Alright, I like to listen to music. In fact, I get kinda depressed without my mp3 player, I listen to it near constantly. So, while I was outside listening to said device, I became DETERMINED to finish this up! So, with that in mind, I waited about 30 minutes before kicking my little sister off and opening up microsoft word... And I decided to put all of the events in the metal head nest into one jumbo chapter! Rift gate and everything (holy cow, I saved my draft and came out with almost 5,300 words on this chapter...). The next chapter SHOULD be the final one, therefore making this a complete story! Yaaaaay! Oh my, and then you get to see why the story was originally called 'I Quit'...
Just a reminder, it's been months since I played the game, so many events in this chapter will obviously have strayed from the game. Just to warn you, I tried to get as much info on it as I could, but walkthroughs are bland... But I did find some rather helpful clips via YouTube...
Hey, who would be happy if I put up a preview of the sequel to this story into the next chapter?
I don't own Jak and/or Daxter.
Read on!
It felt strange, running through Haven City with Torn. Not because he was shirt-less (that was part of it) but now, Jak just felt... closer. They both had experienced that same torture, and now they both seemed to be in the same league with each other. Jak could almost feel the dark eco, just below the surface of their skins.
"There should be a door here, it leads to the construction site, and I bet that's where Praxis has run off to." Torn said as they sprinted passed citizens, guards and metal heads alike.
"With the Precursor stone," Jak added.
It was pouring rain by the time they reached the construction site, but not even Daxter seemed to care. They rushed past broken poles and rusting machines that obviously hadn't been used in years, their path lit by dimming lamps. It was a giant ball of relatively shiny looking metal and the Baron himself floating around it that assured them that Torn was correct.
"Praxis!" Jak yelled up at him, pulling his gun off his back and they all glared up at the man.
"Well if it isn't both of the eco freaks! And their pet." Praxis smirked. "How do you like my creation?"
"What is that? What the hell are you planning to do?" Daxter's jaw dropped as he stared at the device.
"It's a bomb." Torn answered for him.
"That's correct, Torn! By the way, how are you feeling?" Praxis laughed.
"A lot better now that I'm about to rip your head off!" Torn growled, raising his own gun.
"I highly doubt you can." Praxis sneered. "Why do you keep coming back to threaten me, can't you see that I'm you're saviors?"
"Saviors? Blowing up Haven city will save us?"Jak demanded.
"No, no! Not the city, Jak! I plan to use the power of the precursor stone to give my bomb here the power to destroy the metal head nest!"
Jak would have said that it would be no use, but someone else beat him to it.
"You'll do no damage to the metal heads with that bomb, even with the precursor stone. All you will do is provoke the leader into launching a full out attack on your measly city."
"Kor?" Jak's face changed from anger to confusion quicker than a zoomer changed hover levels. "What are you doing here? What are you talking about?"
Kor paid no attention to Jak, stopping at the old wooden steps.
"What's an old man like you know? Fool, you don't know what you're talking about!" Praxis glared at Kor. "I will destroy every trace of metal heads there is!"
"Baron Praxis, you are the fool." Jak and Torn took a step back, leaning away from Kor when his voice suddenly became much larger and menacing. "Someone like you cannot possibly hope to defeat me!"
Jak almost dropped his gun as he watched huge insect-like wings sprout from Kor's back, his body quickly transforming into something much more gruesome. He jumped from the steps, effectively breaking them, and landed not ten meters from Jak. Then, before anyone could say anything, Kor shot a blast of white-purple energy at Praxis, knocking him out of the air.
"He's... the metal head leader?" Daxter gasped. Torn's heart rate climbed as the metal head that most likely just killed the Baron rounded on them. He gulped.
"Let that be a lesson to you and your people. No one can oppose me!" Then with another great jumped, Kor flapped his wings and began to fly away, in the direction of the metal head nest. "I will get what I want!"
"Kor was a spy? But... that's impossible!" Jak stared off at Kor's quickly shrinking shape in the distance. "But we told him so much, and he helped us!"
"We can't think about that now." Torn's voice was strained, and he was just beginning to shiver now that the rain had lightened considerably. "...Is he dead?"
