//------------------------------//
// Kras: Blitz's Show Changes 
// Story: Jak and Daxter: Heirs of Mar 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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Rayn eventually approached the siblings and their friends while they were resting from the day's activities, as she found out what the next day's events were and wanted all of them to be prepared for them, something that caused them to pause for a time as they glanced towards her, showing her that everyone was interested in what might be up next, causing her to look at her tablet for a moment as she read the information she had discovered during the meeting she had been in after the last events the group had cleared out. She revealed that the first event of the next set would be taking place on Mountaintop Highway, an area located in the Icelands, where they could be taking part in a Turbo Dash, before heading to Forbidden Jungle to tackle a Freeze Rally, which they knew to be part of Haven, and once that was over they would be heading to the Precursor Temple, in Sanctuary to be exact, for a Circuit Race, though she heard a rumor that there might be a fourth event scheduled and had no idea what it might be. Out of all of the events they were told about the only one that Torn asked about was the Turbo Dash, where it was revealed that they would be gathering Power Cells while racing and using the power inside to boost their vehicles down the track, so each Power Cell was a point towards winning the event, where Jak figured that using the turbo function of their vehicles had to be the key to winning this event, while the other two were rather straightforward since he and his sisters had done them already. He knew that the Circuit Race and Freeze Rally would be easy, depending on if Razer joined or if he stayed away from all four of them, but what interested him was the fact that there might be another event for them to tackle, what he had no idea, and he could see that Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy were interested in it as well, since a new event meant there might be a challenge to them and their team, though time would tell what it was and what they had to do to win the gold medal for their team.

With that done Jak, his sisters, and the rest of their team spent the rest of the day resting and figuring out their plans for all of the events that were coming up, where Ashelin stated that no one should deviate from the pattern they had been using, since it was effective and allowed them to put on a show for those who were watching, how she had no idea since she knew they were faking it, but she wasn't about to argue with the results, especially since Jak and his sisters seemed to be pissing off Blitz at the same time.

When morning arrived the group headed out and found that the Mountaintop Highway track involved racing over a large mountain range, through frozen tunnels and caverns, and likely dodging large snowballs that could flatten their vehicle as if they were nothing special, meaning it should be quite the challenge for them and that was what Jak wanted, since most of the tracks had been rather straightforward, even though they were also waiting for Razer to join the racers at some point, to see if the stories were true or not. Sure enough he and his sisters found the track looked exactly like what they had discovered during Twilight's research of the area, and there were a number of Power Cells scattered throughout the track, where she grinned for a moment as each of them readied themselves for the event, as with their powers, and both Ashelin and Torn were playing the defensive, Mizo's team would find it difficult to compete in this event and that meant all of them might fail yet another event. Not a few moments later, when everyone was sure that their vehicles were ready to go, the announcers started the countdown and the racers burst out of the area that the starting line was in once they said both 'zero' and 'go', though sure enough Jak and his sisters were able to obtain the first set of Power Cells and charged all of them with their boosts, just like the rules said, and once the charges were done the devices surged off and allowed the siblings to grab another one, all while Ashelin and Torn continued to hold Mizo's team back. As such the siblings focused on their routine, facing each other while putting on a show for the watchers that were observing the event, even though all of them could hear the cheers from those who were scattered around Mountaintop Highway, the announcers anyway, but they were sure that Blitz was annoyed with them and that he had to hide his annoyance whenever someone looked right at him, but the siblings focused on the track and continued to gather Power Cells.

Even when fighting for the first place, which wasn't a requirement of this event since it was mostly about who claimed the most powered up Power Cells, Jak and his sisters didn't do too much damage to each others vehicles, as taking too much damage would apparently knock off their current Power Cells and force them to start again, so they focused on minimum harm to each other while focusing on boosting through the track to power up all of their Power Cells, all while the crowd watching them cheered, letting them know that they approved of this event. While that happened Jak decided that this event was just as easy as the previous ones, not couldn't the fact that he and his sisters had two allies taking care of Mizo's team so they didn't interrupt their progress in this event, though it just made him all the more interested in when Razer would join the KGC and race against them, as he was a big name in the entire sport and it seemed like most of the viewers wanted to see him go up against him and his sisters. What Jak discovered was that there was a time limit associated with this event and not a lap count, though when he reached the second lap it seemed like he gained a score multiplier, which he assumed was a bonus of sorts that meant a score of one per Power Cell became two per Power Cell, and like went up to three if one managed to get to a third lap during this event, though it allowed him and his sisters to pull further ahead of Mizo's team in terms of score. By the time that the time limit was up, which seemed to be about three minutes, Jak, his siblings, and the rest of their team discovered what their scores were, as Jak scored thirty-five, Starlight ended up with two less than him, and Twilight and Cozy were at thirty-one, while Ashelin and Torn ended up at fourteen points, though that left them to find out what Mizo's team had scored, finding that they had scored less than ten across the board and all of them had looks of embarrassment on their faces.

