Interlude: The Long Wait
Three days had passed since Pinkie and Ashelin had found the strange Metal Head in Haven forest and brought it back with them, so they could let it recover and see if it knew anything that could help them in the war that was occasionally raging outside the city walls. During that time Pinkie had made sure to change to Green Eco bandages that the Metal Head turned ottsel was wearing, nodding in approval every time she noticed that the little guy's body was soaking in the healing powers of the Eco to repair the damage that had been done to him. She and Ashelin had spoken a few times during those three days, usually discussing why the creature refused to wake up, but due to the missions that sprung up Ashelin didn't have a lot of free time to spend with Pinkie.
Erol came by the Palace a few times during those three days, usually when he had some important pieces of news that was better told directly to the Baron and not said over the communicators. Baron Praxis would generally give Erol some time off, about an hour or two, so he could check up on Pinkie and see how she was liking the city so far, where he'd ask her questions and listen to her before he had to depart. Erol also laid eyes on the oddly colored ottsel a few times, though Pinkie kept the creature's true identity to herself, because she knew that he might shoot it before stopping and asking her some questions about it. The only questions Erol asked was how long was the ottsel going to sleep and if Pinkie had a name for it, to which she confessed that she had no idea how long the little guy was going to sleep... but she did say that she had some names in mind for it.
Pinkie was hoping that the creature actually had a name that she could call it by, because she didn't want to force it to answer to another name when it already had one... but she had to wait for him to wake up before she could get around to that.
When the afternoon of the third day arrived Pinkie was, once more, tending to the wounds that the ottsel had sustained in his battle against the other Metal Heads, though this time she smiled as she noticed that all of them had finally healed. It was almost impossible to tell that he had been in a fight, and had been seriously wounded, by just glancing at him, which she assumed was thanks to the coloration of his fur. She carefully looked over the ottsel's body, to be sure that there weren't any wounds that she and Ashelin had missed, before nodding her head in satisfaction and putting away the bandages that Ashelin had left for her to use... though as she thought about Ashelin there was a knock on the door and her friend entered the room.
"How's the little guy doing?" Ashelin asked, which was usually the first thing that came out of her mouth, before she went on to asking Pinkie about her day once she got the information she needed.
"I feel like I got ran over by a hover car," the ottsel said, letting out a moan as he tried to pick himself up, though Pinkie carefully eased him into a sitting position as he opened his eyes, to which he stared at the two of them, "Um... hello?"
"I see you made a full recovery," Ashelin commented, staring at the ottsel as its gaze moved down to look at its new body, as if the Metal Head had no idea what form it had assumed before fainting in front of them, "Pinkie told me that the species you selected is an ottsel, something that's a cross between an otter and a weasel."
"An ottsel?" the creature said, though he finished his inspection of his body and looked up at the two ladies again, "Can't say that I've ever heard of such a creature before, but I think I could make this work. Thanks for saving my life by the way."
"Nonsense, we should be thanking you for that," Pinkie replied, smiling at the ottsel as he took in his surroundings, "Do you know why those other Metal Heads were trying to kill you?"
"No... but I feel like I should know," the ottsel said, raising a hand to his head for a moment, though it was unclear if he was trying to understand his new body or if he was trying to remember something, "All I remember is fleeing from the Metal Head Nest, making it to that forest, and killing those Metal Heads before transforming into this form, asking for help, and then collapsing from the pain."
"Do you remember your name?" Ashelin asked, though at the same time she was a little annoyed, because she had been hoping that the creature had information for them and there was nothing to show for their efforts.
"No... I don't think I had a name to begin with," the ottsel replied, letting out a sigh that he had been holding back, "I can remember my true nature, and how to change between forms, and yet I can remember nothing else about my life... I guess leaving the Nest had more of an effect on me than I originally thought it would."
"Well, I thought about calling you Raven a few times," Pinkie commented, causing both Ashelin and the ottsel to turn towards her for a few seconds, though Ashelin's expression was one of shock while the ottsel's was one of surprise, "What? He's got dark purple colored fur and his true form has wings... I thought the name was fitting given the circumstances."
"Actually, I like the sound of that already," the ottsel said, to which a grin appeared on his face for a few seconds, while at the same time Ashelin brought her palm to her face, "Very well then, from this day forward I shall go by the name Raven."
Ashelin resisted the urge to moan as she, Pinkie, and the newly named Raven made their way to the dining hall, where Pinkie gave her new companion his first lesson now how they were going to work together. At first Raven seemed to think that riding on Pinkie's shoulder, without the shoulder pad that her brother wore, was kind of weird, but when Ashelin mentioned that it should be easy to acquire one he seemed to rethink his assessment on in situation. As they walked Raven also got his first experience in testing out how his body moved, though both Ashelin and Pinkie made sure that he didn't strain himself in the process... especially since he had just finished recovering from his ordeal.
