CLEANED UP

Clean up notes for this chapter: You vets remember the scene were Jak walks in on Loor taking a bath in Haven forest? That scene... just got a lot more funny.

Disclaimer: I do not own Jak and Daxter or any related trademarks.

Vacation or War
Chapter Twenty One- Sightseeing

Left alone, Loor wasn't exactly sure on what she planned to do with herself. She wouldn't go back to the hideout; Torn would probably try to send her somewhere all on her lonesome. Instead she considered where she was and pulled a quick turn-around to go towards the agricultural section. She wasn't interested in the plants there, she was interested in the gate there.

The gate that led out to Haven Forest. The thought had just hit her on where she could find running water to bathe; Haven Forest had a waterfall that emptied into a small river and a lake. Usually she would never think of skinny dipping, but she was sick of the gunk on her body. Anyway, there was no one there. She'd be left alone with plenty of time to herself to get clean.

The drive was uneventful, and she ditched the zoomer at the door that led into the airlock, stretching while she waited for the second door to open. The idea of a good wash had her smiling even bigger than she had been before, crossing the threshold of the now open door onto the ledge of the huge canyon. To her right as a warp gate, waiting to take her to the other side of the gigantic gap.

She glared. She was learning to dislike warp gates and understand Samos's opinion on them. Still, she made a running leap at it before she could change her mind, landing on the other end with a dull thud as she went from her feet to her knees, nearly eating grass but recovering. Then, getting back up, she looked up to see something that took her breath away.

The precursor temple built into the mountain was downright beautiful, and was practically right in front of her. Sure, it was across another chasm, but she had to stare at it in wonder. She wondered about the precursors, what purpose their temples served, but didn't dwell. The longer she gawked at the scenery, the less time she got to clean up. So instead she turned herself to the little floating platform on the edge of the chasm that would take her down to the forest.

She didn't trust it, seeing as it was floating on its own. She wasn't used to devices being able to propel themselves without visible means. She slowly stepped onto it, and then ended up on her knees to catch her balance and cling to the little platform, as it began moving quickly and without any warning. "Jeez!" She yelped, not daring to get up as the platform moved. Note to self, don't be stingy with the platforms. They move fast.

As it went, she got another view of the temple, looking up at the trees growing out and away from it and the magnificent waterfalls seeming to fly away from the sides. The platform then slipped into a corridor of rock, the occasional spit of precursor bronze sticking out of the gray walls before coming to a gate made of the lustrous metal. The platform stopped, and she quickly leapt off of it, happy to be on solid ground again.

And once more she lost her ability to breathe, looking up at the forest. She'd always loved greenery, trees, and the like. It was how she liked to escape and relax; going for walks or climbing trees. She could hear birds in the trees, and the deep groaning of trees swaying in the breeze, along with the white noise of the waterfall.

Standing up, she felt straight euphoric just looking at the place. The ground was a thick carpet of grass, dotted with the occasional flower, dropping down various ledges until it led up to the river cutting through the area. She climbed down, getting to the water and not taking a second more to delay, stripping out of her clothes for the first time in several days and slipping into the water before she could talk herself out of it.

The water was chilly, but she didn't care. It could have been just above freezing and she still would have insisted on dunking her head in, just to get the crusty feeling out of her hair and the gunk off of her face. She felt like she'd been dipped in oil, and her back was itching like no tomorrow. Now she laid out in the river, the lazy current just enough for her to paddle against and end up going nowhere while shaking off all the crud that had gathered.

She felt like a snake shedding its skin, curling into a ball to go under and then kicking off the bottom to come up, whipping her hair back.

It was odd to think a war-torn city still had a place like this right next door. It was all rather tranquil, until she remembered that metal heads still hung about here now and again. That reminded her not to let her guard completely down, lest she get snuck up on. The thought of getting attacked while both alone and naked was a thought she didn't fancy.

