Jak and Daxter: Children of Eco

by Blackdrag-rose

Renegade: Helping Hands

"As odd as it sounds, I'm going to have to echo Daxter here," Raven commented, though at the same time he stared at the scout that was bowing before him, as he was confused as to what was going on at the moment, especially since he was used to having all the answers, "What are you talking about?"

"Wait, you don't recognize me?" the scout asked, to which it, or rather she by the voice that was coming from its mouth, raised her head and looked at Raven, as if she was confused by what he was saying.

"No... should I be able to recognize you?" Raven inquired, because at the moment it seemed like they were going to go back and forth until someone gave up a clear answer, which he had none at the moment.

"Damn, it seems like Vex's prediction was correct," the scout said, as if she was remembering something that she had been told earlier, though at the same time Pinkie determined that there had to be more intelligent Metal Heads than her and Raven at the moment, but that was quickly followed by the scout sitting down and staring at them, "I'm sure that you have many questions, though I'm not the one you should be asking them to, which means I should see when Vex is open for a quick get together with you. My name, or rather the name I picked for myself when I discovered what I was good at, is Stalker, which you got a good understanding of when I pounced on all of you."

"Makes sense," Pinkie commented, though at the same time she and Jak sat down on some of the nearby rocks, while Jak made sure that the communicator was muted so no one could overhear what they were talking about, as neither of them were sure it was time for the Underground to know that they were allied with a new breed of Metal Heads, "I'm Pinkie Pie, and this is my brother Jak and our best friend Daxter... though it appears that you already know Raven."

"Its a pleasure to make your acquaintance," Stalker replied, to which she turned and looked at all of them, as if she was assigning a name to each face, before settling on Raven once more, "Now, I mentioned that there were two Metal Head hives in existence at the moment, the one attacking Haven City and the one that opposes the original. Raven, as our leader you called us the Neo Metal Heads, or New Metal Heads, as we are more intelligent and form our own personalities, instead of being beasts like the members of the other hive. A little over four years ago you lead me, my brothers, and my sisters away from the Nest, taking us somewhere that our enemies couldn't find us... but we were pursued by a group of twenty as we fled.

You told me and Vex to take the others to our destination and led our pursuers away... but then, after we arrived at our destination, you failed to show up. We waited for weeks, hoping that you would return, before we started seeking bits of Eco to sustain ourselves while we searched for your presence. It was Vex who discovered that your presence was inside Haven City, where many of us feared that they were experimenting on you in order to create a weapon that could destroy the original hive. I was able to tell them otherwise, as everything time you and Pinkie walked out of the city, and came to the forest to hunt for enemies, I stalked the shadows and watched you, but I always waited for the opportunity when you were alone so I could talk to you."

"So what happened today?" Jak asked, as he was curious as to why Stalker had suddenly changed tactics, especially when the size of the group had doubled since the last time she had laid eyes on Raven, "What made you change your mind and come out of the shadows?"

"I... I couldn't bare to let another chance at talking with our leader pass me by," Stalker admitted, to which she let out a sigh for a few seconds, though that was before she faced them once more, "Vex told me that four years of living inside the city, within the Eco Dome that was created from all five types of known Eco, might have caused you to repress some of your memories and forget who you were... though I was hoping that he was wrong. Unfortunately he was right, because you should have remembered me the moment you laid eyes on me, though this means that we've have to find a way around the Dome if we're going to restore who you used to be... but I am glad to say that you sound like the Raven I knew when we escaped."

"Wait, was his name always Raven?" Daxter asked, because if it was than he was going to be shocked, as Pinkie had been the one to come up with the name and it would have been an odd coincidence if the name she picked was his actual name he had been born with.

"No, it wasn't." Stalker replied, though at the same time she let a chuckle escape from her, but that was followed by her growing serious again, "Raven was never actually given a name, not by the leader of the other hive, but he was known to every Metal Head, before and after the separation, by his title, 'Prince'."

"No way... are you telling me that the Metal Head Leader, the enemy of Haven City, is my father?" Raven asked, because if that was the case he was going to be shocked, especially after everything he had seen and learned since he, Pinkie, and Daxter had broken Daxter out of the Fortress.

"Yes, he is," Stalker replied, causing shock to appear on all of their faces, because none of them were expecting that sort of information to be dropped on them, "and, sadly enough, your father also ordered your execution when he discovered that you were as strong as you were, while not accounting for how smart he accidentally made you. When you matured you became a threat to his rule over the entirety of the hive, so instead of fighting you took the newest clutch, the one that the Neo Metal Heads came from, and fled with us in tow. You wanted us to survive, because if you were targeted for elimination than it was only a matter of time until he targeted the rest of us."