When the Baron joined them he seemed surprised to find that Raven was awake and moving around, after three days of being asleep no less, and a little amused by the choice of name that Pinkie had picked out, after explaining that Raven didn't actually have a name and that she had already come up with one for him. Praxis also found it amusing that ottsels had no problems with eating meat, though since Pinkie couldn't remember having ever seen Daxter eat any meat in his ottsel form she didn't know if it was actually possible for a real ottsel to do that. She did, however, assume that such a trait was because of what Raven actually was on the inside, but neither she nor Ashelin said anything about his true nature at the moment.
Raven, for the most part, proved to be an excellent dinner guest, as he answered the Baron's questions to the best of his ability, which all regarded what he was doing in Haven Forest and the fact that he couldn't remember very much of his existence anymore, but the Baron didn't seem to mind the answers that he was given. Praxis eventually decided that there was no harm in allowing Raven to stay in the Palace, though he did make it clear that he was Pinkie's responsibility, because she had been the one to insist on bringing him here, but she didn't seem to mind the addition to her life.
Pinkie fell into a routine for the next six months, where she and Raven would either spend a day with either Erol or Ashelin, which meant that she would be training in combat, being hand-to-hand fighting or using something called a Morph Gun, when she was with Erol. Pinkie discovered that the gun only had one style of ammunition at the moment, a Red Eco charge that was referred to as the Scatter Gun Mod, though she heard that someone was trying to create more mods that used Yellow, Blue, and Dark Eco in the capsules. She wasn't sure if she even liked the gun, despite the lessons that Erol gave her, but she had to admit that it would be useful in a group of enemies... once the problems had been resolved.
Whenever she was with Ashelin, however, the two of them were always sent on missions outside the city, where they would hunt down whatever Metal Heads that Vin had found on the radar, to which they discovered that he had lost the ability to see Raven on the radar when he was in his ottsel form. Occasionally the two of them would find a time for Raven to shift into a smaller flying form, where he essentially looked like a cross between his dragon form and his ottsel form, and allow him to stretch his wings from time to time. A few times Vin would inform them of another group of Metal Heads coming their way, where they would utilize Raven's hybrid form in order to overcome what was coming at them.
After those failed ambushes Raven would, in his hybrid form, claim an arm or a leg of a fallen enemy and devour whatever meat he could get at, stating that it allowed him to state his true nature for at least a month at a time... though at the same time Ashelin seemed surprised that a Metal Head would actually devour the flesh of its own kind, but then decided not to question it.
Once six months had actually passed, and both Pinkie and Raven had settled into some form of normalcy, the Baron decided to actually adopt Pinkie into his family, surprising Pinkie, Ashelin, and Raven by his decision, while at the same time making her the second heir to the Praxis line if something happened to him and her new sister. One of the things that he got her was a new set of armored clothing that looked similar to what Ashelin was wearing, but it was actually less revealing than what her sister was wearing and had none of the weapon straps that Ashelin had on her arms and legs. There was a few straps on her back, where she could place her gun if she ever decided to take up the Morph Gun or one of the Krimzon Guard guns like Ashelin or Erol had, but Pinkie said that she would think about it.
The Baron also gave her a weapon that she wasn't expecting, a slender silver colored blade that he called an Eco Blade, to which he personally gave her some lessons when he wasn't busy running the city and sending people on missions... though she always found it odd that the small crystal that was at the base of the blade was a Dark Eco crystal. She thought it was weird that the Baron would consider giving her this type of weapon, especially one with this particular type of crystal, but she accepted it in the end and trained with the Baron whenever he had the time.
From that point the other members of the Krimzon Guard, save for those that actually knew her, referred to her as a 'Night Guard', though when she asked why they didn't call her a 'Shadow Guard' or something Erol told her that it would confuse them with the leader of the Underground Movement, a man called the Shadow. It was at that point that she learned that some members of the Krimzon Guard had decided to leave the Guard and join the Underground, effectively giving the enemy information on what the Baron was doing. Pinkie was surprised that the former guards were even joining the people that they had been trying to stop, though every time it happened Erol seemed to be colder towards her and everyone else, as if he was taking it more personally than the rest of his comrades.
Pinkie was shocked how the kind Erol became so cold towards everyone, until the point where several of the guards that she was friends with mentioned that he was much crueler than what they expected, leading her to wonder if there was something else at work that could have effected the man like this. Ashelin told her at one point that she really disliked what Erol had become, because with every passing week it seemed that he was getting worse, as he had stopped visiting the Palace to see Pinkie... it was all about business these days. She tried to pay Erol no mind, thinking that it was just the stress of the job and the fact that those that joined the Underground couldn't take fighting the Metal Heads at all.
