//------------------------------//
// Interlude: War's Aftermath 
// Story: Jak and Daxter: Heirs of Mar 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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After the conversation with Eon, Gol, and Maia, which was far more than what Jak bargained for when he decided to spend some time speaking with their new Precursor allies, Jak, his sisters, and everyone else headed outside the building they had been sitting in and discovered that the citizens of Haven City, along with those from Spargus, were happy to see them and ushered them over to the Port, as the celebration was still going strong and they wanted their heroes to join it, which would really get things started, especially given what they had seen in the past. While Jak agreed that a break was needed, after all of the challenges they had overcome to reach this point in time, he considered what Eon and the others had said and knew that part of it was right immediately, his sisters were definitely from another world, given how unique they were and how powerful their magic was, not to mention their Eco powers, though they were still similar enough to where the Precursors were certain that, at some point in time, Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy would transform into Ottsels. That was something that surprised him when he thought about what they had learned, that everyone in their world had the potential to become a Sage and transform into an Ottsel, as he had been expecting the creature that Daxter had become to be just an ordinary wild creature, even though Twilight and Midnight seemed to draw out his Eco powers and started to teach him how to use a few of his powers, despite the fact that Daxter stuck with his Eco blades. Of course Eon had offered his aid in teaching Daxter how to control his powers, since he was sure that more were on their way and that meant he might have flares soon, times where his powers acted up and resisted his control, or at least that had been the case with his sisters and their magic, but he guessed that time would reveal what might happen to his friend and the rest of their allies, even if they were focused on heading over to the Port to party.

There was also the issue of Twilight, who would become an Ottsel at some point like him, Starlight, Cozy, and even Samos, but unlike them she and her other selves were going to shattered when she reached that state, creating six Precursors in the process, something that worried him since there was no telling how her power was going to react to being separated between six individuals, even though there was a chance that each of them would retain their magical powers, giving him and the others six full powered Twilights to deal with, where he eventually sighed and decided that he would think more on this after the celebration was over and they had confirmed that peace had been achieved.

Sure enough the Port was a busy place when he, his sisters, and the others arrived, as they found Haven's citizens, all of Damas' Wastelanders, and the Neo Metal Heads partying together, as if they were one big happy family or a group of old friends who hadn't seen each other for a long time, something that put a smile on their faces as they quickly parked their zoomers outside the Naughty Ottsel and joined everyone else, causing the people to cheer and embrace them as they continued to celebrate their victory over those those threatened their world. Of course Jak found that Twilight let out all of her other selves, allowing all six of them to party and have some fun, instead of forcing Midnight and the others to stay in their private realms inside her mind, or wherever they stayed when they weren't out here, though he wasn't about to start complaining about that, since they deserved to have some fun as well, all while Starlight and Cozy started dancing as they joined the crowd, even though he smiled as he and Keira finally got a chance to have some fun and not worry about any dangers threatening them. While that happened Daxter and Tess, with the brief aid of Starlight, moved some stuff out of the Naughty Ottsel and set up what seemed to be a bar outside the actual bar, which made sense when he considered the fact that Torn hadn't cleaned it up yet, and would do so now that the war was over, though in that moment Keira recalled something she had been working on and set something down in front of Daxter, a small metallic container that contained a pair of pants, sized down to fit his body, since she knew that it had been one of the things he desired and showed that she had been working to make it a reality for him. Daxter returned not a few moments later, now sporting a pair of blue pants that resembled what some of Haven's citizens wore, specially made for him in mind since it contained a slot for his tail, and while he thanked Keira for it, showing that he was grateful, he and Tess did a little dance with each other, though it was easy for Jak to tell that his friend was very happy with this addition and wouldn't have to worry about being naked again, even though Keira informed him that she had made a pair for Alvin and his brothers.

