//------------------------------// // XCR: The Reading // Story: Sons of Damas // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// Jak's arrival in Kras City proved to be the only one that caused problems, as he was forced to engage in a bout of what he assumed was Combat Racing in his buggy just to get into the city unmolested, racing around the city while arranging for the buggies trying to attack him to meet explosive, fiery ends. With that done, he was able to catch up with everyone else in the building where the will was to be read. Once he arrived, everyone found a place in the well appointed dining hall to relax. Jak sat in a comfy chair while Keira sat on the table right beside him, her hand resting on his. Ashelin sat across the narrow table from them, with Torn standing at her side. Daxter and Shining both stood on the table to be at eye level with everyone else. While everyone managed to get comfortable in their own way, impatience soon set in. "Let's get this over with and blow this burg," Daxter grumbled. "Who called us here, anyway?" Keira glanced over at Daxter. "Didn't you read the invitation?" she demanded irritably. "Saw it was about Krew and decided it wasn't worth the time away from training with Elder to read it," he responded immediately. "More or less the same with me," Jak added. "That makes three, I guess," Shining offered. Keira rolled her eyes with a rueful sigh. "Krew's daughter, Rayn." "Krew had a daughter?" Jak asked, stunned. "Krew...reproduced?" Daxter gasped out before shuddering all over. "Eeyurgh!" "How did he manage it?" Shining asked. "Money is an appeal for some-" "I don't mean how he got the girl," Shining interrupted Torn. "I mean how did a guy in his physical condition survive keeping it up that long to release? That can't have been good for his arteries..." "The mother must have been...talented," Ashelin offered teasingly. "Oh gods!" Jak cried out, rubbing at his eyes. "I did not need that mental image!" "I can never have sex again!" Daxter squealed out, burying his face in his paws. Keira glanced over at the ottsel. "...again?" she asked, stunned. "What?" he countered. "Just because you and Jak are playing it 'safe' doesn't mean Tess and I are doing so. Besides, Elder said the sooner the number of Awakened Precursors increases, the better for the universe." "...thanks, Dax, that is a much better mental image to have stuck in my head," Jak groaned out, uncertain if he was being sarcastic. "You're welcome!" Daxter replied happily. At that moment, the double doors swung open, and a rather voluptuous young woman dressed in a greenish-brown suit entered, carrying a bottle in her arms. Her hair was done up in a tight braided bun held in place with chopsticks, a professional style that hadn't been used much for many years. Her brown eyes were warm and friendly. "Thank you for coming to Kras City," she spoke up, her voice very professional. "It looks like some didn't make it. Ah well." She came to a stop at the head of the table, the jewelry handing from her ears tinkling with the cessation of movement. "I'm Rayn." "You take after your mother, don't you?" Shining asked curiously. Rayn sighed softly. "17,312," she muttered under her breath, before resuming her professional stance and voice. "Before Father died, his wishes were simple: to have his will played for his closest associates, and for us to drink to his passing." She filled a glass for everyone from the bottle she'd brought in. "This special vintage he kept for this very occasion, to toast his death." As everyone grabbed their glasses, they dropped a Light Eco capsule into it with the practiced sleight of hand they'd developed specifically for such a situation, save Shining who held his capsule in his teeth, to drop in just before they drank since there was no way he could hide his capsule in hoof or magic. Once in the wine, the capsules broke open and vanished. "Here's to...old friends..." Rayn began, "and to Father's untimely death." Everyone calmly took a drink, though Jak kept his eyes on Rayn, something seeming off about the way she drank. "So without further delay, his message to us." Everyone took their seats as the screen at a hologram of Krew appeared over the table. "Hello nearly friends and mostly enemies," he began. "If you're listening to this message then I must be dead. Oh well. As you all know, I loved racing almost as much as I loved weapons. Alas, I never fulfilled my living dream of winning the biggest race of all, the Kras City Grand Championship. But even in death, I will field the greatest racing team ever assembled, and win the biggest race on the planet! You are the best of the best, and you will race for me." Those gathered stood up, ready to simply walk out. "I expect you're all riled up by now," Krew continued, "so let me tell you why you will race, and you will win. If all went as planned, you've just given a touching toast in my honor. Sorry to say, I put poison in that special vintage! Quite unsporting, ehehe." Shining just happened to be looking at Rayn as that proclamation was made, and noticed her expression of shock came a little too quickly. He tallied that thought away in his mind for later. "Father!" she demanded angrily as she stood up. "This is where Rayn probably gets upset," Krew continued. "Sorry dear. It's a slow acting poison, or you'd already be dead. You have just enough time to finish this year's racing season. If you race for me and win, my associates will provide you each with an antidote to the poison. Simple, eh?" The image vanished. All eyes turned to Rayn, who seemed surprised that none of the rest of them were getting upset over this. She hid it well behind her own distress, however. "Why are you all so calm?" she asked, stunned. "We honestly expected something like this from Krew," Jak replied. "Getting excited about it isn't going to change anything." "Then why even come?" Rayn demanded in confusion. "For our own objectives," Ashelin responded simply. Everyone had noticed Daxter's calm smirk at the mention of 'slow-acting poison', and were pretty certain they knew what that meant. "Well, it's been one minute," Krew continued as his image reappeared, showing he didn't know them as well as he thought, "so I figure by now you're all arguing about how to get out of this mess. My advice is trust no one, win the race, and save yourselves!" The image then vanished. "Well, looks like we've only got one option," Keira offered blandly as she hopped off the table. "Good thing we've got the world's best racer on our team." She rested her hand on Jak's shoulder with a wide smirk. "Father bought us the best mobile racing garage money can buy," Rayn spoke up. "And each of you has a racing car waiting." She lowered her gaze. "We're in this together...so let's get to it." With that, she turned to lead the way out of the building. Ashelin turned to Daxter once she was out of earshot. "I take it that smirk..." "Capsulized Light Eco is especially effective against slow acting poisons," Daxter replied with a wide grin. "Unless it was Dark Eco based - which my body would have immediately rejected after all my training, making me spit it out the moment it touched my tongue which is why I drank first - it was completely neutralized before we drank." "Except for Rayn," Keira mumbled worriedly. "His own daughter..." "She didn't drink," Jak spoke up. "I recognized the way she held the glass to her lips. It's how Damas and the Baron have been teaching me to drink while at a banquet in order to keep my head, letting the liquid touch lips without actually entering the mouth. Unless it's a contact poison - which wouldn't have lasted that long in a bottle of other liquid - she's not poisoned either." "Then she's in on this somehow," Torn muttered. "Which means we should play along to find out why."