SC: Okay, time to get my butt in gear on fanfiction. I WILL have this story updated soon... I hope.

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Chapter 25

Home Sweet Home

Raye couldn't help gasping a little as the elevator came to a halt, the doors opening. "It… it's Haven. I can't believe it."

Jak stepped out, looking around. "But where is everyone?"

"Probably hiding from those!" Daxter yelped, pointing at the Stingers scuttling toward the two elves. Jak and Raye instinctively reached for their Morph Guns, stopping confused as the Metal Heads let out a loud hiss and scuttled away as fast as their little legs could carry them.

Raye straightened up and moved up next to Jak. "What… just happened?"

Jak looked down at his left arm, where the blue-white mark was pulsing lightly. "It's the Light Eco. They must be afraid of it."

"That's the first good news I've heard in a long time." Raye chuckled. "But it's probably because they're so small. I doubt that the larger ones are going to run away."

'Hmph. 'Bout time they did SOMETHING useful.' Lykaios growled. Jak was seriously tempted to smack himself in the head, just to see if it would actually make the eco demon shut up.

"Yo, earth to Jak, come in Jak." Raye said, snapping her fingers in front of his face. He blinked and looked over at her sheepishly. She shook her head. "Come on, let's see if we can find a way out of here."

-Raye's POV-

Walking through the ruins of the city seemed… surreal. The place seemed worse than I remembered. The buildings were actually crumbling as we walked by, and there seemed to be an infinite amount of Metal Head Stingers darting over the collapsed buildings and broken roads.

"Raye?" I looked up to see Jak a few feet ahead of me. I hadn't realized I'd stopped walking.

I shook my head. "I'm fine. It's just… just a little weird to back. I never thought we'd be back here again. I forgot how bad this was, and it's definitely gotten worse." I caught up to him, unable to make myself stop looking at the bleak landscape around us.

Daxter, as if reading my mind, grimaced. "This place looks as bad as my old bedroom back home."

Then we turned the corner and everything seemed to get a little better… and a little worse.

"Jak, over here!" Samos called from the other side of the crackling energy barrier. Jak and I ran over.

"Samos, Keira!" Jak said happily, his tone slightly dampened by the solid light barrier between us.

Daxter smirked. "Ah, Samos. Still as green as the stuff between my toes." He said, waving his foot in the air.

Samos, having mastered the tactics of ignoring Daxter, ignored him. "See Keira, I knew I could feel Jak and Raye's energy. It is good to see the two of you again!"

"You too, Samos." I said. I touched the barrier warily. It felt solid under my fingers. "What is this?"

"It's one of Veger's new energy barriers." Keira said. "He's got them set up all over the city, and I heard that the Krimzon Guard robots have one set up to split the Industrial Section."

"Unfortunately, these barriers have also prevented us from examining the passageways below the palace." Samos said. "They must be terribly important, because the Metal Heads and KG robots are advancing toward them and we can't hold out forever."

Jak scoffed. "So the city needs us again, huh?" He crossed his arms. "What else is new?"

My eyes widened suddenly. "Samos, Veger is the one who attacked the palace, not the Metal Heads! He said he was looking for something below, something in the catacombs."

Samos's expression was grim. "Well, you're just going to have to find whatever it is before he does. But first, you'll need to find another way into this section of the city. Take the sewers into the Port, then find a way north to reach us." We nodded, and turned to go, but he stopped us. "Jak, Raye… we are all sorry for what happened. We should have stopped Veger."

"We'll stop him ourselves." Jak said quietly. Samos nodded, his expression still grim as he walked away. Keira hesitated.

I scooped Daxter off of Jak's shoulder. "C'mon Daxter. Let's give them a minute." I said softly, walking off.

-Jak's POV-

I felt Raye take Daxter off my shoulder. "C'mon Daxter. Let's give them a minute." She murmured softly. I could hear her footsteps fade around the corner and turned to Keira.

She looked up at me sadly. "Jak… I…"

I shook my head. "You don't have to apologize Keira. No one could've stopped Veger."

"But we could've tried harder." She said, bowing her head. I walked up as close as I could to the force field.

"Keira, this isn't your fault. None of this is." I said softly.

She looked up at me, smiling, and wiped a tear off her face. "I missed you."

