Jak and Daxter: Children of Eco

by Blackdrag-rose

Exile: Kleiver's Jobs

Once both Jak and Pinkie had a leaper lizard to ride, and they remembered how they had handled the Flut Flut bird from when they were younger and more innocent, they moved out into the city of Spargus and started searching for the creatures that Kleiver wanted them to hunt down. Daxter, as usual, rode on Jak's shoulder and took in the scenery, though at the same time it as very clear that he was still surprised to find that there existed an entire city out here in the Wastelands. Raven, instead of sitting around, shifted into his hybrid form and flew near the group, keeping his eyes open for anything that might be the critters that they were hunting for... until he spotted one that was sitting behind a building that was near the Arena, which he immediately told the others about.

Jak was the one to arrive on the scene, to which he had his leaper lizard charge forward and watched as his mount gobbled down the red colored rat creature that had been in front of him.

With the knowledge of what their prey looked like, and knew that the leaper lizards would eat them in one go no matter what, Jak and Pinkie continued the search by heading towards the wall that protected the city, where they spotted a metallic gate that had to lead to the garage that Kleiver kept his vehicles in. Pinkie urged her leaper lizard forward and spotted the rat that they were after, to which she nodded her head in approval as her mount caught the creature and swallowed it whole. From there they turned to the right and headed into a more open area, where Jak weaved through the Wastelanders that happened to be walking around and chased down the red rat that he had noticed, before finally catching it and sealing its fate like the others. Pinkie rounded the building that they were near and spotted the fourth rat that they were supposed to take out, to which she allowed her mount to catch and eat their target.

Once Raven assured them that this part of the city was clear of the rat creatures, which he knew thanks to his predatory senses, the siblings moved towards the area that Damas' throne area was in, before they turned left and headed down a new path. As they followed the path Jak, Daxter, and Pinkie took a moment to actually look at Spargus, where they discovered that the city had been built almost entirely out of stone, though at the same time the houses had a little distance between then, even when they were blocked together. They also noted that many of the houses were also raised above the sandy ground, likely for extra ventilation during the heat of the day. To the three of them Spargus reminded them of Sandover, the village they had been living in until they started their first adventure... to which they all let out a sigh as they continued their search for the missing rat creatures.

They eventually found the fifth rat creature, which Pinkie finally identified as a Kangarat, which happened to be scurrying through what appeared to be a market area, to which Jak carefully followed it before allowing his leaper lizard to gobble it down. Fortunately the chase allowed them to locate the sixth and final kangarat, to which Pinkie caught it with her leaper lizard and they watched as it swallowed the creature whole.

"We got them all!" Daxter declared, though not a few seconds later the others could hear a slight rumble in his belly, to which he rubbed the back of his head for a moment, "Anybody else hungry?"

"Not bad blokes," a voice said, to which their communicator came out of its hiding spot and floated in between Jak and Pinkie, though they knew that it was Kleiver that had spoken to them, "maybe me food stores will last a little longer now. If Damas ever gives you a pass to leave the city, I'll let you take one of me rides for a spin. See you around, newbies."

Once Kleiver was done talking to them the communicator returned to Jak's bag, though before they left the area they were in, which was also open to the sea that happened to be all around the Wastelands, they spotted something odd. Directly in front of where they had stopped their leaper lizards rested what appeared to be some sort of dark metallic construct, though standing around it was a group of what Pinkie could only assume were monks, who appeared to be either praying or studying the construct. Seeing how they knew nothing about what was going on Jak and Pinkie climbed off of their leaper lizards, while Raven reverted to his ottsel form and returned to Pinkie's shoulder, before they approached the group of monks.

"The Arena shows all, Dark Ones," the head monk commented, turning to face the group before they had even announced their presence, which told Jak and Pinkie that the person had to be able to feel their Dark Eco if they could tell that they were coming, "hatred haunts your eyes, gathering in the darkness and waiting to be unleashed."

"You're right about the hatred part," Jak replied, though he didn't know if the monk was trying to be helpful or if the monk was trying to annoy him, until he decided that it had to be both at the same time, "but I'm controlling the darkness better than most can."

"And what about your sister?" the monk inquired, to which the monk glanced over at Pinkie, though at the same time the group already knew what the monk was talking about, "She cannot control the darkness that is lurking inside her body, if what happened in the Arena should ever happen again, and in time she will destroy herself... just as these Precursors destroyed themselves."

