Chapter 32
After that news that Sasha gave me, it immediately made me shocked. Another Metal Head Leader that lived in the volcano? And one that actually gave advice to get me and Sasha powered up with Light Eco capabilities? The moment Dax and I heard this, we immediately went to the temple at the southern-most island of the Wastelands and proceeded inside to see Sasha and Kiki were there and waiting.
"I'm sure you've got a lot of questions, don't you, Prince?" Sasha asked, me smiling and nodding at that.
"A lot, actually. First off, was the Metal Head Leader the cause of the monks going missing?" I asked, that being my first question.
"No, she wasn't. One of the monks picked up something that looked like this artifact over here and it turned the group of them into stone soon after. It's filled with Dark Eco and it actually is able to turn me invisible. I'd recommend keeping Daxter in your backpack, since the only way forward past that Precursor Watcher is by being unable to be seen," Sasha said, pointing to the giant, white, floating eye that was blocking the way into the temple proper.
"I see... second question, why is a Metal Head Leader helping us after we killed Kor?" I asked.
"Two reasons. One, she knows she wouldn't stand a chance against our group. And two, all three of the remaining Metal Head Leaders require some help. For some reason, something in the Day Star is forcing most of their offspring to attack Haven and try to get closer to the Catacombs," Sasha explained as I then followed her lead after she turned herself invisible and Daxter hid in my backpack so he'd be out of sight. We then went past the giant eyeball and the door opened up shortly after, forcing it to leave altogether.
"Third question... how many more Metal Head Leaders are there and where are they?" I asked.
"Those would be Metal Morah, who I spoke with, Metal Speetunc, who lives near a place called Kras City, and Metal Fridgion lives in the Icelands. They actually want to be able to be a neutral party and actually help us humans out, as opposed to Kor, which Morah said was a lunatic among the four," Sasha said, me finding that last bit hard to believe. We then moved down into the temple and we came across a large room filled with robots that were very advanced.
"Huh... KG Defense Sniper robots? What are these doing here?" Sasha asked as she then simply sent a charged up Peacemaker shot at the group of robots and destroyed them all in one go, me smirking at that. "Ah, Peacemaker, my beloved overpowered gun," Sasha smiled afterwards, me smirking at that. I then hit the switch in the middle and we then proceeded through the next opening, only to be ambushed by a whole bunch of spiders!
"This temple has seen better days, huh?" Kiki asked with a smirk before she then stopped in place upon seeing something surprising. More Precursor Watchers in the next room. "Stay here, I'm going invisible and taking these things out one by one," she smiled as she then simply did just that. While invisible, she connected her very sticky Red Eco bombs to each one of the floating eyeballs until all of them had been demolished all at once, the way now being open for us to go through, which we didn't hesitate in doing so.
"Thank goodness for your Scout abilities, Kiki," I smiled at her. We then made it to a more open area with a gigantic Precursor Statue... but there were two people that were on a different platform that were speaking. It was Seem and Count Vegar! I immediately had all of us hide behind a pillar while Kiki listened in while invisible.
"I want no excuses! You said this could be done quickly, now make it so!" Vegar exclaimed at Seem.
"But we have so little time... the Day Star approaches, you know what it brings!" Seem said with worry as I then frowned. What was Vegar's plan?
"I'm well aware. You just continue to supply me with information about the Catacombs while I deal with those idiots in Haven! I promise that you will meet your makers soon enough," Vegar said as Kiki then watched him walk away and she then jumped over to Seem and blocked her from leaving with Vegar.
"Shh..." she said as Kiki then whisked her over to our platform and she looked a little bit spooked.
"Seem, we need to have a talk," Sasha said, Seem looking at our group in surprise.
"What are you all doing here?" Seem asked.
"We came here to try and find some way to control the Light Eco in our bloodstream... only to find out that you're conspiring with the asshole that banished us to the Wasteland in the first place, very unfairly I may add," Sasha said, Seem sighing at that.
"I knew that already... and I know another thing that Vegar himself has done," Seem sighed, me being confused at that. "The Palace of Haven City didn't fall because of the enemy KG or Metal Heads... Vegar gave the command and then killed the one that fired the mortars so they wouldn't talk. He needed quick access to the Catacombs to combat the perils of the Day Star," Seem said, me gasping at that and Sasha looking very mad.
