Jak, Twilight, Cozy, and Starlight didn't have to wait all that long to figure out where the beam of light had been pointing, as they got a message from Torn when they returned to the city that the beam had struck a statue of the Baron that was right in front of the main Palace support tower, breaking said statue into pieces in the process, even though the head struck the platform it had been built on and, in a stroke of luck, shattered the stone that was resting below it, revealing an ancient Door Lock that, based on what they could figure out at a glance, had to lead them to the Tomb of Mar, or so they hoped since it could be a trick to divert their attention. As such the siblings quickly activated both of their zoomers and flew over to the part of the city that the statue had been resting in, where Twilight discovered that no guards were present and that worried her a little, because that meant they had to be reporting the destruction to the Baron, who would no doubt find out about the Tomb in the next couple of seconds, meaning all they could do was head for the Tomb and grab the Stone before it fell into their foe's hands, especially since they had no idea why the Baron wanted it so badly, even though all of them knew it couldn't be good. Sure enough the siblings found that Torn's statement about the destruction was true, the head of the Baron's statue was resting right on top of the massive base it had been built on, with most of the body parts resting all over the place, meaning someone might be tasked with cleaning up the area at some point in time, before they parked their zoomers a fair distance away from the ancient Door Lock, which had been well preserved thanks to how well the wall had been built around it, and waited for Twilight to cast an invisibility spell on them so no one could see them for a time, allowing them to walk over to the Door Lock and activate it, where it opened without delay. The moment the door was open the siblings stepped inside and found an elevator platform waiting for them, an older model based on what they could see, to which they stepped onto it and let it take them down into the depths of the area it was connected to, giving them a chance to see a number of square symbols on every side of the passage they were in, before it came to a stop not a few moments later.
It was in that moment that they discovered that the Shadow was standing in the middle of a decent sized chamber, with all four of Haven's heirs standing between him and a massive Precursor door that seemed to be the barrier between them and whatever was on the other side, the Tomb if they were lucky, and sure enough Kor was present as well, which meant he had to be interested in seeing the Precursor Stone, if this was truly the area it was hidden in, before the siblings walked forward and joined their allies once more.
"You guys did it! You actually found Mar's tomb!" the Shadow happily said, his tone revealing that he was pleased with the progress they had made in discovering the existence of the legendary Tomb and, if the tales were to be believed, the place that the Precursor Stone rested in, guarded by whatever trials had been built into Mar's final resting place, though it was clear that everyone was hoping that the legendary Stone was here and that the tales about it hadn't been tall tales, given all of the obstacles the Underground had gone through to reach this point in time, especially since destroying the statue would allow the Baron to know where the Tomb was located.
"Great, what do we do now?" Jak asked, because now that they had uncovered the resting place of the Tomb, at what they felt was a rather poor time since the Baron was no doubt on his way and might end up capturing everyone here before the Stone was found, he felt that it was time to let the Shadow know that he didn't agree with the idea of sending the kids into the Tomb, as none of them were old enough to do anything and they seemed to know it, hence why their younger selves moved to stand in front of him and his sisters for a moment, as each of them appeared to be worried about what might happen in the next couple of moments, "We can't send these kids into the Tomb, as none of them are old enough to handle whatever might be on the other side of this door, nor do they have any fighting skills to overcome the trials of this Tomb... not that it matters, since I'm sure the door might prevent them from entering the Tomb anyway."
"This is the day I've long awaited; to finally hold the fabled Precursor Stone in my hands." Kor stated, where it was easy for the group to tell that he was overly interested in getting his hands on the legendary Stone that had been hidden inside this area, far too interested based on what Jak and his sisters could tell, especially since he ignored Jak's statement about not sending the kids into the Tomb, making each of them wonder if there was something off about him, once more making them think about a thought they had in the past, before they decided that now was the time for them to focus on the Tomb and the kids, as they could deal with Kor later.
"Jak... yes, you are right... we cannot send the kids into the Tomb." the Shadow replied, ignoring Kor for a moment, as the elderly figure was surprised by the thought of working to find this place and not actually make an attempt to push inside and recover the Precursor Stone, but the siblings watched as the leader of the Underground sighed as he focused on the kids for a few seconds, before glancing over to the door for a moment, "I was going to say something about the fact that the tests of manhood are sure to be fraught with peril, as expected from the legendary Tomb of Mar, and that Mar's heir, or in this case heirs, had to face them alone... but we cannot force this upon them, not until they are old enough, not to mention skilled enough, to handle the tests of manhood, so we will..."
