It took the Air Train a few minutes to reach the twisted area that the Metal Heads called home, which made sense due to the fact that it had to be a good distance from where Haven City rested, otherwise the main enemies of the city would have been constantly attacking the city instead of waiting for the Shield Wall to collapse, though when the vehicle finally arrived Jak and his sisters were able to see what sort of landscape Kor and his kind lived in, not to mention what they would have to fight their way through to get to where he was holding the Rift Ring. As the ramp opened they found that the sky was gray, there were a number of jagged spikes sticking up all over this island, or wherever the Nest was located, it looked like there might be a dark purple haze in the air, and there were a number of fortifications that looked like they had been made by those who followed Mar into this place when he built his gun near the Nest, meaning if they followed the path in front of them it should bring them to an edge of the massive structure that was off in the distance. Alvin, Simon, and Theodore glanced all over the place, as this was familiar to them, since they had lived in the Nest until they decided to betray their father, where they were happy that Kor hadn't noticed all of them while he was looking for the Precursor Stone, though all of them were sure that any entrances and exits the brothers might know about had been sealed by their father after he returned to this place, given that he knew they would be following after him and would arrive not long after he landed in the Nest, so they would have to fight their way to the edge of the Nest and then blast their way through the outer wall. That was, of course, if Kor had done nothing to Mar's gun, though even as he considered that Jak was sure that Midnight or Starlight, or maybe even both of them, would be annoyed if someone used the Stone with the weapon, since they weren't sure what the gun was supposed to do to power up the main weapon systems, but he was sure they would likely find the weapon and study it for a time before they did anything else.
Once all of them were no longer on the Air Train the guard who had been piloting it, to be sure they got there since he was doing this on Praxis' orders, quickly closed the ramp door and took off, leaving the siblings and their Ottsels standing at the edge of the Metal Head Nest, causing everyone to turn towards the path that was in front of them and noticed that a few tanks, weapons that the Krimzon Guards had used during the Baron's assault on the Nest, as in the failed one, which were totally ruined and confirmed that they were part of Praxis' failed attempt to take this place, so he could breach the lair of the Metal Heads and take Kor down.
"Welcome to the Metal Head Nest... our old home," Alvin commented, though he and his brothers were surprised that all of them had bad it back to this place, as all three of them had been assuming that one or two of them would have fallen after reaching Haven City and made him even more grateful that they had met the siblings that were with them, as it was thanks to them that they had been able to reach this point in time, to which he sighed and focused on their mission once more, "Okay, let's find the gun and get inside the Nest so we can deal with our father."
With that said, and the siblings nodded their heads in agreement to what Alvin had said, the four of them moved forward and made sure to have their weapons at the ready, where enemies were instantly upon them as a number of Mantis foes jumped down into this section of the Nest and jumped around the area in an attempt to confuse them, though instead of using his gun on them Jak focused on swinging Mar's sword at any enemies who came at him while Starlight focused on blasting her targets and Dark Cozy smashed a few into the ground. Midnight, on the other hand, didn't do much right now as they walked through the starting area of the Nest, as in she was studying what was around her and determining if her siblings needed her help or not, before she spotted a new type of Metal Head that appeared to be a spider that had the power to fly and land wherever it wanted to, an Arach-head based on Simon's comments, where she raised her hand for a moment and blasted it with a Peace Maker blast. With that done they found a dead end in front of them and a gear wheel near a wall, one that happened to raise a platform near a break in one of the walls they walked by, to which they simply turned around and used it to delve deeper into the outermost section of Kor's domain, keeping their eyes open for foes as they sought out Mar's gun, before they found another ruined area that had a number of Mantis jumping about, where Jak used his Scatter Mod to take his targets down and opened the way for his siblings to continue moving. It was clear to them that Alvin, Simon, and Theodore were holding their true selves back for now, as they wanted to surprise their father and not reveal their hand to him at the wrong moment, finding one of the Arach-heads blocking the way forward and it fell to the might of Dark Cozy as she rushed forward and smashed it right into the ground, which also allowed them to move into an area that had a number of Mantis jumping around, which seemed to be one of the more common types of enemies in this place. As such Midnight gathered a small bit of her power and swung her hand, creating a line of Scatter energy so she could blast all of her targets at the same time, and once that was done they headed down the path to their left and came to a stop as they found a massive metallic object resting nearby, one that seemed to be shaped like a weapon and just so happened to be pointing at the outside wall of the Nest.