Jak slowly approached the Baron, he was lying in a pile of rubble, half covered by a plank of wood. He shoved the wood away, and saw that he was breathing very heavily and slowly, muttering something. Jak bent down next to him, leaning closer. "What?"
"Take it... destroy them..." Praxos pressed on something clutched in his hands, and the bomb stared to partially unfold itself, revealing a bright glowing stone. The Precursor stone. "Save... city..."
"Daxter, can you get to it?" Jak asked quietly.
"No problem!" Daxter leaped off his shoulder, crawling under and inside the bomb. "Okay, let's cut this one... and this one... Which one will let it go? The red one or the blue one? Wait, are ottsels colour blind?"
"Daxter?"
"Let me just break some more things here and see if anything happens..."
"Daxter..."
"Just kidding!" Suddenly, the precursor stone flew off the top of the bomb and Daxter landed in front of the bomb safely with it in his arms. "Like candy from a baby!"
"We should go. We don't have much time left now, if we don't get there in time, all of our efforts will be wasted." Torn said, his face nothing but determination.
Rain, metal head nests and dirt, did not mix. This, Torn now knew. And it was uncomfortable. Especially since he was shirtless. He shivered ever so slightly as he wiped sweat and hair from his forehead. Oh, if only Ashelin had brought him a shirt... Soon though, something large, red and incredibly rusted came into view.
In Jak's mind, this was Mar's gun.
In Torn's mind, this was a form of shelter.
And this would be the thing that they would use in order to gain a path farther into the nest. But as they climbed their way up to the controls, something in Jak's pocket vibrated, making quiet buzzing noises. Ashelin's mini-communicator.
"Jak..." Ashelin's voice was sketchy beneath the static.
"Ashelin?" What's going on?" Torn took the communicator from Daxter.
"The shield walls... been destroyed, there's not... hope..."
"No..." Torn shook his head, and Jak slowed his advance.
"It's only a matter of time before... Metal heads over through us... Torn... don't come back here, you should just... with Jak..."
"Ashelin, you know I can't do that!"
"Jak. Go through the rift... to your own time..." Ashelin continued. "Don't bother with... horrible place..."
"Ashelin!"
"I... kinda agree with ya," Daxter said, turning from the gun. " Let's go Jak."
"We'll... out as long as... can... Jak, Torn... Farewell." The communicator shut off, Ashelin's voice disappearing.
"Ashe- Ashelin!" Torn shook the device, trying to turn it back on. He slammed his fist against the gun. "Damn it!"
"Wait, do we have to take Torn with us?" Daxter suddenly asked.
"I'm not going anywhere!" Torn shouted, rounding on the pair. "And neither are you!"
"What, you want us to die?" Daxter retorted.
"No! Nobody's gonna die, damn it! If you think that- that after everything we've done so far, every mess you've dragged us into, that you are just going to leave, then you're wrong, and you'd better get something through your thick heads!"
"Torn," Jak stepped forward, trying to speak softly. "Ashelin said-"
"I don't care what Ashelin said! Haven City is my home! I've risked my life hundreds of times trying to protect it, and I'm not going to stop now. Ashelin said that she would hold out as long as possible, we have time! We should take that time and get this done!" The sound of rain on metal was the only sound. Torn's gaze fell to his feet as he bit his lip. "I know that Sandy Village, or what ever it was called, is your home. And I know that you want to go back there with Keira, and Samos.. But Haven City, it's technically still your home to, just not as... Didn't you say that you were going to do what ever it takes to protect the things you love? When you joined the Underground... you seemed like that person, even though I gave off the assumption that I really, really disliked you," He lifted his head to meet Jak's eyes. "I think that, now, someone might go as far as to say we're... friends. And don't tell me you would just leave your friends behind to die?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, did Torn just... did he-" Daxter looked rapidly between Jak and Torn.
Jak smiled. "Torn, you're right." Torn's face was hopeful. "This place is worth fighting for." He shoved the Precursor stone into the gun, and it almost immediately started glowing. Mar's gun vibrated. "Stone, gun," Jak turned towards the nest, grinning like a madman. "Nest!" And so, the wall separating them from the inner parts of the metal head nest was blown to smoldering bits.
