Naruto frowned as his eyes scrunched up before opening slowly. His blue eyes took in the rotting wood and metal replacements that had been put in to try and reinforce it. Fire flickered poor lighting in the massive room. The fox teen strained his hearing, hearing loud voices from somewhere and the clang of dishes.

Carefully, he sat up, looking out the small cracks in the wall to see that night had settled over the Wasteland. Naruto frowned as he tried to break the rope around his wrist, feeling the thick fibers bite angrily into his skin. The blond growled but forced himself to stand, grateful his legs weren't bound.

The room was pull of Precursor artifacts and orbs as well as what seemed to be large barrels of Eco. This had to be one of the Marauders treasure rooms. He turned to see a large metal door, clearly locked. Naruto's fox ears twitched as someone's footsteps got louder and louder, stopping right in front of the door. The fox teen crouched into a defensive position, his tail tense and his lips pulling back in a growl as the door swung open.

The largest marauder Naruto ever saw stood there, the smell of alcohol and Eco exhaust rolling off him. In one of his hands was a large, almost empty bottle and in the other was what looked like triangular Precursor artifact. The man grinned, showing off yellow rotting teeth.

"Nice to see you aren't dead." He said, taking a swig of his drink. "I was hoping to celebrate more and I get first dibs on the newest bitch." Naruto felt disgust and horror creep up his spine. He backed away, glaring at the man. "Naw, don't be like that." The marauder said, taking a few steps towards him. Naruto's eyes flickered to the door and once the man was more in the room he took off.

Just as he was about to step out of the door a large hand grabbed his shoulder, jerking him back into the room. He stumbled at the sudden jerk and change of direction, making him fall on the floor. Naruto didn't have time to put up any kind of defense before the same hand slammed itself into his face. The fox teen curled in on himself as more blows fell on him.

"You'll regret trying to run." The marauder sneered, the bottle he had before laying forgotten on the floor. Naruto snarled under his breath as the man reached for him. The fox teen was never more thankful when alarms started going off. A moment later the whole building shook violently. "Damnit." The marauder hissed before standing. He looked down at Naruto then roughly jerked him up and threw him over his shoulder.

Naruto was having none of it. He struggled as much as he could, kicking and even trying to bite. One hard smack to his rear though silenced all protest. The fox teen closed his eyes, trying to stop himself from being sick as a flood gate of memories he had hoped to forget came rushing back.

The blond heaved once before emptying all the contents in his stomach. He was roughly dropped at once, but not onto the wooden floor of the stronghold into a metal marauder buggy. "You're disgusting!" The Marauder growled, trying to remove the bile from his back while not touching it. He gave up after a minute and got in the driver's side. "I'm not letting the monks or whoever they got to help take away my prizes."

Naruto felt like he was going to be sick again.

He clenched his eyes shut and curled in on himself, tail tucked between his legs and ears flat against his head. The jerky movement of the buggy was making him queasy and the memories weren't helping at all. He whimpered loudly, as ghost fingers touched him under his clothes. His body tried to jerky away from it. Naruto ground his teeth against each other to try and ignore how his body was remembering every little thing that Krew did to him.


Jak's eyes were completely black as he watched the last Marauder Buggy. Dark Eco snapped violently off him. Naruto was in that one. Daxter glanced from the buggy to his friend. It had been a long time since he expelled any Dark Eco and the ottsel had a bad feeling about this. He clung to Dune Hopper as Jak slammed on the turbo and launched the car into the air, landing right in front of the buggy.

The green-blond was out of the Wasteland car the moment it landed and the buggy was pulled to a sharp stop. Before the marauder could reverse out the buggy's door was sent flying as Dark Jak ripped it clean off the vehicle. Daxter's blue eyes widened as the marauder was pulled out and the moment his body touched the sand the darker version of Jak was on him without mercy.

Screams echoed off the mountains and the sand dunes as the golden sands turned dark crimson. Dark Jak stood, ashen skin splattered with blood, Dark Eco still escaping every now and then with a static pop. At his feet was a now unidentifiable pile of torn flesh, meat, and blood. "Jak wait!" Daxter yelled, jumping off the Dune Hopper to the buggy to try to stop his friend. In this state there was no telling what he could do. If Jak heard him it didn't stop him from reaching into the buggy and pulling Naruto out.