That was until she overheard a pair of guards, who worked in the prison section of the Fortress, mention that there had been a large number of casualties in what they called the 'Dark Warrior' program, which they attributed to Erol's sudden change in attitude towards them and everyone else. From what Pinkie could determine, after a few days of listening to the guards, the program was so secret that only a select number of the guards even knew the program existed. She decided not to ask questions about it, for fear of the Baron finding out and inquiring as to why she was poking her nose in business she hadn't been read into, but that didn't stop her from seeing if Raven could fit into small spaces.
She had Raven test himself just in case there ever came a time when they might need such an ability in the future, to which she learned that her small companion was more than happy to test himself, as he claimed that the challenges she gave him were fun and challenging. Pinkie also picked up fighting lessons from Ashelin, as Erol literally stopped coming to see her after whatever had happened inside the Fortress, but she wanted to be sure she was prepared for whatever came her way.
One year after the Baron had adopted Pinkie into his family he started to devote most of his time to either researching a super weapon that could take out the Metal Heads, using resources so the Krimzon Guard could deal with the Underground, or gathering more Eco to power the shield that was protecting the city. With his attention, and more importantly Erol's attention, focused on those three goals Pinkie and Raven were able to do more without people asking what they were doing. As such Pinkie spent a lot of time practicing with her own skills, both inside the city and outside the city, while making sure that she was prepared for anything that could possibly happen.
Nothing interesting happened after Pinkie had been adopted into the family, save for the fact that she followed Ashelin whenever her new sister wanted her help on something, or if she wanted Raven's help in locating certain enemies. Pinkie counted the days that had passed since she first arrived in Haven City, counting the years as they slowly passed, before three and a half years had passed since she first met Ashelin, Erol, and the Baron. It was on that fateful day that she decided to head to the Fortress, because Ashelin was on a mission, Erol had chosen to ignore her all day, and the Baron was busy, so she had nothing else to do and wanted to see if she could put a certain plan into action... which was why she and Raven entered the building without wasting any time.
Fortunately the guards in the Fortress had grown used to their presence, where Pinkie would walk into a room with Raven riding on the shoulder pad that she had gotten a long time ago and practice her moves on the dummies that the guards had set up for them to practice with, though at the same time Raven would sit on a bench and watch her attack her target.
When Raven was sure that they were the only ones left he would leave Pinkie alone and head into one of the open vents, which Pinkie was shocked to even discover that there were several of them throughout the entirety of the Fortress that she could walk through. They did this multiple times, allowing Raven to search sections of the Fortress and see if he could find anything that might tell her about the Dark Warrior program. Every time he returned to her, before the other guards returned, he mentioned that he had found nothing that would be of aid to her... until one day he mentioned something about bumping into an ottsel that had orange fur. From what he said the two of them exchanged words for a few moments before going their separate ways, each of them knowing that it was best if they didn't say in one place for too long.
"So Daxter is inside the Fortress, looking for something," Pinkie commented, keeping her voice low as she and Raven made their way out of the Fortress, making sure that none of the guards knew what she was saying as they walked out onto the streets.
"Should we tell your dad that he's inside the Fortress?" Raven asked in kind, having mastered the art of lowering his voice to avoid people from hearing what he had said, something that Ashelin had been shocked to discover when he and Pinkie had demonstrated the ability to her.
"Its hard to know if he's in there on business or for personal reasons," Pinkie replied, annoyed by the idea of knowing that Daxter was close at hand and couldn't do anything in terms of speaking with him, while at the same time ignoring the fact that Raven had called the Baron her father, "but if you bumped into him once, and spoke with him, you might be able to find him again in the future. We might figure out why he's in the Fortress in the process, and determine whether its something that will harm the Krimzon Guard or if its something completely different."
"So you want me to figure out why he's in the Fortress to begin with?" Raven inquired, though at the same time he turned his head back and looked at the building he and Pinkie had left, as if expecting to see some hint that the other ottsel was watching them.
"That's the idea," Pinkie said, hopping into the hover car that she had picked up when she left the Palace, while Raven took the seat next to her, "besides, if Daxter is here, in Haven City, than that means that my brother has to be here somewhere... the only question is where is he hiding. I'm positive that Daxter knows that piece of information... we only need to talk with him and see what's going on."
Raven nodded as they headed away from the Fortress, knowing that he was the only one that could figure out what Daxter was doing inside the building and could get him to speak with Pinkie. He had heard the story of Pinkie's first adventure, where she, Jak, and Daxter had saved the world from two people who had gone insane from all the Dark Eco they had been studying. Once they had saved the world they had discovered a ring that allowed them to travel through a rift, but their vehicle was destroyed and everyone had been separated from each other. Pinkie was sure that she had either landed before her brother and best friend, because none of the guards had said anything about finding someone that matched Jak's description.
