//------------------------------//
// Spargus: Meeting the King 
// Story: Jak and Daxter: Heirs of Mar 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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While Jak and his sisters were expecting to find a city of sorts in the Wasteland, given that Sig must have stayed in one to have survived all of his time in this place and learned the moves he showed off during the missions they joined him on back in Haven City, none of them were actually prepared for what they found when the Wastelander King and his guards, one of which was rather large for someone who lived in a desert, reached the end of their trek across the sands and approached what appeared to be a massive metallic gate, one that was sections of metal pieced together to form what they were seeing at the moment, especially since it was built between two sections of a mountain. As they approached the gate it split in half and opened before their eyes, revealing tracks that would normally be found in places like Haven City's Stadium, though Jak's eyes widened for a few seconds as they found a large circular area that contained at least eight land vehicles that had to be racers of some kind, no doubt used to traverse the vast continent the Wasteland called home, and some looked more like they were weapons of war, making him and his sisters wonder what each of them were used for. Of course there was another door, this one being rectangular in nature from what they were seeing and happened to have the longer line going up towards the sky, while also being made in a similar fashion to the main gate, even though the circular main gate was smoother than this particular gate, though none of them said anything as it opened as well and revealed the way to their main destination, something that caused their jaws to drop a little as they stared at what was in front of them. Spargus was a city that was built into one of the few mountain ranges that existed in the Wasteland, as there were one or two more if the maps were to be believed, plus a volcano in the center of the entire continent, where it looked like all of the houses were resting inside the sides of the mountains and a number of massive stones that had been in this place, plus there happened to be a palace of sorts, which kind of looked like the one in Haven City if you looked at it from a certain angle, resting on an arch above the entire city.

Of course they got a chance to see everyone who was inside the city, as there were all sorts of civilians who carried staff guns on their back, which seemed to be the weapon of choice for the people of Spargus, before the King and his guards brought them to an area that had a rather royal looking door, to which the King made sure to have his Wastelanders head out and likely resume their duties as he carried Mar's sword in his spare hand, even though the door opened not a couple of seconds later and revealed a lift... one they used to reach the inside of the palace, which had some pools of water, one of the metallic water wheels, glass windows, and a few other things that included a throne.

"There are many things I want to ask you, especially since Pecker is traveling with you and you were in possession of one of the beacons that exiles are given," the King stated, though none of them were surprised by the fact that he knew who Pecker was, because if he had been Haven's previous ruler, and everyone was positive that he was, he would know Onin and the one who spoke on her behalf, but as they considered that information the King raised Jak's sword and pulled out the ancient and well preserved Precursor blade, where he studied it for a few seconds, "not to mention the fact that you were carrying a blade only mentioned in the legends of Mar and seen on what statues of him remain, but first I must know your names. I am Damas, King of Spargus."

"I am Jak, and these are my sisters Twilight, Cozy, and Starlight, along with our Ottsel companions, Daxter, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore," Jak replied, gesturing to himself before waving a hand towards the others when he said their name, which would give their father a chance to register who he was talking to, even though he had to recognize his sisters since they were the only ones in the world who were part Human and part pony, though his sisters and their companions waved for a few seconds as he named them, just in case Damas was too focused on something else, before he considered what he could do to help them out and reached into his pouch, "also, this might help clear up somethings."

Twilight knew what Jak pulled out before she even saw it, as he had decided to pull out the medallion his younger self had given him before he and the younger selves of her, Starlight, and Cozy joined the younger version of Samos in heading into the past, where her brother gently tossed it over to their father once it was outside his pouch, though Damas had taken a few seconds to sheath the sword before such a thing happened, to which he caught the red item and stared at it for a few seconds before a look of rage appeared of his face.

"Where did you get this?" Damas asked, though his tone revealed that this might not have been a good idea at all, where it was fine to have a few blunders and this wouldn't be the first time that Jak messed something up, as it looked like showing the medallion to the King of Spargus had angered him, which made sense when they considered that they were his kids and, in his eyes, all four of them were still missing, so suddenly showing him this item would likely make him believe that they had done something to his kids and cause him to treat them harshly, especially since it looked like he was gripping both his staff and the medallion, keeping his rage in check before he did something drastic.

"I gave it to myself, just before going back to a safe point in time with my sisters so we could become the bane of the one who lead the Metal Heads," Jak replied, but after seeing Damas' initial reaction to the medallion, something he had hoped wouldn't have happened when he handed over the item in question, there was no telling what would happen if he or his sisters took the time to explain things to him, so he was hoping that either Damas would listen to him or have Twilight take over and actually go over everything that happened, in her unique way that would cause their father to understand that they were telling the truth and not lying to him, before he sighed for a moment as he noticed the angry frown on Damas' face a few seconds later, causing him to turn towards Twilight, "Can you explain the situation?"

