//------------------------------//
// Spargus: Taking in the City 
// Story: Jak and Daxter: Heirs of Mar 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

Once Kleiver had walked away from where the Leaper Lizard was standing, and the siblings were sure that he was gone, Jak jumped onto the lizard with Daxter on his shoulder and then headed out into Spargus with Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy following after him, even if they had to run to do so, though this did give them a chance to see what the rest of Spargus was like and if there was anyone who might be in need of some help, even though everyone knew that there was a chance that some of the citizens might flock to the more well known Wastelanders to help them out, or maybe just do it themselves and not rely on newcomers who haven't proven themselves yet. The city itself was rather interesting, since it was built into one of the mountain ranges that rested in the Wasteland and was designed to have a few gates to make sure the dangerous winds didn't get anywhere near anyone, though it was safe to assume that the high rocky walls were designed to shield them and gave everyone time to get inside their houses before the storms reached this place, even though they were sure that their father had put in a few more additions to make this place sustainable, despite the harsh existence that had been forced on all of them. Twilight was sure that an Eco Dome would have done this place wonders, to help keep people safe from all of the dangers that existed in the Wastelands, though she also knew that out here there wasn't a whole lot of Eco in the desert, or at least all of Vin's findings pointed at such a thing being the reality of this situation, though there should be a number of artifacts scattered around this place, so making such a dome wasn't realistic, not unless there was a hidden stash under the sands that was just waiting to be unlocked. While she thought about that Cozy was able to find three more Leaper Lizards for them to use to follow after Jak, to which the four of them headed out together and started to track down the critters that were sneaking into the storeroom and eating some of Kleiver's supplies, critters that had to be the red skinned rat critters who scurried away once one of them got close, which meant that each of them would have to chase these critters before allowing the Leaper Lizards to eat them, slurping them down like they were drinking water.

While the siblings were doing that Starlight discovered what appeared to be an Eco Vent in a part of Spargus that seemed to have a water pump that was drawing liquid out from below the streets of the city, though the existence of such a vent told her and the others something interesting, one of the six types had to have an activation switch, like what they found in the Forbidden Jungle all those years ago, resting somewhere in the entirety of the Wasteland, which also caused the group to wonder which type the vent was connected to, since they had no idea if Light or Dark Eco were like the others and could be activated in such a way. Other than that one of the small rat critters actually ran away from them, far more than the rest of the critters they were after, and it lead them over to the other side of Spargus, as in the area near the sea they had seen earlier, giving everyone a chance to see what appeared to be a bazaar of sorts that contained all sorts of fruits and vegetables that were grown somewhere else in the city, though they were happy to see just what their father had done in his time in the Wasteland, turning an area into a functioning place for his people to live. In addition to the bazaar the four of them found that there was another section to the city, more houses to accommodate any additional exiles that Praxis or Veger decided to throw away, the former likely under Kor's dark influence and the latter just getting rid of opposition to his goals, though based on everything that was inside the city the siblings felt that everyone who might have been expelled from Haven City, or at least the vast majority of them, were still here and had to be waiting for something. Cozy also found a rocky outcrop near the bazaar that happened to have an old turret positioned on top of it, one that had to be a form of protection for Spargus and was likely kept up to date in case it was needed for something, though it was pointing out at the sea and not the Wasteland, meaning it was possible that Spargus was assaulted from the sea and this might be used to blast apart whoever tried to use the sea to attack the Wastelanders, but after that they found something more interesting than the turret, as there was an odd blackened device resting near the edge of this part of Spargus.

The reason that it was so interesting was because the female monk, and some of her lesser monks who wore less clothing or even nothing over their chests if they were male, were standing near the device in question, which appeared to be some sort of metallic arm that was forged of some dark material from another world, to which Cozy snagged the last of the six rats that Kleiver wanted them to take out, which they figured out due to the fat man calling them not a few seconds after it was done, his words stating that he might be grateful for their aid and that he would be waiting in the garage when they wanted to speak with him, to which Jak and his sisters climbed off their lizards and approached the monk.

"The Arena revealed much to me, Dark Ones... hatred shrouds your eyes, waiting to consume you," the female monk said, speaking once the siblings got close to where she and her monks were currently working, though her words meant that she might be able to peer into the hearts of those who wielded the powers of the various types of Eco, possibly just Dark Eco based on what they had seen earlier, even though it did look like she was using her right hand to make signs in rapid succession to the device that was in front of them.

