Jak and Daxter: Children of Eco

by Blackdrag-rose

Interlude: The Precursor Ring

It had taken the group some time to move the Precursor Ring and its vehicle to Samos' hut, where Keira could work on it and see if she could get all of it to work properly, though they had the help of the other three Sages for most of the journey. Many people asked them what the ring was for, when they passed through the various villages, though none of them had any definite answers to that question. Keira did promise them that the moment they knew what the purpose of the ring was, after she had conducted all the tests she could think of on it, they would be able to answer some of them. Eventually they managed to get the ring, and its vehicle, back to the lab and carefully set it up nearby, where Keira could work on it until she was sure they could safely use it.

Shortly after delivering the Precursor Ring to Samos' hut, and setting it up, the villagers of Rock Village threw a party for Jak, Pinkie, and Daxter, where the entire group took a break and accepted the invitation. It was there that the trio performed the dance that they had promised each other once they had finished their quest to save the world, to which several of the villagers applauded them and their deeds, including the warrior that didn't want to deal with Klaww. During the party Jak, Pinkie, and Daxter privately wondered if the warrior was actually going to do a better job of defending the village now that he knew that he had been upstaged by three youngsters.

The next two weeks were a blur of activity for the trio, because while Keira worked on the Precursor Ring they were occasionally called upon by one of the other three Sages to help them with something in their respective villages. It was usually to deal with any Lurkers that were still trying to gather more Precursor artifacts, or doing something that the Sages deemed as dangerous, though the trio found that these tasks were much easier than when they were on their actual adventure. Most of the time they spent after the defeat of Gol and Maia was hanging around Samos' hut and helping Keira fix the Precursor Ring, or check and make sure that there was no damage to the strange vehicle that was resting near the lab.

Eventually Keira declared that the two mysterious objects were ready for use, though seeing how it was nighttime when she made the announcement Samos suggested that they wait until the morning before they used the vehicle and the ring.

When morning arrived Samos finished handing off any wisdom and guidance to the Mayor, who seemed pleased by the idea that he might actually be in charge for the first time in forever, before he made his way along the village's bridges and headed towards the ring, where he spotted Jak, Daxter, Pinkie, and Keira waiting for him by the vehicle. Jak, Daxter, and Pinkie were staring at the ring, as if they were trying to figure out what it was going to do, while Keira seemed to be going over some last minute calculations in her head, which made Samos chuckle for a moment before he approached them.

"Today's the big day, everyone," Samos announced, drawing the groups attention to him for a moment, allowing them to have one last look at the peaceful village that was resting behind him, "I hope you're all prepared... for whatever happens."

He noticed that Jak and Pinkie shared a glance with each other, as if they doubted what they were doing for a moment, while Daxter seemed overjoyed that they could finally use the ring.

"I think I've figured out most of this machine." Keira said, beckoning to the vehicle that was behind her for a few seconds, before moving her hand over to the ring, "It interacts somehow with that large Precursor Ring. I just hope we didn't break anything moving it here to the lab."

"Easy for you to say!" Daxter declared, while at the same time he, Jak, and Pinkie climbed into the sitting area of the vehicle, "We did all the heavy lifting!"

"Daxter! Don't touch anything!" Samos stated, stopping the ottsel from touching the controls before he could activate anything, causing him to receive an unhappy look in return, "Though the Precursors vanished long ago, the artifacts they left behind can still do great harm."

"We figured that out the hard way," Pinkie replied, referring to what Gol and Maia could have done with their Precursor Robot if they hadn't stopped them, while at the same time earning a giggle from Keira.

"Or great good!" Keira threw in, offering up the other side of the argument once more, which she always did whenever someone told her of all the harm the Precursor artifacts would be used for, "If you figure out how to use them. I'm sure that, with some proper study and analysis, even Dark Eco could be used for the greater good."

"I've had some experience with such things." Samos said, just as he and Keira joined the trio on the strange vehicle, while at the same time noticing that it was a tight fit for all four of them, "I know you can make it work, Jak."