"Gladly. As you know Baron Praxis staged a coup to take over Haven City, and in the chaos that followed we vanished with our Croca-dog," Twilight stated, giving Jak an answer while switching to talking to Damas once she was done giving Jak an idea of what she was doing, while at the same time their sisters just stood there and waited for a time, listening to what all of them were talking about as they waited for a chance to speak as well, even though that would likely happen once their father understood that they weren't lying to him, "we were found by Samos Hagai, who became the leader of a rebellion known as the Underground, and spent our days being moved from one safe location to another, out of fear that Praxis would discover and capture us. Eventually we encountered our older selves, and by that I mean the four of us, and simply watched and observed what we were capable of, silently learning several things about how to fight and use either magic or Eco, before we were captured outside the Tomb of Mar and then freed not soon after that, where the deceptive leader of the Metal Heads captured us and imprisoned all four of us in the core of his Nest, likely as a bargaining chip to obtain the Precursor Stone from our current selves, only it backfired as our foe fell in battle. With the future secure our past selves were sent a little over three hundred years into the past, to a point in time where we would be able to grow up safely and gain the basic skills we had shown ourselves, which eventually lead to us befriending Daxter, before he became an Ottsel, a mix of otter and weasel, and lead to our first quest to save the world, something that ended with us beating the villains who were threatening our world and unlocked the very Rift Ring that allowed us to travel into the past in the first place, a relic that we used to return to the future. Of course we were separated during our journey back to the future, as Starlight, Cozy, and I ended up landing a year before Jak did, where I ended up in Haven Forest and met Alvin before joining up with the rebellion, Starlight ended up in the Port and joined Sig for a time, and Cozy ended up somewhere in the city before she was grabbed by Errol, even though Jak and Cozy ended up being experimented on... long story short, Starlight and I, with all of our Ottsels, broke them out of the Fortress and eventually brought about the sequence of events that we witnessed when we were younger."

"The Rift Ring, the artifact capable of time travel... you know, that actually explains so much," Damas said, speaking once he was sure that Twilight was done explaining the sequence of events to him, even though he suspected that this was just the shortened version of the whole story, mostly to make sure he wasn't bored of her talking too much and decided to just execute her if he felt she was lying, though as he glanced at the medallion he realized that he had been getting ready to lash out at his own children, in a rage that was unusual for even him, before glancing at Jak for a moment as the pieces of the puzzle finally fit into place in his mind, "Mar... Twilight... Cozy... Starlight..."

Jak found that he barely had time to think about why Damas had referred to him as 'Mar', as not a few seconds after those words left his father's mouth Damas rushed forward and wrapped his arms around all of them, showing that he was, in his own way, happy to see them again, especially since he wasn't tearing up or anything, which could be blamed on his time in the harsh and unforgiving Wasteland, though as that happened Twilight engaged her magic and caught the ancient sword before it hit the ground, as while it was made out of Precursor alloy it was also a priceless artifact, so treating it with some respect and care was necessary when she was near it.

"My children... to be honest, I had no idea if any of you survived after the coup... I was forced into exile before I could even figure out what happened to you," Damas stated, though while he didn't show them his emotions, once more due to the time he had spent in the unforgiving Wasteland and setting up Spargus with everyone else who had been exiled with him by Praxis, but the siblings were happy to have found him and that he was open to the fact that they were actually his kids, even if they were all grown up and he had missed so many years thanks to Praxis and the Rift Ring, before he pulled back for a moment and looked over each of them, plus their companions, "though it looks like each of you have been made into fine warriors in my absence, especially since you have saved our world twice so far... but before we get into a discussion about what happened to you four, I must inform the guards that I'm talking to new exiles and allowing them to prepare for for their first visit to the Ring of Death."

"But we're not exiles," Daxter pointed out, as he and the other Ottsels had been silent the entire time Damas and their friends had been talking to each other, even though both Cozy and Starlight were keeping silent as well, either taking in all of the sights they were seeing and the information they were learning or were just waiting for a chance to speak, though he felt that what Damas had said didn't make that much sense when he considered it and hoped that he wasn't about to make an absolute fool out of himself.

