Jak and Daxter: Children of Eco

by Blackdrag-rose

Renegade: Ancient Relics

Once Jak and Pinkie had finished visiting Onin’s hut, and Raven pulled Daxter away before he could further annoy Pecker, they returned to the walkway that would allow them to reclaim their zoomer, which was oddly in the same place without any signs of it having moved since they departed from it. Pinkie had to wonder if Ashelin had noticed which zoomer they were using and ordered the other Krimzon Guards to ignore it whenever they parked it, but she guessed that she could ask her the question when they had time. Jak didn’t seem to mind that the zoomer had been left alone, because the moment they returned to it they climbed into it, powered it up, and got into the traffic that was in front of them, where Pinkie opened the map and directed her brother to the area that the Precursor Mountain Temple was located in.

What Pinkie wasn’t expecting was that the area they were heading to was the same area where she had landed in after being ejected from the rift that they had traveled through, which allowed her to see the entrance that they needed to go through... and allowing Jak to park their zoomer at the same time.

Once they had reached the small hole in the wall they climbed up the ramp and entered the airlock, which closed behind them and was followed by the other door opening in front of them, where they discovered that there was a gap between them and their next destination. Jak also discovered that they had to use the nearby warp gate so they could get up there, but Pinkie, having been here before in the past, didn’t say anything and simply followed her brother through the gate. When they appeared on the other side of the gate, which was on the cliff that was on the other side of the gap, they spotted some crates and collected the ammunition that was inside them... before they went around the corner and noticed the large temple that was waiting for them.

“So this is the Precursor Mountain Temple,” Jak commented, looking at everything that was in front of them at the moment, while at the same time trying to figure out where the three relics they had come here for were located, “I have the feeling that this will take some time to explore before we find everything that we need to find.”

“We had better get started then,” Pinkie said, pulling out her blaster and putting a shot in an upside down platform, which flipped around so they could cross over to an elevator platform, before crossing over to the structure she had spotted, “Come on, let’s go exploring and see where those relics are waiting for someone, like us, to recover them.”

Jak crossed over the gap and together the two of them rode down to the area in front of them, where they discovered that two of the Metal Heads, the ones that walked on four legs all the time, charged at them, though a few seconds later they were taken out. It was then that the group determined that they should go to the left of where they were standing, because there happened to be a side path that might take them to one of the relics that they were searching for. They also spotted one of the shield carrying enemies standing in their way, so when it targeted one of them the other would fire at its opening and take it out. Behind the shield enemy was a trio of small jumper enemies, which were waiting at the top of a few steps, but they were easy to take out with one blast of the scatter mod.

When they jumped into the area in front of them, which appeared to be a dead end without anyway back up to the path they had come from, one of the rock walls fell apart as a large Metal Head, one that looked like a bull creature, charged out of wherever it was hiding and charged at them. Raven immediately recognized this type of Metal Head, so he advised that they lure it around the area until it reared up onto its hind legs, which would reveal its weak point and allow them to finish it off quickly. A few minutes of careful maneuvering passed before the bull Metal Head was dead, which revealed a lever that they could use to open the pathway in front of them, to which they grabbed onto the piece of Precursor metal that broke out of the rock wall and continued forward.

Another shield enemy was waiting for them on the other side of a gap, though they simply let it shoot at them before returning fire and then moving on once it was dead. They then passed over a rocky walkway that apparently had three platforms trapped in the ground, though once they reached the dead end in front of them the ground shook for a few seconds before the walkway shattered... releasing the platforms and creating a set of jumps that would allow them to reach the next part of the area they were exploring. They then jumped over some of the obstacles that were in front of them before they came to a small body of water that contained a group of jumpers, which were easily dealt with, before they attacked the group of beast enemies that were on the other side of the water.

Once they had cleared out all those enemies, with Raven pointing out those that were trying to flee, they shot down a third shield baring Metal Head before activating the button it was guarding, allowing them to climb upwards and stare at the structure that was in front of them. That meant that they had to take care of about fifteen jumper enemies when they finished climbing upwards, though once they were finished they put their weapons away and approached the structure... though Jak and Pinkie stared at the strange object that was hanging in the middle of the ceiling for a few seconds, while Daxter approached the beam of light that was emitting from the object.

“That’s some peeper, huh?” Daxter commented, while at the same time he foolishly stepped into the beam of light, which he seemed to have ignored, and started waving his hands towards him, as if he was smelling something interesting, “Something’s cooking... kind of smells like... BURNT OTTSEL!?”

