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// Spargus: Into the Mine 
// Story: Jak and Daxter: Heirs of Mar 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Jak, Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy found that the platform quickly reached its destination, possibly within a minute or two of them stepping onto the metallic device, though it brought them to a chamber that was pretty big, all made of Precursor metal, just like the circular tunnel the platform had traveled down, which was full of wires and other components that none of them knew about, meaning it was a treasure trove for Twilight and Midnight, before they found a floating vehicle of some kind that could only seat a single person.

"Well, this place is rather interesting." Jak commented, as that was really all he could say on the matter, since this didn't look like any of the other Precursor artifacts and areas that he and his sisters had seen in the past, though as he said that he could see that Twilight was interested in studying the vehicle that was in front of them, all while Pecker glanced around the chamber for a few moments, meaning he he to know something about this area, "Pecker, what can you tell us about what we're seeing right now?"

"According to Onin, this place resembles the catacombs that were discovered under Haven's Palace." Pecker said, where all of them weren't surprised by the fact that he was talking to Onin right now, since they had a bond and could speak to each other over great distances, though this was news to them and meant that the moment they reached Haven they would be seeing a whole bunch of changes, "My best bet is that this connects to Haven City, which is good because Onin is telling me that we must get back to the city, as it seems that the catacombs are the key to our planet's very survival and, as you might have guessed, you four are needed to turn the key!"

"Of course we are." Cozy stated, as none of them needed to be told that they were the ones that were fated to save this world from the ones that were coming to claim it, the ones connected to the Day Star, though as she said that Jak raised his seal for a few seconds and activated the vehicle that happened to be right in front of them, which seemed to be just a seat, the controls, and both the front and back sections, where they likely contained the flight system that allowed the vehicle to float and move.

A few seconds later Jak climbed into the vehicle, with Daxter and Pecker resting with him since his skills would make it a lot safer for them, and it started to move forward as he directed it down a path that was in front of him, one that seemed to head down into the depths of their world, where his sisters flew behind him and kept their eyes open for any dangers that might be connected to this place, before they discovered that the vehicle allowed Jak to ride down a passage that had all sorts of holes in the sides, not to mention metallic devices he had to avoid. Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy watched as he did just that, he took control of the vehicle and moved out of the way so he didn't hit any of the pipes or posts that were right in front of him, while at the same time avoiding the openings that would send him flying out into the depths of the chasm that this underground area was built into, showing his sisters just how skilled he truly was in the process. What interested them was that there happened to be a sphere of some kind that woke up while Jak was moving down the passage and it moved in front of the vehicle, keeping some distance between it and their brother, though since it looked like it might be a defense mechanism Jak found that his vehicle could fire green projectiles and wiped out the sphere in question, mostly to make sure nothing bad happened to him and his passengers. That wasn't the only sphere that appeared in their way, as it looked like there might be a few more ahead of them, though Twilight called on her power and snatched one, sending it right to Midnight's storage area so it could be studied and understood, but Jak eventually reached a gap in the tunnel and made sure to jump it to the best of his ability, or at least ride off the ledge of the section he had been in previously before landing on the other side and continued up the other section, no doubt getting closer and closer to Haven City, despite the fact that it was hard to tell if they were making any progress right now.

After that they passed through some sections that had lasers, which were easy to avoid since they moved in a diagonal pattern and all Jak had to do was position himself so he'd fly under the beams, before eventually reaching what appeared to be the end, another chamber that looked like the one they had found the vehicle in, though he found that the controls that would stop it were stuck and the vehicle stalled as Starlight snapped her fingers and froze them for a moment, which let them make the vehicle stop before he, Daxter, and Pecker were allowed to climb out of it, though as they did that they found a surge of light form another Precursor energy being.

All of you show promise, but your bravery will not protect you from the foes you must soon face. the Precursor stated, where Daxter knew that it was speaking to Jak and his sisters, and not he or the disguised Neo Metal Heads, even though he was curious if the Precursors even realized that he had some power of his own or if they were just ignoring him so they could focus on his friend and his sisters, before the being raised a hand towards them, Use this light power to help in  your quest. It is what little we have left to offer.