"I know, but you have to consider what my people have seen: you were brought here by a drop ship, you had one of the beacons that all exiles are given, and you were stranded here, like my followers and I were," Damas replied, something that did cause the siblings to nod their heads for a moment as they listened to him talk, as it made sense when they took a moment to consider it and it wasn't long before Daxter seemed to understand where the error in his judgement was, even though it was likely that Damas was going to finish his statement so his children knew what to expect for the foreseeable future, given that it would take some time for the magic users to find a way back to Haven City, "to everyone in Spargus those clues would lead them to assume that Haven City has decided to cast you out, reducing you to mere exiles that were left to die in the Wasteland... since we 'rescued' you, however, your lives belong to Spargus and you'll have to prove your strength to me and the rest of my city, as only the strongest survive in this unforgiving Wasteland."

"And you can't show them any favoritism, even if they are your children, since it might make you look like a weak king or something in the eyes of the other exiles," Simon stated, as he understood what was going on right now and could see all of their friends had quickly come to the same thought that both he and his brothers had reached, something that caused Damas to nod his head, showing that he was somewhat pleased with them figuring out his reasoning and explanation on the matter, meaning their next conversation wouldn't be focused on him explaining himself to someone who didn't even understand what he had said.

With that done Damas used the lift to head back down to the lower level and likely talked to one of the guards who had remained outside the palace entrance, just in case he needed either of them for something, before returning to the area that served as his throne room and stood in front of his seat of power, where Jak and his sisters sat nearby and waited for him to be ready for the tale that they were about to spin, as while he might have accepted that they were his children, and their younger selves had been sent into the past, it was hard to know how he would react to their previous adventures or to the full story of what happened to Jak and Cozy.





As it turned out they spent an hour and a half talking about the past adventures the siblings had taken on, the enemies they had faced, and everything that had happened before and after each one started, allowing Damas to understand that Daxter wasn't a natural born Ottsel, rather he was once a Human before falling into a vat of Dark Eco, while Alvin and his brothers were only using this form to disguise themselves, as they were actually Neo Metal Heads, something that they let Twilight explain since she was better at that sort of thing and already had an explanation at the ready for those who had no idea what in the world a Neo Metal Head was. Damas, of course, was caught off guard by what she told him and by the knowledge she dropped on him, since he had no idea there were even good Metal Heads in the first place and only found out what their hybrid forms looked like, since there wasn't enough room inside the palace for Alvin or his brothers to show him what each of them looked like in their true forms, though for right now he was going to have to take this information with an open mind and trust that his children weren't lying to him. The other thing he had a hard time believing was that Praxis was still alive, figuring one of them, or maybe most of them, would have killed the man for his crimes against them and the city, though Jak explained that it was necessary to keep the Baron alive since it allowed them to figure out what in the world had caused them to be separated from their father, and what had happened to Damas, leading to the discovery that he, his followers, and a few important figures had been banished to the Wasteland, something that was usually seen as a death sentence for those in Haven City. Jak and his sisters only knew about Spargus' existence due to the fact that one of their friends had mentioned, in his own way, the existence of something inside the Wasteland that exiles lived in, so it was easy for them to figure out that a city had to exist in the desert, so with Praxis' information in hand they prepared for an expedition, since nothing major was happening to Haven City or the area around the city, and set out to come here so they could track down any enemies to the city, be it the remaining Metal Heads or whoever was messing with the robots of the Krimzon Guard, while looking for him.

"So right now we've been able to achieve one of our goals, find Spargus and locate you," Starlight stated, coming to an end of their tale, even if they gave him a basic rundown of everything important that happened since the Baron's attack on the Palace, though she and her siblings were fortunate that he believed them and didn't call them liars, even though it would be hard for him to have done such a thing since there were only three pony girls in this world and they happened to be the three in question, which wasn't counting their younger selves since they had been sent back in time, "though we'll figure out how to achieve the others at some point in the future... which reminds me, Praxis said that Gol and Maia were your advisors before he took over, and that they joined you in the Wasteland, despite not being exiled like everyone else, but I haven't seen or felt them since we came to Spargus."

"Yes, they joined me in exile and have served as my advisors since, but there are days where even I don't see or hear from the pair," Damas replied, though while he knew some things about Gol and Maia's past, given that they had claimed they were older than most of the people that lived in Haven City, talking to his children filled a number of holes in for him and it explained a few things to him at the same time, especially why they had been so happy to lend him their assistance in both tending to Haven City and teaching his children how to start tapping into their Eco abilities, "all I know is that they love to research ancient Precursor artifacts and their sites, like a temple that rests on the other side of the Wasteland, at the top of a mountain... but, if you found the ancient blade of Mar, and are seen using it in battle, its only a matter of time until one or both of them come to investigate the news."

