Summary: In one universe, Jak and Daxter complete their quest and defeat Gol and Maia by themselves, never meeting another Channeler like Jak who can Channel every Eco. In another, however, five and a half years before Jak comes to Sandover, a girl is born to Janos Azure and his wife who closely resembles a mix of her parents, right down to their Channeling talent. A girl who grows up with only one best friend, Aconite, and who discovers one day that her father's been kidnapped with a destroyed lab to show for it. And then a mute boy and his Ottsel show up in Rock Village, and her life changes forever.
Her name is Lora Azure, and this is her story.
A/N: This is my first attempt at a Jak/OC story after reading the scarce few there are in this fandom. I also really wanted to explore the possibility of another Sage having a child. I played the Jak games growing up and I always thought it was unfair that Keira was stuck at home and not allowed to go on the adventure. While Jak/OC is the endgame pairing, Jak/Keira is there in a lot of this story because Keira has a crush on Jak, as we all know from the first game, and I'm following game canon up to this point (sort of) so the crush is reciprocated.
I do not own Jak and Daxter or the world they live in. I just own the idea and Lora.
Special thanks to novelpetals for pointing out the way DocX uploaded this story-apparently it was in html format and I had no idea, since it appears normally for the author.
Chapter One: Lora, Meet Jak (And Daxter)
A month. Thirty-one days. 744 hours. She could go on, but timing it just made things sound worse.
A whole month since her father had been kidnapped right out of his lab.
Since she had come home to find the door locked and barricaded, the Warp Gate's fuel lines torn to pieces and his notes strewn everywhere. Like he'd been in a fight. And not a small fight either, but a really big one. Lora was no fool. Her father was missing and with the evidence there, someone had taken him. Someone had kidnapped him, someone strong enough to overpower even a Sage, and only a day after he'd disappeared that Lurker had started throwing flaming boulders at the village, not just the mountain pass. It knew he was gone, and was taking advantage of things.
The whole thing smelled of a nasty setup.
Without her dad around, Rock Village was all but defenseless against the thing since the Hero couldn't defeat it. It was by pure dumb luck the Lurker hadn't noticed the machine they'd built, with the way it'd barricaded itself up in the mountain pass. But she didn't have the Power Cells to turn on the machine, or give herself a chance against the monster, so that wasn't a possibility.
Not that the villagers would let her use it anyway. Most of them had fled when her father was kidnapped, moving into the old settlement in Boggy Swamp, where they reasoned the only danger came from Bog Rats, which even 'normal folk' could defend against. And the Swamp wasn't without its own dangers, including poisonous ooze that could kill you if you stood in it for too long, but they reasoned it was safer than staying, even if there was no way for them to destroy the Rats' nests without Eco. Safer than braving giant, Dark Eco-corrupted Lurkers.
The settlement in the Swamp wouldn't protect them for long, though. She'd seen a Lurker blimp hovering over the area, but had been unable to convince the Gladiator to move the pontoons for her so she could get to the Swamp. Her dad had forbade him from sending her into battle without backup, and the Gladiator wouldn't count her friend Aconite as backup-even if she were here, but her parents had kidnapped her and forced her to go to the swamp with them.
Besides, Aconite was a great friend, but she couldn't fight. She couldn't even throw a decent punch, even with all of Lora's help and some training. Aconite hated hurting anyone or anything, even Lurkers. She'd probably get them both killed if they went up against that Lurker anyway.
But with the Warp Gate out of commission, and no Power Cells to move the boulder blocking the mountain pass, Lora could see how the Swamp was becoming more and more appealing to the villagers. While there was a constant Lurker threat, it wasn't the same thing as having a 'nutty scientist Channeler,' as she'd heard them call her more than once, around. At least with her father they had a protector, both from Lora's 'mad experiments' and the Lurkers. Never mind that her experiments were tamer than her dad's by far.
With the Lurkers and lack of the Blue Sage, the villagers reasoned they would be well-prepared for the dangers of the Swamp and wouldn't have to rely on Channelers for protection. Most Channelers didn't make people uneasy. Then again, most Channelers also didn't Channel multiple types of Eco. That skill was all but unheard of, and the fact that Lora could made most people wary, if not outright scared of her. Without her father there, those old fears about a Channeler running wild returned among the older generation. Sure, old wives' tales about Channelers running wild were told to every kid growing up but not every Channeler acted that way. There had only been a few.
By now, Lora was used to the sneers and the stares, and how they ignored her every time she asked for help, but it still stung. She wasn't what they thought she was-whatever that was at this point, either some mad scientist or a Channeler with too much power. She just wished they would actually open their eyes and look at her for once. Even the people her own age often made her feel like an outsider, as the only real Channeler in the village other than Aconite.
Which meant there was no one to help her fix the Warp Gate, the only other way out of the village other than the Fire Canyon.