What Jak and his sisters discovered was that this third Light Eco power was a shield skill, one that surrounded them with a spherical barrier to protect them from harm, or at least it was that way for Jak since Cozy discovered she could manipulate the power and form actual shields made of Light Eco all over her body, depending on where she was attacked, Starlight did what Jak was capable of doing, and Twilight seemed to make large barriers around her, such as the one that she created a few seconds after gaining the power in question, as it covered the entire chamber. Once that was done, and the Precursor disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, the siblings found an opening to the side and discovered another platform, like the one that they had used to reach the first chamber they had been in earlier, even if it was slightly smaller and they did note the symbol was different, but once they were on it the siblings waited for a time as it shifted and rose up towards the area that it was connected to. Not a few moments later all of them discovered that the platform came to a stop in an area that looked like a quarry of some kind, or at least a rocky area that briefly reminded everyone of the Strip Mine, but once they were allowed to move the siblings walked forward as Pecker flew ahead of them, likely to either check out the area for enemies or he might be checking out where they were, in relation to Haven City and the rest of their allies. As such Jak and his sisters followed the path in front of them, which curved around to where a Light Eco Vent rested as they walked by a couple of lights that looked like they belonged in one of the mines that were scattered around Haven, though that lead them to a set of stone platforms that connected to an upper area, something they jumped up for a few moments before anyone reached a walkway. Once Jak reached the walkway he slowed down a little as his sisters landed behind him, where they glanced out at the area the Precursor passage was connected to and discovered that they had been right to think that it had brought them to a mine or something, as they were in a massive chasm that happened to be lit up, due to the vast amount of sunlight that was above them and all sorts of lights that had been set up when this place had been created, to which they paused for a few moments as they stared at the area around them.

"This looks like one of the old Eco Mines that were built in the past, no doubt when Mar constructed Haven City," Jak said, something that caused Twilight and Starlight to nod their heads in agreement, as they were the ones who the most about Haven's history and this meant that his thoughts were confirmed within moments of speaking what was on his mind, but at the same time he focused on what was around them, like the tracks and a locked metallic door that told him they might have to blow it up in some manner, "he must have carved out these old caves to get at the Eco power, so he could power the Eco Dome and keep the city safe from Kor's armies."

"Well, I'm going to fly ahead and tell Onin that we're back." Pecker stated, informing them that he suspected that they were closer to Haven City than they were a few minutes ago, meaning his bond to Onin had to be stronger when he was closer, to which the siblings nodded, as while it would have been nice to speak with him about things it was more important for all of their allies to know that they were back and make themselves ready for their arrival, "Watch your tail feathers... this is a spooky place, full of potential danger."

With Pecker departing for Haven City, to inform their allies of what was going on, Jak and his sisters found that there was a path off to the right of where they ended up, even though there was a raised metallic bridge that looked like it might need to be lowered by hitting it with either bullets or something else, though Twilight summoned her magic and loosed a lasso of magic that wrapped around the bridge in question, which she pulled down and opened the way for the others to head out and see what else might be in this mine. In that moment they discovered a new type of Metal Head, small manta ray looking creatures that appeared to be resting on the ground in front of them, and when one of them got close the pair of Manta flapped their wings and rose into the air, showing that they could move from place to place and fire at those they deemed as enemies, though a single blast from the Scatter mod was more than enough to take them down, as Jak did that to open the way forward and they took it instantly. Of course that happened to be when they found a second type of new Metal Heads that likely would be some of their enemies, small lizard like enemies that appeared to have blasters on their tails, so Metal Gekkos or something like that, where Starlight simply blasted them with the Blaster mod and took them out the enemies that were in front of them, allowing Twilight to pull down another pair of bridges so they could walk over to where the large locked door was located. As they walked over to where the door rested Jak opened fire on the couple of Manta that were in front of them, though Cozy found a path that lead downwards and they decided to take it, as while all of them knew that it would be easy for Twilight to break the door down with her magic, or Cozy to smash it down with her brute force, some of them did want to explore this mine in case there were items they could use to defend Haven and put an end to the threat that their world faced, hence why they headed down the path in question and kept their weapons at the ready, since there was no way of knowing what else might be waiting for them.

