Jak and Daxter: Children of Eco

by Blackdrag-rose

Exile: The War Factory

Jak and Pinkie, after their trek through the sewer and Pinkie's hacking of the security system to get them the cypher they had been searching for, took a few minutes to relax and get some of their energy back, especially since Pinkie was, in the words of Samos, burning through her Eco supply at a rapid pace. This would have been alarming, if it had happened to anyone else, but despite everything that Pinkie had done so far she was far from tired, almost as if she had an infinite supply of Eco to use whenever she wanted. When Daxter mentioned that he almost got hit in the head with Samos' staff, as the Green Sage told them that it was impossible for someone to posses an infinite supply of Eco in their body, someone that wasn't a Precursor anyway. Samos was convinced that Pinkie merely had a larger Eco reserve than they originally thought, meaning that she could do all of these strange things without tiring... until she pulled out the big guns anyway, which the others were hesitant to even think about.

Pinkie, on the other hand, knew that her abilities and Eco reserve came from something else, making her think about to everything that she and Pinkamena had found out since they had been exiled. After the Precursors had blessed her with this form, and had given her the ability to channel Light Eco, Pinkie had asked Pinkamena to take a fair amount of the Light Eco and see if there were any memories or abilities that had been hidden from them. She wanted to see if the energy that had bound her to a human form was still lurking inside her body, though so far her darker side was only finding abilities and was offering ideas as to how Pinkie could use those skills... not that she minded at the moment. Pinkie was sure that they would find something in the future, she only had to be patient and the answers would be hers before she knew it.

When their break was over, according to Torn anyway, Jak and Pinkie collected Daxter and Raven, who returned to their seats, and headed towards the elevator, to which they rode it back down to the ground level and followed Keira's instructions to the hanger that contained one of the cruisers that they had blown up when the Baron was looking for them. What pleased Jak was that the cruiser was already prepared and ready for take off, to which he and Pinkie climbed into their seats before he pulled them into the air and headed straight towards the floating war factory. As they flew Keira contacted them and informed Jak that this cruiser had been outfitted with a Eco Bomb, which would loose a charge and detonate, destroying enemies in a decent sized radius... and that it would recharge over time, as firing it repeatedly without a break would have caused the entire ship to explode.

Jak quickly thanked her for the information as he started gunning down the enemy fighters, while at the same time Pinkie kept an eye out for anything that they could use to weaken the war factory and its defenses... though the only thing she could find were some large lantern like objects that were scattered around the factory.

Jak, determining that there was nothing else that he could target besides the enemy fighters, decided to have a go at destroying the lanterns and started firing at them whenever he spotted one, though his focus was on blowing the fighters out of the air. As they flew through the area, however, Daxter had to ask why Raven wasn't flying around with Pinkie on his back, considering that they could do some strange things when they were together, though Raven answered the question almost immediately.

"Look, if I were to fly out into this mess then the defenses would all target me," Raven replied, knowing that Errol was likely gunning for him now that he, and everyone else, knew that his true form was that of a dragon, "and I mean all of the defenses. Errol would blast me out of the sky before Pinkie had a chance to do anything, which means that we'll take the longer route this time around."

Daxter groaned as Jak loosed a bomb at one of the four towers that were at the four corners of the war factory, which ended up blowing apart all four lanterns that were resting around it, to which Jak smiled as he hunted down the remaining lanterns. As they did so Pinkie came to the conclusion that the lanterns had to be a source of power for the entire war factory, as that appeared to be the only thing they were good for, but it was likely that they were also preventing them from entering the war factory. With that information in hand, as they had no idea if she was right or not, Jak continued his search as he flew around the entirety of the war factory, blowing up each and every power lantern he could find... before shooting what had to be the sixteenth one, which got a response from the war factory.