Her dad had done enough damage to make it almost impossible for her to fix it. It was impossible without the help of another Channeler, at least, and all of the ones she knew of were in the South, near Sandover-the Green Sage's village. From what her dad's journal said, the Green Sage kept his Warp Gate turned on, but she couldn't get to him to warn him of the danger. Whatever it'd been, it had to come through the Warp Gate-there was no other way into or out of the lab that hadn't been locked.
And with luck, if she could only get to the Green Sage, he might have the Power Cells needed to help her take out this Lurker. Samos always irritated her dad, enough so that he didn't really get along with the other Elf, but he was too fond of 'meddling,' which might be exactly what she needed right now.
Though she had had experience killing Dark Eco tainted Lurkers, she couldn't actually get up there to fight the darn thing. When the Hero tried to fight it, her dad kept her from going to fight it as backup, to keep her safe. She knew why Janos didn't want her to fight, because unlike the Hero Lora had no hope of winning with her strength alone. But she knew she could find a weakness in the Lurker's body if she just got up there, and it irritated her. It almost felt like her dad didn't trust her, didn't trust that she could protect herself and wasn't just a little girl anymore.
It was a moot point anyway, with her dad gone. Janos took all of his Power Cells with him, the Power Cells she'd need to get up there or to power her Zoomer to get through Fire Canyon with a specialized, super-powered heat shield. And all of the cooling balloons she'd need to get through the canyon without her specialized heat shield were gone too.
So Lora was stuck, unable to do anything to help save her home, her friends, stuck as they were in the swamp, or her dad.
She'd managed to put together Janos' notes about how to fix the Warp Gate if it were ever broken, but she couldn't fix the pipes feeding it without the supplies. And those were out in the Lost Precursor City, where she'd been banned from visiting since she nearly fell into fatally hot water while exploring there at the age of seven. Since the Hero was still in the village, he'd stop her-he'd promised her father to keep her safe when Janos disappeared.
That left Lora with only one option, even if she hated it. Taking apart the Zoomer transport platform and some of her father's experimental machines that ran on Blue Eco, which she'd sworn to him never to do.
But what choice did she have?
Just as she turned to the transport platform to take a much closer look, to find the parts she would need to mend the Warp Gate, she heard the unmistakable sound of a Zoomer revving towards her. She glanced over her shoulder and immediately ran for the ledge nearby, knowing the standard Zoomer couldn't make that jump unless boosted with extra Power Cells.
And it sounded like the driver was going to overshoot the landing platform.
She'd barely made it onto the ledge when the Zoomer started slowing down, and Lora held her breath, not daring to glance back over her shoulder at the driver until she heard its engine power down. Then she turned around, looking at the Zoomer pilot, and the communicator swiveling around his head. It looked a lot like the communicator she'd built as a kid, except it was green and a little larger than hers needed to be.
"Now, make sure you turn on the Warp Gate in the Blue Sage's house," instructed a female voice from the communicator, which was hovering around his left side. "So we can get through to help."
Then it disappeared into a pocket, folding itself up neatly as Lora took in the pilot of the Zoomer.
It was a boy, no-a teenager, who was only a little taller than her, with short green hair that had faded near the tips to blonde and which stuck up in a strange sort of windswept style-like the wind was still in the process of sweeping it up. Either way, it was a little odd, like her hair. He was wearing a blue tunic with no sleeves, a bit of silver metal armor (definitely not Precursor armor), and shoes that were more like wrappings around his feet, leaving his toes exposed, like leather sandals. More leather was wrapped around his waist (a belt of some kind) and his shins, and beneath it he was obviously wearing a loose, cotton set of slightly dusty white shirt and pants. He pulled off his goggles, putting them back on his forehead as he looked up at her.
Sitting on his right shoulder, the only one covered in a shoulder-guard, was an…Ottsel?
Why was there an Ottsel on his shoulder? Why did the Ottsel have leather gloves and goggles on, like the Elf it was riding?
"Anyone ever tell you staring is rude, Whitey?" And it talked, too!
It also sounded like the most sarcastic thing she'd ever heard speak. And knowing Aconite, that was saying something.
An Ottsel that could talk. Lora frowned, staring right back at him, knowing something was definitely off when the Elf looked up at her. He gave her this sort of apologetic smile and made a few quick gestures in the Ottsel's direction, but she was only half-paying attention, staring at his eyes. No one else she knew had eyes like that. Even from here she could see they were blue, which was almost impossible to see on other Elves when they were looking a different way. But Elves' eyes only glowed when they were Channeling and there was no obvious Eco around him.
Then again, Elves sometimes had…odd and vivid eye colors, like her own. She'd just never seen another one so outlandish. Maybe it meant he was a Channeler, like her.
