Chapter One: Through the Rift Gate
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable Jak and Daxter characters, settings, etc. are the property of Naughty Dog and SCEA. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.
For every age there is a time of trial.
The rocks faced such a fire before they were the strength beneath our feet.
The plants braved vast winds before their roots could give us life.
As a sage of considerable years, I have known only one such great ordeal. Yet the hero it created was a champion of all time. - Samos the Green Sage, Jak II: Renegade
"I hope you prepared Jak for today is the big day" a short rotund green man with elfin ears spoke to a young teenaged boy with greenish-yellow hair.
The boy blinked is eyes and tilted his head curiously.
"I think I figured out how this machine works" a young girl with bluish-green hair called out as the redhead opened his mouth to say something. "This rift rider" the girl pointed at a sled-like vehicle. "Somehow reacts to this precursor ring" she pointed to a large metal ring sitting a few feet from the rift rider. "I hope we didn't break anything bringing it over here."
The redhead snorted and turned his head up while crossing his arms. "easy for you to say! We did all the heavy lifting! Right Jak?" he asked the blond who nodded with a silent smile.
The Redhead then sat down in the rift rider and was about to press a button when the green man whacked him across the head with a short knobby wooden staff. "Don't touch anything, Daxter! The Precursors may be gone, but their artifacts can still do great harm."
"Or great good Daddy if you know how to use them" the girl spoke up as she sat down beside Daxter.
Jak nodded in agreement as he sat down beside the girl.
A shiny red button shaped like a heart caught Jak's eye and he cautiously reached out to push it. Then next to it a square-based device opened up to show a bright light with spinning symbols inside the gap created.
Daxter's eyes widened and he jumped dramatically "Whoa! What did you do Jak!"
Jak shrugged his little green shoulders as he watched the strange symbols swirling in the object.
The girl leaned forward and peered at the object curiously "it looks like it's reading some preset coordinates."
There was a whirring noise as the rift rider began to shake and the precursor ring began to spin wildly. The sound of wood breaking made the group turn to watch as the bridge between them and a small wooden hut began to breakup and fly into the air. Bits of the hut were beginning to break off as well. The bright green grass covering the terrain was stirring in the raging winds that were coming from the metal ring. The sky was rapidly turning a deep purple color.
"What's happening?" Daxter asked as the short green man, Samos joined the trio on the rift rider.
"At last! I've found you!" a deep menacing voice came from within the Precursor ring as thousands of dark bat-like creatures emerged from within the ring.
"What are those things!" Daxter shouted in surprise and horror.
"So this is how it happened" Samos commented cryptically as a large monstrous creature emerged.
"You can't hide from me boy!" the creature boomed out.
"Auggh! Do something Jak!" Daxter shouted as he began to press random buttons and flip random switches.
Jak reached out and pressed the red button again.
The rift rider shot forward and through the portal.
"I want off this thing!" Daxter shouted as they were flying through a whirlpool of colors.
Jak nodded as best as he could against the forceful turbulence.
"Hold on tight everyone!" Samos ordered just before there was a loud cracking sound before the rift rider broke apart.
"Find yourself Jak!" Samos shouted as Daxter and the girl Keira screamed.
"Jak!" Daxter reached out to his best friend as he was jerked in another direction.
Jak stretched out right arm and his finger barely grazed the tips of Daxter's before the two were separated.
There was a bright flash of light and Daxter fell out of the sky. "Oof!" He sat up and immediately began to spit out a mouthful of sand. "Pfft! Yuck! Where the heck am I?" he looked around while wiping his tongue off with his hands. All around Daxter was nothing but sand.
Daxter heaved himself to his feet and began to walk forward while calling out for Jak, Keira, and Samos. "Jak! Where are you buddy!" Daxter called out as he cupped his hands around his mouth. The licked his drying lips. He needed to find water and he needed to find it fast.
