Pinkie and Jak grow up together, and with Daxter's help they work to save the world from the dark forces that seek to do it harm.
Jak never found it odd that he and his sister Pinkie were different from everyone in their village, despite the fact that their friend Daxter pointed it out from time to time. Nor did to the trio find it odd that Jak and Pinkie were raised by Samos the Sage, along with his daughter Keira. Jak never questioned how odd their life was, even when he and Pinkie slowly developed the skills necessary to protect themselves from any dangers the world might throw at them.
Pinkie, on the other hand, knows that there are secrets hidden deep in their past... secrets that will change how she and her brother look at the world around them, while fighting to protect it from those that would seek to do it harm.
(Jak and Daxter crossover) (Part of the Universe 13 story series, though reading the other stories is not required)
Pinkie walked beside the dream fog that always surrounded her dream world, occasionally poking it with her finger to see if she could get a reaction out of it. Some nights when she slept she was left to her own devices, where her dreams were peaceful and she didn't have to worry about monsters trying to eat her. Then there were nights where she appeared in this area, which she had come to call the Waiting Room, as she spent most of her time waiting for something to happen. She had long since stopped calling items she had seen into existence here, mainly due to the fact that they never helped to pass the time and usually disappeared shortly after she called on them. The only things that bothered to stay for an extended amount of time were the fragments of her mind that resembled her brother Jak, or their best friends Daxter and Keira.
After a few seconds she stopped moving as she heard something growl near where she was standing, to which a twisted creature, one that was made of both metal and flesh with a shining stone in its forehead, materialized out of the fog and charged at her. Pinkie ducked to the left, away from the fog, as the beast leapt at her, though as she hit the ground she rolled back onto her feet and started running in the opposite direction of the unusual creature. As she ran she noticed that the landscape around her changed into that of a depressing city, one that had high buildings and an even higher wall, though not a few seconds later she was running through an alleyway as she left the creature to eat her dust.
The two things she absolutely disliked about her dreams were the fact that she kept dreaming about this depressing city, even when she was in a good mood before falling asleep it would come to her, and the creatures that occasionally hunted her. She guessed that she should have considered herself lucky that she wasn't a small animal or something, otherwise she was sure that the creature would have gotten her a long time ago. She knew that she would awaken if the creature got her, it actually happened twice in the past, but she preferred not being tired in the morning, as being caught made it almost impossible to fall back asleep.
A few seconds later she came to a stop and listened for any noises that would tell her what was happening, but for the first time in forever the world she had found herself in was quiet. Pinkie looked around as the world around her changed shape once more, shifting into what she assumed was a throne room of some kind, though while no one actually sat on the throne she spotted two young kids playing together. The kid on the left was definitely male, though he was a human with sharply pointed ears, bright blue eyes, and greenish-yellow hair... but Pinkie knew that this was Jak, only reduced to what she assumed was a six year old. The remaining kid was definitely a younger version of herself, as she also happened to be a human with sharply pointed ears, though while she shared Jak's light blue eyes her hair was pink colored... and seemed a bit more fluffy than her brother's hair.
Pinkie never understood why her dreams showed her this throne room, when she was four years old and Jak was six years old, but she knew that there had to be a reason for it. She had asked Samos, the Sage of Green Eco that she, Jak, and Keira lived with about the dreams once, though he had told her to put them in the back of her mind and that, if a certain dream repeated itself, then she could see if she could decipher whatever the dream was trying to tell her.
The kids looked in her direction for a moment and Pinkie looked at the door that they were looking at, because behind that door she could just barely make out two people arguing. The first time this dream had happened she thought the visions of her and Jak could actually see her, but she quickly learned that she had only freaked out because she had been standing in front of the door that had caught their attention. She turned her attention back to the kids for a moment and watched as another figure, a girl who was maybe ten years older than both her and Jak, entered the room and took them somewhere else... though try as she might Pinkie had never been able to figure out who the mysterious girl was, mostly because she seemed to be surrounded by shadows.
The scene shifted to her, Jak, and some sort of dog like creature running through the streets, just like she had been doing earlier, before colliding with a green skinned man, who hid them all in the shadows until whatever had been pursuing them was gone. Pinkie could never get a decent look at the man, which always led her to believe that whatever she was being shown was obscured by something, but she did hear the man mention something about him and his friends watching over her and Jak. The voice was enough for both of the youngsters to settle down and go with the man, though where they ended up was never shown to Pinkie as the fog swirled again.
The next thing Pinkie knew she was staring out of the eyes of her younger self, though this time she was looking at a trio, two humans and a creature that appeared to be a cross between an otter and a weasel, who had emerged from a sinister looking building. The two humans appeared to be ready for a fight, if their clothing was anything to judge them by, though the odd thing Pinkie always noticed was that one of them looked like an older version of Jak, but knew that such a thing was impossible. The other human almost looked like an older version of herself, though she looked like all of the joy and happiness in the world had been stripped from her, as there appeared to be no joy in her eyes and her hair was pulled straight down.
Even if this was her dreams messing with her, and none of this had ever happened, Pinkie still found it a little depressing that she could even look like that... even if it was just her mind messing with her.
There were other scenes that didn't stay focused for very long; such as her younger self and young Jak laughing at something, or when they were in some sort of scary cave, or even when they were riding some sort of machine into a blinding light. That last one was always the weirdest, because the man that had saved them in an earlier vision was there again, riding in the machine and disappearing into the light with the two of them.
Pinkie, a voice said, to which Pinkie found herself back in the empty dream she had been in earlier, though she had to wonder where the voice was coming from, Pinkie...
"Pinkie, its time to get up!" Samos said, shaking the sleeping girl awake, though he was amazed it had taken him as long as it had to have any affect on her sleeping form.
Pinkie let out groan as she sat up and stretched her stiff arms, though as her eyes opened she smiled as she took in her caretaker's form, glad that she was no longer dreaming. Samos had a round body with a wrinkled face, though while he had thin limbs he chose to wear high platform wooden shoes, which came with a wooden staff that he carried with him at all times. He also happened to have a long white beard and mustache, unusually shaped glasses, in the sense that the left lens was larger than the right lens, and had a log held fast to his head by the last of his white hair.
This was Samos, though people often called him by one of two titles; the Green Sage, or the Sage of Green Eco, the powerful substance that helped make the world prosper. From what she remembered of he studies Green Eco had the ability to restore energy, while at the same time allowed Samos, the sage who was studying it, to communicate with nature itself. She vaguely remembered that there were other colors as well, but at the moment she shook her head and finally focused on her caretaker, because she knew that something had to be wrong if he had been shaking her.
"Is something wrong Samos?" Pinkie asked, though as she looked around the small room she shared with Jak she could tell that her brother had to be awake at this point.
"No... only the fact that your fifteen minutes behind Jak in getting up today," Samos replied, though he let out a sigh, as he already knew what must have happened, "Which dream did you have this time?"
"Ugh... I think all of them this time," Pinkie answered, because she was sure that she had seen every single dream she had told Samos about in the last nine years.
"And what have you learned from these dreams?" Samos asked, though Pinkie knew that this was his way to telling her that they were just dreams and that she shouldn't let them bother her like they did.
"To have fun with Jak and Daxter!" Pinkie declared, a smile appearing on her face as she remembered that Daxter was supposed to have something interesting planned out for today, though one look at Samos' face told her that she had forgotten something, "And leave the deciphering of dreams to you and the other Sages?"
"That's correct," Samos replied, to which he used his staff to point at the doorway, "Now run along and join your brother. It seems that Daxter has another of his 'amazing' adventures planned for today. Just remember the rules; stay out of trouble, as best you can anyway, and don't go to Misty Island."
"Okie dokie lokie!" Pinkie said, to which she got off her bed and made her way towards the doorway, before turning around and throwing her arms around Samos for a moment, "See you when we get back."
Samos nodded his head once, which was usually what he did when she did something like this to him, though Pinkie only smiled as she pulled away and left the hut behind. She jumped down onto the log bridge that connected Samos' hut to the rest of Sandover Village, which was actually a small town that had been built on some small islands, though the occasional trees made it possible for some people to swing around if they didn't want to walk, but Pinkie knew that she and Jak were the only ones that bothered to do it. There were a few stairs and bridges scattered around the small village, but at the moment the villagers seemed content to leave things as they were.
She decided to head towards the Forbidden Forest, where one could go if they had Samos' permission, but stopped short as she spotted her brother standing on the fisherman's pier, though standing beside him was their best friend. Daxter was just like them, in the sense that he was a human that had sharply pointed ears, though his hair was red and yellowish-orange colored, almost like the color of fire, and he had two overlong front teeth that stuck out over his lower lip, which didn't interfere with his speech. He was even the same age as Jak, who was fifteen at moment, so that meant that Pinkie was the youngest member of the trio, as she was only thirteen years old. Daxter was generally the one that came up with the crazy ideas for their adventures, which either resulted in one of the villagers getting mad at them or them receiving a lecture from Samos.
"Hey guys," Pinkie said, causing the two boys to turn in her direction for a moment, to which she spotted them standing near the boat that the local fisherman used every now and then, "Are we going fishing today?"
"Not exactly," Jak replied, letting out a sigh as he pointed at Daxter, "He wants to go to Misty Island and explore it for a few minutes... says he thinks that there might be something there that will make the entire effort worthwhile."
"Hey, I know you've been dying to explore the island as well," Daxter fired back, though at the same time he climbed into the boat and took a seat at the front of the vessel, "besides, Samos has told us to avoid the island about a hundred times..."
"Actually, its more like one thousand and forty times," Pinkie cut in, rubbing the back of her head as both Jak and Daxter looked at her, "Sorry, I started counting how many times he's told us that about five years ago... or was it six years ago?"
"Point is, he's told us to stay away from the island one too many times," Daxter finished, not even bothering to ask why Pinkie had counted how many times Samos had told them that line, "I say its time we go see what's special about the island and see why he doesn't want us to go there... and Jak actually agrees with me this time."
"Only because we're going to be there for ten minutes tops," Jak stated, shaking his head as he climbed into the boat as well, before turning to Pinkie, "then, once we're done with the island, we'll go to the beach and relax for the rest of the day."
Pinkie cast a look back up at Samos' hut, imagining the sage looking down at them to see what they were doing before they left the village, but she didn't see anyone up at the windows at the moment. She wondered if Samos was meditating or studying the eco that he had inside the hut, though after a few seconds she let out a sigh and climbed into the boat as well. She knew that this was a terrible idea, likely the worst one that Daxter had ever come up with in the years they had known him, but she wanted to make sure that they didn't overstay their welcome when they reached their destination.
She had the feeling that this was going to be the beginning of something big, though at the same time she worried that something bad was going to happen when they reached the island.
Jak, Daxter, and Pinkie settled in for what would be the shortest boat ride of their lives, as Misty Island was about ten minutes away from Sandover Village when using the fisherman's speed boat, or more like thirty if one happened to be using the larger wooden vessel that he occasionally used. Despite the reasons that Daxter gave for wanting to go to Misty Island, to explore the one location he deemed as the most dangerous place in the area around Sandover Village, Pinkie still felt like something was up. She knew that, in years past, when one of them mentioned going to Misty Island one day Daxter would always put a brave face on and declare that he wasn't afraid of the island, but she and Jak knew the truth.
Daxter was actually afraid of Misty Island, not that Pinkie could blame him considering she always felt uneasy whenever she looked in its direction from the safety of Samos' hut.
Samos, roughly six or seven years ago, decided that she and Jak needed to learn to defend themselves and learn to live off the land, which generally meant that they spent a few weeks each year on another island, Geyser Rock, and put up with whatever conditions the island had for them. During the time they weren't on the island, and were relearning the skills Samos told them that they would be needing when they were older, they would run around the village and use the tree branches to help them get wherever they were going, though they occasionally tested how high they could jump with the various cliffs for fun. It was all in the name of them learning the necessary skills they needed, that was what Samos told them every now and then, before he sent them off on either a break or another lesson.
Pinkie's thoughts were interrupted by Daxter falling into the water, to which she and Jak reached into the water and pulled him back up before the lurker shark took a bite out of him.
"Thanks," Daxter said, taking a seat opposite of where Jak was sitting, which was why Pinkie always sat at the front of the boat whenever they used it, "I certainly didn't want to become fish food, not when we haven't even reached our destination."
"Don't mention it," Jak and Pinkie said at the same time, to which Pinkie turned her attention back to the island that they were rapidly approaching, "and don't fall in again, otherwise you might upset that shark."
"You don't have to tell me twice," Daxter replied, shaking himself for a moment to get off as much water as he could, before he turned to Pinkie, "Hey, there's one thing that's been bothering me since I met the two of you; what does the 'P' stand for?"
Daxter was referring to Pinkie's last name, because while she was able to remember her first and middle names with ease, the only thing she could remember about her last name was that it started with a 'P'. Her full name, as Samos had told her so many years ago, was actually Pinkamena Diane P, though she had changed her first name to Pinkie because she thought her actual name sounded too serious and boring. She almost never used her middle name, she never saw the point of it, but her last name had always bothered her, because she had no idea what it was. Even Samos, the person who had raised her, Jak, and Keira, had no idea what her last name was, though eventually she had settled on something that made her happy.
"Pie," Pinkie answered, causing a shocked expression to appear on Daxter's face, though at the same time Jak had to stop himself from laughing when he saw how shocked their friend was, "the 'P' stands for Pie."
"Seriously? Your last name is Pie?" Daxter asked, before letting out a sigh that indicated that he was unsure if she was pulling his leg or if she was being serious, "Forget I even asked..."
Despite the fact that Daxter had some seasickness, which was why he had accidentally fallen overboard because he had been puking, Jak managed to steer them into the small dock that Misty Island had, to which the three of them climbed out of the boat and started their exploration. As they walked along the beach, or what could pass as a beach, they saw that there were a large number of plain grey stones with various large bones sticking out of the stone walls, as if some large animal had died on the island. All of the bones made the place feel grim, dark, and foreboding, which could have been one of the reasons why Samos had told them to stay away from the island, but they continued walking... until they came to a large amphitheater like area.
The trio hid behind a large skull, because in the center of the amphitheater was a large group of beastly creatures that were known as Lurkers, though before any of them could remark on the size of the group in front of them two blue skinned beings appeared from a purple mist and face the Lurkers... though the trio noticed that one was male and one was female.
"Continue your search for artifacts and Eco," the male of the pair said, his voice somehow echoing every word he said, though his voice also sounded a little raspy at the same time, "If the locals possess Precursor items, you know what to do."
"Deal harshly with anyone who strays from the village," the female added, though her voice was much stronger than her partner's, while at the same time the trio noticed that she seemed mad about something, "we will attack it in time. Oh, and if a certain trio cross your path... eradicate them immediately."
Pinkie, Jak, and Daxter shared a look, worried that the female figure was talking about them, though before they were found out they slipped back down the way they came, to which they changed their course and scanned the structure that the Lurkers had been standing in front of. Eventually, after a few minutes of searching, they managed to scale a small cliff on the opposite side of where the group had been located, where they managed to enter the structure and searched the area. As they looked around they approached a deep pit that was filled with purplish-black liquid, which Pinkie was sure was another one of the types of Eco Samos had told her and Jak about in their lessons.
"Can we get out of here now?" Daxter begged, looking around and taking in all of the metal and wood that surrounded the area, while also making sure to keep his eyes away from the pit, "This place is giving me the creeps!"
"Watch out!" Pinkie warned, though that was followed by Daxter taking his eyes off of whatever he was looking at and turning his attention towards her, where he tripped over a circular canister that happened to be covered in Precursor runes.
"A little warning would have been nice," Daxter commented, though as he picked himself up he also collected the artifact, before the three of them looked into the large pit that rested before their eyes, "What is that dark ooze?"
"I think that's Dark Eco," Pinkie replied, staring down into the darkness for a moment, though at the same time she heard the artifact change hands, which meant that Daxter had passed the artifact to Jak, "I've never seen so much Eco in one place."
"Ugh..." Jak said, to which Daxter and Pinkie turned and noticed that he had, somehow, turned the artifact a bright shade of red, to which the three of them stared at it in awe for a moment.
Before anyone could say anything about the artifact suddenly coming to life, or begin to speculate what the Precursors could have used it for, a large blue furred Lurker, wearing some sort of bone armor, jumped down behind them and waved a bone weapon around, indicating that it was about to attack them. Daxter, being the coward that he was, hid himself behind Pinkie, while she raised her fists in case the Lurker decided to attack her first, though before the Lurker could do anything Jak threw the artifact at the creature. The moment the artifact came into contact with the Lurker it exploded, taking the beast out in a single hit, though the force of the blast knocked everyone onto their backs... where Daxter was unfortunate enough to be knocked into the pit of Dark Eco.
Jak and Pinkie looked into the pit, trying to find a way to rescue their friend, though before they could do anything something small was thrown out of the pit... something that stood as high as Jak's knee, had orange and tan colored fur, a short tail, and round ears atop its head. Oddly enough the creature was wearing Daxter's gloves and aviator's cap, which had been shrunk to fit the creature's smaller body, while any other bit of clothing had been completely destroyed.
"Man that stung!" the creature said as it picked itself up, though its voice indicated that that it was actually Daxter, much to the confusion of both Jak and Pinkie.
"Awe, Daxter got turned into an ottsel." Pinkie said, a smile appearing on her face as she looked down at her friend, though at the same time she wondered why the Dark Eco had done such a thing to him.
"A what?" Jak and Daxter asked at the same time, though they were used to such a thing occurring when they were around Pinkie, as there had been several other times where she had said something and the boys had questioned her at the same time.
"An ottsel," Pinkie repeated, though she noticed that both of them were still staring at her, "What? He looks like a cross between an otter and a weasel. What else was I supposed to call him?"
That was followed by Daxter screaming and freaking out, which included him laying on the floor and pounding it with both his hands and his feet as if he was a child throwing a temper tantrum, though Jak had to cover his mouth so the trio could leave the island without drawing more of the Lurkers to their location.
"...and that's what happened on Misty Island." Pinkie said, finishing up the story so Samos knew what had happened, though she knew that he was going to be angry at them for disobeying his orders.
"Pinkie, what were the three of you thinking?" Samos asked, throwing a harsh glance at both Jak and Daxter, who were standing by the entrance of his hut, before turning back to her, "Who knows what a Dark Eco bath could have done to you or Jak."
"Look, Jak and his sister are fine," Daxter cut in, stomping his foot on the floor for a moment, all in order to draw attention to his problem again, "Can you change me back?"
"No! I cannot help you," Samos said, though instead of turning on Daxter he moved to the nearby window and pointed out of it, "Only Gol and Maia Acheron, the only people who are actively studying Dark Eco, have a chance at returning you to your previous form, but they live far to the north. I'd let you use the teleporter gates to get there faster, but none of the other sages that maintain the other gates have seen fit to turn their ends on in some time... which means the only way forward is through Fire Canyon."
"Wasn't Keira working on something to get people through the canyon?" Pinkie commented, trying to remember if Samos' daughter was actually working on something or if her mind was messing with her again.
"Actually, I'm still working on it," a voice said, to which Keira walked into the room with a slight grin on her face, "I'm almost finished with the heat shield that I've developed for the Zoomer, but in order to power it we'll need about twenty Power Cells to keep the shield up until you can reach the Blue Sage's lab."
Keira was dressed like most of the other villagers in Sandover, in the sense of the minimalist life style, though her fashion sense told her to dress up in a shirt that had a color that was a cross between white and lavender, which also being cut off at the midriff to show off a little skin, while also wearing purple colored pants. She was also wearing her own pair of goggles, which was currently resting against her next, though she definitely looked like an inventor that was ready to get to work on a big project.
"Hey, don't the other villagers have some Power Cells laying around?" Daxter asked, as he seemed to recall some of them mentioning that they had acquired one or two, depending on who you asked, "Why don't we just ask them for their Power Cells and get moving?"
"I doubt they'll hand them over if we ask," Jak said, causing his friend to glare at him for a moment, "Our best bet is to collect any Precursor Orbs that are scattered around the area and trade them to whoever happens to have a Power Cell... and maybe do some odd jobs here and there for some extra ones."
"Before you go anywhere else, and get in more trouble, I'm sending the three of you back to Geyser Rock to complete your training," Samos told them, beckoning to Jak, Daxter, and Pinkie for a moment before beckoning to the gate behind him, "Once you have completed your final lesson I'll let you start your adventure."
The trio shared a look among themselves as they registered Samos' words, though once they knew that they were on the verge of their first adventure they jumped through the warp gate and traveled to Geyser Rock. The island they traveled to was a fair distance away from the village, which was why Samos had this particular method of transportation available, though when they jumped through the other side they were accompanied by a strange contraption. The device was bright blue colored, had a shape that resembled a box, somehow floated in the air as it moved around Jak and Pinkie, and also had two antenna sticking out of the top, no doubt to receive a signal from Keira.
"Um, what is that?" Daxter asked, though at the same time he had decided to climb up to Jak's shoulder, as if he was a lookout or something along those lines.
"Its a communicator I recently finished working on," Keira said, her voice coming from the device's grill for a moment, "With this device my father and I will be able to give you advice while your in the field."
Jak and Pinkie both declared that such a device was useful, as this device would allow them to tell Keira and Samos anything interesting that they discovered while they could, in turn, receive any instructions from Samos. Once the device had returned to wherever it hid itself while it wasn't in use, likely Jak's pack, they followed the path that was in front of them and found several Precursor Orbs, which were egg shaped objects covered in Precursor runes, laying about. They made sure to collect all of the orbs that were in their way, though it wasn't long before they found their very first Precursor Power Cell, which they discovered was a stone sphere with four segments cut out from it, though those segments were orbiting the sphere at a distance.
The moment they claimed the Power Cell, and Jak stashed it in his pack, Pinkie started an unusual dance, though before she got very far she noticed that neither her brother or their best friend was joining in.
"What?" Pinkie asked, feeling incredibly silly all of a sudden as she stood back up, "I thought we were going to do a goofy dance once we picked up our first Power Cell."
"I wish you had said something before we started looking for them," Daxter replied, a small frown appearing on his face, indicating that he would have loved to do a little dance before things got serious, "It would have been a great stress reliever from losing my body... and my great pants."
"Maybe we can do one when we finish our adventure," Jak commented, to which the three of them continued on their way and collected the other orbs that were in their immediate area.
Eventually they came across a set of strange boxes, where each side had a red square in the middle that was surrounded by a larger blue square, though when Jak broke the first one open he found a device that looked like an oversized fly.
"Hey, that's one of my scout flies!" Keira said as Jak collected the fly, though at the same time Pinkie moved to the other six and started breaking them open as well, "I've sent seven of them to each area to track down Power Cells! The Lurkers must have captured them while they were searching their areas..."
"I found one!" Pinkie exclaimed, smashing open the final box and freeing the Scout Fly that had been trapped inside, as well as freeing the Power Cell that it had found.
It didn't take them long to return to the path that they had been following, where they punched and kicked the dummies that Samos or Keira had left for them to practice on, before they stopped when they found a floating blue cloud of energy.
"That is Blue Eco," Samos said through the communicator, "which contains the energy of motion. Blue Eco allows you to move faster than normal, break boxes without even touching them, and even activate certain Precursor objects. The two of you are unique in your ability to utilize the Eco in your environment, though I am uncertain how either of you are able to do so."
Jak and Daxter shared a look with each other as Pinkie moved up to the Eco cloud and watched as it flowed into her body, which was what happened when she or Jak found any stray clusters like this one. The boys knew that there wasn't an explanation for why Pinkie could absorb the Eco, or for why Jak could do the same thing as well, but they figured that it was one of the mysteries that they would never be able to solve. Jak moved to the area that was to the right of where Pinkie found the Eco, where he found a couple of orbs waiting to be collected, though once he had them he followed Pinkie further along the path that she was running along.
After a minute or two they stopped in front of a large Precursor door, one that had a blue lightning bolt at the top of it, but by the time they stopped the Eco that had been flowing through their bodies had run out... though there happened to be a vent that was pouring out Blue Eco like it was gas.
"This is a Precursor Door, which can only be opened by approaching the door while Blue Eco is flowing through your bodies," Samoa commented, though while he spoke the group moved towards the vent, so he could explain it to them as well without having the communicator leave for a moment, "and this is, as you might have guessed, a Blue Eco vent, which will allow you to use Eco for a longer amount of time than one of the clusters."
Jak and Pinkie stepped into the Eco vent, allowing the Blue Eco to gather in their bodies, before they ran back to the door they had passed, where the Eco flowed out of them and forced the door open.
"Very good you two," Samos spoke up as Jak and Pinkie walked through the open doorway, where they were able to collect a third Power Cell, "maybe there is some hope for you yet."
Daxter growled at the fact that Samos hadn't mentioned him, but at the moment he decided to not bother with retorting to the Sage's words as his friends completed their training. Jak and Pinkie continued through the area, jumping down onto the logs that happened to be behind the door, and floating in a small pool of water, before they jumped up some Precursor items that were scattered around the area. As they collected the orbs around them Samos commented on the small green balls that were floating in the air, identifying them as Green Eco balls that helped restore health.
Eventually the group reached the top of Geyser Rock, where they found the fourth and final Power Cell in the area, which they were certain of considering how small the island was, while at the same time discovering that they only had fifty orbs in their possession. Samos even made a comment about that as they accessed the warp gate and returned to his hut, as if he expected that they would need more orbs than they would find on the island.
"You did good in your training," Samos said, which was as much praise as they were likely to get at the moment, "but I doubt that fifty orbs will be enough to get all of the Power Cells that the villagers have. I suggest that you search both Sentinel Beach and the Forbidden Forest for any additional orbs... and who knows, you might actually get some more Power Cells while your at it. Oh, and while your out 'adventuring' you might as well see to the Green Eco Collectors I left on Sentinel Beach... it seems that they have been clogged again."
"We'll be sure to check them out," Pinkie replied, a smile appearing on her face while Jak grinned as he looked out at the areas that surrounded the village, though it was clear that they were both interested in seeing what the rest of the world had in store for them.
"I can always count on you to do the right thing," Samos said, though that was followed by him clearing his voice, as if there was more he wanted to tell them, "Now, all of you... get out of my house!"
Jak, Daxter, and Pinkie left Samos' hut behind and started the short walk to the village, where they would be able to see what each of the villagers wanted in exchange for their various Power Cells... and where they could begin the greatest adventure of their lives.
"Okay," Jak said, looking at the layout of the village for a moment, recalling who lived in which house, "who should we ask first? The Mayor? Our uncle? The birdwatcher?"
"Why don't we just start with the Mayor and work our way towards the Forbidden Jungle?" Pinkie suggested, beckoning to the building that looked like a cross between a windmill and a house, "I bet he has a quest for us to take on while we gather Power Cells, or he might be willing to trade one for some Precursor Orbs... or maybe he's got a Power Cells for trading and one for a quest reward. Though if that's the case we might want to run around the village and gather some of the orbs... just in case someone else wants to trade as well."
"Actually, why don't we take the Mayor and the sculptor." Daxter stated, indicating that he didn't want to go anywhere near Jak and Pinkie's uncle, because the old man irritated him every time they were in the same room, "You can deal with your uncle, the birdwatcher, and the farmer. One of them is bound to have a quest or something for you to do while Jak and I speak with the others."
"If you say so Daxter," Pinkie replied, a slight smile appearing on her face, because she liked being around her uncle... even if she was sure that he had no real family connection to her and Jak.
The moment the trio entered the village, and left Samos' hut behind, they separated from each other, with Jak and Daxter heading into the Mayor's house while Pinkie headed into the one that was opposite of that building. Pinkie found her uncle staring at a couple of maps and mumbling about something, though she had the suspicion that he was low on Precursor Orbs and was trying to figure out where the rest of his stash had gone. Her uncle was dressed up in a fashion that was similar to Jak's blue clothing, save for the fact that his had a collar around his neck, had a monocle over his right eye, and was using a small cane to help him walk around. He even had the strangest beard Pinkie had ever seen, as it wasn't actually a beard seeing how it was his mustache that wrapped around the back of his head.
Pinkie barely took a step into her uncle's hut before he turned his head towards her and grinned, indicating that he was glad to see her and was glad that she was doing well.
"Pinkie my dear, it is good to see you again," her uncle said, though as he spoke he pulled Pinkie into a loose hug, before pulling his attention back to his maps, "What can I do for you?"
"Jak and I were planning on going on an adventure and we need some Power Cells before we get underway," Pinkie replied, though a smile also appeared on her face while she spoke, "We were wondering if you happened to have one you can lend us."
"Actually, I'd be willing to trade you one for ninety Precursor Orbs," her uncle said, though he already knew how difficult it would be to acquire some, "I'm sure your friend, the miserable ugly one, might have pilfered them or something and I'm a bit short for my own expedition. Surely such a trade is agreeable with you?"
"It sure is," Pinkie agreed, but she held up a hand to stop her uncle from saying more at the moment, "Just give Jak and I a few hours and we'll be back with the orbs you requested... and then we'll make the trade."
"Capital idea," her uncle said, pulling back and turning his attention back to the maps, "I'll be waiting here until you have the necessary orbs to make the trade, then I can also get underway on my own journey."
Pinkie nodded and headed out of her uncle's house, though as she exited the building she noticed that Jak and Daxter, who was riding on Jak's left shoulder, were entering the sculptor's house, so she turned to the right and headed in the direction of the Forbidden Jungle, where she stopped at the birdwatcher's home. The birdwatcher was an aged woman who wore a yellow hat that resembled the head of a bird, though Pinkie guessed that it was most likely used as a disguise mechanism to assist in her bird watching.
"Why hello dear," the birdwatcher said, putting down her binoculars for a moment as Pinkie stopped in front of her, "I don't suppose you would be willing to help me out? I saw a group of terrible Lurkers capture a mother Flut Flut, leaving behind an orphaned egg on Sentinel Beach that has no one to care for it. I've put some hay down at the bottom of the cliff that its resting on, so if you or Jak can knock it down I'll gladly give you a Power Cell for your valor."
Pinkie agreed to the proposal, as it allowed them to get another cell for their adventure, before she walked outside the house and stared at the Precursor Oracle that Samos had pointed out many times in the past, where she spotted two Power Cells acting as its eyes. After a few seconds she let out a sigh and decided not to bother with it at the moment, though instead she approached the farmer's house, where she found a trapped Scout Fly inside, and approached the sleeping man. From what she could gather, as it was a jumbled mess of words that left his mouth, she would be able to get a Power Cell if she herding all of the Yakows back into their holding pen.
She ran at one of the Yakows and jumped onto its back, to which she wrapped her hands around its neck and gently maneuvered it towards the pen, though once it was back home she jumped off of it and headed towards the second one. As she herding it towards its home she noticed that Jak was running around the rocks near where she was working, though she could tell that her brother was heading towards the statue she had been looking at for a few seconds. It didn't take her too long to bring the other Yakows back to their pen and return to the farmer, who spouted some more words, again hard to tell because of how tired he was, but she managed to get the Power Cell he had promised before she headed towards the entrance to the Forbidden Jungle.
That was when she and Jak finally met back up, where they could finally exchange information on their objectives and what all of the villagers wanted for their Power Cells.
"The Mayor has two Power Cells he could give us," Jak said, just as he and Pinkie made their way out of the village area, "one for giving him ninety orbs, which is easy enough, though the second one involves restoring the village's power... which means that we need to find out what's interrupting the Blue Eco beams and, somehow, reconnect it to the village. The sculptor wants us to head to Misty Island and see if we can't find his muse, the golden creature that inspires him to do his work, in exchange for another cell. And finally the Precursor Oracle spoke to me and told me that it would gladly give us its Power Cells... if we offer up one hundred and twenty orbs for each of them, for a grand total of two hundred and forty orbs."
"We also found the last Scout Fly, grabbed the Power Cell it had found, and happened to find fifty orbs to add to our collection," Daxter added, to which he turned his head back to Pinkie for a moment, to which he found that she had pulled out a pad of paper and a pencil from somewhere and was writing something down, "What are you doing?"
"Writing down what everyone asked of us," Pinkie replied, turning the pad around so her brother and best friend could see what she had written, before indicating to the tasks that they had completed or still had to complete, "I managed to get a Power Cell for herding a group of Yakows back into their pen, the birdwatcher wants us to save an egg somewhere on Sentinel Beach, and there's still ninety orbs that we can trade to our uncle for another Power Cell."
"I'd question where you pulled those out of, but I won't," Daxter groaned, knowing that Pinkie could do some random stuff when she put her mind to it, "Let's get our adventure started."
"Then we had best start searching the Forbidden Jungle," Jak said, though at the same time he and Pinkie moved around the entrance of the jungle and collected a few orbs that happened to be on the beach, before returning to the entrance and climbing up to the cliff that had a bridge connected to it.
The trio moved across the bridge and truly entered the Forbidden Jungle, though once they were on the other side they took the path on the right, as they decided that helping the Mayor would be a good first place to start. A snake dropped down from the top of the trees around them and tried to strike Jak, though as he jumped to the side to avoid it Pinkie brought her fist into the snake's face and took it out, to which some small Green Eco orbs were left behind. They then jumped over the row of wooden spikes that were in front of them, struck the frog like creature that was coming right for them, rolled past the swinging log that would definitely hurt if they came into contact with it, and took out yet another snake before they were safe for a few seconds.
Pinkie spotted a Scout Fly box above where they were standing and jumped onto the tree stumps that were around them, to which she maneuvered around them, collecting the various orbs that were up there, before she rescued the fly and returned to her brother. They then moved around another set of tree stumps before jumping onto the cliff that was by the Precursor Temple, though as they rounded the corner they spotted a few Lurkers working on some sort of machine. They noticed that the Eco that was coming off of the temple was being captured by a mirror on the machine, and being redirected into the center of the machine, so Jak and Pinkie knew exactly what they needed to do next.
Pinkie climbed up the moving pistons on the side of the machine while Jak charged at the Lurkers and slammed his fist into one of them, though once Pinkie reached the top she found a few orbs laying about, which she grabbed, she made her way to the mirror and stared at the Blue Eco beam that was heading into the machine. She approached the beam and touched it for a second, to which a full charge of Blue Eco surged into her body, though as she looked around she spotted a Precursor Door nearby. A grin appeared on her face as she jumped off the machine and ran up the ramp that led to the door, to which it opened as the Eco surged out of her and revealed a Power Cell, though she grabbed it before heading back to the top of the machine and smashing the mirror for real this time.
The instant the mirror was gone, and the beam was heading out into the water, an ancient Precursor mirror appeared in front of the machine, complete with a large pole that allowed it to catch the Eco Beam.
"Well now, let's see what we can do with this," Jak said, spying something that looked like a viewer of some kind, which allowed him to move the mirror until it directed the beam to the next one in the sequence, "I guess this is how we'll reconnect the village's power."
"If we follow the beam we'll find the other ones," Pinkie stated, though while she spoke she looked over the edge of the area they were on and spotted a Power Cell, and some more orbs, hanging around a small piece of ground that was almost completely covered in water, "and we'll need to figure out how to get that Power Cell as well."
The trio followed the beam to the next mirror, to which Jak aligned it with the next one once they arrived, before they had to follow it to the third mirror, which happened to be on the cliff they had jumped off of a few seconds ago. Once that one was reconnected they followed the beam across another one of the bridges, where Daxter pointed out that the fisherman was done at the riverside they were passing, before they arrived at a set of Precursor objects that were arranged in a circle. They grabbed all the orbs that were laying around before they jumped up to the walkway above them, where they avoided another swinging log trap and accessed the viewer that had been placed there. As Jak moved to head towards the next mirror location, which appeared to be on the beach they had passed by when they entered the forest, Pinkie jumped up some nearby stumps and collected another Scout Fly, giving them three as Jak said that he had picked up one by the first mirror.
It didn't take them long to reach the final mirror, as the moment Jak connected the beam to a mirror on the outskirts of the village Pinkie confirmed that the windmill was moving again... though she also insisted that they finish exploring before collecting their reward from the Mayor or the other villagers.
With that objective done they reentered the Forbidden Jungle and quickly made their way towards the fisherman, who told them, the moment they asked if something was wrong, that he couldn't catch two hundred pounds of good fish without accidentally poisoning the entire lot with a poisonous eel. Despite the fact that he was using a tiny net, and how slim the river looked, Pinkie accepted the challenge and laid down on the small bridge that the fisherman had created. She had to do what the fisherman couldn't do, catch enough one pound and five pound fish to get the desired number, though she surprised both him, Jak, and Daxter by moving her arms faster than they could and, after about a minute or two of concentration, the fish basket was full of fish, exactly as the fisherman had asked.
They then left the fisherman to cheer their praises, though they had permission to use his boat to reach Misty Island, which would definitely help them in the future, as well as another Power Cell for the collection. The trio continued along the river they were on and found a few Lurkers hanging out down there, though that was in addition to the two Scout Flies that happened to be trapped inside their boxes, a number of orbs that happened to be scattered about the place, and the Power Cell that Pinkie had spotted earlier. After a few more seconds of searching the bottom area for items of use, of which there were none, the trio returned to the upper area of the jungle and made their way past the circle of Precursor platforms they had seen earlier.
That eventually led them to an area in front of the Precursor Temple, where they spotted three Lurkers trying to figure out a way to cross the gap in front of them, but Jak and Pinkie quickly put them down before staring at the puzzle that was in front of them. Daxter opened his mouth to say something, no doubt to give a word of advice or something, but that was interrupted by Pinkie appearing next to them, with Blue Eco dancing about her body. Not a few seconds later the fallen bridge reacted to the Eco inside Pinkie and reconstructed itself, using whatever pieces still remained, before the trio jumped over the ancient bridge and entered the temple. Before they went too far Pinkie spotted a walkway to their right, so she hopped onto the small jump pad that someone had left behind and, upon landing, walked along the exterior of the temple before returning to her brother.
"Well, I found a few more orbs and another Scout Fly," Pinkie commented, a grin appearing on her face as they activated the platforms that would take them to the top of the temple.
Eventually they found the seventh Scout Fly, which was apparently guarded by some Lurkers, and retrieved the Power Cell that it had found, to which they continued their ascent towards the top of the temple and activated every platform they came across... until they reached the tallest point of the temple and located yet another Power Cell that was theirs for the taking. Unfortunately the moment they collected the Power Cell Pinkie accidentally stepped on a button and the platform they were on lowered into the temple, though once it reached the bottom it was clear that they weren't going back up the way they came down.
"Oops... I didn't mean to do that," Pinkie said, noticing that the room they were in had two sealed doorways, which could be opened by Blue Eco, and a third opening that would no doubt take them to said Eco.
"Well, we had better search around here as well," Jak replied, while at the same time Daxter shook his head, "I bet there's some orbs we can grab so we can trade with the villagers... and maybe a Power Cell or two."
They both jumped up to the passageway that was open and walked through the tunnel that they found, collecting all of the orbs that were waiting for someone to take them while also avoiding the sharp spiked vines that they had seen outside the temple... though before long they found a Power Cell sitting on top of an ancient Precursor device that had Blue Eco coming off of it. The moment they stepped onto it the machine glowed before a nearby Blue Eco Vent opened up, though seconds later Keira called in and informed them that they must have activated all of the Blue Eco Vents around the land. With the Blue Eco surging through their bodies Jak and Pinkie made their way towards the previously locked doors, though as they did so Pinkie jumped back onto the passageway they had taken to get the Blue Eco... but when she returned from a launch pad she was carrying more orbs for them to use later on.
They used the launch pad ahead of them to get more orbs, though when they rounded the corner they found a massive plant creature that appeared to be living off of the Eco in the temple... and it appeared to be guarding the only way out of the temple.
The instant they touched its platform it sent out its minions, little green creatures that withdrew their spikes after a few seconds, though once they creatures were dealt with the planet opened a way up to its chin and bared its neck towards them. Jak, deciding to take a risk, jumped up to the top of the pads and struck the creature where it had been beckoning them to hit, though all that did was make it spawn more enemies for them to fight. They ended up doing the same thing two more times before the creature slammed to the ground and coughed up a Power Cell, though Daxter started jumping on the dead creature's head for no reason as Jak collected the Power Cell... only to discover that the creature had eaten a few orbs when Daxter handed them over.
With the temple cleared out, and they were sure that they hadn't missed anything, they gathered some Blue Eco and used the launch pad to escape the area they were in, though when they exited the temple they found that they were back in the circle of Precursor platforms, where they were able to collect what appeared to be the last of the orbs in the area as they landed on the ground.
"So now what?" Daxter asked as Jak and Pinkie made their way out of the Forbidden Jungle, though he was glad to finally be departing from the place and never have to go back.
"Now we head to the beach and see what needs to be done," Jak replied, though at the same time he was looking over the list that Pinkie had made earlier, "We've still got to unclog Samos' Eco Collectors and find that Flut Flut egg, while not even bothering to throw in the Scout Flies and any other Power Cell we might find there."
"Its a shame, it really is," Daxter moaned, staring at the sky for a moment while Jak and Pinkie headed towards the village, "I was looking forward to a relaxing walk on the beach or something."
"Don't worry Daxter, we can always do that once we've completed our quest," Pinkie spoke up, a smile appearing on her face again as they walked, "though we should stop and eat before we go to the beach. Wouldn't want to fight anything on an empty stomach."
Neither Jak nor Daxter could argue with that statement, so the trio decided to make a quick stop in the village before they headed towards Sentinel Beach... and whatever danger awaited them.
Jak, Daxter, and Pinkie took a few minutes to grab a light meal, just some fruit and some strips of Yakow meat, before they walked out of the village and approached the path that would take them to Sentinel Beach. Of course Daxter questioned them as they left the village, as they had completed several tasks while they were in the Forbidden Jungle and wondered why they weren't grabbing their rewards just yet.
"Do you really want our uncle to boast to the Mayor that we traded with him first?" Jak asked, keeping his eyes on the lamps that Samos had pointed out when describing the path they would need to take to reach his Eco Collectors, "It would be in our best interests to gather all of the Precursor Orbs we can, from the Forbidden Jungle, Sentinel Beach, and even Misty Island, so we can trade with everyone at the same time. Of course everyone refers to the Mayor, our uncle, and the Precursor Oracle that we spoke with, which will give us four more Power Cells to add to the ones we already collected."
"Oh... I see," Daxter said, scratching the back of his head as he rode on Jak's shoulder, as the thought hadn't actually crossed his mind until his best friend had brought it up.
"Don't worry Daxter, once we're done with our adventure we'll come back and take a day off." Pinkie said, noticing that a day off was what Daxter wanted at the moment, despite the fact that they had barely started their adventure, "Though for now we should focus on finding the Scout Flies and unclog Samos' collectors... and see if we can't find any other Power Cells and orbs to add to our collection."
Jak nodded and together the trio crossed over to where the beach was located and almost immediately found a Scout Fly, though its box was trapped around eleven more normal boxes that contained small bits of Green Eco. Instead of riding the waterwheel up to the upper level of the beach, and seeing what was up there, the three of them rounded the corner and found that some Lurkers had set up a cannon on the top of a structure... and were currently bombing the beach at the same time. As they crossed the beach they noticed that there was a bunch of metallic boxes that were scattered about the place, though when Jak tried to break them he found that they were too strong for his fists at the moment.
Pinkie, seeing that the cannon was firing bags of explosives, which exploded after a few seconds of being on the ground, she jumped onto one of the boxes and taunted the Lurkers that were using the cannon. Jak moved out of the way and watched as one of the bags landed on the box Pinkie was standing on, though she moved out of the way before it exploded, revealing a few orbs for them to grab. She repeated the process with the other boxes, making sure to get them all before gathering the orbs, though while she did that she noticed that there was a loose Power Cell nearby, which was grabbed by a pelican that had been flying nearby... though it had used its mouth to do so.
Once all of the boxes had been opened, and they had grabbed all of the orbs, Pinkie and Jak followed the pelican until it landed on a nearby rock formation in the middle of the water, though before they got into the water it seemed like Daxter had an idea.
"You want us to hit the bird?" Jak asked, making sure that he had heard his friend correctly, though based on the direction the pelican was facing it seemed the Power Cell could go flying anywhere.
"Yeah, and Pinkie should be up near the cliff so she can see where the Power Cell lands," Daxter replied, though his eyes were resting on the water in front of them, where he spotted several orbs that were hanging below the water, "Wouldn't want that pelican to grab it again... and accidentally swallow it whole."
Jak and Pinkie looked at each other for a moment, wondering what to think about the fact that Daxter was actually putting forward a valid point, before they separated from each other. Pinkie made her way to the area near the cliff, though as she jumped up the rocky steps she noticed a Power Cell being guarded by a blue creature that lived in the sand. She glanced in the direction of where her brother was, to which she discovered that he was still moving towards the pelican, so she let out a quick sigh and jumped down near the creature. Before the sand serpent knew that she was there she moved around the area of its home and grabbed the Power Cell, though as it rose from the sand she jumped over its head and moved up the steps that she had been walking up a few seconds ago.
Once she was in front of the cliff, and could see some of the ancient Precursor statues that Samos had pointed out many times in the past, she turned towards where Jak was standing and waved her hands... to which Jak slammed his fist into the pelican's side and forced it to spit out the Power Cell. Pinkie watched as the important artifact flew through the air and came her way, to which she moved around for a few seconds before jumping up and snatching the Power Cell before it could hit the ground. The moment she had the cell in her hand she showed it to Jak and Daxter, though that was followed by the two of them cheering before Daxter pointed Jak at the orbs that happened to be under the water.
Pinkie let out another sigh as she looked around the rest of the beach and found the set of lamps that Samos had told them about, to which she decided to follow it while Jak was busy gathering the rest of the orbs Daxter had pointed out. She found what she assumed was a Lurker pup or something, as it looked like a Lurker that walked on all fours and barked like a dog, and she tried to get it to stop following her. When it bit her leg, however, she slammed it into the ground and forced it to let go of her, though before it could limp away she kicked it off the area she had been walking on and made her way towards the Eco Collectors, doing her best to ignore the pain in her leg... and ignore the blood that was definitely dripping down her leg.
Once she had reached the Eco Collectors, and dealt with the other Lurker pup that was hanging near them, she wrapped her hands around the rock that was clogging it and pulled it out, though once the rock was removed she made sure that it was out of the way so this didn't happen again in the future. She then turned her attention to the remaining four Eco Collectors and repeated the process a few more times, clearing each of them in the same manner as the first one before they were all clear... though once the final one was cleared a Power Cell erupted from the Green Eco and landed near her. She smiled and grabbed the artifact, glad that she had actually gotten one of them for her hard work, though that was followed by her reaching into the Green Eco and allowing its healing properties to heal her leg up.
Pinkie looked around to see if Keira's machine was around her, so that she could hear Samos thank her for unclogging the machines, but then she remembered that the device was with Jak, so she let out a small sigh before she made her way towards the structure that the cannon was resting on. As she dropped down onto the beach she spotted Jak jumping through the air, thanks to some Blue Eco launch pads, which was quickly followed by him landing on the structure the cannon was on. She immediately headed towards the Eco Vent that was resting near the launch pad, though before she could climb into it she noticed that the cannon had been silenced, telling her that her brother must have finished off whoever had been controlling it.
She shook her head and walked over to the three ancient structures that were sitting in front of her, though when she spotted a group of birds hanging out in front of one of them she recalled Daxter saying, at one point during a previous visit to the beach, that it would be fun to scare the birds and see what they did. Pinkie had never understood what was so fun about scaring a bunch of birds, and even Samos had scolded Daxter for thinking such a thing, though she shrugged and stepped near the group of birds, where they went flying towards the middle structure. She then let out a sigh as she climbed to the top of the nearest structure, where she found a Scout Fly, though she also checked the back and found some more orbs for her to gather.
With that done she moved to the second structure, to which the birds moved towards the last one, though she found a lone Power Cell at the top of it. With yet another cell added to her collection she made her way to the final structure, once again chasing off the birds that had moved there, though at the top she collected a few more orbs and turned around... where she watched as the birds caused the cliff above the Precursor statues to shake for a moment and dislodge a piece of earth, which struck the ground in front of the statues.
"Wow," she heard Daxter shout, to which she found that her brother and friend were actually standing near the final structure, "Those birds just caused an avalanche... no wonder Samos told us never to bother them. Want to go see what they revealed?"
Jak and Pinkie grinned as they rode the waterwheel to the area that Pinkie had been in before, pausing to grab the two Scout Flies that she hadn't seen earlier, before making their way to the statues. Once they reached their destination they grabbed the Power Cell that was sitting there, which must have been knocked loose during the avalanche, though they used the new ledge to reach the Flut Flut egg that the birdwatcher had asked them to move for her. Along the way they collected some more orbs and another Scout Fly, giving them six at the moment, though when they reached the egg they gently touched it and pushed it with all their strength.
Not a few seconds later the egg fell off the cliff that it had been resting on and hit the ground below them, where they heard the sound of the shell cracking... and then heard the birdwatcher call up to them. Jak and Pinkie looked at each other, wondering if the creature inside the egg was okay, before they gently climbed down the cliff they were on and approached the old lady.
"Oh my, I hope the poor dear is okay," the birdwatcher said, turning to the trio as they walked up to her, to which she reached into her pouch and pulled out a Power Cell, "Here's a Power Cell for your valor."
That was quickly followed by the top of the egg breaking open and the Flut Flut, which was a rather large bird that had a round head with two very large eyes, a combination of both a beak and a mouth, two relatively small feathered arms that the group assumed the bird used for gliding, hooved feet, and a large feathered tail. The creature looked at Daxter and uttered the word 'mama' twice, though the second one was followed by it touching Daxter with its beak and the birdwatcher explaining that the chick thought that he was its mother. That only upset Daxter and made him attempt to explain that he wasn't the creature's mother, though at the same time both Jak and Pinkie chuckled as the old lady promised to take the Flut Flut to Samos... leaving them with the Power Cell they had been given.
Once they were done with their laughs, and Daxter had gotten over the Flut Flut's name calling, they gathered what appeared to be the last of the Precursor Orbs in the area and the last Scout Fly, where they napped the last Power Cell. With everything gathered from the beach, and they made a quick sweep to be sure that they had gathered everything, they returned to the village so they could trade their orbs to the Mayor and their uncle.
The Mayor expressed his gratitude for them restoring the village's power, which the villagers would thank him for in the end, and the 'sizeable' contribution to his reelection, to which he ended up giving them the two Power Cells that he had promised them. Their uncle was also grateful for the orbs that they exchanged with him, where he told them to put the Cell to good use before wishing them well by saying goodbye several times in a row.
"So, do we head to Misty Island and risk further mutations to the two of you, or even myself," Daxter said, as the trio stood on the bridge between Samos' hut and the village, "or should we go to Fire Canyon and move on with our adventure?"
"It should be obvious where we're going next," Jak replied, beckoning to the speed boat that was resting in the small dock at the moment, "We go to Misty Island, gather every Precursor Orb and Power Cell that we find there, collect the Sculptor's muse, and then return with some extra Power Cells in case Keira discovers that we actually needed more."
"Whatever... I'll endure being short and fuzzy for a little while longer," Daxter commented, crossing his arms as the trio made their way to the speed boat, not liking that his friends were focusing more on the adventure instead of fixing him.
"At least we get to see how fast the boat actually is," Pinkie said, a hop appearing in her walk for a moment, "besides, its not like there's anything left on the island that we have to worry about."
Daxter let out a moan, as if Pinkie had doomed them to a horrible fate when they reached Misty Island, though he made no comment as they climbed into the boat and made their way to their next destination... where they could disrupt whatever Lurker operations happened to be taking place while gathering whatever they could find, which would please Samos to no end once they returned.
It didn't take them more than a few minutes to reach Misty Island, once again docking the boat next to the old wooden dock that the island had, though they all knew that they were the only ones who bothered to use it anymore. As Jak and Pinkie climbed out of the boat, with Daxter still on Jak's shoulder and taking the position of a watchdog of some kind, they kept their eyes open for anything that might want to do them harm. They quickly followed the only available path they could take, right in front of them, though once they had climbed up the rocky steps they found a few Lurkers waiting for them, one with the normal red-purple colored fur while another one had blue fur... and was wearing armor that looked like it had been crafted from one of the many bones that had been scattered around the island.
A quick jab to the chest was enough to make the bone Lurker's helmet jump into the air and come crashing down on its head, stunning the creature long enough for either Jak or Pinkie to finish him, and his comrade, off before it had time to react. The moment the two Lurkers had been taken care of, and he coast was clear for a few seconds, the trio quickly discovered that they had two directions they could go, though before they could come to a decision Daxter pointed at a glittering green rodent creature that was staring at them. The trio immediately recognized it as the Sculptor's muse, as they had all seen it during their years in the village, though the only problem was catching it.
Pinkie let Jak chase the muse for a little bit, where he took care of a few more Lurkers, gathered a few more Precursor Orbs, and even freed one of the seven Scout Flies that had come to the island, before noticing that there was a pattern. The moment that the muse ran passed her, and was followed by Jak, Pinkie joined them, though instead of following her brother she went in the direction he had come from and raced to meet up with him. The muse, essentially trapped by two people in the end, surrendered easily, though the moment Jak held the creature in his hands Daxter ripped it free and shoved it inside Jak's backpack, as if he wanted Jak to himself.
"That wasn't very nice Daxter," Pinkie said, not liking how their friend treated the Sculptor's muse, especially considering the man might notice if something hurt her.
"We can discuss this some other time," Daxter replied, his eyes looking all over the area, as if he was looking for more enemies that might want to harm any of them, "For now we should move on... this island is giving me the creeps."
Both Jak and Pinkie agreed with Daxter, because now that they knew what was on the island they knew the reason why Samos had forbid them from coming here, until they had disobeyed him and gotten Daxter into the mess he was in. Pinkie still found Daxter's ottsel form to be extremely cute, as in a pet sense anyway, but she knew her friend hated it and wanted nothing more than to help him revert back to his original state. They quickly scanned the area they were in and headed to the right of the entrance, though a few seconds later Pinkie snatched a bit of Blue Eco that was floating around and ran towards the edge of the area they were walking on. Jak then watched as his sister safely made it to a Precursor platform, activated it with the Eco she had grabbed, and rode the small platform out to where a Power Cell was waiting for someone to claim it.
Once Pinkie was with them again they ended up finding two more Scout Flies hidden to the left of where they were walking, along with some more orbs, though they also discovered some Red Eco clusters floating in the air... and discovered that Red Eco empowered their physical attacks, making the two of them hit harder than before. Now that they were boosted by the Red Eco they were able to take out the Lurkers that were wearing armor in one shot, as well as break through the bones that made up the armor as well. As Jak punched his way through the last Lurker in the area, and he was sure that it was the last one, Pinkie returned to the Blue Eco she had grabbed earlier, to which she raced across the platforms they had jumped across and opened the Precursor Door that Jak had stopped in front of.
"Why did you go all the way back there for Blue Eco?" Jak asked, before pointing at the small cloud of Blue Eco that was floating near where he was standing, "We had some at the end the entire time."
"Umm... it was more fun to run over all the stone platforms again?" Pinkie offered, because in reality she hadn't seen the cloud that her brother was currently pointing at and relied on what she knew to help them out.
Jak shook his head as he and Daxter let out a quick laugh, because no matter how serious a situation was there was always something funny about what Pinkie did, or what she said, that made the two of them laugh... and she never got mad at them about it. The moment the two of them were finished the trio climbed into the area that they had unlocked, which was actually the arena area that was connected to the pit of Dark Eco that Daxter had fallen into the last time they were here. As they walked into the middle of the massive area they spotted a few more metal boxes lining the wall opposite of the large pit, no doubt filled with orbs for them to collect, though after a few steps the door slammed shut behind them and Lurkers started to fill the area.
"AH! ITS A LURKER AMBUSH!" Daxter shouted, though at the same time he grabbed onto the shoulder piece that allowed him to ride on Jak's shoulder, intending to hang on for his life.
"Thanks Captain Obvious," Jak and Pinkie replied, though this time they didn't stop and chuckle over the fact that they had said the same thing at the same time, as there were enemies for them to fight.
Jak and Pinkie started throwing punches and kicks at the Lurkers that weren't wearing armor, as they intended on cutting down the number of enemies they had to fight before focusing on the armored ones, though that thought went out of their minds as they noticed that some of the unarmored enemies were dropping Red Eco for them to use. As they grabbed the Eco that was being dropped they all noticed that there was a cannon firing pouches into the arena, just like the one on the beach they had taken care of. Once they were both empowered by the Eco they changed their tactics and started hitting everything that was coming their way, knocking out Lurkers left and right until their opponents seemed to wise up and stopped throwing more troops at them.
The moment the last Lurker was taken out, and they were sure that there weren't anymore to deal with, they noticed that a stairway had risen from the floor, leading them to the Dark Eco pit... which happened to have a Power Cell waiting near it.
"That so wasn't there the last time we were here..." Daxter said, just as Jak grabbed the Power Cell and stashed it inside his backpack, "or was it actually here and we were too focused on investigating that blasted pit?"
"In the end it doesn't matter," Jak replied, heading towards the other door they could have used to enter the arena, taking note of the cannon that was still raining pouches down on the arena floor, "the Power Cell is ours... which means we can use it to power Keira's zoomer once we've finished checking the rest of the island."
On the other side of the second door they discovered three more of the bone armor wearing Lurkers waiting for them, though while Pinkie kept them distracted, by jumping over them and avoiding their clubs, Jak moved forward a little bit to grab the Red Eco that was floating in front of a small pool of mud. With his strikes empowered he returned to his sister's side and beat up the three Lurkers that were trying to hit her, which was followed by the two of them continuing onward. As they jumped over the mud pit, and beat up the Lurker that was on the other side of it, Pinkie spotted something she could jump on and immediately accessed it, causing Jak and Daxter to pause while they waited for her to come down.
When she returned to them she handed over another Scout Fly and a couple of orbs that she had grabbed while she was up on the ledge above them, while at the same time telling them about the Lurker Ship that happened to be docked in the water right now. They jumped over a few more pieces of stone, and knocked over another large piece of bone, before they reached a decent sized body of water that the large ship happened to be docked in. They carefully made their way across the bridges that had been constructed between where they had come from, the ship itself, and the opposite side of the body of water. Jak and Pinkie spotted what appeared to be a transport pad on the opposite side of the ship, where the zoomer that Keira happened to be working on was waiting for them.
They carefully made their way to the other side of the body of water, collecting the Precursor Orbs and a Scout Fly that were on the ship, before they made their way towards the zoomer. When they reached the device they discovered that there was room for one person to ride at a time, which was the original function of the vehicle according to Keira, so Pinkie decided to let Jak ride it on his own, as she suspected that he was the better rider between the two of them. As he hopped onto the vehicle, and headed out over the water, Pinkie climbed back up onto the ship and worked her way to the top of it, where she found a Power Cell waiting for someone to claim it.
She then noticed that there was a bunch of moving logs that were coming down a ramp, some that were just moving down the ramp like normal while a few were jumping in the air and landing before repeating the movement. She jumped down onto the ramp and ran up it, jumping over the logs that weren't jumping and slipping under the ones that were jumping before they could land. As she made her way up the ramp she moved into the small areas on the sides that allowed her to let some of the logs roll down the ramp, though after a few seconds she continued moving until she came to the second area and found another Scout Fly... who happened to have the Power Cell it had recovered before being locked up.
With the Power Cell in hand she continued towards the top, dodging the logs in whichever manner was necessary based on how they were moving, before she came to the top of the arena area, where she spotted the cannon that had been firing at them earlier. She rushed at the two Lurkers that were standing around the cannon, one standing guard while the other loosed another explosive pouch, before she knocked them out and acquired another Power Cell for stopping them. She eyed the cannon as she collected the cell, to which she grinned as she took control of it and fired some shots down at the locked boxes that she had seen earlier, releasing the orbs that had been trapped inside them.
Once the deed was done Pinkie pulled herself away from the cannon and headed back down the ramp that she had used to get to this area, which was now free of logs for some reason, though as she noticed Jak running down some of the Lurkers that were flying balloons she decided to head into the arena and gather the orbs. It didn't take her long to reach the arena, though once she had the orbs in her possession she turned around and headed back towards the Lurker ship. The moment she arrived she spotted Jak parking the zoomer on its teleport pad and climbed off of it, though judging by the smile on his face he had found a few orbs and Power Cells to make up for the trip.
"Can we please leave?" Daxter said, his eyes looking at the shadows around them, expecting a Lurker to jump out and attack them, "I'd like to leave this island before something actually happens to us."
"Well, we've picked up everything we can find," Jak replied, while he and his sister made their way back towards the boat they had used to reach the island.
The moment they returned to the village, and made sure that the boat was safe, they went to the Mayor's house and listened to him praise them for restoring the village's power, as he had asked of them, and gave them the Power Cell as a reward. That was followed by Jak offering ninety orbs for the other Power Cell that the Mayor had, which was quickly accepted and exchanged, allowing them to walk out with their rewards. They then walked to the Sculptor's house and let the muse go, to which they got the reaction that they had been expecting the entire time after they had rescued the poor creature.
"My muse!" the Sculptor happily proclaimed, while the little critter climbed onto the stone slab that was still untouched, "You saved her! You guys really are the best. Here, take this Power Cell as thanks."
The trio was happy to accept the Power Cell that was offered to them, along with Daxter being happy to get away from the creature before he did something to it, though the muse stared at them all as they started to make their way out of the small house.
"Ah, she likes you guys," the Sculptor commented, his face full of joy as he waved goodbye, "Say, do you think ya might pose with her for a statue when ya get back?"
"Sure thing," Pinkie replied, knowing that it would be the perfect thing to celebrate the end of an adventure, once they had restored Daxter to his original form and stopped the Lurkers from whatever they were doing.
Once they were done in the village, and had made sure that they hadn't missed anything, they returned to the Precursor Oracle and collected the two Power Cells that it happened to hold. The moment it handed them over the trio made their way to Fire Canyon, where they could finally get underway and get to the Blue Sage's hut... and get them one step closer to wherever Gol Acheron called home.
It took the trio a few minutes to reach the entrance of Fire Canyon, where they found a few more Precursor Orbs hanging around the area before they found the zoomer, though they immediately found Keira standing beside the vehicle. As Jak and Pinkie approached their friend they both noticed that there was what appeared to be a sidecar of sorts on the left side of the zoomer, which meant that Keira had been working on it while they had been gathering Power Cells. It looked like she was putting the finishing touches on the additional piece as they arrived, so they didn't bother to say anything until she was done with her work.
After a minute or two Keira pulled herself away from her work and turned towards them, though she was smiling happily, telling them that she was either pleased with her work or with the work they had put into gathering the necessary Power Cells.
"I'm glad that you guys managed to find some additional Power Cells," Keira said, patting the sidecar for a moment, "I was able to make some quick modifications to the zoomer so it could handle a sidecar, allowing all three of you to cross at once instead of leaving someone behind. The additional cells will cover the necessary expansion of the heat shield, meaning that both parts of the zoomer will be able to handle at least five hundred degrees before they start coming apart."
"I hope you have a plan to cool us down," Daxter replied, staring at the flames that they would soon be driving through, "because I would hate for the zoomer to fall apart and cook all three of us in an instant."
"You have nothing to worry about," Keira assured him, pointing at a blue floating ball in the air, some distance away from where they were currently standing, "I've released several blue coolant balloons throughout the canyon, which will be able to cool down the zoomer once you fly through them and burst them open. I also sent a Scout Fly out into the canyon and spotted several Precursor structures that dip into the lava of Fire Canyon, but they haven't been melted yet. You can use those as jumps to get out of the heat for a time, so between the coolant balloons and the jumps you won't have to worry about anything burning you or breaking the zoomer."
"Sweet!" Pinkie exclaimed, excited to see what the zoomer could do with the jumps, though she knew that Jak was as excited as she was, "What should we do when we reach the other side?"
"Just head into the Blue Sage's lab and turn on the teleport gate he has," Keira replied, stepping out of the way so Pinkie and Jak could climb onto the zoomer, "once its active my father and I will teleport over to you. Then, when we're together again, we'll plan our next steps in our quest to reach Gol Acheron."
"We'll see you once we're on the other side," Jak promised, taking control of the main part of the zoomer, while Pinkie settled into the sidecar and Daxter joined her, so he didn't go flying when they left the zoomer platform.
As Jak pulled out of the zoomer's platform he discovered a crate of Precursor Orbs placed between two jagged rocks, so he ran over the crate and collected them, though he had to be careful to avoid the massive amount of Dark Eco crates that were in his way. He rammed through a coolant balloon and continued forward, smashing through a Scout Fly crate and freeing the poor creature while also using one of the structures Keira had pointed out to get some air. Jak followed the path, making sure that they didn't stay over the open lava for longer than what was necessary, while collecting all of the Scout Flies and orbs that happened to be scattered throughout the canyon. He would have questioned why the Scout Flies had even been trapped in the Fire Canyon without burning to pieces, but he decided that now wasn't the time and focused on steering the zoomer.
Thanks to the few Blue Eco vents that were scattered throughout the canyon, again causing Jak to wonder how they hadn't broken apart as well, they managed to reach the end of the canyon without too much happening. Along the way they had managed to grab every orb that happened to be stashed away in the metallic crates, though when they freed the last Scout Fly Pinkie had caught the Power Cell it let out as they passed under it, meaning they wouldn't have to go back for it at all. At the end of the Fire Canyon they found a place to store the zoomer, which also happened to have a Power Cell waiting for them, though they weren't about to complain about their luck.
Once they parked the zoomer in the area they had discovered, and climbed out of their seats, they made their way into the outer area of Rock Village and entered the Blue Sage's hut, which looked like some papers had been scattered around like the Sage had been in a hurry to get somewhere.
"Sh... shouldn't the Blue Sage be around here somewhere?" Pinkie asked, worried that something might have happened to the Sage, as he wasn't present at the moment to explain the condition of his hut.
"Perhaps Samos knows something about this," Jak stated, to which he pushed the button and activated the warp gate, though before anything happened they all stepped back to give Keira and Samos room for when they entered the hut.
The trio waited for a few seconds, wondering what was taking the others so long, though the first person to come through the warp gate was Samos' bird, the one that lived inside the log that he wore on his head. A few seconds later Samos came out as well, though he landed flat on his face, much to the amusement of Daxter, who was smacked on the head by Samos' staff the moment he picked himself up. Keira appeared behind him, though she was more graceful than her father was and landed on her feet, as if she had been secretly practicing with the gate to Geyser Rock.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to that teleporter tingling sensation," Samos grunted, taking a moment to wipe off any dirt that had gotten on his clothes, before noticing that many of the items in the Blue Sage's hut were either sparking or were severely damaged, "Hey! Did the Blue Sage throw a party without inviting me?"
Pinkie, at the mention of a party, would have assumed that the other Sages would have invited Samos, as they were as thick as thieves at this point in time, so she immediately knew that something fishy had happened in the Blue Sage's hut... something that Samos definitely didn't know about.
"Oh my!" Keira gasped, pointing out the window she happened to be looking through, no doubt pointing at Rock Village at the moment, "Rock Village is on fire!"
"You mean that's not normal?" Daxter asked, staring out the window and seeing what Keira was talking about, though a few seconds later he noticed that everyone was glaring at him, "What?"
"Daxter... the village is being bombarded by flaming boulders," Keira stated, moving the telescope so she could see the creature that was responsible for the destruction, before noticing something near the creature's location, "It seems that the Blue Sage was working on some sort of levitation device to clear the way to that creature's resting place, though if we're running with the assumption that the machine is operational we're going to need some more Power Cells to activate it."
"Jak, Pinkie," Samos said, gathering the attention of the young heroes, to which he pointed at the village with his staff, "Take the furball and go check on the villagers. They're bound to have some helpful tips on where to find more Power Cells and will likely offer one in exchange for some orbs. We'll see if we can't find the Blue Sages notes that are connected to that machine."
"Okie Dokie Lokie," Pinkie replied, to which she and Jak saluted Samos before collecting Daxter and heading into the village, where they found a Scout Fly before they even entered the central part of the village.
It didn't take them long to find someone that needed their help, as they spotted a geologist standing near the entrance of some sort of Precursor area, though she appeared to be worried about something. Before any of them could ask what was bothering her, however, she turned towards them and beckoned them over, indicating that she had something she wanted to tell them.
"The three of you look like capable young fellows," the lady said, a smile appearing on her face as she beckoned to the area she was standing near, "I've got a research project going on at the moment and I was hoping you would be able to help me. I've been studying the burrowing habits of the Lightning Moles in the Precursor Basin next to our village for years, but now those awful Lurkers have scared them to the surface. Seeing how they are as blind as bats they can't find their way back underground, so if you can herd them back into their burrows you might just save their lives. I have a Power Cell that says you can do it... and I'll even offer a second one if you'll exchange ninety orbs to help fund my research equipment."
Jak, deciding to wait until they had checked on the other villagers before making any commitments regarding trading orbs, agreed that they would be able to help with herding the Lightning Moles back into their holes, but made no comment on the trade. Instead he, Pinkie, and Daxter made their way towards the only other people in the village at the moment, someone wearing a barrel over their body and some sort of warrior that was crying. What they discovered was that the warrior had tried to fight the monster that was currently hurling boulders at the village, but was beaten quite easily, to which the man undid the bridge leading to the Blue Sage's machine and proclaimed that he would only remake the bridge if he was given ninety Precursor Orbs.
The other man, who they determined was a gambler of sorts, exclaimed his outrage that he lost almost all of his money on the warrior, before whispering that the money was on the monster. The man promised that, if they beat the high score in a race inside the Precursor Basin, he would give them a Power Cell as a reward, as well as a second one if they traded him ninety orbs. Once they had spoken with the two villagers Daxter told them that he had found another Precursor Oracle, who would trade the two Power Cells it had for one hundred and twenty apiece.
"So," Pinkie said, looking at the map of the area, something that the geologist was okay with them looking at so they could figure out what to do first, "should we check out that ancient Precursor city that's just outside the village, or should we venture into the Basin and see what else we find in there?"
"Let's head into the Basin," Daxter commented, glaring at the sunken city for a few moments, "It should be a relaxing ride, where we can collect a few Power Cells, gather a fair number of orbs, and save some Lightning Moles from the Lurkers. Should be fun."
Pinkie smiled as the three of them headed towards the Basin, because they would be able to at least do some good for everyone by making sure that the area was clear of Lurkers and Dark Eco... and then they would be one step closer to the end of their quest.
It didn't take the trio long to reach the entrance of the Precursor Basin, considering it was a five second walk from the center of the village, though once they reached their destination they discovered that the zoomer was waiting for them. As they approached the vehicle they discovered that the heat shield had either been deactivated or turned off, no doubt so Keira could work on it while they were busy gathering more Power Cells. Despite the fact that they knew that Jak was the more experienced driver of the two of them, and knew the controls a lot better, Pinkie insisted on at least trying out the vehicle.
"Why do you care about using the zoomer so much?" Daxter asked, staring at Pinkie as he rode on Jak's shoulder, who happened to be standing beside the zoomer, "We're on the clock with changing me back to my previous form... and you want to try out the zoomer?!"
"Besides giving Keira a second opinion on what needs to be fixed?" Pinkie replied, shrugging as she looked at the controls, which were rather straightforward once Jak explained how to accelerate and do a few of the other movements that he had done in the Fire Canyon, "Look, if I find anything that's beyond my skill we'll return here and I'll switch with Jak."
"Whatever." Daxter stated, just as Jak climbed into the sidecar, where he slipped into the sitting position he had used when Pinkie had been sitting in the sidecar earlier.
Pinkie smiled as she climbed onto the main body of the zoomer and slipped her feet into the shoes at the end of the vehicle, though before she did anything she made sure that she knew how to move before shooting forward and going up the hill that was in front of them. The moment they came over the top of the hill Pinkie spotted a red rodent creature that was walking around and bumping into everything, which meant that it had to be one of the Lightning Moles that the geologist wanted them to save. As she maneuvered them into the first area of the Basin she also discovered that there were a fair amount of metallic boxes scattered everywhere, including boxes filled with Dark Eco, as well as Precursor Orbs and Scout Flies laying around.
They also found a sleeping creature, that happened to have purple skin, while also possessing a pair of wings, to which Daxter indicated that it was one of the Flying Lurkers and that, if they ran it down, they might find a Power Cell for their efforts.
Pinkie grinned as she followed the first Lightning Mole around the area for a couple of seconds, where she spotted the hole that the location she needed to herd them back into, before directing the poor creature back into its home. With the first mole taken care of Pinkie maneuvered around the Precursor structures that were scattered around everywhere and spotted three more Lightning Moles laying out in the sun. Instead of heading towards the sleeping Lurker she targeted the other mole that was hanging near the entrance and made sure that it was back inside its home before moving on. With half of the moles taken care of she turned the zoomer on the Lurker and followed it, carefully learning its pattern and its movements before catching up to it, where she slammed into it and ran it down.
When no Power Cell appeared from where the Lurker fell Pinkie wondered if Daxter was pulling her leg, but then decided to withhold her comments until she explored the rest of the area, in the off chance that there were more Lurkers waiting for them.
Pinkie maneuvered the zoomer into position and herded the remaining two Lightning Moles into their hole, to which Daxter commented that they could now retrieve the Power Cell the geologist had offered them. As Pinkie explored the area they were in she spotted another sleeping Lurker, to which she implemented the plan that had allowed her to take out the first Flying Lurker, eventually ending with her slamming into it and taking it down as well.
"Hey Pinkie," Jak said, while at the same time Pinkie ran into some of the metallic boxes and collected the orbs that had been trapped within them, "Do you see that glowing purple ring?"
"Yeah, I see it," Pinkie replied, carefully maneuvering up to where the ring was, and found another Scout Fly to rescue, "Should we do this now or should we come back after we finish scouting the rest of the area?"
"Its up to you," Jak stated, reminding his sister that she currently had control of the zoomer at the moment, "but if you want my advice I would search the rest of the Basin first, then come back once we've done almost everything else."
Pinkie stared at the purple ring for a few seconds, wondering if she should take her brother's advice or not, but then turned the zoomer just a little bit and headed back into the lower part of the area they were in, to which she maneuvered them towards an opening that took them towards the other part of the Precursor Basin. She found a lot more of the Precursor structures scattered around the second half of the Basin, which wasn't surprising, though after some searching she discovered two more Flying Lurkers, who were sleeping when they neared them, but decided to ignore them for the moment. Jak pointed out that there was a Power Cell floating in the air above the small body of water that they had found, as well as a Green Eco vent that happened to be sitting near a large cluster of Dark Eco plants.
Pinkie spent some time following after the Flying Lurkers, once again learning their patterns before she slammed into the two of them at the end of their tracks, though when she took out the fourth one she was rewarded with the Power Cell had pointed out.
"See!" Daxter exclaimed, pointing at the Power Cell that Jak was holding, as he had grabbed it while Pinkie was steering the zoomer, "I told you that the Flying Lurkers had a Power Cell on them."
"You were right," Pinkie admitted, silently glad that she hadn't said anything sooner, though once the Lurkers had been taken care of she moved into the Green Eco vent and surrounded the zoomer in the flowing life energy.
Pinkie moved around the Dark Eco plants and watched as the Green Eco tore the plants to pieces, but only in a straight path that mimicked the way she was moving the zoomer. It took her five passes with the zoomer, and having to restock her eco at the vent, but eventually she managed to cut down the last of the Dark Eco plants and clear the area of them. Once the last plant was taken care of a large flower of sorts erupted from the ground and opened up, to which it released a Power Cell that it had been holding, allowing Jak to pick it up as Pinkie moved the zoomer near it.
"You keep on impressing me," Samos said over the communicator, causing the trio to look at the contraption for a moment, feeling good about what Pinkie had just done, "but maybe its because I have low expectations. Okay, your moment of gloating is over... get on with it."
Pinkie and Jak shared a look with each other, as they knew that only Daxter would be the one to gloat over impressing Samos, but before their friend could do so Jak smacked him in the back of the head as Pinkie continued to scout the area. She carefully maneuvered around the area and jumped the zoomer across some of the ramp like areas, eventually allowing her to jump them across the higher platforms until she was aligned with the Power Cell that was hanging in the middle of the air.
"Hey Jak," Pinkie said, staring at the floating Power Cell for a moment, "I'm going to go as fast as I can and try and get us near that Power Cell, but it will be up to you or Daxter to grab it before we land... or we'll be doing it until we get it."
"Just get us close and we'll see what we can do," Jak replied, though at the same time he and Daxter prepared themselves for the jump that Pinkie was about to attempt.
Pinkie let out a sigh as she pushed the zoomer to its maximum speed and jumped into the air, sending them sailing towards the Power Cell, though after a few seconds they landed on the top of the water without any injuries to them or the zoomer. Pinkie looked at Jak and Daxter, to which they held up the Power Cell with a smile on both of their faces, to which she grinned as she took them back towards the purple ring they had noticed earlier. She flew them through the ring and noticed that another one appeared not too far away from where they were, to which she followed the series of rings around the entire Basin, making sure to hit each and every one of them until she reached the very end of the course... where she earned another Power Cell.
Seeing how they were currently missing one Scout Fly, and the Power Cell associated with it, Pinkie moved about the entire Basin once more, seeing if she had missed anything, before Jak pointed out a blue ring near the area that she had used to get them close to floating Power Cell. As she moved them near the second ring she noticed the last Scout Fly, to which they earned the Power Cell it was holding, before she activated the blue rings and followed them throughout the Basin once more, though this time it was on a completely different course than the original one.
It took Pinkie some time to maneuver them around the second ring challenge, along with having to restart it after messing up the first time, but eventually she managed to reach the end of it and claim the Power Cell that it had been keeping from them. With that done Pinkie took them back towards the entrance, though instead of heading into the racing section of the Basin she returned to the platform they had found the zoomer on and parked it there for a moment.
"Why did we stop?" Daxter asked, glaring at Pinkie as she pulled herself off the zoomer and stretched her body, "We have one more task to complete in the Basin before we can leave!"
"Look, my body hurts from maintaining that position for so long," Pinkie replied, allowing Jak to climb out of the sidecar and take her place on the main part of the zoomer, "besides, its only fair that Jak gets a turn on the zoomer... especially since he'll likely be using it more than me in the future."
Daxter looked like he was about to rage at the fact that they were wasting time or something like that, but he decided to say nothing as he climbed into Pinkie's lap when she took a seat in the sidecar. Jak then moved them back into the Basin and approached the area that was the racing area, to which he started the course the moment he touched the starting line. He maneuvered them around the race track and got used to what was hanging in front of them, before eventually reaching the end of the track and, somehow, besting the score on his first try. He felt like there should have been a practice lap before the actual race, but decided to say nothing as he returned them to the zoomer platform and park it for real this time.
With the Precursor Basin done, and the only Power Cells left were associated with the geologist and the gambler, the trio returned to the center of the village and moved to the side area that would take them to the sunken city. Their plan of attack was to go into the city once Pinkie had recovered from overusing the zoomer, where they would search for some more Power Cells and Orbs before they traded some orbs to the warrior so they could access the swamp. Once they got back from the swamp they planned on trading their orbs to the various people in the village, and collecting the ones that the geologist and gambler had, before talking with Keira about the machine.
Pinkie let out a sigh as she, Jak, and Daxter relaxed for some time, knowing that there wouldn't be a chance to relax once they started moving again... and likely wouldn't stop again until they reached the end of their quest.
Pinkie rested for about thirty minutes, where she stared up at the sky and the flaming boulders that the giant monster was throwing into the water around the village, before finally deciding that it was time to move on. As much as she wanted to spend a few hours relaxing from using the zoomer in the Precursor Basin, and maybe crack some jokes with Daxter, she also knew that they needed to move fast if they wanted to stop the Lurkers from doing whatever it was they were doing. She knew that Samos thought that the Lurkers were gathering Precursor artifacts for some unknown master, for the same unknown purpose he spoke about every so often, which was why he told her and Jak to stop any Lurker operations that they came across.
"You sure that your ready to go Pinkie?" Jak asked, as he was concerned that Pinkie was pushing herself too much, as if she had something to prove to both him and Samos the Sage.
"We've got to stop the Lurkers from pulling up some Precursor artifact in the swamp," Pinkie replied, recalling what Samos had mentioned in passing before the three of them had left the Blue Sage's hut, "not to mention we've got to power the Blue Sage's machine and defeat that massive creature that's attacking the village. Then there's the matter of getting to the Red Sage's hut and figuring out what needs to be done there before we reach the Yellow Sage... and then we rinse and repeat until we reach the end of our adventure. I'd say that thirty minutes is more than enough time to spend resting at the moment."
"Alright, if you say that your fine to move on then I won't argue with you," Jak said, pulling himself from the stool that he had been sitting on the entire time, pausing for a few seconds for Daxter to jump onto his shoulder before they walked towards the planks that would take them to the underwater city.
"As long as we don't find anymore of that Dark Eco I'm fine with exploring an ancient forgotten city," Daxter commented, staring at the city in front of them as Pinkie and Jak made their way towards the front entrance.
Jak and Pinkie carefully jumped across the wooden planks that had been sitting between the village and the city's entrance, avoiding touching the water and attracting one of the Lurker Sharks, but eventually they reached their destination and jumped up onto the platform that had a large blue button in the middle of it. Jak pressed his foot against the button and the platform sunk into the tunnel that would take them into the city, where they were able to see that it was a little larger than what they were expecting. Once the platform came to a stop they approached a door and let it open, to which they discovered a short hallway with some electrified coils on either side of them and electrified water under the walkway they were on.
The room they entered happened to be a decent sized room that had moving platforms, a few Blue Eco clouds waiting to be picked up and used to open a nearby container, and a flying Lurker that inflated itself when it came near them, only to deflate after a few seconds. They then spotted a Scout Fly box sitting on the lower platforms beneath the room's entrance, one that happened to be guarded by a pair of Lurkers that had a smaller one sitting on the other one's back, to which they rode one of the platforms down to where they had spotted the Scout Fly. When the two of them approached the pair of Lurkers Jak slammed his fist into the chest of the main one, forcing the partner off of his back, to which Pinkie kicked that one into the electrified water and Jak pushed his foe in a similar fashion.
With their enemies taken out, and the Scout Fly freed from its box, they quickly gathered all of the Precursor Orbs that were scattered around the room before making their way towards the tunnel that would take them deeper into the city. That brought them to a really small room that had some interesting Blue Eco platforms, as one moved around the one that either of them stepped on, though they quickly understood that these platforms would allow them to move around the city a lot quicker. There was a trapped Scout Fly that they freed and a Lurker that they took out, which was followed by them jumping over some of the electrified coils they had seen at the beginning of the city.
The next room they entered was much larger than the first one they had passed through, as there were several pipes leading to various locations, at least three Scout Flies scattered throughout the entire area, a fair number of orbs laying around for someone to take, and even a Power Cell that was trapped in a glass container.
"Hold up, I want to test something," Pinkie said, causing Jak to stop before he jumped onto the pair of Blue Eco platforms, which was followed by her jumping on one and causing the other to move.
Pinkie carefully maneuvered the two platforms until she was near the three glass containers they had spotted from the entrance, though once she reached her destination she jumped off of them and turned to face them. She waited a few seconds, wondering if they were going to move or if they were going to stay where she had left them, but when she was about ready to tell Jak to find another way over to where she was one of the platforms moved. She watched as the two platforms returned to where Jak and Daxter were waiting, to which Jak jumped on them and quickly made his way to where she was standing.
"Is that what you were hoping would happen?" Jak asked, though at the same time he was staring at the three glass containers while he was trying to figure out how to get the Scout Flies and the Power Cell.
"Something like that," Pinkie replied, jumping onto the platforms before they could move and quickly made her way towards a dark blue colored platform, "Try the button on the right and see what happens."
Jak stared at her for a moment, wondering if she had lost her mind or if she was on to something, before letting out a sigh and pressing the button that she had specified, to which the Scout Fly inside the glass container in front of him was snatched by some sort of Eco transfer... and ended up where Pinkie was standing, where she grabbed the now free robot.
"Smart thinking Pinkie," Daxter commented, as it was unusual that Pinkie actually figured something out before Jak did, before rubbing his hands as he looked at the two remaining containers, "Now then, let's do the green one and get that Scout Fly."
Pinkie made her way over to the end point of the green pipe, which was followed by Jak pressing the button and releasing the second trapped Scout Fly, which was once again snagged by Pinkie the moment it arrived. The end of the red pipe, they soon discovered, was behind a series of jumps that took them closer to the entrance they had originally entered the room from, to which Pinkie carefully made her way over all of the jumps until she reached the end of the path. The moment she reached her destination Jak pressed the button and released the Power Cell, which Pinkie grabbed the instant it appeared, before she made her way back to where her brother was standing, pausing for a moment to collect another Scout Fly that she had passed in order to get into position.
They then spent a few minutes gathering the remaining Precursor Orbs, and the third Scout Fly, in the room before they made their way towards the opening that would allow them to move forward, where they found two rings of moving platforms that were following a circular pattern... which happened to be moving around a platform that rested above a pit of Dark Eco.
"I was joking!" Daxter declared, annoyed that his earlier statement had actually been true, though he patted Jak for a moment as he readied himself for what was coming, "Be careful Jak."
Jak, who noticed that some of the platforms were moving in a way that dumped whatever was on them into the Dark Eco below them, carefully made his way to the middle ring and performed a series of jumps between the two rings in order to get all of the orbs that were in front of them. With that done he moved to the platform in the middle of the rings and claimed the Power Cell that was waiting there, before making his way into the room that was in front of them. Once he was out of the way Pinkie carefully made her way across as well, mimicking what she had seen her brother do, before the two of them were together once more.
The new room they entered had another type of Lurker for them to fight, one that specified in spinning around and using some sort of bladed weapon to cut whoever they were fighting, but they quickly discovered that by jumping over their heads and diving at the Lurkers they could take them out without hurting themselves. They then discovered that they had to choose between two different rooms to head towards, but it was rather simple for them to pick the room on the right of the entrance, as it appeared that it was a dead end no matter what they found inside the room.
What they found was a strange number of floating platforms that were arrayed around a door of some kind, but the moment they jumped on one of them they discovered that the platform would light up, only to deactivate when jumped on again. The two of them carefully made their way around the group of square platforms, going in two opposite directions so they could best the puzzle a lot faster. By the time they managed to get all of the platforms in a glowing state, which had taken a few minutes of thought to do so, the door opened and revealed a Power Cell, which Pinkie grabbed before they made their way to the previous room they had been in.
The second room they could have chosen from had a pair of Lurkers waiting for them, which were pushed back into the electrified water behind them, though before they moved forward they spotted a nearby Power Cell. Pinkie pressed the nearby button into the ground and Jak jumped up the platforms until he reached the area the Power Cell was on, to which he grabbed it before making his way back to Pinkie. Once they were together again they walked towards the ramp area in front of them and slid their way down towards whatever was at the end of the tunnel they were in. Jak and Pinkie made sure to hit all of the metallic boxes that were inside the tunnel, somehow breaking them with their speed and nothing else, before they reached the end of the path.
It was then that they found a Precursor structure of some kind, one that they guessed was an elevator or something, along with several orb like terminals that appeared to be powered by Blue Eco, which would be easy to deal with thanks to the Blue Eco vent that was in front of them. While Jak took the Blue Eco into his body and activated the terminals, in order to activate the vessel in front of them, Pinkie jumped through the air and took out the Lurkers that were in the room with them. Once all of the terminals were activated the vessel's door opened, to which they entered it and rode it towards the surface, which would please the Blue Sage when he returned to the village.
Once they reached the surface Keira opened the communicator and told them what they had done, as if they weren't aware of the fact that they had brought a piece of the ruins to the surface, but they quickly rode it back down to the ancient city so they could finish the rest of their exploration. They moved through a small tunnel and climbed up some steam lids that allowed them to recover the last Scout Fly of the area, to which Jak grabbed the Power Cell before he and Pinkie rode down a second ramp like tunnel. They dodged the Dark Eco boxes and the electrified coils that were in their way, as well as collecting all of the orbs that were scattered in front of them, before they reached their next destination.
All three of them were surprised to find that their end point was at the edge of a large pit of Dark Eco, which made Daxter shudder as he looked at all the darkness below them, though the moment Jak carefully jumped on the button in the middle of the Eco it sunk a bit and the Dark Eco started to rise.
"JAK! PINKIE! RUN!" Daxter shouted, just as the two of them accessed a nearby Blue Eco vent and started making their way around the long cylinder passageway that they found themselves in, "The Dark Eco is rising!"
Despite the fact that Daxter was afraid of the Dark Eco that was following them, and kept screaming every time he turned to look at its progress, Jak and Pinkie managed to reach the top of the chamber they were in, where they used a Blue Eco jump pad to escape from the Dark Eco... where they landed in a small room that closed behind them. They found a Power Cell in the room they had landed in, as well as the fact that the room happened to be above the first ramp section they had rode down, which they actually used for a second time to reach the structure they had left behind. Pinkie insisted on picking up the Power Cell they had left on top of the vessel, which took all of ten seconds for her to collect, before they rode back to the surface.
The moment they returned to the surface they swam back to the area they had been resting in earlier that afternoon and decided to take another break, before they spoke to the warrior and rebuilt the walkway that would allow them to access the nearby swamp.
"And then we'll deal with that creature that's throwing boulders at the village," Jak promised, because Daxter had started to rage at the waste of time they were committing by resting again, but he shut his mouth and waited like the last time.
Pinkie smiled as she glanced over the water and stared at the entrance of the swamp, knowing that they would be doing the world some good by stopping the Lurkers... and whoever their mysterious leaders were.
Once Jak and Pinkie had recovered from their adventure in the Lost Precursor City, and had given their clothes enough time to dry off from their swim, they rounded the corner and talked to the warrior that was still lamenting over his crushing defeat. He ignored the trio for a few minutes, causing Daxter to get a little impatient, but he only raised his head when Pinkie mentioned that they had come to make the trade with him.
"Oh, wonderful," the warrior said, just as Jak handed over the ninety Precursor Orbs he had requested, "you brought me the Precursor Orbs. Alright, I'll fix the bridge... but don't ask me to get involved with that creature again!"
With the trade completed the warrior released the planks he had removed and restored the bridge, though he also seemed to throw in a Power Cell for some odd reason that Jak decided not to question. With the walkway restored the trio knew that they could power the Blue Sage's machine and lift the boulder that was blocking their path, but they quickly decided that taking a detour through the swamp was of more importance. The mere thought to the machine made Jak look over in its direction, where he spotted Keira working on it, no doubt making sure that it was fully operational for when he and Pinkie returned with the required Power Cells.
As they approached the entrance to the area known as Boggy Swamp, where Lurkers were apparently fishing for Precursor artifacts of all shapes and sizes, they opened the last Scout Fly box for the Rock Village and collected yet another Power Cell.
With the Power Cell secured the trio entered the swamp, which was filled with green colored water, walkways and poles they could use to get around some of the obstacles that were going to be in their way, and weeds that grew to about half of Jak's height. The first enemy they encountered was some sort of rat like creature, one with red fur and a tendency to bite at anything near it, but it proved to be no match for Jak's fist. The moment the creature had been taken care of Pinkie smashed a nearby crate and found some Yellow Eco in it, to which she allowed it to sink into her body as she turned to some of the nearby metallic boxes.
"I wonder," Pinkie said, allowing the Yellow Eco to form a bit in her right hand before she threw a fireball at one of the nearby boxes, though that was followed by the box being blown to pieces and releasing the orbs that had been trapped with it, "Oh, this is going to be fun."
Jak watched as Pinkie opened fire on all of the remaining boxes in the surrounding area, releasing all of the orbs that had been locked within them, before she bothered to collect her prize. He briefly remembered Samos mentioning something about the powers of the four Eco colors, though he forgot that the Yellow Eco allowed people to shoot fireballs from their hands in addition to whatever the Yellow Sage used the Eco for.
When all of the Precursor Orbs had been collected, and a nosy rat creature had been taken care of, the trio followed the path as it took them over some large vines, causing them to leap from one large stone to another before they came to the area's first Scout Fly. They then jumped off of the log they were on and approached an area that was filled with some sort of black liquid, though they were sure that this would harm them and they all decided not to let it touch them while they were here. Jak, wanting to take a turn with the Yellow Eco, allowed the Eco to enter his body as he aimed at what appeared to be a group of large bats that would no doubt attack them if they got close. It didn't take him long to put all of the bats down, though before the Eco charge ran out he also took out a few Dark Eco crates to make their journey much easier.
They made their way over the floating planks that served as a bridge and spotted a Blue Eco vent, one that allowed them to collect a few more orbs without getting in the black liquid, but before they pressed onward they also used the launch pad behind the vent and went flying into a small area. The place they landed in had two rat creatures waiting for them, which were easy to take out with a single punch to their faces, though they collected the nearby Scout Fly before they launched themselves back to the area they had just come from. Jak and Pinkie then made their way over some spiked pieces of wood that shot up out of the ground, only to recede into the ground after a few seconds, though on the other side they found some Yellow Eco waiting for them.
It was rather easy for them to use the Eco to blow up the nearby rat nest that the creatures were crawling out of, though once it was gone they continued over some move spiked vines and found a frog creature waiting for them, which they ended up putting down as well when it tried to zap Jak with its tongue. They then came to what appeared to be a split in the path, as the way forward brought them to a tether that was keeping the zeppelin tied in place in the sky above their heads while the path on their left would no doubt take them to another tether. Pinkie charged forward and snatched a floating cluster of Yellow Eco, to which she opened fire on the nearby stone that was blocking off what appeared to be a Yellow Eco vent, freeing it so she and Jak could open fire on the rat nests in front of them.
Once the rats were taken care of Jak loosed a well placed shot that destroyed the tether in front of them, to which the two of them collected the Power Cell that had been trapped inside the stone and any orbs in the immediate area, before returning to the other path they could have chosen from and moved forward.
Jak and Pinkie carefully made their way through the small tunnel they were in, making sure to avoid the spiked logs that came out of the ground while firing fireballs at the rats that were in their way, but they eventually made it to the other side... though they also freed another Blue Eco vent in the process. Pinkie spied a nearby launch pad and soon she and Jak were on their way to another part of the swamp, where they found a Scout Fly and another rat nest waiting for them. Thanks to there being two clusters of Yellow Eco in the area they landed in they were able to fire at the nest from both sides, effectively eliminating another one and releasing yet another Blue Eco vent.
'Why are there so many of these things out in the swamp?" Daxter asked, though despite the fact that he had meant to keep the small question to himself both Jak and Pinkie shrugged, as they had no idea why there were so many Eco vents in the swamp either.
Pinkie quickly grabbed the third Scout Fly before they jumped back to the area the launch pad they had used was located in, to which they used a nearby pole to help get them over the vines that were in their way. They then found four metallic crates surrounding a piece of the walkway, so Pinkie switched the Blue Eco that was currently inside her for the Yellow Eco that was resting nearby, before she opened fire and tore all four boxes open. Jak, still carrying some Blue Eco, jumped onto the small wooden walkway before jumping to a longer section, though he smiled to indicate that he had gotten all of the orbs that Pinkie had freed. They then used the walkways and the poles in front of them to cross over the dangerous water in front of them, up until they came to a higher point that had four boxes waiting for them.
It was then they discovered that they had a perfect view of the second tether, as Jak grinned the moment he opened the crates and found some Yellow Eco inside, which allowed him to blow up the tether, release the Power Cell that was inside it, and snap the second piece of rope that was keeping the zeppelin in place. As they made their way forward Pinkie grabbed the Power Cell before they jumped over more of the spiked pieces of wood that came out of the ground, where they discovered another Yellow Eco vent on the other side. Once they powered up Pinkie started blasting some metallic crates and collected the orbs they contained, while Jak took out the group of bats that were staring at the two of them.
Jak rounded the corner that the bats had been guarding and found a Scout Fly waiting for him, the fourth one he remembered, though he also helped collect the orbs that Pinkie had released before they entered another tunnel, one that happened to have a few crates of Dark Eco blocking their way and a launch pad that was covered by a large rock. The two of them loosed the last blasts they could use with their current Eco charge, where's Jak's fireball torched the Dark Eco boxes and Pinkie's destroyed the large rock. Behind where they found the Dark Eco boxes was yet another Blue Eco vent, which caused Daxter to moan in annoyance while Jak and Pinkie used the Eco to fuel the launch pad that had been blocked... where they entered a massive ring area that revealed what the Lurkers were trying to pull up.
It was then that they discovered that they had also jumped right into an ambush, to which Jak an Pinkie fought the large groups of Lurkers, and rat creatures, with either their normal attacks or throwing fireballs that were granted to them by Yellow Eco, which was dropped from their fallen enemies. With the two of them covering one side of the area, Jak on the side with the launch pad and Pinkie on the side without the launch pad, it was rather easy for them to claim victory, and a Power Cell, before they launched themselves back to the path they had originally been on.
"I wish we could stop running into those ambushes!" Daxter declared, while both Jak and Pinkie gathered some more Blue Eco so they could use the second launch pad in the area.
"Oh come on Daxter, its not like the Lurkers can overpower us," Jak said, patting his furry friend on the head for a few seconds, "and don't worry, we've got a few more tether's to clear before we're out of here... then we can deal with that monster and get one step closer to our destination."
Daxter decided to zip his lip this time as Jak and Pinkie launched themselves into an area that had a Yellow Eco vent, a rat nest that was likely blocking some Blue Eco for them to escape when they were done, and the third tether that they were searching for. With the Yellow Eco backing them it was rather easy for the trio to tear apart the rat nest, destroy the third tether, collect another Power Cell, and return to the main path they had left behind. They then followed the path in front of them, taking care of some more rats and another frog creature, before they rounded a corner and found the Flut Flut bird they had helped rescue back at Sentinel Beach... though that was before Keira opened a line to them and said that the bird could help them out.
Considering the fact that there was only room on the bird for one of them, excluding Daxter of course, they quickly decided that Jak should be the one to ride it, which was followed by him climbing onto the bird and running up the walkways above the ground they had been walking on. While Jak was moving around the area, collecting orbs and the fifth Scout Fly, Pinkie remained on the ground level and accessed another Yellow Eco vent, to which she opened every metallic box she could find and collected every orb that she released. After a few minutes Jak returned and put the Flut Flu back on the teleport pad it had been on previously, to which he told Pinkie that he had found another Power Cell as well as the sixth Scout Fly.
Pinkie briefly considered why there would be two Scout Flies so close to each other, in the same area no less, but then decided that there were more important things for her to focus on as she and Jak continued along the path they had been following. That path brought them to an area that had quite the number of Dark Eco boxes in their way, but they were able to walk around them and easily approached the man that was sitting by what appeared an outhouse or something.
"Howdy, friends!" the man said, waving a hand around, one that happened to be holding a jug, "Enjoyin' my beautiful swamp? I own these here parts... anything that doesn't sink into the mud that is!"
"Judging by the smell, I'd wager your bathtub sank in the mud long ago!" Daxter replied, apparently taking a moment to sniff the air and likely discovered the man's smell for himself.
"What's a bathtub?" the man asked, telling the trio that he had no idea what Daxter was talking about, before quickly remembering his own problems and shaking his head, "Anyway, I got bigger problems now. Seems some nasty Lurker varmints are grousin' abouts snatchin' everything they can get their grubby little paws on. Scared away my pet Hip-Hog, Farthy. He's been missin' for a nylon to a coon's age! I've been puttin' out his favorite snack, but those ornery swamp rats keep stealin' 'em! If you could keep them pesky critters away long enough, I just know Farthy would smell 'em vittles and come back! Will ya help me out?"
Jak and Pinkie, determining that the man must have something to offer them for their time, decided to agree to help him out, to which they gathered some Yellow Eco and opened fire on the rat creatures that were coming towards the treats that the man had left out. Between the two of them, and Daxter pointing out any rats that neither of them had taken out, they were able to clear them all out and the Hip-Hog eventually came back, much to the man's joy. The trio earned another Power Cell for their efforts and were quickly on their way, to which they climbed over the ledge that was next to the man's house and continued on their way.
They followed the tunnel they found themselves in, to which they didn't bother with the rat nest that they ended up passing until they came to some Yellow Eco. With the ability to fire some fireballs open again Jak smashed the nest, and the rats that were coming their way, while Pinkie opened some more metallic boxes and gathered the orbs that she freed. They also collected the final Scout Fly of this area and secured the Power Cell that it had discovered before being locked in the box, which was followed by them following the wooden walkway that was in front of them. Pinkie opened the additional metal boxes in front of them, allowing Jak to collect them with Blue Eco, until they came to a Yellow Eco vent that rested beneath the final tether.
With the Eco powering his body, and no enemies around to distract him, Jak loosed a fireball that tore the tether to pieces, released the Power Cell that had been trapped inside it, while sending the Lurker balloon flying now that it didn't have anything keeping it in position above the swamp. Pinkie collected the Power Cell before they made their way through the final tunnel that brought them to the entrance of the swamp, while at the same time they heard Samos praise them a bit for their work in stopping the Lurkers.
They made their way back to the village and traded their orbs to the geologist, the gambler, and the Oracle, gathering four more Power Cells to help them when they got to the Yellow Sage's village... because they knew that they were going to have to do something like they were doing with the Blue Sage's machine in the next part of their journey.
With everything in the Rock Village taken care of, and all of the villagers helped in the ways that they told Jak, Pinkie, and Daxter, the trio made their way across the wooden planks and approached the Blue Sage's machine. Now that they were sure that they had the necessary Power Cells to power the machine, and were definitely over the number by a fair few, they were eager to take down the monster that was firing boulders at the village. Oddly enough the creature seemed to be taking a break at the moment, because as Pinkie followed behind her brother she noticed that Klaww, as the warrior had told them the monster's name as they walked passed him again, was not standing on his perch at the moment.
She wondered if the creature knew that challengers were coming his way and was conserving his strength for the approaching fight, but she merely shrugged and followed Jak to the machine.
"Great job guys, you have the necessary Power Cells to power the machine." Keira said, clearly impressed that Jak and Pinkie were able to gather so many Power Cells in such a short amount of time, "They ought to provide enough power to lift that boulder."
"Then its a good thing we collected a few more, just in case forty-five aren't enough to do the job," Daxter commented, to which he found Keira, Jak, and Pinkie glaring at him, though he could have sworn that he felt Samos' disapproving gaze as well, "What?"
"The Blue Sage designed this machine to 'do the job' what that number," Keira replied, shaking her had, as she knew that Daxter had no idea what would need to happen if forty-five Power Cells weren't enough, "if it didn't work we would have to redo his calculations... and that could take hours, if not days, that we don't have."
Daxter promptly shut his mouth as Keira turned on the machine and aimed at the thirty ton boulder that was blocking the way, to which they all hoped that this was going to work. After a few seconds a beam of Blue Eco energy shot out of the machine and lifted the boulder into the air, opening the path for them to progress onward once more.
"There we go," Keira said, a smile appearing on her face as she pulled herself from the controls, to which she turned to the trio once more, "Now be careful fighting that monster Lurker at the top... and remember to activate the Warp Gate in the Red Sage's lab when you reach the next village."
"Let's go teach Klaww a lesson," Pinkie said, to which she and Jak quickly made their way up to the location that the Lurker had been standing at the last time they had laid eyes on him.
When they reached the top of the path that had previously been blocked off, and giving them a decent view of the village, they turned towards the mountain pass they would have to cross in order to reach the next village, where they found Klaww standing in the lava and just waiting for them. Now that Jak, Daxter, and Pinkie were able to see the creature up close they could tell that the armor he was wearing was some sort of Precursor alloy, like everything else in the world, but there were some parts of his body, like his belly whenever he raised his arms to conjure a boulder. The trio also spotted three small stone platforms, arrayed in a triangle pattern, that they assumed they would have to stand on before they figured out how to damage their foe.
The moment they jumped down onto the closest stone, and then separated so that Jak was standing on the left one while Pinkie was on the right one, Klaww lifted a hand and started firing smaller boulders at them. Oddly enough Klaww only launched one boulder at a time, firing at either Jak or Pinkie, causing them to jump to the middle stone until they were targeted again, to which they would return to the stone they had previously been standing on. After about ten boulders, all missing Jak and Pinkie, the last one broke open and dropped a cluster of Blue Eco, who allowed Jak to summon an old Precursor platform as Klaww sunk into the lava and appeared near the end of the area they were in.
As they ran towards the end of the platform Klaww launched larger boulders at them that rolled down the platform, but there were easy to dodge and soon Jak and Pinkie had reached the end. There they found two clusters of Yellow Eco waiting for them, though as they gathered the Eco Klaww started to form a large boulder above his head, revealing his weakness for them to target. After a few shots at Klaww's weakness the Lurker dropped the boulder on his head, to which Jak and Pinkie had to run back to the trio of stones before the large boulder hit them. Once the boulder sunk into the lava, after destroying the platform again, Klaww got up and attacked them again, repeating the motions he had used the first time.
Jak and Pinkie went through the same plan of attack they had gone through the first time, though when they summoned the Precursor platform again they found parts of it missing, to which they eventually damaged Klaww again. The third time Jak and Pinkie repeated the pattern they had developed, and damaged Klaww once more, they expected that they were going to have to run away, but this time the boulder sunk with Klaww, to which a Power Cell landed near them as several smaller stone platforms appeared for them to continue through the mountain pass.
With Klaww defeated, and the Rock Village secured for the near future, Jak and Pinkie gathered the new Power Cell that had been given to them before making their way towards the end of Klaww's roost, where they found the zoomer waiting for them... which was followed by three Lurkers flying in on their flying machines and Keira announcing that they had rigged the entire passage to explode with a large number of explosives.
"Jak, take the controls," Pinkie said, hopping inside the sidecar as Daxter joined her, as she knew that her brother was likely the fastest of the two of them when it came to using the machine.
Jak nodded and took the main seat, to which he gunned the engine and shot off the teleport pad that the zoomer had been resting on, though the movement caused the three Lurkers to begin their flight towards the switch that would detonate the entire passage. For the beginning of the chase Jak merely stayed behind the Lurkers, though oddly enough they didn't get too far ahead of Jak, almost as if they were taunting him or something. The fact that the Lurkers were going slow, when this was a race to the finish line, actually allowed Jak to run into all the Scout Fly boxes that happened to be in his way, as well as collect the vast majority of the Precursor Orbs that were in front of them.
When they drew closer to what he assumed was the end of the track, which was because he spotted a lot more explosives lining the walls of the tunnel they were in, Jak went at the maximum speed the zoomer would allow and continued forward... eventually slamming into the Lurker that was standing by the demolition switch, destroying the switch and causing the Lurkers to leave. With the threat taken care of Jak reversed his direction and collected any orbs or Scout Flies he had missed, to which he collected another Power Cell, in addition to the one the Lurker had been holding, before returning to the end of the passage.
Once Jak and Pinkie had climbed off the zoomer, and Daxter had returned to Jak's shoulder, they climbed up the ledge in front of them and made their way into the Red Sage's village... which was apparently just his hut that was sitting in the middle of a volcanic crater, with some mine carts moving nearby and a gondola that was idle at the moment. They carefully made their way towards the opening of his hut, as several pieces of the walkway were missing, though when they activated the Warp Gate they made sure to step back. Samos, of course, hurt himself when he came out of the Warp Gate, though his bird and Keira were able to avoid injury entirely, to which he simply levitated himself into an upright position.
"Oh, I always wonder if I'm losing body parts in those things!" Samos said, dusting himself off before noticing how wrecked the Red Sage's hut looked, "...Holy yakow! The Red Sage's lab looks worse than the Blue's!"
"Well, it definitely looks as though there's been a struggle here." Keira stated, agreeing with her father while wondering what new technology the Red Sage could have been working with.
"I'd hardly call it a struggle," a voice with an echo said, to which the group turned towards the hut's ceiling and found the two strange people that Jak, Daxter, and Pinkie had seen back on Misty Island before Daxter had fallen into the pit of Dark Eco, though it was easy to tell that the male of the pair had spoken, "Would you, dear sister?"
"Certainly not!" the lady proclaimed, though she seemed more interested in glaring at Jak, Daxter, and Pinkie, though none of the trio liked the way she was staring at them, "The Red Sage gave up with so little effort. No fun at all."
