A note for my lovely readers: I know it has been a while since I have posted, so I decided to start up another fic! This one is a bit more my style of writing, so, with any luck, it should be a bit better than my previous one. Please note, much of the dialogue, etc. is taken from the script from the game Jak II, so credit goes to Naughty Dog there. At least two OCs will be showing up in the near future, so watch for them! I do not own Jak and Daxter, Jak II, or any of Naughty Dog's characters, settings, etc, nor do I own Hetalia. Thank you for reading and please enjoy~!

Chapter 1 – The Time of Trial Begins

"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." – Roderich the Sage.

That hero, Horace Wang, along with his friend and companion, Yong Soo, had already proven their worth in battle against several foes. Just days earlier, they had discovered a plot to destroy the villages that made up the civilization of the continent, when they, despite the advice of the sage of their village, went to Misty Island – a dangerous island not far from the village, inhabited by strange creatures called Lurkers – to explore. They found an artifact left by the Precursors – ancient beings that left the world ages ago without any warning, which every sage in the area spent much of their lives studying – which, without knowing how, Horace managed to activate. Inadvertently, when a lurker attacked the pair and Horace threw the artifact at it, it exploded, sending Horace flying back into Yong, which sent the unfortunate boy into a pool of dark eco – a dangerous, black ooze-like substance, which, along with the other types of eco, made up the life force of the planet. When Horace turned to see if he could find his friend, the other boy was sent flying out of the eco. When Horace actually got to look at Yong, though, it was shown that he had taken on an entirely new appearance. Instead of his normal, human appearance – fairly short, olive skin, black hair with a ridiculous curl sticking up off of one side of his head, a white and blue hanbok covering his body, black shoes, leg wraps, and white pants under – he was now a black, weasel-like creature, the only parts of his clothing remaining being a pair of black, fingerless gloves and a pair of goggles sitting on his head. Horace, amused but concerned for his friend, took Yong back to the sage, Roderich Edelstein, to see if anything could be done about the unlucky boy's odd fate. Roderich then sent the pair out to find the other sages, with a bit of convincing from his daughter, Lili, in order to discover if any of them knew a way to reverse the effects of the dark eco. Before long, Horace and Yong had traveled to every village, just to discover that the other sages had been captured by one of their fellow sages, who had studied dark eco and had been corrupted, along with his sister, by the very same material. The crazed sage captured Roderich as well, taking him and the other sages to his hideout, and he and his sister began setting into action their plan – to flood the villages with dark eco. After a long, intense battle, Horace managed to defeat the siblings, using light eco, which Yong, in a noble sacrifice, tossed to him, thus giving up his only chance to return to his normal form. With the corrupted siblings defeated and their villages saved, Horace and Yong became the heroes they were destined to be. Horace, having been realizing his feelings for Lili throughout the entirety of his adventure, even almost got a kiss from the girl, only to be interrupted by Yong. After a few moments, the small group discovered a Precursor door, which, upon opening, they found another artifact, this one large and much different than anything they had encountered before. It seemed very similar to the Warp Gates – teleporters of sorts – that they had used to travel between the villages, only much… larger… This instantly sparked Horace, Yong, Lili, and Roderich's curiosity, which is where our current story begins…

Horace's face showed excitement as he stood quietly in front of the artifact he and his friend, Yong, had recovered earlier. Lili and her father, Roderich, who had been studying things like this for years, had only a vague idea of what this thing could possibly do, which only made Horace more curious.. Yong, the other half of their heroics group, was fast asleep, his small, furry form curled up on the seats of the machine – an unattached part of the artifact that seemed to allow the user to access its functions. Lili was standing behind Yong on the machine, scanning the ring a few feet away from them, and looking even more excited than Horace. Not that Horace ever showed much emotion, even when it was clear he was experiencing one. Roderich approached the trio then, speaking to Horace.

"Today is the big day, Horace. I hope you are prepared… for whatever happens."

