Jak and Daxter: Heirs of Mar

by Blackdrag-rose

Brink: Aeropan Barracks

In the end Jak pointed the Phantom Blade in the direction of a facility known as the Aeropan Barracks, which was located among some mountainous islands, ones that were outside the Brink when Twilight and her sisters considered what they had seen before reaching the incomplete section of the world, though given the nature of the area they were heading first they knew that enemies would be coming at them as soon as someone approached it. Once Jak reached an area that Phoenix said was good enough, since he didn't want to get too close to where the facility rested, Keira pulled him to the side and his sisters followed after him without delay, where she revealed something she found back in the research station, a Green Eco mod for Jak's gunstaff, one that was called the Lobber and was designed to launch twisted green balls out, which blew up after a few seconds. It was a grenade launcher, but the shocking thing was that it ran on Green Eco, a substance that was usually reserved for Health Packs, something that was hard to come by based on what they had seen in the ammunition boxes that were scattered around the Brink, where Daxter, Tess, and Twilight were completely shocked by this turn of events, especially since Keira was sure that it might leech energy out of enemies and use it in an explosion, where Twilight found that this was more like corrupted Green Eco and not normal Green Eco. Jak wasn't too sure about the mod but took it and added it to his gunstaff, figuring that the best way to use it might be in combination with the defensive aspect of the Eco Construct power, one they really didn't use that much and this could possibly change their ideas, but they made sure to take a few moments to empower themselves before they did anything else.

Of course Twilight didn't bother with that, since with her changes it wouldn't be long before she was Daxter's size and all of her melee power would be gone, though as an Ottsel she would be far stronger and be able to do more, or at least that was what it seemed like, and once her siblings were done they headed down to the Hellcat and headed outside, though this time around they had Keira and the Dark Sage with them, why Jak had no idea but he wasn't about to argue with Keira about things. What all of them discovered over the next few moments was that the seemingly abandoned building wasn't actually abandoned, as when they flew down to it a number of fighters attacked as soon as they got close, causing Daxter and Tess to fire upon some targets, which looked like they might belong to the Aeropans, so Skyheed's people based on what they knew, though after some time Jak found an opening. It happened to be a hanger door, interestingly enough, to which Jak flew down and slipped inside the structure, as it was time for them to figure out where the item they needed was located and then get out before they were overwhelmed by enemies, though Jak had a feeling that if such a thing were to happen Twilight would sacrifice more of her form to save all of them from danger. With that in mind he made sure to turn off the ship once they were in the loading bay of the barracks, or at least the farthest part of it, to which Jak and his sisters stepped out first and he beckoned for Keira to stay back with the Dark Sage, that way they could clear an area out before moving forward, allowing them to move into a safe area without any of them having to worry about enemies flanking them in the middle of battle.

When they walked outside the hanger, however, the siblings found that they were definitely in the right place, as there was a Precursor Totem resting near the door they walked through, where it looked like the current path was an earthen area with a number of dead looking trees, either burned or aged to the point that a single tap might break them, to which they focused on the object that was in front of them.

"You know, I've been wondering how the Precursors knew where to put these down." Tess commented, as that seemed to be something that didn't make a lot of sense when she thought about it, since there was next to no way for Eon and the rest of his kind to know where to place all of the Oracles and other objects that empowered or helped the siblings during their previous adventures.

"I mean, they travel through time and space when they become Spirits... plus they likely used those Time Rings to travel to points in the past to influence the future," Daxter remarked, something that caused the siblings to stop for a moment, as it was one of those times where the one that was usually seen as the unintelligent one, as many outside their group felt that Daxter was more like a pet and not a person, said something smart that made them stop and consider what he said, but as he said that Twilight nodded her head.

"Makes sense... especially if one considers that one of us could have decided to call this home, after becoming Spirits, and that we used our knowledge to place the items where we've found them," Twilight said, as she had thought about the odd placement of the Precursor constructs a few times in the past, she had even considered this after hearing what Eon had to say on what happened to a Sage who became an Ottsel and eventually became a Spirit, but having Daxter beat her to the punch made her wonder if there were more side effects to the transformation, "I mean, Jak could become a Spirit later in his life and might decide to come back here, to aid Feolorath in staying safe until we saved everything... or maybe it might be one of my other selves, there's no way us to know."