He turned to look up at Lora, revealing that his eyes were gray-blue, almost like Blue Eco itself. She couldn't help but stare, now that she could see proof of his Channeling gifts. Green, Blue, and Red Eco danced around his head, shining through him, with the barest hint of Yellow licking over his hands, and it was bright, brighter than she'd ever seen, except by looking in a mirror.
"Hey! I said it, and I meant it! Quit the staring, it's creepy!" yelled the Ottsel, getting her attention again.
She smiled back apologetically, the spell broken "Sorry. It's not every day you see anyone new around here," she jumped down off the ledge, making it so they were more of a height with each other. "And quit calling me Whitey. Just because my hair's white doesn't mean it isn't rude."
The Ottsel snorted "Not like I can call you anything else, you know. I don't know your name, now, do I? Nor does my buddy Jak here!"
"So your name is Jak?" Lora asked, ignoring the Ottsel and the other Elf nodded. Why wasn't he speaking? "Nice to meet you, Jak. I take it he's a friend of yours?" she gestured to the Ottsel and Jak rewarded her with an innocent, warm smile and a nod.
"The name's Daxter, and don't you forget it!" Daxter huffed, sounding annoyed. "Honestly. It's ridiculous. All the pretty girls ignore me and look at you, Jak, even when I'm fuzzy! Who are you, anyway?" Jak glanced at his friend with a frown.
"Lora," she said, holding out her hand, which Jak shook. "It's nice to meet you too, Daxter."
Far be it from her to decide what an Ottsel could and couldn't do. Experiments with Eco or something might've caused him to act like this.
"Nice to meet ya, Whitey," he grinned "See Jak? Some people do still treat me like an Elf," he said triumphantly, after shaking her hand.
AN ELF?! How the hell had he been an Elf once? Lora stared at him, stunned as she felt the crackling of Dark Eco around his form. He'd been an Elf, and then...Dark Eco had done something to him. But that didn't make sense; how could Dark Eco turn someone into an Ottsel? Unless…unless only one of Daxter's parents was a Channeler…
Jak twitched a little, raising an eyebrow and twirling one finger around before gesturing at the ground, and forming a fist with his left hand before driving it into his right gently, still looking at Daxter.
"Oh, right," Daxter said, "I know. I meant strangers."
That explained why he didn't talk to her. Jak couldn't speak. Given that he hadn't made a single noise that meant the Ottsel on his shoulder was his interpreter. Daxter had probably been doing that for him for a long time, if they were as close as they seemed to be. Body language wasn't hard to read, but there were subtle signals he probably used that Daxter had known for a long time. The gestures didn't make sense to her, aside from the swirly finger that was the universal symbol for crazy.
"Still treat you like an Elf?" Lora echoed, wanting a confirmation of what she could see.
"Yeah," Daxter said, smiling "See, I actually used to be an Elf, but we got into this mess on Misty Island down near Sandover, and I got thrown into a pool of Dark Eco. I lived, didn't get fried or anything," he spread his arms "But I'm now two feet tall, and covered in fuzz! We are on a quest to get North, to visit Gol Acheron, the Dark Eco Sage. He can change me back."
It sounded unbelievable, so unbelievable that she had no choice but to believe them. Why would Daxter lie about something like this? Jak didn't seem to be an accomplished liar, either; his face was open, and when she met his eyes again he gave her a sheepish smile and nodded.
"Well, much as I'd like to help, we have a problem," she said, jumping up onto the ledge near the Zoomer. Jak quickly followed her, "The Blue Sage is missing."
"Missing?" Daxter asked, and Jak's eyebrows went up, an expression of shock covering his face. "Why? How?"
"Yes, missing," said Lora, biting her tongue before she said too much. "I don't know why, or how, just-follow me, okay?" she didn't bother waiting for an answer, pushing on ahead.
She could tell they wouldn't believe her until they could see her dad's lab for themselves, and it wasn't like she wanted to explain here where all Lurkers could hear. On the off chance they actually tried to get to the village, she needed to be closer to her dad's lab.
"Hey, wait!" shouted Daxter, as Jak caught up to her "How do you know he's missing? And why would that be a problem?" Jak looked at her directly as they ran, his expression one that clearly said 'talk,' and Lora gestured ahead of them.
"He disappeared about a month back," Lora explained, as they came to a beach and a few rock formations, the tops of which were covered in grass.
The stone bridges between them had been broken when the first attack came, causing an earthquake that literally shook them to pieces and left behind this jumping zone, which dissuaded most people, even kids, from playing around here. Most people didn't try to leave the village this way anyway, because it was cut off by Fire Canyon, but some adventurous Elves had, in the past, run a trade route through here that led through Fire Canyon between Rock Village and Sandover.
