Far2Rich: I know, I know...
GMB: Know what?
Far2Rich: I know I said I'd have it by Sunday, but I didn't. Then it got lost in the e-mail hyper space, and then you had to e-mail me about it and I then I had to rewrite this chapter...
GMB: Hey! It's okay...I don't mind...I was busy with school
Far2Rich: Oh...(begins to whistle as he walks away)
GMB: Many thanks to all the reviewers who reviewed the last chapter...Now to the long awaited battle in the Dark Maker ship...
Chapter 11: Infiltration and Dark Duels
Jak and Kristen landed on the floor, panting heavily. The tingling sensation of teleporting had increased a thousand-fold when they had hurtled through space and time to land on the insidious Dark Maker Ship. Sweat poured down Kristen's face as she tried to steady her own breathing. Traveling through the Warp Gate to get to the past had been a walk in the park compared to this. The teleporter seemed to have drained the two Channelers of all their Eco, leaving them helpless. Dead silence made Jak open his eyes. The silence was wrong: it was as though there were creatures in this empty room trying to not be heard. Jak's instincts proved to be right as Dark Maker Troopers materialized out of nowhere and slashed at him. Jak staggered back, numerous gashes in his clothing, but thankfully, his skin was unscathed. He leapt up over a Dark Trooper and landed on the shoulders. All of the other Dark Troopers followed him with their eyes and fired a concentrated blast of Dark Eco at Jak. Jak was not quick enough to avoid the attack, still woozy from the travel, and was nailed right in the chest. As he landed on the floor, he felt his power being restored. He looked at his chest and saw the liquid Dark Eco seeping into his skin and restoring his depleted reservoirs of energy. Jak closed his eyes and allowed the Dark Eco to flood his body, transforming him into his Dark half. Eyes the color of the darkest obsidian opened, reflecting the room that Jak had just occupied. Now however, a far more powerful elf lay where Jak had hit the floor. Razor sharp claws five inches long adorned Dark's fingertips, and two horns stuck out from his head, giving him the appearance of a pale skinned and haired king of demons. He roared- a full roar of pure, unbridled power, and stood up, decapitating two Troopers as he did so. He surveyed his surroundings in the blink of an eye and assessed the biggest threat: the two Troopers getting ready to slaughter Kristen. He gathered his powers and summoned two balls of Dark Eco. He concentrated and allowed them to be connected by a spark of electricity. As he spread the balls apart so that there was a foot and a half between the two orbs, Dark aimed his projectile. He threw his attack- the Dark Strike, and smiled as it shattered the rib cages of the two Troopers holding Kristen. As Dark Jak continued to battle the Dark Makers, he found that while they were immune to Dark Eco, the force of his attacks could do massive amounts of damage. Kristen groaned as she hit the ground, feeling utterly drained of all her energy. She closed her eyes and felt the power of Dark Eco pulsating nearby. She reached out with her mind and realized that it was coming from the walls. She touched the walls and purple lightning made its way up her arm. As the Dark Eco entered her body, Kristen concentrated and turned half of it to Light Eco. When she had sufficiently recharged, Kristen stood up… and immediately staggered. The dark essence here was too strong for her to take. Jak had been fighting Dark Makers for some time, and so was used to the power, but Kristen was not. She relinquished control of her body and allowed Crystal to take over. Crystal opened her eyes as she took control and looked around at the scene. Her tail twitched, and a web of Blue Eco spread out, enveloping the entire room. Everything save Dark Jak and Crystal herself was halted. She calmly walked up to a Dark Maker unable to move and cut it in half with one swift stroke. Dark Jak took her example and together they slowly dispatched of the small army that had filled the room a second before. Crystal left one alive, and picked him up. As covered its face with her hand and delved into the Dark Maker's mind, learning the structure of the Dark Maker Ship. When she was done, she closed her hand and crushed the face of the monster.
"Right, we'll need to split up." Crystal said as her booming voice echoed throughout the room.
"What? Why?" Jak asked as he transformed back.