Welcome, heirs of Mar. Finally, the Chosen Ones stand before me... enter and prove yourselves worthy to claim your ancient birthright. the Oracle of the door stated, as the ancient speaker activated while they were talking, likely due to sensing that the younger version of Jak and his sisters were present in front of it, something that caused them to pause for a moment as everyone watched what was going on, which was followed by the ancient door starting to open before them, as in it raised into the ceiling for a few seconds and revealed that the Oracle might be willing to allow the kids to face the trials, before the door paused at the halfway point, No! Four of the heirs are too young to face the tests!
In that moment the door started to close before their eyes, confirming that the Oracle wasn't about to send the younger heirs to their untimely deaths, where Jak and his sisters rushed forward and rolled under the descending stone, so they could tackle whatever the tests of manhood might be, leaving the Shadow, Kor, and the kids standing there in shock as the door closed behind them and trapped them inside the Tomb, even though Jak knew that his sisters could use their magic to teleport them outside if they needed to do such a thing, though now the Shadow likely understood that they were the adult versions of the four young heirs, thanks to the Oracle revealing their secret... and based on the fact that there were no screams of anger, or whatever an alarm might be for this place, it looked like the Oracle was allowing them to tackle the tests that their younger selves couldn't face.
"So, this is the Tomb of Mar," Cozy commented, as resting in front of them was a massive cavern that had an ancient and well preserved structure that looked like a tomb of some kind, with two braziers right in front of them, one resting to their left while the other was to their right and came complete with two odd Precursor machines, which were likely activated by tackling whatever the trials were, and from what she could see there was a massive door off on the other side of this large cavern, one that stood between them and the Precursor Stone, before she found a winding staircase that lead down to the area that was in front of the door, something they started to walk down, while Twilight made notes of what was resting all around them, "I must say, this certainly looks like an interesting place... and that's not counting whatever dangers might be waiting for us."
"And it seems like we'll have to split up to enter the area that the Precursor Stone is resting in," Twilight added, to which she gestured to the left and right sides of the cavern for a moment, as there happened to be two openings that likely lead to the devices that activated the machines that were near the entrance of this place, though as she focused on those areas they reached the bottom step and discovered that there was a tiny layer of water above the floor that had been carved into this place, before she glanced at her siblings for a second, "So, Jak, what do you say?"
"I think you and I should take the path to our left, while Starlight and Cozy tackle the right path," Jak replied, as it sounded like a good way to divide whatever tests might be in this place, especially since they had no knowledge of what the tests of manhood might be, though as he said that he reached into his pack and pulled something out, which he handed over to Twilight, who raised an eyebrow as she noticed what it was, causing her to glance up at him for a second, "Keira said you might be able to help us out."
Twilight said nothing as she looked at the deconstructed Power Cell, the last of their one hundred and one that they found during their first adventure, and the white power source that was just behind what Keira had done to it, where she had an idea as to what Jak and Keira were planning and nodded her head as she carefully stuffed it inside her pack, to which she and Jak wished Starlight and Cozy well as they headed for the opening on their left, allowing their siblings to head over to the one on the right side of the cavern, because it was time to tackle the tests and recover the Precursor Stone, before the Baron or something else interrupted them. What they discovered was that there happened to be a hallway of sorts on the other side of the opening they had picked out, which had been blocked off by a door that opened when they approached it, and found that there were a few spiders, the ones that stood around Daxter's height, in their way, where Jak kicked all three of them into the ground so they could move onward, even though they came to a stop when they turned the corner and discovered a massive chamber that had a large pool of Dark Eco in front of them, complete with a number of pillars that had spike traps attached to the top of them. It was clear that this was the first obstacle they had to overcome in this section of the Tomb, especially since it was easy to see that the pillars were arranged in an ascending manner, forming a path that lead to the next part of this chamber, which caused them to raise their eyebrows for a second, just as Daxter and Alvin did at the same time, before Jak moved forward and only jumped to the next pillar when the spikes went down, but as he moved up the pillars Twilight took a moment to study some of the statues that were around this chamber and noted what they looked like for later. Even with having to wait a few seconds before jumping Jak found that it didn't take him that long to reach the upper level that the pillars had been leading to, a platform that was attached to the wall opposite of the opening and rested near a pole he could use to spin jump up to the next part of the path, though once he paused Twilight did the same thing he did and then, after landing beside him, she used the pole and got ahead of him, where she spotted a few spiders resting between where she landed and the edge of the platform they were guarding, though she knocked both of them out with a burst of magic.
