Jak and Daxter: Heirs of Mar

by Blackdrag-rose

Spargus: Dangers in the Wasteland

Jak and his sisters spent the hour long flight to the Wasteland just resting, as they had done a lot of fighting to stabilize the situation for Torn and the others, which would give their friends all the time to figure out what needed to be done next, as all of the smaller missions would likely be given to everyone else and Torn would keep the big stuff for the siblings, when they returned to Haven City in the future, but for now Jak focused on checking out what was happening in their father's side of things and if Spargus needed assistance. While they traveled to their destination Samos spoke to them for a couple of moments, revealing that the pillar in Haven Forest had been mentioned in some of Mar's writings and that it was linked to five special artifacts, ones that, if they were able to find them and bring them back to the forest, they would be able to one of the truths of their world to whoever did such a thing. The downside to his statement was that neither he or Keira had any idea where any of the artifacts were located, so it was unlikely that they would be in Haven City, under lock and key in either the Industrial Section or the Tainted's domain, meaning the artifacts in question had to be somewhere out in the Wasteland and that it would be their job to track each of them down, recovering them so they could figure out what sort of secret was resting inside Haven Forest. Such a thing didn't stop Jak or his sisters from thinking about what Samos had told them, because Twilight and Starlight were interested in what he had revealed while Jak was considering where all of the artifacts might be located, where he figured that Seem likely held one or two of them and that they would have to convince them to part with what they had for a time, but for now his focus was on heading to the Wasteland and seeing what Spargus needed help with, while Cozy was more interesting in tracking down the Marauders and taking them down, all to make the Wasteland safer for their father and his people.

Of course it wasn't long before the Air Train reached the outer reaches of the large desert, where they quickly discovered that another storm was building off in the distance and might strike Spargus soon, meaning the alarm had to be sounding at the moment, though it also meant that someone would be sent out to recover some new artifacts from the sands, just before the storm struck the city, though when they landed Jak told the pilot to head back to Haven and contact them when he was coming back, so he and his sisters would know when it was time to head back to the city, before they headed out and walked into the garage, finding Sig preparing the Sand Shark.

"Jak, girls, we were wondering when you guys might be returning," Sig commented, where a smile appeared on his face as he said that, due to the fact that he was pleased to see them again and knew that he could send them out into the storm, as senior Wastelanders could have newbies or the indebted to Spargus do whatever task they had been given, so if he had been told to make war with the Marauders he could have the siblings do it, before he glanced through the main gate for a few seconds, "though, as you might have noticed, we've got another storm brewing... and this one is really churning the sand! Our scanners show that a few new artifacts have surfaced, especially one that has a stronger reading than what we are receiving from the others. You guys up for some rough riding?"

"Come on Sig, you know I can race with the best of them, and I'm always up for a challenge." Jak replied, because based on what they had seen he and his sisters knew that the storm was going to hit Spargus, that much was for sure, meaning they would have a limited time to obtain the artifacts that had shown up, outwit any and all Marauders who would be coming for them as well, and get back to Spargus with the loot before the storm struck the city, something his sisters understood as they nodded their heads as well.

"That's good to here. Now, get out there and bring us back some booty." Sig stated, something that lead to Jak climbing into the driver seat of the Sand Shark and making sure that everything was like he had left it, in case Kleiver was trying to screw with him or something, though before he went racing out of the gates it appeared that Sig had something else he wanted to say, or maybe it was just a reminder of the rules that came with this type of mission, "You know the drill; get to the artifacts first and they're yours to claim, Wastelander rights! Now, go get 'em!"

As Jak headed outside the main gate his sisters flew overhead, as they would be following him and taking out the various Marauders who dared to bother them, and sure enough they found a number of Marauder vehicles coming towards their bother, to which Jak drove forward as he followed the icons that were on the Sand Shark's map, even though Cozy burst into a group of enemies and smashed the vehicles to pieces, like they were made of paper or something, all while Twilight called the fragments to her. Of course her siblings expected her to just store the fragments away, in Midnight's massive storage area, but the reality of the situation was that she was using the sharpened metal bits as projectiles and saving her ammunition for later, allowing her new attacks to rip through the vehicles the Marauders were using and scatter all sorts of metallic bits for her to collect, as some did end up in Midnight's area and her siblings knew the rest would end up there at some point in time. Starlight remained near Jak and used her power to make sure no incoming bullets harmed him, just in the off chance that one of the Marauders got a lucky shot or something, but for the most part it looked like they had no chance of doing so, especially when she discovered that Jak didn't need her help at all, he was more than capable of using his own Light Eco to shield the Sand Shark as he primed the Plasmite RPG and loosed a grenade at some of his enemies, an attack that wiped them out and allowed him to move forward with ease. The path he was following happened to take all of them over to where they first found the Metal Beasts and discovered that something, Errol no doubt, was messing with all of the remaining Metal Heads who were under Kor's thumb, preventing Alvin and his brothers from being able to free them, before heading out into the area that lead to where the Oasis rested and then circled back once the scanner claimed that all of the artifacts were accounted for.