"He... He killed all those innocent people... just because he wanted to get somewhere faster?... Why that no-good, callous, horrible asshole! The next I see him, I'm gonna drive my foot so far up his crotch that his nuts will get lodged in his throat!" Sasha said angrily and loudly before she then fired a few Blaster shots at the walls before she then breathed in and out. "All of those innocent people... their deaths will not be in vain," she said after regaining her composure, Seem being surprised at that.
"You mean... the Palace's fall included casualties?" Seem asked.
"Of course it did. It fell onto the Stadium section, Maintown, and the entirety of the Bazaar sections. All three of those areas were heavily populated and all of those people were killed and are now buried underneath all that rubble... now I know that we have to save Haven City from that madman. The first chance we get, we go back to Haven to take him down," Sasha said with seriousness as we then looked at the Precursor statue and I approached it along with Sasha, the eyes then opening to reveal some glowing blue lights as I then heard a very deep version of the Precursors speaking to us.
"Greetings, great warriors. You have come at a very critical point in time," the Precursor spoke as Seem immediately knelt down to its voice. "The Dark ones have found your world once again and plan to reclaim this world and reshape it in a twisted image... the world is at a critical juncture and only true heroes can hope to stop it," the Precursor said as Daxter then spoke with his usual sass.
"Do you have any idea what he just said? Speak-a-da-normal language, okay?" Daxter said, Sasha smacking him on the back of the head for that.
"You will need all the courage you can muster to survive this terrible test, great ones," the Precursor said.
"I can handle it!" Daxter smiled.
"I was talking to the tall ones, shorty!" the Precursor said, me being a bit surprised at that. The Precursors very rarely spoke to us in the first person.
"HEY!" Dax exclaimed in annoyance as the Precursor then spoke again.
"Look into the light and gain control of your darker sides with the power of light, great heroes," the Precursor said as I then saw a light appear above my head and one above Sasha's and we then did as instructed, me actually feeling something happen to me. I could feel my anger escape me and the Dark Eco felt like it had been controlled and... far away.
When I landed back on my feet, I saw that Sasha had actually gotten her pain mark from Errol healed up and she looked happy as well. "The Dark Eco... it feels far away... it's like that power rejuvenated me!" Sasha smiled.
"I can sense it... you have gained a special ability of Light Eco called Light Regeneration... it's a special trait that can heal you faster and easier than using green eco," Seem said, me smirking at that.
"Sweet! Okay, now for the big question. Seem, who would you rather go back with? Sasha and Kiki or me and Dax in the Dune Hopper?" I asked, Seem smiling and shaking her head no at that.
"I came by Leaper mount, so that's how I'll return," Seem said as we then proceeded into the warp portal and we proceeded back to the city, where Sasha looked over the horizon and looked a bit worried, since she and Kiki were flying a short distance off of the ground.
"What's wrong, mom?" Kiki asked her.
"I think I can see something ominous looming over the distance... it looks like it may be some kind of hurricane... you see those black clouds towards the west?" Sasha asked, me looking in that location and being surprised. She was right. Over to the west and over the ocean, there was a big storm coming our way, which meant the city would most likely be at risk.
"Maybe we should call Damas about this," I said as I then called up Damas.
"Hello? Is this Jak?" he asked.
"Yes, Damas. We've seen something on the way back from the temple. It looks like a large hurricane-like storm is coming to the desert," I said, Damas gasping at that and him immediately doing something in the city on the PA systems that we could hear all the way out in the river area.
"Attention all people of Spargus! A large storm is headed our way! Prepare the city immediately!" Damas exclaimed as he then got on my line again.
"Jak, you and Sasha will need to help out the Wastelanders that have yet to report back. There are four in total. Get back to the garage as fast as possible and grab some two-seated cars. Do whatever it takes to bring them all back!" Damas said with seriousness, me nodding at that.
We then immediately booked it to the garages and we saw that Muse was there and that she had four different radars on her for our group and that Errol had also joined up for this one. "Use these radars to find the Wastelanders caught in the storm. Take them to the storm-proof transport currently deployed in the desert. There are 4 out there and four of you, so be quick about it! That storm'll be here in only 8 minutes, after all!" she said, me nodding at that. We then got one car each with Daxter riding with me and the others getting in their own cars, all of us then zooming out and deciding on our different targets immediately.