Still, all senses told her she was alone with her bath, and she gladly carried on, digging her nails into her scalp while putting her head underwater, trying to wash away all the shit that had gotten into her hair. It was when she stood up out of the water and stretched that she finally looked down at her self and wasn't disgusted by blood and dirt. Of course, it was also the first time she'd looked at her own naked body since leaving the fortress. She had to stare a moment at all that had changed; she was covered in stretch marks from the rapid growth she'd undergone. Honestly, it looked like she'd gotten in a fight with a bear.

A very friendly bear... She thought, the most vivid of the stretch marks being about her breasts and hips. She must have sprang from a B to a D. Still, she wasn't used to having such a mass on her chest. They were heavy, and without her sports bra on they bounced a lot more than she would have liked. She imagined that if she'd grown into the cup size at the natural pace, she'd be used to it. But she hadn't, and she wasn't.

Walking back to where she'd slipped into the water, she sat on the bank while rubbing her feet. The bank wasn't sandy, instead there were rocks that made an ideal place for her to sit as she tried to rest and refresh herself. After her feet she splashed her hands into the water, scooping some into her face before going to wring her hair out.

She hadn't thought about the fact that after a bath she'd need to dry off before getting her clothes back on, and was now looking around for some way to improvise. She didn't have a towel, or anything else she could use as one...

But there were several large boulders about the place, some of them highlighted in sun.

Dare she sunbathe while completely exposed?

She'd already gone skinny-dipping.

Why not?

"I wonder why she came out here..." Daxter mused, he and Jak having just gotten away from the palace after a run-in with Baron Praxis. It had been a close encounter, but not close enough for Jak. The guy was charged up and wanted to lay into something badly, since Praxis had gotten away. They figured the best course of action would be return to the underground, but they had to go and find Loor first.

Daxter had used Jak's comm. to locate her, the map reporting that she had wandered over to Haven Forest.

"No idea." Jak said, though it was more of a short and dismissive grunt. The poor guy had his brain locked into revenge mode, and it was going to take a pretty rude wake-up call to get him to calm down.

"Buddy, cool it off." Dax advised as the two of them left the airlock behind and hopped through the warp gate just beyond, heading for the forest to retrieve the girl. "It wasn't our only shot."

"But it was one of the better ones." Jak grumbled, stepping onto the precursor platform that would take them down to the woods.

"Stop thinkin' about it. I'm worried about Loor... According to the map, she's down there, but she didn't answer her comm. when we tried to raise her... There are metal heads down here sometimes. I'd hate it if something nasty happened to her."

Jak didn't say anything; if he was worried he wasn't showing it.

"Jeez, what a knight in shining armor you are." Dax rolled his eyes. "Don't go gallivanting ahead to save the damsel in distress."

Finally, the blond hero cracked a smirk. "If she heard that, she would murder you."

"How do you know?"

"I get that vibe off of her. She likes to take care of herself."

The platform stopped, Jak stepping off into the forest area and looking around. The trees blocked most of the view from their current vantage point, but Daxter noticed something pretty quickly.

"Are those... her clothes?"

Jak snapped a look to where Dax was pointing. Indeed, by the bank of the river was Loor's clothes, piled together next to her boots, which had her socks stuffed in them. The pile was wrapped up by her scarf, though loosely. Either way, Jak began to climb down while curious as to why her clothes were in a pile and not on their owner.

Getting down the final ledge, he looked up to find out why. He could see across the river now to where a large rock was highlighted by sun filtering through. And on top of that rock, apparently having dozed off, was Loor.

Without all of her clothes.

Jak turned around at once out of respect, knocked out of his grumpy and angsty haze to be thoroughly embarrassed. She must have come down here to bathe and decided to dry out on the rocks.

Daxter didn't share his embarrassment, turning around to keep looking at her. "Oooooh... Now that is a beautiful thing. See, this is why I don't understand decency laws. Who in the world could be offended by that?"

"Dax!" Jak snapped, seeming rightly disturbed by his partner.

"What? She's sleepin!" The ottsel turned to lean on his partner's head. "C'mon Jak, she'll never know if you sneak a peak."

"I don't want to!"