"In order to get to the cargo bay, we need to flip two switches at the same time. So you go to the left and I'll go right." she replied
"Gotcha," Jak said as he started off.
"Wait, how are you on Light Eco?" she asked
"I don't have any, and there isn't any to find here," Jak said.
"Wrong," Crystal said as she began charging her energy from the wall again. She turned it into Light Eco and shot a beam at Jak, recharging his power. After Jak was fully charged with both Ecos, he went down the left passage, leaving Crystal alone. She recharged her own powers, as freezing a room of Dark Makers had drained her, and then streaked down the right corridor, passing by rooms so fast that Dark Makers trained for decades on the art of combat did not see her. As Crystal ran by, her reflexes allowed her to duck into corners and corridors that allowed her to escape detection. She was gifted with knowledge of the future, and would so conserve her strength as much as possible, for she knew she would need it later, should Errol complete his transformation into Evil. Crystal moved as though the fires of Hell were on her feet, jumping through ventilation shafts and slipping through cracked doors to get to her objective. As she arrived at her destination, Crystal concentrated and used a power that she had just perfected. Using Blue Eco, she bent the very light around her until she was invisible to the naked eye. Moreover, from what she had gleaned from the mind of the Dark Maker, she knew that they patrolled the ship very heavily, but foolishly did not keep surveillance. She waited for Jak to contact her and let her know when he arrived at his spot…
Which was not going to be anytime soon, if things kept going the way they were currently. Jak hunched over as the power of Dark Jak once again manifested itself. Though his Dark Eco attacks were useless in way of Eco-damage, the sheer force of his brutal attacks would be more than enough to carve his way through the legions of Dark Makers that were trying to stop him from reaching his objective. Dark Jak fully transformed and the Dark Makers hesitated. Stupid though they were, they were unsure of what to make of this new development, and not helping matters was the palpable sense of power that radiated off of Dark Jak. The beast like elf smiled ferally, knowing that it was up to him to destroy the army that stood before him, letting his host and that light form take on the robot-man. As the Dark Makers hesitated, Dark Jak took that opportunity to throw itself towards them, its claw like fingernails gleaming in the pale light. The first Dark Maker down, screaming as Dark Jak's talons shredded his battle-plate armor like it was made of wet cardboard. Liquid Dark Eco sprouted from the wound, and it went down as Dark Jak stabbed again, aiming for the heart. The next one to die fired a blast of Dark Eco, which Dark Jak merely rebounded and amplified, blasting it and twenty of its companions away to dust. Another fell to the ground, gurgling as it tried desperately to hold his innards in.
The three right behind him fared no better, as slaps removed faces and limbs. Another attempted to jump onto Dark Jak, but he ducked, and retaliated with a roundhouse kick that sent the Trooper flying a good twenty feet, with its flight being stopped only by the wall that it slammed into. Dark Jak then leapt up onto the side of one of the walls, using his massive talons to secure himself. There, gazing downward upon the patrol, he began moving along the wall like a spider, dodging blasts as he moved faster than most elves could run. He saw the large lever coming up and launched himself at it. Dark Jak's weight and momentum slammed into a Dark Hornet stupid enough to get in his way, bearing it to the ground. The Hornet uttered one horrifying scream, before the monster's teeth cut him off. He then reached the lever and pulled out his communicator. "I'm here," Jak said as he transformed back.
"Good. On three," Crystal said.
"One."
"Two."
"Three!" the both exclaimed.
As the doors opened, Jak and Crystal slipped through and stopped any Dark Makers from following. They met up on a corridor and opened the door to the cargo gate…
Lynx took out her trusty Gyro Scatter Gun and Torpedo Cannon as a small army of Dark Maker Troopers closed in on them. Fortunately, she had found enough supplies to give herself three shots of each. She loaded a torpedo in as she put her Gyro Scatter Gun away and launched the projectile at the incoming enemies. A massive explosion lit up the night with lightning bolts leaping out from the detonation and frying dozens more of the vile creatures. One approached from the side and Lynx used her gun as a club, swinging it so hard that the creature's skull was bashed in. Lynx took another torpedo out and simply threw it. Another massive explosion shook the foundations of the earth and she switched guns.