"I'll go to the furthest one, since I have the fastest car!" Kiki said, her then zooming ahead in the Dust Demon and Sasha then speaking next.
"I'll get the one by the bridges!" she said with seriousness as she then zoomed off with her Desert Screamer, which was a kickass name for a car!
"I'll handle the one by the rivers!" Errol said as he zoomed to the south in the Heat Seeker.
"I guess that means I've got the one in the cave," I said, me then going to where the girls were headed and going into the cave system to find that there was a female wastelander that was actually a bit on the heavy side, but more in muscle mass than fat.
"Oh, thank god you got here! Get me outta this place and back to the city, quickly!" she said, me nodding at that as she then hopped into the car and we zoomed off into the distance... only for us to get chased by a whole slew of Marauders!
"Ugh, why do these bastards keep trying to get in our way?!" I asked in annoyance.
"They're marauders, that's why! They don't care about their own safety, they only care about killing people that invade their territory! They were here before Spargus became a city and they always try to hurt our city on a daily basis. So, as punishment, we take the injured Marauders from their destroyed vehicles and force them to compete in our arena fights!" the girl said, her actually sounding like she had a high pitched voice despite her masculine frame.
"What's your name, miss? I'm Jak," I said as we made it to the transport and she smirked at me.
"The name's Lora. I'll meet back with you in Spargus, I'm sure!" she said as she then went into the transport and I then got a call from Kiki.
"Kiki, what's up?" I asked her.
"G-Got a problem, here dad! It's one of those Day Star satellites! It's attacking me and the Wastelander I was supposed to save because I found a Dark Eco Crystal in the sand! I need help!" Kiki exclaimed, me nodding as I then spoke.
"Don't worry, we're coming!" I said as I rushed over to Kiki's location and saw that she was actually trying to attack the satellite with her bombs, but they didn't do a thing because it was completely shielded with Dark Eco!
"I have an idea! Taste some of this!" I said as I rushed over and used the Light eco in my bloodstream to produce Light Regeneration. The moment that the light connected with the satellite, it actually caused it to explode in a large blast of Dark Eco, which we simply ignored as we then got all of us together in the two cars and booked it back to the city. We could literally feel the sand start to whip up around us as the winds got much more violent!
"AUGH! My skin feels like it's burning! How much further?!" the passenger asked in pain as I could feel a bit of blistering start to happen to my fists too. We got our answer as we rushed into the garages and connected the fronts of the vehicles directly into the walls and us panting and feeling the burn on our skin. The ones that had no injuries were Kiki and Daxter, since Kiki had more durable skin and Daxter was in my bag.
"Okay... we're safe... finally..." I sighed as I could see that my skin had gotten blistered and I saw a couple of boils that were caused by the storms.
"Damn... those storms pack a punch! How come you don't have any boils, miss?" the Wastelander asked, him being a skinny one and having some boils on his face.
"She's my kid. She's also a Metal Head Scout with amazing combat techniques, but she's my kid," I said with a smile as I then grabbed a health pack for me and the Wastelander and we got healed up enough to the point that we could move again. But we still had the spots on our arms from the storms.
"Thanks a million, guys. I thought I was dead meat. If not for that Dark Eco in that crystal, then it would've been to either that crazy contraption or that horrid storm! I'll put in a good word to Damas for you guys," the guy said, me smirking at that as I then got a call from Sasha.
"Jak! Are you and Kiki okay?" Sasha asked in worry.
"Yeah, we're fine. We just got a bit stung by the storms after defeating another one of those strange satellites from the Day Star. All four Wastelanders are accounted for, no worries," I smiled.
"Well that's a relief... anyways, I wanted to let you know that I got a Light Eco crystal after beating Kliever's score on the turret... and I think it's high time that we go and do our final battles," Sasha smiled.
"Good idea. Let's get going, hon," I smirked as I looked at Dax and Kiki with a cocky grin. "Let's go beat up some more bad guys," I smiled at them.
"I'm down for that!" Dax smiled widely.
"After those Marauders gave us such a hard time before, I'd say they're gonna get what's coming to 'em in that arena," Kiki smirked widely.