"Tch, forget you only got eyes for Keira." Daxter turned to look across the river again. "It's a waste I don't have a camera... But memory will have to serve."

"Until she beats your brains out."

"And why would she do that? She's never gonna know I looked."

"One of us has to go and wake her."

Dax suddenly realized why Jak really didn't want to look at her. It wasn't that he didn't enjoy the female body; of course he did, but it was the fact that she was going to know or simply assume that they were both gawking, and one of them was going to have to get within swinging range to wake her up.

"You do it." Daxter instantly ordered. "You can take her, right?"

"I'm not going to fight a girl in the nude. You do it, she expects it from you."

Both boys shut up as Loor could be heard hefting a long yawn, ending with a high pitched squeak.

"Did she just...?" Despite the situation, Jak was containing a chuckle.

"You should have seen her face." Daxter snickered. "That was cute... but she rolled over."

Jak snuck a glance; she'd rolled onto her side, facing away from them, which was a sight he could deal with without feeling too embarrassed. At least now she wouldn't assume they were gawking at full-frontal nudity, which they had been. Well, Dax anyway. Jak chose this time to move, going to Loor's things and picking them up and going a little up the river to a few stepping stones to get across without getting wet. Then, as unceremonious as the whole scene had been, he got to the rock she was sleeping on and literally dropped her things on her, turning away.

Loor shocked awake with a yelp, her clothes landing on her stomach. At first she stared at them strangely, and then began to survey about herself in curiosity. She soon saw Jak facing away from her, and also caught Daxter sneaking a peak now that she was sitting up.

"Dax!" She crowed, taking her scarf and spreading it over her breasts.

"Hey, you're the one who decided to take a nap in the sun, toots."

"Well you've had your peek, turn around already!"

The ottsel complied, though slowly. Once he'd properly turned around, Loor reached out to give his tail a tug of revenge before getting to work on getting dressed. She got most of her outfit on quickly, putting her scarf on and saving her boots for last since they took the longest. "Alright..." She said while strapping in. "I'm decent."

"Let's go." Jak said without looking at her. "Torn's probably waiting for us at the underground."

"Did he try to raise us while you were up there?" Loor asked, checking her comm. as it was continuously vibrating, letting her know she'd missed a call. Turned out it was from Jak. "Oh... jeez, you guys tried to get ahold of me? I'm sorry..."

"Hey, I'm not complaining." Daxter snickered, having recovered from getting his tail pulled rather quickly. "Anyway, Torn hasn't tried to call us, but let's just say we might have... well... triggered a few alarms?"

"The city is on high alert, looking for us." Jak clarified. "The Baron now knows we're with the underground... he knows about you too. It's a head-hunt for the three of us."

"Great..." Loor followed as Jak led back to the platform that would take the trio back to the warp gate. "I've never been on a most wanted list... or a to-kill list for that matter..."

"I think the only list we're on is experiments gone wrong." Jak sighed, the two of them stepping on the platform at the same time to ride it together.

"Least you two survived." Daxter reminded, trying to put a positive spin on things. "That's better news than I've heard about the rest of 'em."

Loor smirked, reaching up to scratch Dax behind the ears. At least she could always trust the little guy to try and be a little ray of sunshine.

"The city is on high alert, what the hell did you guys do?"

Torn was not pleased, glowering across the table in the underground at Jak, Daxter, and Lauren. Kor was to his side, a face Loor had not yet seen, along with the kid.

"Us?" Daxter leapt to the table. "Uh... nothing. We've been..." He held back a snicker with what just happened with Loor. "sightseeing, right Jak?"

"Really?" Torn snapped. "Then why are the Krimzon Guard looking for..." He looked down to consult what looked like a wanted poster. " 'A dangerous young man with light hair, blue tunic, and a rabid orange rat on his shoulder'?" He pushed that paper to the side, looking at a second one that Lauren didn't remember being in the game.

And for good reason; it wasn't in the game.

"And," The irate commander continued. " 'A young woman with dark clothes and hair, often seen with said young man'? You idiots were spotted outside one of the palace support towers right before all hell broke loose, now would you mind telling me what is going on?"