As she pulled the trigger, a small black orb with red dots went shooting forward and hovered about a foot off the ground. It began spinning rapidly before it activated and began shooting Scatter Gun bursts out of the red holes. Lynx smirked and shot her remaining two before taking the chip out of her Morph-Gun so it would be easier to carry. As she saw seventy more Dark Makers heading for her, Lynx took out her final torpedo and loaded it. She then fired it at an empty building, letting the rubble take care of the army. She then gazed at the stars, wondering how Kristen and Jak were faring…
Zig, meanwhile, had no such freedom. He cracked his knuckles before launching himself at the Dark Makers, slaying them with his bare hands. As he continued, more and more began to surround him. Zig began ripping body limbs off and using the claws as extended weapons. For half an hour he continued like this, until finally, when he felt as though he could not continue, the onslaught stopped. And a Dark Tank landed in front of him. Zig's eyes widened before he pulled out a Morph-Gun and jammed a homemade chip inside it. As it became a large gattling gun, Zig braced himself against a building. He readied himself as the tank spotted him and moved in, and squeezed the trigger. At first, nothing happened. Then, the barrel began to move, charging electricity up. Then, a stream of fully charged PeaceMaker blasts came out at a rate of one every tenth of a second. Within twenty seconds, the Tank had been reduced to a pile of ash. Zig smiled as he leaned against the building and closed his eyes, resting.
T.J. lacked the explosives of Lynx and the brute force of Zig, but he compensated in other ways. He brought out a quartet of guns that he had made himself, without the help of the powerful Morph-Gun. He crouched in the shadows, hooked two up to his shoulder, and held two more. Tubes connected the guns to a power pack on his back, which weighed about fifty pounds. Connected to the main pack were sub-packs, each weighing about ten pounds and fitting on either his shins or his forearms. All together, they added up to a whopping one million rounds. T.J. unleashed his automatic weapons on the Dark Makers, his attack seeming like a rain of death. The two guns mounted on his shoulder were set with motion detectors, and Hornets that rushed at him dropped like flies as rounds tore through their bodies. Out of the corner of his eye, T.J. saw Lynx throw a torpedo with her bare hands and aimed at it. He squeezed his triggers for one second, unleashing twenty rounds and detonating the projectile when it had gotten far enough away from her. As the assault finally stopped, T.J. let out a sigh and looked around at the damage that would take years to rebuild.
Jak and Crystal entered the cargo bay, noticing a nasty drop on either side of the four-foot wide path. Hundreds upon hundreds of Dark Terraformers lined the room. "By the Precursors…" Jak said softly as he realized the massive power Errol had at his disposal.
"Yes?" Daxter asked smilingly.
"Not now Dax," Jak said a bit shortly.
"If these things ever wake up, the planet's finished…" Crystal said, more to herself than Jak.
"All of these Dark Makers at my command. Just think what I could do…" Errol said gleefully. At the sight of the robot that would one day slaughter everyone she held dear, Crystal went berserk with rage and charged him, a battle cry on her lips. Errol turned around and snapped his fingers. Instantly, Crystal was hit by a beam of dark light and vanished.
"WHERE IS SHE!" Jak bellowed at his nemesis.
