Jak and Daxter: Children of Eco

by Blackdrag-rose

Renegade: The Scatter Gun

With the Krimzon Guard ammunition stockpile taken care of, and they were sure that none of the guards were chasing after them for blowing all of it up, the group carefully made their way towards the hideout. They knew that Torn would want to know of their success immediately, but they took their time to make absolutely sure that they weren't being chased by anyone, with both Daxter and Raven keeping their eyes peeled for any guards that were looking in their direction. Fortunately they found that none of the guards even cared about them, despite the fact that Daxter glared at several of them while Raven merely nodded his head to any that walked by them, which allowed them to reach their destination without raising the alarm.

When they entered the hideout they found Torn on the opposite side of the table, looking at something on his map, which happened to rest on the wall in front of him, but he made no move to acknowledge their arrival as they noticed he was also cleaning his dagger.

"The 'demolition squad' has returned!" Daxter exclaimed, to which he jumped off of Jak's shoulder and landed on the table, while Raven merely ran down Pinkie's arm and stopped beside him, "The ammunition stockpile has been blown to pieces, as per your 'request'."

"We did see something odd while we were getting rid of the ammunition," Jak said, knowing that Torn didn't really like Daxter that much and knew that he would listen to him or Pinkie, "the Baron's guards were giving barrels of Eco to a group of Metal Heads!"

"Really!?" Torn replied, turning his gaze back to the group, though that was when they noticed that he was genuinely shocked by the information they had handed him, "The Shadow will be very interested to hear that."

"Quick question," Raven said, causing the man to turn towards him for a moment, though there was something on his mind that he wanted to get rid of, "You wouldn't happen to be the Shadow, would you?"

"No, but I don't blame you for asking. Many recruits ask the same thing after their second or third mission." Torn replied, though he let out a chuckle before growing serious again, "Though we should get back to the matter at hand... I happen to have another task for all of you to complete."

"We're listening," Jak commented, though based on what they had been given so far, and how easy those missions had been, he was hoping that they would given something more challenging in the near future.

"One of our 'suppliers' needs his payment delivered," Torn said, to which he faced the group and laid his hand on the table, "its a bag of Eco Ore. Take the Zoomer parked out back and drive it to the Hip Hog Heaven Saloon in South Town. Ask for Krew, he'll be there. Oh, and while your making the delivery, don't let the Baron's patrols stop you."

"We understand," Pinkie said, though she knew the name of the man called Krew, because Ashelin had told her some things about the man and hated that they were going to have to associate themselves with him, before she noticed a look on Torn's face, "Is there something else you wanted to tell us."

"Yes; I wanted to tell you that you should pump Krew for information while your there." Torn commented, though his tone indicated that he was hoping that they would discover something while they were in South Town, "He's wired into the city, and may know what the Baron is up to."

The group nodded and the ottsels returned to their places on the shoulders of both Jak and Pinkie, before they made their way out of the hideout and moved towards where the zoomer in question was resting. This particular zoomer was more like the one that Keira had created during their first adventure, though on the back of it rested the package that contained the Eco Core that they were supposed to deliver. Since the zoomer only had enough room for one person, and they needed to be fast considering Torn mentioned guard patrols, Pinkie walked out into the area around the hideout and spotted a lone zoomer, the same size as the one that Jak would be using, to which she acquired it and returned to where her brother was waiting for her.

When they started moving towards South Town they encountered the red checkpoint that rested between the Slums and the Industrial Sector, though as they rounded a corner they spotted a group of guard vehicles waiting for them. It was clear that they had been expecting something in the near future, from the Underground, but instead of bothering to piss them off Pinkie pulled up beside her brother as they moved out of the guard's sight. She then suggested that Jak take the upper walkways while she flew on the lower level, because she had the feeling that the moment she neared them she might be fired upon, which would give Jak the time to slip passed them with them even knowing he was there.

The plan actually worked better than Pinkie had originally thought, as the moment they started focusing on her Jak was able to get through the blockade without being attacked. They both made their way through the section of the city they were in until they were forced to meet back up in front of a second blockade, though they passed under the guard vehicles and moved into South Town as quickly as they could. A few moments later they noticed the water that was resting in front of them, so instead of following the normal walkway they flew over to water and made their way towards the Hip Hog, where they both noticed that the guards seemed to give up about halfway there. When they arrived at their destination, and parked their zoomers outside the Saloon, the guards had completely stopped chasing them, allowing them to enter the building without having to worry about being chased inside.