The fox teen's blue eyes snapped open as his back hit the cold sands, effectively jarring him out of his memories. Naruto gasped slightly in fear as Dark Jak stared down at him. Daxter skidded in front of him, arms out to protect. "Jak stop! It's us! Your best friends!" Dark Jak took a step back, black eyes narrowed. There was a tense pause before the Eco powered version of Jak reached passed Daxter towards Naruto.

Sharp teeth bit harshly into light grey skin and Naruto felt pain shoot up his entire arm as Dark Jak's claws sliced through the ropes and into his skin. Daxter spit blood out of his mouth, staring up as Dark Jak jerked his arm back, looking at the deep teeth marks on his arm, blood and Dark Eco running from it.

Naruto slowly got into a kneeling position, holding his left arm. Dark Jak's eyes flicked from the bite to Daxter then to Naruto and finally landing on the bleeding cut on the fox teen's arm. With a purely demonic roar he turned to the buggy and unleashed all his Dark Eco at it.

Daxter swallowed harshly as seeing Jak fall to a knee farther away, the black charred, flaming skeleton of the marauder's buggy in front of him. He glanced at Naruto, who looked like he was going to be sick at any moment. His blue eyes looked down at the fox teen's left arm, the veins in it looking black. This wasn't good.

Quickly, the ottsel ran to Jak, making sure to stand in front of him. The green-blond looked completely drained. "Jak." The once hero's dark blue eyes looked at him then to his hands, as if ashamed. "Jak, no one's mad at you but we need to go back to Spargus. The desert is only going to get colder and…Naruto has Dark Eco poisoning." He didn't want to say it, knowing it would only have a negative impact of his friend but they couldn't stay out here. Jak looked at the sand before standing, allow Daxter to crawl onto his shoulder.

Naruto looked up at the blurry outline that was Jak. He gave a small smile as the green-blond lifted him into his arms. The fox teen rested his head on Jak's free shoulder, his body unhappy with any movement.

"Thank you, for saving me…" Jak glanced at the blond's arm and guilt turned his stomach.

"I'll always be there to save you…"


Jak looked over as the medical bay's door was opened. A woman walked in wearing a pure white gown. Her green hair was pulled back and done up with golden jewelry placed about it delicately. She looked sickly pale but made the journey over to him, stumbling. In an instant Jak was at her side, helping her stand.

"Thank you." She whispered. A frowned formed on Jak's lips, swearing this woman was familiar. He carefully sat her down in his seat at Naruto's bed side, Daxter curled up asleep with his friend. Jak rubbed the back of his head, not knowing how to deal with this woman.

"You look so much like him…" She whispered her beautiful eyes on Jak. The once hero frowned and knelt down beside her, so she wasn't straining to look up.

"Like who?"

"My little Mar." She whispered, reaching out and touching Jak's cheek. Surprisingly, he did not feel the urge to jerk away. His eyes closed for a moment at the soft, warm touch. His eyes opened to see a motherly smile on her face. "What's your name?"

"Jak."

"Jak." She repeated. "It's a nice name." The woman's hand reached up and started to run her fingers through Jak's short hair. The action seemed to relax Jak as his eyes closed once again. "Don't worry so much. Your friend will be fine. You'll be fine as well." Jak's body jerked as the door opened and a panicked young woman looked in.

"Lady Lina you shouldn't be out of your chamber!" The caretaker walked over, ready to pull the woman out but she held out a hand and then brought a finger to her lips.

"Shhh. They're resting."

"But my Lady you're sick." Jak looked from the woman to Lina, feeling his heart clench slightly at hearing that and the sad look that crossed her face.

"Okay, I'll head back." She whispered, making to stand. Jak quickly stood and helped her up. Lina smiled warmly at him and linked her arm with his. "Jak will walk me back." The handmaiden frowned but bowed.

"Of course." She said then moved to open the door for them. Jak took slow steps to match Lina's careful pace.

"You're Damas's wife?" Jak asked after a moment.

"Yes. He's a good man." She said. "He does his best to lead the people. And…we both deeply miss Mar." Jak looked at her, frowning as tears built in her sky blue eyes.

"…How old was he?"

"He would be about five…He's not dead…I can feel it and a mother is never wrong." Lina softly squeezed Jak's arm as they made it to a large door, guarded by two large Wastelanders and one smaller woman.

"Lady Lina you're safe!" Lina smiled at them then turned to Jak.

"Take care, Jak." She stood on her toes and kissed his cheek. "If you ever need anything, come talk to me." She said before allowing the guards to whisk her into the room. Jak stayed there for a moment before turning back. That woman felt so familiar and just being around her made him feel safe, even if she was ill. Why was that?


