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// Precursor: Riding Through the Basin 
// Story: Jak and Daxter: Heirs of Mar 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Jak and Starlight stared at the high nearly wall-like Precursor ramp that was just beyond where the trans-pad rested, with the A-Grav Zoomer resting above it, for a few moments as they recalled everything they had learned since arriving in Rock Village earlier, as in the fact that there was a Dark Eco plant located somewhere in the area, there were Lurkers messing with the Lightning Moles that called the Precursor Basin home, and there was a race that one of the village's residents, one that just so happened to be a Gambler from what they had their siblings had seen, who had challenged them to win a race in an area he called Dead Man's Gorge, and that wasn't counting anything else that might be inside this region, like the Scout Flies and any other obstacles that might net them some Power Cells.

"You ready for this?" Jak asked, though even as he said that he jumped down into the area that the zoomer rested in and approached the machine, where he found that it was the exact same as the last time he had used it, meaning that even if Keira had a chance to go over everything Starlight and Twilight had found, and he suspected that she had taken some time to go over their notes before coming through the Warp Gate with her father so they and their siblings could catch up with them, she likely hadn't had a chance to modify the vehicle without taking it out of commission, and sure enough it only took him a few seconds to climb onto the body of the zoomer and ready himself for what he was going to do next, which was the moment he glanced over at Starlight for a few seconds.

"Yeah, I'm ready to watch you tackle whatever challenges are waiting for us, while I blast any Dark Eco boxes that might have been placed by the Lurkers," Starlight replied, as that was what they had done when they crossed over Fire Caynon, which she felt could be named Lukewarm or Tepid Canyon based on how low the heat of the soil actually was, and she felt that it had worked out quite well, especially since she could take note of what was going on around her and report back to Keira or Twilight, the former being for the zoomer and the latter being for the journal she was keeping on everything they did while they were on this adventure, though after she answered Jak's question she climbed onto the back of the zoomer and braced herself as Daxter remained on his perch, both of them waiting for Jak to make the first move.

Jak, as soon as his sister and Daxter were ready, activated the zoomer and flew towards the ramp, where they found that it was easy for the vehicle to head up the side of the ramp and easily reached the top of what would have prevented both of their sisters from following after them, unless they used their magic anyway, and one thing they found was that there were a few circular indents on the ramp that seemed to be full of lights, for when it was nighttime he guessed, though he knew that there was a good bit of Precursor metal in the ramp, so if anyone figured out how to tap into that metal this would be a good place to harvest some. Another thing they noted was that there was a curved bridge of sorts over the opening that was made out of Precursor metal and had a light in the center of it, but that just so happened to be when he and Starlight found a red furred creature, which resembled a squirrel and not a mole, which was resting near what appeared to be a large Precursor structure, even though there was a massive one that seemed to be resting in the middle of the region and none of them were sure what the large one was supposed to be, before they noticed that the squirrel creature had dark eyes and two large front teeth that likely helped while they were digging underground. There were a few other structures that were of Precursor make, as in some tunnels that had a circular opening for them to fly through, a sectioned off area which had a white racing flag that had to indicate it was Dead Man's Gorge, and, based on some of the sounds they were hearing, it appeared that there were a few pistons moving, machines that pushed a section of itself out and back in, but for what purpose he and his sisters really had no idea, as even Keira and Samos were a little confounded by what the pistons were supposed to do, though Samos suspected that they were connected to the various stores of Eco that were scattered throughout their world and the vents they were linked to, meaning they might help distribute the types of Eco all over the world. Sure enough they found that there were a few wooden chests that the Lurkers must have dropped, containing a bit of Green Eco for them to collect or ignore, a number of metallic boxes, which had to have Precursor Orbs inside them due to what they had seen so far, and a few Dark Eco boxes, the type of container that Starlight would take great pleasure in blowing up with a blast every now and then, since it would allow Jak to focus on tracking down the various Power Cells and all of the Precursor Orbs that were inside the basin, not to mention any of the Scout Flies that had been sent here to find and recover a Power Cell.