"So, this is Mar's gun," Jak said, staring at the imposing weapon for a time as he wondered how strong it had to be, if it was empowered by the Precursor Stone's energies, though knowing Midnight he figured that the weapon wasn't going to be used at all and that they were going to find another way to breach the Nest, as given the powers his sisters had he knew it was only a matter of time until one of them used something that smashed through part of the Nest, to which he glanced at his sisters for a moment as he debated what to do.
"We're not using it, if that's what you're thinking," Midnight replied, to which she turned towards the path that lead away from where the gun rested and found that it lead to a larger area that had a few ruined tanks and other Krimzon Guard machines, not to mention a number of Mantis and a few Arach-heads who seemed to be patrolling this place, including a second new type of foe that was a massive Metal Head, one taller than Kor and seemed to be shaped like an elephant with metallic plating, a Grunt Elephant as Simon called it, who seemed to be patrolling part of the path forward in a specific route it repeated multiple times, even though it was moving rather slowly, "You know, I've been wondering what I should do with this, and it seems that using it here might be the best course of action..."
Jak watched as Midnight weaved her power through the air for a moment and a rift opened up, allowing her to withdraw the Piercer Bomb that she had stolen from the Weapons Factory earlier, where she promptly ignited the device and, as he and the others opened their mouths to question what she was going to do with it, hurled it right at the Grunt Elephant that was further down the path they needed to travel down, something that caused the bomb to explode and consumed the entire area that her target was resting in, blasting apart everything around the Metal Head. When the smoke cleared it was easy for them to see that she had knocked down the Grunt Elephant and that it was resting in a crater, while not blocking the way forward, to which Midnight smiled for a moment as Dark Cozy rushed out and started swinging her claws at the remaining enemies that were in this area, standing still as they stared at the crater, as none of them had been expecting it to happen and this meant Kor must be surprised as well. Not a few moments later Jak and Starlight joined the fight as they blasted and slashed their way through the Metal Heads that were in front of them, leaving the area that Mar's gun was in and headed for the edge of the Nest, noticing that it seemed to get darker as all of them drew closer to their destination, but that didn't bother anyone as Alvin and his brothers watched the rest of the Metal Heads fall before the might of the siblings they had joined, where they were grateful that they were on their side and not fighting them, as Alvin was sure he and his brothers would fall if any of them had faced Twilight and her sisters. Once they cleared out all of the enemies that were near Mar's gun Jak continued to move down the path in front of them and headed for the Nest, where a number of Arach-heads and Mantis happened to be resting, though Dark Cozy found a more important target in the form of another Grunt Elephant, one further along the path in front of them, and burst into the air so she could punch it in the side of the head, knocking it off its feet and sent it right into one of the nearby rock walls, before she proceeded to beat it up so that all of the electricity it produced wouldn't damage her siblings as they moved deeper into the area that was outside the Nest that Kor had to be waiting inside.
Thanks to all of that, and Dark Cozy focusing on slashing her way through the Metal Heads that were in front of them, they were able to pass through an area that had a few pools of Dark Eco before coming to a stop near the outer edge of Kor's Nest, to which Midnight stepped forward and channeled her power into the wall in question as Jak, Starlight, Dark Cozy, and all four Ottsels watched as she crushed the material that was in her way, like it was made of paper or something, and tore open a massive opening that made it look like someone had blasted their way through the wall, allowing them to walk forward and found a path that brought them to where Kor and the Rift Ring were resting.
"Finally, you foolish heroes have decided to join us, and I'm assuming that you brought the Precursor Stone." Kor said, as he seemed happy to see them, all due to the fact that he believed one of them was carrying the object that was the focus of his war on Haven City, though as he said that he waved one of his limbs and the siblings noticed that Young Jak and his sisters were resting inside a spherical magical battier, likely created by Young Twilight or Young Starlight, causing them to stare at Kor once more, "Good, things are still moving in my favor, and soon the boy will play his final part!"
"Sorry, but you aren't getting your way, Kor," Jak stated, where he and his sisters came to a stop near the ledge that just so happened to rest between the chamber that Midnight had opened the way to and the main chamber that Kor rested in, along with the Rift Ring and their younger selves, though at the same time Alvin, Simon, and Theodore jumped down from the shoulders each of them had been riding on and focused on what they were about to do, something the siblings were in the middle of doing as well, "we were trained and enhanced to take you down..."
"You four were hidden in the past on the hope that you would gain the skills to face me today, but Onin was wrong!" Kor replied, showing them that he must have talked with the old seer quite a bit while he was in his Human form, or listened to what the Shadow learned from their ally, and that he disagreed with what Onin had to say on the matter, that he would be the one to come out on top and do whatever it was that Metal Heads did when they took over an inhabited world, as the Oracle inside Mar's Tomb mentioned something about it, "Now that you've been altered with Dark Eco, Jak, the Stone will never open for you... but your younger self, on the other hand, still has the pure gift, and with his power he can unlock the true potential of the Precursor Stone and awaken the Precursor entity that sleeps inside it!"
