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// Precursor: Trouble in Rock Village 
// Story: Jak and Daxter: Heirs of Mar 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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With all of the villagers helped out, and Jak and his sisters were sure of that after making a quick check of the houses after gathering both of the Power Cells from the Oracle, they headed over to the Farmer's house and started to climb the set of stone platforms that formed the path that would bring them to Fire Canyon, or at least this side of the canyon to be exact, though it didn't take the group to long to reach the end of the path in question and found Keira standing near another trans-pad, one that happened to have the A-Grav Zoomer resting above it, and when they approached her Twilight took a moment to draw out the Power Cells they needed and handed them over without delay.

"You know, when I said we needed twenty Power Cells to power the heat shield, I honestly wasn't expecting you guys to recover them all so quickly... I'm impressed by what you were able to do." Keira stated, her tone revealing that, while her father might not share her opinion on the siblings, even though he was happy with them saving the Dark Eco Silo from the Lurkers, she was actually amazed that they had gathered the number they needed and even got some extra for what they might find in Rock Village, even if they were hoping that nothing was wrong in the Blue Sage's village, before she took the Power Cells from Twilight and worked on the zoomer for a few more seconds, only to pull herself away from the vehicle a few seconds later, "There, the heat shield should be fully operational, though since this is still experimental, like most of the gadgets we've made, you should be careful when you use it, as the heat shield is designed to protect the zoomer and whoever is riding it until it reaches five hundred degrees, so try to keep her cool... also, flying over open lava will definitely heat you up fast, and if you hit five hundred degrees, the max it can take, well, the heat shield will fail and, according to all of our calculations, the zoomer will explode... basically, it will be over for you if that happens."

"Over?! Like burning molten metal over?!" Daxter exclaimed, where it sounded like he wasn't paying attention to what was being said at the moment, though the mention of the zoomer exploding and being unable to get them to Rock Village, the end of what Keira was telling them, was what caught his attention, causing the siblings to shake their heads for a moment as they remained silent and listened to everything that Keira might have to tell them, as it was possible that there was one or two more things for them to learn before Jak climbed onto the zoomer and one of his sisters climbed onto the backside to make some more notes on how it operated, to help Twilight and Keira improve the vehicle for the future, be it for part of this adventure or something that the future held for them.

"Yeah, that's what I mean... remember, Fire Canyon can get pretty hot, given its volcanic soil, so be sure to keep an eye out for jumps that will keep you off the hot ground." Keira continued, where it was easy for them to tell that the first part of her comment was directed towards Daxter, especially due to his remark about the zoomer exploding if it reached the max limit of the heat shield, while the second part of her comment was for the siblings, since she had no idea who was going to be driving the zoomer and who might be sitting on the backside of the vehicle, before she focused on something that she hadn't told the group yet, "I've also released several blue cooling balloons into the canyon, which will allow you to drop the shield's temperature in a matter of seconds, so keep an eye out for them as well... oh, and before I forget, father wanted me to tell you to activate the Warp Gate in the Blue Sage's lab, that way he and I, and whoever might be left behind, due to the fact that the zoomer can only hold two people at the most, so we can use our Warp Gate to teleport over to you and help you out with the next leg of our journey."