Interestingly the blind Lightning Mole that was near the entrance of the basin seemed to sense them coming towards it, as Jak decided to see what needed to be done so he could move it towards the barrow, which appeared to be the holes in the ground that rested off to the left of where the first of the Lightning Moles happened to be resting, where Starlight thought about it and determined that it had to be due to their slightly larger ears and the fact that being blind must have given the species a boost to their other senses, as the one her brother was heading after seemed to hear the propellers that were attached to the zoomer and moved away from them accordingly. Based on what Starlight could see there had to be four Lightning Moles scattered throughout this section of the basin, two to the right of the first Precursor structure while the other two were to the left of the structure, which she pointed out to Jak and her brother nodded his head as he noticed all four of their targets, where he carefully followed after one of them by coming from the right side of the area, which had a ramp that would lead up to where the thin bridge was located, where he and Starlight noticed that his target shifted for a moment and moved away from them. That caused Jak to nod as he followed the mole at a slow pace and made sure that it scurried away whenever he approached the area it was standing in, before it came to a stop and seemed to shift its head in their direction, listening to the sounds that the zoomer made so it would know if it was safe or if it was still in danger of being attacked, though as they did that Daxter glanced at Starlight for a moment and motioned for a wall to be put up, as he was thinking about some of the magical mirror walls that she and Twilight had used in the past, which were similar to the barriers they used, but she shook her head to that, as summoning one of those, in front of a blind creature that had no of seeing it coming, would be fatal and rather dangerous, especially since the Geologist wanted them to save the couple of Lightning Moles, not harm them in the process of saving them from the Lurkers. That caused Daxter to huff as he focused on scanning the area and keeping an eye out for anything that Jak or Starlight might have missed while they targeted the boxes, chests, or the moles that were scattered around the Precursor Basin, even though he did spot a purple Lurker that had a pair of small leathery wings on its back, a pouch attached to a belt that it was wearing, which was odd since it wasn't wearing any pants, and it appeared to be sleeping at the moment, which changed when Jak got close with the zoomer, only it stared at them from afar once it came to a stop a few seconds later.

Instead of saying anything as he saw that, however, Daxter remained silent as Jak continued to move the Lightning Mole over to the hole that he had spotted and was currently pushing the blind creature to, with Starlight making sure to silently take out any Dark Eco boxes that were around them, mostly so she didn't scare the moles away and force Jak to change up his tactics once the moles had settled down, and it wasn't long before they actually made some progress as the creature he had been pushing through this section of the basin found the edge of the hole it had emerged from and jumped back into its home, removing one of them while leaving three more for Jak to deal with.

"Well, that's one down, though it might take some to make the other three do the same thing," Jak commented, as while he was getting the hang of how the zoomer operated, as it appeared that Keira and Twilight had made it with him in mind, the Lightning Moles seemed to be more like a test of his patience and were to show him that there were times where he might have to go slow, but even as he thought about that he knew that he was going to make sure the remaining three moles were returned to their home and were no longer in danger of being bothered by the Lurkers that had to be in this region, before he paused for a moment as he glanced back at Daxter and Starlight, "Have you guys noticed anything odd while I was following that mole around?"

"There is that purple Lurker over there, which I'm sure Keira or Twilight would call a Robber," Daxter replied, deciding that he might as well point out the potential threat to his friend, even though he was sure that Starlight had noticed it as well and had let him speak first, though for the most part the Robber Lurker hadn't moved since it came to a stop, meaning it was watching them while they were resting above the Lightning Mole's home and might be in the middle of trying to come up with an idea on what to do with the three of them, though since Lurkers weren't all that smart, save for being able to use all of the various machines their mysterious bosses built for them and their own various wooden contraptions, this wasn't bad for them, as it gave them the perfect opportunity to take it down, "besides, its carrying a pouch on its belt, so maybe it might have a Power Cell for us to grab, though they always travel in packs and I'm sure there's a few more in the other section of this Precursor junk filled place."

