time she was hoping that she might be able to make the man see some light before they threw away their heroes, "There must be another way."
"Your protest was overruled!" Veger snapped, turning on Ashelin for a moment, though none of the soldiers did anything, while at the same time Jak could tell that they were waiting for the Count to do something he would regret, "These Dark Eco freaks are dangerous! Now drop the cargo!"
"This is an outrage! I am outraged beyond words." Pecker declared, reminding Veger of the fact that Jak and Pinkie hadn't come out to the Wasteland alone, while at the same time causing the Count to look at him for a moment, "Although I do have something to say. Not everyone agrees with this ridiculous decree!"
"Yeah!" Daxter added in, though at the same time he was doing this mostly to piss off Veger, and for the most part it seemed that it was working as well as he intended it to, "We want a recount!"
"Oh, I see you wish to join him!" Veger said, to which he actually smiled at the pair, though at the same time he wondered where the other ottsel, the dark furred one, had wandered off to, before he decided that these two were the objects of his attention.
"Actually, we are not that outraged." Pecker stated, though thanks to his years of being Onin's translator his acting was better than any of them had thought it would be, "Farewell Jak! Farewell Pinkie! Stay out of the sun. Drink lots of water, if you can find it."
Jak had to admit that Daxter and Pecker did a good job of annoying Veger, as the Count had completely missed the fact that Raven had slipped away from the transport. They weren't smuggling out anything from the city, the soldiers would have immediately caught onto them if they did that, but they were having a little fun at Veger's expense before they were thrown into the Wastelands. As Veger walked back into the transport, and started to see if Raven was anywhere, Ashelin stepped down and raised a circular key up to the locks that had been placed on both Jak and Pinkie's wrists, to prevent them from attacking anyone while they were coming here.
"Guys, I'm sorry." Ashelin said, to which she deactivated the cuffs that both Jak and Pinkie were wearing, before she collected them and passed them back to one of the soldiers, "The Council is too powerful. There was nothing I..."
"We know." Jak replied, knowing that Ashelin and their friends had argued with the Council for some time, trying to keep Jak and Pinkie in the city so they could help save it, before Veger finally got what he wanted.
"You just stay alive, you hear me? That's an order." Ashelin said, though that was when she slipped a small bundle into Jak's hands, before she stopped for a moment to give Pinkie the briefest of hugs, "Someone will find you, I promise."
"May the Precursors have mercy on you." Veger called out to Jak and Pinkie in a mocking tone, as the moment Ashelin got back on the transport the door closed behind her and the transport headed back towards the city.
Jak and Pinkie waited for a few seconds, to be sure that the transport was out of sight, before they looked to the right of where they were standing and spotted Daxter, Raven, and Pecker standing together. Thanks to the few abilities that Raven had picked up from Stalker, as he trained for this moment as well, he was able to hide himself and his friends the moment Veger started searching for him. Now Veger would be spending the entire trip back to Haven City in a vain attempt to locate the three of them, which made a light smile appear on all of their faces.
"So, what did Ashelin give you?" Pecker asked, as he was looking at the bundle that was in Jak's hands, because he was sure that survival gear wasn't allowed in this sort of situation.
"A beacon for those that live in the Wasteland," Jak explained, to which he pulled out the beacon in question, before he noticed something else that was resting next to it, "and apparently the old seal that the younger me was wearing when Pinkie and I found him and his sister wandering the streets with Kor."
"Maybe that's supposed to help us convince Damas that you're his son." Pinkie suggested, knowing that the last time the former King of Haven City had seen his son would have been shortly before the Baron's coup, but she had the feeling that he would recognize the red seal that the younger Jak had been wearing the entire time.
"Maybe." Jak said, though that was when he shook his head and slipped the seal into his pocket, before looking around them and assessing their situation, "Well, we'll just have to pick a direction and see where it takes us... and hopefully we find Spargus before the Wastelands claim us."
With that said the group marched out into the vast desert in front of them, choosing to travel in as straight a line as they could manage with the surrounding landscape, though at the same time they could only hope that they were heading in the right direction. Sure, Jak and Pinkie had prepared for this with the training they went through with Samos, but when they faced the reality of the desert they both knew that they would have needed at least two to three years of training to be truly prepared for what they were facing. They both understood that traveling at night was best for all of them, but at the moment they couldn't find anywhere to get out of the shade... so they continued moving forward and tried to take their minds off of their situation.
Eventually the group found themselves tumbling to the ground due to the heat and the fact that none of them were taking in any water... though as they started to succumb to the desert Jak could have sworn that he spotted a group of wanderers in the distance, before he hit the ground as well.
Jak wasn't sure how much time passed since he collapsed into the sand, but he eventually came aware of his surroundings, though it was a very slow process for him. As he regained his senses he quickly found himself floating in a small pond of water that happened to be resting in a large stone chamber, where he discovered a few open shutters that let in a breeze through some large windows. A few a seconds later he noticed some torches on the walls that illuminated the chamber, which was on the verge of being royal, but in a more spartan manner than the lavish ones that had been in the Palace before its destruction.
Considering what he knew about the Wastelands, and the rumors surrounding what happened to the other exiles, he had to hazard a guess that this had to be the throne room for Spargus... to which he carefully pulled himself to a sitting position and looked around for Pinkie and the others.
"I love water." a voice said, to which Jak noticed that Daxter and Raven were currently swimming in the small pond that was across from where he was floating, though as he righted himself he knew that it had to be Daxter that had spoken up, "Oh yes, it's so good; desert bad."