The siblings nodded their heads to that, as it made sense to activate the Warp Gate in the Blue Sage's lab so Keira, Samos, and whoever was left behind could catch up with them, before Keira took a step back and walked away from the zoomer as Jak approached it, since he seemed to be the one that it was designed for and the backseat was designed for the sisters to join him, even if only one of them could do that at a time, to which Starlight climbed onto the vehicle as well and made sure she could see everything that was in front of them, so she could take excellent notes on what was in front of them, as it would help Keira and Twilight out, where Twilight, Cozy, and Keira wished them well before Jak moved out of the safety zone and entered Fire Canyon for real. The canyon itself was somewhat thin from what he and Starlight could tell, more in the sense that the distance between the two rock walls had to be around ten Jak's standing shoulder to shoulder, maybe closer to fifteen based on what they could see, though as they left the safe area they could see the volcanic soil that was in front of them, with a few rocks resting in their way, meaning each of them would be obstacles for them to overcome and it was a good challenge for Jak to overcome, but he was more interested in getting to the end of the canyon. One thing they discovered was that there were a few metallic boxes resting along the way, though how hey weren't melting under all of the intense heat was a mystery, given the volcanic soil's nature to melt Precursor metal, but that told Starlight that Samos might have lied to make them seek out Power Cells, not that it mattered since Keira didn't have the materials to make a zoomer out of Precursor scraps, as what she had made was the best she could do, but the other thing they had to keep an eye out for were the clusters of Dark Eco boxes, as the clusters had eight of the dangerous boxes arranged in a square, as it would make them easier for someone to accidentally hit and do damage to their vehicles, even if the zoomer was about the only air based vehicle and it had a lot of work that needed to be done to it before it was as good as Keira wanted it to be. Starlight, deciding to make herself useful and not just sit behind Jak the entire time, loosed a small magical blast at the clusters of Dark Eco boxes and blew them apart so her brother didn't have to worry about them, though what caused both of them to pause for a moment was the fact that there was a Lurker just beyond the first two clusters of Dark Eco boxes, a simple Lurker walking on the volcanic soil like it was nothing, meaning that Samos had either lied to them, and this was a pretty good piece of evidence to suggest such a thing, or the canyon's heat had died down for now and that was why the Lurker was able to do what it was doing.

In the end the pair decided not to worry about it as Jak rammed into the Lurker and knocked it into one of the walls, while also breaking a Scout Fly box, which wasn't made from the same material as the zoomer or the other metallic boxes they had seen so far, something that really made Starlight wonder about the potency of the canyon's heat, before they found a Precursor ramp beyond the Lurker, which had a Blue Eco vent resting nearby, and discovered that both of the objects had no damage to them, as neither were in the process of melting under the heat, so all Jak did was use the ramp to launch the zoomer into the air and fly through the blue cloth balloon that released a burst of cooling mist on the zoomer, which helped keep the heat shield meter at a moderate level. From there Jak moved forward and found a few more rock that he had to avoid and a cluster of Dark Eco boxes for Starlight to blast apart from afar, wiping it out before they reached where the cluster had been resting, though there was a small bit of open lava he had no choice but to move over and found that it did next to nothing to the zoomer, or at least that was according to the meter that was linked to the heat shield, and it wasn't long before they reached a rock walkway which connected this part of the canyon to the next one, which allowed him to smash another metallic box and claim the Precursor Orbs that had been inside it. Once that was done they found that there was a much wider section of open lava and that there was a Scout Fly box on the other side of it, one that had a pair of Lurkers walking near it, so what happened next was that Jak sped over the lava and smashed into the box, freeing the little robot that was trapped inside it, while Starlight loosed a pair of blasts into the Lurkers that were in their way and knocked them into the walls of the canyon in a matter of seconds, allowing Jak to continue forward without having to take a moment to deal with the Lurkers, which was good since he had to focus on another section of exposed lava, one that he flew over not a few seconds later. After that he flew through a cooling balloon as Starlight loosed another blast into the air and took out another cluster of Dark Eco boxes, which was just surprising since she knew that Dark Eco being found on the surface was nearly unheard of, save for the vats like what they found near Misty Island's Silo, but at the very least blowing up the boxes and clusters meant that neither of the mysterious figures could get their hands on the sinister Eco that they were apparently seeking, which was a score in her book, before she focused on what Jak was doing as he avoided a third Lurker, who Starlight blasted in the side as they flew by where it was standing, and headed for a Precursor structure that was longer than the last one they had flown over earlier.