"Well, Daxter's not wrong, the Robber Lurkers always travel in packs of three to five, so we'll have to keep an eye out for the rest of its pack," Starlight added, her statement confirming Daxter's statement in a matter of seconds, though she was a little surprised that their friend even remembered that particular lesson, given his lack of attention towards most of the other lessons the siblings had been given over the years, which was part of the reason that Samos was displeased with him all the time and made sure that if there was some praise involved, like when they saved Misty Island's Dark Eco Silo from what all of the Lurkers were doing to it, that Daxter's fun was quickly cut short, before she focused on what she had to say before Jak flew off to another part of the Precursor Basin, "though from what I can tell there isn't a lot of Dark Eco boxes in this part of the region, but, at the same time, I suspect that there's more Dark Eco in the other part of the basin, where we might be able to find the Dark Eco plants that Samos wants us to deal with, so once we're done with helping out the Lightning Moles I would suggest continuing our exploration of the rest of the basin."

Jak took a moment to think about what his sister and Daxter had just said, as it was nice to know about the pack of Robber Lurkers that were scattered throughout the Precursor Basin, even if they had no idea how many were actually inside this region, and that they had a good idea as to where the Dark Eco plants might be resting, though from there he powered up the zoomer and headed over to the area that housed the start of the race course, as that was where a second Lightning Mole rested, not to mention that it showed them a few Precursor Orbs and a metallic box that rested inside the circular shaped tunnel that lead to the other area of the basin, something he would follow in due time. For now, however, he took some time to carefully follow his target as he redirected the Lightning Mole back towards the hole that the first one had jumped into after it reached its destination, once more leaving Daxter and Starlight to keep an eye out for enemies for any boxes that he needed to break so he could get the Precursor Orbs and Scout Flies that had to be scattered throughout this region, all while the mole he was chasing scurried away from him whenever he got close to it, just like what happened with the first one, and sure enough it eventually reached the hole and returned to the underground home that it and the rest of the moles had been forced out of earlier. Once he got the second Lightning Mole into the hole Jak headed over to the other side of this part of the region, as there were two entrances resting between this section of the region and the other section, so what he was doing was heading over to the second opening he and the others had spotted, where he found the other two Lightning Moles minding their own business in the grassy area, even if they were resting near a thin piece of earth that was connected to a Precursor pillar, though he had to carefully maneuver the zoomer around the pillar so he could chase the two moles back to the hole, even though they scattered and went in two different directions, forcing him to sigh for a moment, as he had been hopeful that he would have been able to get them at the same time, before taking some time to repeat the tactic he used against the other two Lightning Moles. Of course that gave Starlight some time to see what else was inside this section of the region so she could tell him whatever he might have missed, though after he got the third one into the hole he turned around and headed back to where the last mole was resting, where he carefully directed it through this part of the basin, which had next to no dangers since Starlight was wiping out the Dark Eco boxes that were in his way, and it jumped back into the hole as well, prompting Daxter to state that they should head back to the Geologist at some point to get the Power Cell she promised them for herding the Lightning Moles into their hole, though at the same time he seemed happier about something, almost like he was thinking about the Geologist's body, given who he was, or something else that neither Jak or Starlight knew about and decided not to ask about for now.