"Gol? Is that you?" Samos asked, though at the same time he fiddled with the glasses that he was wearing, as if expecting a change in his sight would change what he was seeing.
"Wait, if that's Gol Acheron... then that means that she's Maia Acheron." Daxter said, though he decided to keep his discovery to himself, as he was sure that everyone else had figured it out as well.
"I was hoping that I would never have to see the three of you again," Maia commented, her eyes focused on the trio and no one else, "especially after the last time my brother and I visited your village. Oh don't look so surprised, you did a horrible job hiding behind that rock that neither of us bothered to acknowledge your existence... and I was hoping that the Lurker that had followed you would have done you in, but yet here you stand."
"Look, can we just cut to the chase?" Pinkie said, looking up at both Gol and Maia for a moment, which was also when she picked up Daxter and held him up for a few seconds, "We were kind of hoping that you could reverse Daxter's dark Eco transformation."
"And why would we do that?" Maia asked, though her tone suggested that she likely knew more than what she or her brother had told the trio by this point, which clearly didn't sit well with Daxter.
"Because I don't want to be cursed to live like this!" Daxter declared, looking up at Gol and Maia as they looked down at him, though something told him that he wasn't going to like what they said.
"You are not cursed," Gol spoke up, to which he and Maia actually floated down to get a better look at Daxter, "Most people who are unfortunate enough to fall into a pit full of Dark Eco do not survive the fall, while sometimes others are mutated into seemingly mindless creatures, such as the Lurkers inside the Precursor City that you must have explored at this point. You, on the other hand, are actually blessed with some abilities that are like what Jak is capable of... though any abilities you might possess are in their infancy. It could be years, if not decades, before you begin to show the talents that Jak has..."
"Okay, but answer another question." Daxter said, causing the two dark beings to look at him in the eyes for the moment, to which he pointed back at Pinkie, "Explain why she can do the same thing that Jak can do, because even Samos can't come up with a reason as to why she can harness Eco in the same manner that Jak can."
Gol and Maia shared a glance with each other, as if they were silently debating whether or not to answer the inquiry, during which Pinkie placed Daxter back on Jak's shoulder before they all stared at the duo.
"...Truth be told, we have no idea." Gol admitted, to which he and Maia turned back to the group, "As far as we are able to tell Pinkie Pie has the same abilities as her brother, though it is odd for two people, both of whom have an incredible gift for channeling all four colors of Eco, to exist at the same time. If we had the time, and the patience, we would have most certainly enjoyed experimenting on the two of you... or testing your abilities to their full potential."
"Indeed, we have a robot to finish constructing and a silo to open," Maia added, though before anyone could say anything she and her brother disappeared as quickly as they had appeared.
"I knew the situation was dire, with the Lurker armies moving around and the Sages suddenly disappearing, but this is so much worse." Samos said, to which he turned to Jak, Daxter, and Pinkie, "The only way to Gol and Maia's Citadel is through the Lava Tubes, which means that we'll need more Power Cells to get the job done. You know the drill, go out and collect any Power Cells you can find... oh, and do be quick about it, because the literal end of the world is upon us!"
Jak, Daxter, and Pinkie nodded their heads before heading outside, though as they did so Daxter continued to moan about the loss of his pants... to which Jak and Pinkie ignored his whining as they go underway once more.
The first thing Jak and Pinkie did, or rather Pinkie considering it was her idea, was to back track over the bridge they had used to get to the Red Sage's hut, where she found a Scout Fly resting in a box. With it saved she quickly returned to where her brother was and they resumed their journey, though that was essentially them scouting through the volcanic crater and searching for anything they could use. They found another of the Scout Flies resting in front of another Precursor Oracle, which of course wanted one hundred and twenty orbs for one of its two Power Cells, before they bothered to go into the large hole in the side of the rock wall. It was rather easy to find a third Scout Fly as they moved through the large tunnel, and some more orbs to add to their collection, though at the end of the tunnel they spotted two people, dressed as miners, working on freeing a massive blue stone from where it was resting.
Or more accurately the taller of the two miners was currently working while she shorter of the pair watched what his partner was going, only to stop when the trio approached them.
"Hey, Gordy!" the taller of the pair said, looking at the trio before turning to his partner, who seemed annoyed about something at the moment, "Duh, I think we gots visitors!"
"Ya think, Willard?" the shorter of the pair, Gordy, replied, before turning back to the trio and trying to make them move along, "Howdy, strangers! Passin' through? Us too! Well, we gotta be movin' on! Nothin' to see here!"
"Uh, I thought you said this was a priceless gem worth..." Willard started to say, but it quickly became clear how his relationship with his partner was going.
"Willard!" Gordy shouted, clearly annoyed that his partner was about to reveal what they were working so hard to acquire, not that any of the trio wanted the massive gemstone.
"Actually, we want Power Cells, not gems." Daxter clarified, to which Jak and Pinkie nodded their heads for a moment, all so the two miners knew that he wasn't lying.
"We got 4 of 'em!" Willard said, holding his hands out in a manner that suggested that he was more than willing to hand them over without any sort of trade, "You want 'em?"
"What bird-brain here is trying to say is: We may have a few power cells laying around," Gordy interrupted, clearly wanting to hang onto the Power Cells that they had until they could trade them for something else, "and we might be willing to part with them for... 90 orbs each!"
"That sounds fair." Jak said, to which he turned towards Pinkie, who was keeping track of how many orbs they had at the moment and how many they could spare, though she nodded and indicated with two fingers, "We'll take two of them off your hands."
Gordy glared at his partner for a moment, as if it was his fault that the trio wanted to buy their Power Cells, but he made no comment as he collected the one hundred and eighty orbs from Jak, to which he handed two of the four Power Cells that they had to Pinkie. With the new Cells in hand they overheard that Keira had fixed the gondola, allowing them to head up to the Snowy Mountain and see if they could find any more Power Cells up there. With the trade done the trio made their way out of the tunnel, but before they got very far Daxter tapped Jak and had him turn back towards the miners, as if he had something on his mind.
"Hey," Daxter shouted, causing the two miners to turn back towards him for a moment, "how do you two 'geniuses' expect to get that big gem outta here, anyway?"
"Well, smarty-pants, we got twleve more years of diggin' to figure that out!" Gordy replied, though his tone indicated that he was eager to get back to his mining, because when Willard mentioned his partner lending some help to the effort Gordy glared at him until the two of them returned to what they were doing before the trio had interrupted them.
With the gondola now apparently operational again, not that the trio had known it had been down when they arrived in the volcanic crater, they carefully climbed onto the machine and allowed it to carry them up to the entrance of Snowy Mountain. When they reached their destination they noticed a group of Lurkers, all of whom were wearing snow suits, standing around some sort of container that had a barrier of some kind around it. The trio took a moment to take out the Lurkers, though they managed to salvage the suits they were wearing for their own purposes, much to Daxter's annoyance that there wasn't one small enough for him to wear. Once the Lurkers were taken care of, and they were properly clothed now, Pinkie jumped over the barrier and touched the top of the container, to which the barrier shut off and the container sunk a little bit.
"So, who thinks that there's a Power Cell associate with those things?" Daxter commented, just as Jak and Pinkie rolled and jumped over the gap that was in front of them.
"I do," Pinkie and Jak said at the same time, much to their surprise, but they let a small chuckle as they moved forward, eager to see what else this place had to throw at them, though before they got very far Pinkie jumped back into the gap they had crossed before returning to her brother, holding one of the Scout Flies that had come to this area.
With the Scout Fly in hand they turned to the left of where they had landed, where they were going to have to walk up a small incline, dodge large balls of snow, and power down the containers that happened to be in their way. They were followed by some sort of ice creature that had spikes coming out of its body, but the moment its spikes went into its body both Pinkie and Jak slammed their fists into the new creature and took it out. At the top of the incline they found a Red Eco vent, which allowed them to empower their bodies, though before they could question why such a vent was necessary they spotted some Lurkers trying to break into a wall of ice and claim some Dark Eco containers that had been trapped inside it.
It was easy to take out the group of Lurkers, including the one that was carrying a shield to protect itself, though once their enemies had been taken out they made their way backwards and used one of the passageways to round a corner... where they spotted what appeared to be a large fort like area. They noticed that they could either choose to cross the bridge in front of them or make their way down around where they were currently standing, but after a few seconds they decided to climb down into the area below them, where they discovered the second Scout Fly box. The trio immediately spotted another open Eco vent resting near a set of ledges that they could jump over, so once they had Red Eco flowing through their bodies they made their way across the ledges and found another group of Lurkers trying to get at another couple of iced over Dark Eco containers.
When the second group of ice breaking Lurkers had been taken care of, and the Dark Eco containers safe for another day, they made their way back up to the iced over bridge, where they crossed over to the front of the fortress and decided what to do next. From what they could tell they could either go to the left, and cross over an iced over platform, or head to the right, where they would have to chose between two more paths. In the end it was an easy decision for them to head to the left, where they deactivated the barriers that were protecting the containers until they came to the bridge that would lead them to the moderate sized platform. They carefully crossed over the icy bridge, pushed the Lurkers off the edge with a simple push of their hands, and deactivated the containers before moving over another bridge that lead into another tunnel.
When they entered the tunnel, and powered the container that was in their way, they found a floating platform that took them to an area that had at least a few dozen small creatures that intended on swarming the trio. Oddly enough there was a Red Eco vent in front of them, so Jak and Pinkie ran through it before they charged through the large swarm of enemies that were in front of them, punching them into the ground or kicking them into the walls, before they reached a Power Cell that they added to their collection. Once they returned to the front of the fort like area they turned to the right and moved towards where the third Scout Fly was resting, though the moment they freed the fly from its box they rode two platforms up to another area for them to explore.
What they found at the top of the area were four more of the containers, quite a few Precursor Orbs, and, if they looked through the ice beneath their feet, a machine that looked like the Blue Eco switch that they had found in the Forbidden Forest. The two of them quickly powered down the containers, to which a Power Cell launched out of the final container and was collected by Pinkie, before accessing another Red Eco vent and making their way to a third group of Lurkers that were trying to grab another cluster of Dark Eco containers. With the Red Eco flowing through their bodies they put down the group of Lurkers and claimed the Power Cell that they happened to possess, which made the three of them smile for a moment. They then made their way towards the icy bridge that was near them, where they discovered the Flut Flut bird that they had saved, though considering it could only take one person Pinkie let Jak ride on the bird and see what he could find, while Pinkie went exploring.
She made her way back to where the third group of Lurkers they had dealt with were located, where she carefully made her way down the ledges that would have brought them to this area anyway, where she found the fourth Scout Fly and collected it. She then tripped the small critters that were in her way, throwing them off the side of the walkway she was on, before she found herself back at the location she and Jak had gone up. Since she knew where the Eco Switch was located, under the area the platforms took her to, she knew that the entrance had to be around her somewhere, but before she got too preoccupied in searching for the entrance she spotted some Precursor metal hiding behind some trees.
That allowed her to find a hidden passageway that involved her slowly moving passed several pistons and carefully timing her jumps onto moving platforms, though at the end she managed to reach the ancient Precursor machine, where she activated the device and grabbed the Power Cell that was floating above it. With the Yellow Eco vents released, according to Keira who spoke to her via the communicator, Pinkie returned to the front of the fortress... where she found that the gate was open and Jak was smiling at her.
"I found a Power Cell while riding the Flut Flut around," Jak said, before pointing a thumb back at the open gate, "and managed to find a switch that opened the gate. What did you find?"
"The ancient Precursor device that unlocks all Yellow Eco vents," Pinkie replied, though that was followed by her pulling out the Power Cell she had claimed, "as well as this little guy. So, shall we head in and see what else we can find?"
Jak nodded and the trio walked into the fortress, where they found three locked Precursor wells that no doubt held some orbs for them to claim, but they did climb up the structure in the middle of the fort and found the fifth Scout Fly at the top. Jak grabbed the cloud of Blue Eco that they found at the top of the wooden structure and quickly made his way to the bottom, to which he and Pinkie collected all of the orbs that he ended up releasing. The two of them then moved around the wall of the fortress, where they used the icy platforms and spinning poles to move themselves until they were on the building that was directly across from the open gate... where they found the sixth Scout Fly waiting for them.
They continued through the rest of the fortress, collecting the rest of the orbs and putting down the rest of the Lurkers, before they reached the location of another Power Cell, which they claimed as they made their way outside the fort.
With nothing else to do, and no real idea of what they might have missed, Jak and Pinkie made their way back to the gondola that had brought them up here, though when they reached the path that took them to the first group of Lurkers that were going after the Dark Eco containers Pinkie noticed an opening that they had ignored. She jumped into the area that they hadn't explored and found a Yellow Eco vent open for them to use, which she used to throw fireballs at the various locked boxes that were further along the path... as well as revealing the seventh Scout Fly. She also, accidentally she mentally added, blew apart a metallic box that contained a power Cell, so she managed to claim two at the same time before she returned to her brother.
Now that they were sure that they were done with the Snowy Mountain, and had claimed every Precursor Orb and Power Cell, they climbed back onto the gondola and headed back into the volcanic crater, where they would move into the Spider Cave and claim whatever Power Cells that they could find... before making their way towards Gol and Maia's citadel.
As the gondola made its was back down to the volcanic crater, where Samos and Keira were no doubt going over anything that the Red Sage might have been working on or have discovered before his disappearance, Jak and Pinkie took off the coats they had salvaged from the Lurkers that they had found around Snowy Mountain. They laid them over the railings of the gondola, to which they told Daxter that it would be the death of them if they wore them while moving around the volcanic crater and that it was better to leave them behind for whoever else went up to the mountain to explore. Daxter couldn't fault them for wanting to avoid overheating, because he told them that he had felt the same thing when they had been walking through the area around the Red Sage's hut and had only started to cool down when they had gotten away from it.
Once they were back in the volcanic crater, and the gondola had come to a total stop, Jak and Daxter hoped out so they could head to the miners and claim the other two Power Cells that they had, though Pinkie decided to head to Samos and see if he had anything to tell them about the other area they were going to be searching through. She found the Sage looking over the notes and various books that the Red Sage had been collecting, mumbling about something every now and then until he looked up for a second and spotted her as she walked into the small hut.
"Pinkie, I've got some bad news in relation to the Spider Cave," Samos said, closing the book he had been reading as he let her approach him, "By reading the Red Sage's various notes on the surrounding areas, I've learned that he discovered that the Lurkers are after crystals of concentrated Dark Eco, located inside the Spider Cave. You and Jak, and I guess the furball, have got to destroy those crystals before those monsters get their hands on them! The Red Sage also spotted additional Lurker movement in the mountains, where they are trying to remove some Dark Eco stores frozen in the glaciers..."
"You don't have to worry about Snowy Mountain, Jak and I took out those Lurkers while we were there," Pinkie said, a light smile appearing on her face when she noticed that Samos was pleasantly surprised to hear that piece of information.
"That is good to hear," Samos replied, waving his staff towards the direction of the Spider Cave, "but that doesn't mean we're out of the woods yet. I know you'll be heading into the cave for more Power Cells, just in case more is necessary later on, but do make sure you don't leave that area until all of the Dark Eco crystals are taken care of."
"Okie Dokie Lokie," Pinkie said, pausing for a moment to wave to Keira before she headed outside the hut and returned to the gondola, where she found Jak and Daxter waiting for her.
"So, what did Old Green want?" Daxter asked, to which both Pinkie and Jak glared at him, because out of the three of them he was the most disrespectful of them all considering he never called Samos by his name or his title, as he only used whatever nicknames he had already come up with while trying to invent new ones.
"Come on Daxter, can't you show a little more respect for Samos?" Jak asked, knowing that his friend was only irritated because they weren't heading down the Lava Tubes until they had checked out the Spider Cave, which meant that he had to stay as his current size for a few more hours.
"Nope. Don't care enough to at the moment," Daxter replied, though he locked his eyes with Pinkie as she came to a stop by the gondola, "though seriously, what did he want?"
"Oh, he just told me about some Dark Eco crystals he wanted us to destroy inside the Spider Cave," Pinkie answered, waving a hand if the matter of the spiders didn't bother her, because neither she or Jak were scared of spiders, "He knew we were going to be going down there anyway and simply asked that we take care of all the crystals we find, so the Lurkers don't get their hands on them."
"Makes sense," Jak commented, to which he turned towards the path they would be taking and beckoned for Pinkie to follow, "Let's get this show on the road."
With that said the trio made their way over the small stone platforms that were behind where the gondola was resting, though Jak went first to ensure that he or Pinkie didn't accidentally push the other into the lava. He did pause to collect the fourth Scout Fly that was in his way, while mentally adding that it was an odd place to have found one, before landing on a large section of rock that had a rail attached to it, complete with a large number of working trolleys. A few seconds later Pinkie had caught up with him, to which they jumped onto the passing trolley and let it take them around the track that they were currently on, collecting Precursor Orbs along the way. They intentionally missed the point where the could jump to the second rail system, so they could grab the fifth Scout Fly that was in the area, before passing by the area that would take them to the Lava Tubes.
After a few more seconds of riding the trolley around they jumped to the second ring and simply let it run its course, collecting the Precursor Orbs like last time, before they decided to jump to the third set of rails, where they found the sixth Scout Fly for the volcanic crater. They then jumped on the next trolley that was coming their way and let it bring them to the entrance of the Spider Cave, where they found the last Scout Fly for the volcanic crater, and the Power Cell it had found, waiting in front of their destination. Once that was done they jumped over the rail and descended into the Spider Cave, to which they carefully jumped on the stone platforms until they could actually see what they were up against.
What they found was a large number of wooden beams, which were currently holding the top of the cave's ceiling up, that were being chewed on by some rather nasty looking centipede creatures, while also noticing the river of Dark Eco that seemed to be running through the entire place. As they walked further into the area, so they could understand what they were searching for and what types of enemies they would be encountering, a spider, almost the size of Jak, dropped down and hung near them, to which it fired bits of Dark Eco at them in order to try and harm them. That was when Jak and Pinkie discovered that the best way to deal with the spiders was to crouch beneath them and then jump upwards while both spinning around and having a fist aimed at something on their opponent's body.
The attack that Jak pulled off not only hurt the spider that had tried to hurt them, but also put it down in one hit, making both Jak and Daxter smile as they turned back towards Pinkie.
"So that's how you do the Power Punch," Pinkie exclaimed, a smile appearing on her face as she pulled her notepad out of her hair, flipped to a new page that didn't have any writing on it at all, and wrote down some notes before stuffing the pad and her writing utensil back in her hair, "Thanks Jak, I've been trying to figure out how to use that move for the last year now, and you've shown me exactly what I need to go to use it again."
"Um... your welcome?" Jak said, not sure why Pinkie would have been practicing a move he literally just came up with for this particular situation, but decided not to question his sister as they moved further into the Spider Cave.
With the spider taken care of Jak and Pinkie carefully jumped over the river of Dark Eco that was in front of them, because they had no idea what would happen to them if they fell in, and also happened to scare off one of the centipedes that they approached. As they made their way towards a web like jump platform Pinkie noticed another spider had dropped down to give them a bad time, to which she rolled under its body, switched into a crouching position, and then unleashed the Power Punch on her target. The spider, having no idea what had hit it, was taken down in seconds, allowing Pinkie to smile at her handiwork as she rejoined Jak, where they jumped over a gap and made their way to one of the highest points of the room they were in.
It was then that they spotted a Yellow Eco vent waiting near one of the pillars that was keeping the ceiling up, though it only took the trio a few seconds to spot the other ones scattered about the area and realize what they were supposed to do.
"Hey Pinkie, remember what we did in Boggy Swamp?" Jak asked, pulling his goggles down as he stepped into the Yellow Eco vent, allowing the power to flow through him as he stared at the targets around him.
"Kind of hard not to," Pinkie replied, though she smiled as she realized what Jak was talking about, to which she carefully lifted up her own pair of goggles and moved to the other Yellow Eco vent that was close to where her brother was standing, taking out another spider while collecting the first Scout Fly of the area.
Once Pinkie was in position she and Jak opened fire on the closest centipedes that were near their vents, using their goggles to get a better view on their targets as they launched fireballs at all of the pillars that were around them. Despite the number of fireballs that they threw out at the centipedes, and how many they had taken down between the two of them, they knew that they were going to have to visit the third Yellow Eco vent in the room so they could take out the rest of the centipedes. When they were sure that they had gotten most of the centipedes, and let the Eco flow out of their bodies, they jumped onto a nearby set of floating platforms that moved around the top level of the area they were in.
While Jak made a move for the Power Cell that was hanging near the ceiling, which Daxter was more excited in grabbing, Pinkie headed towards a large Dark Eco crystal that was close to where her brother was heading, though she quickly discovered that one touch was enough to set it off, causing her to jump back into her platform as the crystal exploded. They then regrouped near the third Yellow Eco vent, where they proceeded to open fire on the last few centipedes in the area they were in, though as the last one fell they were rewarded with yet another Power Cell... as well as quite a few Precursor Orbs for their efforts. Once all of the items were collected they climbed back up to the third Eco vent, where Pinkie spotted and grabbed the second Scout Fly of the Spider Cave, which was followed by them approaching a large body of Dark Eco.
Luckily there were several platforms that would allow them to move on, though one platform would take them to another Dark Eco crystal while the second would allow them to grab the third Scout Fly, though Pinkie immediately noticed some metallic boxes behind the Fly's box and went back a few steps for some more Yellow Eco... to which she blew up the boxes and freed the orbs. Considering the size of the platforms that were in front of them Jak carefully made his way towards the Dark Eco crystal, because it was something that Samos had asked them to take care of, before heading towards the Scout Fly as the crystal detonated. Before he made his way back to the area that the third platform would take him, as that was where Pinkie was heading, he spotted some water with a dark glow near where the Scout Fly was located... so he rolled for a moment and jumped over the gap, where he found a Dark Eco crystal waiting under the water.
He quickly dived into the water, touched the crystal once he was near it, and rapidly rose back to the surface as the crystal exploded, to which he repeated the motion that had gotten him to the crystal to begin with, before finally meeting up with Pinkie once more... just in time to join her as she entered a room that was almost pitch black, save for the outlines of some crystals.
"I wonder," Pinkie commented, tapping her hand against the dark crystal for a moment, but instead of detonating like the other ones a green color spread across the crystal and illuminated the area around them, allowing them to see what was in front of them.
With the dangers, be they the spiders or the holes in their path, illuminated for them to see, Jak and Pinkie determined that one of them should stay by the crystal and keep the area around it lit so the other could progress further, until they came to another crystal and allowed the other sibling to leave their post so they could catch up. Jak went forward first, using the move that Pinkie had called the 'Power Punch' to take out the spider that was hanging in front of them, as well as the smaller ones that it had spawned, before reaching the second crystal and activating it. Pinkie, seeing the crystal light up, withdrew her hand from the crystal she was standing near and followed the path that her brother had cleared, to which she jumped over some falling platforms and used her new move to put down another spider, before turning on the next light.
A few seconds later Jak appeared next to her, though before he went ahead Pinkie tapped his shoulder and pointed at a nearby body of water, to which he dived into it and took out the Dark Eco crystal that was lurking under the water, before surfacing and continuing towards the next crystal. He then found the fourth Scout Fly hanging above where Pinkie was standing and then waited for a spinning platform to come near him, to which he rode it to the other side and jumped off once he was near the next crystal, allowing Pinkie to leave her post and follow in his footsteps. Pinkie then rode an elevator up to the next level and stopped near the crystal that was in front of her, a little disappointed that she didn't get to smack anything this time, but patiently waited for Jak to catch up and ride the next spinning platform that was in front of them.
Jak then rode up an elevator and stopped near the next crystal, allowing Pinkie to stop by him and then ride the spinning platform that was in front of them, where she jumped off and took care of some spiders that were waiting for them, before jumping up onto the higher platform and collected the Power Cell that was up there. With the Power Cell in hand she beckoned for Jak to join her, though once he was with her again they rode a nearby elevator down back towards the entrance of the area they had wandered into, allowing them to backtrack and find another part of the cave to explore. They quickly made their way back to the beginning of the Spider Cave, where they first entered the entire place, and chose a path to the left that they had ignored when they had caught sight of the centipedes chewing at the pillars that were keeping the entire place held up.
As they followed the path they spotted another spider that descended to fight them, which was rapidly removed thanks to the new skill that Jak and Pinkie had developed against the other spiders, before rounding the corner and finding a few more metallic boxes... and another Dark Eco crystal. Pinkie had them stop for a moment and then walked backwards, causing Jak and Daxter to wonder what she was doing, but she returned moments later and blew the boxes to pieces with some well placed fireballs, thanks to the Yellow Eco she had picked up. Before the Yellow Eco ran out completely she aimed at the Dark Eco crystal that they had discovered and loosed the last of her current charge on it, to which it exploded and dropped another Power Cell for them to grab.
The trio then jumped across the webbed platforms and crossed the small chamber with ease, though when they jumped onto an actual wooden walkway they found a Lurker who was trying to drill into the side of the cave. When the Lurker spotted them he turned his drill on them and approached them, only to come to a stop at the gap that was between them, turn around and present his back to them rather suddenly, and throw his drill on the platform so he could kick it. Pinkie took the opportunity that presented itself and slammed her fist into the Lurker's back, dropping it like all of the other enemies they had dealt with so far, before she and Jak moved further into the cave. They followed the walkway until they came to an area that had a decent number of Lurkers walking around some scaffolding... while at the same time trying to unearth an intact Precursor Robot.
"Just think of the damage Gol and Maia could do if they had a second Robot under their control," Pinkie said, shuddering for a moment as the thought passed through her mind, but she rejected it before it could sour her mood, "We have to stop them!"
At first Jak agreed with her and together they climbed down the walkway that they had been following, but when they reached the bottom level he had her stop before he started jumping over some more webbed platforms and entered a den full of spiders. Pinkie watched as her brother used the nearby Yellow Eco to fight his way through the host of spiders that lived in that tunnel, freeing and collecting any Precursor Orbs that he found along the way, before finding a Power Cell at the end and used the jump pad to get out of there. A minute or two later and he was standing beside her again, a smile on his face for gathering another Power Cell to aid them in their quest to stop Gol and Maia before they destroyed the world.
Once they were back together they started making their way around the scaffolding that surrounded the Precursor Robot, hitting the larger Lurkers when they decided to kick their tools and tripping the brutes when they got too close. They spent some time carefully collecting each Precursor Orb that the area had for them to grab, using Yellow Eco clusters to blow open any of the metallic boxes that were in their way. They also dodged the flames that came out of some of the vents that they encountered on the scaffolding, though after some time Pinkie let Jak explore the upper area of the scaffolding while she made sure they had gotten everything else on the lower levels. She immediately found several more of the metallic boxes that eventually ended with the fifth Scout Fly, which she rescued as she searched for anything else that might help them in the future.
Pinkie then smiled as she spotted a Power Cell hanging up on a platform that would require spinning around on multiple poles, while channeling Blue Eco by the looks of it, before she could land on one of the smaller Precursor platforms that would take her to the Power Cell she could see. It didn't take her long to find a Blue Eco jump pad that would shoot her up into the air, though as she spun around she collected all of the Precursor Orbs that were hanging around before she bothered to make her way onto the platform. Once she had all of the orbs in hand, and she was sure of that, she continued moving towards the platform and landed on it, to which she grabbed the Power Cell and rode another platform back to the lower level of the scaffolding.
She watched as Jak made his way around the highest level of the scaffolding, using the poles to make his way around the walkway, including the parts that dropped once he touched them, but before long he had reached the top of the Precursor Robot and had claimed the Power Cell that was up there... before dropping to a lower level of the scaffolding and released the sixth Scout Fly. With everything in hand Jak made his way back to where Pinkie was waiting for him, only for the two of them to agree that they had to have missed a Scout Fly somewhere inside the cave... which brought on a pissed of Daxter.
"I can't believe the two of you missed a Scout Fly!" Daxter stated, while the two of them made their way back to the entrance of the Spider Cave, where they intended on searching through the entire place again until they found the seventh and final Scout Fly, "Seriously, how hard can it be to miss a box that's jumping and makes noise?"
"Considering we were firing fireballs like madmen earlier, I'm surprised we even managed to keep track of the ones that were around us," Jak replied, as both he and Pinkie had gone a little crazy in their attempts to blow up the centipedes earlier, especially since they missed a few times at the beginning, "Now that its quiet, however, we should be able to find it with some ease... and then we'll move on towards the citadel so we can stop Gol and Maia."
The moment Jak and Daxter stopped talking, right when they entered the main chamber of the Spider Cave, Pinkie heard the buzzing they had been searching for, to which she climbed up to the platform they happened to be walking under and spotted the seventh Scout Fly... where she collected it and its Power Cell before rejoining her brother. As they made their way outside, however, Pinkie pulled out her writing pad and utensil, again from her hair, and was making notes on what they had found, what they had done, and how many orbs or Power Cells they had acquired. A few seconds passed before Jak noticed that Pinkie was annoyed about something, which he didn't understand considering that they had done what Samos had asked of them, had freed all of the Scout Flies in the area, had acquired every Precursor Orb throughout the entirety of the cave, and had gotten every Power Cell they could find.
"Is something bothering you Pinkie?" Daxter asked, surprising Jak that his friend would even care at the moment, considering that he was more interested in restoring himself to his previous body, but he decided to be silent for the moment.
"We're missing a Power Cell," Pinkie replied, her writing utensil moving across her pad as she made her calculations, though the frown that followed indicated that her math was right, "Yeah, there's still one of those somewhere in the cave."
"Forget about it for now!" Daxter proclaimed, waving a hand as they started climbing out of the Spider Cave, because he seriously didn't want to spend anymore time in the cave, "We'll come back once we're done with Gol and Maia... because then we'll have all the time in the world to find the one that we missed."
"I guess we can afford to miss one of the..." Pinkie said, though she cut herself off as they climbed out of the Spider Cave and returned to the rail track, where her eyes locked onto something as a smile appeared on her face, "actually, why don't the two of you stay here for a moment... I think I know where it is!"
Jak and Daxter looked at each other as they stood beside the rail track, the both of them wondering what Pinkie was even thinking as she turned around and went back into the Spider Cave. Jak was sure that they had gotten everything inside the cave, be it the orbs or the Power Cells, but he decided to humor Pinkie and see if she was actually right about something like this. A few minutes passed as the two waited for Pinkie to return, though every time Daxter opened his mouth to say that she was insane Jak would stop him from insulting his sister. Eventually they spotted Pinkie charging up the walkway they had climbed up to exit the Spider Cave, covered with a charge of Yellow Eco no less, but before they could ask what she was doing, and understand what was going on, Pinkie took aim and loosed a fireball.
The fireball surged towards a metallic crate that happened to be resting above the track, on the opposite side from where Jak and Daxter were standing, and a Power Cell exploded out of the shell and landed by them... to which Pinkie picked it up as the last of her Yellow Eco charge faded from her body.
"Crafty hiding spot for a Power Cell," Pinkie said, pocketing the item in question as she checked something off her list, before putting away the pad and the writing utensil, "Now then, whose up for a quick visit to the Oracle and then a ride through the Lava Tubes?"
"Let's get moving already!" Daxter proclaimed, eager to reach the end of their adventure, because he was tired of Pinkie surprising him with whatever she's been doing lately, "Despite what the two crazies said about this being 'evolution' or something, I really don't want to stay this way forever."
Jak shook his head as he, Daxter, and Pinkie made their way back into the volcanic crater, where they would gather the rest of the Power Cells in the area before heading through the Lava Tubes... where they would then be able to face off against Gol and Maia before they ended up destroying the entire world.
Jak, Daxter, and Pinkie made a quick stop by the Oracle that was located in the volcanic crater, where Jak traded two hundred and forty Precursor Orbs to the ancient Precursor idol for the two Power Cells that it contained. At that moment the trio knew that they had more than enough Power Cells to get through whatever else happened to be in their way, as they only needed seventy-two of them to power the heat shield for their ride through the Lava Tubes. With the trade completed the trio made their way back to the first set of tracks and climbed onto the first available trolley that was moving passed them, to which they patiently waited for it to reach their destination, though that was a surprise to Jak and Pinkie considering that Daxter actually followed their lead on this one.
Once they were near the opening of the Lava Tubes they climbed off of the trolley and carefully made their way down to the teleport pad that Keira used to make sure that the zoomer arrived wherever Jak and Pinkie needed it... and it seemed like she was currently putting the finishing touches on it as they approached her.
"Alright!" Keira cheered, once again leaving the trio to wonder if she was celebrating their finding of all the Power Cells they needed or her own ability to come up with mechanical answers, especially with technology she was still developing, "With these additional Power Cells I should be able to supply the heat shield with enough power to stand up to this lava! But the shield still has a limit. It will now withstand temperatures up to 800 degrees, but no more, so keep an eye on your gauge. I don't want to think about what those temperatures would do to your Zoomer if the shield gives out."
"Yeah, the heat..." Daxter said, raising a hand to his chin for a moment, before something crossed his mind and made him shout the next word out loud, "WHAT?! The Zoomer?! Hey! What about us?! Couldn't we look for a safer route to Gol's citadel?"
"Daxter, this is the quickest route to the citadel," Pinkie commented, reaching into her hair and pulling out a map of the area, again stunning Keira by how strange Jak's sister was with that unusual ability, before she showed the map to her friend, "if we take any of the safer routes, and come at the citadel from another angle, it could take us days that the world doesn't have."
"Besides, I've released more cooling balloons into the Lava Tubes." Keira added, just so Daxter knew that they weren't completely risking their lives without any way to save them, and the zoomer, from the heat that they would be flying over, "So you can use them to keep the temperature down. And don't forget to activate the teleport gate in the Yellow Sage's lab. We're counting on you!"
With that said Keira carefully climbed out of the area they were in and made her way back to the Red Sage's hut, leaving the trio to figure out who was going to be driving the zoomer and who was going to be riding along... though they eventually decided that Jak would be in the driver's seat, leaving Daxter and Pinkie to sit in the sidecar. Daxter asked Pinkie why she didn't drive the vehicle, considering that she had some moves thanks to what she had shown them in the Precursor Basin, but all Pinkie said was that Jak was more skilled than she was with the zoomer at the moment.
While she and Jak had been training, before the three of them had decided to go to Misty Island and begin this entire adventure on accident, Jak had spent some time with Keira, helping her fix up the zoomer. Daxter had been getting into trouble, as usual, and Pinkie had been making sure she knew what she could about the Eco that thrived around their world. That meant that Jak was the one who was more attuned to the machine than Pinkie would be without some additional practice, but they didn't have time for that at the moment... not when the fate of the world rested on Jak getting them to Gol and Maia's citadel.
"The only thing we're interested in along the way is the Scout Flies," Jak commented, powering on the zoomer as he took his place on the main part of the vehicle, "If you see one, tell me and I'll try to get it. If you see any orbs, we'll come back for them once we save the world."
With that said he moved off of the teleport pad the zoomer was on and they were off, heading down the Lava Tubes that would allow them to reach the location of Gol and Maia's citadel, where at least two, maybe three, of the other Sages were being held against their will. Within a few seconds Jak had to slow them down to make a turn before they went flying into the lava, to which he carefully maneuvered around the track before bringing them to an area that had quite a few number of rock pillars, a few cooling balloons, and the first Scout Fly, which was on the right side of the area.
After that Jak took them down another path, one that separated into two smaller paths that joined up a few seconds later, but he noticed one of the cooling balloons was in the way and drove down the path that it was on, doing the same thing on the next split to make sure he didn't overheat the zoomer and kill them all. He then rounded a corner and jumped over a gap, finding that the second Scout Fly in the area happened to be in his way, so neither Daxter nor Pinkie spoke up about it as he collected it for them. A few seconds later he flew through three Yellow Eco vents as he jumped into an area that looked like a grinder or a power generator, though all three of them agreed that taking it out would lower the door that was blocking their path.
Jak and Pinkie, having armed themselves with the Yellow Eco they had passed through, loosed a few fireballs at the glowing orbs that were moving in a circular pattern, though once they had been taken care of the trio was free to move on again, to which Jak sent them flying through the opening they had unlocked.
With that done he pushed them into an area that had some bombs hanging in front of them, which allowed him and Pinkie to discharge the rest of their Yellow Eco and removed them, though he followed a path on his left that brought him to the third Scout Fly. He then continued forward, jumping into the air whenever there was a gap between sections of the pipe he was following, allowing the cool air above them to rapidly decrease the amount of heat that the shielding was feeling and giving them additional time to reach the end before the zoomer expired on them. Jak eventually brought them to another section of the Lava Tubes that had more of the bombs waiting for them, though this time there were also moving containers that were filled with Dark Eco passing through the path they were taking.
Jak drove through a Yellow Eco vent and empowered both himself and Pinkie, to which they both opened fire on the bombs and the containers that were blocking their path, though a few seconds later they had found and recovered the fourth Scout Fly for this area... only to run into the crate containing the fifth Scout Fly not a moment later. Jak then carefully took them down another pipe area that brought them to a passage filled with bombs and Dark Eco containers, just like the one they had passed through a minute or two ago, to which Pinkie pointed out the sixth Scout Fly for them to grab. From that point on it became their task to avoid both the Dark Eco containers and the bombs that were in their way, while collecting enough cooling balloons to keep themselves stable... as well as grab the seventh Scout Fly and its Power Cell along the way.
Once they had gotten what Jak had told them they should be keeping their eyes on, he stabilized them with another cooling balloon and continued along the path they were on... until they were eventually launched off of the path they were on, passed two bombs that were hanging in the air, and landed on a teleport pad that happened to have another Power Cell for them to grab. As they climbed off of the zoomer, and stretched their legs, Jak also stepped on the button that would activate the teleport gate, which would allow Samos and Keira to join them for the final part of their journey.
For a moment nothing happened, save for the gate turning on, though before anyone could make a remark Keira suddenly appeared before their eyes, though she seemed upset about something.
"Hey! Where's old short green and wrinkly?" Daxter asked, though at the same time he had the feeling that all three of them knew exactly what Keira was about to tell them.
"This is terrible! Father is missing!" Keira stated, confirming the worst fears that the trio had at the moment, because Samos had been a teacher for Jak and Pinkie, and he had helped them, indirectly, along every stretch of their quest, "I think Gol and Maia may have kidnapped him as well!"
"Relax, sweetheart." Daxter said, cutting off Jak and Pinkie before either of them could say anything, which only seemed to annoy Keira even more, "We're got everything under control."
"Under control?!" Keira angrily replied, surprising Jak, Daxter, and Pinkie by how annoyed she was with that statement, "Lurker armies continue to grow across the land, the Sages have been kidnapped, Gol and Maia have enough eco to complete their terrible plan, and to stop them you're going to have to fight your way through their Citadel!!"
"Uh... yeah. That about uh, sums it up." Daxter simply said, though it was clear that he hadn't been expecting his attempt to reassure Keira to suddenly backfire like that, or make Keira that mad at him.
"You've got to rescue my father and the other Sages before it's too late!" Keira stated, beckoning to the massive door that was in front of them, before turning her attention back to the trio, "Guys... please be careful in there."
The trio nodded their heads and made their way through the gate that was in front of them, which opened with a metallic hiss as they approached it, allowing them to see that the tunnel they were going to have to walk though had some technology that was on a level above what Keira was doing at the moment. After a few seconds they made it through the tunnel, though when they passed through the second door they found themselves in a massive chamber that was dominated by a giant Precursor Robot, one that was held in a Dark Eco field. Not a few seconds later Samos, without any sort of warning, dropped down and revealed that he was locked inside a cage, one that had bars made from Dark Eco... no doubt to prevent him and the other Sages from escaping.
"It's about time you three decided to show up!" Samos said to them, beckoning to the large Precursor Robot that was sitting behind him, "Gol and Maia kidnapped us to sap our energies to power their abominable machine! It appears they have combined the functional remains of a Precursor Robot with scavenged artifacts from across the land. Then they added a few diabolical editions of their own, creating the one thing capable of opening the Dark Eco silos! I suggest that you start with the other three Sages, as they have been here far longer than I have and they are nearly drained of all of their energy... so I suggest that you hurry, otherwise they could drop dead at any moment."
"Okie Dokie Lokie," Jak, Daxter, and Pinkie said at the same time, causing the three of them to look at each other in surprise as Samos brought his palm to his face, which was followed by his cell returning to wherever Gol and Maia had placed it.
With that said the trio looked at the area in front of them, knowing that this would test all of the skills they had developed over the last few days of their journey... all while trying to ignore the fact that if they failed it meant the end of the entire world.
With Samos' orders received, those being to save the other three Sages before coming to his aid, the trio looked around where they were standing and took in all of the moving parts that they were going to have to jump around in order to reach any of the three Sages that had been kidnapped before Samos. At the same time, however, Pinkie smashed opened the first Scout Fly crate and released the mechanical bug from where the Lurkers had placed it, before returning to Jak's side.
"Okay then, which way should we go first?" Jak asked, looking at the spinning platform in front of them and seeing only two available paths at the moment, "Do we go the our left, or do we go to our right?"
"How about the left?" Pinkie suggested, though even as she said that both Jak and Daxter merely shrugged, because they had been told to rescue the other three Sages and that meant that the order didn't matter as long as Samos was the last one saved.
Jak and Pinkie carefully jumped onto the platform in front of them and waited until they were facing the bridge on the left of the entrance before crossing over to it, though they did so one at a time to make sure that if something bad happened, like one of them mistimed their jump or something, the other sibling could catch them before they fell into the seemingly bottomless pit below them. They then walked up the walkway they were on, taking out the lone Lurker that happened to be standing there, before jumping over to a platform that was missing a fourth of its circle. The next jump they had to do was one that required them to jump over to a platform that had been cut in half, with one half parallel to the platform they were on while the second was just above the first piece... though they seemed to be moving in opposite directions of each other.
Once they reached the top of the second piece of that platform they jumped up to the hallway that was in front of them, which quickly brought them to an area where they were going to have to use a certain number of Blue Eco jump pads to cross to the other opening... though while Jak picked up some Blue Eco Pinkie picked up the second Scout Fly at the same time.
"I'll cross the room first and then call to you once I'm on the other side," Jak said, though before Pinkie could answer he launched himself and Daxter off the platform he had been standing on, though Pinkie smiled when he landed safely on another jump pad.
Pinkie patiently waited for her brother to call out to her, pausing to use a bit of Blue Eco to open the Precursor Orb container that happened to be sitting near where she was standing, though after a few minutes she heard Jak call for her to join him. She quickly restored her Blue Eco and launched herself into the air, carefully angling herself so she could land on the next platform before throwing herself into the air once more. It didn't take her long to find her way towards the opposite side of the room, where she found Jak and Daxter standing beside another Precursor Orb container, though this one had already been opened before her arrival, indicating that her brother had opened it with whatever Blue Eco had been left in his system when he landed over here.
They walked through the door that was in front of them and found the machine that was powering the cell that the Yellow Sage was currently locked up in... though when they broke the machine, and powered down the Dark Eco bars, they were rewarded with a Power Cell for their actions.
"Who woulda thought I'd live to see the day I had to be rescued by a boy, his sister, and his muskrat?!" the Yellow Sage said, though he was an individual who had yellowish colored skin, a full white beard, and what looked like a large gun in his arms, "I'm gonna give Gol and Maia a little payback for these embarrassments! Then we'll see about cookin' up some muskrat stew."
Pinkie, Jak, and Daxter made some faces about the notion of eating Daxter when the Yellow Sage's back was facing them, as his focus was on channeling his Yellow Eco at the Dark Eco barrier, though all three of them shared the disgust before they powered up the small platform that was beside them. Pinkie stopped Jak from moving on without her, to which she carefully jumped on the moving platforms to the right of where the Yellow Sage had been resting, but when she returned a few minutes later she was carrying the third Scout Fly. The small platform brought them to a switch that brought up a walkway that consisted of a few different colored squares, though upon touching one color, like the clear colored one, all squares with that color fell back into the pit below.
Seeing how tricky the colored bridge system was both Jak and Pinkie agreed that one of them should go at a time, so that way they both didn't knock the bridge out in a few steps. A few minutes later they were back near the robot and were moving forward again, to which they jumped over a small gap, took out another Lurker, and summoned a larger bridge that they repeated the previous method on. When they were both across the bridge they opened the door in front of them and found another room that had no floor, though from what they could tell, from their first glance at what was ahead of them, they knew that they were going to have to be careful in this room as well.
Jak went first, jumping onto the platform that was in front of them and waiting until it brought him to the next platform, where he exchanged rides and jumped onto a rotating cube made out of metal. He paused to wait for the next platform to come his way, though when he rode that one as far as it would go he jumped towards another metal cube, but he quickly got off of the other side to avoid being hit by the beam of fire that occasionally hit the metal. Once he was on the other side he signaled to Pinkie, where he watched her repeat the process he had gone through before the two of them were standing side by side again.
The two of them then roll jumped towards a circular platform, one that was missing the center of it, before jumping towards another moving platform that brought them to an area that had a Blue Eco vent waiting for them. Jak waited for Pinkie to catch up, where they both absorbed the Blue Eco and activated the platforms that were in front of them, allowing them to move towards the top of the room before coming to a stop. They found the fourth Scout Fly after the last platform, though at that point they had to cross over a series of small platforms that were being blasted by the beams of fire, but it proved to be no challenge as the two of them reached the end unharmed... and unlocked another Precursor Orb container.
As they walked through the door they discovered which of the two Sages they were rescuing, because the man in front of them was tall and skinny, with a strange helmet on his head, a monocle on his face, and a blue tint to his skin... though when they broke the machine, and collected their Power Cell, they noticed that he was carrying a staff of some kind.
"Good work, fellows! Old Samos was right about you!" the Blue Sage said, making the three of them smile due to the praise, before he turned towards the barrier in front of him and gasped for a few seconds, "Great piles of Precursor metal! That insidious mechanical creation must not be allowed to wreak its terrible havok! I will try and actuate the shield door by eliciting a conduit of energy between myself and the vast portal below!"
The group figured that he meant that he was going to blast the barrier with his Eco abilities, as that was what the Yellow Sage had done, though once the Blue Sage was doing the same thing the trio activated another platform and continued on their way.
Once they returned to the circle around the Precursor Robot they continued to their left and came to another bridge made of colored squares, though Jak made his way across first and collected the fifth Scout Fly that was ahead of them, patiently waiting for a few seconds as Pinkie caught back up with him. They then jumped to a platform that was one fourth of a circle pointing at another four of a circle, though the jump after that brought them to another set of platforms that was one on their level and one above them, before they had to move through another set of platforms... which eventually brought them to the sixth Scout Fly.
The next challenge was yet another walkway made from the colored squares, to which Jak moved through the challenge first before calling Pinkie to join him on the other side. Once they were together again they walked through the door that was in front of them and found a Yellow Eco vent waiting for them, though the two of them grinned as they powered up and started throwing fireballs at the army of little tiny Lurker bunnies that were coming their way. Near the end of the tunnel they walked through they found a Red Eco vent as well, which allowed them to empower their fists and feet as they fought the enemies that were at the end of the walkway they had passed through... though once the machines had been deactivated, and the Lurkers taken care of, they continued on their way.
That was when they passed through a few more rotating platforms before they came to the cell that contained the Red Sage, who happened to be fatter than the Yellow Sage, though his armor made him look more like a blacksmith than a scholar... but the trio smashed the machine keeping him contained and collected the Power Cell, where they noticed that this Sage didn't have a focus for his Eco abilities.
"You've finally come to rescue me!" the Red Sage said, though while he let out a laugh the trio detected that he was the most laid back of the four Eco Sages, "Do you know how long I've been in here? What are your names?"
"I am Jak," Jak stated, knowing that Daxter would have cut in immediately after the Sage asked, but he felt the need to make sure the Sage knew who the main heroes were.
"Pinkie Pie," Pinkie said, a smile appearing on hear face, because she was glad that this particular Sage wanted to know who they were before speaking again.
"And I am Daxter!" Daxter declared, bouncing on Jak's shoulder for a second, though he made no effort to declare that he was the main hero, which he knew would have upset the others.
"You're real heroes, you three," the Red Sage told them, before turning his attention back to the Dark Eco barrier in front of him, "You've got to stop Gol and Maia before they can use their robot. I'll use my Eco Power to start breaking down the barrier."
When the Red Sage's power clashed with the barrier, and connected with the other two Sages, a new set of platforms appeared near the Blue Sage, one that would take them to the top of the massive chamber they were in... where Samos was no doubt being held.
They quickly made their way towards the new path and climbed up to the top of the none moving platforms, though once they were both up there Jak jumped towards the rotating platforms and carefully climbed to the top until he reached the wooden walkway that was above them. Once he was in position he called down to Pinkie and she stared climbing up the rotating platforms, though once they were together they had to carefully time their jumps because the next platform they had to jump towards was a rotating platform that moved around the entirety of the room. They decided that one person would do the entire thing before the other attempted the jumps, so Jak made his way to the top and only stopped once he had reached the wooden platform above the rings, to which he beckoned for Pinkie to join him and watched as she mimicked his movements until they were together.
They carefully collected all of the Precursor Orbs that were in front of them, to which Pinkie grinned and mentioned something about collecting all of them, before they freed the seventh Scout Fly and collected its Power Cell... where they eventually came to the final machine that was keeping Samos contained, gathering what Pinkie claimed was the last of the Power Cells as Samos flew out of his cell.
"Good work, you three! You're real heroes now!" Samos said, staring at the three of them at the moment as he congratulated them, and shook his head when he saw the look on Daxter's face, "I'll combine my power with the other sage's and together we'll open the shield door surrounding the Precursor Robot!"
Samos flew down to the barrier and immediately zapped it with his Eco abilities, though with the four colors striking the barrier it quickly came down, allowing him to return to the trio. Gol and Maia, who had been patiently waiting somewhere the entire time, used that opening to slip into the robot and exit the citadel, leaving Jak, Pinkie, and Daxter to take the elevator up to the top of the citadel. They silently prepared themselves for the coming battle, knowing that if they failed to defeat the Precursor Robot, and the insane people controlling it, the entire world would be destroyed... which was why they all agreed that they would not let that possibility become a reality.
None of them had any idea of how they were supposed to defeat a large Precursor Robot, but that didn't stop them from knowing that they would try their hardest to win the coming battle.
Once Pinkie and Jak were sure that Samos and the other three Sages would be alright, as they were still recovering from what Gol and Maia had done to them, they joined Daxter on the elevator, pressed the button in the middle of the platform, and rode up the tunnel they were in until they could see the sky again. When they arrived at the top, and the elevator came to a stop, the trio noticed that the area around them was mostly just a flat surface, until they noticed the large Precursor Door sitting behind them, but they paid no attention to it as they looked around for their target. They quickly noticed the Precursor Robot hovering over a large Precursor structure that had to be the Dark Eco Silo, the same one that Gol and Maia were in the process of opening if the Blue Eco beam coming from the robot was any indicator.
Oddly enough there were plenty of boxes laying around, with enough Green Eco to heal any wounds the two of them had picked up along the way, though as they did that Daxter looked out at the scene before them. He stared at the silo as Gol and Maia worked on it, slowly tearing their way through all the safeguards and whatnot that the Precursor's put in place before their disappearance. Daxter hated listening to Samos talk, as it was almost always focused on the beings that had built the planet, but he also knew that the Green Sage had a point... letting the two insane Dark Eco Sages unlock the silo would spell the end of the world. As much as he wanted to return to his previous form, and life a normal life, he knew that the correct course of action was to take out the robot and stop the silo from being opened.
Daxter was also sure that the Precursors would have left some way to safely study the Dark Eco without running the risk of destroying the entire planet, yet he didn't see anything that could help them try and talk some sense into their opponents.
"Alright, let's do this," Jak said, to which Daxter returned to his perch on Jak's left shoulder, before the trio walked onto the platform in front of them and powered it up with the Blue Eco that Jak and Pinkie had collected, where they began their descent towards the silo.
"You're too late!" Gol stated, his voice echoing out from the robot, though it was increased a tiny bit to make him sound louder than what he actually was, "Soon the Dark Eco will be all ours... and then we can begin the re-creation of the world!"
"Not if we have anything to say about it!" Pinkie shouted back, just as she and Jak jumped off the platform they were on and landed on the top of the silo, though they landed between the edge of it and the edge of what would soon be an open pit of Dark Eco if they didn't stop Gol and Maia.
As she and Jak looked for a way to damage the robot, or distract it from its deadly mission, Daxter pointed out a few clusters of Yellow Eco hanging around them, to which the two of them picked them up. With the Eco coursing through their bodies the two pulled down their goggles and aimed at the robot's head, exactly where the Blue Eco beam was coming from, and opened fire until that part of the robot exploded and forced their opponent backwards. Gol and Maia moved the robot around so that its face was more lined up with the top of the silo, so they could shake the robot's hand at them, before they loosed what appeared to be a bomb of some kind at the top of the silo.
Jak and Pinkie barely had enough time to grab some nearby Blue Eco, from a vent that opened for a few seconds, and launch themselves into the air to avoid being hurt, though as they landed they noticed that the silo was starting to open... though it was only by a tiny amount at the moment.
Once they had landed on the top of the silo again they noticed the robot firing Green Eco shots into the Dark Eco, to which several Dark Eco creatures, covered in spikes, jumped out of the silo and charged at them. Jak and Pinkie gathered some more of the Yellow Eco that appeared around them, while ducking and weaving to avoid the punches of the creatures that were trying to hit them, though they quickly discovered that the fireballs could kill the creatures in one shot. After about twenty creatures had been slain in combat, and all the Yellow Eco clusters had been exhausted, the silo continued to open as the robot fired another bomb at them, forcing them to reuse the Blue Eco vent and launch themselves into the air once more.
The third part of the fight happened to be one where Gol and Maia lifted the right arm of the robot and fired five Red Eco charges at them, which detonated and loosed a wave of energy at them, forcing them to jump over the five waves before they were hurt. The moment following the waves being discharged, and before the robot could fire another volley at them, the two of them picked up more of the Yellow Eco that was laying around them, not even bothering to note that it appeared when they needed it and disappeared when they didn't. With the ability to fire fireballs coursing through their bodies they opened fire on the right hand of the robot, swiftly bringing ruin to it as they forced Gol and Maia backwards.
After launching themselves, and avoiding the next bomb, Jak and Pinkie separated from each other for a moment and forced the robot to choose between them as it fired a large fireball at Jak, though it missed him and flew off into the distance. Whoever wasn't being targeted by the left arm of the robot launched several fireballs at the arm, though when it was their turn to be targeted they dodged to the best of their ability as the other sibling opened fire. Within a minute of using that tactic the second arm of the robot was blown to pieces, causing both Gol and Maia to scream in rage over the fact that they were being stopped from their experiments.
That was swiftly followed by the tops of the four towers glowing with one of the four Eco colors, though they each loosed a beam of energy that collided above the Dark Eco pit, forming some sort of silvery colored Eco.
"Light Eco?!" the heard Gol exclaim, naming the mysterious colored glob of energy that was floating in the air, while at the same time making them wonder what this type of Eco did, "It does exist!"
"They must not be allowed to get it!" Maia added, though that was followed by the robot launching several bombs towards the top of the silo, indicating that they were planning on blowing everything apart to get what they wanted.
That was when Jak stopped at the edge of the Dark Eco pit and beckoned Pinkie over as he cupped his hands, indicating that he was going to launch her up at the massive glop. Pinkie grinned as she ran at her brother, let her foot land in the middle of his hands, and launched herself into the air, to which she easily passed through the silvery colored Eco and landed on the other side. Despite the fact that she managed to take all of it into her body, causing her to be amazed by what she was feeling, the four beams continued to create more, allowing Jak to grab several smaller clusters for himself before the two of them stood in front of the robot.
"So, what ability does this give us?" Jak asked, though he knew that the best way to figure that out would be to simply hold his hand out and see what happened.
"I don't know, but I have an idea," Pinkie said, bringing her hands to the right side of her body, where she gathered all of the Light Eco into a sphere of pure energy.
Jak had no idea what Pinkie was doing, as he had never seen Eco used in such a fashion, but he had learned to trust his sister when she did something unusual, so he used his own Light Eco and obliterated the bombs that Gol and Maia were firing at them. A few seconds later Pinkie leveled her hands with the center of the robot and loosed the Light Eco in one swift motion, though the energy surged at her target and blew a hole in the robot's chest. Jak stared at the large hole in the robot's chest, surprised that the Light Eco could cause so much damage, before the arms, legs, and head of the robot were blown clear off the body and landed all over the area around the silo.
The head, however, came straight at the nearly open silo, though apparently the Light Eco blast had done more than they thought, because Jak and Pinkie could hear Gol and Maia screaming while they tried to open the hatch they had used to enter the head to begin with. That was followed by the head of the robot sinking into the Dark Eco and the silo slamming shut a few seconds later, sealing the fate of the two Dark Eco beings forever. With the world saved, and the last of the Light Eco fading from their bodies, Jak and Pinkie sat down on the top of the silo and smiled at each other, while at the same time Daxter moaned that he had lost his chance to restore his old form.
All Jak and Pinkie wanted to do now was rest and recover from their ordeal, though they knew that the Sages would arrive soon and they would receive whatever praise they had for them.
After a few minutes of rest, after had been an intense battle with Gol and Maia's twisted Precursor Robot, Jak, Daxter, and Pinkie finally got back onto their feet. They were all excited by the fact that they had, quite literally, saved the world from total destruction, yet at the same time they wanted nothing more than to head back home and get some well deserved sleep. The trio climbed onto the platform that had brought them to the top of the Dark Eco Silo and allowed it to take them back up to the top of the citadel, where they spotted the four Sages, and Keira, waiting for them. They had been right in their assumptions that the Sages would be happy with what they had just done, because all four of them were smiling at the moment, while at the same time causing the trio to chuckle because Samos almost never smiled... though the rare times he did was usually over something that Keira did.
"Well, it looks as if I may have been too hard on the three of you!" Samos said, patting Jak and Pinkie on their backs as they climbed off of the platform they had been riding on, "You DO have what it takes to be heroes!"
"But, Daxter... now that Gol and Maia are gone we can't change you back." Keira pointed out, though she was surprised that Daxter hadn't taken a chance at grabbing one of the clusters of Light Eco that had been created during the battle with the robot.
"Don't worry about me, baby!" Daxter said, pointing to himself the entire time, as if he was the star of the show and not his friends, "You know what they say: Big things come in small packages!"
"Jak, Pinkie, the two of you have an incredible talent for channeling Eco!" the Blue Sage said, causing the two to blush for a moment, as they really weren't used to any sort of praise, "Samos, you may have been right about these two, after all!"
"And Keira, without your help and ingenuity none of this would have been possible." the Red Sage spoke up, to which he let out a chuckle as he looked at the two siblings, "Perhaps we've found a new pair of Sages now that Gol and Maia are lost."
"Yes, Gol and Maia..." Samos said, staring at the Dark Eco Silo for a moment, his mind focused on the two people who had delved too far into the Dark Eco and had paid the price, "the Dark Eco probably destroyed them. Probably..."
"Aaaah, who cares?!" Daxter declared, crossing his arms as he glared at the silo for a moment, as if challenging the two to emerge from the silo after their defeat, "Bring 'em on, we can take 'em again, right Jak?"
"If you say so Daxter," Jak said, though his tone indicated that he would rather have some rest and relaxation before inviting trouble to take another swing at them, especially when they had no idea if they could use the Light Eco again in such a situation.
Pinkie, on the other hand, walked over to the large Precursor Door that happened to be sitting at the top of the citadel, discovering that it was ancient and had numerous runes engraved in the metal, as if something important had been left here. Samos, Keira, Jak, and Daxter walked over to where she was standing, while the other three Sages took the platform down to the silo so they could see if anything could be learned from whatever Precursor runes they could find. From what she could see there were several indents in the door, though when she considered that everything had been powered by Power Cells so far she had to wonder if that was what they needed now.
"Wow! It's an ancient Precursor Door!" Keira said, approaching the door in question and studying it, along with the circular indents that were arranged around it, "I don't think we'll be able to open it until we fill all one hundred holes with Power Cells!"
"Holy Yakkow!" Samos declared, as if the thought of gathering that many Power Cells had never occurred to him before, "It will take some time to find additional Power Cells before we can open up that door."
"You may want to reconsider that statement," Daxter said, to which he turned towards Pinkie for a moment, because he knew that she had been keeping track of how many Power Cells they had grabbed so far, "Hey Pinkie, how many Power Cells do we actually have?"
Pinkie looked at Daxter for a moment, slightly grateful that he had asked the question, before reaching into her hair and removed the notepad she had been writing on for the entirety of their adventure. She had been making notes on how many Power Cells they needed in every village and how many they had collected from the various areas they had traveled through. It didn't take her very long to count up the exact number of Power Cells that they had acquired throughout their journey, though a slight smile appeared on her face the moment she finished counting them all up.
"We have a grand total of one hundred and one Power Cells," Pinkie finally declared, causing Jak, Daxter, and Keira to put smiles on their faces, because they were eager to figure out what was resting behind the door they were all standing in front of.
"R... Really?" Samos said, as if he actually couldn't believe that they had acquired the required amount necessary to open the door, before they even knew that they were going to need such an amount to begin with, "Very well then... go ahead and open it up."
Jak and Pinkie approached the door and carefully pulled out the Power Cells that they had acquired on their journey, to which the Eco between the Power Cells and the Door gently called the cells forward and put them in the proper location. The group stared at the door for a few seconds, waiting for some sort of response, though eventually a crack appeared down the middle of the door and the two halves swung forward slowly as it opened. Behind the door was a massive ring that was clearly made out of Precursor metal and a strangely configured vehicle, one that was large enough to seat four people, though the two items were surrounded by a glowing light that eventually faded.
Pinkie stared at the Precursor ring for a few seconds, her mind flashing back to the one dream she had when the younger version of herself, Jak, and Samos rode a machine, one that was identical to the one in front of them, into an identical ring that was resting in the middle of some nest. She recognized the ring anywhere, because she had been having dreams about it for as long as she could remember, but that made her question what it was doing here.
"Let's head back to Sandover Village and take a break from our adventure," Samos suddenly spoke up, causing Jak, Pinkie, Daxter, and Keira to turn towards him, "I promise that the ring will be here when we return... its not going to go anywhere anytime soon."
Pinkie stood in Samos' hut and stared at Misty Island, remembering the start of their adventure had begun when Daxter accidentally fell into a pit full of Dark Eco on that very island. Jak and Daxter were currently in the Rock Village with Keira, no doubt talking with the Blue, Red, and Yellow Sages as they told the villagers that the Sages had returned from their 'work'. She knew that they didn't want the villagers to know that the three Sages had been overpowered by Gol and his sister Maia, least someone else take on the power of Dark Eco and try to overthrow them or take over the world. Though her mind eventually returned to the Precursor ring they had left above the citadel, wondering what it was doing here and what they were going to do with it.
She was so caught up in thinking about what she had seen that day, and the dreams that kept rising to the surface, that she almost didn't hear Samos enter the room she was in until she heard the sound of his staff touching the floor.
"I knew that I would find you here," Samos commented, walking up to where Pinkie was standing and came to a stop beside her, though he kept his gaze locked on Misty Island as well, "I can tell that the ring is troubling you."
"Its the same one from my dreams," Pinkie stated, still not understanding how it could be here, as some sort of secret prize for them defeating Gol and Maia, "You, me, and Jak, all younger in my dreams, rode that strange vehicle through the ring... and yet here it is, as if my dreams have become reality. Samos, what is it doing here? What does all of this mean?"
Samos was quiet for a few seconds, as if he was mentally debating whether he should spill the beans or if he should keep silent, before he opened his mouth and started to answer the question as best he could.
"It means that soon your dreams will start to make sense," Samos replied, letting out a sigh as he turned his gaze to the night sky, while at the same time knowing that Pinkie wouldn't really understand what he was trying to tell her, "though soon you'll find that they are nothing more than nightmares. My advice is to ignore the ring for now and leave those matters to me and the other Sages, because soon our peaceful lives will be at an end... and an adventure that you and Jak aren't ready for will begin."
"I see," Pinkie said, though she was a little saddened by the fact that the ring was going to ruin their lives, if what Samos said was true, "How long until we actually use the ring?"
"It all depends on how long it takes Keira to get the vehicle and ring in working order," Samos replied, though he gave Pinkie a shrug, as he had no idea how long that could actually take, "Let me worry about the future... you should go join your brother and make sure that he doesn't get into anymore trouble."
Pinkie nodded and walked over to the warp gate, though as she did so she had the feeling that the easiest part of their journey had ended the moment they stopped Gol and Maia... and that the hard part was coming their way.
It had taken the group some time to move the Precursor Ring and its vehicle to Samos' hut, where Keira could work on it and see if she could get all of it to work properly, though they had the help of the other three Sages for most of the journey. Many people asked them what the ring was for, when they passed through the various villages, though none of them had any definite answers to that question. Keira did promise them that the moment they knew what the purpose of the ring was, after she had conducted all the tests she could think of on it, they would be able to answer some of them. Eventually they managed to get the ring, and its vehicle, back to the lab and carefully set it up nearby, where Keira could work on it until she was sure they could safely use it.
Shortly after delivering the Precursor Ring to Samos' hut, and setting it up, the villagers of Rock Village threw a party for Jak, Pinkie, and Daxter, where the entire group took a break and accepted the invitation. It was there that the trio performed the dance that they had promised each other once they had finished their quest to save the world, to which several of the villagers applauded them and their deeds, including the warrior that didn't want to deal with Klaww. During the party Jak, Pinkie, and Daxter privately wondered if the warrior was actually going to do a better job of defending the village now that he knew that he had been upstaged by three youngsters.
The next two weeks were a blur of activity for the trio, because while Keira worked on the Precursor Ring they were occasionally called upon by one of the other three Sages to help them with something in their respective villages. It was usually to deal with any Lurkers that were still trying to gather more Precursor artifacts, or doing something that the Sages deemed as dangerous, though the trio found that these tasks were much easier than when they were on their actual adventure. Most of the time they spent after the defeat of Gol and Maia was hanging around Samos' hut and helping Keira fix the Precursor Ring, or check and make sure that there was no damage to the strange vehicle that was resting near the lab.
Eventually Keira declared that the two mysterious objects were ready for use, though seeing how it was nighttime when she made the announcement Samos suggested that they wait until the morning before they used the vehicle and the ring.
When morning arrived Samos finished handing off any wisdom and guidance to the Mayor, who seemed pleased by the idea that he might actually be in charge for the first time in forever, before he made his way along the village's bridges and headed towards the ring, where he spotted Jak, Daxter, Pinkie, and Keira waiting for him by the vehicle. Jak, Daxter, and Pinkie were staring at the ring, as if they were trying to figure out what it was going to do, while Keira seemed to be going over some last minute calculations in her head, which made Samos chuckle for a moment before he approached them.
"Today's the big day, everyone," Samos announced, drawing the groups attention to him for a moment, allowing them to have one last look at the peaceful village that was resting behind him, "I hope you're all prepared... for whatever happens."
He noticed that Jak and Pinkie shared a glance with each other, as if they doubted what they were doing for a moment, while Daxter seemed overjoyed that they could finally use the ring.
"I think I've figured out most of this machine." Keira said, beckoning to the vehicle that was behind her for a few seconds, before moving her hand over to the ring, "It interacts somehow with that large Precursor Ring. I just hope we didn't break anything moving it here to the lab."
"Easy for you to say!" Daxter declared, while at the same time he, Jak, and Pinkie climbed into the sitting area of the vehicle, "We did all the heavy lifting!"
"Daxter! Don't touch anything!" Samos stated, stopping the ottsel from touching the controls before he could activate anything, causing him to receive an unhappy look in return, "Though the Precursors vanished long ago, the artifacts they left behind can still do great harm."
"We figured that out the hard way," Pinkie replied, referring to what Gol and Maia could have done with their Precursor Robot if they hadn't stopped them, while at the same time earning a giggle from Keira.
"Or great good!" Keira threw in, offering up the other side of the argument once more, which she always did whenever someone told her of all the harm the Precursor artifacts would be used for, "If you figure out how to use them. I'm sure that, with some proper study and analysis, even Dark Eco could be used for the greater good."
"I've had some experience with such things." Samos said, just as he and Keira joined the trio on the strange vehicle, while at the same time noticing that it was a tight fit for all four of them, "I know you can make it work, Jak."
"Well, here goes nothing," Jak said, raising his hand towards the bright red gemstone that was in front of him, though when he touched it the dome shaped item opened up and the insides started moving around.
"Looks like Jak's still got the mojo!" Daxter exclaimed happily, because it meant that they hadn't damaged anything and that they could see what the two devices actually did.
"Interesting..." Keira commented, looking at the object that had opened up, while at the same time reading the Precursor Runes that she was able to lay her eyes on, "it appears to be reading out some preset coordinates."
The instant those words left her mouth the device slammed shut, which was followed by the strange ring behind the vehicle moving and releasing Eco beams at the top section of the Precursor Ring, activating the ancient device. While that happened the smaller objects that had been bound up around the large ring came loose as it tore part of the ramp they had constructed to pieces, though it also was giving off a glow that reminded them all of the Dark Eco they had seen. After a few more seconds the sky turned dark as creatures from Pinkie's dreams flew out of the ring in front of them, while at the same time a voice spoke to them.
"Finally! The last Rift Gate has been opened!" the voice declared, which made Daxter cower behind Jak as he questioned what the strange creatures were.
"So this is how it happened..." Samos said, though his voice as a mix of both fear and awe, as at the moment he couldn't decide which of the two to feel at the moment.
That was swiftly followed by a creature, easily as large as the Precursor Robot they had defeated two weeks ago, moved through the gate and stared at its surroundings, while at the same time declaring that some boy couldn't hide from him. Daxter, seeing the massive creature, which he determined was an ugly creature, also declared that they needed to start pushing buttons to stop whatever they had done. Jak, not knowing what else to do in the situation, pushed the controls that were in front of him, which loosed the vehicle they were sitting in as it raced up the ramp and passed by the monster as they entered the 'Rift Gate', as the creature called it.
The group rode the vehicle through what they thought was the Rift, if the Rift Gate was anything to go by, while Keira questioned what the creature they had all seen was and what it would do to the defenseless villagers they had left behind. Daxter, on the other hand, quickly declared that he wanted off the vehicle... which was followed by some sort of dimensional energy lashing out at the vehicle with enough force to rip the entire thing apart.
As everyone was flung away from the wreckage of the vehicle Pinkie watched as both Keira and Samos were separated from each other as they fell behind her, Jak and Daxter. Though at the same time she noticed that her brother and their best friend were much further ahead than she was, where she discovered that she was being thrown to the side of the Rift. The last thing she remembered, before her world went dark, was Samos calling out that Jak and Pinkie needed to 'find themselves', though before she could wrap her head around what he had meant her world went black around her.
When Pinkie woke up she carefully pulled herself into a sitting position as she felt the ground beneath her feet, though as she opened her eyes she found that she had landed near an area that looked like a farm, reminding her of the farmer she had helped some time ago... though that was before she noticed the large wall that surrounded the area she was in. She flashed back to her dreams, where she had been running through a city that had the exact same walls that she was seeing how, which told her that part of her dreams weren't merely fragments of her imagination... they were real places. Pinkie didn't like the fact that the creatures she had seen in her dreams, ones made out of both twisted metal and flesh, and the city were both real, especially when the metallic creatures could kill her now that she knew that they were real.
Before she could figure out what to do next, or even determine where she was, she noticed a group of five guys walking towards where she was sitting, though four of them seemed to be dressed up in some sort of red colored armor that covered the majority of their bodies, while at the same time making them look like formidable opponents. The fifth person, who was at the head of the pack, was dressed up in what she assumed was a suit of some kind, complete with a mask that was currently resting on the top of his head, though Pinkie noticed that there were some strange markings on his face. One other thing she noticed was that the four people in body armor were carrying weapons that reminded her of the Yellow Sage's staff, which he had called a gun for some reason, while the leader had a much smaller one... which he wasn't carrying in his hand at the moment.
She suspected that she was in trouble, based on the fact that the four men appeared to have their weapons ready for anything, though that thought was broken when the leader merely smiled at her when they came to a stop... though he turned back towards his men for a moment as if he realized something by looking at her for a few seconds.
"Stand down and search the area," the leader told his men, to which they saluted him and spread out, though Pinkie had no idea what they could be searching for, "They're searching for signs of whatever it is that you used to breach our Eco Dome."
"Ugh... the Eco what now?" Pinkie asked, because she had absolutely no idea what was going on at the moment, though at the same time she knew that the answers would be coming her way at some point.
"Its the shield that's protecting Haven City from the Metal Heads," the leader answered, almost as if he had expected the question and had prepared himself ahead of time, "its maintained by five Eco Generators inside the Dome, one for each of the primary colors of Eco..."
"Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, and Dark Eco?" Pinkie said, as she was sure that only her group and the Sages even knew of the existence of Light Eco, though she kept that to herself for the moment.
"Very good guess," the man replied, to which he gestured to his men for a moment, "One of our friends, who specializes in keeping the Eco Dome fully powered, noticed that there was a breach a few minutes ago and, as he told us, he 'triangulated' the position of whatever it was that could have passed through the shield. I don't know all the details, and I honestly don't care for all the math and science stuff he talks about, but he managed to figure out what something landed in this area and Baron Praxis ordered me to investigate... though I expected to find a bunch of Metal Heads. I did not expect to find a young lady like you."
"I... I see..." Pinkie said, though at the same time she had no idea what the man was even talking about, other than the fact that the city was protected by a shield and that she had somehow passed through it.
"Look, the Baron is sure to have questions for someone like you," the man said, though as he said that he extended a hand towards her, which Pinkie decided to accept as he pulled her onto her feet, "and, judging from the look on your face, I can tell that you aren't the only one that used... whatever method you used. The Baron will help you find your friends or family, and then you can enjoy your life in the safety of Haven's walls."
Pinkie had, for a brief moment, forgotten about Jak and the others, though the moment the man mentioned them she knew that they needed to be found before something bad happened to them. She had no idea who this Baron Praxis was, but he appeared to be the leader of the city, which meant that she needed his help to find them before they were hurt. With the decision apparently made before she could answer, or maybe she had at the moment she chose to take his hand, the man signaled to his men and they made they way towards the city that was in front of them.
"By the way, my name is Erol," the man said as they walked, causing Pinkie to turn towards him for a second, where he gave her another smile, "I figured that you might want to call me by something that's not 'Mister' or 'Sir'."
"Oh, well in that case my name is Pinkie Pie," Pinkie replied, a slight smile appearing on her face as well, because she was glad to have found someone that was nice to her.
"Well then Pinkie, we had better get you to the palace so you can meet the Baron," Erol said, his smile not leaving his face for even a second, "then we'll begin the search for your friends and family."
Pinkie may not have liked the fact that she was no in the depressing city she had dreamed about for so many years, but right now she didn't let that bother her, because she was already one step closer to finding out what happened to Samos, Keira, Jak, and Daxter... and all she had to do was meet with the Baron to set everything in motion. She only prayed that her friends and her brother were safe from the creatures that Erol called the Metal Heads.
After walking for a few minutes, and giving Pinkie time to warm up to the fact that the city from her dreams was actually real, Erol brought them to a group of vehicles that he and his men used to travel through the various sections of the city. As they climbed into one of the vehicles, one that could seat two people and looked like a floating rectangle of some sort, Erol pointed at the bright red colored vehichles, the slim one that reminded her of Keira's zoomer and a triangle shaped one. He explained that the Krimson Guard, which was the name of the guards for Haven City, used the vehicles to go wherever the Baron sent them... though he also said that they occasionally chased some troublemakers through the city as well. It was at that point that Pinkie learned that Erol was actually the commander of the Krimson Guard, which she guessed explained why he was allowed to dress so differently than the rest of the guards.
She was somewhat surprised that the Baron would send his commander out on a mission like this, especially when there was a war going on if what she heard from the other guards was correct, but then she decided not to question it as Erol powered up the vehicle they were in.
The moment the zoomer they were in was powered up Pinkie thought that they would be sticking to the ground, like the one that she and Jak had used in the past, but then she was surprised to find that there was a second mode to the vehicle that allowed them to hover some distance above the ground. It was like someone had taken Keira's designs and had upgraded them, improving them to the point that allowed something like this to be possible, yet she had to wonder what her friend would think of this if she ever got the chance to see it. Pinkie shuddered as she mentally pushed away the depressing thought that Keira might nit be around, because if she made it through the rift then she was sure the others had as well... she just had to find them.
"This is one of the two sections of the Bazaar District that resides in Haven City," Erol pointed out, beckoning to the stands where people were exchanging whatever the currency was for food or other important necessities, "though this is the Western Bazaar. The Eastern Bazaar is located on the opposite side of the Palace, which we will be arriving at shortly."
As he said this the vehicles that were following behind them, with the Krimson Guards controlling them, moved around them and continued towards the second section of the Bazaar, while Erol had them land in front of the large Palace that Pinkie had seen from a distance.
"Where are the other guards going?" Pinkie asked, though at the same time Erol jumped out of the vehicle and walked around to help her out of her seat.
"To the Fortress," Erol replied, though as he brought Pinkie to the front of the Palace a guard claimed the vehicle they had been in and drove off with it, allowing them to overhear something about a pursuit of some kind, "its our headquarters, where we store ammunition and weapons until they're needed... and there's even a prison on another level, so just in case an inmate manages to escape their cell they can't immediately arm themselves."
"Ha... have prisoners escaped before?" Pinkie inquired, because she assumed that one had escaped in the past or the Fortress had been designed in such a manner to prevent such a thing from happening.
"No, thankfully we have never had such an event occur," Erol answered, to which he helped her up the steps and tapped on the door that was in front of them, which recognized something that Pinkie heard was a pass before it opened for them, "but, as the Baron once told me, it was better to be safe than sorry."
Pinkie couldn't fault that logic, though she followed Erol into the Palace as the door shut behind them, allowing her to see that the entrance area was mostly just consoles that reminded her of the vehicle she and the others had ridden through the rift, though she had no idea what was on their screens. It didn't take them long to reach an elevator that took them upwards, no doubt bringing them into the main area of the Palace, though as Erol led the way towards where the Baron was located Pinkie heard someone talking with someone else. Based on the annoyed look that appeared on Erol's face he knew who was having the conversation, to which he held up a hand to stop Pinkie before they entered the main area of the Palace.
"Are you sure that Metal Heads are testing our defenses?" a voice said, one that Pinkie identified as a commander of sorts, which meant that it had to belong to the Baron.
"I caught a trio of them out near the pumping station," the second voice answered, though this one sounded more feminine than the first one, "don't worry, I took care of them."
"Excellent," the first voice commented, almost as if he had been expecting something like that to be the answer to his question, "Have the other guards keep a more watchful eye on the streets... the Kid is out there somewhere and he needs to be found before something harms him."
Pinkie glanced over at Erol and opened her mouth to ask who this Kid was, considering that he seemed important enough for the Baron to have his guards keep an eye out for him, but Erol merely shook his head as he opened the door that were in front of them. It was then that Pinkie got her first glimpse of the Baron and who he was talking to, though when she spotted the Baron she had to admit that he was more than what she expected by hearing his voice. The Baron was a very tall, and heavy-built, middle-aged human male, though he wore heavy-duty clothing and armor that bared what she assumed was a royal symbol of some kind. The upper right side of his face, along with his nose and entire cranium, were covered in some sort of metallic structure, as if he had sustained injuries to that region of his head at some point in the past. There was also a large sword attached to his belt, one that happened to be in its sheath, though Pinkie hated to think what would happen to anyone he used it against.
The person the Baron had been talking to was a slim woman that had short dreadlocked hair, which didn't reach past her shoulders at all, that was also dark red in color, though she had green eyes and pale skin. Pinkie discovered that the lady in front of her had facial tattoos placed on her forehead, neck and ears, which she assumed had to be a Krimson Guard thing considering that Erol had some on his face as well. The oddest thing Pinkie noticed was that the lady was wearing a heavy-duty long-sleeved midriff jacket, though it was the revealing sort that reminded her of Sandover Village and what she was wearing at the moment, with a pair of long heavy-duty tight-fitting pants that had sections cut out on either side of her legs. Pinkie could also tell that the lady only had a small gun as her only weapon, just like Erol did, but she had to wonder if that was something that the highest ranking members of the Krimson Guard did while they were inside the city.
The strangest thing was when the lady looked at Pinkie and Erol, and noticed that they were standing there, she seemed happy about something, but then that expression was replaced by the same stone wall expression that Pinkie had seen the rest of the Krimson Guard use, before she excused herself and left the room.
"Ah, Erol, I have been expecting your return," the Baron said, to which he picked himself off of the throne that he had been sitting on and walked towards where Pinkie and Erol were standing, "Tell me, did you find anything at the location Vin specified?"
"We found almost nothing at the area he told us to search in," Erol answered, though he knew how frustrated his men had been when they found no machines or the like around Pinkie, which in turn would only frustrate his leader to not end, "we only found this young lady laying on the ground in the area we searched."
"Is that so? Then I shall have words with Vin later," the Baron commented, sounding annoyed about having sent his guards on a wild goose chase, as they had come back empty handed, before he turned his attention to Pinkie, "I hope you can forgive a gentleman for not speaking with a lady first, but I had some... pressing matters... that I needed to have explained. I am Baron Praxis, the ruler of glorious Haven City. Who do I have the honor of addressing?"
"My name is Pinkie Pie," Pinkie answered, though while she had to wonder what 'words' the Baron was going to have with this Vin character, who she assumed Erol had mentioned earlier, she knew that he couldn't be too bad if he was being friendly towards her and was saving the city from Metal Heads.
"Considering the fact that my commander didn't find anything in the area our friend told us to search in," Praxis said, his one good eye glaring at Erol for a moment before turning back to Pinkie, "I would have to assume that this means you have some innate ability that allows you to absorb Eco and use it however you wish."
"Well, I can only use them in certain ways," Pinkie stated, remembering what she and Jak could do with the four Eco colors they had absorbed, "like Blue Eco lets me move faster and opened doors, while Red Eco increased the power of my punches and kicks, Yellow Eco allowed me to fire, well, fireballs, and Green Eco restored my health. Samos, the Sage that my brother and I were living with, could never figure out why the two of us were able to naturally absorb the pure clusters of Eco that were floating around... or much less why we could absorb all four colors instead of just one."
At first both Parxis and Erol were shocked by what Pinkie had just told them, as if absorbing pure clusters of Eco wasn't something that happened anymore, before the Baron let out a laugh. She wasn't sure what she had said that was so funny, because neither she or Erol were laughing, but she guessed that whatever she had said had amused the Baron, which might put him in a good mood.
"That is a rare ability you have," Praxis stated, a smile appearing on his face, which told Pinkie that her ability to absorb pure Eco clusters had to mean something more than what she had originally thought it meant, "one that would normally require a lot of testing to verify whether you were telling the truth or not... but at the moment we don't have time to test whether your lying to me or telling the truth. And, if your brother really does have the same ability that you have, it would be in our best interest to find him and rescue him before something terrible happens."
"Why can't we do any tests?" Pinkie asked, because while she didn't like the idea of letting these people run tests on her, or whatever their tests included, she had to wonder why they didn't have time.
"Metal Heads." Erol said, causing Pinkie to turn back towards him, "We're at war with their kind at the moment, but so far they've sent scouting parties into the areas outside our walls. We know that they're trying to figure out our weaknesses, but at this exact moment we have some time before they really start attacking us... which is why we were concerned when Vin spotted the breach in the Eco Dome. He thought that we were under attack and panicked, though he'll be happy to hear that nothing bad has happened to the city."
"Besides, we have no idea what your brother looks like," Praxis added, to which he turned his gaze back to Erol, "Pinkie Pie, for now I would suggest that you remain up here, in the Palace, until we discover where your brother went... though in the meantime you'll be learning about the city from either Erol or my daughter Ashelin. Perhaps by shadowing them you'll pick up how to fight and demonstrate some of these abilities that you mentioned."
"I shall return to my duties," Erol commented, though he started walking towards the door he and Pinkie had entered through, which Pinkie knew the other lady was likely waiting behind, "There's a chase going on in the port... again..."
As Erol walked out of the chamber they were in Pinkie spotted the lady from before, who she assumed had to be Ashelin, waiting on the other side, though neither she or Erol looked at each other as the Commander of the Krimson Guard left the Palace to go do his job. A few seconds later, just as Pinkie was about to turn back to the Baron, she noticed that the lady finally left where she was standing and was walking towards her. When the two were face to face Pinkie knew that the lady was looking her over, as if she was trying to determine what to do with her while she was out in the field, before letting out a sigh.
Pinkie had the feeling that she had failed some sort of inspection that the lady had mentally gone through, but she patiently waited to see what the outcome was.
"I am Ashelin Praxis, daughter of Baron Praxis," the lady said, to which she touched the straps that were keeping her gun attached to her leg, where she pulled the straps apart and tossed the gun over to her father, who caught it seconds later, "if you are going to be shadowing me in future missions I need to know if you can hold your own in a fight... so attack me."
Pinkie glanced over at the Baron for a moment, wondering if fighting was even allowed inside the Palace, but Praxis nodded his head and stepped back, giving them some room for what they were doing. Pinkie sighed and raised her fists, wondering if she could even fight after her trip through the rift, but she guessed that she would find out soon enough. Pinkie stared at Ashelin for a few seconds, to see if she was actually going to do anything, before she charged at her and threw her fist at her, only to find that her target had simply sidestepped her swing. A few seconds later Pinkie swung her foot around and tried to catch Ashelin in the chest, but once again her sparring partner moved out of the way before she could even hit her.
Pinkie tried a few more of the moves that she had developed with Jak's help, as they were the only ones that could fight back in Sandover Village, though Ashelin seemed to know where she was aiming every time. Pinkie tired to hit her opponent's face, tried to trip her by going for her feet, and tried to hit any of her limbs in the chance that she might catch her opponent off guard... though it didn't take long for Pinkie to become exhausted from trying to successfully strike her target.
"You need some proper training if you're going to be shadowing me," Ashelin said, though Pinkie spotted the beginnings of a small smile on her face, while at the same time she collected her weapon from her father, "but I think that, in time, you'll prove to be quite the accomplished fighter."
"Indeed," the Baron commented, his smile having never left his face the entire time, though his gaze was on Pinkie the whole time, "We'll go over the specifics of our search for your brother, and how you'll shadow Ashelin or Erol in the future, later this afternoon... for now you should rest up. I can guarantee that tomorrow will be a more exciting day than today."
Pinkie, still sort of lost on what was going on, followed after Ashelin as she beckoned to her, to which she was escorted to one of the guest rooms that the Palace had... which she was apparently going to use until they had found her brother. As they walked Pinkie had to wonder what had happened to her brother and friends, because she could only wonder where they were... and if they were safe from the Metal Heads that were roaming outside the city walls.
Pinkie followed Ashelin through the Palace, taking a few seconds every now and then to stare at something new that they didn't have back in her original era, before they arrived at the room that she would be using for some unknown length of time. There was a bed, a dresser, a small window that allowed her to see outside, and a few other odds and ends that were different from her time in Sandover, but the overall feel of the room was the same. Pinkie determined that the room was just fine, as it met the same standards that she had back in her old room that she had originally shared with Jak, only this room was definitely twice the size of her old room. Besides, she wasn't about to complain over what she was being given, especially since the Baron was being kind enough to allow her to stay in the same area that he and his own daughter lived in.
Once they had showed Pinkie where her room was, and she knew how to reach it, Ashelin took her to an area where she could get cleaned off from her fall, to which she had to demonstrate how the 'shower' worked to a very confused Pinkie. She then spent some time trying to clean herself, to the best of her ability considering most of what she was using was unfamiliar to her, while Ashelin gave her some privacy. While she used the shower Pinkie's mind turned to Jak and Daxter, wondering where her brother and her best friend had landed in the area that rested around Haven City. She was sure that, once she had given the Baron a description of what her brother looked like, the three of them would be reunited in no time... then they could begin looking for Samos and Keira.
She was sure that Samos would say something about the fact that Jak was sixteen years old, pretty much a man at this point, and that she shouldn't be worrying about him all the time... leading her to wonder what she would be like when she finally reached that age and matured. Before she strayed too far down that train of thought she shook her head, messed around with the controls until the shower was off, and grabbed a towel to clean herself off.
"I'm glad I managed to find some of my old clothing from a few years ago," Ashelin said, which stopped Pinkie from moving the screen that was separating her from Ashelin for a few seconds, to which she spotted something being placed nearby, "though we'll need to have some new ones made for you in the near future... I don't think you'll like clothes that hardly fit."
Pinkie waited until she heard the door close again, to which she pulled the screen back and found some clothes waiting for her, though they appeared to be more in the style of the citizens she had seen when Erol had brought her to the Palace. She already knew that she would be smaller than Ashelin, considering that the other lady had to be at least twenty years old at this point, but she decided that this was better than what she had been wearing when she landed. She slipped on a pair of shorts, that actually reached her knees, and a heavy duty top, where she discovered that it had to be the norm for people in Haven to show off their midriff, leading her to wonder what Samos would make of this place.
Once her new outfit was on, and she was sure that she didn't need to use the shower area anymore, she opened the door and found Ashelin waiting for her, though she appeared to have a small smile on her face.
"There, now you look like you belong in Haven City," Ashelin said, to which she beckoned Pinkie to follow her as she led the way to what appeared to be an eating area, where Pinkie discovered that some plates had been readied ahead of time, "My father will be joining us for lunch in a few minutes... and then, once we're finished, you can describe your brother so we can begin the search for him."
Baron Praxis did indeed join them a few minutes later, apologizing to Ashelin for not being the first to arrive due to a certain adviser that continued to bother him, though Ashelin didn't mind the wait. Pinkie noticed that most of the food on the table was the same as what she and her brother had eaten back in Sandover Village, but as they all dug into the food she found that it tasted the same. The other dishes that were new to her, and that she raised an eyebrow to, either Ashelin or Praxis would tell her about it, allowing her to have some idea of what went into making the dish before she dug into them.
As they ate Pinkie described what Jak looked like, and offered a description of Daxter as well, so that way Erol and the Krimzon Guard would be able to identify them the moment they found them. Ashelin took some time to explain what she did whenever she was on missions, as they all knew that Pinkie would be joining her at one point in the future, while also explaining what the other members of the Krimzon Guard were assigned in terms of missions. Since she was one of the higher ranking officers in the Guard she was either sent on special missions outside the walls or would stay back and defend the city as Erol carried out the Baron's orders.
Eventually they finished the meal they were eating and the Baron excused himself, though he gave Ashelin time to adjust to Pinkie being in the Palace before he gave her any more orders, allowing her to tell Pinkie about anything that she wanted to know about. The two then spent the majority of the afternoon wandering around the Palace, where Pinkie would ask whatever came into her mind and listen to whatever explanation that was offered to her. She discovered that the Metal Heads occasionally attacked the walls and spooked the citizens that Ashelin was protecting, though its was always in small numbers that could be easily repelled by a decent amount of guards.
After a storm of questions and answers, along with the final meal of the day where the Baron was unable to join them, they eventually had to retire to their rooms... where Ashelin admitted that it was nice to actually have some time off. That was when Pinkie returned to her own room and stared out the window as the sun set, before she let out a sigh and climbed into the bed, where she allowed sleep to claim her for the moment.
When morning arrived, however, both Ashelin and Pinkie, who were eating a light meal for the morning before venturing out of the Palace to show Pinkie the city, were interrupted by the Baron, though it appeared that something was wrong.
"Ashelin, I have received word from Vin that there is some Metal Head activity in Haven Forest," Praxis said, causing Ashelin to raise an eyebrow at her father for a moment, "A few minutes ago he detected a group of ten Metal Heads making their way through the forest, seemingly following the lead of another one, and then a minute or two later the group suddenly disappeared off the radar and left the lone one alone. We're not sure if the other ten are lurking in the surrounding area, testing out some new ability of theirs, or if the lone one decided to kill the ones that were following it..."
"So you want me to go and see what I can find?" Ashelin asked, because while she knew she'd go regardless, because this was the type of thing that needed addressing as soon as possible, she wanted to be sure it was under orders or not.
"Yes, and I would like you to take Pinkie with you as well." Praxis answered, nodding his head one to confirm what he had said, just in case someone wanted to question him, "I figure that the trip will show her what you and the other members of the Krimson Guard have to deal with most of the time, though if it turns out to be a trap I want the two of you to retreat and get some backup."
Ashelin nodded to her father before she and Pinkie quickly finished their meal, before they started gathering what they needed before they left the Palace. Seeing how Pinkie was only a civilian, in terms of how Haven City worked, she wasn't supposed to have any weapons, but she was just fine with using her fists and her feet if she needed to protect herself. Besides, she had managed to get a new pair of shoes that actually fit her, as hers had apparently been lost during her ride through the rift and she hadn't noticed it until now, as we as some small gloves that would protect her hands if she did need to punch something.
Once they were done gathering what they needed, and had met back up at the elevator, they traveled down to the ground level and secured one of the two passenger rides that happened to be waiting for them, though it was a civilian ride they had to take because all of the Krimzon Guard vehicles in the area were busy with their own orders. Pinkie discovered that there had to be more Metal Head sightings than what the Baron told them about, though he had decided to give his daughter one that was apparently easy enough for her to handle while watching over Pinkie. They climbed into the vehicle and Ashelin flew through the city, following the flow of traffic until she came to the security lock that would allow them to reach their destination, which happened to be near where Pinkie had landed after riding through the rift with her friends and brother.
When they arrived at the security lock Ashelin parked the vehicle next to the ramp they had to walk up, where they passed through the open door and waited for one side to lock while the other unlocked, before Pinkie noticed that there was a large gap between them and where they needed to go. She then discovered that there was a teleport gate nearby, allowing them to warp up to the cliff that was ahead of them, where she found that there was some sort of ruins in front of them, but one look from Ashelin told her that this wasn't what they were looking for. They then hopped onto a small platform that took them on a predetermined route, allowing them to see more of the ruins before they arrived at a forest area, which had to be Haven Forest.
"According to what Vin sent me on the way here, the Metal Heads are near the Great Tree," Ashelin said, closing something that she was holding and stuffing it into her pocket, though that was followed by her pulling her gun out and beckoning for Pinkie to follow, "or Metal Head, if what the readings say are true. Come on, let's go see what's actually happening here."
Pinkie followed Ashelin as they made their way down the pile of rocks that were to the right of where they entered the forest, carefully walked around all of the trees that were in the area, and crossed the river before they made their way through a decent sized passage in the rock wall they came to. Pinkie looked up at the Great Tree that they had discovered on the other side of the rock wall, as it was much larger than the other trees that they had passed by, but ultimately it wasn't what they were here for. She cast one more look at the tree as she and Ashelin made their way down to a lower area, wondering what Samos would make of such a tree if he had the time to meditate around it.
When they reached the area that Ashelin had been searching for both she and Pinkie were shocked by what they found; the ten Metal Heads that had disappeared from the radar were all scattered about with cuts all over their bodies, and some dark liquid that Pinkie assumed was their blood. It looked like they had gotten into a fight with something that was more dangerous than them, and had lost by the looks of it, but that made both of them wonder what had happened here. Pinkie had to hold back a gasp as she gazed upon one of the Metal Heads, because one of its arms had been ripped off and discarded while most of its body had been crushed by something, though she eventually looked away from what was in front of them.
That was when she spotted the eleventh Metal Head resting near the walkway they had taken to reach this area, though as she took in its large chest and deadly looking head, what with the horns, spikes, and apparently razor sharp teeth, she noticed that it was a quadruped based on the four legs it had, which all ended with a set of four talons for its hands and feet. It had decent sized wings, styled after the mythic dragons that Samos had told her and Jak stories about when they were younger, and a tail that ended in a trio of spikes that were half the size of Pinkie's entire arm. Once she took in the creature's appearance, and noticed that it had fewer metallic plates thanks to the scales that were on its body, she noticed that the Metal Head was wounded as well... meaning that it had been in a fight with the other ten members of its race.
Sure, she was sure that the creature was a little bit taller than her if it was able to stand, but right now she didn't like the idea of even fighting a Metal Head like this... if it was even a Metal Head, as the 'skull gem' in the middle of its forehead was much smaller than the ones that were scattered near Ashelin, as well as the fact that it was dark blue colored.
"Okay... I've never seen a Metal Head like this one before," Ashelin admitted, to which she looked down at the gun she was carrying for a few seconds, before she turned her head back to the creature, "and I don't think we can put something like this down with the weaponry we have at the moment."
"Hello? Is this thing on?" a voice said, to which Ashelin pulled out the communicator that she had been looking at earlier, to which she noticed that Vin had been trying to reach her for some time, "I swear if this is anyone other than Ashelin Praxis I am going to rip apart our own communication array and fix the entire thing!"
"Vin, we found the Metal Heads," Ashelin replied, holding the device to her ear for a moment, while at the same time watching the strange Metal Head and Pinkie, "but Pinkie and I have run into a slight problem..."
"Actually, I have some bad news that will overrule whatever problem you have run into," Vin interrupted, causing Pinkie to look back at Ashelin for a second, "I'm reading another group of Metal Heads closing in on your position... and there's at least ten of them!"
Ashelin turned her head around in time to see the group of Metal Heads that Vin was trying to warn her about, though before she could aim at one of them, the one that looked like a leaping mantis, she heard a rumbling sound that stopped her in her tracks. The strange Metal Head, apparently having heard that more were coming, pulled itself onto its feet and roared at the other Metal Heads, though as it did so both Pinkie and Ashelin moved before they were caught in the crossfire. It caught the mantis Metal Head in one of its claws and cut it apart, allowing the pieces to drop to the ground, before crushing three more of them with the weight of its body. The remaining six zeroed in on where the creature was standing and cut into the scales that were protecting it, one of them even breaking a claw in the process, before it retaliated and smashed one with its tail.
One of the smaller Metal Heads jumped towards the creature, as if it was trying to hit it while it was distracted, but the beast opened its mouth and snapped its foe in half, before spitting the pieces out and focusing on the remaining enemies. Eventually the other four fell to its might and terror, while at the same time it sustained several more wounds in addition to what it had been given from the previous group it had fought, before it was the only one left standing. The creature seemed to let out a sigh as it turned back towards Pinkie and Ashelin, though for a moment Pinkie could have sworn that she noticed a look of pain on the creature's muzzle. Ashelin started to raise her gun at the beast as it slowly limped its way towards them, but Pinkie raised a hand and stopped her as she carefully watched the creature... which had this strange purple mist which started to surround it after a few seconds.
The two watched as the beast seemed to shrink as the mist completely covered its body, though what emerged from the mist was something that Pinkie wasn't expecting; an ottsel that looked like Daxter, though its coat was a dark purple color that mimicked the color of Dark Eco, had no goggles on its head, and had a small necklace like item, with a dark blue crystal at the end of it, resting around its neck. That was before Pinkie noticed that the wounds the beast had sustained in its larger form had carried over to this form, hence the fact that the little ottsel, which was actually a few inches smaller than Daxter, was limping towards them as it dragged its right leg behind it.
"P... please..." the Metal Head turned ottsel said, reaching out towards them with its left hand, but Pinkie could tell that it was looking at her and not at Ashelin, "he... help... me..."
Pinkie immediately ran forward to catch the ottsel as he, based on the voice that had spoken to them, collapsed due to his injuries, but she managed to catch him before he hit the ground. She raised her hands to the ottsel's neck and felt for a pulse, to which she let out a sigh as she felt something beneath her finger, though that was followed by her looking for something she could use to heal the ottsel with. A few seconds later Ashelin walked up to her and pulled out some bandages, which Pinkie could tell were laced with Green Eco, before the two of them gently bound up all the wounds they could find. As they did so, and made sure that there weren't any more Metal Heads in the area, Pinkie noticed that there were some markings on the ottsel's back, which had to represent its wings.
"Are you sure about this?" Ashelin asked, glancing down at the creature that Pinkie was holding, though once they had finished bandaging it she had suggested that they get underway.
"Ashelin, he was wounded and jumped into battle to defend us when we were caught off guard," Pinkie said, a smile appearing on her face as she stared down at the ottsel, as it was easier to think of the creature in its current form and not what it had been minutes ago, "it would have been rude to let him die. Besides, it seems that he might know about the Eco Dome and chose this form to better accommodate us taking him someplace so he can recover... and maybe he's a renegade Metal Head, wishing to give us information on what his species are doing at the moment."
"You know, your innocence and optimism are infectious," Ashelin commented, though at the same time they returned to the platform that brought them to the forest in the first place, but Pinkie spied a smile on her companion's face, "Well then, until we figure out what your little friend has for us I suggest that we keep his true nature a secret... I'll just have to modify my report when we talk to my father."
"So that's your report?" Baron Praxis asked, because based on the readings that Vin had told him about, and the number of Metal Heads that had appeared in the forest, he was sure that one had gotten away.
"Yes. Pinkie and I found the Metal Heads that Vin had told you about." Ashelin replied, her normal expression returning in full force, so that way her father wouldn't suspect anything, "Apparently the Metal Heads attacked and killed each other, though why they did that I have absolutely no idea. I counted at least twenty bodies, but there might be additional pieces to make one more."
"And Pinkie's new 'friend'?" Praxis asked, looking at the creature that was in Pinkie's arms, apparently sleeping while he noticed several bandages covering its arms, legs, and body.
"We found him wounded near the forest entrance," Ashelin answered, glancing back as well, to which she noticed the small smile on Pinkie's face as she looked down at the ottsel, as she had called the creature on the way back to the Palace, "Pinkie insisted on healing him and bringing him back... and I figured that she could use a companion of sorts for when Erol and I are busy with our missions."
Baron Praxis looked at how happy Pinkie was with the weasel otter creature that she was holding, as if making sure that no additional harm came to the small creature. He determined that Pinkie could benefit from having a constant companion, sort of like what her brother had if what she had told him earlier was true, so he didn't see any harm in allowing her to care for the creature. Besides, there were more pressing matters that required his attention and Pinkie's new friend wasn't one of them, so he decided that she and Ashelin could go over what they needed with each other once the creature was awake.
He still had a city to save and an army of Metal Heads to defeat... and he hoped that soon Pinkie would be able to help them in that endeavor, be it by finding her brother or helping take the fight to the Metal Heads themselves.
Three days had passed since Pinkie and Ashelin had found the strange Metal Head in Haven forest and brought it back with them, so they could let it recover and see if it knew anything that could help them in the war that was occasionally raging outside the city walls. During that time Pinkie had made sure to change to Green Eco bandages that the Metal Head turned ottsel was wearing, nodding in approval every time she noticed that the little guy's body was soaking in the healing powers of the Eco to repair the damage that had been done to him. She and Ashelin had spoken a few times during those three days, usually discussing why the creature refused to wake up, but due to the missions that sprung up Ashelin didn't have a lot of free time to spend with Pinkie.
Erol came by the Palace a few times during those three days, usually when he had some important pieces of news that was better told directly to the Baron and not said over the communicators. Baron Praxis would generally give Erol some time off, about an hour or two, so he could check up on Pinkie and see how she was liking the city so far, where he'd ask her questions and listen to her before he had to depart. Erol also laid eyes on the oddly colored ottsel a few times, though Pinkie kept the creature's true identity to herself, because she knew that he might shoot it before stopping and asking her some questions about it. The only questions Erol asked was how long was the ottsel going to sleep and if Pinkie had a name for it, to which she confessed that she had no idea how long the little guy was going to sleep... but she did say that she had some names in mind for it.
Pinkie was hoping that the creature actually had a name that she could call it by, because she didn't want to force it to answer to another name when it already had one... but she had to wait for him to wake up before she could get around to that.
When the afternoon of the third day arrived Pinkie was, once more, tending to the wounds that the ottsel had sustained in his battle against the other Metal Heads, though this time she smiled as she noticed that all of them had finally healed. It was almost impossible to tell that he had been in a fight, and had been seriously wounded, by just glancing at him, which she assumed was thanks to the coloration of his fur. She carefully looked over the ottsel's body, to be sure that there weren't any wounds that she and Ashelin had missed, before nodding her head in satisfaction and putting away the bandages that Ashelin had left for her to use... though as she thought about Ashelin there was a knock on the door and her friend entered the room.
"How's the little guy doing?" Ashelin asked, which was usually the first thing that came out of her mouth, before she went on to asking Pinkie about her day once she got the information she needed.
"I feel like I got ran over by a hover car," the ottsel said, letting out a moan as he tried to pick himself up, though Pinkie carefully eased him into a sitting position as he opened his eyes, to which he stared at the two of them, "Um... hello?"
"I see you made a full recovery," Ashelin commented, staring at the ottsel as its gaze moved down to look at its new body, as if the Metal Head had no idea what form it had assumed before fainting in front of them, "Pinkie told me that the species you selected is an ottsel, something that's a cross between an otter and a weasel."
"An ottsel?" the creature said, though he finished his inspection of his body and looked up at the two ladies again, "Can't say that I've ever heard of such a creature before, but I think I could make this work. Thanks for saving my life by the way."
"Nonsense, we should be thanking you for that," Pinkie replied, smiling at the ottsel as he took in his surroundings, "Do you know why those other Metal Heads were trying to kill you?"
"No... but I feel like I should know," the ottsel said, raising a hand to his head for a moment, though it was unclear if he was trying to understand his new body or if he was trying to remember something, "All I remember is fleeing from the Metal Head Nest, making it to that forest, and killing those Metal Heads before transforming into this form, asking for help, and then collapsing from the pain."
"Do you remember your name?" Ashelin asked, though at the same time she was a little annoyed, because she had been hoping that the creature had information for them and there was nothing to show for their efforts.
"No... I don't think I had a name to begin with," the ottsel replied, letting out a sigh that he had been holding back, "I can remember my true nature, and how to change between forms, and yet I can remember nothing else about my life... I guess leaving the Nest had more of an effect on me than I originally thought it would."
"Well, I thought about calling you Raven a few times," Pinkie commented, causing both Ashelin and the ottsel to turn towards her for a few seconds, though Ashelin's expression was one of shock while the ottsel's was one of surprise, "What? He's got dark purple colored fur and his true form has wings... I thought the name was fitting given the circumstances."
"Actually, I like the sound of that already," the ottsel said, to which a grin appeared on his face for a few seconds, while at the same time Ashelin brought her palm to her face, "Very well then, from this day forward I shall go by the name Raven."
Ashelin resisted the urge to moan as she, Pinkie, and the newly named Raven made their way to the dining hall, where Pinkie gave her new companion his first lesson now how they were going to work together. At first Raven seemed to think that riding on Pinkie's shoulder, without the shoulder pad that her brother wore, was kind of weird, but when Ashelin mentioned that it should be easy to acquire one he seemed to rethink his assessment on in situation. As they walked Raven also got his first experience in testing out how his body moved, though both Ashelin and Pinkie made sure that he didn't strain himself in the process... especially since he had just finished recovering from his ordeal.
When the Baron joined them he seemed surprised to find that Raven was awake and moving around, after three days of being asleep no less, and a little amused by the choice of name that Pinkie had picked out, after explaining that Raven didn't actually have a name and that she had already come up with one for him. Praxis also found it amusing that ottsels had no problems with eating meat, though since Pinkie couldn't remember having ever seen Daxter eat any meat in his ottsel form she didn't know if it was actually possible for a real ottsel to do that. She did, however, assume that such a trait was because of what Raven actually was on the inside, but neither she nor Ashelin said anything about his true nature at the moment.
Raven, for the most part, proved to be an excellent dinner guest, as he answered the Baron's questions to the best of his ability, which all regarded what he was doing in Haven Forest and the fact that he couldn't remember very much of his existence anymore, but the Baron didn't seem to mind the answers that he was given. Praxis eventually decided that there was no harm in allowing Raven to stay in the Palace, though he did make it clear that he was Pinkie's responsibility, because she had been the one to insist on bringing him here, but she didn't seem to mind the addition to her life.
