Spargus: The Circle of Life
The chubby ottsel gestured his two companions back to the machinery for the moment as he floated forward. "My name..." He paused, lifting his head as he thought back. "Huh. It has been a long time for me. Language has changed several times. I don't think it can be pronounced properly in your language. For now, call me Elder."
"Alright, Elder," Damas began, clutching his belly as Daxter continued to work at keeping him alive. "You're...a Precursor."
"That is technically correct, yes," Elder admitted. "It's not what we call our race, but it is the term your people refer to us by."
"But what about the energy being that came out of the Precursor Stone?" Shining demanded. "I mean, you were using an image like that to talk to us just a minute ago-"
"Also a Precursor," Elder interrupted. "The one who came out of the stone, I mean. We use the image because...well, it's our job to keep the universe running as smooth as possible. How much cooperation would we get from other races if we used our real faces?"
"Yeah, I getcha," Daxter agreed. "But what does that make me? Am I Precursor too? Is that what falling into Dark Eco does to you?"
"Not quite," Elder corrected. "You see, you were already a Precursor - technically speaking - before you ever fell into the Dark Eco. As is Damas. And Jak. And Samos. And Keira." He looked with some distaste at the nearby corpse. "And as much as I hate to admit it, so was Veger." He glanced towards Shining. "...and possibly you, but I'm not certain. Not from this planet's cycle, though, that's for sure."
"...what?" Jak asked, completely confused.
Elder chuckled softly. "It seems my explanation is confusing you more than enlightening you. Very well." Raising his paws, he began conjuring images in the air to illustrate his points. "Let us begin with the Precursor Spirit, the energy being you saw leave the Precursor Stone. This is, after all, the stage most commonly associated with the term Precursor. They are beings of pure living Eco, no longer bound by physical laws, and capable of...just about anything. However, too much use of their abilities weakens their cohesion, and can result in their dissolution. As such, they mostly observe, travelling through time and space at will to learn all they can. When they grow weary of such travels, they summon those of our kind to construct - or reconstruct, as the case may be - a planet to become their resting place. Often, several Precursor Spirits will choose the same world to rest in."
An image of a planet took shape, with multiple Spirits sinking into the land itself. "When they do so, their energy infuses the planet, becoming the planet's Eco Field. Now, Precursor Spirits - like any lifeform - have Eco affinities, an Element they're most strongly possessing of. If a Green Spirit infuses a world, life will grow there." The image zoomed in, showing life developing, Human, Lurker, and other. "This life can come in all shapes and forms, since the Geen Eco in the field encourages all sorts of unusual results."
The image focused further, now showing a recognizable settlement...Sandover. "When life reaches a certain point, the people gain the ability to tap the Eco Fields, whether through technology or biology. As the development continues, those people with strong affinities for specific colors of Eco will gain the ability to biologically metabolize the Eco they're aligned to in great quantities. You call these individuals Sages. In Sandover, there were nine such individuals. Samos and Keira aligned with Green Eco, though Keira's abilities have not yet awakened. One other sage each for Blue, Red, and Yellow...and Gol and Maia aligned to Dark Eco." Elder smiled widely. "And Daxter, aligned with Light Eco, though where was none in the environment for him to respond to, so it went unnoticed."
"Wait!" Daxter interrupted, stunned. "I was a Sage?" When Elder nodded, Daxter chuckled. "Can't wait to see old Samos' face when I tell him that!"
"You said nine Sages," Jak pointed out. "But you only mentioned eight."
"Isn't it obvious, Jak?" Elder countered. "You were the ninth...and a very rare one at that. Only the line of Mar has ever produced Prism Sages, those with affinities for all colors of Eco." He chuckled softly. "Prism Sages are always discovering new ways for Eco to be used. I really shouldn't have been surprised that you were able to create your Shadow form...a full expression of your Prism nature. Mar himself was always finding new and unique ways to wield his own abilities...though he never combined Dark and Light Eco. Instead, he combined other Colors with them." He shook his head ruefully. "I still remember his Light-Blue form. Got airsick every time he dragged me through the air at Mach 2..."
"You knew Mar?" Damas gasped out, stunned. "Personally?"
Elder chuckled. "Oh yes. Jak is more like Mar than you knew." He gestured to Daxter. "When Mar worked to save this world, I sat upon his shoulder." He smirked at Daxter. "He was rather bony, too. But I digress. You are probably wondering about this form?" He gestured to Daxter and the himself.