Once the Lightning Moles were taken care of, and they were sure of that due to Starlight's count, Jak headed over to where the first of the Robber Lurkers had been resting earlier, based on what Daxter told him, and found a Scout Fly box resting between it had been earlier and the the first Precursor structure of the basin, as in the first non bridge structure, and that was when Starlight collected the little robot when the box was smashed, though Jak focused on the Robber Lurker as she did that and chased after it, where it actually fled from them and caused him to fly after it as it seemed to fly around this structure in a perfect circle and then, when it reached its starting position, it curved to the left and did another circle over a small body of water that was in this area. It was rather interesting to see that the Robber Lurker did two movements like that, like it was creating the figure of an eight in the air or something, or at least it looked that way to Starlight as she took a moment to think about where they were and what was around them as her brother chased after his target, though due to the lack of creativity, since both she and Daxter would have forced a would be hero to follow them all over this area and not stay in the same place all the time, it didn't take Jak long to ram into the backside of the Robber Lurker and knock it out, leaving a bit of Green and Dark Eco behind, but no Power Cell, meaning that they would have to track down the rest of the pack and take them out as well to get their hands on what the Lurkers must have stolen. What was good about Jak following the Robber Lurker was that he was able to collect some more Precursor Orbs along the way, adding to what they had gathered so far, while at the same time Starlight informed him and Daxter of an odd purple oval that rested above the pillar Jak had flown around a few moments ago, one that had to be important in some manner, but suggested that they focus on the tasks that they knew about and then come back for it when there was nothing else to accomplish or collect, something that both Jak and Daxter actually agreed with. Fortunately Starlight had also spotted a second Robber Lurker as Jak chased the first one down, who happened to be resting below the arched walkway that was near the purple oval she had spotted a few moments ago, giving Jak a good idea as to where he needed to go, and sure enough the creature moved the moment he started to chase it, only it turned around a corner and headed up the ramp that was on this side of the section of the basin, leading Jak towards a pair of Dark Eco boxes, which Starlight quickly blew up with a small burst of her magic, and some metallic boxes, ones he smashed through to get the Orbs that were inside them.

As they followed the Robber Lurker over the upper portion of this section of the basin Jak and Starlight discovered a good number of Precursor Orbs for them to collect, be they above the path their target was following or in the air nearby, which would require a jump to get to, and some clusters of Dark Eco boxes, arranged in the square formation like what they had seen back in Fire Canyon, so Starlight loosed a few blasts and blew the containers up before Jak neared them, though as their target rounded another corner Jak smashed into a Scout Fly box, the second of the seven for this particular region, and also made sure to clear out the last of the metallic boxes, something that allowed him to freely chase his target and not have any obstacles to worry about. Sure enough it didn't take Jak too much time to get closer to the Robber Lurker and hit its backside, knocking it out like he did the first one, though it didn't have the Power Cell they were looking for, which he figured would be the case since it appeared that the last ones seemed to have what he and his sisters happened to be in the middle of looking for, as in the Scout Flies and now the Lurkers, but he wasn't about to let this discovery bother him all that much as he turned the zoomer and headed to another area to clear out, as in the pillar that the purple oval was in, as it was interesting and it might have something for them to collect. What they discovered when Jak approached the top of the pillar that the purple oval was resting above, which looked more like a ring now that they had a chance to study it, was that there was a Scout Fly box, the third based on Starlight's count, resting near it and Jak slowly drove into it without even activating the ring, to which he backed away as the little robot was freed and then launched them off the edge of the area to get a few more Precursor Orbs for the future, though when the zoomer landed he flew over to the area that contained the upper part of the ramp that allowed them to enter this area, before turning to the left so he could head over to the circular tunnel that lead into the other section of this region. As he did that Starlight found a metallic box that Jak smashed apart so the Orbs that were inside it could be recovered, along with a few Orbs that were just resting in the middle of the tunnel, before they noticed that the other half of the region seemed to be slightly larger than what they had seen so far and there was a raised section that seemed to be made out of Precursor structures, ones that seemed to form a pathway of some kind that would allow them to access part of the cliff that was opposite of where the opening was located, which did have a Scout Fly box on top of it and some Precursor Orbs lead the way to it, so that was what Jak did, he flew over all of the Orbs, smashed any metallic boxes that were in his way, and broke the next Scout Fly box, giving them four of them and left three for them to find.

