Sons of Damas

by Tatsurou

Brink: The Core

With the Behemoth in full retreat, Jak, Shining, and Daxter were able to board the Pirate Flagship without incident, delivering the last piece of the Eco Seeker to Keira to install. Once installed, however, it continued to point straight to the research rig. "Looks like we know where we're going," Jak mused softly. "Those Precursor structures we talked about earlier probably house the Eco Core."

"Then that's where we're going," Phoenix stated firmly. "We'll have to leave the ship behind though-"

"You stay on board," Jak stated firmly. "Keira, Meg, Daxter, the old man, Shining and I will go. No one else."

"But-"

"If we're right, the Eco Core is below," Jak interrupted intensely. "Anyone less than a Sage could easily be overwhelmed by the energies of the Core." He glanced away. "Besides...if what I'm planning works out, it could be really dangerous to even be close to us when we set it in motion."

"How...dangerous, exactly?" Phoenix asked carefully.

"Dangerous enough you might want to take your ship all the way back to Far Drop once we launch," the old man suggested as he shifted idly. "Of course, that might not be in safe range, either. Moving to outside the storms surrounding The Brink would probably be best."

"But if we pull back that far, you'll be sitting ducks for Duke Skyheed!" Phoenix insisted.

"He'll certainly think so," Jak mused softly, a wide grin on his face.

"I know that look," Keira groaned softly. "You're about to try something insanely stupid that's either going to save the world or get us all killed, or possibly both."

"Really?" Meg asked surprised. "That look says all that?"

"Yeah," Keira confirmed. "That's his 'hero' look..."

"Say, we never got your name," Shining spoke up to the old man. "It doesn't really feel right to keep referring to you by title or description."

The old man grinned. "There are some who call me...Tym(1)."

---

The two smaller ships that took off were piloted by Jak and Keira. Jak had Shining and Daxter riding with him, while Keira had Meg and Tym. As soon as they cleared the pirate ship, it pulled away as directed. The research rig was in sight, but now heavily shielded. "So what now?" Jak asked curiously.

"I recognize the shield design," Meg offered. "The generators have to be outside, and there will be repair and defense drones posted nearby."

"I'll focus on the drones and defending craft," Jak spoke up quickly. "Keira, you up to taking out the generators?"

"On it!" Keira responded warmly, setting course.

The operation went off smoothly, with Jak covering Keira as she took down the generators at Meg's direction, and both ships were able to land safely in the hangar bay. With the Eco Seeker complete, the elevator activated to take the group straight down to the Precursor structures. As they descended, a massive purplish-grey geode was visible in the distance. "Is that...?" Jak asked in awe.

"The Eco Core," Keira confirmed. She glanced around nervously. "I hope you know what you're doing, Jak."

Jak smiled warmly. "Trust me."

As the elevator reached the bottom of the shaft, Shining glanced over at a control console. "So...it this where it's manipulated to balance the planetary Eco flows?" he asked curiously.

"Looks like it," Keira agreed.

"But it looks long dead," Meg pointed out. "How are you gonna wake it up?"

"Just need a little charge," Keira purred, smiling at Jak.

Stepping up, Jak channeled Eco energy into the console, illuminating it as it displayed the status of the Core. At the same time, the Core itself burst to life, illuminating the entire chamber. "So what's it look like?" Jak managed to say as he braced himself against the shakes.

Keira carefully examined the readout as the brace holding the Core in place slowly lifted it to eye level. "It looks like the crystal we're seeing in front of us is just a massive processing center for the Eco, letting it flow in and out in all colors to be broken down, recreated, and directed. The actual work is done by a prism in the center...but the prism is out of alignment, resulting in a massive energy buildup. Looks like a steady degradation of positioning caused by the orbital wobble of the planet due to the massive hole in the crust we refer to as The Brink. I can realign the Prism and bring the Core back online, but it'll just need to be done again in a couple thousand years. It's not like we can just fix The Brink."

"And it would be foolish to try."

The entire group spun at the sound of Skyheed's voice. He stood there with a smug grin, two women to either side, nearly identical to each other - and Meg and Keira, at second glance - save for coloration and garb. The one on the left had yellow hair and red eyes, while the one on the right had blue hair and yellow eyes. Each of them were wearing white, tight fitting military style outfits and circlets charged with Dark Eco. Their eyes were blank, the whites tinged purple.