As it turned out the path was a small square shaped platform that descended once someone was on top of it, which they let Jak do as his sisters floated down above him, though such a thing didn't stop Cozy from rushing down into a pair of foes that were in their way, two Metal Head Grunts to be exact, while Starlight lowered the bridge so Jak could join their sister and move even deeper into the mine. Of course those weren't the only enemies in front of them, as they discovered more corrupted Metal Heads, or the Tainted as Twilight was starting to call them since none of their friends could overcome the power that had seized control of the Wasteland Metal heads, standing in their way and all four of them engaged them as soon as they discovered what was in their way, all while focusing on the path in front of them. With those enemies taken care of it didn't take the siblings long to reach another bridge that needed to be knocked down, which Cozy did with a swift swing of her fist, and Jak used the square platform in front of them to reach an area that was above them as his sisters just flew up to where he ended up, where a trio of Grunts were waiting for him and fell due to Twilight blasting them down as Jak reached his destination. That brought them to an area that had a couple of Manta blocking an area that was beyond where the square platform came to a stop, not that such a thing mattered since Starlight used the Light Shield to negate a few incoming blasts before allowing Jak to blast them apart, before Cozy found a few platforms sticking out of a wall and that a couple of Gekko were hanging out on a rock wall beyond that, something she didn't care about as she flew over the platforms and smashed her targets into the wall. Such a thing allowed Jak, Twilight, and Starlight to catch up with her, all while finding that there were a number of electrical posts that could form a wall to cut them off, no doubt something that might be used later on, before finding a path that was beyond a pair of posts brought them to another square platform, one that took them even deeper into the mine and another bridge that had to be lowered, which Twilight did before using a bit of her magic to knock out the Tainted that were in front of them, even though it did bring them to a circular platform that they used as soon as the area was clear of enemies.

The platform descended and brought them to an area that had another square platform, one that went even deeper into this old Eco Mine, making them wonder how deep they were going to go, before discovering a Light Eco Vent that each of them used to restock before heading down into the area that the platform lead them to, an area full of Fodder, like the few that had been inside Mar's Tomb, though Jak wasted no time in charging a blast from the Wave Concussor and blasted all of them from above. After that happened they discovered a red rodent like creature that seemed to wander around near a metallic wheel of some kind, which seemed to be a power generator that would empower this area, though while they did understand that the rodent might be the key to using the device it also meant that they would be leaving it trapped inside it, since the wheel was lower than the floor they were standing on. As such Twilight waved her hand and used her power to enchant this device, allowing a powerful gust of wind to push it and restore power to this part of the mine, though she did know that she would have to drop it eventually, so she'd keep it powered until later, as wasting one of her other sides to do this seemed foolish since they had no idea what was down here, something that caused Jak to nod as they stared out at the rest of the area, finding a couple of platforms leading towards another section of the mine. Of course there were a fair number of Fodder standing in their way, where Starlight floated above their heads and used her Wave Concussor to take all of them out, as in all of the groups so they could catch up with her, finding that the path brought them to another set of platforms that were connected to another wheel, to which Twilight waved her hand and empowered it as well, while taking the power from the other one so she only had one going at the same time. That, in turn, brought them to a set of raised walkways that lead right to yet another power wheel, making Jak and his sisters wonder just how many there were since all of them didn't seem to be connected to the rest of the mine, though no one said anything as Twilight switched the power from the previous one and brought it to this one, activating three drills that formed a path that lead across a gap and that lead to all four of them making their way forward once more.

None of the siblings were surprised to find that the path on the drills brought them to another area that had a bunch of Fodder and a power wheel that needed to be powered, so Jak just wiped out all of their enemies as Twilight quickly used her magic to open the way forward, activating some rotating platforms that brought them to yet another power wheel, to which everyone sighed as they cleared out the area and switched the power to the new area, which opened the way to an area that appeared to be what would force open the locked door, a bunch of explosives.

"Well what do you know, it was worth coming down here," Jak commented, where he approached an indent and revealed that there was another piece of Mar's ancient armor resting inside it, greaves for one's feet, where Twilight made a note of where they found this section of the set before Jak put them on, something that put a smile on their faces, even though all of them were curious as to where all of the remaining pieces might be resting, though once that was done they headed for the area that the explosives rested in.