"To our… testing room," Cyber-Errol said with a smirk. "Now, I'd love to stay, but I have an appointment with your puny planet," he said as he activated rockets and landed in a Terraformer. As it took off for the planet, Jak ran forward to try to stop it. Suddenly, a large Dark Maker appeared. It stood at fifteen feet tall, with black, bat-like wings sprouting from its back, foot long claws on its fingers, and it looked down at Jak. The Dark Maker roared as it ran at its small opponent. Jak closed his eyes and with a bright flash of light, he turned into Light Jak, his wings sprouting from his back. Time seemed to slow as the Dark Troll charged the angelic figure of Light Jak. Light Jak, though a great deal smaller than his hulking enemy, grabbed hold of his opponent's outstretched claws and flung him easily over his shoulder. Not wasting a second, the glowing Light Jak spread out his majestic wings and took to the air. The Dark Troll shook his head and looked up fiercely at the hovering Light Jak. It spread its enormous wings and shot straight for Light Jak. Light Jak angled his body and plummeted for the approaching creature. Their fists collided at the same time. There was a thunderous din as the two polar opposites collided. Two bubbles of rippling energy formed around the two struggling forms. The Dark Troll was surrounded by a pulsating purple field of electricity, while Light Jak was surrounded by a rippling, silky bubble. The Dark Eco-based monster took to a different tactic and spun around in midair, and struck Light Jak quickly in the head with his wing. Light Jak's wings gave way for a second and he fell, but that was all that his foe needed. The behemoth snatched Light Jak's outstretched hand and threw him with all his strength into a wall. Light Jak's body smashed into the wall and kept going, creating a massive hole. The deranged monster, without a second thought, plunged into the hole.
Seconds later a beam of pulsating white energy burst from the deep hole, carrying a screaming Dark Troll with it. Light Jak followed him out and began pummeling the momentarily dazed creature. He struck him in the stomach with a swift uppercut, then smashed him in the head with both hands in a ball. The Dark Troll plummeted a few feet, but then quickly righted himself and with one burst of his mighty wings, hurled himself upward and slashed Light Jak across the chest with his eighteen inch long claws. A thick, white substance leaked from Light Jak's wound, stopping the blood flow and knitting the skin back together. The Dark Troll spun around in midair and railed Light Jak in the head with one swift kick. Light Jak was hurled to the ground, the bridge cracking under the force of his impact. The monster was on him in a flash with his massive arms around Light Jak's neck. Several seconds passed, and it seemed as though Light Jak may actually have lost. But just then, Light Jak spread out his wings. A great bubble of light energy erupted from his very center, and the Dark Maker was thrown backward with a howl. Light Jak looked over his shoulder at the momentarily slumped form of his foe. Two balls of white fire formed at Light Jak's hands. With a yell of fury he threw the balls towards his rival. The creature was thrown backward a little with each hit. Light Jak's strategy suddenly became apparent: he was slowly, ever so slowly, pushing the Dark Troll to the edge, where it would be released into space and be destroyed. Unfortunately, the Dark Troll also seemed to realize this strategy as well. It sidestepped the next wave of fireballs, pulled its arms back, and then clapped its hands together. A huge wave of Dark Eco threw Light Jak backward. The angelic figure flipped in midair and landed skillfully on his feet, though he slid several more feet before coming to a stop. The Dark Troll had already taken to the air again.
Light Jak quickly followed, glowing with anger. The opposites slowly glided around the expanse of the chamber like vultures, occasionally flapping their wings. The two of them were looking into each other's eyes, one was pure darkness, and the other was glowing white. Without warning, at the exact same second, they both shot toward each other and met in midair. The eyes of the spectators barely caught the movement of the fight. The two creatures were exchanging hits blow for blow. Occasionally they would strike the other in the stomach or head. But this was very rare, they moved in almost perfect harmony. Finally, the Dark Troll seemed to gain the upper hand. He dodged Light Jak's kick and grabbed him by the neck and spun him around, and then threw him to the ground. He landed on top of him with considerable force, and began slashing at the flailing Light Jak. One leg rose from the hole in the ground and hit Dark Jak in the chin. The beast staggered backward, but Light Jak was already on top of him. He tackled him to the ground and then tossed him back into the air. He flew at the hovering creature with full speed and kicked him sideways in the stomach, then turned around and left a solid imprint of both boots on his face. The Dark Eco monster screamed in rage and blasted Light Jak to the far end of the room with a blast of Dark Eco. The two floated on the opposite sides, gasping and heaving in exhaustion. A startling phenomenon began to take place. Both of them began to spark with electricity. The random charges moved from their torsos to their arms, and finally into their hands. Both of them raised their hands into the air and then, yelling, fired equal beams of Eco toward each other. The beams met in the center of the room. The walls of the chamber began to shake, dust particles falling from cracks in the walls. The contrast between Dark and Light was nearly impossible. They were polar opposites, and the outcome would soon have explosive results. The Dark Troll was slowly pushing his beam forward. His teeth were born in a fiery snarl. He moved his arms backward and forward, as if expelling every bit of power he hand into the beam. Light Jak was slowly being pushed backward. His expression was one of extreme pain. His fiery eyes were closed tight. He was almost up against the wall. The beam of Dark Eco was slowly overcoming his, moving closer...closer still... It was impossible. This creature showed no self restraint, no sense of end. It had just the mind to win and to survive. Though powered by Light Eco, he could not yet push himself to his full abilities.