As Jak moved around the area he made sure to smash through two more of the cooling balloons, once more assisting the heat shield in keeping below the five hundred degree mark that Keira had told him and his sisters about, he took a second or two to turn around a curved section of the path, to avoid an open lava pit, and smashed through the third Scout Fly box that happened to be in the way, with Starlight making sure to grab the little robot in the process, before he passed through a Blue Eco vent and found that it could empower the zoomer as well, increasing the speed past its limits, or at least that was his thoughts on the matter, and that slowing down just a little seemed to get rid of it, which Starlight made a note of as he avoided some spikes that burst out of the lava and caused him to fly around the side of them. That was followed by him noticing a curve in the path which had a Scout Fly box, a few wooden chests that weren't burning at all, which caused Starlight to make a note of it and the lack of potency in Fire Canyon's volcanic soil, a metallic box that had some Precursor Orbs inside it, and another Scout Fly box at the end of the curve, allowing them to collect a few Orbs and two more Scout Flies, the fourth and fifth based on what they had collected so far, meaning that there were two more of them to find and one of them had to have a Power Cell for them, even though Jak was more focused on what was in front of him while his sister made sure to keep an eye out for Dark Eco boxes. After that he smashed through a metallic box, to get the Orbs that were inside it, and followed the twists of the path he happened to be following at the moment, which included avoiding all of the rising rocks that came out of the lava patches and bursting through a few cooling balloons as well, before Starlight found a cluster of Dark Eco boxes to blast apart before they reached it, which her brother nodded to when he saw it, all so she knew he was pleased with what she had done, before she loosed a few more blasts into the space in front of them, as there were more clusters of boxes, sometimes eight and sometimes just two on top of each other, that needed to be taken down so they didn't get hurt while they were doing this. From there Jak was able to figure out where the cooling balloons were resting and flew around a rock to get at the sixth Scout Fly box so Starlight could grab the little robot when it was no longer trapped inside the box, though he also ignored the couple of Lurkers that were wandering around this area, again making them question the potency of the volcanic soil that rested throughout the entirety of Fire Canyon and if they really needed the heat shield in the first place, before he flew through another cooling balloon and smashed the seventh Scout Fly box that was just beyond it, allowing Starlight to claim a Power Cell along the way.

With that done he made sure to smash apart the metallic box that was in front of them and that seemed to give them the rest of the Orbs that were scattered throughout Fire Canyon, though what was interesting was that they found another trans-pad at the end of the canyon, resting in front of a raised section of earth that had to head down into Rock Village, so what he did was come to a stop of the pad in question, which also just so happened to give them another Power Cell, as in they got two more over the course of their ride through one of the most dangerous locations near Sandover Village, which was when he and Starlight climbed off the zoomer and started to head towards the next village... where the short path in between the stone walls of the canyon brought them to the edge of Rock Village, a place that was more of a port village as they stared at it, and the stone structures in front of where they were standing had to be hollowed out to act as homes for the villagers, even though the roofs happened to be on fire at the moment.

"Well, it sure seems like the Lurkers have been busy... more so than they were in Sandover Village," Starlight said, as they knew that the Lurkers had done next to nothing to their home village, at least the area that they called home, but it was all of the surrounding regions that their enemies had assaulted in an attempt to mess with those that the mysterious figures wanted them to attack, but based on what they were seeing at the moment, and that included some burning boulders that were scattered around the village, to which she sighed for a second as she noticed the hut that was in front of them, one that looked very similar to Samos' hut, "Come on, let's open the Warp Gate and see what Samos has to say about what's going on at the moment, even though I'm sure he'll have us head out and take the fight to the Lurkers again, which I am totally fine with at this point."