Jak nodded. "Y-yeah," he confirmed. "I guess we are."
Elder smiled, this time causing his Eco images to show Daxter as he was when he was human. "When a Sage reaches a certain threshold of Eco Power - or experiences some other event to trigger it - their physical body can no longer contain it...and they undergo a transformation." In a flash of light, the human image of Daxter became an ottsel. "In this form, physical strength is greatly reduced...but Eco abilities increase dramatically, to the point the body ceases to age past physical maturity. The longer one in this form lives, the greater that power grows...until eventually, even this form cannot contain it. And so..."
A circle of light surrounded the image of Daxter as it curled up tight. "When one of us is ready, we craft a cocoon of crystallized Eco around ourselves, to trigger the transformation from physical matter to pure living Eco..." The image became a Precursor Stone, which then released a Precursor Spirit with Daxter's face. "And thus the cycle is completed, and repeats itself." Elder dispersed the image with a wave of his paw. "Any questions?"
Jak, Daxter, and Damas exchanged glances, plainly dazed at the amount of information dumped on them. Shining was the one who spoke up. "I have two," he explained. "First, what did you mean about me?"
"Well, the life that develops on the worlds we craft isn't always human," Elder explained. "And given there was a great deal of time-space warping in your arrival in Haven City, it's entirely possible you come from a world we haven't constructed yet."
Shining stared at him for a time. "...moving on before my brain breaks...what does that have to do with you helping Dad?"
"As I said, we can't do anything for him in his current state," Elder explained. "But we can, shall we say, accelerate him along the cycle?"
"Wait!" Daxter called out. "You're saying you're going to turn him into one of you-I mean us-I mean, you're going to make him fuzzy?"
"It's not so bad," one of the dark colored ottsels spoke up, her voice very familiar. "Takes some adjusting to, but you grow used to it quickly. And when the transformation is controlled, the new abilities come in much more smoothly."
Jak stared, his jaw hanging. "M...Maia?"
"In the furry flesh," Maia Acheron replied. "Gol and I made many mistakes with our research. The world's current state is as much our mess as the work of the Metalheads."
"The Precursors gave us a chance to fix things," the other dark ottsel spoke up, his voice recognizable even if the odd echo it had contained when last heard was absent. "We agreed without hesitation."
"Well, Damas?" Elder asked. "Is this acceptable to you?"
Damas coughed as he gathered his thoughts. "Well...I'll live to see my grandchildren...and great-grandchildren...even if I won't have knees big enough to bounce them on."
"I shall teach you to levitate them," Elder promised as he raised his paws. "If you are ready, brace yourself."
Damas steeled himself, and six beams of light shone down into him, infusing him gently with all six colors of Eco. Before long, his entire body began to glow, too bright to see clearly. When the light faded, he had changed.
As expected, he was now an ottsel. However, his coloring was quite different from Daxter's, or that of the other ottsels. His coat was a mix of red and yellow, with tufts of blue and green on the backs of all four paws, and matching spines along the top of his tail. His fur gradiated from very dark near the root to very pale near the tips, as did the spines. His eyes were still narrow, his steely gaze taking in his new form. He still wore the steel ring around one ear, and his armor and staff had shrunk with him, shaping around his smaller frame and sizing to fit. The edges of the staff now had crystallized Eco of all colors at each end, focus points for his new Eco abilities.
"This...will take some getting used to," he mumbled as he got to his hind paws, balancing with his tail. "Though at least I'm not bleeding to death or crippled anymore..."
"We will help you adjust," Elder promised. "For now, however, more urgent matters have arisen. Our scanners indicate Errol is making more progress than projected in regard to the Dark Ship's cargo. The only way to prevent him from waking the cargo..." He turned to Jak, Daxter, and Shining. "...is to send you three there and stop him yourselves. We can send you there from here."
Light blazed from the air near the platform, a portal open for the heroes. Jak shook his head to clear it. "We'll think about all this once Errol's stopped," Jak stated firmly. "For now, we've got a world to save."
"That I can wrap my head around!" Daxter proclaimed, clambering up to Jak's shoulder.
"Ready when you are, bro!" Shining added, stepping up to his side.
"Do try and get out before we fire the weapon," Elder called out. "We won't have any way to warn you when we're about to."