Suddenly an image popped into his head. Keira. If he lost, she would die. Everyone would die. This creature would allow Errol to kill everything, destroy the world until nothing was left. He could not let that happen. He wouldn't. A new power awoke within Jak. A great majestic power and understanding that he had never known. His beam began to grow, to push forward toward the creature. The Dark Maker's pitch-black eyes widened in an expression that had never before soiled his face: terror. It pushed as far as it could, tried to push back the rapidly advancing Light Eco beam. But it was no good, the beam advanced ever on. It overtook the beast in a fiery blaze of white-hot pain. It was nearly destroyed by the beam. Its wings were destroyed, its hair burned away. Moaning, it fell off the bridge and to the ground. As it entered the atmosphere, it caught on fire and was burned away to ash. Jak turned back to his normal form and began to look for Crystal. Suddenly, an enormous beam of energy ripped the ship in half. Bitterly, Jak knew he would have to leave Crystal behind and defeat Errol on his own. He jumped into a Warp Gate after setting the coordinates to outside Spargus City…
Crystal landed in a chamber with something with four large yellow eyes. As the lights went on, Crystal stepped back, for it was none other than a new Metal Head Leader. The monster burst into laughter at his new prey. "So this is my challenge?" he roared in jubilation.
"What are you?" Crystal asked incredulously.
"I am Metal Scourge, the new Metal Head Leader!" the monster roared as it chased her. Crystal took to the skies and the Metal Head Leader followed: the room was huge enough that both of them could maneuver quite freely. Scourge brought his fists in with all the strength he had at his disposal, kicking up a small wind with the force behind them. Crystal expertly dodged the blow with a mid flight twist followed by a dive that put him right underneath the gigantic monster. She summoned two Eco enhanced Katana Blades one of both Dark and Light Eco before striking out with both of them.
The harpy dodged to the right, barrel rolling out of the way as the enormous Metal Head tried to run her through with his tail. Snarling in frustration as she dodged, the new Metal Head Leader turned around, presenting Crystal another chance to strike at him. The two separated again after some minutes of exchanging blows, and another lull in the fighting took place, with both combatants simply moving about in a circle, each one formulating their next move. Scourge decided it was time that he played one of the aces that he had up his sleeve. He focused his power, and showed off a new ability. His body became a multitude of Metal Wasps that has no outer skin showing. Crystal concentrated her powers as she mentally brought up a shield. She felt the electricity surge as it covered her, snaking its way across her outstretched limbs, caressing his skin and hair. Her power grew stronger and faster, until it could be contained no longer, and she set her power free with a cry.