"Come on, you need to see his lab to understand what I mean," she called over her shoulder, jumping from grass-covered platform to platform easily.
It didn't do much for someone trained by the Hero personally, though someone else might have had difficulty. Lora was impressed that Jak was able to keep up so easily, though; most people had to roll before jumping or use a rope of some kind to get across. Once they got to the top, she crossed the bridge leading to her dad's lab and their house. The minute they walked in, Lora stepped back and to the side, letting Jak and Daxter take in the destruction themselves.
"Holy son of a yakkow!" cried Daxter "What the heck happened here?!"
The lab was in a much better condition than it had been when her dad first disappeared, since Lora had cleaned it up some, but Blue Eco still sparked out of one of his machines, in a steady drip-drip-drip to the floor. It wasn't powerful enough for her to Channel into anything useful, or to cause a fire or short out the machine, but it did make it a little harder for her to clean things up. She'd managed to reroute or cut off the flows of Blue Eco to the broken pieces her dad had put together, keeping the batteries he charged every storm from running themselves dry, but not all of them. That particular one just dripped a little bit of Eco, which was much less dangerous than, say, exploding. The lab's equipment also wasn't smoking anymore, after the tinkering she'd done. A line of machines, controlling the rest of the Blue Eco-powered equipment in the lab, was against the far wall, with a three-foot-long, half-inch thick piece of Precursor metal with rough edges embedded inside it. The same machine was the one that was dripping Eco out of one of the holes.
Smaller pieces of Precursor metal were stuck in the walls and in fissures in the ceiling and floor, except where the high ceiling was missing. Each of the pieces was thick, and half-embedded to the point that Lora wasn't sure she could get them out, even with Red Eco, without a lot of tinkering to even make a machine to get her up there. Her dad's notebook was bound and sitting on a table, as his desk had been blown apart into something vaguely resembling tiny woodchips and splinters in the fight. The windows had been sort of fixed since then, as did the door mechanism, but the window to their left still had a piece of the Warp Gate's power channel stuck inside it, shearing right through the glass and sticking out for about half a foot on either side, shaped like some kind of strange trapezoid.
All in all, the lab still looked wrecked, though that was only after she had fixed everything she could. If she hadn't, the building would probably have blown apart because of the built-up Blue Eco inside of it.
"I don't know," Lora replied, wincing as her voice cracked. "I came home one day and found the door jammed shut, with the windows blown out. I-"
"Wait, wait, wait, What?!" yelped Daxter, stopping her in her tracks. "Home?! You live with the Blue Sage? Just who the heck are you, anyway?" Jak just stared at her, raising an eyebrow with an expression of incredulity on his face.
Right, she'd completely forgotten about that. Everyone in the village knew who she was, but Jak wasn't from the village, and neither was Daxter, so they didn't know. Lora felt her cheeks warm as she realized how much she'd missed explaining, just because she was focused on the problem.
"Probably should've led with that," she said, smiling sheepishly "Sorry. Yeah, I do. He's my dad. I'm Lora, the daughter of the Blue Sage."
Daxter gaped "Your dad? Great. Another annoying old Sage with a kid." Jak gave Daxter a light swat "Ow! Jak!" Jak frowned at Daxter in a way that said 'quit it,' pretty clearly, and Lora would've snickered if she wasn't offended.
Her dad was in no way an annoying old Sage!
"You know, I'm going to pretend you didn't just insult my dad, and help you out anyway," said Lora calmly. Jak gave her an apologetic smile, and she continued "It took me a few hours to get the Eco mechanism for the door working again, and when I got in I found Dad's notes strewn everywhere, and the lab almost completely destroyed. Including the Warp Gate."
"That's not possible!" protested Daxter, and Jak stared at her, visibly shocked. "No one has the power to destroy a Warp Gate-besides, it's still working, isn't it?" He gestured at the powered-down Warp Gate, which seemed intact.
Lora shook her head "No, it's not. Dad tore the power tubes right out of the ground," she gestured at the fissures in the floor, half-filled with sharp Precursor metal. "I still don't know how he did it, but he managed to tear them apart completely. I can't turn it on at all, now. He used to just keep it deactivated, something about this crazy nutjob who owned one of the portals and might try something…" she shrugged "But he never said the guy's name."
Jak and Daxter were now staring, open-mouthed at the fissures in the floor. They looked utterly shocked at what'd happened here, and she didn't blame them. At first, she'd been shocked too-unable to believe that her dad might have managed to literally tear the tubes apart. Lora had a theory about how he did it. Somehow, overloading the pipes with Blue Eco during his fight her dad had managed to force the pieces to vibrate themselves apart, pushing Eco through the tiny cracks that created in most Precursor metal. Not even the Red Sage could've made them fly around the lab like that-but her dad could, and had, all with Blue Eco.
