Chapter 40

Kiki POV:

Since dad had to take a snooze back at Freedom HQ, I decided to have mom meet me halfway, where she took my sleepy dad the rest of the way over so that I could proceed over to the South Haven Ruins, me getting contacted by Keira on dad's communicator, since I decided to borrow it while he slept.

"Kiki, I've been doing some more digging into the books and it turns out that those ancient pillars in the forest are some of the oldest recorded ruins around, just as old as the Catacombs! Take all the different components to the topmost pillar and put them together with the floating telescope there. It apparently allows you to see stuff from space and can link you to the minds of Precursors," Keira said, me smiling at that.

"I'll be careful not to anger them when I meet with them... they may be a bit hostile towards me since I'm a Metal Head," I said with honesty as I got to the door and proceeded through it. And when I reached the other side, I flew myself and the Precursor artifacts to the topmost pillar and then had them emerge and I saw that they actually attached themselves to the telescope one by one, all on their own! The Holo Cube rotated around the telescope's middle part, the Beam Generator became the scope, the Quantum Reflector attached itself to the end, and the Precusor Prism attached itself right in between the main structure and the Beam Generator... and then I heard the booming voice of the Precursors.

"Look into the Astro Viewer, Horaquan Heroine," the Precursor said, me doing that and seeing that it was pointing right at the Day Star... and I could sense nothing but Dark Eco all through it. "Behold! The seed of our destruction!"

"Oof... that looks nasty," I said with a frown as I decided to send a group call to everyone while the Precursor spoke.

"We Precursors built many worlds across the eons, using eco to shape them 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, destroying entire civilizations, and now they have found your world once again... it will only be a matter of time before all hope is lost," the Precursor said, me gulping at that.

"How do we stop something with such a giant size and all that darkness?" I asked in worry.

"There is but one last line of defense. Deep in the core of this planet at the bottom of the Catacombs, you will find a Planetary Defense mechanism. Collect 4 each of Light and Dark crystals in order to power it, then activate it. We hope you are more successful than most planets, whose fates have already been sealed," the Precursor spoke, me feeling its influence leave me and me getting on the communicator with everyone soon after.

"We heard all of it... it's just as we feared. We must get to the Catacombs at all costs and we need to continue searching for those Eco crystals and the final piece of that Astro Viewer," Samos said, me nodding at that.

"Come back to base, Kiki. It's high time that you and I go take the fight to Maia directly," mom said, me smirking at that as I then flew through the streets the whole way to HQ, since there was still that final force field that was held in place at the border between the ruined Maintown and New Haven. When I met up in Main Town, I saw that Sasha, Errol, and Daxter were waiting next to our brand new Hellcat MK 3 Attack Cruisers, which meant only one thing.

"We're gonna destroy the War Factory, aren't we?" I smiled wickedly.

"Yes we are, Kiki! Hop onto number three and get strapped in. It's time we give Maia a knock on her door before breaking it down and her as well!" Sasha smiled at me.

"Hey, mom? Did you see Vegar yet?" I asked her.

"Yeah, I did. And I kicked him in the nards on camera, since Dax was filming. He's also now nothing but a lowly citizen and the City Council is gone. Now Ashelin is the one in charge," Sasha smiled widely as we zoomed through the air and we then came across the war factory, which was spewing out some flying attack drones to try and stop us.

"Okay, according to the Cipher that Vin got at the Power Station, we should be able to get into this place after we destroy the power nodes and then the four pillars. Time to do some bombing!" Errol said as he then proceeded to shoot at the yellow orbs all over the rig and I did the same, only I used my own bombs, which packed much more of a punch! After only four of my bombs, I could see that there was some kind of smoke starting to come from the giant floating machine! And then when the giant pillars decided to show their weak spots to attack us, I used my bombs on the first of them and I saw that it actually made the entire War Factory get knocked backwards a bit, which made me a bit worried that it'd crash, but it didn't, thank goodness.

"Okay, the door's open! Let's go in there and do some sabotage!" Sasha smiled as we then landed our Hellcats in the hangar and proceeded on foot to a locked gate that was ahead of us.

"Okay, time for my gun to work its magic," Daxter smiled as he then stood on Sasha's shoulder and brought out his gun. He then fired a single shot at the fence and we smiled at how it not only demolished the gate in one go, but it actually created a gaping hole in the wall that led to the outside!

