It was a place of sparkling beaches, clean water, vast forests, and smiling faces. The feeling of it being an unreal dream stuck with Samos for weeks. He'd spent his whole life in Haven City and he didn't even realize how enclosed it all was until he was surrounded by so much open space and blue sky. Sandover: a true paradise.
The knowledge that his new beautiful home would someday become his old tyrannical home was always in the back of his mind, a bad taste of smog and dark eco always on his tongue, but he tried to hide it for the sake of his time travelling companion..
Of course, the experience was a thousand times more wondrous for the kid. iJak/i, Samos would remind himself, though that little fact was still the most surreal of all. Out of habit, and subconscious weirdness, he continued to call the kid, well, ikid/i. The boy remained nameless for a couple of weeks. Those days were spent in the homes of the Eco Sages of the area. Apparently the post of Green Eco Sage had been vacant for some time, and so they welcomed the stranger into his post almost immediately. Samos was given the old sage's house. It was very, very odd, stepping into the Sacred Site and forcing his mind to accept that it was simply a house in the current age. iHis/i house..
With his place in the past settled the only question was what to do with the kid. Jak. Samos had gotten the distinct impression that he wasn't the one who reared the boy, though he was present for the kid's upbringing. Will be present for the kid's upbringing. Or something..
He decided that half the trouble with time travel was figuring out what tense to put the verbs in. The other half was worrying that he was tampering with something that he shouldn't, or maybe nothing he did mattered because it was all preordained by the Precursors themselves. In the end he decided to put it all out of his mind; what would happen, would happen, either by chance or fate or perhaps a mix of the two. He'd use his best judgment and try not to think about it too hard. Even for a man such as himself the whole thing was mindboggling..
When Samos moved into his new house via teleporter ring he was met by the Mayor of Sandover, who greeted him enthusiastically and then left without offering to help clean up the dusty mess. While the kid looked ready to go outside there was still some of that lingering fear in his eyes; outside meant death back in the city. Fear and his kind nature won out over curiosity for the time being and he set to work helping to clean..
When the town adventurer came up to meet the new sage he found a boy and a man covered in dust and soot while bits of singed paper floated down like snow. The boy happily tried to catch the flakes while the man invented kid-friendly insults to sling at his long gone predecessor. The next half-hour went by in a blur for Samos; one minute he's mindlessly cursing up a G-rated storm and the next they're talking about anything and everything, and how far have you gone in your travels and oh, I'm sure you've never gone as far as imy/i home....
Somewhere during the discussion the kid approached the visitor and proudly presented him with a glassy black pebble he'd found near the Red Sage's home, gesturing that the man was to keep it. The adventurer smiled down at the child and thanked him for the treasure. The kid was positively beaming as he skipped away to play in the debris some more. The little encounter turned conversation towards the boy, how he was discovered wandering the streets and a proper home had to be found as a newly planted sage simply didn't have the time to raise a young boy....
When the adventurer said that he'd been looking for an heir of sorts for some time, Samos tried not to hope too seriously. But then the man asked the boy's name, and upon learning that there was no such thing he leaned back in his chair and considered the problem out loud..
"The boy's been through some great trauma to be sure, what with his inability to speak. And yet he remains kind and generous, even with such childhood treasures as a piece of lava glass. Inquisitive too, I see, with his enthusiastic exploration of the old man's laundry basket. And I sense a definite strength in him. His name must be strong, noble...".
Samos was just about to interrupt and remind his guest that he had a lot of cleaning to do when the man spoke a word that stopped the sage cold..
"Something like Jak, I think. Good, sturdy name, that is, a name fit for a hero! But then I've let my mind and mouth get away from me. What was it you were saying?".
While it could just be a fluke, Samos couldn't shake the feeling that this was preordained. He had his own judge of character that was finely honed due to his relation with green eco, the word of everyone in town that the adventurer was a good man and would raise a child right, but he still kept coming back to that one little thing..
When the adventurer came to officially adopt the kid, Samos covertly hinted that Jak was a very fitting name. Just in case. And then he watched them both walk back to town, the kid beaming and pretty much jumping for joy, the man looking on fondly as he tried to steer his new nephew towards his home. It seemed impossible that this happy, giggling Jak would become the dark, angry Jak of Haven City. .
He reminded himself that he decided not to think about it too hard. Just go with the flow, enjoy the time spent in this paradise, and cross each bridge as he got to it..
~~~~~~.
iThe boy looked in the mirror and puffed up proudly. He had a name, and his new name was the same as the strong man back in the city! That Jak was brave and made all the red monsters go away, so the boy knew he had to be strong and brave too..