Jak knelt down next to one of the pieces, a large shred that had once been a part of the floor but was now sticking out at an odd angle with a sharp, triangular edge. He reached out to trace the ragged edge of the metal with a fingertip, but hissed sharply and drew back. Lora started, surprised to hear him making a sound-she'd thought he couldn't make any sounds at all. Maybe he just couldn't speak, like forming words wasn't natural for him, but he could still make sounds?
But then that begged the question, why hadn't he been taught to speak by his parents? Did he have parents? Why was he so closely connected to the Green Sage?
"Jak, pull out your communicator again; we've got to talk to old Green," said Daxter, as Jak tried and failed to move one of the smaller Precursor metal pieces, hissing again as he cut his hand on it for a second time. "Jak! Look-do you have Green Eco somewhere around here?" Daxter asked, turning to Lora.
Lora pulled out a small vial of it she kept on her at all times, "Jak, come over here please," she requested. Jak gave the Precursor metal a troubled glance, and walked over to her. "I can't move it either, not without using Red Eco. It's too heavy for just one person, but you're right; we need to get these pieces out of the floor, or we can't fix the Warp Gate."
Jak accepted the tiny cluster of Green Eco with a nod, letting it soak in through his skin. The cuts healed over almost immediately, and shortly afterward she re-corked the lid on the vial, putting it back into her shirt. Jak pulled out the folded communicator, and reactivated it with the touch of a button. The glow of Green Eco flared a little brighter around him, while Blue and Red faded just a little bit as she watched. Then he pulled out the communicator and turned it back on, letting it hover around them.
"Jak, Daxter, is that you? Has something gone wrong on your end?" Lora didn't recognize the aged voice coming through the communicator/
It wasn't the girl's voice that had come out of the communicator earlier, and it wasn't anyone else's she knew, either. That meant it was probably the Green Sage.
Daxter spoke up "Uh, yeah, something has gone wrong here, but we made a new friend, so maybe she can help us fix it."
"A new friend?" the Green Sage asked, wary "Who? Is he there right now?" Jak frowned at the communicator, but said nothing. "What happened?"
"I'm actually a girl," said Lora, and she heard him pause, probably embarrassed. "I'm Lora, the Blue Sage's daughter."
"I never knew Janos had a daughter," mused the Green Sage, "What happened over there?"
"My dad's gone missing with all his Power Cells," said Lora, "He was kidnapped; and judging from the state of the lab he put up a really big fight. I don't know how he did it, but he wrecked the power tubes to the Warp Gate somehow," she had the feeling she knew how he did it, but didn't say. "He blasted them apart, probably threw them at whoever or whatever kidnapped him. I've gotten some of them out, but there are still fragments of Precursor metal in the walls, ceiling, and floor."
The only answer she got was an impressed whistle, followed by the Green Sage speaking; "I had thought it was impossible to overload Precursor Metal with Eco, but if anyone could figure out how to do it, it would be him. How long ago was it that he went missing?"
"It's been about a month," said Lora quietly, swallowing hard as she tried to push the thoughts out of her head. "I don't-I don't know what happened, just that the only way out of here is locked and I've been trying to get word to you for weeks. Without Power Cells I couldn't make it through Fire Canyon."
"Why?" asked the Green Sage.
Lora cleared her throat "Because whoever got to my Dad probably came through the Warp Gate. The door was jammed shut and no Channeler lives in this village who also has enough strength and experience to overpower him. He kept his Warp Gate deactivated because of some guy he really didn't like, who also had a Warp Gate."
The Green Sage chuckled "Janos and Blanc never got along. The Yellow Sage has a Warp Gate as well, and he is possibly the most insulting old man you will ever meet. I don't think he gets along withanyone."
Lora shook her head "No, that's not who he was talking about. Dad complained about the Yellow Sage sometimes, but he never lied or said anything really negative about him. The last time I asked him about it, he mentioned something about a false Sage trying to take the position of a real one. Apparently a good friend of his made him promise to keep the Gate deactivated unless he absolutely had to activate it for something. He seemed really angry with the 'false Sage,' whoever that is."
There was a pause, and she glanced at Jak, who was looking at her with a curious, bird-like expression on his face, almost like he wanted to know what to make of her. He looked kinda cute like that, honestly. Daxter just looked confused.
"Well then, I will keep an eye on my Warp Gate, but we need to be able to get to Rock Village to study the Blue Sage's notes and use the Transporter pads there. While the Warp Gates might be unsafe, I'm sure Rock Village could use the help."
As much as she hated to admit it, they could.
"Do you know any place with Precursor metal that you can use to fix this?"The Green Sage asked her.