"Hell yeah!" Daxter shouted, jumping onto Jak's shoulder. "Let's go kick some metal head ass!"
"Don't worry, Ashelin," Torn muttered to himself. "I'm comin' back..."
"How are we going to defeat Kor?" Torn suddenly asked. "Eh, Commander?"
"Ashelin gave us enough extra ammo, I hope. But Metal heads have a habit of dropping some if we need it." Jak started, his voice both serious and unsure. "That, and I think we have enough strength to get rid of his subordinates, and if worse comes to worse..." he shrugged and trailed off.
Dark eco, Torn thought. This, he was unsure about, he didn't have as much control with dark eco as Jak seemed to. But hey, Jak was the Commander.
They slowed their advance through the nest partly because the mud and water was making the land increasingly treacherous, and more and more metal heads appeared to block their path. And, as Jak had said earlier, Torn found that their dropping of ammo was very peculiar. It made him wonder how exactly these metal heads had gotten a hold of it... Or if their bodies just produced ammo... Was that even possible?
Not to mention the dark eco that fell in sticky looking blobs when certain beasts were killed. Torn bit his lip when the dark eco seemed to float towards them, like they were giant magnets, and their skins glowed purple for a split second before a short surge of power went through his body. Everything felt lighter, and sounds echoed more during this short time, like his dark side was gaining more and more power with each piece of eco his body absorbed.
"WHOA! Would you look at the size of that thing!" Daxter suddenly yelled, pointing to something that was ever so slowly coming over a hill. Torn would have to have craned his neck as far back as it would go to look at it if he were nearer to it. Thankfully, he wasn't.
"We don't have to take that one down, do we?" he asked, taking in the bolts of electricity that burst from the metal heads sides every few seconds or so.
"Eh..." Jak paused. The thing was huge, heavy, mean looking, covered from head to toe in some form of armor, looked like a giant turtle, shook the ground with every step it took, shot electricity to the ground up to five meters away, ugly, and just downright mean looking. "If it doesn't bother us, I'd like to not waste our ammo on it..."
And so, after the minutes took to skirt around the giant turtle, as dubbed by Daxter, the trio was once again on the move... Almost.
"Daxter! This isn't the time to fool around! Get up!" Torn growled at the orange animal after he fell from Jak's shoulder, a close encounter with lightning having surprised him.
"It wasn't my fault! Oh, now I'm dirty and sticky, and-oh this is going to take forever to get out, and-"
"Jeez..." Torn sighed and picked the ottsel out of the mud by his ears. "We should be almost there by now." As he turned around, and walked straight into Jak's back, dropping Daxter back into the mud. "Huh? Why'd you stop?"
Jak was glancing around a corner, before turning back to his companions. "We're here," he said, barely audible. Daxter stopped his complaining, and Torn pursed his lips, a heavy feeling suddenly appearing in his chest.
The cave was glowing purple and green, and white if they squinted. Needless to say, the shadow they could see on the ground was very large and disfigured looking. Kor was waiting for them.
"Get ready."
The cave itself was fairly large but the center of it was taken up by what looked like a bottomless hole. Glowing green plats lined the walls like outside, will strange looking bulbs were releasing a faint purple light. The real source of light, however, was the rift gate on the far wall. It was open, and Torn almost could stop looking at the purple and white gas-looking substance that spilled from the ring. Floating in front of the rift ring in a black-purple orb, was a small boy, sleeping, by the look of it. And floating just in front the boy was the Metal head leader, Kor.
He laughed as they arrived, his tail curling around the child in the orb. "So you've finally come, and you've brought the Precursor stone as well! The boy will finally play his part."
"I don't think so, Kor. Not this time!" Jak glared, holding the stone close.
"Oh, but he has such a big part in this, a big part of you! Don't you recognize him?" Jak's expression became confused. "This boy is you, Jak!"
"Wh-what?" Daxter, Jak and Torn said simultaneously, each wide eyed.