"That was a blast," mom smiled, me laughing at that and Daxter doing the same while Errol just smirked. We then proceeded up an elevator and we went down a hall until we heard some metal clanking noises on the other side and we happened to see that there was a person there waiting for us. Her entire body minus a few parts of her head were completely made of KG alloy and metal and she looked very deadly with it as well as her face being gray and lifeless.

"I've made some new friends to help me conquer this puny little planet," Maia said, me gawking at that.

"You're talking to the Dark Makers! You're the one that brought them here, you bitch!" I exclaimed angrily. And she simply smiled at me.

"It seems my new mechanical self can communicate with those tortured beings quite well. They're just like you and me, Sasha... well, more me than you. Soon you will see that there is nothing you cannot do with Darkness. HAHAHAHAHAEEEE!" Maia cackled evilly and with a metal bit to her voice.

"The Dark Makers don't play nicely with others, Maia. And I don't know what made you turn into the villain you are today, but I'd say its high time that I put you out of your misery," mom said as she cocked her Arc Wielder and Maia smiled at her.

"I will be the one to rule over this entire planet and all galaxies! But don't fret, little ones. You won't live long enough to see what I turn this place into. Maybe a rock? Or a floating puddle of slag... or nothing at all! Complete oblivion! So hard to choose..." Maia said, obviously mocking us and I did not like that. I immediately threw one of my bombs directly at her face and had it stick to her like it was glue! And then Sasha connected a blast from her Arc Wielder, which managed to shock the daylights out of the robotic bitch! And after Errol then made the bomb explode with a Peacemaker shot, Maia slammed into a very important-looking computer, dropped a Light and Dark eco crystal, and then booked it into a teleporter... but not before Sasha gave her some more shocks and Errol connected a blast of Plasmite RPG to her jetpack on her back!

"Dammit, she got away!" Errol growled as we then saw that the War Factory was billowing out tons of smoke and looked ready to fall! Mom and Errol immediately activated Light Freeze and grabbed me and Dax, me seeing them move super fast through the portal and us exiting back in the Power Station to see Vin was there with Torn and... someone else guarding him and the door.

"Huh?... Is that another Daxter?" I asked in confusion when I saw it was a female version of Daxter with blonde hair on her head and her wearing a knit green shirt, matching bra, and a pair of jean shorts on her body with a tail hole.

"Nope, but I'll give you a hint. I turned into this as of a few hours ago after I touched some Dark Eco at the Gun Course," Tess smiled, me then gasping as I connected the dots together.

"Oh my god... Tess is an Ottsel too, now? Sweet, Daxter! You finally have your dream girl!" I smiled at him, Daxter smiling at that with a cocky grin as Vin then gave me, Errol, and mom some new gun upgrades for the Peacemaker with a spare for dad... which looked pretty complex for a gun.

"What are these?" mom asked.

"That's the Mass Inverter. It was the gun that caused Tess to turn into an Ottsel. She finished working on it, oddly since her new form doesn't get affected by Dark Eco at all. It just doesn't effect her," Vin said, me being even more confused at that.

"What does it do?" I asked.

"If you use it anywhere near enemies, they'll be caught in a blast that makes them move extremely slowly and float through the air, almost as if they're on the moon. Just blast a large group with this gun, then quickly switch to more powerful ones to take out a big group of tough enemies," Tess smiled, me smirking at that.

"Hey, Tess? How about hopping up onto my shoulder for awhile? That way you can join us on our adventures," I suggested, Tess smirking at that and actually taking me up on that offer, hopping onto my left shoulder and Daxter smirking at her.

"Welcome to the family of misfits, Tess," mom smiled... but then, just as Tess giggled, I got a call on dad's communicator.

"Hello?" I asked.

"Metal Kiki! We need urgent help! Maia is sending an attack force from the Day Star to the Monk Temples! They want to steal our information about the Catacombs and important technologies. Please, hurry! If they succeed, the world is doomed!" said a very distraught Seem before the communicator suddenly got cut off.

"Dammit, this isn't good!" I said as I then looked at the others and we all were thinking the same thing.

"Vin, can you make it so that we can go through this teleport ring to the Monk Temple in the Wasteland? Possibly now?" Errol asked, him immediately typing in the coordinates and the teleporter then turning on for us.

"So you know, it's a one-way trip, so I'll call the Air Train to meet you guys at the Wasteland to come back when needed," Vin said, me smirking at that.

"Don't worry, we'll handle these bozos right quick!" I smiled widely as I then jumped through the teleporter, wondering what kind of madness we'd be in for this time.