When they entered the Saloon they spotted two people that seemed to be waiting around for something to happen; a large fat man and a man that was dressed up in some sort of armor. Pinkie noticed that Raven didn't like the man's armor, making her wonder if it was made from the remains of Metal Heads or made to resemble Metal Heads, but she was able to calm him down before he freaked out or revealed himself to everyone in the room. The fat man, on the other hand, was wearing some sort of green colored shirt while he floated around the room with what appeared to be some sort of hoverchair that carried him everywhere.

Pinkie knew that the larger man had to be Krew, though she silently waited for someone to start speaking before she jumped to conclusions and caused a scene... though the person who started talking first was actually Daxter of all people.

"Are you Krew?" Daxter asked, pointing a finger at the fatter man for a few seconds, which he lowered to avoid earning the man's wrath or anger at being pointed at for so long.

"I am." the fat man said, nodding his head for a brief second, just to indicate that he was who the group was looking for, before he glanced at the four of them.

"Good, because we just delivered your shippment," Jak replied, to which he crossed his arms for a moment, while at the same time noticing the look that appeared on Krew's face.

"That's good, eh, because a cargo of rare Eco Ore is extremely hard to come by," Krew stated, his eyes, one normal and one replaced by some sort of robotic one, "and is worth more than ten of your lives! I would have been forced to collect... slowly."

"Trust me, the Baron already tried to kill me and failed." Jak said, glaring at Krew with the same intensity that was being thrown his way, knowing that this could either end in their favor or end badly, "Though we are a little curious as to why the Baron is trading barrels of Eco to the Metal Heads."

"Maybe I'll tell you if you prove to be useful, or maybe not." Krew stated, which caused Jak to growl, because it was clear that he was hoping to get back to Torn with something useful, before he turned to his companion, "Sig, be good fellow and give these them their bonus."

Sig reached behind the counter for a moment and turned to Jak and Pinkie, to which he held out something that Pinkie recognized as the Morph Gun, though both of them happened to be equipped with the Red Eco Scatter Gun modification, meaning that the technology had been perfected since the last time she used it.

"If you want to see what those babies can do I would suggest trying out the nearby Gun Course." Krew told them, just as Jak and Pinkie looked over their new weapons for a few seconds, "If you show some skill with that hardware, I might hire you for a job or two, eh."

Jak and Pinkie looked at each other before they headed outside the Saloon and made their way over to the gun course, where they slipped their new guns onto their backs so the guards didn't stop them for having their weapons visible. When they entered the building they could train inside their communicator spoke up and Sig gave them a run down on how to use their weapons, where Raven commented on the power of the blast when Pinkie used hers. Once the two of them were familiar with the controls, which were rather straightforward with Sig's instructions, they both agreed to go through the actual course and try their luck... where they discovered that the minimum score that they needed to earn was three thousand points.

Jak, having no skill with the weapon and having to run through the course twice, managed to earn a total score that stopped just a little over four thousand, to which he smiled a bit as he finally stopped trying to beat the high score. Pinkie, on the other hand, had a little more practice with the weapon thanks to the training that Ashelin and the Baron gave her, to which she managed to end up with a total score of six thousand and five hundred points. Jak wasn't too pleased about being shown up, especially when he believed that they were both new to this specific weapon, but he decided to see what Krew had in mind for missions now that they had beaten the score that Sig had set up ahead of time.

Once the two of them were finished with the gun course, and had restocked all of their ammunition thanks to the crates that were sitting around them, they made their way back to the Hip Hog, where Krew greeted them the instant they entered the building.

"Excellent shooting you two," Krew said, as if he believed that his praise would make them offer him their assistance in several future jobs that he was currently planning, "Have either of you ever thought about being a Wastelander?"

Jak looked at Pinkie, as if he was thinking that she might know what the man was talking about, but she shook her head and indicated that neither of them had any idea what a Wastelander was. Pinkie was sure that Ashelin might have mentioned the name at some point in the past, but she had never bothered to get a description of them or figure out what they were.

"Wastelander's go out into the wasteland beyond the city walls, fight Metal Heads, and bring me valuable items." Krew explained, though his tone indicated that he enjoyed having some of the mysterious people working for him, "Artifacts, weapons, you name it. Anything worth having comes through my hands... so if you do some jobs for me I can throw some of the sweeter items your way."

Jak and Pinkie glanced at each other once more, as if they were mentally debating the offer that the man was offering them, but in the end they both came to the same conclusion, that by doing some jobs for Knew might give them the weapons they needed to turn the tide against their enemies, be they the Metal Heads or someone else.

"Kill Metal Heads and get some new toys?" Jak asked, smirking for a moment as Pinkie looked at Sig, who was standing beside them with a serious look on his face, "We're in."

"Then Sig will show you the ropes." Krew happily said, a smile appearing on his face as he used his hoverchair to leave the area they were in, no doubt heading to another part of the building that required his attention.