Interestingly enough using the hole that was in the middle of the structure that Jak flew up, to get at the fourth Scout Fly box, he and Starlight found another box, housing another Scout Fly, on the ground below the opening, so Jak just moved into the opening and let the zoomer land on the box, smashing it and freeing the fifth little robot, before he turned around and found that there was a Robber Lurker in front of them, though beyond it rested a patch of sinister dark plants which had to be the Dark Eco plants they learned about earlier, meaning they had found what Samos wanted them to deal with at some point in the near future. What Jak did first was follow after the Robber Lurker that woke up and started to flee as it heard them coming towards where it had been resting, where it headed towards a little hill that Jak figured he could jump off of if he came from the tunnel he used to access this area, even though Starlight made sure to break apart every Dark Eco box that happened to be in their way, before their target headed up the ramp that lead up to the hole that was on top of the structure, before heading down into the hill and then, in an odd twist that they weren't expecting, flew forward so it could fly around the rest of the structure and then head back to where it rested. From there, as it turned out, it was a very simple task for Jak to follow after the Robber Lurker that he was chasing, since it followed the same pattern and didn't try to do something different to make him ram into a wall or something, once more showing him and the others the limited intelligence of the Lurkers, and due to that Starlight was able to watch as Jak rammed into the back of his target and, just like the other two he had taken out, knocked it down without delay, though it didn't have a Power Cell for them and that informed them that there had to be one more somewhere in this region, which they would find in due time. Once that was done Jak headed over to the small hill that they had spotted earlier and flew off of it rather quickly, allowing them to pick up all of the Orbs that were in the air and landed in the center of the Dark Eco plants, which just remained still and didn't explode or anything, like what the boxes did, so he flew over to where a Green Eco vent rested, one he was only just now noticing since he had been preoccupied by chasing the Robber Lurker, something that was followed by Jak empowering the zoomer with the power of Green Eco, figuring that if he could do it with Blue Eco, like what happened back during the trek through Fire Canyon, that he could do it with the other types of Eco.

What he and Starlight quickly discovered was that if he flew over some of the Dark Eco plants, while Green Eco coursed through the zoomer, he was able to purify the darkness that was inside every plant he flew over and actually caused them to sink back into the ground, meaning that whoever used the Dark Eco had caused the various plants to mature and grow out of the earth before they were supposed to, allowing him to return the plants to their former glory in the process, and he found that he only had the Green Eco for a few moments, so when it ran out he just flew back up to the vent and took in the power once more, allowing Starlight to watch as he purified the plants and drove the Dark Eco out of them, which eventually ended with there being no plants left, save for a lone flower that sprung up once the sinister ones had been taken care of, which spat out a Power Cell for them to take.

"I must say, you two, just like Twilight and Cozy, keep on impressing me!" Samos declared, where the Communicator came out for a moment as they noticed that there were no more Dark Eco plants for either of them to worry about, as Jak had beaten the sinister plants back and purified this area, but for the most part the group remained silent as Daxter nabbed the Power Cell that had been inside the lone flower and added it to the pack that everyone seemed to be storing things in, even if it seemed like Twilight had enchanted all of their packs so they'd be tied together, or at least that was his thoughts on the matter, before they focused on the Communicator and what Samos was saying, "But, when I think about it, maybe it's just because I've got low expectations... okay, your moment of gloating is over. Get on with your adventure!"

"You know, for once I'd like him to say that we 'impressed him' and let us enjoy it!" Daxter exclaimed, because he seemed to be the only one among the group who actually cared about getting a chance to gloat about Samos saying that he might be impressed by what he had seen them do, even though Jak and Starlight decided not to tell him that this was due to the fact that their friend did nothing except ride on Jak's shoulder and watch what he and his siblings did, so if he wanted a bit of praise he was going to have to put in the work to earn it, something he may never do since he was more inclined to be lazy, but it never stopped him from complaining every now and then about things.

"You know the rules, Daxter, put in the work and Samos might say that he's impressed by what you've done... without even saying that your moment is over." Starlight replied, to which Jak nodded his head for a moment, showing that he agreed with what his sister was saying right now, though for the most part they were pausing for a few seconds so they could just stare out at the rest of the Precursor Basin and take in what was around them, a curved path that lead to the cliff, a couple of pillars that looked like they could jump across, a Power Cell resting in the middle of the air, and a small body of water that was slightly larger than what they had seen in the first section of this region, "though with the Dark Eco plants taken care of, and the Lightning Moles being saved, I think we're near the end of everything that needs to be done before we can leave this place with no regrets."