Jak, however, decided to say nothing, as with Twilight there was a chance that she was right and he didn't want to take the time to think about such a thing, not until he reached that point in his life anyway, before they approached the Totem and let it fill them with Green Eco energy for a few seconds, unlocking another power for the four of them to use, though once that was done they headed down the path and found their way to a structure with a locked door. Jak and Cozy tried to pry open the door with their enhanced powers, making sure not to tap into their Dark Eco since it would cause pain and force Twilight to move in to save them, at the cost of more of her pony form, though they found that it didn't budge at all, and when Starlight stepped forward her magic didn't seem to do much when she put it through the gaps. Twilight, on the other hand, didn't do anything except stare at the door as Keira and the Dark Sage joined them, where Jak stopped Keira as she tried to open the security panel, as there was a lot of Blue Eco attached to it, far more than what it needed to operate, but it didn't get them anywhere since none of them had the code needed to open the door, but Twilight did safely drain a bit of the Blue Eco, making it safe for when someone actually used whatever the code was. In that moment, however, Daxter and everyone else watched as the Dark Sage stepped forward, as if in a trance, and input a code that allowed him to open the door, where he walked inside and seemed to remain in the same state as when he put whatever the code was into the device in question, to which Jak made sure that Keira stayed with him as he and his sisters dealt with everything that might be waiting for them inside the Barracks.

On the other side of the door they discovered something that worried Jak instantly, there was a river or pool of Dark Eco in front of them and Twilight was already starting to stagger, meaning there had to be more of it nearby that they couldn't see and that they had to find a location that was a good distance away from the dark substance, where Jak wasted no time in readying his new power, forming a shield made of Green Eco around him. What the Eco Shield allowed him to do was walk over the pool of Dark Eco, or maybe it was more of a roll since the spherical shield also moved in response to what he did, though as he came to a stop he found some robotic Armadillo rolling out of the sides of the other side of the room they had entered, so while he dealt with them Cozy used the power to cross over and join him while Starlight helped their sister cross by forming a slightly raised walkway with her magic. On the other side of the door that Jak and Cozy walked up to, however, they found another reason for why Twilight would be so weak, there was a lot more Dark Eco in the pool that rested in the next chamber, where he and Cozy progressed using their Eco Shield as Starlight stayed back to help Twilight, hoping that all of the Dark Eco didn't do anything to her sister. They then found a pair of robotic soldiers, similar to the KG grunts who had been the start of the robotic line that Errol eventually took over, who emerged from a room that was off on the right side of the passage, meaning there was another security measure they had to deal with and lashed out at the pair as soon as they discovered them, finding that they weren't very sturdy and it lead to Jak and Cozy breaking them like twigs, before they used the Eco Shield and Eco Teleport to progress through the area.

Once the pair was sure that it was safe, which was hard to do in a facility that wanted them dead, they started to beckon for Starlight to join them, though as she did so, and successfully teleported herself and Twilight over with her magic, they found some Robotic Soldiers and Robotic Armadillos waiting for them, which happened to be when Starlight joined both of her siblings in dealing with their enemies as Twilight watched, since she didn't want to get in the way.

As the siblings eliminated all of the robotic enemies in the area, however, Jak noticed that there was a lot of Dark Eco that seemed to be below them, almost like a river that cut through this entire facility, meaning the proximity to it had to be the case behind Twilight's constant weakness, while also noticing that Keira and the Dark Sage must have taken another route that had sealed itself behind them, since neither of them were here. With those thoughts taken care of the siblings made their way towards another group of enemies and an area that required the use of the Eco Teleport and Eco Shield powers, so Jak and his sisters cleared out the area, with Twilight blasting one with her gun since it was there for a reason, before he and Cozy made their way across yet another open section of the river, allowing Starlight to teleport over once they found that no enemies were nearby. A few seconds later they found that this had to be a dead end, before Twilight pointed out some cracks in one of the walls and Jak used the Eco Amplifier power to blast it open, revealing the next part of the path and meant that he had knocked a door down to get deeper into the Barracks, even though they found that the noise of his actions brought a few more Robotic Soldiers to where they were standing. Of course neither of the robots stood much of a chance against them, as they would need at least ten to put up a challenge, and once both were destroyed Jak continued further with Cozy at his side, once more allowing Starlight to keep some distance as she focused on Twilight, but they did find a door and he opened it accordingly, which let them enter what appeared to be a storage room that had a few more robotic enemies waiting inside it.

