//------------------------------//
// Exile: Explosions 
// Story: Jak and Daxter: Children of Eco 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

As Jak and Pinkie departed from Haven Forest, and reentered the corrupted Metal Head nest, they started to wonder what their next mission was going to be, though before they could actually walk out of the security door their communicator sprung to life and they heard Torn speak.

"Jak, Pinkie, we've located four critical power junctions that could, if they're destroyed, drop some of the KG shields." Torn told them, though his words indicated that he and his spies had located another barrier for them to destroy, one that would allow them to get even closer to the original Headquarters, just like the one Daxter had flown a missile into earlier, "Our bang expert Jinx can blow the junctions if you can get him to each one and protect him while he's laying the charges. You remember Jinx? He's waiting in a vehicle outside. Happy blasting."

Jak and Pinkie glanced at each other for a moment, because they remembered Jinx from when Krew had them lead a trio of demolition experts to the statue of Mar, where they destroyed the statue and recovered the Heart of Mar... though as they walked down the ramp they spotted Jinx sitting in a zoomer that had enough room for him and someone else. Oddly enough there was a one person seater zoomer sitting next to the one that Jinx was sitting in, meaning that he must have thought ahead and came prepared.

"Hey there, pretty boy!" Jinx said, though as Jak climbed into the main seat Jinx clasped Pinkie's hand for a moment, "Its good to see that you are your sister are still fighting. You ready to rock and rumble?"

"Of course," Pinkie commented, to which she and Jak got the engines of their zoomers started, before she angled herself towards the entrance they had opened, "Let's get the party started."

Pinkie lead the way out of the Metal Head section of the city, while at the same time Jak made sure to keep Jinx and his explosives safe, until they came to the first power junction, which happened to be a few steps from the hole they had made earlier. As they moved into position, however, the siblings watched as the Neo Metal Heads moved into action and attacked the incoming Metal Heads, as if they had sensed that they had important work to do and we're willing to help them out. Thanks to the army that was fighting beside them, and were making sure that the enemies couldn't get passed their defenses, Jinx was able to prime the explosives with enough time for them and the Neo Metal Heads to get out of the area... though when the box exploded it took a fair number of enemies with it.

Once the first box was destroyed they flew back out into the port area and followed Jinx's directions, to which they discovered that the second junction box happened to be located near the door they had walked through when they first emerged from the sewers. They were, once again, assaulted by a number of enemies that wanted to prevent them from completing their mission, but thanks to the Freedom League soldiers that were in the area the group was able to take care of the Metal Heads in a decent amount of time. That allowed Jinx to complete his task and jump back into the zoomer, to which they all headed away from the box as it was consumed by another explosion.

From there they found that the third junction box was inside the KG section of the city, which meant that they would be receiving no reinforcements this time around and had to solely rely on themselves and their own skills. Fortunately the only robots that came at them while Jinx worked were the small flyer robots and the ones that walked on four legs, instead of the roller enemies or the larger Blast Bots. Since Jinx was near, and he didn't have an Eco Shield of any kind, they couldn't use the Gyro Mod to clear the path, but the other mods proved to work just fine with the amount of enemies that were trying to kill them. Jinx was able to install his explosives in record time, allowing them to leave the area before the real threatening robots showed up... to which they followed the path to the last junction box.

The final box was located near the Power Station, though once Jinx got started Jak and Pinkie discovered that there was a lot more enemies coming to take their heads, meaning that they had to focus more on their opponents and less on what Jinx was doing. Fortunately the Arc Welder Mod proved to be useful in taking out the smaller enemies, as they weren't expecting the Blue Eco Arc to come and hit them, while the larger enemies rapidly fell to Pinkie when she punched them in the chest and used her Yellow Eco to blast them to pieces. Daxter and Raven remained on the lookout for enemies, from the safety of the zoomer, though there were a few times where an enemy got close and Raven used his hybrid form to deal with them.

After another minute or two Jinx had them move away from the junction box, to which they watched as it exploded and heard the sound of the barrier exploding not a few seconds later, indicating that they had succeeded once more.

"Sweet Eco! Jak, Pinkie, you did it!" Torn said over the communicator, though at the same time Jak and Pinkie stood beside the larger zoomer as Jinx took the driver seat, "You've got us deeper into KG territory!"

"Nice work, you two!" Jinx commented, to which he tossed them both something that resembled a weapon mod, before lifting the zoomer into the air, "I'm gonna go see what I can scrounge up. See you on the flip side!"

Jak and Pinkie stared at their new weapon mods as they installed them, while at the same time Daxter told them that this was the Needle Lazer, something that he had overheard Tess talking about while the siblings were 'proving' themselves in Tess' new gun course. Apparently this one was supposed to fire needles of Blue Eco, hence the name Needle Lazer, that would seek out enemies in the immediate area and hurt them, or destroy them if they were the smaller ones that were more common. Once they determined how the weapon worked, and were sure they knew how to use it, they started searching for a second zoomer for Jak to ride, though that was when Ashelin decided to speak with them about something.

"Jak, Pinkie, we've got word of a shipment of Eco being delivered somewhere in the KG city section." Ashelin told them, which meant that it was somewhere nearby, but at the same time the siblings knew that it would be guarded in some manner, "I think it's worth stealing. I want you to go in, find the vehicle with the Eco, and drive it back out to the Naughty Ottsel in one piece. I'm sure they'll try to stop you, but we need that Eco for the war effort. Remember, don't lose the shipment and stay alive."

