//------------------------------// // Brink: The Final Frontier // Story: Sons of Damas // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// Jak carefully held the controls of the latest ship Keira had designed. Based off the A-Grav Zoomers, it was larger and sleeker, designed to be able to fly great distances at high speed and altitude, a fully sealed cockpit protecting the passengers. It was even a four seater, though only three seats were currently occupied. Jak sat in the pilot's seat, Keira in the copilot's seat, and Daxter in the back seat. Keira had chosen a more durable and conservative outfit for this trip, a dark blue flight jacket and purple pants, goggles hanging around her neck when she wasn't actively flying or tinkering. The vehicle had been designed to handle the Eco storms Elder had warned them surrounded the Brink, so they could make it through without danger. However, the storms had proven stronger than expected due to the planetary Eco instability, rattling ship and passengers as they went through the clouds. "That was close," Jak murmured worriedly as they broke through the latest batch of clouds. "We need to find somewhere to set down now!" Keira insisted. "The storm's going to get worse before it gets better, and I don't think the shields can take much more." She quickly checked the map as she held her controls, just in case Jak needed to risk putting his own energy into the shields to keep them intact. "Looks like we should be near the Brink. The Edge of the World should be almost right below us, hopefully." In the back seat, Daxter did his best not to throw up. "Why couldn't we have brought Shining?" he asked desperately. "He could have kept us shielded through the whole storm, and we wouldn't be weaving and flipping and tilting all over the place, and I wouldn't be on the verge of..." He clutched his mouth again. "Shoulda stayed home..." "Shining didn't have a Quest related reason to come," Jak responded. "Only so many technicalities-" At that moment, the ship rocked as three other fliers came too close. "Eco Pirates!" Keira called out, pointing them out. Jak growled under his breath. Eco Pirates hunted the Frontier for travelers, preying on the helpless. "If they think we're helpless," Jak growled out, "they've got another thing coming." Reaching up, he began to pop open the canopy so he could fight outside the ship. "Be careful, Jak!" Keira warned. "With the amount of Dark Eco in the air, it could be dangerous for you to change form! Elder said attempts might kill you!" "I've got him covered!" Daxter called out as he threw a lever on his seat, making it slide back in the flier to rise up with the back gun. He quickly tracked the Pirate fliers, ready to shoot at need. As Daxter shot down the fliers, however, a larger craft came out of the storm clouds, launching magnetic grapples that latched onto the small ship. Two of the pirates rode the ropes down even as Jak got to his feet on the ship. "Terribly sorry for the inconvenience," one of the Pirates spoke up in an urbane, cultured voice. "Please allow us to relieve you of your Eco." "Alright," Jak allowed as his eyes flashed blue. "Have some!" Before the pirate could react, Jak blurred forward, slammed his fist into his foes gut, delivered an elbow strike to the back of his head that sent him flying across the flier into his compatriot, and drawn his Eco Blade. Sending red Eco along the blade, he quickly severed one of the grapples. "You can leave now in one piece, or fall into the Brink in pieces," Jak growled out dangerously. The Pirate chuckled as he got to his feet. "I don't think I'll be leaving empty handed," he taunted. "Not when there's such a beautiful treasure here." He gestured playfully towards Keira. Rage flashed in Jak's eyes, and Dark Eco raced up his blade as he charged forward, slashing out both pirates even as pain raced along his sword arm. "You keep away from her!" he snarled out, barely missing both Pirates as they leapt for grapples. Unfortunately, the Dark Eco extended beyond the blade, and grazed one of the fuel tanks, creating a massive Eco leak. "...oops..." With the leaking Eco, the storms around them grew worse, making the Pirates withdraw, and forcing Keira to find an island to make an emergency landing on. Unfortunately, as they went down below the clouds, they saw the cascading waterfall that marked the Edge of The World...the Brink. Keira desperately tried to steer the ship to a safe landing, and just barely managed on a spur of landing sticking up over the brink, large enough to hopefully explore and find resources on, but small enough to evade the notice of the pirates. Unfortunately, the landing was a bit bumpy. "Ow!" a familiar voice barked out from the storage compartment, where Keira kept tools and materials to make repairs with. "Can't a guy take a nap in peace?" Jak started in surprise, then leapt to the compartment and threw it open. "Shining?" he gasped out in surprise, staring down at his slightly dazed unicorn brother. "What are you doing here?" "Taking a nap so I could make sure I was here to see you off since I couldn't come with," Shining groaned as he clambered out of the compartment. He paused as he glanced around, taking in the surroundings. "Uh...where is here?" "The Brink," Jak explained. "What?" Shining demanded, mightily offended. "You guys left without waiting to say goodbye to me?" "We were on a schedule!" Jak replied firmly. "Time was of the essence. When no one could find you for farewells, I thought you were avoiding us because saying goodbye would be too painful when you weren't allowed to come with us!" "You really think I wouldn't say goodbye when the fate of the world was at stake?" Shining snapped back. "Don't you see me nice!" Keira, for her part, groaned. "So much for the Spirit Quest," she grumbled. "He wasn't cleared to come with us..." "Actually, I think we just hit on another technicality," Daxter spoke up. "We can accept the help of any skilled adventurer we come across by chance, and since we didn't intend to bring him nor him intend to come, this counts as a chance meeting." "Don't you think that's stretching things a bit?" Keira asked, though her voice was warm and happy. "No more than letting me be here under the guise of 'going with the grace of the Precursors'," Daxter teased back. "Wait..." Shining spoke up, interrupting his argument with Jak. "You mean...I get to go along with you after all?" "Well, we certainly can't turn around and take you back," Keira pointed out, grinning ear to ear. Shining pumped his hoof in the air with a whoop. "Yes! Gaming the system again! Up high, bro!" "Down low, you mean?" Jak joked back as he bent over to bump clenched fist with raised hoof. "Now let's see what we can do about fixing the ship," Keira spoke up, climbing out to get to work.