With that done, and another gold medal earned for their team, Rayn had them return to the garage for a time, as it looked like Blitz was about to announce something and she felt it would be best if they were here to listen to it, so they had a bit of time to speak to each other about the news before heading out to the next event, though once they took their seats all of them found that the rumor was true and that Blitz was preparing to make some announcement, causing them to pause for a time as they waited to hear what was so important that he would interrupt the events.

"Welcome back to the G.T. Blitz Show!" Blitz stated, where he seemed pleased to be talking to them again, though that quickly turned to him being slightly annoyed about something while one of his cameras floated around the man for a few moments, allowing everyone to see that he wasn't too happy about something and had likely been forced into something he didn't agree with, "Sadly, the network has decided, in their infinitesimally small wisdom, to add a co-host to my show. I can't imagine anyone outshining yours truly, but alas, please give a lukewarm welcome to my new 'color' commentator as it were, Mr. Pecker."

"Thank you G.T., and hello to all you peoples out there watching." Pecker said, where he flew over from the area that must have been set aside for him, so he would be out of the way for some time while Blitz made his announcement, before he landed on a perch that was to Blitz's left, though while Jak and his sisters had known that Pecker had been planning on coming to Kras, likely to be a link to Onin in Haven, in case something happened, this made them pause as they listened to what he had to say, "I'd like to thank the network for choosing me to save this anemic little show."

"Yes, well, welcome aboard... Pecker!" Blitz replied, though it was clear that he really didn't like Pecker, which was easy to understand since no one really liked the talking bird the first time they met him, despite the fact that Jak and his sisters had grown used to his presence and considered him a friend, but it didn't take Twilight and Daxter, of all people, to figure out what was going on, even though they remained silent in the off chance that they were wrong, showing that they were waiting for Pecker to speak his mind and reveal something to their group.

"My first grand network assignment has been to investigate the rumored 'super bet' that's been placed on this year's big championship race." Pecker continued, though while he acted like he was talking to both Blitz and the viewers, which was clear by how he was acting, Jak and his sisters knew what the reality of the situation was, he was talking to them and no one else, giving them an update on what was going on while not actually reporting directly to them, as this allowed him to feed them information without being accused of being on their side, "My sources say that a high level underworld crime connection is involved, but, sadly, my sources won't return calls, some are now missing, and a few are presumed dead! But, Pecker is not so easily swayed. I will uncover the truth and report my findings right here on our show, G.T."

"Of course you will." Blitz said, where it sounded like he wanted to strangle Pecker for coming onto his show and speaking of something that wasn't the events that were going on, before he regained his composure and turned back towards the cameras he had been talking to before he was forced to acknowledge the bird's existence, "And let me just say it's going to be so great working with you."

In that moment, as the pair agreed that it would be 'great working together', meaning Blitz might try to sabotage Pecker so he could get him removed from his show, Pecker used his right wing and smacked his co-host on the back, wishing him all the luck in the world, though it also knocked his hair off course and revealed that it was actually a wig, in fact Daxter was sure that there was some sort of tattoo below the wig in question, before the show was taken offline as Blitz attempted to strangle Pecker, though they knew their friend would be fine and focused on what event was next. Thanks to what Pecker had said the group knew that someone would need to keep an eye on Blitz's show and keep an eye out for whatever new information their friend might have to share with them, to which Alvin, Simon, and Theodore decided that they would stay with Keira and those who weren't racing, as it would allow the group to divide some responsibilities between them, as Jak and his sisters could tackle the events with Ashelin and Torn helping them, while they and Keira could focus on making sure all of the vehicles were ready and get Pecker's updates. Daxter was fine with that, since he didn't want to be stuck on show watching duty, something that came as a surprise since Samos had been sure he would have been the first one offer himself up, since it involved watching television and doing nothing, but this just confirmed that he had matured and that his focus was on keeping Jak safe by watching his back, especially with his Light Eco abilities, and assisting the siblings to the best of his abilities. Other than that it didn't look like there was much on the television for them to watch, so the group focused on making sure their vehicles were ready for the next event that was coming up, which was going to be held in the Forbidden Forest of Haven City, the Freeze Rally event, something that only the siblings would be tackling since they knew that Mizo's team could get by without it and that meant there was no reason for Ashelin or Torn to be there either, so the four of them would tackle it and then they could move onto the next.

