Jak and Daxter: Children of Eco

by Blackdrag-rose

Exile: A Friend's Return

After beating Kleiver's challenge on the turret, and claiming the Light Eco Crystal that was the trophy for the top gunner in Spargus, Jak and Pinkie spent a few minutes relaxing again, as they had been quite busy and needed a small break before they started doing something else. While they waited their communicator beeped and indicated that it was time for their third Arena match, where they would likely become true Wastelanders and finally repay their life debt to the people of Spargus. With the message received the siblings pulled themselves from where they had been resting and headed back towards the Arena, knowing that Damas and those that watched the fights were interested in seeing how they performed in their final match.

When they entered the Arena, and stood upon the platform that rested in front of where Damas and Pecker sat, both Jak and Pinkie found a Vulcan Fury mod waiting for them... to which Jak attached his to his Morph Gun and Pinkie, as usual, added hers to her bracelet, as a Blue Eco bead. Once they had their new additions to their weapons Damas exclaimed that this was combat to the death, just like the last two matches they had gone through so far, and lowered them into the Arena so they could prepare themselves. As they stepped into the Arena, and took in the area around them, they noticed that they were likely going to deal with a large number of enemies this time around, as the Arena was a large square that had a 't' shaped intersection in the middle of it.

As they dropped down into the Arena, and the enemies started pouring in to fight them, Jak and Pinkie opened fire on their targets, where they both used the new Vulcan mod they had been given. The enemies that challenged Pinkie, however, started to run in fear when they noticed that she was firing a fury of Vulcan shots from the palm of her hand and could accurately hit whoever she was aiming at. Every so often the alarm would sound and the walkway would start to lower into the lava, causing Jak and Pinkie to make their way back onto the platforms in the corners of the square, where they would be untouched by the lava and could plan their next set of attacks. When the platforms sank back into the lava Jak and Pinkie returned to the walkway and continued their assault on their enemies, where Jak discovered, after taking a painful hit to the side, that the Light Eco ability he and his sister had been given was a healing ability... which made the fight all that much more interesting.

When their last foe fell, and they assumed that they were done with the third Arena challenge, they were shocked to find that there was one more opponent for them to fight... though the identity of their opponent shocked them.

"Sig?" Jak asked, as he and Sig happened to be pointing their weapon at each other, while at the same time Pinkie was looking for any additional enemies that Damas might send at them.

"Jak? Well aren't you and your family a sight for sore eyes." Sig commented, though at the same time he noticed how odd Pinkie looked this time around, while remembering all the damage she could do with her hidden weapon.

"...and now we have to kill each other..." Daxter said, sounding disappointed in what they had to do, though at the same time he suspected that Jak had a plan that would let them escape this intact.

Jak frowned as he put his Morph Gun away and lunged at Sig, who decided to play along and did the same thing with his weapon, to which the two of them engaged in hand to hand combat. Pinkie, on the other hand, moved onto one of the platforms that were resting nearby and simply watched the two of them fight, knowing that neither one of them wanted her to butt in and ruin their fight. She had wanted to fight Sig at some point in time, especially after all the moves he showed when they were hunting Metal Heads, but for now she was content to watch her brother fight Sig on his own.

As Pinkie watched the two combatants trade blows with their fists and their feet, however, she quickly determined which one of the had an advantage and which one of them didn't, though she easily came to that decision based on what she knew about the two fighters. Based on his build she could tell that Sig was an old fighter and was skilled with a number of weapons, but she knew that battle with Metal Heads rarely devolved to hand to hand combat. Jak, however, was much like her, as they had learned hand to hand combat as a primary fighting skill against the Lurkers and other creatures in Sandover. Guns had been a late addition that the two of them had adapted to, though that meant that Jak was more at home with his hands and feet than with his gun... to which he easily managed to pin Sig on his back, but instead of striking him down he waited for his father to say something.

Pinkie knew what it was, because Sig was a friend and her brother was hoping that Damas would ensure that one of his valuable soldiers wasn't killed in the Arena... especially when she was sure that Jak's father still had some uses for Sig. Damas, on the other hand, was quick to come to a decision and pointed his thumb towards the ceiling, which meant that he was willing to spare Sig at the cost of her and Jak failing to complete their third trial. Once the decision had been made the group had to follow Damas back to his throne room, where he likely had some sort of mission for them to go on so they could redeem themselves.

"While I approve of you sparing Sig, Jak, you did not complete your trial and will not be earning your third Battle Medallion," Damas stated, to which Jak and Pinkie nodded their heads, as they had suspected that this was the case, though they waited for him to finish whatever he wanted to tell them, which was when he turned to Sig, "Sig, your time in Haven City has made you soft, if your performance in the Arena was any indication! However, your years of service as our spy in Haven have earned you a chance to redeem yourself."

"A spy?" Jak commented, looking over at Sig for a moment, because this was news to him, though at the same time he had to wonder why his father would send Sig to Haven in the first place.

"Just shut up." Sig stated, not even taking his eye off of Damas, as he already knew that there was something he had to do in order to redeem himself, "I'll tell you later."

"There is a nest of Metal-pedes not too far from here." Damas explained, though the assembled group knew that Kleiver would have a buggy ready for them, with the exact coordinates that would take them to their destination, "They have been harassing our artifact carriers for some time. I want you, my son, and his sister to drive into the heart of the nest and take out all the creatures you find inside. I'd say good luck, but then luck won't help you."