Pinkie fell into a routine for the next six months, where she and Raven would either spend a day with either Erol or Ashelin, which meant that she would be training in combat, being hand-to-hand fighting or using something called a Morph Gun, when she was with Erol. Pinkie discovered that the gun only had one style of ammunition at the moment, a Red Eco charge that was referred to as the Scatter Gun Mod, though she heard that someone was trying to create more mods that used Yellow, Blue, and Dark Eco in the capsules. She wasn't sure if she even liked the gun, despite the lessons that Erol gave her, but she had to admit that it would be useful in a group of enemies... once the problems had been resolved.
Whenever she was with Ashelin, however, the two of them were always sent on missions outside the city, where they would hunt down whatever Metal Heads that Vin had found on the radar, to which they discovered that he had lost the ability to see Raven on the radar when he was in his ottsel form. Occasionally the two of them would find a time for Raven to shift into a smaller flying form, where he essentially looked like a cross between his dragon form and his ottsel form, and allow him to stretch his wings from time to time. A few times Vin would inform them of another group of Metal Heads coming their way, where they would utilize Raven's hybrid form in order to overcome what was coming at them.
After those failed ambushes Raven would, in his hybrid form, claim an arm or a leg of a fallen enemy and devour whatever meat he could get at, stating that it allowed him to state his true nature for at least a month at a time... though at the same time Ashelin seemed surprised that a Metal Head would actually devour the flesh of its own kind, but then decided not to question it.
Once six months had actually passed, and both Pinkie and Raven had settled into some form of normalcy, the Baron decided to actually adopt Pinkie into his family, surprising Pinkie, Ashelin, and Raven by his decision, while at the same time making her the second heir to the Praxis line if something happened to him and her new sister. One of the things that he got her was a new set of armored clothing that looked similar to what Ashelin was wearing, but it was actually less revealing than what her sister was wearing and had none of the weapon straps that Ashelin had on her arms and legs. There was a few straps on her back, where she could place her gun if she ever decided to take up the Morph Gun or one of the Krimzon Guard guns like Ashelin or Erol had, but Pinkie said that she would think about it.
The Baron also gave her a weapon that she wasn't expecting, a slender silver colored blade that he called an Eco Blade, to which he personally gave her some lessons when he wasn't busy running the city and sending people on missions... though she always found it odd that the small crystal that was at the base of the blade was a Dark Eco crystal. She thought it was weird that the Baron would consider giving her this type of weapon, especially one with this particular type of crystal, but she accepted it in the end and trained with the Baron whenever he had the time.
From that point the other members of the Krimzon Guard, save for those that actually knew her, referred to her as a 'Night Guard', though when she asked why they didn't call her a 'Shadow Guard' or something Erol told her that it would confuse them with the leader of the Underground Movement, a man called the Shadow. It was at that point that she learned that some members of the Krimzon Guard had decided to leave the Guard and join the Underground, effectively giving the enemy information on what the Baron was doing. Pinkie was surprised that the former guards were even joining the people that they had been trying to stop, though every time it happened Erol seemed to be colder towards her and everyone else, as if he was taking it more personally than the rest of his comrades.
Pinkie was shocked how the kind Erol became so cold towards everyone, until the point where several of the guards that she was friends with mentioned that he was much crueler than what they expected, leading her to wonder if there was something else at work that could have effected the man like this. Ashelin told her at one point that she really disliked what Erol had become, because with every passing week it seemed that he was getting worse, as he had stopped visiting the Palace to see Pinkie... it was all about business these days. She tried to pay Erol no mind, thinking that it was just the stress of the job and the fact that those that joined the Underground couldn't take fighting the Metal Heads at all.
That was until she overheard a pair of guards, who worked in the prison section of the Fortress, mention that there had been a large number of casualties in what they called the 'Dark Warrior' program, which they attributed to Erol's sudden change in attitude towards them and everyone else. From what Pinkie could determine, after a few days of listening to the guards, the program was so secret that only a select number of the guards even knew the program existed. She decided not to ask questions about it, for fear of the Baron finding out and inquiring as to why she was poking her nose in business she hadn't been read into, but that didn't stop her from seeing if Raven could fit into small spaces.
She had Raven test himself just in case there ever came a time when they might need such an ability in the future, to which she learned that her small companion was more than happy to test himself, as he claimed that the challenges she gave him were fun and challenging. Pinkie also picked up fighting lessons from Ashelin, as Erol literally stopped coming to see her after whatever had happened inside the Fortress, but she wanted to be sure she was prepared for whatever came her way.
One year after the Baron had adopted Pinkie into his family he started to devote most of his time to either researching a super weapon that could take out the Metal Heads, using resources so the Krimzon Guard could deal with the Underground, or gathering more Eco to power the shield that was protecting the city. With his attention, and more importantly Erol's attention, focused on those three goals Pinkie and Raven were able to do more without people asking what they were doing. As such Pinkie spent a lot of time practicing with her own skills, both inside the city and outside the city, while making sure that she was prepared for anything that could possibly happen.
Nothing interesting happened after Pinkie had been adopted into the family, save for the fact that she followed Ashelin whenever her new sister wanted her help on something, or if she wanted Raven's help in locating certain enemies. Pinkie counted the days that had passed since she first arrived in Haven City, counting the years as they slowly passed, before three and a half years had passed since she first met Ashelin, Erol, and the Baron. It was on that fateful day that she decided to head to the Fortress, because Ashelin was on a mission, Erol had chosen to ignore her all day, and the Baron was busy, so she had nothing else to do and wanted to see if she could put a certain plan into action... which was why she and Raven entered the building without wasting any time.
Fortunately the guards in the Fortress had grown used to their presence, where Pinkie would walk into a room with Raven riding on the shoulder pad that she had gotten a long time ago and practice her moves on the dummies that the guards had set up for them to practice with, though at the same time Raven would sit on a bench and watch her attack her target.
When Raven was sure that they were the only ones left he would leave Pinkie alone and head into one of the open vents, which Pinkie was shocked to even discover that there were several of them throughout the entirety of the Fortress that she could walk through. They did this multiple times, allowing Raven to search sections of the Fortress and see if he could find anything that might tell her about the Dark Warrior program. Every time he returned to her, before the other guards returned, he mentioned that he had found nothing that would be of aid to her... until one day he mentioned something about bumping into an ottsel that had orange fur. From what he said the two of them exchanged words for a few moments before going their separate ways, each of them knowing that it was best if they didn't say in one place for too long.
"So Daxter is inside the Fortress, looking for something," Pinkie commented, keeping her voice low as she and Raven made their way out of the Fortress, making sure that none of the guards knew what she was saying as they walked out onto the streets.
"Should we tell your dad that he's inside the Fortress?" Raven asked in kind, having mastered the art of lowering his voice to avoid people from hearing what he had said, something that Ashelin had been shocked to discover when he and Pinkie had demonstrated the ability to her.
"Its hard to know if he's in there on business or for personal reasons," Pinkie replied, annoyed by the idea of knowing that Daxter was close at hand and couldn't do anything in terms of speaking with him, while at the same time ignoring the fact that Raven had called the Baron her father, "but if you bumped into him once, and spoke with him, you might be able to find him again in the future. We might figure out why he's in the Fortress in the process, and determine whether its something that will harm the Krimzon Guard or if its something completely different."
"So you want me to figure out why he's in the Fortress to begin with?" Raven inquired, though at the same time he turned his head back and looked at the building he and Pinkie had left, as if expecting to see some hint that the other ottsel was watching them.
"That's the idea," Pinkie said, hopping into the hover car that she had picked up when she left the Palace, while Raven took the seat next to her, "besides, if Daxter is here, in Haven City, than that means that my brother has to be here somewhere... the only question is where is he hiding. I'm positive that Daxter knows that piece of information... we only need to talk with him and see what's going on."
Raven nodded as they headed away from the Fortress, knowing that he was the only one that could figure out what Daxter was doing inside the building and could get him to speak with Pinkie. He had heard the story of Pinkie's first adventure, where she, Jak, and Daxter had saved the world from two people who had gone insane from all the Dark Eco they had been studying. Once they had saved the world they had discovered a ring that allowed them to travel through a rift, but their vehicle was destroyed and everyone had been separated from each other. Pinkie was sure that she had either landed before her brother and best friend, because none of the guards had said anything about finding someone that matched Jak's description.
Pinkie had to admit that she still couldn't believe that she had been in Haven City for three and a half years without receiving word about her brother's fate, but she guessed that would have made sense if he was in the prison section of the Fortress.
She and Raven stuck to a schedule, where they would return to the Fortress every two days and see if Raven couldn't find Daxter, though oddly enough he found him without an hour of searching. Once Raven explained who he was with, and surprised Daxter with the fact that Pinkie was okay, he received an address that was where the other ottsel was staying. Pinkie would then meet up with her friend a few days later, as instructed by Daxter, where she would finally learn that a year and a half ago both Daxter and Jak landed in the Industrial Sector of the city, before Erol arrested Jak and carted him off.
Daxter admitted that he was planning on scouring the whole Fortress, so he was sure of where everything was, because so far he was having bad luck finding Jak, but he knew that Pinkie's brother was inside the building. It was then that Pinkie, Raven, and Daxter agreed to find Jak and bust him out of the Fortress, though once they were outside Pinkie knew that she was likely going to be labeled as a felon... meaning that their only shot at helping the city would be to join the Underground, a much as she disliked the notion. Ashelin, when she figured out what Pinkie was planning on doing after following her to Daxter's place, was much more calm than what Pinkie was expecting, but she did offer a quick way into the prison... but she would have to find her own way out.
There was a warp gate inside a building that they called the Power Station, where Ashelin could easily ask Vin to temporarily connect the gate to the one inside the Fortress, but if it stayed open too long the Baron would find out and put them all in jeopardy. For the next six months both Raven and Daxter scoured the rest of the Fortress, carefully making their way through all of the vents, before they finally got the breakthrough that they were waiting for. Daxter was able to find where they were holding Jak, and injecting Dark Eco into his body to create something that was called a 'Dark Warrior', though he had his communicator at the ready so Pinkie could teleport into the area when the coast was clear.
"Pinkie, are you sure about this?" Ashelin asked, leaning against the consul that would open the warp gate the moment Daxter contacted her sister, who was currently standing near the gate in question, "You don't have to do this."
"Ashelin, I've been in Haven City for four years," Pinkie replied, letting out the sigh she had been holding back, "and for the last two years my brother has been locked away inside the Fortress, where he's been experimented on like he's some kind of lab rat. I don't want to believe that the Baron has anything to do with this, but right now we know that Erol arrested him shortly after he arrived in the city and dragged him to the Fortress. Right now I intend on rescuing my brother and finding out whose responsible for not telling me about this sooner... even if that means joining the Underground to learn the truth."
"I can't talk you out of this, can I?" Ashelin commented, to which she noticed her sister shaking her head, "I thought so. Our father is going to find out about this and have Erol label you as an enemy of the city... or maybe he won't tell our father and simply go over his head again. It wouldn't be the first time that Erol acted without our father's orders backing him..."
Before either of them could say anything more they heard Daxter's voice coming from Pinkie's communicator, a gift from Ashelin that she hadn't told her father about, which indicated that Jak had finished his final treatment, if what had been said a few seconds ago was any indication. At the same time Ashelin contacted Vin and the warp gate sprung to life before their eyes, though before doing anything else Pinkie embraced Ashelin for a few seconds. Once that was done Pinkie moved towards the warp gate and jumped through, knowing that the moment she appeared on the other side the gate would be closed seconds later when Vin told Ashelin that Pinkie had successfully made it to the other side.
Pinkie only hoped that her brother was okay... and that she could bust him out of the Fortress without causing too much harm to him or the guards that were stationed there.
When Pinkie appeared on the other side of the warp gate she found that the coast was clear of anyone that might interfere with her operation, to which she looked around the room she was in. There were several cells that lined the wall on her left, a door that went to another location on her right, and a decent sized vent on the left wall that might serve as an exit for them. After taking stock of her surroundings, which Ashelin had taught her to do, she turned her head towards the middle of the room and found that it was pretty much an abyss... save for the walkway that connected to a torture chair of some kind. That was when she noticed that Jak was resting on the chair, which had converted itself into a table form for the experiments, and that his body was a bit buffer than she remembered, though his hair seemed to be a bit longer in the back and he seemed at least two years older than when she had last seen him... which made sense after she thought about it.
It pained her to see her brother like this, but from what she could tell his chest was moving and that meant that he was alive... she just needed to find Daxter, undo the bindings that were keeping her brother down, and then get them all out of the Fortress before the Krimzon Guard knew what was happening.
"Ding ding," a voice said, to which Daxter appeared from the abyss, where he was riding some sort of contraption he must have acquired some time ago, though behind him stood Raven and the two of them hoped off the machine once it reached a certain height, though Daxter landed on Jak while Raven landed on the walkway with a pile of clothes in his hands, "third floor; body chains, roach food, torture devices. Whoa, what did they do to you Jak?"
"I'm going to kill Praxis!" Jak snapped out, his eyes snapping open as he stared at Daxter, though at the same time he wasn't sure if he was seeing reality or what his mind wanted him to see.
"There's no need to shout at the moment," Daxter said, covering Jak's mouth for a few seconds as he gestured to Pinkie, "I managed to find Pinkie while I was searching for you. Just give me a few seconds and I'll have these bindings..."
Dark Eco flared all over Jak's body as his rage awakened within him, causing both his skin color and his hair to turn grey, though his hair grew out much longer and took on the appearance of spikes. The only other changes that happened to his body were the fact that his nails had turned into black claws, his eyes turned into black pits, and there was some purple sparks coming off of his body every now and then. If Pinkie didn't know any better she would hazard a guess that this was the Dark Warrior program that someone had been trying to complete, but she hated seeing her brother like this.
"..removed." Daxter finished, to which he shook his head for a few seconds as Jak started to focus on someone else, namely his own sister, "Jak! Stop! That's Pinkie Pie, your sister!"
Jak walked towards Pinkie and raised one of his clawed hands into the air, as if he was intending to strike her down for being in his way, but all she did was touch his chest with her right hand, which stopped him in his tracks for a moment. Pinkie remembered that Samos had once said that both she and Jak were capable of channeling the four Eco colors, which they proved in their quest to stop Gol and Maia, but now that she was much older, and more mature, she had to wonder if that meant that they could do the same for Dark Eco. She touched the Dark Eco crystal on her Eco Blade for a moment and felt a tiny amount of the Dark Eco inside her brother start to separate, though a few seconds later it lashed out at Pinkie and forced her to yank her hand off of her brother's chest.
She waved her hand for a few seconds, to get rid of the tingling feeling that had surged through her body, but she smiled a bit as she noticed her brother return to them.
"P... Pinkie!?" Jak said, taking a few steps back as his body returned to normal, or what would pass for normal when he wasn't possessed by a Dark Eco fueled rage, "Wh... what are you doing here?"
"She and her friend Raven came to help me bust you out of here," Daxter explained, to which he collected the clothing from Raven and approached Jak, who seemed surprised to see him as well, "I also brought you some new clothes to wear, after I found your old ones in the trash during the time I spent searching for you, but they should fit you like a glove."
Jak nodded and moved behind Pinkie, who walked over to the torture chair to give her brother some privacy before they started moving, but she kept rubbing her hand the entire time. She knew that Dark Eco was dangerous and was sure that she had infected herself with it when she tired to calm her brother down, though she guessed that she would have to wait and see what happened next. When she heard Jak cough she turned around and found that Daxter had managed to salvage the ring that her brother wore on his chest, as well as his shoulder pad. His tunic was dark blue colored, which she felt was appropriate because of what had happened to him, and his pants were white colored, though it seemed that Daxter had managed to acquire a pair of boots and a pair of gloves that fit her brother perfectly.
She had to admit, her brother looked like quite the fighter in his new clothing, but before she said anything she shook her head and refocused on her mission to get them all out of the Fortress.
"I'll settle for an explanation later, but I do have one question," Jak said, his voice sounding angry, which was due to the experiments he had undergone, before he pointed at Raven, "Who is he and where is there another ottsel in our group?"
"My name is Raven," the dark furred ottsel replied, causing Jak to turn towards him for a moment, "and Pinkie saved me from death a few years ago. I decided to stick around and have some adventures with her, as she needed a companion when the two of you were missing and was trying to find you with her... limited... resources."
Pinkie was grateful that Raven didn't mention that she was, technically, the adopted daughter of Baron Praxis, the same man that Jak had just declared that he was going to kill a few minutes ago. That would have brought on a tide of questions that she wasn't ready to answer, not yet anyway, though she was equally glad that the ottsel hadn't said anything about Ashelin either. She would be sure to tell Jak everything that had happened since the last time they saw each other, but at the moment they needed to get out of the Fortress before the guards found and captured them.
"Jak, its not worth questioning at the moment," Daxter said, to which he climbed onto Jak's shoulder and took his rightful spot on the shoulder pad, where he smiled as Raven did the same thing with Pinkie, "besides, its Pinkie Pie... best not to question how she was able to find another ottsel and befriend him."
"Okay, your right Daxter," Jak replied, letting out a sigh as he looked around the room for a few seconds, though it was clear that he was confused about something, "So... how are we going to get out of here?"
Pinkie smiled and beckoned for Jak to follow, to which she led the way towards the large air vent she had noticed earlier, where they climbed up the crates that had been in front of it and left the area that Jak had been trapped in for the last two years. As they entered the next room they heard an computer voice mention something about a prisoner escape that was in process, telling Pinkie that someone already knew what was going on. A few seconds later they climbed up another group of crates and made their way through the opening they discovered near the ceiling, where they entered an area that had some moving cranes. Daxter pointed out some Krimzon Guard crates that were laying around for them to open, which Jak managed to grab a health pack and some Dark Eco... which separated into two halves and entered both him and Pinkie.
"Huh... I guess I suddenly have the power to absorb Dark Eco now," Pinkie commented, to which she assumed that her attempt to help her brother out had actually given her a new ability that she could use, making her wonder if she was going to have a dark form like Jak's.
"And it seems that your natural fluffed up hair has gone straight," Jak added, moving a strand of hair out of the way, causing Pinkie to realize that she had missed something, "Come on, we'll go over this once we're out of here."
They carefully made their way across the cranes that were in front of them and jumped onto a new platform, where they discovered that Jak could actually jump a little higher than normal, before they came across one of the prison guards. The guard turned to look at them as Pinkie dropped to the ground and kicked his feet out from below, before slamming his head into the ground with enough force to knock him out without doing any lasting damage to him. Jak moved forward and attacked the next guard that was aiming at them, though he kicked his target into the abyss that was to the right of where he was standing, but Pinkie made no comment on the action.
The duo then approached the spin pole that was hanging in front of them and took turns to reach the platform above them, to which they jumped onto a crane for a few seconds before jumping over to another area, where they took out a pair of guards with only their fists. As they progressed forward, and crossed over a gap that required them to use a roll jump, Jak asked why Pinkie was carrying around a weapon if she wasn't going to use it, to which Pinkie replied that fists were more than enough at the moment. After they jumped over the second gap they walked into a room where the guards that were on the level below them opened fire on them, to which they had to duck and weave their way through the entirety of the room before they reached a grate on the opposite side of where they entered.
The moment they reached the grate Jak jumped into the air and slammed down on it with his fist, to which he broke through it and allowed them to drop down to a level where the guards weren't waiting for them. They then moved into a dead end where they found two guards that were standing over another grate, though when they spoke about 'collecting their bribes this week' Pinkie growled and slammed her fist into the chest of one before kicking the other into the wall. As she made sure that neither of them would be getting up for some time, long enough for them to get out of the Fortress, she couldn't believe that there were corrupt members of the Krimzon Guard, which only made her worry about everyone else that was in the guard.
Once the guards had been taken care of they broke open the grate and rode down into the area below them, where they landed in some water for a few seconds, before they climbed onto a platform that rested in front of them. A moment later Raven pointed out an exit above them, to which they climbed up some crates that were in front of them and used the oddly placed door that they found at the top of their climb... where they were allowed to exit the Fortress and enter the district of the city known as the Slums. As they walked away from the Fortress, and kept themselves from cheering until they were somewhere safe, they encountered an elderly man that was carrying a walking stick, though he had a long white beard and some sort of head piece on his forehead.
Raven shuddered for a moment, as if something was wrong, but he shook his head when Pinkie looked at him, making her wonder if his true nature was reacting to something nearby.
"Hello strangers," the elderly man softly said, walking towards them for a few seconds, though his tone indicated that he was trying to keep something a secret, "My name is Kor. May I help you?"
Jak growled for a second, though before he could do anything drastic Daxter pulled on his ear, which in turn caused the group to hear a pair of giggles that came from behind the elderly man. That was when Pinkie's eyes widened as she looked upon a young boy that reminded her of her brother when they were little, though standing next to him was a young girl that looked like her when she was younger. Her minds flashed back to the dreams she had, where she was looking through the eyes of a younger version of herself and saw a pair of individuals that looked like a grown up version of herself and Jak... which seemed to be happening right now.
That made her wonder how many of the other dreams she had, and had told Samos about, were actually memories that appeared as dark and dangerous dreams.
"Is something wrong?" the elderly man asked, though that was when he turned his head around at the sound of approaching guards, to which he beckoned the children to him as he backed them away from the guards, "Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I would move on if I were you."
"By order of His Eminence, the Grand Protector of Haven City, Baron Praxis," the unit leader said, his eyes scanning the faces of everyone in the area, which didn't sit well with Pinkie and Jak, "everyone in this section is hereby under arrest for suspicion of harboring underground fugitives. Surrender and die!"
"Ahhhh, excuse me sir," Daxter said, climbing off of Jak's shoulder for a moment so he could approach the guard, who glared down at him, "don't you mean surrender or DIE!?"
"Not in this city," Kor commented, to which he stepped away from the guards and made sure that the children were with him, before he turned to Jak and Pinkie, "Protect us for these guards and I'll introduce you to someone that can help you."
Jak and Pinkie, having now discovered that everyone in the area behind them was pretty much facing a death sentence if the guards got their hands on them, rushed towards the trio of enemies that were standing in front of them. Jak punched his way to victory, his earlier anger returning as his fist found its way into the chests of his targets, knocking them backwards so he could finish the job with strike against the wounds he had just created. At the same time Pinkie pulled out her sword and parried her foe's weapon, as she knew ahead of time that some of the guards used their guns as striking weapons, though she quickly disarmed her opponent and put the corrupt guard down.
It was at that time that 'Dark Jak', as Pinkie was mentally calling her brother's more twisted side, emerged as he finished off his opponents, to which he slammed into the reinforcements that were coming at them and ripped them to shreds, though he apparently had enough self control to not completely tear them limb from limb. Once those targets had been taken care of, and there were no more coming, Jak seemed to slip out of his new state, though at the same time Pinkie noticed that he was struggling to control himself. Kor apparently had the bright idea to wait for Jak to cool down for a few seconds before approaching the group again, though he was smiling this time, as if he had liked what he had seen.
"What the two of you did was very brave," Kor said, gesturing the the children that were standing behind him, while at the same time Pinkie sheathed her sword before it frightened them anymore than they already were, "These children are important..."
Whatever Kor was going to say next was interrupted by a Krimzon Guard cruiser flying overhead, to which the guard leaned out and told them that they were in a restricted zone before indicating for them to move along, thought that was followed by him flying away from the area and heading to his next mission.
"Now then, I believe I offered you some information for helping us." Kor said, returning to the topic at hand, while at the same time the group started walking away from the Fortress, though not fast enough to draw unwanted attention to them, "There is an Underground group waging war against Baron Praxis, and I believe that its leader, a man called the Shadow, could use fighters like the two of you. Go to the Slums and find a dead end alley near the city walls, where you should meet a man named Torn... he'll help you meet the Shadow, after you join and help his movement first."
With the information received, and Daxter claimed to know the exact location Kor had been referring to, Jak and Pinkie, along with their ottsels, separated from Kor and the two children, though Pinkie watched them disappear into a crowd before turning her attention back to her brother. She didn't like the fact that they were planning on helping the people that were upsetting the peace in the city, especially when there were Metal Heads knocking on the door of the city, but after seeing how those guards had acted, and how they accepted bribes, she honestly had no idea which side was right at the moment. Even Raven, who was sort of new to the whole war between the Underground and the Baron, seemed a little lost on what to do, which only made Pinkie conflicted on what they needed to do.
In the end Pinkie decided to follow whatever Jak wanted to do, which just so happened to be making their way to the alley Kor had told them about and see if they couldn't help the Underground... though she silently hoped that this wasn't the beginning of her nightmares all over again.
Jak and Pinkie easily found one of the larger zoomers, the type that had two seats, sitting unattended near where they separated from Kor and the young children that he was with. Pinkie, being more familiar with the controls than her brother, offered to drive them around the city until Jak was more familiar with the controls, to which they climbed into their seats and she got them into the air. Both Daxter and Raven moved off of their shoulders and took up a better sitting position in their laps, which Jak immediately stated as being completely weird, but with the number of passengers it was either this or getting a second ride... though that made him retract his statement due to his unfamiliarity with the controls.
Once that problem had been taken care of Pinkie maneuvered them into the upper level of the hover zone and carefully made her way towards the location that Kor had told them about... while at the same time confirming the location with Daxter.
"So why are we going so slow?" Jak asked, as he noticed that they weren't going anywhere near the speeds they were used to when they were testing out Keira's zoomer.
"One, its rush hour at the moment," Pinkie stated, carefully maneuvering them around the corner and ignoring the glances that a Krimzon Guard shot at her from his cruiser, though due to his armor she had no idea if she actually knew him or not, "and two, if I wanted to go much faster I would have to move into the lower zone... which is a terrible idea considering how many guards are walking down there at the moment. If we hit one of them, even if it was an accidental tap, we could potentially have the entire Krimzon Guard on our tail until we're thrown into the prison we had just escaped from."
"I... I concede to your logic." Jak replied, letting out a sigh as he took in the sights around him, to which she stared at the buildings that were on either side of them, "This place needs to be fixed up or something... it seems like some of the buildings might be coming apart."
Pinkie had to agree with her brother, though at the same time she had to wonder how the Baron could let so many buildings fall into the state that they were in at the moment. She guessed that part of the reason was behind trying to take out the Underground, but considering that the resistance had been active for as long as she had been in the city, for four whole years, she had to wonder what it would take to bring peace back to Haven City. For a few minutes she followed the zoomers in front of her, carefully following Daxter's directions while comparing them to what she knew, before they reached the turn that they needed to take. She then brought them to the lower hover area and parked the zoomer near the entrance of a building, though as she and the others climbed out of it she noticed several Krimzon Guards looking in their direction... to which she and Jak moved the moment the guards weren't looking in their direction.
As they rounded the corner, and escaped the sight of the guards, they came to the dead end alleyway that Kor had told them about, where they found two people standing out in the open, as if they had been discussing something before they arrived. One of them was a blonde haired female with blue eyes that happened to be wearing a form fitting green jacket, a pair of blue shorts, an orange scarf around her neck, and brown boots. The other person was a male with brown hair and blue eyes, though he was wearing what looked like an old suit of Krimzon Guard armor that happened to be stripped of all insignia and identifying traits, as if he wanted no one to know who he was. The man also had blue lines over a good portion of his face, which looked similar to the markings that Pinkie had seen on Ashelin and Erol's afces when she first encountered them.
"We're looking for a guy named Torn. Kor sent us." Jak stated, though as he said the words the two people approached the group, to which Jak glanced at the man, as he sensed that he might be the person they were looking for, "You Torn?"
"New faces make me nervous," the man stated, his voice sounding dry for some reason, making Pinkie wonder if he was drinking enough water, while at the same time it seemed like he was trying to intimidate Jak, who wasn't buying the act.
"Really?" Raven asked, as if he was taking the man seriously for a moment, before he grinned at him and the woman for a few seconds, "We never would have guessed."
"Word is you three are out to join the fight for this city." the man continued, though at the same time he smirked at them, as if what Raven had said had actually impressed him or something, "You know, picking the wrong side could be... unhealthy."
"I can agree with that," Daxter said, though oddly enough he was mirroring Raven's grin, as if he was in the mood to boast about something they had done in the past, "only its unhealthy for whoever opposes us."
"We would like to join the Underground and help you fight the Baron." Jak stated, laying almost all of their cards on the table, though it was clear that he was preparing to place the final one as well, "Kor told us that we might have the opportunity to speak with the Shadow, provided that we help you guys out."
"Its unlikely that you will ever meet the Shadow," the man replied, though he actually chuckled for a few seconds, as if he thought that Jak had been serious about meeting the leader of the Underground, "If the two of you and your pets want to join something..."
Before the man could finish his sentence, and the others could make their retort to what he was saying, Raven launched himself over to the man, climbed onto his back, and yanked the curved dagger from its spot on the man's back, before taking up a position where the edge of the blade was placed near the man's neck.
"Let me make one thing clear; Daxter and I are not PETS!" Raven growled, though while everyone else was shocked by what was happening Pinkie could hear the dark ottsel's true nature for a second, as it had been contained in his growl before he reigned in his anger, "Now, either tell us what we need to do so we can join the Underground, which I would recommend you do, or we'll find someone whose willing to take us seriously."
"Maybe you do have what it takes." the man said, his gaze shifting between the blade that was held against his neck and his partner, who was standing by the wall and was making no move to help him, "But I need to know you aren't all talk."
"So you want Raven to kill you?" Daxter asked, trying to understand the logic behind what the man was saying, but when he looked at Pinkie and Jak he noticed that his normally happy best friend had a smirk on her face.
"No, he wants us to prove that we have what it takes to stand up to the Baron," Pinkie said, to which she beckoned to Raven for a moment, who returned the dagger to its container before hopping back over to her, which freed the man from the ottsel's grasp, "So tell me, what sort of test do you have in mind?"
"How about stealing the Baron's banner from the top of the Ruined Tower?" the man replied, rubbing his neck for a few seconds, though it was clear that he was grateful that Raven hadn't actually cut him with his own dagger, "If you bring it back in one piece I might consider letting the four of you join the Underground."
"Finally! Now we're making some progress!" Daxter said, though before anyone moved a thought seemed to cross his mind, to which he turned his attention back to the man they had been talking to the entire time, "Um, where is the Ruined Tower exactly?"
As it turned out the entrance to the location that the Ruined Tower was located in was through an air lock that brought them to Dead Town, which was basically a ruined area that looking like it could all come crumbling down without any effort... while at the same time sections of it appeared to be more stable than the rest of the area. Pinkie could tell that they were still inside the shield that was protecting the city, which meant that they wouldn't have to worry about running into any Metal Heads... or revealing Raven's secret so soon. The first enemy they encountered was a small green creature that had big eyes, though when it tried to bite them Jak slammed his fist into its face and sent it into the swampy looking water around them.
It was then that they discovered that the creature had been mutated, in a fashion, by Dark Eco, as both Jak and Pinkie collected a few bits of the Eco that came from the dead creature.
"Does this remind anyone of the experiments that Gol and Maia had planned on doing once they opened the silos?" Daxter asked, though at the same time Jak and Pinkie jumped over a small gap and took out a group of the green creatures that growled at them.
"Yes, though that means that we should be careful around them," Jak replied, though that was before he spotted a red orange coated creature, that happened to be walking on all four of its legs, walking near the piece of the ruins they needed to use to progress further.
It was easy to take the second new creature out, after discovering that it used its tongue to attack them and required two hits to take out, before they crossed the piece of the ruins that served as a bridge and allowed them to get closer to the tower. They then took out two more of the red creatures before they moved onto the rooftop above them, where they made their way towards the small group of green enemies. As they took the creatures out they noticed more walking towards them, to which they either pushed them off the walkway they were on or simply took them out like everything else they had dealt with so far. When all of the enemies had been taken care of, and they were sure that there weren't anymore for them to worry about, both Jak and Pinkie stood before the bridge that would take them to the Ruined Tower... which looked ready to collapse at any moment.
"I really don't like how cracked that bridge is," Raven commented, as he had noticed the state that the tower was in and had come to the conclusion that they might break the entire thing if they weren't careful.
"I agree, but we have to climb it anyway," Pinkie said, letting out a sigh as she and Jak stood side by side for a moment, "Come on Jak, let's show the Underground our skills."
Pinkie and Jak took a moment to gather themselves before they ran over the small bridge that was in front of them, which collapsed the moment the two of them were on the other side of it. With that part done they climbed up the steps that were in front of them, making sure to avoid staying on the crumbling ones for more than a few seconds, before they used a spin pole to reach a platform that came out of the side of the tower. They then jumped at the same time and landed on the platform in front of them, to which they moved for it crumpled beneath their feet and used another pole to get closer to their destination, though after a few more jumps they had reached stable ground once more.
Daxter looked up the stairs that were in front of them and noticed a flag that was moving in the wind, though while he was happy he had expected the flag to be resting much higher on the tower than it actually was. Jak and Pinkie carefully walked onto the platform that the flag was resting on, making sure that it could support their weight, before Jak wrapped his hand around the pole and pulled it free... which in turn caused the entire platform to become unstable. They fell through the air as the pieces of the platform fell with them, though as the stones fell into the water Jak, Pinkie, Daxter, and Raven landed on a fabric awning and launched themselves through the air. Jak and Pinkie were able to land on a rope and grind their way down to safety, though at the same time Daxter landed with the rope between his legs as Raven managed to regain his perch on Pinkie's shoulder.
Jak and Pinkie jumped off the rope a few seconds later and landed in front of the man they had been speaking to earlier, who apparently had come to watch their efforts, before Daxter landed on the ground next to them... to which they all turned back to watch the Ruined Tower collapse behind them.
"All that destruction... and all we did was remove a flag from its resting place." Raven commented, to which the group turned back towards the man as Daxter shook off the pain he was feeling, "So... did we pass you test?"
"Yeah, I would say that you did." the man replied, though there was a small smile on his face while he spoke, which Jak, Pinkie, and Raven returned a few seconds later, "Welcome to the Underground. My name is Torn."
"I'm Jak, and this is my friend Daxter," Jak said, while at the same time he picked his friend up and placed him back on his shoulder, before Pinkie stepped forward, "This is my sister Pinkie Pie and her friend Raven. So, what next?"
"Follow me back to our hideout and I'll tell you what our next move is," Torn replied, his smile never leaving his face for a moment, "I have the feeling that the four of you will be a great asset to the Underground."
As they followed Torn out of Dead Town, and bid farewell to the Ruined Tower, Pinkie still found it strange that she was even joining the people who openly opposed the Baron, but she hid her feelings regarding the matter away and followed her brother... wondering what missions the man had for them to do.
Torn had an eager look on his face as he guided Jak, Daxter, Pinkie, and Raven back to the hideout, which was understandable considering that the group had retrieved the flag as he ordered and had broken the tower at the same time. Pinkie would have suspected that the man would have been annoyed about the destruction of the old tower, as it meant that he needed some other test for potential new recruits, but he didn't seem phased by that fact at all. As they made their way through the city district they were in Pinkie noticed that the water systems seemed to be offline at the moment, as there was no water coming through any of the pipes that were above ground... making her wonder if something had happened to the man pump.
None of them talked as they crossed the distance between Dead Town and the hideout, though once they had arrived at their destination, and entered the secret entrance, Raven decided to address something that he had thought about during the ride.
"You put the banner at the top of the tower, didn't you?" Raven asked, while at the same time Torn moved behind the desk that was in the middle of the room as Jak and Pinkie stood on the opposite side of the table, "I only inquire because it seems doubtful that the Baron would care about that ruined section of the city... otherwise he would have made an attempt to remain it by now."
"Considering what you did earlier, I'm not surprised that you figured out my little secret." Torn replied, rubbing his neck for a second, which was where Raven could have cut him earlier, "The four of you were the first ones to run that particular test, though now that the tower has been destroyed I'll have to come up with a new test for whoever else comes asking in the future. However, since you have proven how capable you are, there are a few tasks you four can do to further our goals."
"Really?" Jak said, to which he actually smiled for a few seconds, telling everyone that he was already imagining the damage they could do to the Baron's forces, "What sort of tasks do you have in mind?"
Before Torn could say anything Daxter proclaimed that being a hero made people thirsty, to which he walked over to a pipe and pulled the lever, where he received a swift wave of gunk that made him switch it off and spit everything out before glaring back at Torn, as if he blamed the man for not saying anything.
"That actually brings up the first task I have for the lot of you," Torn stated, to which he placed a finger on the map so the group would know where to go once he was finished talking, "The Baron's turned off all water to the Slums, since he's somehow figured out that we're based in this district of the city. He's willing to sacrifice innocent lives, just to stop us."
"And where is the valve that would turn the water back on?" Daxter inquired, his mood ruined by what he had nearly consumed from the pipe, though that didn't stop the rest of his group shaking their heads at him.
"My friend in the Guard tells me that the valve to turn the water back on is located outside the city, at the pumping station." Torn replied, which was when Jak noticed the exact location he had been pointing to was where the valve was located, "There's a large drain pipe in the north wall, which will allow you to reach the pumping station... though you'll need this passkey to go outside the Eco Dome."
"This friend of yours," Jak commented, accepting the passkey that was in Torn's hand as Daxter climbed back onto his shoulder, "are you sure that they can be trusted?"
"Yes, I'm sure she can be trusted," Torn replied, though his tone indicated that he couldn't fault Jak for asking that question, especially when the Baron already knew the district that the Underground was hiding in, "When all of you come back, after turning the pipe that is, I should have another task for you to do... one that will really test your skills."
"We'll be back soon," Jak said, to which he and Pinkie, along with their ottsels, left the hideout and climbed into the zoomer they had used to reach the location of the hideout.
A few moments later they started up the zoomer and were on their way towards the pumping station, all while wondering what dangers would await them at their new destination.
Despite the speed they were going they managed to reach the drain pipe in question without anything happening to them, where they discovered that the passkey worked as they crossed through the Eco Dome. When they walked into area that was called the pumping station they discovered a trio of Metal Heads standing in their way, which allowed Jak to have his first glance of the creatures that had made the Baron turn him into a Dark Eco Warrior. Pinkie recognized these Metal Heads as the variety that walked on four legs and used their front claws to attack them, but between her and Jak they were able to put the trio down with some ease. As the enemies died Jak noticed that the glowing gems in their foreheads were left behind, to which he collected them with the belief that he might find a use for them in the future.
Once the entrance of the pumping station was cleared of enemies they jumped on the platforms and went up to the upper area, where they took care of the green creatures that were walking around up there. They then jumped over to a natural ledge that was in their path before crossing to the next pipe that was hanging in front of them, where Raven pointed out that more enemies were on the cliff ahead of them. The red creatures from Dead Town were waiting for them when they climbed up to the cliff, though they were easy to deal with and soon Jak and Pinkie were moving across a rotating platform, where they discovered another walking Metal Head standing guard.
When that opponent was taken care of they jumped over a moving electric fence, took out the enemies that were in front of them, and rode up the moving pistons that allowed them to jump over to another cliff that brought them to the backside of the island. The creatures that apparently called the pumping station home constantly came at them, along with several Metal Heads, but thanks to Raven called out enemies that were coming from behind they weren't too distracted by their enemies. They jumped over several more gaps that were in their way, and avoided falling into the water in case there was something lurking beneath them, until they reached a ramp that brought them to the valve they had been searching for.
As they approached the valve, and made sure that there weren't additional enemies in the area, Daxter hopped off Jak's shoulder and walked up to the objective that Torn had given them.
"Ah, the valve," Daxter said, a grin appearing on his face as he separated himself from the group for a moment, while at the same time he rubbed his hands together, "Allow me."
Unfortunately when Daxter tried to turn the valve he found that he was unable to do so, no matter how many times he tried, though when Jak hit the valve with his fist it started spinning... as well as opening the suction pipe that Daxter was under, which sucked him into the pipe and send him all over the island. It took Jak and Pinkie some time to trace the pipe back to the entrance of the station, where they heard Daxter calling for help, to which Jak turned the second valve and loosed a stream of water for a few seconds... one that contained his friend.
"Next time Jak," Daxter groaned, gently picking himself up and shaking off the water that was clinging to his fur, while at the same time glaring at Raven and Pinkie, who were chuckling at his misfortune, "you turn the valve."
With the task complete, and they were sure that the water was running back into the city, the group returned to the pipe they had passed through and reentered the city, where they found that their zoomer was still sitting nearby and started the journey back to the hideout so they could tell Torn the good news.
When they returned to the hideout, and made sure that the Krimzon Guards had no idea that they had slipped into the alleyway, they found Torn walking around the table with a smile on his face.
"The water is running again in the Slums," Torn confirmed, noticing the looks that the group was giving him, but they all smiled a bit in return, "I'd love to see the heads roll when the Baron finds out."
"What about that other task you mentioned earlier?" Jak inquired, though he could only smile when he thought about the additional damage they could case, "Is it one that will upset the Baron more than turning the water back on?"
"Indeed it will," Torn said, to which he beckoned them to the map on the table and pointed at a large red square, which reminded Jak of the building he had been held in for the last two years, "We've identified an ammo dump in the Fortress, and I'd like the four of you to take care of it."
"Oh, then this will be fun," Jak replied, to which he cracked his knuckles as he made his way out of the hideout, while Daxter jumped onto his shoulder and Pinkie followed behind him.
This time Jak and Pinkie decided to fly close to the Fortress and then park outside the area around it, where they carefully made their way around to the main entrance of the building and passed by the guards, who ignored them completely. When they walked into the building they noticed that a large tank was sitting in the middle of the room that had walked into, one that Pinkie was sure she had never seen before. They carefully observed their surroundings before noticing that the only way forward was through the passage on the left of the main entrance, though all four of them agreed that the tank was associated with the opening.
As they passed through the opening the tank became active and came at them, to which both Daxter and Raven turned themselves around so they could tell Jak and Pinkie where the tank was aiming. As the tank shot at them, and missed thanks to the efforts of the ottsels, it also smashed through every security wall that had been installed along the path that they had to follow. The turrets that were set along the path were easy to avoid, especially when a few stray shots from the tank actually destroyed two of them in the process, though that was before Jak and Pinkie reached a box with a pole sticking out above it... where they moved out of the tanks reach for the moment.
They took a few seconds to catch their breath before jumping onto some rotating platforms and smashing the blowing blue bulbs that were in the middle of the platforms, which opened the way forward so they could get away from the tank for real.
Once they had managed to separate themselves from the tank they carefully made their way across a number of moving platforms and took out the Krimzon Guards that happened to be in their way. They continued to carefully make their way through the Fortress, jumping from the platforms to the walkways until they encountered more guards, where they repeated the process until they came to a grate that they smashed through. After breaking through the grate they jumped up several more crates until they came to a door, one that lead them to a room that had several barrels of Eco sitting around the entrance... one that had a surprise waiting for them.
"Cool! That's a security pass." Daxter said, looking at the coloration of it for a moment as Jak picked it up, where he discovered that it was a red one, "We need those to get through city checkpoints."
Jak seemed like he wanted to say something about the security pass, about how one happened to be laying out in the open, but then he heard something in the grate that was in front of them, to which he signaled for everyone to be silent as they laid down to see what was happening on the level below them. There they found a pair of Krimzon Guards standing in front of a pair of Metal Heads, though to the right of the guards was a pile of Eco barrels, while behind the Metal Heads was an open pipe that had to lead outside the city.
"These barrels are the latest shipment of Eco." one of the Krimzon Guards said, his gaze seemingly locked on the Metal Head that was apparently the leader of the group, "The Baron says take them and get out!"
As the Metal Head growled the guards shifted their guns to face them, as if making sure that they took the Eco that was being given to them and got out without causing a panic. As Jak questioned why Metal Heads were in the city, and the guards happened to be giving them Eco, Pinkie found it hard to believe that the Baron could be betraying the people of Haven City like this. She had thought that the Baron was trying to stop the Metal Heads, but right now the first piece of evidence was pointing a finger at the exact opposite of what she had originally been thinking.
Before she and Jak could talk about what they were seeing, and try to understand what was happening beneath them, they heard a sound as another tank became active, to which they moved towards the massive ammunition pile that was in the room. Jak and Pinkie separated, forcing the tank to target one of them at a time, to which they maneuvered themselves around the area and forced the tank to obliterate the pieces of the cooling system that was keeping the ammunition stable. Once the four pieces of the cooling system were taken care of the door on the opposite side of the room opened, to which the four of them charged out of the building... where they barely made it out before the ammunition detonated and exploded.
When they landed on the ground, and recovered from the shock of the explosion, Daxter announced that Haven City had too much excitement and that they needed to head someplace similar to Sandover Village. As the group made their way away from the Fortress, and relaxed from what had just happened, Pinkie controlled her confusion as she wondered what the Baron was doing by giving Eco to the Metal Heads... though she had the feeling that she wasn't going to like any answers that she might uncover.
With the Krimzon Guard ammunition stockpile taken care of, and they were sure that none of the guards were chasing after them for blowing all of it up, the group carefully made their way towards the hideout. They knew that Torn would want to know of their success immediately, but they took their time to make absolutely sure that they weren't being chased by anyone, with both Daxter and Raven keeping their eyes peeled for any guards that were looking in their direction. Fortunately they found that none of the guards even cared about them, despite the fact that Daxter glared at several of them while Raven merely nodded his head to any that walked by them, which allowed them to reach their destination without raising the alarm.
When they entered the hideout they found Torn on the opposite side of the table, looking at something on his map, which happened to rest on the wall in front of him, but he made no move to acknowledge their arrival as they noticed he was also cleaning his dagger.
"The 'demolition squad' has returned!" Daxter exclaimed, to which he jumped off of Jak's shoulder and landed on the table, while Raven merely ran down Pinkie's arm and stopped beside him, "The ammunition stockpile has been blown to pieces, as per your 'request'."
"We did see something odd while we were getting rid of the ammunition," Jak said, knowing that Torn didn't really like Daxter that much and knew that he would listen to him or Pinkie, "the Baron's guards were giving barrels of Eco to a group of Metal Heads!"
"Really!?" Torn replied, turning his gaze back to the group, though that was when they noticed that he was genuinely shocked by the information they had handed him, "The Shadow will be very interested to hear that."
"Quick question," Raven said, causing the man to turn towards him for a moment, though there was something on his mind that he wanted to get rid of, "You wouldn't happen to be the Shadow, would you?"
"No, but I don't blame you for asking. Many recruits ask the same thing after their second or third mission." Torn replied, though he let out a chuckle before growing serious again, "Though we should get back to the matter at hand... I happen to have another task for all of you to complete."
"We're listening," Jak commented, though based on what they had been given so far, and how easy those missions had been, he was hoping that they would given something more challenging in the near future.
"One of our 'suppliers' needs his payment delivered," Torn said, to which he faced the group and laid his hand on the table, "its a bag of Eco Ore. Take the Zoomer parked out back and drive it to the Hip Hog Heaven Saloon in South Town. Ask for Krew, he'll be there. Oh, and while your making the delivery, don't let the Baron's patrols stop you."
"We understand," Pinkie said, though she knew the name of the man called Krew, because Ashelin had told her some things about the man and hated that they were going to have to associate themselves with him, before she noticed a look on Torn's face, "Is there something else you wanted to tell us."
"Yes; I wanted to tell you that you should pump Krew for information while your there." Torn commented, though his tone indicated that he was hoping that they would discover something while they were in South Town, "He's wired into the city, and may know what the Baron is up to."
The group nodded and the ottsels returned to their places on the shoulders of both Jak and Pinkie, before they made their way out of the hideout and moved towards where the zoomer in question was resting. This particular zoomer was more like the one that Keira had created during their first adventure, though on the back of it rested the package that contained the Eco Core that they were supposed to deliver. Since the zoomer only had enough room for one person, and they needed to be fast considering Torn mentioned guard patrols, Pinkie walked out into the area around the hideout and spotted a lone zoomer, the same size as the one that Jak would be using, to which she acquired it and returned to where her brother was waiting for her.
When they started moving towards South Town they encountered the red checkpoint that rested between the Slums and the Industrial Sector, though as they rounded a corner they spotted a group of guard vehicles waiting for them. It was clear that they had been expecting something in the near future, from the Underground, but instead of bothering to piss them off Pinkie pulled up beside her brother as they moved out of the guard's sight. She then suggested that Jak take the upper walkways while she flew on the lower level, because she had the feeling that the moment she neared them she might be fired upon, which would give Jak the time to slip passed them with them even knowing he was there.
The plan actually worked better than Pinkie had originally thought, as the moment they started focusing on her Jak was able to get through the blockade without being attacked. They both made their way through the section of the city they were in until they were forced to meet back up in front of a second blockade, though they passed under the guard vehicles and moved into South Town as quickly as they could. A few moments later they noticed the water that was resting in front of them, so instead of following the normal walkway they flew over to water and made their way towards the Hip Hog, where they both noticed that the guards seemed to give up about halfway there. When they arrived at their destination, and parked their zoomers outside the Saloon, the guards had completely stopped chasing them, allowing them to enter the building without having to worry about being chased inside.
When they entered the Saloon they spotted two people that seemed to be waiting around for something to happen; a large fat man and a man that was dressed up in some sort of armor. Pinkie noticed that Raven didn't like the man's armor, making her wonder if it was made from the remains of Metal Heads or made to resemble Metal Heads, but she was able to calm him down before he freaked out or revealed himself to everyone in the room. The fat man, on the other hand, was wearing some sort of green colored shirt while he floated around the room with what appeared to be some sort of hoverchair that carried him everywhere.
Pinkie knew that the larger man had to be Krew, though she silently waited for someone to start speaking before she jumped to conclusions and caused a scene... though the person who started talking first was actually Daxter of all people.
"Are you Krew?" Daxter asked, pointing a finger at the fatter man for a few seconds, which he lowered to avoid earning the man's wrath or anger at being pointed at for so long.
"I am." the fat man said, nodding his head for a brief second, just to indicate that he was who the group was looking for, before he glanced at the four of them.
"Good, because we just delivered your shippment," Jak replied, to which he crossed his arms for a moment, while at the same time noticing the look that appeared on Krew's face.
"That's good, eh, because a cargo of rare Eco Ore is extremely hard to come by," Krew stated, his eyes, one normal and one replaced by some sort of robotic one, "and is worth more than ten of your lives! I would have been forced to collect... slowly."
"Trust me, the Baron already tried to kill me and failed." Jak said, glaring at Krew with the same intensity that was being thrown his way, knowing that this could either end in their favor or end badly, "Though we are a little curious as to why the Baron is trading barrels of Eco to the Metal Heads."
"Maybe I'll tell you if you prove to be useful, or maybe not." Krew stated, which caused Jak to growl, because it was clear that he was hoping to get back to Torn with something useful, before he turned to his companion, "Sig, be good fellow and give these them their bonus."
Sig reached behind the counter for a moment and turned to Jak and Pinkie, to which he held out something that Pinkie recognized as the Morph Gun, though both of them happened to be equipped with the Red Eco Scatter Gun modification, meaning that the technology had been perfected since the last time she used it.
"If you want to see what those babies can do I would suggest trying out the nearby Gun Course." Krew told them, just as Jak and Pinkie looked over their new weapons for a few seconds, "If you show some skill with that hardware, I might hire you for a job or two, eh."
Jak and Pinkie looked at each other before they headed outside the Saloon and made their way over to the gun course, where they slipped their new guns onto their backs so the guards didn't stop them for having their weapons visible. When they entered the building they could train inside their communicator spoke up and Sig gave them a run down on how to use their weapons, where Raven commented on the power of the blast when Pinkie used hers. Once the two of them were familiar with the controls, which were rather straightforward with Sig's instructions, they both agreed to go through the actual course and try their luck... where they discovered that the minimum score that they needed to earn was three thousand points.
Jak, having no skill with the weapon and having to run through the course twice, managed to earn a total score that stopped just a little over four thousand, to which he smiled a bit as he finally stopped trying to beat the high score. Pinkie, on the other hand, had a little more practice with the weapon thanks to the training that Ashelin and the Baron gave her, to which she managed to end up with a total score of six thousand and five hundred points. Jak wasn't too pleased about being shown up, especially when he believed that they were both new to this specific weapon, but he decided to see what Krew had in mind for missions now that they had beaten the score that Sig had set up ahead of time.
Once the two of them were finished with the gun course, and had restocked all of their ammunition thanks to the crates that were sitting around them, they made their way back to the Hip Hog, where Krew greeted them the instant they entered the building.
"Excellent shooting you two," Krew said, as if he believed that his praise would make them offer him their assistance in several future jobs that he was currently planning, "Have either of you ever thought about being a Wastelander?"
Jak looked at Pinkie, as if he was thinking that she might know what the man was talking about, but she shook her head and indicated that neither of them had any idea what a Wastelander was. Pinkie was sure that Ashelin might have mentioned the name at some point in the past, but she had never bothered to get a description of them or figure out what they were.
"Wastelander's go out into the wasteland beyond the city walls, fight Metal Heads, and bring me valuable items." Krew explained, though his tone indicated that he enjoyed having some of the mysterious people working for him, "Artifacts, weapons, you name it. Anything worth having comes through my hands... so if you do some jobs for me I can throw some of the sweeter items your way."
Jak and Pinkie glanced at each other once more, as if they were mentally debating the offer that the man was offering them, but in the end they both came to the same conclusion, that by doing some jobs for Knew might give them the weapons they needed to turn the tide against their enemies, be they the Metal Heads or someone else.
"Kill Metal Heads and get some new toys?" Jak asked, smirking for a moment as Pinkie looked at Sig, who was standing beside them with a serious look on his face, "We're in."
"Then Sig will show you the ropes." Krew happily said, a smile appearing on his face as he used his hoverchair to leave the area they were in, no doubt heading to another part of the building that required his attention.
"So you wanna be Wastelanders, huh doughboys?" Sig asked, a smile appearing on his face, as if he was considering having two additional allies would be useful in the future, "Well, we'll see what you're made of when we get out into the thick of it. Krew wants some new trophies to put butts in chairs at the Hip Hog, so I'm gonna bag him five nasty Metal Heads at the pumping station. We'll meet there and track those bad boys down... just don't leave me hanging."
It didn't take Jak and Pinkie long to find their way to the pumping station, not when they knew the route and could easily trace their steps without having to worry about upsetting the guards, though when they walked through the pipe they spotted Sig waiting near the trees with his weapon propped up against one of them.
"Hello, cherries!" Sig said as he turned around, though the four of them guessed that saying 'cherries' was his way of greeting people, "Didn't keep me waiting long. Ready to hunt a few Metal Heads?"
"That we are." Jak replied, to which he and Pinkie pulled out their Scatter Guns and stood on both sides of the Wastelander, which would make things much easier on all of them.
It was then that Jak and Pinkie noticed a new type of Metal Head, one that walked like they did and carried some sort of weapon in its hands, though with three people attacking them it was rather easy for them to take out the first group that was standing in front of them. A few seconds later Sig demonstrated the power of his own weapon, called the 'Peace Maker', and loosed a blast at the nearby tank that had been blocking the other path they could have taken earlier, allowing them to begin the search for their first target. They followed the path and eventually came to a platform that needed to be lowered into place, so while Jak did that Pinkie and Sig took out the enemies that came at them for a few seconds.
That was when Sig spotted one of his targets, which was a crab like Metal Head that had some sort of weapon on one of its arms, to which he charged his weapon and told Jak and Pinkie to defend him. It was rather easy for them to defend the Wastelander, because all that came their way were the red lizard creatures that jumped out of the water, and soon Sig knocked out his target and indicated that it was time for them to move on.
They then continued to advance around the pumping station, following Sig as he hunted down the remaining Metal Heads that were apparently his targets, though whenever he stopped Jak would face one direction and Pinkie would face another. The siblings would take out the enemies that came at them, where Raven would help them out by punching anything that got too close and avoided the guns, until Sig took out the target and moved forward. It wasn't until they had taken out the second, third, and fourth targets that they were assaulted by a larger group of Metal Heads. Sig's gun jammed while they were dealing with the ambush, but thanks to Jak and Pinkie's teamwork, along with Daxter and Raven pointing out enemies they hadn't noticed, they were able to beat their opponents and move onto the final target.
As Sig took out his final target, and the Metal Head fell into the water, the group smiled as they completed the task that Krew had given them... while at the same time Pinkie heard Raven's stomach growl, no doubt from all the bits of Metal Heads that were scattered everywhere behind them.
"Home team five, Metal Heads nothing!" Sig said, to which he turned towards Jak and Pinkie as they put their weapons away, "That was the last one. You should go back to the Hip Hog and tell Krew that we got them all. I'm going to clean the Peace Maker and collect the trophies... oh, and you did good today, for a pair of rookies."
"Hey Jak," Pinkie said, to which her brother turned to her for a moment, "I'm going to take the long way around and collect the glowing gems that the other Metal Heads dropped. We'll see you and Daxter in a few minutes."
Jak nodded and headed towards the entrance, though while Pinkie and Raven walked she made sure that they were out of Sig's sight before letting Raven shift into his hybrid form to tear into some of the Metal Head arms that were scattered everywhere. She mentally cursed herself for not making sure that Raven had his stomach full before coming out where a large amount of Metal Heads were located, because she knew the ottsel would have been hungry the moment he looked at all the parts. After a few minutes Raven condensed himself back into his ottsel form and jumped back onto her shoulder, to which she gathered the gems and returned to Jak.
As they exited the pumping station Pinkie had to wonder when she and Raven would reveal the secret of what Raven was to both Jak and Daxter, but then she sighed and decided that she would figure that out in the future... be it by her own hand or whatever the circumstances around them were.
Once the group was back inside the city, and Pinkie had handed over all of the glowing gems she and Raven had recovered, Jak noticed that a new location had been marked on their map, though how it got there was a mystery to all of them. Since the new location was close to where they were standing, within a few minutes walk by the looks of things, they decided that they could take a few minutes to see what was going on in the nearby area. Pinkie knew that Krew could wait a few more minutes before they returned with news of their success, where she assumed that the fat man would send them out on another mission as soon as they returned, so she was okay with them taking a slight detour before they returned to the Hip Hog.
When they reached the location that had appeared on their map, which happened to be a large hut that wasn't surrounded by another other buildings, Jak insisted that they carefully enter the building... to which all four of them discovered one of the large Precursor Oracles that they had seen before, or recognized in Raven's case.
"Greetings Great Warrior," the Oracle said, though Jak could tell that it was greeting him, while at the same time ignoring everyone else, "I sense there is a dark rage burning within you, and in time it will destroy you with its madness. Your sister has been touched by Dark Eco, though she is in no danger of losing herself to its madness, while your companions have both been touched by it as well. If you bring me the skull gems of the creatures you call the Metal Heads, to demonstrate you skills in battle, I will teach you how to control these dark powers."
Ironically they happened to have enough skull gems, the glowing gems that Pinkie had been collecting, so Jak could learn how to use what he called the 'Dark Bomb', which required that he shift his his Dark Form, jump into the air, and then unleash a burst of energy on the ground that would annihilate all of his opponents. Both he and Pinkie agreed that it was a power that they could use to their advantage, provided that there weren't any innocent people in the area, before they bid the Oracle farewell and resumed their journey back to the Hip Hog. On the way back, however, Daxter felt the need to speak up about something that the Oracle had said to them, something that happened to be connected to Raven.
"So you fell into a well of Dark Eco as well," Daxter commented, looking over the other ottsel for a moment, wondering what he could have been before fate had played its hand, "what were you before you took the fall?"
"An ottsel that had the same color fur that you have," Raven replied, deciding to stick to the original story he, Pinkie, and Ashelin had come up with shortly after his awakening inside the Palace, "so I guess falling into the Dark Eco changed my fur color... and apparently nothing else of relevance."
"Really? That's it?" Daxter said, not believing his ears, though he made sure to brace himself as Jak turned their zoomer a bit, "That's an extremely boring story; that you fell in a pool of Dark Eco, popped back out with a new fur color, and went on with your life, as if nothing had happened to you."
Raven smiled and said nothing in return, though Pinkie knew that her companion was pleased by the fact that such a simple story was enough to cause Daxter to give up, which meant that she and Ashelin had done a good job discovering it. Jak also smiled as he made his way around the city districts that they had access to, where he maneuvered them around the traffic that was in front of them before they landed in front of the Hip Hog. Once he parked the zoomer they hopped out of the vehicle, made sure to collect their guns and strap them to their backs, before entering the building and looking for the man that likely had another mission for them.
After a few seconds Krew floated over to them, though the look on his face indicated that they had been correct in their assumption, which meant that he had another task for them to complete.
"You lot are turning out to be quite useful, though I have another task for you." Krew commented, staring at all four of them as he stopped behind them, essentially blocking them inside the Hip Hog until he said his piece, "The Sewers used to be a fabulous smuggling route for me before the Baron installed security devices... I need someone to go down there and blast all of the sentry gun that's down there. And I'll throw in a sweet weapon upgrade for the two of you, provided you survive the Sewers."
"Sounds easy enough," Jak said, a smile appearing on his face, because it meant that he and the others could screw with the Baron's toys and get some new firepower in return.
"Out of curiosity, why is the Baron trading barrels of Eco to the Metal Heads?" Pinkie inquired, knowing that Krew owed them the answer to that question, because he moved around it when they had last seen each other.
"All I know is that the Baron cut a desperate deal with the Metal Head Leader." Krew replied, though considering that Pinkie didn't threaten not to do his task he felt no need to be aggressive towards them, because he already knew that she would ensure that her group would live up to their side of the bargain and not complain about his missions, "The Metal Heads need Eco, so the Baron supplies them with regular shipments... though in exchange the Metal Heads agree to attack enough to satisfy the Baron's continued rule. Baron Praxis NEEDS this war to stay in power, otherwise the citizens would put the true ruler on the throne... wherever that little boy is hiding."
"Well I thank you for the information," Pinkie said, not exactly liking the fact that the Baron was trading Eco with the Metal Heads to ensure a continuous war, as if he was searching for a way to obliterate all of the Metal Heads in a single attack, "Jak and I will clear out the sewers and get back to you in an hour or two."
Jak and Pinkie, both carrying their ottsel companions on their shoulders, walked outside the Hip Hog once Krew was out of the way, to which they climbed back into the zoomer they had been using earlier, which surprised them that it was still there, before they made their way towards the new area on their maps. When they reached their destination they climbed out of the zoomer, entered the elevator shaft that was in front of them, and silently rode it down to the entrance of the sewers, where they found a trio of the red lizard creatures waiting for enemies to come near them. Instead of wasting ammunition on the creatures, despite the fact that they got some from the crates near the entrance, Jak and Pinkie slammed their fists into the enemies and put them down.
When they turned the corner, after turning on the lights, they spotted a square box that was resting on a stand of some kind, which they quickly discovered had to be one of the sentry guns they were looking for, considering that it was firing between two to four shots at either her or Jak. Fortunately the sentry gun had no way to acknowledge small creatures, which was why Raven was able to get behind it without it even knowing, but thanks to his knowledge of machines the ottsel was able to disable its camera, allowing the group to get close and blow it to pieces with their Scatter Mod.
With the first sentry gun taken care of they crossed over some of the sewer pipes and carefully walked over the wall that was opposite of the area they had left, though as they moved forward they had to take out a Metal Head that was trapped behind a sewer wall. They then reached another passage that had one red lizard and three of the smaller green creatures walking around, though their weapons were able to take them out in a few shots. A few seconds later they turned on another light and found three Metal Heads, the beast like ones that could either walk on all fours or charge at a target on their hind legs, though they easily fell due to the combined power of Jak and Pinkie. Behind those Metal Heads they found another pair of red lizard creatures, which they took out within a few seconds, before they entered an area that happened to contain the second sentry gun.
As Jak moved behind the nearby sewer pipes, to avoid the shots that the sentry gun was firing at him until he could figure out how to get to the target, Pinkie charged at the gun and forced it to zero in on her, but she jumped over the shots that were coming at her until she was close enough to blow it up with one shot.
"Was it necessary for us to hide, when you were planning on blowing the sentry gun up like that?" Daxter asked, though at the same time Jak emerged from his hiding place, where his expression said that he wasn't annoyed with his sister.
"It was distracted when Jak moved to the hiding place," Pinkie explained, shrugging for a few seconds, as she didn't see anything wrong with what she had done, "it would have been wrong to not take advantage of the opening that was presented to me."
Jak nodded and they moved through the next tunnel that was in front of them, though as they walked on the walkway they had to jump as the entire structure fell out from under them. The two of them safely landed on the floor beneath them, but as they gathered their bearings they noticed that the room in front of them had quite a large number of Metal Heads waiting for them. Jak grinned for a moment and beckoned for Pinkie to stand back, to which he shifted into his Dark Form, which he knew how to do thanks to the fact that the Oracle gave him the knowledge earlier, charged into the room while activating the lights, before jumping into the air and releasing the blast the moment he touched the ground again.
The shock wave of the attack knocked out every Metal Head that was in the room, breaking them apart while scattering their skull gems everywhere, to which Jak let out a sigh as he reverted to his original state.
"You know, its a good thing that we visited that Oracle earlier," Pinkie commented, a smile appearing on her face as she collected the gems that were scattered around the room, "there's no telling how useful a skill like that will be in the future."
Jak nodded and finished collecting the skull gems, though once that task was done they climbed up the platforms next to them and made their way to the next tunnel that they needed to move through, where they were greeted by a group of five small green creatures. Once the group had been taken care of, and Jak had collected the Dark Eco that they had dropped, they spotted the third sentry gun waiting on the other side of some pipes that they needed to jump over, which actually was much easier than what they originally thought. Pinkie was able to distract the gun, by having it fire at her the entire time, while Jak swam over to it and loosed a blast from his Scatter Gun that tore the gun to pieces.
A few seconds, and a remark from Daxter to clean Jak's clothes after this mission, later the two of them walked on the platforms that were in front of them, where they turned on the fights and opened fire on the three Metal Heads that were coming at them. It didn't take them long to take out their enemies, and collect their gems, before they noticed that the final sentry gun was waiting on the other side of the room from where they were standing. This one proved to be easy to get passed, as they simply jumped onto a platform, waited for the gun to fire at them, to which they would jump to the next platform and continue on the same pattern until they reached their target and blew it to pieces.
Once the task was done they received a call from Krew on their communicator, to which they learned that the fat man was 'pleased' with their work and that he wanted them to come back to the Hip Hog for their next task. Jak and Pinkie assumed that they would be given their weapon upgrade once they returned, to which they would have a few minutes to understand what they had been given before being sent out on whatever the next mission was. They took out the rest of the red creatures that were in front of them, along with the two Metal Heads that dropped down on them, before they returned to the entrance and left the sewers... much to Daxter's relief.
It didn't take them long to return to the Hip Hog, though Jak did take a few extra minutes to dry his clothes against the wind, but when they returned to their destination they found that Krew wasn't waiting by the door... rather he was floating near the bar counter.
"What IS that horrible smell?" Krew asked, indicating that the scent of the sewers had stuck to Jak and Pinkie, which only seemed to annoy Daxter and no one else.
"Ohhh, great!" Daxter exclaimed, jumping off of Jak's shoulder and landing on a post that was in the middle of the room, though it was plainly clear that he was annoyed, "We do your dirty work in the sewers, and come back smelling worse than a wet hip hog in a warm barn! This could have a serious impact on the lady factor."
That last bit was directed to Jak, who rolled his eyes and shook his head, as if he couldn't believe that his friend was more interested in flirting than trying to take out the Baron or stopping the Metal Heads. Pinkie and Raven, on the other hand, weren't too surprised by Daxter's attitude, though at the same time they were both interested in hearing what the fat man had to say this time around.
"No, uh, I think it was my lunch, actually." Krew stated, making some movements that caused the group to take a step back, before the fat man turned on them, "Nice work in the sewers, 'ey, I guess you're looking for that weapon upgrade, mmm? Well, there's a pair of Blaster Mods stashed in a crate at the Gun Course. Find them and they're yours."
Jak and Pinkie waited for a few seconds, to be sure that this was the only task at the moment, before they got the silent fact that Krew wanted to see how they used the new weapon mod in the gun course, to which they left the Hip Hog and returned to the area where their reward was supposed to be resting. When they entered the building they found the crate that Krew had been talking about, which was easy to find considering that it was out in the open, to which Jak and Pinkie picked up one of the Blaster Mods and attached them to their Morph Guns, which incorporated the new modification and caused Daxter to rub his hands in the process.
The two looked at each other as they heard Sig mention how to use the new modification, because now they had another weapon to learn about... which meant they could see who had the higher score once they got the hang of everything.
Jak and Pinkie were pleased with their scores on the Blaster course, as Jak managed to earn seven thousand and five hundred points before he was done, though Pinkie managed to get eight thousand on her first try. Instead of wasting time on the course, and trying to get the highest scores possible, the group left the gun course and considered the fact that they had gotten what they had wanted from Krew. The fat man had given them two weapon mods, the Scatter and Blaster mods, and given them the information that they had asked for, which meant that they could return to Torn and see if he had anything else for them to do. After a few seconds of debate, and some points made by both Daxter and Raven, the group decided to get in one of the zoomers that had two seats and made their way back towards the alley that Torn and the Underground were waiting in.
Pinkie still didn't like the idea of fighting against the Baron, especially when there was a host of Metal Heads trying to get inside the city, but after everything she had heard so far she had to wonder if the Underground was right to want to replace him... or whether Ashelin was right and that they could hold out until a weapon could be created to deal with the Metal Heads that were waiting outside the walls.
When they returned to the alley in question they parked their zoomer and made their way into the hideout, where they discovered that Torn was looking over something and hadn't noticed them enter. A few seconds passed before he looked up from his papers and noticed them standing there, though if he was pissed that they had taken some time before making their return, by doing jobs for Krew, he wasn't showing his anger. Jak and Pinkie assumed that he knew that they would have been delayed by Krew, which might have been why he was so calm at the moment, but they stood before him and waited for the next mission he needed them to take care of.
"I was wondering what was taking you lot so long to return," Torn commented, to which he set his papers down and looked up at them, where he stood up straight and crossed his arms for a few seconds, "so, what information were you able to gleam from our 'associate'?"
"The Baron is definitely trading barrels of Eco to the Metal Heads," Jak explained, confirming what they had seen back in the Fortress, before getting to what Krew had actually told them, "apparently his deal keeps them out of the city, while at the same time ensuring that they attack enough to justify his continued rule."
"I see," Torn said, shaking his head for a moment, as if he couldn't believe that the Baron was capable of negotiating with the Metal Heads without it blowing up in his face, before he looked up at Jak and Pinkie again, "Well then, let's see what we can do to undermine that deal. One of the Baron's mining operations is under attack by the Metal Heads, though whether or not its a part of the Baron's deal the foreman there is one of our best informants. His name is Vin, and he's just valuable enough to save... so I cannot stress the fact that the four of you need to get out there and save him, before something happens to him. The warp gate you need to use is located at the power station, located near the entrance to South Town, so head there and head to the Strip Mine... then save Vin."
"I think I know the area your talking about," Pinkie spoke up, as she already knew where the power station was located, because she had used that warp gate to get inside the Fortress so she could save Jak, "its easy to find, once you know where it is."
"Whatever the deal the Baron made with the Metal Head's is, the city's Eco is running out," Torn added, though with the knowledge that Pinkie had on the Eco Dome she knew that running out of Eco was one of the worst things that could be happening at the moment, "If we don't get that kid back on the throne soon, there might not be a city left to defend."
"Don't worry, we'll save Vin," Jak said, to which Daxter jumped onto his shoulder as he made his way out of the hideout, where Raven did the same thing and Pinkie followed them outside.
Once they were back outside the hideout they climbed back into their zoomer and carefully made their way to the area that the power station was in, though as they did so Pinkie thought about what she had seen since they had rescued Jak from the Fortress. Kor, the man that had told them where the Underground was hiding, had been keeping track of two young children when they had crossed paths, though Pinkie was sure that she recognized the children in question. She was absolutely sure that those young children were both Jak and herself, though if that was the case, and her memories were to believed, then Jak was definitely the prince of Haven city... but she had no idea if that title even meant anything anymore.
Pinkie let out a small sigh as she watched the industrial Sector pass them by, where she decided that now wasn't the time to worry about the possibility that Jak could be the son of the King that had ruled before the Baron came into power.
When they reached the power station Jak parked the zoomer at the bottom of the ramp that would lead them up to the building they needed to pass through, where Jak got his first look of the building. There were a number of consoles, each having some screens and buttons that could be pressed, that controlled a variety of the city functions across the entire city. As Jak looked around the room, and took in the sights, Pinkie moved to the control panel that the warp gate was linked up to, where she remembered what Ashelin had shown her and made sure that the gate was connected to the Strip Mine. Once she was sure that the warp gate was connected to the right place, and that it was powered up, she beckoned to her brother and they jumped through the gateway, to which they headed towards their destination.
When the group appeared on the other side of the warp gate they discovered that the Strip Mine had pools of Dark Eco laying around, at least six Eco Wells scattered around the area, and had a moving conveyor line that was moving large containers of rock from one place to another, which meant that Vin had to be around here somewhere.
"There's bound to be Metal Heads in the area," Raven commented, to which both Jak and Pinkie pulled out their guns, though while Jak stuck with the Blaster Mod Pinkie decided to stick with the Scatter Mod, "Let's show them what you can do with your weapons."
Jak and Pinkie made their way forward, carefully watching for anything and everything that might reveal where the Metal Heads were hiding, though after a few steps a small Metal Head, one that looked like a scorpion, burst out of the ground and charged at them. Seeing how there was only one of them Jak slammed the base of his gun against the scorpion's body and knocked it out, to which he and Pinkie continued their search for Vin. As they advanced forward they opened fire on the large group of Metal Heads that were coming at them, though they noticed that the group was made up of the new scorpions, the beast like ones they had seen in the sewers, and another new type that looked like a wasp of some kind.
As they walked forward they noticed that there was a smaller conveyor belt that looked like it might lead them in the direction that they needed to go, where they opened fire on the Metal Heads that were following them. It didn't take them too long to each the base of the building that was in front of them, or to ride up the ramps that had been installed so large rocks could be moved out of the way, but they did stop when they noticed that the only way forward was to ride on top of the large rock boxes they had seen a few minutes ago. Once the enemies had been taken care of, and the way was clear, they hopped on the top of the large boxes and rode them over to the other building they had spotted, one that was much smaller than the one they had been near a few seconds ago.
They had to open fire on some more of the wasp Metal Heads that tried to attack them, which were easily taken care of thanks to the Blaster Mods Jak and Pinkie had acquired, as well as two more Metal Heads that were patrolling the door they figured Vin was hiding behind, though once they reached the door they prepared themselves. The group got a brief glance at the room that Vin had to be hiding in, which was another computer room, before someone jumped out from behind the consoles he was hiding behind and opened fire on them, to which Jak and Pinkie moved to the side as the shots flew passed where they had been standing a few seconds ago.
"Ah! Stay back!" the man shouted, while at the same time loosing a few random shots to discourage them from entering the building he was in, though Pinkie recognized the voice immediately.
"Are you Vin?" Jak shouted in return, though he was concerned for the man's safety if he used up all his ammunition on people who were trying to save him, rather than using it on the Metal Heads, "We're here to help... Torn sent us!"
"Stay back!" the man shouted once more, as if believing that repeating himself would force Jak and Pinkie to do what he wanted them to do, though at the same time he ducked behind the console once more, taking cover in the event that the two of them opened fire on him.
"Vin, if we were here to kill you, we wouldn't be talking right now!" Pinkie called out, hoping that Vin would recognize her voice, despite the fact that the two of them had one small conversation before he had activated the warp gate for her.
"Wait... Pinkie?" the man said, to which he came out of his cover and looked at everyone for a few seconds, "If your here, then that means you succeeded and joined the Underground... which means that you guys are friendlies and not Metal Heads."
"Look, we can catch up at the power station," Jak commented, not understanding what was happening, because he had been sure that his sister hadn't known anyone in the city before rescuing him, but now he had the feeling that his original thoughts had been wrong, "let's get moving before more Metal Heads show up."
Vin nodded and followed the group through the warp gate that happened to be waiting beside the building he had been locked inside, to which they headed back towards the city so they could plan their next move.
When they returned to the power station Jak discovered, upon closer inspection, that Vin appeared to be an elderly man given the gray coloration of his hair and slightly aged texture of his skin, though due to his frenetic nature Jak was sure that he was much younger than he actually looked. Vin had an averagely tall build to his body, with some lanky features, though he was wearing protective eyewear over his eyes, brown overalls, white shirt, and mining boots, all of which Jak had been expecting considering where they had found him. The moment they returned to the power station, and Jak had made his observations, Vin went to work on the controls that were around the room, checking all of the vital systems that protected the city from the Metal Heads.
Jak and Pinkie also discovered that Vin actually had something to tell them when he was finished with his system checks, which was why they stuck around instead of telling Torn the good news.
"First, I want to thank you guys for saving my butt out there at the Strip Mine," Vin said, to which he pressed a few buttons and looked at the screen that was in front of him, where a small smile appeared on his face before the frown returned.
"And we would like to thank you for being such a bad shot!" Daxter replied in kind, because he was more worried about being hurt instead of whatever the man was getting ready to tell them.
"Sorry about that, I tend to be a bit jumpy these days." Vin said, though while Jak, Pinkie, and Raven understood Vin's concerns, considering that the Metal Heads were a danger to everyone, Daxter saw an opportunity.
"We hadn't noticed." Daxter said, looking innocent for a few seconds, before he pointed behind Vin, though Pinkie and Raven happened to be standing behind him as they waited near the warp gate, "AHHHH! A Metal Head behind you!"
Vin freaked out and glanced everywhere, afraid that one of them had followed them through the warp gate and only Daxter had noticed it, though when he found that there was no Metal Head he finally calmed down, where Daxter said he was 'just kidding' and that he had a 'nice reaction time'. Raven, on the other hand, didn't find that very funny at all, considering that Daxter had been pointing at him when he made the joke, though he personally couldn't wait to see the look on Daxter's face when he and Pinkie revealed his true nature to them.
"Anyway, those Metal Heads have been attacking our mining operations and we're running out of Eco." Vin finally said, while at the same time getting onto his feet and moving over to one of the other consoles, "Readings show that there is a steady drop of Eco at the Drill Platform, no doubt because there's some Metal Head eggs sucking away at the power. I've reprogrammed the warp gate to take you to your next destination, so just head there and destroy every egg that you can find."
Jak nodded and immediately headed through the warp gate, to which Pinkie let out a sigh and followed after her brother, while wondering what they were going to encounter at the Drill Platform.
When Jak and Pinkie appeared on the other side of the warp gate they discovered that there was a lot of Metal Heads patrolling the Drill Platform, because they discovered another new enemy that was basically a spinning enemy that came in large groups and that it was easy to use to Scatter Mod to deal with them. As they mowed down the new enemies they noticed a patch of eggs, though that was before they spotted a turret that would no doubt help them in dealing with every egg they needed to destroy. As Jak hopped in the turret Pinkie fired at the flying Metal Heads that were trying to defend their eggs, though when one of the clusters was destroyed it brought down a wall that revealed an enemy that had a shield.
It took a few minutes to take care of the eggs, as Jak and Pinkie focused on the flying opponents before they turned on the eggs, but when that was done they moved towards the opening and discovered that taking care of the shield enemies was to move out of the way the instant they fired their attack and then return fire.
Once the shield enemy had been taken care of they returned to the Scatter Mod and fired upon the large group of enemies that were spinning around the area, though once they were taken care of they used the Eco barrels nearby to climb higher so they could make their way around the area they were in. They dodged some flames as they activated a switch and raised a platform into place, allowing them to move forward and get rid of four more spinning Metal Heads, to which they did the same thing and got even higher. They noticed a flying Metal Head trying to fire at the bridge they needed to cross, so they wouldn't destroy the rest of the eggs, but Pinkie shot the flyer out of the air and allowed them to move forward without having to worry about it.
When they reached the second turret they repeated the same method they had used the first time, where they took out all of the Metal Heads that were in the immediate area before turning on the eggs that were scattered around the buildings, while at the same time breaking a hole into another building that would lead them to yet another turret.
The instant Pinkie noticed that the last egg in this part of the Drill Platform was taken care of she tapped the turret and Jak got out, to which they carefully made their way down to the lowest part of the structure they were on before they blew up the Metal Heads that were waiting for them to show up. The opening they had created was, oddly enough, guarded by another shield wielding enemy, though just passed him was a set of platforms they had to jump across and shoot even more spinning Metal Heads. When the third turret went online the rest of the flying Metal Heads came at them, forcing Jak and Pinkie to focus their fire on them for two to three minutes, though once all of them were taken care of they waited to be sure that no more were coming.
When they found out that the last of the flying Metal Heads had been taken care of Jak opened fire on the eggs... though once the last one had been destroyed a crane fell off of where it was resting and smashed into the building in front of the final turret, opening the way for them to return home when they spotted a warp gate. With their task complete, and Vin was happy to have all of the eggs taken care of, Jak and Pinkie headed to the warp gate, where they both jumped in so they could see what else they could do around the city.
Once Jak and Pinkie returned from the Drill Platform, and reported their success to Vin in person, Daxter declared that they needed a break from the constant back and forth between the missions that Torn gave them and what Krew had for them. It was then that Jak and Pinkie discovered that he had rented a small apartment in the Slums, close to where the entrance of the Underground hideout was, before he had bumped into Raven inside the Fortress. The owner didn't bother him and he was able to plan Jak's rescue without people spying on him, which meant that it was the perfect place to relax for the moment, allowing them to gain their energy back before they did whatever Torn wanted them to do, as it appeared that they were saving Krew's missions for last.
They bid Vin farewell, while making sure that he knew that he could call on them should he need them, and got in a zoomer that would allow them to reach the apartment that Daxter had rented, though once they arrived they found it large enough for two adult sized people to be comfortable without bumping into each other and that there was enough room for two ottsels to run around. They grabbed some drinks and a few bits of food that happened to be in the kitchen, which reminded Daxter that they needed to get some more now that there were four of them, for the future he told them. Once they got what they wanted they discussed what they knew about the Baron's plan, which they were going to undermine while trying to figure out how to deal with the Metal Heads that were outside the walls.
After an hour had passed, and they weren't closer to coming up with a way to solve any of their problems, they left the apartment, got back into their zoomer, and headed to the Underground hideout... which they discovered that Torn looked worried about something, though some of his worry seemed to disappear when he spotted them walking up to the table.
"One of my old Guard comrades was sent to the pumping station," Torn explained, to which he turned his gaze to the other reports and mission statements that rested in front of him, as if he was having a hard justifying what to accomplish first, "There has been no word from the patrol, and after what you guys ran into out there I'm afraid that she might need some help."
"So its a lady we're lending our aid to this time," Jak commented, though he did his best to contain his emotions at the moment, especially when he had an idea about why they were being sent out to help her, "let me guess, she's the insider that's been giving you all the information you need so you can target specific parts of the Baron's rule."
"Good guess... maybe I was wrong about you after all," Torn replied, his worry seemingly disappearing as a small smile appeared on his face, "Go back to the Pumping Station and take a look around... and if you find her, make sure she knows that your there to assist her in whatever manner she tells you to."
"We're on it." Pinkie said, though as she and Jak walked out of the hideout she had to wonder if this lady they were heading out to help was Ashelin, because she was, quite literally, the only female officer she had seen in the Krimzon Guard, but decided to keep that bit of information to herself for the moment.
Once they were outside the hideout they climbed back into their zoomer and headed off in the direction of the Pumping Station, as they were all eager to see who they were helping and what that person needed help with. Jak and Daxter made no comments on their current mission as they flew through the city, indicating that they wanted to see what was going on before they jumped to conclusions, while Pinkie and Raven kept their thoughts to themselves. Jak made sure that they reached the hole in the wall that they needed to pass through, to which they climbed out of their zoomer and passed through the opening that was in front of them.
When they walked through the other side of he opening they spotted one of the crab like Metal Heads that Sig had shot down patrolling the place, while at the same time discovering that they took quite a few bullets from their Blasters before they fell. Considering that they had no idea where the Krimzon Guard lady they were supposed to be assisting was located, as Torn had no idea where she was in the Pumping Station either, they simply decided to follow the path they took the first time they came to this location. They followed the path they had chosen and shot down any Metal Heads that happened to be around them, which seemed to be the ones with the laser weapons, as well as taking care of the small creatures that decided to attack them as well.
It took them some time to retrace their steps, without using any of the new pathways that had opened up since the last time they had visited this place, which had been when they were watching Sig's back, though they eventually spotted a trio of pistons that would take them to a cliff that rested just above them... where they found a large number of crates and ammunition waiting for them.
"You know, a large number of crates means that there's an ambush somewhere," Daxter said, waiting for Jak and Pinkie to finish off the three Metal Heads that were in front of them before jumping onto the ground, where he and Jak walked over to the large Krimzon Guard cruiser that was sitting in front of them, "and besides, why are we still walking towards the cruiser?"
Before Jak could answer a figure dropped from the trees and landed behind him, though not before making sure to wrap her arm around his neck and having her gun at the ready... though Pinkie and Raven smiled when they noticed who was standing in front of them.
"Who the hell are you two?" Ashelin asked, to which she glared at both Jak and Daxter for a few seconds, though that was before she noticed who was standing nearby, "Pinkie! Oh thank the Precursors that you and Raven are alright... though I would guess that this is your brother Jak and his friend Daxter."
"That's correct," Raven replied, to which he beckoned to their companions for a moment, "The Baron was holding Jak in the Fortress, experimenting on him for two years, before we aided Daxter in busting him out and joined up with the Underground. Oh, and Torn send us to aid you in, well, whatever you were sent here to do."
"Good old Torn, always being sure that someone's got my back," Ashelin said, though before she did anything else she let go of Jak and backed up, allowing him to rub his neck for a few seconds, "Sorry about that. I was hiding in the trees, waiting to ambush some Metal Heads that have been patrolling the area, and thought one had finally reached me... and then I caught you instead. My name is Ashelin."
"Its a pleasure to meet you," Jak replied, not liking what was going on at the moment, to which he turned his full attention to the newcomer, "So, how is it that you not only know my sister, but also know her friend Raven as well? And why did you thank the Precursors like that, when you said that they were alright?"
"I would enjoy explaining everything to you now, and not waiting for later, but we don't have a choice," Ashelin said, to which she pointed her gun at the trees that were on the opposite side of the cliff they were on, though that was followed by Jak and Pinkie looking back and discovering that Metal Heads were starting to come their way.
As Jak and Pinkie pulled out their guns, and switched to the Blaster Mod so they could hit any Metal Head from far away, Ashelin's communicator went off for a few seconds, to which she found that Vin was calling her about the creatures they were staring at... and the fact that there were at least twenty, if not thirty, of them coming her way.
"I knew that there was going to be an ambush!" Daxter exclaimed, to which he climbed onto Jak's shoulder and stared at the Metal Heads that were slowly coming their way, "Though I don't think the three of you have nearly enough ammunition for thirty enemies, even if they gathered together to let you use the Scatter Mod."
"No, but we have a weapon that they won't be expecting," Ashelin said, a smirk appearing on her face as she turned to Pinkie, though her eyes were focused on the ottsel that was riding on her shoulder, "Hey Raven, do you have enough energy to transform?"
"Oh, I have plenty of energy," Raven replied, to which he jumped off of Pinkie's shoulder and walked towards the Metal Heads, while at the same time Pinkie pulled her brother and Daxter back towards the cruiser that Ashelin was standing near, "Hey Jak, Daxter; get a good look at my true form!"
Pinkie noticed the purple mist start to surround Raven's body, which she and Ashelin had discovered was one of the ways his body could utilize the Dark Eco inside him, one that he used to shroud himself while he was transforming. She could hear the sounds of his body changing shape, the sounds that came from bones changing and becoming something different, but she and Ashelin had grown used to it, thanks to the number of times they let Raven out in his true form. When the sounds died down Raven used his wings to tear apart the mist, to which he raised the front part of his body into the air and slammed down on the ground below him, before loosing a roar that shook the trees in front of him.
"Wait a second... Raven's a METAL HEAD!?" Daxter exclaimed, hiding behind Jak's shoulder as he took in everything that was Raven's true form, while at the same time wondering how something so large could fit in such a small body.
"Oh, he's not just a Metal Head," Pinkie said, a smile appearing on her face as the other Metal Heads took a step back, indicating that they knew how dangerous Raven actually was and revealing that not all of them were mindless beasts, "He's a Metal Head that possesses the ability to transform his body between his true form, a hybrid form, and his ottsel form, while at the same time possessing a blue skull gem that sets him apart from the rest of his kind. And there's one other thing that's different about him..."
"And that would be?" Jak asked, though while he shared Daxter's shock he was actually quite glad that Raven was on their side, because at the moment he knew that they didn't have the power to bring down something like him.
"I'm a dragon," Raven growled, though he never took his eyes off of his targets, who were staring at him as if they were trying to decide whether they could beat him or not, "and I like making the first move!"
Raven charged at the closest Metal Heads and crushed two of them with his claws, though as some tried to flank him he crushed them with his tail, which actually caused Daxter to cheer for a moment. The crab enemies that were above him loosed a few shots at him, though he had learned his lesson from the last time he had fought large groups and used his wings to take the damage, before slamming his side into the rock formation and knocking them to the ground. Several of his foes tried to shock him, though he gladly used his deadly claws to tear them to pieces, while crushing those behind him with the spikes on his tail. He even tore a few unfortunate enemies with his teeth, though this time he chose to swallow the body parts, as the carnage of his kind actually made him hungry.
While Raven fought the horde of enemies Jak and Pinkie gunned down any that tried to flee, allowing Daxter and Ashelin to watch the one sided fight unfold... until Raven was the last one standing and roared into the sky, declaring his victory over his opponents.
"Hey Pinkie," Jak said, to which he turned his gaze towards his sister, as he didn't want to look at Raven digging into the pieces of the Metal Heads that were scattered everywhere, "when were you planning on telling us that Raven was a Metal Head?"
"When something like this came along," Pinkie replied, though she held up a hand to stop Jak from saying anything, "You wouldn't have believed me unless you saw it for yourself and Raven couldn't transform in the city thanks to the Eco Dome that's protecting everyone. An attack like this, with a large number of targets, would have been the ideal situation to reveal his true nature to you and Daxter... and it gave him the chance to actually enjoy himself."
"Yeah... he seems to be enjoying his meal as well," Daxter added, not knowing whether he should be sick by the fact that Raven was eating members of his own race or delighted by the fact that his joke on Vin earlier had been accurate.
"Being underfed makes him grumpy, and no one likes a grumpy dragon," Ashelin commented, to which she turned on her cruiser and made sure that nothing had been damaged, before turning to face Jak and Pinkie, "Tell Torn that Baron Praxis is planning something big... and I think that it has something to do with that symbol."
Jak and Pinkie looked at the symbol that was etched into the stone that Ashelin had landed near, one that happened to be two hawkeye symbols pressed together in an oval. Pinkie suspected that she might know what the symbol was, but based on everything that had happened since she woke up in this world it was hard to tell if she was remembering the right thing or not.
"What is it?" Jak inquired, as he had absolutely no idea what the symbol was, but if the Baron was looking for things associated with it than so was he, more so he could use whatever he found against the man that had experimented on him.
"It's the Seal of the House of Mar, the founder of Haven City." Ashelin explained, though at the same time she sat down in her seat and began the final preparations she needed for takeoff, "We're being sent out on suicide missions to locate artifacts from the time of his rule. The soothsayer Onin in the bazaar might be able to tell you more... so here's my bazaar access security pass. I'll see you guys around."
As Jak caught the security pass, and Daxter returned to his shoulder, Pinkie waved to the cruiser as Ashelin lifted her ship into the air and flew off to wherever her next destination was. Once Ashelin was gone, and the sounds of her cruiser had disappeared, they turned back to find that Raven was gone with what he was doing and had reverted back to his ottsel form. With some new information in hand the group headed for the entrance of the Pumping Station, while Jak spent a few minutes telling Torn that they had 'assisted' Ashelin, though he left out Raven's true nature until Pinkie decided it was time for him to know.
When they were back inside the city they located a zoomer, oddly the same one that they had used to reach this part of the Water Slums, to which they climbed into it and headed towards the bazaar.
It didn't take them long to reach the bazaar district, though they were forced to walk on foot for the rest of their journey, to which they took some time to look at some of the food that people were selling as they made their way to Onin's hut. When they found their destination they discovered that there were quite a number of dead things lining the walls of the hut, along with a parrot looking creature that was apparently playing dead, not that Daxter could tell the difference in that regard. Onin happened to be sitting in the middle of the room, though she looked ancient and had a large number of wrinkles, while at the same time wearing a large hat that could resemble a bird bath.
"Check out all the dead stuff," Daxter said, though that was when he decided to poke the parrot creature in its beak, or snout, which was followed by the creature awakening from its slumber and snapping at his fingers.
"Touch the goods again, rat boy, and you'll be, arrkk, counting with your toes!" the creature said, glaring at Daxter for a few seconds, before he left his perch and flew over to Onin's hat, making a dramatic reveal in the process, "I am Pecker! Yes, yes, I know. My mother, she was... very vindictive. I am Onin's interpreter."
The group contained their laughter at Pecker's name, because the moment the creature stopped talking Onin seemed to realize that they had guests, to which she opened her eyes, which appeared to be blind, and clapped her hands, activating some Blue Eco in the air as she started to make signs that Pecker began to read.
"Onin welcomes you," Pecker translated, making some effort to actually tell them what the old lady was saying, while at the same time choosing to ignore other parts, "blah blah blah, the usual boring salutations, she says it is good to see you again, Jak and Pinkie."
"But neither of us have met her before," Jak commented, seeing a flaw in the old lady's logic, though at the same time he felt that he was actually the one that was wrong.
"Before... After... it is all the same to Onin," Pecker said, though as he prepared himself to translate what was coming next he noticed that Onin had stopped for a second, to which he simply shrugged and waited until she started weaving more signs for him, "Strange... she also says that it is good to meet a Metal One that is unchained from the Master... and, oddly enough, I have no idea what she is referring to. This is only the second time this has happened, where I have no idea what she's referring to, but the first time isn't important to you... as you came here for something else."
"That we did," Pinkie agreed, though she had the suspicion that Onin was referring to Raven at the moment, but she kept her thoughts to herself as she waited for Pecker to translate whatever Onin was saying at the moment.
"Onin says you seek answers about the Tomb of Mar," Pecker explained, to which the two hawkeye symbols appeared in front of Onin, just to make sure that Jak and Pinkie knew what the Seal of Mar looked like, "She's going on and on about mystical energy channels, evil curses, and stupid 'ooooooo' crap. Forget all that, I'm gonna sum this up quickly, because now you're cutting into my siesta time. Onin wants you to recover three artifacts from the Precursor Mountain Temple. Not two! Not four! THREE! Use the warp gate at the northwest side of the city, and bring back the three items you find!"
Jak nodded and left the hut as Pecker landed on Onin's hat, to which he made a dismissing motion with his wing as Pinkie followed her brother outside, allowing the parrot creature to relax once more. Pinkie had to wonder what sort of creatures they would encounter in the Precursor Mountain Temple, though one look on Raven's face indicated that he was itching for a new area to explore. She also had the feeling that Daxter and Pecker would be at odds with each other more in the future, but she and Raven focused on what they were doing and followed after Jak... knowing that there would be time for such thoughts later on.
Once Jak and Pinkie had finished visiting Onin’s hut, and Raven pulled Daxter away before he could further annoy Pecker, they returned to the walkway that would allow them to reclaim their zoomer, which was oddly in the same place without any signs of it having moved since they departed from it. Pinkie had to wonder if Ashelin had noticed which zoomer they were using and ordered the other Krimzon Guards to ignore it whenever they parked it, but she guessed that she could ask her the question when they had time. Jak didn’t seem to mind that the zoomer had been left alone, because the moment they returned to it they climbed into it, powered it up, and got into the traffic that was in front of them, where Pinkie opened the map and directed her brother to the area that the Precursor Mountain Temple was located in.
What Pinkie wasn’t expecting was that the area they were heading to was the same area where she had landed in after being ejected from the rift that they had traveled through, which allowed her to see the entrance that they needed to go through... and allowing Jak to park their zoomer at the same time.
Once they had reached the small hole in the wall they climbed up the ramp and entered the airlock, which closed behind them and was followed by the other door opening in front of them, where they discovered that there was a gap between them and their next destination. Jak also discovered that they had to use the nearby warp gate so they could get up there, but Pinkie, having been here before in the past, didn’t say anything and simply followed her brother through the gate. When they appeared on the other side of the gate, which was on the cliff that was on the other side of the gap, they spotted some crates and collected the ammunition that was inside them... before they went around the corner and noticed the large temple that was waiting for them.
“So this is the Precursor Mountain Temple,” Jak commented, looking at everything that was in front of them at the moment, while at the same time trying to figure out where the three relics they had come here for were located, “I have the feeling that this will take some time to explore before we find everything that we need to find.”
“We had better get started then,” Pinkie said, pulling out her blaster and putting a shot in an upside down platform, which flipped around so they could cross over to an elevator platform, before crossing over to the structure she had spotted, “Come on, let’s go exploring and see where those relics are waiting for someone, like us, to recover them.”
Jak crossed over the gap and together the two of them rode down to the area in front of them, where they discovered that two of the Metal Heads, the ones that walked on four legs all the time, charged at them, though a few seconds later they were taken out. It was then that the group determined that they should go to the left of where they were standing, because there happened to be a side path that might take them to one of the relics that they were searching for. They also spotted one of the shield carrying enemies standing in their way, so when it targeted one of them the other would fire at its opening and take it out. Behind the shield enemy was a trio of small jumper enemies, which were waiting at the top of a few steps, but they were easy to take out with one blast of the scatter mod.
When they jumped into the area in front of them, which appeared to be a dead end without anyway back up to the path they had come from, one of the rock walls fell apart as a large Metal Head, one that looked like a bull creature, charged out of wherever it was hiding and charged at them. Raven immediately recognized this type of Metal Head, so he advised that they lure it around the area until it reared up onto its hind legs, which would reveal its weak point and allow them to finish it off quickly. A few minutes of careful maneuvering passed before the bull Metal Head was dead, which revealed a lever that they could use to open the pathway in front of them, to which they grabbed onto the piece of Precursor metal that broke out of the rock wall and continued forward.
Another shield enemy was waiting for them on the other side of a gap, though they simply let it shoot at them before returning fire and then moving on once it was dead. They then passed over a rocky walkway that apparently had three platforms trapped in the ground, though once they reached the dead end in front of them the ground shook for a few seconds before the walkway shattered... releasing the platforms and creating a set of jumps that would allow them to reach the next part of the area they were exploring. They then jumped over some of the obstacles that were in front of them before they came to a small body of water that contained a group of jumpers, which were easily dealt with, before they attacked the group of beast enemies that were on the other side of the water.
Once they had cleared out all those enemies, with Raven pointing out those that were trying to flee, they shot down a third shield baring Metal Head before activating the button it was guarding, allowing them to climb upwards and stare at the structure that was in front of them. That meant that they had to take care of about fifteen jumper enemies when they finished climbing upwards, though once they were finished they put their weapons away and approached the structure... though Jak and Pinkie stared at the strange object that was hanging in the middle of the ceiling for a few seconds, while Daxter approached the beam of light that was emitting from the object.
“That’s some peeper, huh?” Daxter commented, while at the same time he foolishly stepped into the beam of light, which he seemed to have ignored, and started waving his hands towards him, as if he was smelling something interesting, “Something’s cooking... kind of smells like... BURNT OTTSEL!?”
As Daxter’s tail caught on fire he ran around the area they were in, while Jak and Pinkie stood their ground as the hidden gears in the area engaged... allowing Jak to catch the crystalline item, which looked like a lens of some kind, before turning his attention to his companion.
“You okay Daxter?” Jak asked, though he seemed to get his answer when his friend jumped into the water around them and quenched the fire, which made Daxter sigh in relief, “Yeah, your okay.”
With Daxter okay from his ordeal, and they were sure that the first relic was secured within Jak’s pack, they walked onto a nearby platform and rode it down towards the large open structure that they had seen before making the decision to change courses. A few seconds later they arrived at the area they were heading towards and dealt with the three jumper enemies that they located, though with the immediate area cleared they carefully determined which path they took next; either heading down the path on the right of the entrance or jumping down the nearby platforms. In the end they decided to travel through the opening in front of them and ignore the platforms for now, where they opened fire on the beast Metal Heads that were in front of them.
They then jumped up a bunch of stone slabs that took them upwards for a few feet, where they had to use the Scatter Mod to cut their way through the jumper Metal Heads that were blocking their way... as well as the shield baring Metal Head that was in the clearing that was at the top of the slabs. Once the enemies were taken care of they walked up a set of rocks that allowed them to move across a moving platform, where they discovered that they needed to deal with a puzzle of some kind... which happened to be surrounded by a large amount of Dark Eco.
“Not another puzzle...” Daxter moaned, though at the same time he shook his head and rested on Jak’s shoulder, indicating that he was going to sit back and watch what happened, “Well, do your thing and get us across all of this Dark Eco... which might explain what the Metal Heads are doing here.”
As Jak started messing with the boxes in front of them, and pressed the button that happened to reset them, Pinkie supposed that the Metal Heads could have been in the area with the purpose of gathering all of the Dark Eco that was around the area to feed their army. Despite all the time that she had spent with Raven, four years when she reflected on all of it, she realized that she still didn’t know a lot about his species, which she knew was because Raven either didn’t want to share or he was incapable of sharing information with them. Leaving the Metal Head Nest had changed the dark ottsel, because he had forgotten his name and a number of things, but he seemed stable now, though at the same time Pinkie hoped that he would be able to share some things with them... in the future.
It didn’t take Jak very long to solve the puzzle, as he determined how a six sided box unfolded and simply connected one box to the next one until he had a walkway for them to walk on, to which they crossed over to the floating platform and jumped onto the structure that was in front of them... where they discovered another bull Metal Head waiting for them. They repeated the method they used on the first bull creature and soon the second one was dead as well, where the gate blocking their way was opened and they walked inside, to which they noticed a Precursor statue with a floating blue crystal, that vibrated in the air, in front of them.
A few seconds later Daxter shoved the crystal into Jak’s pack, making a comment that he was surprised that the crystal didn’t damage the lens, before they carefully climbed back down to the structure they had passed through earlier.
Once they had returned to the structure they found a trio of floating platforms that they used a shot to move into position, though as they jumped down them they noticed a third bull Metal Head waiting for them. Jak and Pinkie used the same method they had used to defeat the previous two they had encountered, maneuvering around it as it tried to ram one of them down, before they beat their opponent, pressed the button that revealed the walkway that they needed to take, took out four beast Metal Heads, and stopped in front of a steep wall that had falling rocks coming in their direction.
Jak and Pinkie were able to carefully maneuver themselves around the area in front of them, timing their jumps so they wouldn't be hurt by the falling rocks, before they reached a small gap at the top of the hill. Once they had reached the top they used their guns to flip the platforms back into position and crossed over to the other side, giving them another view of the large container that contained the blue flames they had seen when they entered the temple area. They then approached a strange contraption that they had spotted earlier, though as they did so Daxter walked forward and spotted a small gear that was floating at the base of the machine... though when he took it the entire thing fell apart.
With the third and final relic gathered, and an ancient machine destroyed, the two of them walked back to where they had entered the area, though at the same time they listened to Pecker tell them that Onin was going to look search the timeline or something for answers as to what the relics went to. When they walked through the airlock a few minutes later they got a communication from Krew, one that indicated that he had something he wanted to speak with them about, so seeing how there was nothing else to worry about at the moment Jak and Pinkie made their way back to the Hip Hog.
The group had barely taken a few steps into the saloon before Krew started his pitch on whatever he wanted them to do, which immediately made them wonder what they were going to get out of this particular mission.
"I have a proposition for the lot of you," Krew said, to which he pointed his fan at the trophy he had been staring at for the last few minutes, "Racing is the biggest sport in the city and Erol, the Captain of the Krimzon Guard, is the undisputed grand champion in the sport at the moment. He's crazy and dangerous on the track, though knocking him off of his pedestal might be a worthwhile venture for you to take on... especially since it likely 'aid' your friends in the Underground in the future."
"And let me guess, you rake up the profits regarding any underdogs?" Raven asked, though as he sat on Pinkie's shoulder he found it amusing that the fat man was nodding to him.
"A client of mine is looking for a fast driver for her racing team, and I have a security pass to get you into the stadium." Krew answered, though he tossed the pass over to Jak, who caught it while Daxter claimed the contract that was being produced, "Oh, and your racing contract. I acted as your agent, with just a... few trifles for me. My client also told me that she would only consider you, and you alone Jak, if you managed to reach the stadium in less than three minutes... from the Hip Hog of course."
Jak, never being one to pass up a challenge that involved racing, gladly walked outside and looked at the small zoomer that had been brought out for him to use in his venture, though before he did anything he waited for Pinkie to get one that was resting nearby. It was mainly so she could follow him and make sure that he didn't get lost, but he was hoping that this would provide some challenge for him as he climbed onto the zoomer. Once the two of them were ready they raced off into the distance, which was somewhat funny because when they expected to run into some traffic they found that most people were busy doing something else... allowing them to race towards their destination.
In about two and a half minutes they had reached their destination, to which Jak and Pinkie happily jumped off their zoomers and approached the building that was in front of them, where they immediately found the place they were looking for... though the person they were searching for was working behind a curtain and was ignoring anyone that might walk into her workshop.
"Hello?" Jak called out, though as he did so Daxter climbed off his shoulder and looked at the vehicle that was to their left, while Pinkie and Raven took a moment to look at the trophies that were out in the open, "Krew said someone was looking for a race driver?"
"I'm busy right now!" the lady called back to them... though Pinkie couldn't help but think that the voice was strangely familiar, so much so that she could have sworn that she recognized it immediately, "You must be Krew's new errand boys. Look, I don't mean to be rude... you did get here fast... but I'm not interested in any new drivers just now. However, if your really interested in joining my racing team, I might consider letting you join... that's if you would consider testing out my prototype jet-board and beating the record."
Jak smiled and gladly made his way towards the stadium, where he and Pinkie discovered that a course had been set up ahead of time, almost as if the lady had expected them to arrive and had been planning on having them test out the board anyway. It didn't take them long to find the board, though as Jak climbed onto it the communicator opened up and the lady gave them the basic instructions on how to use it, which caused Jak to start riding around with it and experimenting with the controls. Considering that there was only one board at the moment Jak let Pinkie have a chance to test out the controls before hanging it back to him, where he attempted the course that had been set up.
A few minutes later the judge announced that he had beaten the lowest score necessary, to which the lady indicated that they should return the board to its resting place so she could use the data to improve it... though once that was done Jak and Pinkie made their way back towards the shop.
"Wow, I honestly didn't expect you to beat the score on your first attempt," the lady told them, indicating that she was surprised by what Jak had done in the stadium, "I don't have a place on my team for a new racer just now... but you certainly deserve something for your efforts."
"We'll gladly just make sure you remember us when an opening appears on your racing team." Pinkie replied, to which she turned to her brother, while noticing how he was staring at the curtain at the moment, "Come on Jak, let's go see if someone has something for us to do."
"Wait, Pinkie?!" the lady said, to which the curtain was pulled back and Keira, looking a few years older than Jak and Pinkie remembered her, stepped out of the area she was working in, before she noticed who else was standing around her at the moment, "Jak... Daxter..."
Jak, instead of stalling for a few seconds, stepped forward and embraced their long lost friend, knowing that at least all of them were safe, to which Keira embraced him in return. Pinkie smiled as she looked upon the two of them, knowing that there had to be a story behind how Keira landed in Haven City and managed to thrive during the years she spent here... though she was more than willing to wait for the two of them to finish their embrace before they got to the stories.
"Keira, how long have you been inside Haven City?" Jak asked, because based on what he knew, from all the stories he had heard so far, that Pinkie had been living inside the city for four whole years before she managed to find him and Daxter.