Daxter walked on for a couple of more hours as the heat and dehydration began to over take him. "Need water" he wheezed as he collapsed onto his knees. He wiped the sweat off of his forehead with the back of his right hand as the sun seemed to bear down on him. "Maybe I'll just take a quick nap" he murmured to himself before his eyes rolled back in his head and he collapsed onto the harsh desert floor.
Thirty minutes later several figures riding large lizard creatures carefully approached the unconscious teen. The figure in the front held up there hand to stop the others. "Let's take him to King Damas" the figure ordered in a scratchy yet soft voice.
The biggest of all of the figures obviously male slid off of his lizard and walked over to gently lift the redheaded teen off the ground. Once the teen was secured on the lizard the group left the scene.
A few hours later Daxter awoke in a pool of cool and clear water. He groaned and put a hand to his head as he felt a stabbing throbbing pain in his right temple.
"Ah, you're awake I see" a deep voice to Daxter's right made him look up. There was a large man sitting on what appeared to be a throne. The man had bronze colored skin. His hairline was receding and his white hair was twisted back into many coils away from his face. He wore a crown made out of what looked like horns. The man also wore armor similar to that of the ancient Romans. "I am King Damas and you are in my city of Spargus" The man, Damas stood up from his throne and approached Daxter.
Daxter blinked his large blue eyes in confusion and looked around the torch lit stone room. 'Spargus? Where am I?' he shivered lightly as a stray breezed brushed over his naked shoulders. Wait. Naked shoulders? He looked down and sure enough, he was naked. He looked back up at Damas.
"Ah yes, I have taken the liberty of acquiring you some proper clothing" Damas gestured to a small pile of clothes sitting beside the pool Daxter was in.
Daxter looked at the clothes and then looked back at Damas, "Er… thanks." He began to crawl out of the water but froze and turned to Damas who was still watching him. "Erm… do you mind?"
Damas blinked in mild surprise before he nodded and turned away as Daxter climbed out of the pool and got dressed.
"So… ah… Where are we exactly?" Daxter asked the king once he was dressed.
Damas walked back to his throne and sat down on it. "As I told you before, you are in Spargus." A faint glimmer of concern crossed his expression but it was gone again within a second.
Daxter arched an eyebrow as he pulled on the hem of the beige colored baggy shirt he was wearing. "Okay, how did I get here?"
Damas regarded Daxter silently for a moment before answering him. "My monks found you in the barren wasteland and brought you here."
Daxter blinked in surprise. Monks? Wasteland? Just where the hell was he and where were Jak, Keira, and Samos? "Um… Okay. Thanks for your help now if you could just tell me how to get back to Sandover then I'd be very happy."
It was Damas's turn to be confused "Sandover? Sandover became Haven City over four hundred and fifty years ago. Perhaps I should have a doctor take a look at you."
Daxter's jaw fell slack at this news. "What! I was just in Sandover yesterday! You can ask Jak, Samos, and Keira! They were with me!" He looked around "Wait… where are Jak, Samos, and Keira?"
Damas shook his head slowly, "I'm sorry but you were alone when my monks found you. If your friends were in the wasteland with you then they are probably dead by now. I am sorry for your loss."
Daxter fell to his knees and stared straight ahead of him in disbelief. He looked down and noticed a glint of silver in the corner of his eye. He looked to his left to see a pair of goggles lying next to him. The goggles were silver and the lenses were large and made of red glass. He picked the goggles up and cradled them to his chest for a moment as he thought about his best friend. They couldn't be dead. They just couldn't.
A large hand on Daxter's left shoulder made him look up. Damas stood in front of Daxter with a solemn expression on his face. "What is your name?"
"D-daxter!" Daxter hiccupped and snorted at once before wiping his nose with the back of his hand and only succeeding in smearing the snot across his face.
Damas handed a handkerchief to Daxter who thanked him before blowing his nose loudly. "Daxter," Damas began as he walked back to his throne. "I will arrange sleeping quarters for you for tonight. Be sure to get plenty of rest for tomorrow we will see how well you can fight in the arena." He sat down and weaved his fingers together.