As he thought about that, however, the sudden surge in Daxter's emotions, especially risen to some extent due to a kiss that was planted right on his lips, caused a surge of Eco power that enveloped the pair for a moment, though when the light died down Jak found another Ottsel, sharing the coloration of Eon and Daxter while possessing Tess' features, right in front of Daxter, confirming that if a transformed Precursor's power was left in the state that Daxter's was in they might end up transforming others into Ottsels, skipping the Sage stage entirely, though he chuckled as the pair embraced, as he had known that nothing would stop their love and now nothing could get between them.

"At the very least we know that becoming an Ottsel, with the aid of someone like Eon or Daxter, includes one's clothing shrinking with them," Keira commented, as she had witnessed the change as well, since she and Jak had been dancing and enjoying the celebration while being near their friend, and she noticed that Tess' attire had shrunk with her, leaving a slim female Ottsel, with her hair style, scarf, shirt, and pants, in her place, causing her to sigh for a moment as she glanced at her right hand for a few seconds, "I can't believe that such a thing is going to happen to my father one day, and possibly to us once we reach that point in time... not to mention to Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy, when their bodies finally reach the point where they cannot contain their immense power."

"We'll cross that bridge once we reach it," Jak replied, though he shared Keira's feelings on the matter, even if she hadn't spoken her mind on the fact that she was worried about what might happen to Twilight when she finally reached the point of no return, that she was going to break and become six Precursors, her and her alternate selves, and that feeling was the fact that he was also worried about her, even if the process looked safe for the most part, "for now, let's just focus on the celebration and what the immediate future holds for us, since I'm sure we'll have all sorts of things to do now that Errol and the Dark Maker ship have been taken care of."

"There's a lot that we have to clean and move, thanks to Errol and Veger's actions," Starlight commented, where she stood to their right for a moment, taking a sip of her drink as she watched the rest of their people, both Haven and Spargus alike, enjoying their time and not worrying about what the future might have in store for them, something they were leaving to those who ruled over the cities, "but I'm sure that, in time, we'll put everything back together and focus on whatever might happen next, since I'm sure there's something else we'll need to deal with before this world is at peace..."

Her words were cut off as she and Jak felt someone arrive in the area around them, something even Daxter noticed, and by turning their heads a little they found Maia, in her Human form, once more reminding them that she and Gol must have found a way to make a disguise that would allow them to look like what they had looked like before the change into their new forms, something Jak knew would likely become unusable in due time, but none of them freaked out by her arrival, as it only made them interested in what she had to say.

"I don't want to alarm you, and you are free to wait until later to check this out, but we've discovered another anomaly on our radar," Maia said, speaking softly so only they would hear her words, while at the same time Cozy and Twilight noticed her arrival and did nothing to make the citizens expect that something was wrong, before she glanced at something that was beyond where they were standing and Jak discovered Maia was looking at the right pillar, "it isn't like your sisters, or any of the other energies we've been able to track down since we started working with Eon, but it doesn't look like a new enemy has shown up... you can check it out whenever you want, as the being that made hasn't moved from the spot that it picked out."

Jak said nothing to that as he nodded his head and watched as Maia disappeared, just as quickly as she had appeared, as he turned his attention back to the party and found that no one seemed to have noticed her arrival, meaning everyone was so busy that Gol and Maia could easily slip in and mingle without being discovered, while seeing that his sisters did the same thing as Keira glanced over at the pillar in question, no doubt wondering what might be up there, especially since it was another anomaly. Such a thing made them wonder if one of the two beings who had been spying on the city not that long ago, back when they celebrated Kor's defeat, had returned to check on them and see what sort of progress they had made since their last visit, though Maia's words ruled out the possibility of it being someone from the world that his sisters had come from, which would have been too much to ask for such a thing to be the reality of the situation, to which he just sighed and decided that they would wait and see what happened when they went up there. For the most part nothing odd happened after Maia delivered the news that another anomaly had been detected, meaning Jak, his sisters, Keira, Daxter and Tess, and everyone else was able to enjoy the celebration that was taking place in the Port, as tomorrow would bring work for all of them, especially since Jak and his sisters would be working with the Precursors as well, and maybe with the now awakened Titan who had been slumbering in the depths of this world, something he wasn't going to think about since it had been explained in great detail, and he wanted to focus on the here and now. One thing he was sure of was that Maia must have come to check on the sudden flare of energy that had come from Daxter not that long ago, meaning Eon would know that his decision to start training Daxter was a good one if he was capable of accidentally turning others into Ottsels, skipping the Sage state entirely and possibly endangering others if the newly transformed had his power as well, so that meant Daxter would be training with Eon once this celebration was over.