"I know. I… I missed you too. A lot." It came out more awkwardly than I'd wanted. I swallowed. "I'm going to find a way over to you. I promise."

"I know you will." She replied, putting a hand against the barrier. I pressed mine over hers, grimacing as I felt the shimmering solid texture of the force field under my palm.

Keira took her hand away, wrapping her arms around her body. "You should go. Raye's waiting." My hand fell back to my side and I nodded, walking off. "Jak!" I turned. "When you get to the Port, go to the Naughty Ottsel. Torn's set up a headquarters there." I nodded, turning and leaving. I didn't find Raye and Daxter until I reached the door to the sewer.

"I didn't want to eavesdrop." Raye explained.

I smiled at her. "Thanks." I said, shifting slightly as Daxter crawled up my arm and back to my shoulder. Raye stepped toward the door, and the locks automatically began to undo. The door hissed open, and we both stepped inside.

"I have a question." Daxter said as we were going down. "Why is it that, whenever we have to do something in this city, that the sewers are involved?"

"It wasn't always, Daxter." I laughed. "Just… a couple dozen times, okay so it was a lot."

Raye grinned. "Remember when we had to come down here with Jinx and Mog and Grim?"

I groaned, still laughing, and put a hand over my eyes. "Oh, Mar, I thought you were going to shoot him."

"Yeah, he hadn't got much better last I saw him." She chuckled. "I guess I never told you Ashelin hired him to work for the FL. Obviously with Torn more than me, though I don't think Torn tolerated him much better than I did."

I had to ask. "What do you mean?"

"I walked into the meeting room and Torn was holding his dagger against Jinx's throat. Soon as I walked in, Torn just shoved him back, and Jinx walked out. I never asked what happened, and we just never brought it up. I always just assumed that Jinx said something about Ashelin."

"I wouldn't doubt it." I chuckled as the doors opened. We stepped forward onto the curving, grated metal path that led around the abyss below us. "Where's the exit?" I asked.

"Over there, I think." Raye pointed across the room at a door sitting above a curved half-pipe. "Let's-" She stopped suddenly, and I knew why. We could both hear the sound of engines over the rushing water.

"Wasps!" I yelled as the Metal Heads flew from the darkness below us.

Then a stream of electricity shot out from next to me. Raye was grinning as she held her upgraded blue gun, the source of the beam. "Very nice. I like this." It didn't take long to destroy the rest of the Wasps that rose from beneath us.

"Did it hit you?"

"No, Jak. It missed. I'm fine." She assured me, grabbing her JET Board and climbing onto the half-pipe. "Woo!" She yelled, hopping on her board and skating up one side of the pipe.

"Now you're just showing off." I called as she spun her board around under her feet before she skated through an opening at the other side.

She grinned down at me, flipping her JET Board up and stowing it on her back. "Whatever. You coming or not?" I sighed and pulled out my own JET Board.

--

"Look!" Daxter called, pointing forward. "It's a lift."

"Let's just hope it leads us to the Port." Jak muttered as he and Raye began toward it. Luck, however, was on our heroes side today, as, when the lift doors opened, they were treated with the sight of Haven City's infamous Port.

"Where is everyone?" Raye muttered, looking around. The streets were devoid of people, even patrolling Freedom League soldiers.

Jak shook his head. "Hiding, probably. I don't blame them. C'mon, let's go." Raye followed him through the deserted streets until, finally, they had reached the Naughty Ottsel. Daxter sighed happily as they walked toward the door.

"Ah, the Naughty Ottsel. Honey, I'm home!"

The sole occupant of the bar looked up in surprise as the door slid open. "Jak? Raye? Huh, never thought I'd see you two again."

Daxter blinked, looking around his bar. "Torn?! What have you done to my place?!" He demanded, looking at the ruin his establishment was in.

"We needed a Southern HQ for the war." Torn explained, smirking. "Plus, I kinda like the sign with the Ottsel Head outside."

Jak and Raye shot each other a questioning look. Daxter, however, smirked, crossing his arms. " Yeah. It's cool, huh?"

Torn's smirk was suddenly much more evil. "We use it for target practice."

"Hey!"

Torn turned his attention away from Daxter and back to Jak and Raye, much more serious. "Listen... I'm sorry we couldn't stop Count Veger. We all are."