"Seriously? The Stone is actually a Precursor?" Dark Cozy growled, which had to be the normal Cozy speaking through the power of her Dark Form, though at the same time this was a piece of information that none of them were expecting to find while they were taking Kor down, but it did mean that keeping the Stone inside Midnight's storage space was a good thing since it prevented their foe from getting his hands on it, who didn't seem to realize that the Precursor Stone was missing at the moment and was focused on being annoyed wiht them.
"No you idiot! It is the last Precursor Egg!" Kor declared, something that caused Midnight to frown, as she didn't like any of them being called idiots, regardless of who was using the term to describe one of them, though at the same time she just stood there and crossed her arms, knowing that this might be the last bit of information that Kor might give them and she wanted to hear everything he had to say before they killed him, "Mar was a clever one, covering his tracks well through all of time as he hid this last egg from me, all while building the shield and city to defend it! It has been a long and tiresome siege, but today, I will finally feed on the last Precursor life force!"
"You're forgetting one little thing, father: we have the Precursor Stone!" Alvin stated, where he and his brothers made themselves known as their energies ignited and they transformed into their larger hybrid forms, because due to the size of this chamber there was no way for any of them to really use their true dragon forms while their father was in his massive true form, though he knew that these would be perfect for what he and his brothers had in mind as they and their friends stared at Kor for a few more seconds.
"You three! I should have crushed you when you and your cursed kind when you were younger!" Kor growled, showing all of them that, despite the fact that Alvin, Simon, and Theodore were his children, the Crown Princes of the Hive and next in line in case something terrible happened to him, he didn't actually care for them and that he wished he had slain them all those years ago, back when they were babies or just a year old, not that the brothers were expecting a warm welcome or something when they finally encountered him again, to which everyone readied themselves for the battle to come, as now that their talk was over it was only a matter of time until the battle with Kor started.
As soon as they were done talking Kor, who had been hanging in the middle of the chamber thanks to come webbing or something which kept him suspended while they were talking, gathered some of his dark power and fired a blast of Dark Eco at them, one designed to blast open the ground or something like that, though Midnight waved her hand and directed it into one of the walls in the chamber behind them, since she didn't want to weaken the walls of the central chamber all of them would be fighting in for a time. Once that was done the siblings jumped down into the lower section of the area Kor wanted to stay in and lashed out at him with their powers, as in Starlight channeled a bit of her magic into blasts that either slammed into Kor's body or struck the wall behind him when he moved out of the way a little, Dark Cozy focused on rushing around the chamber and taking out any Metal Heads, Stingers to be exact, who rushed to Kor's aid, Midnight just floated in the air and used her own dark power to either cancel out Kor's or redirect them into their foe's side from time to time, leaving Jak to open a few Blue Eco bullets and down the contents so he could move fast as he focused on swinging Mar's sword at Kor's exposed limbs. Of course while the siblings did that Daxter jumped onto Alvin's back as the brothers took to the air and flew around their father, each one lashing out with their claws and tails as they looked for something to strike or damage so they could knock him to the ground, though Daxter, in an odd twist, focused on jumping over to Kor's body and summoned his own Eco blade as he hacked and slashed into their foe's backside for a time, causing the beast to growl in annoyance as it happened, almost as if Kor couldn't believe that he was doing such a thing, likely due to Daxter being seen as the weakest member of the group, or the most cowardly of them all. Since Daxter was in that position it did give him an opening to take down the webbing that was holding Kor up, something their foe realized and shook himself to try and get Daxter off of him for a few seconds, though he failed as Daxter rushed up to where the webbing was and just swung his blade at them, cutting the webbing to pieces as Kor fell from where he had been resting and slammed into the ground not a few moments later, causing him to growl as he picked himself up and faced them for real.
