Jak and Daxter: Children of Eco

by Blackdrag-rose

Renegade: Saving Vin

Jak and Pinkie were pleased with their scores on the Blaster course, as Jak managed to earn seven thousand and five hundred points before he was done, though Pinkie managed to get eight thousand on her first try. Instead of wasting time on the course, and trying to get the highest scores possible, the group left the gun course and considered the fact that they had gotten what they had wanted from Krew. The fat man had given them two weapon mods, the Scatter and Blaster mods, and given them the information that they had asked for, which meant that they could return to Torn and see if he had anything else for them to do. After a few seconds of debate, and some points made by both Daxter and Raven, the group decided to get in one of the zoomers that had two seats and made their way back towards the alley that Torn and the Underground were waiting in.

Pinkie still didn't like the idea of fighting against the Baron, especially when there was a host of Metal Heads trying to get inside the city, but after everything she had heard so far she had to wonder if the Underground was right to want to replace him... or whether Ashelin was right and that they could hold out until a weapon could be created to deal with the Metal Heads that were waiting outside the walls.

When they returned to the alley in question they parked their zoomer and made their way into the hideout, where they discovered that Torn was looking over something and hadn't noticed them enter. A few seconds passed before he looked up from his papers and noticed them standing there, though if he was pissed that they had taken some time before making their return, by doing jobs for Krew, he wasn't showing his anger. Jak and Pinkie assumed that he knew that they would have been delayed by Krew, which might have been why he was so calm at the moment, but they stood before him and waited for the next mission he needed them to take care of.

"I was wondering what was taking you lot so long to return," Torn commented, to which he set his papers down and looked up at them, where he stood up straight and crossed his arms for a few seconds, "so, what information were you able to gleam from our 'associate'?"

"The Baron is definitely trading barrels of Eco to the Metal Heads," Jak explained, confirming what they had seen back in the Fortress, before getting to what Krew had actually told them, "apparently his deal keeps them out of the city, while at the same time ensuring that they attack enough to justify his continued rule."

"I see," Torn said, shaking his head for a moment, as if he couldn't believe that the Baron was capable of negotiating with the Metal Heads without it blowing up in his face, before he looked up at Jak and Pinkie again, "Well then, let's see what we can do to undermine that deal. One of the Baron's mining operations is under attack by the Metal Heads, though whether or not its a part of the Baron's deal the foreman there is one of our best informants. His name is Vin, and he's just valuable enough to save... so I cannot stress the fact that the four of you need to get out there and save him, before something happens to him. The warp gate you need to use is located at the power station, located near the entrance to South Town, so head there and head to the Strip Mine... then save Vin."

"I think I know the area your talking about," Pinkie spoke up, as she already knew where the power station was located, because she had used that warp gate to get inside the Fortress so she could save Jak, "its easy to find, once you know where it is."

"Whatever the deal the Baron made with the Metal Head's is, the city's Eco is running out," Torn added, though with the knowledge that Pinkie had on the Eco Dome she knew that running out of Eco was one of the worst things that could be happening at the moment, "If we don't get that kid back on the throne soon, there might not be a city left to defend."

"Don't worry, we'll save Vin," Jak said, to which Daxter jumped onto his shoulder as he made his way out of the hideout, where Raven did the same thing and Pinkie followed them outside.

Once they were back outside the hideout they climbed back into their zoomer and carefully made their way to the area that the power station was in, though as they did so Pinkie thought about what she had seen since they had rescued Jak from the Fortress. Kor, the man that had told them where the Underground was hiding, had been keeping track of two young children when they had crossed paths, though Pinkie was sure that she recognized the children in question. She was absolutely sure that those young children were both Jak and herself, though if that was the case, and her memories were to believed, then Jak was definitely the prince of Haven city... but she had no idea if that title even meant anything anymore.

Pinkie let out a small sigh as she watched the industrial Sector pass them by, where she decided that now wasn't the time to worry about the possibility that Jak could be the son of the King that had ruled before the Baron came into power.

When they reached the power station Jak parked the zoomer at the bottom of the ramp that would lead them up to the building they needed to pass through, where Jak got his first look of the building. There were a number of consoles, each having some screens and buttons that could be pressed, that controlled a variety of the city functions across the entire city. As Jak looked around the room, and took in the sights, Pinkie moved to the control panel that the warp gate was linked up to, where she remembered what Ashelin had shown her and made sure that the gate was connected to the Strip Mine. Once she was sure that the warp gate was connected to the right place, and that it was powered up, she beckoned to her brother and they jumped through the gateway, to which they headed towards their destination.

---

When the group appeared on the other side of the warp gate they discovered that the Strip Mine had pools of Dark Eco laying around, at least six Eco Wells scattered around the area, and had a moving conveyor line that was moving large containers of rock from one place to another, which meant that Vin had to be around here somewhere.