"And this place," Kor gestured around himself. "This is where the whole story began!"
"You're lying! That's impossible!" Jak shouted, glancing at the roft ring and Kor.
"But it's true! You were hidden in the past in some fool hope that you would gain the necessary skills to defeat me today! But, haha, Onin was wrong!"
"Onin? She-planned all this?" Daxter was in some form of shock, frozen on Jak's shoulder.
"That old hag didn't foresee enough! Now that you've been altered by the dark eco, the stone will never open for you!" Kor laughed. "But your younger self! Oh, he still has the pure touch, and only he can unlock the stone, and the Precursor hidden within!"
"This stone... is a precursor?" Jak examined to stone.
"It is the last Precursor egg!" Kor corrected. "Mar was a clever man, hiding this last egg from me, and building the walls and city around it to protect it. It has been a long time, so many long years of war and death... But today -today I shall have the power of the last Precursor being!"
Daxter shook his head quickly. "Yeah, I think you're forgetting one think, Crazy-Metal-o-Freak-o, we have the Precursor stone!"
"Not for long!" The gem on Kor's head started to shine brightly, collecting power.
Torn jumped away just before a shot of energy rushed towards them, landing on the ground hard but effectively escaping before the wall behind Jak and Daxter was shattered, the rubble covering the pair. "Jak! Daxter!" He gasped as Kor rounded on him, scrambling backwards. "Crap..."
"And you... You've no part- Huh?" Kor turned back to the pile of rubble. A second passed before the rocks shook, and a pale, clawed hand burst from the top of the pile followed immediately by none other than Dark Jak, Daxter on his shoulder.
"Haha! Thought you could get rid of us that easily, huh? We-hell, think again!" Daxter laughed, grinning as Jak reverted and readied his gun.
"Torn, what are you doing? Get up!" Jak called, Kor growled angrily.
"Huh? Right!" Torn grabbed his gun from the strap on his back, preparing for what would most likely be one of the toughest fights in his life.
"Ergh, it doesn't matter what powers you may have, you will never defeat me!"
What really grossed Torn out during this fight was not the strange, slimy looking ropes that gave Kor the ability to float above their heads, but that fact that every time the giant metal head shook his tail, about a dozen... things fells to the ground. He later learned that these were metal head eggs, and they hatched quickly. While Jak was busy trying to shoot Kor without taking too much damage himself, here he was, shooting a bunch of eggs that looked like some form of mixture of phlegm and rotten milk. He tried his best regardless to keep the little buggers from hatching before he could shoot them, as not only did they like do bite his ankles, but Jak was having a hard enough time already without them.
"Just keep shootin' at 'im, Jak! He'll wear out eventually!" Daxter encouraged as Jak jumped to avoid another energy blast.
"It's no use, he just keeps healing himself..." Torn muttered. He glanced at Jak at the opposite side of the room. He took his chance now to shoot at the remaining eggs on his tail. "I guess I'll have to distract him enough so he can get a good shot..."
Jak was running in his direction again, seeming as if he was indeed trying to wear the Metal Head leader's energy out. Running around a cave in circles usually did that to a person... Or spinning, in Kor's case. "Jak! I'm gonna distract him, hopefully long enough that you can find a weakness."
"No matter what you try against me, it will never work! You've already run out of time!" Kor laughed maniacally and tried to shoot them both at the same time, but missing.
"Hey, Kor! Over here ya slimy bastard!" Torn waved his gun in the air, gaining a small bit of his attention. "I got something t'tell you!"
Jak bit his lip, he wasn't going to start insulting Kor now, was he? Try not to do anything overly stupid, Torn, he thought.
"Jak, look for an opening!" Daxter squinted at the beast. "Can you see anything that wouldn't heal relatively fast?"
"Hn..." Jak watched as more metal head eggs fell from Kor's tail. "The underside of his tail might-"
"You're a sick person, Jak."
"Shut up. I'm going for it." He took aim while at the same time, watching Torn jump from side to side, throwing random insults at Kor and explaining how his plan had 'gone to shit'. Oh, very original. At least he was distracted...
