//------------------------------//
// Exile: Getting into Trouble 
// Story: Jak and Daxter: Children of Eco 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

After defeating the Precursor Robot, and collecting their weapon upgrades, Jak and Pinkie made their way towards the elevator that Veger had used to escape from them, to which they simply rode it up to wherever it was supposed to take them. A few moments later the elevator came to a stop and they walked through the door when it opened, to which they discovered that the part of the city that was in front of them was where they had used the elevator to access the Palace when the Baron was in power. The place was a complete ruin, which made sense considering that the Palace had been destroyed by Veger, though that didn't stop them from worrying about the situation of the war... especially since they had been forced to leave it behind when Veger had them exiled.

After a few minutes of staring at the destruction, however, Raven noticed that more of the smaller Metal Heads, the scorpion class, were coming at them with the intent to hurt them, to which the group moved in the opposite direction... where they eventually made their way towards an Eco barrier that separated the section of the city they were in from another section, one that wasn't ruined like the one they were in.

"Jak, Pinkie, over here!" a voice said, to which the siblings noticed that two people were standing on the other side of the Eco barrier, people that they both recognized immediately.

"Samos! Keira!" Jak stated, clearly happy to see them again, especially since the last time they had seen them was when they were being escorted to the dropship, to be taken out to the Wasteland.

"See Keira, I knew I could feel Jak and Pinkie's energy... especially with how strange Pinkie's felt," Samos commented, to which Keira nodded, though the group could tell that she was happy to see them, before Samos observed the changes that had happened to Pinkie, "What happened to you Pinkie?"

"Oh, nothing much," Pinkie replied, though at the same time she twirled her hand and allowed her scythe to manifest, but while she spun it around for a few seconds she discovered six small crystals on the blade of her weapon, which seemed to represent the other colors of Eco she had acquired, "We visited a Precursor temple and the Precursors gifted me with this form and some additional powers... Light Eco powers I might add."

"I... I see." Samos said, though it was clear that he wasn't sure what to make of what Pinkie had just told him, before he shook his head and focused on what he had to tell them, "Those passageways below the Palace, they must be terribly important. The Metal Heads and KG robots are advancing toward them, and we can't hold out forever... and these force fields won't hold out forever."

"Veger's the one who attacked the Palace!" Daxter stated, his earlier hatred for the Count returning, especially since he had tried to kill them a few minutes ago, "He said he was looking for something below... something in the catacombs."

"Well, you're just going to have to find whatever it is before he does!" Samos said, tapping his staff on the ground, indicating that their tasks were important, "But first the four of you need to find another way into this section of the city. Take the sewers into the Port, then find a way north to reach us. And Jak, Pinkie, we're sorry for what happened. We should have stopped Veger."

"Its okay," Pinkie replied, to which she turned her scythe back into Eco and looked at Samos and Keira, who were clearly a little shocked by what she had done, "Being banished has given us a better understanding of what we face... and now we know what the price of failure will be."

"Jak, Pinkie," Keira said, speaking up for the first time since they had reunited, meaning that she had been blaming herself for something and was only now getting the courage to talk again, "Please be careful."

Jak and Pinkie nodded to Keira, indicating that they would be as safe as their enemies allowed them to be, before they turned around and headed back into the ruined district that they had walked into. Jak determined that using the Scatter Mod was perfect for the small enemies that were in front of them, to which he and his sister moved forward as they searched for a door that could take them down into the sewers or something similar to that area. It didn't take them long to find the door they were searching for and take the elevator down to the only other level it could travel to, where they walked out into a part of the sewers that they hadn't been in before.

As they observed their surroundings several of the flying Metal Heads, the ones with some sort of jetpack, flew in and started to shoot at them, to which Jak and Pinkie retaliated with their own Blaster Mods. As they shot down their enemies the siblings made their way around the pathway that was on their left, eventually coming to an area that required the jet-board to access. Jak was able to get up there with no problems, though that's to Pinkie's new abilities she was able to get up there as well, which meant that she likely didn't need her own jet-board anymore, before the two of them moved further into the sewers.

They followed the pathway towards a door that revealed a group of enemies, which almost looked like the crocadog that had been following the younger Jak, though when they finished their foes off Jak used the jet-board to reach the other side of the pipe like tunnel they had discovered... only to find Pinkie step out of the shadows when he finally reached the end of the area, which had water that reached their ankles.