Jak laughed, though there wasn't any humor in it. "Funny, we just saw Veger. He's trying to use Precursor technology for something."

Torn scoffed. "Figures. That guy always was one monk short of a choir. We have bigger problems now. Veger sent me on a suicide attack into the port and we got cut off. Now we can't get back to Freedom HQ. Our forces are divided and the KG and Metal Head fronts are squeezing us from both sides.

Daxter grinned. "Never fear, the trouble twins are here!" He said, clapping a paw on Jak and Raye's heads. Raye swiped at him before turning to the hologram projector in the middle of the room. It was flashing red.

"Speaking of trouble..." She said, pointing. Torn turned and hit a few buttons.

He cursed under his breath. "We've got incoming Blast Bots from the KG city section, heading this way. Think the two of you can handle it?"

Raye frowned, but Jak smirked. "Yeah. Back in a few minutes." The two of them ran out.

For a seemingly dead section of the city, the Port was certainly active now. Freedom League guards were running everywhere, attempting to stop the hulking metal menaces. "I see four." Jak said.

"Two each." Raye said, pulling her JET Board off her back and jumping into the Port's waters to head across the bay. Jak turned to his right and bolted down the street.

--

"Tyro, we can't stop this thing!"

Said elf gritted his teeth. "We've got to try! We can't let it reach the Ottsel."

The sound of bullets reached his ears, and Tyro looked up to see that the Bot's target had switched from them to something on the other side of the bridge; more particularly, the thing with the gun. The bullets continued to pour out, and before the Blast Bot could take more than a few steps, it began to beep in warning. "Get back!" Tyro ordered. The Blast Bot exploded, shards of debris bouncing off of the bridge itself and the elves' armor. Footsteps made themselves known as the sound of the explosion faded.

"Jeez you guys are pathetic. I leave for a couple of months and you get sloppy. Doesn't Torn teach you anything?"

Tyro pulled off his helmet, not sure of what he was seeing. "Raye?!"

"Commander!" Came ecstatic cries from behind him. Raye just smirked, then looked over as there was another explosion on the other side of the Port.

"I'm going, already!" She yelled. "Save it for later, boys. There are still Blast Bots to be dealt with." She ordered, hopping back onto her JET Board and flying toward the next of the robots. Finally, the last two were dead, and the Ottsel was still safe. Jak walked up to where he sensed his sister to see her crowded by suits of blue armor.

"Commander, I can't believe it!"

"We thought you were dead for sure in the Wastelands!"

"How did back in the city?"

Raye laughed. "Slow down. And don't call me that, I'm not your Commander anymore."

Someone in the crowd scoffed. "Ah, who gives a fuck what that bastard Veger says?"

"Good question." She called back. "Go clean up the mess those things left, we don't need any more coming back to pick up the pieces." Jak couldn't help a small smile as they all saluted her before running off.

"It's nice to be back on top, huh?" He asked playfully, receiving a hard shove.

"Oh, shut up. Let's just get back to the Ottsel." She said, walking off. Her brother followed, still chuckling.

When they walked in, Torn was busy trying to establish a connection with Freedom League Headquarters. "Ashelin? Ashe, it's Torn. Jak and Raye are back in the city."

A hologram of the Governess's head appeared, looking directly at the two elves. Ashelin smiled. "I knew I could count on the two of you."

Torn smirked. "That new KG leader is probably pissing in his-" He stopped as the hologram began to fuzz. "Wait, someone's jamming the signal! I think..."

The hologram changed drastically to the one that Jak and Raye had seen in the desert, only larger. Now, it was unmistakable who it was of. "Errol!" Jak growled.

"I live!" Errol cackled. "Still fighting for the weak link, eh?" He asked Jak and Raye, sneering. "Well, I've had a few 'enhancements' since we last met. Even the Metal Heads have their biological weaknesses. But me? I'm pure metal!" He glowered at them, smirking. "I'd love to meet the two of you again." He said, looking at Raye specifically as he did. The transmission cut off, and Samos took Errol's place.

"We must unite our forces, or we're through! Jak, Raye, you must reach us!"

Ashelin took over again. "We need you to break through and link up with us before it's too late. The KG robots are growing stronger, and that floating war factory of theirs is spitting out more robots every day."