As they returned to Haven City, and raced to beat the storm there, Twilight made sure all of the artifacts were floating in a space near her and found one that looked like a cube made out of Precursor metal, looking older than some of the other artifacts they had seen so far, which also had a glowing blue orb inside it, making her wonder if it happened to be one of the five artifacts they needed for what they found in Haven Forest, though once they were inside the walls she levitated all of the items over to a waiting Wastelander before she and her siblings returned to the Palace... where they were greeted with a large hug from their father, who pulled back after a couple of seconds.

Damas informed them that nothing major had happened since they departed for the Precursor Temple, though they did have some small encounters with the Marauders, who were becoming bolder despite all of the people they were losing to the four of them, which didn't make a lot of sense and he wasn't about to worry about it, before he listened to what they had to say about the war in Haven City and the fact that there seemed to be a single villain attacking the city, Errol, while it did look like Veger might be using him to his advantage. The only thing that the siblings missed out on was speaking to Gol and Maia, as they had come to Spargus and, since Damas had no idea when his children would be returning, had departed not too long after their arrival, though one thing he did find out was that they weren't the ones who appeared on the wall of Haven City during the celebration that Jak, his sisters, and all of Haven had participated in, meaning someone else had shown up and it made them wonder who it could be. While they did that Jak explained that they were also looking for five specific artifacts for something in Haven Forest, since Samos hadn't explained everything since even he and Keira weren't sure what the pillars were supposed to do, and Twilight shared that she was sure that the cube they had recovered with all of the other artifacts had to be one of those five, though she also sent Samos and Keira a description of the cube to make sure it was one of them. Damas considered that for a moment and decided that if it truly was something that they needed, no doubt to save the world in some way, he would speak to those who cleaned the artifacts before sending them out to the parts of Spargus that they were the most useful in, meaning he would take a few moments to collect it and return it to Jak and his sisters, so for right now all they were waiting for was Samos or Keira to figure out what the item was and if they might have found the first artifact of the five they needed.

When morning arrived they discovered that the artifact was known as the Holo Cube, and that it happened to be one of the artifacts they needed for the pillars in Haven Forest, while Keira revealed that they knew what three of the others were, one was the Beam Generator, another was the precursor Prism, and the last was known as the Quantum Reflector, which made them wonder what the fifth and final artifact would be when Keira finished deciphering whatever text she was in the middle of reading, and sure enough Damas made sure that the Holo Cube ended up in their possession, even though they had no leads on the other three.

"I'm afraid that I have some bad news as well, we've received signs that the Marauders are getting ready to launch a rather massive assault on Spargus," Damas said, as while he was pleased to have helped his children take their first step towards figuring out what the object in Haven Forest did, not counting the fact that they had revealed its existence earlier, what his scouts had discovered held his attention more than what his children were doing, where he noted that they glanced at him and were curious as to what he had to say, causing a smile to appear on his face as he recalled something, "however, they have no idea what sort of warriors we have gained recently."

"Oh, I hope you're referring to us," Alvin commented, because for the most part, since they had started the expedition to the Wasteland, he and his brothers had done next to nothing and yesterday had been one of their funnest days in a long time, because it was when they could do something and not have to force everything on Jak and his sisters, so he hoped Damas was talking about him, Simon, and Theodore so they could wage total war on the Marauders and then chase them back to their stronghold.

As it turned out Damas was referring to the three of them, as they had a weapon that the Marauders had no knowledge of and he was planning on using that to his advantage, hence why he, the siblings, and Kleiver stood on the wall that allowed them to stare out at the Wasteland, from on top of the main wall anyway, and sure enough it was easy for them to spot an incoming mass of vehicles and siege machines, meaning that the Marauders wanted to take the city and driver out those who called it home. While the Marauders were coming at Spargus, however, Jak nodded and Alvin, Simon, and Theodore dropped down into the area in front of the main gate, though not a few moments later the brothers summoned their own power and transformed into their true forms, where each of them let out a roar before taking to the air as they rushed right at the incoming force of enemies, something that prompted Starlight to set up a barrier around Spargus' main gate, just in case some Marauders ignored the brothers and tried to attack their father's city. What happened next was exactly what Jak and his sisters were expecting, Alvin, Simon, and Theodore swung their claws and tore the vehicles apart, used their tails to smash some of them into the ground, and even released short bursts of their flame breaths on their enemies, doing everything in their power to knock down the Marauders and force them to retreat, something that lead to the mass of attackers to focus on them and nothing else. While that happened Twilight and Midnight used their powers to pull all of the metal to Spargus, forming a pile near the main gate so their father and his workers could sort through it later, even if Daxter knew they wanted the metal for themselves, though one of them shifted their gaze for a moment and noticed that one of the siege machines were larger than the others they had seen so far, but the reason for Twilight to glance at it was more due to the fact that she felt a Precursor artifact inside the vehicle.

