Disclaimer: See previous chapters

/Jak 'talking'/

Chapter the Fourth: The Training

When we reached the dock back in Sandover, the sun was beginning it's daily journey. Charlie was greeted by the sight of the crew, one member short.

"Where's Daxter?" he asked us. The response was me lifting up a small squiril like creature by the tail. He was 'asleep.' "What happened to him?" Charlie asked suddenly very worried.

"We didn't find Rose or Daniel, but we did stumble across a very strange gathering. A Lurker attacked us, Jak got rid of it, but Daxter fell into a pool of Dark Eco. This was the result."

"Why isn't he awake?"

I shifted my eyes trying to think of an excuse. The truth of the matter was that I had to knock him out so he would stop screaming. But...

"He was unconcious too."

Jak rolled his eyes. Charlie was clearly baffled by the situation. He stood there for a moment, in thought. "Bring him inside, and we'll try to think of a way to solve the problem."

I lay Daxter on one of the cots inside the fisherman's hut, now several times larger than his now tiny body. Jak was silently reprimanding me for knocking him out and I just grinned and laughed nervously. A few minutes later Daxter awoke after mumbling something about yakkows and living peanuts.

"Hey guys, I just had the weirdest dream..." He jumped off of the cot and found that everything was decidedly larger than him. He opened his mouth to scream again, but seeing me raise a fist made him clam up. "Why did this happen to me..."

"Well, the effects Dark Eco can have on a person are more or less random I think." I offered, "You got off lucky compared to what might have happened."

"But I'm still unlucky enough to wind up like this! We gotta do something!"

I sighed and turned to Jak. He was looking very sad, he must have thought it was his fault.

"Don't beat yourself up about it Jak." I said. "If anyone's at fault its that Lurker, and he's long gone. You were just trying to defend us." Jak looked up and smile weakly. He went over to the window, where Samos' hut was visible and pointed to it. He gulped. Translation: We're going to need Samos to help us with Dax. I just hope we live long enough to ask.

I whimpered. Daxter started biting his nails err...claws.

"Well, have fun with that." Charlie said laying on the now empty cot. "I gotta get some sleep."

"HEY! Why aren't you coming?!" Daxter demanded.

"Well, I didn't actually go to the island, so I did nothing wrong."

"But you gave us the means to get there! You're an accomplice!" I pointed out. Me and Daxter were about to beat him senseless when Jak grabbed us both and proceeded to drag us away. Halfway across the first bridge, we gave up trying to get out of Jak's strong grip and walked of our own free will. Once we were at the entrance Daxter took the first step inside. A floorboard creaked. I gotta say for an old man, he has very good reflexes.

"WHAT in green tarnation do you three want?!"

Daxter began babbling incoherantly. "W-we was, th-th-they was, I-I-I was..."

"Don't tell me, instead of heeding my wisdom." Samos puffed out his chest with pride, "You three went mucking around the only place I told you not to go, Misty Island."

I nodded sheepishly. Daxter started again but was cut off once more.

"And Daxter, you finally took a much needed bath, but in a tub filled with Dark Eco."

Daxter finally had the guts to talk and keep going until he was done. "LOOK old man, are you gonna KEEP YAPPIN' or are ya gonna help me outta this MESS!?"

Samos leaned over him menacingly. "I'm gonna keep yappin, because in my professional opinion, the change is an improvement." Daxter huffed and Jak and I tried to bottle our laughter. "And besides, I couldn't help you if I wanted to."

"WHAAAAAT?!?!" Me and Daxter shouted at once. Jak just looked incredibly surprised.

"There's only one person who has studied Dark Eco long enough to have a chance at returning you to your previous form. Gol Akeron, the sage. But he lives far, far to the North of here. I'd teleport you there, but I can't do that either. None of the other sages have seen fit to turn their teleporter gates on for a long time." He paused, giving us time to digest the info. "The only other way is by foot through Fire Canyon. But the ground there is hot enough to melt Precursor metal, you can't just walk through it."

"But you could fly over it, if you had a Zoomer with a heat shield." Keira apparently had been listening and chose now to appear. "I just happen to be working on such a thing right now, but I'll need at least twenty Power Cells to power the shield. Right daddy?"

Keira had been working on something for a few days, but she didn't really give details. Maybe because I never asked...when people are working on things, I don't like interrupting them. Samos pondered this for a moment.

"Yes, that might work, but where are two and a half," he whacked Daxter with his staff as he said this, "kids going to get that many Cells?"

Keira's response was pretty quick. "Most of the villagers have a few stashed somewhere, and there are probably many more out in the wilds just waiting for some brave adventurers to find."

Jak grinned sheepishly and scratched the back of his neck. Daxter struck a pose and I just shook my head.

"We have a 'brave adventurer' at least." Daxter said proudly. I made a mental note to...instruct him, about how me and Jak would be doing most of the work.

"Adventurers?!" Samos exclaimed, "You three couldn't find your way out of the village without training. Before you do anything, you should go through the gate and practice on Geyser Rock."

Daxter chose now to make a smart remark. "We won't find anymore of that eco stuff will we? Cuz I'd hate to fall in again and turn into you!"