The dark bolts flew through the Metal Heads like a gigantic chain lightning spell, ravaging their internal organs, destroying their nervous systems, and generally putting them through a few moments of unspeakable agony before they either plummeted towards the ground as oversized charcoal briquettes, or simply popped like grapes. The hundred or so that escaped converged upon one another and turned back into Metal Scourge. Quick as a dart, Crystal got behind Scourge and thrust both of her weapons up to their hilts into his back. She then turned them into bombs, blowing out two of his wings. The Metal Head Leader then performed an acrobatic maneuver that was seemingly impossible for an organism of his size: a front flip with a full three hundred and sixty degree twist. This dislodged Crystal before she could inflict any further harm upon him. It also sent the his scorpion tail at her, and the harpy threw herself backwards as best she could in an attempt to ward the blow. Knowing that the wound would heal quickly, Crystal sped back towards Scourge as he whipped around to face her.
However, as she closed the distance between them, Scourge decided that now was a good time to show off yet another trick that he had hidden up his sleeve. He thrust his hands outwards, and focused his powers. Twin beams of Yellow Eco shot forth, and Crystal weaved in and out. As she got in, she tossed a Dark Eco Grenade and a Light Eco Grenade at the massive Skull Gem in his forehead and Scourge shrieked with pain. Crystal retreated as Scourge focused his powers once more. This time, though, rather than the twin beams of energy coming forth, Crystal instead found herself having to deal with a barrage of foot ball sized energy pellets coming towards him at a rather high rate of speed. Frantically, she dodged to the left, and Scourge turned with her, trying to lead the freak of nature as he unleashed dozens of Yellow Eco bursts a second at her. One or two did hit, and wound up leaving some rather nasty looking burn marks as testimony to their capabilities. Nonetheless, the powerful being bit back a growl as she felt her infused blood get to work healing him, and retaliated by using her Blue Eco powers to deflect the rest of the ending attack, sending a few back at the Metal Head Leader himself. Scourge darted forward, bringing them both back into melee range, where the Metal Head Leader once more took the prize for strength, while Crystal took speed. However, while speedy the harpy might have been, she did not always get off free, as a couple of times Scourge did succeed in landing a blow, which usually sent the creature into a tailspin of sorts, though she always managed to pull herself out of them before Scourge could capitalize upon the sudden advantage.
As Crystal retreated, Scourge focused his powers once more, bring his Red Eco powers up this time. He breathed a massive blast of flames at the harpy, hoping to roast it alive. Crystal darted out of the way and, thinking Scourge distracted, and tried to end the fight by aiming for his head. However, she was once more swatted away, nearly being disemboweled by the stinger on the end of her foe's tail. Luckily, her flight through the air was halted. Unfortunately, it came in the style of a steel wall. She shook herself loose, summoned two swords again, and rushed back towards the Metal Head Leader, a battle cry coming from her fanged jaws. Scourge unleashed Channeled Yellow Eco attacks until he got close enough, and striking with fang and talon upon entering melee range. She brought her swords in from below, crossing them and letting and X shaped blast of Dark Eco come blasting out of them, which the massive Metal Head blocked with his forearms. Then, Scourge came back with more attacks of his own, throwing out another pair of Channeled attacks before rushing forward into a more personal kind of combat. He reached back to his sides and lashed out with both of his hands at the same time, his talons fully outstretched, and a quick upwards back flip was all that saved Crystal from being torn in half. However, Scourge had not been fighting for eons, and was still an amateur at fighting. As a result, he over extended himself and Crystal saw her chance. She darted forward and unleashed a blast of Light Eco into his skull. As Scourge's head was blasted off, a blast of energy from the weapon on the planet disintegrated the rest of his body. Crystal looked around frantically and saw a Warp Gate tucked away in a corner. She manipulated the controls with Blue Eco, setting it to outside Spargus before dashing through, turning back to Kristen as she did so.
Jak, Daxter, and Kristen landed next to each other at the same time. After they told what had happened, they looked to the sky. Errol descended, crashing into the Wasteland some miles away.
"Let's get him! The last charge of the Dark and Light brigades!" Daxter shouted as they got in a vehicle.
"To the end," Jak and Kristen both said.
GMB: Okay, I'm not sure when I'll be getting the next chapter out...but I know it'll be soon...This was actually the longest chapter in the story...5007 words...Review and tell me what you thought of this chapter...
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