When the time came for them to move, which was about thirty minutes after Blitz's last commercial, Jak and his sisters just headed outside and climbed into the transporter that was going to carry their vehicles over to the next event, leaving the rest of their group behind to keep an eye on the television and the garage while they were gone, though it didn't take Jak and his sisters that long to reach the track that had been rapidly built in the Forbidden Jungle, a section of the forest that most weren't allowed in, or at least that was the way it was in the past.

Upon their arrival in the Forbidden Jungle, and their vehicles were placed in a line like usual, the siblings climbed into their racers once more and waited for a few seconds as the announcers counted down, though once zero was reached Jak and his sisters sped off without wasting a single second, forming routes in their minds as they tracked down where the various tokens were resting, all while resuming their sibling rivalry for the cameras, so the viewers could have some fun and not be bored out of their minds. This time around they discovered that there were fewer tokens, meaning that they actually had to fight over them so someone got a good score to win the gold, if they wanted this event to count towards one of the next Qualifying Events, otherwise they wouldn't get anywhere with their mission, though despite that fact Twilight noticed that a tunnel had been carved out of part of the forest, which was from what she and Midnight had done to make sure all of the tracks the officials of Kras wanted were built in a timely manner. There was even a gap in the track, requiring racers to jump from one part of the track, sail over a gap could drop one into the sea that rested below it, and land on the ramp of the next section of the path that had been constructed in this area, though she even found a few ancient stone structures that were long abandoned, making her wonder if any Precursor secrets were hidden inside them, protected by seals and all of the other tricks they had seen over the years, before returning her attention to the event. Jak and his sisters even drove through a tunnel that looked like it was part of a temple or ruin, another Precursor one since some of the emblems on the walls looked like what they had seen back in Mar's Tomb, the few representations of what people thought the race of powerful beings looked like, though each of them knew that they would be back here in time, to tackle an event with the rest of Mizo's team.

As the siblings expected Jak managed to beat the main time, which was one minute and forty seconds, though he actually surprised the announcers by clocking a time of one minute and sixteen seconds, with his sisters coming in behind him not a few seconds later, Twilight and Starlight both being five seconds behind him while Cozy ended up being ten seconds, due to what they had done to each other during the event, though the announcers cheered, since it seemed like breaking the records was a good way to score points as well.

With that done they were given half an hour to rest and recover from the Freeze Rally, as the next event was heading over to Sanctuary once more, to visit the Precursor Temple track, which had been built in the likeness of Seem's temple, as the one in question was a replica and not Seem's domain, so they could take part in a Circuit Race, though once that was done there was no telling if there might be another event or two before they were allowed to rest for the rest of the day, even though they had a feeling that they were getting close to the second Qualifying Event of this Cup. Of course that wasn't a lot of time and eventually the racers of their team were in the transport, heading for Sanctuary, which Jak was fine with since the quicker the KGC went the sooner he and his sisters would be able to deal with Mizo, putting Rayn in the position as ruler of Kras' criminal underground, given the bet in question, so they could focus on whatever dangers the Precursors might have discovered since the last time they spoke with Eon and his assistants, before Jak turned his attention back to the next event. The replica Precursor Temple was built on the outskirts of the revived section of Sanctuary, closer to where Spargus rested to be exact, so it had a view of the ocean that one could gaze at while they were racing, though Twilight had designed it to resemble an aqueduct that was built in the Wasteland, so they could be racing through a few bits of water as they jumped a few gaps and navigated a number of hazards, while facing off against Mizo's team and putting on a show for all of the viewers. Of course there was always the chance that Blitz might put on a show afterwards and give Pecker a chance to give them some information on the criminal aspect of Kras, more than what they had figured out so far, though at some point that might convince Rayn to open up about everything and tell them the truth, though until that point they were going to have to keep secrets from her and wait until she was ready to expose her hand to them, but for now Jak and his sisters would focus on the events and tearing Mizo's team apart.

Not a few moments later Jak, his sisters, and their friends climbed into their vehicles as Mizo's team, still the trio that they had beaten time and again so far, pulled up and got ready to face them in yet another event, though Jak found that there wasn't much to say about racing through the track, as he and his sisters showed off their sibling rivalry to the people while dealing with the other team whenever they got close, which wasn't often with Ashelin and Torn dealing with them... and at the end of it all Jak ended up with the gold medal, with his sisters after him while Mizo's team ended up in dead last, and it was followed by them gathering in the bar that came with their garage.