"There's bound to be Metal Heads in the area," Raven commented, to which both Jak and Pinkie pulled out their guns, though while Jak stuck with the Blaster Mod Pinkie decided to stick with the Scatter Mod, "Let's show them what you can do with your weapons."

Jak and Pinkie made their way forward, carefully watching for anything and everything that might reveal where the Metal Heads were hiding, though after a few steps a small Metal Head, one that looked like a scorpion, burst out of the ground and charged at them. Seeing how there was only one of them Jak slammed the base of his gun against the scorpion's body and knocked it out, to which he and Pinkie continued their search for Vin. As they advanced forward they opened fire on the large group of Metal Heads that were coming at them, though they noticed that the group was made up of the new scorpions, the beast like ones they had seen in the sewers, and another new type that looked like a wasp of some kind.

As they walked forward they noticed that there was a smaller conveyor belt that looked like it might lead them in the direction that they needed to go, where they opened fire on the Metal Heads that were following them. It didn't take them too long to each the base of the building that was in front of them, or to ride up the ramps that had been installed so large rocks could be moved out of the way, but they did stop when they noticed that the only way forward was to ride on top of the large rock boxes they had seen a few minutes ago. Once the enemies had been taken care of, and the way was clear, they hopped on the top of the large boxes and rode them over to the other building they had spotted, one that was much smaller than the one they had been near a few seconds ago.

They had to open fire on some more of the wasp Metal Heads that tried to attack them, which were easily taken care of thanks to the Blaster Mods Jak and Pinkie had acquired, as well as two more Metal Heads that were patrolling the door they figured Vin was hiding behind, though once they reached the door they prepared themselves. The group got a brief glance at the room that Vin had to be hiding in, which was another computer room, before someone jumped out from behind the consoles he was hiding behind and opened fire on them, to which Jak and Pinkie moved to the side as the shots flew passed where they had been standing a few seconds ago.

"Ah! Stay back!" the man shouted, while at the same time loosing a few random shots to discourage them from entering the building he was in, though Pinkie recognized the voice immediately.

"Are you Vin?" Jak shouted in return, though he was concerned for the man's safety if he used up all his ammunition on people who were trying to save him, rather than using it on the Metal Heads, "We're here to help... Torn sent us!"

"Stay back!" the man shouted once more, as if believing that repeating himself would force Jak and Pinkie to do what he wanted them to do, though at the same time he ducked behind the console once more, taking cover in the event that the two of them opened fire on him.

"Vin, if we were here to kill you, we wouldn't be talking right now!" Pinkie called out, hoping that Vin would recognize her voice, despite the fact that the two of them had one small conversation before he had activated the warp gate for her.

"Wait... Pinkie?" the man said, to which he came out of his cover and looked at everyone for a few seconds, "If your here, then that means you succeeded and joined the Underground... which means that you guys are friendlies and not Metal Heads."

"Look, we can catch up at the power station," Jak commented, not understanding what was happening, because he had been sure that his sister hadn't known anyone in the city before rescuing him, but now he had the feeling that his original thoughts had been wrong, "let's get moving before more Metal Heads show up."

Vin nodded and followed the group through the warp gate that happened to be waiting beside the building he had been locked inside, to which they headed back towards the city so they could plan their next move.

---

When they returned to the power station Jak discovered, upon closer inspection, that Vin appeared to be an elderly man given the gray coloration of his hair and slightly aged texture of his skin, though due to his frenetic nature Jak was sure that he was much younger than he actually looked. Vin had an averagely tall build to his body, with some lanky features, though he was wearing protective eyewear over his eyes, brown overalls, white shirt, and mining boots, all of which Jak had been expecting considering where they had found him. The moment they returned to the power station, and Jak had made his observations, Vin went to work on the controls that were around the room, checking all of the vital systems that protected the city from the Metal Heads.

Jak and Pinkie also discovered that Vin actually had something to tell them when he was finished with his system checks, which was why they stuck around instead of telling Torn the good news.

"First, I want to thank you guys for saving my butt out there at the Strip Mine," Vin said, to which he pressed a few buttons and looked at the screen that was in front of him, where a small smile appeared on his face before the frown returned.

"And we would like to thank you for being such a bad shot!" Daxter replied in kind, because he was more worried about being hurt instead of whatever the man was getting ready to tell them.

"Sorry about that, I tend to be a bit jumpy these days." Vin said, though while Jak, Pinkie, and Raven understood Vin's concerns, considering that the Metal Heads were a danger to everyone, Daxter saw an opportunity.