Jak, Starlight, and Cozy wasted no time in dispatching their enemies as Twilight opened the nearby door, finding that it was another double security door before it brought them to another passage, one that had a pair of Robotic Solders standing in the middle of a pool of Dark Eco, so once her siblings were done with the last group Jak took care of those ones as well, before switching to his Eco Shield to move forward with Cozy. That brought them to a larger chamber that looked like had a number of security walls that had to be brought down so they could move forward, so it was a matter of teleporting and moving some Tikis around to open the way forward, something Cozy and Starlight let Jak do as both watched over Twilight for a time, who sat on the floor and rested for a moment or two. Once the way was cleared they rejoined him as he started to walk through another set of security doors, where Jak came to a stop near a pool of Dark Eco that wasn't as filled as the ones they had passed by earlier, to which Twilight beckoned to the weakened structure on the other side and told him it contained a good amount of Dark Eco, something that caused him to shoot it with his Eco Amplifier power. It took a few moments for the pool to fill up, thanks to all of the Dark Eco that was pouring out of the device he blasted based on what Twilight had said, though once that was done he used his Eco Shield to cross as Cozy followed him, leaving Starlight to use her magic to form a walkway for her and Twilight to safely cross the gap.

On the other side of the gap they found another door that lead to another chamber, full of Robotic Soldiers and a fair few Robotic Armadillos, though as Jak, Cozy, and Starlight dealt with the enemies in front of them, so they could move forward and find the item that the Eco Seeker had sent them to claim, Twilight noticed a larger robot who appeared to be more like a commander, who teleported down and started to use some Dark Eco to put some of the soldiers back together, to which she groaned as she raised a hand before shattering it with her power.

"Don't worry... I'm fine..." Twilight said, speaking before her siblings could rush over to see if something had changed after a burst of magic, though as she did that something came to mind as she stared at the fallen enemies, her mind putting all the pieces together in a way that made her shudder for a moment, something that caused her to glance at her siblings for a few seconds, "These guys aren't robots... even the commander wasn't one, despite his modifications... they're the start of Skyheed's Dark Warrior Program, Humans twisted by constant Dark Eco experiments, to the point where each one seems to be trapped in their own Dark Form, contained in armor that makes them look like robots... and they're too far gone for us to save any of them... Skyheed needs to pay for what he's done to his people."

"And we'll deal with him in due time," Jak replied, though he had remained silent while they fought the enemies, as most of their attire, while looking similar to what the people of Aeropa wore, had felt metallic without really looking like metal, so it made sense that this was the start of the Dark Warrior Program, their attire meant to protect them and made sure the foul army survived long enough to take their enemies down.

Cozy and Starlight didn't have much to say about that, as they agreed with what Jak had said, while Daxter and Tess kept silent as well, allowing the group to take one more look at what was around them before heading through a door, which brought them to an area that Keira and the Dark Sage were standing in, where it looked like they had found the item they were here to claim, a small Precursor orb that could almost be a Power Cell in size.

"We found the missing piece," Keira said, speaking when she heard the door open and found the siblings walking into the chamber that she and the Dark Sage were standing in, with the Dark Sage tending to a machine and looking like he might still be stuck in the trace, which meant his memory must be returning and that he had found a safer way for him and Keira to get down here, before she frowned, "but, well..."

"It's all my fault, Jak..." the Dark Sage commented, where it was hard to tell if he was here with them, stuck in the past, or if he was stuck between both points in time, though the group said nothing as they waited for him to speak his mind, while Twilight kept her attention on the surrounding area, just to make sure no enemies came rushing at them while they were doing this, "The memories of this place are flooding back..."

"You're the Dark Sage," Jak offered, as he figured that the old man was stuck between points in time, or maybe back with them when he considered things a little more, though either way he felt that being calm about things and giving him some time to come to terms with things might be better for them, since it would give them far more information than what they had learned from just walking through the facility, "and our theory is that you made this project."