"Okay, so prove ourselves to all of Spargus and maybe draw the attention of the old Sages," Cozy stated, though while she said that, and her siblings nodded their heads to confirm that such a thing was exactly what they needed to do, she had a sneaking feeling that Gol and Maia already knew that they were in the Wasteland and might already be on their way back to Spargus, but there was always a chance that she was wrong and that both of the ancient Dark Sages were staying on the other side of the Wasteland, doing whatever studies occupied their time these days.

Damas nodded and beckoned for his children to follow him for a time, where they used the lift to head back down to the streets of the city, though before they did that he made sure to inform them that his guards would be keeping their guns and he would be holding onto Mar's sword for now, as the first test was easy and was a test of their basic skills, though if they survived that he would ensure that all of them were armed for the next challenge, to which they remained silent for a time as they headed over towards the main section of Spargus, heading up a giant ramp that lead to what appeared to be the inside of a volcano... where eventually they stood on a platform in front of the stands Damas sat in, allowing them to be in full view of everyone in the observer stands.

"Hail all citizens of Spargus! Welcome to the Arena of Death, where we get to watch other people wet themselves in fear as they fight to earn their place among us!" Pecker declared, as Damas had told them that he intended for Pecker to be one of his advisors, during this period of time where Gol and Maia were missing, and it appeared that one of the guards must have been told so they could spread the word, as none of the citizens appeared to be surprised by a talking bird speaking in the area that Damas sat in and cheered as he called out to them, "Today these halls will test some newcomers, Jak his sisters, and their talking animals, for the right to live among us! Let the games begin!"

What Jak, Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy discovered was that the first thing they had to do was use a circular platform that lowered down to what appeared to be an obstacle course of some kind, one that also seemed to have a number of blue spheres that seemed to head deeper into the area that was clearly designed for training and not for fighting, but all four of them quickly noticed that one wrong move meant falling into the lava below them, hence they Jak stood at the front of the line as he moved forward, leaving his sisters to follow after him. At first it seemed like a rather simple obstacle course, as they found that the first couple of steps seemed to be a reminder of how to do simple jumps and the short thin bridge just beyond them served as a way to learn how to roll, something everyone remembered how to do while simply doing it while showing all of the citizens of Spargus what they were capable of, even though some jumps and a few rolls wouldn't help them earn the respect of their father's people. One interesting thing they discovered were a number of dummies that had been placed in their way, which seemed to look like a potential threat in part of the Wasteland, something Damas would have to tell them about once they returned to the Palace, but for now Jak used his fist to smash the first one before using the ladder to move up to the next part of the course, leaving the ones that were in front of them to his sisters, showing all of the watchers that they worked well as a team, though if there were any enemies that needed to be taken down they would do much better in displaying their strength to the people of Spargus. Not a few moments later they reached a gap that required the double jump to cross over and then an area that needed them to use the high jump, though right now none of the sisters were bothering with their magic since it didn't seem necessary to show off that skill to the citizens of Spargus yet, before they reached a moving platform and took turns jumping over to it and moving deeper into this course, even though that brought them to an area that had a weak section in the floor that Jak smashed by jumping and spinning so he could break it with his fist, the dive attack skill, which allowed them to collect the last of the spheres, leading to one of the platforms to rise out of the lava and cool off in seconds, like Gol and Maia's work, something that allowed them to return to the area in front of their father's observer platform.

In that moment Damas called for the Arena of Death to be formatted as he tossed them their guns, causing a few citizens to raise their eyebrows as they noticed that Twilight didn't get a gun at all, before ensuring that Jak claimed Mar's blade as well, which was returned to his back as a number of citizens started to talk among themselves, no doubt since this was an odd thing to see and they were eager to see what the four of them were capable of, to which Jak and his sisters turned for a few seconds and jumped down onto the new platforms that were in front of them, as it appeared that they would be fighting close to the lava and might be standing on a sinkable platform. This lone platform had four containers resting just a tiny bit above it, ones that opened when Jak and his sisters jumped onto it, where they found a number of male warriors who wore a harness over their chests, which had small spikes in certain parts of it, wielding weapons that looked like a mix of axe and gun, or just wicked blades of some lesser metal, though Jak remembered their father telling them that some of his people captured the reckless and wild Marauders who traveled the Wasteland and tried to harass all of Spargus, who he believed came from a place known as the Icelands. They didn't have a whole lot of information on this place, and they would have to ask Vin or someone else for help researching it, but they were captives and Damas was, in a way, giving all of them a chance to fight for their lives, as any who survived being in the Arena of Death could attempt to join the city and become part of a greater unit, so each of them would be facing them with a desire to save their lives, meaning Jak and his sisters would have to fight with all their might, or most of their basic strength, to prove themselves. As such they split up and faced the four directions, Jak facing the north, Twilight taking the east, Cozy taking the south, and Starlight moving to defend the west side, so when the Marauders jumped down into this arena the siblings started dodging the attacks that were coming their way and used a couple of Scatter Blasts to knock their foes backwards, though Jak also used Mar's blade whenever someone got close to him, showing the people of Spargus that he was skilled with a weapon as well while all of his sisters focused on taking their enemies down.