"For about six years now," Keira replied, though at the same time she knew that the question would have been coming, because she looked much older than she had been when they had gone through the Rift Gate all those years ago, though now she looked like she was Jak's age, as well as Pinkie's age, "When I was ejected from the Rite Gate I managed to grab onto several pieces of the Rift Rider and make some sort of sled that allowed me to safely ride down the hill I would have slammed right into. The collision would have hurt me, but thanks to my smart thinking I was able to save my own skin, though that eventually ended with me landing in a large scrap yard.
I spent an hour or two searching the scrapyard for anything usable, though I eventually found enough usable parts that allowed me to make a working zoomer that could bypass the Eco Shield and get me inside the city. Of course I was ignorant of the rules and laws that existed inside the city and had no way of knowing that the codes I had found would put any vehicle on the Guard's most wanted list. I ran into a road block after a few minutes and was captured almost immediately, as I'm not a fight and had no way to defend myself, but after a few hours I was brought before the Baron and was given a deal; either I work on building more zoomers like the one I had made or I go to jail until they decided to release me."
"I can tell which choice you went with," Jak commented, indicating with a hand to the vehicles around them, before turning back to Keira, "so then I guess you spent the last six years trying to appease the Baron, while at the same time trying to figure out where Pinkie, your father, Daxter, and I landed."
"Yes, while improving several Guard vehicles for battle against the Metal Heads," Keira answered, to which she sighed for a moment, "I did get a glimpse of one Metal Head, about five years ago, and I started staying inside the city every since that day, to which I devoted every free moment I had to finding out where you guys landed and where you went."
"Well, Jak was locked inside the Fortress for two years," Daxter spoke up, though at the same time he had no idea what Pinkie had been doing before she and Raven had discovered him, "He was basically being forced to endure two years of experimentation, so the Baron could create a group of Dark Warriors to deal with the Metal Heads... but it appears that Jak is the only one that managed to survive the experiments."
Keira nodded her head in understanding before turning to Pinkie, as she was curious as to what had happened to Pinkie during the years that she had lived through after exiting the Rift.
"I landed in the city a little over four years ago now," Pinkie spoke up, knowing that they were going to want to know everything she could tell them, "once I did so I was found by Erol and was incorporated into the Krimzon Guard, though I was never made into an actual member. I trained for some time until I was sent to shadow someone on one of their missions, where we encountered Raven and saved his life, who eventually joined me as a constant companion until we could figure out where you guys were. It wasn't until Raven discovered where Daxter was hiding that we even knew where Jak was being held, to which we joined him and helped Jak escape... and here we are now."
"And your odd clothing?" Keira asked, pointing to what Pinkie was wearing for a few seconds, "I've only seen one other person wearing something like that, and her name is Ashelin."
"I found them before busting Jak out of the jail," Pinkie replied, knowing that it was best to keep the knowledge of her relationship with Ashelin and the Baron a secret for now, "Maybe she threw a pair away and I happened to find it?"
"Right..." Keira said, clearly not believing what Pinkie was telling her, but she ended up shaking her head and turned back to Jak and Daxter, "Look, the only reason I have been helping the Baron is because I believed him to be the city's best option in the war against the Metal Heads, and it sure beat jail time, but now that we're all together again we should be able to figure out a way to turn the tide against those monsters... and hopefully figure out where my father landed."
"Well, I know that Krew is likely waiting for us to return," Raven spoke up, knowing that the fat man likely had another mission for them and was no doubt getting mad that they were taking so long to return, "so we should return to him and see what he wants with us."
"Okay, that sounds like a plan," Keira replied, to which she let out a sigh as she looked outside the room they were in, as if she was expecting some of the Guard to show up, "I'll keep my ears peeled for anything and everything that might be helpful to you in the future."
Jak handed Keira both his communicator and Pinkie's, allowing her to input the connection key that would allow them to speak with each other when she discovered something before handing them back, to which they bid Keira farewell and climbed back into their vehicle, where they began the trek back to the saloon... and more importantly Krew.
It didn't take Jak and Pinkie very long to reach the saloon and park their zoomer, though when they entered the building they immediately noticed that someone else was standing behind the bar, which meant that Krew had either hired someone or the Underground had sent someone to spy on the fat man. Daxter, however, decided that now was a good time to make a move and try to flirt with the 'new' employee, to which Jak, Pinkie, and Raven shook their heads as they followed him towards the bar.
"Hey sugarplum, you new here?" Daxter asked, though at the same time he ran his finger around the top of a bottle that happened to be sitting on his left, much to the annoyance of Jak, "Well, whatcha got that's, uh, hot and... Wait, I've seen you before. You're with the Underground."
"Shhh! I'm Tess." the lady said, allowing Jak and the others to finally put a name to the face that they had seen back when they had first encountered the Underground, "Torn sent me to spy on Krew. Play along, and I may be able to get my hands on a few of Krew's secrets."
" Oooooh... I love 'undercover' work, baby!" Daxter replied, though he got a look in his eyes that made both Jak and Pinkie moan a little bit, "But ah, two can work better than one. Let me help you out."
What happened next was that Daxter climbed behind the bar and started going through everything that was available or within arms reach, to which Jak and Pinkie heard him actually opening several of them and tasting the contents. They both knew that he was going to get drunk, though Raven merely shook his head as he stared at the orange ottsel, but he said nothing as they waited for Krew to come tell them what their next mission was. Fortunately they didn't have to wait very long, because once Daxter opened the first bottle the owner of the saloon was upon them, which meant that he was ready to tell them what he wanted them to do next.
"Jak!" Krew said, though as he came to a stop near them Pinkie knew that this would be a simple mission, as the fat man had made no mention of her at all, "I need you and the talking rat to go around and make a few 'collections' for me."
"Okay, that sounds simple enough." Jak replied, though at the same time Daxter, upon hearing that he had no time to truly get drunk, capped whatever bottle he had opened and climbed back up until he was behind Jak once more, "Got any specifics we need to know or any special rules we might need to follow?"
"I have six 'clients' around town who are about to make money drops for me." Krew explained, to which he pulled out a map that had the details of the various drop points Jak would need to go through, "I need you to collect each moneybag as fast as you can and 'take care' of any guards who get curious. Get to a moneybag too late and some townie might pick it up. Just collect all fourteen moneybags before they disappear and bring them back here... though I won't bother to explain what will happen if you lose even one of them."
Jak nodded and walked outside the saloon, with Daxter back on his shoulder, to which everyone else heard the sound of a zoomer starting and departing from the area. A few seconds later they heard the sound of the Guards' zoomers passing by and firing at someone, though Pinkie paid it no mind as she and Raven waited for her brother to return. It didn't take much time for Jak and Daxter to return to the saloon, to which Jak received some praise for his quick actions and collecting all of the moneybags in a timely manner... to which he handed him and Pinkie a gun upgrade, which was for the Scatter Gun's rate of fire, before he asked them to get out so he could have his beauty rest.
With that done Jak and Pinkie made their way back to the Power Station, where Vin was holding the fort, because there was something they needed to ask him, especially when it would help Jak reach his target.
"Vin, buddy." Jak said, to which he approached the nervous man while Pinkie stood by the door, just to make sure that none of the guards came in and interrupted them, "We need a favor."
"I can't help you with your eco bill." Vin replied, to which he waved both Jak and Pinkie off, hoping to send them away until he was finished with whatever he was working on at the moment.
"Look, we need you to switch on the access elevator in one of the Palace's support towers." Jak explained, hoping that such a thing would be simple for someone like Vin to accomplish, especially when he took into consideration everything the man had done in the short amount of time.
"Sheesh, that's part of the old B-Zone power grid!" Vin exclaimed, which immediately told Jak and Pinkie that accessing it might not as easy as Jak was originally thinking, "It hasn't worked for years."
"Well, if it's too hard for you, I'm sure Jak will understand." Raven commented, though at the same time Pinkie noticed that the ottsel on her shoulder was grinning at the moment, which told her that he was trying something different than the direct approach, "Power stuff can be tricky."
"Tricky?" Vin stated, though his tone indicated that he didn't know whether he should be annoyed with Raven or pissed off at him, to which he started moving around the room and started talking to them in his own terms, "I could route the B-Zone conduit lines through the bypass grid, shunting past the Eco rings to connect the inductor tubes in series, then back through the outer wall indicator helix and across the resonant flux routes into the number five capacitor array. Assuming the circuits in the GX75B can handle the surge, I could link the phase loop lines into the primary coils, and presto, you've got instant lift juice!"
"Vin, you're a genius!" Jak praised, because while he knew that he didn't understand anything of what the man had told them, which would no doubt concern Keira if he told her about this, he knew that Vin had done exactly what he was going to ask him to do.
"Eh, actually Mar was the genius. People said he made most of this stuff long ago - the shield-wall system, the Eco grid." Vin replied, to which he smiled at the group for a few seconds, as he enjoyed the praise Jak had given him, before growing serious once more, "Anyway, to get that elevator moving, you gotta find and turn on all the old B-Zone power boxes located in the city. There are five of 'em!"
"That doesn't sound so tough." Daxter said, though at the same time he knew that there was always a twist to every mission that he and the others had gone on in the city.
No. Except those power boxes are guarded by motion-sensing turbo cannons!" Vin replied, to which he made the motion of cannons firing with his fingers for a few seconds, "But if you can destroy the cannons, and switch the boxes on, I can do the rest. Just don't tell the Baron I ever saw ya!"
It didn't take Jak and Pinkie long to discover where the five cannons were located, as they had seen them as they rode through the city multiple times in the past. Of course the Krimzon Guard was upon them when they started taking out the cannons and switched on the power boxes, but thanks to their teamwork Jak and Pinkie were able to complete their objectives in a short amount of time. Once the last of the cannons had been taken care of, and they had lost the Guard, Vin contacted them and explained that one of the lifts was operational... and he even told them which one it was so they didn't spent a lot of time searching for the only one that worked.
With their next destination clear Jak and Pinkie made their way towards the elevator that they had turned on, though each of them were wondering what news they might uncover while they were scouting around the Baron's palace... and what secrets they might uncover.
It didn't take Jak and Pinkie very long to discover the location of the elevator they needed to use, which happened to be on the way to the stadium where Keira was working, but they made sure to not engage any of the Krimzon Guards on their way. When they reached their destination they parked their zoomer near the elevator's entrance and walked up the ramp to the opening, though once they had stepped onto the platform in the middle of the tower the door closed behind them. A few seconds later the elevator started moving towards the top, allowing Jak and Pinkie some time alone with their thoughts before they discovered what obstacles would be between them and the palace.
This was one thing that Pinkie had no knowledge on, as she had always used the direct paths when she had left the palace with either Ashelin or Erol, so she was as blind as Jak was at this point. When the door opened they discovered that their path was going to be a straight one, though at the same time they spotted a large number of obstacles, which included spinning blades that had electricity on the blades, shock floor tiles to send people flying off the edge, turrets that would need to be shot down, and rotating spike platforms. Pinkie knew that the Baron wanted to make sure that the palace was safe, for both himself and Ashelin, but even so she found that the presence of this many obstacles made her wonder if the Baron might be a little paranoid... but then again she and Jak were about to use this path to reach the palace without alerting him of their presence.
"Well, good luck guys," Daxter said, as he took one look at the obstacles that were in their way and knew that someone was going to end up hurting themselves, despite the fact that both Jak and Pinkie were prepared to pull our their Morph Guns in case they were spotted.
Jak nodded and climbed down the steps that were in front of him, though he followed that up by jumping between the spinning blades, timing his jumps so he could avoid harm and safely land on the platform in front of him, which also allowed him to beckon for Pinkie to follow him. Once they were both passed the spinning blades Jak looked for a way around the shocking floor tiles that were in front of them, though a few seconds later Pinkie tapped on his shoulder and pointed at a small path they could use to get around the tiles. Granted that the path she had spotted would require them to drop down to a lower level and swing their way across some poles, but it was better then giving up and trying to cross the tiles by foot.
With the new path discovered, and Jak agreed with it, they carefully made their way over the poles that were in front of them, going one at a time, before they climbed up the small platforms in front of them and stopped on an area that rested between the set of tiles they had passed and a secondary set of tiles that was blocking their path. They paused for a few seconds, allowing Pinkie to locate the way forward, before they jumped over the platforms and arrived at the backside of the second set of tiles, to which Jak loosed a Blaster charge at the turret that was starting to lock onto them and destroyed it.
This time they paused for a few seconds, to catch their breath despite the fact that Daxter kept urging them forward, before they approached the rotating platforms, the ones with spikes anyway, and carefully waited for the side without spikes to show itself. Once the side without spikes showed up they moved forward and repeated the pattern until they had crossed over to the other side, where they prepared themselves for the next set of obstacles that were in front of them... and that meant taking out the turret that was in front of them.
The next section of the path they were following appeared to have no actually platform for them to walk on, besides the spinning blades they had to avoid, though that was before Pinkie spotted the walkway that they would need to use to get around this obstacle. Jak carefully made his way through the spinning blades before beckoning Pinkie over, though once they were both passed it they carefully made their way over the collapsing platforms and climbed up the platforms that were in front of them. The moment they were passed that obstacle they found that they needed to jump on another spike platform, made their way around another tile section, and then jump their way across a set of small platforms while avoiding turret fire... where they discovered that the two turrets that were spinning and firing at them couldn't be destroyed, much to Pinkie's confusion.
Once they were passed the obstacles, and they were sure of that fact, they caught their breath before they climbed up the platforms that were on the right of where they were standing, though once they were on solid ground once more they spotted what appeared to be a large window and climbed upwards... to which they were able to look down and found the Baron talking to someone, which appeared to be a hologram of the Metal Head Leader... or more accurately his head.
"I've told you, I will have more Eco by week's end." the Baron said, though at the same time he placed a hand on his chest and gave the hologram a slight bow, as if he was trying to appear submissive towards the head of the larger creature, "We'll transport it directly to your nest, as promised!"
"A deal is of no value if you can't deliver, my dear Baron." the Metal Head Leader replied, though both Jak and Pinkie could tell that the Baron was biting back a growl as he raised his head, "I grow impatient with your puny gestures. Give me the agreed upon Eco soon, or the deal is off, and your precious city will pay the price!"
That statement was followed by the hologram disappearing, which told Jak and Pinkie that they had arrived too late to truly get any information from the Baron, though before they could move they noticed that Erol was about to say something... which meant that they might actually learn something.
"He's toying with us!" Erol snapped, to which he turned towards the Baron, who was looking out the window now, and raised a fist into the air, "Let me lead an assault on the Nest before it's too late! I can take him!"
"Patience, commander." the Baron replied, not even bothering to look at Erol directly at the moment, which Pinkie knew was going to annoy Erol a lot, "No one has ever penetrated the Metal Head nest. You know that! I've seen what comes of such foolish plans. No! Strength is their weakness... We play helpless. We train them to eat from our hands, and then... Move forward with the plan! Tell Ashelin to up her patrols. I want that Tomb found!"
"But your daughter has not been... agreeable." Erol commented, though Pinkie found herself agreeing with the commander, because she knew that there were some missions that Ashelin didn't agree with and told her.
"Agggg... I'll see to that problem." the Baron replied, which told Pinkie that he and Ashelin were going to have a conversation about the missions before he sent her out on anymore, "One way or another."
"And what of your other daughter?" Erol asked, to which he noticed as a frown appeared on the Baron's face, which both Jak and Pinkie noticed from where they were laying, "I have heard stories about how she's been attacking guards, either beating them into submission or outright killing them before fleeing from the scene of the crime, and that she might have aided one of our prisoners in his escape from the Fortress."
"Leave her be for now," the Baron replied, to which he glared back at Erol, who flinched for a few seconds, "and find that child! If you'd spend half as much time looking for that little brat as you spend flirting with Keira, we would have found him a long time ago."
"As you wish." Erol replied, though that was followed by him walking out of the throne room, to which Jak and Pinkie pulled away from the window and returned to the walkway below them.
"Ashelin is one of the Baron's daughters?" Jak commented, though at the same time it appeared that Daxter was thinking the same time, while both Pinkie and Raven made sure that neither of them pieced together what Erol had said, "And who could this second daughter of his be?"
"I don't know, and I could care less," Daxter said, to which he pointed at the only path they could take, which would allow them to leave the area without the Baron discovering their presence, "Let's get out of here and tell Torn what we discovered... because I'm sure that he'll find all of this interesting."
Jak, Pinkie, and Raven agreed with Daxter, as odd as it might have been for all three of them, to which they moved down the pathway that was open for them and carefully walked forward, though both Jak and Pinkie kept their hands on their guns in case something happened. That was swiftly followed by the Baron appearing over the nearby edge in what appeared to be a mech suit of some kind, one that was either designed by Keira or he had a team of scientists working to give him the best protection they had available.
"Did you honestly believe that I wouldn't notice that I was being spied upon?" the Baron shouted, though his voice was magnified by some sort of speaker in his machine.
"Actually, I was hoping that you might have noticed," Jak replied, to which he pulled out his Blaster and aimed it at the Baron, "I was hoping to end the conflict between you and I right now... and you have given me what I desired."
"Oh, but we won't be fighting anytime soon." the Baron said, though at the same time Pinkie felt a little uneasy by the glance that he was giving her, "Tell me, what do you think when you take into consideration what Erol said about my second daughter? She broke into the Fortress, rescued you from where you were being held, and has been fighting by your side since the very beginning, and yet you never noticed anything odd."
"By the Precursors," Daxter said, to which he turned around and looked at Pinkie, though that was followed by Jak turning and facing her as well, "it all makes sense now. How she was suddenly able to find me when the guards were unable to, how she was able to get access to the warp gate inside the Power Station, how she had the training to use the Scatter Gun, and Ashelin's reaction when we met up with her."
"Pinkie, tell me that this isn't true," Jak said, though at the same time he lowered his Blaster towards the ground, "Please tell me that you aren't the Baron's daughter."
"Here, see for yourself," the Baron replied, to which he pulled out a folder, from some container that was hidden from their sight, and opened the lid for a few seconds, to which he tossed the folder towards them, "That should tell you everything you want to know about my daughter."
Pinkie caught the folder and looked at it, to which she discovered the adoption papers that followed her joining his family, though what was odd was how the Baron knew her real name, as the name on the papers was 'Pinkamena Diane Praxis' and not 'Pinkie Pie'. The mystery only increased as she read the rest of the papers, as instead of stating the age she had been when she exited the Rift Gate all the papers mentioned that she was four years old, which reminded her of the first couple of memories she could remember. As she flipped through the papers, which solidified her position in the Praxis family, she discovered that she and Jak were never brother and sister... rather they appeared to be friends that had escaped, which meant that the children they had seen earlier were the younger versions of themselves.
She found herself sick to her stomach, because apparently her actual father wasn't Jak's father, and that her own father was trying to fool the Metal Head Leader so he could lower his guard... and then she remembered all the horrors the Baron had done in the time she was outside the Palace.
"You lied to me." Pinkie said, to which she glared at the Baron, while at the same time Raven removed the papers from her hand and gave them to Jak, "Why? Why did you lie to me?!"
"Because you were the key to getting at the king," the Baron replied, to which Jak, Daxter, and Raven gasped, while at the same time Pinkie's mood deflated, "He wanted his son to have a friend and socialize with others, to which the opportunity landed in my lap when you suddenly appeared one day. I brought you into the palace to see how the king's son reacted to you, though even as my king and I had an argument, over how I was dealing with something else, I noticed that the two of you were getting along quite well. I adopted you into my family and treated you like one of my own, though then you disappeared with the king's son when the fighting broke out... and then you reappeared as you are now.
I resolved to see if I could use you to ferret out the Underground and force them to the surface, though it appears that you have made them more active and caused the deaths of a few of their members... not that Torn would bother to tell either of you that I've already captured and killed them."
"You used me." Pinkie said, feeling her anger towards the Baron, who had been planning on using her the entire time since her arrival, awaken the Dark Eco inside her body, "You used me like a tool..."
"And it was only a matter of time until you outlived your usefulness," the Baron replied, to which both Daxter and Raven growled at the man, while at the same time Jak pointed his gun back at him, "I'll kill all of you now and blame your deaths on the Underground, which will ensure that Ashelin helps take them down and ensure peace for the city... allowing us to focus all our energies on stopping the Metal Heads."
"YOU USED ME!" Pinkie shouted, to which her fluffy hair fell straight down, making her look much more menacing, while at the same time she yanked her Eco Blade from its sheath and allowed the darkness in her heart to surround it, which was followed by the Dark Eco twisting it into the shape of a scythe.
The Baron was surprised by the sudden change that had occurred in Pinkie, as he had been sure not to waste any Dark Eco on her, but before he could do anything Pinkie jumped at him and rapidly reached where he was floating. He noticed her swinging her new weapon towards him and jerked the controls, moving the center of his mech out of the way as the scythe cut through the suit like it was made of butter. As the arm of the mech fell to the floor, and the Baron moved out of the way, Pinkie changed where she was looking and moved in front of the Baron once more, though she followed that by cutting off the second arm and caused massive damage to the mech as a whole. Before she could deliver the final blow, however, the Baron used his escape function and escaped from the battle, leaving Pinkie to rip the rest of the mech apart as she glared at him.
Jak, on the other hand, watched as Pinkie landed on the floor in front of him and dropped the deadly looking scythe, which turned into a cluster of Dark Eco and reformed around her right wrist, though it was in the form of a black bracelet that had a few small crystals around it... though that was before he noticed that Pinkie, despite how menacing she looked, had some tears rolling down her face.
"Here, let me help you," Jak said, offering his hand towards Pinkie, who barely registered what he was saying and accepted his hand without saying anything, "We'll head back to Torn and straighten all this out..."
Jak, for all his strength and anger, couldn't find the strength to actually help Pinkie in her time of confusion, because he had nothing to say that might help her. It was in times like this that he wished that he could ask Samos his opinion on things, but without knowing where the old sage was located it made it difficult to help Pinkie out. He let out a sigh as he carried Pinkie towards the exit, while Daxter and Raven carried the folder between them, because it might have useful information and might help Pinkie in the future.
Though as they walked away from where the Baron had ambushed them, and revealed the truth to them, Jak resolved to deal with the Baron at some point in the future... because despite the fact that Pinkie might not be his sister, even if he chose to believe the papers she had been handed, she was still family to him, and the Baron was going to learn what happened when someone messed with his family.
Jak carefully helped Pinkie over the various platforms that were in their path, which were really more like steps that would require a single jump if he wasn't carrying his sister in his arms, though before he made the jump he made sure that both of the ottsels were on his shoulders. As he glanced at Raven for a moment he had to wonder what secrets the dark furred ottsel was hiding, because he had held back the information that he was a Metal Head until it suited them, which told him that he had to be keeping something else hidden from them. That, of course, made him wonder if Pinkie knew everything about the strange creature that was riding on his right shoulder, but at the moment there was no way to tell what someone knew and what someone didn't know.
It didn't take them very long to reach the elevator that would take them to the base of the palace, though Jak was surprised to find that there was no one guarding the entrance on their side, but he quickly approached the door, which opened for him, and made his way outside... where the door closed and locked once they were clear of the building. He looked around at all of the available zoomers they could use, though instead of deciding to steal one he spotted a zoomer with two seats resting near where he and the others were standing.
"Pinkie, I'm going to set you down and pick up that zoomer over there," Jak said, though as he side the words he gently placed his sister on the steps that they were standing on, while beckoning towards the zoomer in question, "I'll be right back... and then we can go somewhere safe."
He had been hoping for Pinkie to say something, or anything really, but all she did was barely look in his direction and gave him the smallest nod he had ever seen, because it looked like she had barely moved her head. Jak sighed and headed towards the zoomer, as he left Daxter and Raven to keep his sister company, and attempt to cheer her up in some way, but when he returned he found that she was still depressed. He couldn't imagine the pain that she was going through, that she had discovered that the Baron was her father by law, and had been ever since they were children, and that her father had basically called her a worthless tool... one that he was perfectly fine with disposing of.
Pinkie looked like her mind had been shattered, as her reality had been torn asunder and the pieces scattered to the four corners of the world... and yet Jak had no idea how to help her come to terms with what she had discovered, to which he sighed and carefully set her into the seat next to his, before heading towards the Underground's hideout.
It didn't take Jak long to maneuver their zoomer to the location of the Underground's hideout, though he had to be sure that none of the guards were paying attention before he made his way around the corner and parked the zommer near the entrance. After discovering that he and Pinkie have already caused the deaths of several members of the Underground, by simply joining their ranks by the sounds of it, he wanted to make sure that they didn't deliver the enemy to their own doorstep. He waited for a few seconds, allowing Daxter and Raven to check and be sure that they hadn't been spotted, before gently helping Pinkie out of the zoomer and helping her down the stairs that were in front of them.
Once they were down in the lower level of the hideout they discovered that Torn was pissed off about something, while at the same time discovering that Kor was there, along with the two children he and Pinkie had seen when they had first escaped the Fortress... which he now suspected had to be this timeline's version of him and his sister.
"The whole city is on high alert!" Torn proclaimed angrily, which told Jak that the Baron must have set out a notice the moment he had gotten away from the palace, though at the same time he noticed that Pinkie had decided to sit with her back against the wall on the left of the hideout's entrance, "What did you do? And what's her problem?"
"We climbed up to the Baron's palace with the intent on finding out some information to help the cause," Jak explained, though at the same time he already knew that nothing would get rid of the anger that Torn was feeling, "we might have tripped an alarm on the way up, but we did uncover something interesting while we were up there."
"What you found out had better be good," Torn growled, indicating that he wasn't too pleased with their actions, as Jak had basically gone over his head and had forced Pinkie to do the same thing, "because I didn't authorize a strike on the Baron or the palace."
"I wouldn't call it a strike," Raven commented, though at the same time he moved over to where Pinkie was sitting and moved some of the hair of out her eyes, while at the same time thinking about ways that would cheer her up, "neither side attacked each other... up until the Baron messed with Pinkie and enraged her."
"Anyway, we overheard a secret meeting with the leader of the Metal Heads." Jak explained, hoping that Torn would be pleased with what he was going to tell him and Kor, though he already knew that it would take some time to earn back whatever trust they had just broken, "It appears that the Baron is trading Eco with the Metal Heads... though at the same time it appears that he's planning on double crossing them when he's completed whatever he's planning. He's searching for the Tomb of Mar, if I understood the tone he was using after the meeting was over, though Daxter and I discovered that Ashelin is the Baron's daughter."
"And your not pissed off that I held that information back from you?" Torn asked, though his tone indicated that he was pleased about something for once, as it meant that Jak might be able to withstand his own anger towards such things.
"Hard to be when your own sister is the Baron's second daughter," Daxter replied, to which he picked up the folder that he and Raven had been carrying, which he immediately moved towards Torn, "That will explain everything that we discovered when the Baron confronted us... and then we'll have to tell you what the Baron said that really set Pinkie off. Seriously, if I wasn't frightened over what I saw up there, when she blew a fuse, I would be singing praises of her awe and the whole nine yards."
"I'll have to take a look at this," Torn said, to which he picked up the folder and stared at it for a few seconds, though that was followed by him refocusing on Jak, "Since you've stirred up the wumpbee's nest, you and Daxter here need to pick up four of our people and move them to new safe houses. You'll need to shuttle each agent to a location they specify, though I would appreciate it if you could move all of them without killing any of them, especially after the disaster a few days ago. Normally I'd say something about not screwing up, but I know that you would sooner die than let one of our agents die, so I'll simply wish you luck instead."
"Just tell me where each of the agents are and I'll head out immediately," Jak replied, though at the same time hated to think that he'd be doing this mission without Pinkie, because it didn't seem like she was going to stir at the moment.
Once Jak had the information in hand, and knew where the four agents were, he exited the hideout and returned to the zoomer that he had parked outside. The moment he and Daxter were sitting in the main seat, as he was keeping the other open for the agents, Jak turned on the engine and started moving towards the first agent. As it turned out the first target was around the corner, though he required being moved towards the entrance of the Industrial Sector of the city as he climbed into the zoomer. The instant they started moving they were under attack by the Krimzon Guard, to which Daxter took up the Morph Gun and started firing at anyone that followed them, though the moment they dropped off the first agent Jak moved them towards the second one.
The second agent they had to pick up happened to be standing close to the entrance of the Fortress, or at least a row back from the main door, though his drop off point happened to be resting near the security lock for Dead Town. It took some a few extra seconds to reach the agent's requested destination, as they had to maneuver around the guards and their vehicles, but they managed to drop him off without hurting him. The third agent was standing near the Water Slums and wanted them to drop him off near the area that rested near the stadium, or more accurately the area before the threshold between the two sectors, but he was dropped off with some ease.
They found the final agent standing near the part of the Fortress they had escaped from, where they first encountered Kor and the children, though his drop off point happened to be in the Water Slums, so Jak carefully maneuvered his way through the area until he dropped off the agent... to which he parked under a walkway, far from the entrance to this sector, and waited for the guards to stop searching for him. A few minutes passed before the Krimzon Guard finally gave up on trying to find them, though once they were gone Jak moved them out from their hiding spot and headed back towards the hideout. On the way back, however, they received a transmission from Torn, one that indicated that it was time to come back so they could wait out the alert, while at the same time giving Jak another mission to do.
When they got back they discovered that Kor and the children were gone, though at the same time Jak noticed that Pinkie was standing now... and then noticed that she really wasn't paying attention to what was going on around her.
"This just gives me another reason to hate the Baron," Torn commented, to which he tossed the folder that he had been reading from back onto the table, where the papers moved out of it a tiny bit, though at the same time Jak could tell that he was pissed, "He finds a random girl out on the streets, decides to see how the prince reacts to her presence, and then, when he discovers that the prince likes her, he adopts her with the intention on using her to get at the throne. The girl disappears with the prince when the palace is attacked, only for the Baron to 'adopt' our Pinkie when she appeared four years ago, only this time he intended to kill all of us at some point in time. And then he has the nerve to shatter everything she knows and basically called her worthless... now I really want to wrap my hands around his neck and kill him myself, even if I know I'll never get the chance."
"That pretty much sums everything up," Jak said, though at the same time he hoped that his sister would be able to move soon, because he had the feeling there was a more important mission coming up, "So, what's this other mission you wanted us to go on?"
"Several of our scouts report movement in Dead Town." Torn replied, though at the same time he struggled to keep his anger in check, which told Jak that the Baron had something to do with this mission, "It appears that Metal Heads are moving towards the sacred site... just like before."
"Dare I ask what happened the last time the Metal Heads were making their way towards this 'sacred site'?" Daxter asked, though he knew that Raven might be able to answer the question, seeing how he was actually a Metal Head himself.
"Metal Heads broke through the old city wall." Raven answered, though at the same time his knowledge seemed to surprise Torn, "From what I know the city's guard fought them after they broke through, but then the Baron ordered them to pull back, effectively leaving everyone outside the 'new barrier' to die. Rumor has it that the Shadow stayed and somehow stopped the attack."
"Let me guess," a voice said, to which everyone turned towards Pinkie, who was now glaring at Torn through the opening in her hair, "you want us to go out there and secure the site before the Metal Heads accomplish whatever they came here to do."
"You catch on fast!" Torn replied, though at the same time he didn't know whether he should be pleased that Pinkie was talking or shocked by how menacing she looked, "If you prevent the Metal Heads from reaching the sacred site, the Shadow will be... most grateful. He might even ask to see you. Oh, and here's a Vulcan Barrel for your Morph Guns. Believe me, you're gonna need it!"
Jak nodded for a second and picked up the Vulcan attachment, though when he slipped it into his gun he discovered that it made everything look like a mini-gun, which pleased him a little bit. As he slipped the weapon away he noticed that Pinkie was staring at the second attachment, the one that was meant for her, but she simply sighed and slipped it into place on her gun, before returning it to its holder. The moment they had the attachment, and there was nothing else that Torn wanted to tell them, they headed outside and climbed into the zoomer once more, to which they headed off in the direction of Dead Town.
It didn't take them long to reach their destination, as it was rather easy to find there way to this security lock, though as they moved into the area in front of them Pinkie and Jak discovered that the Metal Heads were definitely hanging around the area, searching for the sacred site by the looks of it. Most of the enemies they could see were the smaller foes that could be dealt with by using a single blast from the Scatter Mod, though they also noticed that there were beasts, grenade launchers, and gun carrying enemies in attendance as well. It appeared that the Metal Heads had actually brought in a small army, or a small force, to secure whatever was in the sacred site, but the numbers didn't matter to them at the moment... not when Pinkie had an idea that would cull their numbers in a matter of seconds.
"Hey Raven," Pinkie commented, causing the dark ottsel on her shoulder to turn and look at her for a few seconds, "what do you say to transforming and showing our enemies the power of a true Metal Head?"
Raven remained silent for a few seconds, as he was debating whether that was a good idea or not, considering how close they were to the actual city and the fact that Torn had scouts spying on all the areas they had been to throughout the entirety of Haven City. That was quickly followed by him letting out a sigh as he jumped onto the ground and started the charge towards the other Metal Heads, as he decided that Torn and the Underground would soon understand who was fighting on their side. Jak and Pinkie followed after Raven, giving him enough room to transform into his hybrid form and smash into a terrified pair of Metal Heads that didn't move from where they were standing.
As Jak and Pinkie made their way around the new path that was available to them, and used their Vulcan attachments to deal damage to the enemies in front of them, Raven flew around and clawed his chosen targets to pieces... or outright tearing them apart in some instances. With their combined abilities the group was able to make their way through the new section of Dead Town with some ease, which allowed Pinkie to relax a tiny bit and attempt to forget about what she had learned about herself. Unfortunately that was short lived, as the moment they reached the end of the path they were following they spotted a nearly ruined house that looked like Samos' old hut, which told them that this was definitely the world they had been living in... only now they were in the future, instead of the past they knew so well.
With all of the Metal Heads dealt with, and confirmed by Raven when he reverted back to his ottsel form, the group headed out of Dead Town and made their way back to the hideout... as it was time to finally meet the mysterious Shadow and see if they couldn't do some real damage to the Baron's operations.
Jak, Daxter, and Pinkie spent a few minutes staring at the ruined hut that they and Samos used to live in, remembering some of their fonder memories as they took in everything that they could see from the level they were on. They all remembered the days they spent running around the village, either helping the villagers with whatever tasks they had for them or outright adventuring when Samos told them to take a break. Those were the days, where they joked over what Pinkie's last name was, and the fact that she hated her middle name and changed her first name, but that just made Pinkie glad that she had done so all those years ago. Pinkie silently wished that she and the others could head back to the timeline they had come from and go back to the simple life they had left behind... but she knew that fate wouldn't let that happen.
At the same time Pinkie noticed that there was one pathway that could allow them to reach the hut, but from what she could tell she knew that it would take some time to reach the pillar in question, to which she sighed and pulled herself up from where she had been sitting.
"Well, I think its time that we depart from this area," Pinkie commented, to which she noticed that Jak was nodding at her, while at the same time Daxter and Raven returned to the shoulders that they usually rode on, "besides, were supposed to be meeting the Shadow at long last, so things should be getting interesting."
"You would have thought that we would have met the Shadow earlier," Daxter said, though at the same time he held onto Jak's shoulder as they made their way back to the security door, "but at least we can finally see who the leader of the Underground movement is."
Jak and Raven remained quiet for the moment, to which Pinkie knew that her brother was thinking about who the leader of the Underground was, while Raven was likely keeping his eyes peeled for anything that might want to kill them before they left Dead Town. It didn't take them long to reach the security door and cross back into Haven City, where they climbed back into their zoomer and headed towards the hideout. Jak made sure that the Krimzon Guards didn't chase them, because if they learned that the Shadow had moved to their hideout then he was sure that they would be under attack in a matter of minutes.
When they reached the hideout they climbed out of the zoomer and headed down the stairs, though when they walked into the lower level they noticed that Torn was waiting for them... though he was smirking at them, as if he was actually pleased with them.
"The Shadow's decided it's time to meet you," Torn said, which brought some small smiles to the faces of Jak, Pinkie, and the two ottsels that were riding on their shoulders.
"Why is that place in the old ruins so important to you?" Jak asked, though he phrased the word 'you' to indicate the Underground movement and not Torn or the Shadow as a single person.
"There's a powerful energy force at the old house," Torn explained, which immediately told the group that someone must have told him a little bit about who had once lived in the house, or he was guessing at things he knew nothing about, "The Metalheads are drawn to it."
"No kidding, I could feel something powerful while we were there," Raven commented, which told Jak and Pinkie that the shifting into his hybrid form had made him forget to mention the energy force he had noticed, though they weren't mad at him at the moment.
"We also used to know the guy that lived there," Jak said, remembering Samos and everything that the old sage had done for him and Pinkie, which made him wonder if the old man had survived the ride through the Rift.
"So you're the new recruits that keep getting into trouble," a voice behind Torn said, to which the man moved out of the way so Jak and Pinkie could finally meet the leader of the Underground, "I am known as the Shadow, to most of our agents and to our enemy, but you may call me Samos, if you prefer to use an actual name. And who might you be?"
Jak was surprised to find that they were looking upon a younger version of Samos, one who was dressed in a dark red shirt, a brown belt of some kind, and some green pants. His white facial hair and sideburns were much shorter than what they remembered, and the log held above his head was covered with thick growth that was a mix of plant life and hair, but the log seemed younger as well. There was no bird hanging around this Samos' head, rather there was a small egg that happened to be partly buried inside the log, which was no doubt where the bird had come from. The only other thing that Jak noticed, that was different between the two versions of Samos, was that the Shadow didn't carry a staff, which meant that he would acquire one in time.
Before Daxter could say anything, and piss off the Shadow, Raven wrapped his hands around the ottsel's mouth and dragged him to a corner, leaving Pinkie and Jak to approach the leader of the Underground.
"My name is Jak, and this is my sister Pinkie Pie," Jak said, taking a moment for him and Pinkie to shake hands with the Shadow, especially since it was odd for them to see a friendly side of Samos, before he beckoned to the two ottsels, "Those are our friends Daxter and Raven. Daxter is the one with the orange fur, while Raven is the one with the dark purple fur."
"Its a pleasure to meet all of you," the Shadow replied, though once the introductions were done, and Daxter got the point that he wasn't supposed to do anything stupid, he turned to the table to begin telling them about what he had in mind for them to do, "We've got a Baron to overthrow, a child heir to protect, an invasion of Metal Heads to stop, and a city to save... though what I need you to do first, before we get serious in our campaign, is head into Haven Forest and root out some Metal Head scouts that have been sighted there. That forest is my source of power, but I can't protect it much longer, so I want you to chase the scouts down and destroy them. Good luck, and welcome to the fight."
"We'll send word once the deed is done," Jak promised, to which he and Pinkie turned to leave the hideout, carrying with them one pissed off Daxter and a pleased Raven.
Once they were outside the hideout they climbed back into the zoomer and headed off towards the location of Haven Forest, though that was when Pinkie informed Jak of where it was located and revealed that she had been there multiple times in the past. As they made their way towards the forest Pinkie decided to tell Jak about everything that she had been through, the highlights anyway, though she was interrupted when Keira called them and informed them that she had left the jetboard at the security door they were heading towards. Once they knew about the jetboard they picked up the pace and carefully made their way through the city, where they focused on the task at hand.
It didn't take them too long to reach the security door that they had been heading towards, though once they climbed out of the zoomer and walked into the small room Jak smiled as he noticed the jetboard sitting nearby. Normally Jak would feel sorry for Pinkie, as there was only one jetboard, but considering that Raven had a larger form he suspected that Pinkie could ride on his back if she truly wanted to. With the jetboard in hand Jak and Pinkie jumped through the warp gate and traveled up to the cliff above them, where they spotted a platform that allowed them to travel right to the forest area that the Shadow had asked them to clear out.
When the platform stopped in the area they were supposed to be in Jak and Pinkie immediately started searching for the scouts that they were supposed to take down, while at the same time Raven told them that they looked a lot like his hybrid form, just without the ottsel bits and fur. He also informed them that the scouts were the most agile of the types of Metal Heads, while at the same time they had no aggression in them, which meant that they would run until their pursuers gave up and left them alone. Thanks to the Dark Eco that was inside the scouts Raven was able to pinpoint the exact location of the five scouts they had come to get rid of, though at the same time he mentioned that there was one more than what the Shadow told them about... to which he warned them to see what color the Skull Gems were, just in case there was another Metal Head like him.
They immediately spotted one of the scouts resting in front of a natural made ramp, to which Jak climbed onto the jetboard and headed down into the area that was in front of them, though as he approached the scout the Metal Head seemed to hear him coming, because it immediately got into the air and flew away. Jak followed after the scout, carefully following the path that the scout moved through to confuse him, but he kept his distance to ensure he knew the movements his target was going to take. After a few minutes Jak increased his speed until he was on top of his target, to which he jumped off of the jetboard and slammed into the scout, though that caused the Metal Head to collide with the ground... effectively killing it in the process.
"That was awesome!" Daxter said, though at the same time he looked over at Raven, as he and Pinkie were approaching Jak, "So, where's the other scouts were supposed to be dealing with?"
"They are all in the area ahead of us," Raven replied, though he was thankful that Daxter was looking passed his hatred towards Metal Heads and was seeing that he was an ally, "It will take some time to hunt them all down, but we should be able to clear the area of our enemies... and then see which side the sixth scout is on."
Jak nodded and followed Pinkie up the path that would take them all the way to the large tree she had seen the last time she had been here, when she was accompanying Ashelin and rescued Raven. Oddly enough there were two scouts hanging around the large tree, though Jak was fine with the challenge as he started the chase, following one of them down the path they were weaving. A minute or two later he was chasing the third scout down, as the second had fallen easily, though it appeared that he was enjoying himself, while at the same time Pinkie was looking down at the area in front of the tree and noticed the fourth one sleeping near the water.
Eventually Jak took down the third scout, to which he returned to Pinkie's side and allowed her to point out the fourth scout, where she explained that she had no idea where the final one was resting. Jak decided that it was alright, because he would take a few seconds to search for the last one when the fourth scout was taken care of, to which Pinkie watched as her brother moved around the area and started chasing his next target around. Pinkie watched him chase the scout down, twisting and turning around the area as he followed the Metal Head, before Jak slammed into his target and forced it to the ground... though instead of returning to her, like he said he was, Jak moved over some wooden rails and disappeared for a few seconds.
A few seconds later Pinkie spotted Jak chasing the fifth scout through the area, which meant that it had been hiding with the hopes of not being found by anyone, though Pinkie smiled as Jak took the scout down... to which he returned to her side and smiled at her.
"So, where's this sixth scout you were telling us about?" Daxter commented, because while he trusted Raven's abilities at this point, those that he had demonstrated anyway, there was no telling if what he had been feeling was a scout or a different Metal Head altogether.
"Right here," a voice replied, to which the group turned and watched as the sixth scout, which was the type of Metal Head that Raven had been feeling, materialize out of the shadows of the large tree.
Pinkie immediately noticed that the scout had the ability to talk, which meant that it had to be of the same set that Raven was from, though at the same time she spotted that it had sharpened claws that looked like it could cut through some of the hardest metals she knew about. The scout's skin color seemed darker than the other scouts, looking more like the color of Raven's scales, but at the same time this scout had a blue Skull Gem. Pinkie had to wonder what the significance of a blue Skull Gem meant, but so far she had determined that it meant an intelligent Metal Head that could think for itself... or himself, in Raven's case.
"Wait, I know you." the scout said, though its eyes were locked on Raven, who seemed to be staring at the scout in turn, "Your a Metal Head in a compressed form... and there are only two that have that sort of power at the moment; the first is the Leader of the Hive that's attacking Haven City, while the second is the leader of the Hive that wants something different for our kind. My Lord, it is good to see that you are alright."
Jak, Pinkie, Raven, and Daxter watched as the scout moved out of its aggressive state and bowed to them, though two of them knew that the Metal Head was focusing on Raven... while Daxter had something on his mind that he needed to get rid of before they went any further.
"As odd as it sounds, I'm going to have to echo Daxter here," Raven commented, though at the same time he stared at the scout that was bowing before him, as he was confused as to what was going on at the moment, especially since he was used to having all the answers, "What are you talking about?"
"Wait, you don't recognize me?" the scout asked, to which it, or rather she by the voice that was coming from its mouth, raised her head and looked at Raven, as if she was confused by what he was saying.
"No... should I be able to recognize you?" Raven inquired, because at the moment it seemed like they were going to go back and forth until someone gave up a clear answer, which he had none at the moment.
"Damn, it seems like Vex's prediction was correct," the scout said, as if she was remembering something that she had been told earlier, though at the same time Pinkie determined that there had to be more intelligent Metal Heads than her and Raven at the moment, but that was quickly followed by the scout sitting down and staring at them, "I'm sure that you have many questions, though I'm not the one you should be asking them to, which means I should see when Vex is open for a quick get together with you. My name, or rather the name I picked for myself when I discovered what I was good at, is Stalker, which you got a good understanding of when I pounced on all of you."
"Makes sense," Pinkie commented, though at the same time she and Jak sat down on some of the nearby rocks, while Jak made sure that the communicator was muted so no one could overhear what they were talking about, as neither of them were sure it was time for the Underground to know that they were allied with a new breed of Metal Heads, "I'm Pinkie Pie, and this is my brother Jak and our best friend Daxter... though it appears that you already know Raven."
"Its a pleasure to make your acquaintance," Stalker replied, to which she turned and looked at all of them, as if she was assigning a name to each face, before settling on Raven once more, "Now, I mentioned that there were two Metal Head hives in existence at the moment, the one attacking Haven City and the one that opposes the original. Raven, as our leader you called us the Neo Metal Heads, or New Metal Heads, as we are more intelligent and form our own personalities, instead of being beasts like the members of the other hive. A little over four years ago you lead me, my brothers, and my sisters away from the Nest, taking us somewhere that our enemies couldn't find us... but we were pursued by a group of twenty as we fled.
You told me and Vex to take the others to our destination and led our pursuers away... but then, after we arrived at our destination, you failed to show up. We waited for weeks, hoping that you would return, before we started seeking bits of Eco to sustain ourselves while we searched for your presence. It was Vex who discovered that your presence was inside Haven City, where many of us feared that they were experimenting on you in order to create a weapon that could destroy the original hive. I was able to tell them otherwise, as everything time you and Pinkie walked out of the city, and came to the forest to hunt for enemies, I stalked the shadows and watched you, but I always waited for the opportunity when you were alone so I could talk to you."
"So what happened today?" Jak asked, as he was curious as to why Stalker had suddenly changed tactics, especially when the size of the group had doubled since the last time she had laid eyes on Raven, "What made you change your mind and come out of the shadows?"
"I... I couldn't bare to let another chance at talking with our leader pass me by," Stalker admitted, to which she let out a sigh for a few seconds, though that was before she faced them once more, "Vex told me that four years of living inside the city, within the Eco Dome that was created from all five types of known Eco, might have caused you to repress some of your memories and forget who you were... though I was hoping that he was wrong. Unfortunately he was right, because you should have remembered me the moment you laid eyes on me, though this means that we've have to find a way around the Dome if we're going to restore who you used to be... but I am glad to say that you sound like the Raven I knew when we escaped."
"Wait, was his name always Raven?" Daxter asked, because if it was than he was going to be shocked, as Pinkie had been the one to come up with the name and it would have been an odd coincidence if the name she picked was his actual name he had been born with.
"No, it wasn't." Stalker replied, though at the same time she let a chuckle escape from her, but that was followed by her growing serious again, "Raven was never actually given a name, not by the leader of the other hive, but he was known to every Metal Head, before and after the separation, by his title, 'Prince'."
"No way... are you telling me that the Metal Head Leader, the enemy of Haven City, is my father?" Raven asked, because if that was the case he was going to be shocked, especially after everything he had seen and learned since he, Pinkie, and Daxter had broken Daxter out of the Fortress.
"Yes, he is," Stalker replied, causing shock to appear on all of their faces, because none of them were expecting that sort of information to be dropped on them, "and, sadly enough, your father also ordered your execution when he discovered that you were as strong as you were, while not accounting for how smart he accidentally made you. When you matured you became a threat to his rule over the entirety of the hive, so instead of fighting you took the newest clutch, the one that the Neo Metal Heads came from, and fled with us in tow. You wanted us to survive, because if you were targeted for elimination than it was only a matter of time until he targeted the rest of us."
"That gives me one more reason to kill the Metal Head Leader," Jak said, though at the same time he was annoyed that both Pinkie's father and Raven's father were planning on using them until they had no further need of them, which would end in their deaths until they had changed their fate.
"After watching you take out those other scouts, I have no doubt that you can succeed in that regard," Stalker said, though that was followed by her standing up and staring at them, "I had best get back to Vex and tell him what I've discovered... and then I'll show up in the future and explain what might be done to restore your memories."
The moment Raven nodded his understanding, and his desire to know more about why he had left the Metal Head Nest with the Neo Metal Heads, Stalker walked into the shadows and disappeared, leaving Jak and the others to process what they had learned before they even attempted to move out of the forest. Before they could actually talk about what they had discovered, mainly the existence of a second Metal Head hive that existed to oppose the original hive, Jak felt his communicator vibrate, to which he turned the sound back on and waited to see what they were going to be told.
"Excellent work," the Shadow told them, telling them that they had done the mission he had sent them on to the degree or standard that he expected from agents that Torn had picked out, "now come on back to the hideout, I have another task for you to complete."
Jak let out a sigh as he and Pinkie rose from their makeshift seats and made their way towards the entrance of the forest, where they could return to the warp gate and jump back to the city... and then take on whatever the Shadow, and anyone else, wanted from them.
A few minutes later Jak and Pinkie returned to the city and started riding towards the Underground hideout, though as they reentered the city they received a pair of transmissions; one from Krew and one from Keira.
"Jak, this is Krew," they heard the fat man say, causing all of them to moan for a few seconds, but not nearly loud enough for them to be overheard by him, "I just talked to my racing client and she told me you were pretty good with that jetboard of hers. My sources say a shipment of Krimzon Guard listening equipment just arrived in the Port. None of us, including the Underground, want those devices up and running. It's not good for business. I want you to ride out into the Port and destroy every Krimzon Guard crate you find. There's sure to be a defense perimeter, so do be careful."
A few seconds later the transmission cut out, allowing Jak to moan as he realized that this would be a single person mission, but he knew that he would be able to complete it rather quickly. The second transmission, the one from Keira, was that she had heard from Ashelin that she suspected that something was going to happen in the Bazaar district, the one closest to their current location. Jak decided that it would be best to allow Pinkie to take that mission on, as she was technically Ashelin's sister and would likely be welcomed with open arms, so he neared where Ashelin was supposed to be and dropped Pinkie off.
Pinkie sighed as she climbed out of the zoomer and watched Jak fly off towards the Port, where she and Raven carefully approached the Krimzon Guards that were standing nearby... though that was before Ashelin noticed them and walked over to them, where she wrapped her arms around Pinkie for a few seconds.
"Pinkie, what happened to you?" Ashelin asked, one again taking on the persona of the caring older sister, though at the same time she knew that the Krimzon Guards wouldn't say anything about what they were seeing, "Last time I saw you and Raven you were happy, but now your hair has gone straight and you seem depressed about something."
"The Baron revealed something to Pinkie yesterday, and she didn't like the news," Raven explained, causing Ashelin to raise an eyebrow for a few seconds, "Trust me, we'll explain everything the next time we're together... once we're away from the prying eyes that are all around us."
"I can understand that," Ashelin replied, to which she pulled away from Pinkie and pulled out her gun, telling Pinkie and Raven that something major must be coming their way, "One of Vin's Eco tankers is coming in from the wasteland, but the clearance transmission sounded fishy. The driver was clearly scared, so we're going to check it out... just in case there's something more that we don't know about."
It was at that point that the tanker in question burst through one of the buildings and crashed to the ground, to which the barrels it was carrying went flying and knocked out all of the assembled Krimzon Guards, leaving Pinkie and Ashelin to fight off the Metal Heads that had been riding inside the vehicle. As Ashelin fired at the enemies that were closing in on her, and took several of them out with well placed shots to the head, Pinkie snapped her scythe into existence and carved up the Metal Heads that were foolish enough to come at her. At the same time Raven noticed several sharp pieces of metal lying around and grinned, to which he used them to deal damage to the enemies that were trying to run.
The three of them were able to beat the group of Metal Heads that had commandeered the tanker, though once their enemies had been taken care of they went about making sure that the knocked out guards were okay... to which they all let out a sigh of relief when they discovered that they had suffered no casualties during the assault.
"The Metal Head Leader is testing our defenses," Raven commented, though at the same time he didn't say anything about the creature being his father, as the last thing he wanted was for everyone to attack him out of rage, "which means that its only a matter of time before he makes his move against the city."
"Your right, as much as I hate to say it," Ashelin said, eying Pinkie's scythe as it returned to its bracelet form, "I'll head back to the palace and see if I can't uncover anything that might prove useful to stopping the Metal Heads... so I'll see you around, sister."
"Likewise," Pinkie agreed, already feeling better now that she had been reunited with Ashelin, if even for a few minutes, but before the guards got offended by her presence she collected Raven and headed back to the port.
Pinkie and Raven took the long way back to the saloon, as she decided to walk and try to enjoy herself, but eventually they returned to where Krew would be waiting for them, where they found that Jak and Daxter had already returned to the saloon... though by the looks of it they were all waiting for their arrival before they found out what the next mission was.
"The Baron sent his goons to harass me as usual!" Krew said, to which he put on a show that would make anyone else think that he was the victim, though Jak and Pinkie were secretly happy that the Baron was doing something to Krew at the moment, "Health violations, back taxes! Everyone wants a piece of me. Aaahh well!"
"Lucky for you, there's plenty to go around!" Raven commented, though while his statement was lost on Krew, as he had no idea what Raven truly was, it wasn't lost on Jak and Pinkie.
"Destroying that cargo in the port was more important than you know." Krew said, to which he turned to Jak, which was understandable considering that he had been the one to complete the mission in the first place, "I've got a new project going, and I don't need anyone snooping around my shipments. Let's just say, if everything goes as planned, I'm going to corner the market in Metal Head trophies. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Anyway, I have another job for you. An associate of mine, Brutter, works with me in the forced labor trade.
"You mean the slave trade?" Jak asked, though at the same time he already knew that Krew was going to ask them to free someone, as that was generally how these types of conversations went down.
"Actually, I prefer 'freedom challenged'." Krew stated, to which he got to the explanation part of this mission briefing, which was what everyone was waiting for, "Lurkers are the city's low class labor. Brutter pays me handsomely to help him free lurkers and get them safely out of the city. Ahhh, it lifts my spirit to help those in need... and I NEED his money!"
"Lurkers?" Daxter asked, though seeing how he knew what Raven was, and how different he was from the rest of his kind, he knew what he had to say, "Usually this is where I, or someone else, would make a comment about how we 'don't like lurkers', but I won't say anything like that this time around."
"But you do like gun upgrades." Krew said, to which he tossed over two upgrade components, one for both Jak and Pinkie, before starting to float around the saloon as he explained what he wanted them to do, "There are three Krimzon Guard transports carrying Lurkers to a 'project' the Baron has outside the city. Take out the transports, and bring the three lurkers to Brutter's trinket stand in the Bazaar."
With the upgrade in hand Jak and Pinkie walked out of the saloon and climbed back onto their zoomer, to which Daxter opened the map and directed Jak towards the first one they needed to take out. When they approached the transport, however, Raven launched himself onto the vehicle and tinkered around with the locks for a few seconds before kicking open the door. The instant that happened Jak pulled a fast move and turned the zoomer around, to which the Lurker jumped onto the back of their vehicle before he took off, leaving behind a confused transport. It didn't take them long to reach Brutter's stand, though once the first Lurker had been dropped off Daxter pulled up the location of the second transport and they moved towards their objective.
They were able to repeat the same move twice more, without the transports even knowing that their 'cargo' had been taken, before they returned triumphantly to Brutter's stand, where they discovered that the Lurker was more than happy to see them stop by him.
"Little orangey and blacky warriors!" Brutter exclaimed, staring at both Daxter and Raven for a few seconds, telling Jak and Pinkie that he was more pleased with them than the humans, "You have do great thing for Brutter and Lurker people! You great guys! Brutter not forget. Brutter pay you back. You see!"
Jak and Pinkie nodded as they walked away from the stand, with Daxter and Raven riding in their usual places, because they had done a good deed for the Lurkers, had repelled the forces of the original Metal Heads, and were finally understanding the mysterious origins of the Neo Metal Heads. They knew that their next course of action would be to return to the Underground and see what else needed to be done, which meant that whatever the Shadow had for them had to be something special.
It didn't take Jak and Pinkie long to reach the location of the Underground's main hideout, though at the same time Raven and Daxter commented on how they didn't know the locations of the other hideouts, but Pinkie assumed that it was for the best in case the Baron caught any of their members. They already knew that the Baron had captured and killed several members of the Underground, as he had told them about that when they climbed up to his palace, so it stood to reason that he might stay his hand to get information from them. She and Jak knew that the Baron might have the locations of some of the other hideouts, but at the moment he didn't seem to be interested in attacking them, which meant that there might be something more going on that they weren't aware of.
When they arrived at the Underground hideout they found the Shadow standing near the back of the dead end, out in the open Pinkie noticed, though standing around him were the younger versions of herself and Jak... along with the strange crocadog that followed young Jak around.
"We came as fast as we could, or rather as fast as Krew would allow us," Jak commented, to which he noticed that the Shadow nodded his understanding, which was understandable considering how many times the Underground must have bartered with the fat man for information, "What else can we do to help out around here?"
"I want you boys to escort the kids over to Kor at the power station." the Shadow immediately replied, to which he beckoned to the two children for a few seconds, "He promised to watch over them, and I'm just too busy to baby-sit right now. Oh, and take the boy's crocadog with you!"
Jak noticed that the crocadog didn't like anyone besides the younger version of himself and Pinkie, though in the case of Pinkie it made sense, considering that she was able to befriend powerful monster like creatures. The only reason he knew that fact was because the dog was perfectly fine with the two children, but when the Shadow tried to touch it, and befriend it in some manner, the god growled at him for a few seconds.
"So what's their story?" Jak asked, though while he could piece the information together on his own, and he was sure that Pinkie already knew what was going on with the two children, he wanted to hear how the Shadow managed to find the two of them.
"I found them just wandering the streets." the Shadow explained, though as he said that he beckoned to the younger version of Jak for a few seconds, where they looked at the red symbol he was wearing around his neck, "But that amulet around the boy's neck means he may just be the lost heir to the city. If that's the case, and Torn and I are in agreement on that fact, then that means that the girl has to be the lost daughter of Baron Praxis, though we're in no hurry to return her to her father or make a deal concerning her... especially when the boy seems to enjoy having her around, as if they're brother and sister. Take the kids, and the crocadog, to the power station... though you should watch out for guard patrols and defend them at all costs."
Jak nodded and beckoned for the two kids to follow him, but instead of him leading the way the children actually followed the crocadog away from the Underground's hideout. Jak pulled out his gun and followed after them, though as he walked behind them he had to take some shots at the guards that were coming their way. Pinkie, on the other hand, extended her hand and called her weapon back into existence, but she used the Dark Eco inside her to mold the weapon back into her sword for the moment and created a second one that was made of shadows. Some guards noticed her fighting with the blades and ran away from the fight the moment she started wounding their comrades, which meant that their journey was much easier for them.
Of course the ease disappeared when they had to climb into a two seater zoomer, where the kids looked at Jak and Pinkie for a few seconds, to which Pinkie claimed a nearby zoomer so her younger self could ride with her while the young Jak rode with her brother. Once they were ready, and they got rid of the Krimzon Guards that were shooing at them, they moved into the Industrial Section of the city and maneuvered around any guards that tried to shoot them down. Despite the fact that they separated from each other, to make their enemies separate themselves, they managed to arrive at the ramp that went up to the Power Station, at the same time no less. As Jak and Pinkie climbed out of their zoomers they opened fire on the lucky guards that had managed to follow them to this location, and continued to guard the kids as they made their way up to the building... though once they reached the door they were happy to discover that the Krimzon Guards had given up on trying to find them.
Inside the Power Station they found Kor and Vin standing around, though while Vin appeared to be working on something important, like keeping up to date on the Eco Dome or something that was Eco related, Kor seemed to be studying the area for some reason... which made Jak and Pinkie raise their guards while they walked forward, as he only seemed to realize they were there the moment the door closed.
"Samos told us to bring the kids to you," Daxter stated, to which the little kids ran over to Kor, though while the young Jak lookalike seemed to receive a hand on the shoulder the younger version of Pinkie merely stood there.
"Thank you. I'll be sure to keep them close." Kor said, to which he looked down at the children for a moment, though when he tried to pet the crocadog, however, the dog growled at him and forced his hand backwards, "How sweet..."
Jak, seeing the motion in action, bent down and started to pet the strange dog, to which he and the others discovered that the creature didn't mind him at all. It made Jak wonder if the beast knew that he was infused with Dark Eco and was on their side, or if it knew that he was the grown up version of the kid that was standing near it, but at the moment that fact truly didn't matter.
"Interesting." Kor commented, watching what was happening with great interest, though at the same time he decided that the crocadog wasn't worth his time at the moment, "That insufferable mutt never liked anyone but the boy before."
"Pinkie and I have a way with certain animals," Jak said, knowing that he and Pinkie could apparently befriend some of the stranger creatures in the world, though Pinkie could one up him with the fact that she befriended the leader of the Neo Metal Heads.
"I hope we have enough Eco to keep the Metal Heads at bay." Kor told them, indicating that it was time to get to their task at hand and not talk about such things anymore, "During my travels in the deep Wasteland I saw some of the bigger ones. Awesome creatures."
"We saw a big one coming out of a rift once. He was uuuuuuugly!" Daxter stated, essentially ruining one of the secrets that Jak and Pinkie had been trying to keep from the rest of the Underground, because they were sure that most of them would think that they were insane if they told them how they had traveled to haven City.
"Hmmmmphh..." Kor replied, though he didn't sound impressed by what Daxter had said, which told Jak and Pinkie that there was something more going on here, though they weren't sure what that something was, "I have some valuable information for you. The Baron is conducting an excavation at the Dig. He is still looking for that ridiculous Tomb. Frankly, I don't believe it exists, but you might as well go out there and disrupt his operation just in case. Knock down all the scaffolding at the site. That should set him back. Here is an air train pass to get you out of there."
The younger version of Jak reached into a pocket and pulled out something that looked like the Security Passes they had acquired so far, to which he handed it over to Jak. With the Train Pass in hand, and the location of the actual train in hand, Jak and Pinkie left the Power Station and headed into the Port area, where they noticed that none of the guards tried to chase them down... which meant that they had forgotten what had happened earlier. They carefully made their way to the Port and found the train that they were supposed to take, to which they landed their zoomer in the area near the train and switched over to it. Once the two of them were in their seats, and both Daxter and Raven had a firm grasp on something, the pilot took off and closed the door behind them.
When the train arrived at its destination Jak and Pinkie climbed out of it the moment it landed, to which they discovered a large hole in the rock wall that was to their immediate left. From what they could tell the Baron had broken into some sort of natural cavern and had installed a large elevator, to which the two of them walked over to the platform and rode down to the level that the Baron's forces were working in. They walked forward for a few seconds, while keeping their weapons at the ready, though before they got very far they were spotted by some of the Krimzon Guards, though as they took their foes down one of them managed to run away and alert the others to the fact that they were under attack.
Instead of attacking the massive drill that was in the large cavern in front of them, which must have been brought in piece by piece and assembled by someone else, Jak and Pinkie separated from each other and attacked the guards that were guarding each tether that was keeping the drill in place. Those that were fighting Jak were lucky, as he resorted to using his Morph Gun mods to take out enemies, be they in front of him or far away from where he was standing, while making sure to use the jetboard to get around a little faster. Pinkie's foes, on the other hand, suffered as she swung her scythe at them, cutting both them and the floor beneath them every time she moved the weapon, though she blamed the damage on the Dark Eco that was coursing through her weapon and her body.
Once all of the enemies were taken care of Jak used his jetboard to disable the tethers on the upper levels of the scaffolding, while Pinkie ran around on the lower level and simply cut the rest of them to pieces... though once the last one was taken care of they regrouped in front of the entrance they had used and watched as the drill sped up to dangerous speeds, before it exploded and rained pieces down everywhere. The moment the drill was taken care of, and they were sure that they had completed their objective, Jak called it in and received some praise from Kor, though he also detected that Vin might have something else for them to do... if the random mumbling he heard was anything to go by.
With their current task taken care of Jak and Pinkie returned to the train and rode back to Haven City, where they climbed back into their zoomer and rode off for the Power Station... where they discovered that Vin was alone, which meant that Kor and the kids had left while they were gone.
"Jak, we've still got trouble at the Strip Mine. I think the Baron set me up." Vin commented, though at the same time he was checking and rechecking all of the dials that rested around the room, as if he was looking for something, "Actually... ah, ahh, I think everybody's trying to kill me!"
"Vin, we're on your side," Raven stated, knowing that this one man was scared of Metal Heads and didn't plan on revealing the secret to him, not unless Pinkie thought it was a good idea, "What's wrong?"
"You know those Eco wells the Baron had us drill?" Vin asked, to which the entire group nodded to him, as they had seen the six wells during their last visit to the Strip Mine area, "It seems that the Baron never intended to pipe them into the city grid. It doesn't make any sense! And the worst part is that open Eco wells will eventually attract more Metal Heads, which means that you have to close them off! Now, in preparation for the wells ever needing to be destroyed, we created these plasmite bombs, which pack enough power to do the trick. Just drop one bomb into each well and, well, the blast will do the rest."
"Daxter, don't touch those bombs," Raven warned, to which he quickly climbed off of Pinkie's shoulder and raced down to where Daxter was standing, where he slapped Daxter's hand and forced him to back away as Jak picked up the crate that was sitting near the warp gate.
"I wasn't planning on touching them," Daxter said, rubbing his hand for a few seconds, to which he sighed, as he couldn't glare at someone who could turn into a dragon and eat him if he really wanted, "I just wanted to see what they looked like before Jak used them... besides, knowing my luck I would have accidentally activated all of them and started the countdown until they exploded."
Raven, once he was sure that Daxter wasn't going to cause any harm, returned to his perch before Jak and Pinkie leapt through the warp gate and traveled to the Strip Mine. Once they arrived at their destination Jak handed Pinkie three of the plasmite bombs and went off in search of the three he was going to take out, where he used his jetboard to reach a decent height where he could drop them in. Pinkie, on the other hand, waited until Raven shifted into his hybrid form and handed one bomb over to him at a time, to which he would fly to one of the harder to reach wells and drop the bomb into it, before returning to Pinkie and picking up the second bomb.
Once all six of the wells had a bomb inside of them, and they were sure of that fact, the six plasmite bombs exploded a few seconds later and tore all of the Eco wells to pieces... to which Jak and Pinkie grinned as they returned to Haven City to see what else Vin had for them, though they waited for Raven to revert to his ottsel form before doing so.
When Jak and Pinkie returned to the Power Station, after having wrecked everything they could find at the Strip Mine, both the Eco wells and the few Metal Heads that came out to eat the leftover Eco, they found that Vin was, once more, waiting for them to return. At the same time they noticed that Kor had returned, which made them wonder if he was trying to be mysterious by constantly disappearing and reappearing when he had something he wanted to tell them, but they patiently waited to see what he had for them this time... or at least Jak, Pinkie, and Raven did that, as Daxter had something else in mind.
"What a brainwreck!" Daxter said, to which he jumped on the ground and stared up at Vin, which made Jak and Pinkie worry about what he was going to do next, because they already knew that he would use the knowledge of Raven's true form to his advantage if he was given the chance, "Vin sure is scared of Metal Heads."
"And for good reason." Kor commented, turning towards Daxter for a few seconds, though at the same time he tapped his staff of the floor for a moment, indicating that he wanted to tell them something about their foes, "I've seen what Metal Heads do when they take a city. The destruction. The killing. The devouring. The Baron's scheming will only result in this city's falling prey like all the others before it. We must replace Praxis before it's too late, though I am happy to say that you and your sidekicks are causing quite a stir in our fight against the Baron."
"You hear that Jak? You, Pinkie, and Raven are the sidekicks!" Daxter said, to which the others moaned for a moment, but at the same time he noticed that Kor was itching at something that rested under his robe, which made him think back to Raven and his true form, "Hey, uh, wise and whiskered. You, uh, got something itchin' under your robes? They have ointment for that you know."
Jak and Pinkie knew that Daxter had grown serious since they had arrived in this timeline, so that meant that the return of his joking nature, which they had been glad to be rid of for the most part, was a cover for something more important... to which they turned their attention to Kor and noticed something odd about the old man. They weren't sure if he was the Metal Head leader, which was insane when they thought about it, but they knew that there was more to Kor than what they were seeing. They resolved to keep their guard up around the old man, in the days following this day, because the more secrets they kept from him the better off they would be in the future.
"It's just my aching bones." Kor replied, though he appeared to be acting when he said it, which confirmed that he had to be hiding something from them, which was something that even Raven detected, "We have word that the Baron is sending out one of his large tanker ships and to the Drill Platform to pick up a load of ill gotten Eco. Go out to the Drill Platform through the warp gate and knock out that ship! The Shadow will send a team from the Underground to pick up the Eco later. Keep up the good work. We're counting on you!"
Jak and Pinkie headed through the warp gate, with Daxter and Raven following after them, and headed to the Drill Platform, where they quickly arrived at the ruined platform they had opened up the last time they were here. This time, however, they discovered a turret that could move along a rail system, though at the same time they discovered that one of them might have to sit on top of the turret. Pinkie, after a few seconds of thought, decided that sitting on the turret was a bad idea, to which she accessed the Dark Eco inside her body and shrouded herself in shadows, where she floated around the turret and held her scythe out... indicating that she would cull any enemies that came at her brother.
As Jak climbed into the turret and started down the path they were attacked by flying Krimzon Guards, though he made sure to fire at the enemies that his sister wasn't targeting, so he didn't accidentally blast her out of the sky and force Raven to transform in order to catch her. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Pinkie flying around the area and using her scythe to cut their opponents to pieces, once more displaying that the power her father had awakened had also brought out a version of his sister that he knew nothing about. When the enemies were taken care of they pressed onward, where they passed through a security door, took out a group of spinner Metal Heads, and jumped on a few platforms before arriving at a second turret.
The second turret took them down a second part of the rail system, where they found the ship that they were looking for and Jak immediately opened fire on it, to which they discovered that, while the ship's armor prevented the turret from doing too much damage, the ship's actually turrets proved to be its downfall... as every turret Jak destroyed seriously hurt the ship until it disappeared. It was then that Jak reached the end of the second line and found a third turret waiting for him, where he did the same time to the other side of the ship when it came back up to attack them... until one of the turrets exploded and took the entire ship with it. With the deed done, and Kor congratulated them on a job well done, they found another warp gate and returned to the Power Station... after Pinkie had returned to her natural form.
They found that there was nothing more that they needed to do in this area at the moment, to which they left the area and headed towards the Saloon, where they were sure that there was something more they needed to do for Krew... though when they arrived at their destination they found the fat man floating around the room with a happy smile on his face, indicating that he had something grand in mind.
"Years ago, when I was an art 'collector', I hit the local museum to, 'borrow' a famous statue of Mar, the founder of Haven City." Krew explained, not even bothering to look back at them while he spoke, though at the same time they knew that he had been waiting to tell them about this for some time, "In his hands, the statue held the Ruby Key to the city, an artifact of surpassing beauty... and of course, priceless worth. While smuggling the huge statue through the Sewers a grueling rainstorm flooded the whole place, where the statue and five of my best men were swept away!"
"That's terrible." Jak commented, though he was referring to the loss of life that the fat man had caused, but at the same time he already knew that Krew was talking about something else... something that would make them all hate him more than they already did.
"Yes, a tragic loss. I've missed that statue ever since!" Krew agreed, to which the group determined that the fat man assumed that they were agreeing with him, though it appeared that he didn't care less about their opinions on whether he was talking about the statue or the men he had gotten killed, "The Sewers have been so full of water and Metal Heads that I can't get anyone to go down there and retrieve the artifact. Jak and Pinkie, the two of you are special. I'm positive that the two of you can do it!"
"Jak and Pinkie?" Daxter said, though it was clear that he was annoyed about being left out, while at the same time Raven didn't seem to care about that too much, "Hey, what about Raven and I? Are we chopped liver or something?"
"Ohhh, don't I wish." Kre commented, to which he licked his fingers in front of Daxter's face for a few seconds, as if he was imagining doing something vile to Daxter before eating him, before he turned back to Jak and Pinkie, "Now, go down there, drain the Sewers, and find that statue at the bottom. Bring back the Ruby Key artifact, and it will open up doors beyond our wildest dreams."
Jak and Pinkie looked at each other for a few seconds, as they had no idea what was so special about the Ruby Key, but it was important enough for Krew to send them back into the Sewers, so they guessed that they might as well get going. They left the Saloon and climbed back into the zoomer they had grabbed after leaving the Power Station, to which they carefully maneuvered themselves back to the entrance of the Sewers and avoided pissing off the Krimzon Guards. When they entered the Sewers, and took the elevator down to the level they needed, they discovered that the lights had been switched off by someone, which was easy to fix as they touched the button that turned them back on and pressed onward once more.
They quickly came to an area that only Jak would be able to traverse, thanks to the jetboard, but then he watched as Pinkie shifted back into her shadow form and followed after him. Once she had done that they made their way through the new opening and carefully made their way over the winding pipes that they discovered, though a few seconds later Jak jumped off the jetboard and turned a valve that lowered the water. The instant the water stopped moving Jak jumped onto the jetboard and continued moving, to which he carefully avoided the mines that were in the water, and the various hazards that had been installed years ago, as he made his way through the entirety of the Sewers. He made his way towards several more valves and turned them, lowering the water until it reached a level that allowed them to walk freely... and allowed Pinkie to take her natural form as Jak climbed off his jetboard.
It didn't take them long to discover that the statue of Mar was down on the lowest level of the Sewers, though all four of them were impressed by the sheer size of the stone statue they were looking at, while at the same time they noticed how intimidating the figure looked. They noticed that there was a large red gemstone resting at the top of Mar's scepter, though after carefully examining the statue they discovered that the Ruby Key was at the top of the gemstone, to which both Daxter and Raven climbed up to the gemstone. The two of them stared at the Ruby Key for a few seconds, as if Daxter was waiting for Raven to figure out how they were supposed to release it without damaging it or the statue, before the two of them gripped the base of the key and pulled on it.
Fortunately the two of them were able to pull the Ruby Key free without damaging anything, to which Pinkie quickly shifted into her shadowy form and collected it from them, where the three of them returned to the ground and showed Jak what the Ruby Key looked like. With the artifact in hand they located a nearby elevator and rode back to the entrance, though instead of heading back to Krew they decided to head to the arena and see if Keira wanted to talk with them about something... and maybe participate in a race while they were at it. Jak was itching to show up Errol in a race, and break his concentration while he was at it, though at the same time Pinkie just wanted a few minutes to actually relax before they got serious once more.
Somehow she had the feeling that whatever they learned after meeting up with Keira might be one of the easiest missions they could have in a long time... though she kept her mouth shut so she didn't jinx them.
When Jak and Pinkie arrived at the stadium they discovered that Keira was working on another one of the zoomers that happened to be brought in for fixing all the time, though this one appeared to be one that belonged to the Krimzon Guard. Jak immediately thought about Errol, who was the current champion of the stadium and was the Baron's commander at the moment, which brought a grin to his face. If they could beat Errol in a race, and really piss him off, it would make their campaign against the Baron much easier on all of them, which included the Underground movement as well. Pinkie really didn't care too much about racing, as that was more her brother's thing at the moment, but she was more than willing to watch the races go down whenever it was time to watch her brother clean up the track.
The two of them stood there for a few seconds without Keira noticing that they had arrived, though she did turn around when Daxter accidentally bumped into something, but that was followed by her smiling at them as she set her tools aside and got out from under the zoomer.
"I didn't expect you to get here so fast after receiving my message," Keira admitted, though at the same time she closed a panel of the zoomer she was working on and walked away from it, allowing the others to move as well, "Remember how you mentioned that you wanted to get at the Baron, for everything he's done to you over the years?"
"Yeah, its hard not to," Jak commented, though even as he spoke he was glad that Keira had no idea about Pinkie's true parents, because he already knew that she would be furious when she discovered that the Baron was using them like they were tools and was ready to discard them.
"Well, I just remembered how you can get to him," Keira said, to which she pointed out of the room they were in and turned their attention to the racing posters that were resting all over the city, "You could try to win the Class One Racing Championship. The winner of that big race always gets to meet the Baron in the Palace, but in order to do that you have to qualify by winning the lower class races. There's a Class Three race starting soon, so you can drive for my team. But Jak, we really should think about getting out of here... I don't like this place, and some of the people are just plain creepy."
Before Jak could actually say anything, and agree that some of the people he had met were stranger than the people they knew from Sandover Village, he heard the sound of Krew coming their way, to which they went silent as the fat man, who they were sure never left the saloon unless it was urgent, floated into the room they were in.
"Jak, my boy. I need that Ruby Key you found." Krew commented, though Jak was sure that Keira was raising an eyebrow at them, but there was no way to tell without turning his head back to her, "A 'special client' has requested it."
Instead of saying anything to Krew, and indicating that he must have forgotten to bring the Ruby Key to him, Jak simply pulled the artifact out of where it was being held and handed it over to the fat man, who grinned the moment he had it before he left them alone. Once Krew was gone, and they were sure of it, they heard the intercom go off and announce that the Class 3 race was about to begin, to which Keira wished Jak luck against the other racers. Pinkie and Jak made their way to the entrance of the racing arena, though when they arrived they discovered that the area they had used for practicing with the jetboard had been converted into a race track... and that there was quite a lot of people waiting for the race to begin.
As Pinkie took a seat in the stands Jak climbed onto the racing zoomer, which was a modified version of the original zoomer that allowed the driver to sit in the middle and more accurately control their vehicle, but Pinkie couldn't help but let a small grin appear on her face... because his knowledge of the base zoomer would help him win the race.
When the race started Jak made sure to remain near the back of the pack, as he was studying the actual layout of the racetrack before he did anything else, while at the same time studying the other racers and their reactions to the various twists and turns they encountered. When Jak started the second lap he got much more serious, as he maneuvered his way to the front of the pack, much to the annoyance of the other racers that were trying to beat him. As the third lap started he made sure to pace himself in front of the others, to which he put a good distance between his zoomer and the others that were behind him. Jak could hear the crowd cheering for the 'underdog', which he assumed had to be him, but he smiled as he raced towards the finish line, leaving his competitors in the dust.
Once he crossed the finish line he brought his zoomer to a rest and pulled his goggles up, to which he smiled as he left the race track and waved at the people all around him, because he knew that some of them had to be hoping for Errol to be taken off his pedestal... and that they were hoping that he would be the one to do it.
"So, we just need two more races until we can get into the Palace?" Jak asked the moment he was back in Keria's garage, where he put the trophy he had been given down on the counter Keira was standing near.
"That's correct," Keira commented, though at the same time she crossed her arms, because from what she had heard about their latest adventures she knew that Jak was planning something, "just let me warn you that the other racers, the the next two levels, are going to be much tougher than the ones you just faced."
"I can handle it," Jak said, though at the same time he noticed that they weren't alone, as Ashelin was walking towards the garage they were in, which meant that something had to be happening somewhere in the city.
"I got to say, you are good at racing," Ashelin said, to which she noticed that something was off about Pinkie, based on how she looked and the expression that was on her face, "you gave the people hope, and they have been needing that lately. Speaking of hope, what's happened to Pinkie's cheerful attitude?"
"She found out some reality shattering news from her father." Jak answered, to which he turned towards Pinkie, who was now sitting in a chair and staring at the wall opposite of where they were standing, which meant that she wasn't in the mood to talk, "Apparently the Baron has been using her to rat out the Underground, as when we climbed to the Palace he confirmed as much for us... as well as tell her that she was a tool that had fulfilled it's duties, which was when she learned that he planned on discarding her soon enough."
"I... I cannot believe my father would say such a thing!" Ashelin declared, though when she glanced over at Pinkie, and took in how she was acting, she knew that it had to be the truth, which only annoyed her more, "I'll try to keep what I know a secret and see if I can't find out more from my father... and hopefully figure out how to help Pinkie."
Jak nodded as Ashelin left the garage, to which he and Keira returned to Pinkie's side... as he knew that they could afford to spend some time relaxing before their next big move against the Baron and the Metal Head Leader.
Once Pinkie was feeling better, which was hard to tell considering that her hair hadn't regained it's poofy nature, she and Jak, along with their ottsel friends, left Keira in her workshop and headed outside the arena. It was there that they discovered that, by looking at the communicator that Daxter had muted earlier, they could meet with Onin in the Bazaar or head into the Slums. Apparently their was a message from Brutter, which was why they were being directed towards the Slums, but they decided not to open it at the moment, not until they had discovered whatever Onin wanted to tell them, as all four of them were sure that the blind seer had something important to tell them.
The moment they decided to seek out Onin and the information she needed to give them, Jak powered up the zoomer they had used to reach the stadium, let Pinkie climb in beside him, and then got underway towards their destination. It didn't take them long to reach the location of Onin's hut, though when they arrived they found that the Shadow was waiting beside her, which meant that this was definitely something important they needed to know about.
"The birdbrain and I were just talking about you," the Shadow commented, though he waited for the group to enter the hut before he said anything, while at the same time annoying Pecker at the mention of calling him 'birdbrain', "Onin is very proud of what all of you have done."
"What we did?" Jak asked, as he was slightly confused by the Shadow's comment, as he wasn't certain if the old seer was referring to what they were doing at the moment, what they had done in the past, or something they were going to do in the near future.
"What you did... what you do... its all the same." Pecker interpreted, though his tone indicated that he wasn't about to share which time period Onin was referring to, not that the group was actually interested in that information at the moment, as they had come here for something more important.
"Will you stop with the Deja Voodoo stuff?" Daxter demanded, though while the tone of his voice could be mistaken for angry, he just wanted to get this visit over with so they could begin searching for whatever Onin wanted them to find this time, "It's creepy!"
"Onin says you must find the Tomb of Mar," the Shadow explained, causing the group to raise their eyebrows for a moment, because they all knew about the legendary figure that had created the city and the Eco Dome that protected the citizens from the Metal Heads.
"Even now," Pecker began, translating everything that Onin was signing at the moment, though the group kept their mouths shut as they waited to hear everything she wanted to tell them, "Baron Praxus seeks the tomb, but only... arrrk! The one true heir of Mar can open the Tomb's seal."
"We believe the young boy is the key to Mar's Tomb." the Shadow added, explaining another reason behind why he, and by extent the Underground, had been so keen on keeping the young pair of children safe.
"The prophecies say the true heir of Mar must face the ancient Oracle." Pecker said, to which he really got into what Onin was saying, because he started moving his wings around while he revealed what the young boy was going to have to do in the future, "He alone must circumvent the cunning tests of manhood. He alone must wield the Precursor Stone, thereby unleashing... Geez, louise, fossil lady! Stop with the snotty mystic talk already! You know that it hurts my lips!"
"Forgive me for asking, but why is Mar's tomb so important?" Pinkie asked, because while she knew that Mar had been behind the founding of the city, and responsible for the Eco Dome, she had no idea why the tomb was so important.
"The fabled Precursor Stone is fabled to sleep within the Tomb, stupid." Pecker replied, which caused Jak, Daxter, and Raven to glare at the bird, because in Pinkie's current state there was no telling whether she was going to snap and kill him or simply stare him down, "I added the 'stupid' part. The Precursor Stone contains vast Eco energies. It can be used for great good... or great eeeevil! I just love saying that last part!"
"The Baron wants the Precursor Stone for himself to rule the world." the Shadow further explained, as he didn't like most of what Pecker said, especially when he didn't seem to care about Pinkie's current condition regarding her adoptive father, "But he is playing with forces he does not understand."
"Okay Pecker, how do I get this Precursor Stone?" Jak asked, because if the bird was going to tell off his sister, and reveal that the artifact was hidden inside a tomb they couldn't locate, he figured that they knew how to get to the keys that would help them find the tomb.
"First, you must go to the Dig and find the Lurker totem." the Shadow answered, apparently interrupting Pecker before he could say anything that might annoy Pinkie further, which was a wise decision on his part, "Onin and I learned that a piece to the Seal of Mar is contained within its ancient carvings. You must find all three pieces of the seal to open Mar's gate into the canyon."
With the information received, and Pinkie's anger kept in check, Jak led the way out of the hut and got them underway so they could return to the port, climb into the train, and then fly to where the Dig was located so they could begin their search for the Lurker totem. While they rode on their zoomer Jak considered opening the message from Brutter and seeing what the Lurker wanted from them, but then he decided that now wasn't the time and that he would check it when they returned with the first piece of the seal. Fortunately the Krimzon Guard didn't bother them as they made their way towards the train, to which Jak carefully parked it where it wouldn't annoy anyone and followed Pinkie to the train... where they climbed into the vehicle and moved towards their next destination.
When they arrived at the Dig, which was really easy to reach with the train, they found that the exterior of the site was the same size and that the elevator was in working order, though the scorpion Metal Heads were waiting for them the moment they climbed off the platform. Jak took point and blasted at the enemies that were in front of them with his Morph Gun, switching between the three mods the weapon had when a different enemy showed up, while Pinkie stayed behind him and blasted at the enemies that were just out of her brother's reach. When they entered the main cavern, where the massive drill had been located, they were shocked to discover the Lurker village they had missed the last time they had been here.
They quickly reached a pipe that Jak could use the jetboard on, though while he rode down the pipe Pinkie simply walked down the hill and climbed up onto the platform her brother had been heading towards.
Once the two of them were back together they moved towards the next area of that they needed to pass through and found it crawling with all sorts of Metal Heads, though at the same time they discovered that there were some switches that appeared like the type they could press and change something in their environment. Pinkie walked forward and went around a corner, to which she discovered one of the switches was resting near the entrance of the area, though when she walked onto it she heard the sound of something rising in the area. That told her that they were on the right track, to which she returned to her brother and they got moving once more, where Jak started firing shots at the Metal Heads that happened to be in their way.
Raven, who shifted into his hybrid form, flew around the area, spotted the remaining four switches that they needed to press, and returned to them so he could show them were they needed to go, which worked out in their favor. The second switch happened to be near the first one, though they had to take out one of the Eco bomb throwing type Metal Heads to get at it, while the third required that they lower some boxes for a few seconds before they were able to touch it. From there they circled around the small tunnel that they were in and found the fourth switch they needed to press, to which they climbed up to a higher position on the platforms they were on... to which Jak used the jetboard to process further and waited for Pinkie to do the same, only she had Raven grab the item in his hybrid form so she could move forward as well.
They found the fifth and final switch inside a building near where the grind rail took them, though when they touched it they heard the final shift in the environment happen, to which they headed back up to the top of the platform they had landed on and used a Lurker balloon to reach the next area they needed to head to. Once they reached the next area they discovered that the item they had been changing was a wooden pillar of sorts, which allowed them to climb up to a higher area... one that had a large amount of lava that was slowly eating into the hardened rocks that had fallen into the molten liquid, which told them that they needed to hurry before their path was lost.
Jak and Pinkie carefully used the rocks to make their way to the Lurker buildings, where they were allowed to use the balloons that were in front of them to move between the platforms and make their way towards the item they had come for. It didn't take them long to reach an area that they could climb further up and discovered that they had to dodge some large spheres with spikes sticking out of them, but they were able to pass through the obstacle without hurting themselves... though for a reward they were able to reach the totem they had been looking for.
"Allow me," Raven said, to which he flew up to where the orange piece of Mar's seal was located and pried it from its resting place, which caused the topmost part to fall down and land on Daxter, making it look like he had a wooden fish head until Jak pried it off.
With the piece of Mar's seal in hand Jak and Pinkie walked around the platform that the totem was on and found a warp gate hidden behind one of the buildings, to which they jumped through it and headed back to Haven City.
When they returned to the city, in the Power Station no less, Jak decided to open the message that Brutter had left for them, to which they discovered that the Lurker had, somehow, known that they might be looking for the fragments of Mar's seal and had apparently found one that he was willing to give to them. Once they understood that the piece of the seal was the reason behind the Lurker contacting them, and that there might be some enemies trying to find the very fragments they were searching for, Jak and Pinkie left the station and grabbed a zoomer. The instant they had a ride Jak got them underway and headed towards the Slums, where they could begin their search for the Lurker's house.
It wasn't too hard for them to locate the house in question, not with the glowing fragment they were looking for hanging on the door of Brutter's house... though the instant Jak took the seal piece they heard the sound of zoomers arriving behind them, to which they discovered that the Krimzon Guard intended to ambush them. As Jak raised his gun to defend himself, however, Pinkie stepped forward and swung her arm, commanding her scythe to phase into existence as she used her shadow abilities to flash above the cruiser above them and cleave it in half with the Dark Eco she was starting to use more frequently. Once the cruiser was removed Pinkie moved onto the enemies that were standing in front of her, dodging their attacks and using her weapon to ruin those that opposed her.
While Pinkie made her way out of the Slums, and left a path of dead Krimzon Guards behind her, Jak silently walked behind her and took out any guards that dared to attack them from behind... though once they reached the exit Pinkie sent her weapon away and climbed into a zoomer, to which they took off before more reinforcements arrived. What they did next was head to the saloon, where they could relax and let the Krimzon Guard cool down before they went and did anything else... though at the same time some of their friends gathered around them and Daxter started bragging about the amount of Metal Heads he had taken out.
In the end Jak, Pinkie, Daxter, and Raven received a mission to take out some 'Metal Heads' that had appeared in Haven Forest, though they had the feeling that their friends from the Neo Hive had purposely revealed themselves so they could have a conversation... which all of them were eager to have. They told Sig that they would look into what he had discovered and left the saloon thirty minutes later, though they knew that something big was going to happen when they reached the ancient forest.
It didn't take Jak and Pinkie long to find a zoomer to borrow, as the one they had been using had been grabbed by someone else while they were inside the saloon talking with their friends, and begin the short journey towards Haven Forest. As they traveled to their destination Pinkie looked at all of the Krimzon Guard cruisers that were moving through the air, which made her wonder if they were gathering for the threat in the forest or if her adopted father was preparing for total war with the Underground. She was sure that the Baron was up to something, as she could have sworn that she noticed several new colored cruisers moving with the older models, though she only hoped that their business in Haven Forest went by quickly so they could stop whatever was going to happen next.
She let out a sigh as they turned a corner and moved through the farm area of the city, though it really didn't take them too long to reach the door she and Jak needed to go through. Once they reached the ramp in front of the door Jak parked the zoomer and they began their ascent, to which they patiently waited for the security door to open so they could walk into the Precursor Ruins that were near the forest. The moment the door was open they used the warp gate to reach the upper level they needed to head up to, to which they climbed into the small platform that would take them to their true destination and prepared themselves for whatever was waiting for them.
When they arrived at the entrance of Haven Forest they expected to be greeted by one of the Neo Metal Heads, be it Stalker or one of the ones they hadn't met, but instead what they found was a raging battle between combat style Metal Heads, with yellow Skull Gems, and quicker Metal Heads that had blue Skull Gems.
Jak pulled out his Morph Gun and fired upon the Metal Heads that bared the yellow Skull Gems, making sure to fire when there was an opening, though he personally found it odd that the Metal Heads he was aiding were nodding their appreciation to him as he aided them. It was clear that their enemies were supposed to be stealth types, in addition to combat types, but the Neo Metal Heads apparently could see where their enemies were and helped Jak in finding where they were hiding. He actually thought it was a little unfair for their enemies, because they had no doubt came here to scout out the area and then report back to their master, but instead they were engaged in battle with the superior breed of Metal Head that their master had created... and, with him added to the mix, the yellow gem Metal Heads were severely outclassed at the moment.
That was before he even factored Pinkie and Raven into the mix, as Pinkie was approaching the enemy Metal Heads that were hiding in the shadows and carved them up with her scythe, indicating that she wasn't playing around at the moment... while at the same time Raven had shifted into his hybrid form and tore into the enemies that were foolish enough to approach him.
In time the two groups, both Jak's and the Neo Metal Heads, had routed the enemies that were in front of the entrance of Haven Forest, to which they moved on to the area where the large tree was located and continued their assault on the enemies that were attacking the forest. It was clear that the enemy Metal Heads didn't stand a chance, as they got cut down whenever they revealed themselves, though in time the group removed all of the enemies that were in the entire area. With all of their enemies taken care of, and the Neo Metal Heads were sure that there weren't any enemies left for them to fight, Jak and Pinkie sheathed their weapons as Raven landed nearby... though he carried with him an arm of the last opponent he had taken out, indicating that he was hungry and that he was claiming what was his.
As Jak, Daxter, and Pinkie waited for someone to tell them what should be happening next, however, one of the shield baring Metal Heads came towards where they were standing, to which they noticed that the gun wasn't purely attached to the creature's hand... as it appeared that both the gun and the shield could be stored away in the blue stones in the middle of its hands. They also noticed that this one seemed to be dressed up in actual clothing, though it was all clothing designed to make it look like a scientist of some kind. As the trio watched the Neo Metal Head approach them, however, they discovered that the creature was more interested in Raven... who looked up from the limb he was tearing into and observed the creature that was walking towards him.
"Most interesting," the Metal Head commented, to which he lifted his left hand up and touched Raven's back, almost as if he was studying the Eco flow inside Raven's body, before placing the other hand on Raven's head, "Stalker told me that you might not remember us, despite the fact that you clearly remember how to shift between your three forms, but I can tell that living under that Eco Dome has had some effects on your body."
"I take it you are Vex?" Raven asked, though before he spoke he made sure to swallow what had been in his mouth, as he didn't want to seem rude to the Metal Heads he apparently had been the leader for before he had sacrificed himself to save the new clutch his father had made... if he chose to believe Stalker's story.
"That is correct." the Metal Head, Vex, replied, to which he nodded his head as he pulled his hands away from Raven and pulled out a notepad from the bag he was carrying, "I am a Centurion Class Metal Head, which is the type that has their entire left hand consumed by their weapon and a shield on their right hand, but the Leader of the original Hive modified me to be this way. In fact every Metal Head in our hive has been modified from their original form, as you have no doubt seen with Stalker and the others that fought beside you today."
"So how do we fix Raven?" Daxter asked, causing Jak and Pinkie to glance over at him for a few seconds, "What? I'm not a huge fan of Metal Heads, but after finding out that we actually have some as allies I would actually like to meet who Raven used to be... the Raven that defied his father, broke the other modified Metal Heads out of their holding areas, and escaped with the intent to gather their power so they could beat the main hive."
"Fixing the problem that the Eco Dome has created isn't as easy as you would believe," Vex stated, causing the group to raise their eyebrows for a few seconds, though Pinkie had been expecting that there would be some trouble in restoring her friend to his former glory, "Either Raven leaves Haven City for the same number of years that he spent under the dome, which I can tell that he won't do considering that both of our groups are at war with the main hive, or someone destroys the Eco Dome... which would leave the entire city vulnerable to the main hive."
"That sounds like something that his father would want to do," Pinkie said, letting out a sigh as the group turned towards her, though at the same time she noticed that Vex was nodding his head in understanding, "Think about it, the Metal Head leader wants to get inside the city, so he can search for something of immense power, no doubt the Precursor Stone, and the only thing that's stopping him and his army from actually getting inside the city is the Eco Dome. I can almost guarantee that he'll try to take the Eco Dome out, so we have to be careful and make sure that it stays intact until we take our enemy out."
"Well, there's not much I can actually do for you at the moment," Vex commented, though at the same time he reached into his pack and pulled out a vial, which he handed over to Pinkie, "That vial contains a mixture of herbs and Eco that should, when drank a little at time, hopefully help Raven combat the effects of the Eco Dome. It may or may not help him regain his memories, based on how long he's been living under the Eco Dome, but it is better than nothing... and we'll be searching for additional methods to completely restore his memories."
Pinkie nodded and stashed the vial in her own pack, though once that was done Stalker emerged from the shadows and called for their forces to retreat to their hidden base. As the other members of the Neo Metal Heads gathered their belongings and started to depart from the forest, however, Stalker apologized for not being able to help Raven more than they had, before she followed her family and departed from the area. Once that was done Pinkie looked at their communicator and noticed that Torn wanted them for some reason, to which she and Jak started to head to the entrance of the area.
The moment they passed through the security gate, and reentered Haven City, they climbed into a zoomer and headed towards the Underground hideout.
When the group arrived at the location of the Underground's hideout, and were sure that none of their enemies knew that they were in the dead end area that the hideout was located in, they carefully opened the door and headed inside. They found Torn walking around the table, occasionally looking at something that he had placed on it, though once they crossed the threshold he turned towards them. It was clear that he had been trying to reach them for a few minutes, before Pinkie had discovered his transmission, but if he was annoyed with them he wasn't showing it, which meant that he was either learning to hide his emotions better or there was something more important going on at the moment.
"The Baron's coming down pretty hard." Torn commented, indicating that he wasn't going to talk about them ignoring his message, which must have meant that he had decided that they had been doing something equally important as what he was going to ask of them, "Whatever the lot of you have been up to lately has really upset him."
"Oh trust me," Daxter said, though he flashed Torn a smile, indicating that there was more they could do for the Underground in this war they were in, "we're just getting started. There's so much more we can do towards the person that imprisoned and tortured Jak for two whole years... while at the same time breaking Pinkie's innocent reality."
"Right." Torn stated, stretching the word for a few seconds, as if he didn't want to remember what the Baron had done towards Pinkie, before he turned back to Jak, "Anyway, the Baron's brought in new Krimzon 'Hellcat' Cruisers, making the streets more dangerous for the Underground... we've already lost five men since they we loosed upon the streets, and that's not including the members the guard has already killed so far."
"And you need someone to take them out before they kill more people?" Jak asked, because he was sure that these Hellcat Cruisers might have killed innocent people while hunting down members of the Underground, to which Torn nodded to him for a moment, "Perfect. We get to make the streets safer for everyone and, at the same time, we get to destroy some of the Baron's dangerous new toys. I just have one question; how many Hellcat Cruisers are there?"
"All my scouts indicate that there are five of them," Torn replied, to which he smiled as Jak and Pinkie started heading towards the stairs that would take them outside the hideout, "This will send the Baron a message that he won't be able to ignore... and give us some breathing room."
Jak and Pinkie decided that, considering that there were five enemies for them to deal with, that this would be a good time to separate from each other, though the first Hellcat Cruiser happened to be near the area that was in front of the Underground's entrance. They grinned as Jak pulled out his gun and started firing at the cruiser, causing it to focus on him for the moment, though that allowed Pinkie to approach the cruiser from below and use her Dark Eco abilities to an interesting effect. What she did was gather some of the Dark Eco that had been gathering inside her body, from killing all the enemy Metal Heads, and toss the small cluster into the area near the cruiser's engines... to which the flames caused the Dark Eco to expand as a cluster of Dark Eco crystals erupted all around the cruiser and brought it to the ground.
Jak and Daxter stared at the ruined cruiser, which was on fire and covered in Dark Eco crystals, and almost felt sorry for the guards that had been riding in the vehicle... though they shook their heads and separated from Pinkie, allowing her and Raven to hunt down some of the remaining cruisers.
Pinkie grabbed one of the nearby zoomers and headed into the Industrial area of the city, where she found one of the cruisers hanging around the area that was in front of the entrance to the sewers. It was clear that they weren't expecting her to be there, as it appeared that Jak was attacking a cruiser near the Water Slums thanks to what she heard on the communicators that the guards were carrying. It opened a perfect hole for her to exploit, as all she really did was repeat the same process she had used against the first cruiser, to which she formed another small cluster of Dark Eco and tossed it into the cruiser... though she backed away before the reaction happened and the cruiser went down in flames.
It also didn't take her long to find her second target, as the Hellcat Cruiser flew into the area following the destruction of the one Pinkie had targeted, though she waited for the transmission to kick in from the other guards as she followed her target for a few moments. When the fifth cruiser called in and said that Jak was attacking it, however, Pinkie grinned as she concentrated her mind and tossed another cluster of Dark Eco into the cruiser's engines... to which she and Raven watched as it was engulfed in flames before going down. With the deed done, and all of her targets taken care of, she turned the zoomer around and headed back to the hideout, where she found Jak waiting for her.
It was then that Torn briefly came out of the hideout and told them that Pecker, and by extent Onin, wanted to see them when it was convenient, to which the group hopped back into the zoomer that they had borrowed and headed back to the Bazaar... though when they arrived they found Kor speaking with the pair.
"Expecting that little boy to save us is folly!" Kor angrily proclaimed, to which he tapped the base of his staff against the ground a few times, indicating that the Shadow must have told him something that he either didn't agree with or didn't like in some manner, "At his age, he's no match for the Metal Head leader."
Pecker, apparently having heard the same thing multiple times since Kor showed up at the hut, was pleased to see that the people he had called for had finally arrived, to which he smiled at the group as they walked through the hut's opening... which, in turn, made Kor turn around and notice that Jak, Daxter, Pinkie, and Raven had arrived.
"Oh, Jak... we were just talking about Samos's plan." Kor commented, as if he wanted the group to know what they had been talking about, though the group had already guessed that fact before they had even walked into the hut.
"Onin says your voice sounds very familiar," Pecker spoke up, though at the same time Onin focused her gaze on Kor, almost as if she was trying to remember who the man was, "I bet you golden oldies go way back, huh?"
Jak and Pinkie glanced at each other as they noted how Kor flinched back from Onin's gaze, indicating that he definitely had something to hide and didn't want his secret revealed to anyone. Before either of them could consider what they were seeing, however, Pecker decided that it was time to start a different conversation, which was the reason why Jak and Pinkie had come here to begin with.
"Onin has noticed, without anyone telling her, that you have already collected two of the three pieces of Mar's ancient seal." Pecker said, to which both Jak and Pinkie nodded, as they had expected the old lady to have determined that they had been successful so far, though it appeared that there was some explanation they needed to hear first, "Each piece of the seal was positioned in such a way to test you, in order for you to energize them so they can open the door. One was positioned in an area where you could test your strength against the Krimzon Guard, while the second tested your skills against the dangers of the mine. Now, Onin wishes to test your mind... and hopefully reveal the third and final piece of the seal."
Onin called upon her Eco powers once more and started weaving patterns into the air, where Jak could see that she had weaved together plenty of purple squares, red circles, green triangles, and blue x's. Jak could feel his own energy reacting to whatever Onin was doing, to which he focused his mind and started following the patterns that the elderly lady was weaving in front of him. Before long he was able to predict the exact symbols she was weaving, even when the intensity of the symbols increased, though it all came to an end when the third piece of Mar appeared before them... to which it fused together with the two he was already carrying and created the Seal of Mar.
"Behold!" Pecker proclaimed, a grin appearing on his face as Jak took hold of the ancient relic that had been separated into three pieces, only to be restored by the effort that Jak and Pinkie had put into recovering the pieces, "The Seal of Mar is now complete. Onin says the three artifacts you retrieved from the mountain temple are relics from an ancient Light Tower... though I can tell you that old songs tell of how this Light Tower once shined down on the actual site of Mar's tomb. I would sing you one of those songs, just so you could understand what I'm talking about, but Onin tells me that I shouldn't hinder you more than she already has. So instead I will tell you what you need to do; You must take the three artifacts to Mar's Gate... only then will the Light Tower rise, and reveal the Tomb."
Jak, Daxter, and Pinkie grinned at each other as they realized that they were on step closer to finding the Precursor Stone and securing it before it fell into the hands of either the Baron or the Metal Head leader... though at the same time Raven couldn't help but feel a little uneasy as Kor walked away from the hut. He knew that the old man was carrying a dark secret, if what they saw when Onin glared him was any indication, and that made him wonder what the secret was... despite the fact that he was sure that the secret was one that should be left alone.
Jak and Pinkie were silent as they rode towards the security gate that would allow them to access the ancient Precursor Temple and Haven Forest, where they had encountered the Neo Metal Heads. The reason behind them being silent was because they were trying to think about where the ancient Tomb of Mar was actually located, as they were sure that it wasn't in the Dig like Kor had suggested. They were sure that the resting place was either inside the city, in an area where no one would even think to look, or somewhere outside the city, no doubt protected by whatever traps and seals Mar could have created before his demise.
Just thinking about the potential traps that could be inside Mar's tomb worried them a little bit, because if the Precursors could make these buildings that stood for ages, and remained standing for years after their disappearance with all the traps still working.
When they reached the security gate they climbed out of the zoomer and headed to the other side of the wall, to which they used the warp gate to reach the cliff that would take them into the forest if they desired. Instead of going back there, and seeing if there was one of the Neo Metal Heads lurking around the area, they turned to the right and snapped the lone platform back into place, where they crossed over to the elevator. The moment they were on the other side they walked onto the elevator platform and let it bring them towards the ground level, where they had used the three existing paths at the time to move around the ancient temple... though instead using any of those paths they turned towards the locked door.
Jak stared at it for a few seconds before he pulled out the completed Seal of Mar, to which it floated into the middle of the locked door and remained there for a few seconds, where it opened the door and revealed the path that they had to take... though at the same time Jak pocketed the Seal of Mar in case there was something else they needed to use it on.
The path they uncovered was a short passage that brought them to another door, though before they could reach the door they had to cross over some pipes that required them using the jetboard to get across the gap. Jak went first, as he was the most skilled in using the gadget, though before he could have Raven come over to grab it, however, Pinkie smiled as she sent some Dark Eco at the wall to her right. She stared at the swirling mass for a few seconds before she stepped through it, to which she literally stepped out of Jak's shadow, which happened to be resting on one of the rock walls he was standing near... much to both his and Daxter's surprise.
"I shouldn't be surprised by what you can do," Daxter commented, though at the same time the swirling mass on the other side of the gap disappeared, but that did nothing to ease the emotions that he was feeling at the moment, "but every time you do something new it freaks me out!"
"It just means that we have one more move we can use against our enemies," Jak said, though as he spoke both he and Pinkie made their way to the second door that was resting in front of them, which had to be the one that would take them to the location of the Light Tower.
They passed through the already opened gate and followed the path that was in front of them, where they rounded a corner and found themselves in a large area that appeared to be filled with some ancient machinery that could only have been made during Mar's time. Jak took note of the three machines that rested in front of them, as he immediately noticed that one had a slot that the gear they found could fit into, one had a slot for the glowing crystal, and the third had a slot for the glass lens they had grabbed. He reached into his pack and pulled out the gear, which he passed into Daxter's hand and indicated to the machine that it had to be put into, to which Daxter nodded and ran over to it. Once Daxter was in place, and waiting to put his part of the machine in place, he tossed the crystal over to Pinkie, who walked over to the machine on their right... while at the same time he moved towards the furthest machine.
The moment Jak was in place he gestured to Pinkie, who beckoned to Daxter for a second, and he heard the sound of the gear being put into the machine it was supposed to go into, as the gears in the wall behind it started spinning. The instant the gears started spinning Jak tossed the glass lens into his machine and backed away, allowing the entire construct to rise out of the ground and ascend towards the sky. That's was Pinkie's cue to put the crystal into her machine, which drew the crystal into the main section of the machine and fired four small beams of energy into it, where a larger blue beam went flying up to the top of the Light Tower... where it struck the lens and was fired off into another direction.
The group waited for a few seconds as the machinery powered down, having used everything it had for the purpose they had just fulfilled, though someone contacted them not soon after that... to which they learned, from Pecker no less, that the Tomb of Mar was hidden inside the city, right under the Baron's nose the entire time. Pinkie immediately guessed that Pecker was talking about the large statue of her father that was resting in front of the Palace, to which Pecker confirmed that the Tomb had been hiding under the area that the statue had been built on top of. Despite living under the Baron's roof for four years, and being treated like a part of the family, which she was when she thought about it, she always hated that statue... so she smiled as she and Jak returned to the warp gate and headed back into the city.