What was interesting was that Kor really didn't have any good moves to use against them when he struck the ground, but he did avoid falling into the central hole of the chamber, though it did give Jak several new targets to choose from, which were Kor's legs and the rest of his body, but as the fight continued, however, Midnight came to truly understand that the Metal Heads were designed to take out large armies, while a small group like theirs was more than enough to wipe out all sorts of foes, even though it could be explained that their powers were the reason for them taking out the Metal Heads in such an easy fashion. One thing they noticed, as Midnight continued to redirect Kor's incoming blasts and even cancel out others with one of her own, was that Daxter had returned to their foe's back and was slowly climbing up onto his neck as all of them faced Kor, so Alvin and his brothers made sure to keep him distracted so their friend could reach whatever his target might be, as all of them assumed that he was heading towards Kor's head in an effort to cut into his neck or even drive his blade into their foe's head, either way would weaken him so they could finish him off. Of course that meant that Dark Cozy couldn't lash out at him with all of her might, which annoyed her a little bit, though Jak used a bit of the Yellow Eco from his Blaster clip and granted him a few moments to use a couple of fireballs against their foe, which was what he did as his sisters continued their assault, each attack being designed to distract Kor right now while making sure he didn't realize that Daxter was moving up his backside, meaning he was focused on their 'destruction' and nothing else right now, which worked out in their favor quite well. Another thing Starlight noticed was that Kor wasn't even trying to shout out all sorts of phrases to distract them from their mission, like how they 'failed to protect the city' and whatnot, though she was fine with that since she was sure that if he said anything to one or more of them it would result in Midnight speaking up to criticize him or counter whatever point he might have been trying to make, so the silence was good as they lashed out at the massive Metal Head as his sons flew around his body, lashing out whenever an opening revealed itself to them, while at the same time it looked like Alvin and Theodore might be following a plan that Simon created for whenever they faced their father, where Kor kept switching from targeting his sons to targeting Jak and his sisters.
The end of the battle came when Daxter swung his Eco Blade and sliced open the back of Kor's beck, which caused him to stagger for a moment, though that was the perfect opening as Midnight weaved her power through the air, part of it being a blessing to Mar's sword so it would have all types of Eco for a few seconds while the other part would allow Jak to jump high into the air, to which he drove the Precursor blade right into Kor's head and shattered the gemstone, and when both he and Daxter landed they watched as Kor's body staggered right into the side of the Rift Ring before tearing itself apart, leaving only his head resting nearby... and as that happened, where their younger selves were freed from whatever trap Kor had stuck them in, Midnight withdrew the Precursor Stone and handed it to Young Jak, whose power caused the Stone to glow for a second before a transparent humanoid being of light blue energy emerged from it.
"A Precursor!" Jak said, his voice low as he and the others stared at the being who had been released from the Stone, who floated in the air above the artifact while his sisters and the Metal Head brothers joined them near Kor's head, where he knew that Alvin and his brothers had to be feeling the effects of helping him and his sisters kill their father, even if it had been something they agreed on a long time ago, before everyone focused on the being who seemed to be gathering his thoughts, but that was mostly due to the fact that it looked like the Precursor had a slim masculine form.
It is finished. the glowing being stated, where he beckoned to the fallen remains of Kor for a few seconds, indicating that the first thing he would be talking about would be the ancient foe of the Precursors, even though Jak and his sisters were curious as to how in the world the Metal Heads and Kor had been able to bring down the ancient Precursors, as they had decimated Kor and suspected that all of the Precursors knew to fight the Hora-quan in small groups, so they felt that there was something wrong with what they had been told, before the figure turned towards them, all while Midnight faded away and Twilight took her place again, Our ancient enemy is no more, thanks to your efforts. Take hope, brave ones, for the terrible darkness that rests inside most of you will soon be balanced by a glorious light! We will meet again.
As Jak and his sisters opened their mouths to say something, anything really, the Precursor turned around and flew into the center of the Rift Ring, where they finally noticed that the relic had been damaged by Kor's body crashing into the side of it, though before any of them could speak up they heard a familiar sound and watched as the Lurker balloon, piloted by Keira since it looked like Brutter's friends had ditched the balloon when they realized it was heading for the Metal Head Nest, passed through the opening Midnight had made and landed nearby.
"We haven't much time." Keira spoke up, speaking when the balloon reached where Jak and his sisters were standing, as she could see that the Rift Ring had suffered some damage and it would likely fall apart in no time, to which she instantly moved and rushed over to the Rift Rider so she could make the final preparations for it to be used to take them into the past, so they could do what they came to do, before taking a moment to glance at the others, "I've set the coordinates back to our village, thanks to some ancient coordinates left in the Time Map... let's go home, everyone."
"Yeah, about that... we are home." Cozy remarked, as once Kor had been slain the darkness inside her receeded and she was allowed to return to her original form, even though this time she was exhausted and it was likely due to all the power she had burned up recently, or maybe it was due to the fact that none of them had gotten any sleep for some time and, now that Kor was gone, they could finally rest and take some time to do something that wasn't saving the city from those who sought to do them harm, all while hoping that Keira would understand their situation.