The two of them then dealt with the dog like enemies that were around them, along with some Metal Heads that resembled the ones with lasers in their heads, before the door they needed to pass through opened for them. Jak then found a pipe that only he could cross, thanks to the jet-board, though on the other side he found some fans that would prevent him from going forward. Fortunately the trio of fans were easy to destroy, as all he had to do was fire a few shots at the machines before they broke apart, allowing him to progress once more. He then continued to ride the jet-board to the higher areas, where he found a pipe that would take them further into the sewers, to which he beckoned for Pinkie to join him... where they discovered that it was rather easy to follow the pipe down to the area that Jak had been staring at.

When they reached the lower area Jak and Pinkie let the Reflector blasts fly, allowing all of their attacks to bounce off the walls and hit their targets in the back, though they also noticed that some of them bounced up to the higher area and dealt some damage to the enemies up there. Jak, once again, used the jet-board to access the other side of the area they were in and moved around the platforms, taking out another trio of fans that were impeding his progress, before he reached the part of the area with the ranged Metal Heads. As he took his cover he signaled for Pinkie to join him, though this time he ignored the feeling of her using her ability to walk through the shadows as they both primed their weapons... before they charged out and opened fire.

Fortunately these Metal Heads weren't as smart as Raven, or the Neo Metal Heads for that matter, so Jak and Pinkie were able to make their way through their enemies before they reached another door... where they walked into the middle of the area in front of them, shot down the three enemies that came in to fight them, and then made their way towards yet another door. They discovered an elevator that took them back up towards the higher ground, though when they walked out of the passage they were in they discovered that the part of the city they were in was the port... and to their left was a collapsed part of the Palace. As Jak and Pinkie walked out towards the port they noticed several of the Freedom League guards walking around, though several of them nodded to the siblings as they passed, indicating that they had allies and friends in the new guard.

As they observed the damage that had been caused by Veger's attack on the Palace, and growing even more annoyed with him, the group made their way back to the Naughty Ottsel... where they discovered that it had been turned into a base of some kind, and that Torn was busy at the moment.

"Ah, the Naughty Ottsel." Daxter said, a look of joy appearing on his face, because despite everything they had been through this place was one of his greatest accomplishments, to the people of Haven anyway, "Honey, I'm home!"

"Jak! Pinkie!" Torn said, turning his head towards the door for a moment, finding the siblings approaching him and the communication table he had installed in the middle of the room, "I never thought I'd see you again."

"Torn?! What are you doing to my place?" Daxter asked, though he was only pretending to be annoyed with the man, because at the moment they were at war and he suspected that there was a reason for Torn being here.

"We needed a southern HQ for the war." Torn explained, where he was slightly surprised by how well Daxter was taking the takeover of his bar, but he didn't dwell on that as he turned to Jak and Pinkie, "Listen, I'm sorry we couldn't stop Count Veger. We all are."

"Its okay... we learned some things while we were out in the Wasteland," Jak replied, beckoning to his new armor and Pinkie's new body, noting the surprise on Torn's face when he noticed that Pinkie was apparently part pony, before turning to the topic at hand, "We actually saw Veger about half an hour ago. He's trying to use Precursor technology to defeat the same enemies Pinkie and I will end up fighting... though he's been going about this the wrong way."

"Figures." Torn stated, his tone indicating that he didn't care much for Veger, which was understandable considering he had been behind sending Jak and Pinkie to the Wasteland, right at the start of a war no less, "That guy always was one monk short of a choir. We have bigger problems now. Veger sent me on a suicide attack into the Port and we got cut off. Now we can't get back to Freedom HQ, which means that our forces are divided and the KG and Metal Head fronts are squeezing us from both sides."

"Never fear," Daxter said, taking a bow and beckoned to the others for a moment, while silently hoping that Torn remembered everything they had done for them back when the Baron was in power, "the Trouble Brigade is here!"

"Uh-oh," Torn said, noticing that the communicator they were standing near had brought up a new image, one that Jak and Pinkie recognized almost immediately, "speaking of trouble, we've got incoming Blast Bots from the KG city section. They're heading this way! I'm assuming that the four of you can take care of them?"

"Of course." Raven replied, to which the group immediately headed towards the door, though he had to turn back for a moment, "A quick question; where are the Neo Metal Heads stationed?"

"They were sent here with me," Torn replied, not surprised that Raven would ask about his subjects, as he was their King thanks to the fact that he had defeated his father in combat, "Most of them are busy fighting the Metal Heads, so you might not see them for some time... unless one of them takes a break or comes to report something."