"We know, it happens to those who cannot control the power of Dark Eco," Jak replied, referring to what he and Cozy had seen during their time inside the Fortress, before Twilight and Starlight saved them from Errol eliminating them, or trying to anyway since he had the feeling that Cozy would have killed Errol while she was trapped inside her feral and aggressive Dark Form, as those who came before them lost themselves to the dark fury of Dark Eco, either becoming beasts and were slain by the former Krimzon Guards or just perished from the experiments.

"Sadly, it will destroy you, just like these Precursors destroyed themselves," the monk stated, where she beckoned to the machine that was in front of them for a few seconds, something that surprised Jak and his sisters for a moment, even if it did cause Twilight, with Midnight mixed in since one of Twilight's eyes had her other side's color to them, to grin as both of them wondered what sort of secrets this twisted artifact might have for them, though it appeared that none of the monks had noticed everything that was going on behind them at the moment.

"This was made by the Precursors? Doesn't look like any Precursor artifacts we've seen," Twilight said, though as she said that, and her siblings nodded their heads in agreement, she and Midnight went to work as she raised her right hand for a moment and called forth some of her Dark Eco, allowing the power of her other side to access part of the device in front of her and actually extracted one of the spikes that happened to be attached to the dark artifact, something that pulsed with dark energy based on what she was seeing, while also confusing the monk and her group, since they weren't expecting to see something like this happen, without it bothering the device, "fascinating... we could learn so much from this, though if we found more dark artifacts I could learn even more in a quicker time frame."

"Indeed, artifacts like this are made by the Precursors, but they are abominations," the monk replied, where she stared at Twilight for a moment, likely wondering how in the world this was possible and being worried that her recklessness might do something to their world in the near future, before casting a glance at Jak and his remaining sisters, who shrugged as she did that and she found that all of their critters did the same thing, to which she resisted the urge to sigh as she gazed at the twisted artifact her monks were studying right now, "one also fell on the Great Volcano, not that long ago in fact, and we sent an expedition to investigate the area it crashed in... but none of my monks returned."

"Well, if we're ever in the area, you can be sure that we'll either track them down and convince them to return to Spargus, or we'll bring you word of what their fate might have been," Starlight stated, because that was what her brother had to be thinking about right now, that helping the monk out would show the people of Spargus, not to mention the monk, that all of them were trustworthy and were worthy of being citizens of this city, meaning they might be able to join the respect of this monk and, if they were lucky, they might be able to gain some information from her about the artifacts and anything else she might know about.

"...it would seem that I was wrong, the Arena didn't reveal everything about you," the monk said, something that came as a surprise to both herself, even though she didn't show it due to her training, and to those that followed her, which caused her to take a moment to wonder if it was possible that she was totally wrong about the siblings and their connection to all of the things that she knew, though she glanced at all of them in turn once more, studying each of them in greater detail for a time, "the dark rage and hate in all four of you is great, even though each of you have different levels of darkness, but it does seem that something has created a balance of sorts inside all of you... I cannot speak for the feral one, as she was able to turn quickly and with too much ease... but you aren't slaves to the darkness inside you, like I incorrectly assumed back in the Arena. Perhaps... perhaps the remaking of this world can be postponed, maybe even stopped."

"What do you mean, 'remaking'?" Jak asked, as it sounded like the monk knew something about the future of their world, far more than what he and his sisters knew about it, and he was sure that if they could befriend her, or earn her respect to the point where she might be comfortable sharing this information with them, though as he asked the question Twilight made a sound that suggested that she had discovered something or had done something that caused a chain reaction in the device, sometimes it was hard to tell which one she meant, before finding that one of the claw arms had extended for a moment and a screen had appeared between the four directional prongs.

The monk watched as Jak and his sisters stood side by side for a moment as they channeled their own Eco powers into the device, Dark Eco to be exact, and witnessed something interesting for the next couple of moments, together the siblings were able to connect with the machine in a way that one or two would never be able to do, the symbols moving across the screen in rapid succession as she caught an ancient dialect that seemed to be repeating a message of some kind, though it didn't take the siblings long to disconnect their energies from the device, causing the screen to change before it produced a solid Dark Eco Crystal, which Twilight nabbed before the screen reformed.

"Those are solid Eco crystals... it has been passed down that they power the greatest of Precursor technologies," the monk said, where she stared at the apple sized crystal that Twilight was holding in her hand right now, her words revealing that it contained a great deal of power and made the siblings wonder when they might find their first a Light Eco Crystal, but as all of them stared at the crystal the monk glanced at the screen once more and found that the message she had seen was replaying a few more times, hence why she made some signs with her right hand again, "It would appear that, in this case, my eyes were not deceived... it is speaking in an ancient dialect, the earliest of Precursor forms... mentioning claiming and remaking this world, all while picking up a powerful signal..."