From there they found that there were moving poles and sections of the wall that were moving in and out, forming paths for a few moments and meant they would have to be careful as they moved forward, taking their time to move from one spot to another, though as Jak did that Twilight glanced around and found a few etchings in some of the stonework, of a creature that looked like it could be a Metal Head, or maybe the ancestor of the race she and her siblings knew, though the instant Jak reached the end of the platform he had landed on he found an old fashioned elevator platform, one that was attached to the wall and moved in groves, before reaching a button... one that caused the pillars to rise up to his level and gave them access to another part of the chamber, meaning they weren't done yet.
Twilight tilted her head for a moment as she caught up to her brother and then jumped along the pillars like Jak had done when they first entered this chamber, even though this time they were moving to the left and right of where they had been positioned earlier and made her take her time getting to her destination, a small platform which happened to be enough for her and Jak to stand near each other without having to worry about knocking each other into the Dark Eco, though as soon as they were done with the pillars again they focused on the next obstacle in their path. As such they had to use the couple of moving poles that were in front of them to reach a walkway that had another button and an ancient elevator pad for them to use, though tapping the button caused the pillars to stop in their original positions before they raised out of the Dark Eco once more and revealed that they were attached to a large platform of some kind, even though those pillars and the sections they were attached to lowered, revealing that they were a set of stairs as well and lead down to a hidden area that was part of this test. Once that was done they quickly used the ancient elevator to head down to the platform and jumped onto the stone that had been hidden under the Dark Eco, where Twilight entertained the idea of using part of Midnight's power to suck up all of the dark mass and add it to what she had drained earlier, to which she felt something in her head agree with her as she raised her right hand and opened the way to Midnight's hidden area, draining the pool that was around the stone and stopped once all of it was gone, allowing her to close the opening after that. She and Jak paused for a moment and glanced at each other, both figuring that Midnight had made herself known for a moment and agreed with Twilight's thoughts, before they headed down the large set of stairs that were in front of them and found a chamber that was of a decent size at the bottom of them, which had a few spiders wandering around and there was a large sphere on the other side of the area, blocking the way forward since it was being held in place by a post of some kind, though due to all of the spiders Twilight had seen so far she was sure that it had to be more like an egg of a massive spider of some kind, which none of them wanted to deal with.
Once they realized what was in front of them Jak and Twilight lashed out at the spiders, where Jak kicked or punched them while Twilight swung her right hand with Red Eco to Scatter Blast her targets into the walls that were around them, and it only took them a few seconds to wipe out their enemies, though as soon as that was done Daxter asked Twilight if it was possible for her to move the post and she waved her hand for a second, knocking the post out of the way and caused the egg to start rolling down a passage that was in front of it, to which she raised her hand and blasted part of the ceiling to collapse it, trapping whatever was in the egg in a place where it wouldn't bother them. As soon as she was done she, Jak, and Alvin glanced at Daxter for a moment, who informed them that he was being smart this time and was using the power that Twilight had to their advantage, since bothering whatever was inside that egg wasn't a good move for them, though as soon as they got over any shock they might have, due to the idea he came up with, the siblings walked forward once more, since they weren't done with this section of Mar's Tomb, and found another chamber that was smaller than the last two, or at least it looked like it, which had two small circular pillars leading the way to a square ledge. That ledge would lead them to a pole that appeared to be the start of the path, hence why they climbed onto the box shaped structure it was on top of and started to follow the path that was currently in front of them, using the poles and structures to reach the higher parts of the chamber, which eventually brought them to a section that was carved into the wall that was opposite of where the large egg had been resting, and it happened to lead to what they assumed was the exit of this area, even if that involved using a few more poles and platforms to get over to the other side of the area. Sure enough it didn't take the siblings too long to reach the other side of the chamber, as they found that studying all of the devices allowed them to figure out how to move forward, though when they reached what seemed to be the end of this section of the Tomb they discovered that it brought them to a much more important looking button, one that caused the flames that were in the main part of the massive chamber to go out and caused a beam to fire from the nearby device, the left one they had seen back when they had entered the tomb.