Lora cleared her throat "I need someone who can Channel Red Eco while I'm Channeling Blue, to be able to lift these pieces out of the floor and ceiling. I have some Red Eco crystals on me, but most of the pieces I haven't managed to move are at weird angles, or are unsafe to move because of how sharp they are. It's safer to try and shift them with Red and Blue Eco working together instead of just one, or else I'd have torn my hands to shreds trying to move them. Or, if possible, I need someone who can Link with me while we both Channel to move these things safely, because I can't Channel that much Eco while staying in control of it."
She was still surprised that her dad had had that Eco capacity.
Even Channelers could die of Eco poisoning; it just took them one hell of a lot longer than normal Elves, since their tolerance for Eco was much, much higher. Sages could as well, it was just even harder for them. The fact that her dad had such a high Eco capacity as to tear apart Precursor metal and then use the torn pieces of metal as thrown weapons was amazing.
"Right. Jak is a Channeler, so he should be able to help you," said the Green Sage. "Jak, help her repair the Warp Gate-it's the only way we can get to the Rock Village to help you! Lora, I will shut down the Warp Gate until you three call again, with the Blue Sage's Warp Gate fixed. I'm afraid I can't send you any Red Eco, though."
Lora frowned "The real problem will be finding the materials to repair the channels. My dad messed them up so badly I'm not sure we have enough to repair them, even with the place I'm thinking of. I could try fusing them together with Blue Eco, but it's going to take me at least a week to fix it all. Do you have any Power Cells?"
"Jak has at least twenty-five, but they're in the Zoomer right now," said the girl's voice from before. "I'm Keira. The Green Sage, Samos, is my dad. Nice to, er, meet you, Lora."
"Nice to meet you too, Keira," said Lora, trying not to start bouncing her foot up and down. She hated 'meeting' someone over communicator-it gave her no sense of what he or she was like or what the other Elf could do. "I'm good with machines; I should be able to get them out without damaging it."
They had Power Cells. Enough to fuel her Dad's machine if they found a few more! Enough to get that Lurker away from the mountain pass and free the village!
She knew the villagers that had left for the Swamp settlement had scattered the Power Cells they still had in the Swamp, but the ones that stayed still had Power Cells. They were the people who didn't blame her dad for disappearing-even if one of them was a guy who lived in a barrel, since losing his pants to a bet with Aconite, and one was the guy who'd trained her. The Hero wouldn't give her the Power Cells if he thought she was going to do something dangerous, but they were desperate, and she was sure her dad would forgive him for it.
"Then I'll leave you to it! Can you use the transport pad if you fix one of your Dad's machines?" Keira asked with an almost-audible grin. "If so, you can work on the Zoomer there!"
"I should be able to fix up Dad's transport machine," said Lora, glancing at the rerouted Eco pipes leading into the control panel on the far side of the lab. "But that means a lot more work here, and I'm not sure I can. I'll do my best, but our priority is fixing the Warp Gate."
"As it should be. We'll check back in tonight," said Samos, "To check on your progress."
Then the communicator folded back up as it slid into Jak's pocket, leaving the three of them standing in a messy lab.
Daxter was the first to speak "You seriously think you can fix that?" he gestured at the Warp Gate, and Lora looked at the destruction again. "The tubing's been blown to smithereens! Besides, we need some grub before we try anything. Last time we ate was this morning!"
She didn't think she could fix it. Lora doubted she would ever really understand how to jury-rig a portal like the Precursors had done so easily with the Warp Gates, but she had to try. For some reason, she knew she had more of a chance than anyone else would at fixing this, but she didn't know why.
And like her Dad said, the only way to really fail at something was to never try it in the first place.
"I've been studying this thing for a month, to try and find a way for the villagers to get out of our village safely," said Lora, taking a deep breath. "I've got to try. But first, we need to get the Zoomer back here, which means fixing the transport machine. Daxter, I'm going to need you to help me reach some of the smaller spaces, to look at where the Eco flow-channels were broken. Jak, do you have any Eco crystals on you?"
Jak nodded, turning his head so he was looking through his pockets and not at her. He pulled out a total of five Eco crystals; three were Red, one was Blue, and one was Green. It was enough to pull the Precursor metal out of the transport machine, or at least she hoped it was.
Lora grinned "All right! We can get started after we get some food. Don't worry; I've been working on a way to get food in the lab without making a mess, but for now we should go upstairs."
She pressed in the slightly-glowing section of the wall next to her, and a moving platform with the Blue Eco symbol came down to meet them. She jumped on, and after a moment of staring at her (or the platform, she wasn't sure which), so did Jak.
They had to stand within two feet of each other, or else one of them risked falling, and while Lora could survive a fall that far without hurting herself, with her training, she wasn't sure Jak and Daxter could. Jak was very, very close to her though, and now that they were close it was almost impossible for her not to look at him. It was that or look down and potentially unbalance the platform.