Samos was officially not happy. "GET IN THERE! Before I turn you all into ferns!"

We exchanged glances before jumping into the gate. Jak went first, then me, and Daxter went last.

Being teleported is a rather odd sensation, you can feel yourself being pulled apart into extremely tiny pieces, but it doesn't hurt at all. It just feels strange, like your body is made of modeling clay. Being reassembled at the other end is pretty much the same, I can understand why Samos doesn't like it. If the slightest thing goes wrong you really might lose something.

Once we materialized on the other side, I checked myself to make sure nothing was missing. While doing so, my hand made contact with a small device I didn't recall being attatched to my waste. The tiny device came to life when I touched it, detatching itself from me and hovering in front of us. Samos' voice came through the speaker and I finally realized it was a communicator.

"I've heard that there are at least four Power Cells in this area. I want you to find them all, and smash all the dummies I've put in place. Do not hesitate to destroy them, real enemies won't wait for you to attack." With that, the communicator went back to it's original place on my waist and said nothing else.

"That doesn't sound so hard." Daxter piped up. "Just as long as there's nothing that will actually attack us."

/With your new size, it would be kind of bothersome to walk all the time./ Jak pointed out.

"You're right," Dax agreed, "therefore..." he clambered up my body, I panicked at first, thinking he was trying to get some cheap thrills. Daxter perched upon my shoulder. "I believe a ride is the least you could give me." He moved his nonexistant eyebrows up and down, hinting something. I furrowed mine, he WAS getting cheap thrills, and dragged him off of my shoulder.

"Not my problem buddy, carrying you would slow me down." I then placed him none too gently on Jak's shoulder and started walking. Jak shrugged and followed, Daxter remaining on his shoulder. The first Cell was easy enough, Jak and I split up to take out the dummies around it, while Daxter grabbed the Cell and shoved it in Jak's pack.

(Yay, that rhymes!)

The dummies had pink targets painted on their fronts, a bit corny but I was glad I could hit something. They broke pretty easily too, or maybe I just didn't know my own strength. I'm a green belt in tai kwon do, but I haven't had much practice in control. One of the dummies burst when I kicked it, sending dust into my eyes. It took me a moment to clear them, and when I did, I saw a small red box in front of me. Looking around I saw several more.

I had broken wooden boxes approximatly the same size with one kick, but doing that to this one just hurt my foot. For a moment I regretted not wearing anything on my feet. Jak was examining another one, and his face lit up as he got an idea. He jumped into the air, and dove the heels of his hands into the top, splitting it into several pieces. He sprung back onto his feet from the rather awkward position as Daxter hung on for life, yelling to warn him next time he did that. I just stared no way could I do that.

A smaller metallic device sat on the ground where the box had been before. It took off of the ground and zoomed away to who knows where. We looked at each other for a moment before the communicator came alive again. This time Keira was speaking.

"Hey, you found one of my Scout Flies, the Lurkers must have captured them so they wouldn't get any Power Cells."

"Your dohickies are pretty weird looking Keira." I replied.

"As long as it does what it needs to who cares what it looks like."

The communicator fell silent again. I just shrugged. I started remembering some of the finer details of the game, there were supposed to be seven Flies in each area. The other six boxes were pretty easy to find. Jak broke them with the hand dive, and I just smashed them against rocks. The last Fly I freed gave me a Power Cell before flying away. Only two more Cells to go. For several hours, we searched, and soon all the dummies were gone. After they were cleared away, we saw a tiny blue cloud floating on the path. It crackled with energy, and only got louder when I tried to touch it. It felt like something between a liquid and a gas was flowing around my hand. Blue eco. When Jak touched it, his body absorbed the strange substance. Any nearby boxes exploded, and their contents went to him.

"Aw, why can't I channel eco?"

Jak shrugged.

"You just don't have the skill that we do." Dax said making it sound like old news.

Jak flicked the rodent's head. /Shut up, you can't do it either./

His speed had increased dramatically, and I was struggling to keep up. Precursor Orbs that had been buried in the ground for who knows how long, popped out and made their way into the pack. We stopped in front of a big, round door and wondered how to get past it. The remaining blue eco in Jak's system left his body and opened the door in an instant. Behind it was yet another Cell. While climbing up a sheer cliff to get to the last Cell, I scraped my elbow. Once we got to the top, a few tiny balls of green eco were there to greet us. When I tried to touch one, it dissapeared, and healed the scrape. At least this eco did something to me. We grabbed the last Power Cell and went back through the gate.

"Good training kids," said Samos, "But that's nothing compared the challenges lying ahead."

"Ah, it'll be no problem." Daxter bragged from his new perch. "We'd love to stay and chat green, but we're itchin' to get on with out adventures."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"Fine, 'adventure' away then." Samos said with an exaggerating tone. "And while you're out, 'adventuring,' why don't you make yourselves useful? My green eco collectors are clogged up again, they're on the far side of the beach. Now, all of you...GET OUT OF HERE!!!"

We darted out of there faster than a frightened kanga rat.