"Interesting, the two directions are the keys to opening the main door," Twilight commented, as she understood why the Tomb was set up in this manner, given that this had to be where the Precursor Stone was resting and the main door was a lock that needed to be opened by those seeking it, to which she smiled for a moment as she glanced over to the other side of this portion of the Tomb, as she could see where the other button rested, as she knew that it was only a matter of time until Starlight and Cozy managed to overcome whatever was in their way, "Come on, let's go wait by the main door and prepare for whatever else the Tomb might have in store for us."
Jak nodded as he and his sister stepped on a platform that appeared nearby, as one arrived once they activated the button and fired the first of the two beams that would open the larger door, and let it take them down to where their destination rested, giving them a chance to rest before their siblings reached them once more, though it would also give Twilight some time to figure out what he and Keira had thought up earlier, as it might change the tide of this war in their favor and make sure Haven City survived what was happening outside the walls.
As Jak and Twilight challenged the first trial of Mar's Tomb, and tackled whatever obstacles might be in their way, Starlight and Cozy opened the second door and started to walk down the tunnel that was on the other side, even though it looked like a number of platforms that rested at different levels, almost like stairs in a sense, which lead the way to the what had to be the first of the chambers they would be moving through to reach the end, though it didn't take them long to jump up the couple of steps and jump over a small gap to reach a door, one that opened and revealed a room that was a perfect square and had three identical doors that looked like the one they walked through.
You must not use weapons in this challenge. a voice said, which happened to be one of the Precursors, which Starlight and Cozy assumed was either the Oracle who watched over the entirety of Mar's Tomb, and not just the guardian of the front door, or it might be another one that had been set up by those who created this place all those years ago, though in the end the sisters glanced around the area and found that there was nothing happening, save for a button in the middle of the room, meaning it had to be an activator for the challenge in question.
Starlight and Cozy glanced at each other for a moment before Starlight stepped on the button, activating whatever trial or challenge was in this area and dropped a number of black colored insects that looked like beetles to the sisters, though all of them landed on their backs and remained that way for a few seconds, revealing that three of them had red markings on their underbellies, before they flipped around and started to walk around the chamber, to which both of them watched all fifteen beetles for a moment before tracking the trio down and tapped them, causing them to fly over to the door, which opened when all of them were resting on it.
"I do hope the rest of this trial isn't as easy as this chamber was," Cozy remarked, keeping her voice low so only Starlight, not to mention Simon and Theodore, could hear what she had to say about this particular trial, where she found that her sister and their companions agreed with her statement, as all three of them nodded their heads in agreement, which just meant all of them were expecting something better from the legendary Tomb of Mar, before they decided not to waste anymore time and headed towards the tunnel that was resting on the other side of the door that had been opened due to the beetle keys resting on top of it.
What they discovered was that the tunnel in front of them consisted of them having to swim under some water that was in the process of being electrified, and there was a wall of sorts in the middle of the tunnel that they could see through, as it allowed them to see that there was a turn coming up soon and, more importantly, that the watery section wasn't all that long, to which they paused for a moment and waited for the electricity to disappear before diving into the water, as while Starlight could simply teleport them to the other side of the blockade she felt that it would annoy the Oracle and that was the one thing they didn't want to do. As such Starlight went first and quickly jumped out on the other side, as the passage wasn't all that long and allowed her to get out quickly, just before another burst of electricity struck the water for a couple of seconds, and once it was done for now Cozy replicated what her sister had done, arriving at Starlight's location without delay so they could move forward and see what else they needed to overcome to conquer this particular trial, but they did find that the area to their right was just an open hole, though why it was there they had no idea. After noticing that area the sisters found another short watery area, this one without any stone walls above the section in question, though that was followed by them doing what they had done with the first small section of water, going one at a time, before walking through another opening and found that they were entering a new chamber, one that had their entrance, a lone pillar not too far from where they were standing, and another door that had to be the left one of the beetle chamber they had been in a few moments ago, meaning they were already doubling back to it. The gap between where they were standing, the lone pillar, and the second door told the sisters that there was some sort of walkway that was going to form for them to use, especially since there was a button in front of them and there was a locked one on top of the pillar, to which Starlight stepped on it and waited for a few seconds, as she and Cozy were interested in what it might do and what they needed to do so they could move through the rest of this section of the Tomb.