It took some time for Jak and Pinkie to locate the shipment in question, along with the missile launcher that was pointing at it in case someone without the required codes tried to access the vehicle, but both of them knew that this was going to be easy for them. Pinkie rode her zoomer ahead of the one that Jak would climb onto, though once he gunned the engine the missiles flew after them, to which they retraced their path through the KG section of the city and flew out into the port. When they entered the port they heard Torn mention that he had prepared some beacons in case something like this happened and that they needed to be activated, so Pinkie diverged from the path and used her Blaster setting to turn on all of the beacons that Torn had prepared... while at the same time Jak flew around the port and kept the missiles busy.

Pinkie observed that there were six beacons and, if she was counting them correctly, seven missiles, to which she hurried over to the Naughty Ottsel and informed Torn of the news... though at the same time Jak made sure to pull as many missiles off of him until one remained, where Torn called for him to return to the Naughty Ottsel.

"You can make it." Torn said, encouraging Jak for a few seconds, before he turned towards the building and the soldiers that were already working on the sign, "Crank that sign up to full brightness!"

Pinkie watched as Jak moved into the area as the sign lit up, though he made a daring move that sent the missile right into the sign Daxter had made of himself, taking the head of the sign clean off and deposited it right on the pitchfork... though she could already hear Daxter's complaints as Jak turned the shipment over to the Freedom League soldiers.

"Jak, Pinkie, I know you'd like to take a break and relax, but there's news of a new assault on the Port." Torn said, though at the same time Jak and Pinkie sighed, because it appeared that the Eco shipment was a tactic for them to lower their defenses, and they bought it, "They're trying to take us out once and for all. The strange thing is, we're seeing movement from both the KG and Metal Head fronts. It's like they're working together. Fortunately they seem to have forgotten that we have an entire army of Neo Metal Heads on our side, so that means you'll be fighting by some familiar faces... and hurting our enemies at the same time."

The next thirty minutes consisted of the port becoming a total battleground, where the KG and the Metal Heads attacked the combined forces of the Freedom League and the Neo Metal Heads, while at the same time Jak and Pinkie were put at the head of the united army. Everywhere they went they were either under attack by a large group of enemies or had to protect the innocent civilians while the other soldiers made sure they got to safety, while at the same time firing at everyone that came at them. Jak was just fine with this arrangement, as it allowed him to exercise the new Dark Eco abilities when he was alone and could direct the energy into their enemies, while at the same time Pinkie used her own unique powers to her advantage.

Jak found himself laughing several times when he watched his sister fight, because one time she tapped a KG ball robot on the shoulder, converted it back into its ball form, and then shoved it into a cannon, where she got it he had no idea, before firing it at its allies... causing them all to explode one the unlucky 'cannonball' hit its target. Pinkie, from what Jak heard, called the cannon her 'Party Cannon' and used it to cause havoc on any enemies that foolishly attacked the location that she was defending. Raven, of course, commanded the Neo Metal Heads in battle, while at the same time using his dragon form to crush and slice apart those foolish enough to challenge him... until they finally wised up and stopped trying to hurt him.

Once thirty minutes had passed, and all of Jak's ammunition was completely gone, the assault stopped, as all of the attackers had been dealt with... though while Torn congratulated them on their victory, which they deserved a rest after all the hard work they did, Jak and Pinkie returned to the Gun Course, just to see how Tess was holding up. Of course when they walked into the building they found Tess working on yet another weapon mod, one that she was likely putting the finishing touches on, before she noticed that they were there.

"Daxter! My hero!" Tess commented, once more embracing Daxter, though Jak and Pinkie weren't bothered by her not hailing either of them as heroes, "This city is too dangerous. We need our own little place in the country. A little pink house, with a white picket fence. And a fireplace! And a big four-poster bed, for me, and a little ottsel run on the side of the house for you."

"Aw, are you worried about me, my little Tess-y-poo?" Daxter asked, though it was plainly clear what he was doing, to which Jak mentally sighed while he waited for it to be over.

"Of course, my itty-bitty whisker-puss." Tess replied, her embrace tightening for a moment, though the others knew that the two of them fit perfectly together, despite the difference in species.

"Oh please!" Raven said, though he felt like teasing Daxter at the moment, which was why he was grinning instead of having a paw on his face, "Will you two get a room already?"

"You need a hug, Raven?" Daxter inquired, holding his arms out for a moment, though the look on his face indicated that he knew what the other ottsel was doing, "Cause we got plenty to go around."

"Rumor is, you two are the only hope we've got to reach the catacombs!" Tess said, though at the same time she beckoned to Jak and Pinkie, indicating that they were who she was referring to when she mentioned the word 'two', "I've programmed the gun course to simulate some of the new enemy tactics. Want to try it out?"

Jak and Pinkie looked at each other for a moment and then nodded at Tess, though before Jak ran through the course he restocked all of his ammunition, even though this course was designed for the Scatter Mod in mind. He had to admit that the new tactics that Tess had incorporated into the track made things much more interesting for him, especially when he walked out with only the Bronze Award. Pinkie, who went in a few seconds after he came out, eventually returned to the exit with a smile on her face, as she had, once more, somehow earned the Gold Award for the course... to which Tess and Jak agreed that it was Pinkie being her usual strange self.

"Here's a nice boom stick for your sidekicks, baby." Tess said, tossing the new weapon mod to both Jak and Pinkie, who discovered that it was the third Red Eco modification, which they had been wondering about since they received the third tier mods for the Blue and Yellow mods, "Go give 'em hell! Then come back, and I'll scratch you behind your ears."

Pinkie smiled as she held a Red Eco charge, shaped like a circular bomb, in her left hand for a few seconds, though she was already imagining the damage she and Jak could cause on all of their enemies, before sending it away and following Jak outside the Gun Course. They were sure that there was more for them to do in the city before the war was over, though even if Torn didn't need them they knew that they could go back to the Wasteland and check in with Damas... so it was only a matter of checking which leader needed their assistance and offering them their services.