Eventually everyone started to head home for the rest of the night, to which Jak, his sisters, and their Ottsels vanished for a moment and landed on top of the large pillar Maia pointed out, where they found something interesting, standing right in front of the edge of the pillar was a lean male figure that wasn't Human, rather it looked more like a cheetah that could stand on two legs, an anthropomorphic person like Twilight and her sisters to be exact, and he seemed to be wearing a light brown shirt with olive pants, and a pair of silver crystalline bracers, before they found that his fur was blue colored, an odd color to be sure, and he had a small pair of curved horns in front of his ears.

"Who and what are you? Why have you come to Haven City?" Twilight asked, knowing that it was something that was on all of their minds as they stared at the newcomer, someone who seemed to have a decent level of magic resting inside him, but she was sure that he was hiding a good chunk of his power, leaving enough for their radars to sense while hiding most so he didn't case panic in those who could sense him, but Jak and the others remained silent as they stared at the cheetah who was standing in front of them.

"I am called Weld, and I'm nothing like the two dark beings who arrived earlier, as I am... I am half demon, something that I despise with all my heart," the cheetah replied, something that caused the siblings to glace at each other for a moment, as this was the first time they had heard anything about 'demons', before glancing back at the figure, who seemed to have a vast hatred hidden inside him, making them wonder what might have happened to him as each of them stared into his eyes for a few seconds, even though he turned to look at the sky, where they found that he had a katana attached to part of his pants, something they had missed earlier, "Let me make one thing clear, I'm not one of the demons who have been seeking to conquer the universe... judging by the sudden look of confusion on your faces it would appear that you had no knowledge of the danger that rests beyond this galaxy. Basically, there is a threat greater than the one you just defeated, a demonic empire that has been ravaging the stars and conquering planets, subjugating those that survive the initial attack on their world and twist them into new demons to serve the empire, and there are those among the empire that would, if given the chance, make your Titan friend their toy, as the King and his seven Generals, the eight strongest demons in the entire empire, are no laughing matter... even with my power, as foul as it is, I would have a hard time beating and killing the weakest member of the Generals."

"I take it that you are looking for allies to launch an assault on this enemy?" Jak inquired, as it made sense to some degree, because it sure seemed like something bad had happened in Weld's past, possibly even before that, which made him hate the demons with every fiber of his being, even if he hid that hatred down in the depths of his body so that one could only see it when they stared into his eyes, though he had a feeling that he might have more power than he was letting on, likely a dangerous one that might consume him if he used it.

"Actually, I'm tracking down the Seekers of Darkness and making sure they aren't infecting worlds, and they seem to have an interest in people like them," Weld stated, where he beckoned to Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy for a moment, which was understandable since they weren't native to this world, though this did give them an idea of the fact that the two figures who appeared on the Port's wall, who weren't Gol and Maia, happened to be evil in some manner, which made sense as the siblings recalled what had happened when the pair showed up, "so far all they're doing is studying you three and the other missing members of your planet, through for what reason I have no idea, but I'm sure that, in time, the Seekers of Darkness will reveal their hand and the heroes of our universe will stand up to bring their plans down. Either way, it looks like things are pretty normal here, even though Xahvalan and his ally had visited this world for a short period of time, so I need to pick up the pace and track them to the next world.