With that said the monk gestured to the dark and vile construct that was resting near them, though at the same time the group was having a hard time believing that this had once been something the Precursors had made... especially when they took into consideration all of the artifacts and items they had encountered so far.

"Sorry, but it doesn't look like any of the Precursor crap we've seen." Daxter commented, to which he shook his head and turned away from the construct, because he had a bad feeling about it and wanted Jak and Pinkie to leave the area before something actually happened.

"These artifacts are an abomination." the monk replied, though at the same time the group had to wonder if the monk was annoyed by Daxter's statement, but they decided not to bother and let the monk continue speaking, "One fell on the great volcano in the middle of the Wastelands. We sent an expedition to the mountain, but my monks never returned."

"Hey, if we're ever in the area of this 'great' volcano, we'll keep an out out for them," Pinkie said, though she had the feeling that the monks in question were already dead, especially if the monk in front of them had heard nothing from her followers since she had sent them to the mountain, "or bring word of their fate to you, if that happens to be the case."

The monk actually turned and stared at Pinkie for a moment, as if she was shocked by the fact that Pinkie had even offered to take some time to search for the missing monks and bring back word of what happened to them. Jak was used to that sort of stunned reaction coming from people who had met Pinkie, as she was generally willing to do anything for them, as long as it was the right thing to do.

"Maybe the Arena doesn't reveal everything, as I originally believed." the monk finally said, breaking the silence that had fallen since Pinkie had spoken, before turning to face the whole group again, "Your hatred and rage are great, as I noticed in the Arena, but at the same time it is countered by a glorious happiness... you may not be in complete control of your darkness, but you are by no means its slave. Maybe... maybe the remaking of the world can indeed be postponed."

"How do we stop the 'remaking' of our world?" Jak asked, though at the same time he glanced at the machine the the monks were gathered around, to which he waved a hand towards it, "What is this... thing... exactly?"

The moment he waved his hand towards the construct a bit of Dark Eco leapt over to the dark machine, to which a part of it came to life as an interface screen of some kind extended and stopped near where Jak was standing. Jak, having absolutely no idea what had happened, approached the screen as the monk backed up a bit, to which he watched as symbols appeared and moved towards the middle of the screen. The moving rings, when he focused on one of them, could destroy the symbols that were caught in the rings, allowing him to effectively deactivate whatever security system had been built into the machine.

When he finally reached the end of everything that the screen could throw at him, and the security systems were taken down, the screen reconfigured itself and presented an Eco Crystal.

"Don't touch it!" the monk warned, immediately telling Jak and Pinkie that she knew something about the crystal, while at the same time allowing them to guess that this had to be important, "Dark Eco!"

Jak, never actually been one to really listen to anyone, save for Samos after a lecture, reached forward and removed the Dark Eco Crystal, though he did feel a slight tingle as he did so.

"Impressed now, aren't ya?" Daxter teased the monk, though as the monk glanced down at him Daxter simply clapped his hands for a few seconds, indicating that he was pleased with Jak's skills, even if he disliked what the reward was, "Go ahead, give him his props."

"Those are solid Eco Crystals," the monk murmured, staring at the crystal in Jak's hand for a few moments, while at the same time informing the group as to what they had just received, "It has been passed down through time that they power the greatest of Precursor technologies."

The monk paused for a moment, to which she and the group could see that the interface screen had returned to how it had been before giving Jak the crystal, though now is was displaying text of some sort.

"Strange... it speaks an ancient dialect." the monk said, though at the same time the group could tell that she was trying to read all of the markings and determine what the message was, "The earliest Precursor forms. Something about... reclaiming this unfinished world..."

"Those look like coordinates," Jak commented, though at the same time he was able to remember where he had last seen markings like those in the past, "Like on the Time Ring..."

"It is picking up a very powerful signal..." the monk worriedly said, raising a hand to stop Jak from talking, once more indicating that this was extremely important and she needed to uncover all she could before something happened.

That was quickly followed by the construct coming to life and thrashing about where it was resting for a few seconds, though then it leapt into the air, where it slowly seemed to swim up into the air before finally exploding. As the cloud of smoke disappeared the monk turned towards the group for a moment, though at the same time they knew that she would need some time to check and be sure her monks weren't hurt from the explosion.