Once that was done the siblings walked over to where a switch was located and Jak struck it, which caused a metallic claw to lower from the ceiling and grabbed onto the explosive trolley that happened to be in this section of the mine, lifting the trolley off of where it had been resting and moved it over to a set of tracks that would likely rise up and connect to the rest of the tracks they had seen earlier, to which they stood on the platform near the trolley as it shifted before heading up to the rest of the long tracks they had seen. As soon as the tracks were connected to the rest of the system the trolley started to move, causing Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy to fly forward and blast the raised sections that all of them had seen during their trek through the Eco mine, allowing Jak to keep an eye on it while blasting all of the Tainted enemies that happened to be in his way, even though there wasn't all that much left since they had taken out nearly every foe who had been in this place before he and his sisters arrived in this area. Due to that fact Jak found that it was very easy for him to get the trolley to the end of the track, allowing it to safely arrive in the area the locked door was located in and barrel right into it, which blew the entire thing to pieces and revealed a large chamber that had three more doors, where the tracks likely lead to all sorts of other locations that were scattered across Haven's vast area, though as they stepped inside Starlight turned back to the shattered door and waved a hand at the mess, restoring the shattered door to what it had been earlier, which told everyone in the group that she was making sure the Tainted weren't given another entrance into the city. With that done all of them stepped onto the circular platform that was in the middle of the chamber, which turned for a few seconds and then lowered into the floor, quickly bringing the siblings to another smaller area that had a door in front of them, one that opened as they approached it and revealed a large area that seemed to be a chamber filled with Precursor carvings and, if Twilight was right, a large intact robot.

Of course when they were halfway across the bridge something interesting happened, the door behind them closed and it caused the bridge to collapse, causing them to rush across the collapsing bridge and came to a stop right on the rock area that was in the middle of the area, allowing Jak and his sisters to glance at the other door that was right below the middle of the massive robot, a door that opened a few seconds later and revealed Veger, in all his terrible glory, standing right in front of them with his usual expression on his face.

"While Seem told me nothing about you coming, I suspected that the lot of you would use the Precursor subrails to try and enter Haven City." Veger commented, informing the siblings and all of their companions that he had predicted their arrival in this area, meaning he had been expecting something like this to happen in due time, though as he did that Twilight took a moment to make sure he wasn't paying attention before pulling out a Communicator and setting it to record, as she had a feeling that he might say something interesting that could be used against him, "Interesting aren't they? The Precursors used this very rail system to build the world countless eons ago, using Eco to shape the world we call home, and it is said that some of the rails lead deep into the planet, where the ancient ones wait to bestow unimaginable powers upon those they deem to be worthy... I will use that power to save our world, just as Mar once did!"

"Yeah, you've done a great job so far, letting our enemies destroy the Palace while you try to seize control of everything in Haven City." Jak replied, though he crossed his arms for a moment as he said that, as he saw no reason to withhold any of the information they had learned since their transport exploded after arriving in the Wasteland, especially since Veger had to know that Ashelin and Keira had departed to tell him and his sisters about the war that had started earlier, though he also felt it was necessary to show Veger that they were annoyed with him, "Besides, so far the Precursors haven't deemed you worthy of wielding the power to save the world... so far it seems like we're the ones to do it."

"Oh, you couldn't be more mistaken, dear boy." Veger stated, making it sound like he was ignoring the latter half of what Jak had said, even though Twilight was sure that a small wave of annoyance crossed his face before it was calm again, but at the same time the siblings just stared at him while they waited to hear what else he had to say, even though he took a moment to point his finger diagonally towards the ceiling, like he was pointing at the Day Star, "We're on a time clock, Jak! That light in the sky, which the monks are worried about, do you have any idea what it is? Our nightmare has found us and the end of our world is coming! I needed quick access to the catacombs below, so I attacked the Palace myself... this will be our little secret."

"Well, aren't you full of nasty surprises." Twilight remarked, though she didn't move the Communicator out of the area she was hiding it in, as she wanted to make sure she got all of Veger's transgressions recorded before he tried to deny what he told them, but at the same time she thought about the questions he had asked them and realized she could speak about what she and Midnight had learned while they studied all of the Dark Artifacts they had collected so far, "Anyway, I'm sure that the Day Star is an interplanetary ship and contains the enemies of the Precursors, those who were corrupted by Dark Eco and turned against them, and that they're coming to remake our world in their twisted image... honestly, that's what Seem appears to be hinting at whenever we talk to them, and its what I've determined from my studies of the various Dark Artifacts we've recovered so far. Tell me, how accurate am I?"