"You didn't answer the question, rather you talked around it." Starlight commented, as she noticed that Weld did his best to make sure he didn't actually answer the question that Jak had asked, though given his statement she was sure that he was looking for allies to join him, to form a universal army of sorts, to launch an assault on the demons who likely took his home planet and forced the odd creature to flee, or at least that was her assumption right now, "You're following those 'Seekers of Darkness' and recruiting the people of the planets they've been to, aren't you?"

"Oh, I am building an army, though not from the people of the planets your people have gone to," Weld replied, though as he said that he turned for a moment, where he was now facing the water between Haven and the Wasteland, which was when an oval of magical energy appeared nearby and a portal broke open before their eyes, one leading to a world that looked like the land was covered in snow, though that could be anywhere in their minds, causing him to glance back at the siblings for a moment, "in fact, that's what you and the rest of your displaced are doing right now, gathering allies for the eventual invasion of your home planet... though when the time comes you'll have another ally to count on, as I won't be too far behind when the King launches his assault on your world."

Before Jak or his sisters could say anything else, to get more information from the odd individual, Weld stepped through his portal and disappeared as quickly as he had appeared not that long ago, causing them to sigh as his portal closed not a few seconds later, to which they headed down into the city and knew that it was about time for them to get some rest, as now there was one more thing that they needed to talk about when morning came, especially given everything that Eon and his assistants had done to keep this world safe.





When morning arrived Jak and his sisters found that most of the people who lived in Haven City were still sleeping at the point where they got up, while Daxter, Tess, and the other Ottsels were ready to tackle the day, even though Jak now had two on his shoulders since Tess needed a shoulder to ride on, so he had to go gently since this was her first time riding like this, though she eventually got the hang of it and allowed them to move back to where Freedom HQ rested, as that was where they would be holding all of their important meetings until they fixed up the city. Twilight was already thinking of what she and her siblings could do to modify and fix the city, referring to the damaged and destroyed sections of their city, something Jak was grateful for since he knew that his sisters were the ones doing most of the work, given the fact that their powers were far stronger than this, especially when he counted their magic, so he left that to his sisters as he took a few moments to think about what the future held for them. Of course not everyone was still asleep, as there were a fair number of citizens, be they actual citizens or any of the soldiers of the Freedom League, who hailed them as they walked over to where a couple of zoomers were resting, allowing him and his sisters to move through the city that much quicker,  even though they made sure to wave towards those who hailed them before leaving the Port. It felt nice to not have to worry about enemies attacking them, as with the downfall of both Errol's Factory and his dark terraforming Tower, where they still had to deal with the latter's corrupted area and Jak was sure that Gaia could do that on her own, there were no more enemies inside Haven City, especially since they were sure that Vin might have found a way to reform the Eco Dome that once protected the city from the dangers of the outside world, and even if he hadn't they knew that he would figure it out in due time.

Sure enough they found a good number of people inside the planning chamber of Freedom HQ, as they found Ashelin, Torn, Praxis, Samos and Keira, plus Damas and the three Precursors they had spoken to after defeating Errol, plus they could see that Feolorath was standing near them as well, no doubt having recalled his time as Mar and might be using his knowledge to aid the people of Haven, possibly Haven and Spargus, in making things better for their people, now that all of the Dark Makers have been taken care of, and as they approached the table Ashelin glanced at them before noticing a new addition to the group.

"Tess... you're an Ottsel." Ashelin stated, which revealed something to Jak and his sisters, that Eon must have take a bit of time to explain the situation to her and Torn while they were gone, that way they would understand what had happened to Tess when everyone else was present, though Jak was fine with it since it meant he wouldn't have to explain what they had been told previously, even though it was also clear that Ashelin was coming to terms with the fact that, if she were to develop Eco powers or have some event happen to her, this would be her fate as well.