Not a few moments later a number of tiles raised out of the gap that was between them and the other sections of the new chamber they were currently standing in, forming a walkway between all three locations that seemed important, while at the same time possessing four different colors to them, as some were red, some were blue, others were green, and many were yellow, and once all of them came to a stop the sisters watched as a red one glowed for a second, then a green one that was two tiles away from it, followed by a yellow one that was heading in the direction of the other door. It took both Cozy and Starlight little time to figure out that this was a 'follow the leader' challenge, as in one of them had to jump onto the tiles that glowed and, more importantly, follow the pattern that was being established, no doubt set up by those who built the Tomb in the first place, to which Cozy stepped forward and jumped over the tiles that had glowed a few seconds ago, which brought her over to the pillar and the now unlocked button. Of course once she reached the pillar the tiles fell into the depths, as quickly as they had risen from the darkness no less, and it didn't take Starlight long to cross over to the pillar, as she used magical platforms since she figured that activating the first button twice might confuse the Oracle that was in charge of this section of the Tomb, though as soon as they were back together she nodded her head and Cozy took a moment to step on the unlocked button to see what the pattern of the next sequence had to be. The first one happened to be a nearby blue tile, followed by a red one only two tiles away and a green one that was near the edge of the tiled path in question, and then a yellow one that was close to the door that would allow them to leave this chamber, something she did without delay as Starlight crossed over to where she was standing, where they found a tunnel with a couple of spiders resting in front of them. As such Starlight blasted one of the spiders into a wall while Cozy just smashed them with a swing of her arm, once more demonstrating the sheer power that was inside her body thanks to what the Baron did to her with his Dark Eco experiments, but as soon as all three spiders were taken care of they turned a corner and found another lone watery area they had to swim through to move forward, to which they sighed and repeated what they had done earlier, all to reach the door that was at the end of the tunnel.
It didn't take them long to reach their destination and walk through the door, discovering that their earlier thoughts had been correct and that it brought them back to the first chamber they had walked through, to which the sisters sighed for a moment as Starlight activated the button again, causing twenty more beetles to drop from the ceiling, once more having three with red markings on their bellies, so they waited for a few seconds, giving the beetles time to stand back up before wandering around once more, even though it didn't stop her Starlight from tracking down all three of them and had them return to the door that was across from the one they entered through, revealing another tunnel when it opened, not that they were expecting anything less at this point. On the other side of the door they found yet another passage that had yet another bit of water that they needed to swim through to reach the other side, hence why they made sure to repeat what they had done in the previous sections of this part of the Tomb and reached the end in no time, even though they would have to dry their clothes at some point before meeting up with Jak and Twilight when they finished clearing whatever tests were on their side of the Tomb, before they reached another chamber that had two pillars and another door, with three buttons for them to press, one in front of them and one on each of the pillars. Of course the ones that were on the pillars were in the locked position, so they had reached another chamber that would have tiles rise from the depths, causing the sisters to sigh as Cozy stepped on the button and caused the tiles to rise without delay, where she found that the first set was a green one to her right, a green one beyond that, and then two yellow ones that lead to the pillar on their left, which she was able to move over with ease and quickly caused the button on it to unlock for the next stage. Once that was done it took her a few seconds to call the tiles back up to where she was standing and watched as the second pattern revealed itself to both her and Starlight, which was a yellow one, then a green one, followed by two red ones, and finally a blue right in front of the other pillar, before activating the final pattern as it lead her to the other door, a pattern that consisted of a pair of red tiles, a green one near the door, a red one next to the green, another green one closer to the door, and then a yellow one in front of the door.