Jak took a moment to think about that, as it was odd to see that Rock Village was under assault and on fire, with a bunch of boulders that seemed to be scattered all over the place, but in the end he agreed with what Starlight had said and walked with her as she headed over to the Blue Sage's hut, where they found a number of books, which seemed to be in pristine condition and would no doubt either be read by Twilight or Starlight in the near future, or possibly both, along with a few machines that Jak had no idea what they did, given that he wasn't into technology like two of his sisters were or like how Keira was, before they found the button that activated the Warp Gate and pressed it, where they stepped back as Samos eventually jumped through the gate, even though he fell on his face and caused Daxter to mentally snicker for a moment, though Keira, Twilight, and Cozy helped him up after each of them passed through the gate.


"Thank you girls... I don't think I'll ever get used to the tingling sensation of the Warp Gates." Samos commented, as he was one of the few people in the world that didn't agree with any of the various feelings that came with the gates he and the other Eco Sages were in possession of, why Jak, Twilight, Starlight, Cozy, and Keira weren't entirely sure about, but none of them felt like asking the question, before he nodded to those that had helped him up for a moment and then glanced at the wrecked nature of the hut, as it sure looked like someone had thrown a few papers around before leaving and never returning to tend to the village and his studies, "Based on this mess, it looks like the Blue Sage might have thrown a party in the last couple of days..."

"Not to mention the fact that parts of Rock Village are on fire at the moment." Starlight remarked, referring to what both she and Jak had seen when they first entered the edge of this village and had a chance to look at the place that the Blue Sage called home, though that caused both Twilight and Cozy to raise their eyebrows for a moment as they heard it, as it interested them in what they might discover when they left the hut and headed down into the village, especially since all of this was technically new to them, as this also marked the first time they had left Sandover Village, not counting when they went into the regions that were near their home anyway.

"It must have been one heck of a party!" Samos replied in kind, apparently under the impression that the Blue Sage must have thrown a party or something recently and didn't invite him to the event, as it would have explained why he, the Red Sage, and the Yellow Sage hadn't spoken to him for a quite some time, but even as he said that Twilight appeared to be in the middle of studying his words and motions, as she suspected that he understood what was going on in the hut and had decided not to worry all of them as to what might be going on, but instead of worrying about it she decided to keep quiet and focus on taking out the Lurkers that were in the middle of bothering Rock Village and the surrounding regions, which, if her memory of the continent was correct, happened to be the Precursor Basin, Boggy Swamp, and the 'Lost' Precursor City, even though the last region was resting off the coast of this village and couldn't be considered 'lost' in her books, even if some explorers disagreed with her.

"No, what she means is that Rock Village is being bombarded with flaming boulders!" Keira stated, where she had taken a moment to look at the nearby telescope and discovered that the Blue Sage must have been focused on something before his sudden disappearance, as there was an interesting machine resting on the other side of the village, near the bottom of the cliff that the entrance to Boggy Swamp rested in, and sure enough there happened to be a large humanoid creature in armor that seemed to be the one that was throwing the boulders down at the village, to which she turned towards the rest of the group for a moment, "And, based on what I was able to see, it looked like the Blue Sage was working on a levitation machine to move them... assuming it's operational, and given who we're talking about right now I think its safe to say that he perfected it before disappearing, we're going to need some more Power Cells to fuel it, more than what you guys were able to find so far."

"We'd better take a look at his notes, to figure out how many you'll need, and take a look at the surrounding regions, just to see what the Lurkers are up to." Samos said, meaning that he and Keira were going to do what they had done after the siblings had returned from Misty Island the first time, where the former would be working on a machine while the latter sat in a hut and observed what was going on from the safety of a Sage's domain, something that would tick Daxter off just a tad bit, before he turned his head for a moment and glanced at the siblings for a few seconds, meaning that he wanted to tell them something, "Jak, girls, go check on the villagers, see what's happened since that monster showed up, and then  use Keira's Communicator to give us an update on the situation... we should be ready to give you the same at that point... oh, and take the fur ball with you!"