And he was kinda cute, she realized as she got a much closer look at him. Adorably so but in that way that said he would probably be even cuter as an adult. His face was boyish, lacking the edge most people had that said he'd seen a lot of the world, but his eyes were strangely intense. Standing so near him, she could also smell him; he smelled of pine, the ocean, and something else she couldn't quite place, but it was…strangely warm and reminded her of home and safety.
Lora took a deep breath of that, and her cheeks warmed a little as she realized he was standing within a foot of her, not within two feet. She jumped off the platform to the ledge as soon as it came into sight, and Jak joined her, looking around the upper levels of the Blue Sage's house.
The upper levels of the house were divided into two bedrooms, a shared bathroom with a full bathtub that was rarely used (in favor of swimming, the rain, and Eco, all of which cleaned you up just as well as a regular bath), a kitchen, and a sort-of living area with several different contraptions in it, including a few comfortable chairs and a small table, all designed with varying shades of blue and a little red and green to accent it. There were also a few cushions, since Lora and Janos liked sitting on cushions while tinkering with something small that could be taken out of the lab safely.
"Wash your hands," Lora directed them to the sink, and Daxter gave her a disbelieving look. She raised an eyebrow "I'm serious. I have no idea what you've been touching and you don't want to eat crystallized lava or Fire Canyon ash, do you?" she asked.
"Heck no!" yelped Daxter, racing for the tap and turning on the water.
To her surprise, he made it there only half a second before Jak did. Lora hid a smile as she got to work, turning on the stovetop's power with a spark of Blue Eco to set it afire. It didn't take long for her to bring the stew she'd made earlier to a boil, as Jak and Daxter finished washing their hands and joined her. Lora pulled down a few large bowls, and a few cups as well, filling each with clean, fresh water. She handed the smallest cup to Daxter, and one to Jak.
"The food's hot," she warned, putting a rubber-handled ladle into the stew.
"Mm-mm!" Daxter said with a grin "This smells good!" Lora flushed a little at the compliment and ladled up three steaming bowls, gesturing for the boys to join her at the small table in their living area.
Daxter, predictably, was the first to taste it "Whoa!" yelped the Ottsel, staring at the food; Jak tensed, and Lora did too, looking around for the Lurker that was inevitably behind her. But there wasn't one. "This is really good. Jak, you gotta try this stuff! It's awesome!"
Lora just stared at her stew, trying not to feel embarrassed. Her cooking couldn't possibly be that good, could it? Her dad had always loved it but that was because he was her dad. He had to compliment it; besides, he couldn't cook to save his life. Literally. He'd probably killed his own taste buds while being forced to eat his own cooking for all those years before he'd met her mother, whoever-whoever that had been.
The last time Lora tried to teach Janos to cook, it had ended with him nearly burning their house down around their ears. She still wasn't sure how he managed to set fire to water, but he managed it. After that they'd agreed she would cook and he would do the dishes every night, since she wasn't nearly as likely to set everything on fire.
Jak took one bite of the stew, and his eyes went wide, chewing and swallowing. The last thing she expected was a quiet, happy noise to escape his lips and he gave her a grin and a thumbs-up, and Lora turned her attention to her food. The three of them all but devoured the stew in silence; Jak got up and returned to the table twice, clearly starving, and Lora couldn't blame him. She did the same thing, given how much Eco she had Channeled today to move even one of the pieces out of the floor. They'd need the energy.
It was only after they'd finished eating that Daxter piped up again "Why is your hair white? I mean, you're not really old, are you?"
Lora glanced at Jak, who rolled his eyes, glancing at Daxter in annoyance "No, I'm seventeen," she replied. "My dad's hair's been white since he was a kid. It's natural."
Daxter snorted "Right. Just like Old Green always had white hair." Lora frowned; why was he disrespecting the Green Sage, anyway? Did he just disrespect everyone? "So, what's it like here? Please tell me it's not as boring as Sandover. It was so boring there. Only thing that made it tolerable was my boy Jak, here!"
Lora glanced back at Jak, who lifted a shoulder and shrugged, looking sheepish, and then he nodded. So until recently they probably hadn't had much to do. Sounded a lot like her, really. Up until a few months ago she hadn't had much to do that wasn't pulling Aconite out of trouble or getting them both into it.
Lora cleared her throat "Well, my dad's a scientist, not just a Sage, and he's been running experiments with Blue Eco since I was a kid. The most exciting thing around here was working in his garage, which we can't access right now. I grew up running around his lab, always underfoot-he said I nearly gave him a heart attack when I grabbed one of the Blue Eco Crystals for the first time," she offered, smiling.
"Really? How old were ya when you started Channeling?" asked Daxter.