He seemed a bit nervous about activating the artifact, but still very excited. He had spent many, many years studying artifacts such as this, and this was, by far, the best one he had seen yet. Horace said nothing in reply. He never spoke. In fact, not even Yong had ever heard his voice, in all the years they had been friends. Lili glanced over at Horace after her father had finished speaking, gesturing at the giant ring across the way from them that made up the other half of the artifact.

"I think I figured out most of this machine. It interacts somehow with that large Precursor Ring. I just hope we didn't break anything moving it here to the lab."

She sat down in one of the seats. Horace slid into the seat next to her, looking like he was going to try and get the kiss Yong had interrupted previously. Of course, Yong chose that moment wake up and pop up between them again. Horace glared at his fuzzy friend.

"Easy for you to say, da ze! We did all the heavy lifting, da ze!"

Yong made a mock-annoyed face at Lili, but it quickly became his usual jovial and curious expression. He looked at an egg-shaped piece of the artifact that, in theory, would allow them to access its functions. He put up a finger to touch it, but Roderich's sharp, scolding shout stopped it in its tracks.

"Yong! Don't touch anything! Though the Precursors vanished long ago, the artifacts they left behind can still do great harm."

Roderich had appeared in the seat next to Horace and he was close enough to, if Yong tried anything again, smack him soundly with the staff he carried. Horace and Yong both rolled their eyes. While they both respected Roderich as a smart, wise man, they also had a nasty habit of not listening to his warnings. Thus, how Yong had ended up as he was. Lili spoke up in reply to her father's comment.

"Or great good! If you figure out how to use them."

She glanced over at Roderich, a big smile on her face. Roderich seemed to acknowledge the point, his eyes drifting to the giant ring that was a part of this strange machine.

"I've had some experience with such things. I know you can make it work."

Horace looked between the father and daughter, then something in front of him caught his eye. It was a red, shield-shaped gem set into a golden piece. It looked a bit like a button. With some hesitation, his hand pressed it, causing the item Yong had been about to mess with to open suddenly. Lili immediately looked to the now-opened piece, her green eyes wide and curious. Yong did not seem at all surprised.

"Looks like Horace's still got the mojo, da ze!"

Lili tilted her head slightly, her eyes following the movement of the item.

"Interesting… it appears to be reading out some preset coordinates."

She looked excitedly towards Horace and her father. Both Roderich and Horace both seemed thrilled by these happenings, but Roderich seemed to be becoming more and more nervous about it. Just as suddenly as it had opened, the strange egg snapped shut, causing Lili to gasp and shrink away from it, and the ring on the back of the seats began to spin. The previously clear, blue sky darkened, and a blue-purple beam flew out of the machine, colliding with the ring across from them. As the spinning of the ring behind them quickened, the ring across from them began spinning, a ring within that one spinning opposite to and faster than the larger, and a gate-like purple light forming in the inner. The rings began to rise, breaking a few feet off of the wooden ramp-like platform it was resting on, and the speed of the rings' rotations continued increasing. The sparks from the machine had ceased, but still the gate rings gyrated and floated. The four people stared incredulously at the gate, silent, until Yong spoke up enthusiastically.

"Wow, look at that, da ze!"

Horace and Lili both seemed to relax somewhat at those words until a loud, growling voice echoed through the gate.

"Finally! The last Rift Gate has been opened!"

The sky went black and a swarm of some sort of strange winged creatures came flying through the rings, startling all those aboard the artifact. Yong shrieked and ducked down behind the control panel, out of sight.

"What are those things, da ze?!"

Roderich scanned the sky, wonder in his eyes and worry on his face.

"So THIS is how it happened…"

Suddenly, a huge, hideous creature appeared in the purple light of the gate, bellowing at Horace in a nightmarish voice.

"You cannot hide from me, boy!"

Needless to say, everyone sitting in the seats of that strange machine was terrified. Lili, in a panic, turned in her seat to look at Horace.

