Naruto watched from across the Port as wave after wave of Metal Heads and KG Deathbots stormed in. Somewhere in that fray was Jak and Daxter. The fox teen looked behind him at the group of citizens that they were able to save.
"Seems a few are slipping past …" Rucah commented as he watched a few Metal Heads get past the guards' defensive line. Naruto frowned, looking from the left side of the Port to the right.
"Get the citizens inside the building, protect them."
"What do you plan on doing?"
"I'm going to bust some skulls." Naruto said, grinning. Rucah chuckled and looked towards the civilians.
"Stay safe." The spy said, soon getting everyone inside. Naruto let out a sigh and cocked his Scatter Gun. He could only hope they all survived this.
Jak was on his knees, panting as the last Blast Bot closed in on him, laser sight turning red. Daxter was looking on with horror from where Jak had pushed him, safely out harm's way. "Jak!" Torn's rough voice cut through the dawn. He looked up to see just behind the bot was Torn and Jewell and what seemed to be a whole army of guards.
The irony almost killed him right there. He was actually happy to see the guards. His eyes widened as he was violently jerked out of the path of fire, Naruto standing over him with Rucah and a few other guards joining the assault on the Blast Bot.
"We can handle it from here, hero." Naruto said, smiling as he helped Jak to his feet. Daxter quickly scrambled over, climbing onto the fox teen's shoulder. Jak chuckled and leaned on Naruto, smiling as the final enemy fell.
Only two days had passed since the combined attack. Naruto looked over the bar at Jak, who was polishing his new gun mod he had gotten from Tess. Things had calmed down a bit, but Torn was normally gone, trying to figure out a way to finally link up with HQ. The blond fox teen nervously cleaned a mug as Daxter was taking inventory.
There was so much with the war going on it was hard to catch lulls like this. Hopefully, it wouldn't be too long before they were linked up with HQ and could drive out the Metal Heads and the Death Bots.
He looked up as Torn entered the building, looking like a grinning crocadog. "We've finally found a way to link up with HQ." He said as he motioned to Jinx who was following in behind him. The blond mercenary walked right up to Jak, blowing his cigar smoke in Daxter's face.
"The little vixen up north came up with a boomer of a plan." Jinx said, oblivious to Daxter who was coughing up a storm. Naruto tilted his head at the vixen part, for some reason thinking of Quix. "She thought to use the nasty Blast Bots against the Death Bots. I captured one during the attack a few days ago." He leaned against the bar, sending a wink at Naruto. "I'll show you the scars later."
"Get to the point Jinx." Naruto said, smiling despite himself. Jak rolled his eyes, knowing that Jinx would go the long way to get some glory.
"I rigged that baby with a remote control and enough explosives to blow a Leviathan to dust." Jinx said proudly. Torn's grin hadn't faded during Jinx's talk and addressed them.
"We need someone to direct it into the KG War zone, if we can get it close enough to the boarder it'll take out their defenses and allow us to finally meet up with our comrades. We'll be sending a squad to go with it, to make sure the Bots don't blow it up. Everyone's been informed about it so no guard is going to attack it. You two,"
"Hey I'm here!" Daxter cut in.
"Are the best we got. Jak, I want you to direct the Blast Bot. Naruto, I want you to join the squad."
"Me? Why?" Naruto asked softly, though he had already but the mug down and picked up his Scatter Gun.
"You've lead the men well those last times, and I'm confident you can get them there with the Bot and out with the least about of casualties."
"Got it." Naruto said then turned to Jak. "Let's do this." The green-blond nodded and watched the fox teen run out the door to meet up with his squad. Jak didn't like the thought of him being so close a walking time bomb but there was no stopping him now. He took the control from Torn and watched the screen.
"Alright, you know what to do." Naruto said to the men as they took their spots. He looked up at the Blast Bot with a few blue paint stripes on its red body. The head of the machine had been watching him the whole time. The fox teen gave a thumbs up and the Bot started walking, Naruto took the side with the youngest guard member.
No one was standing in front to allow the Bot to shoot and move. It seemed fine, until the first enemy Blast Bot appeared. Everything around them was a war zone. It didn't take Jak long to realize the path Jinx had originally planned wasn't a good idea, and it wasn't seeing as more Blast Bots were on their way.
The Jak controlled Bot soon was on the skywalk above the chaotic streets. Naruto and his squad were easily able to protect the Bot up there with less enemies and other guards getting in the way, it also helped the Bot to avoid unnecessary damage.
Naruto watched as the Bot expertly sniped the Bots that were too far for their weapons to reach in front of it. "Halt!" The fox teen yelled as the explosive rigged Bot headed for the barrier. He went to hid only to see one of his squad members pinned down by a larger KG bot. His blue eyes flashed to the Bot about to enter the barrier to the kid. Without thinking twice Naruto charged towards the guard, shouldering the Bot off him and having just enough time to throw his body over the young teen in the armor suit before the blast went off, sending shrapnel everywhere.
Pain shot up his back and there was ringing in his ears. He let out a sharp cry as he sat up. He couldn't hear anything past the pounding in his head and the endless ringing. Naruto squinted painfully as he tried to hear what the young guard was saying.