In that moment Twilight and Starlight sensed something as they weaved their magic into the area in front of them, which formed a cylindrical barrier between them and the twisted artifact, where it actually moved like a worm of some kind and launched itself into the air, though thanks to what both of the sisters had done there was nowhere for it to go before they watched as the device exploded, the barrier taking every bit of damage so that no one in Spargus, be they Wastelanders or any of the monks, were harmed by this event.

"Darkness alone cannot cave us, heroes... I'd say something about staying away from us and our business, but something tells me we'll cross paths again," the monk stated, where it didn't look like she was happy to have the sisters summon a barrier around the device, though it was possible that she was hiding her emotions again and didn't want them to know if she was pleased with their actions or not, before she beckoned to her monks and they started to depart from where the device had landed, leaving the Dark Eco Crystal in Twilight's care even though she had been worried about them taking it from the fallen device, to which Jak, his sisters, and their Ottsels shrugged as the monks disappeared.

With that done, and the Dark Eco Crystal was stored inside the pocket dimension Midnight had created earlier, the siblings remained in the bazaar section of Spargus for a time and made sure that everyone was fine after seeing the device blow up, as they found that some of the Wastelanders had been surprised by the event and this allowed them to make sure all of them were unharmed, though eventually they found that no one had been harmed and left the area, using their lizards to head over to the other side of the city and approach the garage, where each of them climbed off their mounts as soon as they arrived at their destination, finding Kleiver standing on the other side of the door.

"Well, if it isn't the newbies. I was wondering when you would show up," Kleiver said, even though they knew that he had been waiting for all of them to show up, meaning he did know that Damas gave them a Gate Key and had only pretended to be an idiot when he talked with them earlier, which wasn't a smart move on his part since it made all of them think he wasn't worthy to be the Quartermaster of Spargus, before he found that Jak and his sisters take a moment to glance at the vehicles that were around them right now.

"You've got some nice rides here," Jak replied, deciding to keep the conversation with Kleiver to a minimum, as he didn't want to waste too much of his time on the fat Wastelander and whatever schemes he was thinking about, though such a thing did make him wonder what sort of position Kleiver held back when he, Damas, and the rest of Spargus were living in Haven City, as he was used to a position of power and it seemed like being the Commander of the Krimzon Guard might be the correct answer.

"You like what you see, eh?" Kleiver asked, where he walked over to one of the vehicles, which appeared to be the runt of the litter and seemed to be the only vehicle without any weapons attached to it, meaning it had to be more of a scouting vehicle so whoever Damas sent out could study whatever problems their father found out about and reported back to him with whatever news they might have found, before he stopped and tapped one of the wheels on the smaller vehicle for a few moments as he glanced back at the siblings, "We use these babies to make runs into the deepest parts of the deserts to retrieve all sorts of artifacts, before the Marauders claim them... tough wheels for tough work."

"We can see that. Now, you said something about letting us use one of them?" Alvin inquired, where everyone agreed with part of what Kleiver had said, that one needed tough vehicles to stand up to the toughness of the Wasteland, though they were interested in learning whether or not the fat Wastelander had been telling them the truth, where Jak was fine with using the runt vehicle for racing or for whatever their father asked them to do, but he waited for the man to either confirm or deny what Alvin had just said.

"I did, didn't I? But not one of those," Kleiver stated, where he was referring to the larger and more impressive vehicles that were in the garage right now, meaning that whenever someone came to him he started them out with the runt of the litter and worked them up to one of the better vehicles, like he made sure that the person in question could handle what he was dishing out, before he quickly tapped the side of the runt vehicle again, which seemed to be mostly a single seater with an engine and an empty frame, so it was literally just a race car, "none of you are ready for the big boys yet... rather, you can use this for your missions."

"Works for me," Jak said, as he knew how to fight and if it came to him fighting enemies with his weapons he would be able to do such a thing, in case Marauders tried to attack him and his siblings while they were outside the walls of Spargus, and he would pity anyone who dared to enrage any of his sisters, though as he glanced at the vehicle he knew that it could be upgraded with all sorts of additions, if their father wanted all of the vehicles to be offensive, but, as that thought crossed his mind, he knew that this had to be a training vehicle to make sure everyone in Spargus knew how to operation all of the basics, before moving onto one of the tougher rides.

"Care to wager something on a little race? If you win, I'll let you four use that little vehicle until the day you all die," Kleiver inquired, apparently assuming that they would agree to his race and take whatever bet he might have in store for them, though right now all of them were focused on the small vehicle that was in front of them, meaning the fat Wastelander, in a sense, was just talking to himself and didn't seem to understand the fact that the siblings were ignoring him for the most part, while their Ottsels were listening to his words in case he said something stupid, "if I win, however, I'm going to take one of your sisters and make her into..."