"We hadn't noticed." Daxter said, looking innocent for a few seconds, before he pointed behind Vin, though Pinkie and Raven happened to be standing behind him as they waited near the warp gate, "AHHHH! A Metal Head behind you!"

Vin freaked out and glanced everywhere, afraid that one of them had followed them through the warp gate and only Daxter had noticed it, though when he found that there was no Metal Head he finally calmed down, where Daxter said he was 'just kidding' and that he had a 'nice reaction time'. Raven, on the other hand, didn't find that very funny at all, considering that Daxter had been pointing at him when he made the joke, though he personally couldn't wait to see the look on Daxter's face when he and Pinkie revealed his true nature to them.

"Anyway, those Metal Heads have been attacking our mining operations and we're running out of Eco." Vin finally said, while at the same time getting onto his feet and moving over to one of the other consoles, "Readings show that there is a steady drop of Eco at the Drill Platform, no doubt because there's some Metal Head eggs sucking away at the power. I've reprogrammed the warp gate to take you to your next destination, so just head there and destroy every egg that you can find."

Jak nodded and immediately headed through the warp gate, to which Pinkie let out a sigh and followed after her brother, while wondering what they were going to encounter at the Drill Platform.

---

When Jak and Pinkie appeared on the other side of the warp gate they discovered that there was a lot of Metal Heads patrolling the Drill Platform, because they discovered another new enemy that was basically a spinning enemy that came in large groups and that it was easy to use to Scatter Mod to deal with them. As they mowed down the new enemies they noticed a patch of eggs, though that was before they spotted a turret that would no doubt help them in dealing with every egg they needed to destroy. As Jak hopped in the turret Pinkie fired at the flying Metal Heads that were trying to defend their eggs, though when one of the clusters was destroyed it brought down a wall that revealed an enemy that had a shield.

It took a few minutes to take care of the eggs, as Jak and Pinkie focused on the flying opponents before they turned on the eggs, but when that was done they moved towards the opening and discovered that taking care of the shield enemies was to move out of the way the instant they fired their attack and then return fire.

Once the shield enemy had been taken care of they returned to the Scatter Mod and fired upon the large group of enemies that were spinning around the area, though once they were taken care of they used the Eco barrels nearby to climb higher so they could make their way around the area they were in. They dodged some flames as they activated a switch and raised a platform into place, allowing them to move forward and get rid of four more spinning Metal Heads, to which they did the same thing and got even higher. They noticed a flying Metal Head trying to fire at the bridge they needed to cross, so they wouldn't destroy the rest of the eggs, but Pinkie shot the flyer out of the air and allowed them to move forward without having to worry about it.

When they reached the second turret they repeated the same method they had used the first time, where they took out all of the Metal Heads that were in the immediate area before turning on the eggs that were scattered around the buildings, while at the same time breaking a hole into another building that would lead them to yet another turret.

The instant Pinkie noticed that the last egg in this part of the Drill Platform was taken care of she tapped the turret and Jak got out, to which they carefully made their way down to the lowest part of the structure they were on before they blew up the Metal Heads that were waiting for them to show up. The opening they had created was, oddly enough, guarded by another shield wielding enemy, though just passed him was a set of platforms they had to jump across and shoot even more spinning Metal Heads. When the third turret went online the rest of the flying Metal Heads came at them, forcing Jak and Pinkie to focus their fire on them for two to three minutes, though once all of them were taken care of they waited to be sure that no more were coming.

When they found out that the last of the flying Metal Heads had been taken care of Jak opened fire on the eggs... though once the last one had been destroyed a crane fell off of where it was resting and smashed into the building in front of the final turret, opening the way for them to return home when they spotted a warp gate. With their task complete, and Vin was happy to have all of the eggs taken care of, Jak and Pinkie headed to the warp gate, where they both jumped in so they could see what else they could do around the city.

Comments

[Adagio Shimmer]

Raven, on the other hand, didn't find that very funny at all, considering that Daxter had been pointing at him when he made the joke, though he personally couldn't wait to see the look on Daxter's face when he and Pinkie revealed his true nature to them.

This is funny, because Daxter is going to be so surprised when his 'joke' is actually made reality in the next few chapters.

[Lord Frieza]

Oh Daxter, you make me laugh... because Raven was a Metal Head and you'll be terrified of the truth when he shows you his dragon form.

[Kid Buu]

Oh Daxter... your terror will be delicious when you find out who Raven really is.

[Aria Blitz]

I still enjoy that scene with Daxter freaking out Vin... and its slightly funnier with the fact that Daxter was pointing at Raven the entire time.

[HeartfireFirebrand]

Raven, on the other hand, didn't find that very funny at all, considering that Daxter had been pointing at him when he made the joke, though he personally couldn't wait to see the look on Daxter's face when he and Pinkie revealed his true nature to them.

That will be a laugh.