Jak said nothing to that, as he agreed with what Starlight had to say, before he resumed moving through this section of the region they were exploring and headed towards the other opening that would take them back to the start of the basin, as he suspected that the last of the Robber Lurkers were over in that area, and as he flew over the water he gathered a few more Precursor Orbs that were added to their collection, before he, Starlight, and Daxter noticed the last of the Robber Lurkers resting off to the side, something that caused him to turn the zoomer in that direction and rush towards it, which was when his target woke up, made a noise that suggested it was surprised, and rushed off as it flew around the pillars in a circle formation and included the water as well. This time around the Robber Lurker was smarter than the ones that had come before it, as the curves and turns forced Jak to either slow down or make an odd turn to do the same thing, where Starlight made a note of what she was seeing at the moment and knew that Twilight would be interested in hearing about this when they regrouped in the pavilion, though while this happened Jak took a moment to smash a pair of metallic boxes that were off to the side, to lure the Robber Lurker into a false sense of security, and then chased it again, this time being able to ram into it before it had a chance to figure out what he had done, which resulted in the Power Cell they had been looking for falling to the ground so Starlight could pick it up as they flew up to it. Once that was done Jak headed over to the other tunnel that lead into this section of the region and collected a few more Precursor Orbs for his efforts, which was when he turned around as soon as that was done and headed back over to where the ramp near the Dark Eco plants had been resting, as he felt that it was now time for them to check out what was up on the path that was attached to the cliff, though the first thing he found were a few more Orbs that he and Starlight collected, before having to jump over a small gap between the structure they were flying above and the next one that was in the path. Fortunately Keira added a button that, when it was pressed, allowed the zoomer to basically 'kick' off the air that was below it to give the vehicle a boost and let it jump over gaps, a rather small boost when he activated it, but it was more than enough for Jak to get them over the gap and land on the next structure, as well as smash a metallic box that happened to be in the way, before flying up yet another ramp and leapt over to where the part of the path that was attached to the cliff was resting, which allowed them to collect some more Orbs along the way and find the sixth Scout Fly box, leaving one more for them to find and smash to get at the Power Cell that they had found.

From there Jak and Starlight found that the next thing that had to be done was go at a good speed and jump along the top of the three pillars that happened to be resting between them and the next part of the path Jak was following, where they found that Jak was able to make his way across the pillars, which allowed him to smash through some metallic boxes and a few wooden chests, before reaching the lowest part of the path, where he paused for a moment since he expected that to fail and have to redo it, even though that allowed them to find and smash the final Scout Fly box, granting them another Power Cell, and after Starlight collected it Jak raced off the part of the path he had come to a stop on, picked up a few Orbs along the way, and leapt into the air so Daxter could grab the Power Cell that was in the air.

"That's another one for the collection," Daxter commented, where he took a moment to slip the Power Cell into the pack it and all of the other ones had been stashed inside since this quest, or whatever the siblings were calling it since he liked the term 'quest' more, before he returned to Jak's left shoulder for a moment and thought about what they had done so far, even though he had no control over what the siblings did and was mostly just along for the ride, until they found Gol and got the Sage to reverse what happened to him, no matter how long it took them to convince the man to fix this mess and return him to his previous form, as he wasn't a fan of his Ottsel form and wanted out of it as soon as possible, especially since he was sure Twilight might want to study his new form and wanted to avoid that.

"Yeah, and I think I know where another one might be resting," Starlight spoke up, because she had been thinking about all of the Power Cells that they had been able to recover so far and had an idea as to where they might find another one, and it was clear that Jak seemed to have the same idea that she had since he flew off the water that the zoomer was resting above and headed for the first section of this region, as he was heading over to where they had found the purple ring so they could see what was up with it and figure out if it would give them a Power Cell, even though the last thing he wanted to check out was the race that was inside Dead Man's Gorge, to beat the challenge and give the Gambler a payday, which should earn them one more Power Cell in the process.