Sig nodded and had Jak and Pinkie follow him back to the garage, though along the way he questioned them as to what Damas had said, because back in Haven he thought that Jak's line of questioning had been about the little boy and not himself. Sig was surprised to hear that Jak was Damas' actual son, only more grown up than he had been when Damas had last seen him, but didn't bother questioning Pinkie's role in all of this. As they walked Jak explained what he could, because some of what they knew was better left kept secret, but Sig was willing to take all of the information that Jak was willing to give him at the moment.

When they reached the garage they noticed that one of the larger vehicles had been prepared for departure, which was apparently Sig's favorite among all of the buggies, though he insisted on Jak driving them towards the Metal Head nest that Damas wanted them to destroy. It took them some time to reach the nest, which was located by the ruined village they had captured some leaper lizards in, though at that point it was easy to find the cluster of eggs that identified where the nest was located. The instant they stopped in front of the nest, however, Sig stood up and primed his Peacemaker, though a few moments later he pointed it at the eggs and loosed the charge he had been priming... to which the entire cluster in front of them exploded and opened the way forward.

"Okay, why did Damas think that luck won't help us?" Sig asked, though at the same time Jak maneuvered them into the heart of the nest, where they spotted several clusters, which had to be what Damas wanted them to destroy.

"You'll see in a second," Jak said, to which he turned towards Pinkie, or rather Raven, for a few seconds, "Hey Raven, are you up for a rampage?"

Raven grinned as he jumped out of the buggy, made some distance from where they were sitting, before the Dark Eco Mist surrounded him, allowing him to transform back into his true nature and slammed into one of the clusters, tearing it from its moorings and tossing it at another one in the distance. Jak followed after Raven, watching as he destroyed everything around him that was an enemy, before Raven wrecked the final cluster and the area started to fill with some sort of gas. As they left the nest, and outran the gas, Raven started to reverse back to his hybrid form, though when they left the nest he was able to land on the vehicle without any problems.

Sig was shocked by what he had discovered, especially with Raven's true nature, but he asked Jak and Pinkie some questions based on what they had showed him, though they managed to get back to Spargus without anything happening... save for Damas communicating them and saying that Sig had earned his redemption. As they returned to the garage, however, Jak and Pinkie's communicator spoke up against, though it was a voice that neither of them expected to hear against so soon.

"Jak, Pinkie, this is Ashelin." the communicator said, causing the two of them to stop in their tracks for a moment, "I'm glad the two of you are still alive. I see Damas still keeps tabs on his old beacons. Listen, I've got to see you immediately. I've landed out by the oasis but I don't have much time. Please come find me."

Pinkie, upon hearing that her former sister was coming to the Wasteland to see them, immediately jumped into the Sand Shark and beckoned for Jak to join her, to which the two of them sped out of the garage and headed towards their next destination. Pinkie growled as she spotted brigands trying to stop her from reaching the oasis, to which she used the guns and tore her foes to pieces, allowing her to progress onward once more. Eventually they reached the oasis and found one of the Hellcat Cruisers waiting near the pond, where Pinkie spotted Ashelin standing near the cruiser in question... to which she pulled the buggy to a stop and hopped out.

"Ashelin!" Pinkie said, to which she charged forward and threw her arms around her former sister, who embraced her in return, "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see the two of you... despite how much you have changed since I last saw you," Ashelin commented, looking at Pinkie's new additions for a few seconds, before turning her attention to Jak as well, "Jak, Pinkie, I need the two of you to come back to the city. We're losing the fight. Veger is drunk on power and he's taken command. He doesn't understand what he's up against. I need you..."

Before Ashelin could finish her statement, and tell them exactly what she needed of them, they were assaulted by a large number of the brigands that surged into the area with the intent on killing all of them. Pinkie, on the other hand, growled as she noticed the enemies enter their area, to which she snapped her scythe into existence and charged into battle. Raven pushed himself as well and transformed back into his true form, flying off into the distance and crushing several of the vehicles in the back, allowing Jak and Ashelin to fire at the enemies that Pinkie wasn't targeting. The brigands, despite the number of warriors and vehicles that they brought with them, were absolutely no match for the fury of Pinkie and Raven, let alone Jak and Ashelin.

Eventually the assembled group crushed the majority of the brigands and their vehicles, allowing a few of them to flee and tell the others that they shouldn't mess with Spargus anymore... to which everyone let out a sigh as Raven reverted to his ottsel form, revealing that he was tired as he climbed into Pinkie's shoulder.

"Jak, Keira wanted me to give you this." Ashelin said, to which Jak noticed her pulling out the jet-board that he had surrendered when the guards arrested him and Pinkie, while at the same time noticing that a note had been attached to it as it was handed over to him, "She said that it might be important in the near future and that you would be needing it a lot sooner than you might think... along with whatever her note says. She also wanted to apologize to you, Pinkie, for not being able to make a second one before I came out here, as she's mostly focused on the war effort... and keeping the Neo Metal Heads in line with Stalker."

"If I can say something, I don't think Pinkie actually needs a jet-board," Daxter commented, causing the group to turn towards him for a moment, to which he merely shrugged for a moment as he glanced down at Jak's note, "besides, the Precursors were the ones that changed her body the last time we spoke with them, so maybe this time around she'll get something even better when we talk with them."

Jak knew that with the jet-board he and Pinkie could access a new section of the temple they had been in some time ago, where they received their first Light Eco power, and he also knew that his red medallion, which he kept on him at all times, would open the way forward. He was interested in what he and Pinkie were going to learn from the statue, especially with the end of the world coming their way... and he was interested in hearing what Pinkie would learn about herself in the process.