"You and I will have words about this later," the monk promised, though as she turned to leave, and help her monks, she turned back to Jak for a few seconds and eyed the crystal once more, "Oh, and do keep that crystal safe."

As Jak nodded the monk turned back towards her followers and started helping them, to which he decided that it was time to see Kleiver about the vehicles and determine the condition of the ones they might be able to use. With that decision in mind they returned to their leaper lizards, which oddly hadn't run after seeing the construct rise into the air and explode, but they were thankful that they had been willing to stick around. Once they were on their mounts they headed back towards where the Arena was, knowing that they could access the garage from that part of the city.

It didn't take them long to reach the garage part of the city, though as they entered the area they could see a good number of buggies that had been developed for use in the Wastelands... and Kliever just happened to be waiting for them to arrive.

"Well, if it isn't the newbies." Kleiver commented, watching Jak and Pinkie as they entered the garage area, though at the same time he appeared to be eying Daxter and Raven.

"Nice rides." Jak said, to which he walked over to the nearest one and tapped the tires for a moment, where he nodded his head in satisfaction.

"You like what you see?" Kleiver asked, though then he let out a small chuckle, as if everyone that had come before them had said the same thing, "We use these babies to make runs into the deep desert to retrieve artifacts. Tough wheels for tough work."

"You said we could use one." Pinkie stated, though as she said those words she had the feeling that they were going to get one of the smaller ones, but she honestly didn't mind that at all.

"I did, didn't I?" Kleiver said, almost as if he was playing with them, but that was before he pulled Jak away from the vehicle that he had been studying and redirected his attention to another one, "But not one of those. Those are for the big boys. You can use that one."

The vehicle in question was actually smaller than all of the other ones in the garage, though it was little more than a seat with wheels, an engine, and an empty frame. There were no weapons to speak of, which meant that this was solely a vehicle to go out into the desert and get artifacts, though the group suspected that a second vehicle would provide support for the smaller one.

"What a runt!" Daxter declared, though while he personally felt outraged that Kleiver was even allowing them to use the smallest vehicle in the garage he knew better than to actually complain.

"Seems to fit you." Kleiver commented, though at the same time he chuckled once more, indicating that Daxter's reaction must have been the same one that many of the other exiles had done in the past.

"Its fine." Jak said, knowing that he could make the vehicle work without weapons, as he had done the same thing back in Haven when he and pinkie had first departed from the Fortress and had no weapons to speak of.

"Care to wager a little something on a race, then?" Kleiver said, apparently noticing that Jak was a little confident in making the smaller vehicle work, to which the gears in his head moved and he came up with an idea, "If you win, I'll let you keep that little vehicle for as long as you live."

"We don't have anything to offer up in return." Jak replied, though at the same time if the man suggested that he wager Daxter or Raven's lives, which he was pretty sure was illegal in Spargus, he would take great joy in hurting him.

"No? Then how about a kiss, on the lips, from your sister?" Kleiver asked, to which Jak, Daxter, and Raven glared at the man for a moment, as if they couldn't believe that he was even asking for something like that, "Damas already informed me that all four of you, meaning both humans and rodents, are under a bond of life-debt to the city and that life gambling is illegal... so consider yourselves lucky that I'm playing by the King's rules, or you can decline and never ride the vehicle."

"Sounds like a deal then," Pinkie replied, though at the same time, before her brother could even say anything about her accepting Kleiver's terms, she walked up to the fat man and stared at him, "just don't count on Jak losing."

Kleiver smiled as Jak and Daxter climbed into the small vehicle and sped off into the Wastelands, where Jak listened to whatever the fat man had to tell him, in terms of controlling the buggy, before declaring that the race was going to start. Pinkie watched, as best she could, from one of the rocks that overlooked the racetrack that Kleiver had set up, which had to be for training the other drivers, and smiled as Jak eventually got ahead of Kleiver and the other racers... until he had crossed the finish line for the third time. Pinkie knew that her brother was going to win the race, to which she and Raven grinned as they imagined the look on Kleiver's face when he realized that he had lost... to which they followed Jak back to Spargus, so they could figure out what to do next.

Comments

[Nova Blaze]

They never learn. Ah well, entertainment for the rest of us.

[Crescent Glaive]

A kiss huh?....

I was expecting more of a reaction than a glare from Jak and Raven....