It didn't take them long to return to the area that the Tomb was supposed to be located in, though Pinkie kept her smile on her face as she realized that the fallen head of her father's statue had crashed into the base it had been built on and revealed the hidden door that would take them to the Tomb of Mar. As they passed through the double set of doors, which looked more modern than what they were expecting, they also discovered an elevator, which looked slightly older than the doors, before they were transported deep into the Earth. When the elevator finally reached it's destination they discovered a large room that had a massive sculpture of a Precursor Oracle surmounting a massive door, while noticing that the Shadow and Kor, along with the younger versions of themselves, were waiting for their arrival.
It appeared that the Shadow must have had some ideas where the Tomb had been resting, as that was the only way he and Kor could have beaten them to the Tomb... though Jak and Pinkie remained silent as they approached the group in front of them.
"You did it, Jak!" the Shadow marveled, staring at all of the work that had gone into making the door that was resting in front of them, while at the same time wondering what was waiting on the other side, "You actually found Mar's Tomb!"
"That's great considering what's supposed to be inside the Tomb, but we have a problem," Jak said, to which he placed a hand on the shoulder of the younger version of himself, wondering if this was one memory that he had forgotten, "this guy doesn't have the strength, the skill, or the training needed to make it through the trials that are inside the Tomb."
"But you and your sister do." the young boy commented, surprising Jak for a moment, as he actually hadn't been expecting the boy to speak, though his short statement told him that the younger version of himself had been watching him and Pinkie fight whenever they were around.
"How I have long awaited for this day," Kor spoke up, to which Pinkie noticed that the old man seemed to be off in his own world, as if he was finally realizing some forgotten dream that was becoming a reality at long last, "to finally hold the fabled Precursor Stone in my hands!"
As the Shadow started to tell the young boy to be brave, and that the trials ahead would test everything he knew, along with what he had picked up from watching both Jak and Pinkie fight, the Precursor Oracle awoke from its ancient slumber and spoke to them. It welcomed the heir of Mar and said that it had been long awaiting for this day to arrive, to which the door started to open before their very eyes, though at the same time Jak and Pinkie knew something was going to happen soon. Not a few seconds after they thought about something happening the ancient Oracle proclaimed that the young boy was too young to face the tests and immediately started to close the half opened door, to which both the Shadow and Kor asked Jak and Pinkie to do something.
Pinkie and Jak were already on the move before either of the men could tell them what to do, as they both raced towards the closing door and rolled under it, though Raven, on the other hand, tackled Daxter and rolled the two of them after their friends... to which the door slammed shut behind the four of them.
"Are you out of your minds!?" Daxter exclaimed, though at the same time Raven let go of him and ran over to Pinkie, who was dusting herself off at the moment, and climbed back up to his perch on her shoulder, leaving Daxter to do the same thing with Jak, "I know that those two kids out there are likely this timeline's versions of yourselves, but that doesn't mean that we can just waltz in her and claim the Precursor Stone!"
"Well, we had a choice to make in the span of a few seconds," Jak replied, to which he noticed that Pinkie was nodding her agreement to what he was starting to say, "We could have stayed with the others and left the Precursor Stone in here for when the Baron finds out that we've uncovered the Tome of Mar, or we could have come in here, face whatever trials my younger version would have had to go through, and likely grab the Stone before the Baron arrived to steal it. At the time I made the decision it seemed pretty clear to me... and Pinkie agrees with me."
"...fair enough..." Daxter said, silently admitting defeat as he climbed onto Jak's shoulder and claimed his perch once more, to which the group turned around and looked at the area that was the Tomb, "Wow, this place is massive!"
The area in front of them was indeed massive, though one would have assumed that there would be more than two tests for them to face in such an important place. Jak and Pinkie could tell that there were two tests because there were only two available paths, two Precursor statues that were facing the massive door at the back of the chamber, and what appeared to be two exit areas for the tests, complete with buttons they needed to press. In front of them rested a walkway that would take them down into the chamber below them, which happened to have some water over the floor, but neither Jak or Pinkie was too worried about what they were seeing at the moment.
Once they reached the area between the two open paths, which would take them down the tests they needed to complete, Jak and Pinkie faced each other for a moment.
"I'll deal with the path on the left," Jak stated, gesturing to the open path behind him, which was the open door that rested on the left side of the door they had entered through.
"That's fine with me," Pinkie replied, to which she started moving towards the right path, though she paused before tossing some of the ammunition she had been collecting over to her brother, "and I think you'll be needing those more than I will... especially with my weapon."
Jak glanced at the scythe that his sister carried when they left the city, or under the city as the case was this time, and knew that she wouldn't be needing guns where she was going. He knew that the weapon looked too normal, despite the fact that it had been made out of Dark Eco, but he suspected that there was more to it than what he was seeing. He and Daxter also caught the ammunition containers that Pinkie tossed over to them, which they stuffed into Jak's pack in case he actually needed them, before he wished his sister well and walked through the door of his chosen test... which closed behind him a few seconds later.
Pinkie, on the other hand, turned towards the test that she and Raven were going to take on and approached the door, to which she discovered a path of ledges and jumps that brought her to a second smaller door, though on the other side of that she found a room that had some other doorways, which were locked, some statues, and a button close to the middle of the chamber. As she walked into the chamber itself she heard the voice of the Precursor Oracle tell her that she wasn't allowed to use weapons in this challenge, which told her that this was a mind game she would be playing, though as she pressed the button she noticed a fair number of large beetles fall from the ceiling... and that three of them had red markings on their bellies.
Pinkie, despite her anger towards her father, had to smile as she realized how easy this sort of puzzle was, because all she did was memorize where the three beetles with the markings were and waited for them to turn over... so once they were all walking around she approached them and pushed them, where they flew towards the door that was across from the one she had used to enter the chamber. On the other side of the passage she found a water passage that had electricity moving over the top of the water, which meant that she had to wait for the electricity to disappear before she could jump into the water and start swimming. She also noticed that the electricity came and went, which meant that she would have to hold her breath when she jumped into the water, though when the opening revealed itself she moved into the water and started swimming.
A few moments later she and Raven were on the other side of the passage and were drying themselves off to the best of their ability, though while they did that Pinkie had to punch little spiders off the ledge that was to the right of them. When they turned the corner she noticed another water passage, to which she sighed as she studied the pattern of the electricity before she moved forward. A few seconds later she stood on the other end of the passage and paused so they could shake themselves clean to the best of their ability, before she and Raven approached the next room... where she spotted an abyss resting between where she was standing, the platform across from her, and the door she needed to walk though.
When she pressed the button in front of her she noticed a bunch of colored tiles rise up and fill the area around her, though a red tile glowed for a second, before being followed by a green one and a yellow one. She immediately knew that this was another mind game and followed the colors, though when she reached the last tile in the sequence the rest of them fell back into the abyss, save for the one she was on. She jumped over to the platform she had been heading towards and tapped the second button, where the next sequence was blue, red, green, and then yellow. She carefully followed the exact tiles that had glowed and the door opened for her, to which she crossed onto solid ground and move on to whatever the next part of the test was.
Pinkie passed through another water passage before finding the door to another chamber, one that had her repeat the beetle test she had done earlier, but she was able to complete it in a matter of seconds. She then passed though yet another water passage before coming to an abyss that had two platforms between her and the door on the other side of the area they were in. The first sequence of tiles took her to the platform on the left of the entrance, where the second one allowed her to go back to the second platform, though that was followed by the third sequence allowed her to pass through the door she needed to pass through.
She then had to pass thought yet another water passage, which she was honestly getting sick of at this point, before she climbed out of it a few moments later and walked into another room that had what she assumed were graves, though when she touched one of them it made a unique sound.
"How odd," Raven commented, to which he jumped off of Pinkie's shoulder and landed near a second grave, where he tapped it and produced a second unique sound, "I think we should test all of these, just to see if there are two of a certain sound... and maybe figure out what the trick is."
As it turned out there were twelve graves in the room and six unique sounds, to which Pinkie and Raven carefully memorized which ones made which sounds before pairing them up, allowing them to sink into the floor... until all six pairs were in the floor and the door opened. The door revealed one of the buttons they had seen when they entered the Tomb, though across the way she spotted the second button that Jak would arrive at, whenever he was finished with whatever was on his side of the tests. Pinkie stretched her arms as she stood near the button, intending to wait for Jak to finish his side of the Tomb before she even bothered to push the button.
A few moments later she noticed that Jak's door opened and her brother walked up to where the button was located, minus Daxter oddly enough, but she smiled as Jak activated his button. That was followed by a beam of energy being loosed from a statue and surged towards the large door at the back of the Tomb, though Jak smiled when he noticed that Pinkie was done as well. Once Jak was done with his side, and used a platform to reach the water area, Pinkie did the same time and activated the second energy beam, though as she and Raven rode down to where Jak was waiting they noticed that the door opened before their eyes.
"So where is Daxter?" Pinkie asked, as she knew that Jak would have been devastated if something happened to his best friend, so seeing how he wasn't in that state of mind at the moment she guessed that something else had happened to the other ottsel.
"Right here," a voice said, to which Jak, Pinkie, and Raven noticed that Daxter was standing on the other side of where the large door used to be, "I was chased by a massive spider and I eventually lost him, though I ended up trapping myself in this room... so I waited by the door and knew that the two of you would unlock it for me. Besides, the time alone allowed me to stare at the large statue in this room and gaze upon the glory of the Precursor Stone that everyone is so interested in."
Jak and Pinkie glanced at the large statue that Daxter was referring to and noticed the green stone that appeared to be lodged into the statue's chest, one that they both swear had the feeling of Eco attached to it. Raven seemed to be glaring at the stone, as if he wanted the Stone for himself, but the two of them knew that the Neo Metal Head would likely use the Stone for the benefit of his hive. Daxter tapped Raven on the shoulder and stirred him, to which the two of them climbed back up to their perches and allowed Jak and Pinkie to walk over the bridge that would allow them to approach the large statue.
"Welcome young warrior," the statue proclaimed, though Pinkie knew that it was referring to Jak and not her, as she guessed that Jak was supposed to have done this alone and it was ignoring her completely, "Eons have passed since our hope burned so brightly. Today you have proven yourself worthy to receive Mar's legacy. What you are about to receive contains grave power, and with it comes grave responsibility. Eons ago, the Precursors waged a terrible war with the Hora-quan, those terrible creatures you refer to as Metal Heads. Driven by their dark leader, the Metal Head legions destroyed our great civilization, and now they swarm the universe unopposed, looking for the last relics of our power."
"Look, not all of them are the horrible creatures that waged war with you!" Raven fired back, not liking the tone that the Precursor statue had used, though he was considering just morphing and showing the statue his true form.
"Agreed." the statue said, though while it spoke the group crossed over the bridge and stepped onto the midpoint area between it and the door, "You are familiar, yet different at the same time..."
"You fools!" a voice proclaimed, to which the Baron, in a new mech, flew into the area and landed in between them and the statue, preventing them from even getting to the Stone, "You've brought me right to the Stone! Your pitiful Underground friends were no match for my guards above... and now that I have the Precursor Stone I can crush all of my enemies. I really must thank you, my darling little Pinkie, because you have delivered to me the leader of the Underground movement and the legendary Precursor Stone... though it is a shame that you have now outlived your usefulness to me."
Pinkie growled as she held her hand out and her scythe materialized in front of her, to which she made sure that the head of the weapon was facing the mech, and the man that was responsible for all the terrible things that had happened to her since she arrived in this time period. Jak pulled out his Morph Gun and pointed it at the Baron as well, indicating that they were going to fight the Baron and make sure that he didn't take the Precursor Stone... or die trying.
"So how are we going to fight this guy?" Daxter asked, though he and his friends watched as the Baron's mech powered up and started drilling into the case that held the Precursor Stone, "And we had better beat him fast, otherwise he's going to take the Stone away from us."
"Don't worry about the Precursor Stone right now," the Baron said, to which he actually stepped out of the mech as it worked on the statue, though as he stood on the bridge he drew his sword as he looked at them, "by my estimates it will take ten to twenty minutes to break the legendary Stone free of its prison. That gives me plenty of time to deal with the two of you... even if I have to fight you both at the same time."
Jak opened his mouth to say something to that, about how the Baron couldn't fight both him and Pinkie at the same time, but before he could say anything the Baron tapped a Green Eco crystal on his belt and suddenly a second one of him phased into existence beside him. Pinkie had heard about this sort of experimental device that her father was trying to create, in order to make one man seem like an army, but it appeared that he was sort of successful in his endeavor. The clone appeared to be a perfect match to her father, save for the fact that it was green, though while it also seemed like a whole construct she was sure that a few well placed hits would destroy it.
Pinkie glanced over at Jak as the Baron and his clone came at them, though as the clone advanced towards Jak he pulled back and took the Green Eco version of the Baron away from where Pinkie and the real Baron was standing.
"It is a shame that you continue to choose to fight on the wrong side of this conflict," the Baron said, though at the same time he raised his weapon and stared at Pinkie, where she determined that her opponent was no longer afraid of her new form and her new weapon, "I'll just put an end to this now and blame your death on the trials that Mar put in his tomb... Ashelin will never know the difference."
Pinkie growled in annoyance, because she couldn't believe that her father would basically say that he was going to kill her and then blame her death on the tomb he had spent months searching for, to which she gripped the handle of her scythe and charged at the Baron. She raced towards the Baron and swung her weapon at him, to which he blocked the attack with his sword, though that involved using a Green Eco shield, hidden in his bracelet, to stop the head of the weapon from touching him. She then had to pull herself back before the Baron could cut into her with his sword, which was the final straw for her, as now she knew that he truly didn't care for her and was ready to cut her down.
The Baron followed her and the two of them allowed their weapons to touch each other once more, though as the sparks flew Pinkie realized that a scythe was not the best weapon she could be using, to which she accessed her Dark Eco and caused the shape of her weapon to revert to her Eco Blade. With her original weapon back Pinkie attacked the Baron again, though this time it was a more even fight between the two of them now that they had the exact same weapon. As the two of them fought Pinkie also noticed that Jak and the clone were also fighting each other, if the sparks flying were any indication of what was going on, but looking over at them served to be a distraction that allowed the Baron to slam his fist into her face and knock her to the ground.
At the same time her weapon fell out of her hand and clattered to the ground, though the Baron noticed it and picked it up with his spare hand, but as Pinkie glanced up at him the Baron tossed it to the side... to which the Eco Blade fell into the abyss that surrounded the walkway they were fighting on.
"I taught you much over the last four years," the Baron said, staring at his own blade for a moment, while at the same time Pinkie touched the nearby pillar and pulled herself up onto her feet, to which the Baron started walking over to her, "yet I never bothered to correct your bad habit, where you easily get distracted by something going on in the area around you and open yourself up to damage. Normally I would say something about how I failed you and increase your training, but we are on opposite sides of this conflict and there is only one thing I can offer you... a quick death."
Pinkie barely had time to react as the Baron's Eco Blade pierced her chest and came out of her back, though as that happened Raven growled and jumped at the Baron, who swatted him away with the side of his hand... before he ripped the blade out of her chest and pushed her back, casing her to stagger for a few seconds as she reached the edge of the walkway. Pinkie coughed up some blood as she started at her father... no, the evil Baron that she and her brother had sworn to defeat, before she realized that she had been beaten. Pinkie let out one last sigh as she staggered backwards once more, to which she fell backwards and began her descent into the abyss that surrounded them.
"Pinkie Pie, thank you for your sacrifice." the Baron commented, to which he sheathed his sword and started to walk over to the mech that was still digging into the statue, because he knew that his clone should be able to keep Jak distracted long enough so he could obtain the Precursor Stone.
"PINKIE!" Jak shouted, pain crossing his voice as he realized that the Baron, who was Pinkie's adoptive father, had stabbed his sister in the chest and pushed her off the edge of the walkway, to which he switched his weapon to the Vulcan mod and opened fire on the clone's chest, destroying it in a matter of seconds.
"You are too late Jak." the Baron called out, to which he was glad to see the mech tear the Stone from it's prison, where he climbed into the mech and closed the hatch, "I now possess the power to end all of my enemies, though once all of the Metal Heads are taken care of I will purge my city of the Underground Movement... though I will start with erasing you, just so Pinkie won't feel alone in whatever world comes after this one."
Jak opened his mouth to reply, as Daxter was getting ready to do the same thing, but the two of them stopped as they noticed that the shadows in the chamber had shifted for a moment. They watched as the shadows separated themselves from whatever they were attached to and moved towards where he and Daxter were standing, though they gathered to the left of him until there was a mass of shadows next to Jak. A few seconds later the mass of shadows expanded into what looked like a dark warp gate, though what stepped out of it was none other than Pinkie... but Jak's voice caught in his throat when he looked at his sister. She looked almost the same as she had been before the Baron stabbed her in the chest, though now her eye color had turned crimson red and was surrounded by a black color... though Jak also noticed that there appeared to be what looked like lines of blood going from her eyes and stopped passed the bottom of her jaw.
The thing that made Pinkie look darker than she had been all this time, since the Baron announced that she was worthless to him, was the fact that her fluffed up hair had gone straight... though now that straight hair was crimson red colored, as if reflected something deep inside Pinkie.
"Impossible. You should be dead!" the Baron said, though while Jak wanted to turn his Morph Gun on the man he knew that it was better to wait and see what Pinkie did, because he wanted to see what was different from the last time the Baron had caused a change in how Pinkie acted.
Pinkie, however, raised her hand and snapped her fingers, to which tendrils of purple energy, of Dark Eco as Jak soon discovered, erupted from the stonework beneath the mech and wrapped around the mech's legs, preventing it from leaving where it was resting. The Baron tried to pry himself free from Pinkie's hold, especially since he had no idea what she was doing, though that was followed by Pinkie grinning as she started to close her hand in a crushing motion, to which the legs of the mech started cracking as the tendrils tightened their hold on the mech. A few seconds later one of the legs was broken beyond repair and the shadowy tendril was sinking into the machine, trying to worm its way towards the Baron before he could escape... though before she could grab him, and secure his defeat, the Baron used the escape feature of his mech and the main pod came free, allowing him to fly through the air as he kept himself out of Pinkie's reach.
"Nice try, but the Precursor Stone is still mine!" the Baron declared, beckoning to the glowing stone that was trapped in the front section of his mech, "Don't worry, I will use the Stone to it's full potential as I promised... and soon Haven City will be singing praises about how I defeated the Metal Heads and secured lasting peace."
Before either Pinkie or Jak could stop him from leaving with the legendary stone, and causing untold harm to the actual Stone itself, the Baron drove the pod through the open door and left the group behind. Pinkie sighed as she waved her hand and sent the tendrils back to where she had summoned them from, to which she walked over to where Raven was picking himself up. The dark ottsel seemed surprised by Pinkie's new appearance, with the strange colored hair and the new colored eyes, but he seemed to know that this was still his friend... despite the fact that the Dark Eco inside of her must have turned her into a 'Dark Form', similar to the form Jak barely used.
"Pinkie... are you okay?" Jak asked, knowing that the answer would have to be no, as Pinkie had been stabbed in the chest and pushed into the abyss, but he had to wonder anyway.
"I have never felt better," Pinkie replied, to which she extended an arm over the abyss, where Jak watched as her Eco Blade returned to her hand and she sheathed it a moment later, though she did stop the moment her weapon was back where it belonged, "Oh, and there's no reach to use the shortened version of my name anymore... you can start calling me Pinkamena again. Now come on, we have to tell Torn the bad news and start coming up with a plan that involves rescuing everyone that was captured."
Jak knew that Pinkie hated her full name, as she had changed it to Pinkie Pie when she was younger and vowed never to use it again, which meant that this had to be some sort of 'Dark' Pinkie, like his own 'Dark Jak' form. The difference was that his Dark Form was basically a raging monster with incredible strength, where's Pinkie's Dark Form seemed to be like a completely different person. He also noticed that this version of his sister, Pinkamena he mentally corrected himself, was already eager to get into a real battle, which concerned him when he thought about the danger his sister would get in once they were back in the city.
Jak let out a sigh as he and Daxter followed after Pinkamena and Raven, knowing that the next few hours were going to be interesting... and potentially dangerous considering that they had no idea what abilities Pinkamena possessed. Together the group walked back to the ramp that brought them down to this level of the tomb and climbed back to the surface, to which they prepared themselves for anything and everything that might be waiting for them.
When Jak, Daxter, Raven, and Pinkamena left the Tomb of Mar, after discovering that the Baron had captured their comrades and rode the ancient elevator back up to the surface, Jak made sure that the coast was clear before they made their exit. They noticed that the zoomer that they had been using the entire time, to get from place to place, had been captured by the Krimzon Guard, to which Jak simply commandeered another zoomer that could seat two people and returned to where Pinkamena was standing. Once the two groups were back together again, and were sitting in their seats, Jak turned the zoomer away from the Palace and flew into the dock area of the city, though at the same time he told his sister that this was to prevent them from being found so quickly.
His understanding was that the Baron would likely have guards posted in the immediate area around the entrance in a few minutes, so it was best if they left the area and went around the rest of the city before they returned to Torn, who was likely going to be pissed at them for allowing the Baron to leave with the Precursor Stone.
Even with the detour they managed to make it to the Underground hideout without pissing off any of the Krimson Guards or raising the alarm, though Jak made sure that the coast was clear before they flew into the dead end that the hideout was located in. He guessed that the guards likely didn't care about finding their hideout, because if the Baron knew where to find the various members of the Underground, based on what he told them when they assaulted the Palace, he likely knew where to find the main hideout and was biding his time. Jak didn't like the fact that the Baron might have been waiting for them to uncover the Precursor Stone before making his move... though he kept his thoughts to himself as he and Pinkamena entered the hideout, where they found Torn pacing around the table once more.
"How did the Baron know that we were so close to making a move for the Stone?" Jak inquired, though his voice stopped Torn in his tracks, indicating that he was shocked to find that they hadn't been taken as well, "We barely knew that we were close to making a move for the Precursor Stone."
"I would think the answer is obvious at this point." Pinkamena said, to which she raised her right arm up and used her left hand to dig around for something, to which she pulled out a small circular device that had been placed in her clothing, where she smashed it under her boot, "The Baron said that it was my fault that members of the Underground had died in the past, so it only makes sense that he used the information that the now destroyed tracker was giving him... though personally I wish I had noticed it sooner."
"Another reason is because the Baron threatened to kill Ashelin for spying on him," Torn commented, noticing the flash of pure anger that raced across Pinkamena's face, though at the same time he knew that it was best if he didn't ask what the Baron did to her this time around, "I gave him some leads to ensure her safety, because she's technically the next one in line to rule the city if something happens to the young boy, and then he guessed at where the Stone was being held... and you know the rest. I sure wasn't expecting the Light Tower to become active and destroy the Baron's precious statue, nor did I expect that he would capture the Shadow and some of our friends."
"Not to mention that he got his hands on the Precursor Stone." Daxter said, though at the same time he glared at Torn, but even if he was pissed at the man he knew that his heart was in the right place, "Though something tells me that you already have a plan to get into the Fortress and rescue them... and that something tells me that I, personally, won't like whatever plan you have come up with."
"Normally what I'm about to suggest would be considered a suicide mission by anyone else, but I have seen what you are capable of and know that you'll survive this," Torn replied, to which he moved towards the stairs that lead down to their hideout and glanced outside, as if he was expecting something, but kept some of his attention on the group, "I am going to go find Vin and see if he can't open the door to the Fortress, though once it's open I'll send a signal through the communicator to let you know that its time to head in. Once all of you are inside I would suggest that you quickly make your way to the holding area, where I have the feeling Jak was rescued from in the beginning, and Vin should have the warp gate open for you guys to make your escape. Then, once everyone is accounted for, we'll begin planning our assault against the Baron, so we can take back the Precursor Stone before he does something terrible to it."
Before the group could say anything, and tell Torn that it was better to wait for now and plan a more complete plan of attack, Torn walked out of the hideout and left them to their own devices. Pinkamena, on the other hand, spied several guns that were like the one that Torn was holding, to which she walked over to them and grinned as she picked one of them up and studied it. She opened herself to the Dark Eco inside her body for a few seconds and wrapped it around the small Morph Gun, darkening the color until it was almost black colored, while at the same time twisting the inner workings so that the weapon worked off of Dark Eco capsules... which she fashioned out of the same Eco that had tainted the weapon.
Once she was satisfied with the results she repeated the same process with a second weapon, to which she had two of the same tainted weapons, before she slipped them into holders that popped in and out of the shadows around her... though the instant that was done she beckoned for Jak to follow her and started to make her way towards the Fortress.
It took an hour for Torn to get Vin to open the Fortress' main door, as when Pinkamena approached the door she considered using her new powers to smash it down, but Jak had convinced her to wait. His argument was that if they waited for the door to open for them, and give the Krimzon Guard time to gather their forces, she would have a more exciting fight with them. Jak hated thinking about how Pinkamena was going to slaughter everyone inside the Fortress, as that was what he assumed she was going to do, but he waited to see what she was truly going to do... even if that meant making sure that she didn't barge into the building and cause chaos before Vin was ready.
When the door was unlocked, and Torn gave them the go ahead to go inside, Pinkamena and Jak immediately moved inside the building, though they soon discovered that the passage they had gone through earlier, when they were destroying the ammunition stockpile, had collapsed since their last visit and that the electric fence was gone as well. As they walked passed the deactivated electric fence, however, Pinkamena and Jak peered into the hallway in front of them, to which they discovered that a large number of Krimzon Guards, all wearing yellow colored armor this time, were patrolling the area they needed to pass through. After staring at their enemies for a few seconds the group pulled back out of sight, allowing them a chance to create a plan of attack... one that would allow them to deal with everyone that was standing in their way.
Before they actually started putting together a plan, however, Pinkamena pulled out the pair of tainted guns she had created earlier and walked forward, to which she glared at Jak, indicating that he and Daxter should stay put, before she walked out into the open and gained the attention of every Krimzon Guard that was in the passageway.
"Hey guys, how's your health plan?" Pinkamena asked, though at the same time Raven decided that being on her shoulder was going to be dangerous, so while she moved forward Raven jumped to the ground and returned to the others as he watched what was going to happy.
Several of the Krimzon Guards, those that didn't know her very well, raised their weapons and aimed at Pinkamena, to which they fired at her and caused her to stagger for a moment, worrying Jak that his sister had gotten hit somewhere vital. That was soon followed by Pinkamena chuckling as she raised herself back to her full height and looked at the damage that the guards had done to her, because there wasn't much done to her except for some scorch marks in her clothing. The fact that she hadn't taken any damage, and was chuckling because of it, caused some of the Krimzon Guards to stare at her, as they were sure that she had lost her mind... and yet they were waiting for her to make a move.
"Apparently it's great!" Pinkamena declared, finishing the statement she had said a few moments ago, to which she started to spin around as she loosed shots from the pair of tainted guns.
Jak watched as Pinkamena used the tainted guns and shot every guard that was in the area around her, sometimes purposely missing a vital area so she could shoot them again. It was like he was watching someone else fight, just like what happened when he transformed into his own Dark Form, yet at the same time this version of his sister reveled in killing everyone that opposed her. Jak also noticed that it didn't matter if she immediately killed her opponents or not, because each guard received at least three shots to the chest before they fell to the floor and stopped moving. Once all of the guards were dead, and she was sure of that, Pinkamena beckoned to the group and started pressing buttons that she had passed, apparently deactivating an electric fence that was in their way.
Normally Jak would have been fine with wasting the Baron's guards, mostly for payback because of what happened to him while he was in the Fortress being tortured and their mistreatment of the citizens that called the city home, but this version of Pinkie, this Pinkamena, was a monster that was vastly different from his own Dark Form... and he didn't know how to feel about what he was seeing.
Once they were at the deactivated electric fence Jak noticed four rotating turrets that were resting along the path they needed to take, though thanks to the seemingly endless pit that was in front of them he guessed what was coming next. Pinkamena's grin remained on her face as she slipped one of her tainted guns into its holder and snapped her fingers, to which tendrils of darkness emerged from the pit and wrapped around the turrets, where she crushed them until they weren't functional anymore. With that done she also used the darkness to extend a bridge for her and Jak to use, though as they walked across both Daxter and Raven stared at Pinkamena, as they were shocked by what she could do.
The next area they had to walk through was just jumping into a small passage that allowed them to circle around to next part of the path that would take them to the holding area. They came upon two turrets that were guarding a grind rail, though this time Pinkamena allowed Jak to use the jetboard and cross over to the other side, to which she simply used the shadows to move over to where he was standing. As the two of them moved through the next area of the Fortress, however, they were attacked by the Krimzon Guard from two fronts, as there were some in front of them and there was a large number in the area above them. As Jak shot at the guards in front of them, and made sure that the way was clear, Pinkamena pulled her tainted guns out and fired at the enemies on the level above them, where she continued to smile as they all collapsed on the floor.
With their enemies taken care of they moved passed another set of turrets and approached the door that was in front of them, though as they walked through the small room it brought them to they ignored the pit that was spewing small little robots and walked through the second door... to which they walked right into the same area that Jak had been tortured in, before being rescued. As the two of them approached the cells, however, the doors started to open before their eyes, indicating that Vin and Torn had been watching them and had deactivated the locks the moment they were in the chamber they were in.
"Tess?!" Daxter exclaimed, noticing who was trapped in one of the cells, though at the same time he had to wonder why she had been captured, as she hadn't been with them when they entered the Tomb of Mar.
"Samos?" Jak asked, spotting this timeline's version of the Green Sage standing in the middle of a cell, while at the same time ignoring what Daxter and Tess were doing, "Are you alright?"
"What took you so long? I added six rings to my trunk waiting for the lot of you to get me outta here!" a voice said, to which the Samos that Jak, Pinkie, and Daxter knew came into view, though at the same time he walked out of the cell he and his counterpart had been locked in and looked at the people he had been raising, "Great Yakow horns! What happened to you Jak? And what happened to Pinkie?"
"Actually, it's Pinkamena now," Pinkamena commented, though at the same time she held her tainted guns out, as if she was expecting something to happen before they could leave the Fortress.
"Wait a minute! You're you!" Daxter exclaimed, to which he jumped out of Tess' arms and pointed at the two Samos', as if he was trying to grasp what he was seeing in front of him, "I mean the other you! I mean... you know what I mean."
"Yes, it appears I have an older time twin." the Shadow said, to which he glanced over at the version of himself that he had been forced to share a cell with, though at the same time he could understand why some of the guards had mentioned that they had thought he had been dead all this time, when in reality he had been alive, "Great grass grubs. I can't believe what a cranky old log I've become!"
"Two Samos the Sages?!" Daxter stated, his mind finally catching up to what he was seeing, to which he ran over to Jak and hid behind his leg, "Aaack, Jak, they're multiplying!"
"We need to find the kid, pronto!" Samos said, indicating that he had no idea that the Underground had already located Mar's ancient Light Tower, used the artifacts to locate the Tomb, and and lost the Precursor Stone.
"What are you talking about, old growth?" the Shadow demanded, though his tone told Jak and Pinkamena that he was about to tell his older self what he knew about the situation, while at the same time telling them that he wanted an update as to what happened with the Stone, "The kid already opened the tomb. Our top priority should be to disrupt the Baron's forces!"
"Oh, look who thinks they sprouted." Samos growled, to which he turned on his younger self, though he already knew that he couldn't do anything to him, least he effect the timelines more than they had already done, "If you were half as wise as I am, you'd know that the proper cause of action is to find the kid!"
"Listen, you old dried up leaf. I run this outfit, and I say we go after the Baron's forces." the Shadow replied, though it quickly became clear that he was thinking about swinging at his older counterpart, as it would have no effect on him.
"Do we have to separate you two?" Daxter asked, as he had taken it upon himself to jump between the two of them and rested his paws on both of them, separating them to the best of his ability.
While Jak was fine with watching the two Samos' bicker back and forth, and getting it out of their systems so they could focus on the task of finding the Precursor Stone, he noticed the one thing that they were waiting for. Apparently Torn and Vin had been watching them, as the moment that Daxter mentioned separating the two Samos' the warp gate became active, temporarily linking them to wherever Torn wanted them to go.
"Vin's activating the warp gate." Jak said, beckoning to the warp gate for a moment, to which he watched as the two Samos' nodded their understanding and backed away from each other, "We need to get out of here now!"
Jak charged at the warp gate and jumped through it, to which the two Samos' followed after him almost immediately, as they trusted him more than they trusted themselves. Tess, Daxter, and Raven soon followed after them, leaving Pinkamena behind for a few seconds so she could make sure that the guards didn't come bursting in at the wrong moment. Once she was sure that all of their friends were out of the Fortress, and that the warp gate was still open for her to use, she aimed her tainted guns at the machine that had infected her brother with all the Dark Eco that was in his body, and inside her own body, before she loosed a shot at the machine.
The Dark Eco shot reacted with the Eco that had been left inside the machine, tearing it apart and setting the ceiling on fire as parts of it started to explode. It was mostly so the Baron couldn't create any more Dark Warriors, like her and Jak, though once the job was done she turned towards the warp gate and leapt it through it, where she appeared in the Power Station. Vin closed the connection and started to relax, though at the same time Pinkamena knew that it was only a matter of time until she and Jak were back in the fight against the Baron... and she was looking forward to inflicting some damage to his operations in the future.
Once Jak, Daxter, Pinkamena, and Raven emerged in the Power Station, and regrouped after their attack on the Fortress, Torn informed them that the Shadow and Samos had gone back to their hideout, where they were planning on creating a plan to stop the Baron in his tracks. Tess, on the other hand, had gone back to the Hip Hog with all haste, so that Krew wouldn't notice her absence or punish her too harshly if he had noticed her missing, much to Daxter's annoyance. Instead of heading out immediately, and maybe pissing off the Krimzon Guards with their mere presence, the group decided to wait in the Power Station for a few minutes, which actually annoyed Pinkamena a little bit... until Jak promised her that he was sure that Torn would have a mission for them, one that likely involved them killing something.
It appeared that the promise of killing the Krimzon Guard and enemy Metal Heads was the way to get Pinkamena's attention, which only made Jak worry about his sister, but at the moment it seemed that she was willing to listen and stay put... though after a few minutes Jak said that it was time to leave, to which they departed from the Power Station. They took one of the two person seater zoomers that were beneath the Power Station and headed out of the district they were in, where they headed back to the Slums and made their way towards the hideout. Once again Jak noticed that none of the guards seemed interested in attacking them, which meant that they were likely waiting for the orders to attack them this time around, though that only worried him more than it should have done.
When they actually entered the Underground's hideout, however, they found that both versions of Samos were discussing something important with each other, though when Samos noticed them walking into the room both he and the Shadow stopped their discussion and turned towards them.
"The Baron is still up to his old tricks." Samos said, immediately telling Jak and Pinkamena that something important was happening at the moment, whether that something being an assault or something else entirely.
"The Underground got word that several Krimzon Blast Bots are zeroing in on the hideout here." the Shadow stated, though Jak, Daxter, Pinkamena, and Raven knew why the robots had the ability to zero in on their hideout, which annoyed Pinkamena for not noticing the tracker much sooner.
"They're armored bombs which seek out targets." Samos explained, knowing that now wasn't the time to hold back the information he knew, not when it could mean the difference between life and death, while at the same time telling the group a little about their targets, "If any of those Blast Bots reach this place, we're dead."
"Ah, what are you worried about, old man?" the Shadow said, reviving the conversation the two of them had been going through while they were in the Fortress, which slightly annoyed the group for a moment or two, "You're almost dead anyway."
"Well, if you'd taken better care of yourself, I wouldn't be in the state I am now!" Samos declared, telling the Shadow that he wasn't pleased with how he was treating his own body, while at the same time causing Daxter to bring his palm to his face for a few seconds.
"Jak, Pinkie, we need the two of you to take out those Blast Bots before they reach the hideout." the Shadow stated, returning to the original conversation that they had been having with the group, pleasing Jak and Pinkamena a little bit, "They have proximity defenses, so do be careful."
"Good hunting!" Samos and the Shadow said, causing the group to raise an eyebrow at them for a few seconds, before they sighed and walked out of the hideout.
Jak walked over to the zoomer that they had taken and noticed that there were some crates sitting next to it, which he had ignored when they had arrived at the hideout, though he was pleased to find a decent amount of ammunition resting in all of them. Pinkamena, on the other hand, stood by the zoomer and closed her eyes, to which she started to feel the presence of the robots that were approaching the hideout, finding that there were three of them approaching their exact location. Fortunately all three of them were coming from different directions, making it easier for her to find them and deliver their locations to Jak, who was shocked when he heard that she had found their targets.
"The Dark Eco has actually given you some interesting powers," Jak commented, not really knowing what to make of Pinkamena's abilities, as she was completely different from who she had been before the Baron stuck his sword in her chest, "though let's go take care of those Blast Bots."
Pinkamena directed Jak towards the Water Slums, where one of the Blast Bots happened to be making it's way through the area, though she did tell him that she and Raven would take care of the two that were approaching from the Industrial district they had been in a few minutes ago. She didn't even bother to take a zoomer from one of the civilians that was flying around the area in front of the hideout, to which she and Raven simply walked into the district that her targets were in. She found the first one in a matter of seconds, as it was walking towards the entrance she had walked through and was blasting down the civilians that were trying to get away from it... which annoyed Pinkamena so much that, instead of drawing her tainted guns, she reached for her sword and drew it out of its sheath.
She charged at the Blast Bot and dropped down as she slid under the body of the machine, though at the same time she swung her Eco Blade at one of the machine's legs before she appeared on the other side of it and turned around. She grinned as the leg she had cut into separated into two halves, effectively removing one of the Blast Bot's legs and decreasing the speed it could travel at, though it was still moving towards the hideout. Pinkamena ducked back under the machine and swung her weapon at the bottom of it, cutting into the wires and frames that were keeping the other legs attached to her target... where her smile grew as the remaining three legs separated into a small number of pieces and caused the main body to collapse on the ground.
Pinkamena then stabbed the power source with her Eco Blade and allowed the Dark Eco to surge into the machine's body, to which she pulled back and watched the main body of the Blast Bot explode... though before she cheered she focused on the second one in the area, which happened to be approaching her exact location. It didn't take her long to repeat the process with the second Blast Bot, removing it from existence, though once that was done she sheathed her weapon and headed back to the hideout.
Jak returned to the hideout a few minutes after Pinkamena arrived, where he told her about all of the trouble his Blast Bot gave him, as it was escorted by a large group of Krimzon Guard, but he managed to take it out. He also told her that he believed that it was time to see if Krew had anything for them to do this time, as he was sure that the Underground could defend themselves for a few hours without needing their assistance. Pinkamena agreed to this and hopped into the zoomer that Jak was riding, to which they got underway and returned to the Hip Hog... though upon entering the building they found that Krew was sleeping, and that Sig was beckoning them over the moment he noticed them.
"You guys are alright, and since the boss is out of it right now, I'm going to give it to you straight." Sig said, keeping his voice down so that Krew didn't hear them talking, though the group nodded as he resumed talking, "I've been Krew's heavy for years, and I've done some things I'm not proud of, but this time, I think Krew's gotten himself, and us, into something really nasty. I'm thinking of getting out."
"Oh, Sig's beginning to like us, Jak!" Daxter exclaimed, immediately zeroing in on the good part of what Sig had said, to which he hopped onto the table and held his arms open to him, "Come here you bug lug! Hugs for everyone!"
"Knock it off! I think Krew's trying to..." Sig started to say, but when he noticed that Krew was starting to wake up, from Daxter's loud voice, he made a motion that told them to quiet down, "He's waking up."
"Relax. Watch me butter up bun boy." Daxter said, to which he prepared himself to do something stupid, though whether it was intention or not didn't seem to sit well with anyone, "Hey there, stuffed crust. How's it feel floating on top of the food chain? Ooh, Krew-meister! Have you been exercising? You're looking good! You are definitely, mm, living large! Mhm. And those legs! They're so uh, chiseled."
"I need you to escort three of my boys down into the sewers and visit that statue again." Krew said, his tone telling them that he either didn't approve of Daxter's tone or was preoccupied with what he was going to tell them to do, "I've heard that Mar's cheeky face might contain another secret, and I want you to see if the stories are true, eh! Make sure all three of my boys get to that statue, and they'll do all the rest, hmm?"
Jak and Pinkamena knew that he was planning on blowing the statue up, because they had seen the statue and knew that there was nothing on the exterior of it that would have been considered a secret. Destroying the statue seemed to be the only course of action that could have revealed a secret of any kind, though they both had the feeling that there might be some enemies down in the sewers. Considering that it had been some time since the last time they had been down there, however, they knew that their enemies might be larger in number... which meant that they had to be careful this time around.
The group quickly made their way to the sewers and rode the elevator down to the entrance, though once the door opened they found the men that Krew wanted them to escort to the statue... and, just like Jak and Pinkamena thought, all three of them were carrying explosives on their backs.
"Quiet, here comes pretty boy." one of the men said, though at the same time Pinkamena detected that he was the leader of the trio, if how he walked and talked was anything to go by, "And look at this, he's brought a pretty girl to help him out down here. Hey there sweetheart, the name's Jinx. Who might you be?"
"Pinkamena Diana Pie," Pinkamena replied, though while she knew that Praxis was technically her last name, thanks to the Baron, she felt that using Pie instead made her feel complete, "So Jinx, I take it you and your friends are ready to delve into the sewers and find the statue of Mar?"
"That we are baby," Jinx said, though it was clear, despite the fact that he was wearing something other his mouth to hide half of his face, that he was smiling at Pinkamena, "Come on boys. Let's get moving."
The group moved up the passage they were in and walked onto the elevator pad that had been revealed after Jak and Pinkamena had reduced the water level in the area, to which they rode down to the level that would allow them to begin their trek to the statue of Mar. A moment later and they walked off the platform, to which they followed the path in front of them as they rounded a corner and came to a room that was definitely wide enough for an ambush. It was then that Jak and Pinkamena got their first look at their newest enemy, as the Metal Heads they encountered walked on the ground and fired laser beams out of something on their head... though the two of them were able to take care of the first ambush that came their way.
They both had the feeling that there would be more of those Metal Heads in the near future, for the sewers anyway, so they kept their guard up as they progressed further.
Before they could actually go much farther they were stopped by an obstruction, a pile of rubble that had to have fallen during the flooding or when the water level had been lowered, but they were prepared for such a thing. Jinx walked up to the obstruction and placed an explosive charge in front of it, to which he and the others retreated to a safe distance before he blew the path wide open. The moment the way was clear Jak and Pinkamena led the group forward, though this time one of them stood in the front of the group and the other stood at the back... which proved to be a wise move, as the moment they walked out of the small passage they were attacked by more Metal Heads, from both directions.
The instant the ambush was taken care of, and they were sure of that fact, they all climbed onto the elevator pad in front of them and rode it down to the lowest level of the sewers, though upon their arrival they turned around the corner and walked through the passage that was open for them to take. About halfway through that passage they were attacked by another group of Metal Heads, two from each side, though Pinkamena and Jak were more than enough to take all of them out so they could continue progressing. As they started to round the next corner, however, Pinkamena had them stop as she noticed a number of Metal Heads moving into position in the chamber ahead of them... and the fact that three of their enemies were using their lasers to prevent them from moving forward.
"Let us deal with these guys," Pinkamena said, turning to Jinx for a moment, who nodded his understanding to what she wanted them to do, before she turned to Jak, "Let's go show those guys that we mean business."
Jak and Pinkamena advanced into the next chamber and opened fire on the Metal Heads that were in front of them, though at the same time they jumped over the lasers that they were firing at them. Oddly enough Pinkamena knew that there had to be more in this area, based on what she had seen anyway, but after a few seconds they took the six Metal Heads down, where it appeared that they had cleared the path. Daxter called back to the group that they were escorting and the entire group moved towards the next obstruction that was blocking their path, to which they repeated the process they had used against the last obstruction... though as the explosion opened the way Daxter noticed that there was a lot of Metal Heads on the ceiling.
As Jak leveled the Blaster with one of the Metal Heads, as it was hard to determine which one to target first, Pinkamena placed her hand against the floor for a moment and closed her eyes. The shadows beneath the Metal Heads rose up and literally pushed them off the walls, allowing them to fall to the ground and be gunned down by Jak and the trio that they were escorting to the statue. Pinkamena remained like that for a few minutes, making sure that she knocked each and every enemy to the ground, before she noticed that there were no more for them to worry about... to which she sighed for a moment and rose back until she was standing.
A few moments later they walked through the passage in front of them and spotted the statue they had been searching for, to which Jak and Pinkamena let the trio walk towards the state... where they started placing their explosives in certain spots of the stonework. Once the charges were ready, and both Jak and Pinkamena were out of the way, the trio moved up the passage that would take them out of the sewer and detonated the charge, blasting the statue to pieces. Jak was still annoyed about the fact that they came here to destroy the statue, despite the fact that they had determined that this was the plan the entire time, though he did look at the heart shaped relic that had been hidden inside the statue before Jinx picked it up.
With the relic, known as the Heart of Mar due to what Jinx told them, in hand the entire group returned to the surface level and exited the sewer... though before they went their separate ways, with the group promising to deliver the relic to Krew, Jinx tossed Pinkamena his number before he and his friends drove away. As Jak started to say something about the man, and why he didn't like her seeing him if they went down that path, they received a brief recorded message from the fat man himself. Apparently they had done a good enough job that he was rewarding them with something nice, to which they climbed into their zoomer and headed back to the gun course.
Upon their arrival they spotted a crate that contained two Peacemaker modifications, allowing them to attach them to their own Morph Guns and obtain the weapon that Sig used all the time... and they were eager to use them, to which walked out of the gun course and searched for the next mission that was available for them to take on.
After both Jak and Pinkamena obtained their very own Peacemaker modification for their weapons, and were done with staring at them, they both put their weapons away and walked outside the building the gun course was housed in, though instead of riding their zoomer to the Hip Hog they decided to walk this time. It gave them, as well as Daxter and Raven, a chance to enjoy the scenery and reflect on why they were working to save the people of Haven City, even if a fair number of them seemed to glare at them for a moment or two when they walked by. Jak suspected that it was because they were constantly visiting Krew, as the way he saw it the people knew that they were helping the fat bastard out and that likely put some marks against them... though, once again, Pinkamena didn't seem to care about that at all.
Jak would have asked his sister why she was so uncaring about what the people thought about her, though as they reached the entrance of the Hip Hog, however, Pinkamena stopped in her tracks before they reached the door... though she was staring at the building with an intense amount of hate in her eyes.
"Pinkamena... is something wrong?" Jak asked, as he had no idea why his sister, despite the fact that she had been consumed by the Dark Eco inside of her, would suddenly hate the building that Krew owned.
"Errol is inside that building," Pinkamena replied, to which she spat on the ground, indicating that, thanks to the new knowledge she had on the Baron's plans for her, Errol was just as bad as her adoptive father, "I don't care what he's doing in there, but I want nothing to do with it."
"Then let me go inside the Hip Hog and deal with him," Jak said, though at the same time he placed his hand on Pinkamena's shoulder, to which she simply stared at him for a few seconds, "Look, why don't you take one of the single person zoomers and go fly around the city... maybe the Shadow will have something for you to do while I'm dealing with whatever race Errol has in mind. Once I'm done with him, and you are done with whatever mission the Shadow sends you out on, we can regroup somewhere and move on from there."
Pinkamena looked at her brother for a few seconds, wondering how he knew that Errol would demand a race of some kind, before she simply sighed and nodded, allowing him to enter the Hip Hog while she made her way away from the building. She turned around before she turned the corner and watched the building, where she eventually saw Errol walk out and call for some guards to get some of the single person zoomers for him and Jak, though as the Krimzon Guards did that she walked away from the area. As she searched for her own zoomer, however, she got a communication from the Shadow, exactly like Jak said she would, to which she walked into a corner and turned the communicator on.
"This is Samos." the voice said, telling Pinkamena that it was the Samos that she and her brother knew, and not the one that had been here before they had arrived from the rift, "Who is this"
"Pinkamena," was Pinkamena's reply, as she felt that time was of the essence and that there wasn't much she needed to say at the moment, because she had the feeling that Samos' mission would be a vital one.
"I was expecting to get Jak, but I know you'll do well on your own," Samos replied, to which Pinkamena heard a sigh on the other end of the line, "Pinkamena, I need you to go out to the ruins in Dead Town and visit my old hut. It's now time to retrieve something I hid there long ago. Good luck!"
Pinkamena stared at the communicator for a few seconds before putting it away, climbing onto the zoomer that she had spotted and secured for her own use, and started moving towards the entrance that would take her to Dead Town, while making sure that Raven was holding on tight. Thanks to Jak and Errol racing through the city, and knocking most of the traffic out of the way until their race was over, she was able to reach the security door that she was heading towards. When she arrived at the door she parked the zoomer and climbed down into the ditch it was in, to which she patiently waited for the door to open until she was in Dead Town... where she quickly spotted a robotic suit that looked like it had the strength to punch through walls.
"This must be one of those Titan Suits that the Krimzon Guards were talking about, back when I was searching for your brother and Daxter," Raven commented, hopping off of Pinkamena's shoulder and onto the suit, to which he moved his hand over one of the places near the back and opened up the hatch to let his friend enter the suit, "Samos likely had this brought out so we can get to his hut all the easier... and I will ensure that we get there without too much trouble."
As Pinkamena climbed into the Titan Suit, and allowed the back to close behind her, Raven jumped to the ground and shifted into his hybrid form, allowing Pinkamena to maneuver the suit forward. The auto targeting systems told her to smash through the wall in front of her, though as the rubble fell down she spotted a beast Metal Head waiting on the other side. Raven, true to his world, leapt onto the Metal Head and tore it to pieces, allowing Pinkamena to move up to the next wall and break it down, where two more enemies waited for them, but neither of them lasted very long as Raven tore them to shreds as well.
When she smashed the third wall down Pinkamena found that she was being prompted to grab onto a large piece of rubble and move it up to the wall, allowing her to jump up to the next part of the path and continue forward. Before she turned the corner, however, she indicated to Raven to check it out, though a few seconds later she heard the sound of Raven tearing a Metal Head to pieces. When he returned Raven told her that it was one of the shooter Metal Heads, with a weapon and no shield, and that it hadn't been expecting to find something like him here... to which Pinkamena moved the suit forward and smashed through the wall that was in her way. In the next area Raven moved ahead as Pinkamena started to move another large piece of rubble into place so she could move forward, where she met back up with Raven and discovered the bodies of two more Metal Heads scattered everywhere.
Pinkamena heard the sound of a third Metal Head in the area, where Raven moved out to find their enemy while she moved something into place so she could move the Titan Suit closer to Samos' hut... though after a few minutes of walking she had to smash down a pillar, cross over to where Raven was waiting for her, and throw a large piece of wall at a second pillar so she could reach the hut. When she finally reached the hut, and smashed the final pillar down, she exited the suit and touched the ground once more, to which Raven arrived and reverted back to his ottsel form... where he mentioned that he felt something powerful inside the hut, something that he had missed the last time they were here.
When they walked into the hut, however, Pinkamena immediately spotted a large glowing green seed, one that seemed to radiate the power of Green Eco, though she held out her hands and allowed it to glide down into her arms.
"Good work, Pinkamena and Raven!" Samos said, apparently feeling that they had obtained the item that he had sent them to obtain, while also getting ready to explain what it was, "Before we came through the rift long ago, I was nurturing that Life Seed from the Great Tree. It seems the Metal Heads are attracted to its power. Take the seed to Onin now. She will prepare it for the Shadow."
"Right... the younger version of yourself," Raven commented, remembering that the Shadow was actually a younger Samos, while at the same time staring at the seed for a few more seconds, "So technically we help you become the sage you are today... we had better not tell Daxter that, otherwise he'll freak out and demand to be thanked in some manner."
"Agreed. The sooner you get this done the sooner you can move onto the next mission." Samos told them, though the communicator floated there for a few more seconds, indicating that there was more they needed to be told, "I also heard that Jak beat Errol in a race, after being told to throw the third race by Krew, and that he's already started the Class 2 race. He won't be available for some time, so you are on your own for now."
Pinkamena nodded and let Raven return to her shoulder as she pocketed the Life Seed inside her bag, to which she returned to the Titan Suit and walked back to the entrance, just so whoever had left it here would be able to find it much quicker than if she left it behind. With that done she walked through the security door and climbed back into the zoomer, to which she headed to Onin's hut in the Bazaar district.
When Pinkamena and Raven arrived at Onin's hut they found the old lady and Pecker patiently waiting for them to arrive, though at the same time Pinkamena guessed that they might have skipped lunch or something.
"Onin says, 'What took you so long?' We had to skip lunch waiting for you two!" Pecker exclaimed, turning towards the pair as they walked into the hut, though at the same time he felt Onin's blank stare bore into the back of his head, to which he quickly changed his tone, "Ugh. Okay, okay. She really says, 'Thank you for saving the Life Seed.' But I wouldn't say that if I were her! Give Onin the seed, and she will prepare it for Samos."
Pinkamena nodded and allowed the Life Seed to float out of her hands and move until it was floating in front of Onin, who started weaving signs in the air as the seed was surrounded in Blue Eco, which Pinkamena assumed meant that she was waking up whatever power was inside the seed. Pecker and Raven seemed to have a discussion about being hungry while Onin was working, mainly because Pecker was hungry from having to wait for them, though when Raven tapped his necklace, and the blue stone that represented his Skull Gem, Pecker seemed to understand what he was saying.
"By the Precursors! You are who Onin was referring to when she meant 'Metal One'!" Pecker exclaimed, shock appearing on his face, while at the same time Pinkamena noticed that Onin nodded her head in understanding, as if she had come to that same conclusion herself, before she started signing again, "Onin says that it is good to meet you and that she would like to speak with you at some point in the future, when we aren't trying to stop the collapse of the entire city due to the Baron's schemes. She also says to take the energized Life Seed to young Samos in Haven Forest; it will give Samos the power he needs to finally see the forest from the trees!"
Pinkamena nodded and collected the Life Seed, before she and Raven climbed back onto the zoomer that they had used to reach this area and started moving once more. She moved them in the direction of the ruins that were connected to Haven Forest, as she needed to use the warp gate to get to the forest, but she was glad to find no resistance in her path as she made her way towards her destination. When she reached the security door she and Raven passed through the circular door, jumped through the warp gate, and climbed onto the platform that would take them down to Haven Forest... though once they arrived in the forest they followed the pathway to the great tree that they had been near before.
It was there that they found the Shadow standing in front of the large tree, apparently preparing himself for what he was about to do with the Life Seed, though he smiled when he noticed Pinkamena walking towards him, indicating that he had been briefed on who was coming to aid her.
"The Samos from the past told me to bring you the Life Seed," Pinkamena stated, her words immediately telling the Shadow that she was talking about the version of him that had raised both her and Jak, before she pulled out the Life Seed and let it float over to him.
"Thank you, its power will help me speak to the plants and ask them vital questions about the future." the Shadow said, though at the same time two Krimzon Guard containers flew into the area and stopped near them, indicating that someone wanted them both dead, "And now you'll have to..."
Before the Shadow could finish his statement, and tell Pinkamena that he needed to guard him until he had the answers he needed, the Krimzon Guards started to climb out of their ships and touch down on the ground. The moment that happened Raven grinned as he noticed a large number of figures starting to appear from the shadows, to which the Neo Metal Heads surged out of their hiding spots and started killing the guards that chose to fight them. The Shadow was surprised to find Metal Heads in this area, especially after he had sent Jak and Pinkamena to clear the area for him, though he was equally confused when he called for Pinkamena to do something and she just stood there and watched what was going on.
She found it amusing that the Krimzon Guard would so brazenly attack the Shadow when she was here, especially when she was here, but their shock at discovering that Metal Heads were in the area allowed her to route them without doing anything. Raven also jumped in on the fun, shifting into his large dragon form and smashing several of the guards under the weight of his body, which really shocked the Shadow... and made him thankful that Raven was on their side. Pinkamena grinned as the Krimzon Guards, those that remained, were taken down by the rest of the Neo Metal Heads, before they all calmed down and allowed the group to do what they had come to do.
She suspected that she would have to answer some questions later on, once the Shadow had finished asking the plants his own questions, but she patiently waited for the Shadow to be done with his questions... though this put them one step closer to beating the Baron and the Metal Head Leader, which made her grin as she imagined finishing off the Baron's schemes once and for all.
"Pinkamena... what exactly is going on here?" the Shadow asked, his gaze shifting between all of the Metal Heads that were walking around the area that surrounded the great tree he had been standing in front of, where he noticed something odd about all of them, "Why are there still Metal Heads in Haven Forest, when I asked you and Jak to take care of them? And why, for the love of the Precursors, do they all have blue skull gems, instead of the yellow ones the rest of their kind has?"
"The reason we have blue skull gems is because we're different from the hive that is currently attacking Haven City," a voice replied, to which Stalker emerged from the shadows and nodded her head towards Pinkamena, who immediately returned the gesture, "The Leader of the Metal Heads sought to create a new breed of warriors that were much smarter than what he was used to commanding, so he could end the war with Haven a lot faster than what he had originally planned. In doing so he gave rise to a new hive that could challenge his own, the Neo Metal Heads that bare a blue skull gem, which represents our intelligence... and Raven was the first one of this new hive to be created.
The Leader sought to create the ultimate killing machine, one that had the power to take on multiple foes and had the intellect to follow orders without being discovered by their enemies... but in doing so Raven noticed the wrongs that his race was committing and silently vowed to stop his father, before he destroyed Haven City. At some point, after the rest of us were born, Raven defected from his father's hive and took us with him, ensuring that we would flee, come up with a true plan of attack, and then get back at the main hive before they wiped out your city. On the way to our new hideout we were attacked by a group of Metal Heads, so Raven stayed behind and took them on in our stead... to which he disappeared without a trace.
I watched over Haven Forest, killing the Metal Heads that Raven's father sent to spy on the city, and I occasionally caught a glimpse of a purple furred ottsel that was always with Pinkamena... to which I recently discovered had been our leader the entire time."
"And besides, the reason Jak and I didn't kill them is because they are on our side," Pinkamena added, causing the Shadow to look over at her once more, though she could tell that he was having a tough time accepting what he was hearing, "They have been doing their best to disrupt whatever operations the original hive has in place, but with their lower numbers they have to pick and choose which fights to take on and which ones they have to put aside for the moment."
"So you are telling me that the Underground movement, the organization I started, actually had another group of allies that I knew nothing about?" the Shadow asked, to which by Pinkamena and Stalker nodded their heads, though that was followed by Raven doing the same thing in his dragon form, "I'm going to have to tell the others the news and see how they'll react... though Vin is going to throw a fit of some kind when he realizes that we have Metal Head allies, as well as verification that his scanners have been working perfectly. He's spotted your group many times over the last couple of days, though now I am beginning to see why the scanners kept going off... we're going to have to figure out a way around that, so we can keep track of real enemies."
"Vex might be able to help him with that, provided you can get him into the city and to wherever Vin is located," Stalker commented, to which the scientist Metal Head glanced up from what he was doing, which appeared to be taking the armor off the dead Krimzon Guards and seeing if he couldn't modify them for the Neo Metal Heads that didn't wear armor.
"I'll see what I can do, but for now I must speak with the plants and see what they have to tell me." the Shadow said, to which the group gave him some room as he sat back on the ground, brought the Life Seed over to him, and closed his eyes so he could focus on the task at hand.
Pinkamena and Raven waited nearby, taking the moment to rest from all of the excitement that they had been through lately, while Stalker and her team searched the forest for any signs of the Krimzon Guard. Pinkamena had to wonder how the Baron had even discovered that the Shadow was coming out here to begin with, as she was sure that the Shadow had bumped up his safety procedures before leaving the hideout. In the end, however, she didn't worry about it took much, as it could have simply been that the Baron had been watching the location of the hideout and had spotted the Shadow as he was leaving, to which he could have ordered some guards to follow him... which would have brought them to what they had seen earlier.
Her thoughts were interrupted as Stalker returned and revealed that there were no enemies in the immediate area, though that was soon followed by a shaken Shadow opening his eyes and getting back onto his feet, where he waved off any attempts to aid him for now.
"The Life Seed gave me a terrible vision." the Shadow said, causing everyone in the immediate area, be they Pinkamena or the Neo Metal heads, to stop what they were doing and turn towards him, "The Baron... the Baron is planning to destroy the Precursor Stone. He aims to crack it open somehow, but if he does shatter the Stone the energy released will be beyond comprehension! It will destroy the world and more, ending all life! The plants are crying out for protection! Pinkamena, we must stop the Baron before he can finish this terrible mission he has set in motion... before he destroys the entire world."
"Then we had best hurry back into the city and keep up the good work," Pinkamena replied, to which Raven reverted back to his ottsel form and climbed onto her shoulder, though as she turned to leave she glanced back at the Shadow, "Are you sure that you'll be fine here, without me to keep you company?"
"The Neo Metal Heads will be more than enough for now," the Shadow said, sounding oddly confident in himself, which meant that he must have seen something more in his vision than what he had told Pinkamena, "besides, there is something I wanted to ask the second in command... and we might be able to turn the tide against the main hive."
Pinkamena and Raven grinned, as they weren't expecting this sort of reaction out of the Shadow and were pleased to find that he was so accepting of them now, before Pinkamena started walking away from the great tree. She quickly made her way back to the entrance of the forest and rode the platform back to the ruined temple, where she used the warp gate to move herself and Raven back to the security door. Once they were back inside the city their communicator sprung to life once more and revealed that Jak had won the Class 2 race while they were outside the city, as well as dropped a large metallic box on some eggs that belonged to the main Metal Head hive.
They also learned that Kor wanted to speak with them, meaning both Jak and Pinkamena, and that they should meet back up at the Power Station... to which Pinkamena climbed into the zoomer she had taken and moved through the city.
When she and Raven arrived at the Power Station, and parked their zommer on the lower level so someone else could use it, they found that Jak and Daxter were already waiting for them beside the entrance. Jak and Pinkamena smiled at each other, as they were both pleased with the progress they had made while they were in two different locations, before they opened the door and headed inside. Once they were passed the entrance they spotted Vin running around the room, which wasn't new to them, and that Kor happened to be standing in the middle of the room... and that there was a very sad looking crocadog laying on the ground nearby.
"I can't believe it! We were so close!" Kor commented, though it appeared that he had been saving something special and was only now saying it, meaning that Jak and Pinkamena were the people he wanted to talk to at the moment, "The Baron stole the Precursor Stone right out from under us... and after all of our planning and hard work, Torn has betrayed the cause!"
"Torn meant well." Jak replied, knowing that the man, who was pretty much the face of the Underground since not a lot of people knew who the Shadow was, had done everything in his power to prevent the Baron from killing one of his own daughters as well as try and prevent him from acquiring the powerful Stone, "He was protecting one of our own."
"We must get that Stone back!" Kor insisted, though his tone told Pinkamena that he believed that they weren't working hard enough and that they should have already gotten it back, which annoyed her a little bit.
"Don't worry Kor," Pinkamena said, though she was only speaking up to prevent Daxter from saying or doing anything stupid, which was something that they didn't need at the moment, "we're working on it!"
"I've underestimated this Baron, and now it appears he has taken both the boy and the girl as well!" Kor stated, to which he gestured over to the crocadog, which told the group that the poor guy was likely missing the kids that had been taking care of him, "Think, what will the Baron's next move be?"
"Trust me, you don't want to know what I would do if I had something as powerful as the Precursor Stone," Daxter commented, though his eyes revealed that he was thinking of something naughty, which both Jak and Pinkamena had come to expect from their friend... though there were times where he was being serious, yet this wasn't one of those times.
"I want you to go out to the Drill Platform again." Kor said, gesturing to the warp gate that was resting in the back of the room, indicating that it had been prepared the moment he arrived in the Power Station, "If you can destroy the main control tower there, it should temporarily stop the Baron's use of Eco to harm us."
Jak and Pinkamena looked at each other for a few seconds, as they were both sure that there was more to what Kor was saying, hidden beneath what he was actually telling them, but they decided that now wasn't the time to be trying to tear apart what the elderly man was saying. They both turned towards the warp gate and jumped through it, to which they appeared on the Drill Platform not a few seconds later, where Pinkamena immediately spotted a Titan Suit waiting for them. It was clear that Kor had been expecting only one of them to show up, if he was the one that had actually ordered the machine be placed here by the Underground, but they weren't too upset over that... as it gave Jak a chance to use the machine and gave Pinkamena a chance to stretch her legs a bit.
Once Jak was inside the machine, and had practiced the controls, he approached the door by the warp gate and punched it down, to which he and Pinkamena rode the elevator they found to another that was below them. As the doors opened they found a few lasers firing from one wall and hitting a pipe on the other wall, to which they carefully timed their movements for when the lasers were off. Jak then proceeded to punch down the door in front of them, allowing them to enter the next room, where he then discovered that he had to be careful, least the Titan Suit, and him as the pilot, fell towards the ground below them.
Pinkamena spotted a Metal Head, one with a yellow gem, walking on the walkway that Jak would need to be on, so she pulled out one of her guns and put a shot right through its chest, allowing it to fall off the walkway and drop down towards the massive drill that was below them. She then beckoned for Jak to move the Titan Suit onto the platform that was near where the Metal Head had been roaming, though once he was in place she made her way up onto the walkway and kicked the switch that was up there, moving Jak up to her level. Jak then broke down the next door that was in their way and moved forward, to which they had to jump over some platforms and time their jumps when a walkway was on fire, before they could reach the end of that room.
Once they were through the room they came upon an area that would have normally required that Jak get out of the Titan Suit, shoot both the Metal Heads that were patrolling the area in front of him, flip the switches by shoot them, and then getting back into the Titan Suit so he could move forward. With Pinkamena there to help him, however, she was the one that eliminated the enemies that were in front of them and flipped the switches that were in their path, allowing her brother to move the suit across the path they were on. The moment they were on the other side of that obstacle they followed the path in front of them, avoiding the lasers that were firing at the walls, before they entered a chamber that had a pathway that occasionally had flames rising out of them... to which they careful made their way across the room before they were on the other side.
It was there that they discovered an elevator that took them up to the control tower, where they actually found a small group of beast type Metal Heads trying to tear the place apart, exactly like what they were here to do. Pinkamena wasted no time in shooting all of their enemies, allowing Jak to walk around the room and take note of where all of the items he needed to hit were located. When the last Metal Head fell, and the coast was clear, Jak moved into the back room and smashed the large computers that were in there, before walking out to where Pinkamena was and repeating the process with the two terminals that were in front of them.
Once all of the computers had been smashed, and they were sure that all of them were broken, a voice indicated that the tower was going to explode and started counting down, to which Jak climbed out of the Titan Suit and followed his sister back into the elevator. The two of them quickly made their way back through the areas that they had gone through to get to the control tower, suffering a small burn or two in the process, but they were able to make it back to the warp gate before the countdown reached zero... to which they turned towards the control tower and watched it explode.
"Another blow to the Baron my good friends!" Kor said over the communicator, which told them that he had been watching them and was quite pleased with their progress, even if both Jak and Pinkamena found it odd that Metal Heads were in the control tower, attempting to do the same thing they were sent to do, "Very soon, our fortunes will change."
With that task done, and nothing else of importance demanding attention at the moment, the two siblings did notice that there was a message from Brutter, which made them sigh as they returned to the Power Station and headed back to his stand in the other half of the Bazaar district.
When the two of them arrived at the stand they found that the nice Lurker was actually very happen to see them, which meant that they were likely going to free some more of his species from the enslavement that the Baron was enforcing upon them... which ticked Pinkamena off.
"It's brother Jak and his little orangey pal! And sister Pinkie with her blacky friend!" Brutter commented, waving the group over to his empty stand, where both Jak and Pinkamena took a seat, though at the same time Pinkamena didn't bother to correct the Lurker about her name, "Thank the totem I sees you. You help lurkers once time, you help us twos?"
"Look Brutter, we've got our own problems to deal with right now." Jak replied, though while he knew that they were eventually going to help the poor Lurker out, especially since the Baron was treating them so poorly, he also knew that there might be something more important out there that they were overlooking.
"But you know big-to-do ruckus you caused at dig?" Brutter asked, apparently knowing that Jak and Pinkamena had gone out there in search of something, which made sense considering that he knew that they had been after the Seal of Mar and gave them one of the pieces as a thank you for the last time they had saved his people, "I know all caves like back of claw, and Mar's tomb no where there! Now Metal Heads find hidden lurker village in caves! They bite, and hurt village real bad, and me lurker brothers trapped like animals!"
"Uh, hello. They are animals." Daxter said, remembering what had happened in their own timeline, back when this place had been a simple small village and not the large imposing city that it was these days.
"We no longer evil-lurking, bad-to-bones, orangey boy! We good now." Brutter said, which was certainly true, as they had separated themselves from the dark influence that had taken over them and returned to being who they were, "Metal Headers are bad. They is enemies."
"Yeah, I guess we're all in the same boat now." Jak commented, knowing that the main Metal Head hive wouldn't stop until the entire city was crushed, which was why they were the current enemy of everyone living inside the city, be they actual people or the Lurkers.
"And the ship is sinking fast, brother." Daxter added, knowing that, at some point in the future, the shield wall protecting the city was bound to come down on its own... while knowing that they may have just contributed to weakening it for the Metal Heads.
"Please, save six lurker brothers quick, and Brutter will kiss you foots!" Brutter said, holding up six fingers to illustrate the number of his species that he wanted them to save, while at the same time bending over and pretended to kiss Daxter's foot for a moment.
Fortunately Brutter had a paper that detailed the routes of all six ships that were carrying the Lurkers he wanted them to save, to which Jak and Pinkamena decided to tackle them separately so they could get it done faster. Jak's plan was to ride in on his zoomer, target the ships with his vulcan mod, and then gun down the ship that he was targeting, to which he would rescue the Lurker and take him to safely. Pinkamena's plan, on the other hand, was much more simple, as thanks to her new powers she could easily latch onto the gate that was on the Lurker's prison, pull it open, and let the creature jump onto the back of her zoomer... without the Krimzon Guard even noticing that she had stolen their prisoner.
Their plans worked flawlessly, as they were able to rescue all six Lurkers without loosing a single one of them, or getting hurt by the Krimson Guard in the process... to which they received an excited message from Brutter.
"Great smelly breath of a goosesnake! Heroes to lurker people you be." Brutter exclaimed, telling the group that he was happy for what they had done for him and his people, even though they could have easily refused to do it and were simply helping him out so they could kill some time, "Right now just see much happy thanks to you. You honorary members of Lurker tribe now. We not forget, if ever you need us, we help you!"
Jak and Pinkamena considered that having the Lurker's assistance may come in handy later on, especially since they had no idea what the Underground or Keira were planning at the moment... though as they thought about her their communicator went off, revealing that she wanted to speak with them. Jak chuckled as he and Pinkamena made their way back to the stadium, as he was sure that Keira would have thought up a way to end this nightmare... and maybe let him settle things with Errol, at long last.
Jak and Pinkamena made their way to the stadium like everyone around them, purposely going the speed limit so they didn't draw attention to them, and found that most of the guards didn't even bother to stop them, as they were sure that the guards knew their faces and would have pulled them over based on the fact that they worked with the Underground. Daxter assumed that the final race might be starting soon and offered that as a suggestion as to why they weren't being harassed, because Jak was one of the racers in the Class 1 race and being damaged in some way would upset the people. Raven, on the other hand, offered a more realistic suggestion, as Ashelin was likely helping them out by making sure that the guards continued to ignore them, so they could continue their war against both the evil Metal Heads and the Baron.
Whatever the reason for the guards leaving them alone didn't matter to either of the siblings, as they managed to reach the stadium, and park near the entrance they needed to go through, without anyone attacking them... though when they entered the wing that Keira's shop was in, however, they spotted her and Samos patiently waiting for them. It was clear that Keira was getting ready to show her father what she had been working on since she had arrived in this time period, though they guessed that she had called them here so she could show them all at once.
"I'll show you guys what I've been working on if you promise not to laugh." Keira said, to which she reached for the curtain that was separating the workshop and her secret project.
"Ooh, I love surprises. And I love to laugh!" Daxter commented, already sounding happy about the fact that they were going to be seeing Keira's secret project at long last, as when they first found out that she was the Mechanic that Krew sent them to see she had covered the room up before they could see what she was working on, "Show me, show me!"
"I've been building a replica of our crashed Rift Rider machine from old artifacts." Keira stated, to which she pulled back the curtain and revealed the Rift Rider that they had used all those years ago, though Jak and Pinkamena found it slightly odd that it looked almost identical to the one they had ridden in... almost as if they were the same vehicle.
"That's my girl!" Samos declared, knowing that this was a good thing that his daughter had done, especially since he was sure that the majority of their group knew about the whole time travel situation and who needed to go back in time.
"However, I'm still missing two very important pieces." Keira said, to which she looked over at the wall that the Rift Rider was pointed at, because she had drawn up the missing artifacts in her spare time, just so she could ask people about them at a later date.
"Figures..." Daxter commented, though this time he brought his palm to his face, because while he was glad to have the vehicle almost perfected, and almost ready to leave this time period, he wasn't too keen on there been any missing parts involved.
"I showed Vin my drawings and he told me that I need an artifact called the Time Map," Keira said, to which she gestured to the two drawings she had created, to which Jak and Pinkamena immediately recognized one of them, "and an old energy gem history books call the Heart of Mar. And I've looked in every book on Precursor history I can find, but the Rift Ring seems to have vanished!"
"You did all this?" Jak asked, to which he rested a hand on the replica Rift Rider, somehow knowing that it had to be the very machine that they rode into the future, but he didn't say anything because he couldn't prove that the two machines were identical, "It's incredible that you could recreate this from your memories of the vehicle we used to reach this time period."
"And don't worry about the missing artifacts," Pinkamena added, remembering where she had seen one of the artifacts, as Jinx and his friends claimed it the moment they blew up Mar's statue, "We saw the Heart of Mar not too long ago... though Krew has it now!"
Keira opened her mouth to say something about the artifacts, and how Jak and Pinkamena should be careful in retrieving the Heart of Mar from Krew, but before she could actually say anything a computerized voice interrupted them, announcing that the Class 1 Championship Race was about to begin.
"Seriously? They're having us do the Class 1 race so soon after the Class 2 race?" Jak inquired, to which he noticed that Keira was nodding her head, which made sense considering that she had won some of them in the past and knew how all of them worked, "Well then, I had better get down there and show Errol that he's not as skilled as he believes he is."
"Jak..." Keira said, stopping Jak in his tracks for a moment, as he had been preparing to leave the workshop so he could head to the zoomer he would be using in the race and make sure that it hadn't been tampered with, "I just wanted you to know, well, you're the best racer I've ever seen."
Jak was slightly caught off guard by that statement, because he had been assuming that Keira wouldn't have said anything about who the best racer was in her opinion, but he smiled at her and quickly embraced her, causing Samos to look away for a few seconds. Once Jak was done with his hug he pulled away and headed towards the entrance of the race track, where Pinkamena followed after him so she could watch her brother beat Errol into the ground. When they arrived they noticed that the track had been changed from whatever it had been the last time Jak had raced, though Jak wasn't too concerned about that as he climbed into the zoomer and lowered himself onto the track.
A few seconds later, however, Errol came riding up to the starting line, indicating that he had been waiting for Jak to arrive before he bothered to show himself... though Jak wasn't afraid of him.
"I want more than just to win, Eco freak!" Errol declared, though his tone indicated that he was still pissed off from when Jak beat him in the race through the city, which would mean that he was going to be sloppy in this race, "I want you!"
"Greetings, racers!" a voice called out, to which Jak and Daxter watched as the Baron floated down to their level, on a floating platform that was designed to allow him to speak with the racers on some sort of equal footing, "Today your nerve and skill will be tested for our amusement. If any of you should by some small chance beat our grand champion Erol, then you will be awarded a month's supply of Eco... and a short tour of my Palace to see how the other half live. Good luck, and die bravely! Ready! Get set!"
The moment the Baron said the word 'Go', and the race had officially started, Jak and Errol were off, though seeing how there were still five laps Jak fell back on the practice he had adopted when he was in the Class 3 race, memorize the layout of the track and then race for real when the second lap started. The other six racers played to his advantage, because they all seemed to want to beat Errol as much as he did, so while Errol was distracted, and missed the shortcuts, Jak took the opportunity to use them and slipped ahead of the Krimzon Guard Commander. Errol, upon noticing that Jak had actually gotten in front of him and was opening a distance between them, attempted to catch up... but failed to account for the fact that the other racers continued to pester him and forced the gap to enlarge much faster than what Jak had been planning on.
Soon Jak had crossed the finish line for the fifth time and the results had been recorded, to which both the other six racers, who had helped force Errol to take a disappointing eighth place, and the people who had been watching the race started cheering for the person who took first place... and at the same time Jak collected a Security Pass that floated down to where he was standing.
"Thank you, thank you very much." Daxter said, though at the same time both he and Jak waved to the cheering public, knowing that the Eco barrels had landed behind them and that they had likely pissed off Krew by beating Errol in the championship race, "I love my public!"
"Ah, a brave man of the people." the Baron commented, to which Jak and Daxter heard the sound of his platform stopping behind them, though they found it funny that he couldn't recognize them with their backs turned to him, "And who is this worthy opponent? In my world, good men are either bought, or broken. So which is it going to be?"
"Surprise." Jak said, to which he turned around and stared up at the Baron, though at the same time he enjoyed seeing the look of total shock that appeared on the Baron's face.
"What?" the Baron stated, as if he actually couldn't believe that Jak had the skills to beat Errol and that this was some sort of sick joke that his commander was playing on him.
"Just a little closer." Jak said, to which he beckoned for the Baron to come down to his level, so they could look each other in the eyes and have some sort of reasonable conversation for a few seconds, "We need to talk."
"Fool! Don't you get it? It's over, Jak!" the Baron decalred, though at the same time the two Krimzon Guards that were riding with him seemed to realize who was standing in front of them, to which they pointed their weapons at Jak, "All the heroes died long ago! Only survival remains, by whatever means! This city is mine! These lives are mine! This war is mine! And in war, people die! Kill him!"
"Look out!" one of the guards yelled out, to which he pointed at the track behind Jak, causing Jak to look back and find that Errol was driving his way, like a madman no less.
"I win, Jak!" Errol shouted, pushing his zoomer to the maximum speed that it was allowed to go, though his actions clearly betrayed what he was about to do.
Jak, sensing that Errol was going to try and run him over, decided that the best course of action would be to jump out of the way and make the sore loser run right into the Eco barrels, which was likely going to kill Errol and remove one more obstacle from their path. Once Errol was close enough Jak leapt out of the way, while at the same time the Baron moved his platform high into the air, before the zoomer slammed into the barrels of Eco and caused a small Dark Eco explosion. A second later Jak noticed Errol's head piece land on the ground nearby, though before the guards did anything he tapped his zoomer and lifted it back into the area it had been resting in before he had come to start the race.
Once that was done, and he had reunited with a smiling Pinkamena, the two of them quickly departed from the stands surrounding the arena... though their escape had not gone unnoticed.
"After them!" the Baron declared, noticing the group of four departing from the stadium, to which the Krimzon Guards got underway and started chasing after Jak and Pinkamena.
As Jak and Pinkamena reached the outside of the stadium they noticed that Keira had closed her workshop, likely to prevent the guards from entering it if they came over there, so they both claimed a single person zoomer and departed from the area they were in. They could hear the sounds of the guards chasing them, as per the Baron's orders, though at the same time Jak told Pinkamena that they would be heading to the Palace, as he was sure that they would stop hunting for them once they used the Purple Security Pass to enter the restricted area. Pinkamena had to agree with her brother's idea, because only the Baron, his daughter Ashelin, his commander Errol, and his elite Krimzon Guards were allowed in the Palace... and one of them was now dead.
Once they had reached the Palace and had passed through the security door, the same one they had exited through when they were eavesdropping on the Baron and his secret meeting with the Metal Head Leader, they climbed onto the elevator and rode it up to the top level... where they exited through a different door, walked up to the large set of double doors that Pinkamena brought them to, and entered the throne room.
"I should have known that you would find a way back up here," a voice said, to which Ashelin stepped out of the shadows, though there was a smile on her face as she embraced Pinkamena, who actually returned the gesture, "It is good to see you again, and actually embrace you without having to worry about one of the other guards seeing it."
"Wait, so your not worried about her sudden change in appearance?" Jak asked, because while he knew that Ashelin was actually Pinkamena's sister, and that Pinkamena technically wasn't even related to him by any means, he also knew that Ashelin should have been shocked by the blood red colored hair or the lines that ran down from her eyes.
"No, I am worried about that," Ashelin replied, to which she and Pinkamena separated from each other, though she followed that up by passing something into Pinkamena's hand, "I'm also extremely pissed off that our father could act like the two of us are tools and expect us to blindly follow his orders without questioning them... which is why I have been monitoring all of his activity since the first change my sister went through. I heard that he finally got his hands on the legendary Precursor Stone..."
"And that he intends to shatter it, to release all of the energy stored inside it." Pinkamena said, reminding the group that there was something terrible coming if the Baron actually went through with his plans.
"I asked Vin about that earlier," Ashelin said, though she let out a sigh as she remembered the exact words that Vin had told her not too long ago, "and he told me that a runaway Eco surge, from cracking the Precursor Stone open, would theoretically destroy everything on the planet. Our father is playing with forces he does not understand... and he's already commissioned Krew to start prepping his 'Piercer Bomb', which, according to what Krew told our father, should have enough power to shatter to Stone."
"Then we need to find the bomb and make sure that Krew doesn't set it off," Jak replied, though Daxter patted the back of his head, informing him of one small issue that he seemed to be overlooking, "Do you have any idea where Krew and his bomb are located?"
"Krew is at a secret weapons factory near the Dig." Ashelin answered, though not a few seconds later she beckoned to what she had handed over to Pinkamena, "That right there is my top level Security Pass... it'll get you into the factory, but it won't get you back out. And, just so you can save some time, I have already rigged the Palace doors to open for you, as well as deactivate the turrets, so now you can leave the same way you came in."
The entire group thanked Ashelin for the assistance, as they never would have known about the Piercer Bomb and what Krew was up to if she hadn't told them anything about it, as well as handing them to key to get inside the factory that the bomb was housed in. Ashelin told them that she would be preparing to aid them, however she could anyway, and that she would try to meet them when she was prepared, though she also mentioned that they would likely be done with Krew before she even arrived. With the location of the weapon factory in mind, and the key to get inside in their hands, Jak and Pinkamena retraced their steps and headed down to the lower level of the Palace, where they claimed their zoomers and headed into the port area.
From there they parked near the train that had taken them to the Dig, climbed aboard it, and took off, heading right for what was going to be one of the most heavily guarded areas they had ever fought through so far.
When their shuttle arrived at the Dig, and they climbed out of it, Jak and Pinkamena looked around the area for a few seconds before they spotted the door that would allow them to enter the weapon factory, to which they wondered how it could be a secret if the entrance was out in plain sight. They quickly approached the door and Pinkamena held the Security Pass out, to which the door opened and allowed them to enter, though once they were on the other side it closed and locked behind them. That told them that Ashelin had been telling the truth, that the Black Security Pass, as the door called it, would only allow them to enter the factory, meaning that they would have to find their own way out... though it was easy to think up a plan, especially when they considered that Raven could easily transform into his dragon form and fly them to a point outside the Eco Dome.
As they walked deeper into the weapon factory, however, both of the siblings pulled out their guns and prepared themselves, as they had the feeling that the guards would fire on them the moment they were spotted... though the first thing they did was actually climb onto the elevator in front of them and rode it down to the level below them.
They walked out onto the conveyor belt that was in front of them and started shooting at the Krimzon Guards that were waiting in front of a electric field, which they would have to deactivate once their enemies were taken care of. Fortunately the enemies in front of them appeared to be bad shots, as Jak and Pinkamena were able to beat them within a matter of seconds, though once they were dead Pinkamena pressed the large button on the ground and deactivated the field that was blocking their way. They then rounded the corner and shot down the guards that were waiting for them, though at the same time Jak shot a red target that flipped the direction of the conveyor belt that was in front of them, allowing them to move up to the next area of the factory.
As they reached the next area they climbed over a part of the walkway and lowered themselves into a small pit like area, where one of the circular vents opened and started dropping large red robotic balls that rolled around the area, but Jak and Pinkamena weren't buying it. They opened fire on the balls, finding that after two hits the balls transformed into a walking robot that shattered into pieces with a final shot, making both of them wonder why these were even being made if they were so fragile. Once all of the robots were taken care of a trio of platforms moved into position and allowed them to move across to where a guard was minding his own business... to which Pinkamena approached him from behind and kicked him into the green liquid that they had crossed over, thanks to the platforms.
She suspected that the platforms were for them to safely cross over some sort of green acid or something, but she didn't pay it much attention as Jak struck a rotating wheel and moved the platforms back in position so they could move on to the next part of the factory.
They crossed over to where an elevator was resting and rode it up to the next level, where they opened fire on the guards that were standing on the walkway and took care of them, though when they spotted the next conveyor belt they spotted some rotating blades that they would have to jump over. They then jumped off the belt that they were on and rode the one below them to the top, where they turned around and spotted some platforms that could be shot into place, where they lowered the two platforms with a well placed shot. From there they ran down the conveyor belt and jumped onto the platforms, to which they walked to another belt, ran up it, lowered another platform into place, and jumped onto it so they could move forward.
The guards in the next area of the factory were definitely not happy to see them, as the four of them opened fire on Jak and Pinkamena, but once more they appeared to be terrible shots and were easily put down by the siblings. Once the guards were done Pinkamena noticed that the path they needed to take involved switching several of the tracks that the conveyor belts were on, which made it fortunate that she and Jak were here. She shot at the first switch and switched the belt in front of them, allowing them to ride up to the second belt, where another flipped switch brought them to a belt that required them to shoot down some platforms so they could move forward. From there they jumped over to a smaller platform and ran against the belt they were on, though a lucky shot from Pinkamena switched the tracks and allowed them to jump over to the final belt... where they had to shoot the switch a second time so they could reach the area in front of them.
The area they had been moving towards happened to be a repeat of the small robot area they had taken out a few minutes ago, though at the same time they were under fire from the guards on the level above them. Pinkamena focused on firing at the guards while Jak took care of the robots, allowing Daxter and Raven to point out their enemies before both levels happened to be clear of immediate enemies. Once their enemies were dead jak flipped the switch that the robots had been guarding and switched the conveyor belt in front of them, to which he and Pinkamena rode up to the level above them, which happened to be empty thanks to Pinkamena shooting everyone. They used the platforms between parts of the level they were on in order to reach the other side of the chamber they were in, where they found some guards hiding to get the drop on them... to which the two of them shot them down, just like the other enemies they had fought so far.
They rested for a few seconds, to be sure that they didn't exhaust themselves, before they broke the grate on the floor in front of them and dropped into the next area they had to pass through... which happened to be a large chamber with three robot dispensers. Fortunately Jak and Pinkamena were more than prepared to deal with the large group of enemies that came out to fight them, as they tore apart each and every one of the robots that came after them... to which the door in front of them opened and allowed them to ride the elevator up to where they assumed Krew would be working on his special bomb.
When the elevator finally came to a stop, and the door in front of them opened, they found Krew flying around the area around a large circular bomb like creation, which had to be the Piercer Bomb they had been told about... though Krew seemed somewhat surprised to see them here, even as they walked out of the elevator.
"I knew that the two of you were special when I first met you," Krew commented, to which he floated down to where the two siblings were standing, "and I commend you for making it this far. We've come a long way, eh?"
"Yeah. I'm getting real teary eyed." Jak said, though his tone revealed that he wasn't too upset over everything that he had done so far, because Krew had provided him and Pinkamena with the weapons that would end the war with the Metal Head Leader.
"I love weapons." Krew stated, to which he floated back over to the bomb that he was putting the finishing touches on at the moment, which they had interrupted by arriving, "I love how they look, how they feel, even how they smell."
"Personally, I think you need serious help." Daxter said, though at the same time he reached over to Raven and tapped his shoulder, to which both Raven and Pinkamena grinned for a moment, before Raven pulled himself behind Pinkamena's head and climbed down to the floor.
"My favorite was the impossibly powerful weapon Mar built to blast open the Metal Head Nest." Krew commented, not even realizing that the purple ottsel was even moving, as he was too occupied with what he was doing, "Poor fool died before he could use it, ah well. But I have a new favorite. The Piercer Bomb I've just completed. My masterpiece is powerful enough to crack open the Precursor Stone, and release the untold energy inside! As soon as the Baron shows up with the Stone, we'll hide it in the last shipment of Eco and deliver it to the Metal Head Nest. A surprise dessert, eh? Now, just take this gun upgrade and forget what you saw here."
"Not this time, Krew!" Jak declared, though he did catch the two gun upgrades that Krew tossed to them, as they would be useful in the coming battle with the Metal Head Leader, "We're through being your hired guns!"
"Then it's war, isn't it?" Krew asked, though at the same time he backed away from the two of them and prepared himself, to which both Pinkamena and Jak smiled, "What's so funny?"
"Look behind you," Raven growled, his claws tapping on the metal platform they were on, to which he grinned and showed his teeth to Krew when he turned to look at him, "Surprise!"
"D... D... DRAGON?!" Knew shouted, though before he could move Raven caught his floating chair with his claws and knocked him to the floor, which only made Raven grin even more.
"Listen, hand us the Heart of Mar and maybe we'll forget what we saw here," Pinkamena said, to which she moved between Krew and Raven, though she knew the perfect way to make Krew see that she wasn't kidding, "or you can choose to hold onto the Heart, which isn't the wise move, and Raven here will devour you whole... and then spit up the artifact."
"H... HERE!" Krew declared, reaching into his clothing and withdrawing the artifact, to which Pinkamena accepted the Heart of Mar and stepped away from him, "Just spare me!"
Pinkamena grinned as she patted Raven's leg, to which Raven opened his mouth and chomped down on Krew, where he pulled him into the air and made sure that the fat man was in his mouth. Jak and Daxter looked away as Raven crushed and tore Krew apart, devouring both him and the chair that he had been sitting in all the time, though to distract themselves Jak had Daxter climb into the bomb so they could force it to self destruct in a few minutes. Eventually Raven burped, which was followed by him apologizing for it, before he reverted to his ottsel form and commenting that Krew tasted delicious... and that he would only eat their enemies, if they ever let him do it again.
It was at that point that Ashelin appeared in one of the Krimzon Guard cruisers, to which they climbed onto it, with Jak sitting in the gun area and Pinkamena sitting beside Ashelin, before they took off... to which the Piercer Bomb detonated and tore apart the area around it. All they needed was the Time Map and the Rift Ring, the last two artifacts they needed to locate, and then this entire nightmare would be over.
It didn't take Ashelin long to get the cruiser back to Haven City's port, where the train that Jak and Pinkamena had used to get to the entrance of the weapon factory had returned for some reason, though neither of them cared at the moment. They had beaten Krew, even if it was because Raven had shifted into his true form and devoured him whole, and at the same time they had acquired the artifact that they had been looking for; the Heart of Mar. With it they were one step closer to completing Keira's Rift Rider, though to complete it they still needed the Time Map and the actual Rift Ring... and they had no idea where the massive ring was even located at the moment.
A few seconds later Ashelin pulled the cruiser close to the ground, in an area that had no citizens at the moment, and parked it for a moment, allowing Jak and Pinkamena, as well as Daxter and Raven, to climb out... though at the same time Pinkamena handed her sister the Heart of Mar.
"Pinkamena, you and Jak need to find our father, and the Precursor Stone." Ashelin said, though at the same time she made sure that the artifact was secure, so that way when she took off it didn't slide out and fall into the water or anything, "I'll take the Heart of Mar to Keira while you guys look for him... and I want you to know that I'm sorry it's come to this."
Jak nodded his understanding, as he actually wanted to settle the score with the Baron, and waved Ashelin off, as he and Pinkamena had things to do and people to gather... to which they collected their zoomers, which were still in the same place that they had left them in, and returned to the Hip Hog. When they arrived at the saloon they found that most of the patrons had gone home for the day, which made sense considering that it was getting late, though oddly enough Sig was no where in sight... and Tess was staring at a machine that Krew must have installed before heading to the weapon factory.
"Hey guys." Tess said, noticing that the group had entered the building, to which she glanced back at the machine, as if there was something about it that they needed to see, "Whatever Krew put in that machine, he looked really nervous."
"Whatever it is, Krew won't be needing it anymore." Raven commented, to which he took a moment to actually lick his fingers, though it was clear that he would remembering eating Krew for a long time, "He's, shall we say, not all together these days."
"Either way, I suggest that you all step back." Daxter declared, to which he climbed up onto the machine and claimed the mallet that was resting on it, though he was grinning at his friends as he realized what type of game this was, "Let the game player do his stuff!"
"You're such an animal!" Tess teased, knowing that Daxter got excited when she said things like that, to which Daxter rubbed the back of his head for a few seconds before flipping the game on and preparing himself.
The game in front of them was essentially a 'wack the target' type of game, where small heads, which appeared to resemble Metal Heads, popped out of eight holes in a random order and sometimes only one would pop out. As Daxter used the mallet to hit the targets, and would occasionally miss one, he also noticed that there were two more colors of his targets; a red one and a gold one. The red colored Metal Heads were nasty and would count as a miss if he hit them, as well as being stunned for a few seconds, while the golden ones were more points than the normal Metal Heads. As he played the game, and was scoring good points, Tess cheered him on while the rest of the group watched, knowing that he had the skills to beat Krew's last challenge.
It took Daxter a few minutes to get around to beating the high score that Krew had set for the game, but when he beat it he cheered for a moment... though that was promptly followed by the Time Map floating out of one of the holes and coming to a rest on the floor.
"The Time Map!" Daxter exclaimed, as he was pleased to have the artifact in their possession now, though that was followed by him staring at Tess and grinning, "You know, sugar plum, if any REAL Metal Heads came to town, I'd bonk 'em just like I did in the game!"
Raven already knew that Daxter wasn't referring to him, though even as that thought came to his mind he noticed that the door to the saloon was opening and that two beast type Metal Heads, from his father's hive, were walking into the building. Daxter, of course seemed oblivious to what was happening behind him, to which Raven prepared himself to do what he could to defend his friends.
"Daxter?.." Tess started to say, because she didn't want something to happen to Daxter, though at the same time she noticed that he was caught up in what he was doing.
"They'd be all, 'Don't hurt me, please!' and I'd be all, 'Too late, metal monkeys! You die screaming!' Daxter explained, going over how an encounter with the Metal Heads would go, despite the fact that he knew that such a thing would never actually happen, "Know what I'm saying?"
"Um..." Jak said, though at the same time he pulled out his Morph Gun, as it was clear that someone was going to have to take out the invaders, and it appeared that it was going to be him.
"Jak, I think these trophies are still walking!" Daxter exclaimed, to which he dived under Jak's legs, allowing his friend to shoot both of the Metal Heads in rapid succession, dropping them to the floor, "Metal Heads! Where's Sig when you need him?"
"Sig?" Tess asked, placing her hand on her chin for a moment, as she had to think about that for a moment, before she looked at the group, "I think Krew sent Sig on one last mission. Something about using Mar's Ruby Key to open a secret door in the Underport."
"Then that is where we'll be going next," Pinkamena said, knowing that having Sig with them would definitely improve things for them, especially when she looked outside the building.
The Shield Wall, the one thing that was keeping the Metal Heads out of the city, had finally come undone, as Metal Heads were running around and attacking people, namely the Krimzon Guards. She wasn't sure when this had occurred, as the barrier had been fine when they passed through it minutes ago, but now wasn't the time to be thinking about that. What was also interesting about the situation was that the Neo Metal Heads were also making their presence known, as they were fighting the forces of the main hive... and, as the group noted, all of them seemed to be wearing some sort of blue colored armor that indicated that they weren't enemies.
The group had to wonder how the Krimzon Guards liked working with their sworn enemies, or at least a group of them anyway, but at the moment they started moving towards the Underport... to which they got a message from Vin of all people.
The Shield Wall is down! Vin said over the communicator, though he was absolutely terrified of what was happening on the screens in front of him, I repeat, the Shield Wall is down! Sabotage! Kor did it! I knew Metal Heads would be the end of me... oh no! Metal Heads are at the door! They're breaking through! Too many of them! Jak!
There was nothing they could do to save Vin this time around, as it sounded like the Metal Heads were already tearing their way into the Power Station and they already knew that they would be too late to save him, to which they turned in a different direction and followed Tess' directions to the entrance of the Underport. There, on the second circular platform area that they had never actually bothered to look around, they discovered a door that revealed an elevator that took them deep beneath the port. When the elevator arrived at its destination, and they walked through the door that was right in front of them, they discovered a pair of Titan Suits waiting for them, to which they both climbed in and sealed them up, after their ottsels were inside with them... though that was followed by the chamber filling with water.
The first area they came to was like a place that told them what to expect in the upcoming areas of the Underport, as there were mines to avoid and glowing blue areas that restored the oxygen in the suits, as well as a rusted gate for them to break their way through. They made their way into the next area and followed the path that was in front of them, while at the same time they stopped at the oxygen area and took out the squid like Metal Heads that wanted to harm them... before they jumped through a hole in the floor and moved onward. From there they followed the only path that was available for them, to which they broke down another gate, avoided the mines, and took out the Metal Heads... before they came to an area that had four platforms that were locked to the bottom of the room.
It was a simple matter for them to punch each of the platforms and release them from the contraptions that were keeping them locked in place, before they rode a small elevator to the top of the room and used the four platforms to cross to the other side of where they were standing... allowing them to jump back into the water once more.
They smashed through the gate that was in their way and started walking across the bridge that they discovered after turning around the corner, though oddly enough the three Metal Heads that were floating around the underwater room chose to ignore them. Jak and Pinkamena could tell that they were from the main hive, thanks to their yellow colored skull gems, to which they determined that they were likely feeling Raven's presence and had decided not to attack them... which was fine with both of them at the moment. They then came to an area where they had to jump onto a platform, wait for it to rise to the same height as the one in front of them, jump onto the second platform and let it rise some more, before they could traverse the gap between them and the other entrance the room had.
Once they were both over the gap, and they had restored their oxygen, Jak and Pinkamena continued to follow the path in front of them... which was actually more like they turned to the left the moment they entered the next room and immediately discovered the door that would allow them to climb out of their Titan Suits. A few seconds later both Jak and Pinkamena climbed out of their suits, once the water level in the chamber allowed them to do so, before they walked through the now open second door. They then rounded another corner and spotted Sig standing near some sort of contraption, though it appeared that he was firing at something... to which Jak and Pinkamena roll jumped over to where their friend was standing.
"Hey there, tough guy." Jak said, to which he had to duck as Sig fired in their direction, though a few seconds later the corpse of a Metal Head dropped into the area between them.
"Get your skinny ass over here and start shooting!" Sig ordered, to which Jak and Pinkamena rushed to his side and pulled out their weapons, as while there weren't actually any enemies around them just yet they were being prepared, "Man, was I set up! Krew sent me down here to open some old doors with that Ruby Key you found, and when I did, Metal Heads came streaming in from some passage outside the city walls. Just like they were waiting for me! There's one!"
That was swiftly followed by Sig locking onto another Metal Head and blasting it without wasting a single second, showing the group just how skilled he actually was without putting too much effort into his actions.
"Well, you'll be happy to hear that Krew is dead." Pinkamena stated, though while she would have enjoyed battling him with the weapons that he had provided her and Jak with, and take his head in the process, she decided that being eaten by a Metal Head was one of the worst fates that someone could have... and Krew definitely deserved it.
"Yeah?" Sig stated, taking a moment to look at her, because he wasn't sure how the fat man had met his end, before he shook his head and decided that he didn't want to know all of the details, "Well, he's lucky, because he would not want me to catch him alive!"
"The Metal Head Leader must have promised Krew plenty for him to betray the whole city like this." Daxter commented, knowing that the fat man had no love for the Baron and would have sided with the Metal Head Leader in a heartbeat, as long as he got a good deal out of it.
"We can worry about that later," Jak said, to which he looked at Sig and noticed that the wastelander was nodding at him, indicating that they were thinking the same thing, "Come on, let's get out of here!"
Jak and Pinkamena walked forward and found that the room in front of where Sig had been standing contained two stone blocks that looked like keys of some sort, if the holes in the ground were any indication. Since there were two of them, and two of the blocks, they each took one block and punched it into place, allowing the door in front of them to open. When they were in the hallway, however, the wall behind them broke apart as a rather large Metal Head, a centipede one that was easily half the height of Raven's dragon form, started charging at them. They followed the path in front of them, jumping over broken parts of the walkway, jumping onto moving platforms, and also avoiding a Blue Eco laser that was coming out of one of the walls... before they crossed a small bridge that collapsed when the Metal Head walked on it, dropping it into the abyss below them.
It was then that they found another puzzle blocking their way, to which Jak simply struck the box until it was lined up with the hole and then hit it from another side, pushing it into place and opening the door for them to continue... though when they entered the next chamber they found a third block puzzle waiting for them. Sig proclaimed that he would hold off any Metal Heads that might come after them, allowing Jak and Pinkamena to figure out how the two blocks needed to be moved. Once they had determined how to move the blocks, in a timely manner anyway, they were about their work and quickly moved the blocks into place... though when they walked into the hallway they, once again, found themselves being chased by the large centipede Metal Head.
This time they had to jump over a trio of Blue Eco beams, shoot a platform into position, jump over some of the ledges and platforms that were in front of them, and jumped over another Eco beam before they reached a grate that Sig had discovered... to which he busted through it and beckoned for the group to follow him to the level below them. They then busted through a second grate and crossed over a cracked bridge that was between them and the platform they had to cross over to... though as Jak and Pinkamena stopped on the platform they noticed that Sig was right behind them.
"Let's go!" Jak called out, beckoning for Sig to run fast, because if that big Metal Head was mad over losing them, and he was sure that it was, it might just burrow through the ceiling to get at them, "We're almost to the elevator!"
"Looks like we finally lost 'em, chili peppers! Piece of cake, huh?" Sig replied, though at the same time he stopped on the middle of the cracked bridge, which seemed to hold his weight quite well despite the age that it was showing, "Now you guys are real wastelanders! I say it's time we take this fight to the Metal Head Leader himself! What a trophy he'll make! We find a way to juice up Mar's old gun, and then boom baby, we storm the nest, guns blazing! Hell! We'll take 'em all on, together! You and me! Side by side! Nothin'll stop us 'cause we're..."
Whatever he was going to say next was cut off as the ceiling burst open and the centipede Metal Head rushed down to where Sig was standing, cracking the bridge and casting the two of them into the depths below them, much to the shock of Jak, Daxter, Pinkamena, and Raven.
"So, uh, what's plan B?" Daxter asked, though at the same time he knew that it was foolish to even try and persuade his friends to consider another option, as they were both crazy enough to do what Sig had suggested.
Jak and Pinkamena looked at each other as they climbed onto the elevator and rode back up to the surface level, as they were both planning on doing what Sig had suggested, as that had been the plan from the start. They had been planning on attacking the Metal Head Leader, when he was distracted by something else, but this was definitely an opportunity that they couldn't afford to miss. As they walked out of the area that the elevator brought them to, however, Keira called them over the communicator and informed them that the Time Map had some old coordinates in it, which wasn't a surprise to them at this point... but they agreed to meet her by the stadium.
Thanks to the war going on the Krimzon Guard didn't even attempt to stop them from moving through the city, though at the same time the Neo Metal Heads, about ten of them anyway, followed them towards the stadium... where they found Keira, both versions of Samos, and Brutter standing near the Rift Rider.
"Oh no! Here they come!" Brutter called out, causing the group to look in Jak and Pinkamena's direction, where they noticed who was following them, "Metal Headers!"
"Correction, allies are coming our way." the Shadow said, once more demonstrating his strange sense of ease that had developed after discovering that the Neo Metal Heads were allies.
"Guys, the Rift Rider is finished!" Keira commented, beckoning to the vehicle in question, though it was clear that there was something else that was bothering her, "However, my father told me that the Rift Ring might be in the Metal Head Nest... which means that you'll have to defend us while we load the Rift Rider onto a balloon that Brutter has kindly provided us with."
Jak and Pinkamena grinned as they pulled their weapons back out and started firing at the Metal Heads that were coming towards their friends, while the Neo Metal Heads took care of the enemies that there further at the back of the pack. Raven, on the other hand, morphed into his hybrid form and joined his followers in their attack, as even with the Shield Wall down it was taking his body some time to adapt to the missing barrier that had been blocking the majority of his power. While they worked on dealing with the Metal Heads, however, Keira and Brutter prepared the balloon while the two Samos' used their Eco abilities to lift the Rift Rider into the air and move it towards the balloon.
With their combined efforts Keira and the two Samos' were able to get the Rift Rider on the balloon and get the Lurker vehicle into the air, to which Keira called down to them and told them that they would meet back up once they had bested the Metal Head Leader... though a few seconds later, once the balloon was further away from them, they received a much smaller message from Vin.
"Jak..." Vin managed to say, though his breathing indicated that he was definitely in pain and that he was about to die, which meant that he had to have some important piece of information for them, "Kor... Construction Site..."
Jak looked at Pinkamena for a moment, who smiled as the directions came in a few seconds later, before they climbed onto their zoomers and headed off in the direction of the Construction Site. There was no time to mourn Vin's passing, not when they still had to stop the Metal Head Leader and his army, but they resolved to honor him when they emerged victorious. It didn't take them long to reach their destination, thanks to the directions Vin was able to sent them, though they carefully entered the door that they had been brought to... though a few moments later, after making their way through the small corridor, they found a large area in front of them, and that the Baron had finished walking down the ramp with some of his guards.
Jak and Pinkamena stepped forward, so they could confront the Baron and take back the Precursor Stone, but the moment they reached where the Baron was something unexpected happened... Kor dropped out of the sky and landed between them and the Baron, but they both knew that something big was going to happen.
"Kor!" Jak exclaimed, as he was actually surprised to find the old man here, despite the fact that he and Pinkamena had debated whether or not the old man was even on their side, which had started after the events of the Tomb of Mar, "What's going on?"
"I'm sure you know... deep down in your darkest nightmares." Kor replied, though at the same time he approached Jak and let his face distort for a few seconds, revealing a familiar looking face for a few seconds, "We've met before, remember? Everything's going exactly as planned."
Jak and Pinkamena, as well as the Baron, watched as Kor walked away from the assembled group and tossed his cane to the side, where they discovered that he could walk just fine. A few seconds later four wings, the same that Jak and Pinkamena had seen when the Metal Head Leader had emerged from the Rift Ring back in Sandover Village all those years ago, erupted from Kor's back. That was followed by his arms shifting to the same arms that they remembered seeing, before a tail emerged as well, which coiled around and pointed down at Kor's head... to which his entire body shook for a few seconds before shattering before their eyes.
Jak, Daxter, and Pinkamena stood there in shock as the Metal Head Leader, in all of his glory, landed on the ground and stared at all of them, though at the same time Raven's hands moved to his head as he started breathing heavily... though the three of them knew that the memories, and his full power, were finally returning.
"Now you see!" Metal Kor declared, glancing at his true form with a hit of joy in his voice, as if he was pleased that all of his hard work had finally bared some fruit, "Without the Shield Wall disrupting my powers inside the city, I am my full potential now! So for the last time, give me the Precursor Stone!"
"If the city must die, then we all die!" the Baron shouted, to which he drew his Eco Blade and charged forward with his guards, though at the same time Jak and Pinkamena moved back a few steps.
A few seconds later Metal Kor loosed a blast of Eco energy that blasted the attacking group apart, where the guards rained down all across the area while the Baron collided with the support structure behind him... collapsing the entire thing in the process. Once that was done, however, Metal Kor flapped his wings and moved into the air, telling Jak and Pinkamena that neither of them were important to him at the moment.
"I will find that Stone if I have to crush this city one brick at a time!" Metal Kor shouted, to which he turned around and departed from the area they were in, leaving Jak and Pinkamena to their own devices.