Due to that information Twilight raised a hand and tore the artifact from the vehicle it was in, where it teleported over to where she and the others were standing, revealing a somewhat spherical artifact that almost looked like an amalgam of other Precursor artifacts, with a Green Eco lens in front of it, meaning the Marauders had brought them the next artifact they were looking for, the Beam Generator she expected, and with Alvin and his brothers defending Spargus it didn't take long for the remaining Marauders to flee before they were smashed by the dragons that had suddenly shown up outside the city that they had tried to take down.

"Good work. Now they'll think twice about attacking Spargus," Damas stated, showing that he was pleased with what he had seen over the last couple of minutes, while Kleiver seemed like he was shocked by everything he had witnessed, no doubt recalling his close call with the siblings when they first arrived in this city, though when Midnight beckoned to the pile of metal Damas shook his head, preferring to give the spoils to the victors of this battle, though if they could take hold of the Marauder stronghold he would gladly seize everything there.

Jak, this is Sig. their Communicator said, emerging from the pack for a few moments as they head Sig speak to them, something that made them wonder what in the world he might have discovered while the four of them were waging war on their enemies in Haven City, though as that happened Kleiver walked away while Damas listened to what they might learn from his great warrior, I heard that you and your sisters were collecting Eco Crystals, both Light and Dark types as far as I can tell, and I just so happen to know where another one is resting. Normally I wouldn't say that this would be a cakewalk, but given your powers, and the powers that Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy have, I know that hunting down some of the Tainted in the Nest will be nothing for you... in other words, we get to secure Spargus and you guys get another Eco Crystal for your collection, or for whatever you need them for.

With the Beam Generator in hand, and safely stored away with the Holo Cube, Jak headed down into the garage before he headed out in the Sand Shark, leaving his sisters to take to the air as Midnight gathered the metal and then followed after them, which was followed by Alvin and his brothers reverting to their Ottsel forms before being pulled up by the magic of Twilight a few seconds later, who place them on her shoulder and the shoulders of her sisters before they focused on the next mission that had revealed itself to all of them. Sure enough Jak and his sisters found Sig, in the Gila Stomper, waiting right outside the Nest that they had smashed their way through after he faced Jak in the Arena, something that caused Jak to switch vehicles for a moment before he headed down into the depths, following the tunnel as his sisters followed after him, even though they were curious as to what was down here. As it turned out a number of Metal-pedes had shown up in the previously cleared out Nest, and like all of the other Tainted these Metal Heads couldn't be freed from whatever dark force was forcing them to do their bidding, something that prompted Jak to open fire on one of them as his sisters spread out and found three more to take down with their powers, though there was another one in the main chamber and Jak let a grin appear on his face as Daxter had an idea spring to mind, as he had Sig hurl him right at his target, allowing Daxter to latch onto the side of his foe and make his way to the head. Daxter used his Eco blade, this time forming two of them to show that he was growing the more he used his powers, and drove them into the head of his target, right into the massive Skull Gem that he happened to be standing on, and sure enough he shattered it in no time, dropping the body to the floor and allowed him to land safely on the ground near his fallen foe, though he did find a Light Eco Crystal and claimed it so it could be added to the others they had recovered so far.

As they cleared out the main chamber Twilight, Starlight, and Cozy emerged from the other chamber and Jak chuckled as he found that they were hauling the bodies of their Metal-pede enemies outside, something that caused Sig to just stare for a few seconds before shaking his head, as he was getting used to the power that the sisters held and this just told him that messing with them wasn't a smart move at all, though as they regrouped near where Jak had parked the vehicle, just before the tunnel heading outside, their Communicator showed up again.

Jak, this is Seem. the device said, which was strange since Seem didn't like him and his sisters all that much, or at least it sure looked that way whenever they were in the area, but Jak had to guess that they were warming up to him, his sisters, Daxter, and the disguised Neo Metal Heads, otherwise they would have likely spoken to Damas and had him deliver this message upon their next visit to Spargus, Marauders have attacked one of our artifact digs and have made off with a very important item that we recovered, and we believe that they may have taken it to their stronghold.