In that moment Cozy, or rather Dark Cozy since she seemed to sense that Kleiver was going to say something stupid and anger all of them in the process, rushed over to where Kleiver was standing and grabbed him by the front of his armor, or the strap that connected his shoulder piece to the rest of his attire, where she lifted the fat man up into the air as he just stared down into her darkened eyes, finding a feral beast staring back at him as fear washed over him, though while none of them said anything Kleiver understood the unspoken statement, that messing with the siblings and trying to claim one was going to cost him far too much. A few seconds passed before Kleiver nodded his head and Dark Cozy slammed him into the ground for a moment, light enough to avoid crippling him while making sure he felt her power, but Jak and both of his sisters found that the feral beast they were used to seeing didn't roar or do anything else to Kleiver as she walked away from where he was resting, showing that their sister was still trying to gain far more control over her darker side, before she came to a stop and reverted back to her base form. With that done, and Twilight making sure that their sister was fine after the sudden transformation, Jak climbed into the single seater vehicle as Starlight used her magic to levitate for some time, where they headed outside so one could practice with the runt of the litter while the other watched over him, not to mention observe the race when it went down, though Twilight was sure that their father already knew about this event, as he was the King and likely had eyes scattered all over Spargus, and might be on his way to check out what was going on at the moment. Sure enough not a few moments later, before Kleiver was able to leave the garage area, Damas and Pecker appeared after the door opened, where he glanced at them for a moment, taking in what Twilight was doing with Cozy at the moment, before switching to pulling Kleiver over to the side and talking to him for a time, though as he did that, and it looked like they had some time before Jak and Starlight returned, Twilight formed a magical eye with her magic and sent it out to observe what Jak was doing, finding that he was in the middle of practicing his driving with a Wastelander vehicle, as it would prepare him for Kleiver's race, if he still wanted to take him on anyway, while Starlight floated in the air and made sure nothing happened to her brother while he was doing that.

Not a few minutes later Kleiver, who had been let go and seemed to be annoyed by being chewed out by his King, took his vehicle, the one that was slightly more armored than the one Jak had been allowed to use and actually had guns attached to it, and drove outside, where he and a number of metallic patchwork vehicles closed in on Jak as they guided him to the area that was to the left of where Spargus' main gate was located, the race course no doubt, meaning that he was going to race them so Kleiver could feel better... but in the end Jak claimed first place, much to Kleiver's annoyance, and returned to Spargus without delay, only to park the vehicle when he and Starlight noticed that their father had come to speak with all of them about something.

"It would seem that you and Pecker were telling the truth, you have good vehicle skills," Damas said, his tone revealing that he had to be pleased with what he had seen on Twilight's spell, something that was new to him since he wasn't sure to all of the new spells that his daughters were capable of using, which he would learn more about as time passed no doubt, to which he glanced at the main gate for a moment and it told them that he had to be thinking about Kleiver, which caused him to speak once more, "Kleiver told me that one of you attacked him and another ran off with one of the vehicles... to which I told him that life gambling was illegal in Spargus and that such a thing can bring a harsh punishment on those who try to do it, plus I knew he was lying about you stealing the vehicle... it was a good reminder that I have trusted eyes that watch over my city and, more importantly, that I am not blind to what happens inside my city. Now, normally I would have a punishment ready for even attempting to life gamble, but, due to Kleiver being somewhat important to the functionality of Spargus, I sentenced him to lose some of his rations for the next week... he hates it when I do that."

"Don't worry, we won't go looking for fights with him... wouldn't want to annoy the rest of Spargus," Jak spoke up, though he was happy to hear that Kleiver had been punished for trying to force them to gamble with their lives, just to use one of the vehicles that were in the garage, and he meant what he said, neither him or his sisters would pick fights with Kleiver, as it would no doubt annoy their father as well, before he considered the other part of what their father had said, "but yes, all of us are skilled drivers, though I am the current champion of Haven City, as I raced and beat the previous champion, Errol, in the Class One Race not that long ago... even though he drove into a number of Dark Eco barrels and we're positive that he perished in the explosion."

"I see. Also, Cozy, you need to do better to control your other side," Damas said, as while he understood that Kleiver had been lying about most of what he had said, and that his children were telling the truth on this matter, he did know that his Quartermaster had been right about one thing and he was right to be worried about it, as he had seen how dangerous Cozy's Dark Form was and, if Jak and the others were correct in what they told him previously, which he was sure of, she was the most unstable of the four.