Jak looked around his room again. Having a place all to himself was weird. Uncle said that he'd get used to it, and he was smart like Shadow. So it must be true. It was still kind of scary but the boy knew he had to be brave, because his name was Jak and the other Jak was really brave. So he went outside, all by himself, and he stayed brave even though he was still scared that the red monsters would find him. Shadow told him that there were no red monsters in this new place, but sometimes it was hard to remember. But then a flutterby would go past, or a bird would squak, and then Jak would remember and he wouldn't feel so scared..
He was searching the beach for treasure when the other children of Sandover found him. One of them knew that he was brought into town by Sage, and Jak knew that Sage was Shadow's other other name (his other name was Samos). So he nodded and held out a pretty shell that looked like the gun-eyes that made the red lights shine. The children came closer and looked at his treasure, and then they looked at Jak the same way he looked at the pretty shell..
Then one of the children asked Jak his name. He wanted to say 'Jak' because he was proud of his name, but he couldn't. So he puffed out his chest and tried to look brave and strong like the other Jak. The children didn't understand. He tried to draw the other Jak in the sand, but the other children still didn't understand..
One particularly clever child asked if he couldn't talk. He nodded his head and they all seemed to understand. Some of them looked at him like he was weird. He was confused and getting frustrated, so he bit his lip and looked at the ground and wondered why no one else couldn't talk..
Then one of the children said they were going to play in a secret place, and that Jak could come if he promised to keep the secret. He nodded because he was good at keeping secrets. He was in secret places all the time when he still lived in the city. So they let him come with them, and he made himself forget about how some of them still looked at him./i.
~~~~~~.
Of all the things Samos worried about on behalf of the young Jak, being unable to make friends was not one of them. Within the Resistance something like not talking wasn't considered worthy of notice, so the boy never had to deal with a negative reaction to his muteness. Let alone five kids ranging from three to ten yelling at him because they thought he was lying about not being able to talk after he stepped on a sharp rock and squeaked in pain. After the unexpected barrage of childhood insults and taunts the boy ended up running back to his new home to collapse crying on the bed..
The children couldn't be convinced that Jak wasn't lying, even by the Green Eco Sage and the local adventurer. It didn't help that their parents seemed to share the opinion. Jak overheard one mother saying it outright and completely withdrew, spending his time indoors looking through his uncle's books. Within a few days the boy was persuaded to go outside again, but he stuck to the paths less traveled so he didn't have to face any of the other children. When they did see him they teased him mercilessly, but after that first encounter Jak refused to cry or run away. He'd resolutely ignore the group and focus on a leaf or rock or whatever was within reach until they grew bored and moved on. .
Samos got the impression that the kid was trying to mimic someone he admired, though he couldn't begin to guess who it was. All he could really do was watch for afar and worry that maybe this is what sparked the change in the young boy. To be honest, the thought that Jak had a carefree childhood helped ease the guilt Samos felt at guiding him down a path that would lead to the Baron's prison. Thinking that Jak might not need that big of a push to become the angry young man that Samos knew....
He pushed it from mind and hoped that it would make Jak stronger, because the boy would need it when the day came..
~~~~~~.
iJak searched and searched and found his own secret place. It was a ledge on the cliffs near the nig waterfall, and you could only get to it by climbing the hidden vines. Jak wasn't breaking any rules since the ledge was inside the safety zone, but it was close enough to the edge that the other children wouldn't bother him. Sometimes if he watched very closely he could catch a glimpse of the big snakes on the other side of the waterfall. He knew he was too little to battle something as big as those snakes, but he also knew that he'd grow up someday and then he'd be the strongest adventurer around! Maybe the others would like him then..
There was enough room on the ledge to practice rolling and kicking with no fear of falling off, so Jak did just that. The grass was soft enough to cushion any stumbles as the young boy awkwardly tried to act out the moves the other Jak used on the red monsters. Jak knew he had to practice if he ever wanted to be like the other Jak, and that gave him the resolve to keep going even though everything seemed to make him fall over..
On this particular day at about noon, Jak was taking a break from his training to examine a chip of stone in the shape of a perfect triangle. He turned it over and over in his hands as he lay on his stomach in the grass. There were so many treasures in this new home! Uncle even let him line up some of the really great ones on a shelf in their living room. Jak was trying to decide if he'd place the stone with the others on the mantle or give it to Shadow when he heard a noise..
He turned and saw a boy his age struggling to pull himself up onto the ledge. Jak blinked and looked at the boy warily. After all, he remembered how the last meeting went. The boy finally pulled himself onto the grass, and as he panted for breath he looked up at Jak with curious clear blue eyes..
"Heeeey," the boy said as he got to his feet, "you're the new kid, ain'tcha?".
Jak slowly nodded, clutching the stone to his chest as if it were a magic charm..
"That's neat," the boy continued, moving closer to scrutinize the mysterious new kid. "Is it true ya can't talk?".