It didn't take Jak all that long to return to where the purple ring was resting and headed up the path that would bring them up to it, where he and Starlight nodded as he flew through it and landed on the ground near a smaller pool of water, but, at the same time, they discovered that another ring of the same color was resting in front of the second tunnel, which was the one that Jak had used to get to the ring faster, though that didn't stop him from flying through it and discovering that it also disappeared and a new one formed on the other side of the short tunnel, which told Starlight that this was either a race designed by the Precursors or it was a simple task of following whoever happened to be the leader, even though the ring was the 'leader' in this instance. Jak seemed to have the same idea as he followed the rings as they quickly lead him over the nearby hill, under the walkway that was attached to where the last Scout Fly box rested, and then did a weaving path through the pillars that were in this area, eventually bringing him back to the underside of the ringed structure that had a hole right in the middle of it, before it curved near the area that the Dark Eco plants had been in and headed over to the first tunnel that lead back to the start of this region, even though he was sure that Starlight was making a good note of every turn and twist he was forced to make as he followed the rings. After emerging from the tunnel Jak turned to the right and followed the rings as they lead him over the small bit of water that was over there, where it caused them to head over to the ramp that lead up to where the purple rings started and then sent them over the first bridge of the entire region, even though he had to jump off it at one point to pass through yet another ring, before he headed through the first tunnel once more and found that the next ring was actually on top of the structure that had the hole in the middle of its top, only it seemed to be positioned in a way that meant they weren't going into the hole. As such Jak followed it and passed right through the ring, only to find that it moved to an area that would require him to jump off the walkway that was in front of them, to which Starlight and Daxter braced themselves once more as Jak caused the zoomer to jump into the air and they passed through the purple ring, though that was followed by them discovering that no more rings showed up and it ended with a Power Cell bursting out of the final ring and landed on the ground near where they landed, so Starlight grabbed it as Jak moved to the side, even though her brother was smiling as he did that, as chasing the rings had been interesting and it was good practice for the race the Gambler wanted them to win, even though they now realized that they had next to no idea what time they were supposed to beat.

As they moved out of the area that the Power Cell had landed in, however, Starlight glanced around the rest of this section of the basin and discovered something they had missed, as there happened to be a blue ring resting near where the sixth Scout Fly box had been resting, up on the path that was attached to the cliff, where Jak nodded, as he knew what Starlight was thinking at the moment and agreed with it, to which he carefully headed back up the ramp and crossed over the thin curved path once more, including jumping over the couple of gaps, before coming to a stop in front of the blue ring, as it was time to see if it was the same as the purple one or if it was different. What they quickly discovered was that, after Jak flew right through the blue ring, the next one appeared near the pillars that were near the seventh Scout Fly box location and that, once he passed through it, another showed up in front of the opening that he used to come back to this section of the region, with the next couple rings being on the other side of the tunnel and around the arch that was below the thin walkway that was connected to the pillar the first purple ring had been resting above earlier, before he and Starlight were caught off guard a little by one of the next locations the blue colored rings appeared in. The next one happened to be right around the corner from where the arch was located, almost like they might be headed back to the second section of this region, but what actually happened was that the next one was in the air above the pool of water, as if one was supposed to head up to the location of the first purple ring and then jump for it, but Jak discovered that the look of this one was just to throw someone off, as all he had to do was fly at a large rock and use it as a jump pad to get up to where the blue ring rested, knocking it down in a matter of seconds. From there the next couple of rings actually lead them back down to the trans-pad and the area that would allow them to return to Rock Village, so Jak had to be a little careful as he flew down to where the rings were resting and followed each of his targets as they lead him right back up into the basin, before they headed through the first tunnel once more and discovered that the next ring was up in the air, using the small hill that was near the Dark Eco plants, the hill that they had used to get some Precursor Orbs earlier, and it didn't take Jak long to reach the ring and pass through it, where it was followed by another one that wrapped around the purified area and headed over to the structure with the hole in it, allowing him to fly through the underside once more.