Once Metal Kor was gone, and they were sure that he wasn't coming back, Jak and Pinkamena rushed over to where the Baron had landed, to which they grabbed the piece of metal that had fallen on top of him and pulled it out of the way. What they revealed, however, was that the Baron's legs were broken and it appeared that several of his ribs were cracked as well, which meant that since they had no Green Eco items on them they couldn't heal the Baron, not that they wanted to do that to begin with.
"Pinkamena, Jak, you two are the supreme weapons... and I made you, even if one was intentional and the other wasn't." the Baron coughed up, apparently finding the energy to reach into his pocket and reveal a button of some kind, which he pressed and revealed that there was a second Piercer Bomb in the area they were in, "Still, any leader worth his salt always has his backup plan... Remember, the first rule in making a bomb, is to always make two!"
Jak and Pinkamena noticed that, at the top of the bomb, rested the Precursor Stone, to which they glanced down at Daxter, as Raven seemed to be having problems... as he was trying to contain his memories and not transform into his true form at the moment. A few seconds later the Baron breathed his last, to which his hand dropped to the ground and his body stopped moving... and, despite the fact that he had treated her like trash since she broke Jak out of the Fortress, Pinkamena couldn't help but let a single tear drop from her face.
"Okay! I'm going in!" Daxter declared, to which he ran up the side of the bomb and slipped inside the large device, to which his next words came from the inside of the bomb, "Man, this place is just as bad as the last Piercer Bomb, and that one didn't even have the Precursor Stone attached to it. I have to tell you guys that it is a good thing that the Baron hadn't set the bomb to explode if someone tampered with it, because this will be like taking candy from a baby."
A few seconds later Daxter pushed the Stone out of where it was being held, where Jak caught it before it could hit the ground, before he pulled himself out from the inner workings of the bomb and returned to his friends. Raven, on the other hand, seemed to be calming down from his episode, though he was now furious about something that wasn't a part of his own memories... to which he glanced at Pinkamena as he returned to her shoulder.
"I know you don't care for the Baron, especially with how he treated you lately, but he was still your father..." Raven commented, to which he growled as he looked at the sky, as if he was trying to find out where his father went, "but one thing is for certain... I'm going to kill my father and prove that not all Metal Heads are bad, even if I have to present my father's head to Haven City to prove my point."
When Jak and Pinkamena walked out of the Construction Site, with the Precursor Stone safely tucked away in the pack that Jak was wearing, their communicator flew out from where it was hiding and expanded into it's full form. This meant that someone wanted to talk with them, which made sense considering that they were in the middle of a war, but they were both interested in what they were about to be told.
"I think now is the time to act." the communicator said, though the voice indicated that Ashelin was talking to them, while at the same time they heard the sounds of fighting in the background, "The Metal Heads are so focused on attacking the city, they may have left their Nest vulnerable."
"Jak, Pinkamena, you've gotta get out to the wasteland and breach the nest barrier any way you can." came the voice of Torn, meaning that they were either fighting together or he had connected to them at the same time, but at the same time the group was glad to hear his voice as well, "Maybe if you can get inside and take out the Metal Head Leader, the army might collapse. It's a long shot, but it might be our only chance."
"Right." Jak said, though he wasn't sure that he and Pinkamena would be the ones fighting the Metal Head Leader, as Raven had just declared that he was going to be the one to kill his own father, "We'll contact you once we're close to the Metal Head Nest."
A few seconds later the communication cut out, indicating that Ashelin and Torn were under attack, to which Jak and Pinkamena raced to where they had left their zoomers and got underway, heading right back towards the port. Once more they were thankful for the war going on, as they were sure that the Krimzon Guards would have stopped them at some point in time. They were able to make their way to the port and park near the train without too much difficulty, though they had a hard time convincing the driver of the train to take them to the Metal Head Nest... until Pinkamena materialized her scythe and pointed the tip at the man, who buckled under the threat and beckoned for them to get in.
Once that was done Jak and Pinkamena climbed into the train and let it take off, to which they braced themselves for what they were about to do, as they were both sure that there would be some amount of enemies waiting for them when they reached their destination. Oddly enough it didn't take them too long to reach the wasteland area that surrounded the Metal Head Nest, which meant that they must have built their home within at least ten to thirty minutes of Haven City's location... proving that they had been after the Precursor Stone for a really long time. As the train landed on the beach, however, both Jak and Pinkamena noted that the place reminded them of Misty Island, which wasn't a stretch of their imagination considering that Samos's old hut was close by.
The moment the train had stopped moving, and the door had opened, both Jak and Pinkamena walked down the ramp with their guns drawn, as they wanted to be prepared for what was ahead of them... and Raven, having regained his memories, was eager to show them the way to Mar's large gun.
As they walked forward they noticed two things; one was that there was a large number of broken tanks and other military vehicles, revealing how many attempts the Baron had made before ultimately giving up on directly attacking the Nest. The second thing was that there was a large number of leaper type Metal Heads in front of them, which proved to be excellent target practice as Jak and Pinkamena opened fire on them. That was before they noticed several arachnid enemies trying to out maneuver them, though while their enemies tried that Pinkamena had fun shooting them out of the air... allowing either her or Jak to deal with them.
Once they took out all of the enemies that were standing guard they noticed a rotating wheel that, when turned, moved a platform into place behind them, allowing them to progress further along the path that Raven wanted them to take on their quest to reach Mar's gun. The moment they reached the area that they had unlocked they were assaulted by more leapers, which were proving to be rather easy for the two siblings to take out, as well as several more arachnids, which neither one of them were too worried with. They then followed the stone stairs that were in front of them and headed up to the next part of the path they were taking, where they fired at some more leaper enemies before turning to the left and headed into a larger area that was sure to have a lot more enemies waiting for them.
That was before they turned to the right for a moment and noticed the large machine that had been built really close to the Metal Head Nest, a machine that almost looked like it had the shape of a gun... which meant that this had to be the gun Mar had built so long ago.
"Even with the Neo Metal Heads helping us, there isn't much hope for us now." Ashelin told them, apparently finding a safe spot where she could use her communicator, though at the same time Jak and Pinkamena rode the lift up to the main part of the large gun, "With the Shield Wall destroyed, it's just a matter of time before the Metal Heads overwhelm all of us. You should just go through the rift back to your own time line and get away from this horrible place."
"No. Despite how we were both treated, by the Baron anyway, this place is worth fighting for!" Pinkamena growled, mainly because she and Jak already knew that they wouldn't be using the Rift Ring this time around, though at the same time Jak was loading the Precursor Stone into a slot in the machine.
"We'll hold out as long as we can." Ashelin replied, though her tone told them that she had suspected that they would have said something like that, "Jak, Pinkamena... in case things go badly for Haven City, I just want to say farewell."
"You won't have to fight for much longer," Jak commented, though he opened his mouth to say more, but the communicator powered down and returned to where it was being held, to which he turned back to what he had been doing, "Precursor Stone. Gun. Nest!"
"Light her up, padre!" Daxter declared, to which he ran up to Jak's shoulder and looked at the Nest, as he wanted to see what exactly happened with his own eyes.
"Eat this!" Jak and Pinkamena said, to which parts of the gun opened up as they channeled the vast Eco energies of the Precursor Stone, though a few seconds later the gun loosed a blast that tore a hole in the side of the Nest, giving them their way into the lair of Metal Kor.
"That ought to wake 'em up!" Raven said, though he was sounding pleased, as if he had been expecting Mar's gun to do something of this scale, but at the same time he and Pinkamena grinned to themselves.
"Let's go take care of business!" Jak stated, though at the same time he gently removed the Precursor Stone from the machine, knowing that he and Pinkamena would likely have another use for it once they found Metal Kor.
"Right!" Daxter, Raven, and Pinkamena said, though if any of them were shocked by the fact that all three of them had replied at the same time, with the same word no less, none of them were showing Jak any shock.
Once they had blown open a hole in the Metal Head Nest, and no doubt alerted Metal Kor to the fact that they had arrived, Jak and Pinkamena resumed the march through the open area that they hadn't been through, where they fired at more of the leapers and the arachnids that wanted a piece of them. While they fought their enemies they both noticed a rather large Metal Head, one that rivaled Raven's true form in terms of size, though the dark ottsel told them not to bother with the creature, as it was merely a walker type and didn't fight. Of course the Metal Head had lightning that struck the ground every now and then, but Jak and Pinkamena were able to devise a pattern to the creature's movements and slipped by it without having to fight it at all.
They followed the path that was in front of them, pausing to shoot all of the leapers and arachnids that wanted a piece of them, though as they ascended they noticed that the number of enemies in the area seemed to steadily increase, which meant that more must have be leaving the Nest to actually fight them. When they reached the highest point of that area, which wasn't Mar's gun, they found another one of the larger Metal Heads walking around, though they ignored it and walked around it, just like they did with the last one. They then found a circular area, which looked like an old tube that had been broken apart due to age, that would bring them closer to the entrance they had created... though they would have to shoot all of their enemies, avoid the larger Metal Head, and avoid the Dark Eco pools around them.
Even with the obstacles Jak and Pinkamena were able to cross the walkway in no time and were on their way up the path to the left, where they continued to fight their way forward until they reached the opening that had been created by Mar's gun... to which they walked into the lair of their enemy. Considering how many enemies they had fought on the outside they guessed that the majority of Metal Kor's forces had been sent to Haven City, which meant that they had a clear shot at their target. The inside of the Nest was quiet, too much for Jak and Pinkamena's liking, but they pressed onward as they searched for their target... where they found him resting in midair, apparently hanging by some webs or something as he waited for them to approach him.
As they walked into the chamber that Metal Kor was in they found a purple colored ball swirling around the younger versions of themselves... and that the Rift Ring was floating on the wall to their left.
"Finally, you've decided to join us." Metal Kor said, looking up at his guests for a moment, while at the same time retracting his tail, which had been wrapped around the purple ball, before he grinned, "And you brought the Precursor Stone. Good. The boy will now play his final part!"
"Hey! What about the girl?" Pinkamena shouted, as she was upset that Metal Kor would speak about the younger version of Jak and not her.
"The girl doesn't matter." Metal Kor snapped, to which he turned his full attention to Jak, who he sensed was carrying the Precursor Stone on him, somewhere, "Oh, but this child is such a part of this, such a part of you; don't you recognize him? The boy is you, Jak! And this place, this is where you began... in the future!"
"It would have been more dramatic if we hadn't figured that out some time ago," Jak commented, though at the same time he noticed that Metal Kor wasn't really paying attention to them, which meant that this fight was going to be a short one for all of them.
"You were hidden in the past on the hope that you would gain the skills to face me today, but Onin was wrong!" Metal Kor said, continuing the conversation as if Jak had asked what he had meant by him beginning in the future, to which Jak and Pinkamena waited for him to finish talking, "Now that you've been altered with Dark Eco, the Stone will never open for you. Your younger self, however, still has the pure gift! He alone can awaken the Stone and the Precursor entity, which sleeps inside."
"Wait a minute." Daxter declared, to which he rushed down Jak's arm and opened the pack a tiny bit, mostly so he could look at the Stone that Jak was carrying, "You're telling us that this Stone is actually a Precursor?"
"The last Precursor Egg!" Metal Kor shouted, sounding extremely happy about something, though at the same time both Jak and Pinkamena prepared themselves for what was coming, "Mar was clever. He covered his tracks well through time, hiding his last egg from me, and building the shield and city to defend it! It has been a long siege, but today, I will finally feed on the last Precursor life force!"
"You're forgetting one little thing, father!" Raven shouted, causing Metal Kor to pause where he was floating and look down at them, as if he hadn't noticed Raven sitting on Pinkamena's shoulder the entire time they had been standing there, "We've got the Precursor Stone!"
"Ah, and so the Prince has come home," Metal Kor replied, though at the same time he sounded disgusted, indicating that he now believed that creating the Neo Metal Heads was actually a mistake, "I get to kill you and claim the Precursor Stone... today has just gotten a lot better."
Raven roared and leapt off of Pinkamena's shoulder, to which he rapidly expanded into his true form and crashed into his father, knocking him to the ground. Metal Kor growled as his skull gem started to glow, to which he blasted Raven off of him, but Raven had been expecting something like that and used his wings to stop himself before he went too far. Raven then landed near Metal Kor and gathered his own power, to which he breathed a torrent of flames on his father, igniting some of the eggs that were now strapped to Metal Kor's back. The two of them then landed on the ground and started hacked at each other with their front limbs, hands for Metal Kor and claws for Raven, while at the same time using their tails to deal whatever damage they could.
After a few moments Metal Kor called in some reinforcements, to which Jak and Pinkamena focused on taking out the enemies that he was summoning in and allowed Raven to focus all of his attention on his father.
While they fought Raven made sure to use his hybrid form to great effect, as when Metal Kor started to get the upper hand he would shift forms and fly around his father, before shifting back and continuing the fight from another direction. Sure, the constant changing was painful with some of the injuries that were all over his body, but Raven would not let his father win, because if he did than the Metal Head army would sweep across the entire planet and destroy it. Despite the fact that he hated some of the people that called this planet home, such as Krew, Raven knew that he would rather die than see his home be destroyed... to which he shifted into his hybrid form, flew around until he was above his father's back, and then shifted back and crushed his father with the weight of his body.
"Get off of me you insolent worm!" Metal Kor shouted, though at the same time he was now regretting even creating Raven, as it appeared that he may have made him too strong.
"No." Raven said, to which he clamped down hard on his father's neck and flapped his wings, though once he was a little bit in the air he swung his neck and tossed his father towards the Rift Ring.
The instant Metal Kor came into contact with the ancient Precursor artifact a surge of energy lashed out at him and coursed through his body, causing the majority of him to explode while his head hit the ground nearby. Of course the Rift Ring also suffered some damage, as there were several cracks that were now forming on the ancient artifact, indicating that it was getting ready to fall apart. As they stared at it young Jak, now free from the ball that he and young Pinkie had been trapped in, walked over to Jak, who pulled the Precursor Stone out... though when young Jak touched it a silhouette of a person appeared before them, but Jak knew that the white person in front of them had to be a Precursor.
"No way," Daxter commented, looking at the glowing figure that was floating before them, because he knew that both versions of Samos were going to be mad when they realized that they had missed seeing one of the beings that they had been searching for their entire lives, "a Precursor."
"It is finished." the Precursor said, it's voice sounding kind and powerful at the same time, which was what they expected from one of the most powerful beings in the universe, "Our ancient enemy is no more. Take hope, brave heroes. The terrible darkness inside you is now balanced by a glorious light!"
Jak could immediately feel some sort of light inside him, not enough to drive away the Dark Eco, but enough to let him know that there was a way to balance the terrible darkness that he had been carrying the entire time. Pinkamena, on the other hand, shook for a few seconds before her hair suddenly poofed back into the fluffy shape it had been when Pinkie was herself. Jak, Daxter, and Raven watched as Pinkamena underwent a change in front of their eyes, to which all of the changes that had created her reversed themselves until Pinkie stood before them... though even she was confused as to what had happened.
"And you, son of our enemy, have proven that your Neo Metal Heads do not follow the same path as our ancient enemy," the Precursor said, lifting a hand towards Raven, to which a brief light surrounded him before fading away, "We will meet again... one day."
With that said the Precursor vanished into the Rift Ring, heading to whatever time period he had been destined to head towards, but at the same time Jak had the funny feeling that he would be passing by him and Pinkie, when they were first entering the rift from the past. He was sure that the Precursor had blown the Rift Rider to pieces, to prevent them from falling into Metal Kor's hands... but even if that was the case he wasn't mad, because they had managed to save the world in the end. A few seconds later they heard the sound of Brutter's balloon coming in, to which they watched as Keira, both Samos', and the Rift Rider were carried into the area and set down in front of them.
Once they landed, however, Keira took one look at the Rift Ring and knew that they were running out of time, to which she started getting everything ready for their departure.
"We haven't got much time left." Keira said, to which she double checked to be sure that everything was set in the right positions and that there was nothing wrong with the replica Rift Rider, "I've set the coordinates back to our village. Let's go home, everyone."
"Keira, we are home." Pinkie replied, though she knew that Keira wasn't up to date on the whole time travel business, which was something they should have explained to her when they had a moment to spare, but they were going to have to wing it at this point.
"Keira, I'm afraid your Rift Rider must be used to send young Jak and young Pinkie to a place where they can grow up safe from harm." Samos stated, waving a hand towards the two young children, who seemed excited to have people looking at them once more, "They must become old enough to complete the destiny they have help fulfill today."
"Wait a minute! It's you! I–I mean, it's me! I have to take him back and watch over him, don't I?" the Shadow asked, as he had finally determined why there were two of him at the same time, to which Samos nodded his head, "Ah, grub roots! Talk about being in the wrong time at the right place!"
"Hey kid, you take care." Jak said, helping the younger version of himself up to the Rift Rider, while Pinkie did the same thing with the younger version of herself, though as young Jak took his seat he took off the red seal he was wearing and handed it to Jak, "Oh, and trust me on this: stay away from any wumpbee nests on your ninth birthday, okay?"
"I sure hope I built this replica right." Keira commented, as she was having some last minutes concerns about the machine, "I don't know if it..."
"It's perfect, Keira." Samos said, waving a hand over the vehicle, knowing that this machine looked exactly like the one they had seen on top of the Precursor temple all those years ago, "This is the very machine we found, or will find later."
"What? I just built this!" Keira exclaimed, to which she stared at the machine and started comparing the two in her mind once more, "After seeing the first one, I mean. It's based on what I remember from be..."
"Honey, the more you think about it, the more it hurts the head!" Daxter said, because even though he and the others had come to understand what had happened they knew that this was something that they shouldn't think too hard on.
"I'll take good care of the children!" the Shadow told them, to which the group watched as the Rift Rider, with all three of its passengers, lifted into the air and headed towards the Rift Ring, "And don't worry, I'll be back in time for the celebration! Farewell!"
"Thanks, Samos." Pinkie said, to which she placed a hand on the Sage's shoulder, while at the same time the group watched as the Rift Rider disappeared into the Rift Ring, which broke apart a few seconds after the trio disappeared into the time stream, "Without you..."
"It's funny," Samos said, looking at the place where the ancient Precursor artifact had been resting, "neither of the children will remember any of this."
"No," Jak commented, to which he looked over at Pinkie, who nodded as Raven, in his ottsel form, returned to her shoulder, "we do remember the light."
Pinkie smiled as she, Jak, Daxter, and Raven looked at the former location of the Rift Ring, because now they could move on and see what the future held for them... and they could celebrate their victory over the evil Metal Kor, once they got back to Haven City anyway.
With Metal Kor defeated, and the Shadow sent back into the past with both the young Jak and the young Pinkie, the group remained on Brutter's balloon and let him take them out of the Nest. Daxter and Raven, however, both agreed on one thing before they left, as they, with the help of Jak and Pinkie, hauled the large head of Metal Kor onto the wooden planks that the Rift Rider had been resting on. As they floated away from the Nest they got a change to look at the Metal Heads that had survived Jak and Pinkie's assault, where they discovered that many of them were lying on the ground and had gone still, meaning that Ashelin had been right... taking out the Leader was taking out the army at the same time.
Raven was thankful that he was technically the leader of the Neo Metal Head hive, as he wasn't attached to his father and could easily survive what was happening to the other Metal Heads... and that meant that his kind, the intelligent Metal Heads, were safe at the moment. He also knew that his kind would be questioned by the higher ups in Haven City, but he had his father's head to present them and silently hoped that it would be enough to earn him and the other Neo Metal Heads safe passage... and he was sure that Ashelin would be willing to help him in the end.
"Raven, are you okay?" Pinkie asked, noticing that her ottsel friend seemed concerned about something, but she was sure that the people of Haven would praise him and his kind for helping the Krimzon Guard in stopping the other Metal Heads from taking the city.
"Just worried about the future, that's all." Raven replied, though at the same time he looked down at the fading form of the Nest, where he had been born and raised, up until he departed, found her and Jak, and came back with the intent to kill his father, who now rested in the heart of the Nest.
"I am sure that Ashelin and Torn, once they take up their new positions, will be able to ease whatever is troubling you." Samos commented, already knowing that the disguised Metal Head was worried for his hive, the fifty intelligent Metal Heads that had escaped from the Nest to protect Haven from Metal Kor, "Besides, I'm sure that the people will want to know that one of the heroes that saved the city was a new species of Metal Head that we recently 'discovered'."
Raven knew that Samos was trying to cheer him up, by saying that the people would be happy to hear that a different type of Metal Head had helped them take out the main hive, but that still didn't keep him from worrying about what would happen when they returned to the city.
It didn't take them too long to reach the outside of Haven City, though as they flew over the top of the wall they noticed the large number of Metal Head bodies that were scattered everywhere, indicating that the weakest of the bunch, as determined by Raven, had been the ones to die from his father's death. He didn't see any of the larger Metal Heads anywhere, so he knew that they weren't completely safe yet, but for the moment the rest of his father's hive wasn't a threat and his friends could start searching for them in a few days. Once Brutter reached the stadium, where they had lifted off from earlier that day, he patiently waited for them to get off before ascending to the sky, where he waved them goodbye for now.
The moment they were back in the city they made their way to the Palace, where Ashelin and Torn were waiting for their return, along with their report as to what happened in the Nest. Ashelin was shocked when she saw Pinkie again, because the last time she had seen her she had been completely different and now she was the same person she had been before heading into the Fortress to save Jak. After that Jak, Pinkie, and the ottsels told everyone what had happened in the Nest, revealing the truth to everyone, while at the same time making sure to mention their brief encounter with one of the legendary Precursors.
Samos was, of course, annoyed that he had missed their meeting with a Precursor, but he was pleased to hear that they had brought an end to Metal Kor... to which Daxter exclaimed that they needed a party, and someplace to party in. Ashelin, however, had the solution that he had been hoping for, as she could easily give them the Hip Hog and have it receive some renovations, as there were parts of the city that required more attention. Daxter was fine with that, though there was a special sign that he wanted made for the official opening of the new building... and he needed Raven's help in decorating the place once it was ready.
A week passed before the new saloon was finished, to which Daxter called for everyone to gather for the grand opening and celebrate the defeat of Metal Kor... before he officially opened the building the following morning, to actually bring in some revenue while they waited for the next adventure to come knocking on their door.
On the day of Daxter's private party, however, Ashelin let out a sigh as she finished working on the paperwork that had come with her taking over her father's position. Sure, her father had been preparing her for this in the off chance that something ever happened to him, but actually taking over as the leader of Haven City was more draining than she had originally thought it would be. She often considered asking Jak to take the throne and become the King of the city, as they had all determined that the boy the Underground had been keeping safe was the heir to the throne, which, seeing how Jak was actually the older version of the boy, was technically his to take... but then she threw the idea away every time she thought about it.
Jak wasn't cut out to lead a city, and she knew that it would take some time to even teach him how to properly run a city, so Ashelin had to accept her fate... until she found a way around her situation.
"Your transport is ready, m'lady." her personal communicator said, though she immediately recognized the voice of Brutter, to whcih she smiled as she shut down her computer and pulled herself from the chair she had been sitting in.
"Thank you, Captain Brutter." Ashelin replied, to which the communicator powered down and returned to it's hiding place, though she then turned towards Torn, who was watching her from the pillar he had been leaning against the entire time, "Come on, we'll be late for the party at Daxter's new place."
"I've got so much work to do." Torn commented, which wasn't a lie, considering his position in the Krimzon Guard and all of the work that came with it, though he did look Ashelin in the eye, "Besides, it's not my thing."
"You know, as the new governor of this city I could easily order you, the Commander of the New Krimzon Guard, to escort me to an official function." Ashelin said, causing Torn to sweat for a moment, but they both knew that this was just a reminder of her new position, "But we both know it won't come to that. So, shall we head to Daxter's party?"
"Yes sir!" Torn replied, the reminder serving its purpose, though at the same time he was now prepared to leave, "I mean, yes ma'am! I mean..."
"Relax, you can start rebuilding the city tomorrow." Ashelin said, waving a hand in a dismissive manner, though at the same time she smiled at Torn a little bit, "Tonight, we get to celebrate with our new friends. Besides, tough guy, I'm dying to see you dance."
"Not likely." Torn stated, though at the same time he echoed Ashelin's small smile, before he grew serious and followed her out of the Palace.
Once the two of them were near the opening of the Palace, and the new Krimzon Guard understood that they weren't to contact them for anything, save for instances like the near disaster they had just escaped from, before they climbed into the zoomer that Brutter had prepared for them. A few seconds later they departed from the Palace grounds and headed towards the building that had once been known as the Hip Hog Saloon, which Daxter had remained to something completely different... and was keeping a secret until they had arrived. It wasn't hard to find the building, especially since they had both been there several times in the past, but it was even easier to find this time thanks to the large ottsel sign that had been installed above the saloon's entrance.
The moment they arrived at their destination they climbed out of their zoomer and walked towards the entrance, knowing that the others had to have arrived... and they found their suspicions to be correct, as the moment the door opened they spotted everyone already waiting for them.
"Welcome to the Naughty Ottsel!" Daxter said, beckoning the two into the renovated saloon, which had some of his own tastes all over the walls, which apparently were great in the focus groups they had talked to, "The hippest, happenest, hoppinest joint in town! Check out the new decor!"
Daxter was, of course, pointing to the head of Metal Kor, one of the main attractions that he planned on showing the people of Haven City, so that they knew that the threat of the Metal Heads had been finally taken care of.
"Ooh, what a big trophy!" Tess commented, looking at the head for a moment, though while she was impressed by it she was also slightly terrified of it.
"As if size matters?" Daxter asked, before he let out a sigh and looked over at the dark ottsel, who was sitting on the counter next to Pecker and Onin, "I wish I could say that I bagged that bad boy myself, but the honor of taking that head belongs to Raven."
"Onin says she doesn't know who has a bigger head, him or you!" Pecker translated, as apparently Onin had something she wanted to say, but it appeared that it might have been meant for when Daxter was actually boasting, which he wasn't doing at the moment.
"We must not forget Vin," Samos said, raising his glass for a moment as he approached the whole group, while at the same time Ashelin and Torn took the drinks that were offered to them, "and all of the others who sacrificed their lives to defeat this great evil and protect the children."
"You know, I still can't believe that the little boy was me... and that the little girl was Pinkie." Jak commented, knowing exactly what the little boy and his 'sister' would be going through at the moment, as both he and Pinkie had lived through that part already, "Those were better times."
"You miss him, huh?" Keira stated, placing a hand on Jak's shoulder, while at the same time noticing that Pinkie was more concerned about her own mental problems than anything else, "You know, the kid grows up to be a handsome hero! And the little girl grows up to be one courageous heroine."
"Speaking of which, what happened to you?" Ashelin asked, recalling the differences between her sister and the other version of her that she had seen, the one called Pinkamena.
"Oh, you mean Pinkamena." Pinkie said, to which she placed her cup on the counter and sighed, before she faced everyone else, "I never told anyone this, but for as long as I can remember there was another voice in my head, another personality that always wanted to get out and never had the power to do anything. Pinkamena is, as you no doubt noticed, a more depressed version of myself, one who enjoys breaking the rules of reality to avoid damage and have her weapons contain an infinite amount of ammunition... by channeling Eco into them..."
"So she's a little like you." Daxter commented, recalling everything strange that Pinkie had done in the past, like pulling a pad of paper and a pencil out of her hair that one time.
"I guess so." Pinkie said, though she clearly didn't want to talk about her alter ego, "All I know is that the Dark Eco I took in, back when I tried to ease Jak's pain when he first transformed, allowed her to wake up and, with some help from... my father... she finally took over. I can still feel her behind the scenes, silently waiting to come back, but for now she is content to let me have my fun..."
"Hey! That's enough for you, lady." Daxter suddenly said, to which everyone noticed that he was looking at Onin, who was drinking from one of the bottles, almost as if she hadn't drank anything in a long time, "I'm cutting you off!"
That was swiftly followed by Onin moving her fingers and knocking Daxter back just a tiny bit, indicating that when she drank she wasn't the friendly old lady they were familiar with.
"Trust me, she gets real mean when she's like this!" Pecker commented, though whatever he was going to say next was interrupted when he noticed that Onin was weaving her signs again.
"What did she say?" Daxter asked, to which he picked himself up, with both Raven and Pecker's help, before he glanced over at the old lady and silently told himself not to do something like that again.
"Something about rubber tubing and certain parts of your mother!" Pecker replied, though his tone indicated that whatever Onin had said wasn't something he was going to be repeating any time soon, "Trust me, you don't want to know."
It was at that point that the door opened, causing everyone to look back and find that Sig, wearing all of his armor and having all of his limbs, had walked into the building with a big smile on his face. It was clear that he was pleased to be here, though everyone breathed a sigh of relief as they realized that one of their friends had survived the ordeal that Krew had forced upon the city.
"Sig!" Jak and Pinkie exclaimed, to which the duo walked up to Sig, while at the same time Daxter and Raven watched what was about to happen with some interest, though it was Jak that spoke next, "You're okay!"
"You cherries didn't think some nasty-breath, giant-sized lizard was gonna keep me from the biggest party in town, did you?" Sig asked, which earned him some chuckles from those that were sitting around the room, before he pointed at Raven, "Besides, a little birdie told me that there is more to Raven than I originally knew... and I'll admit that I am eager to see your true form one day."
"Oh trust me, I'll show you when we're not in the city." Raven commented, though he was sure that showing Sig his true form might actually strike some terror into the wastelander's heart... for a moment or two anyway.
"I will hold you to that." Sig stated, indicating that he wasn't scared of anything, which made sense considering that he dealt with Metal Heads all the time in the wastelands, before he turned towards Pinkie, "And you have to tell me about this alter ego of yours... maybe I can give you some hints on finding a cure to help the two of you reach some sort of harmony with each other."
Pinkie nodded and went back to her drink, saying nothing about the matter, as she wondered if such a harmony between her and Pinkamena was even possible. She only took a life when it was necessary, like when she infiltrated the Fortress she wounded her opponents until they couldn't fight back, while Pinkamena slaughtered everything in her path. She was positive that she was going to need the help of the Precursors to come to some understanding or middle ground with her alter ego, so she dropped the thought and focused on the party that was happening around her... to which she smiled as she joined the others.
Eventually Jak, Daxter, Samos, Pinkie, and Raven went outside to stare at the stars, though they suspected that there was something that Samos wanted to tell them before they got serious with repairing the city in the morning.
"Jak, Pinkie, you and your friends have saved the city and more!" Samos commented, to which he waved his staff to the stars, as he was referring to the Precursors, "Metal Kor and his menace are history, and somewhere out there, an ancient race has begun again."
"We're just glad to be back home." Pinkie said, to which she looked back at the saloon for a moment, where she spotted Ashelin staring back at her for a brief second, before turning her full attention back to Samos.
"Yeah, well rest up." Samos stated, his tone indicating that he must have been told what could possibly happen in the future and wanted them well prepared for what was coming, "We've got a lot to do, and so much time to do it in!"
"Don't say "time"!" Jak replied, knowing that the mere notion of time travel hurt all of their heads, despite the fact that they had figured things out pretty early on, "The Rift Ring was destroyed, remember?"
"You know, my momma used to read bedtime stories about Mar when she'd tuck me in." Sig said, indicating that he had left the party to invade their private conversation, "She'd give me a nice glass of warm yakow milk, my little poopsy bear."
"Bedtime stories? Warm milk? Poopsy bear?!" Daxter exclaimed, as if he couldn't believe that Sig had been a normal person at some point in his life, "Buddy, you just blew your image!"
"I've got a feeling we'll meet Mar someday." Samos commented, once more looking to the stars, almost as if he was looking for something that wasn't there, "He may be closer than you think."
"You're the designated driver!" Sig stated, to which he produced the Ruby Key that he had been holding onto since Krew had sent him on that suicide mission.
"Of course we are." Pinkie said, to which she took the artifact, before her brother could grab it and drop it into the water in front of them, and offered Sig a smile, "Besides, Samos will tell us before something happens next time, right Samos?"
"Of course." Samos replied, though at the same time Daxter glared at him, because his experience told him that Samos had to be hiding something from them, even on the day they were celebrating the defeat of Metal Kor.
"You never know what the future may hold." Pecker commented, flying out of the saloon to see what the group was doing, and to see if their conversation was interesting at all.
"Wait... you know something, don't you, feather breath?" Daxter asked, because the way Pecker talked made him wonder what the parrot, Samos, and Onin had been talking about.
Who? Me? Ah, no, we're just guessing, right Samos?" Pecker replied, though as he asked the question Samos nodded his head, causing the ottsel to glare at Pecker for a moment, "Today, tomorrow, only time will tell."
"Fine, keep your secrets to yourself." Daxter stated, to which he looked up into the sky as the fireworks started going off, which put him in a better mood than he had been a few minutes ago, "Just make sure you tell us what's going on before we blindly walk into something important."
"Jak, Daxter, Pinkie, Raven," Samos said, drawing the attention of the four individuals he had named, to which he waved his staff towards the night sky once more, "the future awaits!"
Jak and Pinkie knew that they would be focused on rebuilding the city before they even considered whatever adventure was coming their way... but they were sure that they would be well prepared for whatever was coming next.
A week had passed since the celebration and Jak and Pinkie were enjoying actually having the people of the city look at them with hope in their eyes, as they had helped turn the tide against the Metal Head army that had threatened to destroy Haven City. Jak mostly spent his time practicing his skills at least once a day, so he could be ready for whatever the next adventure was, while at the same time taking any odd jobs that Ashelin or Torn tossed his way. Pinkie, on the other hand, generally wandered around the city and aided anyone that needed assistance, making sure that they weren't harmed in any way from the brief invasion of the city. Pinkie and Ashelin had agreed that the citizens didn't need to know that the Baron had brought the Metal Head invasion upon his citizens, so they made up a story about how he confronted the Metal Head Leader and died defending the people.
Of course that meant that he had to be buried and a ceremony had to be held, so they and their friends quickly set everything up and held a funeral for the former ruler of the city... before they got back to work making sure that Haven City was safe from any immediate threats.
Once the Baron had been buried, as Ashelin's workload had slowed down a tiny bit, Jak felt it was time to ask the questions that needed to be answered. He already knew that the young boy the Underground had been hiding had been the heir to the throne, which technically made him the next in line if he wanted to take over, but that also meant that this father had been, at one point in time, the king of Haven City. Thanks to Vex, who had searched the Power Station for clues as to what happened to the king, as well as recovered Vin's still body so he could be buried with the rest of the dead, he knew that the records weren't known to the public... which meant that he had to ask the one person who knew the Baron the most if he wanted to get his answers.
It still surprised him that when he made his appointment with Ashelin, and told her what they needed to take about, that she silently nodded to him and confirmed that they would talk in a few days... which was why he was standing outside the large set of doors that separated the hallway from the throne room. Before he could actually tap on the door, however, they opened before his eyes, indicating that Ashelin was ready for him... though when he entered the throne room he found the new governor sitting at a table at the base of the throne, which had to be where she did all of her work these days. Jak walked up to the table and silently took his seat, though a few seconds later Ashelin sighed and set down the piece of paper that she had been looking at, before she looked at him.
At the same time, however, he also noticed that Sig was lurking near one of the walls, no doubt searching for any of the Metal Heads that might have run into the Palace during Metal Kor's defeat, but he decided to leave Sig alone and focused his full attention to Ashelin.
"So, you want to know what happened to your father?" Ashelin asked, to which Jak nodded his head for a moment, though Ashelin merely glanced at the papers that were on her table for a few seconds, "The records are incomplete, indicating that my father didn't want anyone to know the full story behind the disappearance of the former king. What I can tell you is that shortly before you and Pinkie disappeared from the Palace, and ended up on the streets I might add, my father and his forces attacked the king's soldiers and chaos erupted throughout the Palace. You and Pinkie were able to get away, though the coup was swiftly brought to an end as my father forced your father to surrender, but it is never explained how he accomplished that.
Killing your father would have made it impossible for the Baron to take the throne, especially with you unaccounted for, so my father did the next best thing that would give him control over Haven City. He banished your father to the Wastelands and said that he was never to return, just like what happened to those that received the same verdict in the past. Some of your father's retainers and most trusted followers, people like the Shadow for instance, chose to allow themselves to be exiled with their king, while some were forced to swear fealty to my father... just to avoid being exiled from the city that they swore to protect with their lives."
"Wait, so you're telling me that my father was exiled from the city?" Jak inquired, because all this time he had believed that he had been killed by the Baron, all in order for the mad leader to take over the city and wage his terrible war with Metal Kor... which he had nearly lost if it hadn't been for Jak and Pinkie.
"That's right," Sig commented, to which he walked over to the table for a moment and stared at Jak, though something told Jak that he still wasn't going to get the whole story, "I cannot explain everything to you, but I have it on good authority that your father is out there in the Wastelands, surviving even after all these years, with both his loyal followers and the other people that the Baron banished since coming to the throne. Damas might not be the King of Haven City anymore, but he is definitely the King of Spargus."
"Spargus?" Jak said, though at the same time he raised an eyebrow, as he had never heard of the city and was sure that either Sig or Ashelin would explain things to him.
"A city of exiles and refuges," Ashelin explained, though at the same time she reached into a nearby drawer and pulled something out, to which she set what appeared to be a beacon of some kind on the table, "My father made it a law that when someone is banished from Haven City, no matter what the reason was behind the decision, they were to be given one of these beacons. According to what I have read they are supposed to emit a signal that only the people of Spargus can pick up, indicating that while my father was certainly mad he still cared for those that would no longer be under his protection. From what I can gather Damas will likely respond to a signal appearing on his scanner and go looking for whoever is carrying one of these beacons... though I don't know what happens after that."
"No doubt a test of strength to determine whether you should be allowed to stay in the city," a new voice said, to which the trio watched as Pinkie stepped out from behind a pillar, though Jak noticed that the shadows seemed to be separating themselves from her, "Sorry, I couldn't help testing a new Dark Eco ability I discovered, using the shadows to go from one place to another... though it really takes a lot of concentration to pull it off, and leaves me winded."
Jak was done questioning Pinkie's Eco abilities, as she was able to tame and befriend the leader of a new Metal Head hive and had a second personality that could do so much more than she could. He actually dreaded to wonder what would happen if Pinkie and Pinkamena merged into one personality, but as that thought crossed his mind he looked at the beacon that was lying on the table. His father, Damas, was somewhere in the Wastelands, living as the King of Spargus and ruling over those that were banished from Haven City, all because of what the Baron had done after his coup. From what Ashelin had said the records didn't have the location of the City of Exiles, meaning that those that were banished were dropped into the Wasteland like trash... and many likely died before someone came to find them.
His father was out there, alive no less, and it appeared that the only way for them to reunite with each other was for him to find some way to get himself banished... which was going to be hard considering that everyone in the city was actually praising him and Pinkie for their work.
"Oh, I almost forgot," Pinkie said, to which the trio watched as she pulled a flyer out of her bag and set it on the table, one that showed a man that appeared to be well dressed and had an attitude that Jak immediately disliked, "Count Veger is apparently trying to convince the people of Haven City that you and I are menaces to the city... and that we need to be exiled to the Wastelands before disaster strikes."
"I would like to see him try," Ashelin commented, glaring at the picture for a moment, before turning to Jak, "Veger is responsible for nearly all of the exiles that have left Haven City, save for your father and his loyal followers, and he'll stop at nothing to make the city believe him. Fortunately Vex has taken over Vin's role in the Power Station and has erased some of the more incriminating evidence he could use against you... so you and Pinkie are safe, for now."
"Which means that we should prepare for our eventual exile," Jak said, to which he let out a sigh and looked out of the Palace, to the location of where the Shield Wall had been a few weeks ago, "Without the Shield Wall it is only a matter of time until something happens and we're forced out of the city, so we should prepare for it and hope that when disaster finally does strike the people still side with us."
The people around him nodded their heads in agreement, as Ashelin and Sig knew that Veger would stop at nothing to make sure that he got his way... and that both Jak and Pinkie paid the price for the Baron's actions.
The next six months passed without anything exciting happening, which made both Jak and Pinkie worry that something terrible was going to happen, as they were used to the continuous stream of missions that Torn and the others had sent them on. Seeing how they had free time they got some additional training from Samos, more along the lines in surviving in a desert environment than anything else, as they waited for something to happen. At the same time they spent some time training with each other, making sure that they were both well prepared for what the future held... though when something did happen they were a little shocked by what happened.
Exactly seven months after the defeat of Metal Kor, however, the surviving Metal Heads, those that were strong enough to survive the death of their leader, gathered together and starting attacking the city once more, in the farm area that rested in front of the entrance to Haven Forest. At the same time, however, the Krimzon Guard Bots, which had been constructed to reinforce the actual Krimzon Guards, attacked the citizens from the Industrial Section of the city. This effectively made the protectors of the city, now named the Freedom League to avoid confusion with the KG Death Bots, fight on two front, while Ashelin controlled the effort from the Palace. Jak and Pinkie, aided by both Daxter and Raven, took to the streets and battled the enemies that were attacking the city, while at the same time wondering why their foes had waited so long to attack them.
After a month or two of minor bouts and new boundaries set up to keep the citizens safe, disaster truly struck the city, as something launched a powerful missile at the supper structure that the Palace sat on... which was swiftly followed by the entire structure collapsing and crumpling around the rest of the city, destroying a large portion of the city and killing a large amount of people at the same time.
At that moment Count Veger made his move, claiming that Jak and Pinkie were at fault for everything that had happened to them so far, including the death of their beloved Baron, and not only called for them to be banished to the Wasteland, but also called for Pinkie to be cast out of the Praxis line and her name stricken from the records. Ashelin was shocked that the Council was even considering along with the Count's demands, but it became obvious that he had a lot of power and could easily overrule her if she showed any favor towards her sister. Pinkie stated that it was fine, as it would allow Ashelin to focus on saving the city while she and Jak tried to find his father... while at the same time see if the Wastelands had any Precursor artifacts that could help them defeat the enemies that were currently attacking the city.
By the time a year had passed since the defeat of Metal Kor, however, Count Veger succeeded in convincing the majority of the Council to side with him... to which Jak and Pinkie were banished, but as they were escorted from the city they silently swore they would get back at Veger for this, and then save the city from their enemies.
The first thing that happened to Jak and Pinkie, after the Council of Haven City decided that it was a good idea to banish them during a period of time when the city actually needed them, was a group of Freedom League soldiers walking up to where they were standing. They were under orders to make sure that Jak and Pinkie were taken outside the city by the time the first rays of the following morning hit the city, which meant that they were to be detained until a transport could be arranged to take them out to the Wastelands. What that meant was that Jak and Pinkie had to hand over their Morph Guns, which were then stripped of all the mods that Krew had given them during the brief time they worked under him, before allowing the soldiers to remove any other weapons and gadgets they were wearing.
Keira, who happened to be watching all of this happen, insisted that her prototype jetboard be returned to her so she could continue making a newer version for the war effort, when in reality Jak knew that she was going to modify it for him when she had time.
One of the funny things that the soldiers tried to do was remove Pinkie's Dark Eco Crystal bracelet, the one that her actual weapon was contained in thanks to her Dark Eco transformation, as whenever they tried to remove the bracelet it would turn into Eco and reform around Pinkie's wrist. After a minute Pinkie decided to just hand the weapon over, allowing it to take the form of her Eco Blade, though as the soldiers grabbed onto it, however, it morphed back into Eco and resumed its position. At that point Pinkie apologized for annoying the guards, as she had already tried and failed to remove it herself, but she also promised that she wouldn't use it while they were on the transport... to which the soldiers finally let out a sigh of defeat and carried on with their search.
The instant all of their gadgets were confiscated, and their weapons taken and torn apart so they could be reused by someone else in the city, Jak and Pinkie were put in a holding cell near the area that they had used a transport to reach the Dig, when they had been helping the Underground. It wasn't long before the soldiers, including Ashelin and Count Veger, arrived to escort the 'heroes' to the transport, though as they walked Jak and Pinkie could hear the sounds of the people of Haven City booing at them. It truly pained them to see that the people who once believed in them had been so easily swayed to Veger's side, allowing their banishment to come about... but they accepted their fate as they, along with Daxter, Raven, and Pecker, climbed into the transport behind their escort and departed from the city.
It took them a decent amount of hours to reach their intended destination, how many hours neither Jak or Pinkie knew because no one was allowed to talk, as Veger had ruled out that notion the moment the transport departed from Haven City. Before long the two siblings could hear the sound of the transport lowering to the ground, meaning that they had arrived in the Wasteland, before finally coming to a stop, though that was followed by the door opening before their eyes. What rested in front of them was a vast sandy area that appeared to have a very low amount of places to rest in the shade, a few cactus' that may or may not have any water left in them, and nothing in sight that would suggest that a city even existed out here.
As jak and Pinkie were escorted off the transport, however, they both had to wonder if they were going to meet their end out here, as they were both positive that Samos' training would only help them for so long... and Pinkie couldn't pull random things out of her hair anymore, meaning that cheating the Wasteland was impossible.
"By order of the Grand Council of Haven City, for heinous acts and crimes against the people, you are hereby banished to the wasteland for life." Veger intoned, though at the same time he closed the book he was carrying with a smug smile on his face, one that made Jak want to punch him in the face.
"This is a death sentence, Veger." Ashelin said, as she already knew that Veger had no idea there could be a city of exiles out here, but at the same time she was hoping that she might be able to make the man see some light before they threw away their heroes, "There must be another way."
"Your protest was overruled!" Veger snapped, turning on Ashelin for a moment, though none of the soldiers did anything, while at the same time Jak could tell that they were waiting for the Count to do something he would regret, "These Dark Eco freaks are dangerous! Now drop the cargo!"
"This is an outrage! I am outraged beyond words." Pecker declared, reminding Veger of the fact that Jak and Pinkie hadn't come out to the Wasteland alone, while at the same time causing the Count to look at him for a moment, "Although I do have something to say. Not everyone agrees with this ridiculous decree!"
"Yeah!" Daxter added in, though at the same time he was doing this mostly to piss off Veger, and for the most part it seemed that it was working as well as he intended it to, "We want a recount!"
"Oh, I see you wish to join him!" Veger said, to which he actually smiled at the pair, though at the same time he wondered where the other ottsel, the dark furred one, had wandered off to, before he decided that these two were the objects of his attention.
"Actually, we are not that outraged." Pecker stated, though thanks to his years of being Onin's translator his acting was better than any of them had thought it would be, "Farewell Jak! Farewell Pinkie! Stay out of the sun. Drink lots of water, if you can find it."
Jak had to admit that Daxter and Pecker did a good job of annoying Veger, as the Count had completely missed the fact that Raven had slipped away from the transport. They weren't smuggling out anything from the city, the soldiers would have immediately caught onto them if they did that, but they were having a little fun at Veger's expense before they were thrown into the Wastelands. As Veger walked back into the transport, and started to see if Raven was anywhere, Ashelin stepped down and raised a circular key up to the locks that had been placed on both Jak and Pinkie's wrists, to prevent them from attacking anyone while they were coming here.
"Guys, I'm sorry." Ashelin said, to which she deactivated the cuffs that both Jak and Pinkie were wearing, before she collected them and passed them back to one of the soldiers, "The Council is too powerful. There was nothing I..."
"We know." Jak replied, knowing that Ashelin and their friends had argued with the Council for some time, trying to keep Jak and Pinkie in the city so they could help save it, before Veger finally got what he wanted.
"You just stay alive, you hear me? That's an order." Ashelin said, though that was when she slipped a small bundle into Jak's hands, before she stopped for a moment to give Pinkie the briefest of hugs, "Someone will find you, I promise."
"May the Precursors have mercy on you." Veger called out to Jak and Pinkie in a mocking tone, as the moment Ashelin got back on the transport the door closed behind her and the transport headed back towards the city.
Jak and Pinkie waited for a few seconds, to be sure that the transport was out of sight, before they looked to the right of where they were standing and spotted Daxter, Raven, and Pecker standing together. Thanks to the few abilities that Raven had picked up from Stalker, as he trained for this moment as well, he was able to hide himself and his friends the moment Veger started searching for him. Now Veger would be spending the entire trip back to Haven City in a vain attempt to locate the three of them, which made a light smile appear on all of their faces.
"So, what did Ashelin give you?" Pecker asked, as he was looking at the bundle that was in Jak's hands, because he was sure that survival gear wasn't allowed in this sort of situation.
"A beacon for those that live in the Wasteland," Jak explained, to which he pulled out the beacon in question, before he noticed something else that was resting next to it, "and apparently the old seal that the younger me was wearing when Pinkie and I found him and his sister wandering the streets with Kor."
"Maybe that's supposed to help us convince Damas that you're his son." Pinkie suggested, knowing that the last time the former King of Haven City had seen his son would have been shortly before the Baron's coup, but she had the feeling that he would recognize the red seal that the younger Jak had been wearing the entire time.
"Maybe." Jak said, though that was when he shook his head and slipped the seal into his pocket, before looking around them and assessing their situation, "Well, we'll just have to pick a direction and see where it takes us... and hopefully we find Spargus before the Wastelands claim us."
With that said the group marched out into the vast desert in front of them, choosing to travel in as straight a line as they could manage with the surrounding landscape, though at the same time they could only hope that they were heading in the right direction. Sure, Jak and Pinkie had prepared for this with the training they went through with Samos, but when they faced the reality of the desert they both knew that they would have needed at least two to three years of training to be truly prepared for what they were facing. They both understood that traveling at night was best for all of them, but at the moment they couldn't find anywhere to get out of the shade... so they continued moving forward and tried to take their minds off of their situation.
Eventually the group found themselves tumbling to the ground due to the heat and the fact that none of them were taking in any water... though as they started to succumb to the desert Jak could have sworn that he spotted a group of wanderers in the distance, before he hit the ground as well.
Jak wasn't sure how much time passed since he collapsed into the sand, but he eventually came aware of his surroundings, though it was a very slow process for him. As he regained his senses he quickly found himself floating in a small pond of water that happened to be resting in a large stone chamber, where he discovered a few open shutters that let in a breeze through some large windows. A few a seconds later he noticed some torches on the walls that illuminated the chamber, which was on the verge of being royal, but in a more spartan manner than the lavish ones that had been in the Palace before its destruction.
Considering what he knew about the Wastelands, and the rumors surrounding what happened to the other exiles, he had to hazard a guess that this had to be the throne room for Spargus... to which he carefully pulled himself to a sitting position and looked around for Pinkie and the others.
"I love water." a voice said, to which Jak noticed that Daxter and Raven were currently swimming in the small pond that was across from where he was floating, though as he righted himself he knew that it had to be Daxter that had spoken up, "Oh yes, it's so good; desert bad."
"Well, you've come back from the dead have you?" a rough voice said, one whose tone indicated that the person had seen some things and had been in the desert for longer than he cared to be, "And my monks were ready to pray for you."
Jak turned around as he zeroed in on the voice, to which he discovered that the speaker was a tall, robust man that had intimidating, sharp, and bold features on his face. The man had a crown of thorns that appeared to be growing from his skull, which Jak thought was a little odd when he thought about it, though at the same time he noticed that the man was bald on the top of his head. Jak suspected that the baldness was because of the crown, but the man had some locks of white hair around the side and back of his head, making him look stern and wise at the same time. The man was wearing what Jak assumed was the typical wastelander clothing, though some of it looked more royal than he was expecting it to be.
It took Jak a few seconds to realize that the man's clothing was decorated with bits and pieces of Precursor metal, while at the same time noticing that the man was carrying a staff of some kind... one that had Precursor writing inscribed into the metal, which Jak couldn't read anyway.
"I am Damas, King of Spargus." the man said, though before anyone could say anything he held up a hand to stop those that were able to move at the moment, before he reached into his pocket and withdrew the red seal that Jak had been carrying with him, "Tell me something, boy, why were you carrying this in your pocket?"
"It was given to me by Ashelin, the new Governor of Haven City," Jak replied, not knowing how the man, who was apparently the person that he and the others had been searching for, was going to react to the news that they had to tell him, "before that, however, it was given to me by myself... or rather the version of me that living in this timeline, before we sent him and his sister back in time to a place where they could be safe from harm."
"What nonsense is this that you speak?" Damas asked, though at the same time he tapped his staff against the floor, as he didn't like people wasting his time and was already thinking about ridding himself of Jak.
"Allow to answer your question with another question," a new voice said, to which Jak looked behind him and noticed that Pinkie was okay, though her clothing had been replaced with something that was more suited for the desert and a large chunk of her hair had been removed, no doubt to help her keep cool, though she appeared to be sitting next to one of the windows, "What do you know about the Precursor artifact known as the Rift Ring?"
"I only know what the stories and myths tell us," Damas replied, though even as he spoke it was clear that he had no idea why the artifact was so important to their conversation, "Legends say that the artifact can connect any two points in history and allow the user to travel backwards or forwards through time itself... provided you had the necessary vehicle or artifacts in your possession to survive the trip. I don't see what the artifact has... to do with... oh..."
Jak and Pinkie could see the gears in Damas' head turning as he remembered the entirety of the Rift Ring legend, which neither of them had heard about before, as he glanced down at the red seal that he was holding. A few seconds later he glanced up at Jak with a strange look in his eyes, as if he was comparing the person he was seeing before him to the young boy that he had been protecting until he disappeared. Damas then turned towards Pinkie for a moment, no doubt comparing the two versions of her that he had now seen, before finally bringing his full focus back to his throne room... and the people that were looking at him.
"Precursors and time travel... I never once considered that a viable option as to why you looked so familiar," Damas said, to which he turned his attention to Jak, though that was shortly followed by a small smile appearing on his face, "Long have I prayed for a chance to see my son again, despite the fact that I knew not where he was or if he had survived the Baron's attack on the Palace. Even when others would have given up hope I continued to pray, before I would steel myself and be the leader that the people of Spargus needed... and now it appears that my prayers have been answered. You gave your seal to yourself... it makes so much more sense now."
"Wait, you're telling me that Jak is actually your son?" another voice chimed in, to which Jak finally noticed that Pecker had been sitting on one of the arms of the throne the entire time, where he felt a little ashamed for not noticing him sooner, "I thought he and Ashelin made that up."
"No, he is Mar... my son." Damas replied, to which he let out a sigh, as if he realized that they would be spending some time explaining everything before they moved on with what was supposed to come next, "I named you after the hero of Haven City, so that you would become a great warrior one day and continue down the path that I and our ancestors have walked, since the time that Mar himself once sat on the throne. Yes, we are the descendants of the great hero Mar, though something tells me that you are more like him than anyone else in our line. Of course this means that your companion is none other than Pinkamena Diane Praxis, one of the two heirs to the Parxis line now that the Baron is dead..."
"Actually, its just Pinkie Pie now," Pinkie spoke up, to which she turned her head towards the window she was sitting next to, allowing her to look at Spargus, "Part of my banishment was that I be removed from the Baron's line, so the people of Haven could honor their fallen 'hero' without someone like me fouling his memory. Ashelin did everything she could to stop them, but the Council overruled her and both Jak and I were banished to the Wasteland... leaving me without a family to call my own."
Jak had never once considered what being erased from the Baron's family had meant to Pinkie, as while she didn't care too much about her adopted father she loved Ashelin as much as she loved him. Now, however, she was without a related sibling, as their connection had been severed once they learned that she was one of the Baron's daughters, and then her bond with Ashelin had been severed by Veger who knew how long ago. He pulled himself from the pond he was in and walked over to Pinkie, to which he rested a hand on her shoulder, the sign that he would always be her brother... even if they weren't related.
A few seconds later a cough interrupted them, to which they noticed that Damas was waiting for the two of them to finish so he could understand what was going on with them at the moment.
"Pecker has told me a little about your adventures," Damas commented, to which he smiled for a second, as he was eager to hear what they had to tell him, "Come, let us spend the next few hours making sure that you have survived your brief journey through the desert... I wish to hear your stories before you head into the Arena."
Jak and Pinkie looked at each other for a moment, knowing that they would need to survive whatever trials Damas had in mind for them... though they were eager to tell them about their adventures and then show him the strength they acquired while trying to save the world from Gol, Maia, and Metal Kor.
It took Jak and Pinkie some time to tell their story to Damas, but because there was so much for them to cover, and they knew that they didn't have the time to give him all of the details, they told him the highlights of their adventures and told him about the ordeals they had overcome. Damas seemed excited to hear the tales that his son had to tell him, which made sense considering that he had missed out on watching him grow into the man that was resting before him, while at the same time Pinkie noticed that it was extremely hard to read the King's face. She could only guess that he was excited, as it appeared that all of his time in the desert had hardened him into a fierce warrior king, but it was better than having no idea what expressions the King was feeling.
When they finally reached the end of their tale, however, Damas seemed to take the news about Jak's banishment from Haven City pretty well, even if he wanted to head back into the city and smack Veger with his staff... which made both Jak and Pinkie like him even more.
"Normally I would not believe such an outlandish tale," Damas finally said, allowing the two of them to take a break from all the talking they had done, while at the same time glancing over to Daxter and Raven for a few seconds, as he was curious about the two of them, "but when I consider all of the Precursor myths, and truly think about what you have told me, I have decided that you are not lying to me. It seems that I truly owe my thanks to the Precursors, for they have allowed me to reunite with my son."
"It's good to have finally found you as well," Jak replied, though at the same time he glanced around the chamber again as he stretched his arms, because he was anxious to get started on building both his and Pinkie's reputation within Spargus, "So... I guess the first thing we have to do is start training for whatever the Arena has in store for us?"
"Normally that would be the case," Damas stated, though the small smirk on his face told him that they weren't going to cheat the system and skip training, even if Jak was his son and Pinkie was his sister, "and we shall follow the customs of training before the big Arena fight... though we already know that training is the last thing either of you need at the moment. Once you have completed your training we will lower you into the Arena once more, where you will fight the enemies we throw at you until you are the last two standing."
Pinkie, who had been listening the majority of the end part of their tale, knew that the people of Spargus would likely see Daxter and Raven as talking animals that didn't fight, and they were apparently going to keep it that way. As long as she and Jak did well in the Arena, and didn't get killed by someone while their backs were turned, the two ottsels would be perfectly safe from harm, though at the same time she knew that Raven could protect himself if the need arose. Damas had seemed unconvinced when they mentioned that Raven was a Neo Metal Head, one of the new branch that had recent revealed itself, and could transform at will... though the reason he hadn't done so in the chamber was because there wasn't enough room for him to truly change shape.
"What about Raven and I?" Daxter asked, though at the same time he made some moves with his fists, as if trying to convince Damas that he and Raven were fighters as well.
"Right now most of my city would see the two of you as animals that would soon be added to the food stores," Damas replied, though a few seconds later he let out a very short chuckle, which meant that he had thought of something interesting that he might actually share with them, "but if either of you were to prove yourselves in the Arena... well, you might just change their minds about you. Or you could fall back on what your instincts tell you and take the safe road... which is just you sitting on Jak's shoulder for the majority of his adventures."
"Oh trust me, I'm going to fight back," Raven said, to which he held up his right hand for a moment and let the claws come out for a few seconds, though at the same time he grinned, which told everyone that he was already excited about the possibility of fighting someone.
Daxter looked at his friends for a moment, because he knew that Jak and Pinkie alone could easily secure their safety in Spargus without him having to risk his life, but when he considered that four of them would be entering the Arena, however, he came to a startling conclusion. He may not have much experience in fighting enemies like Jak and Pinkie, or tearing them apart like Raven did, but this time around he was going to have to pull his own weight and help the team. Generally that meant that he would enter a pipe and move something so Jak and Pinkie could move on, but this time he knew that it meant something completely different... something that went against everything he stood for.
"Alright, I have come to a decision," Daxter said, even if he hated himself for even saying what was about to come out of his mouth, but at the same time he knew that it was about time he stopped being such a coward, "I will fight like everyone else... even if that means that I might die in the process."
"Don't worry Daxter, I'm sure that our opponents will be aiming for either Pinkie or myself," Jak commented, causing the ottsel to turn towards him for a second, as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing, before turning back to his father, "So when do we start our training?"
"Right now." Damas said, to which he beckoned for them to follow him as he took them down an elevator that brought them to the streets of Spargus, before marching them to a door that was their ticket into the Arena.
From there Jak and Pinkie were marched onto a floating platform that seemed to be connected to a box that Damas would sit from, while at the same time giving them the opportunity to look at their surroundings. It appeared that the area that the Arena had been built into was some sort of mountain area, though the actual fighting stage seemed to be made out of some sort of metal that resisted being destroyed by the lava below them. The moment they were in place, and the spectators were cheering for the event to begin, Damas walked out of the area behind the stone throne and took his seat... though he was followed by Pecker, who sat on one of the arm parts of the throne and looked down at the group.
A few seconds later Damas tapped Pecker, which had to be the signal for him to start the opening speech, as Pecker seemed to smile as he opened his mouth.
"Hail all citizens of Spargus!" Pecker called out, to which both he and Damas waved to the people for a few seconds, before he got serious once more, "Welcome to the Arena of Death, where we get to watch other people wet themselves in fear! These halls will once again test four newcomers, each fighting to prove their worth to stay among us! Let's hear it for Jak, Daxter, Pinkie Pie, and Raven!"
Damas and Pecker could hear some of the people laughing at the idea that Daxter and Raven could be proud warriors, considering that they were animals in the eyes of the exiles, but one glare from Damas was enough to stop the laughter... to which he nodded to Pecker.
"Let the games begin!" Pecker announced, to which Jak and Pinkie walked onto a platform and lowered themselves down into the obstacle course that was waiting for them.
Jak and Pinkie found that, thanks to all of the training they had done in the past, the obstacle course didn't really provide much in the way of a challenge, as they were able to follow the glowing spheres that were floating above the course with ease. Whenever they reached a certain point Pecker would use their communicator to tell them which moves they needed to know, as part of the training, before they used that particular skill and moved closer to the end. Damas had also brought in a countdown to see if they could do the course quickly, to which they proved that they had what it took to best his trials by beating the course before the time limit finished counting down... to which they were allowed to ride a square pillar back up to the area in front of Damas' sitting area.
Damas wasn't impressed by their 'measly' jumps, which Jak and Pinkie had been expecting the entire time, to which he pulled out two Morph Guns and tossed them down to the duo... though as they both realized that they were back to using only the Scatter Mod Damas called for the Arena to be prepared for full combat.
Jak and Pinkie were then lowered back into the Arena, which was now a square fighting stage with four towers that enemies would no doubt be coming through, but they positioned themselves so they could watch for any enemies. Daxter and Raven jumped up onto one of the nearby metal boxes and waited for their targets to arrive, though Raven was more excited than Daxter was. When the first opponent showed himself Jak spun around and kicked him int the chest, before leveling his new gun with his opponent's body and blasting him into the lava, where he disappeared without a trace. Pinkie, on the other hand, decided to disarm her opponent first, causing him to drop the weapon he was carrying, before blasting him away as well... though she did collect the spiked sword that her foe dropped, as well as the one that Jak's opponent had dropped before falling into the lava.
Jak was sure that she was salvaging items for them to use later on, especially if Daxter would be fighting with them in the future, though when he thought about his friend he noticed that Daxter and Raven were climbing on the backs of some of their opponents and using the spikes on their armor to hurt them.
As the group started to take down a larger amount of enemies, however, Jak noticed that some of them happened to be carrying something that had Dark Eco on their bodies, as some of their opponents dropped the Eco onto the ground, which was then either absorbed into Jak's body or Pinkie's body. Once Jak and Pinkie had dropped their fifteenth enemy, and more were coming, Jak could feel the Dark Eco inside him flare to life for a moment, forcing him to shift into his Dark Form... to which he slammed his fist into one of their remaining opponents and sent him flying into the lava. He glanced over at Pinkie and found her clutching her head with her hands at the moment... though as one of their enemies came at her she swung her hand and sent him flying into the lava as well.
Jak, despite the haze that came with the Dark Eco transformation, could tell what was happening to his sister, as her hair shifted back to its blood red coloration and when she looked at him he could see the markings on her face that resembled trails of blood, which went from her eyes to her chin... meaning that Pinkamena was back in town.
"Ah, it feels good to stretch my legs again," Pinkamena commented, though at the same time she spun around and kicked one of their remaining enemies in the chest, cracking his ribs before she tossed him off the arena, before she glanced down at the Morph Gun that was sitting in front of her, "Now, let's see what I can do with this gun."
Jak watched as Dark Eco surrounded the Morph Gun for a few seconds, to which Pinkamena broke it apart and allowed it to surge into her Dark Eco Crystal bracelet, where a red metallic bead appeared on the bracelet. One of the remaining three enemies charged at her, to which Pinkamena dodged the attack and thrust her hand forward, to which a scatter shot erupted from the palm of her hand and blasted the foe back into the lava. The Dark version of his sister than did the same motions to another foe, without the scatter shot happening, but she had punched the foe and sent him into the lava. Jak took it upon himself to charge at the last enemy and kicked him off the arena, allowing him to succumb to the lava... while at the same time a platform rose out of the lava, indicating that they had cleared the challenge.
Jak and Pinkamena jumped onto the platform, with Daxter and Raven riding on their shoulders, and rode it to the platform they had been standing on earlier... though when they touched the platform Jak reverted back to his normal state and noticed that Pinkie had done so as well, but he could also tell that someone was staring at them and had moved before he could find them.
"Is there something that you're not telling us?" Damas asked, though he had slipped completely back into his role as the leader of Spargus, as neither Jak or Pinkie could hear anything they had heard earlier.
"They both have been touched by Dark Eco, my liege." Pecker said, once again falling into the role as Damas' advisor, which he seemed to be grateful for, as he wasn't a fighter and they guessed that the King valued his 'wisdom' or 'talents'.
"Our friends get all mean and nasty when you piss them off," Daxter spoke up, to which he gestured to both Jak and Pinkie for a moment, while at the same time he was a little shocked to find that Pinkamena had come out for the briefest of moments, "so don't piss them off!"
"Ah, then they are dangerous, and that could be useful." Damas commented, to which Pecker nodded to his statement, indicating that they had to be acting for the crowd at the moment, before he gestured to the table in front of the group, "Your bravery has earned you your first battle amulet. If you are victorious in two more arena fights, you will earn your citizenship to Spargus."
Jak looked down at the amulet fragment that rested in front of them, though at the same time he made no move to collect it, because there was something else next to it and he wanted his father to finish his statement before he grabbed everything in front of him.
"Here is a Gate Pass to allow free passage in and out of the city." Damas continued, holding up the item in question and showing it to the audience, so they knew that he was holding it and not something else, before tossing it into Jak's hand, "But beware, there is no true refuge outside our walls; the desert is less kind than I. And for your victory, a gun mod is your prize."
"Oh yeah, now we're talking!" Daxter said, to which both Jak and Pinkie picked up one of the mods that were resting on the table, before Pinkie's changed into a cluster of Yellow Eco and became a yellow metallic bead that rested near the red bead, "Okay, I have absolutely no idea how you are doing that, but at least your Morph Gun and its mods are safe this time around."
Pinkie had to guess that since Pinkamena had channeled the Morph Gun into the Dark Eco bracelet, and had changed the Scatter Mod into the red bead, her innate powers had done the same thing to the Blaster Mod she and Jak had just picked up. A few seconds later Damas departed from the Arena with Pecker following after him, to which Jak and Pinkie took that as the sign that they were dismissed, as the other Wastelanders appeared to be heading back out to resume their duties. They jumped over to the entrance they had used to enter the Arena and walked back into the hallway, though this time they found a large man, due to the fat on his belly, leaning against the wall on their right... though they suspected that he was someone of importance under the King.
"Those were some sweet moves in the arena." the man commented, though at the same time he smirked at them as he turned to face them, "But a little more choke and you would have popped, eh?"
"Trust me, neither of us showed what we were actually capable of," Jak replied, knowing that if Pinkamena had actually taken over for more than a few moments the Wastelanders would have been shocked, though that wasn't taking his own powers into account.
"That I highly doubt." the man said, though his tone suggested that he might not have actually watched the fight, because it sounded like he didn't know what they had done to their opponents, "You two are from the big smoke, eh?"
"Who's asking?" Pinkie asked, because the last thing she wanted was for the man to think that she and Jak owed him anything, when it was Damas they owed their survival to.
"The guy who runs this place, that's who." the man angrily declared, as if he actually believed that he had more of a role in taking care of the city than Damas did, "Kleiver's the name, and I'm the Quartermaster for Spargus. You blokes stick with me, and I'll take care of you... in fact, I've got a job for you right now. Ride me leaper lizard here and catch a few of those little buggers that have been raiding me store rooms. Snag me six of them puppies, and I'll let you drive one of me racing vehicles. That is, if Damas ever lets you leave the city."
"We can handle that." Jak commented, to which he noticed only one leaper lizard, which seemed to walk like the Flut Flut bird he and Pinkie had saved all those years ago, waiting near the opening of the building they were in.
As Jak rode the leaper lizard out of the Arena building he had to smile, because fortune seemed to favor them as he found another one for Pinkie to ride on, though once she was ready they jumped out into the city and started hunting for the creatures that Kleiver wanted them to take care off... though at the same time they knew that this was going to be the start of another grand adventure.
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.
With Kleiver's race challenge complete, and the man had been bested by Jak's skills, Jak stopped by the rock that Pinkie had been sitting on and let her climb into the top of it, where she put on her goggles, which hadn't been left alone by the people that had found them, and they returned to Spargus. When they passed through the main gate, however, they immediately spotted Damas and Pecker waiting for them, meaning that the King had something important he wanted to tell them. Considering their usual luck when they talked with someone they knew that this was going to be another mission, though that thought made them smile as Jak brought the buggy to a stop close to where his father was standing.
"Nice wheel work." Damas commented, though he held up a hand to keep Jak and Pinkie from heading back into the city, indicating that their next mission likely involved the buggy they had just acquired from Kleiver, "I see that the vehicle skills you spoke of earlier were no empty boast."
"We can hold our own." Jak replied, knowing that Pinkie could easily do what he had done in the race with Kleiver, though at the same time he also knew that she didn't boast about her abilities, especially since her Eco based abilities seemed to freak her out.
"I can tell." Damas said, though both Jak and Pinkie detected a small amount of pride in the King's voice, indicating that he was proud of what Jak was able to do without his guidance, "To the matter at hand; there are a number of artifacts to be found in the Wasteland. Fresh storms churn the sand and reveal items that have been buried for centuries. Take the buggy and find as many items as you can before the storms come again."
"That doesn't sound too hard," Pinkie stated, knowing that with Jak's skills at driving they would be able to get through this challenge without any problems.
"And one more thing," Damas commented, causing the two of them to stop when they detected a hint of worry in his voice, which confirmed that he cared for them, or at least he cared for Jak, "if you get caught in the storms, they will tear the flesh from your very bones."
"Oh, great." Daxter said, shaking his head for a moment, because he didn't want that image in his head and now he wanted to get rid of it before it got stuck in his mind, "Thanks for the pep talk."
"Pinkie, why don't you take the wheel this time?" Jak commented, to which Pinkie actually stared at him for a few seconds, before she nodded and switched places with her brother.
Pinkie spent a few seconds looking at the controls, where she recalled everything that Jak had done when he was in control of the buggy, before putting her foot on the pedal and got the buggy moving. The moment they were passed the gate, and were heading towards the race track that Jak had raced Kleiver on, Pinkie noticed that the buggy came equipped with a sensor that determined where the next available artifact was located. Instead of figuring out how the Wastelanders knew where an artifact was located, when the sands released them anyway, she focused on driving the buggy, to which she raced over to where the first one was located and let Jak hang out to grab it.
Pinkie looked at the sensor and followed the path that it was guiding her own, though it quickly became apparent that the other group of individuals that lived in the desert wanted them dead so they could scrap their buggy and take anything of value. Jak responded by shooting out the tires of the vehicles that got close to them, allowing Pinkie to keep her whole focus on the path that she was following while Daxter and Raven helped out with the collecting of the artifacts. At it turned out the artifacts were of varying shapes and sizes, like one of them had a pyramid shape while another almost looked like a Power Cell, but Pinkie made sure that they gathered all of the ones that the sensor picked up... making sure that they left nothing for the people that were attacking them.
The last artifact that showed up on their sensor, for the moment anyway, was what appeared to be a pair of bracers that were made out of some sort of Precursor alloy, though once they had collected the final artifact Pinkie spun them around and headed back to Spargus... where they entered the garage with time to spare before the storm actually hit.
"Good work out there." Damas said, welcoming the group back to the city as they came to a stop, though there was a small hint of relief in his eyes as he looked at them, "That was... close."
"It is nice to see that Pinkie's skills haven't dulled either," Jak commented, though at the same time he pulled the artifacts from where he and the others had stored them and placed them in a waiting container that was sitting next to his father, "I know that you'll put these to good use in the city."
"And I can see that I can put one to use immediately," Damas replied, picking up the pair of Precursor bracers that the group had found, though at the same time he glanced at Jak for a moment, "Do you know what these are?"
"The bracers to some ancient suit of armor?" Jak replied, as that was the only thing that made sense, though at the same time he had the feeling that either his father or Pecker was going to tell him that he was wrong.
"Those bracers are part of the same suit of armor that Mar wore in his battles, back when he was fighting for the fate of our world," Pecker answered, though it was clear that he had recognized the armor immediately, meaning that Jak and Pinkie would have to brush up on their history to avoid this sort of thing happening again in the future, "they are very rare and very valuable... so don't lose them!"
"Wait, you mean you're letting me wear some of Mar's old armor?" Jak asked, because he was sure that his father would have had him hand them over so he could gift them to one of Spargus' greatest warriors.
"I can think of no one more suited to wear them than you," Damas said, to which he rested a hand on Jak's shoulder, before he glanced over at Pinkie as she put the buggy away, "and don't worry, something tells me that Pinkie will find some armor to wear in the near future. Oh, and before I forget, Seem told me that she wanted to speak with you when you returned from gathering artifacts."
Jak started to ask who his father was talking about, but then he remembered that the monk they had met earlier, who had been standing near a corrupted Precursor construct of some kind, had mentioned that they would speak again in the future... and he guessed that she wanted to speak with him now.
"Then we'll go speak with Seem," Jak replied, though he paused for a few seconds, so he could attach his new bracers, before he and Pinkie went back into Spargus, allowing Damas to deal with the remaining artifacts they had recovered.
As they entered the city they expected that Seem would be hard to find and only reveal herself when she was ready, but instead they found her tending to one of the leaper lizards in an area that was between the Arena and the garage. As they approached her, however, she stopped what she was doing and turned to face the group, though it was clear that she was pleased to see them, despite the harsh expression she was wearing.
"I see you got my message." Seem stated, though both Jak and Pinkie noticed that she was staring at them, no doubt making sure that her corrected assumptions of them were accurate and that she hadn't been tricked earlier.
"Yeah, Damas just delivered the message a few minutes ago," Jak replied, not knowing if he should be upset that Seem had used his father like a messenger or if he should be thankful, as the more time they spent together the quicker their bonds would grow, "I take it that this is about the Dark Eco Crystal we recovered from that corrupted Precursor construct?"
"Indeed." Seem said, to which she glanced over at the leaper lizard for a few seconds, before turning to face the group again, "My monks and I are sworn to discover and protect the secrets of the Precursors, and that includes making sure that certain artifacts and secrets don't fall into the wrong hands. I would prefer it if you handed over the Dark Eco Crystal, as it will have an effect on you within the next day or two... but even if I were to ask I know that letting go of it might be a little hard for you."
"Listen Seem, we get that you and your monks are trying to protect the Precursors and their secrets," Daxter spoke up, causing the monk to turn towards him for a moment, "but I am pretty sure that the crystal is actually safer in our hands... no disrespect towards you intended."
"I thought that this might be your response, which is why I came prepared with a counter offer," Seem replied, to which she gestured to the leaper lizard for a moment, which was followed by a few more monks showing up with their own mounts, before she produced a crystal that had Light Eco in it, "I have heard that you like to race, so I am willing to wager my Light Eco Crystal against the Dark Eco Crystal that you are currently carrying. If you win then you have one of each and their influences will cancel each other out, restoring balance to your body until you find another crystal. If you lose than I take both crystals... though either way the matter will be solved."
"Get ready to lose that crystal Seem," Pinkie said, to which she and Raven grinned for a moment, which was quickly mimicked by Daxter when he realized what she was going to say, "No one beats my brother in a race."
"We shall see about that." Seem stated, though there was some hints of a small smile on the monk's face, but she apparently noticed and got rid of it as Jak approached the leaper lizard.
The moment the race started Jak realized that they would be riding the leaper lizards through glowing rings, which had some experience with thanks to the various missions Torn had sent him on and his race through Haven with Errol. His earlier practice with the leaper lizards proved to have been exactly what he needed, as he was able to keep pace with Seem's monks as they made their way through Spargus. At first Jak allowed the monks to be ahead of them, so he could understand their movements as a team, before he got serious and started passing the ones that were the closest to where he was located.
By the time the race was over, and Pinkie had found where the finish line was, Jak succeeded in being at the head of the pack, meaning that he had beaten Seem's monks, though the monks in question were actually surprised by his skill with a leaper lizard.
"I must say that I am impressed," Seem said, to which she approached Jak and held up the Light Eco Crystal, which he carefully accepted from her, "The two types, Light Eco and Dark Eco, can form great energies when they are combined. So do be careful with them... and ask Damas to have them returned to us, should death claim either of you."
"I wouldn't count on us dying," Jak replied, though at the same time he made sure to carefully stash the new crystal with the old one, to which he wondered how many of each type of Eco he was going to find before he figured out what he was going to do with them, "Though that begs the question; why are you so obsessed with having a negative attitude towards everything?"
"Because of that!" Seem proclaimed, pointing into the sky for a few seconds, where the group could see a bright pink star, nearly as large as the sun from their perspective, shining in the sky, "The Day Star approaches, and every day it grows brighter! This planet's final trial is coming."
"Question," Daxter said, causing the group to turn towards him for a moment, to which he gestured to the pack that now contained one Light Eco Crystal and one Dark Eco Crystal, "you said that these two types, when combined, can produce great energies, right?"
"That is correct." Seem answered, though at the same time she had no idea what repeating the information she had told them was supposed to do, but she figured that humoring the creature would reveal why he was asking her a silly question like that in the first place.
"So does that mean that they can produce an explosion, or something similar to that?" Daxter inquired further, though this was mainly to make sure that he wasn't going to say something ridiculous in a few moments, especially when he revealed what he was thinking to Jak and Pinkie.
"I... I would assume so." Seem replied, surprising the group with the fact that she didn't have all the answers, but then they decided that no one actually had the answer to every question, "We have actually never tried to set the two types off, so I have no way of knowing what they could do when they are used together... only that their energies are great when they are combined."
"That means that our plan to save the world is much easier this time around," Daxter commented, to which he smiled to himself for a few seconds, before glancing in the direction of the star that Seem had pointed out, "we blow up the Day Star... and prevent our world's final trial from happening at the same time."
"This isn't a game!" Seem snapped, causing Daxter to stagger on his perch for a moment, as he hadn't been expecting that sort of response to come from the normally composed monk they had been dealing with.
What happened next, however, was something that the majority of the group wasn't expecting, as Pinkie started laughing over what Seem had said, causing the monk to look at her with a look of confusion on her face, indicating that she had no idea what was so funny about her statement.
"Oh Seem, you crack me up." Pinkie said, finding several pauses in her laughter to even get those words out, to which she threw an arm around the monk for a moment, with a smile on her face no less, "I can tell that we're going to be good friends in the near future."
Jak sighed and shook his head as he pulled Pinkie away from Seem, as he had no idea what was wrong with her this time, though he had to guess that she might have had a delayed reaction to the Light Eco Crystal... leaving behind a very confused Seem, who simply said that she needed to meditate before going in a different direction. Jak hoped that Pinkie hadn't ruined their relationship with Seem and her monks, but he knew that time would tell whether Seem would still be friendly or a little more hostile towards them.
Once Jak had pulled his sister away from where Seem had been standing, and had managed to get her to stop laughing, he brought them to a shaded area and asked what was wrong with her this time around. The last time something strange had happened to Pinkie it resulted in the creation of her Dark Eco form, the being known as Pinkamena, and this time he wanted to snip the bud before it became a problem. Pinkie's response, however, was that she had no idea why she had found what Seem had said to be funny, though Jak knew his sister well enough to know when she was lying... and she had told him one when she answered his question. He was sure that Pinkie knew what was humorous about what Seem had said, but he decided not to press the matter and determined that waiting might yield better results in the long run.
The four of them then spent about half an hour wandering around Spargus, memorizing where everything was in case they had to run around the city again at some point in the future, before they decided to head back to the garage and have some fun with the buggy that Kleiver was letting them use. When they arrived at their intended destination, however, they found the fat man waiting for them, though standing near one of the larger buggies was Damas, which told them that something interesting had to be coming their way. Even Pecker, Damas' adviser, was present, which confirmed what the group was thinking... to which they approached Kleiver so they could see what was going on.
"You guys looking for a bit of action?" Kleiver asked, though at the same time he rubbed the handle part of his weapon, as if he was trying to intimidate them in admitting something or was making sure that they were paying attention to the action part of his question.
"We're always up for some action," Jak replied, to which Daxter, Pinkie, and Raven nodded their heads in agreement, though at the same time Jak crossed his arms, "So tell us, what did you have in mind?"
"The scope shows a group of Metal Heads moving through the desert not too far from here." Kleiver stated, briefly giving them some knowledge on how Damas had found their beacon, before the man growled and stepped closer to the group, "No one in Spargus likes Metal Heads, so intercept those bad boys and give them hell. Who knows, you may even get a few toys for your effort."
"Okay, so which buggy are we going to use?" Daxter asked, to which he pointed at the one they had been riding in earlier, which had no weapons attached to it, before gesturing to the ones that were sitting around them, "Please tell me we're allowed to use an offensive buddy this time around."
"Yes, you have been granted access to the buggy we call 'Sand Shark'." Damas commented, causing the whole group to turn towards him, where Kleiver once again growled, as if he didn't like that Jak and Pinkie were being allowed to use a second buggy so soon after receiving the ability to use the first one, "Pecker told me that it wasn't necessary to do that, considering who is with you, but I thought that this was the perfect opportunity to get you some practice with a vehicle that actually has weapons... and see Raven's secret for myself."
"Don't worry, we can handle a few Metal Heads." Jak said, knowing that even if the guns failed them he could rely on Pinkie's strange abilities to save them, or have Raven shift into his true form and crush their enemies.
"Have any of you ever seen a Wasteland Metal Head?" Kleiver inquired, though at the same time he had this look on his face that none of the group liked, as it almost looked like he was going to laugh at whatever they said.
"No, but I'm willing to bet that they are large and really imposing," Pinkie replied, to which she giggled for a moment, telling Jak that his sister had to be losing her mind with the instances where she was laughing at something, before she hopped into the buggy, which happened to have two seats for them to use.
Before Kleiver had a chance to respond, and ask why Pinkie seemed happier than he remembered her being, Jak joined his sister and the small group of four departed from the garage, heading out into the Wasteland to hunt down the Metal Heads he had been talking about. A few seconds later Damas chuckled and climbed into the vehicle that he had been standing near, to which he got it into gear and headed out as well, leaving Kleiver to wonder what was going on.
It didn't take Jak and Pinkie long to find out where the Metal Heads were located, as they simply had to follow the radar to discover their location, though they were surprised by what they found. The Metal Heads in question appeared to be twice the size of the Sand Shark, maybe even three times as big, while having a wide frame and a long body at the same time. On the backs of the Metal Heads were what appeared to be a cannon, which seemed to move as the creatures moved, though fortunately they didn't seem to have a lot of armor, unlike the enemies they had found back in Haven City.
"So those are the Wasteland variety of Metal Heads," Raven commented as Jak brought the Sand Shark to a stop, to which he grinned as he prepared himself, because it seemed like the King of Spargus had come to watch after all, if he was correctly reading why a second buggy had followed them out here, "Finally, I get a chance to exercise my true form..."
As Raven jumped down onto the desert floor and started walking forward, however, Damas stopped his buggy and turned off the engine, as he was curious as to what Raven's true form looked like. Sure, it had been described to him while Jak and Pinkie were recovering from their trek through the desert, but it was one thing to hear about Raven's true form and another to witness it in action. A few moments later, when Raven reached a certain distance away from the Sand Shark, a dark purple mist seemed to spring out of nowhere and started to cover his body, though not seconds later Damas could have sworn he heard the sounds of bones breaking and realigning.
As the mist started to vanish Damas got a good look at what Raven's true form looked like, to which he took in the body that was the same size as the Metal Heads that were around them and claws that looked powerful enough to rip anything that wasn't made of the special Precursor alloy to pieces. The spikes on his tail and his razor sharp teeth also appeared to be strong enough to rip through anything he attacked, once again excluding anything that was made out of the Precursor alloy. Damas even noticed the large wings that Raven had, no doubt for him to fly around when he needed to do so, though he grinned as he stared at the creature that was in front of him.
Kleiver had said that no one in Spargus liked Metal Heads, but Damas was sure that they would make an exception for Raven once they discovered that he was a dragon, which was one of the rarest creatures in the entire world... though it was said that dragons had been extinct for a long time, but he was happy to see that there was a friendly one in the world.
Raven let out a roar, one that sounded like a challenge to Damas' ears, before he flared his wings and took to the sky, where the closest Metal Head was caught off guard when he barreled into his side and knocked him to the desert floor. As his opponent hit the ground Raven landed on top of him, using one side of his body to pin him down while the other side dealt with the cannon that the Metal Head was wearing. Damas watched as Raven ripped the cannon off and tossed it into the distance, before picking up his opponent and throwing him into one of the small rock structures that surrounded them. As the Metal Head collapsed on the ground Raven made sure that it was actually dead, which meant landed on top of it again and tearing the creature's throat out... before finally beheading the Metal Head.
Damas, while shocked at the brutality of how Raven worked while he was in his transformed state, couldn't stop himself from chuckling a bit, as he was pleased to find that there was one Metal Head that he actually liked... though while his son group worked to defeat the targets he made his way back to Spargus. Now that he knew how strong Raven was, and had seen how Jak and Pinkie worked in the Arena, he knew that there was no need to supervise them, though he planned on having a surprise ready for them when they returned to the city.
It took Jak, Pinkie, Daxter, and Raven about thirty minutes to hunt down and defeat the rest of the Wasteland Metal Heads, as they had separated themselves from each other and made the group hunt them down by using Raven's true form, but they eventually succeeded in bringing them all down... though the last one, upon his death, dropped both a Dark Eco Crystal and what appeared to be some sort of communicator.
"Metal head commander, report!" a voice said, to which a head appeared above the communicator, though the person that was speaking definitely sounded upset about something, "What's happening? If you lost that cargo, and you're still alive, I'll kill you myself. I want every Dark Eco Crystal you can find! Time is short. Did you hear me?"
Jak, deciding that whoever was speaking had said enough, approached the device and stared down at it, to which the head looked up in his direction and managed to state 'Wait, not you!' before Jak smashed the communicator with his foot.
"Hah! You sure kicked sand in his face!" Daxter commented, as this appeared to be the only violent deed that he would be apart of this time around, though at the same time Raven landed nearby and reverted to his ottsel form, before climbing back onto Pinkie's shoulder, "Oh yeah, that was good."
"That face looked familiar." Jak said, as he was sure that he had seen someone wearing that face at some time in the last year or two, but as he tried to place it he found that he couldn't remember who he thought it belonged to.
"It should be familiar, because that was Errol's face." Pinkie stated, though at the same time she noticed that three heads were facing her this time, as if they couldn't believe that she had said that, "What? I spent four years learning from Ashelin and Errol, so I would know his face better than anyone else, save for the Baron and anyone that spent a lot of time in Errol's presence."
"But Errol died one year ago, in the Class 1 race." Daxter said, not understanding why Pinkie would think that the face they had seen was Errol's, but at the same time he suspected that Pinkie might be onto something.
"Vex told me that there was supposed to be some sort of cyborg project, but then the Baron scrapped the idea," Pinkie replied, remembering what the smart Metal Head had told her the last time she had spoken to him, "Seeing how the KG Robots are now a separate force in Haven City, maybe a part of Errol survived the Dark Eco explosion and was put into a cyborg body... that's the only thing that makes sense to me at the moment."
"Come on, let's get back to the city and tell Damas the good news," Raven commented, to which they piled into the buggy that Jak had been driving and set of towards the city.
When they returned to Spargus, and informed Kleiver that they were successful in dealing with the Metal Heads that had appeared on their radar, the group made their way to where Damas was waiting for them, where they found the King standing near his throne.
"Jak, Pinkie, I have something that you need to know," Damas said, to which he turned towards them and tossed the two of them something, which looked like three gun barrels lined up side by side, which the two of them caught and stared at for a few seconds, "The time has come for the two of you to once again test your fighting skills in the Arena. That weapon mod I just handed you is called the Wave Concussor, which charges Red Eco into the weapon and releases a wave of energy as its blast. You should be able to use that to great effect in the Arena."
Jak smiled as he attached the new weapon mod to his Morph Gun, which happened to recognize the new mod and changed the Red Eco mod until it was the Wave Concussor. Pinkie, on the other hand, stared at the mod for a moment before it broke apart and became a new Red Eco bead on her bracelet, though she had to flex her fingers for a few seconds to be sure that nothing was wrong.
"Okay, that's still freaky," Daxter commented, though at the same time Damas waved a hand to dismiss the matter, indicating that there would be a time for talk later.
Jak and Pinkie, taking the hint, made their way to the Arena, where they lowered themselves into the fighting stage and discovered a box full of Dark Eco waiting in one of the four square stages. Jak, upon taking some of the Dark Eco into his body, shifted into his Dark Form and suddenly remembered one of the moves that the Oracle in Haven had taught in over a year ago, to which he jumped into the air as enemies came near them and slammed down hard on the ground. The resulting Dark Eco shockwave knocked literally every enemy off the stage that he and Pinkie were on, to which he shifted back to his normal state and pulled out his gun.
Pinkie, on the other hand, shifted back into Pinkamena, who grinned as she realized that she had a new toy to play with and allowed the Red Eco to create a ring around her wrist. As the enemies drew closer to her, and waited for an opening that would never show itself, Pinkamena threw her hand towards the ground and released a wave of sinister red energy that tossed all the warriors, save for her and Jak, off the stage. After that she and Jak made their way around the area, jumping from one stage to another as they sunk into the lava, fighting more enemies until they had touched each stage at least once.
Eventually they reached the end of the second trial, as nothing that Damas had prepared at the moment was up to their level, to which Damas called them back up to where he was standing and awarded them with their second Battle Amulet fragment... to which they left the Arena and went looking for more work to do, regardless of who was asking for assistance.
Jak and Pinkie spent a few minutes checking Spargus for any signs of people that may need some assistance, though it quickly became clear to them that most of the Wastelanders took on their own tasks and only called on aid when they had something that was hard for one person to do. Once the group determined that the people of Spargus didn't need their help, and were just fine working on their own, they turned around and headed back to the garage, where they were sure to acquire some sort of mission from either Damas or Kleiver. Jak clearly wished that he could spend more time with his father, especially now that they had met and knew who each other was, but he guessed that Damas was waiting for him and Pinkie to fully become Wastelanders before announcing that his heir had joined them in the Wasteland.
When they arrived at the garage, however, they found Kleiver waiting for them, indicating that he likely had another mission that they needed to do so they could prove themselves to the people of Spargus.
"Damas has a job for us," Kleiver stated, immediately confirming what Jak and Pinkie were thinking, though at the same time he glared at them for a moment, "but I'm no babysitter, so stay out of my way!"
"Look Kleiver, I'm only going to say this once," Daxter said, surprising both Jak and Pinkie by how brave he was acting, though this wasn't the usual trick he was pulling on someone, namely Tess, he was actually showing that he wasn't frightened this time around, "Jak and Pinkie, as well as Raven and I, aren't afraid of you!"
"If you knew what was happening out here, you'd be afraid all right." Kleiver commented, as if he was actually trying to intimidate them into backing off and accepting him as their superior, though at the same time Jak knew that if the man pushed Pinkie he could awaken the anger inside her.
"Oh, we already know about the Day Star," Pinkie said, glancing up at the shining star that they had been told about earlier that day, and the potential threat that it posed to the entire world, "Don't worry, we already have a plan to deal with that... once it gets closer to the planet anyway."
"What's going on here?!" Damas demanded, to which he walked through the gate that Jak and Pinkie had walked through earlier and approached the group, though his tone indicated that they should have departed from the garage and started their mission already.
"Nothing, your Lordship." Kleiver lied, surprising Jak and Pinkie by the fact that he would so blatantly lie to his King, though at the same time it appeared that Damas already knew that Kleiver had said something that he shouldn't have, "Just offering Jak, Pinkie, and the little ones some healthy advice."
"I see," Damas said, apparently choosing to go along with Kleiver's lies this time, indicating that whatever the mission was had to be more important than arguing with his Quartermaster, "Jak, Pinkie, didn't your teacher, this Green Sage you mentioned, ever tell you to pick your battles wisely?"
"To be honest, I'm sure he did at some point," Jak replied, knowing that his father would be a tad bit ashamed that he had forgotten some of Samos' lessons, "but it has been a rough ride and I may have forgotten some of his teachings."
"Then allow me to say this," Damas said, though at the same time Jak and Pinkie noticed that Kleiver was interested in what he was going to say, as if Damas actually didn't speak to those he rescued very much, which would mean that this was a rare occurrence in Spargus, "sometimes you face your enemy head on, and sometimes you wait until his weakness is revealed. Patience is one of a warrior's greatest weapons. Do you understand?"
Jak and Pinkie nodded their understanding, because now that Damas had told them that they easily remembered Samos saying something like that in the past, back when they were training for their big adventure to turn Daxter back after he had fallen into Dark Eco.
"Good." Damas stated, to which he looked at the assembled group for a few seconds, indicating that he was about to tell them their mission, "Jak, Pinkie, I want the two of you, along with Kleiver, to go into the desert and herd a group of lizards into a waiting transport. We must prepare for whatever lies ahead; I need all the resources we can gather."
"No problem," Jak replied, to which he glanced over at Daxter as Pinkie did the same to Raven, though this was one excuse they had used in the past a few times and knew that it worked like a charm, "We're good with animals."
"I'll see you out there." Kleiver stated, to which he climbed into one of the buggies and drove off, passing through the main gate and headed out into the Wasteland, leaving Jak and Pinkie to do the same thing.
Jak and Pinkie wished Damas well before climbing into the Sand Shark, taking a brief moment to make sure that everyone was ready to depart, before Jak started up the engine and burst out of the gates as well. Since Pinkie was closer to the radar, and he needed to concentrate on the enemies that wanted them dead, he had her tell him the direction that they needed to head in. Fortunately they now possessed a buggy that had guns, which meant that Jak could easily turn towards whoever was chasing them and gun them down, before resuming the journey to wherever Kleiver was going. The ride also gave them the opportunity to observe the layout of the Wastelands, where they tried to remember where certain rock formations were in the off chance they were told to come out in this area again.
After some time they eventually came to what appeared to be a ruined city of some kind, which seemed to have ruined walls and structures that were slowly being buried by the sand... and in the middle of the city they spied what had to be the transport, along with several small groups of lizards resting from a hard days run.
"Okay, how are we going to get them into that transport?" Daxter asked, though at the same time the only way he could see this happening is if he was flung at one of the leaper lizards and forced it into the transport.
"I'll just shift into my hybrid form and fly around the ruins," Raven said, his wings started to emerge once more, though at the same time he eyed the area in front of them, "It should be easy for me to fly around here and land on one of the lizard's backs, then I can direct them into the transport and repeat until Kleiver is happy. Or we can do it this way, I can fly you around and drop you off on the backs of the leapers, allowing you to direct them towards the transport. Or we can take the third option, Jak can drive around and you can jump out onto the backs of the lizards..."
"Option two is the best one of them all," Daxter replied, surprised that Raven could come up with three plans that involved him, though at the same time he climbed onto the top of the buggy and held his hands out, "Come on, let's get this over with."
Raven grinned as he jumped out of the buggy and finished transforming into his hybrid form, to which he circled back to where Daxter was and grabbed onto him, pulling Daxter into the air as they started to hunt down the leaper lizards. Jak and Pinkie, on the other hand, moved into the middle of the ruins and watched the two ottsels fly around and hunt down their targets. Raven would swoop down every now and then, allowing Daxter to get a feeling for when he would actually have to let go, before he actually let Daxter go, to which Daxter latched onto the lizard they had chosen and made it run around the ruins before entering the transport. Once the lizard was in the transport Daxter charged out of the pen the lizards would be held in and allowed Raven to pick him up again, where they resumed the hunt for another lizard.
The two ottsels did that two more times, dropping Daxter onto the backs of two more lizards and delivering them to the pen, before all of them gathered around the Sand Shark and waited for Kleiver to arrive... though when he walked over Raven had already returned to his ottsel form.
"I have to admit, I underestimated the lot of you." Kleiver said, though Jak and Pinkie were a little bit surprised to hear that he actually sounded impressed by what they had done, with just Raven and Daxter no less, "Have another one of me vehicles, you earned it."
"Damn straight!" Daxter stated, though at the same time he rubbed his wrists, because hanging onto Raven like that had hurt a little bit, but not enough to actually make him complain about what he had just gone through.
Jak and Pinkie looked at the new vehicle that Kleiver was allowing them to ride, to which they discovered that it was actually the one he had jumped into and rode off in earlier. The vehicle appeared to be designed with a highly reinforced suspension and large wheels on the back end of it, though Jak and Pinkie agreed that it almost looked like something that was ready to pounce on someone. As they studied the vehicle, however, Kleiver hopped inside the Sand Shark and drove off with it, indicating that whatever their next mission was involved the usage of their new vehicle, the Dune Hopper according to what was written on the side of the vehicle.
As Jak and Pinkie climbed into the vehicle, and made sure that Daxter and Raven were with them, they studied the controls, in the off chance that Pinkie had to use this one without him around, and spotted a lever that looked out of place. When Jak pulled on the lever the buggy sank low to the ground, almost like an animal that was getting ready to pounce on its prey or something, though the real fun came when he let go of the lever. The instant the lever snapped back into place the buggy bounced high into the air, though when the buggy landed a few moments later Jak and Pinkie were delighted by what the new buggy could do... and imagined what they could use it for.
"Check this out," Pinkie commented, pointing at the Dune Hopper's built in map, which was showing a brand new icon that none of them had seen so far, "according to the map it appears that there is something important nearby... and I have the feeling that we'll be needing this buggy to get at whatever it is."
"Well then, let's ride." Jak said, to which he engaged the engine and headed in the direction that the icon was in, though he noticed that it was leading them towards the water.
They quickly discovered that, while the Dune Hopper didn't have the same amount of armor like the other buggies they had used, the new buggy had a pair of grenade launchers, which destroyed any attacking brigands that happened to be in the area. Jak then used the high jump ability of the Dune Hopper to go from the shore they came to and jumped over to the small rock island, though when they landed he continued the process by jumping from one small outcrop to the next one in line. That was quickly followed by them landed at what appeared to be the base of a mountain, out in the middle of the water and only accessible by the Dune Hopper, before they rode up the only available path.
Jak had to use the high jump to cross one more gap before having to stop in front of what appeared to be the entrance of an ancient temple of sorts... though the entrance was too small for the Dune Hopper to pass through, so they had to park the buggy and actually walk into the temple. Jak and Pinkie noticed that, when they walked into the actual temple, they spotted architecture and statues that reminded them of the other Precursor items they had seen throughout the years. From what they could see there were two paths for them to take, though the one directly in front of them, which was the one they wanted, was being guarded by some sort of glowing white eye and summoned spikes to keep them from moving... to which they turned towards the only other path they could take.
"Okay, this is going to be a problem," Jak commented, looking at the various pieces of stone that were just barely hanging on, as most of them looked like they were ready to crack and fall apart, "How are the two of us going to get to the top of this structure?"
"I have an idea." Daxter spoke up, though at the same time he glanced over at Raven, because it appeared that they could use one of his other forms again.
"One that doesn't involve Raven's hybrid form or his true form," Jak stated, amending his previous question, because he was sure that Raven was a little winded after carrying Daxter around like that.
"Come on, it looks easy to get up," Pinkie said, though at the same time she glanced over at Jak, as she already knew that her brother was going to want to go first, "I'll follow your lead."
Jak nodded and jumped onto the fallen stone that was in front of them, where he pulled himself onto the higher stone vase and then jumped onto the outcropping that was in front of him, allowing him to bounce up to the next platform. Once Pinkie had caught up with him he jumped up and grabbed onto the pole above them, allowing Pinkie to duck as he swung around and jumped to the next pole that was above him, before shortly jumping off and landing on one of the more worn platforms. He then turned around and watched as Pinkie repeated the same movements that he had done, allowing her to catch up once more, before he jumped over to the next pole and landed on the level above Pinkie.
Once they were back together Jak crossed the series of stone platforms until he was at the end of it, though at the same time some of the platforms cracked into pieces and fell down to the ground level, leaving Pinkie without a way to continue forward. That was when Jak remembered not to doubt Pinkie's abilities, as she simply did a long jump to cross the gaps that had been left behind, to which the two of them walked up the passage that was in front of them. When they reached the top of the passage Jak moved across the platforms and noticed that two of them fell apart when he reached the end, leaving him to wonder what Pinkie would do this time.
Pinkie, on the other hand, simply smiled and charged off the platform she was on, though Jak watched as she engaged some Blue Eco, where she got it he had no idea, and empowered her jump so she could reach her brother. From that point onward they followed the path of poles and platforms, going even higher with each passing second, before they finally reached the top of the structure... where they found a glider just sitting on the ground.
"Ooh, sweet!" Daxter said, jumping off of Jak's shoulder and landing on the ground, while at the same time observing the glider that had been left behind by the monks.
"Didn't Seem say that she lost an expedition of monks on the volcano?" Jak inquired, though at the same time he looked out over the breathtaking view in front of them, while also noticing that there were some rings floating in the air between where they were and the volcano in question.
"Yeah, and I bet that the monks built these gliders to reach the top." Pinkie replied, knowing that she and Jak were going to use the glider, because it appeared to be the only way to reach the volcano
"You know, lost was the operative word she used when she described what happened to the other monks." Daxter commented, though he didn't like what was coming next, "If they vanished, don't you think that was a sign? Hello!"
"Daxter, you know that you don't have to ride with me and Pinkie." Jak stated, beckoning to Raven for a moment, who nodded his head for a second, "Raven can easily get you to the volcano... though all Pinkie and I have to do is hit those accelerator rings and we're golden."
Daxter sighed as Raven shifted into his hybrid form, to which the two of them took off, allowing Jak and Pinkie to pick up the glider and follow after them, with Jak standing up on top while Pinkie laid down and held her hand out towards the rings that they had seen. Pinkie called upon the power of the Blaster Mod and fired small narrow shots at the closed rings that were in their way, allowing Jak to maneuver them through the rings and the air currents that happened to be in front of them. With their combined powers they managed to reach the location of the volcano, where they slipped into the opening that was in front of them... resulting in the destruction of the glider as they grabbed onto some broken pipes and lowered themselves to the ground without harm.
Seconds later Daxter and Raven caught up with them, though with no other way out of the area they were in their only option was to continue forward... to which Jak and Pinkie, with Daxter and Raven on their shoulders, walked forward and started the hunt for Seem's lost monks.
Jak and Pinkie followed the path that was directly in front of them, as they couldn't leave the way they entered and the only warp gate in the area was being guarded by one of the floating white eyes, to which they climbed up into the ledge in front of them and were attacked by a trio of small scorpion Metal Heads. Pinkie, being the first one up on the ledge, waved her hand at the Metal Heads and released a scatter shot at them, knocking them down and tearing them to pieces, to which she helped Jak up to where she was standing. Jak spotted more enemies coming up behind Pinkie and pulled out his own gun, to which he fired his own scatter shot and took out the entire group in a single shot, allowing the two of them to progress further into the volcano.
They continued to shoot down the small Metal Heads that were in their way, where they eventually found a series of ledges that they needed to climb up, though at the end of them they found themselves in a large area of the volcano, which happened to have vegetation growing all around them. Jak and Pinkie assumed that the lava and the fires would have burned all of that at some point in time, but it appeared that the plants might have adapted to their surroundings... or something else was at play in this area. They also spotted a leaper lizard roaming the area, all alone they discovered, and that when they approached it the lizard ran off without giving them a chance to stop it, but at the same time it had no where else to go and was as trapped as they were.
As they followed the leaper lizard, and avoided falling into the lava when some of the rocks they walked on collapsed under their feet, Jak found that this was the best time to try out the new weapon mod that he and Pinkie had been given, the one they won after completing their second trial. It was called the Reflector Mod, which apparently shot the same time of beam as the Blaster Mod, only this beam bounced off the walls and ended up colliding with one of the wasp Metal Heads that was buzzing around their heads. Jak and Pinkie smiled at what the mod could do, as they were already thinking up ways to use this to their advantage in battle, but at the same time Pinkie decided to not try her's out, leaving it as a bead on her bracelet for the moment.
The next area that the leaper lizard brought them into had a group of dog like creatures that had small spikes growing out of their backs, though apparently they liked to roll around like balls and attack their prey in such a manner. The only response to that, other than Pinkie saying that the animals would be cute if they could be properly trained, was Jak and Pinkie shooting them with their weapons. Once the dogs had been taken care of the two of them separated from each other and chased down the leaper lizard they had been following, forcing it to choose which one of them it wanted to run away from... allowing the second one to startle the lizard long enough for the first one to climb onto its back.
With the leaper lizard under control, and Jak was riding it around to make sure that there was nothing they missed in the area they were in, he and Pinkie headed towards an area that had a geyser between them and the platform they needed to cross over to... though they had to avoid the fireball that the small geyser was launching into the air every couple of seconds. Jak carefully made his way through the path that could only be accessed by the leaper lizard, which meant that he had to be careful when jumping so he and Daxter didn't fall into the magma that was around them. He used the small stone platforms that were in his way to make it to a much larger area, though when he dismounted he noticed that the leaper lizard was abandoning him... to which he pulled his weapon back out and started shooting at the various enemies that were all around him.
A few seconds later Pinkie, riding on the back of the leaper lizard, dropped into the area and opened fire on the enemies that Jak was firing at, though once they were all taken care of she dismounted as well and they approached the ladder that would take them deeper into the volcano. They then jumped over another section of rocks that tumbled into the magma below them, before they approached what appeared to be a dead end, or so they would have thought had they not noticed a section where Daxter or Raven could climb on and reach the back end of a large rock pillar.
"No. I'm not going to climb my way through a series of death obstacles!" Daxter exclaimed, causing the group to rub the back of their heads, as they had expected Daxter to agree to it, especially with how he had been acting recently.
"How else are we supposed to get across then?" Jak asked, to which he beckoned towards Pinkie for a moment, who smiled in return, "I know Pinkie has a Shadow Step move, allowing her to use the shadows to go from one spot to another, but we haven't tried it out with multiple people... and this seems to be the worst place for us to try it out. You are the only one who..."
"Actually, Raven can simply fly over there and knock the pillar down with his tail," Daxter said, reminding Jak of the fact that Raven's hybrid form was more useful than he originally thought, as they had been making sure to use it whenever they needed it.
"Carrying you around and constantly shifting is extremely tiring," Raven replied, which caused Jak and Pinkie to nod their heads, as they understood what was up with Raven at the moment, "You'll just have to take one for the team."
All of this made sense to Jak, as Raven had shifted into his true form earlier that morning to take care of four larger Metal Heads, which must have consumed a lot portion of his energy when they considered the painful process that raven had to go through. Raven had also shifted into his hybrid form twice that day; once to help Daxter get onto the backs of those leaper lizards they were catching with Kleiver, and the second time was flying both himself and Daxter to the opening he had Pinkie had flown through. Jak was sure that Raven's energy supplies were running low and that he needed a break, which was why he wasn't doing anything... though when Daxter realized what was going on he mumbled to himself and climbed up the nearby tree.