As soon as she did that the door opened and Starlight used her magic to catch up with her, finding another tunnel with a bit of water for them to swim through, which they moved through without much delay since they were used to it, before finding that it ended in a decent sized chamber with a number of tombstones, plus a silence for some reason, which was when they tapped one of them and found that it made a certain sound, but when Cozy hit a second it produced a second sound, causing the sisters to raise their eyebrows for a moment as they stared at each other. It appeared that this was a test that involved hearing the sounds and matching them up, of which there were twelve tombstones and that let them knew there were only six sounds, so basically all the sisters had to do was tap the stones and hear what sounds came from which stone, though once they knew which one had what sound they took their positions near a pair of stones and struck them, where they resonated with each other and sunk into the floor, a sign that they were on the right path, hence why it was followed by Starlight and Cozy repeating it for the remaining sets of tombstones. Once all six sets were embedded in the ground, showing that they had completed the challenge in the manner that the builders wanted them to do, the large stone door that was resting to the left of the entrance opened and revealed one of the perches that had a large button in the middle of it, not to mention Jak and Twilight leaving the other perch that was across from them with a blue beam being fired at the front door from one of the two devices they had seen earlier, informing them of how they were supposed to open the door that rested between them and the Precursor Stone. The moment the sisters noticed that they stepped onto the button in front of them and paused for a moment as they watched the ancient Precursor device off to their left, the right of the main entrance, fire a blue beam of energy at the door that was on the other side of the Tomb, where it struck its target and not even a few seconds later the door opened before their eyes, revealing the way to where the Precursor Stone rested, to which the sisters stepped onto the platform that appeared in front of them and let it take them all the way down to the watery area they had walked through earlier, when they first entered this place.
When they regrouped with Jak and Twilight, however, no one said anything as the four of them walked over to the small set of stairs that would bring them to their true destination, a large chamber with a large statue of Mar, as it almost looked like the statue they had seen inside the sewers and had a curved walkway in front of it, which seemed to connect the left and right sides of this area together, but resting just below the statue's neck resting an indent that had a large green stone inside it, one that Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy could instantly feel the power of, no doubt due to their magic, meaning they had found the Precursor Stone.
Welcome, young warriors. Many eons have passed since our hope has burned so brightly. a voice said, which was likely coming from the statue, even if it was a Precursor voice since they recognized it in a matter of seconds, and that it spoke as soon as they entered the chamber, though at the same time it sounded like whoever was left in charge of watching this Tomb was pleased with what the four of them had done since they entered this place, but the siblings said nothing while they waited for the voice to continue speaking, Today, all of you have proven yourselves worthy to inherit Mar's legacy and claim the Precursor Stone, which comes with a grave responsibility, as eons ago the Precursors waged a terrible war with the Hora-quan... those creatures that you call the 'Metal Heads'... whose dark leader laid waste to our glorious civilization and now they scour our domain unopposed, searching for the last relics of our power. Mar had this tomb and its tests built to test whoever came in search for the Precursor Stone, and you four, with your companions, have been chosen to protect it from the Hora-quan and their terrible leader.
"And you're okay with my brothers and I protecting it as well?" Alvin asked, speaking up when he sensed a pause in what the statue had to tell them, as he wanted to be respectful to the Precursor that had been placed in this area, worrying that being disrespectful might prevent them from obtaining the Precursor Stone, something Twilight could hide with a wave of her hand and no one would be able to find it until she wanted it to be discovered, though his statement was more due to the fact that he, Simon, and Theodore were, in some manner, Metal Heads, or Hora-quan as the statue called them, and he wanted to make sure the statue meant what it had said.
You three are Hora-quan, that is true, the statue stated, showing that it knew what they were at a glance, which was a first since most individuals had no idea what they were and would be surprised when he or his brothers revealed themselves to whoever they were talking to, but at the same time they had the feeling that the speaker was thinking about what he was learning at the moment, or at least that was what all of them were thinking about, but, at the same time, all of you are different from the rest of your kind... there is Light inside you, instead of Darkness... so I will entrust the Precursor Stone to the three of you as well.