"Very, actually... and the lot of you are full of Dark Eco!" Veger snapped, showing that he was impressed by the fact that he didn't need to reveal what he knew about the Day Star to them, as Twilight could tell them what she had figured out when they were safe to do so, though he also showed them that he didn't approve of the Dark Eco that they had access to, even if the siblings and their Ottsels just stared at him with their eyebrows raised as he pointed an accusing finger at all of them for a few seconds, "You, your sisters, and your rats are abominations, twisted by Dark Eco... but I will rid the planet of this scourge soon enough. Pure light will rule the universe, and I will be the bright light that shines to every corner of the world and destroys all shadows!"

"Uh, excuse me Count Vulgar..." Daxter started to say, because that was what he did whenever they talked to Veger, as he purposely said the wrong name just to annoy the arrogant and annoying Count, especially since all of them were sure that the war was his fault and that he had, in some way, been aiding the KG Robots before they were stranded in the massive Wasteland and found Spargus, so he guessed that they had to be grateful for him aiding in finding Damas, though his sins outweighed whatever good he had done in his life.

"It's Veger... Count Veger, you cursed abomination!" Veger replied, his tone revealing that he was annoyed with Daxter and the siblings, since none of them showed him the respect he felt that he deserved, given his position on Haven's Council, as he glared at all of them for a few more moments, silently daring someone to say something so he could lash out at them again, even though he had no idea what Twilight was doing and the rest of the group was fine with that.

"Yeah, I don't care." Daxter stated, showing Veger that his comment was void in his eyes, that he really didn't care what the man had to say in response to his incomplete statement, though he considered all of the information that he had learned while listening to Twilight and Starlight speaking about everything involving Light and Dark Eco, something that Veger had no idea about, based on what he had said so far, "You do realize that its impossible to do what your proposing, right? As in the light you want to use can't bring about the total destruction of the darkness you fear... if anything, you might take out most of the darkness and the rest will withdraw to a safe place, to strike when your guard is lowered and you aren't even expecting an attack. And even if you succeed in wiping out all of the shadows, I'm sure someone will eventually want to learn about what you destroyed and it might create a darkness that's far worse than the one you destroyed... what I'm saying is that this plan of yours is stupid, and..."

"Enough! We will start the cleansing of the world with your demise! Behold! I now command the very power of the ancient ones!" Veger remarked, where he raised his scepter for a few seconds and the gemstone that rested at the top glowed for a few moments, where the light washed over the robot that was right above where he was standing and it started to break out of where it had been positioned in the past, something that caused a smile to appear on his face as he turned to face the siblings and their Ottsels, "Say your prayers, abominations, as this will be the end of..."

Twilight cut Veger off as she waved her hand at the Precursor robot and a portal to Midnight's storage area opened up in the space behind it, where chains of Eco energy burst out of it and grabbed onto the limbs of the robot, even though that did end with the arms and legs being torn off, in a way that she could fix later, and they could see the fear in Veger's eyes, especially when Midnight stepped out of Twilight's shadow and used the darkness to form a hand around the Count, only she grabbed him like she was going to squeeze the life out of him and did so for a few seconds, causing him to scream in pain as he felt some of his bones break... though that was when the explosive trolleys above him ignited and she had to let go of him, allowing him to escape in the process.

"Don't worry, we'll get him in due time," Jak stated, where his sisters nodded their heads, all while Twilight made sure that the Communicator was just fine, since it held all the information they had learned from a talkative Veger, before noticing four circular devices that looked like they might be new weapon mods, either hidden inside one of the trolleys or they had been dropped when Twilight shattered the robot and pulled the pieces into her storage area, though he found that it was a Blue Eco device as soon as he attached it to his gun, which was confirmed when Twilight gained a second blue stone for her powerful bracelet.

With that done, and Veger had escaped them for the time being, the siblings headed over to the lift that the Count must have used to get down here, not to mention used to escape their wrath, and used it to head upwards, no doubt heading up to one of the streets of Haven City, though the siblings had a feeling that none of them were going to like what they saw once they reached their destination and would no doubt give them another reason to hate Veger, who would fall the next time he decided to show his face to them.