"Well, here goes nothing," Jak said, raising his hand towards the bright red gemstone that was in front of him, though when he touched it the dome shaped item opened up and the insides started moving around.

"Looks like Jak's still got the mojo!" Daxter exclaimed happily, because it meant that they hadn't damaged anything and that they could see what the two devices actually did.

"Interesting..." Keira commented, looking at the object that had opened up, while at the same time reading the Precursor Runes that she was able to lay her eyes on, "it appears to be reading out some preset coordinates."

The instant those words left her mouth the device slammed shut, which was followed by the strange ring behind the vehicle moving and releasing Eco beams at the top section of the Precursor Ring, activating the ancient device. While that happened the smaller objects that had been bound up around the large ring came loose as it tore part of the ramp they had constructed to pieces, though it also was giving off a glow that reminded them all of the Dark Eco they had seen. After a few more seconds the sky turned dark as creatures from Pinkie's dreams flew out of the ring in front of them, while at the same time a voice spoke to them.

"Finally! The last Rift Gate has been opened!" the voice declared, which made Daxter cower behind Jak as he questioned what the strange creatures were.

"So this is how it happened..." Samos said, though his voice as a mix of both fear and awe, as at the moment he couldn't decide which of the two to feel at the moment.

That was swiftly followed by a creature, easily as large as the Precursor Robot they had defeated two weeks ago, moved through the gate and stared at its surroundings, while at the same time declaring that some boy couldn't hide from him. Daxter, seeing the massive creature, which he determined was an ugly creature, also declared that they needed to start pushing buttons to stop whatever they had done. Jak, not knowing what else to do in the situation, pushed the controls that were in front of him, which loosed the vehicle they were sitting in as it raced up the ramp and passed by the monster as they entered the 'Rift Gate', as the creature called it.

The group rode the vehicle through what they thought was the Rift, if the Rift Gate was anything to go by, while Keira questioned what the creature they had all seen was and what it would do to the defenseless villagers they had left behind. Daxter, on the other hand, quickly declared that he wanted off the vehicle... which was followed by some sort of dimensional energy lashing out at the vehicle with enough force to rip the entire thing apart.

As everyone was flung away from the wreckage of the vehicle Pinkie watched as both Keira and Samos were separated from each other as they fell behind her, Jak and Daxter. Though at the same time she noticed that her brother and their best friend were much further ahead than she was, where she discovered that she was being thrown to the side of the Rift. The last thing she remembered, before her world went dark, was Samos calling out that Jak and Pinkie needed to 'find themselves', though before she could wrap her head around what he had meant her world went black around her.

---

When Pinkie woke up she carefully pulled herself into a sitting position as she felt the ground beneath her feet, though as she opened her eyes she found that she had landed near an area that looked like a farm, reminding her of the farmer she had helped some time ago... though that was before she noticed the large wall that surrounded the area she was in. She flashed back to her dreams, where she had been running through a city that had the exact same walls that she was seeing how, which told her that part of her dreams weren't merely fragments of her imagination... they were real places. Pinkie didn't like the fact that the creatures she had seen in her dreams, ones made out of both twisted metal and flesh, and the city were both real, especially when the metallic creatures could kill her now that she knew that they were real.

Before she could figure out what to do next, or even determine where she was, she noticed a group of five guys walking towards where she was sitting, though four of them seemed to be dressed up in some sort of red colored armor that covered the majority of their bodies, while at the same time making them look like formidable opponents. The fifth person, who was at the head of the pack, was dressed up in what she assumed was a suit of some kind, complete with a mask that was currently resting on the top of his head, though Pinkie noticed that there were some strange markings on his face. One other thing she noticed was that the four people in body armor were carrying weapons that reminded her of the Yellow Sage's staff, which he had called a gun for some reason, while the leader had a much smaller one... which he wasn't carrying in his hand at the moment.

She suspected that she was in trouble, based on the fact that the four men appeared to have their weapons ready for anything, though that thought was broken when the leader merely smiled at her when they came to a stop... though he turned back towards his men for a moment as if he realized something by looking at her for a few seconds.