"You fools! You've brought me right to the Precursor Stone!" another familiar voice declared, to which the siblings watched as the Baron, using a mech that looked like a spider of sorts, with four legs instead of eight, flew through open air behind them and landed in front of the statue, no doubt believing that he had gained the upper hand and that they would hand over the Precursor Stone just because he told them to, though they could see that he was sitting in the middle of the main compartment that allowed him to move the mech's limbs and whatever weapons it had, "Your pitiful Underground friends were no match for my guards, and now that the Precursor Stone is mine there is nothing anyone can do to stop me... not even the dark powers you four possess will save you this time!"
"Yeah, about that... we're not scared of you or your impressive machines," Jak replied, though as he said that he glanced over to Twilight for a moment as she seemed to disappear, as she was putting his plan into action, which put a smile on his face for a second as he focused on the Baron, who wasn't focused on the Stone at all and allowed Starlight to use her magic to get over to it and pried it from where it had been resting, allowing her to return to his side with the Precursor Stone, meaning the Statue likely removed whatever bindings when she approached it and would have fought the Baron if he tried to claim it, before he pulled out a few of his ammunition capsules for a second, "You know, Twilight had a theory about our powers... I think its time we put her theory to the test."
"What are you..." the Baron stated to ask, though before he could finish his question Jak opened several Blue Eco bullets and the pure Eco that was resting inside them was absorbed into his main target's body, something that had been written down in the pages of the journals they had recovered, journals that had lead them to make the Dark Warrior Program in the first place, and that information was that all four of the children, Jak and his sisters, were capable of channeling all four types of Eco, now five since most of them had access to Dark Eco as well, meaning Jak must have regained the power to absorb and utilize the other types of Eco.
In that moment Jak burst through the air, showing that his old powers were definitely back and that Twilight's theory had been right, meaning Cozy and Starlight could likely do the same thing, though while the Baron likely assumed he was the target of what was coming, which he was, Jak's current destination was something he had spotted when they entered this place, as resting above the statue's head was a familiar blade, the same one that Mar's statue was holding and was made out of some Precursor alloy, and he took it up from where it was resting before flashing down towards the Baron and his mech, where his Eco power surrounded the weapon as he sliced through the legs and escape pod, crippling his foe's machine as his foe rolled out of it.
"Okay, that certainly wasn't part of my plan," the Baron remarked, though in that instant he turned towards the section of the curved walkway that Jak had landed on as he pulled out his broadsword, which he carried with him at all times, even if he never needed it, because based on everything that was happening right now he had the feeling that he was going to need it to defend himself, especially since his mech had been smashed to pieces in moments, before he could actually use it to bring the siblings down, to which he focused on Jak, "Maybe I was wrong about the lot of you... boys and girls wouldn't have been able to do all of this..."
Jak tilted his head for a moment before rushing at the Baron, where Praxis raised his broadsword and parried the attack that aimed at his chest, showing that Jak was being serious and that he had to take this seriously, though as he did that he also noticed that the others were standing back, making this more like a duel and less of a fight between him and all four of them, while noticing that Starlight had the Precursor Stone in her hands, so if he beat Jak he was likely going to have to face Twilight, or Midnight, and Cozy before being able to get at the relic he was after. After seeing that, and noticing that his foe was waiting for him to make a move, Praxis moved into a series of attacks that were designed to crush his foes, to knock Jak into the ground and cripple him so he could move onto the next sibling, but found that Jak avoided some of his attacks and parried others, once more reminding him of the journals and what Gol had written about him, as in the skills that Jak possessed, and realized that training with a Sage must have done this, to some degree, which made things much more difficult for him when he took things into consideration. Jak, on the other hand, realized that Praxis was under the impression that someone with a lot of experience and practice might be able to take down someone who didn't have all of those skills, especially when fighting someone who was empowering themselves with Eco powers, but despite that fact his current abilities and skills were more than enough to keep up with his foe's movements, not counting when he tapped into his Eco powers anyway, and he was thankful that his sisters were staying out of this, so he could bring the Baron down and see if he might be redeemable, even though he felt such a thing was unlikely. Of course, even as he and Praxis fought each other, Jak could feel Twilight's gaze on him, because he realized that the weapon he was wielding had to be the very one that Mar wielded back before the Tomb had been created, making it a historic artifact that had, against all odds, been kept in great condition despite no one being here to tend to it or fix it, and he was sure one of his sisters was thinking about the armor, which he knew they would worry about later as he shifted his stance and parried Praxis' incoming strike, before he knocked the broadsword out of his foe's hands and punched him in the gut, forcing him to a knee as he rested the edge of Mar's sword against Praxis' neck.