"I'll do my best." Cozy replied, though her tone revealed that she knew he was angry with her, giving into her anger when confronted by what Kleiver was going to do to her or her sisters, even though he was happy that she stood up for them in some manner, which her siblings could see a tiny bit of when they faced their father, and that, despite this misstep, she would do anything and everything to make sure she didn't have such a thing happen to her again, given the danger that her Dark Form posed to those that were around her.

"Good. Anyway, I have a mission for one of you, and that is to head out and collect a number of artifacts that have surfaced after the recent storm," Damas replied, referring to the brief sandstorm that had moved through the Wasteland while all of them were talking in his Palace not that long ago, something they had missed during their discussion, though this did tell his children that there was another reason for him and the Wastelanders to watch all of the storms that happened to this desert, especially when the mention of artifacts caught Twilight's attention, "just so you know, these random and very dangerous storms churn all of the sand in the desert, causing artifacts to be pulled to the surface so they can be claimed by either us or the Marauders, mostly us to since my gatherers usually beat the Marauders, and it seems that another one might be getting ready to form in our immediate area... so, I want one of you to head out with this vehicle and claim all of the artifacts you can find, though be warned that the storms can tear the flesh from bone."

"Well, then we won't be caught," Twilight stated, something that caused Jak to nod his head in agreement for a couple of seconds, leading to her jumping onto the top of the vehicle as Jak climbed back into the driver seat, leaving Starlight and Cozy in the garage with their father and Pecker, though as they headed out she discovered something interesting, there were a number of Marauder vehicles moving around outside Spargus' gate, meaning they were hunting for artifacts as the moment, to which she beckoned for Jak to move forward as she weaved her magic through both the air and around them, as a defensive barrier would keep them safe, even if it didn't touch the ground, and her power could detect where their targets were located.

As such Jak followed Twilight's path, something he could see thanks to her summoning magical beacons of sorts, all while she used her power to smash the Marauder vehicles, though it looked like Midnight was aiding her and used her power to collect the remains of the vehicles so they could be repurposed into additional vehicles for them, that way she, Starlight, and Cozy could drive after Jak whenever he went out on missions, while they discovered that each artifact was half buried in the sand and might be covered with the next storm, hence why the siblings collected them as they raced the remaining Marauders and beat them to the punch of every artifact in what had to be record time, before safely returning to Spargus and closing the gate behind them.

"And that is why no one in Haven City dares to underestimate them, their magic and Jak's powers," Pecker stated, because he wasn't even surprised by the fact that Jak and Twilight were able to make fools of the Marauders who were outside the city, though at the same time he and Damas found that the collected artifacts had been arranged ahead of time, thanks to either Twilight or Midnight working their magic over them, before he found something interesting among the artifacts that were resting near the gate, something that drew the attention of Damas and the siblings, "By the Precursors... Jak, Twilight, what you recovered are fragments of the armor that Mar once wore in his battles for our world, all in the distant past, and these are the bracers that once rested over his arms and backs of his hands... no one knows where his leg guards, the pad that rested over his shoulder, or his chest piece went, though now we know where two parts are, the bracers and his old blade that you now carry."

"Honestly, they feel like they were made for me," Jak commented, as Damas had handed the bracers over to him while all of them were listening to Pecker talk about the artifacts as Twilight made sure the couple of Wastelanders who came for the rest of their haul treated the remaining artifacts with care, otherwise they would have her and Midnight on their tails, before he slipped them onto his arms and found that they seemed to match his body, far more than what he expected to find, meaning either he and Mar shared a similar body shape or they might have been made for him, maybe reshaped not too long after Mar's disappearance.

"Oh, by the way, Seem wanted to talk with you, once you were done with your next mission," Damas said, something that caused Jak and his sisters to raise their eyebrows for a moment as the Ottsels glanced at each other, as none of them had any idea who the person he was talking to was and were simply waiting for Damas to tell them what was going on so they could prepare for whatever might be coming next, where their father realized that they had no idea who he was talking about and could use some assistance, "I'm referring to the one who stands as the leader of the monks who dedicate their entire lives to protecting our world from the more dangerous Precursor artifacts, as in the Dark Eco ones... I'm told that you did something in the bazaar earlier and that the desire to speak with you was born from it."

Jak nodded as he and his sisters headed towards the nearby door so they could head back into Spargus, as it seemed that it was time for them to speak with Seem again and see what she wanted, or maybe it was 'them' since all of them were sure that the monk in question didn't care which pronouns people used whenever they were talked to, though they had a feeling it would be an interesting discussion for all of them and might enlighten the group as to what the 'remaking' of this world might mean and what sort of dangers their world faced.