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..."
first comment.
Clever.
I thought Jak doesn't talk until the second part of the series...
6435886
Normally that would be true, but that was the developers thinking a Silent protagonist was a good idea.
So he has a memory of the CMC. I bet they would approve of that sledding hill.
If he can't reach the trees, he should just run on panels of shields (kinda like Gwen in Ben Ten: Alien Force).
Pfffttbwahahhahahahahahahahahah
...Wait, if Maia and Gor are brother and sister than why are they in the same room while one of them is bathing?
Jak is speaking?...
Ok, I'll roll with it.
Fun fact: Gol Acheron is voiced in-game by Dee Snyder.
6435986
...because it's a one room house? Have you seen the houses in that village?
6436046
...No, I haven't.
6436080
Yup.
6435886 He was a confirmed mute.
Seeing as he never spoke until after he was experimented on with Dark Eco, I imagine that's what triggered the change that allowed him to speak.
6435886
6435930
6436174
The writing reason why Jak is speaking is because it's more fun than having him silent.
The plot reasoning, my headcanon...
Jak was mute due to the trauma of the events leading to Jak 2 from Mar's perspective, a trauma overridden by the Dark Eco experiments. In this timeline, however, his bond with Ar-Mar (Shining) helped him overcome that much sooner and much less traumatically.
6436080
6436089
And now we know why they left too.
Though too be fair, I'm with Daxter and the rest of the village men, That would indeed be awesome and I am somewhat jealous. Now if you excuse me, I need dodge the frying pan my wife curre- dlsa;jfdjlkf
Ferret: He didn't dodge.
Okay, I wasn't expecting him to be able to talk so soon, but I'll roll with it.
6435930
Yeah, because that works. The only game where a silent protagonist works is Zelda. Even in Metroid we know that Samus talks. Just not during missions.
Yeah, I know there's been others- GTA III comes to mind -but just about every one of them is lame on some level. I really don't get why the 'silent protagonist' is thought to be so cool.
As far as Jak not speaking, I always thought it was because he was a pure soul. There have been stories of those with no conflict in their hearts that lack the ability to speak. Trauma makes more sense.
6435986 To answer this question, may I direct you to Jaime and Cersei Lannister?
6436298 tfs piccolo.
*Jak's reaction to the cooking*
6436836
Not according to the official Jak and Daxter Wiki.
6438699
And in Japanese, R and L are the same letter.
6438769
Then I don't know what to say, except I'm going by the official Wiki.
6438883
I'll be using playthroughs of the games to work through once I get to gameplay.
6438959
It also says "Damas" on both wiki and in the subtitles, but in Jak 3 they always pronounce it "Damos".
Did these three by chance pass a boy and a tiger riding in a wagon on their way down the roof hill????? Also, love the ending, poor Jax.
6438776
Except you seem to have also spelled it both 'Gor' and 'Gol' at different points in the chapter.
I noticed that and was going to ask, but read the comments first.
6442543
Alright. Changing them all to Gol.
Samos said that Gol and his sister Maia lived far to the north and that no one had seen them in ages. Also, when Jak and Daxter meet the two of them in the red sages hut, they didn't know who they were. Also, Keira is the same age as Jak and Daxter.
6443170
I am taking a few liberties with canon details for a more amusing story.
To address all points, however...
"Ages" is a very obscure term, which could mean, depending on the user, anywhere from years to decades.
Would you recognize an adult and an ottsel as two kids that gave you headaches nearly a decade prior?
Same age group. At no point in any game is either of their exact ages stated.
one question....Has Shining Armor actually ever met the CMC? I'm pretty sure he hasn't...
6471155 they were the flower girls at his weding
6475538 Doesn't mean they were introduced to him.
6436298
Why didn't you DOOOOOOOOOOOODGE?!
Those little trouble makers...
Cutie Mark Cru- waiiiiit. Does this make Shining Armor the Sweetie Belle of the three?
Why didn't I start reading this sooner? this story is hilarious!
Hi tatsurou, when I read this story and your Twilight story all I could think is Spike in Sly Cooper's universe. Now I wandering if this happens I won't know what I'll do because this would be the trifecta of Sony games.
I find it funny that Daxter... 'matured' faster than Jak. Or maybe he only has eyes for younger girls...
The fact that Samos lets his daughter- which, in this chapter is confirmed to only just recently begun walking, so is suitably young to the point of maybe even still be a toddler- cook as young as she is worries me. Maybe it's not real cooking, and she's just mushing mud together and calling it a pie?
I need clarification...
7057098
Keira's a super genius. Her skills developed early.
7057287
That explains it; most geniuses have trouble with domestic-styled tasks.
I said most; Dr. Light doesn't qualify. He has an overabundance of one of the few things geniuses often lack; that of common sense.
Hahaha!
CMC doesn't ally here so I'm just going to call them... ECO-explorers
Of course he isn't particularly interested in girls.
He only has his eyes on one Very Pink, Very Lovely Equine.
Ave Cadenza!