Pinkie had to admit that she still couldn't believe that she had been in Haven City for three and a half years without receiving word about her brother's fate, but she guessed that would have made sense if he was in the prison section of the Fortress.
She and Raven stuck to a schedule, where they would return to the Fortress every two days and see if Raven couldn't find Daxter, though oddly enough he found him without an hour of searching. Once Raven explained who he was with, and surprised Daxter with the fact that Pinkie was okay, he received an address that was where the other ottsel was staying. Pinkie would then meet up with her friend a few days later, as instructed by Daxter, where she would finally learn that a year and a half ago both Daxter and Jak landed in the Industrial Sector of the city, before Erol arrested Jak and carted him off.
Daxter admitted that he was planning on scouring the whole Fortress, so he was sure of where everything was, because so far he was having bad luck finding Jak, but he knew that Pinkie's brother was inside the building. It was then that Pinkie, Raven, and Daxter agreed to find Jak and bust him out of the Fortress, though once they were outside Pinkie knew that she was likely going to be labeled as a felon... meaning that their only shot at helping the city would be to join the Underground, a much as she disliked the notion. Ashelin, when she figured out what Pinkie was planning on doing after following her to Daxter's place, was much more calm than what Pinkie was expecting, but she did offer a quick way into the prison... but she would have to find her own way out.
There was a warp gate inside a building that they called the Power Station, where Ashelin could easily ask Vin to temporarily connect the gate to the one inside the Fortress, but if it stayed open too long the Baron would find out and put them all in jeopardy. For the next six months both Raven and Daxter scoured the rest of the Fortress, carefully making their way through all of the vents, before they finally got the breakthrough that they were waiting for. Daxter was able to find where they were holding Jak, and injecting Dark Eco into his body to create something that was called a 'Dark Warrior', though he had his communicator at the ready so Pinkie could teleport into the area when the coast was clear.
"Pinkie, are you sure about this?" Ashelin asked, leaning against the consul that would open the warp gate the moment Daxter contacted her sister, who was currently standing near the gate in question, "You don't have to do this."
"Ashelin, I've been in Haven City for four years," Pinkie replied, letting out the sigh she had been holding back, "and for the last two years my brother has been locked away inside the Fortress, where he's been experimented on like he's some kind of lab rat. I don't want to believe that the Baron has anything to do with this, but right now we know that Erol arrested him shortly after he arrived in the city and dragged him to the Fortress. Right now I intend on rescuing my brother and finding out whose responsible for not telling me about this sooner... even if that means joining the Underground to learn the truth."
"I can't talk you out of this, can I?" Ashelin commented, to which she noticed her sister shaking her head, "I thought so. Our father is going to find out about this and have Erol label you as an enemy of the city... or maybe he won't tell our father and simply go over his head again. It wouldn't be the first time that Erol acted without our father's orders backing him..."
Before either of them could say anything more they heard Daxter's voice coming from Pinkie's communicator, a gift from Ashelin that she hadn't told her father about, which indicated that Jak had finished his final treatment, if what had been said a few seconds ago was any indication. At the same time Ashelin contacted Vin and the warp gate sprung to life before their eyes, though before doing anything else Pinkie embraced Ashelin for a few seconds. Once that was done Pinkie moved towards the warp gate and jumped through, knowing that the moment she appeared on the other side the gate would be closed seconds later when Vin told Ashelin that Pinkie had successfully made it to the other side.
Pinkie only hoped that her brother was okay... and that she could bust him out of the Fortress without causing too much harm to him or the guards that were stationed there.
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So... much... sweetness. Next chapter we begin Jak 2... and commence the headaches.
You know, its shocking how nice the Baron was to Pinkie... and how willing Ashelin was open to the idea of going behind her father's back. I guess Pinkie contributed to Ashelin telling the Underground the information she gave them.
Pinkie's going to be in for a rude awakening when she discovers that her brother was being experimented on for two years... and her rage is sure to flare when she hears that her adoptive father was behind it.
You know, I kind of like the new character... despite the fact that he actually eats pieces of his own kin like its nothing. That might make certain conversations a little weird if he's nearby.
I like Raven. He seems to be a more serious version of Daxter, while at the same time he takes into account the opinions of his friends... I'm not sure whether Daxter likes him or not though.
And so we begin the second game of the trilogy. This ought to be interesting.
8154284 Praxis and Erol will go super sai- i mean they'll be furious
8154675 Baron Praxis will be furious at first, that's a fact, but he might think that Pinkie's doing this to help him out. After all, he did adopt her into the family, so he might see this as Pinkie trying to help him out by getting in close with his enemies so she can take them out.
8154740 didn't think about that. that could be very true
And now we know why Pinkie's flashbacks of her future self had flat hair.