"So you wanna be Wastelanders, huh doughboys?" Sig asked, a smile appearing on his face, as if he was considering having two additional allies would be useful in the future, "Well, we'll see what you're made of when we get out into the thick of it. Krew wants some new trophies to put butts in chairs at the Hip Hog, so I'm gonna bag him five nasty Metal Heads at the pumping station. We'll meet there and track those bad boys down... just don't leave me hanging."

---

It didn't take Jak and Pinkie long to find their way to the pumping station, not when they knew the route and could easily trace their steps without having to worry about upsetting the guards, though when they walked through the pipe they spotted Sig waiting near the trees with his weapon propped up against one of them.

"Hello, cherries!" Sig said as he turned around, though the four of them guessed that saying 'cherries' was his way of greeting people, "Didn't keep me waiting long. Ready to hunt a few Metal Heads?"

"That we are." Jak replied, to which he and Pinkie pulled out their Scatter Guns and stood on both sides of the Wastelander, which would make things much easier on all of them.

It was then that Jak and Pinkie noticed a new type of Metal Head, one that walked like they did and carried some sort of weapon in its hands, though with three people attacking them it was rather easy for them to take out the first group that was standing in front of them. A few seconds later Sig demonstrated the power of his own weapon, called the 'Peace Maker', and loosed a blast at the nearby tank that had been blocking the other path they could have taken earlier, allowing them to begin the search for their first target. They followed the path and eventually came to a platform that needed to be lowered into place, so while Jak did that Pinkie and Sig took out the enemies that came at them for a few seconds.

That was when Sig spotted one of his targets, which was a crab like Metal Head that had some sort of weapon on one of its arms, to which he charged his weapon and told Jak and Pinkie to defend him. It was rather easy for them to defend the Wastelander, because all that came their way were the red lizard creatures that jumped out of the water, and soon Sig knocked out his target and indicated that it was time for them to move on.

They then continued to advance around the pumping station, following Sig as he hunted down the remaining Metal Heads that were apparently his targets, though whenever he stopped Jak would face one direction and Pinkie would face another. The siblings would take out the enemies that came at them, where Raven would help them out by punching anything that got too close and avoided the guns, until Sig took out the target and moved forward. It wasn't until they had taken out the second, third, and fourth targets that they were assaulted by a larger group of Metal Heads. Sig's gun jammed while they were dealing with the ambush, but thanks to Jak and Pinkie's teamwork, along with Daxter and Raven pointing out enemies they hadn't noticed, they were able to beat their opponents and move onto the final target.

As Sig took out his final target, and the Metal Head fell into the water, the group smiled as they completed the task that Krew had given them... while at the same time Pinkie heard Raven's stomach growl, no doubt from all the bits of Metal Heads that were scattered everywhere behind them.

"Home team five, Metal Heads nothing!" Sig said, to which he turned towards Jak and Pinkie as they put their weapons away, "That was the last one. You should go back to the Hip Hog and tell Krew that we got them all. I'm going to clean the Peace Maker and collect the trophies... oh, and you did good today, for a pair of rookies."

"Hey Jak," Pinkie said, to which her brother turned to her for a moment, "I'm going to take the long way around and collect the glowing gems that the other Metal Heads dropped. We'll see you and Daxter in a few minutes."

Jak nodded and headed towards the entrance, though while Pinkie and Raven walked she made sure that they were out of Sig's sight before letting Raven shift into his hybrid form to tear into some of the Metal Head arms that were scattered everywhere. She mentally cursed herself for not making sure that Raven had his stomach full before coming out where a large amount of Metal Heads were located, because she knew the ottsel would have been hungry the moment he looked at all the parts. After a few minutes Raven condensed himself back into his ottsel form and jumped back onto her shoulder, to which she gathered the gems and returned to Jak.

As they exited the pumping station Pinkie had to wonder when she and Raven would reveal the secret of what Raven was to both Jak and Daxter, but then she sighed and decided that she would figure that out in the future... be it by her own hand or whatever the circumstances around them were.

Comments

[Lettus the Saiyan]

Ah yeah, Sig's entered the story now. He's one of my most favorite characters in the second and third game.

[Sonata Blaze]

Now the gang as a pair of Morph Guns... which means things will be getting more interesting in the near future.

[Aria Blitz]

Sig's in the game and Raven's enjoying his strange meal. I'm waiting for Raven's reveal and the reactions.

[Lord Frieza]

The mission where you have to guard Sig is so much easier when you have someone that can watch his front and watch his six... and have ottsels that call out where enemies are.

[FurryBrony]

After not playing this game for years, and coming back to it in the remastered trilogy, I ended up stuck on this mission, as I kept dying during various parts.