Daxter blanched horribly "F-fight! Arena! You're joking right?" Daxter prayed silently to the Precursors that this man was joking both for the sake of his health and for the sake of his dignity. Daxter definitely didn't fit in the fighting category. "I'm a lover not a fighter!"
Damas's expression turned serious, "This is the wasteland. The law of the wastelander is to kill or be killed. Tomorrow you must prove your potential to become a true wastelander and a citizen of Spargus. After you have won three battle arenas only then will you become a true wastelander and a citizen of Spargus." His eyes narrowed slightly "if you give up and die then your friends were meaningless to you and their deaths were in vein!"
Daxter looked up with a determined expression on his face. "Alright! I'll fight in your stupid arena!" he declared as he put his goggles onto their proper place on top of his head.
Damas nodded "very well. I'll call in someone to show you to your room and I'll have someone bring up your dinner when it is time." He then picked up a small square-shaped electronic box and exchanged a few words with whoever was on the other line.
"What's that?" Daxter asked as he peered at the box curiously.
And so Damas spent the next few minutes explaining to Daxter what a communicator was and how it worked.
The doors to the right opened to admit a tall muscle dark skinned man wearing armor that appeared to be made from some sort of animal. The man was missing his right eye and in it's place was a red scope.
The man bowed at Damas's feet before standing up straight and towering over Daxter. "King Damas" the man greeted in a deep voice.
Damas nodded in greeting, "Sig, this is Daxter. Please escort him to the guest room closest to my room."
Sig nodded before turning to Daxter and clapping a hand onto his back "Come on chili pepper!"
Daxter staggered slightly under the force from Sig's pat but followed the man obediently. He took one last look back at Damas before they exited the room.
The next morning Daxter was woken up by someone knocking on the door to his room. "I'm coming!" he grumbled as he crawled out of the bed and made his way to the door. He opened the door and scowled at Sig's chest. Sig was holding a tray with a assortment of breakfast foods on it.
Sig chuckled "sorry to wake you chili pepper but you need to eat before your match in the arena."
Daxter took the tray from Sig with a grumbled thanks and walked back to the bed. He set the tray down on the nightstand and began to eat his food messily.
Sig bent down and grabbed a pair of boots from just outside the doorway. "Damas sent these up for you. It isn't a very smart idea to enter the arena barefooted after all."
Daxter nodded before looking up at Sig "Oh yeah! Tell me more about this arena thing!" He demanded as bits of egg and bacon flew from his mouth.
Sig didn't seem to mind Daxter's blatant lack of manners and proceeded to explain the rules of the arena.
"Well you see chili pepper; the arena takes place in a large stadium within the city. The platform for the arena floats on top of a pit of lava. Every so often the platform sinks into the lava. The goal of the arena is to eliminate all of the challengers but one."
Daxter had stopped eating to stare at Sig in shock. "L-lava! Is Damas crazy! I'll get killed!"
Sig's expression turned serious "well then you'll just have to fight with your all so at least you will die with dignity. Now, put on those boots and let's head down to the arena."
Daxter put on the left boot before the right. As he was slipping the right boot on he noticed something odd. There strapped to the right side of the inside of the boot was a dagger.
Sig noticed Daxter's hesitance and arched an eyebrow. "Is something wrong chili pepper?"
Daxter looked up at Sig before looking back down at the boot and quickly slipping his foot inside it before he buckled the straps. "No, of course not." He jumped up to his feet and walked forward. "Now let's go kick some ass!"
The walk to the arena stadium was uneventful but Daxter still found it interesting to look around the desert city. If Sig had not been with him he would have died too.
As the duo made their way to the arena Daxter wasn't looking ahead of him and bumped into a portly half bald man. The man fire a pistol at Daxter and Daxter quickly dodged the shot. Just as the man was aiming a second time, Sig stopped him and the two continued to the arena.
"What's that!" Daxter exclaimed pointing to a large bipedal purple lizard tied to the entrance to the stadium.