"Well, you've come back from the dead have you?" a rough voice said, one whose tone indicated that the person had seen some things and had been in the desert for longer than he cared to be, "And my monks were ready to pray for you."
Jak turned around as he zeroed in on the voice, to which he discovered that the speaker was a tall, robust man that had intimidating, sharp, and bold features on his face. The man had a crown of thorns that appeared to be growing from his skull, which Jak thought was a little odd when he thought about it, though at the same time he noticed that the man was bald on the top of his head. Jak suspected that the baldness was because of the crown, but the man had some locks of white hair around the side and back of his head, making him look stern and wise at the same time. The man was wearing what Jak assumed was the typical wastelander clothing, though some of it looked more royal than he was expecting it to be.
It took Jak a few seconds to realize that the man's clothing was decorated with bits and pieces of Precursor metal, while at the same time noticing that the man was carrying a staff of some kind... one that had Precursor writing inscribed into the metal, which Jak couldn't read anyway.
"I am Damas, King of Spargus." the man said, though before anyone could say anything he held up a hand to stop those that were able to move at the moment, before he reached into his pocket and withdrew the red seal that Jak had been carrying with him, "Tell me something, boy, why were you carrying this in your pocket?"
"It was given to me by Ashelin, the new Governor of Haven City," Jak replied, not knowing how the man, who was apparently the person that he and the others had been searching for, was going to react to the news that they had to tell him, "before that, however, it was given to me by myself... or rather the version of me that living in this timeline, before we sent him and his sister back in time to a place where they could be safe from harm."
"What nonsense is this that you speak?" Damas asked, though at the same time he tapped his staff against the floor, as he didn't like people wasting his time and was already thinking about ridding himself of Jak.
"Allow to answer your question with another question," a new voice said, to which Jak looked behind him and noticed that Pinkie was okay, though her clothing had been replaced with something that was more suited for the desert and a large chunk of her hair had been removed, no doubt to help her keep cool, though she appeared to be sitting next to one of the windows, "What do you know about the Precursor artifact known as the Rift Ring?"
"I only know what the stories and myths tell us," Damas replied, though even as he spoke it was clear that he had no idea why the artifact was so important to their conversation, "Legends say that the artifact can connect any two points in history and allow the user to travel backwards or forwards through time itself... provided you had the necessary vehicle or artifacts in your possession to survive the trip. I don't see what the artifact has... to do with... oh..."
Jak and Pinkie could see the gears in Damas' head turning as he remembered the entirety of the Rift Ring legend, which neither of them had heard about before, as he glanced down at the red seal that he was holding. A few seconds later he glanced up at Jak with a strange look in his eyes, as if he was comparing the person he was seeing before him to the young boy that he had been protecting until he disappeared. Damas then turned towards Pinkie for a moment, no doubt comparing the two versions of her that he had now seen, before finally bringing his full focus back to his throne room... and the people that were looking at him.
"Precursors and time travel... I never once considered that a viable option as to why you looked so familiar," Damas said, to which he turned his attention to Jak, though that was shortly followed by a small smile appearing on his face, "Long have I prayed for a chance to see my son again, despite the fact that I knew not where he was or if he had survived the Baron's attack on the Palace. Even when others would have given up hope I continued to pray, before I would steel myself and be the leader that the people of Spargus needed... and now it appears that my prayers have been answered. You gave your seal to yourself... it makes so much more sense now."
"Wait, you're telling me that Jak is actually your son?" another voice chimed in, to which Jak finally noticed that Pecker had been sitting on one of the arms of the throne the entire time, where he felt a little ashamed for not noticing him sooner, "I thought he and Ashelin made that up."
"No, he is Mar... my son." Damas replied, to which he let out a sigh, as if he realized that they would be spending some time explaining everything before they moved on with what was supposed to come next, "I named you after the hero of Haven City, so that you would become a great warrior one day and continue down the path that I and our ancestors have walked, since the time that Mar himself once sat on the throne. Yes, we are the descendants of the great hero Mar, though something tells me that you are more like him than anyone else in our line. Of course this means that your companion is none other than Pinkamena Diane Praxis, one of the two heirs to the Parxis line now that the Baron is dead..."
"Actually, its just Pinkie Pie now," Pinkie spoke up, to which she turned her head towards the window she was sitting next to, allowing her to look at Spargus, "Part of my banishment was that I be removed from the Baron's line, so the people of Haven could honor their fallen 'hero' without someone like me fouling his memory. Ashelin did everything she could to stop them, but the Council overruled her and both Jak and I were banished to the Wasteland... leaving me without a family to call my own."
Jak had never once considered what being erased from the Baron's family had meant to Pinkie, as while she didn't care too much about her adopted father she loved Ashelin as much as she loved him. Now, however, she was without a related sibling, as their connection had been severed once they learned that she was one of the Baron's daughters, and then her bond with Ashelin had been severed by Veger who knew how long ago. He pulled himself from the pond he was in and walked over to Pinkie, to which he rested a hand on her shoulder, the sign that he would always be her brother... even if they weren't related.
A few seconds later a cough interrupted them, to which they noticed that Damas was waiting for the two of them to finish so he could understand what was going on with them at the moment.
"Pecker has told me a little about your adventures," Damas commented, to which he smiled for a second, as he was eager to hear what they had to tell him, "Come, let us spend the next few hours making sure that you have survived your brief journey through the desert... I wish to hear your stories before you head into the Arena."
Jak and Pinkie looked at each other for a moment, knowing that they would need to survive whatever trials Damas had in mind for them... though they were eager to tell them about their adventures and then show him the strength they acquired while trying to save the world from Gol, Maia, and Metal Kor.