//------------------------------//
// Growing Friendship 
// Story: Sons of Damas 
// by Tatsurou 
//------------------------------//

	Shining Armor spent most of his formative years chasing after his older brother, Jak - a human with sharply pointed ears, bright blue eyes, and greenish-yellow hair - in Sandover Village, a small township settled amongst trees and islands.  This wasn't a figure of speech, as Jak spent a good amount of time leaping from tree to tree, and Shining wasn't actually able to climb trees, except with the frequent stairs between platforms that filled the village and its connected lands...at least as far as those areas that the citizens were allowed to go to were concerned.

"Come on, Jak!" Shining called out.  "You know I can't keep up with you in the trees!"

Jak laughed as he settled against one of the trees trunks, his hand clutching a higher branch.  "And I can't keep up with you on the ground," he pointed out.  "Now come on!  Daxter's waiting for us!"

Rolling his eyes, Shining Armor chased after his brother, doing his best to catch up with him.  Near the top of the village, they met up with Daxter, their close friend.  He was another pointy eared human with pale blue eyes and red, orange, and yellow hair, and two overlong front teeth that stuck out over his lower lip, yet somehow didn't interfere with his speech.  He was actually the same age as Jak and Shining - about 7 now - and had been their friend for as long as any of the trio could remember.  He was the one who tended to come up with the crazy ideas for them to try.  Jak was the one who talked them all into following through on those crazy ideas.  Shining Armor, regrettably, was stuck being the voice of reason, trying to keep the other two from killing themselves being reckless...all the while wanting more than anything to jump right in along with them, which was probably why he rarely argued too strongly.

"You said there was something awesome up here, fire-head?" Shining asked once he'd caught his breath.

"The last time it was 'something awesome', it turned out to be a view into Maia Acheron's bedroom while she was changing," Jak pointed out.  "We nearly got scorched when she spotted us, and I still don't understand why that qualified as 'awesome'."

Maia Acheron was one of a small group of people in the area studying different types of Eco, the planetary energy that fueled everything throughout the world, though she and her brother Gol apparently were focusing their studies on Dark Eco, despite Samos' advice to them not to, stating that it was incredibly dangerous, though refusing to explain further.  As a result, that advice was ignored.  Shining admitted that Maia had an unusual appearance, but he had no idea why Daxter thought peeking in her window while she was changing would be awesome...or why so many of the men of Sandover Village were jealous when they heard.

Daxter shrugged his shoulders.  "Okay, I thought it was pretty awesome until we were dodging fireballs," he admitted.  "Still, I think you'll both like what I've come up with today a bit better."  He gestured out over the Village.  "Take a look at this!"

Shining and Jak followed the direction of his gaze.  To their surprise, the rooftops of the houses below them seemed to continuously slope downwards towards the beach, with somewhat narrow gaps between each roof, with the next roof slightly lower than the previous one before the slope began.

"Doesn't that look like an awesome sledding course?" he asked.  "Wonder how strong the roofs are?"

Smirking, Jak walked over to a nearby large, dying tree, yanking off three large segments of bark that were still pretty sturdy, he passed them out.  "Let's find out!" he said eagerly.

"Can we at least grab our capes for a makeshift parachute if things go horribly wrong first?" Shining pleaded.  When they'd first started 'adventuring' around town, Shining had made them all capes.  He didn't know why, but he felt it was appropriate...which was somewhat confusing to Daxter, as the cape was the only clothing Shining normally wore.

"Got 'em right here!" Daxter said happily, pulling them out and passing them out.  "But are you sure we should do this, Jak?"

Jak grinned widely.  "Last one to the water has to taste test Keira's cooking!" he called out, leaping onto his makeshift board and down the slope.

"Oh hell no!" Daxter and Shining shouted together, remembering the last time Samos' daughter - barely able to walk yet - tried to cook for them.  They immediately leapt after Jak.

The trio skated down the rooftops, which just so happened to be sturdy enough to support them, doing flips and tricks as they leapt from one rooftop to the next.  For the most part, the three were laughing in exhilaration, enjoying the mini-adventure.

Unfortunately, one rooftop towards the beach was not sturdy enough when all three landed on it at the same time.  Crashing through the roof, they just so happened to land in a full bathtub.

"Well, that was a safe landing-" Daxter started to say.

An angry shriek interrupted him.  Turning, all three discovered that they had landed in the Acheron house, with Maia in the bath, and Gol nearby.

"Get out!" Maia shouted, hurling another fireball at the fleeing trio.

"Do we have to leave town to get some privacy?!" Gol roared as his fireballs joined Maia's volley.

Jak, Daxter, and Shining all raced away.  Jak stopped as they reached the beach, but Daxter and Shining went straight into the water.  "Why are you both still running?" he asked, confused.

Daxter and Shining grinned back.  "Guess who's last to the water?" Daxter called out.

Jak's face went pale.  "Oh hell no..."