Naruto glanced over at Jak, who was currently activating the Precursor pillar. The fox teen walked to the water's edge, frowning at his reflection. There was so much to think about. What he found out at the temple was something he still wasn't ready to face but he knew once he did the flood gate of memories would open back up, but that needed to wait, the war needed him now. There was also the incident in the desert had shaken him but after three days he had recovered, mostly.

He glanced at his arm; there was a raised section of skin with a small black hue to it. Naruto had managed to get out with only a scar but he was worried about Jak. The once hero had closed off to him a little. He would have to confront Jak about it before they left to the KG factory. The Cipher had finally done its job and it would be easy to get in there and shut it down.

Naruto looked up as the last pillar was raised out of the water. Jak jumped off his JET-board next to him. Daxter glanced between the two with a frown. He was about to say something when Naruto gently touched Jak's arm.

"Jak, you know everything's okay right?" The fox teen said. Jak sighed and looked at Naruto, shaking his head.

"Naru, I nearly attacked you and Daxter. I lost control. I haven't lost control since I got my Light Eco powers." Jak said looking away. Naruto frowned angrily and moved to be in front of Jak, grabbing his chin and making him look at him.

"Listen, you did try to attack us but you stopped. You cut my ropes and saved me. That's all that matters."

"I gave you Dark Eco poisoning! Look at your scar!"

"Enough!" Daxter yelled, jumping to Naruto's shoulder. The ottsel stood and crossed his arms. "You only cut him because I bit you. I didn't know if you or the Eco was in control. The only reason you lost control in the first place was because you were pissed off, and you've been holding in your Dark Eco too long. You know that's not safe." Jak was silent before letting out a soft sigh.

"You're right."

"Damn right I'm right." Daxter said, losing his defensive pose. "We all have our issues. I'm a foot tall and covered in fuzz, Naruto's a fox, and you have Eco. We can't let that stop us or get in the way. We have to cope with it. Besides, we have a war to worry about right now." Naruto would be lying if he said he wasn't impressed with Daxter right now. Jak let out a small chuckle.

"Yeah. C'mon, let's see what this Astro-Viewer is all about." Jak said, leading them up to the tall pillar. Once at the top a Precursor voice filled the forest.

"Approach the Astro-Viewer." Jak walked up to it and looked in the lens. "Behold…the seed of our destruction." Naruto let out a small hiss under his breath, the image of the purple ship from long ago flashing in his head. He looked over to see Daxter talking trying to see into the telescope but he couldn't hear the ottsel's voice. "We Precursors built many worlds across the universe. Shaping them with Eco into something good…but we were foolish. The Dark Makers were once Precursors, but their exposure to Dark Eco changed them. They began twisting worlds, conquering life and dark ages ensued. Now, the Dark Ones have found your world and are coming to claim it for themselves." Naruto walked over as he shook the image of the ship out of his head.

"Well that could ruin your whole day!" Daxter said. Naruto smiled; glad to be able to hear his voice again. Jak looked over at them frowning.

"I think this one is bigger than us…" He said then looked back into the Astro-Viewer.

"There is but one hope left. You will find the Planetary Defense System hidden deep at the core of the planet. There is still a chance to save your world. I hope you are more successful than many planets whose fate has already been closed." Jak stepped back from the Astro-Viewer, looking at Naruto.

"This is bad. We really need to speed up this war and focus on that." The once hero said, pointing up at the Day Star. Naruto nodded.

"Right. And we'll start with the KG War Factory."


Naruto glanced at the small fleet that made up the assault force; him, Jak, Daxter, Yule and Rucah in Quix's orange Hellcat, and Quix in the Interceptor. He swallowed and looked ahead at the floating war factory that was fast approaching. The goal was take out the power generators and have Jak and Daxter take it out from the inside. Naruto didn't like the plan one bit but what Torn said goes.

He let out a long breath, looking over at Jak and Daxter. The fox teen could only hope they were doing the right thing as he hit the turbo, finger pressing down on the trigger for the Eco guns, the other ready to drop a bomb. The air was filled with gun shots and explosions as the three airships slowly destroyed all the power nodes.

"Naruto, Jak, Yule, Daxter, Rucah it seems that their activating their long range turrets. Any of you go bombs left?" Quix asked over the com-link, the Inceptor flying up next to the Hellcats.

"One here." Rucah answered back.

"I have three." Naruto said, glancing at Jak and Daxter. The once hero looked at him, giving him a small smile.