As Jak and Pinkie walked outside the building they both grabbed one of the zoomers that were waiting nearby, as they decided to take one of the three Blast Bots out on their own, allowing Raven to take the third one out on his own. First they determined which one of the three invading robots had the least amount of civilians around them, where Pinkie let Raven drop down towards the ground as she focused on finding her target. Raven transformed into his true form, which he was able to do thanks to the Eco Dome no longer existing at the moment, and landed in front of the invading robot, which stopped in its tracks and looked up at Raven... who grinned as he started tearing into the robot with both his claws and his teeth, while Jak and Pinkie shot at their opponents.

Jak and Pinkie, on the other hand, used something to their advantage, as the Blast Bots shot out bombs with the intent on harming them, but the siblings smacked the bombs back at their targets and watched as they damaged the robots upon impact. Thanks to that advantage they were able to deal massive damage to their targets, effectively destroying both of them in a matter of seconds... though as their opponents exploded they noticed that Raven had finished tearing his foe apart, which didn't detonate. With their enemies defeated, and Raven had reverted to his ottsel form, they returned to the Naughty Ottsel and reported their success to Torn, who was pleased with what they were able to do in such a short amount of time.

"Ashelin, this is Torn." Torn said, speaking to the table for a moment, meaning that it was also connected to the communicator that was resting in the main headquarters, "Jak and Pinkie are back in the city."

"Jak? Pinkie?" Ashelin asked, her head appearing above the table for a moment, though the siblings could tell that she was happy to see them both again, "I knew I could count on the two of you."

"That new KG leader is probably pissing in his..." Torn started to say, but that was before the image they were seeing was distorted, meaning that something big was about to happen, "Wait, someone's jamming the signal. I think..."

Jak and Pinkie watched as the image of Ashelin's head shifted and transformed, becoming the same head that they had seen back when they defeated the Metal Heads that had been hunting for Dark Eco Crystals. Jak generally liked it when Pinkie said something that was right, but at the moment this was one of those instances where he wished that she hadn't been right.

"Errol!" Jak growled, recognizing the face now that he was enlarged and was floating on the same level as his face was, while at the same time noticing that Pinkie was happy over being correct that Errol had survived his accident.

"I live!" Errol declared, sounding extremely pleased with himself over something, though at the same time Jak and Pinkie could tell that most of his face appeared to be made out of metal, "Still fighting for the weak link eh, Jak? Well I've had a few enhancements since we last met. Even the Metal Heads have their biological weakness. But me? I'm pure metal! I'd love to meet you again... and maybe win over Keira's heart this time aro..."

It was at that point that Pinkie spun around and let the side of her leg strike the side of Errol's head, surprising Jak and Torn, because they had to wonder why she thought that she could hit Errol through a hologram. What happened next, however, really shocked them, because Errol's head went flying and they heard him hitting the ground, while at the same time Pinkie lowered her leg once more.

"That HURT!" they heard Errol shout, though a few moments later his head reappeared in front of them, with a small indent that indicated where Pinkie had actually hit him, "How in the world did you manage to kick me, while I was speaking through a communication transmission? That's impossible!"

"Because I'm Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie declared, placing both of her hands on her hips as she stared at the image of Errol's head, while at the same time grinning at him, "I don't have to explain my methods to you."

A few seconds later the communication cut off, indicating that Pinkie's sudden attack had stunned him too much to finish the rest of his message, though the group knew that they were better off ignoring whatever threats Errol made at the moment.

"We must unite our forces or we're though!" a new voice said, to which the head of Samos appeared in front of them, though Jak could tell that the old sage was still shocked by what Pinkie had done, "Jak, Pinkie, you've got to reach us!"

"We need you to break through and link up with us before it's too late." the image said, reverting back to Ashelin, who likely was getting some of her information from Stalker and the other scout class Neo Metal Heads, "The KG robots are growing stronger. That floating war factory of theirs is spitting out more robots every day."

"We need to assault the KG front." Torn stated, though the look on his face told Jak and Pinkie that he already had a plan in mind, one that would allow them to overcome their enemies, "If we can break through their defenses, we may be able to get back to HQ and link up. Care to make some noise?"

"We're always up for a little rumble," Jak replied, to which Daxter, Pinkie, and Raven nodded their heads in agreement, indicating that they were ready for anything and everything that Torn could throw at them.

Torn couldn't help but smile as he looked at the group for a moment, because with the four of them leading the fight they might actually win this war and save their people... and just having them back was already a massive advantage, one that their enemies would soon come to fear.