"Venutia! Artemis!" Meg gasped out in pained shock. "What have you done to them, monster?!"

"Funny you should call me that," Skyheed taunted. "Considering your compa-" His eyes suddenly widened, and he clutched at his head.

Jak stared at Skyheed, his eyes hard as his staff glowed. "You know...I always try to give anyone I encounter the benefit of the doubt. Dark Eco experiments, a Dark Warrior program...I wanted to believe it was because you thought it was the only chance to protect your country, that you thought Praxis and Haven were a threat to you. But this close to the Core...I can see into your mind and heart as easily as I see the Eco flows. Whatever you set out to do at the beginning...now you crave the power of Darkness, and you don't care what it will do to the world to achieve it." He gestured to the girls beside Skyheed. "That you would enslave the Sages - and sought to enslave the others-" A jerk of his staff caused Skyheed's hands to yank two more circlets from his pockets, making Meg and Keira gasp in shock. "I'm here to save everyone...but you can't be saved. You've taken too much Dark into yourself. There is no Green left. Return to the planet, and see what awaits you."

With another jerk of the staff, Skyheed collapsed to the ground, a flood of Dark Eco erupting out of his body to fly into the Eco Core. The circlets on the girls near him fell apart, and they collapsed to the ground.

"Art! Ven!" Meg rushed to her sisters' sides, pulling them close.

Tym stared at Jak in shock. "How...?"

"You said it yourself," Jak explained. "Down here, I can draw the Dark Eco out of every living thing on the planet to restore the balance. Once Meg's sisters are able to control themselves and their abilities, and Keira's realigned the Prism, we can begin..."

---

---

(1) Believe it or not, that's canon from the end of the game.

Comments

[Voldine]

NI!

[ArchAngelGundam]

Ah, references. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the great work. Deus tecum.

[yrfoxtaur]

In a Near Future Chapter: Tym warns Shining of the dangerous, vicious nature of Angel Bunny. And the fangs that he's got

[Starcat5]

Nice skipping the final battle there. Like one-shotting an undead boss in Final Fantasy 6 with a Phoenix Down. /)(\

[shinigamisparda]

So... No Skyheed battle?

[Bugsydor]

7705645
That rabbit's dynamite!

[XYZDreadnought]

7705645 Look at the bones!

[Dirty Bit]

That Monty Python reference Funny how it is canon, too.

So glad that Jak one-shotted that dick Skyheed...

7705587 NI!

7705763 Phantom Train! Good times...

7705645
7705819
7706010 We need the Holy Hand Grenade.

[Dawn Flower]

But... what about Ruskin?

[Tatsurou]

7706740
Was revealed late in the game to actually be a good guy.

[Wcheff]

7705763 Nice skipping the final battle there. Like one-shotting an undead boss in Final Fantasy 6 with a Phoenix Down. /)(\
7706337 Phantom Train! Good times...
Phoenix Down? Pshaw! The only way to really right a rampaging ghost train is to Suplex it to death

[Starcat5]

7706337 7707226
Phantom Train can be Phoenix Downed?!?

Seriously, that was not the boss I was thinking of. (Behemoth King, specifically.) That said, fun fact. Turns out that Phantom Train was never meant to be Suplexed. There is a mechanic in the game that makes giant enemies immune to that attack. Somehow, Phantom Train wasn't given this flag. That said, this meme has become so iconic that it is now left in intentionally in all future releases.

[Pinklestia]

Well, yeah facing a Prism Sage next to a source of limitless power was dumb.

[Vital Spark]

... And now I understand why they're called Prism sages. Their purpose is to come into being when the prism needs realignment in the core. It makes perfect sense.

[Jake Witt]

7711395 Think of it as Genocide Undertale Sans fight but Sans has a lot more than one HP.

[djthomp]

Man, Skyheed really chose the wrong OP party to try and ambush. All he accomplished was to bring reinforcement sages.

[HeartfireFirebrand]

The old man grinned. "There are some who call me...Tym(1)."

Weit that's canon, who watched Holy Grail while making this game!