Lora shrugged "I'm not sure. Dad isn't either. Pretty sure I was Channeling Green Eco as a baby, and Blue Eco too. I know I did Blue Eco. I reactivated one of Dad's old experiments and rebuilt it from the ground up as a kid, and let it loose on Dad's workshop when he wasn't paying attention. Boy was he mad when he found out that it was a rebuilt Eco cannon," she snickered at the memory. "He was so worried I'd managed to shoot myself with it that he didn't look at what it was doing until it'd wrecked half the lab. I was grounded for three weeks for sneaking into his lab without permission."
Daxter grinned, elbowing Jak in the side "Sounds like my buddy Jak here! We used to mess around in Keira's garage before she got really mad at us, and booted us outta there."
Jak frowned at Daxter, one eyebrow twitching, and poked his head, before twirling his fingers around in a gesture Lora didn't understand. It was almost like a figure eight only it had three circles, not two.
"Fine, fine, okay, it was mostly me because I just about broke Keira's Zoomer, but still," grumbled Daxter. "She made Jak fix the Zoomer after I broke it. Something about never trusting me with electronics again."
Lora snorted "So he's bad with them, I take it?" she directed at Jak, who seemed surprised at the direct question.
He nodded, miming an explosion after pointing at Daxter.
Daxter scowled "I'm not that bad! Sheesh, managing to blow up two Zoomers in a row wasn't my fault, and you know it. A Lurker messed with the second one, and you know why I had the problem with the first one."
Jak just made this sort of noiseless chuckle, shaking his head at Daxter, and Lora grinned.
"I crashed my Zoomer five times before I figured out how to take turns without sailing wider than I meant to," Lora said with a grin. "Dad couldn't keep me off them if he tried. I love flying and I love flying fast. After the third time I crashed it, while Channeling Blue Eco to give it a speed boost, he made me promise to keep some Green Eco Crystals on hand in case it happened again."
And it had. Several times. Mostly because she was trying out the challenges in the Precursor Basin, and was also trying to do flips and other acrobatic moves on the Zoomer, but it was a little ridiculous, really. Her dad had finally sat her down for an explanation, and then given her over to the Hero to give her lessons in gymnastics and martial arts when he caught her trying to vault off of her Zoomer.
Jak made a noise that sounded like a chuckle, visibly startling Daxter, the sound echoing through the hut. Lora froze, because she'd thought Jak couldn't talk or chuckle, obviously he could make some sounds. Now Jak's shoulders were shaking, and he was grinning as he chuckled, really chuckled instead of noiselessly, and Lora felt herself grinning. It was a nice sound, if a little hoarse, like he didn't do it often.
"Whoa," said Daxter, as Jak's chuckling died down. "I don't think he's ever chuckled before. You know, Whitey, I'm really starting to like you. This might be the start of a great friendship."
"It's Lora," said Lora, getting up to clear away their dishes to the sink, "Not Whitey." To herself, she added; I hope so.
Jak and Daxter were pulling on their gloves when she turned around. It was time to get to work.
She'd managed to get Jak to laugh, and hopefully, she'd made two new friends tonight. Today she'd met two people who did more for her than anyone but Aconite ever had, and maybe, just maybe they'd want to stay friends after this, too. Daxter certainly seemed interested.
Both of them took a running leap for the platform, and as they landed Jak stumbled, running into her. Lora planted her feet hard and grabbed both of his hands to keep him from staggering back, turning to give him an apologetic smile. Jak flashed one in return, and her heart leapt. Then Daxter scampered back up onto his shoulder to scold both of them. Yep, she had two new friends. Today was turning out much better than she'd thought it would be.
Just so you know, Lora's never had a crush before or felt that way for anyone. I figure she has to be hit over the head with it. Lots of people are oblivious to crushes and Lora's got no experience with one so she's doubly so.
Ages and lifespan for reference:
Lora: 17 years old (she's half a year older than Jak)
Jak: 16 years old
Daxter: 16 years old (2 months younger than Jak, 1 month older than Keira)
Keira: 16 years old (3 months younger than Jak, 1 month younger than Daxter)
Samos: Unsure, but we know he made the transformation to Sage early if he had green hair beforehand (if that thing you see in Jak 2 (Renegade) is his hair).
Sages' Ages: This story assumes all Sages live a very long time due to their advanced exposure to Eco. However, certain things (say, coming back to life with Green Eco or something like it after nearly/actually dying, or transforming into a Sage late in life) will definitely shorten your natural lifespan.
In the Precursor Legacy era, Elves' natural lifespan is ~200, give or take a few years, and they come of age at 17. Jak's a little young but Samos doesn't know that, because for the purposes of this story he isn't sure when Jak's birthday is. (Jak's adopted, he looks 17 so he is in Samos' mind).
Elves' lifespans in the Jak II-III storyline (and I suppose Jak X) era are about 150 years, if they're lucky. A lot of them die early because of Metal-Heads, too.