"That gives me one more reason to kill the Metal Head Leader," Jak said, though at the same time he was annoyed that both Pinkie's father and Raven's father were planning on using them until they had no further need of them, which would end in their deaths until they had changed their fate.

"After watching you take out those other scouts, I have no doubt that you can succeed in that regard," Stalker said, though that was followed by her standing up and staring at them, "I had best get back to Vex and tell him what I've discovered... and then I'll show up in the future and explain what might be done to restore your memories."

The moment Raven nodded his understanding, and his desire to know more about why he had left the Metal Head Nest with the Neo Metal Heads, Stalker walked into the shadows and disappeared, leaving Jak and the others to process what they had learned before they even attempted to move out of the forest. Before they could actually talk about what they had discovered, mainly the existence of a second Metal Head hive that existed to oppose the original hive, Jak felt his communicator vibrate, to which he turned the sound back on and waited to see what they were going to be told.

"Excellent work," the Shadow told them, telling them that they had done the mission he had sent them on to the degree or standard that he expected from agents that Torn had picked out, "now come on back to the hideout, I have another task for you to complete."

Jak let out a sigh as he and Pinkie rose from their makeshift seats and made their way towards the entrance of the forest, where they could return to the warp gate and jump back to the city... and then take on whatever the Shadow, and anyone else, wanted from them.

---

A few minutes later Jak and Pinkie returned to the city and started riding towards the Underground hideout, though as they reentered the city they received a pair of transmissions; one from Krew and one from Keira.

"Jak, this is Krew," they heard the fat man say, causing all of them to moan for a few seconds, but not nearly loud enough for them to be overheard by him, "I just talked to my racing client and she told me you were pretty good with that jetboard of hers. My sources say a shipment of Krimzon Guard listening equipment just arrived in the Port. None of us, including the Underground, want those devices up and running. It's not good for business. I want you to ride out into the Port and destroy every Krimzon Guard crate you find. There's sure to be a defense perimeter, so do be careful."

A few seconds later the transmission cut out, allowing Jak to moan as he realized that this would be a single person mission, but he knew that he would be able to complete it rather quickly. The second transmission, the one from Keira, was that she had heard from Ashelin that she suspected that something was going to happen in the Bazaar district, the one closest to their current location. Jak decided that it would be best to allow Pinkie to take that mission on, as she was technically Ashelin's sister and would likely be welcomed with open arms, so he neared where Ashelin was supposed to be and dropped Pinkie off.

Pinkie sighed as she climbed out of the zoomer and watched Jak fly off towards the Port, where she and Raven carefully approached the Krimzon Guards that were standing nearby... though that was before Ashelin noticed them and walked over to them, where she wrapped her arms around Pinkie for a few seconds.

"Pinkie, what happened to you?" Ashelin asked, one again taking on the persona of the caring older sister, though at the same time she knew that the Krimzon Guards wouldn't say anything about what they were seeing, "Last time I saw you and Raven you were happy, but now your hair has gone straight and you seem depressed about something."

"The Baron revealed something to Pinkie yesterday, and she didn't like the news," Raven explained, causing Ashelin to raise an eyebrow for a few seconds, "Trust me, we'll explain everything the next time we're together... once we're away from the prying eyes that are all around us."

"I can understand that," Ashelin replied, to which she pulled away from Pinkie and pulled out her gun, telling Pinkie and Raven that something major must be coming their way, "One of Vin's Eco tankers is coming in from the wasteland, but the clearance transmission sounded fishy. The driver was clearly scared, so we're going to check it out... just in case there's something more that we don't know about."

It was at that point that the tanker in question burst through one of the buildings and crashed to the ground, to which the barrels it was carrying went flying and knocked out all of the assembled Krimzon Guards, leaving Pinkie and Ashelin to fight off the Metal Heads that had been riding inside the vehicle. As Ashelin fired at the enemies that were closing in on her, and took several of them out with well placed shots to the head, Pinkie snapped her scythe into existence and carved up the Metal Heads that were foolish enough to come at her. At the same time Raven noticed several sharp pieces of metal lying around and grinned, to which he used them to deal damage to the enemies that were trying to run.