"That?" Sig chuckled "Damas told me you weren't from around here and I guess he wasn't lying." He walked over to the lizard and patted it lightly on the head making the creature coo. "This is a leaper lizard. No one really knows where they came from and we use them as transportation within the city. They make great companions and they eat kangarats."
Daxter stepped forward and hesitantly petted the animal. Without warning the animal licked the right side of Daxter's face causing the human to jump back and wipe his face off with the sleeve of his shirt. "Yuck! That's gross!"
As soon as Daxter entered the arena he noticed how scorching it was. 'Well if my opponents don't kill me surely the heat will' he though with a pant as he walked the path onto the platform.
There were already ten other heavily armored men waiting on the platform.
Daxter looked around to see that the stadium was full of people eager to watch the blood bath that was sure to happen. He looked back to the platform to see that all of the heavily armored men were watching him. It was easy to see why since Daxter was the only person with no armor or visible weapons thus making him an easy target.
Damas stood up from his throne and said a few words but Daxter paid it no heed since he was more focused on staying alive. "Let the games begin!" Damas called out and nearly all of the armored men charged at Daxter who screamed and dodged a few of the incoming attacks.
A man swung a spiky club in Daxter's direction and Daxter ducked. Little droplets of blood fell onto Daxter's back as the club connected with another man. Daxter looked up and notice place on the man with the club's stomach that wasn't protected by armor. He reached down and pulled out the dagger from within his right boot and plunged it into the man's stomach. The man released a gurgle and stumbled backward clutching his wound.
Daxter looked down at his blood stained hand and the blood stained dagger in alarm. A loud buzzer sound made him look up and he realized that the platform was sinking into the lava. He spun around and noticed a raised platform in the center of the platform. The raised platform was rather small and Daxter raced over to it.
He clambered onto the platform just as a bulky man did so as well. The bulky man did not want Daxter on the platform and he demonstrated that feeling by pinning Daxter down and attempting to squeeze the life out of Daxter by strangling him with his big hands.
Daxter dropped his dagger in surprise at the attack and attempted to push the bigger man off of him. The screams of the other men as the platform continued to sink lower into the lava. The smell of burning flesh hung in the air and the smell of burning hair reached Daxter's nose as the tips of his hair disintegrated into the lava. His struggles became weaker as the lack of oxygen to his brain began to my him black out. Suddenly red-hot pain shot throughout his being and shocked him awake as the tip of his left ear touch the lava.
Daxter reached out to where he'd dropped his dagger while not taking his eyes off the man on top of him. Once he had a firm grip on the dagger he brought it up and slashed it quickly across the man's throat. The man's blood spilled out rapidly and onto Daxter staining Daxter's orangey-red hair crimson. Daxter pushed the man roughly off the platform and sat up to watch in horrified interest as the lava ate up the man's body.
The platform rose back out of the lava as Damas announced Daxter as the winner. Daxter was seemingly in a trance from where he kneeled on the platform as cheers erupted from the audience. Daxter was only vaguely aware of the fact that he was being led out of the arena.
Daxter was sitting on a cot in a small room adjacent to the arena while a doctor wrapped what was left of the tip of his ear with a sterile white bandage when Damas and Sig entered the room. Sig was carrying a morph gun with a circular red and black dish attached to it.
"You fought well out there, Daxter" Damas spoke up.
Daxter brought his bright blue eyes up to stare at Damas in disbelief. "I fought well? I almost died!"
Damas nodded "that is true but you didn't die and that is all that matters.
Daxter frowned and turned his eyes away.
Damas cleared his throat "you have demonstrated that you have the skills necessary to become a wastelander but you need to hone these skills which is why beginning tomorrow Sig will train you."
Truth be told Daxter didn't want to train. He wanted to go home but it seemed like he would never be able to return home and if he wanted to stay alive then he would train and Damnit! He would make Jak, Keira, and Samos proud!
TBC
Yeah that's it for now. Tell me what you think. Poor Daxxie the wastelander are so harsh to him. Tata for now!