That response was to pull out a secondary set of power lanterns, which meant that Jak and Pinkie had to search for them again, while at the same time being careful to avoid being shot down by the fighters that were still chasing them around the area. There were times where Jak abandoned the hunt for the power lanterns and fought back against the fighters, reducing their numbers down to a more manageable level before returning to the hunt for the remaining power lanterns. Pinkie was, after finding the first set of power lanterns, able to help Jak figure out where the new batch of them were located, though she did keep her mouth shut when Jak insisted on blowing their opponents to pieces... which also caused Daxter to cheer at the destruction they were causing.

Once the last power lantern of this set was taken care off, which was also the sixteenth one like the last batch, the four towers spun open and revealed that they were propellers that would keep the war factory afloat, while at the same time Jak and Pinkie noticed that they also had cannons to defend themselves. As they flew around them, and avoided the shots that were being fired at them, Pinkie noticed that each tower had some sort of crystal object just above the cannon, to which she told Jak to line up a shot and loose a Eco Bomb at the crystal. Jak immediately understood what his sister was talking about, to which he lined himself up with the first tower and waited until it swung around to face him... where he loosed an Eco Bomb at the crystal, which caused the entire tower to overcharge and explode.

Jak grinned and flew around the war factory a few more times, as he wanted to make sure that he was correctly lined up with each of the towers before he loosed another charge at them... though before long the remaining towers were destroyed and he found someplace to land the cruiser, allowing him and Pinkie to head inside the war factory.

The entrance that Jak had chosen happened to have an elevator that took them down to a walkway area, though this one had no railings and no flooring around the walkway, meaning that if they fell off it would be up to Raven to come to their rescue before they hit the ground. They found a trio of KG robots patrolling the area in front of where the elevator came to a stop, though Jak and Pinkie were more than ready for them as they emerged from where they had landed and opened fire on the robots. This time around Pinkie opted to keep her weapon simple, as they were in slightly tight quarters and she didn't want to harm her brother, so instead of using her scythe she reverted it back to its sword form, which was useful in slicing apart robots as she loosed blasts from her left hand.

The trio of robots were actually joined by two more not even a few seconds into the fight, though both Daxter and Raven found them annoying and dealt with them, to which Daxter leapt off of Jak's shoulder, moved towards his target's back, and dug the daggers he had made for him into the robot. From there it was a simple matter to force the robot off the edge of the walkway, though before that happened Daxter jumped backwards, with his blades, and landed on the walkway as the robot fell to its doom, where Daxter promptly returned to Jak's shoulder. Raven, on the other hand, merely jumped towards his target's chest and allowed his new armor to create a dent in the robot's chest, before forcing it off the edge as well.

Once those enemies had been taken care of Jak and Pinkie used the short conveyor belt to reach the level above them, where they opened fire on the enemies that happened to be gathered up there and kept their eyes open on where they needed to go next. Pinkie did, however, notice a grate on their right that they jump smash by jumping into the air and using their heads to crush, though as she pointed that out she also spotted an elevator that was being guarded by some more robots... who were standing behind a reinforced gate of some kind. Jak agreed with her when she pointed the elevator out, that there had to be something inside the war factory that they could use to get at the elevator without resorting to her abilities again, to which he broke the grate and had Pinkie follow him.

They then came to a stop in front of a large spinning blade that was blocking their path, though fortunately there happened to be a pipe for Daxter to climb into so he could get to the other side of the blade and flip a switch... which turned off the spinning blade and allowed the group to move deeper into the war factory.

Jak and Pinkie then climbed up into the next area that they needed to progress through and opened fire on the large amount of enemies that continued to spawn from the container in the middle of the walkway, though that was before Daxter pointed out that there was a conveyor belt that would allow them to jump onto a moving platform and leave this area. Jak quickly agreed and let Pinkie contain the situation, as her powers would allow her to catch up once he was out of the area, to which he ran down the conveyor belt and jumped onto the platform, where he opened fire on the enemies on the walkway in front of him. Once the walkway was cleared of enemies he called for Pinkie to join him, to which she and Raven appeared near him thanks to her Shadow Step ability, though she wasn't phased by the energy it took to move the two of them to where he and Daxter were.