"Grah!" Kor spun around to face him, his tail twitching rather grossly. "You, eco freak, are a sick person." he said before attempting to hit Jak.
"Told ya..." Daxter muttered.
"Get off my back. Damn it, how does he keep healing himself?"
"Your puny attempts of defeating me have thus far been useless. Why haven't you given up yet?" Kor asked, chuckling.
"Jeez, Kor," Jak smiled, raising his gun. He had an idea. It involved the strange green rope like things attaching Kor to the ceiling, ammo, and a corny line. "Haven't you realized yet? I'm the hero of this story. And I got one thing to say to you... I will never back down to the likes of you." His eyes met with Torn's, and he nodded to the ceiling. He got the message.
"Die!" Kor launched an attack at him.
"Ah, shaddap!" Daxter waved his hand as Jak rolled and shot the ropes, Torn doing the same.
"Damn you..." Kor's small wings began to flap unusually -and bordering on stupidly- hard as he was no longer attached to the ceiling. As Jak took aim once again, Kor laughed. "If you are indeed the hero, then I am obviously the villain-"
"Took you that long to figure it out?" Daxter smirked.
"-And the villain always has something up his sleeve!" He jumped away from Jak, landing on the other side of the cave, just behind Torn. Torn didn't have time to react before a claw was wrapped around his neck and he was lifted off the ground, his gun falling dangerously close to falling down the bottomless hole in the middle of the cave. "Shoot me, if you dare. And he'll pay the price."
Torn grasped the claw around his neck, trying to pry it open enough to get air through, his legs kicking uselessly.
"Crap, Torn!" Jak had no choice but to lower his gun, peace-maker and all. "Put him down!"
"Why do they always say that when they know it will never happen?" Kor laughed, tightening his grip on Torn, making the teen gasp in pain.
"Do something Jak, he gettin' killed over there!" Daxter urged, his smirk long gone. Torn was getting weaker by the second, it seemed, struggling less and less.
"So, shall I just kill this boy now, or do you want to reconsider?" Kor laughed, Jak only glared. He couldn't attack without killing Torn in the process.
"Don't, Jak..." Torn gasped, his voice was high pitched and quivering as he struggled for air, lifting his head slightly. "Don't do what he asks..."
"Shut up, boy, or I won't wait long enough for his answer before snapping your neck. Hell, why am I even waiting?" His voice went from confident to confused as Torn laughed quietly. "What's so funny?"
"I think... you forgot... one thing, Kor..." Torn laughed again. "Something... else to add... to our corny line collection... The villain... always ends up... dropping the hostage... So, with that in mind... put me down... before I make you."
"Torn, what are you doing?" Jak shouted. "Stop provoking him!"
"What are you talking about, boy?"
"I said... Put. Me. Down." Purple electricity shot through his body, over his skin and Kor held him farther away. His eyes changed from icy blue to deep black, his skin became pale, hair to grayish purple, finger nails to claws, and before Jak knew it, Dark Torn was ripping the claw that held him in the air clean off Kor's body. Jak and Daxter's faces had disgust written all over them as some kind of black goo oozed from the wound - metal head blood, presumably. Kor roared in pain and anger as Dark Torn flipped away with a growl of his own.
"Jeez, he almost as bad as you, Jak! Remind me not to piss him of either." Daxter said as Jak sighed with relief. He advanced slowly towards the two beasts on the other side of the room. Hoping that, one, Dark Torn wouldn't be aggravated with his presence and attack him instead, and that Kor would be focused enough on said boy so that Jak could finish him off.
"Kor, for years upon years upon years you've been waging war against Haven City. And you knew damn well that I'd be coming back to get you, but you had too much of an ego to care about what strength I'd have gained, or what companions might be at my side." Kor was faltering, trying to deal with his injury, Dark Torn's relentless attacks, and Jak's advance. "And now look where that's gotten you. You've gotten everything wrong, Kor. Except the hero and villain, of course, but you missed out on something." He raised his peace-maker with a triumphant smile. "Good always triumphs over evil."