"Stand down and search the area," the leader told his men, to which they saluted him and spread out, though Pinkie had no idea what they could be searching for, "They're searching for signs of whatever it is that you used to breach our Eco Dome."

"Ugh... the Eco what now?" Pinkie asked, because she had absolutely no idea what was going on at the moment, though at the same time she knew that the answers would be coming her way at some point.

"Its the shield that's protecting Haven City from the Metal Heads," the leader answered, almost as if he had expected the question and had prepared himself ahead of time, "its maintained by five Eco Generators inside the Dome, one for each of the primary colors of Eco..."

"Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, and Dark Eco?" Pinkie said, as she was sure that only her group and the Sages even knew of the existence of Light Eco, though she kept that to herself for the moment.

"Very good guess," the man replied, to which he gestured to his men for a moment, "One of our friends, who specializes in keeping the Eco Dome fully powered, noticed that there was a breach a few minutes ago and, as he told us, he 'triangulated' the position of whatever it was that could have passed through the shield. I don't know all the details, and I honestly don't care for all the math and science stuff he talks about, but he managed to figure out what something landed in this area and Baron Praxis ordered me to investigate... though I expected to find a bunch of Metal Heads. I did not expect to find a young lady like you."

"I... I see..." Pinkie said, though at the same time she had no idea what the man was even talking about, other than the fact that the city was protected by a shield and that she had somehow passed through it.

"Look, the Baron is sure to have questions for someone like you," the man said, though as he said that he extended a hand towards her, which Pinkie decided to accept as he pulled her onto her feet, "and, judging from the look on your face, I can tell that you aren't the only one that used... whatever method you used. The Baron will help you find your friends or family, and then you can enjoy your life in the safety of Haven's walls."

Pinkie had, for a brief moment, forgotten about Jak and the others, though the moment the man mentioned them she knew that they needed to be found before something bad happened to them. She had no idea who this Baron Praxis was, but he appeared to be the leader of the city, which meant that she needed his help to find them before they were hurt. With the decision apparently made before she could answer, or maybe she had at the moment she chose to take his hand, the man signaled to his men and they made they way towards the city that was in front of them.

"By the way, my name is Erol," the man said as they walked, causing Pinkie to turn towards him for a second, where he gave her another smile, "I figured that you might want to call me by something that's not 'Mister' or 'Sir'."

"Oh, well in that case my name is Pinkie Pie," Pinkie replied, a slight smile appearing on her face as well, because she was glad to have found someone that was nice to her.

"Well then Pinkie, we had better get you to the palace so you can meet the Baron," Erol said, his smile not leaving his face for even a second, "then we'll begin the search for your friends and family."

Pinkie may not have liked the fact that she was no in the depressing city she had dreamed about for so many years, but right now she didn't let that bother her, because she was already one step closer to finding out what happened to Samos, Keira, Jak, and Daxter... and all she had to do was meet with the Baron to set everything in motion. She only prayed that her friends and her brother were safe from the creatures that Erol called the Metal Heads.

Comments

[Adagio Shimmer]

So Pinkie landed alone, in Haven City... and Erol is being nice. Something seems fishy to me.

[Sonata Blaze]

Erol... what are you doing, pretending to be nice?
I'm keeping my eye on you mister.

[DeathKing]

This could be how Erol is normally like but with all the stress from his job cause him to become cruel.... or his acting and going to rape Pinkie or do something equally horrible to her. Say use her to found Jak and force her to watch him be experimented on.

[Pinkie Glimmer]

8132887 I think we might have found Erol before the stress of the job turned him cruel... though I think its the Baron that will be doing all of the horrible stuff to her.

[Aria Blitz]

A nice Erol... I think Pinkie might have landed before Jak and Daxter did. Maybe by a few years.

[Lord Frieza]

It seems, that in some way, the canon of this story has been changed as well... and Pinkie hasn't even done anything in Haven yet.

[Vigilant of Stendarr]

Erol was never a likeable character... so he's got to be lying between his teeth.