Jak, Pinkie, and Raven watched as Daxter carefully made his way through the series of obstacles that were in his way, which involved dodging balls of magma that geysers shot into the air, avoiding the actual bits of pouring lava that he discovered, and kicked some leaper Metal Heads that decided to get in his way. That was quickly followed by him reaching his intended destination, where he walked up to the rock pillar and rested a hand against it so he could start testing how much strength it had... to which the pillar fell backwards and hit the platform in front of where Jak and Pinkie were standing, forming a bridge for them to walk on.
With the bridge made, and Daxter returned to the group, Jak and Pinkie continued forward, where they used their high jump ability to reach the ledge above them and pulled their weapons out to fire at the leaper Metal Heads that were bouncing around the area. They followed the path that had been opened for them and attacked the enemies that roamed the area, more leaper Metal Heads and some of the rolling dogs, before they came to a steam vent of sorts with a rather large stone resting next to it. Pinkie, immediately seeing something, accessed the Eco inside her body and pushed the stone platform, to which she moved it until it was covering the vent and backed up, where she and Jak watched as the steam lifted it into the air for a few moments before hitting the ground.
With that information in hand the two of them climbed back onto the stone slab and let the steam lift them into the air, where they jumped off and landed on the walkway in front of them, to which Jak shot down the leaper enemies that were apparently waiting for them to arrive before they moved onward. They then followed the path by jumping over a decent sized gap, shot down some more of the enemies that were trying to kill them, and crossed a second gap that allowed them to descend downwards once more. They descended downwards and shot the Metal Heads that tried to attack them, both the leapers and some of the wasps that they haven't seen since they left Haven, before coming to a pipe... which appeared to end up where another stone slab was resting.
Daxter, seeing nothing else to do but get the task over with, jumped off of Jak's shoulder and climbed up the pipe, to which he was forced to ride down some larger pipes, where he had to control himself to avoid falling into the lava and jump over gaps, before he reached the end of that ordeal. Once he was off the pipes he had to climb all the way up to where the stone slab had been located, to which he had to use some springy cloth sections to ascend back to the top, as well as deal with some of the mutts Jak and Pinkie had dealt with earlier. The moment he reached the top of the path he was following he spotted the stone slab and jumped onto it, though when he reached the end of it his weight suddenly changed everything and caused it to fall over.
When Daxter opened his eyes he found that he was okay, as the stone slab had landed to his left and had completely missed him, to which he returned to Jak's shoulder before he and Pinkie moved the stone into position and allowed them to move on once more. Jak and Pinkie then rode the stone slab up to the next area and found their way through the small group of enemies that were in front of them, before they found three more stone slabs and three more geysers. Seeing how they knew what to do they each pushed a slab into position, on the left and right of the middle slab, before joining together and pushing the final one into position... though it was the third one that carried them up to the next part of the area they needed to go through.
They rode the stone slab up to the next area and found, while they were taking out the enemies that were coming at them, that there were some dark colored vine like structures ahead of them... and on the other side of a river of lava rested what appeared to be a dark structure of some kind, like the construct that Seem had been staring at earlier. As they climbed up to observe the structure, however, they discovered the statue of a monk that happened to be carrying some sort of Dark Eco artifact in its hands... and it was wearing an expression of horror on its face.
"So this is where Seem's monks went," Jak commented, though at the same time he and Pinkie made their way towards the once human statue, while looking at the artifact that the statue was holding, "and something tells me that this artifact is important... somehow..."
Daxter, on the other hand, jumped onto the ground and approached the statue, to which he gripped the artifact and started to pull on it, despite the warning looks Jak and Pinkie were sending his way. A few seconds later Daxter managed to snap off the statue's hands when he pulled on the artifact, causing it to fly into the air for a moment. Jak and Pinkie reached for the artifact at the same time, though when they touched the Dark Eco artifact they were surrounded by a surge of energy that made them vanish... only to reappear when they accidentally dropped the artifact, where it shattered.
"What was that?" Daxter asked, because while he knew that Dark Eco was dangerous, if Pinkie's alter ego was anything to consider, he was still curious as to what type of ability the siblings had just unlocked.
"Some kind of... invisibility power," Jak explained, flexing his hands for a moment, as he was shocked by what he and Pinkie had just done, though at the same time Pinkie was smiling at them, "one derived from Dark Eco."
"At the very least we can tell Seem what happened to her monks the next time we see her," Raven commented, to which he and Daxter returned to Jak and Pinkie's shoulders, before looking around the area that they were in, "So... where to next?"
Jak and Pinkie jumped off the ledge that was behind them and landed on the floating rocks that were in the lava, where they waited for a few seconds before they jumped off and crossed over to a walkway that descended towards a lower level of the volcano. They fired upon the enemies that were in front of them as they walked downwards, noticing that there was a low number of them for the first time since they entered this area, before they were able to drop down into the area that the glider was resting in... and allowed them to notice that there was a Dark Eco Idol near the glowing white eye, which was also glowing.
The duo approached the idol and laid their hands on it, allowing them to turn invisible for a few seconds, to which they approach the glowing eye and step closer to the warp gate, where the eye went out as they became visible once more... allowing Jak and Pinkie to grin as they entered the warp gate. Once they had jumped through the warp gate, and appeared back in the temple they had been in earlier, they noticed another idol sitting in a small insert on the wall opposite of where the warp gate they had jumped out of.
Jak and Pinkie smiled at each other, because now they could pass by the white eye that was protecting the inner area of the temple and see what they could learn about the Precursors this time around.
When Jak and Pinkie returned to the temple, after traveling through the volcano in the middle of the Wastelands and learned a new Dark Eco power, they took a few minutes to rest, as they were sure that there was no need for them to burn themselves out just yet. After five minutes had passed the two of them got up and approached the Dark Idol that was resting on the other side of the room, while at the same time keeping their eyes on the glowing white eye that was guarding the path that they needed to follow next. They touched the Dark Idol and allowed the Dark Eco to wash over them, causing them to turn invisible once again, to which they headed towards the glowing eye and walked over the floor that was beneath the eye... where the eye phased out of existence as the door it was guarding opened in front of them.
Jak and Pinkie punched the three small spiders that were waiting on the other side of the door, getting rid of them as their invisibility faded, though at the same time Jak recalled that he had seen the same spiders in Mar's Tomb, making them all wonder if there was some sort of connection between the two locations.
As they followed the path down into the earth, and walked down the stairs in front of them, they heard the sound of the door closing behind them, which made them hope that there was another warp gate that would allow them to leave this place when they finished exploring it. They also had to contend with some more spiders, which were easily put away with a single blast from the Scatter Mod, though at the same time they kept their eyes open for any enemies that would be more like actual guardians instead of pests. Experience had told them that temples always had some sort of trial, be it in an actual fight with some creature or a puzzle that was meant to test their wits or their skills, so they already knew not to let their guard down while they walked.
Of course that changed when they rounded a corner and found a small chamber that had an Eco Vent in the middle of the room, though instead of the other colors that they were used to they found that the Eco in question was actually Dark Eco, which meant that there had to be a puzzle ahead that involved their new power.
"I had no idea that there were Dark Eco Vents as well," Jak commented, though at the same time both he and Pinkie ran their hands through the Eco that was flowing towards the ground, restoring their Dark Eco stores before they found whatever puzzle was ahead of them.
"Neither did I." Pinkie replied, but even as she spoke she turned towards the other path that they could take, which she assumed would lead them right to where the trials were located, before she turned to Jak, "Come on, let's see what sort of trials we have to deal with this time around."
They followed the path in front of them and entered a round chamber that had a button right in the middle of the room, though floating around it were several small robots that Jak and Pinkie guessed were security drones or something. They briefly wondered how they were supposed to get passed the little robots, and move further into the temple, when Pinkie spotted another Dark Idol they could use, though this time she touched it and disappeared before Jak had the opportunity to touch it himself. Jak patiently waited for Pinkie to do something, which came a few seconds later when the button sank into the floor and the nearby door opened for them to continue, though at the same time the invisibility wore off and Pinkie appeared where the button was located.
Jak would have thought that Pinkie would have used one of her other Dark Eco abilities to get away from the drones, but instead of doing that she raised her hand into the air, which was surrounded by Red Eco, and threw her palm at the ground, releasing a wave of red energy that tore all of the drones to pieces.
"Oh right, she absorbed the Wave Concussor into her bracelet," Daxter commented, remembering when Jak and Pinkie had gotten the mods from Damas, where Jak had attached his to his gun while Pinkie turned hers into Eco and absorbed it into her bracelet.
Pinkie grinned as they walked through the short passage that she had unlocked, where they had to open fire on more of the spiders that happened to be waiting on the other side of the passage, though when their enemies were dealt with, and they could actually enter the next chamber, they were pleasantly surprised. As they stepped into the chamber several grates erupted out of the floor on the left and right sides of the room, indicating that they would have to use the Dark Idols and turn invisible so they could use the poles that rested between each side of the room. Instead of going at the same time, and maybe screwing the other up, Jak went first and Pinkie waited, to which she watched as something touched each of the poles before landing on the other side.
The glowing eye didn't disappear when Jak landed, which made Pinkie assume that it knew that she was there as well, so she touched the Dark Idol and spun her way through the poles in front of her, though when she landed the eye went out and they continued towards the next set of poles. They then repeated the same tactic three more times, making sure to time their jumps accordingly, before they were on the other side of the room, though once they started moving towards the open door the grates that had been blocking their way lowered. Jak and Pinkie looked at that for a moment before deciding that it wasn't worth investigating, though as they entered the next passage they found more spiders in their way, but once again the spiders proved to be no match for their might.
When they entered the large chamber at the end of the passage, and discovered one of the largest Precursor statues they had ever seen in their entire lives, they spotted what appeared to be Count Veger shouting at Seem, to which they ducked behind a pillar so they could see what was going on between the two.
"I want no excuses!" Veger snapped, though the tone of his voice made Pinkie want to emerge from where they were hiding and get rid of him, but Jak held her back, because as much as he hated the man there was no reason to engage him when there was useful information to be gained, "You told me this could be done. Now make it so!"
"But we have so little time." Seem countered, though at the same time both Jak and Pinkie could tell that the normally composed leader of the monks was annoyed, which meant that she disagreed with whatever Veger had been talking about before they walked into the chamber, "The Day Star approaches! You know what it brings."
"Unfortunate, yes." Veger stated, almost as if he was trying to make Seem agree with him, though he was still fighting a losing battle by the sounds of it, "We will deal with that as soon as I have full access to the catacombs. Just continue your work, and I'll deal with those idiots in Haven. I promise you will meet your makers!"
"They have already chosen their representative," Seem replied, nearly causing Jak and Pinkie to fall out of their hiding spot, though at the same time she locked her eyes with Veger, "They have both Darkness and Light inside of them... it would take too long for them to turn their attention to another."
"You had best hope it doesn't," Veger growled, his tone indicating that he didn't care for Seem's faith in Jak and Pinkie, though at the same time Seem didn't seem phased by Veger's anger, "unless you think you can actually count on that foolish boy, his evil sister, and their pets!"
"A long time ago, back when I became the leader of my order, the Precursors told me that Laughter held the key," Seem stated, causing Veger to raise an eyebrow at her, almost as if he thought she was going insane due to the time she spent out in the desert, "At first I didn't understand what they were talking about... now, after meeting their representative, I understand what they were trying to tell me."
Veger glared at Seem for a moment, as if trying to come up with something that could counter what she had said, before he finally turned around and walked out of the area that they were in. Seem appeared to smile for a moment, making Jak and Pinkie wonder if she had made up that line to get the Count to leave the sacred place, before she turned to the statue and bowed her head a tiny bit. Seem then turned around and departed from the chamber, though Jak and Pinkie waited for a few minutes, and the sound of the door closing, before they emerged from their hiding spot.
"Why are the catacombs so important?" Jak wondered out loud, because sometimes that was the best was for them to come up with ideas and guess at why something was so important, before another thought came to mind, "And what did Seem mean when she mentioned that 'Laughter held the key'? Is there some sort of Precursor artifact that's called Laughter... because if so I don't know if its worth getting our hands on it."
"Jak, Pinkie, the platform in front of us is glowing," Daxter commented, to which he gestured to the raised platform that was resting in front of the statue, the same one that they had been staring at when they entered the large chamber that they were in.
Jak and Pinkie looked at the statue and the glowing platform for a few seconds, as it appeared that something wanted them to step onto the platform, to which they walked forward and decided to see what the statue had to tell them... though once they were actually on the platform the statue's eyes opened with a blue light in their centers.
"Greetings, great warriors." the statue intoned, its voice echoing like all of the other Precursor oracles that had spoken to them over the years, to which Jak and Pinkie braced themselves for whatever it had to tell them, "Your return brings us great hope. This planet's future is at a critical juncture. The Dark Ones have found your world again, and fate hangs in the balance where the past and the future collide."
"Great, so Seem wasn't kidding when she mentioned that the planet was in danger," Daxter moaned, because he had been hoping that the monk's warning about the Day Star had been meant to spook them, though now it appeared that he was incorrect in his thinking.
"You will need all the power you can muster," the statue continued, actually surprising the group due to the fact that it had actually let Daxter speak instead of cutting him off, which made them all wonder if something different was going to happen this time around, "however, the Darkness inside two of you is out of balance. Allow us to restore that balance... and grant you both the power of the Light."
Jak and Pinkie found themselves being lifted into the air by a pair of Light Eco beams, to which Daxter and Raven jumped onto the ground and watched them with a look of curiosity in their eyes, as they were interested in whatever abilities the two of them were going to receive. Jak could feel the Light enter his body and wrap itself around the Dark Eco that he had been carrying in him since the Baron's experiments, though at the same time he actually felt a better than he had been in months. It was like the Light Eco was undoing some of the torment and anger that he had latched onto when he was being experimented on, allowing him to be kinder and more friendly, like he had been before he and the others entered the Rift Gate all those years ago.
Pinkie felt her own Darkness being balanced by the glorious Light, though even as that happened she felt some ancient memories stir in her head, but she paid no attention to them at the moment, because there was something else that the Light was latching onto. Something else, locked away deep inside her body, had been keeping her bound up and locked in place, but as the tendrils started to burn, however, she found herself becoming whole once more. It was an odd feeling, as she had some pain on her legs and feet, her spine, and on the top of her head, though the Light simply comforted her and told her that everything would be okay.
When the light faded, and Jak touched the floor again, he glanced over at Pinkie and draw a breath, because it appeared that taking in the Light Eco had changed her once more, as that had been something that none of them had been expecting to happen. Pinkie's feet had changed into hooves, with the leg structure to match no less, though oddly enough the coloration of her skin had shifted into a pink color, one that was lighter than her hair color. In addition to that there was a tail growing out of her spine, as if it belonged there and had been there her entire life, though the tail had the same fluffed up nature as her hair. The last thing Jak noticed were Pinkie's ears, as they were now poking out of her hair like a horse's ears, though they twitched every now and then as his sister opened her eyes and looked at herself.
In a few seconds Jak could tell that Pinkie was confused by what she was seeing, as it was something that she hadn't been expecting, though oddly enough she wasn't screaming or shouting at the statue to turn her back to normal.
"Wh... what happened to me?" Pinkie asked, though at the same time she hugged her new tail, almost as if she was reuniting with an old friend, and Jak watched as her ears indicated that she was happy.
"We have restored a fraction of your former self," the statue spoke up, causing the group to look at it for another moment, though at the same time Pinkie nodded, "In time you will know why this has come to pass, but for now you should return to your friends and aid them once more."
Jak had no idea what was even going on with Pinkie anymore, but at the same time he decided that it was time he stopped trying to make sense of what she did and what all the types of Eco did when she connected with them. So his sister was actually part pony, according to what the statue was trying to make them believe, so he was just going to have to accept that fact and move on with his life. They still had to stop the Day Star from bringing about the end of the world, so he grabbed Pinkie and headed towards the warp gate that was near them, where they jumped through it and returned to the entrance of the temple once more.
Once they were back above ground they walked out to where the Dune Hopper was waiting for them, climbed back into their seats, and headed back towards Spargus... because they were sure that Damas would be very interested to hear about their latest discoveries.
On the way back to Spargus Jak discovered that both Daxter and Raven's attention was on Pinkie at the moment, as they both were studying the changes that had happened to Pinkie's body and were coming up with reasons why she looked like this. Daxter was the one that was coming up with all the weird ideas, as he suggested that Pinkie could have been one of the Precursors and had been tasked with aiding Jak without him knowing it, which Jak countered immediately, as it felt stupid for the statue to reveal Pinkie's 'true' nature and sabotage her 'mission'. Besides the outlandish Precursor theory, which would never work in Jak's mind, the other one that Daxter was fond of was the one where he suggested that Pinkie was an inhabitant of another world and had been brought here for a grand adventure.
Eventually Jak decided to ignore his best friend, because while he was curious about what had happened to his sister he needed to keep his focus on the desert in front of them... and that included shooting down the brigands that were still trying to blow them up.
When they arrived in the garage they found that Kleiver was nowhere in sight, meaning that he either had another assignment or something major had happened while they were away, though to be on the safe side they decided that it was time to check in with Damas and see what their next mission was. As they entered the city, however, they found that the people of Spargus were running around, carrying boxes and crates with them, which made them wonder what was happening and knew what they had to do next. Jak and Pinkie quickly made their way to the elevator that would take them to Damas' chamber, which surprised Jak by how well his sister could move with her new legs and hooves, before they rode up to where Jak's father was likely waiting.
As the elevator came to a stop, however, they immediately spotted Damas standing near the throne, though it appeared that he was getting ready to use what looked like a fully functional PA system, so he could announce something to the entirety of Spargus.
"Attention all people of Spargus," Damas loudly said, to which Jak and Pinkie heard his voice coming from outside the chamber as well, indicating that this was definitely something major and that they would likely be needed to help someone out, "A large storm is heading our way! Prepare the city!"
Jak waited until his father was done announcing his message to the entire population of Spargus, and had sent the communicator down on the throne behind him, before he and Pinkie approached the throne, though at the same time he decided to wait and see what his father had to tell them.
"Jak, it is good to see that you and the others are alright, despite some obvious changes, but you'll have to tell me what happened later," Damas said, to which Jak and Pinkie nodded their heads, as this was what they had been waiting for since they entered the chamber, because they had known that something would have demanded their attention and they had been proven right, "There are four Wastelanders out there who still have not reported in, so I want you and Pinkie to go out and find them. Do whatever it takes to bring them back!"
"Give us their coordinates and we'll be sure to pick them up," Jak replied, though at the same time he and Pinkie, along with Daxter and Raven, rode the elevator back down to the streets of Spargus.
From there Jak and Pinkie quickly made their way back to the garage, where they both hopped into the Sand Shark, with Jak as the driver, before speeding out of the garage and started their search for the missing Wastelanders. It was times like this that Jak was thankful for the fact that all of Kleiver's buggies had the same radar in all of them, as it happened to be picking up the four locations of their targets. As they raced through the desert, and followed the signals that the radar was getting, Jak and Pinkie opened fire on the brigands that were chasing them, where Jak focused on using the Sand Shark's guns and Pinkie made use of her Eco-based attacks.
Daxter, once again, remarked how odd it was for Pinkie to have absorbed the Morph Gun and its modifications, and still use their abilities as if she was actually using the gun, but he was happy to have her along for the ride.
When they found the first Wastelander, who was standing next to a rock wall, Pinkie climbed out of her seat, pretty much offering it to the person they had come to save, before she put her goggles over her eyes and climbed onto the top of the buggy, where she laid done and let Jak continue towards the waiting transport. Thanks to her control over Eco Pinkie was able to make it so she could stay attached to the top of the Sand Shark, allowing her to shoot at any enemies that were coming from behind Jak if she wanted, though she mainly used it for looking out for the other Wastelanders. The second one was standing at the bottom of a hill, close to the edge of the water as Jak and Pinkie soon discovered, though he was extremely grateful for the aid and climbed into the open seat.
After dropping him off jak moved them around and made their way to the third Wastelander, who was standing by a rock wall that was positioned between two broken bridge pieces, and made sure that he was safe before hunting down the fourth and final missing Wastelander. When they reached the location on their radar, and climbed out to see what was up, they found that the Wastelander in question was dead and that he had been holding onto a Dark Eco Crystal when he died... though as Jak took it, however, one of the Dark Precursor constructs, like the first one they had seen, jumped out of the sand and attacked them.
This construct preferred to float in the air, protected by a force field of sorts, and tried to trap them beneath it so it could impale one of them with the pointed end of its bottom, though as it pierced the ground it remained stuck like that for a few moments and dropped its force field. Pinkie immediately noticed this and started loosing shots from her hands, while Jak pulled out the Blaster Mod and opened fire as well, to which they forced the construct into the air and forced it to restore its shield. When the construct tried to do the same thing a second time, however, Jak and Pinkie avoided the attack again, but this time around their opponent summoned two tendril like items from its body to prevent them from getting close to it. That didn't stop them from firing at the construct, forcing it back into the air for a third time and causing it to attempt the same thing again, but as it struck the ground again Pinkie summoned her Dark Eco scythe from her bracelet and started swinging at the construct.
Jak simply watched as his sister used her more sinister weapon to carve up the Dark Precursor construct, scattering the pieces of the construct all around her, before the thing exploded... though Pinkie was unfazed by the explosion and returned her weapon to the bracelet.
Once the construct was taken care of, and Jak made sure that he had the Dark Eco Crystal, he and Pinkie pulled the dead Wastelander into the buggy and made their way towards where the transport was waiting for them, so that way the people of Spargus could have a body to bury when the storm was over. When the body was dropped off they got underway and started their journey back towards Spargus, while at the same time trying to avoid the danger that the storm, and the sand around them, posed to their well being. It didn't take them long to reach Spargus, even with the brigands trying to shoot them down like they always do, though when they entered the garage the door closed behind them and seemed to lock for the moment.
Jak and Pinkie then made their way to one of the holding areas, where they could rest and wait for the storm to be over, though an hour or two later the older Wastelanders told everyone that the storm was over and that they could go back to what they were doing before the storm had hit... to which they made their way towards the large gun that was near where they met Seem, as they heard that Kleiver was looking for them near that location.
"Isn't it time for you ankle-biters' naps?" Kleiver asked, though at the same time he chuckled, as if he found something interesting about what he had just said.
"Careful there, Raven and I can easily access your ankles," Daxter replied, to which he glared at the overweight Wastelander, still surprised that the man was much larger than everyone else in the city despite the amount of work everyone had to do while staying in the city, "and among the two of us, however, Raven can easily bite your ankles... and I wouldn't advise letting him do that, otherwise he might take a liking to your taste."
"Anyway, that gun turret used to be the only thing that stood between us and the desert's cruel kiss." Kleiver said, glancing away from Raven, and his wicked looking grin, and focusing on Jak for a moment, "I used to be the tall poppy on that baby! Want to try to beat me score?"
"Oh, don't worry," Pinkie stated, to which she also grinned at Kleiver, who chose to ignore her for the moment, which meant that she and her powers scared him, "Jak will beat your score in no time... so you had best be prepared to hand over whatever the trophy is, once he's done with the challenge anyway."
Jak smiled as he climbed up the ladder and jumped into the gun, to which Pinkie, Raven, and Kleiver watched as he started firing at all of the practice targets that appeared on his radar. From what Pinkie could tell there were three colored targets, disks she mentally corrected herself, that her brother had to shoot down in order to get any sort of points; an orange one, a blue one, and a green one. Based on Kleiver's reactions Pinkie determined that the orange colored disks were worth the least amount of points, while the blue colored ones were worth more than the orange ones, and the green ones, which there was a smaller number of, were worth more than the previous two.
Jak made sure to shoot down every disk that was launched at the turret, where he only stopped firing once he had been told that he had broken Kleiver's score, to which he climbed out of the turret and headed back down to where an annoyed Kleiver was standing.
"So, you nippers walloped me score." Kleiver said, clearly doing his best to contain his anger at his score being beaten, though at the same time he held something in his hand, something that Jak recognized, "Fine. The top poppy has to be snipped sometime. Law of the land says the top gunner holds a special trophy in honor of their skill. This crystal's yours now, but I'll be getting it back soon enough!"
Jak happily accepted the Light Eco Crystal and let Kleiver wander away from where they were standing, because that meant that they had another crystal and were a little more prepared for what was coming their way. Seem would be happy with their progress, in collecting the two types of crystals and solving the Precursor trials, but their recent success made Jak wonder when he and Pinkie would be called into the arena again... and what sort of test his father would throw at them.
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.
As Ashelin departed from the oasis, and headed back towards Haven so she could deal with the war effort, Jak and Pinkie salvaged whatever ammunition they could from the slain brigands, as a good portion of the ammunition had been destroyed when Raven crushed the buggies in his true form. When they gathered everything that they could find, and were sure that they were leaving nothing behind, they climbed back into the Sand Shark and headed back towards Spargus' garage. Their plan was to switch vehicles, where they would return the one they were in and take the Dune Hopper out, and head back to the temple that the Precursor statue was located in, though Jak suspected that he knew exactly where to use his seal.
He thought back to when Pinkie used the Dark Idol to turn invisible and destroy some drones that had been guarding a button, though on right of the entrance they walked through was the same symbol that was on his seal, which had been on the door that lead them to the Light Tower when they were looking for the Tomb of Mar. All they had to do was reach the temple, find their way back towards the room he was thinking about, and he was sure that they would find another pathway for them to take... and likely another power at the end of it.
It took some time, and a lot more dead brigands, before Jak and Pinkie reached the entrance of the temple, where they climbed out of the Dune Hopper and started walking towards the pathway that they had walked down the last time they had been here. As they waited for the door to open Jak pulled out his Morph Gun and prepared himself, while at the same time Pinkie seemed ready as well, or as ready as she could be considering that her gun was practically merged with her bracelet. When the door opened, and they walked passed it, they found some Metal Head wasps flying around the area in front of them, though their enemies were easily put down with a single well aimed blast from their Blaster Mods, allowing them to progress down the path in front of them.
A few moments later they passed by the Dark Eco Vent that they had seen the last time they had passed through the area, along with Pinkie and Raven gathering a few bits of Eco to replenish what they had spent during their battle with the brigands, before they approached the door that Jak had spotted... to which he waved the seal in front of it for a few seconds and the door opened, revealing another path for them to take.
"Now we're getting somewhere." Jak commented, while at the same time stashing his seal back in his pouch and primed his gun, because there was no telling what was coming up next.
"That's the ticket!" Daxter exclaimed, because he was glad that they were actually making progress this time around, as it had been getting dull just wandering around Spargus while they waited for something to happen.
Once they crossed the threshold they discovered a few more Metal Head wasps flying near the ceiling of the passage they were in, to which Jak and Pinkie shot them down and moved deeper into the temple. Not a few seconds later they discovered a large chamber that was filled with neck-deep water that covered most of the floor, reminding them of what they had seen in the Tomb of Mar. They also discovered various motes of light that were scattered around the chamber, marked with the same colors as the symbol above the door on the opposite end of the chamber. Pinkie spotted several more passages that looked like they could only be accessible by something like the jet-board, which meant that Jak would be the only one to take on the challenge that was in front of them.
Jak, determining the same thing that Pinkie had been thinking about, pulled out the jet-board and jumped forward, to which he and Daxter passed through the very first mote of light and let it pass into the symbol above the door. Jak then maneuvered around the chamber, following the various paths and performing a number of tricks that he hadn't used in a long time. Pinkie, on the other hand, watched as several strands of energy flew through the air and passed into the symbol, though at the same time she smiled as she observed her brother and his tricks... until he collected what appeared to be the last mote of energy. The door opened and Jak used the jet-board to reach the opening, though when he turned back towards her Pinkie used some of her Dark Eco to shift through the shadows and appear next to him.
She only used this technique when she really needed it, because it did drain a large amount of Dark Eco and her energy, but this time around she was fine, which she attributed to the Light Eco inside her now, to which she and Jak continued deeper into the temple. They followed the passage in front of them and quickly noticed a Light Eco Vent resting in a small chamber before the Precursor statue, allowing Pinkie to restore her energy once more before they approached the large statue... or rather a different face of the statue anyway.
"We meet again, great warriors, but sadly your coming may be too late." the statue spoke up, though at the same time Jak and Pinkie stopped on the platform in front of it while Daxter and Raven jumped down to the floor, "You will soon meet the seed of our downfall. It approaches quickly, and I fear we no longer have the power to resist. Allow us to use what little power we have to grant you another power of the Light."
Jak and Pinkie stood there for a moment as they waited for the Eco energy to fade away, though even when it disappeared they both knew that their new ability was an interesting one. Jak rubbed his hands together, allowing the Light Eco to awaken inside him, before he brought both of them together above his head and clapped them, unleashing a wave of energy that seemed to slow everything down... while at the same time allowing him to move at his normal speed. He let the ability fade away and smiled at the others as Daxter climbed back onto his shoulder, to which he did the ability again and slowed down the nearby spinning platforms, allowing him to traverse them with ease. When he appeared on the other side of the path they needed to take, to get back to the surface, time resumed and it was clearly Pinkie's turn to test out her new ability... to which she clapped her hands and then suddenly appeared next to him, indicating that she had used the skill.
As they continued forward, however, Pinkie knew that the Light Eco had done more to her than what Jak realized, because she was sure that there were memories surfacing, ones that she had no idea what to do with them, up until Pinkamena spoke up and said that she would take care of them. She was shocked that her dark side was sticking around, especially with all the Light Eco abilities she had now, but it appeared that she was stuck with Pinkamena... though she was thankful that her darker nature was only a voice in her head.
They passed through another hallway that required the use of the jet-board, though this time around Pinkie simply used her teleportation ability to follow her brother until he reached the end of the area, which was when they came to a chamber that had three spinning blade puzzles. Jak and Pinkie looked at each other for a moment, because this was clearly a set of puzzles that were designed to test their Flash Freeze skill they had picked up from the statue, though it was Pinkie's name for the ability and Jak didn't care what they called it. The two of them took turns maneuvering through the spinning blades, using their new ability while they crossed the room they were in three times... before they arrived at a stone bridge that looked like it was about ready to collapse.
Jak and Pinkie looked at each other for a moment, where they grinned as they thought up the same idea, to which they gathered their Light Eco and clapped their hands, though they did so in the manner of giving each other a high five. Time slowed once more, allowing Jak and Pinkie to begin their charge across the ruined bridge, though after some time the stones started falling towards the lower area that they were passing over. They managed to reach the large door on the other side of the area they were in before the bridge completely collapsed, to which they discovered an elevator that was patiently waiting for someone to use it.
"So, do we have any idea where that's going to take us?" Daxter commented, staring at the elevator for a few seconds, because it was really the only thing they could look at considering that the bridge was taken out and the rest of the room was in a state of ruin.
"No, but I'm hoping to a Warp Gate that will take us back to the Dune Hopper," Jak replied, to which he stepped onto the elevator and turned towards his sister, who followed after him a few seconds later."
The group waited for a few seconds before the elevator started to lower itself towards whatever the next level was, while at the same time allowing Jak and Pinkie to consider what they had gotten themselves into this time around. When the elevator came to a stop, however, they found themselves in what appeared to be some sort of Precursor station, as there was a vehicle waiting for someone to use it. As they looked around they noticed that there was a lot of Precursor alloy sitting on the walls with blue lights coming out of them, making them all wonder what this place could have been when the ancient race was still wandering the planet.
They took a few seconds to observe the area around them, as they were a little bit fascinated by what they were seeing, though they also came to a stop when they approached the vehicle that was clearly waiting for them.
"It looks just like the catacombs we saw in Haven City." Jak commented, beckoning to the area around them, with all of the Precursor alloy everywhere, before he turned his attention to the massive tunnel that had been carved into the earth, "But where do they go?"
"There you are!" a voice proclaimed, to which Pecker appeared behind the group with a grin on his face, though Jak and Daxter were surprised to see him again, especially since they didn't tell Damas that they were heading to this location, "Ah, I am so squawking happy I found you."
"Look, Jak got his seal back." Daxter stated, pulling the seal out and waving it in front of Pecker's face, almost as if he was expecting it to lock Pecker's mouth or something, "And it opens doors!"
"Onin told me that we must get back to Haven City." Pecker declared, apparently not caring about what Daxter was saying or what he was doing, while at the same time he took a moment to stare into Jak's eyes, "She said that the catacombs are the key to the planet's very survival!"
"Question," Raven commented, causing Pecker to look at him for a moment, though due to the fact that Pecker knew about his true form he wasn't wearing an annoyed expression at all, "how do you know Onin told you this? We haven't see you talking with anyone, or a communicator for that matter, since we arrived in Spargus... and I'm fairly sure that your wings would have fallen off if you tried to fly back to Haven from the Wastelands."
"That would be because he's telepathic," Pinkie replied, to which the group turned and looked at her for a moment, while at the same time Pecker's jaw dropped, "What? I know that Pecker's been around Onin for a long time, long enough to recognize what she's saying when she's weaving her signs in the air, but all that exposure to her Eco energy had to have rubbed off on him. How else would he know exactly what she said when he hasn't been anywhere near her?"
This was one of those times where Jak simply nodded his head and accepted what his sister was saying, because she had said something ridiculous when they had seen that face on the Metal Head communicator some time ago. Sometimes Pinkie was right about what she was talking about, which made her smile to no end, and even when she was wrong she still found the time to be happy about being wrong, especially when the person told her the truth. Pecker, on the other hand, coughed and declared that it did not matter how he knew what Onin had told him, indicating that they had better get a move on.
Jak waved his seal in front of the vehicle and brought it to life, to which everyone climbed into it and let him start driving them through the tunnel that the Precursors had made so long ago. He maneuvered them through the tunnel, feeling the controls respond better than the buggies and the zoomers, while at the same time dealing with the various mines that had been left in their path. It took some time to reach the end of the track, especially with how long the tunnel was, but when they did reach the end Jak made sure to pull the vehicle to a stop and parked it, because they never knew when they would be along this path again in the future.
It was at that point that another Precursor, like the one that had revealed itself after Metal Kor's defeat, phased into existence in front of them, to which Jak and Pinkie wondered what Light Eco ability they would be getting this time around.
"You show promise, great warriors, but your bravery will not protect you from the foes you must soon face." the Precursor told them, while at the same time extending a hand towards them and allowing the Light Eco to watch over them once more, "Use this Light power to help in your quest. It is what little we have left to offer."
As the Precursor faded away Jak and Pinkie watched as a Light Eco sphere, a shield Pinkie realized, phased into existence around the two of them, meaning that they could negate some damage in the off chance that they were overwhelmed by their enemies... though once they knew what the ability was they cancelled it and headed towards the elevator that was in front of them. They had no idea where they were at the moment, but right now they knew that they were on the track to returning to Haven City and the war that they had been forced to leave behind.
Once Jak and Pinkie had a chance to test out their new Light Eco Shield ability, and had a brief look around the area that they were in, Pecker insisted that they continue forward and lead them right to an elevator that took them up another tunnel. They waited for a few seconds, watching the opening above them get closer and closer before they came to a stop and were allowed to see what the area around them was like, where they found two more Precursor stone statues staring down at them. They then followed the path that was in front of them, rounding the corner and discovering a Light Eco Vent, before the two of them climbed up some stone steps and found themselves in what appeared to be a massive mine... one that Pinkie remembered from what Ashelin had told her about when she first started living in the Haven Palace.
"It looks like some kind of old Eco mine." Jak commented, looking around them for a moment, noticing a large door to their far right that appeared to be the way forward, which meant that they would have to destroy it with something, "When Mar built Haven City, he must have carved out these old caves to get at the Eco power."
"You know, I'm getting the feeling that Mar didn't sleep much," Daxter said, also taking a moment to look around the area, where he spotted several new enemies waiting for them on the path they needed to take, "especially if he made something like this... in addition to the entirety of Haven City."
"I'm going ahead to tell Onin we're back." Pecker stated, flying ahead and departing from the group, as he didn't want to be in this area anymore than what was necessary, "Watch your tail feathers, Jak, Pinkie! This is a spooky place."
As Pecker departed from the area, however, Jak and Pinkie took a moment to gather some of the ammunition from the nearby crates, before Daxter pointed at the raised bridge that was in front of them. Jak, deciding to see if Daxter was right, raised his gun and blasted the bridge, to which the metallic bridge actually lowered into place and allowed them to move onto the next area. Jak quickly praised Daxter's quick thinking, to which his friend smiled for a moment, before he and Pinkie crossed over the bridge and started firing at the flying type of Metal Heads that were in front of them, finding that their new enemies needed a few shots before they fell.
Pinkie also fired at the enemies that were on the walls above them, causing them to fall to the ground and allowing her and her brother to take them out in the process. Jak once again thought about how nice it was to have someone watching his back, because if he missed something Pinkie would likely find whatever that something was and put it down, or Daxter and Raven would do the same thing. As they walked forward they lowered the two bridges that were in front of them, and took out the flying enemies that were guarding them, before they stopped in front of the large metal door that was blocking their path forward.
The interesting thing was that there was a set of rails that went off into the distance, leading Jak and Pinkie to wonder if there were any explosives leftover from when the mine was in operation, which they could use to blow the door wide open and get them into the city.
"Hey Pinkie," Daxter said, causing Pinkie to look at him for a moment, to which he beckoned to the door that was in front of them for a moment, "Do you think that your Dark Eco abilities might be able to cut through the door?"
"Its possible, but I think we should search the area," Pinkie replied, knowing that they shouldn't rely on her strange Dark Eco abilities, especially since they clearly had a way to take the door out, before she pointed at a path behind them, "I'm sure that we can find something helpful down this path... and a way to open the door at the same time."
They followed the path that Pinkie had spotted and climbed down until they were on an old elevator, which was smaller than the ones they had ridden on in the Precursor tunnel, before it lowered them to an area that required them to lower another bridge. From that point they opened fire on the Metal Heads that were in front of them, the ones that walked on four legs, the flying ones they had just encountered, and the ones that walked on the walls, as they followed the path in front of them. The siblings rounded another corner and came to an area where three more beast Metal Heads guarding a bridge they needed to lower, to which they dealt with their enemies and shot the bridge into place... where they took another elevator up to another pathway.
From that point they continued along the path they had been following, taking out a trio of enemies as they passed by two electric poles that clearly formed an electric barrier, indicating that it was either for defense or for something else, but they paid it no mind as they moved onward. They continued their assault on the enemies that were in front of them, while at the same time jumping over some platforms and crossing a slightly open area, before they passed by another set of electric poles and descended once more. The two of them took out another trio of enemies, rode an elevator downwards for a few seconds, and then lowered a bridge into place so they could continue forward. When they reached the lower area they found another group of enemies standing in front of an elevator that would no doubt take them even deeper into the area they were in... to which they eliminated their enemies and rode the elevator to their next destination.
The area they came to was a lift that would take them a short distance ahead of where they were standing and a Light Eco Vent, which they didn't need to use at the moment, to which Jak and Pinkie simply climbed onto the small lift and rode it over to the area in front of them.
When the lift arrived in the area they were heading towards Jak and Pinkie used the Scatter Mod of their weapons and took out the dog like enemies that were waiting for them, which were easy to take out with a single shot, before they spotted a red rat like creature that stared at them for a few seconds. Daxter and Raven seized the opportunity that presented itself and jumped down to where the creature was standing, where they guided it into a metallic wheel that was nearby. When the creature started running, as if it knew that they wanted it to do, the lights in front of them turned on as a walkway, made up of three platforms, moved out from its holding area and connected them to the next area they had to walk through.
The two of them the opened fire on the aggressive group of dog creatures that were in front of them, allowing them to clear the way towards another metallic wheel and another rat creature, which also powered up another set of platforms for them to use. They followed the ramps that were in front of them and made sure to eliminate all of the enemies, be they the flying enemies or the dog creatures, before they came to yet another area that had a metallic wheel. Once again the pipe that the rat creatures came out of was located across from the wheel, to which they simply picked up the rat creature and placed him inside the wheel, bringing power to the entire area... where they discovered that the next platforms they had to cross over happened to be on top of moving drills.
It took Jak and Pinkie a few minutes to cross over the obstacle that was in front of them, as they had to time their jumps in order to prevent themselves from falling into the darkness below them, but they were able to cross over without anything happening to them. Once they finished crossing the gap they used their Scatter Mods once more and eliminated the dog creatures that were waiting for them, allowing them to simply pick up the rat creature and drop him into the wheel that was in the area. The power up turned on a spinning wheel, which had two platforms, though Jak and Pinkie took turns riding the contraption so they could reach the next part of the area they were in, while at the same time blasting their enemies before they had a chance to fight back.
They then rode a second spinning contraption to another part of the area that had a pair of ramps, to which they simply repeated the process of eliminating all of the enemies that were around them, including around the metallic wheel, before they started searching for the rat creature. This time, however, the rat creatures exited a pipe that was at the bottom of the ramps, to which Pinkie simply walked down there, picked one up, carried it back to the wheel, and set it down in the area that it was supposed to be in, allowing it to start running and bring power to the area. The two of them then jumped over the platforms that would take them to the next part of the area they were in, where on their right they spotted what appeared to be the end of the rails they had seen earlier... though in front of them rested another piece of Mar's armor, the leg pieces to be exact.
Once Jak had equipped the armor, and Pinkie mentally pouted over how she had nothing that resembled armor, the siblings ventured into the modern area and started looking for anything that they could use to blow the large door open... until Pinkie flipped a switch, which grabbed onto a cart that was full of explosives and brought it over to a platform that eventually raised itself back to the main track. From that point on Jak and Pinkie had to retrace their steps, following the cart and shooting at the lowered sections of the rail in order to realign them, though after some time the siblings managed to get ahead of the cart. Jak and Pinkie were able to get to the last target, which was in front of the large door they had seen earlier, long before the cart even arrived, to which they watched as the cart collided with the door and blew it open... allowing them to access another platform which would take them into the city, at some point anyway.
They rode down the short tunnel that the elevator was supposed to go down and passed through a more modern door, where they walked out into what appeared to be an arena of sorts... though as their bridge collapsed behind them they spotted Count Veger standing by the other entrance.
"The monks told me you were coming through the Precursor subrails." Veger commented, staring at Jak and Pinkie with a look of hatred in his eyes, though at the same time they had to wonder if that was because of the Dark Eco inside them or the fact that Seem favored them more than him, "Interesting aren't they? The Precursors used them to build the world countless eons ago. The rail system leads deep into the planet where it's said the ancient ones wait to bestow unimaginable powers upon the worthy. I will save the world with that power, just as Mar did!"
"You mean like my sister and I have been doing since we started our adventures?" Jak asked, though at the same time he pulled out his Morph Gun and made sure that it was on the Blaster setting, as the moment Veger's guard was lowered he intended to kill the man before he escaped.
"You may have 'saved' the day, but you couldn't be more mistaken, dear boy." Veger replied, indicating that he truly believed that Jak and Pinkie had made up the story about defeating the Metal Head Leader, "We're on a time clock, Jak! That light in the sky, do you know what it is?"
"Ooh, is it an interplanetary vehicle of some sort?" Pinkie inquired, once again using her ability to say random things, some of which actually making sense when people stopped to consider what she had said, to stop Veger for a moment, "One that's likely carrying the enemies of the Precursors, who are coming back here so they can transform the planet in their own image? I mean, I'm assuming that is what the Precursors have been warning us about... and they aren't going to be giving you any powers, Veger, because they've been giving them to us."
"And what a poor choice they made, considering that you're full of Dark Eco!" Veger snapped, causing Jak and Pinkie to raise their eyebrows for a moment, because this was the first time, besides Daxter's annoyance with the ancient beings, had outright said that the Precursors made a bad choice, "The two of you, and both of your rats, are an abomination! But I will rid the planet of this scourge soon enough... especially since I went through the effort to attack the palace myself and gain quick access to the catacombs."
"Uh, excuse me Count Vulgar..." Daxter started to say, while at the same time purposely saying the wrong name just to piss their opponent off, as he knew that they could get a good shot if he stood in the same spot for a few more seconds.
"It's Veger!" Veger snapped, indicating that he was annoyed with Daxter, but at the same time he made no moves to walk over to where the group was standing and do anything to them.
"Yeah, whatever." Daxter commented, proving that he really didn't care for the man, which Jak and Pinkie were feeling thanks to the news, before he stared at their target, "What's to stop us from preventing your departure? Because we have two Eco Warriors ready to kick your tail and send you screaming into the abyss."
"This will stop you in your tracks." Veger shouted, to which he held his cane up and the gem at the top started glowing, to which the Precursor robot that was above him awoke from its slumber and floated to the area in front of the group, "Behold! I now command the very power of the ancient ones! And this time, the Precursors will not have mercy on you."
Pinkie grinned as she noticed the large shadow that the Precursor robot was creating on the ground in front of her and Jak, to which she summoned her scythe and started hacking at the shadow, to which gashes started forming in the robot's body and caused Veger to stall for a moment. Pinkie had, in the time before she and Jak were banished from Haven, created a few abilities that utilized Dark Eco, though this one only worked if the opponent was larger than she was and produced a large shadow. The Precursor robot, fulfilling both of those conditions, made the perfect target for her Shadow Play ability, as every cut she made to the shadow appeared on the robot... before she drove the head of her weapon into the heart and forced the robot to explode, causing Veger to flee with his tail between his legs.
The only thing left of the robot were two equally sized pieces that were actually upgrades for the Vulcan section of the Morph Gun, for a modification called the Arc Wielder, though Pinkie happily created a new blue bead on her bracelet as Jak upgraded his weapon... before they passed through the door that Veger had fled through and wondered what havoc they could cause now that they were pretty much back in Haven City.
After defeating the Precursor Robot, and collecting their weapon upgrades, Jak and Pinkie made their way towards the elevator that Veger had used to escape from them, to which they simply rode it up to wherever it was supposed to take them. A few moments later the elevator came to a stop and they walked through the door when it opened, to which they discovered that the part of the city that was in front of them was where they had used the elevator to access the Palace when the Baron was in power. The place was a complete ruin, which made sense considering that the Palace had been destroyed by Veger, though that didn't stop them from worrying about the situation of the war... especially since they had been forced to leave it behind when Veger had them exiled.
After a few minutes of staring at the destruction, however, Raven noticed that more of the smaller Metal Heads, the scorpion class, were coming at them with the intent to hurt them, to which the group moved in the opposite direction... where they eventually made their way towards an Eco barrier that separated the section of the city they were in from another section, one that wasn't ruined like the one they were in.
"Jak, Pinkie, over here!" a voice said, to which the siblings noticed that two people were standing on the other side of the Eco barrier, people that they both recognized immediately.
"Samos! Keira!" Jak stated, clearly happy to see them again, especially since the last time they had seen them was when they were being escorted to the dropship, to be taken out to the Wasteland.
"See Keira, I knew I could feel Jak and Pinkie's energy... especially with how strange Pinkie's felt," Samos commented, to which Keira nodded, though the group could tell that she was happy to see them, before Samos observed the changes that had happened to Pinkie, "What happened to you Pinkie?"
"Oh, nothing much," Pinkie replied, though at the same time she twirled her hand and allowed her scythe to manifest, but while she spun it around for a few seconds she discovered six small crystals on the blade of her weapon, which seemed to represent the other colors of Eco she had acquired, "We visited a Precursor temple and the Precursors gifted me with this form and some additional powers... Light Eco powers I might add."
"I... I see." Samos said, though it was clear that he wasn't sure what to make of what Pinkie had just told him, before he shook his head and focused on what he had to tell them, "Those passageways below the Palace, they must be terribly important. The Metal Heads and KG robots are advancing toward them, and we can't hold out forever... and these force fields won't hold out forever."
"Veger's the one who attacked the Palace!" Daxter stated, his earlier hatred for the Count returning, especially since he had tried to kill them a few minutes ago, "He said he was looking for something below... something in the catacombs."
"Well, you're just going to have to find whatever it is before he does!" Samos said, tapping his staff on the ground, indicating that their tasks were important, "But first the four of you need to find another way into this section of the city. Take the sewers into the Port, then find a way north to reach us. And Jak, Pinkie, we're sorry for what happened. We should have stopped Veger."
"Its okay," Pinkie replied, to which she turned her scythe back into Eco and looked at Samos and Keira, who were clearly a little shocked by what she had done, "Being banished has given us a better understanding of what we face... and now we know what the price of failure will be."
"Jak, Pinkie," Keira said, speaking up for the first time since they had reunited, meaning that she had been blaming herself for something and was only now getting the courage to talk again, "Please be careful."
Jak and Pinkie nodded to Keira, indicating that they would be as safe as their enemies allowed them to be, before they turned around and headed back into the ruined district that they had walked into. Jak determined that using the Scatter Mod was perfect for the small enemies that were in front of them, to which he and his sister moved forward as they searched for a door that could take them down into the sewers or something similar to that area. It didn't take them long to find the door they were searching for and take the elevator down to the only other level it could travel to, where they walked out into a part of the sewers that they hadn't been in before.
As they observed their surroundings several of the flying Metal Heads, the ones with some sort of jetpack, flew in and started to shoot at them, to which Jak and Pinkie retaliated with their own Blaster Mods. As they shot down their enemies the siblings made their way around the pathway that was on their left, eventually coming to an area that required the jet-board to access. Jak was able to get up there with no problems, though that's to Pinkie's new abilities she was able to get up there as well, which meant that she likely didn't need her own jet-board anymore, before the two of them moved further into the sewers.
They followed the pathway towards a door that revealed a group of enemies, which almost looked like the crocadog that had been following the younger Jak, though when they finished their foes off Jak used the jet-board to reach the other side of the pipe like tunnel they had discovered... only to find Pinkie step out of the shadows when he finally reached the end of the area, which had water that reached their ankles.
The two of them then dealt with the dog like enemies that were around them, along with some Metal Heads that resembled the ones with lasers in their heads, before the door they needed to pass through opened for them. Jak then found a pipe that only he could cross, thanks to the jet-board, though on the other side he found some fans that would prevent him from going forward. Fortunately the trio of fans were easy to destroy, as all he had to do was fire a few shots at the machines before they broke apart, allowing him to progress once more. He then continued to ride the jet-board to the higher areas, where he found a pipe that would take them further into the sewers, to which he beckoned for Pinkie to join him... where they discovered that it was rather easy to follow the pipe down to the area that Jak had been staring at.
When they reached the lower area Jak and Pinkie let the Reflector blasts fly, allowing all of their attacks to bounce off the walls and hit their targets in the back, though they also noticed that some of them bounced up to the higher area and dealt some damage to the enemies up there. Jak, once again, used the jet-board to access the other side of the area they were in and moved around the platforms, taking out another trio of fans that were impeding his progress, before he reached the part of the area with the ranged Metal Heads. As he took his cover he signaled for Pinkie to join him, though this time he ignored the feeling of her using her ability to walk through the shadows as they both primed their weapons... before they charged out and opened fire.
Fortunately these Metal Heads weren't as smart as Raven, or the Neo Metal Heads for that matter, so Jak and Pinkie were able to make their way through their enemies before they reached another door... where they walked into the middle of the area in front of them, shot down the three enemies that came in to fight them, and then made their way towards yet another door. They discovered an elevator that took them back up towards the higher ground, though when they walked out of the passage they were in they discovered that the part of the city they were in was the port... and to their left was a collapsed part of the Palace. As Jak and Pinkie walked out towards the port they noticed several of the Freedom League guards walking around, though several of them nodded to the siblings as they passed, indicating that they had allies and friends in the new guard.
As they observed the damage that had been caused by Veger's attack on the Palace, and growing even more annoyed with him, the group made their way back to the Naughty Ottsel... where they discovered that it had been turned into a base of some kind, and that Torn was busy at the moment.
"Ah, the Naughty Ottsel." Daxter said, a look of joy appearing on his face, because despite everything they had been through this place was one of his greatest accomplishments, to the people of Haven anyway, "Honey, I'm home!"
"Jak! Pinkie!" Torn said, turning his head towards the door for a moment, finding the siblings approaching him and the communication table he had installed in the middle of the room, "I never thought I'd see you again."
"Torn?! What are you doing to my place?" Daxter asked, though he was only pretending to be annoyed with the man, because at the moment they were at war and he suspected that there was a reason for Torn being here.
"We needed a southern HQ for the war." Torn explained, where he was slightly surprised by how well Daxter was taking the takeover of his bar, but he didn't dwell on that as he turned to Jak and Pinkie, "Listen, I'm sorry we couldn't stop Count Veger. We all are."
"Its okay... we learned some things while we were out in the Wasteland," Jak replied, beckoning to his new armor and Pinkie's new body, noting the surprise on Torn's face when he noticed that Pinkie was apparently part pony, before turning to the topic at hand, "We actually saw Veger about half an hour ago. He's trying to use Precursor technology to defeat the same enemies Pinkie and I will end up fighting... though he's been going about this the wrong way."
"Figures." Torn stated, his tone indicating that he didn't care much for Veger, which was understandable considering he had been behind sending Jak and Pinkie to the Wasteland, right at the start of a war no less, "That guy always was one monk short of a choir. We have bigger problems now. Veger sent me on a suicide attack into the Port and we got cut off. Now we can't get back to Freedom HQ, which means that our forces are divided and the KG and Metal Head fronts are squeezing us from both sides."
"Never fear," Daxter said, taking a bow and beckoned to the others for a moment, while silently hoping that Torn remembered everything they had done for them back when the Baron was in power, "the Trouble Brigade is here!"
"Uh-oh," Torn said, noticing that the communicator they were standing near had brought up a new image, one that Jak and Pinkie recognized almost immediately, "speaking of trouble, we've got incoming Blast Bots from the KG city section. They're heading this way! I'm assuming that the four of you can take care of them?"
"Of course." Raven replied, to which the group immediately headed towards the door, though he had to turn back for a moment, "A quick question; where are the Neo Metal Heads stationed?"
"They were sent here with me," Torn replied, not surprised that Raven would ask about his subjects, as he was their King thanks to the fact that he had defeated his father in combat, "Most of them are busy fighting the Metal Heads, so you might not see them for some time... unless one of them takes a break or comes to report something."
As Jak and Pinkie walked outside the building they both grabbed one of the zoomers that were waiting nearby, as they decided to take one of the three Blast Bots out on their own, allowing Raven to take the third one out on his own. First they determined which one of the three invading robots had the least amount of civilians around them, where Pinkie let Raven drop down towards the ground as she focused on finding her target. Raven transformed into his true form, which he was able to do thanks to the Eco Dome no longer existing at the moment, and landed in front of the invading robot, which stopped in its tracks and looked up at Raven... who grinned as he started tearing into the robot with both his claws and his teeth, while Jak and Pinkie shot at their opponents.
Jak and Pinkie, on the other hand, used something to their advantage, as the Blast Bots shot out bombs with the intent on harming them, but the siblings smacked the bombs back at their targets and watched as they damaged the robots upon impact. Thanks to that advantage they were able to deal massive damage to their targets, effectively destroying both of them in a matter of seconds... though as their opponents exploded they noticed that Raven had finished tearing his foe apart, which didn't detonate. With their enemies defeated, and Raven had reverted to his ottsel form, they returned to the Naughty Ottsel and reported their success to Torn, who was pleased with what they were able to do in such a short amount of time.
"Ashelin, this is Torn." Torn said, speaking to the table for a moment, meaning that it was also connected to the communicator that was resting in the main headquarters, "Jak and Pinkie are back in the city."
"Jak? Pinkie?" Ashelin asked, her head appearing above the table for a moment, though the siblings could tell that she was happy to see them both again, "I knew I could count on the two of you."
"That new KG leader is probably pissing in his..." Torn started to say, but that was before the image they were seeing was distorted, meaning that something big was about to happen, "Wait, someone's jamming the signal. I think..."
Jak and Pinkie watched as the image of Ashelin's head shifted and transformed, becoming the same head that they had seen back when they defeated the Metal Heads that had been hunting for Dark Eco Crystals. Jak generally liked it when Pinkie said something that was right, but at the moment this was one of those instances where he wished that she hadn't been right.
"Errol!" Jak growled, recognizing the face now that he was enlarged and was floating on the same level as his face was, while at the same time noticing that Pinkie was happy over being correct that Errol had survived his accident.
"I live!" Errol declared, sounding extremely pleased with himself over something, though at the same time Jak and Pinkie could tell that most of his face appeared to be made out of metal, "Still fighting for the weak link eh, Jak? Well I've had a few enhancements since we last met. Even the Metal Heads have their biological weakness. But me? I'm pure metal! I'd love to meet you again... and maybe win over Keira's heart this time aro..."
It was at that point that Pinkie spun around and let the side of her leg strike the side of Errol's head, surprising Jak and Torn, because they had to wonder why she thought that she could hit Errol through a hologram. What happened next, however, really shocked them, because Errol's head went flying and they heard him hitting the ground, while at the same time Pinkie lowered her leg once more.
"That HURT!" they heard Errol shout, though a few moments later his head reappeared in front of them, with a small indent that indicated where Pinkie had actually hit him, "How in the world did you manage to kick me, while I was speaking through a communication transmission? That's impossible!"
"Because I'm Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie declared, placing both of her hands on her hips as she stared at the image of Errol's head, while at the same time grinning at him, "I don't have to explain my methods to you."
A few seconds later the communication cut off, indicating that Pinkie's sudden attack had stunned him too much to finish the rest of his message, though the group knew that they were better off ignoring whatever threats Errol made at the moment.
"We must unite our forces or we're though!" a new voice said, to which the head of Samos appeared in front of them, though Jak could tell that the old sage was still shocked by what Pinkie had done, "Jak, Pinkie, you've got to reach us!"
"We need you to break through and link up with us before it's too late." the image said, reverting back to Ashelin, who likely was getting some of her information from Stalker and the other scout class Neo Metal Heads, "The KG robots are growing stronger. That floating war factory of theirs is spitting out more robots every day."
"We need to assault the KG front." Torn stated, though the look on his face told Jak and Pinkie that he already had a plan in mind, one that would allow them to overcome their enemies, "If we can break through their defenses, we may be able to get back to HQ and link up. Care to make some noise?"
"We're always up for a little rumble," Jak replied, to which Daxter, Pinkie, and Raven nodded their heads in agreement, indicating that they were ready for anything and everything that Torn could throw at them.
Torn couldn't help but smile as he looked at the group for a moment, because with the four of them leading the fight they might actually win this war and save their people... and just having them back was already a massive advantage, one that their enemies would soon come to fear.
The first thing that Torn told Jak and Pinkie about, so they could get started on their mission to tear apart the KG defenses, was that there was a missile launcher outside the Naughty Ottsel, one that could potentially destroy the barrier that was between the port and the Industrial section of the city. The downside was that someone had to actually ride on the small missile and take it all over the port, collecting Eco charges in order to fully power up the missile, though what surprised most of the group was that Daxter was more than willing to take up the task. Jak and Pinkie stood by where the missile was supposed to be and let their friend have his fun, though while they got on their zoomers to watch Raven decided to head over to the barrier in his hybrid form... so he could catch Daxter, once he jumped off the missile.
Jak and Pinkie found it amusing to watch Daxter fly around the port with such a dangerous payload, because this wasn't something that he would normally do, but they kept their mouths shut and watched their friend... before they followed Daxter to the barrier and watched the barrier fall apart thanks to the missile, and Raven swooping in to prevent any lasting damage to Daxter's body. Instead of charging into the Industrial section of the city immediately, and fulfilling whatever mission Torn had next, Jak noticed that he was starting to run a little low on ammunition, low enough that he wanted to check the gun course and see what they had left.
When they entered the building, however, they found Tess working on what appeared to be a new gun modification, for one of the Blast side of the Morph Gun... and she only stopped working when she noticed that she had company, to which she smiled at the group.
"Daxter! You're back!" Tess said, bending down to catch Daxter as he jumped into her arms, while at the same time Jak and Pinkie simply looked at the pair, "Ooh, did that mean old desert burn your itty-bitty paws?"
"Hey, Tess baby. Don't crush-a the merchandise." Daxter stated, once more confirming that sometimes Daxter's attention was more focused on his appearance and his life, rather than the safety of Haven City or the people that called the place home, before he jumped back to the floor after getting his hug in, "How's biz?"
"I'm designing new guns to help out the war effort." Tess replied, though that was followed her her picking up the weapon that was sitting behind her, while at the same time surprising Jak and Pinkie a tiny bit.
"You make guns now?" Jak asked, but even as he spoke he had to wonder what Tess came up with for the weapon, as it might be valuable in the near future, unless Pinkie broke everything with her own powers.
"Yeah. I just finished this new gun." Tess answered, to which she lifted the gun up and pointed it at the wall, where everyone could tell that she was excited about talking about the weapon, "It sports a multi-port, large-bore, gyro-burst launcher with blowback breech assist, using full-jacket, Eco-depleted, armor-piercing slugs, and a continuous kill zone scanner for tight groupings at a high-cycle rate of fire... it's a hobby."
Pinkie had to admit that it was best that such a weapon had been created now, instead of a year ago when it could have been used to kill more of the Krimzon Guard, though she shook the thought from her mind as Jak reached for the weapon modification.
"Not so fast." Tess said, holding the weapon behind her back with one hand and beckoned to the two doors that rested nearby, "First, you have to prove you can protect my little schnookums in the new gun course."
"Sounds fair enough," Raven commented, knowing that Tess and Daxter were definitely a thing, despite the fact that one was a human and the other was an ottsel, and that this was a test of sorts for them.
Jak and Pinkie took turns inside the gun course, as they were purposely designed for one person to take on a challenge at a time, and when Jak was done he had been awarded the Bronze Award, which he admitted was fine because the new course was actually challenging and it would be some time before he got to the Silver Award. Pinkie, of course, managed to make her way through the challenge and end up with the Gold Award, surprising Tess in the process, because she had designed the course to make getting the Gold Award too difficult for someone to get on their first try. Jak simply said that it was Pinkie being Pinkie, as these days she was always doing something strange and weird, before he turned back to Tess and the weapon she was holding.
"Not bad shooting Jak... for a guy." Tess said, handing both Jak and Pinkie their weapon mods, while at the same time noticing Pinkie's turned into a bead on her bracelet, before she decided not to say anything about that, "Now, I want you to protect my little baby with this, or else I'll hunt you down and hurt you real bad. Okay?"
"Wow!" Daxter commented, a grin appearing on his face, as he had never seen this side of Tess before, even before they had been banished to the Wastelands, "I didn't know you had so much rawr!"
Once Jak and Pinkie had their new weapon mods, and Jak had restocked his ammunition, they bid Tess farewell for now and headed back out into the port, where they decided that it was time to speak with Torn once more... where they discovered that Torn was still standing by the table and that he was patiently waiting for them to arrive.
"We've got some KG defenses we need eliminated." Torn stated, to which the communication table brought up an image of the sector he was referring to, "Super-range sniper cannons are keeping our men pinned down. Jak, Pinkie, the two of you need to find those hidden cannons and take 'em out. There's sure to be a counterattack when they see what you're up to, so watch out. You know the routine!"
"Yeah," Daxter commented, remembering the other missions that Torn had sent them on, while the man did next to nothing while they worked, "we do all the work, while you stay in a secure location!"
"Considering that almost all of my forces are spread out among the port, I'm the only one left who can use the communication table," Torn said, meaning that since he was one of the few high ranking officers in the Freedom League, if not the only one to be sent here, it the priority of the other soldiers to keep this place secure, which explained why he wasn't fighting like everyone else, "Now get going and give those robots everything you've got."
Jak and Pinkie determined that Torn was right, especially since they hadn't heard anything from the Neo Metal Heads that were supposed to be guarding this area, so they gently pulled Daxter away and walked out of the Naughty Ottsel. They climbed back onto their zoomers and headed back towards the location that the barrier had been resting in, though when they arrived they discovered that the Freedom League was already engaging the robots that chose this time to attack, which meant that they had to deal with Jak and Pinkie as well. Since the attacking group was a little small, however, the siblings were able to progress into the Industrial sector of the city and began looking for anything that resembled the cannons that Torn had told them about.
Pinkie, using Raven's hybrid form to their advantage, discovered that their targets were actually on the walkways above them and that there appeared to be a few switches that they needed to press in order to reveal the power conduits that powered the cannons. The first cannon the siblings came to, which turned on the moment they neared it, was surrounded by a few of the smaller robots that were guarding the two switches they needed to press. They easily separated from each other and made sure to have one of the switches secured, so that way when they had the area cleared, and had avoided the cannon, they activated their switches and smashed the power conduit that revealed itself... destroying the cannon in the process.
The second cannon they came across, which was a little bit further along the path they were following, had three switches for them to activate, so they made sure to swiftly activate them all before they shattered the power conduit and eliminated another target. As they looked for another cannon they took out some of the KG robots that were coming at them with the intent to kill them, though after a few seconds Pinkie spotted a cannon resting in front of the Power Station, to which she and Jak walked over there and accessed the three switches that were around the opening. With the third cannon taken care of they moved around the corner and spotted another group of three switches waiting for them, so they quickly took care of the robots around the area they needed to work in and took out the cannon that they had discovered... to which they resumed the search for the final cannon that Torn knew about.
It actually didn't take them long to find where the final target was located, though they did discover that this one was guarded by four switches instead of three... but that number really didn't protect the cannon, because not a few seconds later Jak and Pinkie were on their way out of the Industrial sector with news of their success. When they returned to the Naughty Ottsel they found that Torn was a little busy reading something, so they helped themselves to one of the bottles of water that had been stored inside the building and relaxed a little bit... until Torn approached them anyway.
"Jak, Pinkie, I need the two you to go into the sewers, into the Metal Head City section." Torn said, which made sense to the siblings, as someone was controlling the Metal Heads and their forces needed to be taken out before someone got hurt, "We need to attack their hive from below and the sewers are the only way in right now. We haven't been in those old passageways since the war broke out, but no scouts have reported movement down there."
"So? That's a good thing, right?" Daxter asked, though even as he said that he realized that Torn was talking about Metal Heads and not the KG robots, which meant two different things and he didn't want to think about one of them.
"I mean, none of the scouts that we sent into the sewers have ever come back alive to tell us." Torn replied, though at the same time there was something else he wanted to tell them, "I've asked Stalker to use some of her scouts to search the area, but with the increased number of Metal Head attacks her forces have been preoccupied lately."
"Dark, dirty, dangerous..." Jak commented, to which turned around and stared at the door, remembering the assault the KG had launched on this location not even an hour ago, where he grinned, "I'm beginning to like this war."
Pinkie grinned as she and Jak returned to their zoomers and headed towards the Industrial sector once more, though once they had entered the area, and flew over the ongoing war between the Freedom League and the KG robots, they carefully made their way towards the Power Station, as Jak recalled seeing something that resembled a sewer entrance near there. It didn't take them long to retrace their steps and find the area that Jak was remembering, though once they reached their destination they discarded their zoomers, which would no doubt be destroyed by the KG robots moments later, and entered the door that they discovered. They then rode the elevator down into a part of the sewer that they had never been in before, to which Jak and Pinkie pulled out their weapons, Jak his gun and Pinkie her scythe, as they progressed into uncharted territory... for the four of them anyway.
Pinkie had the feeling that traveling through the sewers, and the Metal Head part of the city, was going to be quite the adventure, to which she smiled as she imagined all the fun she and Jak were about to have.
Jak and Pinkie walked out of the elevator and found that they had two paths to choose from, one of the left and one on the right, though the one to their right had several vents that were spewing some sort of toxic gas every now and then, to which the siblings decided to head to the left. They approached the door that was in front of them and waited for a few seconds, though they rapidly discovered that the door was actually locked, which meant that they would no doubt be using that particular path at some point in the future. Since they only had one other option available at the moment, besides returning to the surface, they walked over to where the vents were and waited for the gas to turn off, to which Jak went first and eventually reached the other side without hurting himself... to which Pinkie happily smiled as she repeated the same movements and landed by her brother.
They stopped by the ammunition crates that were near the last vent, allowing Jak to restock anything that she had spent on the ride here, before they opened the door and opened fire on the KG robots that were on the other side... or at least Jak opened fire on them, because Pinkie shifted her weapon back to its blade form, as the scythe was too large for the area they were in at the moment.
As they turned the corner they spotted a gap between where they were standing and the area they needed to walk through, though the only way to reach that area was to use another pathway made out of vents, to which Jak and Pinkie shot down the KG robots that were patrolling the other side of the chamber they were in. Once the robots were dead, and they were sure that there weren't any additional foes to face at the moment, Jak used the vents to reach the upper area, where he blew apart the fan that was in the water while Pinkie crossed over. The moment Pinkie was up there they jumped over to the walkway one of the robots had been walking on and followed it to another pair of vents, though around the corner they discovered a passage that had a few KG robots waiting for them.
Before they moved forward they made sure to eliminate every enemy that was around them for a moment, pausing to make sure that more didn't show up, before they walked down the steps that were in front of them and jumped onto a moving platform. As the platform moved they had to jump over two moving laser beams and shoot down some flying robots, though when they came to a stop there were two more enemies for them to take out before they were allowed to turn around the corner. As Jak walked forward Pinkie noticed the electric pillars that would form an electric fence that was designed to keep the two of them from retreating, to which she decided to try out the new Gyro Mod she and Jak had acquired from Tess.
Not a few seconds later, when they had both walked passed the pillars, the fence turned on and their enemies flew up from the abyss in front of them, with the intent on killing them.
"Jak," Pinkie said, to which both Light Eco and Yellow Eco flowed in front of her body for a moment, though she could tell that her brother was looking at her, "Throw up a shield."
Jak nodded and his Light Eco Shield phased into existence, to which Pinkie grinned as she used her Yellow Eco to launch a Gyro into the air, though as it started to fire she snapped her own shield into existence as well. The two of them watched as the spinning Gyro started firing blasts down at their enemies, dismantling them and scattering their parts everywhere. When all of their enemies were dead, and they had dropped their shields, the fence in front of them powered down and allowed them to press onward, only for them to walk into another section of the walkway that was being guarded by more of the KG robots. This time they weren't attacked by a group of the flying enemies, rather they were attacked by a large group of the smaller robots, the ones that clattered on the ground and shot electricity at them, but when Jak loosed a Gyro burst their enemies fell.
When enough enemies fell the fence in front of them powered down and they jumped onto the moving platform that they needed to use in order to access the other side of the chamber they were in, though in addition to avoiding a laser beam they had to out maneuver a machine gun that was firing at them. It took some time for them to reach the area where the machine gun was located, though when they reached it, and jumped behind the gun, the weapon powered down and allowed them to move through the door on their left. When they jumped down into the area below them they were attacked by a large group of water type Metal Heads, the Saw Fish type according to Raven... who quickly advised that they avoid the sharp noses of their enemies.
After a few moments of fighting, and they were sure that their enemies were defeated, Jak and Pinkie dived into the water and swam under the barrier that was trying to prevent them from moving forward, though when they jumped out of the water they were under attack once more. They simply repeated the process they had used earlier, which was shooting their enemies before they got to them, before pressing the button that was on the walkway next to them, one that opened the doors in front of them. The next area they walked into had a number of moving platforms moving around the exterior of a metallic cube, which happened to have the same layout on the other side of the wall they were staring at, and there were two KG blade bots moving around the area.
Pinkie, seeing the blade bot, held her blade out as she waited for the robot to come back towards them, though when it did she jumped onto it and drove her weapon into its head, aiming to damage the systems as Jak made his way around the exterior until he found an opening. When Jak reached the opening Pinkie drove the robot she was driving into a wall and followed after her brother, where she did the same thing with the second blade bot that they discovered, though when Jak entered the middle of the cube he discovered a button that opened the door they needed to pass through. The doors they had originally walked through closed on them and a new one opened, to which they followed the new way out of the cube and jumped onto the platform that the way forward was located on.
When they jumped up to the platform, and turned the corner, they discovered a door that opened up to a wide room that had a large hole in front of them, though instead of focusing on the hole they targeted the flying KG robots that were trying to attack them. They fought their way along the pathway that was in front of them and found another door waiting in front of them, though this one possessed an elevator that they immediately climbed onto and rode to the surface... though when the door opened they found themselves in the Metal Head side of the city, which looked like a whole different world than what they were used to.
"Jak, Pinkie, this is Ashelin." a voice said, to which their communicator came to life and floated around them for a few seconds, though at the same time Pinkie and Raven looked out for enemies, "I'm glad the two of you are back in the fight. You're behind enemy lines now, so watch yourselves. I need you to take out a cache of Dark Eco near the South Port border. We have reports that the Metal Heads are using it to create terrible Dark Eco weapons to infect the city. We've got to stop that at all costs. Good luck and stay safe."
As Jak and Pinkie walked into enemy territory they discovered that the walls were bright green colored, with metal spines running up and down at even intervals, while the floor they could walk on was green and grey colored. Below them was a wide pit filled with a shimmering green colored acid, which was also bubbling when they looked at it, but at the same time the siblings agreed to avoid falling of the edge. They also noticed that there were spires scattered throughout the acid pit, all of which of a variety of sizes, though some of those spires had sparking Dark Eco Crystal formations at their peaks... which had to be what Ashelin wanted them to destroy.
The group carefully made their way around the walkway that they had stepped out onto, while at the same time they started searching for a path to take so they could reach the Dark Eco Crystal formations, though as they moved they were attacked by the Metal Heads that called the area home. Fortunately Raven didn't seem to mind the area around them and used his hybrid form to rip into the enemies that were coming at their backsides, while at the same time Jak and Pinkie focused on the enemies that were in front of them. Pinkie noticed a thin purple cable of some sort connecting the walkway they were on to one of the platforms above the acid, to which she pointed it out to Jak.
Her brother studied the purple cable and nodded his head, to which he switched his gun for his jet-board before he used it to grind over to where the platform was waiting for someone to climb onto it. He looked around for a few seconds before he found some sort of flower that was expelling some sort of gas, where he discovered that he could use the short bursts to ascend to where the crystal was waiting. Jak then smashed the crystal with his fists, though once the crystal was in pieces he jumped back down to the platform below him and used his jet-board to ride the purple cables to the next area... all while Pinkie fought her way through the walkway with Raven at her side.
Pinkie made sure to keep an eye on what Jak was doing, because he had to traverse a number of purple cables and launch flowers before he could reach the second Dark Eco Crystal formation, though while he did that she cut down the enemies that were in front of her. After the second crystal fell Jak returned to the walkway, thanks to one of the launch flowers he came to, to which both he and Pinkie launched themselves forward and found the third crystal at the top of another spire. Once that one was destroyed they continued launching themselves around the area and eventually came to a stop in front of the fourth crystal, though once they had smashed that one they discovered that the next launch flower would have tossed them near the acid pit.
Instead of taking a chance, and possibly hurting themselves in the process, Raven morphed into his dragon form and let Jak and Pinkie climb onto his back, to which he flew them over to the fifth crystal... though when that one fell a sixth crystal sprung up near a wall, with a large amount of Dark Eco flowing in the air around it. Raven landed near the crystal and let Jak and Pinkie approach the crystal, though when they smashed it something interesting happened; the Dark Eco caused Jak to transform into his Dark Form, to which he gathered the excess energy into the area between his hands and released a burst of power that smashed the wall in front of them to pieces. Pinkie, on the other hand, didn't seem to notice any change to her body, though as Jak returned to his normal form he noticed that his sister was playing around with the Dark Strike ability he had just unlocked... though he suspected that the Precursors had done something to Pinkie when they went through the second door.
He also noticed that the wall he had smashed down allowed them to have a shortcut back to the port, though at the same time he spotted the Neo Metal Heads standing some distance away from the opening, indicating that they were waiting for enemies to approach them once more.
"Jak, Pinkie, this is Samos." their communicator said, to which the siblings looked at the communicator once more, though they were all glad to hear Samos' voice again, "While you're near the entrance to South Haven Forest, could you please go check out reports of a Dark Eco infestation there. It seems someone is still experimenting with Dark Eco. If you find infected plants, you must destroy them before they spread. There are some ancient Precursor pillars in the forest that may have a link to the catacombs, but if the Metal Heads overrun the place, we'll never know for sure. Make me proud!"
Jak and Pinkie looked at each other for a few seconds, as they were both wondering what had happened to the forest since they had last been there, but instead of spending too much time thinking about it they quickly made their way towards the entrance. After they passed through the security doors they discovered a Green Eco Vent some distance in front of them, allowing them to restock their health while Keira reminded Jak that his jet-board had been modified to carry and disperse Eco. Jak jumped onto the jet-board and started riding around the area, leaving Pinkie and Raven to sit on one of the rocks and watch him work, as Pinkie had nothing that would allow her to do what her brother was doing... though she did have to contend with some hostile creatures that wanted to hurt her, which she killed with her Scatter Mod.
It didn't take Jak long to finish treating the Dark Eco plants, though when he returned to where Pinkie was waiting a set of five pillars, which surrounded a larger one, broke out of the water near them, but they remained close to the surface of the water.
"Great work you two!" Samos spoke up, indicating that he had seen what they had done, or rather what Jak had done, and was praising their efforts, "Those Precursor pillars are some of the oldest artifacts we've ever found. Mar wrote that there was some ancient ruins to the west that were activated by five special artifacts and revealed wondrous truths. I'll see what I can find out."
Jak and Pinkie simply investigated the central pillar and found another shoulder piece of an armor set, which Jak immediately attached to his right shoulder, before the two of them departed from the area. They were sure that, at some point in the future, they would find the five artifacts that Samos had told them about and discover what sort of truths the pillars had to show them... though they were also sure that Torn had another mission for them, to which they smiled as they walked towards the doors once more.
As Jak and Pinkie departed from Haven Forest, and reentered the corrupted Metal Head nest, they started to wonder what their next mission was going to be, though before they could actually walk out of the security door their communicator sprung to life and they heard Torn speak.
"Jak, Pinkie, we've located four critical power junctions that could, if they're destroyed, drop some of the KG shields." Torn told them, though his words indicated that he and his spies had located another barrier for them to destroy, one that would allow them to get even closer to the original Headquarters, just like the one Daxter had flown a missile into earlier, "Our bang expert Jinx can blow the junctions if you can get him to each one and protect him while he's laying the charges. You remember Jinx? He's waiting in a vehicle outside. Happy blasting."
Jak and Pinkie glanced at each other for a moment, because they remembered Jinx from when Krew had them lead a trio of demolition experts to the statue of Mar, where they destroyed the statue and recovered the Heart of Mar... though as they walked down the ramp they spotted Jinx sitting in a zoomer that had enough room for him and someone else. Oddly enough there was a one person seater zoomer sitting next to the one that Jinx was sitting in, meaning that he must have thought ahead and came prepared.
"Hey there, pretty boy!" Jinx said, though as Jak climbed into the main seat Jinx clasped Pinkie's hand for a moment, "Its good to see that you are your sister are still fighting. You ready to rock and rumble?"
"Of course," Pinkie commented, to which she and Jak got the engines of their zoomers started, before she angled herself towards the entrance they had opened, "Let's get the party started."
Pinkie lead the way out of the Metal Head section of the city, while at the same time Jak made sure to keep Jinx and his explosives safe, until they came to the first power junction, which happened to be a few steps from the hole they had made earlier. As they moved into position, however, the siblings watched as the Neo Metal Heads moved into action and attacked the incoming Metal Heads, as if they had sensed that they had important work to do and we're willing to help them out. Thanks to the army that was fighting beside them, and were making sure that the enemies couldn't get passed their defenses, Jinx was able to prime the explosives with enough time for them and the Neo Metal Heads to get out of the area... though when the box exploded it took a fair number of enemies with it.
Once the first box was destroyed they flew back out into the port area and followed Jinx's directions, to which they discovered that the second junction box happened to be located near the door they had walked through when they first emerged from the sewers. They were, once again, assaulted by a number of enemies that wanted to prevent them from completing their mission, but thanks to the Freedom League soldiers that were in the area the group was able to take care of the Metal Heads in a decent amount of time. That allowed Jinx to complete his task and jump back into the zoomer, to which they all headed away from the box as it was consumed by another explosion.
From there they found that the third junction box was inside the KG section of the city, which meant that they would be receiving no reinforcements this time around and had to solely rely on themselves and their own skills. Fortunately the only robots that came at them while Jinx worked were the small flyer robots and the ones that walked on four legs, instead of the roller enemies or the larger Blast Bots. Since Jinx was near, and he didn't have an Eco Shield of any kind, they couldn't use the Gyro Mod to clear the path, but the other mods proved to work just fine with the amount of enemies that were trying to kill them. Jinx was able to install his explosives in record time, allowing them to leave the area before the real threatening robots showed up... to which they followed the path to the last junction box.
The final box was located near the Power Station, though once Jinx got started Jak and Pinkie discovered that there was a lot more enemies coming to take their heads, meaning that they had to focus more on their opponents and less on what Jinx was doing. Fortunately the Arc Welder Mod proved to be useful in taking out the smaller enemies, as they weren't expecting the Blue Eco Arc to come and hit them, while the larger enemies rapidly fell to Pinkie when she punched them in the chest and used her Yellow Eco to blast them to pieces. Daxter and Raven remained on the lookout for enemies, from the safety of the zoomer, though there were a few times where an enemy got close and Raven used his hybrid form to deal with them.
After another minute or two Jinx had them move away from the junction box, to which they watched as it exploded and heard the sound of the barrier exploding not a few seconds later, indicating that they had succeeded once more.
"Sweet Eco! Jak, Pinkie, you did it!" Torn said over the communicator, though at the same time Jak and Pinkie stood beside the larger zoomer as Jinx took the driver seat, "You've got us deeper into KG territory!"
"Nice work, you two!" Jinx commented, to which he tossed them both something that resembled a weapon mod, before lifting the zoomer into the air, "I'm gonna go see what I can scrounge up. See you on the flip side!"
Jak and Pinkie stared at their new weapon mods as they installed them, while at the same time Daxter told them that this was the Needle Lazer, something that he had overheard Tess talking about while the siblings were 'proving' themselves in Tess' new gun course. Apparently this one was supposed to fire needles of Blue Eco, hence the name Needle Lazer, that would seek out enemies in the immediate area and hurt them, or destroy them if they were the smaller ones that were more common. Once they determined how the weapon worked, and were sure they knew how to use it, they started searching for a second zoomer for Jak to ride, though that was when Ashelin decided to speak with them about something.
"Jak, Pinkie, we've got word of a shipment of Eco being delivered somewhere in the KG city section." Ashelin told them, which meant that it was somewhere nearby, but at the same time the siblings knew that it would be guarded in some manner, "I think it's worth stealing. I want you to go in, find the vehicle with the Eco, and drive it back out to the Naughty Ottsel in one piece. I'm sure they'll try to stop you, but we need that Eco for the war effort. Remember, don't lose the shipment and stay alive."
It took some time for Jak and Pinkie to locate the shipment in question, along with the missile launcher that was pointing at it in case someone without the required codes tried to access the vehicle, but both of them knew that this was going to be easy for them. Pinkie rode her zoomer ahead of the one that Jak would climb onto, though once he gunned the engine the missiles flew after them, to which they retraced their path through the KG section of the city and flew out into the port. When they entered the port they heard Torn mention that he had prepared some beacons in case something like this happened and that they needed to be activated, so Pinkie diverged from the path and used her Blaster setting to turn on all of the beacons that Torn had prepared... while at the same time Jak flew around the port and kept the missiles busy.
Pinkie observed that there were six beacons and, if she was counting them correctly, seven missiles, to which she hurried over to the Naughty Ottsel and informed Torn of the news... though at the same time Jak made sure to pull as many missiles off of him until one remained, where Torn called for him to return to the Naughty Ottsel.
"You can make it." Torn said, encouraging Jak for a few seconds, before he turned towards the building and the soldiers that were already working on the sign, "Crank that sign up to full brightness!"
Pinkie watched as Jak moved into the area as the sign lit up, though he made a daring move that sent the missile right into the sign Daxter had made of himself, taking the head of the sign clean off and deposited it right on the pitchfork... though she could already hear Daxter's complaints as Jak turned the shipment over to the Freedom League soldiers.
"Jak, Pinkie, I know you'd like to take a break and relax, but there's news of a new assault on the Port." Torn said, though at the same time Jak and Pinkie sighed, because it appeared that the Eco shipment was a tactic for them to lower their defenses, and they bought it, "They're trying to take us out once and for all. The strange thing is, we're seeing movement from both the KG and Metal Head fronts. It's like they're working together. Fortunately they seem to have forgotten that we have an entire army of Neo Metal Heads on our side, so that means you'll be fighting by some familiar faces... and hurting our enemies at the same time."
The next thirty minutes consisted of the port becoming a total battleground, where the KG and the Metal Heads attacked the combined forces of the Freedom League and the Neo Metal Heads, while at the same time Jak and Pinkie were put at the head of the united army. Everywhere they went they were either under attack by a large group of enemies or had to protect the innocent civilians while the other soldiers made sure they got to safety, while at the same time firing at everyone that came at them. Jak was just fine with this arrangement, as it allowed him to exercise the new Dark Eco abilities when he was alone and could direct the energy into their enemies, while at the same time Pinkie used her own unique powers to her advantage.
Jak found himself laughing several times when he watched his sister fight, because one time she tapped a KG ball robot on the shoulder, converted it back into its ball form, and then shoved it into a cannon, where she got it he had no idea, before firing it at its allies... causing them all to explode one the unlucky 'cannonball' hit its target. Pinkie, from what Jak heard, called the cannon her 'Party Cannon' and used it to cause havoc on any enemies that foolishly attacked the location that she was defending. Raven, of course, commanded the Neo Metal Heads in battle, while at the same time using his dragon form to crush and slice apart those foolish enough to challenge him... until they finally wised up and stopped trying to hurt him.
Once thirty minutes had passed, and all of Jak's ammunition was completely gone, the assault stopped, as all of the attackers had been dealt with... though while Torn congratulated them on their victory, which they deserved a rest after all the hard work they did, Jak and Pinkie returned to the Gun Course, just to see how Tess was holding up. Of course when they walked into the building they found Tess working on yet another weapon mod, one that she was likely putting the finishing touches on, before she noticed that they were there.
"Daxter! My hero!" Tess commented, once more embracing Daxter, though Jak and Pinkie weren't bothered by her not hailing either of them as heroes, "This city is too dangerous. We need our own little place in the country. A little pink house, with a white picket fence. And a fireplace! And a big four-poster bed, for me, and a little ottsel run on the side of the house for you."
"Aw, are you worried about me, my little Tess-y-poo?" Daxter asked, though it was plainly clear what he was doing, to which Jak mentally sighed while he waited for it to be over.
"Of course, my itty-bitty whisker-puss." Tess replied, her embrace tightening for a moment, though the others knew that the two of them fit perfectly together, despite the difference in species.
"Oh please!" Raven said, though he felt like teasing Daxter at the moment, which was why he was grinning instead of having a paw on his face, "Will you two get a room already?"
"You need a hug, Raven?" Daxter inquired, holding his arms out for a moment, though the look on his face indicated that he knew what the other ottsel was doing, "Cause we got plenty to go around."
"Rumor is, you two are the only hope we've got to reach the catacombs!" Tess said, though at the same time she beckoned to Jak and Pinkie, indicating that they were who she was referring to when she mentioned the word 'two', "I've programmed the gun course to simulate some of the new enemy tactics. Want to try it out?"
Jak and Pinkie looked at each other for a moment and then nodded at Tess, though before Jak ran through the course he restocked all of his ammunition, even though this course was designed for the Scatter Mod in mind. He had to admit that the new tactics that Tess had incorporated into the track made things much more interesting for him, especially when he walked out with only the Bronze Award. Pinkie, who went in a few seconds after he came out, eventually returned to the exit with a smile on her face, as she had, once more, somehow earned the Gold Award for the course... to which Tess and Jak agreed that it was Pinkie being her usual strange self.
"Here's a nice boom stick for your sidekicks, baby." Tess said, tossing the new weapon mod to both Jak and Pinkie, who discovered that it was the third Red Eco modification, which they had been wondering about since they received the third tier mods for the Blue and Yellow mods, "Go give 'em hell! Then come back, and I'll scratch you behind your ears."
Pinkie smiled as she held a Red Eco charge, shaped like a circular bomb, in her left hand for a few seconds, though she was already imagining the damage she and Jak could cause on all of their enemies, before sending it away and following Jak outside the Gun Course. They were sure that there was more for them to do in the city before the war was over, though even if Torn didn't need them they knew that they could go back to the Wasteland and check in with Damas... so it was only a matter of checking which leader needed their assistance and offering them their services.
Jak and Pinkie were allowed an hour of relaxation in the Naughty Ottsel, listening to Torn give orders to specific members of the Freedom League, though they were pleased to hear that neither of them, nor Daxter and Raven, were even required at the moment. They had to rest from their efforts to stop the assault from the KG robots and the Metal Heads, though since they had burned through a good portion of their energy they had to replenish their stores before they departed from the building. When they started to leave the building, however, Jak did ask Torn if there was anything else they could do be they left, to which Torn simply told them to get going on the other end of their plans... to which jak and Pinkie climbed onto the transport that was in the port and headed back to the Wasteland.
It took them an hour or two to reach the Wasteland, where the transport landed some distance away from where the main gate of Spargus was located, to which they approached the gate and walked through it... where they found Sig tending to one of the buggies, before he turned to them the moment he heard them coming.
"Another storm is really churning the sand! Scanners show a few new artifact sightings." Sig commented, while at the same time indirectly telling them that they actually had a new mission they could do, "You two up for some rough riding?"
"Of course." Jak replied, though while he stood beside the Sand Shark, however, Pinkie stood on the opposite side of him, indicating that she was ready as well, "We can race with the best of them."
"Good. Take the Sand Shark and bring us back some booty." Sig stated, though at the same time the gate opened and revealed that they had beaten the storm, because it was starting to appear around Spargus now, "You know the drill; get to the artifacts first and they're yours to claim, Wastelander rights! Go get them!"
Jak nodded and gunned the engine, to which the Sand Shark burst out of the garage and he immediately followed the path that was in front of him, allowing Pinkie to fire on the enemies that tried to hurt them, where she used the newer mods they had acquired to launch grenades into the air. Jak had to wonder what else Pinkie had put into the Red Eco Plasmite grenades, because their explosions were much stronger than what they had seen back in Haven when they tested the new mod out. The detonations caused one vehicle's wheel to explode and cause the rider to accidentally drive into one of his friends, taking both of them out as Jak followed the path and gunned down whoever was in front of him.
He once again counted his blessings that these buggies came equipped with a device that detected where the artifacts were located, allowing them to maneuver around the area they were lead to before circling back to Spargus... though at the very end of the trek, however, they discovered a unique artifact, which was a cube of some sort.
"I'm sure that Keira will recognize this artifact if we send her message describing it," Pinkie commented, though when Jak nodded his head Pinkie opened up the communicator and sent a brief message to Keira, where they got a reply before they even passed through the gates of Spargus.
"Jak, Pinkie, you guys found the Holo Cube!" Keira told them, to which Jak and Pinkie grinned as they parked the buggy, though the fact that the artifact was a named one told them that it was definitely important, "That's one of the items we need for the forest, good work! Keep looking for the other four artifacts."
The siblings climbed out of the Sand Shark and made their way towards the metal gate that separated the garage from Spargus, but before they reached the gate, however, their communicator sprung back to life and floated around them, indicating that there was someone else that wanted to chat with them. The signature indicated that it was Sig who wanted a word with them, to which they held off on heading into the city and waited to see what Sig wanted to tell them.
"Jak, this is Sig." came Sig's voice, though both Jak and Pinkie heard an eager tone behind their friend's voice, "I heard that you and Pinkie were in the market for Eco Crystals. I know where one is, but it won't be a cakewalk. In other words, we got some serious Metal Head hunting to do. I'll meet you in the Metal Head desert nest. I'm counting on you."
Jak and Pinkie glanced at each other for a few seconds, as if they were debating what to do, but instead of heading out into the Wasteland, and taking all of the artifacts they had recovered with them, he decided to take them all to his father and see what he had to say about the Holo Cube. As it turned out Damas had heard of the ancient stories that Samos had told them about, those that revealed the pillars they discovered in the forest and the five artifacts necessary to awaken whatever secrets it held. Damas was more than happy to let Jak and Pinkie hold onto the Holo Cube, especially since he told them that they were likely going to come across the other four on their own anyway, to which Jak thanked his father before he and Pinkie returned to the garage.
Once they were back in the garage they climbed into the Sand Shark again and headed out into the Wasteland, where they made their way to the ruined city that was sitting near the Metal Head hive... where they found Sig sitting on his buggy, waiting for them to arrive.
"There you are." Sig commented, though at the same time Jak brought the Sand Shark to a stop, where he and Pinkie climbed onto the larger buggy that Sig had brought, "I was beginning to think you'd chickened out."
"We received your transmission as we finished gathering the artifacts," Pinkie explained, though as she spoke Jak powered up the buggy and made sure that everything was working like the last time he had used this particular model, "besides, we took the artifacts to Damas and he's very pleased about what we brought him."
"Anyway, I saw an Eco Crystal in this place and it's yours if you want it." Sig said, though that was when he smiled, as if he remembered something as he glanced at the entire group, "Trouble is, Metal Heads have been spotted here en masse. But we wouldn't want those nasty boys to just move back in here without a welcoming party, would we? Let's go give 'em a big surprise!"
Jak maneuvered the buggy through the tunnel that was in front of them, crushing the small bug like enemies under the wheels, before they returned to the main cavern that they had been in when Damas sent them to clear the place out. It turned out that their enemies this time around were the large Metal-pedes that they had encountered in the Underport when they were searching for Sig. As it turned out their opponents were equipped with lasers, as they fired a beam at them every couple of seconds, but the combined firepower of everyone on the buggy managed to bring the first one down in a minute. Jak then rode around the nest until a second one showed up, though this time around Raven had his fun as he transformed into his dragon form and crushed the Metal-pede... while at the same time causing Sig to gag a little when he started tearing apart the Metal Head and ate several of the pieces.
Jak and Pinkie assured Sig that Raven was on their side, despite the fact that he was a Metal Head, and spent the rest of their time in the nest rapidly explaining the Neo Metal Heads to their friend and that Raven was actually their leader... who could transform into his true form whenever he wanted, which Sig was still getting used to. Since they were busy explaining everything to Sig, however, Raven took the opportunity to slaughter every Metal Head that dared to challenge him, cutting down on the number of enemies that could threaten Spargus in the future while at the same time filling his stomach on the flesh of his enemies.
After some time Raven returned to them and shifted back into his ottsel form, to which he landed on the back of the buggy where Daxter was standing... though as the group departed from the nest, however, Raven handed Pinkie a Light Eco Crystal, something that he had picked up from the last Metal-pede he had torn apart.
"Yeah, baby! I love the smell of burnt Metal Head!" Sig said, though at the same time they exited the tunnel and returned to the ruined city, where Pinkie climbed out and grabbed the Sand Shark before following after them, "This is good practice for when the spit hits the fan. And trust me, it's coming."
"So, what was my father looking for in Haven City?" Jak asked, though even as he asked the question he already knew that one of the answers had to be him, but he was interested in hearing if there was anything else that his father might have asked Sig to search for.
"Obviously he was searching for you," Sig replied, not even caring if Damas might be annoyed with him, because he figured that at this point that mission was done with and buried in the past, "he also wanted me to keep an eye on Krew, the Baron, the Underground, and anything else that was unusual. Damas wanted to be sure that his old city wasn't falling apart and, if the Baron succeeded in tearing the place apart, he intended to swoop back in and stop him before something drastic happened. Unfortunately I was too busy fighting in the Underport, so I couldn't call in the reinforcements, but now its all about survival... and both of us have the feeling that you and Pinkie are the ones to bet on."
Jak was glad to hear that his father was putting so much faith in both his abilities and the abilities that Pinkie was demonstrating, especially if some of those abilities broke the rules of reality at times. With that knowledge tucked away Jak focused on the journey back to Spargus, where he considered asking Kleiver about any rare artifacts he might have encountered... to which he sighed and decided that it might not hurt to ask the man if he knew anything about what he was searching for.
When they returned to the garage, and Pinkie parked the Sand Shark in its designated location, the group approached Kleiver, who happened to be standing near one of the walls and was glaring at all of them, which caused Raven to growl at him for a moment.
"Kleiver, we need to find some very special Precursor artifacts, but I'm afraid that we're running out of time." Jak said, though at the same time he hoped that the man was quick enough to understand what he was saying.
"Wait a tic. I just traded a very rare artifact indeed, to a nice band of Metal Heads." Kleiver replied, though he acted like he had no idea what Jak was talking about for a few seconds, before deciding to give the group the information they wanted, "It was an ugly piece of hardware, looked like a dog's breakfast to me. But those toothers paid handsomely. They seemed nice enough. Good ivories they had, you know, if you dig fangs and claws. I bet if you crank up that donk, you and the offsider just might be able to catch 'em."
"I'll drive." Sig stated, to which Jak and Pinkie nodded, because he knew the Wasteland better than they did and likely knew a few locations they could search for the band of Metal Heads, "Jak, you get on the gun! Daxter, you should join him and point out where our enemies are. Pinkie... well, I have the feeling that you'll come up with something."
Once everyone was sitting down Sig took them outside the gates and started driving forward, though after a few seconds the large Metal Heads, like the ones that Raven had taken out to show Damas what he could do, moved into the area and started running near them as they fired grenades at them. Jak, controlling the gun, caused the grenades to blow apart while gunning down the enemies that were running along side them, while Daxter and Pinkie kept their eyes open for any additional opponents. After a minute or two a decent amount of flying Metal Heads, easily half the size of Raven's dragon form, flew into the air and prepared to fire at them... though the one thing they didn't think about was the fact that Raven was on the buggy.
Raven leapt into the air and transformed into his true form, to which he flew around the area and started attacking the flying Metal Heads, intending to keep them distracted while his friends hunted down the target that was holding the artifact they were after. Pinkie, seeing all of this happen, materialized her scythe and flashed through the air until she was on Raven's back, to which she used her new height to target the enemies that were the furthest away from Raven. Her first unfortunate enemy had one of its wings cut right off, causing it to dive towards the ground, before she put it out of its misery and flashed towards another target.
Thanks to the teamwork that the group displayed, between Sig's driving, Jak's skills with the gun, Daxter's ability to call out where their enemies were, Raven's dragon form, and Pinkie's unusual abilities, they were about to route every enemy they came across... and acquire the artifact they had been looking for, which looked like a bowl attached to something that resembled a small box.
"You got another item for the forest!" their communicator spoke up after they collected the artifact, though since the voice belonged to Pecker, however, Jak and Pinkie knew that he had been told to contact them at this time by Onin, "That is called a Quantum Reflector. What it does, I don't know, but Onin and Keira said you needed it."
Sig took them back to Spargus and dropped them off, indicating that he had more missions to do before he reported to Damas, to which Jak and Pinkie wished him well as he drove away from the garage... though they waited a few moments for Raven to land, and revert to his ottsel form, before they headed back into the city and made their way to Damas' chambers. There they found the king sitting on the steps in front of his throne, indicating that he was thinking about something, though he was pleased to see them return to him intact.
"Keeping people alive out here," Damas commented, waving a hand towards the window, indicating that he was talking about Spargus and its people, keeping them full of hope, it can be daunting."
"Dad, I'd say that you have made a good life out here." Jak replied, to which he sat down near his father, who actually seemed rather happy to hear that Jak approved of all the hard work he had put into making Spargus.
"You, too, must make a life, Jak." Damas said, as if he was remembering something from his past, back when he was still the king of Haven City, before he turned to both Jak and Pinkie, "I know that neither of you asked to be heroes, but even though that has been forced upon you, and you have risen to its call, it is up to you to take your destinies into your own hands. Look: sand cannot keep a shape by itself, but add water, and it becomes malleable. Fate can be such, if you add the right element..."
"Eco!" Jak, Pinkie, Daxter, and Raven exclaimed at the same time, causing all four of them to look at each other for a few seconds before they chuckled, though they could tell that Damas was pleased with them.
"Our minds really are alike." Damas stated, knowing that it made sense considering who Jak was, though he was pleased to find that Pinkie was the same way, even if she shared no connection with him, "Seem and his monks used to say that the world was coming to an end, but now Seem says that there is a way to survive what is coming our way. Despite what fate has thrown at you, all four of you have endured and survived to this day... and, believe it or not, the four of you are shaping up to be some of my greatest warriors yet."
"Don't worry, we won't let you, or Spargus, down!" Daxter declared, surprising his friends for a moment, because they weren't expecting him to actually say anything like that.
"That is good to hear, but there is something I wanted to tell all four of you," Damas said, to which he pulled out a device, one that apparently kept track of what the marauders were doing around the area that Damas controlled, "We've been having serious trouble with marauders lately, with them attacking everyone that tries to do anything outside the city. Our latest scans show that a large force of their warriors and vehicles are making their way towards our location as we speak, meaning that they are intending to lay siege to Spargus. Since they are so eager to attack us, without doing any real recon of their own, I'd say its only fair if we fight back when they arrive. Go, and make war your own!"
Jak and Pinkie grinned as they imagined the battle that was about to unfold before them, but even so they knew that this was the perfect time to show these marauders that they shouldn't mess with Spargus... by unleashing the dragon that their enemies knew nothing about.
"I may not have seen that look for a long time, but I recognize it," Damas commented, stopping Jak and Pinkie before they could use the lift to head back down to the streets of Spargus and make their way to the garage, "Tell me, what sort of plan do you have in mind for our uninvited guests?"
"We unleash Raven on those marauders!" Daxter exclaimed, though since Jak and Pinkie made no move to slap him or anything, which they usually did when he did something like this, he knew that he was fine for the moment.
"Really?" Damas inquired, though when the siblings nodded their heads, however, he couldn't help but smile at the image that had sprung into his mind, to which he got up from his seat and walked up to the group, "Since your battle against those Metal Heads was so entertaining, and shocking since I hadn't seen your true form, I'm interested in seeing how you fare this time around. And, for good measure, I think that I'll invite Kleiver along so he can watch the battle as well... so he can understand why messing with you is a bad idea."
Jak and Pinkie grinned as Damas joined them, to which they rode down to the streets of Spargus and made their way towards the garage, though when they arrived they found Kleiver working on one of the buggies, more specifically the one that Sig had been driving earlier. Kleiver seemed shocked that Damas was out here, but the King of Spargus beckoned for his Quartermaster to join them as they made their way up to the top of the gate that separated the city from the desert, where a walkway rested at the top. Damas explained that this was where sentries usually stood when the marauders were more active, so since they had settled down to a more manageable level he had allowed them some time off... but he would look into changing some things a little more.
Once that was done the group watched as the sky got darker, indicating the change from afternoon to evening, though not a few moments later they watched as a faint line of vehicles appeared in the distance, indicating that the marauders were coming... and they were definitely bringing their siege vehicles as well, though they stopped some distance away.
"I'm no genius when it comes to sieges," Daxter said, taking in the scene that was resting before them, and the large number of enemies that were in front of the city gates, "but even I can tell that they aren't within the required range for their siege weapons to be useful in harming anything... expect maybe the land in front of the gate. So what are they planning on doing?"
"Their leader likes to intimidate his enemies by showing them a large number of soldiers and vehicles," Damas replied, though at the same time he spotted someone climbing out of the medium sized vehicle in the middle of the army, someone that he recognized almost immediately, "He calls himself Gorath the Black Hand, though no one knows what he truly looks like because he's always wearing his armor at all times, no doubt to make himself look more intimidating than he really is."
Jak and Pinkie watched as the leader of the marauders climbed out of the vehicle he had been riding in, stepped onto the desert floor, and turn until he was facing the city gate, giving them the chance to take in his full form. Gorath was a large imposing person, wearing a complete set of black armor all over his body that prevented everyone seeing his true form, while at the same time he was carrying a large black hammer of some kind. Several marauders backed away when their master looked at them, indicating that they were definitely scared of him, before he stared back at the gate... and, more importantly, the people standing on the top of it.
"King Damas of Spargus," the man called out, proving that despite the distance between them the group could hear his foul voice as if he was standing before the gate, though they knew that the man was ready for a fight, "I, Gorath the Black Hand, have come to lay siege to your city and destroy everything that you hold dear. Whether you fight or surrender matters little to me at this point, as you will all die soon enough."
"It seems that I was correct in assuming that an attack was coming," Damas said, to which he turned towards Pinkie, though at the same time he turned his gaze on Raven, who seemed eager to get to the action, "Are you ready to face the marauders and take their leader down?"
"Of course." Raven replied, though the moment he said that Pinkie descended towards the ground and set her friend on the floor, before heading up to the walkway once more.
"We're putting our lives in the handle of a weasel?" Kleiver asked, to which he shook his head and stared out over the enemy forces, knowing that they would soon be fighting in the streets to save themselves for the invaders, "I can only imagine that the marauders will be laughing at us once they see Raven."
Damas glared at Kleiver for a moment, knowing that the Quartermaster would be silently questioning his decision, before he turned his gaze back over to their enemies, who were amassing their forces as they waited for Gorath's command to begin the assault. Raven, on the other hand, watched as the gates opened a tiny bit, allowing him to walk out of the garage, though once he had reached a safe distance the gates closed behind him. He could already tell that the marauders were chuckling at him, meaning that they believed that they would win this 'fight' and destroy the gates without any resistance... to which he smiled as the Dark Eco Mist surrounded his body as he walked forward.
Raven moaned a little bit as his bones cracked and his body expanded, though when the transformation was complete he burst out of the mist, crashed his front claws on the ground, and roared at the marauders... causing some of them to step backwards for a few seconds, before the gaze of their master made them step forward again.
"BY THE PRECURSORS!" Kleiver exclaimed, though at the same time he staggered backwards in shock, causing Pinkie to grab onto his arm to prevent him from falling off the edge and hurting himself, before she pulled him back to the group, "Th... that's a dragon. Since when did we have a DRAGON?!"
"Since we found Jak and Pinkie," Damas replied, though at the same time he kept his eyes on the battle that was about to unfold, because this was going to be most interesting, "though it appears that Raven will be making his move soon."
Raven growled as he charged towards the enemy forces, where the vehicles started moving towards the gates that rested behind him and the siege vehicles tried firing their flaming boulders at the same time, though he moved out of the way before the boulders could reach where he was standing. The smaller vehicles were the first ones to reach him, as they were faster than the siege vehicles, though once they arrived Raven sucked him his breath and blew out a wave of fire on the enemies in front of him. Sure enough the fire melted the tires of the vehicles that were approaching them and even charred some of the lesser protected ones, allowing him to focus his attention on the targets that posed the most danger to Spargus.
Raven spotted a siege vehicle trying to pass the area where he was standing, so the rider could get a clear shot at the gates, to which Raven charged at the vehicle and slammed his arms down on one that was blocking his way... where he used the momentum he created to flip forward, to which he used his tail to cut into the vehicle. Once the enemies knew that he meant business, and he had captured his prey, he grabbed onto the vehicle and spun it around, where he tossed it at another large siege vehicle and caused the two of them to explode upon impact. It was at that point that several of the marauders thought that it would be a good idea to attack him while he was distracted, to which Raven grinned as he flared his wings, pushed some of them backwards, and crushed them with either his claws or his tail.
A few moments later he heard Gorath calling for more of his soldiers to charge into the battle, to take him down most likely, to which Raven responded by gathering his flames and blasted another siege vehicle with a fireball, one that put the vehicle out of commission.
The battle continued like that for a few more minutes, where Raven would charge towards a group of marauders and crush them with his claws, break their vehicles with either his tail or his fireballs, and sometimes toss a vehicle around like it was a toy. This was one of the reasons that Jak and Pinkie didn't bring an army with them when they faced his father's forces, as the Metal Heads, especially the larger ones like him for example, were specifically built to battle entire armies on their own. It was also why Jak and Pinkie didn't give him any aid during his fight with his father, because if two of the larger Metal Heads actually fought each other one of them was going to come out on top... though even as that thought came to mind Raven roared with all his might as he smashed a vehicle, a siege one, under the weight of his body.