As Daxter’s tail caught on fire he ran around the area they were in, while Jak and Pinkie stood their ground as the hidden gears in the area engaged... allowing Jak to catch the crystalline item, which looked like a lens of some kind, before turning his attention to his companion.

“You okay Daxter?” Jak asked, though he seemed to get his answer when his friend jumped into the water around them and quenched the fire, which made Daxter sigh in relief, “Yeah, your okay.”

With Daxter okay from his ordeal, and they were sure that the first relic was secured within Jak’s pack, they walked onto a nearby platform and rode it down towards the large open structure that they had seen before making the decision to change courses. A few seconds later they arrived at the area they were heading towards and dealt with the three jumper enemies that they located, though with the immediate area cleared they carefully determined which path they took next; either heading down the path on the right of the entrance or jumping down the nearby platforms. In the end they decided to travel through the opening in front of them and ignore the platforms for now, where they opened fire on the beast Metal Heads that were in front of them.

They then jumped up a bunch of stone slabs that took them upwards for a few feet, where they had to use the Scatter Mod to cut their way through the jumper Metal Heads that were blocking their way... as well as the shield baring Metal Head that was in the clearing that was at the top of the slabs. Once the enemies were taken care of they walked up a set of rocks that allowed them to move across a moving platform, where they discovered that they needed to deal with a puzzle of some kind... which happened to be surrounded by a large amount of Dark Eco.

“Not another puzzle...” Daxter moaned, though at the same time he shook his head and rested on Jak’s shoulder, indicating that he was going to sit back and watch what happened, “Well, do your thing and get us across all of this Dark Eco... which might explain what the Metal Heads are doing here.”

As Jak started messing with the boxes in front of them, and pressed the button that happened to reset them, Pinkie supposed that the Metal Heads could have been in the area with the purpose of gathering all of the Dark Eco that was around the area to feed their army. Despite all the time that she had spent with Raven, four years when she reflected on all of it, she realized that she still didn’t know a lot about his species, which she knew was because Raven either didn’t want to share or he was incapable of sharing information with them. Leaving the Metal Head Nest had changed the dark ottsel, because he had forgotten his name and a number of things, but he seemed stable now, though at the same time Pinkie hoped that he would be able to share some things with them... in the future.

It didn’t take Jak very long to solve the puzzle, as he determined how a six sided box unfolded and simply connected one box to the next one until he had a walkway for them to walk on, to which they crossed over to the floating platform and jumped onto the structure that was in front of them... where they discovered another bull Metal Head waiting for them. They repeated the method they used on the first bull creature and soon the second one was dead as well, where the gate blocking their way was opened and they walked inside, to which they noticed a Precursor statue with a floating blue crystal, that vibrated in the air, in front of them.

A few seconds later Daxter shoved the crystal into Jak’s pack, making a comment that he was surprised that the crystal didn’t damage the lens, before they carefully climbed back down to the structure they had passed through earlier.

Once they had returned to the structure they found a trio of floating platforms that they used a shot to move into position, though as they jumped down them they noticed a third bull Metal Head waiting for them. Jak and Pinkie used the same method they had used to defeat the previous two they had encountered, maneuvering around it as it tried to ram one of them down, before they beat their opponent, pressed the button that revealed the walkway that they needed to take, took out four beast Metal Heads, and stopped in front of a steep wall that had falling rocks coming in their direction.

Jak and Pinkie were able to carefully maneuver themselves around the area in front of them, timing their jumps so they wouldn't be hurt by the falling rocks, before they reached a small gap at the top of the hill. Once they had reached the top they used their guns to flip the platforms back into position and crossed over to the other side, giving them another view of the large container that contained the blue flames they had seen when they entered the temple area. They then approached a strange contraption that they had spotted earlier, though as they did so Daxter walked forward and spotted a small gear that was floating at the base of the machine... though when he took it the entire thing fell apart.

With the third and final relic gathered, and an ancient machine destroyed, the two of them walked back to where they had entered the area, though at the same time they listened to Pecker tell them that Onin was going to look search the timeline or something for answers as to what the relics went to. When they walked through the airlock a few minutes later they got a communication from Krew, one that indicated that he had something he wanted to speak with them about, so seeing how there was nothing else to worry about at the moment Jak and Pinkie made their way back to the Hip Hog.

---

The group had barely taken a few steps into the saloon before Krew started his pitch on whatever he wanted them to do, which immediately made them wonder what they were going to get out of this particular mission.

"I have a proposition for the lot of you," Krew said, to which he pointed his fan at the trophy he had been staring at for the last few minutes, "Racing is the biggest sport in the city and Erol, the Captain of the Krimzon Guard, is the undisputed grand champion in the sport at the moment. He's crazy and dangerous on the track, though knocking him off of his pedestal might be a worthwhile venture for you to take on... especially since it likely 'aid' your friends in the Underground in the future."