"In the furry flesh!" Tess replied, where she jumped off of Jak's shoulder and landed on the console that Daxter stood on when he was in this chamber, even though it was followed by her stumbling for a moment and caused her boyfriend to jump over and help her up onto her feet once more, causing Tess to look over her new body once more as she realized just how hard the transition from no tail to having a tail was, plus the shift in size and perspective, "It'll take some time to get used to this, but I have the feeling that I'm going to enjoy being an Ottsel, especially since Daxter's offered to help me learn how to control my new body."

"Jak, did you and your sisters figure out what caused that anomaly?" Eon asked, as the last thing they needed at this point in time was another threat, right after all of the others had been taken care of for the time being, though as he did that he did glance over to Daxter as the other Ottsel helped Tess out, because it did confirm what Maia had said and informed him that his decision to start training Daxter was a smart one to make, especially since there was a chance that he might accidentally cause a transformation in someone else, like Jak or one of the sisters for example.

Jak nodded and explained the situation to the others, that there was another threat out there, a demonic empire that was conquering everything that was in their way, while also revealing the existence of Weld to their friends, before Eon made a comment about their scans indicating that there were two demonic threats in their universe, one had recently been taken out by another force, but the other was so far away from them that he never considered them an immediate threat to this world, but it was nice to know that the anomaly wasn't an immediate threat to their world.

"While you were doing that, we received a letter from Kras City," Praxis stated, something that caused the siblings to raise their eyebrows for a moment as they heard the news, as it was another city close to Haven and Spargus, one that hadn't been in Kor's warpath anyway, but based on what all four of them knew, which came from Twilight and Starlight's reading on the subject, Kras City was one that had a dark underground and had an unusual sport that seemed to be on the rise, Combat Racing it was known as, before he tapped something on the console and the information appeared right above the center of the console, "and it would appear that they want to build some new race tracks for their sport, in sections of Haven City and out in the Wasteland, with a few benefits thrown in to sweeten the deal for our side, to give us much more incentive to bargain with them, such as free access to their network for a few years, so we can watch the racing if we want to, and several invites for some of our people to take part in the races... they've even sent along a few ideas on what each of the tracks might look like, allowing you, Jak, to have the final say."

"It would seem that the lawful side of the city has heard of your exploits and have decided to try to get on your good side, given what we've learned so far," Damas said, as all of them knew, from reading up on Kras, that the city was supposed to be ruled by a shadowy network of some description, like a criminal cartel or something, while a number of lawful people stood in the light while making sure the city ran smoothly, like a puppet kingdom when Jak considered it, before he took a moment to consider everything that was inside the letter from Kras, "I'm not sure who this 'Rayn' character is, but it would seem that she might be our contact inside Kras City... of course I'm assuming that it's a female based on the name... and I'm sure we'll get a message at some point about visiting the city and observing the races."

"It won't hurt to make new contacts in the other regions of our world, plus it seems like they have some good ideas for the tracks they want to make," Jak commented, as while Praxis was preparing to step down and make him King of Haven, just like his father intended before being banished to the Wasteland and setting up Spargus, something he might have a claim to as well, he was still a racer at heart and that part of him could appreciate what was in the designs that had been sent to them, making him wonder if the letter had been truthful about the invites or not, "some of these look like they might be a little hard to make, especially since there seems to be another season starting in five months... they probably know about Twilight and her power to dismantle things, meaning they must have seen the Factory being torn apart, and are assuming she can put things together."

Twilight chuckled as she heard that, as she was positive that she could do such a thing as well, though it seemed like they would be focusing on cleaning up the rest of Haven City and the Wasteland, to make sure none of the Dark Maker stuff fell into the wrong hands, while Eon promised to continue looking for the coordinates of the world she and her sisters came from, so they could return home at some point and learn more about themselves, not to mention everything they might have forgotten, while deciding not to worry about the new information they had learned, as they would plan for that at some point in the near future.