While Jak confirmed that he and his sisters would do something about it, since he had a feeling that this had to be the next artifact they needed for Haven Forest, an idea formed in his head as she glanced at Alvin and his brothers, something that caused him to call up their father and inquire if he could spare some Wastelanders, which caused Sig to raise an eyebrow for a moment, as he was curious as to what was going to happen next. What happened next was that he had Twilight take a few seconds to store the bodies of the Metal-pedes inside her storage area before they headed outside, allowing them to make their way over to where the Marauder Stronghold rested, especially since he could climb into the Sand Shark and Sig followed after him while his sisters flew through the air, though it didn't take them long to make their way over to where the lake was located and found the structure that was their target. Jak knew that he could use some of his sisters' magic to form a walkway over to the stronghold, using some stones to do such a thing, but right now he wanted to try something else as he parked facing his target, where Sig came to a stop behind him and glanced out at the structure, with his sisters landing nearby, causing them to wait for a few minutes as they noticed that a number of Marauders were staring out at all of them, wondering what they were up to. Sure enough Damas and a force of Wastelanders drove into the area not a few minutes later, with their father driving a rather impressive and intimidating vehicle that Sig claimed was called Slam Dozer, capable of plowing through obstacles with ease and being incredibly hard to take down, though once their allies had come into this area, and parked facing the stronghold, Jak glanced at his sisters and their Ottsels disappeared, reappearing in the air above them as they expanded into their true forms, and to complete the image he made sure they gave each of them a Metal-pede, so when the brothers landed they could feast on their previous enemies.

Damas looked like he wanted to say something, likely make a comment about how this might be a bad idea or something, but a minute or two later everyone stopped as the bridges leading up to the entrance of the stronghold lowered and, in an odd display that surprised many of the Wastelanders, the Marauders rode out and promptly surrendered to them, which was just what Jak was after, as this was them using their fear of Spargus and dragons against their enemies, though while the Wastelanders did that Twilight found all of the things their foes had stolen and smiled as she pulled out an artifact that had a tubular shape with three green shards coming out of it.

"Well Seem, we were able to recover the stolen artifact," Twilight commented, speaking once she and the others were near the group from Spargus, which was Damas, Kleiver, Sig, and Seem, leaving the other Wastelanders to secure the remaining Marauders and gather any additional items before heading back to Spargus, though as she said that she glanced down at the artifact in question as she figured something out, especially since Midnight was making sure all of the special artifacts were safe and sound in her storage area, "however, is it okay if we borrowed it for a while? We've been gathering a couple of special artifacts so we can awaken some Precursor structure in Haven Forest, one that requires five artifacts and so far we have been able to find two of them."

"Am I correct in assuming that, based on your words, that his is likely the second or third artifact in the set?" Seem asked, which was interesting when Jak heard them speak, as it sounded like Seem was more than willing to allow them to take the artifact with them, no doubt as long as they promised to return it in due time, along with the other four that happened to complete the set in question, though he and his sisters nodded to confirm that their thoughts were correct, causing Seem to nod their head a little, "Very well, you may take the Precursor Prism, as well as my thanks for helping us recover the rest of what was stolen, though do make sure it and the rest of the set return to us when you're done with them."

"Actually, make it four," Kleiver stated, where he opened his pack for a moment, a large pouch he kept on his belt, before reaching in and pulling out an artifact that looked like a circular satellite of some kind, different from the dark ones they had found since coming to the desert, to which he glanced at it for a few seconds before handing it over to Jak, who took the item while Starlight seemed shocked by the gesture, "I found that a day or two ago, during one of my artifact runs... yes, even I have to do them as well... and I was planning on trading it to someone else, since it seemed unique and might have gotten me something nice, but, after everything I've seen so far, you four need it more than I do."

Jak and his sisters smiled as they accepted both the Precursor Prism and the Quantum Reflector, as their visit to the desert had been more important than any of them could have imagined, as they now had four of the five artifacts needed for the Precursor structure in Haven Forest, all gathered in one visit no less, and once they were sure that Spargus had everything under control, and the captured Marauders didn't do anything stupid before reaching the city, Jak knew they would return to Haven City and tackle whatever obstacles might be waiting for them.

Comments

[PrismStrike]

first off, Midnight there is something called preserving the integrity of a boss fight though i do agree with what she did. Secondly damn that was really easy to get four of the five items for the telescope (still can't believe that was what all this collecting was for lol) also really loved seeing the metalmunks get to spread their wings and let loose like that.