"Keira, I'm afraid your Rift Rider must be used to send Young Jak and his sisters to a place where they can grow up safe from harm." Samos stated, where it did look like part of Keira had wanted to just leave this timeline and head into the past so they could return to a simplier time, though she sighed for a moment as she nodded her head, showing that she did understand what needed to be done and that the kids needed to head back in time, even though Samos also seemed to be talking to his younger self as well, especially since the Shadow was taking in what was in front of him, as in the fallen head of Haven's great and terrible foe, "They must become old enough and strong enough to complete the destiny they have fulfilled here today."
"Wait a minute! I have to take them back and watch over them, don't I?" the Shadow stated, almost as if he finally put that piece of information together on his own, even though Jak and his sisters had done their best to fill him in when Kor was no where to be seen, but in the end he didn't have all the information and this happened to be the first time he had all the pieces to the puzzle they had been keeping hidden from Kor, though as he said that Samos nodded his head as Jak and his sisters, including Keira, did the same thing, "Ah, grub roots! Talk about being in the wrong time at the right place!"
"Hey kid, you take care." Jak said, where he and his sisters helped their younger selves onto the Rift Rider, even though he and the others noticed that Keira had made sure there was enough room for the five passangers to be comfortable, and he found that their younger selves were interested in staring at them for a time, as he knew that they would remeber bits and pieces of what happened, most of it being locked away until a later date, before he considered something and nearly chuckled as he faced his younger self again, "Oh, and trust me on this: stay away from any Wumpbee nests on your ninth birthday, okay?"
As Jak said that his younger self pulled the red symbol off of his necklace and handed it to him, where he accepted it and assumed the kid realized that he might need it in the future, though Keira was worried about the Rift Rider since the Rift Ring was starting to break apart even more and it was only a matter of time until the artifact was destroyed, but one thing she considered was if the Rider would be able to make it to the past since it was a replica and not the real thing they had used to reach this point in time, which caused Samos to calm her by saying that this, in fact, happened to be the same device they would eventually find, meaning he must have sealed the Rift Ring and Rider behind the Precursor Door before heading to Sandover Village, but before Keira said anything else someone spoke up.
"Honey, the more you think about it, the more it hurts the head!" Daxter stated, as he didn't want Keira to get hurt while she overthought everything that was associated with this strange situation, even though he was sure that Twilight had an idea of what happened and could it explain it to everyone in simple terms or something, like it looked like Starlight could do as well, but in the end it looked like Keira understood what he was saying, which was an odd thing to consider, before she and her father climbed off the Lurker balloon, leaving the Shadow and the younger kids with the Rift Rider, as it was time for them to get moving.
"I'll take good care of the children!" the Shadow said, though as he said that he tapped the Heart of Mar gem, the activator for the device, just like Keira had told him on the way to the Nest, to which the Rift Rider started to lift into the air and align with the still crumbling Rift Ring, all while the younger versions of Jak, Twilight, Cozy, and Starlight waved goodbye to all of them, even though everyone knew that his promise would remain true, at least until they were old enough to head over to Misty Island and start their first adventure, "And don't worry, I'll be back in time for the celebration! Farewell!"
"Thanks, Samos. Without you..." Jak commented, as there was much he wanted to tell Samos, like thank him for everything he had done for him and his sisters over the years they spent in Sandover Village, though as he said that they watched as the Rift Rider passed through the tunnel between this point in time and the past that he and his sisters had grown up in all those years ago, and it wasn't long before the Rider disappeared entirely, meaning that none of them would see their younger selves again.
"It's funny, none of them will remember any of this," Samos replied, thinking about something else as Jak said that, though at the same time everyone watched as the Rift Ring, the rest of its ancient power spent, stalled as the tunnel faded away and left the central area of the artifact bare, allowing all of them to see the rock wall behind it, before it shattered into a pile of pieces that collapsed on the ground nearby, to which he sighed as he glanced at them for a second, "save for some nightmares for the first week or two."
"We also remember the light." Twilight added, where she assumed that it must have been the Precursor that young Jak had freed once Kor had been defeated by the older versions of themselves that they had seen in the distant past, which caused her siblings to nod their heads for a moment, though while she was annoyed with the destruction of a Precursor artifact, especially one as powerful as the Rift Ring, all of them left out a sigh of relief as this battle finally came to an end, as they could finally move on with their lives.
As such Jak, Twilight, Cozy, and Starlight walked onto the Lurker balloon as Keira and Samos joined them, all while Alvin, Simon, Theodore, and Daxter joined them, with the brothers actually treating Daxter like a warrior this time, before they used the Lurker device to lift into the air and head back towards Haven City, as it was time to do some damage control, see if the Crown Princes awakened any powers with the downfall of their evil father, and then focus on figuring out what might have happened to their own father, before worrying about whatever the future might have for them.