"And let me guess, you rake up the profits regarding any underdogs?" Raven asked, though as he sat on Pinkie's shoulder he found it amusing that the fat man was nodding to him.

"A client of mine is looking for a fast driver for her racing team, and I have a security pass to get you into the stadium." Krew answered, though he tossed the pass over to Jak, who caught it while Daxter claimed the contract that was being produced, "Oh, and your racing contract. I acted as your agent, with just a... few trifles for me. My client also told me that she would only consider you, and you alone Jak, if you managed to reach the stadium in less than three minutes... from the Hip Hog of course."

Jak, never being one to pass up a challenge that involved racing, gladly walked outside and looked at the small zoomer that had been brought out for him to use in his venture, though before he did anything he waited for Pinkie to get one that was resting nearby. It was mainly so she could follow him and make sure that he didn't get lost, but he was hoping that this would provide some challenge for him as he climbed onto the zoomer. Once the two of them were ready they raced off into the distance, which was somewhat funny because when they expected to run into some traffic they found that most people were busy doing something else... allowing them to race towards their destination.

In about two and a half minutes they had reached their destination, to which Jak and Pinkie happily jumped off their zoomers and approached the building that was in front of them, where they immediately found the place they were looking for... though the person they were searching for was working behind a curtain and was ignoring anyone that might walk into her workshop.

"Hello?" Jak called out, though as he did so Daxter climbed off his shoulder and looked at the vehicle that was to their left, while Pinkie and Raven took a moment to look at the trophies that were out in the open, "Krew said someone was looking for a race driver?"

"I'm busy right now!" the lady called back to them... though Pinkie couldn't help but think that the voice was strangely familiar, so much so that she could have sworn that she recognized it immediately, "You must be Krew's new errand boys. Look, I don't mean to be rude... you did get here fast... but I'm not interested in any new drivers just now. However, if your really interested in joining my racing team, I might consider letting you join... that's if you would consider testing out my prototype jet-board and beating the record."

Jak smiled and gladly made his way towards the stadium, where he and Pinkie discovered that a course had been set up ahead of time, almost as if the lady had expected them to arrive and had been planning on having them test out the board anyway. It didn't take them long to find the board, though as Jak climbed onto it the communicator opened up and the lady gave them the basic instructions on how to use it, which caused Jak to start riding around with it and experimenting with the controls. Considering that there was only one board at the moment Jak let Pinkie have a chance to test out the controls before hanging it back to him, where he attempted the course that had been set up.

A few minutes later the judge announced that he had beaten the lowest score necessary, to which the lady indicated that they should return the board to its resting place so she could use the data to improve it... though once that was done Jak and Pinkie made their way back towards the shop.

"Wow, I honestly didn't expect you to beat the score on your first attempt," the lady told them, indicating that she was surprised by what Jak had done in the stadium, "I don't have a place on my team for a new racer just now... but you certainly deserve something for your efforts."

"We'll gladly just make sure you remember us when an opening appears on your racing team." Pinkie replied, to which she turned to her brother, while noticing how he was staring at the curtain at the moment, "Come on Jak, let's go see if someone has something for us to do."

"Wait, Pinkie?!" the lady said, to which the curtain was pulled back and Keira, looking a few years older than Jak and Pinkie remembered her, stepped out of the area she was working in, before she noticed who else was standing around her at the moment, "Jak... Daxter..."

Jak, instead of stalling for a few seconds, stepped forward and embraced their long lost friend, knowing that at least all of them were safe, to which Keira embraced him in return. Pinkie smiled as she looked upon the two of them, knowing that there had to be a story behind how Keira landed in Haven City and managed to thrive during the years she spent here... though she was more than willing to wait for the two of them to finish their embrace before they got to the stories.

Comments

[FurryBrony]

Okay, so, Keira has heard Jak talk before, hasn't she? Then why did she not recognize his voice?

[Blackdrag-rose]

8267360 I would say that she was too preoccupied with her work that she didn't register Jak's voice, though after the jetboard challenge she was shocked and that allowed her to realize that Jak was there.

[Slynthen Advance]

8267360
In the first game, she didn't get a chance to hear him from all the times Daxter talked before Jak had a chance, so I'd assume she didn't remember;
8267391
and I assume you'd be correct, in addition to his drastic tone shift between time periods.

[Supertoe]

8553667
actually in the first game, Jak was a mute, and it was the dark eco experiments at the beginning of the second game the gave him the ability to talk