"Look," Jak took charge. "We climbed up to the palace... and... we tripped a few alarms. And leave Lauren out of this; she didn't even go up with us."

"Oh, right... that too." Daxter admitted.

"What?" Torn roared. "I didn't authorize a strike on the –!"

Loor suddenly remembered the coming line, and stepped over by the kid as inconspicuously as she could, slipping her hands over the kid's ears before Jak could snap back at Torn.

"Hey, we kicked the Baron's ass. Unfortunately, he escaped..."

Jak then shot a sideways look to Lauren across the table, to which the girl just offered a sheepish smile. Protect the virgin elfy ears.

"And we overheard a secret meeting with the leader of the metal heads!" Daxter boasted.

"You saw the metal head leader?" Kor asked, looking quite shocked.

"No." Jak answered. "He was on some communicator, but we heard him talking with Baron Praxis."

"The Baron is bribing the metal heads with eco!" Daxter crowed.

Kor made a face. "Hmmph, it will never be enough."

"But the Baron is gonna double cross 'em!"

Lauren saw a look on Kor's face that nearly had her doing a double take. It was a face she'd learned to hide in years of learning how to lie and 'enhance' the truth; the face a person made while thinking fast. Of course! She'd forgotten for the moment that this ass-wipe was the metal head leader.

She realized that through this meeting, Jak and Daxter had single-handedly ruined the Baron's plans by relaying information to the enemy. Kor hadn't just known; he'd been pulling info from the underground, talking to both sides.

The things she never noticed just watching the cut-scenes on the games.

"Is that so?" Kor asked. "Well our good Baron's wonderful 'charm' must have angered someone, because there's word from the wasteland that metal head armies are on the move again!"

Or there will be, once you give the order in light of this new information. Lauren mentally seethed.

Jak turned on Torn. "Why didn't you tell me that Ashelin was Praxis's daughter? What's your connection with her?"

"That's none of your business!" The tattooed commander snapped. "Since you've gone and stirred up the wumpbee's nest, you and whiskers here need to get four of our people to new safe houses. Shuttle each agent to a location they specify. Move all of them without any casualties. Don't screw this up, Jak!"

Jak looked like he had something hostile to say back, but turned with a clear huff, Dax hardly having time to get back to his shoulder. Lauren trotted after, frowning. Sure, she hadn't gone with, but she would have if Jak had let her. "Hey." She said, catching him by the shoulder before he made it to the stairs. "You want me to come with?"

He looked back at her, and shook his head. "I'm the one who rushed up there. Get some rest; we'll be back for you."

She sighed, letting him go and turning back to see Kor was hobbling for the door himself, the kid having run ahead of him, stopping in front of Loor and looking up with the glee only a child could express. She snickered, crouching down and smiling at the kid. "What do you want?" She asked him, surprised that this little toddler eventually grew up into Jak. He had to be pretty young not to remember anything, but he was walking just fine, so maybe two years old? Possibly three? She had her own first memories at the age of three, but the line was different with everyone.

And Jak did remember the light from the rift ring at the end of this little adventure. She wondered what he thought of that memory currently; did he file it away as some passing dream of his younger days, or did he think about it?

The kid broke her out of her thinking by grabbing her nose, surprising her and making her laugh. "Hey!" She snickered, poking him in return. "That's mine."

Kor hobbled past them, making a noise that must have meant 'come' to the kid, because he left Loor to run to Kor's side and follow him out.

With everyone else gone, and Torn effectively ignoring her, Loor decided to kick her boots off and continue her nap.

This time, with clothes.

The Author's Corner

This turned out a lot longer and a lot funnier than the first time around... I had fun with that one. Too bad that it now out-dates the picture I made to go along with that scene... Bah, it was still good times.

And honestly, I could totally see Jak pulling a peeping-tom act if he was thinking of doing so already, but just walking in on a girl... I feel he'd be more shell-shocked and embarrassed, regardless of who it was. The power of surprise!

Happy reading,

-Loor