"You might be skilled in combat, but I've won the battle," Jak stated, where he could see that the Baron was considering the fact that he had been beaten, either due to overthinking this battle or simply old ages, or old wounds, getting the better of him, though in that moment he considered the information that Keira had told him when he recovered the item he gave to Twilight earlier, something that caused him to sigh for a moment, "depending on what happens next, you'll either see the start of another day or we'll make sure this Tomb becomes yours as well..."
As Praxis opened his mouth to say something, since he was worried about what Jak was saying, he paused as a bright light appeared behind him and he turned his head for a moment, finding a large sphere of what he guessed was Light Eco that was floating in the air, even though he could faintly see the familiar wings of Midnight behind Twilight, like the two might be working in unison or something, before the sphere was released and it rushed through the air towards his location, as it moved faster than what he expected it to, engulfing him in a bright light for a time... though when everything died down he staggered for a few moments, as he had expected the attack to kill him, but instead it looked like it had been designed for something else, causing him to raise a hand to his head as he moaned.
"Wh... What have you done?!" Praxis stated, as it felt like a massive migraine had come on and he was having to deal with it right now, though to be more exact it felt like a dark cloud had been lifted from his mind, all thanks to that attack, and that he was able to calmly think about everything that was going on, like most of the anger had been shrouding his eyes had been take care of, though in that moment he realized that it appeared that whatever darkness he had been inflicted with had been cured by whatever Twilight and Midnight had done to him.
"Keira found your medical files and discovered some interesting things, like the head wound that you patched up with a bit of changed Metal Head material," Twilight replied, where she landed near Jak and her sisters and faced the Baron for a few seconds, who raised a hand to the metallic dome that he had used to make sure he survived one of his failed assaults on the Metal Head Nest, hence why he told Errol that it was foolish to consider attacking that place, before her siblings just watched as the fragments of Midnight disappeared not a few seconds later, "after that she messed with the last Power Cell we found during our first adventure, trying to access the Light Eco contained inside it, and when she got as far as she could, enough to actually extract and contain the Eco in question, she handed it to Jak the last time they saw each other, who then handed it off to me so Midnight and I could use it on you... it should have severed any connection between you and the Metal Head Leader, who was either influencing your mind or had no idea that the Dark Eco changed you to the extent that the city has seen. If everything worked as intended, you should have been restored to who you had been, just before the metal was added to your skull anyway, and we should be able to ask you questions about things... something that can wait until after the Metal Heads are taken care of."
"I... you..." Praxis said, though in that moment he truly stared at the four siblings and paused when he realized something that was incredibly important, all four of them looked like grown up versions of the heirs of the city, the missing Prince and Princesses, which made sense when he considered the power Jak had shown him, the power to absorb and utilize the types of Eco that existed in their world, something that only Sages and those born with it had access to, and while neither Cozy or Starlight had demonstrated the legendary power he was sure they had access to it as well, to which he sighed and lowered his head for a moment, "I am yours to command, my King."
"For now, we need to act like nothing is wrong and that we're on opposite sides, but soon we'll unite Haven City under a single banner once more," Jak stated, informing Praxis that he needed to maintain the appearance that nothing grand had happened inside the Tomb of Mar, save for him possibly getting his tail kicked since his mech had been destroyed, which was around the time that Twilight opened a new portal and had Starlight store the Precursor Stone away, meaning no one would be able to get to it without her pulling it out, though at the same time he knew things were going to get weirder as they fought to save the rest of the city, especially with what just happened, "though first we need to break our friends out of prison, before we get the show on the road."
Praxis said nothing to that as he nodded his head and allowed the siblings, the true rulers of the city, to leave Mar's Tomb first, as he needed time to think about what had just happened and everything he had done since he fixed his head with a bit of Metal Head metal, though he knew that things were about to change in some manner and suspected that the four siblings would be able to tackle whatever the future had in store for them and their allies.