The dark monster that was once Jak growled deeply at the metalhead before him who was now unarmed due to having his arms nearly shredded. The metalhead whimpered in pain, and turned away in attempt to escape. But Dark Jak growled again and grabbed him again with his claws, causing the metalhead to scream in pain as Dark Jak hurled him through a wall, thus falling into the poisonous waters below. He then turned to the other three by Spyro and Cynder, hissing angrily at them. They growled angrily in retaliation and pounced to attack him. Sparx and Daxter watched completely frozen with shock as Dark Jak knocked them all away with a rapid array of lightning quick strikes which left them still alive, but with numerous scars.

Sparx heard a moan, diverting his attention. He soon turned to see Spyro was emerging from the rubble, finally awake again. The dragonfly immediately flew to his foster brother's side, "Spyro, you okay?"

"Uhhh….yeah….ohhhh….I'm fine" He groaned still feeling shaken, his cloak was torn and dirty from the ash, and he could feel his head still spinning due to having part of the roof collapse on him. A low growl caught his full attention, and he turned in horror to see the dark monster that was once his new friend for the first time.

"Sparx…What's going on?" Spyro asked with shock.

"Ya got me," Sparx replied, "our new buddy just pulled a freaky morphing move right in front of us!"

Cynder stirred as well, slowly lifting her head out of the debris. However her recovery was stalled when she also saw the dark creature and watched him attack the metalheads. She was confused…and horrified at the same time at what she was seeing. Dark Jak knocked the attacking metalheads away once again, injuring them further, but somehow they were still moving. Dark Jak was done playing games, he pulled his arm back, and let loose a gargantuan wave of dark energy which sent them all hurtling through the wall. With them finished, Dark Jak finally turned to the slinger metalhead, who was firing many dark energy blasts at him. Dark Jak instinctively jumped aside to avoid them all, and then jumped into the air and slammed down onto the metalhead with his empowered fist…and with a loud BOOM, the metalhead was sent into the ground, and falling dead to the water. Having defeated all the metalheads, Dark Jak gave a loud roar of victory, as Spyro, Cynder, Sparx, and Daxter watched him with disbelief and confusion. Daxter slowly stepped towards his angry friend, hoping to bring him back to reason.

"Jak" Daxter spoke, and Dark Jak turned his head quickly and raised his claws.

"Daxter, get away!" Spyro shouted.

"come on buddy, it's me Daxter"

Dark Jak was slowly starting to calm down as his friend spoke his name, he kept his claws high, but his breathing was slowing down.

Daxter continued, "look, we're all fine, so drop the freak act."

Dark Jak turned toward the dragons. Spyro, Cynder, and Sparx stepped back in fear. Seeing their frightened faces sparked something in Jak, he look at his hands, realizing what he had become through anger and rage. He dropped them in shame, and slowly, his dark hue started to dull. He grabbed his head, as the pain of the reverse transformation began. His muscles relaxed, and his claws disappeared along with the dark hue which covered him. Then, with a flicker, his eyes returned to their normal blue, and Jak was back.

Spyro and his friends were both amazed and confused at what they had just seen. Slowly approaching him, he finally asked, "Jak, what's going on? What are you?"

Jak was silent, he was unsure of how to say it, but since his dark secret was out, he figured he better tell them the whole story. He reminded them how he said he had been imprisoned in jail for two years, but he never told them what had exactly happened, from being imprisoned by Erol, tortured with dark eco under Praxis's grip, and Daxter finally breaking him out of jail and joining the Underground. He also told them that he and Daxter actually weren't from Haven City at all. Like Spyro and his friends, they had come through a large rift ring years ago, and ended up crash-landing here. Now they were also trying to find their own way back home, and get revenge on Praxis along the way.

"…and that's the story," finished Jak.

"Unbelievable," said Cynder, trying to fully come to grip with what she just heard.

"Yeah, well that's it in a nutshell," replied Daxter.

"I'm sorry to have withheld this, I would have preferred you never see it. I've been trying to keep this monster locked away, but I…I can't control it, it's too mad."

He turned away from the dragons in shame looking at the ground. Spyro looked at him with pity, Jak's story actually reminded him of himself in a couple ways. He remembered how he too had lost himself on one occasion, when he beat Gaul. He couldn't stop himself, and nothing but Cynder's influence could return him to his true nature.

He walked up to him and laid his paw on the warrior's shoulder, causing Jak to turn toward him. "It's alright, I have a good understanding what you're dealing with. I know it must be tough, but we're sticking with you until the end, I mean, what are friends for?"

Jak was speechless, turning toward Cynder and Sparx, who gave him warm smiles. Daxter jumped onto his partner's shoulder, patting him on the back. Jak turned toward his old companions, and then toward his new ones. They had accepted him for he truly was underneath…an honorable hero. He smiled and stood back up.

"Let's go" The dragons nodded.

"Time to get back to work!" said Daxter. Jak just grinned and led the way up some ruined stairs and into another building. The real fight was about to begin…

tenth chapter edited, and for first time readers, I know this was a short chapter, but hold on because in the next one, a old friend returns.