"Alright. I'll give you some cover Naruto. Yule, take out one of the towers and then watch Naruto's six with me. We have to get rid of those turrets."

"Roger!" Yule answered back, the orange Hellcat taking off apart from the group. Naruto cut off the connection as he flew towards the first tower, firing a few bullets before dropping the bomb.

"I don't like the fact you're going in there by yourselves." Naruto said at hearing a second tower blow up. "It's going to be crawling with Bots and who knows what else."

"We'll be fine. I've gone into the Metal Head Nest before, this should be the same." Jak said with a grin as the third tower was quickly destroyed, Rucah and Yule rejoining the group.

"I didn't like that either."

"Don't worry. I'll make sure to bring your lover boy back! I'm the hero after all!" Daxter said to cheer up the mood as the final tower was taken out. Naruto flew low to the main gate of the Factory. Before Jak could jump out Naruto grabbed his red bandanna and kissed him hard on the lips. He pulled back and looked at Jak.

"You better come back." Naruto looked at Daxter, who was trying to look at something else. "Both of you."

"I promise we will." Jak said before jumping out and pulling out his Beam Reflexor. Naruto watched as they charged in with a frown. Hopefully nothing bad happened to them inside. Quickly, the fox teen flew off, landing in the hanger next to Quix's Hellcat. He jumped out and ran a hand threw his hair. They activated a Warp Gate inside the Factory for Jak to use to escape and the other end was where he was going.

There were already guards there, to make sure nothing used the portal to leave the Factory other than Jak. He walked up to Tess, who looked at him with a frown. The fox teen took her hand and squeezed. "He'll be alright." The blond elf let out a sigh, clutching her gun closer with her other hand.

"I know. I just worry. He's brave but…I just don't want to see him hurt."

"I know…I know." Naruto whispered. Tess looked over at him, smiling a little.

"You're worried about Jak."

"I am."

"…Do you think a day of rest after this would be too much to ask for?" Tess asked softly, knowing full well there was a war going on.

"I hope not." Naruto answered but the image of the Dark Ship flashed through his mind. He could only hope that one day wouldn't doom them all.


Jak felt a cold chill go up his spine as he watched Cyber Errol walk around the ring above him. It felt like all those times Errol had entered his cell…

"I've found some new friends to help me conquer this puny little planet." Errol purred as much as he could with his cyber voice. His human eye staid glued to Jak, amused at how the Eco freak moved to keep his back away from him at all times. He took in all the differences. No matter how much he had changed a few touches could have the old Jak back. Jak's eyebrows furrowed before his voice slipped out, softer than normal, as if Errol was about to pounce on him.

"You're talking to the Dark Makers…"

"It seems my digital self can communicate with these poor tortured minds quite well." Errol said proudly. "Oh they're just like you and me, Jak. Well…me at least. They want a home, someone to call a friend, destruction of all Light Eco!" Jak took a step back, remember all the times Errol had use the 'just like you' card when he was in prison to make him lower his guard. "They've volunteered to help me put this puny planet out of its misery." He said with a laugh. Jak looked at Daxter, the ottsel frowning. Could Errol have been the one to bring the Dark Makers here?

"You're in for a big surprise. The Dark Makers don't play nicely with others." Jak said. "Just ask the Metal Heads." Errol sneered down at him, just like he always had.

"I've been given the opportunity to wield a power even the Precursors could not control! Don't fret, Jak. You'll be the last to go. Kept in a cell and forced to watch as I slaughter everything you care about. And you might even be kept as a personal pet." Daxter looked at Jak, what little Dark Eco he had built up snapped off him.

"I won't let you!" Jak yelled pulling out his Needle Lazer.


"Jak!" The once hero fell out of the Warp Gate, Light Eco Crystal clutched tightly in his hand. He looked up to see a flood of New Krimzon Blue, Tess, and Naruto. The fox teen knelt next to him, helping him up, mindful of the burns on the green-blond's skin.

"Errol…he's working with the Dark Makers…" He breathed out, his ribs crushing his lungs.

"We'll worry about that later. Right now we need to get you to a doctor."

"Thanks…" Jak whispered, letting his eyes close for a moment before opening them again. Everything hurt. He really hoped the world could spare him a day to recover.


We're nearly at the end readers! Just act three left to go! And it's really short but since there's so much going on it'll be spaced out over a few chapters. If I'm right that means only five more chapters left for Wasteland Fox! With the rate I'm going that might just be a few weeks away! I hope you all are enjoying reading!