From there he followed the rings as they caused him to fly over the body of water that was in this section of the region, an easy task for him at this point, before he had to weave through all of the rock pillars he had used to reach the area the last Scout Fly box had rested in, and then crossed over to the start of the ramp once more, where Starlight seemed curious as to where it was taking them this time, even though it caused them to follow the thin path, jump over a few gaps, and then reach the cliff path once more, only for them to jump off the cliff to reach the next one that was in the air, even though it caused a Power Cell to be spat out and Starlight claimed it without delay. With that done Jak headed back over to the start of this region and turned when he reached his destination, the area that the Gambler's race was resting in, where he and Starlight found that there was a small stopwatch resting nearby and there was a timer of some kind attached to one of the walls, showing them that Jak had to beat a record of forty-five seconds to earn them a Power Cell from the man, but it also told them that this was going to be incredibly short in the grand scheme of things, which was fine with them since this was the last thing they needed to do before leaving the basin at long last. Once Jak was ready he rushed forward and started following the path that was in front of him, where Starlight found that there were a number of moving pistons in this part of the basin, which Jak dodged by flying away from them, and a few Lurkers, targets that she blasted in addition to all of the Dark Eco clusters that happened to be in the way, meaning her brother would be able to focus on following the path as Daxter held onto the stopwatch that was keeping track of how long it took them to get from the start to the end, even if he suspected this would be a short race, given the record they had seen on the timer. There were also bits of Blue Eco that boosted their speed and allowed them to get up to a tunnel of sorts, even though Starlight could see that they were in the middle of navigating their way through the upper reaches of the Precursor Basin, as in they happened to be above all of the tunnels that were in this region, though eventually they had to drop down into a lower section and it allowed them to head forward, entering an area that looked like it would be near the Lightning Mole hole, though Jak wasted no time in getting around the Lurkers that were in front of them and reached what appeared to be the end of the path, where not a few seconds after passing through the flag Daxter paused the stopwatch and revealed that he had shaved eight seconds off the record, which meant they must have succeeded in completing the Gambler's request.

Once that was done Jak returned the zoomer to the trans-pad so he and Starlight could climb off of the vehicle, allowing them a few seconds to stretch their arms and legs since they hadn't moved since they got on it earlier, before heading into Rock Village once more, though instead of heading for the Gambler, to give him the good news about the race, they took a moment to stop by the Geologist's camp so they could give her the good news about the Lightning Moles and get the first Power Cell she had on her, as they would trade for her other one once Twilight and Cozy were done exploring the Lost Precursor City and claimed all the Orbs that were inside it, as that would allow them to trade for the Power Cells that the Warrior, Geologist, and Gambler had on them at the moment. The Geologist was, as they expected, overjoyed to hear that they had saved the four Lightning Moles that had been above ground in the Precursor Basin and made sure to take out all of the Lurkers that were in the area, just to make sure the moles were safer than they had been earlier, to which she took a moment to nod her head and pulled out one of the two Power Cells she had in her possession, even though them saving the moles meant she could get back to her research, even if she needed better equipment to do just that, which was a not so subtle clue for the siblings that the Geologist needed Precursor Orbs, though they wished her well for now, as both of them wanted to make sure Twilight and Cozy were fine before they did anything else. When they headed back into the pavilion Daxter tossed the stopwatch over to the Gambler and showed him that they had beaten the record that had been in Dead Man's Gorge, something that caused him to nearly jump for joy as he revealed that this was going to be a good payday for him and, true to his word, he handed over one of the two Power Cells he had on him, adding another one to their collection, before Jak and Starlight walked away from him and the Warrior so they could sit near the set of wooden platforms that lead to the Lost Precursor City, as this would give them a few moments of rest before their siblings came out and informed them of their success, so all they had to do was wait and see what Twilight and Cozy had done since all four of them had split up to take out two regions at the same time, and they were sure that Samos was likely pleased by whatever their sisters had done.

The moment they regrouped, however, both Jak and Starlight knew that they would head over to Boggy Swamp and take a look at what the Lurkers were up to, since Samos and the Blue Sage appeared to be worried about their motives, though it would take all four of them to deal with the dangers of the swamp, that much they knew without actually heading over to the region in question, and then, once that was done, they could deal with the monster that was attacking Rock Village and push on towards the Red Sage's domain, something that made the siblings smile for a moment as they waited for Twilight and Cozy to emerge from the city and rejoin them for what was coming their way in the near future.