"Do something, Horace!"

Yong got back up, randomly beginning to press any button he saw, desperately trying to find some way to get away from the horrific creature.

"What's this do, da ze? Or that, da ze! How 'bout this one, da ze? Everybody, press all the buttons, da ze!"

Horace, not really knowing what else to do, pressed the glowing red gem again. It had worked before, right? Instead of shutting down the portal, however, the machine shot forward, up the ramp, and towards the monstrous being. Against all odds, they managed to avoid it, being flung, instead, into the portal, the light becoming blinding and forcing them to close their eyes. When they opened them again, the machine was jerkily flying along in a purple tunnel of light beams, similar to the ones that had opened the portal. All four clung to the bar on the control panel of the machine, praying not to fall off and into the unknown. Lili glanced briefly to her right at the others, then had to look forward again to avoid getting sick.

"What was that thing?!"

Roderich could not have answered if he had wanted to. Instead, he held tighter to the front.

"Hang on, everyone!"

After a moment, Yong began screaming, turning his head to look up at Horace.

"I want off this thing, da ze!"

Without warning, a bolt of the purple light shot out and struck the machine, destroying it and sending the four hurtling off. Lili screamed as she was whipped off to Horace's left. Roderich called out to Horace as he was carried off to the right.

"Find yourself, Horace!"

Yong managed to keep himself next to Horace and, after a few moments of hurtling out of control, the two managed to direct themselves, sticking together until they were, rather suddenly, thrown out of the portal. They landed painfully hard on some sort of metal walkway, Yong skidding to a stop next to Horace's legs, still gripping a piece of the machine tightly in both hands. Horace dizzily pushed himself up, looking around at their new surroundings in amazement. They were no longer in their happy, nature-filled village. They now seemed to be in a huge, cheerless, metal city. As Horace looked around, Yong glanced at the bar in his hands in disgust, angrily throwing it to the ground.

"Okay, I swear that's the last time I ever, EVER, touch any stupid Precursor crap, da ze!"

He raged to himself, crossing his arms. A sound caught the two boys' attention, then, and they looked up. A small group of men in full red, white, and black armor, led by a taller, thinner man wearing similar armor, only in yellow, and with the visor of his helmet up, approached the duo.

"There he is. Move in."

Horace and Yong looked curiously at the men. The group stopped just a few feet away from them, their guns drawn and pointed somewhat threateningly at Horace.

"Step away from the animal!"

Yong, now very freaked out, screeched and dove between the leader's legs, dashing away on all fours. Horace was too focused on the tall man to even notice his friend's retreat. One of the men in red was about to go after Yong, but the one in yellow stopped him. His voice was harsh as he snapped out his order.

"Forget the rat. The Baron wants him!"

Horace's face showed a bit of fear as he backed slowly away from them. His eyes flicked about for an escape route, but he did not see one. One of the men in red armor followed Horace's attempted retreat, holding his gun more threateningly than before. The one in yellow spoke again, a wicked smirk on his face.

"We've been waiting for you."

As he said this, the red armored man lifted his gun and bashed Horace in the head with it. Horace blacked out, the last thing he had heard before being knocked out echoing in the black of unconsciousness.

"Don't worry, Horace, da ze! I'll save you before you know it, da ze!"

A list of current characters for those poor confused people:

Horace Wang: Hong Kong/Jak

Yong Soo: South Korea/Daxter

Roderich Edelstein the Sage: Austria/Samos Hagai the Sage

Lili Edelstein: Liechtenstein/Keira Hagai

Another note from the author: I truly do apologize for not uploading anything in forever, but I simply had no inspiration. With a lot of poking and prodding from my wonderful friends and the aquiring of a new Playstation 2, I finally got this idea. After a lot of proofreading from those same wonderful friends, I have gained the confidence to post this, at long last. This will be multiple chapters, so please have patience with me. Please review and have a spectacular day~