Daxter remained silent as he heard that, deciding that it was best if he didn't talk back to Samos at the moment, to which Jak and his sisters headed outside the hut and started to make their way over to the set of rock pillars that would let them enter the village, but before they did that Twilight found a Scout Fly box resting behind the Blue Sage's hut and made sure to smash it open so she could collect it, even if there were six more scattered all over Rock Village and they would keep an eye out for each of them, since one of them had to have a Power Cell for them, before she rejoined her siblings as each of them jumped on the rock pillars. That allowed them to collect a few Precursor Orbs for their actions and discovered the second Scout Fly box, one that was broken within seconds of them finding it, before they started to make their way over to what appeared to be the marketplace, or the heart of the village to be more exact, which was where they found some of the flaming boulders resting on top of some wagons, or just resting on the ground in some cases, even though they did see a Precursor Oracle to their right and they approached it, something that came with it telling them to 'beware the dark light', as it had 'twisted' one of their fates, which meant it had to be referring to Daxter. That comment made the siblings take a moment to think about it, given what each of them knew about the Oracles and what the ancient creations said to those that activated them, which was uncommon based on what Twilight recalled and they seemed to be the only ones at the moment who had done anything with the Oracles, even though Daxter was assuming that it meant that he must have been a warrior of the light and that falling into Dark Eco had ruined whatever his destiny was, before sighing and letting them move forward once more. From there they headed over to what appeared to be a young lady's workplace, as there were a number of barrels and a wagon near her, though since she was preoccupied with something Jak walked around a flaming boulder that was nearby and smashed another Scout Fly box that was behind a large rock pillar, and picked up a few Orbs in the process, before finding a bit of Blue Eco and wondered what it could give him and his sisters access to, as there had to be a Precursor Cache resting nearby and sure enough there was one resting near a boulder that was near the Oracle, to which he grinned for a moment as they noticed another bit of Blue Eco nearby, so while Starlight smashed the fourth Scout Fly box Jak gathered the bits of Blue Eco and rushed over to where the Cache rested, allowing him to open it and claim the Orbs that were resting inside it, before he regrouped with his sisters and approached the lady who seemed to be in the middle of studying something or writing something down, even though that was when she turned around and noticed that they were standing on the other side of her wagon, or maybe it was a workbench of some kind, to which she smiled for a moment.

"Oh, hello there, I was busy with my research... though the four of you look like a couple of capable heroes." the lady said, where the mention of research interested Twilight, and Starlight for that matter, but that was when they noticed that the lady had a rather curvy body, similar to someone who lived in Sandover Village, and her attire was split so it showed off her midriff for some reason, though she had brown pants and light brown leggings, with a short green vest over her short white vest, and she had a helmet on that had a light attached to it, which covered her red colored hair, before she took a moment to gesture to herself, "I am the Geologist, so named by the rest of my fellow villagers due to my love of the great outdoors and the various creatures we share this world with, and I just so happen to have a research project going on at this very moment, one that I think you guys might be able to help me out with."

"Hey, we're the ones on a big quest here! We ask you for help!" Daxter stated, his tone revealing that he wasn't too happy right now, more in the sense that Samos didn't respect him all that much and the Oracles seemed to be talking about his old fate would have been, had he not fallen into the Dark Eco vat of Misty Island's Silo, though for the most part none of the siblings were annoyed by what they had heard so far, because if the Geologist, as the other villagers decided to name her in the past, was asking for help, and it sure seemed like she was in her own way, they might be able to get a Power Cell out of helping her with whatever she needed help with.

"Well, perhaps we can help each other out?" the Geologist inquired, showing the siblings that, while she might not care for Daxter's attitude right now, she was willing to cooperate with them in some manner, even though she had no idea what sort of quest they were on and didn't seem to be in the mood to figure out what they were up to, rather she knew all four of them were heroes and seemed to be more interested in asking for their help, "I've been studying the burrowing habits of Lightning Moles in the Precursor Basin next to our village for years, but recently those awful Lurkers have been seen in the basin and they've been scaring the moles to the surface... and, since the Lightning Moles are just as blind as bats are, none of them can find their way back underground! If you could herd them back into their burrowing tunnels, we might just save their lives, and I just so happen to have a Power Cell that says you can do it."