Jak grinned. "We'll manage."
With that, he turned and ran to the edge of the platform, leaping into the light, Shining at his side.
"Good luck, my sons," Damas whispered as he watched them go.
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Yay! Damas is alive!
And hey, at least his grandchildren will like playing around with an ottsel.
I think Flurry Heart will love her furry little Grandpa. I also believe that Shining will be Jak to having kids.
that is so much satisfying then Veger becoming an Ottsel.
Wait... Daxter and Maia... I typed that so long ago as a joke, but that's a viable option now...
FUCK YEAH!!! Damas lives and it's time for a major asswhooping!
7353406
...except that Daxter already has a girlfriend. One who is also an Ottsel candidate.
And on a related note: Dear Author, please take her along during Frontier. Daxter's acting like he was single wasn't the worst of that game's sins, but it was close.
The Elder Ottsel said he rode on Mar's shoulder but isn't Jak actually Mar? That would mean.... The Elder Ottsel is actually a much older Daxter!!! Mind Blown
http://i.imgur.com/TyP5EK9.gif
7353498
Jak is named Mar, but he's not the Mar that founded Haven City, which is who Elder was talking about.
7353480 Eh, there's always the harem option. Not like it's the first time Tatsurou's implemented it for a character - Ratchet in Sparkle In His Eye comes to mind.
kinda hard to envision Damos as an ottsel but i am glad he's alive.
7353505 he also killed the implied harem option for Jak. or did you forget Jak X, the semi decent racing game. and the last Jak game, for there were obviously no more.
7353504
Darn. That's who he was in the games. Now if you excuse me I need to pick up the pieces of my mind.
7353601
Uhh...no, he was never the Mar that founded Haven City in the games. I should know. I've watched the games to research this story.
Mar, who founded Haven City, was from the time between Sandover and Haven. Jak lived only in Sandover and Haven. Mar, the little boy from game 2, was Damas' son, descended from the house of Mar...as in named for his famous ancestor.
So Veger was killed.
Huh.
Not that I'm complaining mind; it's just that with your track record, I was expecting redemption of some sort.
Not that there was anything where that self-righteous pile of shit was concerned.
Heh, I guess that's why you did that then. Good for you Tatsurou.
Another enjoyable chapter. Good job.
7353786
Or I'm deliberately loading a Blank in Checkov's Gun to throw people off.
7353617 You have to remember he DOES still kill off some of the biggest douchebags. Vox comes to mind, as do the weavers of fate.
7353801
Alternatively, you could be right.
7353810
Several of them, in fact.
7353617 To be honest, his fate in the games wasn't much better. He was just turned into an ottsel and then basically let go without any punishment (aside from being made Kleiver's involuntary sidekick). Not even Jak seemed to want to make him pay in the end, despite nearly turning into Dark Jak from anger when Damas died. At least seeing Veger imprisoned would've been nice.
Actually, I've never liked how the games always treated the ottsel transformation as a bad thing. But it's for a good reason, since ottsels truly show no unique abilities whatsoever through the whole series. Daxter is treated as a joke 90% of the time, Veger's transformation into one apparently counts as a punishment for his deeds, and the Elder and Surfer ottsels hushed down the Dummy ottsel when he hinted that ottsels aren't the most powerful beings in the universe like they claimed. That's what I like about this story. Tatsurou actually gave Daxter his own abilities, and in this chapter cemented the ottsel race as an important form in a cycle of precursor evolutions. And Veger's death was ultimately an improvement too, especially it being by Damas's hand. Poetic justice for having his sons taken away by Veger all those years ago.
7353820
I meant you've read several of my books.
7353795
Well, yeah, there is that. Pretty much every real big bad in every series has died. You really can't count Praxis; as much as I hated him in the original trilogy for what he did to Jak, his reasons were at least logical and were well intended.
Path to hell though.
By the way, was one of those you mentioned Tatsurou's Pinkie Pie/Kratos story? Because if it is, I have this to say:
Spoilers dude; I've only read maybe one or two chapters of that fic.
7353547
1. I've never played any Jak & Daxter game, so I have no idea what you're talking about. 2. From what the wiki says, Combat Racing comes after Jak 3 chronologically, so technically speaking that possibility hasn't been shut down yet (unless I missed some Word of Tatsurou). 3. Just because Tats denies one harem pairing doesn't automatically mean he'll deny the other.