Jak quickly decided that now wasn't the time to be questioning every move his sister made, to which they waked up the next conveyor belt that was in front of them, fought the enemies that were patrolling the area, and eventually came to a stop by yet another pipe. Jak and Pinkie remained on their guard as Daxter made his way through the obstacles that were at the end of the pipe, though before long he rode back to them with some moving platforms and returned to Jak's shoulder. The siblings then used the platforms to cross over to where they were headed and smashed through the weakened glass screen that was in front of them, where they opened fire on the enemies that were in the chamber they uncovered... though when the laser wall fell apart they charged forward and left the enemies that spawned out of the container behind once more.

They then smashed through the grate at the end of the path that they were following and fired at the two robots that were waiting for them, before using the moving platforms to access the next part of the war factory... where they used a pair of conveyor belts to reach a third pipe area, though this one was connected to two large spinning blades. It took Daxter some time to make his way through the new obstacles that were in front of him, though once the pair of blades had stopped moving, and Daxter had returned to them, Jak and Pinkie moved forward and continued on their way. That was followed by them smashing another grate and finding a fourth pipe for Daxter to walk through, though as he did that Jak and Pinkie dealt with the robots that were guarding a strange vehicle.

The duo studied the vehicle until Daxter forced three moving platforms into position, allowing them to connect to a walkway that seemed to take them back through the area that they had been fighting through earlier. Once Daxter was back with them, however, they climbed into the vehicle's seats and moved through the area that Daxter had unlocked, where they rammed into the enemies that were walking on the walkway. They soon discovered that the vehicle they were riding in could smash through the reinforced gates they had seen throughout the entire war factory, while at the same time running over every robot that dared to get in their way. Even the containers that the robots seemed to spawn out of, endlessly they reflected, were no match for the vehicle's might... though both Jak and Pinkie smiled as they returned to where the first elevator was located and smashed through the final gate.

Once they smashed through the gate, and took out the robots that had survived the gate being smashed, they rode up to the area that they were supposed to head to... though that was when Daxter decided to talk.

"You know what, I'm surprised that we... haven't found..." Daxter said, though that was when they turned a corner and found a large open chamber with Errol walking around the upper level, "I'm going to shut up now."

"I've found some new friends to help me conquer this puny little planet." Errol commented, though this was the first time that they had seen that he was almost entirely made of metal, save for some bits of his head that had survived his Dark Eco explosion some time ago.

"You're talking to the Dark Makers!" Jak stated, though at the same time he and Pinkie knew that someone had to be doing it, which meant that Errol was confirming something that they had been thinking for quite some time.

"It seems my digital self can communicate with these poor tortured minds quite well." Errol said, to which he flexed the fingers on his left hand, as if he was admiring them, before staring down at the group, "Oh, they're just like you and me, Jak. Well, me at least. They want a home, someone to call a friend, destruction of all Light Eco! They've volunteered to help me put this puny planet out of its misery."

"You're in for a big surprise, Errol." Pinkie spoke up, though she was slightly annoyed that Errol chose to ignore her existence, especially since she was standing right next to Jak, "The Dark Makers don't play nicely with others. Just ask the Metal Heads."

"I've been given the opportunity to wield a power even the Precursors could not control." Errol stated, to which he stared down at the pair of heroes, who stared back up at him in turn, "Don't fret, neither of you will live to see what I turn this little world into. Maybe a rock, or a floating puddle of slag, or nothing at all, complete oblivion! So hard to choose."

"Then we'll stop you!" Pinkie stated, though her tone was a challenging one, as she hoped that Errol would attack them and ignore the option to run away from this area.

"You? Stop me?" Errol inquired, to which he chuckled for a few moments, before growing more serious as he stared down at her, where Pinkie discovered that he was actually focusing on her, "You and what army?"

Pinkie grinned and beckoned for Jak to step back, though once he understood that she had some sort of plan he stepped backwards and left her alone in the arena, to which Pinkie called upon the energy inside her to do what she was thinking about. A few seconds later she extended her hands to her right and left, to which the energy latched onto the walls and darkened the entire chamber, including the area that Errol was standing in, who seemed shocked by what was going on around him. Another couple of moments passed before figures started to emerge from the shadows, though that was when Jak's eyes widened as multiple Pinkies started to step out of the darkness... but that was before he noticed something odd about the whole situation.