Jak closed his eyes and tried his hardest to say something, anything. He tried and tried but it was no use. His mouth was open but he just couldn't make any sound. His jaw snapped shut and he looked at the ground in frustration. He wanted to talk, he really did, but he just couldn't..
"Huh. I guess that's yes." A pause. "But you bcan/b make noises if you get hurt or somethin'?".
He nodded, eyes squeezed shut as he waited for the insults..
"Huh. Well, it don't make no sense to me, but I don't know much.".
Jak dared to open his eyes just a little bit and ended up staring with openmouthed shock. The boy didn't look mad at all! .
"What'cha lookin' at?" the boy said self-consciously. Then realization dawned. "Oh, you thought I was gonna be like those jerks, huh?".
Jak nodded somewhat shamefully, as it was already clear that this boy was nothing like the others..
"Those jerks are bjerks/b," the boy said with venom, angrily kicking at the dirt. "They don't let me play with them neither. Nobody in the village likes me. They say I talk too much and stuff.".
Jak pointed to his own mouth and shook his head..
The boy laughed, "Yeah, and they don't like you 'cause you don't talk at all! Nothin' makes them happy, huh?" .
Still laughing, the boy flopped onto the ground. Jak followed suit, grinning from ear to ear. Someone understood him!.
"Hey, what's your name?" The boy asked once he calmed down. Jak barely had time to look worried before the boy smacked himself on the forehead. "Oh yeah, right. I guess I'll have'ta ask old Eco Breath what yer name is. Mine's Daxter!"/i.
~~~~~~.
When the two boys came scampering into his study, Samos knew there was something about the loudmouth brat that seemed familiar. Since he kicked them both out shortly after they arrived it was actually a couple weeks before he learned said brat's name. Once he realized that this ihuman/i Daxter had to be the same orange rat perched on the dark Jak's shoulder, Samos searched his memory and all his knowledge for an explanation as to how it could happen. Eventually he realized that the touch of dark eco clinging to the ottsel wasn't a result of close proximity with a transformed Jak; at some point the redhead would come into contact with raw dark eco and it would transform him..
Samos considered the possibility of keeping them apart, but however tempting the idea was he dismissed it almost immediately. However annoying Daxter was, in any form, it was clear that he was the only thing that kept Jak hanging on to his sanity in Haven City. And in the present—past—he was the only friend Jak had. So Samos resigned himself to tolerating Daxter for the partially foreseeable future..
Years later, when a boy and an ottsel came up the walkway, Samos knew that the time to return was very close. He knew what trials awaited the young hero. And though he hated it, he knew that Daxter was part of the package deal. .
~~~~~~.
i"Daxter, you know... we could tell him—me—to stay away from you.".
"I think all that dark eco's finally gone to your head, Jakkie-boy.".
"This is my fight. My city. You belong in Sandover!".
"What, so both of us are alone? I bbelong/b wherever you are! Sorry tough guy, but you're stuck with me whether you like it or not.".
"Dax... Dax, wait!".
The kid scrambled away from the door and hoped that the pair didn't realize he was listening. It didn't make any sense anyway. It must have been grownup stuff..
The orange ottsel pushed the door open and walked over to the kid with a determined stride. He looked over his shoulder once, to glare at the man standing in the doorway, then he grabbed the kid's hand and looked at him with serious clear blue eyes..
"Kid, you gotta promise me somethin'.".
The boy knew it was serious, so he put on his best serious face and nodded..
"Look, kid, when you get to your new home you're gonna meet someone. He's gonna have red hair and freckles and his name's Daxter.".
The kid brightened and pointed at the ottsel..
"Heh. Yeah, kid, same name as me. Now you listen to me. Everyone in Sandover's gonna tell you that this Daxter is bad news, and that you should stay away from him. Promise me, you bpromise/b me, that you won't listen to them.".
The boy nodded slowly. He wasn't sure why this was important, but he could tell that it was. If it wasn't then the silly orange ottsel wouldn't be looking so sad. He trusted Daxter and he wanted to make him feel better, so he nodded again and made a clumsy thumbs up..
Daxter turned and made for the door, making his familiar leaps and bounds back to Jak's shoulder. He glared at the blond and crossed his arms stubbornly. Jak swallowed around the lump in his throat, opened his mouth but closed it without saying anything, and then shrugged with a helpless smile on his face. Then he grabbed his gun from its resting place and pocketed his communicator. There was still work to be done. .
Just before they were out of the kid's sight, Jak paused and looked back. Daxter did the same. That sadness was still on both their faces, but as they glanced back at each other it was overwhelmed by twin crazy grins. Then they were gone, with the ottsel calling, "Go get'em, hero!" as they disappeared down the hallway..
The kid watched the pair leave in awe and hoped that he'd be strong like them someday./i