"Yeah, lightning moles..." Daxter said, though it was easy for the siblings, who were more familiar with his tactics than the residents of the other villages, to know that their friend might be thinking of a way to twist this to their advantage and get a few more Power Cells so they could bring this adventure, or quest as he called it, to an end so he could return to his old form and stop riding on Jak's shoulder, even though it sure looked like he might be enjoying his little perch, even if he was missing some of the old comforts of his previous form, namely pants as he continued to mention to them whenever he got a chance to talk about how bad this form was for him and what he was missing, "We care about their safety and well-being... maybe we'll do it for two Power Cells!"

"Daxter! Don't be rude," Cozy stated, as while she and her siblings understood why he would say something like that, due to what they had just thought about a few seconds ago, it didn't excuse the fact that their friend was trying to rob the lady and get more Power Cells than what they had truly earned, and sure enough it looked like the Geologist might be a little annoyed about what Daxter had said, or maybe she was lost in thought about something and barely heard what he had just said, before she, her sisters, and Jak focused on the Geologist, "Don't worry, we'll deal with the Lurkers and save the Lightning Moles, so you have a deal for the Power Cell you mentioned earlier."

"Actually, I do have a second Power Cell, one that I would be willing to part with for ninety Precursor Orbs, so I can fix up or replace some of my research equipment." the Geologist spoke up, where the siblings watched as she gestured to a few barrels that were resting nearby, which had to have whatever equipment she had brought to this area and confirmed that some of them had to be broken due to something that had happened in the past, no doubt due to the Lurkers, though it was in that moment that Daxter seemed to be pleased, as if hearing that the lady had a second Power Cell had been good for him to hear, before they focused on the Geologist again, "How does that sound?"

It was easy for the siblings to agree to make a trade for the second Power Cell at some point, as they wanted to check in with the other villagers that were still here before they did anything else, something that the Geologist seemed to nod her head to when she heard them tell her that, hence why she went back to her studies as they crossed the stone bridge that would lead them into the large marketplace of Rock Village, where it was easy to see that there were two paths for them to pick from and two villagers for them to talk to for a few moments, just to understand what each of them wanted for the Power Cells that they were in possession of, if Sandover Village was anything to go by, though one thing that they found to be interesting was that one of the villagers had armor on and the other seemed to be wearing a barrel, though Jak walked over to the armored figure since he might have some information for them, on the large monster.

"Oh, my aching head." the armored Human moaned, showing that he must have been hurt in some manner before the siblings had arrived in Rock Village, meaning he must have fought the monster at some point and had lost, where Jak and his sisters came to that conclusion based on the fact that he had a busted chain link, a chink in his chest piece, and he had a visor that seemed to be marred in some manner, even though he had a small amount of green hair, not to mention a red cape that seemed to be cut in places, where it looked like he must have been a good fighter and that this monster had been too much for him to take down.

"What's the matter tough guy?" Cozy asked, mostly because it would allow the person to know that someone had some interest in what might have happened to him and, if they were lucky, he would have a few tips or tricks for them to use in the future, when it came time for her and her siblings to take down the imposing creature that was assaulting the village with all of the flaming boulders that they had seen so far, but even as she thought about that she noticed that nothing was going on right now, meaning the monster might be taking a break from its assault, even though the large boulder was still in the way and they needed to move it so they could move forward.

"Oh sure, I was tough once... maybe even the toughest of them all!" the figure, a Warrior the siblings guessed, replied, as he pushed himself to his feet for a moment and seemed to pose as the siblings stared at him, where they were slightly surprised by what they were seeing and some had even raised their eyebrows towards the Warrior, even though Daxter was the one that did that the most, before he sighed for a moment as he waved his hand towards the pavilion that he and the siblings, along with the barrel wearing person, happened to be standing in, almost as if he had a boast or something that he wanted to tell them, making Jak wonder if this was a mistake, "I single-handedly defended this village from those horrid creatures, the Lurkers, for almost a year, then out of nowhere that horrible monster arrived and commenced the boulder bombardment! So, full of valor, with my armor shining in the sun, I climbed the hill to take him on... but in the end he pounded me like one tenderizes a yakow steak."