"Yes... the Dark Warrior Program..." the Dark Sage replied, confirming that they had struck a nail on the head, even more if he continued to confirm what they had been thinking for some time, though he seemed ashamed of his past and was a bit happy to have some time to think about the things he had done, "I studied Dark Eco... thought that the plentiful corruptive energy here, in the Brink, could be used to make us stronger, protect us from the dangers of the world... but all it did was destroy everything it touched, twisting people into monsters with no control over their actions. I tried to build robots, to take this facility by force so I could stop this madness... but I failed..."

"Who commissioned the program?" Starlight asked, even though they had a feeling that it was Skyheed, given everything Twilight had felt and told them about after they departed from Aeropa, but there was always a chance that he might prove them wrong, that it was something else and that there might be another foe for them to deal with, once they dealt with all of the darkness they had seen in Skyheed's city.

"That... that would be me," Phoenix spoke up, where they discovered that the captain had followed them down and must have tracked down Keira and the others, or, as the case seemed to be, he simply retraced his steps and followed what was in his own memories to get to this chamber, where he also seemed ashamed of what had happened in the past, making all of them a little curious about things, "for Aeropa."

"I was curious as to why you were so familiar with all of the Aeropan facilities and where they were located," Twilight said, as that had been an interesting thing when she and her siblings considered it, even though it could have been explained as someone keeping an eye on what his enemies were doing, to keep himself and his crew safe from harm, but this was good information for them to gain, "please, go on..."

"I was once the commander of the Aeropan Air Forces." Phoenix explained, which made sense when they considered what they had seen when he faced off against them in the air, especially with the ambush he had planned, and caused them to think about the victories he must have gained against the enemies his people had faced, before coming to the person that stood in front of them, "I was put in charge of a secret weapons program to make a new class of warrior, because we were fighting a terrible war, and we were losing..."

"And you thought putting people in THAT chair was the right way to go about things?" Cozy angrily snapped, as while everyone else was calm about things, and even Jak didn't have a lot of problems with the two years he had spent stuck in it and experimented on, thinking about the three years she lost, the anger she had felt, and the terrifying beast that she had become, until the Precursors balanced her power and awakened her true abilities, still enraged her and her claws slowly came out again as she stared at Phoenix.

"No! I refused to do that, to my own people!" Phoenix snapped, this time staring at the darkness in Cozy without stepping down or being scared of her, not like the last time he had seen her transformation, though as she calmed down, and the pain of the Dark Eco transformation started up again, he watched as Twilight rushed to her aid once more, where he took a moment to look at something else, namely the Dark Sage, "When I learned what they were doing... turning Humans into those monsters... I tried to stop it by convincing Duke Skyheed that the project wouldn't work, that the danger was far too great, but he wouldn't hear it... and with no other option available to me, I did the next best thing: I kidnapped the Head Scientist of the project. Sorry about that, old boy, but you took a bad blow to the noggin during the scuffle, so I decided to maroon you on that island, to hide you and your work from Skyheed... only I stopped nothing, as Skyheed went on with the rest of his experiments and now everyone in Aeropa is infected with Dark Eco..."

"That might be true, but it isn't too late to save everyone," the Dark Sage replied, interrupting Phoenix for a moment, which caused them to glance at him for a moment as Twilight finished calming Cozy down and cancelled out the pain that would have struck her from her transformation, though it showed them that he must have been thinking about things since they had brought him to Phoenix's ship, to which he gestured to Jak and his sisters, "We have four Prism Sages, each in tune with their powers... even if the nature of the Brink seems to be fighting them... and you know the stories of their powers, as they are masters of Eco, capable of things that a Sage of a single type cannot hope to accomplish. I came back here to relive the past, but I am not afraid... being in their presence, witnessing their power and skills for myself, has given me the confidence and strength to face my own fears. If we can get to the Eco Core, which guides and controls all Eco, we might be able to save everyone, both those outside the Brink from the storms that threaten our world and our people before our corrupt leader drives them over the point of no return... I'm not sure about a number of things, but we have a Green Sage as well, plus whatever powers rests inside those Ottsels, and with the seven of them we should be able to stabilize the Core and save the world!"

Jak smiled as he heard that, as for the most part he and his siblings had done damage control since Sandover, even if that had caused more damage in some instances, but this meant that they might be able to save the world in a way never done since their first adventure, and his sisters seemed to agree, this was a good thing for all of them, they just had to find the other two items the Eco Seeker needed before heading for the legendary Eco Core.