The three of them were able to beat the group of Metal Heads that had commandeered the tanker, though once their enemies had been taken care of they went about making sure that the knocked out guards were okay... to which they all let out a sigh of relief when they discovered that they had suffered no casualties during the assault.

"The Metal Head Leader is testing our defenses," Raven commented, though at the same time he didn't say anything about the creature being his father, as the last thing he wanted was for everyone to attack him out of rage, "which means that its only a matter of time before he makes his move against the city."

"Your right, as much as I hate to say it," Ashelin said, eying Pinkie's scythe as it returned to its bracelet form, "I'll head back to the palace and see if I can't uncover anything that might prove useful to stopping the Metal Heads... so I'll see you around, sister."

"Likewise," Pinkie agreed, already feeling better now that she had been reunited with Ashelin, if even for a few minutes, but before the guards got offended by her presence she collected Raven and headed back to the port.

Pinkie and Raven took the long way back to the saloon, as she decided to walk and try to enjoy herself, but eventually they returned to where Krew would be waiting for them, where they found that Jak and Daxter had already returned to the saloon... though by the looks of it they were all waiting for their arrival before they found out what the next mission was.

"The Baron sent his goons to harass me as usual!" Krew said, to which he put on a show that would make anyone else think that he was the victim, though Jak and Pinkie were secretly happy that the Baron was doing something to Krew at the moment, "Health violations, back taxes! Everyone wants a piece of me. Aaahh well!"

"Lucky for you, there's plenty to go around!" Raven commented, though while his statement was lost on Krew, as he had no idea what Raven truly was, it wasn't lost on Jak and Pinkie.

"Destroying that cargo in the port was more important than you know." Krew said, to which he turned to Jak, which was understandable considering that he had been the one to complete the mission in the first place, "I've got a new project going, and I don't need anyone snooping around my shipments. Let's just say, if everything goes as planned, I'm going to corner the market in Metal Head trophies. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Anyway, I have another job for you. An associate of mine, Brutter, works with me in the forced labor trade.

"You mean the slave trade?" Jak asked, though at the same time he already knew that Krew was going to ask them to free someone, as that was generally how these types of conversations went down.

"Actually, I prefer 'freedom challenged'." Krew stated, to which he got to the explanation part of this mission briefing, which was what everyone was waiting for, "Lurkers are the city's low class labor. Brutter pays me handsomely to help him free lurkers and get them safely out of the city. Ahhh, it lifts my spirit to help those in need... and I NEED his money!"

"Lurkers?" Daxter asked, though seeing how he knew what Raven was, and how different he was from the rest of his kind, he knew what he had to say, "Usually this is where I, or someone else, would make a comment about how we 'don't like lurkers', but I won't say anything like that this time around."

"But you do like gun upgrades." Krew said, to which he tossed over two upgrade components, one for both Jak and Pinkie, before starting to float around the saloon as he explained what he wanted them to do, "There are three Krimzon Guard transports carrying Lurkers to a 'project' the Baron has outside the city. Take out the transports, and bring the three lurkers to Brutter's trinket stand in the Bazaar."

With the upgrade in hand Jak and Pinkie walked out of the saloon and climbed back onto their zoomer, to which Daxter opened the map and directed Jak towards the first one they needed to take out. When they approached the transport, however, Raven launched himself onto the vehicle and tinkered around with the locks for a few seconds before kicking open the door. The instant that happened Jak pulled a fast move and turned the zoomer around, to which the Lurker jumped onto the back of their vehicle before he took off, leaving behind a confused transport. It didn't take them long to reach Brutter's stand, though once the first Lurker had been dropped off Daxter pulled up the location of the second transport and they moved towards their objective.

They were able to repeat the same move twice more, without the transports even knowing that their 'cargo' had been taken, before they returned triumphantly to Brutter's stand, where they discovered that the Lurker was more than happy to see them stop by him.

"Little orangey and blacky warriors!" Brutter exclaimed, staring at both Daxter and Raven for a few seconds, telling Jak and Pinkie that he was more pleased with them than the humans, "You have do great thing for Brutter and Lurker people! You great guys! Brutter not forget. Brutter pay you back. You see!"

Jak and Pinkie nodded as they walked away from the stand, with Daxter and Raven riding in their usual places, because they had done a good deed for the Lurkers, had repelled the forces of the original Metal Heads, and were finally understanding the mysterious origins of the Neo Metal Heads. They knew that their next course of action would be to return to the Underground and see what else needed to be done, which meant that whatever the Shadow had for them had to be something special.