"Do we have a squad medic?" He yelled over his shoulder as the other four members of Naruto's squad joined them.
"Negative. We have to get him somewhere safe till we can get one!" The only female said. Naruto hissed in pain as one of them helped him to his feet and power walked him to the nearest safe haven.
"Don't worry, we'll protect you." The young teen said, taking off his helmet to better look at the wounds Naruto got because of him.
"It looks worse than it is." The fox teen said with a forced smile at the youth. The guard didn't even look that old, maybe a year younger than Naruto. The silver haired teen gave him a look.
"…Thank you, for saving me." He whispered. The youth looked over his shoulder to see the female flag down a man on a zoomer. Naruto grinned at him.
"You're welcome."
"Naruto!" Jak yelled, kneeling down next to the fox teen. Daxter looked shocked at seeing their friend in this state. Naruto rested his head on the metal behind him.
"Hey guys. Good work with the Blast Bot." He said as his eyes slid close for a moment before opening.
"You have to get him to HQ."
"We're way ahead of you, Platinum." Daxter said to the guard as Jak picked up Naruto and went to the zoomer. The woman saluted him quickly just before the three took off. The fox teen looked to the side and watched as his squad of five got smaller and smaller, lost in the chaos. Hopefully they could get out of the war zone.
Jak glanced at Naruto from across the radar, red dots appearing and disappearing with every pulse of the scan. He looked over at Samos as he continued to talk. "There's a huge Dark Planet Builder bearing down on us all. How much time we have no one can guess." Well wasn't that just great, not only was the world in danger again this time there was clearly a time pressure. The once hero's eyes flicked back to Naruto, who was frowning to himself. Part of Jak wondered if the fox teen was still in pain, he had just gotten out of the infirmary a few hours ago. "If it is rouge Precursor technology then the only way to destroy is with more Precursor technology and that lies at the bottom of the catacombs."
"Also, there's been large amount of Eco Crystals being moved about. Someone is trying to awaken a ton of Precursor technology." Keira said with a frown. Naruto's fox ears twitched, thinking back to Veger.
"Do you think Veger is the one behind it? We keep bumping into him and he's always going on about the Precursors." Naruto said, leaving out the part that Veger also seemed to have something in plan for him.
"Or Errol." Jak said speaking up. "The crazy bastard just might be trying to get more pow-"
"Wait!" Daxter yelled. "I think we're all forgetting something." Everyone paused for the ottsel to continue. "Me and my issues." Naruto shook his head and looked up at Jak. The green-blond hero jerked his head to the door with a raised eyebrow. Naruto couldn't stop his tail from wagging as he nodded as he made sure to be as sly as possible as he and Jak left the room; Daxter still raving about himself.
"Think they'll need us for anything?" Naruto asked, putting his hands behind his head with a grinned. Jak shook his head, his own lips up into a smile.
"If they do they'll call." The once hero said as he reached into his pocket and turned his com-link onto emergency only. Naruto mimicked the action as they made their way outside to fountain. Jak plopped onto the grass, back against the cool stone. He patted the spot next to him for Naruto to join. The fox teen happily took the seat. Naruto waited a moment before shyly taking Jak's hand.
"Are you still hurting?" Jak asked, squeezing the other male's hand.
"Nah. I heal faster than others. Once the shrapnel was removed I was pretty much good."
"That's good. I was worried." Jak whispered. It was weird to him to admit things, but not as weird when they first were… Come to think of it what were they? They never really talked about it. Naruto looked over and tilted his head at the once hero.
"Jak?" The green-blond looked over and shook his head.
"It's nothing." He replied. Naruto frowned and his ears dropped with it.
"You have that crease between your eyebrows. What's wrong?" The fox teen pressed softly.
"Just wondering, what are we?" Jak asked looking at the blond. There was a long pause as Naruto chewed on his lower lip and fiddled with Jak's calloused fingers with his.
"Well, I was thinking, hoping, that we could be, already were…together…" Naruto trailed off nervously. When Jak didn't answer right away he stumbled to talk more. "I mean, I really care for you and I think you care to and we've kissed at the celebration of defeating Metal Kor, and we've held hands numerous times like now since and we've even shared a bed and I thought it just went unsaid and-" His words were cut off as a calloused finger tilted his chin and chapped lips were on his. Naruto's face flushed and he squeezed Jak's hand as he pressed back into the kiss.
Jak pulled away and press his forehead against Naruto's. "I like being together with you." He said, amused by how much redder the fox teen's face got. "I just wanted to make sure. And, I'm sorry about before…all this, when I wasn't there."
"It's okay Jak. That's the past, and right now all that matters is this point in time." Naruto said, smiling a little. Jak's lips twitched upwards. The once hero hoped this peaceful lull lasted longer. He wouldn't mind spending more time with the blond before him.
I'm so sorry for the long wait for this. It should never happen again! I will try my hardest to update as often as I can. With it being summer I should be able to get a few chapters done a day depending on how many chores I have and why I crash at night. Thank each and every one of you for staying with this story!