It wasn't long before all four of them felt something or someone set their sights on them, as if an Eco Sage might actually be in this area, though it had an interesting effect on them as Jak shifted into his Dark Jak form, Cozy roared as she turned into her monstrous Dark Form, Twilight closed her eyes as Midnight took over and spread her wings again, and Starlight's body took on a darker sheen as black runic markings appeared on her arms, legs, and chest, indicating what her own Dark Form looked like, to which they totally wrecked the remaining Marauders in seconds, causing Damas to beckon for some shadowy figure to back off... though as the siblings used the lift to head back up to the platform, and shifted back into their base forms, Twilight noted that the figure in question appeared to be female and was wearing Precursor armor over her chest, who disappeared not a few seconds later.

"The four of you fought bravely and, as a result, have earned your first Battle Amulet," Damas proclaimed, speaking one all of them were standing on the platform in front of him once more, even though he was wearing his expressionless face as his people focused on his words, despite the fact that Jak and his sisters were sure that he was proud of them for taking down this challenge like it was nothing, before beckoning to the pedestal in front of them, where a circular device made of Precursor metal rested, and pulled out another device, "if you win two more Arena fights, which will take place after you have done more for Spargus and made a bit of a name for yourselves, you will receive the other pieces of the Amulet and gain your citizenship here. Also, here is a Gate Pass that will allow you to freely enter and leave Spargus, but beware, there are is no true refuge outside our walls."

The siblings nodded for a moment as Damas removed himself from the throne he sat in when watching fights in this large Arena and headed back to the Palace, no doubt meaning for them to explore the city and help his people out, though once he was gone, and Pecker had followed him, they headed over to the left of where they were standing and started to use one of the two curved paths to leave the Arena, finding that the fat Wastelander happened to be leaning off to their right, his back to the wall, and that he glanced at them as they approached him.

"Those were some sweet moves in the arena, kids, but none of you would have survived on your own," the fat man said, where Jak cast a glance at Alvin and his brothers for a moment, mostly because he wanted to make sure none of the three disguised Neo Metal Heads even considered munching on one of Spargus' citizens, before he glanced at the man while his sisters came to a stop behind him, none of them particularly happy to be called 'kids' at this point in time, though the man also sized them up for a few seconds, "You four must be from the Big Smoke, eh?"

"If you mean Haven, then yes... if not, then no." Cozy remarked, though she already didn't like the man in front of them for some odd reason, he just seemed like someone who would be annoying and possibly a hinderance to their mission, but as the man growled and reached to grab onto her she growled in return, hers more feral as some of her Dark Form's facial features came to the surface, causing him to back off and let her return to normal, even though Twilight was worried that she might be having a negative side effect to whatever that lady did to them.

"Anyway, the name's Kleiver and I'm in charge of the city... as the Quartermaster, in charge of supplies," the man said, as he had noticed that all four of the siblings looked like they were ready to say or do something if he meant that he was the one ruling over the King, or something like that, hence why he quickly corrected himself, though Jak was fine with knowing what sort of position the fat man, or Kleiver, held in the city, since him speaking with them meant he must have something for them to do for all of Spargus, "anyway, I have a job for you lot: I want you to ride my Leaper Lizard here and round up six of the red robent buggers who have been raiding my storerooms lately... do that, and I might let you lot ride one of my racing vehicles... that is, if Damas ever lets you leave the city."

As Jak agreed to the job, since it would be a good first step to them proving themselves to all of Spargus, Starlight quietly asked Twilight if Kleiver had seen Damas toss them the Gate Pass or not, to which her sister shrugged and just assumed that Kleiver was used to using a certain pattern with those who were saved from the desert, before Kleiver tossed Jak the reins to a dark grey skinned lizard creature, one that reminded the siblings of the Flut Flut bird a little bit, and walked off to do whatever it was he did for their father, leaving them to look towards the future of assisting Spargus and fulfilling their objectives while waiting for someone from Haven to make contact with them at some point.