"Have you tried attacking him with your melodrama? Because it's killing me!" Daxter inquired, because everything that the Warrior had said seemed to be full of drama and boasting, something that he could possibly get behind as long as none of the drama was involved, as he preferred making claims about things he had done, in an attempt to impress his friends or even Keira, as he had given up on impressing Samos and the latest events that caused Samos to talk to them just ticked him off, since he, for the most part, wasn't allowed to enjoy any praise the Sage gave them, even though he had done next to nothing since his transformation into an Ottsel.

"After my last stunning failure, the monster sealed the passageway to his roost with a thirty-ton boulder, leaving no way for anyone to challenge him again." the Warrior stated, identifying that the monster was male, not that it mattered in the grand scheme of things, while at the same time he glanced through once of the openings in the pavilion and stared up at the path that lead to the monster's roost, no doubt recalling what happened the last time he fought it, since the previous expression returned in full force, before he thought of something else as he stared at the boulder, "So our Sage, a master of Blue Eco, and a mechanical genius, devised a machine that would be capable of lifting the boulder out of the way... but, alas, he disappeared before we had a chance to turn it on, and, as luck would have it, he took all of his Power Cells with him as well. At least I was able to pull enough pontoons out of our bridge to prevent that monster from coming down here to do me any additional harm."

"Oh, well, that's good and everything, but... well, we're going to need you to put them back." Twilight said, because now that the Warrior had mentioned it she could see that there were some wooden platforms that seemed to form a path over to the levitation machine and the entrance to Boggy Swamp, with a missing section that had to be what the Warrior was talking about, though Jak and her sisters stared at the person that was in front of them as Daxter frowned, as it looked like they might have to put up a few Orbs to get him to put the sections back, if what they had experienced since the start of this adventure was any indication.

"Oh sure, and seal my doom?!" the Warrior declared, getting back on his feet for a few moments, as he had sat down after telling them about the missing pieces of the bridge that he had pulled out to make sure the monster didn't attack him, not that it helped since the monster could probably hit him from where it was standing, though he paused for a few seconds as he focused on the frowns that were being directed at him, as at this point the siblings and Daxter didn't approve of his motives for breaking the bridge and keeping the pontoons bundled up, before he sighed for a moment as he took a few seconds to think about something, "All right, fine. Bring me ninety Precursor Orbs and I'll let the pontoons loose, and I'll even throw in my only Power Cell to sweeten the deal... but I'm not going to fight that monster again!"

"That's fine, as we were planning on taking him down at some point." Jak stated, as that was the truth of the matter, due to the fact that one they had cleared out the three regions that were near Rock Village, and made sure to gather every Power Cell and Precursor Orb that were in the Precursor Basin, Boggy Swamp, and the Lost Precursor City, they would tackle the monster that was attacking the village with boulders and put a stop to that, allowing the residents of the village to go on with their lives and stop worrying about being squished by flaming boulders that were raining down from the sky, but at least his words seemed to please the Warrior, in the sense that he wouldn't have to fight the monster again, as he seemed utterly terrified of it at this point.

