Welcome to Haven City, hellhole and Cess Pool, where you never lose your will to fight, and all that's wrong is right. It's a veritable cornucopia of death, destruction, war, and conflict. Never in the history of our world has there been a place so ravaged by warfare, with the exception of Spargus, but as I hadn't been there yet at this point, I didn't know that.

I let out a low whistle as I looked around, not noticing the looks I was getting from everyone else. I nodded to myself in satisfaction.

"Man, this place is a dump!" Teko said.

Jak turned to me. "What do you think, Izaya?"

I examined a crashing Zoomer closely. Before I could say anything, he chuckled.

"Seriously? 'Teko hates it... I could live here.'?" He asked.

I turned to him in shock. How the hell does he do that?!

Teko grinned, "Tired of not being able to keep your thoughts to yourself, aren't you, Izaya?" She asked.

I stuck my tongue out at her and summoned a glob of Dark Eco into my hand. She backed off, holding her hands up. I knew it just meant she didn't want Dark Eco thrown into her face, but it was still an invitation to say something. I didn't have anything to say, though, so I just went back to looking around, reabsorbing the Dark Eco.

"So... This is supposed to be your home, Jak? Man, I can smell the waste..." Teko said, waving her hand in front of her nose.

"You get used to it." Daxter said, offhandedly, "And you even have a different form you can revert to. It won't be nearly as strong then, trust me. Ottsel senses are a pretty big stretch from human ones."

Teko made a sound in response before hopping onto her shoulder and plugging her nose. When Daxter gave her a questioning look, she said, "Well, my human form makes me edgy. I can't hear as much then, and I feel naked without fur, so..."

He nodded. "Probably a good thing you can change back and forth, then, isn't it?"

"Yeah, cause there's some stuff that Izaya can't do in human form-like touch Light Eco-that I can, either way. But there's stuff that neither of us could normally do that I can in this form, so... yeah."

Keira was examining my hair. "You should probably braid your hair, Izaya. Around here, you never know what it could get caught on, which is why I keep mine short."

I grunted in response. It was past my knees, so she had a point. But for the moment I just gathered it all up and tied it in a bun with a black ribbon that usually resided around my wrist.

"She said she'll do it later." Teko provided.

Keira nodded in understanding at me. Jak took the lead and we began walking through the slums toward the better parts of town. I took up the rear to talk to Teko.

"You don't have to translate for me, buddy. I can talk, after all." My voice was already starting to get raspy.

"Yeah, but, me and Jak sorta made a pact to make sure the others get surprised when you finally speak up. So could you play along and let me translate for a while?" She asked, grinning.

"Surprise everyone else with my ability to talk? Hm... Sounds good to me. Translate away."

Now that I knew why they weren't letting me get in a word, I was much more content to sit back and let them do the talking for me. After all, I'm a prankster by nature, and this was the perfect prank. Especially if I waited a few months, or until after I'd gone into stasis, to say anything to them. I grinned to myself, and Teko grinned back.

"Prankster by nature, right?" She asked. "I thought you'd like the idea, but I didn't get time to explain earlier."

I nodded. This was going to be fun, when we finally reaped what we'd sewn. I couldn't imagine Ashelin and Torn looking anything but stern, so shock was going to be funny as hell.

We finally made our way into a place called 'The Naughty Ottsel', which I had no doubt Daxter owned. And he did, and made sure Teko and I knew that, boasting about it loudly until I slapped him.

"She said, 'Shut the hell up, furball.'." Teko said, leaning against the counter in human form.

Daxter glared at me but got up without a word. This was fun. Jak, technically, couldn't do anything to me, since he'd been getting annoyed too.

Torn and Ahselin just looked amused.

"I like you. Straightforward and not aftraid to fight. You'd make a great soldier." Ashelin said.

"Or a great Wastelander." Jak offered, "Less rules when you're a Wastelander, and a lot more fun."

"And...there he goes. Mr. Tall, Dark, and Gruesome over there likes to blow things up. I do too, but he has so much more fun with it." Daxter said, shaking his head.

Jak was telling me about a gun mod that shot off electricity and hit any enemies that were close together. Within seconds I was completely absorbed in the conversation. Hey, what can I say, I like guns. And I like to blow stuff up. Can you really blame me? Didn't think so.

We got into a one-sided conversation about guns that lasted a few minutes. The door opened in the middle, which is why we stopped. When the person who opened it walked in, I knew I was going to like living in Haven.

A large dark-skinned man stood in the doorway, grinning. "Howdy, Chilli Peppers!" He said.

"Sig!" Daxter yelled, perking up.

Sig? Is that that guy's name? Or a nickname? Or a greeting here in Haven when a friend walks in? Ow... My head hurts...

Jak grinned, "Long time no see, big guy."

"I agree. Who're the new ladies?" He asked.

"I'm Teko, and this is Izaya. She can't talk." Teko said.

I rolled my eyes and elbowed her in the gut.

"Okay, she can, technically, but it takes a lot of effort that she prefers to use to kill stuff. Like Metal Heads." She amended.

I nodded.

"Oh, so we've got another Demolition Duo on our hands?"

I grinned and patted my old gun lightly. Teko just hopped back onto my shoulder, changing form on the fly.

"You two are the spitting images of Jak and Daxter. Soon you won't be so happy about being here." He said.

"Are you kiddin'? I don't wanna be here anyway." Teko said, "But Izaya enjoys destruction, and death, and killing anything that gets in her way, including other people sometimes."

"Then she'll fit right in." Another voice said.

Behind the man, a monk with facepaint appeared.

"Seem? What brings you to Haven?" Jak asked.

"I was told by our Makers that a new Dark One was to arrive today. It seems they were correct." Seem walked toward me and examined me closely, "As much Dark Eco as you have should have killed you. But you are the one foretold of. I can feel it."

I shared a look with Teko, raising my eyebrow. She shook her head.

"To have so much Dark Eco within your body without it affecting you at all is quite a feat. Only the one the Makers told of could ever hope to accomplish it without being transformed or killed in the process." Seem elaborated.

I nodded slowly, still not exactly understanding. And I wasn't sure I wanted to.

"If Jak would consent to it, I would like to bring you and your friend into Spargus to explain to you your destinies."

I felt only slight panic at the idea, and looked to Jak, raising my eyebrow again. I was kind of wondering why he would have to consent to it and not me, but it was likely because he was probably supposed to be keeping an eye on me while I was on my survival run.

"Not right at the moment, Seem. She's... on the survival run. When she's been returned, we'll bring the one who's meant to be here to you." Jak said.

Seem nodded. "Ah, then she is still visiting." Seem bowed to me. "I look forward to teaching you what you need to know."

"And she looks forward to learning it." Teko said, seeming shocked at what I was thinking.

"So we've got a Demolition Duo with one of them being an Ottsel version of Pecker. Sweet." The man said. "Anyway, I'm Sig. You seemed kinda confused when Dax greeted me."

I nodded, the answer to my previous questions told to me.

"She literally just said, 'Oh...'." Teko laughed, drawing out the word.

I swatted her but smiled anyway. I couldn't blame her for knowing my basic thoughts and repeating them when they were funny. Sig watched us in amusement.

"Well, how would you two like to join Jak in being Wastelanders? I know this is just the first visit, but you should be trained in the rules before you actually get here, just so you'll know.

Teko looked at me. I nodded. "Sounds good to us!" She exclaimed for me.


A/N: Second Chapter! Enjoy! :D