Kor roared in pain as he fell to the ground, blue electricity running through his body, with the occasional purple spark. Soon, his scratchy voice died away and he was nothing but a corpse covered in black and purple slime.
"Ha, what a catch this'll be!" Daxter cheered.
Jak stepped carefully around the dead beast to Torn. He'd fallen to his knees upon reverting, his energy spent. Eyes half-lidded, he rubbed his neck where Kor had held him. "It's over, right?" He asked, looking up at Jak.
"Yeah, we won." Jak smiled wearily, lifting Torn to his feet.
"Still can't believe he's you," Torn commented. Jak was about to ask what he was talking about before he gestured to Kid Jak, who had woken up and was inspecting the Precursor stone with bent down to touch it, and fell back when something blue and shining bright suddenly flew out of it, uncurling itself to a figure of a man.
"A precursor..." Jak gazed in awe.
The Precursor began to speak in a deep, calm voice as it floated above them. "It has been done. Our ancient enemy has been defeated. Rejoice, hero, the terrible darkness inside of you has been balanced with a pure light." The form started to float away into the rift ring, and before disappearing, said "We will meet again."
Torn was a little late on the uptake. "A... Precursor?"
"Guys! You're alright!" Everyone turned to see Kiera waving to them from Butter's lurker balloon. "We don't have much time, I've already set the coordinates back to the village. Let's go home, everyone... Of course," she looked to Torn. "If you want to come too, I don't think the city..."
"I have to stay." Torn replied softly, shaking his head. "I won't leave Ashelin behind, alone."
"Well then," she seemed hesitant. "Jak?"
"But, we're already home." Jak said, a small smile on his lips.
"Kiera, I think that your rift rider must be used to sent Young Jak here back to the past. He needs to become strong enough to complete the destiny that has been laid out for him." Samos said, lifting the small boy onto the platform.
"W-wait a minute!" The younger Samos approached him. "It's you! Or, me! I have have to go back with him and watch over him, don't I?" The older Samos nodded. "Aw, well talk about being at the wrong time at the right place." Older Samos chuckled.
"Hey, Kid." Jak smiled and set a hand on his younger self. "Be careful, okay? And what ever you do, don't go near any wumpbee nest on your ninth birthday, got that?" Torn snorted while Kid Jak nodded fast.
"I sure hope I built this rider right," Kiera said while Kid Jak ripped something from around his neck and handed it to his older self.
"Relax, Kiera, this is the very rift rider that we found in the past... Or will find, I guess." Her father reassured.
Kiera's face became intensely worried and confused. "B-but I just built this! It's base off what I remember from the last one! How-"
"Honey," Daxter cut her off. "The more you think about it, the more it hurts the head."
"I don't even want to try..." Torn muttered.
The rift rider started to float, quickly gaining altitude. Young Samos waved from his seat. "I'll take good care of him, don't you worry!" He called, Kid Jak waved happily from his seat. "And I'll be back in time for the party! Farewell!"
And then he was gone in a flash of white, the rift ring falling apart on itself.
"It's funny," Samos said as he stepped beside Jak. "The boy won't remember any of this when he's older."
"No..." Jak watched the last piece fall, the purple-white mist disappearing. "I do remember the light..."
"What? Of course you remember it, you just saw it!" Torn gave him a 'well, duh' look, crossing his arms over his bare chest.
"No, I mean, when I first went through the ring." Jak clarified.
This did nothing. "What do you mean? How could you have gone through that rift if you're-"
"Hey, hey, remember what I just said?" Daxter cut him off too. "The more you think about it-"
"Shut up, Daxter." Torn waved him off. "Can we go home now?"
"Hell yes, we can!" Jak jumped onto the lurker balloon. "Can this get us back? I'm ready to kick some more metal head ass."
Kiera laughed, and the balloon started to rise again.
And all the while, Torn had chosen to ignore the fact that the Precursor that had spoken to Jak had said that Jak was now balanced, but said nothing about his own darkness.
It was only when Torn arrived back in Haven city and came face to face with a port full of Krimzon Guards and metal heads that he remembered something of vital importance.
"I forgot my gun in the metal head nest."