It was at that point, when all of his forces had been slaughtered and his vehicles were smouldering wrecks on the desert floor, that Gorath decided to step up and face him, to which Raven growled as his opponent approached him. When the two of them were closer to each other, however, Gorath swung his mace at Raven, who moved his body out of the way to avoid taking any damage. In return Raven slammed the edge of his tail into the side of his enemy and knocked him backwards, where he discovered that Gorath withstood his blow and picked himself up so he could continue to fight. Raven was impressed that the warrior could stand up after taking such a blow and wanted to continue the fight, despite the fact that he was clearly going to lose... though at the same time Raven was determined to give the warrior a death that any warrior would be proud to have.
What also impressed Raven was the fact that Gorath was able to actually wound him several times during the course of their battle, while he dealt some to his opponent in turn, but in the end Raven was able to cut down Gorath with his claws, giving the mighty warrior the joy of falling in battle... before he let out a roar to indicate his triumph over the attacking marauders.
"That was a fine battle," Damas commented, to which Raven turned around and found Jak, Pinkie, Damas, and Kleiver approaching him, while at the same time each of them noticed something different, "though it appears that you might need to sit a battle or two out to recover from your wounds."
"Actually, I think I have a solution," Pinkie said, to which her Light Eco sprung to life and she channeled it towards the cuts that had been made on Raven's body, where the group watched as she used the Precursor given ability to heal every wound that Raven possessed, "There, you're as good as new."
"My thanks," Raven replied, though at the same time he watched as Kleiver looked at all of the destruction that was resting around them, where he smiled a bit when he noticed how terrified the man was.
"Fortunately this means that the marauders will think twice about attacking the city again," Damas said, calling attention to him once more, though at the same time he stared at the ruined vehicles and the scattered metal that rested everywhere, "while at the same time, however, this means that they'll be attacking the caravans and other transports we send out in the future... meaning that we might need to take the fight to their base before they do something else."
"We'll hit them in the morning, after we've had a break from all this running around," Jak said, knowing that the marauders might actually try something in the near future, especially after everything that Raven tore apart, but then he smiled as he looked at the scattered metal, "Are there any smiths in Spargus?"
"Aye, there are two or three inside the city," Kleiver answered, as he thought about saying nothing and only spoke because of the glances that both Damas and Raven gave him, "Why do you ask?"
"The people of Spargus likely just saw what happened, and witnessed Raven's true form in action," Jak replied, though he followed that up with another smile, one that made Damas proud when he saw it, before he beckoned to the piles of metal that was resting everywhere, "We already know that the marauders will attack at some point in the future, the near future I might add, so we should meet them with something they fear. We should see if the smiths would be willing to transform all of this metal into a suit of armor for Raven, just to give him an extra level of protection and made him look more intimidating than he already is."
"I'm going to be a dragon rider?" Pinkie asked, to which she started jumping around with a look of joy on her face, while at the same time the group looked at her with a look on confusion on their faces, before they sighed and decided not to bother questioning her.
The smiths of Spargus, eager to get to work on making a set of armor for someone like Raven, especially after they realized that he was the one that had slain the leader of the marauders, spent the entire night and some hours into the next day reshaping the metal that was scattered around the desert floor. It took some time, and constant checking with the measurements of Raven's dragon form, but eventually the smiths managed to forge a set of armor for him, complete with a chest piece, plating for his arms and legs, armored pieces for his tail, and a menacing head piece that made him even more terrifying than he already was. The smiths, with the help of some of the other professionals, also made a saddle for someone to ride on, as they understood that Raven and Pinkie were a pair like Jak and Daxter.
While he was searching the wreckage for bits of metal, to aid the smiths, Jak had discovered another artifact that was one of the five they needed for the forest pillars, a Beam Generator from what Keira and Samos told him, though he made sure it was safe and unharmed for the future.
Once the entire set was complete, however, the smiths discovered that the armor might not fit on Raven's ottsel form, though he surprised them by transforming into his smaller form and allowing them to see that his new armor had shrunk and changed shape to match his smaller form. The saddle, on the other hand, transformed into some sort of small belt, surprising the smiths and other professionals by how Raven was able to transform his gear into a new shape that depended on his chosen form. Pinkie, on the other hand, simply said that he was like her, that they both did crazy things though couldn't be explained, to which she made them nod their heads in agreement... though that was before she and Jak, with both Daxter and Raven, made their way towards the garage.
As they walked into the garage, however, their communicator sprung to life once more, to which they glanced at each other and wondered what mission they were going to be given this time.
"This is Seem." a voice said, to which the group briefly wondered when they gave Seem the code for their private communicator, though in the end they agreed that Damas must have given it to her in the off chance that she needed their assistance for something, "Marauders have attacked one of our artifact digs and have stolen a very important item. My monks and I believe they may have taken it to their stronghold... and we would be most grateful if you find their outpost and retrieved the artifact."
Jak nodded, which was what he did when someone gave him and Pinkie a mission, before he turned to his sister, who smiled as Raven transformed back into his true form... which many of the citizens of Spargus insisted on witnessing once they heard that he was leaving. Their plan was simple; Pinkie and Raven would fly ahead and find out where the stronghold was located, do some scouting without being caught, and then report what they saw to Jak over another communicator. This would give Jak the time to pick which vehicle was best for whatever defenses, or lack of defenses, that the marauders had, giving them the best advantage they could ask for... and he was pleased to find that Pinkie, Raven, and Daxter agreed with his plan.
Not a few moments later Raven, with Pinkie sitting in her new saddle, opened his wings and took to the sky, leaving the garage behind as the pair flew out to scout the Wasteland for the location of the marauder stronghold... though what Jak didn't expect was to hear from them within the next five minutes, indicating that they had found the stronghold already. From what Pinkie discovered the bets vehicle for the job, to get over the missing sections of the bridge that she noticed, as the Dune Hopper, to which Jak and Daxter climbed into the vehicle and made their way towards the point on the radar that Pinkie's communicator was coming from. It took him some time to reach the destination, mainly because he didn't have a dragon to ride on like his sister did, though at the same time he noticed that the stronghold rested in the middle of a lake... but both he and Daxter smelled a trap waiting for them.
Without wasting any time Jak used the Dune Hopper's high jump ability to cross over the sections of the bridge that were out, allowing them to cross without anything terrible happening to them... though when he entered the stronghold, however, the gates closed around him and the remaining marauders charged at him.
As he fought off the waves of enemies that wanted him dead, and Daxter sat in the Dune Hopper, he noticed flaming boulders raining down on the stronghold, as if the marauders wanted to burn him and their own soldiers alive, but Jak had to smile when he noticed Raven flying through the air. It appeared that Raven and Pinkie were dealing with the siege vehicles that hadn't been brought to the assault on Spargus' gates, where they were smashing them and tossing them aside like they were toys. With that situation under control Jak focused his efforts on the enemies in front of him, though when the last one had fallen the gates opened and four more marauder vehicles raced towards the exit... though Jak knew that one of them had the artifact, to which he climbed into the Dune Hopper and followed after them.
Fortunately Jak didn't actually have to chase them down and recover the artifact, as Raven burst out of the air and slammed into the furthest marauder, causing all of them to collide with each other... though once the smoke cleared he sifted through the wreckage and discovered where the prism shaped artifact was hiding.
"Hey Seem, this is Jak," Jak said, opening the communication line between them and the leader of the monks, though at the same time he smiled at Pinkie as she climbed off of Raven's back, "We've discovered the location of the marauder stronghold and have recovered the artifact that they have stolen. Where should we meet to return it?"
"It is good to hear for you, Jak. My monks and I are grateful for your help in recovering the artifact," Seem replied, though at the same time all four members of the group could tell that Seem was happy, "That artifact is called the Precursor Prism, and I have seen that it will be of use to you in the future. Please, keep it as a sign of our gratitude... and know that I am glad that this planet has you and your sister, as well as your friends Daxter and Raven, to protect it from danger."
Jak was a little shocked that Seem would contact them about recovering an artifact that was stolen from them, only to hand it over to him and Pinkie once they had retrieved the artifact and had taken care of a problem... but at the same time he was pleased with what happened. Before he and Pinkie could head back to Spargus, however, the communicator remained where it was floating, indicating that someone else was on the line.
"Jak, this is Samos." the communicator said, to which Daxter let out a small moan of his own, while the others patiently waited to hear what information the Sage had to give them, "I see that you and Pinkie have found yet another artifact for the forest ruins, but we are still missing the most important piece of the puzzle. Bring back the artifacts you have found so far, and we will try to find where the last piece is hidden. We must find out what that Day Star really is, and we believe the forest ruins may hold the answers."
Jak and Pinkie glanced at each other, because it appeared that they were going back to Haven this time around, which meant that they would also be fighting more KG robots and Metal Heads that wanted them dead... and this time they had something that neither of their enemies would expect them to have.
Once the marauders had been taken out, the Precursor Prism gifted to them by Seem, and there was nothing else to do in the Wasteland at the moment, Jak and Pinkie headed back towards Spargus and returned the Dune Hopper that Jak had checked out to reach the marauder stronghold. Some of the citizens wanted them to stick around and tell them of their battle against the marauders, especially with a dragon on their side, but Jak insisted that they would give them the full story when they next returned to the city. As they walked over to the transport, however, Pinkie insisted that she and Raven would fly next to the transport... to which the citizens of Spargus watched as the transport was accompanied by a dragon as they headed back towards Haven City.
When they arrived in Haven City, and Jak climbed out of the transport, Pinkie jumped onto the ground and let Raven transform back into his ottsel form, giving him the opportunity to rest as they got a pair of zoomers and headed back into the Metal Head side of the city. Thanks to the Neo Metal Heads holding the line the siblings didn't have to worry about being stopped by their enemies, to which they rapidly made their way towards the door that would take them to Haven Forest, where the pillars were waiting for them. As they walked into the area, however, they both noticed that there was a stone statue, in the shape of a head, sticking out of the ground, though something told Pinkie that this was a mission she would have to sit out.
As it turned out when Jak hit the nose of the statue a set of rings appeared in front of him, to which he used the jet-board to chase after the set of rings that phased into existence, following a predetermined path that someone, no doubt the Precursors, had designed for something that had four of the five required artifacts.
Pinkie, Daxter, and Raven watched as Jak maneuvered around the entire forest, chasing the various rings that came out of the five stone statues that were scattered around the area, each one of them shattering when the predetermined course was complete and raising one of the five pillars that surrounded the main one... until Jak finally reached the end of the last one, and Pinkie noticed that the pillars created a set of steps for them to use to reach the top. Once the walkway was complete the siblings got back together and carefully climbed the steps that were in front of them, where they discovered some sort of telescope at the top... though as they approached it the four artifacts they had recovered floated out of their bags and surrounded the device.
"Approach the Astro-Viewer, time warriors." a voice said, one that the group recognized as one of the Precursors, though at the same time Jak stepped up to the device, "Behold, the seed of our destruction."
Jak stopped in front of the Astro-Viewer and closed one eye as he looked into the item, where he spotted some sort of space vehicle approaching the planet, which had to be the Day Star that seem was worried about. He then stepped aside and let Pinkie have a look at what the Day Star really was, while at the same time marveling how the Precursors were patiently waiting for them to see it before speaking again.
"We Precursors built many worlds across the universe, shaping them with Eco into something good." the Precursor spoke up, though at the same time Jak and Pinkie pulled themselves away from the device, "But we were foolish; the Dark Makers were once Precursors, but their exposure to Dark Eco changed them. They began twisting worlds, conquering life, and dark ages ensued. Now, the Dark Makers have found your world, and are coming to claim it for themselves."
"Well that could ruin your whole day!" Daxter exclaimed, though at the same time he wasn't joking, because these Dark Makers sounded horrible and wondered if Jak and Pinkie could even take on something that was as powerful as one of the Precursors.
"This one is much bigger than all of us." Jak commented, now understanding why Seem appeared to be terrified when she talked about the Day Star, while at the same time he was curious what the Precursors had in mind for stopping the ship from reaching their planet.
"There is but one hope left." the Precursor stated, to which Jak and Pinkie looked back into the Astro-Viewer and found some sort of device resting in what appeared to be the middle of the planet, if their suspicions were right, "You will find a planetary defense system hidden deep at the core of the planet. There is still a chance to save your world. I hope you are more successful than many planets, whose fate has already been closed."
The group waited for a few seconds, as they were curious if there was anything else that the Precursors wanted to tell them, but after some time it became apparent that there was nothing else they needed to know, to which they climbed back down to the lower area of the forest and headed towards the entrance.
"I heard what the Precursors said." their communicator said, to which they determined that Samos was already thinking about something, "This is as we feared. We must get into those catacombs before that ship reaches this planet."
Jak and Pinkie knew that anything Samos came up with wouldn't be much use to them if they couldn't break through the rest of the KG defenses, to which they headed back out into the Metal Head part of the city and made their way over to the Naughty Ottsel... where they found Torn and Jinx waiting for them.
"Jak, Pinkie, we may have a way to reach Freedom HQ." Torn said, to which he beckoned to his companion for a moment, indicating that the floor was his, "Jinx here has a plan."
"Long time no see. I think we've got a boomer of a plan here." Jinx commented, though at the same time the group did their best to ignore the smell of his smoke, which was hard considering that it was coming their way, "You know those nasty Blast Bots you see wandering around the city? Well, I captured one. Don't ask... I'll show you the scars later. I've rigged that baby with a remote control, and even more explosives than the standard package."
"Jak, the plan is to link into the remote and direct that Blast Bot into the KG area." Torn added, though at the same time he lifted a remote up from where it had been resting, indicating that the plan was ready to go and they needed a skilled driver to get the job done, "If you can get the Blast Bot close enough to the Freedom League border and blow it up, it should punch a hole in the defensive line there, and allow us to hook up with our comrades."
"Question," Pinkie commented, causing the group to turn towards her for a moment, because she was a little annoyed that everyone seemed to be ignoring one of the advantages that they had, "since there's only one defense barrier left, and an army of robots guarding it, why don't we ask Raven to fly the Blast Bot right into the barrier... essentially drop the bomb right on the barrier and blow it to pieces."
Torn and Jinx looked at each other for a few seconds, as they realized that they had missed something when they had put together this plan, before Jinx coughed and brought the attention to him for a moment.
"Well, truth be told, we hadn't thought of that," Jinx replied, though at the same time he glanced at the armored ottsel for a few seconds, as he was unsure of what to do, "Just be warned, if you drop that Blast Bot too soon we'll have wasted our one chance to get back to Freedom HQ."
Raven nodded as Jinx lead the way to the area that the modified Blast Bot was resting in, where he noticed that there was more than enough room for him to transform into his true form and leave this area without damaging the robot. A few moments later, when Jinx stepped back towards the door, Raven transformed into his true form and carefully lifted himself into the air. Once he was in the air he gently grabbed the top of the Blast Bot with his claws and used his wings to ascend further into the air, though once he passed the top of the buildings he turned towards the Industrial section of the city and flew towards where his target was located.
Raven mentally chuckled as he spotted several of the robots stared up at him and tried to target him, but it appeared that he was just out of range and they couldn't target him at all... though he smiled as he neared the barrier and dropped the Blast Bot into the middle of the structure, blowing the entire thing apart. Once the deed was done he turned around and headed back to the Naughty Ottsel, where he transformed back into his ottsel form and told the group the good news... while being pleased that he could help the war effort out so much.
"Great job!" Torn said, though while he was happy to have someone like Raven on their side he was a little ashamed that he hadn't considered asking for his assistance earlier, "We can link up with the northern front now. I'll get on the horn to HQ and give 'em the good news! Jak, Pinkie, these are for you."
Jak and Pinkie grinned as Torn handed them a pair of Peace Maker mods for their weapons, to which Jak quickly attached his to his Morph Gun and knew that when the opportunity presented itself he would use it against some of their enemies. Torn turned towards Pinkie as she surrounded her mod with her Dark Eco, to which it turned into a dark purple bead that appeared on her bracelet, though that was followed by her extending her hand towards one of the paintings that Krew had put up around the room and focused on the new bead. A few seconds later a sphere of energy, colored in the same colors of a Peace Maker shot, appeared in front of her hand and caused everyone else to step back for a few moments... though they only relaxed when she collapsed the sphere and absorbed the Eco once more.
"So how are we going to get to the HQ?" Raven asked, though at the same time he already knew that he could easily transport everyone there so they could save some time, especially since the Dark Makers were on their way to their planet.
"Just fly them there," Jinx commented, though his tone indicated that he had been hoping to have someone drive the modified Blast Bot into the barrier and seeing the explosion on the screen, before he departed from the building and left the others to their business.
Daxter agreed with Jinx's suggestion and was happy to find that Raven was more than willing to transform again, to which they watched as he morphed back into his true form, allowed Jak, Daxter, and Pinkie to climb on his back, and then took to the skies as he focused on their destination. As Raven flew over the city the group could hear that the people were cheering at them, meaning that the group was a symbol for morale at this point, but they were perfectly fine with that. Thanks to Raven they were able to reach the area that the Freedom HQ was located in, where Raven maneuvered himself into an open area and allowed the others to climb off his back... to which he transformed back into his ottsel form and they headed into the building, where they found the others waiting for them when they climbed off the elevator.
"Hello, fellow peeps and cronies!" Daxter exclaimed, to which he jumped off of Jak's shoulder and landed beside Pecker, who ignored him to the best of his ability, "That's right, the Daxternator is back in the building!"
"You did it!" Keira said, clapping her hands together, though whether she was talking about the knowledge they had acquired or breaking through the KG barriers the group was unsure of.
"It's about time the lot of you got here!" Samos stated, though the group was familiar with his tone and knew that he was referring to the Dark Maker ship, which they were all concerned about.
"I'm surprised that you got here so fast," Pecker commented, though at the same time Raven simply shifted into his hybrid form and raised a wing, to which Pecker sighed for a moment, "Right, transforming Neo Metal Head who's true form is that of a dragon... forgot about that."
"Great work, all of you." Ashelin spoke up, though at the same time she turned towards the group for a moment, knowing that they were a little sore about being banished, "Let me be the first to officially apologize for the city."
"Forget about it." Jak said, knowing that the citizens of the city weren't at fault for what had happened, because Veger was the one that had had orchestrated their banishment and it was the Count that he was after, especially after the destruction of the palace, "We've got our own reasons for wanting this war to be over."
"Well, what we know right now is there's a huge dark planet builder bearing down on us all." Samos said, though by the looks on everyone's faces Jak and Pinkie knew that he had already explained everything to them, "How much time we have, no one can guess. If it is rogue Precursor technology, then the only way to destroy it is with more Precursor technology, and that lies at the bottom of the catacombs."
"Also, the large number of Eco Crystals being moved about can mean only one thing," Keira stated, to which she noticed that the entire group knew where she was going with this train of thought, but were allowing her to speak what was on her mind, "someone is trying to awaken vast Precursor technology."
"I'm fairly sure that both Errol and Veger are behind the awakening of all this Precursor technology," Pinkie said, knowing that Errol had to be connected to the Dark Maker ship and that Veger had to be hunting for the weapon that they had seen in the Astro-Viewer.
Before anyone could say anything else, and discuss what they were going to do about the Dark Maker ship, the building shook for a moment, as if it had been struck by some sort of projectile, which caused the group to look at the computer table that was in the middle of the room.
"It looks like a large scale assault. Multiple targets inbound." Ashelin said, seeing at least three enemy ships coming towards the building they were in, to which she glanced over at Jak and Pinkie, "Jak, Pinkie, are you up for some action?"
"Of course," Pinkie replied, to which she accessed her powers and summoned her scythe, before she headed towards the elevator again, "Let's see what the KG are sending our way... and show them what they're fighting against."
She was eager to get a proper fight, as everything else had been too easy for her and she was looking for some excitement, though she was going to have to accept this assault as her excitement... to which she and Jak climbed into the elevator and headed down to the battleground, as things were about to get hectic once they stepped outside.
It turned out that the forces that were attacking Freedom HQ were the KG robots, though they came prepared with some sort of square shaped device that not only dispensed additional forces, roller bots and the four legged ones, but also fired missiles at the Freedom League soldiers, the Neo Metal Heads that were defending the area, or innocent civilians. Just seeing the robots attack innocent civilians made Jak and Pinkie upset, though this time Daxter insisted on getting in on the action, to which he pulled out a pair of custom made daggers for ottsels to use, which he claimed to have gotten from the smiths in Spargus, and climbed onto Raven's back, while in his hybrid form. Jak and Pinkie understood what the two ottsels were going to do, as it appeared that they wanted to fly around and search for a weakness in the KG Carriers... while Jak and Pinkie fought on the ground.
In all honesty Pinkie really didn't care what Daxter did, as Raven was already prepared to get started, to which she leveled the palm of her hand with one of the roller bots, accessed the Eco inside her, and opened fire with the Vulcan Mod, tearing the robot to pieces. Jak, on the other hand, stuck to the Blaster Mod and fired at anyone that got too close to them, as he didn't want to use some of the more destructive mods they had acquired, because civilians and allies were running around where they were fighting. Some of the Freedom League soldiers escorted the civilians to safety, be it their actual residence or a hospital if they were wounded, while the remainder of the soldiers were fighting alongside Jak and Pinkie.
As the battle progressed, however, Pinkie noticed that the KG Carrier had four power nods that were vulnerable from the outside, which seemed like a design flaw to her, though instead of questioning it she gathered some more Eco above her hands. Jak watched as she formed a few Peace Maker spheres and started juggling them around, though when she tossed one in front of her, however, she spun around and kicked the sphere with the side of her leg, sending it flying into one of the power nodes and causing the node to explode upon impact. The explosion rocked the KG Carrier for a moment, causing it to stagger as it moved away from where Pinkie was standing, but she only grinned as she kicked a second sphere into the second node... repeating the same devastating explosion once more.
It wasn't too long after the second power node was destroyed that Pinkie blew the third and the fourth nodes to pieces as well, causing the entire KG Carrier to explode once the last node was gone... though that was when two more KG Carriers entered the area and started deploying more robots.
This time around Jak, Daxter, and Raven focused their attention on one of the KG Carriers, as Pinkie could easily destroy one on her own and clearly didn't need their assistance in dealing with the one she picked out, so while Jak focused on the robots that were marching towards him Daxter and Raven focused on the power nodes. Their method for blowing them up was collecting some explosives from Jinx, who happened to be in the area, and attaching them to each of the four nodes, though they did so one at a time. Once one of the nodes had explosives attached to it, and the duo had backed away, Jinx flipped the switch and blew the power node up... to which they did it three more times until the entire KG Carrier exploded from all the damage it had taken.
That was, of course, followed by Pinkie's KG Carrier exploding as well, indicating that she was having fun with the robots that it dropped off and was merely waiting for her brother to be done before she finished her target... to which the group got back together and returned to the Freedom League HQ, where everyone else was waiting for them.
"I can see that my training, as well as the training from someone else, has paid off." Samos commented, speaking the exact moment that Jak, Daxter, Pinkie, and Raven returned to their command center, though his tone indicated that he was talking to all four of them, "You're the best group we've got to lead an expedition into the catacombs."
"Please, please, let us not be too hasty." a voice said, to which Veger walked into the room and approached the table that everyone was standing around, though at the same time Raven growled at the man, "Are you sure you want this Dark Eco freak, his reality defying sister, and their corrupted pets contaminating the hallowed halls of our glorious Precursors? I should lead the expedition myself."
"Let me make one thing very clear to you," Ashelin replied, though at the same time she, along with Keira and Pinkie, glared at the man, while at the same time Pinkie silently withdrew her scythe in case things went south, "we're tired of your scheming, Veger."
"I've got the answer you're looking for." Veger stated, though this tone indicated that he believed that he had the upper hand and could easily sway the group to his way of thinking, like he had done when he was pressing charges against Jak and Pinkie a few weeks ago, "My Precursor monks have given me the knowledge to turn on the planetary defense grid... if you beg me to do so."
"You know, I knew that Seem had to know something about the weapon that sleeps in the core of our planet," Pinkie said, though at the same time she smiled, because at the moment she knew that Veger didn't have any cards to play anymore, "I bet if I asked Seem to share the information with us, she would gladly do so, which means that there's no reason for you to even bother trying to persuade us anymore."
"Jak and Pinkie have always gotten us through thick and thin." Keira added, knowing that without the two siblings Gol and Maia would have destroyed the world all those years ago, and even if those two were stopped by someone else she was sure that no one would have stopped Metal Kor from burning Haven to the ground, "I'm with them."
"Hear, hear!" Samos stated, though at the same time he tapped his staff on the ground, which made everyone else that was assembled in the room voice their agreement that Jak and Pinkie were the best chance the world had at surviving what was coming their way.
"You're washed up, Vegan." Daxter proclaimed, though even as he spoke he smiled, because saying the Count's name wrong really got a response out of him and made him less concentrated on what he was doing at that very moment.
"Veger! It's Veger, you idiot!" Veger nearly shouted, his anger clearly showing to everyone in the room, though at the same time all he could do was angrily stare at Daxter.
"Whatever!" Daxter replied, though he turned around and mentally chuckled to himself, as it felt good to annoy someone that was clearly on the other side of this war, as he was sure that the Count would be making a terrible decision at some point in the near future.
"Count Veger," Ashelin said, causing the angry Count to turn towards her, while at the same time the rest of the group wondered what she was planning on doing, "I hereby dissolve the City Council and strip you of your title, command, and all privileges. Now get out of my sight."
"What? How dare you!" Veger declared, to which he actually glared at each and every one of them in turn, as if he was burning their faces into his memory so he could hunt them down later, "I offered you mercy, but now you will all burn in the Precursor fires of creation! I swear it..."
It was at that point that Raven, who was annoyed with the former Count, let loose a roar that knocked Veger off his feet, much like he would have done in his true form, but the roar served its purpose and made a frightened former Count flee the room in terror... which got a laugh out of everyone for a few seconds, before they turned serious once more.
"That was one of the more larger attack waves that we've gotten since we set this place up." Ashelin commented, though as she spoke she glanced over at Pinkie, who smiled once she realized that someone was looking at her, "Even with Pinkie's powers we can't continue to repel such large assaults forever, especially since she can't be here all the time to defend us! That floating war factory has got to be shut down. The problem is, the factory is shielded and has gate codes on every access point. Most old KG door cyphers were kept hidden in the main system in the Power Station. If you can break into the system, you may be able to unlock the war factory doors to get inside."
"Onin says the Eco Grid in the Power Station could help you." Pecker added, to which Jak and Pinkie noticed the old lady sitting nearby, signing with her hands and allowing Pecker to continue speaking, "But to open the door to the Power Station, you must find the junction box in the sewer. Personally, I think you're crazy to go down there. But, uh, good luck."
Neither Jak or Pinkie were too keen on heading back into the sewer, even if it was to turn a junction box on or off, but they knew that sometimes trekking through the sewer was the only way for them to get closer to their goal, to which they walked out of the building, rode the elevator back to the ground floor, and started the search for a sewer entrance. It actually didn't take them too long to find one, as Keira sent them the information that they needed and they used that to find the entrance they needed to use. Once they reached the entrance they rode the elevator down to the lower level, where they spotted three KG robots, ones that mimicked the beast like Metal Heads, wandering the area in front of them, to which Jak and Pinkie blew them apart before they moved onward.
As they walked forward a trio of flying KG robots moved into the air and fired upon them, to which Jak shot them at them with the Blaster until they were laying in pieces on the floor in front of them, allowing them to move into the large area that they had been heading towards. They turned to the left and followed the walkway, as well as four pipes that they had to traverse, until they reached a door that opened up to more enemies, which both Jak and Pinkie were expecting this time around. The two opened fire on the robots that were in front of them and made sure to take out the ones that were further down the tunnel that was on their right, though they had to be careful and jump over the lasers that were designed to eliminate people who weren't paying attention.
After getting over the lasers they took out another small group of robots, jumped over a set second of lasers, and moved up to the area that was in front of them, where they opened fire on yet another group of KG robots. As they crossed a small river of sewer water Pinkie focused on some enemies that were behind them while Jak took out some more enemies that were in front of them, though once that was done they moved forward once more. It was at that point that even more enemies showed up and attacked them while they moved, to which Pinkie switched to kicking Peace Maker spheres at the robots that were flying around the area... allowing Jak the opportunity to moved beyond another set of lasers and fight the enemies that were on the other side of the lasers.
Even with the enemies around them taken care of there were still more of them in the passage that they needed to walk through, to which Jak focused on taking out the robots that were the closest to them while Pinkie focused on the ones at a distance... which involved kicking Peace Maker spheres into them, causing them to explode upon impact.
"I have no idea how she's able to kick so many of those things without hurting herself," Daxter commented, watching Pinkie kick another sphere into an unsuspecting enemy, blowing the poor robot to pieces in a matter of seconds, "but I'm not complaining about it."
They turned towards the room that was in front of them and discovered that the way forward was blocked by a grate, though on their left was a button that had to open the grate if it was pressed, but in front of the button rested a device that was designed to shoot them until they were dead if it was tripped. Pinkie, on the other hand, already had a plan in mind to get to the button without inflicting harm on themselves, to which she had Raven use his hybrid form to fly over and slam his head into it. Thanks to the fact that he was a Neo Metal Head, and that his skull was much thicker in his hybrid state than his ottsel state, no harm was done to his body... though when the grate opened two more robots flew into the area and tried to attack them, though on the return trip Raven flew into them and tore them to pieces.
With the grate open Jak and Pinkie used the strong current that was in front of them and rode down to the next area of the sewer, where they found a fair number of actual beasts walking around the area, which meant that they had to get rid of them considering that the beasts attacked them a few seconds later. Once the beasts were taken care of they jumped on some platforms that emerged from the wall, and went back into it a few moments later, until Jak and Pinkie reached the next level of the area. Jak then noticed the number of beasts that were in front of them and, with the aid of his sister, took them out, though as he moved to dive into the water, to get under the gate, he spotted Pinkie moving... to which he watched as she used her scythe to carve an opening into the wall.
In the next area they loosed a volley of shots at the KG robots that were patrolling the area, ascended to another walkway thanks to some moving platforms, and repeated the process again until they were able to cross over to the area where the terminal they were looking for was located. Once there were no more enemies in the area, and they were sure of that, Jak flipped the switched that was in front of them, to which they waited until they got confirmation that the door to the Power Station was down.
"You guys keep the surprises coming!" Pecker said over their communicator, which brought a smile to the groups faces when they heard the news, "The door to the Power Station is now open."
With the door to the Power Station open, and their deed was done, they headed towards the door that was to their right and found the elevator that they had used when they were in the Industrial section earlier, which meant that they could access the information they needed without wasting any time. They walked over to the elevator and rode it up to the surface, though when they started walking they noticed that none of the KG robots even noticed that they were there yet... to which they quickly made their way into the Power Station and closed the door behind them.
"Ah, remember this place?" Daxter asked, though as the group walked into the Power Station, and closed the door behind them, both he and Raven walked on the floor, "I sure miss good old Vin."
"Yeah, he was a good guy. A bit crazy." Jak added, remembering what they had done when Vin had been alive, while Daxter had made fun of him because of what Raven was, which made him wonder if Vin even knew what Raven's true form had been before he died.
"Hey! Who you calling crazy?" a voice said, one that the group recognized as Vin's, which made Jak and Daxter wonder how he could even be talking to them, "I can't help it if the world is out to get me!"
"Vin!" Daxter exclaimed, though not a few seconds later he glared at the area around them, as if he was searching for where the voice was coming from, "Wait a minute, is that you?"
"Yeah, it's me." the voice said, to which a head, one that looked like the hologram heads that they had seen earlier, appeared in front of them, though it looked exactly like Vin's head, "Well, actually no it's not. I'm a multi-layered hyperlinking digi-memoc-bio-construct-super-clocked-mega-memory-construct, baby!"
"Did anyone understand a word he said?" Raven asked, to which everyone else shrugged at him, indicating that they had no idea what Vin was talking about, to which they turned and looked at Vin's head.
"When the city was overrun by Kor's Metal Heads, before they got to me, I dumped my brain into the Eco Grid." Vin explained, though his words told the group that he knew about the Neo Metal Heads, "Everything's great now. Those monsters can't get me in here... not with the Freedom League soldiers and the Neo Metal Heads patrolling the city."
"Listen, Vin, I'm happy you're, whatever you are," Jak said, though at the same time he knew that they had to be quick before the KG realized what they were doing, "but right now, we need to get into the war factory but the doors are sealed. We think the code to open the doors is hidden in the system."
"It is." Vin told them, though even as he spoke Pinkie knew that something was up, because this seemed almost too easy for her liking and she could see that Jak was concerned as well.
"Really?" Daxter asked, to which a smile appeared on his face, because this was much better than he originally expected, "Can you get it for us?"
"Negative." Vin replied, to which Jak and Pinkie nodded their heads, because they had been expecting this and Daxter hadn't, as he always expected everything to be easy for them.
"Vin, can you explain why its not possible for you to do the codes we need?" Raven inquired, though if he knew anything about this system, which he knew next to nothing about, he suspected that there was something in the older systems that would make this hard for them.
"Because if you have half a brain cycle, you'd know that those access codes are guarded by the central system." Vin told them, though thanks to his new state he didn't sound scared or terrified anymore, "Ancient, nasty circuits in there. Even we bit brains can't nibble around there without getting our butts erased!"
"Just get us close." Pinkie said, to which she stepped up in front of the group and stared at the monitor, knowing that it was in their best interests if she went into the ancient system and searched for the codes.
"Oh, sure, yeah, hah, it's your death." Vin stated, indicating that he had no faith in Pinkie's mysterious abilities, since they had never tested her in this sort of manner before during the campaign against the Baron, "If you fail, I can always use a companion in here. Oh, the fun we'll have."
"Let's hope, oh god let's hope, it doesn't come to that." Daxter said, though at the same time he glanced over at Pinkie, knowing that Jak would be devastated if something happened to her.
"When I put you into the system, the main security will slam down hard." Vin explained, though at the same time the group could tell that he was preparing to do something with the system, "It'll be up to you to beat the system and get out, or get Eco-zapped for good! You checksum?"
"Jack me in!" Pinkie stated, to which her own Eco surrounded her for a moment, indicating that she was preparing to connect herself to the Eco of the Eco Grid.
"Wait for it, wait for it." Vin said, to which his head turned towards the screen for a moment, before snapping back and looking at Pinkie, "Okay! Input!"
Pinkie grinned as she connected her Eco to the Eco Grid, to which she physically surged into the screen and vanished from the physically world, to which Jak, Daxter, and Raven watched as her head appeared in the circuit that Vin had connected her to. A few seconds later the ancient security guard, the one that Vin had been worried about, appeared in the same area that Pinkie had appeared in and was already racing towards where Pinkie was standing. The group watched in horror as the security system collided with Pinkie not a few seconds later, though their eyes widened as they realized that she had, somehow, stopped the construct in its tracks. Not a few seconds later Pinkie started chasing the security system around, collecting the various components that she was supposed to collect while amazing the group... though before long she had gathered the last item and was pulled out of the screen.
Jak looked at Pinkie for a few seconds, finding that she was still in her strange half human half pony form and that there was nothing wrong with her, to which he sighed as he grabbed the decoder that flew out of the screen. Torn's head appeared a few seconds later and congratulated them on a job well done, while at the same time calling for Jak and Pinkie to return to the HQ. With nothing else to do, and promising Vin that they would check in with him again in the future, the group departed from the building, let Raven return to his dragon form, and flew back to the area that the HQ was in. When they arrived at the building, however, they found that Keria was much better at understanding the decoder and the old systems than the group realized... as the look on Torn's face told them so much.
"Jak, Pinkie, we got a big one this time." Torn said, though the small smile on his face made the rest of the group smile as well, especially since they might have the key to the factory's downfall, "That decoder you found helped us decipher the gate key for the main KG war factory. We can get inside now, and we need our best people on the raid.
"Oh gee, I wonder who that might be?" Daxter replied, though as he spoke he sat down on Jak's shoulder, because what was coming next was going to be interesting.
"There is a good chance that factory is doing more than just making death bots." Samos commented, to which the group noticed that he was staring at an image of the factory, as if he was thinking about what they might find inside the enemy stronghold.
"I want to know who's behind it all." Torn stated, though at the same time the group knew that there was another command that he wasn't openly telling them about, "How are so many death bots being made? Where are they getting the supplies and the Eco? Something about this doesn't seem right."
"Yeah, right into the hornet's nest." Pinkie said, to which a grin appeared on her face, making Jak worry that his sister's alter ego, Pinkamena, was having an effect on his sister again, "This is gonna be fun!"
Jak nodded his agreement to what his sister had said, because this was sure to bring about the downfall of the war factory and allow them to focus on taking out the remaining enemy Metal Heads... and then stop Errol before he did whatever he was planning on doing.
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.
Jak, Daxter, Pinkie, and Raven rested for a few minutes to regain their energy, as some of them had gone through quite the ordeal in the war factory, namely Pinkie with what she called her 'Multiform Army', which was something that she really couldn't explain to Jak. Her brother was fine with not knowing anything about the technique, as he had stopped questioning what his sister could do and was fine with knowing that she was using the skill to their benefit in the war against Errol. While they rested their friends told them that the Freedom League didn't need their assistance at the moment and that they could leave, so they could do whatever they wanted for the next mission to come up, but they were fine with waiting around and gathering their energy.
That was until their communicator sprung to life and floated around them, to which they determined that Damas, Sig, or even Seem had to be contacting them, to which they moved away from their friends, so the sound didn't bother them, before having the message come through.
"Jak, Pinkie, please help us!" the communicator said, though the group could easily tell that it was Seem that was speaking to them, to which they started heading towards the elevator, as this was going to be something important for the monk to contact them, "Errol is attacking the Monk Temple. He wants the secrets we have kept concerning the Dark Makers. Please hurry, if he finds what he seeks, it could undo this world."
Once the communicator returned to where they kept it, however, Raven braced himself until they were outside the building, to which he transformed into his dragon form and commanded Jak and Pinkie to climb onto his back, though Daxter had to hold onto Jak in the process. The moment they were in place, and the civilians were giving them some space, Raven opened his wings and took to the sky, where he turned in the direction of the Wasteland and flew in its direction, though he intended to turn towards the Monk Temple once he reached the area near Spargus. Jak, Daxter, and Pinkie pulled their goggles over their eyes before the bugs and wind got in their eyes, though as Raven moved through the air they wondered how Errol found out about Seem and her monks... but they couldn't only hope that they arrived in time to stop the assault in its tracks.
Even with Raven flying through the air, with speeds that matched the transport that usually rode between Haven City and Spargus, they arrived at the Wasteland in the same amount of time, though when they neared Spargus Raven turned to the north and took them right to the Monk Temple... where he reverted back to his ottsel form the moment they landed in front of the main entrance, and everyone was off his back as well.
When they walked passed the main entrance, however, they were immediately assaulted by a group of creatures, who happened to look like they were made out of pure Dark Eco and could summon shields whenever they desired, appeared in front of them and opened fire. Jak and Pinkie returned fire immediately, though one of the first things they did was Jak jumped up to a higher area as Pinkie slammed the base of her palm on the ground, to which she activated the Mass Inverter that was in her bracelet. It was then that the duo discovered that Ashelin had been telling the truth, as the moment Pinkie started manipulating the gravity around her their enemies floated into the air, though while their enemies were confused Jak was completely untouched by the Mass Inverter.
Pinkie grinned as she leapt into the air and kicked one of the Dark Maker minions, to which her target sailed through the air before collapsing into a heap, though that only made her chuckle as she repeated the tactic with the other targets until the first group was defeated.
As the first group fell a second one phased into existence and launched their attack, to which Jak loosed a Peace Maker charge and struck one of them down, before switching the to Reflector so his shots could get behind the shields that their enemies were using. It didn't take them long to defeat the second group, to which they walked towards the door and entered the passage that was in front of them, though the few enemies they encountered along the way were really easy to take care of with a barrage of Reflector shots. Since her brother was the one shooting at the moment, and she felt that there was no reason for them to completely overpower their foes, Pinkie accessed the Light Eco inside her and summoned a shield to protect them from the shots that reflected back towards them.
They found another trio of Dark Maker minions, Troopers as Pinkie decided to call them, standing around the Dark Eco Vent they had discovered the last time they had been in the temple, though since they were occupied with the Eco Jak and Pinkie took it upon themselves to attack them from behind. It was rather amusing to sneak up on their enemies and strike at them without them noticing, especially since these were supposed to be the fearsome Troopers of the Dark Makers, but all Pinkie could do was laugh at how easy it was to take them out at times. Once the enemies around the Vent were taken care of, and no more teleported into the area, Jak and Pinkie paused to regain some of their lost Dark Eco before they continued onward.
As they entered the chamber where they has used Jak's medallion to reach the second trial they were assaulted by more Troopers, though at the same time Pinkie noticed that the passage they had unlocked earlier had been broken and was completely covered by rubble. As they fought their enemies, where Pinkie discovered that her weapon could harm her opponents much easier than most of her weapons, she also discovered that the first door they walked through, for the first trial, was locked to them as well... though it had a fair number of cracks on it. Jak, noticing the door as well, jumped back and transformed into his Dark Form, which he immediately followed up with a Dark Strike that tore through both the door and the Troopers that were foolish enough to stand in front of him.
When they entered the first room of their first trial they were, once again, assaulted by more Troopers, though this time around Jak took great pleasure in releasing a few more Dark Strikes, which tore into their enemies and cleared the way forward... until they realized that the door on the other end of the chamber was locked and that they needed to take a different path. Pinkie was able to correct the situation, as she found a cracked wall that was definitely begging to be blasted apart, to which Jak restocked his Dark Eco, thanks to the nearby Dark Eco Vent, and loosed another Dark Strike at the cracked wall, opening the way forward once more. At the other end of the short tunnel they found an area, one Pinkie had spotted when they were running over the falling bridge earlier, and discovered that the place was crawling with Troopers... to which they separated from each other and attacked one side of the area.
Jak, still burning with Dark Eco, couldn't help but mow down his targets with some Dark Strikes, as it appeared that the shields that the Troopers used wasn't enough to prevent them from taking damage, because when his attack hit them he grinned as the shields shattered and his opponents were struck down. Pinkie, on the other hand, used her Mass Inverter to her advantage, which meant that she messed with gravity in the area around her and kicked all of her opponents away from where she was standing, which killed whoever she hit. It was a somewhat slower process than what Jak was doing, but she found this to be much funner in her own opinion, especially since it appeared that her alter ego was leaving her alone at long last.
When Jak and Pinkie got back together they discovered that the door blocking their way could be busted down like everything else that they had encountered so far, to which Jak used the last bit of his Dark Eco to launch one more Dark Strike, allowing them to enter the new area once the door was out of their way. They then came to another Light Eco Vent, which were more rare than the Dark Eco ones, to which they healed any wounds that they might have collected on the way here and restocked their Light Eco. Once they were finished Jak and Pinkie continued down the passage that was to their right, which took them right to the third face of the large Precursor statue they had seen the last time times they had been in this area... which made them wonder what it was going to give them this time around.
Together Jak and Pinkie approached the platform that was right in front of the statue, while at the same time Daxter and Raven kept their eyes open for anything that might try and attack them.
"Once again you stand before me, brave ones, and once again, your heroism shall be rewarded." the Precursor statue said, though at the same time both Jak and Pinkie were lifted into the air by the light that the statue called upon, "I give you a new light power, one which will help you reach new places; places only in your dreams."
Jak was engulfed in light for a few seconds, like he had been the last few times they had been granted powers, though when the light faded he found that his body was glowing, meaning that he was in his Light Eco form once more and started trying to figure out what was new. That was swiftly followed by him noticing that he had a set of tendril like wings coming out of his back, though they appeared to be made of energy since they didn't rip holes in his clothing. He had to chuckle for a moment, because now the statue's words about this power allowing them to reach new places made that much more sense to him. Once he discovered what was new with him, and Daxter finished staring at the wings as well, they turned to see what was new with Pinkie, as the Precursor statue had been responsible for transforming her into her current state.
When the light around Pinkie disappeared Jak noticed that she was now wearing a full set of Precursor armor, much like what he had been collecting since they arrived in Spargus, though oddly enough Pinkie's new armor showed off her midriff, much like her Wastelander clothing had done, which was actually still beneath the armor. Another interesting thing he discovered was that the coloration of her armor was strange, as the arm, hand, leg, and foot pieces on the right side of her body were dark purple colored, though they were a few shades lighter than Dark Eco. The same pieces on the left side of her body, however, bared a color that almost looked like Light Eco, though they were a few shades darker to match the other side of her armor. Pinkie's chest piece, however, was a merging of the two types of Eco, as both the Light and Dark Eco swirled around each other until stopping just above her heart... though Jak suspected that the image was supposed to mean harmony between Light Eco and Dark Eco.
The other thing that Jak noticed was that Pinkie, who was in her Light form as well, also possessed a pair of wings, though hers appeared to resemble the wings of a bird, or like the white coated pony with wings he had spotted in a corner when Pinkie used her Multiform Army against Errol... though Pinkie grinned as she noticed what her new ability gave her.
With their new ability to fly, named Light Flight by Pinkie, the two siblings took a few moments to practice in the area around the statue, as it proved to be a great place to practice, before they followed the path on their right and walked up to a level that was above the area they had passed through a few minutes ago. The siblings stood there for a few seconds, looking for the way forward, before Pinkie spotted a set of ruined pillars and walkways they could use to reach the other side of the chamber they were in. Jak, spotting the path for himself, quickly praised Pinkie before flying over to the first ruined pillar, to which he turned around and beckoned for his sister to follow him... though once she landed beside him, and smiled in the process, Jak moved onward and they repeated the process several more times.
Eventually they came to a stop near a warp gate, which rested on the side of the chamber they had been heading towards, though when they landed they found Seem staring out the ruined roof, no doubt looking at the Day Star... though as they approached the monk both Jak and Pinkie released their Light Flight forms and reverted to normal, where they discovered that Pinkie's armor had been a gift and wasn't linked to her new power.
"Errol has learned how to connect with the Dark Maker ship." Seem commented, almost as if she had been waiting for the group to arrive, which was followed by her turning to face the group, "If he can awaken its terrible cargo, he will unleash horrors beyond our deepest nightmares. Not all is lost, however, as I hid the most important artifact from Errol. Jak, Daxter, Pinkie, and Raven, it seems that I was right to put my faith in the four of you when we first met. You have the balance needed to save us all."
"As rubber-wearing, completely freaky, beyond bizarre, paint-faced, super weird monks go, you're all right." Daxter said, though while someone else may have been insulted by such a comment, and Jak was sure that some of the other monks would have taken offense to it, Seem was unfazed by his remark.
"I have now seen the truth, and I am at peace." Seem replied, to which she gently placed the artifact she had been carrying, a Time Map, in Jak's hands, though she followed that up by her rubbing both Daxter and Raven's chins for a few seconds, "At least I was granted the gift of seeing the face of my creators. Thank you, little ones."
"Uh, okay." Daxter commented, though at the same time he glanced over to Raven, who actually smiled by what Seem had done, before he officially decided to give up on figuring out what was wrong with the monks.
With the Time Map in hand, and Seem saying that she and the other monks were fine, Jak and Pinkie accessed the nearby Warp Gate and headed back to the entrance of the temple... though before they could determine what to do next their communicator became active once more.
"Jak, Pinkie, we need you both back at Spargus City." the communicator said, though they could easily tell that Damas was speaking to them at the moment, which led Raven to morph back into his dragon form and let the others climb back onto his back, "The scope's picking up major movement out over the water. It's not a storm, it's... something else. My guess is it's connected to those dark satellites we've seen. You're the best gunner we've got Jak, this is your chance to repay your life debt. Get back here as soon as you can!"
The moment the communicator was back where it belonged Raven let out a roar as he took to the skies once more, though this time the trip to Spargus was much shorter than the trip from Haven City to the Wasteland. Raven managed to reach the city in a matter of minutes, though when he arrived he made sure to scout over the water to see if he could find anything that might have appeared on the radar... though after a few moments he returned to the ground and let the others climb off of him. As he did that, however, they noticed that the city was under attack by Troopers, so while Jak made for the gun Pinkie and Raven turned to the city and started hunting down their enemies, though Raven used his hybrid form to avoid hurting the Wastelanders.
Once Jak hopped into the turret he discovered that a new type of enemy, a large mechanical construct that appeared to walk on two legs and fired missiles at him, was walking towards the city, to which he shot down the missiles and focused on finding a weak point that he could exploit. As it turned out parts of its legs, both near the water and near its head, were definitely vulnerable to taking damage and weakened the construct, though when he target's the construct's head he ended up blowing the entire thing to pieces. The destruction of the first construct made Daxter cheer a little, though Jak focused his mind and followed all of the constructs that shot out of the air and landed in the water in front of him, because he knew that this was an assault force and that if he was taken out the entire city would suffer until Spargus was no more.
It took some time, effort, and a couple of destroyed constructs before his scanner told him that some were falling on the city, to which he turned the turret around and continued firing at the enemies that thought that they could catch him by surprise. One of the things that he noticed was Pinkie happened to be using her Light Flight ability to actually fly like Raven could, which was mainly her confusing her target before her Light Eco empowered blade cut through the legs and head of her target, reducing the construct to a pile of pieces. Jak chuckled at the sight of his sister smashing the Troopers and the one Walker, to which he turned his attention back to his own targets and took them out in the same manner as the ones that had been in the water.
A few more minutes passed before his scanner indicated that there were no more enemies for him to fight, though he did a quick sweep of the area to be absolutely sure before he climbed out of the turret, to which he found Damas and Kleiver waiting for him... and that Pinkie and Raven were standing nearby.
"Excellent shooting Jak!" Damas said, though while he spoke he made eye contact with Jak, who was pleased to have defended the city so well with his sister backing him up with her strange abilities, "This victory is a sign of possibility. Times are grim, but when I was the leader of Haven City, times seemed grim then too. Take hope. Even the smallest weed finds shelter within the rocks."
"Wait a minute, when were you the leader of Haven City?" Daxter asked, because when he remembered that they knew that Damas had been the leader of the city they had no idea when he came to power.
"I came to the throne during the middle of the Metal Head Wars." Damas explained, though at the same time he let out a sigh, as he had to be remembering some terrible memories, before he spoke again, "Baron Praxis betrayed me and banished me to the wasteland. The rest, of course, you know by now... Anyway, here is your third and final battle amulet. The two of you are Wastelanders now, and that war amulet is a beacon. If ever the two of you need us, use it to call, and we will be there. And from me, a welcoming gift."
It was at that point that Damas snapped his fingers at Kleiver, who had been studying some sort of armor piece, though that was followed by the fat man reluctantly handing the chest piece to Jak.
"This rare Precursor armor is said to have been worn by Mar himself." Damas continued, though at the same time he smiled as Jak slipped the chest section of the armor on, "I have been saving that piece of Mar's armor since I found it, intending to give it to you, my son, whenever we reunited with each other."
"Thanks." Jak said, as he couldn't believe that Damas had been holding the last piece of Mar's armor, the very set he had been building since he and Pinkie had been found by the Wastelanders, before he looked up at his father, "I don't have anything for you."
"You give us all hope, Jak. That is gift enough." Damas replied, to which he turned towards Pinkie, who glanced up at him for a moment, "Pinkie Pie, there is only one thing I can say to someone like you... I would be honored to have you be Jak's sister, officially I might add."
"I... I would be honored..." Pinkie said, to which some tears formed in her eyes, because not having a father had been something that had been bothering her since their banishment to the Wasteland, "dad."
"Jak, Daxter, Pinkie, and Raven," Damas said, to which he wrapped his arms around both Jak and Pinkie, who smiled at him in turn while their ottsels grinned at Kleiver, "Welcome to the clan."
Jak, Daxter, Pinkie, and Raven were only allowed to spend a few minutes with Damas before he had to tend to the rest of the Wastelanders that called Spargus home, which left the group to do whatever they desired until they figured out what to do next. During the next ten minutes all four of them were thanked for helping defend the city from the Walkers that the Dark Makers had sent to destroy them, not that the Wastelanders knew what the names of their enemies were, though Daxter was delighted by the praise, even if he did nothing besides help Jak figure out where the Walkers were. They also had time to gather some refreshments, both drinks and some food, before they were called upon once more... though this time they were being contacted by Samos.
"Jak, Pinkie, we have a problem." Samos said, though at the same time the siblings knew that there had to be a problem, as that was the only reason anyone bothered to contact them these days, but at the same time they listened to the communicator, "Readings indicate that Errol has somehow alerted and raised the shields on the Dark Makers' ship. Now even if we do manage to turn on the Planetary Defense System, it may not have an effect. I have a feeling the Astro-Viewer in Haven Forest does more than just look at stars. The lot of you must be cautious, dark creatures have taken over the forest. It will be a battle just to reach the Astro-Viewer now."
"Its a battle to reach anything in Haven City these days." Daxter commented, though as the communicator powered down they headed towards the transport, as they wanted to give Raven enough time to rest and regain his energy, especially since he had flown the entire distance from Haven to the Wastelands.
Once the people of Spargus heard that they were needed elsewhere they bid the group farewell and returned to their duties, allowing them to make for the garage and the transport that was hanging out near the city's entrance. The moment they were back aboard the transport the door closed behind them and took off, allowing them to see Spargus, and the Wasteland, disappear into the distance as they raced back towards Haven City. While they flew back towards their destination Daxter openly wondered how much longer the war was going to last before the city was finally at peace again, to which Pinkie replied that she believed they were nearing the end of their mission... though she couldn't explain how she knew that and simply smiled at them.
Jak, on the other hand, was beginning to suspect that there was more to his sister than he originally thought, as her Eco Powers were unlike anything he had ever seen and didn't match anything that Samos had told him about, back when they were first learning about this sort of thing. From what he had seen she was still able to put things into storage, meaning into her hair, and pull out whatever she wanted, though at the same time she had actually kept this ability to themselves and hadn't used it since they were banished from Haven. Then were was Pinkamena, his sister's darker alter ego, who was a pain in his rear back when they were fighting the Baron and Metal Kor, but it appeared that the Light Eco had not only restored Pinkie to a more reasonable form, it also had restricted Pinkemena... while at the same time granting Pinkie extraordinary powers.
He knew that this war was as good as over, as he was positive that Pinkie could do it all on her own, but he smiled as they flew through the air and raced towards Haven, because despite that fact she was still fighting by his side and not doing anything totally crazy... though he had the feeling that crazy would return in the future.
When they reached Haven City, and the transport let them off, they acquired a pair of zoomers and raced into the Metal Head section of the city, where they found that the Metal Heads seemed angry, which had to be because Errol was allied with them and had issued orders to them. For the most part they ignored the Metal Heads, as it appeared that certain members of the Neo Metal Heads were busy distracting their enemies, to which they landed in front of the forest entrance and departed from what was going to become a war zone. When they entered the forest they found that the Troopers had spawned into the area and had already set up nine strange flower like objects on the stone walls, which appeared to spit out flying enemies... and there happened to be three turrets around the entire area.
Raven grinned when he saw the flying enemies, to which he shifted into his hybrid state and charged after them, his wings allowing him to take to the air, where he ripped apart the first Dark Maker flying minion he came across and tossed the pieces to the ground, before searching for more. Jak, on the other hand, used his Peace Maker to knock off the guy that was commanding the first turret he came across, though while he shot at the strange flowers Pinkie stood around him and conjured several Peace Maker spheres. It was the same routine as she had done back when Freedom HQ was under attack, she kicked the spheres through the air and blasted their enemies apart, though she focused on those that were on the ground while Raven dealt with the enemies in the air... allowing Jak to focus on the flowers.
Once the first trio of flowers were taken care of Jak and Pinkie made their way to the second and eventually third turrets as well, repeating the process two more times before all nine flowers, and the minions of the Dark Makers, had been taken care of... to which the five pillars that surrounded the Astro-Viewer rose out of the water once more and allowed them to ascend to the top of the central pillar. When they reached the top, and noticed that the four other artifacts they had recovered were still floating around the machine, Jak approached the Astro-Viewer and set the Time Map in the final slot, which caused the machine to point right at the Dark Maker ship.
"The lot of you have done wonderfully," Samos commented through the communicator, though at the same time Jak leaned forward to look at the ship once more, "I knew that machine was special!"
The moment Jak gazed through the Astro-Viewer, and looked upon the Dark Maker ship once more, he felt something odd happen to him, almost making him flinch as he felt something enter his head.
"Get out of my head!" Jak declared, as he was worried that the Dark Makers might have corrupted the machine while they were away and that this was their plan to get inside his head, but he also felt a presence that made him forget about that ridiculous idea.
"Jak?" Daxter said, though at the same time he waved his heads as he tried to get Jak's attention, but it apepared that he was getting nowhere at the moment, "We're losing you buddy!"
"It's linking me into the Dark Maker ship systems." Jak stated, while at the same time realizing exactly what the Astro-Viewer was allowing him to do, to which he stopped resisting and went with the flow, "They're taking me to them."
Pinkie smiled as she rested the palm of her hand against Jak's back and closed her eyes, allowing her natural control over the six colors of Eco to come back to her and aid her in making sure that Jak's body remained safe and sound while his mind was smashing through the Dark Maker ship. At the same time she could see an image in her mind of Jak controlling a Dark Maker Titan, a corrupted version of the Titan Suit they had used back during the time of the Baron, to smash through enemies and barriers. Despite the fact that she actually wasn't in control of the situation, this being the corrupted Titan Suit, she did enjoy watching her brother smash through the ship as he tore everything apart, while at the same time searching for the shield generator.
Eventually the fun came to an end as Jak found what he was searching for and broke the shield generator, by punching bombs in its direction, but it eventually did the job... to which the Astro-Viewer knocked his mind back to his body and disconnected him from the Dark Maker ship systems. Judging by the look on Jak's face it appeared that he had also seen something before returning to his body, but at the moment he said that what he had seen wasn't important and that they needed to check with the others about hitting the ship before it found a way to repair all the damage he had done... and hit them before it summoned its shields again.
Once Pinkie agreed with him Raven returned to the ground and transformed back into his dragon form, to which they took off and headed towards Freedom HQ, as time was of the essence and this was the fastest way for them to travel. As they made their way across the city they heard the sounds of the Freedom League soldiers cheering as they noticed Raven flying overhead, meaning that he was a morale booster to them. It didn't take them long to reach their destination, and allowing for a few seconds of standing still so Raven would revert back to a smaller form, before they entered the building and found their friends waiting for them.
"Good job taking out those shields, even if you won't tell us exactly how you did it." Ashelin commented, because at this point she was sure that Jak had either gotten help from the Precursors, Pinkie's unusual abilities, or both of them, and the last option was the strangest of the three, "Though I'm going to be honest, we have no idea what Errol will try to do next with the Dark Maker ship. Obviously we have to take him out, before he has a chance to use whatever else in on that infernal ship."
"Let me guess, you already have an idea on how we can get at Errol?" Jak inquired, because the looks on everyone's faces told him that there had to be a plan, though he was hoping it was a good one.
"We have a plan," Ashelin replied, though at the same time she shook her head, because she knew that if this failed than the only thing left to do would be to have Pinkie finish the war on her own, "but it's... risky."
"You know, after everything we've been through, I'm not surprised that its a risky mission," Daxter said, as he had heard all of the missions that Jak and Pinkie had been assigned since they arrived in this time period, and he had even done some himself before finding either of them, "so, are we being given the mission as per the usual?"
"No." Ashelin answered, catching Daxter off guard and making him wonder what they were even doing here, before noticing that Jak and Pinkie were curios about the whole thing, "The part of the mission I'm referring to is actually being given to Torn and Jinx. Your part of the mission is to cover them while they drive a vehicle filled with explosives into the Metal Head section, where you can blow open the nest... and hunt down Errol once the opening has been made."
"Oh, I'm liking this plan already." Pinkie said, to which Jak nodded, as part of them liking this mission was because they actually weren't the one responsible for flying the explosives, but they were more focused on the possibility of taking out Errol and stopping this war.
It took a few more minutes for Torn and Jinx to finish setting up the vehicle that would be carrying the explosives, though once it was ready Torn took the wheel and moved onto the streets while Jinx climbed into the cruiser that would be following them. He and Sig would be riding along, giving Sig the opportunity to hunt some Metal Heads while they were flying and help ease the battle that the Freedom League soldiers were in, while Jak gained control of the guns and fired at the remaining KG robots that stood in their way. Pinkie and Raven, on the other hand, took to the skies and hunted down the Metal Heads that would be trying to ambush the group along the path they had chosen, though they also circled back to the vehicle to be sure nothing had happened to Torn and the others.
Thanks to them taking out the enemies that would have ambushed the group, and Jak's skill on the cruiser's turret, they were able to make their way to the Metal Head section of the city... where Torn leapt off the vehicle once they reached the nest, blowing an opening for Jak and Pinkie to enter through, while Sig and Jinx landed nearby.
"Oh yeah, they hurtin' now." Sig said, though at the same time he reached into a container and pulled out two small missile like objects, which he tossed to Jak and Pinkie, "Move and groove, chili peppers."
"All right, it's payback time!" Jak commented, though after he caught the final weapon mod, one labeled 'Super Nova', he turned around and looked at the rest of his group, "You ready to rock, guys?"
"You mean go in that place?" Daxter asked, pointing at the Metal Head nest that was in front of them, though when he got three heads nodding at him he simply sighed and shrugged, "Sure, let's get in there and prevent the end of our world."
As they entered the nest they found a Light Eco Vent on their right, to which Jak and Pinkie restocked on their Light Eco before they ventured into the actual area that their enemies controlled. All sorts of Dark Maker minions were standing in their way, as in the smaller minions that walked on four legs and the flying type that they encountered back in the forest not even thirty minutes ago. There was also a large hole in the area they were walking around, meaning that they had to be extra careful before taking out the enemies around them, though once their targets were done for a platform lowered into place and allowed them to climb up to the next area they needed to progress through.
Three Troopers appeared on the platform once it stopped moving, though Jak and Pinkie had been waiting for something like that and opened fire on them, before progressing up to the next walkway after a second platform lowered into position. They then followed the path that was in front of them, though this time they conserved their ammunition as their enemies appeared to be the smaller minions, though after a few minutes they encountered a trio of flying enemies that wanted to prevent them from moving onward. After that they came to a second Light Eco Vent that rested in front of a large gap between them and the platform they needed to be on, though both Jak and Pinkie knew exactly which power to use in this instance.
Jak stepped into the Light Eco and accessed his Light Flight form, to which he jumped into the air and flapped his wings until he reached the other platform, where he reverted back to his normal form and opened fire on the enemies that were advancing towards him. Pinkie, on the other hand, smiled as her own unique wings unfurled from the back section of her armor, though that was when she flew into the air and moved towards where her brother was waiting for her. Instead of stopping beside him, and transforming back to her normal state, she leveled her hand with the enemies that were further ahead of her brother and opened fire on them, allowing Jak to move forward on his own.
"Show off," Daxter commented, as while it appeared that Jak's Light Flight form had a limited use it seemed that Pinkie's was the exact opposite, meaning that she could turn it on and off depending on how much energy she had left, though because of her ability to use the Eco around her... well, Daxter was sure that Pinkie could keep it up forever if she really wanted to.
As Jak and Pinkie killed their enemies, and Jak made his way up the ramps that were in front of him, a dark purple bridge appeared and allowed Jak to move forward once he got to it, instead of waiting for it to appear on its own. They then came to another area where enemies gathered to attack them, though this time they combined the Red Eco grenade mod and the Yellow Eco Gyro mod to tear their enemies to pieces while sustaining next to no damage. They then continued through the area in front of them, lowering more platforms into place and summoning more bridges as well, until they reached the top of the area they had been fighting through... where they used the platform that appeared near them to reach the top area of the nest.
When they reached the top, and Pinkie finally dropped out of her Light Flight form, they found Errol standing in what they assumed was a warp gate, one that was as large as the Rift Gate they had ridden through, before their foe turned and looked at them for a moment.
"Ahh, my little friends have come to see me off." Errol stated, staring at all four of them for a few seconds, though at the same time he refused to look Pinkie in the eyes, meaning that he remembered the punishment she had given him in the War Factory, "I'd love to stay and chat, but I have an appointment with the most powerful beings in the universe!"
"You're through, Metal Monkey!" Daxter declared, annoyed that their opponent thought that they weren't worth sticking around and chatting for a few minutes, "Don't make me come over there and sic Pinkie on you!"
"I can easily summon the Multiform Army whenever I desire," Pinkie said, to which she grinned as she looked at Errol, who actually flinched for a moment, though she followed that up by drawing her scythe for a few seconds, "or I could just rend the life from your body... whatever is left of it anyway."
"You're too late!" Errol snapped, glaring at the four of them, as if he was completely ignoring what Pinkie was capable of doing with her unique abilities, "I've already awakened the Dark Maker ship. When I come back, I will be wielding the very power of the Precursors! I'll see the lot of you soon enough."
Before anyone could stop him Errol charged into the large warp gate and disappeared, to which the small indent that he had been standing in front of ejected a Dark Eco Crystal, which Jak collected not a few seconds later. With the crystal removed from the circuit that was powering the portal, however, the entire area shook for a few seconds, to which Jak and Pinkie headed towards the opening that was opposite where the warp gate was located. Sig flew up in the cruiser and beckoned for them to jump onto the vehicle, where Jak was more than willing to jump onto the vehicle as Pinkie leapt into the air. Jak, Daxter, and Sig watched as Pinkie unfurled her Eco wings once more and flew away from the Metal Head nest, causing Sig to follow her lead... which was followed by the top of the building exploding.
Jak and Pinkie smiled as they flew away from the Metal Head section of the city, as they were one step closer to finishing off Errol and his Dark Maker allies... and Pinkie was sure that they would be heading into the catacombs in the next hour or so.
Once Jak and Pinkie returned to the Freedom HQ they regrouped and agreed on one thing, now that Errol's War Factory had been destroyed and his access to the city was severed with the destruction of the Metal Head nest, it was time for them to begin their expedition to where the catacombs were located. They knew that Veger was likely on his way there, so he could obtain whatever power the Precursors might have hidden there, which told them that they needed to get started soon before they gave him something that he didn't deserve. As they walked away from the HQ, however, Sig told them that they might want to seek out Onin herself, who happened to be resting in front of the entrance of the Fortress, to which they thanked him and headed towards their destination.
Thanks to the zoomers that happened to be outside the building they quickly made their way towards the area that Sig had told them about, where they passed by more Freedom fighters taking out the remaining enemies that dared to attack them, before they reached Onin's hut... where they found Samos and Pecker waiting for them as well.
"Jak, Pinkie, we're in serious trouble." Samos said, though his tone indicated that he wasn't referring to Haven City, rather he was referring to the planet as a whole.
"Onin says there are strange forces at work." Pecker stated, once more translating what Onin was signing, though at the same time the siblings raised an eyebrow for a moment, "Fate has been twisted by something more powerful than anything she has ever seen in her many years; something now awake deep in the catacombs."
"Let me guess." Raven said, staring at the group for a moment, as he knew that they were all eager to get this war over with before something important was destroyed, "You guys want us to go down there, before Veger completes whatever terrible plan he's been trying to put into motion, correct?"
"The best access to the catacombs is on the Metal Head side of the city." Samos replied, giving them the area they needed to go to, which meant that it was going to be a dangerous trek before they found what they were searching for.
"You know, this is where I would comment on really hating you guys," Daxter commented, causing the group to look at him for a moment, while at the same time he patted Jak's head as he glanced over at Raven, "but, with the power that two of our number possess, I will withhold my comment and say nothing on the matter."
"Onin says she sees your fate turning black with uncertainty." Pecker said, indicating that the seer was seeing their failure, despite the fact that they had Pinkie's insane abilities to back them up, "Onin says, it will be very dangerous indeed. Onin says, Pecker will escort you through the catacombs and... WHAT?! What did you say?"
"You will be Onin's eyes," Samos stated, to which Daxter had to resist the urge to laugh at Pecker, as he quietly thought that Onin's translater deserved this fate, "as well as serve as Jak and Pinkie's wisdom. You must do this!"
"Okay, fine!" Pecker replied, though at the same time he growled as he looked over at Jak and Pinkie, indicating that he didn't like what was happening at the moment, "But I am gone the moment that things get sticky! The four of you should get to the catacomb entrance and take care of business. I'll meet you there when the coast is clear!"
Jak and Pinkie watched as Pecker flew out of the hut that they were in and headed to the Metal Head section of the city, though before they left Samos informed them that they could power down the barrier that was protecting the HQ area for a few seconds. That meant that they could slip through before the Metal Heads tried to get through, though the only reason they didn't ask Raven to fly them was because the area in question didn't have too many safe areas for him to land in if he used his true form. Once they came to that decision they returned to their zoomers and headed towards the barrier that they had seen when they first entered the city, though when they arrived it did phase out of existence and allowed them to pass into the ruined part... though once they were on the other side the barrier returned in full force.
It took them a minute or two to make their way towards the exact area that they were supposed to head into, though Jak used his jet-board to reach the area as Pinkie phased through the shadows to reach him... but when they turned the corner, at the end of the path, they found a large number of Metal Heads patrolling the area in front of them, more than what they were expecting to find.
"The only hombres tough and crazy enough to take on these things, excluding us that is, are the Wastelanders!" Daxter commented, seeing the number of enemies that were in front of them, though at the same time breathing a sigh of relief as none of the Metal Heads noticed them yet.
"Well, it never hurts to see if we can call in some reinforcements." Jak said, to which he pulled out the amulet he had been given and pressed the button in the middle, though it beeped as he touched it and did nothing else.
"Yeah, that trinket's worth about as much as you'd get from a broke down pawn shop in South Town." Daxter stated, as while he had great respect for the Wastelanders he knew that some of their items weren't great in the long run, and it appeared that the amulet was one of those items.
"We've got more than enough power to deal with these guys on our own," Pinkie replied, to which she pulled out her Eco Blade and held it out in her right hand, while at the same time allowing some Dark Eco to gather around her left arm as she stared at the Metal Heads, "Come on, let's go deal with our unsuspecting enemies."
Jak nodded and pulled out his Morph Gun, though this time he switched it to the newest mod, the Super Nova, and aimed his weapon at a large amount of mantis Metal Heads that would start jumping if someone approached them, before loosing the shot that he was priming. The missile that was on his gun launched itself into the air and soared towards his target, though when it collided with the mantis Metal Head it exploded and caused Jak and Pinkie to close their eyes for a moment. When they opened their eyes they discovered that all of the enemies that had been standing in front of them had been destroyed by the missile's explosion, raining Skull Gems on the ground in the process, to which the siblings looked at each other for a few seconds before they continued along the path that was in front of them.
Jak switched to his Reflector Mod and started blasting the mantis Metal Heads that were in front of him, while at the same time Pinkie blasted the enemies that jumped into the area in front of her while also cutting at other enemies. Raven flew around the area in his hybrid form and attacked the Metal Heads that were in the air, cutting down on the number of enemies that Jak and Pinkie had to deal with. Not even a minute later they found a cracked wall that was blocking their path, to which Jak quickly shifted into his Dark Form and loosed a Dark Strike at it, allowing him to revert back to normal as they progressed onward. They then jumped over the various sections of the Palace and the Stadium that had fallen during the initial attack on the city, while at the same time dealing with the mantis Metal Heads and the small Dark Maker spider creatures that were scurrying out of a small hole they put in the ground.
From there they noticed that there were some Light Eco Vents nearby and a decent sized gap in front of them, to which Jak and Pinkie restocked their Light Eco and transformed into their Light Flight forms, allowing them to cross the gap in front of them. Pinkie remained in her Light Flight form and took out the mantis enemies that were in the area around them, allowing Jak to progress towards the next gap and move on, though once she was done with her enemies she flew to where her brother was waiting and reverted back to her normal form. From there the two of them continued their assault against the Metal Heads that were guarding this part of the city, blasting them with whatever mod they deemed necessary, as that all depended on which type of foe they fought, before having Jak break down another barrier that was blocking their path.
They then came to a set of platforms that would allow them to access the area below them, though Jak insisted on going first and the platforms collapsed beneath him, but he was fast enough to get to the other side without suffering any injuries in the process. Pinkie, on the other hand, simply shrugged and shifted to where her brother was standing, once again using the same ability she had developed back before the war broke out, before they pressed on once more. From there they fought a few more enemies and avoided falling off the edge of the ruined area they were walking on, though at one point Jak had to move forward alone because he was the only one that possessed a jet-board... until his sister reminded him that she possessed a different Light Flight form and could fly along with him, and could catch him if he were to fall, to which he smiled as they moved forward.
Fortunately it didn't take him long to reach another area where he had to shift into his Dark Form and blow up another fallen wall so he could move forward, though this time around Pinkie landed beside him and simply pulled her wings back until they were almost touching her back. Jak assumed that since his sister could break the rules of reality whenever she desired, like she had done multiple times throughout their adventures, this was another instance where she was doing that and decided not to question what he was seeing. From that point they had to traverse a few more rail sections, fight a couple more groups of mantis Metal Heads, and break down another cracked wall before they found Pecker... who clearly looked like he was getting ready to flee, but calmed down a tiny bit when he noticed their arrival.
"Where have you been?!" Pecker exclaimed, staring at the group for a few seconds, while at the same time ignoring the fact that Pinkie's Light Flight form was still active, "I've molted three times already just waiting for you! Onin says we must get through the Palace ruins, but I think... uh-oh..."
That was when a trio of Dark Maker satellites flew into the air and hovered in front of them, causing the siblings to prepare themselves for a moment, as while they could easily take one of them out they had no idea how long it would take to take out three of them.
"Jak, let me just say, before it's all over: riding on your shoulder, although it is kind of bony, and uncomfortable, well, you've been a good pal." Daxter commented, almost as if he believed that they were all going to die right here, though at the same time Raven had to chuckle at him in his head.
"Come on Daxter, we can get through this." Jak replied, though at the same time he glanced over at Pinkie, where he noticed that she seemed to be shaking for some odd reason, "Pinkie? Is something the matter?"
"Twitchy tail..." Pinkie muttered, her eyes wide as she remembered something, before she turned towards her brother and best friend, "Jak, Daxter, hit the ground!"
The moment the words left her mouth Pinkie dropped to the ground, indicating that she had felt that something was going to happen, though Jak decided not to question it and followed his sister's movements, as she had been right about things in the past and wasn't about to argue this time around. That was quickly followed by a large vehicle, one they had seen in Spargus' garage several times in the past, jumped into the air above their heads and slammed into the three satellites, destroying all three of them before the vehicle landed on the ground.
"Someone call for an army?" a voice said, to which Jak and Pinkie looked up to see their father, Damas, sitting in the main seat of the vehicle, though at the same time he smiled at them as he hopped out for a moment and helped them back onto their feet.
"Dad, I'm glad to see that you made it to Haven in such a short amount of time." Jak said, though he smiled at his father, because it was good to see him again, even if they were in the middle of a battlefield of sorts.
"I was called by one of your allies some time before your assault on the Metal Head Nest," Damas replied, though at the same time he, Jak, and Daxter climbed into the vehicle, allowing Pinkie and Raven to fly around in their respective flight forms so they could dominate the sky, "when you activated the amulet I came straight here, allowing the rest of my guard to help your soldiers out. Now then, shall we finish this?"
Jak nodded as he took the controls that were in front of him, apparently the driving controls from what he was seeing, while at the same tie Damas got on the gun and prepared himself for the enemies that would be on the ground in front of them. As they took off, however, Pinkie and Raven followed after them, specifically looking out for flying missiles and more satellites that might do them harm, though at the same time they grinned as they started their search.
The assault buggy proved to be very effective for the remainder of their trek through the enemy infested area that they had stumbled upon, as the path they had to drive along was wide and level enough for Jak to drive through, while at the same time the buggy was built sturdy enough that very little could actually damage it. The heavy cannon that Damas used could swivel around to lock onto Troopers that warped into the area, where a few well placed shots could take out any of them. On top of that Jak discovered that the vehicle could initiate a turbo boost at any time to smash through any solid obstacles that the vehicle's weapon didn't destroy, which was handy in smashing down bridges for them to cross over and destroying generators that powered the various shields in their way.
The flying enemies proved to be no match for the combined might of Pinkie and Raven, as they tore their enemies to pieces before they could even reach the vehicle that Jak and Damas were driving through the area. Fire bombs were also launched at her brother every now and then, to which Pinkie called upon her own Yellow Eco and blasted the balls out of the air before they could even hit the ground, amazing both Raven and Damas in the process. Jak simply chuckled, as he remembered what his sister had done back when they were fighting Gol and Maia, though he knew that blowing the fire bombs out of the air was the quickest way for his sister to succeed in protecting them. He didn't want to imagine what happened when she gathered her Eco power into a single orb and fired it again, to which he focused on the path in front of him and continued making his way through the area they were in.
Thanks to their efforts Jak and Damas were able to clear the last barrier in no time and approached an area where two Precursor vehicles were waiting, though as they came to a stop Pinkie felt her tail twitch again, though before she could shout out a warning to Jak a trio of missiles flew into the area and struck the vehicle from behind. Pinkie was forced to watch as the vehicle flipped end over end for a few seconds, allowing herself a moment to breath a sigh of relief as she noticed that her brother and best friend were fine... to which she froze as she spotted Damas lying under the vehicle, with a severed section of the buggy's frame sticking out of where his stomach was located.
"Dad!" Jak shouted, rushing to his father's side, while at the same time looking for any possible way to save his life, as he didn't want this to be the last time he saw his father, especially after only just meeting him.
"I never doubted you for a moment Jak, you do have some great driving skills," Damas replied, though at the same time he coughed up some blood, before he looked up at Jak, "Today is a good day to die, because I have been given the opportunity to see the type of warrior my son, and his sister no less, have become without even needing me to teach them a single thing."
"The wound isn't that bad," Pinkie said, landing beside her brother and casting a glance at her father's stomach, while at the same time reaching into herself to access her Eco once more, "I think I can..."
"Oh, I wouldn't waste my energy on a dead man," a familiar voice said, one that caused Jak, Daxter, Raven, and Pinkie to turn their heads towards the Precursor vehicles for a moment."
"Veger!" Raven growled, though at the same time he could tell that the rest of his group was pissed off, especially since this guy was responsible for so much of their headaches, "What are you doing here?"
"I should think that the answer to that is obvious, especially for a creature of your inferior intellect." Veger countered, though his tone indicated that he must still have no idea what Raven's blue crystal meant, while at the same time his insult made the disguised Neo Metal Head raise the volume of his growl, "Though I guess I can spell it out for you: I'm here to save this ungrateful world! Deep below us rests the power of the Precursors, a power that I intend to make my own, and with it at my command I will unleash the Planetary Defense Grid and wipe out the Dark Maker ship!"
"Do you really think that the Precursors will just give such an incredible power to a monster like you?" Pinkie asked, because if she knew the Precursors as well as Samos taught her, and she believed that she did, she knew that they would never give Veger the power that he craved.
"I am the most qualified person to receive their power!" Veger replied, though before he could say anymore Raven, who had enough of him talking, finally snapped and transformed back into his dragon form, where he roared and caused Veger to retreat by jumping into one of the vehicles.
The moment Veger started the trek down the Precursor tunnel that was in front of them, however, Raven and Pinkie opened their wings and flew after him, leaving Jak and Daxter with Damas... to which the three of them climbed into the second vehicle and took off after the others. Jak resolved to at least let his father see who the Precursors were before he bled out, though he was secretly hoping that they could heal him back to how he was before the missiles hit the buggy... to which he growled as he followed Pinkie and Raven into the depths of the planet once more.
Jak steered the Precursor vehicle as Daxter made sure that his father didn't bleed out before they reached the location that the Precursors were waiting at, while at the same time following after Pinkie as she sat on Raven's back. He found it amusing that Raven could even fit inside the tunnel that had been made so long ago, making him wonder if Raven's father had designed him in such a way so he could have the ultimate weapon in his war with the Precursors. One thing he didn't have to worry about was Raven turning on them, as he always told them that he hated the path his father tried to put him on when he was born, which meant that Raven would greet the Precursors as friends instead of enemies. He did, however, have to chuckle as Raven opened his mouth and loosed a blast at some of the security drones that were supposed to guard the catacombs, obliterating them in a matter of seconds.
He could easily determine that it was good to be on Raven's good side, as when he was angry he was a force to be reckoned with, especially since he was a dragon and could easily dismantle enemies that wanted to kill him... exactly like how he was demonstrating his power as he chased after Veger.
Eventually Pinkie and Raven pursued Veger out of the tunnel they had been riding through and floated out into a wide, spherical space filled with endlessly rotating rings that had to be tracking the movement of celestial bodies, or something like that. There happened to be a massive Precursor Statue in the center of the spherical space, one that happened to be resting on a floating platform that was levitating at the moment, though as Pinkie stared at all of it she determined that it wasn't through the use of Eco, as one might have expected. The only thing that made sense was the possibility that the platform and statue rested at the exact center of the planet's gravitational field, so it had nowhere to fall... though that was if her guess was correct, which would make this the core of their planet.
Veger stopped his vehicle near the statue and jumped into the platform that was in front of it, though that was followed by Raven landing between him and the statue, preventing him from reaching the one thing he desired above all else, while Pinkie climbed off Raven's back and stared at Veger. Not even a few moments later Jak pulled up beside the platform, to which he climbed out and helped his father onto the platform, though as Veger raised a gun towards the King of Spargus Pinkie was the first to react. She pulled her Eco Blade out of its sheath and swung at Veger, though she was really aiming at his small gun and cut it apart, to which Veger staggered backwards and was smacked by Raven's tail, where Raven used one of his claws to pin the count to the floor.
"Get off me you idiot!" Veger snapped, though at the same time he used his hand to punch the side of Raven's hand, which Raven didn't feel at all considering that Veger was tapping his scales, "The power of the Precursors belongs to me! I will not let you take what is rightfully mine!"
"You should be thankful that I haven't killed you yet!" Raven growled in return, as he knew that the man had been the one to put Damas in the condition he was in, but at the same time he had respect for the Precursors and wasn't about to kill someone without their permission, "Now sit still, because great things are going to happen."
Jak and Pinkie nodded as they stood before the large Precursor statue, though at the same time they both held onto their father while doing their best to prevent him from bleeding out and dying before he could meet the Precursors, while Daxter rode on Jak's shoulder and stared at Veger with a grin on his face.
"Greetings, great warriors." the statue said, though Jak and Pinkie were unsure if it had been waiting for them to settle down or if it had been turned on after they stood in front of it, while at the same time the glowing image of a Precursor, which they had seen when Young Jak opened the Precursor Stone, appeared before them, "Before it is too late, you must power up the planet's defense system."
Jak nodded and remembered all of the Eco Crystals they had collected on their journey, though when he had Daxter pull them all out they spun around each other until they merged into a single entity, one that looked like a large Power Cell, and floated down into Jak's hands. He then carefully let Damas lean on Pinkie for a few seconds as he walked over to a waiting receptacle and placed the sphere into the slot that was waiting for something, to which the sphere started spinning as the two weapons started to power up... allowing him to return to his father's side.
"The Eco Sphere has begun its energy conversion, though it will take some time for the weapon to fully charge." the Precursor commented, though at the same time Jak and Pinkie could feel the eyes of the image staring at them, even though the image didn't actually eyes and was likely seeing them though whatever Eco rested around the platform they were standing on, "You have proven your worth, warriors, and for one of you a place among us awaits you, while another reward awaits the other."
"Get off me!" Veger demanded, though once again he found himself unable to move Raven's claws, meaning that he was still trapped where Raven wanted him to be, "I will be the one who evolves into a Precursor. The right is mine!"
"No, you hold no claim to the honor we talk about," the Precursor replied, though at the same time the group, save for Veger, had to resist the urge to laugh at the count, because he had been barking about how possessing the Precursor's powers were his privilege and now he had been shot down by one of the very beings everyone had been searching for.
"Listen, I know you want to reward Jak and Pinkie for their efforts, but Errol is still a problem for this planet," Daxter said, causing the eyes of everyone to fall on him for a few seconds, though at the same time he stared up at the statue as a new thought came to mind, "Say, why don't you reward them by healing their father?"
"We could, but that would require changing his very essence for such a thing to work," the Precursor answered, though at the same time the image disappeared and the front part of the statue's stomach area began to open before their eyes, to which they discovered three ottsels, all wearing white robes and happened to be standing on floating platforms, resting inside a command center of some kind.
"Oh my god..." Jak said, voicing what he, his father, and Daxter were likely thinking, though at the same time he knew that Pinkie was struggling to control herself before she started laughing, as this wasn't what they were expecting when they thought about the Precursors.
"Not what you were expecting?" the ottsel in the middle, the one that appeared to be the leader, said, though when he spoke through a device in his hand it came out as the statue's voice, though when he spoke without the device he sounded old and wise, "Don't worry, we expected such a response the moment we considered opening the door to spear with you."
"I'm just shocked that I look like you," Daxter commented, though at the same time he was sure that everyone else was thinking the same thing, or at least he hoped they were thinking that.
"Don't look so upset." the leader said, though the group had to wonder if he was addressing the silence that Veger was giving off, as it appeared that he had stopped struggling once the ottsels made their appearance, "If you knew we Precursors were a bunch of little fuzzy rats, would you worship us? Could we run our portion of the universe? Well, we were able to do so until a certain Metal Head decided to screw things up, though we'll discuss that later as well."
"You idiots!" Veger finally shouted, once more forgetting who was on top of him while he focused on the three figures that were standing on the platforms, "Get down from there and stop defiling that glorious machine!"
"I said quiet!" Raven growled, applying more pressure to Veger's body and crushed him a little bit more than he had been doing mere moments ago, effectively cutting off the former count's words and causing him to shut up.
"Do not let our size fool you." the leader said, though at the same time he tapped his staff on the platform he was standing on, where some Eco energy rolled off of him and touched everyone that stood in front of him, "We are some of the most powerful beings in the universe. I would have said we were, but the balance of power in the universe is shifting once more... and we'll get to that later as well."
"Question; why does Daxter look like you?" Jak asked, though at the same time he also gestured to Raven, not even caring that the dragon was crushing Veger, "And why does Raven take on your form as his disguised form?"
"Ah yes. All Eco contains the source of our essence, our code so to speak." the leader explained, to which he gestured to Daxter for a moment, indicating that he was talking about him, "When Daxter touched the Dark Eco, he was actually blessed when he thought he was cursed. Raven has likewise been blessed as well, as when he was mortally wounded we offered him a very small fragment of power that allowed him to transform into our form, despite the fact that he had never seen one of us before. This form allowed him to remain hidden from his terrible father, so he could bring about the end of the evil Metal Heads and install good ones to help protect your city... and we are very proud of him for everything he has been able to do so far."
"These creatures are the great Precursors?!" Veger demanded, though his tone indicated that he was in shock and was still trying to figure out whether this was real or not, "And I wanted to evolve into th..."
"I said shut up!" Raven growled, this time putting enough pressure to crack a few of Veger's ribs, which put him in enough pain to prevent him from talking again, "Um, forgive me for asking, but can I just eat this guy and be done with him? I'm getting tired of listening to him talk."
Jak, Pinkie, Damas, and Daxter watched as the three ottsels turned towards each other and traded looks, not even bothering to say a single word for a few seconds, before they turned to Raven and gave him the go ahead. Jak and Pinkie, remembering what Raven did to Krew, closed their eyes for a few seconds as they listened to Raven tearing Veger apart, while the former count screamed no less, before swallowing the pieces he had torn off. When they opened their eyes they found that Veger was no more, save for the blood that was resting where he had been laying, before Raven turned towards the Precursors and bowed his head in respect.
"So what is this about helping our father?" Pinkie asked, though at the same time she accessed her Light Eco and pressed some of it against the wound, trying to keep Damas alive for a few more minutes.
"We could easily transform him into one of us, reducing his natural strength while granting him abilities more suited towards a Precursor," the leader said, though at the same time he pointed the tip of his staff towards Jak and Pinkie, "but there is another way, one that we originally wouldn't have considered without a certain someone standing before us. For a long time both of your abilities, those that you started with when you began in Sandover, have been inaccessible due to your exposure to Dark Eco and Pinkie has only begun to rediscover those abilities. Now that you are here, standing before us, we can at last restore you to your former selves, in a manner of speaking anyway... and I think you can figure things out from there on your own."
A bit of power leapt from the leader's staff and slammed into Jak and Pinkie, though as they were knocked backwards the leader also extended another hand to stop Damas from being hurt again, as the last thing he wanted was for the father of their heroes to die before the world was saved. A few seconds later the siblings were lowered back to the platform they were standing on, though when Jak opened his eyes he found that the ability to access the other four colors of Eco had returned, allowing him to use all six of them now. Pinkie, on the other hand, still looked the same as she had been before the power surged into her, though this time there was a gray robe resting over her body, opened in the front so people could see her armor. As Jak looked at his sister he could tell that she was concentrating on something, as when she glowed white the robe turned into her wings before she reverted back to normal... though that was before six spheres, all modeled after one of the six colors of Eco, appeared around her back while her sword turned into a staff.
As Pinkie opened her eyes and looked at herself Jak noticed one other thing that was interesting, there was a new emblem resting in the middle of her chest piece; a blue balloon that looked like it was made out of a Blue Eco crystal.
"There, your former abilities have been restored," the ottsel leader said, to which he smiled at his handiwork, though at the same time he beckoned towards Damas for a moment, "Pinkie, go ahead and do what comes naturally to you."
Pinkie nodded and held a hand out towards Damas for a few seconds, allowing the Light Eco Sphere to glow as her robe unfurled into her wings once more, though that was followed by the piece of the buggy gently pulling itself from Damas' body and the wound closed once it was out of the way... as if it had never existed in the first place. Damas looked down at his body in surprise, as he hadn't been expecting such a thing to happen, but he looked relieved now that he wasn't going to die anymore.
"We would love to give you a moment to relax, but there is more work to be done," the ottsel leader continued, causing the group to turn towards him, while at the same time he and his fellow ottsels channeled their energies into a portal that opened beyond where the platform was resting, "Errol and the Dark Makers must be defeated... so we'll send you to the Dark Maker ship and you can deal with him before he awakens the ship's terrible cargo, while we prepare the weapon and fire it when its ready."
Jak and Pinkie nodded before they turned around and jumped towards the Eco portal that the Precursors created, where they knew that they would be fighting Errol and bring an end to his terrible plans... before he awakened the ship's cargo and destroyed the entire world.
When Jak and Pinkie appeared on the other side of the portal, and Jak recognized the area as the one he had been smashing his way through earlier when he was connected to the ship thanks to the Astro-Viewer, they raised their weapons and opened fire on the enemies that warped into the area they were standing in. They expected a large group to be standing in their way, like ten or twenty Troopers, but what they got was five Troopers that immediately raised their shields, indicating that they were going to wait for the siblings to attack before they launched their own attack. Instead of allowing their opponents a chance to fight back, now that they had shown their hand, Jak and Pinkie refused to allow them a single chance to fight back. Jak stuck to using his gun this time around, figuring that there would be more opportunities to test out the abilities that the Precursor Elder unlocked inside of him... while Pinkie used her Eco abilities and stayed away from the Morph Gun entirely.
Pinkie spun the staff that had once been her sword and slammed it into the side of the Eco Shield that one of the Troopers had summoned, to which the Light Eco that she was channeling along the edge shattered the shield entirely, but she mentally grinned as she heard some of the bones in her target's body break. She found that not only could she channel one of the six Eco colors along the staff, like she could have done back when she was using her sword or scythe, but the power of her blows seemed stronger despite the fact that she wasn't channeling Red Eco at the moment.
It didn't take them long to finish off the enemies in the area around them and open the door that they needed to follow, though what they discovered in the next area of the ship was a rotating platform, made up of multiple gears, waiting for them. Since they had to jump from one platform to the next, and avoid getting shot in the process, Jak and Pinkie opened fire on the flying enemies that were in the air above them, though once the enemies were taken care of Jak made his way across the rotating platform. The moment he was on the other side he pulled out his gun and opened fire on the enemies that were shooting at Pinkie, who easily avoided their attacks like they were nothing, though once they were together again they assaulted the three Troopers that were in the small room they had discovered before moving down the pathway on their left.
At the end of the pathway they discovered more flying enemies, as well as several Troopers, gunning for them, though while Pinkie opened fire on everyone, by pointing the tip of her staff at her target and loosing a Yellow Eco blast, Jak carefully made his way through the series of spinning poles and platforms before landing and opening fire. Pinkie, noticing her brother had made his way through the small gauntlet that was in their way, did the same thing that Jak had done and quickly joined her brother. Once all of the enemies in the chamber they were in were taken care of, and the door was open, they walked through the open door and opened fire on the Troopers that happened to be waiting on the other side... before they came to a stop in front of a Light Eco vent.
Jak, understanding what needed to be done, transformed into his Light Flight form and made his way over the various platforms that were in front of him, while Pinkie stayed where the vent was located and shot down any enemies that dared to show themselves. Once Jak had reached the end of the obstacle course, and had Raven fly back to Pinkie in order to tell her so, Pinkie unfurled her wings and flew over to where her brother was standing. The moment they were back together they advanced down the corridor that was in front of them and opened fire on the enemy flyers that happened to be guarding the pathway in front of them. Fortunately there were only two groups of flyers blocking their path, though when they used their Light Flight forms to reach the platform across from them they had to open fire on the Troopers that formed before their eyes.
Once the area was clear the door in front of them opened and they discovered an elevator that could take them into the depths of the ship, or so they hoped, to which they walked forward and rode down to wherever their new destination happened to be... which happened to be a storage area that contained a fair number of massive spider like machines.
"If these nasty things ever wake up, the planet's finished." Daxter commented, though despite the fact that Jak and Pinkie were with him he felt terrified, especially since Errol was in command of all these machines.
"All of these Dark Makers at my command." Errol said, to which Jak and Pinkie noticed that Errol was standing on the walkway in front of them, though it appeared that he had just noticed their arrival, "Just think what I could do."
"We already know what you would do with these Dark Makers, Errol." Pinkie replied, to which she stepped away from her brother and approached the cyborg, where the only sound they heard was her staff touching the ground, "Errol, what happened to you? Back when I arrived in Haven City, from the past and not from whatever timeline or world I originally came from, you were never this evil and hateful towards everyone. What made you change?"
"Power!" Errol stated, though at the same time he turned towards Pinkie and grinned, or grinned as well as his mechanical face would allow him to, "The Baron gave me an important mission and I got a taste of the power that might one day be mine, if I applied myself towards whatever missions he gave me. I got addicted to the power and all the vices that came with my position, though every now and then I player the part of a caring officer in the military to get my way... such as convincing you that I was a friend, with the purpose of turning you into a weapon. If I had been the one to break you... oh, we could have toppled the Baron and lived as King and Queen of Haven with the Metal Heads working beneath our heels."
Pinkie could easily imagine the potential future that Errol was talking about, as it would have likely happened if she had gave into the darkness that had grown in her heart when the Baron shattered her innocent world. Instead of bringing light and a new hope to the people of Haven City, which the Underground had been working towards, she and Errol could have easily ushered in a world of darkness and misery. It was a future that she was happy to lock away and forget about, because thinking about misery made her a little depressed, but it made her want to fight for a better future at the same time, which was what she and Jak were fighting for at the moment.
"Very well then, Errol, I can see that there is no Light, no laughter, left in your eyes," Pinkie said, to which she tapped her staff against the floor for a few seconds, indicating that it was time for her and Jak to wage total war against Errol, "Jak and I will do everything in our power to stop you... and we have the Precursors backing us!"
Before Errol could say anything a beam of energy, made up Light Eco and Dark Eco, pierced the hull of the ship and tore through the other side, though Pinkie grinned as she noticed that the Leader of the trio had aimed at the core of the Dark Maker ship. Instead of sticking around Errol engaged his jetpack and flew over to one of the Dark Makers, to which the monstrous machine came to life as he dropped down to the planet below them. Pinkie, seeing Errol get away, dipped into her Light Eco again and flared her wings as the ground started to fall apart around them, to which she grabbed onto Jak and Daxter before flying towards the large warp gate that was located near where they were standing.
When they stepped through the warp gate, however, they appeared on the outskirts of Spargus and immediately glanced towards the sky, where they saw the Dark Maker hit the ground and rise up, to which Errol started his assault by targeting the city that their father ruled.
"Raven, get us into the air," Jak said, though not even a few seconds later Raven transformed into his dragon state, to which they took to the air and headed towards where the Dark Maker was walking.
It didn't take them long to reach where Errol was, though before they started their assault Pinkie pressed her left hand against Jak's back and empowered the Light Eco inside him, to which he jumped into the air and unfurled his wings, only to find that they supported him like Pinkie's did. A few seconds later Pinkie flew through the air and maneuvered around the top of the Dark Maker, though Jak decided to aim at the bottom, as there appeared to be some weak points that would weaken the entirety of the machine. Raven joined in the fun and loosed several blasts at the legs as well, targeting the ones on the other side of the Dark Maker, allowing them to deal with their targets while Pinkie flew around the top of the machine and focused on taking out Errol.
Errol, seeing that Pinkie was coming after him, fired blasts of concentrated Dark Eco and beams made out of the same thing at his target, though at the same time Pinkie used her natural abilities to move around the attacks that were coming her way and used the staff to drain the Dark Eco from the attacks as well. In the back of her mind she could hear her alter ego speaking, taking direct control of the Pinkie Sense in order to help her avoid the attacks that were coming at her by interpreting the signals that were coming in. She would have found it weird to have such a thing happen, her and Pinkamena working together, but it appeared that her alter ego didn't care much for Errol and wanted him as dead as the Baron was... to which Pinkie eventually went on the assault and used the Dark Eco she had taken from Errol to deliver powerful blasts to the machine, in the form of dark purple colored lightning.
When Jak and Raven dealt a punishing blow to the legs of the Dark Maker, forcefully making Errol eject the upper section of the machine into the air so he could avoid crashing, Pinkie was on top of it and slashed off one of the devices that were keeping the top of the machine floating in the air. As the machine crashed into the ground near Spargus' gate, however, Jak, Raven, and Pinkie landed on the platform that had been created when the top came to a stop, though as Errol started up an attack sequence they returned to the air and flew around the head of the machine. Since there were three of them flying around the area it made it impossible for Errol to hit any of them, as when he focused on one the other two swooped in and attacked the head... though after a few moments Pinkie got tired of that and moved into Errol's blind spot, where she gathered some Light Eco and Dark Eco into a single sphere.
The moment the weakness of the cockpit revealed itself, which was a Dark Eco container on the back of the moving head, Pinkie focused on the container and waited for a few seconds, allowing Errol to pause as he fired at Jak, though that movement proved to be his downfall as Pinkie fired her attack... causing the head, and the entirety of the upper section of the machine, to explode into a thousand pieces. With the deed done Jak and Pinkie returned to the ground outside the gate, where they watched as Raven joined them and transformed back into his ottsel form, though that was followed by them staring at the wreckage that had once been a Dark Maker machine.
Pinkie knew that the next order of business was for them to celebrate their victory over Errol and the Dark Makers, though even as that came to mind there were questions that only the leader of the Precursors could answer... though she silently hoped that he could answer them and enlighten her, instead of confusing her more than she already was.
The moment the Dark Maker ship was completely destroyed, the Dark Maker machine swiftly following it in death, and the eventual death of Errol at the hands of Jak and Pinkie, the siblings returned to Raven and made their way back to Spargus, where they could rest while they waited for the rest of their group to arrive. As they entered the city Jak opened his communicator and informed Ashelin that they had succeeded in defeating Errol, for real this time, though he could hear the others cheer for their victory. The people of Spargus cheered for them as they made their way towards Damas' throne room, where they had first awoken after he and his Wastelanders had saved them from the desert, though at the same time they passed by Seem in the process. The monk informed them that she would watch for their friends and direct them towards the area they were heading towards, to which they thanked her and retired to Damas' throne room... to which Raven reverted back to his ottsel form before they entered the elevator.
It took some time for the rest of their group to arrive, especially since Damas and the Precursors had been deep inside the heart of the planet, though Jak and Pinkie welcomed everyone as they arrived, though at the same time Jak embraced Keira while Pinkie and Ashelin shared their own hug. When Damas arrived Jak and Pinkie charged at him, where the Precursor Leader informed them that Pinkie's work in healing the king's body was solid and that he was proud of her abilities... while at the same time smiling at a shocked Samos.
"So, what are your names?" Damas asked, as while he knew that many among them had questions, and he was sure that Pinkie was one of them, he figured that it would be best if they knew the names of the Precursors they would be talking to for some length of time.
"It has been some time since we last used our real names," the Precursor Leader said, though at the same time he smiled at the group for a moment, while his companions simply stared at him, "and these days we use nicknames. I, for example, am Eon, and these are my companions Surf and Trigger... they are named after their hobbies, surfing and playing with guns."
"That's... something I wasn't expecting to hear," Samos commented, as while it appeared that one of the Precursors was serious the other two seemed to have more fun with their hobbies, which he was still having trouble wrapping his head around at the moment.
"I'll have you know that whenever we reached a new planet I would use my special surfboard to test the water's of the planet we had found," Surf stated, though the look on his face told the group that he actually longed to do so again, meaning that the three of them must have been stuck in the core for a long time, "testing the water allows me to see what sort of sea life will be created for a planet and allows me to have fun as well."
"And while I like guns, I prefer building machines," Trigger added, to which he waved a hand and the image of a Precursor Robot appeared in front of them, on a smaller scale anyway, before he looked it over, "I'm generally the one that draws up the blueprints for these things and makes sure they get made on time before we leave for another planet. I also take on the appearance of a dummy so I can lure my foes into a false sense of security, which is why I walk away from combat and my opponents don't."
Jak and Pinkie chuckled at that, because Raven had done the same thing during their adventures, though at the same time they noticed that Eon was staring at Pinkie, meaning that there was something that he wanted to talk about.
"First, I would like to thank all of you for your help in saving our part of the universe from the Dark Makers," Eon spoke up, to which everyone turned towards him and his companions, to which he tapped his staff on the floor and the image of several planets appeared around them, "but, as you can guess, there is more to the universe than what you have seen so far. Pinkie, I'm sure that you know this by now, but you were never born on this planet, rather you simply time space warped into Haven City and were found by the Baron. I have spent a considerable amount of years retracing the path you went through and I was able to locate the exact planet you came from."
"Wait, I'm not from this world?" Pinkie asked, though at the same time she guessed that such a thing was likely possible, especially since her abilities were drastically different from what Jak's were.
"That's correct," Eon said, to which he selected a planet and zoomed up close to it, though at the same time Pinkie felt something in her memories stir, "This is Equus, your home world, where you entered a special mirror that allows one to travel between worlds, though the mirror you had entered had been modified in some manner... or that is what we're assuming happened to you. From what we can tell the primary lifeforms of your home world are different from this world, though we haven't been able to actually see what's on your home world. Something is actually interfering with our investigations, so in order for us to actually give you any information we would have to visit your home world and see what's waiting for you there."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's build a Rift Ring or something and head over there." Daxter commented, shocking the entire group for a few seconds, as they were surprised to hear who was suggesting that they leave this planet behind for a few hours.
"Indeed, which is why we readied our ship the moment we discovered the Dark Maker ship was finished," Eon said, though this tone indicated that he wasn't actually annoyed with Daxter, though at the same time he tapped his staff against the floor once more, "Daxter, since you played a part in saving this world, I shall grant you what you desire most."
Eon leveled his staff with Daxter, who was engulfed in a bright light for a few seconds, though when the light faded it was revealed that he was wearing a pair of blue pants that were scaled down to his body size. Tess, upon seeing this, commented on how nice it would be if she had a pair like Daxter's, to which Eon proclaimed that they should be careful what they wish for before transforming Tess into an ottsel, complete with her clothes shrinking to match her new size. Once that was taken care of, however, Eon said that he, Jak, Daxter, Pinkie, Raven, and his Precursor companions would be departing from the planet in the next few hours, as he wanted to make sure that Pinkie had the opportunity to restore her memories and remember who she used to be.
Pinkie was confused, but at the same time she was interested in leaving this planet behind to see what else the universe had in store for her, her brother, and her best friends... and she was excited to see what this Equus was like, once they arrived at their destination.
Pinkie spent some time with Eon while she waited for the ship to be readied for their journey to her home world, though at the same time the Precursor leader went through the effort to remove the mind block that had been placed on her memories and restored who she had been. During that process Eon revealed that someone in their universe had created a special machine that would do what he could do with his Eco abilities, especially with Light Eco, though he felt that it was much easier for him to manipulate his own energies to restore her memories. So while they waited Pinkie let the memories flow back into her mind, allowing her to remember what had happened before she had appeared in Haven City all those years ago.
From what she could tell she overheard Discord talking with Twilight and the other Princesses, about what happened to the crystal mirror, and rapidly decided to check out the mirror for herself, to which she slipped in while the others were talking and disappeared from their world. Another thing she considered was that she might have gone through the mirror with the intent on spreading laughter and happiness to the other worlds of their universe, but something told her that part of her original plan might have backfired, especially with the awakening of Pinkamena. As of right now she and her darker side were two minds that shared the same body, or two separate bodies if she used the Multiform Army technique, but that didn't seem to bother any of them at all.
Once she had been restored to her former mindset, and she remembered everything that she had once forgotten, she sat down with Jak, Daxter, Raven, and Ashelin and revealed what she knew about herself, while at the same time shocking her friends and family in the process. Damas stood near them and listened to what she was saying, sometimes nodding his head while other times simply remaining still, to which the others wondered what was going through his mind, especially since they were being given a lot of information on Pinkie's past. It didn't take long for Surf and Trigger to come up to them and announce that the ship was fully prepared for the voyage across the stars, to which Eon declared that it was time for them to get underway.
Pinkie, Jak, Daxter, and Raven followed the three Precursors to their ship, which had remained in the Spargus arena since their arrival in the city, before they all walked up the platform and let the door close behind them. Trigger made sure that the seats, both theirs and the ones for Pinkie's group, were activated on time and without delay, to which everyone situated themselves in where they were supposed to sit. Once everyone was sitting down Surf started the sequence to get the ship into the air, to which Pinkie and Jak felt the Eco energies at work for a few minutes, giving the ship the necessary energy to blast off and take to the skies above the Wastelands.
As the ship made its way towards the atmosphere, however, Pinkie noticed that one of the screens that the Precursors were staring at happened to have a vortex in the middle of it, one that clearly hadn't been in the air when they first started the take off procedure, though Eon and his friends didn't seem concerned by it.
"Do not worry, we knew that this wormhole existed for some time," Eon commented, apparently knowing that Pinkie was concerned about something, though at the same time he was focused on what was happening in front of him, "When time and space warped, when you appeared in our world, I kept the location of this wormhole in mind and made sure that it was still open when this time came. We'll be able to warp through space itself, traveling from our world and arriving at your home world within a few minutes, then we can see if we can locate someone that knows you... and introduce ourselves to the gods that run the entirety of our universe."
Pinkie had no idea what Eon meant by gods, considering that she and Jak were used to the Precursors being treated as gods, but at the same time she remained quiet as their ship reached the wormhole and entered it, to which they found themselves in a swirling mass that reminded her of when she, Jak, Keira, and Samos used the Rift Gate. A few moments later she noticed another icon appear on the screen that Trigger was staring at, which actually seemed to concern him for a few seconds, but he let out a sigh and indicated that they had clearance to continue on their journey. That made Pinkie worry a bit, but since the Precursors were okay with what was going on she assumed that there was no reason to be overly concerned... to which she smiled as they reached the end of the wormhole and passed through to the other side.
In front of them rested a large planet, no doubt the size of the world she and Jak had been growing up on, to which Eon directed them into an area that rested between a small village of sorts and a city that rested on the side of a decent sized mountain. Pinkie, calling up her memories, stated that the city was Canterlot and that the village was Ponyville, though Ponyville was where they wanted to go. Once they landed, and the ship had powered down, Eon and his companions walked out of the ship and had Pinkie's group follow them, to which they locked up the ship, to prevent a curious local from stealing it, before they walked towards the village.
Pinkie was glad to be home, especially since she would be able to find her friends and plan a party for whoever had returned from their own adventure, as well as meet whoever these gods were... and then, possibly, plan for the next epic adventure that would be coming her way.