"Geez, Krew really thought of everything," Daxter remarked, referring to acquiring everything that someone might want in a housing area, as in everything from a living area, to beds and showers, to a bar, and pretty much anything else that one could want, before he frowned as he tasted the drink that was in front of him, as there was a serving robot that was clearly two to three versions behind, something Keira was going to have to fix at some point, for Ashelin and Torn mostly, which caused him to push the drink to the side, choosing to ignore it.

"There you are, Jak. Getting some local color?" Blitz inquired, where the man entered the location they were handing in, all to relax while Rayn figured out whether or not there was a fourth event today, before he chuckled for a moment, taking in the fact that the siblings were sitting in this part of their base of operations, as he glanced at Jak, "You certainly need it, as all of you are positively pale on screen. Listen, I just wanted to tell your group that you can earn cool gadgets performing odd jobs for the Commission and others."

"What kind of jobs and gadgets are we talking about?" Jak asked in return, because this sounded like what they had been waiting to hear, the possibility of another event taking place today, something that caused his sisters to glance up from the objects they had been focused on, as they had been mostly reading or, in Cozy's case, watching the television to see if Kras had anything interesting in the works, even though she was disappointed in her findings and kept a straight face while she turned towards Blitz.

"Good stuff! For instance, there are some dirt-forming robots that went berserk in the Kras Dirt Stadium." Blitz replied, to which he turned his head for a moment and glanced at a wall, allowing him to totally miss the look of disappointment that was on Jak, Twilight, Starlight, Cozy, and Daxter's faces, "They need to be destroyed before someone gets hurt. Hunt them all down, and you'll be rewarded."

"Sounds like it might be fun, and maybe a little dangerous." Cozy commented, trying to sound like she was excited for the event in question, as it sounded a lot like a Death Race and less like something new for them to try, so it meant that none of the racers on the other team really stood a chance, but for the most part she and her siblings stared at Blitz while they waited for him to leave so they could get the information from Rayn and take care of today's last event, before seeing if it gave them enough points for the next Qualifying Event.

"It is, but trust me, the prizes are good... and you'll certainly need them." Blitz stated, once more sounding like they had to be worried about what was coming in the future, especially since Mizo seemed eager to take them down, though right now all of them were just wondering if Razer was going to get on the track or if he was just blowing hot air, "That is, if you want to continue upgrading your car to keep up with the Joneses. The job's waiting if you want it... but, be careful, we wouldn't want to hurt one of our star up-and-coming racers."

As Blitz left the building Rayn came down and informed them, and the others who came down to see what was going on at the moment, that the fourth and final event of the day was going to be a Sport Hunt in the Dirt Stadium, which told them that they would be hunting down a number of targets while possibly racing against Mizo's team, so a renamed Death Race when everyone thought about it, though it was there and it was being recognized by the officials of the KGC, so Jak and his sisters got ready as Ashelin and Torn headed to their destination. Sure enough they were the first ones to arrive, though it wasn't long before Mizo's team arrived, which made them sure that Razer had been trying to threaten them since he had no desire to join the race at all, where the siblings sighed as they engaged their vehicles and got ready to beat the other team in yet another event, and once Blitz and the announcers finished counting down they rushed out as they sought out their targets. As it turned out their targets were large yellow vehicles that seemed to be drones in some manner, though all of them were given four minutes to hunt down as many dirt-forming robots as they could, which pretty much told them that this was a Death Race with a different name, to which Ashelin and Torn did their part as they hunted down Shiv and his teammates, preventing them from scoring as Jak, Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy focused on facing each other like they had done in the past, causing some of the announcers to cheer. One thing that made this far more interesting was what they discovered while they were tackling some of the Dirt Drones, as they found that their targets were tougher than the other drones they had faced so far, in the KGC, and it meant that racers would have a hard time taking them down, but at the same time Jak and his sisters had Eco Powers at their disposal and a tad bit of Dark Eco empowered their weapons so each of them could take their targets down, to the point where everyone was cheering for them.

In the end Jak ended up with eighteen kills, Cozy had seventeen, and both Twilight and Starlight were at fifteen, all while all of Mizo's racers only got two at most, three when they considered Shiv's score, though with that event down the siblings and their friends were able to return to the garage for a period of rest before they worried about what the next day had in store for them, which had to include the next Qualifying Event and maybe someone joining Mizo's team, as he needed it at this point, but they were willing to wait and see what tomorrow might have in store for them.