Each Pinkie was different and unique in their own manner, as one of them was dressed up in a suit of ancient armor, one appeared to be a pink ghost of some kind, another was a dragon like Raven, a pure human like Pinkie had been before being blessed earlier, a pure pony, and so many more... until at least a hundred Pinkies stood in the chamber, and knocked Errol into the center of the chamber.

"What in the name of the Precursors is going on?!" Daxter exclaimed, looking at the amount of Pinkies that were standing in the same area, while at the same time noticing that all of them were staring at Errol.

"Errol, this is my Multiform Army!" Pinkie, the main one that was standing in front of Jak, said, though that was before she pulled her arms back to her side and turned to the rest of the Pinkies, who were waiting for the fight to start, "Pinkies, what is your profession?"

"FUN! FUN! FUN!" the other Pinkies answered, chanting the one word as all of them prepared themselves, pulling out their guns, handheld weapons, and other items that could inflict damage, before charging down into the area that errol was standing in.

Jak watched as the army of Pinkies descended upon Errol, their various weapons only having on target in mind as they somehow missed each other and fought Errol, who was stunned by what he was seeing. Errol clearly wasn't prepared for what was happening at the moment, as one of the Pinkies raised her sword and sliced off one of Errol's fingers, while at the same time another one blasted him in the back with her power. As the battle progressed Jak lowered his own gun and observed as Errol was tossed around like a rag doll, as each Pinkie took turns in hurting him in some manner, be it cutting into his metallic body or just leaving dents, before the main Pinkie kicked him in the chest and set him into the side of a nearby portal.

Errol coughed as he hit the ground and looked up at the amount of Pinkies that were advancing towards him, before he decided to throw a Light Eco Crystal at Pinkie and charge into the portal... though Pinkie caught the crystal and let him go, as she knew that they would deal with him in time. Once the deed was done the other Pinkies departed from the area, leaving Jak and Pinkie alone, but before Jak could say anything the ceiling started to fall apart, to which the two of them charged towards the portal and departed from the crumbling war factory.

---

A few seconds later Jak, Daxter, Pinkie, and Raven appeared inside the Freedom League HQ building, near the command table that everyone else was standing around, though the looks on their faces indicated that they had been successful in their mission.

"We took it to that robot goon and Pinkie kicked his nuts!" Daxter exclaimed, though this was one of those rare times where he actually gave the person who did the deed the credit they deserved, "And bolts."

"Errol got away, but we shut down his robot factory." Jak said, to which he glanced over at Pinkie, who seemed tired all of a sudden, though he expected as much considering what she had just done.

"That's good." Samos commented, to which he turned back towards the table and gathered his thoughts, "But it is troubling to see what Errol is doing. I fear he may be trying to awaken that terrible dark ship before we can destroy it."

"Onin says the Precursors and Dark Makers have fought over worlds for as long as time has turned." Pecker added, translating for Onin, as he was supposed to do, while at the same time focusing on what was going on, "It would not be the first time a planet was lost to those monsters."

"Well it's not going to be this planet." Pinkie stated, though at the same time she found the strength to get onto her feet and walk over to the table, where she looked at everyone else, "We've lasted this long, so all we have to do is find a way to destroy the Dark Maker ship. The truth lies at the bottom of the catacombs; that's where the four of us need to go."

Ashelin nodded and handed Jak and Pinkie the next Dark Eco modification, the Mass Inverter, and told them that it messed with the gravity in the area around the person who used the mod... to which Jak and Pinkie resolved to use it when they found a new enemy to fight.

Comments

[Crescent Glaive]

All the yes! That Multiform Army is the greatest ability i have seen in a long time

[Supertoe]

was that a reference to the multiform technique from dbz, and the mirror pool episode in one? Awesome!