"We'll do what we can, Ashelin." Raye replied. The governess nodded, and the hologram clicked off.

Torn turned to the two elves. "We need to assault the KG front. If we can break through their defenses, we may be able to get back to HQ and link up. Care to make some noise, Jak?"

Jak smirked. "We're always up for a little rumble, hey Dax?"

Daxter grinned, making 'guns' with his fingers. "Fish in a barrel, baby! Fish in a barrel."

Torn nodded. "Just what I wanted to hear, Daxter."

"Is there a way to break down the barrier separating us from the KG section?" Raye asked.

Another nod. "Yes. We've managed to rig a rocket that has enough power to destroy the barrier. Unfortunately, the energy beacons we need to charge it up enough are scattered all over the Port. We need something, or someone, small enough to pilot it. Preferably someone hardheaded, pointy, and too stupid to feel pain."

Daxter glared at him. "Why I oughta-"

Jak clapped a hand over his mouth. "Where's the rocket?"

"Tyro should have it set up just outside." Torn said. Jak walked out, taking the protesting Daxter with him. Torn looked over at Raye, who was examining him curiously. "What?"

"Nothing." She said. "Torn, why are you holed up in here?"

Torn turned around. "I don't know what you mean."

Raye frowned, walking over as she spoke. "Yes you do. I know you well enough to know that you'd be out there in the action if you had the chance." She put a hand on his shoulder in an attempt to turn him around, recoiling when Torn winced. "You're injured." She said, her eyes wide.

He looked away. "I knew something was wrong with you. What happened?"

"I got too cocky and a Hover Guard blasted me into a building." He explained. "It was a rookie mistake."

They both looked up at a scream from outside. Torn chuckled. "Damn. Didn't think he'd actually do it."

"That's Daxter for you." Raye chuckled. "How bad is it?"

He shook his head. "Not very. It's mostly healed up." He jumped as Raye put a hand on his side, then hissed in pain.

"Hold still." She ordered. Torn watched as a blue-white glow encompassed Raye's hand, and the pain in his side faded.

"Raye, what'd...?"

"Light eco." She said, watching as the glow around her hand faded.

He shook his head, chuckling. "You two never cease to confound me." Raye laughed at that. "Raye, listen. About the trial..."

"Torn, don't."

"No, just listen." He ordered. "I- I'm sorry I didn't say anything to defend you. I didn't know what to do."

"Even if you had, Veger would've just found another reason to get rid of me. I'm probably better for it, anyway." She said, lying smoothly. She stood up and headed toward the door.

"Raye." She turned. "Stop trying to lie to me, would you?"

She didn't reply, just walked outside and over to Jak. "He really is sorry." Jak said.

"Can we not talk about this?" She asked. "Where's Daxter?" Jak pointed at the blur speeding across the water. "Good Mar, where did Torn get this thing? I didn't know we even had any high-speed rockets..."

It was the explosion that caught their attention. "Daxter!" They both yelled, running toward the source of the noise.

What they found was the remains of the ruined barrier, and Freedom League guards rushing past to fight off the incoming swarm of KG bots. Daxter, to both elves' relief, was pulling himself out from beneath the rubble. "Dax! You okay?" Jak asked.

"Never better." The Ottsel replied somewhat woozily. Jak scooped him up into his arms, quickly healing any of the injuries he could spot.

Raye turned as someone tapped her shoulder. "What is it?" She asked.

"Torn says that you need to head down to the Gun Course." The soldier said.

"Oh, well, if Torn says so..." Raye replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes. The soldier chuckled before running off with the others.

"Well?" Jak asked as Daxter, now completely healed, clambered back up to his shoulder.

"To the Gun Course." Raye said with a shrug."

--

SC: Okay, well, my plan on updating everything sooner totally blew up in my face. I had drum major auditions last week, and I didn't make it, so I've been a little depressed lately. But, I'm over it now, as I only have three days left of school, and I don't even have to be there for most of them. I love being exempt from my finals. Anyway, sorry for the wait, and it should start going faster, as I'm going to Michigan in a few weeks, and we all know what that means!

Puck: I have free reign!

SC: Yes, exactly! Let the writing begin! Reviews muchly appreciated!

Ja ne
SC