"Oh no, not another hero... much less a group of heroes!" the nearby name in the barrel stated, as he happened to be over on the other side of the opening that lead down to where part of the wooden bridge rested, save for the missing parts the Warrior was responsible for pulling out, where they found that he was wearing a blue shirt that was cut short, had a pair of glasses in front of his eyes, a blue frayed hat with a playing card attached to it, and had short purple hair, but he seemed annoyed by what Jak had said and seemed to be waiting for the group to walk over to him, which caused him to gesture to the Warrior they had been talking to since arriving in the pavilion, "I lost my shorts on this so-called hero's big fight against our uninvited guest, the monster that's up there... trust me on this, the smart money's on the monster... though, truth be told, that wager pretty much tapped me out! So's, I got a proposal for you: if you bring me ninety Orbs to get me back on my feet, and out of this embarrassing barrel, and I'll give you a Power Cell in return for helping me... and, if you're game, I do have one more bet online, my big comeback! If you can beat the record time while racing through Dead Man's Gorge in the Precursor Basin, which many have failed to do in the past, I'll get a pretty payoff in the process, and I'll give you guys another Power Cell!"

The siblings agreed to what the Gambler, as that seemed to be who this person was in their eyes, was saying and left the area that he and the Warrior happened to be standing in, even though Cozy walked down the part of the wooden walkway that had been broken and smashed another Scout Fly box, the fifth one by her count, while Jak and her sisters walked over to a corner that seemed to have a few platforms that formed a path over to the entrance of the Precursor City, where they found the sixth Scout Fly box and freed the little robot that was inside it, leaving them with one more that was over by the entrance to Boggy Swamp, to which they sighed for a moment, as it seemed like it would be impossible to clear out Rock Village right now, to which they headed over to the Precursor Basin, only to discover that it was a zoomer area, due to a trans-pad resting in front of them and an interesting cliff in front of them.

"Hey guys, we've figured out that you'll need forty-five Power Cells to power the levitation machine," Keira said, where the siblings and Daxter turned towards the Communicator that was now flying around them at the moment, meaning that she and Samos must have finished studying all of the Blue Sage's notes and might have studied the other notes that would tell them what was happening to the other regions of Rock Village, but they remained silent as they waited for her to tell them everything that had been discovered so far, "Apparently the Blue Sage was able to figure out and write down a few things, before his rather sudden disappearance: there's some Dark Eco plants inside the Precursor Basin that father wants you to deal with, so I've already sent the A-Grav Zoomer over to the entrance of that region, there's a group or army of Lurkers with a dirigible over in Boggy Swamp, pulling at a Precursor artifact that's stuck in the mud for some reason, and the Blue Sage had some notes about trying to bring one of the lost city's chamber up to the surface, so I'm sure that if you discover a way to bring one to the surface he'll be overjoyed when he come's home."

"Well, that's good to know, especially since the three villagers that are here seem to be safe, for the most part, since it does look like the local Warrior is suffering from being beaten by the monster," Jak replied, to which he sighed for a moment as he glanced at the zoomer that was in front of him and the city that was off the coast of the village, because he had a good idea of who should go where this time around, before eventually regrouping so they could tackle the Lurkers and dangers that were inside the swamp, as that one might require all four of them, like how Misty Island required all of them to take on the various dangers it possessed, before he stood up and focused on what he was going to do next, "Okay, Starlight and I will take the zoomer and head into the Precursor Basin, to deal with the Dark Eco plants and whatever else might be in that region, while Twilight and Cozy can tackle the dangers that might be inside the Lost Precursor City, since I'm sure one of them wants to see it up close so she can prepare some notes for when the Blue Sage comes back... once both of those regions have been cleared out we can regroup and tackle Boggy Swamp, and the Lurkers that are trying to gather more Precursor artifacts, before dealing with the monster and heading to the Red Sage's lab."

Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy nodded their heads in agreement to what Jak was saying, as it sounded like a good plan and it would give Keira more information on the zoomer and what it was capable of, before they split into the two groups that their brother had mentioned and prepared themselves for everything that would be thrown at them, even though each of them were interested in getting to the monster and taking it out so they could save Rock Village from its attacks, before focusing on what might be happening in the area the Red Sage called home, which they would deal with in the very near future, after assisting the residents of this village, and they braced themselves for whatever might be waiting for them in the regions they were heading towards.