A much better alternative for Damas, indeed. It seems I've forgotten (Or just didn't remember) the benefits and characteristics of Precursors.
7353404 Right!?
Well, looks like this is another story I will have to eventually unfollow due to Tatsu Harem bug.
We need fanart of this...
I can't remember does Daxter already wear pants right now because I remember him asking about that when they first showed up
One slight typo for you, here. Jak talks about Elder mentioning that there were eight sages, but in actuality he said there were nine.
7353613
It's hinted that Jak is the Mar that built Haven City. At the end of the game Ashelin says "Jak is Mar? THE Mar?" Mar's armor that Jak finds throughout the game is also a perfect fit for him. Some think (myself included) that at the end of the third game Jak goes along with the Precursors, does all the stuff he is supposed to do in the past and come back at the exact moment he left using precursor technology to make himself younger.
7354572 Really? You're going to unfollow because a bipedal rodent might not be monogamous? Besides, we don't know yet that Tess would be okay with the idea. For all we know, she could have big problems with sharing her man with some "gothic she-rat."
that would be chubby
7354615 I think you may have replied to the wrong post
WOW.
You get a bonus point for this chapter!
Someone needs to draw this.
Damas is going to be knows as "Fuzzy Granpa!" to all of Jak's kids.
7353397 Flurry: Giggle! Damas: "Choking hug! need! air!" Shining: "Flurry, let your Grandpa go before he suffocates."
7353404 Agreed
7354646 Quite right, sorry about that. Could have sworn I linked to
7354484 there.
7353404
Right on!
7355826 Do not underestimate the power of the 'stache. :mustache:
... it occured to me just the other day the elder ottsel might be daxter, I then fangasmed.
Ottsels are to humans as alicorns are to ponies? Hmm.
7354608
There's only one problem with that theory.
The "House of Mar" is confirmed as being the biological descendants of the Mar that founded Haven City.
That theory would require that Jak went back in time to the founding of Haven city, stuck around long enough to build all those systems and everything else (as Daxter put it, "When did he sleep?"), become a king, sire a child, raise them enough to take the throne...
And then came back, all without having aged so much as a day. (Also, without any feelings about abandoning a wife of 20 years and then going back to romancing Keira).
...so yeah, I call BS on that theory. Ashelin's "THE Mar" was about him being Damas' son.
All right, this is an awesome take on the Precursor mythos.
Fills in several plot holes and unanswered questions as far as I can tell.
7479227
If you follow the 'excepted' singular laws of time travel. Then yes, it is imposible and. However, if you throw in quantum theory, then yes it is very possible. Mar (a.k.a Past Jak) could remain in the past and eventually build haven city. While Future Jak could do what he does in the game and it wouldn't mess up the space time continuem. As long as Kid Jak went through the Percurser portal, like he did after Kor was defeated. Hell, Jak could even meet other versions of himselves in the same plain of existance. Though then you start to get paradoxes and it starts to get confusing really quick.
Think how Star Trek or BTTF did it and it's less confusing.
7563528
...BTTF?
7564205 BTTF? Great Scott, Tat! Back To The Future!
Damas is alive.
He is now an ottsel.
not sure how to feel about that.
Reads Elder's explanation
I accept it. Where did you come up with this?
Gol and Maia are alive and now Ottsels themselves
Veger is still dead.
And no one cleaned up the body yet.
huh
Precursor backstory, ho!
It's nice to see Maia and Gol again, and Damas makes for a neat sounding ottsel.
I absolutely love this explanation for Precursor life cycles. I doubt anything Naughty Dog could have come up with would have been as coherent or grand.
A good substitute to offer as a reassurance.
As for the ending, do they not have a "time remaining until ready to fire" number for the three heroes?
Also, if Daxter can be a combatant, and they have already revealed themselves, why can't they? I guess the two Dark-Eco aligned ones might have lost their skills over the centuries (and/or never adapted them to their new bodies), and the other three might be similar, or never had such skills in the first place?
7354484
I will read stories with polygamy in them, even if I downvote them if they are set in Equestria or other place that I feel is supposed to present a moral standard for the reader to emulate. I've been pondering on that standard in recent months/years since I'm unsure if people would make the jump (even subconsciously) from that in a story to their behavior IRL.